JOOLS + PORCHLIGHT + JOPY – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 5.4.25
Jools actually isn’t a person, but a full blown in-yer-face band that in the main hail from Leicester. The Mark I version of the sextet were operating prior to covid and in 2019 the outfit, that then consisted of Mitchell Gordon, Chris Johnson, Peter McLeod, Ellis Crowson, Sam Shooter and Thomas Selby, released a trio of singles from November 2019 to November 2020.
Wind the clocks forward to the earliest days of 2023 and the Mark II version of Jools were ready to take no prisoners. They now had the looks and the beats and were coming for us! On 21st June last year they dropped their ‘97%’ / ‘FKA’ double A-side single on glorious red vinyl and a mere 250 copies were pressed and not surprisingly they quickly sold out. The ‘97%’ song has a vitally important message in that it raises awareness of sexual harassment towards women and with lines including “Women aren’t objects to be devoured, deflowered” and “You use brute force to overpower; Because you can’t stand to see women empowered”, certainly gets the message across.
Jools Mk II is a collective of musicians consisting of Mitch Gordon and Kate Price on vocals, Chris Johnston and Callum Connachie on guitar, Joe Dodd on bass, and Chelsea Wrones on drums. They found each other as much by accident as design and together they serve as a creative confluence for inspirations that move from the punk and post-punk of The Smiths, Iggy Pop, PJ Harvey and Patti Smith, through the shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, and into territories marked metal, rap and pop.
To experience Jools in their most chaotic and unpredictable full flight is, the band were once told, to not know whether you are about to be kicked in the face or kissed on the cheek. Even that, however, feels like an understatement. If their music is often confrontational, sometimes fun, and always loud, the fashion of Jools is its equal, too, an embodiment of its spirit and message. I had the feeling that Jools performing live might very well have the same intensity as a Fat Dog gig, and so with that in mind we made our way to The Hope & Ruin on Queens Road, Brighton in order to catch their headline performance which has been organised by Love Thy Neighbour promoters.
Prior to Jools gracing us with their presence, there were suddenly a few extra photographers at the very front who hadn’t attended the supporting artists, which in our book is a schoolboy error. Mind you, maybe one of them could have been shooting for the band, but either way, when you start to get a number of decent photographers at the front of the crowd, you know there’s a buzz about that band, so you’ve been warned! Compound this with the fact that the sextet are imminently going to be dropping their ten track debut long-player titled ‘Violent Delights’ (out 6th June – pre-order HERE), then it’s rather likely that Jools is a name that you are going to be hearing a lot more of!
At 10:00pm on the dot the house soundsystem starts banging out the Jools intro tape, which is ‘Perfect (Exceeder)’ by Mason & Princess Superstar and the band make their way through the crowd to the stage. They’re a striking bunch and you might not have expected them to be from Leicester, but maybe somewhere like New York, Berlin, Bristol, Dublin or even here in Brighton. There’s clearly going to be a lot going on during their 46 minute 11 song set, nine of which will be appearing on the new release. Tune one is listed as “Opener” on their setlists and it’s the opener on the album too, this being ‘The Pleasures’ which features a rappy style intro prior to the beat kicking in. I note that Kate has brought along her own sparkly silver microphone which looks rather cool. There will be more about microphones shortly.
‘Limerence’ is their second selection which starts with a guitar and cymbals intro prior to the others joining in. It’s a decent anthem and it certainly has that stadium vibe and of note is Chelsea’s drumming and Mitch’s accompanying heavy foot-stomping. ‘Cardinal’ is next and this has a vocal delivery from Mitch which sits in Joe Talbot (IDLES) territory. His shirt is already off and this reveals a number of tattoos, one of which is the band name, so he’s in it for the long-term then. There’s a big drum and guitar intro for their ‘Mother Monica’ single, which will also be appearing on the album. The track has some delay (reverb) on the guitar, which goes well, and it seems a number of the crowd are aware of the track, judging by the amount of headbanging going on around me.
Selection five is the slower tempoed ‘Knee Injury’ and this has a guitar and cymbals intro prior to Mitch’s vocals kicking in, followed by Kate’s modern rap style delivery. The halfway point in the set sees the arrival of ‘Spinless’ which is an old single and one which Kate informs us that it’s “going to be a fast one”. It is fast and has a punk style and for me was the best tune up until this point. Kate then takes the time to address the crowd about the sexual harassment of women, after which she is rewarded by hearty applause all round, this nicely leads into their ‘97%’ single from last year, which will also be appearing on the album. Kate offers up a rap style vocal delivery at first before Matt joins in. There’s a fair few words in this tune, but it’s an important subject that deserves them.
