BLACKOUT PROBLEMS + LAKE MALICE – MANCHESTER STREET ARTS CLUB, BRIGHTON 8.11.24
On a chilly Friday on November 8th, I went down to Manchester Street Arts Club (the venue formerly known as Latest Music Bar). My purpose: to catch the Brighton tour-date of German electro-rock band Blackout Problems, with locally formed act Lake Malice supporting.
The venue is in a basement underneath Kemp Town, which has recently been done up. Despite the makeover it still gives old theatre vibes: a large and dingy stage, behind which I can tell you is a labyrinthine set of corridors leading to green rooms, costume storage, and – as of when I explored it a few years ago – the creepiest bathroom I’ve ever seen.
Support for the night comes from Brighton-formed band Lake Malice, an alt-metal duo comprised of Alice Guala on vocals and Blake Cornwall on guitar. For this tour, they’re joined by Emily Ainger on drums and sample pad.
I’ve heard great things about Lake Malice before, and they absolutely live up to the hype. Despite the intimate venue and half-filled room at the beginning of their set, they come in with immediate energy; as soon as he’s out of the green room, guitarist Blake Cornwall is running and jumping around as if he’s in front of a crowd of thousands. Vocalist Alice Guala matches him: she’s straight up onto the blocks at the front of the stage, commanding the space entirely, and delivering some insane vocals both clean and harsh.
Despite having to deal with some sound issues at the beginning of the set, the band performs their hearts out – even as the sound engineer literally crawls around the back of the stage trying to fix whatever was broken. Guala and Cornwall are an animated and clearly well practised unit, with very impressive stage presence. It’s clear that the sky’s the limit for these two. The crowd are very responsive and do their best to match Lake Malice’s energy: Guala asks for a circle pit at one point, and she gets it, and then later achieves a little mosh pit too. While the crowd isn’t huge, they’re super responsive and obviously very passionate about the music.
Much as the whole set is great, the standout moment for me comes after track ‘Bloodbath’ when drummer Emily Ainger is given time to shine with a drum solo. She’s a killer player – very compelling to watch and listen to. Vocalist Guala seems to agree on this, because she walks offstage to watch from the crowd, before heading back for the next song.
It’s a really fun and impressive set from Lake Malice overall. They’re super entertaining to watch, very proficient players and performers, and the music is great. Their diary is looking promisingly busy next year, with slots at Slam Dunk Festival, 2000 Trees Festival, and Takedown Festival already announced. Take that as a sign that they’re absolutely not one to miss, and check them out next time they play Brighton!
Lake Malice:
Alice Guala – vocals
Blake Cornwall – guitar
Emily Ainger – drums, sample pad
Lake Malice setlist:
‘Black Turbine’ (from 2023 ‘Post-Genesis’ mini album)
‘Magic Square’ (a 2022 single)
‘Eternal December’ (a 2024 single)
‘Nobody Wants to Be You’ (unreleased)
‘Bloodbath’ (from 2023 ‘Post-Genesis’ mini album)
‘Mitsuko’ (drum solo intro) (from 2023 ‘Post-Genesis’ mini album)
‘Stop The Party’ (from 2023 ‘Post-Genesis’ mini album)
‘Blossom’ (from 2023 ‘Post-Genesis’ mini album)
Tonight’s headline performance comes from electro-rock act Blackout Problems, who have come all the way from Munich, Germany. The band is formed of frontman Mario Radetzky, Marcus Schwarzbach on bass, and Moritz Hammrich on lead guitar.
This is the band’s first headlining UK tour, and they’re bringing the energy to reflect that: all three members come on stage full of energy, jumping and dancing around the space, echoing Lake Malice guitarist Blake Cornwall’s antics. Blackout Problems come interestingly dressed – with bassist Schwarzbach’s bedazzled tracksuit pants being particularly notable. The band are clearly as excited for their set as the fans in the crowd are, bringing great vibes from the beginning.
