WINTER GARDENS + FRIEND OF FRANKY + RAGDOLL – DALTONS, BRIGHTON 1.10.24
We first picked up on Winter Gardens back in November 2018 when they were performing only their third ever gig, when they were supporting the fab South Korean outfit Say Sue Me up at The Hope & Ruin on Queens Road, Brighton. Back then, I spied a KLF sticker on Jamie Windless’ guitar and I knew we were going to be looked after musically and I wasn’t wrong. Back then you could easily observe that Winter Gardens had absorbed influences from 80’s post-punk, Factory, Postcard, 4AD, Creation era bands, and mixed it all together to come up with their own blend of shoegaze dreampop.
Things were beginning to move for the band and a modicum of success on the gigging front was achieved as they made it on the same bill as Gary Numan, Echo & The Bunnymen, and Modern English. Then in 2019 they put out their debut 7” single titled ‘Coral Bells’ on bone coloured vinyl. This was a noteworthy release as the B-side featured their take on the Cocteau Twins ‘Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops’, which was a brave move as I can’t imagine many bands trying to emulate perfection. I can remember that they had a launch party for it in Hastings and none other than Dev from IDLES played a DJ set as part of the night.
2020 witnessed the band drop their marble magenta coloured 12” vinyl EP titled ‘Tapestry’ which featured ‘Tapestry’, ‘Zigzanny’, ‘Laminar Flow Pt. I’, and ‘Wonders Bleak’. ‘Laminar Flow Pt. II’ followed as a single in 2021 and their ‘Crystallise’ materialized the following year. During this period the East Sussex based outfit has had a number of personnel changes, but the mainstay of the unit is the aforementioned Jamie and his better half Ananda Howard. Yes it is spelt that way! I can recall her telling me when we first met, that it’s an Indian based name that her mother gave her.
Winter Gardens are now back on the case with a brand new single which has the unusual title of ‘U/U’ and in support of the release they are performing live in Brighton at Daltons which is located beneath the zipwire on the beach. It will be their new bass player’s debut outing with them as well, his name is Ed Fair and he will be putting his Fender through its paces. Completing the lineup is Jasmine Ardley on vocals, Korg synth plus egg shaker and Connor McCorkindale on drums, Roland drumpads, presets and laptop. Ananda is on lead vocals and occasional tambourine, whereas Jamie switches between a couple of guitars. As a show of unity they are all clad in black and the punters are rewarded with a half dozen tunes during their all too short 28 minute set, which commenced at 9:51pm with ‘Honeymooners’. The keys are quite prominent during this tune, which is something I personally don’t mind, but there have been horrendous problems with the sound all evening – more on that shortly. ‘Honeymooners’ was a solid first tune which has many layers and a rock stadium feel about it, especially with the combination of Jasmine’s keys and Jamie’s guitar, in front of which he has no less than 9 foot pedals to play with.
The setlist shows their second selection as ‘Anthroposcene’ but this may in fact be ‘Anthropocene’. After which we had ‘Search Party’ which as far as I can tell completes a trio of unrecorded tracks. The latter sounds here benefitting from a funkier vibe and even has some serious cowbell action from Connor. Jamie now switches guitar and Ananda informs us that they are now going to play ‘U/U’ which is coming out tomorrow. Yet again, Winter Gardens have created that big stadium sound. There’s quite a bit going on in this newbie, the girls shared vocals are impressive, as is Connors drumming and Jamie ensures it’s riff central as he ramps up his performance and enthusiasm.
Their penultimate selection is ‘Wonders Bleak’ which is found on their ‘Tapestry’ EP. This has a taped spoken word intro and is followed by echoey style guitar and plucked bass sounds that are reminiscent of The Cure, which is a most pleasurable combination. Again there is a true depth of sound with this track. There’s another spoken word sample section to end with (or it could actually be the start of the closing tune), it says “Is it so hard to love me”. They signed off with ‘Hyacinth’, which I thought was released at some stage, but I can’t seem to currently find anything to corroborate that. This is a marathon number littered with U2 sounding twangy guitar parts and yet again a full depth to it – It’s very impressive! And at 10:10pm that was our lot.
Winter Gardens will next be performing in Brighton on Wednesday 6th November, where they will be sharing the stage with Bibi Club and Moon Idle. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased HERE.
