Ocelot 154 April 2019 edition

Lifestyle and Culture Magazine Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire

No: 154 April 2019

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Choose your own Brexit adventure...

Fun for all the family p8

What's on Ocelot 154 April edition.indd 1

/ STYLE / EATS / BREWS / SCREEN / COMMENT 26/03/2019 09:15

APRIL 2019 FRI 5th REMINISCE - OLD SKOOL ACID HARDCORE- 9pm-3am £8 adv/£10 otd SAT 6th DIRT BOX DISCO - SUPPORT FROM POTENTIAL VICTIMS & AMBITION DEMOLITION - 8.30pm-11.30pm £10 FRI 12th FLATOUT DRUM N BASS VINYL SPECIAL! - A NIGHT OF CLASSIC DRUM N BASS TUNES BY SOME OF SWINDON’S FINEST DJ’S! - 9pm-3am £3 before midnight SAT 13th FAUX FIGHTERS - FOO FIGHTERS TRIBUTE - 8pm-3am £8 adv/£10 otd FRI 19th 80’S NIGHT - CLUB NIGHT - 9pm-3am £3 SAT 20th IBIZA FUNDRAISER - CLUB NIGHT AFTER THEN BANDS - 9pm-3am £5 THURS 25th LIMEHOUSE LIZZY - THIN LIZZY TRIBUTE - 7.30pm-10.30pm £14 adv/£16 otd FRI 26th WRONG JOVI - BON JOVI TRIBUTE 8.30pm-11.30pm £14 adv/£16 otd SAT 27th COMPLETE MADNESS - A TRIBUTE TO MADNESS - 8pm-11pm £14 adv/£16 otd SUN 28th MARK CHADWICK SOLO SHOW - MARK CHADWICK OF THE LEVELLERS - 7.30pm-10.30pm £12 adv/£15 otd

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FRI 5th LOST ELEVEN - ELECTRIC COUNTRY BLUES ROCK - 9pm-11.30pm SAT 6th SONS OF LIBERTY - ORIGINAL SOUTHERN ROCK - 8.30pm-11.30pm FRI 12th LIGHT ZEPPELIN - LED ZEPPELIN ACOUSTIC COVERS - 9pm-11.30pm SAT 13th THE BOOT HILL ALL STARS - FILTHY BANJO MUSIC - 9pm-11.30pm FRI 19th BOTTLE KIDS - PUNK, SKA COVERS & ORIGINALS - 8.30pm-11.30pm SAT 20th HIPKISS - MUDDY MANNINEN (EX WISHBONE ASH) - 8.30pm-11.30pm SAT 27th THE TEDDY WHITE BAND - RHYTHM AND BLUES - 9pm-12am

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#154

APRIL ISSUE

For Starters

04 Nerd’s Last Word, Luke Coleman 06 Encyclopaedia Ocelotica 08 Choose Your Own Brexit Adventure Lifestyle

10 Tattoos, booze and poos 12 Style 14 TV and Film 16 Gaming Brews and Eats

17 Wine not?

18 Beer Monkey 19 History of Bubble and Squeak 20 Devizes seaweed 21 Recipe Arts and Culture

25 Banff Mountain Film Festival 26 The month ahead 28 Big plans for Swindon 30 Newbury Spring Festival Music

32 Jurassic 5’s Soup 34 Reef 35 Wychwood Festival 40 EP Reviews 44 The Month Ahead The Final Bit of the magazine

46 Agony Girl

Woman trapped in a nightmare of her own making of the month Ocelot 154 April edition.indd 3

Team Ocelot takes to the street That’s us that is - doing our best Reservoir Dogs impression along Wood Street in Swindon.

I’m very proud of the team I’ve built around me over the past decade or so.

Each member has their own particular set of skills.

There’s Hannibal, Murdoch, Face and BA (I won’t tell you who is which) plus new members Snake Eyes, Knuckles, Claire and T-bone.

We are the O-Team if you will.

And over our opening theme tune we have this monologue...

‘In 2006, a crack magazine unit was sent to the printers by a group of journalists for a parody they didn’t commit. This magazine promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Ocelotshire underground. Today, still wanted by the printers they survive as magazines of fortune. If you have an advertising problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The O-Team.’

It’s been a busy couple of years for us here at The Ocelot and a few weeks ago we moved offices along with our sister magazine Swindon Link to a new central location in Old Town, Swindon.

But we’re not being complacent and have exciting plans for 2019 that will take us to an even bigger destination.

One thing I do know though is that I’ve got the perfect team for the job.

Write in to me at jamie@theocelot.co.uk

Jamie Hill

Editor: Jamie Hill - jamie@theocelot.co.uk Deputy: Ben Fitzgerald - ben@theocelot.co.uk Reporter: Claire Dukes - claire@theocelot.co.uk Sales: Dave Stewart dave@theocelot.co.uk -

07872 176999 Rosy Presley rosy@positive-media.co.uk - 07717 501790 Kay Wainwright kay@positive-media.co.uk - 07769 978823 Telephone: 01793 781986 Publisher: Positive Media Group, Old Bank House, 5 Devizes Road, Swindon SN1 4BJ Printers: Deltor, Saltash, Cornwall

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Things you can do instead of arguing with strangers online The Nerd’s Last Word with Michael Bosley On the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee called for action to stop the platform turning into a giant social toilet. So perhaps whilst the internet undergoes some vital repairs in order to make it a force for good instead of evil, why don’t we look at what else we could do with our time that’s a little more constructive than shouting in all-caps at complete strangers about subjects we’re unlikely to ever agree on:

1. Feed some ducks Old people love it, kids love it and animal rights organisations are mostly OK with it, so long as you’re not feeding them bread. Feel the anger of last night’s Twitter spat about Jacob Rees-Mogg ebb away as gaggles of flapping bills munch away feverishly at your plentiful offerings.

2. Go for a Walk It’s easy to lose perspective when you’re face down over your phone, gritting your teeth in your fevered determination to outsmart Patriot_Ken63.

But what’s it going to get you? An award for most convincing argument from the Academy of Reasoned Debate? Or perhaps you’ll go viral and convince all your detractors that yours really is the one and only opinion that makes sense.

No, instead you’ll look up at the clock in three hours and realise you were supposed to have done a bunch of stuff in the time you spent pontificating online and now you feel like an awful person who is wasting their life. So why not step outside, take a breath and realise there is a whole other world buzzing away outside the chaotic realm of internet drama.

3. Have a sandwich Sandwiches are nice and come in a variety of fillings and breads. They also don’t harass you online or call your mother a “fat slag”. They are the epitome of simplistic pleasure in a world where everything is getting a little too convoluted and overwhelming.

4. Get a pet Pets don’t do politics, which automatically makes them about a hundred times more interesting than anyone you’re likely to engage with online. They can also be loyal and easy to please as they appreciate the simplicity of a small squeaky ball or their owner dangling a piece of string.

People aren’t quite so easy to please. They want apologies, sources, explanations, pictures (or it didn’t happen), likes, followers, revenge, sympathy and infinite content. Who wants to deal with that every day?

Cooking up an Iraqi storm in London

Off The Grid with Luke Coleman - Our man in Iraq

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With my hand on the tiller of our English output (facebook.com/ yallen), and my determination to return to the UK, I’ve been spending more time seeking out stories of Iraqis in our country.

Be it a second-generation Londoner donning the gloves for a white collar boxing event, or a grandmother whose stories of life as a young girl in Iraq have found a publisher, it’s been grand to bimble up and down the country interviewing and shooting those with a yarn to spin.

This past Sunday I found myself in the kitchen of Philip Juma,

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sampling magnificent kubbeh (a crunchy oval, filled with minced rice, and deeper, spiced mince and onions) and helping prepare dolma. Arguably the national dish, it’s simply magnificent, and when prepared by chef Juma, it’s elevated to global treasure.

We spent a few hours chatting identity, the state of his father’s homeland and how his self-taught cuisine is finding fans across London and beyond. It’s easy to think of Iraqi dishes as limited to kebabs and mezze associated with Lebanon, and if you really know your stuff, the grilled butterflied carp dish masgouf.

