GUM / issue 03 /2012 by Glasgow University Magazine

2012 / FREE

issue

features / art / fashion / politics / music

editor’s letter features art fashion politics music Well, this went quickly.

If I’m not mistaken, another year of lectures has flown right by and summer is just around the corner. For some of you, this might be the very last issue of GUM you ever read. Soon graduates will be leaving Glasgow, hopefully heading places where the sun always shines and the economy is good to make up for years spent in freezing flats on a student loan.

This third issue of GUM is out just before the end of the year and we hope that it will provide the students of Glasgow University with hours of well-deserved procrastination in the library. Fittingly, this issue features articles on the theme of graduating, going travelling and embracing all that summer is (or at least should be). To start off, Sophie Conaghan-Sexon gives all soon-to-be graduates some well-timed pointers on how to go about life in the world of grown-ups. And if you thought getting a first meant that your whole career would magically sort itself out, then think again and read Megan Winter-Barker’s article on Facebook as the new CV.

For those of you who dream of travelling, take some time and allow yourself to be inspired by Alexandra Embiricos and her story about time spent deep in the Amazon rainforest. For a visual treat, flick your way to the Art section and take a look at Kate Regan’s photos taken on her travels in India.

If you still can’t feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, read Ruby McDougall’s review of Glasgow ice cream parlours and take some summer music advice from Marcus Jack. Then head down to Kelvingrove, take grainy instagram photos of your friends in Ray-Bans and disappear into a sunny post-exam haze. What’s more, the last issue for this academic year features poetry, artwork and thought-provoking, opinionated articles on everything ranging from the relationship between politics and football, the KONY 2012 campaign and the exploration of outer space. Further, this time in the Fashion section it’s all about the boys. Featuring a menswear style report and a male model fashion shoot, we hope that we will inspire the male population of Glasgow University to stay as classy as ever. Lastly, I can’t think of a better-suited place to thank all of the contributors this year; the GUM team, writers, photographers, illustrators, moral supporters, you name it. It’s been great working with you all and I hope you’ve been pleased to see your work featured. Happy summer everyone,

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CREDITS Editor (contents) Ina Andersson Editors (design and layout) Ina Andersson & Andy King SECTION EDITORS Features Ina Andersson Art Laura Stockwell Fashion Ginger Clark Politics Keith Marin Music Megan Donald CONTENT CREDITS Cover Andy King Writers Sophie Conaghan-Sexon, Amelia Bayler, Ruby McDougall, Alexandra Embiricos, Megan Winter-Barker, Alice Healy-Smith, Lucy Cheseldine, Laura Stockwell, Catriona Perry, Maria Litzia Kelly, Katy Deane, Linus Sioland, Daniel Patterson, Keith Marin, Marcus Jack, Sophie McGraw, Tom Clarke, Ross Watson, Chris Day, Calum Bannerman Photographers Nijole Ukelyte, Peter Genoff, Andy King, Helena Gore, Lauren Elyse, Kate Regan, Dasha Miller

Ina Andersson (Editor)

Artwork Gabriel Kleber, Andy King SPECIAL THANKS TO

Want some more? u GUM has a fabulous website where loads of brilliant content gets uploaded. We keep an eye on events all around town and bring them straight to you. You will find live gig reviews, club nights, restaurant reviews, playlists and much more at: glasgowuniversitymagazine.co.uk u Then, if you like us, make it official on Facebook: facebook.com/glasgowuniversitymagazine

Shaun Murphy, Cole Cohen

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GUM / issue 03 / 2012

Little Birds Market This lovely little market pops up every month with stalls selling everything from handmade accessories to vintage clothing. The next one is on May 13th and is a must for every fashion enthusiast in Glasgow. If shopping makes you tired then you can treat yourself to a sugary bite in their very own cake salon. 12-5pm, Sloans, 62 Argyle Arcade, 108 Argyle Street, G2 8BG.

Nightwalk This independent fashion event returns to the Arches for the 2012 Spring/Summer showcase. There will be a full catwalk show featuring some of Scotland’s best up-and-coming designers, many of whom have been featured in GUM this year; Obscure Couture, Isolated Heroes, Jennie Lööf and Fair Feathered Friend. 8-11.30pm, May 1st, £10, The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, G2 8DL

Frogbeats Drum and bass and jungle nights are rarities here in Glasgow, that’s why we’re so happy that the guys over at Frogbeats have brought a little bit of the wilderness into our lives with their night at Subclub. Head down on May 17th to move your feet to the beats of resident DJ’s Denney and Pharo, along with Optic on visuals. 11-3am, £4, 22 Jamaica Street, G1 4QD

Rubix Keep an eye on this newcomer; their jam-packed debut night indicated that Rubix is here to stay. Their next night is coming up on May 24th and this time the headliner is former hip-hop producer Eliphino who had a hit with his tune ‘More Than Me’ in 2011. Other acts are James Rand, veteran at Fabric, and Point to C from Mixed Bizness. Subclub, 11-3am, £5 students all night, 22 Jamaica Street, G1 4QD

TEXT: INA ANDERSSON

all about glasgow

Stag and Dagger This is a one day festival taking place at various venues across Glasgow. A day ticket comes at £17.50, but we at GUM suggest that you at least head down to the Vitamins, X and Unknown to the Unknown after party at Chambre 69 where you can pay on the door without a ticket. May 19th, across Glasgow / 69 Nelson Mandela Place, G2 1QY, full day tickets available at www.ticketweb.co.uk

Oranjeboom Wednesdays Bored of Orange Wednesdays? Look no further. This is a new weekly film club at The Flying Duck, where the screenings are free and the cans of beer are £2. No phone network strings attached. 7-11pm, 142 Renfield Street, G2 3AU

Dear Contributors, You’ve been given the opportunity to go on a holiday over the summer with any famous person you choose. Where do you go and who do you take?

Marcus Jack: “I’d go to an arts festival, maybe Burning Man in Nevada. On my arm would be actress/model/demi-god/enchantress Clémence Poésy. Together in electric dreams, it’d be a week of woodstock-esque hedonism, worthy of censoring when retold to future generations”

Ruby McDougall: “I’d like to go on a tour of the United States with Stephen Fry in his black cab. Just as long as he didn’t keep the meter running...”

Linus Sioland: “Hunter S. Thompson. Other than that “The Rum Diaries” proves that he’s a good lad to drink and lament with, I expect we’d be able to bond well over liking good booze and being political junkies. Easily my No.1 choice for a Caribbean cruise”

Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Glasgow University or the SRC Correction regarding article ‘the scottish divide’, GUM issue 02: The road signs referred to in the first paragraph are written in Modern Scottish Gaelic and were changed by the Labour government in 2001 and the word ‘Fàilte’ is spelt with a grave accent.

GUM / issue 03 / 2012

THE END

features

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(OF THE DEGREE )

Afraid of facing the dreaded real world of job interviews and responsible decisions? Worried you will feel out of place? Here are some well-timed advice from Sophie Conaghan-Sexon. A friend told me a startling piece of news a week ago and it’s been reverberating in my head ever since. ‘Do you know it’s only four weeks till the end of our degree?’ he said. Now, after four years of merrily breezing through my English Literature degree, I’m told I have to face the dreaded real world. Up until this point I had been working under the misguided assumption that my future would somehow sort itself out, based on the peculiar Glaswegian aphorism ‘what’s fur ye won’t go by ye’. The difficulty of being an arts student is that you can often feel like all other students know exactly what career they’re going to pursue. Many times I have cursed the skies, ranting, ‘why couldn’t I have had a real passion for studying law or medicine!’ However, I have discovered that regardless of what your degree discipline has been, many students feel uncertain of their future at the point of graduation. Particularly at current, the job prospects in Britain look grim and likelihood of unemployment is high. Despite this particularly bleak opening, I am writing this article to offer some hope to everyone on the brink of graduation who is about to face 4

the real world. The future may seem vast and terrifying, but it is also abundant with opportunity. Up until six months ago I was rapidly cycling between a number of ideas: that I’d take a year off after my degree to go travelling, that I might apply for jobs in the real world, that I would just pack a bag, move to London, and wait for fate to decide upon my vocation. I wanted to keep studying, but I was frightened that I’d have to look for alternatives because the research required for doing a postgraduate qualification was daunting: I had to consider how I’d get funding, the different types of qualifications on offer, the universities that had courses relevant to my subject, the cost. After all this I would also have to fill out the myriad applications themselves! I felt overwhelmed by this proliferation of information, but I hadn’t entertained the thought that I’d gain valuable experiences from the admissions process itself. The first thing I applied for was a scholarship to study in the United States. This particular scholarship was open to everyone studying every degree discipline in the United Kingdom. When GUM / issue 03 / 2012

I applied I was concerned about the calibre of the competition and unsure of the amount of applicants. In short, I was suffering from a fear of inadequacy. Fear turned to nervous excitement when I learned I had been invited to London to interview in front of a highly distinguished panel. For weeks I couldn’t sleep for the trepidation and exhilaration, certain that the interview would consist of an endless chorus of people chanting ‘justify yourself, justify yourself!’ To quote cornily from the title of a self-help book: I felt the fear and did it anyway. What an interview often consists of, (this goes for job interviews as well as university applications) is a discussion of your personal merits, your opinions, and the experiences you’ve already had in life. Employers want to employ people that are proud of their achievements and that can hold a conversation about themselves with ease. One way to overcome nerves and prepare for an interview is to imagine a slightly similar hypothetical situation. If a person you really fancied wanted to know about your life, what would you tell them? You’d highlight as many of your best bits as you

features / art / fashion / politics / music

possibly could in a bid to impress. You’d try to be entertaining, but not cheesy. You’d attempt to be charming, but not disingenuous. You’d want to be interesting, but not obsessive about your interests. These are all things you can apply to a job interview, although I’d warn against trying to be sexy, because that’s bound to go badly in front of your prospective future boss. It is important to bear in mind that people on interview panels want you to do well, as they’ve already chosen you out of many other applicants for the interview. One of my concerns about the scholarship interview was that I’d be asked a question on a subject that I couldn’t answer. During the interview, a member of the panel asked me about a poetry movement that I didn’t know anything about. Instead of fumbling my way through an answer I just came out and said it; ‘I’m not familiar with that subject’. The world didn’t implode like I thought it might. Instead, by admitting that I couldn’t speak on that particular subject, I saved myself time to talk about subjects that I had a much better knowledge of.

