SHADY BABY + SWAN DEEP + SUPERCOLLIDER – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 7.8.25
Festival season may be upon us and gigs a little thin on the ground, but tonight the heavens have opened and rained down three fine quality Brighton bands for our audio pleasure. I really shouldn’t be out on a school night, let alone a school night before I go on holiday, but whenever Shady Baby pop up (which is never often enough for me), I just had to get myself down to legendary Green Door Store for my sonic kicks.
Supercollider (20:00pm – 20:30pm)
Supercollider are a four piece rock band from Brighton. Totally new on me and I’ve not been able to find out much about them in advance aside that they played at the Brunswick last August.
At 8pm with no alert or fanfare, sound burst out from the main room and I quickly legged it into what became a fast packed room, the band were already playing ‘Correct’, what an opener that was, full bloodied and oozing guitars. ‘Hollow’ came next, this one much like the first was sung by bass player Will Potter, this one had a long and enjoyable instrumental spell.
‘Brighter Days’ followed, Sean McNally’s drumming was sublime and beefy, it really reminded me of Tony McCarroll’s early Oasis era. Vocalist Will’s vocals are not so soft, more throaty, but they fit the music perfectly. Lots of screams and shouts of “Collllliiiider” and “We love you Will” rang out at the end from various sections of the crowd, obviously some of the fans here are already in the know. ‘Malaise’ came next, a slow stomper of a song sung by Will in quite a melancholic style, the slow march of Sean’s drums, the wall of guitar from Roald Holt and Daniel Lambert, it really stomped.
“I’m going to do a few songs now” said Roald as the band took us into ‘Cherry Jar’, another song with soaring guitars and those magnificent drums. Roald’s singing style was fairly similar to Will’s but more throaty and rocky. The ‘we love you’ crowd name checked guitarist Daniel Lambert at the end of this one, he’d not massively looked up throughout the set, concentrating firmly on his guitar whilst wearing his shades, but he gave an appreciative little wave back.
With Roald still on vocals we were treated to a new unnamed song next and the final song ‘Sour & Citrus’, both of which had the crowd bustling about.
The band’s sound is what I would describe as full wall of sound; they made it sound like there were so many guitars, incredibly tight and very well-rehearsed. There was no real dialogue or chat; they let the music do the talking. There was nothing rough around the edges with this band, this truly was 30 minutes of being hit full force with a stadium rock feel, raw and powerful, uplifting and anthemic. Whilst I hate to compare band sounds, they did have that early Oasis guitar and drums sound. How the heck had I not heard them before I don’t know, but god please let them play again soon, very much a band to watch and what a way to start the evening.
Supercollider:
Roald Holt – guitar & vocals
Will Potter – bass & vocals
Daniel Lambert – guitar
Sean McNally – drums
Supercollider setlist:
‘Correct’
‘Hollow’
‘Brighter Days’
‘Malaise’
‘Cherry Jar’
‘New Song’
‘Sour & Citrus’
www.instagram.com/supercollider_band
Swan Deep (21:00pm – 21:30pm)
Second on the bill for the night’s entertainment came in the form of Brighton band Swan Deep, another new band on me. I have read that they are a four piece, however tonight they are a three, consisting of lead singer James O’Brien on guitar, Esme Wright on drums and George Lauppin on bass.
After some soundchecking the band went straight in with the slow paced ‘Daughters’, a good solid amount of noise was coming from the trio, however I noted James vocal style is quite melancholic, rather like Radiohead in delivery.
James calmly addressed the crowd “Thanks for coming out, all of you step forward” beckoning everyone to get closer to the stage rather than standing so far back. He introduced the next song ‘Everything Is In Motion’, again James vocals are not in your face, they are quite low key almost secondary to the instruments. Drummer Esme went through a range of drumming styles from slow to quite frantic during this one.
‘Through A Ripped Seam’ followed, starting slow, but again those drums picked up pace and we had some gorgeous guitar spells with James who at some points was bent right over giving it his all.
After a quick thank you to the Green Door Store, James informed us they have some new singles coming soon and the next song ‘On Fire’ is one of them. I really liked this one, it was a little more up-tempo and had a gorgeous bass line running through it from George.
The final two songs of the set were ‘Toy Cars’ and ‘I’m Not Here’ both of these were great songs, but back to the slower vibe. At the end James mentioned that the band would be taking a break from live tour dates and getting into the studio for a while and then once again thanked everyone for coming.
It was a great 25 minute set from Swan Deep, perhaps a little too slow and downbeat after the full on guitar frenzy of the earlier band in the evening. Vocalist James came across super calm and quiet, perhaps not relishing being the vocal point and wanting to stick to just the music with no banter or chat. I have heard that they do play as four piece and that set can involve a moded telephone microphone along with saxophone, so I feel I’ve not really seen the full stretch of the band here this evening, saying that, I enjoyed what I heard and look forward to seeing what comes from the studio with the band.