What Philip does is present

grub that references the entire country and avoids the cliché of fusion. It’s Iraqi through and through, but it’s serious cooking – and the best I’ve had anywhere.

You get to know a culture through your belly, so if you’re in London, look him up on Twitter (@JumaKitchen), to see if he’s cooking up a storm. You’ll thank me.

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By Ben Fitzgerald

Encyclopedia Ocelotica:

Vernal Equinox

At around this time of the year, ‘cool’ vicars like to say to kids - “Hey guys don’t forget that chocolate isn’t the real reason for the season” before blathering on about a revolutionary figure from two thousand years ago who fought to overturn the hypocrisy of organised religion - entirely missing the irony.

But of course both the kids and the cool vicar are wrong, far from being chocolate or Jesus, the real reason for the season is axial tilt, also known as obliquity.

The 23.43679 degree tilt of the Earth’s axis (oscillating between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees on a 41,000 year cycle) means that the northern and southern hemispheres of the Earth alternately tip towards

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and away from the sun during its orbit of the sun.

The upshot of all this is that the sun’s rays are more concentrated during the summer and strike the Earth’s surface at more of a glancing angle in the winter - not to be confused with being closer to the sun during the summer months, which it isn’t…

On March 20th at 9.58pm we celebrated (or just calmly noticed it in our desk diary and nodded appreciatively) the Vernal Equinox - this is the date when the sun is exactly above the equator and length of the day and night are equal.

This marks the astrological start of Spring - not to be confused with the meteorological start of Spring,

which is based on the annual temperature cycle. There is also an Autumn equinox at the end of September.

The Spring Equinox is a huge deal for those living in the North Pole as it is the first time the sun peers above the horizon, having taken a six month holiday around the other side of the globe and marks the start of a six month period of uninterrupted sunlight.

While that might be welcomed by polar bears, it’s bad news for penguins - living as they do in the southern polar regions.

All they have to look forward to is six months of unremitting darkness, biting cold and the constant smell of fish. A bit like Margate in the off-season.

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Choose your own Brexit Adventure (or Brexitsnatch) Words by Jamie Hill

Brexit, Brexit, Brexit. Never has so much been said about something that is so hard to understand. There are so many variables in front of us that it is impossible to work out the safest course to take. With that in mind we’ve created our very own Choose Your Own Brexit Adventure for you to find out. Tread carefully adventurers.

You play as The Prime Minister and you will need a six sided die.

START HERE - Box One - Either you are an archBrexitter who wants to leave and bugger the consequences, a remainer who thinks leaving the EU is the biggest act of self-harm in living memory or are somewhere in the middle and believe that a soft Brexit that still carries out the result of the referendum is the way forward. As PM you have to steer us through this Brexit minefield. Do you...

A. Push for No Deal no matter what. Go To Box 2 B. Insist on a compromise deal. Go To Box 3.

C. Push for a second referendum. Go To Box 4.

D. Revoke Article 50 and stay in the EU. Go To Box 11.

Box Two - You insist that leaving no matter what is the will of the people which pleases certain powerful people in your party like Johnson and Rees-Mogg but upsets all the other people in your party including Hammond and Gove. Corbyn carries out a vote of no confidence in the Government. Roll a die.

A. If you roll a one or a two - you survive and are able to whip your MPs and the DUP to support you and you leave with No Deal. Go To Box 9.

B. If you roll a three or a four Go To Box 5.

C. If you roll a five or six. Go To Box 6.

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Box Three - You have learnt that your deal will not go through but still want to carry out the will of the people and leave the European Union. To do this you carry out a series of indicative votes with MPs from all parties to find out the majority way that this can happen to get it through parliament.

A. If you roll a one, two or three - you managed to come up with a compromise deal and get it through parliament. Go To Box 7.

B. If you roll a four, five or six - despite lots of wrangling with all of the MPs consensus was not found. Go To Box 5.

Box Four - Having reached an impasse in Parliament you have no choice but to go back to the people for a second referendum much to the annoyance of huge swathes of the population who write in capital letters. The referendum comes in the form of No Deal, Deal or No Brexit. This pleases Noel Edmonds.

Roll the die A. If you roll a one or two No Deal wins. Go To Box 9.

B. If you roll a three or four a withdrawal deal with the EU wins - Go To Box 10.

B. If you roll a five or six the country opts for no brexit at all - Go To Box 11.

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Box Five - You’ve managed to survive thus far but there is still no consensus on the way forward.

Unfortunately time waits for no man or woman and the deadline day that you have to leave the EU is upon you. In a last ditch attempt to leave with no deal a vote is held in parliament on whether to go ahead with no deal or revoke Article 50 and stay in the EU. A. If you roll a one, two or three - The MPs decide to carry out the will of the people and leave with No Deal. Go To Box 9.

B. If you roll a four, five or six - The MPS decide to revoke Article 50. Go To Box 11.

Box Six - You’ve lost a vote of no confidence in your Goverment forcing a General Election. Your party decides to stand in favour of Brexit using your original compromise deal. Normally you would probably have lost your position as party leader in this situation but no-one wants the job.

A. If you roll a one, two or three - You win the election and are able to carry out your strong and stable plan for an orderly exit from the EU. Go To Box 10.

B. If you roll a four, five or six - You lose the election. Go To Box 8.

Box Seven - A new deal is now winging its way to the EU. You are a hero. You’ve managed to show everybody who’s boss. But hang on one blinking second - there’s still the tricky matter of the EU going along with the plan. And we all know how tricky that lot on the continent can be. Putting on your best smile you present it to the other 27 European leaders and they...

A. Love it. They are so tired by this point that they would wave through a plan written on the back of a cigarette packet if it made sense. Go To Box 10.

B. They hate it and send you back to the UK still at a complete impasse. Go To Box 5.

Box Eight - You’ve lost the General Election and are now the leader of the opposition. But with the second biggest party in Parliament you still hold some of the cards. Do you...

A. Whip your party to go against whatever the Goverment decides to do ensuring that no consensus can ever be found forcing the country to leave the EU with No Deal. Go To Box 9.

B. In the spirit of co-operation you whip your party to support everything so that a compromise deal can get through parliament. Go To Box 10.

C. Party policy now changes to remain in the EU. You support revoking Article 50. Go To Box 11.

Box 9 - You have chosen unwisely. As Britain goes off an economic cliff edge leading to the break-up of the United Kingdom this eventually leads to a nuclear stand-off with the newly independent Scotland who end up annhilating England in revenge for beating them at Euro 96 when Gazza scored a stunning goal by flicking it over Hendry’s head and knocking it into the back of the net. Thanks Gazza.

Box 10 - So you’ve left the European Union with a deal avoiding the no deal dliff edge. But we now have to adhere to all the EU’s rules with no seat at the table and are essentially a lesser bigotted country seen as a bit of a joke by the rest of the world. Every day now seems like a rainy day in Slough circa 1999.

The UK is reduced to a grey drizzly slab of concrete with no prospects.

Box 11 - So you’ve stayed in the EU. Every day is now like a nostalgic day of young love. Birds are singing and the sun is shining (although that might have more to do with global warming but that’s a problem for another day!) Well done!

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Tattoos, booze and poos by Sara Witham

I’m not sure exactly when it was that I acquired a ‘Mum coat’ but I definitely remember my best mate pointing it out when I wore it to a boozy lunch one Saturday.

A coat for all seasons

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My response was ‘What?!? It’s practical, it’s got a hood, it’s waterproof and I can do the school run and stay warm and dry.’ As soon as this defensive sentence came out of my mouth I knew I was done for.

I don’t think I have ever uttered those words about an item of clothing before, I have never been interested in anything ‘practical’.

Does it look ok? Yep. Do I feel nice it? Yep. Is it a little bit bonkers? Yep. Warm and waterproof have never been a consideration.

