LAMBRINI GIRLS + WIFE SWAP USA – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 27.1.22
Triptych is an annual series of three music events and three EP record releases brought to you by Brighton’s finger on the pulse label and promoters ‘Love Thy Neighbour’.
This year is ‘Triptych V’ and after a 2021 sabbatical due to covid, the promoter, venue and bands taking part this time around are all raring to go! These events are all held at The Hope & Ruin which is located on Queens Road in Brighton and the selected 2022 dates were eventually finalised as Thursday 27th, Friday 28th and Saturday 29th January.
Over the past four Triptych’s, Love Thy Neighbour have carefully selected a trio of their favourite artists and bands who all performed showcase sets on the night in question to eager Brighton music lovers who gathered on the first floor of the venue. The artists have always greatly varied in style, but have one thing in common, namely, they are all on the way up!
To accompany the event, each night has carried a vinyl record release featuring a chosen number from each of the acts performing on that evening. These vinyl releases have immediately become seriously collectible as they have been limited to a mere 15 copies available for purchase each night! Yes, that’s correct, just 15. So across the three nights there are only a total of 45 pieces of yummy vinyl, so collectors take note! Triptych 2022 is no exception and this year’s are all three track 7” clear vinyl offerings.
The nine acts included are:
Night 1: Thursday 27th January – Lambrini Girls | Sit Down | Wife Swap USA
Night 2: Friday 28th January – Spang Sisters | Hutch | Lucy Feliz
Night 3: Saturday 29th January – Public Body | Porchlight | Toast
So this evening it’s the turn of Lambrini Girls, Sit Down and Wife Swap USA.
Seven hours before the start of day one we were informed that there was “some bad news though, unfortunately one of Sit Down is in isolation so can no longer play. However, Katie from Sit Down is going to DJ from 9pm – 10pm in the bar before Lime Garden take over on the decks”. This meant that we were down to just two live sets on the night and timings were adjusted accordingly.
First up tonight were Wife Swap USA. Well where on earth do we start with this hot new Brighton based sextet? Well at the beginning naturally! The Brighton & Hove News Music Team were present at the band’s very first gig on 6th December 2019! It lasted 34 minutes and it was wild and very memorable! At the time I stated “I walked out of the venue thinking to myself …OMG, that was their first ever gig! How good can they get?” You can read that gig report HERE.
Since that night, the 6-piece has undergone several line-up changes, which is to be expected when several of the band members also play for other live bands and when their upward trajectory beckons, something has to give, thus Leila (lead guitar) and Annabel (drums) departed to concentrate on the Lime Garden and Toast projects. Bassist Kim was for a time stranded right at the top of the country and thus the dynamics of the band changed and so Wife Swap drafted in Lily, who is also in Sit Down and now she’s a permanent Wife Swapper. Also in on guitar is Jane, who has been on the indie Brighton music scene for a few years now and was a dominant force in Brighton act Heirloom, who I last encountered supporting the awesome THUMPER at Patterns back in March 2020 (Review HERE). Catt from the Lambrini Girls was hired to replace Annabel. Cowboy Matt plays guitar for Wife Swap, but he is currently stuck in Austria and so this evening the band are a 5-piece outfit.
Thus we have the backbone of the outfit with dynamic frontman Harry on vocals and Lambrini Girl Phoebe on keys and guitar, along with Lily, Jane and Catt. Despite all these manoeuvres I can report that the band are as hot as ever!
Wife Swap USA took to The Hope & Ruin stage at 8:49pm and thrilled the rammed crowd for a full half hour. Harry’s interaction with us punters is of the highest order and he regularly addresses us and joins us on several occasions during their very enjoyable set. Interaction between acts and fans at this level is essential for bands if they wish to get everyone onside. Tonight at The Hope, this was more than successfully achieved by both performing acts.
Harry, who as usual was sporting his shorts and trainers and little else, even made it to the back of the venue past all of the mixed age and gender audience and at one stage was bellowing to us from atop the rear bar. Phoebe on the other hand was clad for an Arctic expedition and remained so for the duration of the whole set. This was a complete change from the norm. Would this situation be rectified later in the evening?
To my knowledge, this evening we were gifted all of their written material to date. So we bopped along to ‘Bad Day To Be A Beer’, ‘Sniffin’ USA’, ‘I Love The Pub’, ‘Snowstorm’, ‘You’ve Been At The Bins’, ‘The Jazz And Poetry One’, ‘I Wanna Play In A Punk Rock Band’, ‘I Lost My Virginity’, ‘Too Sad To W*nk’, ‘Lipstick’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Work In A Bar Anymore’.
