SMALLTOWN TIGERS + VOODOO RADIO + ROTTWEILER – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 10.9.23
It’s a scorcher of an afternoon in Brighton and everyone appears to be in a relaxed and in holiday mood. The vibe in the air is fabulous…and that’s even before I have made my way to The Prince Albert at the very top of Trafalgar Street, which is below Brighton Railway Station. On arrival, friends are met and drinks are bought and as soon as we know it we are on our way upstairs to the first floor performance room.
First on the bill for this afternoon’s matinee performances organised by An Alternative Gathering promoter are local five-piece Rottweiler. An outfit that we have yet to feature in our reviews, until now that is. I guess the nearest we have come to the name is the tune ‘Rottweiler’ by IDLES.
Rottweiler have been on the case since the tailend of last year, when they all met at WaterBear College Of Music in Brighton. They are now studying in their second year, but clearly have been listening to their tutors as there is serious potential already on offer from members of their ranks, some arguably more than others.
The quintet grace the stage at 2.17pm and perform seven numbers for their 27 minute set which runs until 2:44pm. They are certainly bright and breezy despite having played last night in the East Street Tap. The Rottweiler personnel consists of Geo Lane on lead vocals, Willow Simpson on left-handed Fender lead guitar, Emia Demir on Epiphone rhythm guitar, Matthew Sherren on Fender Jazz bass and Ben Foley on drums.
To the eye they appear an eclectic bunch, but they are already very much singing off the same songsheet. This is apparent even during opener ‘Revelations’ which rocks along nicely and Willow shows us exactly what she can do with her Fender and Geo impressively belts out the lyrics with some aplomb. One song down, and the punters seem to be right behind the young outfit already, which certainly must encourage them.
Tune two is titled ‘Sarah’ and although it has a much slower start than its predecessor, it does eventually starts rockin’ along. After two numbers, it’s clear that these aren’t a punk outfit, not that the promoter said they were, but based on the headliners I had assumed that maybe they were of the same ilk. So it’s indie rock on offer with this lot then. ‘Man Ur Fearing’ was the third tune selection, which was followed by the dance backbeat of ‘Keep Up’, especially during the “keep up, keep up, keep up” chorus.
They are surprisingly tight and then go off-piste with a track called ‘Witch Finder’, although listed as ‘Doom’ on the setlist. Geo even asks the crowd if anyone likes “doom”. Their penultimate number we are informed was the “first song we ever worked on and it’s on all streaming platforms”, its title being ‘Slide’, which witnesses Willow once again letting loose on the Fender.
They close their set with ‘5 & Drive’ which starts with an almost Smiths jangly guitar rhythm. At present the band actually don’t sit within one genre and are possibly searching for “that sound”, but one thing is certain, Geo’s vocals are astounding, who the hell needs X-Factor! I’m expecting great things from this lot in the future! Rottweiler’s set was full of bite and a band that you can keep on a leash for long!
Rottweiler:
Geo Lane – vocals (she/her)
Willow Simpson – lead guitar (she/her)
Emia Demir – rhythm guitar (she/her)
Matthew Sherren – bass (he/him)
Ben Foley – drums (he/him)
Rottweiler setlist:
‘Revelations’
‘Sarah’
‘Man Ur Fearing’
‘Keep Up’
‘Doom’
‘Slide’
‘5 & Drive’
After a 22 minute live music hiatus we returned back to the upstairs venue, having lapped up a few sunrays in between. Oh OK, we got the beers in again! On offer for us this time were the charismatic daughter and dad duo Voodoo Radio.
I know what some of you might be thinking! A duo just made up of a father and his offspring, a bit unusual isn’t it! Well yes I guess it must be, but so as things are made absolutely clear from the outset of when Paige and Tony Cook take to The Prince Albert stage, Paige immediately tells us that Tony is not her boyfriend it’s her dad. This being the first of many quips between the two of them. The humour adding to the overall enjoyment of their set and as a result endearing them to us even more.
The kick off at 3:06pm with ‘Eat Your Words’ which is found on last year’s ‘Pop Pills’ mini album. In fact they seriously plunder the whole of this 10” release and perform all eight of the numbers in today’s set as well as a couple of other recent singles. Their 40 minute set simply flies by and they are a joy to watch. Paige adopts the standing position as she bashes away at her two drums, with built in tambourine and blasts out the vocals with an expressive face. To her left (our right) is the elder statesman (he’s 64 years old we learn) is Tony who puts his much travelled Gibson guitar through its paces. He too has a microphone but is really inaudible throughout the set, although he is clearly heard in between tunes for the friendly banter.
Prior to offloading the second number Paige single’s out a young lad in the crowd and dedicates song two, ‘Pretty Boy’ to him. This number has an almost mid-1970’s Status Quo guitar riff in it. Paige informs us that tune three, ‘Basic Bitch’, was penned as that’s what her brother calls her, so she wrote a tune about it, thus turning a negative into a positive. For track four, Paige makes it absolutely clear that the title of the next number is actually about a mound of slag near where they originally come from in Cumbria, its title ‘Slag Bank’. I think that I read that they are now based in Hammersmith these days, so thankfully didn’t have to travel for many hours in a stifling car in order to play for us.
