Student Rag 27g

GRADUATION SPECIAL

Student Rag DY / FITNESS / MUSIC FASHION / MOVIES / TRAVEL / COME Glasgow #27 Spring 2017 FREE

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4-9

CONTENTS TREND SETTER

Spring fashion...............4-9

WHO WHAT WHERE Spring in the city.........10-13

GET UP OFF YOUR ASS Upcycle your gaff..........14-16

FUNNY GUY Rob Auton interview........18-20

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE Foreign film guide.........22-24

GRAD SUPP Guide to the next step.....27-46

COMING UP ROSE AND ROSIES Rose & Rosie interview........47

DIAL ‘D’ FOR DIVA Youngr interview...........48-49

SIX OF THE FEST Festival previews..........52-57

SPRING INTO ACTION Get in shape this season...58-61

WHATEVER NEXT Coming soon to you........62-63

AND ZEN THERE WERE SIX You Me at Six interview....64-65

JUICE THIS PUPPY UP How to make Summer drinks..66-68

IT’S ONLY NATURAL Spring beauty tips.........68-69

FOOTBALLERS AND FERRARIS Amy Macdonald interview......70

6263

68-69 52-57

Editor: Debbie McInnes. glasgow@student-rag.co.uk Design: Calvin Douglas.

Contributors: Hannah Gunn, Luke Hawkins, Evie Oliver, Kirsty Campbell, Hannah Ahmed, Hannah McLaren, Susie Daniels, Richard Jones, Lauren Basset.

www.student-rag.co.uk Published by Track 10 Media. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Student Rag magazine takes no responsibility for claims made by advertisements in this publication.

three

FASHION

gingham style GINGHAM might be a pattern you associate with primary school uniforms, Wizard of Oz Dorothy and tablecloths, but it’s time to reintroduce checked clothing into your wardrobe.

The mighty print has managed to make its way onto red carpets – a la Cara Delavigne – and is so versatile and easy to wear.

Pair it with a simple white cotton t-shirt to contrast with the pattern for an everyday outfit.

Alternatively, team it up with some black heels for an uber dressy look.

l Light Before Dark Tie Front Checked Trousers urbanoutfitters.com £46

l Co-operative Apron Playsuit urbanoutfitters.com £25

l Floral Embroidered Knitted Jumper missselfridge. com £30

l Raye Black Woven Gingham Shift Dress prettylittlething.com £20 four

l Gingham Mensy Trousers topshop.com £39

FASHION IT’S MORE of a draped,casual look for Spring/ Summer so place your skinnies at the back of your closet - even if there’s so much back there you could easily start your own shwop club!

It’s time to embrace clothes

in all their patterns and colour while mixing it up a little!

Gingham, silk, loose-fitting t-shirts and anything that screams, ‘I’m doing it my way’ is the order of the day.

HANNAH AHMED offers her top tips on how to achieve all the looks flawlessly...

IT’S A BIT GRAPHIC YES, graphic tees are often seen as being a little bold and sometimes even a little tacky.

However, on the runways this season many designers, from Moschino to Dolce and Gabbana, made a point of using logos and brand names splashed across

garments. Dior also included some daring statements in their collection.

Thankfully, there are so many different graphic tees out there, so you can be sure to find one that suits you.

Don’t be afraid to be unique - try looking in vintage shops as they have loads of quirky graphics. l Erica Yosemite Sweatshirt brandymelville.co.uk £25

l Velvet Jogging Trousers zara.com £17.99

l Truly Madly Deeply No Bad Days Khaki T-shirt urbanoutfitters.com/uk £26

l Printed Graphic Rock Jersey T-shirt Dress missguided.co.uk £15

FASHION l BDG Worn Pink Mom Jeans urbanoutfitters.com £55

Pink Passion l Light Before Dark Wonder Crewneck Sweatshirt urbanoutfitters.com £42 l Pink Crushed Velvet Wrap Strappy Dress missguided.co.uk £20

six

PINK. Hot, rosy, flamingo, fuchsia, champagne, carnation, magenta, bubble gum, baby pink.

Yes, any pink will do.

A sugar-sweet way to add to your Spring wardrobe.

In the form of a casual baggy jumper, a comfy coat, or dazzling dress, you can instantly add an extra flair to your look.

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FASHION

statement STRIPES THICK, thin, bold or bright? It doesn’t matter which you prefer.

As long as you’ve got stripes in your wardrobe this Spring, you’re sorted.

Featured in seemingly every designers collection this season, it appears stripes are key.

Whether you opt for a cosy hand-me-down stripy knit or elegant pinstripe playsuit, you can remain confident you will find something to suit you! l Ribbed Pink Colour Block Jumper urbanoutfitters. com £29

l Embroidered Leather Jacket topshop.com £295

l Jayden Sweater brandymelville. co.uk £28

l Jaysey Black Stripe Print Bardot Playsuit prettylittlething.com £18 eight

FASHION

SHEER clothing can seem a little intimidating to a newcomer.

But fear not, it’s much easier to pull off than you think even if you’re not Bella Hadid, below!

Investing in a good bralette, or perhaps some sporty lingerie will keep you covered.

Or, for those a little less brave, sheer sleeves or cut outs can be just as effective.

A look that has seemingly become an off-duty model staple that you can easily incorporate into your wardrobe.

SHEER DARING l Light Before Dark Mesh Long Sleeve Turtleenck Top urbanoutfitters.com £22

l Glitter Sheer Top brandymelville.co.uk £14

l Cyndi Black Mesh Ruched Playsuit prettylittlething.com £20

l Harness Mesh Overlay Bodycon Mini Dress missguided.co.uk £30

nine

WHAT’S ON

GL

AS GO W

Riverside Festival

BANK Holidays these days are, apparently, not complete without a dance festival set on a river.

Thankfully those clever chaps down at Electric Frog have organised just such an event which will take place at the Transport Museum on the Clyde.

Sven Vath headlines on the Saturday with Loco Dice closing the show the following night as part of a line-up which also features DJ Koze, Nina Kraviz, Derrick Carter and Surgeon among many others.

There’s also an after-party for the hardcore among us who either don’t give a monkey’s about getting up the next day or don’t have anything to get up for anyway. Oh yeah and there’s an after the after party... o THE Riverside Festival takes place on May 27

Pleasure and Pain AN evening with French writer Guy de Maupassant, charting his tragic journey from aspiring writer into the darkness of drug addiction and madness.

Maupassant’s perfectly crafted short stories explore social and political upheaval and relationships where men and women spar and dance their way through tales of love, sex, personal tragedy and the need to belong.

North Hop

Playful and funny, unsettling and brutal, Mark Thomson’s adaptation of Maupassant’s stories conjures up a florid and vivid world that reflects Maupassant’s own life and imagination.

Trainspotting it isn’t! o PLEASURE and Pain will be at the Citizens Theatre from May 31-June 3. Student tickets from £5.

GIN, beer, cider, cocktails, street food, music, gin, beer, cider, street food, music...have I missed anything?

All this and more comes to Glasgow on June 16 and 17 as part of the North Hop festival, which was created to promote craft beer and all the merriment that goes with it.

Head to SWG3 on Eastvale Place for an afternoon sesh filled with as much delicious food and drink as you can handle.

Alternatively, come to an evening session before hitting the town with your mates.

Looking to start the party early? This year North Hoppers (we made that word up) can hit the combined Beer Hall and Cocktail Lounge for, and I quote, “even better festival vibes”. o NORTH Hop takes place at SWG3 on June 16-17. Grab tickets for £15 at www. northhop.co.uk

ten

SPRING IN THE CITY

SUSIE DANIELS’ GUIDE TO WHAT’S ON IN GLASGOW & EDINBURGH

Circus of Horrors WHAT started life as a humble yet stomach-churning sideshow at Glastonbury has become a despicable cult epic in its own right. But in a good way.

The latest incarnation of the tour is rather chillingly titled ‘The Never Ending Nightmare’ and rolls into town on April 24.

You should expect some nudity and ‘adult’ language, while the show’s organisers remind you that the production is “not suitable for children, people of a nervous disposition, chavs and sissies”.

You have been warned!

Tickets start at £14.75. o CIRCUS of Horrors plays the King’s Theatre on April 24.

Prof Brian Cox Live IF hadron colliders and 1980s pop ‘stars’ are your bag then Professor Brian Cox can sort you out on both counts.

Realistically, however, this live show will almost certainly ignore D:Ream’s most mediocre dance music output in favour of an accessible take on serious sciency stuff.

The affable Lancastrian

promises to take the audience on “a dazzling journey through Space and time” delving into high science and freewheeling on the edges of the known cosmos.

Let’s do that trip with Prof Cox, as he simultaneously enlightens and baffles us – perhaps like a star being ripped apart by a Black Hole.

The fact that his Edinburgh show has already sold out should engender a stampede among the faithful.

And if the show’s really bad then – and, God forgive me – Things Can Only Get Better. o PROFESSOR Brian Cox is at the SSE Hydro on May 19.

BBC Comedy Presents THERE are at least two good reasons to get yourself down to the BBC Comedy Presents show at The Stand.

First of all you get to say ‘I saw them first’ when currently unknown acts becomes world-beating comics and secondly it’s only a £4 door entry.

See the start of some new stand-up material and shows

that are in development and be part of comedy history in the making.

Make sure you bring your annoyingly funny friends so they can get picked on.

Oops, I mean to enjoy the experience together! Obvs. o BBC Comedy Presents is on at The Stand Comedy Club on April 12. eleven

ED IN B

UR

GH

WHAT’S ON

Beltane Fire Festival WHILST the simultaneous sparking of a few thousand Swan Vestas matches wouldn’t generally be encouraged in our major cities, the Beltane Fire Festival shows how such a spectacular flame show can be enjoyed responsibly.

The 30th re-imagining of the

ancient Celtic festival of Beltane will mark the changing seasons with “a wild mix of drums, fire and physical theatre on a scale not seen anywhere else in the world”.

That’s the official line by the way!

Expect to look on in awe as the May Queen and Green Man lead a

cavalcade of characters in a procession which culminates in the lighting of a bonfire to signify the inception of summer.Oooh, warm glows. o BELTANE Fire Festival takes place on April 30 on Calton Hill.

Tickets from £8.

Edinburgh International Science Festival HAS there ever been an event more deserving of the description of offering ‘something for everyone’?

With lecture titles such as ‘A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived,’ and ‘Fashionable Diseases: Syphilis, Consumption, and Gout,’ what right-minded nerd wouldn’t want to take advantage of the £5 starting price for tickets.

The talk on ‘A Technophobe’s Guide to Disconnecting’ – or how to survive off the grid – will likely appeal to those planning some dastardly global deed or other.

Venues range from Summerhall to the National Museum of Scotland. o THE Edinburgh International Science Festival runs from April 1-16 at various venues throughout the city.

Tickets from £5. twe;ve

WHAT’S ON

Scottish Street Food Awards FOOD FIGHT!!!!

So there you are, stood on Princes Street on a Saturday night waiting for your bus home whilst tucking into your late-night/early morning snack.

Now imagine if the purveyor of said highly satisfying takeaway was to be rewarded for their services.

Wait, “isn’t there such an event as the Scottish Street Food Awards?” I hear you ask.

Too right there is, and it’s coming to town over the weekend of May 12-14.

Of course, there’s far more to street food than chomping your way through a mountain of chips and cheese at 3am. No, really.

From gourmet venison burgers to haggis burritos and everything in between, this is going to be a food fight to satisfy every appetitie.

And there will be a public vote to determine who will be crowned the nation’s greatest street food vendor. o SCOTTISH Street Food Awards takes place from May 12-14 at Pitt St Food Market.

Dead by Dawn SCARY Movie 3 just not, um, scary enough for you? Then try sitting through a screening or two during the Dead by Dawn film festival.

Dead by Dawn returns to Filmhouse with a tempting lineup of dark delights guaranteed to give you goose-bumps on your goose-bumps!

DBD thrives on wild and unique films that unsettle and disturb us...or maybe just make

us laugh at very wrong things.

The event promises to screen UK premieres, forgotten classics and short film programmes stuffed full of dark and devious bite-size nightmares – deliciously twisted, hilarious, creepy and wicked, these are films guaranteed to thrill and chill!.. o DEAD by Dawn takes place from April 20-23 at The Filmhouse.

Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival DOES exactly what it says on the, ahem, tin. With gin having had its day and cider being officially ‘out’, it’s reassuring to know that you can rely on good old beer to see you through another season.

You may have other plans for the end-of-May Bank Holiday weekend, but only if you’re either a) teetotal; b) insane or; c) both of the above.

That’s because this shindig offers you the opportunity to enjoy a “global gathering of the world’s finest breweries in a one-off festival”. Yes, I nicked that bit from the official website.

Point is, beer is good and beer is right so do yourself a favour and get down to the Biscuit Factory.

Ref:Homer Simpson o EDINBURGH Craft Beer Festival is at The Biscuit Factory from May 26-28. thirteen

Quirky Curtains

TAKE some old scarves, you know , of the summery and winter kind and a mix tie them together or stitch them.

Make hooks out of each scarf and the finished product along a curta slip in pole.

Pick colours and textures that work together. By the way, it is possible to do this without it looking cheap.

I prefer the idea of using all summ scarves like those you find at holid ery ay markets – bright oranges and psyc hedelic tie-dyes.

Once it’s done you’ll find that the filtered light creates a colourful glow in your room during the day and even at night if you live in a well-lit area.

Also, during the Summer months you’ll benefit from the calming billow scarves create when draped in front the of an open window as a warm breeze rolls in.

Wicked Fireplace DITCH the logs and unsightly carbon dust and light the wicks of some statement candles.

Light up that old and possibly unused fireplace with a few dainty flames and fill the room with your

favourite scent. This is easier to manage than a real fire and puts a very modern twist on something wonderfully medieval.

Candles and comfort will never go out of fashion.

Quirky Curtains

Couch in a slouch?

