THE WANTS + DEBDEPAN – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 30.9.25
New York City ‘No Wave’ band The Wants were headlining at Brighton’s Green Door Store this evening courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour promoters, as part of their “EU & UK Fall tour”, which has already witnessed the trio of Madison Velding-VanDam (lead vocals, guitar), Jason Gates (drums) and Yasmin Haddad (keys, bass, backing vocals), calling in at Berlin, Copenhagen, Aalborg, Ramsgate, Todmorden, Bristol, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester and London. After this evening they will be heading off to Paris, and then Kusel, Busto Arsizio, Bratislava, Zagreb, Sofia, and finally Bucharest, which all sounds very exotic doesn’t it?
Madison Velding-VanDam and Jason Gates first met in the Brooklyn music scene in 2014 and formed The Wants in 2016. They started playing shows in the New York City underground music scene, and from there they began recording and touring. They signed with the London-based record label Council Records, an imprint of Johnny Greenwood’s Octatonic label. In 2019 The Wants played ‘SXSW’ and then a trio of sets for ‘The Great Escape’ (Shortt’s Bar 9th May, East Street Tap 10th May and The Sidewinder 11th May), followed by a series of short tours in France and the UK (including a gig at The Hope & Ruin on 18th September), in the lead-up to the release of their debut album, ‘Container’ which was released on 13th March 2020.
Their touring cycle for ‘Container’ was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Nevertheless, the record received critical acclaim from outlets like NME and Mojo and has maintained an organic listenership.During this downtime, The Wants worked on what would become ‘Bastard’, their second album, which eventually dropped on Friday 13th June this year on STTT – Check it out HERE.
The Wants have opened for Nation of Language and have shared the stage with notable acts like Dry Cleaning, Bambara, Bodega, Lithics, Working Men’s Club, Model/Actress, Public Practice, Xeno & Oaklander, and others.
Interestingly, Madison Velding-VanDam was the guitarist in New York post punk outfit Bodega, who it is said got their name from the term used for small corner shops in New York City. The Wants sees Madison as very much the frontman of the unit this evening during their 62 minute 16 tune set which ran from 9:16pm to 10:18pm. The trio, all clad in black, are heartily welcomed by the mixed-aged punters, with tall-slender Madison to our left (stage right) on Reverend guitar and lead vocals, Jason behind the drumkit complete with Roland drumpads (centre stage) and Yasmin to our right (stage left) taking care of Fender Jazz bass guitar, Sequential synth, electronics (including SoMa unit) and backing vocals.
They kick off with ‘Explosions’ from the new ‘Bastard’ album with its deep keys intro beat, off-filter drumming and Justin Warfield (She Wants Revenge) style vocal delivery. Tonight is very much about this new release with no less than ten of the eleven tunes being given an outing. Although ‘Cruel’ was showing on their setlist, it had been crossed through and thus omitted. Madison states that it’s been five years since they were last in Britain, as to indicate that they don’t come here very often, so let’s all really go for it! I notice that Jason has ditched his shoes in order to play the drums in his socks, and I also spy that he holds the drumstick in his left hand backwards, thus he is holding the thinner end in his hand, whereas the one in his right hand is held in normal fashion.
Selection two is ‘87 Gas’ from the same LP and this sees Yasmin switch from keys to bass guitar, and this has a gothish post punk vibe and reminds me of UK Decay. There’s off-filter drums again as well as rumbly bass, as the track builds into a crescendo. They then move across to the title track of their debut long-player, ‘Container’, which sees the slender Madison in Wilko Johnson/David Byrne animated movement styles, just like the official video of the song. As far as I can recall, this was the first tune I ever heard from the band and it certainly grabbed my attention, and not surprisingly this evening it’s one of the set highlights for me, with its guitar,keys and lyrical earworm beat..”Watch it, pull it apart; Can it fit in a container?; Smash it, pull it into your heart….”.
The trio then perform seven straight tracks from the new LP, with the first of these being ‘Disposable Man’, with Yasmin back on the keys, and Madison again sounding like Justin Warfield. The Teardrop Explodes spring to mind here. There’s some chunky bass and solid drum action for ‘Lover Sister Mother’, after which they play ‘Too Tight’ which is a drumming led number with a particularly hypnotic talky vocal delivery from Madison as he lets rip with the Wilko Johnson action. This tune grows in intensity the longer it goes on and all the better for it.
‘All Comes At Once’ is their next selection which sees Madison turning the volume up and down on his guitar amp to great effect. There’s a lot going on in this one, with many layers of sound built around the drumbeat. They segue straight into ‘Void Meets Concrete’ which sees some guitar shaking action, plus great use of the SoMa electronic unit by Yasmin, which gives off bleeps. They skipped past ‘Cruel’ and visited ‘Feeling Alright’ with its standout line “satisfaction’s something you can’t taste”. The drums and keys worked rather well on this track. ‘Data Tumor’ came next and was another set highlight, with lanky Madison moving around as though his guitar is actually an appendage of his body.
‘The Motor’ from their ‘Container’ album came next and this is their funkiest tune thus far, with its repeated guitar pattern, rumbly bass and sharp drumbeats. It builds in its intensity and I sense a small similarity to Killing Joke’s ‘Follow The Leaders’ the longer the track goes on for, plus Madison is his most animated here, thus it’s the track of the set for me! It’s back to the latest album with ‘No Need’ with its Sequential keys at their best, and the double hit bass drum and Roland drumpads working in harmony, to which we get the often repeated line “Island of cells”. After this the trio put their instruments down and almost appeared to be leaving us, but we weren’t having any of it!
