Photo taken from Adam Kidd's Myspace
Brighton’s Penflick Podcast, a monthly online showcase for Brighton ’s vast array of unsigned musical talent, came to life last Friday with their first Live Session. The whole show was transplanted from it’s usual basement studio to the Belushis Below nightclub where 3 bands performed live sets to a lively crowd. Given the location in question is normally a nightclub with the standard bar, sofas, dance-floor and DJ booth, the Penflick team did a fantastic job of transforming the venue into an intimate lounge with a suitably sized stage that was effectively lit. Adding kudos to an already professional looking show was Jim Beckett compering, and rather than bands making a hasty and self conscious walk from the bar to the stage and gingerly introducing themselves, they actually entered stage-right to the applause and cheering whipped up by Jim’s enthusiastic introduction.
Once The Adam Kidd Band began their set, one thing that was immediately apparent was the quality of sound. The volume was up and you knew there was a live band playing, but if you wanted to speak to the person next to you, it wasn’t necessary to scream directly into their eardrum. Adam Kidd and his band were a great choice to open the show, the combination of mellow beats and soft melodies with indie guitars and vocals hooked the crowd and reeled them in perfectly for the rest of the night. Second up were the punk-pop Dates, featuring Boring Bob Grover from the legendary Piranhas. Their 35 minute set was full of fun and superb musicianship, starting on a raucous song with the catchy chorus ‘sick or drunk punk’, they progressed through their set endearing themselves to the crowd with good on stage banter and well crafted songs. As the night started to head towards Saturday morning, and Dates were finishing their set, the members of MessedUpJoey could be seen dancing about backstage, looking very fired up. If Adam Kidd hooked the crowd and reeled them in, MessedUpJoey threw everyone in a net and pulled it tight shut. The finale of their set, Broken Boy ended with every member of the audience being cajoled into crouching on the floor before the final few bars of the song, until lead singer Simon Anthony gave the word and the room exploded with people jumping and screaming to the final crunching chords and thumping beats.
At the end of the night Jim Beckett summarised the event by saying:
Tonight really rocked for me, as each band came on the quality of the event went up to another level. We are all about giving bands a chance to showcase themselves to new audiences and at the same time bringing new bands to the Penflick Podcast listeners.
Overall, with the quality of production far superior to what other similar sized, and larger venues can muster, this was an amazing night of live music. With The Roots Union, Red Shark In Vegas and Jack And The Candlesticks already confirmed for the next “Penflick Podcast – The Live Sessions” booked for the 13th March 2009, Belushis Below may become the place in Brighton to see this city’s emerging musical talent.
Live extracts from this show will be included, together with interviews with the bands on the next podcast produced my Penflick in early March.
For further information contact Milton at Penflick Studios on 07929 303712 or contact them through www.myspace.com/penflickstudios.
Written by Chris Tompkins
on Feb 18th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
i had an awesome night, well done to milton and jim and everyone involved. i will def be there at future events