The set begins at a high and exuberant pace with the track ‘DNA’, which sets the stage for the rest of the night. Blackout Problems takes the crowd on a dynamic journey throughout their set: ranging from the upbeat electro-pop rock of tracks like ‘TROUBLE’, to the heavier ‘Queen’, to the softer emo ‘STASH’. The band clearly pulls from a wide range of influences, from indie, to electronic, to hard rock, to weirdly an almost DnB feel in places.
Frontman Mario Radetzky is a standout in terms of stage presence and spectacle. He’s incredibly animated and uses the entire room as his stage – physically dangling from the ceiling, wandering across the entire room to sit on top of the bar (on a foldout chair he pulled out from I-do-not-know-where), and performing a guitar solo in the middle of a circle pit while stood on an up turned flight case. He’s a dynamic and charismatic performer, and you can’t help but be drawn to him.
The entire set has an unrelentingly fun feel to it. During ‘Puzzle’, bubble cannons are deployed to fill the entire room. In ‘Quicker Than Death’, Lake Malice come back onstage to jam. This makes sense as the two bands have recently released the song together as a collaborative single! The two bands have great chemistry, and vocalist Alice Guala’s voice works as a powerful and mutually complementary contrast to Radetzky’s. The following ‘Germany, Germany’ is a standout track of the set for me, with its dark-pop, almost dystopian feel, heading into heavy guitar driven rock.
Blackout Problems then ‘finish their set’, and leave the stage while a backing track of thunder and birdsong plays…before the calls of “one more song”, “two more songs”, and “three more songs” from the audience brings them straight back out. Radetzky informs the extremely happy crowd that the band will be playing not one, not two, not three, but four more songs.
The encore songs take a far more political edge, with Radetzky speaking about the results of the American election and drawing parallels to previous political movements in their native Germany – before singing a song with the refrain “Does voting for a fascist make you a fascist? Yes, yes, yes.”
They finish with the song ‘FUNERAL’, which I promise is more upbeat and emotive than it sounds. The night ends on a really positive note, with everybody feeling bonded, and the bands sweaty and happy.
Overall it was a really good show, and I had a ball! Both Blackout Problems and Lake Malice can be found on all streaming platforms, and are also currently touring up and down the country. It’s well worth getting down to a show if you can.
Blackout Problems:
Mario Radetzky – vocals, guitar
Marcus Schwarzbach – bass
Moritz Hammrich – lead guitar
Blackout Problems setlist:
(Intro tape ‘Trio’)
‘DNA’ (from 2024 ‘Riot’ album)
‘Whales’ (from 2024 ‘Riot’ album)
‘Trouble’ (from 2024 ‘Riot’ album)
‘Voodoo People – Pendulum Mix’ (The Prodigy cover) (Shortened with ‘How Should I Know’ Intro)
‘Brother’ (from 2021 ‘Dark’ album)
‘Queen’ (from 2018 ‘Kaos’ album)
‘Puzzle’ (from 2024 ‘Riot’ album)
‘Blackroom’ (from 2024 ‘Riot’ album)
‘Lady Earth’ (from 2021 ‘Dark’ album)
‘Darling’ (from 2021 ‘Dark’ album)
‘Quicker Than Death’ (with Lake Malice) (a 2024 single)
‘Stash’ (acoustic) (from 2024 ‘Riot’ album)
‘OnATrain’ (Mario with acoustic guitar) (from 2024 ‘Riot (Deluxe)’ album)
‘Germany, Germany’ (from 2021 ‘Dark’ album)
‘Sorry’ (a 2019 single)
‘TalkToMe (II)’ (from 2024 ‘Riot’ album)
(encore)
‘Murderer’ (from 2021 ‘Dark’ album)
‘Frontrow’ (Munich Warehouse download track)
‘Rome’ (a 2018 split single)
‘Funeral’ (from 2024 ‘Riot’ album)
