WELLY + SLAG + LEMONSUCKR – CHALK, BRIGHTON 13.10.25
The hugely tipped Welly have been wonderfully crashing together the best bits of escapist pop, indie-disco, punk and DIY electronics since their inception in 2022. The group show true ambition to reconnect the great grassroots British tradition with their joyous mainstream stance and endless amounts of earworm material, or as they put it “making new pop for the CBBC generation”.
The band comprises quick-witted vocalist Welly and his former school-mates, as they now have seemed to have ditched their school gym gear for live sets – guess they are now giving off an air of being at college! This evening at Chalk (courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour promoters) Welly are positioned in their usual live positions, which are from left to right: Joe Holden-Brown (guitar, backing vocals), Jacob Whitear (bass, backing vocals, vocals), Welly (lead vocals, bass, cowbell, tambourine), Hanna Witkamp (keyboards, presets, maracas, tambourine, backing vocals) and Matt Gleeson (guitar, keys, backing vocals, egg shaker).
Welly burst out of the shackles of suburban Southampton and have truly come so far since we first caught them in action a few years back. Not only are they ‘Big In The Suburbs’ – the title of their excellent debut LP- but are no doubt known in rural areas as well, as tonight they have pulled in folk from far and wide and have sold out the sizeable Chalk concert venue which is located in Pool Valley in Brighton. Thankfully the lineup now seems to be cemented in a bond that works extremely well and the current gang have been bouncing off of each other’s chemistry for some time now. As far as I can recall, they have only exchanged a couple of folk along the way, these being Fin Leon and Lois Lock.
Their, thus far, sole album ‘Big In The Suburbs’ is a thing of beauty and no less than a half dozen on the 14 tunes were released as singles, and in all honesty they could have just carried on releasing them, as there isn’t a single duffer to be found anywhere on the vinyl. But based on tonight’s show, I sense that Welly are now ready to move on to the next chapter of their musical journey, as we are served no less than six unreleased compositions, and I can wholeheartedly assure you that this new material not only matches any song from the album, but several of them truly surpass all of them. The future is bright, and for Welly fans it looks like they had better don their dancing shoes!
We are only in their company for 52 minutes, from 9:03pm until 9:55pm and in that space we are rewarded with 11 songs. Clearly the band want a party atmosphere as the band skipped on stage as Los Del Rio’s 1993 Eurochugger ‘Macarena’ booms out of the speakers. Welly, himself, brings up the rear and immediately states that “This show is sponsored by Benylin”, clearly the lad is fighting man-flu.
The set commenced with the ‘Big In The Suburbs’ title track, with handclaps and crowd bouncing aplenty. I can recall seeing Welly a while ago at Chalk’s now rarely used second stage area, which is now mainly utilized as the merch area, and they were crammed in tightly and yet it was a truly enjoyable show. I can remember thinking to myself, based on what I had seen, that one day they would be headlining on Chalk’s expansive main stage, and tonight here they are! The venue lighting is already good but Welly have brought along six sets of red, green, blue and yellow disco lights on stage to further dazzle the punters.
Selection two is ‘Soak Up The Culture’ which sees the usual gap year location questions being asked. All of the band members are already very animated and there’s the addition of much guitar riffage on this tune. The unreleased ‘Act You Age’ is up next with its “tragic romantic…act your age” earworm lyrics. Churchill Square gets a mention as the gang play ‘Shopping’. After which we get a handful of yet to be released material, the first of these being ‘All Dressed Up For Nothing’ which has a fantastic booming dancebeat and sees Matt trade in his guitar for a keyboard, thus adding to the electronic sounds made by Hanna on her keyboard. Cheeky chappie Welly namechecks the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘West End Girls’ at the end of the tune. After which he addresses the faithful and states “This song is for jumping!” It’s called ‘Skinny Boy’ and it’s another wonderful dance cut, nay it’s bloody epic! The song’s title is often used and is easy to pick up and sing along to. Matt holds a bubble machine at the front of the stage, and fills the first few rows of fans with something to pop, which is fun, meanwhile bassist Jacob makes his first foray into the crowd.
