Brighton
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This Machine Kills Wasps with MJ Hibbett, The Highchurches, Jo Burke, Shelf, Selena Mersey, and Mikey Bligh Smith
I arrive early, and the sound guy is already there. Conveniently, his name is Guy. Guy, the sound guy. Sound guy Guy. Guy Guy sound. He is friendly, and Australian. We have a nice chat, and as he sets up the stage, I learn his interest in experimental rock, music theory, and production. This is Read more
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‘I am basically Taylor Swift with Cheaper Trousers’: an interview with MJ Hibbett
Note: this interview first appeared in my newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Indiepop legend and writer of some of the most life-affirming songs, well, EVER, Mark “MJ” Hibbett, is headlining my show This Machine Kills Wasps on Thursday 8th Feb at the lovely Folklore Rooms in Brighton. To celebrate this FACT I got Read more
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Brighton Toy and Model Museum
Underneath Brighton station is a treasure trove of forgotten dreams. Brighton Toy and Model Museum, once the Sussex Toy and Model Museum, specialises in “the golden age of British and European toymaking”, and there isn’t much in here beyond the 1970s. Each of these four Victorian cellars is intensely packed with dolls, boats, trains, and Read more
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Jim Bob review: Chalk, Brighton 19th November 2023
Jim Bob, former Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine frontman and professional rabble rouser, is on stage in sunglasses and a particularly sparkly jacket. This is a rearranged gig from the summer, postponed when the hotel next to the venue burned down just before showtime. The singer addresses the walrus in the room. “We were gonna Read more
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March for Palestine, Brighton, November 5th 2023
After last week’s march in London [1], I stayed closer to home this time around. The situation in Gaza is beyond imagination. I hope these protests grow and grow, week by week, until we can no longer be ignored. The strength of feeling in Britain for an immediate ceasefire, revealed both in polling and the Read more
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Brighton Folk Choir at Apple Harvest Day in Stanmer Park 2023
Our second Apple Day Sunday in a row! I don’t usually use exclamation marks but it seems justified here. If you can’t use exclamation marks about apples then when can you use them? We performed in the orchard, a beautifully idyllic place on a terrifyingly warm October Day. I’d never been to Stanmer Park before, Read more
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Brighton Folk Choir at Ditchling Apple Day 2023
On a worryingly hot October morning, I cycled over Ditchling Beacon for Apple Day 2023, a fun event on the village green for which my folk choir was providing the traditional element. The kind of gigs the Brighton Folk Choir get invited too are always brilliant, local and mildly eccentric, and Ditchling Apple Day was Read more
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Brighton to Southsea by bike
This was an emergency cycle. I had got my ASLEF and RMT strikes mixed up, and thought Friday was the “reduced service” rather than “no trains whatsoever” day [1]. I set off slightly after 4pm, down the hill and around the ruins of the Royal Albion hotel and then out along the seafront through Hove Read more
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Existence is Resistance: My favourite signs at Brighton Trans Pride 2023
I didn’t have my phone with me, but I was down in Jubilee Square for the Trans Pride Protest March earlier today. It was a joyous but also very political gathering, as one might expect given the targeting and vilification of trans people by the fascists and their enablers in the establishment press. This being Read more
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