RATS ON RAFTS + CHOPCHOP + DB COOPER – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 21.2.25
Tonight I have finally got around to seeing Rotterdam’s fluid New Wave, Pop and Post-Punk outfit Rats On Rafts in action. They have been on the case in one form another for around 15 years and have played live previously in Brighton on least three occasions, these being at the sadly defunct Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar on 25th March 2016, Patterns on 29th April 2022 and The Hope & Ruin on 7th January 2023. Tonight they have rocked on up to The Prince Albert courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour promoters.
Rats On Rafts are on tour in order to promote their latest long-player ‘Deep Below’, which you can check out HERE. It is their most cohesive work to date and affords a darker, slower, eroded sound as opposed to their previously released material of ‘The Moon Is Big’ (2011) ‘Tape Hiss’ (2015) and ‘Excerpts Of Chapter 3: The Mind Runs A Net Of Rabbit Paths’ (2021). This time around they dive deeper into their psyche, questioning their relationships with nature, religion and each other. Echoes of The Cure, Cocteau Twins and Slowdive seem present, yet so many different influences make up an album that only they could create. It sees Rats On Rafts have finally come of age and are successfully raising their heads from the Dutch underground scene. To me, this signals a band that aren’t stagnant and ones that are endeavoring to discover, for them, uncharted territory! For instance, when I have listened to ‘Deep Below’ I hear the wonderful similarities of where they are now and the 4AD era of fellow countrymen Clan Of Xymox.
This evening, Rats On Rafts are David Fagan (Fender Jazzmaster guitar and lead vocals), Arnoud Verheul (Fender Electric XII 12 string guitar and Casio VL-Tone mini keys), Natasha van Waardenburg (Fender bass and vocals), Guus van Tiem (drums) and ‘Peruvian’ Flor de Maria Alarcon (keys and Harley Benton VT Series guitar). As they take to the stage, to me, it’s only the girls that visually appear as though they could swap bands and join the Gothic look of Clan Of Xymox. The lads are clad in ‘normal’ clothing and frontman David Fagan could have easily passed as a member of the lesser well known Factory records bands from back in the day. But we aren’t here to review fashion, we are here to absorb their music into our veins!
Tonight we are rewarded with a 56 minute set which ran from 10:05pm until 11:01pm and consisted of a dozen original compositions, with three-quarters of these being found on the new ‘Deep Below’ platter. Two of the remaining trio of songs hail from 2021 and just one older track from back in 2014. If there ever was a case of a band constantly moving on, then this evening Rats On Rafts are it!
Their performance is littered with haunting melodies and they commence with ‘Afterworld’ (from ‘Deep Below’) which is a slow post-punk number with echoey guitars that remind me of ‘Killing An Arab’ era Cure material and the drums recount memories of the criminally underrated UK Decay. It was also a pleasure to hear Flor’ keyboard to the fore at the end of the song. Selection two, ‘The Day Before’ is an even slower tune that witnesses David putting his guitar down and the combination of his vocals with the keys and drums, really does sound just like Clan Of Xymox. Song three is introduced as ‘Japanese Medicine’, and like many of the tracks being performed this evening are from their new album that came out two weeks ago. For me, this track is more immediate than the previous two and Natasha’s Fender bass sounds a dead-ringer for that Clan Of Xymox sound.
There’s a haunting keys intro to ‘All These Things’ and then Guus’ drumming kicks in, followed by Arnoud’s Fender Electric XII (12 string guitar) and thus we have a full-on Gothic sound, like a majority of their tunes this evening. ‘All These Things’ then segues straight into ‘Hibernation’ which is the fifth in a row from their ‘Deep Below’ album. This slower beat track gives off a mid 1980’s retro vibe. By far the oldest selection this evening is ‘Painting Roses’ which comes from their ‘Powder Monkey’ single from 2014. This for me is the most headed-bobbing number to date as the tune benefits from some degree of faster urgency and my mind initially drifts back to the sound of The Shadows for a few seconds, on account of the guitar intro, and then the track seriously falls into New Order’s ‘Movement’ album territory. There’s some meaty basslines in here as well, and David’s vocals are even pitched a tad higher, as he was a decade younger when it was written.
