IDESTROY + THE METATRONS + YUR MUM – THE PRINCE ALBERT 31.7.21
On the bill tonight at The Prince Albert in Brighton courtesy of Angel Promotions are a trio of decent acts that certainly got your feet, body and mind dancing off those covid blues. The headline act were IDestroy and they were supported by The Metatrons and Yur Mum. They had hot-footed it along the coast from last night’s gig at The Hobbit in Southampton.
It was fabulous to get out again in Brighton with folks and old friends and acquaintances, not that everyone in the team was able to. Sadly, some who should have attended this evening had ‘pingbacks’ and were forced into isolation, others are choosing to avoid compact venues and thus staying away, whereas a couple were revelling at festivals elsewhere.
Thus, we were in a quandary – which gigs do we attend? Our decision was narrowed with the cancellation of the Nancy & The Dolls (FKA The Sex Pissed Dolls) gig at the Concorde 2. This left our Brighton choices as IDestroy at The Prince Albert and IAMWARFACE at the Green Door Store. Decisions! Decisions! Hold on a minute, the venues are only about 200 feet apart! We could literally run between the venues in relay fashion in order to catch as much of each band as possible. Now that’s a plan! We acquired the stage times from both promoters and indeed this WAS possible between us! Thus, the following report is of the full sets from IDestroy and The Metatrons and nearly all of the Yur Mum performance. You can read our report on the IAMWARFACE concert HERE.
First up tonight at The Prince Albert were Yur Mum who were established in 2016 and are a multicultural rock band, who have a disregard for fashion and are based in London. The band is now a duo comprising of Brazilian born Anelise ‘Anie’ on vocals/bass and Fabio ‘fɑh-bioʊ’ on drums. Their music is raw, loud and honest. They call it ‘road rage’ rock. On stage, Yur Mum are energetic, cathartic and unapologetic.
They have recently released their 10-track new platter ‘Tropical Fuzz’, which is available as a limited edition 180g tropical banana colour vinyl record which was cut in Abbey Road Studios – Grab your disc HERE.
Yur Mum are certainly no strangers to the Brighton & Hove News Music Team as we witnessed their live set at The Prince Albert back in November 2019 as part of the ‘Lips Can Kill UK tour’ with Tokyo Taboo, Healthy Junkies and PollyPikPocketz.
Yur Mum… despite the missing apostrophe (the grammar police would be grinding their teeth and demanding it to be ‘Y’ur Mum’ in the contracted form) were straight out of the blocks with some unadulterated and unapologetic sweaty, shouty, and quite simply honest punk-infused bullets in the head. Fast, furious, but somehow musical too, Analise and Fabio set a pretty damn high bar for the rest of the night.
They took to The Prince Albert stage nice and early at 7:54pm and started up a little warm-up jamming session. By 8pm they were off! The room was heading towards full, but never quite made it during the night. I’m sure punters enjoyed the social distanced part, as opposed to being squashed in like sardines.
This evening Anelise was sporting an unusual look, black jeans with just one leg cut up to look like shorts, whereas the other leg remained untouched! Is this a new fashion trend? Whereas Fabio opted to play drums in his striped socks! I’m not sure what dazzled me the most, that, or the ever present red stage lights that simply remain on all of the time! No flashing, no changing of colour, no strobes. Nothing, just bloody red light! Someone seriously needs to get creative here!
Yur Mum are rock with a capital ‘R’. Anie’s vocals are loud and gritty, just like their music is. Her bass playing is a joy to watch in tandem with Fabio’s stix-work. The noise levels were set for the night! This evening was very much about the brand new ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album and this was reflected in the choice of tracks, which were totally different from last time when we saw them. There were no less than 9 of the 10 album tracks on offer tonight, if you count ‘Sweatshop’, which previously appeared on the 2019 ‘Ellipsis’ EP. The final album track ‘Rio ’69’ was the one being omitted.
Yur Mum setlist:
‘Black Rainbow’ (found on June 2021 ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album)
‘Kiss And Tell’ (found on June 2021 ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album)
‘What Do You Want’ (found on December 2019 ‘Ellipsis’ EP)
‘Dig Deep’ (found on June 2021 ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album)
‘Crazy’ (found on June 2021 ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album)
‘Tropical Fuzz’ (found on June 2021 ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album)
‘Banana Republic’ (found on June 2021 ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album)
‘Happy Mantra 2020’ (found on June 2021 ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album)
‘Je Ne Sais Pas’ found on June 2021 ‘Tropical Fuzz’ album)
‘Sweatshop’ (found on December 2019 ‘Ellipsis’ EP)
Check them out on Instagram and visit their Bandcamp page and their website www.yurmum.com
The Brighton & Hove News Music Team had witnessed a live set from The Metatrons before, when they performed live at The Prince Albert back in June 2019, when they were supporting The Membranes.
