Dead Dads Club, Bedford Esquires, Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Dead Dads Club might not be a club anyone wants to join, but tonight at Bedford Esquires, it’s the name of the must-see band headlining in Room 2.
A young fan and his mum even travelled from three hours from Grimsby to be here tonight, so it’s not just the locals who are here to be impressed.
Opening up proceedings on the night were Tough Cookie, a four-piece from Dalston.
The alternative rock band cite their influences as Radiohead, Jeff Buckley and Patti Smith, and you could hear echoes of these artists in their set tonight, particularly in frontman August’s strong, and sometimes raspy, vocals.
The set featured several tracks from their debut EP titled “The Countryside is Good for You”, which was released in October last year.
“Sandcastles 2008” was a particular standout track of the set, which started with gentle, echoey vocals, but as the track progressed, it grew fiercer and louder, building towards an instrumental section where the band were throwing themselves around the stage.
The band also played “Happiness,” which had a pop-punk sound and showed the band’s versatility.
Closing the set was the track “Emory” which takes you back to the 90’s with its grunge rock sound, and would definitely fit well on a soundtrack of an American teen movie.
The band really gave it some welly on this last track, and I saw August smiling as the final strums of the track were played.
Speaking to audience members after the gig, it appeared the band went down well with the crowd and they definitely picked up some new fans.
Next up was our headliner, Dead Dads Club. The band is fronted by Chilli Jesson, who last played Esquires in 2012 as part of Palma Violets.
I attended that Palma Violets gig and got a picture with Chilli, so I asked some friends if they thought I had barely aged since then. Sadly, they disagreed (boo) but did note I still have the same hairstyle, unlike Chilli, who now wears his hair spiked up with gel.
Since Palma Violets split in 2016, Chilli has been involved in a few musical ventures but has now found his home in Dead Dads Club.
The concept around the band follows Chilli’s grief at losing his father when Chilli was just 13 years old; however, he has only recently felt confident enough to write music on this topic after becoming a dad himself, as well as feeling reenergised to create new music after being a touring member with Fontaines D.C.
The band opened their set with “It’s Only Just Begun”, which also opens Dead Dads Club’s self-titled album that was released in January, and was produced by Carlos O’Connell from Fontaines D.C.
The track opens with just Chilli playing an acoustic guitar, but the full band joins in as the song builds to its final “ba ba ba’s”.
Following this was the punchy track titled “Volatile Child”, and it’s from this song onwards that the ferocious energy of the band did not stop until the very end of the set.
Chilli felt inspired by 90’s bands, such as Smashing Pumpkins, when making this record and the grunge rock track “Goosebumps” is reminiscent of this era.
As the band plays this track, Chilli leaps, jumps and trashes around the stage, now free of his guitar to prowl and growl as much as he pleases.
Dead Dads Club co-founder Rupert takes the lead vocals for “Junkyard Radiator”, and his casual cool is a contrast to Chilli’s frantic energy of the previous tracks.
It is when my personal favourite Dead Dads Club track, “Icarus”, is played that Chilli’s energy really peaks.
The track features a catchy chorus of “I’m so tired of feeling sick and tired” (a feeling I’m sure many have felt at times) that is easy to sing along to, as Chilli bends over, grabbing the knees of his baggy jeans as he howls the lyrics.
My highlight of this track, though, was when Chilli proceeded to play the keyboard… with his head.
Some new tracks were also played, such as “Knock”, where Rupert and Chilli share vocals, and “Die”, which featured an instrumental at the end of the track which sounded like something from a horror film.
Fortunately, the creepy vibes didn’t last long as the band then played “Don’t Blame the Son for the Sings of the Father”, which opens with heavy thrashing guitars, an intense track which had Chilli looking directly into audience members’ eyes and climbing on the drums.
The band closed the set with early single “St Vitamin”, a frantic indie number that was co-written with Justin Hayward-Young from The Vaccines, which I’m surprised the band had the energy left to perform.
As the crowd applauded the band as they left the stage, Chilli also applauded the crowd back.
Just like when Palma Violets played Esquires back in 2012, the crowd left thoroughly entertained, and maybe Chilli will be back again in another 14 years… see you in 2040, Chilli!