Their 2021 ‘Osaka’ single is up next and sees Flor switching from keys to a Harley Benton guitar and offers up backing vocals as does Natasha and there’s some constant hitting of the drums rim from Guus, it’s their funkiest to date. The album title track of ‘Deep Below’ is up next and for this David trades in his Fender for another Fender and Flor’s keys are thankfully to the fore and again I hear the Clan Of Xymox musical and vocal resemblance on this slowish track. ‘Voiceprint’ is performed next and David switches back to his original trusty Fender and notably Guss uses padded drumsticks on the cymbals to great effect, and Arnoud uses a Casio VL-Tone mini keys. This track then segues straight into the faster ‘A Trail Of Wind And Fire’ which is from their 2021 ‘Excerpts From Chapter 3: The Mind Runs A Net Of Rabbit Paths’ album. The quintet seriously rocked on out on this number and was a set highlight with its jangly guitar and bass sounds. On a roll, they segue right into ‘Nature Breaks’ which notably has a marching band drum sound and this is their most post-punk sounding tune and this sees Flor back on guitar.
They conclude the evening with the song that closes the new LP, this being ‘Sleepwalking’, which is a slow chugger of a tune and Arnoud’s 12 string sounding not too unlike the guitar sound of Richard Hawley. This is a reflective composition that benefits from the keys being to the fore. This is like the earliest slow examples of songs by The Cure, the Cocteau Twins and yet again Clan Of Xymox. It’s been a really enjoyable performance and to be honest I’m kicking myself for having missed their previous Brighton concerts, but I guess that you can do them all. Let’s hope they make a swift return!
Check out their releases on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Rats On Rafts:
David Fagan – guitar and lead vocals
Arnoud Verheul – 12 string guitar and mini keys
Natasha van Waardenburg – bass and vocals
Flor de Maria Alarcon – keys, guitar, backing vocals
Guus van Tiem – drums
Rats On Rafts setlist:
‘Afterworld’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
‘The Day Before’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
‘Japanese Medicine’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
‘All These Things’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
‘Hibernation’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
‘Painting Roses’ (from 2014 ‘Powder Monkey’ single)
‘Osaka’ (a 2021 single)
‘Deep Below’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
‘Voiceprint’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
‘A Trail Of Wind And Fire’ (from 2021 ‘Excerpts From Chapter 3: The Mind Runs A Net Of Rabbit Paths’ album)
‘Nature Breaks’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
‘Sleepwalking’ (from 2025 ‘Deep Below’ album)
Support in the evening came from ChopChop and DB Cooper.
Veering from super-bumping agit-funk to angular jazz-punk and beyond, ChopChop have garnered a reputation as a highly original and compelling live band. Galician frontman Xelís de Toro mixes performance art with his yelped vocals, the band pull in eclectic influences from New York’s No Wave scene to absurdist theatre, and the end result is a band that can make you dance but will leave you wondering… “What was that?”. This mirrors our previous review of ChopChop from last September when they supported Prolapse at The Con Club in Lewes – Review HERE.
This evening we were in their company for 25 minutes from 9:20pm to 9:45pm and during that time they played us seven songs. I’m pretty sure that for many punters present that this was their debut encounter with ChopChop and from the off, I’m guessing many were thinking “Oh my what have I got myself into” as the band’s unexpected sound seriously phased many of them. However, by the close, it was fair to say that señor de Toro had oozed his Spanish charm and won a vast majority of them over. For me, he is a likeable fellow with an eccentric hyperactive ‘ants in his pants’ stage presence, that once seen never forgotten. In fact, I’m sure that they are all really nice lads, these lads being Alistair Strachan (keyboards, electronics, samples, cornet), Eddie Haydn (bass guitar) and Ed Briggs (drums), but if I’m brutally honest, their music is really not my bag at all.
We are stationed at the front of the crowd and so I can see the handwritten setlists on the stage floor, but I’m baffled as to what their opening number is called. It could possibly be ‘7 In Morning’, but then it probably isn’t. Anyway, it’s quirky like the band, and has a rumbly bass sound and freestyle funky jazz elements. Xelís is the focal point of the band and reminds me of a mime artist, but I do take the time to move my eyes away from him, in order to note Ed’s unusual drum configuration! He has a tiny cymbal fitted on his kit and the larger cymbal has been taken off and sat upside down on one of the drums and is hit that way. I’m really not sure how this makes the sound any different, but it’s a novel idea. Alistair, meanwhile, is a busy soul, he flits between his cornet and electronics, and there’s some sideways standing Fender bass guitar action from Eddie who supplies most of the jazz-funk elements.
