BLOODY/BATH + FRANCIS PIG + WEAKDAY – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 16.11.24
Once again we find ourselves camped at Brighton’s Hope & Ruin on Queens Road, although there were several other decent options available to us across town including Walt Disco at Dust and Steve Ignorant (of Crass fame) at the Concorde 2, we selected a headliner that we haven’t seen before, turns out it was an inspired selection!
Local promoters Love Thy Neighbour are a trusted source of quality live music at a grassroots venue, and this evening’s choice was Bloody/Bath which has grown from the solo project of Northampton based singer-songwriter Kailan Price into a five-piece band. I’m guessing that many of you might not have yet come across what Bloody/Bath have to offer, but if you’re fans of the likes of IDLES, Fontaines D.C and those of a similar ilk, then you really should take note!
At the moment it feels like Bloody/Bath have a small cult following, but all the right signals are there! They have transitioned from lo-fi indie rockers into a menacing, spaced out post-punk outfit! Their debut EP ‘All Love Unfelt’ came out last year and now on 4th October saw the launch of their debut long-player in the form of 10 track ‘In An Empty Space, I’m Screaming’. It’s fair to say that this is a really solid piece of work, and with the right amount of word of mouth recommendations as well as some assistance from ‘the marketing guys’, Bloody/Bath should become a name that will be banded about more often!
‘In An Empty Space, I’m Screaming’ is feverish, infectious and bewitching. Its cutting guitar lines and catchy melodies bring anthemic indie rock to the forefront, shadowing the true anguish brooding beneath its surface. Kailan’s lyrics are displayed honestly like a body cut open for heart-surgery, telling a bleak story of his personal battle with crippling depression and anxiety. A story of someone lost in their own head, imprisoned. The guitars are nostalgic, the bass thumps and the drums hit hard amongst an ominous atmosphere. Its feelings of dread paired with post-punk revival guitar lines, It brings to mind a strange alternate universe.
In support of the new album, the quintet, which this evening apparently consists of founder Kailan Price (vocals) and a quartet of new chums, these being Sophia Hollis (bass), Tom Whitney (drums), Chris Karbowy (guitar), and Alex Went (guitar) are concluding their select 6-date UK tour, which has already called in at home-base Northampton, and then Sheffield, Manchester, London, Bristol and finally here tonight in Brighton. During this evening’s performance Kailan tells us that it’s the last day of their UK tour and that he’s tired and has been living off cheeseburgers and pizza……welcome to life on the road in the world of rock n roll!
This evening’s performance lasted a mere 37 minutes, (from 10:02pm to 10:39pm), but the band still managed to cram in eleven compositions, thankfully no single tune outstayed its welcome. Tonight they offload a substantial slab from the new record with seven of the ten tunes getting an airing, commencing with ‘Strangling Of The Dog’ and ‘Heather’, which are both delivered loud and immediately IDLES spring to mind. There’s an energetic delivery on ‘Unholy Cross’ which is originally from 2021’s ‘Unholy Sonnets’ single. Mid-tune there’s a frantic change of guitar as one gives up the ghost, but all is well in the camp and the swirly guitar action continues!
‘A Dream’ is a slightly slower tune, but still offers up the full energy of the gang. The vocals are tight, even if Kailan is tired, but he still gives it his all, as he stands in front of us in his vest, overcoat and hand in his pocket. ‘All Love Unfelt’ too feels as though it has a slower beat, if that is such a thing with these guys, but worry not, it speeds up and adds rather more layers and depth in its delivery. The crowd are appreciating the quintet’s efforts and I’m standing at the front pondering why on earth aren’t Bloody/Bath performing in larger venues to bigger crowds, it bemuses me, and I hope for their sake it’s a premonition!
Kailan lets out an “urgh!” and the band exploded into action and grabbed my attention for the best tune thus far, this being ‘Idle Hands’. We are then informed that “this is a new one” and they were off again with another “urgh!” and the modern indie rock noise continued with the vocals being delivered with a true urgency! This is a solid unit and newbie ‘Ugly’ is a good sign for the future. There’s some rather decent drumming noted on ‘Suffering’, and after which Kailan informs us that “this song is famous in Russia, I don’t know why?” and they play their 2020 ‘ARP-87’ single. Is it named after the Walrus Audio ARP-87 Multi-Function Delay Pedal, who knows?.
