THE IRREPRESSIBLES RETURN WITH NEW MUSIC

The Irrepressibles is the creative guise of Manchester artist Jamie Irrepressible, who’s been singing songs of the gay experience since his debut album, ‘Mirror Mirror’ back in 2009. His biggest songs ‘In This Shirt’, ‘Two Men in Love’, and ‘The Most Beautiful Boy’ – which became the soundtrack to Netflix’s hit series Young Royals alongside collaborations with the likes of Royksopp have helped him grow a huge international LGBTQI audience. They have amassed a whopping 270 million streams on Spotify and an astonishing 8.1 billion streams on YouTube, cementing his status as one of the most innovative and influential acts in contemporary music.

Jamie’s artistic journey also took a poignant turn in 2014 when he performed his song “Two Men In Love” at the UK’s first gay wedding, marking a significant moment in LGBTQI+ history.

Fast forward to 2024 and Jamie is back with new music, and has just released a new single, ‘Will You’ the first release from an upcoming new album, due later this year. ‘Will You’ is sexy grunge stoner-rock about the allure of men’s eyes meeting in a bar with pent up sexual tension in the air with a great chorus of ‘Oh homo! Will you take me home?” It’s a queer sex positive indie-anthem which comes with a stunning video set in the ‘afters’ of a gay bar featuring a real life dancer gay couple & other queer performers from the London scene - directed by Will Kennedy who made previous queer videos for artists like Anna Calvi & Hercules & Love Affair.

Here’s Jamie on the new music:

“The project’s focus is always about telling the homosexual story and with the next album I felt it was time to get visceral with The Irrepressibles with a return to my indie-rock roots.”

The Irrepressibles will be touring this summer and the new album is due later this year.

Grumpy Old Bugger

Scott Aldred

A wise woman once said, ‘It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me’. I never really paid much attention to Taylor Swift before. Sweet and inoffensive she fluttered around on the periphery of my consciousness like some posh, glittery moth. Or butterfly. I prefer moth.

It was one of those lazy Sundays when you’ve eaten your bodyweight in potatoes and you’re trying hard not to think about Monday morning approaching like a Tsunami of cold grey misery, when I stumbled across the Miss Americana documentary on Netflix. I was only about half an hour in and I wanted to murder Kanye West.

To be fair, I didn’t have a spectacularly high opinion of him going into the thing, but watching his rank misogyny and entitlement play out at the Grammys with a little context behind it, I found myself wanting to reach into the screen and collapse his wind pipe. Mind you if I had, I’d have probably received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy.

Note to self, less violent references going forward.

The thing is, we love an underdog. We do. Whether its someone falling flat on their arse on Dancing on ice, or a contestant on ‘Britain’s Got Talentless Freaks’ singing their self composed dirge to their mum who ‘Can’t be here tonight…cos she’s a lazy cow’, we like to champion those who are going through a bad time. It triggers something primitive in us. We superimpose ourselves into the place of the person losing their bikini and being dragged face first across the Atlantic on a paragliding holiday. We empathise with the lady doing a gender reveal (genital reveal, get it right) who discharges a confetti cannon into her own face and ignites the hairspray she spent twenty minutes applying that morning. We wince when the bride pushes the grooms face into the wedding cake only to realise he’s lost both eyes in a freak skewer accident. Note to everyone – don’t push people’s heads into cakes… they invariably are held together with sharpened bamboo canes and barbed wire.

We care. We say ‘Aww’, or ‘Awk/Ack’ as I’m learning in Northern Ireland. We share with a little sad faced emoji

That is of course…until it’s a Facebook breakup. Then, all bets are off. You make a brew, grab a bowl of popcorn and before you can say, ‘No more snakes its just me and the babbies from now on’ you are settling in for the long haul. The prospect of entertainment better than anything Ms Swift can offer up. No offence to the glittery moth, no really, she seems self-aware if nothing else. I’ve grown quite fond of her of late.

