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CONTENTS WHAT'S ON
P8
The Hippie Shakes – Nuart Aberdeen – Women in Chamber Music Street Level Open – CCA – CYMERA – Hidden Door Festival Refugee Festival Scotland – The Modern Craft – Spinning Around The Village Storytelling Festival – Dandelion – Figures of Speech
INTERVIEWS
P18
Jarvis Cocker – Brooke Combe – Billy Kirkwood Alasdair Gray Conference – Cryptic Nights
FOOD & DRINK P32 Food & Drink News – Asparagus Salad Recipe
LGBT+
P36
The (Not) Gay Movie Club
REVIEW P38 racecar – Tom McGuire & The Brassholes – Sun's Signature – Poster Paints Nimbus Sextet – Kim Carnie – Atom Eyes – Katharine Aly – Starry Skies Bemz – MAN ON MAN – Viagra Boys
WORDS To bone white
P54
CREDITS Editor: Kenny Lavelle Sales: Leeann O'Brien Sub Editor: Leona Skene Food and Drink Editors: Emma Mykytyn and Mark Murphy LGBT+ Editor: Jonny Stone What's On: Natalie Jayne Clark Design: Joanna Hughes Cover photo credit: Tom Jamieson Spine quote: Jarvis Cocker To advertise in SNACK hello@snackpublishing.com 0141 632 4641 SNACK is a supporter of the global Keychange movement.
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Hello and welcome to issue 40 of SNACK, Forty. There’s been a bit of discussion here at the magazine about whether issue 40 is a momentous enough occasion to celebrate. Short answer: It is! Actually, for an independent magazine such as SNACK, every new issue is a reason to celebrate. Especially with the times we’re all having, you know, in the world generally right now. Thinking back to the first magazine we created back in October 2018, we set out to make a magazine that, despite being free, would nonetheless be valuable and a joy to hold in your hands: a positive, progressive force in Scotland’s creative landscape and something to look forward to every month. Looking back now, despite our collective experience, we barely knew what we were doing. A close friend of the magazine offered some sage advice at the time: ‘It’s only after four years that you’ll really know what you want the magazine to be.’ We’re not quite at the four-year mark yet, but this now rings true. Any ongoing collaborative, creative project that lasts as long as SNACK has grows and develops, influenced by the many people that work on and interact with it. We’ve been fortunate enough to have some amazing creative talent contribute to the magazine and every one of them has changed the magazine’s course – think of SNACK as a creative comet. That’s a substantial part of the beauty of it all. Looking back, it always has been. This, along with all of our initial ideals, is what I want the magazine to be: fluid, creative, bright, a moving reflection of the best of Scotland and those who work on and wish to be a part of the title, including you, our reader. Where will the next 40 issues take us? That just depends on who choses to get involved. To the contributors, readers, artists and other collaborators (thanks, Mum & Dad) who have helped us on our way, so far – thank you. Without you, there would be no SNACK. What’s in this month’s magazine? I’m sure you’ll find your way around. Stay safe and we’ll see you next month.
Kenny Lavelle Editor
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NUART ABERDEEN Various locations, Aberdeen 9th till 12th June ‘Reconnect’ is the theme of Aberdeen’s street art festival this year: reconnecting to relationships, to architecture, to art, to each other. There are eleven national and international artists on display throughout the city.
THE HIPPIE SHAKES Old Gym Theatre, Glasgow 24th till June 26th You don’t just want actors any more. You don’t just want musicians. You want superbly talented multidisciplinary artists who can master both, and more. If you haven’t heard of the ‘gig theatre’ form before, this is your chance to experience it first hand. Written and directed by Frankie Regalia, this show embeds live music from the sixties and seventies into our character’s journey from maudlin mother and trapped housewife to hippie chick. History repeats itself, and the story played out on stage is one of intergenerational cycles of abuse and female empowerment, superbly relatable to modern audiences but served with lashings of far-out, freaky, psychedelic tastes of the prime hippie era. eventcreate.com/e/hippieshakes
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Pejac is a Spanish painter who uses trompe-l'œil realistic imagery that uses optical illusion to create three dimensional work on a flat surface, like you could fall into the wall at any moment. Glasgowborn and based James Klinge uses stencils and palette knives to layer up his ‘controlled chaos’ into defined detail. Barcelona-based Elisa Capdevila sketches soft figures in relaxed poses and draws you in with the intimacy of her work. As well as the street art, there is a whole programme of film screenings, walking tours, workshops, panels, talks, and debates, making Aberdeen the place to be to learn more about the storeys-high artwork elevating our cities. 2022.nuartaberdeen.co.uk
STREET LEVEL OPEN Trongate 103, Glasgow 28th May till 7th August
Photo: Snowstorm At The Wyndford by Colin Templeton
A sneak peek of just a selection of the exhibition’s photographs has left me with a feeling of the air being sucked out my mouth. Each image is a stark, stunning representation of our lockdown and post-lockdown era, oxymorons of life and lifeless. Many artists tried out new techniques in this period, such as Alasdair Dimmick, who began creating double exposures from black and white 35mm photographs, blending analogue and digital techniques to showcase the surreal. Another, Colin Templeton, has been a national press photographer since 1994. Their experience is captured in their photographs; rigid, businesslike, yet moving and rich with storytelling. Their image of the 26-storey towers (soon to be demolished) of the Wyndford Estate typifies the difficulties of long days in this short life. Gina Lundy takes the concept of play and creativity and displays it in large scale artworks, featuring things like hands in bits of pipe. It’ll be much more mindblowing than that description when you see it. In short, each image is sure to make you stop breathing for a moment. streetlevelphotoworks.org
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LGBT+ by Jonny Stone Page 63
What’s on Page 9
CCA EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS CCA, Glasgow 20th May till 16th July Here we have plenty of workshops, screenings, and Q&As with creators to guddle your brain matter with. Experimental short film what it felt like to dream fire, with collaborators Regina Mosch and Bryant Keith Bayhan, explores how trauma can tear and how connectedness can repair. BAFTA-winning film That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore and documentary Spit It Out are being screened, together with appearances from the filmmakers, Hannah Curie and Lea Luiz de Oliveira. The former shows a relationship impacted by central character Paul’s brain injury, which has left him looping unending jokes, with his wife, Lindsay, left to hold life together. Their problems are further impacted by their remote location. The latter relates the story of Bee Asha, one third of all-female Scottish hip-hop group The Honey Farm, and her journey through trauma, antidepressants, and creativity, using spoken word as a tool for herself and others to share their experiences. Bee Asha is also hosting a writing workshop to show how to ‘find power in pain’. Ruth Eliot will be leading two workshops on better sex, both interactive and guided: one on pleasure and another dealing with unpacking our ideas about sex, with the premise that ‘our culture and history and experiences and politics all come with us into the bedroom’. That’s just a selection from the Spit It Out Project - there are plenty of other screenings and performances to peruse and participate in at the CCA.
CYMERA Various locations, Edinburgh & Online 3rd till 5th June Scotland’s festival of science fiction, fantasy and horror writing returns, for the first time in hybrid form. Strap in for some space adventures, with J. Dianne Dotson, Gareth L. Powell and Adrian Tchaikovsky. Each author has a space saga bigger than the last. Garth Nix has covered all genres over his years, and blended many too - in this festival he’s discussing his book set in a ‘slightly alternate’ London in 1983 - ‘slightly alternate’ meaning magical! His event is with Freya Marske, whose book A Marvellous Light is also a cantripfilled reimagining of England. Both are crammed with conspiracies and curiosities - an event for those with extensive imaginations. If you haven’t yet heard of Deep Wheel Orcadia, where have you been? Written by Harry Josephine Giles, it is cool in so many ways: written in the Orcadian dialect; a verse novel; and it’s set in space! You may have heard of steampunk - but have you heard of silkpunk? Silkpunk is ‘a technology aesthetic based on a science fiction elaboration of traditions of engineering in East Asia’s classical antiquity’. Check out Ken Liu as they discuss their silkpunk epic fantasy series The Dandelion Dynasty. As well as plenty of author talks, there are workshops, open mics, and readings for writers to participate in too. cymerafestival.co.uk
cca-glasgow.com
Better Sex Workshop
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Liu Ken
SUMMER YOUTH INTENSIVES
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What’s on Page 11
HIDDEN DOOR FESTIVAL Old Royal High School, Edinburgh 9th till 18th June This venue has many curious nooks, crannies, halls, and chambers, with the festival spanning music, visual art, theatre, dance, and spoken word. They promise to present us with every musical genre, and with over seventy bands playing both indoors and outdoors, they might just live up to their promise! There are spoken word post-punk bands (Dry Cleaning), alt-folk-rock collectives (This is the Kit), maverick punk electro groups (Warmduscher), not to mention indie-dance, soul-pop, improv - so many combinations. The visual art coalesces with the architecture itself, such as mirror and glass sculptures that respond to and reflect on the space. The dance programme appears to fill every space, large or small, from intimate solo performances to grand group ones - some which interact with the audience, if you’re not frightened of that sort of thing. Plus many more dramatic people whispering and shouting their words in the theatre and spoken word shows, such as breakout newcomer Oliver Robertson who details his upbringing and social activism in Glasgow. Sean Wai Keung will even be baking whilst storytelling. A festival of weird and strange and new.
REFUGEE FESTIVAL SCOTLAND Various locations 17th till 26th June Stories of solidarity and connections will be told through food, theatre, dance, film, music, and… storytelling! This annual celebration of the contribution that refugee communities make to life in Scotland contains open-air exhibitions in Queen’s Park (Letters of Hope), poetic short films (Beyond the Lines), gardening and cooking and eating (Soil), and more. refugeefestivalscotland.co.uk
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Music, Art Theatre, Dance Spoken Word
What’s on Page 13
THE MODERN CRAFT: BOOK LAUNCH
WOMEN IN CHAMBER MUSIC: SPRING
The Portobello Bookshop & Online Edinburgh 14th June
Pollokshields Church of Scotland Glasgow 12th June 4pm
Editors Claire Askew and Alice Tarbuck will be joined by some of the anthology’s contributing writers for this evening of witchcraft and its related ethics. The essays link together to offer a look at ‘contemporary occult practice viewed through an intersectional lens’ - the book’s essays cover queerness, decolonisation, gender-fluidity, disability, echo-witchery, and breaking down traditional hierarchies. The editors are artists at the forefront of reconnecting with the power of ourselves and nature, from their own writings to the workshops they offer on divination, spell casting, foraging, and more.