The third of the five-in-a-row unreleased tracks is we are told “about 138 bpm” by Welly and a horse skipping demonstration is given. The song in question is ‘Jockey’ with its notable funky bass guitar action, and lyrics which could have possibly included “I can’t find a reason” and “I dream of a dream… a hell on earth”. After this Welly then says “This one’s about pants” but doesn’t name the track, but it’s called ‘Calvin Klein’ and features the lines something like “I saw you in the art parade; I saw you in your underwear”. This track has a heavy booming beat to start with and then we hear the sound of drums which must be on a backing tape from somewhere. It reminds me of something Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine would have made in their heyday. Mid-tune we were encouraged to crouch down and bounce up again, which always works rather well in getting folk further on board.
The final unreleased song is ‘Flower Of London’ which is a slower track than the last couple of tunes and includes lyrics like “Over the hills and back again”, “I don’t want to move to London” “The flower of London”. ‘Cool For Cats’ gets a nod, this being the Squeeze hit. With a “Un, deux, trois, quatre” they are away with ‘It’s Not Like This In France’, which went down splendidly well with the bouncing crowd.
After which the quintet vacated the stage, only to return to play us out with their 2022 single ‘Me And Your Mates’ which featured more bubble gun action from Matt, as well as Welly himself switching to bass guitar and Jacob taking over the lead vocals. Clearly the Benylin was starting to wear off. But Jacob grasped the opportunity with open arms and headed off stage and out into the crowd and was then hoisted aloft and he crowd surfed and sang the lyrics at the same time. What an excellent way to round off an amazing set! Welly are always real fun and always deliver!
Welly:
Welly – lead vocals, bass, cowbell, tambourine
Hanna Witkamp – keyboards, presets, maracas, tambourine, backing vocals
Joe Holden-Brown – guitar, backing vocals
Matt Gleeson – guitar, keys, backing vocals, egg shaker
Jacob Whitear – bass, backing vocals, vocals
Welly setlist:
‘Big In The Suburbs’ (from 2025 ‘Big In The Suburbs’ album)
‘Soak Up The Culture’ (from 2025 ‘Big In The Suburbs’ album)
‘Act Your Age’ (unreleased)
‘Shopping’ (from 2025 ‘Big In The Suburbs’ album)
‘All Dressed Up For Nothing’ (unreleased)
‘Skinny Boy’ (unreleased)
‘Jockey’ (unreleased)
‘Calvin Klein’ (unreleased)
‘Flower Of London’ (unreleased)
‘It’s Not Like This In France’ (from 2025 ‘Big In The Suburbs’ album)
(encore)
‘Me And Your Mates’ (a 2022 single)
We were rather fortunate this evening as we also had a couple of real quality support acts, with some local music fans feeling as though tonight is a triple-billing event, and I can see exactly why they came to that conclusion. First up then it’s the job of Lemonsuckr to get the punters that have bothered to arrive early, nicely warned up for the rest of the evening. The band are made up of Guy Ferris (vocals, tambourine, cowbell), Oscar Post (guitar, backing vocals), Ollie Thomas (guitar, backing vocals), Jake Andrews (bass) and Matt Saunders (drums, presets). We are in their company for half an hour from 7:21pm until 7:51pm and in that time the smartly dressed lads reward us with 8 tunes with half of these coming from their 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP.
In all honesty I had arrived at the venue feeling a little meh and so I was in serious need of some form of pickmeup, but I certainly wasn’t prepared as to how I would be feeling a mere hour later! Lemonsuckr kick off with a trio of cuts from their ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP, beginning with ‘Dead Disco’ which is an inspired choice. There are Arabic sounding undertones in the beat and one of the guitarists is in the crowd virtually from the off. The drums carry on playing and the lads segue straight into ‘Instant Kinks’ which is even more of a dance number with keys sounding backing coming from somewhere. Suffice to say they knocked-it-out-of-the-park, and by now my mood had already moved a full 360 degrees. The third offering from the EP was ‘Sedated’ which lived up to its name when compared with the opening numbers. There’s much guitar riffage on this though and the other guitarist is now in amongst the crowd. They are really going for it tonight!
Frontman vocalist Guy then informs us that they are going to “try out new ones for you now” and the opening beats of ‘Love Song’ (not a Damned cover) commence with some cymbal action and speaking style vocals akin to Cal from Ditz. Then the drums come to the party and there’s more Arabic style guitar riffage, along with cowbell action. There’s more rhythmic drums on the funky ‘Croc Tears’, which is followed by ‘Boudica’ with its ‘Forbidden Planet’ style sci-fi electronics, prior to the stomping beat kicking in. There’s a slow walking pace start or the title track of their ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP, which then quickens and explodes into action with Guy shouting “techno, techno, techno” and the song is offered in a way as though Gang Of Four had discovered hard dance. It was epic!
