Live – Chalk | Lifts at Green Door Store Brighton

Chalk & Lifts at Green Door Store, Brighton, 27th March 2024

So it seems that I’ve made a mistake in not seeing Chalk sooner, a mistake I won’t make again having seen first hand at Brighton’s Green Door last night just how ridiculously good they are live. For a three-piece, they make some serious noise, and their stage presence coupled with a heavy strobe makes the overall effect quite mesmeric, though still challenging and confrontational.

Repping the Belfast music scene with assured aplomb, I’m not sure I can acknowledge the post-punk label that seems to be thrown towards them from many corners, it’s really not a phrase that means much any more, and this is a band who definitely mean something. If they have to sit under an umbrella it would maybe be a dark, industrial, techno umbrella, but maybe it doesn’t matter – just take a listen to the music and get to see them perform if you can.

A nod also to support act for the night, Lifts. When the stage is laid out with a violin, viola and sax among the usual guitar, keys and drums, you know something different is about to happen. Their experimental, alternately melancholy and full force rock offer makes Lifts an intriguing prospect – ones to watch without doubt.

Lifts