Live review: We Have Band @ Sticky Mike's Frog Bar, Brighton

"The hypnotic, intricate beats start with your feet, then thwack you in the solar plexus, while the tunes fiddle insistently at the base of your brain." John Deering checks out We Have Band at Sticky Mike's Frog Bar.

Jayne Robinson

Date published: 5th Mar 2012

Gig date: 25/02/12

It comes as a surprise to learn that We Have Band's drummer is not a permanent member of the group. He is the fourth member of a trio. However, his energetic, vastly imaginative stylings are what lift We Have Band's songs out of the norm and into a state worth celebrating.

London 90s kids, these people would clearly rather have been making their mark in Sheffield's 80s punk funk scene. Richard Kirk and Stephen Mallinder's Cabaret Voltaire are the first group that enter this spectator's mind as their spikey electro pop delights the trendy Brighton crowd.

Percussion heavy synthesiser funk with tuneful bass snaps, the unorthodox line-up of keyboards, drums, alternating guitar and bass and occasional percussion is well set up to deliver the core angular dance that this audience has come to hear. If you like Hot Chip, WHB will have your ears pricking up.

The hypnotic, intricate beats start with your feet, then thwack you in the solar plexus, while the tunes fiddle insistently at the base of your brain. WHB's joint effort on the vocals can't really be seen as their strongest suite, as they'd be sure to acknowledge despite Darren Bancroft's apparent desire to be the English Pharrell.

He matches the polymath Williams's ability to dig deep inside you with innovative works that never lose their basic thrusting appeal without ever setting the world on fire with sweet echoing high notes. He is the reason for the extra pair of hands on the drums, too: he plays them on the records. Like Pharell or The Flaming Lips' multi-instrumentalist Stephen Drozd, he's discovered that when it comes to shows, you really can't do everything yourself. You need a bit of help.

The trio's enthusiasm hits peak levels on the rousing “Oh!”, a tune that demands to be the last at any evening's entertainment.

An addendum... whilst initially strange and disconcerting, the 10pm finish of a gig could catch on. There's time to get back in the pub on a high, refuel with a couple of energising cocktails and discuss what you've heard. I mean, you wouldn't want a film to finish at 11 then dash straight home, would you? Discuss.

Words: John Deering