‘VARIOUS ARTISTS – ‘PORT OF COOL’, THE SIDINGS, NEWHAVEN 25.7.26
The brand-new day-long ‘Port Of Cool’ music festival has finally arrived and sailed in for the day at the coastal industrial landscape of The Sidings, Railway Approach, Newhaven, BN9 0DF. As the postcode states, this event is part of the Towner BN9 programme, and is taking place in the shadow of the famous swing-bridge on the A259, which stands over the River Ouse and was opened on 7th November 1974. The venue is also located next door to the Port of Newhaven where the passenger ferries travel the 75.5 miles to Dieppe in France. Talking of 1974, it is widely presumed that murder-suspect Lord Lucan boarded a cross-channel ferry as his car was found in nearby Norman Road.
Back to today and the doors swung open at 1pm and the last act concluded at 11:15pm, (which sadly we didn’t quite make) but we do have a full day ahead of us.
‘Port Of Cool’ has been put together via a collaboration with Brighton’s beloved Family Store and Look Again and it features the very best in alternative, underground and left-field live music, DJs, Portuguese style street food courtesy of Brighton based Fumar, ABYSS craft beer as well as their pizzas, and some independent traders selling their wares, including some interesting vinyl records.
This is only our second ever time here, the first being a year ago for the ‘DedFest’ three act taster event which took place on 8th August last year, as a prelude to the main event happening 8 days later at Crockstead Fields in Halland, which featured 22 acts. We enjoyed The Sidings vibe last year and chilled in the sun, and today is very much the same. There is a main stage with 8 acts appearing across the day, as well as a marquee featuring 4 other acts, and we take in as many as we can. The running order of the day is:
MAIN STAGE:
13:30 – 14:15 – CRAB
14:45 – 15:15 – Charlie Keen’s Silver Birch
15:45 – 16:15 – Nick Granata
16:45 – 17:15 – M.Woodroe
17:45 – 18:15 – Minor Dents
18:45 – 19:30 – The Baby Seals
20:15 – 21:00 – Paddy Steer
21:45 – 22:45 – MEMORIALS
MARQUEE
13:00 – 19:00 – Slack City DJs / Independent vendors selling their wares
19:00 – 21:00 – Ian Parton (The Go! Team)
21:00 – 22:45 – Innerstrings
22:45 – 23:15 – Nuclear Whale (modular set)
SLACK CITY DJ’S (Marquee 13:00 – 19:00)
The Slack City DJ’s were in action this afternoon across two shifts, the first of these being 1pm to 4pm which witnessed Rosie James and Katherine on the decks. Rosie is from the Rosie & John Show, but I’m told John Jones is not well and that Katherine has kindly stepped in. The second shift was from 4pm to 7pm and was manned by a couple of chaps.
CRAB (Main Stage 13:30 – 14:15)
The first live band of the day are Crab, which I guess is ideal as we are next to the sea! They comprise of a male trio who are soundchecking past their start time, but it appears that the vocalist is something to do with ‘Port Of Cool’ and so there’s no stress to be had. In fact there’s no stress whatsoever during the whole day! Eventually at 1:45pm the guys commence their set. The vocalist is clearly the frontman of the outfit, and it’s difficult to avert your eyes away from what he’s up to, whether it be on stage or off of it and amongst the crowd or lying on the floor in front of us all. His chums take care of bass guitar and backing vocals, as well as drums, presets and more backing vocals. Their sound is unusually jaunty across their 40 minute set, which ran from 1:45pm to 2:25pm.
Musically, I guess it could be labelled on the borders of post punk, and there’s often a metronomic drumbeat akin to Joy Division, as well as a choppy bass guitar. The lyrics are regularly lighthearted, for instance “I’ll give you an idea, but I don’t have a clue”, which brings a smile to my face. The vocals are more often than not offloaded in jaunty fashion, and have the added interest of the use of a small toxic neon green coloured AtomoSynth Mochika XL analogue synth attached to the mic stand. The vocalist also utilizes a saxophone as well as a guitar, which he admits that he hasn’t yet mastered, and thus it’s not played in the traditional manner.
Imagine Rip Rig + Panic meets The Cramps and New York duo Suicide and you’re hovering around where they are coming from. It comes as no surprise to learn that they have previously supported the likes of Lydia Lunch and Henge. The longer Crab performed for, the longer I got into their set, whether this was me adjusting to their way of thinking or them grinding me down, who knows, but suffice to say that they went down a storm.
CHARLIE KEEN’S SILVER BIRCH (Main Stage 14:45 – 15:15)
With a swift turnaround we are back on time for the second act of the day, this being the unique Charlie Keen’s Silver Birch, who has previously performed with the likes of KEG, Caroline (the band) and Squid. The set commences at 2:45pm and runs until 3:14pm.