Photo-filled tables COFFEE tables are a place for chats, so why not create a discussion piece with them.

Get a piece of glass or fourteen

perplex cut to fit your table of choice. Below the glass top you can then display photographs, interesting magazine and newspa-

per clippings, sketches, anything at all really.

Get creative; this is just the beginning of a canvas.

Find your own aesthetic.

IF your sofa is a bit of a dull elephant in the room and you don’t have the money to replace it, upcycling is your friend.

Add a splash of colour with distinctive cushions and throws.

Perhaps, even if the sofa is the kind with removable cushion seats, consider investing in some new fabric for the stuffing alone to add a bit of dimension to the piece.

Jar of lights TAKE an empty bottle – I’m sure you have many – or jar and fill it with battery-powered fairy lights.

This is an inexpensive alternative to night-lights, which can save some money on your electric bill and produces a warm,

pleasant glow in any room.

Get creative. Mix and match the colours of both lights and jars.

Play about with shapes of jars as well to create whatever atmosphere you’re hoping for.

O T IN ’ U ‘ E H T T U P WHEN you’re a student on a budget, it’s difficult to create a living space that’s straight out of a Pinterest board.

However, with a little creativity, it is possible to surround yourself with nice, budgeted things.

Nothing’s more comforting than coming home to

somewhere that feels like a bundle of you.

So, HANNAH McLAREN is here to hand out a few tips on how to recycle and upgrade your surroundings to create style and comfort that embraces who you are.

Vertical garden AS more and more of us are living in the city and confined to a small flat with no garden, the vertical garden is revolutionary.

You can take an old wire bedframe base – or a square of any kind of wire fencing – to create your futuristic flower bed.

On this, baskets can be hung and shelves can be attached, in which you can plant flowers, hang watering cans or keep gardening tools.

Perhaps you could even keep some pet snails in a safe container, or a small fish bowl, just to bring even more life to your dull living space.

Leave it in the frame THIS is a cute idea for any city dwellers. It doesn’t take any really skill or require any tricky tools, just frame what you find.

Pick a suitable frame to match your existing décor and simply press the leaves in these tight-fitting frames.

Again, play about with size and colour, and you can go further than leaves.

If leaves are to drab for you, why not go a little modern art on them and dye them different colours or splash a bit of paint on them and a surrounding canvas.

And if you’re artsy, try and make a picture out of the bits and bobs that Mother Nature has cast to the ground.

Stacks of fun IF you have a bookshelf it’s always a great idea to stack more than just books, which can look a bit blocky.

Break it up with a few centre pieces, little plants and ornaments. If it’s quite a large bookcase, the black backing can look a bit vapid against a series of colourful books.

So it’s a great idea to wallpaper

behind the books! You can pick a paper that either contrasts or complements the wall that the bookcase sits against.

If you’re going for a more quirky look, you could paper separate panels different colours and patterns, maybe even match the paper to the genre of book that’s stacked there.

Student Rag

JOIN OUR TEAM

?

STUDENT RAG magazine is offering student journalist posts.

Do you have an inquisitive mind?

Can you research and write great features?

If so, walk this way!

At Student Rag – the country’s top student publication – we can offer valuable experience which will seriously enhance your CV. Not only will you develop your writing skills but your published articles will build a poartfolio of your work demonstrating your writing ability.

The diversity of features you cover will enable you to pick subjects you

have a genuine interest in writing about.

Though it’s unpaid, we offer gig, festival, theatre and other venue freebies – for review purposes obviously!

Hannah McLaren, Hannah Gunn, Hannah Ahmed and Luke Hawkins all write for us and we’re constantly adding to our team.

Interested? Then drop us an email at glasgow@student-rag. co.uk and include your name, course and areas of interest.

We’re waiting to hear from you...

HALF WRITE ABOUT:PAGE Fashion, Music, Films, Comedy, Travel, Health & Beauty, Tech...

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“ I’m cleaning my

teeth while wading through treacle ” ROB AUTON has a different take on life from mainstream comedians. He’s more of a poetry ponderings in motion man with an extra zesty twist just to spice things up and make you think.

We all wrote letters to Santa when we were kids but ‘what if Santa wrote a letter to us?... what would HE ask for?’

And what if a newspaper was written solely about the SKY, a bit like a tabloid but ‘with no nudity or murder...more views than news’...?

Rob is compulsive viewing and a genius poet of our time. SUSIE DANIELS breaks into his mind...

eighteen

INTERVIEW IF your mind opens up like a map where would all roads lead?

There would definitely be two roads going in completely different directions.

One road where I’m cleaning my teeth and thinking, ‘this is amazing’ and another where I’m wading through treacle.

ARE you the voice of reason or ridicule?

I don’t think I ridicule very much. I try to have a reason to go on stage.

My aim is to say things that have a reason.

I definitely talk about the reason for sleeping and needing to drink water instead of doing things like taking the mickey out of stuff. I think it’s funny.

DO you think of yourself as a comedian?

I think I definitely want to make people laugh and think about stuff in a different way.

I do find things ridiculous. When I see stuff I see how ridiculous it is. The ridiculous thing is we walk and how we don’t have things in common. I’m a writer and a performer and I really

enjoy making people laugh.

With the shows I put together I try to create an open space where people feel funny – it’s the reason I’m doing comedy.

DOES your inspiration come from experience?

My graphic design course was all about ideas and I thought, ‘what job is there where people need people with ideas?’ so I got a job as a creative copywriter.

I was working in advertising and realised I had an aptitude for it. I did art for companies like House of Fraser and designed ridiculous cartoons.

I started to fill my notebook with ideas kicking against the brief.

HOW did this lead you into comedy?

My director, Martin Galton, said he was doing a poetry night with fireworks he and asked me to come along.

I really enjoyed reading poetry that night and it made me think, ‘these odd, weird thoughts I’m having, if I write it as poetry it can be entertaining’, so I started to do more stuff.

Martin set up comedy and poetry showcase Bang Said The Gun and someone said they were taking Bang to The Fringe for the Big Comedy Breakfast in 2009. I wrote about the colour yellow!

WHAT else did you learn from your time advertising?

In the world of advertising I was almost at odds with it. It is a business and kind of gobbles people up.

Three points you need in advertising that were hanging as a statement on the wall in my office: Grab Attention, Say Something Relevant, Leave an Impression.

IF you had to market yourself what would be your Unique Selling Point?

I hate the idea of being a brand.

Singer Iggy Pop said, ‘be yourself in a consistent way’.

I want to make people feel safe in a space and be able to make their own mind up about what they’re doing.

You’re going to feel as much as you’re going to laugh in my show.

Someone reviewed my Sleep show and I’m still figuring out the review!

nineteen

INTERVIEW WILL you bring out a Little Book of Rob pondering life or is that what you already do?

If I could bring out a religion it would be Autonomy. Steve Jobs said, ‘when you realise that all stuff is made up by humans it’s really freeing to know that’.

All big thinkers are just thinking and some people are buying into their ideas and some don’t.

I just want to look at things in my show and say how I feel about them.

I love reading but try and think from my heart about everything. I think the internet is making everything so small because there’s so much information.

WHAT’S happening this year for Rob? The tour of the Sleep show in July, gigs at the Stand. The Hair Show is coming out.

One thing I’m looking at in the hair show is that the hair on the top of my head is leaving the building so I’m growing it on the bottom of my head on my chin!

I can only get so down about my hair. I started to lose my hair and get really down about it so as I’m getting older I think ‘So what? Don’t I want to get older?’ Of course that’s what I want to do!

WHAT do you believe in?

People power! I love The Beatles, John Lennon and I believe in peace.

When you see the state of the world today I feel my shows are a place for me to say something.

WHERE is your happy place?

I love being on stage and I love writing so that is my happy place. It’s so intense doing the gigs and coming off stage and coming down trying to get to a level. I don’t think I’m bipolar, I just get very sad and I want my shows to be full of hope.

My Sleep show is all about trying to grip onto your waking rather than sleep life. I write a letter from Father Xmas to myself.

WHAT makes you laugh?

I love mishearing things or reading something out of something like Rothko paintings.

The thing with singer David Bowie is he was just doing his art and not giving any tricks away so as long as some people take something away from my show I’m happy.

I was in the supermarket the other day and heard two Cockneys having a conversation and one said to the other at the barbecue section, ‘shall we get some pork?’ and it sounded like the other one said, ‘no, we won’t eat pork because it’s got religion in it’ (laughs). n ROB Auton plays The Stand Comedy Club in Glasgow on May 10.

WIN

TICKETS TO SEE RAT BOY

JORDAN Cardy – aka Rat Boy – pitches up at the O2 ABC in Glasgow on April 25. And in association with DF Concerts we’ve got TWO PAIRS of tickets to give away.

For a chance of winning a pair of tickets, answer the following question:

WHAT’S RAT BOY’S REAL NAME? Text your answer FREE along with your name, contact phone number and email address to 07867-757174 or email competitions@ student-rag.co.uk Closing date April 1.

Editor’s decision final.

WIN

TICKETS TO SEE AMY MACDONALD WE’VE got a pair of tickets to see Amy Macdonald at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on April 5 to give away.

For a chance of winning the tickets, answer the following question:

WHAT’S THE NAME OF AMY’S DOG? Text your answer FREE along with your name, contact phone number and email address to 07867-757174 or email competitions@ student-rag.co.uk Closing date April 1.

Editor’s decision is final

Get involved in MAS fundraising MENINGITIS Association Scotland encourages all teenagers who congregate in a common room or Halls to be aware that some bacteria can spread by exchanging saliva or spit through coughing or kissing or lengthy contact in close proximity.

MENINGITIS Association Scotland (MAS) was established in 1991 following a tragic event in Eileen McKiernan’s life when her 18-yearold son Lee was fatally struck down by the condition.

Eileen has dedicated her life to raising awareness and charity and started the first Glasgow meningitis support group which has raised over £1million for the development of a vaccine for one strain of the illness.

MAS has also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the charity, other charities and has supported so many worthwhile causes through fundraising events.

Eileen was awarded an MBE in 2009 for her dedication to MAS. At the end of last year, £4,000 was raised in support of the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity (CHAS).

The generous gift helped CHAS fund a neurosurgical endoscope; the first of its kind in a children’s hospital in Scotland.

The endoscope will be used to help children who require surgery to their brain or spine, including children with

brain tumours, cysts and hydrocephalus.Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, Dr Roddy O’Kane said: “Thank you for your donation, which will make a significant difference to the children that we treat.

“The equipment will allow me and my team to perform minimally invasive, more effective and safer surgery which will ultimately lead to a better outcome for all of the children that we treat here.”

15-year-old Ciara Allan from

Islay has been treated at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow since the age of three and is currently receiving treatment for a brain tumour.

Ciara said: “The care I get at the hospital is really special to me. I never give up in my fight against my condition but I can’t do it by myself.

“Thank you for helping my neurosurgeon and everyone in the team get this equipment, which will help lots of children and young people like me who have tumours.”

THERE are many friends and social groups who can get together and get involved – the St Leo’s Walkers group are organising a sponsored trip by ‘a few hardy spirits’ to Mount Olympus in Greece to raise money in aid of Meningitis Association Scotland.

What are you going to do during your holidays – something worthwhile that might make a difference to somebody else’s life?

FOR more information about the Meningitis Association Scotland visit www.menscot.org or call 0141 427 9136. n Mount Olympus

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Watch your language Want to master a foreign tongue AND enjoy a movie at the same time?

EVIE OLIVER explains how...

D

IES ist warum. With Brexit looming on the horizon, languages are more important than ever.

Simply put, there is only one reason for learning a language and this can be summed up by an example; Je m’appelle Evie.

If you had even a basic understanding of French, you could easily translate that phrase.

This is the main reason why we need to learn languages – communication.

For some reason, us Brits have always decided to stay in the safe lane and stick to English.

No doubt that has something to do with English being one of the world’s top three spoken languages.

However, compared to our European peers who on average know at least two languages, we seem vastly under-educated with the average British person only knowing one language; English.

Although this one digit difference may not seem like a lot, in reality, that’s like being able to communicate with twice the number of people.

This figure is alarming, especially considering all the advantages that learning a language offers.

For instance, it’s scientifically proven that knowing another language staves off dementia and Alzheimer’s and it’s a well-known fact that knowing more languages makes you more employable which is always a welcome benefit in our job

scarce society. Not only that but as a person you become more creative, outgoing and in general, have a better memory.

Learning a new language always comes with a bigger appreciation for different cultures.

If you learn Spanish, it’s more likely that you will pick up on the differences between Latin America and Spain.

If you learn French, you learn aspects about their society that you wouldn’t otherwise know such as that talking about religion in public is a big no-no.

Learning a language allows you to expand your perspective and become more of a global citizen; someone who recognises that despite all of these differences, all of the cultures

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work together in harmony. Now you know why you should learn a language, the next obvious step is how.

Language learning has dramatically evolved in the last few years.

No longer is it confined to black and white textbooks and listening to tapes based on repetitive phrases. Technology has revolutionised language learning. otal immersion is the easiest way to learn a language but apps and online courses are the next best thing.

Some are free like Duolingo which consists of several levels which cover different topics, others require a monthly subscription like Babbel which has an extensive range of

T

courses that covers everything from pronunciation to slang. Each of these apps place language learning in a game-like context which will soon have you addicted.

Another great way to boost your language learning is through watching films or TV shows.

These can really help tune your ear to the sounds of the language and the particular pronunciations associated with each language.

Furthermore, they are a useful way to pick up slang and swear words if you really want to sound like a native speaker!

These films are often associated with pretentious film buffs or thought of as being exclusively shown at the GFT. Fortunately, I can happily

7

debunk both of these myths. In fact, Netflix and Amazon Prime boast a whole section dedicated to international films.

I’m Evie Oliver and here’s my guide to the best that I have watched on these sites.

1) Divines – French A Netflix original featuring several strong female leads, it’s about two girls growing up in the slums of Paris who both seek to better their life.

