NIGHTWORKERS

Support act, Brighton’s Nightworkers, seemed to be under the misapprehension that they were rocking Madison Square Gardens (Reality for headliners Gallon Drunk back in 1990 when opening for Morrissey).

Abundant in stagecraft, persistent in urging communal handclapping and conscientious in throwing the expected rock roll shapes, they dole out every known cliché in the gigging band’s user-manual.

They certainly look the part, guitarist Rowan has an enviable Shuggie Otis afro of corkscrewed tendrils; prancing, preening and Modded-up front man Jack has the appropriate chopped into Steve Marriot hair-do. It would be easy to write him off as a ‘small faece.’

But, while he’s clearly arrogant and Narcissistic, he’s exactly what you need heading a band that’s refreshingly ambitious and who undoubtedly want to be huge. Why hide that?

The world is (and Brighton’s in no way immune to this) awash with Indie dullards who look embarrassed to be on stage, it’s encouraging to witness a group with some suss, swagger, and self-belief.

Nightworkers come from a stadium- endorsed lineage that’s littered with the likes of the Stones, Primal Scream and Kasabian. Most importantly, they have the songs to back it up.

It’s worth reminding your-self, that clichés become such, because they were once something great. These boys more than match up to the guidelines set down by the original blueprint. Nightworkers are one to watch. - Brighton Noise

Friday night, as I was heading to Paris for one of those "start-of-the-weekend" gigs, I didn't imagine I was about to witness one of the best British bands playing their first ever European concert. A very trendy Parisian band Le Spark was headlining the night and it undoubtedly ended to a 1- O result in favour of the Brighton six-piece Nightworkers.

The venue, which is also a restaurant, was almost packed when we arrived: a strange mix of couples on a date having dinner, groups of friends having fun by the bar, fashionistas and photographers on duty. Nightworkers were already highly- talked about among the tables- people had seen the members coming and going and seemed quite flabbergasted by the way they dressed. So when the band got on stage at around 10PM, some women who seemed to forget they were accompanied by potential- or genuine- boyfriends took their cameras out to start filming the gig. And well, for sure, these guys know what rock n' roll is. Mixing early Kasabian, 60s psychedelia and English swagger, the band who could rock n' roll-wise be the cousin of The Small Faces (yes, really) offered ten songs to an audience who realised they were living some kind of historical musical moment. Led by a frontman who vocally took as much from Tom Meighan as from Steve Marriot, supported by an awesome rhythm section, two great guitar players and a leading keyboard player, the Brighton band is already too good for small venues. Hard to say which song was the best as we enjoyed the whole set. Among the favourites though were Lies, Prey On Truth, Dirty Leaves and Demons. Actually, the only thought that seemed to run through the crowd was "I wouldn't like to be in the following band because they're going to have a hard time doing half as good a concert as Nightworkers". Which they in fact sadly had. So when the English band left the stage, it seemed pretty obvious that this particular concert was the starting point of something far greater for them.

We drove back home listening to their EP (which let's be honest doesn't live up to what the band performed on stage- which is usually the case with first EPs). Hopefully, Nightworkers will quickly get noticed and signed to record company that will push them on the frontline as these six guys really deserve some recognition and are ready to play major venues. The Rolling Stones might be looking for a support band next year and we think it should be this one.
- High & Loud