For their penultimate number, ‘Body’, Kailan informs us that “this sounds nothing like the last one!”. Well I wouldn’t exactly say that, but we still get layers of sound via the guitars and drums and it’s just as good and it’s as urgent as all of the previous songs. They signed off with ‘Slow Death’ from their 2021 ‘Unholy Sonnets’ single. This has a slower start and then explodes into action. It’s here that it dawned on me that Bloody/Bath sound rather like the sadly defunct Brighton outfit Morning Smoke used to, which is a big positive in my house! And that was it, the band headed off to the merch stall located just outside the performance room, and no doubt were debating whether to have cheeseburgers or pizza as a reward!
Bloody/Bath:
Kailan Price – vocals
Sophia Hollis – bass
Tom Whitney – drums
Chris Karbowy – guitar
Alex Went – guitar
Bloody/Bath setlist:
‘Strangling Of The Dog’ (from 2024 ‘In An Empty Space I’m Screaming’ album)
‘Heather’ (from 2024 ‘In An Empty Space I’m Screaming’ album)
‘Unholy Cross’ (from 2021 ‘Unholy Sonnets’ single)
‘A Dream’ (from 2024 ‘In An Empty Space I’m Screaming’ album)
‘All Love Unfelt’ (from 2024 ‘In An Empty Space I’m Screaming’ album)
‘Idle Hands’ (from 2024 ‘In An Empty Space I’m Screaming’ album)
‘Ugly’ (unreleased)
‘Suffering’ (from 2024 ‘In An Empty Space I’m Screaming’ album)
‘ARP-87’ (a 2020 single)
‘Body’ (from 2024 ‘In An Empty Space I’m Screaming’ album)
‘Slow Death’ (from 2021 ‘Unholy Sonnets’ single)
Support this evening came from two local outfits in the form of Francis Pig and openers Weakday.
Having seen Francis Pig performing live a handful of months ago in this very same venue, we had a very good idea of what to expect from this exciting local quartet, which is made up of Alana Doyle (vocals, drum machine, tambourine), Henry Wickett Padgham (guitar, vocals), Jacob Newman (guitar) and Jade Taaffe (bass, backing vocals). Francis Pig push the boundaries of conventional rock music, forging a path that is uniquely their own. Their songs are a potent blend of raw power and poetic depth, exploring themes of eroticism and existentialism with a fearless intensity. With a sound that is both driving and minimalistic, Francis Pig deliver a visceral punch at their live shows, which sadly have only been averaging at one a month! Good news is afoot though, as the band have been in the studio and their debut release is imminent.
Tonight the quartet, who stand united in a line across The Hope & ruin stage, are going to give us a taster of half a dozen compositions, starting with ‘The Cream’. This features, as Alana informed me, their “newest member of the band!” which is actually a Roland TR-08 Rhythm Composer. It sits quietly on the floor by Alan’s feet and button pushed and the drum machine backing kicks off. Jade then joins in with some meaty PiL style basswork, and the lads give us some energetic guitars! Alana then tops it off with some heartfelt punk attitude vocals. They sound great, and yet arguably out of time, but as we know, music evolves in cycles. Wind the clocks back (before all of the members of Francis Pig were born) to a time around 1979 and John Waters would have certainly invited the band into the Maida Vale Studios in order to record a session for John Peel’s late night show on Radio 1.
Tonight we are in Francis Pigs company for 29 minutes, running from 9:18pm until 9:47pm which for me isn’t long enough, but I guess they have been allocated 30 minutes in which to warm us up for Bloody/Bath. Being a relatively new outfit they don’t have tons of material as yet, but last time around we heard both ‘Erotomania’ and ‘Francy’ which do not get an outing this evening. A button on the Roland gets pushed (as opposed to having a live drummer) and they unveil the slow chugging beat of their forthcoming debut single ‘Obscene Dream’, which has another dose of punk vocal energy and attitude, and includes the earworm line “Dirty little secret!”.
It’s fair to comment that Francis Pig’s material is erotically sexual and seedy and carries the vibe of pre-success Soft Cell and Adam & The Ants. Although, they don’t necessarily sound like either of these. For instance, the Roland kicks off and the beat reminds me of early Human League, until Henry, Jacob and Jade get going that is, and then it’s a totally different feel, something akin to The Velvet Underground meets The Jesus & Mary Chain. This is probably on account of sunglasses wearing Henry taking the lead vocals on ‘Like It Like You’.
