Best of Brighton

Concorde 2, Brighton

Thursday, July 11

A CITY that is considered a musical centre, Brighton has produced some of the country’s finest bands across a number of genres. Now a promoter is bringing together some of the county’s finest talent for a new show celebrating local music. With the likes of 12 Stone Toddler, Clowwns and Bad Laws appearing, Jamie Walker spoke to show creator Seth Walker-Spiers about what fans can expect.

Hi Seth, how did the idea for this night of Brighton bands come about?

The idea started by putting on a night with two local bands I like.

I decided to put it out there on a group on Facebook called Brighton Bands and Musicians.

We have been using this to find support for a lot of the acts we put on in Brighton.

The response was so great, we thought it could be something worth doing regularly.

The idea then grew to put on a night to help support local bands, by trying to attract people down and get Brighton music community to come and support local talent.

You mentioned to me that you think a lot of local band nights fail, is that surprising in a city like this?

Lots of people have tried getting band nights together.

I’m not so surprised as when I was in a band we made an agreement with all of our friends’ bands that we would all go to each others’ gig.

We started to go to all theirs, but soon realised not many of them bothered to come to ours.

I’ve heard this is a very Brighton thing. Whether that’s because musicians are quite transient in Brighton, I don’t know.

But if you look on the Brighton Bands and Musicians group there are more than 10.000 people on it. So it’s getting them to come out and support each other.

A lot of the smaller venues that had bands on have been closed in Brighton, which is another problem.

Brighton has so many gigs on each night, how important is it that local talent is given a platform?

I think with BIMM, and Brighton generally attracting musicians and bands to move here, there is so much talent.

There is a lot of not so great stuff, of course, but that’s maybe because there are so many bands jostling to be heard, it just doesn’t get through.

And a lot of venues’ promoters just put bands in to fill slots. We decided to take the financial risk of hiring Concorde2 for our show.

It’s a place all Brighton bands aspire to play, and if the night becomes regular we want it to be known that the acts performing are going to be the best of Brighton.

Brighton Film School will be filming the night, so the bands get a really good video of their live set, both visually and sound wise its a win.

How much are you looking forward to putting on this show?

Very much, but we need the Brighton music community to get involved and come and support the night.

If we don’t get the numbers, it’s not an option to keep going financially.

That’s why we have tried to join in other Brighton elements, like the street dinner, Loudshirt Brewery and Cassette Lord, to try and make it an interesting event.

We are also keeping the the ticket price low and affordable.

The street dinner is going to get someone down, there is no charge to them and they keep all of their profits.

The local breweries will be giving away samples and use the night to sell their brand, and the local artists can display their work for sale, at no charge.

It’s more about local business having a platform to promote themselves. We take nothing from their sales.

What makes Brighton such a centre for music?

Brighton used to have an amazing music scene, but sadly, quite a few venues have closed.

I moved here in 2006 to study music production at Brighton University, because I heard about the large and vibrant music scene.

I think BIMM also attracts musicians, and the general bohemian vibe of Brighton also bring bands and artists here.

It’s just a shame there seems to be a willingness to close smaller music venues down. Six or seven have been closed since I’ve lived here.

So why should people check out this gig?

People should come and check out the gig because we will only select great acts and try to keep the ticket prices as low as possible, because we want to make our night more of a fun interactive events.