The Skinny Scotland October 2015 by The Skinny

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October 2015 Scotland Issue 121

FILM Africa in Motion Play Poland Scotland Loves Anime Rhys Ifans

2007 – Our first Student Handbook arrives

Si re nce v cu iew 20 ltu s 05 ra an – lg d E ui lis xcl de tin us gs ive – yo inte ur rvi m ew on s, th ly

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MUSIC John Grant Low Killing Joke False Advertising Kagoule 2005 – An idea becomes a published magazine

The Anniversary Issue Celebrating a decade of defiance

ART Thomas Demand Sonica John Farrell

2015 – Live events at Pleasance Sessions, Electric Fields, Unbound + more

2008 – Our Showcase exhibition programme launches

2015 – Fest magazine is relaunched

2008 – Our first CineSkinny is published, in partnership with GFF

YEARS

2008 – theskinny.co.uk is revamped

2009 – The Skinny Dip gig series begins

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2014 – We ring in 100 issues

2014 – Our Short Film competition premieres

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2014 – Combined circulation reaches 63,000 copies per month

he s

BOOKS David Constantine COMEDY Doug Stanhope Red Raw FASHION London Fashion Week S/S16 THEATRE Tipping the Velvet

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An Evening with

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Fri 30th Oct

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Wed 28 October Greenock Beacon Arts Centre Thurs 29 October Dunfermline Carnegie Hall Fri 30 October Edinburgh Queens Hall

Fri 6 Nov Edinburgh Queens Hall Sat 7 Nov Glasgow Oran Mor

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Issue 121, October 2015 © Radge Media Ltd. Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: The Skinny, 3 Coates Place, Edinburgh, EH3 7AA The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business. Get in touch to find out more.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher. plus special guests

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AN EVENING WITH

Contents 06 Chat & Opinion: Welcome to the magazine; What Are You Having For Lunch? Shot of the Month, and more freakily accurate foresight from Crystal Baws. Gaze upon ten years of The Skinny with our montage of embarrassing staff photos.

Deviance: A trip to a Patong ping-pong show leads one writer to contemplate her own labia’s talents; and some queer performers give some advice to cishets visiting their shows.

Showcase: In the last of our 2015 degree Showcases, we take a look at GSA photography graduate John Farrell’s meditations on identity.

Fashion: It was all change at this year’s London Fashion Week – we report back.

Food & Drink: A look back at the last ten years of food trends, plus Phagomania claims it will have some pictures of cakes with us at some point…

08 Heads Up: Your daily dose cultural calendar, taking you all the way to Halloween and beyond.

FEATURES

With another bracingly honest album on the way, we check in with John Grant and find that things are looking up for the troubled singer-songwriter.

It’s our birthday! We’re not ones to labour the point, though. Here’s a potted history of a decade of The Skinny, and a sneak preview of what’s in store at our 10th birthday party.

Minnesotan indie rock veteran Alan Sparhawk considers the themes of his band Low’s new record, Ones and Sixes.

Stand-up master Doug Stanhope laughs in the face of the Twitteratti’s fake outrage.

In the second part of out Autumn Film Special, we focus on the programmes of Africa in Motion, Scotland Loves Anime and Play Poland.

Artist Thomas Demand calls from the US to tell us more about his Common Guild exhibition, The Daily Show.

Star of the new stage production of Tipping the Velvet Sally Messham gives us a peek behind the rehearsal curtain.

Undervalued author David Constantine on The Life-Writer and his republished collection of short form masterpieces.

A hungover Cai Burns of Kagoule's muses on Nottingham’s musical architecture and how his band came to be signed by the city's premier heavy metal label.

Renowned illustrator Graham Humphreys discusses a career of bold and bloody images, soon to be released in book and exhibition.

Sonica founder Cathie Boyd explains her formula for identifying sonic art, ahead of the festival’s return to the Glasgow stage. Rhys Ifans tells us how he and director Kevin Allen found the erotic side of Dylan Thomas in their upcoming Under Milk Wood adaptation.

LIFESTYLE

30 Travel: One intrepid traveler looks be-

REVIEW

Music: Manchester noise-pop trio False Advertising are this month’s New Blood; we delve into the record collection of Killing Joke’s Martin 'Youth' Glover in Under the Influence; plus all yer latest album reviews and gig highlights for the month ahead.

Clubs: October clubbing highlights, and an interview with Reflex and the brains behind Glasgow’s We Should Hang Out More.

50 DVD: Creepy sci-fi thriller Seconds

comes to UK DVD for the first time and Turbo Kid – think Mad Max on BMX bikes – gets set for cult status.

Art: Stuart Marshall and Laurence Figgis both come under our critical scrutiny, plus a look at the exhibition highlights for October.

Film: Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos is back being bonkers with The Lobster and Emily Blunt is kicking ass and taking names in Sicario.

Books: David Constantine delivers a powerful study of the grieving process with The Life-Writer and actor Jesse Eisenberg turns his hand to short story writing, plus the second of our monthly poetry columns.

Theatre: Looking forward to Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, plus reviews of Waiting for Godot and What Goes Around.

Comedy: We take a closer look at the Stand’s Red Raw new talent night.

Listings: Your what’s on guide to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee.

A Decade of Deviance: Our current Deviance editor talks to our first Deviance editor, Nine, about the section’s genesis, including its not uncontroversial naming.

yond the clichés and lazy perceptions of Bucharest to find a city full of life and contrasts.

October 2015

Contents

Editorial

Crystal Baws With Mystic Mark

his issue marks The Skinny’s 10th birthday, a major landmark in any organisation’s lifetime and one that has offered us a chance for reflection. I think it is safe to say that few of us involved at the start of the magazine could have envisioned the intervening years, the growth for the publication and the cultural scene we set out to document, and the huge changes that have taken place around us in terms of technology, social media, how culture and journalism are consumed. We’ve come a long way from delivering the first issue in a wheelbarrow, but it’s important to remember our roots. Therefore we’re having a big fuck off free party in the Mash House that you’re all invited to. Includes cider and pizza plus amazing live music, spoken words and mentalz staff DJs. You can find out more about that on p12. Before that you will find this month’s lead feature, an interview with John Grant ahead of the release of Grey Tickles, Black Pressure and a subsequent UK tour. He’s survived addiction, depression, heartbreak, homophobic abuse, and an HIV-positive diagnosis – we ask how he’s doing. After that, there are some words with the extraordinarily named Alan Sparhawk (such a beautiful balance of the utterly normal and completely bizarre) about Low’s new record, Ones and Sixes. Kagoule’s Cai Burns discusses life in the Nottingham music scene; Manchester noise-pop trio False Advertising explain their DIY ethos; and Killing Joke’s Martin ‘Youth’ Glover gives us an education in all things dub with nine of his favourite dancehall riddims. Our old Comedy editor Bernard has finally been lured back for One Last Job with the promise

ARIES It’s hard to be yourself at interviews. That’s because you turn up wearing someone else’s face, thus inviting more difficult questions than you otherwise would. Just take the face off, smile and be yourself.

of an interview with the eternally offensive US comic Doug Stanhope. Sadly for Bernard the interview took place just before #Swine11, leaving him longingly wondering what could have been, while musing upon the current climate of internet fame and offence. In Film, we continue our Autumn Film Special with a second spread on this month’s festival treats. That's Africa in Motion, Play Poland Southside Film Festival, Document and Scotland Loves Anime, since you asked. We also have some words with celebrity Welsh pant-wearer Rhys Ifans about his new adaptation of Under Milk Wood. In Art, Thomas Demand is showing in the Common Guild, so we gave him a call to discuss his Dailies, a series of photography created in the new era of Instagram and visual democracy. As Sonica returns with another programme of sonic art, founder Cathie Boyd tells us how her two decades of experience with Cryptic has offered her expertise on that most misunderstood area of fine art. And in our Showcase, we have the last of our 2015 Edinburgh Art Festival exhibitors, Glasgow graduate John Farrell. Finally, we end our tenth birthday issue with a conversation with one of the people who have been instrumental in shaping this here magazine into the unique beast it is today. Our first Deviance editor, Nine, speaks to the current section editor, Kate, all the way from Malaysia to discuss the reasons behind the section’s naming, and what it first set out to cover in the wake of our original LGBT section. Find out more about our first steps into sex, love and politics on the inside back page. [Rosamund West]

LIBRA Finding your soulmate would require you having a soul in the first place. You’re all peel, there’s no orange. SCORPIO This month you construct an alarm clock the size of a small building to help you wake up from The Matrix. It doesn’t work, it just perforates your avatar’s eardrums and renders you as a perfect simulation of a deaf person for the rest of your enslaved lifecycle.

TAURUS Arguing with your partner about who gets to drink and who gets to drive, you reach a compromise whereby you both get to drink and both have to drive, one doing the brake, the other in charge of the accelerator, with an arm each on the steering wheel.

SAGITTARIUS Yes, your better half has left you – sawing your body in half in the dead of the night, it hopped away somewhere to seek a better life with more opportunity. You’d be the first to admit, you were holding it back from achieving its goals.

GEMINI Take care not to achieve too much success, otherwise your likeness ends up immortalised in bronze and erected in a public space where pigeons take turns to land on your head and bukkake your metal face with their excrement all day, every day.

CAPRICORN If you died tomorrow there’d be a hell of a lot of ticks, lice, crabs and fleas that would really miss you and probably never get over it.

CANCER If you like lie-ins, you’ll absolutely love being dead. LEO Your new time system has some teething troubles when the slow-minded investors in your fledgling clock business are late for the meeting you set for ‘4.5 o’clock’ since according to your new, more logical system, that would obviously stand for ‘half of nine.’ They got confused, because they thought that halfnine meant 9.5 o’clock, when in fact 9.5 times two is clearly 19 o’clock, which is 7pm, which equals half of 14:00, or 2pm in the afternoon.

Shot Of The Month Mac DeMarco, ABC, 7 Sep, by Rita Azevedo

PISCES After winning at the Supreme Court you at last get an eviction order for your unborn child who has done nothing but leech off you since day one. Unless it’s prepared to go out and get a job like a real baby.

twitter.com/themysticmark facebook.com/themysticmark

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VIRGO In October you land a part in the new Adam Sandler comedy, in which a rich man is mildly inconvenienced by a random scenario pulled from a hat five minutes prior to the start of filming.

AQUARIUS Prior to moving in, your new home was unfurnished, but since then you’ve wanked so much and cleaned so little you formed a memory foam mattress made of tissue paper hardened by your DNA. Sleeping on a billion fossilised tadpoles, filled with blueprints for making another you, you can now say with confidence to visiting relatives that the furniture is so you.

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10 Years of The Skinny Here are a few highlights from a busy decade

28 Feb, GFT, 8.40pm | 1 Mar,GFT, 11am

Lost in Music Mia Hansen-Løve discusses her brilliant new film Eden, an intimate epic telling the history of the French Touch music scene through one DJ's bloodshot eyes

ia Hansen-Løve is sitting legs folded, Buddhalike, on a straight back chair in a London hotel conference room. In her hand she’s unconsciously fiddling with a card of stickers covered in Disney princesses. She sees them catch my eye. “My daughter was playing in here before,” she explains. “I should put them away, really. People will think I’m weird.” She carries on

INTERVIEW: playing. One gets the impression the 34-year-old filmmaker doesn’t worry too much about what other people think of her. You can see this strength of character in her small but exquisite body of work. Her first three features (All Is Forgiven, The Father of My Children and Goodbye First Love) reveal a filmmaker with a distinct voice all her own; one that is concerned with organic rhythm and gentle ironies rather than grand dramatics or convoluted scenarios. “I think it’s probably both my strength and my weakness,” she suggests of her low-key style. “It always brings me problems when I try to finance the script because people tell me there’s not enough drama, there’s not enough plot, not enough violence.

Jamie Dunn

The thing is, my own emotion works this way – I can’t help but trust it.” Take her latest film, Eden, which charts the rise of French house music from the early 90s to the present day. A more conventional filmmaker might want to tell the story from the point-of-view of one of the scene’s superstars, say Daft Punk. That electronic duo do make an appearance as baby-faced house party wax-spinners, but Hansen-Løve’s focus instead is Paul, a contemporary of Daft Punk’s (he’s at the party where they premiere Da Funk), who didn’t quite make it. Hansen-Løve based the character on her own brother, Sven Hansen-Løve, who was a DJ on the French Touch scene and ended up left behind by the wave. continues…

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IT SEEMS strangely fitting to be writing this introduction in a hotel room in London, as Scotland is about to be blown away into the Arctic Sea by the most infamous Bawbag since Michaelangelo sculpted David and scared the hell out of Renaissance Italy. Specifically, I’m coming to you from Shoreditch, in trendy post-industrial East London, where the pigeons have ironic moustaches and everything is a recording studio. A place where the cool cats come together to decide what’s hot, and they’ve just decided that the word ‘hot’ is out for this season. A place where trends are set, a wonderland where all the fun and exciting stuff happens before small chunks of it are sent off to the rest of us. Except that’s not really how things work. Fun, cool, interesting stuff happens everywhere, all the time, often right under your nose. Nice cups of tea or pints of craft beer are not confined to the M25, and no vermin with facial hair is going to tell me otherwise. Besides, none of us really pay much attention to V-necked poseurs with haircuts that look like the offspring of the Sydney Opera House and a ball of wool. When you want advice on what to wear, which films to watch or where to eat, you listen to your friends, workmates, and the other people you rub shoulders with day-in day-out.

‘Real people’, we’ll call them. People such as your good self. Hello. When we first came up with the idea for a food special, it became clear that we needed to somehow involve you ‘real people’. Like apes sat in front of a mirror, we are self-aware enough to know that if we had simply picked our favourite restaurants, pubs, and cafes and plonked them on the page that wouldn’t cut it. Luckily, unlike apes, we know how to set up online surveys and operate spreadsheets. So we decided to ask you for your suggestions on everything from the best pint in Edinburgh to the top place to grab a coffee outside the big two Scottish cities. After all, who better to ask for suggestions than the audience who’ll (hopefully) end up reading this? That’s you again. Hiya. We’ve waded through hundreds and hundreds of your votes to bring you a comprehensive list of some of Scotland’s top places to eat, drink, be merry, gorge in the wake of merriment, get your groceries, and impress the opposite sex. From the Highlands to the Borders, coast-to-coast, we read and counted them all, even the jokey ones. We’re looking at you, people who laughed at the idea of good vegetarian food or suggested that the Finnieston Crane was the best place to go on a date. Now your selections have been charted,

noted, whittled down and tabulated into one handy results page. We say one page, because as much as we’re grateful for your votes, eight solid pages of names and addresses would be a little dull for all of us. To that end, we’ve been out and about testing your favourite pubs at either end of the M8, in an entirely scientific and rigorous test of their merits. We also pop down to meet the team at Artisan Roast to find out just what makes their coffee so good, as well as speaking to Fence Collective supremo and noted Fife resident Johnny Lynch about the renowned and revered institution that is the Anstruther Fish Bar. (Oh, and we sent two of our readers on a blind date, to test the power of your favourite date place. Tee-hee.) So here they are, your choices in The Skinny Food & Drink Survey. Thanks to everyone who voted, consider this supplement a token of our appreciation. And remember, these results were chosen entirely by you, so if you disagree with them you only have yourself to blame. Well, yourself and your fellow readers. The ‘real people’. You certainly can’t pin it on us. However, if you really have to, I know a place where you can find some ‘trend-setters’ with naff haircuts to take the rap. [Peter Simpson]

We’ve waded through hundreds and hundreds of your votes to bring you a comprehensive list of some of Scotland’s top places to eat, drink, be merry

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Late nights at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Compiled by: Anna Docherty

As autumn settles in, our October calendar takes in a flurry of film fests (Scotland Loves Anime, Play Poland, Africa in Motion, and more), plus the return of the Pleasance Sessions, our 10th birthday celebrations (squee!), and – of course – Halloween...

Wed 7 Oct

We kick off the month with a throwback to the late 80s/90s – The Lemonheads are in town! Evan Dando et al hit Glasgow as part of their mini UK tour (following a stint on home soil in the US), marking what will be their first full band outings in the UK in some three years. Expect a set of joyful, alternative pop classics cherrypicked from their impressive back catalogue. O2 ABC, Glasgow, 7pm, £17

After the success of last year's inaugural event as part of Glasgow's Southside Fringe Festival, the cringefest that is Pure Riddy returns for round two – inviting a selection of real life storytellers, amassed by open call, to gather in a darkened room and read aloud diary extracts from the diaries they kept as actual teenagers. Prepare to hang your head in solidarity. The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £6 (£4)

The Lemonheads

Sun 11 Oct

We get in on the Pleasance Sessions action for a third year running, curating a stage's worth of treats on the Saturday evening of the weekend-long mini fest (running 9-11 Oct), with Blanck Mass – aka Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons – top of the bill, plus stellar support from Outblinker, Bdy_Prts, and RM Hubbert. See listings for the full festival programme. Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh, 8pm, £10 (£6)

Taking a second dip into the Pleasance Sessions programme in as many days (you've all recovered from our splendid gig the previous night, right?), the curated weekender rounds off with a headline set from London-based folk unit Blue Rose Code, with musical support from Withered Hand and Yusuf Azak, plus spoken word from Jenny Lindsay and Sadie Hasler. Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh, 8pm, £10 (£6)

Blanck Mass

Credit: Daniel Harris

Sat 10 Oct

Credit: Sol Nicol

Heads Up

Tue 6 Oct

Pure Riddy

Blue Rose Code

Fri 16 Oct

Sat 17 Oct

Representing the best of what Polish cinema has to offer, Play Poland opens this year's festival with director Boris Lankosz's follow up to his debut feature The Reverse, A Grain of Truth – an intricatelywoven thriller adapted from the bestselling Polish novel by Zygmunt Miłoszewski. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Lankosz. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, 5.45pm, £9 (£7.20)

We take to The Mash House to celebrate the tenth anniversary of this glorious mag you hold in your very hands, with The Skinny's 10th Birthday Party official inviting one and all to revel in a night of live music, spoken word, and DJs – including a Neu! Reekie! showcase room, a selection of DJs from various local camps, and a live band schedule we'll tempt you with nearer the time. The Mash House, Edinburgh, 9pm, free

In slightly tongue-in-cheek homage to tape format, Edinburgh's VoxBox get in on the Cassette Store Day action – with exclusive releases including Glasgow label Fuzzkill Records' gloriously titled Now That's What I Call Music 666 Volume 2, plus evening sets in The Last Word Saloon from Now Wakes The Sea, Jargo, Super Inuit, and more (6-9pm). VoxBox, Edinburgh, all-day, free

A Grain of Truth

The Skinny's 10th Birthday Party

Wed 21 Oct

Thu 22 Oct

Fri 23 Oct

Messrs Vladimir McTavish, Mark Nelson, and Keir McAllister return with a new show in their political series – this time with So... That Was October? – offering satirical musings on the state of the world following the election outcome, and in lieu of recent hopeful highs (Corbyn) and woeful lows (erm... Cameron... pig). Also at Glasgow's The Stand later in the month (28 Oct). The Stand, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £7 (£5)

Ryan Lott's ever-evolving musical project, Son Lux – now a fully-fledged threepiece, bolstered by guitarist-composer Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang – take to Summerhall to man the latest installment of the venue's Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series, likely dipping heavily into their thematically robust new LP, Bones. Support comes from Barbarossa and Olga Bell. Summerhall, Edinburgh, 8pm, £11

Heartfelt casiotone dreamers Prehistoric Friends – aka the project of Miaoux Miaoux's Liam Chapman and co. – launch their self-titled debut LP, with Julian Corrie (of Miaoux Miaoux), Nicholas Kerr (of Glasgow Chamber Orchestra), Joe Rattray and Louis Abbott (both Admiral Fallow) joining them for an augmented live performance. Support comes from Lost Map signee eagleowl. The Hug and Pint, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £6

So... That Was October?

Son Lux

Credit: Ross Fraser McLean

Thu 15 Oct

Cassette Store Day

Prehistoric Friends

Fri 30 Oct

We take a second dip into Summerhall's Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series this month (see also Son Lux, 22 Oct), as Japan’s near-legendary psychedelic rock warriors Acid Mothers Temple hit town, with Kawabata Makoto's guitar workouts tempered by some impressivelyarranged throat singing. The question is, though, will Makoto actually set his guitar on fire? Summerhall, Edinburgh, 8pm, £12

Glasgow gig-in-a-club night Milk marks its final outing in its birth home of Flat 0/1, bidding au revoir with the annual Milk Halloween Party – including a headline set and bespoke light show from Scottish electromeets-techno nutters Roman Nose, plus Carnivores on support, LaFontaines DJs, facepainting, cocktails served in pumpkins, apple dooking in cider, and more teased at 'surprises'. That do you? Flat 0/1, Glasgow, 9pm, £4

Exploring the boundaries of where music, art, performance, and digital technology meet, the third Sonica gets under way (running 29 Oct-8 Nov) – with some of the first day's highlights being an opening electro-acoustic performance by Speak Percussion and Robin Fox at Tramway, plus the unveiling of a special Sonica commission from Indonesian artist Jompet Kuswidananto at Govanhill Baths. Various venues, Glasgow, see sonic-a.co.uk

Getting in the Halloween spirit a day early, the folks behind the last two years' Day of the Dead Glesga events return for another carnival-styled night based upon the annual Mexican festival – featuring music from Scottish foursome Rapido Mariachi, plus resident Balkanarama DJ Ewan Evans, dance performances, a torchlight procession, skull facepainng, and the obligatory river of tequila. The Rum Shack, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £8

Chat

Acid Mothers Temple

Roman Nose

Sonica

Credit: Severin Smith

Thu 29 Oct

Credit: Beth Chalmers

Wed 28 Oct

Credit: Crimson Glow

Tue 27 Oct

Rapido Mariachi

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Thu 8 Oct

Fri 9 Oct

The volunteer-run Southside Film gears up for its biggie event of the year – the annual Southside Film Festival (running 8-11 Oct) – kicking off with an opening reception at The Glad Cafe, where Glasgow City Heritage Trust's Erin Walter will discuss Southside Glasgow cinemas, followed by a screening of local film submissions depicting the area before the last Southside cinema closed in 2001. The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 7pm, free

Japanese animation showcase par excellence – erm, that'd be Scotland Loves Anime – returns for its sixth year, spider-webbing across Glasgow (9-11 Oct), Edinburgh (12-19 Oct), and, for the first time, Aberdeen (24 & 25 Oct), with highlights including Annecy Jury Prize-winner Miss Hokusai, plus Empire Corpses just a week after it opens in Japan. Various venues, Scotland, see lovesanimation.com Miss Hokusai

Mon 12 Oct

Tue 13 Oct

Wed 14 Oct

Having taught us how to make traditional Chinese dumplings last month (as part of the 'Cooking Pot' project), this month the CCA turns its attention to the humble cuppa for Something Brewing – teaming up with tea experts Tchai Ovna for an experimental blending and tasting session, with bakery247 on hand to find the perfect tea blend to partner a quintessential 'Glasgow Loaf'. CCA, Glasgow, 11.30am, free

The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival returns for its landmark 10th anniversary year (running 10-31 Oct), with an early highlight of this year's sprawling programme being the Scottish premiere of Dancing With Maria – a documentary on 90-year-old Argentinian dancer Maria Fux, who has spent her life training dancers of all abilities. The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 8pm, £5 (£3)

Making the journey up from London for a guest set, Spencer – co-founder of Glasgow’s well-kent Numbers record label/ clubbing crew, with partner in crime Jackmaster – joins Sneaky Pete's resident party night, Witness, for a midweek intervention. Expect fine selections of techno and electronic... and, y'know, a brutal Thursday hangover as penance. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, 11pm, £5 Jackmaster & Spencer

Dancing With Maria

Mon 19 Oct

Tue 20 Oct

The 13th edition of Document International Human Rights Film Festival (running 16-18 Oct) draws to a close with the Scottish premiere of Emmy Award-winning director Alexander Nanau’s immersive documentary, Toto and His Sisters – shot over 15 months and allowing the viewer an eyeopening and frequently moving entree into the lives of three children living in a Bucharest slum. CCA, Glasgow, 8pm, £4 (£3)

Riding the wave of their reunion years, Oxford shoegaze veterans Ride play a set of their dreamy pop crowd-pleasing classics in the not-so-intimate surrounds of Edinburgh's Corn Exchange, with frontman Mark Gardener's intricate guitar textures and galvanizing vocals pivoting around Laurence Colbert’s labyrinthine drumming. Go marvel. Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, 7pm, £25

A Blank Canvas and Jabuti Theatre present their new 'dance-mindscape' piece – In Her Shadows – in which two female performers explore a woman’s relationship with her depression, told via aerial and physical theatre, supported by live projections and an original score. Part of SMHAFF. Also at Edinburgh's Traverse (8 Oct) and Dundee's Dundee Rep (23 Oct). Platform, Glasgow, 7pm, £8 (£4.50/£3.50)

Toto and His Sisters

Ride

Credit: David P Scott

Sun 18 Oct

In Her Shadows

Sun 25 Oct

Mon 26 Oct

Africa in Motion celebrates its 10th anniversary year, following Friday's opening screening/party with a double dose of screenings at the Filmhouse – taking in Samba Gadjigo's documentary of African filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, Sembene (plus director Q&A), followed by a restored version of Sembene's 1966 film Black Girl. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, various times and prices

Platform makes its annual contribution to the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, with the venue's main event – Festival Day – finding them hosting a programme of film, theatre, music and visual art, with guests including instrumental guitar virtuoso RM Hubbert, composer Michael John McCarthy, Warwick's Santé Theatre, plus scran care of Sunday Social cafe. Platform, Glasgow, noon6pm, free (but ticketed)

Baltimore dream pop girl/boy duo Beach House bring the floaty melodies our way, built on Alex Scally’s recognisable circular guitar arpeggios and the angelic 'ooh-aah' vocals of the dusky-voiced Victoria Legrand, out touring their fifth LP, Depression Cherry – a nostalgic and minimalist collection of songs meditating on themes of transience and loss. O2 ABC, Glasgow, 7pm, £18

Black Girl

RM Hubbert

Credit: Euan Robertson

Sat 24 Oct

Sat 31 Oct

Sun 1 Nov

Mon 2 Nov

With a spooky smattering of Halloween-themed club nights to pick from, may we direct you towards the alternative offering of comedian Ross Hepburn's Beetlejuice'd – a solo comedy set centred around his favourite classic film (erm, Beetlejuice), followed by a screening of the film itself, and all for gratis. Dressing up in character encouraged. The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, free

Glasgow Film Festival pops up for a one-off screening of Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, as part of BFI Love Season, pitching up in the atmospheric surrounds of Paisley Abbey with specially-commissioned site specific responses from experimental musos Tut Vu Vu, artist Kathryn Elkin, and aerial performers Spinal Chord. Prepare for the magical. Paisley Abbey, Glasgow, 6.30pm, £15 (£12)

Departed Edinburgh venue The Soundhouse continues its fundraising gig residency at the Trav – raising pennies for The Soundhouse Organisation, a charity dedicated to founding a new music venue in Edinburgh offering a fair deal to musicians – this edition hosting a one-off set from classical and world music-straddling ensemble, Kosmos. Go support the cause. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 8pm, £10

Ross Hepburn

October 2015

Beach House

Blindtext

Wings of Desire

Chat

Credit: Ryan McGoverne

Something Brewing

Credit: Beth Chalmers

The Gorbals Story

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MUSIC

THE SKINNY

Credit: Gem Harris

FE AT U RE

Coming In From The Cold He’s survived addiction, depression, heartbreak, homophobic abuse, and an HIV-positive diagnosis. With a typically candid third album on the cards, are things finally looking up for John Grant? Interview: John Nugent

ow is John Grant? “Well, you know, I’m not sure how I am.” It is perhaps a fair response to the standard how-are-you conversation opener. Grant’s thoroughly eventful life – one of addiction, depression, and disease – is a matter of record. But when The Skinny asks the singer how he is, there’s something more immediate on his mind – or rather, his stomach. “I’ve just had some horse. For lunch.” It is apparently a delicacy in Iceland, his home of four years, from where he speaks. “Horse. They just put it in front of me. It tasted fine, but I didn’t feel very comfortable.” Then, he deadpans: “Oh God, you’re not friends with Morrissey, are you?” How is John Grant? On this particular day, he’s in fine fettle: verbose, thoughtful, witty, the ideal interviewee. The image of eating horse chimes well with his bear-like appearance: tall, stockily built, and carrying a lustrous beard, it’s easy to imagine him tearing into a slab of red meat, sporting a fetching bit of knitwear, a cross between a north Atlantic trawlerman and a Viking. Approaching 50, sober for over a decade, safely ensconced in Iceland, he seems to be acquiring a somewhat calmer existence. A new solo album, his third, is “a very positive record,” Grant insists, though it might occasionally suggest otherwise. The title, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, are the rough English translations for ‘midlife crisis’ and ‘nightmare’ in Icelandic and Turkish, respectively. He seems well. Which, for someone with such an unusually turbulent life, is significant. It might almost seem trite to recapitulate his past troubles, had he not himself offered them up so candidly through his music. They’re there in the brutally autobiographical 2010 song Jesus Hates Faggots, a devastating account of his homophobic father; and in 2013’s Ernest Borgnine, in which he sings of finally kicking his alcohol and drug addictions, only to learn he is HIV-positive. It’s there throughout his first two albums, which both had a defining theme of heartbreak, two highly cathartic records about coping with the exit of a man he thought was The One. Today, it’s a heartbreak that largely no longer lingers, emotionally or musically. “I would say that that’s pretty much gone,” he admits. “There are one or two songs left over from that period. There’s one on this record called Guess How I Know, which I tried to do for the last one. It’s always going to be a part of me, but I don’t feel any of the pain any more. And that’s nice.” He is now in a long-term relationship with an Icelandic man – “the horse peddler” – and seems very happy about it. “And that affects you. He’s a delightful, wonderful human being, and that definitely puts you in a specific place. That brightens things up. I personally feel like it’s a very, very upbeat album. That’s a direct result of where I am in my life.” Which is not to say that Grey Tickles, Black

October 2015

Pressures is without its darker moments or provocative edges. Grant’s shrewd lyricism immediately comes to the fore in track two, the title song, which offers this startling chorus: “There are children who have cancer, so all bets are off… I can’t compete with that.” After baring his soul for two albums, is it a song about gaining perspective? “Every album that I do is about letting go and getting perspective. It’s about the need to stop trying to control the things that you can’t control and let go of them, and get perspective. Because somebody like me tends to think along the lines of: my problems don’t matter and I don’t matter. That’s not true.” He often speaks this way: the vocabulary of a recovering addict, of a man who has been forced to profoundly confront himself and somehow make peace with the guy in the mirror. “The song is saying: yes, you are important, and your problems are important, and you need to get your shit together. But there’s also a lot of pain out there, and it’s a very difficult life for other people – like children dealing with cancer – going through horrible, impossible, unbelievable realities, and through it all, never whinging. I think it’s ultimately a very positive song.” Love is a constant motif. The album opens and closes with 1 Corinthians 13, the famous Bible passage so beloved of wedding planners. Is this an earnest inclusion, or is it more cynical? Does he truly now believe that love is patient, love is kind, never envies, and so on? “I would say that it is earnest and also cynical and ironic,” he explains – inadvertently summarising his entire output in microcosm. “At the end of the album, it’s much more sincere” – the Outro is read by a child – “because the child is much more capable of loving unconditionally. It hasn’t been ruined by the world yet.” The Intro is read, incongruously, by a gruff Mancunian. “I have to say,” he continues, with characteristic candour, “there’s been a lot of negative stuff attached to the word ‘love’ in my personal experience. My album is sort of like an anthropological observation, with all these different emotions: rage, anger, frustration, sexual obsession, lust, jealousy, tenderness, the rush of being in love with somebody. It’s all bookended by this verse which was constantly quoted at me as I was growing up. It is ridiculous, but also quite beautiful. I thought it was an interesting contrast.” Love features prominently in Disappointing, the LP’s first single, which despite its high-mindedness is, resolutely, a love song. Grant reels off a list of high culture touchpoints in its lyric – “Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Dostoevsky” – which are all “disappointing... compared to you.” It embraces a typically dissimilar mesh of influences: Russian authors and composers in the lyrics, a trad love song theme, a disco-pop musical template. Grant even finds room for “shoobyshooby-do-wah-wah” backing vocalists. “It was pro-

bably just an excuse to get backing singers in my show with me, just so I could be around them. They make you look really really good. They’re fucking amazing.” By any standard, Grant’s influences are multifarious. But broadly, you could say he follows a fairly unique dichotomy: between the slower, 1970s-influenced guitar-driven ballads that characterised his debut solo LP Queen of Denmark, and the poppier, 1980s-influenced electro-disco of follow-up Pale Green Ghosts. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure feels like a wondrous blend of them both. As we speak, Grant is in the thick of a “very disciplined” rehearsal process, ahead of a lengthy international tour. He gets nervous about starting the process again – “I was writing such complicated chord structures in my songs that I always forget what I wrote, and then somebody else has to teach it to me” – but seems generally excited at the prospect of being on stage again.

“When people are weird and messed up, I’m just fine with that” John Grant

A John Grant live show has become an almost religious experience. He brings an unlikely presence on stage; more beard than man. But then that tremulous baritone explodes from nowhere, and suddenly all arms are aloft. Some songs, like GMF (with its brilliant chorus slam-dunk, “I am the greatest motherfucker you are ever gonna meet”) have become anthemic. In a short time, Grant has inspired incredible devotion. He’s still not sure what to make of it all. “It’s an incredible thing,” he acknowledges. “It’s sort of a mindfuck. The fact that I’m sober now – and I hope this doesn’t sound preachy – helps me keep my feet on the ground. If I were high, I think that I might allow myself to disappear into that realm...” He is careful not to disparage his fanatical audience, “because of course they’re expressing something real. But it’s not real life, obviously. And you can’t really carry that around with you in everyday life. It’s a little bit scary. I can see how people get to thinking that their shit doesn’t stink.” Back in the 1990s, of course, he struggled to find audiences at all; as lead singer of The Czars, he achieved critical acclaim but commercial failure. Last year, he played the Royal Festival Hall,

MUSIC

with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra on backup duties; next year, he has dates at Manchester’s Albert Hall and the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. Is the man who sang of himself as “the underdog” in GMF now part of the musical establishment? “I think I’ll always feel like an outsider,” he counters. “Because that’s the way I feel inside my head. I’m probably too negative to ever accidentally trip into the mainstream.” There’s surely nothing more mainstream than the Brit Awards, though, for which Grant was nominated last year, in the International Male Solo Artist category, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, and Eminem. These were, Grant admits, strange bedfellows. “I felt very nervous and out of place,” he says of the ceremony, which took place at London’s gargantuan O2 Arena. “But I found that I was able to just enjoy myself. I had a great time. I didn’t feel like I belonged. But I was very humbled and flattered to be nominated. I thought it was super cool. I met Boy George, which was a great thing.” Nudging towards the mainstream has its perks. He’s now casually fraternising with his idols – Elton John and Sinéad O’Connor are on first name terms – and he managed to recruit another for his new album: Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn provides guest vocals on Disappointing, after the two met at a party. “She’s a big one for me. A friend of mine from high school said to me the other day: “You’re living a really weird version of all of the dreams you had when we went to high school together.” And it’s true! I’ve met so many of my heroes.” What’s really interesting to him, though, is that none have disappointed; the old maxim about never meeting your idols has proven false. He remains pragmatic about it. “I’ve always gone into it knowing that everybody’s flawed. It’s a bit of a headfuck. When people are weird and messed up, I’m just fine with that. I don’t see it as weird and messed up. I see it as quite normal from my perspective.” How is John Grant, then? He is in a happy, stable relationship. He is mingling with his childhood idols. He is critically and commercially acclaimed. He is also, irrevocably, by his own admission, weird and messed up. But he can’t deny that he feels more confident and relaxed, both as a musician and person, since recording Queen of Denmark half a decade ago. “Definitely,” he agrees. “It helps to have three solo albums under your belt. But I do feel more confident, for sure. I also feel very humble. I’m not in danger of thinking that I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’m just very pleased I get to do this. I feel like, very slowly, I’m going in the right direction.” Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is released on 9 Oct via Bella Union, John Grant plays Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on 26 Jan johngrantmusic.com

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A Decade of Defiance Over 10 years, through a process of sublimation, The Skinny has developed into the cultural artisan before you. To celebrate this first fruitful decade – a party. There will be tunes and words, booze and pizza

hese days The Skinny is a kind of constant background detail in places like Glasgow and Edinburgh, if we do say so ourselves. Piled in the corner of your favourite coffee shops, cafes and bars, we’re always there. There to be lazily flicked through while you’re waiting on your friends or your coffee, maybe lingering on a big interview here and there or taking a glance at this month’s Crystal Baws. Or to flip straight to the events listings to help plan this month’s adventures, work out which nights you’ll need free and which mornings you’ll need excuses for. Even folk who aren’t readers know us when the name comes up: they’ve seen us sitting there, in the corner, minding our own. When something becomes so fully integrated into a scene it feels not only like it’s always been there but like it kind of had to be, like its coming into existence was essentially inevitable. Roll back ten years and things didn’t seem nearly so certain. In the beginning, The Skinny didn’t even exist in name. Like minds were called together in an Edinburgh bar with an eye to setting up a local cultural magazine, distributed for free in a model as yet untested in Scottish cities. Social media hadn’t quite swollen into the all-reaching leviathan that it is today and word spread as much through leaflets left in cafes and bars about town. When the day of the first big meet-up came around, the place was packed with an appropriately random crowd, a kind of cultural clusterfuck of people with a passion for the local art scene. The idea was to publish a paper that tapped into the artistic undercurrent of Scotland’s most vibrant cities and beyond, producing a chronicle that really reflected it, that could be read for free. A bar, a bunch of people and an idea. In cities as overflowing with creative energy as Glasgow and Edinburgh, projects just like that are born and die every other minute. Groups come together over their shared passion and do their best to will it into existence through sheer force of enthusiasm but most never get to become much more than a glimmer in their creator’s eye. Our baby was baptised The Skinny and, through the hard graft of legion individuals, it has come to thrive. Ten years later the result is what you see before you: a cultural magazine that dispatches 63,000 copies every month to six major cities on

both sides of the border, and a freshly relaunched website hosting hundreds of articles each month. Grown from the eclectic throng of volunteers that sparked it into existence in 2005 to a pool of some 350 contributors, The Skinny now regularly sits down to chat with the biggest names in the business while keeping its finger firmly on the pulse of the local scene. We nerd out hard when the big guns come to sell out concert halls and even harder when we think we might’ve found the next one in a local bar. As a prelude to our 10th Anniversary party, come witness a few regulars from our music pages in the flesh at Edinburgh’s Pleasance on 10 Oct as SAY Award winner RM Hubbert, burgeoning krautrock disciples Outblinker, alternative pop duo Bdy_Prts and formidable Fuck Buttons alum Blanck Mass take to the theatre. The magazine might be eight years away from its first pint but that’s not to say we can’t all knock a few back in The Mash House on 16 Oct in its honour, and with the truly mouth-watering line-up for the big night, it’s hard to see how anyone could possibly resist. Music. Over the last decade we’ve looked to leave no dark corner, no crack or crevice of the artistic landscape unexplored, but music has always been right at the heart of what The Skinny does so it kind of goes without saying that any party of ours has got to come complete with tunes of the highest order. On the ground floor, lauded kings of the guerrilla gig Detour will be filling the stage with something special. In the past they’ve managed to sell out a show in under an hour without letting slip a single word of who will actually be performing and pulled off knock-out performances in the most impractical of locations, so it’s safe to say that whatever and whoever they come up with will most definitely be worth checking out. Up above, and having just celebrated their own 9th birthday, Substance will be here to blow some minds and chew some gum. They’ve established themselves as one of the most unerringly excellent club experiences to be had in Scotland’s capital and now stand as a vital part of the city’s nightlife. For our birthday they’ve pulled together an unmissable line-up including all their resident

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Scotland Issue 96 September 2013

“We're not in the business of writing chirpy pop songs”

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“The magazine might be eight years away from its first pint but that’s not to say we can’t all knock a few back in its honour” Sandwiched between these two floors of musical genius will be the mesmerising and bizarre talents of our staff DJs. Our team have eclectic tastes, which will be demonstrated on the night with sets ranging from pop princesses to hip hop to funk to techno. Prepare to be confused. Our spoken word stage offers no less mercurial talents. Award-winning literary polymath and co-founder of Neu! Reekie!, Michael Pederson has assembled a veritable Justice League of poets to take the stage and ring in the big 1-0 in a flurry of sharp Scottish verbiage. If all four of the night’s featured poets brought with them all the awards

and accolades they’ve accrued, there genuinely wouldn’t be space for the performers themselves. Or the audience. Or the booze. Just a big ol’ room full of awards. Up first is Alan Bissett, once named the 46th Hottest Man in Scotland by the Daily Record. He’s also won and been nominated for a slew of more relevant titles in the last few years (Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Writer of the Year, Creative Scotland’s Writer of the Year) but this one is just much funnier. Giving the host a run for his money in the man-of-many-talents field, Bissett is a novelist, playwright, performer and just generally good fella to have up on a stage at a party. Jenni Fagan is an award-winning poet and author of a best-selling novel – The Panopticon – which is soon to be adapted for the big screen by Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films. However, she has never been featured on the Daily Record’s Hottest Man list and so we imagine these achievements are somewhat hollow for her. Edinburgh-born Iona Lee became a spoken word poet “as a means of getting into pubs underage” and has evidently never looked back, her current Wordpress profile stating “I perform poetry in and around Edinburgh and elsewhere and drink a lot of cider.” Writing while studying at Leith School of Art, her work charts the tumultuous experiences of life in limbo between adolescence and adulthood. But, again, never made the Record’s Hot Man list. Not once. While also promised a “bobby dazzler” of a surprise guest, given that anyone else would just be the icing on a delicious and incredibly wordy cake, we can all just revel in the mystery of it. Like Schrödinger’s cat, except the cat is not a cat, it’s a poet. Maybe. Whether your speed is spoken poetry, a surprise selection of live music or a thundering techno club, come 16 October The Mash House is the place to be. And also, there will be pizza. The Skinny’s tenth anniversary celebrations continue with Blanck Mass, RM Hubbert, Bdy_Prts and Outblinker at The Pleasance Sessions, Edinburgh on 10 Oct The Skinny 10th Birthday Party takes place at Edinburgh Mash House, 9pm-3am, 16 Oct, free #theskinny10 | theskinny.co.uk

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Music Factory Floor Human Is Not Alone Oneohtrix Point Never Jason Newsted 65daysofstatic RM Hubbert Ministry Jesu

DJs (Gavin Richardson, Velocity Funk and Dommm) plus special guests Hi & Saberhägen, and more as yet to be announced. Lost Map DJs (Pictish Trail vs Bart Owl) will also be playing for us and provide this bizarre manifesto which hints at what they have planned for the night. “START A BARTY PARTY,” they proclaim. “With these sacred words a special alliance was formed between myself, Pictish Trail, and Bartholomew Owl from eagleowl. When we DJ together, magic happens. And usually damage happens. Magic damage. Our DJ career highlights so far include pretending to be Tom Cruise, and single-handedly ruining a wedding by playing Ol’ Dirty Bastard at disgusting volumes. We can’t wait to entertain at The Skinny birthday party.”