Thus we received four encore tunes which are all culled from their debut platter, the first being the brief ‘Ramp’ with its kickdrum and cymbal combo action, and solid guitar interplay. The Cure-esque ‘Fear My Society’ with its twangy guitar was offloaded, then came the circa 70 seconds ‘Waiting Room’ with its kickdrum and Roland drumpad interplay, which segued straight into ‘Clearly A Crisis’ with its guitar amp twiddling and foot-pedal action, Gang Of Four spring to mind. The beat really gets going half way through and we are in funky PiL territory, until its abrupt ending and that was our lot. Clearly the performance had been a success judging by the amount of merch that was shifting and the many folk wishing to grab a few words with the players. Hopefully they won’t leave it another 5 years until they come back!
The Wants:
Madison Velding-VanDam – lead vocals, guitar
Jason Gates – drums
Yasmin Haddad – keys, bass, backing vocals
The Wants setlist:
‘Explosions’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘87 Gas’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘Container’ (from 2020 ‘Container’ album)
‘Disposable Man’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘Lover Sister Mother’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘Too Tight’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘All Comes At Once’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘Void Meets Concrete’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘Feeling Alright’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘Data Tumor’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘The Motor’ (from 2020 ‘Container’ album)
‘No Need’ (from 2025 ‘Bastard’ album)
‘Ramp’ (from 2020 ‘Container’ album)
‘Fear My Society’ (from 2020 ‘Container’ album)
‘Waiting Room’ (from 2020 ‘Container’ album)
‘Clearly A Crisis’ (from 2020 ‘Container’ album)
Debdepan (stylized in lower case) are a female duo from Margate comprising Chelsea Tolhurst and Grace Bontoft, who started the project back in March 2022 after writing together during lockdown.
They make genre-blurring alternative music, influenced by dark pop, dance and grunge. Their first release was the song ‘Darkest Hour’ which dropped six months after their formation and this was followed by their 3-track ‘Omen’ EP in July 2023. Having now signed a deal with Silent Kid Records, they have released their single ‘Habit’ at the end of August, and today have released a brand new tune in the form of ‘The Girl’. Both of these are a taster of their 5-track EP ‘Lovers & Others’ which is scheduled for release on 28th November. Where their EP ‘Omen’ EP established their dark pop credentials, ‘Lovers & Others’ sees debdepan lean deeper into dance-driven arrangements without losing their grunge-inspired bite. The result is a refined, genre-blurring sound that is as emotionally charged as it is physically irresistible.
While ‘Habit’ showcased restraint and cyclical obsession, ‘The Girl’ unleashes a more visceral side of debdepan’s artistry. The track weaponises jagged riffs and heavily processed vocals against a backdrop of nostalgic indie sleaze, drawing clear lines to Wet Leg’s irreverent energy while maintaining the duo’s own compelling darkness. Here, debdepan have refined their knack for contrasts — moments of deceptive calm shatter into crushing waves of sound, with razor-sharp guitars cutting through pounding rhythms in a sonic assault that feels both calculated and wildly unhinged. The remaining trio of tunes contained on the forthing EP are ‘Blue’, ‘Oh No’ and ‘Ghost’.
This evening at the Green Door Store we find Chelsea Tolhurst on Squier Jaguar guitar and vocals, and Grace Bontoft on Sterling StingRay bass and backing vocals, plus they are joined by George Abrehart who takes care of drums and Roland drumpads. Their compact 7-tune set commences at 8:19pm with ‘Oh No’ from forthcoming the ‘Lovers & Others’ EP. It has a funky indie sound with the drumming very much to the fore, plus there are also funky bass licks and near the end the guitar sound is reminiscent of very early U2. The set features two yet to be recorded tunes and these are next. The first of these being ‘Bad Luck’ which benefits from the electronic drumpads, and the second ‘Feel It 4 U’ briefly features some notable keyboard action.
We are informed that this is their first proper gig in Brighton. The musicians then work their way through a quartet of songs from the forthcoming EP, commencing with ‘Ghost’, which we are told is about “being ghosted”. This is followed by ‘Blue’ and then today’s new single ‘The Girl’, which was penned about “a messy night out in Margate”. It’s across these past two numbers that Sink Ya Teeth springs to mind. They sign off with the bouncy ‘Habit’ single, which is arguably a tad more urgent than its predecessor, with its creative guitarwork and bouncy pseudo dance beat, and with a “Thank you very much from Chelsea” they were done! It’s been a pleasant experience!
Debdepan:
Chelsea Tolhurst – guitar, vocals
Grace Bontoft – bass, backing vocals
George Abrehart – drums
Debdepan setlist:
‘Oh No’ (from forthcoming ‘Lovers & Others’ EP)
‘Bad Luck’ (unreleased)
‘Feel It 4 U’ (unreleased)
‘Ghost’ (from forthcoming ‘Lovers & Others’ EP)
‘Blue’ (from forthcoming ‘Lovers & Others’ EP)
‘The Girl’ (a 2025 single & from forthcoming ‘Lovers & Others’ EP)
‘Habit’ (a 2025 single & from forthcoming ‘Lovers & Others’ EP)
