‘Triptych VIII’ 3 day mini fest report

VAN ZON + BIG LONG SUN + CHARLIE KEEN’S SILVER BIRCH – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 16.1.25

LOWER SLAUGHTER + STAFF PARTY + FRANCIS PIG – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 17.1.25 

0800 RODEO + TERSE AFFECTION + B.SPANKS – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 18.1.25

Triptych is an annual series of three music events and three EP record releases brought to you by Brighton’s finger on the pulse label and promoters ‘Love Thy Neighbour’. 

‘Triptych VIII’ was held at The Hope & Ruin on Queens Road in Brighton on Thursday 16th, Friday 17th and Saturday 18th January.

Over the past seven Triptychs, Love Thy Neighbour have carefully selected a trio of its favourite artists and bands who all performed showcase sets on the night in question to eager Brighton music lovers who gathered on the first floor of the venue. The artists have always greatly varied in style, but have one thing in common, namely, they are all on the way up!

To accompany the event, each night had a vinyl record release featuring a chosen song from each of the acts performing on that evening. These vinyl releases have immediately become seriously collectible as they have been limited to a mere 15 copies available for purchase each night! Yes, that’s correct, just 15. So across the three nights there are only a total of 45 pieces of sweet vinyl, so collectors take note! Triptych 2025 is no exception and this year’s artists are all featured on three very limited-edition track 7” vinyl offerings.

The nine acts included are:

Night 1: Thursday 16th January – Van Zon | Big Long Sun | Charlie Keen’s Silver Birch

Night 2: Friday 17th January – Lower Slaughter | Staff Party | Francis Pig

Night 3: Saturday 18th January – 0800 Rodeo | Terse Affection | B.Spanks

TRIPTYCH DAY 1 – THURSDAY 16TH JANUARY (by Mark Kelly):

CHARLIE KEEN’S SILVER BIRCH 

Tonight’s first act is actually one of the most interesting acts that I’ve seen for a while: Charlie Keen’s Silver Birch. Charlie (for he is the sole musician onstage) creates soundscapes by looping several instruments together. The downside with this approach to making music is that once you’ve started a piece of music you can’t change key. The upside is that by staying in one key a wonderfully hypnotic ambient effect is achieved, the music being quite trance-like.

For the opening piece ‘Little Egrets Courting’ Charlie loops a synth riff, then adds trombone. A drone is created by an air powered harmonium which he keeps supplied with air by means of a foot pedal. Second piece, ‘Thornborough Sandwiches’ is about Thornborough Henge, which is an ancient stone circle in North Yorkshire. This is a new song that hasn’t been played live before. We are indeed honoured! This again features looped synth, trombone and harmonium. However, this time the trombone harmonises with its looped self. Charlie takes a break for a sup of his pint while the loops continue, Then the trombone solos over the top of the loops. Is this showmanship or what??? Next up we have ‘Lonely’ (which is a working title) and is about Charlie overcoming a year of loneliness. Bless him. This piece starts with the harmonium, and then he adds two synth loops. There’s a mute on his trombone, and he apparently messes up a bit – it sounds fine to me! He starts again from halfway through. If he hadn’t said anything I don’t think anyone would have noticed. 

Final piece ‘Short Span Of Water’ is about the Gosport ferry. Apparently there’s a wrong note in the synth loop, but Charlie decides to leave it in. He even goes out of his way to point out which note it is. It sounds perfectly fine!!! A couple of trombone solos get added over the top. This is not just very impressive music, Charlie is also a very entertaining performer. Definitely one to see if you get the chance. 

Charlie Keen’s Silver Birch setlist:

1. ‘Little Egrets Courting’
2. ‘Thornborough Sandwiches’
3. ‘Lonely’
4. ‘Short Span Of Water’

www.instagram.com/charliekeen.silverbirch

BIG LONG SUN

Next up we have something completely different in the shape of Big Long Sun. This band is the latest project from multi-instrumentalist Jamie Broughton, who is famed locally for making music in his bedroom. However tonight, including himself, he has an eight-piece band to help bring his musical ideas to fruition on the live stage. Van Zon’s violinist Mina Alexander is also a member of this band, which initially confuses me as I’m left wondering whether the two bands have swapped places on the bill!

