The Place We Call Home: prom.

The city of Brighton has a long history of representing music’s various subcultures. Whether that be Mods and Rockers clashing on the pier in the 1960s, 70s punk, or the array of indie, rock, and ska groups and hip-hop artists that have adopted the seaside town as their home throughout the years. Considerably, Brighton’s musical diversity is seen in the annual music showcase known as The Great Escape. However, when there isn’t a host of up-and-coming names invading the resort, Brighton has a healthy DIY scene. Among those who have embraced both Brighton and the DIY mindset are prom.

The trio of Alessandro Cogolo, Jack Smith, and Sam Allen hail from Moscow, Manchester, and Suffolk respectively yet it is Brighton that they came together. Earlier this month, they delivered their debut album – ‘From The Wayside’. Taking stylistic cues from names such as Title Fight and Superheaven, ‘From The Wayside’ allows prom. to deliver a blunt mix of alt-rock, emotional hardcore, and grunge in the space of 23 minutes. It’s a collection of scrappy, driving guitars, impactful drums, and raw bass grooves that confidently cuts off the fat, presenting prom. in their most geniune, and energetic form. At the core of its 10 songs is a DIY determination which allows tracks such as ‘Private Room,’ ‘Joy Is…,’ and ‘Notion’ to be executed with an abundance of spirit.

As they prepare to celebrate the release of ‘From The Wayside’ later this month with a hometown show, the members of prom. told us about what makes Brighton so special.

The City and Its Culture

Sam: All three of us moved to Brighton at the same time independently from separate places about 7 or 8 years ago, Jack from Manchester, myself from Suffolk and Alessandro from Moscow. I think we were all attracted to the culture of arts and creativity Brighton is known for as well as its proudly outspoken moral and political compass.

I came from a pretty small town in the countryside, that for whatever reason had a great music scene, Bury St Edmunds, and was pretty nervous Brighton wouldn’t live up to that. Out of all the places I’ve been to, seen shows at and performed in, Brighton’s my favourite and will always be home.

Music’s woven into the culture, almost every bar is a part-time venue, the graffiti often depicts legendary musicians and it’s fairly commonplace to bump into a stranger wearing the same local band’s t-shirt as you and you’ll share a subtle look with each other as if to say ‘Yo, dope.’. Big ups the BN1!

The Local Music Scene

Alessandro: When talking about the Brighton music scene it is very important to mention that just like any other great scene we got loads of small cliques working independently or collaboratively to promote the Brighton music scene. But out of all the cliques, I wanna shout out three music movements happening in Brighton that I’m the most familiar with. The music university (Waterbear/BIMM) students, the psychedelic/indie rockers, and the hardcore/emo kids.

Here in Brighton, we got it lucky with a multitude of smaller festivals happening across the year like: Homegrown, D.I.E. Fest, Psych-Fest, Mutations, and The Great Escape showcasing a variety of local and non-local bands.

Ultimately I’d like to shout out the local hardcore and emo scenes. The BN1 is second to none and you can check out loads of BN1 bands down below. Chris Childs is single-handedly the Brighton emo MVP. Long live Sugar-Free and thank you for giving prom a home.

Music Venues and Businesses

Jack: I’m biased but I have to go with The Hope and Ruin. It’s a cornerstone of the music scene and the staff that work there embody what it is to be active in the scene. It’s important for me to know that the places I perform and spend so much time at represent my moral compass and values. Prince Albert, Rossi Bar, Green Door Store, Daltons are also landmarks that embody this.

Shout out Alfie from Mudpie Music. He’s a hell of a character and a familiar face to anyone who shops for instruments around town. Big ups, Godzilla Records, newcomers to the collection of record stores in the lanes, hardcore homies and rock stars. Family Store and Resident are also beloved local record stores.

NOW THE REEEEAL SHOUTOUT! Big up Small Pond Studios! It’s stone cold, hard as hell, the best studio in Brighton; home of the greatest recording duo ever TIDALWAVE RECORDING bless ya selves.

Local Promoters and Labels

Alessandro: Speaking about the local scene, can’t forget to talk about the local promoters putting in the hard work of bringing Brighton a large variety of international bands, mixed with insane local bands. Sugar-Free, Acid Box, Stay Sick, Love Thy Neighbour, Lout, FORM all play an integral part in keeping this music scene blooming. And on top of it all, local hardcore/punk/metal promoters like BN1 Collective, Stray 4 Life Zine, Godzilla, Virtue, Abyssal Cult, Broken Jaw, PitCrew and my favourite Burning Water do this scene justice showcasing only the best this town has to offer.

To hell with the rest of the Brighton labels, cause there are countless to mention, only three labels in the BN1 matter to us.

The first is Sugar-Free. They;re a label for the emo’s, and for the real rockers in town. It’s run by an insanely talented Chris Childs. They’re releasing our debut LP on vinyl.

Burning Water is for the hardcore kids and real moshers in town. Oscar Rainy, who’s a “maniac”, runs it. They’re doing the tape version.

Finally, there’s Virtue Tapes. That’s a label for the outliers, and the real individuals in town. It’s run by an enthusiastic youngling Rob McKie. Our split with Wimp came out on tape through Virtue Tapes.

Our Favourite Local Bands

There are way too many to count, but they all deserve a shout out:

The Serfers, Ikhras, How Long You Been Driving, Epsom Salts, Complete Snake, Plastics, Rhema, Infinite Wisdom, No Relief, Outlive, The Swamp, Bodybag, Imposter, Exhume, Pascagoula, Wise Guy, Heat, Dandelion, Blood Gutter, Aku, Clorox, Harper, Rainy Day Cafe, Bones Ate Arfa, Psychic and Wellbeing Event, CLT DRP, Leibniz, Dumfun, Slung, Ahsoka, Goodbye, H_ngm_n, Had Sandy, I Feel Fine, Couples Therapy, Give Up, Wimp, Claw Machine, Mascot Graveyard, Out Of Love, Gaffa Tape Sandy, Jar Of Blind Flies, and way more.We’re really sorry if we’ve missed you, you’re all homies.