GIFT + SCHOOL DISCO – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 10.10.24
Let’s face it, GIFT isn’t exactly the easiest band name to look up on the tin-ter-net thingy, but once found, you will be more than adequately rewarded.
GIFT are a New York rock quintet who formed just before the COVID-19 pandemic and recorded their 2022 debut album ‘Momentary Presence’ during its associated isolation. Thankfully, their music – a dizzying blend of early shoegaze, classic ‘90s alternative rock and even modern pop – quickly transcended that troubled time to prick up the ears of adventurous listeners both in the UK and the US.
GIFT, who are vocalist/guitarist TJ Freda, multi-instrumentalists Jessica Gurewitz and Justin Hrabovsky, drummer Gabe Camarano and bassist Kallan Campbell, recently returned with ‘Wish Me Away’ which is the lead single from their new 11-tune ‘Illuminator’ album which dropped 23rd August. ‘Wish Me Away’ was their first new song in the 18 months since their debut album and the first on new label Captured Tracks.
With its earworm guitar lines, propulsive rhythms, riveting vocals and mind-expanding sonics, ‘Wish Me Away’ is the perfect sonic springboard from ‘Momentary Presence’ to where GIFT are going next. It’s also a potent reminder that you can still preserve that twinkle in your eye even when you feel like everything’s slipping away.
Says TJ: “‘Wish Me Away’ is about giving into the feeling of everything slipping away. Just take it all away, put me out of my misery, wish me away. While this all seems daunting and sad, there’s a feeling of optimism in this song, holding on for dear life and refusing to give up hope.”
After almost losing a loved one, TJ found himself grappling with the fleeting nature of life. ‘Wish Me Away’ ruminates on the fear and freedom that can come from knowing it can all slip away. “The line ‘wish me away’ kept coming up, as in, take me, not them”, he further notes.
Sadly I had missed GIFT’s debut Brighton gig back on Sunday 12th March 2023, where they played a nine tune set at The Prince Albert, but I certainly wasn’t going to miss them tonight! I arrived at The Hope & Ruin in time to note local outfit Friend Of Franky, who I saw live just 9 days ago (Review HERE). They were in full flow in the downstairs bar area. But this evening I’m heading upstairs to see what New York outfit GIFT have to offer. Tonight’s upstairs event has been put on by Acid Box promoters with just the 2 bands on the bill this evening. Quite often when we’re here there are 3 of 4 bands on the bill, but I guess with just the 2 they both get to play their full sets as opposed to taster ones. On entering the room it was pleasing to note that the new stage lighting I saw the other night is still in place and Loose Articles who were that night’s headliners didn’t take them away with them. (Review HERE). The evening was kicked off by local outfit School Disco who really should be spoken to by the trading standards as there’s certainly nothing remotely sounding like ‘I Feel Love’ or ‘Let’s All Chant’ with this lot. Maybe a School Disco from a decade earlier would be more appropriate. Anyway, more from them shortly. So let’s cut to the headliners GIFT.
The musicians arrive bang on their allotted 9:30pm slot and stake out their part of the stage as a droning intro booms out. Central rear is Gabe Camarano on drums, Roland drumpads and backing vocals. Stage right (our left) is Justin Hrabovsky on Rickenbacker guitar and Sequential synthesizer and mini keys; to his left (our right) is Kallan Campbell on Fender Precision bass; with the centre front slot going to TJ Freda on lead vocals and Fender Stratocaster guitar; and last but no means least on stage left (our right) is Jessica Gurewitz on vocals, Fender Jazzmaster guitar, and mini synthesizers. They are all wearing black, except Kallan who is sporting a white top.
We are to be given 11 tunes across their 58 minute set, kicking off with the aforementioned ‘Wish Me Away’ from their new ‘Illuminator’ album. This will be the first of eight of the eleven songs found on the record. It immediately strikes me how similar to the best best parts of The Horrors they are, but with TJ’s vocals sounding sweeter. Although all the talk has been about ‘Wish Me Away’, I personally prefer tune two of tonight’s set, this being ‘Glow’ from the same album. This features a pleasant keys intro and copious amounts of swirling guitarwork. It reminded me of defunkt Brighton outfit Morning Smoke. ‘Glow’ was to be blunt, bloody epic and quite possibly sneaked in as my choice cut from the night!