The sweet spring smell is in the air; blossom petals are fluttering around beautifully, whether you are in the mood to appreciate them or not. What will certainly put you in a serene mood is this chamber music concert featuring all-female musicians. This platform for young female professional musicians and recent music school graduates has a cornucopia of classical favourites, including the seasons man himself, Vivaldi, plus traditional Scottish pieces. The collective was created early this year to provide more opportunities for women in a maledominated industry. Keep an eye out for more from them in the future.
theportobellobookshop.com
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womeninchambermusi.wixsite.com /women-in-chamber-mus
FIGURES OF SPEECH: FRIENDSHIP Scottish Storytelling Centre Edinburgh & Online On-Demand 24th June This is just one of six events happening as part of the ‘Figures of Speech’ programme over 2022 - aka ‘Scotland’s Year of Stories’. The theme of choice for this particular one is friendship, and you’ll be taken softly by the hand (metaphorically) and led through tales and poetry old and new, but all iconic, by warm wordy-wavers Michael Pedersen and Val McDermid, followed by new work from Gaelic singer Kim Carnie. We are so blessed to have such rich literary history in Scotland, and this lot will connect you to some braw highlights on their theme. The event will have BSL interpretation from Yvonne Waddell and is supported by Lighthouse Books.
SPINNING AROUND Riverside Museum, Glasgow 17th May 2022 till 2nd March 2023 Records have spun back around and searching for and owning physical copies of music is in again. Check out this display ,which celebrates the golden era of Glasgow's record shops, covering everything from gold discs, rare club flyers, and more memorabilia. glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues /riverside-museum
scottishstorytellingcentre.com
What’s on Page 15
THE VILLAGE STORYTELLING DANDELION FESTIVAL Various locations CCA, Glasgow & Online 5th till 10th July Ye wullnae ken whaur tae pit yer een fer some a this fest! Selkie Soul features aerial acrobat Lauren Jamieson, dancing and whirling and bending high above the stage. She’ll be flowing through magical music, poetry and storytelling from folk band Kittlin - who even have a glockenspiel as part of their ensemble! There’s also Lauren Bianchi, Sarah Rankin and Colin White adding more to the mountain of evidence that queer has always been here - it ’s just been erased throughout time. Also, did you know of the ritual of ‘telling the bees’ where one tells the bee hives of significant life events, particularly of deaths? Be part of Tell It To The Bees: The Bee Charmer, a story performance followed by a collaboration with the participants to create a scroll of remembrance and reflect on the process with storyteller Pyn Stockman. There’s one strictly for grown-ups too - Women Who Gave No F*cks. You the audience decide who to crown the ultimate Woman Who Gave No F*cks after screeching and stamping through stories of oft sidelined women of history who were simply badass. That’s just a slice of the storytelling spread - see more on their website. glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/ riverside-museum
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April till September Did you know that dirt is good for you? Rooting around in roots is relaxing, soil microbes can stimulate serotonin, plus the fruits of your labour are sweetly satisfying. Dandelion is a ‘creative celebration of growing, music and community’ held in myriad events across Scotland. They have lots of ‘Free for All’ sessions in places like Dundee, Leven, Greenock and Govan - turn up and gather free plants, performances and advice on how to get growing. There’s also a festival 17th till 19th June in Kelvingrove Park with a line-up including This is The Kit, Hen Hoose ft Elisabeth Elektra, Emma Pollock and more, GABO, and Admiral Fallow – all free, all fabulous, from live music to workshops and talks and more. dandelion.scot
Daniel Silver Looking Free
Open Daily 11am — 6pm
45 Market Street Edinburgh
Exhibition. 11.06.22–25.09.22
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Daniel Silver Group (detail), 2022, oil painted ceramic, 45 x 45 x 100 cm Courtesy of the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London
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What’s on Page 17
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JARVIS COCKER
Good Pop, Bad Pop is Jarvis Cocker’s first book of prose. It’s quite surprising when you look back at his varied output over the years, and not just in the music industry, with some recent moves into radio and screenwriting. Jarvis is perhaps Sheffield's most famous musical son, having formed the band Pulp while at secondary school in 1978; most of us recall the band from their high-achieving successes in the 90s, particularly their 1995 LP, Different Class. Good Pop, Bad Pop is a bright and enjoyable collection of items and anecdotes that catalogue a lifetime; these items leading Jarvis to reflect on some of the pivotal moments in his career, and their impact on his ‘Toblerone packet’ loft space. It’s a book that breaks down the conceptual side to Pulp, finding art within the everyday items that are thrown away. Jarvis spoke with SNACK about how he hit on this premise for the memoir, Andy Warhol being responsible for more than his hoarding, and his desire for finding meaning in pop songs.
Photo credit: Tom Jamieson
Music by Keira Brown Page 19
Where did the idea come from, to tell your tale through your hoard of items to ‘keep or cob’? It was like most good ideas; it was a bit accidental. That loft is real and it has been a real kind of issue for me, and I guess everybody has some cupboard somewhere that things just get thrown into. And then I just decided to do it. Originally it was going to be just like one little strand in a book. Then one of my editors at Jonathan Cape, Anna Fletcher, said, 'that's the best bit, you should make the whole book about that.' She was really insistent about it. You know what it's like – at first when someone tells you what to do, you think how dare you?!. Then I thought about it for a few days, and I thought, actually she’s right, because it's a real thing. It's always better when it's based on something that actually exists rather than just climbing into thoughts inside your head. And I’m guessing there was more in that attic than the relics that made it into the book. How did you find the filtering process for this – are there any items that you regret cutting from the final edit? Well, yeah. There were some things that I threw out – because I did really play this game of ‘keep or cob’ and now we're having a bit of an exhibition, you see. There’s a bit of a pop-up exhibition down in London starting next Sunday [22nd May]. I'd made this pact with myself that I was going to photograph everything before I decided to throw it away. And then I suppose it was whether things triggered a memory or not. Then, early on, I realised that if I kind of did a bit of stage managing and put the objects in a certain order that they would tell their own life story, in some way. I’ve written loads of songs but it's the first time I've written a book, and the easiest thing to start off with is your own life story because you kind of know that bit already.
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SOMETIMES I THOUGHT: WHY THE HELL HAVE I GOT THAT? It's a memoir as much about your love for pop culture and punk as it is about these tangible items that recall the memories: the Imperial Leather soap bar, the green plastic apple, that inspiring constellation shirt, the dirty joke book. It’s clear that pop infiltrated your life through more than the music. Was this reflection an intentional approach, with the book? Sometimes I thought: Why the hell have I got that? The soap I remember, because when Imperial Leather changed their label design, what I was so bothered about was change. But the things, you know, for instance that whole Pulp master plan and stuff that was in the exercise book, I’d kind of forgotten about that, and that's kind of weird. I obviously took a long time overdoing it – I’m doing proper joined-up writing – and everything's underlined very carefully. So at the time I took trouble with it and for some reason that had gone, but for me that's what makes the book interesting. It’s a mixture of things that are significant to me, like the ticket to the John Peel radio show that really marks the beginning of my musical career. And then there’s just rubbish, you know, like out-of-date chewing gum.
The pages of your science jotter you just mentioned, the 'Pulp Master Plan', and the illustrated wardrobe – there’s something intimate there. You were consistent, sticking to these aspirations of a 15-year-old. The notes on how you were going to make it with Pulp Inc, the large label and then turning things on their heads – those were unusually brilliant for a teenager’s consideration. Looking back, do you feel loyal to many of your plans you had set out for yourself when you were still at school? Like you say, I was kind of pleasantly surprised that I didn't write, 'we'll get famous and have fifteen Porsches and a really massive house'. I had these kind of slightly megalomaniac ideas about a media empire, but with it helping to free repressed artists. I guess those ideas had partly come from liking The Beatles, and they had Apple [Records], so that was part of it. And then also there was a big part of trying to wrest control from The Man.
Looking specifically at Popism [Andy Warhol’s 1980 memoir] – as well as The Velvet Underground, your entry into the world of Warhol – these are a real influence and inspiration, it seems, on your approach to life and the meaning that you attach to everyday common items, or art. Well, yeah. Also, on a really basic level, it led to me nearly getting pneumonia because of this idea I’d just read in this Popism book, people talking about their ‘downtown loft ’and things like that. And so, I just decided that I was going to live in a loft. And, because we were living in this old factory building, you could see through the slates, we could see the sky outside. I just really caught loads of colds and was told by a doctor that I couldn't move back there because it was dangerous for my health. So there you go. Andy Warhol’s to blame for that.
How did it feel when suddenly, with your route into the music scene and pop, you then became someone to watch and observe, and to be regarded as either good or bad pop? Well, it’s what I wanted. There was this idea when I was a kid that if I got famous then I could live in TV land. Again, a really illogical thought that went in when I was a kid, so I kind of believed it. And I think that's partly why I had issues with it; when I didn't become famous because I wasn't living in the telly. Of course. You depict a time, throughout so much of your music and memoir, when the class struggle felt heightened: Sheffield during the Thatcher years, at the height of the miner’s strikes. That realisation that it wasn’t just them and us, but just very different versions of us. It feels profoundly embedded [in your work], these years. This thread of creativity being within us all, and culture being accessible despite your class, is something that seems to sit with you strongly. I do believe that's something that everybody’s got within them; whether they choose to develop it or not is another thing. I do feel that. I mean, if I end up writing another book, it will probably deal with my time down in London. That's one thing I realised: the luck. That I was really fortunate to be born at a certain time when there were options for people from my kind of background to do things and to explore the world a bit. I got to go to art college in London, for instance.