Their ‘Guts’ single from this year is next and it’s another rocker that will be found on the album. It’s an enjoyable rockin’ tune with a pseudo surf guitar riff going on. The two vocalists are an energetic duo and Mitch’s microphone suffers as a result and the lead falls to the floor and there’s a scramble to carry on singing with another mic. I pick up the lead for him (as I’m the nearest) and it’s reattached, but it’s not really working that well and other mics have to be utilized at various stages, including sharing Kate’s which is a tricky business, especially as some lines alternate between them, but I guess that’s the fun of it. Mitch also once manages to kick the drumsets floor mic away from the kit, but he bends down and rectifies this.
Two more from the album are next, namely ‘Dunoon’ and ‘Live Deliciously’ which incidentally will be their next single which will be out in a couple of weeks time. You’ve guessed it, they’re both rockin’ tunes. The final number, ‘FKA’ (which might mean “formerly known as”) is dedicated as a love letter to all the fashion icons, and it’s a truly solid tune to round off the night on. There are many cries for more, but sadly that’s our lot. They have been an enjoyable watch and I certainly wouldn’t be adverse in having another live music encounter with them in the future.
Jools:
Mitch Gordon – vocals
Kate Price – vocals
Chris Johnston – guitar
Callum Connachie – guitar
Joe Dodd – bass
Chelsea Wrones – drums
Jools setlist:
(Intro tape) ‘Perfect (Exceeder)’ by Mason & Princess Superstar
‘The Pleasures’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘Limerence’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘Cardinal’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘Mother Monica’ (a 2025 single & from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘Knee Injury’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘Spineless’ (a 2020 single)
‘97%’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘Guts’ (a 2025 single & from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘Dunoon’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘Live Deliciously’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Violent Delights’ album)
‘FKA’ (from 2024 ‘97%’ / ‘FKA’ single)
There were two support bands of contrasting styles and images of offer this evening. The first of these were Brighton based Jopy who still comfortably sit in my Top 5 Best Brighton Bands List. They are a relatively young outfit comprising Jo Parnell (vocals/guitar), Clown Baby (bass) and Louis Relf (drums) and boy can they play! Their musical output is arguably an amalgamation of all the best bits of Marc Bolan, Glam Rock, The B-52’s, The Cramps, and even proto punk. It’s incendiary punk riffs and frantically infectious choruses with this lot!
The 20th September last year was a big date for the band as that’s when they dropped their debut release, a wonderful hits packed 6-track 12” purple vinyl epic going by the title of the ‘Planet Zombie’ EP, which came out on Goo Records – Order your copy HERE. I also hear that Jo has been busy of late and has penned a number of new tunes, which I’m hoping will also be released as a new 6-track 12” vinyl, to sit alongside ‘Planet Zombie’. Maybe a nice lipstick red or deep pink colour release would go well.
This evening the trio gave us a half hour set, which ran from 8:21pm to 8:51pm and consisted of nine tunes, with five of the six from the ‘Planet Zombie’ EP having an outing, a trio of yet to be released tracks and their current 2025 single. They begin with ‘Graveyard Romance’ and no doubt the sound reverberating through the floorboards can be heard below and it’s a signal for the punters in the downstairs street level bar to head on up to the first floor performance room. There’s some serious guitar action from Jo on the unreleased ‘Whack-A-Mole’ which has the vibe of being a Cramps tune. ‘Monster’ (another unreleased track) however has a distinct raw rockabilly sound but mixed in with The Clash. The ‘Planet Zombie’ title track is next and this falls very much within the Marc Bolan and T.Rex category, and has the benefit of some nifty footwork from Jo whilst playing the guitar.
The ‘Head Hunters Pub And Grub’ earworm comes next with its repeated “Cannibal family” line. The trio seriously rocked on out to this one, especially drummer Louis, who I swear was playing the speediest I’ve ever seen him. Their 2025 ‘Twisting’ single is given an outing next and this begins with a guitar strum very much in keeping with Slade’s ‘Coz I Luv You’ mixed in with some Cramps. There’s some serious tremolo guitar action going on here. The final yet to be recorded tune is up for approval next, this is called ‘This House is Haunted’ and this witnesses Louis going into hyperdrive as his drumsticks are almost a blur.
They signed off with two more from the released EP, the first being ‘Honey The Vampire’ which really has a wonderfully durrrty gritty bass sound courtesy of Clown Baby. It’s here that Louis really did push the boundaries of drumming and his drumkit started to fall apart. A panicked roadie (Jo’s dad) rushed to the rescue and just about salvaged things. The final composition of their set was ‘Purchase No.3’ which has a more 1990’s Britpop meets Madchester vibe going on. This benefits of copious amounts of whaaa whaaa tremolo guitar action going on and not wanting to be outdone, Louis got so much in the vibe that his glasses went flying off. Clown Baby remained as cool as ever. I’d have to say that tonight they absolutely nailed it!
