Brighton after dark: 25 March 2014

Sade Ali considers older people in clubs

Do you think clubbing at 57 is normal? Well, according to my mum it is extremely normal. She has been shaking a leg down The Volks every Monday night for over 20 years! And when I say shaking a leg I literally mean putting her leg up on the barrier by the DJ booth and wining!

A lot of people frown upon old people clubbing and make jokes about them being ‘past it’ and ‘embarrassing’. I say different. Most older people I meet in clubs are great. They know how to dance, they know how to drink and more importantly they really do know how to party. Over the years even my mum has grown a reputation for being the queen of The Volks and acquiring the nickname ‘Mama Africa’ due to the countless nights of reggae and dutty wining! I am sure most of you have also seen the old guy in Oceana who dresses as Michael Jackson and dances like him too, equipped with the one white glove and shiny black and white shoes. I would be lying if I said he couldn’t dance – but he does occasionally make me laugh, especially when he busts out ‘the robot’. So putting my mum and ‘Jacko’ to the side for a minute I would like to ask – when will I give up the nightlife myself? And then I think: never! If someone told me I had to stop going out at a certain age, I think I would be quite offended and go out anyway. I don’t think there should be a limit as to the age you should stop raving, in fact I think more older people should go out and have fun just like my mum does. It definitely has kept her youthful and happy. To this day I still don’t know many people who can out do her on the dancefloor!

So all the golden oldies get your glad rags on and ‘go paint the town red’, but please do not actually use that phrase as it is more dated than you think and said out loud is quite cringeworthy! Although it’s great for you to go out, some of your old-fashioned ways should be left at home, ‘grandad wedding dancing’ being one of them! Also you do not need to try and dress like the younger generation, somehow a granny in batty riders and a crop top is not what Brighton wants to see. Stay classy!

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Brighton Noise
Alastair Reid on the week’s best gigs

Promoters Melting Vinyl have been working somewhat of a residency at Komedia of late, bringing some of the world’s most troubled and interesting talent to the North Laine on a weekly basis. This week is not different. It’s been four years since Polar Bear’s last album Peepers, and nearly ten since their Mercury Music Prize nomination – but their jazz-electronica crossover continues apace in the live show, a band that doesn’t need to record to keep its creative juices flowing. Expect an experimental patchwork of styles from the quintet on Wednesday night, weaving sax lines and double bass around skittering rhythms.

The curiously named Deaf From Behind are heading the latest Brighton Rocks event at Sticky Mike’s on Friday with their stoner, desert rock, supported by a variety of South Coast rock bands in The Subliminals, River Becomes Ocean and Rickyfitts, so check them out if fresh faces, floppy hair tattoos and guitars are your bag.

Sticky Mike’s is a good shout on Saturday as well, with a little more thought and sensitivity goes into the indie-rock of Dark Horses, supported by the Querrelles and Riddles.

Back at Komedia on Sunday, two of Brighton’s best young acts, both endearing and disarming, support RM Hubbert’s flamenco majesty. Opening the show are Grasshopper, a disgracefully youthful four-piece who, despite looking like they are still a few years off being allowed entry to Brighton’s nightlife, write authentic and accomplished ‘80s post-punk as if they had been hanging backstage with Bauhaus or Talking Heads the first time around. Next up are MYYTHS, one half of FVNERALS, a deeply dark duo who scratched and scraped a debut record of terrifying ambience, released in January. Guitars and piano drown in a dank pool of reverb and haunting vocals, drifting towards witch house without getting lost in the electronic labyrinth that can sometimes hamstring the genre. Instead, MYYTHS let their instrumentation do the work, with production sounding natural rather than overbearing and blah blah just go see them. RM Hubbert was kicking around with Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos in the ‘90s and has been an important player in the Glasgow music scene ever since. Now on his third album of flamenco-based acoustica, Breaks & Bone is in fact the first in which he sings and has been garnering all-round positive reviews since its release last September.

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