It’s hard to write catchy songs that are also loud enough to rattle your back molars, yet Brighton’s Yonaka make it look easy. Equal parts audacious heavy rock and soaring melodic pop, the band’s music is almost bursting with unbridled power, like they’re grabbing you with both hands while screaming. Don’t be fooled into thinking that this punk-rock mindset comes without charisma though, Yonaka are full of that. “We ain’t got no money, we’re just living free, I just wanna be a rockstar, baby,” singer Theresa Jarvis belts out on recent single ‘Rockstar’, the song that might best encapsulate the group’s sound. Another local band poised for world domination it seems, proving Brighton’s alt-rock scene is alive and ferociously kicking!

Concorde 2, Friday 8th November 2019
Words by Rafiq Hilton
Photo by Rory Barnes