I love it when a free gig rolls around. I feel bad, opting to turn up for the events I don’t have to give anything back for, but still, there’s that tantalising possibility that I could be anyone stumbling through the too many curtains (I got a bit tangled) between Green Door Store’s bar area and the strange, cobbled, stable-like stage area with some sort of blown-out ghost of a room in the corner, and I would be exposed to the final gig of Birdskull’s and Pipedream’s latest tour opened for by Brighton’s own punx Glen Foye.
Glen Foye have had a line-up change since I last saw them, losing a guitar & spreading vocals out a bit. These guys blast out some flat-out impressive melodic licks among a completing, thrashing heaviness. The vocals are belting but tuneful, and tempo changes are scattered throughout; nothing stales, nothing stagnates, it’s all intense and interesting, and bloody fun.
I really wasn’t expecting Pipedream’s sound, and it appeared to me as very different to the rest of the line-up. Usually a good move; spice things up, let people’s necks slot into a different groove, avoid cramps and that the morning after. I know that a good majority of people enjoyed it, yet I felt like most songs were worked around the same structure of arpeggiated chords, and the vocals came across as a bit deadpan. On the way out of the room after their set, I heard someone quite aptly compare them to The Cure. Another chance is definitely needed.
The finer tracks from Trickle, Birdskulls’ latest EP, have become well entrenched in their set among some of their earlier belters like “Mispresume” and “Rolling Tongue” as they generally solidify their sound. Some new stuff was pulled out and it just shows that their musical efforts are spreading and absorbing more and more, showing a denser, heavier facet of their talents, and also more melodic and paced out moments.
I was kind of worried this would be one of those been-there-done-that gigs that I seem to mill about at in Brighton, but this was a great night, and full of interesting details, as Glen Foye are still new to me, Pipedream came up unexpectedly – I am seriously gonna give them another chance – and Birdskulls keep swinging with an immense track quality and more sounds to come.
