Melbourne-based indie pop rock band, Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird, played a storming set at the Green Door Store, promoted by Brighton’s Love Thy Neighbour. It was the band’s last night of a 12-date tour that has seen them play across Europe and the UK including a sold-out show at The Lexington in London. They were touring to promote their third and most recent album ‘Smiles Of Earth’, released last year on Double Drummer Recordings.

Support came from local singer-songwriter ALY who weaved lovely melodies with lush acoustic guitar, her cover of the Paramore song ‘Running Out Of Time’ sounding lovely. She complained that her voice wasn’t quite up to scratch tonight as she was suffering from a flu-type bug, but from where we were standing she sounded great and we predict a bright future for ALY.

Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird were on fine form this evening. Lead singer and guitarist/keyboardist, Lachlan Rose, said mid-set that the band’s first ever overseas gig was at The Great Escape in 2019 and that tonight was the last night of the current tour, a completion of their musical circle.

Lachlan’s rich baritone vocal style reminds us somewhat of fellow Australians Gang Of Youths mixed with a touch of Nick Cave. The band’s music crosses genres, swinging from indie to jazz to folk with a mix of keyboards, guitar and saxophone. We loved backing vocalist’s Francesca Gonzales’ super cool looking keytar that she played to good effect throughout the hour-long set. The band really won over the Brighton crowd, most of whom may have been unfamiliar with many of the songs. It was a mix of tunes from their latest album and a bit of a deep dive into their back catalogue. ‘Transient’, a single from 2018, had been requested by someone in the audience and the band obliged. It was apparently the one and only time this song had been played on the current tour.

The last song of the evening, ‘When This Is Over’, was the lead single from the last album and it sounded magnificent. There wasn’t time for an encore, just a short exchange of words about how the whole band have loved being back in the city and how much they were looking forward to a week’s holiday in Lisbon before flying back to Australia. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another four years before they come back to play in Brighton again.

Green Door Store, Tuesday 17th October 2023
Words by Richard Warran