FRUITY WATER + HUTCH + SEADOG – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 25.8.21
The Green Door Store in Brighton are certainly posting their concert notices thick and fast these days. One of their free entry events that came to the attention of the Brighton & Hove News Music Team featured Brighton-based dreamy electro-pop duo Fruity Water, who were going to be performing a summer psyched out treat. It would be rude not to attend, so off we went……
Having been a fabulously warm day, we leisurely made our way to the Lower Goods Yard below Brighton Train Station and grabbed ourselves some liquid refreshment which should have been ‘fruity water’, but we went a little stronger and purchased a Crabbies and a double Gin & Tonic and made our way outside the Green Door Store to lap up the very last rays of sunshine before heading back inside for this evening’s opening act.
Seadog is the Brighton-based project of musician/songwriter Mark Benton and Tom Chadd. They create dream-pop songs combining a variety of influences into a myriad sound of lullabies with anthemic electric and acoustic textures.
Seadog are currently working on their forthcoming second album ‘Internal Noise’ at Bella Union Studios in Brighton and this is reflected this evening, as their half a dozen song set featured tracks that will be appearing on this album. This forthcoming release will include their May 2021 single ‘Tidal Wave’, which tonight’s headliners Fruity Water have remixed – watch the video HERE. The album will also include their latest single ‘Old Joe’, which is out via ‘Austerity Records’. The official music video for the song was produced and mixed by Jack Wolter (from Penelope Isles) at Bella Union Studio, Brighton – Watch it HERE.
Seadog’s next single will be titled ‘Foolhardy’ and this too will appear on the forthcoming ‘Internal Noise’ album.
The duo started their performance at 8:07pm with ‘Waiting For Light’ which segued straight into the aforementioned latest single ‘Old Joe’, which certainly made good use of their guitar, Nord Electro 5 keyboard, Akai APC40 performance controller and laptop. The music was a blend of the backbeat of the sound of NEU! and early Kraftwerk mixed in with melodic vocals.
‘Foolhardy’ was delivered next with its banging electronic beat and one realised how crisp tonight’s sound was, so shout out to James on the soundesk at the back of the room.
Tonight was my first Seadog encounter. Their robotic synth beats were expertly conveyed by Tom along with Mark’s easy-going vocal style, which a couple of times strangely reminded me of ‘Message In A Bottle’ by The Police. An enjoyable half dozen song set which concluded at 8:38pm. I would like to see these guys play live again, given the chance.
Check out their Bandcamp page HERE.
Seadog setlist reads:
‘Waiting For Light’
‘Old Joe’
‘Foolhardy’
‘Deadweights’
‘Here Nor There’
‘Tidal Wave’
Next up this evening were new local quartet Hutch who refer to themselves as “yacht-rock soft-psychers”, which sounded all rather intriguing.
Hutch is made up of Jack Pritchard on lead vocals and guitar, Dan Shepherd on guitar and backing vocals, Charlie Bogg on bass and backing vocals and Owen Bullock on drums and backing vocals. They formed at the beginning of lockdown in the Sackville Road area of town as three housemates (Jack, Dan and Charlie) and now reside in the Brunswick area.
Throughout the first lockdown, they had some different members playing drums and synth. Then as things started to ease, they found the missing piece of the puzzle in the form of Owen on drums. He brought balance to a band that was endeavouring to find its sound. Since then we’ve been rehearsing as a four piece week in week out!
Jack and Dan are the main songwriters with the subject matter usually reflecting their desire to escape the mundane and dive into the fantastical. As yet, they have not released any music, but have plans to record their first two singles with Jack Walter (Penelope Isles, Wavey Head). This will hopefully come to fruition in late 2021 or early 2022 depending on everyone’s schedules.
Tonight, Hutch performed half a dozen unreleased compositions, kicking off at 9:01pm with ‘Inkman’. You are immediately aware just how physically tall these slender young guys are. Their sound is ‘different’. Their compositions chop and change beats several times within most of the tunes tonight. Their ‘sound’ could possibly be conceived as an amalgam of the final work of The Jam interspersed with The Beatles with the 1965 hit ‘California Dreamin’’ from the Mamas and the Papas.
