CHALK + LIFTS – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 27.3.24
Talking to two-thirds of CHALK (Benedict and Luke) at the merch table before their sold-out Brighton gig at the Green Door Store the chatter revolved mainly around the current Irish powerhouse music scene and how there seem to be so many bands emerging from the Emerald Isle right now.
Mentions of some of our current favourites such as Gurriers and Scustin got immediate nods of agreement, and we also nattered a bit about the Glasgow contingent who seem to be leading a similar charge from North of the border.
We spoke a bit about VLURE and how they and CHALK seem to have a lot in common and would make great tour partners…each having scooped ‘Live Band of the Year’ in their respective home countries last year. And, of course, both insisting on shouty capitalisations of their names – perhaps to match with the intensity of the noise they generate.
Ross Cullen (vocals), Benedict Goddard (guitars and synths), and Luke Niblock (drums) are CHALK. They are also award-winning film-makers in their other lives, and this influence seems to shine through in many of their songs, with several having a real sense of having been written for the big screen as much as for the live stage.
‘Conditions’ was one track in particular that I mentioned to the band and how its echoes of ‘Born Slippy’ are no bad thing. Far from derivative, their song stands firmly on its own merits, but at the same time gives a knowing nod to the classic ‘Trainspotting’ anthem.
But the talk got cut short as the crowd started to move to the stage for the support act, and it was time to wriggle to the front to see whether all the talk we’ve heard about Lifts would be found to be warranted.
Lifts are yet another Irish band with a story to tell, and are sharing tour posters with CHALK on a string of dates around England’s (sadly shrinking) grassroots circuit.
They play the sort of music that instantly catches your attention in the way it deftly splices disparate genres and influences with the result being a set of songs that are way beyond the sum of their parts.
Quite simply put, Lifts are extraordinary.
The word ‘experimental’ works its way into any review you read about the band, which is made up of Sam Bradshaw on guitar and vocals, Clara Webster on subharmonic viola, Cian Nolan on keys and mixing duties, Lily Brodie Hayes on violin, and Niall Crichton on drums, but if this is still an experiment it’s one that is definitely proving to be one that is going to end up with some earth-shattering results.
Perhaps one reason for that is the ‘special secret sauce’ ingredient – that ‘subharmonic viola’, we just mentioned and that you probably skimmed over without realising it is an instrument very much of the band’s own invention, essentially allowing Clara to take on bass duties using an instrument not normally used in that context.
String instrument subharmonics are not new in themselves, but Lifts are gradually learning to ‘tame the beast’ to create a stable means of extracting deep and intense undertones that create a solid foundation for more ethereal elements delivered by voice, keys, violin, and guitar. However, as Clara has been quoted as saying, she still feels it’s an adventure every time she plays with notes sometimes forming themselves and leaving her having to improvise and ride the musical wave.
Sam’s voice is perfectly suited to the slightly mystical song content and structure that Lifts specialise in. He can switch between an almost Tom Waits style delivery to either the grunge intensity of Kurt Cobain or the impassioned high register of Thom Yorke at his best.
And this is essential, because these songs veer almost with a will of their own between traditional folk and jazz to contemporary classical and post-punk.
The set is passionate, and the performances intense.
Setlist? Well we looked, but the only one in sight was (Sam explained) now very old, and it was stuck tightly to an effects pedal anyway, so not intended to be taken as a souvenir.
Lifts:
Sam Bradshaw – vocals, guitar
Clara Webster – subharmonic viola
Cian Nolan – keys, mixing duties
Lily Brodie Hayes – violin
Niall Crichton – drums
By the time CHALK hit the stage the room was at capacity, and the sense of shared expectation was palpable.
From the very first bars the band delivered the goods, with a set that once again proves how they would be equally at home on an indie-rock Reading or Leeds festival stage as they would be playing a live set in a darkly lit late night EDM club.
Ross is the perfect front-man for this style of music. He literally throws himself into the performance and takes no prisoners – think a slightly less angular Ian Curtis.
And indeed, if you listen hard enough it’s perfectly possible to hear Joy Division influences alongside CHALK’s contemporary take on bands like the Chemical Brothers (who, by the way, we regularly cite when writing about VLURE).
If you are prone to photosensitive epilepsy, then a CHALK gig might come with a health warning stamped on the tickets though. When we asked the band if flash would be OK they just laughed and said nobody would notice it amongst the heavy strobes…
These three guys leapt out at me when I first saw them on the main stage at ‘Rockaway Beach’ festival in Bognor back in January, and my journey to see them here was to witness for myself how they stood up to the test of a smaller stage but with a crowd specifically there to see them.
The answer to that question is, without a doubt, that CHALK are a band you really do have to try and see live in the next twelve months at any small grass-roots venue you can. Because after that it’s almost certain that they will be commanding far bigger audience numbers and you’ll find yourself part of crowds numbering the thousands, not the hundreds.
Chalk:
Ross Cullen – vocals
Benedict Goddard – guitar, synth
Luke Niblock – drums
Chalk possible setlist:
‘Coat Of Arms’
‘Static’
‘Them’
‘The Gate’
‘Claw’
‘Conditions’
(Interlude)
‘Kevlar’
‘Bliss’
‘Asking’
‘Velodrome’
‘Conditions’
