Owen Thomas produces some of the most interesting music coming out of Brighton. He is part of Speak Galactic which puts out a big sound with lots of samples and drums over the top. We spoke to Owen before a brilliant show as part of BrightonsFinest’s Alternative Escape to find out more about the man behind the music who is also part of Merlin Tonto an electronic dance three-piece and his solo project Japanese Sweets.
Where are you from?
I’m kind of from Brighton, I have lived here for a bit. I lived in Gothenburg in Sweden for a little while, it’s where I did the first Speak Galactic record. The music scene there is really good.
What kind of music where you brought up on?
My dad is quite musical, so he played a big part in what I listened to. I got really into film sound tracks, like Danny Elfman and Ennio Morricone. I then started listening to Sonic Youth albums and Godspeed You! Black Empire.
What was the first instrument you started playing?
At first it was mostly guitar. I got really into electronics through seeing what peddles can do with the guitar. Which then lead me to synthesizers, as me and a mate were listening to a lot of Aphex Twins.
Has you musical style progressed?
It was never too removed from what it is now, but it was definitely more guitar orientated. `Its only in the last 4/5 years where it has become more electronic based. Writing music on the computer, using a synth to write loops which is where most of the songs come from now, whereas before it would be made with more of a song structure.
When did Speak Galactic come to its present line-up?
When I came back from Sweden it was just me on my own for the first year, then I got Jim Morrison involved on drums to make it more energetic and to bounce ideas off. Alex Painter from Great Pagans joined us about a year and a half ago on bass guitar, saxophone and the OP-1 synth.
What are your main influences?
I have always loved My Bloody Valentine and the production on their records, also Animal Collective and Broadcast. Any band that mixes organic sounds with electronics in a really interesting way.
How do you approach making music?
At first it was very much me on my own coming up with things until it sticks, then I might change after a show if I come up with a new arrangement. Recently we have been jamming out songs as a three piece and seeing what we can come up with, which is new for me. I think it will give us more of a true representation of how we are live.
Is there a new release coming soon?
We made an EP last year that is shelved at this moment, as we are writing a lot of new stuff for the album so we can start recording it. But we are not sure when that will come out.
What has been a musical eye-opener?
The last show I saw that blew me away was Grouper at Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. It is a solo project of Liz Harris who usually does songs with her guitar. But when I saw her she was using an electric piano and three Walkman’s which had ambient sounds on them, then singing over the top. It was a non-stop 30/40 minute performance to film where everything flowed into everything else.
Which three acts would you have for a concert you are putting on and where?
Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan with Animal Collective and CAN, all playing on a stage in a forest.
If you could work with any artist, who would it be?
Beck, as every record he has done is different and I like his sense of humour as well. He did this brilliant project, Record Club, where he would cover an album in a day with all sorts of different acts.
What have you been listening to at the moment?
A lot of Luke Abbott who is an electronic act that uses modular synths, and a band called Hiss Tracts who are on the same label as Godspeed You! Black Empire and do ambient droney field recording music.
What are your future plans?
Writing and recording new songs. We are playing Latitude Festival later in the year. If we release the EP this year we will book a tour around it.
Rozi Plain is one of my newest favourite artists and I’m sure her unique brand of folk will win you over as well. Originating from Winchester where she learnt her craft with help from musical mate Kate Staples (This Is The Kit) who she often performs with, Rozi moved to Bristol and continued to progress her talent starting Cleaner Records collective with her pal Rachael Dadd and brother Sam (Romanhead). Now living in London as a fully-fledged musician, Rozi has recently released her third album, Friend, which we can’t recommend more (have a look at what we said about the album here) and has put her in the limelight as one of the UK’s finest folk acts. I Spoke to Rozi before her amazing set supporting This Is The Kit (have a read of the review here) at Green Door Store.
Can you remember the first time you played an instrument?
