Music: Wellsbourne Society
Host David Bramwell tells us what to expect at this music-centred edition of the bi-monthly club
Brighton’s Wellsbourne Society has been running for two years now. Set up by Catalyst Club host David Bramwell and festival curator Mathew Clayton, it is a themed night dedicated to the psychogeography and spirit of Brighton and takes its name from the city’s lost river.
Featuring speakers, performers and film clips, previous themes have included the sea, occultism, sexuality, Brighton archives and eccentric shopkeepers. This week the Wellsbourne dips its toes into the Brighton music scene to deliver a unique line-up of musical guests. Former Bow Wow Wow and Monochrome Set guitarist, Foz, will be delving into the history of one of Brighton’s most flamboyant bands, David Devant And His Spirit Wife, whose notorious live performances mixed humour, costumes and magic tricks with Seventies Bowie and Glam. Fiddle player Nick Pynn has played with everyone from Stewart Lee and Steve Harley to Arthur Brown and B*witched, and will be sharing some rock and roll tales and showcasing some of his unique instruments. Piranhas guitarist John Helmer will telling us about his years with one of the city’s great ska bands and film archivist Frank Flood will be showing a special montage of Brighton bands and music in film. And Kirk Brandon from Spear of Destiny will be there. “I think Brighton’s end-of-pier show history and carnival vibe has filtered into some of the town’s music over the years,” says David Bramwell, “notably David Devant And His Spirit Wife, Fatboy Slim, early Clearlake, the Fish Brothers, Anal Beard, Crayola Lectern etc.” And, as everyone in Brighton seems to be in a band, David Bramwell might even share a tale or two about his own exploits with his band Oddfellow’s Casino who are, in his words, “quite big in Estonia”.
So, what about music in today’s Brighton? “When I first started playing here in bands in the mid-’90s it felt really cliquey, nowadays there’s so much cross-fertilisation and sharing. Obviously there’s BIMM churning out bands and solo musicians, plus the Great Escape putting the city on the map but to be honest Brighton seems to have always had a wealth of bands from the late ‘70s onwards.
“Let’s remember that while few ‘break though’, plenty still do [Bat For Lashes, Grasscut, British Sea Power, Fink et al]. My home town of Doncaster is bigger than Brighton but has yet to produce anything of culture unless you count Jeremy Clarkson, which personally I don’t!”
Latest Musicbar, Thur 19 Dec, 8pm, £5
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