I would have liked to have said that the stage lighting switched to seductive red for their ‘Sex Talk’ tune, but it seems that they were stuck on red all night long! Things are hotting up and Alana divulges that it’s hot up there in her PVC top. The banging chugging beat is back with the arrival of ‘Kiss It A-Go-Go’ and they sadly round off their great performance with ‘Daddy Said’, which offers more of the same sound. They have gone down very well indeed with the punters!
Francis Pig will be headlining at Daltons on Brighton seafront under the zipwire on Thursday 12th December for the launch of their debut ‘Obscene Dream’ single. Support will come from artist Subliminal Cherry who is a purveyor of post punk, avant-pop and experimental electronica. Tickets are now on sale from HERE.
Francis Pig:
Alana Doyle – vocals, drum machine, tambourine
Henry Wickett Padgham – guitar, vocals
Jacob Newman – guitar
Jade Taaffe – bass, backing vocals
Francis Pig setlist:
‘The Cream’ (unreleased)
‘Obscene Dream’ (forthcoming single)
‘Like It Like You’ (unreleased)
‘Sex Talk’ (unreleased)
‘Kiss It A-Go-Go’ (unreleased)
‘Daddy Said’ (unreleased)
We last covered local Brighton based quintet Weakday nine months ago and that night their ranks were made up of Henry Wood (vocals), Fraser Cox (rhythm guitar), Nathan Key (bass), Connor Griffiths (drums) and Jamie (lead guitar). Since then Connor has jumped ship and now drums for Polite Bureaux and I haven’t got a clue where Jamie has gone. Their replacements this evening are Finnian Davidson (lead guitar) and Theo Burchill (drums). Interestingly, Weakday also, like Bloody/Bath, began as a solo project and have now honestly evolved into a fully fledged band. Sharing a vast range of influences spanning from classic rock bands to electronic artists and everything in between, Weakday are undeniably unique in a scene that is arguably saturated with guitar bands.
Weakday have been fully focused throughout the year and have thus far released a trio of singles, all of which get an airing this evening as part of their solid 26 minute, seven tune set. The lads take to the stage at 8:26pm and armed with their two Fender guitars, Squier bass, Roland keyboard and house drumkit set about winning the punters over. They open up with ‘Vienna’ which is one of those 2024 singles and I immediately hear a perceived likeness to the Editors 2009 ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ album, and indeed I can’t seem to unhear the Editors similarity throughout the whole performance, which actually is not a bad thing, as to me it indicates that Weakday have now morphed into a solid act, that should begin to climb the indie rock ladder.
Song two is an unreleased tune going by the name of ‘It’s Not A Case’, which has a slower beat, but with decent guitar and energetic drumming interplay. Another slow building tune is up next, this being ‘Second One’, which has some effective guitar shaking going down and overall it’s a really solid track. The lads then perform a trio of thus far unreleased songs, the first of these being ‘I Don’t Wanna Feel This Way Anymore’, which again benefits from some lush stixwork from Theo. This too has the vibe of the Editors, however, there’s also nods to The Wedding Present and The Fall. Their most ‘dance-friendy’ song comes next, this is ‘One To Call’ and sees the addition of Henry adding keys into the mix. The excellent rumbly bass and drums intro kicks off ‘Go (Go)’, and then the other trio join in. Henry’s vocals are the most expressive and urgent during this composition and it’s an enjoyable listen. They sign off with their final single, which is ‘Drowning’. This is a faster number and has a decent skippy drumbeat and the lads had saved the best track for last, which is ideal in order to give a positive lasting impression. It was a solid set and a second encounter would be most welcome from yours truly!
Weakday:
Henry Wood – vocals, keys
Fraser Cox – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Finnian Davidson – lead guitar, backing vocals
Nathan Key – bass, backing vocals
Theo Burchill – drums
Weakday setlist:
‘Vienna’ (a 2024 single)
‘It’s Not A Case’ (unreleased)
‘Second One’ (a 2024 single)
‘I Don’t Wanna Feel This Way Anymore’ (unreleased)
‘One To Call’ (unreleased)
‘Go (Go)’ (unreleased)
‘Drowning’ ( a 2024 single)
