GET DOWN SERVICES + KITCHEN LOVER + MY FIRST TIME – THE HOPE & RUIN 22.11.24
Well, what can I say, what a night local promoter Love Thy Neighbour have put on for us on this chilly evening at a bustling Hope & Ruin. They are giving us a real blend of different, but all equally amazingly talented bands and artists. Our headliners are Getdown Services, taking in the second night of their sold out winter tour, in support we have My First Time & Kitchen Lover, and if that was not enough, downstairs in the bar area for free is BA Johnston (See photos of his mad performance at the end of this article!). Just how do they do it? So much quality, but for such a low entry fee’. It’s madness! So with no further ado let’s get into it.
Getdown Services – 10pm
Getdown Services first came to my attention when they were due to support Donny Benet earlier this year at Chalk, but sadly they had to pull out when all of their equipment was stolen the night before. I’d already bought their 2023 released debut album ‘Crisps’ and it’s barely left my car stereo since, so I probably don’t need to say just how much I’ve been looking forward to this evening. Recently they have been on tour supporting Goldie Lookin Chain (GLC), having seen GLC last weekend at Shiiine Festival in Minehead; I know that would have been one hell of a fun night.
Bristol Duo Ben Sadler and Josh Law are Getdown Services, they have known each other and been friends since school and have worked jobs together and been on holiday together. I have to say this strong friendship bond really comes through in their performance. They have played in Brighton at least twice before, the Komedia earlier this year supporting Bug Club and at The Rossi Bar in 2023, tonight’s headliner really is going to be something special, I can feel it in my bones.
The set started with Ben and Josh coming on stage to rousing cheers and giving us some jokey banter about; How are we feeling?, crowd participation will be expected, high enthusiasm levels will be expected, caring about what they think and everyone chatting needs to shut the f*ck up. Josh informed us they were going to now go away, press play on the laptop and come back and we have to then give them a proper welcome. Cue them hiding behind a curtain to the side of the stage and coming back on to a massive cheer. The lift in the room was huge.
Josh opened “This song is called ‘I’ve Got Views’, it has disgusting lyrics and I’m sorry about it, now everybody scream”. Ben picked up his guitar, the laptop beats started to play and Josh sang and danced. This one was off their recent EP of rarities and outtakes called ‘Crumbs’, so perhaps the crowd were not too familiar with it, but it was a fine opener of a song. With no break, it was straight into the intro of ‘Crisps’ from the 2023 album of the same name. This one has had plenty of airplay and was far more well-known and you could sense the energy rise from the crowd. The punters were encouraged to join in with the rising intro “ooooooohs”, until the laptop suddenly stopped. Ben in true entertainment style kept things going with shout outs to various people, such as Leon the sound technician and Steve Jobs (for the failing tech). Josh had us carry on with the “Ooooohs” and gave some patter about the USB port and how we are reloading things, cue Ben ordering a shout out to the USB cable, thus the song started as did the crowd with the “Ooooooh” once more. Those beats kicked in and the crowd were utterly bouncing, both Ben and Josh were on vocal duties for this one.
Now I should probably explain the style of music we are hearing from Getdown Services, we are talking 80s’esq disco beats, a little bit of Korg Synth, some guitars now and then, lyrics delivered in more spoken word than say a traditional singing sense, oh but boy does it work, it works a treat!
Next we had a brand new one from the ‘Your Medals In The Post’ EP only released last week, namely ‘Head Down For The Conversation’, which has a very different vibe from ‘Crisps’, with Josh now on guitar, playing a far more dreamy guitar style and Ben on his Korg synth, musical bliss. The crowd interactions continued, “Are you having a nice time? there’s loads more time left!, how’s that?”, “yeah” the crowd replied to each question.
Josh’s top came off as we were treated to another from their album ‘Come On’. Ben screamed to the crowd, it was ‘Evil On Tap’, this one had both vocals once more, it seemed slightly faster paced than the album version, it’s a good stomping track though.
Now with both of them topless, the next track had a longer intro with the pair of them bellowing “Oh My God”. To be honest I wondered if this intro was a song in itself, but it built up and up until breaking into ‘Real Big Hitter’ and that it was, the crowd lapping it up.
“How was that for you Ben?” asked Josh, “shattering” he replied, “I’m asking you as I am hearing nothing from all those people standing at the back with their arms folder” he continued. He motioned to the crowd “do you remember when I said London was really good last night, well Brighton is loads worse, come on everyone, has anyone been to Minehead or Butlins, we are like redcoats and that’s all we’ve got, so if you don’t give back you’ll have nothing”, Ben chimed in, “we’re the redcoats, you are the toddlers, it’s not like we can’t see your faces”. More crowd interaction followed with people staying where they were from too much laughter.
