THIS WILL DESTROY YOUR EARS + SPATZ – THE HOPE & RUIN (BAR), BRIGHTON 7.3.24
It might be easy to stop in front of This Will Destroy Your Ears apocalyptic name and walk on by… convinced that you’re entering a deliberately badly lit alley or already exhausted by the heavy weather forecast. However, even if this most Mancunian trio from the suburbs of Hossegor is indeed committed to the democratisation of tinnitus, it would be far too simplistic to classify them as a “too loud for Mum” band (especially if Mum likes the dancing melodies of the 80s, contemporary art, and the end-of-the-world energy of the 90s…). Formed in 2017 in the Landes region of south-west France by Magali, Quentin and Pierre-Johann, the members of This Will Destroy Your Ears, who are at once choreographers, visual artists, video makers and specialists in wall-mounted sockets, are what is now known as a DIY band.
They then shared the stage with USA Nails, JOHN, Black Midi or METZ and never stopped going back and forth between their English and French audiences. In 2019, they released their first album ‘CLEAR’, recorded in one week at pARPAINg with the help of Boris Lehachoir and Dorian Verdier (keyboard player at JC SÀTAN) and mixed in London at Wayne Adams’ Bear Bite Horses Studio on Cowboy À La Mode (FR) and Brutalist Records (UK) labels. After a few confinements and the ‘À TOI À MOI’ “musical blending” EP created with The Eurosuite (London), Naguals (Sheffield) and Shoefiti (Paris), they released their second album, ‘EVERYBODY KNOWS MICKEY’, on 18th November 2022 on French labels Cowboy À La Mode and À Tant Rêver Du Roi, and on English label Brutalist Records. Recorded once more at their pARPAINg studio, they are joined by Henri d’Armancourt (Steve Amber, The Psychotic Monks) for production, Alex Greaves (Heavy Lungs, LICE, Ditz) for mixing, and Carl Saff (Bambara, Protomartyr, Fu Manchu) for mastering. Even more polished and accomplished than its predecessor, we find with this release both the band’s live energy and their unconditional love for melodies that place them somewhere few people dare to venture. Because yes, This Will Destroy Your Ears does love people a lot, they just tend to tell them way too loudly.
And so to this evening. Having met my long-time mate Barry who is making a flying visit to Brighton for a couple of days, I desperately wanted to show him exactly how vibrant Brighton has become. We kicked off the night for a pint of Burning Sky in The Prince Albert and immediately bumped into Harry of Wise Swap USA fame and Phoebe formerly of the same unit, but now making a name for herself with the Lambrini Girls. There was copious amounts of music banter to be had. We then made a way to the bar of The Hope & Ruin in order to witness what This Will Destroy Your Ears has to offer us on the first of their 7-date UK tour, courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour promoters. Tomorrow they head off to Sheffield, then Hull, Glasgow, Newcastle, Blackpool and Darwen. Ear defenders at the ready…
The trio of Lea (Fender bass), Mag (drums) and Pierre-Johann (Epiphone guitar and another guitar, vocals) began their nine tune set at 9:13pm immediately after the very last note of ‘The Good Life’ by Matt Monro had finished playing across the sound system. They kept the punters absorbed for the next 42 minutes until 9:55pm. The thing that immediately grabs my attention is the humongous size of the pedalboard collection on the floor in front of Pierre-Johann, there are no less than 26 of them!!! Lea on bass has to do with the mere 8! The other thing you can’t fail to notice is that Pierre-Johann has brought along his own impressively large microphone. Clearly they mean business!
Within seconds of opening number ‘Horse Pill’, the first of no less than 7 tracks from current long-player 2022’s ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album, I immediately clock the similarity in sound of Lea’s bass to that of Joy Division. I then know that I’m going to enjoy this band! Throughout this opening tune Mag bounces up and down on her drumkit stool, and this doesn’t cease throughout the whole performance. Tune two is ‘Coffin For Two’, the only survivor from their debut ‘Clear’ album from back in 2019. For this, there’s a slight hint of Jim Morrison on PJ’s vocals. Their oldest composition is next, this being 2018’s ‘Disable Memory’ from their ‘UK Sessions’ single. This is a true energy filled number and one I feel that the late great John Peel would have caned to death.