I’m looking forward to some sort of official release from Brighton’s finest chaotic punk outfit, as all we have is the cheekily titled ‘The Difficult Second Album’ which is just a 4 tune download EP and the extended cassette version of that which has 8 tracks on it and tonight’s Triptych EP song, a reworking of ‘Sandstorm’. Yes folks I did manage to be one of the 15 very lucky people to purchase a copy. There’s no CD or vinyl album out yet, but there needs to be! Also let’s hope there are a few more newbies in the pipeline as well.
Back to tonight’s performance, I noted that Jane’s guitar playing was the best that I had heard to date. It was so meaty and tight and was holding the whole sound together, with the aid of Lily’s bass playing. Phoebe’s keys and samples were regularly down in the mix as they say, but for the penultimate number, ‘Lipstick’, which was my fave on the night, the guitar was wielded.
Sadly it all came to an end at 9:19pm, but a duo would be returning as two-thirds of the Lambrini Girls.
So in summary………..I am drawn to an outro tape that got ingrained into my mind decades ago and has stayed there ever since. I was at The Lyceum in London in the 1980’s and one of the support acts on a particular punk night was former Public Image Limited’s drummer Martin Atkins who was going under the banner of Brian Brain. His taped message at the end of his set ran on repeat for minutes on end and thus can be applied to Wife Swap USA……it said “Buy my single, buy my album, be my friend, make me rich!”. Nuff said!
Check out Wife Swap USA on Bandcamp.
After a half hour break, it was time for a 39 minute delivery from the Lambrini Girls which began with a Sigue Sigue Sputnik ‘Death Wish IV’ style intro tape booming out and for the trio to grace the stage. Well actually two of them, as they had worked out a mock sacking of front person, Phoebe, just prior to the event. From the rear of the stage, drummer Catt, addressed the audience whilst standing on the stool. Obviously I wasn’t buying it, I suspect some who were present might have been a tad worried as the delivery was a goodun! From the rear of the crowd we heard Phoebe’s voice and all was well with the world again. The third member, bassist Fox, was quietly sporting a new dark hair look and as always didn’t enter into the shenanigans.
Phoebe stepped onto the stage and had already ditched her Arctic gear for a mock fur coat, which as usual was quickly dispersed with and thus revealing a new bra and panties set. The other two remained respectfully clad. Not that their music is respectful in any way shape or form. Oh go on then, some of it is. For instance calling out a mate of yours if they disrespect women, as in ‘Boys In The Band’.
I have witnessed ‘The Brini’s’ grow and grow since their inception as a quartet with original vocalist Flora Kimberley, and this popular Brighton based 3-piece punk band are certainly making great inroads in the LGBT community, as bore witness tonight, with a whole host of new young faces having the time of their lives as they sport their colourful flamboyant looks. Word is out on this lot and tunes like ‘Big Dick Energy’, ‘Sex Toy’, ‘Gay Panic’, ‘F*ck Myself’ and ‘Help Me, I’m A Raging Lesbian’ are fuelling the cause and thus all these tunes got a hearing this evening.
The Lambini Girls raw concert performances draw the whole crowd into their chaotic universe with their signature punk energy. Anything can happen with this shy and retiring lot (that’s a lie by the way!). It’s not been unheard of for the band to hand over their instruments to their mates in the crowd, whilst they initiate a mosh pit.
Tonight’s pièce de résistance wasn’t for once Phoebe’s shouty vocals or her regular nip slips, or mosh action (especially during ‘F*ck Myself’), but for the final number, ‘Craig David’ (yep that’s its title), the boisterous crowd were instructed to create a large circular gap, but what was this for? Well, it was an absolute corker as Catt dismantled as much of the drumset as possible and set it up in the middle of us and then blasted away with much vigour. A joyous frenzy ensued!
Prior to this, the band had debuted a new number, which was naturally titled ‘Something New’. Here is a band that is writing new material and building on the name of their energetic performances. As with Wife Swap USA, surely an album must be looming in 2022?
In summary then…….It’s half past ten and it was very much a case of showmanship over perfectly delivered music quality. There’s been a real buzz in the joint the whole night and it was a joy to behold and to look around the whole room and see so many smiling faces as both bands did their stuff. A fabulous night out. Thanks guys. X
Clearly tonight was a raving success as I spied at least three other concert promoters who were present and they were all having a whale of a time! These people are in the know! Are you?
Check out the Lambrini Girls on Bandcamp.
Read our report of ‘Triptych V’ Day Two HERE.
Read our report on ‘Triptych V’ Day Three HERE.