But back to the music, “This next song is about feeling depressed and has a bit of disco vibe” said Josh. It was another from the new EP ‘Medals In The Post’ called ‘I’m Not Feeling It’, it was a nice gentle one, with some rather Christmas like synth sounds and pulsing bass line, Josh took to the guitar again for the second part of the song, it was another good dancey number, it makes me hope they put out this EP at some point on CD rather digital only.
We sent straight into ‘Cream Of The Crop’ a song “all about Bristol” from the album ‘Crisps’. I must admit I’d never realised it was about Bristol until they mentioned it, but having family live there, it all fell into place as they sang the lyrics and it did make me laugh. This is the beauty with Getdown Services songs, true and brutal, no dressing things up. Ben had some quality dance moves during this one, pumping a handle, swinging a golf club, followed by a full on bit of dad style dancing, getting himself plenty of cheers throughout. Both then picked up the guitars again for the later part of the song.
“What did you think about my dance?” boasted Ben, but feeling the cheers were not big enough, he continued shouting “I’m an only child, come on, what did you think about?” prompting a far bigger respectful cheer.
“It’s Christmas soon, who loves Christmas?” asked Ben to the crowd, “I love it, a 5 bird roast”, Josh led the crowd with a full rendition of ‘Silent Night’ on his guitar. Before introducing their own Christmas song, he then explained how we need to all say ‘Dr Christmas’ at certain points thus giving us a demonstration, one lady in the crowd shouted we already know it, Ben replied he is “sure 98% of people here have not heard it”. Funnily enough I’d had this playing on Bandcamp on repeat during the day so was all primed, it was only released this week so quite literally is brand spanking new. The lyrics are brilliant, “Dr Dr I need an appointment, I’ve been waiting all year” how true! It was a fun, catchy and easy to remember with its repetitive lyrics.
Ben asked how everyone liked it, one chap at the front said he was not keen saying he wanted to hear the James Brown song, prompting Ben to ask him “if he had written a Christmas song” he was only joking though.
Josh broke in “This next one is about Jamie Oliver, do you like Jamie?, have you heard of it?, do sing-along”, it was the legendary ‘Get Back Jamie’ another from the 2023 album ‘Crisps’. There’s lots of crowd sing-along with this one, quality lyrics such as “Jamie says that dinner only take 15 minutes, get back Jamie I’ve only got 5”, the crowd loved it.
With time running down to curfew a small discussion between Ben and Josh took place about a possible song cut, but we got the party song ‘Caesar’ (from the 2024 ‘Your Medals In The Post’ EP, with both Ben and Josh bouncing about like a couple of mad men to those pumping disco beats, some classic lines, some making Josh corpse trying to hold his laughter back.
The song that was cut was ‘Biscuit Tin’, a song about landlords, Josh explained what the song was about quickly, how they “hate landlords and they need speaking too, so the last song and everyone needs to go ape shit to will be ‘Dog Dribble’”, another from their new EP. “Where are you Brighton?” screamed Ben to the crowd as Josh strapped on his guitar once more. This was a strong lively number, very rock n roll with air horns added for extra effect and with that everyone went ballistic dancing and cheering until the pair of them walked off stage at the end, fingers on lips as they stood behind the blanket again. The laptop carried on with instructions in a computer voice, “do you want to see more? I can’t hear you?, clap your hands, cheer, everyone scream and clap, everyone say yes, would you like some music?” and back they came on with the laptop giving a saxophone salute. The final track was not to be one of their own which took me by surprise; it was a cover of Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’, prompting a massive singalong once more. Sadly they’d already gone over the curfew and there was to be no more, no matter the cheers from the crowd.
Wow, wow wow, what a set, it’s disco, it’s the eighties infused groovy based music, witty lyrics and massive dollops of fun. The album and studio work is brilliant, but live the whole thing is taken to maximum level. The interaction with the crowd, the chants, the shouting, their dancing and stage antics, the hilarious asides to each other and the crowd. It is not surprising this tour is fully sold out with people on waiting lists eager to witness these legends in the making, what a night it was, and most certainly is looking like it’s going to be on my year end top 5.
Their 10 date tour, started in London on the 20th November and ends in Bristol in December, they are also still playing support to Goldie Lookin Chain as well. The 2025 spring tour is already on sale, buy the album, but do try and get to see them live, you will not regret it.
