TWEN + OPAL MAG + LITTLE JOE – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 3.10.24
This evening’s entertainment has been organised by Love Thy Neighbour promoters and label and is taking place at The Hope & Ruin on Queens Road in Brighton. Let’s get straight down to business……
Joe Little: 20:25 – 20:55
Joe Little is a new resident to Brighton, he has been compelled to be active in music since he was child, forming his first band at 13 and he has since toured in Europe, performed live on TV, on stage in front of audiences of up to 2400 and collaborated with Oliver Proudlock’s internationally renowned men’s jewelry brand, Serge DeNimes. More recently he has been featured on BBC6 Music’s introducing Mixtape.
The band made their way on to The Hope & Ruin stage a little later than scheduled at 20:25 hours and gave us a solid 30-minute seven song set. The band I noticed were all dressed in black which did make me wonder what sort of music we may be getting, Joe particularly looked like he could be quite rock’esqe in his black leather trousers and vest displaying his arm tattoo’s, however rock was not the name of the game here, as the first song ‘Heartache’ was a slow rousing number to open with.
Joe spoke to the crowd “It’s my first time at his venue, I’m Joe by the way, it is a pleasure to be kicking things off this evening.” With that he took us into ‘Notice Me’ this was a little heavier than the first number, the keyboard accompaniment added a great extra layer to the song. One thing I noticed was Joe is left-handed and plays a left-handed Fender Telecaster guitar.
“Thank you very much, my name is Joe Little, not Little Joe!” said Joe, he continued “the song just played was originally out as a single, but it is out tomorrow (Friday 4th October) on an EP, as is the next song, which has a very different vibe”. A different vibe it had four sure, it started with Veronica’s beautiful soft vocal introduction and as well as her backing vocals throughout, this was a lovely tender slow song and it was called ‘Ordinary’. Joe mentioned afterwards towards the sound tech chap, that “there was something very boomy going on over here” gesturing towards the bass player’s area on stage. There was most definitely something mega going on bass wise, it was really deep and echo-like, to be honest I thought that was just meant to be part of the song and rather liked it, so if it wasn’t the desired effect I’d not be holding it against Joe and the band. I think what with being Joe’s first gig in Brighton; he just wanted to have everything right for the night.
Joe then told us he had only recently moved to Brighton in January, and this is his first proper gig, he thought “the Brighton music scene is a bit of a best kept secret”, and he had never seen so much good stuff happening in a tiny little hub, “whereas in London people think that it’s best there, but they have no idea of this scene”, he said it looks like he made the right move by leaving London and coming here. I 100% agree with him, Brighton is blessed for having such a vibrant grassroots scene, nearly every day of the week there are so many great bands playing here in the city and most of it is just a short walk away.
The next song ‘Green Fields’ was the song played on BBC 6 Music and there is also a music video for it on YouTube. This is a nice upbeat song, one I’d actually been watching this past week and it has a great breezy music video, very professional looking too. Well worth checking out.
‘24’ came next, this one was only released a few weeks ago, Joe put his guitar down for this one to purely do vocals, Veronica played her Korg synth and once again providing backing vocals, it has quite the buildup before the bass and drums kick in.
Before playing ‘Stars’ Joe asked “Is everyone good”, “yes” we the crowd replied, “that’s good, if everyone is good…then I’m good”. Joe then said as he tuned his guitar, that “this will be the first time they will be playing it live”. Another strong number with some fine synth work from Veronica and some excellent heavier guitar moments from Joe.
“The song went well” exclaimed Joe, “I want to say thank you very much to everyone coming and clapping, it went very well, first show in Brighton, wow, I hope to see you at another show sometime soon” he then said “I’d like to give a huge thanks to the band, Ronan on drums, George on the Bassy Wassy, and the beautiful Veronica on the keyboards and beautiful vocals, I’m Joe Little and the next one is called ‘Kiss’”. This was a strong finishing number, some silky bass from George, cool Korg synth and backing vocals from Veronica, a catchy guitar riff from Joe, this was my favourite from the set, surely a future single!.
This was the first time I’d heard Joe and his music, aside my venture onto YouTube this week, London’s loss is Brighton’s gain. His music is very heartfelt, easy to listen to, it’s happy and what I’d love to be playing with the windows down in the car on a summer’s day. He is certainly one to watch.