Anyways…there was, let’s call him a gentleman, on my Facebook feed that had had the misfortune of a breakup with his boyfriend. The break up took place over a year ago. I wasn’t overly invested in the relationship. You know what gays are like. They can’t defrost a pack of mince for dinner without sticking it on Instagram whilst flashing a peace symbol. So when they get a boyfriend its spam city. I’m going to change the details here so as not to alert anyone but I recently observed a guy meet a boy, enter into a relationship, pose for multiple photos having a pillow fight and break up in the space of 24 hours. Honestly, they barely had time to adopt.

I digress. So normally we get this constant drip feeding of every minutiae (to those on my Facebook yes I know – pot, kettle) of their lives and so when suddenly they start posting pics of themselves at axe throwing classes…ON THEIR OWN, we sit upright. Its understandable… we need a bit of closure too.

It starts out subtly enough. You see them with new friends. Or people you know they hate but their real friends have already picked a side so beggars can’t be choosers. They lose weight (jammy bitch) and they get a new tattoo or a buzz cut.

Then…someone begins what we’ve all been waiting for. The airing of the dirty laundry.

‘Guess I was a mug for thinking you can be friends with an ex….more fool me’

‘Taking time to focus on me. No time for sleeping around…UNLIKE SOME!!!!’

Or my personal favourite

‘Beware [REDACTED] unless you want an STD as he is riddled. He has robbed me blind and the police are aware’

It’s usually at this point the ‘DM me babe’ responses start to land. Sod off. We’ve spent time following this particular pantomime… we need answers. How long has this been going on? Which STD? You don’t know I’m one of the people he met do you? DO YOU??

Which brings me to the start of this, lets call it an article. How often, post break up, do you see ‘I behaved poorly’, or ‘I could have handled this better?’. You don’t, because the people that are mature enough to think like that know better than to parade their misery on Facebook for the entertainment of others. They reflect. They go over old actions with a sense of regret and hopefully learn a lesson. Mark my words, when you see someone going full batshit crazy online you can guarantee this isn’t a one sided fight. I watched 12 months of the most vile, offensive garbage being posted and what was worse was the sheer volume of ‘friends’ all too keen to jump in and agree with every barbed comment. Naming the other guy and vilifying him for everything from the cheating to the building of the Berlin Wall. Fanning the flames so the author would reveal more and more of their considerably soiled linen.

Schadenfreude, as Dame Edna once said ‘is the gift, a priceless gift, which is the ability to laugh at the misfortune of others’. Those friends aren’t concerned. They’re emotional parasites only to happy to prolong the suffering so they can revel in it.

I found myself having to say something. Not easy when the mob are wielding pitchforks and any hint of dissention is classed as treachery. So I tried to keep my advice simple and to the point. It fell on deaf ears, so I allowed myself a sly dig and left it there.

Perhaps Ms Swift should take up part time work as a counsellor. I’m told she lurks online and pays peoples tuition fees if they say nice things about her. She could lurk and wait for relationship breakups. Pouncing when she sees the trademark ‘Had enough of false friends…’ and wade in with a few wise words. Break ups are a grim business. We get it you’re upset. You can however be upset and retain a little integrity.

When I split from my last long term relationship I at least had the decency to keep my story telling 1 on 1. However, I could have been better. I enjoyed being the victim. Its not a good look. Watching peoples jaws drop as I recounted tales of horror that would have made a good six part Netflix series. Truth is, I reacted badly and when you know better you do better.

If you’re going through a bad time, just remember – nothing lasts forever, good or bad. If it’s bad, grit your teeth, it’ll pass. If its good, enjoy it…it too will pass.

And, if you have an axe to grind… go to a class and throw one… and move away from the keyboard.

Florrie Announces Album The Lost Ones Out June 14th

And Kissing In The Cold, the second track to be heard from her upcoming debut album. The stunning track reflects on a past relationship, and contemplating on how things could have been different if they had met at a different time in their lives and features Florrie’s signature drums, and her emotive vocals. The new single and video are OUT NOW!

ALSO ANNOUNCED AS SUPPORT FOR THE FORTHCOMING GIRLS ALOUD O2 ARENA LONDON SHOWS

Florrie, the rare quadruple threat - multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer, and songwriter, is back with a bang in 2024. She announces her debut album, The Lost Ones, set for release on June 14th via BMG and Xenomania Records, along with its first single and title track of the same name. Adding to the excitement, Florrie also shares that she will be supporting Girls Aloud on their 5 O2 Arena London shows this summer.