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October 2015

Low and Order It’s been a mere two years since we last heard from Low, but their swift return presents a more intense sound and a cerebral, mysterious theme. Alan Sparhawk examines the figures that make up Ones and Sixes

“I

t started out as a fascination with numbers,” says Alan Sparhawk, matter-of-factly. “What is random and what is not – how do you set reality into motion to where it does what you want, even though it’s moving at a random trajectory? How do you steer chaos? Where’s the line between organised numbers and randomness? That kind of thing.” You join us in telephone conversation with the Minnesotan indie rock veteran, considering the themes of his band Low’s new record Ones and Sixes. As with their previous ten albums, it’s a solemn, spiritually captivating piece, held together by the eerily symbiotic harmonies of Sparhawk and bandmate Mimi Parker, friends since childhood and married before the band’s formation in 1993. They’ve dealt with the vagaries of existence throughout their 22-year career, whether subtle and personal (In Metal, from 2001’s Things We Lost In The Fire, is a beautiful meditation on first experiences of parenthood) or more overtly political (2007’s Drums and Guns was partly written as a wounded and angry response to war in Iraq) – but this time it feels like the focus is wider. Bigger. Less straightforward. He offers another summary: “The idea of trying to grapple with finite definitions of something that’s infinite or constantly changing.” If that seems like an impossibly huge concept, then consider that Low are canny enough to ask these questions by turning the camera back on themselves. What Part of Me sounds pretty enough as a piece of gossamer-light sadpop, but unpick the seams and you’ll realise that its hummable refrain (‘What part of me don’t you know? / What part of me don’t you own?’) serves several purposes: it’s directed at Sparhawk and Parker’s married life, because how much more mystery can remain after a near quarter century of both living and working together? Equally, it muses on the public nature of the musician, expected to share their private life via their public persona as much as through their art. As listeners, fans, even journalists – what more can we possibly want them to give? Explaining the significance of that title would be a good start. “Trying to quantise, or even put a discernible pattern on something that’s random,” he continues. “Or the flipside of that being something that’s actually very concrete… like the number pi, you know? It’s an infinite number; we’re not able to define it. Even though it’s one of the most defined and real portions in existence.” And what of one and six? “We looked around a little bit. Something that came up was the way they measure the success of a website. One to six was the scale of, ‘Did the person just look at the website?’, right up to, ‘Did they buy what was being sold?’ It became the difference between looking and buying: one and six. “And years ago, scientists studying homosexuality were using one to six as a scale to test a person’s sexual preferences. That was an interesting reference, from yet another time when man was trying to put a number on something that was a lot more complex than we realised.” Christian numerology also reveals some interesting details, we suggest. According to that system, the number one relates to creation, enlightenment or purity of purpose, while six represents a nurturing mother figure. “There’s definitely something cosmic going

October 2015

on with those numbers,” he replies. “Even the number of the beast – for years it was thought of as 666. I read an article recently where someone had redone the math and realised it was 616. I had not heard the mother thing with six, that’s interesting.” Especially given the album’s themes of artistic and domestic identities becoming entwined… “Yep. There’s a lot of that. Trying to find a common thread in confusion.” Most of the common threads on Ones and Sixes seem to come from the band’s innate sense of coherence: despite dipping their toes into a plethora of sounds and styles across their career, Low have surely and consistently managed to sound like no-one else but themselves. Does that make it easier for the band to shift gears? “[Recent albums] C’mon and especially The Invisible Way were not as aggressive, not as experimental. It ebbs and flows. We go in a certain direction for a while and then shift after a few records, once we feel like we’ve gotten somewhere with it. But my favourite times are when we shift into something that’s unfamiliar. We always have fun surprising ourselves.” Do you ever find yourselves wondering how these new directions will go down with your audience? “I dunno. Yeah. I mean, it’s always in the back of your mind. If I was into this band, what would be interesting? When I like a record, there’s a special connection there. The idea of being able to make something that someone else has the same connection with… I have to admit, it’s immensely attractive to me. “Nobody likes to admit that they care what their fans think – in a certain way it can get out of hand; it can be detrimental to your creativity to steer you in a way that’s unnatural… but I dunno. I’m trying to make good music, and the reason is that I want other people to hear it and think it’s cool.” Our conversation meanders around several topics, from Sparhawk’s listening habits (he cites Burning Witch and Kanye West as recent favourites) to the vitality of hip-hop (“Kendrick Lamarr! That guy’s giving everything. He’s laying his ass out there, and people aren’t doing that standing behind guitars these days, that’s for damn sure”). Eventually, we land on the subject of ageing and shifting perspectives, and his tone becomes noticeably grave: “I think the older I get, the more concerned and the more irrationally frustrated I get with things in the world. Your awareness of misery and injustice only grows. You have to find new ways to detach. Hopefully in a positive way, whether just being hopeful, or realising, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do other than treat everyone that I meet today with respect.’ It definitely bears on you more; I wish it didn’t. I’m waiting for that serenity that comes with experience, but it’s just not happened.” Serenity is a relative term, of course, and in that regard Sparhawk has certainly walked across more than his fair share of rocky ground. Having offered his experiences of mental illness as an explanation for cancelling a tour in 2005, he has openly discussed his depression and subsequent substance issues in the past (the demon weed having conflicted with both his Mormon faith and his sense of stability). The severity of the situation was made abundantly clear at 2008’s

Credit: Zoran Orlic

Interview: Will Fitzpatrick

End of the Road festival, when the visibly distressed singer closed Low’s set by announcing, “Everybody who ever loved me told me they hated me today,” before launching his guitar into an understandably shocked crowd. Seven years on, things seem somewhat different.

“I’m waiting for that serenity that comes with experience” Alan Sparhawk

“I guess from a certain perspective I’m doing better. You get more of a grip on things with a little help. It took me a long time to get that sick, and I imagine it’s probably gonna be a lifetime living with some of the residuals of that. I’m definitely not as in danger as I was maybe for a couple of years. You get frantic, you get desperate and irrational, and you make stupid decisions based on desperation and hopelessness. “I mean, I feel relatively sound but you don’t have to extend your arm too far to touch that familiar cape that once encompassed you. That’s one thing about mental breakdowns; if you’re ever crazy enough that you’re hallucinating, you think something’s going on that it turns out isn’t going on… nothing after that stands up. Nothing. Once that carpet is pulled out from under you,

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you’re gonna spend the rest of your life constantly questioning that. But it’s survivable.” Does it get claustrophobic balancing home, work and art when all three are so indelibly linked by the same people? “I suppose it does. All those things are coexisting on top of each other all the time. Something that’s tense or a struggle in the band, you have to be careful not to let that affect your relationship too much. That can be… yeah, claustrophobic. There’s times when it’s almost too close. “I know it’s a lot more work being in a band with someone you’re married to, but if you can pull it off, it’s pretty great. Being in a band’s difficult; you’re close to each other, you’re forced into these intense, extreme situations together… if just the slightest thing goes wrong it can kind of blow exponentially all over the place. So yeah, it’s treacherous. But I’m glad. When we were young, we mused and dreamed and prayed that we’d be able to have something we could do together in life, so we’re real lucky.” We’re approaching the end of our chat with Alan Sparhawk – a musician, performer and family man, battling to make sense of the overlapping tensions between order and chaos. Between work and home. Between stability and endurance. Before we say goodbye, he offers The Skinny some general life advice. “Be healthy,” he says. “I hope you’ve got your shit together.” We don’t request a definition. Low play Glasgow Art School (with Mike Noga) on 8 Oct chairkickers.com

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“Comedians don’t have to apologise” Just before #Swine11 rocked the Twittersphere, we speak to comedy’s master of the profane Doug Stanhope

omedy is under pressure these days, struggling to keep abreast of changes in social dynamics, as well as the increasingly surreal nature of the world around us. For example, The Skinny recently spoke to Doug Stanhope, America’s spokesman for the profane and an angry voice against the conservative establishment. Between that interview and the publication of this piece, someone accused David Cameron of fucking a pig. How do you keep up with that? Back in that lost age of innocence of midSeptember, when none of us had ever really thought about what noises David Cameron might make when spunking into offal, Stanhope is sitting out on his manager’s driveaway, bracing himself for another tour of the UK which kicks off in Glasgow on 2 October. He’s done a lot of press recently and he admits that his head’s still not quite in the interview game yet. “I’m thinking of putting an FAQ on my website for shit like ‘where do you get your ideas from?’, or ‘why did you decide to be a comedian?’ I’m sick of answering that shit. And people always ask me like, ‘how far is too far? Where do you draw the line on offensive material?’ I’m supposed to be the fucking expert on that.” When we last spoke in 2011, he finished by declaring that “There’s nothing really edgy in comedy any more. There’s no more bridges to cross.” Comedy, he said back then, would have to wait for another 9/11. Little did anyone know that less than a week later, we’d be speculating about whether there was photographic evidence of the British Prime Minister [allegedly] having his dick in a pig’s mouth, an event which was quickly dubbed #swine11 on Twitter.

Interview: Bernard O’Leary

this huge conversation about it. It was comics versus comics, and it kind of bifurcated the comedian base.” But Daniel Tosh is an asshole though. Stanhope laughs. “I love him!” Does Stanhope think he could survive a major online backlash if Twitter rose up against him? He laughs again. “I talk about that onstage. I often wonder what I would have to do to lose my fan base. Cause they’re a unique group. Trying to offend them is hard. I think if I quit drinking, they might get upset. I’m a role model to some. They draw inspiration from my Perfect Attendence drinking record. “But it doesn’t matter. I think it was Amy Schumer who said recently that comics have got to stop apologising for everything. And the thing is, comedians don’t have to apologise. We never have to apologise. The only ones who ever end up apologising are people who have a network deal and worry it might get pulled from them. If you just do stand-up you never have to apologise.” Stanhope has been on TV, famous from The Man Show in the States, and best known here as a contributor to Charlie Brooker’s Wipe stable of programmes. Brooker, of course, once wrote a TV drama about what it might be like if the Prime Minister fucked a pig, and even he wasn’t prepared for the ‘Bae of Pigs’ incident. But his attention recently has been on literature. “I’m sorry I can’t string a sentence together

today,” he says, “I feel like I just got out of prison, writing this book. So I haven’t been doing stand-up or watching news.” What was the process of writing like? “Evacuating. I feel like I took a huge dump. And I still don’t remember half the shit that happened.” The upcoming book is going to be autobiographical, centered around Stanhope’s mother committing suicide after a long illness. The two were very close, his mother having appeared regularly on The Man Show to review porn. Stanhope is a passionate advocate for assisted dying, another news story that’s been through the Twitter cycle and out again in the past few weeks. “It starts with my mother’s suicide, and goes back and looks at how she affected my sense of humour and style of comedy,” he says. “I haven’t figured out how to pitch a book about life with your mother without making it sound fucking boring. A lot of the time it just seems boring, and I realise that that’s because I lived it. It’s not surprising or odd to me. You go through vacillating periods of being like ‘No one else is going to read this shit,’ and then sometimes you think, ‘Well, nobody else has had a life like this.’” Did he learn anything during the writing of the book? “I learned that stand-up comedy is way easier than writing a fucking book.” We talk a bit about other Twitter-driven

changes in comedy, like the rise of unscrupulous content thieves, from semi-anonymous accounts with the word LAD in their handle to questionable individuals such as The Fat Jew. This represents an existential crisis for most modern comics, although Stanhope seems to be bemused by it all. “There was one act who wrote something complaining that The Fat Jew stole one of his jokes, and I was reading this and I was like, ‘Wait a second, you stole your set-up from one of my bits!’ “I don’t really give a shit. It actually works in my favour. I’m doing longer and longer stuff these days, like 20-minute bits, so if you want to steal my jokes, you have to steal a lot.” Maybe the wily comedy veteran has instinctively figured out where stand-ups will fit in the post-Twitter world. When you throw something like a pig-fucking Prime Minister into that ecosystem, it’s like feeding time at the piranha tank, with every last morsel of comedy stripped from the bone in under 30 minutes. By the time a comedian gets to the next gig, the audience have moved on. And even if you find a great gag, other people will just steal it. Maybe the real role of the 21st century standup is as a storyteller, offering deeper, richer insight into the world around us. Or maybe not. We’ll check back in with Stanhope in 2019, and see how it all worked out.

“I often wonder what I would have to do to lose my fan base” Doug Stanhope

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Credit: Kevin Wilson Public Relations

Social media – especially Twitter – is maybe the driving force behind what’s changing comedy. For one thing, it’s now policed a lot more heavily than it was a few years ago, with events such as 2013’s #CancelColbert campaign showing that no one is immune from criticism, while comics such as Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld raised questions about outrage culture and its effect on comedy. “Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of fake outrage these days,” Stanhope says. “There’s definitely a huge backlash to everything on Twitter. The thing is, the people who get upset are not people who go to comedy clubs, generally. It’s one blogger somewhere and then some shitheads like fucking Gawker or something will make a big story out of it, and it will develop into an argument, when there’s actually no offended group. It’s all fake. “They want to get someone in trouble, they want to get someone to apologise. Over here it’s been the rape joke thing. Like Daniel Tosh made some aside about rape and it blew up into

COMEDY

THE SKINNY

October 2015

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Review

South of the River Glasgow’s Southside Film Festival returns for a fifth edition, and, as ever, the organisers have made inventive use of a variety of venues south of the Clyde Words: Jamie Dunn

he Southside Film Festival, now in its fifth year, was a pop-up long before pop-ups were all the rage. Its appropriation of non-cinema spaces has become its biggest asset: the joy of the festival is its clever use of venues and this embracing of its civic spaces makes every screening feel part of the community. For example, at this year’s event you can watch Martin Scorsese’s Hugo in the grand surroundings of Queens Park Church (10 Oct), catch The Gorbals Story in the eponymous borough’s St Francis Community Centre (9 Oct), or experience Bill Forsyth’s deadpan debut, That Sinking Feeling, in a drained swimming pool (10 Oct). The pool in question is the long-closed Govanhill Baths, which also hosts a screening of United We Will Swim… Again, documenting the long battle by southside residents to renovate the baths and bring them back into the heart of the community (10 Oct). Scottish cinema is the festival’s real focus. We’d encourage you to head along to the festival’s screening of Grant McPhee’s great doc on the

Scottish punk scene Big Gold Dream, followed by a gig (Glad Cafe, 9 Oct). Cinema discussion Scotland on Screen, meanwhile, asks if Scottish cinema has influenced how we view ourselves – film writer Jonathan Murray and director Eleanor Yule give their thoughts (Glad Cafe, 11 Oct). And then there’s southside-made Much Ado About Govan, a lo-fi Shakespeare adaptation shot by local teens, which sounds like a riot (Kinning Park Complex, 9 Oct). All that, plus a crash course in film review writing with critic Siobhan Synnot (The Glad Foundation, 11 Oct) and a rare screening of Laurel and Hardy short Putting Pants on Philip (Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, 9 Oct), to celebrate Laurel’s southside connections (he grew up in Mount Florida). The curtain comes down with Dziga Vertov’s dazzling A Man with a Movie Camera (Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, 11 Oct), a fittingly inventive spectacle for a festival full of invention. Southside Film Festival runs 8-11 Oct at varous venues across the southside of Glasgow For full programme details, go to southsidefilm.co.uk

Sembène

Get Connected Africa in Motion, Scotland’s annual showcase of African cinema, celebrates its tenth edition with a massive programme looking to both the past and future of filmmaking on the continent Words: Jamie Dunn

That Sinking Feeling

Join the Debate Document Human Rights Film Festival is back with a busy line-up of diverse films and community-led events Words: Jamie Dunn

ocument HRFF is Scotland’s only dedicated international human rights festival. If you haven’t guessed from its title, documentaries are its bag. This 13th outing kicks off with Alessandra Zeka and Holen Sabrina Kahn’s A Quiet Inquisition (16 Oct), which gives a peek inside the medical world of Nicaragua. The film follows a doctor struggling with her conscience as she contends with the harrowing implications of a new law that prevents the termination of any pregnancy, even when a woman’s life is at stake. The speed at which digital technology allows documentaries to be made means the films in the Document programme often feel ripped from the headlines. For example, Exile: Diaries of Child Refugees (18 Oct), a heartbreaking portrait of children forced to flee from the violence of Syria’s civil war to neighbouring Lebanon, should be a particularly intense experience given the images we’ve seen in the news over the last few months. We also like the look of Canadian film Line in the Sand (17 Oct), from Tomas Borsa and Jean

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Philippe Marquis. Filmed over the course of two years, the film follows in the tracks of the Northern Gateway, one of the most contested oil pipelines in the world, and explores its environmental impact but also its human toll. Another highlight is Shirley Clarke’s too little-seen Portrait of Jason (18 Oct), from 1966. One of the great films of the verité movement, it’s an intense study of black male prostitute Jason Holliday. Taking the form of an extended confessional of the agonies and ecstasies of being an African-American hustler in 60s New York, it’s a bracing watch. The New Yorker’s Richard Brody rightly called it “a masterwork of grand-scale intimacy.” Document’s chief aim is to bring people together to discuss the issues addressed in each film, so most screenings will end with a discussion – many of which get heated. Get informed and join the debate. Document HRFF runs 16-18 Oct at CCA, Glasgow. Admission to screenings is free for refugees and asylum seekers For full programme details, go to documentfilmfestival.org

hen we interviewed filmmaker Mark Cousins back in 2011 ahead of the broadcast of A Story of Film: An Odyssey, his epic 15-part history of the moving image, there was one film in particular, out of the hundreds featured, that he picked out for praise. When we asked about his ambition for the project, he said: “I’m pretty sure if people watch [The Story of Film] and they see this film Hyenas, by [Djibril Diop] Mambéty, where a woman turns half gold and comes back to avenge the lover who jilted her, they’ll think, ‘I’d like to see that!’ For me, that’s the dream outcome.” Africa in Motion, Scotland’s annual celebration of African cinema, is making Cousins’ dream come true this month: Mambéty’s 1992 film opens this year’s festival (23 Oct, Filmhouse, Edinburgh). And Cousins was dead on, it’s extraordinary – not as wildly experimental as Mambéty’s only other feature, Touki Bouki, but equally as bracing. A dark parable about human greed and twisted love, it’s centred on a decaying town on the edge of the Sahara. We follow one of its citizens, who many years before had been seduced by a young man, impregnated, and dumped; she was then ostracised by the community and left in disgrace. 30 years later she returns ‘as rich as the world’s bank.’ The townsfolk fall over themselves to get back in her good books. Mambéty saw it as a film about “betraying the hopes of independence for the false promises of Western materialism.” The other great giant of African filmmaking is Ousmane Sembène, and there are plenty of opportunities to get to know his work at this year’s festival. As well as a screening of his recently restored first feature, Black Girl (24 Oct, Filmhouse), there’s a new documentary about the ‘father of African cinema’ called simply Sembène! (24 Oct, Filmhouse; 27 Oct, Andrew Stewart Cinema, Glasgow). The Glasgow screening is part of Screen Seminars at Glasgow University, and it’ll be preceded by a lecture introducing audiences to Sembène’s career by Professor Samba Gadjigo, the world’s foremost expert on the Senegalese filmmaker and author of his official biography. Opening film Hyenas headlines a special strand titled From Africa, with Love, which includes tales of passion, tenderness and lust from across the continent. The festival’s other theme this year is Connections, and the programme promises to

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“explore the interrelatedness of the myriad aspects of African experiences.” Epitomising the strand are films like The Dream of Shahrazad (29 Oct, Filmhouse; 25 Oct, CCA, Glasgow). Riffing on classic story collection Arabian Nights, filmmaker François Verster investigates how music and storytelling can serve as an outlet for citizens to create political change. Documentary Bound: African vs. African American (26 Oct, St. John’s Church), meanwhile, looks at lost connections and cultural tensions for people of the African Diaspora. Another great-looking new addition is industry event Nigerian-Scottish Film Odyssey, which will explore the connections between the film industries in Nigeria and Scotland. It’ll centre around UK premieres of films from two of the brightest young Nollywood filmmakers, C.J. Obasi who will present his zombie horror film, Ojuju (31 Oct, Anderston Kelvingrove Parish Church, Glasgow; 1 Nov, The Corinthian Club, Glasgow), and Stephanie Linus, with her new film Dry (1 Nov, The Corinthian Club). While the two are here for the festival, local filmmakers will have the opportunity to pick their brains about independent filmmaking in Nigeria. And as well as cinema, there’s a photography exhibit on the theme Ways We Watch Films in Africa and new edition AiM TV Lounge, which will present a daily selection of popular African television shows including soaps, sports shows, mockumentaries, and cooking programmes (both at the Old Hairdressers, Glasgow). So it’s a packed programme looking both backwards and forwards. And that’s what Africa in Motion has been doing for the last ten years: celebrating African cinema’s history while also looking to its future. “We could not have imagined how much the festival would grow in scope, audiences and diversity over the course of a decade,” says festival founder Lizelle Bisschoff. “The growth of Africa in Motion mirrors the growth of filmmaking on the African continent. While we celebrate ten years of Africa in Motion, we also reflect on ten years of expanding and diversifying our views of the continent and strengthening our connections with Africa.” Africa in Motion takes place 23 Oct-1 Nov in various venues across Edinburgh and Glasgow For full details, go to africa-in-motion.org.uk

THE SKINNY

Clash of the Titan(s) We take a look at some of the highlights of this year's Scotland Loves Anime festival, one of the best events of the year for animation fans or those just inclined towards cult-attracting fare from the Far East. There will be monsters Words: Josh Slater-Williams

ow in its sixth year, October’s Scotland Loves Anime festival is not just the region’s leading exhibitor of Japanese animation on the big screen (where so much of it begs to be seen, but infrequently is in the UK), but is also now a key time on the film calendar for more offbeat Asian fare of the live-action variety, sandwiched as it is between the big Edinburgh and Glasgow film festivals of June and February. To name one highlight of the last few years, SLA offered the only UK cinema showings of madman maverick Takashi Miike’s Ace Attorney, a bonkers live action adaptation of the popular Phoenix Wright video games. Appropriately enough, given the festival’s widening scope and growing reputation, the 2015 instalment will see it expand beyond its usual homes at Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Filmhouse, with Aberdeen’s Belmont Filmhouse getting its own taste of the animated action. On the live action front, this year’s SLA boasts the European premiere of a two-part adaptation of one of the hottest Asian imports of late, Attack on Titan (Part 1: GFT, 9 Oct; Filmhouse, 17 Oct; Part 2: dates tbc), as well as the UK premiere of two animated films (Crimson Bow & Arrow, 12 Oct; The Wings of Freedom, 14 Oct; both Filmhouse) based on the property. The wildly popular manga the films are adapted from sees the last remnants of mankind trying to survive, a century on from the emergence of gigantic humanoid creatures that have gone on to devour most of the human race. With four doses of the franchise across the festival, and British anime authority Jonathan Clemens on introduction duty for them, that’s more titans for your buck than you can throw a Sam Worthington at. Among other highlights based on stuff you may have heard of, even as an anime novice, there are new films in the Naruto (GFT, 10 Oct; Filmhouse, 16 Oct) and Ghost in the Shell (Filmhouse, 18 Oct) franchises, as well as Dragon Ball Z;

Resurrection ‘F’ (GFT, 10 Oct; Filmhouse, 18 Oct), the second new movie in the series after 2013’s Battle of the Gods, which was franchise creator Akira Toriyama’s proper return to his creation after nearly two whole decades. During a limited, single weekend-long theatrical engagement in the US this summer, Resurrection ‘F’ broke records for a Japanese animation on the big screen, outgrossing the total US run of even some Studio Ghibli heavy-hitters. That most of its UK screenings are limited to SLA means a similar feat is probably not going to be achieved here, but this’ll be one of your only chances to see what all the shouty fuss is about. While familiar characters are to be found for the anime enthusiast elsewhere during the fest, one of the festival’s biggest attractions is the original, critically acclaimed fare it manages to pull, which should appeal to casual animation fans, or just fans of great films in general; in recent years, such original stunners have included the sublime Wolf Children and Giovanni’s Island, as well as Studio Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill. Looking to match them this year is Miss Hokusai (GFT, 10 Oct; Filmhouse, 17 Oct), which technically has its roots on the page in manga form, but doesn’t have an existing moving image take you have to be clued into. Promising a more subtle touch than some of the louder films in the line-up (and no offence intended to those), the praise this portrait of an artist has already accrued worldwide is certainly encouraging, with a review in Variety citing it as “a stellar example of the oft-cited principle that animation is an art form, not a genre.” And if ever there was a single concept an animationdevoted festival would want to get across to audiences, it’s probably that. [Josh Slater-Williams] Scotland Loves Anime runs 5-18 Oct (Glasgow, 5-11 Oct; Edinburgh, 12-18 Oct) For full programme details, go to lovesanimation.com

Ghost in the Shell

October 2015

Disco Polo

Pole Position

90s disco underdogs, sex changes, and bringing cartoons to the kids: we get with the programme as Play Poland turns five

Words: George Sully

or the past five years, Play Poland has been bringing cinema to UK screens that explores the country’s contemporary cinema as well as its rich cinematic and political past. Disco Polo (Filmhouse, 19 Nov), one of the highlights of this year’s festival, is steeped in the latter. The wry comedy’s backdrop is the exciting and optimistic new era that followed Poland’s break with communist rule at the fag end of the 1980s. Following this triumph of liberal democracy, the country enjoyed rapid economic growth with a newly introduced market economy, as well as long-overdue improvements to human rights legislation. And out of this ebullient time in Polish history grew a new music sub-genre: disco polo. This fourth feature film from director Maciej Bochniak recounts the misadventures of disco buds Tomek and Rudy as they try and make it big in the fickle music biz. It’s a glitzy, hyperactive fairytale with a shamelessly addictive soundtrack – think Baz Luhrmann meets Tim Burton – and is as much about the music as it is about the vibrant do-anything attitude of a postcommunist 90s Poland. The preceding era under communist rule was, however, a fertile period for Polish cinema, and with it came a rich history of distinctive film posters. For the festival’s fifth edition the organisers have again pulled focus on to their nation’s iconic promotional aesthetic. In charge of curating PPFF’s “visual aspect” this year is Professor Sławomir Witkowski, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gda sk. At the Filmhouse Cafe Gallery in Edinburgh there will be an exhibition of work from both the Polish School of Posters of the 60s-80s, and from Professor Witkowski’s own design students attempting to imitate – and innovate – that unique style. On the same graphical theme, there is also a competition to win film tickets and goodies for inventive use of the festival’s logo template, available as the front cover to this year’s programme as a handy stencil. The organisers – and The Skinny – must warn budding graffitists that defacing property without permission is still illegal, in the name of art or otherwise! Winners will also be showcased at the poster exhibition at the Filmhouse.

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Check Play Poland’s website for more details. In addition to PPFF’s main strands of features and shorts, the festival is, for the first time, bringing cinema to young ‘uns, screening an animations for children programme at nearby Polish schools in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Livingston, Motherwell and Coatbridge. Like the posters exhibition, the selection of cartoons spans the 60s to the 80s; many are from the Warsaw-based Studio Miniatur Filmowych (Miniature Film Studio), a significant and long-running animation house responsible for many beloved Polish children’s cartoons.

“The festival is, for the first time, bringing cinema to young 'uns” It’s not all focused on the past, of course; many of the productions in the 2015 programme deal with important contemporary issues. Notably Call Me Marianna (Grovenor, 22 Oct; Filmhouse, 12 Nov), a documentary already decked with multiple awards on the Polish film festival circuit. The doc centres on Marianna Klapczy ska, who lived as a married man – with children – until the age of 43, at which point she faced up to her gender dysphoria and made the switch. Due to difficulties with the Polish legal system, she was forced to sue her own parents in order to finance her sex change operation. It’s a moving, brief (just 70 minutes), and unmelodramatic account of her gender reassignment, and Karolina Bielawska deftly captures Marianna’s bubbly, pragmatic attitude in spite of everything that has happened to her. Inspirational and heartbreaking in equal measure, and fittingly scored by Antony and the Johnsons, it’ll have all its screening audiences in floods – you have been warned. Play Poland runs 15 Oct-22 Dec For full programme details, go to playpoland.org.uk

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Collective is delighted to announce the selected participants

Jennifer Bailey Mark Bleakley Anastasia Philimonos Katie Schwab Hamish Young

CITY PARTNER

THE SKINNY

It’s Only a Paper Moon Thomas Demand makes detailed paper models from existing photographs, which he then photographs to generate subtly off-kilter photographs. His latest exhibition, Daily Show now in the Common Guild, marks a departure from previous works Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

has meant something to me, is it every detail, or a certain constellation of objects?” Further still, this idiosyncratic process allows for a negotiation of “where to stop.” There is also a negotiation of “how open” to leave a picture, whether it should be obvious – “at any point you can see this is a pile of cardboard.” In the latest works, it is the “non relevance of the moment” that informs the simplification of the images.

“The most defining moments of photography of the last 10 years were mostly done by private people” Thomas Demand

Lifting out elements and detail of these already “non relevant moments” could make for a dominating sense of lightness and abstraction, if it weren’t for obscure and labour-intensive process he prefers for their production. Demand compares dye transfer to Japanese woodcutting for the level of craft and skill involved. There’s a crucial difference compared to usual printing processes for Demand, as he explains: “You have somebody who is doing them by hand so meticulously over weeks and weeks. And he is probably one of the last of his profession.” The materials themselves have long been discontinued by the manufacturer. It might be that Demand strategically adds a weightiness to the pictures, but he’s not interes-

Installation view, The Dailies

ted in heavy nostalgia. He thinks that’s too straightforward. “It’s a very close relative to kitsch in a sense. Everyone knows what it’s for and what the purpose would be.” In essence, when nostalgia enters work, “You stop thinking about it, or analysing what you’re looking at,” he explains. Speaking about first showing his work, he remembers being considered “ice cold” in this swerving from the sentimental. With Demand mentioning his choice in details to remove and allow, and his exclusion of nostalgic feelings, his own role as author becomes clear. Yet, considering all of the work is a copy of a copy (of a copy, depending on your principles), the notion of authenticity is not so clear. First looking at the work, he feels “It often has a certain anonymity.” However, he counters, “Everything you look at is done by one person.” Elaborating further, he does remove the author. “I replace it with a very strong voice. I guess that’s why you can’t see too many of my works at once because it’s a very strong dialect.” While Demand may be present as author, he removes the figure from his photographs. Instead, he includes objects, “Cups, windows, doors. They’re very anthropomorphic, traces of someone

Credit: Ruth Clark

hat comes next may be a bit of a spoiler if you’re not familiar with Thomas Demand’s work. For some time, he’s been reproducing photographs using paper models, which he then photographs. For his latest show in The Common Guild, Demand has turned his attention from the historically significant content he previously worked with, to Instagram and the kind of ‘viral photography’ that is exchanged between friends. Before this first major exhibition of this new body of work, Demand takes our call in Los Angeles to discuss The Dailies, as he calls them, and what photography is right now becoming. Working from others’ photographs has been a structuring principle for Demand throughout his career. It was for this reason he couldn’t overlook viral pictures. As he puts it, “They open a whole new landscape of what photography is.” One picture from The Dailies shows “two cups in a fence and it’s a small love story…” says the artist. “It’s not worth telling anyone but if you do it right, suddenly there’s a whole tiny little story like a poem. Like a Japanese haiku.” While The Dailies marks an important transition in Demand’s practice to using his own photos, he continues to work in paper sculptures and photographing these. There’s a recognisable clean aesthetic to the pictures. Yet, he has never worked on a look. And as carefully made as these models are, Demand says he is still surprised “how many people don’t see it’s fabrication because for me it’s totally clear.” While his work might be easy to recognise, he says “I’m not sitting there worrying if it doesn’t look like Thomas Demand.” For him, the process is just a means of being able to translate from two to three dimensions, then back again. That the pictures come across as ordered or simplified comes from Demand’s interest in the filtration processes of memory. “What do you remember? If I think of a picture that I’ve seen that

Installation view, The Dailies

October 2015

ART

having been there.” Yet, with rooms cleared and empty yards, the photograph becomes a record of “The moment everybody left already, or the moment before everybody stands in the picture. You see this little thing at the side and that tells me the whole story I need to know. It’s supposed to be very welcoming but I’m not sure everyone shares that view.” Already having spoken of the “non-relevance” of all these “funny” moments and the “cups, windows, doors”, they feel separated from the kind of news photography Demand has worked with before. Yet, it’s the same kind of “private photography” that he sees as the competitor of the professional photographer. “The most defining moments of photography of the last 10 years were mostly done by private people,” he claims. “The competition for the newperson isn’t the other newsperson, it’s someone that is there and has a camera and puts it out there before they do.” From this, Demand wonders if “the briefing has changed” and now the news photographer must generate emotionally charged images that tell a story. He thinks in particular of the recent harrowing image of the drowned Syrian child on the shore. Maybe the Scottish accent has made for a more difficult call than Demand lets on during the interview, because the role of the translator comesattheendoftheconversation.Hethinksofhimself translating images from photo to model to photograph of the model. If he’s a translator, though, he thinks he’s a “lousy” one. “I had a personal translator who had another agenda. I kept saying my bits very carefully, and people were starting to laugh all the time. It was only one sentence, and still people laughed. I guess I’m one of those.” It’s been a few years since Demand made the switch to The Dailies and started looking at Instagram instead of images of more conventional historical relevance. Talking about the future, he’s confident that he’s set to continue to produce exciting work. That most people are now past the initial reveal that “It’s all paper!” is not a worry for Demand. On his part, the most surprising parts of his work are conceptual. “I just did a cherry blossom tree in full bloom because it’s the incarnation of kitsch. On the other hand, it works…. How much potential [making and photographing paper models of other photos] still has. For me, that’s the surprise now. The world is constantly producing pictures so I’m not afraid of running out of ideas.” Thomas Demand – Daily Show, Common Guild, until 13 Dec thecommonguild.org.uk

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Credit: Ruth Clark

Credit: Jay Brooks

Tipping onto the Stage Sally Messham talks to The Skinny about professional debuts, learning circus skills, and bringing the highly celebrated novel Tipping the Velvet to life

arah Waters’ debut novel Tipping the Velvet has been described as a ‘saucy and sensuous historical romance’ that grips readers with its shifting voice and its many different layers, all told through the eyes of its hero, Nancy Astley, or, depending on where in the story you meet her, Nan King. It is a picaresque tale, following the adventures of a roguish hero who hails from the lower classes, but a rare picaresque tale in that it’s told from a female perspective, and particularly a lesbian one. The story starts with Nancy Astley in Whitstable, Kent. From the audience of a music hall she falls in love with Kitty Butler, a male impersonator, and soon follows her to London to begin her adventures. This is a typical and auspicious start to any coming-of-age tale, but it is what happens after, and the direction that Nancy takes, that really set the novel and its hero apart from any other. Now Tipping the Velvet is coming to the stage. It moves to the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh after a run at the Lyric Hammersmith in London, where it was commissioned to be performed. The play is adapted by Laura Wade and directed by Lindsay Turner, the duo behind the highly successful Posh, and has been on the horizon for the past four years. Helming the production as Nancy herself is Sally Messham, an actress making her professional stage debut. Messham took some time out of the busy preview period to call The Skinny and let us know what to expect from this theatrical adaption. “We’re still in previews at the moment so we’re working really long days, performing on the night and making cuts and changes,” she tells us. “It’s a much bigger show than anyone predicted it was going to be so we’re still trying to figure it out and

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measure audience reactions. We’ve only had four weeks’ rehearsal, but the show is very technical and we’ve had to tech it twice. We’re trying to make it function like a machine, but it’s getting there and last night it felt like it came together as the show that it’s going to be.” The show that it’s going to be promises to be something on an incredibly grand scale, mixing all sorts of theatrical convention with the Victorian world, and with modern music too. For a novel that is so rooted in theatre itself, set in and out of music halls around London, it feels like an appropriate homage to the scale of Waters’ world. “It’s a really vibrant show,” Messham tells us. “It’s quite stimulating.” She describes the audience reactions from previews this far as “really positive, with a really mixed crowd of people coming to watch it. We had a bunch of school kids in yesterday which was really interesting.” It is certainly an interesting choice for school children when you look at the plentiful and detailed sex scenes of the novel, and although the play does not shy away from these, it does present them in a new light. “We’re doing circus,” says Messham. “The sex scenes are done through ariel scenes so it’s been amazing to learn those skills.” As she talks about the process of making her professional debut, she describes it as being “chucked in at the deep end. I don’t think I’ll ever be as busy again. It’s just been brilliant to learn lots of different things – I play the ukulele in it.” With all these layers, it’s a complex role to play. “It’s a really physically and mentally demanding role because she goes on such a journey; it’s like having three different plays in one. Whoever she encounters, it's like a completely different world, it’s like three worlds.”

Words: Emma Ainley-Walker

This journey and these different worlds are presented in Waters’ novel so clearly through Nancy’s eyes, so how is this worked into the play? “Essentially it plays with a lot of theatrical conventions. It kind of pushes the boundaries,” Messham tells us. “There’s a character who takes the form of an old music hall-style chairman. He narrates the whole show and you as an audience have to decide who he is, whether he is speaking Nancy’s thoughts or whether he’s an outside narrator. I don’t want to give too much away but there’s a very new form to this play, which is why it’s quite exciting because it breaks a lot of theatrical conventions in that way. He follows Nancy’s journey with her and interacts with the audience. You go on that journey with him and you see what kind of character he is as well.”

“It’s not a conventional coming out story” Sally Messham

The play adds even more layers to Waters’ novel, but not in a way that detracts from the layered complexity of its hero. “I think the reason that I like it is that it’s not a conventional coming out story. [Nancy] is so comfortable with who she is,” says Messham. “It’s not like she’s trying to hide the fact she’s feeling all these feelings, it’s just what happens.” The idea of a lesbian heroine who not only accepts herself, but does so without much questioning – and set in an era where being found out represented a very real danger – is incredibly

THEATRE

refreshing and something to be celebrated. But it does not leave us with a brash character who is one-dimensional or defined only by her sexuality. She is still a young girl trying to find her place. “She’s so vulnerable to the people around her and she’s torn,” explains Messham. “It’s such a brilliant coming-of-age story, she’s neither likeable or unlikeable. There’s just so many different sides to her.” It’s not just within the world of the play that women are at the forefront and celebrated either – it is vital to its making too, which becomes clear as Messham describes getting to work with Lindsay Turner, recently to be found directing Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet at the Barbican, and writer Laura Wade. “It’s genius. She’s an absolute genius,” she tells us of Turner. “She’s got so much wisdom and she’s so intuitive, she’s a real actress’ director. She works so closely with Laura and they’ve both been really involved in developing the play together. It’s been in the running for quite a long time, for about five years I think. It’s a real collaboration between a lot of people and we’ve had a lot of input as well in workshopping it. I wasn’t in the original research and development crew but a few people in my cast were. It’s been very collaborative but also amazing to work with such a talented director. She’s brilliant.” Messham’s excitement about the role and the play as a whole is clear in the way she talks about it, as are her feelings on getting to work with such fantastic collaborators. This play is sure to be mesmerising when it comes to the Lyceum at the end of the month. With such fantastic source material, how could it not be? Tipping the Velvet, Lyceum Theatre, 28 Oct–14 Nov, 7.30pm (2pm), prices vary lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/tipping-the-velvet

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Advertise Here If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re reading this advert, so are 160,000 other people this month. Ask your friendly neighbourhood sales team how you can advertise too. To find out more contact us on 0131 467 4630 or sales@theskinny.co.uk @theskinnymag /TheSkinnyMag Illustration: Rachel Davey

October 2015

Invasions of the Past His short story made it to the big screen recently as 45 Years, bringing criminally undervalued author David Constantine to wider attention. He talks to us here about new novel The Life-Writer and his republished collection of short form masterpieces

Interview: Galen O’Hanlon

come to govern the characters’ relationships. In Mermaid, a man retreats from his aggressive wife to his shed, to carve a mermaid from a block of fragrant cherry wood. In The Necessary Strength, a woman with crippled hips is left on the ground floor while her husband retreats to his studio above the living room. In each case, the spaces manifest the degrees of separation in the relationships of their inhabitants. “These are sort of self-defensive spaces,” says Constantine. “The woman in Mermaid is much less kind than any of the others” – she puts the mermaid in the fire when her friends come round – “and the man in Necessary Strength has retreated to his own world of dead things, bits of bone and death, not life. All of this goes back to D.H. Lawrence, and the struggle of people in love, and people in marriage.”

“The effect of a story or a poem is in the present. It is a living truth” David Constantine

avid Constantine is a master of the short form. His stories are full of the quiet horror of everyday lives: his characters on the edge, moments from either being engulfed or breaking free. The past is always overtaking the present, threatening the stability of things. And, for a writer so concerned with how the past comes to get you, a story he wrote 15 years ago has come to get him. Andrew Haigh’s acclaimed film, 45 Years, is based on Constantine’s short story In Another Country, which has brought a wave of fresh interest to the author’s work. He himself has built up a lot of it. He began with poems, then remarkably powerful short stories, one of which grew into a novella. His second novel, The Life-Writer, was published in September and its existential structure is remarkably similar to In Another Country and 45 Years. In the short story, Mr Mercer’s lost lover is found perfectly preserved inside a melting glacier, and the memory of her haunts his marriage, nearing its 60th anniversary. Mr and Mrs Mercer are trapped by their inability to articulate how they feel: there is only the cold draught circulating above their heads, pouring from the open attic where all the memories are kept. In his new novel, The Life-Writer, a woman discovers her dead husband’s early romances, along with his capacity for a depth and intensity of emotion that she never felt. She is devastated,

October 2015

and driven to delve ever deeper into his past. Both the novel and the short story carry the same emotional premise: the idea that the past is welling up, silent until a trigger leads to an eruption and threat of being engulfed. There are moments in his work where the similarity runs right through to the imagery he uses – creating an effect, one could say, of fragments of past stories bursting into present ones. “The images obsess me,” Constantine tells us. “There is a striking coincidence between the film, In Another Country, and The Life-Writer. When I was writing the novel I hadn’t read the story since it had been published. Then when I saw the film, it fully dawned on me that the existential structure of the story and the novel are together.” Although he is pleased with the film – “the best thing is how beautiful Rampling is” – there are some important differences. Mr and Mrs Mercer in the film have moved up a social class, a point that is crucial to the intensity and outlook of the narrative. In the short story, The Mercers are completely unable to express themselves. They are older than in the film, and they have no hope of dealing with the situation. “The story is bleaker than the film,” says Constantine, “they are about to be overwhelmed, by accident, by an invasion of the past. And they don’t have the words or the developed consciousness to deal with it.” On the page, the story is transfixing. There

are no speech marks, a technique that Constantine had only recently honed when he wrote the story. It means, he says, that there is no way of clearly knowing whether the characters have spoken, or whether the narrative voice is helping them along. A lot goes unsaid: Was she a blonde? Mrs Mercer asked. No, said Mr Mercer, her hair was black. I thought she’d be blonde, said Mrs Mercer, being German. No, said Mr Mercer, I told you when I told you the whole story, her hair was like yours, black. Like mine, said Mrs Mercer. Getting rid of the speech marks removes the boundaries of headspace. In this example, there is a whole recoil of emotions held in Mrs Mercer’s last words – ‘Like mine’ – but there is no explanation of it, no separate space or paragraph where Mrs Mercer’s emotional response might be recorded. These moments of compact emotional charge are everywhere in this story, and part of Rampling’s brilliance in the film is her skill in translating these moments into fine-tuned facial expression. As with every good collection of short stories, there are themes that string them all together. Lots of those included in In Another Country (the collection naming itself after the story) share the lack of speech marks, and the struggle for space that it creates. It is an extension of Constantine’s treatment of domestic spaces, and how they might

BOOKS

Almost all of Constantine’s stories, and his novel, are deeply concerned with where the past lies, and what’s in it. There might be a danger of nostalgia but he is keen to cut away from the clichés and pitfalls of thinking it was all so much better back then. “I don’t at all think it’s all down hill. There is only a present tense in poetry and fiction. The effect of a story or a poem is in the present. It is a living truth. When Mr Mercer looks back on his life he does have a nostalgia for it, but then it is a kind of fairyland in the Alps between Mussolini and Hitler. I’m not supposing that back then was better than now. Katrin [in The Life-Writer] is drawn to that feeling, and it is wrong. Grief flattens you like that. It’s very very difficult to find ways out. That’s the whole search of the writing [of her husband’s biography], it’s about how you get through grief, how you get back to being alive.” Articulation is a coping mechanism, then? Well it is – and it isn’t. “I wanted to show,” says Constantine, “the curious paradox of writing, because it’s a way of getting rid of things, of writing them out, but the better you get at it the more you have to do it. So Katrin begins with her husband’s letters, then starts to imagine his feelings, then she starts to write a story, and slowly she is engulfed by the task.” Being engulfed is a familiar feeling when reading Constantine’s short stories; his characters and landscapes live inside the head for days. They are all curiously visual, so it’s no surprise that one of them made it through the long process of being made into a film. The stories of the In Another Country collection are powerful things. “In every short story, there should be something at stake,” Constantine finishes. “Start at the crux, end at the crisis.” In Another Country: Selected Stories and The Life-Writer are out now, published by Comma Press, each with the RRP of £9.99

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Hot or Notts

Recovering in bed after a heavy session, Kagoule’s Cai Burns describes Nottingham’s musical architecture, the knock-on effect of the newly built Rough Trade and how his band came to be signed by the city’s premier heavy metal label

Photo: Mark Leary

ottingham is famous for a few things; Robin Hood, Brian Clough, Britain’s oldest pub (albeit debatable), and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, if you’re into saucy twentieth century literature. It once held the tower blocks made famous by This Is England (until they were demolished) and a bit of The Dark Knight was filmed in the city’s poshest park… but is it famous for its music scene? In recent history, the Midland city’s seen several emerging chart-botherers, with local lad Jake Bugg, uni attendees London Grammar and Bramcote-born Saint Raymond busy doing things like Radio One’s Live Lounge and supporting Haim on international tours. Or providing the soundtrack to the Olympics. Obviously there’s Sleaford Mods, too – the undisputed kings of the East Midlands dialect and savage portrayers of modern life. It’s also home to Rock City, one of the country’s largest independent venues, but now, in a very surprising turn of events, it’s also home to a brand new Rough Trade record store. After London and New York City, Nottingham is the iconic indie chain’s third location worldwide. It could seem incongruous with the store and label’s carefully crafted major city aesthetic, but what does it say about Nottingham’s musical credentials? The Skinny called Cai Burns, from Nottingham’s premier post-punk outfit Kagoule, to investigate whether their city’s worth the fuss. “There’s this weird thing like, Nottingham’s a ‘hot’ place for music,” he reports.“But you’re walking around thinking, ‘it is definitely not.’ There are like, three bands at the moment. I’d absolutely love to have more bands that are our age here… and hopefully, maybe, what’s happened to us might mean that other people join us.”What’s happened to Kagoule is a story of elbow grease and chance encounter. Burns formed the band with school friends Lucy Potter and Lawrence English when the three were all in their mid-teens. Some four years on (he estimates) the still partially teenaged band have released their debut album Urth on renowned Nottingham metal label Earache, toured up and down the country, and featured on XFM, BBC 6 Music and Amazon’s new Front Row platform. A stalwart of Nottingham’s live scene, they’ve played almost every stage the city has to

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offer. When we speak, Burns is still in bed after a heavy session the night before. Last night saw the launch party for Urth, with the band showcasing the album in full at the new Rough Trade, accompanied by a free bar and a slowly buffering projection of old sci-fi films. Kagoule have played the new venue before, performing at the opening party in 2014: possibly a savvy move on behalf of Rough Trade in ingratiating the store within Nottingham’s local DIY culture. As Burns reflects, “It didn’t really fit in, but now everything else is standing up around it. It’s okay now. It’s gone from terrible to okay.” One of the chief complaints by locals against the new Rough Trade was that it might detract from The Music Exchange, an independent record store at the centre of Nottingham’s music scene that is, at heart, a social enterprise run by volunteers in need of work and support. It’s noted for providing a backbone for local bands, and, as Burns explains, “It has a cult following, and will always have certain people buying records there all the time.” He pauses. “But I do think Rough Trade are sneaking a lot of their business. I work in the cafe next to Rough Trade, and people really want to be carrying around a Rough Trade bag. 35-year-old hipsters, that kind of thing.” Both Rough Trade and The Music Exchange offered a pre-sale on Kagoule’s album, weeks before its “real” release, but Burns headed straight to the Exchange to see the band’s record in vinyl flesh: “They’ve had us since the start. It was really overwhelming to see the record there. I was talking really quietly, in a high pitched voice. Just holding it, and resting it on things… asking other people to hold it. It’s so surreal. I calmed down, went back and said sorry for how weird I’d been earlier.” Despite any potential rivalries with local record stores, Rough Trade also doubles as a venue; hosting in-store sets, offering a stage during inner city festivals like Dot to Dot, and enticing smaller touring bands that before “had nowhere to go.” It marks a clear change in the map of Nottingham’s music halls. Kagoule have launched previous EPs in institutions like The Chameleon, a quirky hub for the city’s artists which sees the sweat drip from

Photo: Mark Leary

Interview: Katie Hawthorne

the ceiling before even a hundred people have passed through the doors. The band are also affiliated with a practice space/DIY venue called JT Soar – beloved for its sparse cover charges and BYOB ethos, it’s a by-word for Nottingham’s underground scene and, as Burns excitedly describes, “it’s definitely grown, it’s getting a name for itself. We’ll see it in more bands coming over from different countries to play, they’re starting to get a lot of American bands, hardcore.” Kagoule don’t necessarily sound like they’re into hardcore. Urth sees the three piece pick and choose from four years' worth of song-writing: earlier double A-side releases like Monarchy/ Mudhole showed a band fully at home within structural, gothic walls of sound, fuzzed-out and gargantuan – but tracks like these haven’t made it onto their first full length. “I really wanted Urth to be as little as possible. Never more than a few guitar layers. There’s synths on Mudhole, I’d never put synths on a chorus now. It’s a very angular album.” Made of Concrete, the second track the teenaged band ever wrote together, started life as crunchy post-punk, providing one of the few opportunities within an early-years Kagoule set for a crowd-based singalong. Captured on record now, in 2015, Made of Concrete sounds more subtle, more alien. Burns describes it as having grown “the confidence to mess around, to change, to have a horrible chord under the whole song” – a description applicable to the record on the whole. Urth sees new life breathed into older tracks, but also a young band who aren’t afraid to build upon older genres in a weird, and markedly contemporary manner. Similarities to 1990s bands like Sebadoh and even Pavement have been floated in past reviews, but Burns is just into “heavy guitar riffs. My favourite thing in the world.” When the band announced they’d be releasing Urth with Earache Records – an iconic Nottingham metal label previously home to the likes of Napalm Death, Pitchshifter and The Dillinger Escape Plan – the news fell on mostly baffled ears. Yet, as Burns explains, it’s not the most unlikely pairing. Did the Nottingham connection inspire the band’s decision? “I think… it was one of the deciding factors. People that worked there would see us playing… One of the guys there, Tom, he nagged them for ages: ‘What about this band Kagoule? What about this band Kagoule?’ It was at the stage when we wanted to take the next

MUSIC

step, talking to various people. But then you get an offer from Earache with their flashing, scribbled logo. We were like, ‘I’d love to tell my friends I’ve just signed to a heavy metal label.’” “And a lot of the stuff they were doing in the ‘90s is stuff we were already into. Fudge Tunnel and that. So it made sense to me. People wouldn’t think we have those influences, it might confuse them, but…” It’s likely that anyone confused by Kagoule’s signing might have expected the band to choose a smaller, DIY outfit, but Burns retorts, matter-of-fact: “Yeah, but those labels can’t ring up Amazon.” It’s a mixture of pragmatism and perversity: on the one hand, Kagoule enjoy appearing a cuckoo in the nest of Earache’s metal-heads, and on the other, are evidently well aware of the commercial benefits of being tied to such a prestigious name.