I used to play along to the automated keyboard demo on the keyboard we had at home, pretending to play it. Then my brother taught me some chords on the guitar and how to play ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ by Radiohead which was the song I learnt how to play. Kate taught me a lot of stuff as well. They were both why I started playing music.
What did you do before you were playing music?
There are these ferry boats that go round Bristol Harbour. I was one of the crew and then became part of the maintenance team before working in a few boat yards around Bristol repainting boats when they came out of the water. When I moved to London I did it a bit – I painted a friends boat last summer.
What are your main influences for your sound?
The people I know I think influenced me the most. I like repetitive basslines and simply groves. I love African music. My brother introduced me to a lot of music when I was growing up. He got really into The Beta Band, which I then got into and that was a real life changer.
Has your sound always stayed the same?
It has always progressed but it always sounds like my songs. When I first listened back to my new album, I couldn’t believe how different my sound was – but it is definitely me.
How did you approach the writing process?
A few of them had been kicking around for a while, others I wrote fairly recently. A couple of them I wrote close to when we recorded the album, which was nice as they were really fresh. Sometimes I will have a burst of writing, but I don’t necessarily have a system.
Is the recording process something you enjoy?
Yeah, especially when recording Friend. It was probably one of the best times of my life. We did it really quickly in three days, and it was an intense and amazing experience. It was really different to the album before which was long, drawn out and full of doubt, when this felt easy and more straight forward.
‘Actually’ is a song we can’t stop listening to and has such a heavenly sound, what is the meaning behind it?
It is about knowing its ok to have a hard time. ‘Actually’ is the first song on Friend which is quite fitting, as it is a bit of a break up album. Even though I didn’t really think of it in this way, it sets the vibe for the album. (The first line on Friend: “It will be report to be / A difficult year/ A tumultuous year”)
What are you listening to at the moment?
I listen to a lot of radio and podcasts, especially Radiolab. There is this amazing one called ‘A Four Track Mind’ about one of the best ragtime musicians in the world that can imagine four different pieces of music playing simultaneously but at different times. I have been listening to a lot of Robert Wyatt and Richard Dawson. Hailu Mergia and His Classical Instrument, released on the Awesome Tapes From Africa is up there with my favourite albums of all time
There aren’t many performers that get a crowd going like Kuenta i Tambu, and we couldn’t be more excited to have them round off our Alternative Great Escape show. The template of their sound is Traditional Afro Caribbean Music, but done in their own unique way which mixes electronic sounds with infectious ritual tambu drums. I met up with the leader of the band, Roël Calister, to find out more about their impressive music.
Where did you grow up?
All band members; Paco, Vernon, Tshepho and I grew up on a tiny little island in the Caribbean called Curacao. It’s part of the Dutch kingdom and sister island to Bonaire and Aruba. Diamanta was born on Aruba. We speak the same language, Papiamentu, on all three islands.
Is there much of a music scene there and how has it influenced your music?
There’s a great music scene on the islands. Due to it’s geographical location in the Caribbean (close to Venezuela), our link with the Netherlands and the fact that most people have US cable TV, we’re being exposed to different music styles from all over the world. The most popular music style is called Ritmo Combina (combined rhythms). It sounds a bit like soca/merengue, but sang in Papiamentu. Most band members have performed in popular bands of that genre at some point in their lives. Also, styles like bachata and hip-hop are very popular. When it comes to bands: there used to be quite a few rock bands on the islands. I don’t really know what it’s like nowadays.
What music were you brought up on?
Basically you hear everything on the radio, from merengue to classical music, from hip hop to heavy metal. I was particularly interested in the roots music of the island. Seú, tambú, muzik di Zumbi. This is nowadays the basic for Kuenta I Tambu’s music. Of course we combine it with all sorts of musical genres we’ve also been influenced by.
What was the first instrument you played?
Drums and percussions! Since I started producing music I had to start playing piano as well, but drums is my main thing. I studied Jazz and world music at the Conservatory of Rotterdam.
