Thursday 24 May 2018

The Great Escape 2018 - Band Reviews


THURSDAY

There is always a strong Scottish presence on the line-up of The Great Escape, so our first stop was the Creative Scotland showcase at Horatio’s.  There was a good turnout on the pier for THE SPOOK SCHOOL and their quirky guitar pop, but the real highlight of the show was RASCALTON.  With Libertines-like guitar riffs and a singer who spits out the vocals in a way reminiscent of Joe Strummer, the Glasgow based quartet belted out a fast and frantic 30-minute set.

The Alternative Escape allows venues not on the main festival bill to put on free live music, and there are always some gems tucked away on the line up.  The obvious pick on Thursday was SHANGHAI BLUES at The Mucky Duck.  This London based band have a knack for writing soaring indie anthems, and tunes like ‘Swim’ and new single ‘Fall’ deserve a much bigger audience than the one they got in this small Brighton pub!

The most unusual set of the day was delivered by GINGER SNAPS at Bau Wow.  Calling themselves a “project” as opposed to a band, they interspersed their set with a DJ playing snippets of hip-hop classics and scratching records.  Their own music was good, and at times you would be forgiven for thinking it was Beck singing on stage rather than Ginger Snaps frontman Jay Brook.  Set closer ‘Phat Kids’ was a real highlight and shows the potential of this unique band.

One of the most enjoyable sets of the day came from M.I.L.K. at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar.  The Danish three-piece play feel-good tunes perfect for a beautiful sunny Brighton day… although perhaps better suited to a stage in the sun as opposed to the dark basement of Sticky Mike’s!  You could just tell that singer Emil Wilk loved every minute of the set, and his enthusiasm transferred to the crowd with one of the best atmospheres we have seen at The Great Escape.  The only criticism that could be aimed at them is over-reliance on the laptop – even basic percussion was being controlled with the push of a button.  If they add a few extra members to boost the live experience this is a band to watch.

Two indie bands with a good chance of breaking into the mainstream are SEA GIRLS and MARSICANS.  Sea Girls set was packed with accessible tunes in the mould of The 1975, while Marsicans had a more upbeat style reminiscent of the Maccabees. 

Possibly the band with the biggest buzz around Brighton over the weekend was BOY AZOOGA.  This Cardiff based band packed three sets into day one of the festival, and each saw festival goers queuing round the block to try and catch them in action.  We saw them at Patterns, a venue that has been plagued with sound problems for the last couple of years – and they were impeccable.  This band sit in the rare position of being almost impossible to pigeonhole, with tracks like 'Loner Boogie' and its bluesy guitar riff, to latest single 'Jerry' which sounds more like 60's dreamy-pop.  The enthusiasm and obvious natural ability of this band made them the standout of the festival.

Another day one highlight was the incredible set by ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER at The Old Ship.  With three front-men alternating vocals, and each them hugely proficient guitarists, they are a very engaging live act.  Highlights of the set were recent single 'Mainland' and last year's 'French Press'.

FRIDAY



The Canadians made quite a stir at The Great Escape in 2017 with blistering shows from the likes of Youngblood, Bad Pop and Royal Tusk.  This year they were back with another takeover of Green Door Store, and Friday's showcase got off to a great start thanks to BONIFACE.  The shy awkwardness of singer Micah Visser endeared him to the crowd, helped by the fact that as soon as he stopped the nervous chatter and started singing, confidence flooded through him and the band.  The sheer variety of song styles in a 30 minute set was staggering, as he moved through tracks such as the emotional heart-wrencher 'Again & Again' to the soaring synth-driven 'I Will Not Return As A Tourist'.

On a gorgeous sunny Brighton afternoon it felt a bit wrong to head to German-themed basement nightclub Bau Wow, but plenty of people had the same idea as it was packed to the rafters for Swiss electro-Europop from CRIMER.  Everything about the set screamed 1980s, from the singer's haircut to the synth-laden tunes that wouldn't sit out of place on a compilation alongside Erasure, Pet Shop Boys or Depeche Mode.

Every year The Great Escape has at least one act that you watch and think "yep, they're going to be massive".  This year that accolade goes to SAM FENDER, singer-songwriter from the north-east who played Patterns, coincidentally as part of the Fender showcase (the guitar manufacturer!).  His set of radio-friendly, guitar driven tunes was instantly accessible and you can see why the BBC picked him for their "Sound of 2018" showcase at the beginning of the year.

