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Scotland Issue 103 April 2014
ART Glasgow International Rachel Levine Art Screen MUSIC Cloud Nothings EMA The Afghan Whigs Slint SxSW 2014 The Amazing Snakeheads Summer City Festivals The Twilight Sad CLUBS Golden Teacher Riverside Festival FILM Richard Ayoade Joanna Hogg Biyi Bandele FASHION ECA Fashion Show THEATRE Contemporary Circus
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Contents
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Issue 103, April 2014 © Radge Media Ltd.
THUR 17 APRIL
P.41 The Afghan Whigs
April 2014
TUE 15 APR
EDINBURGH ELECTRIC CIRCUS
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plus special guests
Contents 06 Opinion: The usual suspects of Skinny on Tour, Shot of the Month, Stop the Presses and the inimitable Crystal Baws. Plus the Hero Worship of Samuel L.Jackson, the debut of artist Jock Mooney’s new cartoon column What Are You Having for Lunch? and a look at gender prejudice in comedy with the case of Jen Collier.
26 Rounding up the pick of upcoming electronic and city-based festivals, with input from Factory Floor, East India Youth and Albert Hammond Jr.
28
Lifestyle 29 Deviance: Katharine McMahon intro-
duces her Speak Out creative writing project, discussing LGBT+ identity and mental health.
08 Heads Up: Make sure you kick out the
jams at The Last Drop’s annual secret gig on 1 April.
30 Fashion: We take a sneaky peek at the
work of this year’s ECA Fashion graduates in an exclusive photoshoot.
Features 10
11
12
The biennial extravaganza of visual arts returns – we speak to Bedwyr Williams about his Glasgow International show, bringing the humour to his bleak dystopian vision. Sculptor Michael Stumpf gives us a glimpse of his new work for the Mackintosh Museum. GI strand Art Screen rifles through the BBC archive to find films and documentaries on show throughout the festival. “I’m still vaguely on that weird angst tip,” says Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi, but ssshhh: on the run-up to the release of fourth album Here and Nowhere Else, we suspect he may be enjoying himself.
In the studio with The Twilight Sad as they turn their attention to album number four, Record Store Day and the imminent vinyl reissue of their classic debut to coincide.
32 Showcase: Our award winner from 2013’s RSA New Contemporaries and exhibiting around Glasgow in this month’s GI, Rachel Levine displays a portfolio of sculpture.
35 Food & Drink: A guide to the culinary
delights of Edinburgh Science Festival, plus Food News with the April event highlights while Phagomania continues its dislocation from reality with some jelly sculptures.
Review 39 Music: The Afghan Whigs guide us
through their first album in 16 years; live reviews of Eagulls, The Notwist and A Silver Mt Zion; plus the latest releases from Teebs, The Body, Holy Mountain and the unkillable OFF! We also report back on Austin’s annual hoedown at SxSW.
14
Nigerian novelist and playwright (and now filmmaker) Biyi Bandele on his hard-fought adaptation of novel Half of a Yellow Sun.
15
A singular talent, EMA’s second LP The Future’s Void marries cyberpunk nihilism to biting satire. Erika M. Anderson explains it all.
47
16
Optimo’s visceral ‘party band’ Golden Teacher talk aesthetics, weird gigs, and Art School associations ahead of hitting Sounds from the Other City.
50 Film: Tom Hardy goes Welsh (in Locke),
18
The self effacing Richard Ayoade (aka Moss from The IT Crowd) elaborates on the existential nightmare that is his new film The Double.
51
19
Joanna Hogg, one of the UK’s most idiosyncratic filmmakers, praises London, her home town and the setting for her new movie Exhibition.
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25
On the eve of an international tour and the reissue of their seminal 1991 album Spiderland, Slint’s David Pajo and Brian McMahan look back on some heady Louisville days, and the particular set of circumstances that birthed a masterpiece.
Clubs: Highlights for April plus Soma’s Dave Clarke on the Riverside Festival, and an exclusive Under the Influence from Max Graef. Brendan Gleeson gets stoic (in Calvary) and Xavier Dolan gets beat up (in Tom at the Farm).
DVD/Books: Nymphomaniac arrives on DVD along with Donald Cammell’s hard to find psychological thriller White of the Eye; we’ve reviews of Nick Brooks’ third novel Indecent Acts and Helen Oyeyemi modern fairy tale Boy, Snow, Bird.
52 Theatre: Previewing Vanishing Point’s
The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler, Let’s Dance 2014, Invisible Empire on tour and Uncensored Life: A celebration for John Calder.
53 Comedy: Comedian Liam Pickford
mourns the loss of BBC Three, the place where we all learned about drinking one’s own piss in Kavos.
Zero BS rockabilly combo The Amazing Snakeheads wax lyrical on their love of James Brown, finding a home on Domino and their dream of sharing a Guinness with Martha Reeves.
54 Competitions: Win! Things! Tickets to
The art of circus has undergone a renaissance in recent years – we talk to some of the folk behind the rejuvenation ahead of the arrival of Cirque du Soleil in Glasgow.
63 Ask Fred: Resident agony aunt Fred
April 2014
Knockengorroch or Bilbao BBK, perhaps.
55 Listings: A what’s on guide to Dundee,
Edinburgh and Glasgow throughout the month of April. Fletch once again manages to shoehorn 15,000 references to Roadhouse into a 1200 word article, solving the issue of wealth inequality in the process.
Contents
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Editorial
Hero Worship: Samuel L. Jackson Robert Buchanan, the star of That Sinking Feeling, Gregory’s Girl and Comfort and Joy, talks to us about his movie hero, the coolest cat on screen
I
t’s been a full year since I was writing my April editorial from the Manchester office as we put the finishing touches to the first issue of The Skinny Northwest, being gradually driven mad by the repetitive indie playlist of the bar downstairs as we all developed an unexpected yet immortal hatred for Ben Gibbard. Happy first birthday to the young ‘un, we’ll be celebrating with a knees up in Liverpool’s Kazimir on the 13th if you happen to be in the vicinity. They grow up so fast, etc. Back here in the thawing north, this month sees the return of the biennial visual art fest that is Glasgow International, now under the stewardship of director Sarah McCrory. We spoke to her last month about what’s inspired her programme – turns out it’s predominantly the city itself. The wealth of exhibitions popping up in orthodox and unorthodox venues look set to form a love letter to the urban spaces, celebrating the wealth of history and creativity in a post-industrial Glasgow. Expect exhibitions in swimming pools, underground car parks and languishing galleries, their doors flung open to expose the visiting and local public alike to the long lost art and architecture of the city. In our closer inspection of the programme, we speak to Bedwyr Williams, that rare artist who uses humour in his work, about his vast Tramway show depicting the dystopian future that lies at the end of of a contemporary world of dying industry and Chelsea tractors. Glasgow’s Michael Stumpf lets our writer into his Easterhouse studio to prod his new work and discuss the importance of imperfection in art. Winner of The Skinny Award at this year’s RSA New Contemporaries, Rachel Levine is this month’s Showcase, displaying some of the highlights of her recent exhibitions which can be seen in physical form as part of GI. In other art-related news, April marks the inaugural edition of new cartoon column What Are You Having for Lunch? by artist Jock Mooney. Turn to p7 to find out what Karen from Human Resources has been eating. In Music, Cloud Nothings’ mainman Dylan Baldi reveals the depths of his post-adolescent angst, coupled with a disconcerting levity, as he tells our writer about new album Here and
Nowhere Else. EMA, or Erika M. Anderson to her maw, discusses new release The Future's Void and avoiding the pitfalls of the sophomore recording. We take a trip down memory lane with Slint’s David Pajo and Brian McMahan, celebrating the release of a remastered, extended version of Spiderland; Glasgow New Blood, The Amazing Snakeheads, drag our writer to a terrifying boozer and have a rare old time; and The Twilight Sad give us some super-exclusive access to the studio as they record their new LP. Following months, nay a lifetime of accumulated research, we present an exhaustive guide to the in-the-city festivals taking place across the country this summer. Our Music ed and that Vic Galloway from-the-radio headed over to Texas for SxSW and brought us back a highly informative report on the industry goings on for this year’s Scottish contingent (also some peanut butter M&Ms, cheers pal.) Last but by no means least, The Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli presents us with an exclusive track by track guide to Do to the Beast, the band’s first release in 16 years. Our Film ed hung about in a Glaswegian bar with Richard Ayoade and a hen party to find out more about The Double, while also coming to the startling realisation that the man who played Moss in The IT Crowd is a bit socially awkward. We also have words with Nigerian playwright cum director Biyi Bandele about his adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun, dealing with war raging in a postindependence Nigeria, while Joanna Hogg tells us about working with non-actors to film Exhibition. Clubs catches up with Glasgow’s Golden Teacher to hear about the relative merits of forming a band at art school or in a recording studio. Theatre takes a look at the renaissance of circus, in breathless anticipation of the arrival in Glasgow of Cirque du Soleil. In Fashion, it’s already degree show time and our Fashion ed managed to elbow her way into Edinburgh College of Art for an exclusive preview of their graduates’ work, revealed in a quite beautiful shoot. Turn to p30 to find out more. [Rosamund West]
This Month's Cover Michael Stumpf Just another protest song 2010, Courtesy of the artist
Shot Of The Month
Golden Teacher at Òran Mór on 27 Feb by John Graham
S
amuel Leroy Jackson is my movie hero. He’s been in over 150 films, some of them great, some of them not, but all of them better for featuring him. Two of my favourites of his are Pulp Fiction and The Long Kiss Goodnight, which is the movie he first stood out to me, with just an allround great performance. The other movie of his that I continually come back to on DVD is The 51st State: he’s superbly funny in that. As an actor, he’s got everything: he’s great at comedy, he can really deliver a line, but he’s also brilliant at being cool and menacing. If you need a really angry man in your film, call Samuel L. Jackson. He can’t do much wrong, apart from Star Wars, which was just money for old rope as far as I’m concerned. But I’m a big comic collector, so all his Marvel stuff is right up my street. What I like most about him, though, is that I can see that he enjoys it all, that really comes across in everything he does. He has a real love for his job, which is infectious, and that does it for me. I remember reading about Snakes on a
Plane: the producers had offered him the role, the script hadn’t even been written yet but he said he was up for it, purely on that title. At some point I believe the producers were going to change the title, and when Samuel L. found out he said, ‘Well if you change it, I’m out.’ That was a superb film, fun from beginning to end – really. A great title, a great idea. I don’t watch TV, I watch DVDs a lot, and quite often, on a drunken night, I’ll stick on Snakes on a Plane, which might not sound like a great endorsement, but for me there’s no better compliment than a film you can come back to again and again. That Sinking Feeling is released on Dual Format Edition (DVD and Blu-ray) 21 Apr by the BFI as part of its Flipside series The GFT host a special screening of That Sinking Feeling on 15 Apr to mark the release. This screening will be introduced by Douglas Weir of the BFI and some of the cast members, including Robert Buchanan Keep up with Samuel L. Jackson’s hilarious antics on Twitter at @SamuelLJackson
The Skinny On Tour T
his month’s intrepid Skinny-reading traveler visited one of the world’s great cities. A former British colony, its natural harbour and geographical location has made it one of the wealthiest metropolises in the world. It’s also the tallest: its skyline has more skyscrapers than any other, which is probably why Hollywood love destroying it in terrible movies like Battleship, Pacific Rim and the forthcoming Transformers: Age of Extinction. Those beautiful peeps at Canongate have another book – this month it’s Emma Jane Unsworth’s Animals, a filthy, funny story of friendship, love and the morning after the night before – to give away. For a chance to win it, just head along to www.theskinny.co.uk/about/competitions and tell us where you think this Skinny reader is holidaying. Competition closes midnight Sun 27 Apr. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Full T&Cs can be found at www. theskinny.co.uk/about/terms
6
Chat
THE SKINNY
Crystal Baws
Men Aren’t Funny
With Mystic Mark ARIES In April the BBC commission a pilot of your ultra-realistic soap opera, where all the characters do is talk about all the soap operas they watched on TV the night before.
TAURUS You’re a shrewd investor when it comes to your own resources, that’s why you save as much sperm as possible down your local sperm bank in their new tax-free ISA.
O
GEMINI Your heart might be in the right place, but your brain’s not.
CANCER Cancerians are known for their protective outer shells. Sadly this month, after failing to keep up with mortgage repayments, NatWest repossess it, leaving your delicious naked innards vulnerable to attacks by officebound predators. Don’t be surprised if a Piscean walks past and takes a large bite out of your back while you stand at the photocopier.
LEO Your ruling celestial body is a supermassive black hole at the centre of our Solar System that up until now has been missed by astronomers. Mirroring its qualities, all you do all day every day is eat.
VIRGO Life is like a PC. You fill your memory with unforgettably graphic images, become infuriatingly slow with age and eventually die from a killer virus.
LIBRA Your belief in the miracle of transubstantiation sits uncomfortably with your newfound vegetarianism. There’s something about eating the still-living flesh of God that makes you feel queasy. Undeterred, you develops a form of Quorn Eucharist.
SCORPIO In the midst of a manic fever and dripping with sweat you make a journey deep into the jungle on the hunt for the fabled Crystal Meth Skull, supposedly cooked up by an ancient alien civilisation and gifted to the Aztecs. Only its potent healing powers can save you now.
SAGITTARIUS There’s nothing you like more than a trip to church on a Sunday with your family decked out in your best clothes to drink God’s blood.
CAPRICORN As Easter approaches you take time to remember those brave Roman soldiers who risked their eternal souls to rid the world of the itinerant cult leader Christ.
AQUARIUS There’s two types of people in this world: the ones that make simplistic sweeping statements and the ones who read them like a bunch of idiots.
PISCES Your new anti-ageing cream is so potent that after two weeks your boyfriend is arrested on child molestation charges and you’re put in a foster home, after four weeks you’re crawling around shitting yourself and after 12 weeks your cells undivide until you’re little more than a radiant zygote, guided by cilia towards your ageing mother’s ovary.
April 2014
Words: Vonny Moyes
... said no one. Ever.
Coming to a vinyl emporium near you on 19 April is this year’s bumper RECORD STORE DAY, with exclusive releases from everyone from David Bowie to Bis, from Dinosaur Jr. to the Pixies. As in previous years, independent stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow have some very special treats in store. At Glasgow’s Love Music, you can catch live sets from a huge bill of local talent, including Stanley Odd, Fatherson, The Primevals, Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5, Harry and the Hendersons, SchnarffSchnarff, Ross Clark and Joe Black, Super Adventure Club, Tuff Love, Pronto Mama, and a few other very special guests to be confirmed. Over at Monorail, they’ll have Rock Action’s Sacred Paws, garage rockers Los Tentakills, and a DJ set from Adele Bethel of Sons & Daughters, plus some other big names still to be announced. Mixed Up Records will also have some live bands, with the line-up to be announced soon. Local promoters PMCJ also have a vinyl fair and pop-up gig planned at The Record Factory, no doubt featuring the cream of the local live scene. Rubadub will also be welcoming a who’s who of DJ talent, spinning the platters that matter. Over in Edinburgh, VoxBox play host to Postcard Records head honcho Simon Goddard in conversation with Ian Rankin, plus sets from Lost Map signings Tuff Love, Law, Stanley Odd, Book Group, and The Pictish Trail. Underground Solu’shn have a stellar line-up of local DJs, including LuckyMe beatsmith S-Type, a live set from Wounded Knee and friends, and hip-hop/dancehall partystarters Capitol 1212, plus House of Traps, Craig Smith, Lord of the Isles and the shop’s staff. Coda Music will have live sets from Adam Holmes, King Eider, and Fin-Ray and all the shops taking part promise giveaways, special offers, and special treats for vinyl-fiends in attendance on the day.
kay, here’s a thought: can we stop using the term ‘female comedians’? I see it everywhere, and it’s really starting to grate. This is show business, folks, not Attenborough - is the immediate telegraphing of species designation really necessary? Do we really need to add a descriptor to the latter to make it intelligible? Comedian – an entertainer whose act is designed to make an audience laugh. Why do we need to frame it with oestrogen? It’s with a relatively heavy heart that I admit the word ‘comedienne’ often creeps its way into articles on my desk. With a trained and somewhat biased eye for such egregious gendering, the offending ‘enne’ is located with laser-like precision and is smote down with such controlled fury that I almost enjoy it. The culling of the comedy badger. The vaccine for showbiz polio. A borderline obsession that started with the obliteration of the word from Sarah Millican’s Wikipedia page. For those who don’t internet, or have somehow missed the Feminism 101 memo, it may seem irrelevant, and at best, a little curious; but this sneaky little suffix is symptomatic of something entirely more sinister. Did you hear the one about the ‘female comedian’ who lost her gig? Her crime: possession of a uterus – with intent. Last month, comic Jenny Collier recently found herself on the end of Mirth Control’s (‘The UK’s biggest independent comedy bookers‘!) mildly ‘inconvenient’ qualitycontrol bayonett, as she was selectively purged from the roster for her daft decision to run with the two X chromosome thing. Even better was their attempt to break the news with such jejunity, a ‘soz’ or ‘LOL’ pegged on the end wouldn’t have looked out of place. (I’d go so far as to suggest you mentally edit one into the following statement to fully appreciate its absurdity.) “The venue have decided that they don’t want too many women on the bill, and unfortunately we need to take you out of this one. We hope that this doesn’t cause any inconvenience.� Didn’t you know, Jen? The treehouse is just for boys: if you don’t have a willy, or at least prostate destined to kick it, you can’t come in.
As you might expect, this didn’t go down too well, but amongst the acrimony of an internet scorned, one noble comedy promoter/worryingly foolhardy human leapt to the defence of Mirth Control stating that he would do the same. Alluding to the fact that you can’t argue with taste. Some people don’t find women funny. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find Miranda Hart, for all her insight and erudite comment, admitting that she too feels a creeping anxiety when a fellow ovary-sporter takes the stage. Add to that esteemed polemicists like the late (great?) Christopher Hitchens theory on the feminine ‘humour gap’ – that our brain cells migrate to placentas, we give birth, children die, and we’re “ruled in any case by the moons and tides‌â€? Seriously. We have a problem. And language is part of the problem. I’m going to go ahead and call bullshit here. Trussing up gender bias as preference or biological default is not only a crap opinion, it’s fanning the embers of the wince-worthy 70s sexism the rest of us are desperately trying to stamp out. ‘Feminist comedy’ is enjoying a long-overdue moment in the sun – thanks to growing enlightenment in many of our fellow bipeds, that sex discrimination is pretty embarrassing, and increasingly lost on audiences who’ve heard it all before. Yes, we need our Bridget Christies, our Adrienne Truscotts and our Mary Bourkes, but let me tell you, it ain’t nothing to do with their gender. These folks have something to say; something we haven’t all heard a million times before. And – quelle surprise! – it’s funny. I know it’s a lot to ask, but is there any chance we could ignore the breasts, hips and hormones for a second? Could stop viewing ‘female comedians’ through their vaginas? (They’re not all that exciting, believe me.) I’m not a doctor, but I have it on good authority from someone who is, that not only is the ‘humour gland’ entirely fictitious, its majesty is not dictated by the contents of your Calvin Kleins. Or Mooncup. The differences between men and women, eh?
In the first of our new regular cartoon column, artist Jock Mooney asks Karen from Human Resources what she’s having for lunch. Next month, find out what Shelby Chuff thinks about germs.
Jock is exhibiting in The Second Life of Sculpture in the Briggait, 4-21 Apr as part of Glasgow International
Volume 3 of bi-annual prose poetry and art magazine THE BURNING SAND, edited by Glasgowbased writer and curator Sarah Lowndes and designed by Sophie Dyer and Maeve Redmond, will be launched as part of the closing weekend of Glasgow International 2014, at The Poetry Club, Glasgow (Friday 18 April, 9pm–2am, free entry). The event includes DJs and live performances by Glasgow-based artists Kathryn Elkin and Lauren Gault. Volume 3 features new work by Kathryn Elkin, Wolf (Kim Moore and Fergus Dunnet), Jenny Brownrigg, Tony Swain, Nerea Bello, Lauren Gault and Luke Fowler. Details at theburningsand.com Also on 18 April at 6pm at The Poetry Club, artist BALVIN RINGSTED is undertaking a bold and potentially dangerous live art project which will see him drop eight upright pianos from the roof of the SWG3 building. You can find out more at glasgowinternational.org/events/descending-d-minor-foreight-pianos. “Each piano will be tuned to a single unison note over four octaves,� says Ringsted. “The pianos will fall, in approximately 30 second intervals, in a descending or downward note sequence and thus forming a musical scale mixed with the sound of crashing wood and cast iron as they hit the ground, one on top of each other.� THE SKINNY IS HIRING: We are looking for an advertising sales executive. To find out more and apply, visit: www.theskinny.co.uk/about/ get_involved
www.jockmooney.com
Opinion
7
Seemingly ne'er a month goes by when Heads Up doesn't get festival fever, with this here calendar squeezing in mentions of Edinburgh International Science Festival, Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, Counterflows Festival, Aye Write, Behaviour Festival, Art Screen, and Dead By Dawn. You are welcome
They’re justified, they’re ancient, and they’re back from a 23-year sabbatical (with frickin’ laser beams) to play the first date of their Operation Mindfuck tour. The KLF's original art terrorists Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty are replaced by 90s acid house wonder Adamski and Free’s Paul Rodgers. You’re gonna have to see this to believe it! The Last Drop, Edinburgh, 8pm, £15 (students free)
As Glasgow Comedy Festival draws to a close (finishing official on April 5th), Theoretical Zombiologist Doctor Austin hosts another of his educational Zombie Science tutorials – schooling attendees on the science behind a zombie epidemic via a multi-media presentation, live demonstrations, and practical survival tips (aka WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE). CCA, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £5
The KLF
Doctor Austin
Mon 7 Apr
Tue 8 Apr
Exploring marginal music practice within an extensive list of genres, the weekend-long Counterflows Festival draws to a close with a musical-everything evening at The Glad Cafe – taking in Maya Dunietz, Roedelius and Schneider, and the prolific Joe McPhee in various guises (as a trio, and with Steve Noble, John Edwards, and the Mats Gustafsson Duo). The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 6pm, £12
Self proclaimed 'improv warlord' Billy Kirkwood returns to brighten our Mondays with his improvised comedy games and sketch show, Improv Wars. Built on an anything-goes attitude, he'll be joined by team captains Gary Dobson and Stu Murphy, leading a select team of special guests who'll do their best to make merry with whatever the audience throw at 'em. The Stand, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £4 (£2)
Musician, composer, producer, and all-round talented chappie, Stephen O'Malley – best known as the founding member of legendary doom-noise merchants Sunn O))) – continues to explore the darker aspects of human existence via his solo persona, concerned as ever with the physicality of sound and how to make every note epic. The Art School Union, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £10 (£8)
Joe McPhee
Photo: Peter Gannushkin
Sun 6 Apr
Billy Kirkwood
Stephen O'Malley
Sun 13 Apr
Mon 14 Apr
Recent winner of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, and one of the three artists who represented Scotland at last year's Venice Biennale, Corin Sworn takes to Inverleith House for her first major Scottish solo exhibition – using the botanical surrounds to preview work informed by research into the Herbarium's collection of plant specimens. Inverleith House, Edinburgh, unitl 22 Jun, Free
As part of new arts documentary festival, Art Screen (running 10-13 April), Glasgow Film Theatre host the world premiere of Glasgow-based doc Facing Up To Mackintosh – charting the architectural challenge of designing a building to sit opposite the Mackintosh masterpiece of the GSA. Introduced by director Louise Lockwood. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, 7.45pm, £5 (£3)
With frontman Jamie Sutherland’s room-filling bellow imbued with the ability to knock a grown man floorwards, expect a rather special set as Edinburgh mainstays Broken Records run-through tracks from their newest EP, Toska – as well as promising to break out one or two old favourites that haven't been heard in a live setting for some years. King Tuts, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £7.50
Facing Up To Mackintosh
Corin Sworn
Fri 18 Apr
Sat 19 Apr
Fresh from SxSW, folk-rock troubadour Withered Hand returns to home turf to give second LP, New Gods, an airing – finding him on sunnier-than-usual form, musing on love, pals, and stargazing. Ne'er fear, though – there's melancholy moments of death, infidelity, and cough medicine in there, too. Also playing Glasgow's CCA the following evening. Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 7pm, £12
Celebrating Easter in club-happy style, Love Action pops up at The Arches for its inagural weekender of electronic messiness – welcoming the likes of Erol Alkan, Daniel Avery, Eats Everything, Mano Le Tough, Jozif, John Digweed, Oneman, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and, ooh, a metric scale of 'pure loads' more. See listings for full line-up. The Arches, Glasgow, 17-19 Mar, 7pm, £39 weekend
In honour of Record Store Day 2014, Edinburgh's VoxBox host a day of instore musical loveliness – taking in live sets from Tuff Love, Stanley Odd, Book Group, and LAW, alongside stock of as many of the exclusive RSD releases as they can get their mitts on. For news of what other stores have planned on the day, keep an eye on recordstoreday. co.uk. Voxbox, Edinburgh, noon-6pm, Free
Withered Hand
Erol Alkan
Photo: Scott Hastie
Thu 17 Apr Mar
Photo: C McAteer
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Broken Records
Stanley Odd
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Tis officially the season of art school offerings, with the ECA's Fashion, Performance Costume, and Textile graduates hosting the annual ECA Fashion Show – a series of multimedia catwalk shows, for which the Costume students have recreated outfits from a number of literary classics, including The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. McEwan Hall, Edinburgh, 23-25 Apr, 6.30pm/8.30pm, £12
Edinburgh's international horror festival, Dead By Dawn, returns to the Filmhouse with a programme of independent previews, favourited classics, imaginative shorts, and the now total ledge Shit Film Amnesty – with this year's programme also marking the centenary of the birth of director William Castle with a series of screenings in his honour. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, 24-27 Apr
The Pussy Whipped collective host a weekend-long festival of queer/LGBTI+ and feminist shenanigans, including various live bands, DJs and drunken dancing (both Friday and Saturday evening), a film programme curated by Future Shorts' Morvern Cunningham (Saturday afternoon), and a chilled spoken word comedown on the Sunday. Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh, 25-27 Apr, £6 weekend
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Holly Glover
Photo: Emily Wylde
Wed 23 Apr
William Castle
Joey
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Photo: Derek Mark Chapman
Compiled by: Anna Docherty
Wed 2 Apr
Photo: Kennie McColl
Heads Up
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Edinburgh International Science Festival go late-night party animal for their official opening bash, hosting an adults-only evening where you can play with slime whilst drinking all the beer – with the science-based fun including keyhole surgery demonstrations, a 'Blood Bar', a mock jungle safari, and the obligatory robots. City Art Centre, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £10
The sixth instalment of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art spreads its wares citywide across a 19-day extravaganza of a programme featuring 52 exhibitions, 90 events, 155 artists, and 24 different nationalities, amongst the joys of which include the turning of Fleming House Underground Car Park into the body of a swimming pool. Various venues, Glasgow, 4-21 Apr
A raggle-taggle bunch of Scottish musos join forces to celebrate the life and music of Kurt Cobain – with 5 April marking 20 years to the day since his death. On't noiseheavy bill are Carnivores, United Fruit, Tijuana Bibles, Poor Things, Chris Devotion and the Expectations, and more, with profits going to the Scottish Association for Mental Health. King Tut's, Glasgow, 8pm, £8
Blood Bar
Wed 9 Apr
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A poetry highlight of this year's Aye Write programme, Retelling Tales sees two modern poets respond to the work of two dead poets – with Alan Riach previewing a new English version of Duncan Ban Macintyre’s Gaelic classic, In Praise of Ben Dorain, and Patience Agbabi giving Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales a hip-hop makeover. Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £8
Following its premiere at Edinburgh Festival 2012 (and a sell-out return in 2013), Cristian Ceresoli’s acclaimed La Merda gets an airing at this year's Behaviour Festival – with one-woman powerhouse of a cast Silvia Gallerano giving a stream-of-consciousness performance as a raging and quite literally naked woman peeling back the layers of her anger. The Arches, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £12 (£10)
PMR Records take to the road for the official PMR Tour, celebrating the label’s new compilation, 20 Square Feet in Acton – for which they'll be showcasing a selection of label talent, with Swiss house chap Cyril Hahn topping the bill, alongside a fine supporting cast made up of Lone, T.Williams, and Javeon. Glasgow's own Killer Kitsch DJs provide the warm-up. The Arches, Glasgow, 11pm, £10
Silvia Gallerano
Alan Riach
Wed 16 Apr
Genre defying musical maverick Richard Youngs – who in four decades has tried his esteemed hand at primitive folk, minimalist, industrial, synth pop, and more besides – holes up for a three-day residency in a secret Glasgow location, playing a set that will vary wildly each night, obvs. Part of Glasgow Open House Art Festival. Secret location, Glasgow, 8pm, £15 pass
The science fest host a special catwalk showcase – Techno-Threads and Future Fashion – exploring how technology is giving the fashion pack all manner of interactive wearables. Designs on show include 3D-printed outfits by 3D Systems' Janne Kyttänen and Annie Shaw, and creations from CuteCircuit (aka the duo behind Nicole Scherzinger's 'Tweets' dress). Summerhall, Edinburgh, 8pm, £15
Richard Youngs
Photo: Crimson Glow
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The Electric Circus folks turn mini festival again for the inaugural Big Day In, playing home to a hefty selection of acts – including locals Roman Nose, Birdhead, Miracle Strip, Indian Red Lopez, and Carbs, as well as Manc duo, Gymnast – before the TYCI, Podcart and Kitchen Disco DJs lead you towards that [totally gonna happen] 2am booze haze. The Electric Circus, Edinburgh, 1pm, £8 earlybird
A host of comics continue their irreverent countdown to the indy referendum – under the banner Aye Right? How No'? The Comedy Countdown To The Referendum – with the likes of Propaganda Now, Fred MacAulay, and Bruce Morton offering a mix of stand-up and panel-show comedy, alongside poetry, political comment, music, and spoken word. The Stand, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £7 (£5)
Mysterious London-based musician and producer Patten celebrates joining the Warp Records family by venturing out of his reclusive lair for a live outing at Glasgow's Broadcast. He'll be cherrypicking from his late 2013 EP, and hopefully previewing a selection of tracks from his forthcoming LP, rich with glistening layers of psychedelic pop and frazzled techno. Broadcast, Glasgow, 8pm, £6
Roman Nose
Kurt Cobain
Charlotte Prodger
Fred MacAulay
Cyril Hahn
Janne Kyttanen, 3D printed dress
Patten
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After dedicating last month's club playlist to all-Scottish tunes, this month Magic Nostalgic skips across the channel to get down and dirty with some of the champs of French electro – for which JP's spinning wheel will be landing on (and playing) all manner of bands from the genre, including a promised hefty injection of Daft Punk. The Electric Circus, Edinburgh, 11pm, £6 (£7 after midnight)
Aidan Moffat hits up the capital as part of the Scottish tour of his new film, Where You're Meant To Be (made with filmmaker Paul Fegan) – an exploration and celebration of Scotland's musical and storytelling traditions, jollied along by poems recited, tales recounted, and songs sung. See aidanmoffat.co.uk for full dates. The Caves, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, Free (but ticketed)
Canadian-born, UK-living comic Glenn Wool takes to The Stand for a set of jokes cherrypicked from his own personal favourites, composing a different set for each date of the tour – spanning his usual mix of bigger political issues and irreverent silliness. Frankie Boyle provides the cantankerous bastard of a supoort. Also playing Edinburgh's The Stand on 30th April. The Stand, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £12 (£10)
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Magic Nostalgic
Where You're Meant To Be
Photo: Neale Smith
Sat 26 Apr
Glenn Wool
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Bedwyr Williams, 'The Starry Messenger' (still) 2013
Coachtripping with the Carbootsale Clairvoyant It’s a rare artist who blends installation with stand-up comedy. Bedwyr Williams shares his bittersweet vision of a dystopian future ahead of its arrival in Tramway for Glasgow International
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here’s an immediate, intimidating question of scale posed to exhibitors by the large open space of Tramway’s T2. So what’s Bedwyr Williams’ spatial strategy in his Glasgow International exhibit Echt? Park a coach in there. In this coach’s luggage compartment will be screened a film set in the not-too distant future. After some kind of disaster, new royal families have appeared, their status secured by having stolen or hoarded certain consumerist goods or items, now precious as manufacturing has come to an end. To use Williams’ example, “In your street the king has stolen everyone’s lawn mowers and ornaments.” Scaling this up, the highest king and queen sit in the local nightclub, with the last of the supply of toilet paper behind their thrones. For those who know Williams’ work, it won’t be a surprise that the entire film is narrated by a man with legs three times the size of normal legs, asleep next to some old people taking refuge in a village hall. Deciding to screen the film on the side of a coach came with heavy associations for Williams, specifically their use during the miners’ strikes in the 1980s as transportation for strikebreakers and pickets, as well as the familiar image of asylum seekers being bussed in and out of the country. On a less political note, the suitcases spread around T2 – as well as providing seating – quote that moment at the end of a coach trip after “Everybody’s been singing and they’re chilled out. But as soon as they go outside everyone turns into an arsehole because they think someone’s going to damage their suitcase or nick it or something’s going to get lost. Except for the IKEA sale, it’s the closest thing we’ve got in this country to when they drop food parcels when there’s famine.” From refugee crises and the de-industrialisation of Britain, to the vicissitudes of coach tripping, it’s with an unselfconscious speed that Williams square-goes these
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Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf
heavyweight subjects. This instant punch of anxiety that comes with his work betrays the hair-pulling anxiety Williams feels towards certain worrying cultural developments. Though some elements of the film’s premise at first feel obviously funny or deliberately absurd, Echt’s ruling class of powerful plunderers is not just a moment of fancy. Speaking about the inspirations for the film, Williams describes the recent emergence of a class of four-wheel drivers that consider themselves the “survivors” of the economic recession. These tweed and Barbour-wearing jeep-drivers are “The sort of person that if they could, would carry guns. They’re the first clue we’ve got of the kind of society that’s in the future where the weak get weaker and the strong get stronger.” There’s no attempt to disguise this seriousness of intention, writ large in the exhibit’s title, Echt: German for ‘real.’