Formed in 2011, The Metatrons are a fuzzy riot pop band who hail from Hitchin in Hertfordshire. They are a striking quartet that features Polly (vocals), Rico (bass), Steve (drums) and Simon (guitar). I really honestly enjoyed their set last time around and I even purchased both of their albums at the end of the night, namely their debut platter ‘Between Planets’ which was released in 2011 and the follow-up ‘Patterns Of Chaos’ which saw the light of day in 2016. Since then, they have released a third, which is titled ‘Deconstruction’ and is out now on Chapter 22 Records – Buy your copy HERE.
Back in 2019, after their set, I spoke with Polly and conveyed my appreciation of her Strawberry Switchblade look as well as their delightful bubble-gum fuzz-pop sound akin to The Primitives. Immediately Polly’s face lit up and she produced a tote bag with the words ‘The Primitives’ emblazoned on it. I was clearly on the same wavelength. Turns out that they had also played live with The Primitives. I added that there was also more than a nod to Penetration and The Rezillos, which was met with further approval. I would also add West London’s Colour Me Wednesday in order to finalise their sound.
This evening, The Metatrons, who are very nice people, were sporting a black with some white clothing look, with Polly opting to move slightly away from the Strawberry Switchblade look and go for an immaculate Spanish Consuela (pronounced ‘kon-swey-luh’) style – Think 1970’s UK holiday abroad and you get the drift. For those that might be wondering, tonight’s tote bag was a Metatrons one!
I must say that when I first saw tonight’s bill, I was surprised to see The Metatrons appearing alongside IDestroy and Yur Mum. They didn’t quite seem to fit in somehow and quite possibly this feeling was verified on the night. When Polly started to address the Brighton crowd, there wasn’t really much that feedback, which in turn made her appear self-conscious and a little nervous and worried about future crowd addresses, although this could not be said of guitarist Simon, who occasionally waded in with merch information. It had the air of not quite gelling somehow. I suspect that some of the fault lies with the microphone levels (on both mics) to start with or Polly just not getting close enough to the microphone. This did improve as the set went on.
The Metatrons were, how shall I put it, a little twee (“Here’s a song about my Cat”) during their eleven song set, as compared with tonight’s other artists, and they tended to stand on the spot instead of throwing themselves around like their younger counterparts. But ask yourself, does The Metatrons enjoyable music necessarily lend itself to thrashing about? No it doesn’t. Dare I say that it in the main caters for a more mature discerning punter? Maybe that’s why I bought their previous two albums, who knows? Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy their set, but not as much as two years ago. Might have been better appearing with similar bands, like Scare Taxi, who they shared the bill with two years ago. I noted Tara from Scare Taxi in attendance this evening. I wonder which band she enjoyed the most?
The Metatrons setlist:
‘Again’ (found on October 2020 ‘Deconstruction’ album)
‘My Sympathy’ (found on July 2011 ‘Between Planets’ mini-album)
‘It’s Me Or The Cat’ (found on June 2016 ‘Patterns Of Chaos’ album)
‘Where’s The Sunshine?’ (found on October 2020 ‘Deconstruction’ album)
‘(Who Wants Their) Feet On The Ground’ (found on October 2020 ‘Deconstruction’ album)
‘Smile (Don’t Let Me Down’ (found on June 2016 ‘Patterns Of Chaos’ album)
‘Population One’ (found on October 2020 ‘Deconstruction’ album)
‘Aerosol’ (found on July 2011 ‘Between Planets’ mini-album)
‘Sound Bites’ (found on October 2020 ‘Deconstruction’ album)
‘When To Let Go’ (found on October 2020 ‘Deconstruction’ album)
‘Please Mister’ (found on June 2016 ‘Patterns Of Chaos’ album)
Find The Metatrons on Bandcamp and visit their website www.themetatrons.co.uk
Tonight’s headliners, the all-female trio IDestroy, (I write it like this as that’s how they write it on their Facebook page) were the only band that we hadn’t seen live before, so anticipation was high as we’ve heard that their riotous live shows are their calling card.
