Last night was the final Source new Music night at the Dome Studio Theatre, and a fitting send off for this Brighton institution of the arts it was too with a dynamic, high quality and varied line-up of some of our town’s finest.
First up was Sam Walker (aka The Muel) who had the crowded Studio theatre in silent awe as he played a terrific solo set, on guitar, keyboards, kick drum and even a song on a kettle drum. Sam has strong songs, a great voice and a dynamic stage presence and really demands to be seen live. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of him this year. You can hear more from Sam visa his website, where you can sign up for some monthly free music http://samwalkermusic.webs.com/
The Self Help Group produced one of our favourite albums of the last year in ‘Not Waving, but Drowning’ and last night played a short set featuring a number of new songs. Their sound is a big warm meld of Californian soul and Sussex folk, with the strange stories captured by Mark Bruce’s lyrics wrapped in the glorious harmonies of the Wood sisters.
Last up was Brighton main man Chris T-T and his Hoodrats. Kicking off with an acapella solo version of Lines and Squares from his album of A A Milne sung poems, the full band then launched into a raucous set of the usual mix of politics and punked up pop. The band were hard and tight, supporting a great set of old and new songs, including tracks from his excellent album from last year, such as the humorous dynamic ‘Bury me with a Scarab’ and the wonderful ‘A Beaten Drum’. This is a great band with a great array of songs, and hopefully they’ll be playing out more over the next few months.
Chris gave a touching tribute to working, as he did, at the Source magazine. The magazine is no longer being printed, but the website will continue to provide a listings service and reviews of visiting bands amongst other things, so do add their address to your local favourites.
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Text and photographs by Jon Southcoasting
