VELVETINE + SWALLOWTAIL + LE LAMB – THE ROSSI BAR, BRIGHTON 17.7.25
The first show of an exciting new monthly collaboration between Hidden Herd and Parallel Lines took place at The Rossi Bar on Thursday. Kicking things off was an incredible line-up featuring Velvetine, and local Brighton based bands Swallowtail and Le Lamb.
Having released their debut EP ‘Wisteria’ the previous week (10th July), Velvetine promoted it by headlining at Brighton’s Rossi Bar as part of a mini tour. The London alternative post-rock band consists of Mia Scarlet (vocals), Ross Fernyhough (guitar), Josh Rowell (bass) and Nate Wicks (drums). By crafting a variety of influences, from post-punk to art-rock to shoegaze, the quartet create hauntingly cinematic walls of sound with gothic undertones. Introductions done, onto Thursday night’s performance.
Velvetine opened with the stark brooding bassline of ‘Miss Together’, and Mia’s poignant vocals. Without warning a burst of noise turned the song on its head. The back-and-forth changes between loud quiet were taken to the extreme on this wonderfully structured song. As a wall of noise built later, Mia’s vocals effortlessly adjusted to the pace and noise levels. This was a key feature throughout Velvetine’s enthralling set.
Nate’s dynamic drums kicked off the next track ‘Downhill’ which built to another impressive soundscape. Josh’s bassline was an instant hook to start ‘Underneath’. It had a softer start with Mia singing to just the bass initially. After an interesting poppier interval mid-song, it built back up with a rockier feel, before dropping back. As with many songs in Velvetine’s set, it showcased how they change direction within their songs and soundscapes.
There was a change for ‘Never Motion’ which at the start had the feel of a haunting Julee Cruse song with the volume turned up, and could have fitted into the ‘Twin Peaks’ soundtrack. There was a cinematic feel across Velvetine’s sound. At the start of ‘Never Motion’, there was more space for Mia’s vocals. While later in the song, it exploded, when she dropped suddenly to her knees as if she was conducting the band to shift up several gears.
The strumming of Ross’s guitar starting ‘Just This One’ was a different style again. The song overall had more of a lighter indie rock feel. Earlier in the set Mia stood motionless often looking at the floor during the instrumental parts, by this stage, she had become much more animated, dancing along to the tunes.
After a new untitled song with a funkier feel especially on the drums, there was a change on ‘Penumbra’ with its increased use of effects. Mia spent parts of this short song crouched down, singing while working the technology at her feet. At times her vocals were a whisper, which worked well with the electronic effects and Nate’s soft drums.
Velvetine closed with the song ‘Ecstasy’, which had more of an alt-rock feel to its soundscape. Mia’s vocals swapped between soft emotional singing and spoken word to good effect on this song. Later as the tune built, she easily matched the music as she held some impressive long notes. A great way to close a top quality and captivating performance from Velvetine.
Velvetine:
Mia Scarlet – vocals
Ross Fernyhough – guitar
Josh Rowell – bass
Nate Wicks – drums
Velvetine setlist:
‘Miss Together’ (from 2025 ‘Wisteria’ EP)
‘Downhill’ (unreleased)
‘Underneath’ (from 2025 ‘Wisteria’ EP)
‘Never Motion’ (unreleased)
‘Just This Once’ (from 2025 ‘Wisteria’ EP)
‘Untitled’ (unreleased)
‘Penumbra’ (from 2025 ‘Wisteria’ EP)
‘Ecstasy’ (from 2025 ‘Wisteria’ EP)
The second band on were Brighton-based shoegazers Swallowtail, who create elegantly gritty soundscapes. The band are Katie Prescott (vocals, guitar), Caleb Ryde (guitar), Drew Vickerstaff (drums) and Fred Ford (bass).
Swallowtail’s opening number ‘Dream It Off’ started with a loud soundscape of pounding drums and a guitar played with a violin bow, over which were Katie’s strong otherworldly vocals. On this and other songs, scattered amongst their soundscapes were bursts of noise either from the drums or screeching guitars.
While many bands include quiet parts to accommodate the vocals, Katie’s voice sat comfortably without the need for its own space among the band’s noise levels. The range and quality of her vocals were impressive from quieter reflective parts to loud shouted ones.
