Viva Brighton Issue #74 April 2019

MUSIC
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Ben Bailey rounds up the local music scene
CURRLS
Tue 9th, Hope & Ruin, 7.30pm, £7/6
Brighton trio
Currls have only
released one song
so far, yet they’ve
spent the last year
playing ever-bigger
support slots and local festivals, including
Brighton Pride and The Great Escape. All this
based on the strength of last year’s single April Fool
(and yeah, it’s that good). Currls’ sound is a mix
of post punk and power pop – channelling The
Strokes, Gossip and Blondie – with strident vocals
that somehow signal both nonchalant cool and
pure exuberance. This gig, which also includes a
support set from Djuno, is the launch party for
Currls’ second single Let Down. With expectations
set so high, let’s hope the title is ironic.
WASHED OUT FESTIVAL
Fri 12th & Sat 13th, various venues, £22
Festival season
starts earlier every
year in Brighton as
new events arrive
and settle for an
unclaimed weekend
either side of the summer. The first Washed Out
took place a couple of years ago and has since
expanded across eight central Brighton venues.
The founder of the festival risked his student loan
on the original line-up; luckily it paid off. Though
the acts are from all over, the event is rooted in
the city’s DIY scene and covers every sub-genre
on the spectrum between indie and punk.
Brighton bands dominate the bill, such as Arxx,
Big Slammu, Beach Riot, Ditz, Egyptian Blue,
Squig and Gender Roles (pictured).
BAD POND FESTIVAL
Sat 20th & Sun 21st, Concorde 2, 2pm, £35/22
Jamie Lenman and
Three Trapped Tigers
headline this year’s Bad
Pond Festival, alongside
a strong line-up of over 20 bands. What began
as an all-dayer at the Green Door Store in 2015
has grown into a proper weekender down at the
Concorde. The music is leftfield and experimental,
with an emphasis on the rockier side of what
that might mean. There’s electro-punk from
CLT DRP, folky alt-rock from Wild Cat Strike,
classic instrumental prog courtesy of Poly-Math
and some upfront fuzz pop from rising grunge
rockers Beach Riot. Harder tastes are catered for
by Broker’s post-hardcore barrage and The Guts
(pictured) who describe themselves as a “mathcore
jump scare scream team”.
NAOMI BEDFORD &
PAUL SIMMONDS
Fri 26th, Unitarian Church, 7pm, £16
Naomi Bedford was singing
at a party in Brighton
when she was overheard
by the guys from Orbital
who ended up getting her
to do the vocals on their 2001 hit Funny Break.
These days she’s found playing Appalachian
ballads with her partner Paul Simmonds from
folk punk stalwarts The Men They Couldn’t
Hang. This gig is a benefit for the Peter Tatchell
Foundation, a human rights charity set up by the
LGBT campaigner (Tatchell himself is appearing
as a guest speaker). The event is billed as ‘A Night
of 21st Century Folk Music’ and also features
Robb Johnson, Bird in the Belly, Lisa Knapp and
Sarah Clarke Kent & Sue Tyhurst.
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