People always say to ‘be yourself’ in interviews. I used to think this was a terrible piece of advice, because when I’m being myself I tend to say ridiculous things. For example, at the end of my last two job interviews I’ve told the interviewer

“It is important to bear in mind that people on interview panels want you to do well, as they’ve already chosen you out of many other applicants for the interview” ‘See you later!’ However, despite my idiomatic habit of adding peculiarly over-familiar salutations, I decided to take the advice to ‘be myself’. By simply ‘being myself’ I was able to relax more, as I didn’t waste time trying to make exaggerated claims that I knew I couldn’t support, and I spoke with ease about subjects I felt passionate about. I even felt comfortable enough to talk about love of singing Doris Day’s show tunes GUM / issue 03 / 2012

(although I managed to refrain from giving the panel a rendition of Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps). I had taken advice from many different people regarding interview techniques but I found that the best technique was also the simplest: remember to smile. Smiling had an unexpected calming effect, and seeing people smile back at me made it easier to talk. The degree may come to an end, but life keeps going. It is worth applying for positions, no matter how frightening the prospect of a scholarship or job interview may be. Having done one scholarship interview, I now know they aren’t as scary as I thought they would be, and I feel better prepared for the many more I will have to do to obtain funding and keep studying. Raoul Vaneigem writes, ‘the desire to live is a political decision. Who wants a world in which the guarantee that we shall not die of starvation entails the risk of dying of boredom?’ Not me. This is why I’m going to continue to face the real world, applying for postgraduate applications and funding. COLLAGE: ANDY KING 5

music / politics / fashion / art / features

WHY I LIKE FI Why am I so obsessed with Fish & Chips? When I moved to Glasgow I spent most of my money at The Garage (loljk) and lived off baked potatoes and omelette. For four months. One night I was PRing on Sauchiehall St and had my cockney mentalist persona on the go: “CUM AND VIBE WITH US AT DA CLUB YO. ” A guy came up to me and said, “I’m so intrigued by you and your choice of words.” I felt like a modern day Eliza Doolitle (eh…not the singer). He then put his number in my phone and invited me for lunch. When we met for lunch at Moskito on Bath Street, I was excited to get real food. I ordered Fish & Chips and when they arrived they tasted like GOLD in my MOUTH mixed with rainbows. It was probably because I was a bit hungover, starving and generally deprived of deliciousness. From then on, whenever I went out for a meal*, the “FISH & CHIPS” would gaze up at me from the menu. I SWEAR it would talk and say, “DON’T YOU DARE ORDER ANYTHING ELSE. IT WILL NEVER MATCH UP TO FISH & CHIPS. REMEMBER THAT TIME AT MOSKITO.” It started off as a phobia of being disappointed and has developed into an addiction. 6

(Mike from Sauchiehall Street wore chinos and white converse so it never worked out.) *LOL U PROBZ FINK I’M A PSYCHO 4 MEETING A STRANGER FOR LUNCH. I ALWAYS LIKED BLIND DATE AND I WOZ BLIND DRUNK WHEN I MET HIM. MAYBE I AM A PSYCHO. I WRITE A FISH & CHIPS BLOG. OH MA COOOD!! MY WORST FISH & CHIPS EVER Today I had my Fish & Chips at The Grosvenor Cafe. They cost £11. The most expensive so far. As I looked through the menu something caught my eye: “SUSTAINABLE BATTERED FISH OF THE DAY.” Was this a hipster Fish & Chips? I asked for it anyway and was told the fish would be coley. (?) When it arrived I thought, “hmm, this isn’t as hunky as I want my fish to be.” The chips looked VERY hunky indeed - BIG but not TOO BIG if you know what I mean. Yet, I was intrigued by the coley so left them ‘til later. COLEY is supposed to be a good alternative to haddock or cod. Not true. Haddock breaks up nicely but this was just chunks of slimy fish. The texture was unfortunate but it

tasted very SUBTLE. Maybe that is supposed to be the appeal of coley. Maybe fishmongers walk around going “I love a bit of subtle coley. I like to get my cole.” I guess it’s hit or miss with “Sustainable Battered Fish Of The Day” at The Grosvenor*. I like the IDEA of a SURPRISE FISH but it just didn’t match up to traditional Fish & Chips. The batter was too crunchy; due to the contrast this made the coley taste even more slimy. I thought the tartar sauce might save the day but it had whole capers in it and was too strong. “Oh please lord may these chips save the day.” The chips were amazing (shaped like an oversized chippie style chip but with the skins still on; with a LOT of potato without being overwhelming) so I didn’t want to contaminate them with the fish. This meant I couldn’t do the Fish & Chips on the same fork combo which made me more depressed. I ate them with my fingers, pretending they were a separate meal altogether. Finally, there were no mushy peas. But do you know what? For once in my life I was happy to eat a bit of salad instead as a way of cleansing my palate. Sort of like when you’re supposed to smell coffee to clear your senses when trying to choose a perfume. I felt BATTERED after all that drama and so the Fish & Chips at The Grosvenor get: 3/10

GUM / issue 03 / 2012

*Kind of like that childhood game where you put your hand in a box and have to feel something without looking and have to guess what it is and it feels disgusting and you don’t know what it is and it’s not so fun after all. FISH & CHIPS REVIEW 2 (PRETTY FUCKING AVERAGE) Today I went to Hillhead Book Club in Glasgow’s swanky West End for some Fish & Chips. They cost £8 but were PRETTY FUCKING AVERAGE. The Book Club is a legendary venue with its PING PONG tables and tunes to cater to every kool-kid under the sun but I couldnae fucking taste the rainbow eh. It was just plain BORING. The fish I mean. If I was going on a date with it I bet it would ask me what my favourite colour is (well tonight ladies and gentlemen it was BLUE because that was how I felt when I put that mothafuckin’ fish in ma MOUTH.) It was just plain slimy and I had to coat it in tartar sauce (also pretty mild, not pretty though) in the hope of my taste buds realising that I was ACTUALLY EATING. As usual, the chips saved the day. CHUNKY AS FUCK. I have to go and wash my mouth out with soap now:  6/10

MY FISH & CHIPS DATE

Stravaigin is a pure Scottish restaurant. Fish & Chips are definitely the best at PURE SCOTTISH RESTAURANTS.

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The Fish & Chips as usual gazed up at me from the menu. “TAKE ME NOW.” They arrived and the fish was shaped like a giant…sausage. “It’s like sausage fish!!!” There were about a trillion chips on my plate. They weren’t shaped like chips, they were a roast potato x chip hybrid. Normally I find “CHOPATOES” absolutely MINGIN’ but these were CHIPPY enough to be acceptable. Often restaurants get it wrong with “CHOPATOES” as they don’t taste bad for your health. For a little while I don’t think I was great company. The Fish & Chips and me were having an amazing threesome. I ate them. They pleasured me. The fish was exquisite. The best fish I’ve had so far. I cut open the batter and it was just PERFECT. I explored it. It broke into beautiful sections if I simply stroked it with my knife. This is a personal thing, but I find it exciting when battered fish is in a pure mental shape. The tartar sauce was the glue. The SUPERGLUE of the meal - but not too strong. They say they give you heart problems and it’s true - I LOVE FISH & CHIPS: 10/10!!!! FOR MORE OH MA COD MADNESS (INCLUDING ‘FISH & CHIPS RULES’, ‘THE DRAKE VS. THE BUTTERFLY & THE PIG THE ULTIMATE HIPSTER FIGHT’ AND ‘SHARK & CHIPS’) HEAD TO: WWW. OH-MA-COD. TUMBLR.COM TEXT: AMELIA BAYLER PHOTO: HELENA GORE www.helenagorephotography.com

GUM / issue 03 / 2012

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ISH & CHIPS

music / politics / fashion / art / features

review: ice cream On the rare occasion that the weather in Glasgow is so nice that you find yourself sitting outside the library or attempting to find a space on ‘Buckfast Bay’ in Kelvingrove Park, you might fancy a little treat to cool yourself down. Prior to moving to Glasgow I was unaware of the Italian-influenced ice cream industry here. Many ice cream parlours originate from the late nineteenth century when Italian immigrants moved to Scotland and introduced the new and exciting form of frozen street food. Not all of them share such a history but there is a clear abundance of cafés selling ice cream here - often with the option of buying tubs to take more home! One might think that selling ice cream in a city which is usually shrouded in rain and wind might not be such a clever idea. However, Glasgow’s ice cream shops are busy all year round – and I can’t think of a better way to procrastinate than to sample a few in the West End under the pretence of research.

University Cafe – 87 Byres Road A classic choice for a West End ice cream, University Café has existed for almost a century. Whether you want a milkshake, full breakfast, fish supper or some ice cream from the counter, this place is reliable and reasonable. The café itself is full of character with red vinyl fold-down seats and wood panelled walls – this place may not be sleek and shiny but in my opinion will serve you the best vanilla ice cream in Glasgow. Prices ranging from £1.30 for a 125ml tub or a cone, all the way up to £8.40 for a 1.lt tub, University Cafe’s ice creams are very good value for money.

Cafe D’Jaconelli – 570 Maryhill Road This has to be my favourite cafe in Glasgow (and apparently one of Billy Connel-

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TEXT: RUBY MCDOUGALL

ly’s too!) Found on Maryhill Road, around the corner from Firhill Stadium, you might be quick to miss this great little spot. Once inside you will find cosy red booths, walls covered in Partick Thistle F-C memorabilia, a juke box, and a metre-long fish tank wall feature. This place is great for a quick breakfast but even better for a big, fancy ice cream. Served with sparking palms and colourful mini-umbrellas, their ice creams not only taste great but look pretty special too. At £2.85 for a knickerbocker glory it’s also very cheap. Personally I would recommend a Chocolate Nut Sundae (£3.50), but you can’t really go wrong picking from their wide menu.

3 Steps to Heaven – 221 Byres Road Situated on Byres Road opposite Hillhead Subway, 3 Steps to Heaven is a convenient option for ice cream lovers who don’t want to stroll too far away from the Botanics. Their selling point is the ‘Cold Stone Creation’ (£4.30): you can personalise your choice of treat by selecting two types of ice cream, two toppings and one sauce and watch them get mashed together on the ice-cold stone slab behind the counter. Personally, if I’m choosing two flavours of ice cream I don’t really want them to be mashed up so that they taste like one; I think it ruins the fun. I can see the appeal though – the portions are pretty big and they have an interesting selection of toppings to choose from (flying saucers, chocolate-dipped strawberries, mint Aero, fresh fruit). The décor is fairly soulless, but the ice cream is decent. If you want a bit more character from your café then you only need to walk two shops down...