Their second song ‘Vega Burns’ started with Drew’s brilliant drumming. As the song built there was some very notable fast bass lines from Fred, matching the speed of Drew’s drums and Caleb’s guitar. ‘The Bathe’ had a new wave sound with influences of Siouxsie and The Banshees and Public Image Limited. ‘Drift’ started with the softer side of Katie’s vocals, which worked well with the rockier sound. With one of Fred’s bass strings snapping during that song, Katie added afterwards “You need to come to another show to hear the end of ‘Drift’”. Based on their performance, I think many at The Rossi Bar will be looking forward to seeing Swallowtail again.
With a bass borrowed from Velvetine, ‘Strip Tease’ had a more gothic feel, matched by Katie’s haunting vocals. The fast drumming and screeching guitars returned on the aptly titled ‘Squeel’. Swallowtail closed another impressive show with ‘Thin’. Celeb’s violin bow was back for the stark opening, while there were choral notes to Katie’s voice. This cleverly constructed song built, faded back to a few lines of a solo vocal, before the pace and volume picked up as Katie’s vocals quickened and turned to shouting. A great end to a quality set.
There is an old proverb “one swallow doesn’t make a summer”. After also seeing them play the previous night supporting Moon Idle (Review HERE), the maxim could be altered to “two Swallowtail performances make a very good week of live music”. With a better balance between the vocals and music, Swallowtail were, for me, even better the second time around.
Swallowtail:
Katie Prescott – vocals, guitar
Caleb Ryde – guitar
Drew Vickerstaff – drums
Fred Ford – bass
Swallowtail setlist:
‘Dream It Off’ (unreleased)
‘Vega Burns’ (from 2025 ‘Seesaw’ EP)
‘The Bathe’ (unreleased)
‘Armet’ (unreleased)
‘Drift’ (a 2025 single & from 2025 ‘Seesaw’ EP)
‘Strip Tease’ (unreleased)
‘Squeel’ (unreleased)
‘Thin’ (unreleased)
Opening the evening’s entertainment was mysterious art-rock newcomers Le Lamb, who offer a psychedelic experience like no other. The Brighton five-piece are Mia Mottier (singer), Jeric Harding-Barns, Emmanouil Lekkos (both guitarists), Elliot Vickers (drummer) and Jeremy Thurgood (bassist).
The band started with four of the five members on stage before singer Mia made her dramatic entrance. Equally dramatic was her woolly outfit, dressed as a seductive lamb with a ram’s skull as a headpiece. Onto the music, I thought that their strong opening number could easily have been a theme tune for a ‘Bond’ movie, even before I learnt its title was ‘Bonds Girl’. Mia’s strong vocals had a touch of French psychedelia about them, which added to the James Bond cinematic feel.
After that first song Mia’s lamb-like bleating was echoed by the band’s fans. This appears to have become a ritual at Le Lamb gigs and added to the quirkiness of their live show.
Mia’s vocals had touches of Dame Shirley Bassey in their delivery. As well as her striking sheep’s costume, Mia had very theatrical flamboyant poses and movements during her performance. During one song it was like a clockwork toy, imagine the music box dance scene in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, if I’m not overdoing the film references. Mia’s extravagant movements on stage was probably not the reason why one of the guitarists entered the audience to play in the band’s second song ‘Healing’, but may have been why he played much of the set off to the side of the stage area.
Mia’s captivating stage presence went up a level on ‘Siren’s Call’ when she engaged directly with individuals in the audience as if singing “clip clop” to each person in turn.
There was a strong psychedelic, prog rock sound that ran through their set, with some very impressive instrumental breaks. The song ‘Sexy Suicide’ had hints of ‘Music To Watch Girls By’ made famous by Andy Williams.
Le Lamb have been described as “refreshingly odd”, which perfectly sums up their uniquely entertaining opening set at The Rossi Baaaaaar.
Le Lamb:
Mia Mottier – vocals
Jeric Harding-Barns – guitar
Emmanouil Lekkos – guitar
Elliot Vickers – drums
Jeremy Thurgood – bass
Le Lamb setlist:
‘Bonds Girl’ (unreleased)
‘Healing’ (unreleased)
‘Sexy Suicide’ (unreleased)
‘Sirens Call’ (a 2025 single)
‘Boy Unnamed’ (unreleased)
The second Hidden Herd x Parallel Lines event will feature Cosmorat and Kate Peaches back at The Rossi Bar on Thursday 21st August, tickets HERE.
