Author: Editor

The Horrors at Chalk, Brighton, 23rd November 2025

When The Horrors released their debut album Strange House back in 2007, many took them to be a bit of a novelty goth band, albeit one that could write and play with some skill. The idea that they would still be regarded as a respected musical outfit close to 20 years later was probably an unlikely one but, none the less, here they are in 2025 pulling in crowds across Europe and with album number 7 under their cloaks. Night Life maintains the dark, dystopian flavour of their previous work whilst welcoming an underlying electro industrial feel.

It’s the latest step in their journey towards being something more than the sum of its organically changing parts. Of the original line-up, Faris, Joshua and Rhys remain part of the making of the record, and recent announcement that Joshua has moved on leaves just two of the starting line-up in place. An interesting mix of new recruits is clearly helping to shape their sound going forward. Telegram’s Jordan Cook on drums and Amelia Kidd on keys (ex The Ninth Wave) have been permanently joined in the last few weeks by guitarist John Victor, best known previously as one quarter of indie faves Gengahr. They all come from bands we’ve seen multiple times and would perhaps never have thought to put together, but it somehow seems to make sense and the new version of the five piece sound as though they have been playing together as a unit for far longer than is the case. 

Their performance at Chalk was impressive sonically if a touch evasive visually. Appreciating that their aesthetic has long been to play with minimal lighting and seemingly unlimited fog, this show felt particularly difficult to watch. Swathes of deep pink, red and blue covered the stage, with only fleeting glimpses of the band members as they appeared for a second or two through swirling strobes and lasers. Atmospheric? Absolutely. Orwellian soundscape? Sure. But just maybe it would have been nice to be able to actually see the band, sometimes it’s what makes the connection between artist and audience. Still, the new tracks blended well with the old, The Silence That Remains opening the set strongly and recent single Silent Sister proving popular with the crowd. Lotus Eater made it to the encore followed by an unexpected Berlin-era Bowie cover of Heroes with a dash of Weeping Wall by way of intro. Their usual closer Something To Remember Me By finished the evening on a high. The changing line-up has done nothing to dispel the talent of The Horrors; they remain fiercely good at what they do and the quality of their material has never really dipped. Still would have liked to see them rather than just hear them though; limited photos for obvious reasons.

Night Life is available to purchase here

Review by Callum
Photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 25th November 2025

Baxter Dury & Joshua Idehen at Brighton Dome, 21st November 2025

Touring with latest album Allbarone, Baxter Dury sauntered down to the seaside to take over Brighton Dome on Friday night. With the stage presence of a prowling coyote and a now extensive back catalogue of elegantly crafted tunes, Dury is a tough act to open for. However, Joshua Idehen proves more than capable of taking on the role, a showman with a different, but no less engaging, performance approach.

Idehen receives a decent greeting as he arrives on stage but, suggesting that the room can surely make more noise, informs us that he’ll be leaving the stage and when he comes back on we should react as though Dolly Parton has just walked on to sing 9 To 5. It has the desired effect, and he has the crowd in the palm of his hand from thereon in. Asserting that ‘depression cannot hit a moving target’ he instructs everyone to dance and join his refrain of ‘shimmy off’ directed at the ills of the world. Having caught his sets earlier this year at The Great Escape and more recently at Simple Things Festival, we’re happy to recommend a dose of his soulful positivity to anyone who cares to listen.

Joshua Idehen

So onto Baxter Dury, an artist managing to project a sense of disenchantment and disaffection, while simultaneously producing songs that are at times packed with humour and pathos, and at others with reflection and poignancy. Kicking off with Alpha Dog, Hapsburg and I’m Not Your Dog, we get an instant introduction to Allbarone’s tracklist followed by a look back at the excellent Night Chancers album. The set is then littered with tunes old and new; the grimy Miami inevitably getting a huge response (who’d have thought that the line ‘I’m the sausage man’ would induce one of the biggest cheers of the night), but it’s interesting to see new songs Schadenfreude and title track Allbarone receiving equally big reactions and setting the dancing pit wider and with added bounce. It’s always hard to predict how lesser known material will fare, but it seems that Brighton is more than happy to hear it all from Aylesbury Boy (I Thought I Was Better Than You) to Oi (Prince of Tears) and encore inclusion Mr W4 (Allbarone).

