Monday - March 21st 2011 - 'The Brompton Mix'

From a town affectionately called ‘Malice,’ comes a new Rock and Roll prodigy: ‘The Brompton Mix.’
They played their first gig in ‘The Crown’ in Woking (their home town) before promptly following that up the next week with a gig at 229 Great Portland Street, London, which is testament to the fact their talent is very recognisable and their stage presence begs an encore.
The band consists of Simon Gulliver on bass, Chris Baxter on drums, Azza Sergent on lead guitar and Ben Peppitt on lead vocals and rhythm guitar.
Their song lyrics are playful, almost always cheeky and yet for the most part heartfelt. When asked about how they can produce such funny and satirical songs Ben answers, ‘We just hang out together and banter, we can come up with song after song that way quite naturally. It’s simple and if it doesn’t come easily, it’s probably not for you.’
Their songs are often glimpses of today’s youth culture, ‘These boys all look like girls and these girls all look like boys [Wrong Train Home]’/ ‘I sold my cow but I sold it for beans because we get the milk quite literally for free [Material Man].’ Whilst they can’t help but hark back to previous lovers mostly the songs are about just being ‘lads’, pratting about and making jokes about their friends: Stone Cold Killer in Me is supposedly a ludicrous caricature of one of them. In fact most of the songs are portraits of their lives painted several shades darker for lyrical intrigue.
However, it’s not the lyrics or even the catchy, very new rock and roll type music they are set to – it’s the tightness of the band that also makes them unique. Down the pub before the gig, enjoying a pint of “dutch courage”, Azza, in his typical self-deprecating humour laughs, ‘People only say you sound tight when they didn’t like the music.’ But his joke couldn’t be further from the truth, it is what pushes this small town foursome into the realms of a professional sounding band – they gel so well together. Their individual talents complement each other so completely it’s hard to pick apart the band and discuss who does what well; the point is ‘The Brompton Mix’ is a collective of raw talent, with very little ego-clashing.
Throughout their gigs Ben engages with the audience; he jokes with them and the others in the band in such a way that says, ‘Hey, if you all weren’t here we’d be doing it anyway then we’d be down the pub for a laugh’ – though of course he makes it clear he appreciates the support of the audience.
Ben worked all summer, a few years back, in a meat packing factory to save up enough to buy the guitar he had with him on stage that day. But that kind of investment in their music isn’t rare in this band – they spend their entire weekends rehearsing without fail, and then they support that by going off to their regular 9-5s in the week. All of them work except for Baxter, who is studying at the Brighton Institute of Music.
Baxter is laid back and far less chatty than his other band mates but put a drum kit in front of him and he really lets go. It’s then that you see the punk side to him – Baxter often wears his hair in a Mohawk and says he takes inspiration from bands I can’t even pronounce, but I did recognise Nofx and the Sex Pistols. Though Baxter can be quiet and reflective, there’s a hell raiser side to him on stage. He is passionate about what he believes is the bands goal: ‘To bring back good music to the commercial scene.’ Though he is a fan of Oasis, Blur and the Arctic Monkeys he’s more interested in the punk genre and likes to be able to inject that element into their songs and their stage presence.
Baxter was previously in a band with bass guitarist, Si. When I asked Si what made being in this band different to the others he simply retorted, ‘it’s easy’. Sometimes the simplest answers are the best, it does just come naturally to these boys, they like the music they play, and they like playing music. Si describes the feeling of when they’ve come up with a new song as a buzz, ‘it just falls into place – it’s perfect.’
Their gig at 229 Great Portland Street was a triumph. Their set list included songs they had already released on their free EP so their true, die-hard fans could sing along. But they wove their newer stuff in nicely – really putting emotional emphasis, both vocally and musically on the parts of the new song they wanted us to sing along with. That’s what seems to really please them – the constant audience satisfaction, the constant banter, the constant recognition. An element of ‘The Brompton Mix’s ethos is that this is supposed to be fun and not elitist, it’s rock and roll but as we used to know it.
Though they may sing ‘It’s all over for me,’ it’s safe to say it’s merely the beginning for them.


<< The Brompton Mix have been asked to headline at 229 Great Portland Street on the Friday 8th April.>>