They signed off with the unreleased ‘Rugrat’ which commences with a droning sound which morphs into the keys similar to Man 2 Man Meet Man Parrish’s 1987 ‘Male Stripper’ hi-nrg banger. One of the guitarists is back out into the crowd and there’s more bleeps coming from the other guitar’s foot pedals. Then three of the five vacate the stage to leave the guitarists to finish off with more intense foot pedal action. In a previous meeting Guy had stated that Queens of the Stone and the Libertines were among the band’s influences, but tonight a friend likened them to being the new Working Mens Club, and this greatly explains why tonight is the best performance I’ve ever seen Lemonsuckr do, but not only that, off of the back of this they have suddenly become my favourite locally based band! Roll on ‘Mutations Festival’, where they are playing live in Brighton on 7th November and roll on the release of their second EP. I absolutely love Welly and have their album, but Lemonsuckr were surprisingly the band of the night for me!
Lemonsuckr:
Guy Ferris – vocals, tambourine, cowbell
Oscar Post – guitar, backing vocals
Ollie Thomas – guitar, backing vocals
Jake Andrews – bass
Matt Saunders – drums, presets
Lemonsuckr setlist:
‘Dead Disco’ (from 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP)
‘Instant Kinks’ (from 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP)
‘Sedated’ (from 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP)
‘Love Song’ (unreleased)
‘Croc Tears’ (unreleased)
‘Boudica’ (unreleased)
‘H.E.A.T.’ (from 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP)
‘Rugrat’ (unreleased)
The middle act on tonight’s bill are Slag who comprise Amelie Gibson (vocals, guitar), Freya Eastcott (bass, backing vocals), Dan Phillips (guitar), Seb Cooper (keys, backing vocals) and Luke Martin (drums). I’ve seen these live on at least a couple of previous occasions, and each time they are growing in stature, and I sense there’s a palpable buzz around the band, just like there has previously been for the likes of Lime Garden.
This evening we received 8 tunes with a handful of these yet-to-be-released and the remaining trio are recent singles. The band takes to the stage at 8:11pm and produce a thoroughly entertaining blend of grunge, post-punk, and unorthodox pop, delivered with their own flair. We interestingly learn that Slag actually formed two years ago at a Welly gig!
There’s a frivolity to tonight’s set and they kick off with 2025 single ‘Heaven’, the jaunty vocals of which remind me of Sparks’ ‘Amateur Hour’ until the skippy beat gets going. On its conclusion the band are rewarded with much appreciation which is often reserved for the headliners. They, the audience, and myself can already see that Slag have come on in leaps and bounds of late and are becoming a force to reckon with on the local scene. The first of a quartet of unreleased tracks comes next, this being ‘Private Gyno’ which is a slowish number with jaunty guitar action and drums, and for the first time this evening Amelie’s vocals remind me of The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde. The bass and drums led ‘Losing’ is their next choice. This indie rocker has another powerful vocal delivery. ‘Still Here’ is tune four and it offers more jangly guitar action along with notable keys and drumbeats. It’s a tune which increases with intensity and all the better for it.
The next offering is currently going under the working title of ‘Dan’s Song’ which is a slow starter with just the vocals and a guitar, but then it increases its intensity and even ends with some rock guitar riffage. Their 2024 ‘Ripped’ single is then offloaded and this begins with just the drums and then the others join in and it becomes another rocky offering which reminded me of The Pretenders. Their penultimate selection is the unreleased ‘Face Off’ which begins with a funky drumbeat and then the lead guitar follows and yet again I hear Chrissie Hynde in the vocal delivery. They round off their successful set with their ‘Legs’ single which dropped last month. Amelie’s vocals and guitar interplay worked well and overall it’s a powerful number in which to end the set. It came with a full-on rockin’ out outro as well, which the punters absolutely went for and Slag were rewarded with deafening applause! I kid you not!
Slag:
Amelie Gibson – vocals, guitar
Freya Eastcott – bass, backing vocals
Dan Phillips – guitar
Seb Cooper – keys, backing vocals
Luke Martin – drums
Slag setlist:
‘Heaven’ (a 2025 single)
‘Private Gyno’ (unreleased)
‘Losing’ (unreleased)
‘Still Here’ (unreleased)
‘Dan’s Song’ (working title) (unreleased)
‘Ripped’ (a 2024 single)
‘Face Off’ (unreleased)
‘Legs’ (a 2025 single)
