Gig - Sam Walker

If you’ve ever seen the fine Brighton band Turning Green play one of their regular gigs at the Lansdown, you’ll recognise that their Lewesian percussionist Sam Walker is more than just your average drummer. He is one of the creative motors of the band, a singer, a rhythm dictator, a life force. And he does his own stuff to: under the moniker ‘Muel’ he’s recorded a 17-track album called ‘Rough in the Bedroom’ which shows what an original musician he is. He cites his influences as ‘everything that enters my eyes, ears, nose and gob’: you can hear bits of Pink Floyd, bits of Radiohead, bits of Grandmaster Flash, bits of loads of stuff. Most of all you can hear lots of Sam Walker: check it out on his website. Tonight he will be appearing at the All Saints, accompanied in his acoustic set by Dicken Marshall.

Also on the bill for tonight’s gig, which has been put on to mark World Mental Health Day are Cameron Jack Mobbs, Lee Westwood, and the fabulous Las Vegas Mermaids. The Mermaids, also regulars at the Lansdown Arms, are a three-piece who take you through a set the like of which you’ll never have seen before, all weird props, funny wigs, cross-dressing antics and sexual references. Keyboard and drum machine player David Bailes keeps the rhythm going while Carl Anderson and Fay Greenhalgh take you into their weird world of improvised dancing, silly costumes, and bizarre vocals. It’s all very cabaret, all very silly, all very Brighton. And great fun, to boot, if you’re in the right mood.