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Currls

Oct 01, 2025 By Nick Roseblade Photography by Nick Roseblade Web Exclusive

234 Fest is an annual institution in Brighton these days. For two days the Green Door Store had over a dozen bands playing. This is the crème of the crème of the local scene. Everyone of them is a big hitter. And what’s more, it’s totally free. To prove how good the line up is, I paid actual cash money to see two of the bands just seven days earlier.

This year I could only make the Saturday evening, so the first band I saw was LEMONSUCKR. This quintet delivered up catch slabs of indie sleaze 2025 style. Bedecked in shirts, ties and leather jackets they looked like a lairy support act for The Rakes at The Astoria. Opening with “Instant Kinks”, their music bristled with attitude and fun. Under the visceral guitars and seething bass were quite bassy, and wonky, electronics. This gave the music a slightly dancey feel. Think a classic Chemical Brothers remix and you aren’t a million miles off. The standout moment of their seven-song set came in the final third. “H.E.A.T.” it was a high energy, warped bop. Around the halfway mark an Arabian themed riff appeared that would make Glass Beams blush and ask for the tab. The highlight of the seat was “Dead Disco”. If you are thinking of an indie disco banger with electronic motifs, you are right. Right at the start guitarist Ollie stalked through the crowd with a cowbell. After climbing Green Door Store’s iconic doorframe to nothing and banging the living hell out of his cowbell he descended. Picked up his guitar and all hell broke loose. Again, the Arabian motifs came back. They worked incredibly well with the contorted guitars. Rumour has it there might be an EP next year, but this could just be bar gossip. Either way LEMONSUCKR are ones to watch!

Up next were Tummyache. This three-piece brought some grit to the proceedings. They started their set with “Alive Again”. The main opening riff wasn’t dissimilar to Radiohead’s “Knives Out”. It was melodic, glorious and set them apart from LEMONSUCKR. This is what I like about 234 Fest. They don’t just programme a load of bands that sounds the same. As “Alive Again” finished there was a burst of woozy pedal noise and “What You Wanna See” started next. This was slower and fiercer in its delivery. The best song of the set was “Stop, Drop, Roll”. With its stuttering main riff and lilting vocals, it reminded me of getting mixtapes from friends at college and uni. They contained stuff I’d never heard of, and it felt like doors opening. Around the halfway point everything kicked off and just when you wanted more that wonky riff kicked in again. The next song was dedicated to “Anyone having a birthday today? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month, yeah, cool, this one’s for you” then they launched into the raging “Happy Birthday”. Their seven-song set was rounded off by “Fake New”. This was crammed with intricate riffs, soaring vocals and heavy breakdowns. The only downside to their set was that Tummyache didn’t play “Circling the Drain”, maybe next time.

After a brief break next up were Magda. This was one of the bands I’d see the previous week. I’d been impressed so I was hoping for more of the same. Luckily, I got it! (I’ll probably mention this again in a bit but) There is a beauty of seeing a band play twice in a week to a totally different crowd. You get to see them react to a different audience. The previous week they’d been a support act. The crowd was going to be favourable to them as the headliner had picked up to play. Here, the crowd was made up of people, well, on the lash. If the audience wasn’t into them it could be a very long half hour. They opened with “Everytime” again. Sounding like a song from Squid’s raunchy little brother, the opening riff cut through the chatter immediately and the bass and drums were felt in the guts. The first thing I noticed this time was how clear the synths were. Last week I could hear them, but they were in the back. Tonight, they were front and centre. They made all the songs sound totally different. It was like hearing them for the first time again. As usual Max had some hilarious links between the songs “We’ve a couple of shirts. They’re in this bag. <points at his feet> £10 and they’re large. You a large? We have one less shirt”. I can’t work out if Max is a natural comedian, freaking about what to say and just talking about merch, or had a couple of beers and has a bit of a mental blank. Maybe it’s all three, but either way he’s as entertaining as the song. After the opener, the standout tracks were “Crickets” and “It’s Not that Bad”. Here the band really locked into the groove and pummelled the audience with juddering bass, savage drumming, menacing guitar and glacial synths. I’d happily watch this lot next week again and not get bored.

Currls were up next. These three-piece brought some punk energy to the evening. Opening with “Throwback”, which was full of everything that made The Misfits cult heroes. Massive riffs and catchy choruses. I couldn’t workout, which was catchier, then I gave up thinking about their set as I was out of the moment. Sometimes you can just think about the music after and lose yourself in the crowd and tunes. Their debut single “April Fool” got a big response from the packed Green Door Store. This felt like the longest song of the set but, in fairness, all their songs felt about a minute long. Around me people started dancing and having a proper gas. “Honey” got people singing along with the “I know a girl, but we don’t know her name” lyric. The final two songs were the best. “Cruel” and “Family Man”. Again, the massive punk riffs were the order of the day. Holly’s vocals are great. Filled with passion, disdain, humour and pathos. Her songs are great snapshots of life but played at a million miles an hour and shouted out like her life depended on it. Currls are one of the best bands in Brighton and deserve all the success they got. Basically, see them when they smash, and grab, in your town.

And now to the headliners. This is the second band I’d seen in seven days. Slag. As with Magda, Slag were better than they had been the week before. Part of this might have been because there was, slightly, less pressure than headlining your own gig, or because they’d had some beers before they went on stage, but they looked looser and more relaxed. When they went one at 10pm the Green Door Store was the busiest I’d seen it since Xiu Xiu in June 2023. You couldn’t have put more people in there if you’d tried. From the opening, hypnotic cascades of “Heaven” the crowd was under their spell. Throughout swaths of us sang our lungs out throughout. Which is remarkable considering they only have three singles out and people knew the words to EVERY song. “Ripped” got the biggest cheer of the night. Throughout the song band members recreated their workout poses from the music video. Much to the crowds hollers and whoops. But the highlight of the night was when Amelie started singing, with just a guitar. At first it was hard to hear her over the crowd, despite being mic-ed up, but as she carried on, the crowd’s babble dropped lower and lower until all you could hear was her voice. This mark of respect doesn’t happen very often. I can only think of three times I’ve witnessed it happen and one of them was Neil Young… This is the power of Slag and their music. Through playing delicate chords with graceful vocals, they can shut a crowd of people who have drunk more than they should for three minutes. Their set ended with new single “Legs”. As the final notes echoed the place erupted. The noise was almost deafening. As I left the venue, for a second time in a week, I was shocked by what I’d seen. Slag are the real deal. They have incredible songs, stage presence, and Amelie is the owner of one of the best live voices I’ve ever heard. But what they also have is humility and humour. When they stand on stage, they know how great they are, but they still act as they did the first time I saw at their second or third gig. Unsure if this applause is rightly deserved. It truly is. The era of Slag is upon us!