What drives you to write music?
Do you know that feeling when you’re at a festival or at a party and all of a sudden you hear this piece of musical art? You get that urge to run home and reproduce that beat you just heard? With your own melody and your own imaginary chords. And then you also see yourself performing that unfinished song in front of thousands and thousands of people?
THAT!!!!!
Has your style of music always stayed the same?
No, we started as an acoustic group with only percussion and vocals. The initial idea was to get into theatres and spread the music of our island. We definitely did that but we figured out that playing festivals are much cooler. So than we switched it up a bit and started experimenting with electronics.
How was ‘Kuenta I Tambu’ formed?
Kuenta I Tambu consisted in the very beginning as a selection of the best curacaoan percussionists that were working and living in the Netherlands. After a few changes we ended up with this combination which doesn’t only consist of percussionists but also a DJ and a vocalist. We are actually best friends. This combination has been like this since 2012.
Is there a story behind the name?
Kuenta I Tambu means stories and drums, like we started. The songs in the very beginning were literally stories, which got turned into songs. Tambu is also a music style that inspires us.
What are the bands main influences?
We all listen to Tambú and traditional music but electronic music has been the main influence. Machel Montano, MIA, Major Lazer but also Black Eyed Peas, Sergio Mendes, Kassav.
How do you approach the writing & recording process?
We started producing with my friend Rusted Braces. I would come up with ideas and he would make it happen. Nowadays I can make some pretty decent productions myself. It all starts with the percussion. Diamanta and I come up with an idea or a story on which we can base the lyrics and than she works it out. Lately we’ve been doing some co productions with our friends from Kuddedieren with whom we produced the next three singles.
Are there any new releases coming soon?
One of the songs is about to be released very very soon. As in very soon!! It’s much slower than most of our songs and has a more familiar structure. It is less of a party song. It’s one that can have you thinking for a bit. It’s called ‘Peace of Mind’.
What has been a musical eye-opener and how has it affected you?
The music of Sergio Mendes was an eye opener for me. The way he mixes up traditional Brazilian music with American pop music is just incredible. The way he incorporates electronics in his music is amazing. He really understands Jazz, pop and traditional music, which is very exceptional. I guess that’s what makes him so special, besides the fact that he’s been around for such a long time.
What would be your perfect line-up of any 3 acts for a concert?
Juan Luis Guerra, Kassav, Maná
If you could work with any artist, who would it be?
Sergio Mendes! He would bring some crazy harmonics to our music and take it to the next level.
What music are you listening to at the moment?
Imagine Dragons, Alex Clare, Juan Luis Guerra
What are your future plans for the summer and after?
We’ll be releasing a single in a couple of weeks, by the end of June we’ll release an EP.
We’re on tour now until September. That’s the time to start writing again and see if we can finish off an album or another EP by the end of the year. In December, we’ll be doing a Caribbean tour.
Jonny Wildley, is a Brighton based artist. I first came across his Alphabet Heaven beats in a crammed Green Door Store where he completely conquered the room playing a set that span genres, using a delicious collage of loops and samples which mixed the space between Hip-Hop and electronic music into one. We couldn’t be more excited to have Alphabets Heaven play in the finale of BrightonsFinest’s Alternative Great Escape show, so I caught up with Jonny to find out more about man behind the music.
Where did you grow up and do you think it has influenced your music?
I grew up in St. Albans, a market city just north of London. It had a pretty great music scene for teenagers. Lots of bands, lots of music. I have a feeling that’s all gone, or moved to a different area of Herts.
What music were you brought up on?
Mainly rock. Hendrix was a huge part of my early life.
What was the first instrument you played, and do you have a favourite?
Guitar, from when I was about 12. I still write most music with a guitar, or at least guitar in the abstract. However, I really like playing bass. There’s something kind of selfless about it.
Has your style/genre of music stayed the same?