THAT'S ONE THING I REALISED: THE LUCK Music/Books by Keira Brown Page 21
My sister's kids haven't done that because there's not the money – it's harder to live in London. And even the fact that John Peel was on the radio at the time when I was a kid, so I got this crazily varied musical education from listening to his show. Punk happened at a time when I wanted to be in a band but didn't have any musical ability and probably would have given up, thinking it was too complicated. Then punk came and said, ‘you don’t have to have musical capability; learn this chord.’ So, all these things. The thing that’s crazy is when you go back and look at the past and realise how often it's just really a random coincidence whilst standing on a certain corner, when something happened and it changed the direction in your life. It’s kind of scary when you realise how random it is. And you mention in your book, several times, the lack of a fatherly presence in your life, inevitably affecting your opinions and perspective on the world. Do you think that fashion and your desire for societal change would have been as prevalent in the grand plan of Pulp, otherwise? I didn't think it when I came up with the title of the book, but Pop is another term for father, isn’t it? I mean, with the absence of a father figure, I looked for other things to tell me things about the world. As you say, a lot of it came from pop culture and that was kind of lucky at that time. I don't know whether it would be the same now. The BBC is currently in decline, and we were only allowed to watch the BBC in our house, because my mum was paying for the license. We weren’t allowed to watch ITV because that was free. So we grew up without adverts. And that's a massive thing. You know, most of the time, most culture now will have advertising, so you kind of get brought up with this idea that the culture part is not the important message. And that's a fundamentally different approach to life. It really is the bottom line: that you're supposed to be the consumer. And I would say that the bottom line is that you are supposed to be a creator. snackmag.co.uk
POP IS ANOTHER TERM FOR FATHER, ISN'T IT? And expanding a little bit on that, it’s interesting as well that when it came to your lyrics, particularly the lyrics that bring to the fore the mundane, less glamorised and sometimes the reprehensible, there’s a political astuteness there that’s admirable from someone working within the music industry, particularly in the 80s. Were there any jarring moments, when life no longer began to reflect what your songs were about? I felt cut off a bit from what I was writing, I suppose. But that was part of my mission statement from day one, really – I loved pop music, I was brought up on pop music, I was listening to the radio whilst my mum was brushing my hair to get me ready to go to school. I think, in the absence of a father figure, I wanted pop songs to teach me something – but they’re not really designed for that. They’re designed for entertainment. So when I got a chance to write my own songs, I wanted the words to kind of say the bits that I wished someone had said to me when I was younger. And does your attic look any more organised as a result of this cathartic exercise? I still keep losing things – like I say, we have this pop-up exhibition next Sunday – and there are a couple of objects that have just disappeared. I wouldn't say it's super tidy. It's not, like, filed alphabetically, but it’s better than it was. It’s still a work in progress. Good Pop, Bad Pop is published by Vintage on 26th May
Music/Books by Keira Brown Page 23
BROOKE COMBE Brooke Combe, voted Best Female Breakthrough Artist at the Scottish Music Awards 2021, is a singer-songwriter on the rise. She grew up on the outskirts of Edinburgh, listening to Motown, soul and R&B and playing instruments from a tender age. She discovered rock influences at 17 and was encouraged by her school music teacher to develop her vocals and to study music at university. Savvy with social media, Combe’s early cover songs found mass appeal, particularly her rendition of Baccara’s ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’, the Scotland international football team’s anthem in summer 2021. Since signing to Island Records, football crossovers continue, with song excerpts recently featured on BBC and Sky Sports football highlights on primetime television. ‘Miss Me Now’ is her latest single, driven by a punchy bassline and aligned with catchy lyrics, rhythmic and melodic hooks in three minutes of disco-pop perfection. Tell us about your latest single, ‘Miss Me Now’. I came up with the little bassline that the song is introduced with when I had got home from a night out. The song came together as a studio recording, then went back and forth with producer Mark Ralph, who added some lovely sparkly bits that sort of elevated the tune. I love it: it's nothing like I've ever done before, so it felt like it was a bit of a gamble for me to release, but everybody loved it. It's quite a light-hearted tune – it’s fun, it’s summer.
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How do you approach your original songs? I feel like I'm in a position at the moment where I'm able to be a bit freer with my tunes and just play around. I’m still trying to find the Brooke Combe sound. I think the running theme, however, throughout all my singles, is that they've all got the same soul. That’s the most important thing to me, being a soul singer: making sure there's still depth to all these tunes even if they are quite lighthearted. As your sold-out debut you memorably opened Glasgow’s King Tut's after a period of lockdown last summer. What was the mood and atmosphere like at that gig? The show was postponed initially. I was a bit gutted to have to move it, but then people wanted it more. They hadn't really seen any live music in 18 months, and as it was my debut, I hadn't ever done a gig before, so people didn't know what to expect, and they were really excited for it. The atmosphere was amazing. It couldn't have gone any better for me. I wasn't really that nervous about it. I think just seeing friends and family in this tiny little venue that is quite famous was amazing. What has been your most memorable of your gigs to date? I would say supporting Miles Kane this May at his Liverpool date at the 02 Academy – that was bouncing! The crowd were just loving it. I've always said Liverpool feels like a second home. I have also just done two shows for Sound City in Liverpool, which were amazing, as always. I just love it there, and the feeling is reciprocated by the looks of it, which I'm quite happy with.
Photo credit: Island Records
I'm toying with the idea of maybe moving there. It's just quite a special place for me at this point.
I love performing live, and I love being on stage and connecting with the audience.
What would you say is your proudest musical achievement so far?
You’ve got a lot of gigs coming up - which one are you most looking forward to?
Signing to Island Records – it’s something any singer dreams about, especially coming into this industry. It’s all been a whirlwind, and it's been really fast. So being able to sign, and have all the opportunities that have come with that, has been just remarkable and I probably never could have imagined it. I was only 21 at the time and it's an amazing, surreal thing to say you have done at that age, so I’m really proud of that.
Obviously Glastonbury is a massive one, I have to say. I'm excited to just go and enjoy the weekend, as I’ve never been and it's one of the big ones. I'm equally nervous and excited. Also, I'm doing a little festival near where I'm from: it’s just outside of Edinburgh, on the coast, and it’s called Fringe By The Sea. I’m supporting the amazing Candi Staton, so I cannot wait for that. I think I’ll be doing a solo acoustic set.
What would you like to achieve in the next five years?
Brooke Coombe will play festival dates throughout the summer including: TRNSMT, Glasgow, 8th July & Fringe by the Sea, North Berwick, 12th August (supporting Candi Staton)
I'd like to have released an album by then: a nice body of work that I'm proud of. Really mastering my live shows is becoming one of the biggest things for me.
Music by Yasmin Ali Page 25
You might know stand-up comedian/ presenter/ podcast host/ radio presenter Billy Kirkwood’s charming and charismatic brogue from his WestFM morning show, as the voice and compere for the wildly entertaining wrestling phenomenon ICW, host of Monday Night Improv at The Stand, or from various other performances and events. What you’ll have discovered, no matter where, is that he’s an unforgettable whirlwind of hair, tattoos, and side-splitting comedy talent. With the news that Billy is headlining his new show Energetic at The Stand before showcasing it at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. SNACK caught up with the (you’ll never hear him say it) five-time Scottish Comedy Award-winner to chat about the new show, inspirations, performing at The Fringe, and pretty much everything in between. So, Billy, tell us about your new show. Yeah, ‘Energetic’ at The Stand is basically my preparation for this year’s Fringe. It comes from the expression that people most use when describing me: energetic. Which, as a 42-year-old, is a bit weird. But you know what, I guess it’s because I’m genuinely excited to be there and always enthusiastic to be performing on stage. The idea is to bring together everything that’s happened over the last few years: life on the radio, wrestling, shows, and a few wildcard moments. People can come along, have some filthy, dirty, silly fun, and forget about the world for a while. The Stand will be the show’s first run out, a kind of ‘kick the tires and see how we get on’ thing.
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Developing a successful career through a burning passion for comedy means it’s hard not to compare you to a certain similarlynamed iconic Scottish comedian…
I guess it’s about being able to adapt. If I’m doing a kids’ gig, the energy remains the same, because kids’ imaginations are amazing. But the comedy and the content change.
I wish I could compare myself to him. I mean, there’s not many comedians in Scotland that could honestly say they haven’t been inspired by Billy Connolly. He showed people from a workingclass background, or any background for that matter, that they could be a success. He helped break down the barriers for everyone.
My passion always drives me through, and to be honest I always remind myself how lucky I am, doing something that I’m passionate about for a living.
Growing up, my comedy hero was Robin Williams, I remember watching his show Live at The Met on TV. I was probably aged in single figures. Watching it, I was like ‘that’s absolutely amazing'. Definitely my inspirational moment.’
Honestly, I loved every minute of it. My show was kind of old-school; it was called Notes From a Phone, and I had a giant pile of notes. I would improvise and interact with the audience, and every day we just had a ball. No two shows were ever the same.
And what about returning to The Fringe last year, for the first time in years?
What about first gigs? Any stress-inducing moments? Well, my wife met someone doing a stand-up course and encouraged me to sign up. I basically signed up knowing that there was at least one gig at the end. The course was taught by Viv Gee, who is known as the Godmother of Scottish comedy. My first gig, bizarrely, went very well, and the second night absolutely bombed. I thought I could write an entirely new set in 24 hours, but it was the best thing that could have happened to me, because even in that moment I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to do. You’re known as the morning voice of WestFM, and you’re an award-winning comedian, presenter, stand-up compere, podcast creator etc. Do you ever find it difficult to adapt your voice when switching between various roles?
Aw man, sometimes it was arse-clenching. The audience would tell me where to stop on the pile of notes, and occasionally it would be quite literally three random words. Obviously, with it being a live show, the energy and outcome were unique. Definitely my favourite form of stand-up. What's up next, after The Stand and Fringe gigs? Well, straight after the Stand gig, I’m going on my first family holiday for six years, and then it’s straight back for The Fringe. After that, I'll perhaps take the show on tour. Billy takes Energetic to The Stand, Glasgow on June 16th, and to this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Not really; when I’m doing each role it feels like a separate persona. The guy you see on stage isn’t the guy that presents on the radio in the morning. Photo credit: Robbie Boyd Photography
Comedy by Gregg Kelly Page 27
ALASDAIR GRAY CONFERENCE
The 2nd International Alasdair Gray Conference runs from the 16th – 17th June, and SNACK spoke to writer, academic, and Alasdair Gray biographer Rodge Glass to find out what’s happening when and where, who is going to be in attendance, and how you can get involved. What can you tell us about The 2nd International Alasdair Gray Conference? It’s a gathering of folk from around the world who are interested in the work of one of Scotland’s finest literary and visual artists, Alasdair Gray. The idea is to make it an interrogation and a celebration – a way of pushing things forward by encouraging new people and perspectives on his work and those connected to him. I believe that in 200 years, folk in Scotland are going to want to know about Gray’s work. So these are the early days of what I call ‘Gray Studies’. That field is best served by being welcoming and generous, as the man himself was. The conference has a couple of titles, 'Making Imagined Objects' and 'Across Space & Form'. Can you explain and break those down? Alasdair often described himself as a ‘maker of imagined objects’ – he used that term because it allowed him to include all the things he made under that umbrella: books, murals, landscapes, portraits, public works of art…he thought of himself as a craftsman and wanted to live in a world where artists could make a useful contribution to society. ‘Across Space & Form’ is the theme of the conference, chosen because we want to encourage folk in the worlds of visual and literary arts to talk to each other, and share their knowledge. snackmag.co.uk
What can attendees expect? It should first and foremost be fun, and social. We’ve all been stuck at our wee home desks for a long time, and this will be the biggest gathering ever of people interested in research around Gray’s work. So folk should have plenty to talk to each other about! We’ll also be wandering around Gray’s Glasgow, having events among the murals and seeing exhibitions of the art.
