‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – ‘234 FEST’, GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 27-28.9.25
The Green Door Store music venue in Brighton have been supporting local grassroots music and night clubbing for fourteen years and this weekend they hosted their popular annual ‘234 Fest’, which featured no less than 20 bands performing across the two days. The free entry event is aimed at highlighting the plethora of exciting new up-and-coming local talent. It’s fair to say that the ‘234 Fest’ is just like a mini Great Escape new music festival, as the selected bands perform showcase sets to eager punters who are searching for the next big thing or who are simply out for a decent afternoon and evening entertainment. The festival takes its name from the Green Door Store’s location, which is Unit 2, 3, & 4 Trafalgar Arches, Lower Goods Yard, Brighton Train Station, Brighton, BN1 4FQ. And so without further ado, let’s get down to the action. The bands participating today are:
Sunday 28th September 2025:
HAD SANDY (14:00-14:30)
PSYCHIC & WELLBEING EVENT (15:00-15:30)
BONES ATE ARFA (16:00-16:30)
LEIBNIZ (17:00-17:30)
PROM (17:35-18:00)
HOW LONG YOU BEEN DRIVING (18:00-18:30)
AKU (19:00-19:30)
WIMP (20:00-20:30)
GAFFA TAPE SANDY (21:00-21:30)
CLT DRP (22:00-22:40)
Here’s our account of Day Two:
HAD SANDY (14:00-14:30)
Speaking to Jude the frontman, his music production project at university led him to be creative. He then recruited band members. Jude writes poetry and then adds the melodies. He’s been comparing his writing style over the years. It’s been a year since their first gig and they’ve been gaining recognition. Had Sandy is mainly emo with elements of rock and grunge. The twinkly guitar and keyboard adds a pause, a lightness and additional texture to surging vocals, guitars and drums. Tracks in the set include ‘In Between’ and ‘Miles Away’. The next live outing will be at The Folklore Rooms on Wednesday 8th October as a solo set.
(Rinee Sinharay)
PSYCHIC & WELLBEING EVENT (15:00-15:30)
Psychic & Wellbeing Event are a Brighton based 3 piece consisting of Eva on bass, Morgan on lead guitar and main vocals, and Tony on drums. Ava and Tony are also twins. They have been playing together for eight years. They describe themselves as “garbage truck”, “meat- machine” and “sludge pop” on their social media as they didn’t know how to place themselves. In more conventional terms they’re emo/grungy. Their local musical network are generally emo which shapes their music. Their previous influences have been the Arctic Monkeys and the Strokes. More recently their playlists include Great Grandpa, Daffo and Pinegrove which might be incorporated into their sound. Eva and Morgan’s vocals complement each other beautifully, adding a richness to their music, especially on the last track, ‘Uphill’. Their songs reflect break ups and more recently relationships with friends. Their tunes vary in pace and mood. There’s a summery, breeziness to some of their tracks such as ‘Patience/Mercy’ with contrasting mood in the lyrics. Look out for them doing more gigs.
(Rinee Sinharay)
BONES ATE ARFA (16:00-16:30)
Bones Ate Arfa is an alternative rock band composed of three members: Arthur, the bassist and lead singer; Sonny or Bones, the rhythm guitarist; and Herbie, also known as 8, the drummer. Bones Ate Arfa draws influences from bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Gorillaz, and Reuben, blending psychedelic rock, garage, street, and punk elements for a heavy, grungy feel with powerful vocals. The energy is similar to Nirvana. One of their standout moments in the live set was a song called ‘Just Bananas’, where the drummer creates a dramatic and quiet moment. Herbie took the cymbal off his drumkit and wandered into the crowd, gently hitting the percussion instrument. The crowd were enthralled. Arfa climbs the PA stack which very nearly ended in a mishap and Sonny crouched down. The only sounds are the cymbal and the reverb from his guitar before the song builds to a big finish. Another track, ‘Soda’, addresses Sonny’s journey of sobriety which seems to be embraced by the rest of the band as well. According to the band, songs express personal growth and the idea that lyrics act as a time capsule of their experiences which adds to the authenticity of their music. They also add their songs are about annoyances in life with a bit of goofiness thrown in. They continue to gain recognition from being on BBC Radio 6, Radio X and featured on Dork magazine. Muse and Fred Durst have also praised their music.
