Ordinary Finds Brigade in the Room with Reflect and Consolers at Voodoo Belfast
The Bangor Indie Rock Band’s First Gig Lands on Voodoo Sessions 026 in November
Soaring melodies and massive guitars are how Brigade describe their own songs. On Thursday 26 November, the independent Bangor band play them live at Voodoo on Fountain Street. Brigade bring Ordinary to Belfast that night, the indie rock single they released on 28 August 2026.
Brigade are on the playlist below, and the band’s artist profile gathers their coverage in one place. Ordinary came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Give it a spin, then keep reading for the rest of the bill.
Brigade Bring Ordinary to a Belfast Showcase Built for New Bands
The night is The Voodoo Sessions, a new-artist showcase at the Fountain Street club. Belfast music site Chordblossom listed its ninth edition in May 2025. Brigade’s night is Session 026, which works out at roughly one showcase a month since then. The band have called it their live debut. Tickets are £5 plus a booking fee, or you can pay on the door, and the music starts at 8pm.
Around it, the ladder for Belfast guitar bands looks short at the moment. For example, Reflect, who headline, formed in early 2025 and had a debut single on RTÉ 2FM before it was even released. Consolers, also on the bill, went from a first single to a debut album in under a year. They then launched it with a headline show at the Empire Music Hall.
Local radio is part of that ladder, too. Before Ordinary came out, Taylor Johnson of BBC Introducing gave it its first spin, the band said. The same presenter praised the vocals on Consolers’ album. So Brigade reach the stage with some support already behind them.
Where Brigade Fit as a Bangor Indie Rock Band Taking Ordinary Up the Road
Bangor is 13 miles east of Belfast city centre, on the County Down coast. It became Northern Ireland’s sixth city in 2022, and it counted 64,596 people at the 2021 census. Brigade put the town first, too: their Instagram bio calls the band alternative indie rock from Bangor, NI.
The band started with two lifelong friends, Mel Browne and Jack Stoops, making the music they grew up loving. Jack sings and plays guitar, while Mel plays bass. Later, Andrew Armstrong joined on guitar and Zac Carlisle on drums. The band describe Ordinary as a song about feeling stuck, wasted potential and the sense that everyone else knows how to move forward.
IndieTapes, the German music blog, reviewed the single in early September and added it to its playlist. Adrian Prath heard an engaging, uplifting guitar sound, with Britpop, dream pop and shoegaze elements in the production. Prath also picked out powerful drums, guitar work with rich distortion and a chorus with a catchy hook.
Otherwise, Brigade keep a low profile online. Their Instagram bio owns up to the band being bad at social media, and the one featured link on their Beacons page is for tickets to 26 November. As a result, the room matters more than the feed. A band that does not live on its phone has to win listeners one gig at a time.
Adjacent Acts on the Bill, From Reflect’s RTÉ Airplay to Consolers’ Debut Album
Reflect headline the night. The Belfast four-piece formed in early 2025 around Tay Layno on bass and vocals, Flann Falconer and Thomas O’Leary on guitars and Noah Kelly on drums. Their debut single, Wasting My Time, came out on 28 June 2025. A month earlier, RTÉ 2FM had already made it Grassroots Track of the Week, and BBC Radio Ulster played it as well. Music News Monthly heard tight guitar work, a driving rhythm section and melodies that stay in your head.
Consolers share the support billing with Brigade. The five-piece alt-rock band is fronted by Sonja Sleator. Their first single, Inhale, won them support slots with Fangclub and The Wood Burning Savages. After that came Deep Breaths, their debut album, in February 2026, produced and mixed by Jonny Woods of Wynona Bleach.
Put the three side by side, and the common thread is guitars carrying a tune. Reflect describe their sound as the energy of the metal bands they listen to, paired with pop melodies. Similarly, Static Sounds Club heard big guitar energy and sharp hooks on Deep Breaths. Brigade aim for the same pairing, which is why Ordinary sits comfortably on this bill.
Where to Hear Ordinary and Follow Brigade Before the Belfast Show
Further out, the band name their own influences, and each one maps part of the sound. Jimmy Eat World wrote The Middle, a 2001 single, as a deliberate move to a simpler, more direct sound, and the catchy chorus hook IndieTapes heard in Ordinary comes from the same school. The War On Drugs won the Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2018 with A Deeper Understanding, a record of layered, hazy guitars that sits closest to the dream pop side of the single. In addition, Manchester Orchestra stand for the honest lyrics Brigade say they want, and their 2017 album A Black Mile to the Surface is a good way in.
IndieRock.News’s curator team:
“We like that Ordinary is written in everyday words about an everyday feeling. That makes it an easy song to carry into a first gig. Learn it before 26 November, and the chorus will already be familiar when Brigade play it at Voodoo.”
Fans of Wasting My Time or Deep Breaths should add Ordinary next. Then hear Brigade play Ordinary in Belfast on 26 November, with all three bands in one room for £5.
Follow Brigade on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp and Instagram. The ticket link for 26 November sits on the band’s Beacons page.
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