Sweaty rooms, crowdsurfing and questionable hostels: ELLiS-D’s summer 2025 highlights
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(Credits: Far Out / ELLiS-D)
Brat summer, Pulp summer, Oasis summer – I see them all, and I raise you, ELLiS-D summer.
Over the past couple of months, Brighton’s beloved guitar slinger has been seemingly everywhere, zig-zagging across Europe as his crowds have swelled and swelled.
‘Guitar slinger’ is minimising, so I’ll take that back. Sure, as the man at the mic for his ELLiS-D project, Ellis himself is ripping through riffs that split his crowds. Half of them are moving frantically, and half are standing, jaws dropped open. But his abilities go far beyond that as he also pays his way in the world by slapping skins for Fat Dog, touring as their drummer, providing the frantic beats that power their music, as well as generally adding to a hectic schedule.
In summer 2025, it seemed that each and every day, a new event was added to their calendar. The stamps in their passports must have been multiplying fast as they hit France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and beyond. Racing around the UK too, they were in London, Bristol, Ipswich and then seemingly back to Brighton constantly for sell-out hometown shows that were getting crazier and crazier each time.
I’ve caught them a good few times. Back in May, I was left genuinely concerned as the band seemed to rock so hard that they almost started an electrical fire during Great Escape. Then back in London, the walls of Shacklewell Arms shook on a random Tuesday night when no amount of weekday fatigue could hold the crowd down.
ELLiS-D is one of those acts you simply have to see live. The set is so high-octane, the presence is so hypnotic, the songs are so gripping and then sometimes toy with you as the band laughs as the crowd falls for the false ends. It’s everything you want out of a good band, so it’s no surprise to anyone that as the busy summer has gone on, they have drawn in bigger crowds, wrapping things up with some truly incredible footage of Ellis crowd surfing, which is still playing.
How must that have felt? We decided to ask the man himself, as Ellis shared some insights from the stage, letting us into their summer diary for their own personal highlights of a season on the road.
ELLiS-D’s summer 2025 highlights:
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