So I found out lots about ‘Mum coats’ from my own Mum. Down is the best thing to keep you warm without making you sweaty and the seams need to be taped if it is going to keep you dry.

Also wind proof is a thing too.

Who knew? Oh and they are MEGA eye wateringly expensive. I want to kick myself every time I put it on because it looks at me and says ‘oh I’m so warm and so comfy, I mean you’re only going out for lunch and it looks like it’s going to rain so you may as well...’.

Argh! I was only going to keep it for the school run and now it’s wheedled it’s way into becoming a staple item.

So I got really, really upset when it got caught and it ripped and they don’t make it anymore and now what am I going to do.

I tried every single one of my other coats to try and compensate but I ended up either freezing or soaking. It also has a plethora of pockets to keep used tissues, bits of discarded half-chewed biscuit and toy cars in.

The ‘Mum coat’ is here to stay and maybe I should embrace it. I’m reckless in other ways (like coming in at 6am from my birthday celebrations and the one year old woke up half an hour later), I drink too much gin and my clothes under the Mum coat are much more fun.

So I purchased a replacement and simultaneously decided to rock against it by getting a giant pink muppet fur coat that is just ridiculous. On a non rainy but cold day I wore it on the school run with cowboy boots channeling my inner Noel Fielding. I think that should keep ‘Mum coat 2’ from feeling too complacent...

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l e t s a P ! r e w po It’s been a long time coming but Spring is finally here, (although it might not feel like it yet), and new Spring styles and shades have certainly arrived.

This Spring is all about colour but not loud garish shouting shades, it’s subtlety that is on trend.

The best thing about a wash of colour is that it allows you to be bolder with ‘how you wear it’, you can mix cooler shades with warmer shades and wear more combinations of different colours all at the same time.

This is pastel power!

By Fashion Writer Gina Akers

The Brussels Diamond Orchid High Plant Pot in Soft Green (various sizes prices from £2.19-£6.59) are available from Elho in their Brussels collection, including pastel shades of soft pink, soft green and also white, visit www. elho.com

The London Sock Company make luxury socks that feel incredible (prices from £12 per pair. Visit www. londonsockcompany.com Barry M’s Sunset Eyes Sandstorm Baked Eyeshadow Pallette (£12.99) has all the dreamy pastel peach and pink shades you could wish for at www.barrym.co.uk

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Premium leggings brand, Love Leggings offer a wide range of non-seethrough everyday cotton, sports, maternity and kids leggings and tights.

Dusty Pink Sports Leggings (£28) from www.loveleggings.com

The Orvis Crewneck Sweatshirt (£79) is ideal for Spring, available in four pastel colours, Oatmeal, Weathered Pink, Heathered Honey, and Tempest Blue at www.orvis.co.uk

For men, the Super Cool Stretch Polo (£69), works for Spring into Summer.

Available in two colours, Faded Red and Blue Stripe from www.orvis.co.uk

The Brussels Orchid High Plant Pot in Soft Pink - visit www.elho.com

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TV and film...

Words by Jamie Hill

You might just think that I’m blathering on about Brexit again as is my wont nowadays but things really do end in April.

It’s a month where stories come to a conclusion (although from where I’m sitting right now it doesn’t look like Brexit will ever end) and two of the biggest franchises in the world are definitely going to come to a conclusion in April.

Well, when I say end, for one of my picks this month, it will be the beginning of the end as Game of Thrones comes back for its eighth and final season which will only last six episodes. The show returns on April 15 but we’ll have to wait until May 20 to finally see who will end up sitting on The Iron Throne and

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whether Samwell Tarly finally gets to utter a sentence without stuttering.

With this in mind I’ve been on a bit of a Game of Thrones marathon of late to get myself in peak shape for these episodes. I’ve rewatched every episode (Hardhome is my favourite but The Battle of the Bastards is definitely up there) and am even reading Fire and Blood - the history of The Targaryens.

It’s made a relaxing change from watching the goings-ons in Parliament surrounding Brexit which is remarkably similar if you squint and swap castrations, battles and murders at weddings for Michael Gove.

But if the war between fire and ice isn’t enough to grab your attention there’s another franchise which

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...it all ends in April is just about to reach its dusty denouement and that is The Marvel Universe with the release of Avengers: Endgame on April 25.

Although there will be plenty more Marvel superhero films over the next few years this is the finale of a story that has been brewing through 23 films over the past decade. A pretty impressive feat.

We last saw chief goodie the environmentalist Thanos - SPOILER ALERT - shopping at Homebase having just decided to paint his picket fence in his rural idyll that he retired to at the end of his last film.

As this is a sequel his plans to relax and do some home improvement are bound to be thwarted by those pesky Avengers with their one-liners and jokes

about heavy hammers and how the DC comics are just sooooo 1980s.

In all seriousness though, the quality of the writing and the absolute genius of these films mark this ending to this sequence a particularly noteworthy achievement.

Over the past decade, starting with Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, the Marvel films have elevated Superhero films another level and made them one of the most defining genres of our modern times.

I expect not all of the Avengers will survive this ‘Endgame’ so expect some tears especially from those easily peeved fanboys. It all makes a change from crying over Brexit anyway.

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GAME: Dungeons and Dragons out with the old, in with the new Words by Simon Oxlade

There is a new board game shop that has opened in Victoria Street, Old Town. Called Firestorm Games it has a fine selection of Warhammer figures and expansion sets, some Lego, plenty of board games and a range of gaming tables.

I got chatting with the gent behind the counter.

He explained that they actually had a number of gaming rooms available for rent on the upper floors and explained that friends get together and play Dungeons and Dragons, or Warhammer or even just play a board game together.

While we were discussing this a teenage girl entered and hesitantly asked for directions to a Sunday gaming group. She looked utterly terrified to be in the store, she was here for a game of Dungeons and Dragons, perhaps her first one with the group, but she seemed scared out of her wits.

Here’s the thing though: D&D is an incredibly creative pursuit. Players create a character (on paper) who has a number of key attributes. They roll dice to randomise the values of these attributes according to a complex series of tables and depending on the class of character they have chosen. For example, a fighter may have higher strength attributes, but a wizard may have lower strength but higher magic skill.

They then take these characters and participate in quests created by a Dungeon Master who uses their imagination to create a story full of traps and battles and adventure and it is up to the players to

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navigate their character through the stories, gaining experience points (XP) as they go, points that can be added to the attributes and make the character stronger. Make no mistake it is quite possible for a character that you have spent years growing and nurturing through dozens of campaigns, to get unlucky with the dice rolls in a battle and be killed off. That can be emotionally devastating.

D&D encourages imagination, it develops storytelling talents, the concept of randomness, and the ideas of parameters and attributes and values which are essential to learning computer code.

Computers work by assigning values to variables, then applying calculations to those values, which are then combined and computed to produce a result. Just like generating a D&D character, or working out the result of a battle, or finding out if the magic of a wizard can open the door.

Also D&D DNA can be found in modern games, especially anything that has skill levels or a character that can be upgraded and improved, for example Mass Effect, GTA, Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon, The Witcher, Horizon: Zero Dawn, the Last of Us and so on. The concept of gaining experience, then using that experience to improve skills and character comes directly from D&D. So to that scared teenage gamer I say, welcome, come on in, enjoy yourself. You are embarking on a new adventure, but one that has a long history and relevance to the modern world. I hope you enjoy your gaming life.

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The future’s bright The future’s orange

By Darren Willmott of vinesight.me Orange may be the new black in the criminal fraternity, but in the wine world, orange is the new red, white or rosé.

Although based on an ancient style of wine-making, orange wine (also known as amber wine) is a style that has re-emerged over the last few years and, although still something of a rarity, the trend continues to bubble just below the surface waiting to hit the mainstream.

Despite renowned wine authority Hugh Johnson once describing it as “a sideshow, a waste of time”, such is the building of the movement, the latter part of 2018 saw the publication of a book (‘Amber Revolution’ by Simon J. Woolf) completely devoted to the style.

Unlike red and white wine, where neither are actually coloured red or white, orange wine is specifically named because of its colouring.