The assistance of the punters was requested for the next number ‘Ice Cream Man’, which sadly isn’t the Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers tune of the same name. We were instructed to sing the “la la la la” chorus which appears ten times in the track. Some of us did and some of us sadly didn’t. After this they played my favourite tune of theirs which is titled ‘Dog’ which came out on this year’s ‘Stupid Humans’ 4 tune EP. Paige informs us that this was penned specially for a film (which stars Bill Nighy). This tune is their fastest and most straightforward out-and-out punk number. The EP also includes their rendition of Bow Wow Wow’s best tune ‘C30, C60, C90 Go’, but sadly yet again this doesn’t get played.
The title track from the ‘Stupid Humans’ EP gets a rare airing next and Paige waves a copy of the 12” EP at us informing us that this release is on “Viagra blue” vinyl (although it’s actually listed as “blue aqua”). She had previously said that the 10” ‘Pop Pills’ had come out on “yellow piss vinyl”, although it’s only technically listed as “yellow vinyl”. Paige said that ‘Stupid Humans’ was about her dad which he took in good spirit. Any fans of The Hives reading this, seriously need to check out ‘Stupid Humans’, and the tune benefitted from some heavy metal style riffage from Tony at the close of this track.
The final three numbers were all from their ‘Pop Pills’ release, and they kicked off with ‘She’s So Toxic’, (another corker!) which was penned about a love triangle featuring Tony, which Paige adds hopefully it was before he met her mother! Their ‘Record Of The Week’ on BBC (Cumbria) was next, namely ‘Space Girl’, which was written about going on holiday around lockdown time. They see out their set with ‘Turn Out The Light’ which has a blues cum rockabilly style beat and at 3:46pm they were done. The punters really enjoyed this light-hearted performance.
Voodoo Radio:
Paige Cook – vocals, drums
Tony Cook – guitar, backing vocals
Voodoo Radio setlist:
‘Eat Your Words’ (from 2022 ‘Pop Pills’ mini album)
‘Pretty Boy’ (from 2022 ‘Pop Pills’ mini album)
‘Basic Bitch’ (from 2022 ‘Pop Pills’ mini album)
‘Slag Bank’ (from 2022 ‘Pop Pills’ mini album)
‘Ice Cream Man’ (from 2022 ‘Pop Pills’ mini album)
‘Dog’ (from 2023 ‘Stupid Humans’ EP)
‘Stupid Humans’ (from 2023 ‘Stupid Humans’ EP)
‘She’s So Toxic’ (from 2022 ‘Pop Pills’ mini album)
‘Space Girl’ (from 2022 ‘Pop Pills’ mini album)
‘Turn Out The Light’ (from 2022 ‘Pop Pills’ mini album)
After a 17 minute (beer) break it was time for this afternoon’s headliners to grace the stage. They are a female trio of Rimini punks (from Italy) called Smalltown Tigers. The lineup consists of Valli on lead vocals and Legend bass guitar, Monty on Squier Telecaster guitar and backing vocals, and Castel on drums and backing vocals, but actually take the lead for one of their tunes. The Smalltown Tigers originally started out playing squat clubs and beach parties, before scooping the support slots for the likes of Hagar The Womb, Baby Shakes, The Menstrual Cramps and The Speedways.
This afternoon was my second encounter with the band, having seen them as the opening act for the original lineup of The Damned when they got it back together last year and played the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on 28th October 2022. The Damned that day was Dave Vanian (vocals), Captain Sensible (bass, backing vocals), Rat Scabies (drums), and they were assisted by Mike Smith (on saxophone), and not forgetting the guy whose idea it was to start The Damned Brian James (on guitar), and it is none other than THE Brian James making an appearance this afternoon at the rear of the crowd in order to take in a few tracks of the Smalltown Tigers set. Clearly they had left a lasting impression on him, as well as myself, as that’s why I’m here today!
The Smalltown Tigers have made inroads on the Euro garage-punk scene having initially dropped their debut single ‘Just Friends’ which was then followed by their 8 song mini-album ‘Five Things’ which came out just in time for the first Covid lockdown in spring 2020. The band came about as Valli and Monty played together in another band called ‘Rockaway Bitches’ which was a Ramones tribute, which is still resurrected from time to time. Castel has three bands that she plays with… a sort of international drummer ensemble from all over the world called Drumatica, an all-female hard rock/metal cover band called Whiskey Wives and a pop-rock project in the Italian idiom called Le Figurine.
So at 4:03pm this afternoon the trio set about their business and for the next 48 minutes we are in their capable hands as they give us no less than 18 numbers! This pleases me as when I saw them with The Damned, their set was only a mere nine tunes and that ran for just 22 minutes. So I’m clearly going to be hearing more of what they have to offer.
As per last time the girls were showing their unity as a group by all sporting virtually the same clothing, which this time was black with white stripes, although vocalist Valli is also sporting a Vivienne Westwood style ‘tits t-shirt’, which she informs us is not her’s. As in it is her t-shirt but not her actual boobs image on the front, just to save any confusion.