GUM / issue 03 / 2012

Nardinis – 215 Byres Road Orginially located in Largs and dating back to 1935, this famous ice-cream parlour has up and moved to Byres Road. Both the decor and menu are very impressive. You might have trouble finding a seat here but the ice cream at Nardinis is worth a wee wait; you’ll want to sit down and really savour your dessert. It’s not cheap though, with prices ranging from £3.50 for two scoops to £14.95 for the Clyde Coast Extravaganza which comprises of twelve scoops of ice cream and sixteen toppings, yes - sixteen! However there are many options on the menu from ice cream sundaes, hot fudge sundaes, ice cream sodas and milkshakes. I would recommend the Chocolate Honeycomb Vesuvius (£6.95) or if you’re a fruit lover then try the Raspberry Ripple flavoured ice cream which is very refreshing.

Mia Cafe – 31 Gibson Street I felt the need to include this teeny tiny café because I had such a good milkshake from there recently. Mia is generally pretty empty – I always feel sorry for it walking down Gibson Street in the rain thinking ‘who actually goes in there for ice cream?’ However upon spending the day in Kelvingrove Park I popped over here and bought an Oreo milkshake for £3.49 which was pretty darn tasty. It’s fairly expensive for what is essentially, a scoop or two of ice cream, four Oreos and a splash of milk but it did the job – maybe one for the desperate ice cream fan who is too lazy to walk to somewhere cheaper. The Toffee Crisp milkshake was amazing too.

glasgow university peru expedition 2011 “The screams of the spider monkeys and the swarms of insects are made all the more eerie in the sweltering humidity of isolation”

Alexandra Embiricos tells her story about travelling to Peru and facing the vastness of the Amazon Rainforest

long snakes sunning themselves on the path were not unheard of) and venturing into the jungle for our first research transects.

At the beginning of last year selection processes began that would eventually lead six undergraduate students into the deepest, darkest heart of the Amazon Rainforest. Their destination was to be the Manu Learning Centre (or MLC for short) in Peru, the ecotourism and research lodgings of the non-profit organisation CREES (Conservation, Research & Environmental Education towards Sustainability). They are located two hours down river from the closest settlement and surrounded on all sides by the vast expanse of the Manu Reserve. Yet a year ago the realities of what we were to experience as a team on our expedition, which was only one in a variety of scientific expeditions run by Glasgow’s prestigious Expedition Society, was still a distant figment. In between us and our aim was a host of fundraising events and grant applications; before we could set foot on Peruvian soil we needed to conjure enough cold, hard cash to buy camera traps, equipment, get us qualified in fieldlevel first aid, and fly us half way across the world.

The main aim of the project was to evaluate the differences between Primary, or pristine, rainforest and Secondary rainforest, which has undergone different levels of disturbance. We focused on four different studies: comparing the biodiversities of birds, mammals, amphibians, as well as the botany of three different areas, all of varying disturbance. Arriving at the MLC was nothing short of exhilarating. We had been on the road for nearly forty-eight hours, taking a small minibus laden with our equipment and rucksacks down from the mountains through the most spectacular array of ecosystems. From the soaring heights of the sparse Andes mountains, cold, barren and blazing from the clear sky, down through the cloud forests of the lower basin towards the east, until finally descending below the clouds into the damp, teeming Amazonia. Late on the second day we rounded a bend in the River Madre de Dios on small motor driven canoes, and stopped on an unmarked grey pebbled beach. From there we ascended through jungle to the clear, green paradise that was to be our home for the next six weeks.

Fast-forward to the middle of July and the team, consisting of Pascal Lovell, Ruth McNiell, Alistair Allan, Chris Long, Emily Waddell, and myself, met in the soaring city of Cusco, nestled in the heart of the Andes 3400m above sea level. Over the next few days there was a flurry of activity around the sand-coloured city, gathering the last of our equipment and meeting with two Peruvian biologists, Jolvi Valdez and Percy Orlando Chambi Perroa, who were to be our encyclopedic counterparts on the trip. Their extensive knowledge of the unfamiliar flora and fauna of the Peruvian Amazon were to prove invaluable, especially when it came to putting our compulsory rubber boots on (meter-

The Manu Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO world heritage site, covering an area roughly the size of Wales. It was in this tropical maze that we were to conduct our surveys, either along previously cut transects around the MLC, or later venturing further into unexplored jungle to carve out our own. For explanation, transects are paths cut through the dense undergrowth of the rainforest, the primary means of doing this being good old fashioned manpower and machetes. Needless to say, the team has gained the unexpected talent of wielding foot long machetes, Indiana Jones style. The surveys were separated into time slots according to the activity of our subjects - early mornings GUM / issue 03 / 2012

for birds and mammals, and late evenings for the mostly nocturnal amphibians and reptiles. This meant rotating groups of two rising before dawn every morning, dressing in the dark, and beginning the hike into a newly rousing jungle to the start of the allocated transect, or riverwards towards the clay licks - one of the few places in the world to see the endangered blue headed parrot in its natural habitat. Nighttime at the MLC was an experience of its own, with nothing more than a few solar panels and a 1kw generator to give us electricity, most of our time was spent by candlelight. Yet the full power of the rainforest was experienced at our camp in the Primary rainforest, a four-hour hike from the MLC in a self-cleared space on top of a hill. One doesn’t realise how truly in the middle of nowhere you are until darkness falls, and the screams of the spider monkeys and the swarms of insects are made all the more eerie in the sweltering humidity of isolation. Catching frogs is hard enough in the daytime, but in the glow of a head torch everything looks like a frog - leaves, spiders, your own shadow but when you catch one it’s all the more rewarding, poison dart frogs being the most elusive and prized of all. The final Expedition Report has just been completed, and contains over seventy pages of hard work and perseverance. By building on past expeditions’ data, as well as completing work in previously undocumented regions of the Manu Biosphere Reserve, a multitude of information has been collected, which will allow CREES to decide if they should attempt to enlarge the reserve, and prevent further destruction by logging and hunting to this magnificent rainforest. For more information visit: www.guperuexpedition.bbnow.org 9

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facebook:

your new cv

Will your future employer first meet you on a messy night out at the Hive? Megan Winter-Barker discusses some things you might want to keep in mind when it comes to social networking and getting employed. Nowadays your life is accessible to almost everyone. How you’re feeling, where you are or an embarrassing photo from a messy night out; we’re usually quite happy to give out all this information, no strings attached… for now anyway. But is what I post on my social network site going to come back to haunt me one day? I would consider myself fairly relaxed when it comes to my Facebook page, I keep statuses to a minimum and I’m generally happy to leave tagged the not too glamorous photos that inevitably pop up, but am I soon going to have to rake through all my old pictures and posts and start deleting anything that might be inappropriate? Once I hit the real world of job searching and interviews, where Facebook jokes are suddenly out of context, is my profile going to affect my chances of getting employed? Recently on my Facebook, friends keep appearing whose name on their profile suddenly change to something ridiculous, in an attempt to keep their 10

page from cropping up if a potential employer searches for their profile, but how necessary is this? I’ve heard rumours that it is protocol for employers nowadays, to check interviewees social network sites when considering them for a job. It would seem that this is a quick and easy way for businesses to short list candidates, but I wanted to know if this was just a myth, a scare tactic to warn us about privacy issues of social network sites, or if there is any truth behind it. At first it seemed not. Asking mostly small, private businesses, many said they didn’t initially check social network sites of potential employees. I started to think that the rumour was just that, a rumour. You don’t have to cull your profile prior to job interviews, what employee has the time to scroll through a thousand pictures of you and your mates at the Hive anyway? My real name on Facebook was safe. However, whilst this may be the case for private employers, it turned out that among big name companies, this protocol is becoming more and more frequent. One of these companies is Impact Development Training, who employ a wide range of people, and whose clients include Google, Apple, Jaguar, Landrover and Orange, just to name a few. These companies have huge reputations to uphold and an inappropriate profile could ruin your chances with them before they’ve even met you. You might have a good CV, but if your profile picture is you after a messy Thursday night out, going to GUM / issue 03 / 2012

town on a Bistro kebab, (a mild example) you know which one is going to leave the lasting impression. Yes, it’s true your profile can be ‘private’, but what goes up on the Internet, stays up. Everyone has a cyber footprint that is traceable. It’s not over even if you make it through the interview and get the job. Be aware of what goes up on your page, especially if you’re friends with other staff. Whilst large companies such as Apple have teams of people monitoring the social network sites of employees to keep an eye on them, even when working in small businesses a badly timed status can get you fired, as a friend of my once found out after a run in with the boss. So it might not be as bad as I thought, but it’s definitely not just a rumour. Best bet; don’t risk it. You might know for yourself that you’ve changed from a night out at Cheesy Pop in first year to a few sophisticated drinks at Hummingbird by fourth year, but your employer won’t know that. There is the chance that you’ll be judged on everything you’ve posted and now regret, like when you decide to check your old Myspace page and instantly wish you hadn’t. A bit of a laugh, courtesy of your mates, when you accidentally leave yourself logged on Facebook, might have the potential to decide whether or not you get the job you wanted. Perhaps not throughout all employers yet, but it looks like that is the direction we are heading. PHOTOGRAPHY: NIJOLE UKELYTE

“Your online, virtual presence can literally outlive your physical one”

“i tweet, therefore i am” z Online social networking is a phenomenon of the digital age; a new arena for communication which is exclusive to our generation and to which our generation could potentially become defined by. In the past decade, sites such as Facebook and Twitter have grown enormously and attracted a wide demographic of users, turning fleece and sandal wearing Mark Zuckerberg into the 35th richest human being on the planet and a household name (simultaneously confirming to everyone that in the 21st Century, nerds are sexy). Because of the growing popularity of social media, the line between virtual social activity and real-life social activity is becoming increasingly blurred. How often do you find yourself talking to your friends about a popular link on Reddit or a news story that went viral on Twitter? We type about what we talk about and we talk about what we type about. Occasionally you will come across someone who announces that they don’t use Facebook, but they are a rare and increasingly perplexing breed. These sites have become an integral part of modern day communication that even the wariest technophobe would find hard to avoid. Social media allows us to build a very visible and

