THE COURETTES + US – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 1.9.23
It’s a Friday night in Brighton, summer seems to be drawing to a close and I’ve had a whale of a time catching some of the local talent over at Green Door Store, in support of ‘Lyn’s Trans Fundraiser II’ – Read that review HERE.
Meanwhile, over at The Prince Albert, something’s brewing… meet The Courettes, a husband and wife team-up of Martin and Flavia Couri embarking on a continuous, non-stop 12-date UK tour which commenced at the end of August, with this Brighton show as its third date before concluding at London’s 100 Club next Sunday. A guitar and drum duo a la White Stripes, the Courettes have amalgamated a unique blend of garage rock, doo-wop, blues and 60s pop that’s remained a strong component of their sound for the best part of a decade.
As I positioned myself slap bang in front of the keen crowd’s eyes and ears, I waited with anticipation for the opening act, known simply as Us. Due to the incredibly short and cryptic band title, it was difficult for me to check out these guys beforehand as I drew blanks with social media to find them.
However, 8:30pm on the dot and four Finnish young, blonde twenty-somethings approached the stage in calm repose, all in matching Paisley Underground/60s psych get-ups. With no introduction, we are thrown into the deep end with the opening cut ‘Black Sheep’’s perpetually fast grooves and a yelpy vocal inflection from guitarist and frontman Teo. Sonically, Us draws from many styles and sounds such as glam rock, psychedelia and blues, all in one unique melding… and this is just within the first song! Further songs like ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ and ‘Snowball Season’ comprise electrifying riffs, vein-popping energy and drum rhythms so tight and on-point, it would make aspiring drummers cry.
Despite the distinct ferocity the four-piece hold, Us are still capable of playing with finesse and control, particularly on the song ‘Just My Situation’, which has a nostalgic ‘Magical Mystery Tour’-era Beatles flair, but still brings my mind towards more recent rock outfits like Stereophonics. A key characteristic of the group is displayed as a simultaneous bow from them in quick procession milliseconds after the song ends.
One of their only two singles, ‘Paisley Underground’, sees bassist Rasmus engage in wonderfully elaborate and slick bass lines while the swung ‘Got To Know’ (in which lead guitarist Max takes vocal duties) explores manipulations of the 12-bar blues pattern in a musically erudite fashion. By this point in the set, I am completely won over by the band’s relentless energy, especially in the song ‘In & Out My Head’, complete with driving bass and rhythm guitar momentum. The only other single given to us by this band, ‘Help Me’, was possibly my favourite of the set, with its pop punk-esque song progression and muted guitar tones that remind me of ‘White Music’-era XTC!
The song cuts straight away into ‘Night Time’, one of the fastest songs of the set, with Teo on the verge of spitting into the crowd from the amount of energy he’s putting into his singing! ‘Hop On A Cloud’ was a solid highlight, not just musically with a more jazz-leaning backdrop, but slightly absurd lyrics surrounding a fountain pen was enough to keep me hooked. As we approach the end of the set, I remain in bewilderment as Us have not dropped a single ounce of energy at any point before ‘Gotta Go Downtown’. The absolute powerhouse that is the drummer Levi is a true star of the band as his power and rhythmic force could challenge that of fusion legend Billy Cobham!
In a rare moment of speech from Teo, the announcement of the final song, ‘While You Danced’, was laid among cries for more from the audience. This track was a wonderful song to go out to, with the most heartfelt vocal performance of the entire set as well as a stellar solo from Max… but wait! One final song, interwoven at the 11th hour of ‘While You Danced’, known simply as ‘Say Mama’, a lightning-fast 12-bar blues track pushing the band’s stamina to extreme levels from beginning to end!
The ‘Paisley Underground’ single by Us can be located on Bandcamp and they are on Spotify as well.
Us:
Teo Hirvonen – vocals/guitar
Rasmus Ruonakoski – bass
Max Somerjoki – guitar
Levi – drums
Us setlist:
‘Black Sheep’
‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’
‘Snowball Season’
‘Just My Situation’
‘Paisley Underground’
‘Got To Know’
‘In & Out My Head’
‘Help Me’
‘Night Time’
‘Hop On A Cloud’
‘Gotta Go Downtown’
‘While You Danced’
‘Say Mama’
linktr.ee/usbandofficial
www.usbandofficial.com
Us’s swift stage departure left me riding a musical high inside a now packed out Prince Albert, now waiting for The Courettes to take their place on the stage. Then, all of a sudden, the lights go down slowly, for the crowd to cheer as Flavia and Martin make their way up, complete in black and white suits. The latter takes a deep swig of water and proceeds to spit it all over his drum kit… and then at us!