I’m immediately drawn to a rather unusual musical contraption sitting on the stage floor, the likes of which I haven’t come across before. It turns out that this is a shruti box. It’s a small, bellows-operated acoustic instrument from India that provides a continuous drone sound. It resembles a wooden harmonium, functions via internal free reeds, and is used to tune the voice or accompany Indian classical, folk, and meditative music. Throughout the set Charlie plays this with his foot and adjusts the small white movable tabs on the front which opens specific air holes to let particular chromatic notes or chords sound.
Charlie also has a Korg synth as well as a trombone which is often repeated on a loop via a foot pedal. Throughout his ambient Jazz with added folk stylings set Charlie offers hardly any vocals, which is a shame, as when he does in a kind of spoken word delivery, it enhances the overall vibe. Most of the time the trombone blends with the ethereal backing until it bursts through to the fore like a wasp trapped in a jar.
The opening number was titled ‘Little Egrets Courting’ which benefits from a synth riff and it’s rather ethereal. The second piece, ‘Thornborough Sandwiches’ is about Thornborough Henge, which is an ancient stone circle in North Yorkshire. We also had ‘Short Span Of Water’ which we are informed is about the Gosport ferry. An opportunity to reference the Newhaven ferry next door was however missed.
Charlie is a man who is very much ploughing his own furrow, however on certain instances Ivor Cutler sprang to mind, as did when I saw Nico (of Velvet Underground fame) live at Xtreems in Brighton in the early 80’s on account of the haunting harmonium sound.
www.instagram.com/charliekeen.silverbirch
NICK GRANATA (Main Stage 15:45 – 16:15)
The third act on the bill is London based Nick Granata, who is a new name to my radar. They (Nick) is also a member of Shovel Dance Collective: an act at the forefront of the UK’s alt-folk revival scene. Again, an act I haven’t been aware of.
This afternoon our compère informs us that Nick will be performing tracks from their new and uniquely titled 7 track ‘My Heart Is Running Backwards! A Martial Artist! With A Closed Fist! Woof!’ album, which actually dropped yesterday. Although there are just seven tunes on the album, its running time comes in at 38 minutes and 40 seconds, thus none of Nick’s material is less than 4 minutes long, as there are no instant pop ditties on offer here!
From the very start, we can tell that this performance isn’t going to be a barrel of laughs as Nick introduces the opening song as ‘Adipocere!’ and then goes on to explain its meaning, which is the name of the grey-white, waxy organic substance formed by the breakdown of body fat in moist, oxygen-free environments after you die, and that it’s also called corpse wax or grave wax…I wish I had never found that out!
I shall just have to distract my mind by concentrating on what Nick is up to on stage. They are seated behind an interesting pump organ with their foot often going ten-to-the-dozen, whilst their hands touch the keys, or on many occasions they also play the violin in a jerking fashion at the exact same time. Multi-tasking is the name of the game here as Nick also sings at the same time, with his voice sounding more mature than they actually are.
Nick performed a sea shanty about trans heroes titled ‘The Handsome Cabin Boy’ which was delivered with true gusto. Their material often tackles deeply personal subjects, and at other times maybe not, or the titles of the tracks can throw one off guard, such as ‘Rabbits!’ and set closer ‘There Is An Omelette That Will Drive All Grief Away’. If you were to shut your eyes, one would assume that there is a band on stage judging by the many differing sounds floating off of it.
Overall Nick’s set is a mixture of This Mortal Coil’s ‘Song To The Siren’ meets David Bowie’s take on ‘Baal’s Hymn’ as well as the haunting sounds of Nico and the voice of Oliver Postgate.
linktr.ee/doubledarerecordings
M.WOODROE (Main Stage 16:45 – 17:15)
Some of our team have already had the pleasure of reviewing M.Woodroe, which actually isn’t a person but a young Brighton based quartet. They are a moody alternative band who are making a name for themselves on the local scene. Not that they are big on their own names, as a previous account states that they comprise ‘M’ on vocals, ‘B’ on guitar, ‘J’ on bass and ‘O’ on drums.
Today’s compère is keen to inform us that M.Woodroe will be dropping their debut ‘The Treatment Of Fractures’ EP on 19th September via Venn Records. It’s a 5-track release that will be featuring lead single ‘Sweetness, Sweetness’ as well as ‘Intro’, ‘Carte Blanche’, ‘Statue’ and ‘Stalactites’.
This afternoon we are in their company for 28 minutes, from 4:45pm to 5:13pm. It appears that ‘M’ offers more than lead vocals, but also takes care of GEWA Walther F705000 Melodica, guitar and shakers. Overall they give us more traditional raw angular grunge psych and punk guitar noise, accompanied by intricately knowing political and provocative lyrics regarding gender, sexuality and desire that are difficult to pin down to genre archetypes.
