The merry-makers of Nottingham were out on Friday night as promoter I’m Not From London presented local legends Seas of Mirth, with support from The Barnacles and Bethlehem Casuals at The Old Cold Store...
Sometimes a night just comes together beautifully. Perhaps it was the mesmerising lights and the perfectly put-together line up, or maybe there was something in the air on this warm Friday evening, but high spirits filled the room from the offset at the Old Cold Store, bringing the festival vibes we’ve been craving all winter.
Spacious, friendly and with a great ale selection and outdoor area, this is one of Nottingham’s best hidden gig venues, located in The Vat & Fiddle pub, home to the Castle Rock Brewery. They don’t do gigs every night, but its worth looking up the range of music and comedy they put on. A recent highlight of I’m Not From London gigs has been the stunning light art from Metempsychosis Lights, AKA Brendan O’Melia, who manages to transform each gig space with a swirling array of psychedelic colour and light. It couldn’t have been more fitting than on this night, with the walls lit up with parades of aquatic life and deep sea visions, making for a trippy and magical cosmos in the room.
The first support of the evening came from fittingly titled four piece The Barnacles, whose 2024 album Happy New Year I had been enjoying that afternoon and much since. A chilled melange of hypnotic tracks, which seamlessly weaves smooth poppy vocals with late night bass-driven surrealism, its spellbinding repetitiveness makes for the perfect late night soundtrack.
Tasked with unwinding the audience from a working week and rousing them into the party spirit, the opening act always has the hardest job of the night, but The Barnacles were the perfect entrée to the evening ahead. Bringing the crowd on a journey through waves of luxurious jazzy, funky sounds, the dreamy romantic Love Will Lead The Way was a particular standout, as was the incongruous and very fun Happy New Year, the countdown of which and subsequent crescendo effectively seals the atmosphere in the room. I’m really glad to have discovered The Barnacles and think I’ve found a new favourite Notts band to look out for.
Next up, The Bethlehem Casuals, a three-piece whose Bandcamp profile describes them as ‘self-styled groove gremlins from the back end of Manchester’. They’re a hard one to pin down genre-wise; chaotic, heavily electro, at times super funky, with hints of The Mighty Boosh, Rob Zombie, and Fat Dog - rather off the wall, in the best of ways.
As the night goes on they smoothly switch between instruments, until the saxophone comes out, bringing that lovely late-night, groovy depravity. I thoroughly enjoyed one track about ‘horses for courses’ (or perhaps it was 'courses for horses'?) and the final song, which saw a dance off erupt - but to be honest, I got a bit lost having fun dancing to these guys. But with each song laden with danceable eccentricity, that’s the sign of a very good gig, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for them on festival setlists over the summer.
Within a few minutes frontman Al is wandering the crowd with a cowbell and jellyfish umbrellas are trailing above our heads. Someone has brought a bubble gun, and there’s a three-metre octopus lurking at the back of the room
Finally, the act we’d all been waiting for, Seas of Mirth. Entering the stage one by one with momentous energy, you can’t help being reeled in by this lot (pun intended). With seven members, they are a ready made gang of deep sea troubadours ready to take you on a lovely little aquatic adventure.
Since their 2023 album Kriller, Mirth’s sound has moved on from their previous sea shanty stylings, towards a more groovy deep-sea-disco dynamic, all whilst keeping their knack for madcap storytelling and jaunty stage antics. (Read more about Kriller in our 2023 interview with Seas). Dressed in all white, the prismatic lights played over the band, giving wavey under-the-sea vibes that would welcome Angela Lansbury's underwater moves from Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Seas of Mirth are excellent at whipping up a festival atmosphere, and within a few minutes frontman Al Juddy is wandering the crowd with a cowbell and jellyfish umbrellas are trailing above our heads. Someone has brought a bubble gun, and there’s a three-metre octopus lurking at the back of the room. After opening track Strange Place of Hiding and follow up Salt Man, comes one of my personal Kriller favourites, Bobbit - a bop so bouncy it could make a whelk wiggle. This is followed by Jellyfish Metropolis, and Fangtooth, a song about overfishing, for which Pete from The Barnacles comes out playing the sax.
Soon after we are treated to Tug, a staple of a Mirth set, during which a twelve foot rope is brought out for an audience tug-of-war. A ten bag of weed is promised to the winners (wasabi flavoured seaweed snacks, of course) and luckily no one is hurt when one side is victorious.
The evening passes in a chaotic kaleidoscope of purply, pinks, yellows and greens, and the gigantic neon blue octopus (apparently named Les Holmes) eventually makes his entrance, carried by a nine-strong troupe, to the sounds of Ink (Do The Blollop). Another guest singer, Milly Ayesha appears from the crowd to provide deep souly vocals on Pearl of Peril, and then the excellent Tiki Tak is played - another highly danceable ditty from Kriller.
After the final track, Happy Hour at El Squid Diablo, the band exit the stage - however there is a song I’ve been waiting for and an encore is bound to ensue. The band return with birthday wishes to several hardcore Mirth-ians in the crowd, and for the fantabulous finale we get 2023 single Dig Out The Grooves, a rousing disco track reminiscent of The Bee Gees.
A night like no other, perhaps anywhere on this particular evening, comes to an end, and the audience spills out into the street. It goes without saying that everyone here has been injected with a good healthy dose of Mirth - just what's needed to kick off the summer ahead.
Seas of Mirth performed at the Old Cold Store on 25th April 2025, with support from The Barnacles and the Bethlehem Casuals.
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