“Hopefully, maybe, what’s happened to us might mean that other people join us” Cai Burns

This ethos seems apt for describing Nottingham’s half-resistance to Rough Trade’s invasion. In shaking the long-established infrastructure of the city’s record stores and smaller venues, it’s provided both competition and attraction. In highlighting the city as one of the UK’s musical hotspots, it’s drawn attention to Nottingham’s potential – and it could well provide a platform for a new generation of Midlands musicians. If a slightly more ‘big business’ approach to music will inspire young bands to grow up through the grass remains to be seen – but as Burns reflects, somewhat incredulously, no one would ever have predicted that the three school friends would be releasing on Earache, “in a brand new Rough Trade… built in Nottingham? And be album of the month?” Surely stranger things have happened. Urth is out now on Earache Records kagoule.bandcamp.com

THE SKINNY

Feature

Art of Darkness The dark art of illustrator Graham Humphreys is finally seeing the light with an upcoming book and exhibition. His are the bold and bloody images to accompany the seminal horror films of our times, including A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Evil Dead

Credit: Graham Humphreys / www.proud.co.uk

t could be said that Marlon Brando was to blame. In 1996, his contempt for his craft was dragging the already fractured production of The Island of Dr Moreau towards farce and chaos. By Brando’s grossly postponed on-set arrival, director Richard Stanley – thought the ‘next big thing’ after cult classics Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992) – was already long gone. Expelled both literally and metaphorically into the wilderness, smoking weed and licking wounds somewhere deep in the Cairns jungle, the visionary’s vision was in its death throes and the production being prepared for mainstream rigor mortis. It’s all chronicled in the tragically hilarious 2014 documentary Lost Soul. Both Moreau and the two previous Stanley films were storyboarded by his friend, the renowned illustrator Graham Humphreys. A lively talking head in the documentary, but here and now simply talking: he is on the phone with The Skinny discussing the upcoming exhibition of his iconic horror artwork and accompanying book, both titled Drawing Blood. “I mean the whole scenario was completely ridiculous,” says Humphreys of the cursed Moreau. “I think for him [Stanley], this was just going to be a low- to medium-budget film and he had all these fantastic ideas… the moment it got green-lighted, because Brando was interested, then he said, well the big money is coming in now, basically they’re going to take control of it.” It was crippling for Stanley to watch his creativity transformed into a bloated Hollywood beast. (Interesting background: Stanley’s ancestor was Sir Henry Morton Stanley, the controversial colonial conqueror and reported blueprint for Conrad’s Kurtz in Heart of Darkness – whom Brando famously played in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 adaptation, Apocalypse Now. H G Wells confronted Conrad upon its publication, suggesting that Kurtz was in fact the plagiarised offspring of his own creation, Moreau. And you thought this article’s title was just lazy punning.) Humphrey’s storyboards for the 1996 production presented a dangerously subversive visual concept to match Stanley’s febrile imagination. Religiously charged illustrations – perhaps based on the 12 Stations of the Cross – included snarling dog-people in surgical scrubs licking blood from

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

hospital instruments as a firstborn is delivered to the dark deity Moreau. The fascinating Moreau story is in fact only a side note to Humphreys’ true calling. He is widely considered the last great movie-poster artist of our times – to which the upcoming book and exhibition pay tribute and testimony. Humphreys was responsible for the bold and bloody images that accompanied many of the seminal horror movies to have shaped the modern genre, from The Evil Dead onwards. It all started more innocently. “When I was a small child just watching TV, a lot of things would appeal to me,” he reveals. “Things like The Munsters, The Addams Family, Dr Who, Lost in Space, they all kick-started my imagination.” Art college made these fantasies flesh by cultivating the illustrating skills later used to shine a light on the dark side of cinema. Humphreys uses a craft far from the vulgar cut-and-paste techniques that drive the majority of modern film promotion. “When you have photography you have a literal interpretation. It doesn’t matter how much photoshopping you do,” he suggests. “The fact is you have a photograph, the actuality. An illustration takes it away from that into an area which is not defined… once you’ve got that photograph then you’ve got the actual item and suddenly the imagination has no place to go.”

“I remember my razor-wielding monkey. I had to remove a whole lot of blood from the blade” Graham Humphreys

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a case in point. The 1984 slasher, about a group of teens being menaced in their dreams by Freddy Krueger, a disfigured murderer who wears a ratty pullover and a glove of razor-sharp knives, was the second instance – sandwiched between Last House on The Left and Scream – of dearly departed horror maestro Wes Craven redefining the genre. “I remember it like it was yesterday, some things just stay with you,” Humphreys says of the now definitive artwork he created for the film. “I didn’t think I would be given it because I think I’d already been pigeonholed into the whole Evil Dead thing, and obviously this was a much more sophisticated film.” The studio considered the existing US flyer – showing only knives slashing through night sky – to not quite be doing its all. “So I just had a look at the film again,” says Humphreys, and incorporated “the whole thing about dreaming… this sleepy suburbia.” The knives and glove came later. “Of course at that point the Freddy Krueger character was unknown, you know? It was not part of the lexicon of horror at all.” And the character was far from the defused, wise-cracking Freddy of later sequels. “So, I thought he should remain this shadowy character, a silhouette with just the gloves and knives up front… he’s almost invisible there, like

Nightmare on Elm Street

in the back of a dream, but then suddenly this hand is coming out. It’s suggesting that what she’s dreaming is actually becoming a reality. There’s a narrative threat going on there.” Some of Humphreys’ images proved simply too threatening during the high gore mark of the early 80s and the video-nasty moral panic that followed. “I think the most ridiculous time I ever had in terms of censorship of an image was Nightmare on Elm Street 2, which had Freddy standing over this school bus,” recalls Humphreys. “They had the poster in Leicester Square in a huge hoarding and they actually touched out the knives on the hand and the words ‘School Bus,’ so you had this silly man in a jumper and a yellow vehicle – no visual sense whatsoever.” There were tighter parameters for illustrators to live within once the Video Recordings Act 1984 attempted to inject some puritanical thinking into our viewing pleasure. “Every video sleeve went through a committee and you could certainly be told to remove things,” says Humphreys. The alltoo-real simian threat was obviously high on the censor’s list: “with one poster I did – a theatrical release for Creepers [aka Dario Argento’s Phenomena], heavily, heavily cut of course as it was at the time – I remember my razor-wielding monkey, I had to remove a whole lot of blood from the blade. It was dripping down and I had to paint it out.” These restrictions failed to inhibit the films or their accompanying artwork. “If anything it probably stimulated the work,” Humphreys believes. “People like a bit of danger. If you look at the video covers at the time, people tried to make them as sensational as possible.” This was an era when Argento’s films were watched in the UK on tenthgeneration VHS copies, leaking colour across the screen. But with the uneducated and rather arbitrary process of the BBFC at the time, provocative artwork proved a risky path. In place of a genuine consideration of content, films were reportedly banned over lurid covers or titles. “This is absolutely true,” Humphreys confirms. “I Spit on Your Grave, for instance. I talk about juxtaposition of images, well if you juxtapose certain words you end up with something quite offensive, or seemingly

BOOKS

offensive. That just seems too much for some, you know it’s like a desecration almost. I think just the title alone ensured that some films didn’t go to market.” But we are living in an age of enlightenment. These films are now appreciated for the art that they are, or some simply enjoyed as the harmless trash they were always meant to be. It’s partly a generational thing, Humphreys believes, as the retro influence bleeds into modern filmmaking. “I think a lot of people making films now would have grown up in that 80s era, being influenced by the stuff of the period. There’s definitely a nostalgia trip for them. I mean, Eli Roth is another person. Green Inferno, obviously he’s revisiting stuff he watched as a kid.” This reappraisal of 80s horror has also led to a resurrected interest in the work by the original artists of those 80s VHS sleeve illustrations. “It’s partly being driven by the reissuing of a lot of films,” explains Humphreys. Arrow Films have been commissioning multiple pieces for their DVD and Blu-ray releases; in the age of the digital download, the tangible film product increasingly becomes a collector’s item. “Francesco [Simeoni] at Arrow literally said, look, we’ve got all these 80s titles. We want to give them a nostalgic marketing twist which harks back to the artwork of those video covers of the time.” A task that Humphreys began with 80s student slasher flick Slaughter High. This same nostalgia fuels the desire for Drawing Blood, Humphreys’ exhibition and resulting book, featuring 120 pieces including artworks for Mario Bava’s Rabid Dogs and Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case, alongside written contributions from Evil Dead director Sam Raimi and horror authority Kim Newman. At Proud Camden the gallery walls will bleed this November. The Drawing Blood exhibition of Graham Humphreys’ work takes place at Proud Camden, London, from 29 Oct to 22 Nov and is free to enter The limited edition book Drawing Blood is launched on 28 Oct and is available through Proud Galleries proud.co.uk

THE SKINNY

Credit: Graham Humphreys / www.proud.co.uk

Interview: Alan Bett

Stop, Look and Listen Sonica founder Cathie Boyd describes her mission statement and provides a working definition of what to expect from sonic art

onica Festival has toured across six continents since it launched in Tramway in 2012, set up by founder Cathie Boyd to present the most exciting sonic art in the world. After 20 years of running Cryptic – the Glasgow-based organisation that produces Sonica – Boyd has her own working definition of sonic art: “Music which is presented visually or visual art which is presented sonically.” This year Sonica takes place between 29 October and 8 November across Glasgow. Parts of the programme reflect Boyd’s recent enthusiasm for showcasing more geographically distant (from Glasgow) developments in sonic art. The Govanhill Baths will house ‘a large-scale kinetic sculpture, commissioned from Indonesian visual artist and theatre-maker Jompet Kuswidananto.’ As part of Cryptic Indonesia in the Glue Factory, Kuswidananto recently presented his Grand Parade, a variously mechanised multimedia installation featuring life-sized figures in ceremonial, festive and political garb. As well as new talent from further-away countries, Sonica is also showcasing some of the usually inaccessible or hidden spaces in Glasgow. Tracking this interest in intriguing settings, Hinde remembers in 2013, when a Sonica event took

place in a secret venue. “We wouldn’t tell anyone where it was and we bussed everyone from the CCA.” This year, they’re working in partnership with the Glasgow Science Centre and the Hamilton Mausoleum. In the Glasgow Science Centre basement, you’ll find Wintour’s Leap’s tiny LED lights that visualise sound. There will also be an afternoon concert by the Maxwell String Quartet: “They’re performing a programme including Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt.” Boyd describes this audio-visual element of the programme as “a new addition to Sonica which we’ve not had before, which I’ve really pushed the other two curators to agree to because they weren’t too sure about it.” Though this kind of work came from mild behest and persuasion, Boyd observes that much of this work was “made by artists, duos, or solo like Herman Kolgen. The visuals are as strong as the music and they do completely ravage you.” Presenting the most interesting sonic art also for Boyd involves “taking existing work that deserves to be seen again.” While the festival does have a lot of commissions this year, she refers to Kathy Hinde’s work, commissioned in CCA and premiered last year. Since then she’s performed in London, Brighton and Aberdeen, but will pre-

Fluorophone

sent it for the first time in Glasgow at Sonica, “so we don’t feel that we just want the premier of the work.” Hinde’s work has also won the Arts Electronica Honorary Mention. While there are acts like Bl!ndman, who last performed in Glasgow in the 80s, Boyd assures us, “It’s also supporting emerging British talent and wanting to showcase this. People like Morton Underwood, Mark Lyken, NORTH OF X and Robbie Thomson – highly, highly talented emerging British artists.” Lyken, for example, is paired with Kathy Hinde. While Hinde’s visuals “merge machinery and natural stimuli,” Lyken’s Oscillon Response bases itself on late mathematician and artist Ben

F Laposky’s Electronic Abstractions. Broadening this theme, NORTH OF X presents The Age of Digital/anlogue, “an audio-visual piece that travels the UK exploring the relationship between man, machine and landscape.” With Boyd’s two-decade experience of running Cryptic, it’s no wonder that Sonica comprises such diverse, ambitious strands of international and domestic showcases of new talent, alongside its representation of previously supported artists’ commissions. If Sonica is still a young festival, it’s a precocious child with much ahead. Sonica, Various venues, 29 Oct-8 Nov sonic-a.co.uk

Radio Ga Ga Rhys Ifans tells us how his new film, Under Milk Wood, a cinematic version of Dylan Thomas’s radio play of the same name, blows the dust off of the 1954 text and visualises its dark, erotic core Interview: Jamie Dunn

reat screen actors need iconic moments; the images that cement them in the public’s consciousness. Rhys Ifans has one, and it was achieved while wearing a pair of unflattering underpants. It’s a path well trodden. Tom Cruise did the same in Risky Business. The film in question was in 1999’s Notting Hill, and Ifans, as Hugh Grant’s layabout flatmate, was a pleasingly anarchic presence in that glossy Richard Curtis-scripted affair. He didn’t let that breakout performance pigeonhole him, though. In the succeeding 16 years he’s navigated a circuitous path, working on both small-scale indie projects and Hollywood blockbusters. Often, these films have been terrible. And more often than not, Ifans is the best thing in them. He’s played a DJ who ingests vodka through his eyeballs (Kevin & Perry Go Large), Satan’s eldest son (Little Nicky), the mutated villain in a superhero movie (The Amazing Spider-Man), and international cannabis smuggler Howard Marks (Mr Nice). He even got in on every British thespian’s favourite gravy train with a small role in the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This eclectic eye for roles was evident at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival; he was all over the programme, playing a lascivious matinee idol in Peter Bogdanovich’s feather-light screwball She’s Funny That Way, a veteran rocker in Tim Godsall’s Len and Company, and an author with an enlarged head in Mills & Boon satire The Marriage of Reason and Squalor. When we meet the 48-year-old Welshman in a swish Edinburgh

October 2015

hotel, however, it’s to discuss Under Milk Wood, the finest of his EIFF quartet. The film’s a vivid cinematic rendering of Dylan Thomas’s 1954 radio play of the same name. It centres on the fictional Welsh fishing village of Llareggub (now read that backwards) and the frisky goings on of its inhabitants (who include Charlotte Church as a saucy young mother and Ifans’ brother, Llyr). Ifans is Blind Captain Cat, our narrator, and the film unfolds as if we’re witnessing his wild fever dream. “It’s an assault on all the senses,” says Ifans of the film, “to the point where the imagery is so strong sometimes that I swear I can smell it.” A stuffy old film about poetry it is not. This isn’t the first time Under Milk Wood has been brought to the screen. Andrew Sinclair directed a star-studded version in 1972, with Richard Burton in Ifans’ role, and Liz Taylor and Peter O’Toole among the village folk. It’s been adapted for the stage too, with a major revival last year to mark the centenary of the poet’s birth. Despite its popularity, Ifans reckons its masterpiece status looms large over the text. “There’s a reverence towards this piece that has shackled it for years,” he suggests. “The same is true of any great literary piece; they accumulate a reverence around them that almost stops you really experiencing or addressing the piece for what it was originally.” And when we ask what Ifans considers Under Milk Wood to be originally, he doesn’t miss a beat: “It’s a bawdy romp – it really is. Essentially

ART / FILM

when you’re listening to this piece you become your own filmmaker: when you hear the shagging bits on the radio, you’re imagining it pretty vividly. That’s all we’ve done with the film.” Helping bring these “shagging bits” to life is Ifans’ old mucker Kevin Allen, who gave him his breakthrough role in 1997’s Twin Town, and who joins us during the interview. Its colour saturated visuals and dreamlike atmosphere suggest a Luis Buñuel satire that’s been filtered through the darkly erotic lens of a League of Gentlemen sketch. It really blows the cobwebs off the 50-year-old text, and, most pleasing of all, it reminds you how hilarious Thomas’s poetry could be. Allen is convinced that Thomas would have approved of their approach: “He was such an animal, ahead of his time in terms of accessing technology,” he says of the poet. “He was connecting with great filmmakers, great composers. He would have explored this through film without a shadow of a doubt.” Ifans, however, doesn’t consider what they’ve made to be film at all. For him, the experience of this expressionistic collage of colourful tableaux is closer to listening to a good album than watching a movie. “Even the craziest films out there follow a kind of film grammar, in terms of continuity and story structure,” he explains. “That isn’t present here because the writing itself doesn’t have those elements: it’s poetry and prose intertwined. And that’s a one-off as a piece of literature, never mind as a piece of cinema.” Under Milk Wood is released 30 Oct

Feature

Credit: Jess Busby

Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

LE Y ST FE LI

Somewhere Between the Past and the Future

Ugly, uninteresting, and yet to escape its history, Bucharest isn’t blessed with great PR. Yet beyond routine clichés and lazy perception sits a city full of life and contrast… just as long as you’re prepared to look Words: Duncan Harman Illustration: Nick Booton (Bruï Studio)

he bars and restaurants of Lipscani do brisk business when the heat turns dry and tungsten. A block north of the Pia a Unirii – where even at 3am the temperature displayed beneath the billboards sits in the upper twenties – and the narrow streets of Bucharest’s Old Town coalesce with drinkers, smokers, dancers and chancers. “Ten years ago, none of this was here,” says Alina. “Well, the buildings are old, of course, but places to eat and drink, not so much.” A textiles student at the Universitatea Na ional de Arte, she sits with friends at an adjoining table, curious as to why we’re visiting. “It’s a beautiful country. A proud country,” she adds with a wry smile as we try to explain. “But Bucharest – and Romania in general – is still trying to work out what it is.” The idea had been a simple one; to spend some time in one of Europe’s less celebrated capitals, peeking beyond the lazy stereotypes frequently peddled by Western perceptions – all those travel pieces focusing upon Ceau escu kitsch and dark tales of medieval rulers; the damaging front pages (in certain newspapers) that whip up migration hysteria on slow news days. And it’s not as if Romania is without serious, social issues. The transition to free-market economics has passed entire swathes of the population by, particularly in rural locations, where subsistence farming traps many below the poverty line, and where mains water remains a luxury (even in major towns you can still find unpaved streets and abodes unconnected to gas, electricity or sanitation). The trains are crap, the roads are crap, and sometimes it’s not easy to work out what’s higher – the stray dog population or the number of politicians and officials on the take. Yet what these generalisations demonstrate is that unflattering portraits are easy to paint. Just as Lipscani – with its (mostly young, mostly local) crowd and burgeoning night scene – isn’t necessarily representative of city as a whole. “The changes have been enormous,” explains Craig Turp, a British journalist based here since the 90s and Editor-in-Chief of guidebook series In Your Pocket. “When we first started publishing back in 1999, Bucharest had about 80 restaurants. Now there are that many in Lipscani alone.” Renewal is the calling card of the dynamic city, even if – amidst the big brand lagers, the Italian food and all that listless techno pumping out from various PA systems – there is a discernibly generic feel behind the mesh of the Old Town’s tight streets; squint, and we could be anywhere from the Med to the Baltic, with a party of loud Brits on a stag-do, strip joint prowl just around the corner. It’s back on the Pia a Unirii – the outsized and rather ugly Union Square – where the real city comes into focus. Bisected by the Bulevardul Unirii (or Victory of Socialism Boulevard, to give the street its original name), and with the pomposity of the Casa Poporului (Ceau escu’s neoclassical, gateau-esque, still half-empty palace) dominating the view to the west, it’s a complex

Lifestyle

space; a bricolage of social-realist urban planning – architecture inspired as much by Pyongyang as Moscow – and a city in the process of getting on with things. One minute you’re standing amidst traffic fumes and the banks of pungent, stagnant Dâmbovi a River, the next it’s all florist kiosks and chic, summer frocks. Heading in the direction of the main railway station, and wide avenues – at first glance dominated by unexceptional façades – disguise pockets of Art Nouveau grandeur when least expected, while the ecclesiastical architecture, predominately (though by no means exclusively) Romanian Orthodox, gift otherwise undistinguished corners a baroque, Eastern presence. It’s actually the modern construction that’s the disappointment, much of it unimaginative, carrying the airs of corporate anywhere. As Craig Turp suggests, “Bucharest is never going to win any beauty contests, yet it does have some glorious architecture to admire, even if you do need to look for it. But it is a city that rewards the visitor prepared to simply wander the streets and get off the main thoroughfares.” And inasmuch as a serendipitous stroll or two is a fascinating way of exploring any destination, it’s by this manner that Bucharest’s charms and rhythms are fully appreciated (even if the charms end up as little more than a pleasant little park hiding at the end of a graffiti-plastered alleyway).

“Trams and buses are cheap if crowded, the Metro curiously retro in feel, as if one source of inspiration was the Glasgow Subway circa 1984” Because this isn’t about preening or showpiece physicality; more a city beholden to contrast – what Turp describes as its “idiosyncratic, hectic, and down right life affirming” nature. “Hectic” is certainly one word to describe the traffic, parking often erratic, pedestrians frequently treated as little more than a nuisance (for visitors planning to traverse the city, trams and buses are cheap if crowded, the Metro curiously retro in feel, as if one source of inspiration was the Glasgow Subway circa 1984). “Idiosyncratic” works better on a macro level, illustrating social and cultural mores (and, per-

haps, the contradictions therein). Not everybody here smokes but they may as well do, such is the gleeful abandon with which so many cigarettes are wielded. Not everyone is welcoming, but many of those we spoke to – such as the well-educated and relatively affluent Alina and friends – were open and optimistic, with excellent English and an enthusiasm for Europeanism (however loosely defined). “I suppose this can appear a strange place,” Alina tells us, back in Lipscani. “There are rich people here, driving Audis and living in smart villas. But there are many more who are poor. Ordinary people sometimes feel that others are setting the agenda on their behalf – business people, politicians – which leaves many people, and older generations especially, confused and guarded.” Does this mean that Bucharest is something of a contradiction? Stuck between the past and the future, between East and West? Alina considers this for a moment. “I think that, for ordinary Romanians, many promises haven’t been met. Aspirations have not been met.” And then she laughs; “it’s why everyone in Bucharest is still living in these damn blocs.” By which she means the utilitarian, Communist-era apartment blocks that dominate the cityscape, define the cityscape, making Bucharest (population: 2 million) a compact and densely populated setting for everyday life. A couple of minutes in any direction, and you’re amidst ugly buildings and sharp, unloved angles. Yet even

TRAVEL

the grimmest-looking streets suggest something above inertia; a recent lick of paint, a well-tended garden, an irreverent phrase – Against Modern Football – spray-painted onto a garage wall. “The city is changing. Its people are changing,” Alina concludes before heading off into the night. “It’s change that’s too fast for some and too slow for others, but I think we have to embrace it, because what else have we?” Turp too alludes to momentum when discussing Bucharest’s fortunes. “Recent changes have unquestionably been for the better, although as with any city that grows so quickly, the lack of a real vision for what kind of place Bucharest wants to be has meant that much of that growth has been chaotic, to say the least.” Can chaos help to define the charm? 3am on a sultry, Old Town night, and with fresh beers on the table in front of us, it seemed as good a conclusion as any. In many respects, Bucharest feels like any other European capital you’d care to mention. Yet in others, it’s as if the chaos and the contrasts exist to undermine preconceived notions of what the urban represents in the early 21st century. Bucharest is flawed – like everywhere else – but it isn’t vain enough to scrape on face paint in an attempt to draw attention away from those flaws. For that stance alone, whether by accident or design, it’s a city that demands appreciation on its terms, not yours – elegant chaos, elegant contrasts, and all.

THE SKINNY

My Golden Snatch A visit to a vaginal variety show in Thailand leads one writer to contemplate her own labial extracurriculars Words: Q Illustration: Jayde Perkin

t Patong’s ping-pong show, balloons explode around my ears, shot through with darts hurtling from clenched Thai vaginas. A middleaged woman squats over a fishbowl and out plops a live, swimming goldfish from her undercarriage. Another reaches inside herself and pulls out a sparrow, chirping and dazed from its close cervical encounter. I ponder my own vagina. It’s alright, but it’s not a lethal weapon. Or a birdcage. My vagina has lived with me for 25 years, but we’re almost strangers, co-habiting the same building like tenement neighbours. She came with no instruction manual, before search engine diagnosis became an idiot’s guide to hypochondria, and I haven’t managed to teach her any tricks yet. The best trick I could master is to maintain a consistent ph level, or prevent my pants from looking like snails have had a big sticky orgy in them. I know what you’re thinking: that’s disgusting. I know. It’s the reality of caring for a temperamental bacterial ecosystem, one that gives zero fucks if random secretions and silver pant trails are unbecoming. That’s not to say I don’t like her, she’s just high maintenance. I give her orgasms and comfy cotton-gusset pants, and avoid wearing tight jeans on hot days; she rewards me with unpredictable menstrual cycles and the occasional mid-coitus whoopee cushion thunderclap. As far as folded flesh around a cave mouth goes, she’s a looker. While often depicted as a lotus or some other gently blossoming flower, a vagina’s physical appearance is more ‘sideways bacon sandwich’ if we’re honest. The notion of ‘badly packed kebabs’ is bandied around to denigrate protruding labia, as if they’re something to be avoided. Let’s be true to ourselves folks, badly packed or no – you’re still going to eat that kebab. As someone who has eaten both pussy and

kebab, well and poorly packed, I can confirm its appearance does not change the flavour, or the outcome. Lots of other feminists have made friends with their vaginas. They celebrate their clams, frolicking around the hillside with their muffs out. They collect their menstrual blood in cups and use it as plant fertiliser, they make furry dolls out of pubic hair. I watched an artist cover her fanny in golden glitter then use it to lip sync to Donna Summer, instantly shaming a lifetime of my karaoke efforts with the opening note. I’m less adventurous with mine. I once contemplated slathering her in poster paint to make a potato print, but decided against.

“I saw an artist cover her fanny in glitter and use it to lip sync to Donna Summer. I’m less adventurous” In Amsterdam’s Banana Bar, a naked barmaid told me she’d write me a postcard. She inserted the marker and scrawled, ‘To Q love from Pussy’ in perfect script. I won’t lie, my stationery set was violated in my own love letter attempts, but I never mastered the cursive. She might not fire darts or make a decent aviary, but she’ll do.

How Not to Behave at a Queer Clubnight Three active queer performers, clubnight organisers and DJs describe some troubling cishet behaviour they’ve noticed at queer nights

hether it’s that cisgender heterosexual guy permitting himself to explore the staff and performers’ areas of the Free Pride venue, or the person who thinks it’s their privilege to jump on stage during the gigs of trans people, it remains clear that there’s an unusual and disrespectful presumption persisting in the minds of cishet people. The presumption of a liberal, all-access pass to the spaces and bodies of queer nights. Confirmation came in conversation with three other (anonymised here) queers, who are variously performers, organisers and attendees of queer nights. What follows is not only intended as advisory for the cishet, but also useful to the nonhet cis, the non-cis het, and anyone entering a queer space. First off, “Don’t remind me you’re fucking straight,” as musician and clubnight organiser Fez puts it. Waltz, a successful DJ, also remembers “a guy that was requesting songs and kept saying ‘I’m not gay’. Which, really is like saying, ‘I don’t want you to think I’m gay because that would be awful for you to think I’m gay at this gay night.’ If someone hits on you in any club or night, you just

October 2015

Words: Gene Rib

have to take it with grace and say, ‘No, I’m not interested.’ You don’t have to say you’re straight.” For Waltz, it wasn’t just the gay nay-saying that was problematic in that situation. Too often, she experiences cishet men unhelpfully offering DJing tips. “A guy came up at the end of one night saying, ‘Play Jersey Club, it’ll go down really well.’ No, it won’t go down well. And I know because I’ve been DJing this night for a year. If Jersey Club was what people wanted to hear right now, I’d be fucking playing it.” An assertion of certain gender privilege is also evident in Rio’s experience as a femalepresenting trans performer. ‘You’re not like a woman, you’re so androgynous,’ Rio is frequently told, often as a misfired compliment. “Actually, when I’m onstage I just want to be feminine, but when you’re saying I‘m part-man part-woman, you’re saying I’ve not sufficiently communicated my femininity.” Then there are the cis women ‘fixing’ Rio’s make-up. “I don’t wanna hear it. Don’t presume you know what I’m going for and that I’m failing.” Thinking also of Waltz’s experience as a female DJ,

“They’re both kind of gendered skills. DJing is meant to be what cis guys do. Make-up is what cis women do. A totally random person will assume what you’re going for and not achieving. But maybe you just don’t know.” Reflect on whether you’re qualified to make ‘top tips’. Chances are, you’re not. “Just stand over there”, Waltz advises. As well as unsolicited offers of expertise, the naïvety and enthusiasm of some first-time cishet attendees can cause a fair amount of offence too. “A girl came up to me in the toilets”, Waltz describes. “She said, ‘This is the first time I’ve been to an LGT…F?... night? What is it?’ She proceeded to tell me she’d just asked someone if they were a ‘he or she’.” Waltz emphasises that, “For a lot of people, a queer night means coming out as their true gender identity for the very first time. And then someone comes up to them and asks, ‘What are you?’ Why do you need to know what someone’s gender is?” Waltz faces a similarly troubling curiosity when she’s with her girlfriend: “‘How do you have sex? What do you do?’ It’s a creepy man thing... Maybe people don’t say it to gay male-presenting

DEVIANCE

couples, but it’s not just me that’s had this.” For Fez, “It’s almost like they’re trying to figure out whether I’m able to have normal sex. Are you trying to see if I’m having a good time? It’s something you’d just never ask straight couples.” And finally, there’s the self-indulgent and exploitative ‘experimentation’. “I’ve only ever been hit on by straight men in gay clubs,” Waltz recalls from when she was more feminine-presenting. More recently, she’s experienced straight cis girls hanging around her all night, exclaiming the likes of ‘I think I fancy you, so maybe I’m gay?’ and dancing in a sexually aggressive way. “I just want to stand and drink my beer,” she says. It’s a similar case for Rio – “When I’m feminine-presenting, I become like a weird gateway drug to being gay. People are not testing grounds for your sexuality.” Continually self-monitoring your speech, your use of space and your behaviour may appear a dull prospect. If so, then maybe remember that often the kindest relationship you can have with a queer space is to let it be – without you.

Lifestyle

Glasgow Songbook Part I

Glasgow Songbook Part II

John Farrell J

ohn Farrell graduated from Glasgow School of Artâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fine Art Photography department in 2015 and was selected to take part in the annual RSA New Contemporaries exhibition at the RSA Galleries, Edinburgh in March 2016. He was one of the artists in The Skinny's EAF graduate exhibition, 2015. Farrell uses traditional photographic materials, text, found objects and sound in his practice to explore a range of ideas relating to memory, history and heritage. Taking the collective cultural experiences of language and music as a starting point, as well as traces of real or

imagined histories and working with colloquial language and common materials, his work expands upon and addresses some of these themes. By working both physically and conceptually within the landscape and in his studio he is able to unravel the possibilities of these areas of cultural conflict and common experience, placing the work firmly within the historic and sociopolitical landscape of Scotland while acknowledging that many of these themes are universal, thus opening the work to a wider audience. johnfarrellphotos.com

SHOWCASE

THE SKINNY

Install view: Untitled (For Norman Blake and Heraclitus) and Margaret Thatcher Under a Seam of Coal

The Fall

The Border

October 2015

SHOWCASE

Photo: Joe Hart

Georgia Hardinge

Emilia Wickstead

House of Holland

Christopher Kane

London Fashion Week: S/S 2016 This season feels like it’s ‘all change.’ Not just because London Fashion Week has a new home in Brewer Street Carpark, but because every designer’s inspiration list was as disparate as the collections themselves

his era of change isn’t necessarily a bad thing (in fact, it kept things extremely interesting), but it does mean that when trends emerged, they stood out more. Here are a few things we’re excited about for next season... In terms of influences and cues, there is usually one decade or reference point that stands out across the collections. At presentations like Le Kilt (where the entire collection was a 90s ode to Shirley Manson) this remained the case. However, while the remnants of the 70s were found reinterpreted in Holly Fulton’s beautifully mature collection, it wasn’t as strong a feature as it was in the A/W shows. In fact, several designers adopted a real multi-decade approach. Topshop was by far the best example, with Kate Phelan describing the collection as a playful mix of heirloom pieces from different eras. Think layering pieces you’ve stolen from your great grandmother’s, grandmother’s and mother’s wardrobes. The contrasting reference points continued when it came to taking inspiration from places. Although there were nods to countries all around the world, the fascination with Asia still dominated. This was most obvious in collections like that of Jonathan Saunders, who layered exquisite kimono jackets over Paisley and African prints. It was a beautiful offering and a sign of exciting new things to come for the Glaswegian designer.

Lifestyle

Asian influences could also be found in Steven Tai, the subtle pleating of Georgia Hardinge & David Koma, to name a few. Even Zandra Rhodes took her inspiration from Malaysian horticulture! In terms of structure, we ask you to prepare yourself for the... ‘off-centre mullet,’ in the form of subtle hem gathers and splits at Eudon Choi and J. J S Lee (NB the latter gets a special mention for making candy stripes enter the superluxe territory). Striking panel shirts at PPQ and flowing dresses at Jean Pierre Braganza were given a modern edge using a combination of this technique, with the addition of sheer panels. And before you gasp in horror, we too remember the awful mullet dress trend, but trust us when we say that this is a surprisingly modern way to wear layers and that you’ll be a convert come summer. Equally important for summer are the deconstructed and reconstructed looks found at Christopher Kane, Preen, Versus and MM6 – these looks are an outward ode to the garment construction process and feel really fresh. Texturally, things got interesting this season. J.W. Anderson showcased voluminous, New Romantic/Hammertime sleeves with white overstitching. A subtle version of this could also be seen at Emilia Wickstead; accompanied by drop shoulders, her voluminous sleeves were infinitely wearable and architectural in feel. Romantic

macramé was also a key feature, showcased in two jaw-droppingly beautiful collections by Simone Rocha and Bora Aksu. Finally, fringing graduated from accessories and hemlines to the main event, as Phoebe English and Julien Macdonald demonstrated. Here, special note must be given to Christopher Kane’s collection for the masterful use of fringing. We’ve never been happier to see tassels swishing everywhere! One thing is for certain. Across the board, designers were feeling incredibly romantic and inspired by nature. Rising star Ryan Lo had us feeling all lovey-dovey, Molly Goddard’s chiffonladen, sandwich-making models (yes, really) were the talk of the town, and Mother of Pearl brought the Victorian ruffle collar into the 21st century, pairing it with structured knits. Elsewhere, ruffles and floral prints featured at Paul Costelloe and PPQ. The best floral look this season? A beautiful, De La Renta-worthy Emilia Wickstead dress, which we’ll no doubt be seeing on a red carpet very soon. These looks are equal parts girly and mature, so for a more urban nod to nature and romance, Henry Holland’s urbansafari looks come recommended (although we accept no liability if you choose to wear bold, clashing patterns on a real life safari). Finally (because this reporter has a soft spot for it), the most ‘London’ of all trends, humour,

FASHION

Words: Emma Segal

was definitely injected into the SS16 collections. The use of cartoons and playful prints couldn’t help but get us excited. Fyodor Golan were the absolute master this season, mixing side-mullet skirts with printed flowers on Perspex with… and here comes the fun part… transformers. Perfect for those wanting to have their romanticism with a side of Optimus Prime (!) Like the Coca ColaAshish link up or Moschino’s Barbie collection, it proves some brand-designer partnerships are meant to be (although we’re not as convinced by KFC and Katie Eary). MM6 is seriously making us consider upcycling bin liners so we can go clubbing with the cool kids. Ashley Williams’ cartoon face jumpers showed you can inject a serious collection with humour and still be taken seriously. Markus Lupfer mixed Mexican luchador prints with sequins and star shaped sunglasses, and the collection of one student at the Swedish School of Textiles was a sequined emoji-fest. Insert smiley face here. All in all, a complete mash-up of influences and trends to keep us on our toes and get us excited for SS16. But isn’t that why we always love London Fashion Week? londonfashionweek.co.uk

THE SKINNY

PPQ

October 2015

Photo: Piers Cunliffe

Molly Goddard

Fyodor Golan

Holly Fulton

FASHION

Bora Aksu

Lifestyle

ashton lane so near... yet so far... bookclub providing a credible alternative since 2010

THE SKINNY

The Food Trends of the Decade Oh boy, what a decade it’s been. Take a seat and let us talk you through the high and low points of the past ten years in the world of food Words: Peter Simpson Illustration: Stewart Armstrong

he Skinny turns ten this month. Woo, go us, let’s have a party etc etc. Of course, anniversaries like this one aren’t just about celebration and congratulation; they’re also an ideal opportunity for recrimination and the airing of grievances. With that in mind, we thought we’d take a non-exhaustive look at the food and drink trends we’ve successfully vanquished over the past ten years, and the few that survived to become genuine elements of the food landscape. Let’s journey back to 2005. Molecular gastronomy was in vogue – Heston Blumenthal, fresh from bagging three Michelin stars at The Fat Duck but not yet in full-on ‘celeb chef ’ mode, was on the telly talking about protein strand separation and making his own processed-style cheese. Sous vide was no longer just something you couldn’t pronounce – now it was something you couldn’t pronounce or understand the appeal of – and liquid nitrogen was genuinely being touted as a cooking aid. In many ways, it was the trend that set the tone for the decade to follow – intensive technique and rigour applied to dishes, a focus on pairings that defied sense until you actually tried them, and a sense of pantomime that turned dinner into an edifying but terrifying event. Of course, trends are a bit like shooting stars – if you can only spot one at a time, chances are you’re not really looking hard enough. As all that faffing about with dry ice was going on in one corner, the other overarching trend of the past ten years – the rise of street food – was kicking off elsewhere. The appeal of the street food movement lay in both its simplicity – a lack of frills and fussing would come in handy when all the money got deleted at the turn of the decade – and the ability to focus on a few things and do them well.

October 2015

Only do steamed buns, or fried chicken? Fine by us, as long as they’re really, really nice. Taking these two into account, a lot of the other food trends we’ve seen make a bit more sense. Take the evolution of baking from ‘old ladies’ pastime’ to ‘all-consuming task which requires a cupboard full of specialist equipment’. When the foodies on TV are going full out with the contents of a science classroom, and the guys at the local outdoor market can tell you the shoe size of the cow that was best friends with the one you’re currently gnawing through, you’d feel inspired and/or goaded into a response. You’re (presumably) no Michelin-starred chef, but you certainly feel like one when you’re using an oversized syringe to pump jam directly into the heart of your doughnuts. You made them with your own sourdough starter, because of course you did. Artisanal coffee, craft beer, barbecuing and slow-smoking any and every thing that will fit on a tray – all examples of our decade’s predilection with taking small details to the nth degree. Focussing on one thing, and getting it absolutely right, then doing it over and over until it can’t be improved upon. Maybe we’ve all been inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s theory that true expertise comes after 10,000 hours of practice, or conditioned by professional sport to believe that marginal gains in performance all add up in the end. Or maybe modern communication’s knack for only showing us things we already believe in has sent us all in an endless loop – ‘Of course devoting all your spare time to meringue is a good idea, look at all those retweets!’ – but the real impact of these macro trends won’t be clear for a few years yet. For now, we can revel in our pricey but delicious flat whites, spending our weekends

getting the smell of home-smoked fish out of the curtains. If the big picture was all about pushing boundaries and refining techniques, many of the smallscale trends of the last ten years seemed to be about making sure everyone’s bullshit detectors were still working. Goji berries, coconut water, quinoa – ‘superfoods’ flew in and out of fashion throughout the past decade, and often didn’t make much of an improvement on what came before, not least because nobody really seemed to know why they were there.