Facebook’s timeline makes it that much easier to chronologically review your thoughts and actions. Within seconds you can look at whom you were talking to and what you were talking about in 2007 or even earlier. Does this remove the ceremony of reminiscing? Instead of being able to look back with hazy, rose-tinted glasses and invest our own emotional or sentimental weight to how we were 4 years ago, Facebook equips us with a harsh, blue-and-white roadmap of memories that we can instantly access. At the moment, it seems as if our natural social character shapes social networking sites. These sites are appealing and resoundingly popular because of a natural human desire to connect with others. Perhaps the relentless use of social media is also driven by our more underlying narcissistic urges: we are constantly concerned with how we are perceived by others and social media provides us with a platform to rigorously construct a virtual persona. Some argue that social media gives us the tools to combat that innate human fear of being forgotten and desire to leave a legacy; we can establish, amend and cement a self-conceived version of our identity in the virtual world. There are even online services (such as iPhone app ‘if I die’), which give you the opportunity to compose tweets, Facebook statuses and YouTube videos that will be published only after your death. Your online, virtual presence can literally outlive your physical one. Perhaps more concerning is the idea that our social behaviour and identity will start to become shaped by the norms of social networking sites, rather than the other way around. Think about the last time you went to a concert. At most of these events it is a struggle to view the performGUM / issue 03 / 2012

ers through the sea of cameras and video-recording phones. It seems as if these concert goers are more concerned with documenting their ‘experience’ rather than experiencing the event wholly. Because the online sharing of experiences is now so widespread and increasingly integrated with reality, it seems as if social media is beginning to validate that which we experience outside of the web. For the endless sea of video-recording concert goers, their grainy iPhone footage of the concert confirms that they had that experience rather than their living experience itself. The same goes for those groups of clubbers you may be familiar with, the ones who seem to spend their entire night posing for photographs to upload onto Facebook. Are they having a good time, or are they just preoccupied with producing the virtual evidence of having a good time? As the world gets more and more connected we may begin to question whether it is really worth doing anything unless that moment is shared for others to perceive online. If we invest more time and care into the construction of our online identity it may come at the cost of an increasingly fragile sense of real-life identity - perhaps the virtual will come to determine what is real? On the other hand, many argue that the popularity of these sites is fading. On Facebook, over-integration of people’s daily activities has led to an overwhelming mundanity. As I log onto my own Facebook account right now (for purely journalistic research purposes, of course) I am informed that so-and-so is listening to something-or-other on Spotify, Joe Bloggs is watching “Something Irrelevant” on Youtube and that 37 of my friends ‘like’ Sleeping. So perhaps over-integration will not lead to a more fragile sense of identity but rather a widespread boredom with social media and then its eventual collapse. Either way, we would probably do well to maintain a sphere of non-connected experiences and an identity that isn’t defined by constant virtual documentation. No hard feelings, Zuckerberg.

TEXT: ALICE HEALY-SMITH

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easily accessible virtual record of ourselves. The distinction between what you do in real life and what you announce on your Facebook wall is becoming increasingly integrated. Twitter and Facebook users are documenting the events they go to, the music they listen to, political affiliations, moral standpoints, personal relationships, life events; the gradual building up of a virtual ‘self’. We live in an age where these digital footprints begin literally from birth. Doting parents-to-be increasingly use social media to upload baby-scans to share with friends, and thus beginning the virtual documentation of yet another digital native. It is mindboggling to consider the amount of personal content that will be accessible about social media users in say twenty years’ time, available at simply the click of a button. These easy-access reminders of fond memories are a great benefit of social media but should we be more concerned about the wider implications they might carry - such as how it could affect the function of memory and personal conceptions of identity?

ILLUSTRATION: ANDY KING

art

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FOR BARBARA HEPWORTH A POEM BY LUCY CHESELDINE

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A day of culture, I am a sculptor, Shaping my world with hand and nail. The water was gushing, The spectators were rushing, The British art ship continues to sail. We were given a guide, Taken by the iron mounds and contours for a ride, Across the Yorkshire moors of snow and hail. But back to my hands, Now released from their bands, Beside paper and leather and pencil I stand.

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a summer of art in glasgow 29th June 2012 Hugh Laurie and Special Guests

The star of House brings himself and his band to Glasgow to play for his devoted fans. Performing at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Laurie will be playing tracks from his internationally renowned debut album ‘Let Them Talk’. It won’t be a cheap evening at £35 a ticket, but well worth it if you consider yourself a Laurie fan. It might be a while before he is back.

20th April - 7th May 2012 Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art

Until 13th August Alasdair Gray: City Recorder

For all the fans of art, both traditional and off the wall. This year’s festival brings a range of events, talks and tours across the whole city. With exhibitions and displays from Adrian Wiszniewski, Alan Stanners and Amelia Bywater to name but a few, the festival is set to be a good one. This is also a good festival for those uneducated in art, something for everyone is to be found here.

Glasgow artist and writer Alasdair Gray has returned with a brilliant new exhibition. The Glasgow School of Art Graduate brings his artwork to GoMA over the summer, and the exhibition has been called one of the biggest displays of Gray’s artwork to date. A special mention of the printed illustrations taken from Gray’s most famous novel Lanark is necessary, this is worth a visit simply for those.

2012

13th - 30th June 2012 Macbeth The famous Scottish Play has been dramatically reborn in this Tramway production of Macbeth. Actor Alan Cumming takes over this play, accommodating every role. Unusual? Definitely, but a must see. The play will be heading to New York straight after its final date in Glasgow, so make the visit while you can.

THE ILLUSTRATION WAS MADE BY ALASDAIR GRAY WHOSE EXHIBITION CAN BE SEEN AT GoMA (details above)

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TEXT: LAURA STOCKWELL

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India through the eyes of Kate Regan “I went to India after leaving school and before coming to Glasgow. I’d never travelled alone before but found it to be quite simply the best thing I’ve ever done - a few sentences can’t really do justice to how vast, varied and magnificent India is. I love to take photos and always use film, though my technical knowledge is pretty non-existent - I subscribe to the ‘shoot-and-hope-I-haven’t-just-wasted-another-tenner-in-Jessopsgetting-a-blank-roll-developed’ sort of photography.”

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GUM / issue 03 / 2012

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ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDY KING www.andykingstudio.com

Do you also like to draw? Or take photographs? Do you obsessively doodle in your notebook during lectures?

Can you appreciate a font for its “sturdiness” or its “fragility” (yes, fonts can have emotions)? Have you ever bought a magazine you knew you would never read, simply because you liked the texture of the paper? Or do you just love art & design so much you are willing to pull all-nighters, break more than a few pencils and sweat blood a couple of days every month just to be able to CREATE? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then you are perfect for the team! Previous experience is not necessary. Passion and dedication always

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come first. Everybody working at GUM come from radically different backgrounds and we all learn as we go along. There is no other way. After all, the best way to learn is by doing.

Soon the new editor will be recruiting team members for the academic year 2012/13. There are various positions available and if you want to get involved, drop us an email at gum@src.gla.ac.uk to become a part of GUM.

fashion

ILLUSTRATION: ANDY KING

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at ers

When it comes to size, the skinnier, the better. This has been the message from the fashion industry for the past decade or so. Skinniness has become synonymous with wealth, beauty and success, despite the media coverage concerning the fierce competition, malnutrition and eating disorders on the catwalk. However, that may be due to change. Christina Hendricks, the Mad Men and Drive actress, famous for her curves, is being held up as the image of healthiness. The British Government recently endorsed Hendricks as a new role model for women in the UK, hoping to avoid another generation of girls who starve themselves for the ‘perfect’ body. Artists such as Adele are also gaining more press coverage supporting their shape (especially after Karl Lagerfeld stated that she was “a little too fat”) and sales in plus size dummies have risen dramatically in recent years. Meanwhile, Mark Fast and William Tempest have used models from the growing model agency 12+UK in their showcases, alongside smaller models. Even more recently, trompe l’oeil dresses - which give the illusion of the classic hourglass shape - have

The reign of skinny may be coming to an end, but will it really make a difference? Catriona Perry discusses. had a resurgence across the red carpet and high street. There’s definitely a change in the air.

Hendricks, and, frankly, there’s already enough to do in the day. Furthermore, naturally skinny girls (yes, they have feelings too) will surely reach the levels of insecurity now felt by bigger girls.

Despite having measurements of 40-29-40, I don’t see how this shift will benefit me, or indeed the majority of women. The idea that any body can be In a world where a woman’s body is commented held up and declared as ‘perfect’, or something on before her intellect, her personality or even her women should aspire to, is absurd, not to mention face, the idea that there should be only one shape highly detrimental to the confidence of perfection would also “The idea that any body of women. I know as well as anyone seem to be inevitable. But can be held up and how depressing it is to feel like you healthy girls actually come declared as ‘perfect’, or can’t be considered attractive, simin all shapes and sizes, and something women should the focus should be on the ply because your body isn’t the kind aspire to, is absurd” that is seen in the media. What is the diversity of healthy women topoint of replacing one concept of day, rather than having over attractiveness with another, one which is equally half the female population feeling disappointed unattainable? It will still leave women feeling diswith their own bodies. Then articles like this one satisfied with their own bodies. wouldn’t be necessary. Though curvy images promote flesh over bone, some are concerned that creating Monroe-esque There is not one universal concept of beauty, but curves will lead some women to resort to plastic no-one seems to have told the press that. Hopesurgery to enhance their breasts, given that large fully, in the future, fashion designers will try to acbusts are usually found alongside a larger tumcommodate all shapes, rather than put one on a my. There is still a high level of control involved pedestal, out of reach to all but the lucky, naturalin maintaining the dimensions of women such as ly-endowed few.

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 menswear style report a/w 2012 With summer just around the corner, looking towards the colder months again might seem almost masochistic. But fashion always stays one season ahead and here’s how you boys can stay stylish when the cold starts creeping up on us again. Keeping up with each show at New York, London, Milan and Paris Fashion Week meant that irregular eating and sleeping patterns was the price I had to pay. In the end though it was all worth it. Fashion Month gave us endless hours of excitement, fabulous street style and of course – trends for this coming Autumn/Winter from the top designers in the business. Fashion bloggers and insiders from the industry kept us all up to date through twitter and various other social media, and gave us reports on which trends stood out at each show. What they didn’t give us however, were trend reports on menswear collections that read longer than a single, solitary paragraph. If I were a guy, I would be pretty peeved. So, here at GUM we have decided to give the guys what they’ve been waiting for; a style report on the top trends this coming season. New York was first up, where we saw menswear collections from designers such as DKNY, Duckie Brown, John Bartlett, Rag & Bone, Tommy Hilfiger, Antonio Azzuolo and Robert Geller. DKNY was the one show which I found to contain a lot of the recurring trends from New York Fashion Week all rolled into one; Sleek evening/business wear in the form of black and grey double breasted trouser suits were finished with shades to give a casualcool edge to the look. Day wear followed with horizontal stripe and patterned jumpers, slouchy knit cardigans, checked shirts, stone coloured chinos - which had the legs rolled up slightly - and jack-

ets with shearling collars and lining. Then came a series of looks that would have best suit a getaway driver; baseball caps, black leather gloves, bomber-style jackets, padded body warmers and jackets, leather shirts and shirt jackets, turtle-neck tops and wool blend jackets all worked together to create some very stylish - yet warm for our Scottish weather - Autumn/Winter looks. Up next was London and for this particular fashion week, we saw menswear collections from the likes of Belstaff, Ozwald Boateng, MAN, Christopher Shannon, Topman Design, Matthew Miller and RAKE to name but a few. Topman Design in particular showed its gothic side for Autumn/ Winter 2012; leather trousers featured heavily with fur and wool long line coats to fend off the chill of a UK winter. Long knit cardigans and doublebreasted blazers and jackets were a trend that carried over from the previous week in New York, alongside belted waists and black leather gloves. Shirts were black, grey or white, with some featuring full on patterns in the form of polka dots and various other geometric prints. The colour palette used as a whole? Black with a few sporadic flashes of white and grey. One look which particularly stood out, was this black patent coat with matte sleeves due to it’s resemblance to the collection of dark, lacquered outerwear seen at Alexander Wang RTW Fall 2012 in New York previously. It’s week three and we find ourselves in Milan. The home of the most glamorous and famous fashion designers in the business; Gucci, Fendi and Prada – you know you’re going to see some amazing shows when you hear those names. For menswear, that means shows from Alexander McQueen, Prada, Bally, Versace, Botega Veneta, Dsquared2, Burberry Prorsum, Calvin Klein, Gucci, D&G, Emporio Armani... and the list goes on. From the grand opulence and grandeur at D&G, to the in your face, electric colour combinations at Versace; Milan had something for every type of man this Autumn/Winter. Florals, checks, tailored suiting and intricate brocade featured at many of the menswear shows such as Alexander