It doesn’t, as some may fear, actually taste of oranges. The making of orange wine is something of a hybrid, taking the red wine process of allowing

the pressed grape juice to spend time with the dark grape skins absorbing the colour, and applying that to the white wine grapes, which would usually be separated in order that the juice remains clear.

The resulting wine retains the florality and freshness of a white wine, but with the body, structure and style of a red. The skin contact, which can last for a few days all the way up to over a year, allows the resulting wine to develop further, picking up tannins along the way.

The longer the wine stays in touch with the grape skins, the more complex and intense it becomes.

The merging of the red and white production methods also brings together aspects of each wine into the taste, resulting in a versatile style that straddles both.

As such, white wine fans who like a nuttier and honeyed style will enjoy it, and red wine fans who enjoy the lighter more floral style will also be rewarded.

Orange wines are also good news for those who like to match

their food to their wines. Wine expert Amelia Singer (The Wine Show) praises the versatility and suggests pairing them with dishes from India, Morocco, Ethiopia and Persia.

The acidity and nuttiness are also good matches to a well-stocked cheese board, as well as the light tannins lending themselves to charcuterie plates.

Although Marks & Spencer have long been advocates and include an orange wine within their range, getting your hands on a bottle is still a little tricky outside of specific wine merchants.

The fact that they pair well with diverse foods is potentially a bonus as it may lead to more restaurants adding them to their lists.

As more and more people seek them out and the passion continues to grow, this is when the supermarkets will want to get involved. So keep an eye out, especially as summer draws in and people go searching for a medium-style alternative to rosé.

Cheers!

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The Beer Monkey Column From The Ocelot’s tame beer industry insider... Ed Dyer

Reasons to be cheerful?

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recent report released by industry market research company CGA for the Pub19 trade show outlined the many reasons the pub industry has to be optimistic as we move through the year.

Pub closures are slowing, and many parts of the sector are in fact in healthy growth.

They start this report with the negative news of current pub closures running at three a day in the year to September 2018, a well-known trend that many trace back to the 2007 smoking ban allied to a push by supermarkets into selling cheap alcohol.

Add this to rises in tax on alcohol, business rates, rents and labour costs and the upsurge of casual dining restaurant brands and it is indeed apparent that the licensed trade is in trouble.

But they go on to cite some green shoots of growth.

The big win has been in businesses focused around food, with the numbers of food-led pubs and bars actually increasing in number over the last five years at a rate of six a month as cannier operators re-invent their

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offering to make themselves a compelling destination.

But not all drink-led outlets are suffering by not diversifying – many have revitalised sales by tapping into market trends like premiumisation and “craft” in beer, the growth in parts of the spirits market (hello gin) and the growing popularity of cocktails, ensuring that they avoid the current market-driven clear out of poorly run and unsustainable businesses, as we approach a more demand-driven level.

However, there is an elephant in the room that the report authors have avoided (always the danger with a sponsored report). Yes, our not so graceful, will we, wont we, hard or soft exit from the EU. The principal issue for the pub trade at the moment is this uncertainty of the whole debacle, both in relation to their own business plans and also with the habits of their customers – as we are seeing with large manufacturing industry, when you operate with a long term strategic plan, you need an element of certainty in the economy to base forecasts on.

The negative effect of Brexit is already being felt through increased cost of ingredients and products and a decreased availability of staff (an issue that hospitality is particularly vulnerable to, with an over reliance on foreign workers).

These are issues that are not likely to change either if we do drop out of the EU unless there is a huge change in the attitudes of the Great British unemployed population, and we undergo wholesale changes to our food and drink habits and production.

I, for one, still don’t get how JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin can possibly believe that an exit from Europe will be beneficial for his business, but regardless he continues to drive his propaganda train through the heart of the pub industry.

So, next time you are thinking about whether to pop out for a drink or bite to eat or get something in at home, consider your poor old local pubs and bars and look at supporting them.

Things have been tough for some time, but they look like getting tougher still…

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By Ben Fitzgerald

All hail bubble and squeak

If you dig a pond, you will at some point find frogs in it.

And if you build a baseball stadium, within hours Kevin Costner will almost certainly turn up - uninvited.

This is proof of the fact that if you set the correct conditions for something to happen, it will happen. Bubble and squeak works in much the same way.

The dish, for the uninitiated, is a carefully curated concoction of potatoes, cabbage, carrots, Brussels sprouts and peas in varying proportions. The name comes from the sound made by the cabbage sizzling in the pan.

But for it to come about a very

specific set of conditions need to be met.

To achieve what scientists call a bubble and squeak ‘event’, you will require a congealing left-over roast dinner, a distinct lack of any other decent food in the fridge and a tipsy ‘have-ago’ chef.

If these three pillars of bubble and squeak are in place, then inevitably the frying pan will come out and in will go bacon, garlic, cabbage and spuds.

And don’t think that this is something that is particularly English - because all over the globe there are left over dinners, empty food cupboards and

enthusiastic hung-over cooks.

It’s a truly universal dish.

And depending where on the surface of the globe you happen to wake up, your bubble and squeak will be referred to as Panacketty, Rumbledethumps, Colcannon, Stoemp, Calentao, Biksemad, Stemmelkort, Stamppot, Trinxat or Aloo Tikki.

And although the ingredients may vary, the principle remains the same... that food from the night before, given time to steep in its own juices, is not only that much tastier but so easy to cook that you can do it at the same time as blearily squinting at a newspaper.

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New seasoning is a taste of the sea As Mitch Tonks’ hugely successful Rockfish open their latest restaurant in Exeter Quay, with Poole and Weymouth to follow later this year, customers will be finding something very new on the tables. Seaweed.

Seaspoon, South-West based producers of edible seaweed products and recent winners of a BBC Good Food Show Bursary Award, have teamed up with Rockfish to create an exciting new seaweed seasoning that sits as an alternative to the salt pot. Packed with flavour and comparatively a dramatically reduced salt content, Seaspoon Seaweed Seasoning is certainly expected to make a splash!

Seaweed has a naturally salty taste and plays with our 5th taste, umami, as well as being known as one of the most nutritious vegetables on our planet. Not only is it tasty, but it grows abundantly in the

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high-quality waters of Devon’s South coast. Put that together and you’ve got the perfect accompaniment to your Rockfish fish and chips.

Tim Buckley, Seaspoon founder and seaweed forager, says ‘We’ve harnessed the natural goodness and taste of seaweed, plus a few choice extra ingredients including tomato, to create a healthy, big flavoured alternative to the salt pot that you can sprinkle without guilt. It’s not just for fish either; our seasoning is fantastic on just about anything. Not only does seaweed taste great, it also benefits from a broad range of nutrients. It’s high in fibre, is a great source of plant protein and with each pot containing just 6.5% salt, our seasoning is a win win ingredient”.

Mitch says “These are exciting times for Rockfish. Our collaboration with Seaspoon in creating this seasoning brings

something new to our tables that our customers won’t have come across before. It could be easy to think of seaweed as something to enjoy with seafood, but we’re going to change that - soon every dinner table will have a seasoning trio of seaweed, salt and pepper!

Mitch adds “Keeping things local is important to us, and authenticity is a big deal. As Rockfish expands, it’s essential that we retain individuality and honesty to our ingredients.

Seaspoon embody this outlook, making them an ideal partner to work with as we continue to grow.”

Seaspoon are licensed to harvest seaweed by hand in Devon, just a stone’s throw from Rockfish in Dartmouth. And you can enjoy the taste of Seaspoon every day – get your very own shaker of Seaweed Seasoning at Seaspoon.com, Ocado (from April) or on Amazon.

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Wheatberries and purple sprouting broccoli with crispy garlic and chilli

A hearty and healthy lunch combining toothsome wheatberries, clean greens and crispy fried onions.

Wheatberries are the entire wheat kernel except for the hull. They take a while to cook but have a good nutty texture, lending real substance to a dish.

