HINDS + PILLS – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 26.5.24 (MATINEE & EVENING SHOWS)
This afternoon and evening the wait was finally over for Hinds fans, as the famed Madrid based Spanish quartet were last due to play in Brighton on Monday 13th April 2020 at Chalk but sadly the lockdown thwarted their plans. Prior to that they had successfully thrilled a packed audience at the Concorde 2 on 20th April 2018 (Review HERE) and before then had appeared at smaller venues in town with the first being on 23rd January 2015 at The Joker (situated immediately opposite Brighton Fire Station) and then on 25th February 2016, when they took Patterns by storm.
They were such a fun outfit prior to Covid when they got it together back in 2011 as a bedroom duo called Deers, which consisted of cheeky Carlotta Cosials (vocals, guitar) and sassy Ana Perrote (vocals, guitar). Before long they had recruited Ade Martin (bass, backing vocals) and Dutch born Amber Grimbergen (drums). I picked up on them in 2014 when they had released just 4 songs on Bandcamp (‘Bamboo’, ‘Trippy Gum’, ‘Castigadas En El Granero’ and ‘Between Cans’) and I really loved what they were doing. However, confusion set in as Deers had to change their name due to another artist of the same name and so being girls, they opted for the female deer moniker of Hinds.
With three acclaimed albums behind them (and in my record collection), ‘Leave Me Alone’ (2015) and ‘I Don’t Run’ (2018) and ‘The Prettiest Curse’ (2020) racking up millions streams worldwide, Hinds have gained global recognition for their emotional openness and unapologetically anarchic ways with their honest, fun, charming music always at the forefront. Hinds love to party, playing as hard as they work and never fail to bring all that energy on stage which has led them to play hundreds of shows all over the world including slots at Glastonbury, Primavera Sound, Pitchfork Paris and Fuji Rock Festival.
Things were relatively quiet post Covid, which was quite a worry for Hinds fans, including myself, and then I noted that a band called Shanghai Baby were set to play their first ever UK gigs as part of ‘The Great Escape’ in Brighton on 12th May 2023 and that this band was created by none other than Ade Martin from Hinds. I had to check them out and so at Horatios at the end of the pier, I witnessed them in action from 2:30pm to 3:00pm. In my review of that set it appeared I had predicted the future: “This is followed by ‘Is This The Right Time’, which is a quirky jangly number. It’s during this tune that I spy Hinds drummer Amber Grimbergen standing not too far away from me and she was merrily singing away to every tune. It then dawned on me that maybe there was a possibility that the Hinds camp was in danger of reverting back to just the duo of Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote, which would be a shame”. Then 19 days later in a magazine interview Ade referred to herself as “former member of Hinds” and then on 25th July 2023, Hinds through their social media confirmed in a letter from Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen that they had quit the band. For me it was the end of an era.
After the duo’s departure, for press work it’s just been photos of Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote, most notably on the front cover of this months ‘Time Out’ magazine, however they have recruited two new chums in the form of Paula on bass and Maria on drums, but it feels like a two plus two format instead of a quartet at the moment. I guess the newbies will have to prove themselves. Hinds recently dropped their first new single in 4 years, this being ‘Coffee’ which was produced by Pete Robertson (The Vaccines, beabadoobee) and mixed by the Grammy-winning engineer Caesar Edmunds (The Killers, Wet Leg). It features the signature dual vocals of Carlotta and Ana and highlights their strength of female musicianship and friendship and is the first cut from their forthcoming fourth long-player ‘Viva Hinds’, which will be released on 6th September 2024, the front cover of which only features Ana and Carlotta.
There were two Hinds performances taking place today, a matinee concert where the doors opened at 4pm, with the support act on at 4:45pm and Hinds scheduled to appear at 5:45pm; plus the evening concert where the doors re-open at 8pm with the support on at 8:45pm and Hinds at 9:45pm. Various members of the Brighton & Hove News Music Team are in attendance for both concerts, which are almost identical, and so this is mainly written regarding the matinee concert with a brief note of the evening differences.
The equipment on stage are drums, Gibson guitar, Squier Jaguar bass, Fender Jazzmaster guitar, and (Nord Electro?) keys. The room is at full capacity and awaits the band’s arrival, but the 5:45pm scheduled time passes and they send out a technician to re-do his guitar/bass tuning, which really doesn’t need doing. It’s a stalling tactic, but eventually fifteen minutes later the quartet grace the stage to Hot Chocolate’s ‘You Sexy Thing’. It’s our first meeting with Maria and Paula so let’s see how they get on. Notably there’s a mic for Paula which is encouraging.