“If I can make them cry or laugh I'm happy” Bedwyr Williams
As well as coming from his fears of intensifying individualism, also important to Echt was the carbootsale community that has remained intact despite the internet’s otherwise complete transformation of the retail experience. One market in Cardiff, Splott was of particular importance as a source of props. Opening early in the morning, the intriguingly named Splott, takes place in a cold warehouse “and it’s just all the stuff that’s been in the charts two years ago in a CD case with a coffee ring stain on it or a drill that doesn’t
quite work. I found that quite inspiring as a scenario of how I imagined the future would be: me picking amongst the detritus of the fads of last year.” With some fondness, he describes these markets as “Like little museums, fast-moving, with weird people running them.” Though Williams’ wit (whether in his work or in conversation) often cuts a little too close to the bone, he observes that humour as an artistic ambition is “secretly frowned upon.” Accepting that laughter “is quite an unusual response to get from someone in an art gallery,” it’s nevertheless this strangeness that makes it a valid response for him. “Making someone laugh, you’re making them do probably the closest thing to an orgasm in public. There’s no other response quite like it, except crying. If I can make them cry or laugh I’m happy. I don’t want to make them just interested.” Further acknowledging the important role of humour in his work, Williams will discuss this topic further on Sunday 6 April in Tramway. With each of the artists also giving performances as part of the event, Williams continues a trend of accompanying his exhibited work with a performance. Giving these performances, he is looking to establish a more immediate relationship between himself and his audience. “As an artist I like to get the reaction with me being there. I don’t want to make a little white sculpture and hear months later that somebody liked it. I need an instant kind of hit from the thing.” It’s clear that genuine engagement and reactions are what matters most to him, in the “hit” of experiencing first-hand his audience’s reactions or by provoking immediate involuntary responses to his work, whether laughing or weeping. As would be expected from Williams’ unusual artistic motivations and ambitions, the standard discussion of “influences” takes a wrong turn somewhere. What comes up instead is the first ten minutes of the latest remake of War of
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the Worlds, when various suburban trivialities are interrupted by aliens. Then it’s the usual alien fighting for the rest of the two hours. But of far more interest to Williams is “that kind of peripheral stuff that goes on in apocalyptic films. Because you could actually make quite a banal film about the apocalypse. It could be the end of society but if you were living just in the suburbs it could just be that everyone shares a bottle of milk and they build a little protective keep. It’s more like thinking about it in a more oblique way.” Just as important as getting away from the conventions of the blockbuster apocalypse, Williams was keen to avoid “the art video look.” To this end, when making his film work in Echt he continued his collaboration with Casey Raymond and Ewan Jones Morris, better known for directing music videos for the likes of DJ Shadow and The Human League. Careful not to close the interview by calling Glasgow “apocalyptic,” Williams nevertheless identifies certain elements of Tramway and Glasgow that make it an appropriate setting for Echt. He contrasts Glasgow to the “wedding cake” of Edinburgh – with which he has become better acquainted from writing one of the Collective gallery’s Observer’s Walks. Compared to the capital, Glasgow “is much more of a sweeping, broad situation.” The Tramway is for him just one example of the many parts that “feel like there was once a lot of activity and now it’s quiet. There’s no really big buildings around the Tramway. It looks like, say, if there was an apocalypse in the the UK, all the arty people would hide in there.” Again slipping effortlessly between perfect comedy and discomforting prophecy, like the sloppy dentist of his 2013 work The Starry Messenger, Williams gives us just enough laughing gas to let him drill deeper and deeper into our backmost molars. Echt, Tramway, 4-25 May, free
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Imperfect Balance Glasgow-based artist Michael Stumpf is occupying the Mackintosh Museum during Glasgow International. We head over to his Easterhouse studio to find out what’s in store Interview: Andrew Cattanach
Michael Stumpf, Song ( Ear, Bell, Rock) 2008.
Photo: Alan Dimmick
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ichael Stumpf’s temporary studio in the Glasgow suburb of Easterhouse is impressively large. He’s taken up residence here while he makes new work for his show at the Glasgow School of Art during Glasgow International this April. The space is in every way necessary. On the floor lie two large, partially-completed sculptures of the words ‘NOW’ and ‘SING.’ One of them alone could easily fill the average studio space; together they would make an unwieldy addition to most tenement flats. Big, bold and red, the sculptures will form a single public artwork which will be on display outside the school for the duration of the exhibition. Perched on the balcony of the new Reid Building – recently completed as part of a redevelopment project – across from the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building on Renfrew Street, the sculpture will certainly be difficult to miss. A response to the show’s title, This Song Belongs to Those Who Sing It, the sculpture asks viewers to ‘NOW SING.’ Is Stumpf asking that viewers in some way take possession of the new building – to take ownership of this recent
addition to the city’s skyline? “It’s not meant in a super political way but who, especially in the art school, does this belong to?” Stumpf asks. “It’s a very interesting topic, especially in the art world – taking things into your own hands.” A graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, Stumpf is no stranger to the peculiarities of working in such a spectacular context and the importance – and inherent difficulties – of taking possession of such a hallowed space. “I always saw the Mackintosh Museum as an existing exhibition – it’s already exhibiting in an exhibition,” he explains. “And then also that whole aspect of studying in a museum or within an exhibit as a student, that interests me too.” Born in Mannheim, Germany, Stumpf graduated from the Masters of Fine Art programme at the Glasgow School of Art in 2004. He has remained in the city ever since, exhibiting regularly in the UK and abroad. There’s something unmistakably playful about Stumpf’s work. Often colourful, incorporating a variety of contrasting objects and materials, his sculptures are a source of humour
and pathos. One standout piece, The Sound of Silver, includes a pair of denim-clad legs wearing tap shoes. But where the figure’s body should be there is instead a large, unwieldy rock. It has a simple comic premise – what sound would a tapdancing rock make? – and the result – absurd and sad in equal measure – is distinctly pleasing. Humour, Stumpf agrees, is an important aspect of his work. “It’s not like I’m looking for a punch-line, or something,” he explains. “It’s more subtle. I think a certain degree of self-consciousness is important. That is something I try and develop in the work. It introduces a certain kind of humour, and I think that in general it’s important that art has a certain humour...” Going hand in hand with the work’s innate comicality is its underlying vulnerability. Despite a bold and bombastic appearance, his sculptures often belie a weakness – a weakness, he says, that is introduced in the process of making the works. He feels quite strongly that artworks should, where possible, in some way reveal their imperfections. This he claims is evident throughout the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and particularly his famous art school building. “It’s not just about strong positions,” he says. “That just wouldn’t reflect the world. It needs this balance. I think that’s what’s interesting about the Mackintosh building. In every aspect of it you can read a hand in it – you can read a hand that made these elements.” For the month of April, Michael Stumpf will be making his mark on the Glasgow School of Art campus. We suggest you join him. Now sing. This Song Belongs to Those Who Sing It, Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, 4 Apr-4 May, free Part of Glasgow International
Exploring the BBC Archive The BBC’s Lindsey Hanlon gives us the lowdown on the just-announced programme of Art Screen, a new arts documentary festival coming to the Glasgow Film Theatre and the Centre for Contemporary Arts in April Interview: Bram E. Gieben
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his month, the BBC will be launching a new festival in Glasgow as part of Glasgow International, the city’s biennial festival of the visual arts. Showcasing arts documentaries from around the world, Art Screen will be taking over the Glasgow Film Theatre and the Centre for Contemporary Arts from 10-13 April with a programme of screenings, events and discussions. Lindsey Hanlon, a member of the BBC production team behind the inaugural Art Screen, spoke to The Skinny to tell us about the festival’s scope and ambitions. “What we want to achieve with Art Screen is to offer audiences a means to discover and explore the arts on screen, covering new artists and art forms they might not have experienced,” she says. “That’s the opportunity that documentaries offer – to discover new worlds that might never have been explored before.” A strand called Arts in the Archive will explore the huge number of arts documentaries created over the years by the BBC. “For us, it’s an opportunity to present a highly eclectic selection of fantastic arts programmes from BBC history,” says Hanlon. “We can’t wait to bring this largely unseen and somewhat hidden footage out into the public.” There’s a chance to watch Jarvis Cocker’s portrait of Jeremy Deller from 2012. There are two discussion events, including a far-ranging panel debate looking at ‘The Art of the Arts Documentary’ chaired by Kirsty Wark, with Jeremy Deller, Ian Forsyth, Jane Pollard, Tim Marlow and Andrew Graham-Dixon in attendance; and there’s a masterclass with Forsyth and Pollard on the same day looking at their documentary-fiction hybrid 20,000 Days on Earth,
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featuring Nick Cave. Benjamin Cook, director of LUX, will chair a discussion between artists Torsten Lauschmann, Kathryn Elkin and Stephen Sutcliffe, all of whom are engaged in a residency created by LUX and BBC Arts. There will also be a nightly party in the CCA’s bar featuring music from special Art Screen guests, including a live collaboration between Torsten Lauschmann and Optimo’s J.G. Wilkes, combining music and video. Away from the CCA, the Glasgow Film Theatre will be offering a full programme of screenings, including the first showing of Our Glasgow, a documentary produced by Frieze magazine co-editor Jennifer Higgie celebrating Glasgow’s vibrant and dynamic cultural life; from the celebrated Arts and Crafts movement which, amongst other achievements, influenced the famous Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed Glasgow School of Art. The screening will be followed by a discussion of the reasons for Glasgow’s diverse portfolio of cultural success stories over the years. “Glasgow is a place of extraordinary creative strength – BBC Arts has a base there, as well as in London and Bristol. It’s one of our centres for excellence for art programming,” says Hanlon. “Scotland, too, is a place of extraordinary creativity. So this was a fantastic opportunity to bring these arts documentaries to audiences in Glasgow, given that it’s a city that’s renowned for its interest in, and support of the arts.” There will also be a premiere of Louise Lockwood’s new BBC documentary Facing Up to Mackintosh, taking a look at the architectural challenge of creating Glasgow School of
Gregory Crewdson, Brief Encounters
Art’s new Reid Hall building, opposite a celebrated Mackintosh creation. “Charles Rennie Mackintosh is possibly one of the most famous architects to have emerged in the 20th centruy,” says Hanlon. “The new Reid Hall building at the GSA is a fantastic new chapter for the Art School. The film weaves the responses of four young GSA graduates into the fabric of the narrative, which makes it a very organic exploration of what it is to build a place in which people can work, design and create.” Other highlights of the programme at the GFT include documentaries on artist Gregory
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Crewdson and musician Marvin Hamlisch, and Kim Longinotto’s Salma, which tells the story of a famous Tamil poet who came from a background of censorship and oppression. Martin Scorsese’s 1974 documentary debut Italianamerican gets a well-deserved airing; as does Jarvis Cocker and Martin Wallace’s The Big Melt, which pays tribute to the legacy of Sheffield’s steelworkers. Art Screen, 10-13 Apr, at the Glasgow Film Theatre and the Centre for Contemporary Arts. Check listings for times and prices Full GI Listings can be found on p60 or at glasgowinternational.org
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My Degeneration Cleveland trio Cloud Nothings are back to save angsty post-adolescents everywhere. Whisper it, but mainman Dylan Baldi might even be enjoying himself ylan Baldi, unspooling the morning, slouches on the double bed of his low-rent Cleveland apartment. The singer’s hometown property has somehow survived his relocation, for love, to Paris, and despite his modest income the suggestion of subletting seems to crawl in his skin: “I don’t like when people sleep in my bed,” he grumbles, tersely. “I just, I like to have a clean bed.” Sleeping arrangements aside, Baldi seems totally relaxed. You might be surprised. On fourth album Here and Nowhere Else, out on Wichita this month, he sounds fierce, contemptuous, permanently affronted. But his demeanour is chilled – jolly, almost – and by virtue of his hurtling tunes, massive acclaim and righteous lyrics, Baldi has become not just angst-free and world-ready but a kind of role model, a de facto ambassador for shut-ins. Still, maybe it’d be overkill to describe Baldi as happy. It’s hard to say exactly what he is. Certainly he believes he’s happy – or at least, in his company, you believe that he believes it – and though his laughter can seem reluctant, scrambling back down the windpipe, it’s true that it is charming and frequent, a laugh that insists, ‘Here I am, taking on the day; a pop-punk man with nothing to prove!’ Not to overanalyse: the 22-year-old is pretty much like any post-adolescent: moderately insecure, passionately noncommittal and overall unsure whether he’s happy, depressed, somewhere in-between or nowhere at all. He left college after three weeks and, despite living a year in France, barely recognises the language. His Parisian assessment resembles the kind of ringing endorsement you’d hear from Nevermind-era Cobain: “It’s nice,” he says. “It’s cooler than Cleveland.” Baldi met his girlfriend at a Cloud Nothings show in Paris, but that subject, like his bed, is off limits. “It’s not important at all! This is so funny.” Naturally we’re intrigued; was she a fan? “I don’t think she wanted to be at the show. I think she was there because her friends were there. But then we, I dunno...” He chuckles suggestively, prematurely concluding, “and that was that!” A furtive storyteller, perhaps, but Baldi is a veritable master of pop-punk songwriting. Attack on Memory, his 2012 breakout, harvested the dread of economic blackout and stormed the year’s hotbed of heavier indie-rock. As the Men singed minds, Metz got Wasted and Japandroids riffed windswept, Cloud Nothings alloyed the Wipers’ strop-punk with the Replacements’ beseeching blues (a formula carried into Here and Nowhere Else) to give a bleakly melodic youth forecast, their days wasted and plans spent. Following Baldi’s daintier incarnation as a one-man bedroom-pop act, it was a rousing, riotous effort: the record, as well as being a lighthouse to the darkly post-adolescent, was designed to animate a generation deceived en masse by politicians and advertisers. “I thought! I would! Be more! Than this!” roared Baldi on Wasted Days, his tone less self-loathing than confrontational. Sure we’re fucked, he conceded, but hey, fuck you for fucking us. Ironically it was Attack on Memory’s whipsmart take on stasis that proved Baldi’s lifeline. And while he claims the record sprang not from genuine intensity so much as a sonic affinity for intense music, its inception was hardly breezy. “When I was writing that record, I’d been in the band for two and a half years and nobody liked us,” he observes, “which was sort of depressing. At a certain point it starts to get you down. You’re touring the world and nobody’s coming
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to your shows. It’s different if you’re just playing local stuff – that’s fine – but if you’re really trying to make something of it, it’s sad. So I just wasn’t feeling great when I wrote Attack on Memory.” After the icy wilderness, Here and Nowhere Else is a sort of Holocene for Baldi, who jokes – yes, jokes – that its cover, which looks like an early dawn snapshot of some autumnal European asylum, signals cheerier horizons than its predecessor’s monochrome lighthouse: “There are some browns in there, you know? It’s not just black and white.” He laughs. “I hate to say the record’s more positive – that’s just the word in the press release – but that’s all I can say. It’s a more positive version of the same things I’m always thinking about.” Like what? “I’m still vaguely on that weird angst tip,” he answers, shuffling slightly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever really get over that. But,” he adds quickly, “the lyrics aren’t even important. That’s not even where I figure out what I’m thinking about. It’s not so much that I’m thinking about certain things – it’s more that I’m obsessed with songwriting. I have to think about that all the time.”
“Most people think you join a band to become a drug addict, but I would’ve stayed in college and done that” Dylan Baldi
It’s not until Baldi waxes musical that you get a feel for him. Dark-souled but light-hearted, distracted but determined, he is hugely selfassured and, admittedly, maybe a little geeky. I mention that his “weird angst tip” comment sounds uncharacteristically apologetic, like a Cloud Nothings skeptic’s description of Cloud Nothings. He responds that he was “being slightly self-deprecating; I’m not always angsty but the music expresses, essentially, just that for a lot of the time. Earlier you said I’m quite chatty, which is crazy because I am. I can talk to people. I’m just a normal person, in that sense. I talk to people, you know? I’m not weird. But people expect me to act a certain way because of the music. I guess I don’t like when people assume that.” Maybe song titles like Psychic Trauma don’t help, though in a way, he’s as contradictory and uncertain as a punk in post-postpunk times ought to be. Minutes after assuring that he’s shaken angst (“not like I’m some old wise man now, but I just don’t feel that way anymore”), his chirpy tone swerves onto the subject of low moods and crippling perfectionism; later, Baldi concludes that his music is to “help me figure out who I am,” admitting “I’m kind of talking to myself, more than anybody, in these songs.” It buttresses his image as an outsider broken-in, a man whose idea of cool is always his own. Since growing up in Cleveland, barren postpunk home of Devo and Pere Ubu, Baldi has emerged from a scene offering little
Photo: Pooneh Ghana
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precedent for success. “My dad had a classic rock, Creedence Clearwater Revival type band that he played in,” he recalls of his Cleveland youth. “I thought that was cool, you know, because he was having fun. I’d go see him in bars occasionally. Actually, he wasn’t even in the band anymore at that point, because I was born. He had to quit that. But he would sometimes play with them, and I’d go along and be like” – a nasal squeal emerges – “‘That’s my dad!’ I was like, Hey, maybe I’ll try to do that.” With getaway prospects few and far between – Baldi’s favourite pasttime was visiting lighthouses and staring out to sea – songwriting soon became his escape hatch from a bad romance with education. Asked what aspect of college he disliked, the dropout offers, “Uh, everything?” but he was more disillusioned than desperate. “There was nothing alienating, necessarily, but it definitely felt like it wasn’t for me. And it felt like, looking around, it wasn’t for a lot of other people either. And that was the part that really bothered me. I was like, ‘Why are all these people doing stuff they hate? I’ve gotta get out of here before I end up going crazy or becoming a drug addict.’” He pauses, thinking. “You know, most
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people think you join a band to become a drug addict, but I would’ve stayed in college and done that.” Was that genuinely his future? “I really had no idea. I think that was the thing. I did not see a future for me if I stayed there.” For all the existential uncertainty and despite his impulse to constantly uproot, you sense Baldi has, in a spiritual sense, settled at last. Does he regret anything? “I feel alright, you know? I know a lot of people who went to college who are a lot stupider than me.” He pauses for effect, laughing broadly this time. “Once in a while we’ll have a really dark show, where we’re bad or something. And I ask myself, ‘Why did I do this?’ But for the most part, it’s great. It’s actually just what I’ve wanted since I was 10 and saw my dad play at this thing. It’s surreal, but it’s a lot better than anything else I would be doing. It’s the best thing I could be doing right now. For now, everything’s fine. I woke up today and had some coffee, made some eggs. Feeling good.” Here and Nowhere Else is released on 1 Apr via Wichita Records. Playing Manchester Deaf Institute on 22 May and Glasgow Stereo on 23 May cloudnothings.com
THE SKINNY
MR. JACK PASSED AWAY DUE TO AN INJURY HE SUSTAINED WHEN KICKING HIS SAFE EARLY ONE MORNING AT WORK. MORAL OF THE STORY: NEVER GO TO WORK EARLY.
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TENNESSEE WHISKEY
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Dark Side of the Sun
ADVERTISING FEATURE
Nigerian novelist and playwright (and now filmmaker) Biyi Bandele on his hard-fought adaptation of Orange Prize-winning novel Half of a Yellow Sun
Photo: Raj Gupta
Interview: Alan Bett
Shall we dance?
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ussie indie-dance remix aficionados Cut Copy have been touring since December 2013 off the back of fourth LP Free Your Mind, and the final European leg pulls up at the O2 ABC on Saturday 12 Apr. Being led by DJ Dan Whitford, their sound can be deliciously electronic (a grabbag of worldbeat, house, and disco), but on stage they’re as instrumental as they come. Equally adept at blending electro with guitars is support nd one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, act RÜFÜS, also from Down Under; together they eight.” ensure a pretty danceable bill. This is actually It seems all dancers know how to count to their only Scottish date – and one of only three eight. And then of course, just when you get the UK stops – so forgive us for being presumptuous, hang of that, you learn that one AND two desigbut that’s your Saturday sorted. nates something completely different to one, The next day you can cut loose with two two. thirds of hip-hop act Dilated Peoples, with Muscles aching, sweat pouring down my DJ Babu & Rakaa bringing the Expansion Team back, slightly out of breath, I crack a smile as we Soundsystem (O2 ABC, Sun 13 Apr). Babu is a progo through the choreography one last time. Of lific DJ and producer (you might know him better course, while I am the unfit writer, the others in as The Turntablist), responsible for numerous the group have worked their way through Dance studio albums under his own name but also addBase classes for the past few months – or even ing polish to the Peoples’ output. He’ll be providyears – so this is all child’s play to them. ing his sturdy jazz-influenced loops ‘n’ samples to The experience of trying to learn chorerapper Rakaa Iriescence’s galvanising hooks. ography over an hour is humbling, difficult yet You probably can’t get funkier than George quite relaxing; it’s an incredibly fun workout, Clinton and his myriad ministers of hip-gyrating especially when you let loose. It means you soul Parliament Funkadelic (or P-Funk, if you’re don’t have to think about that unpaid bill or the in a hurry to get down; catch them at the O2 laundry you haven’t done yet, even if just for an ABC, Fri 18 Apr). A septagenarian he may be, but hour. It gets you out of the house, and chatting his rainbow dreads and gravelly baritone are as to people. What’s more, dance classes are ideal vibrant as they were in his 70s heyday. Of course, for becoming comfortable in your own skin, and P-Funk is the union of Clinton’s two most incendiperhaps even learning how to express yourself ary projects, rebranded as different types of funk through movement. as the genre evolved over decades. Long story “Everybody moves in their own way,” conshort, Dr Funkenstein pioneered his own movefirms Ashley Jack, dance teacher at Dance Base, ment, producing one of the most extensively and performer with hip hop crew Jackin’ the Box. sampled catalogues in the biz, and he’s still shakAs for the teaching experience, she says, “It’s nice ing things up with freaky live shows and crowdto share my passion with people, and it’s great to churning theatrics. see them [people who come to classes] get into Restoring some dub stylings to the O2 ABC’s it.” bill this month are Horace Andy & Dub Asante Dance Base is the National Centre for Dance (Mon 21 Apr), featuring the inimatable brass for good reason. With more than 130 dance class- virtuosity of Henry Tenyue aka Matic Horns. All es, including burlesque and aerial for fun, as well together that’s a hefty night of legends, each with as ballet and jazz, to name but a few, they have extensive work to their names. Horace Andy in classes for beginners, people with additional particular is known for being the only artist to support needs, seasoned dancers, masterclasses have collaborated with the mighty Massive Attack for the professionals and workshops. on all five of their albums, although that’s not to If you’re still not convinced about the say his 39-strong album portfolio since his 1972 benefits of dance, check the statistics: studies debut Skylarking isn’t worth mentioning either. confirm that a dance class is a perfect environAnd so we move from indie, hip-hop, funk, ment to have fun and work out, learn from others, and roots, to a whole bloody day of punk rock. and boost your confidence. Or better yet, try it Scotland Calling takes over the O2 ABC (Sat out yourself. Dance Base has a try before you buy 26 Apr, 1-10pm), boasting a jam-packed lineup (TBYB) policy meaning you can try out the class from lunch ‘til late. Witness punk pioneers The of your choice before committing to it financially. Damned, the riotous Angelic Upstarts, thrashy While there are courses available that let you Durhamites Penetration, street punks GBH, local build up skills over the term, you can also opt for Paisley boys Fire Exit, and many more, a good the drop-in classes, which accommodate for a crop of them significant figures in the emerging busy or unpredictable schedule. 1970s UK punk scene. If your voice isn’t hoarse and your trainers worn through by the end of the Summer term classes start on 26 Apr. Dance Base, 14-16 night, you just aren’t skanking right. Grassmarket, Edinburgh, EH1 2JU [George Sully] You’ll find full course details at www.dancebase.co.uk
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www.o2abcglasgow.co.uk
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iyi Bandele is a large imposing man, deep voiced, yet dwarfed by his own infectious laugh, which he releases liberally. He is 46 years old and adorned with long dreadlocks and a silver specked goatee, blending to give an impression of cool assurance. It’s easy to imagine that his arresting personality played its part in securing the rights and funding for a huge debut feature, the adaptation of the Orange Prize-winning novel Half of a Yellow Sun, the epic story of post-colonial independence and civil war in Nigeria. A polymath – successful playwright and novelist are among his many achievements – he’d originally spent years trying and failing to adapt the short story Girls of War by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe when he ran into Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in London, who told him she had spent the last five years working on a book, Half of a Yellow Sun, and her principal inspiration was, serendipitously enough, Girls at War. A year later Bandele read it “...and it was Girls at War, and more, and more, and more.” Somehow, in place of a short window of Nigerian history, he was now working on a grand composition for his debut film. “Well, you know, it’s called insanity,” he says, laughing deeply. We discuss whether a Nigerian director was a proscribed part in telling this story of the nation, which opens on its Independence Day celebrations and then moves on to the advent of the horrific civil conflict of the Biafran War in the late 60s. “Right from the start, the moment I read the book, I had a vision,” he explains. “It wasn’t so much I felt it had to be directed by a Nigerian,” he pauses, smiles. “But it had to be directed by me!” And the thunderous laugh rolls out again. But was shooting on location in Nigeria a necessity? “I fought really hard for that. You talk about anything set in Africa, the default is for the money people to say, ‘Let’s shoot it in South Africa, it has the infrastructure and crews.’ I’ve been to South Africa many times, I love the country and its people, but it’s not Nigeria. It’s not West Africa. The people have a completely different body language.” The plan was for the distinctive character and culture of the land to infuse into Oscarnominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and others making up this strong cast – Thandie Newton and the scene stealing American actress Anika Noni Rose. But Nigerian character is not all that
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rubbed off. “First I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and on the same day diagnosed with typhoid,” Bandele says, “and a few days later Thandie and about 40 members of my crew had typhoid and another 40 malaria. And we just soldiered on. It wasn’t until I was editing the movie several months later that I found myself just shaking and thinking, ‘Wow, we almost didn’t get this.’” Their scheduled eight week shoot was quickly reduced to five, the budget ridiculously meagre for the task. Bandele seemed to be biting off more than he could chew, but on viewing the film it’s clear that if only he had the financial backing to chew a little longer then some flaws might have been polished away. The characters’ viewpoints, personified in the very personal first person prose of the novel, are replaced by a more public, third person overview of events. It’s a rare example, these days, of a film that would benefit from a longer running time, something additional budget would have allowed, and something it seems Bandele agrees with in principal. “A movie has more in common with a short story than a novel,” he explains. “If you’re going to make a completely literally faithful adaptation of a novel you shouldn’t make a movie, you should make a TV series. I’ve written a script that has more in common with a short story – I’ve distilled it to its essence.” When asked if his influences came from the page or screen, the answer is instant and emphatic: “Cinema, my god!” While Bandele’s film may be leaner than Lean, there are certain similarities in its scope and vision, but Bandele is reluctant to agree because, he says chuckling, “they’re going to shoot me down!” So, after the struggle, the stunted shooting schedule, the typhoid and malaria – all those obstacles screaming that this was never to be – an act by his costume designer runs contrary and guaranteed a plush production packed with period detail. “Over a year ago some company in South Africa had an auction of Nigerian costumes from the 60s, and she bought them, but she had no Nigerian project, she just bought it.” Evidence of a grand design? He looks at me, full of the belief that made this film happen, and the disbelief that it actually did. “Yeah – I mean seriously!” And I’m treated to a final glorious laugh. Half of a Yellow Sun is released 11 Apr by Soda Pictures
THE SKINNY
Future Shock
With The Future’s Void set to expand her reputation and fan base, Erika M Anderson (aka EMA) talks to The Skinny about second album nerves and why artistic, rather than commercial, success is what drives her ou’re calling from Manchester, right? That sounds like Manchester to me. Yeah, I can hear a little bit of that. You got that twang on the vowels.” Picture it: just as we’re really getting into it, just as we’re starting to pore over the deeper, darker levels of The Future’s Void, the head-spinning second album by EMA, Skype throws a wobbler and the line goes dead. Portland, Ohio and the drizzly north-west of England wrenched apart on the whim of mere ones and zeroes. A nervous glance at the dictaphone – potential interview gold, lost forever. Thankfully Erika M. Anderson laughs it off: “Oh yeah, man! I was talking about all this cool, really insightful stuff to myself and you missed it all!” But it’s a misstep that sets us off again at a tangent. The last time Anderson was around these parts, touring debut Past Life Martyred Saints over here three times in a year, she dared chide the locals for their apparent lack of indie heritage, her keynote cover of Violent Femmes’ Add It Up not quite getting the recognition she felt it deserved. “Yeah! People didn’t recognise that as much as I would have expected,” she says. “But I’m from the Midwest, so the Violent Femmes, you just grew up with that. Anyway, I’ve forgiven you.” It’s a shame her take on that twisted document of male sexual insecurity, reclaimed by a woman from the next generation no less, didn’t get its due. But it’s a sure-fire indicator of her seemingly insatiable hunger for exploration. If parts of her audience hadn’t clocked how little respect she had for sticking to the path, The Future’s Void should erase all doubts, even if during its conception Anderson had few qualms about airing her initial fears via Twitter. “Well of course, yeah,” she says. “It’s your sophomore record. I did tweet a lot about it at first, yeah. I think I tweeted something like ‘Everyone has a way to fuck up their sophomore record.’ And it’s a fine line, you know? A lot of people were like ‘Horns! Horns section! Don’t do it!’ which I thought was really funny. Yeah, I think… how do I explain this? It’s a little bit difficult. You perhaps don’t trust yourself as much the second time around. It’s a challenge in that you can’t be quite as free, perhaps. You find yourself thinking ‘Oh no – people are going to listen to this one!’” It’s a cliché well-worn – the oh-so difficult second album. If your first is an expectoration of teenage experience, beautifully unburdened by expectation, album number two is all too often over-thought and over-worked. Yet The Future’s Void, from the brute crackle of Satellites to Dead Celebrity – its closing, tender elegy – is a dark triumph, as secure in its vision as we perhaps never dared hope. The end product suggests an entirely untroubled gestation: “Well we can just pretend that that was the case! Mmm. I don’t think I ever necessarily felt secure. But that’s kind of what I like. I like doing things that make me feel a little insecure, because I think that’s when you’re bumping up against boundaries, that’s when you’re bumping up against things that are new. You’re asking yourself if you can even do this. Will it work? Is this cool? Those are good questions. So whenever you come across those, it just means that you have to keep going in that direction.” That title speaks of resignation and defeat but there’s no hint of that within. It’s switchedon, clued-up, and defiantly alive. De rigueur slacker cynicism? Not on the menu. “Well the title’s interesting in that there are a number of different ways in which it can be taken,” says Anderson. “And I guess it does have this kind of sinister,
April 2014
nihilistic, dystopian vibe to it but it’s also just a nod towards this kind of cyberpunk fiction that I was reading; 80s sci-fi movies I was watching. I imagined that title being spray-painted on a wall by some future punks on some 80s movie set in 2014. I think it also has this kind of West Coast stoner vibe. There’s a lot of humour in what I do – it’s almost satirical. It’s all about playing with genre. The song So Blonde is a satire on grunge, a loving satire on a typical grunge song.” The opening bar with that descending tom roll and those fat major chords, they could only have come from that scene. “Oh yeah! Totally. You know, grunge is coming back with some younger fans and I’m playing with that. The lyrics, they’re kind of ambivalent about the protagonists of grunge. It’s not lionising those people. It’s trying to look back with a slightly more critical eye. But also, I’ve always just wanted to try that grunge scream. So, yeah, that one can be enjoyed on multiple levels.” She considers for a moment. “Ha! Hopefully!”
“I really see this one as a dark sequel in a trilogy. It’s a little bit Empire Strikes Back” Erika M Anderson
As daring as its disdain for genre is the album’s uncompromising running order, a sequence that sees it open at volume and close on a whisper. Its three deathly quiet moments (100 Years, Solace, Dead Celebrity) all come at the end. The delicate 100 Years is Anderson’s greatest departure to date, a barely supported vocal that’s more madrigal than pop song, arranged on what sounds like an almost medieval scale. “Yeah, I love that scale. I believe it’s the Dorian mode, which is a super-British Isles thing and it’s one of my favourite scales. I could write in that all day. The record had this really upfront political punk song on it at one point and I just thought we needed some space. The whole album was very dense with electronics at that point and so I wanted that space.” There’s a quality to Anderson’s lyrics that’s hard to pinpoint. There’s little in the way of narrative or even viewpoint at times. But there’s an uncluttered elegance to her written form. The line ‘Disassociation is the modern disease’ is as close as she gets in song to standing alongside the claims of the album title. “Yeah, maybe,” she says. “I think that was about me having these really ambivalent feelings about being even a moderate success in the internet age, where all of a sudden you feel like your likeness and your words are being replicated everywhere. I feel like it’s really easy to… you can end up feeling disconnected from this person who is… you. I found that really difficult and I just really needed to get those feelings off my chest. Especially that song you mention (3Jane). I needed to be able to write that song, those words, to allow me to write anything else.” We should be wary of attaching labels too broad to works so complex, art deserving of deeper consideration. But even at this stage, The Future’s Void stands as a sharp re-modelling;
Photo: Alessandro Simonetti
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Interview: Gary Kaill
more thoughtful, multi-layered and, crucially, more of a musician’s album. With much of her initial coverage keen to capture the ‘character,’ and paint her as a gobby scenester, it’s Anderson’s emerging musicianship (she’s a genuinely gifted singer into the bargain – oddly, rarely mentioned) that should be grabbing the headlines. Even so, with the album complete, is she still trying to fully understand it herself? “Yeah. That’s interesting. This record is a little more guarded in some ways,” she explains. “This time I had to set up boundaries for myself. And yeah, it is a little bit more musical. I’m trying more musical things. Will I stay like that? I don’t know. I would like to be able to combine the musicality of this record and the freedom of the first record. Plus, this record is about building my palette and building skills. I really see this one as a dark sequel in a trilogy. It’s a little bit Empire Strikes Back, you know? I’m figuring out what I like. I definitely didn’t want to just make the first record again. That would have been really false. I now need to figure out just what it is that I love and be able to go forward and just be who I am. It’s hard to come back from a record like Past Life Martyred Saints and please everybody, and have it be true.” In a world where young musicians ritually announce themselves and their genius with a self-belief bordering on psychosis, a musician
MUSIC
like Erika M. Anderson, still figuring out her path, and doing it not just in conversation but through her art, is a rare thrill. You wonder what might come next. Her future seems far from empty, rather it seems limitless. “Oh yeah. Expect pivots,” she says by way of confirmation. “Expect the next record to be different. Some people talk about it as evolution but it’s also about keeping myself engaged, you know? I have to look at other people, see what else I can learn. Do I think that that is what I want to do forever? No. I did say to myself on this one, Let’s try and write a pop song – verse-chorus-verse. See how that works. See how it works, perhaps, for old friends in the Midwest who kind of liked Past Life Martyred Saints but who” – she pauses – “also didn’t totally get it... So I gave it a go. What’s a bridge? Let’s check that out. Let’s do the drop-out. Whatever. But you know, ultimately it comes back to what moves me. Not what moves records. So yeah, expect turns. Expect different – oh, I don’t know!” She laughs, seemingly amused by the ridiculousness of her own self-critique. Then all at once she seems to settle on how to best summarise the road ahead: “Don’t expect anything.” The Future’s Void is released on 7 Apr via City Slang. EMA plays Manchester Ruby Lounge on 4 Jun facebook.com/cameouttanowhere
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Lost In Music Glasgow’s Golden Teacher will join the bill at France’s Nuits Sonores festival and others this year, and they have a new record due on Optimo. We speak to them about structure, aesthetics, and getting bare-ass naked
Interview: Bram E. Gieben
olden Teacher strongly resist any attempts to categorise, classify or define them. They don’t fully agree that their music is ‘psychedelic,’ despite sharing a name with a species of magic mushroom. They resist being painted as another Glasgow Art School band, even though they are heavily involved with the Art School’s new showcase event Pleasure Garden (more of which later). They have a tendency to sidestep each question asked of them, responding with a more interesting story than the one requested – the assertion that they have a psychedelic sound is countered with a story about the training methods of Samurai warriors, and references to hallucinating 11th-century nun Hildegard von Bingen. Their stage show has a lot in common with the extended, improv-heavy electronic excursions of Factory Floor, but filtered through the gaze of Afrobeat, heavy dub and mutant disco and techno, featuring two vocalists – young Glaswegian singer Cassie Oji, and Charles Lavenac, formerly of guitar noise terrorists Blue Sabbath Black Fiji. Infectiously dancefloorinfluenced, and effortlessly experimental, their own description of “party band” is a pretty good approximation of their sound, although as “noise and electronics” player Sam Bellacosa underlines, “what kind of party...?” Richard McMaster met Bellacosa on his first day in Glasgow, 7 years ago – they later performed together as Silk Cut. The remaining members of Golden Teacher met at the city’s vibrant Green Door Studios, part of a loose collective of musicians that attended the funded courses in music production and other subjects available there under the stewardship of Emily MacLaren and Stuart Evans of The Rosy Crucifixion, and Sam Smith of Casual Sex, who run the studio and work there as engineers. According to Bellacosa, “The difference between the Art School and Green Door is in terms of the networks for these bands – at the Art School it’s like, ‘Hey – let’s form a band.’ Whereas at Green Door it’s like, ‘Oh... we just formed a band.’” With the majority of the band benefiting from classes at the Green Door Studio in music production, they were given the chance to experiment with different techniques and equipment, studying the approaches of famous setups like Sun Studios, Phil Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound’ approach, and Lee Perry’s Black Ark. As the band members – most of whom are involved in other projects – began to meet and get on, they began recording together experimentally, and out of these sessions they realised Golden Teacher had formed. “Anything could have happened” in those sessions, according to Richard McMaster, who also records with Tom Marshallsay, aka Dam Mantle, as General Ludd, and previously as Lovers Rights. “Loads of projects came from it and went through Green Door,” he says. “They’ve touched pretty much every band in Glasgow. We really only became a band because we were gonna do a record. It wasn’t anything before, it was just this project we’d been doing. And then it solidified into this party music... That was just the one that worked.” The approach with Golden Teacher has always been to let the tape run and see what happens, with their songs frequently clocking different tempos at each gig. “Sometimes, when you don’t think about it, the best results come out,” says McMaster. “Especially with recording – it’s such a primal thing. That’s the challenge – if you want to get lost in the moment, how do you document it? You have to get into the right situation. That’s why we’re so lucky there’s a place like Green Door here. It’s the only reason we can
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Photo: Liam Taylor
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exist, as a band.” After releasing two EPs on Optimo Records, and playing a huge number of gigs in Glasgow, not least last year’s Optimo Hogmanay party at The Glue Factory, and with time spent on the road playing gigs as far afield as London, Sheffield (“most of the crowd got naked,” McMaster remembers) and beyond, the band are set for much wider recognition over the next few months, playing at specialist electronic music festival Nuits Sonores in May, and eyeing some high-profile support slots and tour dates around the UK.