Their penultimate track was a rocky little number that bounced along nicely, it’s called ‘Sandworms’ and was for myself and virtually all of the crowd by the sound of it, the highlight of their 27 minute set.
During their set, I had either concluded that Hutch are a band that is out of time and sync with current trends OR that they might just be ahead of the game! As we all know music moves in cycles! At 9:28pm they were done. Their fans enjoyed it.
Hutch will be playing live again in Brighton on Thursday 9th September, when they will be appearing at The Rossi Bar with PleasureInc. and tickets are only £3 on the door. Hutch will also be in town on Friday 17th September, when they will be supporting Projector at The Hope & Ruin. You can purchase your tickets HERE. Also on the bill that night will be Sleep Council.
Hutch setlist reads:
‘Inkman’
‘Slowest Creature (On Earth)’
‘Radiator Centre’
‘Charge Me Up (Buttercup)’
‘Sandworms’
‘Mechanical Bull’
Keep up to date with what Hutch are doing on their socials which are @hutch.band.
It was now time for tonight’s headliners Fruity Water to take to the stage. The duo consists of Adam Bell on guitar and Smalan Moleman on keyboards and they refer to themselves as “just a couple of lads making some dreamy electro-pop”. It really doesn’t get any more complicated than that. We have had the fortune to have caught these lads playing live around Brighton over the past few years and they have never failed to deliver in their own unassuming way.
This evening there was ample use of their two Yamaha keyboards and Novation by Smalan, which were nicely topped off by bittersweet lyrics and poppy harmonies (and post-rock influenced guitar playing) from Adam, who as always was sporting one of his trademark hats.
The duo were performing three of their 50 minute six song set, for only the second ever time, having debuted them just twelve days earlier at their Rossi Bar performance, but this was my first encounter with the new material.
The guys hit the stage a full 18 minutes earlier than planned (at 9:42pm to be precise) which was a great surprise. This allowed them to sneak in an extra unplanned track, ‘Water The Plants’, at the beginning of their set. The song was a full nine minutes in length and certainly laid down their marker for the rest of their set. This chugging beat monster of a tune was to me an amalgamation of the guitarwork of The Cure and The Smiths meets (dare I say) Dire Straits. It took me back to the 1989 vibe of Electronic, which comprised Bernard Sumner of New Order, ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, and guest vocalist Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys.
Next up was ‘Telephone Song’ which is the opener from their 2020 nine track Big Salad ‘Fuzzy Orange’ album, with its amalgam of New Order meets Orbital break mixed in pseudo Caribbean style Dr Who beat. This was followed by new number ‘Big Bomb’, which again sounds like the Electronic supergroup mixed with Adam’s vocals in the style of Barney from New Order, mixed in with Edwyn Collins of Orange Juice as well as Peter Perrett from the Only Ones.
Next up, “computer says no!”. The first of several brief new software crashes on the laptop. The free version software package previously used was fine and then Smalan upgraded and invested £350 in the ‘proper’ one and now it crashes at every gig! Cue ambient ‘filler’ guitarwork from Adam.
Problem sorted until next time and then “boom boom boom boom” and we are back on track with another New Order sounding song in the form of newbie ‘Heart Beats’. This was followed by another recent composition titled ‘1234’. I was half expecting Dee Dee Ramone to spurt out those numbers, but no, it was the turn of Smalan on vocals for the modern jazzy beat number which evolved into a great dance beat.
Fruity Water had saved the best for last in the form of ‘Bye Bye Me’ from their 2017 ‘Wasted Summer’ single. This is a banging choon that is overlain with frantic fuzzy echoey guitar from Adam. It was hypnotic and awesome and rightly so got the biggest cheer of any song on the night! The euphoria on stage concluded at 10:32pm. However, for myself and my girlfriend it continued for many hours after as the duo had certainly delivered…BIG TIME!
Fruity Water have suddenly since lockdown became a vastly improved outfit and one I look forward to seeing live on many more occasions!
Fruity Water can be located on Bandcamp.
Fruity Water setlist reads:
‘Water The Plants’
‘Telephone Song’
‘Big Bomb’
‘Heart Beats’
‘1234’
‘Bye Bye Me’
Catch Fruity Water live in Brighton at The Rossi Bar on Friday 15th October. They will be sharing the bill with Michael McKeown aka Seafood Diet and E1.