McQueen and D&G, with double breasted suits (sensing the trend here?), pinstripes, polka dots, gun prints, leather gloves, trousers and jackets at Valentino, Prada and Gucci. Missoni was the one show which had a focus on ‘outdoorsy festival’ day wear with preppy knit cardigans, scarves and double breasted suits which went alongside striped, geometric print tops and jumpers, puffa jackets, gilets and duffle jackets. Not only will you guys love the looks, but there were a few cardigans and jackets in there that I’m sure the ladies in your life would no doubt want to cover up in too! If you liked what Milan had to offer, wait until you see how Paris turned out. Balmain, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Acne, Christian Lacroix Homme, Lanvin, YSL, Givenchy, Hermes, Issey Miyake, Louis Vuitton, Jean Paul Gaultier and Karl Lagerfeld Paris were among the shows which contributed to a great ending to a fashion-filled month. Velvet, knitwear and leather played a large part in the majority of collections this week, however one collection that featured all three in an interesting way was Balmain, which had a theme of Russian Imperial Army meets classic Rock n’ Roll. Skinny jeans in red, white, navy, black and denim were paired with rolled neck tops, knit cardigans and double breasted military style blazers (some in velvet) with shoulder pad detailing, finished off with clumpy buckled leather boots. On paper it would have seemed out of sorts for Balmain, however it merged seamlessly when seen in the flesh. Olivier Rousteing did a fine job with this collection considering it is only his second for Balmain menswear. Finally, to summarise all four fashion weeks, the top five key trends for Autumn/Winter 2012 are:

1. Double Breasted Jackets/Coats & Blazers in Grey, Black, Navy, Red & Deep Purple. 2. Checks, Stripes, Geometric Shapes and Pinstripes. 3. Leather gloves and, well, everything really. 4. Turtle-necks 5. Fur & Shearling Lined/Trimmed Coats TEXT: MARIA LITIZIA KELLY

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Shirts: M&S (Jamie), American Apparel (Alan) Bowties: Hocus Pocus

ď ˇ Models: Alan Adams (left) & Jamie Walker (right) Styling: Ginger Clark (gingerfashionmonsters.com) Photography: Andy King (andykingstudio.com)

features / art / fashion / politics / music

Jamie (right) wears: shirt M&S, silk scarf We Love to Boogie, trousers American Apparel, spats Jennie Lööf, shoes Schuh. Alan (left) wears: shirt American Apparel, tweed jacket We Love to Boogie, trousers Topman, spats Jennie Lööf, shoes Schuh.

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Jamie (right) wears: shirt We Love to Boogie, tie Talented Apple, trousers American Apparel, shoes Schuh. Alan (left) wears: shirt M&S, tie Talented Apple, trousers We Love to Boogie, shoes Schuh.

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Both Jamie (right) & Alan (left) wear: shirts American Apparel, ties Hocus Pocus, trousers Topman, shoes Schuh.

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politics

 kony 2012 It is a name that most of us would never have recognised a few weeks ago. Since the Invisible Children’s overwhelming viral campaign – shared through the mediums of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - millions have viewed the video that would apparently be ‘the best spent 30 minutes of your day.’ There was even a scribbled plea in the Glasgow University Library toilets, urging the students of Glasgow to watch the eye-opening broadcast. Now, ‘Kony’ is a name we cannot seem to avoid. I’m sure many of us fall victim to the guilt-ridden cry of Comic Relief clips. I even know one person who shed a tear over an advert for the mistreatment of donkeys. Yet when I watched the Kony 2012 video, I could not help feeling uncomfortable. Initially, I blamed this on the Hollywood style of the video, particularly its use of the new Facebook Timeline to visualise Jason Russell’s narration. Russell directs the message of the violations caused by Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army through an explanation to his 5-year-old son. By doing so, the Kony campaign repeats an ongoing characteristic of Western media coverage of foreign affairs: simplistic explanations that inevitably misrepresent their true nature. After the video finished, I understood only what Jason Russell’s 5-year-old son understood: Joseph Kony is a bad man and he must be stopped. The campaign has already been subject to criticism, particularly due to the limited explanation it provides of the LRA and the situation in Uganda. The media also has a history of providing inaccurate information and with such a dependence on news and aid agencies for information, public understanding of the third world is often limited to images of violence, chaos and poverty-stricken families in mud huts. The Rwandan genocide in 1994 is a typical example of how the media distorted our image of the 24

developing world and can misrepresent events quite dramatically. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in a matter of weeks. It was an unthinkable atrocity against humanity, yet the crisis was poorly understood - both by journalists and their audiences – due to the lack of information about Rwanda’s history. Guardian journalist Fergal Keane warned reporters that the Rwandan people were being misrepresented as ‘savages doomed to slaughter each other in perpetuity.’ He stated that ‘the reporting of Africa has been conditioned by a view of its people as an eternally miserable smudge of blackness stretching across the decades… [there is] far too much reliance on tired clichés about ancient tribal hatred.’ Central to most news stories of the mass killings was the power struggle between two political tribal groups in Rwanda, the Hutus and Tutsis.

belief that Western audiences have always been disinterested in foreign affairs. It appears that the Kony 2012 campaign has also assumed that an in-depth context to Ugandan history would not capture millions of viewers as well as continuing to portray Ugandans as helpless victims. The disturbing images of mutilated faces, impoverished children seeking nightly refuge and child soldiers used in the video are all common formats of the media’s depiction of Africa’s tragic circumstances. However the campaign fails to mention that since the LRA retreated into central Africa in 2006, Ugandan children seeking refuge has dropped dramatically. The portrayal of the Ugandan and American militaries, allied in the mission to arrest Kony, is also misleading: Ugandan forces have been accused of committing the same atrocities as the LRA, including murder, sexual trafficking and the use of child soldiers.

As news programmes continued to use images and language that continued this narrative of tribal chaos and slaughter in Rwanda, most failed to reI do not doubt that Invisible Children, like many port the colonial history of the region. The staggernon-profit organisations, charities and aid agening number of victims – estimates reach 500,000 cies, has had positive effects on the lives of some dead in 100 days - was in fact due to the structurAfrican people. The Kony 2012 campaign stressing of government in Rwanda, which es that ‘we created schools, we “This seems such a typical had originated from Belgian colonial created jobs’ and goes on to foneo-colonial narrative in the powers, enabling systematic mass depiction of third world events cus on ‘you’, the white western killings of Tutsis by military officials. and simultaneously infantilises community to rescue the tragic Belgian colonialism had maintained and belittles the peoples of the and helpless Africans. This countries themselves” the divide between the two peoples. seems such a typical neo-coloWhen Belgian rule ended, the conflict nial narrative in the depiction of escalated. Many journalists and news producers, third world events and simultaneously infantilises with little knowledge of the situation themselves, and belittles the peoples of the countries themfelt that audiences would not engage in the comselves. I empathise that charitable campaigns plex history of Rwanda and therefore the genoneed to shock audiences to gain awareness and cide was perceived as a great, bloody tragedy. the 24-hour media is under pressure to engage as well as entertain. Yet I am still perplexed by Of course, the brutality of the genocide was an this continuous idea dominating media that our important aspect to be shown across the world, apparently civilised, wealthy society can ‘save’ to ensure people were made aware of the horrors the violent, corrupt, under-developed countries. occurring in Rwanda. In the vein of the Invisible There is little consideration that our long history Children campaign, it is possible that reporters felt of Western-dominated relations and our indulgent the heart-breaking images of the plight would be lifestyles continue to keep the developing counthe most effective way to encourage support and tries under-developed. awareness. However, it is more likely due to the GUM / issue 03 / 2012

TEXT: KATY DEANE COLLAGE: GABRIEL KLEBER

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features / art / fashion / politics / music

“It is a poor mind that has never travelled outside of our atmosphere”

eyes turned skyward: the case for space Space is wonderous and a distant dream for most, but is that also why we need to keep exploring? Linus Sioland discusses the space politics of our time. In one episode of that prime politics pornography show, The West Wing, NASA officials are told by an irate Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman that: ‘The only time NASA makes the front page anymore is when something goes wrong. You need to get off the front page’. Indeed, while Lyman’s belief in the space programme is mended towards the end of the episode, this view of space exploration and travel does not appear all too incongruent with erstwhile public opinion in 2012. Space and its study is often seen, sometimes fairly, as the pursuit of socially awkward scientists and hopeless Star Wars fanatics smoking pot in their basements, less of a realistic policy pursuit than a hopelessly deluded mirage of science fiction disciples. To the extent that it is acknowledged, it is usually waved off in the next sentences with references to a vulnerable economy and the hopelessly vague statement that we ‘have more important things to spend money on’. Space exploration is left at the kids’ table, while the grown-ups discuss real, important things, such as stimulus packages; oil-for-arms deals with crackpot Middle-Eastern dictators; and fiscal austerity. It would be a preposterous lie to claim that watching Firefly, Star Trek and Star Wars had not influenced my view on space exploration. Then again, the same can probably be said for medics and Grey’s Anatomy or House, or kamikaze capitalists and Wall Street, although in those contexts it is usually done in a decidedly less patronising fashion. While it is not bewildering why many want to

prioritise other things, there is a credible case to be made for space. For the pragmatic case, humanity and international society will at some point have to face the fact that we, currently, only have one planet. One and a half, if we decide to count the moon as the 51st American state. Energy companies as well as industrialised and industrialising nations alike are doing their best to empty it of natural resources as quickly as possible, and we the people are breeding away at an alarming rate. Whenever it may happen, the Earth will eventually reach carrying capacity, and when it does, we have nowhere to go. This argument does not imply that space programme funding will have us all playing basketball on Jupiter within the soon future (indeed, we probably never will, given that it has no solid surface). Rather, it is a reminder of our and our planet’s mortality and slowly approaching expiration date, and the need to set the ball moving as soon as possible. Various killjoys will point out that even with space travel we will not necessarily find a way to expand outside of Earth in the long run. That is an entirely fair point to make, but to excuse inertia with pessimism is as lamentable as it is irresponsible, especially when other alternatives are few, far between, and possibly even more incredible. Indeed, the rejection of space programme funding on an economic basis reveals skewed priorities rather than actual lack of means. Neil deGrasse Tyson – American astrophysicist, public educator and Carl Sagan’s spiritual successor – points out that the 2008 $850 billion bank bailout is greater than the 50-year running budget of NASA. With greater funding, as proposed by the Penny4NASA campaign, arguing that a penny on the tax dollar for NASA is far from unreasonable, a manned mission could hit Mars within the near future.