“Sometimes the best parties are the weirdest ones” Richard McMaster
McMaster hails from New Jersey, and came to Glasgow to study art and design – he shared a student residence with Sam Bellacosa, a native New Yorker, and at the Art School they met Laurie and Ollie Pitt, originally from York. The last two members to join were Charles Lavenac, who was looking for a new project a few years after moving to Glasgow from Paris, and was still touring regularly with Blue Sabbath Black Fiji; and the young Cassie Oji, who “pretty much left school and went to Green Door.” Oji cops to being influenced by Grace Jones: “I knew you were going to ask me that!” she laughs. “Who isn’t?” But she also insists that Green Door, and her bandmates are an even bigger influence: “Being at Green Door influenced the way I listened to music, and the way I sought it out,” she says. Her unique vocal style was found through experimenting, improvising: “There’s no technical, correct way to do it – that’s what I enjoy the most about it,” she says. The band had the freedom to approach
recording and rehearsing very organically. “Whether it succeeds or not doesn’t actually matter – most of the time it doesn’t,” says McMaster. That freedom to explore vast sonic realms at their own pace eventually resulted in Golden Teacher. “Maybe the way I understand it is that it’s not aesthetics, it’s like... it’s your limitations, it’s what you’ve got, and what effect you want to have on people,” says McMaster. That effect, apparently, is often close to the Glasgow summertime tradition of ‘taps aff.’ McMaster says: “When people watch us live, I want it to feel like a party at one in the morning when everything’s getting as intense as possible.” Playing at Sheffield’s Audacious Art Experiment, this resulted in much of the audience disrobing, allowing Lavenac to briefly live out his dream of a life of “dancing; the dancefloor; the singing; everyone going crazy, people taking their tops off.” “Sometimes the best parties are the weirdest ones,” says McMaster. Bellacosa agrees: “That’s something you want to have control over – the kinds of gigs you play,” he says. “It’s important to play in these little concrete tubs, and realise you can make people go wild for two hours. We didn’t know what to expect when we showed up there. If people are taking their tops off and getting on each other’s shoulders, and they have to bring an extra fan out to cool everyone off, then you know what you’re doing is worthwhile.” With no plans yet to leave Optimo, who they praise for their DIY setup and impressive reach, not to mention the sage advice of messrs. Wilkes and Twitch on all things musical and party-related, and with many musical adventures of their own on the horizon, the band are keen to keep things open-ended, reticent to make predictions about an eventual album or a label shift despite a few tempting offers. “We don’t want to be proscriptive,” says McMaster, and it could apply to their recording approach and their career equally. “There’s no push to become something... There are ways for people to access your music, through the music
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industry at large. And it’s nice that we live in this age where that industry has really self-destructed – so you can kind of avoid it. We’re all only doing this because we really love doing it.” The hypnotic pulse of Golden Teacher’s music, played without the aid of computers, is rooted as much in boundary-pushing art-rock and the artful formlessness of deep dub as it is in techno, house and disco. Most importantly, it is rooted in an approach, a method, a willingness to explore, rather than a single asethetic. Each member of the band is as excited by their solo projects as they are the idea of Golden Teacher being able to tour more widely and make new music. Tom Marshallsay, along with McMaster and Laurie Pitt, co-runs The Art School’s Thursday night session, Pleasure Garden, a space where lesser-known Glasgow producers and DJs can play alongside quality guests who “are trying to push the boundaries of club music,” says McMaster. Golden Teacher intend to keep delivering their unique brand of party music at the best and weirdest parties around. Join them – lose yourself. “Dance music’s pretty Pavlovian – you go out and listen to the same drum beat all night,” says McMaster. “For most people, that’s what it is. People take drugs and lose themselves. But for me when things go wildly differently to how you expect them to, or you hear something confusing or challenging; when something is different in the structure of the night than what you expected, that’s really where it gets interesting. Some of the sounds we use are straight from the 1970s, some are more modern – but that’s the challenge. To me, that’s like... all it is.” He smiles and looks at his bandmates. “How do you negotiate that space?” To quote an old Hunter S. Thompson line: “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Golden Teacher’s new single, Party People, is out soon on Optimo Records. They play at Sounds From The Other City in Salford on 4 May, and at the Psychedelic Forest Disco at Kelburn Castle on 10 May Pleasure Garden runs on weekly Thursday’s at The Art School. Check listings for details optimomusic.com
THE SKINNY
Existential Nightmare Richard Ayoade doesn’t like himself very much. That’s OK, though, cause we think he’s great. Here he is trying to downplay his considerable talents ahead of the release of his new film, The Double
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cacophony of laughter echoes around the downstairs bar of a flash Glasgow hotel. It’s early evening, but it seems a girls’ night is in full swing as a dreamy mixologist fashions cocktail shots for a party of ten who are falling about at the drinks’ saucy titles and the barman’s saucier banter. Watching on incredulously is filmmaker and comedian Richard Ayoade. If this were an episode of The IT Crowd and Ayoade was in character as the sitcom’s most potent comedic weapon, Moss, a geeky IT consultant with chronic asthma and a hot ear, one can imagine the hilarity that would ensue. Perhaps he’d bound over there and join the women on their hen night, or push the wannabe Tom Cruise to one side to take over the cocktail making – Moss can, after all, detect the ingredients for any drink using his sense of smell alone. If only Ayoade was as suave and confident as his onscreen alter ego. Wearing a brown corduroy suit and thickrimmed glasses, the 36-year-old’s default mode is bashful self-deprecation. If – or should that be when – Ayoade starts winning major awards for his filmmaking, you can imagine him shuffling on stage and bashfully declining the prize: “Thank you, Academy, but you’ve clearly made a mistake,” you’d hear him say before handing the Oscar back to Meryl Streep. It’s hard to believe that this is the same man who can hold his own in the extroverts stakes on TV shows like The Big Fat Quiz of the Year with professional show-offs like Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross. It’s tempting, therefore, to see The Double, the feature he’s in town to present at the Glasgow Film Festival, as a very personal film. It concerns a shy and unassuming young man who comes face to face with his confident, ladies’ man doppelgänger. Ayoade must feel some affinity with a character with dual personas. He has, after all, spent the 00s beloved by the British public for playing Moss, and other hair-brained characters in comedies like Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (which Ayoade co-wrote and directed), Nathan Barley and The Mighty Boosh, only to emerge this decade as one of the UK’s smartest and most cineliterate filmmakers with his
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Interview: Jamie Dunn
coming-of-age film Submarine. “I think everyone has multiple personas,” the filmmaker says when I ask if people are ever surprised he’s so different from the Ayoade that appears on our TV screens. “I remember a friend at school saying that his idea of a nightmare was having loudspeakers attached to his head that broadcast his thoughts, and that would be the worst thing that could ever happen.” The filmmaker has a habit of answering personal questions with other people’s anecdotes. Ayoade is far more comfortable discussing The Double. It’s a nightmarish adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella of the same name, which Ayoade co-wrote with Avi Korine (brother of Harmony), and centres on Jesse Eisenberg’s Simon James, a low-level bureaucrat who’s desperately in love with his co-worker Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), but he’s so shy and unassuming (“a nothing-person”) that he can barely bring himself to talk to her. Simon’s life changes, however, when the suave, mischievous James Simon (also played by Eisenberg) starts work at his firm. Doubles have been a cinema staple since the invention of split screen, and everyone from Hayley Mills (The Parent Trap) to Nicolas Cage (Adaptation) via Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers) and Jean-Claude Van Damme (Double Impact) have shared the screen with themselves. The Double’s twist on the genre, however, is that no one notices that Simon and James look exactly alike, down to their identical boxy grey suits. “It just felt like a very unusual way to deal with that occurrence,” he says of The Double’s central premise. “I mean, ordinarily you feel everyone would notice, it would be very remarkable, it would be of enormous interest to everyone. But the fact that no one cares is such an illogically strange nightmarish reaction that I just thought it was a really interesting idea.” And it’s also darkly hilarious, thanks predominately to the exasperation Simon feels when Hannah, who hardly notices he exists, starts to swoon for his exact double. It’s hard to think of a better Eisenberg performance “He’s unique, I think,” Ayoade says of his lead. “I can’t think of any actors his age with his
range and someone who would be able to play a very shy person and also a very confident person completely convincingly without resorting to the use of goatee beards or caricature.” This comment is one in the eye to the chief criticism that has been aimed at Eisenberg over the years: that he always plays the same nebbish character in all of his movies. Ayoade sees this as an unintentional compliment: “I think all good actors are charged with that, unless they make a massive show of physical transformation. James Stewart is not considered an actor with enormous range, but of course his range is amazing, from Anthony Mann westerns to Vertigo to It’s A Wonderful Life to Philadelphia Story – this incredible range, but he has this ability that you just feel it’s him. I think Jesse has that.”
“Not even Angelina Jolie wants to be an actor – she’d rather be a director” Richard Ayoade
There’s one actor, however, who Ayoade is convinced is not much cop: Richard Ayoade. “I’m not really an actor at all, so it’s never come up,” he says when I ask why he’s never been tempted to appear in one of his films. For Ayoade, the process of acting is just too exposing. “It’s essentially just showing everyone your arse, but it’s really personal and humiliating and based on your physiognomy and all sorts of things,” he explains. “Not even Angelina Jolie wants to be an actor – she’d rather be a director.” While acting may not be his forte, directing is something he does do well (although he would no doubt disagree). Submarine, his debut feature, was an oddball coming-of-age comedy that owed much to Wes Anderson and François
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Truffaut, but had such a lucid atmosphere and witty performances that it was easy to overlook its rough edges and over-familiar teenage angst scenario. With confidence and verve Ayoade bypassed many of the pitfalls associated with low budget British filmmaking by subverting the stock boy-meets-girl traditions and embracing very un-British formal experimentation. His new film is even stronger: if Submarine was Ayoade’s billet-doux to the nouvelle vague, The Double pays tribute to the filmmaking from the less chic corners of Europe. Its tone is that of tongue-in-cheek bleakness that suggests Roy Andersson, blended with the genuine existen´ tial dread of Kieslowski and the bittersweet romance of Miloš Forman. “The idea was that it was hopefully not rooted in one culture precisely,” he explains, “but that it felt like a place that doesn’t quite exist and never has historically and never will in the future. So it would be a slightly off world, like you feel a bit in Aki Kaurismäki films, when you know that isn’t what Helsinki is like.” Though ostensibly comedies, Submarine and The Double are far from fluffy – The Double especially. Ayoade milks the comic potential from the situation at the heart of Dostoyevsky’s novel, but he also looks into its abyss: the crippling loneliness of introversion is palpably communicated in the early scenes and the psychic turmoil of being continually ignored is thrillingly realised in the latter. These are prickly films, and Ayoade wouldn’t have it any other way. “The thing that I find genuinely depressing is if something is boring or just rubbish,” he says. “I kind of find Charlie’s Angels 2 to be pretty depressing,” and not, Ayoade adds, because Charlie’s Angels was so good that Full Throttle really let him down. “I’m not depressed at the end of watching an Ingmar Bergman film. The Godfather is not a happy ending for a film, but if you like something, it doesn’t really enter into it. Catcher in the Rye is incredibly sad but incredibly funny and I just really like it. There’s nothing worse than something that is emptily cheerful.” The Double is released 4 Apr by StudioCanal
THE SKINNY
Staying Home
Joanna Hogg discusses working in London and using non-professional actors to tell her unique stories before the release of her latest, Exhibition Interview: Philip Concannon
April 2014
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oanna Hogg has been living in London for over three decades, but it has taken her three feature films to finally make a picture in the city she calls home. Her acclaimed debut, Unrelated, was set in Tuscany and her second film, Archipelago, took place on the small island of Tresco, but Exhibition is set almost entirely in and around a very unusual residence in west London. The house is the work of the late architect James Melvin, to whom Exhibition is dedicated and, as with her earlier work, Hogg drew upon her surroundings for inspiration. “There were a number of ideas I think I’d formed before finding the house,” Hogg told me in London recently. “One of the themes or ideas I’d wanted to explore was an idea of seeing an artist creating a piece of work, actually seeing inspiration at work, and how that creativity or inspiration is also connected with sexuality. All these ideas change and develop over months and weeks, and that’s what’s exciting about the early stages of creating a story; sometimes you’ll have all these different ideas and they seem to be disconnected, but the glue became the house, in a way. So many of the ideas came from just being in that house and observing the character of it.” What Hogg eventually came up with was the story of two artists, identified only as D and H, who have decided to sell their home and whose suppressed anxieties and fraught interactions are mercilessly captured by Hogg’s rigorous camera. Having cast non-actors in key roles in Archipelago, Hogg made the bold decision to enlist Viv Albertine and Liam Gillick in these parts, neither of whom had ever acted before. “It’s a total leap of faith. It’s a kind of bolt of lightning realisation that this person is going to be right,” Hogg says when I ask her how she came to this decision. “With Viv, I had the advantage of having known her for many years, but what I didn’t know was how good an actress she would turn out to be. Likewise with Liam, I knew he had some kind of performing gene in him, but not to the extent that he did. They both became actors. They’re
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not playing themselves as they’re both very much playing against type, and they do it brilliantly.” Albertine and Gillick’s performances are even more remarkable when you consider that they were cast in the film less than two weeks before shooting was set to begin. It was a gamble that could have backfired spectacularly for the director, but she sees an element of risk and a willingness to embrace the unknown as crucial aspects of her filmmaking process. “There is a plan, but within that plan there’s a lot of room for the unknown, for me to change my mind. I’ve got a clear idea of what I want on some level, but I’m not afraid of something unexpected happening, and that’s a really interesting balance to try and maintain.”
“There is a plan but there’s a lot of room for the unknown” Joanna Hogg
Having achieved her desired goal of “setting out to explore depicting different levels of reality and creating a piece of work that was less linear, more fragmented and more dreamlike,” Hogg is already looking ahead to future projects. “I’m quite guarded at home and I don’t talk about my ideas until they’re formed enough to withstand any criticisms,” she says, “until the ideas stand on their own.” But one thing she is sure of is that she wants to make more films closer to home. “I’ve got another film that I’m developing, which is set in London, but I’ve also got another and I’m not sure where it is set yet, which is quite unusual for me, to not know where the film is going to be set when the story is already coming together. So that’s a bit of a mystery.” Exhibition is released 25 Apr by Artificial Eye
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“Howay” (that’s Geordie for, “Come and join us”)
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Quiet Revolution As Touch & Go prepare to release a remastered and expanded version of Slint’s seminal 1991 album Spiderland, we speak to the band’s David Pajo and Brian McMahan about their early career, the worth of nostalgia, and Louisville’s special brand of craziness
Interview: Bram E. Gieben
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lint’s Spiderland is variously seen as a source document for the nascent grunge scene, a cornerstone in the establishment of the 90s post-rock sound that influenced everyone from Canada’s Godspeed You! Black Emperor to Scotland’s Mogwai, and perhaps the ultimate example of a ‘lost’ and rediscovered classic. Released after the band had broken up, accompanied by minimal liner notes and a single black and white photo of the band taken by future Palace Brothers founder Will Oldham, discovering Spiderland in the late 90s and early 2000s was a revelatory experience. Slint reformed in 2005 to play All Tomorrow’s Parties. Since then they have toured, and played select shows for ATP and Primavera, where they return this year, bringing Spiderland, and their Steve Albini-produced debut Tweez to a new generation of listeners. With their reputations as legends assured, and with the band’s David Pajo going on to become a valued guitarist for high-profile bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, Zwan and others, it’s easy to forget that Slint were a band of very young, almost completely unknown musicians when they recorded Spiderland, their masterpiece. As Breadcrumb Trail, a new documentary about the band conceived by veteran 90s rock journalist Lance Bangs reminds us, Spiderland was recorded in just two weekends – one to track, and one to mix, with 19 being the average age of the band members at the time. Slint began in the basement of Britt Walford’s parents’ home in Louisville, Kentucky in the late 1980s, formed from the remnants of two other bands, Maurice and Squirrel Bait. Despite their young age (ranging from 13 to 16) Maurice had already toured with Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig’s band Samhain. The band’s core members, mercurial drummer and songwriter Britt Walford, guitarist Brian McMahan and bassist Ethan Buckler, recruited David Pajo as the guitarist for the newly-minted Slint, taking their name from one of Walford’s many pets. “I remember that first practice, just really being blown away by Britt’s drumming, and the intensity of their show,” says Pajo. From the start, it was clear that he was a different breed, a musician’s musician: “I think especially in Louisville, in the punk rock scene, there weren’t that many musicians who were total music geeks like I was,” he remembers. “It was more of a ‘F you’ thing.” He laughs. “I was accepted pretty fast because there was kind of a shortage of decent guitar players. I kind of fell into that world.” After some time on tour – vividly evoked in Bangs’ documentary – the band came to record their debut, Tweez, with Big Black’s Steve Albini. “Britt and I, and Ethan, had written almost all of the songs,” remembers Pajo. Working with Albini was more exciting than intimidating. “These were the people that we idolised, you know? To become friends with them? We were super excited. We wanted them to be impressed with what we were doing.” Not all of the band were happy with Albini’s work on Tweez, however. “We didn’t want it to be a ‘typical’ Albini production, but we did want him to experiment, to try crazy ideas,” Pajo recalls. “Ethan was really upset. To him, it was like Albini had ruined our songs. But I think he knew that he didn’t... That was what we wanted Albini to do.” Buckler’s departure led Slint onto the next phase, and they began writing the songs that would become Spiderland. There are many memorable and unique
April 2014
features on that album, not least of which was the presence of intricate, almost mathematical guitar playing. Pajo’s style began to be more influenced by ‘clean’ sounds than the abrasive, distorted headrush of Louisville hardcore punk. “I was into volume and aggressive playing,” he recalls, but “my tastes were expanding, and I was just more open-minded about certain things. I was definitely getting interested in playing in a way that still had dissonance, or kind of bizarre melodies, but didn’t have to be loud to get those feelings across.” Another huge part of Spiderland’s unique appeal were the vocals, contributed by both Walford and McMahan. In a hushed, understated, spoken delivery, they told tales of fairgrounds and fortune tellers, and memorably re-told Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner on the album’s towering, ten-minute closer, Good Morning Captain. That direction was largely influenced by McMahan’s approach to the vocals, as Pajo remembers it: “If it wasn’t for Brian taking a bigger role in the band, I don’t think Spiderland would have become the kind of vulnerable record that it became,” he says. McMahan, incredibly softly spoken and modest, says it was a case of necessity being the mother of invention: “I felt like there wasn’t really a storyteller, for lack of a better term, in the band at that point,” he says. “It seemed like there needed to be a humanising element. I perceived my role, at the time, to be one of engagement with the audience that wasn’t purely musical – something that was a little more psychic.” “We weren’t necessarily ‘literary’ but we loved to read,” says Pajo. The band consumed “the Beat writers, and other underground writing.” Pajo also namechecks a few Sonic Youth songs with spoken vocals as a touchstone. The key dynamic, as McMahan underlines, was storytelling. From Slint’s inception in 1986, they knew they were not the average rock or punk band. “The only thing we all wanted to do was to create something different,” says Pajo. “That became the template for us. If we wrote one song a certain way, the next song had to be different from that.” Asked if he thinks the band would have
been able to make Spiderland if they had met a few years later, McMahan says: “No way. I don’t think that’s very likely. I think we could have easily come together within a few years, give or take, and had a fairly different outcome. It was definitely a product of that specific time.” Another aspect of Spiderland’s uniqueness was its stripped aesthetic, with little to no use of overdubs or studio production techniques. “That one recording session really changed everything for me,” says Pajo. “By the time we came to make Spiderland, we had started listening to old country music, Delta blues, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, all this stuff. We started to take more of a purist approach to recording – more of a documentary style.”
“If you stay focused on the music and only the music, everything else will fall into place for you” David Pajo
The subtle alchemy and web of happy coincidence that led to Spiderland being such a classic album had a lot to do with the isolatedness of Louisville (McMahan describes it as “still kind of a backwoods town”) and its proximity to places like Chicago and Minneapolis. In Louisville, “we had a pretty rich set of inspirations to draw from,” says McMahan. “What we didn’t have was the sense of any sort of template for commercial success.” This is a very different scenario, he believes, than young bands encounter in today’s media-saturated market. “There was a much more physical, tangible relationship amongst band members and audience members, the people that constituted a regional or local music
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scene,” he says. “Working with Steve Albini and [Spiderland producer] Brian Paulson, they were guys in our region, our part of the country, who we met at shows, who we had personal relationships with. We saw their bands play, they were accessible to us.” Finally, The Skinny asks about a statement offered by Fugazi / Minor Threat guitarist Ian Mackaye, who in Breadcrumb Trail argues that “everyone in Louisville is fucking crazy.” Pajo agrees, to a certain extent: “Growing up in Louisville, I just thought that all your friends were crazy – I thought that was the way it was everywhere,” he says. “It wasn’t until I was in Tortoise and I moved to Chicago that I had any sort of perspective that that scene was sort of fucked up. Madness, and taking things too far, are really enduring qualities in Louisville.” McMahan thinks that brand crazy can be found anywhere, if you look for it. “I’m going to have to take issue with the notion that Louisville has a corner on the craziness market,” he says. “To the great benefit of the narrative that has emerged around Slint and Spiderland, there have been moments of insanity involved, sure.” In Louisville, he says, “we don’t feel a lot of pressure to keep abreast of any given trend or ideological context. So I guess that could make us seem crazy.” Perhaps just crazy enough. Watching Breadcrumb Trail, it becomes clear that Spiderland is the document of a group of fameshy, bookish, deeply emotional kids who made a record that would slowly, and by increments, change the world. Stories of their exuberance and unruliness as teenagers, when the record was made, serve to illuminate how something so unique came to be – and demonstrates that not all young musical geniuses become bloated, egofed superstars. Some, like Slint, are content to keep their revolution quiet. The remastered and expanded Spiderland, including the documentary Breadcrumb Trail, is out on 15 Apr from Touch & Go Records. Slint play Primavera Sound, Barcelona and Optimus Primavera, Porto on 31 May and 7 Jun respectively touchandgo.com
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Raw Power Interview: Chris McCall
Photo: Gavin Watson
Glasgow’s The Amazing Snakeheads like to play no-frills rock and roll hard and fast, but insist they’re not as intense as their stage persona suggests. We meet in a bar to talk about James Brown, finding a label and sharing a stout with Martha Reeves
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he Skinny is enjoying a Guinness and a chat in Glasgow’s Laurieston Bar with two of the three members of The Amazing Snakeheads, when it dawns on frontman Dale Barclay that someone is missing. He makes a brief phonecall to check on the whereabouts of bandmate William Coombe, thought to be currently en route to the pub in Bridge Street after finishing his day’s work. In fact, the bass player is sitting next door in the lounge. “He’s been there half an hour. I think he’s been making pals,” he grins. The Laurieston is venerated among drinkers for its friendly atmosphere and unspoilt 1960s décor. But The Amazing Snakeheads prefer the bar for its proximity to their practice space, and, most importantly, the fact it offers a free jukebox. It would make the perfect place to unwind, except the trio are instead limbering up for a three-hour late night rehearsal, which they’ll begin as soon as this particular interview is dealt with. The Snakeheads thrive after dark; their debut album, Amphetamine Ballads, is a raw collection of blues-punk and no-frills rock ‘n’ roll songs about lust, vampires, playing in dark woods and coming alive at night time. “Some of them are stories, some of them aren’t,” is all Barclay will say on the matter. Reviews of their live shows regularly include terms like ‘frightening intensity.’ One critic breathlessly claimed that he found their stage presence overwhelming. But away from guitars and amplifiers, the group – which comprises Glaswegians Barclay and Coombe and Kiwi drummer Jordan Hutchison – are relaxed and good natured company. Now relocated in the lounge bar, they exchange sharp one-liners at each other’s expense and talk animatedly about their love of performing and music in general. So why do some consider the band to be intense? “People can take whatever they want from our music,” states Barclay. “There’s nowhere we’d rather be than on the stage. When it works – when everything clicks – and you get that feeling, it’s fucking powerful. That’s what music can do. What other people make of it, who fucking knows. If you dig it, great, if you don’t, that’s fine as well because we’re having a fucking whale of a time anyway.” “We always cite James Brown as a big influence,” continues Hutchison. “It’s the way he comes across as an entertainer and a man. His
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brand of his intensity is what he did; our brand of intensity comes across as possibly a bit scary. People south of the border maybe mistake the accent and the intensity as scary, when really it’s just passion. But come see us after the show and we’ll be all cuddles and kisses.” In a digital age in which new bands and producers routinely upload their earliest demos for public consumption, the Snakeheads opted for a different approach. They set out to build their reputation as a live act first and foremost, improving their skills as they went. Barclay was the only capable musician when the group began practising four years ago, while Coombe and Hutchison started from scratch. “We learned to be in a band together, just for us, just to have a bit of fun,” explains Barclay. “We didn’t have a fucking clue,” laughs Coombe. “There was no plan; there was no sense of ‘we must do this.’ But you cannae underestimate the time and effort that we all put in. It didn’t just happen at the click of our fingers.” Barclay maintains that even as they slowly gained proficiency, their ambitions as a group remained modest. “The one thing we talked about was reaching a point when we could cut a bit of vinyl, like a 7” record. That was the extent of it; if we could get a 7” out somehow, we’d be fuckin happy with that. Next thing we know, fuckin Domino Records is knocking at the door.” Barclay is exaggerating only slightly. There’s no denying the group went from playing gigs for friends and family to signing for the UK’s most successful independent record label of the past ten years in a remarkably short space of time. Having first entered a rehearsal studio in 2010, they were being scouted by Laurence Bell – the man who secured the signatures of both Franz Ferdinand and the Arctic Monkeys – in late 2012. It seems like a good fit for both parties. “Laurence wants to make good records, and so do we, that’s the extent of it,” nods Barlcay. “He just digs the music. We could tell. We have very good bullshit detectors; it’s a bullshit-free zone in our band. He gave us the opportunity to cut a record, and for that we’ll be eternally grateful. You’ve got to remember, Domino are a completely independent label, even though they are super massive huge now with Franz and Arctic Monkeys. We can pick up the phone and speak to Laurence directly. He still knows every
band on that label.” That personal touch is clearly important to the group. “This is our first venture into doing something like this, so the fact he is so open and welcoming, it’s very comforting,” confirms Coombe. Did they think they had struck gold when Domino confirmed they were interested? Coombe firmly shakes his head. “Not at all. Our attitude and mantra was that now that we might possibly have something, let’s work harder, faster stronger. In the grand scheme of things, we’ve done fuck all yet, absolutely nothing. We’ve released two singles, we now have an album that’s about to come out and could do something.” Hutchison is similarly adamant. “You don’t strike gold, you’ve got to work for that. Getting a deal isn’t the end game.”
“When it works – when everything clicks – and you get that feeling, it’s fucking powerful” Dale Barclay
Contract secured, the Snakeheads could now begin the potentially tricky task of committing to tape the live set that had won them so many admirers. Capturing a band’s energy on record can defeat even the most experienced producers, but Barclay insists he never had any worries, thanks in part to their choice of studio – Glasgow’s Green Door, a small recording complex in Finnieston – and quickly striking up a friendship with owners Emily MacLaren and Stuart Evans. It was the latter that provided the band with their album title. After watching one particularly full-on performance at the much-missed Captain’s Rest venue on Great Western Road, Evans remarked that it was amazing the group could perform ballads while seemingly high on amphetamines. “They are the just the greatest people to work with,” enthuses Barclay. “Green Door is just a completely creative environment. For us being novices, it’s conducive to making
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great music.” The end result is an album that crackles with energy, with no song outliving its welcome, and Barclay’s howl retaining its spine-tingling quality. But it’s more than just a raw recording, instead being more textured than the group’s sparse live sound. “First and foremost, playing live will take care of itself,” explains Coombe. “We have total confidence in that. We could easily have just played and taped the three instruments, but we’re trying to make an album that would stand up. It’s how you want to project yourself without taking away the essence of what we’re all about.” The band’s self-belief should not be mistaken for arrogance. Barclay and Coombe are both in their late 20s and have worked full-time since leaving school more than a decade before. Hutchison is in his early 30s, and has lived in Glasgow for almost a decade, having arrived from New Zealand for a wedding. Deciding he liked the city, he’s never left. In short, they might not be seasoned musical pros, but the trio still have a firm idea of who they are and what they want to achieve. Coombe spells it out. “There’s no airs and graces with us, it’s just we began our band later in life and we’re a wee bit wiser. If I was a young boy I’d be going ‘gimme gimme gimme’ and rubbing my hands. Instead we’re clued up to what we want for us and what we believe in. That’s not a bad thing to know in life – in anything, not just music. If you’ve got a wee bit of a plan and a wee bit of confidence, what’s there to lose? Fuck all.” It’s time for the Snakeheads to drain the remainder of their pints and head to their rehearsal studio. They have a busy year of touring ahead of them, with a month-long European jaunt beginning in late April and festival appearances in the summer. One in particular appeals to Coombe. “We’re playing at the Stockton Weekender. On the same line-up there’s Public Enemy, Martha & the Vandellas and the Happy Mondays… and The Amazing Snakeheads.” Barclay lights up at the prospect. “We’re going to get Matha Reeves to do backing vocals. Apparently she loves a pint of Guinness, does Martha.” Amphetamine Ballads is out on Domino on 14 Apr Playing Glasgow Broadcast on 25 Apr; Liverpool Sound City on 1 May and Manchester Roadhouse on 2 May facebook.com/theamazingsnakeheads
THE SKINNY
A celebration of the life, art and legacy of Gerry Rafferty
11 April to 19 April 2014 Includes Bring It All Home— The Gerry Rafferty Concert and A Celebration of Scottish Songwriting
7 March to 18 May 2014 A collection of Gerry Rafferty memorabilia, from guitars to album artwork and gold discs to hand-written lyrics, featuring artwork by John Byrne.
FREE admission Paisley Museum, High Street, Paisley, PA1 2BA
Featuring… Martha Rafferty, Rab Noakes, the RSNO, Barbara Dickson, Eddi Reader, James Grant, Midge Ure, Roddy Hart, Karine Polwart, Siobhan Wilson, Hamish Stuart, Emma Pollock, Siobhan Miller, Blue Rose Code, Paul Brady, Mary Gauthier, Kathryn Williams, Todd Gordon, Donald Shaw, RM Hubbert, Cairn String Quartet, Michael Cassidy and Keith Harris. Includes a series of free music masterclasses.