Opener ‘Homme De Plus’ is groovy in a late 1960s West Coast kind of way, complete with dual guitar freakouts from Jamie Broughton and another guitarist. The Hope and Ruin performance area seems to be quite crowded with seven musicians across the width of the stage, not forgetting the drummer at the back. I start to wonder whether it’s really necessary to have two backing singers and percussionists. When they begin to sing I realise that yes, it is necessary, as the band’s harmonies are stupendous. On ‘Orpheus Wakes Up’, Jamie appears to be putting his vocals through a phaser pedal, which makes them sound even more psychedelic, whilst the song’s crunchy riff anchors it very much in rock territory. During ‘The Sound’ both guitarists play lead and their parts meld well together. 

‘When The Mood’s Right’ is “a relatively young song”. Jamie sings lead and plays lead guitar simultaneously. He is clearly too clever for his own good, although that statement may be purely fuelled by jealousy!!! ‘Moth Star’ is a little bit of a departure for the band as it is quite funky and is driven by a glorious bass riff courtesy of James Virtue. Final song ‘Such A Scream’ starts off like a be-bop song, but it doesn’t stay that way for long. It soon becomes heavier, and is the only song where the synth is particularly evident. One of the backing singers plays a siren through a megaphone, and then uses it to make unintelligible announcements. One of the guitarists plays his instrument with his teeth, after which he and Jamie both elicit feedback from their instruments before bringing the set to a suitably cataclysmic conclusion. This has been a most impressive performance, and I hope that Big Long Sun are on the boards again very soon. 

Big Long Sun:
Jamie Broughton – guitar and vocals
Mina Alexander – violin and vocals
James Virtue – bass
?  – drums
? & ? – backing vocals and percussion
? – synth and vocals
? – guitar

Big Long Sun setlist:

1. ‘Homme De Plus’
2. ‘Orpheus Wakes Up’
3. ‘Love In A Day’
4. ‘The Sound’
5. ‘When The Mood’s Right’
6. ‘Moth Star’
7. ‘Heaven Is By Your Side’
8. ‘Such A Scream’

jamiebroughton.bandcamp.com

VAN ZON 

Headliners Van Zon are a five piece, and feature Mina Alexander playing her second set of the evening! Apparently they are named after a Dutch serial killer, but we don’t need to worry ourselves about that. At least, I don’t think we do. The opening song as yet doesn’t have a title, which is a shame as a song this good deserves a title! Genres are melted together here. This song and this band from the off actively resist classification, which I very much admire. They announce that they are going to play their new EP in its entirety and in order. However, Charlie West has a sound issue with his guitar, so the second song is abandoned, which is rather a shame. 

For ‘More Than Happy’ Charlie is on acoustic guitar, and Mina is on lead vocals. Bassist Lottie Skala occasionally sings in unison with Mina, which makes the vocal line stronger. She then adds some impressive harmonies. For ‘Madaleine’ Lottie is on lead vocals. Charlie’s finger-picking gives the song a very folky feel, and Lottie’s playing is really more of a solo than a bass line, whilst the synth briefly sounds more like a Hammond organ! The final song is in my opinion their best: ‘Cannon Fodder’. This is an eight minute long single which flirts with genres throughout the entirety of its length. There’s elements of classical, folk, jazz, rock and probably more besides. It’s a wonderful piece of work. Honourable mention must be made of Daniel Scott-Warren who has excelled tonight on saxophone, clarinet and synth. This has been an incredibly impressive performance, and I’m looking forward to hearing a lot more from Van Zon. I’ve been asked to choose my favourite band of the evening, which is going to be very difficult to do, as all three artists were very good indeed. With all due respect to Charlie Keen’s Silver Birch, it’s going to be a tie between Big Long Sun and Van Zon. However, I should say that had it not been for Van Zon’s sound problems, they would have shaded it. 

Van Zon:
Charlie West – guitar and vocals
Mina Alexander – violin and vocals
Lottie Skala – bass and vocals
Daniel Scott-Warren – clarinet, saxophone and synth
Ewan – drums

Van Zon setlist:

1. ‘Untitled 1’
2. ‘Untitled 2’
3. ‘More Than Happy’
4. ‘Madaleine’
5. ‘Untitled 3’
6. ‘Cannon Fodder’

linktr.ee/vanzonvanzon

TRIPTYCH DAY 2 – FRIDAY 17TH JANUARY (by Nick Linazasoro):

FRANCIS PIG  

Triptych Day 2 is kicked off by a half hour set from Francis Pig who push the boundaries of conventional rock music, forging a path that is uniquely their own. With a sound that is both driving and minimalistic, they deliver a visceral punch with a blend of heavy baselines, distorted guitars and commanding vocals. Their songs are a potent blend of raw power and poetic depth, exploring themes of eroticism and existentialism with a fearless intensity. Having witnessed Francis Pig previously on a couple of occasions, I was very much looking forward to this evening’s offering of punk sex songs. 