This is a unique film that chooses to focus on friendship rather than romance; a choice that is particularly highlighted by the ending.

Funny and heartfelt, ‘Divines’ is an outstanding film that will make you feel a variety of emotions and will ultimately leave you teary-eyed.

Available on Netflix.

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2) Julia’s Eyes – Spanish

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WHEN Julia learns that her twin sister Sara has died, she refuses to believe that Sara committed suicide.

Julia suffers from the same degenerative eye disease that Sara had and she desperately tries to find out what happened to her sister whilst at the same time, slowly losing her sight.

This is a tense Spanish thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. ‘Julia’s Eyes’ is full of surprises and the climatic and suspenseful ending truly epitomises it as thriller genre.

Available on Amazon Prime.

3) Black Book – Dutch (Some German) THIS film centres around a Jewish Dutch woman in the final year of World War II who is forced out of hiding and as a result joins the resistance and goes undercover as the girlfriend of an SS officer.

This film is brimming with action from beginning to end which only exacerbates the already tense atmosphere.

Black Book is a very realistic and somewhat bitter film that doesn’t shy from showing the extreme violence and hedonism within the Nazi party.

Available on Netflix.

4) Force Majeure – Swedish A SWEDISH family on holiday in the Alps suddenly find themselves forever changed by the events of the first

few scenes of the film. When faced with an avalanche hurtling towards their lunch table, Tomas (the father) grabs his phone and runs away to safety, abandoning his family.

Yet it turns out to be just smoke from the controlled avalanche on the mountain.

Throughout the film Ebba, his wife, struggles to come to terms with what has happened as her husband denies abandoning them.

The setting of the Alps works nicely for this compelling and tense movie.

Available on Netflix.

5) The Silenced – South Korean SET in the late 1930s, this film

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follows Ju-ran, a sick girl who moves into a boarding school that doubles as a sanatorium.

The movie reveals the mysterious disappearance of her fellow students and why she repeatedly sees the disappeared as dead.

The creepy atmosphere of this film combined with the strange happenings in the school make for a fascinating mystery thriller with a very unexpected ending.

6) Umrika – Indian UMRIKA focuses on the younger brother of a man who relocated to America from India.

The letters his brother sends to their community are the envy of the whole village however, after their father dies, Rakamant discovers that his father was the one sending the letters so he goes in search of his brother.

This is an interesting production that binds together Rakamant’s coming of age and the illusion of the American dream.

Available on Netflix.

7) Off course – Spanish

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OFF COURSE is a light-hearted comedy about two Spanish men that move to Germany after being swayed by a TV advert’s promise of employment.

They quickly discover jobs aren’t easy to come by particularly if you don’t speak German yet they refuse to admit failure to their families back home.

This quirky and original film follows Hugo and Braulio as they attempt to convince their families that they are very successful.

Available on Netflix.

MENINGITIS l

Someone who develops meningitis may become seriously ill very quickly

l

Meningitis can strike any age group

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Early diagnosis and treatment are vital...

Delay may be catastrophic

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By recognising the symptoms you can help combat one of the great emergencies of medicine

Meningitis

HELP LIMIT THE SPREAD OF ALL RESPITORY INFECTION:

DON’T DRINK FROM A CONTAINER WHICH HAS BEEN USED BY SOMEONE ELSE! DON’T STAY IN A ROOM FILLED WITH CIGARETTE SMOKE. IF YOU MUST SMOKE, DO IT OUTSIDE!

often occur together

Fever, cold hands & feet

Stomach cramps & diarrhoea

Vomiting

Spots/ Rash see Glass Test

Drowsy, difficult to wake

Severe headache

Confusion & irritability

Stiff neck

Severe muscle pain

Dislike bright lights

Symptoms can appear in any order, some may not appear at all

MENINGITIS SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

DON’T GO TO PARTIES, CROWDED BARS OR CLUBS WHEN YOU HAVE COLD OR FLU. DON’T KISS PEOPLE IF YOU OR THEY HAVE A COLD.

and Septicaemia

PROMPT ACTION SAVES LIVES. SYMPTOMS TO WATCH FOR: Violent Headache Fever Vomiting Fitting Neck Stiffness / Joint Pains Drowsiness or Confusion / Coma l Dislike of Bright Lights l Rash of Red / Purple Spots or Bruises

l l l l l l

IF YOU SUSPECT MENINGITIS CALL YOUR DOCTOR OR GO TO NEAREST HOSPITAL CASUALTY UNIT MENINGITIS ASSOCIATION SCOTLAND

0141-427 6698

COMPETITION

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TICKETS TO SEE YOU ME AT SIX

YOU Me at Six’s mega European tour rolls into Glasgow’s SECC on April 13 – and in association with DF Concerts we’ve got TWO PAIRS of tickets to give away.

For a chance of winning a pair of tickets, answer the following question:

WHAT IS THE TITLE OF YOU ME AT SIX’S MOST RECENT ALBUM? Text your answer FREE along with your name, contact phone number and email address to 07867-757174 or email competitions@ student-rag.co.uk Closing date April 6.

Editor’s decision is final.

Student Discount

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TICKETS TO SEE THE CRIBS

GARY, Ryan and Ross Jarman – aka The Cribs – pitch up at the O2 ABC in Glasgow on May 11. And in association with DF Concerts we’ve got TWO PAIRS of tickets to give away.

For a chance of winning a pair of tickets, answer the following question:

WHAT’S THE SURNAME OF EVERY MEMBER OF THE CRIBS? Text your answer FREE along with your name, contact phone number and email address to 07867-757174 or email competitions@student-rag.co.uk Closing date May 1. Editor’s decision is final.

GRADUATION SPECIAL

GRADUATION SPECIAL

#2 The Stress Never Ends YOU might think no more exams means no more anxiety. Not entirely true.

Whilst no one would ever argue that exams are better than full-time employment, no one would say that full-time employment doesn’t come with its own set of stressors.

If you’re doing any task for a prolonged period of time, it gets inside your head and consumes you.

At work, you get tangled up in a kind of deadline and a new kind of assessment.

The obligatory kind that pays the bills.

And, that’s just the stress that comes with being in a job, being between jobs is far more distressing.

Nonetheless, normally job stress

isn’t the kind you take home with you, not to the extent of being up till 3am cramming for an exam the next day.

But there are jobs out there that do require you to work from home sometimes, so for some the stress of homework never dissipates.

The hours you’re required to put in are more than you’ve ever devoted to anything in your life … even studying.

And, a 9 to 5 every work day of the week is exhausting, it just is.

You’ll miss the free hours between lectures and the late-starts and early finishes of some uni days.

To be fair, you won’t miss all the studying that usually filled those hours though.

Graduation Special Page 2

GRADUATION SPECIAL

5

things no one told you about life after graduation

GOT your grades? Got your gown?

Got your tissues?

Because the crying’s not over yet.

The freedom which comes with graduation is slightly tainted by the fencing you’ll notice running the parameter in the distance.

You go from a smaller

cage to a bigger one. You’re the free-range variation of free and the cage feels more like a battle ring.

There’s a degree for everything and everyone has a degree, so let the Games begin!

HANNAH McLAREN talks you through it...

#3 Life Stops Being About Hitting Those Milestones YOU learn a lot more and much faster as soon as you walk out of those library doors.

Something that you’ll quickly realise is that real life requires a lot of patience and that most things take time.

After hitting deadline after deadline, year after year, going through the motions since you were a little kid of first primary school, then secondary school, uni

and a job, you’re stunned by the limbo you suddenly fall into the months following graduation.

It’s immediately clear that you can’t plan everything and little goes to plan.

There’s no shame in not hearing back from that application and no failure in not finding graduate employment within six months. It’s a tough world.

Many graduates learn that hard work doesn’t always pay off, not right away anyway.

And, sometimes success takes a different shape than the one you envisioned all these years.

Very few think they’ll be married with a house and kids at the age of 25 anymore, and that’s because the reality is the majority won’t.

And, that’s okay. Security doesn’t always look like a sandstone, red-bricked detached house, in a nice area, lined by a nice white picket fence.

The wonder of the 21st century and the open access we have to so many tools and so much information is that you can now create your own solid ground to build on.

Graduation Special Page 3

#1 Your Dream Job is a Nightmare OR, at least, it has nightmarish qualities.

You’ve spent years working towards this goal with a perfect image in mind, only now to realise that there is a list of negatives to the job that you could never have imagined in the classroom.

It’s not uncommon for graduates to realise they’ve picked the wrong degree … and that’s after graduation for some.

Many return to further study, or never use their degrees at all.

However, it’s not all bad. If you’ve landed your dream job, you should be a little bit more relieved than the hundreds of graduates each year who don’t.

Many find themselves in managerial positions or training in grad jobs that don’t match the visions they had for their life.

You might be one of the lucky few who made the right choice at 17-years-old, and are enjoying your chosen career path.

However, to those who don’t feel part of that celebratory party on Graduation Day, don’t worry, you are not alone.

GRADUATION SPECIAL #4 Income Envy ALTHOUGH you were all once struggling students, scraping change for one last £1 vodka and eating the cheapest thing on the menu, you’ll start to see a shift in your friendship circle.

There will be those who want to go on all the holidays and buy all the things and then there will be those who are still unemployed and can’t even make that one night out.

Being a skint student is the norm and a funny meme when you’re still finding your feet at college or uni.

But when you’re in your twenties and you suddenly have a list of bills to pay and all your cash flow goes towards life’s necessities, it becomes a huge inconvenient demotivator.

#5 Grades Don’t Always Equal Success WE already know the phrase, ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’.

Well, unfortunately this becomes very real when you exit through the front door as a big person for the first time.

At some point, you may be

snubbed for that perfect job in favour of someone the boss already had lined up.

More than once, you won’t hear back from those places you wrote to or applied to.

Often, people you never imagined could succeed will overtake you on the way out of those ceremony doors.

What a lot of university students forget to acquire is experience alongside those As and Bs. Those who did the placements, shadowed

the professionals and made the contacts are far more likely to get the job than you are.

Those with lower grades often compensate by having a far more efficient set of networking skills, which can sometimes be enough depending on the minimum requirements.

Practical When it’s skills overare invaluable and that’s something you can only pick up far beyond a lecture hall.

Exams are a measure of book smarts, but the ability to adapt, innovate and compromise are what employers are really looking for.

Graduation Special Pullout Page 4

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GRADUATION SPECIAL #3 Kerala, India

#2 Santiago, Chile NOW here’s a challenge; get to Chile. Sounds easy, but it ain’t. You could bus across Australia and fly from Melbourne or Sydney, or head back to Perth and fly from there.

Or if you’re the competitive type I don’t believe anyone has ever kayaked across the Pacific Ocean (Disclaimer: Do not attempt to kayak across the Pacific Ocean.)

Some fun facts: 1) Santiago is the capital of Chile, located in the West Coast of South America.

2) The Atacama Desert, to the north of Santiago, is the driest place on earth and 3) Santiago is cooler than the Fonz.

To the East of Santiago lie mountains which form part of the Andes range. Their snow-capped peaks are visible from just about anywhere in the city, which is comprised of mainly gothic neoclassical architecture

(think Edinburgh and Rome mashed up in one) and windy side streets.

The city’s recent economic growth has also led to the building of modern, daring architecture and a bustling arts, restaurant and nightlife scene.

Some streets are even lined entirely with graffiti which parallels the city’s rich culture. Santiago, essentially, is the new Barcelona.

Aside from the architecture, you’ll have some more natural beauty to admire at the end of your trip.

You know all those super HD pictures you see of the entire galaxy on the internet? They’re all taken in Chile.

The combination of low light pollution, clear nights, and geographical position makes the Atacama desert a perfect storm for stargazers.

Don’t bother with a camera; it won’t do it justice.

Graduation Special Pullout Page 6

HOP on a plane to India and fly into any one of four airports along the Malabar Coast in the south east, although I suggest the northern-most of the lot – Cochin Airport – so you can move further south.

Much of India’s tourist industry is comprised of domestic tourism. In a country so big and diverse, it makes sense many Indian people would rather travel within their own country than go abroad.

When Indians go on vacation, it’s Kerala they choose. I ask you: what’s more traveller than travelling to where the locals go on holiday? Nothing, that’s what.

Located in India’s south west coast, Kerala has been named as one of the 10 paradises of the world by National Geographic, and with good reason.

It’s a tropical wonderland, filled with pristine beaches, rolling green hills and its own unique culture.

The food in Kerala is said to be unlike anywhere else in the world. In the ‘backwater’ region (a series of interlocking lakes and rivers away from the coast), It’s common for tourists to rent houseboats and drift aimlessly, sampling the local foods and entertainment as they travel.

Essentially, Kerala is like a muggy Valhalla. With more curried seafood.

GRADUATION SPECIAL GAP year this, gap year that.

It seems like wherever you look these days, gap years are being readily advertised.

For those looking for the gap year route to end all gap year routes, RICHARD JONES plans out the perfect travel guide for those looking to go on the road less travelled..

‘Travelling’, these days, is a term bandied about quite a great deal by essentially everyone you will ever encounter.

“I just spent two weeks travelling around Marbella” they say. God! I had the greatest time travelling for almost three weeks in Rome with my parents” they say.

It’s become a byword for ‘going on holiday’, and I don’t think its OK. Thesaurus.com might suggest both words can be used interchangeably but I assure you they cannot.

‘Travelling’ is not a weekend in Paris with ‘bae’. It is not two buses to London and Blackpool for a boozy weekend.

Travelling is about pushing yourself.

It’s about finding things out, about learning, about other cultures, other religions, other viewpoints and by god, it’s even about picking up the top ten tips for bribing a Bur-

Travel’s sick mese border patrol guard at 4 in the morning (Disclaimer: DO NOT BRIBE) (winky face).

Playing volleyball in the Algarve with your aunt for a week is not ‘travelling’ because you won’t learn anything.