Getdown Services:
Ben Sadler – vocals, guitar, synth
Josh Law – vocals, guitar, laptop
Getdown Services setlist:
‘I Got Views’ (from 2024 ‘Crumbs’ EP)
‘Crisps’ (from 2023 ‘Crisps’ album)
‘Head Down For The Conversation’ (from 2024 ‘Your Medals In The Post’ EP)
‘Evil On Tap’ (from 2023 ‘Crisps’ album)
‘Real Big Hitter’ (from 2023 ‘Crisps’ album)
‘I’m Not Feeling It’ (from 2024 ‘Your Medals In The Post’ EP)
‘Cream Of The Crop’ (from 2023 ‘Crisps’ album)
‘Silent Night’ (composed by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr)
‘Dr. Christmas’ (a Nov 2024 single)
‘Get Back Jamie’ (from 2023 ‘Crisps’ album)
‘Caesar’ (from 2024 ‘Your Medals In The Post’ EP)
‘Biscuit Tin’ (from 2023 ‘Crisps’ album) Cut from the set, but the song was explained
‘Dog Dribble’ (from 2024 ‘Your Medals In The Post’ EP)
(encore)
‘Dancing Queen’ (Abba cover)
Kitchen Lover – 9.10pm
Kitchen Lover are a new band on me, they are from Brighton and have most definitely played locally a fair bit, The Rossi Bar, Daltons, The Prince Albert and they were even here at The Hope & Ruin just in October, but yet another that have evaded my ears. Their biography reads “The decade was the 1950s; The Chats & Dead Kennedys were in a thriving monogamous relationship and decided it was the right time to birth a child. Said child would then grow up to start the 50’s punk revolution, carving their sound out of raw garage riffs and poppy hooks. Conceived in the kitchen, they thought it was only right to name their child, Kitchen Lover”. And, there you have it, Kitchen Lover are just a two piece band with Lars on guitar and vocals and George on drums, surely they won’t make much noise! Wrong, they will make loads of noise, a great noise at that. I’m not sure how they did it to be honest, maybe it was the magic coming off the sparkly mystical sheet Lars laid on the ground to sing and play on. Lars with his long hair dressed in his trademark blue shorts, t-shirt and socks, looks very much the part of someone who has a good set of lungs on him and means some fine vocal business.
Their music, again, was very different from the other two bands playing this evening. I would describe Kitchen Lover’s sound as harking back to that 1970s’esq prog rock. Our photographer this evening Mae Seaton said it was right up her street.
We had a fast paced ten song set during a blistering 28 minutes. Opening with the loud and strong ‘Speaking Tongues’ followed by ‘Learn To Paint’. I noted Lars vocal style was rather unique, at times he could really bellow and growl, but other times later in the set could be a lot softer. ‘Tempered Dreams’ came next. This took things down a little with its quiet start, but it was not long until the noise came, there were parts of this one where it really did feel like there was another guitar playing, just how do they do it!
There had been no break between songs, as I think the duo were wanting to pack in as much as they could for this capacity crowd. ‘West Sheets, Numb Feet’ reminded me a little of Nirvana, changes of tempo, going from calm to crazy, calm to crazy.
“Hello, everyone thank you for coming, we are Kitchen Lover”, he then pointed out “a special person in the audience who hears about my musical endeavours on a daily basis and has at last come to see us”, it was Tim the gardener, who it sounded like he works for, prompting everyone to turn round to see who he was.
The next song we were informed can be found on Spotify and it was called ‘Birthday Suit’ this one had a far more rock n roll feel to it. As the heat picked up, Lars t-shirt came off for ‘Dutch’, a softer mellow track; this was the calmest of the set. Lars explained “That one was about my dog, but this next one is about an asshole, we’ve made friends now though……” he then jokingly whispered to the crowd “but he’s still an asshole”. The song was ‘Little Boy With A Lisp’, this was another great track, more softly sung compared to the previous songs.
Time was running out but there was still time for more and we got ‘Oregano Ricardo’ . I really liked this one, very catchy indeed which took us straight into ‘Toxic’. Lars thanked the crowd, telling us that one was off their first album, I am presuming it’s an unreleased album as of yet as I’d not been able to find much about them online, digging further it is an album in the making and they have a Gofundme campaign running which can be found on their linktree. Lars also gave a big shout out to Getdown Services and Love Thy Neighbour who they’ve been bugging that they’d be able to get them on one of their line ups. He also mentioned T-shirts for sale, but we would have to come and find him in the crowd as they want to stay in and watch Getdown Services.
‘The Circus Side Show Dream’ was the final stonker of a song, with Lars ending banging his guitar down up and down on the floor, what an end to a supreme noise mega blast of pleasure. A mention should be given to George the drummer, he was silent throughout, but boy did he boss those drums. This was another brilliant musical surprise for me tonight and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You can hear them yourselves if you get yourself along to the Green Door Store on 4th December – details HERE.