‘M’s vocal delivery is truly powerful, especially on a track about “killing Fascists”, which is intensely delivered including a scream or two. It appears that every song comes fully laden with attitude via ‘M’ and there is a definite edginess about her demeanour and because of this it is almost impossible to avert your gaze from her.
‘B’s guitar throughout the whole performance is almost at distortion levels which adds to the band’s intensity. The punters watching were seriously on board and were whisked along for the ride. Thus far, they were the most enjoyable act of the day, but for yours truly this wouldn’t remain so. However, M.Woodroe, more than any other act appearing at ‘Port Of Cool’ are the ones who will go onto bigger and greater things, following in the footsteps of other Brighton bands such as Lambrini Girls and Lime Garden.
MINOR DENTS (Main Stage 17:45 – 18:15)
Next up, and bang on time are local trio Minor Dents, who I have previously encountered at The Rose Hill in Brighton on 2nd April this year, when they were supporting The Leaf Library. Minor Dents comprise Holly Finch (lead vocals, bass, guitar), Ryan Bollard (drums, clarinet) and Al Strachan of Crayola Lectern and ChopChop fame (keys, cornet, electronics, vocals).
After dropping their already sold-out EP ‘Sitting With The Fish’ which was pressed on limited edition 10” white vinyl earlier in the year, many folk were enamoured with Minor Dents’ sound. The band successfully blends motorik beats with vocals which to me are a carbon copy of Patricia “Trish” Anne Keenan of Broadcast fame. There are hypnotic tendencies aplenty when listening to the Minor Dents sound, which is enhanced via swirling synths from Al and floating bass guitar notes from Holly. Not to be outdone, Ryan can be seen playing the drums and clarinet at the same time during their set. Mind you Al occasionally plays the keys and tweaks the electronic gubbins with one hand whilst simultaneously playing his corner with his other.
I’m a particular fan of their yet to be released ‘Counting Sheep’ composition, which we are informed is about dreaming. The highlights are when Al lets loose on the electronics side of things and the result sounds akin to Orbital. The set sadly comes to an end with ‘Rituals’ from their EP, which is a Krautrock masterpiece that the likes of Neu! would have been proud of.
Once again it has been a masterclass in blending differing styles, even heading towards reggae on one track, thus THE band of choice for yours truly at ‘Port Of Cool’. I really need to catch Minor Dents in action real soon. I guess that will more than likely be on 10th September when they join Sex Mask, Polite Bureaux, and Humane The Moon for a Hidden Herd presents evening at The Hope & Ruin – Tickets HERE.
THE BABY SEALS (Main Stage 18:45 – 19:30)
Next up are another trio, this time around it’s the all-female garage-punk outfit The Baby Seals, who I first encountered at The Ropetackle Art Centre in Shoreham-by-Sea when they supported Annabella Lwin’s Bow Bow Wow on 24th October last year. The Baby Seals are made up of Kerry (vocals, guitar), Kate (bass, backing vocals) and Amy (drums, backing vocals), and we are in their company from 6:45pm until 7:23pm.
I believe that Kerry said that Kate had travelled for 6 hours today in order to perform for us, which I thought was real dedication. The band originally formed back in 2015 and their debut 6-tune self-titled EP dropped in April 2017, from which this tea-time we are rewarded with ‘Nipple Hair’ which thankfully has some familiar Sex Pistols styled guitar and bass riffage going on.
The Baby Seals offload heavy, fuzz-laden noise with melodies, harmony and humour, whilst suitably poking fun at the patriarchy, getting older and maybe wise and shopping in Aldi. From the very first notes of their opening tune, which had the bass and rockin’ guitar intro akin to Theatre Of Hate’s ‘Propaganda’, I was hooked. They have a solid collection of proto punk and true punk sounds with a rock edge, which would be lapped up by punk fans heading to the annual ‘Rebellion’ festival in Blackpool.
We are given their latest release, the November 2025 ‘Tamoo Trance’ single, which we are told is about immediately regretting buying things online. This too has much guitar riffage and grit and I particularly liked the way Kerry utilized two microphones, with the second being used as an echo. They closed the set with ‘Chaos’, which is the title track of their 2024 album. This isn’t a chaotic number, but is in fact a tune drenched in prog Psych waves of energy. Suffice to say The Baby Seals went down a storm with the punters.
IAN PARTON (The Go! Team) (Marquee 19:00 – 21:00)
Whilst we were all watching The Baby Seals the marquee was cleared of all the stalls, so that folk could go in and dance to the discs being spun by the one and only Ian Parton, he who was the founder of iconic Brighton band The Go! Team.
