PETER XAN + COCO AND THE LOST + PETSEMATARY + VELVETINE – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 10.4.24
Hosting another thrilling line up of new and upcoming artists, local promoters Hidden Herd returned to The Hope & Ruin on Wednesday night. The headliner was hotly-tipped Peter Xan (championed by Dork as “an indie-rock icon in the making”). The quality and varied support acts were the brilliant Brighton-based musician Coco And The Lost, the ethereal noir-pop artist PETSEMATARY, and the exciting London post-rockers Velvetine.
Velvetine
Opening the night’s entertainment were Velvetine. They were playing only their second Brighton show after supporting HotWax in January at the Green Door Store birthday bash (Review HERE). I was excited to see this experimental band again.
Velvetine opened the evening and their set with a new as yet untitled song. Its fast distorted guitars were a foretaste of what was to follow. The London quartet created hauntingly atmospheric sounds with gothic and gloomy undertones. Their blend of styles drew from post-punk to art-rock to shoegaze. It sounded to me like a fresh take on a heavier Lush with hints of Sonic Youth and goth. Those dark soundscapes and walls of sound contrasted beautifully with Mia’s dreamy vocals.
Often within songs, they switched between loud instrumentals to quieter vocal parts, before coming together later in the songs. Mia comfortably adapted her vocals to those differing musical styles and volume levels. Their second song ‘Miss Together’ was a particularly good example of this.
Each of the band members appeared to be in their own world, while playing. Guitarist Ross and bassist Josh both played with their heads down and no communication, yet their sound was incredibly tight.
‘Curtiansong’, their debut single, had a goth feel and switched between delicate at times to being harder and harsher at others. ‘Hideaway’, the penultimate song of their set, was a particular highlight, being starkly beautiful. Mia’s vocals varied from soft to almost shouted as she more than held her own within the wall of noise. Velvetine closed with a stunning musical crescendo on ‘Just This Once’.
It was a great opening set from this very promising band. Definitely one to watch out for. You can catch Velvetine at ‘The Great Escape Festival’ next month, on Friday 17th at Queens Hotel and Saturday 18th at Dust.
Velvetine:
Mia Scarlet – vocals
Ross Fernyhough – guitar
Josh Rowell – bass
Gabe Powell – drums
Velvetine setlist:
“Untitled”
‘Miss Together’ (unreleased)
‘Curtainsong’ (a 2023 single release)
“Untitled”
‘Hideaway’ (a 2023 single release)
‘Just This Once’ (unreleased)
PETSEMATARY
Next up was Petsematary (stylised as PETSEMATARY), who started out as the music project of Gaby Elise, an East London-based singer-songwriter and bassist in Brighton gritpop trio Snake Eyes. Petsematary are now a four-piece band, and Wednesday was their first show with the full band.
They opened with two dark rock numbers that had a country twang, ‘Homerton’ and ‘Orpheus’. Gabe introduced ‘Heartlock’ as “more of a fun one”, which it was with a relatively lighter sound. Afterwards she admitted, “I was meant to play guitar on that one, but forgot to retune.” Kostas and Ian provided some quality guitar and bass sounds throughout the set.
Guitar retuned, there was another change with the dreamier start and upbeat pop sounds of ‘Cautious Kind’. Gabe’s vocals shone on the quieter more country sounding ‘Get Away With It’, which was about mental health and family. The next untitled new song had more of a traditional rock sound.
Petsematary closed on a high with ‘Why Do You Use’. It was a very impressive debut live performance for the band, especially with Owain being a late addition on drums. (I wouldn’t have known had I not been told after the show.)
Although Petsematary haven’t any confirmed dates in the Brighton area, I’d keep an eye on their social media for live shows. In the meantime, you can catch Gabe’s other band Snake Eyes at The Hope & Ruin on 25th April – Details HERE.
PETSEMATARY:
Gaby-Elise – vocals/guitar
Kostas Paraskevas – guitar
Ian Charles Carter – bass
Owain Hanford – drums
PETSEMATARY setlist:
‘Homerton’
‘Orpheus’
‘Heartlock’
‘Cautious Kind’
‘Get Away With It’
“Untitled” (new song)
‘Why Do You Use’
Coco And The Lost
Next up were Coco And The Lost, who provided a more indie pop upbeat sound compared to the haunting soundscapes and noir-pop that preceded them. Whereas the first two bands started with slower intros on their first song, this trio were straight off at pace with ‘Everything Is Fine’. The charismatic singer, Coco, was straight to the front edge of the stage. Coco’s amazing stage presence was sometimes cheeky and playful and at other times emotional, but always engaging, assured and confident.
Two new songs followed, their latest single ‘Communicator’ and the unreleased ‘Goodnight’. Another catchy tune ‘Crying In The Bathroom’, their debut single, saw Coco add more emotion into her vocals.
