SWIM SCHOOL + HOLLER – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 24.4.24
On their debut headline tour, Scottish three-piece indie rock band Swim School (stylized as ‘swim school’) played an outstanding, thrilling sold-out gig here in Brighton at the popular Green Door Store on Wednesday.
Swim School are Alice Johnson (vocals and guitar), Lewis Bunting (guitar) and Billy McMahon (drums). Their sound is influenced from a wide range of genres from 90’s grunge to modern indie and dream-pop. It was clear from their latest showing that their sound is evolving and getting even better than previous times I’ve seen them.
The band were straight into their signature thumping indie rock sound with ‘Bored’. After that opening song, singer Alice asked, “Brighton, are we going to have some fun tonight?”. It was clear the enthusiastic and mostly young crowd were already enjoying themselves, and they were soon chanting the band’s name between songs. Early on Alice recognized “We couldn’t be further from home [Edinburgh]. It’s mental this is sold out”. Many bands ask the audience to come forward to fill the gap in front of the stage. On Wednesday that area was already fairly packed, but they had to ask people to move forward to allow late comers to get in at the back.
After ‘Outside’ the pace slowed for a few songs. ‘Kill You’ was announced as “a little love song”. ‘Don’t Leave Me Behind’ started with just Alice’s vocals to gentle guitars. ‘Over Now’ had a moodier intro, with Alice singing to just her guitar and the audience’s clapping. Later in that song, she shouted, “Make some noise Brighton” as Lewis and Billy joined in. In those loud parts, Alice was on her knees playing guitar. Those songs showed how Swim School have developed both as a band and their grungy indie rock sound.
Throughout Swim School’s set, they swapped easily between slower sad songs and loud angrier ones. ‘Everything You Wanted’ was time for mobile phone torches to be held aloft. This song really showcased the emotional quality of Alice’s voice, especially how she held the long notes later in the song.
Alice declared it was “time for a mosh pit” with ‘Delirious’. She wrote this song after being subjected to constant misogyny from sound engineers during the festival season. She understandably put real anger and rage into her vocals, which were matched by fast aggressive guitar and drums from Lewis and Billy. Lewis provided some great soaring guitar sounds and hooks throughout the set. During ‘Delirious’, Alice joined that eager and well-behaved mosh pit.
After ‘Let Me Inside Your Head’, there was a step change in pace and mood. Alice introduced ‘To Grow’ as very personal and their “most vulnerable song”. The Brighton crowd was respectfully silent. ‘To Grow’ was a beautiful heartfelt solo from Alice, and a huge departure from their usual rock sounds. It worked perfectly, being one of my many highlights of their special performance.
The pace and volume picked up with another two songs from their new EP ‘Seeing It Now’, with first the title track and then ‘Give Me A Reason Why’. On the latter Alice told the crowd, “You don’t have an option; you have to sing along.” I sure they would’ve done without being asked. It was straight into an old favourite ‘See Red’, during which Lewis motioned for the crowd to divide for a mosh pit. Once again, Alice joined the mosh pit, this time with her guitar. After which she declared it was “the best mosh pit, we’ve ever had on this tour”.
Before their final song, the three band members gathered for a photo with the crowd in the background. The Brighton crowd were declared “100% best of the tour, so far”. Almost every band who play Brighton has a chip stealing seagull story. While waiting for the photographer, drummer Billy asked “Why are the seagulls so big here? They’re like pterodactyls.”
Swim School closed a great performance with ‘Anyway’. Not only were the crowd’s hands in the air, but drummer Billy joined in, playing one handed for a few bars. At the end of the show the three band members came together to take a bow, after which the PA system played Pixies ‘Where Is My Mind?’. It was a fitting choice as their live version is the final track on their 2024 EP, ‘Seeing It Now’.
I’ve seen Swim School play a few times including Horatios Bar on the pier as part of The Great Escape and Worthing’s Audio Active in Independent Week 2023. I thought this was their best performance, I’ve seen. They were more confident, assured and polished, with more variety in styles especially in Alice’s vocals, while keeping their energy and passion.
It was clear to see why they appear on Dork’s “Hype List 2024” and are being widely tipped as one-to-watch. Swim School once wittily referred to themselves as “we’re Tesco Value Wolf Alice”. More “Finest” range from their latest showing, I’d suggest.
Swim School:
Alice Johnson – vocals and guitar
Lewis Bunting – guitar
Billy McMahon – drums
Swim School setlist:
‘Bored’ (2023 single release)
‘Outside’ (from 2021 ‘Making Sense Of It All’ EP)
‘Kill You’ (from 2023 ‘Duality’ EP)
‘Don’t Leave Me Behind’ (from 2023 ‘Duality’ EP)
‘Over Now’ (from 2023 ‘Duality’ EP)
‘Everything You Wanted’ (from 2021 ‘Making Sense Of It All’ EP)
‘Delirious’ (from 2023 ‘Duality’ EP)
‘Let Me Inside Your Head’ (from 2021 ‘Making Sense Of It All’ EP)
‘To Grow’ (from 2024 ‘Seeing It Now’ EP)
‘Seeing It Now’ (from 2024 ‘Seeing It Now’ EP)
‘Give Me A Reason Why’ (from 2024 ‘Seeing It Now’ EP)
‘See Red’ (from 2021 ‘Making Sense Of It All’ EP)
‘Anyway’ (from 2021 ‘Making Sense Of It All’ EP)
From the long queue outside the Green Door Store before it opened, people were clearly keen to see the support band Holler. I hadn’t seen Holler before, but it was soon clear from seeing their quality entertaining set, why many had turned up early. Holler are a four-piece Brighton indie band consisting of Lucas Leitch (lead vocals and guitar), Felix Cleeve (lead guitar), Sal Atkin (bass) and Billy Houghton (drums).
After an atmospheric intro, their first two songs, ‘Doubt’ and ‘Just The Same’ had a fresh 80’s dream pop sound with tight jangling indie guitars. Holler blended ethereal shoegaze with punchy guitars, infectious hooks and incredible melodies throughout their set. Lucas’s upbeat confident vocals were a key feature of their sound.
They varied it with a slower track, ‘Corner Store’, which was built around Lucas’s vocals and one of many great bass lines from Sal. ‘Talk To You’ had particularly impressive drums from Billy. Guitarist Felix liked to mix up his playing with distortion and feedback, as he sometimes played his guitar into the monitor.
Lucas announced they would “throw it back with the next song”, which was ‘See Straight Through’, a great indie pop tune. Another older song ‘Tell Me (What I Want To Hear)’, which closed the set, started slower before building to an impressive instrumental frenzy towards the end. It was a great way to finish a quality entertaining set, which the crowd clearly enjoyed judging by their loud cheers.
This summer Holler are setting out on a headline tour, which includes a home city show at Brighton’s WaterBear Venue on Friday 12 July, (tickets HERE.) I’d recommend going to see this exciting new local band.
Holler:
Lucas Leitch – lead vocals and guitar
Felix Cleeve – lead guitar
Sal Atkin – bass
Billy Houghton – drums
Holler setlist:
‘Intro’
‘Doubt’ (a 2024 single release)
‘Just The Same’ (unreleased)
‘Corner Store’ (from 2023 ‘Ever Since I Met You’ EP)
‘Talk To You’ (from 2023 ‘Ever Since I Met You’ EP)
‘See Straight Through’ (a 2022 single release)
‘Tell Me (What I Want To Hear)’ (a 2022 single release)
