A Night To Remember
The 8th of December saw Mandela Hall transformed into a buzzing live music venue, as four brilliant local Brighton bands came together to support independent student journalism, putting on an incredible show. Friendship groups filled the dancefloor, with societies making end-of-semester trips to the gig and students letting off steam after a long term.
The night opened with an assured and powerful set by SNM, who immediately set the tone for the evening. This was followed by The Stealers, who got everyone moving. Larlin took to the stage next with a striking performance that the crowd could not tear its eyes from. And lastly, Veronica closed the night with a gorgeously jaw-dropping vocal performance, filling the room with haunting melodies. It was incredible to have so much talent in one room, and the Badger team could not be more thankful to these artists for providing such stunning performances.
Why is funding The Badger so important?
The Badger is the University of Sussex’s award-winning student newspaper. Every month, The Badger team works incredibly hard to write, curate and edit a range of articles submitted by students before releasing them as a physical newspaper. This process is costly and funded only by the Students’ Union. Unfortunately, due to funding cuts, The Badger is in danger of losing its ability to print, which would mean losing its voice to speak up about the things that matter to students and the Brighton community.
The paper has been published for over 60 years, during which time it has spoken up for students and their issues, explored broader political debates, and created a physical archive of pop culture throughout the decades. It would be an incredible shame to lose this Sussex institution over an issue like funding.
Speaking up for The Badger after everything it has done to help university students felt so important to us, and we were so incredibly proud to have raised just under £800 at our first fundraising event.
Supporting Local Music:
There was also an immense passion for local grassroots music, driving our event planning decisions. I have such an admiration for grassroots artists and was extremely invested in finding local talent and giving them space to perform, with hopes of introducing them to new fans within our university crowd. The modern economy has made it extremely hard for new artists and grassroots venues to succeed. Larlin, who played at our gig, explains that ‘the local grassroots climate has changed; it’s even more important than ever to support local artists and venues. Most local gigs are super cheap to go to, so it’s always worth getting out, popping your head in and building a community with all the other people doing
We were so incredibly lucky to work with the talented artists: SNM, The Stealers, Larlin and Veronica on this fundraising project. They so kindly played for us to help us raise money, and I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone reading this to go and look into their music and support them at any upcoming gigs!
I caught up with Maryann from Larlin to learn more about their process and how you can support this incredibly special local band:
“Larlin is a project that started in a food stall just outside Mandela Hall! Cameron (drummer, producer, writer) and I met while working one of the stalls in the Tuesday/Thursday market and started making music together from there. The sound evolved when Lewis (bass, producer, writer) joined the project, and we found our sound as the alt-rock grunge project we are now. I write songs about struggling with life, mental health, relationships and family, as a way to process how I’m feeling. I hope that when people listen, they find something to relate to and a sense of catharsis from this.
We’re currently working on releasing another single called ‘Sondheim’, which is about prolonged dissociation and all the consequences of that – especially how it’s imperceptible to everyone else but so affecting to the person suffering. If you want to support us, come to gigs! Follow us on social media, @larlin.mp3, to see when and where we’re playing around Brighton. You can also listen to our released music on most music listening platforms.”
In terms of local recommendations, Larlin was excited to shout out an iconic grassroots venue and some fresh, emerging talent:
“Green Door Store is a must. They’re always putting on such cool curated music nights, ranging from pop to metal. We’ve played a couple of times and would always be happy to return! We love local artists like Tabi Gervis, Jackson and Laikk. Such great up-and-coming talents, we can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store this year!”
Many Thanks to:
I want to recognise everyone who put in such hard work to make the night as successful as possible. To the amazing bands, thank you for your time, talent and patience. You were showstopping! To Grisly Wear, who created the artwork for our beautiful poster and brought such fun energy to the night. To Sussex’s own STABS, thank you for persevering through rushed timings and technical difficulties; we would not have had a show without you! To Liberation Live and theSU, we are so grateful for all your time and support. Most importantly, I want to thank my amazing team at The Badger, who listened to all my overly ambitious ideas and supported me through the stress without complaint, especially our Editor-in-Chief and my co-organiser, Isabel. Your dedication and care made all of this possible; I could not have done it without you. Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who came out to support us, whether you bought a ticket, purchased the merchandise designed by our team or just told your friends about the event, we appreciate each and every one of you!
What’s Next?
The Badger has so much more to give. This semester, we have big plans to continue printing high-quality stories, as well as starting our eco initiative, Reuse Old News, to recycle previous editions in a creative way. We will also be representing Sussex at the Regional Journalism Awards this month. In order to keep going, we may need your support again, so keep an eye out for bake sales, pub quizzes and potentially more music events. We look forward to continuing this journey with you.