Choice three was ‘To The Stars And Back’ which, coming in after ‘Glow’, had a more pop tinged vibe going on along with foot-tapping drumming. DIIV sprang to mind at this juncture. Track four was the first of a trio of cuts this evening from 2022’s ‘Momentary Presence’ album, this being ‘Share The Present’, which features some wonderful metronomic drumming that Neu! would certainly approve of. This is a hypnotic tune and the sound builds as it goes along. TJ’s melodic vocals are to the fore, especially the line “don’t look back you’ll fall down”. In short, it’s another epic tune!
We are back with the ‘Illuminator’ album with the arrival of ‘Later’, which notes Jessica switching from keys to Fender Jazzmaster guitar and Justin trading in his Sequential synthesizer for his Rickenbacker guitar. Thus we get three guitars and a bass on the go with TJ’s slower style vocals atop, which works rather well. This is another solid tune, which incidentally benefits from some epic drumming half way through, as well as the swirling echoing guitar frenzy as well. Tune six was ‘It’s All Too Fast’ which has a quiet guitar intro, followed by more metronomic drumming, which leads the other instruments along as it slows down and then builds and repeats the pattern.
‘Light Runner’ is up next and features some terrific guitar chops at the start. I was almost expecting them to go into ‘Vertigo’ by U2, but then a quick drum beat and the two keyboardists kicked in. Further on in the tune and there’s even more serious guitar chops going on as well as some decent bass rumbling too, along with wicked faster drums as well. Track eight was ‘Pinkhouse Secret Rave’ from 2022’s ‘Momentary Presence’ album and this had a jumpy heavier version disco vibe going down that reminded me of Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’, especially when Jessica was on lead vocals. Justin, meanwhile, was trying his best to be Giorgio Moroder via the repeated electronic sounds coming out of his synth.
GIFT signed off their main set with ‘Milestones’ which had a solo guitar strum intro, prior to the drums kicking in and then the others follow for that full on depth of sound, and so a slowish chugging beat ensues. Gabe then switches to Roland drumpads and we get a heartbeat sound coming out. Meanwhile Jessica delivers her lines in a talky way, whilst the guitar swirl over the top. Gabe switches back to drums and they get faster and the track beautifully builds and then ‘boom’ they hit us with it. The new house-lights are frantically flashing in sync and this compact venue has the feel of a stadium concert. Marvellous stuff!
After the applause died down, TJ said that they had nowhere to go, as I guess he was referring to the dressing room at the rear of the room and so instead of wandering off, they stayed put and thankfully gave us two more tunes. The first being ‘Going In Circles’ which again features some top quality metronomic drumming and much janglyness and was pretty awesome. They signed off with ‘Gumball Garden’ (from ‘Momentary Presence’) which had a riff in it a few times that reminded me of Tubeway Army. Justin’s Sequential was on overload here and sounded fab. It was 10:28pm and that was our lot. It had been a really brilliant set – well done guys!
GIFT:
TJ Freda – vocals, guitar
Jessica Gurewitz – vocals, guitar, synthesizer
Justin Hrabovsky – guitar, synthesizer
Kallan Campbell – bass
Gabe Camarano – drums, drumpads
GIFT setlist:
‘Wish Me Away’ (from 2024 ‘Illuminator’ album)
‘Glow’ (from 2024 ‘Illuminator’ album)
‘To The Stars And Back’ (from 2024 ‘Illuminator’ album)
‘Share The Present’ (from 2022 ‘Momentary Presence’ album)
‘Later’ (from 2024 ‘Illuminator’ album)
‘It’s All Too Fast’ (from 2024 ‘Illuminator’ album)
‘Light Runner’ (from 2024 ‘Illuminator’ album)
‘Pinkhouse Secret Rave’ (from 2022 ‘Momentary Presence’ album)
‘Milestones’ (from 2024 ‘Illuminator’ album)
(encore)
‘Going In Circles’ (from 2024 ‘Illuminator’ album)
‘Gumball Garden’ (from 2022 ‘Momentary Presence’ album)
From here GIFT will be thrilling fans in the following places:
Headline UK tour dates:
11th October – London – Moth Club
12th October – Manchester – YES (Basement)
14th October – Birmingham – Hare and Hounds
UK tour dates with BODEGA:
15th October – Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
16th October – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
17th October – Glasgow – Room 2
18th October – Newcastle upon Tyne – The Cluny
19th October – Sŵn Festival 2024 (not with Bodega)
21st October – Cambridge – Junction 2
22nd October – Sheffield – Crookes Social Club
23rd October – Bristol – Lantern Hall
24th October – London – EartH Hall
Tickets for all concerts can be located HERE.