Across the years, Dury has developed his own distinct brand of spoken lyrics delivered with ennui and contrasted with haunting backing vocals and pulsing synths; his physical performance taking the character of a misunderstood lounge lizard as he slides and jolts across the stage. He makes what he does look easy but make no mistake, Baxter Dury is a very clever man – that old saying about it taking a lot of effort to look effortless falls pretty close to home here. One last shout out goes to the production team at the Dome – the sound and lighting was absolutely on point. A Friday night well spent.

Baxter Dury

Allbarone is available to purchase here

Review by Callum
Photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 24th November 2025

VLURE & someday, sky at The Joiners, Southampton, 10th November 2025

VLURE stopped off at Southampton’s Joiners for the latest leg of their current tour promoting recent album release Escalate with support from someday, sky. There are couple of things here that it’s heartening to see – firstly, in an environment where grassroots venues are shutting down with too much regularity, The Joiners has just been protected from closure by Music Venue Properties’ purchase under its Own Our Venues initiative, supported by Arts Council England. Secondly, we love to see artists continuing their journey on their own terms – VLURE never falter from being 100% authentic, progressive, and focused on doing things their way. The new songs have shifted up several gears and their performance matches this without fail. Bigger things to follow, surely.

Gallery from Monday’s show below

someday, sky

VLURE

Words and photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 12th November 2025

The Lovely Eggs & Polite Bureaux at Concorde 2, Brighton, 26th October 2025

Celebrating 20 years of The Lovely Eggs feels like a fine way to spend a Sunday evening, and the Brighton show is packed to the rafters in recognition.

Opening act for the evening Polite Bureaux also have a lot of support in Brighton having spent time based here, and they’re clearly the reason a section of the crowd has arrived early and waited in the rain. Their set is testament to the the value of the grassroots music venues that have hosted them since their inception; their confidence and precision have visibly and audibly risen, and it’s great to see them commanding a bigger stage with a selection of tracks new and old. With spoken-word songs that take no prisoners and hard hitting electro beats, Polite Bureaux paint a picture of the reality of today’s socio-economic landscape while injecting a hint of delicacy and nostalgia. Do go and see them if you get the chance.

Hosted by Love Thy Neighbour

Polite Bureaux

And so to The Lovely Eggs, a duo who have somehow managed to blast through two decades and hang onto their authenticity, creativity and sheer vitality on stage. Holly and David could likely do this with their eyes shut and standing on their heads at this point, but they never give anything less than 100% from start to finish. There is a by now very easy connection between the band and their audience and the splashes of Eggs’ merch being worn by those in attendance is hard to miss, along with tropes of sing-alongs throughout.

With tracks like Introducing Bullshit and People Are Twats, there’s a clever balance between resentment and rage coupled with humour and fun. The same goes for the chats between songs, this time including a three years out of date can of Strongbow, a handmade denim ukulele case, and one more hark back to the Brighton audience of the past that featured someone at the front applying lipstick instead of dancing.

It’s a twenty song setlist which inevitably has to miss lots of tracks from across the years but The Eggs’ fanbase is such that they’ll be happy with whatever is dropped in. Playing a run of well loved independent venues is fitting for their DIY ethos and their trip to Brighton proves to be a warming contrast to the seaside weather, closing song Meeting Friends At Night a pretty good description of what just happened. There are still a few more dates before they take a well earned break – last remaining tickets here.

The Lovely Eggs

Words and photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 29th October 2025

Gurriers & Nerves at The Wedgewood Rooms, 23rd October 2025

On a windy night here on the south coast, it’s up to support act Nerves to get things going, and they kick things off nicely with industrious opener Takes a Second. There’s no let up from this point on and the growing crowd are enthralled by what they’re witnessing. Tonight’s 30-minute set draws heavily from the band’s newest release Iarmhaireacht, and they round things off nicely with Leigue taken from 2024’s Glórach. This seven-minute blast of noise is a great parting gift; it’s part Swans, part Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but still uniquely Nerves.