For tickets and info: www.bringitallhome.co.uk
Box office: 0300 300 1210
April 2014
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A Play, A Pie and A Pint
Navid Nuur
RENDERENDER Sat 29 March – Sun 15 June 2014 Dundee Contemporary Arts
“One of the most magical theatre initiatives of the last decade” The Scotsman
1 April – 3 May
Traverse Theatre favourite A Play, A Pie and A Pint is back on the menu. Five weeks, five plays, five new voices. Now with lunchtime (1pm) and evening (7pm) performances.
www.dca.org.uk
Scottish Charity no. SC026631
DCA_NN-Skinny ad low ink.indd 1
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Navid Nuur, mindmap, 2013. Photo: Jhoeko
£12
0131 228 1404 www.traverse.co.uk
@traversetheatre / #PPPTrav
13/03/2014 09:01
THE SKINNY
Nights at the Circus Interview: Eric Karoulla
Photo: Daniel Desmarais
Cirque du Soleil’s new show comes to Glasgow next month – we have a word with some of the performers, and talk to Bright Night International, helping to train the next generation of circus performers in time for the Commonwealth Youth Circus this summer
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hen someone says the word ‘circus,’ you might think of a lion tamer, clowns, or acrobats attempting death-defying feats feet above your head. but recently, there seems to be a new kind of circus evolving out of the disciplines of dance, theatre, and acrobatics. UK-based companies that take on this type of performance include NoFit State (Noodles), and Circa (Wunderkammer) but the circus world here is quite small – everyone knows everyone, yet it’s buzzing with activity. Perhaps one of the most well-known and internationally acclaimed companies in this type of circus, Quebec-based Cirque du Soleil have been around since 1984, but still know how to keep things fresh. They have evolved and expanded such that the company can have different shows touring at the same time, and their most recent production for an arena-style environment, Dralion, arrives at Glasgow’s Hydro next month. Based around the four elements (air, water, fire, and earth), Dralion brings nature to life through twelve acts that include acrobatics, trampoline, juggling, flexibility/contortion, and many more skills to amaze. While it is quite a flamboyantlooking show, the circus acts fit the overall concept of the performance. For some cast and crew members, Dralion is a debut performance; for others, this is part of an established routine. In an attempt to understand more about the show and the way circus shows are being put together, The Skinny spoke to various Cirque du Soleil performers about the industry. Classically trained Australian percussionist Marcus Perrozzi, who achieved his life-long dream of playing for Cirque five years ago, reveals a little about life as a member of Cirque du Soleil’s live band: “In an orchestra, you have to be watching the conductor, but for me, in this show, I’m not reading music, it’s partly memorised and
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partly improvised. Our musical director is calling on a microphone, telling us which piece of music is coming next, counting us in or counting us out. He’s the conductor, but we don’t see him, we just hear him.” Japanese trampolinist Hiroi Tokuma has been with Cirque du Soleil since 2008. Prior to this, from 1994 to 2007, she competed as a member of the Japanese national team for trampoline in various worldwide competitions. “It can take between four to six months to learn the acts, but it’s not just trampolining, it includes choreography, it includes music, it includes costumes, which are extremely different to competitive trampolining,” Tokuma explains. “When I was competing by myself, I used to jump on just one trampoline and try to stay exactly in the middle, but for these acts we share trampolines with five people and we are constantly moving. You have to just keep in mind there’s other people with you.” Meanwhile, on the clowning front: “There’s no fourth wall. That’s the biggest thing. Interacting with the audience, you get to turn a lot on the audience. It’s structured but there’s a degree of improvisation, which is good' cause it keeps us playing all the time,” states Courtenay Stevens, one of the three clowns in the show. “Circus, in general, the clowning, I think involves a lot of a sense of play.” Either way, physical fitness and training can influence a great deal. Zhang Jianan, one of the many talented acrobats in Dralion, states: “If you want to get better at acrobatics, you’re going to put your energy into it, you’re going to have to put your patience and concentration into it; that is what it takes to be a professional acrobat.” Speaking of hard work, Bright Night International, supported strongly by Glasgow Parkour Coaching and Aerial Edge, continues to train the Commonwealth Youth Circus (CYC) troupe. Initiated in October last year, the
eighteen members of the Commonwealth Youth Circus have been training intensively both to perform as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural programme, and to be able to walk away from the experience with a skillset that will allow them to enter auditions for circus companies across the globe. While corporate circus companies perform in big tops (or, in the case of Cirque du Soleil, arenas) Bright Night, based in Govan, are taking a much more grassroots, even humble, approach. After all the training is done, they will pop up in street performances to encourage people to see circus for free, for what it is: entertainment, and fun. The Commonwealth Youth Circus is one of Bright Night International’s community projects, with the others including work in disadvantaged areas, and education. Spreading the word about circus and respecting the surrounding community is vital in providing a platform for people who want to try it, or even just to see it. Since October, the CYC performers have been drilled in all the four families of circus: equilibristics (balance), acrobatics, object manipulation, and aerial. At the same time, they are learning things like parkour, acro-stilts (acrobatics on with stilts), and physical conditioning, spotting each other, how to deal with injuries, and even how to go about fundraising. “We really hope we are giving them what they need to have careers and futures,” explains JL Cassells, artistic director of Bright Night International. “They’re getting a traditional circus training, because it’s integral if they’re going to try and join another company, but they’re also doing really unusual things, like parkour, acrobatic stilts...” Much like cabaret, parkour, and even breakdance, the circus community is not difficult or inaccessible; it is possible to take a workshop with your circus idol or train with them.
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Training together seems to benefit everybody, since the diversity of cultural and learning backgrounds allows them to learn from each other, soak up knowledge, and build up not only their physical fitness, but also their confidence. Broadening their perspectives, they spend twenty – if not more – hours a week together. Undoubtedly, both circus companies enjoy diverse influence of differing backgrounds and don’t seem to have an issue with people who are not from a traditional circus background. While Cirque du Soleil have been around for years, and Bright Night’s CYC has only just started on the path to learning, it’s clear the work ethic driving them to perfection during a performance is the same: train hard, reap the gains. Of course, it’s equally important for them to practise their disciplines and specialisms safely. As Cassells states (and many circus and non-circus people would agree): “If you can’t do it safely, don’t do it at all.” As for the performers of the CYC themselves, a good proportion of them are entirely dedicated to circus as an artform, while others are less certain of their future in the genre. With two circus schools in the UK – one in London and one in Bristol – and many more across the globe, choices are not limited for them. After all, they now know how to promote themselves, and have a worldwide platform to showcase their skills in the summer. Either way, they seem to be having the time of their lives. “It’s been amazing to work with all these different types of performers, from acrobats to parkour people to aerialists,” says Will Borrell, 23, an aspiring juggler. “Whereas before my inspiration was mainly from jugglers, now it comes from lots of different areas.” Cirque Du Soleil’s Dralion 7-11 May at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/dralion
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Summer in the City As the UK gears up for the kick-off of the festival season, we focus in on in-the-city, showcase and one-day events, and speak to Albert Hammond Jr., Factory Floor, Daniel Avery, East India Youth and Slam about their highlights Interview: Bram E. Gieben Photography: Alexander Bell
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estivals, eh? Stinking mud, trench-foot and tents riddled with cigarette burns. Or ungodly dustbowls peopled with sweaty punters covered in the three-day stink of eat-sleep-rave-repeat, gazing at stages in the distance where matchstick guitarists and miniature singers stagger. If that’s your bag, the UK has plenty to offer – we’ll be covering yer in-the-field festivals next month. Now, let's take a look at the alternative – the many inthe-city, showcase and single day events taking place across the UK. One man playing seemingly every festival going this year is William Doyle, aka East India Youth. In particular, he is looking forward to Liverpool Sound City. He’s pleased that this year, he will be “getting to play at hours where I think my music fits and not at 3pm in the blazing sunshine.” Gabe Gurnsey of Factory Floor is also enthusiastic about the workshops, talks and networking events at Sound City. In an internet-dominated world, “it’s nice for people to meet face to face,” he says. Factory Floor play events like Sound City “because it does open doors to interesting collaborations and remixes.” Both Gurnsey and Doyle are looking forward to catching Jon Hopkins live at this year’s Parklife Weekender in Manchester, where they both play. “I seem to be following Jon Hopkins around the UK festival circuit pretty much everywhere,” laughs Doyle. “I just hope he doesn’t think I’m stalking him...” Gurnsey isn’t worrying about Factory Floor’s tight, locked-in playing perhaps over-running at this year’s events. “Sometimes we’ve gone over by half an hour and been kicked off stage – that’s happened before,” he admits. “It’s quite nice to cut it dead at some point, and leave the audience wanting more. But we could play forever to be honest, a week’s worth of music... a bloody krautrock frenzy jam.” Also playing Liverpool Sound City, and Glasgow’s own in-the-city festival Stag & Dagger, is Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., playing tracks from his 2013 EP AHJ. “Both of these sound a bit like South by Southwest,” he says. “I like being in the city. It’s closer to everything! I told my booking agent I had a great time playing in the UK last time, so I’ve always wanted to tour for three weeks and play everywhere. I’ve done my best to make that happen.” Hammond will also play dates supporting Phoenix when he hits the UK this summer. “I had a great time in Scotland last time,” he recalls. “I played at 1.30 in the morning. It was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever played that late.” One city festival with a strong electronic line-up is London’s Field Day, where Daniel Avery will be playing back to back with his Phantasy label boss Erol Alkan. “They supported me from a very early stage,” he says. “I played to next to no-one, but in those early days I got to share the stage with artists I really respect and look up to, and since then I’ve worked my way up the bill.” Scotland gets its own electronic music shindig at the Riverside Festival, where venerated Glasgow duo Slam will be showcasing their wares. “We are teaming up with our German brothers Pan-Pot for some back to back for the finale on the Saturday night,” says the duo’s Orde Meikle. He is looking forward to sets from Laurent Garnier, Andrew Weatherall, Maurizio, Visonquest, Jamie Jones, and a rare back to back on Sunday from Chicago legends Cajmere and Sneak. “Glasgow is extremely vibrant
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right now,” he believes. With Riverside taking place at an “unusual and breathtaking location, with the infrastructure built from scratch,” Slam will be serving up Glasgow techno in their own inimitable style at this one-off event. A look through the summer festival calendar for in-the-city and showcase events shows just how healthy and diverse the UK music scene is at the moment. If you care less about seeing Kasabian for the umpteenth time, and could do without Calvin Harris bothering you with cheesy trance drops while you’re trying to enjoy some avant garde surf-punk, these are the festivals for you. The Denovali Swingfest (18-19 Apr) is not a celebration of big band swing-dancing, thank goodness. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we’d much rather see the likes of top-class experimental producer and Tri-Angle beatsmith The Haxan Cloak, and Edinburgh’s Tru Thoughts-signed jazz/folk/hip-hop collective Hidden Orchestra, than learn how to twirl and jive. Run by Germany’s Denovali Records, the lineup also features Scotland’s John Lemke, Ulrich Schnauss and others. Brighton’s increasingly gigantic in-thecity showcase The Great Escape (8-10 May) have booked more than 400 bands this year. Highlights include Glasgow favourites Casual Sex and R.M. Hubbert, alongside big names like Wild Beasts, These New Puritans and Kelis, and hotlytipped emerging acts like Blue Daisy and Circa Waves. The Supersonic Festival (30-31 May) in Birmingham celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. This year they’ll be welcoming a seriously eclectic line-up, with the big draw being the fullon sonic assault of Michael Gira’s Swans.
Sphere, and the Givenchy-loving, punch-throwing, one man dubstep car crash that is Zomby. Back up in Glasgow, the Riverside Festival (3-4 May), organised in conjunction between Electric Frog and Sub Club institution Pressure, is a two-day festival of all things house and techno, with sets from French techno don Vitalic playing live, along with 2manydjs, Slam, Tiga, Felix Da Housecat, Laurent Garnier and Andrew Weatherall, amongst others. Meanwhile Tramlines (25-27 Jul), Sheffield’s inner-city music festival, with gigs across various venues in the city, have booked Public Enemy for their headliners, alongside Deap Vally, Gold Panda, Jonwayne, The Gaslamp Killer and The Wedding Present. Edinburgh gets its own mini-showcase festival at Wide Days (9-10 Apr), an industry convention organised by Born To Be Wide, and featuring Gabe Gurnsey, performances from carefully-selected up-andFactory Floor coming artists – Edinburgh’s mesmeric vocal experimentalist LAW, jangly indie tykes Model Aeroplanes, Lost Map newbies Tuff Love, The In terms of city-based electronic festivals, Jellyman’s Daughter, and Angus Munro. one of the best this year will be London’s Field Also taking place in Scotland, up in Day (7-8 Jun), attracting some of the biggest Inverness, is goNORTH (4-5 Jun) – no line-up names on the non-tents ‘n’ mud circuit – as well as featuring Daniel Avery and Erol Alkan’s back to details had been announced at time of going to press, but it’s a great place to discover back set, they have Pixies and Metronomy headlining, with support coming from Warpaint, Evian Scotland’s Next Big Thing, with sets from emerging bands and labels from around the counChrist, Neneh Cherry & Rocketnumbenine, The Horrors, Danny Brown, and Glasgow’s Jackmaster, try, and talks, showcases and workshops from amongst others – with more still to be confirmed industry high heid yins. And of course, there’s Glasgow’s multi-venue blitzkrieg Stag & Dagger (4 as we go to print. May), always a healthy snapshot of the internaIn Manchester, the Parklife Weekender (7-8 tional landscape – they’ve got Albert Hammond Jun) has an equally impressive bill – curated by Jr., Forest Swords, East India Youth, and many Manchester’s Warehouse Project team, the linemore. up is as diverse as it is mercurial, with headline Two of the big players now, both in the sets from the likes of Snoop Dogg, Foals, SBTRKT, Northwest – first there’s the gigantic Liverpool Kendrick Lamar, Public Enemy, Warpaint and Sound City (1-3 May), now one of the UK’s bigDisclosure, and more experimental artists such gest convention-cum-showcase festivals, with as Flying Lotus (also appearing as his hip-hop over 100 bands playing across a great swathe alter-ego Captain Murphy), Gold Panda, Illum
“We could play forever... a week’s worth of music. A bloody krautrock frenzy jam”
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Factory Floor
of Liverpool’s best venues over three days – as mentioned above, our chosen highlights include Factory Floor, Jon Hopkins, and East India Youth (the boy’s a machine!), as well as big names like Fuck Buttons, Kodaline, 65daysoftstatic, The Hold Steady, and a plethora of up-and-coming bands. Keynote speakers include Thurston Moore and John Cale. Its smaller, more DIY rival, Salford’s Sounds From the Other City (4 May) might only last a day, but there’s some serious talent on offer – highlights include Glasgow’s Golden Teacher, who we profile this issue, plus Lee Gamble, Adult Jazz and PINS, amongst others. Back up in Scotland, Aberdeen’s The Big Beach Ball (4 May) is a one-day festival absolutely jam-packed with both national and international talent – there’s a strong electronic line-up, with Green Velvet as Cajmere, Mylo, Kerri Chandler, Optimo and Silicone Soul manning the turntables, plus a wealth of Scottish indie talent, headed up by Admiral Fallow, The Pictish Trail, Malcolm Middleton, Fatherson and more. To finish up, a mention for two seriously avant garde and thrillingly experimental showcases. Firstly, the Tectonics Festival (9-11 May), taking place in Glasgow, twinned with a sister-event in Reykjavik. They welcome Thurston Moore, Muscles of Joy, Conquering Animal Sound’s Anneke Kampman (aka ANAKANAK), Bill Wells and others. Also featuring an impressive bill of avant garde performers is Glasgow's Counterflows (4-6 Apr), showcasing experimental jazz, electronica, psychedelic pop, drone and a myriad of other genres, with highlights including cult songwriter Ela Orleans in collaboration with filmmaker and counter-culture icon Maja Borg, Heatsick’s Extended Play live set/installation featuring Joe McPhee and Golden Teacher, and many other strange and wonderful highlights. Keep reading our Festival Watch coverage online for line-up additions and breaking news.
THE SKINNY
This Could Be the Last Time James Graham from The Twilight Sad tells us why he wrote the band’s fourth album as if it could be their last, looks back on ten years of touring, and the imminent reissue of their classic debut, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
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elf-confessed “depressing, moany bastard” James Graham isn’t half as depressed as his lyrics might make him out to be. Over the course of a decade and four towering albums, his group The Twilight Sad have become one of Scotland’s most impressive and treasured groups, with a loyal following both at home and abroad. Although the dizzying heights of success achieved by bands like Frightened Rabbit – with whom they toured the US last year, and CHVRCHES, whose Martin Doherty was a touring keyboardist for The Twilight Sad for an extended period – may have eluded them so far, the band have built a solid reputation both as dynamic and vital performers and accomplished studio musicians, with their last effort, the synth-led, angst-ridden No-One Can Ever Know making The Skinny’s end of year albums chart in 2012, and the shortlist for the Scottish Album of the Year Award in 2013, winning their nomination by public vote. This year, the band return with their asyet-untitled fourth album, and on Record Store Day, a deluxe limited edition reissue of their debut, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters. When we catch up with Graham, he’s taking a break from helping fellow band members Andy McFarlane and Mark Devine lay down bass synth parts for the new record in Mogwai’s fabled Castle of Doom studios, in the heart of Glasgow’s slowly-gentrifying Finnieston district. The band have been hunkered down for three weeks creating the follow-up to their last record, and it’s something of a different beast, with Fourteen Autumns producer Peter Katis ready to mix down the final results. “It feels like we’ve come full circle,” says Graham. “It definitely feels like we’ve learned from every record, and we’ve brought each influence from previous records into this one. It feels like everything we want to be as a band has combined in these songs.” For one thing, says Graham, “it definitely feels like the guitars are back.” However, this is not purely a “baws out” rock album, as Graham describes some of the tracks. As with all of their albums so far, a sense of dynamic is key. “There are lots of highs and lows; there are big songs, small songs. When we were playing last year with
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just the three of us, we realised what worked the most was when you stripped a song back, and let the song speak for itself. That seems to have really helped, on this record.” Perhaps most importantly, Graham says, “these are the most melodic songs we’ve ever written, but they still sound big.” This is perhaps a reflection of the band’s continuing ambition to gain the higher reaches of the indie rock pyramid – Graham describes The Twilight Sad as “very much a band that wants to get out and play all the time, whenever we can,” and reach new audiences. But also, there is a sense that he is aware of the tenuousness, the inherent fragility of a career in the ailing music industry. “We’ve been going for ten years – I haven’t made any money,” he confesses. “That’s not why I got into it, but if it was, I wouldn’t be in it any more.” He also mentions that the band are “not getting any younger,” and it seems these two factors have influenced the way he wrote the new material. “I approached the songs on this record like they were the last songs I would ever write,” he says. “We don’t know how long things are going to last.” Of his music career, he says: “I love doing this, it’s my favourite thing to do in the world. If I was to lose that it would be devastating.” This played on his mind as he sat down to write the new songs: “In my head I was thinking, ‘This could be your last time, you have to put everything into it.’ I think we have.” After a tour which collectively, as Graham puts it, “kind of drove us insane,” the band got to spend some time in their hometowns of Kilsyth and neighbouring Banton, from where Graham himself hails. Home seems to be the dominant theme and the starting point for many of the new album’s lyrical subjects, and the importance of home is something Graham returns to often in conversation. “I go back there at least twice a week,” he says. “We love going drinking there, my local pub is The Swan. I expect a free pint if they see that in print! You can’t change where you’re from, and our attitude towards life was moulded in that place. We’ve gone further afield, travelled the world, but we always come back to Banton and Kilsyth.”
Interview: Bram E. Gieben Photography: Peter Marsden
Returning to that first album, which is rereleased on 19 April, Graham is still enthusiastic about its provenance. “It seemed like a good way to re-introduce people to the band, before we move forward again with the new record,” he says of the reissue. “It’s still a record we’re extremely proud of, it opened the door for so many things.” It’s clear that Graham is still incredibly keen to tour with The Twilight Sad – there’s a sense that the full scope of his ambition has yet to be fulfilled. “We want to play everywhere,” he says, a far-off look in his eye. “We aren’t a band that says no to things. Wait, that makes us sound like a band for hire… we wouldn’t turn up to someone’s wedding.” He gives a wry laugh. “Not that anyone would want us at their wedding.” This is a quintessential Graham answer – self-deprecating, offering a sly nod to the band’s reputation of being ‘perennially miserable.’
“Everything we want to be as a band has combined in these songs” James Graham
“From the outside in, if you looked at the aesthetic of the band, from the promo shots to the album artwork, to the actual music, to the live performances… we’re definitely not walking about with smiles on our faces,” Graham acknowledges. “We’ve been on tour with these fun, happy bands, in terms of their onstage personas. They come off stage and they’re miserable. Yes, I’m a miserable person sometimes. I’m pretty hard work to be around. But I think if you asked people who’ve been on tour with us, they’d say we like to have a good time.” One part of their touring schedule Graham is looking forward to is Primavera Festival in Barcelona, where the band play alongside Mogwai and CHVRCHES – Graham’s
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calling it a “lad’s holiday.” However, as he says himself, “it isn’t all fun and games.” After the band’s third tour, he realised: “It’s hard, touring – it is a job. It can be the best time of your life, but it’s like any job, you have up days and down days. The difference is that when you have your down days, you are thousands of miles away from home.” Tensions within the band are also unavoidable: “You can’t be best friends all the time. We’ve learned to deal with all that, and that’s one reason why we’re still here. We know when to step away from each other.” Graham’s often cryptic lyrics, full of stark and sometimes brutal metaphors and imagery, have grown progressively clearer and more direct as their albums have progressed, and that’s a trend that continues on the new album. “They paint a picture, and that’s what it’s all about,” he says. “On this record that picture’s easier to see.” He prefers not to analyse or explain his lyrics: “I think it’s more interesting for people listening to the record if they can’t perhaps make out what it is I’m saying to begin with. The lyrics are all still about where I’m from, people I know, things that have happened to me.” With that, we’re back to the elephant in the room – the needed and much-desired increase in the success of The Twilight Sad. Given that Graham wrote this album as if it was his last, he seems to express a mixture of fear and longing, confidence and reticence when it comes to predicting his own band’s success in the wake of a wave of high-profile wins for contemporaries like CHVRCHES and Frightened Rabbit. “Things seem to be going pretty well for Scottish bands at the moment,” he says. “Fingers crossed we don’t come in and spoil the winning streak!” We put it to him that his band’s continued and increasing success is just a matter of time, and he nods, suddenly serious. “We’re putting everything into it,” he says. Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters is reissued on Record Store Day, 19 Apr. The Twilight Sad support Manic Street Preachers at Edinburgh Corn Exchange on 3 Apr and play Primavera Sound, Barcelona on 30 May. Their new as yet untitled album is out later in the year thetwilightsad.com
THE SKINNY
Fighting The Stigma Katherine McMahon of LGBT Health and Wellbeing discusses her Speak Out creative writing project. Launched on 28 February as part of LGBT History Month it culminated in Naked Among Thistles: an anthology about LGBT+ identities and mental wellbeing. Illustration: Thomas Hedger
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s soon as I admitted that I was a poet at my then-new job within the mental health team at LGBT Health and Wellbeing, people asked me when we would be having some creative writing workshops. I have always felt that one of the most important things about poetry – particularly performance poetry – is the opportunity for connection, and the possibilities for better understanding each other in all our diversity and complexity. My reply was, ‘as soon as I can organise some’ – it seemed like a natural fit. LGBT Health promotes and facilitates opportunities to improve and equalise the social, emotional, physical and mental health and wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Scotland. My job is part of a collection of projects related to mental health; LGBT people are three times more likely than the general population to experience mental ill health, so it’s an important area. The organisation facilitates a lot of arts-based work – with the benefits ranging from social opportunities, to developing different kinds of self-expression, to therapeutic exploration, to helping people to speak up about the things that affect them. Creative writing feels like it ticks all of these boxes with the added advantage of opportunities to make an impact on a wider audience if work is shared with the public. The idea for the Speak Out creative writing project came from my experience of coming up as a poet through Inky Fingers, a grassroots spoken word collective dedicated to creating spaces for new writers to develop and perform. Struggling with anxiety and depression as I tried to work out my place in the world post-graduation, the friendly stage gave me an invaluable place to connect with people, and to see that my words were worth saying. This, alongside supportive writing groups to develop the way that I put those words together, was an important boost to my mental wellbeing at the time. This eventually came full-circle: plenty of my audience, it turned out, were just as scared and anxious as me and appreciated the solidarity in my confessional poetry. As I started to be more and more out as a queer person in my work, people who were struggling with their sexuality began to tell me how important it is to them to hear someone speaking openly about their queerness. There was even one young woman who told me that hearing an honest, human voice talking about this unapologetically was enough to start to change her homophobic friend’s thinking – which was particularly important to her as she was trying to find a way to come out. This was possibly the proudest moment of my poetry career so far. The point is, though, that I’m certainly not the only person who can do that: everyone has stories, and with a bit of support, everyone can find a way to capture them and tell them creatively. The project aimed to combine the power of people telling their stories for challenging stigma, with the potential for improving mental wellbeing which comes with writing in its own right. We organised a series of workshops, which fed into a book about LGBT+ identities and mental
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wellbeing, as well as a performance-based book launch event. The workshops went beyond our expectations; while we made every effort to create a safe and supportive space for LGBT people to learn new skills, the participants’ and workshop leaders’ kindness, respect and honesty turned them into a real community of stories. In our delight at the way the workshops were going, the book almost seemed like an added bonus – until we began to collect together the submissions. Our main criteria for inclusion was the work’s ability to capture a moment or experience in a way which makes it feel real for the reader – whether in the deft lines of an experienced writer, or the raw, honest words of someone who is just starting to put themselves onto paper. We were spoiled for choice. With work from more established writers such as playwright Jo Clifford and poet Sandra Alland – and even a piece by the late Edwin Morgan – alongside new writers, it reads like a conversation with friends which has been given a makeover of magic and metaphor – full of anecdotes and honesty and excellent storytelling.
“The friendly stage gave me an invaluable place to connect with people, and to see that my words were worth saying” Katherine McMahon
The book, entitled Naked Among Thistles, is published by Elephant Juice (an imprint of award-winning local press Stewed Rhubarb). It was launched on 28 February at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in the company of over a hundred people, with performances from contributors to the book and feature sets from the workshop leaders – Harry Giles, Jo Clifford, Kirsty Logan and Sophia Walker. Ultimately, creative writing can make us feel less alone; it offers connection just as it celebrates difference. There is power in visibility, particularly when that visibility is human and expressive. Stories, by their unique potential for creating understanding and humanising ‘issues,’ are a great way of fighting the stigma that often comes with an LGBT+ identity and/or mental ill health – so that the stories of the future can be about love and self-determination in a world which nurtures everyone’s wellbeing and diverse identities equally. Naked Among Thistles is available free from LGBT Health and Wellbeing, as well as other community outlets. You can also read it online at tinyurl.com/nakedamongthistles
DEVIANCE
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Colleen Leitch, shoes ‘Looker’ £55
Catrina Murphy
Future Perfect
Lilly Archibald, jewellery by Isla Macer Law
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Salwa McGill
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he annual Edinburgh College of Art fashion show is one of Scotland’s key fashion events. From the 23-25 April, the University’s McEwan Hall will become the backdrop for a series of runway shows, showcasing the best designers from fashion, textiles and performance costume. Photography: Emily Wylde emilywylde.co.uk Styling: Alexandra Fiddes alexandrafiddes.co.uk Make Up & Hair Styling: Kimberley Dewar @ColoursAgency www.facebook.com/pages/ Kimberley-Dewar-Makeup-Artist Model: Bronwyn @ColoursAgency Assistant: Fern Logue ECA Show 23-25 April, 6.30pm and 8.30pm McEwan Hall, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG More info here: www.ed.ac.uk/news/2014/fashionshow-110314 Tickets from Hub Tickets: £13.25 (£12 + £1.25 per ticket fee) eca.ed.ac.uk
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Kirsty Frew
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Diaphanous Cloak, As part of Vernissage at The Royal Standard, Liverpool February 2014
Rachel Levine hrough my work I explore how power structures and ‘empirical’ versions of history affect our readings of objects, artefacts, architecture and the built environment. My practice is informed by processes of sculptural production and fabrication. Like layers of history I layer processes and materials, such as casting multiples in augmented forms, and using ‘inappropriate,’ unsuspecting materials and contrasting real and faux elements. In doing so I want to bring into question our assumptions of the history, structure and integrity of the objects we view and consume. Working predominantly in sculptural installations and assemblage I use objects and materials as signifiers to create abstracted but narrative environments, tensioning different materials and forms through placement and arrangement of the objects. The material properties, both physically and conceptually, of the objects and matter I work with are the foundations of my process. I like to play with inverting materials thus subverting their ‘usefulness’ or ‘value.’ To create something that looks solid and real, such as a marble plinth out of plywood, laminate and trompe l'oeil painting or taking away the core use of an object by casting concrete reinforcement bar in silicone rubber. I am interested in the political and cultural charges present within materials, the deeper meaning and significance that is present within them. Even certain types of stone, building material or functional objects cannot escape the
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cultural and political implications placed upon them by society. Casting increasingly informs the work I make. Recently I have been interested in leaving evidence of the making process within installations, from boards of wood used for a mould, or using a mould itself as the work, to depositing the leftovers from casting processes in amongst the installation. I am interested in the visibility – or non-visibility – of the traces of labour, effort and energy in the works. The effort and process of replication that can often outweigh the original creation. [Rachel Levine] Rachel Levine graduated from the BA in Sculpture at The Glasgow School of Art in 2013. That year she was the recipient of the Bram Stoker Medal and an Arts Trust Scotland Grant. In 2014 she received the Glasgow Visual Artist Mentoring Award and the Scottish Sculpture Workshops emerging artist residency. This year she has exhibited work at The Royal Scottish Academy as part of the RSA New Contemporaries, Dear Green at ZKU, Berlin and Vernissage at The Royal Standard, Liverpool. Levine’s first solo show took place at One Royal Terrace in Glasgow in March 2014. Levine will take part in two exhibitions, Fold Up Snap On and Hydrapagena, as part of Glasgow International Art Festival. She is the winner of The Skinny Award at this year's RSA New Contemporaries, and will be revealing her resulting solo show in CCA's Intermedia gallery in spring 2015.
SHOWCASE
Column, No Capital - Plinth, No Pedestal Degree show, 2013 the Glasgow School of Art
THE SKINNY
Photo: Janet Wilson
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Column, No Capital - Plinth, No Pedestal Degree show, 2013 the Glasgow School of Art
April 2014
SHOWCASE
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Photo: 1 Royal Terrace
Here, Create Distance, Tension it, Feel the Flex..
Photo: Janet Wilson
Four For Paradise
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THE SKINNY
Brain Food The Edinburgh International Science Festival is back, with an even bigger food programme than ever. Here’s our guide to the varying degrees of scientific lunacy on offer
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f there’s one thing we’ve all learned from the internet age, it’s that groups built around a single interest can be a bit alienating towards newcomers. You don’t know the language, you don’t understand the in-jokes, you don’t think that anyone ‘is worse than Hitler.’ Luckily, science folk aren’t like that – they’re very reasonable – but their world can still be a little overwhelming. Therefore our guide to Gastrofest, the Festival’s food strand, is handily divided up by… well, you’ll see.
Bit weird, but basically OK...
We’ll start with the straightforward stuff, like the film about cannibalism in a dystopian nearfuture. Yes, having been ruled over by a planet of apes in the film with all the monkeys in, science mocks Charlton Heston once again in a screening of classic movie Soylent Green. Charlie’s trapped in a future hellscape filled with pollution, overcrowding, and protein of suspicious origin. Not to spoil one of the most famous endings of them all if you haven’t seen it, but let’s just say the people of 2022 aren’t eating Quorn. Mind you, Quorn is pretty odd; might be best to get these scientists to look into it while they’re here. 5 Apr at 9.30pm, School of
Words: Peter Simpson Illustration: Emily Nash
Informatics, Crichton St, free. If that doesn’t take your fancy, why not have a nice, non-human dinner? In fact, why go for a nice dinner when you can go for ‘a theatrical dining experience’? Don’t answer that, it’s a rhetorical question. Instead, immerse yourself in the world of Sensation, the aforementioned ‘experience.’ We’re certainly confident about the food and drink, with the people that brought you crazy burger pop-up Burgher Burger involved along with the loveable Barney’s Beer of The Skinny 100th issue party fame. With that in mind, we’ll give a tentative thumbs up to the idea of being ‘both confused and delighted’ as we try to eat. Confusion, delight and chewing; there’s a combination that can’t accurately be expressed in print. 5 Apr at 7pm, Summerhall, £45. Here’s a concept that can be quickly conveyed – Pub Science. Yes, psychologists, writers and brewers will be on hand to ruin the mystique of the pub with their well-researched observations. The science of the perfect pint, the truth about ‘beer goggles,’ and the changing role of the pub in society will all go under the presumably-non-literal microscope. 11 Apr at 8pm, Summerhall, £10.
Experi-mental
Time to push the pace a little, with… Slow Food. This event – part of the Latelab series – might have a sedate name, but there are a couple of slightly odd flourishes involved. Expect black pudding made from the blood of live pigs courtesy of conceptual artist John O’Shea, and Kate Rich and Kayle Brandon making cola from essential oils in front of your very eyes. Making a Coke substitute by hand? That would be considered borderline witchcraft in other situations. It’s totally mad, and we like it! 13 Apr at 7pm, School of Informatics, Crichton St, £10. Molecular Mastery is in a similar vein, giving you the chance to try your hand at the various mad gubbins that passes for bartending these days. Mix flavours that really shouldn’t work, wield dry ice like you’re a roadie for Def Leppard, and try to work out ways to adapt the methods of the star bartender to the bootleg Cuba Libre you’re drinking out of a Jungle Book mug. 6 Apr at 8pm, Summerhall, £25.
Object-licking, fume-inhaling mayhem We’re into the heavy duty science, so you’ll need a drink. A drink will be on offer at another of the Latelab offerings, the intriguingly-named Gastrolab RGB Cocktail Party. However, instead of the standard canapés and stuffed shirts giving it the big ‘I am’ about their boring lives, this cocktail party will experiment on you with lights!
April 2014
FOOD AND DRINK
Lights and sounds! The ‘triptych of experiences’ is hosted by food artist Emelie Baltz, whose previous projects include a giant pile of ice cream which doubles as a musical instrument, and promises live DJs and video mixes to go with the drinks. If you kept hold of a pair of goggles from your school science class, now might be a good time to break them out. 6 Apr at 7pm, School of Informatics, Crichton St, £10. If you like your eccentricity slightly more family-friendly, or just have a love for opium and crap Tim Burton films, the festival’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party promises to be both educational and full-on batshit-mental. Given that this is a Saturday afternoon tea party hosted by a botanist, that’s quite the claim to make. But this won’t be your standard, ‘taps aff’-style of crazy party, rather your ‘oh, so that’s what it feels like when the fabric of reality starts unravelling’-style shindig. Expect quirky experimental food, bizarre foraged ingredients, probable sensory overload and lots of references to the fact that the Victorians were blazed off their tits the entire time. If there’s a more fitting way to spend a Saturday afternoon in April then we’re ready to hear it. That’s probably not a good sign... 5 Apr at 4pm, Summerhall, £20. For more details and tickets, visit sciencefestival.co.uk
Lifestyle
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Phagomania: Edible Still Life
Food News
Hey you! Amateur food snapper! Put down your fancy phone and get off Instagram for a moment; you might just learn a thing or two from photographer Henry Hargreaves
This month, Food News sees the good in people, recommends you eat a burger with four different kinds of beer in it, and tries to send you to Inverness
Interview: Lewis MacDonald
Words: Peter Simpson
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e don’t have our own photographer here at Phagomania, but if we did, they would probably be a bit like Henry Hargreaves. A man after our own heart, you’d think he’d settle for sticking to his day job shooting for a range of high-flying fashion labels, magazines and design firms in New York. But no. “In my spare time I do the shoots I wish I was being hired to do,” reveals Henry. “I still feel there is a ton more stuff to explore in this genre.” No prizes for guessing what genre that is. We looked at Henry’s work a couple of years back to marvel at his deep fried gadgets (yep, iPhones in batter), bacon alphabet and rainbow coloured food. Looking at what he’s been up to since then, he deserves to be the first return visit for this column. Taking a highly methodical approach, each project is painstakingly crafted by Henry’s fair hand. Jelly becomes a series of American presidential portraits as Henry’s tribute to the most recent US elections. “I liked the play of it being such a childish thing but being used to tell this presidential story,” the New Zealander explains.