Swan Deep:
James O’Brien – vocals, guitar
Esme Wright – drums
George Lauppin – bass
Swan Deep setlist:
‘Daughters’
‘Everything Is In Motion’
‘Through A Ripped Seam’
‘On Fire’
‘Toy Cars’
‘I’m Not Here’
Shady Baby (21:50pm – 22:35pm)
Our headliner tonight is Shady Baby, a fine Brighton band I have had the pleasure of catching numerous times across this fair city, not only here at the Green Door Store, but at The Hope & Ruin and Daltons to name but a few of those places. After a quieter spell last year, the band helmed by lead vocalist and guitarist Sam Leaver, have re-emerged this year with a new line up and have mostly being playing as a three piece, but tonight the four piece is once again set in stone, we now have George Campbell joining on bass guitar with former bass player Sam Dembo switching to the 6 strings and bringing the guitar noise, the band are rounded off with James Devine on drums.
It has been an exciting year for the band, a new direction, gigs in New York and more new music coming out, tonight’s gig being a celebration of the release of their latest single ‘Under Duress’.
So let’s get into how the evening unfolded. It had been mentioned in advance the band were coming on at 10pm, however what I thought was sound checking at 9:50pm in reality was the set starting, so I hastily ran down to the front to get a ringside view. The opening two songs were the double whammy of their 2022 debut double A side single ‘Lonely Town’ and ‘Come To Life’ both staples of all Shady Baby sets and full on bangers, I still love ‘Come To Life’ as much as the first time I heard it 3 years ago, having this with 4 members of the band is the way it’s meant to be heard.
A big applause followed with Sam addressing the crowd, “We are Shady Baby, thanks for coming down” and they took us into a more recent but yet unreleased song called ‘Surrender’, I’ve heard this one before in their live sets, a slightly more mellow vibe, but a really bass driven song, lest we forget the crashing cymbals and soaring guitar.
“How’s everyone doing, thanks for coming down” repeated Sam as the band kicked into ‘Feel It’ a song that eventually got its proper single release in October 2024, but has been a staple in their set since 2022. Every time I hear it, it just sounds more and more honed and perfected, frantic, heavy with Sam’s snarling delivery of “Feeeeeeeeel” giving it that extra edge.
Sam enquired “Everyone still with us?… good, as we’ve got a few more for you to hear, this next one we are going to play a little bit different to how we usually play it”. The song was the 2023 single ‘All Too Late’, I must confess I really liked this altered version of the song, the single release was fast and rocky, this version has a slower pace, but it’s really measured, it felt like the mature grown up adult perhaps compared to the unruly teenager of old. I wonder if perhaps it’s the change in band personel since the single was originally released that has birthed this excellent new version.
After some quick guitar swaps, shirt removals by drummer James and guitarist Sam Dembo, then some shout outs to the supporting bands, we were treated to the brand new single ‘Under Duress’, an excellent song and one that showcases the new direction the band are taking, a slower pace, but still solid thick layers of guitar, lovely stuff indeed.
Next came a new unnamed song simply known as “New One”, it was one that required a good guitar retune before getting underway, Sam asked us to sing along if wanted too. I really liked this one, fast tempo drums, a wicked bassline and some lovely guitar riffs from Sam Dembo, it had me bouncing along throughout, a quality song, and I’d go as far as to say my favourite in the set.
Sam informed us “We’ve got two more songs left for you, I’ve just got to tune this bloody thing” referring to his guitar, he then continued “We’ve got an open vacancy if anyone wants to be our guitar tech, we can pay you in the little stubby beers we get on the rider, they can all go to you”. The first of the two was the October 2024 single ‘Held In’, another of my favourites, such a strong song, one so strong KEXP played twice back to back on their radio show when it debuted. It has the deepest of basslines, like a pulsing engine, and the guitars get heavier and heavier, okay okay, maybe this is my favourite of the set. The final song of the evening was the unreleased ‘A Simple Life’, another excellent song, heavier with some different styled lyric delivery from Sam, a perfect end to the 45 minute set.
Tonight really was a great night, a stupidly cheap £4 on the door, that’s less than a pint of beer for 3 bloody excellent bands. It was great to see Shady Baby headline and hear more of their upcoming output which embodies the newer path being trod. It has been great to hear and see some of these songs evolve over the past 3 years. I am sure there will be a new EP soon, but I’d kill for a full album. Sadly there are no other live dates currently announced, but you should most definitely go and check out their brand spanking new single ‘Under Duress’ today.
Shady Baby:
Sam Leaver – vocals, guitar
James Devine – drums
George Campbell – bass
Sam Dembo – guitar
Shady Baby setlist:
‘Lonely Town’ (from 2022 ‘Come To Life’/’Lonely Town’ double A side single)
‘Come To Life’ (from 2022 ‘Come To Life’/’Lonely Town’ double A side single)
‘Surrender’ (unreleased)
‘Feel It’ (a 2024 single)
‘All Too Late’ (a 2023 single)
‘Under Duress’ (a 2025 single)
“New One” (unreleased)
‘Held In’ (a 2024 single)
‘A Simple Life’ (unreleased)