Òran Mor, mural
Alasdair Gray is often seen as a particularly Scottish, or even Glaswegian, writer and artist. Can you talk about his international reputation and reach? I’m glad you mentioned that. The old cliché when Alasdair was alive was that he was sometimes ‘too Scottish’ for folk in other countries to be able to relate to his work. Not true. Some English publishers were unsure how to promote his work, and certainly some doors remained closed to him because of his insistence on making his life and work so closely connected to Glasgow.
But he always had a lot of supporters in England, and in his lifetime his works were widely translated, as well as novels like Poor Things, soon to be released as a film, seeing notable success in the US. That literary international reputation continues to grow steadily – but the main difference in the last 10-20 years has been with the visual art. For most of Alasdair’s life he was considered a footnote in contemporary Scottish art, no more – a curiosity, whose work was totally absent from even small Scottish galleries. That’s so different now. His work is in Tate London, has been exhibited in Europe and North America, and the value of his art is much more widely acknowledged. Many Scottish galleries, including GoMA, which we’re visiting as part of the conference, feature his work. So things are really changing. His Scottishness is an asset, both at home and abroad.
Can you tell us about some of the speakers?
Gray's writing and art is often examined separately. Why do you feel it is important to bring them together as this conference does?
Most of the tickets have gone now, I’m glad to say, but there are some left – so it’s not too late to register for the conference: bit.ly/Alasdair_Gray_Conference
Images Courtesy of Alasdair Gray Archive
How can people get involved?
Lanark (Book Jacket), 2014, screenprint
Because that was Alasdair’s mode of creation. For nearly 40 years during his life, Alasdair’s literary art was much, much bigger than his visual art reputation. That’s really started to even out in the last decade – you only have to look at, say, the Hillhead Subway mural, or the Òran Mór auditorium – Scotland’s biggest free to access work of art – to understand how views of Gray have changed in the 21st century. Alasdair composed his ‘objects’ to always include both word and picture at the same time. The two swim into each other in his murals and his books. At the conference, we’ll bring together folk from these two worlds, and talk about Gray’s work not just as being ‘books’ or ‘paintings’, say, but as works which contain both, two elements in continual conversation with each other. As Gray’s international reputation as a visual artist blossoms around the world, it’s a great time to have a conference like this that makes a point of putting the literature and art on an equal footing.
There’s a lot on over two days and nights. We’ll be hearing readings of work responding to Gray’s own – Juana Adcock’s pamphlet of poems Vestigial is being launched, for example, at the Hunterian museum. But there will also be excellent talks from the likes of one of Scotland’s very finest writers, Ali Smith (who credited Gray with ‘giving her permission to write’ and Jenny Brownrigg (Exhibitions Director at the Glasgow School of Art, where Gray was a student in the 1950s) – both of them will be giving keynote speeches that we intend to publish after the conference. There will also be filmmakers, postgrad students, and Gray experts from around the world.
The 2nd International Alasdair Gray Conference is on the 16th til 17th June
Visual Art by Alistair Braidwood Page 29
CRYPTIC NIGHTS Supporting emerging artists producing boundary-crossing work in audio, film and art since 2013, Cryptic Nights returns to the CCA with a double bill of work. ‘The Rapture of Cellular Accretion’ by Lucy Duncombe and Al White and ‘Take Flight’ by Toraigh Watson are installation and performance pieces opening in June, responding to an open call for Scottish-based artists to develop new creative work. Can you talk me through a bit about what you’ll be doing at Cryptic Nights?
I would say the primary starting point for the music is the text narrative; the work itself feels like such a recorded artefact. A lot of the instrumentation is made out of my voice. I think this opportunity to present the work at Cryptic has just allowed me to expand on the visual world around it. The musical work is not just the musical work; I'm trying to create worlds around it, or richness, or some kind of home for it to exist in.
Image credit: The Rapture of Cellular Accretion
[LD] It's an installation; the last time it was presented publicly was when it was commissioned by Market Gallery and was presented online.
My timeline, like the lockdown timeline, is quite sketchy, but I think it was March 2021. It was supposed to be performed live, but then obviously the pandemic happened and the plan changed considerably. So it became a recorded work, and there's a text that I've written which has been set to artwork by Al White.
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[TW] I'm going to be presenting an audio visual installation as part of the night and I’ll also perform the same piece live. It’s a mixture of some video pieces that will be morphing and responding to the sound and an experimental music based on traditional Irish instruments, layered with electronic samples and field recordings. I recorded a conversation with my dad about his experience growing up in Northern Ireland in the seventies and eighties. The thing I was trying to explore is the different symbols of our relationship with the families and that relates to our experience growing up. And then I kind of want that to be presented to the audience as a slightly more abstract form. Maybe there might be parts where you can actually tell that it's an Irish instrument or where you can hear little clips of the conversation, but you don't get the full thing. I wanted it to be a bit more universal as well, to not be specific to Northern Ireland or to one audience member, to be able to sort of relate it to their own experience and take away their own interpretations from it. So was that having that ambiguity important to the process? [TW] I guess political conflict and migration to other countries isn't anything that's specific to Northern Ireland. That's just my experience and my family's experience. So that's my starting point. But it was kind of mentally abstract in a way, and the visuals would be fairly abstract as well. And you get little glimpses of where they were filmed. But yeah, I kind of wanted to be on that end of that more, so that it applies to more people.
I think it is, in some senses, circling around, drawing out an ecology within this digital space that I'm alluding to in this shared playlist between two individuals. I'm trying to embellish a digital landscape with reference points. There was a phrase that jumped out to me reading on the press release, which was ‘distanced intimacy’. I thought it captured that really well. [LD] That's actually something that I have used after the fact of making this work. I was reading this book last year by Hannah Zeavin, who's an academic who works across psychology, and she wrote about teletherapeutic practises across history. So looking at radio broadcasts in the 1940s, post war, that was a way of rolling out therapy en masse via radio broadcast and all of the other historical iterations of therapeutic interventions that might be digital in their nature. And then I think during the pandemic we've seen an acceleration of that, because I imagine a lot of people have received therapy by Zoom.We've just had two years of lived experience of that, what is opened up and what is closed off when we try and find connection across digital space. And I suppose there's something of that within the work as well, which I think we’re all intimately familiar with: how do you find community or shared reference points across distance?
Lucy, how did your background in natural science inform the work?
[TW] One thing I'm really excited for is seeing what the audience response is like, because I think at this point I'm really trying to understand what people connect with and what they don't. So one of the big things I'll gain from it will be seeing people react to it and seeing what they can get from it. I hope that the audience can lose themselves.
[LD] At the time I was really interested in ecology and biology, and I think when I was writing the text there were lots of reference points which related to biological terminology.
The Rapture of Cellular Accretion / Take Flight is at CCA Glasgow from 8th-10th June cryptic.org.uk/cryptic-nights
Sound & Vision by Chris Queen Page 31
FOODIE NEWS EDINBURGH
Chums in Leith recently turned one year old. Their retro cafe serves ‘hot pies, decent coffee and incredible donuts’ and their ice cream coffee can now be made fully vegan. Pie on a roll? Yes please! Following a lengthy ‘pop-up’, Machina Coffee have now permanently opened a sit-in (and sitout!) cafe at 32-38 Marchmont Road, near the Meadows. machina-coffee.com
Stack and Still
GLASGOW The beer garden at Brel has been transformed into the Brel Beach Club. Boozy snow cones and s'mores can now be enjoyed around the fire pit, and you can wash these down with lethal-sounding Negroni pitchers. The venue will still be dog- and child-friendly, with vegan options available. brelbar.com Machina Coffee
Glasgow-based pancake restaurant Stack & Still is the latest eatery to open at Bonnie & Wild's Scottish Marketplace in the St James Quarter. This comes just a few weeks after Tony Singh MBE also opened his new Indian street food venture, Radge Chaat, at the same food hall. stackandstill.co.uk tonysingh.co.uk/about-radge-chaat snackmag.co.uk
Brel
Cranside Kitchen is having a summer garden makeover, with palm trees, deckchairs and firepits to hopefully bring forth sunny weather. There is a new Terraza Di Aperol and Walled Gardens, and a Tiki-style bar serving punch bowls and cocktail slushies. New resident food kitchens include The BBQ Pit Stop, Poke Bowl, and The Big Breakfast alongside usual faces such as Halloumi and Kilmurry & Co. There will also be live DJs every Friday and Saturday night, with comedy nights and acoustic sessions also planned. Open daily from 12 noon throughout summer. cransidekitchen.co.uk/summergardens Eusebi Deli are opening a new cafe/bakery at Glasgow University’s ARC research building. eusebideli.com Fat Hippo burgers became available at Lane7 in Edinburgh last year, and soon those in Glasgow will also be able to enjoy the output of the Newcastlebased burger business when they open their first proper Scottish restaurant at 86 St Vincent Street (used to be the New Men’s Store). The menu will include a range of vegan and gluten-free items. fathippo.co.uk Rickshaw & Co Is about to open on Partick Bridge Street, a stone’s throw from Kelvinhall underground station, where Hyde used to be. They will be open seven days a week, serving up colourful and tasty street food from India and Bangladesh, with a menu featuring many vegetarian and vegan dishes such as Pav Bhaji, a thick vegetable curry served with a soft bread roll rickshawandco.com
PRODUCT Aldi have launched a Seville orange-flavour gin that is available in all 102 Scottish stores, costing £14.99 per 70cl bottle. This is the sixth edition in Aldi Scotland’s own brand premium Toradh range, pronounced Tor-ig and meaning ‘produce’ in Gaelic.
