Homegrown is a brand new Brighton festival featuring 51 local bands in one day, spread across six of the city’s best grassroots venues. We plunged right in, catching over a dozen acts during the day including Mindframe, Trip Westerns, Dirtsharks, COWZ, Van Zon, Ever Elysian, Opal Mag, Rainy Day Café, Frank & Beans, Young Francis Hi-Fi, Woody Green, Currls, Gaffa Tape Sandy and Flip Top Head.

Mindframe, Green Door Store
When the festival kicks off it’s slightly surreal leaving behind a sunny spring day to enter a venue that’s dark, smoky and almost punishingly loud. Mindframe, a trio too young to remember Dexys, are on stage dressed in matching dungarees. The hardest working bassist of the day locks in tight with his drummer for technical and tricksy grooves before the band let rip with their full thrashy sound. Third song of the set, ‘Leave Me Be’, stands out with its breakneck pace and driving melody. “Let’s all get wankered,” jokes singer and guitarist Sonny, who seems genuinely humbled at finding himself in front of a packed crowd for one of the first sets of the day. The front row are already moshing and the festival is off to a great start. (BB)

Trip Westerns, Pipeline
We have to fight our way through the overflowing crowd to get a prime spot in front of singer/guitarist Harrison, who’s looking resplendent with a droopy ‘tache and Stetson. Brighton’s finest country-flavoured psych-soul five-piece begin with an echoey twang, followed by a three-guitar surf assault and pounding garage drums, a slight pause then the whole band are back with a blast for a powerful ending. They continue with Harrison taking the first of many harmonica solos, howling over the scotching guitars on ‘False Start’, then exploring a ’60s jazz vibe followed by a funky blues feel on ‘Hot Water’. With great songs and energy, they set a high benchmark that gets us fired up for the rest of the day. (SC)

Dirtsharks, Prince Albert
The festival’s premise of allowing punters to duck in and out of venues is working well. We’re in time to see the end of Dirtsharks’s soundcheck before the room fills for the start of the set. Fronted by two brothers from Cornwall, these alt rockers treat us to tracks from their recent EP ‘Stay Lucent’. The standard four-piece set-up is unexpectedly disrupted when the two guitarists change instruments mid-song, turning a shoegaze jam into a dynamic violin duel. It’s the highlight of a set full of slow-burning rock songs that are big and emotional, but a tad too serious for this afternoon’s jolly. The band clearly have an appetite for the epic, so a bigger stage will suit them when they play the Brighton Dome Theatre on April 19th. (BB)

COWZ, Rossi Bar
COWZ are Saga and Tasha who could be described as Brighton’s answer to the much-loved Daphne & Celeste. They are supercute, with high pitched voices and synchronised dance steps, but with song titles such as ‘Domination’ and ‘Psychos’ and subject matter that includes fiance murder, there’s a lot of substance beneath their butter-wouldn’t-melt exterior. The music comes via a laptop and includes snippets of gossipy chat, heavy, sometimes sinister sounding bass and bouncy beats. The whole set is a complete joy to experience. They trade lines and looks then sing in unison, dance with and caress each other and are clearly having as much fun as the up-for-it crowd. We leave with a huge grin and a head full of earworms. (SC)

Van Zon, Hope & Ruin
Despite a background buzz hampering the folky start, the band rise above it to create something stunning as the clarinet fills out the underbelly of their gentle noise. Van Zon are perfectionists and they wear their hearts on the sleeves as they play. They make a sound that has something of the musicality of Black Country, New Road and the restrained intensity of Slint. These may be the obvious comparisons but they are accurate and this band of lovely humans will find themselves becoming equals if they keep this up – in any case their name now regularly crops up in conversations about local bands to watch out for. They finish with ‘Cannon Fodder’, their debut single. It is the only song that they name during the set, and then because an audience member asks. The violin riff at its heart is delightful. (NM)

Ever Elysian, Folklore Rooms
This is the perfect setting to soak up the gentler side of Brighton’s wonderfully eclectic live music scene, and a favourite venue of the band. From the acoustic and electric guitar and lilting vocals on luscious set-opener ‘Time Will Tell’, it’s clear we’re in for a treat. Lead singer Anya Marsland is great throughout, ably backed by two talented backing vocalists and gorgeous arrangements performed by the three guitarists (an absent drummer is replaced with percussion eggs, making the sound even more intimate). The lead guitarist’s bottleneck adds a haunting, weeping element to their captivating set while there’s a cheeky walking bassline on ‘Blues & Greens’, on which the whole band shines. A real treat. (SC)

Opal Mag, Rossi Bar
We take a punt on an unfamiliar band name and are pleasantly surprised when Opal Mag turn out to be an indie five-piece playing soft slacker tunes in the vein of Belly and The Breeders. The songs are short, the arrangements are sparse and there’s rarely more than two chords, but there’s enough here to intrigue us. Singer Frankie has an incredible voice, a clear and unhurried drawl that carries the music. When the songs are bedded in and the line-up settles down, Opal Mag will be ones to watch. “Why does it have to be this hard?” sings Frankie on a new track which takes a few false starts to get going. Given that the band only started a few months ago, they make it look easy. (BB)

Rainy Day Café, Hope & Ruin
We’re not in the mood for a wistful singer-songwriter, so we very nearly pass over the misleadingly named Rainy Day Café. Luckily our fears are flushed away by a spritely set of upbeat guitar pop with hints of Pavement and Vampire Weekend. It’s a fun, bouncy set with some strong tunes, led by songwriter, guitarist and singer Ben Williams. Further preconceptions are upended when a guitarist who looks like a stereotypical 1950s nerd pulls out some rocking and playful lead solos, while the band’s version of Captain Sensible keeps pace with lively running basslines. It goes to show you shouldn’t navigate a festival line-up by monikers nor haircuts. (BB)