One band working hard to get maximum exposure from their trip to Brighton was Edinburgh's VISTAS.  As well as their set on the main festival bill, we caught them as part of the Alternative Escape at The Hub.  It's hard to pull of the spectacular when you are playing in a shipping container, but they performed admirably and showed off a set of solid indie tracks that made them well worth seeing. 

One of the biggest queues of the weekend was found outside Coalition on Friday evening, as the evening session was kicked off by TEN TONNES.  After a successful 2017 with a lot of airplay for singles 'Cracks Between' and 'Lucy', Ethan Barnett and his band have caught the attention of the mainstream.  It felt a little like this was a warm-up for his show as part of Steve Lamacq's BBC showcase later that evening, as he flew through a set comprising virtually everything released to date.  While there wasn't much warmth or interaction coming from Barnett, the quality was there to see – both in the sublime songwriting and the tightness of the band who were technically perfect.

In the Prince Albert, an early highlight of the evening session came from  STEREO HONEY, with singer Pete Restrick showing off one of the best voices around. Opening with 'The Bay' he showed his immense singing range, over a brooding bass guitar – two characteristics sure to appeal to fans of Radiohead or Wild Beasts. 

HUNTER AND THE BEAR are a band who have been around a little while and attracted a big crowd who crammed into the tiny room upstairs at The Prince Albert.  They are aiming for stadium rock sized tunes, with powerful guitars and anthemic choruses.  While much of the set did feel a little formulaic, the standout was the title track from their debut album 'Paper Heart'.

One of the more unusual sets came from GIANT PARTY in The Prince Albert.  They opened with 'White Ink', a storming track with a guitar line that wouldn't be out of place on an (early) Arctic Monkeys album.  After that, though, the band seemed to almost dispense with guitar altogether, while singer roamed the floor among the crowd, seemingly hugging every individual that came to see the show.  While there is nothing wrong with spreading the love, and we all love a frontman coming into the crowd, it did feel that after ten minutes this was probably at the expense of the music!

SATURDAY 


The showcase from Sounds Australia is always a highlight at The Great Escape.  The "Aussie BBQ" has been shunted around different venues over the last few years, but has found its ideal home in the form of the newly created venue, The Beach.  With an open air stage as well as two decent size tents, there was plenty of scope for Sounds Australia to put on a good number of bands and really make the most of the new venue.  The promoters brought some Aussie sunshine with them too, and it was glorious as HOCKEY DAD took to the open-air Doctor Martens stage.  Limited to a 20 minute slot, they raced through tunes from their new album including 'I Wanna Be Everybody' and 'Join The Club'.  They were soon followed on the same stage by SKEGSS, who put on a brilliantly chaotic show featuring out of tune guitars, a seagull stage invader (the Hockey Dad drummer in a mask) and a frenetic circle pit in the crowd.  I think the whole crowd left happy, with most of them whistling the infectious 'L.S.D.' or 'New York California'.

While Hockey Dad and Skegss revel in chaotic, upbeat, fun rock and roll, in the Beach House tent next door CITY CALM DOWN put on a very different show.  They have developed into a slick, intense, professional band, and they played a short set that was heavy on tracks from second album 'Echoes In Blue'.  Frontman Jack Bourke brings so much to the band, with incredible vocals on tracks such as 'Joan, I'm Disappearing' and 'Blood'.

There seems to have been a bit of a comeback for the early 90s grunge sound this year.  The Saturday evening session saw GENDER ROLES play a home-town set to a packed Sticky Mike's.  Recent single 'Plastic' was the highlight of a short but frenetic, punky set.  Later, BULLY took to the stage at The Arch with a set that oozed brash confidence as they played tracks from both debut album 'Feels Like' and last year's 'Losing'.

As the festival approached it's close, TEN FE played The Prince Albert for their third set of the weekend.  This band could almost be considered a Great Escape veteran now, playing for the third year running and reeling off tracks from their brilliant debut album 'Hit The Light'.  A couple of years of relentless touring has seen the band develop into such a tight outfit, with influences ranging from Fleetwood Mac (particularly evident on 'Turn') to early 90's baggy-era indie.  Recent release 'Single, No Return' was an epic set closer and the lads left Brighton triumphantly to go and work on their second album.