Brakes – Concorde 2, Brighton (June 17, 2015)

Brakes (or BrakesBrakesBrakes to their US based fans) are the best band to have come out of Brighton. Better than related acts British Sea Power and Electric Soft Parade and better than The Levellers (despite them holding the surprising record for the largest ever crowd at the Glastonbury Pyramid stage). They released three excellent albums and played many excellent live shows before seemingly disbanding around 5 years ago.

So, it was very welcome news when they announced a home-town gig in celebration of the anniversary of their first album Give Blood. This news was followed with a handful of festival dates, but it was no surprise that the Concorde 2 gig was a capacity event.

Rose Dougall

First up on stage was former Pipette, Rose Dougall, an artist that I had no knowledge of outside of her former band. Live on stage it was a very pleasant surprise as she carried us through a set of 80s tinged pop numbers and demonstrated some impressive vocal prowess. The immediate comparison point that sprang to my mind was Brighton act Fear of Men, in the sound of the singing if the not the song-writing. It was another pleasant surprise to see her accompanied on stage by Gare Du Nord stalwart Ralegh Long, stepping out from behind his keyboard to prove to a very able guitarist.

Brakes

It was still bright outside when Brakes took to the stage, this being a mid-Summer gig and also an early show, but the venue was packed to the gunwales with a very partisan crowd. The band launched in to ‘The Most Fun’, which is both one of their most “Brakesish” songs but also a pretty good review of the gig to come.

The band knew that their time on stage was limited and they were in no mood to hang around, a plan to play 30 songs in the set added a degree of urgency to proceedings. The fact that so many songs in their arsenal are two minutes (or much less) in length certainly made this more achievable.

Hearing them throw out songs from across their three albums showed what a consistently inventive, fun and exciting band they were. Too odd to become household names but playing such a range of songs that they would have something to appeal to almost anyone. Be that the (near hit) of ‘All Night Disco Party’ or the well crafted rock out ‘Take Me To The River’, songs that are just too good to ignore.

The bands taste in cover versions is also pretty faultless with the Johnny Cash/June Carter single ‘Jackson’ fitting perfectly in a set along with the Camper Van Beethoven track ‘Shut Us Down’. This is a band just as comfortable playing country, folk, punk, rock or indie-pop across their albums and live shows. Brakes certainly sound like a lot of other bands tonight, but it is telling that no other band around sounds anything like Brakes.

The band have a very solid rhythm section, with bassist Marc Beatty and drummer Alex White coping well with a wide range of styles and pace changes. Singer Eamon, back in town having played with British Sea Power the previous week, is a real one off. His vocal style is unusual and his song-writing even more so, but he does things so well that his disappearance from the music scene is a real shame. However, the star of the show for me is guitarist Thomas White. I have not been fully convinced by his solo records but his skill with an axe is unquestionable, every style played brilliantly and (despite some amp malfunctions) barely a duff note all evening.

I don’t know what the future holds for the band, or if they have any future as a unit at all. Perhaps  a succinct and exciting set of albums is the best place for them to leave it and not attempt any further recordings. What I do know is that on this form they are about the best live act in town, catch them at one of their festival shows if you can.

By Dorian Rogers

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