Not really. Alphabets Heaven started off as a vaguely academic experiment on different musical lines affecting the dynamics of each other. I still think about that type of thing every now and then, but how I think about music has changed.
What made you start Alphabets Heaven?
Sometimes it’s fun to throw yourself into a new world and see what happens.
Is there a story behind the name?
I think it’s the same type of thing Retna is getting at. There’s some kind of beauty and mysticism in language itself, it’s almost outside the people who use it. Freedom.
What are your main influences?
There’s this weird feeling you get when you’re listening to something and you can’t understand it. It’s like there’s a part of the mind that represented a preconceived notion of what can and what can’t be destroyed by the music. I live for that feeling.
How do you approach the writing/recording process?
Do you surround you self with people or hide away behind closed doors? I like both. Sometimes you need to work on something for 11 hours straight to get it right, but sometimes you need a friend. Whatever works really.
What do you love playing with when you are making music?
I have this reel to reel I absolutely adore. I don’t really use it for anything important sonically but it seems to organise my thoughts.
What music are you listening to at the moment?
Just got Ex-Easter Island Head’s Large Electric Ensemble – its people thinking about instruments in completely different ways.
What has been you happiest memory with music?
I did a set at Shambhala Festival in Canada a few years ago that was pretty special to me. Seeing Pharoah Sanders a few years ago, and Steve Reich perform octet about a decade ago, they were life changing experiences. Too many to count though. I’ve been incredibly lucky to see and be around some amazing people.
What are your future plans for the summer and after?
Early Ghost have long been one of BringhtonsFinest’s favourites. We first saw them perform at the Drill Festival 2014 and we were very impressed. The Psych-Folk 6 piece came onto our radar after they released the glorious sounding ‘Everything Goes With It’. The Brighton / London band of five interchanged instruments between themselves, creating a mix of neo-psych rock and anti-folk more. I spoke to keyboardist Sam to find more about Early Ghost.
Where did you grow up? We all grew up in Eastbourne, the only one who didn't was Hugh the drummer who's from Lewes. I wouldn't say where we lived has influenced our music in any way, Eastbourne isn't the most inspiring of places musically and we all grew up with quite different music tastes.
What music were you brought up on? Personally I grew up with lots of pop music from the 70s and 80s which my mum used to have on around the house constantly. When I finally discovered music for myself it was around the same time as picking up the guitar. Everything I wanted to listen to was very guitar heavy so lots of classic rock music most of which would be considered “Dad rock”.
What drives you to write music? I like the building of a song, seeing a spark of an idea form into something more complex and more than the sum of its parts. It’s a great tool for self-expression, even if you aren’t channelling some deep powerful emotion into your music, your personality hopefully should come across in some way, even with the smallest of parts. Bouncing these idea off of other people is also a really good feeling and playing them live is also more than enough to keep me making music. At the end of all things songs to me are incredibly satisfying to complete, as if we've all just built a house together, but also they satisfy the need for emotional expression as all artists have.
How did the band meet and how was Early Ghost formed? Karl, Mike, Sam and I all went to the same secondary school but we never played music all together. Mike and Karl had played together a bit as did Sam and I, but nothing serious. Early Ghost was formed in the first year of college which is where we met Hugh. I joined the band on keyboard which I didn't technically know how to play at the time.
Is there a story behind the name? Well… that's a highly guarded Early Ghosts secret. Not even I know. Only the highest ranking Ghost members hold that nugget of information.
How would you briefly describe the Early Ghost ethos? I feel we always try to create some sort of atmosphere with the music we make, at least that's always the idea. Early on we were very inspired by the soundtracks of spaghetti western films particularly Ennio Morricone's scores. So that cinematic quality is always in the back of our minds even now we've moved on from that sort of sound.
