By Alex Hill

Friday night was a busy one down at The Green Door. Nestled underneath Brighton train station lies the tiny, cobbled floor venue which always seems to be absolutely packed. The hoards of people on the night were justified by the lineup of four fantastic bands.

The first to take the stage was Nel Blu, the grungy looking five-piece delivered a barrage of classic 2000’s indie sounding songs with a math rock twist with the keyboard and gentle, melodic guitar breaks. Fighting through the crows to see what they looked like, Nel Blu’s jangly indie bangers sounded exactly as I imagined they looked. Even if you’re staring at the back of someone’s head, you can tell these guys are a talented bunch, with songs sounding similar to massively popular indie bands like The Killers which easily got the whole room bopping along.     

As I finally managed to secure a view, The Wrong Trousers – a high energy, heavy punk band – hit the stage, and took it by storm . I loved these guys and their hardcore sound, the very fast drumming, wrist-achingly fast guitar and screeching vocals from their attitude fuelled frontman who bounced around the stage made a headbanging result. It’s refreshing to see a band which are keeping the punk sound alive while also combining it with some surf or shoegazey guitar parts to keep it interesting and put a modern spin on the genre.

Call Me Franco are, right now, perhaps the most original band in Brighton, and their set left me utterly impressed. The trio has no singer, instead opting for strange sound effects and voices – which sound like aliens attempting to make contact – acting as an introduction to their songs. With the guitarist and bassist using a range of effects pedals to create a unique result which they use to their advantage when alternating between heavy riffs and isolated instruments, using a lot of noise – or lack thereof – to their advantage.

Complimenting the rest of the band is the extremely talented drummer whose hard-hitting technique and rhythm drove the songs. Call Me Franco demonstrates clearly how a singer isn’t at all necessary in their arty rock style. The band that came to mind as a comparison is Muse, with their similar effects driven heavy rock, and yet at no point in the show did I feel vocals were missing or needed. Their unique sound kept us enthralled. A very cool instrumental band which you don’t see the likes of very often.

Following on from Call Me Franco were headliners Flavours, a four-piece modern sounding rock group championing the release of new single, the aptly named ‘Still Heavy’. With the two guitarists playing a mix of heavy riffs and very cool sounding melodies on their twin guitars while trading vocals, followed along closely by the bassist and backed perfectly by the drums; these guys solidly pay tribute to classic psychedelic rock, while making it their own with their atmospheric sound. They saved their new single until later in the set, delivering on the anticipation with a great tune which starts off with a jangly, soothing guitar intro and melodic singing before going into a brilliant guitar solo and heavy riff, which live up to the songs name and was a treat to experience live. If you want to see a current band exerting heaps of high-energy talent; these guys won’t fall short.