Apart, that is, from the fact that Aunty June’s

spiking is well below par. You need to go somewhere special, somewhere interesting, somewhere the Lonely Planet isn’t suggesting.

Somewhere the locals will not understand your broken Standard Grade Spanish. Somewhere far away from fry-up-toting expats.

Allow me to plan out a proper traveller’s gap year for you.

#1 Regensburg, Germany

What to Wear

BOOM you’re in Germany. It’s not important how you make your way east, although bonus points for hitchhiking (Disclaimer: DO NOT HITCHHIKE) – as long as you do get there.

Regensburg won’t be at the top of most people’s lists, but it should be.

Regensburg is a (relatively) small city nestled in between Munich and Nuremberg in Bavaria, in the south of Germany.

It’s a listed UNESCO world heritage site, chiefly because it happens to be “the only authentically preserved large medieval city in Germany”.

Simply, Regensburg is

mind-bendingly beautiful, with tiny, traditional German houses squashed together in a series of narrow alleyways.

Out of the labyrinth springs the jewel of the city, the Regensburg Cathedral, which rises high above the surrounding buildings like a gothic ode to Satan himself.

I’m told it makes Notre Dame look positively boring.

Spend some time in Bavaria after visiting Regensburg if you get the chance.

Germany’s south has its own unique culture and customs.

Travel from town to town around Munich and absorb the atmosphere while you absorb beer after beer.

Graduation Special Pullout Page 7

GRADUATION SPECIAL NOW you’re headed North-East towards #4 Bagan, Myanmar Myanmar (formerly Burma). Now,geography enthusiasts, you are correct; Myanmar does indeed border India.

So, if Kerala felt more like a starter than a main course, head clear across the sub-continent, through Mumbai and New Dehli and around Bangladesh through the Sikkim state high in the Himalayan Mountains.

Then all you need do is cross the border into Myanmar (here’s where you might learn those aforementioned bribing skills) and head south east towards Bagan.

Even for experienced travellers, this trip would be a logistical and practical cluster headache, so just flying across India might be nice instead. are almost 1000 years old, painted Bagan is an ancient city, situated all in gold and adorned with imin the Mandalay Region in the heart measurably detailed features. of Myanmar. It was once the capital They say dawn is the best time to of the Pagan Kingdom, and today visit Bagan. As the morning mist lifts the remains of around 2200 Budabove the flat, grassy landscape dhist Temples are still on show. which surrounds the temples, nothSome of the remaining buildings ing will prepare you for what you are will take your breath away. Some about to see. of the temples and towers in Bagan #5 Emeishan, China

AT this stage of the trip you’re headed North East into China.

From the mountains which role off the Himalayas in the south west, to the tropical climate of Hong Kong, to the vast farmlands in the north west, China’s got it all.

On your way to Emeishan (or Mount Emei in English), you’ll get to enjoy some time to yourself nestled in some of the most incredible scenery in the world.

Emeishan is a tiny town in the centre of China, not too far to the west of major city Chongqing, in Sichuan province.

Myanmar’s culture is a unique mix between the central Asian culture to the west and the perhaps more familiar east Asian culture that lies to the east of its borders.

The country has had its share of ethnic, political and military problems in the past. Civil war raged as recently as 2014, so be very careful.

#6 Pink Lake, Australia

A friend who lived in China for three years told me: “By far the best place to visit in China is Emeishan.

“It’s hard to access, but worth it. A colony of monkeys lives on the summit alongside an enormous statue of Bhudda.

“There’s also a monastery at the top and they welcome you with open arms if you hike all the way to the top.

“There’s snow on top almost all year round and when you’re there, you can’t help but feel you’re somewhere very, very special.”

PRETTY much every there from Perth, you’ll student with access to an need to travel round the overdraft seems to have south western tip of the been snorkelling on the county into Esperance, Great Barrier Reef or spent but the journey will hardly an afternoon at Byron Bay. be difficult for you, the That’s not to say Australsuper-traveller who ia doesn’t still hold some bribed a Burmese border surprises, though. You’ll patrol guard at 4am with When it’s over fly into Perth, on the west a currency you found in a coast before bussing, trainshoebox near the Ganges. ing or hitchhiking south.

This region is renowned As you may have for its wineries, while the guessed by the title, Pink climate also makes it a Lake, in the Esperance perfect place to produce region of Western Australia chocolate and olive oil. on the country’s south The orange soil, mixed coast, is a lake which is with the greenery of a genuinely, actually pink world class wine region thanks to a special brand and the marble blue sky of algi that live in the lake. make the area a truly It’s spectacular. To get special destination.

Graduation Special Pullout Page 8

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GRADUATION SPECIAL FLORAL FUN ONCE strictly granny territory, floral prints have been wildly gaining in popularity in recent years.

I’d recommend going as bold as you can, no soft dreamy watercolours here!

The dress shape itself is simple, designed to show off the print for maximum impact.

Team with minimal accessories for easy styling.

SHINE ON EMBELLISHED, sequinned, glitter; this is the perfect opportunity for you to go all out and sparkle like the star you are.

The old adage of less is more needn’t apply on this occasion, and there are so many options to choose from.

I’d go for classic metallic shades teamed with nude accessories & subtle jewellery, but for a modern look try long-sleeved styles. l Embellished Dress missguided.com £150

l ASOS Petite Dark Floral Bardot Pencil Dress asos.com £65

CELEBRATE Y O U R GRADU ATIO N IN S TY LE AT C R O WNE PLAZA GLAS GO W! T h e studyi ng i s over and the ceremony i s compl ete, so why not si t back, rel ax and enj oy a 3 course meal wi th fami l y and fri ends.

Graduation Lunch £30 per person

I T ’ S T I ME T O C E L EB R ATE G R A D UATI O N 2 01 7

SPECIAL GRADUATI ON 3 COURSE MEAL INCLUDI NG A COMPLIMENTARY GLASS OF SPARKLING WINE. Free graduation cake when you quote ‘STUDENT RAG’ at the tim e of booking.

or

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GRADUATION SPECIAL l Red Jumpsuit missguided.com £35

JUMP TO IT

IF you’re not a dress kinda gal, these are an absolute saviour.

Just as dressy, but these badboys mean you can dance the night away without worrying who you might be flashing at at neighbouring tables. (Always a plus if you ask me!)

Style with statement jewellery pieces to catch the light as you make your way around the dancefloor.

1st CLASS FASHION PROM. Graduation. Just those words could bring on a migraine.

It’s the night to celebrate all your hard work over the last years and let loose, but crucially, the night when you’re most likely to find your photos plastered all over social media.

Such an event calls for the perfect outfit, ensuring you feel as fabulous you look. Here’s LAUREN BASSET’s key looks for this year.

FIRST CLASS FASHION

SHORT & SWEET

Graduation may feel like a millions years away right now. But Cinderella, you shall go to the ball! After four years of exams, all-nighters, and far too many £1 vodkas than you care to admit, ONCE a time seemed this isupon the time for ityou to finally that a formal occasion, only let for your hair down and say gooda bye floor-length dress would do. to university life in style.

Not any more! A blessing for the We’ve shortertaken girls amongst the stressus, out there’s been choice of grad ball more shopping so than you ever the shorter canrecently focus onwith meeting those all dresses available –andSo you important deadlines. whether can go wild depending on your favoured style.

Mini, midi, full-skirted…The options are endless!

Just be sure to follow the time-old rule of being slightly more modest up top. l Three Floor Short Dress threefloorfashion.com £215

7 31 139 01421-334 Bath St om

3 gow.c io-glas osolem

£19.95

Three-course Graduation Celebration Meal

GRADUATION SPECIAL Lace is Ace ONE of the A-List’s favourite new designers, Self-Portrait has helped to revive lace dresses over the last few seasons.

With heavier lace used instead of lighter versions, it’s

perfect for a black-tie event and many retailers now offer much cheaper versions of his signature style. Wear your hair up to fully show off such a gorgeous dress!

BACK IN STYLE BACKLESS has become the new cleavage if the red carpets are anything to go by, and with good reason.

It’s a relatively easy look to pull off regardless of your shape, & you can go as daring as you wish.

Just make sure you go for a long hem length, & the all-important spray tan is streak-free!

Team with statement earrings for a timeless look.

l Self-Portrait Floral Brush Guipure Lace Midi Dress matchesfashion.com £280

l Satin Fishtail Maxi with Multi Strap Back Dress asos.com £75

BLACKOUT

MANY girls shy away from black for occasions like this, but they’re a great option – always flattering, dramatic, timeless, and you can mix it up with any colour of accessories.

Choose simple styles with unusual necklines or shoulder detail for a bold look to ensure you stand out.

l Zaine Strapless Midi Dress Black aqaq.com £220

Graduation Special Page 12

YOUTH EMPLOYABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Case Study: Youth Employability and Sustainability Course August 2016 Background

The Outcome

Kayleigh is a very bright and mature young person, who maintains a home and is keen to develop a career for herself. However since leaving school a year ago she has struggled to find the right job and is confused about the types of courses she could take. This lack of knowledge is holding her back from starting on the right career path for herself. Kayleigh also lacks confidence in herself and her own abilities and struggles to do well in interviews.

Kayleigh used the skills and confidence that the course gave her in an interview and started a new job a week after the course finished. She also had a clearer idea what courses she could get onto and was going to apply for her chosen college as well.

The Course During the course the team at Work EastRen gave Kayleigh lots on information on the types of further education she could do and carried out individual and group activities to build her confidence and give her a more positive “can do� attitude for the future.

Also included was a three day work placement which gave her useful experience and confidence in her ability.

Applying for the Course Kayleigh spoke to her adviser at Job Centre Plus who had a flyer advertising the Youth Employability and Sustainability Course, run by Work EastRen. This course aims to support young people to get on the right career path, whether that be getting a job or getting the right qualifications.

@scotgovESIF Please contact the Work EastRen team on 0141 577 8438 or email worker@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk This project is part financed by the European Social Fund

Joe Connolly, Ypeople CEO: THE last year has been an important one for Ypeople, and for the people of Scotland.

Culturally, politically and economically we have collectively witnessed massive societal change, which has brought uncertainty and instability.

The largest refugee crisis in our lifetime, the shockwaves of war reverberating through our own country and overseas, and political decisions and appointments that were previously unimaginable, only reinforce to me how important Ypeople’s work is to those people who have been marginalised in our communities amidst such unrest.

Times are tough, and the seas are rough, but Ypeople have weathered similar storms for over 190 years, providing a constant source of support to some of the most vulnerable individuals in our society.

The Scottish charity sector is an exciting and vibrant place to work; charities are often at the cutting edge of research and practice, working creatively and innovatively to find new ways of supporting people to achieve their potential. Ypeople is no different.

We have championed new approaches, and invested in research and learning, to ensure that we are continually developing and improving the support we provide.

‘Ypeople has changed my life’

“I clicked with my Key Worker straight away and knew I could trust her. It wasn’t easy but I eventually started to work through my issues and now I feel really hopeful for my future.”

– Ypeople homelessness supported accommodation service user When describing Ypeople as an organisation, we talk of our people,

rather than our services. In the last year we have developed a number of new services, such as the Ypeer and intandem Mentoring, which match volunteer mentors with young people in care.

This is an exciting new area of work for Ypeople, demonstrating continued investment and commitment to our younger generations, and it leads me to reflect on the mentors I’ve had over my career and throughout my life.

From time to time, perhaps through an act or through a few words, certain people have had a lasting impact on me, helping me through times that may be important or difficult.

It’s likely that they didn’t

realise the effect their words or actions had, and now it’s likely they never will. It strikes me that sometimes our staff don’t realise how important their input can be; that one act of kindness or those few encouraging words that can have a lasting positive impact on someone who may well be going through the worst time of their life.

“The support for me has literally been life-changing. Before I was supported by Ypeople I was in a bad place, getting into trouble and was on a bad path. Now I’m looking forward to moving on with my life, and can’t wait to see what happens next!”

– Ypeople counselling service user

Y PEOPLE is a Scottish charity, which supports people of all ages to make positive changes in their lives.

We provide care, accommodation and support to some of the most vulnerable people in our society, with services in the central belt, Highlands and Orkney, including: • Supported accommodation and outreach support for people affected by homelessness • Support for children and young people who are in care • Youth wellbeing services, including counselling and mentoring support • Affordable out of school care for primary school aged children

TO find out more, visit www.ypeople.org.uk or find us on social media.

, East Renfrewshire Council’s Employability Service If you live in the East Renfrewshire area and are looking for support to enter employment, training or education, then we can help.

We can support you with:

Job searching and job notifications

Aligning your skill set with current vacancies Signposting to other relevant services Completing job applications

CV preparation Identifying job and training related events

Identifying relevant training opportunities

In-work support to stay in employment Supporting you to address the issues that prevent you from moving forward

Interview tips and techniques

For more information, contact:

Tel: 0141 577 8438 Email: worker@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk Address: Barrhead Foundry, Main Street, Barrhead, G78 1SW Website: www.workeastren.co.uk

facebook.com/WorkEastRen

@workEastRen

Ypeople, a registered Scottish charity, supports vulnerable groups and individuals whose lives have been affected by homelessness, care experience, and issues around wellbeing.

COULD YOU SUPPORT

POSITIVE CHANGE IN PEOPLE’S LIVES? Our services: • Supported accommodation, outreach support and access to housing for people affected by homelessness • Counselling and mentoring for young people • Out of school care for primary school aged children

Types of available paid positions: • Support Worker (Level 1, 2, Senior) • Project Worker / Development Worker • Childcare Worker • Childcare Coordinator • Volunteer / Mentoring Coordinator • Youth Counsellor • Office-based roles, such as HR, Finance, Administration …volunteer positions also available!

For more info please visit: www.ypeople.org.uk or find us on social media

Ypeople, the trading name of YMCA Glasgow, is a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland with Company Number SC394447 and is a registered Charity with Charity Number SCO17093, with its registered office at William Harte House, 15 Dava Street, Glasgow, G51 2JA.