Has the bands style of music stayed the same? Early on we were quite folky I suppose and had way too many instruments. At one point I think we had 11 instruments on stage including a marxophone. We had the backbone of the spaghetti western sound mixed with whatever was on our minds at the time, it was sometimes quite inconsistent. Nowadays we've stripped back a lot and focused our sound into something we are all a lot more comfortable with. All of the folky instruments have been retired for the meantime and we are lot more focused on refining the songs we write. We are using a lot more synths and not holding back with a heavier sound. It’s a really exciting time and I feel we are coming into our prime musically. We have all matured as musicians in the last four or so years that we've been together and I hope that comes across.
What are the bands main influences? The Doors, Kate Bush, Jefferson Airplane, Broadcast, David Bowie, Timber Timbre, The Flaming Lips, Vangelis, Ennio Morricone to name a few. We have quite an eclectic combined musical taste but we always come back to the same artists for inspiration.
How do Early Ghost approach the writing and recording process? Writing wise, someone will have a seed of an idea usually a riff or something and share it with other members of the band and it will get added on by everyone in some way until it resembles something playable. Someone will then usually make a demo of the general sound, probably shamelessly ripping off another song, and then we start working on it all together in practice until its starts to sound suitably Early Ghosty. When we finally come round to recording its usually quite a quick process physically getting the tracks down as we have hopefully played it to death already on stage. Then Mike will mix it which probably takes the longest amount of time and after that the track is born. It’s quite efficient really.
Do you prefer writing music or recording music? I really do enjoy both equally. Writing is fun throwing around an idea until it starts to form into something we are excited by and recording is great finally cementing the finished soundscape of what we were trying to achieve.
Are there any new releases in the pipe line? At the moment we are going to release singles for a bit while we continue to gig as much as possible. I'm sure at some point this year we will start a new ep. It’s a really exciting time at the moment and we are really enjoying crafting a new sort of sound for ourselves which should be nicely realised by the time we commit to something more substantial.
What has been a musical eye-opener? One enormous event in my musical world was when I first discovered Nirvana. My mum brought home a Nirvana “best of” cd and I remember it being the first time in my life where I was excited by music. Before that I think I was only interested in Star Wars. I think I was about 11 and it was just before I started playing the guitar. It kicked of an obsession with music which I still have to this day. Also when I discovered Kate Bush that was pretty monumental.
What would be your perfect line-up of any 3 acts for a concert and were would it be put on? I would love to see The Doors, The Flaming Lips and Kate Bush in some order. Preferably somewhere with seating. I hate standing up.
If you could work with any artist, who would it be and what would they bring to Early Ghost? Working with The Flaming Lips would be pretty incredible. They have a freedom about them that we could definitely learn from. They seem to have no inhibitions with the music they make which is probably why they've continued to write music with such an energy.
What has been you happiest memory with music? The best memory has to be playing on stage when we supported Neutral Milk Hotel in Bexhill. It was the first time I properly had a buzz on stage. The venue was pretty much full and the feeling I had was electric. Such a fun gig.
What are your future plans for the summer and after? Writing, recording and gigging is all we have planned at the moment. Also some video projects to go alongside the single releases. Lots of fun stuff!
Bernholz is a solo Electronic artist, who has played with a variety of Brighton bands previously including Duke Raoul and Great Pagans. Jez Bernholz started his own solo project using a mix of casio syths, sequencers and digital samplers to mould an experimental pop sound with artistic ideas. His most recent release, How Things Are Made (September 2014), had a limited edition handmade plaster block making you the listener decide if you want to destroy the piece to find the SD card with music on the inside. Bernholz is currently on an international tour with Gazelle Twin, who he is married to as well as plays with. I spoke to Jez to find out more about Bernholz, after he had given a talk on running Brighton’s independent record label Anti-Ghost Moon Ray with Gazelle Twin.
When did you first move to Brighton? I moved to Brighton about 14 years ago to study. Then stayed hear for an extended amount of time to the point that I never thought I would ever leave as I was involved in lots of different projects and had good relationships with people. It ended up feeling like home.
