Francis Pig are Brighton’s newest rock and roll outfit. Their sound overflows with twentieth century eclecticism and is deviously difficult to pin down. 

Henry Padgham (vocals, guitar), Alana Paradise (vocals, drum machine) and Jacob Newman (guitar) launched into the year with a DIY video to announce their debut show (Saturday 2 March) and tease their first track that alluringly calls the words “obscene dream / dirty little secret." Well, indeed. 

Paradise Noir hosted the late night live show that evolved into early morning DJ sets at the recently renovated Alphabet (previously Rialto Theatre). Francis Pig’s set delivered pulsating drum machine beats and driving psych rock guitars to tempt their audience into dance. Alana’s vocals yearned and drawled, riding with the rhythm and bursting into screams to create a fervorous climax halfway through the set with 'Sex Talk'. Invoking Patti Smith and Poly Styrene, she follows a long line of punk women using their voice for deliverance. Their set closed with 'Francy', a heartbreaking ode to our deepest feelings that gradually transitioned and ruptured into a confronting cover of The Stooges - 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'. Love and lust laid bare. The band offered up something that can’t and shouldn’t be neatly boxed into a single scene. 

We had the pleasure of chatting to Francis Pig following their debut show. With foundations on one keyboard and a single guitar, the band is a product of Henry returning to guitar-led music after a period of apathy. Perhaps the very remnants of this apathy are what distinguishes their sound that is both loud and hushed, forceful and tender. Taking inspiration from bands like Spacemen 3, visual culture and clothes found in Alana's vintage shop New Wave Exchange, Francis Pig are moving together through the trials and tribulations of pursuing a creative project in the Instagramified world. The key is to keep things fun.

The trio were pulled together by the hub that is Dead Wax Social; the late-night drinking hole at which Jacob is Assistant Manager, Henry regularly DJs and Alana frequents for fun. We talked at length about the critical importance of these spaces to our thriving creative city, remembering the gone but never forgotten institution that was Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar. Sadly, the destruction of grassroots community-centred venues in Brighton is ongoing with The Paris House facing the most recent threats of closure. The Prince Albert, Hope & Ruin, Rossi Bar and Folklore Rooms appear to have won their battles for now but jeopardy continues to loom in the grotesque configuration of the property developer. Thankfully, Brighton is resilient. The recent years of diminishing local venues and the crushing impact of the pandemic have birthed an emboldened purpose to create. Now, Francis Pig are confident that Brighton is back in the zone; “the better the culture gets, the better the music gets."

Firstly, congratulations on playing your debut gig! How did it feel?

Henry: It was good to be on stage and hear it loud, rather than in a little room. It was great to see peoples’ responses too. 

Alana: We’ve been working on the songs for quite a few months now so we were excited to see how it would go down. 

And it went down well! I gather that the band is Henry’s vision. What was that vision? And, how did it lead you to Francis Pig?

Henry: I’d played in some electronic projects and for about five years I hadn’t been bothered about playing guitar music because it didn’t excite me. But then about a year and a half ago, I started listening to bands that I hadn’t listened to for a while like Beat Happening and The Clean, and thought about playing guitar again. In the early days of Francis Pig, me and an old mate of mine would mess around with ideas; I was playing on a shitty little keyboard, he was playing guitar, and it sounded like we could be onto something. Then I brought in my guitar and my friend Peach on bass. We started writing rough ideas but I wanted to get some other people involved because I didn’t want to be the frontman. 

I met Alana one evening and it turned out she had done some Lynchian bits before - I thought it was cool but wasn’t sure if it would be a match but thought “let’s just see." Not sure I’ve even told Alana that before! But anyway, Alana came to rehearsal and straight away it worked.

Alana: Henry sent me a couple recordings and said to come up with some ideas to try out. When I went in I was standing against the wall and gradually inched over to the microphone.

Henry: It was perfect! But then we needed a second guitarist - enter Jacob. We’ve known each other since the Sticky Mike’s days about six years ago, so after a long time of searching I got in touch for an excuse to hang out. When Jacob joined it came together. 

Jacob: The only rules were “wear black” and “no musos".

Love that. Alana, you’re the owner of New Wave Exchange, an amazing vintage shop in town, and you guys unsurprisingly have a great image. I wonder how important style and visual culture is to your music and creativity?