Ingredients 100g purple sprouting broccoli, trimmed if necessary 100g wheatberries (or one of the alternatives below) 4 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil 1 fresh red chilli, very finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced Handful of Crispy Fried Onions (optional) Salt & pepper Method Boil the purple sprouting broccoli for 3–4 minutes, until just tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and plunge into very cold water before draining. Add the wheatberries to the same water and cook for 25 minutes, or until cooked but still chewy. Drain in a colander.

Wipe out the pan and heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the chilli

and garlic and fry, stirring, until the garlic has turned golden.

Add the broccoli and fry for a couple more minutes, then add the drained wheatberries and a handful of crispy fried onions, if using.

Mix everything together, check the seasoning and add a dash more oil if it seems dry. Serve warm.

Cooks’ notes Pearled spelt or barley work as substitutions for the wheatberries, or, to save time, choose couscous or bulghur.

Credit: www.riverford.co.uk/ recipes

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Theatre

Shows, dance & comedy

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Banff Mountain Film Festival: celebrating a decade of incredible documentaries

By Ben Fitzgerald Swindon’s Wyvern Theatre was awash with fleece wearing outdoor types for the 10th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour.

The event showcased a series of short films - one of two programmes of epic expeditions and inspirational journeys.

The six films in the ‘red programme’ includes a variety of films including Ascend - following Jon Wilson, an accomplished mountain biker, who is able to take on the toughest trails despite losing his leg to cancer at a young age. Far Out: Kai Jones - showcasing the skiing talents of an amazing 11-year-old and How to run 100 miles which tells the story of friends who

decide to take on an ultra-marathon in Colorado and Ice & Palms.

The films were chosen from hundreds of entries submitted to the Banff Mountain and Film Festival - a nine-day gathering of writers, photographers, adventurers and film-makers in the Canadian town in the Rocky Mountains.

The annual tour that follows the festival’s best films takes in 45 countries and reaches about 550,000 people each year.

If you missed it this time around, there is still a chance to catch nearby screenings in Bristol on 24-27 April and Oxford on May 21. For details see www.banff-uk.com

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Theatre: highlights of the m Horrible Histories/ Terrible Tudors, Wyvern Theatre, Swindon - 3-7 April

The Wyvern Theatre is hosting two amazing shows with Horrible Histories live on stage!

Using actors and groundbreaking 3D special effects, historical figures and events will come alive on stage.

From the horrible Henries to the end of evil Elizabeth, hear the legends (and the lies!) about the torturing Tudors.

From the fascinating Pharaohs to the power of the pyramids, discover the foul facts of death and decay with the meanest mummies in Egypt. www.swindontheatres.co.uk

Amelie - Watermill Theatre , Newbury, 11 April - 18 May Amélie is an astonishing young woman who lives quietly in the world, but loudly in her imagination. She secretly improvises small, but extraordinary acts of kindness that bring happiness to those around her. But when a chance at love comes her way, Amélie will have to risk everything to say what’s in her heart.

Based on the much loved and five-time Oscar nominated film, Amélie is a feel good musical filled to the brim with colourful observations and whimsical wonderings. Join Amélie as she finds her voice, discovers the power of connection, and sees possibility around every corner.

French-Canadian stage and screen star Audrey Brisson will play Amélie. www.watermill.org.uk

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www.theocelot.co.uk

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he months ahead...

The Butterfly Lion, Barn Theatre, Cirencester 2 April to 4 May 2019 Based on a book by Michael Morpurgo. Adapted by Daniel Buckroyd. The extraordinary story of young Albert Andrews and the unlikely friendship that he strikes up with the orphaned white lion cub he rescues one day from the African Veldt.

This heart-warming yet bitter-sweet story of faithfulness, destiny and love, tells the tale of a lonely boy in South Africa who one day adopts an orphaned white lion cub and will be brought to life through great storytelling, music and captivating puppetry.

atre , May

Acclaimed writer Michael Morpurgo opens the first of five Barn Theatre in-house productions.

It’s an epic tale that spans more than seventy years and takes us from rural Wiltshire to the plains of South Africa, and from the bleeding heart of war-torn France finally back to England and the safety of home. It’s a journey that begins with a solemn promise made by a boy never to forget his friend, a journey that will keep you on the edge of your seat until its startling conclusion. www.barntheatre.org.uk

Art Garfunkel - New Theatre, Oxford - 6 April Legendary singer-songwriter Art Garfunkel is appearing at Oxford’s New Theatre for the first date of his 2019 tour. During his five-decade career Art Garfunkel has made an indelible mark on the music world as both a solo artist and one half of folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. After the duo parted ways in 1970, Garfunkel embarked on a solo career, highlights from

which include three top 20 hits, six top 40 hits, two UK number ones and a People’s Choice Award.

Garfunkel’s debut album Angel Clare came out in 1972 and spawned the top 10 hit ‘All I Know’.

He went on to release 10 acclaimed studio albums including Breakaway, Watermark and Fate For Breakfast amongst others. www.atgtickets.com

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Swindon Borough Council details plans to replace Wyvern and Museum and sell off Civic Offices Words by Ben Fitzgerald

Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for the town centre, Dale Heenan, has given more detail about ambitious plans to replace the ageing Wyvern Theatre with a new arts and cultural centre funded in part by the sale of the Civic Offices in Euclid Street.

Although Mr Heenan was keen to stress that the scheme was very much in its infancy, he revealed that the new building could be used to house the town’s valuable collection of 20th Century art as well as providing an alternative space for council meetings.

Last year, the Heritage Lottery Fund turned down a bid to part fund a £22m landmark building to house the town’s museum and art gallery.

Since then, work has been going on behind closed doors to develop an alternative plan.

The council plans to invest £400,000 into the current Swindon Museum an Art Gallery building to fund essential improvements

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including building a lift to increase accessibility.

Speaking at the current Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, Mr Heenan said: “There were a multitude of options that we have gone through in a lot of detail to work out what is deliverable and what is affordable.

“What we have come forward with is a series of short-term measures while we sort out that bigger vision.

Outlining the new plan he said: “Rather than a stand alone building being constructed, it’s about rebuilding the Wyvern Theatre itself.

“It is an ageing theatre which isn’t big enough for a town of Swindon’s size but if we want to attract the larger, higher profile performances and shows and comedians we need more capacity in the theatre.

“Why don’t we include a larger building which includes a relocation of the art gallery and museum that

we are in today.”

There’s certainly the hope that we will double or triple the size of this building but let’s leave it for the professionals now to come up with those designs and the feasibility work.”

He said that selling the council’s Euclid Street civic offices would help finance the project, adding that it would be up to the professionals to work out how best to get best value out of the site.

A £250,000 grant from the Local Enterprise Partnership will be used to fund an initial feasibility study.

Although the previous bid was to create a landmark building that would stand out on the Swindon skyline, Mr Heenan was keen to stress that it was crucial that this scheme was affordable - with a proposed price tag of about £15 - £20m.

Mr Heenan explained that the plans were at the initial stage, with a projected completion date of 2025/26.

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Is Swindon’s future looking greener?

Richard Jefferies Museum unveils plans for ecofriendly extension Words by Claire Dukes

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One of Swindon’s best-loved museums has unveiled ambitious plans to transform its former cowshed into an eco-friendly attraction to accommodate an influx of visitors.

Plans for a new extension at Coate Water’s Richard Jefferies Museum hope to combine Swindon’s heritage with an eco-friendly future and forward-looking approach.

Last year the museum, the birth place of Victorian writer and ecologist Richard Jefferies, saw an increase of visitors from 800 up to 15,000. With the increase in popularity at the site, volunteers and the museum’s director, Dr Mike Pringle, are seizing the opportunity to apply for a grant of up to £250,000. If Swindon Borough Council back the plans, and the grant is obtained, the museum could open up to more local community groups as well as its current history enthusiasts.

Dr Pringle said: “This could be developed properly as a museum, not a half-way house.

“There’s only so many books in cabinets you can look at, however much you love Richard Jefferies. It’s not about looking at the books themselves – this guy wrote about this area, England, the countryside and our relationship with the countryside.