For Florrie, making exceptional pop music has always been more of a marathon than a sprint. Since crashing into the music industry in 2010 with her fizzing, independently-released debut EP, Introduction, Florrie has enjoyed the breathtaking highs and endured the devastating lows of the industry’s winding rollercoaster. After two more EPs of forward-thinking independent pop that earned her international acclaim, a major label signing, and a challenging period of navigating differing opinions about her artistic direction, she took a step back from music to rebuild and rediscover her love of writing and producing. Now, in 2024, after a run of well-received independent singles, including 2019’s Grey’s Anatomy-soundtracking Borderline, she’s back with her long-awaited debut album, the pearlescent pop masterpiece, The Lost Ones. “I have been waiting to make my debut album for the last 12 years and it deserved all the time and love I’ve put into it.”

The title-track and first single, The Lost Ones is an anthemic, future live favourite that captures a sense of outsidership and transforms it into a superpower. Speaking of the release Florrie said “This is a song about letting go; of past regrets, mistakes you made when you didn’t know any better, and keeping hold of hope when life gets hard. There was a time when I almost gave up on music, and I went through a rough couple of years. I wrote this song while rediscovering myself as an artist and a human being.”

Florrie has also released the brilliant video, mixing a captivating performance with a sense of nostalgia, showing old family videos of her playing drums, her first ever performances and more. “I filmed this video in the hills behind the old Xenomania studio, where I started my career as an artist, and it felt very poignant being back there. I also wanted to include some old videos to show where it all began...and as a reminder to never give up.” Watch the official music video here.

Florrie is an artist taking charge of their career, and this is set to be her most exciting year yet. Written and produced predominantly by Florrie and Xenomania founder, Brian Higgins, the album also sees her collaborate with hit-maker Takura Tendayi (Rihanna, Chase and Status). Later this Spring, she hits the USA with multi-instrumentalist G Flip, on their tour starting in New Orleans on 16th May. Florrie will then support Girls Aloud on the 5 London dates of their phenomenal comeback tour at the O2 Arena in June. It’s an exciting, full-circle moment, having played drums on Girls Aloud’s 2008 hit, The Promise and co-written their 2012 single Something New.

If you haven’t heard Florrie’s music, you’ve definitely heard her songs. The London-based songwriter picked up attention and accolades as a member and drummer in the supergroup of songwriters and producers, Xenomania and has co-written huge hits for artists such as Kylie Minogue, Rebecca Ferguson, The Saturdays and Pet Shop Boys.

Follow Florrie www.instagram.com/florrie www.tiktok.com/@florriemusic www.facebook.com/florrie.music www.youtube.com/@florriemusic open.spotify.com/artist/2fkmfYw1KeOiDLA6MHDwU8 twitter.com/Florrie

Susan Hill The Woman In Black

The Woman in Black arrives in Belfast’s Grand Opera House on 13th May as part of its UK Tour. We spoke with the acclaimed author of the original novel, Dame Susan Hill, to find out all about how she came up with the spooky story of The Woman in Black and what it’s like seeing your work told on stage.

The Woman in Black ran for an incredible 33 years in the West End, and is now touring the UK again. Did you anticipate the show would have such a long life when it first opened?

Oh no, we thought it would run for six weeks! It opened in Scarborough in 1988, and it started because they had a pantomime on in the theatre and Alan Ayckbourn who was the Artistic Director wanted to have something to put into the studio theatre alongside the pantomime. Stephen Mallatratt went on holiday and at the airport he picked up The Woman in Black. He was then lying on a beach in Greece and thought he could make this work on the stage. When he wrote to me asking if he could adapt it I thought it was mad but it’s a truly remarkable piece of theatre.

Were you nervous about handing over your story to a new team when you were originally approached about adapting the novel to the stage? Not at all! The play is very true to the book and yet simultaneously very different by nature of being a piece of theatre. It works brilliantly in theatrical terms and it is still my book, but it is also not –and that is exciting.