Kitchen Lover:
Lars – guitar
George – drums
Kitchen Lover setlist:
‘Speaking Tongues’
‘Learn To Paint’
‘Tempered Dreams’
‘West Sheets, Numb Feet’
‘Birthday Suit’ (debut single – March 2024)
‘Dutch’
‘Little Boy With A Lisp’
‘Oregano Ricardo’
‘Toxic’
‘The Circus Side Show Dream’
My First Time – 8.20pm
As I took position up front for our first band this evening, a lovely couple next to me asked “is this your first time?”, I replied “it is my first time?” to which she laughed and replied “yep that’s who’s playing”. She’d got me with her joke because she was quite right, that is exactly who was taking to the stage, this Bristol based four piece are post-punk indie rockers who debuted on the scene in late 2022 and despite having already had demos and tracks played on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, they seem to have naughtily slipped under my radar.
They first played in Brighton at The Alternative Great Escape at The Hope & Ruin Bar in May 2023 and were back again at this year’s too, making tonight their hat-trick at this mighty venue. I can only put me missing them before down to some serious line up clashes over those events.
Now I can’t quite put my finger on who the lead singer Isaac Stroud-Allen’s vocal style reminds me, it’s familiar there in the back of my mind, but I can’t just extract it, there are certainly hints of Blur and Elastica in there, both whom the band have mentioned in the past as being influences, perhaps drawing comparison with some more recent bands, I’d point towards Sports Team and Welly, but to be honest they don’t need comparing with anyone, because they were utterly bloody brilliant.
Isaac started by bringing the crowd forward, he was no shy guy, not happy to have the early crowd linger at the back by the bar and then; bang we were straight into a glorious 26 minute set of utter bangers. The first track was ‘Rogue’, an unreleased fast paced, tight number, the perfect start.
Those frantic drums continued straight into the early 2024 single ‘Workwear’, whilst Isaac put his Fender Mustang guitar down for this one, there was no shortage of luscious guitar from James Mellen on his Fender Stratocaster and that beautiful pulsing Fender Precision bass from Niamh Jones was the icing on the cake. Fast and witty lyrics run deep with this band, a classic being “I’ve seen more pennies being donated on Babe station” excellent stuff indeed.
“How’s everyone feeling?, its Friday, lets party” beckoned Isaac to the crowd as the band played two more unreleased numbers, first ‘Bark’ and the slower ‘Kids’ which has some razor sharp swirling guitars, whilst Isaac stood looking fixed unblinking directly into the crowd before adding further to the guitar explosion.
Isaac introduced the next song as being one of three played tonight currently on Spotify and it was ‘Wind Up Merchant’ their debut single from October 2023, with great lyrics such as “pissing people off is the way I express”. Now Jordanna Fonsey’s drumming on this was full and frantic, she was mesmerising to watch throughout the set, drum sticks often held aloft in the air in anticipation before bringing them and down and bringing that noise, I loved that she was smiling so much throughout the set, seemingly to be really enjoying the set.
Calming down Isaac told us “We are from Bristol and love Brighton, but there is one thing I really want to tell you, I want to sleep with a ‘Celebrity’”. This was another unreleased song, but surely has future single written all over it. During the song Isaac said he was coming down into the crowd for this one, to which he did, before getting back right at the front of the stage and jumping up and down. He was not one to stand still throughout the gig, always gesturing, keeping strong eye contact, he is a true frontman.
“It has come to that time of the night for the last song, so if you haven’t danced yet, it’s time you f**king did so”, the song was their brand new single only released a week or so ago. ‘A Man Of Ill Repute’, what a song to end on, really catchy, awesome riffs and hooks, those pounding drums, razor sharp guitars, silky bass. James threw a tambourine out into the crowd which a chap caught and towards the end jumped on stage running about, dancing, gesturing and at the very end spoke into the microphone telling the crowd to give it up for the band. I’m not sure if he was a friend of the band, I’m sure I’ve seen in him in one of their YouTube videos, but it was a nice fun way to end things and get us all into the spirit of what was to come as the evening progressed.
It may have been my first time, but it certainly won’t be my last. My god did I like this band, they are surely ones that are going to be going up, up, up, they have recently signed with Parlophone Records and are one band I’ll be going out of my way to make sure I see again if they are in town. I really could not fault anything about them, very very tight musically, those guitars, those drums, the lyrics, oh my god, I’m just gushing now. Go check them out!
My First Time:
Isaac Stroud-Allen – lead vocals, guitar
Jordanna Fonsey – drums
James Mellen – guitar, vocals
Niamh Jones – bass, vocals
My First Time setlist: (some unreleased songs may be working titles or abbreviations)
‘Rogue’ (unreleased)
‘Workwear’ (single – Jan 2024)
‘Bark’ (unreleased)
‘Kids’ (unreleased)
‘Wind Up Merchant’ (single – Oct 2023)
‘Celebrity’ (unreleased)
‘A Man Of Ill Repute’ (single – Nov 2024)