“We want a timber frame building, and we want to be using materials that are sustainable and that are not going to have a big impact on the environment, – we want to make sure it uses as little energy as possible – because there’s no point in shouting about an ecologist if you then go and trash the environment.”

Jefferies was born at the house-turned-museum in Coate Water in 1848. Dr Pringle believes that the ideas he shared, through books such as Bevis and After London, still resonate today. He added: “The more you get to know about Jefferies, the more you realise just how passionate he was about how the countryside could really save humankind, – if we just stop being greedy – and those are my personal beliefs.

“Our toddler groups that meet in the garden play under the same mulberry tree that Jefferies played under, and they create their own games in the same way that he did – that’s more of a museum to me than looking at a load of books written by a Victorian gentleman in cabinets. They learn the same principles of nature and how it can save the world.

“For me, as someone who’s always been into history and heritage, I just see life as a continuum – you need to keep learning from where we’ve come from. I love the fact that in the old cultural museum there were tractors and carts – it’s a balance, because we keep thinking we’re moving forward all the time but there’s always this backwards and forwards dynamic.”

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Music

News, interviews & reviews

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Jurassic 5’s Soup wants to live in the West Side... of the UK! The Ocelot’s very own Style and Music Writer Gina Akers caught up with Jurassic 5’s Soup to find out how it all started, and what’s happening now with his new band Fullee Love Collective.

Hey Soup how are you? So you are a hip-hop legend but where did it all begin?

I don’t know about legend, but I was told you shouldn’t fight the true so...

It started from my father, he’s the reason for all this, growing up listening to everything from Fats Domino to Perry Como, my house was full of music. The performance part comes from being the entertainment at family functions lol. One dollar a show, that was big business back then.

Now tell us what are you up to right now? Where’s music taking you?

I’m working a job (can you believe that !) A legend like me ! (what is the world coming to). The Fullee Love Collective is where the music is taking me, I’ll finally get to show my new direction to the masses. A little soul, funk, hip hop and fun.

So where does the name “Fullee Love” come from?

The name comes from a old gangster from my neighborhood, when I first heard it I was like “that’s waaay fly” growing up with the name Courtenay just don’t get the ladies swooning, so when it was time to pick a name..

FULLEE LOVE was it !

You’ve been in the UK recently,

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what have you been up to?

Moving to the UK is the plan or Amsterdam, either or I’m coming!!

I had a great time, I got to meet the beautiful people in the Collective, eat Nando’s and drink hot chocolate imported from Athens Greece! I’d never been to Wiltshire or Bath or Reading or Ascot so that was cool as well, very cool.

So what are your musical influences?

Ohh there’s so many.. Otis Redding, Al Green, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince, Run DMC, the list goes on.

What or who are you listening to at the moment?

No one group or person at the moment, just digging on what catches my ear. Tank and the Bangas are dope.

Going back to hip-Hop you know Marvin “Krondon” Jones who plays Tobias Whale in the TV series “Black Lightning”, Jones is actually a rapper (which isn’t

really known in the UK), how did that friendship come about?

I’ve known him since the early 90’s we would frequent this place called the Good Life cafe. We had the opportunity to see each other grow musically and it’s great to see him doing something new and doing it well.

Do you have any other fun or interesting hip-hop or music business stories you can tell us?

Any secrets?

Well, I’ve worked for a few record labels back in the day..

Worked at Loud Records and was there when we signed Wu Tang and played a part in getting Mobb Deep signed. Also was there when Tupac came on board on Death Row Records, got to work his last projects.

So what does the future hold for Soup?

I’m just gonna have fun and enjoy the ride, this is something I’ve always dreamt about and it’s finally coming into focus. So excuse me as I kiss the sky, I’m just in a different head space of being thankful and making the most of the present. I really can’t give you any future predictions, ima just ride the lane Allah has laid for me (if that’s ok).

Jurassic 5’s Soup presents: Fullee Love Collective are performing UK wide during 2019 including: *Readipop Festival - Reading *Bath Carnival - Bath *NASS Festival - Shepton Mallet, Somserset *Farm Fest - Bruton, Somerset *Wilderness Festival Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

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Reef : Level 3, Swindon

By Ben Fitzgerald

Britpop legends come back brighter!

Swindon’s rocking Level 3 was packed with punters eager to witness the majesty of Brit Pop royalty, Reef.

The fact that such a notable band, who have previously supported the likes of Paul Weller and The Rolling Stones, have been drawn to little old Swindon in March speaks volumes about the hard work going on behind the scenes to reignite the town’s musical credentials.

Reef seemed to have lost none of their swagger as they

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ground out their stone cold classics, interlaced with some decent offerings from their most recent Revelation album.

Gary Stringer proved that all those years of rasping and snarling had not shredded his vocal chords one iota; he is still able to belt out a tune with the same verve as he did when I first saw them waaaay back in 1997 - and is it me, or is he looking increasingly like Andrew Lincoln from outta The Walking Dead?

That said, bassist Jack

Bessant has the whole Gandalf look locked down tight.

And if anything, the passing years have served only to produce a tighter harder rocking unit than the loose performance I saw at the Norwich arts centre a couple of decades ago. The crowd hung on every word - belting out half remembered verses with enthusiasm to match the sheer energy that Reef injected into their performance. I’m not going to leave it another 20 years this time.

www.theocelot.co.uk

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Wychwood Festival: 31 May - 2 June Cheltenham Racecourse

The Stranglers New Romantic heroes ABC will headline Wychwood Festival on Saturday night, bringing hits like The Look of Love, Tears Are Not Enough and Poison Arrow to the main stage.

Other acts announced today include Ibibio Sound Machine, The Zangwills, The Baghdaddies, Demi Mariner, Regiment and The Covasettes.

As if that’s not enough, our favourite furry fox Basil Brush will take to the main stage to keep youngsters entertained on Saturday morning.

Voted one of the UK’s best-loved family festivals, this year’s line-up so far includes The Stranglers, Scouting For Girls, T’Pau, Toyah, Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club, Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer, DJ’s Steve Davis (yes the snooker player!) and Kavus Torabi, Bez, Count Skylarkin, Tankus The Henge, John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett plus many more, including Wychwood’s house band Thrill Collins.

Wychwood’s packed programme of workshops also has new additions announced today: music and

ABC light adventure playground specialists Bleephaus, Robot and Retro gaming experts Raspberry Jam, Junk Drumming workshops and World Class Street Theatre - an unusual mix of bald head hoopla, slow motion movement, robotic dance, contact juggling and audience participation.

And join Sohan Kailey for live family stage shows performing songs from Bhangra, Bollywood, Dino Rocks, Bhangra Pirates and more.

ABC are led by charismatic singer Martin Fry and their debut album ‘The Lexicon Of Love’ went to number one and sold over a million records. To date, the band have released nine studio albums.

Martin Fry said Wychwood fans could expect a special performance: “The three words that best describe ABC are romantic, escapist and melodic, and in the UK The Lexicon of Love is regarded as a benchmark for music in that decade, so we are really looking forward to performing our show at Wychwood.”

Wychwood Festival Director Graeme Merifield said: “I’m delighted to welcome ABC

to Wychwood, they are New Romantic heroes and are sure to make Saturday night one to remember.

“We’re also incredibly proud of the tremendous range of lively, innovative and exciting entertainment, workshops, games and activities – there’s something for all ages to enjoy, I’m sure everyone can remember Basil Brush’s distinctive humour so he’s sure to bring the fun!”

Celebrating its 15th year in style, family favourite Wychwood Festival takes place on 31 May – 2 June 2019 within the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside, hosting a plethora of activities from music, dance, workshops, circus skills and a kids literature festival through to a wellcurated programme of talks, debates and comedy for all ages, with more than 100 acts performing across four stages.

Tier Three tickets are almost sold out but are currently still available as well as idyllic camping options. Kids under five go for free!

For further info and to buy tickets head to www.wychwoodfestival.com

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The Chippenham Folk Festival returns this May for its 48th run of local and traditional English folk, song and dance.