The opening cut in the set, ‘Hoodoo Hop’, pretty much encapsulates the duo’s energy that remains a constant for the entire night, with Martin keeping incredible pace and force on his kit and Flavia maintaining her glamorous angst atop her riff-heavy guitarwork. Something to note is that Martin has no hi-hat on his kit, so watching him make use of the rest of his set-up was exciting, whether it’s the loud tide of cymbals that opens up the melodic ‘The Boy I Love’, or the clock-emulating snare rim hits of ‘Time Is Ticking’.
“We are the Courettes and we play loud!” yells Martin before opening chants spelling out the title of the next song fill the room: ‘R.I.N.G.O.’ This song was home to occasional technical faults, mainly Martin’s vocal microphone and his kick drum pedal breaking, but these were well recovered thanks to the duo’s own technical assistant at hand! The following ‘Daydream’ was a strong moment, due to Flavia being able to sing the song’s lyrics in Japanese (pretending to forget the English words), amongst these harmonic interplays of 6/8 grooves and traditional folk-esque melodies.
Particularly in the intro to the misanthropic ‘Daydream’, Flavia also loved to stare down several audience members, myself included, but not in a malicious way and more of a “come on you, we’re gonna have fun!” kind of way. The band proceeded to play ‘Trash Can Honey’, centred around their disdain for their old record label releasing their music without permission! A hard-hitting rager, complete with “doo-wops” and “ooh-ooh”s, the song carries a strong surf rock sound which compliments the lyrics nicely.
One of the best songs of the show came in the form of ‘Want You! Like A Cigarette!’, which kicks in straight away with a fantastic dynamic build-up within this ‘Stand By Me’-esque chord progression, evoking that 60s nostalgia beautifully. Towards the start of the night, both Flavia and Martin mistakenly state that “it’s Saturday night!”, however, maintain that statement to keep the energy in the audience alive for the rest of the night!
The song ‘Night Time (The Boy Of Mine)’ doesn’t just feel like Saturday night, but like the world’s best New Year’s party with its twee melodic flair and continuations of Martin spraying across the audience from his kit! Vocally, Flavia has been on-point all night, but ‘Edge Of My Nerves’ starts to see her break her inhibitions and delve into almost screeching vocals, in an extremely powerful way! At this point in the set, The Courettes have been playing non-stop between songs since ‘Trash Can Honey’, so how on earth they’ve been able to maintain their energy up to ‘Tough Like That’ is beyond me, with a trance-like kick drum pounding and crowd submergence for Flavia as she solos.
The speedclock blast beats of ‘Boom! Dynamite!’ lead to the duo’s strongest performance yet, with a lengthy jam around the titular lyric and neither of them dropping their momentum at all! But now, we come to probably my favourite song of the set, the warm and lovey-dovey ‘Strawberry Boy’, with the crowd dancing like it’s 1955 again, complete with matching sways. Nodding back to the aforementioned White Stripes comparison, the debut of a new song, known simply as ‘Shake’, carries that notion strongly with a propulsive chant-worthy guitar riff and an intense climax… it’s incredible that these guys have lasted all night with just a guitar and drums and their sound is still heavy and playful! One more catchy highlight to close out the main set, ‘Hop The Twig’, sees one final guitar solo from Flavia in the crowd, before giving her guitar to a random audience member to power out the song!
After a brief moment of cheers from the crowd and thanks from the band, we are treated to one final song, ‘Won’t Let You Go’, with gloriously 50s vocalisations and a pop progression, a wonderfully joyous way to end a terrific show! And with a final farewell, the night is over, ending on a high thanks to the party animals that were The Courettes and Us for putting on one hell of a nostalgia-inducing and excitement-fulling show!
The Courettes music can be found on Bandcamp.
The Courettes:
Flavia Couri – vocals/guitar
Martin Couri – drums/vocals
The Courettes setlist:
‘Hoodoo Hop’
‘The Boy I Love’
‘Time Is Ticking’
‘R.I.N.G.O.’
‘Until You’re Mine’
‘Daydream’
‘Trash Can Honey’
‘Want You! Like A Cigarette’
‘Night Time (The Boy Of Mine)’
‘Edge Of My Nerves’
‘Tough Like That’
‘Boom! Dynamite!’
‘Strawberry Boy’
‘Shake’
‘Hop The Twig’
(encore)
‘Won’t Let You Go’
linktr.ee/thecourettes
www.thecourettes.com
