Bethshootsbands

You Are Ok – The Maine

This is my top pick for album of the year, slightly biased as they’re my favourite band, but nonetheless deserving for such an incredible record highlighting the importance of mental health and asking your loved ones, are you ok? This album encompasses everything that the band represent and have worked to achieve over the last decade. With elements of indie-rock combined with an orchestral string section and a 9-minute track as the closer, this album flows together beautifully and is nothing short of a masterpiece.  

Peach Club – Emarosa

Peach club is a synth-pop, upbeat 1985-esque melodic offering, yet doubles as a heartfelt emo record exploring themes of lost love and picking yourself back up. A vast change from their last record, 131 released in 2016, the band have developed their sound without straying too far from their roots as a rock quartet. This record is beautifully serene and I love it.  

PROXY – An A.N.I.M.O Story – Being as an Ocean

The rock quartet from Vancouver put on a spectacular show in Brighton’s newly refurbished venue, Chalk, last Friday. Performing a mixture of old tracks from their iconic Masterpiece Theatre as well as newer tracks from their latest full-length effort Phantoms released earlier in March this year, the shows set list delivered nostalgia to those of us familiar with their older works whilst showcasing the best of Phantoms. Marianas Trench take their name after what is said to be a trench resting at bottom of the deepest known part of the ocean, and their albums have been praised for their creative themes and concepts further developed through the music videos they create. MT were formed in 2001 and, in my slightly biased opinion, are one of the most underrated bands of all time. The band themselves noted that they’re aware of their unfamiliarity to this part of the world and were impressed by the turnout of the tour so far, noting it was only their second performance in Brighton.

Front man Josh Ramsay did not disappoint fans with his insanely impressive vocal range as well as his eccentric and moderately flamboyant stage presence. All members of the band demonstrated a strong connection on stage often sharing microphones and playing back to back, seeming genuinely happy in the moment which is always pleasant to see. As far as crowd interaction, Josh immersed himself amongst the crowd to perform [insert song] and encouraged the crowd to singalong with him as often as possible, especially during his touching solo performance of Good to You.  Adding to the theatrics and immersive experience, Josh entered the stage after the encore with a cane in hand to perform Killing Kind with the rest of the band, further selling the concept of a murderous love as the song describes. Another notable moment arises when Josh informs the crowd that he’d just been handed a bottle of tequila backstage, and with crowd encouragement, he then proceeded to strum his guitar to the theme of Tequila song by The Champs earning applause and cheers.

For this project I had the idea of shooting a portrait series specifically showcasing alternative Brightonians. I'm always inspired by creative individuals and how they chose to express themselves through their appearance and style. I believe that things such as music taste, hair colour, piercings, tattoos, unique fashion choices and personal interests say a lot about someone and often can be a topic of conversation and lead to friendships if similar interests are shared. Identifying with the alternative scene myself, I couldn't think of a better way to incorporate reciprocal journalism into photography than shooting some of my friends and showcasing the individuality and acceptance of the alternative Brighton that I get to experience at the same time.

How would you best describe yourselves and your sound? 

We are Rozu, a Post Hardcore band from Denver Colorado. For fans of Underoath, Like Moths To Flames, and The Plot in You.

What do you bring to the current music scene that other artists don’t already offer, what makes you stand out in such a competitive industry?

I think we just bring a different mindset to the table and we have a lot of diversity within our writing sessions. We don’t stick to a certain formula and we really write honest songs that have a little something for everyone.

* What are the messages and motives behind your music?

Music and art in general is so subjective that I love to hear what other’s interpretations are. We write music that is very honest to ourselves and lyrically talk about some real life stuff and always promoting that no matter how bad a situation can be there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Things do get better.

* When did Rozu first come together?

We have all been doing this for at least 7 plus years on the band scale and have been writing together for about a year. Our process is just really keen on sitting in the studio or bouncing ideas back and forth from our homes. We really like the ability to record ideas dissect and make the best we can. Pre Production is our best friend right now.

* Any upcoming releases or anything readers can expect to see soon?

We just released our latest single Fading on December 12th so everyone should probably check that out.

Suds are on the rise after the highly anticipated release of their debut EP ‘It Suits Me Well’ was delivered to us on the 1st of March. The Peterborough outfit consisting of Maisie-Mae Cater (Guitar and vocals), Danielle Godfrey (guitar), Tom Hillson (Bass) and Issy Holland-Wing (drums) have been making music since early 2018 and have had their sound described as “dreamy indie-pop”.

It Suits Me Well was produced by Ian Sadler and features songs ‘Sleeping In (my personal favourite), Evergreen, Into May, Later On and Cool of the Morning that has received impressive amounts of air time from the likes of BBC introducing in both Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.

The music video for their first single Evergreen was released December 2nd and received immense support on social media. The beautifully shot DIY video encompasses delicate floral visuals with close-ups of the  band performing Evergreen in multiple locations whilst candidly chilling in a pumpkin patch. 

Be sure to give Suds some love and check out It Suits Me well available to stream now on all music media platforms:

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/3DDPsbd18qFzF92U0WBshD

ITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/…/a…/it-suits-me-well-ep/1454531907