From Friday May 24 to Monday May 27 the volunteer-led festival will play host to folk dance, Ceilidh, story telling, display parades and music.

Since its inception in 1972, the notfor-profit event attracts hundreds of visitors from across the UK over four days.

An organiser of the event said: “Chippenham Folk Festival is a unique and distinctive event of national importance. It features the very best in English traditional music and dance with an emphasis on participation and education.

“The festival punches well above its weight and is regarded as one of the premier folk festivals in the country despite its tight budget limitations. It looks and feels like a much bigger budget production.” www.chippfolk.co.uk

Gog Magog Molly

H I G H L I G H T S

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Chippenham Folk Festival 2019

When: Sat/Sun/Mon What: “Molly dancing is an ancient tradition from the depths of East Anglia. People say that they’re less than mentally secure and accuse them of performing ‘manic street dances’!”

John & Karen Sweeney When: TBC What: “John & Karen Sweeney have been dancing since they were teenagers. They have danced, taught, called, performed, competed and judged all over the world.”

England’s Glory Ladies’ Morris When: Saturday What: “The main dances come from Ilmington and were taught to the women and children of the village by Sam Bennett at the beginning of the twentieth century.”

Jody Kruskal When: Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon What: “Vintage American songs on the Anglo concertina A warm and engaging solo presentation of traditional and popular American songs from yesteryear.”

www.theocelot.co.uk

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k

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This month Oxford’s Little Brother Eli launch Kickstarter for live album Words by Claire Dukes

From April 1 to April 30 Oxfordbased four-piece Little Brother Eli are launching a Kickstarter campaign to record and release their first live album.

From old time gents in waistcoats, - who you’d expect to see performing in traditional English taverns - to a revamped disco-rock outfit, Little Brother Eli have travelled far. Their transition from garage blues to infectious disco beats was a glorious success story - at first it seemed a little unnatural, but the band pushed forward with undeniable swagger. After the release of Little Brother Eli’s first transitional track ‘Our Kind of Love’ I needed no more convincing that this was “a band without limits.”

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This month the band are taking themselves one step further with the recording of their first live album through a Kickstarter campaign. The band’s bassist, Josh Rigal, said: “Releasing a live album has always been an ambition of ours.

“People are often telling us how energetic our live shows are, and that energy is sometime difficult to reproduce in the studio.

“For us, our show at the end of last year was one of those performances where everything just clicked into place - thankfully we filmed and recorded the audio from the entire gig, and we decided that it’s too good to keep to ourselves.

“We’re doing a Kickstarter

Campaign to generate enough money to mix, master and edit the whole performance. It’s an opportunity for those who were at the show to relive the experience, maybe spot themselves in the video and ultimately be able to contribute towards the band’s success. It’s also a chance for fans in other countries (or fans who simply live too far away) to see and hear what we’re about.”

The live album will be an amalgamation of songs from the band’s 2016 debut album ‘Cold Tales’ and their latest EPs. For further information visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ kickstarter-party-backseatbeckys-breakfast-club-westgateoxford-tickets

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Kick - Bac (Bre West

Where: Westga Oxford When: Tickets

To cele starter, an excl (The Br Centre The s of the a availab

Kickstarter Party - Backseat Beckys (Breakfast Club) Westgate Ox Where: The Breakfast Club, 303 The Westgate, Queen Street, OX1 1PG Oxford, Oxfordshire When: Tuesday April 9, 8pm to 11pm Tickets: £5 To celebrate the launch of the band’s Kick starter, Little Brother Eli will be performing an exclusive live set at Backseat Becky’s (The Breakfast Club) at The Westgate Centre in Oxford.

The session will be a live performance of the album in full. Only 20 tickets are available.

Rewards

Album track list

Film of the live show at The Breakfast Club

1. Oceans 2. Falling Out Of Love 3. Our Kind Of Love 4. Oops 5. All My Words 6. Stop Pretending 7. Tooth 8. Wait For You 9. Hurricane 10. Shake Me 11. Gold

Signed CD with your name on it A live performance in your living room Guest list tickets at future shows Singing/drum/guitar/bass lessons Free concert tickets T-shirts

12. Beautiful People

MP3s

13. Animal Fair www.theocelot.co.uk

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Words by Claire Dukes

The Ocelot music review

Artist: Nouvelle Vague Album: Rarities I was in college when I first listened to Nouvelle Vague.

They were the perfect soundtrack for my 16-yearold self; hopeful; romantic; lustrous; fantastical; Parisian. I sort of drifted through that age to the tracks of ‘Dance with Me’, ‘Dancing With Myself’ and ‘Too Drunk to Fuck’ – covering all tragic and yet inevitable states of being throughout my later teenager years.

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and still don’t. If anything, the Parisian four-piece seemingly pay homage to great artists by putting their own graceful and ethereal infliction on the originals – much like Patti Smith’s open tributes to the likes of Nirvana and Bob Dylan.

The ‘Rarities’ tracks don’t retain the same punch as the new wave predecessors, - New Order’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, and Talk Talk’s ‘Such A Shame’ and fans of the originals could receive these all very Comme Ci, Comme Ça. However, their

reinterpretations, including the likes of ‘Johnny and Mary’, ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’, and ‘Moody’, still retain the band’s playfulness and ode to the bossa nova style of European cocktail jazz of which they became so known for circa 2004.

Rarities has undoubtedly aged Nouvelle Vague, but this album instils them with a celebration of nationalities and cross pollination of cultures. It’s unoffending and minimal but ultimately not lacking in skilled serene yet peppy ambiance.

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Avebury Rocks 2019

The annual music festival in aid of Prospect Hospice will return to its birthplace this summer for a one day family-friendly event, filled to the brim with live music from an eclectic mix of local and national bands and solo artists.

Avebury Rocks, which will take place on Saturday June 15 at Manor Farm in Avebury Trusloe, is a celebration of all forms of great live music, from rock to folk and everything in between. With all proceeds going toward Swindon

and north-east Wiltshire’s local hospice, you can dance the day away knowing you’re helping a great cause.

The festival was the inspiration of local-born musician Nick Harper as a way to give something back to Prospect Hospice who provided care for his late mother. Nick, with the help of the original organising committee, set out to find a talented and willing group of musicians who would happily perform in a field

in Wiltshire, next to the famous standing stones of Avebury.

These days you can expect a line-up of great artists spanning all of the well-known musical genres over two stages throughout the day with camping available overnight. It’s a fantastic weekend of musical treats – you might even discover your new favourite band!

For more information, tickets and line-up details, visit www.prospect-hospice.net/ aveburyrocksfestival

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“This is a sad time for Oxford’s city centre” – The Cellar confirms closure Oxford’s most beloved independent music venue, The Cellar, has confirmed it will be permanently closed.

Despite the landslide success from its last campaign, Cellar Forever, which saw music-lovers and the likes of Gaz Coombes, Radiohead’s Philip Sellway and Yannis Philippakis of Foals back the campaign, – which raised £92k in an bid to keep The Cellar’s doors open – the venue’s owners have confirmed they could not meet the landlord’s final rent offer.

In a statement last month, The Cellar team said: “We are very sad to inform you that The Cellar closed its doors for the last time on 11th March 2019. After crunching the numbers, a thousand times over, the Hopkins family, who have run the independent music venue, for nearly 40 years, have sadly come to conclusion that they cannot continue.

“After months of negotiations, we would have loved to have been able to take the landlord’s final rent offer, but it came too late. What’s more, even with a vaguely do-able rent agreed, there were no guarantees

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on the time frame of the building work, which required access to the shop above and various structural considerations. Essentially, the whole process took far longer than we were expecting, and we simply could not keep operating under these conditions.

“We are grateful to the landlords for recognising the cultural importance of the venue, and we hope that we have saved this space from becoming a store room.

Moreover, we hope that the space, in some shape or form, will continue as a live music venue. Over 2000 people donated to the Cellar Forever campaign, showing that the people of Oxford really care about what The Cellar stands for, and the values it embodies – independence, individuality and creativity. The amazing £92K that we raised will be returned to everyone’s bank accounts.

