February 6th 2025 – Papillon, Southampton
Supported by: The Gatlin Boys
I’m getting more adventurous in my latter years, so another new venue tonight. Papillon was once a church, now a vibe. This intimate Southampton spot, just across from the Mayflower, serves up food, drinks, and live music in a space that still echoes with cathedral acoustics. Historic bones, modern soul.
Tonight, I’m checking out another find from Beautiful Days festival, The Scratch and I fear they rattle the ghosts of this old church venue!! It’s a cold, wet night outside, but these Irish lads will soon warm us up.
I got here a bit early, so early the venue, which doubles as a restaurant, was still serving foodie customers. So I popped across the road to The Mayflower Village pub right next door to The Mayflower theatre. A swift Guinness 0.0% (very good BTW) and a read of the paper before Papillon opened.
Papillon had dimmed the lights and this small 100-200 people venue looked fantastic. The atmosphere of an old church and the old architecture still visible. You always know the acoustics will be great in venues like this. There wasn’t a massive crowd for this gig, but that would mean a bit more space for some vibrant dancing and a bit of a mosh pit opening up later in the night (not from me – I just stood around the edge!).
The Gatlin Boys
Local Romsey based band, The Gatlin Boys, opened up tonight’s show. This four-piece blends indie folk, alt-rock, and rootsy pop with raw heart and killer hooks. They’re the kind of band that makes you feel something and then makes you dance about it. Pretty catchy tunes, be good to see what happens next for the guys. Nice touch after their set, they gave out free mini vinyls of four of their songs – cheers boys!
The Gatlin Boys are: Luke – lead vocal and rhythm guitar, Dan – bass guitar – backing vocals, Sidders – lead guitar and backing vocals, Ryan – drums and percussion.
The Scratch
The first thing that hits you about The Scratch is the drum kit! Never seen anything like it. I expect some musos out there will go, yeah of course, thats a cajón drum kit. Well well well. Apparently it dates back to 16th century Peru, I doubt the amplifier bit is that old though ;-).
Instead of a traditional setup, The Scratch use a custom rig built around cajóns (box drums), giving their sound a raw, acoustic punch that’s part flamenco, part punk, and all fire. It’s a street-born setup that turns every gig into a foot-stomping frenzy.
The band walk on tune is Colony by Damien Dempsey, a real black and dark Irish song. I’m going to find out more about this guy for sure! Daniel Lang opens up with some thumping drums and the narrated start to Flaker.
The music is heavy, but The Scratch are quite a stripped-down earthy folk sound. They’ve created a full, powerful sound using acoustic guitars and the mesmeric cajón box-shaped drum set up. I can’t take my eyes of Daniel playing it! I say that, but Conor on guitar and Cathal on bass compete for attention pretty well. Especially Cathal with his cheekie, goading of the crowd to notch it up furhter and get the mosh going!!
Conor Dockery’s played a great rendition of Christy Moores “Joxer goes to Stuttgart” as a tribute to his father. What a wonderful upbeat tribute it was. The crowd clapped and sang along, very special. x
…And straight back into some great rocking tunes from their back catalogues. The crowd was loving it. Another great night out and we’ll be catching up with The Scratch again in the future (please).
The Scratch are: Conor Dockery (guitar, backing vocals), Cathal McKenna (bass, backing vocals), and Daniel Lang (cajón, percussion, lead vocals).
Set List
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