(Rinee Sinharay)
LEIBNIZ (17:00-17:30)
Our three piece ‘grungecore/queercore’ Leibniz, featuring Erin Munn (guitar and vocals), Elisha McKay (drums) and Kris Floate (bass) erupted with heavy riffage – teasing what was to come: intricate chaos, with drumming a little reminiscent of Zach Hill from Death Grips. They were able to weave different elements of genres interestingly, with their opening number having a metal breakdown, as well throughout their set having moments that sounded surprisingly nu metal but contrasted with a Kurt Cobain – almost Sonic Youth-esque – guitar tone. Sprinkled throughout their set was an array of half time switch ups, and key changes which added a lot of depth and ferocity to their performance. Lead singer Erin was badass – with unconfined brutal screaming that felt indicative of bands like the Wytches, and having been able to bounce back swiftly from an amp that gave up mid set by continuing on just the mic then following the track telling the audience “I feel really embarrassed about what just happened so lets party hard for my own self esteem”.
(Alison Lawrence)
PROM (17:35-18:00)
Another three piece – Alessandro Cogolo (guitar and vocals), Sam Allen (drums) and Jack Smith (bass) – self-described as ‘emocore’ – a genre that came from an in-joke about Ian MacKaye (Fugazi) hating the term and stating “emocore is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life”, which the drummer (Sam) found hilarious. They took the coveted bar stage set, where they encouraged members of the audience to dive off of the bar and “respectfully tear the room down”. The energy of the room was immaculate, with members of the crowd grabbing the microphone and singing, which really gave their performance such a community spirit. If you also don’t believe in emocore as a genre, I would have described their sound as pop-punk, with a strong hardcore undercurrent and grunge elements. If I was to be partial, I would say the energy there was something I had not experienced before – where they had cultivated a homely energy almost. Definitely would put this as one of my favourite performances – you just had to be there!
(Alison Lawrence)
HOW LONG YOU BEEN DRIVING (18:00-18:30)
How Long You Been Driving were absolutely insane from the get go. You can tell this cohort is trying to have as much fun as possible, proclaiming themselves ‘goofcore’ with their mathy/hardcore fusion hysteria. Every four bars of their songs changed drastically – with an example being their opening song, going into the sort of classic four-on-the-floor disco beat, to then blast beats and half time sludgey breakdowns – imagine clown core but in a metal font. The lead singer was incredibly animated, and had Alessandro from Prom join him on stage at one point in their set, with them both respectively screaming in different registers. I would be lying if I was to say my eardrums weren’t absolutely vibrating, but the musicianship and creativity you have to put into something so ambitious is undeniable.
linktr.ee/howlongyoubeendriving
(Alison Lawrence)
AKU (19:00-19:30)
Aku upended the vibe of all the acts before by starting their set with a recording of gameplay from the Pokémon franchise on a projector, introducing the set as “quiet reading time with your friends… at the show”. At this point, I had no idea what to expect, before they ripped into their first of many fiery hardcore punk tracks. The lead singer was a force on stage belting and screaming with unbridled emotion, endlessly entertaining to watch as he jumped up and down the stage. This band absolutely know their scene as I witnessed the biggest pit of two stepping of the night so far, using the set as an opportunity to let loose. If hardcore Brighton shows are your vibe, Aku are an absolute must-see!