What was it like the first time you saw your characters appearing in the flesh on stage?

The Woman in Black herself very much existed in my mind, I knew what she felt like, so it is very peculiar to feel her presence in a theatre. They two gentlemen are such brilliantly developed characters and utilised so well by Stephen’s writing for the stage that they become quite different. I’m always interested to see new actors taking it over, because although it is the same text, every pair of actors bring something different to it, it really does change!

Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation utilises some very traditional theatrical techniques in very innovative ways. Does the play capture the atmosphere of Eel Marsh House the way you envisioned it?

I think the great thing about the show is that it really does use the theatre, the stage, and it makes the audience work. Stephen Mallatratt’s writing makes you use your imagination, and that’s the brilliance of it and also what makes some elements all the more scary!

Where did your original idea for The Woman in Black come from?

I have always loved reading ghost stories but had realised that in recent years not a lot had been written. People were writing horror, but horror is different to me. You can have a horror story that doesn’t have a ghost, whereas a ghost story could be horror but also could be unnerving in a different way or even heartbreaking.

I ended up making a list of the key elements I thought a good ghost story should have and worked from that. I thought it should have atmosphere, lots of atmosphere, an isolated location which in itself is unnerving, and I was absolutely sure that the ghost needed a reason to be there. I wasn’t sure at first whether that would be because they wanted revenge, or they needed to communicate with the living world but I knew they had to have motivation.

The Woman in Black, she came to me straight away – I wanted her to be a woman and of her period. Then various things that I had found alarming as a child came back into my mind and I wanted to incorporate them including the image of the dusty, cobweb covered nursery which I always think has elements of Miss Havisham in it.

Why do you think we as readers or audience members enjoy being scared?

It’s a funny thing isn’t it? It’s a very primitive instinct, to be frightened. However, the joy of a ghost story is that it is just practice really, we are being frightened delightfully. Whilst we may jump and scream in the theatre, we know that we are safe and can allow ourselves to be scared which I think is essential! Perhaps it is our way of learning to manage our fears?

How does it make you feel when you hear the audience’s reactions to The Woman in Black?

I’ve seen it so many times and yet sometimes it even makes me jump! I like to watch the show from the wings and be able to see the audience from that angle. It’s especially good when you have school parties in who aren’t expecting to be frightened but then as it begins to get tense suddenly you see the body language of the whole audience shift. Sometimes people react really strongly and shout things out almost involuntarily as they’re so involved in the action on stage!

Do you believe in ghosts?

I think I do, in a sense. I’ve never seen one (as far as I know!), but enough people I know have been in a place which emanates a sense of evil and have felt the urge to immediately get away from it. Also, you always hear of dogs having that sense of something not being right, being spooked, and why would an animal make that up?

For lots of young people, coming to see The Woman in Black will be their first experience of live theatre. What do you advise they look out for?

Go into the theatre with an open mind and try to immerse yourself in the show. Allow yourself to imagine everything the show invites you to!

What do you think it is about theatre that makes it such a wonderful storytelling platform, and do you have any other works of yours that you’d like to see adapted for the stage?

People love live theatre. There’s something special about it which you can’t get from Netflix or YouTube. The Woman in Black has a lot of young people in its audiences, many have whom have never been inside a theatre or to a play and it bowls them over. I hope, indeed I know, that it introduces many to a lifetime of theatre going which makes me and made Stephen Mallatratt very proud.

When my elder daughter went to the theatre for the first time, to see a David Wood children’s play, aged three, she watched intently for the first few minutes, then said, ‘Mummy, they’re REAL!’ It’s that, the flesh & blood immediacy that makes it so special. The fact that something may go wrong, or maybe take off into the best performance ever. Nothing else can give you that edge of excitement. I’d love to see any other of the ghost stories on stage though they wouldn’t all work. Someone very clever could make The Man In The Picture work, I think. If you can do The Woman in Black, with a pony and trap, a ghost, a dog, a mist shrouded graveyard and all the contents of the mysterious house, you can do anything!

Get your tickets NOW for Woman In Black via GOH.co.uk