GRADUATION SPECIAL The Benefits of graduate placements

IF you’re reading this, it’s likely you are currently working towards a degree, or just about to graduate.

Gaining a qualification is the first step – but the reality is, these days employers are looking for more than just your qualifications.

Gaining work experience in a com-

SINCE 2010, over 900 graduates from 23 countries have had the satisfaction of making their mark with scores of projects across Scotland, in all kinds of companies and social enterprises through ScotGrad.

The programme offers paid, full-time graduate roles, in small to medium sized businesses across Scotland.

All of the placements last from 3-12 months, and are paid a minimum salary of £16,000 pro rata,but salaries can be anywhere up to £35,000 PA depending on the role.

The opportunities you’re given when working for a smaller company are wide and varied, and you’ll gain invaluable experience

during the placement. It’s common for students to only consider larger organisations when faced with the prospect of applying for graduate jobs, but small to medium sized businesses make up 99.3% of all private sector enterprises, and account for 54.8% of private sector employment in Scotland.

To put it another way – if you’re not looking at smaller businesses, you’re cutting out over half of your job prospects.

“I know too many graduates who have hoped to get a position in a large international company and been forced to compete for one job vacancy against hundreds of other applicants – and, as a result, many are still unemployed.

“There are plenty of smaller

petitive job market is of vital importance, and shows employers that you are able to use your skills practically.

ScotGrad can help you put your talents and graduate qualifications to work in the real world and provide you with that all-important stepping stone into your future career.

companies who go relatively unnoticed by job seekers but can offer the same thing and, as I have found, they are more than willing to help you develop your skills and give you useful and varied work experience.” (Campbell Vaughn, Bardyke Chemicals Ltd)

Kayleigh’s giving back KAYLEIGH, 22, a Psychology student at Glasgow Caley decided late in 2014 that she wanted to get involved in volunteering.

She felt that this would be an excellent way to put something back into her local community whilst developing practical skills and experience which would complement her studies.

She visited www.volunteerglasgow.org and one of the many and varied opportunities she found there was the Young Person’s Befriending Service, which provides support to vulnerable or isolated young people aged 8 to 18 years old.

After discussion with staff from the Service Kayleigh decided that this opportunity provided the perfect way for her to develop valuable skills and experience whilst making a positive impact and having fun.

In January she started a training programme comprising of 6 sessions aimed at preparing those attending for what would be expected of them as a Befriender and what support they could expect from the Service’s experienced staff.

This also allowed the staff to make the most appropriate match of Befriender to young person.

Kayleigh felt that the opportunity to meet with one of the Service’s existing Befrienders really gave her a feel for what it was all about.

She then worked closely with one of the Service’s support workers to identify an appropriate match and soon after she was matched with a young person.

He and Kayleigh have been meeting up for between 2 and 4 hours a week for 6 months. They go bowling, walking in the park, hang about in their favourite cafes, whatever they both feel like doing really.

As well as providing a chance for the young person to relax and have fun Kayleigh feels she really benefits from this dedicated time every week where she too can relax and focus on something other than the demands of her studies. Whilst

acknowledging the skills and experience she is developing through her Befriending role, Kayleigh stresses that the single best thing about her role as a Befriender is the satisfaction she gets from seeing the young person develop as a result of the relationship they have built up.

She also feels the regular support from the Service’s staff helps her to get the most out of the experience.

Kayleigh’s message to fellow students thinking about volunteering is “Go for it! You’ll develop great skills, experience and contacts for the future as well as the reward of knowing you are making a real difference to people’s lives” If you are interested in finding out more about the Young Person’s Befriending Service or the hundreds of other volunteering opportunities available to do in Glasgow then please visit www. volunteerglasgow.org, contact them on 0141 226 3431 or pop in their city centre offices.

GRADUATION SPECIAL ScotGrad also provides a fantastic free residential training course when graduates are on a placement. This benefits the graduate as it provides extra skills and experience that you wouldn’t gain in a regular role, which can then be taken and applied to your future career.

The training is a bespoke course delivered by two of Scotland’s top universities, and is aimed at sharpening your business skills, with a distinct focus on personal development and delivering innovation.

It’s all designed so that the attendees can take what they have learned, and apply it to their host company when they return to their placement.

Fiona Thomson, Dunollie Projects says: “Before I came on the ScotGrad course, I wanted to work in business, but didn’t have the hard skills.

“The role-play exercises were really valuable – they prepared me for how to handle real life situations.”

There’s also a high chance of being made permanent within your host company – over 92% of Associates are in graduate-level employment after their placement.

With his degree in Chemistry, Campbell told us how he moved straight

from uni into the real world, working in his area of interest and finally bagging a permanent post in his placement company: “Having completed my placement, I was offered a full-time job at Bardyke Chemicals – leaving me in the fortunate position of going straight from education to employment.

“I absolutely recommend ScotGrad to other graduates as it has made me more employable and I have really enjoyed becoming part of the

team at Bardyke.” During a ScotGrad placement, you’ll be given a ridiculous amount of experience and responsibility. It is a fantastic way to get your foot in the door and make a salary, whilst working in a fascinating smaller business.

What are you waiting for? Search current Graduate vacancies and find out more about ScotGrad, including our Student Placements, here: www.ScotGrad.co.uk, or search for ‘ScotGrad’ on Facebook and Twitter.

GRADUATION SPECIAL How NOT to write a

CV

in 10 easy steps

JOB hunters across the UK are at risk of jeopardising their career opportunities by making small yet notable mistakes on their CV. This is according to the latest research from CV-Library, which found that many candidates’ CVs include spelling mistakes, unrelat-

71%

ed skills and irrelevant information, which is pushing businesses to breaking point.

According to the study from the UK’s leading independent job board, which surveyed 200 recruiters on their CV pet peeves, the top 10 areas which put organisations off a candidate straight away, are:

Speling mitsakes

“An ‘ability to smell fear’ is a quality I’ve bever seen listed on a CV before.”

62.6%

40.6%

List of unrelated skills

22.6% Too many jobs over a short period of time

Being massively underqualified for the role

16.1%

A CV that is more than two pages long

A CV that is ‘too creative’

“OMG, our perfect candidate! 23 mutual friends, digs Hootie and the Blowfish, and loves bacon! Thank you, Facebook!”

A CV littered with buzzwords

12.9%

12.9%

7.1%

No cover letter, even when the application requires one

social 1.9% No media presence

14.2% A picture

COMEDY YouTube couple Rose and Rosie have a unique brand of improvisation and tongue-in-cheek humour .

Topics for discussion this year have included ‘Choosing our baby daddy’, ‘Smash or pass’ on celebrities and ‘the sex test’.

It’s pretty much a Cosmo agony aunt chat online with a lot of ‘what would you do if...?’ scenarios.

‘I wouldn’t want to sleep with Kate Middleton because I wouldn’t want to dirty her with me’ says Rose.

Rosie speaks to SUSIE DANIELS about her secret love of mime, therapy and Hollywood hottie Bradley Cooper...

“ I’ll die from over-indulgence, my blood will turn to cheesecake” IN the nicest possible way...what is the point of Rose and Rosie?

It’s not often I get prompted to have an existential crisis. But if I had to pick one reason, I’d say to make people laugh.

IS there a danger in keeping your love life open on social media for all to see?

The only real danger is when you discuss personal details and you forget your mum’s subscribed!

YOU both made the After Ellen Hot 100 List. Who’s your top five on your Hot List?

We both have very different tastes so our Hot Lists would look very different. Mine would definitely include James McAvoy and Kristen Stewart.

But Rose is all about Lauren Jauregui, Camila Cabello and Emma Roberts.

IF you could choose a way to die what would it be?

Over indulgence. Like when your blood turns to cheesecake because you’ve just GONE for it.

WHERE would you go on your ideal date and how would you romance them / let them romance you?

We’re both classic date kind of girls.

We love food and a movie. I also think you can’t beat a beautiful bunch of flowers.

WHAT are you going to do and discuss in your Glasgow show in April?

I’ll tell you what we’re NOT going to do…make a joke about Scotland that no one finds funny making us want to die right there and then from cheesecake poisoning.

IF you could choose a male celeb/ singer to be your surrogate dad who would it be?

Rose loves Hugh Jackman. I would like Bradley Cooper, I think he has beautiful eyes.

HAVE either of you got any other hidden talents apart from comedy and YouTubing?

Rose is an excellent mime artist.

That’s our plan B. WHAT five words describes each of you?

Talented, Talented, Talented, Talented, Subscribe.

YOUR wedding and love life’s online. How can you top that? What else can you do online that we haven’t seen before?

Some stuff is banned you know.

YouTube has some strict rules and policies.

But it probably isn’t a typical household when you start discussing whether or not to live stream your baby’s birth.

WHAT age did you come out and how did your friends and family react?

My mum was pretty blasé about it but when I started dating Rose and brought her home to meet her, she was brilliant and welcomed Rose with open arms.

Rose came out around 17 and had a great group of friends who supported her then and are still supporting her now.

IF you were to put some fake news out there about yourself what would it be?

That we lead double lives investigating animal theft and busting crime.

And I’m not talking about animals that have been stolen. I’m talking about animals that steal. Don’t be deceived by fluffy faces when they’re clearly full of contraband.

HOW long do you think you will be YouTubing for and have you got your sights set on anything else to do career-wise?

If for some reason we ever wanted to stop sharing our lives online we would stop.

We definitely have some aspirations for the future and I know we’d like to continue working together.

If we weren’t on YouTube Rose would like to produce documentaries and I’d like to be a therapist.

l

Rose & Rosie Exposed plays at the SECC Lomond Institute in Glasgow on April 26. forty-seven

Fish platters, waterfalls & silk blouses... it’s rock ’n roll Youngr style

O

VER THE last couple of years music lovers have been exposed to multi-instrumentalists like musical genius Jack Garratt who have taken their incredible array of music talent to a new level.

Now Youngr is ready to enjoy a piece of this pop pie.

Having grafted for years from different band to different venue there’s only one thing on Youngr’s mind and though it’s tongue-in-cheek it’s a surprising revelation– to out-diva Beyonce!

Youngr, real name Dario Darnell, laughs and explains how he came to the decision to leave his sibling electro pop duo and

go solo playing percussion, drums, keys and guitar.

Dario recalls: “By working with divas! I wanted to be the diva demanding the yellow M&Ms in my dressing room!

“If I could, for fun I would demand a fish platter on a beautiful woman. (laughs) I saw it in a picture today and it looked awesome.”

He adds like an excitable puppy, “Oh, and as I tour next time round I’d also want a masseuse with some Swedish oils and a small Zen waterfall in the corner!”

It sounds a bit extreme even for demanding divas and though his wish for touring next year might never make it to fruition, in the meantime for his recent ‘not even remotely diva’ Euro/ US tour Dario settled for a succession of flamboyant shirts in all manner of colours and themes.

The LIPA (Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts) graduate acknowledges: “I’m proud of my shirt collection! (laughs) “I call each of them a manblouse.

I went shopping just before the tour and bought ten silk shirts.

“There’s never a theme, just whatever looks ridiculous

Interview: SUSIE DANIELS I buy! I buy them in vintage shops and shop in the women’s section.

“I’m sure they’re thinking ‘what are you doing down this section?’ but I like to go where no other man would go! (extremely naughty laugh!)”

Last year Dario was an emerging artist but this year he’s so much more.

Born into a musical family it’s easy to see how some of that talent and craving can rub off.

His dad is singer Kid Creole of Kid Creole and the Coconuts – one of the biggest pop music artists of the Eighties.

Kid Creole (August Darnell) was known for his flamboyant tropical-themed clothes – canary-coloured three piece suits and matching coloured hats – and a cool pop, swing vibe which was his usual set look and sound on stage.

It’s undoubtedly where Dario gets his music and fashion flair from.

Dario acknowledges: “There are videos of me playing my drum kit when I was seven years-old in a salmon three-piece suit jamming at my friend’s house.

INTERVIEW

“He was playing a spaghetti tin as we didn’t have a music shaker. I wasn’t actively influenced by my dad but probably subconsciously. With the shirt thing I guess I was really influenced.

“My background wasn’t manic like it could have been if my dad had still been with us.

“It was chilled because my parents split up when I was four or five and I lived with my mum.

“At weekends I might go on tour with my dad but I was back to my mum’s with feet firmly grounded because she sometimes didn’t have money for beans on toast.” ario and brother Lorne set up pop electro group Picture Book. Lorne went on to become the ludicrously titled DJ, Lord High Owl. Dario laughs: “Yeah, he was DJ High Owl. He is now called Stony Browder Junior and his vibe is tropical, funky, politically active – quite a mix!”

The twenty-seven-year-old musician adds: “I’ve been in bands

D

making music for years and I’ve been producing music for over eight years.

“I put the change in pace of my music career down to changing my name as an artist to Youngr – my middle name is Younger so that’s what it’s taken from.

“Last year I decided I’m going to do one-take videos. I did a take on a Calvin Harris song and it got picked up really well.

“That coupled with good pop songs seemed to work.”

Now the man in the colourful manblouse is literally (he is, I can use this word!) a surround sound of music.

In fact his dance floor-friendly bootlegs of Daft Punk, Calvin Harris and Craig David made him a household name in Ibiza, America, Guatemala, Chile and India where he toured and it led to his signing with Island Records.

Dario’s debut release Out of My System last year was an electro-pop crowd pleaser and his new release Monsters due out this month (April) is set to be a big mainstream hit.

Dario says: “It’s going more band-y.

There are Eighties stints in there.

“The song is about daydreaming at school.

Monsters is about taking a year out and not having a wife and child and getting crazy. My songs have similar vibes. Carefree is me in a nutshell.”

So would the ideal carefree life of a multi-instrumentalist be isolated on a desert island, just the man and his music chilling on a hammock or would he need a musical mate for the idyllic situation to be perfect?

