thistle, little grandad & goodbye @ green door store, Brighton

Green Door Store is nestled underneath Brighton railway station on an unassuming road. I gather that the only thing preventing my ears from hearing the trains rattling overhead is the music. On a mild night in January, the place is packed, everyone here to celebrate the independent venue’s 15th birthday. This surprised me: Green Door Store is such a monumental venue in Brighton that I assumed it had been there for much longer. It is exactly what an independent venue should be, with uneven cobbled floors and bathrooms filled with graffiti. The bar is surrounded by vintage artefacts including, but not limited to, an old neon McDonald’s sign and a photograph from an old Parisian barber. It is under this sign that you move through the curtain into the main room, which includes a stage, a sound booth, and not much else. I heard once that it used to be a horse carriage station. There were four gigs set to celebrate the birthday, and this was the second in the sequence.

The first band to take the stage was Little Grandad, an alternative band who are known as a mainstay at the legendary Windmill in Brixton. After the band announced that this was only their fourth time playing in Brighton, they launched into their set with a confidence that suggested they had played this stage one hundred times before. Little Grandad is made up of Ned Ashcroft (guitar, cornet, vocals), James Brennan (drums, vocals, guitar), and is fronted by brothers Jack and Harry Lower, both taking on rhythm and lead guitar parts and sharing the main vocals.

 

One thing that I adored about Little Grandad was that they play around with volume — a lot. They could start a song with just guitar and vocals and end with cymbals crashing and voices straining, sputtering out echoes of motion. I loved Little Grandad; they are exactly what an indie band should be. Halfway through their set, Ned Ashcroft reached for what I thought was a trumpet, but he made sure that the audience knew it was in fact a cornet. This was a beautiful addition to the arrangements. Little Grandad had a bit of country in them — not much, but it was there — which put a nice spin on the gig. Their voices harmonised in and out, adding extra care to the most vulnerable of songs.

 

Next on the agenda, goodbye. Recently amalgamated from members of several bands on the Brighton circuit, goodbye encapsulate a shoegaze and dream pop sound that is more than the sum of its parts. The band is made up of Megan Wheeler (vocals), Sarah Ryan (guitar, synth, vocals), Alfie Beer (guitar, vocals), Jake Smith (bass), and Elik Eddy (drums). The room was absolutely packed for these lot; you could not fit another person into the space. I had to watch through the curtain, just underneath the 80s French barber photograph, which felt somewhat fitting.

 

Goodbye recently released their first single, Meat, this December, and the excitement and chatter around them has been palpable. During their set you could tell that they really loved their craft. The band had mastered their instruments, and Megan Wheeler’s voice oscillated between pitches, creating a dynamic range where you truly didn’t know where the songs were going to end up. The band had crafted a wall of sound in their songs, washing over you in their music. We all loved it, and the crowd spilled out into the bar and onto the cold pavement.

 

Lastly on was Thistle, a shoegaze band from Northampton. If I had to describe their set in one word it would be “loud”, and if I had to describe it in two words it would be “very loud”. They have perfected the wall of sound aspect that is a key characteristic of shoegaze. Thistle is made up of Cameron Godfrey (vocals/guitar), Judwyn Rushton (bass/vocals), and Lewis O’Grady (drums). They’re grungy and crunchy, making use of the pedals at their feet. Thistle have been together since 2023 and released their first EP in November of that year. Set to embark on a UK-wide tour supported by Little Grandad, this gig seemed like the perfect opportunity to kickstart the partnership.

 

More reminiscent of modern American artists than historical bands, Thistle’s sound could be compared to the likes of They Are Gutting a Body of Water and Feeble Little Horse. I actually began the show at the front of the crowd, not wanting to repeat my previous mistake with goodbye, but after I got my first earful and my heart rattled, I retreated to procure ear defenders from the bar. I loved the guitar effects in Thistle, which built up during emotionally intense parts of the songs. A standout track was Wishing Coin: visceral and honest, the band had completely captured the audience and commanded their attention. Thistle perfectly finished the night on a high, and as the excited chatter returned, my mind wandered to the new heights their tour will bring them to.

Words: Dexter Clark


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