Winter Gardens:
Ananda Howard – lead vocals, tambourine
Jamie Windless – guitars
Jasmine Ardley – vocals, synth, eggshaker
Connor McCorkindale – drums, drumpads, laptop, presets
Ed Fair – bass
Winter Gardens setlist:
‘Honeymooners’ (unreleased)
‘Anthroposcene’ (unreleased)
‘Search Party’ (unreleased)
‘U/U’ (new 2024 single)
‘Wonders Bleak’ (from 2020 ‘Tapestry’ EP)
‘Hyacinth’ (unreleased)
Also performing this evening were Brighton based quartet Friend Of Franky which comprises of Kit Madge (they/them) on lead vocals, Anna Rees (they/them) on Fender Telecaster guitar and vocals, Viv Maher (she/her) from Polite Bureaux on Fender Mustang bass and Phil Shambrook (he/him) on drums and Roland drumpads. I last caught up with the band on 18th July and that was Anna’s debut performance with the band, not that you would have known it. The band had undergone a change of personnel since dropping their debut single ‘Died In A Dream’ back in 2021 with ALY going off to become a solo artist as well as working with George Crump and Anna coming in to replace the previous male guitarist, so I guess tonight’s outfit is a reboot version and all the better for it by the sound of it.
Kit was desperate for some interaction with the punters and called everyone to move forward closer to the stage, before they had even played a note. Us British are a sedate lot you know and it takes someone like Kit to bring us out of our shells…it worked!
They began their set at 8:59pm and entertained us for the next 35 minutes with six self-penned tunes and a Chappell Roan cover to sign off on. First up were ‘Be Bad’ and ‘Pretty’, both of which have a rock sound with prominent drums and Kit certainly puts a great deal of emotion into singing. Kit informs us that Friend Of Franky “are gay and we are sad” before launching into ‘Rose In A Box’. It truly feels as though every composition has a pertinent story to tell and this track is just one instance of this. Phil’s drums are prominent in this track and Viv gives the bass top note a good old tickling. The tune turns upbeat half way through or as Kit put it, it’s their disco section. It’s not disco. Kit introduced ‘Too Cool’ as being about gay panic, this poppier song had a particularly good bass line from Viv and it occurred to me that Kit’s vocals aren’t that far away from Dolores O’Riordan (RIP) of The Cranberries.
It was all change for track five, ‘Windowsill’, as Kit told us that it was written about a break up and having to make your life your own again. In order to get across the vulnerability of the number Kit sat down and sang this heartfelt song beautifully, initially to Anna’s lone guitar, before Viv and Phil joined in with soft bass and drums.There was echo on the mic which worked well. Standing up again, Kit and chums delivered a darker alt-rock number titled ‘Hate You’ which featured decent vocal harmonies from Anna and Kit, the quiet break mid-song confused some in the audience, as they thought the song had ended, much to the amusement of the band. They signed off with their take on Chappell Roan’s saucy ‘Pink Pony Club’. It was a strong selection to end on. Kit informed us that their next Brighton gig will be at The Hope & Ruin next week, on 10th October. I’m unsure if it’s in the downstairs bar or upstairs in the first floor music room.
Friend Of Franky:
Kit Madge – lead vocals (they/them)
Anna Rees – guitar, vocals (they/them)
Viv Maher – bass (she/her)
Phil Shambrook – drums (he/him)
Friend Of Franky setlist:
‘Be Bad’
‘Pretty’
‘Rose In A Box’
‘Too Cool’
‘Windowsill’
‘Hate You’
‘Pink Pony Club’ (Chappell Roan cover)
The opening act for tonight was Brighton based noisy duo Ragdoll which consists of Tamblyn on vocals plus guitar and Freddie on drums. Due to delays on the A259 Coast Road, I arrived at Daltons a few minutes later than I wanted to and the duo had been on the case for just 5 minutes according to my friend. They were actually running a little late due to severe sound problems, namely Tamblyn’s vocals were inaudible on account of being drowned out by the guitar and drums. The reason for this….no microphones were working! I applaud the duo for still wanting to play their songs to us, but I can’t really see how on earth I can review them on this occasion with shouted out vocals! We therefore hope to catch them some time in the future. Sazanna on sound did eventually manage to rectify the situation for Friend Of Franky.
Ragdoll’s next outing will be on Friday 11th October at The Brunswick in Hove for a free entry evening organised by Permalink Records called Permalink Prom. It is an alternative live music event with live bands and an electronic dance club afterparty which runs from 8pm to 2am.
Hypsoline (pronounced ‘Hip So Lean’) should have also been on the bill tonight, but sadly they had to cancel a few hours before due to illness.
