Festival Review: Mutations // Brighton // November 2025
Brighton’s Mutations festival returns with a riot and rising stars everywhere you look – this is the place to be discovering new talent in the industry right on the cusp of explosion.
Brighton is a talent-scout for bands in the making and it makes sense that Mutations has a reputation of a talent spotter: it got Kneecap, The Last Dinner Party and more in breakout years and now it looks set to do the same with Lambrini Girls and many more bands playing this festival. The multi-venues mean you get a guided tour of Brighton’s nightclubs and pubs – opening in Chalk – its historic venue – on the same day that Bob Dylan is in town, it is a reminder that you should be looking when it comes to music to the artists of tomorrow and not the artists of the past – otherwise there will be no new, no next Bob Dylan.
Mutations gets underway with a warm-up: Noise rock Makeshift Art Bar take centre-stage at Chalk after a smooth check-in that feels like post punk personified, an excellent guitar band that makes the most of their grunge, concise and well-crafted songwriting that pitches and rolls throughout the bands’ lyrics. There’s no pit here – that’s to come later; but the crowd’s energy is ramped up by the sheer nature of Makeshift Art Bar’s unpredictability, having played both Left of the Dial and End of the Road in recent months their well-crafted star power in the making is evident. Be there for the next big thing.
Next was a quick dash over to Bristol band My First Time; who have come out of an equally vibrant scene. Their influences are rowdy and rap up their bright punk energy and mythmaking lyricism – Man of Ill Repute is catchy, funny and on the brink of a fast, loud turn around. Vocalist Isaac Stroud-Allen has the confidence of someone several decades older with the raw energy that only someone new to the scene can have – James Mellen, Jordanna Forsey and Niamh Jones ended up taking their project that was formed to have fun to all new heights – the noise punks feeling ever-so funny, snappy and inventive live. Bodybag for example – is about a deal for the devil; and they exist as a perfect counterpoint to the stereotypical image of a rockstar – they’re not guitars, they don’t have shouting and long hair. It’s fascinatingly rebellious against the system and that shines in their live shows. Wind Up Merchant is appropriately ridiculous, and the novelty act of getting a mostly older crowd to sit down across the venue is fun to watch. Enter their mysterious fifth member Bez – a synth-backed energy that calls to mind Sleep Token or President. He’s their Tracksuit Man – that only adds to My First Time’s mythology.
Teethe and Mandrake Handshake forced a split in show but both were excellent as ever; Teethe’s multi three layered guitars earned them a shoegaze-y feel, and Mandrake Handshake showed their reputation as a memorable DIY psych act; like with My First Time joining them from Ritual Union at the start of 2025 in Bristol. Everyone in Mandrake Handshake is there to have a good time – their pulsating rhythms in with their psychedelic harmonies make Mandrake Handshake a band to watch. It’s rare that you see a band with this fun a live show that’s impossible not to just get up and dance to. The Change and the Changing is instantly catchy, vocalised in their harmony.
Day one has plenty of 90s indie rock all over Hotline TNT – Will Anderson is confident in the large mix of crowd that draws from all ages – Hotline don’t like using pedals so that won’t not classify them as shoegaze – sleek and enjoyable – you’ll find they’ve been called new York city’s greatest band before and the energy that they give off on stage wouldn’t have you believing otherwise.
Upchuck are next for us – one of the problems especially late on meant that it was really hard to get into some of the venues and there weren’t enough clashes to tear people away especially post the headliners late on in the evening, but the bands that I did get to see put on a show – moving on up from Amyl and the Sniffers’ support but always recognising where they came from with half of the band members wearing Amyl’s tees, the pit quickly becomes intense, rowdy and energetic – they’ve just had a new album out I’m Nice Now, and frontwoman Kalia Thompson has plenty of energy to match: it’s a real evolution of raw punk and garage rock that get the crowd to dance – one of the heavier shows of the night.
