We're going to
Brighton this week... definitely one of the UK's indiest towns.
Brighton, or Brighton and Hove to give it its official title and stop all the angry letters from people who live in Hove actually, has spawned it's fair share of bands, including The Kooks, The Go Team, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, The Levellers, Norman Cook in all his many guises, British Sea Power and many many more...
It's the town (sorry city - just remembered they won that status recently) that will forever be associated with Quadrophenia (hey did you know John Lydon screen-tested for the Phil Daniels role but the distributors wouldn't insure him?)
Brighton has an independent state of mind. At the general election, they voted in the first ever Green Party MP - Caroline Lucas, and, as far as I'm aware, it's the only town ever to have had its football team sponsored by a record label - local label Skint Records.
In the heady days of Skint act Fatboy Slim's rave-ups on the beach, the town was most famous for Big Beat dance music, but it's always had a steady flow of good indie bands either coming out of the town and now the tide has turned (no pun intended) towards indie, Brighton has giogs coming out of it's ears. It's also a place quite a lot of bands move to - it seems to be a bit of a Mecca for arty creative types who want a bit of sea air to inspire them.
There's always plenty going on in Brighton. As mentioned in this week's Events Guide,
The Great Escape is coming up in May (9th-14th). There's also the
Brighton Festival, which is now the 2nd biggest arts festival in the UK, after Edinburgh. Like Edinburgh it has a festival proper, which this year is guest directed by Burmese civil rights leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and a
fringe. It runs from 7th - 29th May, so you could do it as a double whammy with the Great Escape.
And an honorary mention needs to go to the
Kemptown Carnival on June 4th - Brighton's answer to Rio in the very gay-friendly area of Kemptown.
Speaking of festivals, it's just occurred to me that someone should do a festival called Brighton Rock. Has that been done? Let me know...
Shopping
Brighton is great for indie shopping. The Laines area is where it's at and in particular the North Laine which is full of independent shops, many of them satisfyingly quirky - this is where you come for record shops, vintage clothes, unusual antiques, second hand books, occult paraphernalia, cool cafes and everything else inbetween. It's where the first ever branch of The Body shop opened back in the day.
Snooper's Paradise in the middle of North Laine is worth a decent root around in. It's loads of stalls in one big indoor flea market.
Brighton is great for record shops.
Resident in the North Laines is one of the finest, though there are so many to choose from, including
Rounder Records, which has been going since 1966 and is, I think, the oldest record shop in Brighton. I believe its opther claim to fame is that Norman Cook used to work after he left the Housemartins.
Ape is also great and
Punker Bunker caters to the remnants of Brighton's punk scene which spawned Peter and the Test Tube Babies, authors of the rather memorable song 'Transvestite'.
And one local sight you might want to keep your eyes peeled for whilst shopping... Frances Taylor tweeted me to say "Look out for the skateboarding dog in the luminous jacket that frequents Brighton's North Laine at the weekend." I did a bit of sniffing around and, apparently, the dog is a Lakeland terrier called Bodhi and last month he was actually
threatened with an ASBO for skating without a lead. The Charlie Sheen of the dog world...
You can see a video of the canine bad boy
here.
Pubs
It is said that Brighton has more pubs per head than anywhere else in the UK. There's over 1000 of them, so a lot to choose from, but the pick of the bunch is perhaps...
The Prince Albert
This is the quintessential music lovers pub. Just in case you didn't know, there's a big graffiti mural of John Peel on the walloutside, along with 'Kissing Coppers' by Banksy and signed band memorabilia on the walls inside - yeah, they've got the decorations sorted.
Mellow during the day, with some nice alcoves to enjoy a pint in, the upstairs room hosts gigs and DJ nights in the evenings. Great place to see up and coming bands.
For loads more pub recommendations see the Twips section below.
Whilst in Brighton you should try beer from the local brewery, which is called
Dark Star and started life at the Evening Star pub. Also try and have a shot of Tuaca, a vanilla flavoured Liqueur that for some strange reason I'm told Brighton is mad keen on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuaca
Gig VenuesThe Brighton Centre
The biggest space in town is this 5000+ capacity venue which hosts the likes of Plan B, Primal Scream and Elbow this month along with McFly and The X Factor Live Tour. Trivia fans might like to note that it the scene of Bing Crosby's last ever performance.