Youngr ponders and then concludes: “I would take my keyboard or piano.

“That means I can always write songs and if I could take one music artist with me it would be Taylor Swift and we would do everything imaginable together on that island! (laughs)”

l

YOUNGR’S forthcoming single Monsters is out in Spring. forty-nine

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Welcome to your home from home H

OMES for Students proudly offers student accommodation in Scotland’s biggest city, Glasgow, a vastly-popular location among those heading to university.

Firhill Court, the perfect fit for residents who are keen to live with their friends in groups of four to six, sits in one of the quieter areas of the city, close to the University of Glasgow and college campuses.

It is less than a quarter-of-anhour’s car journey to the university.

Students living at Firhill Court benefit from free car parking and a shuttle bus, making life easy for day trips to the many attractions in and around the region.

This also helps out students looking to reach Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Glasgow, Strathclyde University, Glasgow School of Art and Stow College.

The attractive building boasts a number of cluster flats with four to six en-suite bedrooms.

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Sat in the popular west end, it is a 10-minute walk to the University of Glasgow and its student union.

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Both properties are located near to the hustle and bustle of the student nightlife, which you will be on nodding terms with in no time!

Working in partnership with universities and student unions across the UK, Homes for Students is passionate about providing students with the kind of accommodation which complements their learning experience in the city of their choosing, making their university adventure an even more enjoyable experience by giving them the right environment in which to relax after your academic endeavours.

T

FOR more information about Firhill Court and Kelvingrove Place, visit www.wearehomesforstudents. com/glasgow or call 0333 344 2829. fifty-one

SIX OF THE

FEST PACK your wellies and pick your party – festival season will soon be upon us.

Perhaps you’re in the market for a brand new offering along the lines of TRNSMT at Glasgow Green or Carnival 56 in Dundee.

Possibly you plan to check out global big hitters Eminem and Muse at Reading & Leeds or rock your nuts off at Download.

The choice is yours, obvs.

Radio 1’s Big Weekend kicks off the festival season on May 27-28 as the free

fifty-two

party descends on Hull. That’s swiftly followed by Download the following month.

TRNSMT takes care of July while August is taken over by Carnival 56 and Reading & Leeds Bestival – September 7-10 – wraps it up for another year as Autumn hits and thoughts turn to, erm, Halloween and such like.

Here’s SUSIE DANIELS’ guide to the six best festivals this year.

WIN WEEKEND TICKETS FOR TRNSMT

SCO TLAN D’S newest music festival, TRNSMT, brings one of the Summer’s most anticipated line-ups to Glasgow Green over 7th – 9th July and, thanks to festival organisers DF Concerts, we have TWO pairs of weekend tickets to give away.

Headliners Radiohead, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro are supported by an award-winning line-up including The 1975, Catfish and the Bottlemen, London Grammar, Two Door Cinema Club, Blossoms, Rag‘n’Bone Man, Stormzy

and more. TRNSMT offers music, art, culture, food and drink within a truly metropolitan setting where fans can experience one of the most vibrant cities in the country.

Easily accessible with national and international transport links to and from Glasgow, as well as a wealth of overnight accommodation on offer throughout the city, TRNSMT’s flexible weekend and day ticket packages allow you to choose whether a 1, 2 or 3-day package is right for you.

Enjoy the acts you love and expe rience the new; buy tickets now at www .trnsmtfest.com FOR the chance to win a pair of week TRNSMT, just answer this question: end tickets for

IN WHICH CITY WILL THE TRN SMT FESTIVAL TAKE PLACE?

Text your answer FREE along with phone number and email address your name, contact email competitions@ student-ragto 07867-757174 or .co.uk Closing date May 1. Editor’s decisio

n is final.

Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult over 21 Sign up for exclusive TRNSMT new s at www.trnsmtfest.com

WIN

WEEKEND CAMPING TICKETS FOR READING & LEEDS!

op summer with a guitar-p filled performance. s king British arena-rock YO U ME AT SIX will ory continue their rich hist at Reading and Leeds, packing in anthems from the their career along with m heavy kicks of latest albu Night People. y A standout success stor have of 2016, BLO SS OM S as established themselves the national treasures with ded release of their self-title 1. but, storming to number k Ban the on tivals take place Reading and Leeds Fes h to 27th August 2017.

25t nd Holiday Weeke ets go to details and to buy tick For the latest lineup al.com/ stiv dsfe dlee gan adin www.re

and EM INE M, KASABIAN er MUSE are the headlin & for this year’s Reading place Leeds festivals, taking 7 at on 25 – 27 August 201 ding Richfield Avenue, Rea ds. and Bramham Park, Lee One of the greatest rap ’s pers of all time, Eminem rks return to the festival ma ess a rare opportunity to witn an icon in the flesh.

One of the most hotly the anticipated returns of land year, HAIM are set to this at Reading and Leeds

ping E PAIR of weekend cam STU DE NT Rag has ON D Reading to give away.

AN ds Lee for h tickets eac question: To enter, just answer this

E HEADLINE ACTS WHO ARE THE THRE FESTIVALS? ’S AT THIS YEAR

e, contact E along with your nam Text your answer FRE il address to 07867-757174 or phone number and emastudent-rag.co.uk email competitions@ r’s decision is final.

Closing date May 1. Edito

WHAT: TRNSMT WHERE: Glasgow Green WHEN: July 7-9 IS there a T in the Park shaped hole in your life this Summer?

Then thank the festival gods for filling that yawning chasm by providing Scotland’s newest festival TRNSMT. The people behind T are bringing the festival to you by parachtuing in (no, not literally) global icons Radiohead and Kasabian to headline at Glasgow Green on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Local heroes Biffy Clyro are the main act on Sunday, with Biffy-lite Twin Atlantic further down the bill.

Leans very much towards indie guitar with less emphasis on dance.

PROS: City centre setting great for access, accommodation, etc.

CONS: No camping option so get yourself sorted on Air BnB NOW if you’re planning to stay the weekend.

TICKETS: Range from £65.45 for day pass to £234.95 for three-day VIP access.

IF you’re attracted to bands with menacing names like Five Finger Death Punch and Prophets of Rage then this is the one for you.

Download features everything from old-school metal favourites such as Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies through to nu-metal heroes Sum 41 and Good Charlotte.

System of a Down, Biffy and Aerosmith headline the main stage. There’s also a ‘Quiet’ camping zone – good luck with that!

WHAT: Reading & Leeds WHERE: Reading & Leeds, obvs WHEN: August 25-27

WIN

WEEKEND ADULT CAMPING TICKETS FOR BESTIVAL!

READING & Leeds have pulled off arguably the coup of the season by landing hip hop heavyweight Eminem.

The rap icon augmented what was already a stellar line-up with festival favourites Kasabian and sonic terrorists Muse sharing the limelight.

Saturday at Reading is already sold out so unless HAIM’s roadie is your auntie’s friend’s son or you win Student Rag’s ticket competition then you’re name’s not on the list so you’re not getting in.

Which would be a monumental shame.

PROS: Twin sites means you get to pick your party CONS: Saturday at Reading is sold out.

Did we mention our ticket competition?

TICKETS: From £72 for one day access. Or free – including weekend camping if you win our competition.

WHAT: Download WHERE: Donnington Park WHEN: June 9-11 PROS: No one’s going to tell you to turn it down a bit as the monsters of rock, well, rock.

CONS: You might need a good neck rub by the end of this head-banging extravaganza.

TICKETS: From £83 for day ticket.

STU DE NT Rag has tea med With a huge bill of up with Bestival to give amazing music includin away a pair of tickets g to this The xx, Pet Shop Boy year’s festival. s, A Tribe Called Quest, Jam Bestival is entering a new ie chapter of light and sou T, Justice, Dizzee Ras nd, cal, exploring the wonders Ann ie Ma c and many more of Colour on our mission plus incredible new stag to es, increase the peace this venues and immersive 7th – 10th September at the roamings. ir new location of Lulworth It has to be seen to be Estate, Dorset. believed.

Bestival take place from 7th to 10th Sep tember 2017.

For the latest lineup details and to buy tick ets go to www.bestival.net

STU DE NT Rag has ON camping tickets for Bes E PAIR of weekend adult tiva To enter, just answer this l to give away. question:

IN WHICH ENGLISH WILL BESTIVAL TAKE COUNTY PLACE?

Text your answer FRE E along with your nam phone number and ema e, contact email competitions@ il address to 07867-757174 or student-rag.co.uk Clos ing date May 1. Editor’s

decision is final.

WHAT: Bestival WHERE: Lulworth Estate, Dorset WHEN: September 7-10 WITH an inflatable church, the world’s biggest bouncy castle and a carnival day parade, you could be forgiven for forgetting there’s a shed load of live music to enjoy in this normally quiet corner of the country.

Music mountain of the moment Rag ‘n Bone Man provides able support on the main Castle Stage, with The XX headlining.

For the retro-minded among you, 1980s heroes Soul II Soul and The Pet Shop Boys are also on the bill.

PROS: A chilled-out vibe at a boutique-style festival means you won’t end up scrapping with the locals at chucking-out time.

CONS: None, it’s all groovy here brothers and sisters.

TICKETS: Weekend student access is £160, not including camping.

RADIO 1’s now annual jamboree has the power to attract pop’s world super powers and has developed a reputation for capturing the musical zeitgeist every Spring.

Details on the line-up are sketchy – and by sketchy we mean almost non-existent – but judging by previous years’ performers the music-loving public will not be disappointed.

Think Pharell Williams in Glasgow 2014, Taylor Swift at Norwich 2015 and

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WHAT: Radio 1’s Big Weekend WHERE: Burton Constable Hall, Hull WHEN: May 27-28

Coldplay last year in Exeter. All we know so far about this year’s load edition is that Little wn AT: Do WH on Parkwill be ngtStormzy Mix, WH Kings Donniand E: Leon ERof 1 pitching up :for the party. e 9-1 Jun WHEN PROS: Tickets are FREE. Yes, you read that correctly.

CONS: It’s too early to know if the line-up will be strong enough to tempt you to Hull.

TICKETS: See above. The 50,000 tickets are free, but are subject to an £8.50 admin charge.

ESCAPE exam stress with Glasgow Prestwick Airport – we fly to 17 sunny destinations at super cheap prices.

In just a few hours you can be dancing with pals in Alicante or chilling out on a sandy beach on one of the Canary Islands!

But if you’re looking to change things up a bit, grab your friends and have a summer full of Mediterranean music festivals!

WHAT: Ibiza Rocks, Ibiza WHEN: Weekly from 8 June 2017 TICKETS: Still to be released At Ibiza Rocks artists play in a central courtyard, flanked by a swimming pool and surrounded by guests watching from their balconies.

The line-up has yet to be announced, but Ed Sheeran, The Prodigy, and Bastille are among the Ibiza Rocks alumni.

And with two pool parties every Sunday and Thursday starting from 8 June, and eleven flights a week from Glasgow Prestwick, there’s plenty of opportunity to experience one of the best days of your life this summer.

WHAT: Lost & Found, Ta’ Qali, Malta WHEN: April 13 - April 16, 2017 TICKETS: From £85 Numero Uno is a large open air club in Ta’ Qali, Malta, which offers a variety of clubbing events, especially

WHAT: Carnival 56 WHERE: Camperdown Park, Dundee WHEN: August 12-13 I KNOW, I know, this is a new one on you – well, you’re not alone as Carnival 56 is fresh on the scene.

But despite its focus on local and national talent, the festival line-up includes international-class DJ/producer Mark Ronson and Rockabye electronic faves Clean Bandit.

Camperdown Park was the venue for Radio 1’s Big Weekend back in 2006 and the organisers aim to recreate some of the excitement of that event this year.

A multi-genre festival which also includes DJs and comedians.

PROS: Cultural hotspot Dundee’s just up the road and the festival is set in stunning parkland.

CONS: No camping option so get yourself sorted on Air BnB NOW if you’re planning to stay the weekend.

TICKETS: Student day tickets start at just £40. £134 will get you VIP weekend access.

Festivals on the fly sessions, clothes customisation LIKE shopping? Like discounts? and much more – including the The most anticipated Student chance to win a car, and an after Night in Glasgow is back with a party at The Shimmy Club. bang at Buchanan Galleries on It only happens once a year, Friday 25 September, offering so don’t miss out! students excellent discounts of Can’t make it on the night? up to 30% off brands including Don’t worry – Buchanan GallerH&M, River Island, Levi’s, Fred ies offers a range of excellent Perry, Warehouse, Oasis, Mandiscounts, just for students, all go and Boux Avenue. year round. From 15% off in WHAT: Primavera Sound, during the summer season.

And this Doors atMac 7.30pm Quiz toSpain 20% off in Levi’s, check summer, Radio 1 DJopen Annie is and Barcelona, 10pm,Festival. giving you two WHEN: outMay www.buchanangalleries.

31-June 4, 2017 hosting the close Lost &atFound and araves half hours shop your TICKETS: co.uk/offers/student-discounts From £73 With day-long in the to sunshine heart out of and what else is Hundreds to see of them all and save some bands fill the huge with cocktails, some thesee biggest going on. and explosive live Parc El cash. artists on the planet, Forum over this five-day And if you pre-register at www.

With over 80 stores, Busets at the night-time festival site, you’ll extravaganza, alongside one-of-a-kind buchanangalleries.com/student, chanan Galleriesthroughout offers the the have no time to rest! intimate performances not only will you secure your best shopping in Glasgow.

With Dance all day at one of their famous atmospheric city. also getthe fast you need oneto pool parties,place, catchbut theyou’ll sunset over Thiseverything famous festival paysunder homage trackcruise entry across on the night and bethe fullroof, from fashion andalso Mediterranean, Malta’s spectrum of indiebrands rock, but in with aorchance tothe winhills a £500 includes makeup to technology andfrom gifts stunning coastline, head to a smattering of entries Buchanan and gadgets, themusic centregenre. is a for an exclusive rave atGalleries the Lostgift & card tojust about every other spend on the night. stop shop from - no matter what Found castle.

