BPREVIEW: GETRZ @ The Sunflower Lounge 11.03.20

Words by Ed King

On Wednesday 11th March, GETRZ come to The Sunflower Lounge – performing against a stacked support line up including Gen & the Degenerates, Spit, and Sedated Society.

Doors open at 7:30pm with tickets priced at £6, as promoted by Indie Midlands. For more direct gig info and links to online ticket sales, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com/event/getrz-gen-and-the-degenerates-spit-sedated-society

Last seen in Birmingham back at the Hare & Hounds, pretty much two years ago to the day, GETRZ have been keeping busy. Swindon’s hot alt rock potato (to expand a metaphor past any reasonable level…) have been accumulating festival dates and accolades across the country – stamping their authority and arguable shift in sound with the release of their debut EP, Think of the Future, in August last year.

Now, following a brief sojourn in Liverpool, Leeds, and Manchester, GETRZ are back on the road – coming to The Sunflower Lounge on Wednesday 11th March, before heading down to Bristol the day after and ending up back in Swindon for the tour’s home town swan song on Saturday 14th March.

Joining GETRZ as tour support are self-declared ‘gate crashers’ of the North West, Gen & the Degenerates – with Stourbridge’s Sonic Youth inspired four piece, Spit, and Worcester’s experimental pop psych rockers, Sedated Society, making up the more local line up.

Although relatively fresh faced, Spit have carved a confident curve for themselves on Birmingham’s live music circuit – playing regular support slots at The Sunflower Lounge, alongside more established acts such as Bad Girlfriend, MeMe Detroit, and A Void, when the latter came to the city in February. And with some line-up changes and song writing pencilled into the 2020 diary, this could be an defining year for a band already building up some noticeable Midlands momentum.

Sedated Society are another addition to the fuck-you-and-your-genre strata of the modern music scene, taking influences from across the audio spectrum and self-declaring to ‘bleed an expansive combination of stoner rock, blues, grunge, R&B, jazz, shoegaze and pop music…’ Stick that in your HMV shop assistant and smoke it.

…and not bad for £6. Well, what else are you going to do for the safer side of a tenner?

‘Annie’ – GETRZ 

GETRZ play at The Sunflower Lounge on Wednesday 11th March, with support from Gen and the Degenerates, Spit, and Sedated Society – as presented by Indie Midlands. For direct gig information and links to online tickets, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com/event/getrz-gen-and-the-degenerates-spit-sedated-society 

For more on GETRZ, visit www.facebook.com/GETRZBAND

For more on Gen & the Degenerates, visit www.open.spotify.com/artist/7oEVPoHXaj73ddUCTNlO9E
For more on Spit, visit www.facebook.com/spit.banddd
For more on Sedated Society, visit www.facebook.com/SedateddSocietyy

For more from Indie Midlands, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.indiemidlands.co.uk

For more on The Sunflower Lounge, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

________

NOT NORMAL NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual aggression in the music industry and beyond – from dance floor to dressing room, everyone deserves a safe place to play.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any issues surrounding sexual violence – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL NOT OK website.

BPREVIEW: Hannah Brown @ The Sunflower Lounge 12.06.19

Words by Ed King

On Wednesday 12th June, Hannah Brown performs at The Sunflower Lounge – with support from Bryony Williams and Watermark.

Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £6 (plus booking fee) – as presented by Indie Midlands. For more direct gig info, including venue details and links to online ticket sales, click here.

Hannah Brown is somewhat of a stalwart on the Midlands music scene, having cemented her place on the cultural landscape with her debut six track acoustic EP, The Highbury Sessions – recorded at the Kings Heath studios and released in 2015.

Brown’s 2016 follow up EP, Better for This, followed in the footsteps of her first – delivering another six track analysis into the fragility of the human endevouor, with all the raw strength and determination that you need to survive it. Stretching from strings to keys and back again, Better for This is an inspiring record – covering the visceral themes of youth and identity, with well-rounded production from Rob Derbyshire and Ben Stancombe.

Supported by BBC Introducing and a variety of music focused media, Brown started to develop the ‘full band sound’ that came through on Better than This – progressing as a songwriter and performing artist, with singles such as ‘So Should You’ and ‘My Home’ released across 2018.

Then in early 2019, Brown released ‘Further Away’ – a track of faster paced melodic rock, telling the troubles of disaffection with a confident vocal lead and lyrics such as “I’ll work ‘till I am eighty, or die when I’m not ready… I just wanna stay in.” Super stuff, Brown’s latest single is an exciting stamp of authority from an artist that has embraced their own development and shows more promise than most egos can healthily handle.

There is an album floating around too, the composite The World Still Spins – made up of cherry picked tracks from Brown’s back catalogue, alongside previously unreleased recordings of some of her more tried and tested tracks. But the music wolf still bays for blood, and you can’t release something as solid as ‘Further Away’ and not expect the howls of “ALBUM…????” to be too far behind. Have a stop, look, listen below and you’ll see (hear) where we’re coming from.

‘Further Away’ – Hannah Brown

Hannah Brown plays at The Sunflower Lounge on Wednesday 12th June, with support Bryony Williams and Watermark – as presented by Indie Midlands. For direct gig info and links to online ticket sales, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com/event/hannah-brown-bryony-watermark

For more on Hannah Brown, visit www.hannah-brown.co.uk
For more on Bryony Williams, visit www.soundcloud.com/bryony-williams
For more on Watermark, visit www.facebook.com/WatermarkUK

For more from Indie Midlands, including further event listings and stories from the region’s indie and alternative music scene, visit www.indiemidlands.com

For more on The Sunflower Lounge, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

________

NOT NORMAL NOT OK is a campaign to encourage safety and respect within live music venues, and to combat the culture of sexual assault and aggression – from dance floor to dressing room.

To learn more about the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here. To sign up and join the NOT NORMAL NOT OK campaign, click here.

If you have been affected by any of the issues surrounding sexual violence – or if you want to report an act of sexual aggression, abuse or assault – click here for information via the ‘Help & Support’ page on the NOT NORMAL NOT OK website.