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Lifestyle
“From what I understand a couple of the ex-presidents have also seen the series and dug it.” Flaming cake-based models of fast food glimmering against foil become a satirical piece on America’s food culture, entitled Burning Calories. “We drenched them in lighter fluid,” Henry says. “The original paper backdrop went on fire so metal foil was both a stylistic and logical choice.” Humble maps become food artworks as their outlines are constructed from their most noted culinary stereotypes. France made out of bread and cheese? Australia made out of shrimp? Britain made out of biscuits? It’s a fair cop, we can’t argue with that. You quickly start to wonder about the logistics behind some of these shots, and Henry admits to regularly being “on a race with time” before his props start stinking the place out. But, saving the best for last, dessert comes in the form of Henry’s Gingerbread and Candy Art Galleries. A project so good, it was almost too good. Henry says, “A lot of people who came to the show thought they were just architectural
shots and took a bit of convincing to get them to look closer and think again.” For Miami’s heavyweight annual art show, Art Basel, Henry and his partner-in-crime food artist Caitlin Levin crafted reconstructions of iconic art galleries. Elegantly shot in black and white, the results are a subversive play on his approach to date that might have been too artful for their own good. “We felt like we had bitten off too much with that,” grants Henry, “and weren’t going to be able to do the idea justice and we did; that was really satisfying.” So fair to say the creative collaboration brought something extra to the table? “I think collaborations are a really good way to work and by having someone else to work with you can more successfully critique something as it’s not exclusively yours.” So there we are – the bar has been set, the tips dispensed, the flaming backdrops extinguished. Over to you, your phone, and your dinner to see just what you can make of it. henryhargreaves.com
FOOD AND DRINK
pril is a month built for rogues and scoundrels – it starts with a celebration of lies and deceit, and ends with children pretending to love Jesus in exchange for hollow chocolate eggs. Luckily, this month’s food news is full of examples of people not being total bastards, so there’s your faith in humanity back, we’re sorry to have shaken it. Take Broth Mix, the Open Jar Collective’s cafe/arts project/performance art installation. Running as part of Glasgow International, the collective are setting up a community cafe loaded with art of the visual, sonic and physical varieties, and encouraging real dialogue about the way in which our insatiable lust for food affects us all. They’re doing all that, and setting up an actual cafe from scratch – if you don’t feel lazy right now, you really should. 7-21 Apr, Kinning Park Complex, 40 Cornwall St. From community spirit and shared experience, to large pieces of red meat served with aggressively over-hopped beer – it’s Brewdog, ladies and gentlemen! In a one-night only collaboration with London burgermeisters Honest Burgers, the craft beer colossi present their BrewBurger, which as you might expect has beer all over it. Beer in the patty, a different beer on the bacon, beer in the fried onions – it sounds like a joke, but it also sounds bloody lovely so we’ll let them off. Brewdog’s new Bourbon Baby beer launches on the same night, just in case that previous sentence wasn’t beery enough to sell you on the idea. 4 Apr, Brewdog Glasgow, 1387 Argyle St. Also on our nice list this month are the good folks behind the Inverness Whisky Festival. There’s nothing inherently noble about attracting a bunch of people to a remote wilderness to get a bit boozed up, but there’s something very nice about the prospective set-up at Inverness. No real flash or ostentatious displays of grainfuelled excess, just a who’s who of top distillers, a nice rural-ish setting, and a barn with some food and music in it. A barn! An actual barn! Don’t know why we’re so shocked! Can’t stop! Barn! 4 & 5 Apr, Bogbain Farm, from £25. If the idea of a drinks festival sounds good, but you don’t want to spend a lot of money or go to Inverness, try the Great Grog’s Bottled Beer Festival. It’s beer, so the chances of bankrupting yourself with two bottles are relatively small; it’s in the centre of a major city, so that’s transport taken care of; and it’s all in bottles, so chances are you’ll be able to find this stuff again rather than being doomed to annoy your friends in the pub by pining for a long-lost festival-only porter with a strangely forgettable name. 26 Apr, Cafe Camino, York Pl, Edinburgh. Tickets £10, call 0131 667 2855.
THE SKINNY
it’s a new season so we have a whole new range of seasonal ingredients to plate up for you. Join us for some fabulous, fresh food and produce that is always locally sourced, with the largest whisky selection in the New Town. 43 Rose Street Edinburgh EH2 2NH tel: 0131 225 8028
www.therosehipedinburgh.com
April 2014
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THE SKINNY
Gig Highlights This month, we take an advance look at Glasgow in-the-city festival Stag & Dagger, featuring Forest Swords, The Hold Steady and East India Youth, plus gigs from The Cosmic Dead, Randolph’s Leap, Manic Street Preachers and Ghana’s King Ayisoba
Words: Illya Kuryakin
n a month that offers cutting-edge gigs from the likes of Cockney legends Chas ‘n’ Dave, dadrock originators Status Quo, and multi-headed mutant tweeny-pop abomination McBusted, how are you supposed to navigate your way through the nightlife of Edinburgh and Glasgow without coming a cropper? Fear not! The Skinny are here, as always, to help you sort the arty parties from the crap concerts, and the big gigs from the limp shindigs. On 3 April at the Corn Exchange, the Manic Street Preachers come to Edinburgh (and Glasgow on 4 April, at the Barrowlands). Despite a long decline into radio-friendly, string-assisted cod-epics, and even – on last album, Rewind The Film – using the ploy of bringing in a brace of guest vocalists to liven things up, there is still a molten core of political disaffection and good old-fashioned rock and roll rebellion at the Welsh band’s heart. Rumours that they will soon tour their blistering, essential classic The Holy Bible in its entirety bode well – it’s a British post-punk classic, and still the most excoriating, brutal album from the Britpop era. On 5 April, Glasgow’s revitalised Art School plays host to Holy Mountain, with the the doomfaced sludge-merchants playing tracks from their new LP Ancient Astronauts. Support comes from Planet Mu-signed electronic visionary and animator Konx-Om-Pax, who has been promising less ambient, more beat-driven sets of late, and experimental singer-songwriter Eugene Tombs. The same night, Olive Grove Records indie-folk combo Randolph’s Leap will be launching their new LP, Clumsy Knot, at Glasgow’s Kinning Park Complex. On 9 April, Pronto Mama have an EP launch at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh. The Glasgowbased “polyrhythmic indie-rockers” have been seen in impressive support slots with good pals Hector Bizerk among others, and with a healthy dose of funk, jazz and pin-sharp musicianship in their live show, they’re a sure bet for a great night out. King Ayisoba, one of Ghana’s most respected and popular musicians, revolutionised the traditional percussive sounds of Ghanaian traditional music with up-to-date studio techniques, sequencing electronic beats and bleeps alongside the infectious, more organic percussion of his homeland. He plays a rare UK show on 10 April at Platform in Glasgow, with support from Zea and Sacred Paws. San Francisco-founded, Oakland-based
Honeyblood
psych-rockers Lumerians released The High Frontier last year – with a deeply immersive sound combining the motorik rhythms of Can and NEU! with densely psychedelic walls of guitar noise, synth and organ sounds, they are a band that demand to be seen in a live setting. They play Glasgow’s Nice ‘N’ Sleazy’s on 11 April. Across town at the 13th Note on the same night, cat-loving garage-rock / mutant surf combo Deathcats head up a strong bill, with support from Casual Sex and Shady Lane Studio. They’re also at Broadcast the following night – 12 Apr – with Future Glue, Twin Mirrors and Secret Motorbikes, to launch DIY OR DIE VOL. 1, a compilation of similarly-minded surf, garage and punk artists. In Edinburgh on 11 April, you can catch up with Idlewild front-man Roddy Woomble, doing his solo thing at The Pleasance. On 12 April, rising local indie stars Call
To Mind – whose new track premiered on our YouTube channel last month – play The Glad Cafe, with support from beardy folksters Campfires in Winter, and Prehistoric Friends. Like Lumerians, The Cosmic Dead are deeply entrenched in the feel and history of psych-rock (they don’t call themselves “Scotland’s foremost Hawkwind tribute band” for nothing), but their brand of psychedleic guitar exploration is of a darker hue. Their recent Easterfaust EP showcased the band in full flow, jamming on two consecutive 20-minute tracks. Don’t miss the chance to catch their intense, mind-manifesting live show at Bloc in Glasgow on 17 April. On 20 April, there’s the first of two big one-day showcase events, or mini-festivals, taking place in April – head down to Edinburgh’s Electric Circus for the third annual Big Day In, featuring a swath of up-and-coming Scottish
Photo: Ross Fraser McLean
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electronic and indie-rock bands, including masked techno nutters Roman Nose, neotrip-hop outfit Indian Red Lopez, plus Carbs, Birdhead, and Manchester duo Gymnast. Later in the month, on 26 April at Glasgow’s Art School, there’s an all-dayer with a decidedly experimental bent – head down to We Worship The Sun to catch sets from Silk Cut / Dam Mantle collab General Ludd, noise/hardcore mob Black Cop, extreme free jazz / noise / “ultimate improv” project Urine Gagarin and others. On 24 April, catch former Uncle John & Whitelock front-man Jake Lovatt with his band Jacob Yates and the Pearly Gate Lock Pickers, who take over Glasgow’s Stereo with some cracking bands in support, including the VHS Tangerine Dreams of retro-futurist synth-anddrums duo Ubre Blanca, and hectic punk/noise party-starters Halfrican.
Stag & Dagger 2014 Various venues 4 May
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lasgow’s in-the-city showcase Stag & Dagger presents an opportunity for local bands to play alongside some big names from the international scene, but it’s also a celebration of some of Glasgow’s more intimate venue spaces, with gigs happening in basements, bars and bunkers across the city. It can feel like an endurance test – with less than ten minutes between shows in some cases, and a shopping list of bands to bag in between gulping down pints and running from the West End to the town centre and back again. But it’s more than worth it – especially with a bill as exciting as this year’s, with The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr., fellow NYC alt.rockers The Hold
April 2014
Steady, and psychedelic disco purveyors Jagwar Ma coming to town. A strong lineup of acts from around Britain is nicely balanced between indie rock – Los Campesinos!, Royal Blood and Tennis are all in attendance – and electronic sounds, with magisterial folk/techno multi-instrumentalist East India Youth and Tri-Angle beatsmith Forest Swords also on the bill. Other highlights include the dreamy, luscious dream-pop of Lanterns on the Lake, enigmatic London newcomers Jungle, hotlytipped Dundee indie mob Model Aeroplanes, perennial Skinny favourites Honeyblood, and more still to be announced. The gigs happen at various venues throughout Glasgow on 4 May – check our listings for details, and get in early to make sure you can grab a ticket.
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Lanterns on the Lake
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Photo: Matthew Beech
Do Not Miss
Nice 'N' Sleazy, 7 Mar
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Performing in a half-empty basement venue in Glasgow on a Friday night could intimidate some raw bands from out of town, but Autobahn display no sign of nerves. The Leeds five-piece go all out for an in-yer-face style of post-punk noise, which they deliver with conviction on the intense single Seizure. While the band prefer to stare rigidly at the floor, singer Craig Johnson confidently strides the stage and demands attention. In contrast, Eagulls frontman George Mitchell prefers to stand his ground; clutching a mic stand with his left hand, grasping a mic with the other and singing with his eyes clamped firmly shut. With his tall frame and slicked blonde hair, he’s an arresting presence, and by far the most captivating element of this Leeds
four-piece, whose motorik beats and screaming guitars recall early Horrors, but with none of the pretensions. Fresh from a trip to the US and an appearance on Letterman, plus a well-received hometown show the previous evening, the band look confident – but their reception in Glasgow is initially muted. A sizable crowd has assembled, but there’s little enthusiasm in the room until they launch Possessed, the song they unleased on North American screens in late January. “Not a very lively bunch are ya?” asks Mitchell, his disappointment obvious. But there’s life in this crowd yet, and Tough Luck – a siren call to disillusioned 20-somethings everywhere – provokes at least a dozen punters to start throwing themselves with reckless abandon. Job done, then. [Chris McCall] eagulls.co.uk
Thee Silver Mt. Zion
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Òran Mór, 25 Feb
Eagulls
Photo: Vito Andreoni
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These are jaded times. The ironic whooping that greets Efrim Menuck announcing the portentous What We Loved Was Not Enough unflinchingly staples that fact to our foreheads as the band hold up the misanthropic mirror of this sweeping 12-minute lament. “All our children gonna die,” he repeats in numb disbelief as we sip expensive draft pisswater from flimsy plastic cups. With misanthropic insight, he lyrically dissects the startling ease with which our entire culture is being artistically neutered, in turn reducing peerless musical brilliance like A Silver Mount Zion to a lifetime of preaching to the converted in modestly-sized venues like Òran Mór. To be blunt, the gig is too quiet. People
Photo: Jayjay Robertson
Eagulls / Autobhan
chatter over heart-wrenching string-work and the atypically thunderous guitar of their recent album Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything never quite grabs our shoulders and shakes some fucking sense into us the way it should. This is music to get lost inside and tonight it is frustratingly short of that magnitude, for the sake of a few lousy decibels. In addition, the loss of Beckie Foon on cello has contributed to many of the band’s stirring previous works such as God Bless Our Dead Marines (much shouted for) being cut from the set, which slightly disappoints given their previous starring roles. Ultimately and predictably, based on an almost flawless reputation as a live band, what should have been transcendent is tonight rendered merely very impressive. [Chris Cusack] tra-la-la-band.com
The Notwist / Jel
in the lyrics to a blistering Romantisch: “They get us all romantic, before they fuck us...” rrrrr The Notwist, a German avant garde and Watching Anticon founder, Themselves and experimental group who have undergone countcLOUDDEAD beatmaker Jel play the MPC and lesss transformations and genre shifts in their sampler is like watching a gifted classical pianist career, build thrilling passages of brooding attack the ivories – his fingers an impossible blur, post-rock, pulsing electro and freaked-out jazz playing each note, drum beat and sample, chalto bear on the catchy, fairly standard indie-pop lenging the ‘push-play’ approach of mainstream that constitute the core of the songs – tracks electronic musicians, and the tired notion that a like They Follow Me, from this year’s Close To The single human pushing buttons on machines will Glass, become much more than the sum of their always require less skill than three retro haircuts parts. Old favourites like Solo Swim are greeted wielding guitar, bass and drums. rapturously, and the band deliver three encores, Pieces from Soft Money have become including a blistering Gravity. With immaculate turntablist-like displays of beat dexterity, while musicianship, a strong stage presence and over cuts from the more recent Late Pass are stripped two decades of hook-driven songwriting to their of some of their fuzz and grunge, Jel’s devastatname, their quality is undeniable. ing lyrics emphasised. He’s a prodigious talent, [Bram E. Gieben] criminally under-rated, and searingly intelligent notwist.com on the subject of the music industry – as he says
Claudio Simonetti's Goblin
Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin / Golden Teacher Òran Mór, 27 Feb
The Notwist
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Review
Photo: Beth Chalmers
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Glasgow’s Golden Teacher haven’t been given enough time to showcase their wares in this support slot. Each slab of their Afro-futurist house, filtered through a smoky dub aesthetic, finds its mark, but ends all too quickly. Their compelling mix of Grace Jones-like, echoing vocals, hypnotic, pulsing percussion and bubbling synth bass evokes a dubbed-out Factory Floor – and begs to be witnessed without constraints. They could have played for ten hours and the crowd would have loved it. Tonight, though, we’re here to see the composer and lynchpin of Goblin, Claudio Simonetti, backed by session musicians on guitar, bass and drums. The four-piece plunge into a greatest
MUSIC
hits set, delivering incendiary takes on their classic themes from Dawn of the Dead, Profondo Rosso, Suspiria and Tenebrae (the last a Vocoderpowered highlight). The sheer genre-defying experimentation of their performance is what makes them unique, plunging from deep, atmospheric synth workouts – Simonetti playing five synths simultaneously – into wildly over-the-top funk-metal riffage. Their performance is astounding, and for the younger members of the crowd, a revelation – everything from 80s cartoon themes to Clint Mansell’s score work bears traces of their DNA. Bands have made entire careers out of aping just four bars of a Goblin standard. Seminal doesn’t even cover it. [Bram E. Gieben] goblinsimonetti.com
THE SKINNY
Photo: John Graham
Mono, 16 Mar
Track-by-Track: The Afghan Whigs Unveil Do to the Beast 16 years after The Afghan Whigs released the celebratory masterpiece that fans eventually came to embrace as their swansong, the reactivated Cincinnati outfit’s principal offers a beginners guide to its soul searching latter-day sequel
Words: Greg Dulli
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here was a gulf between our last album, 1965, and this one. At that point you need to reinvent. I think we always confounded expectations – it’s the band we were, it’s the band we are. The records we made were wildly out of step with what other people were doing, so welcome back to that. Of course, we’re engaging a legacy too, but at this point in life you do what you want and you do it the best you can. As this record began to build and the pieces started to fall into place, it became clear that we had something special. A lot of records I’ve made were precipitated by an event in my life – a series of circumstances that I found myself in, whether by my own creation or thrust upon me. This record here, from a songwriting point of view, is in part my imagination and partly my memories of things. It’s a different record in that I’m drawing on everything rather than just one experience – it’s sort of omnivorous and it was liberating to write. I create characters – sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s not me. Because I live a kind of vagabond life, I pick people up along the way. Mark McGuire [of Emeralds] for instance was a very integral player on this record. A lot of the time, what he does isn’t even overt – sometimes he’ll create droning womblike environments. If you took them away you would notice it. The first song we did together was Lost in the Woods. It’s a very stark song where he’s using the guitar almost like a synthesizer. The guitar guitars, that’s Dave Rosser and Jon Skibic. They’re dudes I’ve played with for a long time so I know what they can do. And then John Curley’s the man, he’s my favourite bass player. So this is a pretty solid band record. I’m not in the business of telling people what my songs are about – I really do feel that that’s the listeners’ experience, but I can give you bones to put the flesh on. The first and last tracks are the poles, and then each song has a partner. Matamoros and It Kills, Algiers and Lost in the Woods, The Lottery and Can Rova, then finally Royal Cream and I Am Fire are partners. The mother and father are at the beginning and end. 1. PARKED OUTSIDE This song was started in Joshua Tree at Rancho De La Luna – Dave Catching’s studio. This is one of the older riffs I had in the can before we started the Whigs record. I go out to Dave’s studio to work on ideas a lot – I played the drum beat, and as I was tinkering with that I thought ‘Wow, this is sort of a stripper song.’ Then I laid down the guitar and the bass and started to think of what to sing. It was so loud I remember thinking ‘Man, I’m gonna have to scream this one.’ I hadn’t screamed like that in a while. Parked Outside is good fun; it has sort of a stalkerish element to it. It has pathos to it, which I really enjoyed. As soon as I sang the line ‘If they’ve seen it all, show ‘em something new,’ I knew this had to be the first song. It chose itself to open the show. 2. MATAMOROS We did this one in Cincinnati while my friend Manuel Agnelli [of Afterhours] was visiting from Italy. When he showed up I didn’t see him come in – I was busy beatboxing in the studio. Afterwards he said ‘That was crazy, it sounded like you were saying “do to the beast what you do to the bush.”’ I remember looking at John Curley and I’m like ‘Man, I think he just named the record.’ Later, he told us this story about going to Mexico and
April 2014
meeting this man from Matamoros who got sick while travelling with his girlfriend. She developed her film from the trip and the dude looked like a demon. I thought ‘Wow, well, Manuel named the album and the second song.’ He did that all within the first ten minutes of arriving. So hats off to Manuel. 3. IT KILLS Whereas the first two songs are very mechanical and driving – for the first seven minutes of the record it’s just relentless – Matamoros gives way to the first crossfade into It Kills. This song is, I think, a kind of crystallisation and distillation of everything I’ve ever loved about soul music, the soul ballad and the middle eight with the Gamble and Huff orchestral string section vibe. We had Van Hunt bringing his vocal ease to the middle of that. It Kills is one of my favourite songs that I’ve done in a number of years – it came really fast and it came really naturally. I love the hell outta that song. 4. ALGIERS Once this song was done, to me it sounded like a Spaghetti Western – it reminded me of Roy Orbison or even Elvis Presley. I had a hand in the treatment for the video, the director is my dear friend Phil Harder who worked on a lot of the early Afghan Whigs videos – he did Debonair, Sister, Brother, Milez Iz Ded, Turn On The Water, Conjure Me – all my favourite videos too. So his involvement was pretty logical. I only just ran into Phil recently after many years and said ‘So hey man, wanna do us another video?’ It was great fun. We both vibed with the Spaghetti Western idea, and went for a homage to High Plains Drifter. We were just out to have a good time and make something cool. Four or five songs were suggested as the first single. When they picked Algiers, I had nothing to do with it. And I never do, by the way. 5. LOST IN THE WOODS This is my favourite song on the record, and that’s not at the exclusion of everything else – I just have a great affection for this. I had these
two disparate pieces of music, I had the piano part, then I had a lift part, and they existed on their own. I was pondering what to do with them, then when I finally smashed them together, I thought ‘Wow, that was meant to be.’ That song is like a five minute journey through the neighbourhoods of my mind. I absolutely positively love Lost in the Woods. It’s one of the all-timers for me. 6. THE LOTTERY I find it funny when people say this song reminds them of The Twilight Singers because it’s the one I’m hearing that sounds the most Afghan Whigs! So there’s where you start to blur the fact that I’m the songwriter in both those bands. Where one ends and the other begins, you don’t really know. But The Lottery is a jam and it was raised as one of the candidates as the lead single.
“The records we made were wildly out of step with what other people were doing, so welcome back to that” Greg Dulli
7. CAN ROVA I started this one in Joshua Tree also. That happened one night as I was sitting on the porch and could see the Milky Way. I just began playing guitar, making sounds that soothed me and I started to come up with this melody. It was rather matter-of-fact and instructional: ‘start the car, check the mirror.’ That song became very vivid to me very quickly, it’s another journey song. From
MUSIC
starting the car to the fiery end. Once Can Rova begins, it’s the start of a journey towards the end of the record – it’s on after that. 8. ROYAL CREAM My favourite parts of any record, I always call them the arm that stops the elevator doors. You think the record’s done then something says ‘wait for me.’ As I’ve gone through those moments throughout the years, they’ve become some of my favourite songs. Royal Cream and I Am Fire were the last two songs written for Do to the Beast – they were the hand in the elevator songs and they were also conceived in Joshua Tree. With Royal Cream, I had a riff and went out to the desert with Patrick Keeler [Raconteurs/ Greenhornes] – who was the drummer on that song – and laid down the demo. We ended up keeping his drums. 9. I AM FIRE After we did Royal Cream, Patrick passed out on the couch and I started pounding on this table that Dave Catching has out there until I came up with this rhythm, which became the basis of I Am Fire. It’s the same chords and tempo as Royal Cream, completely different vibe. That became the companion, in some ways the continuation and evolution of the song. It becomes another experience. Those two, in the long line of latecomers to records, are up there for me with Martin Eden and Esta Noche, which arrived late in the day for [second Twilight Singers LP] Blackberry Belle. 10. THESE STICKS I didn’t intend this to be a cliffhanger; it’s a clear revenge fantasy. I have an idea of who it’s about – I dropped some very specific clues that were specific to my relationship with that person – and she’ll figure it out if she ever hears it. All in good fun. Do to the Beast is released on 14 Apr via Sub Pop. Playing Glasgow O2 ABC on 18 Jul theafghanwhigs.com
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Album of the Month EMA
The Future’s Void [City Slang, 7 Apr]
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Erika M Anderson’s Past Life Martyred Saints was an explosive, unsettling debut, a day-glo riot of sputtering confessional and expressionist worldview. It had colour and identity, its creator’s ambition seemingly boundless. That daring, a bespoke aesthetic that harnesses jittery electro (Satellites), 70s singer-songwriter reimaginings (When She Comes) and chamber elegy (Dead Celebrity), hits paydirt on this fascinating and fearless follow-up. “Disassociation, it’s just a modern disease,” Anderson whispers on 3Jane, but The Future’s Void has heart and brains beyond the blank resignation of its title. It plays like a series of
acutely-observed dispatches from the American nightmare, one at war with her emerging artistry and, crucially, celebrity. Amidst this undercurrent of instability, Anderson emerges as an arch dramatist, her lyrics, though still pleasingly opaque, tracking further and wider than before. Aided by co-producer and touring band member Leif Shackleford, a deeper, fuller production supports her striving. Amidst the taut sequencing, rattling percussion and trademark distorted vocals, there are moments of unexpected fragility. The hymnal quietude of 100 Years is an untypical showstopper; one of several beguiling detours that makes this album so beautifully difficult to pin down. Its genre-switching initially wrong-foots, but The Future’s Void, bolstered by a deep musicality, is visionary to the core. [Gary Kaill]
The Afghan Whigs
Elephant
Cloud Nothings
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Do to the Beast [Sub Pop, 14 Apr]
Sky Swimming [Memphis Industries, 28 Apr]
Here and Nowhere Else [Wichita, 1 Apr]
From their rough-hewn beginnings with Big Top Halloween to the enduring elegance of 1965, each Afghan Whigs album somehow arrived with the air of a moment they’d always been building towards. A complete surprise upon its unceremonious announcement by Breaking Bad’s Bob Odenkirk (via Twitter) two months ago, Do to the Beast blows the dust off 16 years with a swaggering barroom rocker and Greg Dulli’s clear statement of intent: “If they’ve seen it all, show ‘em something new.” As daring as the cover’s protagonist shovelling two fistfuls of coke into his face, Dulli again proves himself a master of misdirection, proffering a gothic, modern twist on the classic R&B atmospherics of Marvin Gaye over some ten-a-penny guitar brawl – it can’t be a coincidence that Matamoros segues into It Kills as fluidly as What’s Happening Brother into Flyin’ High. From the countrified lament of Algiers to The Lottery’s hurtling, glitch-infused energy, this is a slowburner dripping with soul. [Dave Kerr]
Is the recent explosion of boy/girl electro duos a sign of the artistic times or a necessity born of economic downturn? Austerity rock: everybody’s doing it. But with the market flooded, you demand ever more for your hard-earned. Enter Amelia Rivas and Christian Pinchbeck and their debut Sky Swimming, a lustrous and compelling confection that lives up to the poetic promise of its title. The creative process began on a £10 Casio, a charity shop find that gives the Elephant back-story weight, and makes the leap from its DIY provenance to something this fully-featured and expansive all the more remarkable. And if further indication of their pop heritage savvy were needed, the duo fell in and then out of love during recording. The songs are impeccably crafted: Skyscraper revisits the twilight doo-wop of Julee Cruise while Rivas’ multi-layerered vocal melodies on Torn Tongues recall prime Julia Holter. Lo-fi but high art, Sky Swimming ascends way above the competition. [Gary Kaill]
“I’m moving forward while I keep the past around me,” rasps 23-year-old Dylan Baldi on Pattern Walks, the seven-minute earth-scorcher from his Cleveland trio’s fourth album. The lyric is typical self-interrogation from Baldi, a pop-punk songwriter of remarkable nuance who has, over five years, endeared a cross-genre fanbase by nestling hardcore angst beneath melodies so perfect they’re almost edible. His lyrics, he says, don’t bear analysis, which you suspect is true: despite I’m Not Part of Me’s undeniable charm as a postbreakup anthem, Baldi’s targets elsewhere, villainous but vague, seem to facilitate rage rather than genuinely inciting it; at best, his words evoke the political and existential disaffection of golden-era predecessors like the Wipers. And yet while unoriginal, Baldi’s music is never overshadowed by influences. Instead he wears them comfortably, like patches on his rucksack, moving forward with the past around him. [Jazz Monroe]
theafghanwhigs.com
thisiselephant.com
Playing Glasgow Stereo on 23 May
Fatherson
OFF!