Proud
Brighton Ballroom.
The team behind London's Proud venues has taken over what used to be the Hanbury Ballrooms.
The Basement
This arts centre is an interesting place with a varied bill of music, theatre, exhibitions and club nights. A couple of regular nights that are worth looking out for are Supper Club, now in its third year, and
The Hedgerow Society which only started last month.
Supper Club is on Saturdays once a month and features a mix of visual arts, performances, leftfield music and, of course, food. The Hedgerow Society is a monthly Friday night devoted to music and performance inspired by nature and the countryside. They have bands, spoken word, DJs and they usually show a film - March's gig is on the 25th and the film is Kieran Evans documentary 'Vashti Bunyan: From Here to Before'.
The Green Door Store
I haven't been to this venue yet. It's only just opened, but it's getting a lot of good buzz from people. It's a cellar under the railway station and is tipped to be Brighton's hippest venue. They have a monthly night on Saturdays (on this Saturday) called Pop Not Pop - you get a bag of popcorn on the door and get your face painted!
The Haunt
Another new spot, playing host to gigs (They've got Yelle and CocknBullKid coming up later this month) and club nights - the legendary It Is Still 1985 has moved there.
Concorde 2
The most popular choice though with Brighton gig goers is still Concorde 2. This intimate yet decent sized venue right on the sea front is a great place to see bands. Spill out afterwards and smell that sea air.
Your Twips...
I asked you for your Brighton tips on Twitter and I was absolutely deluged. Seems that, of all the places we've been to in the Indie Travel Guide, Brighton is the one that's got you most excited. Here's a selection of the best...
Johnny Silcock "
Motel Schmotel is a bloomin' lovely guest house. Perfectly formed with deeelicious breakfast in bed!"
Pursehouse "It's all about
Terre A Terre restaurant."
Nazneen Ahmed "Go to Terre a Terre! Best veggie restaurant in the world."
Alisdair Stuart "
JB's American Diner on the seafront. Incredible milkshakes, great burgers and Tom and Jerry on silent loop:)"
Pearl Ahrens "The North Laine is great, & Red Roaster coffee shop.
Booth Museum of stuffed animals is weird but fantastic.
Ross Haffenden "Stop at the sea, turn Left. Turn Left again. When reaching the pub, go in & buy 2 drinks. Call me!"
Amy Morrice "Green Door Store, Pav Tav pub, The Jam, The Mash Tun... Hectors House, unsigned gigs most nights... The Windmill pub."
Ann McKenna "Naked, a hidden coffee spot in The Laines and Infinity Health foods in North Laines are both worth a mention."
Jesse McConnell "
Bill's Cafe is a feast for just about every sense."
Beccy Smith "Go to the
Fortune of War pub on the sea front- its shaped like an upside down boat- lovely place!"
Marc the 5 O'Clock Hero "Don't go into a biker bar and shout "we are the mods!" This would be very unwise."
Jess Beales "It's Still 1985 for the best night out ever. oh and look out for the Maccabees."
Heather Robertson "Chocky wocky doo dah have their shop and cafe round there. winter warmers/indulgent chocolate treats. super nice."
Adam Lindsay "Look no further than The
Duke of Yorks - the oldest and best cinema in England, and mighty fine gig venue."
James Turnbull "Find hidden messages in the cigarette boxes on the Walls of the basketmakers arms. Great ales too."
Jasmine Shalkoie "An awesome little cafe called Bar Du Chocolat by
Choccywoccydoodah (look them up, they're awesome) where you can get shots of just intense chocolate."
Stephen Miller "Forget fish&chips on the pier, head to Bardsleys in town for a proper old school family run sit-down fish&chip shop."
Thanks everyone for the twips! Including all those we didn't manage to fit in. Really appreciate it.
So, there you go... all that and we didn't even mention the iconic Pavillion - Taj Mahal-like on the outside and Chinese-inspired ion the inside - or the Pier - which of course you have to go on and play on the arcades and the stalls. Maybe best in the summer that one though...
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|14:51 UK time, Thursday, 31 March 2011