What music were you brought up on? My parents are very much into musicals, so I grew up on a diet of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, and a lot of classic American songbook sounds. Having done projects that hint at that kind of influence, I started to move away from it in the past 7 years and got into a lot more experimental stuff. My sisters are very much in to pop music, and my first introduction to that was Madonna. My first solid musical memory is listening to ‘Lucky Star’ when I was about 4 years old. When I was studying a Fine Art course, a lot of the people I was meeting where doing sound art pieces and then I started to listen to artists like Apex Twin and more Leftfield rock music that I had never been exposed to before. My sound started to develop from there really.
What was the first instrument you played? The first instrument I ever learnt was the trumpet at school, until the lessons weren’t free anymore. There was a little Yamaha keyboard knocking around at home, which is the same keyboard I write songs with now. In between that I picked up the bass which became my main instrument for a long time.
What got you interested electronic production? In 2007 I first recorded in a proper studio for the first time. The people I was doing it with were very informed which helped widen my knowledge of how to record sounds, and I got even more fascinated at that point about layering up sounds. We used to do things with delay and feedback, screaming into a microphone standing in one corner of the room to the other. Stuff like that I found really exciting and enlightened me to a lot more interesting processes.
What’s the story behind the name Bernholz? Bernholz is my family’s surname from my great-great grandparents that emigrated from Poland. When my family came to England, my grandfather shortened the surname as a way of assimilating to the English culture. When I was growing up hearing about that, I always wanted to adopt it. It became a symbol of trying to find my own identity again, this was at a point when I became a solo musician for the first time, and I eventually changed my surname to Bernholz when I got married. It became a statement of my own past history, to assert my identity and own legacy.
How would you describe the Bernholz ethos? I have always liked the idea of knocking out any hierarchies of any particular genre or musical production styles. I see it as an amalgam of a lot of things I love, which comes from pop music’s melodies and lyrics combined with very ambient and abstracted noise elements. It is almost like an engineered marriage of the two things, a very experimental sound but also throwing in snippets of nostalgic pop.
How did art come an aspect of your music? When I was making sculptures and installations, I was always making temporary things, so there was never any permanence to any of the work. I really like an artist call Gustav Metzger who developed these ideas of auto-destructive art, where you can create something from destroying it. I had always wanted to make an object for the album, not to just have a CD and be done with it. I thought there was a more interesting and sculptural way to release music.
How do you approach making music? Elizabeth (Gazelle Twin) is my rock, she is the person I always share my ideas with. Chris Griffin and Alex Painter from Anti-Ghost Moon Ray – we are always sharing our music with each other, I find their opinion invaluable. Essentially, I am on my own. A lot of the time I will record stuff quite badly on my phone, a lot of field sounds as well. I spend so much time travelling, I do a lot of my thinking and writing out ideas on the train. Most of the ideas are germinating for a very long time. When I find the time to record the ideas, I improvise them as quick as I can and then I’m left with the basic embryo of the song that I can work on.
Are there any details you can give about any new releases? I am about two thirds finished on an EP. Hopefully it will be ready for September. I saw this art exhibition where the idea was based around perspective, and I became fascinated about where that originated from. It bought me to the Renaissance period, and how simple their execution of these complicated ideas were. This EP is influenced by the idea of doing really simple minimal things, and to say as much as by using as little as possible.
How has the recent tour with Gazelle Twin been? It has been nonstop. I have been doing solo Bernholz in support of Gazelle Twin. It has been a learning curve in how Bernholz works live – as it is hard to get across all your ideas when it is just you and synths onstage without relying too much on pre-recorded music. I want to make it more live sounding. It’s easier when you are in a band and you have others to rely on, you can feed off their energy, but when you are on your own it can hit you quite hard that feeling of isolation.
