Nave Studios 10th Anniversary All-Dayer at Brudenell Social Club
Johnny James, Managing Editor
This September, Brudenell Social Club hosts what might be the best value gig among its summer listings – a tenner-in all-dayer featuring BDRMM, Honesty, The Hyena Kill and more, all playing for charity and in celebration of Nave Studios’ 10th anniversary.
A former church, Nave Studios first opened its doors in late 2014 through a partnership of Producer/Engineers Matt Peel and Andy Hawkins and Nick ‘Peanut’ Baines. With the addition of Alex Greaves and Tom Orrell early on; and more recently Danny Blackburn and Megan Lama, the studios have grown into a thriving creative cauldron that sprawls across three studios, two production rooms and workshops, plus a residential studio space out in the North Yorkshire countryside.
Over the past decade Nave has nurtured some brilliant bands and artists, including every act playing at this festival, which is headlined by BDRMM. In 2020, the Hull/Leeds-based band’s debut album made the kind of impact that young bands dream of. Clash hailed the self-titled Bedroom as “a heady, forward-thinking shoegaze distillation”. NME called it a “modern-day shoegaze masterpiece”. 2023’s even more lauded follow-up, I Don’t Know, recorded at Nave with “fifth member” producer Alex Greaves, took BDRMM’s trademark effects-laden guitars and motorik Neu! grooves and augmented them with piano, strings, electronica, sampling and dance beats, creating bigger, fuller soundscapes to get lost in. We wrote about it recently here if you’d like to read more.
We also look forward to catching HONESTY, a genre-hopping collective that emerged out of weekly gatherings at Nave. Featuring George Mitchell (formerly of the much-loved Leeds band Eagulls), Matt Peel, Josh Lewis, Imi Holmes and a rotating cast of guest vocalists, the collective blur an exhilarating mix of sounds – everything from electronica to shoegaze, ambient to UK bass, all pulled together based on instinct and a desire to explore without expectation. Their latest release, BOX, is a 34-minute continuous mix released by Partisan Records and featuring appearances from Florence Shaw (Dry Cleaning), vocalist Ryan Cooke as well as verses from rising UK rappers Rarelyalways and Kosi Tides.
Something heavier from Hyena Kill, a Manchester-based alt rock band whose captivating live show we’ve caught a few times now. Following 2016’s pummelling Atomised, their second album, A Disconnect, presents a bleak and intense journey to the extremes of existence, wearing influences of Deftones, Nirvana and Chelsea Wolfe. And something different again from Chris Brain, who emerged from Leeds’ vibrant folk scene in 2022 with his debut, critically acclaimed album, Bound to Rise. He’s since shared the stage with everyone from Robert Plant to Martin Simpson, and is now embarking on his third UK-wide tour.
There are still more acts yet to be announced, along with DJs and even whispers of a record fair. Kick-off is at 3pm and all profits from the day go to St Mary’s/St Andrew’s Food Project. What’s not to like.