Randolph’s Leap
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I Am An Island [Modern Way, 7 Apr] Orbiting the Scottish music scene for a few years, collecting a string of support slots (including Frightened Rabbit and Idlewild) charming Kilmarnock indie quartet Fatherson have yet to make their mark with a full studio LP – until now. Their debut speaks of isolation, doubt, and friendship, as microcosmic as it is universally identifiable. Ross Leighton’s vocal might not be distinctive (there’s more than a little Scott Hutchison to it), but the yearning, candid self deprecation on Half The Things (“I am on an island / that no-one ever visits / I’m wasting all my time here / I’ll never get it finished”), and Dust’s tenderness all showcase his range and pathos. Backed by emotive cello and crashing, guitar-led choruses, I Am An Island is a considered, compassionate production. Maybe the safety of the format protects them from the treasures born of risk, but if the trade-off results in an album with this level of composure, then for now these boys are forgiven. [George Sully] Playing Glasgow’s Arches on 26 Apr and Dunfermline’s PJ Molloy’s on 2 May
Wasted Years [Vice, 7 Apr] Some aspects of life are inevitable. Politicians will break their promises, British summertime offers more shades of grey than literary-pretentious trashporn, and there will never, ever be anything good on telly when you’re skint. Another one for the list: Keith Morris will always be pissed off – and thank fuck for that. His crushed-gravel bark remains one of the most singularly compelling voices in punk rock, spitting corrosive bile over the exhilarating likes of Void You Out and Exorcised on OFF!’s second album proper. With hardcore wandering down increasingly diverse paths across the past decade, there’s a shuddering thrill in the back-tobasics bruising of Dmitri Coats’ pulverising power chords. With notes cribbed from his own rifftastic Burning Brides, the guitarist occasionally slows proceedings to a metallic creepy-crawl, most notably on the sludgy Red White And Black, but of course brevity and brawn ultimately win out. As ever, Keith’s scene-stealing presence ensures these years could never truly be wasted. [Will Fitzpatrick] offofficical.com
Clumsy Knot [Lost Map, 7 Apr] For those not already familiar with Randolph’s Leap, the lyric “living like a hermit / hermit the frog” could serve as a kind of acid test. Smile at its merry silliness and you’ll likely find plenty to enjoy in bandleader Adam Ross’s witty oeuvre; recoil and you best be on your way. The line comes from Hermit, one of a handful of previously released tracks to feature on Randolph Leap’s ‘proper’ debut album Clumsy Knot. Other reappearances include the quietly caustic Weatherman (now with blustery climax) and the ever-graceful I Can’t Dance to This Music Anymore: strong benchmarks against which the new material measures up well. Granted, Foolishness of Youth pushes the awkward rhymes a smidgen too far, while an intrusive drum loop almost renders Gina a chore. But otherwise Clumsy Knot proffers some of Ross’s finest work, from introspective opener Unnatural to the low-key beauty of Light of the Moon. [Chris Buckle] Randolph’s Leap launch Clumsy Knot at Kinning Park Complex, Glasgow on 5 Apr randolphsleap.co.uk
Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks
Chain And The Gang
The Cosmic Dead
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Enter The Slasher House [Domino, 7 Apr] While his Animal Collective wing-man Panda Bear’s songs are otherworldly and angelic, Avey Tare (né Dave Portner) frequently occupies the other end of the sonic spectrum – nervy, almost neurotic; bursting with energy and information. It can be overwhelming at times; his previous solo effort Down There was an interesting if slightly unmemorable homage to B-movie swamp monster aesthetics. Similarly the band he’s put together here – Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors) and Jeremy Hyman (Dan Deacon) – take their cue from ‘slasher flicks,’ and Enter The Slasher House has a similarly gorey feel to it, the songs often swamped in menacing synths and fiery drums. It’s when the music is stripped back that Slasher Flicks most succeed – Little Fang is the best solo song Portner’s written, almost a bona fide pop hit. Elsewhere the album flickers into life: Catchy (Was Contagious) flirts with melody and space, as does Roses On The Window. But there’s simply too much going on for the album to be digestible – the vocals too affected, the drumming too intense, the keyboards swallowed by effects. Come back out of the swamp, Dave. [Sam Lewis]
Minimum Rock N Roll [Fortuna Pop!, 14 Apr] “What are you in here for?” croons Ian Svenonius dolefully; half-welcoming us back into his band’s secret universe, whilst also digging an immaculately-dressed elbow into our ribcages and winking theatrically. Having spent a 30-year career picking at the bones of post-punk, garage rock and yé-yé, the DC icon’s current outfit extricates what sumptuous meat remains and serves it all up with an irresistible gospel glaze. Lucky swine that we are, this fourth LP catches ‘em at their smartest, funniest and most irrepressible. So Devitalize rails against gentrification whilst channelling The Fall, and Curtain Pull affects a certain 60s Euro-kitsch amidst a kaleidoscopically infectious groove. Katie Alice Greer’s riot grrrl holler provides a neat foil to Svenonius’ untethered howl too, particularly on floor-shaking closer Everything Worth Getting (Is Gone). “I’m in here for loving too much,” admits our hero in response to his earlier question, mock-martyring himself for all our sakes. You could certainly hope for worse saviours. [Will Fitzpatrick] Playing Glasgow Broadcast on 28 May chainandthegang.bandcamp.com
Easterfaust [Paradigms Recordings, 7 Apr] Glasgow’s The Cosmic Dead are the real deal, and have been trading in the kind of tweakedout, acid-drenched, sprawling riffage so currently in vogue for four years. On Easterfaust, two extended, 20-minute jams recorded live and issued on a limited-edition vinyl, they serve up a powerful reminder of the darker side of psych-rock. Part 1 begins sedately, a minor-chord riff gilt with buzzing, drifting solo playing. At about 8 minutes, a passage of rumbling static plunges into a driving riff with howling guitar riding propulsive drums, evincing the band’s krautrock leanings. Reverbheavy vocals eventually begin to coast over the top, channeling the lizard-cool of Jim Morrison, culminating in a riot of noise and feedback. Part 2 tears straight into the riffs, the phased guitar coiling and snapping like a caged conger eel, the band showcasing some hypnotic, tightly-locked rhythmic playing. A mind-manifesting blast of authentic psych-rock from some of its modern day masters – essential. [Bram E. Gieben] Playing Glasgow’s Bar Bloc on 17 Apr
entertheslasherhouse.com
42
Review
RECORDS
THE SKINNY
The Body
The Amazing Snakeheads
School of Language
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I Shall Die Here [RVNG, 1 Apr] The Haxan Cloak spent months processing The Body’s urgent, howled vocals and feral blasts of shredded guitar noise, transfiguring them into the dense and oppressive I Shall Die Here. From the plodding, scream-infested bass wash of opener To Carry The Seeds of Death Within Me, this record speaks to your gut. Alone All The Way’s chilling vocals sound like the pleas of a tortured soul. Hail To Thee Oh Everlasting Pain hauls itself bleeding from washed-out dub into a brutal slab of reverberating bass, while the proto-techno of Our Souls Were Clean finishes with a wall of feedback and bone-chilling screams of anguish and horror. Closer Darkness Surrounds Us allows the reverb-soaked bass to mutter and grumble like a dying man’s death rattle, providing, if not calm, then at least a measure of resignation. Remorselessly avant garde, emotionally wrenching, without a chink of light on its clouded horizon. [Bram E. Gieben]
Amphetamine Ballads [Domino, 14 Apr] Those unfamiliar with Glasgow’s The Amazing Snakeheads might presume this album is the sound of a band going back to basics; there’s drums, bass, guitar, vocals and precious little else. But upon first listen you’ll realise that this is a group who are playing to their strengths, firing on all cylinders and outmuscling much of the opposition in the process. The no-frills rock n’ roll of opening track I’m a Vampire recalls The Cramps at their most primal, and frontman Dale Barclay’s blues-howl gives an unsettling edge to Where Is My Knife? The second half of Amphetamine Ballads slows the pace, and some of the earlier momentum is lost, but the threadbare Heading for Heartache touches a raw nerve. Given that the Snakeheads have built their reputation on being a live band of sometimes frightening intensity, they’ve done well to capute much of that spirit on this bare-bones but often illuminating record. [Chris McCall]
Old Fears [Memphis Industries, 7 Apr] Indie pop renaissance man David Brewis takes time out from the day job to return to School of Language. Actually, make that day jobs – his role as Field Music CEO supplemented in recent years by a host of consultancy work for the likes of Maximo Park and Eleanor Friedberger. The follow-up to Sea From Shore, 2008’s debut in this guise, is a defiantly solo work. Arrangements are precision-tooled (clipped guitar, spare beats, Brewis’s reedy alto), the production unfussy, the songs driven by groove rather than melody. With its sidelong observations and lyrical introspection, there are hints of similarly uncompromising pioneers. Older heads will detect shades of early Talking Heads while the skewed funk of Dress Up suggests Brewis is a fan of Justin Timberlake’s recent work. A single play sucks you in: accomplished and diverting, Old Fears adds up to a fascinating whole. [Gary Kaill] Playing Glasgow Broadcast on 25 Apr
Teebs
Shonen Knife
Chad VanGaalen
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E s t a r a [Brainfeeder, 7 Apr]
Overdrive [Damnably, 14 Apr]
Shrink Dust [Sub Pop, 28 Apr]
Teebs’ new album is at once definitively a product of the LA beat scene, and evidence of his capacity to grow beyond that scene’s far-reaching, experimental aesthetic. View Point’s side-chained drums and percussion initially feel like a cut that would set LA’s Low End Theory alight, but with its rising, euphoric synth sounds and rich, textured bass, it’s also more than ‘just’ a beat – there’s a compositional, painterly feel to Teebs’ production which recalls fellow Brainfeeder alum Daedelus’ work. Layers of field recordings underpinning the production; Jonti’s contribution on Holiday sounds like a half-remembered Beach Boys tune set to shimmering electronic shoegaze, by turns summery and ethereal. SOHM nods to Aphex Twin with super-fast, shutter-click rhythms; the broken house beat of NY pt. 1 shuffles engigmatically, while closer Wavxxes veers towards the sunlit pop of Sun Glitters. Rich, textured and warm – an album to cherish. [Bram E. Gieben]
There’s just something about the Japanese approach to pop music that sets both knees and lower lips a-tremblin’. Its batshit vitality serves as a neat contrast to the way we’ve turned rock ’n’ roll into a careerist treadmill; an industry that barely even pretends to have anything to do with rebellion or counter-culture. You could speculate endlessly as to how Shonen Knife’s deliciously silly ramalama-punk transcends all that, from their never-ending supply of bubblegum hooks to their remarkable understanding of winsome pop gibberish (instantly hummable odes Ramen Rock and Green Tea make perfect sense for all the same reasons as Who Put The Bomp or Do-Wah-Diddy). Overdrive’s sugary take on 70s dinosaur rock also stands unexpectedly in its favour, but ultimately all you need to know about the Osaka trio’s nineteenth album is this: it’s fucking AWESOME. Best not to question love when it’s inevitably, irredeemably absolute. [Will Fitzpatrick]
“Cut off both my hands and threw them in the sand,” sings Chad VanGaalen cheerfully, adding: “Watched them swim away from me like a pair of bloody crabs.” You’re gonna struggle to find a better opening couplet – so dark, so repulsive, so intriguing. It revels in his ability to wrap this decidedly unusual fare in soft, warm sheets of pathos, rendering even his more grotesque lines somewhat beautiful. A nifty trick. Chad apparently regards Shrink Dust as a country album, which is certainly going to surprise listeners bowled over by the hazy fug of Where Are You – but for all his psych-weirdo tendencies, he’s still looking for the most deliriously fried route to Nashville. There’s a classicist sheen to Weighed Sin’s woe-begotten pedal steel, while the inescapably catchy Evil is pop simplicity personified. What, say, Willie Nelson would make of it is immatieral – dude never once ruminated on the comical beauty of his own severed limbs, so pfft! What does he know? [Will Fitzpatrick]
soundcloud.com/teebsio
shonenknife.net
subpop.com/artists/chad_vangaalen
Loops Haunt
Holy Mountain
Exits [Black Acre, 7 Apr]
Ancient Astronauts [Chemikal Underground, 7 Apr]
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The full-length debut of Scotland’s Scott Douglas Gordon combines carefully treated field recordings, spectral synth work, musique concrete and questing, experimental beats. On Exits and Trap Door, snatches of struck metal, stuttering drums, whistles, robotic speech and distant laughter coalesce into a pulsing, meditative soundscape – Gordon creates a compositionally intricate sonic world, navigated by means of subtle synth melodies. Hollowed’s hymnal, static-laced hip-hop occupies similar crepuscular territory to Forest Swords, while the time-stretched vocals and dubbed-out kicks of Ellum Tonal share stylistic markers with oOoOO and Holy Other. Howl’s motorik rhythm has more in common with BEAK> or James Holden, while the narcotic dub of Tunneling is in a reverb-soaked universe of its own. The deconstructed electro of IIVA stands out as a dancefloor-friendly cut, while droning closer Tymadlyb is like a distant light seen from the bottom of a cold cave. A bold, definitive statement from one of the UK’s most exciting producers. [Bram E. Gieben]
Glasgow trio Holy Mountain turn the psych-factor up to eleven on their latest release; there’s a noticeably extended sense of scope on this follow-up to mini-debut Earth Measures. Though Ancient Astronauts is still a relatively brief outing, the trio’s fascination with the cosmic gives the impression that we’re dealing with a much grander beast here. That’s not to say they’ve trimmed their bar-brawl roots; this band cut their teeth playing filthy, quickfire jams in sweaty dive bars as a duo, so it’s nice to know that they still display urgency on faster-paced, stripped back tracks (Lv-42666, Tokyo). But they also know that their reputation can’t rest on these well-worn tricks alone, so they’ve followed in the steps of peers The Cosmic Dead and Hey Colossus, resulting in unpredictable tempo-shifting and all-round experimentation on tracks like Star Kings and Gift Giver. What we’re left with is a record admirably indebted to both retro psychedelia and modern noize. Tone freaks are going to love it. [Ross Watson]
facebook.com/LOOPSHAUNT
Playing at The Art School, Glasgow on 5 Apr
Thee Oh Sees
Woods
Drop [Castle Face, 19 Apr]
With Light And With Love [Woodsist, 14 Apr]
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With rumours of a split now thankfully put to bed, John Dwyer and pals get back to doing what they do best: making ear-splitting garage rock that feels like the greatest idea anyone’s ever had. First track Penetrating Eye gets off to a dream start, with its molten riffage occupying that mythical promised land between Sabbath and The Stooges. It’s soon revealed to be something of a trick, however – the explorative kosmische of Encrypted Bounce places us on a more thoughtful path, before Drop takes a sharp turn towards more cerebral territory. Skronks’n’hollers drown Put Some Reverb On My Brother in thrilling cacophony, while the prog-scented The King’s Noise might just be the closest that the razorwire-tense Oh Sees have ever got to ‘pastoral.’ If this all seems a tad less immediate than the raucous psych-pop of last year’s Floating Coffin, it’s by no means inferior. They’ve donned their thinking caps, and it’s a look that suits ‘em just fine. [Will Fitzpatrick] theeohsees.com
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While many ‘alternative’ bands make a habit of becoming more esoteric as they age, Woods have taken the other route. The first Woods record At Rear House was a hauntingly strange and ethereal record, pared back to bare bones, singer Jeremy Earl’s voice coming across like a ghost. Five albums later Woods have gradually come out of the shadows in occasionally resplendent fashion – 2010’s At Echo Lake was an especially vivid slice of buzzing, blinding indie-pop-rock. With Light And With Love is their mellowest effort yet, layered with Hammond organs and rolling guitar licks. Leaves Like Grass’ is a particularly shameless Dylan rip, the instrumentation culled straight from the 1966 bootleg tapes. Needless to say, Woods are at their best when they sound like Woods, and there’s enough of that here to make this a worthy addition to Earl’s cannon. New Light is an alluring acoustic ballad, while Twin Steps has just the right blend of vintage and modern to sound more Earl, and less his influences. [Sam Lewis]
Wye Oak
Shriek [City Slang, 28 Apr]
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In which the Baltimore duo continue to defy lazy labelling. Shriek, their fourth album, carries on where 2011’s much-lauded Civilian left off, further rationalising their edgy palette and sharpening their songcraft. If they were ever part of the noughties’ indie folk revival, this largely electronic work transports them to somewhere else entirely. With Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner writing apart this time, and on a wider range of instruments, Shriek is their brightest, fullest work to date. Those shoegaze comparisons always felt a little off, too, but with Shriek embracing large-scale melody and dealing its tunes with such a generous hand, it has the look of School of Seven Bells or even Chairlift. Wasner’s plaintive vocals remain a joy. Throughout, the songs, from the pure pop of the title track to the squalling beats of Glory, carry mood and mystery, and, for a band known for intimacy and restraint, unexpected clout. [Gary Kaill] Playing Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on 13 Jun wyeoakmusic.com
The Top Five 1 2 3 4 5
EMA
The Future's Void
Loops Haunt
Exits
The Afghan Whigs
Do to the Beat
Shonen Knife
Overdrive
The Cosmic Dead
Easterfaust
woodsist.com/woods
April 2014
RECORDS
Review
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Keeping Austin Weird Attempting to reconcile the overtly commercial with the underground, South by Southwest 2014 had its work cut out. We report back from the indie rock superbowl
there. When we played, it was like monkey see, monkey do – ‘look at the boys play their album!’ Meanwhile, the kids are out having fun at the clubs and house parties – you can see South by moving to the households in the neighbourhoods around town. That’s where the real shit happens. That’s where Soundgarden should’ve played Superunknown – some kid’s kegger!” On that advice we stumble into Rainey Street – dodging a jewel encrusted ice cream van, Kelis’s food truck, a Game of Thrones rickshaw and finally an end-is-nigh evangelist along the way – to find a more relaxed atmosphere than the gathering mania in town, where picket fences mark out recently upgraded old bungalows and a school bus repurposed as a barbecue restaurant sits at the side of the road. “This place used to be a slum until a few years ago,” a local teen named Adam tells us, out for his usual Saturday night Lamb Gyro. “See that building over there?” he points towards a converted two storey house with a big backyard that plays host to a local rap crew. “Best venue in the city.” Within the scrum of lesser known acts appearing in the clubs and smaller marquees, the airfare and a rare opportunity to play in front of foreign fans, press and industry figures is embraced with both hands. “It’s hard to get money for these kinds of things nowadays; it’s not floating around like it used to be,” says Casual Sex frontman Sam Smith. “We’re a DIY band working out of a community studio in Glasgow and we’d still be there scratching our arses if there wasn’t investment from Creative Scotland. For us, that’s opened up so many doors.” Bassist Pete Masson summarises the whirlwind experience for the band in a nutshell. “It’s been punk rock just showing up, getting it together really quickly and just going on. It’s good to come and reset your idea of what it means to be in a band and have to win people over.” The Skinny takes one last wander down ‘Dirty Sixth’ to gather highlights from punters of all persuasions, by this time strewn along the street in various states of disrepair after five days of mayhem. A man dressed as a clown laments missing Snoop Dogg while a backpacker from Kansas thrusts his demo CD into our hand and asks “now, what are you going to do with this?” The hordes start to funnel out en masse to wash their sticky fingers and let this vibrant city recuperate in time for the X Games in June. The mindless hit and run tragedy that cast a shadow over the week notwithstanding, as festivals go SxSW 2014 was a triumphant oddity that needed seen to be believed – and oh yes, we’ll be back.
Jarvis Cocker
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Casual Sex
Showcasing Scotland On the away team’s trail in Texas
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n real terms, SxSW has heralded the American launch of such homegrown success stories as Frightened Rabbit and CHVRCHES in recent years. On this occasion, there were six groups of varied disciplines hoping to emulate at least some measure of those victories at Creative Scotland’s annual showcase at Latitude 30. As compere Vic Galloway succinctly put it on the night: “Everybody loves a bit of tartan and shortbread, but there’s a lot more going on than that...” Repeat SxSW attendee Withered Hand (aka Dan Willson) was first up, returning to Austin with a full band, which at present includes Willson’s mentor Kenny ‘King Creosote’ Anderson in its rotating number. With long-awaited second album New Gods only just on the shelves, he probably couldn’t have picked a better time or place to show off his glistening new set of melancholic gems; redolent of Neil Young or Mercury Rev at their most fragile, there’s a sense that in many ways the U.S. is his spiritual home. Evidently keen to shake off the folk rock shackles they’ve worn since long before Mumfords rendered ‘banjo’ a dirty word, Edinburgh residents Meursault trimmed down from the sprawling sextet of yore to an electric power trio for this debut run of American dates. Some might say that prodigious songwriter Neil Pennycook should have been out here years ago, and such was the band’s determination to make it this time that they turned to Kickstarter to help fund the trip. A different beast altogether were Glasgow quartet Casual Sex, who won men of the match outright for showmanship alone; a measured combination of wit and cool, they dedicated eponymous EP thriller The Bastard Beat to George Osborne, as frontman Sam Smith applied a badly aimed round of lipstick. “Normal’s fine, but I hear you like to get a bit weird out here,” he queries with an arched eyebrow. “I can do weird.” Introducing the louche, Roxy-friendly disco funk of Nothing On Earth for its Texan premiere, Smith reaches further into his tombola of random
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patter: “Imagine Bryan Ferry riding a dragon when you hear this song. Or a wolf. This was written for him.” It’s easy to see why a band this tight and entertaining has become such a curio to the American music press. Since touching down on the second night, Honeyblood had played some innings already. Noticeably refined every time we’ve seen them play since forming in 2012, Stina Tweeddale and Shona McVicar have been earning their chops on tour after recording their FatCat debut under the watch of Peter Katis (The National/The Twilight Sad) this past winter. By the time they got to Texas they were a well-practised unit firing on all cylinders. Rolling Stone’s David Fricke walked in right on cue. As SxSW veterans playing for the third time, We Were Promised Jetpacks – now a five-piece with keyboardist and guitarist Stuart McGachan in the fold – effectively ended a US tour in the way they first introduced themselves to the country. Trading in some of their old ADHD urgency for broader strokes, this road-testing of new material showed a band with the ambition to present itself in widescreen, giving an instant impression that they’re about to turn another corner when album number three surfaces this summer. Knackered by this point, we miss Young Fathers, deciding instead to see them play a one-off gig with the Cairn String Quartet at Okayplayer Africa’s 15th anniversary showcase the following night. A surprise appearance from Mancunian soul crooner Daley eats into their allotted time, to the point that they’re left with barely ten minutes onstage. They make every one of them count; with fire at their feet, it’s a whirlwind three-song set where violins and war drums collide in time to the trio’s unwavering stomp. But it’s a heartfelt rendition of I Heard from last year’s Tape Two that proves to be the showstopper, conveying in its own way the frustration of travelling so far just to be short changed at the finish line. An ecstatic crowd evidently feels differently. sxsw.com
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Photo: Drew Farrell
eep Austin Weird,’ suggests the bohemian tourism catchphrase that bounces around the Texan capital, usually found in bold colours on a psychedelic beach towel that looks like it belonged to The Grateful Dead’s merchandise range in the 70s. With that slogan as its mantra, a few thousand bands and some 300,000 punters (20,000 of which are music industry delegates) descending on the city for five days, South by Southwest’s (SxSW) worldwide reputation as the indie rock super bowl is no overstatement. Variety is perhaps half the charm for some spectators; from the minute our plane touches the tarmac, cult musical icons can be found enjoying everyman pursuits in every corner of the city – Rage Against the Machine’s Brad Wilk sullenly saunters to the back of the taxi queue like the rest of us proles, Jarvis Cocker struggles to be heard over a biker gang cranking Pantera as he attempts to get into a gig in a church (“we’re very well behaved,” he quietly assures the door staff), while Gruff Rhys stands outside a coffee shop jaw agape at a small cluster of pro-gun lobbyists, barely into double digits, who fail to bring the festival’s bustling hub of 6th Street to a halt. Tyler, the Creator, meanwhile, puffs a fag on a park bench and watches the madness unfold. Attracting the global media gaze as SxSW does, it’s unsurprising that while the vast majority of acts on the bottom rung are simply trying to get the word out without being eclipsed by tabloid glitz and glamour, established mainstream artists (like Lady Gaga, a surprise keynote speaker at this year’s event) and reactivated giants from yesteryear have been accused of photo-bombing the picture. Commercial interests meanwhile continue to leer in – from Apple and Samsung to Doritos and Taco Bell, it seems no brand’s banner is too tenuous or mismatched to hang over a rock’n’roll concert in 2014. But for all its contrived ‘synergies,’ like any festival experience – for performers and revellers – SxSW is exactly what you make of it. Take, for example, Seattle heavyweights Soundgarden – in town to mark the 20th anniversary of breakthrough opus Superunknown by performing it in full during iTunes’ five night residency on 2nd Street – who could have done with a purer opportunity to celebrate the occasion without the associative schmaltz of the ubiquitous Apple logo. “It was kind of stale to me,” admits the band’s Ben Shepherd. “Sometimes that stuff comes off as us being corporate whores basically. They allowed people in with this horrible lottery system instead of opening it up to real fans. It was a pissing test to see who’d get in
Photo: Ross Baynham
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SxSW: A Veteran’s Perspective An attendee of South by Southwest for over a decade, BBC Radio Scotland DJ Vic Galloway is still a firm believer in its ability to break new ground Photography: Drew Farrell
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Advertise Here! If you’re reading this advert, so are 160,000 other people this month. Ask your friendly neighbourhood sales team how you can advertise too. sales@theskinny.co.uk 0131 467 4630 @theskinnymag /TheSkinnyMag
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Illustration: Sophie Freeman
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here seems to have been a hint of resentment at this year’s coverage of the annual South by Southwest (SxSW) conference in Austin, Texas across the internet in these past few weeks. For a while, a handful of friends and colleagues of my own have also criticised the festival’s practices and the enormous expense involved in bringing international acts over to showcase their wares therein. I can definitely see their points of view. But to be brutally honest, a lot of this antipathy is often harboured by musicians who haven’t been selected to play, or by embittered, parochial music snobs hunched in front of their laptops venting their spleens in anonymity. If you live a rather charmless, difficult, mundane life in a grey, suburban town, then watching self-satisfied indie kids in dark-glasses supping margaritas must be incredibly galling. I understand. Although known as an enthusiast, I am also a cynic first and foremost. And why would or should an artist travel thousands of miles to play at somewhere unimaginably crammed full of other acts? There are so many festivals in our own backyard now. Austin is stifling hot; it’s extremely hard to navigate the streets and packed venues with equipment; there are thousands of industry cynics careering around in the hope of catching the next big thing; and the competition between bands is rife. But therein lies the answer. If you want to be taken seriously and noticed by the right people, SxSW is still one of the best places to start. You will find the cream of the crop here. Every year, the world’s finest and most inspired gather in one place to swap ideas across interactive, film and music conferences. Shouldn’t Scotland take part in this, even if it is difficult and expensive to instigate and initiate? Personally, I think so. I’ve been attending SxSW for 12 years now and like many other veterans, I have seen the festival develop, mutate and transform over that time. If in 2003 when I first arrived in Austin there was only one Scottish band playing, now we have annual showcases where some of our most exciting, ground-breaking artists can really connect with fans who can genuinely help with their
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ongoing musical career and build their audience. We can present our blossoming culture to anyone interested, and prove there is more to it than tartan, shortbread and bagpipes… although I must confess I am partial to a bit of all three! SxSW is still inundated with showcases from all over the world. Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, Canada and Latin American countries all curate events and labels and brands such as 4AD, Bella Union, Warp, Merge, NME, BBC Introducing and even our own Creative Scotland and LuckyMe are involved. They realise the importance of bringing new names to the forefront. To find the most exploratory, dangerous, DIY music, you need to venture under the highway to the east side of 5th and 6th street. Here you’ll find real, unadulterated rock’n’roll, freaky electronic music and boutique, self-run venues such as the excellent Hotel Vegas. Austin’s laid-back lifestyle is now attracting would-be Californians with its astonishing weather and ramshackle charm. And with a lot of space and real estate up for grabs, money goes that little bit further in Texas. Have you heard this story before? As more hipsters and entrepreneurs move in, so property prices are eventually hiked sky-high and a feeling of past authenticity is lost. It seems like a far cry from its roots as a bohemian bubble in this right-wing, Christian, conservative state. Without a doubt, the city has changed immeasurably over the last decade. Formula 1 has a home here, Austin has an international airport and a myriad of enormous, multinational tech companies. It's apparently now the 11th biggest city in the USA, even eclipsing San Francisco. But walk a block or two from the glittering, shiny, overbearing skyscrapers and you will see why it is still one of the most colourful, crazy, chaotic places on earth. This is why everyone still wants a piece of it and it’s why I return year after year. Vic Galloway presents on BBC Radio Scotland at 8.05-10pm Mondays. His book Songs in the Key of Fife is published by Polygon bbc.co.uk/radioscotland
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Under The Influence: Max Graef The hotly tipped Berlin-based producer talks us through ten albums which have inspired his work to date Interview: Daniel Jones
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arely 20 years old, Max Graef has already crafted his way into the realm of jazz-fuelled beatfreakery with the style and grace of a seasoned pro. Comparisons to Pépé Bradock and Motor City Drum Ensemble are fair, but Graef has a dextrous touch all his own, honed through years playing guitar and drums in jazz bands as a youth. His debut LP, Rivers of the Red Planet, lands on Tartelet this month and follows a steady stream of quality releases for the likes of Melbourne Deepcast and Box Aus Holz. Coming in at 16 tracks in less than an hour, it’s a pulsing guide through a range of tempos and tones, from the graceful fuzz of Itzehoe through switch-flipping cinematic snippets, to straighter hip-hop vibes. Which bring us to business. Here, Graef kindly donates ten of his favourite albums to our chart, and explains the significance of each artist in shaping the formidable sound of his new record. Wojciech Karolak – Easy [Polskie Nagrania Muza] Amazing and inspiring work by this Polish fellow. I also found his name listed as a composer on many other Polish funk and jazz records. Quite a genius! This was very inspiring in terms of crossing the borders of genre. Instant Groove, for example, is a funky freakshow!
but I always ended up a lot more melancholic. It’s very, very hard to make happy but tasteful music! Cro-Magnon – Cro-Magnon EP [Jazzy Sport] Cro-Magnon was one of my biggest discoveries last year, when Andy Hart pointed them out to me. Since last summer this record never left my bag. Crazy Japanese dudes making heavy futuristic funk and disco with a very natural jazzy swing to it.
Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage [Blue Note] Well, obviously one of the greatest musicians of all time: Herbie Hancock. Maiden Voyage is a beautiful album, probably one of my favourite jazz albums. I learned a lot from this album, especially how less can be a lot more.
Jimi Hendrix – War Heroes [Polydor] I’ve been a Hendrix fan since I was a little boy. The versions of Bleeding Heart and Midnight you’ll find on this record are out of this world. I learned to play the guitar by wanting to sound like Hendrix and I guess you can hear this poor attempt whenever I used the guitar on the album!
Breakout – Blues [Polskie Nagrania Muza] My dad played this to me a few years ago and I loved it straight away. Since then I've had my most trippy and colourful listening-experiences with this record. The guitar-solo on Gdybym był wichrem is absolutely insane. Tadeusz Nalepa had a way to make the guitar scream like a human, maintaining its sweetness and warm timbre with extremely exaggerated vibratos.
Ryo Kawasaki – Juice [RCA] Insanely futuristic, psychedelic and, surprisingly, casually funky for a Japanese virtuosic composer like Kawasaki. This record has the funk of The Meters and the weirdness of Zappa. There are great synth/sound experiments on there too. I have to admit I also stole some kicks from this recording... sick drum sounds throughout the record.
Hysear Don Walker – Complete Expressions (Vol. II) [Brunswick] Crazy good record. the Rhodes will always be the most mystical and beautiful instrument to me. This record is a full Rhode-trip, as I would call it, from beautiful and almost cheesy over smooth and extremely danceable to scary freaked-out stuff.
Hulk Hodn & Hubert Daviz – Kaseta [ENTBS] German instrumental hip-hop; very refreshing, and the production of Hubert Daviz continues to surprise me. I love his unconventional drum programming and sounds.
A Tribe Called Quest – People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm [Jive/RCA] Terrible artwork; incredible record. Luck of Lucien is probably one of my favourite hip-hop tracks of all time. I definitely tried to create a similar vibe on some of my tracks for the album
Glenn Astro & IMYRMIND – KDIM EP [Odd Socks] At last an inspiration in house music: Glenn Astro & IMYRMIND. The freshest boys in the scene, if you ask me. There was not one house record in the last couple of years that I was inspired by more. I love the wonkyness and rawness. The few house tracks I did for the album were inspired by this record, for sure. Read an extended version of this feature on theskinny.co.uk
Down By The River We quiz Soma boss Dave Clarke on this year’s Electric Frog and Pressure Riverside Festival Interview: Ronan Martin
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ext month sees the return of the Electric Frog and Pressure Riverside Festival – an event which has evolved considerably, both in format and scope, over the years. Originally a one dayer held at the SWG3 complex, the festival now boasts a two day bill and a picturesque spot on the Clyde next to the Riverside Museum. With the party a month or so away, we catch up with Dave Clarke of Pressure and the legendary Soma label to get the lowdown... How would you sum up the party in its current form? We are looking at developing a world class electronic music festival based at a site that is perfect for the events idea – the futuristic building down by the river brings together the area where Glasgow was industrially built from. I think it sums up where Scotland is at the moment. What elements have worked in previous years and what, if anything, will change this time round? From the start, we’ve always looked for interesting venues and endeavour to put together lineups that you’d struggle to find elsewhere. This time around we have spent a great deal of time getting the infrastructure of the site nailed and we’re really looking forward to opening the doors and getting the party started. I think in general,
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whether it’s in an industrial street full of arches, or the grounds of the Riverside Museum, we deliver something a little bit different. The line-up is nice and varied, with newer faces like Jamie Jones and Visionquest sharing the bill with seasoned veterans like Derrick Carter, Derrick May, François K and Andrew Weatherall. Talk us through the line-up... We have looked at bringing together a range of DJs who complement each other in styles, with enough variation to keep everyone’s interest throughout the day. We have still to announce the stage splits, but there is a thread running through each stage where current DJs and their influences are all playing together. Our main focus is to deliver a party and this line-up makes sure that is not an issue. Also, although some of the DJs have played on the circuit for some time and have been cited as influences to a lot of the fresh talent, they are all still very relevant and are still continuing to push musical boundaries. Cajmere b2b with DJ Sneak is a tantalising prospect! Is there a particular remit for this? Can we expect a Cajual/Relief Records classics set, or will it be more spontaneous on the day? Indeed – two of the biggest personalities in house music trying to outdo each other will be a
sight to see and hear. We can’t wait for this. It will be completely spontaneous, though I’d imagine that there will be some cheekiness involved to steal the limelight from each other, i.e. playing each other’s biggest tunes, though that is just a guess – we’ll find out when you guys do. Moritz von Oswald is a real catch, too, and comes with an esteemed reputation for his contributions to minimal techno and the dub scene. Yet perhaps some of the younger festival-goers will not be as familiar with his work. Tell us what we can expect from him? Moritz is a classic example of an artist who has maintained his relevance and who keeps creating fantastic new projects throughout his career. Expect the ground-breaking Basic Channel to get
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an airing – this project really was, in our opinion, the blueprint for the stripped back electronic sound that became absolutely huge. DJs will still drop a Basic Channel record and see the dancefloor erupt twenty years on. The influence of dub always features in his music; it’s always great to hear the use of space in music to create intensity. The Rhythm and Sound dub project was a development of this. The collaboration with Juan Atkins for the Borderland album this year shows that he continues to be a creative force. Expect the sound system to be put through its paces with this set! Riverside Festival takes place 3-4 May, The Riverside Museum, Glasgow riversidefestivalglasgow.com
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Clubbing Highlights This month we wax lyrical about the wonders of Legowelt, look forward to celebrating 10 Years of Hyperdub and await the visit of Stones Throw head honcho Peanut Butter Wolf Words: Ronan Martin Illustration: Anna Van Dooren
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icking things off in Glasgow, the i AM crew continue to defy the notion that nothing much really happens on a Tuesday night when they invite local DJ extraordinaire, Jackmaster to the Sub Club. Acclaimed internationally for playing across the board – from techno, house and disco, to electro, R’n’B and bass music, this occasion finds the Numbers member with a more focussed remit. Jackmaster’s Dance Mania is a tantalising prospect as it finds the DJ digging deep into the back catalogue of the legendary ghetto house label to construct a set likely to be characterised by turbo-charged classics from the likes of DJ Deeon, DJ Funk and Paul Johnson among others. Expect bass-heavy booty tracks and much April foolishness (Tue 1 Apr, £4/5). On Friday 11 April, La Cheetah hosts arguably one of the most gifted and varied producers in modern electronic music. Since the mid-90s Dutch artist Danny Wolfers AKA Legowelt has produced a considerable body of work that weaves its way through the sounds of classic Chicago house, the retro aesthetics of Italo disco and the darker recesses of techno and electro, while always retaining his own unique signature. Whether releasing on esteemed labels like Creme Organisation, Bunker or Clone – or giving his music away for free as in the case of brilliant 2011 album The Teac Life – Wolfers is a prolific talent and his wide range of influences make this one of the most intriguing live sets you are likely to see this month. If you need any more convincing of the scope and calibre of Wolfers’ musical influences, check out the DJ Chart and accompanying interview he gave The Skinny in February (£10 advance). The following night, as part of their landmark 20 year celebrations, Glasgow institution Subculture welcomes one of the original figureheads of house music to the Sub Club – none other than Lil’ Louis. With its instantly recognisable combination of synth stabs, marching percussion and some particularly wild orgasmic moans, the Chicago producer’s 1989 hit French Kiss became one of the defining records in the house music explosion of that era. Around 25 years on from that release, Louis is still in demand as a DJ and, as one of their favourite guests over the years, he seems the ideal choice to partner the club’s residents Harri & Dom for the celebrations (£10 adv). Seemingly aiming to dominate your entire Easter Weekend, The Arches offer three events under the Love Action banner, held between Thursday 17th and Saturday 19th. A wide-ranging line-up across the weekend appears to offer something for everyone with the venue first playing host to the likes of Erol Alkan and Daniel Avery on the Thursday, while Saturday’s final event features go-to house remix king MK, John Digweed and legendary UK garage spinner DJ EZ. The most interesting of the weekend’s line-ups would appear to be the Friday which partly nods in the direction of classic techno with two early pioneers, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson. They feature alongside house legend Frankie Knuckles and a selection of contemporary UK artists who have been making waves in recent years – Mano Le Tough, Boddika and Oneman among them (£17 one night, £29 two nights, £39 weekend pass). If you don’t fancy what’s on offer at The Arches on Friday 18 April, and you have more of a bass music sensibility, you would be silly to pass up on 10 Years of Hyperdub at the Art School. Arguably one of the most respected UK labels of the last decade, the stable run by Steve
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Goodman AKA Kode 9 was at the centre of the dubstep movement in its infancy and provided an outlet for tracks by Goodman himself, as well as the likes of Zomby, Darkstar and Burial. Kode 9 will have Terror Danjah, Ikonika and Scratcha DVA in tow so this one should be special (£8 early bird, then £12-15). Rounding things off in Glasgow, we are particularly looking forward to the Easter Sunday edition of Melting Pot which this month features the inimitable Mr Scruff. Over a career spanning two decades, the Macclesfiled-bred producer, DJ and cartoonist has developed a unique identity and a playful sound which incorporates elements of hip-hop, house and a healthy dose of nonsense. As a DJ, he is known for playing sets of up to six hours and will supplement his staple sounds of house and disco with soul, jazz, breaks and bass music, always shifting effortlessly between styles. His sets are perfectly accompanied by visuals crafted by his own hand and his scribbled drawings are as much a hallmark as his musical repertoire. He’s also fond of a cuppa and has been known to set up tea stalls at gigs. No, really. If you’ve never had the pleasure, we urge you to pop down to this one (Sun 20 Apr, £12 adv, £15 on the door). Heading over to Edinburgh and Sneaky Pete’s has a special line-up with the visit of Stones Throw founder, Peanut Butter Wolf. Chris Manak is a hip-hop label head of the finest kind. His knack for crafting ingeniously charismatic sample-based productions is matched only by the scope of his selection prowess. His outlet’s back catalogue contains classic records from the likes of MF Doom and Madlib, J Dilla and J Rocc amongst others and is testament to Peanut Butter Wolf’s impeccable taste. Anyone who can select with such ease over a mammoth 12-hour Boiler Room show, as he did earlier this year, is to be trusted to deliver the goods. If we are to believe the title of his flawless 1998 album, My Vinyl Weighs a Ton, and we wouldn’t doubt it, this night promises to exhibit a master craftsman at his best (Wed 2 Apr, £10). Elsewhere, Albatronics is a night which promises a different kind of club outing. Their focus is on contemporary Scottish music with an electronic twist. Known to pack stages with bagpipers and fiddlers alongside the DJs and producers, Albatronics is a refreshingly novel take on dancefloor-based club music. This month they welcome Sketch, who utilise Gaelic vocals and traditional instruments alongside lively percussion and programming. The lineup also includes Spartan Tartan and an act described as a Beatbox Flautist or Flutboxer, Pauly Piper, providing a unique take on hip-hop, drum ‘n’ bass, jazz and more (Sat 12 Apr, Studio 24, £7 adv/£10 on the door). Finally, Etiket celebrate their second birthday with the visit of Korean-born Berliner, Hun Choi AKA Hunee. Emerging in 2009 with stunning debut EP Tour De Force, Hunee’s productions vary from deep and atmospheric forays into the duskier end of the house music spectrum, to discoinspired head bobbers and full on acid-inflected dancefloor stompers. Though his productions have seen him release on respected labels such as Rush Hour and Ostgut Ton, his back catalogue is characterised more with quality rather than quantity and he has been able to earn his reputation primarily through his skills as a selector. In other words, we can’t recommend this one enough (Fri 18 Apr, 511, £7).
