Feb 08 - A Saturday Night in Brighton

Louise did a lot of home work before her leaving drinks, to ensure that the drinking didnt stop when the budget holder left, and identified a bunch of pubs that we could crawl into... Top of the list was this Goth pub just outside Soho called "The Interpid Fox". So from the Barcelona Tapas bar, we landed up at the Fox. While there Carol mentioned that her Son Lee worked at a recording studio on Denmark Street nearby and asked if I would like to meet Lee during a lunch break the next week.

Im not one to say no to a new experience am I? :-)

Next wednesday we were at the Studio during lunch hour chatting up with Lee, who plays in a punk band called "The Loyalties". He mentioned that they would be playing in Brighton the next saturday evening at "The Engine Room" near the Brighton sea front. Hmmm that sounded like a plan.

Over the next few hours I sorted out acco in Brighton at a backpacker hostel called the Grapevine (the erstwhile "Brighton Backpackers") for £10 per night. I was quite thrilled by the rate and asked the dude whether that included breakfast :-D He went "Jheez Man, what do you expect for 10quid? If you give me 45quid, I will tuck you in at night and give you a mug of Horlicks as well!!!" We had a laugh and the acco was "sorted".

So I landed up in Brighton on saturday afternoon, checked into the hostel and went out for a walk. The energy and the vibes in Brighton are very different from London. Its a very alternate, arty and buzzy crowd. Maybe it has to do with the fact that there are a lot of students in Brighton. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that it is the gay capital of UK. Whatever it was, I loved it.

Considering the gig was only at 1900 and I was there by 1430, I had a LOT of time to kill :-) While roaming the streets of Brighton, I came across this band of 4 musicians playing on the street. They were playing a sort of Funky Jazz, Ska, Rap kind of music. Spent then next hour or so listening to them. The musicians kept changing every now and then... with a new drummer coming in now, a different sax player coming in then, a different vocalist for the next and so on...
It turned out they were promoting their gig for the evening at a nearby club called Komedia. They were all different parts of the various bands playing that evening. I was quite impressed by the music and was debating whether to do Lee's Gig or the Komedie Medley... eventually decided to do both :-)

Got to the Engine Room at 1900 to be told that they were running late. So I found the nearest off license and picked up the cheapest can of Lager I could find (it was a can of Grolsch for a quid and it was grotesque!!!) But while drinking on the street I was quite surprised to see that no one else seemed to be drinking on the streets... Odd I thought, but it didnt stop me :-) Finished the can and was lining up with all the other punks at the Engine Room. The crowd was quite cool with a lot of old punks! The first band kicked off at about 2000hrs. The Bass player was an old dude who was walking up and down the street earlier with his even older missus!!! The loyalties kicked off their set at about 2045. They were pretty cool. Check out The Loyalties on their MySpace homepage

After the Loyalties, I decided to ditch the main act at the Engine Room, the Nomads, and check out the Ska/ Funk Mix at the Komedia Club, which was called Comm:Unity Sounds

While walking over from the Engine Room to the Komedia Club, decided to stop over at another off license and pick up a can of beer. I went in and was shocked to see that there was no can for under £1.25. Steep I thought. I asked the dude at the off license what he had for a pound and he said, you take this fosters, its actually 1.30, but you can have it for a quid. Friendly folks eh?

So there I was, sipping a discounted fosters and walking along the COLD sea front, when I came across this cop who was diverting pedestrians due to a fire in some fany hotel on the sea front. After giving me the necessary divertionary directions he asked for my can saying "I can either fine you for drinking on the streets or I can take away your can, i think taking away the can would be cheaper for you!!!" Apparently Brighton has a different set of rules from the rest of the UK when it comes to drinking on the streets...

The sets at the Komedia club was quite cool. Check out some of the music at their MySpace homepage

Check out the music of the individual bands which make up Comm:Unity Sounds on their individual MySpace pages below
http://www.myspace.com/titansystem
http://www.myspace.com/samsara5
http://www.myspace.com/kingporterstomp
http://www.myspace.com/resonatorsmusic
http://www.myspace.com/thescrub

Btw, the beer at these venues were more expensive than similar venues in London. I was commenting about the high prices to one of the staff at the Komedia Club and he goes "Yeah man, its more expensive than London and we dont get paid as much either!" :-(

Hit the sack by about 1am and was up the next morning at 9. While stepping out of a nearby cafe, after breakfast, there were all these people running through the streets. They were running a bloody half marathon in the cold. Anyway, i went back to the hostel checked out and was talking to Steve who runs the Hostel. He turned out to be an erstwhile punk who was more into Ska these days. He was of the opinion that people were MAD to run a marathon in the cold on a sunday morning. According to him, the the only thing on ones mind on a sunday morning should be a hangover. AND, he says it gets worse in Summer in Brighton, when they have a nude marathon and a nude bicycle race!!! Hmmmm the nude marathon must be tough on the women and the nude cycle race tough for the men folk ;-)

On a parting note, when I was taking my car out of the overnight parking, I paid £15 for over night parking. Hmmm expensive, considering I spent only £10 for myself!!!