You can catch Jopy in action next at the ‘Homegrown’ festival on Saturday 12th April – Tickets HERE.
Jopy:
Jo Parnell (she/her) – vocals/guitar
Clown Baby (they/them) – bass
Louis Relf (he/him) – drums
Jopy setlist:
‘Graveyard Romance’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Whack-A-Mole’ (unreleased)
‘Monster’ (unreleased)
‘Planet Zombie’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Head Hunters Pub And Grub’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Twisting’ (a 2025 single)
‘This House is Haunted’ (unreleased)
‘Honey The Vampire’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Purchase No.3’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
The second band of the evening were Brighton-based (or is that formerly Brighton-based) Porchlight who are an act that we have reviewed a number of times before, but this evening it’s finally my turn to review them. We last covered them as recently as 1st March as part of the ‘Hidden Herd All-Dayer’ event at the Green Door Store, for which I was present, but as the reviewing duties were split between three of us, I had to cover some of the other acts. Porchlight consists of Sam Crees (vocals, electronic presets, shakers), Oli Port (Fender bass, backing vocals), Tom Coram (Rickenbacker guitar, Korg and Roland TR-8 keys), Tom Hodges (Fender guitar) and Harry Geal (drums, keys). Their debut single was titled ‘Drywall’ and this dropped on 9th July 2021 and was followed by ‘Country Manor’ which came out two months later. In July 2022 their ‘Silver Spoon’ single came out and a month later a trio of mixes of the tune appeared. May 2023 saw the release of their ‘Noel’ single and the tune was one of the five tracks found on their 12” transparent purple vinyl ‘Wives Tales & Hymns Of The Earth’ EP.
Interestingly, this evening the band give us a half-dozen tunes across their 27 minute set, which ran from 9:08pm to 9:35pm, and all of these are unreleased. They have clearly moved onto the next chapter of their musical journey. First up was a tune called ‘Chameleon’ and compared to what we had previously heard from Jopy, this was a very laid back affair, but was in all honesty quite difficult to pigeonhole, and as Sam said to me afterwards “We like to mix it up”, and mix it up indeed they do. It’s got yacht rock and prog rock tendencies and yet it’s probably neither. This then appears to sync straight into ‘Richer’ which has a beat around three times quicker. ‘Patterns’ follows and this sees Tom Coram switch from guitar to the two keyboards. The tune is again a different affair and this has a faster vocal delivery from Sam as well as some twangy guitar action from Tom, and continual cymbal action from Harry. There’s now a lot going on and it’s arty, angular and becoming urgent.
‘Topsoil’ is their fourth selection and Sam has the addition of shakers, and Tom Coram interestingly starts to play the strings of his Rickenbacker guitar further up the neck. Ordinarily I would say that this is an unusual occurrence, and yet just 24 hours earlier I had witnessed the exact same being done by Ed Lamb from Staff Party when they were supporting DITZ at Chalk (Review HERE). There’s quite a bit going on during ‘Topsoil’ and they are already musically unrecognisable from the band that played ‘Chameleon’ as the opener. Then things changed yet again for ‘7/8′ when Harry vacated his drumkit and took over keyboard duties, thus freeing up Tom Coram to concentrate on playing his guitar. Their sound had yet again morphed and this was much more to my liking. There was an electronic drumbeat as the backing for the track, a thudding bass and chiming acoustic guitar, and Sam’s vocals were more solid and sounded as if delivered by someone of more mature years than him. It’s experimental for sure and it’s probably like watching early days XTC or early days 10cc. No wonder Rough Trade have referred to them as “one of the most beguiling acts to watch this side of the Atlantic”.
They signed off with ‘Shiftstep’ which offers a skittering intro of synth and clipped guitar which is provided by both Tom’s (Hodges and Coram) whilst drummer Harry, who is back in the drummers seat, gives the track an urgent shuffle beat which is punctuated by tumbling fills. It’s all messing with my head but in a most positive way. There’s so much happening here that my gaze switches between each player every few seconds. There’s tons of energy in this tune and if you had told me that after track one had finished, I would have thought that you’d be delusional. The punters bought it all though, and the band were rewarded with a big applause at the end of the track.
You can next catch Porchlight in action at Daltons on Thursday 10th April where they will be supporting Berlin’s furious Wut Wave sensation Gewalt – Grab your tickets HERE.
Porchlight:
Sam Crees – vocals, electronic presets, shakers
Oli Port – bass, backing vocals
Tom Coram – guitar, keys
Tom Hodges – guitar
Harry Geal – drums, keys
Porchlight setlist:
‘Chameleon’ (unreleased)
‘Richer’ (unreleased)
‘Patterns’ (unreleased)
‘Topsoil’ (unreleased)
‘7/8′ (unreleased)
‘Shiftstep’ (unreleased)
linktr.ee/porchlightporchlight
