Pink Violence, Zero, Figure 09, Lauren Marie. Live at The Sunflower Lounge review (30/6/17)

It's a rare privilege as a gig goer have a show where many of the audience are people I can count as my friends. Even rarer when the entire line-up of a show is made up of people I know. The first act on was Lauren Marie. A local singer songwriter who I have seen many times before. Her set-list was made up of her usual mix of delicate acoustic ballads, some of which are originals. Some of which are quieter, more relaxed takes on rock songs by the likes of Foo Fighters and Blink 182. Lauren is a talented singer and songwriter, but she can still be awkward and shy on stage at times, not that anyone seemed to mind.
After being a band for little over a year Crime and Punishment 2011 have already splintered into a series of side projects. CPK have just released a new single 'FUBAR',  off their upcoming debut akbum of the same name. It's a politically charged mix of rap and punk  that hints ast the new album being stripped back, very angry and very loud. One of CPK's two original MC's Jake (aka Glitch) left the band to focus on his own solo material, while CPK added 'Bathtub's Sam Hennerly as a drummer to their new line up.  
This show was almost a reunion for the original line up, featuring sets from Jake under his new moniker Zero and Dan Carter unveiling some songs from his upcoming solo album as Figure 09. also on the bill was Jason Tyler, CPK's resident DJ. For this show Jason DJ-ed for both acts as well as performing a solo set of his own.
Jake's solo project Zero (formerly J-Dead) is a departure from the grime and metal influences of CPK. Jake's solo material covers similarly dark themes but in a more subtle, nuanced style. Jake's approach to rapping as Zero is more that of a story teller, rapping over instrumentals from Twenty One Pilots, The XX and Placebo. Jake's stories are an insight into the trials of his growing up and young adulthood and trade rap bravado for brutal honesty and emotion. 
The same can be said for Dan's foray into solo material as Figure 09. Dan usually jumps into the audience and bounces around the place, running into things and curling up into a ball on the floor. As a solo artist Dan is a bit more serious. Before his show he asked the audience to come near as he wasn't going to be getting up in their faces for this set. Dan's new material has been mostly produced by CPK's Jason. His backing tracks have a similar feel as much of Crime and Punishment 2011's earlier material, taking elements of grime but with a more stripped back approach. Dan's set was just as emotionally charged and personal as Jake's. They both even used the same Placebo instrumental for each of their tracks and to their credit neither take on the instrumental is better than the other. Although this did lead for some friendly arguing between songs about who ripped off who.   Despite the emo nature of the music the show still made for a fun night. Dan and Jake joined each other a few times over the set. Despite having parted ways from CPK they both still trade bars brilliantly on stage and share an obvious fondness for each other, that makes me hope they can share more stages soon.
The final act of the show was Pink Violence. The first show under the name that Jason has performed in two years. Pink violence is an electronica project, in the same style of acts such as Crystal Castles. what followed was a trippy half hour set of warped samples, witch-house-aesthetics and trap beats which included Dan and Jake joining each other on stage once again for a charged cover of Skepta's 'Shutdown'.

links:
www.facebook.com/pg/laurenmarieuk
figure09.bandcamp.com/releases
www.facebook.com/Z370Music/
https://soundcloud.com/pinkviolence
crimepunishment2011.bandcamp.com/