(Alison Lawrence)
WIMP (20:00-20:30)
The baton now passes over to myself in order to round off this year’s 234 Fest. I arrive at the venue and it’s buzzing. I make my way through the curtain into the performance room and clearly the festival has been a success as the room oozes with the smell of dank sweat, and it’s not going to get any quieter as Brighton’s very own Wimp are up next. They dropped their 5-tune ‘Where The Flower Bloom’ EP in 2023, followed by the 4-track ‘Split’ EP last year. If you’ve heard Wimp then you will know that their sound is the polar opposite of being wimpy! Operating under the usual guitar and vox, drums, bass and vox, and guitar format, the guys exploded into a loud, meaty head bobbing grungey punk sound and was mosh central. Immediately the frontman encourages everyone to squash up nearer to the stage so that everyone can get in! It’s an in-yer-face atmosphere as the room is littered with many young folk (mostly in black) who are here to have a great time and absorb Wimp’s gritty grunge. The vocals are raspy shouty ones which compliments the music which fans of Nirvana and Green Day would certainly love. It was pleasing for the band to big up the bar staff and to respect them! Suffice to say this was a wild fest energy set with five stage diving crowd servers the highlight.
www.instagram.com/simp_for_wimp
(Nick Linazasoro)
GAFFA TAPE SANDY (21:00-21:30)
The penultimate band for this year’s 234 Fest were Bury St. Edmunds import Gaffa Tape Sandy who I last witnessed only a few weeks ago at the excellent ‘DEDFest’ (Reviews HERE). Kim Jarvis, bassist and vocalist Catherine Lindley-Neilson, along with drummer Robin Francis. Clearly the crowd love this now Brighton based band as you can feel the positivity in the air, that is until the conclusion of the opening number, ‘Body In The Water’, the first track from their current ‘Hold My Hand, God Damn It’ album, when Kim informs us that he’s cut his finger! You know what they say “The show must go on!” and indeed it does, the longer they play, the more blood trickles down his guitar, the guy is suffering for his art! Gaffa Tape Sandy aren’t as raucous as Wimp but they do offer up melodicly raw indie rock with true punk edged overtones. Of particular note are alternate, shared and doubled vocals from Catherine and Kim, who (literally) feels every note as he strums away. Other cuts from the latest album that were on offer tonight were ‘Scrapbook’, ‘Medicine’, ‘Dead To Me’, ‘Energy’ and the solid rocker that is ‘Split’ as well as I believe a couple of unreleased tunes, ‘Arcade’ and ‘Homewaiting’, plus ‘Kill The Chord’ from 2019’s ‘Family Mammal’ album.
(Nick Linazasoro)
CLT DRP (22:00-22:40)
Rounding off this year’s 234 Fest are Toronto born Annie Dorrett (vocals), plus Scott Reynolds (guitar & bass) and Daphne Koskeridou (drums & Roland drumpads), who collectively are CLT DRP, who are a rather well known act in these parts as well as further afield. If ever there was a band that were required to sign off a festival in true style then CLT DRP are the answer. Their music is so “now” in that it expertly blends and mashes up sounds from across the musical spectrum, with no two tunes sounding the same. The material can be off-kilter where rap, metal, and rock styles blend and you can also throw in Prodigy and Alter 8 heavy dance styles into the mix, and Skunk Anansie also somehow springs to mind. Interestingly Scott has I would suggest the biggest collection of foot-pedals at 234 Fest, and as a result his guitar really doesn’t actually ever sound like one, it’s as though he’s created a new different bass infused instrument. Daphne certainly goes ten-to-the-dozen when required and Annie is a wonderful frontperson who is continually engaging with the packed room. Her vocal deliveries are often shouty spoken ones, but she also certainly has the ability to belt out the lines when required. All of CLT CRP’s material is intense in one way or another, and they are a tight unit who honestly really deserve to be bigger than they actually are! Their final number was a speedy affair which sent punters into overdrive as they merrily danced and bounced around, what a way to end! It’s 10:50pm and that’s our lot for 2025’s 234 Fest. I wonder who will be on the bill next year?
(Nick Linazasoro)
Check out a different set of 234 Fest photos on our sister website HERE.
See our reviews of 234 Fest Day One HERE.