Other flavours include Plum and Pink Grapefruit, Tropical, and the classic Original Gin. aldi.co.uk
One of the few female and LGTQ+ led coffee businesses in the UK, Modern Standard Coffee have launched a limited edition blend that they describe as ‘a party in a cup’ for Pride 2022. £1 from each 200g bag will be donated to the Switchboard LGBT+ helpline. modernstandardcoffee.co.uk
The UK's only vegan pastry chef, Danielle Maupertuis released a cookery book, Vegans Deserve Better than a Fruit Salad, during lockdown, and is now promoting this. There are 60 recipes spread across 201 pages, for those who love desserts but want to avoid dairy produce. It's informative, humorous, and different from existing dessert recipe books, but still includes many takes on popular classics such as Eton mess, Black Forest gateau and sticky toffee pudding. Aimed at novices and experts alike. RRP £11.99. freefromdesserts.com
Food and Drink by Mark & Emma, Foodie Explorers Page 33
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ASPARAGUS SALAD Asparagus season is here, so we have a recipe to enjoy some of this seasonal delicacy, along with the new potatoes you will also find in the shops at this time of year. In the UK we don’t seem to have the same love of asparagus as Europe. If you have ever been to Germany at Spargelzeit – asparagus time – you’ll understand what I mean. Asparagus is everywhere: in soups, on pizza, in drinks, and you will see queues of people at stalls trying to find the best stems for dinner that night. This is a simple recipe which shows off the flavour and texture of asparagus. We have served it with some soft boiled eggs, or you could try some vegan feta instead.
INGREDIENTS 400g asparagus spears – trim off the woody ends 3tbsp olive oil Juice of 1 lemon 200g frozen peas 600g small new potatoes, well washed 1 tbsp mustard
METHOD
Preheat oven to 200C/190C fan/gas mark 7. Place asparagus into a roasting tin, sprinkle over 2 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Stir everything around the tin so the asparagus is covered. Roast the asparagus for 15 mins. Whilst the asparagus is roasting, cook the potatoes until tender. Drain them and halve them. Place aside. Add the frozen peas to the roasting tin and cook for a further 5 mins. In a bowl, add the remaining oil and lemon juice, and the mustard. Add the cooked potatoes and mix. Remove the asparagus and peas from the oven and add them to the potato mixture. Place spinach onto a plate and top with the asparagus, pea and potato mix. Place the halved soft-boiled eggs on top.
70g spinach 4 soft-boiled eggs Food and Drink by Mark & Emma, Foodie Explorers Page 35
OT) THE (N
GAY
Image credit: Press
CLUB MOVIE
BATMAN RETURNS As a dedicated comic book reader, I must admit I’m exhausted. Big screen adaptations seem eternal (pun intended) and, increasingly, woefully mundane; I can count on one hand the titles I feel have veered from the lucrative model with which Marvel and DC churn out each new venture with any sense of style or vision. It pays to return to the late 80s, when Hollywood’s current reigning outsider Tim Burton invented the superhero adaptation as we know it today; or rather, created a blueprint for the scope and innovation future directors could follow. Batman Returns is not the first entry from the Caped Crusader in our humble cavalcade of camp cult classics – our ninth inductee into The (Not) Gay Movie Club was Joel Schumacher’s heinous/glorious Batman and Robin. But Burton’s final venture into the world of Gotham is very much a different beast. For one, there are fewer rubber nipples.
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But more significantly, the star of the film is hardly Bruce Wayne himself: yes, this dissection of Tim Burton’s high-camp, sinister cult favourite focuses on Michelle Pfeiffer’s iconic Catwoman performance. She is in the film longer than its eponymous character, and few characters of equal importance have survived such a radical reinterpretation. Batman Returns is somehow celebrating its 30th anniversary, so there is no better time than now to welcome it with open wings to the illustrious (Not) Gay Movie Club. The list of actresses who were allegedly in the running for the role reads like a brochure for Gay Icons 101: Cher, Annette Bening, Demi Moore, and Madonna were allegedly in talks to play Selina Kyle. But Pfeiffer’s casting is perfect: she relishes every nuance of her dialogue and strikes such a perfect balance between making Catwoman cheesy and indulgently camp. And one must respect her commitment to the role itself – the catsuit was an arduous ordeal. Pfeiffer would be covered in talcum powder to squeeze into one of her 60 latex suits, then confined to the costume – with corset and full head mask – for 12 hours, only removing it for one toilet break. And Pfeiffer looks like sheer perfection: no anti-hero has ever looked as provocative, sinister, and powerful as Pfeiffer’s visionary Catwoman. She epitomises every gay, nerdy kid’s muse. Oh, and she puts a live bird in her mouth.
One interesting element in Batman Returns, and indeed the entire franchise, is the notion of duality; how characters explore their authentic self through the guise of another. The adopted personas assumed by Batman, Catwoman, and Penguin facilitate unconventional, dangerous, but powerful behaviour. There is something inherently queer about the way in which they find dominance and authenticity in their chosen identities, especially regarding Catwoman. Wayne is still pretty vanilla when he’s Batman, but Kyle evokes the assertion and sensuality previously lacking when she dons the catsuit. In this iteration of the character, Selina Kyle is not explicitly queer (in the 2015 comics, Genevieve Valentine’s Catwoman was bisexual during her series run), but there is no denying that Burton’s vision for her certainly reads as such. There is little ‘sub’ in the film’s queer subtext. Take Penguin’s perpetual longing for acceptance and approval – sure, he is theoretically hetero, but family rejection is often part and parcel of the queer existence. And his destructive, egomaniacal behaviour is the product of that abandonment. More interestingly, however, is how Catwoman’s role in the film consists of rejecting and subverting the gender stereotypes under which she once suffered: Selena Kyle – the meek, underappreciated secretary who has suffered at the hand of traditional, constricting gender ideals – embraces her sexual expression (in bondage attire, no less), vows to dismantle the capitalist cruelty of her boss and his organisation, and showcases a vague ambivalence to Bruce Wayne romantically. Sure, they get along well enough, but Kyle is galvanised more by vigilante justice and destroying the patriarchy of Gotham. We love to see it. She rejects domesticity: look at the way she smashes her doll house, shreds her teddy bears (an act I found very disturbing growing up) and spray-paints her pastel pink apartment black after supernaturally surviving her attempted murder. She literally destroys a closet, people! Doesn’t seem very subtextual to me.
And this is arguably one of the campest outings for a superhero adaptation, to some extent even rivalling Batman and Robin. Burton’s art direction is stunning and outrageously exaggerated. The set pieces, costumes, and minor characters are cartoonish, but with a sinister, German expressionist-twist. Brief shout out to the glamorous but ill-fated Ice Princess, who I was obsessed with as a child. The performances, especially those of Danny de Vito and Christopher Walken, are so perfectly over the top. And the screenplay! This film is hilarious, and surprisingly subversive. Gay trivia alert: the screenwriter Daniel Waters also wrote the perennial gay classic Heathers, and his brother Mark directed Freaky Friday and Mean Girls – the most important films of the 21st century. Penguin (while being bombarded by food, ‘Why is there always someone who brings eggs and tomatoes to a speech?’) and Catwoman (‘The thought of busting Batman makes me feel all... dirty. Maybe I'll just give myself a bath right here.’) are treated to the best dialogue in the film and deliver each line with aplomb. Batman Returns truly holds a prominent place in my heart, and I imagine queer audiences from all walks of life will agree that this outing from the Caped Crusader is the most sinister, indulgent, and fascinating. Sure, it’s big Bruce’s name above the door, but there is no denial that this is Catwoman’s show. It is hard to pinpoint exactly why Catwoman appeals to queer viewers the way she does: perhaps we appreciate her status as a subversive, dominant force who revels in chaos and dismantling the patriarchy on her terms; perhaps it’s in her transformation, mirroring the journey many of us have made in becoming the best versions of ourselves; perhaps it’s because she is sexy, cool, and smart and does tricks with her whip. Regardless, Batman Returns is a beautiful, weird, and endlessly enjoyable film that indulges its viewer in Burton’s high camp, twisted fantasy.
LGBT+ by Jonny Stone Page 37
Track by Track: racecar Orange Car The urge to pigeonhole when writing about music is stronger than the urge of a pigeon-fancier to build some sort of filing cabinet for his mono-compartmentalised rock doves. It’s the push of the subconscious versus a very conscious attempt at avoiding just listing the names of genres or previous artists. East Lothian trio racecar (the lower-case r makes it a palindrome, see?) make thoughtful, formshifting pop music. It never veers into the cheesy, yet could never be described as Lo-Fi due to the sumptuous nature of their arrangements and evident virtuosity. Self-described as a ‘blend of indie-pop, electronic elements, funk and jazz’, Orange Car does feel like there’s a lot more than the quoted influences going on. Yet it’s also impossible to deduce any singular origin for their overall sound. What isn’t hard to discern from racecarinhos [Are we really going for that? – Ed] Izzy Flower, Robin Brill, and Calum Mason, is the sheer scale of their ambition and commitment to songs that evolve through four or five minutes.
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Opener ‘Animals’ exemplifies this notion. Broken, glitchy drum patterns rattle underneath Izzy’s playful vocals, which compare the inhabitants of a city to a wider notion of wildlife. The hook, when it comes, has echoes of the steel drum voice on an eighties synth and, no matter how much you want it to stick to a 3-note signature, it insists on making even its catchiest element an embellishment. The first minute of ‘Nervous’ is a wistful look at the differences between individuals in a relationship but, once the bassline kicks in, it carries an entirely different persona. The bassline in question is incredible – slaps and picks thundering at a pace double that of every other instrument, and all in a funky tone that reoccurs in other tracks.
As if to prove their range and the relative individualism of each of the tracks on Orange Car, ‘Chapter And Verse’, released as a single in March, is a blend of suave, slow, tempo verses complete with 808 rimshot sounds and trebly, reverb-couched guitars, married to an exhilarating chorus shot through with bittersweet lyrical pathos and a start/stop beat. Latest single ‘Better Than You Know’ is a complicated beast to summarise effectively. The lead vocal melody sounds very like a Michael Jackson song, but I can’t quite pin down which one. The building of elemental layers appears to be a band cornerstone, embodied by the absolutely triumphant trumpet sounds in the second verse. The guitar solo sounds like it’s deliberately trying to ape Prince, both in stylistic terms and in terms of how loud it is compared to everything else. The verses of ‘Under You’ are fleshed out mostly by an energetic slapping bassline, although it sounds slightly less compressed and processed than the bass sound on some other songs. Flower’s vocal style recalls Corinne Drewery (Swing Out Sister) at times, but with a slightly higher timbre. ‘Under You’ gives her the chance to let that register soar while synths and guitars battle it out in the background. The first racecar song I heard was ‘Flood’ and, in the context of the album, it sounds better than ever. The song’s first minute contains vocal harmonies that are almost Gregorian in nature. The really clever bit, though, is how the vocal lead on the verses sounds the same throughout, but the addition of jazzy guitar chords in the last verse take the song to another, better-than-this-one, planet. ‘A New Christmas Island’ is an intimate song, both in atmosphere and sentiment. There’s a subtle trumpet over the last 40 seconds which gives the impression of being taken from the mind of the protagonist to a raft-borne journey to find some mythical place of mutual escape.