cessity and feasibility of such a mission. It is in this context tempting to reiterate Oscar Wilde’s old idiom about knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing, but such a position must still be motivated: while the immediate monetary and scientific value of travelling to Mars might be unclear – especially to a social scientist as yours truly – it should be thought less of an ultimate destination than a milestone on a long and winding road. It is true that a lot of Mars exploration can be done robotically, but progress is made by pushing boundaries. Sending a manned mission to Mars would be to extend the frontiers of both human civilisation and imagination in a way not seen since Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969. It is in this, rather than monetary value, that the necessity of space exploration lies. The children of the post-Cold War world learned to walk during the short peace dividend of the 1990s which Francis Fukuyama called ‘the end of history’, and grew up in the decade of economic upheaval, global strife and terrorism that followed. It is hardly an exaggeration that the world as we know it today is, at times, an embarrassingly bleak place in dire need of something to look up and forward to. By all means call it an argument of sentimental fluff and hopeless dreaming, but what better to look towards than the skies? It is a poor mind that has never travelled outside of our atmosphere, and, as Carl Sagan said, we are lucky to live at the first time in human history when we are, in fact, able to travel to other worlds. It might not be part of the neoliberal economic narrative, a factor in combating global poverty and economic crisis, a strategy of gender emancipation or a way to get rid of Nick Clegg, but for what it is worth, space exploration offers us a common goal and vision. Stargazing does not contribute to GDP, but it does allow you a brief glimpse of the future of our species. Discounting it as pointless is at best unconvincing, and at worst a depressing lack of vision.

Questions have been raised as to the value, neGUM / issue 03 / 2012

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 tale of two cities Discussing deprivation and gentrification, Daniel Patterson takes a look at the contrasting worlds of Glasgow. At the turn of the last century, more than half of Britain’s ships were built in Glasgow, the ‘Second City of the Empire.’ Today, Glasgow’s prosperous centre is crucial to Scotland’s burgeoning service economy, while the surrounding wards are better known for their appalling levels of social deprivation. Glasgow is a city divided – with two cultures existing in stark contrast to one another. The West End, with its upmarket hotels and restaurants, is a world apart from Calton, where life expectancy is just 54 years. Successive governments have neglected Britain’s most vulnerable communities in former industrial regions. There is a sense that 26

politicians have abandoned working-class cities to what Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet called ‘managed decline’. If voters are ever going to accept that ‘we’re all in this together’, our leaders must work harder to address the hardships of those left behind by Glasgow’s physical and economic revival. There have been considerable efforts to regenerate the centres of cities such as Glasgow, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Liverpool, all of which have either competed for or won the European Union’s prestigious Capital of Culture award. However, a Centre for Social Justice study has concluded that the ‘eye-catching and welcome regeneration of Glasgow’s commercial centre masks the parallel existence of social decay’. Projects such as the Clyde Waterfront are great for Glasgow because they attract business and create jobs. Yet development has also spurred gentrification, as affluent people have moved into run-down areas and improved them – driving poorer residents elsewhere because they cannot afford to live there. It is concerning that Glasgow seems set to become a ‘doughnut’ city like Paris – where a rich and exGUM / issue 03 / 2012

clusive, under-populated centre is enclosed by dense outskirts where poverty and crime thrive. Glasgow is home to a generation of young people that has been forgotten by both Scottish and UK ministers. There are an estimated 170 gangs in Glasgow – a city that also accounts for more than half of all knife seizures in the country. Glasgow has one of the worst exam pass rates in the whole of Scotland, and in some wards, only one in five adults have any qualifications at all. Despite measures to tackle alcohol abuse, liver disease remains the biggest cause of premature deaths in Glasgow, while drug-related deaths have doubled in the last decade. It is clear that more money needs to be invested in state schools and that now is not the time to be taking police off the streets. We need to get young people out of gangs and into work, partly by improving the public transport network and by encouraging businesses to utilise cheap property outside of the centre. Efforts must be made to include ordinary Glaswegians in the prosperity and aspiration that has been so beneficial to the city centre.

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“Glasgow seems set to become a ‘doughnut’ city like Paris – where a rich and exclusive, under-populated centre is enclosed by dense outskirts where poverty and crime thrive”

The 1980s saw the closure of shipyards and steel mills on the River Clyde and this fed a culture of welfare dependency that continues to blight Glasgow today. Of the UK’s major cities, Glasgow has the highest level of incapacity benefit claimants, while at least a quarter of working-age residents are unemployed. Entire towns across Britain, many in England’s northeastern mining heartland, have struggled to recover from government decisions to discontinue supposedly uneconomical industries. While it does not make sense to maintain businesses that fail to deliver financially, it is surely even worse to sentence whole districts to longterm unemployment and the problems that arise as a result. Such a short-sighted and reckless approach shows little regard for the complexities that bind communities. Policies that affect regions so drastically need to be phased in gradually and accompanied by investment. Politicians must be careful when dealing with areas where there is concentration of particular skills and trades. Just as Glasgow once dominated heavy industry, northeast England has in recent years been a region depend-

ent on the public sector. The area bore the brunt of the 490,000 job losses that Chancellor George Osborne announced in his first Comprehensive Spending Review in 2010. It is therefore unsurprising that northeast England now has the highest unemployment rate in Britain. When the government targets parts of the country in this way, it fuels cynicism. The Conservatives have long been considered toxic in Scotland and northern England. So while the coalition government may be careless in its handling of these areas, it would undoubtedly think twice before wreaking havoc on London and the Home Counties, where it has parliamentary seats to lose. Regional inequalities in the UK are among the most significant in the European Union. For too long, the conversation in Westminster has been one-sided – prioritising the needs of the southeast middle classes. A range of divides are being exacerbated by a government that is increasingly out of touch. People feel detached from the political process and that their needs are being overlooked by policymakers. Just as England’s north-south tensions are worsening, the gap beGUM / issue 03 / 2012

tween Glasgow’s rich and poor is widening. With a government that fails to adequately represent the interests of even one of the UK’s nations, it is little wonder that Scots are frustrated and eager to join the debate on independence. It is worrying that we have the Scottish National Party in office at Holyrood, whose success appears to owe more to its rivals’ shortcomings, than to its own competence in domestic policy. It is obvious that mass unemployment concentrated in particular places serves nobody’s best interests. Leaders in both Edinburgh and London need to focus on getting Britain’s poorest communities back on their feet after the economic challenges that have defined recent times. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is the smart thing to do. Glasgow and other former industrial cities around the country still have the potential to contribute a great deal to modern Britain. To continue to neglect them would be a huge mistake. PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER GENOFF

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offside politics Keith Marin discusses the politics of the world’s favourite sport.