Since forming in 2015, the trio, who consist of singer, guitarist and lead songwriter Bec Jevons, bassist and backing vocalist Nicola Wilton-Baker and drummer Jenn Hills, met as students in Bristol. They have thus far played more than 300 gigs across the UK, Europe and Asia, selling out shows in South Korea and multiple tours in Germany.
With two acclaimed EPs to their name, 2016’s ‘Vanity Loves Me’ and 2018’s ‘Pure Joy Of Life’, IDestroy’s output was seriously bolstered with the arrival of their debut LP ‘We Are Girls’ which dropped via CD Baby on 12th February this year. The record is available on coloured pink and blue splatter vinyl and marks a significant step up for the trio – Grab your copy of ‘We Are Girls’ HERE. It’s fair to say that this scorching singalong sizzler has as much energy as the band live on stage. ‘We Are Girls’ is a party-punk album made for moshpits – or, for now, if you prefer just pogoing at home.
‘We Are Girls’ has been very well received with The Sunday Times stating “Catchy choruses, caustic wit and clever production that captures their ferocious live sound” and as Kerrang! Magazine puts it: “An explosion of riotous energy that makes you want to get up and throw something, or possibly yourself, across the room”.
This was their very first appearance in Brighton and clearly they wanted to make it a good one! Tonight, this tight young trio saw Jenn quietly seated at the drums and in control of the laptop, whilst easy to warm to charismatic vocalist/guitarist Bec controlled proceedings and interacted with the eager punters, whereas bassist Nicola was arguably the wild child of the trio as she threw her long hair and axe around with gay abandon – even joining the crowd on two separate occasions, namely for ‘Pure Joy Of Life’ and ‘Let’s Play With Knives’.
I noted that from their opener ‘G.O.D’ that Bec’s vocals were delivered with an American tinge, as was ‘Lemons’ and ‘Sick Friend’. The thirteen selected compositions were all executed in perfect harmony and no less than nine of the ten tunes from ‘We Are Girls’ were selected. The only one to be dropped was ‘The Young And Wasted’ in favour of ‘98%’ from their March 2017 double A-side single. And on that note, but has anyone else noticed that the girls tend to release all their music in the spring! So if it’s something new from IDestroy that you crave, then quite possibly true to form, you might have a wait on your hands.
Strangely, at the earlier stages for their set, the first floor concert venue room was less full with punters than it had previously been, but slowly it began to fill up to almost the earlier levels. Maybe they had got their loud powerful rock injection from openers Yur Mum, but as the IDestroy music was booming downstairs and out the front of the venue, the faithful dutifully returned with their pints in hand, having had some ‘fresh air’.
IDestroy had the last laugh here, as during the track ‘98%’, Nicola’s bass speaker toppled off the stage! Well, prior to the tune starting, Bec did refer to it as their “power ballad”. In fact Nicola’s bass was rather meaty during several other numbers including ‘Cheap Monday’ and ‘Let’s Play With Knives’, which starts with a really decent bass solo.
Bec interacted well with the crowd and had a sparkle in her eyes – she was having a grand time delivering her compositions with her friends to us.
For myself, personally, I tended to gravitate to the earlier heavier material. ‘Pure Joy Of Life’ certainly rocked! Having said that, ‘Let’s Play With Knives’ from ‘We Are Girls’ was a corker! In fact, it appeared that the longer they played for, the heavier their sound got.
IDestroy are a vibrant young band that deserve to go far!
IDestroy setlist:
‘G.O’D’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
‘Petting Zoo’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
‘We Are Girls’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
‘Lemons’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
‘Death Party’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
‘Cheap Monday’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
‘Pure Joy Of Life’ (found on March 2018 ‘Pure Joy Of Life’ EP)
‘Sick Friend’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
‘98%’ (found on March 2017 ‘Annie’/’98%’ double A side single)
‘Annie’ (found on March 2017 ‘Annie’/’98%’ double A side single)
‘Swim’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
‘Let’s Play With Knives’ (found on February 2021 ‘We Are Girls’ album)
(encore)
‘Talking Shit’ (found on February 2016 ‘Vanity Loves Me’ EP)
Listen to their music on their Soundcloud page HERE, buy their merch HERE and learn more at idestroyband.co.uk
I note that the Angel Promotions guys are putting on another decent gig in Brighton on Friday 19th November at Patterns featuring Riskee & The Ridicule, along with The Blue Carpet Band, GLOO, and Mel’s B. Purchase your tickets HERE before they all sell out!
