BABY’S BERSERK + FRANCIS PIG – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 20.6.24
Local promoters ‘Acid Box‘ were back at it again tonight, as they have successfully secured the return of on-the-up Dutch synthwave outfit Baby’s Berserk to The Hope & Ruin on Queens Road in Brighton. They were last at the venue on 29th October last year, but downstairs in the bar area and that was only their second ever UK gig. Tonight however they have upgraded to the first floor concert room and are joined by circa 80 old and new fans for what is to be a fabulous evening’s entertainment, which lets face it, we all seriously need after the poor Euros result just a few hours earlier.
Baby’s Berserk consists of Lieselot Elzinga (vocals, bass, synth), Eva Wijnbergen (bass synth, synth, backing vocals) and Mano Hollestelle (drum machine, synth, guitar) and not forgetting their ever present sound engineer Tom Ogilvie. The band blends the cultures of music and fashion, and successfully finds the balance between live band and club music. Simply putting it, Baby’s Berserk gives your mind, body and soul a much needed boost! As has been the case with their debut self-titled album which dropped last year and once I secured on my debut encounter with them. This followed on from their ‘What I Mean’ (2020) and ‘Toxic Kisses’ (2022) singles, the latter of which I scoop up this evening on 7” single.
Tonight is my third encounter with the band, the second was as support to Pachyman at the Green Door Store on 15th February, and so I knew that the energy that Lieselot was going to impose on the audience and so this evening we find ourselves camped at the very front in order to grab some fab shots and keep a beady eye on proceedings! The trio take to the stage at 9:33pm and we are in their more than capable hands for the next 54 minutes, which for me isn’t really long enough, but as they say “leave them wanting more!”.
The stage is awash with everything synthy, which for me is like a child in a sweetie shop, I can’t get enough of it, and that’s even before they have even played a single note! Stage right (our left) is white suited, black beret wearing Mano on drum machine, synth and guitar, centre stage is the Duracell batteried Lieselot who is characteristically wearing a short dress, black fishnets and stilettos and taking care of whipping the crowd up into a frenzy via her shimmy dancing, lead vocals, plus synth work and bass, finally on our right (stage left) is Eva, who is static behind her synth configuration and sporting a 1960’s Berlin rubberwear look. They launch into a track called ‘Entertainment’ which I believe is unreleased, the first of no less than four or possibly five as yet to be recorded numbers, which indicates album two is on its way…I hope! The keys are sounding so meaty it’s terrific and Eva immediately is on the vocoder, which I’m a real sucker for. During this opener Lieselot part way through the track joins Eva at her synth station and redirects the vocoder mic to herself and has a go. Fabulous stuff!
Selection two is their 2020 ‘What I Mean’ single which on disc comes in at only two and a half minutes in length. It’s a funky ditty which sees both girls on shared vocals and this then inevitably segues into their ‘Rum ‘n’ Kola’ earworm from last year’s self-titled debut long player, which sees Mano switch from keys to guitar. There’s more deep bass chugging synth sounds going on here and are a real treat. Mind you having said that, for selection four, ‘Limousine’ (from their 2023 ‘Baby’s Berserk’ album), there’s even more increased deep bass sounds and as a result my trouser legs start to wave about and rattle from the soundwaves/air coming from the floor speakers I’m virtually leaning against.
Before we knew it, they were already launching into ‘Eat Your Dollar’ from their album, which is a glorious slab of funk filled bass with joint vocals from Lieselot and Eva and after this track there was even more of a party atmosphere in the joint and things went up a notch with the arrival of the unreleased ‘ShGWP’, which has a wonderful deep house synth sound and reminded me of The Beloved’s ‘The Sun Rising’, suffice to say my trouser legs were rattling again! During this tune Lieselot managed to climb on top of a small ledge to the right hand side of the stage (our left) and sang from up there!
For ‘Accessories’, which is another slow chugger and has a whiff of Saint Etienne’s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ in it, Lieselot appeared to invite the crowd to join them up on the stage, but no-one dared, probably on account of all the wires and leads on the floor, plus the embarrassment of getting up first, or they simply didn’t understand what was required of them!
After this they played their finest and longest track of the evening, this being the bangin’ ‘Dancing With The Fish’. This was the best version I had heard them do of this, call it a 12” extended mix. In fact it would have gone on even longer, but for the fact that Mano decided to close the tune and Lieselot turned around at him inquisitively as to indicate that she was still in mid-stride and there was still more to go. Myself and the dancing punters, could have easily put up with an 18” mega-extended version! It looked as though that was going to be our lot as that was a fab tune to end on, but then they gave us just one more tune, the slower ‘I Hate You’, which afforded Lieselot the opportunity to scream at the punters whilst pulling face grimaces at them in disgust. To be honest, this tune would have been better mid-set and to have ended on ‘Dancing With The Fish’, but other than that it had been another blinding set and at 10:27pm they were done and they headed off to the merch stand to meet their new followers! Let’s hope they get their second album finished real soon and come back to Brighton as one of the dates!
