Homegrown Festival, Brighton
Photography by Tula Gartmayer (@tootsshoots)
Tula Gartmayer
Tula is a musician, photographer, journalist, artist and world music Radio DJ. From Hungarian Gypsy heritage and having travelled the world at a young age, Tula’s interest in diverse music and culture has stayed with her at the forefront of her endeavours. Her work has been published in magazines across music and socio-political publications.
Last month, we headed to Brighton’s Homegrown Festival for the perfect example of the city’s thriving music scene
We’re blessed in Brighton to have an array of cultural festivals and annual events: Brighton Fringe, The Great Escape, Mutations Festival, the Artist Open Houses, Pride, to name a few. But Homegrown is fast becoming my favourite of them all. And, in all honesty, I might have a bias as a musician existing in this scene, but there is something about this new Brightonian event that has captured my heart.
It distills the essence of our Grassroots DIY music scene. It’s an event collaboratively organised by venue owners and promoters across some of the core Brighton venues, and as such, not only are the bands that play a truly wonderful reflection of our music scene, but all of the blood, sweat and tears that go into it are from people who (amongst others) are at one end of the forefront representing our town’s music culture.
It invokes an immense sense of pride in me for the 2nd year running as I walk around observing the events unfold and interacting with venue staff members, sound engineers, artists and audience. Think ‘The Great Escape’ but for Brighton-based acts, spanned across some of the core grassroots venues, five of which are situated in a line across a 5-10 minute strip of the city.
My day starts strong at punk-infused venue The Pipeline with fairly newly formed band Francis Pig: a daring mash up of poetic punk and alternative rock, with a wonderfully uplifting DIY sound enhanced by lead singer Alana’s use of edgy electronic backing tracks. Their songs are provocative in an unassuming way – bold without being overly in your face for the sake of it, thought provoking in a delicious way.
Next, I race to The Folklore Rooms for the one woman powerhouse Nina Kohout, Slovakian born and Brighton based, she exudes creativity and a kind of ancient wisdom and prowess. Surrounded by her electronics and keyboard, I am delighted when she plays ‘Rhythm of Sirens,’ a song that would be perfectly fitted to some kind of desert warrior film in a scene filled with power and fury – dust storms and bravery requiring a composition that makes you feel the epicness in your blood.
The European Gypsy/Arabic inspired scales gives me goosebumps every time.You can’t help but feel like a part of Nina’s music when you listen to her live; it’s an experience like no other act i’ve seen. She composes, records and produces all of her own stuff; some of her songs are juicy and sassy, some are motherly and gentle, others are just straight up holy.
Next I hopped a few meters up the road to The Rossi Bar basement for Gina Larner, a western- twanged folky, bluesy Americana singer who dons her acoustic guitar in the most captivating pair of cowboy boots I have ever seen. Her songs are soulful and her voice is beautifully powerful and raw. It’s just her and her guitar but her sound fills the room effortlessly and captivates the crowded basement.
Another few short steps up the road and we find ourselves at the mother hub, The Hope & Ruin, to see JED, an eerie kind of hip hop that I found quite illusive and poetic. It’s got the filthy hip-hop tones that you’d expect, but somehow it’s spooky in an intriguing way. He’s hooked me in with the tone of his voice and the impeccable rhythm/intonation of the flow of vocals. He’s grooving himself as he floats around the stage deeply in the song.
I scarper back to The Folklore Rooms just in time to catch the end of Bella Union’s Helen Ganya. her music, very playful in its folkiness, captures a gentle child-like innocence that leaves you feeling oddly self reflective. Birdsong samples flutter around her as she ethereally sings tales of her childhood, Thai heritage and upbringing. She is charming and grips you with a strong sense of integrity that ripples through her music and songwriting.
I stay on at Folklore to watch The Roebucks. I am completely enthralled by them the moment the four piece take to the stage. They are folky but modern, with gritty, bluesy, kind of Americana tones. But the key note here is the emotion. The Roebucks are one of one those bands who can intrepidly invoke deeply emotive feelings through their writing.
You’re on a road trip in summer and it’s permanently golden hour, windows down and the smell of sweet warmly lit countryside rushing past. It’s like a return to a memory you didn’t know you had. I am captivated in particular by singer & guitarist Lola Gordon and drummer & backing vocalist Sophie Moloney. Sophie is at one with her drum kit, seeming to understand it as if an extension of herself, while Lola has an authenticity about her presence and performance that humbles me and leaves me feeling deeply emotional. The Roebucks are my favourite find of the day. I’m very happy I finally managed to see them.
Finally I see Goodbye, laced with ethereal vocal lines and gritty emotion. The band are energetic and cinematic. They haven’t been gigging for some months and appear to be back with oomph. Their sound is ‘big’ and atmospheric, filling up a lot of space for a 5-piece. They are clearly raring to go and carry that excitement into their music.
There are many bands I didn’t have the time or multiple pairs of legs to catch that I would have loved to capture, The New Eves, Van Zon and Glasshouse Red Spider Mite to name a few. This town is full of exceptional talent that does not need to compete with music scenes in other locations. They are noteworthy in their own right and we need not assign geographical locations to a band’s worthiness or success projectory.
As a Brightonian born-n-bred, for as long as I can remember we have been looked upon as London’s cute, even naïve little sister when it comes to anything creative. A ‘they’re trying aren’t they, bless them’ sort of attitude. I don’t feel this phenomena is a response to the talent pool, but more a cultural elixir concocted by the stance that if you’re going to make it in your field be it art, film, music etc; then you need to be living and hustling in London.
For sure, London venues are largely considered some of the most influential and offer both exposure and introductions that can lead to career progression. But without wishing to instigate or fuel any existing fire between these two iconic cities, from my experiences, Brighton has been looked down upon for too long; as with music scenes across the country that don’t reside in the capital city.
Music has value in all locations and I would personally like to see music scenes across the entire country and Celtic regions appreciated for their talent and sovereignty. This is something I feel Homegrown emphasises and is one of the reasons I am glad this festival has claimed its space.
Photography by Tula Gartmayer (@tootsshoots)
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