PUSSYLIQUOR + CHUB + LEIBNIZ + TOKYO HONEY TRAP – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 31.3.24
Easter Sunday at the Green Door Store was a lively noisy night for the launch of Pussyliquor’s new EP ‘It’s PUSSYLIQUOR, Not Rocket Science!’. Well, you wouldn’t expect anything less from this Brighton punk/riot grrrl band.
Helped by a free CD of the new EP for the first 25 people at the gig, there was a large eclectic crowd in early for the support bands: two local acts Chub and Leibniz and over from Japan Tokyo Honey Trap.
Pussyliquor
The headliners, Pussyliquor, first appeared on the Brighton music scene about 7 years ago. After a couple of years break around the time of Covid, they returned last year for a couple of comeback concerts including one at Brighton’s Hope & Ruin (Review HERE) and later supporting HotWax for their EP launch at Dust in East Street (Review HERE).
Let’s bring things up to date with their own EP launch on Sunday. The Pussyliquor lineup consists of Ari Black (vocals), Victoria Lewis Piper (drums), Hannah Villanueva (guitar) and Tallulah Turner-Fray (bass), plus they were joined for their live show by an additional guitarist JJ Symon from The Damn Shebang.
Their set started in typical riot grrrl style with ‘Young Love’ with its strong drumming and fast guitars, over which Ari shouted out the lyrics. This was followed by two tracks off the new EP ‘It’s PUSSYLIQUOR, Not Rocket Science!’. The EP’s opening song, ‘Apathy’ started with Victoria’s thumping drums with the rest of the band joining soon after. Before ‘Buy More Shit’, singer Ari decided it was time to get rid of her trousers, saying “I usually play in my underwear. That felt strange”. During Ari’s outfit change, guitarist Hannah explained that ‘Buy More Shit’ was about consumerism and buying things to fill a void, not an early call to the merch stall. They’d already given away copies of their new EP.
The lively ‘Buy More Shit’ upped both the pace and volume level. The song features a take on Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’. The original song’s lyrics were reinterpreted with “You can swipe my plastic, spending is fantastic” and “Deforestation, it is your creation”. Ari made her first trip into the packed crowd during the Barbie Girl section of the song, returning to the stage, shouting “Let’s Go Party”.
‘Kitty Kitty’, an old song from about 7 years ago, again saw Ari back in the crowd and later riding her mic stand as she sang. After which she announced, “You know what this party needs. It’s party games!”. There was an interlude for a game of pass the parcel, with the main prize being a ‘Desperate Housewives’ box set.
Let’s get back to the music. An old favourite, the anti- misogynistic ‘Pretty Good For A Girl’, livened things back up, with Ari singing lying on her back on the stage floor. This is where she started the following song, ‘Pesticide’, from their new EP.
An unreleased song ‘Boa’ had the lyric structure that reminded me of nursery rhymes. The punk style music and Ari’s shouted vocal delivery meant it was far from the verses taught to small children.
After a quick discussion between the band, they announced they’d be “doing ‘Hurtz’ as normal”. What followed was a few lines parodied from REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’, before their own song ‘Hurtz’, from their 2017 EP ‘7” Wonder’.
Announcing they had two songs left in their set, Hannah explained ‘My Body. My Choice’ was about having rights over your own body, especially as it was ‘International Transgender Day of Visibility’ (31st March).
The final song of the main set was another song from the new EP, ‘Hit Song!’. Without the soundbite on the recorded version, Ari and Hannah told the background to the song. A misogynistic person suggested they write a hit song. Typically, the band’s short answer was to tell him to “F*ck Off”. The resulting track was a ridicule of this and was the fastest song of their very energetic set that far. Ari was back in the audience again singing while lying on the Green Door Store cobbles.
The loud calls for one more song was answered tongue in cheek by Hannah, “Haven’t we made enough noise for one night?”, before a lively finale with the typically unsubtle, uncompromising ‘C.*.N.T.’.
Pussyliquor’s uncensored female rage with sounds from punk and riot grrrl was a great launch for their EP. During their set the band thanked the audience for “being present at the EP’s birth”. The EP’s delivery, like the band who made it, was a wonderfully noisy and joyous celebration.
Pussyliquor:
Ari Black – vocals
Hannah Villanueva – guitar
Tallulah Turner-Fray – bass
Victoria Lewis Piper – drums
JJ Symon – guest guitar
Pussyliquor setlist:
‘Young Love’ (unreleased)
‘Apathy’ (from 2024 ‘It’s PUSSYLIQUOR, Not Rocket Science!’ EP)
‘Buy More Shit’ (from 2024 ‘It’s PUSSYLIQUOR, Not Rocket Science!’ EP)
‘Kitty Kitty’ (from 2017 ‘7” Wonder’ EP)
‘Pretty Good For A Girl’ (from 2017 ‘7” Wonder’ EP)
‘Pesticide’ (from 2024 ‘It’s PUSSYLIQUOR, Not Rocket Science!’ EP)
‘Boa’ (unreleased)
‘Hurtz’ (from 2017 ‘7” Wonder’ EP)
‘My Body. My Choice’ (a 2018 single release)
‘Hit Song!’ (from 2024 ‘It’s PUSSYLIQUOR, Not Rocket Science!’ EP)
(encore)
‘C.*.N.T.’ (a 2018 single release)
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Tokyo Honey Trap
Opening the night’s entertainment was Japanese glam-punk rock band Tokyo Honey Trap, who incidentally also supported Pussyliquor on their comeback shows last year. They are a project formed by Tetsuya Nclaren, the founder of B.I.J. Records.