Alana: So, I was chatting to a customer in the shop the other day and he was saying that he saw our video and thought that the vibe of the shop is in the video itself. It was really cool because the video was actually shot at the shop. The image has happened naturally and we don’t want anything to be over-stylised or coordinated; it’s just us doing our own style. It’s definitely a fun, creative element of the band. I think I always look out for things that inspire me creatively and we’ve shared all our inspirations with each other. But for the video, the visuals didn’t come out as anything we’d looked at for inspiration, it just came out as Francis Pig. We let our ideas simmer so we have a strong vision.

Henry: For me, unless you’re a band like The Monks from 1965 where you’re all dressed as a monk, styling shouldn’t be a conscious thing.

I’m thinking back to Alana’s outfit at the gig - was that self-customised?

Alana: I fell in love with a little one-piece thing I found online but realised it was a costume for a Barbie doll so decided I needed to recreate it for myself. The original costume had red stripes but I didn't want to totally ruin it so I decided to do a red cross instead. I love making outfits, sourcing clothes and having a reason like a gig or a photoshoot to put together a vision of something I want to create. I've been thinking about the energy of Francis Pig and how I can translate that into what I'm wearing.

The way you played with the Barbie costume idea is so fun. As folks well embedded in the Brighton music and arts world, how do you think our city is holding up?

Jacob: It’s very active and there are so many good bands. For a while people were trashing Brighton bands but I think the scene is wicked across all genres. Over the past couple years, people have complained about there being too many punk bands but everyone is fucking mad at the moment so what do you expect? The set up of the Paradise Noir night we played is such a cool idea and you don’t really get anything else like it - a themed late-night at a wicked venue, Alphabet. I’d love to see more nights like it to showcase different genres.

Henry: After Covid Brighton wasn’t doing so good but now there are exciting bands and nights coming through. For want of a better term, Brighton is getting its mojo back. Jacob doesn’t give himself enough credit for this - he and the team at Dead Wax have started hosting exciting things and it's really brought a lot of people together, including us three. Dead Wax don’t shy away from putting on nights that won’t be commercially successful.

Jacob: Such as a night celebrating sixty years of The Velvet Underground that Henry’s putting on later this month!

Alana: It's amazing Brighton is so focued on live music. Brighton is such a creative town which can form an exclusive bubble. Out of towners can come in and not get the same reception they get elsewhere. But the better the culture gets, the better the music gets.

Jacob: It’s cool to be in a city where we can even have these problems. 

You’re so right. Your first gig showed so much variety in just five songs; you meld art rock and roll with gothy psych but aren’t afraid to show a more tender side with a couple of songs reminiscent of Ramones - 'Here Today, Gone Tomorrow'.

Alana: I’ve got shivers from that statement!

Henry: I always think about how amazing soul music is; you get the hard hitting bangers but you also get the heartfelt ones. We’ve got our heavier faster songs but the slower numbers hit you where it hurts and the soul essence of that has found its way into us, probably more than punk or anything like that.

On that - the penultimate slow song 'Francy' that led into your cover of The Stooges - 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' really cleverly contrasted love and lust. 

Jacob: It’s funny because we debated the cover. I was sceptical about doing it but when we played it I realised it definitely worked. After the show, one guy said to me, “that last one was amazing”. We know, and sadly it’s not ours.

Alana: I was conscious that when we played the penultimate song 'Francy' it could be the moment that we lose the audience. But looking around at the reaction I could see that people were really there and so present with the song. It was amazing.

Now that you’ve played your first gig, what’s next from Francis Pig?

Jacob: We were really focused on our first show, so next we want to get our demos recorded and play some more gigs in the near future.

Alana: After the show, I started writing lyrics again and I’m excited now for us to get into some more songs. We’re just going to let it unravel.

Henry: That’s the whole ethos. I don’t want to take the fun out of it or for it to be like we’re on a marketing mission.

Alana: It’s hard because when it comes to the real world you do have to deal with things like Instagram but you’ve got to just roll with it. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing together and not let social media take any of the joy out of it. 

Henry: The fun thing is writing, creating and playing.

While you wait for Francis Pig’s next show, you can catch Henry spinning VU classics and more in celebration of 60 years of The Velvet Underground at Dead Wax Social, Friday 22 March.