Withone appearances Bon Iver, Arwellout asfrom shopping, there will you’re looking for. Van Morrison, With flights As flying Glasgow cade Fire, The XX, and be bars and DJs, freebies, comoffers the best shopping in Prestwick on a Thursday, you’ve no this festival is a must-attend for all petitions, excuse to say no…! complimentary stylingmusic Glasgow, lovers. with over 80 stores

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Bouldering LESS dangerous and less expensive than rock climbing, Bouldering (scaling a large rock with no ropes) is an amazing way to get outside and get in shape for free.

Not only is it good for strengthening and toning every muscle group in the body, working out how to climb a boulder involves a great deal of problem solving – so it will keep your mind active too.

To get the most out of your fitness regime, freeing your mind from distraction and keeping it engaged in what you’re doing is just as important as being physically fit.

And there can be no better time to focus your brain on the task at hand

than when hanging from a large rock with no rope, working out how to make your next move, without falling to your death!

OK, that’s a slight exaggeration as the rocks are quite small and you should really have a crash mat in case you fall off.

Spirit animal: Sloth or Squirrel – you choose a pace and difficulty level which suits you.

Where: Cunningar Loop in Dalmarnock has man-made boulders of different shapes and sizes to suit a rage of different skill levels.

Or try Craigmaddie Boulders – a real crag just outside Milngavie, for a more authentic experience.

Charity Miles larly exciting RU NN ING isn’t a particu unless you’re one of us, of st mo for t cep con experience ‘runner ’s the lucky people who ia which is high’ – a state of euphor us running. achieved during strenuowho don’t For the vast majority ‘euphoric’ , experience this though t exactly the first word thawe isn’t to springs mind when think of running.

The word ‘stitch’ is probably more accurate, closely followed by the word ‘sweaty’. which makes Charity Miles is an app a runner ’s high of the challenging pursuit ating a few pence more rewarding by don you run – or walk, mile ry eve for rity to cha l… move. or saunter, or just, wel to motivate The app is a great way rs and make every yourself to get outdoo

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count. Just download bit of exercise you do how much you want and rity cha a ose it, cho n watch your miles go to donate per mile, the e down. up and your balance comgo bankrupt any Don’t worry, you won’t um you can donate time soon as the maxim . mile is 20p per Minimum effort Spirit animal: Snail – udly advertises that required. This app pro le ‘going to grab whi you can accrue miles a coffee’. re, run Where: Literally anywhe r living in a circle around you room or for a more scenic route, why not try a run around the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow’s West End?

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Let’s Spring into action STRANGE things are happening across the country; the temperature has risen above 5 degrees, the population can feel its collective toes for the first time since November, and daffodils are springing up on every available patch of grass.

This can mean only one thing – Spring has sprung.

Squirrels are stirring, grizzlies are groaning and bees are beginning to buzz.

Just like our little animal friends, it’s time for us humans to emerge from winter hibernation, leave behind our cozy duvet nests and embrace the great outdoors.

HANNAH GUNN presents seven of the best ways to get out there, get healthy and make the most of this Summer.

She adds a handy spirit animal guide for each activity.

Kayaking

KAYAKING and other water sports have become a lot more accessible to us Glaswegians lately, thanks to the opening of Pinkston Water sports centre, a man-made white water course only five minutes from the city centre.

If you’re more of a water baby than a land lover, this might be a fun way to get in shape.

Kayaking is ideal for adrenaline junkies; excit-

ing and unpredictable, one minute you’ll be relaxing and perfecting your stroke and the next you’ll be thrown down some rapids.

But hopefully since the course at Pinkston is manmade there won’t be too many surprises. Ideal for working on core strength and keeping your thrill levels turned up to eleven.

Spirit animal: Crocodile – fairly leisurely and relaxed most of the time but be prepared to spring into action if you have to.

Where: Pinkston Water Sports run open sessions on Monday nights and Saturday afternoons from March until October. £7.50 for one hour.

Geocaching GEOCACHING has been around since the dawn of Sat Navs and GPS tracking and yet remains relatively unheard of.

So far it seems to have been adopted mainly by ‘middle-aged uncles who wears an excess of khaki and fleece’ types – which is strange because it sounds like it might be the most exciting activity of our generation. A giant, worldwide treasure hunt.

The concept is similar to Pokémon Go in that you use your phone to navigate to certain locations.

Only instead of finding another Rattata, you’ll find a box which contains actual tangible objects left by others, called ‘Geocach’.

Geocaching is great for your general mental and physical health.It also encourages getting out and exploring – whether you do it in your local area, or further afield, you’re sure to see some beautiful places on your quest to find Geocach.

Spirit animal: Pigeon – stamina to travel long distances and a sense of direction required.

Where: Any one of the 2.8 million Geocaching locations in 180 countries, the app will show you which ones are closest to you.

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HEALTH AND FITNESS Adventure Racing IF you don’t know someone who has taken part in ‘Tough Mudder’ over the last few years, chances are you’ve been living in a cave.

It seems like no newsfeed has escaped being constantly swamped with images of people covered in mud, looking cold, wet and… wait a second are they happy?

Yep, instead of sporting the grimace that you might expect to see on the face of a person who’s just spent several hours crawling through mud, scaling giant walls and jumping into freezing water, smiles are spread across the competitors’ faces as they reach a goal they’ve trained for months to achieve.

It’s the great sense of achievement in reaching a set of goals which has caused a spike in the popularity of

Adventure Racing of late.

Tough Mudder is only the tip of the iceberg as far as Adventure Racing is concerned though.

Scotland has no shortage of races to take part in – its landscape means its home to some of the most challenging courses in the UK. The most important aspect of this kind of sport is the training though. In most cases you will have to train for a few months in order to learn the multiple skills you’ll need to take part – so get climbing, running and practising your pose for all those photos you’ll be putting on Facebook.

Spirit animal: Pig – be prepared to get muddy.

Where: Redbull Neptune Steps at Maryhill Locks, Mighty Deerstalker on the Borders or Celtman in Wester Ross to name a few!

Virtual Reality Cycling

Exfoliate #1

YES, in an ideal world (and in a lot of other countries) the sun shines constantly from March until October and everyone can run around gleefully in their flipflops and sunglasses.

But this is Scotland and we’re kidding ourselves if Tequila we think we’ll be able to get outdoors every day this Spring.

Here’s a way to get outdoors whilst you’re indoors: Virtual Reality cycling, which makes for an excellent

fat-burning, cardio workout.

‘Virzoom’ are a software company who make specialised exercise bikes and games which are compatible with most VR headsets.

Truly bringing exercise into the future. You can choose to be anything from a tank commander to a run of the mill cyclist in the Virzoom game and you can either compete with random players in races, or just try to beat your best times.

Spirit animal: Hamster – be prepared to do a whole lot of exercise without going anywhere.

Where: Wherever you dream of, but in reality you’re still just a weirdo pretending to be a tank commander on a small exercise bike in their living room.

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HEALTH AND FITNESS

Circus Fitness DID you spend the majority of your childhood showcasing rubbish cartwheels and handstands to uninterested family members?

If you answered yes then maybe it’s time to learn some real skills and show those haters (your gran) who’s boss.

It’s never too late to become the acrobat you always imagined that you were, and it’s never

been easier – Aerial Edge is now open in Glasgow and runs various circus-based classes in everything from flying trapeze to handstands.

They also run outdoor classes in things like Parkour during the summer.

This is one of the most fun and rewarding ways to get fit as not only will it do wonders for your self-confidence, it will also improve your strength and flexibility. And, as a bonus, you’ll finally be able to do an above-par handstand.

Spirit animal: Chimpanzee – be carefree and let go of some inhibitions.

Where: Aerial Edge at The Briggait. On Wednesday evenings classes are only £5, remember to book online in advance. sixty-one

COMING SOON TO A PLACE NEAR YOU...

Looking for a gig or new release and don’t know where to go? LUKE HAWKINS can help you out with that

Cold War Kids COLD War Kids have their usual thumping drums as the driving force for new album LA Devine and Love is Mystical is proof.

The slightly cheesy name of the song quite honestly matches the slightly cheesy sound of the song.

There is some sort of soulful power to it but it’s the kind of soulful power that a particularly dramatic scene in Hollyoaks has, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did happen to turn up in an advert for some such programme. l

Shawn Mendes YOU’VE got to give it to Shawn Mendes, he is slightly less annoying than Justin Bieber. He will, however, have similar fans and you can expect to be deafened by adolescent girls and drunken auntie types should you attend his Illuminate tour.

The 18-yearold Canadian is propelling himself towards stardom with huge hits like Stitches and Treat You Better.

Catch him on the way up before he turns into a Lamborghini-crashing, self-important, mini-Bieber devil-child... l SHAWN Mendes will be at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on April 27.

LA DEVINE will be released on April 7.

YOU know all those guys who walk around with retro baseball caps, flannel shirts and shorts on all year round? They’re copying Mac DeMarco.

But don’t hold that against the Canadian hipster Jesus, he’s a ridiculously good gui-

tar player whose savant-ish charm and warmth comes through his music by the bucket load.

This is the type of music that could easily soundtrack Spring or Summer.

Imagine that guy who always picks up the guitar

Mac DeMarco

Mew MEW manage to mix pop, prog, rock and dance into just about every track they produce.

Each album contains the obligatory radio-friendly tracks as well as sprawling, optimistic eight minute dreamscapes adorned with falsetto vocals and shifting time signatures.

Their challenging sound seems to be denying them the chance to play at the stadium-sized venues that the music deserves.

Lead single, Carry Me to Safety, has the reverb turned all the way up and builds to a guitar/synthesizer crescendo that would fit a Muse/ U2esque stage production. l VISUALS will be released on April 28.

Timber Timbre ON the moody gothic side of indie music we have Timber Timbre, a band whose music has crept stealthily into pop culture, including Breaking Bad. New album Sincerely, Future Pollution continues along their dreamy, pondering path; littered with industrial keys and vocals reminiscent of Jim Morrison at the party or bonfire was actually brilliant and you actually wanted serenading – This Old Dog would be the result, except better.

or Ian Curtis. Should it be a sunny Spring we have this year, this album might not paint a happy picture to match it but it will certainly provide ideal chillout music for any hazy days at your nearest beach... l SINCERELY, Future Pollution will be released on April 7.

Future Islands

l THIS Old Dog will be released on May 5.

FUTURE ISLANDS go big with their synthesizers.

The first single, Ran, could easily be used as montage music either now or back in the 80s.

These are sounds that can completely disconnect you

from the smell of the bus you’re on travelling to work, college or uni. It is music that can pep you up for the shift you don’t want to do.

Or, go with the montage idea and power through your essays fuelled only by toxic

coffee from a despicable, worldwide coffee conglomerate and this upbeat music. l THE Far Fields will be released on April 7. sixty-three

Zen and the art of personal maintenance

THEY’VE RUN the party circuit but You Me At Six’s La La Land days are over.

They’ve gone from LA to Nashville in their pursuit of producing the best album, and the home of the best blues music and producers in the world wins hands down.

With five albums under their belt and 13 years as a band, singer Josh Franceschi, guitarists Max Heyler and Chris Miller, bass guitarist Matt Barnes and drummer Dan Flint are settling nicely into their own skin.

So much so that Josh explains to SUSIE DANIELS why a yoga mat is his new BFF…

Z

INTERVIEW

EN ROCK N ROLL is a bit of an oxymoron but it’s how You Me At Six’s lead singer copes with the crazy music world.

From LA nightlife rubbing shoulders with Gwen Stefani and The Voice’s Tom Jones, Josh Franceschi has seen it all.

The lead singer has a renewed confidence following the recording of his latest album but he still indulges in daily relaxation routines to centre his life.

Josh explains: “One thing I would say is that we’ve never subscribed to the idea of fame or celebrity.

“We’ve kept our distance. Some people have tried to get us into a nightclub and be in amongst a hybrid of celebrities but that’s just sh*t and not how we grew up or what we want.

“Meditation is great because it lets you have absolute clarity and less cloud about who you are. I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night doing transcendental meditation.

“There are so many other opinions when you make a record – some of them wanted and some of them not wanted so it’s great to meditate.

“You know, particularly for young people, there’s a lot of attention on social media, on social status and acceptance. Sometimes a healthy body is a healthy mind and vice versa.”

Josh compares the enrichment of their latest album recording in Nashville with their time spent recording their last album Cavalier Youth back in 2013 when it was the band’s first time in LA and La La land lived up to its party name.

The boys lived in a mansion in Santa Monica’s fashionable Griffith Park for four months and at that point in their life they couldn’t get enough of the glitzy lifestyle.

Josh says: “We had a pool and our family, friends and partners all came over to stay so it was intoxicating.

That time was more

about hanging out together than anything else.

“LA is a great place to be socially.

You meet a lot of people. We met Palmolive making a record – we’re friends with them now. We became friends with The Charlatans. One night we were sat at a table and Tom Jones was next to us smoking a cigar.

“Another night we were at Soho House and I was at the balcony and Seth McFarlane was there and I was asking him about Family Guy. “I live in East London and we used to go to the Soho House in Shoreditch and everyone would go there to meet celebrities but there’s none there.

“In the one in LA it’s full of famous people eating dinner across from you.

One night it was Gwen Stefani.

“When we went into the restaurant the guy at the door was looking at the list and at us. It was funny. Another night I met one of the members from Run DMC. “We look back on that compared to Nashville and being in Nashville around musicians was a richer experience.

“I don’t think we’d do the LA experience more than once. There used to be parties and I’d be like, ‘Who is that?’

“And someone would say, ‘oh, so and so brought them and they know so and so…’

“I didn’t know who these people were hanging out in our house!

“In Nashville there were no parties.

We had barbecues and watched football.”