Although the band is a quartet and standing in a line, it’s very difficult to take your eyes away from frontperson Alana who bellows her lyrics right in our faces. After a very brief intro poem, the set begins in earnest with ‘Erotic Underground’ which makes decent use of their Roland TR-08 Rhythm Composer along with some jangly guitar action from Henry and Jacob. More of the same follows with the urgent ‘Daddy Said’ with its “You’re a pig” unique style vocals. For ‘Like It Like You’ Henry takes the lead vocals and this number has the vibe of The Jesus & Mary Chain meets Velvet Underground meets The Stooges. The dynamics reverse back to their trademark sound for ‘Sex Talk’ which sees Alana back at the helm and singing the repeated “Let’s talk about sex baby” chorus. After which Alana informs us that they are going to “make it a touch more sleezier for this one” and they launch into the slower grungier ‘Kiss It A-Go-Go’. They signed off with their debut single ‘Obscene Dream’ with its “Dirty little secret” chorus and wonderful bass and guitar riffs. Yet again, it’s been a fabulous set and they are certainly moving in the right direction! 

Francis Pig:
Alana Doyle – vocals, drum machine, tambourine
Henry Wickett Padgham – guitar, vocals
Jacob Newman – guitar
Jade Taaffe – bass, backing vocals

Francis Pig setlist:

1. ‘Intro’
2. ‘Erotic Underground’
3. ‘Daddy Said’ 
4. ‘Like It Like You’ 
5. ‘Sex Talk’ 
6. ‘Kiss It A-Go-Go’ 
7. ‘Obscene Dream’ 

www.instagram.com/francisxpig

STAFF PARTY 

Staff Party are a Brighton based power trio who formed in early 2020 and have been described as finely calibrated, frenetic, and loud as hell Noise Rock. They seek inspiration from Shellac, Melvins, The Jesus Lizard, At The Drive-In, and Unsane, as well as The Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr., Stone Temple Pilots and Failure. It’s fair to say that they sprinkle a dose of Hardcore and Metal in for good measure and they’re rather loud. 

With The Hope & Ruin lighting having been sexy red for Francis Pig, it’s all change for Staff Party as they switch to bright white. I note that as they launch into an onslaught of characteristically gritty heavy sound for opener ‘Ego Death’ from 2023’s ‘Dread’ EP, that sadly Ed’s vocals are down in the mix and being drowned out by shoeless Jack’s drums and Chazz’s meaty bass. There’s some serious pedal board action on offer from these lads and they segue straight into their latest single, ‘In Every Pore’, which gives a further dose of metal grunge, as does the next tune ‘Biscuit’. Chazz’s bass sounds and looks like a real beast and this is evident on ‘Wasteland’ and during this and following number,  ‘10,000 Stones’, I’m pondering the fact that if the trio played The Pipeline, whether they would blow out the compact venues windows with their noise! For ‘Mudslide’, Chazz takes on the lead vocal role and after which Ed is back at the helm and even ditches his guitar half-way through ‘Better Pillz’ in order to concentrate on his energetic vocal delivery. It’s been an intense performance and I wonder how many “staff parties” they get booked for and how many folk come out with tinnitus at the end! If you are aged around 14 and want to annoy your parents then stick on some Staff Party tracks without your headphones plugged in for the desired result! 

Staff Party:
Ed  Lamb – lead vocals, guitar 
Chazz Welfare – bass, backing vocals
Jack Taylor – drums  

Staff Party setlist:

1. ‘Ego Death’
2. ‘In Every Pore’
3. ‘Biscuit’
4. ‘Wasteland’
5. ‘10,000 Stones’
6. ‘Mudslide’
7. ‘Better Pillz’

linktr.ee/thisisstaffparty

LOWER SLAUGHTER 

Well here’s a blast from the past! Lower Slaughter are back at it after a five year hiatus and lineup rejig with former bass player Barney Wakefield now on vocal duties, with new addition James Gardiner taking over on bass guitar. The guitar and drums set-up remains the same, with Jon Wood and Graham Hebson respectively to complete Lower Slaughter “V3.0”! This evening they round off Day Two of Triptych with a 10 track 40 minute set consisting of current and new material. Anyone hoping to hear from 2019 and prior are tonight going to be disappointed. 