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based in the capital of the autonomous Spanish the violence subsided, hundreds were left injured region of Catalonia, is the symbolic embodiment on both sides and the political landscape of the of all that is ‘anti-Franco.’ Their supporters identify Yugoslav confederation was irrevocably altered. themselves with the separatist movement of the region, maintaining a unique language and culAlthough football matches in the Balkan region tural identity. The fans of Real Madrid, on the other can still evoke the red mists of yesteryear, vioOn the 15th April, 1989, ninety-six people were hand, are associated with the Nationalist movelence on the scale of the 1990 riot has become a crushed to death on the terraces of Hillsborough ment, a broad alliance of fascists and monarchists part of history instead of a present reality. Sadly, stadium. After the disaster, fury was targeted at who fought under the army of the generals against this is not the case in other parts of the world, the South Yorkshire police department – who were the separatists and socialists of where football is still associjudged to have caused the disaster by ill managethe Republican camp. As a result “In Scotland, the crime ated with popular revolt. In ment - and The Sun newspaper, which pointed the of this political divide, the rivalry Egypt, recent political moverate in Glasgow rises finger at drunken Liverpool fans. Recently over has been cited as one of the tensments have dramatically af113% during Old Firm 150,000 people, demanding that the government est in world football. fected the football league. weekends” disclose all documents relating to the event, have During the revolution of 2011, signed an e-petition. In response, the government This lingering separatist feud is hardcore elements of Cairo’s has reluctantly confirmed that the issue will be not isolated to Catalonia. In the Basque country, biggest club, Al-Ahly, defended anti-government raised with the Backbench Business Committee. the supporters of Athletic Club and Real Sociedad protesters against the police forces loyal to Hosni Prime Minister David Cameron has even waded – representatives of Bilbao and San Sebastián Mubarak. As a result, police forces took revenge into the quagmire, stating that Hillsborough vicrespectively – are known to fly the once-banned two months ago at a football match between Altims looking for closure is like ‘a blind man in a Basque flag, the Ikurriña. Both clubs once took Ahly and rivals Al-Masry. Some reports suggest dark room, looking for a black cat that isn’t there.’ pride in the fact that only players of Basque birth that the police turned a blind eye to the swords Football is often the most potent manifestation of could play for the teams. Nowadays, Real Socieand knives wielded by the Al-Masry fans and alcollective group mentality; no wonder, then, that it dad have dropped the practice, but Athletic Club lowed them to charge across the pitch towards can be so hard to separate from politics. continues it, albeit with the rule that people of rethe rival supporters. Other sources have mencent Basque descent can also play. tioned that police refused to open the Al-Ahly exit 1200 miles south of Hillsborough, in the Union gates, effectively leaving the fans open to attack. Jack-bedecked promontory of Gibraltar, the politiIn Spain, the situation is relatively simple. Many By the end of the riot, 79 people had been killed, cal world has again seeped into the fabric of the Basques and Catalonians use their football teams with a further 1000 injured. Some had been thrown ‘beautiful game.’ An overseas territory of Britain to release their political-fuelled angst on matchover the edge of the stands, but most had been since 1713, the Spanish government refuses to days. The debate rarely turns to violence; when stabbed or clubbed to death. recognise it as a self-governing province. As a it does, it is usually between football ‘casuals’ or result, both Fifa and Uefa have declined to rec‘ultras,’ many of which purport to fight for an illThe difference between this event and that of the ognise its football team as a legitimate member conceived cause. But in the wider world, footballHillsborough disaster is based on the idea of soof their ranks. The power of Spain in international related battles based on politics or religion are not cial responsibility. When responsibility is placed football is decisive: as the current world and Euroan uncommon sight. In Turkey, stadium battles in the hands of an organised entity – such as a pean champions, their threat to leave both UEFA still occur between the left-wing and right-wing police department - individual responsibility is and FIFA - if Gibraltar should be accepted - has elements of Istanbul’s main clubs. In Scotland, not negated; it is only diminished. The rampaging left the British enclave with only three friends in the crime rate in Glasgow rises 113% during Old hordes of Liverpool supporters storming the gates football’s diplomatic world: Scotland, Wales and Firm weekends, a reminder of the staunch Irish of Hillsborough stadium have to accept some reEngland. The importance of Gibraltar’s attempts Republican-British Monarchist divide in the counsponsibility for the disaster. If common sense and to gain admittance is not only a footballing matter, try’s largest city. decency had been adopted, the overcrowding but also one of diplomacy. situation would not have occurred, but individuAs national coach Allen Bula “The political world has Yet there is no place on earth als can only dictate a situation like this as long as states: ‘Gibraltar has many where politics can be said to absolute power is not placed into the hands of the again seeped into the sports that have been achave infiltrated football more organised entity. The fans of Al Ahly were left helpfabric of the ‘beautiful cepted by European and than in the former Yugoslavia. less by a situation outside their control, whereby game’” world governing bodies... On the 30th May, 1990, Dynamo the organisation, which was meant to protect [to] those countries that votZagreb met Red Star Belgrade them, abused their level of power. Even the terrifyed against us, I would say... your vote was actually in a ‘friendly’ league match. Some say the violence ing events of the Zagreb-Belgrade riot can be put accepting politics in football.’ at the game was the touchpaper for the Croatian down to an abuse of responsibility; compared with War of Independence, which continued up to the weekend politicisation of the Spanish football Bula seems to suggest that the mix of politics 1995. The match took place after the first multifans, the Yugoslavian supporters can be judged and football is one that should be avoided. It party elections in Croatia in almost fifty years. As a to have taken matters too far. When football and is no small wonder that he feels this way, given result, fans of Red Star chanted slogans such as politics collide, two potent forms of tribalism are the problems that his antagonist, Spain, has wit‘Zagreb is Serbian’ throughout the game. Events grotesquely morphed into a small leather ball. This nessed. We have to go back to the days of the came to a head when Dynamo Zagreb fans, led is why football will never be rid of the shackles of Franco regime to understand the rivalry of Spain’s by the ultras group ‘Bad Blue Boys,’ stormed the associated maladies, and why the victims of ineptworld famous derby, ‘El Clásico.’ The belligerents pitch to reach the Red Star fans. Clashes lasted itude at Hillsborough are now victims to the blame in question, Barcelona and Real Madrid, represent for an hour; the Croatian police force – largely loygame of politics. two of the warring ideologies that rove Spain in two al to the centralised Serbian administration – were during the Civil War of the 1930s. FCB Barcelona, seen to take the side of the Red Star fans. When

GUM / issue 03 / 2012

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PHOTO: DASHA MILLER

GUM / issue 03 / 2012

bleached sounds 

Marcus Jack knows what you’ll be listening to this summer.

Swigging rum on the sly from a hip flask, exchanging a sneaky glance with a bearded comrade who conceals a Corona up his sleeve as the police shut down the group with the monster sound system and suspicious duffel bags, a convenient distraction blaring happy hardcore. Students getting Instagrams ‘oot their nut’ in Kelvingrove - summer in all its faded melancholia is just around the corner. More seasonal than sleigh bells or even Bieber’s groundbreaking ‘Under the Mistletoe’ (Island Records, only £8.99 at HMV!) at Christmas, the summer sound is instant atmosphere to be bottled and consumed ice cold on demand. Everyone wants to live in a Polaroid; sunglasses, cider et al. sound-tracked by a mysterious ambience. Perhaps this is just a Uni [yoo-nay] fantasy, the educated youth conditioned to dream of utopia: Thai beaches, Italian piazzas and urban fields everywhaa, all, of course, in a glorious sepia tone. 30

Even if this is a commercial construct, ‘Summer sponsored by Ray Bans’, ‘Sun - brought to you by Magners’, I’ll happily buy into it. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius after all. Summer makes people look good. Trilbies, feathers, nae socks, headbands, rolled up chinos, floaty dresses, Wayfarers, Toms, taps aff - s’all good. To accompany this wardrobe are the staples of any summer playlist: Moby’s ‘Porcelain’, Texas’ ‘Summer Son’, All Saints’ ‘Pure Shores’ and Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)’. Punctuated by electronically enhanced string sampling, piano rhythms and drifting vocals, there is a definite formula to the ultimate chill out sound. Where it gets interesting though is in the complex void between club and field. What can transcend both £14.99 compact speakers and HIT BodySonic Dancefloor (à la Sub Club) in 2012? Florence + The Machine – ‘Never Let Me Go (Clams Casino Remix)’, (The Vinyl Factory/Island Records, 2012) Something in the vocals of Florence + The Machine, perhaps the intense funereal theatre of it all, repeatedly lends itself to the patronage of the GUM / issue 03 / 2012

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER GENOFF & TUMBLR.COM

music

remixer (The Weeknd, Breakage, The xx, Jack Beats). Clams Casino’s reworking of ‘Never Let Me Go’ is a minimal, stormy adaptation that succeeds in condensing the summer sound to a furious orchestral typhoon. The hyped producer samples chimes, brass and breaking waves all punctuated by a brooding echo. The effect, quasi-nautical and instantly transportive, sounds as though it were recorded in a cavern twenty thousand leagues under the sea. Suitably dramatic - the Florence tag granting an established festival following - this track is elemental, romantic and perfectly suited to the climes of a Mediterranean idyll. Jai Paul – ‘Jasmine’, (XL Recordings, 2012) The first stirring since the stunning debut ‘BTSTU’ many moons ago, ‘Jasmine’ marks a commitment from singer/songwriter Jai Paul to a disorientating, warped, echo-soul sound. Suave vocals and a relaxed rhythm, deep bass and a smooth snare clap, this track is the ultimate sunset theme. Enough evidence doesn’t yet exist, but Jai Paul is definitely meandering towards the title of visionary – think of a SBTRKT/Bon Iver hybrid, with teeth. The score to a Miami Vice remake in 2034.

review: white hills

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“Everyone wants to live in a Polaroid; sunglasses, cider et al. sound-tracked by a mysterious ambience”

Heavy space-rockers White Hills’ latest cosmic onslaught of an album, ‘Frying on this Rock’, is the band’s most precise and structured effort yet, while still managing to retain the swirling experimental elements of their earlier recordings. Hailing, somewhat surprisingly, from the urban jungle that is New York, White Hills is guitarist Dave W. and bassist Ego Sensation, who are aided on this most recent release by Julian Cope drummer Anthronhy and recording engineer Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans, Dresden Dolls, Foetus) whose vast experience helped to shape the sonic quality of the record. The band’s trademark sound is echoes upon echoes of repeated riffs hidden in clouds of feedback and spontaneous guitar work that you can easily lose yourself in, before you’re reeled back in by a stomping return to that original riff that grabbed you and held you hostage, probably most apparent on the song ‘Three Quarters’ from their eponymous 2010 album. Dave W. remarks in a recent interview that ‘it’s like you can escape in a way that you can’t escape, in the sense of when you watch a television programme or when you watch a movie. It’s mind-expanding and hopefully it makes people think in some way.’

Orbital – ‘New France (feat. Zola Jesus)’, (ACP Recordings, 2012) The anticipated return of Orbital, after eight years of silence, heralds a new evolution for electronica. New record ‘Wonky’ has ambitions in smoothing every glitch and precarious drop left in the wake of dubstep – a return to form, single ‘New France’ nods to the purity of Orbital’s origins. Lending her hyper-ethereal, tempestuous vocals to the track, Zola Jesus, industrial siren extraordinaire, translates well into the ambient. Both strings and synths swell organically as layers are built upon in what becomes an anthem revelling in melancholy. If ever a sound evoked the fever of a late summer night, ‘New France’ was it. The summer anthem isn’t beyond rational comprehension. A manifesto for perfection would demand the track to be: ethereal, intensely theatrical and capable of scoring the film of your life – epic summer internal montage time (don’t worry, everyone does it). It has to sustain play on repeat for days on end, through both drunken bliss and crippling hangover, on tinny speakers and on high end sound systems. “It shall play on the beaches, it shall play on the landing grounds, it shall play in the fields and in the streets, it shall play in the hills; it shall never surrender” (Winston Churchill, the smoking bit outside Subby, ca. 1940).* And with that, long live the summer! Let it be a bleached Polaroid haze.

When White Hills took to the stage at Glasgow’s Stairway Club on Union Street on March 21st, this notion of thought provoking escapism became clear as the band blended their set into a single, combined sensory overload. They were aptly supported by Glasgow’s drone drenched krautrock collective The Cosmic Dead, whose largely instrumental style was interspersed with distorted chants, driven by repetitive percussion, the steady tempo giving them an almost spiritual presence, as if they were summoning their sonic Gods of Can, Neu! and Hawkwind to come and join the show. White Hills followed, beginning their set boldly with their most recent single ‘Pads of Light’, a battering gem of stoner rock that clearly showed they were not here to fuck about. After immediately reeling the crowd in to their other-worldly sound, they continued to hold us there, hypnotised, for the duration. A definite highlight of the set was the pulsing penultimate track of ‘Frying on this Rock’, ‘Song of Everything’, which came alive with absolute ferocity as Dave W. and Ego began with the same looped riff, W. layering his guitar work over the top, all elements gradually stripped down to a quietly whirling sound, above which W. entreats us to ‘open your minds/open your hands/take it in’. Under this spell, it’s hard not to. The song culminated into an experimental explosion of sound as the musicians played off each other to reign the song back in to its heavy end. Although not quite living up to their triumphant record H-P1, released just last year with its thunderously tense atmosphere, Frying on this Rock is nevertheless worth a listen for any fans of the band or the psychedelic genre in general. However, it is without question that White Hills have succeeded in breathing trance-inducing life into the tracks during their shows, continuing to add to their already renowned reputation as a mesmerising live act.