Joe Little:
Joe Little –guitars, lead vocals
Veronica Canestrari – keys, backing vocals (she is also a recording artist in her own right)
Ronan Goron – drums
George Seymour-Cole – bass
Joe Little setlist:
‘Heartache’ (unreleased)
‘Notice Me’ (from 2024 ‘Nothing Is Real, Let Love Destroy You’ EP)
‘Ordinary’ (from 2024 ‘Nothing Is Real, Let Love Destroy You’ EP)
‘Green Fields’ (from 2024 ‘Nothing Is Real, Let Love Destroy You’ EP)
‘24’ (from 2024 ‘Nothing Is Real, Let Love Destroy You’ EP)
‘Stars’ (from 2023 ‘Anyway’ EP)
‘Kiss’ (unreleased)
Opal Mag: 21:10 – 21:36
Opal Mag are a five piece band who formed at the start of 2024. Their music style is low-fi slacker-rock / dream-pop and they are based in Brighton. I was lucky enough to catch them at the ‘Homegrown Festival’ on Saturday 13th April and have been dying to see them since. Frustratingly for me most of their recent gigs locally have always clashed with other gigs I was pre-booked to see. However when they announced they were supporting tonight, that’s what spurred me to make sure I got my ticket.
At 09:10 hours, the band fired up straight into ‘Feel It All’, the first of a swift 26 minute, eight song set. This is a brilliant song, a real strong opener, I’m surprised it’s not had a single release yet. With no break we were straight into ‘Wasting’, another cracker of a song; the Roland synth work adds a whole other layer to the song.
‘Confusion State’ came next; this had a great strong bass line and lots of beautiful swirling guitars. This song builds and builds to what is a big guitar explosion, although I think as it was about to hit something got miss-timed, prompting lead singer (Opal Mag) to say “bloody hell” whilst raising her eyebrows, but they all kept it going and it all ended well to applause. ‘I Don’t Like You’ which followed was a bit more of a calmer song, but still lively enough to have me dancing.
A request was put out for a glass of water to be brought to the stage, Opal Mag (the singer) said it “was due to the air con that was going”, no lie! It was flipping cold in the room this evening and I had a jumper on.
After a sip of water, ‘Looking For’ followed, and yet again was another excellent song, do you see a pattern developing here!. This one came out as Opal Mag’s debut single just a few weeks back in September and came complete with music video, check it out here on YouTube.
A good solid drum beat took us into ‘Try Not To Hate’ followed by the slow but heavy ‘Glow’. The final song was ‘Love To See You Shine’, it was a strong end to the set much like the start and the middle come to think about it, the crashing drums, the chug of the guitars, pure joy.
Opal Mag’s sound is very self-assured, with the beautiful soaring vocals that are a delight over the array of Fender guitars and the Roland synth. Their sound reminds me of Belly and The Breeders early work, I’ve said it before earlier in the year, but their style really is far reaching, a lot of their songs I could just imagine myself being in a crowd at a festival with the sun setting and everyone bouncing around to their music. It’s lively, it’s fun, musically all of the band are on top of their game. They are most definitely one of my favourite bands I’ve heard this year and one that I will be following all the way hopefully to those bigger stages.
Opal Mag:
Opal Mag – vocals and guitar
Jessica Stretton – keyboards and backing vocals
Connor McCorkindale – drums
? – guitar and backing vocals
Martin Eddington – bass
Opal Mag setlist:
‘Feel It All’
‘Wasting’
‘Confusion State’
‘I Don’t Like You’
‘Looking For’ (a 2024 single)
‘Try Not To Hate’
‘Glow’
‘Love To See You Shine’
Twen: 22:00 – 22:50
Tonight is the second date of Twen’s UK & European tour with the UK part ending in London on the 14th October, they then head to Europe before returning to North America to continue with their dates. Last night was Dublin and perhaps the travel time was the cause for the later start this evening.
As far as I am aware, Twen have played less than a handful of UK appearances going back to 2019/2020, however they did allude to coming and playing in Brighton very early on, doing some digging that looks to have been at The Prince Albert back in February 2020, weeks before the world all shut down!
So, tonight is a welcome return and for us to hear this Nashville based DIY Indie band with lead vocalist Jane Fitzsimmons and lead guitarist Ian Jones at the helm. I am sure many of the songs tonight will come from their most recent album, 2022’s ‘One Stop Shop’.
At 10pm after some apologies about the late start from vocalist Jane Fitzsimmons who was sporting an ‘I Love Dublin’ T-shirt, declared “let’s get into this”, and into it we did with ‘Waste’, it was a great start, a very lively opener indeed. Jane’s vocals echoing reverb using various sound effects as she sings “I make you wanna be someone. I make you want to waste it, I make you wanna waste some time”. Some excellent catchy lyrics for sure.
As the drums and bass continued, Jane asked the crowd “how’s it sounding out there. “Sorry, we don’t know as we didn’t get to soundcheck for being so late, this is a big day for us, we’ve only been here two times and the last time was 5 years ago and we didn’t have our shit together then either. We brought out our album in 2022 and never got to play it here and this is the song of that name from that album”. That song was ‘One Stop Shop (For a Fading Revolution)’. This one has a lovely warm lush guitar, I very much enjoyed it.
Jane throughout the set kept the momentum going usually with the backing of drums, “we’ve got all the movers and shakers from Brighton here tonight I can feel it, the nobility in this room”, ‘Dignitary Life’ was next, I was loving the drums on this one, great full heavy beats, a gorgeous of blend of rock and shoegaze from the guitars, it reminded of early Oasis songs.