“Our tenth birthday is an ideal opportunity for recrimination and the airing of grievances” Take coconut water as an example. Coconut water has solid celebrity backing and a vaguely scientific and sporty air, but guess what? Not only are you not a Michelin-star chef, but you ain’t no sportsperson neither. You’re about as likely to need a quick release of electrolytes as you are to need your hooves reshoed – have a glass of water and save yourself a few quid, or have a coffee and ride that caffeine wave through the next few spreadsheets. Plus, coconut water looks like ectoplasm,

FOOD AND DRINNK

your love of quinoa often slaps it out of the hands of the farmers who make it, and goji berries are… well, they’re just berries. We’ve seen restaurants, bars and cafes embrace a number of design trends – log cabin chic, distressed warehouse vibes and Orient Express-style chandelier-mageddon all spring to mind – and we’ve had plenty of time to check those details out thanks to the now-routine wait at a ‘no reservations’ venue with about 15 seats inside. But the one trend which cannot be ignored is the refusal of chefs, proprietors and general foodists to just put food on a flipping plate. No-one has ever sat down to a meal and said: “You know what? This looks nice, but I wish it looked more like prison food, or that there was some kind of miniature furniture involved in its presentation.” This one started with the molecular gastronomy crew putting foams on everything and serving main courses with musical accompaniments, but those chefs can get away with it because they are great visionaries for whom it’s part of the act. John P Anychef, trying to emulate them by serving a chocolate cake on a piece of slate, isn’t being clever; he just thinks he is. Chips served in plant pots, meals served on steel trays, and high tea presented on scale-model picnic benches – all of it can, and we believe this is how the expression goes, get right to fuck. And that, in a nutshell, was the past ten years, minus anything we’ve forgotten or run out of time for (sorry sriracha, we’ll have to discuss your brilliance at a later date). Trends, styles and fads come and go but the food scene is as vibrant and exciting as ever; just keep putting food on plates – plates! – and the next decade should be just fine. theskinny.co.uk/food

Feature

Food News October’s food calendar features coffee, cocktails, a fate-tempting outdoor food festival and a host of food-themed film screenings

e begin this month’s round-up at Glasgow’s Southside Film Festival, with a look at Palestinian food culture in Resistance Recipes. The latest in an ongoing series of events from the Open Jar art collective, the event features screenings of Palestinian short films as well as cookery demos and tastings. 11 Oct, 12.30pm, Toryglen Community Base, 179 Prospecthill Circus, free, southsidefilm.co.uk Staying in Glasgow and taking a similarly serious look at the world of food, film double bill Skipping Dinner and Taste the Waste tackle the issue of wasted, rejected, and just-plain-chuckedaway food both at home and elsewhere. Skipping Dinner by the Glasgow-based film group camcorder guerrillas looks at the city’s freegan movement, while German filmmaker Valentin Thurn takes on the sheer volume of food which hits landfill between farm and fridge in Taste the Waste – maybe not the double bill to accompany with your usual pedal bin full of popcorn. 13 Oct, 7pm, CCA, 350 Sauchiehall St, free, cca-glasgow.com

Cake design by Becca Strahan

Credit: Peter Simpson

Words: Peter Simpson

Have Our Cake And Eat It In honour of our 10th birthday we’ve been on the hunt for the perfect confection to celebrate. Okay internet, hit us with your worst birthday cakes... Words: Lewis MacDonald

f we haven’t made it clear enough throughout this issue, or in our various excited social media shouts about ‘big mental parties’ – or in case you are the type who flicks straight to the Phagomania column and snubs the rest of the magazine – you’ll be pleased to hear that we are celebrating our 10th birthday this month. If you do flick straight to Phagomania, by the way, cheers – we’re not sure what that says about you but we are humbled by your choice. With that in mind, what else could we do but salute the weirdest and most wonderful celebration

cakes that the internet has to offer? Well, salute them, then point out that we can’t be held accountable for any upset children or confused relatives incurred in the case of copying any of these cakes. We’ll start with a slightly darker entry in the internet’s birthday cake compendium. Any cake that doubles as an intervention or insult is surely packing a bit more punch than anyone wants on a birthday, but at the same time it’s always nice to feel like you’ve been noticed (for better or worse) on your birthday. Then there are the super-nerdy but technically

impressive cakes, such as an expertly-iced Tom Selleck. Come on, who else are you going to put on a birthday cake? Sometimes, Selleck is just the right choice. There’s a Friends reference in there, but we don’t have time to make it. And finally, our kind of birthday cake – enormous, unwieldy, and shaped like another equally out-there food stuff. After all, why have a birthday cake when you can have a giant sweetened birthday burger? It is a special occasion after all. theskinny.co.uk/food/phagomania

Glasgow Coffee Festival

Credit: Alicia Traveria

The following weekend sees this column return to its usual happy-go-lucky self, although that may be the result of a pre-emptive hyperactivity brought on by the return of the Glasgow Coffee Festival. With around 30 of the top coffee producers and pourers from across the city and beyond in attendance, and a host of other coffeerelated hijinks including short films and art exhibitions, it’s the ideal chance to go on a caffeinepowered ramble in the company of like-minded individuals. More power to you, we say, wiping milk froth from our beards. 17 Oct, The Briggait, 141 Bridgegate, £10/8, facebook.com/ TheGlasgowCoffeeFestival Meanwhile in Edinburgh, there’s the capital debut of Kiltr’s Street Feastival at St Andrew Square. Promising street-style dishes from some of the city’s top restaurants, along with DJs and – of course – a well-stocked bar, there’s bound to be a dish or drink to suit even the fussiest of your friends. If there isn’t, well, at least we tried. 16-18 Oct, St Andrew Square, free, kiltr.com/ streetfeastival Finally this month, things get a bit swanky with the return of Cocktails in the City, bringing eighteen of the capital’s bars together under the incredibly swag roof of the Mansfield Traquair. There’s one-to-one cocktail tuition, a host of tasty drinks to try out, and a lovely room packed with detail and charm – it’ll be just like that ‘nice night out’ you’ve got stored somewhere in your imagination. 29 & 30 Oct, 6pm, Mansfield Traquair, 15 Mansfield Pl, £10, cocktailsinthecity.co.uk theskinny.co.uk/food

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FOOD AND DRINK

THE SKINNY

October 2015

We’re hiring! We’re looking for a Production Manager to join the team in our Edinburgh office. This role requires creativity and organisational skills, plus the ability to remain calm under pressure. We’re not looking for any specific qualifications, but an art school education is preferred. You can find out full details at theskinny.co.uk/about/get-involved Hours: 16 days per month Anticipated start date: 1 December 2015 Deadline: 9am, Monday 26 Oct

@theskinnymag

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/TheSkinnyMag Illustration: Verbal Picks

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RE V

Gig Highlights

IE W

We look forward to nights with Godspeed, Blackalicious, Oxjam and some local rag throwing a free 10th anniversary bash

October 2015

That There sees the band re-working old material and having fun with covers – cross your fingers for a performance of their acoustic version of Friday I’m In Love. Also in Glasgow, The Tallest Man On Earth, aka charismatic Swede Kristian Mattson, will fill the O2 ABC with his trademark melodic indie folk, following the release of album number four, the shimmering Dark Bird Is Home, back in May (20 Oct). Continuing in the vein of ethereal vocals, but with the addition of wavering synths, woolly beats and intricate arrangements, three-piece Son Lux, the brainchild of musical NYC whizz-kid Ryan Lott, will be intriguing punters at Summerhall, Edinburgh (22 Oct). They may evoke the grungy indie rock of old, but don’t write Speedy Ortiz off as just another 90s revival act. The Boston-based group, fronted by the sassy Sadie Dupuis, have been lauded for their clever lyrics and fucks-not-given attitude. They play Glasgow’s Stereo on 22 Oct, featuring able support from fellow indie-alt purveyors Trust Fund and local duo Pinact. Meanwhile, Sunday 25 Oct is coming up with the goods regardless of whether you’re in the west or the east – if it’s the former, you can catch the mind-warp gloriousness of Battles when the energetic, experimental art rockers bring their antics to Glasgow’s O2 ABC. If you’re in the latter camp, head along for a dose of Canadian post-rock when Godspeed You! Black Emperor hit The Liquid Room. Known for incorporating film projections into their incendiary live performances, and with the release of the mammoth Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress earlier in the year, they’ve all the ingredients for a memorable show. Hurtling towards the eve of Samhain, LA noise rockers HEALTH take to the stage at Stereo (26 Oct). Melding darkly industrial electronica with a drop of dance music, after a six-year gap between records the group are back with the ever-so-slightly pop tinged Death Magic. They’re inventive, intense, and a fittingly indefatigable end to a rather boisterous month of live music. Blackalicious cap our month on Halloween itself at Electric Circus on 31 Oct. If it’s showmanship without showiness and clever, socially conscious lyricism rather than bullshit and bravado that you’re after, Chief Excel and Gift of Gab are safe hands.

Credit: Alexander Bell

hile October may be the month for kissing any few remnant sunny days goodbye, burying heads in textbooks, and carving pumpkins in preparation for Halloween, this is also shaping up to be a rare season of musical revelry. Along with a whole host of superb upcoming gigs, there’s also a merry handful of festival one-dayers on offer this October, including (if we do say so ourselves) a rather special birthday celebration… First up, it’s a chance to hear veteran Duluth, Minnesota trio Low bring their sombre ‘slowcore’ to The Art School (8 Oct). Recently released LP Ones and Sixes ‘weaves together the strongest elements of their 22-year career,’ according to our reviewer, and with support from talented Aussie troubadour Mike Noga, it’s a fine way to ease yourself into another leafy autumn. Taking it up a notch, Friday night gets a volume injection courtesy of surf rock gang The Parrots. The party-loving trio from Madrid blow through town with a free show at Broadcast (9 Oct). If you’re after some midweek jollies, the roof will be raised at La Belle Angele when punk-spirited misfits Sleaford Mods take the stage (14 Oct). Work and studies be damned – with vocalist Jason Williamson spitting bellicose lyrics like broken teeth, the Nottingham duo’s furious blue-collar invective is sure to liven up this school night. We promised there’d be birthday celebrations, and commemorating ten glorious years of The Skinny calls for some all-out carousing. We will be taking over Edinburgh’s Old Town and filling The Mash House with a birthday-eve extra-vaganza of live music, spoken word performances and stages curated by the likes of Detour, Neu Reekie, Substance, Lost Map and more. Come one, come all and join in the revelry – there will be pizza! Head pounding following an over-indulgence of birthday shenanigans? There’s only one way to recover from a fall – get right back on that horse and take in The Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover. Spread over a number of Old Town venues, the festival (which we’re proud to be partnering up with) will be brandishing some of Scotland’s brightest hopes, including reggae and blues mash-up masters Sea Bass Kid, ‘burgh psych garage sextet The Valkarys, and Dunfermline alt-rock lads Foreign Fox. And with the festival’s aim of uniting music lovers to raise money to fight poverty, any residual hangover will surely be erased by those altruistic feel-good vibes. Still in the capital, Jane Weaver is fresh from a slot at Liverpool Psych Fest and ready to bring her psychedelia-laced folk to Electric Circus (17 Oct). Weaver has worn many musical hats throughout her career – the singer/songwriter and guitarist has performed with Britpop group Kill Laura and Noughties indie pop outfit Misty Dixon, and also founded the record label Bird Records which supports female folk musicians. Don’t miss out on her beautifully cosmic krautrock, illuminated by chiffon-light vocals. Two days later and it’s time for some vintage shoegaze courtesy of beloved 90s rockers Ride (Edinburgh Corn Exchange, 19 Oct). We caught the veteran group proving the endurance of their catalogue with a solid headline slot at London’s Field Day festival back in June, and the dreamy Vapour Trail is sure to be a firm crowd favourite, now 25 years on from its release. All this frivolity in the capital is enough to make the toughest Weegie feel a bit neglected, but fear not, eclectic experimentalists Yo La Tengo are bringing the sweet, sweet guitar fuzz to Glasgow’s Garage (16 Oct). Their latest record Stuff Like

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Jane Weaver

Do Not Miss The Pleasance Sessions, 9-11 Oct

Blanck Mass

Credit: Sam Huddleston

Credit: JayJay Robertson

Words: Claire Francis

ew student in town and eager to discover the best of what the Scottish music scene has to offer? The annual Pleasance Sessions, masterminded by EUSA, are back and we’re proud to once again bring you another quality bill as part of the weekend’s festivities. Blanck Mass, aka Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons, will headline our Saturday night show – if you haven’t heard his caustic, colossal Dumb Flesh in, well, the flesh, be sure to put this at the top of your must-see list (and mind yer earplugs). In addition, there’s a raft of acts who in some way or another have been regulars in these pages over the years – RM Hubbert, better known as Hubby, will be exhibiting his unique brand of flamenco Scottish post-rock (that’s a musical hybrid you don’t see every day) – plus we’ve

MUSIC

teamed up with consummate psych quintent Outblinker, and delightful duo BDY_PRTS, who recently impressed with their debut T in The Park slot. The preceding night is programmed by our good friend Vic Galloway, who brings rising Glasgow quartet Catholic Action, scuzz pop merchants PAWS and Jonnie Common along for the ride on 9 Oct, while EUSA sign off the 2015 edition with Blue Rose Code and Withered Hand on 11 Oct The event also just happens to coincide with an independent label and craft market, as well as the Pleasance’s annual Och!Toberfest, so there’ll be plenty of opportunity to sample some of the best brews while taking in a healthy diet of the region’s musical talent. And rest. [Claire Francis]

Review

Tame Impala

Barrowland, Glasgow, 8 Sep

Photo: Rita Azevedo

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A sold-out Barrowland crowd will rarely disappoint, but the barrier-pushing, clamouring audience on Tuesday night is declared “best of the tour” by Tame Impala’s beaming front-man/mastermind Kevin Parker. A hackneyed term, but one delivered with apparently genuine and very breathless enthusiasm as Parker sprays his water-bottle over the sweating, shrieking front row. “I feel like I’m giving life,” he laughs, asking “are you all mad on Irn Bru?” before the band thunders into the floorshuddering hooks of Elephant – Tame Impala’s award winning single from similarly decorated 2012 album Lonerism. Pints go flying. The night’s set is thick with call-backs to Lonerism and debut album Innerspeaker, offering

ample opportunity to prove that Tame Impala’s July release, Currents, is very much at home within the band’s catalogue. On record, new tracks like Let It Happen and The Moment depart from Parker’s typically guitar-driven, bluesy psych-rock in favour of electronic finger snaps and exploratory synth, but, for better or worse, this difference evaporates on stage. The cohesion makes for a charismatic, transportative set that’s been well polished by a rigorous touring schedule, and newbies The Less I Know The Better and ‘Cause I’m A Man both look and feel as though they’ll be rivalling previous fan favourites for singalong value. An (inevitable) encore of Feels Like We Only Go Backwards sees Parker conducting the room with his arms held high, waving at fans perched on shoulders; full confirmation that Tame Impala’s star is still on the rise. [Katie Hawthorne] tameimpala.com

Natalie Prass

beautifully bare-boned and vulnerable. It’s largely thanks to the chops of her backing band that any sense of roughness is injected into these fragile beasts, rrrrr and when they eventually roar (as on frenetic new There’s a Venn diagram somewhere that overlaps number Jazz), they’re a joy to behold. folk-rock with that tedious signifier of overly-tasteNot everything goes according to plan: halfful coffee-tableism known as ‘AOR’. On her selfway through the show, she wrinkles her nose and titled debut LP, Natalie Prass leans heavily on the asks whether something is burning. It’s quickly estaformer but occasionally wobbles perilously towards blished that an audience member has accidentally the latter – it’s a shame that this might cause her set her hair on fire. “Damn, girl!” the singer chuckles. delightful collection of chamber pop to be carelessly “That stinks!” Before long, the incident forms the cast aside. Thankfully this rather more raucous lyrical basis of an improvised mock-blues number live show redresses the balance somewhat. entitled The Quiet Storm – along with a story of ‘Raucous’ is relative, of course: Prass’ voice is excusing herself from college class, in order to finish a gently precise yet emotive instrument. Echoes writing a song in the bathroom, it all adds up to an of Eddi Reader abound, particularly on the winsome endearing stage presence. Pair that with some exjangle of Bird of Prey, while there’s also a hint of cellent songwriting and you’ve got a class act. AdultAlison Krauss’ enduring warmth in her confident orientated? Whatever: one album in, Natalie Prass delivery. Without the album’s luscious sweep of is already a captivating performer. [Will Fitzpatrick] Gershwin-esque strings (provided by Trey Pollard, natalieprassmusic.com present tonight on lead guitar), her songs feel

rrrrr

Glasgow Barrowlands, 9 Sep

rrrrr

Photo: Derek Robertson

It would take a formidable soul indeed to upstage Samuel T Herring, but tonight Future Islands’ comrades are rising to the challenge. The diminuitive Du Blonde fronts up to a lean crowd, but as the artist formerly known as Beth Jeans Houghton rumbles through the stormy Black Flag, it’s clear the Newcastle native has embraced her ferocious side. Houghton tackles the quirky Mind Is On My Mind with single-handed verve (minus Herring’s cameo from the record), and heartfelt ballad Hunter shows off the singer’s winsome, husky vibrato while sending shivers up spines. This paves the way perfectly for the rougher, sweatier antics of Baltimore noise rockers Dope Body. Lead singer Andrew Laumann is quick to shed his shirt and dance away to the defiant Road Dogs, a maelstrom of twirled microphone stand and swiveling Mick Jagger snake hips. In the flesh the group are more cohesive and less skittish than their eclectic recorded output, and it makes for a captivating riot. You could feasibily call it a night on the strength of the support acts alone, but the brilliant best has just erupted onto the stage. Whether Cossack dancing, high kicking or abruptly stage-diving, Herring has the packed-out venue spellbound from start to finish. His mesmerising stage persona, an earnest performance art piece of chest thumping and death metal growls take Future Islands’ exquisite recordings to even greater emotional heights. Spirit and The Chase ellicit the kind of vociferous applause usually reserved for an encore moment, as a perspirationsoaked Herring gives himself over bodily to his craft. So many months on the road, but they routinely leave us marvelling at the vitality of their collective force tonight. [Claire Francis]

Review

Foo Fighters

Murrayfield, Edinburgh, 8 Sep

Future Islands / Dope Body / Du Blonde

future-islands.com

Photo: Amy Muir

Electric Circus, Edinburgh, 2 Sep

“We might do some stupid shit now and again,” Dave Grohl confesses of that onstage tumble in Gothenburg, the broken leg and subsequent three month delay it took his Foo Fighters to get here, “but we always fuckin’ come back.” Beyond their shotgun Barrowlands debut in 95 or that surprise SECC support slot with The Prodigy a few years later, Murrayfield 2015 is another night sure to go down as an anomalous treat in the tour diary. Wearing stadium rock clichés like Paul Stanley in his pomp (with a knowing wink), Grohl screams the opening curtain down with All My Life, accelerating up the catwalk on his fully customised perch – a cross between some lost piece of Doctor Who memorabilia and a guitar nut’s take on the Iron Throne. Even with his right leg raised in plaster, the charismatic talisman of everyman rock leans in and headbangs through the next 150 minutes,

tossing out direct hits – Times Like These, Learn To Fly, Big Me – like confetti going spare. They don’t always detonate as intended; even with extra time to adjust to latest opus Sonic Highways – somehow their most ambitious but procedural studio document to date – Something From Nothing and Congregation arrive with all the bombast we’ve come to expect; yet they struggle to match the alternate joy and profundity of immortal treasures like This Is A Call or My Hero. Luckily there’s room on the setlist for all of it tonight. Entirely aware of their surroundings – whether evinced by Chris Shiflett’s lick of In A Big Country, or Pat Smear’s rapturously received introduction to a cover of Vaselines standard Molly’s Lips (made famous on Nirvana’s Incesticide) – Grohl completes the handshake with praise for the numerous Scots in their long-serving road crew. Ending the night on Everlong, still a deeply resonant calling card, it’s a hard heart that can’t be won by this kind of unwavering conviction. [Dave Kerr] foofighters.com

Blank Realm

of Reach You On The Phone and River Of Longing. The band are raw and untamed, with the most glorious affirmation of this coming from Daniel’s subrrrrr disco primitivism: instrumental sections gather “Thanks for coming out on a Monday night.” pace as he loses himself to the rush, caring little Singer/drummer Daniel Spencer smiles bashfully, for the pesky precision of timekeeping and simply staring at his fingers before counting the band in. surrendering to thrashing, flailing noise. MeanSuddenly we’re blown away by white-hot sears of while Luke Walsh’s effervescent axework projects fuzzy oblivion, bass’n’drums clanking manically galaxies onto the walls of The Hug & Pint, all the while the sound swiftly absorbs first the attention, while playing as though the ceiling is slowly melting then the adulation of all present. Brisbane’s Blank on top of him. It’s simply glorious. Realm have previously been referred to as the greaGo Easy’s gnarled, Royal Trux-esque psych sees test live band in Australia (to complete the quote: keytar player Sarah Spencer take over kit duties, “...scratch that, the world”), so our hopes were while Daniel stands before us, dancing with the pretty high in advance. We never expected this. unrestrained joy of an awkward child who has just Every song is a breathless mess of nervous discovered the pleasure that lurks within sashaying energy, deeply-wracked noise and hook-drenched rhythm. It feels like we should be thanking him. pulses. Songs duck and dive on twitching, post[Will Fitzpatrick] punk rhythms, gathering volume and sewing it into facebook.com/blankrealmband tension, rendering frantic the sweeter melodies The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 28 Sep

MUSIC

THE SKINNY

Under the Influence: Killing Joke’s guide to dub Founder of the first psychedelic trance label and an instrumental figure in UK ambient, Killing Joke’s Martin ‘Youth’ Glover gives us an education in all things dub with nine of his personal favourites

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry & The Upsetters – Super Ape [1976] I was already into Perry by the time this came out but Super Ape just seemed to go further than the others. The atmosphere, the ambience and the mashing up of everything was unbelievable for me at the time. Subsequently learning that he was doing that on a little eight-track mixer with the barest minimum of equipment was mindbending. It certainly illustrates what any great dub album does: he’s taking backing tracks from other records and productions and reinventing them, alchemising them. It’s just blinding. I recommend it to anyone. Augustus Pablo and King Tubby – King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown [1976] Augustus Pablo is a great melodica player and a great master of melodies. What Tubby does with the dubs and the way he reinvents is just revolutionary, like Perry, but Tubby’s more bass and drums focused. I remember listening to this record in 1977 when it came out, in west London where the Killing Joke was squatting. You’d go into a very small, dark living room in the bottom of a Victorian house in the basement and there’d be a small room, maybe 6 foot by 4… very minimal lighting – just shadows. You’d be rammed up next to loads of other people with a tiny little bar at the back and smoke from ganja weed. It was an amazing place to hear that sound – the bass would just penetrate your bones. With Tubby, the crispness of the hats and the drums really set him apart... he still remains one of the great innovators of the genre.

“PiL did everything I wanted to do with Killing Joke first!” Martin ‘Youth’ Glover

Scientist – Scientist Meets the Space Invaders [1981] I remember being with [The Orb’s] Alex Paterson when we had a bedsit in Earl’s Court and we’d go down to the kebab shop that had Space Invaders and Asteroids. We’d literally be in there for three or four hours just getting really good and then we’d go back to our room and listen to dub, so when Scientist did one based on Space Invaders we couldn’t believe it. It just appealed to our infantile sense of humour and it was kind of comic book and silly. He would go crazy and just add the most silly sounds – all these household sounds like creaking doors – and dub them up with big reverb. And it was busy as well. It was crazy to the old dub heads, who found him a sort of young upstart, but for us at the time it was just fantastic.

October 2015

Interview: Andrey Gordon Photography: Markus Thorsen

Aswad – A New Chapter of Dub [1982] Another classic from the time, which is unusual because it’s British. Aswad lived in Ladbroke Grove near where we lived, so we were in awe of them. I think what they managed to achieve was to meet, and even go beyond, what some of the Jamaican dub masters were doing. And I think the first track, Dubfire, with the horns, was just blinding. It had a bass line from heaven with this spritely synthesiser thing doubling it. I play that track in some of my DJ sets before we come on with Killing Joke. It’s the dub album that we can recall from memory. The Orb – The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld [1991] I’m going to do a little bit of selfpromotion here and mention someone I’ve been involved with. I produced Little Fluffy Clouds. By this time, me and Alex had got a lot more experience in the studio. We just started to dub in our way with our vocabulary and our language from where we’d been growing up in squats in west London. I don’t know what more to say: I think it’s a masterpiece today, I think it’s a monumental piece of work and it has been frequently used in classic dub compilations, so I have to include this. Hallucinogen – In Dub [2002] Simon Posford was a young assistant I picked up from Olympic Studios. He was too hippy and wild there. Eventually I badgered him and bullied him into doing trance and he became and still remains a premiere producer and the artistic benchmark of trance music. Hallucinogen’s In Dub was made with me and him and another one of my in-house Butterfly engineers, Ott, who’s also become huge in the electronic psych-dub scene and is now touring the world. I’ve very proud of that – that two of my former assistants have eclipsed me. What a great validation! This became a ground-breaking album on the psych-trance and chillout scenes and remains a kind of benchmark of dub production. Suns of Arqa – All Is Not Lost, But Where Is It? [2015] This is really unique production featuring John Cooper Clarke and many others. A great dub excursion mixed by big Wadada who’s made over twenty dub albums infused with traditional Indian music. It has a lot of electronic influences, it’s got some heavy bass lines and it’s a very modern album: the kick drums sound different than they did in the 90s. I think this new album’s eclipsed everything he’s done over the last 20 to 30 years.

African Head Charge – My Life in a Hole in the Ground [1981] An Adrian Sherwood one… he’s done so many! I grew up with his industrial dub and it’s been such a pivotal inspiration – again, British. He keeps reinventing himself. He had a great album with these New York guys, Tackhead, and his U-Sounds label was huge. I like the dubstep album he did a couple of years ago and I love his politics, the stuff he was doing with Mark Stewart from the pop group As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade; it’s got very politically conscious lyrics. And there was Dub Syndicate… but I’m going to have to go with the African Head Charge album. They had Jah Wobble, one of the great bass players of dub. And Skip McDonald, a great guitarist.

MUSIC

Public Image Ltd – Metal Box [1979] Again, it features Wobble. And Lydon. Although I love the first album, Metal Box is a masterpiece, a monumental work, with Dennis Morris’s packaging it in a metal film box with three 12-inches. I thought they just got that whole art punk thing. They fulfilled the promise of punk. They did everything I wanted to do with Killing Joke first! They were the big influence, and they remain a vital force in music individually. Pylon by Killing Joke is released on 23 Oct via Spinefarm Killing Joke play Glasgow O2 ABC on 3 Nov killingjoke.com

Feature

Album of the Month Joanna Newsom

Divers [Drag City, 23 Oct]

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Joanna Newsom’s last album, Have One On Me was a three-disc, 18-track, two-hour odyssey. Album number four is perhaps more modest in scale – just the 11 songs, thanks – but no less lofty in ambition. Subjects as boundless as world war (Waltz of the 101st Lightborne) and the death of a historic New York City mayor (Sapokanikan) are lustily embraced, with a deceptively simple ‘love song’ thread woven through. This dense lyricism is keenly matched with rich, luxuriant instrumentation and Divers perhaps reaches a zenith in Newsom’s arrangement skills (the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra are featured players).

Dave Heumann

John Carpenter

Grey Tickles, Black Pressure [Bella Union, 9 Oct]

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facebook.com/ArbouretumBand

dragcity.com/artists/joanna-newsom

John Grant

Here in the Deep [Thrill Jockey, 16 Oct] Autumn. And as if to mark the occasion, the debut solo LP from the Arbouretum frontman arrives shaded in earthy, feuille-morte introspection, like a WB Yeats poem set to music (there’s even a track entitled Leaves Underfoot, in case the prevailing mood has us slow on the uptake). Fans will recognise Arbouretum’s trademark touches – particularly the sense of space within the production, affording scope for the material to breathe. The folk-rock leanings, however, are more pronounced than his day job’s outings, wispy instrumentals Morning Remnants and the aforementioned, acoustic-driven Leaves Underfoot suggesting that it’s autumn of 1975, not forty years later. It’s the rest of the album where matters come a little unglued, the AOR Americana and strident guitar of Switchback and Ides of Summer sitting uneasily aside the more reflective moments. And whilst there are a few cute touches – particularly the backwards guitar on Holly King On A Hill – the prevailing winds are uncertain; rather like autumn itself. [Duncan Harman]

There’s light and shade, of course: softer, piano-led ballads like the gently sad The Things I Say offer a contrast to the more bombastic entries like album opener Anecdotes. But it’s in these more elaborate tracks, ebbing and flowing between decorum and opulence, that Newsom really shines. Clavichords, mellotrons, and marxophones are pitted alongside her trademark harp and elegant, dextrous voice; each song boasts tremendous subtlety, movement, grace and nuance. Witness the carefully devastating conglomeration of vocals, strings, horns, percussion, and birdsong on album closer Time, As A Symptom, and it’ll be hard not to conclude that this is surely one of the albums of the year. [John Nugent]

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John Grant’s third effort sees the Iceland-based musician reach a new level of maturity, even as his stylistic choices shoot for something wilder. Grant’s lyrics – sardonic, raw, somehow both cynical and earnest – remain a key appeal. But he also builds on the electronic, ’80s-influenced sound established in Pale Green Ghosts, creating a bold hybrid of dancefloor fillers, lushly arranged orchestra pop, and poetic meditations. Indeed, for a man who seeks painful catharsis through music, he sure knows how to get funky. First single Disappointing, featuring Tracey Thorn, has wah-wah riffs and ‘shooby-shooby-da-ba-ba’ backing singers; mid-point track Voodoo Doll could be a Prince B-side. Global Warming seems more like ‘classic’ Grant, in which the singer sarcastically laments the effects of an overheating planet on his complexion. Few of his peers offer such depth, courage, or repeat listening value. [John Nugent] Playing Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on 26 Jan johngrantmusic.com

Lost Themes Remixed [Sacred Bones, 16 Oct]

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A glorious paean to the science fiction soundtracks of our youth, legendary sci-fi and horror director John Carpenter’s Lost Themes, released earlier this year, is a portentous journey through ascetic beats, glacial synths and somber piano chords. It’s also unashamedly 80s in its aesthetic, and with Lost Themes Remixed, the objective – with interventions from Blanck Mass, Prurient, Zola Jesus and Bill Kouligas – was clearly to slough away some of the original’s more outmoded aural elements. Uniform’s Vortex remix is undoubtedly the most danceable, adding melodic synth and sophisticated percussion, while Blanck Mass updates Fallen with his now techno onslaught. Not all of these remixes enhance the original; ohGr eviscerates Wraith's gentle simplicity with heavy-handed beats. The beauty of Lost Themes Remixed is that it allows two versions of Carpenter’s work to co-exist – one for nostalgia’s sake, another for the here and now. [Claire Francis] John Carpenter will play ATP Iceland, Keflavik on 1-3 Jul 2016 theofficialjohncarpenter.com

Alex G

Esmerine

EL VY

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Beach Music [Domino, 9 Oct]

Lost Voices [Constellation, 16 Oct]

Return to the Moon [4AD, 30 Oct]

Alex Giannascoli pens songs like it’s some kind of bodily reflex; swift, spontaneous and essential. Beach Music is his seventh album in five years, and if anything he’s gaining momentum: since last year’s DSU, the Philly-based prodigy has dropped out of college, signed to Domino and knuckled down to music-making full-time, resulting in his best work yet. Beneath the rough-hewn veneer and casual disposition there’s considerable ambition and imagination at play, with tracks like Salt (a slow, shimmering ballad with an ominous undertow and unpredictable structure) and In Love (a piano-led lament with vivid trumpet fills) taking Alex G into fascinating new territory. Elsewhere, Thorns restates the melancholic influence of Elliott Smith, Station segues precariously between layered melodies, and Brite Boy delivers a breezy one-man duet; lead single Bug, meanwhile, evokes both Sebadoh and Alvin and the Chipmunks in the space of twoand-a-half minutes, to compelling effect. [Chris Buckle]

The fifth album from the Montreal chamber rock collective is a beguiling mass of dialled-down post-rock, classical figures and exploratory soundscapes. Led by ex-Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion members Bruce Cawdron and Rebecca Foon, the newly expanded quintet takes flight. Much of Lost Voices’ impact is due in no small part to the string arrangements of cellist Foon and Godspeed violinist Sophie Trudeau, who guests on four tracks. At its most muscular (the driving electric guitars of 19/14) or its most tender (the delicate A Trick of the Light), Lost Voices manages mood and melody with a deft and hypnotic grace. My Mama Pinned a Rose On Me introduces marimba and even here, where texture takes precedence over melody, the whole remains dynamic and taut. Lost Voices takes time, on occasion, to breathe and relax but it steadfastly avoids the indulgence of ‘ambient’ or wanton noodling. Beyond words, beyond beautiful. [Gary Kaill]

On the artwork for Return to the Moon, the first release from the collaborative vehicle of Matt Berninger of the National and Brent Knopf of Menomena and Ramona Falls, the former has eschewed his trademark solemn rags, the waistcoat being ditched in favour of a white shirt and trouser combo. It’s subtle, but telling: this album is more playful and less grand than the towering quatrains Berninger’s been indulging in on the day shift since 2003’s Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. The bouncy title track sets the tone for a chic, intelligent listen. Knopf’s projects have always been more experimental than Berninger’s, and the combination frequently ends up in the goldilocks zone, finding happy mediums on the rollicking Happiness, Missouri; the beautiful No Time to Crank the Sun and the funky I’m the Man to Be. Melodious and inventive, layered but not overly ornate: EL VY’s debut is too fully-formed to be dismissed as a side project. [Finbarr Bermingham]

andy.bandcamp.com

esmerine.com

elvy.co

Killing Joke

Kowloon Walled City

Mercury Rev

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Pylon [Spinefarm Records, 23 Oct]

Grievances [Neurot, 9 Oct]

Accomplished, you’d expect, but switched on and inspired? Neither is a given for a band fast approaching its fourth decade. In keeping with the blackened, raging apocalyptica of their post-2002 reformation output, the original line-up of Jaz Coleman, Geordie, Youth and Paul Ferguson detail the more metallic end of the Killing Joke sound with as smart an ear for a monster hook as they had in the mid-eighties when the likes of Love Like Blood were bone fide chart botherers. Pylon is all about size and scale, rich dynamics: a blistering proto-metal with keen pop sensibilities. When War on Freedom lets loose, Geordie’s ringing guitar a genuinely joyous throwback, their ongoing influence makes perfect sense. In a smarter world, Euphoria would be all over the airwaves. It’s still a toss-up as to whether this is the music that welcomes or causes the end of the world but its credibility is beyond question, so ditch the young ‘uns for a moment and show some respect for your elders. [Gary Kaill]

Third LP time for Kowloon Walled City, as the San Francisco post-hardcore types pull themselves out of the sludge to reveal something more intricate, yet no less raging than 2012’s mighty Container Ships. Scott Evans still yells with the same scintillating blend of gusto and ruin, while there’s no little muscle in the band’s performance – this time, however, silence is an equally powerful instrument. Backlit’s wirily off-piste chords drape themselves across ominously stark passages that occasionally give way to restrainedly doomy riffs, frequently fostering a hostile tension without catharsis. Sounds like a recipe for an unfulfilling experience, but Grievances manifests its majesty in mounting despair: once your ears attune, the emotional rush begins to border on the epic. Manna from heaven for anyone who’s ever entertained the idea of Slint, Floor and Twelve Hour Turn locked in a glaring contest; beautifully bleak heaviosity for everyone else. [Will Fitzpatrick]

Playing Glasgow O2 ABC on 3 Nov | killingjoke.com

inthewalledcity

Review

RECORDS

The Light In You [Bella Union, 2 Oct] Seven years after the dreamy Snowflake Midnight, Mercury Rev have plundered the toolkit which has served them so well in almost 25 years of recording. At its finest, The Light In You provides some moments of wide-eyed wonder, the kind of which have been scattered throughout their long career. Opening track Queen of the Swans leads in the orchestral head of steam, with the theme threaded throughout. Autumn in the Air, with brass, bells, swirling strings and elegiac lyricism, is majestic, and the shimmering Coming Up for Air is stunning. This is the grandest record Mercury Rev have made, laden with huge crescendos, which on unfortunate occasion tend to blend into one, rendering events a touch repetitive and nebulous. When they get it right, though, they nail it with gusto. And for those moments, The Light In You is a worthy addition to a towering back catalogue. [Finbarr Bermingham] Mercury Rev play Glasgow Art School on 20 Nov mercuryrev.com

THE SKINNY

Larry Gus

Roots Manuva

Wavves

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I Need New Eyes [DFA, 22 Oct]

Bleeds [Big Dada, 30 Oct]

V [Ghost Ramp / Warner Bros., 2 Oct]

If anyone’s got a handle on life, you’d think it’d be musicians – right? Not if they’re Larry Gus, apparently. Convinced of his own incompetence and envious of his contemporaries, Gus is a hot plate of anxiety on his new record, prone to bouts of self-pity that are hard to swallow coming from a man head-hunted by DFA on the strength of his Myspace profile. Take opener The Black Veil of Fail, on which he confides “the success of others just makes me mad, unable to act straight or ever think clear.” Fortunately, Gus’s bizarre, exuberant compositions tell another story. Assembled from samples fished out for bargain bins, his kaleidoscopic collages teeter thrillingly on the edge of chaos. Taking the Personal Away is pure DFA, like a world music remix of LCD Soundsystem’s Us v Them, while The Sun Describes sparkles with the quiet ecstasy of Four Tet circa There is Love in You. Chill the beans, Gus, you did good. [Andrew Gordon]

‘The TVs and magazines keep them kinda hopeful that one day, in some way, they’ll get a lucky break, in the meantime that plant food provides a cheap escape,’ mourns Rodney Smith on Bleeds’ social lament and opener Hard Bastards, almost instantaneously quashing any notion that middle age might have softened the Brit-hop GOAT’s gimlet eye. Clocking in at less than 40 minutes, Bleeds is the shortest, but arguably most eclectic and intense Roots Manuva album to date, taking in everything from Four Tet-produced electronic jitterbugs (2:11), to morose retrospectives (I Know Your Face) and experimental soul (Don’t Breathe Out). Mainstream recognition might have passed Smith by at this point, but to have achieved this sort of longevity while operating at the coalface of innovation speaks just as loudly as, if not louder than any amount of top 40 hits. Witness the fitness, indeed. [Graeme Campbell]

Wavves has never really been about substance. At least not in any traditional sense, with weed being this particular slacker’s go-to drug – Nathan Williams’ plan of attack has always been the same. The gloomy figure on the cover might raise preconceptions that they’d continue in the grungier direction of last LP Afraid of Heights (their strongest yet), but V is instead V rides similar tides to 2010’s King of the Beach, with simple hooks, pretty vocal harmonies and mundane subject matter. Immediately apparent is the thin, simplistic production for what still adds up to a thicker sound; lead track Heavy Metal Detox and Pony mostly filter out the noise rock of old, giving way to jagged, danceable indie pop. Redlead’s refrain ‘I’m broken and insane’ is key to V’s underlying theme of alienation. There’s still a punk aesthetic running through Williams’ vision, yet Wavves have shed some of the more alluring aspects of their past. [Ross Watson]

soundcloud.com/larrygus

rootsmanuva.co.uk

wavves.net

A Mote of Dust

Protomartyr

The Spook School

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A Mote of Dust [Babi Yaga, 2 Oct]

The Agent Intellect [Hardly Art, 9 Oct]

It’s been a while since we last heard from Craig Beaton. While his Unwinding Hours colleague Iain Cook has reaped success with Chvrches, Beaton’s been hiding himself away – deep in contemplation, if the delicate beauty of A Mote Of Dust is anything to go by. Named after a Carl Sagan quote, and recorded by Paul Savage (who’s never produced a lousy record), this is an album awash with tenderness and emotional honesty, each of the nine tracks an étude in dislocation; acoustic guitar, piano, and the bittersweet catharsis of self-portraiture (“I’ve made mistakes; that’s how we find our way,” he admits ruefully on finale Home). Pull Me Back In speaks of damage and drama; Wolves In The Valley is a porcelain ballad with ghostly choir, while Eve even manages to tackle the Book of Genesis. And throughout (instrumental title track excepted), Beaton’s vocals drift like smoke, concussed and gentle; it’s been a while, but it’s grand to have him back. [Duncan Harman]

As a self-proclaimed mumbler, Joe Casey frequently obscures his lyrics with drawls and gritted teeth, while gothic shards – echoing Joy Division’s brooding shadowplay – only add to Protomartyr’s deliberate air of mystery. Clarity, it transpires, works best when used sparingly, as with the murky Cowards Starve and its preoccupation with “social pressures”. Then the chorus kicks in: “I will tear that mountain down,” bawls Casey, shortly before Greg Ahee’s guitar bursts into sunshine. Utterly glorious. The Agent Intellect is filled with such contrasts, all steeped in the taut insistence of post-punk and a loose barfly shimmy. Indeed, it feels like they’re yearning for answers, particularly when grappling with The Devil In His Youth’s duality-of-man issues; even final track Feast of Stephen seems to end on a question mark. But whether opaque, sprightly or just plain gung-ho garage rock, Protomartyr revel in a gnarled inspiration that often feels sincerely profound. [Will Fitzpatrick]

amoteofdust.com

hardlyart.com/protomartyr

Try To Be Hopeful [Fortuna POP, 9 Oct] “We need you to know that we exist,” sing The Spook School. It’s a sentiment which could come from the mouth of any band ever, but in the hands of the Edinburgh punk rock four-piece it cuts a little differently. Try To Be Hopeful dissects identity, fidelity, romantic despair, romantic bliss and a multitude of other fuzzy grey confusing feelings with a radical, radical tongue. “Every band talks about love and stuff!” we hear you cry, but nah, they don’t. Not like this. You might even think that punk bands pissing on the patriarchy is old hat, but The Spook School do a mind-bogglingly fantastic job at demonstrating how frank, honest appraisal of gender and sexuality is still worryingly incendiary – and worryingly rare. So, when you listen to Try To Be Hopeful with a proper, attention-paying ear, you’ll find a call to arms. A rallying cry encouraging you to speak up, to be heard, to exist in whichever way you feel most at home. To burn masculinity, to smash binaries and to have a life-affirming, wholly hopeful knees-up while you’re at it. [Katie Hawthorne] Playing Edinburgh’s Banshee Labyrinth on 26-27 Oct | thespookschool.com

Deafheaven

VASA

Deerhunter

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New Bermuda [ANTI–, 2 Oct]

Colours [Self-released, 16 Oct]

Deafheaven’s critical acclaim off the back of Sunbather was one of the unexpected success stories of 2013. They gained fans outside of metal circles partly by recontextualising the genre, blending it with delicate melodies and working in elements from the more inviting end of the indie rock spectrum. New Bermuda emotionally overloads the listener like a mixed-state manic episode; it’s a darker autobiographical account than its predecessor, but equally gorgeous sonically. Brought to the Water sets the tone with its brutal blast-beats, bared-teeth vocals and waves of sorrowful guitars. Lead songwriter Kerry McCoy’s more traditionally heavy influences immediately come to the forefront much more here; while George Clarke’s rasps sound more pronounced, giving his vocals added weight. As they continually pair these fierce attacks with moments of delicacy, the band again showcase their mastery of blurring the lines between darkness and the light. [Ross Watson]

Post-rock, apparently, although we can probably lose the ‘post’ part – Colours rawks wholeheartedly, if not life-changingly, stitching mountainous riffs and fleet-fingered breaks together at head-spinning volume. Consider Poseidon’s Kiss and Smashletes as the outcome of the nu-metal generation growing up and wrapping their lugholes around the virtuosic complexities of Battles and Tera Melos: molten, mathy soundtracks for the most action-packed movies never filmed. Not that there’s no let-up. Not A Cop shimmers gently, opting for sweet and hopeful as opposed to heroic. Ditto Unpunched, a rare oasis of calm amidst so much scorching adrenaline rush. Their chosen genre occasionally runs the risk of lapsing into a chops-focussed dick-swinging contest, but VASA keep proceedings reined well within the ample parameters of fun, giving us reasonable hope that their impressive beginnings may evolve into the spectacular. [Will Fitzpatrick]

deafheaven.com

wearevasa.com

Blackalicious

Autre Ne Veut

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Imani Vol. 1 [Caroline International, 16 Oct] After nearly 20 years in the game, it seems almost platitudinous to peg Gift of Gab as one of rap’s most underrated sons. Yet it’s a label which seems destined to stick, such is the consistency of the emcee’s rhymes coupled with the forever puzzling disregard for Blackalicious outwith the realm of alternative hip-hop. After nearly a decade away, the Sacramento duo resurface with Imani, Vol.1, the first of an intended new trio. Even if Imani lacks some of the stardust names and funky experimentalism that defined landmarks like Nia and Blacking Arrow, it feels as if the time apart has been spent refining and alchemising the minutiae (propulsive production/uplifting lyrics/eclectic samples) that made Blackalicious so unique in the first place, as opposed to seguing to any au courant fads. Rather than a mere return, Imani feels instead like an overdue celebration. [Graeme Campbell] Playing Edinburgh Electric Circus on 31 Oct and Glasgow Stereo on 2 Nov blackalicious.com

October 2015

Age of Transparency [Downtown Records, 2 Oct] After his scrappy, hazy debut, pop experimentalist Autre Ne Veut – aka Arthur Ashin – struck critical gold with the consistently flavoured grooves of 2013’s Anxiety. Age of Transparency is, conversely and perhaps ironically, somewhat opaque, wrong-footing us with fickle gear changes. Like the record overall, opener On And On (Reprise) is many things: a soulful, glitching a cappella blending into pitch-warped jazz licks before climaxing, noisily and symphonically, with Ashin’s falsetto pleading and wailing. Then, for tracks like the laser-gospel Cold Winds, or the cocky Switch Hitter, ANV sidesteps to his synthesiser, and we’re back to Anxiety’s oblique pop sensibility. Age of Transparency flits from slow to fast, from choral to RnB, from stripped-back to orchestral to electronic. It’s a hot‘n’cold treatment, sure, but the album has a closed-eyes naturalism to it that must, surely, come from an artist channelling something real. [George Sully]

Fading Frontier [4AD, 6 Oct] Two tracks into Faded Frontier and Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox makes his intentions clear. ‘I’m out of range,’ he sighs over a looping refrain which reiterates, ‘I’m living my life.’ Gone is his trolling, wig-wearing alter-ego Connie Lungpin, who surfaced on 2013’s Monomania campaign. That record’s abrasive protopunk felt like a culmination of frustration with, among other things, his body’s ongoing battle with marfan syndrom and his sexuality; Faded Frontier in contrast is a slow release and a desire for solitude. The Broadcast-doffing opener All The Same (James Cargill also appears on Take Care) mentions a friend’s dad changing his sex to find solace; Leather and Wood’s skeletal piano meanders through a yawning, empty chasm; even the bright, funk-filled Snakeskin lets things go: “I lost my marbles all over the pink, pink cage,” Cox laments over a cocksure strut, doing as he always has, looking back to progress. [Simon Jay Catling] Playing Glasgow SWG3 on 3 Nov | 4ad.com/artists/deerhunter

The Top Five 1

Joanna Newsom

John Grant

EL VY

Deerhunter

Deafheaven

Divers

Grey Tickles, Black Pressure

Return to the Moon Fading Frontier

New Bermuda

autreneveut.com

RECORDS

Review

Brand Association With their self-released debut turning heads, Manchester noise-pop trio False Advertising explain how songcraft, and not attitude, is at the core of their DIY ethos

Interview: Gary Kaill Photography: Alexander Bell

t’s an inch away from patronising to label False Advertising’s recently released debut album as one of the surprises of the year. After all, with a growing reputation in and around their home base of Manchester, the guitar trio were already starting to wield serious onstage clout. And while their debut single Wasted Away was a tune and a half (imagine Juliana Hatfield backed by Dinosaur Jr.), its follow-up, the pummelling Dozer, put scuzz before melody and False Advertising were suddenly double the prospect they were. The album, following a month later, confirmed not just that they’d nailed their nu-grunge styling, but that they had the songs to go with it. That self-titled, self-released, self-produced debut is, crucially, a songwriter’s showcase: 11 tracks and every one a monster. No wonder the delight. But, as we gather in a Northern Quarter bar for an early lunchtime pint – the general consensus is that midday is just too late for coffee – Jen Hingley, Chris Warr (both on vocals, guitar and drums) and Josh Sellers (bass) begin by explaining just why their opening shot really shouldn’t be raising eyebrows. “Chris and I started playing open mic nights,” explains Hingley as introduction to their stopstart beginnings, “and we’d known each other for a few years through friends. So we ended up bonding through doing that, really. That was how we began about three years ago.” Warr takes up the story. “I’d been trying to get Jen to play with me for ages, because I knew how good she was and she was always too busy. So it took a year of pestering her to get her to do it. We just picked a few covers the first time we did it. After playing here and there for a while, we started writing material, which then led us into forming a band. This was about two years ago.” Sellers was added to the core (“I’d known Chris for years and we’d been in bands together – we went to the same school”) shortly afterwards. “We also had a drummer then, so we were a four-piece,” continues Hingley. “Chris and I both played guitar and sang, so it was a different format but we wrote these new songs and played some gigs, and, as these things do, it just sort of disintegrated quite quickly!” “Yeah,” says Warr, “it culminated in a horrendous gig where we were out of tune, the stage was too small, the sound was awful. And Jen’s quite hard on herself, and us, so we were all pretty flat.” So Jen’s the leader? “Yes. Jen wears the trousers.” Ouch. “Please don’t say that,” says the only member of False Advertising not actually wearing trousers. “That’s really sexist.” Warr laughs: “How’s that sexist?!” A look is all it takes to silence one half of the band’s actual trouser wearers. Warr finishes the story: “So we lost that drummer and we had a bit of downtime. It was summer a couple of years ago. I was convinced me and Jen had to do something. I knew our voices went well together. Jen’s a web designer and does graphics, and I’m a producer, so it seemed almost obvious that we should do it all ourselves. So we sat down, had a chat and made the decision to start a new band.” “We were very ambitious,” says Hingley, “which may sound naïve, but we sat down and realised we’d been writing all the songs. Between us we can play all the instruments, so we thought if we could get slightly better at drums, we could record our own stuff – Chris has worked as a freelance producer for years. We can do all the artwork – we could probably do our own videos. So we realised that we had all these things – so as long as we can write some good songs and perform them in a reasonable way…” Aha! There’s the ultimate hurdle, and there’s

Review

the reason False Advertising stand out and why they will, if the other stuff happens (people open their ears, planets align, etc.), steal a march on the insipid UK guitar scene. A DIY ethos for its own sake is no good to anyone, but if the songwriting is advanced enough, the world beckons. And it’s this subject that, throughout our interview, really fires them up. Hingley: “It’s important to stress that when we had this conversation where we realised we could do all of this if we work hard enough, it was very inspiring, and that fired the writing process. I immediately started doing demos, writing new songs from scratch but that feeling, that whole ‘Why can we not do this?’ was what made the songs happen, or at least the first ones that I wrote. And then it became more collaborative and we started to work on them together.” “I started doing the same thing,” says Warr. “I’m not quite as prolific as Jen. I was writing a fair bit of stuff as well but I ended up scrapping most of it because it sounded too much like the old band. But all of that was about establishing a direction for us to go in: that’s what came out of that initial burst of inspiration.” Even if the album’s foundations are established and solid, it’s still a hugely accomplished first album. With Warr taking lead vocals on four tracks, and the highlights demonstrating sharp musicianship and even sharper arrangements, False Advertising is leagues ahead of standard nugrunge posturing. No two songs sound alike, which is some achievement. “I like albums where the songs are different from each other,” Sellers says. “It helps create a more characterful album, rather than just a sound the band is comfortable with. But I think with our album, the songs do differ throughout, as you say. That’s important to me, so that’s nice to hear.”