The house lighting switches to red and green for this energetic performance, which kicked off with ‘All The Day Long’ and ‘Motions’, which are both found on their current single release. The former offering a rock blues style and the latter paying homage to Sex Pistols riffs at the start on guitar and drums. Barney is moving around the stage as if he’s got ants in his pants, meanwhile Jon’s guitar strap comes undone, cue crouching! I enjoyed Graham’s long drumming intro on ‘Lights’ as well as James’ meaty bass sounds for this post punk Gang Of Four style track. ‘Phantom’ is up next and could have easily been part of Staff Party’s set. This is followed by the more enjoyable ‘Bridge’ which has an early proto punk sound. There’s another drum intro on ‘Ox’ along with echoey bass and guitar, which Barney’s lyrics are delivered in a talky style, with the repeated “My eyes!” lyrics. He’s very much in the zone and continually moved the mic stand around the stage, which is a regular feature during the set. There’s variation next for ‘Chips’ which is initially an urgent punk ditty meets IDLES, but then sadly goes slow and quiet half way through. The punky ‘Goes Fast’ lives up to its name and has a sudden ending which catches the punters out. Their penultimate selection was ‘Memories’ which again had a similar feel to IDLES. Barney had a wander into the crowd and grabbed himself a water from the bar at the rear of the room and then he returned to the stage and laid out flat face down on the canvas. They signed off with the gritty bluesy ‘Take A Seat’ which was the song found on the Triptych single release and we were informed that they will be returning to The Hope & Ruin in 2 days time in order to shoot a video for it. 

Lower Slaughter:
Barney Wakefield – vocals
James Gardiner – bass
Jon Wood – guitar
Graham Hebson – drums

Lower Slaughter setlist:

1. ‘All The Day Long’
2. ‘Motions’
3. ‘Lights’
4. ‘Phantom’
5. ‘Bridge’
6. ‘Ox’
7. ‘Chips’
8. ‘Goes Fast’
9. 9. ‘Memories’
10. ‘Take A Seat’

linktr.ee/lower_slaughter

TRIPTYCH DAY 3 – SATURDAY 18TH JANUARY (by Nick Linazasoro):

B.SPANKS

Opening the final leg of this year’s Triptych was B.Spanks which is the alter ego of one Ben Nightingale, who just happens to be one quarter of Falmouth outfit Holiday Ghosts, who we have previously reviewed a few times. We have also covered B. Spanks as well, where my colleague Jess Kemp wrote last March: “If you like your early British punk, D.I.Y Punk and post punk say via the Buzzcocks or Wire, this is the man for you. B. Spanks vocal delivery moves between speak-singing and more melodic, it suits the punk presentation. It’s expressive rather than the monotone drone that a lot of similar acts often fall into. The whole set is more upbeat pop-punk”.

This evening we are rewarded with an all too brief 21 minute set consisting of 8 numbers (although we were only given the titles of 7 of them when asked). On stage, it’s simply Ben along with his guitar and drum machine backing which is stored on his phone which is linked to the speaker system. The opening number ‘When Will It End’ is a pleasant melodic punk affair, as is the following tune, ‘Semi Correct’, which also to me sounds like a short and sweet Buzzcocks tune. It’s at this point that I’m trying to imagine if the songs would benefit from a full band lineup for a more in depth sound. This was the case with Young Francis Hi-Fi who originally was a solo act which morphed into a bubblegum punk band having secured the services of a trio of lads from Rotten Foxes. I reckon that B. Spanks too would indeed benefit from becoming a band format, but that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy his solo set, in fact I did. ‘When I Grovel’ had the vibe of TV Smith and ‘Burst Balloon’ had that 1978 Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias feeling going down. The remaining songs ‘This Old Scab’, ‘Don’t Wanna Know’ and ‘Someone You Know’ reminded me of Mink DeVille, as well as acts that have appeared on the Good Vibrations label out of Northern Ireland such as Rudi and the Moondogs. The B.Spanks set was punk music you can dance to and it’s just as though TV Smith had been in Buzzcocks and left for a solo career. I would like to see B. Spanks in action again! 

B.Spanks:
Ben Nightingale – vocals, guitar, presets 

B.Spanks setlist:

1. 1. ‘When Will It End’
   2. ‘Semi Correct’
   3. ‘When I Grovel’
   4. ‘Burst Balloon’
   5. ‘This Old Scab’
   6. ‘Don’t Wanna Know’
   7. ‘Someone You Know’

www.instagram.com/b.spanks

TERSE AFFECTION 

The penultimate act for this year’s Triptych were Brighton based Terse Affection, who were last reviewed by my colleagues back in 2023 as support to the unique Thomas Truax. Back then they stated “It’s lo-fi and dark, but textured in a gritty way, with some echoes of Love And Rockets’ less poppy numbers drifting around the edges of the mix”. The band’s Bandcamp page states that they are “Country Goth” and their recorded output might sound like that, but this evening’s 23 minute set has elements of that as well as venturing into other genres. Chet Lester is technically Terse Affection and has brought along a trio of chaps for the ride. Chet is on lead vocals and guitar, and his mates take care of guitar with backing vocals, bass, and drums. 

