In the early 2000s, Brighton was a city of singular indie music, a place where the sweaty, passionate energy of its music scene was infectious and inspiring. As a guitarist in one of the city's bands, Electrelane, I witnessed firsthand the unique and diverse talent that was emerging from the city's rehearsal rooms and cramped venues. The scene was unlike any other, with rock bands sounding and looking so unlike each other that they never needed to jostle for a single narrow lane. The feeling was that anything was possible, and the city was a hotbed of creativity and innovation.
What made Brighton so special was its grassroots rock and indie energy, which had little to do with the previous era's DJ culture. The bands emerging from the city had no obvious precedent, and the feeling was that they were all about to become something known beyond the city's limits. The British music industry was still largely a boys' club, but Brighton felt different. Two of the city's most influential independent promoters were women, and the city had a strong sense of alternative culture that was on every street, from the vintage shops and pubs to how people dressed.
The energy in the city was mirrored in its music journalism, with Careless Talk Costs Lives magazine co-founded by Brighton journalist Everett True and rock photographer Steve Gullick. The publication was deliberately short-lived, but there was something special about the fierce flash of the magazine and its focus on elevating female writers and bands. The city was naturally an inspiring environment, and the creative output was affected by this.
However, the Brighton captured here is now gone. As rents rose through the 2010s, the cheap flats, loss-absorbing venues, and affordable rehearsal rooms that had made it possible for artists, students, and misfits to be broke and brilliant in the same city steadily disappeared. The energy moved on, as it often does, along the south coast, but the network of venues, clubs, and record stores continued to create the conditions for the next wave of artists.
In my opinion, Brighton's strength lies in its ability to foster difference and diversity. It has never bottled a defining sound, but instead, it creates a place where daring venues, salty sea air, and a constant collision of wildly dissimilar bands make it possible for artists to become fully, fearlessly themselves. Personally, I think that this is what makes Brighton such a unique and inspiring place for music.