“How you doing? What’s going on? What day of the week is it?. It’s Thursday, is it going good?”, “yeah” the crowd replied in unison, “I’m having a shit day, but I’m having a great night, Fortune 500, the sterling it’s going up, up, up” and that was the next song ‘Fortune 500’, a slower paced song, with gorgeous Santana style guitar solos.
“Wow I feel wealthier already” said Jane trying to jolly the crowd up, Ian murmured something along the line of skipping the chat, pushing Jane to start introducing the next song, “we love each other right, we can hang” she said when Ian interjected “you are all been f*cking cold” at the audience, Jane said “we were told you would be cold here from the Ireland”, Ian continued, “we’ve travelled many miles and spent many dollars to be with you tonight”, Jane followed, “so let’s get it together, let’s get…‘Feeling in Love’”. I’m not too sure if this was a jokey build up to the song or for real, the crowd was a quiet one this evening and I don’t think it really helped that everyone was standing more toward the back than the front, not to mention how cold it was with the air conditioning. The song was a smash though, a sublime bass line, Jane’s verses were more spoken word, switching the reverb on for the chorus.
‘Bore U’ was next, this was a nice soft breezy song. Jane introduced the band in a where you are from kinda of way “I don’t know if you know we are an American band, we’ve got Florida, we’ve got Nashville, we got Louisville, we got Boston, we got St Louis, we’ve got them all, me and Ian live in a Winnebago normally, so we just zip zip around”, Ian asked the crowd, “does anyone here live in a van, speak up you either do or you don’t, we got a lovely van today for the tour”, this led nicely into the next song ‘Automation’ another from the album ‘One Stop Shop’. This one had a very different feel to the song so far, Jane’s vocals had less effects and was coupled with some harder guitar slaying, I really liked this one.
Next up we had a new one ‘Lucky Onze’ only put out by the band recently. The next song had an introduction build up about we all have some common ground “you have a beach here, we have a beach in Florida, we like to party, you like to party, you are freaky, I feel the same way in Florida so we are going to bring a beachy vibe for the next one”, which was a cover of the Weezer song ‘Island In The Sun’. I must say this was a fantastic cover, better than the original Weezer song if I’m honest, Jane’s vocals so suit the song, I’d be very happy out partying on a beach to this one.
Next up we had another new one from 2024 ‘Stunts’. I’d seen the video of this on YouTube in advance of the gig, so rather pleased they played it. This was another song with a lovely warm vibe, one I was very much dancing to, it’s got an ace guitar riff throughout it that will have you bouncing around.
Thanking the crowd for coming and apologising again for the lateness, we had time for two more. The first of those was ‘HaHaHome’, which had a spacy, hazy vibe, quite Beatles-like. I loved this one, it had the twangs of the 70s for sure, this song is going to be in my head for weeks I know it.
After a quick prompt for us to relive the band of their heavy merchandise after the show, “so the band don’t have to carry it”, the set closed with ‘Damsel’, another that transported you back in time with a wall of shoegaze, a fine lively one to bring proceedings to an end.
Ian was very cool looking in his long green jacket, firmly teasing some delightful anthems from his guitar, Jane rarely stood still throughout the whole set, constantly weaving and swaying with her dancing, always smiling and trying to engage with the crowd bringing a real positive fun vibe.
What can I say, Twen are an awesome indie rock band, a wall of guitar washing over you, often bringing with it a warm, easy flowing, carefree feeling, a unique sound. I am very glad I managed to come along tonight for their first tour in an age. At the merch stall afterwards I treated myself to both of their albums and overhead Ian say to someone they would happily come here every 6 months if they could afford it. Fingers crossed it’s not another 5 years until they return and please god make sure that air conditioning is turned off!
Twen:
Jane Fitzsimmons – vocals
Ian Jones – lead guitar
Asher Horton – guitar
Camden Pink – bass
Fiona Palensky – drums
Twen setlist:
‘Waste’ (from 2019 ‘Awestruck’ album)
‘One Stop Shop (For A Fading Revolution)’ (from 2022 ‘One Stop Shop’ album)
‘Dignitary Life’ (from 2022 ‘One Stop Shop’ album)
‘Fortune 500’ (from 2022 ‘One Stop Shop’ album)
‘Feeling In Love (From The Waist Down)’ (from 2022 ‘One Stop Shop’ album)
‘Bore U’ (from 2022 ‘One Stop Shop’ album)
‘Automation’ (from 2022 ‘One Stop Shop’ album)
‘Lucky Onze’ (a 2024 single)
‘Island In The Sun’ (Weezer cover)
‘Stunts’ (a 2024 single)
‘HaHaHome’ (from 2022 ‘One Stop Shop’ album)
‘Damsel’ (from 2019 ‘Awestruck’ album)