They kick off with a trio of tunes from the ‘Five Things’ mini-album, namely ‘Find Myself Another Name’, ‘Runaway Gal’ and ‘Girl’. The vocals are gravelly and there’s a meaty guitar sound, which is a blend of punk rock previously offered by the likes of The Runaways (Joan Jett) and the Ramones, with a sprinkling of very early B-52’s and heyday Suzi Quatro, and they can be described as a grittier version of Madrid based Hinds.
The first of several as yet to be released numbers came next in the form of the Ramones-esque ‘Monster’, a tune, which I had enjoyed the most during my previous encounter. There’s certainly no messin’ with these signorinas as they rattle through their compositions, just like proper punk bands should do. ‘I Want It Now’ from the 2020 ‘Five Things’ mini-album is given an outing and then is followed by no less than four tunes in a row that I believe have yet to see the light of day on vinyl. These were ‘Meet Me In The City’, ‘Crush On You’, ‘Girl Can’t Help It’ and ‘Dressed Right’. Valli did inform us that ‘Crush On You’ will appear on their next album which is due to drop in February 2024.
All of the tunes thus far had been their own compositions, but now we were served the first of which was to be a handful of cover versions, this first one being The Trashmen’s wonderful ‘Surfin’ Bird’. A song very dear to my heart as when I saw the Ramones live (about a dozen times), ‘Surfin’ Bird’ was always the best number in their set. Whilst I’m on the subject, ‘Surfin’ Bird’ can be found on ‘It’s Alive’ the first live album by the Ramones. It was titled after the 1974 horror film of the same name. The performance was from the band’s gig at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 31st December 1977, but was only released as a double LP set in April 1979. As far as I’m concerned it still remains the best live album by anyone ever! This was something also agreed by my partner Jordan Mooney (RIP) and it had a special significance for her as well.
Back to this afternoon and the Smalltown Tigers next gave us ‘Darling Please!’ (from the mini-album), which has an almost surf guitar sound courtesy of Monty. Not to be left out, the next number featured drummer Castel on lead vocals. Our photographer Cris actually highlighted this as his choice tune of the whole set, and yet was the only one with Castel on lead vocals. I wonder what that might signify?
We were surprisingly served a trio of solid cover versions, these being, the Chris Montez tune ‘Let’s Dance’ (also found on ‘It’s Alive’ Ramones album), The Undertones ‘Teenage Kicks’ and The Damned’s ‘New Rose’, which was dedicated to The Damned and also the other support bands today, the promoter and sound guy. Although I loved hearing all of this trio, it was beginning to cross my mind that they were heading into tribute act territory, and yet they don’t really need to go there under the Smalltown Tigers banner as their own material is solid enough!
They were back to normality and raiding their debut album for the next two tunes, ‘Just Friends’ and ‘Five Things’. The first of the two Valli informed us was their first single. They closed their set with the classic ‘R.A.M.O.N.E.S’ by Motörhead, as a tribute to the band. And at 4:51pm they were done! The crowd dutifully showed their appreciation and several headed off to the merch stand. I was after their vinyl album, but a guy in a hat snapped up the last one! So I guess I will have to wait until next time, when hopefully the ladies will make another return to Brighton in order to promote their forthcoming long player.
It has been a truly wonderful afternoon of music and myself and photographer Cris thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, as did our mate Guy who also loved the Smalltown Tigers. If only all gigs were this good!
Smalltown Tigers:
Valli – bass, lead vocals
Monty – guitar, backing vocals
Castel – drums, backing vocals
Smalltown Tigers setlist:
‘Find Myself Another Name’ (from 2020 ‘Five Things’ mini-album)
‘Runaway Gal’ (from 2020 ‘Five Things’ mini-album)
‘Girl’ (from 2020 ‘Five Things’ mini-album)
‘Monster’ (unreleased)
‘I Want It Now’ (from 2020 ‘Five Things’ mini-album)
‘Meet Me In The City’ (unreleased)
‘Crush On You’ (unreleased)
‘Girl Can’t Help It’ (unreleased)
‘Dressed Right’ (unreleased)
‘Surfin’ Bird’ (The Trashmen cover)
‘Darling Please!’ (from 2020 ‘Five Things’ mini-album)
‘Maybe’ (unreleased)
‘Let’s Dance’ (Chris Montez cover)
‘Teenage Kicks’ (The Undertones cover)
‘New Rose’ (The Damned cover)
‘Just Friends’ (from 2020 ‘Five Things’ mini-album)
‘Five Things’ (from 2020 ‘Five Things’ mini-album)
‘R.A.M.O.N.E.S’ (Motörhead cover)
Great review. I saw them at the BlamBlam Festival on Friday in Redcar. Non-stop energy. Worth noting that neither Valli nor Monty brought their guitars over and were on borrowed equipment…although as a Telecaster fan Monty’s sonic attack is just epic!!
Thank you for your comment Ferg. I suspect February 2024 will therefore be a great month for you.