There’s a spoken word passage on backing tape to kick off the first of six in a row from ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album, this being ‘A Tree Falls’, which again sees a decent nod to Joy Division but with added UK Decay style beat for extra bonus. The unusually titled ‘16.01.94’ was their next selection and was followed by the bouncy ‘Modern Is Already Old’, which benefits from a rumbley style bass that reminded me of the Stranglers. The full onslaught of the fabulous ‘I Want To Write A Good Song’ was upon us next and the punters were really getting into groove. Their penultimate choice was a gritty post punk number titled ‘The Rageous’, which was another decent tune.
The trio signed off with ‘I Love You By The Way’ which commences with PJ’s guitar giving off an Arabic vibe, whilst Lea’s bass is chugging along nicely, and Mag’s drums are as urgent as ever. The vocals are more enthusiastically delivered for this track, which has a quiet part before they sign off with a crescendo of noise. They were done and the Matt Munro tune was aired as an outing. Hearty applause was given to the band by the audience and several formed an orderly queue at the merch stand, including my mate Barry who gleefully snapped up both albums plus a t-shirt! Happy days, I’m dead chuffed that I brought him along tonight and no doubt also is he, and I suspect the houses near Norwich will be hearing some brand new noises to prick up their ears. So in conclusion, great set, would see again!
This Will Destroy Your Ears:
Lea – bass
Mag – drums
Pierre-Johann – guitar vocals
This Will Destroy Your Ears setlist:
Intro tape ‘The Good Life’ (Matt Monro tune)
‘Horse Pill’ (from 2022 ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album)
‘Coffin For Two’ (from 2019 ‘Clear’ album)
‘Disable Memory’ (from 2018 ‘UK Sessions’ single)
‘A Tree Falls’ (from 2022 ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album)
‘16.01.94’ (from 2022 ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album)
‘Modern Is Already Old’ (from 2022 ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album)
‘I Want To Write A Good Song’ (from 2022 ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album)
‘The Rageous’ (from 2022 ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album)
‘I Love You By The Way’ (from 2022 ‘Everybody Knows Mickey’ album)
Outro tape ‘The Good Life’ (Matt Monro tune)
Check out their work on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Support this evening came in the form of local outfit Spatz, who are three friends on a noisy punky seaside voyage of discovery. Apparently they are the sonic representation of finding an onion ring in your chips. They played their first ever gig on 3rd February last year and it was here in The Hope & Ruin. Sadly we weren’t able to attend on account of witnessing an Independent Venue’s Week concert featuring Deep Tan, Deadletter, and Priestgate at the Green Door Store instead (Review HERE). Tonight is their first concert of the year and I tell you what I pray it’s not their last!
Spatz consists of Aaran Ainsworth (vocals, guitar), Laura Morbini (bass) and Hayden Fletcher (drums) and we are in their company for 26 minutes, from 8:30pm to 8:56pm, where they offload seven tunes and a warm-up ‘Intro’ post punk wall of noise number. They kick off in earnest with the more melodic ‘Conversation’, which is followed by the gritty changing beat of ‘Family Unit’. For my notes at this juncture, I penned “As your mother would say, music to annoy the neighbours with, and I wouldn’t have it any other way”. This too could equally refer to the next track, ‘Noise’ which featured a fast guitar strum from Aaran accompanied by a jerky drumbeat from Hayden on drums. This track explodes into action and reminds me of Gang Of 4, with Laura’s bass parts very similar to early PiL (Jah Wobble) style. This was the best track thus far.
‘Way Out’ was their next choice. This being an angst filled number complete with a screaming vocal delivery. The choice track of the set for me was up next in the form of ‘Buzzwords’, which made me recall ‘Totally Wired’ by The Fall. This has decent vocal effects and it seriously speeds up. Their penultimate number was ‘Polarisation’, which although was slightly akin to Killing Joke’s ‘Pssyche’, it somehow deconstructs this. They leave us with another quirky post punk number in the form of ‘Shit On The Pumpkins’, which goes all out on the echo on the vocals and it had a ‘Death Disco’ PiL feel to it. My mate Barry was so taken aback by this lot that he made me promise to tell him when Spatz announce their next gig, that he will head on down from East Anglia to see them! So over to you guys…………
Spatz:
Aaran Ainsworth – vocals, guitar
Laura Morbini – bass
Hayden Fletcher – drums
Spatz setlist:
‘Intro’
‘Conversation’
‘Family Unit’
‘Noise’
‘Way Out’
‘Buzzwords’
‘Polarisation’
‘Shit On The Pumpkins’