They kick off at 6pm with ‘The Club’ and ‘New For You’ (both from 2018’s ‘I Don’t Run’ album) and then ‘Bamboo’ (from 2016’s ‘Leave Me Alone’ album). Having seen them live on a few previous occasions, I did have an inkling that maybe Carlotta wasn’t quite feeling 100% as she appeared to be a little flustered and playing with her hair quite a bit. She was fronting it well though if she was a little under the weather. Before long Ana traded in her guitar and played the keys, which I don’t believe I have seen her do before. We had the classic ‘Bamboo’ and 2024 single ‘Coffee’ and then ‘Just Like Kids (Miau)’ (from 2020’s ‘The Prettiest Curse’ album), before Carlotta explained to us how they write their songs. They were next going to play a stripped down version of ‘Hi, How Are You’ (from forthcoming 2024 ‘Viva Hinds’ album). This would be just Ana and Carlotta duetting with one voice and one guitar, and it is this that they do when creating new tunes in either of their houses. They added that as they have a new album coming out that they would be trialling them on us.
To this point the intensity of the band and most definitely the audience were surprisingly subdued. I’m not sure whether it was because it was a matinee gig and so people’s minds weren’t quite on the case yet, or whether they hadn’t downed a few drinks yet, or whether because they were 15 minutes late, but things were just off. Even Carlotta said “Why are you so quiet guys?”. Up until this point the chemistry in the room just wasn’t totally there! This was not the case however for the evening’s performance!
After ‘Hi, How Are You’ we had ‘Good Bad Times’ (from 2020’s ‘The Prettiest Curse’ album) and then when they had finished playing ‘Boom Boom Back’ from forthcoming album, the applause levels took a dramatic leap and even Carlotta noted that the fans really like the new song, which incidentally on the record features none other than Beck! This was much more like all of my previous Hinds gig encounters now and all the better for it. The chemistry was really working and you could suddenly see the uplift in energy on the stage, which then bounded into the audience and back on stage again. Things were now exactly where they should be for a Hinds concert!
After ‘Riding Solo’ we had ‘Stranger’ (from ‘Viva Hinds’) which saw Paula on quite a bit of the lead vocals. She was taking on the part of Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten who appears on the track on the album. Carlotta namechecked Fontaines D.C. and as I was at the front I spoke up and told her that Fontaines D.C. had previously played on that very stage. It was on 6th December 2018 – Read my review HERE.
Carlotta then told us that the next tune ‘Burn’ with the line “I wanna tell my girls how are we fighting in this man’s world” was written as some had likened them to screaming cats and so on this they did it even more! The quartet really rocked out on his number more than any thus far and were not surprisingly rewarded for the first time this afternoon with a screaming applause. They have turned it around and the band’s playing on the next number ‘Superstar’ was more intense too! Their cover of The Clash’s ‘Spanish Bombs’ came next and Carlotta gave us a part Spanish history lesson and why she thought The Clash had written it. She changed a line to “Spanish bombs rock in Brighton”, which went down very well and after the song had ended she added “Say no to wars at all costs!”.
Another newbie was next in the form of ‘En Forma’ (‘Fit’) which was sung in Spanish and at times with Paula, Ana and Carlotta in unison and they rocked again! They were honestly getting better with every next song. Their penultimate number was an oldie and a goodie, this being ‘Castigadas En El Granero’ (‘Punished in the Barn’) which came complete with guitar/bass dance moves. They signed off with the perfect tune, this being their take on Thee Headcoatees ‘Davey Crockett’ which is found on their 2015 ‘Hinds ♡ Parrots’ split single. Carlotta spotted a guy near the front who I think she called “Mix” and asked him to join them on stage. He obliged and strapped on Ana’s guitar, this freed Ana and she came into the crowd which increased the excitement and then we all had to invariably crouch down and pop up again. (For the evening show Carlotta came into the crowd and also during the set laid on the stage floor and played her guitar). In the end the performance had been a success and we were secretly told that they would be back in February! Well that’s the cat out of the bag then! I’m not sure whether this meant the UK or Brighton? But at 7:06pm after 66 minutes they were treated to a justified big applause only to do it all over again for the evening session.