Hutch, Green Door Store
Slimmed down to a four-piece, the hometown heroes take to the stage to a huge cheer from their ever-growing local fanbase, many of whom seem to be here via friends’ recommendations. With no formalities the band open with new song ‘Super Mirror’. It begins with singer JP’s honey vocals backed by his bandmates who then open into an extended jam that allows them to rock out. A ‘Venus’-style guitar introduces ‘The Bow’ in which the band’s skilled musicianship and warm vocal harmonies show they are totally in control of their trademark sound. They sing about mechanical bulls and snails; anything seems to be a perfect fit for their complex, dreamy West Coast sunshine songs. It’s a shame they only have thirty minutes, but what a sweet half hour it is. (SC)

Frank & Beans, Prince Albert
“I’ve got nothing to say,” shouts Milo Dunn-Clarke, repeatedly, during the final song of Frank & Beans’ blistering set. It’s a strange thing to declare, especially in times like these, yet the duo use words sparingly and these are the first we’ve been able to decipher. What Frank & Beans do well, at the exclusion of almost everything else, is rhythm. The drums, played with unflagging stamina and precision by Milo’s half-brother Tim, are effectively the lead instrument. When Milo chokes his guitar’s sustain with a piece of cardboard jammed between the strings, it proves the point. What they lack in melody, they make up for with irresistible grooves – bolstered by some seriously beefy guitar effects. (BB)

Young Francis Hi-Fi, Hope & Ruin
With new drummer Addy (Rough Gutts’ guitarist) in place, it was down to full-throttle, double-denim bubblegum punk and probably the longest setlist of the day. They look like a gang, sing about girls and good times and wrap it all up in two-minute blasts of headbanging gems. Frontman Jimi breaks a string early on saying “fuck it, let’s carry on”, then after a quick retune they continue with a heavy Quo-like riff on ‘101’, which is lapped up by the dancers at the front. A thumping bass drum kicks off ‘Bad Attitude’ and the songs get faster and heavier with final track ‘Girls Like You’ featuring powerhouse guitars, escalating harmonies and wailing vocals – basically everything you want from a real rock band. (SC)

Woody Green, Folklore Rooms
“We’re good to go. Turn the music off!” shouts cellist Nina Winder-Lind before ‘So Entwined’ breezes in beneath the shrubbery of the Folklore Rooms. The band’s line-up tonight is a rearrangement of musicians from our current crop of favourite bands including The New Eves, Daisy Rickman’s live band, Astral Gray and Trip Westerns. It is, however, Woody’s turn at the front and what an engaging songwriter and performer he is; borrowing from Scott Walker, Lee Hazlewood and Serge Gainsbourg to find an altogether more British hybrid. The harmonies of new single, ‘The Blonde In Every Film’, rolling in on a skittering jazz drum part, are sumptuous as they build. ‘Local Antiques’ could be a long-lost Velvet Underground tune recently unearthed in a New York junk store. ‘Guildhall’ is delivered solo and the performance is so captivating it’s hard to imagine there is a greater song sung tonight by anyone, and not just in Brighton. (NM)

Currls, Hope & Ruin
Currls kick off with a sassy slice of pop punk (here’s a chord, here’s a chord and here’s a chord, now go form a band) of the sort delivered down the ages from on high. They play ‘Honey’ from the 2022 EP ‘Hello, My Name Is,’ before hitting us with new single ‘Weather’. “I feel there’s a lot of good energy tonight. I feel your chakras, I feel everything!” laughs Jack, who is frankly one of the most fun bass players this writer has ever watched grace a stage. ‘Nerve’ displays a more tuneful indie pop edge. Don’t be fooled though, for Currls are a band driven by a true punk and riot girl attitude. The Great Escape sponsors, Barclays Bank, get a kicking for their support of the arms industry and companies that supply the state of Israel with weapons systems. On ‘April Fool’ we hear what pipes Holly has. Her voice almost hits the heights of Amy Winehouse singing ‘Valerie’ before the punk assault triggers and drowns it out. This Brighton band certainly have all the right ingredients to make some waves. (NM)

Gaffa Tape Sandy, Prince Albert
Gearing up for the release of their debut album next month, Gaffa Tape Sandy are playing a ‘secret’ festival slot that everyone seemed to know about in advance. No matter, we get in fine and thoroughly enjoy this extended set from the punky indie pop trio. Reviving the lost art of writing catchy choruses, Gaffa Tape Sandy give us at least three songs we can hum by the end of the show. But that’s underselling the appeal of a band that temper the angst of their lyrics with humour and harmonies. “I’m not sad right now,” says guitarist Kim, before launching into an utterly buoyant song about feeling sad. The band are on amazing form despite not having played live for about eight months. Tonight’s gig is a welcome return. (BB)

Flip Top Head, Rossi Bar
Having doubted the wisdom of hosting the final acts of the night in the smallest venue of the festival, we nevertheless get into the Rossi Bar without a hitch. It’s the only place we’d encountered queues all day, but by now it seems many punters have called it a day. After a surprisingly diverse and personable set from Ideal Living, Flip Top Head squeeze onto the tiny stage for a brilliant mash-up of jazzy alt-rock and folky indie. It’s a ridiculous venue for a seven-piece band, but the setting ends up making it all the more memorable. The trombone player mingles with the crowd, people are dancing on seats and for those of us left it’s a joyous last hurrah. (BB)

Words by Ben Bailey, Nick McAllister and Steve Clements
Photos by Jon Southcoasting, Rob Trendy and Stan O’Shea