MURPHY’S MEDICINE + CLUB MAGIC – ALPHABET, BRIGHTON 25.9.25
Murphy’s Medicine are a new band on the Brighton circuit. Some of their line-up also currently play in other bands. Adam Bell (vocals/lead guitar) and Alan Odgers (drums) both play in cult bands Fruity Water and Octopuses, while Tom Chadd (bass) is a member of Seadog. Adam was also previously with Foxes. They are joined by Adam’s partner Amy Charlton (vocals/keyboards) and Alan’s partner Gem D’Souza (vocals/guitar). They played their first gig together at The Bees Mouth in Western Road, Hove back in March and have gone on to play three other shows since, two of those were in May, at The Rossi Bar in Queens Road, then at Hotel Pelirocco in Regency Square as part of one of the unofficial alternative Great Escape shows. Their other performance was in London in July.
Despite having only played four previous shows together, Murphy’s Medicine have already released their debut single, ‘Feathers’, a song Adam and Amy wrote together when they first started going out. The single was released on 12th September, and tonight’s show at Alphabet in Dyke Road is the single launch show and is part of a new grassroots series of gigs from Spaghetti Promotions that showcases emerging bands from across the city. ‘Feathers’ sounds great, and it’s no surprise, seeing as it was recorded, mixed, and produced at 17B Studios, Brighton, by Michelle Hindriks (founder and singer in the band Ciel) and mastered by Katie Tavini. For those that are unaware, Katie has previously used her mastering engineering skills for top acts such as Emeli Sande, Arlo Parks, Nadine Shah, Echobelly, and Ash, amongst others.
Over the past three years, I’ve attended many gigs in Brighton. I usually drive down from my hometown of Crawley and have been really lucky with the traffic, but unfortunately, tonight my usual 35-40 minute journey was extended by over an hour due to an accident and further vehicle breakdowns on the A23. This meant I missed the majority of the support act, Club Magic, set. This was a real shame, as for the few minutes I did hear and see from them, they sounded very good. They have a groovy and trippy sound. I will look out for them in future and hopefully catch them some other time. Their next Brighton appearance will be at the ‘Fear & Loathing’ event which is taking at Brighton Electric on Friday 24th October. Further details and tickets are available HERE.
The venue was packed on my later arrival, but once Club Magic had finished off their set, I was able to make my way down to the front near the stage. During the changeover between bands, a ring doorbell video appeared on the screen at the back of the stage. This was showing a live recording from earlier in the week of a bedroom. Most of the screen was taken up by a bed covered with a white duvet. As Murphy’s Medicine took to the stage at 9:12pm to applause from the audience, a cat appeared on the bed. This is Murphy. During tonight’s performance, the feline remains on the bed with not a lot of movement. It feels as if he’s just relaxing and listening to the performance we are witnessing in the venue.
After a “hello” and “hi everybody” from Adam, Murphy’s Medicine perform their opening song which is titled ‘Chair Man’. This is a poppy song with Amy taking the lead vocals and Adam joining in with some harmony. Amy’s soft vocal tones continue for the second song ‘Takeaway Man’. The distinctive vocal styles of Amy and Adam complement each other well throughout the set, whether taking turns in the song lyrics or harmonising. Adam has an idea for the audience to participate in a conga chain for the next song which is titled ‘Rat Song’. Around a dozen people take up the offer as they weave around the room. I notice Gem also adds vocals to this song. Unfortunately, the venue’s lighting is pretty poor for band members standing at the sides of the stage and drummer Alan at the back, with spotlights only featured on the two central band members (Amy and Adam).
For the fourth song (another one with man in the title), ‘Abandoned Man’, Adam dedicates it to his dad as it’s his birthday. There are cheers in the audience, but then a few boos when Adam reveals “he’s not here, he’s in London”. Adam then lets us know “he feels abandoned”. Moving on, Adam starts the song with a guitar riff and takes the vocal lead with Amy joining in later. After the song, Adam says “happy birthday Dad” and then tells us that we have Gem on vocals for the next one. Unfortunately, Gem’s microphone appears to be turned down too low for ‘Strangers’ so the guitars drown out her soft vocals. Despite this, there is some decent guitar work from Adam on the song. The next track is an interesting one. It’s ’Slinky’ and it’s about the popular metal sprung coiled toy of the same name. It’s a more upbeat song with Adam and Amy switching positions for the start of the song as Adam takes over on keyboards. As the song draws to a close, Adam and Amy switch back with both playing guitar as the song closes.
Although most songs in the set have a similar style to them, track seven ‘Meat’ is more guitar-driven and adds a bit of variety. The next one is called ‘Alan’ and there’s no surprise when it is dedicated to someone in the audience named Alan, although it’s also dedicated to Amy’s mum. Adam’s guitar work on this one has an early 60s Hank Marvin/Shadows style to it. He then asks if everyone is enjoying their performance so far and continues with “this song is about us, it’s called ‘Murphy’s Medicine’”. It includes the repeated lyrics “we are Murphy’s Medicine, we don’t know where we’ve been, we don’t know what we’ve seen”. Alan then asks if everyone has heard their single. They then play the catchy ‘Feathers’. There is plenty of applause once it’s played, with the live version sounding very similar to the recorded version. The final song of the set is ‘Government Say’ with Amy on lead vocals. The second half of this song is guitar and drums-driven without vocals until right at the end when there is some harmony between Amy, Adam, and Gem.
So, that’s it. A 50-minute set comprising 11 new songs. Overall, the set was quite pleasing and I would recommend Murphy’s Medicine to anyone that likes good catchy melodic music, especially if you are a fan of The Pastels and/or Belle and Sebastian.
Murphy’s Medicine:
Amy Charlton – vocals/keyboards
Adam Bell – vocals/guitar
Alan Odgers – drums
Gem D’Souza – vocals/guitars
Tom Chadd – bass
Murphy’s Medicine setlist:
‘Chair Man’ (unreleased)
‘Takeaway Man’ (unreleased)
‘Rat Song’ (unreleased)
‘Abandoned Man’ (unreleased)
‘Strangers’ (unreleased)
‘Slinky’ (unreleased)
‘Meat’ (unreleased)
‘Alan’ (unreleased)
‘Murphy’s Medicine’ (unreleased)
‘Feathers’ (a 2025 Single)
‘Government Spy’ (unreleased)
www.instagram.com/murphysmedicineband
Elliott and Grace from The Stanford Family Band were on DJing duties during the evening.
The next Spagetti Promotions show is on Friday 19th December. White Magic For Lovers will be headlining with support from J. Josephine. Tickets available HERE.