It’s Warr, with his years of freelance production work behind him (he’s mixed recent and upcoming releases by The Orielles), who takes much of the credit for the album’s distinctive sound. A warm, heavy and authentic throwback, it benefits from everything being right there in your face. Bass, guitars, drums and vocals fight to the get to the front. “Well, it’s all really old gear we’re using,” he explains. “The drum kit is a 70s Pearl kit. So, although we use modern recording techniques, the gear is old. Jen’s got an old Fender Silverface amp, so we did get some authenticity of sound just by using older instruments rather than microphones. ‘Cause we couldn’t afford that!

“I vent my frustrations through music” Chris Warr

“The recording equipment itself is only about five grand’s worth – not a lot. And I reckon anyone could do it. If you know Cubase, you can do it. I’ve developed a technique based on no budget and it’s taken me a while. It’s a needs must scenario. You work with what you’ve got and the production process is definitely a creative process, too. I’ve honed those techniques. I was always going to be in a band – I can’t not be in a band. This is my thirteenth band.” As he laughs, Hingley deadpans: “He makes it sound like he has a fourteenth planned…”

MUSIC

On record and on stage, their connection is nigh on telepathic, and in conversation, False Advertising are equally connected. They’re excellent company: articulate, warm and possessed of a smart and dry humour. Sellers is the quietest, perhaps, because his bandmates take the lead, but when he speaks, he’s quietly compelling. Hingley may or may not be the leader but she’s clear-sighted and passionate, whereas Warr is an explosion of words and ideas. He talks, you listen. And, based on his damning response to a side road discussion point we alight on – a blog which earlier that day had described PINS, an act the band like and admire, as “Joy Division with a vagina” – sexism appears not to be an issue in the False Advertising camp. We return to songwriting methods as we finish up. “I think I just veil mine,” Hingley remarks of one of the album’s strongest suits: its brooding, accusatory, lyrics. “I think they mean something different to me than anyone else. There’s the odd moment where we’re like, ‘What’s this line supposed to mean?!’ but it’s been collaborative, overall. Wasted Away, for example, is just what I was singing on the demo, and a few things have actually found their way into songs that way.” As talk turns to forthcoming plans (more gigs, perhaps a tour in the new year), we circle back to inspiration and why it is that the band do what they do. It seems fitting that Warr has the last word. “I vent my frustrations through music,” he says. “I’m a fairly happy-go-lucky person in real life but it’s my alter ego in song, my opportunity to get it all out. That’s why I do music.” He pauses and smiles. “It balances me.” False Advertising’s self-released debut LP is out now falseadvertising.co

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Clubbing Highlights October delivers in impressive fashion with Wille Burns and Ceephax Acid Crew in Glasgow, while Clone label head Serge and Berlin's Sound Stream hit Edinburgh Words: Ronan Martin Illustration: Josie Sommer

e kick off our selection with a pair of great nights on Friday 9 Oct, including the first part of La Cheetah’s 6th Birthday celebrations. For this instalment they look to that veritable electronic Mecca of Detroit and the formidable character of Omar S. Pushing a boldly introspective breed of house music since 2003, this should go down a treat in the basement of Max’s (£13/16). Across the city on the same night, it’s a man from New York who takes centre stage as the Crimes of the Future night returns to the Berkeley Suite. Releasing on a number of esteemed labels such as L.I.E.S, Crème Organization and The Trilogy Tapes, Willie Burns dabbles in everything from acid and murky techno to overdriven house bangers (9 Oct, £8). Next up, we’re headed to the Flying Duck for Nitric Acid VI: Aciderection. Headlined by Andy Jenkinson AKA Ceephax Acid Crew, this one should have all the energy and exuberance of a rave... within the comfortable confines of a city centre boozer. Also on the line-up is veteran Invernessian Egebamyasi (16 Oct, £6-9). There are numerous reasons why you should attend The Art School’s Unity Centre Fundraiser. First and foremost, as the name would suggest, the event has been set up to help raise money for a vital service supporting asylum seekers. Of course, it helps that the line-up boasts the multifaceted talents of Hyperdub signing Cooly G, local legend JD Twitch as well as the likes of Eclair Fifi of LuckyMe and Rinse regular Bake of All Caps (23 Oct, £7). Over in Edinburgh, you’re in for a treat as Clone head honcho Serge takes to The Mash House for Lezure. If you’re in any doubt about the selection prowess of the man from Rotterdam, simply look at the glowing back catalogue of his Clone label and its various stellar offshoots... then get yourself down to this one pronto (9 Oct, £5-7).

The following evening sees Nightvision welcome a British institution to The Liquid Room in the shape of David Rodigan MBE. Turning people on to the sounds of reggae for over three decades, Rodigan and his Ram Jam imprint have become synonymous with the dancehall styles of the Caribbean for many. Few DJs can boast having their own radio station in Grand Theft Auto as well as an MBE, but such accolades perfectly sum up the widespread respect the selector has gained over the years. He is joined by drum 'n' bass head DJ Hype, as well as Preditah and Richie Rufftone (10 Oct, £15). Body in Edinburgh team up with Newcastlebased promoters Backdrop to host Amir Alexander at Henry’s Cellar. Emerging from the ever-rich Chicago scene as a gifted DJ and increasingly hyped producer, the Vanguard Sound boss should bring a deep and soulful air to proceedings (16 Oct, £7). One week later, it’s off to Cabaret Voltaire for a long overdue return to Scotland from Sound Stream. Berlin’s Frank Timm has slowly developed his Sound Stream series of records over a number of years to achieve buy-on-sight status for many listeners. Incorporating elements of disco, funk, house and techno, these releases are underpinned by simplicity and an ability to make dancefloors erupt. Safe to say, the man delivers the goods in person too! He’s joined for FLY by Glaswegian spinner, Jasper James (23 Oct, £12/14). Finally, our Halloween shout for Edinburgh takes us to Sneaky Pete’s for In Deep with Jon K of Manchester’s Hoya:Hoya (30 Oct, £5), while Saturday belongs to Glasgow and the mighty Move D’s return to Notsosilent – a fourth invite for the German artist in recent years must bode well for expectations (31 Oct £12/14).

Let It All Hang Out We catch up with the heads behind Glasgow’s We Should Hang Out More and grab a quick word with their Halloween guest, The Reflex

irst conceived as a way to bring mates together and put on a carefree party in intimate confines, We Should Hang Out More is a club concept which has evolved significantly over the past year. Having hosted Marcus Marr, Mighty Mouse and local Italo disco wizards Den Haan amongst others, WSHOM approach their upcoming Halloween bash with The Reflex with a firmly established following in tow. “In this age of social media, plans are easily made, and just as easily broken,” says organiser and visuals specialist Ally Bhatia when asked about the night’s origins. “We started using the acronym WSHOM among our friends as a joke and it started to catch on.” Though their ethos is based on not taking themselves too seriously (a flick through their refreshingly garish artwork and ‘taps aff’ photo galleries hint at this quality) the WSHOM team are commit-

October 2015

Interview: Ronan Martin

ted to making sure serious attention is paid to keeping things on point musically. “The night is billed as ‘all kinds of disco’, so naturally this is what you’ll find,” explains resident Oliver Melling. “It gives us scope to play anything with a funky bassline and a four-to-the-floor kick drum, so the night is eclectic; you’ve as much chance of hearing Abba as Late Night Tuff Guy.” This month sees London-based producer and edit maestro Nicolas Laugier, better known as The Reflex, join the crew for their Halloween outing. At a time when there are a surplus of remixes floating around cyberspace, most bringing very little to the original work, Laugier’s offerings remind us what the craft is all about. Known as ‘Reflex Revisions’, the Frenchman’s edits bring to mind the work of early pioneers such as Walter Gibbons and Larry Levan, often working with only the original source material, rebuilding the track from

scratch, augmenting and stretching things out to give the hooks more impact. These are edits in the true sense, as opposed to Frankenstein offshoots which contain no trace of the original vibe. “I find the limitation [of only using original parts] very challenging,” Nicolas tells us via a brief email exchange ahead of his first trip to play Glasgow. “It’s a kind of artistic statement to take a bunch of sounds, from the 70s for example, and make a whole new track with them that you can play alongside modern tunes. It’s a lot of work but it sets me apart from other producers and editors.” This knack for the art of editing was honed, in part, during Laugier’s time as a studio assistant for Seiji, who has worked with the likes of Roisin Murphy and Bugz in the Attic. This apprenticeship of sorts was an “essential stage” in Nicolas’ development as a producer and his hours spent mastering the craft have clearly not been in vain – his

CLUBS

edits have caught the attention of such disco authorities as Greg Wilson and Gilles Peterson, while his upcoming remix work covers a dizzying array of massive acts including Noel Gallagher and The Kooks. “His Boiler Room set is a bit of a beast too”, explains John Markey, who DJs alongside Oliver and completes the programming trio at WSHOM. As for the hosts themselves, though they have lived what Markey calls a “fairly nomadic existence” up until now, throwing parties at Stereo and even helming a “particularly wild evening” in the Sub Club, WSHOM will settle into a monthly residency in La Cheetah from December. For John, finally being able to set up a firm base in the Queen St basement seems like a fitting move: “It’s loud, sweaty, intimate and soaked in alcohol... like us.” The Reflex plays We Should Hang Out More: Disco Apocalypse at La Cheetah, Glasgow, on Fri 30 Oct

Review

The Man Who Could Cheat Death

Night and the City

Seconds

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Director: Terence Fisher Starring: Anton Diffring, Christopher Lee Released: Out now Certificate: 15

There’s a scene in Terence Fisher’s Hammer Horror classic in which Dr Bonner (Diffring) shows someone a photo of himself from decades ago and they gasp at the identical faces of the man staring up from the sepia-toned photograph and the one holding it. Watching the late, great Christopher Lee, iconic in his old age, as a young man has an opposite effect that’s almost as unsettling. The Man Who Could Cheat Death is a horror film of a different era in every way. The special effects are lo-fi to a degree that’s kind of charming now and they’re also used incredibly sparingly – the film contains just a handful of brief action sequences with minimal gore. Instead it places a number of highly intelligent characters together with a dark secret sitting between them, and we watch as they play cat and mouse, relishing the quiet build-up of tension as much as the bloody pay-off. [Ross McIndoe]

Few films are as drenched in fear, anger and desperation as Night and the City. It was Jules Dassin’s first film in exile from America after being blacklisted for alleged communist sympathies and his experience seeps into every aspect of this breathless adaptation of Gerald Kersh’s eponymous novel about a small-time American huckster trying to make it big in the London wrestling rackets. Star Richard Widmark embodies the futile anxiety of the film as Harry Fabian, the scam-artist who slowly drowns in his own ambition. Like a caged rat, Harry feverishly scurries through the labyrinthine back alleys of a post-war London, his eyes rolling and beads of sweat popping from his forehead as Dassin’s unrelenting camera follows him every step of the way, peering into the darkest corners of a London underworld that pulsates with malevolence and despair. A seminal film noir. [Michael Jaconelli]

Results

Deep Red

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Director: Andrew Bujalski Starring: Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders Released: Out now Certificate: 15

If Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess was his most defiantly uncommercial film to date, Results initially seems like the first time this filmmaker has courted a mainstream audience. It’s a romantic comedy with attractive protagonists played by Pearce and Smulders, but the most interesting thing about the film is the way Bujalski attempts to impose his own aesthetic on this genre and refresh its familiar narrative beats. In truth, it doesn’t quite work, but the dissonance between the content and Bujalski’s approach is oddly compelling, and he does create a number of memorable moment. Pearce and Smulders deliver note-perfect performances as the fitness freaks negotiating personal ambition and sexual tension, while Kevin Corrigan is tremendous as a nouveau riche slob. A director more in tune with the demands of the rom-com might have kept the story from fizzling out, but it’s an admirable effort. [Philip Concannon]

Director: Jules Dassin Starring: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney Released: Out now Certificate: PG

Review

Director: Dario Argento Starring: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi Released: 5 Oct Certificate: 18

Director: John Frankenheimer Starring: Rock Hudson, John Randolph Released: 26 Oct Certificate: 15

There’s a good reason this paranoid thriller bombed at the 1966 box office – it’s possibly the bleakest film ever made. John Frankenheimer’s chief target is a society obsessed by youth and success. For anyone unhappy with their career, relationship or even themselves, Seconds will touch the rawest of nerves. Arthur Hamilton (Randolph) is a burned-out executive trapped in a loveless marriage. A sinister corporation offer him a second chance. His death is faked and he undergoes surgery to be reborn as “successful painter” Tony Wilson (Hudson). Has Hamilton/Wilson finally found the happiness he craves? With its DNA apparent in the likes of The Stepford Wives, Jacob’s Ladder and Fincher’s The Game, it’s taken almost 50 years for Frankenheimer’s film to be recognised as a modern classic – this Masters of Cinema release is a cause for celebration. [Steve Timms]

Turbo Kid

Director: François Simard, Anouk wWhissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell Starring: Munro Chambers, Michael Ironside Released: 5 Oct Certificate: 15

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Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) is prolific Italian horror auteur Dario Argento’s self-proclaimed masterpiece, and arguably the definitive magnum opus of giallo. Strongly influencing American slasher flicks, most notably John Carpenter’s Halloween, Deep Red spectacularly realises Argento’s unique stylistic formalism and thematic obsessions that made the supernatural Suspiria, his most popular work. Much like Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, in which trauma is also inexorably linked to the eponymous semiotic colour, Deep Red is concerned with the trials of an artistic Anglophone in Italy. Jazz pianist Marcus Daly (Hemmings), having perchance witnessed a horrific, bloody murder of a psychic, decides to hunt down the killer, who simultaneously stalks both him and anyone who can help solve his macabre puzzle. Expect prog rockers Goblin, creepy lullabies, freeassociating psychoanalytic imagery, queering of gender and pints and pints of bright red blood. [Rachel Bowles]

DVD

An affectionately schlocky homage to bottom-shelf 80s genre flicks, Turbo Kid goes all out on the nostalgia front, packing View-Masters, Rubik’s Cubes and an air-punching John Farnham power ballad in the opening minutes alone. Set in the distant future of 1997, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland roamed by ragtag BMX-biker gangs, it marks the feature debut of Montreal collective RKSS – a trio whose filmmaking creed appears to be “if in doubt, throw a bucket of blood at someone.” For a while, this playful collision between retro kids’ adventure and gushing gore is reason enough to follow laser-gloved teen The Kid (a suitably puppyish Munro Chambers) on his quest to defeat megalomaniacal warlord Zeus (era icon Michael Ironside, faultlessly cast). The arterial sprays and comic disembowelments later lose their edge through overuse, but the film has plenty of charm to fall back on, securing the cult status it clearly craves. [Chris Buckle]

THE SKINNY

The 70s’ Art Lull and Dazzling Psychedelia Courtesy LUX / Mayavision

The Turner Prize dominates the Scottish contemporary art news this month, but new exhibitions are also open from the first of the month across the most interesting galleries in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

Stuart Marshall

Glasgow Moving Image Festival

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As part of the Glasgow Moving Image Festival in Tramway, Lux Scotland curate a series of screenings to showcase and reflect on the films of artist Stuart Marshall. As well as writing critically and making important avant garde film work throughout the 70s and 80s, Marshall was also a prominent gay activist and teacher. Examples of Marshall’s 70s’ experimentation with non-sync sound effects and the distortion of speech and language are softened by their inclusion alongside lighter, funny works like Pedagogue (1988). In this, gay playwright and performer Neil Bartlett’s students describe becoming ‘a lesbian’ since being taught by him. Introductions to the works are given by relevant academics and artists, and the infamous Section 28 repeated throughout the two days – local authorities ‘shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality.’

Ending the first set of screenings, rare film Robert Marshall (1991) sees Stuart Marshall travel to Canada to speak to relatives about his father, who died prematurely. There is punch of hindsight as they notice how similar the two are – the film made only a few years before the artist’s own death in 1993. Afterwards, Marshall’s Channel 4 documentary Bright Eyes (1984) is shown, with its sharp take on the TV format and passionate criticism of mainstream media’s role in exacerbating and shaping the AIDS crisis. Early afternoon on Sunday, there are nine shorts from 1986-1991 by other artists working to represent the AIDS crisis in video work. One sees Norman Mclaren’s Chairy Tale (1957) adapted to allow for the naked sitter to apply a condom to the legs of a chair before bouncing on it, delighted. Consistently witty and confrontational, the programme cuts across any supposed opposition between wry art historical references, keeneyed activism and avant-garde experimentation. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Learning in a Public Medium, the curated programme by LUX was shown in Tramway 12-13 Sep

Korea

Laurence Figgis, Hugs Sycorax, 2014

Laurence Figgis

The Briggait

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Trying the door like an opportunist burglar, Lawrence Figgis’ Anykent exhibition at The Briggait is locked. Across the road, there are the same empty shop fronts of Macleod Highland Supplies Kilt Shop, Theatre Nemo and POSTER & BANNER PRINTING. Just the right backdrop for what at first looks like post-destall detritus. Wooden stretchers are cast aside and leaning alongside an open sketchbook and torn papers. That last item’s a bit misleading, because the ripped pages, that had on them brightly coloured sketches, have been assembled into a dress – scrap has been a little more elevated in status. There’s nevertheless a strong impression that this is out of its proper context, part of an event or something else that’s been or is coming. Like an anachronism, perhaps, which Figgis in the accompanying Compendium text says ‘rip(s) out’ with ‘a slashing claw’ – quoting Edmund White.

A consistent linear style puts the (not ripped up) painted pieces in the exhibition much more in the heritage of drawing as medium of immediate communication – the figures in places are like fashion sketches. Painterly measures of success like tone, rendering and composition are agitated, and so too are the physical conventions of presentation. In the front of the window, a lo-fi screenprint takes up a small percentage of a larger wooden frame. Nearer to being reserved than exclusionary, there’s no frustration in the mostly empty stretchers, or the inaccessible spaces. In the other locked window space, Figgis has laid out 40 drawings as a storyboard. Sequence between the works is generated not only by the shared figures and settings, but also is put to use to depict melodramatic zooming from medium shots to close-ups on shocked faces. Along the bottom there are fuzzy photocopies of mechanical looking forms. With only a partially intelligible narrative involving a dinner party, the photocopies cohere with the general obfuscation. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Laurence Figgis, Anykent at WASPS The Briggait, until 21 Nov

October 2015

t’s October, so the long-awaited Glasgow edition of the Turner Prize is here. Online, you’ll find our interview with Sarah Munro from September’s print edition if you’d like to prime yourself before visiting the blockbuster show in Tramway. With work from socially activist architecture collective ASSEMBLE, and some kind of re-presentation of Janice Kerbel’s otherwise one-off operatic work Doug, plus a study room by artist Bonnie Camplin there are definitely a few surprises in store for the Tramway. Turner Prize 2015 continues until 17 January 2016. You can read our review at theskinny.co.uk/art As part of the wider Turner Prize programme across Glasgow, GSA Exhibitions put on one of their highest production shows to date for the work of Grace Ndiritu. Special access was granted to allow for the filming of a performance within the partially-destroyed Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh Building. With an interest in shamanistic practices, Ndiritu’s props and costumes are displayed alongside the filmwork. The show will continue until 12 December. There’s always some excitement to the opening of a new show in 42 Carlton Place. Run by two Glasgow-based advance-stage career painters Merlin James and Carol Rhodes, the space occupies the front room of their house just over the Clyde on the Southside. Continuing their programme of infrequent but very thoughtful shows, Adrian Morris’s work is now on display until 25 October. For this show, they’ve taken an interest in a “lull in British art” that took place in the 1970s. A time during which Adrian Morris was foremost among ‘the artists working most strongly [who] were often pursuing independent paths, not easily pick up on or promoted, critically or commercially.’ Rhodes and James situate Morris within what they describe as ‘a very particular mix of earlier twentieth century art, from Hélion to Mondrian, and Albers, but also de Staël, Morandi, even Lowry.’ Works dating from the early 1960s until the late 90s will be on display.

ART

USO de HONTOU

On Thursday 8 October, LUX and Rhubaba will partner to provide a screening of Walk-Through by emerging London-based film and installation artist Redmond Entwistle. This work from 2012 explores the site, design and philosophy of the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles in order to pose ‘wider questions about contemporary pedagogical models and their relationship to new forms of social, political and economic exchange that have emerged since the 1970s.’ The 18 minute video will be followed by a discussion, with the whole event starting from 8pm. In Dundee, the work of Hideyuki Katsumata is on display in Dundee Contemporary Arts until 15 November. In his first UK show, Katsumata presents paintings, animations and prints that “depict robots, UFOs, dragons and strange bodies with multiple limbs.” Influence comes from manga and street art, with DCA Galleries being transformed “into a dazzling psychedelic landscape of cartoon strips writ large.” Some readers may be familiar with Katsumata’s collaborations with CUZ – a superduo comprising of Sam Dook from The Go! Team and Mike Watt from the Minutemen, fIREHOSE and The Stooges. From 10 October in Edinburgh’s Ingleby Gallery, James Hugonin’s visually complicated paintings will be exhibited. For Binary Rhythm: Paintings 2010-2015, Hugonin displays these six years’ paintings which continue an organised aleatoric approach to abstract painting. These most recent paintings are the culmination of 30 years of this kind of painterly research into the potential of what the gallery describe as ‘his now familiar language of tiny rectangular marks applied in their thousands, colour by colour, with a grid onto a gessoed ground.’ In stunning detail, the most recent works are all in the exact same size and dimensions; having gestated over many months, they gradually emerge and become the almost-difficult-to-look at final works.

Review

Credit: Hideyuki Katsumata

Robert Marshall, Over Our Dead Bodies, 1991, Broadcast as part of the OUT series on Channel 4

Film Event Highlights Light and shade this month, with Halloween screenings and a celebration of love at Paisley Abbey Words: Jamie Dunn

The Lobster

ohn Carpenter may no longer be the filmmaking force he once was, but as long as film-fans continue to crave horror thrills around Halloween, his 1978 slasher masterpiece named after the annual spooky holiday will continue to remind us of his artistry. Glasgow Film Theatre screen Halloween on 31 Oct, as do Filmhouse in Edinburgh, who pair it with playful 3D horror The House of Wax, which stars Vincent Price as a dastardly artist who finds a macabre shortcut to creating extremely lifelike wax sculptures.

The Lobster

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Starring: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Jessica Barden, Olivia Colman, Ashley Jensen, Ben Whishaw Released: 16 Oct Certificate: 15

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The cinematic worlds that Yorgos Lanthimos creates are defined by their rules and codes of behaviour, and the drama in them comes from the consequences faced by characters who cross those lines. In his sci-fi satire The Lobster, single people must find a mate within 45 days or face transformation into the animal of their choice – an absurd premise that is played to deadpan comic perfection by the director and his superbly chosen ensemble. The Lobster finds Lanthimos working with more familiar actors and a bigger budget than he enjoyed in his previous three features, but this elevated status hasn’t blunted his edge, and his ability to combine arch humour and outbursts of shocking violence is as potent as ever here. The only misstep occurs in a lengthy woodland interlude, where the narrative briefly seems to have reached a dead end, but Lanthimos pulls it together for an unsettling climax, and the film’s perceptive commentary on the nature of contemporary relationships and society will leave you with plenty to think about and discuss. [Philip Concannon]

Sicario

Director: Denis Villeneuve Starring: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin Released: 8 Oct Certificate: 15

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A timely critique of America’s ruinous drug wars, Sicario is set in an area of Texas that has always felt extra-legal, locked in an eternal schism between cartel drug traffickers and cowboy vigilantes. FBI agent Kate (Emily Blunt) finds herself thrust into this Wild West, ostensibly to ‘consult’ on an operation. But things seem awry from the start, and Kate grows increasingly mistrustful of flip-flop wearing Texan Matt (Josh Brolin) and enigmatic Colombian Alejandro (a simmering Benicio Del Toro), who take a cavalier approach to the rule of law in their hunt for a cartel king. In truth, this ‘web of conspiracy’ plot is nothing new, and while Kate grows increasingly shocked at the corruption of her superiors, it’s difficult to share her surprise. Still, while the structure might be familiar, the execution is fiercely fresh. Villeneuve knows how to create tension with devastating precision and stunning visual swagger; on this strength, his upcoming Blade Runner sequel looks to be very promising indeed. [John Nugent] Released by Lionsgate

Released by Picturehouse entertainment Wings of Desire

The terror of All Saints’ Eve is replaced by more positive emotion on All Saints’ Day as Glasgow Film Festival join the BFI’s nationwide Love Season with an unmissable screening of Wings of Desire at Paisley Abbey (1 Nov). This tender love story is Wim Wenders’ most ravishingly beautiful film, so seeing it on the big screen in this unique location would be reason enough to buy a ticket, but as GFF have proven over the last few years, they are also experts at turning a humble film screening into an unforgettable multi-sensory experience. In this case, expect a performance that incorporates an unearthly soundscape from Tut Vu Vu, live vocals from artist Kathryn Elkin, and some breathtaking aerial acrobatics above the audience. All great films improve on the big screen, but some film visionaries’ work demands it more than others. Stanley Kubrick is one such filmmaker. Culture Shock are bringing five of his films to the Cameo in Edinburgh this month, including The Shining (19 Oct), Dr Strangelove (26 Oct) and Full Metal Jacket (2 Nov). Sadly, Kubrick’s most visually sumptuous movie, Barry Lyndon, doesn’t make the cut. Your annual opportunity to check in on the most exciting and inventive emerging voices in filmmaking comes around again this month as the films nominated for the annual Jarman Award tour the UK. The programme arrives at the CCA in Glasgow 8 Oct and features boundary breaking work by artists Adam Chodzko, Seamus Harahan, Gail Pickering, Bedwyr Williams, Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Alia Syed. The latter will be in attendance to take part in a Q&A session following the screenings. Free but ticketed. The gender split in the Jarman Award nominees is 50:50. If only feature filmmaking in the UK was even close to this ratio. This disparity is the central concern of ICA’s Onwards and Outwards programme, a touring series designed to celebrate the women filmmakers from Britain who have excelled in making independent and original work outside the mainstream. Screenings at GFT this month includes Sally Potter’s surreal epic The Gold Diggers (12 Oct) and Riddle of the Sphinx (19 Oct) from Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, which is rarely screened outside the film school lecture hall.

Review

Red Army

Taxi Tehran

Director: Gabe Polsky Starring: Slava Fetisov, Vladislav Tretiak, Scotty Bowman, Vladimir Pozner Released: 9 Oct Certificate: 15

Director: Jafar Panahi Starring: Jafar Panahi Released: Out now Certificate:

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Gabe Polsky’s compelling film about the world-beating Soviet ice hockey team that dominated the sport from 1954 to 1991 is a swift and incisive examination of one of the greatest teams in the history of professional sports and the political environment that created it. Conceived as part of the Soviet national sports programme used to extol the superiority of the Soviet way of life, the team was constructed as an extension of the communist philosophy of collectivism. Players were encouraged to repress individuality and trained together in isolation for most of the year. This led to unparalleled success in the sport, but the incestuous relationship between politics and the game quickly became suffocating. Weaving insightful interviews with archival footage of the team in its heyday, Polsky cleverly moves the focus from the team’s undeniable brilliance to the harrowing effect operating under such an oppressive regime had on the players. His film reminds us that, despite a team’s success, the game is only as good as the people who play it. [Michael Jaconelli]

Ingeniously circumventing the Iranian state’s ban on his filmmaking, Jafar Panahi’s Golden Bear winner Taxi Tehran is filmed almost entirely within a makeshift cab. A surprisingly genial statement on the restrictions placed upon him and fellow artists under similar circumstances, Panhai positions a camera on the dashboard of a taxi cab, capturing a flowing assortment of local stories that unfold to ultimately present life under the strain of a repressive regime. Initially, there’s a documentary feel to the film, but it eventually becomes apparent that Panahi has allowed fiction to seep into his taxi, with each of his fares expressing views linked to the reoccurring themes of his previous work. There’s a teacher and mugger who argue about crime and punishment, and even Panahi’s own niece makes an appearance, discussing a school project where she’s been asked to shoot a “distributable” film. Panahi’s latest not only highlights the difficulty faced by filmmakers attempting to represent Iranian reality, but how a blend of fact and fiction can sometimes be the only route to unearthing the truth. [Patrick Gamble]

Released by Curzon

Released by New Wave Films

The Intern

Suffragette

Director: Nancy Meyers Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo Released: Out now Certificate: 12A

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Director: Sarah Gavron Starring: Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Anne Marie Duff, Meryl Streep Released: 12 Oct Certificate:

Audiences are so used to Robert De Niro mortgaging off his reputation that his appearances in predictable fluff like The Intern no longer seem quite so unpalatable. Once a complacent giant, he now calls to mind a faintly embarrassing father figure to whom respect is nevertheless owed. This latest offering from writer-director Meyers riffs on our perception of the star as she plunges him into a sentimental fish-out-of-water story. A cuddly and besuited 70-year-old, his character certainly isn’t an obvious fit for Hathaway’s hip Brooklyn-based online fashion retailer. Much to the surprise of his workaholic boss, he nevertheless proves a great asset to both the company and her personal life. Meyers, who’s only five years younger than her protagonist, makes some salient points concerning the cyclical nature of fashion and the enduring qualities of kindness and integrity. She’s to be applauded for bringing a driven, female breadwinner to the big screen, but her progressive, humanist credentials are ultimately undermined by a belief that fulfilment can be achieved through wealth accumulation and business. [Lewis Porteous]

From its opening scene set in the veritable hellscape of the Glass House Laundry, a literal sweatshop where women are forced into servitude as children and live in constant fear of abuse and even death, Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette cannily links the women’s suffrage movement, and human struggle in general, to issues of economy and class. While the film at times lacks subtlety and veers into didacticism, it’s compelling throughout, mostly due to Carey Mulligan’s extraordinary performance as laundry worker Maud Watts. Steam-burned and bedraggled, Watts becomes a foot soldier in the sometimes violent movement of British suffrage leader Emmeline Pankhurst (Streep) both out of desire for survival and the idea that perhaps there should be more to life than merely surviving. Suffragette has been criticised for its inability to resonate with the concerns of a modern audience, but the fact that it took a mere hundred years for this story to be told on the big screen is an indication that it’s still pretty damn relevant. [Michelle Devereaux]

Released by Warner Bros.

Released by Pathe

FILM

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THE SKINNY

Bard is a Four-Letter Word Our poetry columnist welcomes in autumn and its lyrical offerings across Scotland; from Wigtown, Dundee, Moniack Mhor and the pen of Don Paterson

utumn is icumen in; fruitful mistiness and mellows abound. There really is something magical about this time of year, if you’re into the slightly melancholy or wistful. We’re starting to reach for our sweaters and, instead of heading to the nearest grassy stretch, hearing the call of the steamed up café and slightly fuggy pub – great venues for the odd scribble, if you find the type that allows you to spin out your drink for longer than should be humanly possible. Much have I travelled in the realms of beverage, playing coffeeshop chicken with the vengeful ranks of the aproned elect, and let me tell you, my friends, it is a very serious sport indeed. Whether you’re looking for seasonal inspiration over the next few weeks, or just a bite of poetic to keep things ticking over, it seems Scotland is definitely the place to be. If you’re quick, Wigtown Book Festival (25 Sep-4 Oct) may currently be running and is definitely worth a drop-in. If not, it’s one to watch for future years, with an ever expanding offering of poetry. Liz Lochhead is, of course, on the menu, as are Hugh McMillan, Jim Carruth and Phill Jupitus in his other role as Porky the Poet.

However, my recommended highlight has to be Don Paterson (2 Oct), who will be showcasing his latest collection, 40 Sonnets. I’ve already had a taster, having been to its launch at Daunt Books, Cheapside, and would say that, whether you enjoy more formally structured poetry or not, you’re bound to find one that speaks to you in here. After years of exploring the form, this sonneteer’s voice is equally at home with the lofty and the humble, and Don combines easy wit with an almost crippling modesty in his delivery. Up to that point I’d never heard a poem built up to with ‘I don’t think I’ll do the dead dog one,’ nor – once he’d changed his mind and read it after all – heard one so poignantly illustrate the conflicting emotions involved in putting a beloved pet out of its misery. Later in the month, the Dundee Literary Festival kicks off in fine style on 21 October, with five vibrant days’ worth of poetry, prose, talks and workshops. You can now download your copy of their programme online. True to Dundee’s reputation as the city of discovery, we will be seeing many new writers take the stage, as well as celebrities including Nick Frost and Gregor Fisher. Jackie Kay (whose poem Names remains one of the

Words: Clare Mulley

Reading MacNeice in early autumn best portrayals of childhood racism I’ve ever read) It is knowledge of a shift is making an appearance (24 Oct), reading from in current or in key, and discussing both her latest short story collecit is seeing each leaf vein tion, Reality Reality, and her poetry pamphlet The lustrous and skeletal Empathetic Store. Other must-sees include Mother In the backlit puppet show Tongue (25 Oct), a double act by Colette Bryce and of rice paper skies, Jen Hadfield on the subject of roots, and Heard it. and a cut-out sun Seen it. Done it. (22 Oct), a one-off, mishmash showthat you can gaze case of different arts platforms, featuring Edinburgh full into International Book Festival, Neu! Reekie! and the and not be blinded. Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival. As for me, I’m currently getting all psyched It is all this up for a trip to the Highlands in mid October, where and yet not all; I’ll be teaching my first ever course for teens at the it is gatherings which are Scottish Creative Writing Centre, Moniack Mhor. also partings, a body My co-tutor is the lovely Niall Griffiths, author of that cannot bear itself, Stump (Wales Book of the Year, 2004) and, following and of a canvas, our pre-course phone chat, I’m sensing the week is terracotta, silk and clay going to be an absolute blast, creatively and socially. in shades of earth Let’s hope the students find inspiration too. On where, once, that note, I’ll leave you with a short poem I wrote a country stood its ground. last year after a dose of Louis MacNeice; for me, reading his Autumn Journal around now is as much 40 Sonnets is out now, published by Faber & Faber, RRP £14.99 a part of the season as leaf-gazing and pub fires. literarydundee.co.uk | moniackmhor.org.uk wigtownbookfestival.com

Bream Gives Me Hiccups: And Other Stories By Jesse Eisenberg

Endgame

City on Fire

The Life-Writer

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By Ahmet Altan

By Garth Risk Hallberg

By David Constantine

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Jesse Eisenberg’s collection is a study in neurotica, taking humour and hilarity from the pains and delusions of the New York millennial. The stories exist in a distorted prism of illusion, where every reflection says, ‘me, me, me.’ The comedy set up is clear. Eisenberg is playing to the crowd, with a disdain for hipsters and the bourgeois bandwagon-jumpers who are never seen without a copy of Lolita, a green juice, or a line about ways to flirt in a ‘post-gender’ world. The collection takes the reader on an assault course where pellets, stun guns and miscellaneous tyre rings are replaced by an ambush of every anxiety and neurosis that the therapist’s book can throw at you. Daddy issues, the breakdown of a relationship seen through the prism of the Bosnian genocide, and smiling through the murder of a now-happy ex make up Eisenberg’s treatise on the modern world. As a parody of the people he has made a career playing, it would be difficult to write a book that is more Jesse Eisenberg. At some point, roughly after the fifth restaurant review from a privileged child, the dry irony begins to wear thin. The problem with Eisenberg’s decision to opt for first person narration – arguably, the only way that he could portray neurosis effectively – is that you continually find yourself hoping for the staccato, self-censoring constraint of the verse to burst out into a tirade of emotion. The emotional outlet is glimpsed (in Smiling Tricks Your Brain into Thinking It’s Happy), but never fulfilled. [Holly Rimmer-Tagoe]

‘What is life if we don’t play it like a game? Nothing but an overwhelming stretch of anxiety and boredom’. In Endgame, internationally acclaimed Turkish novelist Ahmet Altan explores dangerous secrets and murderous intrigues in a seemingly quiet little town – where violence, betrayal and suspicion live side by side with everyday life and an iniquitous virtual world. When a writer decides to retire and move into what was supposed to be the tranquil shelter of this small Turkish town, he finds himself involved with hidden treasures, corruption and murder. But what really happened, and who did he kill? Sensual, highly psychological and introspective, this is a profound and complex work that brings up arcane religious and moral debates as well as the eternal conflict between man and woman. Altan uses a devious, unreliable narrator to capture the reader’s attention with powerful and intensely sensorial descriptions. Providing interesting psychological insight, involving guilt, pleasure and paranoid thoughts to resemble Dostoyevsky’s finest, Endgame is intriguing, disturbing and revealing all at once. This novel comes from one of the most significant authors and journalists on the Turkish and international literary scenes. Throughtout his career, Altan has won several prestigious awards such as the Prize for Freedom and Future of the Media, and published great literary successes including Like a Sword Wound and Four Seasons of Autumn. Endgame is another. [Vanessa Piras]

Out now, published by Grove Press, RRP £14.99

Out now, published by Canongate, RRP £12.99

Hard to ignore the hype surrounding this almost-debut (Hallberg published a novella in 2007), but try, because anything tipped as the next Underworld, let alone “the greatest American novel I’ve ever read” (the words of the, er, publisher), will struggle to meet expectations. Taken on its own terms, though, it’s an outstanding novel. Over 900-plus pages, Hallberg tries to pin down the writhing beast of 70s New York, anatomising the dying city through POV characters of practically every social type. There are too many to list, but they include Long Island kids desperate to swap suburban ennui for the Lower East Side, dropout drug-addled anarchists bent on chaos and warring members of one of those Illuminati-grade old-money NY families. He pretty much pulls it off, too. It’s a little more Richard Price than DeLillo, but we’re talking roughly a dozen POVs, and every single one handled with preternatural smoothness, plus a kind of Salingerian compassion, even love, that’s now all too rare in ambitious literary fiction. Same goes for the back-and-forth momentum-sustaining architecture of the book, which is just as dazzling. The form’s so dazzling, in fact, that it can distract from the book’s fundamental problem: centrelessness. Hallberg is so restless, jumping between so many characters and plotlines, that you seldom feel the sense of vicarious consciousness, of inhabiting another sensibility, afforded by the truly great novels. Less width, more depth, in other words. Still, what an accomplishment. [James Troeltsch]

Katrin’s husband dies, and she decides to write his biography. It seems, at first, like a simple way through the grieving process: a task worthy of her academic mind, a continuation of her career as a biographer. It begins with the letters in the attic, and conversations with his friends. It is a way to remember him, to gather his stories. But then it becomes much more. She begins to imagine her husband’s feelings, then to write little sketches, longer pieces. Soon she has conjured him, full of young passion and energy and love. She begins to think that he loved these other women more than he ever loved her, and once she has summoned the thought, it threatens to annihilate her. At the heart of Constantine’s work is a fascination with the past. In his hands the past is restless, ever-present. It is a living thing, a menace, threatening always to unbalance his characters. The man she discovers in the letters is different to the man she knew and that difference begins to unravel her memories of their relationship. It is a painful discovery and Constantine dissects her grief and obsession with signature precision. These things are captured in the details. There is a lasting image of Katrin, sitting at her desk, poring over the letters, wearing her husband’s jacket that still smells of him. It is a powerful, engaging novel, tying together grief, biography, and translation – all the ways in which it is possible to articulate a life. [Galen O’Hanlon] Out now, published by Comma Press, RRP £9.99

Out 22 Oct, published by Vintage, RRP £18.99

October 2015

BOOKS

Review

Theatre to Make You Talk The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival wants to change preconceived views about mental illness, and this is the theatre it’s using to do it

he Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, or SMHAFF as it’s often known, is back and this year its theme is Passion. Following the Edinburgh festivals earlier this year where mental health issues seemed to be at the very forefront of theatrical work, this year’s programme is covering a variety of genres bringing mental health issues into discussion and attention from classic plays to new works. Potentially the biggest classic in the season is Rapture Theatre’s The Last Yankee, penned by Arthur Miller. Despite the recent focus theatre has drawn on mental health issues, Miller’s work from the 1990s shows that depression and how to talk about it has been on theatre’s radar for a long time, and it is still something we are trying to figure out. The play takes place over the course of one day as Leroy Hamilton tries to reconcile with his wife Patricia who is in hospital recovering from depression, and to deal with the consequences of their different desires and the lost American Dream, whatever that may be.