We are rewarded with a 7 song selection, which commences with a post punk rumbling tune, but sadly the vocals are well down in the mix and this detracts from the performance. The next number has a screeching guitar with skippy drumbeat and I notice that the second guitarist is throwing just as many guitar poses as Jamie of Winter Gardens tends to do. Their third offering is a slower jangly number, but there’s more screeching guitars on offer for their fourth selection which again has a post punk vibe going on. Their fifth number is thankfully more immediate and benefits from fast strumming guitars as in a cowboy western theme meets Dead Can Dance. Their penultimate selection is at half the speed of its predecessor and Half Man Half Biscuit with added haircuts springs to mind. Their final track offered more of the same and to be perfectly honest I wasn’t feeling the love for this outfit unlike a few of this evening’s punters. 

Terse Affection:
Chet Lester – lead vocals, guitar
?  – guitar, backing vocals
? – bass
? – drums

Terse Affection setlist:
“Unknown”

linktr.ee/terseaffection

0800 RODEO 

Rounding off this year’s Triptych are the unusually titled 0800 Rodeo who I had previously enjoyed back in October when they supported (and were better than) Parsnip at the Komedia Studio. It’s here that I learned that 0800 Rodeo’s Instagram page is a row of numbers that correspond to the letters on a phone. The 0800 is the same, but R is 7, O is six, and both D and E are 3, thus you encrypt it and get 0800 76336. The band comprises Saoirse Mendel (keys, vocals), Charlie Fairbairn (guitar, vocals) and Ryan Cleave (bass, vocals) and they offer up “Digi-beat rock&roll, synth hooks and disco punk love songs”. Tonight we were given a speedy ten tune set which lasted exactly half an hour. 

As the trio take to the stage I’m immediately mightily impressed with Saoirse’s Star Trek top, but it’s a red one, and they are famous for not lasting the whole episode! Thankfully Saoirse does last the full 30 minutes. For opener ‘Cronies Elevation’ I immediately feel the low-fi drum machine DIY post-punk retro sound bombarding my ears, Jim Bob and Fruitbat aka Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine springs to mind and the fact that if 0800 Rodeo had been formed 45 years ago, that John Peel would have been a fan!. It’s certainly decent toe-tapping stuff and there’s very brief intermission snippets in between every song, just like the adverts on the Sigue Sigue Sputnik ‘Flaunt It’ album. Tune two, ‘Speed Freaks’, is like a faster rocky version of Daniel Miller’s Silicon Teens, with joint vocal duties being shared by Saoirse and Charlie. ‘Hotshots And Chickenheads’ is even faster with a more immediate beat and is the best thus far and the “Baby’s a hotshot” chorus is really catchy as well. Saoirse’s Korg goes into overdrive for the next track, ‘Hot 4 Cornwall’ and I’m loving the DIY post punk vibes here as well as the speedy synth drum beat sounds. We get further fast beats, with jaunty keys and distorted vocals from Charlie across the next trio of tracks: ‘Sake’,‘Mag Man’ and ‘Chump Change’. It’s then all change as Saoirse moves centre stage for lead vocals on their rendition of Kirsty MacColl’s ‘They Don’t Know’, which is unlike any other songs in their repertoire. ‘Yip I Oh’ comes next and it has the same guitar riffs as Arnold Corns/David Bowie’s ‘Hang On To Yourself’ and it’s the choice track of the set for me. They signed off with the faster punky styled ‘Wendy’ and at 10:45pm that was Triptych finished for another year and it was a great choice of act to round things off. 

0800 Rodeo:
Saoirse Mendel – keys, vocals
Charlie Fairbairn  – guitar, vocals
Ryan Cleave  – bass

0800 Rodeo setlist:

1. ‘Cronies Elevation’
2. ‘Speed Freaks’
3. ‘Hotshots And Chickenheads’
4. ‘Hot 4 Cornwall’
5. ‘Sake’
6. ‘Mag Man’
7. ‘Chump Change’
8. ‘They Don’t Know’ (Kirsty MacColl cover)
9. ‘Yip I Oh’
10. ‘Wendy’

0800-rodeo.bandcamp.com