Selection two is the first of (probably) three numbers in the set from their ‘Everything Looks So Real’ album from 2020, this being ‘Lifetime’ which has many blasts on the cornet, a skippy drumbeat, and a talky vocal delivery. Its quirky randomness reminds me of when I first heard The Birthday Party’s ‘Release The Bats’ on the John Peel show decades ago and hated the track…still do! Next up it’s ‘The Weatherman’ from last year’s ‘Bell Well’ album, which sees Eddie in seriously funky territory and this builds in its weirdness. Xelís then takes his performance further with ‘Building A House’ which is found on their ‘Everything Looks So Real’ album and his extremely expressive “I’m building a house made of air” repeated lyrics brought many smiles to punters faces as I looked around the room. This is a frenetic tune and even more so the longer it runs for.
Ian Dury & The Blockheads spring to mind as I’m standing watching ChopChop perform two cuts from their ‘Bell Well’ album, these being ‘Elástico’ and ‘Shake It’. I guess it’s that random post-punk funky-jazz vibe going on. They sign off with ‘Lighthouse’ which features more jaunty off-kilter drums, rumbly bass, and jarring cornet. But there are a few sci-fi space bleeps included here to win back my attention. A Certain Ratio sprang to mind on the latter parts of this one. As I said, they really didn’t have anything to offer me personally, but they were rewarded with a hearty applause at the very end, so I conceded that it’s likely I’m the minority here. Maybe you can decide for yourselves as they next play Brighton on 3rd April, when they will be on the bill with Holy Clang at The Folklore Rooms.
ChopChop:
Xelís de Toro – vocals
Alistair Strachan – keyboards, electronics, samples, cornet
Ed Briggs – drums
Eddie Haydn – bass guitar
ChopChop setlist:
‘7 In Morning’ ????
‘Lifetime’ (from 2020 ‘Everything Looks So Real’ album)
‘The Weatherman’ (from 2024 ‘Bell Well’ album)
‘Building A House’ (from 2020 ‘Everything Looks So Real’ album)
‘Elástico’ (from 2024 ‘Bell Well’ album)
‘Shake It’ (from 2024 ‘Bell Well’ album)
‘Lighthouse’ (from 2020 ‘Everything Looks So Real’ album)
Openers for this evening are new local quartet DB Cooper who the promoter informs me are performing their second ever concert tonight. The band is made up of Harvey Dent (guitar and lead vocals), Bailey Kent (lead guitar), Georgia Butler (bass and vocals) and Hannah Websdale (drums). I recognised Hannah as being the drummer for Currls, and Georgia as being the vocalist and guitarist for Ladylike. It’s possible they got their name after the guy that was infamously known for hijacking a Boeing 727 and parachuting from the plane midflight on 24th November 1971, only never to be heard of again.
Tonight DB Cooper performed a half dozen songs for us across a 23 minute set, which ran from 8:21pm to 8:44pm. The tools of the trade are a Fender Jazz bass, Fender Jaguar guitar, Squier guitar and drums.
They commence with an instrumental warm up tune aptly called ‘Intro’ and this very much lets the punters know what is going to be on offer throughout the rest of the performance, namely fuzzy guitar shoegaze. Harvey takes lead vocals for ‘John Mullaney’s Divorce’ which initially begins at a slow pace that then at times explodes with fuzzy guitar sounds and bass notes. For song three, Georgia takes over the vocals lead for the more dreamy ‘Joker 500’ which evolves to have copious amounts of shoegaze energy and harmonies. Harvey is back on lead vocals for ‘Goosey’ which is very much along the same lines of its predecessor. There’s more jangly guitar action as well as shared vocals for their penultimate selection, ‘Underwater’. They signed off with a screech for ‘Cowboy Moustache’ and they offloaded the angst on their most raw song of the set, with Harvey on the lead. It will be interesting to see how this new quartet will develop over the coming months once they have penned more material. This, however, was a really promising start!
You can catch DB Cooper next in action when they play a free entry ‘Homegrown’ festival teaser night at The Prince Albert, along with Moon Idle and Martha Eve on Wednesday 12th March.
DB Cooper:
Bailey Kent – lead guitar
Harvey Dent – guitar and lead vocals
Hannah Websdale – drums
Georgia Butler – bass and vocals
DB Cooper setlist:
‘Intro’ (unreleased)
‘John Mullaney’s Divorce’ (unreleased)
‘Joker 500’ (unreleased)
‘Goosey’ (unreleased)
‘Underwater’ (unreleased)
‘Cowboy Moustache’ (unreleased)
