“There’s a certain scene bubbling under the surface in Brighton, full of garage, grungy, surfy, psychedelic type bands,” said Late Night Lingerie founder Eddie Goatman when SOURCE interviewed him in March. At the time, he and pop video director Steve Glashier were busy filming those same bands in session at Brighton Electric studios, aiming to put together a movie showcasing the groups coalescing around the LNL gigs at Sticky Mike’s.
Fast forward to December and not only is the film finished but the scene Eddie was talking up (“We thought we’d fake a scene… Now we’ve created one by accident.”) has become a reality in the eyes of the industry. Early LNL guests Royal Blood have a BBC Sound Of 2014 nomination and the list of acts getting Radio 1, 6 Music and Xfm plays and national press mentions keeps growing. In this 30 minute documentary, Eddie and Glashier have captured a key moment in the story of Brighton’s music success, with appearances from such currently breaking names as The Wytches, Theo Verney, Tigercub and Demob Happy.
Aside from the conceit of the bands playing to fans in the studio, there’s little contrivance in Late Night Lingerie the film. For the live sets, Glashier gets his camera in among the crowd, the black and white photography and unmediated energy referencing the raw spontaneity of Charles Peterson’s iconic Sub Pop imagery. They’re broken up by straight interviews with many of the key performers, whose discussions of their ambitions and influences are direct and honest. Tigercub’s Jamie Hall comes across modest and shy, The Wytches as carefully focussed, The Semper Teens’ Tim Cassini brilliantly intense.
On stage at least, the scene captured here is very boy orientated, with Pink Lizards’ Daisy Coburn the only female talking head, although the crowds hurling themselves about, downing beers and swigging neat whiskey are clearly more mixed than the line-ups on stage. But then, aside from some beautifully shot sunset drives along the seafront, Late Night Lingerie doesn’t pretend to picture Brighton as a whole, just one blossoming musical subculture within it.
The sound of 2014? It could yet go either way but Late Night Lingerie has undoubtedly kicked the door open that bit wider for the city’s bands to force themselves through.
Words by Stuart Huggett