“Bissett’s piece reminds us that sometimes the body can express pain and feeling in a way that is much clearer than words are able” New play Cracked by Santé Theatre describes itself as ‘a space somewhere between wellness and illness.’ Based in Warwick, Santé Theatre works a little differently to the straight theatre of Miller’s writing. They work closely with research in Health and Social Care, producing verbatim work with

the hope of increasing the impact and reach of research findings. With the very specific aim of inciting discussion and sharing information, it’s the perfect fit for SMHAFF. Cracked is written by Mike Kenny and woven together with poetry by Julie Boden. This verbatim play explores the experiences of three young people during a first episode of psychosis. It is a harrowing and powerful production told through the voices of their carers. True to Santé Theatre’s goal, the play is followed up by a post-show discussion, opening up questions about mental illness, and the misconceptions that often surround it. In Her Shadows, a joint production between Blank Canvas and Jabuti Theatre takes yet another approach towards the exploration of mental illness. The performance, directed by Cora Bissett, uses ariel and physical theatre and dance to explore the journey of a young woman returned to Scotland after years abroad and thrown into mental and emotional turmoil. In a festival that is so much about opening up discussion, Bissett’s piece reminds us that sometimes the body can express pain and feeling in a way that is much clearer than words are able. Coming to A Play, A Pie and a Pint, Linda Duncan McLaughlin’s Descent tackles the heavy subject of dementia, detailing the lives of a couple who try to keep their love alive in the face of the illness. It deals with the guilt and anger that come with it, the fear of losing track of who you are and how in that process how and who you love can change as well. Linda Duncan McLaughlin is returning to A Play, A Pie and A Pint as a writer having acted in its very first production. This covers just some of the theatre to be found in the SMHAFF programme, with film and visual arts events across Scotland as well. It’s almost impossible to miss this festival, and it is the discussion it creates, the buzz around the work and what it means to those who suffer under mental illness, that really make this work important. Whether it’s classical theatre or aerial dance you’re looking for, it’s there and it’s trying to get you to talk.

Waiting for Godot

The Lyceum, Edinburgh, 22 Sep

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Famously ignored and decried on its premiere 60 years ago (the late theatre critic Bernard Levin was particularly scathing, dismissing it as ‘a really remarkable piece of twaddle’), Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is now recognised as one of the most important plays of the last century. So it is perhaps no surprise that Beckett’s most influential work has been selected by the Lyceum’s outgoing artistic director, Mark Thomson, as a swansong of sorts, and the first production in the Lyceum’s seminal 50th anniversary season. Beginning in a bleak and anonymous wasteland, underneath a windswept tree, two tramps, Estragon (Bill Paterson) and Vladimir (Brian Cox) wait for the mysterious Mr Godot of the play’s title. Unaware of place, time or the reasoning behind

lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/waiting-for-godot

mhfestival.com

The Tron, Edinburgh, 19 Sep

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The Last Yankee

Review

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, ‘til 10 Oct

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival takes place in venues across Scotland 10-31 Oct

What Goes Around

their sojourn, they fritter away time discussing various subjects, interrupted only by the arrival of the extravagant Pozzo (John Bett) and his servant Lucky (Benny Young). As a play, Waiting for Godot is gleefully subversive, a wonderfully absurd piece of theatre, peppered with enigma, mystery and a growing sense of dread. As a double act, Paterson and Cox are sublime, like a darkly comic duo, thrown into Michael Taylor’s desolate and unwelcoming wasteland set and left to their own devices. Unsurprisingly, Thomson’s production is more comedy-driven and the actors more likely to go for laughs, yet throughout the play Beckett still manages to provoke and unsettle with moments of sadness, cruelty and frustration, six decades after its maligned premiere. Not bad for a ‘piece of twaddle’, eh? [Amy Taylor]

Credit: Eoin Carey

Credit: Alan McCredie

Words: Emma Ainley-Walker

Liz Lochead’s What Goes Around is exactly as it claims to be – a contemporary update of the theatre classic and ‘sexual daisy chain’ La Ronde. An actor and an actress are our first couple. The play addresses their uncomfortable age difference throughout, and it’s not the only theatre trope directly reflected on stage, or the only in-joke which may push out less regular theatregoing audiences. It gets off to a slow start, and it feels as if those who are unfamiliar with the original work will not find themselves so easily in this play, but as the daisy chain starts and the actors take us from character to character, the play is funny, clever and a strong homage to its original whilst placing itself entirely in a contemporary world.

THEATRE

Each character, though played by the same two actors, is differentiated enough from the last, and the overlapping relationships ring true to the messy world of dating and relationships – particularly in its insight into online dating. We even see snippets of Schnitzier’s original work, traditional costumes and all. Keith Fleming and Nicola Roy, who play all characters in this twohander, become the married woman and young man, as well as the Russian director so opposed to Fleming’s leading man, and the frustrated Scottish composer who cannot please her. It is only in these final moments that the two-hander seems not enough, with action having to take place off-stage for all characters to be represented. It is confusing, and instead of carrying its humour to the end, judders to a sadly unsatisfactory halt. [Emma Ainley-Walker] What Goes Around, touring Scotland ‘til 8 Oct

THE SKINNY

Stand out at Red Raw Progressing through the comedy ranks is both a liberating and terrifying experience. Liam Withnail speaks to The Skinny about The Stand’s commitment to new acts and regular night Red Raw Interview: Jenni Ajderian Illustration: Emma Brown

ince 1995 The Stand Comedy Club has been showcasing some of the best comedic talent Scotland has to offer. This is due in no small part to that crucial secondary role of the venue: curating. While it’s one thing to book the big names in comedy who pack out a venue no matter the ticket price, someone has to give rookie comedians a shot in the first place. Admittedly, Red Raw, the Stand’s regular newcomers night often features big names, but only as a side-note. When Frankie Boyle and Kevin Bridges grace us with their presence, it’s to try out new material; testing out jokes on a crowd who have only paid a couple of quid to get in, and who are expecting something a little more scrappy than Live at the Apollo, and a lot more fun. Around 1000 hopeful comics apply to perform at Red Raw every year, such is the reputation of the night as a great place for newcomers and audiences alike. Liam Withnail, who helped run the Stand Rising show at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is an alumnus of Red Raw, and explained that the set-up is popular with beginners: “You’ve got a professional compere who’s there to make sure the crowd understand that these are all new guys with new material, and then bring you on to a normally sold-out room of people who are willing to see someone just trying something out.” ‘Just trying something out’ means that the quality of what we see on stage can fluctuate wildly, “but you always get a few really good acts on. You’re willing to watch someone who’s dying on their arse because you know the next person’s coming onstage soon.” As well as providing a stage and an audience, The Stand give feedback to new comics after their performances, and encourage them to progress through different nights, getting more and more time to play with as they go. “If you get past the first five minutes, you need to be able to work a mic, and have some kind of sentience of comedy. If the audience doesn’t respond to you particularly well that night, as long as you have a vague idea of what you’re trying to do, they’ll give you a few more five-minute slots.”

If it goes well, then that five-minute slot becomes a ten-minute slot, then a graduation to playing one of The Stand’s regular Sunday night line-ups, and eventually onto opening weekend shows. Withnail went back to Red Raw as a compere. “When I’m hosting I often get the new acts asking, ‘How do you think it went?’ and what to do next. As a host your job is not only onstage, it’s also backstage, helping the acts have the best possible gig they can, and to be on hand with advice.”

“If you get past the first five minutes, you need to be able to work a mic” Liam Withnail

Comedians supporting other comedians, audiences encouraging acts and the venue giving advice: it all sets Red Raw aside from other new material shows across the country. “The Comedy Store down in Manchester [and London] has a thing called the ‘Gong Show’. If the audience don’t like you they smash a massive gong, and you get booed off the stage. It’s fine if you can get by and if you’re alright at comedy, but you find out pretty quickly if you’re not. The Stand are much more willing to give people an easier time, and if it doesn’t work out you don’t get booed out of the building, you just get a handshake and a ‘Look, it didn’t work for you this evening.’” Without being bloodthirsty, The Stand spurs acts to try something new, learn from the experience, and laugh it off afterwards. Even the names in flashing lights had to start somewhere. Where do you think Frankie Boyle had his first gig? Red Raw: The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh (Mondays) and Glasgow (Tuesdays) thestand.co.uk

October 2015

COMEDY

Feature

Glasgow Music Tue 06 Oct

KATHRYN WILLIAMS + MICHELE STODART

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £17

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 20:00–22:00, £13

THE LEMONHEADS (FEW BITS)

Evan Dando et al return. RACHEL SERMANNI

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15.00

The much-lauded young Scottish folkstress dips into her latest LP Tied To The Moon.

WOZNIAK (YUTANI + NOW WAKES THE SEA)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £5

The Edinburgh-formed noiseniks celebrate their latest release with the usual feedback-fuelled set. MEGALOMATIC (SERVANT SUN)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

The alternative metal unit descend to deafen. RSNO: TCHAIKOVSKY FIVE

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, £25

Conductor Peter Oundjian leads the RSNO in a recital of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5. CLIFF RICHARD

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:45–22:00, FROM £65

Sir Cliff tickets for £65. Erm, naw.

THE GRAVELTONES (DIRTY OLD RED + SAINTS) KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8

The Australian blues-rock duo return to Scottish soil. JUSTICE YELDHAM (PHANTOM CHIPS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

Maverick musician with an unhealthy obsession with sheets of broken glass.

Wed 07 Oct ONE DIRECTION

THE SSE HYDRO, 18:30–22:00, FROM £39.50

Fresh-faced X-Factor almostweres (as in, they lost), playing a two-night stint. Deep joy. RHODES

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £10

Affable singer/songwriter (aka David Rhodes) hailing from Hitchin. MATTHEW COLLINGS + ESTHER SWIFT

CITY HALLS, 20:00–22:00, FROM £5

Experimental Icelandic-based musician Matthew Collings performs a special set with Esther Swift, using field recordings, samples and effects to create a disturbing and dark sound world. G&T

STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £10 (£8)

The Glasgow-based piano and fiddle duo (aka Gráinne Brady and Tina Jordan Rees) launch their new LP High Spirits.

JUDGES (THE BELAFONTE + EXIT THE THEATRE)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Unencumbered and uplifting alternative pop rock.

Thu 08 Oct

STRUGGLE (THE SINKING FEELING + THE CHERRY WAVE + PLEASE, BELIEVE) BLOC+, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Monthly punk and post hardcore selection of bands from DIY collective Struggletown. ONE DIRECTION

THE SSE HYDRO, 18:30–22:00, FROM £39.50

Fresh-faced X-Factor almostweres (as in, they lost), playing a two-night stint. Deep joy.

Mercury Prize-nominated singer/ songwriter Kathryn Williams plays a collaborative set with The Magic Numbers’ Michele Stodart. LINZI CLARK

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £4

The folk-meets-pop singer/ songwriter from Paisley launches her new LP.

Fri 09 Oct

BACCHUS BARACUS (ANCIENT OF DAYS + SKELETON GONG)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

The heavy rockin’ Glasgow lot play a hometown gig. ENEMIES OF THE STATE (THE NORTHERN + COMMON GROUND)

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £6

The indie-rock locals take to the stage to do their ever-energetic live thing. POKEY LAFARGE

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £18

Country blues and early jazz restyled for the 21st century, thanks to the suited-and-booted St Louis musician. NORTHSIDE

CLASSIC GRAND, 19:00–22:00, £12

The 1989-formed Manc lot take to the road as part of their reunion tour. HEYROCCO

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £6

South Carolina band of school chums who brand their thing ‘Disney grunge’, obv. THE PARROTS

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, FREE

Fresh-from-college garage surf trio from Madrid. SCO: BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO 1

CITY HALLS, 19:30–22:00, FROM £15

The SCO take on Brahms’ Symphony No 1, among other works. WEIRD AL YANKOVIC

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £28

AGAINST THE CURRENT (HERCULEAN)

KING TUT’S, 20:00–23:00, £10

METRIC (ALL TVVINS)

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15.50

The Broken Social Scene affiliated rockers return with another new album. BLACK HONEY

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £6

Guitar pop types signed to Duly Noted Records.

JOE DRISCOLL + SEKOU KOUYATE

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £9

The unlikely duo do their collaborative thing, showing just what you can do when music is your only common language. LITTLE MAY

VUKOVI (HALO TORA + BLOODLINES)

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £10

Kilwinning experimental rockers headed by the rather magnificent (at screaming) Janine Shilstone. BEN MONTAGUE (SCIENCE OF THE LAMPS + LIAM DOYLE)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8

Tousle-haired acoustic singer/ songwriter blessed with an acute sense of melody. SECRET AFFAIR

CLASSIC GRAND, 19:00–22:00, £16

Rock, soul and Mod revival act formed way back in 1978 from their previous incarnation as New Hearts. 911

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £23.50

Boy band trio of early 90s fame, back together for a hits tour following the ITV2 reunion show. Joys.

REEVES GABRIELS AND HIS IMAGINARY FRIENDS (LISA RONSON)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £14

DANNY SCHMIDT (BETTY SOO)

THE GLAD CAFE, 15:30–18:00, £12

RSNO: TCHAIKOVSKY FIVE

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £12

Conductor Peter Oundjian leads the RSNO in a recital of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5. LEWIS AND LEIGH (CURTIS MCMURTY)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £12

R’n’B singer four albums into a 15-year career.

Mon 12 Oct SWIM DEEP

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £12.00

Bright indie hopefuls making sun-kissed dross-pop in their hometown of Birmingham, then touring it to a venue near you. THE SISTERS OF MERCY

RAINTOWN

RAGLANS

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

Dublin-based quartet formed in a festival tent back in 2010, riding along on muscular new wave guitars, gritty pop melodies and indie-folk arrangements.

CIRCA WAVES (SUNDARA KARMA + THE ACADEMIC)

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

Liverpool garage-pop quartet taking their cue from the early-00s indie scene. JIM GHEDI (HOWIE REEVE + TOBY HAY)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5

The Sheffield-based experimental guitarist launches his new LP Home is Where I Exist Now to Live and Die.

THE COSTONES (LAFLEUR + BACKSTAGE PARADISE + CELLADOA)

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £4

North Lanarkshire indie troupe playing a mixture of original music and covers. CANAL CAPITAL

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Light-hearted leaps of whimsy between math rock and gritty alternative sounds.

Wed 14 Oct

RYAN MCGARVEY (BIG DUFFY AND THE GOODS)

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £10

Passionate young bluesy rock guitar player. TARIBOWEST

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

A selection of super-heavy live band sounds curated by Vasa’s J Niblock and Detour’s Ally McCrae.

F*CK YES (BWANI + DED RABBIT + LEWIS CAPALDI)

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 18:30–22:00, £10 (£6)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £TBC

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Listings

19 year-old artist named with a debut EP just out.

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £5 (£4)

HONNE

East London duo mixing classic soul with synths.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £7

KID INK

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

The young LA-based rapper, producer and songwriter brings his much-tattooed self to our shores.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

CIARAN LAVERY

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8

Los Angeles-based pop-meetsrock pups, made up of Ellington Ratliff, and siblings Riker, Rocky, Ross, and Rydel Lynch (yes, really). THE COURTESANS (SPLINTERED HALO + ATHENAS ARMY)

STEREO, 20:00–22:00, £8

If you like your audio and video experiences sensual, then this London four-piece are the group for you. SAOR PATROL

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £10.00

KESTON COBBLER’S CLUB

Kent-hailing, toe-tapping, indiefolk five-piece – favourites on BBC 6 Music and winners of the Rebel Playlist. STEVE GROZIER

THE GRIFFIN, 20:00–00:00, FREE

Americana, country and folk music from the Glasgow-based singer/ songwriter. ROBERT CLAY

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £29.50

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £10

THE ART SCHOOL, 20:00–23:00, £12.50

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Austin-based rock’n’rollers formed in 1998 by Joey Simeone and Josh Williams.

Mon 19 Oct

Seattle-based surf rock quartet rich with doo-wops.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £16.50

Experimental muso who’s collaborated with the likes of Jim O’Rourke and Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson.

THE BELLFURIES (THE TENNESSEE HOTSHOTS)

PROTOJE AND THE INDIGGNATION

The reggae revivalist and his band do their thing.

DEIRDRE NELSON + INGE THOMPSON

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5

Collaborative project celebrating the beauty of Fair Isle, with musician Inge Thomson and artist Deirdre Nelson.

Fri 16 Oct HAYSEED DIXIE

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £17

US novelty metal legends playing a mixture of hard rock cover versions and original compositions. VETIVER

STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £10

Devendra Banhart-collaborating collective, continuing with their totally mellow line in folksy Americana, crucially of the catchy, upbeat variety.

VASA (A SUDDEN BURST OF COLOUR)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , 20:00–23:00, £5

Glaswegian progressive instrumental post-rockers, built on their own sublime brand of melodic, guitar-driven rock, out launching their debut LP. HOT CHIP

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–23:00, £22.50

The geeky London popsters arrive with their kit-bag of electronics. YO LA TENGO

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £20

The Hoboken trio return on fine form with new LP Stuff Like That There, moving nicely from pure doo-wop to fuzzed-up alternative pop gems. MICK HARGAN

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £TBC

Glasgow singer/songwriter for whom no two shows are ever the same, depending on whether he plays a solo show with his loop pedal, a full band, or even as a string quartet. THE SHERLOCKS

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £8

Sheffield indie-rock unit made up of two sets of brothers. JANE WEAVER

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £10

The Piccadilly Records 2014 album of the year artist brings her krautinfluenced psychedelic sounds to increasingly larger audiences. SCO: BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO 2

CITY HALLS, 19:30–22:00, FROM £15

The SCO take on Brahms’ Symphony No 2, continuing with their Brahms series of specials.

Alternative rock unit infused with electro and pop sounds. NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £TBC

Irish alt-folk troubadour who’s picked up support from the likes of Zane Lowe. And he’s not a man to give out praise freely.

Sat 17 Oct JAMIE XX

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 20:00–01:00, £SOLD OUT

The xx chappie plays a sold out set. SLEAFORD MODS

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £12

Punk electronics and spoken word hip-hop fusion from the Nottingham-hailing duo, touring in support of their latest album Divide and Exit – released on the Harbinger Sound label. THE LANCASHIRE HOTPOTS

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £13

Five northern blokes in flat caps singing songs about the wonders of modern day life. PROUD HONEY

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

The Glasgow-based indie rock’n’roll fourosme take to a hometown setting. YEARS AND YEARS

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

The latest in the BBC Sound List’s self-fulfilling prophecy gear up for their year in the sun. THE ICICLE WORKS

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £17

Liverpudlian rockers from the same era that spawned Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. JACK OFF JILL

CLASSIC GRAND, 19:00–22:00, £25

The legendary riot goths reunite. RUDI ZYGADLO

ST LUKE’S GREEK ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL, 19:30–22:00, £7

The distinctive electronic chappie tours our way. THE AMAZONS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £TBC

Born and raised Reading locals, Matt, Joe, Elliot and Chris take the aggression of grunge and punk and attempt to splice it with melody and harmony.

CAMBRIDGE PARK (EVEN IN ARCADIA + ECHO MOON + ABORIGINALS + WHISKY PIGEON) BUFF CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6

Bristol-based foursome still to be signed. MENSWEAR

THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:30, £12

The 90s Britpop troupe play their first Scottish gig in five years, marking the verge of their 20th anniversary.

Sun 18 Oct

CATTLE & CANE (LITTLE WAVES + COURIER’S CLUB)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7

Life-affirming indie-folk from the Teeside five-piece, made up of members of the prodigious Hamill family (plus Paul Wilson). STEVE HACKETT

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £27.50

A gig spanning Hackett’s full discography with solo material and Genesis classics. BELLA HARDY

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £10

2014’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer Of The Year. COASTS

STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £13

Bristol-based five-piece known for making shimmery pop sounds that go well with cold cider and a sunny day. Or, y’know, beer and dark clouds. EDITORS (THE TWILIGHT SAD)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £20

The Tom Smith-led ensemble cut the anthemic romanticism deep, playing a set of new tracks and old favourites.

THE VRYLL SOCIETY (MONO WAVE + ALL THE FRANKLINS)

Liverpool-based five-piece mixing in everything from Funkadelic to Aphrodites Child and krautrock.

BUFF CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6

The American blues guitarist and singer returns to the UK with full band in tow, celebrating track after track of good-time blues.

OREN AMBARCHI

The 80s legends join forces to play the hits, with special guest Carol Decker of T’Pau.

DMA’S BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £7

Sydney ensemble who enjoy a good hook and chorus, which is handy given that’s the bulk of what makes up pop music.

MORE THAN MOST (XII STORIES HIGH + KILL CITY RADIO + REMIND ME OF HOME + NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT)

Leeds-born post-punk gothic rockers who’ve been a veritable groove machine since 1977.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £25

GO WEST + NIK KERSHAW GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £27.50

The Glasgow-based horror-discosynth duo celebrate the release of their new 12-inch The Sadist, with support from London-based artrock outfit Barringtone (featuring ex-Clor member Barry Dobbin).

CUPIDS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £TBC

Monthly gig showcase from F*ck Yes Glasgow.

Annual music awards bash, this year hosted by the XFM DJs and featuring live sets from Holy Esque and Crash Club.

UBRE BLANCA (BARRINGTONE + LORD DEAL)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £10

Sydney trio imbued with folky and rhythmic elements.

SCOTTISH ALTERNATIVE MUSIC AWARDS

JAPANESE HOUSE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £23

Mighty dancehall collaboration from DJ/producers Diplo and Switch, fronted by a cartoon zombie-slaying Jamaican soldier.

Scottish folk-pop outfit with bagpipes in their mix.

Alternative country/Americana duo based in London, though hailing from Wales and Mississippi respectively.

Three piece pop-rock troupe from New York.

MAJOR LAZER

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8

Glasgow contemporary countryfolk duo made up of Paul Bain and Claire McArthur.

UB40

Dub reggae band formed in Birmingham back in 1978, with the original three founding members currently riding the wave of their revival years.

Reliably lovely sesh of handpicked acts from the flourishing Scottish indie, folk and roots scene.

Sat 10 Oct

Named among the Chicago Tribune’s 50 Most Significant Songwriters in the Last 50 Years, in case you need reassuring of his ability.

O2 ABC, 18:30–22:00, £30

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 20:30–22:30, £10

Tue 13 Oct

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–23:00, £20

Minnesota-formed indie-rock ensemble composed of founding members and married-withkiddies coupling Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker.

HAZY RECOLLECTIONS (SAM LEWIS + FINDLAY NAPIER + DARK GREEN TREE + CERA IMPALA)

American singer/songwriter and general loon, on the go for 30+ years.

Nashville-based power trio fronted by rock-guitar improviser Reeves Gabriels, who also writes and produces.

LOW (MIKE NOGA)

Sun 11 Oct

Thu 15 Oct

LA LUZ

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £8

GENGAHR

Smooth melodic indie-rock unit. MUTOID MAN

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Musical project of Cave In’s Stephen Brodsky, along with Converge drummer Ben Koller, and bassist Nick Cageao.

Tue 20 Oct THE CRIBS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–23:00, £18

The Wakefield indie-rockers do their guitar-heavy and frantic thing. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £21

Moniker of Swedish folk musician Kristian Matsson, doing his thing on vocals, guitar, banjo and piano. SUNDARA KARMA

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6

Young Reading-based quartet who sum themselves up as ‘four pointy-shoe wearing sun-huggers with music to awaken the soul’. That’ll do us. CHASTITY BELT

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £7

Seattle rock’n’roll foursome made up of guitarists Julia Shapiro and Lydia Lund, bassist Annie Truscott and drummer Gretchen Grimm. YOSSARIAN (WE WERE HUNTED)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Anglo-Argentine alternative rockers drawing comparisons to The National and the like.

Wed 21 Oct SPECTOR

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £12.50

The happy-go-lucky London ensemble churn out the pop tunes. HAWKLORDS

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £14

Born from the disbanded Hawkwind, Harvey Bainbridge and Steve Swindells et al join forces for a live re-group. LITTLE KINGDOM (ST. DUKES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5 (£4)

The fledgling Edinburgh outfit flit across to Glasgow for the evening.

JEAN-LUC GUIONNET + FRITZ WELCH + NEIL DAVIDSON + ANNEKE KAMPMAN + SEBASTIAN LEXER + UNA MACGLONE + SUE MCKENZIE

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , 20:00–23:00, £5

Free improvisation from Jean-Luc Guionnet, members of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, Conquering Animal Sound and the former University of East Anglia Music Department. BELLA CALEDONIA PRESENTS... RICKY ROSS + KARINE POLWART

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £TBC

Fundraiser featuring live music from Ricky Ross and Karine Polwart, plus a selection of short films and spoken word. All proceeds go to Bella Caledonia. INTER – #5

STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £5

Fledgling event series for the performance of multichannel and surround sound work, and other work made specifically for loudspeakers.

Thu 22 Oct CINEMA SOLORIENS

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £7 ADV. (£9 DOOR)

Multimedia performance project blending James Harrar’s highly personal and experimental films with live soundtracking by Marshall Allen of The Sun Ra Arkestra. FOXES

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

One-woman band riding along on Louisa Rose Allen’s resplendent synths, industrial percussion and by-turns-searing-and-soaring vocals.

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6

MILD HIGH CLUB

Musical output of Alexander Brettin, a jazz-schooled musician transplanted from the Midwest to LA. THE SOFT MOON

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £10

Oakland post-punk project of main producer, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Luis Vasquez. DAN REED NETWORK

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £20

Funk rock guitarist par excellence, Dan Reed, takes to the road with his live band Network. SPEEDY ORTIZ

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £10

US-of-A-hailing indie rock quartet, built on the lo-fi output of singer Sadie Dupois. BLONDE

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–22:30, £12.50

House duo Adam Englefield and Jacob Manson, who began collaborating via email after Jacob sent garage-inspired tracks to Adam for use on his Eton Messy YouTube channel. SONG, BY TOAD PRESENTS... ADAM STAFFORD + NUMBERS ARE FUTILE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

Scottish blogger and label owner Song, By Toad pitches up at Sleazy’s for a special showcase night, with label acts Adam Stafford and Numbers are Futile in tow.

Fri 23 Oct RIVERSIDE

O2 ABC, 18:00–22:00, £17.50

Progressive rock foursome hailing from Warsaw, back in a live setting for their 2015 tour. BIG COUNTRY

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £22.50

Legendary Scottish Celtic rock unit still featuring two of the original founding members, Bruce Watson and Mark Brzezicki. Expect the classic singles Fields Of Fire, Chance and In A Big Country. CHANTEL MCGREGOR

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £13

Yorkshire singer/songwriter working her virtuoso guitar magic on the blues genre. HECTOR BIZERK

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £9.00

Much-lauded Glasgow-based alternative hip-hop duo made up of Louie and Audrey, MC and drummer respectively. SQUEEZE

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £32.50

The longstanding new wave quintet get back on the live circuit for a special tour.

SEARCHING FOR DONKEYS (IN STATIONS + CALLOUS + ANGEL EYES)

BUFF CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6

Northern indie rockers and contenders for band name of the month. ESPERANZA

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

More ska-filled frolics from the highly-lauded nine-piece.

ASKING ALEXANDRA (MEMPHIS MAY FIRE + AUGUST BURNS RED + IN HEARTS WAKE)

O2 ABC, 17:30–22:00, £20

More hardcore-meets-screamo inspired rock’n’roll from the English five-piece.

PREHISTORIC FRIENDS (EAGLEOWL)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £6

The heartfelt casio-tone dreamers launch their self-titled debut LP, augmented by live band members Julian Corrie (Miaoux Miaoux), Nichola Kerr (Glasgow Chamber Orchestra), Joe Rattray and Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow). EWAN MCLENNAN (LUKE DANIELS)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £8 ADV. (£10 DOOR)

Emerging folk singer/songwriter combining more traditional sounds with a focus on the music of Scotland. SCO: HANDEL’S THEODORA

CITY HALLS, 19:30–22:00, FROM £15

The SCO take on Handel’s dramatic oratorio.

MONORAIL PRESENTS... A WEEKEND ABROAD (MOLLY NILSSON + THE SPACE LADY + HAPPY MEALS + NIGHT SCHOOL RECORDS DJS) CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:00–22:00, £21 WEEKEND (£10 DAY)

Monorail Music present a special weekend of music and film, with The Pastels, Molly Nilsson, The Space Lady, Happy Meals, Birdie and more.

Sat 24 Oct IAN SIEGAL

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £12

Contemporary blues singer/songwriter rich with passionate guitar playing and soul-infused vocals. RYAN BINGHAM

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15.00

American singer/songwriter who won an Oscar and a Grammy for his songs written for the film Crazy Heart. SIMONE FELICE (EMMA JANE)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £13.50

The former Felice Brothers man tours with his new live band.

RSNO: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £12

RSNO principal guest conductor Thomas Søndergard takes on Mussorgsky/Ravel’s Pictures at an Exhibition, among other works. JUNKMAN’S CHOIR

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £10

Deranged accordion-adorning duo laying a mix of cajun, country sea shanties and rockin’ reels. SHIELDS (APACHE DARLING + THE INSOMNIAC PROJECT)

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £6

Newcastle alternative pop quintet, playing as part of new monthly live music night ‘Put A Sauchie In It’. BITCHIN BAJAS

THE FLYING DUCK, 20:00–22:30, £5

Psychedelic-tinged experimental trio blending myriad musical personalities. HQFU

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

The electro up-and-comer takes to the stage, having supported Chvrches in London at what was just her third ever gig.

MONORAIL PRESENTS... A WEEKEND ABROAD (THE PASTELS + BIRDIE + SPINNING COIN + NORMAL LOVE + GEOGRAPHIC MUSIC DJS)

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 14:00–22:00, £21 WEEKEND (£15 DAY)

Monorail Music present a special weekend of music and film, with The Pastels, Molly Nilsson, The Space Lady, Happy Meals, Birdie and more.

TAMAN SHUD (JUNGFRAU + FIESTA MINOR)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

London noisemongers of the psychedelic necro-punk variety (aka dark).

Sun 25 Oct SETH LAKEMAN

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £18.00

The Devon folk singer/songwriter and virtuoso fiddler does his damned impressive live thing, shredding strings as he goes. THE SUMMER WAR (NORTHERN NIGHTLIGHTS + CLONEASAURUS + DEAF RAKKET)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

Poppy rock trio, drawing from their pool of influence that includes Jimmy Eat World, The Starting Line and Brand New. ROWAN ROSS (JIM MCATEER)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £8

The talented singer/songwriter and guitarist plays a live band set. FUFANU + HERO FISHER

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7

Instrumental techno lot Fufanu play a joint headline set with London’s Hero Fisher. BATTLES

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

The American experimental rockers make their way UK-way with new album La Di Da Di in tow. LADY LESHURR

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £8

Rapper/singer/producer from Kingshurst, aka Melesha O’Garro. GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR

LIQUID ROOM, 19.00-22.00, £24

The elusive Canadian post-rock collective return to a live setting in celebration of their new LP Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress.

THE SKINNY

FESTIVAL DAY (CREATIVE COLLECTIVE + RM HUBBERT + LOUISE QUINN + MICHAEL JOHN MCCARTHY) PLATFORM, 12:00–18:00, FREE (BUT TICKETED)

Platform makes its annual contribution to SHMAFF, hosting a programme of film, theatre, music and visual art, with guests including instrumental guitar virtuoso RM Hubbert, composer Michael John McCarthy and Warwick’s Santè Theatre.

BAJALY SUSO (AYAWARA ENSEMBLE) THE GLAD CAFE, 20:00–22:00, £6 ADV. (£8 DOOR)

West African traditional kora musician and singer.

PALACE (LYLO + CLARAMASSA)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7

The London alternative rock foursome plays tracks from their new LP Chase the Light. ELLA HENDERSON

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £23.50

Mon 26 Oct

Pop songstress who was on 2012’s X Factor.

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £10

THE COMPUTERS

Visceral and hardcore bluesy punk from the Exeter four-piece. DAPPY

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

The N-Dubz chap entertains the yoof, avec baseball cap. Obviously. THE STAVES

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:00, £16

Headline set from the Communion Records all-female folk harmony trio. BEACH HOUSE

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £18

Lush-pop girl/boy duo from Baltimore, all floaty melodies, gently plucked guitars and angelic ‘ooh-aah’ vocals from yer wumman Victoria Legrand. HEALTH

STEREO, 20:00–22:00, £10

LA noise rock band who’ve taken a turn for the pop on their first LP in six years, Death Magic.

STEVE ‘N’ SEAGULLS

The Finnish rockers return to the UK having completed their debut LP Farm Machine.

Fri 30 Oct

DAN BAIRD AND HOMEMADE SIN

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

The Georgia Satellites frontman returns with his rockin’ and rollin’ live band, Homemade Sin.

CHRISTY MOORE (DECLAN SINNOTT)

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–23:00, £27.50

Irish folk singer/songwriter, also known for being one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. BMX BANDITS

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £12

Favourited jangly guitar popsters formed in by songwriter and lead vocalist Duglas T Stewart out of the ashes of The Pretty Flowers.

DAYLIGHT NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £6

The Spanish pop-punk ensemble alight in Scotland for the first time. MARK LYKEN: OSCILLON RESPONSE

MITCHELL THEATRE, 21:30–23:30, £12 (£8)

Composer and visual artist Mark Lyken interprets the forefather of Electronic Art, Ben F Laposky's pioneering ‘Oscillon’ Electronic Abstractions, responding to a selection of six different photographic works. Part of Sonica festival.

Edinburgh Tue 06 Oct THE VIEW

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

The Dundee indie-pop scamps get back on the road, if anyone’s still bothered? BUDWEISER LIVE PROJECT

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

A selection of local bands organised by the American beer brand. CHARLOTTE ERIKSSON (DANIEL SCOTT + ROSS ARTHUR)

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–22:00, £5

Young songstress who, at the age of 18, moved to London to dedicate her life to her music and art.

Wed 07 Oct BOXED IN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

Tue 27 Oct

Melancholic piano-pop from the teen Bristol dwelling songstress.

Musical brainchild of Oli Bayston, formerly of indie outfit Keith, taking his name from a Francis Bacon painting.

STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £9

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £9

TURBOWOLF

Bristol-based psychic noisemakers on guitars, drums and bass. LOWER DENS

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £11

Alternative electronica-styled quartet from Baltimore, building their wares on gentle rhythms, androgynous vocals and dreamy soundscapes. MATES OF STATE

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £8

Married Connecticut-based indiesynth-pop duo of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. U.S. GIRLS

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £7.50

American-born, Meg Remy’s musical moniker. STEVE EARLE AND THE DUKES

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £27.50

The Godfather of alternative country music calls in with his trusty backing band. SHILPA RAY

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

LAUREN AQUILINA

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £9.00

LINDSEY BLACK (ALEX CORNISH)

Scottish singer/songwriter, one of the original members of The Bevvy Sisters and now going it solo. MY BABY (THE RIVERS + DIXIE FRIED)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8

Delta blues dub trio, who recently supported Seasick Steve on his UK tour. RANDY NEWMAN

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:00, FROM £35

American singer/songwriter, arranger, composer and pianist.

A SLEAZY SAMHAIN (ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE + MUYASSUR KURDI + KRK)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £10

Kawabata Makoto and his band of sonic outlaws (aka Acid Mothers Temple) helps Sleazy’s celebrate the day afore Halloween.

Sat 31 Oct DODGY

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £15.50

Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter who has toured with the likes of Nick Cave.

Reformed Britpop rockers made up of Nigel Clark, Andy Miller and Mathew Priest.

Wed 28 Oct

BUFF CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6

LUCY ROSE

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15.00

Singer/songwriter who has contributed vocals to Bombay Bicycle Club tracks, now striking out on her lonesome. UMBERTO (DAMN TEETH)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £7

Otherworldly electronic overlord and horror soundtrack fanatic Umberto (aka Matt Hill) plays a special set, weaving his usual hypnotic musical web.

WE CAME FROM WOLVES

Post-rock foursome all about the harmonic, melodic soundscapes with hook-laden, euphoric choruses. HALF MOON RUN

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £10.00

Talented young trio from Ottawa, Ontario and Comox, British Columbia, working their magic across elements of indie, pop and folk.

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

DEAD PLAYERS: HALLOWEEN PARTY (KONCHIS & PHYSIKS + GASP + SPEE SIXNINE & BIGG TAJ + CIARAN MAC + ERIN FRIEL + T3XTUR3 + JACKLE TRADES)

LITURGY

The London-based hip-hop crew head up a night of Halloween shenanigans, with a raft of support in tow.

COLD OCEAN LIES

Birmingham-based indie-punk outfit who this year made their first fetsival appearance at Live at Leeds. BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £7

Brooklyn black metal unit led by guitarist and vocalist Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. DAMMIT (THE EXHAUSTS)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Showcase night of the finest in punk rock, emo and rock.

Thu 29 Oct CHRISTY MOORE

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:00, FROM £25

Irish folk singer/songwriter, also known for being one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts.

October 2015

AUDIO, 19:00–23:00, £7 ADV. (£10 DOOR)

JESS AND THE BANDITS (BLACKLEAF 40) KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £10

Country pop ensemble led by Jessica Clemmons, out on their first headline tour. HOOTON TENNIC CLUB

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £7

The ascendant Liverpudlians and recent Heavenly signings make the journey north.

HALLOWEEN APOCALYPSO (OUR LADIES OF SORROW + MONOGANON + SHARPTOOTH + KATE CANAVERAL) THE RUM SHACK, 19:00–00:00, £5

Lost Map go all out for Halloween, pitching up at The Rum Shack for a special edition of label artist Insect Heroes’ Apocalypso night, taking in sets from Our Ladies of Sorrow, Monoganon, Sharptooth and more.

THE BOCHICAS

Argentinian rock’n’roll troupe now in possession of their debut LP. SPY FROM MOSCOW

BANNERMANS, 22:00–23:00, £5

London-based alternative solo project built on haunting vocals, guitar, pump harmonium and harmonica.

Thu 08 Oct

EDINBURGH BLUES CLUB (ERJA LYYNTINEN + ROBBIE HILL BAND)

Edinburgh Music THE PLEASANCE SESSIONS: VIC GALLOWAY PRESENTS... (MAN OF MOON + JONNIE COMMON + PAWS) PLEASANCE THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £10 (£6)

BBC Radio Scotland DJ Vic Galloway kicks off The Pleasance Sessions weekender official with sets from Man of Moon, Jonnie Common and PAWS, plus GoldFlakePaint after-bash featuring HQFU and Bossy Love. JOHN AND JACOB

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00, £13

Alabama five-piece build on a hazy diet of feel-good melodies and lyrics. RSNO: TCHAIKOVSKY FIVE

USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £12

Conductor Peter Oundjian leads the RSNO in a recital of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5. AYE! (WIRE AND WOOL + YOKO PWNO)

STUDIO 24, 22:00–03:00, £TBC

Albatronics present a night of all-Scottish tunemakers, including Dundee bluegrass ensemble Wire and Wool.

Sat 10 Oct

BABY STRANGE (HALFRICAN + THE ROCKALLS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7.50

Hyped Glasgow indie-punk crew with decidedly dark credentials, made up of brothers Connaire and Aidan McCann and singer Johnny Madden. DIRT BOX DISCO (BUZZBOMB + CRITIKILL + THE EDDIES + CRIME DESK)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–22:00, £8

Mishmash of alternative/rock/garage/glam vibes from the Midlands. NORTHSIDE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £13

The 1989-formed Manc lot take to the road as part of their reunion tour.

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:15–22:00, £13

THE PLEASANCE SESSIONS: THE SKINNY PRESENTS... (BLANCK MASS + OUTBLINKER + BDY_PRTS + RM HUBBERT)

HEYROCCO

PLEASANCE THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £10 (£6)

Regular blues club taking in touring blues acts from the UK and beyond. SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

South Carolina band of school chums who brand their thing ‘Disney grunge’, obv.

SCO: BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO 1

USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11

The SCO take on Brahms’ Symphony No 1, among other works.

DIY PRESENTS... THE NEU TOUR (VANT + THE BIG MOON + INHEAVEN ) ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6

DIY take to the road for their Neu Tour, stopping by 11 UK cities with three of their favourite new bands. INDIGIO VELVET

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:00–00:00, £6

Newly-formed indie-funk quartet raised from the ashes of The Kiks. THE DURTY WORKS (THE SOCIAL ORDER + YOUNG FAULT)

TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll meets indie-pop Edinburgh quintet. BOYCOTT THE BAPTIST

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6

Leeds and Edinburgh-straddling crust punk troupe.

Fri 09 Oct MOISHE’S BAGEL

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, £16 (£14)

Cutting-edge, jazz-inflected brew of Eastern European dance music, Middle Eastern rhythms and virtuoso performances.

BEN MONTAGUE (LEDDRA CHAPMAN + THE SCIENCE OF THE LAMPS) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £10

Tousle-haired acoustic singer/ songwriter blessed with an acute sense of melody. FURY (NEST OF VIPERS)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6

Worchester outfit serving up their metallic thrash at power speed levels.

We get in on the Pleasance Sessions action for a third year running, with Blanck Mass – aka Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons – top of the bill, plus stellar support from Outblinker, Bdy_Prts and RM Hubbert. LEFTFIELD

CORN EXCHANGE, 19:00–22:00, £29

The dance culture pioneers show the young ‘uns how it’s done. JOE DRISCOLL + SEKOU KOUYATE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £10.25 (£8.75)

The unlikely duo do their collaborative thing, showing just what you can do when music is your only common language. LIMBO (DEAD BOY ROBOTICS + ROY’S IRON DNA + MIRACLE SHIP)

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–23:00, £4 EARLYBIRD (£6-£8 THEREAFTER)

Beloved gig-in-a-club night, this time headered by Edinburgh duo Dead Boy Robotics, incorporating laptops, guitars, vocal yelps and tribal drumming in their rather epic brand of new wave. VESPA

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Ska-styled Polish ensemble incorporating swing, rock’n’roll, soul and even blues into Jamaican rhythms.

Sun 11 Oct LEWIS & LEIGH

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7.95

Alternative country/Americana duo based in London, though hailing from Wales and Mississippi respectively. THE PLEASANCE SESSIONS: BLUE ROSE CODE (WITHERED HAND + YUSUF AZAK + JENNY LINDSAY + SADIE HASLER)

PLEASANCE THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £10 (£6)

The curated weekender rounds off with a headline set from London-based folk unit Blue Rose Code, with musical support from Withered Hand and Yusuf Azak, plus spoken word from Jenny Lindsay and Sadie Hasler.

Mon 12 Oct RAGLANS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6.50

Dublin-based quartet formed in a festival tent back in 2010, riding along on muscular new wave guitars, gritty pop melodies and indie-folk arrangements. AARON DILLOWAY (MUSCLETUSK)

THE BANSHEE LABYRINTH, 19:30–22:30, £7 ADV. (£8 DOOR)

Michigan singer/songwriter who first came to most of our attention as a member of Wolf Eyes. MCFALL’S CHAMBER

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, £14 (£12 STUDENT/£5 UNDER 18S)

The intrepid musical explorers celebrate their 20th anniversary with the launch of their latest LP Solitudes. SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE: ERIC TAYLOR

TRAVERSE THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £10

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Traverse Theatre, departed Edinburgh music venue Soundhouse welcomes contemporary Texan singer/songwriter, raising funds for The Soundhouse Organisation.

Tue 13 Oct NEW MODEL ARMY

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £20

Post-punk five-piece from Bradford, named after the English revolutionary army of Oliver Cromwell. RUDIMENTAL

CORN EXCHANGE, 19:00–22:00, £29.50

The Hackney-based quartet hit the road armed with their newest LP, blending drum and bass with souldrenched lyrics along the way.

HANZEL UND GRETYL (SERAPH SIN + NIGHTMARE FREQUENCY)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £11 ADV. (£13 THEREAFTER)

NYC industrial metal outfit formed by members of Kaizer Von Loopy and Vas Kallas back in’t February 1993. RUDI ZYGADLO

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7.95

The distinctive electronic chappie tours our way. JOSEF SALVET

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £9

Breezy popster from London, drawing comparisons to Gotye and Morrissey. AKUA NARU

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £11.50 (£9)

With classic boom-bap hip hop sounds and socially conscious rhymes, Naru and her six-piece band DIGFLO create soulful live hip hop for fans of Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill.

Wed 14 Oct SLEAFORD MODS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Breakthrough anthemic pop lot from Glasgow. ULCERATE (BELL WITCH)

RØME (APERTURE + PEACOCK MASSIVE) TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Upcoming heavy rock and blues unit from Edinburgh.

Fri 16 Oct

MY ELECTRIC LOVE AFFAIR

THE POND, 21:00–23:00, FREE

An acoustic and an electric set from the Edinburgh three piece. UBRE BLANCA (BARRINGTONE)

PARADISE PALMS, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

The Glasgow-based horror-discosynth duo celebrate the release of their new 12-inch The Sadist, with support from London-based artrock outfit Barringtone (featuring ex-Clor member Barry Dobbin).

CARA DILLON (KATHRYN ROBERTS + SEAN LAKEMAN)

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, £18

Delicate-voiced Irish singer/ songwriter, joined live by her partner and husband Sam Lakeman (brother of Seth). THE BURLESQUE BALL

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 21:00–01:00, £24

Well-kent burlesque producer Chaz Royal puts on a spread of sparkle-packed burlesque guests for your general pleasure. KESTON COBBLER’S CLUB

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10

Kent-hailing, toe-tapping, indiefolk five-piece – favourites on BBC 6 Music and winners of the Rebel Playlist. THE LONELY TOGETHER (COPPER LUNGS + MIASMA )

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8 (£6)

Fledgling Scottish locals riding along on a fuzzy wave of warm guitars and soaring melodies, out launching their new single. THE NASH BROTHERS

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £TBC

Young up-and-coming blues duo.

EAVES SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

The experimental prodigy (aka Jospeh Lyons) tours our way.