My first encounter with School Disco was way back on 25th October 2018 when they were playing at The Richmond (RIP). Back then I stated “…Brighton’s very own School Disco trio. Who I have to laughingly convey have the biggest band name misrepresentation in the business, as you really couldn’t get as far away from Chic’s ‘Le Freak’ and Funkadelic’s ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ if you tried – nice one lads! They say they are a ‘surfing psych pop trio’ but once again, I would respectfully refute this and say they were tonight more a dirge version of heavy metal kids, who share vocal duties when they are not performing an instrumental. They had so much power and distortion coming from just three guys, it was quite amazing really”.
At that point in time the lads had released one studio album, one live album, one EP and 5 singles. Since then they have been on the case and dropped a further trio of studio albums: ‘School Disco’ (2019), ‘Heads Still Here’ (2020) and ‘Denton Rock’ (2023). Add to that their ‘School Disco Live Vol.1’ cassette (2022) and a trio of other singles, and you can tell that School Disco are relatively prolific.
This evening the band are a quartet and now features Rory Lethbridge (Hondo II guitar, vocals), Eliott Stanford (Squier Telecaster guitar, Jen keys, vocals), Harry Hayes (drums) and Laur Underwood (Bass Collection bass guitar). They take to the stage at 8:33pm and we are in their company for the next 26 minutes and in that time they offload a half dozen tunes.
Despite the later start to the evening, whereas bands at this venue often first come on stage at 7:30pm to 8:00pm, the punters are still slow to arrive into the first floor performance room and so from the outset the room is still rather sparse. Maybe a number of punters are still downstairs watching the live acts in the bar and are waiting for the booming sounds to come through the floorboards. But the longer the School Disco set runs for the more punters arrive.
It’s a loud start on opener ‘Feelings Coming’ which is the first of four tunes being played tonight from their latest album. Those that are present are lapping it up. Interestingly, mustachioed Laur on bass is centre stage, but stands sideways on facing Eliott who is stage left (our right). Lead vocal duties fall to Rory who is on our left (stage right) and naturally Harry is seated behind them.
Two more from their ‘Denton Rock’ album follow in the form of ‘Through Dimensions’ and ‘Crying Beasts’. At this juncture, it is noticeable that Harry has already built up a sweat as his long hair is looking like he’s just stepped out of a shower. The reason being that he goes ten to the dozen on the drumkit. School Disco’s music has an almost ragged jam session vibe about it. It’s proggy jazz rock as opposed to say punk rock. There’s quite a bit of guitar shaking and screeching going down. Their sound is powerful and I’m sure folk downstairs can easily hear it and wonder if Santana are rockin’ the joint upstairs.
A couple of what I perceive are unreleased tunes are delivered next, these being ‘Happen’ and an untitled number. They sign off with ‘Victoria Day’ from the latest long player. Although they are miles away from what I personally like, I can easily see that they are masters of their craft and so can the audience judging by the applause and some screams of approval at the conclusion of their set.
School Disco:
Rory Lethbridge – guitar, vocals
Eliott Stanford – guitar, keys, vocals
Harry Hayes – drums
Laur Underwood – bass
School Disco setlist:
‘Feelings Coming’ (from 2023 ‘Denton Rock’ album)
‘Through Dimensions’ (from 2023 ‘Denton Rock’ album)
‘Crying Beasts’ (from 2023 ‘Denton Rock’ album)
‘Happen’ (unreleased)
“Untitled” (unreleased)
‘Victory Day’ (from 2023 ‘Denton Rock’ album)