Nerves

Next up, headliners Gurriers hit the stage to a pre-recorded version of Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You before launching into their latest single Erasure. Imagine The Rapture (with less cowbell) meets early Liars and you get somewhere close. Next up we have Dipping Out, which is another propulsive blast of driving post-punk. The song’s repetitive chorus will get stuck in your head for days, and a further read into the song’s lyrics suggest a deeper message worth paying attention to. Things only get better from this point on, and their hour long set flies by quickly. Some personal highlights and worthwhile mentions include Sign Of The Times with its sleazy bassline, as well as Come and See and their most popular track Top Of The Bill. These slower shoegaze songs are well placed in the set and offer the crowd the chance to breathe before the band race into the final three heavy hitters of the night, Approachable, Des Goblin and Nausea. The set is tight, packed with energy and passion, and there is no encore despite there being plenty of time left for a few more songs. But Gurriers have done what they came here to do, and it was a joy to watch.

Gurriers

Photos by Hannah Mesquitta – Instagram
Review by Ryan Howarth

Published 27th October 2025

Long Fling & Solid Pleasure at The Hope & Ruin, Brighton, 15th October 2025

Lots of buzz around headliners Long Fling and we weren’t to be disappointed. First up though, another reminder of why you get there early to catch the support band. Solid Pleasure bring something different to the current local scene, with a fusion of dark electro, no wave and pure pop that is instantly memorable. Featuring Neave Merrick and Lucy Milani, the tunes are a melting pot of 80s clubland meets goth distortion, all served up in a vat of Eurotrash. It’s safe to say I’ll be going back for more.

Onto the main event and featuring two of Amsterdam’s favourite indie musicians, Long Fling is the latest project from Pip Blom and Willem Smit (Personal Trainer). Both have separately pulled in Brighton crowds on multiple occasions and, unsurprisingly, The Hope & Ruin is packed for their return visit on Wednesday evening. It proves to be a masterclass in shared ownership as the spotlight flits between the duo’s vocals and musicality, the songs often forming a conversation, allowing both to shine. Joined onstage by Tender Blom, Sal Rubinstein and Darek Mercks, the entire band look like they’re having the best time, and the feeling is clearly contagious as the audience is full of smiles and dancing feet.

From the opening gambits of Pig and Mouse House, there’s a synergy that combines their strength and energy, with easy shifts between tempo. Collaborations between different styles don’t always make for a happy mix but this feels pretty easy to digest, and the general fun atmosphere on top gives the room an overall warm fuzzy feeling of contentment. It’s likely that some people will have come along as fans of either Personal Trainer or Pip Blom, and likelier still that they’ll have left with a new name to add to their purchases and playlists.

Long Fling play at YES in Manchester tomorrow and their recently released self-titled album is available here if you want to continue the party.

Hosted by Love Thy Neighbour

Solid Pleasure

Long Fling

Words and photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 17th October 2025

 

 

Le Lamb, Swallowtail, Veronica & Restless Taxis at The Hope & Ruin, Brighton, 10th October 2025

If an artist who wasn’t on the bill ever deserved a shout out – this one’s for Kate Bush, without whom I’m not sure that Friday’s extravaganza of talent would ever have happened.

Playing at Brighton’s Hope & Ruin for Hidden Herd’s latest new music showcase, a quartet of acts all shining their own light on proceedings, kicking off with some ethereal shoegaze-psych from London-based Restless Taxis. Alongside the intensity of the music building as the set progresses, some impressive interpretive dance moves give an air of watching a Lynchian video, with the rest of the band totally focused on what they’re playing – a winner with the early crowd for sure.

Restless Taxis

Next up and deserving of the praise I heard from other regulars who’d seen them before, the first of three local acts (via Milan in this case), Veronica and her band almost float onto the stage, hypnotic and whimsical with a sharp edge of strong vocals. Encouraging the crowd to chant ‘one more song’ before their final song adds a sprinkling of humour too.

Veronica

Penultimate act for the evening, Swallowtail have recently undergone a significant (50%) line-up change but look and sound as though they’ve been playing together for significantly longer than is the case. The vocals are lighter and contrast well with the vigour of the music and some forceful drumming. Early days for this version of the band – it will be interesting to see how things develop as newer songs come into play.

Swallowtail

Owning the headline slot, another on point performance from Le Lamb. Their set is fine-tuned, rightfully confident and visually beguiling. Mia’s vocals and sense of theatricality are slick as ever, and the rest of the band ensure that the overall production is flawless. An excellent finale to a really well thought out line-up.

Le Lamb

Words and photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 14th October 2025