We were treated to another new song ‘Looks Like Now’, which Coco announced would be on her forthcoming EP. After a false start with the backing track, they played this slower number flawlessly. ‘Looks Like Now’ sat well with the livelier numbers in the set. Another relative slow burner followed, ‘Oh What A Curse It Is (To Be In Love)’. There was hurt and even anger in Coco’s vocals on this number.
Fans of ‘Made In Chelsea’ may have recognised the next song, ‘One Last Thing’, which featured in the last series. As with most Coco and The Lost shows, the last song of the set ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ was dedicated to anyone called John in the audience. This instantly catchy song was a fitting finale to another great performance. Their new material showed a positive progression and fitted well with their older songs.
Coco And The Lost’s next show is on a double decker bus in London (Tickets HERE), but they don’t have any dates booked to play Brighton again soon. You can follow them on social media for news of their next local shows and their forthcoming EP.
Coco And The Lost:
Coco – vocals
Jamie – guitar
Connor – drums
Coco And The Lost setlist:
‘Everything Is Fine’ (from 2023 ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ EP)
‘Communicator’ (a 2024 single release)
‘Goodnight’ (unreleased)
‘Crying In The Bathroom’ (a 2021 single release)
‘This Is What It Looks Like Now’ (unreleased)
‘Oh What A Curse It Is (To Be In Love)’ (from 2023 ‘Moonbird’ EP)
‘One Last Thing’ (from 2023 ‘Moonbird’ EP)
‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ (from 2023 ‘I’ve Got Nothing John’ EP)
Peter Xan
London based Peter Xan is a British-born Nigerian artist making boundary-crossing indie rock music inspired by his heritage.
With Peter’s announcement “Welcome to the Peter Xan Experience”, the five-piece band were straight into the first of two new unreleased songs ‘Empty Space’ and ‘Shadowban’. The opening track ‘Empty Space’ had hints of Bloc Party with great hooks. ‘Shadowban’ and ‘Hostage’, like most of the captivating set, were great indie rock tracks you could dance to.
Peter introduced ‘Abdicate’ as being about knowing when to leave, to which one of the guitarists quipped “He’s not leaving yet.” This was a slower, softer number, which worked well on its own merits as well as adding variety to the set.
Peter Xan’s performance was a rare balance between relaxed and energetic. As their loud indie-rock music blasted out, Peter’s extraordinary vocals effortlessly matched it without him needing to strain his voice or shout. His voice filled The Hope & Ruin with ease.
‘Boys Don’t Cry’ (not a cover of The Cure’s song) was dedicated to a late friend. Understandably this was an emotional, quieter number, which started with just Peter’s vocals with a guitar accompaniment. ‘Pressure’ had a spoken word intro before the band kicked in with a funky, soulful sound.
The final number, ‘Rejection Anthem’, was introduced with “I don’t want it to be a sad song. Are you ready? Let’s do this”. At the start Peter and one of the guitarists were in the audience, returning to the stage, when the lyrics started on this fast number.
Following this song, the excited audience started chanting for “one more song”. The drummer, Elliot, was obviously keen to play on, as he played along to the chants. Peter jokingly questioned “How do you guys know we’ve got another song?”, before adding “Due to peer pressure, we will, if you promise to see us at The Great Escape.”
The extra song, ‘One Of The Same’, was a fresh post-punk number that rounded off a very special evening of exciting new music.
As a reminder for those at The Hope & Ruin who said they’d see the band’s next Brighton show, and anybody who missed this special performance, Peter Xan are playing at ‘The Great Escape’ at Revenge on Thursday 16th May. I’d definitely recommend it, after seeing them for the first time at Hidden Herd.
Peter Xan:
Peter Xan – vocals
Noel – guitar
Beanie – guitar
Elliot – drums
Biz – bass
Peter Xan setlist:
‘Empty Space’ (unreleased)
‘Shadowban’ (unreleased)
‘Hostage’ (from 2023 ‘God Save The King’ EP)
‘Abdicate’ (from 2023 ‘God Save The King’ EP)
‘Twisted’ (unreleased)
‘Boys Don’t Cry’ (unreleased)
‘For The Weekend’ (unreleased)
‘Pressure’ (from 2023 ‘God Save The King’ EP)
‘Rejection Anthem’ (from 2023 ‘God Save The King’ EP)
(encore)
‘One Of The Same’ (unreleased)
You can catch more up and coming bands and artist at the following Hidden Herd new music discovery nights in Brighton, Their next shows are:
25th April – Lonnie Gunn + SoftTop + Sasha Assad
8th May – Enjoyable Listens + Cal Lynn + Scarlett Woolfe + Dogviolet
23rd May – Low Island + ELI + Moon Idle
12th June – THE DSM IV + Owners Club + Jopy + The Ringards
19th June – Dog Race + Media Giant + Paris Blue
With all tickets available HERE.