Having already mentioned some of the other basslines, I can’t stress enough how much you need to hear ‘Salt’. It is possibly the most frantic bassline I’ve ever heard. It’s impossible to tell if it was played on a bass then processed and sped up, or whether it is entirely a digital element. The result is akin to the soundtrack of a game on the Amiga, while an almost contrary vocal drives a mostly drum-less rhythm. ‘Appetite’ carries a threat. Distorted, crunchy, low frequencies stray almost into the realms of the heavy, but it's almost as if the song exceeds any restraints put on it and its breakdown is a quiet, electronic intermission. Up-tempo ‘Stranger Shores’ is a tour de force of musical dynamism. Almost brash and overbearing synths give way to quieter periods offset by Izzy’s relatively manic delivery. Closer ‘To You, When It Comes’ eschews the need for anything resembling a drumbeat, combining the vocals, keys and guitars to drive the rhythmic undertone to a point where, on first listen, you won’t even notice the lack of percussion. Debut albums are a funny beast, and a lot of artists who go out of their way to do something ambitious with them can end up tripping over the shoelace of their own ambition. Orange Car doesn’t fall into that trap. It feels like the expansive arrangements, the desire to always embellish the traditional song structure, and the breadth of genres incorporated in racecar’s sound aren’t a conscious addition to convey maturity – they’re very much a core part of what glues these three individuals into a coherent, assured unit. Orange Car is out 10th June (self-released)
Music by Stephen McColgan Page 39
NICK HOLDSTOCK Book: Quarantine It’s only natural that art reflecting and confronting the possibilities of the world post-COVID is beginning to emerge, and among the most arresting is Nick Holdstock’s new novel, Quarantine. It’s a novel which will make you think, and one of those thoughts will be ‘Things may be bad, but they’re nowhere near as bad as this!’. Set ten years after a deadly pandemic has torn its way around the world, laying communities and societies to waste, Quarantine depicts a ‘worst possible’ scenario, or at least very close to one. Despite the production of a vaccine but, importantly, not a cure, people continue to suffer and die in what could be described as old-school ways. Quarantine is narrated, in alternate chapters, by Lukas and Rebecca. Lukas is being held in a camp with fellow infected individuals, all quarantined for the good of others. Such places have become wild and anarchic, with sex, drugs, and drinking all embraced to make the days pass with a little less monotony, although such a life soon brings its own repetitiveness. It’s a place where life is often nasty, brutish, and short, with justice, such as it is, pandering to the mob rather than any higher ideal. Rebecca, a scientist, helped produce the vaccine that saved humanity, but she fears this will not be enough – will never be enough. She becomes obsessed with being ready for the next variant of the disease, something which puts her at odds with her colleagues, who are keen to celebrate each day without a new case. Holdstock brings the two protagonists inexorably together, with both having to deal with hazards and hardships along the way. Quarantine is a harrowing novel at times, but due to its subject matter and style it is an immediate and immersive read, and it has a humanity and honesty at its core which portrays hope, even in the darkest times. snackmag.co.uk
Nick Holdstock has written a novel which is sensitive and sensual, despite most characters having to dull their senses to survive potential apocalypse. It’s not the end of the world as we know it, but it’s getting there. Quarantine is published by Swift Press Alistair Braidwood
NATALIE WHITTLE Book: The 15 Minute City – Global Change Through Local Living COVID and its accompanying lockdowns have fast-tracked a few ideas on the way the world works or should work, such as the pros and cons of working from home, flexible hours, and the much-discussed ‘death of the city centre’. Another of these is the theory of the 15-minute city, which is ‘a city that is designed so that everyone who lives there can reach everything they need within 15 minutes on foot or by bike.’ Natalie Whittle’s The 15 Minute City: Global Change Through Local Living examines the idea through the changes she has noticed in her local area, Glasgow’s Southside. The book also discusses other cities’ models, from ancient Athens to Paris, New York, Helsinki, and elsewhere, while examining other research into this deceptively simple idea whose time, the author believes, has come.
It’s an exciting and accessible read, which weaves together the anecdotal with thorough research and academic investigation. Whittle explores the changing nature of cities, the potential death of the car, increased cycle use, and how local businesses and residents can not only survive but thrive, if individuals learn to come together and support each other, as evidenced through the examples from our various lockdowns. While undoubtedly positive about the benefits of such change, Whittle also presents counterarguments, and looks back to see what lessons can be learned from history and the steps which have to be taken to undo the problems which have been inherited. Natalie Whittle’s The 15 Minute City proffers the idea that such changes to how we live, and where we live, give hope for a better future, something which is far too rare to ignore. It will make you look more closely at the place in which you live and the people with whom you share it. The 15 Minute City: Global Change Through Local Living is published by Luath Press Ltd Alistair Braidwood
ALISTAIR MCKAY Book: Alternative to Valium: How Punk Rock Saved a Shy Boy’s Life Alternative to Valium: How Punk Rock Saved a Shy Boy’s Life recounts the most crucial encounters in Alastair McKay’s journalistic career. The book is split into two distinct sections: ‘Play It Loud’ recounts pivotal moments from a youth spent on the East coast of Scotland, which set the author on the path to music journalism, and ‘Listen With Prejudice’, which recounts eventful, entertaining, and esoteric snippets from that career.
The titular allusions to quietness and introversion stand true across the memoir: most incidents recounted have a voyeuristic quality to them, as McKay’s characterful narrative voice is scarcely interrupted by his dialogic voice. Frequently, the memories are not so much of participation, but more of being a bystander. That’s not to say McKay wasn’t working hard, of course; his career attests to that. Bombastic when appropriate and pensive when required, McKay’s excellent prose carries the energy, opinion, and outgoingness that’s rarely expressed by the reserved personality he tells us of. In one hilarious scene typical of Alternatives to Valium, an encounter with Shane MacGowan is recalled. McKay’s relative silence during the meeting, compounded perhaps with MacGowan’s personal instability, sees the Pogues singer repeatedly infer opinions of McKay’s and consequently confront him over them. It’s a skit born out of contrasting personalities, framed expertly by a retrospective gaze. Throughout the whole work, the humour and power is in McKay’s writing. It’s as much a tale of how a shy boy became a music journalist as it is a testament to how good a journalist he became. Alternative to Valium: How Punk Rock Saved a Shy Boy’s Life is out now, published by Polygon Jo Higgs
review@snackmag.co.uk Page 41
AROMA Single: Tunnel Vision A meeting of minds and musical styles born out of hip-hop and jazz nights in Glasgow, the first single from the AROMA project is a slinky slice of acid funk with mellow, rounded keys and a message of righteous positivity. Dextrous lyricisism from AFA drops in double time and slips off the smoky, laid-back beat with a conscious, soulful heart.
TOM MCGUIRE & THE BRASSHOLES Single: Tower Leaping out of the speakers with a bombastic howl, this is a hard-partying ode to the enduring little moments that you fall in love with again every morning. The eight-piece band, honed by extensive live playing, throws afrobeat guitars, a joyous choir, and a sax solo at a song that jumps genres in pursuit of an ecstatic groove.
'Tunnel Vision' is out now Chris Queen
VACUUM SPASM BABIES
'Tower' is out on 27th May Chris Queen
LONGLIST
Single: Slow Giants 'Slow Giants’, the A-side from Vacuum Spasm Babies' new single, is pretty funky: a reflection of 60s psychedelia with Pixies-adjacent offset vocals. Esoteric and droning, ‘Slow Giants’ is an oddly easy listen of a tune, but with Vacuum Spasm Babies' unhurried output, you’d better make yourself happy with the two excellent tracks on this single for the time being. 'Slow Giants' is available to stream now Dom Cassidy snackmag.co.uk
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SUN'S SIGNATURE
PHILLIP JON TAYLOR
EP: Sun's Signature
EP: Supportive Partner Please Stand Here
Most couples probably think they can create lullabies and dreamscapes, and more, for their children to adore. Most couples aren’t Liz Fraser and Damon Reece. Both opening tracks, ‘Underwater’ and ‘Golden Air’, have moments that soar, transcending the beautiful yet understated body of the songs. The sharp turns are spellbinding, blinding you at first, then demanding repeat listens. ‘Bluedusk’ is equally trippy, leading listeners to a hidden land of wonder.
PAWS were a Glasgow band appreciated by the SNACK team over the years, and now the solo career of Philip Jon Taylor hits the spot for us. It’s different, of course it is, but you can join some of the dots from their 2019 album Your Church On My Bonfire to Supportive Partner Please Stand Here.
There are many quiet and soft passages, but there’s not a fragile moment. Even delicately picked strings have an edge that indicates they know how to handle themselves, if the need arises.
On ‘Fabulist’, the almost-whispered words draw you in close, and the soft shuffle doesn’t let you go. The pace drops, vocals crack, and the whole thing takes on a slower and more plaintive feel as the record goes on. There’s an air of melancholy, but it’s never without hope. And who can’t relate to that feeling?
With Steve Hackett of Genesis fame and an assorted gang of accomplices from Massive Attack, Spiritualized, Coil and Goldfrapp on board, the talent flows freely from every song. You’ll come for Liz’s long-awaited recorded comeback, but you’ll return (repeatedly) for the simplistic majesty that permeates the EP.
It’s an honest record, played out in an altcountry Americana style. The opener ‘Lucky 22’ is the liveliest number and delivers the title. The appearance of Tendertwin on ‘Rear Window’ adds a lovely counterbalance to the lead vocal.
Supportive Partner Please Stand Here was released May 6 on Wish Fulfillment Press and Bubble Core Records Andrew Reilly
Sun’s Signature is released 18th June on Partisan
Photo credit: Eva Vermandel
Photo credit: Michael Gallagher
Andrew Reilly
review@snackmag.co.uk Page 43
POSTER PAINTS
CHARLOTTE DE WITTE
EP: Blood Orange
EP: Universal Consciousness
We're bang in the middle of wedding season, so it's apt that Poster Paints have delivered an EP that adheres to a familiar wedding tradition.
