Brighton Antifolk Festival 2026
Brighton’s Antifolk showcase returns. On Saturday 3rd October, the Brighton Antifolk Festival 2026 takes over The Pipeline for a completely FREE single-day takeover. Kicking off at 4:00 PM, this packed mini-fest brings together nine incredible, genre-bending acts from across the local underground and further afield.
10:15 Murphy’s Medicine
9:30 En Heat
8:45 David Cronenberg’s wife
7:45 Frank Lloyd Wleft
7:00 Ciderdogs
6:15 Boy in the Cupboard
5:30 Wayne!?
4:45 Bobby Fire-Radio
4:00 Boots McMahon’s Fast Thieves Club
About the artists
10:15 Murphy’s Medicine
Brighton’s own Murphy’s Medicine brings a brilliantly breezy dose of indie slacker-pop to the stage. Fronted by the dual-vocal charm of Amy Charlton and Adam Bell, alongside Gem D’Souza, Alan Odgers, and Tom Chadd, this five-piece features seasoned veterans from cult local favourites like Fruity Water, Seadog, Tinsel and Octopuses.
Since debuting on Big Salad Records, they have carved out a distinct niche on the grassroots circuit with an art-rock edge, melodic guitars, and witty, conversational storytelling. Fresh off the release of late-night anthems like “Slinky” and “Butcher’s Choice,” their live set pairs infectious, laid-back melodies with a charmingly lo-fi energy.
9:30 En Heat
En Heat is a self-described “avant-garde antifolk disco-psych rock-n-roll” supergroup. Fronted by the infamous Filthy Pedro and signed to the legendary DIY imprint Blang Records, the band features a stellar lineup of underground stalwarts, including Killer Stu from David Cronenberg’s Wife, Small Talk Adam from Fruity Water, keyboard virtuoso Oliver Fist, and New York antifolk veteran Brer Brian.
Known for turning their live sets into a glorious, high-energy hot mess of surreal lyricism and catchy hooks, En Heat brilliantly blends manic garage-rock energy with danceable disco grooves. Fresh off the success of their psych-fueled singles like “AntiStar” and “The Crack”, they deliver a wonderfully bizarre, satirical, and infectious live show.
8:45 David Cronenberg’s wife
Widely regarded as trailblazing icons of the UK DIY and antifolk scenes, David Cronenberg’s Wife provides a definitive template for the modern crop of abrasive guitar bands. They turn wiry post-punk into a thrillingly tense, repetitive cycle of music, balancing sharp musical execution with lead singer Tom Mayne’s deadpan, black-humor lyricism.
The band brilliantly occupies a space they playfully dub “the house band in the biology theatre at the end of the world”. Supporting their acclaimed album, Department of Biology, their set masterfully veers between macabre storytelling and raw, chaotic antifolk energy.
7:45 Frank Lloyd Wleft
Blending influences of country twang, punk rock, jangle pop, and beat poetry, Frank Lloyd Wleft (and his accompanying “Orchestra”) produces a beautifully idiosyncratic brand of “post-Americana”. Fronted by songwriter Lloyd Bolton alongside Beatrice Stride on bass and Will Ormsby on drums, the London-based outfit filters freewheeling Americana through a sharp lens of real-world British wit.Their lyrics portray a fractured, late-capitalist world, matching sweeping country instrumentation with deadpan storytelling about “country songs for driverless trucks”.
Touring on the back of their acclaimed 2026 album The Actual Kids in Actual America (via Strong Island Recordings), their live shows are known for shifting from stripped-back, raw three-piece energy into massive, genre-bending spectacles complete with fiddle, lap steel, and sax.
7:00 Ciderdogs
CIDERDOGS are Brighton’s scrappy fusion of punk grit and country swagger-think barroom brawls with banjos. It’s punk with a southern drawl: loud, loose, and laced with cider-fuelled storytelling.
Whether stomping through New City Hotel or howling at the moon, CIDERDOGS blur the line between rebellion and revelry.
6:15 Boy in the Cupboard
Operating under the moniker Boy in the Cupboard, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ben Bailey (well known as the bassist for underground icons Blyth Power) crafts beautifully intricate acoustic indie-folk. Stripping away excessive distortion in favour of wry, melancholic song writing, his music has been affectionately described as “kitchen-sink sagas in the vein of Jilted John delivered with the panache of Robert Smith”.
Armed with a distinct gypsy-inspired, Iberian guitar style, his live performance moves seamlessly between intimate storytelling and dark, clever wit.
5:30 Wayne!?
Stepping completely outside the box for a new band on the scene, Wayne!? is an force of sonic devastation on the experimental underground circuit. Rejecting traditional genres and acoustic constraints, this outfit specializes in an “experimental loud” style that strips away conventional pop structures in favour of sheer wall-of-sound intensity.
Their live sets are a visceral experience, driving massive, unhinged waves of distortion and unpredictable rhythmic shifts.
4:45 Bobby Fire-Radio
Recently relocating his musical base from London to Brighton, Bobby Fire-Radio is a compelling singer-songwriter who crafts intimate, intense, and unfiltered dispatches from the edge.
Taking raw inspiration from his time spent loitering planet Earth, his music seamlessly blends apocalyptic Americana and antifolk storytelling with the gritty mood and angst of 90s alternative rock.
4:00 Boots McMahon’s Fast Thieves Club
Spearheaded by Hove-based singer-songwriter Boots McMahon, Boots McMahon’s Fast Thieves Club delivers honest, melodic guitar music deeply inspired by 70s and 80s storytelling roots. After taking a two-decade hiatus from playing, McMahon returned to the scene with an arsenal of hooks and earworm melodies that serve as the “meat and potatoes” of the band’s signature sound.
Their narrative-driven style shines a light on the loners, the damaged, and the brokenhearted, translating poignant kitchen-sink realism into catchy, full-band indie-folk rock. Backed by his “fellow thieves”.
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