Viva Brighton Issue #46 December 2016

LOCAL MUSICIANS
..........................................
Ben Bailey rounds up the Brighton music scene
THE FICTION AISLE
Fri 2, Hope & Ruin, 8pm, £5
The Fiction Aisle’s Tom
White doesn’t like to sit
still. The band put out their
second album this summer,
only six months after
releasing their debut. At that
rate he should have another
ready for us by Christmas. Despite being better
known as the frontman of Brighton indie rockers
Electric Soft Parade, the soundtrack-style
songwriting of Tom’s latest output has already
eclipsed his former band in terms of scale and
ambition. They’d be worth catching even without
the great local support: but you’ll also get
Hattie Cooke’s wistful bedroom electronica and
catchy psych-pop from ones-to-watch Fukushima
Dolphin.
STUDIO 9 ORCHESTRA
Sun 4, Brunswick, 7.30pm, £donations
The first Sunday of every month sees big-band
groups from across the south coast squeezing
onto the stage of the Brunswick. This month it’s
the turn of 19-piece Brighton ensemble Studio
9 Orchestra, featuring Red Gray on vocals.
Though they might be out to challenge your
preconceptions of big-band music, that’s not
to say they favour gimmicks over proper jazz
chops. Mixing it up with swing, ballads, funk
and Latin tunes, the band also make a point of
working with local songwriters. If you’ve been
to the Love Supreme festival at any point over
the last three years, you may well have seen
them already.
OUTLAW STATE
Fri 9, Green Door Store, 7.30pm, free
Promoters Kingdom
of Dirt have carved
out a nice niche for
themselves putting on
monthly blues-rock
gigs at the Green Door
Store. This, their last of the year, is also an EP
launch for headliners Outlaw State. After a summer
of festivals, the Brighton five-piece knuckled
down to commit some of their crunchy riffs and
squealing licks to the proverbial tape. With four
likeminded bands on the bill, there’s plenty of it
to go around. Dead Whisky and Just Like Fruit
open the night, while the second slot goes to
Junkyard Choir, a kind of bluesy power duo with
a fuzzed-up guitar sound, gravelly vocals and
appropriate beards.
JUST LIKE FRUIT
Wed 14, Patterns, 7.30pm, free
New in town and clearly
keen to put themselves
about, Just Like Fruit are
also headlining this show,
Ears & Eyes, less than
a week after their appearance at the above blues
bonanza, and two days before another gig at the
Hope & Ruin. There’s something pleasingly
familiar about the catchy phrases and straightforward
sound that this former London five-piece
have claimed as their own. It’s pop, via rock and
roll, via rhythm and blues. This Patterns gig is
the launch party of the band’s first release, an EP
on Normanton Street’s local label QM Records.
....39....