Hinds:
Carlotta Cosials – lead vocals,
Ana García Perrote – lead vocals, keys
Paula – bass, vocals
Maria – drums
Hinds setlist:
(Intro tape) ‘You Sexy Thing’ by Hot Chocolate
‘The Club’ (from 2018 ‘I Don’t Run’ album)
‘New For You’ (from 2018 ‘I Don’t Run’ album)
‘Bamboo’ (from 2016 ‘Leave Me Alone’ album)
‘Coffee’ (from forthcoming 2024 ‘Viva Hinds’ album)
‘Just Like Kids (Miau)’ (from 2020 ‘The Prettiest Curse’ album)
‘Hi, How Are You’ (from forthcoming 2024 ‘Viva Hinds’ album)
‘Good Bad Times’ (from 2020 ‘The Prettiest Curse’ album)
‘Boom Boom Back’ (from forthcoming 2024 ‘Viva Hinds’ album)
‘Riding Solo’ (from 2020 ‘The Prettiest Curse’ album)
‘Stranger’ (from forthcoming 2024 ‘Viva Hinds’ album)
‘Burn’ (from 2020 ‘The Prettiest Curse’ album)
‘Superstar’ (from forthcoming 2024 ‘Viva Hinds’ album)
‘Spanish Bombs’ (The Clash cover) (a 2020 single)
‘En Forma’ (from forthcoming 2024 ‘Viva Hinds’ album)
‘Castigadas En El Granero’ (from 2016 ‘Leave Me Alone’ album)
‘Davey Crockett’ (Thee Headcoatees cover) (from 2015 ‘Hinds ♡ Parrots’ split single)
Support for both concerts came from an Isle Of Wight duo who appear to have expanded into a trio going by the name of The Pill who are Lily, Lottie and now Rufus, although I was originally under the impression they were called Pills. They played in Brighton last Thursday 16th May at 4pm as part of the ‘JOY. Unbarred RSVP Party’ at the Unbarred Brewery Taproom located to the rear of London Road near Preston Circus. Sadly I was not able to attend that performance as I was up at The Prince Albert at 4pm watching the best act of this year’s Escape, namely Yard from Dublin. You can read more about that day’s events HERE.
The tools of the trade for The Pill are Fender bass, Gibson guitar and drumkit. Vocal duties, like Hinds, are shared equally between Lily and Lottie. They take to the stage at 4:47pm and give us an eight tune set that runs for 27 minutes until conclusion at 5:14pm. To be honest I wasn’t really sure what they sounded like on account of not yet being able to listen to their debut single ‘Bale Of Hay’. But their Facebook notice of “Jank punk gal pal duo from the lil isle of wight” should have been a clue. They open with ‘Problem’ and immediately I like what I’m hearing! The between-tunes banter is comedic too, something which Ana from Hinds picked up on as she watched the band from behind me. She said that they were really funny and indeed Lily and Lottie already know how to grab an audience’s attention. The first jollity being a reference to them both putting on their make up this morning on the ferry across from the Isle Of Wight, with their hair in curlers! They said it raised some eyebrows! I’m sure it did, but neither young ladies have curly hair, so this may have been a slight elaboration of the truth. To be honest I don’t care, it got a laugh and they launched into ‘Salt Father’ which we are told is a ditty like an inverted sugar daddy. Both of these tracks have sounded rather like Brighton’s Pussyliquor and the way they carry themselves is rather similar as well.
The indie punk tunes flowed, with the slower ‘Roadside’ being a tune penned about an ex-boyfriend that used to make Lily go camping in a van in the winter! Selection four, the toe-tapping ‘Scaffolding Man’, we are informed is a true story, which I suspect was making reference to voyeurism and seeing one of them naked. With the beat of this song alone, they were the perfect choice for support to Hinds. There was a Buzzcocks style guitar riff from Lily during the next track which is titled ‘Igloo’. Hopefully the ex-boyfriend didn’t make her stay in one of those in winter as well! Track six was a new tune called ‘Layin’ in Bed’ which they have only ever played live once before and one where Lily’s guitar broke a string, and so threw the offending item over her shoulder. Their penultimate number was for me their best song, this being the very Pussyliquor-esque start-stop-start ‘Woman Driver’ which was very tongue in cheek and one endeavouring to play the “I’m only a little girlie card” as I didn’t mean to hit your car. We are told Lily’s car is in the workshop, which may be true or another comical elaboration, but hey who cares! They signed off with their ‘Bale Of Hay’ single which we are told came out a month ago. It was written about Lily being blond and is delivered in a talky vocal fashion. If you like the Lambrini Girls or Pussyliquor then The Pill seriously needs to be on your radar! A band I would love to see again and my colleague who was watching the evening set suggested that he preferred The Pill to Hinds! Let’s hope that they make a swift return to Brighton!
The Pill:
Lily – vocals, guitar
Lottie – vocals, bass
Rufus – drums
The Pill setlist:
‘Problem’
‘Salt Father’
‘Roadside’
‘Scaffolding Man’
‘Igloo’
‘Layin’ in Bed’
‘Woman Driver’
‘Bale Of Hay’
