It seems as though the City of Nottingham has recently been producing a number of quality bands who are offering a full on in-yer-face goth post-punk aural onslaught in their sound. The first of these to come to our attention were Swallowtail, who made the move down south and now operate out of Brighton. We first caught them live at The Pipeline where they absolutely blew us away! Following hot on their heels are Bloodworm who comprise of George Curtis (guitars vocals), Chris walker (bass) and Euan Stevens (drums).
The trio first came to our attention on Sunday 5th January 2025 at ‘Rockaway Beach’ festival in Bognor Regis, where they were plying their wares on the Centre Stage from 1:00pm – 1:30pm. Our account of that performance read as follows:
“Sunday begins well with the really rather good Bloodworm, who are a three piece from Nottingham. In former times they may well have been described as a power trio. However, their influences seem to be more gothic rather than, say, Cream or The Who. They comprise guitarist and vocalist George Curtis, drummer Euan Stevens and bassist Chris Walker, who has a very nice Danelectro bass, although I’m not in the least bit jealous.
Guitarist George varies his sound quite a bit. During ‘Alone In Your Garden’ his guitar goes through a phaser and he executes a particularly sweet solo. For ‘Bloodlust’ the guitar goes through a wah-wah pedal. Throughout the rhythm section they are absolutely rock solid, whilst continuing to vary their playing. During the intro to ‘The Crown’ George plays a bit of slide with a beer bottle. Whilst I’ve seen this done before, it doesn’t stop it being very cool. Final song ‘Cemetery Dance’ has a nice picked intro and is a bit quicker than the rest of the set. It very much has a Cult feel and is probably the best song that they do today, so keeping it for the end is a good move. Leave the audience wanting more: and I do believe that most of us do”.
Thus far Bloodworm have released a quartet of singles. These being ‘Back Of A Hand’ and ‘Depths’ from 2024, ‘The Crown’ in 2025, and this year witnessed the release of ‘Bloodlust’.
Their debut Brighton performance was on 20th March last year at The Hope & Ruin. The return was a much bigger affair, where they were the tour support act for Suede, and the guys rocked on up at the Brighton Centre on Saturday 21st February, and took the stage by storm! We were in attendance and during their set, we were informed that they are heading out on the ‘Blood & Lust’ tour this Spring, and that they will be headlining at the Green Door Store on Thursday 7th May. Suffice to say, that we will be in attendance and if metronomic drumming, rumbly bass and screechy guitar action is your bag, then you can certainly do no wrong by heading on out to see them.
Tour tickets are on sale now and can be purchased HERE.
See ya down the front!