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Tania Kovats
Fruitmarket, unitl 25 May
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The centrepiece of Oceans, All at Sea has been in progress since 2012, with the grand ambition of collecting water from all the world’s seas in the one place. Glass vials and bottles line shelves, carefully numbered, with an accompanying index revealing both their source and their collector’s name. There’s inquisitive fun to be had scrutinising the list – artists around the world have contributed, plus gallerists and members of the public; Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is responsible for a surprising number of the samples. The decontextualised liquids and their means of display are placed somewhere between the scientific and the homely. The clarity of all but the Forth sample is a surprise – perhaps man’s influence is less than we are led to believe? Coupled with a shade of local embarrassment – our Leith water is worse than China’s? Alongside this is Only Blue, a work from 2013. Atlases are laid out on broad-topped plinths, overlapping and spread open to form the proportionally-inexact continents. The atlases’ landmasses have been half-heartedly redacted, painted white in a thin wash to allude to a world without land where the water is all. The viewer
stands in the ocean, as played by the air, the space between the continents another metaphorical water, surveying a liquid future without a Kevin Costner to rescue us. Drawings displayed on the walls surrender control of the process to the materials themselves, and by extension to the elements. Water is poured on ink on blotting paper, mixing together to form its own tracings. A photographic triptych, Cape Reinga, New Zealand, 2014, restores the elements to the vista, serving as a simultaneous reminder of the sublime and the lingering peril of the open ocean. Upstairs, barnacles painted in white gesso lie on the floor, their use in real form another act of surrender to nature’s artistry. Throughout, Kovats interrogates the act of creation, riffing on themes of landscape and man’s place within it. The piece in which the artist’s hand is most present, Sea Mark, a seascape constructed of glazed ceramic tiles on the back wall, reveals the stylized decorative futility of man’s mimicry of nature. It contains none of the power of the water. One leaves Oceans with a creeping sense of the vastness of the world’s waters, the overwhelming force of nature, and the tenuousness of human existence when measured next to them. [Rosamund West]
Stephanie Mann: Inherit This Mango Summerhall
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Stephanie Mann’s ‘feel-good’ visual language radiates from Summerhall’s vast frontage; her installation literally casts a healthy glow over pasty, winter-beaten visitors. Intertextuality and digital trickery are the contemporary shot in a deeply traditional genre’s arm: Mann wants to “tickle people’s eyes” with her idiosyncratic trompe-l’œil still lives. Mann is concerned with representation, placement and balance: both compositional and literal. Her arrangements are reminiscent of the tendency for domestic ‘curating’ of knick-knacks. They explore coexistence and interdependence in visual stimuli and the hand of the artist. Objects from the kiddie, crafty end of the art spectrum are the players in Mann’s theatrical tableaux: gold paint, glitter, string, rubber bands and the ubiquitous contents of the fruit-bowl or vase. The star of the show is modelling clay: this nostalgic-magic medium remains mostly
in pleasingly-ridged ‘raw’ form, occasionally morphing into droopy-worm or squidged-blob. Mann’s intuition for composition and colour elevates a kitchen table enterprise (which winks knowingly to domestic art veteran Tony Hart – god rest his soul) to the high planes of academic artistry. Though sculptural principles inform throughout, the almost-horizontal and not-quitevertical planes in the framed work give way to something suspiciously ‘flat’; on close inspection even the ‘live’ objects suggest an element of post-production which takes still life to a dizzyingly-meta level. Visible slivers of Mann’s mysterious black poloneck make her steady hand both puppeteer and performer in the mise-en-scène. The artistpersona remains in the wings, though one can’t help but visualise her rocking out to the ‘keyboard-demo’ soundtrack of her neat little video. By allowing the infectious positivity of her work to spill out over (plasticine-coloured) walls, Mann warms the cockles of the cynical and the numb, inviting them to play along with her brief moments of alignment. [Kate Andrews]
ADVERTISING FEATURE
Own Art: Glasgow International 2014 As Scotland occupies an important place on the global stage this year, welcoming the world to celebrate all our cultural achievements with us, maybe it’s time to be a tourist again in your home city? Words: Kate Andrews
G
lasgow International, which launches its sixth edition on 4 April, has a knack for unearthing disused and overlooked spaces in the city for repurposing or reinvigorating. This year’s programme, the debut of director Sarah McCrory, invites an even more engaged exploration. Alongside a packed programme in the city’s gallery and museum spaces, the 18-day festival invites visitors to explore the vibrancy of the local culture through its creative produce while locals have the opportunity to make intrepid discoveries on their doorstep by rediscovering or re-imagining these lost urban spaces. To coincide with the launch of the festival, Glasgow International are producing a suite of new print editions in close collaboration with artists featured in the Director’s Programme: Avery Singer, Aleksandra Domanovic, Jordan Wolfson, Sue Tompkins and Anthea Hamilton & Nicholas Byrne will follow in the footsteps of Jeremy Deller to create work for sale which both celebrates and supports the ethos of GI – the profits are channelled back into the future festival programme. In the same way that their own
commissions were funded, money raised from sales contributes towards future incarnations. McCrory praises the support of artists who are willing to “add to the pot” to continue the selfperpetuating model. She says, “They are all very generous by allowing their work to be sold to support the festival – we are really grateful.” By investing in the future of festival it will be possible to continue the kind of support which will keep the vast majority of the programme (currently over 90%) free to attend. Ranging between £80 and £500, the Own Art scheme can be used to purchase the majority of these editions whose creators were specifically approached by McCrory for their ability to create something striking and interesting relative to their GI project. These projects include those shown in the programme of ‘other’ spaces of this year’s GI, including an underground car park, the former site of the Camp Coffee factory and a shopping centre. Amongst these unorthodox spaces is the Govanhill Baths which will be occupied by Anthea Hamilton and Nicholas Byrne’s free-standing inflatable sculptures based on appropriated
Charlotte Prodger, Richard Chain, 2014
advertising, popular culture and psychedelia. The pair are producing a collaborative edition for sale based on this work which looks set to be a firm crowd-pleaser. For those who wish to record such work by investing in a purchase McCrory has the following advice: “See what catches your eye, maybe read a bit about the artist and feel free to ask whoever is selling it to talk about the work. They should be good at it! Sometimes it’s intimidating but do ask. There may be themes or ideas that add to the enjoyment of a work you may be attracted to on a purely aesthetic level… It’s great that contemporary art enthusiasts will get to take a bit of the exhibition home with them through a print.” McCrory ‘s attitude to buying art is
refreshingly relaxed: “I do own prints and editions, and one or two unique pieces given to me by friends; I’m not sure that qualifies me as a collector. Just an enthusiast… My pieces are very varied and just things I like. Quite the opposite of curating. I’m happy to be quite amateur with what I own and live with at home. “Own Art is great. It’s a no-brainer really. An interest free loan to buy art? Brilliant. It means that people who can’t afford to buy unique works of art (me!) can start to collect editions and smaller works. Some of the best collections in the world have started with very modest pieces.” Glasgow International, 4-21 Apr glasgowinternational.org
Galleries across Scotland are members of the Own Art scheme. By offering interest-free loans of £100-£2,000 through Own Art, buying an original piece of quality contemporary art or craft couldn’t be easier. For more information about Own Art and a list of participating galleries see the Own Art website: www.ownart.org.uk
Offer subject to age and status. Terms and conditions apply. You will need a UK bank account that can handle direct debits, proof of identity and address, and you will also need to be over 18. Own Art is an Arts Council England initiative operated by Creative Sector Services CIC, a Community Interest Company registered in England and Wales under number 08280539. Registered address: 2-6 Cannon Street, London EC4M 6YH.
Look for the pink logo. (representative 0% APR)
249 West George Street Glasgow G2 4QE
April 2014
ART
Preview
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April Film Events
Tom at the Farm
Tom at the Farm
A Story of Children and Film
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Director: Xavier Dolan Starring: Xavier Dolan, Pierre-Yves Released: 4 Apr Certificate: 15
Director: Mark Cousins Released: 4 Apr Certificate: PG
In its setup and execution, Tom at the Farm, the fourth film from Québécois wonderkid Xavier Dolan, is pure Polanski. The title character (played by Dolan) is holed up in an isolated farmhouse with the family of his recently deceased boyfriend, Guillaume. He’s visiting for the funeral but the mother is under the impression that her youngest was straight and Guillaume’s thuggish older brother Francis (Cardinal) wants to keep it that way. A war of wills begins: Francis repeatedly beats Tom and sets him to work on the farm. Stockholm syndrome sets in and Tom becomes accustomed to his mistreatment. In fact, he starts to like it; you could call this a sadomasochistic romance. Stylistically, Tom at the Farm is a huge departure from Dolan’s three previous features. Here he gets maximum voltage out of the material (a Michel Marc Bouchard play) by preferring elegant tableaux over his usual florid, music video-like flourishes. The result is a mean little absurdist thriller, and, by some margin, the best of Dolan’s work so far. [Jamie Dunn]
As its mimetic title might indicate, A Story of Children and Film plays more like an appendix to Mark Cousins’ encyclopaedic The Story of Film than a fresh project. It’s a welcome added chapter, shrugging off historiography in order to thematically dart from country to country, decade to decade, examining cinema’s many depictions of childhood with characteristically contemplative insight. Neither confined to nor wary of obvious or mainstream examples, Cousins shuffles his cine-deck to find the connections between, for instance, US blockbusters and 30s Japanese cinema (E.T. and Children in the Wind, respectively), or the ways in which Tom and Jerry cartoons and the early work of Lynne Ramsay both use the frame to block out the adult world. With excerpts from 53 films squeezed into 104 curatorial minutes, some readings inevitably cry out for further elaboration (particularly when discussing more obscure or harder-to-obtain selections), but such frustrations are rare; for the most part, this side-odyssey is a stimulating and perspective-broadening experience. [Chris Buckle]
Exhibition
Locke
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Director: Joanna Hogg Starring: Viv Albertine, Liam Gillick Released: 25 Apr Certificate: 15
Director: Steven Knight Starring: Tom Hardy Released: 18 Apr Certificate: 15
After two impressive features that established Joanna Hogg as a distinctive voice in British cinema, her third film, Exhibition, finds the filmmaker pushing her artistry in a number of fresh and adventurous directions. Gone are the ensemble dramas of Unrelated and Archipelago, here being replaced by an elliptical, fragmented style that is simultaneously more intimate and more oblique. First-time actors Viv Albertine and Liam Gillick play D and H, two artists preparing to sell the modernist London house they have lived in for most of their two-decade marriage. With this imminent change creating a rupture in their relationship, an undefined past trauma is gradually brought back to the surface. Exhibition is a probing study of the creative process, female sexuality and the myriad ways in which we relate to our environment and each other. Both Hogg’s exceptional use of space and the complex sound design ensure that the striking architecture D and H inhabit is as much of a character as they are. [Philip Concannon]
If the close-up is cinema’s most powerful tool not to be overused, tell director Steven Knight, who focuses almost explicitly on the face of Tom Hardy in this thrilling single person piece. Also tell Atom Egoyan, who in similar fashion projected a thirty minute single take of Michael Gambon’s crumbling features for his adaptation of Beckett’s Eh Joe. It’s only right to compare Locke to theatre in style, and absolutely necessary to compare specifically to Beckett, from which it takes so much. While the great playwright was haunted by the past, Hardy’s Ivan Locke is by the present. Sealed in the modern isolation of his car, speeding down the M9 but as distant as Sandra Bullock in Gravity ’s pod, he navigates domestic and professional situations that have taken on Herculean significance. Krapp, another Beckett protagonist, endured his own folly through aged tapes; Locke is tormented by the live present through his incessant car phone. This does not quite share the subtlety of Beckett, or the poetry, but must be considered a strong modern equivalent. [Alan Bett]
Calvary
The Double
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Director: John Michael McDonagh Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Released: 11 Apr Certificate: 15
Calvary, McDonagh’s followup to The Guard, opens with a brilliantly startling opening line. I won’t spoil it here, not that it matters though, as the writer-director spoils it himself a few seconds later: “That’s certainly a startling opening line,” says Father James (an earthy Brendan Gleeson) to the unseen man who’s giving confession. This smug, meta self-commentary continues throughout as we discover the confessor plans to kill the priest in seven days as punishment for the Catholic Church’s sins. What follows is an uncompelling comic whodunit (or whowilldoit) with delusions of existential grandeur. Father James does the rounds of his small parish – each of his flock the potential assassin, none believable characters – and engages them in debates about faith. Perhaps to compensate for his talky script and repetitive structure, McDonagh’s direction is distractingly fussy, all asymmetrical framing and on-the-nose symbolism. The one grace note is Gleeson. Beefy and wise, his forlorn marked-man is always watchable, even when spouting smart aleck dialogue as his director strains for transcendence. [Jamie Dunn]
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Review
Now in its 21st year, Dead by Dawn returns to the Filmhouse in Edinburgh this month (24-27 Apr). The horror festival has yet to announce its full line-up – Greatful Dead, a darkly comic Japanese exploitation-horror-indie film by Uchida Eiji, and Takashi Miike’s Lesson of the Evil have been confirmed – but, as always, guests can expect a wide variety of old and new horror movies as well as vintage trailers, fun events, and the traditional Shit Film Amnesty. The festival’s twisted mini-sibling Spawn of Dawn (26 Apr) runs from midnight to the early hours of the morning, showing a “best of” selection of five movies. Check www.deadbydawn.co.uk for the full programme. Acclaimed classic film In the Heat of the Night is showing at the DCA in Dundee (6 Apr) as part of their ongoing Focus on Film strand. Considered one of Hollywood’s most important contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, it stars Sidney Poitier as a black detective hired to work with a bigoted Southern sheriff. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Rod Steiger, as sheriff Gillespie), and remains as fascinating today as ever. The GFT in Glasgow is hosting a special screening of That Sinking Feeling (15 Apr) to coincide with its re-release on DVD – finally restored with the original Glaswegian dialogue track rather than America-friendly dubbing. Writer-director Bill Forsyth’s debut film (also the first film financed and made in Scotland), shot on a micro-budget in Glasgow, is a clever comedy about a group of hapless youths who decide to get rich quick by stealing some sinks. There will be special guests at this screening, yet to be announced. Keep an eye on www.glasgowfilm.org for more details. Anyone feeling nostalgic should head to the Cameo in Edinburgh – as well as showing a different Disney cartoon every Sunday, the cinema’s also showing a special double bill of two classic 80s kids films, The Princess Bride and Labyrinth (26 Apr). The former, directed by Rob Reiner, a cult favourite, is a tongue-in-cheek fairy tale, while the latter notoriously terrified and entertained children in equal measures – Bowie’s outfits arguably caused the most anguish. Rockumentary Unknown Passage: The Dead Moon Story is showing at the GFT (12 Apr), charting Fred Cole’s career from the 1960s, when he toured alongside Janis Joplin and The Doors, to his punk-rock days of the late-70s and early-80s. The film will be introduced by Brian Hogg, and everyone attending will receive a special 7” vinyl (record player not included). [Becky Bartlett]
Director: Richard Ayoade Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska Released: 4 Apr Certificate: 15 Richard Ayoade deftly crafts humanist comedy from dark, Kafkaesque absurdity in his Dostoyevsky adaptation The Double. Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) is trapped in an uncanny, Orwellian nightmare, living in a lonely tower block and stuck in perpetual night. He works for a sinister company with the obscure objective to turn people into data “as there is no such thing as a special person.” Simon knows this more than most – not only is he not special, he’s a forgettable non-person, so much so that when his literal and figurative doppelganger James Simon (also Eisenberg) shows up to win over his office and his girl, not even his friends notice that he is an exact simulacrum of Simon. Eisenberg’s duel performance crackles as the hapless romantic Simon and the misogynistic, manipulative James. Mia Wasikowska is Hannah, Simon’s unrequited love and a manic pixie dream girl with a voice. Ayoade’s film is wonderful artifice, perfectly constructing a claustrophobic microcosm of aural and spatial unheimlich; an intensely hostile world, as terrifying as it is funny. [Rachel Bowles]
FILM
Lesson of the Evil
THE SKINNY
Blind Woman’s Curse
Nymphomaniac
Hands Over the City
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Director: Teruo Ishii Starring: Meiko Kaji, Hoki Tokuda Released: Out Now Certificate: 15
Blind Woman’s Curse opens in the most breathtaking fashion. A Yakuza Clan, tensed and snarling in torrential rain, synchronise to reveal a full dragon tattoo running across their bare backs, each one a single link of a greater whole, ready for attack. It’s visually stunning, more so because peeking scornfully from beneath her straw hat is the phenomenal Meiko Kaji, better known as Lady Snowblood or Sasori the Scorpion in the famous series. Helmed by Teruo Ishii (Female Yakuza Tale) and filmed in his surreal/lunatic aesthetic. After blinding a woman with a misplaced sword swipe, Meiko is terrorised by a black cat ghost (kaibyo), her clan’s flatulent nemesis and a sinister hunchback with a mysterious and vengeful master. It’s too ridiculous to work but runs with enough cult cool to bewitch any viewer. A grotesque Japanese ghost story with Carry-On humour and 70s sleaze, culminating in geysers of blood and an exquisite final face-off. [Alan Bett]
Director: Lars von Trier Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård Released: 28 Apr Certificate: 18 Lars is back to his provocative, trolling self with sex confessional Nymphomaniac. Erudite yet impotent Seligman (Skarsgård) happens upon a battered Joe (Gainsbourg) in an alley and takes her home for tea and sympathy. Joe unreliably narrates her sexual escapades, while Seligman interrupts her, relating her stories to fly fishing and Bach. Von Trier frames this with fussy chapters and laboured metaphors, in either a forced display of stylistic flourishes or mockery of such conceits. Nymphomaniac’s casual attitude towards racism and sexual assault is at best idiotic – when Joe sexually assaults a male acquaintance, it’s presented as a kindly act. Gainsbourg is thoroughly immersed in von Trier’s typical destructive feminine mode, and for a film about nymphomania, there is a distinct lack of jouissance. Nymphomaniac’s clunkiness and desperation to shock could be forgiven if it wasn’t so uniformly dull. [Rachel Bowles]
Director: Francesco Rosi Starring: Rod Steiger, Salvo Randone Released: Out Now Certificate: PG When a residential building collapses at the start of Francesco Rosi’s Hands Over the City, it exposes a web of corruption that the director investigates with a journalistic rigour. A dubbed Rod Steiger brings characteristic intensity to the role of a property developer simultaneously trying to extricate his family from scandal and secure votes for an upcoming election. Hands Over the City largely consists of men having discussions and debates in crowded rooms, but this potentially dry material is invigorated by Rosi’s direction. His roving camera makes us feel like unseen observers in these clandestine meetings, and the performances he draws from his cast (including members of the Naples City Council, playing themselves) generate gripping drama. This is a film propelled by a genuine outrage at the chicanery of contemporary politics; over 50 years after it won the Venice Golden Lion, its power and resonance have not dimmed. [Philip Concannon]
Wrinkles
White of the Eye
Outpost III: Rise of the Spetsnaz
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Director: Ignacio Ferreras Starring: Martin Sheen, George Coe, Released: 28 Apr Certificate: 15 Animation as a medium has served elderly protagonists particularly well; the form’s limitless visual possibilities have also provided several of cinema’s most potent ruminations on memory and the passage of time. Spanish production Wrinkles is another great example of this. Focusing on a man slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s, and the morally questionable roommate he befriends at a care home, it ventures into territory that many live-action films have explored, but without the usual coating of saccharine sentiment. Wrinkles is a nuanced, rich look at human frailty and the beauty of life, alternating between frank and tenderly humane notes with perfect precision, making the conventional beats its story does hit genuinely poignant. [Josh Slater-Williams]
Director: Donald Cammell Starring: David Keith, Cathy Moriarty Released: Out Now Certificate: 18 Brutal violence, Native American mysticism and infidelity collide in Donald Cammell’s visually impressive and often dizzying thriller, which finally gets a long-awaited release through Arrow Films. When a brutal killer strikes an isolated desert community, a young wife (Cathy Moriarty) starts to have doubts about the man that she married (David Keith). Lingering shots of vast desert landscapes and suggestions of dark primal influences, along with a soundtrack from Pink Floyd ‘s Nick Mason, help sustain a haunting atmosphere. Cammell gets some great performances from his two leads in particular. If the narrative jumps are occasionally a little disorientating, Moriarty’s grounded, imperfect Joan brings focus. A disappointingly contrived climax slightly mars things, but this is an unashamedly cerebral film. [Scott McKellar]
Book of the Month
Gutter 10
Boy, Snow, Bird
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By Helen Oyeyemi
Out now, published by Picador, RRP £12.99
By this third film in the Outpost saga, you know what you’re getting into. If zombie Nazis in secret bunkers aren’t your thing, you might want to stay clear. This prequel to the 2008 hit has elite Russian soldiers (the Spetsnatz of the title) captured by Nazi scientists, who are experimenting with the undead in their underground lab. The zombie Nazi series is from Scottish-based production company Black Camel, and its Celtic roots are felt in the casting, with Glasgow-born Bryan Larkin as lead soldier Dolhokov. Sporting a passable Russian accent and an impressive physique, Larkin completely commits to the role. Without him this ‘Die Hard in a bunker’ could easily have gone off the rails with its cartoonish bad guys and outrageous dialogue. It’s scrappy, but it’s not as indulgent or half as smug as other films in the genre. [Scott McKellar]
Other People’s Countries: A Journey into Memory
By Various
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Boy is a beautiful, contrary young woman who runs away from her abusive rat-catcher father in New York and ends up at the end of the line in Flax Hill, an idyllic town where everyone is a specialist – whether that be in cake-making, jewellery or teaching history. There, she meets Arturo and his daughter Snow, a charming, distant child who entrances everyone, including Boy. But when Boy has her own daughter, whip-smart little Bird, everything changes. Oyeyemi is a beautifully lyrical writer who excels at weaving stories within stories, spinning dark fables without a hero or moral. This is a modern fairy tale, where the uncanny flits in and out, but it is grounded in a real time and (what could be) a real place. You never quite get a grip on the three female protagonists’ characters – even when you’re reading from their point of view, you seem to be seeing them through other characters’ eyes. Their personalities, like their reflections in the mirror, have trouble staying still long enough to be captured, and they are defined by their relationships to one another. This is an elegant, poetic tale of identity, loss and the ties that bind us to each other. [Alice Sinclair]
Director: Kieran Parker Starring: Bryan Larkin, Iván Kamarás Released: Out Now Certificate: 18
Indecent Acts By Nick Brooks
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By Patrick McGuinness
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Scotland’s leading literary magazine has marked its fifth birthday with a new layout, another fine selection of new Scottish writing, and an interview with Alan Bissett, the first of a regular feature. Zoë Wicomb leads the pack with Art Work, a masterful short story set during the Edinburgh Festival about a mother dealing with, or not dealing with, a son who has chosen to be an artist – not a doctor as she’d hoped. Gutter debuts from Kate Tregaskis and Nick Athanasiou are both promising – the former for its semi-surreal treatment of turning Edinburgh Zoo into a protest art piece, and the latter for its postmodern uneasiness in separating author and narrator, for the self-conscious manner in which the story unfolds and edits itself. Elsewhere, J Johannesson Gaitán’s Beluga Song has a whale appear in the bath one day, singing ‘like a drunk in a BBC Christmas drama.’ For the narrator and his partner, the whale in the bath is the unmanageable opposite of the elephant in the room: their failing relationship. The numbers in the editorial are good to know: in five years they’ve published 169 men and 166 women, which is a pleasing balance. It’s a sparkling pool of excellent writers. [Galen O’Hanlon]
Far removed from the current trend in celebrity biographies, Patrick McGuinness’ memoir is an unusual and striking foray into the past. The book is a collection of Proustian pieces, varying in length from a paragraph to a few pages, on subjects as diverse and ramshackle as sweet shops to ‘pissing in your chips.’ From this eclectic collection of musings, a picture of McGuinness’ childhood may be drawn, the reader piecing together the details to create an odd sort of fragmented narrative. McGuinness is renowned for his poetry, and here his lyricism seeps into his prose. Set in the small Belgian border town of Bouillon, the text paints a picture of a past which is almost exotic in its quaintness. It is all too possible for a memoir to descend into solipsism, yet McGuinness extricates himself from potential self-indulgence with powerful universal observations on memory. He is particularly strong on the way in which the places of our childhood embed themselves in us, shaping our futures. ‘Most of my childhood feels more real to me now than it did then’, he writes; this remembered reality is shared with the reader, so vividly that it is almost disquieting. [Rosie Hopegood] Out now, published by Jonathan Cape, RRP £14.99
Out now, published by Freight, RRP £6.99
Opening Nick Brooks’ third acclaimed novel, Indecent Acts, you are immediately struck by the fragmented patois on the page. These are the semi-illiterate ramblings of Grace, the lovable yet simple protagonist and narrator of this novel. Striking the balance between tragedy and comedy, you can’t help but be moved by her frank account. Flawlessly tapping into the psyche of this jaded and middle-aged woman, Brooks presents us with a true working class character. We encounter Drumchapel through her defeated eyes. As a forty-something-year-old mother of two grown up children, we vicariously feel her sense of impending loneliness. With her son, Vincent, who is adamant about joining the army, and her enigmatic daughter, Francis – missing for over a year – Grace fears for her future and that of her grandson, Sean. Brooks’ ability to create such animated and captivating prose through the unconventional vehicle of a dim and self-deprecating woman makes Indecent Acts a real literary treat. The protagonist’s humorous outlook on life, coupled with her shambolic idiom makes a disastrous bus journey, in deepest Drumchapel, feel like the Tour de France. This book will immerse you in these characters’ lives to the point you won’t want to leave. [Maria Whelan] Out 7 Apr, published by Freight, RRP £8.99
April 2014
FILM / BOOKS
Review
51
Let’s Dance
Macrobert It seems the spring and summer brings out the dancer in us all, as the Macrobert launches its 2014 Let’s Dance programme. Northern Ballet kicks off the entire season on 31 March. In an attempt to make ballet accessible to young children, the classical dance company create their own fairytale versions of The Three Little Pigs in this Scottish premiere, having recently toured Cinderella and The Ugly Duckling across the UK. The programme is heavily infused with the work of Erik Kaiel, who has been making work for the past twenty years. Winner of the No ballet competition of 2010 – a choreography competition for contemporary dance – Kaiel brings three works to Stirling for the Macrobert’s dance season: a double bill called No Man is an Island / My True North and Murikamification. The double bill seems like an attempt at defying gravity through dance, while Murikamification tries, much like parkour, to adapt and mould dance and dancers’ bodies to the urban environment of Stirling. Meanwhile, Compagnie Nathalie Cornille present A Chairy Tale, a cine-dance performance featuring six short films showcasing the work of Stirling-born film-maker Norman McLaren. The title of the event is taken from 1957 film A Chairy Tale, on which McLaren collaborated with Claude Jutra, with animation by Evelyn Lambart. As 2014 is the centenary of McLaren’s birth, the Macrobert celebrates as part of its dance festival and the McLaren 2014 project to celebrate his work. Finally, Michael Clark company will wrap up the season with their new show animal / vegetable / mineral. While the company was set up in 1984, the show – with a soundtrack ranging from Relaxed Muscle, Scritti Politti and The Sex Pistols – demonstates their work is still as contemporary as ever. Let’s Dance 2014 also includes various workshops, dance-related films and free pop-up performances, including acrobatic duet Sprawl, performed by All Or Nothing Aerial Dance and Room 2 Manoeuvre. [Eric Karoulla] Let’s Dance festival, Macrobert, 31 Mar-21 Jun Sprawl
macrobert.org/letsdance.htm
Uncensored Life: A Celebration for John Calder
Traverse Another celebration of a Scotsman comes to the foreground. On 18 and 19 April, John Calder visits the Traverse. Still writing at the age of 87, it makes sense the Traverse – home to new playwriting for Scotland – is hosting nights in his honour, as Calder has been a champion of radical and hugely influential writers including Beckett, Miller, and Burroughs. The first night sees Scotland’s premier chamber music collective, the Hebrides Ensemble performing Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with young mezzo soprano Anna Huntley in honour of Calder’s love and patronage of opera. If opera isn’t your thing, it’s still possible to see and hear the great man speak about his work – on the afternoon of 19 April, Alan Taylor discusses John Calder’s life and work, writers, publishing, music, progressive art, freedom of speech and the avant garde with the man himself. A little later in the day, John Calder and Derek Watson read a selection of prose and poetry from authors Calder published. And finally, as Calder is a fan of Beckett’s work, Ireland’s greatest Beckett interpreter Barry McGovern, fresh from his acclaimed performances of I’ll Go On at the 2013 Edinburgh International Festival and in Los Angeles returns to Edinburgh for this special night to perform an homage to Beckett. McGovern will interpret a selection of texts from Samuel Beckett’s prose works interspersed with some of his less known but extraordinary poems. [Eric Karoulla]
The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler Citizens Vanishing Point, in collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland, present The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler. Known as a poet, surrealist-humourist and songwriter, Ivor Cutler is one of Scotland’s unique artists. Born in 1923 in Glasgow, Cutler had a long and varied career in both music and film: in 1967, he appeared in the film Magical Mystery Tour with the Beatles; one of his LPs was produced by the Beatles’ George Martin; in 1969, he recorded one of his first sessions for John Peel. He became known particularly for accompanying
himself on a harmonium or piano. Now, eight years after his death, Vanishing Point and the National Theatre of Scotland are trying to resurrect the spirit through his work. Using recordings and recorded performances of his work, with the aid of Phyllis King, Vanishing Point’s Sandy Grierson channels Cutler’s voice. King used to perform with Cutler on a BBC radio series called King Cutler. Her contribution is reflected by Elicia Daly. The two actors will also be joined by Ed Gaughan who will invoke other partnerships Cutler made, and by four musicians who will try to recreate his music including Going in a Field,
Macrobert, 25 Apr, 7.30pm, £5-£13.50 Traverse, 29 Apr-3 May, 7.30pm; matinee 3 May, 2.30pm, £8-£15.50 www.vanishing-point.org/news-items/2013/12/thebeautiful-cosmos-of-ivor-cutler
Company of Wolves tour their debut full-length theatrical work, entitled Invisible Empire. It tackles the human tendency to conform as well as to rebel. Directed by Ewan Downie, the Glasgowbased physical theatre company fuse voice, text, and movement to form a powerful piece, which pokes at the ideas of complacency, alienation, and the need to justify actions by any means possible. Featuring Maïté Delafin, Rodrigo Malvar, Jonathan Peck, Anna Porubcansky, Tom Pritchard, Invisible Empire tries to explore the underlying reasons for giving in to the flow and losing the self in modern-day society as well as standing up to it and resisting. The company will go on tour across Scotland during April and May 2014. [Eric Karoulla] 26-27 Apr, Summerhall, 7.30pm, £11 (£9) 1 May, Platform, 7pm, £8 (£4.50/£3) companyofwolves.org.uk
traverse.co.uk/news/john-calder-festival-programmeannounced
Preview
Citizens Theatre, 9-19 Apr, 7.30pm (not 13 or 14 Apr); matinee 12 Apr, 2.30pm, £8 (previews) / £12-£19.50
Invisible Empire on Tour
18 & 19 Apr
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I Believe in Bugs, Rubber Toy, Baby Sits, I’m Happy and Beautiful Cosmos. Directed by Matthew Lenton, The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler will tour across the country from the start of April until the start of May. [Eric Karoulla]
Invisible Empire
THEATRE
THE SKINNY
In Defence of BBC Three Comedian Liam Pickford takes a look at the lost legacy of the Beeb’s brief dance with the next generation and dreams of what might have been
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hen I was a boy, I dreamed some dreams. I dreamed about being Peter Schmeichel, and using my massive Danish hands to save all the goals ever to the delight of the pie-crumb coated Stretford End. I dreamed that one day I’d convince my gran that knitted green balaclavas would never catch on and however well intentioned her gift was, I looked like a proper belm. But most of all, I dreamt about being on telly. That dark, mysterious, foreboding box in the corner, so full of the vivid colour of life, sounds from places never visited, laughter from characters ill conceived. One day in the North in the mid-nineties, bathed in the Sun Lolly light of a donewithschool evening, a bloke in a blue suit came round and put a tiny satellite box on top of the TV. Had I known what Pandora’s Box was about to be opened, I’d have said “Hang on a minute pal! That’s too much telly!”, but I couldn’t because I had braces and sounded like a piece of my mouth had been shot out by a bad man. The arrival of cable television made the dreams I’d nurtured seem all the more possible. If Terry from Leeds with the denim face can get on Challenge TV, then so can I! But it was not to be – I waded through ten years of being told I couldn’t go on Gladiators and wept tears of frustration as I made Tamagotchi after Tamagotchi poo itself to death in a callous dirty protest against all technology and its arbiters. The tiny digital box had actually made TV seem further away than ever. Until, that is, the arrival of BBC Three. The possibilities seemed infinite. For people who’d always fancied projecting their self-indulgent, conceited but sometimes funny mouthspewings to a wider audience, BBC Three held its tattooed and American Apparel-clad hipster arms open and said “Send us your shit. We’ll ferment it into a telly-friendly brew!” The brew would optimistically ferment under a banner of fresh, young, bold, edgy and, above all, accessible. The much-maligned channel was created with ‘da yoof’ in mind. A bold mission statement for your 16-30s, who were seldom catered for by Auntie Beeb. We wanted coke, she gave us jam. And, by the hands of Arthur Christ, they captured the spirit of this age. Lily Allen talking to Jermaine
April 2014
Illustration: Paul Law
Defoe. That’s what we want. Girls and boys going on holiday and weeing on Spanish things. Yes! Yes, BBC, that’s what we’re like! Thank you! Thank you so much! Alas, this celebration of human endeavour and discovery was deemed too raw, too free, too alive by the powers that be. BBC Three is being taken off the air. In the comedy circles I inhabit and borrow money from, this has been extensively discussed, with its proponents and opponents airing their views with the freedom of a promiscuous daft bastard. At first I was slightly resentful. Despite its obvious flaws and the brunt of commissioning being left to Cambridge Footlights graduates who made sketches about Hitler and the poor, it nevertheless provided aspiring comic writers some platform for new and fresh ideas, however terrible, racist or clichéd. A shining example of this bold statement, never-say-die, gung-ho bold programming is a programme called Hair. It’s about people cutting hair. No attempt has been made to appease the nasty, grumbling cynic with a clever wordplay title. They rose above that. It’s just called Hair. It’s about hair. Young people love hair. A lot have it on their heads, arms and balls. Some don’t, but a lot do. Good, honest programmes like this are vital to inspiring young people. I only watched four seconds of this, but I’ve already written four series of similarly naked telly. Scabs, Butchers, Bums and Widge Nurse all owe their potential 5,000 viewer rating to programmes such as this. So to deny the public BBC Three is to deny Oxbridge graduates the right to make these shining truth orbs of things and that would be a grave mistake. Support your local Oxbridge graduate intern and film your balls for 30 minutes. Send it to them. The solidarity will be palpable and is the only way to satiate the vanities of that fading childhood. Support them, or force an entire generation through the curtain of the Channel 4 berkcircus, where they’ll just write stuff about poor people. Then, literally dozens of viewers will go “Ahahahah. Their lives are terrible. Burn them!” But above all, remember those dreams. Dreams. They dreamed such beautiful dreams.
COMEDY
Music Sergei Prokofiev Choreography Krzysztof Pastor
“Breathtaking — a triumph” Sunday Herald
Glasgow King’s Theatre 19 – 26 April 2014 0844 871 7648*
Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre 30 April – 3 May 2014 01224 641122*
atgtickets.com/glasgow*
aberdeenperformingarts.com
Inverness Eden Court 7 – 10 May 2014 01463 234 234*
Edinburgh Festival Theatre 21 – 24 May 2014 0131 529 6000*
eden-court.co.uk*
edtheatres.com*
Under 26 or a full-time student? Get £10 tickets Only available in person from 12noon on the day if the performance with photo ID or proof of status.
*Booking fee Company No. SC065497. Scottish Charity No. SC008037. Photograph by David Eustace.
Review
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Win Tickets to Bilbao BBK Live!
Win tickets to Knockengorroch!