Mon 19 Oct DMA’S

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £9

Sydney ensemble who enjoy a good hook and chorus, which is handy given that’s the bulk of what makes up pop music. RIDE

CORN EXCHANGE, 19:00–22:00, £25

The English rock outfit continue to ride the wave of their reunion years.

The Edinburgh Oxjam contingent stage the biggie of their calendar year, with the multi-venue affair playing host to a bounty-load of bands including Monticule, Urvanovic, The Valkarys, Mellow Chants and more.

UNIVERSAL THEE (ECHO ARCADIA + THE BASKERVILLEZ)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Edinburgh-based alternative indie lot led by husband and wife pairing James and Lisa Russell, out launching their new LP. JANE WEAVER

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10

The Piccadilly Records 2014 album of the year artist brings her krautinfluenced psychedelic sounds to increasingly larger audiences. THX 1138 (SCORED BY ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION)

USHER HALL, 20:00–22:00, £18.50 (£16.50)

Asian Dub Foundation perform their live score to George Lucas’s feature length debut (i.e. pre-Star Wars), THX 1138.

TRAVERSE THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £10

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Traverse Theatre, departed Edinburgh music venue Soundhouse welcomes The Bevvy Sisters, raising funds for The Soundhouse Organisation.

Tue 20 Oct SPECTOR

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

The happy-go-lucky London ensemble churn out the pop tunes. CATFISH KEITH

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00, £14

With his innovative style of footstomping, deep delta blues and American roots music, Catfish has reinvented the guitar. HOPE

WHISKYDICK (OLD DOLLAR BILL + TEMPLE OF THE DEAD MOTH)

BANNERMANS, 22:00–23:00, £9 ADV. (£11 THEREAFTER)

CHANTEL MCGREGOR

THE CAVES, 19:30–22:00, £TBC

Yorkshire singer/songwriter working her virtuoso guitar magic on the blues genre.

MONSTERS ON MOVIE POSTERS (CUCKOO’S NEST + DANIEL SCOTT)

TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Alternative synth-rock trio out touring their latest LP Goodbye Dead Legs. HAWKLORDS

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £14

Born from the disbanded Hawkwind, Harvey Bainbridge and Steve Swindells et al join forces for a live re-group. LEFT LANE CRUISER (DAVE ARCARI)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £10

Whisky-fuelled three-man frenzy of blues-driven rock ‘n’ roll. SCO: HANDEL’S THEODORA

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11

The SCO take on Handel’s dramatic oratorio. MARCUS MILLER

USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £10

Multi Grammy Award-winner presents his highly anticipated new album. SON LUX (BARBAROSSA + OLGA BELL)

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–01:00, £11

Sun 18 Oct THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00, £15

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £10

RYAN MCGARVEY

Passionate young bluesy rock guitar player. BE LIKE PABLO

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6

Powerpop outfit who specialise in catchy pop songs with girl/boy harmonies, Moog synthesizers and noisy guitars. THE SHERLOCKS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

Sheffield indie-rock unit made up of two sets of brothers. SCO: BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO 2

USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11

The SCO take on Brahms’ Symphony No 2, continuing with their Brahms series of specials.

PANIC ROOM

SCOTT WOOD BAND

Alternative rock of the awardwinning variety, served up with a distinctly sultry edge.

Scottish folk rockers in a new extended line-up.

BANNERMANS, 18:00–23:00, £12 ADV. (£14 THEREAFTER)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

WOLFSBANE (VANTAGE POINT + DIE NO MORE)

The English heavy metallers return to the stage. DARWIN DEEZ

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £13

US-of-A indie-popsters fronted by curly-locked frontman Darwin Smith, touring in support of their new album Songs For Imaginative People.

KEITH JAMES

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:15–22:00, £12

The Kent-based acoustic singer/ songwriter, guitar playing supremo and analogue tinkerer celebrates the work of Nick Drake and John Martyn.

Sat 24 Oct

BERNIE TORME (RUSTY G’S + MOOSEKNUCKLE)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £12 ADV. (£14 THEREAFTER)

Replacement guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne following the tragic death of Randy Rhoads, the Irish axe-wielder goes it alone.

THE VRYLL SOCIETY (THE FATALISTS + QUIET AS A MOUSE) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

Wed 21 Oct

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £10

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £8 (£6)

SIGMA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

Thu 15 Oct

COLONEL MUSTARD AND THE DIJON 5

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

Liverpool-based five-piece mixing in everything from Funkadelic to Aphrodites Child and krautrock.

Rock’n’roll and flamenco-traversing locals.

The New Zealand death metal trio make their Bannermans debut.

SONG, BY TOAD’S BAD FUN (TAMAN SHUD + FILTH SPECTOR + JUNGFRAU)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

Husband and wife electro-gospel duo built on a bed of expansive electronic textures and haunting vocals.

Ryan Lott’s evolving musical project, Son Lux – now a fully-fledged three-piece, with guitarist-composer Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang – take to Summerhall to man the latest installment of the venue’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series.

BANNERMANS, 22:00–23:00, £12

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6

Newcastle Upon Tyne rock’n’roll unit.

British d’n’b duo who topped the UK singles charts recently, apparently.

Thu 22 Oct

OXJAM EDINBURGH TAKEOVER

SAINTS OF ARCADIA (BLACK MAMBA)

SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE: THE BEVVY SISTERS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00, £17

CITY CAFE, CABARET VOLTAIRE, BREWDOG EDINBURGH, THE MASH HOUSE & PARADISE PALMS, 19:00–23:00, £10

RSNO principal guest conductor Thomas Søndergard takes on Mussorgsky/Ravel’s Pictures at an Exhibition, among other works.

USHER HALL, 20:00–22:00, FROM £30

The 80s legends join forces to play the hits, with special guest Carol Decker of T’Pau.

Sat 17 Oct US novelty metal legends playing a mixture of hard rock cover versions and original compositions.

RSNO: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £12

Music blogger Song, By Toad’s regular live music showcase night, taking in live talent and guest DJs of the reliably good variety.

GO WEST + NIK KERSHAW

The southern acoustic rock duo make their Bannermans return.

HAYSEED DIXIE

Fri 23 Oct

EDINBURGH CARER’S COUNCIL PRESENT... KATHRYN JOSEPH+ YUSUF AZAK + THE SON(S)

Annual SHMAFF music fundraiser, this edition boasting a set from SAY Award 2015-winner Kathryn Joseph, among others.

THULA BORA (WOZNIAK + WE CAME FROM THE NORTH)

More in the way of post-rock, ambient and math-y indie textures from the Glasgow-based lot. LOS SAUVES

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £18

The Spanish rock’n’roll lot head over.

ROCKA HILLBILLIES (THE SPOOKS)

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–22:00, £5

Authentic 50s rock’n’roll ensemble.

Sun 25 Oct

GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY (ELLA TUNDRA + COLD YEARS)

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £7

Gallows guitar player Stephen Carter steps out with his new band, taking him on a slightly more mellow twist. MARLON WILLIAMS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8 (£5)

The former Lyttelton choirboy does his angelic-voiced thing.

Mon 26 Oct

SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE: THE PHILIP CLOUTS QUARTET

TRAVERSE THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £10

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Traverse Theatre, departed Edinburgh music venue Soundhouse welcomes gospel-influenced ensemble The Philip Clouts Quartet, raising funds for The Soundhouse Organisation.

Tue 27 Oct THE COMPUTERS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £8.00

Visceral and hardcore bluesy punk from the Exeter four-piece.

CHRISTY MOORE (DECLAN SINNOTT)

USHER HALL, 20:00–22:00, FROM £27.50

Irish folk singer/songwriter, also known for being one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. FIGHTSTAR

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £15

Charlie Simpson-led alternative rock unit, still apparently making music. ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE AND THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. (NACKT INSECTEN)

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–22:30, £12

Kawabata Makoto and his band of sonic outlaws, mixing traditional melody with hyper-aggressive playing techniques and plenty of improvisation. YOSSARIAN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Anglo-Argentine alternative rockers drawing comparisons to The National and the like.

Listings

CLICK CLACK (TAJWIZZTRIO + COMBO COMBO) HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:00–22:00, £6 (£4)

Experimental monthly music club bringing the good times with their Beefheart-inspired funk and special guests.

Wed 28 Oct THE BREW

Dundee Music Wed 07 Oct DONOVAN

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £25

Brit rock trio with a rare father/ son line-up that seems to work for ‘em.

Legendary folk-rock-pop poet who remains an important part of popular culture since his career began in 1965.

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–23:00, £12

Sun 11 Oct

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £11

EAST INDIA YOUTH (PIXX)

William Doyle’s one-man experimental soundscapes, built on vocal and instruments that wander down alleyways of electronica, techno, Krautrock and pop, playing as part of Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series. LET SPIN (OPUL)

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–22:00, £10

Blistering jazz quartet formed between four genre-bending instrumentalists, blending their bag of influences as wide-ranging as Rage Against The Machine and Middle Eastern folk. PALACE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £7

The London alternative rock foursome plays tracks from their new LP Chase the Light.

Thu 29 Oct

SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: THE MAIDEN IN THE TOWER

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11

The SCO take on Sibelius’ only opera, The Maiden in the Tower, among other works. RWM (RISING PACIFIC + THE 62)

TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Edinburgh-based scamps of the twisted pop variety. SERTRALINE

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6

Female fronted alternative rockmeets-metal outfit marking their Edinburgh debut.

Fri 30 Oct

GERRY CINNAMON (NEIL MCLAREN + IAN BLACK + LONELY LOST BOY)

BUSKERS, 19:30–22:00, £4

Glasgow-based muso riding along on a mixture of beat-up acoustic guitars, soulful harmonica and heartfelt vocals.

Thu 15 Oct

KELVIN (LEWIS CAPALDI)

BUSKERS, 19:30–22:00, £4

Breakthrough anthemic pop lot from Glasgow.

Fri 16 Oct SLEAFORD MODS

BUSKERS, 19:00–22:00, £10

Punk electronics and spoken word hip-hop fusion from the Nottingham-hailing duo, touring in support of their latest album Divide and Exit – released on the Harbinger Sound label.

Sat 17 Oct

GO WEST + NIK KERSHAW

CAIRD HALL, 19:30–22:00, £29.50 (£27.50)

The 80s legends join forces to play the hits, with special guest Carol Decker of T’Pau.

Fri 23 Oct

THE VRYLL SOCIETY (WHITE BEAR + SAHARA) BUSKERS, 19:00–22:00, £4

Liverpool-based five-piece mixing in everything from Funkadelic to Aphrodites Child and krautrock.

DODGY

Sat 24 Oct

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £15.50

BUSKERS, 19:30–22:00, £5

Reformed Britpop rockers made up of Nigel Clark, Andy Miller and Mathew Priest.

SIMON FOWLER + OSCAR HARRISON

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00, £22.50

The Ocean Colour Scene chaps play an intimate seated set in celebration of the band’s 25th anniversary. THE VAN T’S (THE SOCIAL ORDER + THIRTY THREE CONNECTION)

OPIUM, 19:00–22:00, £5 ADV. (£8 DOOR)

Surf pop twin duo balancing rock swagger with sugary pop melodies. JUNGLE BY NIGHT

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £8 (£6)

The Afrofunk types launch their new LP The Hunt. NEU! REEKIE!: SPOOK OUT

PILRIG ST PAUL’S CHURCH, 19:00–23:00, £8 (£7)

Stellar night of poetry, music and short film, this time in Halloweeny mode with music from FOUND and Be Charlotte, spoken word care of James Robertson and Caroline Bird, plus live animation, scran and more.

Sat 31 Oct

TOMMY CONCRETE AND THE WEREWOLVES (FANGE + DVNE)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6

Old school Edinburgh extreme metalers led by Tommy Concrete, out for a special Halloween set.

TOADSPLOSION (NUMBERS ARE FUTILE + GARDEN OF ELKS + ADAM STAFFORD)

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Stellar showcase night of various bands signed to DIY label Song, By Toad. HALLOWEERD

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

Local bands MEOW, Atragon and MetalTech take over Sneaky Pete’s for a costume party night of mayhem, with live music and prizes to be won. And presumably some spooky happenings. BLACKALICIOUS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £16

The American hip-hop duo return from a ten year hiatus with a glorious new LP to show off.

Listings

MAXWELL’S DEAD

The Scottish quartet launch their new EP, serving up an agglomeration of uplifting punk rock party bangers, mixing ska and harmonies in their own inimitable way.

DUNDEE PUNKTOBERFEST (NOT FOR YOU + POTENTIAL VICTIMS + THE MISPELT + C.S.O.D. + PUNKA + THE DUGZ + THE EDDIES + ZERO HOUR + THE ROTTEN APPLES + SKIZOFRENIK + SUNDAY PUNK CLUB + PANIC ATTACK + NINE BULLETS + THE SIGNAL) BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–22:30, £10

A punk fest, during October, in Dundee – in case the name hadn’t already given that away – featuring the likes of Not For You, The Eddies, Panic Attack and more.

Fri 30 Oct

BUSKERS’ OLD SCHOOL HALLOWEEN BASH

BUSKERS, 20:00–02:30, £5

Buskers welcome a trio of old school bands for a special Halloween-themed live music knees-up – The Twist, Balaclava Models and Tiny Little Robots (aka The Scallies).

Sat 31 Oct

EXCELLENT CADAVER (LOST IN INSOMNIA + ELEMENTS + SAORSA + WORLDS COLLIDE)

BUSKERS, 19:00–22:00, £5

Metalcore Dundonians upping the noise levels with their hurricanelike brand of metal, out launching their new EP. MANRAN

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £15

Traditional Scottish ensemble on driving accordion, fiddle, Highland pipes, Uilleann pipes and wooden flute. That do you?

Tue 06 Oct KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’ I AM

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (FREE VIA IAMCLUB.CO.UK)

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, oft joined by a guest or two. DARK PARTIALS PROJECT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Mixed bag of house and techno obscurities.

Wed 07 Oct TAKE IT SLEAZY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

An unabashed mix of 80s pop, electro and nu-disco. They will play Phil Collins. SUB ROSA

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Subbie’s regular student night with residents Spittal and Nowicki at the helm. BEAST WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

Glasgow Clubs JAMMING FRIDAYS MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. HARSH TUG

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, £3

Hip-hop and gangsta rap brought to you by the Notorious B.A.G and pals. ENJOYABLE MOMENT

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

The Cosmic Dead chaps trip out with an evening of rollin’ Krautrock DJing for your general aural pleasure. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–02:00, FREE (£6/£4 STUDENT AFTER 11)

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing – as one might expect – cheesy classics of every hue. ALTEREGO

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£6 AFTER 12)

The midweek residents serve up their usual rammy of pop-punk and hardcore, whilst the bar doles out alcoholic slushies. Slurp.

New night of rock, rap, metal and more with DJ Scapegoat.

Thu 08 Oct

The Mondo troops celebrate their first year of being with a guest set from DJ/producer/remixer Dicky Trisco.

WALK ‘N’ SKANK

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

The best in bass, featuring the talents of MC Campeazi and the Mungo’s Hi-Fi crew, with a guest or two oft in tow. HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. TROPICAL

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, £3

Eclectic, diverse and dancefloororientated beats. UPRAWR

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Weekly Thursday takeover with guest DJs, prize giveaways and themed drinks. GONZO

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative club fun night playing 90s/00s nostalgia. ROYALTY

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3 (STUDENTS FREE)

New weekly Thursday club getting you in the weekend mood with pop and r’n’b party tunes. PVC

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance. LIGHTWORKS: INSTALLATION IV

BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, FREE

MONDO: 1ST BIRTHDAY

BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

LA CHEETAH CLUB: 6TH BIRTHDAY, PART 1 (OMAR S)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £13

La Cheetah Club enters its 6th year with a two part celebration, with part one seeing ‘em welcome Detroit house don Omar S for a three-hour guest set, with support from Dom D’Sylva and Wardy. RETURN TO MONO: 11TH BIRTHDAY (SPEEDY J + SLAM) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10 EARLYBIRD (£12 THEREAFTER)

The monthly Soma Records night celebrates its 11th birthday with one of techno’s leading pioneers, Jochem Paap (aka Speedy J), joining ‘em. HANDPICKED VS FROGBEATS

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

The Handpicked and Frogbeats troupes join forces for a night of 90s jungle and hip-hop.

Sat 10 Oct NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. SUBCULTURE

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

SLEAZE (HANS BOUFFMYHRE + LEX GORRIE + JOHN GALLAGHER + NEIL MUIR) LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Sweaty night of techno, with Sleaze’s own Hans Bouffmyhre on headline duties, with support from Lex Gorrie, John Gallacher and Neil Muir. INVISIBLE INC. LABEL NIGHT #2

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Invisible Inc bring the oddball disco, psych rock and melodic techno, with their second label night featuring a live set from Wolf Mueller and a Tim Lee DJ set.

Sun 11 Oct SLIDE IT IN

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Full-on mix of nu-metal and hard rockin’ tunes over two floors. FLY CLUB (DIMITRI FROM PARIS)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £15 EARLYBIRD (£20-£25 THEREAFTER)

Fly continue Season 2 with a guest set from Dimitri From Paris and his fastidiously executed musical selections.

Mon 12 Oct BURN

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 13 Oct KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’ I AM VS OPTIMO

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa square up to Optimo squires JD Twitch and JD Wilkes for a live versus special.

Wed 14 Oct ITCHY FEET

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £9 (£8)

A unique blend of rock’n’roll, funk and swing, engineered to get feet moving. BEAST WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

The midweek residents serve up their usual rammy of pop-punk and hardcore, whilst the bar doles out alcoholic slushies. Slurp. SUB ROSA (PROSUMER)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7

Subbie’s regular student night with residents Ray Vose and Desoto at the helm, joined by Berlin Panorama Bar resident Prosumer. THE KIBOSH

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Kami-O curates a night of hip-hop and experimental music, with this edition’s guests including Dressin Red, Tuscan Whale and Phoene.

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms. THE ROCK SHOP

All-new night with Mother, former assistant to John Peel, playing reliably random selections.

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.

Thu 15 Oct

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

HAVEN

All-new Thursday party with residents Stuart Coull and Conor McCarthy playing their selections of house and techno. SHOW GLASGOW (FELIX DA HOUSECAT)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

The Show crew welcome legendary Chicagoan electroclash DJ and producer Felix Da Housecat for a headline slot.

Fri 09 Oct OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. HEADSTRONG

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5

New world rave dance craze from the Animal Farm and Clouds bods. GUILTY PLEASURE

SHED, 22:30–02:00, £7 (£5)

Frothy mix of guilty pleasures, old and new, for your Saturday night dancing needs. MONSTER HOSPITAL

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure.

Energetic club outing from DJ duo Beyvnce Nailz and C4lvin Malice.

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, £3

PROPAGANDA

Student-orientated Friday night playing the best in new and classic indie. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Residents fun night of rock, metal, punk and emo spread over three rooms.

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

SUBCITY

The Subcity radio crew bring the party – 20 years old and still going strong – playing host to a selection of station favourites. CLASSIC SATURDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more.

WALK ‘N’ SKANK

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

The best in bass, featuring the talents of MC Campeazi and the Mungo’s Hi-Fi crew, with a guest or two oft in tow.

PVC THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance. STEREOTONE (BIG MIZ VS WHEELMAN)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

Thursday night party with resident Wheelman going back-to-back with new Dixon Avenue Basement Jams signing, Big Miz.

Fri 16 Oct OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Student-orientated Friday night playing the best in new and classic indie. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Residents fun night of rock, metal, punk and emo spread over three rooms. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. SUGO

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

The Italian trashy disco returns for another night of supremely danceable carnage. ISLE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, £3

Residents special with Fergus, Stewart, R and Al playing records of the rare and good.

NITRIC ACID (CEEPHAX ACID CREW + EGEBAMYASI)

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £6 ADV. (£9 THEREAFTER)

Primitive rave noise, via selections of old school acid, new beat and ket gabber, this edition with two legendary titans of the UK acid techno scene taking charge: Ceephax Acid Crew and Egebamyasi. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–02:00, FREE (£6/£4 STUDENT AFTER 11)

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing – as one might expect – cheesy classics of every hue. ALTEREGO

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£6 AFTER 12)

New night of rock, rap, metal and more with DJ Scapegoat. OFFBEAT (DRVG CVLTVRE)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 (FIRST 50 GO FREE)

The Offbeat crew take to their now regular home of La Cheetah, with guest Drvg Cvltvre making his La Cheetah debut for a set of his own distinct blend of acid, no wave and experimental house. SENSU VS LIFE AND DEATH (TALE OF US + THUGFUCKER + SEI A)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £12 EARLYBIRD (£15-£20 THEREAFTER)

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Barry Price and Junior (aka Sensu) bring the cutting edge electronics from across the globe, locking horns with Life and Death to present a flurry of guest sets.

JELLY BABY

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop. O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

REPEATER (DEUX BOULES VANILLE)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Post-hardcore DIY gig/club effort, with a selection of live acts dropping by. IN THE BASEMENT

ALL CAPS (SASSY J)

Glasgow collective All Caps descend for an Art School takeover, with Bern-based selector Sassy J joining residents Bake and Ryan Martin.

Sat 17 Oct NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Thursday session of the finest in northern soul and rock’n’roll.

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

UPRAWR

Weekly Thursday takeover with guest DJs, prize giveaways and themed drinks. ROYALTY

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3 (STUDENTS FREE)

New weekly Thursday club getting you in the weekend mood with pop and r’n’b party tunes.

SUBCULTURE

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms.

THE ROCK SHOP

JELLY BABY

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. COMMON PEOPLE

THE FLYING DUCK, 21:00–03:00, £5

Celebration of all things 90s, with hits a-plenty and a pre-club bingo session. FANTASTIC MAN

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Messy Saturday night uberdisco armed with Erasure and Papa Roach discographies. JAMIE XX

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 20:00–01:00, £SOLD OUT

The xx chappie plays a sold out set. TROPICAL

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, £3

Eclectic, diverse and dancefloororientated beats. GUILTY PLEASURE

SHED, 22:30–02:00, £7 (£5)

Frothy mix of guilty pleasures, old and new, for your Saturday night dancing needs. CLASSIC SATURDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more. JOHN T. GAST (MARK MAXWELL)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , 21:00–02:00, £5

The Hype Williams/Inga Copeland collaborator performs his first live UK show outside of London. GOOD TIMES: AFTER-PARTY

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

Official after show party for the Good Times show.

Sun 18 Oct FLY CLUB

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. CLIFFHANGER

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. UPRAWR

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Weekly Thursday takeover with guest DJs, prize giveaways and themed drinks. LANCE VANCE DANCE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Red-hued adventure travelling through 70s funk, motown and 80s r’n’b, highlighted with glorious rays of disco sunshine. Or summat. ROYALTY

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3 (STUDENTS FREE)

New weekly Thursday club getting you in the weekend mood with pop and r’n’b party tunes. PVC

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance. VICIOUS CREATURES (EJECA)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6

Fledgling party night intent on breaking free from the norm, this edition welcoming Belfast chap Ejeca for a trademark set of genre-hopping beats – inspired by the 90s garage house he grew up listening to.

Fri 23 Oct OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. BLACK TENT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, £3

Indie, dance and anything inbetween with Pauly (My Latest Novel) and Simin and Steev (Errors). PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Student-orientated Friday night playing the best in new and classic indie. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Residents fun night of rock, metal, punk and emo spread over three rooms.

Mon 19 Oct

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

DJ Kelmosh plays a mix of rock, dance and indie. BURN

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 20 Oct KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’ I AM

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (FREE VIA IAMCLUB.CO.UK)

JAMMING FRIDAYS

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. POLYESTER

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

Mixed up fun night of queer performance, music and DJ vibes. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–02:00, FREE (£6/£4 STUDENT AFTER 11)

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing – as one might expect – cheesy classics of every hue. ALTEREGO

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£6 AFTER 12)

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, oft joined by a guest or two.

New night of rock, rap, metal and more with DJ Scapegoat.

Wed 21 Oct

EzUp celebrate two years in the La Cheetah basement with a special guest set from Detroit techno don, DJ Rolando.

NOT MOVING

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

South African house, grime, jungle, r’n’b and hauntology – a tropical mix, ayes – from yer wumman Laurie Pitt. BEAST WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

The midweek residents serve up their usual rammy of pop-punk and hardcore, whilst the bar doles out alcoholic slushies. Slurp. SUB ROSA (HAMMER)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

EZUP: 2ND BIRTHDAY (DJ ROLANDO)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 EARLYBIRD (£7-£10 THEREAFTER)

BIGFOOT’S TEA PARTY (MIKE SERVITO)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7

Nomadic techno and tech-house crew, this edition joined by NYC’s The Bunker resident Mike Servito, marking his first time on Scotland since 2012.

Sat 24 Oct NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Subbie’s regular student night with residents Spittal and Nowicki at the helm, welcoming one half of Thunder Disco Club – Hammer – for a guest set.

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

Thu 22 Oct

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

WALK ‘N’ SKANK

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

The best in bass, featuring the talents of MC Campeazi and the Mungo’s Hi-Fi crew, with a guest or two oft in tow. HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop.

SUBCULTURE

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.

THE SKINNY

LOVE MUSIC

STRETCHED (LET’S SPIN)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. SUPER TROUPER

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Clubber’s delight dedicated to all-Swedish indie, pop and rock – moving from ABBA through to The Knife like a proper legend o’ a thing. BALKANARAMA (ERRICHETTA UNDERGROUND)

THE ART SCHOOL, 22:00–03:00, £9 ADV. (£10 DOOR)

All singing, all dancing Balkanstyled club orgy, with an early live jam session followed by live guests, belly dancing, bespoke visuals and free plum brandy for all. GUILTY PLEASURE

SHED, 22:30–02:00, £7 (£5)

Frothy mix of guilty pleasures, old and new, for your Saturday night dancing needs. CLASSIC SATURDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more. NIGHTRAVE (IKONIKA+ INKKE + NIGHTRAVE DJS)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)

Nightrave bring the party once again with a beefy line-up that includes Hyperdub first lady Ikonika. LETITIA PLEAIDES

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Glasgow DJ Letitia Pleaides mans an all-new Saturday night party.

Sun 25 Oct SLIDE IT IN

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Jazz-influenced sound sauna, moving through mathcore to postrock, with a few live acts thrown in for good measure. BEAT SURFING

VARIETY BAR, 20:00–00:00, FREE

DJ Frizzo plays selections of nu jazz. HIGH RISE

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

The High Rise crew host their latest outing, with guests being kept under wraps for now. UPRAWR

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Weekly Thursday takeover with guest DJs, prize giveaways and themed drinks. ROYALTY

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3 (STUDENTS FREE)

BURN

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 27 Oct KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’ I AM (DOMENIC CAPELLO)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, this edition welcoming Domenic Capello for a special electro set. ENSOUL

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Selections of sonic soul for your Tuesday pleasure.

Wed 28 Oct SUB ROSA

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Subbie’s regular student night with residents Spittal and Nowicki at the helm. SO WEIT SO GUT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

The party sounds of residents Fergus Clark, Gareth Roberts, Ruaidhri McGhee and their special guests. BEAST WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

The midweek residents serve up their usual rammy of pop-punk and hardcore, whilst the bar doles out alcoholic slushies. Slurp.

Thu 29 Oct WALK ‘N’ SKANK

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

The best in bass, featuring the talents of MC Campeazi and the Mungo’s Hi-Fi crew, with a guest or two oft in tow. HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

October 2015

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 EARLY BIRD (£8 ADVANCE – £10 THEREAFTER)

Themed Halloween disco excursions from WSHOM, with The Reflex on guest duties.

Sat 31 Oct NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

Tue 06 Oct I LOVE HIP HOP

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be. TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats.

THE VIEW: OFFICIAL AFTER-SHOW PARTY

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic in Halloween mode.

The View play some tunes and hang out followng their Liquid Rooms gig.

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Wed 07 Oct

PVC

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance. DJ SNEAK

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)

The original house gangster mans the decks for the full four hours, known for his funky filtered disco-influenced house and tough, jacking beats. ASTERISM

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Electronic nonsense brought to you by the radio show of the same name.

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure.

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)

WE SHOULD HANG OUT MORE: DISCO APOCALYPSE (THE REFLEX)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10-£12 THEREAFTER)

Mon 26 Oct

Glasgow DJing legend George Bowie hosts a special Halloween edition of his GBX club night.

Edinburgh Clubs

SUBCULTURE HALLOWEEN (MOUNT LIBERATION UNLIMITED)

Fri 30 Oct

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, welcoming Lars Dale and Marteen Smeets, aka Detroit Swindle, for a guest takeover.

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 20:00–03:00, £17.50

New weekly Thursday club getting you in the weekend mood with pop and r’n’b party tunes.

Full-on mix of nu-metal and hard rockin’ tunes over two floors. FLY CLUB (DETROIT SWINDLE)

GBX HALLOWEEN (PAUL ELSTAK + DYEWITNESS + GEORGE BOWIE + CHILL FM + SPARKOS + MASA & TOPHER + MARC LOAGE)

OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Student-orientated Friday night playing the best in new and classic indie. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Residents fun night of rock, metal, punk and emo spread over three rooms. OPTIMO ESPOOKIO

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Optimo host their annual Halloween special, going dark with a suitably haunted soundtrack and spooky fx, bolstered by their somewhat competitive costume competition which has seen everything from Super Mario to, erm, a sanitary towel. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. SHAKE APPEAL

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Monthly evening of hip shakers and neck breakers, combining everything from Buddy Holly to Motorhead. STRANGE PARADISE

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. NOTSOSILENT (MOVE D & RESIDENTS)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £10 EARLY BIRD / £12 SECOND RELEASE / £14

Belch and crew bring the best in underground house once more, with special guest David Moufang (aka Move D) making his reliably raucous return to the club. GUILTY PLEASURE

SHED, 22:30–02:00, £7 (£5)

Frothy mix of guilty pleasures, old and new, for your Saturday night dancing needs. CLASSIC SATURDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more. DIVINE

THE ADMIRAL, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Stellar mix of classic and rare 60s and 70s psych, soul, freakbeat, ska and funk dug deep from Andrew Divine’s vinyl archives. HALLOWEEN MONSTER MASH

CLASSIC GRAND, 20:30–01:00, £5 ADV. (£8 DOOR)

WTF FRIDAYS

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing – as one might expect – cheesy classics of every hue. ALTEREGO

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£6 AFTER 12)

New night of rock, rap, metal and more with DJ Scapegoat.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space. WITNESS (LOGAN SAMA)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£5)

House, garage and Bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines, this edition joined by grime specialist Logan Sama. LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4 GUESTLIST)

Midweek fun night playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

Thu 08 Oct TRUANT

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Fledgling club night playing and anything and everything good, with special guests to boot. CHAMPION SOUND

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £3

Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae, dancehall and everything inbetween. HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room.

CLUB NOIR: HALLOWEEN MASKED BALL

Glasgow’s burlesque star teasers in a special Halloween edition of their raunchy cabaret club. OLUM (THE VAN T’S)

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, £3

SHED, 22:30–02:00, FREE (£6/£4 STUDENT AFTER 11)

TRIBE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 21:00–03:00, £17.50

THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–00:00, £8

Now annual outing for the tongue-in-cheek night based upon the annual Mexican festival, Day of the Dead, featuring live music, DJs, dance performances, skull facepainting, and more. Plus a river of tequila, obv.

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin.

Party night from floral-shirted Wild Combination man David Barbarossa, specializing in leftfield disco, post-punk and far-out pop. DAY OF THE DEAD GLESGA

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Annual Halloween party night with DJs, live bands, burlesque dancing, variety acts and a prize for the best dressed.

The legendary Glaswegian club institution lives again, back and in its indie stride, this edition with Bloc+Music’s own The Van T’s launching their debut single.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00, £3

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 22:00–03:00, £9 (£6 WITH GIG TICKET)

THAT PARTY FRIGHT NOW

Sleazy’s Halloween special brought to you by the Night of the Jaguar team.

HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

JUICE (EROL ALKAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £10

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami this edition playing host to Trash founder, Bugged Out resident and general DJ extraordinaire, Erol Alkan. DEEPICNIC VS HYBRID (KÜHL)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £10

Deepicnic and Hybrid welcome Kühl to Edinburgh for the first time, playing the 200 capacity Annexe space (i.e. advance booking recommended).

Fri 09 Oct FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3 GUESTLIST)

Student-orientated Friday night playing the best in new and classic indie. STACKS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Rare funk, soul and r’n’b night, with free mix CDs on the door. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

KAPITAL THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Kapital bring the good times once more, with guests being kept tightly under wraps for now, the teases. SURE SHOT

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)

Fledgling night spanning 80s-00s hip-hop and r’n’b, manned by The Skinny’s own Peter Simpson and one half of Edinburgh’s Kitchen Disco, Malcolm Storey. KINKY INDIE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 1)

Weekly dabblings in indie and alternative tuneage. LEZURE

Sun 11 Oct COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and pals. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle. ATOMIC BONGO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Free entry Sunday fun night playing funk, soul and old school hip-hop.

Mon 12 Oct MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

RAVE TO THE GRAVE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Another club outing from popular house promoters Lezure, with special guest Serge in tow. WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £1.99 (£5 AFTER 12)

Techno goodness with the residents and pals. IN DEEP (JG WILKES + JACK SAVIDGE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Special edition of Sneaky's In Deep residency, with Optimo's JG Wilkes joining Friendly Fires’ drummer Jack Savidge for a double dose of guest action. ELECTRIKAL: BUTTERZ TAKEOVER

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 EARYBIRD (£7-£10 THEREAFTER)

Soundsystem party-starters, part of a music and art collective specialising in all things bass – this edition handing over the decks to the Butterz family. ANYTHING GOES AT THE VILLAINS ASYLUM

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £5

Eclectic night of techno and minimal offerings, this edition with a ‘villains asylum’ theme and a free prize for the first 100 down.

NU FIRE

DJ Fusion and Beef servin’ up the hip-hop and bass classics since 2008. ITCHY FEET

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

A unique blend of rock’n’roll, funk and swing, engineered to get feet moving.

Tue 13 Oct I LOVE HIP HOP

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be. TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Funk, soul, beats and mash-ups from the Mumbo Jumbo regulars and pals. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. DR NO’S

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£6 AFTER 12)

Danceable mix of the best in 60s ska, rocksteady, bluebeat and early reggae. BEEP BEEP, YEAH!

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)

Retro pop stylings from the 50s to the 70s, via a disco tune or ten. A TWISTED CIRCUS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Carnival-styled Edinburgh music night showcasing a selection of musicians from across the UK.

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (SOULACOASTER)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£6)

Monthly ration of up-tempo funk and soul, with live acts to boot.

TEESH: 2ND BIRTHDAY (DJ CHEERS + SEMI DELUXE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

The Teesh Saturday night crew celebrate their 2nd birthday with a duo of DJs sharing deck duties.

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats.

Wed 14 Oct COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

TRIBE

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space. LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4 GUESTLIST)

Midweek fun night playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

WITNESS VS NUMBERS (SPENCER)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Making the journey up from London, Spencer – co-founder of Glasgow's well-kent Numbers record label/clubbing crew – joins resident party night Witness for a midweek intervention.

Thu 15 Oct TRUANT

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Fledgling club night playing and anything and everything good, with special guests to boot. JUICE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami making weird waves through house and techno. HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

NIGHTVISION PRESENTS... RAM JAM (DAVID RODIGAN + DJ HYPE + PREDITAH)

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 21:00–03:00, £12.50 EARLYBIRD (£15 THEREAFTER)

Fri 16 Oct

Edinburgh club series Nightvision continues its third season, this edition handing over the reins to the Ram Jam imprint, headed up by the legend that is David Rodigan MBE.

FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. IN DEEP (HIGHLIFE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

The In Deep champs welcome bi-monthly residents Auntie Flo and Esa (aka the Highlife tagteam) for a set of their divine house and Afro grooves. THE BURLESQUE BALL

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 21:00–01:00, £24

Well-kent burlesque producer Chaz Royal puts on a spread of sparkle-packed burlesque guests for your general pleasure. THE SOLAR BOOGALOO

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)

DJ Yves leads a disco-fuelled freestyle funk boogie freakout, of course! KINKY INDIE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 1)

Weekly dabblings in indie and alternative tuneage. BODY (AMIR ALEXANDER)

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £7

Fledgling house and techno night, this edition with Amir Alexander o’er from Chicago for a guest set. CREME FRESH

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3

We celebrate the 10th anniversary of our glorious mag, inviting one and all to revel in a night of live music, DJs, and spoken word – including a Neu! Reekie! showcase room, DJs from various local camps, and live bands still to be revealed.

HECTOR’S HOUSE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

MUMBO JUMBO

Student-orientated Friday night playing the best in new and classic indie.

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£7/£5 STUDENT AFTER 12)

PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3 GUESTLIST)

All-new night of house, disco and Afro-funk.

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern.

Soulful dancing fodder, moving from deep funk to reggae.

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

Sat 10 Oct TEASE AGE

FOUR CORNERS THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms.

THE SKINNY: 10TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

THE MASH HOUSE, 21:00–03:00, FREE

ASYLUM

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£5 AFTER 12)

Friday-ready selections of techno, minimal, tech-house and bassline. CLUB IVI (DJ LUCK + MC NEAT)

MEGADOG SOUND SYSTEM (EAT STATIC DJ + EGEBAMYASI + MC TEABAG + DJ GINGE) HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 21:00–03:00, £10 EARLYBIRD (£12-£15 THEREAFTER)

Mutant electronica and acid techno, as part of Eat Static’s silver anniversary tour. DEEP EXCURSIONS (RAINER TRUBY)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £10

New night playing deep underground dance music, with Rainer Truby on guest duties.

Sun 18 Oct COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and pals. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle. ATOMIC BONGO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Free entry Sunday fun night playing funk, soul and old school hip-hop.

Mon 19 Oct MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room. NU FIRE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

DJ Fusion and Beef servin’ up the hip-hop and bass classics since 2008.

Tue 20 Oct I LOVE HIP HOP

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be. TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats.

Wed 21 Oct COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £10.50

House, garage and Bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

Sat 17 Oct

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson.

The creators of Nice and Spicy Festival club it up, featuring guest sets from DJ Luck and MC Neat. TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. THE EGG

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

Art School institution with DJs Chris and Jake playing the finest in indie, garage, soul and punk – now taking up a monthly Saturday slot, in what is their 20-somethingth year. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. THE GREEN DOOR

STUDIO 24, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£5/£4 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Surf, blues and rockabilly from the 50s and early 60s, plus free cake. Job done. POP ROCKS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)

TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

THE GETTUP

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space. LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4 GUESTLIST)

Midweek fun night playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

Thu 22 Oct TRUANT

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Fledgling club night playing and anything and everything good, with special guests to boot. JUICE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami making weird waves through house and techno. HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin. HI-SOCIETY

Pop and rock gems, taking in motown, 80s classics and plenty danceable fare (well, the Beep Beep, Yeah! crew are on decks after all).

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room.

STUDIO 24, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£5/£4 STUDENT AFTER 12)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

DECADE

Fresh playlists spanning metal, pop-punk and alternative soundscapes. WASABI DISCO

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Yer man Kris ‘Wasabi’ Walker plays selections of wonky disco and sleazy throbbers.

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

CIRQUE DU SOUL (THE NEXT MEN + DYNAMITE MC)

The newcomers from down south head up our way.

CHAMPION SOUND (GENERAL LEVY)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £10 (£8)

Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae, dancehall and everything inbetween, this edition with a guest set from General Levy.

Listings

Fri 23 Oct FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3 GUESTLIST)

Student-orientated Friday night playing the best in new and classic indie. EVOL

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £6

Anything-goes indie and alternative anthems. BALKANARAMA (ERRICHETTA UNDERGROUND)

STUDIO 24, 22:00–03:00, £9 ADV. (£10 DOOR)

All singing, all dancing Balkanstyled club orgy, with an early live jam session followed by live guests, belly dancing, bespoke visuals and free plum brandy for all. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a return visit from Sound Stream HEADSET

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Fledgling night mixed up by a selection of Edinburgh DJs, including the chaps behind the Witness, Coalition and Big ‘n’ Bashy nights. KINKY INDIE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 1)

Weekly dabblings in indie and alternative tuneage.

Sun 25 Oct THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle. COALITION (MOXIE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Weekly cross-genre of bass from a cast of Edinburgh’s best underground DJs, this edition joined by Radio 1’s ‘In New DJs We Trust’ star, Moxie. SUCH A DRAG

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, FREE

New monthly drag club night with emphasis on all things risqué, with live burlesque and the like. ATOMIC BONGO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Free entry Sunday fun night playing funk, soul and old school hip-hop.

Mon 26 Oct MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room. NU FIRE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

DJ Fusion and Beef servin’ up the hip-hop and bass classics since 2008.

Tue 27 Oct I LOVE HIP HOP

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4

NO MORE FUCKING ABBA

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

WEE RED BAR, 22:30–03:00, £4 (£5 AFTER 12)

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

New alternative indie dance party for the queer at heart, with Abba tunes firmly banned. LUCKYME (THE BLESSINGS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

LuckyMe boss and Rinse FM DJ Martyn Flyn of The Blessings mans the decks for the whole four hours. HOT GEM RECORDS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £5

TRASH

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats.

Wed 28 Oct COOKIE

Anything-goes club night with the main intention of getting punters on the dancefloor.

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £5

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

ANIMAL HOSPITAL RELAUNCH

The Animal Hospital troops return to medicate Edinburgh with their unique blend of techno, house and minimal.

Sat 24 Oct TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. SOULSVILLE

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Raw, high energy r’n’b from DJs Francis Dosoo and Cameron Mason. DEFINITION: 8TH BIRTHDAY

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Mark Balneaves and Martin Lightbody play some of the finest underground techno around, out celebrating their 8th birthday. MINGIN’

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £8

Alternative party night taking over both floors of Studio 24, with Brian Dempster and Alan Joy playing downstairs, and Brett King and new kid on the block DJ Shapeshifter playing upstairs. TWEAK_

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £10

Another instalment of The Mash House’s new ‘Minimal Monthlies’ residency. ANDY JUMANJI: SAFARI SO GOOD EH?

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)

Andy Jumanji plays selections of joyous pop jungle gems, plus live face-painting! NIGHTVISION PRESENTS... MR SCRUFF

LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:00–03:00, £14

Edinburgh club series Nightvision continues its third season with a takeover set from DJ mastermind Mr Scruff, known for mixing a junk-shop bag of sounds and bringing his beats to life with squiggly, scribbled animations.

Listings

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

WITNESS

House, garage and Bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space. LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4 GUESTLIST)

Midweek fun night playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

Thu 29 Oct TRUANT

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Fledgling club night playing and anything and everything good, with special guests to boot. JUICE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami making weird waves through house and techno. HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room.

Fri 30 Oct FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

IN DEEP (JON K) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Sneaky’s resident Friday nighter welcomes Manc underground house specialist Jon K for his regular guest set. MAYA (RODNEY P + SKITZ + DEADLY HUNTA)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

New night offering up some of the best UK hip-hop, jungle, D’n’B, house and more, with a bounty of live acts in tow. HEY QT!

MAGIC NOSTALGIC: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £7

Halloween-themed edition of the pick’n’mix night, with a presumably spooky mix of tracks chosen by JP’s spinning wheel.

Dundee Clubs

Sweaty dance disco for queer folk and their pals.

Thu 08 Oct

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 1)

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Weekly dabblings in indie and alternative tuneage. RUMBLE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)

50s rock’n’roll, disco, dirty blues and more, plus live midnight sets from local acts. A TWISTED CIRCUS: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Carnival-styled Edinburgh music night showcasing a selection of musicians from across the UK, this edition in full Halloween get-up. BOMBSKARE: SKALLOWEEN (THE SKARSOLES + SEA BASS KID + PUMMEL)

STUDIO 24, 19:30–03:00, £8

Edinburgh’s original ten-piece ska juggernaut Bombskare host their annual Halloween night of mayhem, with live sets from the lovelysounding Skarsoles, and more. NIGHTVISION PRESENTS... HALLOWEEN SPECIAL (PAN-POT)

THE BONGO CLUB, 21:00–03:00, £15

Edinburgh club series Nightvision does the done thing and hosts a techno-heavy Halloween special, with Berlin’s infamous pairing PanPot heading up proceedings.

Sat 31 Oct TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. VEGAS!

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:30–01:00, £7

ROOMS THURSDAYS

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Fri 09 Oct FOOLS GOLD

BUSKERS, 21:00–02:30, £5

Indie-styled night playing, er, anything and everything indie. PHAZED

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £8

Two of Dundee’s younger veterans – Teddy Hannan and Correlate & George – come together to create a new addition to the Reading Rooms roster: welcome Phazed! WARPED

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings now in a weekly Friday slot, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead as it goes.

Sat 10 Oct JUTE CITY JAM

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)

Funk, soul, disco and Latin night, taking in vinyl selections from residents Max Galloway and Calvin Crichton. ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Thu 15 Oct ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

50s-themed party fun night, with Frankie Sumatra, Bugsy Seagull, Dino Martini, Sam Jose and Nikki Nevada. Plus Vegas showgirls ago-go, natch.

