Brighton after dark: 22 July 2014

BEN BAILEY
meaty riffs and metal band names

Metal fans are in luck this week. First up, we have Evil Scarecrow at the Green Door Store on Thursday 24 July. (Even people who hate metal can surely still enjoy the silly names?) These unsigned Nottingham rockers can pack out a festival field with fans of their meaty riffs, manic stage antics and fancy dress shop costumes. Brother Pain and Doctor Hell are the band’s most vocal members, but even they talk in hushed reverence of former band member and Nottingham legend, Hymen The Unbreakable. They’ve also got an album called Sixty Six Minutes Past Six. It’s a well-turned parody from people who can seriously play, which is like having your cake and eating it. Tales of malfunctioning smoke machines and giant wooden horses only add to the appeal.

Mantora (The Hope, Saturday 26 July) are a Brighton band who, judging from their press pics, like to hang out underneath the London Road viaduct. The current line-up is a recently resurrected version of an older incarnation, now ready to rock once more. Support comes from A Night In The Abyss, Patriarch and Immersa. Similarly, Liberty Lies (Green Door Store, Monday 28 July), bounced back after a line-up setback after supporting the likes of Magnum and Slaves To Gravity. Theirs is a more sleazy affair, the sort of thing they call ‘classic rock’.

Jonestown (Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, Sunday 27 July) recently won the Metal to the Masses competition, which means they get to play at next month’s Bloodstock – the largest independent metal festival in the UK – on the same stage as luminaries Jackknife Seizure, Byzanthian Neckbeard and Abhorrent Decimation. (Did I mention how much I like metal band names?)

Jonestown had only been playing live for six weeks prior to winning the competition, their combined experience of playing in festival-level metal bands accounting for how quickly they’ve bolted together their super tight set. Support comes from Patriarch (them again), Apotheosis and XVLTR.

>CLUB HIGHLIGHTS<

Don’t miss our pick of Brighton after dark

Pachanga
Cuban and South American vibes with mojitos and music from DJs Saffa, Kei, Fussy Boy and Jimmy Lobe – a full mix of reggaeton, salsaton, bachata, merengue, ragga and mubaton.
Shooshh, Tues 22 July, 10.30pm, £3/free

Release The Bats
Time to turn to the dark side of the 1980s, when goths were goths and all music came drenched in buckets of reverb. DJ Mendees and the team behind Synergy put on a proper alternative club night.
Caroline Of Brunswick, Sat 26 July, 9.30pm, £1.99

Donuts
Thanks to Donuts, Tuesday nights are a regular fixture in every Brighton hip hopper’s iCal. As always it’s a mix of quality ‘90s hip hop, disco, funk and soul.
Green Door Store, Tues 22 July, 10.30pm, Free

Warehouse
House and techno night featuring Midland, whose anthemic ‘Your Words Matter’ you may well remember if you spent much time in house and techno clubs in 2010. May contain traces of dubstep.
Audio, Sat 26 July, 11pm, £10/7