Brakes at the Pavilion Theatre

Another night, another gig! I finished work, caught a glimpse of Mitchell & Webb in the Dome, then dashed round the corner to the Pavilion Theatre to catch Brighton's muso collective, Brakes. Last year's Give Blood was a cracking debut album and All Night Disco Party is surely a contender for single of the year. You can't really pigeonhole this band, they'll follow a three minute punky-pop tune with a ten second rant or a country-tinged ballad... but whatever they come up with, you can bet it's laced with feeling and good humour. Witness new songs Spring Chicken or Porcupine or Pineapple? (complete with fruit tossed into the crowd), this is a band having fun with the music that they make. It was a really enjoyable set topped off by special guests The Pipettes who joined the band for a cover of JAMC's Sometimes Always. Any chance of an early night soon dissipated when I bumped into a few family members who I know (thanks to Gary the fruit) and I got invited to the aftershow party at The Gloucester. (Cue flashbacks to my student days...) The club hasn't changed much since I was last there, but I was glad to see that Fridays are now devoted to indie music, and I had a fun time chatting to Eamon and Gwenno at the bar while I was there. It did however mean that I overslept (again) and had to buy pies for everyone at work the next morning.