Fri 16 Oct

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£7 AFTER 12)

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

MESSENGER SOUND SYSTEM

Conscious roots and dub reggae rockin’ from the usual beefy Messenger soundsystem. FIRE WALK WITH ME: TWIN PEAKS HALLOWEEN PARTY

WEE RED BAR, 21:00–03:00, £8 ADV. (£10 DOOR)

Themed Halloween bash, decking oot the Wee Red with surreal visuals, DJs and decorations to the tune of a certain cult TV show. KEEP IT STEEL

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £5

The Keep It Steel DJs play the best in heavy metal and hard rock. NICE PEOPLE DANCING TO GOOD MUSIC

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

New monthly night manned by local DJs, occasional guests and live acts on rotation, with residents Astrojazz and NikNak at the helm. RIDE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

The Ride girls play hip-hop and dance, all night long – now in their new party-ready Saturday night slot. BETAMAX: HALLOWEEN PARTY

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£5/£4 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Monthly offering of new wave, disco, post-punk and a bit o’ synthtastic 80s, this edition in Halloween mode with a sci-fi themed special.

UNNECESSARY SURGERY (TEXTURE)

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 22:00–03:00, £5

The hard, underground dance music lot play a one-off set.

Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings now in a weekly Friday slot, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead as it goes.

Sat 24 Oct OPTIMO

WEE RED BAR, 22:30–03:00, £3

KINKY INDIE

WARPED KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

REBECCA VASMANT

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

Jazz-inspired house from the Ministry of Sound tour resident. WARPED

Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings now in a weekly Friday slot, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead as it goes.

Sat 17 Oct

EUPHORIC NIGHTS PRESENTS... BEN NICKY + MAARTEN DE JONG

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £10

The Optimo champs curate their occasional fun night, a guest or two oft in tow. ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Thu 29 Oct ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Fri 30 Oct EROL ALKAN

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £11

The Trash founder, Bugged Out resident and all-round DJ extraordinaire takes control for the evening, well-kent for his tight productions and damn good remixes. WARPED

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

BOOK CLUB

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

The Good Stuff DJs spin all genres of disco house and techno, alongside anything else they damn well fancy. ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Fri 23 Oct COOKIN’ SESSIONS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

Special Reading Rooms sessions night catering for all your dance music needs, with bespoke visuals to boot.

GILDED BALLOON COMEDY @ DRYGATE (JARRED CHRISTMAS + JEN BRISTER + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + MC RAY BRADSHAW)

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 20:00–22:00, £12.50 (£11.50)

Long-running comedy club the Gilded Balloon hits up Drygate for a new residency, combing the joys of a craft brewery setting with a rotating schedule of live comedy talent.

Sat 10 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Mon 12 Oct

HAL CRUTTENDEN: STRAIGHT OUT OF CRUTTENDEN

Tue 06 Oct

Tue 13 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

RED RAW

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.

Wed 07 Oct NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. COMEDIAN RAP BATTLES

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£4)

PURE RIDDY

Thu 08 Oct

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Glasgow Comedy

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

ROOMS THURSDAYS

LAUGHTER EIGHT

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £15

Rockabilly, doo-wop, soul and all things golden age and danceable with the Locarno regulars.

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

As seen on The Royal Variety Performance, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and The Rob Brydon Show, Hal Cruttenden brings his usual brand of simultaneously warm and catty stand-up our way.

Live comedy reading of real teenage diaries, read by grown-ups (aka laughs of horrifying recognition guaranteed).

Thu 22 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10 STUDENTS/£6 MEMBERS)

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30, £6 (£4) ADV. (£8 DOOR)

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

THE FRIDAY SHOW (JOHN MCGOLDRICK + FERN BRADY + STU & GARRY + BEN NORRIS + MC JOE HEENAN)

Sat 31 Oct

LOCARNO

ASYLUM

Fri 09 Oct

THE SATURDAY SHOW (JOHN MCGOLDRICK + FERN BRADY + STU & GARRY + BEN NORRIS + MC JOE HEENAN)

BUSKERS, 19:30–02:30, £10 ADV. (£15 DOOR)

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)

BROADCAST, 19:30–21:30, £6 (£5)

A night of poetry and stand-up comedy raising funds for Asylum Aid.

Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings now in a weekly Friday slot, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead as it goes.

Ro Cambell and The Wee Man’s comedian rap battle-off, where a select batch of comics compete to see who’s got the most swagger when it comes to hippity-hop wit.

The Euphoric Nights lot return with a duo of trance heavyweights: Ben Nicky and Maarten De Jong.

VRONK! (ELAINE MALCOLMSON + RICHARD BROWN + SAM SMALL + LIAM MCCORMICK)

THE THURSDAY SHOW (JOHN MCGOLDRICK + FERN BRADY + STU & GARRY + BEN NORRIS + MC JOE HEENAN) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. YESPBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland. DAN AND PHIL: THE AMAZING TOUR IS NOT ON FIRE

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:00–22:00, £25.00

The daft comedy double act combine the best features of their book, YouTube channels, radio shows and infamous online videos.

RED RAW

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material. DAN AND PHIL: THE AMAZING TOUR IS NOT ON FIRE

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:00–22:00, £25.00

The daft comedy double act combine the best features of their book, YouTube channels, radio shows and infamous online videos.

Comedy Fri 16 Oct

Sat 24 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10 STUDENTS/£6 MEMBERS)

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

THE FRIDAY SHOW (BOB GRAHAM + DARREN CONNELL + ANDREA HUBERT + ROGER MONKHOUSE + MC SUSAN MORRISON)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sat 17 Oct

THE SATURDAY SHOW (BOB GRAHAM + DARREN CONNELL + ANDREA HUBERT + ROGER MONKHOUSE + MC SUSAN MORRISON) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Des Clarke hosts the second Make Some Noise... comedy fundraiser, with proceeds going to Global’s Make Some Noise.

Thu 15 Oct

THE THURSDAY SHOW (BOB GRAHAM + DARREN CONNELL + ANDREA HUBERT + ROGER MONKHOUSE + MC SUSAN MORRISON) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. YESPBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Mon 26 Oct

SO... THAT WAS OCTOBER? (MARK NELSON + KEIR MCALLISTER + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £7 (£5)

Messrs McTavish, Nelson and McAllister return with another show in their pre/post-election series – offering leftfield stand-up, chat and comment on the political state of the world following the election outcome. I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST CHUNKS

THE GRIFFIN, 20:30–22:30, FREE

Tue 27 Oct

Chilled Sunday comedy showcase manned by resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond and his guests.

Tue 20 Oct RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.

Wed 21 Oct NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL BENEFIT

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £7 (£5)

Comedy fundraiser in aid of Amnesty International. BILL BAILEY: LIMBOLAND

SECC, 20:00–22:00, £25

The ever-funny Bill Bailey tours his new show, Limboland, exploring the gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are.

RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.

Wed 28 Oct BRIGHT CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5

A selection of comedic academics do a stint of stand-up for your entertainment and enlightenment. Laughs and learning in one neat package = tick. NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

Thu 29 Oct

THE THURSDAY SHOW (DEREK JOHNSTON + ANDREW DOYLE + PARROT + TANYALEE DAVIS + MC MARTIN MOR)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)

Thu 22 Oct

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

SECC, 20:00–22:00, £30

YESPBAR VIRGINS

SECC, 20:00–22:00, £25

CAPITAL’S MAKE SOME NOISE COMEDY NIGHT

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (JIM SMITH + MC MICHAEL REDMOND)

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £10

LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Sun 18 Oct

Wed 14 Oct Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

Anarchic night of live comedy composed of variety acts, sketches, monologues, character bits, animations, inanimations, contemporary dance, readings and anything silly. That do you?

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

THE SATURDAY SHOW (JOHN GILLICK + DAVE FULTON + GARY MIKLE + MC RAY BRADSHAW )

BILL BAILEY: LIMBOLAND

ALAN CARR: YAP, YAP, YAP!

The chat show comic returns to his stand-up roots with a new show about life an’ that. YESPBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

The ever-funny Bill Bailey tours his new show, Limboland, exploring the gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are.

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 23 Oct

THE FRIDAY SHOW (DEREK JOHNSTON + ANDREW DOYLE + PARROT + TANYALEE DAVIS + MC MARTIN MOR)

THE FRIDAY SHOW (JOHN GILLICK + DAVE FULTON + GARY MIKLE + MC RAY BRADSHAW )

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10 STUDENTS/£6 MEMBERS)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. LAUGHTER EIGHT

Fri 30 Oct

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10 STUDENTS/£6 MEMBERS)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

GILDED BALLOON COMEDY @ DRYGATE (MARCEL LUCONT + MICHAEL REDMOND + DAVEY CONNOR + MC BILLY KIRKWOOD)

SECC, 20:00–22:00, £30

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

DRYGATE BREWING CO., 20:00–22:00, £12.50 (£11.50)

Long-running comedy club the Gilded Balloon hits up Drygate for a new residency, combing the joys of a craft brewery setting with a rotating schedule of live comedy talent.

ALAN CARR: YAP, YAP, YAP!

The chat show comic returns to his stand-up roots with a new show about life an’ that.

Sat 31 Oct

THE SATURDAY SHOW (DEREK JOHNSTON + ANDREW DOYLE + PARROT + TANYALEE DAVIS + MC MARTIN MOR)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

THE SKINNY

LAUGHTER EIGHT YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit. ALAN CARR: YAP, YAP, YAP!

SECC, 20:00–22:00, £30

The chat show comic returns to his stand-up roots with a new show about life an’ that.

Edinburgh Comedy

Mon 12 Oct RED RAW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £2

RICHARD MELVIN PRESENTS... LIVE AT THE STAND PODCAST

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:00–21:00, FREE (BUT TICKETED)

Funnyman Richard Melvin introduces an all-star cast of comedy stalwarts currently recording radio shows. And all for gratis!

Thu 08 Oct

THE THURSDAY SHOW (RUTH COCKBURN + PETE JOHANSSON + WIL HODGSON + BRENDAN DEMPSEY + MC MARTIN MOR) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 09 Oct

THE FRIDAY SHOW (RUTH COCKBURN + PETE JOHANSSON + WIL HODGSON + BRENDAN DEMPSEY + MC MARTIN MOR) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £12 (£10 STUDENT/£6 MEMBERS)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sat 10 Oct

THE SATURDAY SHOW (RUTH COCKBURN + PETE JOHANSSON + WIL HODGSON + BRENDAN DEMPSEY + MC MARTIN MOR) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups. GILDED BALLOON COMEDY @ FESTIVAL THEATRE (JARRED CHRISTMAS + JEN BRISTER + CHRIS MACARTHUR-BOYD + MC RAY BRADSHAW)

FESTIVAL THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £12.50

Long-running comedy club the Gilded Balloon hits up the Festival Theatre for a new residency, combing the joys of a craft brewery setting with a rotating schedule of live comedy talent.

Sun 11 Oct

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (PHIL DIFFER + FERN BRADY + MICHAEL REDMOND)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)

RED RAW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.

Tue 13 Oct

Tue 20 Oct

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5)

ELECTRIC TALES

More in the way of stand-up comedy crossed with live storytelling, with the tease of a promise of robot badges for all (as in, we’re there).

Wed 14 Oct Tue 06 Oct

Mon 19 Oct

KEVIN BRIDGES: A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 20:00–22:00, £25

The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.

Thu 15 Oct

THE THURSDAY SHOW (PETER FLANAGHAN + GUS LYMBURN + JANEY GODLEY + JOSH HOWIE + MC JOE HEENAN)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. KEVIN BRIDGES: A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 20:00–22:00, £25

The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.

Fri 16 Oct

THE FRIDAY SHOW (PETER FLANAGHAN + GUS LYMBURN + JANEY GODLEY + JOSH HOWIE + MC JOE HEENAN)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £12 (£10 STUDENT/£6 MEMBERS)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups. KEVIN BRIDGES: A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 20:00–22:00, £25

The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.

Sat 17 Oct

THE SATURDAY SHOW (PETER FLANAGHAN + GUS LYMBURN + JANEY GODLEY + JOSH HOWIE + MC JOE HEENAN)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £10

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 20:00–22:00, £25

HEALTH IN MIND BENEFIT

Comedy fundraiser in aid of mental health charity Health In Mind.

Wed 21 Oct

SO... THAT WAS OCTOBER? (MARK NELSON + KEIR MCALLISTER + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £7 (£5)

Thu 22 Oct

THE THURSDAY SHOW (DAVID BURKE + CHRIS HENRY + JONNY PELHAM + IMRAN YUSUF + MC SUSAN MORRISON) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 23 Oct

THE FRIDAY SHOW (DAVID BURKE + CHRIS HENRY + JONNY PELHAM + IMRAN YUSUF + MC SUSAN MORRISON) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £12 (£10 STUDENT/£6 MEMBERS)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sat 24 Oct

THE SATURDAY SHOW (DAVID BURKE + CHRIS HENRY + JONNY PELHAM + IMRAN YUSUF + MC SUSAN MORRISON) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups. SHIRLEY GHOSTMAN: SPOOKTACULAR

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00, £20

Thu 29 Oct

THE THURSDAY SHOW (ALLY HOUSTON + ELAINE MALCOLMSON + SILKY + JOE ROONEY + MC BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. POETS AGAINST HUMANITY

THE BANSHEE LABYRINTH, 20:00–22:00, FREE

Three comedic contestants attempt to tear poetry a new one in a live panel show variation on Cards Against Humanity.

Fri 30 Oct

THE FRIDAY SHOW (ALLY HOUSTON + ELAINE MALCOLMSON + SILKY + JOE ROONEY + MC BRUCE DEVLIN)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £12 (£10 STUDENT/£6 MEMBERS)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sat 31 Oct

THE SATURDAY SHOW (ALLY HOUSTON + ELAINE MALCOLMSON + SILKY + JOE ROONEY + MC BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups. ROSS HEPBURN IS BEETLEJUICE’D

THE BANSHEE LABYRINTH, 19:30–23:00, FREE

Comedian Ross Hepburn delivers a gem of a Halloween solo set centred around his favourite classic film, Beetlejuice, followed by a screening of the film itself. Fancy dress encouraged.

Dundee Comedy Fri 09 Oct

JUST LAUGH (NEIL DOUGAN + WES ZAHARUK + CHRIS HENRY + MC BRUCE FUMMEY)

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

Gritty yet heart-warming musical play by Paul Higgins and Ricky Ross about a group of strangers who come together, not always willingly, to sing in a community choir. Matinee performances also available.

The King’s Theatre LEGALLY BLONDE

NINA CONTI

All-singing, all-dancing musical adaptation of the hit movie featuring teen queen Elle and her trusty chihuahua, Bruiser. Matinee performances also available.

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 6 AND 10 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £19.75

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary rock classic returns to the stage. Matinee performances also available. SUNSET BOULEVARD

19 AND 24 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10

Musical adaptation of the Oscarwinning film, following a struggling scriptwriter and his chance meeting with silent screen star Norma Desmond. Matinee performances also available.

Theatre Royal

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 19 –31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY

Retelling of one of the master crime writer’s most baffling mysteries, in which ten strangers arrive at a house on a remote island after receiving an invitation from an unknown host. Matinee performances also available. CARMEN

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 7 OCT AND 17 OCT, TIMES VARY, FROM £10.50

Tramway

TRANSDUCER + FLUOROPHONE

29 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £15 (£9)

LINK.C + AFTERSHOCK & SEISMIK

Double bill taking in the UK premiere of Montréal-based sight and sound virtuoso Herman Kolgen new work based on Philip Glass’ String Quartet No.2 LINK.C, plus visual and sonic collision Aftershock & Seismik. Part of Sonica festival. WINGS

31 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £15 (£9)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 13:30–15:30, FREE

Sun 18 Oct

Mon 26 Oct THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £2

Tron Theatre

HAL CRUTTENDEN: STRAIGHT OUT OF CRUTTENDEN

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £15

As seen on The Royal Variety Performance, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and The Rob Brydon Show, Hal Cruttenden brings his usual brand of simultaneously warm and catty stand-up our way.

October 2015

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions. KEVIN BRIDGES: A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 20:00–22:00, £25

The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.

RED RAW

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.

Wed 28 Oct

BEST OF SCOTTISH COMEDY (JAMIE DALGLEISH + CHARLIE ROSS + JANEY GODLEY)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£3 MEMBERS)

A selection of top comics from the contemporary Scottish circuit do their thing.

Storytelling-styled piece exploring the experience of elders in 21st century Scotland, told by artist Donna Rutherford, through the tradition of soup making. Matinee performances also available. MY FRIEND SELMA

23 OCT, TIMES VARY, £10 (£7.50)

True story of one girl’s journey from war in Bosnia to safety in the UK, written and performed by Victoria Beesley.

Edinburgh Theatre Festival Theatre LORD OF THE FLIES

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 13 AND 17 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £14.50

Stage adaptation of William Golding’s chilling tale about a group of schoolboys trapped on a desert island after a plane crash. As rescue looks increasingly unlikely, their behaviour becomes increasingly savage. Matinee performances also available.

ONCE UPON A TIME

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 30 AND 31 OCT, 7:45PM – 10:00PM, FROM £12

Thoughtful piece about ageing and the passing of time, told through the extraordinary bodies of two dancers and one trapeze artist, all aged over 65. NOT ABOUT HEROES

6 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£7.50)

Stephen MacDonald’s moving play about the nature of friendship, love and the art of war.

MARTYR

Thought-provoking piece considering how far we should go in accommodating another’s faith, and when we should take a stand for our own opposing beliefs. IN HER SHADOWS

8 OCT, 7:30PM – 8:30PM, £16 (£13 STUDENT/£8 UNEMPLOYED)

A Blank Canvas and Jabuti Theatre’s new ‘dance-mindscape’ piece, in which two female performers explore a woman’s relationship with her depression, told via aerial and physical theatre, supported by live projections and an original score.

Classical ballet about love and betrayal, brought to life with mesmerising sets and lavish costumes by Royal New Zealand Ballet. Matinee performances also available. STOMP!

6–11 OCT, 19:30–21:10, FROM £16

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 26 AND 31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY

Royal Lyceum Theatre WAITING FOR GODOT

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 18 SEP AND 10 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £13 (£10)

Well-kent Scottish actors Brian Cox and Bill Paterson star as Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s two act tragicomedy, still relevant some 60 years after it was first staged. Matinee performances also available. TIPPING THE VELVET

28 OCT – 14 NOV, NOT 1 NOV, 2 NOV, 8 NOV, 9 NOV, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10

Playwright Laura Wade brings Sarah Waters’ bestselling novel to the stage. Matinee performances also available.

The Edinburgh Playhouse THE BODYGUARD

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 26 SEP AND 10 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £18.50

Musical based on the blockbuster film of the same name, with XFactor winner Alexandra Burke taking on warbling Whitney duties. Matinee performances also available.

THE SHOCK OF VICTORY

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 19 SEP AND 1 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Curated programme consisting of an exhibition, symposium and digital publication for a post-referendum reality, including works by In the Shadow of the Hand, an artist duo based in Glasgow consisting of Virginia Hutchison and Sarah Forrest. SYBREN RENEMA: PLEASURES OF A GRAVE DESIRE

2–16 OCT, NOT 5, 12, TIMES VARY, FREE

29 OCT – 8 NOV, NOT 2 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

29–31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £16 (£13 STUDENT/£8 UNEMPLOYED)

New piece from award-winning Lung Ha Theatre Company, working with people with learning disabilities. Matinee performances also available.

Dundee Rep

27–31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £13.50

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art

THINGUMMY BOB

Stephen MacDonald’s moving play about the nature of friendship, love and the art of war. Matinee performances also available.

GISELLE

Richard Alston Dance Company return with a handpicked programme of goodies, proudly celebrating its twentieth year.

Glasgow

9–10 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £16 (£13 STUDENT/£8 UNEMPLOYED)

Dundee Theatre

RICHARD ALSTON DANCE COMPANY

Art

Intriguing solo exhibition looking at the connections between the personae of the addict and the wanderer, and how these have shaped perspectives on cultural production.

NOT ABOUT HEROES

24 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £16.50

King’s Theatre Edinburgh

THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH

Chilled Sunday comedy showcase manned by resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond and his guests.

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

15 –17 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £16 (£13 STUDENT/£8 UNEMPLOYED)

BROTH

26–31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £15

UK premiere of Eric Sleichim and Belgian music collective Bl!ndman’s drama of the skies, telling a tale of of love and loss during the outbreak of WWI. Part of Sonica festival.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 13:30–15:30, FREE

21–22 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£7.50)

Georges Bizet’s retelling of the timeless musical tale of seduction and obsession.

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

Traverse Theatre

The 23rd anniversary of the trash-can bashing music ensemble. Matinee performances also available.

New musical comedy inspired by the 50s film starring Peter Sellers. Matinee performances also available.

Musical telling of a hulking green ogre who, after being mocked and feared, retreats to an ugly swamp to exist in happy isolation before... well, you know the rest. Matinee performances also available.

Megan Barker’s suitably dark adaptation of the Ibsen classic.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.

GHOSTS 7–24 OCT, NOT 11, 12, 18, 19, 7:45PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 27 AND 31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10

30 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £15 (£9)

BAFTA-nominated filmmaker and ventriloquist presents a whole host of characters in a show that refuses to go as rehearsed.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 13:30–15:30, FREE

THE CHOIR

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 24 OCT AND 14 NOV, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, FROM £8.50

DUNDEE REP, 19:30–21:30, £SOLD OUT

Sun 25 Oct

Chilled comedy showcase to cure your Sunday evening back-towork blues.

Citizens Theatre

Thu 29 Oct

DUNDEE REP, 20:00–22:00, £12

Monthly comedy showcase bringing a selection of UK stand-ups to Dundee.

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN

Glasgow

Double bill taking in Australia’s finest creative percussionists Transducer, alongside the return of Sonica Artist in Residence Robin Fox with collaborative sound work Fluorophone. Part of Sonica festival.

Marc Wootton’s comic creation, an effete and slightly vicious medium/psychic who came to fame and fortune through for the BBC Three show, High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)

Theatre

SHREK: THE MUSICAL VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 20 OCT AND 8 NOV, 7:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £15

DRAGON

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 14 AND 17 OCT, 7:00PM – 8:10PM, £14 (£12)

Family show by National Theatre of Scotland and Vox Motus, following a young boy in the wake of his mother’s death, and the dragon that follows him, burning with the anger and hate that he feels. Matinee performances also available. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RIPPER MURDERS

6–10 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £19 (£15)

Brian Clemens’ reworking of the Sherlock Holmes classic, centred around a series of grisly serial killings of prostitutes and vulnerable women in Victorian Whitechapel. Matinee performances also available. TRIBES

20 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £14 (£10)

Nina Raine’s poignant drama about love, family and finding one’s voice. IN HER SHADOWS

23 OCT, 8:00PM – 9:00PM, £12 (£9)

24 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £21 (£17)

Reworking of one of George Bernard Shaw’s most famous comedy’s, the play of which the musical My Fair Lady is based. THE BOX

31 OCT, 7:30PM – 8:30PM, £14 (£9)

The story of what was found inside a 1921 time capsule in memorial to those who died in The Great War, for which theatre maker and performer Alice Mary Cooper has been given special access to the photos, letters and books.

KATHY HINDE: TIPPING POINT

Audio visual artist and composer Kathy Hinde explores the sonic complexities and possibilities of combining glass vessels with shifting water levels. Part of Sonica festival. OLIVIER RATSI: ONION SKIN

29 OCT – 8 NOV, NOT 2 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

French visual artist and co-founder of Antivj, Olivier Ratsi unveils a fictional, 3D environment using perspective mapping, with a score composed by fellow Antivj artist Thomas Vaquié. Part of Sonica festival. KEN CURRIE: NEW ETCHINGS AND MONOTYPES

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 5 SEP AND 18 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Solo exhibition of new prints by longstanding Glasgow Print Studio associate Ken Currie, on public view for the very first time, and marking his first exhibition at GPS in 23 years.

David Dale Gallery and Studios

HARDEEP PANDHAL: PLEBEIAN ARCHIVE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 19 SEP AND 24 OCT, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Solo showcase of new work from the British artist of Indian origin, currently living and working in Glasgow.

Glasgow School of Art GRACE NDIRITU: A RETURN TO NORMALCY

2 OCT – 12 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

First major UK solo show for Grace Ndiritu since 2007, including a specially-commissioned new film of a performance staged at The Glasgow School of Art.

Glasgow Science Centre WINTOUR’S LEAP: HELMHOLTZ

15 OCT – 29 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

In celebration of the UNESCO International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, emerging artists Wintour’s Leap present their first major installation, Helmholtz, commissioned as part of Imogen Heap’s Reverb Festival 2014. Part of Sonica festival.

Glasgow Sculpture Studios

NICOLAS DESHAYES: DARLING, GUTTER

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 26 SEP AND 12 DEC, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Solo exhibition of newlycommissioned work from the London-living, France-born artist, marking his largest solo exhibition to date in Scotland.

Listings

GoMA

THE BALLET OF THE PALETTE

20 FEB – 24 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase exhibition of 20th century paintings selected from Glasgow Museums’ collection, chosen by a selection of contemporary artists who exhibited work in the 2013 exhibition, A Picture Show. RIPPLES ON THE POND

27 MAR – 28 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Glasgow Museums’ collection exhibition designed as a conversation between works by women on paper and moving image, taking as its starting point recent acquisitions from the Glasgow Women’s Library 21 Revolutions series. DEVILS IN THE MAKING

18 SEP – 28 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Group exhibition exploring Glasgow Museums’ contemporary art collection through connections with Glasgow School of Art, including work by Christine Borland, Jim Lambie, Victoria Morton and Simon Starling.

Govanhill Baths JOMPET KUSWIDANANTO: ORDER AND AFTER

29 OCT – 8 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Indonesian artist Jompet Kuswidananto presents a speciallycommissioned new body of work focused on the period known as Reformasi, a democratic change that allowed for greater freedom of expression within the arts. Part of Sonica festival. ROBBIE THOMSON: THE NEW ALPS

29 OCT – 8 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Following its successful showing at Fort du Bruissin’s Centre d’Art Contemporain in Franchville, Lyon, visual artist Robbie Thomson presents his immersive sculptural work, The New Alps, in Glasgow. Part of Sonica festival.

Hillhead Library FUTUREPROOF 2015

28 SEP – 19 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Annual showcase of new photographic talent selected from across Scotland’s Photography and Fine Art degree courses, with work previously on show at Lillie Art Gallery decamping to Hillhead Library for an extended run.

Hunterian Art Gallery TRAVELLERS’ TAILS

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 OCT AND 25 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Themed exhibition on exploration, art and science, inspired by the National Maritime Museum’s acquisition of the Kangaroo and Dingo by English painter George Stubbs, with the on-loan Kangaroo forming the exhibition’s centrepiece.

Mary Mary

MATTHEW BRANNON + MILANO CHOW + ALAN REID: I HOPE TO GOD YOU’RE NOT AS DUMB AS YOU MAKE OUT

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 26 SEP AND 7 NOV, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Triple-header exhibition from artists Matthew Brannon, Milano Chow and Alan Reid. Also one of the best exhibition titles we’ve seen in a long while.

People’s Palace ART OF BILLY CONNOLLY

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 28 AUG AND 21 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition of comic Billy Connolly’s artworks, shown together with a range of objects from Glasgow Museums’ collection – including those famous banana boots and his guitar made from a White Horse whisky box.

Project Ability YOUNG TALENT!

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 SEP AND 24 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Annual showcase celebrating the artwork created by children and young people from the Create Programme, now in its 15th year.

Listings

RGI Kelly Gallery

Tramway

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 23 OCT AND 14 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

The prestigious visual art award comes Scotland for the first time, with a programme of workshops, talks, tours and activities accompanying the exhibition showcase.

ALLUSION

Selection of work by more than a dozen of the elected RGIs – including June Carey, Jim Dunbar and Adrian Wiszniewski – into which the viewer is invited to read their own narratives. TOM ALLAN: SEE GLASGOW?, SEE SCULPTURE!

3–17 OCT, NOT 4, 5, 11, 12, TIMES VARY, FREE

Marking what will be his fourth exhibition at the RGI Kelly Gallery, artist Tom Allan displays a series of sculptures connected to Glasgow, many inspired by well-known Glasgow buildings.

Street Level Photoworks SURFACE TENSION

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 3 SEP AND 8 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase of four contemporary artists who variously use intuitive processes to produce tactile, lyrical and multi-layered artworks: Lorna Macintyre, Susanne Ramsenthaler, Karen L Vaughan and Catherine Cameron.

The Common Guild

THOMAS DEMAND: DAILY SHOW

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 26 SEP AND 12 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Solo exhibition by German artist Thomas Demand, including new and recent works from his series ‘The Dailies’, in an installation devised specifically for The Common Guild space.

The Glue Factory

MORTONUNDERWOOD: CONTRA

29 OCT – 7 NOV, NOT 2 NOV, 3 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

MortonUnderwood present a Giant Feedback Organ re-configured as an interactive sub-bass sound installation where deep drones emanate, interplay and reverberate around the room. Part of Sonica festival.

The Lighthouse THE NATURE OF ART NOUVEAU

17 OCT – 24 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition conceived by Catalan art historian Teresa-M. Sala, based on both encyclopaedic information and individual experimentation, using photographs and documents, together with a dynamic scenography created by Antoni Garau. KATHY HINDE: SUBMERGE

29 OCT – 10 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition exploring Glasgow’s now forgotten streams using Kathy Hinde’s interactive sound map, combining intriguing underwater sounds with scientific data. Part of Sonica festival.

The Modern Institute

MICHAEL WILKINSON: SORRY HAD TO DONE

12 SEP – 24 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Solo showcase from Californianborn, Glasgow-based artist Michael Wilkinson, taking in new sculptural works, paintings and collages drawing from a complex negotiation of political, cultural and personal references.

The Modern Institute @ Airds Lane HAYLEY TOMKINS

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 12 SEP AND 7 NOV, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Installation of new work from Glasgow-living artist Hayley Tompkins, addressing her interest in natural phenomena and colour saturated technology explored through various different ideas.

TURNER PRIZE 2015

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 OCT AND 17 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Edinburgh Art City Art Centre THE ARTIST AND THE SEA

26 SEP – 8 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Themed exhibition by a range of different artists capturing the character of the sea, taking in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography and sculpture, and including works by John Bellany, William McTaggart, Joan Eardley and Elizabeth Ogilvie. WILLIAM GEAR

24 OCT – 14 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Retrospective exhibition of the British abstract painter, tracing his influence through his association with CoBrA in the 1940s, right through to his later work and death in 1997. JAGGED GENERATION: WILLIAM GEAR’S CONTEMPORARIES

24 OCT – 7 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of artworks from the City Art Centre’s collection, chosen to complement the exhibition retrospective of William Gear, which runs alongside.

Collective Gallery

SCOTT ROGERS: ENDING

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 12 SEP AND 1 NOV, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Showcase of new work by Glasgow-based artist Scott Rogers, focused on ideas of extinction and incorporating a selection of sculpture and text. Part of Satellites Programme 2015.

Edinburgh Printmakers

ABSTRACTING FROM ARCHITECTURE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 12 SEP AND 24 OCT, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Showcase of new and recent works by a quartet of contemporary British artists – George Charman, Carla Scott Fullerton, Andrew MacKenzie and Bronwen Sleigh – each displaying an interest in architectural structures, surfaces, materials and forms.

Ingleby Gallery

JAMES HUGONIN: BINARY RHYTHM

10 OCT – 21 NOV, NOT SUNDAYS, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

New exhibition celebrating the completion of James Hugonin’s Binary Rhythm sequence, with seven of the nine indentically-sized abstract paintings on show.

National Museum of Scotland THE SILVERSMITH’S ART

18 SEP – 4 JAN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Celebration of the artistry and skill of British modern silversmiths, presenting work from the Contemporary Silver Collection of the Goldsmiths’ Company, London, dating from the millennium to present day. PHOTOGRAPHY: A VICTORIAN SENSATION

19 JUN – 22 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £10 (£8 STUDENT/£6.50 CHILD)

Illuminating showcase of over 1,500 photographs charting the changing techniques used by photographers and studios during the 19th century, exploring the stories of the people both in front of and behind the camera.

Scottish National Gallery ROCKS AND RIVERS: THE LUNDE COLLECTION

3–30 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Long-term loan from one of the finest private collections of 19thCentury Norwegian and Swiss landscape paintings, American collector Asbjörn Lunde, taking in 13 works by artists including Johan Christian Dahl, Alexandre Calame and Thomas Fearnley. THE OLYMPIAN GODS: EUROPEAN PRINTS OF THE RENAISSANCE

20 JUN – 18 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of Renaissance engravings, etchings and woodcuts depicting the pagan Gods, at a time when graphic print media was the vehicle for the diffusion of images representing secular subject matter. BAILEY’S STARDUST

18 JUL – 18 OCT, TIMES VARY, £11 (£9)

The Stardust exhibition by the renowned photographer makes it was up to Scotland, following a run at the National Portrait Gallery in London, featuring over 300 portraits spanning half a century. ARTHUR MELVILLE

10 OCT – 17 JAN, TIMES VARY, £9 (£7)

First exhibition in over 35 years devoted to the art of innovative Scottish painter Arthur Melville, a close associate of the Glasgow Boys.

D.Y. CAMERON: THE SPIRIT OF LINE

24 OCT – 21 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of prints and watercolours from the Scottish National Gallery’s extensive collection of Sir David Young Cameron’s work, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art ROY LICHTENSTEIN

14 MAR – 10 JAN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A special three-room ‘Artist Rooms’ display dedicated to works by celebrated American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, bringing together a newly assembled group of works care of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. REFLECTIONS

14 MAR – 10 JAN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Changing series of displays showcasing the work of a diverse range of internationally-renowned contemporary artists, including newly commissioned work by contemporary artists Michael Fullerton and Julie Favreau.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery HEAD TO HEAD: PORTRAIT SCULPTURE – ANCIENT TO MODERN

6 JUN – 31 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition of portrait sculpture from across the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection, moving from ancient to modern and executed in a range of media, illustrating how sculptors continue to reference the illustrious tradition of the portrait bust. DOCUMENT SCOTLAND: THE TIES THAT BIND

26 SEP – 24 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Photographic collective comprising of Colin McPherson, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, Sophie Gerrard and Stephen McLaren – four Scotsborn photographers, each exponents of documentary photography – featuring 50-75 photographs of, and about, Scotland. BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2015

10 OCT – 28 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Annual showcase of the best in contemporary portrait painting from around the world, now in its 34th year and marking the sixth time the Scottish National Portrait Gallery has hosted the exhibition.

St Margaret’s House

THE SHAPES THAT SHIFT DESIRE

3–18 OCT, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Group exhibition with various Scotland-based artists responding to the subversive energies of desire, connected to the human figure, taking in painting, installation, film, spoken word, sculpture, photography and live performance. MEDLEY 3

24 OCT – 15 NOV, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Interdisciplinary show taking in various media by invited artists and designers, including work by MIX collective, current textile students from Edinburgh College of Art, and artist William J Gall. RE:SEE IT 3

E.D.S Gallery

AULD ALLIANCE CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS 2015

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 OCT AND 31 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Franco-Scottish collab pairing established French artists alongside up-and-coming Scottish artists, this year with six young Scottish artists, including RSA New Contemporary exhibitors, showing work alongside three successful 80s graduates from Paris.

Dundee Art

24 OCT – 16 NOV, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Various artists respond to the concepts of environmental sustainability, aimed at encouraging a Scotland-wide artistic response to global climate change.

Stills

HERE COMES EVERYBODY

31 JUL – 25 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

New showcase of work by kennardphillipps, the collaborative practice of London-based artists Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps, formed in 2003 in response to the invasion of Iraq.

Summerhall OFF THE WALL

10–31 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Conversations For Change – a public art project that has been generating dialogue about mental health around Edinburgh – present a retrospective of their work to date. Part of SHMAFF. ATTITUDES

10–31 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Group exhibition for which illustrator Eduardo Iturralde has collaborated with various young people to address the question of what mental ill-health feels like from a young person’s perspective. Part of SHMAFF.

The Fruitmarket Gallery PHYLLIDA BARLOW

27 JUN – 18 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Major solo showcase of work by Newcastle artist Phyllida Barlow, known for her monumental and immersive sculptures made from simple materials such as plywood, cardboard, fabric, plaster, paint and plastic.

The Gallery on the Corner POSTCARDS FROM...

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 27 SEP AND 30 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Annual showcase of work from artists affected by mental health conditions, for which over 200 individuals have provided wooden postcards as a response. Part of SHMAFF.

Cooper Gallery

COOPER SUMMER RESIDENCY 2015: THINGNESS?

18 SEP – 10 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Showcase exhibition marking the culmination of Cooper Summer Residency 2015: Thingness?, with Glasgow-based artist Oliver Braid, Brussels-based artist Anouchka Oler and Newcastle-based philosopher Joseph Fletcher.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts HIDEYUKI KATSUMATA: USO DE HONTOU

3 OCT – 15 NOV, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Largest exhibition to date from the Tokyo-born and living artist, featuring a selection of murals, prints and motion video works.

Hannah Maclure Centre HEARTS

14 SEP – 23 OCT, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

One half of a two part exhibition – ‘Hearts and Minds’ – featuring contemporary art, artefacts and scientific research considering the perception and wellbeing of the human heart. Part two, considering the brain, is in Dundee Uni’s LifeSpace gallery.

University of Dundee MINDS

19 SEP, 26 SEP, 3 OCT, 10 OCT, 17 OCT, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Part two of a two part exhibition – ‘Hearts and Minds’ – featuring contemporary art, artefacts and scientific research considering the perception and wellbeing of the human brain. Part one, considering the heart, is in Hannah Maclure Centre.

The Queen’s Gallery

SCOTTISH ARTISTS 1750-1900: FROM CALEDONIA TO THE CONTINENT

6 AUG – 7 FEB, 9:30AM – 6:00PM, £6.60 (£6 STUDENT/£3 UNDER 17S)

First ever exhibition devoted to Scottish art in the Royal Collection, bringing together paintings, drawings and miniatures collected by monarchs from George III to Queen Victoria.

The Institute Français d'Ecosse

AULD ALLIANCE CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS 2015

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 OCT AND 31 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

THE SKINNY

Redefining Deviance Deviance celebrates The Skinny’s double figures by chatting to our very first Editor, Nine, about controversy, internet journalism and editing the section in a pre-Twitter universe... Interview: Kate Pasola

en years ago, Britain was a very different place. Razorlight were cool. Miley Cyrus was knee-high to a cowboy boot, utterly oblivious to the fact that one day, her tie-dyed pubic hair would be the yarn on which a thousand ‘thinkpieces’ might be spun. Any notion of a televised drag race was but a twinkle in RuPaul’s eye, and Louis Theroux was too busy witch-hunting Simon Cowell on account of his ambiguous sexuality to even consider producing a groundbreaking documentary about transgender children. And The Skinny? Well, in 2005, a gang of volunteers spent autumn pulling together the very first issue, from a chilly room in an Edinburghian flat. At that point, the section of The Skinny now dedicated to Deviance was also pretty different. Originally entitled ‘LGBT,’ it was a part of the mag dedicated to all events and issues affecting those who identify as anything other than cisgender and/or straight. But three years later, in 2008, in a forward-thinking but eternally contentious move, The Skinny decided to release all of its LGBTQ(IA) coverage into the rest of the magazine – and to redefine the section that remained. The new section would be called ‘Deviance’, and was intended as an editorial haven for matters of love, sex, gender and politics. “I totally, fundamentally, believe in the idea that we step away from ghettoising artistic events based on the sexuality of the artist,” explains Editorin-Chief Rosamund West, who was a fellow section editor when the LGBT changeover took place. But, despite the best of intentions, the move was met with with its fair share of controversy and complaint. Of course, the resultant debate was less than surprising. Remember how the LGBTQIA community was presented in the media during the latter half of the millennial decade? Where LGBT artists and issues weren’t excluded, they were sluiced with sensationalism, policing, and the triumph of public curiosity over respect and tolerance. As a person who identifies as LGBT, learning that your chosen independent arts and culture magazine has renamed its LGBT section Deviance might indeed feel like a slap in an already tender face. The original Deviance editor, Nine, addressed these swollen cheeks in an article called Welcome To Deviance. To this day, that piece has become a useful one to pull out from the archives when, as the new Deviance editor, I’m asked to explain the nature and title of the section. “I’m

Illustration by Alessandra Genualdo (September 2014)

October 2015

all too aware that some of you are going to be less than thrilled about this...” Nine begins, earnestly. “So do we really think you’re a ‘deviant’ if you’re queer or trans or a sex worker, if you’re into bondage or you’re asexual or you have a thing for Tesco checkout assistants? No. Deviance is subjective; no-one’s got the final say on what is ‘normal’”. She finishes by pointing out that “maybe it’s more about redefining ‘normal’ rather than dwelling on ‘deviance’. But Normal would’ve been a crap name.” I got in touch with Nine to find out more about her experience quelling the controversy and nurturing a section which was to become an inherent part of The Skinny’s anarchic and autonomous character. “I do remember it being pretty draining,” she tells me. “It was frustrating to get that feedback, but probably all the more so because it was somewhat valid!” When I ask about those who’d missed the point of the changeover, it becomes clear that she’d been drained through empathy, rather than frustration. “I could see where they were coming from, and maybe they didn’t all miss the point as such, but were just concerned that the message would not really filter through to folks who might be coming from a more homophobic/ill-informed perspective.” She now lives in Malaysia, where she explains that the government actively promotes the idea that LGBT people, along with other groups, are ‘deviants’. This, to Nine, exemplifies volatile power found within words that mean different things to different people at different points in time. “It can make sense to reclaim the word, but it’s still a problematic word depending on the context. And you can’t always control the context.” In terms of the section’s content, Nine was on board with the move. “It felt like an exciting opportunity to cover all these extra issues that didn’t come under the LGBT remit.” She recalls one of the first columns ever run in the section, written by a Scottish sex worker called Slutty McWhore. “She was funny and interesting and not easily pigeonholed. And while her columns were likely to bring a fresh perspective to readers who were new to the topic, other sex workers were also likely to find them worth reading.” On that note, Nine goes on to identify one of the most critical aspects of the Deviance section – maintaining a balance between running articles by marginalised people that will be of interest to members of their own communities,

Illustration by Alasdair Boyce for the first Slutty McWhore article (May 2008)

while remaining accessible to the mainstream. “A good outcome would be, for example, another sex worker reading Slutty McWhore and going ‘Yes! I feel the same way but nobody ever talks about this bit!’ and getting some validation out of that.” To Nine, the priority was always to actively include marginalised communities – “and not just bring them in when it was time for them to educate everyone else.” Though the primary goal of the section remains unchanged, it struck me that a cruder, 2005-style internet might have made for a vastly different experience of Deviance editorship. A decade ago, the internet was mostly used to manufacture MySpace fame and to disrupt marriages via Friends Reunited. I gush to Nine that I couldn’t imagine editing Deviance without panning the gold of subreddits, Twitter wars, YouTube rants and feminist Facebook groups. “Good point!” she responds. “If I was running the section nowadays I would be getting my ideas in the exact same way as you, but yes, it was different then. For me it mostly came from books and zines I had read… and conversations in real life.” But her curating wasn’t entirely analogue: “I also used LiveJournal back in those days, knew some pretty cool writers through it, and hung out in some LJ communities that had some really on-point discussions. So the internet definitely helped, even then.” Prompted by mentions of MySpace and LiveJournal, we indulge one another in a reminiscence of the golden days when ‘good journalism’ wasn’t quite so synonymous with ‘clickable content’, and the word ‘timeliness’ was but a futuristic woe. It feels ironic to criticise the immediacy of the internet while conducting a digital interview across time zones and international borders. But Nine indulges my nostalgia. “Looking back, I realise that was definitely one type of stress that I was lucky to miss out on. Monthly deadlines for The Skinny are one thing, but everything these days seems to be in such a rush. You have to react instantly and bring some fresh perspective; there doesn’t seem to be much room for ‘this thing happened earlier this year and here are my thoughts on it.’” Though we’ve come quite the distance since 2005, it seems like Nine’s still sucking the sweet of what on earth the section should be called. Orginally, everything was considered from ‘Gender and Sexuality’, (ultimately considered too Biology 101), to ‘Sex’, of which Nine disapproved

DEVIANCE

“because it’s about so much more than only sex.” Then there was the idea of a colour wheel logo – “It sounded appealing, but I didn’t want to have to give a clunky explanation every time I tried to describe my section.” And her suggestion, nearly ten years later? ‘Intersections.’ “That’s definitely one we didn’t think of back in the day. I think it’s about getting the notion through to people that gender and sexuality aren’t just issues for those

“Maybe it’s more about redefining ‘normal’ rather than dwelling on ‘deviance’. But Normal would’ve been a crap name” Nine

from the margins. It’s an interesting balance to strike, because one of the main goals should be to amplify marginalised voices. But at the same time, people whose identities carry more privilege are also affected by gender and sexuality issues that aren’t talked about enough. So I think it’s good to have a space where all of that can potentially be tackled.” It strikes me that it’s Deviance’s appetite for change, and the politically awakened nature of its readers, that has led to the unending naming debate. And it’s a good debate. It’s difficult to define this section – and that definition will most definitely shift again in ten years, when the society has changed unrecognisably and Razorlight are cool again. Perhaps a Deviance by any other name would smell as sweet. Sweeter, even, But the point is that often our language hasn’t quite caught up with the progressive ideas and unities of people it is supposed to reflect. And sometimes there just aren’t the perfect words to hand. But don’t worry, we’ll keep trying to find them. Find Nine on Twitter @supernowoczesna

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