“This is a sad time for Oxford’s city centre, with so many vacant shops and bars all around us, and we hope that our closure will be noted as part of the situation that is eroding our cultural communities. We have tried

hard to save our beloved venue, but hopefully its closure will fuel further discussion between landlords and the council to stem further destruction of our beloved city. If given the opportunity, our dream for the future would be to turn The Cellar into a Community Interest Company, a social enterprise whereby any profits would be ploughed back into the company.

“We’d like to thank all of our Cellar Forever supporters from the bottom of our hearts. You guys have kept us going through what has been a very tough two years.

“We’d also like to thank the brilliant people at Crowdfunder for being so supportive and understanding. Lastly, thank you to the Music Venues Trust who gave us so much valuable advice and guidance. Without them, we certainly wouldn’t have come this far.

“Who knows what the future holds for our beloved, sweaty little Cellar!

It’s a unique space, and it’s been a privilege to run this special venue for the past two decades.” www.cellaroxford.co.uk

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O2 Oxford: Sleaford Mods, Goldie Lookin’ Chain, Maps & Atlases...

By Ben Fitzgerald

It’s looking like a busy month of quality acts at Oxford’s O2 Academy as we veer headlong into April with reckless abandon.

At the start of the month, the venue plays host to Wales’ favourite hip hop collective Goldie Lookin’ Chain.

The tongue-in-cheek rap outfit are reportedly ready to party. See them rip the roof off and refuse to tidy up after

themselves on April 5, doors open at 6.30pm.

Hot on their heels are one of the most politically charged and thought provoking punk bands around - The Sleaford Mods. The mods are set for a huge UK tour in support of their upcoming fifth album.

They are furious about all sorts of things and keen to share their feelings.

You can lend a sympathetic ear on April 27, doors at 6.30pm.

And if you feel there’s a gap in your life that only an experimental indie rock group from Chicago can fill, then look no further than Maps & Atlases who hit the stage on April 28 at 7pm.

For more information on forthcoming shows see www.academymusicgroup.com/ o2academyoxford

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Music fo months Gappy Tooth celebrates 200th gig milestone with Mobius Words by Genna Pugh

Gappy Tooth Industries will return to Oxford’s The Wheatsheaf on April 27 with a night of great live music.

Mobius will be joined by support bands Deathly Pale Party and Knobblehead this April to celebrate Gappy Tooth Industries’ 200th gig with three bands of widely different tone.

Main headliners, Mobius will be performing hits such as “’Bite My Hand’ which sounds like it’s wearing shades indoors and has an unfiltered cigarette drooping from its fingertips as its simple pulsing wandering bass takes it into Bauhaus territory while the singer conjures up the spirit of The National’s Matt Berninger.

‘Omnipotence’ is even more dramatically gothic, sparse yet OTT vocals full of Hammer Horror theatricality, the clanging rhythms awash with

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malevolence as the guitar glissando scours any chinks of light from the room”.

Audiences will also enjoy the electrionica beats of Deathly Pale Party, a spectral Worcester duo whose evocative wisps of sound will make you wonder whether the ‘Sheaf engineer has used DI boxes or Ouija boards.

Final warm up act Knobblehead simply describe themselves as “tambourine enthusiasts” a stark contrast to the rest of the line up. Thankfully, Impakter magazine was on hand to supply the more useful description of their genre as “psych rock cacophony”. So there really should be a good range of music genres for everyone.

Come on down to The Wheatsheaf on April 27.

Tickets are £4.50 on the door, or online from www.wegottickets.com/ event/462804

Modern Error announce headline UK tour dates including Swindon Words by Sheer Music

Coda Agency in association with Sheer Music & Bandit Promotions, present Modern Error & Lotus Eater co-headline tour.

Swindon has always had a proud history of celebrating the best in the alternative UK underground and this coheadline tour between two of the most exciting young bands on the circuit, goes someway to cementing our position in continuing to do that, following in the footsteps of other exciting British bands who have played Level 3 in the past year, including SHVPES and Black Foxxes. This coheadline tour takes in some of the UKs coolest venues

in the coolest scenes, and we’re proud to be bringing the future of UK rock to Swindon.

Modern Error are hot right now. Currently blowing up, averaging over 50k streams per video on their youtube channel, having just completed a UK tour opening for Enter Shikari and already firmly in 2019’s festival plans, their latest video, Separation Scars, was given an exclusive share by Rock Sound, it’s fair to say that they’re on an upward trajectory that’s showing no sign of stopping having only been a band for less than two years. www.wegottickets.com

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c for the hs ahead T R U C K F E S T I V A L Ocelot 154 April edition.indd 45

Johnny Marr and Public Service Broadcasting are the latest big acts to join the lineup for Truck Festival 2019.

The second wave of acts also include Japanese House, Mallory Knox, Hot Milk and Yonaka. They join the already announced Foals, Wolf Alice, IDLES, Nothing But Thieves and Salves.

Festival organiser, Matt Harrap, said: “We’re incredibly excited to finally share a huge wave of artists to our bumper Truck Festival 2019 line-up! Indie royalty Johnny Marr will be making his first trip to Hill Farm, with a setlist full of iconic Smiths’ material and awesome solo work, it is truly amazing to have one of music’s all-time greats to Hill Farm. I can’t wait for Public Service Broadcasting to close the Market Stage on Friday night - they’ve always delivered a mind-blowing show and to have them back for the third time this year is going to be awesome!

“As we say every time, the whole team are truly overwhelmed with the response to our line-up so far, with 75% of all Weekend Tickets sold, we really don’t recommend hanging around! It will be the biggest and best Truck ever.” www. truckfestival.com

Bloxx Where: The Face Bar, Reading When: Tuesday April 9 Doors open: 6pm www.musicglue.com/bloxx

whenyoung Where: The Bullingdon, Oxford When: Wednesday April 24 Doors open: 7pm www.thebullingdon.co.uk

William The Conqueror

Where: Fat Lil’s, Witney When: Friday 26 April Doors open: 8pm www.fatlils.co.uk

Press To Meco Where: Level III, Swindon When: Friday May 24 Doors open: 7.30pm www.level3swindon.com

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Agony Girl Six-year-old Amy wants to be a YouTube star when she’s older and has already made several interesting videos involving a slightly perturbed cat, but she’s still got time to answer your questions.

We read her the questions and these are her answers... honest.

Dear Amy, Three years back I asked someone a question about whether to stay or leave. What I didn’t tell them at the time is that it would be really difficult to leave as they would end up a lot worse off and upset absolutely everyone.

Should I ask them again as they might have changed their mind in three years or shall I take their first answer to leave as what they should do?

Britannia. Albion They should let you stay because it’s bad leaving and it might mean if you try and get a new job you might lose your house.

Dear Amy, I went on one date with a boy and I felt that it didn’t go very well but now he won’t leave me alone. He keeps texting me, calling me and the other day he showed up at my work. What should I do?

Donna, Oxford You should say to him please can you stop it’s really annoying. Can you just pleasssseeee stop!!!!!!

Dear Amy, Will you be my friend?

Derek, Newbury Yes. I would let you go round my house and you could go on the trampoline and tell my sister to

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play with me.

Dear Amy, Do you prefer flying in planes? Driving in cars?

Riding in trains? Or sailing on boats?

Phoebe, Marlborough Driving in cars because it’s more fun than trying to get landed in a boat and cars are much more faster.

Dear Amy, I’ve got this fungus growing on my feet. It’s green.

And it smells and it’s quite painful. What should I do?

Caitlin, Swindon You should go the doctors and ask them if they can do something about it like remove your foot and don’t throw it really far away as you might need it later.

Dear Amy, What’s your favourite monster?

Quentin, Oxford Googley eyed one that has an egg mouth that’s called Sassie. It be crazy and it licks bugs.

To write into Agony Girl send in your questions to editorial@theocelot.co.uk

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