There’s a tasty triple bill of guitar bands coming up at The Prince Albert on Friday 7th August.
Albert regular Rachel Love headlines and was last seen here in February with her new project Railcard and this time appears in her solo guise. Rachel was the guitarist and one of the vocalists from 80s band Dolly Mixture who were championed by John Peel and signed to Paul Weller’s Respond label, where they were produced by The Damned’s Captain Sensible and Paul Gray.
Rachel has been writing and performing again for the last few years, most recently releasing new album Lyra, a beautiful piece of gentle, dreamy pop. She now plays with two of her sons and their friends, performing tracks from her two recent solo Albums, Picture in Mind and Lyra, interspersed with a few classic Dolly Mixture songs.
Support comes from Los Angeles-based Exploding Flowers, led Sharif Dumani, who has worked with a variety of artists including Alice Bag, Cody Chesnutt, and Sex Stains. The quartet is completed with Josh Mancell (The Moon Upstairs, CellBorg), Happy Tsugawa-Banta (Lassie Foundation, Ray Barbee), and Mark Sogomian (The Moon Upstairs).
With three albums, an EP and an upcoming fourth album on Meritorio Records, they have been compared to Big Star, the Soft Boys, L.A.’s Paisley Underground and New Zealand’s 1980s-era Flying Nun Records guitar pop groups. Exploding Flowers explore some similar territory but expand to occupy their own pace in that landscape and kick off their short UK tour in Brighton.
Rachel Love’s son David’s band Telecom will open the show with their own take on West Coast 60s psych. Expect beautiful three-part harmonies and inventive guitar solos all wrapped up in three-minute indie pop bundles of joy.
Prince Albert, Friday 7th August 2026
Tickets are £11 all in, available at wegottickets.com.