What has been a musical eye-opener? I started reading a book called Fear Of Music by a journalist called Garry Mulholland, about his favourite albums since punk. There was a period where I assumed I had a broad idea of music but when you read a great music journalist’s work or a great art critic’s work, they introduce you to your own limitations and how to confront them. He writes in such a way that annihilates any ideas, bigotry or prejudice that you’re not even aware of, and why you chose to listen to certain music. He was the first person who introduced me to broadening my perspective, to the point that I started going back to a lot of stuff that I had completely dismissed. Since then it has constantly opened up a whole world of music to me.
What are Bernholz’s main musical influences? Someone like William Basinski completely shifted how I looked at certain music, how it can be made and the way it is made. He makes tape loops, and did this piece in 2001 called Disintegration Loops. When transferring some old tape recordings from reel to reel onto digital they started destroying themselves, like the tape was being eaten away, and then became something entirely different. The first time I ever heard Steve Reich, I had never really heard anything as minimal but encompassed so many different ideas at one time. Kate Bush and David Bowie are my all-time favourites, the fact that they have always been able to develop their ideas and stay artistically true. Peter Gabriel is another one that has been always pushing the envelope, introducing these weird extraordinary ideas and combining them with incredible melodies that live with you.
Who would you like to work with and what would they add to your music? Laurie Anderson, because she is such a unique musician, poet, writer who takes complex ideas and strips everything right down. She is incredibly creative with her ideas – her new piece that she is bringing to Brighton is about her dog. She has done some amazing collaborations already with William Burroughs and Peter Gabriel. I can imagine she would be the sort of person that would be quite lovely, generous and open with her time, but would have some sharp and interesting ideas, electronic ideas, and conceptual ideas.
What are your future plans? For the next two week I will be touring with Gazelle Twin. Hopefully have a week or so off, where I can finish off the EP. I will be performing at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, doing a one off performance for a late night museum opening. I will be playing the BrightonsFinest Alternative Great Escape show at Latest Music Bar. I am supporting a band called Blancmange in May as well as my own show in Belgium. Later in the year I will be doing lots of touring with Gazelle Twin and hopefully my own EP. I am going to expand Anti-Ghost Moon Ray up to the Midlands, working with art organisations, to make it something that isn’t just isolated to Brighton.
This Is The Kit is a arguable Britain’s best folk outfit. With every album, I am more amazed and mesmerising by their folk rock sound and the provoking nature of their songs. I was lucky to see their remarkable show at the Green Door Store for Brighton’s Willkommen Records, where they shared the stage with musical mate Rozi Plain. Just before that show I had a lovely conversation with Kate Staples, who project it is, to find out more about her and their newest album Bashed Out.
When Spit Shake Sisters first began making music their sound was quite aggressive and punky, which then became more of a floaty psych sound with rhythmic jamming. Now they have combined the two in a refined sound, and having heard their new single I can assure you they are an act to keep an eye on. I recently spoke to Harrison and Zal from Spit Shake Sisters.
Renowned for their fierce live show, Tigercub are the band you want to see if you’re looking for a mental half hour of headbanging and smashing into one another. They have already gathered a strong local following with outstanding performances, and it seems like rest of the country are now starting to realise what the buzz is all about – following supporting tours with Blood Red Shoes and Royal Blood as well as their own recent headline tour. Having released songs like ‘Centrefold’ and ‘Hold On’, there is no doubt that Tigercub are close to breaking through. I had a quick drink with lead singer and guitarist Jamie to find out more about the band.
Great Pagans formed in Brighton in 2012, a project formed around frontman Alex Painter, co-founder of the Anti-Ghost Moon Ray collective. Their smooth ethereal vocals and beautifully layered post-punk indie pop sound has definitely impressed us at BrightonsFinest following the first listen of their self-titled debut EP in 2012. It grew into a love affair in October 2014 after the released their first album, Cupid In Error, which was very well received all around. I had a pint with Alex to discuss what makes Great Pagans.