The large crowd was ushered from the bar area and outside into the main performance area at around 7:30pm ready for Tokyo Honey Trap. For the next twenty minutes or so, the only person on stage was bassist Rio tuning up. The other three members of the band arrived a while later and the music began at 7:53pm.
The four-piece band were fronted by their new genderless vocalist Mitsu Nclaren, with founder Tetsuya Nclaren on guitar and backing vocals. Bassist Rio and drummer Hell completed their line-up.
Tokyo Honey Trap’s glam rock style had definite influences from the likes of The New York Dolls, and hints of goth and punk. Their sound was an instant hit from their opening number, which soon saw an excited crowd enthusiastically dancing.
Mitsu was a very lively flamboyant lead singer, jumping around while singing. Mitsu fully engaged with the crowd, often with a hand to an ear encouraging the crowd to make more noise. They certainly didn’t need much encouragement.
As Tetsuya explained the audience’s part on a new song ‘Da Da Da (Don’t Tune A Blind Eye)’, the sound desk politely asked them to hurry up as they were over running. That new song proved to be a particular favourite with the female and non-binary mosh pit, who eagerly joined in on with the “da da da” lyric to the increasingly fast drumming.
Tokyo Honey Trap provided a great opening for the night’s entertainment, setting the tone and the bar very high for the bands that followed.
Tokyo Honey Trap:
Tetsuya Nakagawa (tetsu nclaren) – guitar, backing vocals
Mitsu (mitsu nclaren) – vocals
Rio – bass
Hell – drums
Tokyo Honey Trap setlist:
‘Lobotomy’
‘U.T.I.’
‘Uri Geller’
‘Wonderful Looooser’
‘Love & Peace’
‘Da Da Da (Don’t Tune A Blind Eye)’
‘Non Policy’
Leibniz
Second on were Leibniz, a three-piece grunge queercore band from Brighton. Their message of trans liberation and relief from emotional turmoil sits on top of intense grunge and hardcore sounds. The band, who formed in August 2021, consists of Erin Munn (vocals/guitar), Elisha McKay (drums) and Jack Roberts (bass).
Their trans message was clear early in their set from their debut single ‘No Body No Home’, with the lyric “Give me a body I can call my home.”
Before ‘Parasite’ singer Erin suggested, “If you like moshing this is the one to do it to”. Not that the crowd needed an invitation or were seeking permission. The female non-binary mosh pit had already carried on from where they’d left off from the opening band.
There was a problem with Jack’s bass half way through the set, which saw him having to sit on the stage floor while fixing and playing along. Erin and drummer Elish did a superb job carrying on while the bass was being fixed. Thankfully this was soon resolved.
Leibniz varied their set with a slower number with echoes of shoegaze on ‘Marijuana’. Erin announced ‘Pinocchio’ as being written “When thinking about gender.” It started with a good bass line from Jack’s mended bass.
Leibniz closed a very good set with ‘C&C’, which started with loud quiet parts before those quiet parts were dropped and it became a great grungy tune.
Leibniz:
Erin Munn – guitar and vocals
Jack Roberts – bass
Elisha McKay – drums
Leibniz setlist:
‘No Body No Home’ (a 2024 single release)
‘Shut Up The World’
‘Parasite’
‘Marijuana’
‘Pinocchio’
‘C&C’
Chub
Hailing from Brighton and Eastbourne, Chub (stylised as CHUB) are fittingly described as “metal-infused party punk”. The four lifelong friends, Ben (vocals), Greg (guitar), Kyle (drums) and Zakk (bass), formed the band in 2020.
Chub’s set started as many people were still at the bar or outside, unaware of the set times. (To be fair those timings had probably gone out of the window by that point.) Given the noise that Chub generated, people soon came into the main performance area. That noisy first number ‘Quit’ reminded me in places of Motorhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’.
With the crowd returned, singer Ben announced “We’re Chub here to f*ck you up, which means facilitating a good time.” The lyrics of their self-titled second song ‘CHUB’ said exactly that. He explained the next song ‘Beans’ was an ode to public sector workers.
Before ‘All Breaks, No Gas’, Ben said “the next one is a dance one”. I assume that’s If that dance is moshing. In the centre of that dancing was Erin the lead singer from the previous band Leibniz.
The subject matter changed to less serious stuff with the arrival of funnels and tubes for the beer bong challenge, and two minute ‘Beer Bong Song’. The jokey theme continued with a song about eating really hot chillis, ‘Carolina Reaper’. On this hot number Greg’s guitar string overheated and broke. While waiting for a replacement or fix, the band filled in with “F*ck the Tories” to a recording of Pigbag’s ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag’ and then some fart sound effects. (FYI the fart noise with the echo got the second biggest cheer, after the anti-Tory slogan.)
As the bands were over running, Chub had to miss out ‘Second Class’ from their fun set, closing with a borrowed guitar and a fans favourite ‘Microwave Dave’.
Chub:
Ben – vocals
Greg – guitar
Kyle – drums
Zakk – bass
Chub setlist:
‘Quit’
‘CHUB’
‘Beans’
‘All Breaks, No Gas’
‘Beer Bong Song’
Carolina Reaper’
‘Microwave Dave’