The LA experience may have been less rewarding but the album born out of that party time led to Cavalier Youth becoming a UK Number One hit, though Josh also thanks all the back to back touring of arenas in Europe and the UK. “It was the momentum of the touring that built up an awareness of our music that was so well received by fans who were surprised by the new sound,” he explains. For Night

People, released in January this year, the boys worked with renowned record producer Jacquire King who has worked with the likes of James Bay and Kings of Leon.

Josh enthuses: “We all really, really enjoyed Nashville. I brought back a sense of self-belief that I didn’t necessarily have before.

“It made me realise where the band were at, that we had come to work with a Grammy-award winning producer who was blown away by our music.

“The enrichment of being in Nashville was amazing.

“The main thing Jacquire brought to the mix was that we’d never recorded a record live and just jamming and bringing that link we had together.

“Some of us were worried about recording like that as we were used to recording everything separately.

“Recording drums, recording base separately and so on.

Jacquire said to us, ‘You’re not robots.

You’ve been working for ten years and you know how to play together.’

You can really hear the energy and the groove in the album!”

The music is a collaboration of all the boys inputting some form of the creative process whether it’s writing the lyrics or music.

Josh says: “Sometimes I have nothing but lyrics to give or a guitar riff.

“I guess with all my music I use it as a therapeutic or cathartic thing in a selfish way addressing my demons.

“Earlier on in my career it’s almost an open diary of when I was 17, 18 and 19 years old.

“Maybe the appeal of You Me At Six is that the fans were on the journey with us and they can relate to us.

“Right now we’re trying to write better and better songs so it’s not always about me, it’s about family and friends and everything else going on.”

l

You Me at Six play Glasgow SECC on April 13.

I wake up at night and do “ transcendental meditation”

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FOOD AND DRINK Bubble Tea WHO hasn’t heard of bubble tea – the Taiwanese teabased drink sensation that can be served cool or iced as well as hot.

The key ingredient to this exotic blend are tiny little tapioca balls called boba.

You can buy these in almost any Asian shop or online.

INGREDIENTS 1 to 2 tea bags per serving (any kind) ½ cup of water ½ cup of sugar ¼ cup of dried boba Milk of some kind (almond, sweetened condensed, etc.)

Fruit juice if you want a sweet tea METHOD (serves one) 1) Add water to the boba: 2 cups for every ¼ cup of boba.

Boil the water over a high heat then add the boba. Stir until the float.

2) Cook the boba: heat to medium for 15 minutes.

Cover the pan and leave to cool for another 15 minutes.

3) Make syrup: this syrup acts as a preservative for the boba and sweetens them in the process. Boil ½ cup of water and then stir ½ cup of sugar away from the stove until it dissolves.

Leave to cool.

4) Make a strong cup of tea and chill it.

5) Prep boba: Drain them of excess water, transfer to bowl and add sugar syrup until boba are submerged.

Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes if ready to use, or refrigerate until you need them (will keep for several days).

6) Serve: pour chilled tea into a tall glass and add boba.

Variations: add milk for a creamy tea, juice for a fruity tea, or add a splash more water for a plain tea.

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Ginger Beer THERE are fewer beverages more refreshing than good old ginger beer – chilled. Spice up your Spring/Summer with this homemade ginger beer recipe.

Whether you’re having a garden party or planning a deckchair-bound afternoon with your fave book, this tasty drink will keep your body hydrated and your sweet tooth satisfied.

INGREDIENTS 140g of fresh ginger 2-3 lemons 4 tablespoons of muscovado sugar 1 litre soda/sparkling water Fresh mint METHOD (serves a jug-full) 1) Grate the ginger into a bowl and sprinkle with muscovado sugar 2) Remove the skin from 2 out of the 3 lemons and add to the bowl 3) Press the mixture with a pestle or roll-

ing pin for around 10 seconds to mix the flavours 4) Squeeze all 3 lemons into the bowl 5) Pour in soda/sparkling water 6) Taste test: if the lemons are too sour, add sugar; if too sweet, add lemon juice 7) Sieve the mixture: discard of the residue and save the filtered juice 8) Serve: in a large jug with lots of ice and some sprigs of mint

Pink Lemonade JUST as the skies start turning pink as a Summer sunset rolls in, add a splash berry to your favourite lemon fizz.

The pink lemonade is lemonade’s softer sister and her sweetness will provide the sugar rush you need to fight through the Summer heat.

FOOD AND DRINK

In the mix for a Summer fix WARM? Thirsty? Skint? Don’t worry, HANNAH McLAREN has got you covered.

Spring and Summer is the perfect time to not only work on your tan, but your mixology skills too.

Be it cocktails, beers, sodas or Ribena, this weather is made for

sipping on something iced. I’ve compiled a list of summer-time slurps that should quench your thirst, but feel free to add a splash of spirit to the mix if you really want to chill out.

Here’s how to make your favourite summery drinks at home for cheap.

Cream Soda FEEL young again and treat yourself to some cream soda before dinner.

Ice-cream floats are still relevant and delicious.

Revisit this vanilla gorged dream this Summer, and maybe even play hide and seek too – for old time’s sake!

INGREDIENTS 2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup water 1 to 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract (depending on your own taste) 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream or vanilla ice-cream (optional) 2 litres sparkling water

METHOD (Serves jug-full) 1) Add sugar to water in medium sized saucepan over medium heat until mixed 2) Transfer mixture to bowl and swirl gently (DO NOT STIR) 3) Boil mixture until clear (3-5 minutes) and remove from heat 4) Add vanilla extract, 1 to 2 tablespoons and stir 5) Leave to cool at room temperature and transfer to airtight container for refrigeration 6) Serve: add all of the syrup into 2 litres of sparkling water and add whipped cream/ ice cream if desired for extra sweetness

INGREDIENTS 300g of caster sugar 1 ½ lemons, sliced 1 orange, sliced 3 x 170g of raspberries Fresh mint METHOD (Serves a jug-full) 1) Fill saucepan with water: 350ml water, cold

2) Add all ingredients then boil, stir and leave to cool 3) Sieve and use spoon to press down on residue to extract all juice from the fruits 4) Store: syrup can be kept refrigerated for up to one week 5) Serve: pour some syrup into a glass and top up with sparkling water, add ice and some mint (optional)

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Slushies REMEMBER these icy devils?

Nothing like a juicy blend of crushed ice and additives (just kidding!) to help you ride the heat wave on a sugary high.

INGREDIENTS 1 cup sugar 2 cups water 2 cups ice 1½ teaspoons of flavoured extract (your choice) 5 to 10 drops of food colouring (or fruit - your choice) METHOD (Serves 2 large slushies or 4 small slushies) 1) Add 1 cup sugar to 2 cups water and dissolve to avoid graininess.

2) Add flavour: 1 ½ teaspoons of preferred flavour (strawberry, raspberry, orange, mango, etc.)

3) Mix in food colouring: 5 or more drops of any colour, your choice 4) Stir all ingredients together 5) Blend: add the sugar water to 2 cups of ice in a blender that can grind ice finely (for a thinner slushie add another ½ cup of water and for a thicker slushie remove a ½ cup water) 6) Flavour variant: if you like soda-flavoured slushies you can freeze your favourite fizzy drink and replace the water in this recipe with these flavoured ice cubes and leave out the sugar.

And, for a Tango ice blast taste add sherbet instead of sugar for that unique mouth-watering taste. sixty-eight

ELEGANT SHINE

MA KE UP should be use enhance natural beauty, d to which this look certain ly does.

This sophisticated take on a bold-metallic eye, certainly does the trick.

The look is very simplistic, but effective. The taupe shadow, blended with Aveda’s petal essence, in the shade Sepia, give natural shine to the eye s a area.

CHERRY CHEEK

any feature PIN K can look great on draping try not y Wh . face r you of e involving – a contouring techniqu h up to the wearing your blus and corners of your cheeks the sides of your eye. d Adam Selman use this look on the runway and the petal pink is definitely a look that I would try.

Although, this might not be ‘au naturel’, it certainly has aspects that work. It’s simple and pulls the whole look together.

BOHEMIAN GODDESS LAST Autumn we saw the over-used gothic lip, that was inspired by the experimental 1990s.

However this season, designers are opting to use minimalistic make-up and instead are using dried, pressed flowers to create a bohemian inspired look.

Make-up artist Val Garland has pulled off this daring look, and has enhanced the model’s natural cheekbones and eyes.

SPRING

ESSENTIALS

MAKE-UP

WE a go E are can T doe ther cial

HEALTH AND BEAUTY AS Spring approaches, and Summer is on the horizon, the go-to look for this season is ‘Au Naturel’.

On the Paris, Milan and London catwalks designers have been using wondrous colours: light nudes, golds and blues, to enhance natural features.

Designers are opting to use less and less make-up to create a clean and crisp look, which will look beautiful on absolutely everyone.

I’m KIRSTY CAMPBELL and this is my guide to the key trends for Spring/Summer 2017.

Let it come naturally

MAYBELLINE AGE REWIND EYE CONCEALER boots.com £7.99 E all want to stay healthy and the key to good health is

UNDER THE SEA THIS season has lived up to the promise of bringing back the original aqua palette.

In the past few seasons the catwalk has been filled with harsh blacks and greys that don’t always enhance natural beauty.

This season, however, uses more natural colours that will complement any eye colour.

This look is easy and inexpensive to create.

If you’re looking to splash the cash; you can buy NARS Dual-Intensity in Tarvos and in Earth Angel to recreate this look.

And as an alternative, you can use Makeup Revolution Redemption Palette, which has equal pigmentation and a range of different colours with which to experiment.

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up to ten times cheaper. ood diet, but what exactly is a good diet?

Each year a new gang of ‘Superfoods’ rise to fame and Don’t waste your wages on wheatgrass. e hailed as the answer to everything, from staving off URBAN DECAY ALL GUNN presents some of this year’s most ncer to making youDsmarter.

HANNAH KAT VON ‘SHADE AND NIGHTER LONGLIGHT’ FACE CONTOUR The problem is that when a food’s popularity rises, so LASTING MAKE-UP PALETTE es its price tag. The truth of the matter is though, that foods and their equally healthy, yet far less SETTINGfashionable SPRAY debenhams.com KIKO MATTE FACE BASE PRIMER re are plenty of alternatives which are just as benefihouseoffraser.co.uk £22 £36 kikocosmetics.com £9.90 l to your health as these ‘now’ foods – and they can be pricey, alternatives;

sixty-nine

AMY Macdonald may be continually touring Europe with her extended crew ‘family’ but her heart is firmly set in Glasgow with her footballer fiancé, her Ferraris and her schnauzer.

Following the release of her fourth album ‘Under The Stars’ the 29-year-old singer from Bishopbriggs now takes the music industry in her stride.

SUSIE DANIELS talks car-pool karaoke and petrol-head obsessions...

WHERE’S your happy place to go after touring?

I never really get to go on any holidays. My fiancé only gets June off and that’s when I play the festivals.

I really miss taking my dog Amie – a miniature schnauzer - out for an hour for a walk. I didn’t realise how much I missed him!

He usually gets sent to stay with my mum and dad. They’ve got his little brother.

IT seems like only yesterday your first album was released but that was a decade ago. It seems like you’ve been tour ing ever since.

With my first album things happened quickly in so many countries - in Germany, Holland, Switzerland…

They really do know how to do a festival in the continent.

I’ve been able to do a show in some of the most beautiful places in the world! I do get lonely and miss people but it’s what I’ve done for ten years and the crew are my friends.

It’s unusual for artists to be in the mud with everyone else including the crew but they all work their ass off so for me why not!

SO you’ve cracked Europe – is America the next challenge?

I’m not too bothered about cracking America. I’m happy with what I’m doing.

So many people try to achieve their unattainable dream and neglect their fans.

Breaking America would be amazing but it’s a great deal of time involved.

YOUR fiancé’s St Johnstone footballer Richard Foster. How’s touring been on your relationship?

We’ve been together for three years so it’s something you get used to quickly!

I HEAR you love fitness classes.

Who would have more stamina in a metafit class? You or Richard?

I’d definitely be better than him!

I’ve made him do it before to show how difficult it is.

There’s running involved and you have to have the stamina for 20 minutes non-stop! seventy

Mud, metafit and miniature schnauzers ...fame ain’t all that for Amy Macdonald IS there a new look for the new album?

I’ve never been that artist to say, ‘here’s my look’. I mostly wear leather trousers and a t-shirt. I’ve always been into a dark colour theme. I’m just too lazy for the right look.

There’s too much energy that goes into the set list for the show and everything else. I don’t have stylists so I do make-up and clothes on my own.

I’ve never had anybody pressurising me to write or act a certain way or pushed into a corner.

Over ten years you get trust from the people you work with.

LET’S talk tattoos. It seems we turned our back for a couple of years and now you’ve got a sleeve.

I’ve had tattoos for two years but I probably wasn’t so visible in the UK so everyone didn’t know.

I’ve got a habit of making situations and I’ve been on so many great trips with my friends so it’s good to remember them!

YOU’VE been on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Top Gear. Any other dream shows you’d like to do?

My dream show would be James

Corden’s car pool karaoke on the Late Late Show. I don’t think I’ll get on it anytime soon.

HOW many Ferraris is the perfect amount for a girl to have and where do they sleep tight? (laughs) They’re tucked up in a garage. I’ve got two. It’s probably obscene and stupid to have them. When it’s nice weather I try and take them out. I’ve always been passionate about cars.

SURELY a multiple-car girl needs multiple homes? Do you have any other abodes in the ‘continent’?

I have just one home in Glasgow. It’s where I feel most at home and where my family and friends are.

FAMILY appear to be very important to you – thinking of taking the next step with your own brood?

It’s not something I’m interested in. I still feel like a child. I don’t think it would work for me.

The touring on buses and back and forth is just too time-consuming. I couldn’t stretch to Adele’s budget and tour on a jet!

l

AMY Macdonald plays Edinburgh Usher Hall on April 5.

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