Brighton after dark: 1 July 2014

Ben Bailey
On the changing face of Brighton clubbing

If you’re looking for a club night in Brighton that’s a little different, you’re gonna have to start looking a whole lot harder. A mere month after the unreasonable closure of The Blind Tiger due to the complaints of a single resident, it was announced last week that two more clubs were shutting down: Digital and Bermuda Triangle.

The neighbouring Kings Road Arches venues were bought out by a consortium of local operators; the same people who bought Honey Club last year and turned it into Shooshh. The seafront site is likely to continue as a club, but the focus will no doubt be on straight-up commercial clubbing. If you want a clue as to what form that might take, have a look at how Shooshh markets itself: “The city’s first real VIP super club.”

To be fair, Digital hadn’t really been doing much for a while, and Bermuda Triangle had only been going for six months or so. But seen in the light of a long line of closures, the news is disappointing.

Let’s recap: ten years ago, Brighton’s club scene was looking relatively perky, coasting as it was on the long comedown of the big beat boom. Then the Gloucester became a barfly and got squashed. Two years later, Brighton’s only metal venue, Engine Rooms, was replaced by a cheesy R’n’B club which shut down soon after.

In the same year the award-winning Ocean Rooms was closed amidst fights and council rulings – before a series of shortlived stints as Bloc, The Yard and Psychosocial. Smack came and went without much of a trace. The Pav Tav gave up the ghost. Tube and Life have been out of action for a while, and Coalition was bought last October by London’s Eclectic Bar Group.

Now for the good news: Audio is still going strong, at least for very young crowds into house and hip-hop.

Unlike its predecessors, Sticky Mike’s has established itself as a decent place for both gigs and club nights (maybe they’ll be pushing the latter even more so now) while the Green Door Store still hasn’t put a foot wrong since it landed in 2011 – free entrance every night is not something you can argue with.
Meanwhile The Volks has quietly stuck to its policy of very loud drum’n’bass and jungle, like its punters were in a nuclear bunker oblivious to anything going on topside.

Even if the West Street vibe has finally conquered the seafront stretch, we’d like to think these things are cyclical. We’ll be holing ourselves up inland until the tide turns.

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Brighton Noise
Chris Kuzmiski on the week’s best gigs

On Tuesday we get all-singing all-dancing garage/surf rock indiepoppers, Best Friends. They are gracing the stage at Sticky Mike’s, presuming they haven’t split up amid the kind of internal strife that make Guns & Roses look like breakfast television. Still at Sticky Mike’s, but on Wednesday, is a smorgasbord of all things noisy, hasty and impolite. Headliners Our People Versus Yours are bringing the metalcore from its spiritual home in Essex, and the supports Black Art, Richa and Moodhoover may or may not be bands from somewhere, either spiritual or homely. “Don’t believe the hype”, according to grand hip-hop mage Chuck D. Wise words, Mr D.

Is there any hype for Gallows anymore? They legendarily signed a record deal for a meagre one million quid, recorded a thoroughly divisive album and then, well … nothing too noteworthy. The Green Door Store on Thursday is probably the best place to discuss the issue with them; you might want to carefully word that, mind. Also that night is a cosy evening of local-ish bands at The Hope. It’s all things ‘indie’ in the names of Foxer, Dirt Royal, Sanity FM and Hijack Stories, and you never know, one of them might be headlining Glasto next year?

Is there something in the water, or are the apparently de-politicised youth finally getting their teeth? There seems to be a swathe of angry gigs this week and London’s Pariso are no exception. It all kicks off at The Hope on Friday with equally livid labelmates Svalbarduk and clever post-hardcore types Escucha. A great thing about metal is its bands’ abilities to outlast other genres. A Britpop band going in 2014 is pretty rare, and largely terrifying. You wouldn’t even question that Soulfly are still playing, and are still big enough to headline The Haunt this Saturday. Max Cavalera is one of those people that never looked young in the first place, so it’s not like he’s become your embarrassing uncle or anything. Best check Brazil aren’t playing that night or there will be a long gap between bands.

And finally, on Monday, planet-sized egos of studied cool The Dandy Warhols are seeing fit to allow us access to them at Concorde 2. They might put the effort in, they might not. They will definitely take any spare pharmaceuticals you have lying around but that doesn’t mean they’ll be nice, or even acknowledge you. Got it? Party on …

Follow: @BrightonNoise

>CLUB HIGHLIGHTS<

Don’t miss our pick of Brighton after dark

C’EST SOIR
A brand new club night in three parts – one DJ handles the disco, soul and Motown, another does the indie and rock ’n’ roll, and a third smooths things off with some R ’n’ B and modern pop. Somehow all this is mixed with a Parisian theme and the promise of shared crystal skull cocktails.
Funfair, Fri 4 July, 10pm, £7/5/3

PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE
The other week they did the Beastie Boys, now the theme of dedicated DJ nights continues with a Depeche Mode special. Basically, it’s DJs Heathen, Mendees and Virus playing tunes by the Essex synth-rockers – alongside contemporaries such as Human League, Talk Talk and The Cult, etc.
Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, Fri 4 July, 11pm, £5

LOVE BEAT
This Dirty Bird special features Justin Martin, the San Francisco DJ and producer and co-founder of the house music record company. He’s backed up tonight by labelmates Kill Frenzy and Cause & Affect.
Coalition, Sat 5 July, 11pm, £10

WAREHOUSE
House and techno night headlined by No Artificial Colours, a house and techno duo from South East London brought together by their love of house and techno. Support comes from house and techno DJ Gavin Herlihy. You get the idea.
Audio, Sat 5 July, 11pm, £10/7/5