TEXT: SOPHIE MCGRAW

*Please note sources may be of questionable authenticity. GUM / issue 03 / 2012

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intro duc ing TOY

Meet TOY. They’re the newest neo-psychedelic outfit to come out of London, following in the footsteps of the likes of The Horrors and S.C.U.M, and everybody is talking about them. They’re a punk, krautrock and post rockinspired five piece that are looking to make 2012 their year. GUM caught up with them to hear about how their journey as a band started, how it’s going, and what the future has in store for them. 32

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The band is a relatively new formation, born in 2010 out of the ashes of the – circa 2007 – promising outfit, Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong. They are Tom Dougall (vocals, guitar), Dominic O’Dair (guitar), Maxim “Panda” Barron (bass), Alejandra Diez (synths) and Charlie Salvidge (drums). Their music is a vibrant shade of psychedelia that brings ethereal guitars and whirring synths together with driving drums and bass and Dougall’s baritone voice. Their first single ‘Left Myself Behind’ is a seven-minute journey of a song that never lets you know quite where it’s going. Dougall sings “Life slips by and I’m losing time” as you get lost in the whirling landscapes of scuzzy synths and reverb drenched guitars that pack out the songs sound. Since their formation, the band’s reputation is growing fast, Rhys Webb of The Horrors has pitched them as his “favourite band for 2012” and NME have put TOY at number fourteen in their list of the “twenty most exciting bands of 2012”. They have played all over London and further afield in the UK in support of The Horrors and on the 18th GUM / issue 03 / 2012

of January, they held the first concert of an oldschool headlining residency at The Shacklewell Arms pub in Dalston, London. They’ve also played support to legendary 60’s garage rock band The Pretty Things and have played sold out shows at The Roundhouse in north London. Despite all the hype and excitement around the band, one needs to look no further than their official facebook page to see that TOY have not allowed themselves to be swallowed up amongst all the praise they are receiving. Indeed, the band endeavor to interact with nearly every post on the page and answer every question posed to them. In fact, this is exactly how GUM secured an interview with these exciting new rockers. After agreeing to an interview on the page, Alejandra obliged to answering a few of our questions over email. How did all of you meet and what brought you together as a band? Tom, Dom and Panda went to school together in Brighton so they’ve known each other since they

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were teenagers. I came from Spain six years ago and we met almost straight away. We were all into the same kind of music and we moved to London shortly after. Charlie is from Gloucester, we met him a few times and when he moved to London we started playing together.

Everything that can happen, does happen”. I am also reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s “The Birth of Tragedy” and got given for my birthday two books on the making of “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine and “20 Jazz Funk Greats” by Throbbing Gristle.

playing more of our own shows, the Shacklewell residency and starting touring outside England. But we are concentrating on our album, which we can’t wait to have finished and released!

Were you set on the kind of music you wanted to make from the beginning or have there been changes to your style since you started?

The last record you bought?

Hopefully loads of singles, album releases and live shows! We just want to be able to write and play as much as possible and be as prolific as we can. That’s what we like the most, so that’s what we would like to do for as long as possible!

We weren’t set on any kind of music from the beginning and we still aren’t. Usually somebody comes up with an idea and we work on it until we are satisfied and happy with the way it sounds. One same song can change a lot from the initial idea to the final product. We constantly try to improve all songs, sounds, etc. until we feel we’ve found something exciting.    What was the last book you read? Last book I bought was “The Quantum Universe:

“Deutsche Elektronische Musik Vol 1”, which is experimental German Rock and Electronic music from 1972-83. Also, on Itunes I got Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan “Song of the Second Moon”. Both amazing stuff! Things seem to be getting really exciting for you guys right now, what’s been the highlight of your life as a band so far and what are you looking forward to the most? We’ve played quite big venues like the Round House in London supporting The Horrors which was great, so we are really looking forward to GUM / issue 03 / 2012

What does the future have in store for TOY?

When will we hear new-recorded material? We are just recording our second single, which will be released very soon, and we are planning to release our first LP beginning of September.    TOY will be coming to the 02 ABC in Glasgow on Tuesday the 15th of May in support of The Horrors. Make sure to get down and check them out. TEXT: TOM CLARKE

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interview: airs Airs is Chris Broyles and Aaron Kelley, two friends from opposite coasts of the U.S who make grand, contemplative music from the confines of their respective bedrooms. Originally, the project was an outlet for Broyles’ solo recordings and had more of a dark and brooding tone, but it has since evolved to incorporate a wider range of sounds. Broyles explains how Airs as a twopiece came to be: “I was in another band at the time and I was starting to do songs that didn’t fit with that project, so it just kind of became its own band, and – after one really really bad album – I decided that it really needed vocals; it needed to be polished a bit more. I had someone else on vocals for one release, but eventually I decided that it should have clean vocals all the way through, and that’s where Aaron came in.” The duo’s musical tastes are varied, and as such their songs now contain elements of 80s pop, moody shoegaze and militant black metal; but they manage to make it all work despite the contradictory nature of their influences. Kelley agrees: “There’s a conjoining there between tastes, so it’s not a complete disconnect; there’s always something we have in common. We can tell each other what we are good at and where we can actually relate to the music more.” Kelley resides in Florida, whereas Broyles is based in California. When asked how the long distance affects the creative process, Kelley explains: “There’s a tonne of back and forth. If Chris starts with a song, he pretty much sends me a rough draft or a demo of it, we discuss the piece and whether it sounds good or not; he will often finish it up for the mostpart and send it over to me. With this 34

new album I’ve been adding bass, when before we didn’t really do that. Before, he pretty much sent me the full track, I recorded vocals over the top of it after writing us some lyrics, and he would take the vocal track and mix it all together and master it.” Broyles jokingly adds: “Yeah, he’s actually doing stuff now!” Airs have released their music on a number of formats, from the conventional CD and digital distribution methods, to cassette tapes, VHS, and – wait for it – 10.25” floppy disks. Broyles sheds more light on the decision to put their music out on such formats: “The VHS thing was because I have a VHS collection, and I’ve always been a fan of cult VHS releases that are super limited. The floppy was just kind of a joke. We’re concluding the joke with a limited to ten regular-sized floppy, which just went out. We get a lot of requests for 8-track tapes, it’s starting to worry me...” Last year, the band released ‘Gloomlights’, a double album with lighter, poppy songs on one disc and darker, heavier songs on the other. It was well received by blogs, and will be followed up this year by ‘Adore’, a comparatively brief outing at eight tracks. “I think it’s pretty much written,” Broyles reveals. “It’s like ‘Gloomlights’ but more evolved. It’s a pretty dark album. There’s a few really upbeat songs, but most of them are really gloomy.” Last year was the first time Airs met up to play a short run of shows in California. When asked how that went, Broyles laughs, confessing:

 “It felt like a mess. It was a learning process, because I’d never performed with programmed drums and all that stuff before, so we were learning with each show, like ‘how is this going to work?’” Kelley agrees: “We didn’t really play enough. The very last show was when we were really hitting our stride, and that was the end of it! I think we’ll rectify that with our next tour.”

“We get a lot of requests for 8-track tapes, it’s starting to worry me...”

In August, Airs plan to perform again in California as well as Nevada, and they’ve been expressing their interest in covering more of the US. Kelley plans to move out closer to Broyles so that he won’t have to spend so much on travelling domestically, which would also allow the band to play and practice a lot more in the future. For now, they’re focusing on wrapping up their next recordings. We can’t wait. You can find out more about Airs and access their music at: facebook.com/airsmusic airs.bandcamp.com airsmusic.tumblr.com To hear the full interview with Airs, check out the special episode on Source Tags & Mixtapes on Subcity Radio, featuring exclusive tracks from the band: http://subcity.org/shows/ sourcetagsandmixtapes/66f26/

GUM / issue 03 / 2012

TEXT: ROSS WATSON PHOTO: LAUREN ELYSE

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

a new star

Chris Day and Calum Bannerman listen to up and coming Gabrielle Aplin.

It’s not very often that the first time you listen to a musician, you realise you’ve become encapsulated and wholly engrossed in both their music and personality. I encountered this overwhelming experience the first time I heard what I believe to be the voice of an angel. As rule of thumb, Glasgow’s King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut rarely fails to put on a good gig, and every year it plays host to future stars of music. When nineteen-year-old singer/songwriter Gabrielle Aplin played there early last month, she showed Glasgow that she was more than ready to become one of those stars. Celebrating her recently acquired record deal; Aplin took to the stage in her usual fun and quirky manner. Greeted with the welcoming Glaswegian shouts of “I love you Gabs!” it was evident that she had a small yet loyal fan base already present. However this was certainly not just a gig for the diehard Aplin fan; every member of the crowd was

hooked on her powerful voice, floating lyrics and mellow acoustic guitar. A crowd, which Gabrielle herself notes makes the venue special. The popularity of this rising star was notable not only in the amazing turn out for her gig but also the vast amount of people who stayed behind to buy her EPs, or simply just to speak with her. It comes as no surprise therefore that Aplin said she didn’t really find it hard to get a record deal. She was inevitably presented with a lot of offers before signing a deal just a day before the Glasgow gig. For her, dropping out of school at sixteen to study music was merely the first confident and brave decision in a three-year period of hard work to get deservingly to where she is today. Unfortunately, for many artists the pursuit of a record deal and making money are core objectives of their musical careers. Aplin however believes that if an artist’s only goal is to sign a record deal then they shouldn’t be in the music business. For the teenage singer/songwriter music is not about money, nor even the record deal, but rather about the enjoyment of fulltime writing and performing, something she says she would be doing whether she got paid or not. GUM / issue 03 / 2012

Aplin’s latest EP is entitled ‘Home’. Fearne Cotton was the first of many Radio1 DJs to play the song on her show just weeks after its release. The song impressively and rightfully reached a peak of number five in the iTunes album download chart alongside Ed Sheeran’s debut album ‘+’. Gabrielle took the opportunity to show how grateful for all the support and the amazing feedback from the EP she was. It is this blind enthusiasm and passion for music alone that shines through as Aplin’s most appealing feature. I feel as if her love for music always radiates on stage. Her obvious enjoyment at playing her music made the gigs I attended in both Glasgow and Belfast comfortable and enjoyable, with the crowd laughing along with her one minute whilst absorbing her lyrics the next. In short, there is no doubt that Gabrielle Aplin will go far in the music industry. Her career as a singer/songwriter is still in its youth, and she undoubtedly has a lot ahead of her. Aplin is a breath of fresh air, with a stunning voice, a quirky and grounded personality and mature musical style. Get your hands on her EP ‘Home’, which is well worth a buy, give it and her other EP’s a listen, and make sure you go and see her live soon – the opportunity to see an up and coming star early in their career is not one to be missed! 35

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