Baby’s Berserk:
Lieselot Elzinga – vocals, bass, synth
Eva Wijnbergen – bass synth, synth, backing vocals
Mano Hollestelle – drum machine, synth, guitar
Tom Ogilvie – sound engineer
Baby’s Berserk proposed setlist:
‘Entertainment’ (unreleased)
‘What I Mean’ (a 2020 single)
‘Rum ‘n’ Kola’ (from 2023 ‘Baby’s Berserk’ album)
‘The island’ (unreleased)
‘Limousine’ (from 2023 ‘Baby’s Berserk’ album)
‘ShGWP’ (unreleased)
‘Eat Your Dollar’ (from 2023 ‘Baby’s Berserk’ album)
‘Piggy Piggy’ (unreleased)
‘Accessories’ (from 2023 ‘Baby’s Berserk’ album)
‘Dancing With The Fish’ (from 2023 ‘Baby’s Berserk’ album)
‘I Hate You’ (unreleased)
On Thursday 8th February we published a preview of a concert that was happening on 4th May. Our headline read “You’ll ‘Feel Worse’ if you miss USA Nails Brighton concert” and unfortunately we did miss it and now I do “feel worse” as support that night came from brand new local outfit Francis Pig which comprises of Alana Doyle (vocals, drum machine, tambourine), Henry Wickett Padgham (guitar, vocals), Jacob Newman (guitar) and latest recruit Jade Taaffe (bass, backing vocals). That night they were playing their second ever gig having opened their account on 2nd March this year, and this evening they are playing their fifth gig as support to Baby’s Berserk.
They grace the stage at 8:31pm and across the next 34 minutes we are given a half dozen original and thus far unreleased compositions. Stage right (our left) is Henry on Fender guitar, he has seriously got The Velvet Underground and The Jesus And Mary Chain cool dude look going down; to his left is glamorous Jade – who used to be in Heirloom who I reviewed back in 2020 (Review HERE) – on a snazzy looking pale blue bass guitar; to her left is Irish frontperson Alana on lead vocals, Roland drum machine (instead of a drummer) and tambourine, she is basically ‘dressed to kill’; and finally to her left (stage right) is Jacob also on Fender guitar, but this has the addition of a tremolo for that trembling effect. Although visually they appear that they could individually be in different style bands, on stage tonight they are a reasonably tight outfit.
They opened with ‘Obscene Dream’ with the line “Dirty little secret” which is an indication of their materials subject matter, as Adam & The Ants penned on ‘Don’t Be Square (Be There)’ “Ant music for sex people, Sex music for ant people”, namely it’s erotic stuff! ‘Obscene Dream’ has a Sisters Of Mercy vibe going down, a conclusion I made on account of the drum machine, which I feel is a masterstroke by the band and would urge them not to get in a live drummer as it would alter their sexy sound. For their second number, ‘Like It Like You’, Alana mainly handed over lead vocals to Henry, but sadly his were more down in the mix, but maybe that was meant to be the case. This tune couldn’t be more Jesus & Mary Chain if it tried! Track three was a slower chugging Velvet Underground copyist tune called ‘Erotomania’, which benefited from pseudo punk Honey Bane style vocals from Alana on top. This was the pick of the three tunes thus far!
At this halfway point we were rewarded with the toe-tapping ‘Sex Talk’, which features gritty guitarwork from the lads with snarly vocals atop, including the line “Let’s talk about sex baby”. Their penultimate selection, (‘Francy’), Alana informs us is her favourite number, to which Henry (jokingly?) counters that it’s not his, and I must honestly say that I agree with him. For me this “slowie but goodie” that Alana refers to was like putting on a 7” single at 33 rpm in error, although Jacob’s use of the tremolo during this tune was enjoyable. They signed off with ‘Daddy Says’ which is their fifth really enjoyable tune of the performance and one which has a decent Sisters Of Mercy drum machine intro beat prior to Jade’s bass kicking in with the two guitars in harmony. This is another sexy tune and one which reminds me of the very first Soft Cell releases but with shouty vocals on top. Francis Pig have been a decent new find and I would seriously like to see them live again, and I know I’m not alone here as the punters gave them a rapturous applause after they had finished. I asked Alana if they had brought all their mates along when discussing the applause, and they hadn’t so this is very encouraging for the band. Catch their next show on Saturday 10th August at the Green Door Store supporting The Damn Shebang – Purchase your tickets HERE.
Francis Pig:
Alana Doyle – vocals, drum machine, tambourine
Henry Wickett Padgham – guitar, vocals
Jacob Newman – guitar
Jade Taaffe – bass, backing vocals
Francis Pig setlist:
‘Obscene Dream’
‘Like It Like You’
‘Erotomania’
‘Sex Talk’
‘Francy’
‘Daddy Said’