That’s followed by Ditz, and it’s the first time that I’ve seen Ditz – they’re incredible and live up their reputation that my friends have been putting me on them. CA Francis jumps into the crowd who match the energy for returning hometown champions; with a friendly put that confirms their status as one of the best bands of the decade – 2025’s Never Exhale is a roaring triumph that solidifies that perch as something that’s just pure fun. Taxi Man is a highlight that allows Anton Mocock on lead guitar to shine his riffs, and Francis doesn’t take long to get the crowd-surfing started; and one-by-one, including stage dives, audience members go up above the crowd and are helped aloft – deploying tracks like Four that feel ultimately post punk right the way down to the ground, progressive and provocative in nature – “could it work in pink?” is the question that you can’t help but ask yourself as the night goes on.
That was the end of night one for me – but day two started in earnest with an early start at The Hope & Ruin for shoegaze outfit Green Star; emerging from the warehouse to dance and noise experimentation that just works for them – a sonically inspired London band at their heart that operate as a fusion of Spanish and American members. The dual sound of Madrid; Mallorca and Los Angeles fuses with the London winters that can be equally unforgiving for non natives – a gloomy and dreamy romantic worldview that ties onto the light amongst the impending collapse. Vocalist Lilah Bobak is terrific bringing everything together – the tracks of new EP Bleeding swirls furiously optimistic in scope amongst the darkness that influences them.
Shoegaze continued for night two with Lemonsuckr at a friends’ recommendation – and they sounded raw and powerful in their energy – Guy Ferris on vocals, with a tambourine and cowbell in tow, and the raw Arabic-esque undertones get the crowd engaged from the off with a touch of sound and fury to their music. Dead Disco is a belter – and the raw energy comes through the dancier numbers whilst keeping a post-punk energy to it that really feels like it gets the most out of their EP. The crowd is packed out for them to the point of capacity – and you can tell you’re witnessing magic in motion.
Then for me the clash of Yaang and Coilguns means that it’s Coilguns for me; forever and always – I’ve seen them a total of three times over the course of the summer at Arctangent and Left of the Dial now and they put on a riot of a show each time – up there with my favourite new bands at the moment. If you get your phone out in the front pit be prepared to have it snatched away from you by frontman Louis Jucker, who wants to form a pit and wants to get a crowd energised. He has to ramp them up to get it going but get it going they do – following Jucker like a puppet dancing on his strings. The hardcore noise rock of Coilguns encourages a riot to tracks like Placeholders, it’s one of the rare joys of having an album like Odd Love be so confident, so noise-rock inducing that they can be the highlight of my festival experience whether it be Arctangent or something more DIY.
I really liked The None – the lead in for “Surprise Guest” Lynks, and they deliver in the harsh clash where everyone is still trying to see whether or not they can get into Lambrini Girls in a packed out Chalk that is busy for Pigs x7 long before they get on stage. The None are similar to Upchuck – Kalia Whyte strikes a presence on stage and is able to emerge from the shadows of being a band that nobody really knew anything about – citing bands like Unwound and Shellac as influences; which was enough to get the fans on board. They come from wider bands too – Whyte heralds from Blue Ruth and Youth Man, Chris Francombe for his work in Frauds, and Jim Beck from Cassels, with Gordon Moakes from bass duties on Bloc Party. It’s a mix of incredibly talented people and they deliver an incredibly talented live show; purely visceral and appropriately small and sweaty – astoundingly intense from the off and this is kind of the ideal venue for The None to operate on – a band that would rather play to twenty engaged people than 200 more loudly chatting – and there are more than 20 here; and all 20 are engaged.
Headliner Lynks – one of three between Lambrini Girls and Big Special; puts on a real show and they’re aware that they’re not a usual post punk band for this scene – it’s time for some hyperpop. They recognise a few familiar faces in the crowd of regulars and put on a show for them – it’s packed and busy with regular belters of tracks; enlisting their two regular dancers to shoot Tennis balls into the audience for Tennis Song, and never letting down or slowing down on the energy. Use it or Lose It encourages Lynks’ reputation as being past twenty-five; looking back on when it was the hottest time of their life – “a twelve month hot girl summer,” they tease – about looking back on their life when they were older and regrets about not making the most of their memories while they had them. As final shows go it’s majestic and full of bravado – a real highlight.
Words by Miles Milton-Jefferies
