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.
FRIDAY
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.
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