Consistency. It’s what you want from an artist in terms of output, but not necessarily their tempo or range of songs. Charlotte de Witte unsurprisingly serves up another thumping beast of a collection with the Universal Consciousness EP, tentatively balancing familiarity and freshness. Rest assured, though, that the quality is never in doubt.
Their two previously released songs feature, so we have something old, and in 'Blood Orange', we have something new. Something borrowed comes from The Lemonheads, with the 'Into Your Arms' cover. This leaves us with something blue to take care of, and you’ll likely be blue that the EP is so short. An album is on the way, a transatlantic affair, with local heroes Olive Grove teaming up with Ernest Jenning Record Co, from Brooklyn, NY. That's something to look forward to, but you've got enough to keep you occupied for now. Hot on the heels of shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh, 'Blood Orange' sees Poster Paints swooning and meandering along. Compared to the spiky ‘Number 1’ and 80s dream pop ‘Never Saw It Coming', it adds another side of life. As always, there are a lot of absolutes with Carla J. Easton, and there’s nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve. Blood Orange is out now on Ernest Jenning Record Co / Olive Grove Records
Photo credit: Craig McIntosh
Andrew Reilly
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Opener ‘Satori’ recalls the Gregorian chanting of the Return To Nowhere EP, but ‘Kali’ takes the handbrake off. It gallops through you without request or apology, setting a pace that even the title track fails to match. It’s not for lack of trying, with that and closing track ‘Ahimsa’ leaving you entirely spent by the end. You know the script with Charlotte: her EPs always feature at least one pulverising track from her live sets and enough energy to drag you off the floor when the weight of the world exerts a heavy pull on you. Universal Consciousness EP is out now on KNTXT. Andrew Reilly
NIMBUS SEXTET Album: Forward Thinker While a lot of bands promise a multi-genre influence, few actually deliver on it. The second album by Scottish acid jazz signing Nimbus Sextet is one of the few pieces of music where every song picks you up and drops you off in a different part of the universe; opening with a filthy wink and an 808 kick that could have come from a Sir Mix-ALot track, and then dropping into a funk groove with the rounded keys of a 50s Rudy Van Gelder production. The skittish trap triplets on the title track break into a spacey mid-section, all spring reverb and congas from Steve Forman. ‘Search for Solace’ crashes cosmic waves into a film noir slouch. Bandleader Joe Nicholls’ songwriting has developed into something a bit more conceptual on this album, exploiting the advantages of digital media to run the songs together into a single piece that builds into an exploratory journey topped off by the squelchy mellotron funk of closing track ‘To The Light’. Production from Nuovi Fratelli brings a soulful disco influence reminiscent of the extended mixes of Cerrone in their development of a theme out to its furthest edges.
Featuring an impressive range of guests trombonist Nathaniel Cross, Charlotte Graaf of Kid Creole and The Coconuts on ‘High Time’ and the empyreal tenor sax of Harry Weir among them - this is an album that digests its expansive range of musical references into constantly surprising and sophisticated whirl of blown out joyous musicianship and locked-in dancefloor grooves. Forward Thinker is out on 27th May on Acid Jazz
Photo credit: Neil Thomas Douglas
Chris Queen
review@snackmag.co.uk Page 45
KIM CARNIE Album: And So We Gather Oban-born Kim Carnie has been honing her craft for years, teasing her talent and building towards a much-desired album. And So We Gather sees this desire more than satiated, and with greater sublimity than one could’ve expected. With its roots sprawling across Scotland, between Glenlyon and the Isle of Skye, And So We Gather is innately both Gaelic and Scottish, but doesn’t restrict itself to this. The instrumentation affects dynamism in its variety, stretching across cultures and continents and culminating in something magnificent. Ten tracks are split between traditional folk songs and Carnie’s own compositions – weaved between each other seamlessly, allowing a smooth-flowing infusion of the old and new, hinting at an ephemerality that ties together the history of Scottish music. In parallel, piano and guitar gently arpeggiate on ‘She Moves Me’, setting the tone for the album as a whole and, more immediately, teasing the introduction of Carnie’s astounding voice.
Its softness elevates her accent, flickering at the twists of melodies as sung by generations of trad singers, but scarcely as gorgeously. Carnie’s voice grows in strength and wonderment. In the sombre ‘Caoidh Mhic Shiridh’, airy backing vocals lull beneath Carnie's own, bolstering the power of the melody with carefully arranged harmonies throughout. From singing ‘Bonnie Wee Jeanie McColl’ with her grandfather, at the age of three, to a momentous and stunning debut album, Carnie has come a long way to provide us with this gem. This is an album for everyone, not just folk fans. And So We Gather will be released on 17th June on Càrn Records Jo Higgs
ATOM EYES Album: Blue Into Gold Formed from a series of meetings in late night bars, Atom Eyes have a definite hint of the small hours of the morning in their louche, easy delivery. There’s a gentleness and ease in these barroom rhythms, with a hint of regret; a touch of woozy heartbreak. Title track ‘Blue Into Gold’ slinks along a serpentine bassline, all smudgy romance and possibility.’‘Drinking Time and Wasting Wine’ builds on the earworm of opening track ‘Building Blocks’ as guitars glimmer. There can be a danger, with the smoother side of jazz, that it runs into a bit of anonymity. But a strong pop sensibility runs through Atom Eyes’ music, giving their soul-tinged jazz a classic songwriting feel. Lissa Chen Robertson’s vocal evinces a strong influence from the neo-soul acts of the late 90s, and the rimshots and lavish piano drip hints of wine bars and sun-dappled terrace; heartbroken reminiscence in a John Rocha suit.
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ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER Album: Endless Rooms
‘Daredevil’ has the New Jack Swing of the Jam and Lewis vocal groups in its low snare hits and squelchy synth bass, the mournful single ‘You Do You’ bringing a touch of the baggy jangle of The Sundays. There’s a few great hints at a deeper funk side when guitarist Fraser Christie and pianist Alan Benzie push out of a traditional song framework into something a bit more psychedelic and a little less polished, particularly on closer ‘Anticlock’, which carries a kind of lysergic expansiveness and hints at a deeper exploration of those hard-built neural pathways. Blue Into Gold is out on 3rd June Chris Queen
It’s fair to say the second Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever album split opinions, even though everyone acknowledged the same truth. For many, the fact that Sideways To New Italy was more of the same following debut LP Hope Downs was very welcome; for others, it was a missed opportunity. There won’t be that sort of chat around Endless Rooms. It’s still a record made by a multifaceted songwriting machine that enjoys listening to Television, but the band are sprawling in many different ways. It’s a delightful record and will undoubtedly reveal more on repeated listens. From ‘Tidal River’ through ‘Vanishing Dots’, it’s an exhilarating squalor of noise and ambition. The world might be falling apart, but we can live with it when it’s captured in such a lively manner! Endless Rooms has hopefully reinvigorated the group and should serve as a reminder to some not to write bands off too early. Endless Rooms is out now on Ivy League / Sub Pop Andrew Reilly
LONGLIST
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KATHERINE ALY Album: Shadows are Made of Light Too For Katherine Aly, shadows are not merely negative space, darkness shunned and kept to the sidelines, overlooked. They are complex, living spaces to be explored, even celebrated. In her vibrant debut album, Shadows Are Made of Light Too, Aly fills in every inch of space with her bold, bombastic sound, highlighting painful as well as joyful emotions. Across its eight denselypacked tracks, the album alternately bubbles with excitement, seethes with tension, and glimmers with uncertainty. The Greek-born, Edinburgh-based singer wastes no time in getting started, announcing opener ‘Glow & Ignite’ with angular, flashing synths. This also happens to be the album’s best song, its swinging, doo-wop-inspired chorus irresistibly melodic. Across the album, Aly’s use of girlgroup-style backing vocals is juxtaposed with harsher, more modern instrumentation, evoking the Supremes one moment and Lady Gaga the next. But Aly outstrips conventional pop in sheer force of sound. The almost stifling atmosphere of distortion and drama on ‘Hype Up’ or the incendiary climax that is final track ‘Butterflies’ wouldn’t be out of place on Eurovision. On the other hand, the album’s softer tracks are where Aly’s emotional and philosophical songwriting really shines. Steeped in shimmering mystique, ‘Maybe in Another Life’ considers whether one lifetime is merely part of a greater journey to fulfil the soul’s potential. Most beautiful of all is ‘Rules’, a pared-back ballad furnished with deep piano chords and gorgeous fluid vocal runs. ‘Rules don’t follow me,’ sings Aly commandingly. And, with this daring first LP, it’s not hard to believe her. snackmag.co.uk
This also happens to be the album’s best song, its swinging, doo-wop-inspired chorus irresistibly melodic. Across the album, Aly’s use of girlgroup-style backing vocals is juxtaposed with harsher, more modern instrumentation, evoking the Supremes one moment and Lady Gaga the next. But Aly outstrips conventional pop in sheer force of sound. The almost stifling atmosphere of distortion and drama on ‘Hype Up’ or the incendiary climax that is final track ‘Butterflies’ wouldn’t be out of place on Eurovision. On the other hand, the album’s softer tracks are where Aly’s emotional and philosophical songwriting really shines. Steeped in shimmering mystique, ‘Maybe in Another Life’ considers whether a lifetime is merely part of a greater journey to fulfil the soul’s potential. Most beautiful of all is ‘Rules’, a pared-back ballad furnished with deep piano chords and gorgeous fluid vocal runs. ‘Rules don’t follow me,’ sings Aly commandingly. And, with this daring first LP, it’s not hard to believe her. Shadows Are Made of Light Too will be released on 10th June via Metro 13 Records Zoë White
STARRY SKIES
THE OVERJOYED
Album: Small Wonders
Gig: The Overjoyed, Bloc, 17th May
They don’t make them like they used to. As we know, that’s a cliché and a lie. It’s a belief held by people so beholden to the old ways that they don’t want to enjoy anything new.
Punk rockers The Overjoyed shook Bloc in an imaginative and atmospherically powerful performance. The Athens band bounced on to a packed venue, some fans accompanying them from Greece to see them on their UK tour.