I’m not quite sure if Ian had already started his set prior to The Baby Seals finishing, but he was certainly spinning the discs when they had finished. As we sat on the bench outside the marquee, I noted that a number of uplifting tunes were in the exact same vein as The Go! Team and realized where he had got his musical inspiration from. They have successfully combined indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of funk and Bollywood soundtracks, double Dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars.
We left Ian at about 8:10pm and walked the few steps to the main stage in order to catch the next live act.
PADDY STEER (Main Stage 20:15 – 21:00)
At 8:14pm the totally unique and no doubt eccentric Paddy Steer commenced his 46 minute set. Prior to ‘Port Of Cool’, I had been blissfully unaware that Paddy had ever existed, but I tell you what, the Quebec formed experimental rock duo and hyped-to-f*ck press darlings Angine de Poitrine have nicked his look and sound! Papier-mâché is very much the order of the day with both acts!
What is certain is that, once you catch Paddy Steer live, you won’t forget you’ve seen him. Imagine you are watching the fictional 1960s Hanna-Barbera rock band The Banana Splits’ drummer, Bingo in action in his wacky spex and orange-red gorilla suit and you’ve taken some magic mushrooms, and drifted into Henge convention, catch my drift! Farrrr out maaaaaan! Afrika Bambaataa, Funkadelic and George Clinton would seem very ordinary indeed!
Paddy is a one-man-band and he has cleverly built a few homemade instruments, which he offers up in a cosmic drum-led space funk stylee. He sits behind his adapted drumkit with all manner of analogue boxes and gubbings around him, that have all been painted various colours within an ounce of their lives. He has a vocoder protruding from his grey beard which is utilized when required, which for me isn’t enough.
There’s Daft Funk plinkety-plonk randomness in supreme fashion going on here, but sounding as if it’s out there 1970’s early 80’s funk. Paddy’s headgear comes with built-in flashing lights and as the night begins to draw in, this works even better. The revellers are by now adequately watered and are in the main bopping along to Paddy’s repetitive beats. The performance is a success and bang on the hour that was our lot. Cue Innerstrings DJ’s from the marquee.
INNERSTRINGS (Marquee 21:00 – 22:45)
If you’ve been to a Psyche show or similar in Brighton, Lewes and beyond in the past 10 years and there have been some wild visuals to take you on the journey: it’s likely Innerstrings were involved. Working with live feed projections, digital glitch and more, they’re a mainstay of the scene. Aka Chris Tomsett, Iinnerstrings is also a dab hand at merging all those musical influences into a similarly psychedelic musical journey.
This evening Chris is on the decks, and the first tune up is ‘Voodoo Ray’ by A Guy Called Gerald, which always gets the punters dancing! His set continued until the arrival of the final act on the Main Stage.
MEMORIALS (Main Stage 21:45 – 22:45)
The final act of the Main Stage this evening is Canterbury based Memorials, which comprise Verity Susman (Electrelane’s frontwoman) and Matthew Simms (Wire, Better Corners, It Hugs Back, UUUU) and they have been steadily been releasing material in these post-covid days.
On 27th March this year they released their ‘All Clouds Bring Not Rain’ long-player. Having locked themselves away in a studio in a barn secluded deep in the woods in southwestern France and re-emerged with a beautiful, unusual record that is both melodic and unconventional. For such an ambitious album it’s striking that it was written, performed, recorded and mixed solely by the two of them. It immediately draws you in with a sound that carries a multitude of genres from Psyche, avant-pop, Folk, Free-Jazz and much more. It’s a bit like Nico fronting Can but also something completely its own.
Their rumbly atmospheric soundscapes drill into your psyche. Thus if Stereolab were an experimental duo this would be it. Verity takes care of keys and vocals, which were often offered in pseudo wailing style, whereas Matthew is the master of the drumkit and when required the left-handed guitar. At times they had the feel of one of Factory records’ more obscure acts and at other times we were in Rip Rig + Panic sax territory. I much preferred their more structured songs of their set and the heights were achieved via the metronomic drumming and fast keys.
During this performance their sound veered from melodic songwriting to psychedelic noise, free jazz freakouts, spacerock, tape loops and drones, and then back again. You weren’t really sure what sound was coming next.
NUCLEAR WHALE (Marquee 22:45 – 23:15)
Although we missed it, the final act of the inaugural ‘Port Of Cool’ festival was Nuclear Whale, which is the moniker of Brighton based visual and experimental music artist Jonathan Ridley.
Ensconced amongst an array of wires, machines and technology the audiences are taken on a journey of improvised modular based collage. Mixing drone, glitchy beats, spoken word and sample based imagery to create a woozy and delirious tapestry. Nuclear Whale has been part of the Brighton electronic and experimental scene for well over a decade. Touch the black monolith, smash the tapir.
Our team felt that the debut ‘Port Of Cool’ had been a success and look forward to hopefully its return next year!