Starry Skies aren’t like that. They’ve made a record like they used to, packed full of classic singersongwriter tropes. You can almost feel the 70s stardust cascading out of your speakers. You'll have a ball here if you love songs with a substance, ones that tell stories and feature earnest licks and fills. That’s not to say it’s a retro-fest or nostalgia wave. It’s just music of this nature done very well. There’s nothing wrong with that, and songs like ‘Kind Hearted People’ sound good in any era. ‘Smile Through The Dark’ has a yearning alt-country feel, ‘Spitfire Susie’ is a rollicking good story, and there’s plenty of great tunes and tales to unpack here.
Their nine-stop journey sees them showcase their LP Aced Out, a singular achievement in contemporary European punk. The band sounds like someone sped up a Joy Division record and invited Stewart Copeland to redo the drums. Singer Leonidas Theofylaktidis has a roaring yet melodic voice that thrills. As the gates to the outside reopened from the depths, there was a palpable sense of how fantasies, projections, and reality intertwine when punk is at its best. A night of punk without parody. David Stewart
Small Wonders is released on 27th June on Fox Star Records Andrew Reilly
review@snackmag.co.uk Page 49
BEMZ Gig: Bemz, King Tuts, Thursday 19th May Bemz has recently been inaugurated as BBC Introducing Scottish Artist of the Year, and won Best Live Act at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards. Now he’s the first Scottish rapper to sell out King Tuts. You could say that he had a lot riding on this one. ID opened the night, doing well to bring the early stragglers into a well-formed crowd. The audience’s energy was more than enough come the end of his set, which was rounded off spectacularly with unreleased track ‘Numb', featuring Lauren Glancy. Psweatpants was next, again keeping the energy high with melodic flows and a wide scope of sounds, the highlight being a masterful garage tune to end his set. After this was Washington, completely in sync with DJ ISO YSO. The Glasgow artist ended his set brilliantly with a track called ‘season 4’, produced by Axor. The anticipation was real. There was a sense of camaraderie among the crowd that I’ve never seen a Scottish rap artist manage to create before. Bemz jumped on stage with no chit-chat, belting out ‘Bando2Studio’ so the world could hear. When he did first stop to speak, he looked with misty eyes at the audience: ‘I can’t believe Nova’s dad is playing to 300 people at Tuts’. Proceeding this he performed ‘a song so new it doesn’t even have a name’, ‘Trappin (uh huh)’, and had the crowd in the palm of his hand as they shouted back the words to ‘Flex’.
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There was an interlude as Bemz brought on Edinburgh rapper Kiko to perform two tracks, who kept things going strong. You could tell Kiko is a name we’ll be hearing again. Bemz came back on with a vengeance, practically shouting the lyrics to ‘Who Dem’: ‘They were tryna scare me, they were tryna run me out…’ before DJ NotTodayKarin seamlessly brought the beat in, right on the hook. The back and forth between Bemz, NotTodayKarin and the audience created a real sense of closeness. Everyone was a superfan at this point. He warned us he was ‘going to do that thing where artists pretend it's their last song and leave the stage and you chant, “one more tune’’.’ He did, and came back with an intimate rendition of ‘26’, eyes closed for most of it. You could tell this was personal. The show closed with the rappers’ whole team bouncing around on stage while Bemz roared out ‘Goldie’. The next day, I asked Bemz how he felt: he said, ‘That gig was bigger than me; it was a statement piece for where Scottish hip hop can be’. Could this show be the start of a new chapter? Joe Rosenthal
VIAGRA BOYS
MAN ON MAN
Gig: Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, 9th May After a delay of nearly two years (and a change of venue from Edinburgh’s Summerhall), Stockholm’s Viagra Boys finally made their triumphant return to Scotland, performing to a sold out crowd at the QMU. Monday is rarely the optimal night for a gig but the excitement for finally seeing one of Scandinavia’s coolest bands was palpable; a feeling that even Glasgow’s miserable weather couldn’t dampen. Those who got down early were treated to support from Melbourne’s Grace Cummings, her booming vocals and dark energy provoking a deservedly positive response from the slight but eager audience.
Live: Broadcast, Glasgow, 13th May
As the crowd swelled, Viagra Boys emerged to rapturous applause, their tattooed maniac frontman’s performance proving just as aweinspiringly unpredictable as anticipated. But it was the pulsating instrumentals that stole the show, with the driving bass, thundering drums, spasming electronics, and wild bursts of saxophone all showcasing just how impressive a live act they really are. Viagra Boys’ new album Cave World arrives on 8th July 2022 via Year0001. The band will perform at The Barrowland Ballroom on 21st January 2023
NYC’s ‘gay lover band’, MAN ON MAN, announced their arrival at Broadcast in typically provocative fashion: ‘#gayglasgow, we’re here. Cum on.’ Local indie rocker Jack Brotherhood was invited to open and his solo set was warmly received, with anthemic new single ‘Heteronormativity’ a particular highlight. When Roddy and Joey graced the tiny basement stage, they quickly set the tone, sharing a passionate kiss before filling the room with their unconventional brand of explicitly gay alternative rock and showing just how delightful a racket two guys with electric guitars and a keyboard can make. The earworm electronics, irresistible choruses, and chugging riffs of ‘1983’, ‘Two at a Time’ and ‘Daddy’ all sounded massive, especially when juxtaposed with the tender ‘Baby, You’re My Everything’ and the jaunty ‘Beach House’. In the end, they didn’t play the iconic ‘It’s So Fun (To Be Gay)’ but its positive spirit was very much alive and well on the night. The eponymous debut album from MAN ON MAN is out now via Big Scary Monsters. Christopher Michael Ovens Sneddon Photo credit: The Headscratcher
Chris Michael Ovens Sneddon
review@snackmag.co.uk Page 51
SNACK BITS It barely seems a week since the last SNACK Bits, let alone a month, but here we are again. Thanks so much for coming; what a lovely audience, so much better than the previous month. And if you think that’s no beginning for a music round-up, let’s start with ‘No Beginning’ by The Plastic Youth. It’s short, sunny, uplifting and gets out before they’ve taken off their coat, let alone overstayed their welcome. It shouldn’t surprise you that Gerry Love produced the track, and if you like Love, you’ll like or love it. Sticking with the theme of Glasgow indie legends, the 1990s are back. No, not the era, even if Adidas tracksuit tops and Hooch never really went away; 1990s, the band. Jackie McKeown’s cheeky scamps had so many tunes and choruses they had to steal a few ‘bags for life’ to carry them in. Comeback single ‘What's Up With The Midnight Me?’ plays out precisely the way you want it to, and excitement levels are high for more. The new album Nude Restaurant is due in June, so we’ll see you at the lights! From indie guitar pop to a blend of traditional and genre-defying pop, we’ll follow up on last month’s mention of Katherine Aly to highlight her album Shadows Are Made Of Light, out in early June. We like it, and we think many of you will too. Sticking with pop, SHEARS has featured in greater detail in SNACK before, and we’ll cover her again when her next EP is released. For now, though, tide yourself over with ‘Blurry’, another electro number that pushes all the right buttons. Switching quickly between too cool for school sections to catchy movements that beg for dry ice and singalongs, SHEARS appears in full control of where she wants to go next. And we’re very much here for that!
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Photo credit: SHEARS by Tiu Makkonen
We can say the same for AMUNDA or Amandah Wilkinson. Yeah, from Bossy Love! ‘Isn't This What You Want?’ is her second release of 2022, with a nastier (nasty = good) sound that will whip up a storm on dancefloors. Your summer anthem is here if you’re looking for a way to shake your booty while reminding yourself that we all plough through rubbish to get to the good stuff.
NICE TO SEE YOU TO SEE YOU... Another track which sees artists looking back at how far they’ve come and revelling in where they are today is ‘Heteronormativity’ by Jack Brotherhood. The title is a mouthful, and fair play to the band for turning it into such a catchy refrain. The lyrics cast a wry eye over the tiresome sexual politics endured by singer Logan Stewart, and it’s all wrapped up in such a catchy and bouncing manner. At this point, the round-up was going to take a turn and discuss the ways this song is better than the current offerings by so many arena rockers living on past glories, but let’s not get bogged down in unpleasantness; celebrate the good in life.
And move on we shall, with Pretty Preachers Club. We’ve featured them before, and ‘Try Another Way’ is so lush that you’ll think Wilson Phillips should cover it. Or stop making music until they come up with something as good as this in the present day. Anyways, let’s not get hung up on the offspring of Brian, John and Michelle; get excited about this act. With a new EP on the way soon, this is a local band growing with every release. So last, but by no means least, are Fright Years. ‘Every Weekend’ is only the second release from the Edinburgh band, but they sound as if they’ve been honing their craft for some time. It’s an anthemic electro-infused number with an unassuming bass line that might be the star of the show. Meanwhile, the production is smooth while retaining plenty of vitality. It’s an apt title, hopefully soundtracking plenty of giddy moments and long days into nights into mornings over the next few months.
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The New New Scottish Music Review Podcast
Fright Years If we make it back from Primavera, we’ll see you all next month. If we don’t, take great comfort in knowing we went out as we lived and loved: by listening to Parquet Courts and moaning about the heat.
New episode soon now Episode out 3 out now
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SNACK Bits by Andrew Reilly Page 53
To bone white from the pink of just lapsed elation and flesh I’ve cried about it Now let go of my bed damnit! Is there a ritual for this? should I try and exorcise you over a drink? a casual Saturday night in town say No Latin bullshit, No fuss this time Real simple like my blue jacket over a white t shirt, some strangers spit off of a candy cane rosary and whole lot of childish devotions, to be smoked slowly on my way to the castle LEFT after the neon sign the one with the frog on it.
On the battlements I hope for clouds, or a veil, something misty to mire the city and fog over my edges. My edges… Mhm. Remember tracing those? Of course, clouds do fall on us Eventually Then it’s bye to random people at the end as per/ Bye into the back of a taxi The leather seat a whole taxi A small house I remember you like this: Steel jawed in damp denim, receding… Distance/ time Distance/ time Distance/ time You never did wave back Not once.
And I know what that means, I really do But get this On my way home there’s a crowd They’re screaming and… Burning all this… stuff. books, phones, lcd screens, newspapers, everyone is burning everything, carrying signs, making faces and one of them this middle-aged woman, she looks at me, right? Crazy eyed, out of it, totally She looks at me and shows me her sign like she really wants me to read it it’s reaaaallly important and I roll down my window, to have a good look at it you see, and she comes closer flips this huge damn thing except there’s nothing on it so she starts crying and crying and crying I roll my window back up and leave. Manuel Cardo Words Page 55
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