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he Skinny and Bilbao BBK Live festival have teamed up to give one lucky reader a pair of three-day tickets to Bilbao BBK Live Festival, taking place from 10-12 July 2014. Boasting an incredible line-up that includes the likes of The Prodigy, The Black Keys, Franz Ferdinand, Phoenix, MGMT and White Lies to name just a few, Bilbao BBK Live festival is one of this summer’s unmissable dates. Make the most of this experience – the site’s proximity to the city and beach and the late start of bands will leave you with enough time to enjoy a weekend break in Bilbao; a surprisingly modern city famous for its architecture, museums and gastronomy; just a stone’s throw away from some of the best waves in Europe. For your chance to win, head along to theskinny.co.uk/about/competitions and answer this simple question:
Which band will be headlining Bilbao BBK Live 2014? a) The Black Sheep b) The Black Friday c) The Black Keys Competition closes midnight Sunday 27 Apr. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at www.theskinny.co.uk/about/terms. Tickets don’t include camping. A total of 5 Euros will have to be paid to make use of the camping area for four nights. No age restrictions to enter the competition, but under 18s should be accompanied by an adult. bilbaobbklive.com/2014/en
hether you hail from Scotland, Pangaea, Middle Earth or Mars make the journey into the Southern Uplands and gather where all are one, under the stars in the darkest skies in the UK (certified!). With music and more from near, far and everywhere in-between, it's the biggest biteable-sized festival in any mountain valley this side of Alba. Featuring Coldcut, Vieux Farke Toure, The Dub Pistols, Neville Staple, Kan, Sam Lee, Mungo's Hi Fi Sound System, Bombskare, the Kakatsitsi Drummers and many many more. Also children's activities, environmental and arts workshops, VJs, cinema, cabaret, sessions, headset disco, poets, the Celtic Longhouse, real ales, food, amazing people and the invigorating Knockengorroch air! Come and be huge with us... For your chance to win a pair of four-day tickets to this year's Knockengorroch World
Ceilidh, go to theskinny.co.uk/about.competitions and answer this question: In what country was Vieux Farke Toure born? a) Scotland b) China c) Mali Competition closes midnight Sunday 27 Apr. Entrants must be 18 or over. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our T&Cs can be found at www.theskinny.co.uk/ about/terms knockengorroch.org.uk
Group13. TS Eliot - Personal Perspectives: 4 April 2014 - 30 April 2014
Friday 16 – Sunday 18 May 2014 Think you know what to expect from museums? Think again! Events across Scotland – come and see what’s on offer. festivalofmuseums.com
45 Broughton St, Edinburgh, EH1 3JU 0131 556 7707 | uniongallery.co.uk
We’re Hiring! The Skinny is looking for an Advertising Sales Executive to join our team in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Interested? You’ll find more info at theskinny.co.uk/about/get_involved @theskinnymag /TheSkinnyMag Illustration: Yvette Earl I N D EP EN D EN T
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C U LT U R A L
J O U R N A L I S M
Festival coordinators:
COMPETITIONS
Festival supporters:
THE SKINNY
Glasgow Music Tue 01 Apr KLAXONS
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £13
The prototype London psychedelic nu-ravers take their new LP out on a UK tour. LA LUZ
MONO, 19:30–22:00, £7
Seattle-based surf rock quartet rich in doo-wops. HELLO CREEPY SPIDER
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
The Glaswegian alternative indie-pop duo drop a set in Bloc’s murky lair.
Wed 02 Apr YASHIN (I DIVIDE)
STEREO, 19:00–22:00, £10
Scottish post-hardcore sextet who enjoy screaming, ear-splitting riffs and guitar arpeggios. GARY BARLOW
THE SSE HYDRO, 18:30–22:00, FROM £35
The Take That frontman embarks on a stadium tour for your general pleasure, armed with tracks from his first LP in some 14 years. EMILY AND THE WOODS
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £6.50
Grassroots quartet made up of Emily Wood, her brother Benedict, and two childhood chums. EMBLEM3
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £TBC
American twee pop-rock trio consisting of brothers Wesley Stromberg and Keaton Stromberg, and their pal Drew Chadwick.
Thu 03 Apr
STRUGGLE (BLUEBIRD + COLLEGE)
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Monthly punk and post hardcore selection of bands from DIY collective Struggletown. THE PARLOTONES (ONE LAST SECRET + HUEVO AND THE GIANT)
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £10
South African rockers who have achieved multi-platinum status in their own country. BACKSTREET BOYS (ALL SAINTS + THE EXCHANGE)
THE SSE HYDRO, 19:30–22:00, FROM £29.50
Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean and Kevin Richardson back together at last, celebrating their 20th anniversary. VLADIMIR (SONIC HEARTS FOUNDATION + RAWW)
BROADCAST, 20:00–22:30, £6
Noisy indie-rock ensemble from Dundee, launching their new single on the night, before heading off on a string of dates south of the border with The Twilight Sad.
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH (UPON A BURNING BODY + POP EVIL)
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £18
Melodic rock machine from Las Vegas, with hefty heavy metal stylings. WITH EVE
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £5
Glasgow groove rockers (formerly The View), back together after a long break.
QUESTION THE MARK (THE KIMBERLEY STEAKS + THE WALKING TARGETS + KNEE-JERK REACTION)
13TH NOTE, 19:30–23:00, £5
Hard partying, Cardiff-based gruff punk lot.
Fri 04 Apr THE SMYTHS
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £11
The Smiths tribute act.
BIPOLAR SUNSHINE (INDIANA + KIMBERLEY ANNE)
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7
Solo project of Manchester-based musician Adio Marchant (formerly of Kid British fame), still riding the wave of his newly-released EP, Aesthetics. HEADLESS KROSS (OF SPIRE AND THRONE)
13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
Glasgow-hailing doom metal outfit, visceral and ferocious in their approach. MANIC STREET PREACHERS
BARROWLAND, 19:00–23:00, £29.50
The Welsh trio are out on the road once more, touring like it’s 1989 with their new album, Rewind The Film.
April 2014
MIRACLE STRIP (THANK YOU SO NICE + CITIZEN BRAVO) THE ROXY 171, 19:30–22:00, £5
Glasgow-based neu pop trio who describe their sound in three little words: ‘basic keyboard applications’, which’ll do us nicely. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
THE SSE HYDRO, 20:00–22:00, FROM £45
The Pop Prince continues to ride the mania of his 20/20 LP tour, having sold over 3.5 million copies to date. GOLDFRAPP
GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £18.50
Pop pioneer Alison Goldfrapp returns to Glasgow’s Concert Hall to perform her newest LP, Tales of Us, in a live band outing.
THE FUTURE CAPITAL (PEPPERMINT FICTION + VIOLET DRIVE + ALL SUNS BLAZING)
BUFF CLUB, 19:15–22:30, £6
Pop rock ensemble who split their time between Bo’ness and Edinburgh.
Sat 05 Apr
RANDOLPH’S LEAP (SWEET BABOO + RACHAEL DADD)
KINNING PARK COMPLEX, 20:00–23:00, £8 ADV. (£10 DOOR)
The Glasgow melody merchants continue to twist the folk-pop genre into odd knots, creating witty ear-worms of joy as they go – launching their new LP, Clumsy Knot, on the night. MATT CARDLE
THE ARCHES, 18:30–22:00, £20
X-Factor winner done good(ish), now on album number three of his career.
HOLY MOUNTAIN (KONX-OM-PAX & EUGENE TOMBS)
THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 19:00–23:00, £6
The doom’n’roll Glasgow trio launch their new LP, Ancient Astronauts, emitting their usual sludgy sonic assault at intensely-loud levels. Amen. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
THE SSE HYDRO, 20:00–22:00, FROM £45
The Pop Prince continues to ride the mania of his 20/20 LP tour, having sold over 3.5 million copies to date. FOREIGNER
SECC, 19:00–22:00, £38.50
The British-American rockers drop by to play I Want to Know What Love Is and, erm, some other tunes. KURT COBAIN TRIBUTE NIGHT (CARNIVORES + CHRIS DEVOTION AND THE EXPECTATIONS + UNITED FRUIT + MICHAEL CASSIDY + TIJIUANA BIBLES + POOR THINGS + FELIX CHAMPION + EVIL EDISON) KING TUT’S, 20:00–23:00, £8
A raggle-taggle bunch of Scottish musos join forces to celebrate the life and music of Kurt Cobain – with April 5th marking 20 years to the day since his death. Profits go to the Scottish Association for Mental Health.
THE BRIMSTONE DAYS (COLONEL MUSTARD AND THE DIJON 5 + ST KILDA MAILBOAT + POINT INAUDIBLE) 13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:00, £4
The Swedish noisemakers play a set of their soul and blues-styled rock. THE LAST CARNIVAL
CLASSIC GRAND, 18:30–22:00, £7
More pumping melodies and driving guitar from the energetic rock five-piece, if you can handle it. ELBOW (JIMI GOODWIN)
THE SSE HYDRO, 18:30–22:00, £30
The Mancunian songsmiths tour on the back of their sixth studio LP, lynch-pinned as ever on Guy Garvey’s impressively powerful vocal talents. THE STEVIE NIMMO TRIO
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £10
One-half of the Nimmo Brothers, Stevie Nimmo – a longstanding figure in the blues and roots world – plays with his own live band trio.
Mon 07 Apr
JAMES WALSH (BILLY JEFFREY JNR)
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £12.50
The Starsailor frontman plays it solo, his enormous yet fragile vocals all well and in place. DEAF HAVANA (THE MAINE)
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15
Four East Coast Village lads making a rammy of rock sounds. CHRYSTA BELL
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £14
Talented songstress/model who started her career in Texas as the lead vocalist for 8 1/2 Souvenirs, and went on to collaborate with David Lynch.
Tue 08 Apr STATUS QUO
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £38.50
The original line-up – as in Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan – reform for a one-off series of UK dates. ABANDCALLEDBOY (THE DEAD RAVEN)
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Hardcore-styled fun power trio hailing from Northern Ireland, touring with their new 7-track EP.
STEPHEN O’MALLEY (ALUK TODOLO + OPAQUE + CIRCUALTION OF OIL) THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 19:30–23:00, £10 (£8)
The founding member of Sunn O))), KTL and Burning Witch continues to explore the darker aspects of human existence via his solo persona.
Wed 09 Apr STATUS QUO
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £38.50
The original line-up – as in Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan – reform for a one-off series of UK dates. RAGLANS
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–23:00, £6
Hard rockin’ American quartet led by feisty vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale.
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.
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £8
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £6
HALESTORM (THE SMOKING HEARTS)
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £TBC
JONATHAN CARR + LOU HICKEY
Joint headline show from songwriting collaborators Jonathan Carr and Lou Hickey, with the added live talents of the Cairn String Quartet. WIKEED DAY OUT (VAGABOND POETS + THISFAMILIARSMILE + MADISON + RETURN TO THE SUN)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 17:45–23:00, £6
Musical all-dayer aimed at giving the punter a wealth of variety, with seven emerging acts playing throughout the day – plus a surprise opening act being kept tightly under wraps.
Sun 06 Apr
THUNDERBIRD GERARD
The New York-based artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist does his thing. PAUL THOMAS SAUNDERS
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6
Contemporary songwriter built on ethereal guitars, haunting harmonies, wide reverb and tingling folk sounds. TARIBOWEST
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Monthly heavy rock hoedown curated by John Niblock and Ally McCrae.
Thu 10 Apr
TRUE WIDOW
THE BUCKY RAGE (THE EDSELL FURYS + THE FNORDS)
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £6
13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
More hazy shoegaze from the Dallas-based trio, playing tracks offa their third LP, Circumambulation.
The veritable noisefest that is Glasgow’s The Bucky Rage, still riding along on their new line-up, new songs and the ever-present hard-ass ethic.
RED KITE (ELARA CALUNA + HAVE MERCY LAS VEGAS) KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50
Alternative six-piece outfit hailing from London, signed to The Shipping Forecast label. THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE AND I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE
CLASSIC GRAND, 18:30–22:00, £7
Willimantic-formed alternative rock ensemble, also winners of longest band name ever. KING AYISOBA (ZEA + SACRED PAWS)
PLATFORM, 19:00–22:00, £7.50 (£5)
Ghanaian pop trailblazer who performs traditional street-folk on the kologo, fired-up by 21st century influences and variously sung in Frafra, Twi and English. PEGGY SUE
BROADCAST, 19:30–23:00, £7
The London and Brightonstraddling post-folkies take their soulful new LP, Choir of Echoes, on’t road. JOHN GULIAK + TALES OF JAKE
THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £8.0
Acoustic fundraising night with Canadian born singer/songwriter John Guliak and local duo Tales of Jake. Profits go to Cosgrove Care.
ELECTRIC COMPANY RECORDS: 1ST BIRTHDAY (FUTURE GLUE + TWIN MIRRORS + DEATHCATS + SECRET MOTORBIKES) BROADCAST, 20:00–22:30, £6
Electric Company Records celebrate their first birthday by releasing a collaborative multiformat split LP of ballsy surf/ garage/punk, with all four bands playing live on the night.
THE SSE HYDRO, 18:30–22:00, £39.50
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £6
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £13
MIKE WATT AND THE MISSINGMEN
CUT COPY (RÜFÜS)
Guitar-strumming Australian electronic outfit formed back in 2001 by DJ Dan Whitford. AC/DC UK
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £12
AC/DC tribute act.
CALL TO MIND (CAMPFIRES IN WINTER + PREHISTORIC FRIENDS)
THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £8 ADV. (£10 DOOR)
BITCHES (TUFF LOVE)
London-based boy/girl bass/drum duo who make fuzzed-up noise pop perfect for dancing feet.
Sun 13 Apr WILLWAW
THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 20:00–22:00, FREE
13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
Floridian acoustic pop-meets-rock band of brothers Alejandro, Fabian and Daniel Manzano.
SIMONE FELICE
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £12.50
The former Felice Brothers man tours with his new live band. AUGUSTINES
THE ARCHES, 19:00–22:00, £12.50
NYC trio who do a rather fine line in anthemic indie-rock (formerly playing as We Are Augustines), due in no small part to frontman Billy McCarthy’s measured and majestic vocals. BOOM BAP FESTIVAL TOUR
BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, £8 ADV. (£10 DOOR)
The UK hip-hop festival heads out on tour with a bulging bunch of acts in tow. RADIOLA (THE HYPE + SILVER COAST)
BUFF CLUB, 19:15–22:30, £6
After taking time out to write and record, the alternative ensemble return to launch their new EP. LUMERIANS (THE BEATROOTS)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00, £10 (£7)
A double header of other-worldly psych rock, by way of California and Brazil.
Sat 12 Apr
MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
SWG3, 20:00–23:00, £12.50
The Atlanta-based lot (aye, get over it, they’re not Manchester) play a set of heavy rock, predominantly cherrypicked from their new LP, Cope. HERCULEAN (MINOR DELILAH + LYNNIE CARSON)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £5
Glasgow ensemble of the melodic alternative rock-meets-pop soundscapes. BACKTRACK
CLASSIC GRAND, 18:30–22:00, £9
Hardcore-styled Long Island dudes on the Bridge Nine Records roster. LE YOUTH
THE ARCHES, 22:00–03:00, £10 EARLYBIRD (£12 THEREAFTER)
Los Angeles-based chappie known for his 90s sounds refracted through a modern aesthetic, out on the road for his spring tour.
MARC O’REILLY (MICHAEL CASSIDY + SCOTT LOGAN + RYAN JOSEPH BURNS) KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8
Irish singer/songwriter whose unique sound encompasses folk and blues with African percussive rhythms.
HORACE ANDY + DUB ASANTE
Tue 22 Apr
The Irish singer/songwriter continues to ride the release of his new LP, Folk Tale.
The Glasgow guitar popsters drop a set of their fiery post-surf brand of hardcore
WITHERED HAND
CCA, 19:30–22:00, £10 ADV. (£12 DOOR)
The Berlin-based garage rock and psychedelic soul lot play their usual live crazyathon, most likely kitted out in a variety of bizarre headwear/capes/nakedness.
Folk rock bunch hailing from Leeds.
Experimental Glasgow (via Chicago) chap making beautifully odd noises with his ukelele.
DEATHCATS (CASUAL SEX + SHADY LANE STUDIO)
BARROWLAND, 19:00–23:00, £22.50
Laid-back, Long Island rock quartet formed back in 2000.
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7
GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £33.50
THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 20:00–23:00, £4
13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
CHRISTY MOORE
BRAND NEW
Expect guitar-led pop all the way as the Sheffield quartet bring their jangly brand of joy.
Dutch progressive metal noisemakers, fronted by live howler Sharon den Adel.
KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £12.50
Noisy and abrasive Leipzig three piece, merging the best of hardcore, noise rock and Captain Beefheart.
CITY HALLS, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
BARROWLAND, 19:00–23:00, £26.50
THE CROOKES (HIGH HAZELS + MADE AS MANNEQUINS + WAITING FOR GO)
Canadian punk noisemakers formed back in 2000 in Winnipeg.
DON VITO (JEALOUSY MOUNTAIN DUO + BATTERY FACE)
Fri 11 Apr
SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
WITHIN TEMPTATION (DELAIN)
Edinburgh DIY folk-rock troubadour Dan Willson brings new look Withered Hand band to the stage, fresh from recording his longawaited second album.
The glacial pop locals launch their new LP, The Winter Is White – their first offering on DIY label, Olive Grove Records.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra take on Vaughan Williams’ timeless Fantasia and Sibelius’ uplifting sixth symphony, alongside a selection of signature works.
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £20
BOYCE AVENUE
BARROWLAND, 19:00–23:00, £25
EDINBURGH YOUTH ORCHESTRA
CITY HALLS, 19:30–22:00, £15
COMEBACK KID
CLASSIC GRAND, 18:30–22:00, £10
JAMES BLUNT
The English singer/songwriter and former army captain takes his new LP on the road, we’ll do the hiding. BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £12
Punk-rock trio fronted by legendary bassist Mike Watt, best-known for co-founding the seminal punk rock bands Minutemen and Firehose. FRED MORRISSON
CCA, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£10)
Bagpipes playing bluegrass? The Glasgow piper shows y’all how it’s done. TETRA + URVANOVIC + FLYING BATTERIES
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Electronic showcase taking in a pioneering trio of new acts.
Wed 16 Apr
ANCHOR (IN TONGUES + DREAD + LOST LIMBS)
13TH NOTE, 19:30–23:00, £6
Heavy and aggressive hardcore bunch hailing from Sweden, playing what will be their first Scottish show. VELVET MORNING (BELLY BUTTONS)
THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 19:30–22:30, £5 (£3)
Fledgling psych-infused guitar pop outfit formed only a matter of months ago, out celebrating their second single release. THE WILD EYES
The Edinburgh Youth Orchestra play their annual spring concert, this time taking in an all-Russian programme.
More psyche rock’n’roll offerings from the amiable Southerners.
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £9
FEDERATION OF THE DISCO PIMP
JESCA HOOP
Manchester-based, Californiaborn songstress rich with layered harmonies, cavernous production and slow, sombre seduction. CHRISTY MOORE
GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, 20:00–22:00, FROM £22.50
The Irish singer/songwriter continues to ride the release of his new LP, Folk Tale. CIAN NUGENT (GARETH DICKSON)
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £5
The Dublin guitarist and composer plays a set of his trademark traditional music fused with 20th century composition.
THE FACE ON THE MOON (CLOUD OF STARLINGS + HELLO CREEPY SPIDER + THE RISING SOULS)
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Thu 17 Apr STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £6
High-energy disco-pop from the bouncy Glasgwegian seven-piece providing unstoppable grooves since 2010, launching their new LP, Inamorata, on the night. SIXTH AVENUE TRAFFIC (KOBOSH + TERESA BANKS)
13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:00, £4
Glasgow quartet currently filling their days experimenting with rock, punk, funk and soul. THE COSMIC DEAD (KABBO + VOE)
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
The Glaswegian space rockers par excellence drop it like it’s heavy, as per. GALLON DRUNK
MONO, 19:30–22:00, £9
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £5
The London-formed swamp rockers return on ripsnorting form.
Mon 14 Apr
THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5.50
South Lanarkshire alternative rockers led by singer and guitarist Steven Leonard. BROKEN RECORDS
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7.50
The 2007-formed Edinburgh mainstays play a set of new and old material, with their usual wide variety of instrumentation complimenting their eclectic sound. THE WILDHEARTS
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £20
The British rock veterans head out on’t road, with Ginger reunited with his bandmates CJ and Ritch, alongside the return of Scott Sorry on bass. SLOW CLUB (THE BIAS COLLECTIVE)
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Relaxed music night soundtracked by a selection of live guests from the local scene, completed by mood lighting, candles and cake. Could it be any bloody lovelier?
Tue 15 Apr VUKOVI
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £9
Kilwinning experimental rockers headed by the rather magnificent (read: at screaming) Janine Shilstone. CARAVAN (TRISTAN MACKAY)
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £20
The hard-working 70s rockers return, much to their devoted fans pleasure.
BEN MARWOOD (PIP MOUNTJOY + CHRIS DEVOTION)
Reading-based songwriter known for his acoustic folk punk sounds served with a poetic lyrical twist. MCBUSTED
THE SSE HYDRO, 18:30–22:00, £39.50
You know that nightmare you had about Busted and McFly touring as one? Well it was real. Run for the hills! SLEEPY SUN
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £8
San Franciscoan psychedelic rockers built on lead vocalist Bret Constantino’s drowsy vocals and the dovetailed fuzz riffage of guitarists Matt Holliman and Evan Reiss.
REVOLVING DOORS (LONELY SOULS + THE TREND) KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50
Alternative indie Glasgow scamps, formerly playing under the name No Fxd Abode.
GUERILLA RADIO (TRANSCENSION + DAWNPHOBIA)
THE DUNWELLS
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £10
MCBUSTED
You know that nightmare you had about Busted and McFly touring as one? Well it was real. Run for the hills! EMMA STEVENS
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
Country pop-styled Surrey singer/ songwriter who began her musical journey when she was bought her first guitar at the age of 3. SIGMA LOGIC (SHAMBLES IN A HUSK + EMILIO LARGO + MARFA FRONT + SPEAK EASY)
Quirky Londonian Pavementshaped indie-pop outfit.
Wed 23 Apr
GEORGE CLINTON + P-FUNK
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £25
The Godafther of funk – er, that’d be George Clinton – takes to Glasgow with Parliament Funkadelic (aka P-Funk).
NO MORE TIGER (THE BMX BANDITS + HONEY AND THE HERBS) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5
Eclectic four-piece consisting of founding members Flore De Hooge and Jim McAteer, and more recent additions Chloe Philip and Carlo Kriekaard.
BILLY JEFFREY JNR (STEPH FRASER)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–23:00, FREE
The Scottish singer/songwriter plays tracks off his debut LP, Eternal Blue.
Sat 19 Apr
CHAS AND DAVE (THE RAW KINGS)
O2 ABC, 18:30–22:00, £20
English pop-rock duo responsible for ‘rockney’ – a genre which blends pub singalongs with music hall influences and no-nonesense rock’n’roll. ANARKALI
THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £7
The Danny Kyle-award winners come out of hibernation, regrouping with singer Karina Smillie to raise funds to bring French touring pals, La Grande ZaZa, to Glasgow later in’t year. EUGENE CHADBOURNE
STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £9
The American free improviser and avant-garde singer/guitarist plays a full-band set. DIANE CLUCK (SUN SLUG)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £8.50
The intuitive folk New York-based singer/songwriter returns to Glasgow for a rare solo outing. SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £20
The pop singer/songwriter/model/ DJ tours her fifth studio album, Wanderlust.
Sun 20 Apr
OF MICE & MEN (ISSUES + BEARTOOTH)
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £TBC
Californian metalcore outfit on’t road touring their new LP, Restoring Force. LUCIUS
STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £7.50
The NYC indie-pop ensemble drop a set of their luscious lullabies. SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £20
The pop singer/songwriter/model/ DJ tours her fifth studio album, Wanderlust.
Mon 21 Apr
ALKALINE TRIO (BAYSIDE)
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £20
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Another Barrowland singalong with the Donegal Celtic rockers.
JEEPS
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
The Birmingham-formed postpunk outfit get back on the live circuit.
The Scottish alternative rock outfit launch their debut LP, with all-local support.
Fri 18 Apr
BARROWLAND, 19:00–23:00, £19
The mysterious London-based musician and producer celebrates joining the Warp Records family, playing a set of tracks that skip between psychedelic pop and frazzled techno.
THE NIGHTINGALES (TED CHIPPINGTON + SHARPTOOTH)
Rage Against The Machine tribute act. CHARLIE AND THE BHOYS (MISE EIRE)
PATTEN
BUFF CLUB, 19:15–22:30, £6
Classic-styled emo from the Chicagoan trio, fuelled on a steady diet of angst-ridden lyrics and adrenaline.
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–23:00, £5
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £22
A legendary voice in reggae history, Jamaican roots legend and Massive Attack collaborator Horace Andy plays with long-time band, Dub Asante.
SLOW CLUB (SPLIT SECOND)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £7
TOMLIN LECKIE (ERIN TODD + RJ BURNS)
PIVO PIVO, 19:30–22:00, £5
The bluesy folk singer/songwriter plays his own brand of harmonica and guitar-fuelled acoustic groove. CHET FAKER
BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £7.50
The Australian electronica muso showcases tracks from his debut LP, Built on Glass. SICK PUPPIES (THE FEUD + RANK BERRY)
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £9
Australia modern rock trio made up of vocalist and guitarist Shim Moore, bassist Emma Anzai and drummer Mark Goodwin. DECLAN SINNOTT (CRAWFORD SMITH)
THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £10
The renowned Irish songwriter, guitarist and producer – who found fame in Moving Hearts – makes a return visit to Scottish soil. FOREIGN SKIES (THE STREAMS + ALBERT SHAKESPEARE)
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
The hard’n’heavy Glaswegian trio launch their new EP.
Thu 24 Apr THE RIFLES
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15
London indie-rock outfit on’t go since 2003, when principle members Joel Stoker and Lucas Crowther met at college, now touring their fourth LP. MATTHEW AND THE ATLAS
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £7
More dreamy Americana from the Aldershot-born, London-based musician. EUGENE’S LAIR (RUSSIAN BRIDE)
13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:00, £4
Glasgow-based lot built on cornerstones of blues, rock and funk. NORTHSIDE
CLASSIC GRAND, 19:00–22:00, £12
The 1989-formed Manc lot take to the road as part of their reunion tour. JACOB YATES AND THE PEARLY GATE LOCK PICKERS + THE ROSY CRUCIFIXION + UBRE BLANCA + HALFRICAN
STEREO, 20:00–01:00, £5
A selection of stellar local acts bandy together to help raise funds for their carriage to France to play at a music festival. THESE LITTLE KINGS (PHANTOM BRAKE PEDAL + LAST OF US + RACHEL MCALPINE)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £5
Young Glasgow triowho bring the noise via biting solos from their two guitarists.
Fri 25 Apr KOBI ONYAME
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £5
Ghanaian/UK based hip-hop artist and producer, infusing his sound with a mix of his life’s influences and circumstances.
Relaxed music night soundtracked by a selection of live guests from the local scene, completed by mood lighting, candles and cake. Could it be any bloody lovelier?
Listings
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TRONGATE RUM RIOTS (CRAIG RALSTON) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £6
Scottish ensemble comprising seven lads and one lass making their own brand of folk-punk songs, or ‘hyper-sea shanties’ as they call ‘em. JAMIE LENMAN
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £12
The former singer, guitarist and songwriter for underground heroes Reuben brings his colossal double album, Muscle Memory, to a live setting – twiddly moustache all well and in place. SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: BENEDETTI PLAYS MOZART
CITY HALLS, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
Virtuoso violinist Nicola Benedetti joins the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for a special appraisal of Mozart’s mighty repertoire. SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
Solo project from Field Music’s David Brewis, taking him on a more cerebral and mathy bent. GROUSEBEATER SOUND SYSTEM
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50
Celt-tech (it’s a thing) quartet from the north-west of Scotland, making electronic dance music with traditional celtic styles and instruments. SOPHIE ROGERS
BUFF CLUB, 19:15–22:30, £6
The soulful Glasgow singer/songwriter launches her new EP. MARTIN METCALFE AND THE FORNICATORS
JOHN BUTLER TRIO O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £20
Australian roots and jam band led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler. WILDFLOWERS
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–23:00, £6.50
London-based indie-folk quartet put together by lead singer and chief songwriter Siddy Bennett. KILL THE WAVES
KINNING PARK COMPLEX, 19:30–22:00, £7 ADV. (£8 DOOR)
The Comets & Cartwheels-signed dream pop Glasgow quintet launch their new single – previewing the video exclusively on the night – with stellar support from Jonnie Common and Skinny Dipper.
Sun 27 Apr EDDI READER
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £23.50
Reader weaves her velvety vocal palette around a selection of traditional and contemporary songs, as is her way. BLOOD RED SHOES
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £10
Brighton-based indie rock’n’rollers made up of anthemic yelper Laura-Mary Carter and drummer Steve Ansell, out and touring their fourth LP. THE UNDERGROUND YOUTH
13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:30, £4 ADV. (£6 DOOR)
The Manc band of psychedelic rockers play Scottish soil, all raw garage sounds served up with a hauntingly beautiful twist.
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £10
MICAH P HINSON
CARTER CITY
Americana-styled singer and guitarist steeped in banjos and finger-picked guitars.
The Edinburgh-based songwriter plays with his live band of scallys. 13TH NOTE, 20:00–23:00, £4
Liverpudlian touring machine adept at reverberating yer insides with their hardcore soundscapes. AS ONDAS (WITCHING WAVES)
THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 19:00–22:15, FREE
Trilingual no wave surf ensemble hailing from London town.
Sat 26 Apr FATHERSON
THE ARCHES, 19:00–22:00, £10
The Kilmarnock trio do their alternative rock-meets-powerpop thing, launching their new LP on the night. NORMA JEAN
CLASSIC GRAND, 18:30–22:00, £12
Atlanta’s post-hardcore giants make their usual racket; expect nowt less than sonic bedlam. NEARLY DAN
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £14
Steely Dan tribute act.
WE WORSHIP THE SUN (BLACK COP + GENERAL LUDD + STAR VOYAGE + YONG YONG + MOURN + CHUMP + THOTH + TONAL + THE MODERN INSTITUTE + URINE GAGARIN + ANTIQUE PONY + EARTH ROD) THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 13:00–23:00, £TBC
All-day musical celebration of the best DIY talent, bolstered by a special BBQ being served up by The Vic’s kitchen. BLOOD RELATIVES
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £6
Glasgow pop-styled ensemble – none of whom are related to each other, FYI – still riding high on their first LP release. THE HOAX (WELL HUNG HEART + FEDERAL CHARM)
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15
High energy blues ensemble, who emerged butterfly-like from a tiny village in deepest Wiltshire back the in early 90s.
DEATH METAL TEA PARTY (INIQUITOUS SAVAGERY + AGONISED DEFORMITY + PARTY CANNON) VALE BAR, 19:00–22:30, £4
A night of death metal acts from across Scotland, gnarled the fuck up by free tea and biccies. EVERLAST
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £16
Solo rock, hip-hop and blues sounds from the chap otherwise best known for his tenure in rap unit House of Pain.
SCOTLAND CALLING (THE DAMNED + ANGELIC UPSTARTS + PENETRATION + GBH + THE BUSINESS + HENRY CLUNEY + CRASHED OUT + THE FIEND + THE RED EYES + FIRE EXIT) O2 ABC, 13:00–22:00, £25
Hard-styled one-day festival featuring a headline set from seminal punk foursome The Damned, amongst a whole host o’ others.
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Edinburgh Music
BROADCAST, 20:00–23:00, £15
PHIL MINTON + LUKE POOT + DISMAL HUMAN + DAVID BIRCHALL
KINNING PARK COMPLEX, 20:30–23:00, £5
Specially-curated evening of improvised vocals, sounds and music, including a collaborative singing set from Phil Milton and Luke Poot. Plus, it’s BYOB. Yaldi! BEN OTTEWELL
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £12.50
The Gomez singer and lead guitarist plays it solo, that unmistakable voice and talent for blistering guitar solos all well and in place.
VANS WARPED ACOUSTIC BASEMENT TOUR 2014 (GEOFF RICKLY + KOJI + ROB LYNCH + BRIAN MARQUIS)
O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £10
The shoe folk bring their acoustic basement tour to the UK, headlined by Geoff Rickly of post-hardcore pioneers Thursday and United Nations.
Mon 28 Apr YOUNG KATO (PIXEL FIX)
KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8
Breakthrough indie-pop lot hailing from Cheltenham and Birmingham. SLOW CLUB (THE BIAS COLLECTIVE)
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Relaxed music night soundtracked by a selection of live guests from the local scene, completed by mood lighting, candles and cake. Could it be any bloody lovelier? JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £16
Joan Wasser relinquishes her blend of gritty, yet soulful and bluesy, indie rock.
Wed 02 Apr
ADAM HOLMES AND THE EMBERS
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–23:00, £10
Young rootsy-pop singer/ songwriter Adam Holmes plays accompanied by his five-strong band of players, The Embers.
Thu 03 Apr
MANIC STREET PREACHERS
CORN EXCHANGE, 19:00–22:00, £29.50
The Welsh trio are out on the road once more, touring like it’s 1989 with their new album, Rewind The Film. SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: MASS IN C MINOR
THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £10
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra take on Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, amongst other works.
CALUM BUSBY + SIX STOREYS HIGH + MADE AS MANNEQUINS
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £4 EARLYBIRD (£5 THEREAFTER)
Live showcase night in aid of Scottish charity Drake Music Scotland.
IKARIE XB-1 (OF SPIRE AND THRONE + KAPIL SESHASAYEE) BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5
New Glasgow-based outfit rising from the ashes of Vakunoht and Soulfinger.
SCOTIA (DEATH AND THE PENGUIN)
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5.0
Edinburgh five-piece built on a diet of delicate guitar parts, intricate harmonies and forever building dynamics. ADAM ANT
THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £23.50
The frontman of new wave popsters Adam and the Ants takes to the road solo.
Fri 04 Apr MATT CARDLE
THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00, £17.50
X-Factor winner done good(ish), now on album number three of his career.
THIS FEELING (JIM VALENTINE + LAST MINUTE GLORY + THE RAH’S + DED RABBIT)
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–23:00, £6
The favourited London rock’n’roll night takes a trip North with a selection of live bands taking to the stage.
CHIBI-TECH + HARLEYLIKESMUSIC + GALAXY WOLF + KING KEYTAN + OK KOREAN THE BANSHEE LABYRINTH, 20:00–03:00, £5
Showcase night of chiptune, electro and 8-bit, headed up by Japanese artist Chibi-Tech and her unique brand of NES bass. DRUIDFEST 2014 (BIG FAT PANDA + JAMIE AND SHOONY + SEA BASS KID + STEVE HERON + UNIVERSAL THEE + SENEKA + KING EIDER + BENNY MONTEUX + LYNDSEY CRAIG + BEDFORD RASCALS + THE SOUTHPAWS + LITTLE LOVE AND THE FRIENDLY VIBES + THE NEX-TIDE) COUNTING HOUSE, 11:00–01:00, £8.50
Mini festival-styled all-dayer in the intimate setting of the Counting House, taking in an eclectic mix of bands across the course of the day. THE CANYON (TITUS PULLO + THE LAST SEPTEMBER)
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £4 (£3)
The heavy rockin’ locals finally launch their new LP. NEGURA BUNGET (GRIMEGOD + HAAR)
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £10 ADV
The Transilvanian black metalers make their Bannermans debut. DECAGRAM 1.5 (THE PINEAPPLE CHUNKS + MAN OF MOON)
HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
Stellar night based on unique collaborations, featuring film (7pm till 9pm) and then live music (9pm-midnight), before discoing down ‘til the wee hours.
Sun 06 Apr BRITISH SEA POWER
THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £14
The Brighton indie-rockers do their romantic, pastoral longing thing to suitably fine effect. THE DIRTY LIES
HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:30–01:00, £4
Edinburgh-formed, Leeds residing pop noir troupe signed to Electric Company.
Mon 07 Apr COYOTE MAD SEEDS
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5
Sheffield-based hard rock and metal-styled trio.
ART OF PRIVILEGE (UNIT SEVEN)
Tue 08 Apr
OPIUM, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5
Edinburgh-based grunge-rock foursome led by Martin Gray on vocals and rhythm guitar.
ISSAC BRUTAL + THE UNIVERSAL THEE
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5
Live showcase night curated by The Sound Project, marking their first gig outing of 2014.
PENGUINS KILLS POLAR BEARS (CAMPFIRES IN WINTER) THE BONGO CLUB, 20:00–22:00, £5
The Linlithgow dense rockers play their debut LP live and in its glorious bloody entirety. 12-GAUGE (NEST OF VIPERS + MILLSYECK) BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6
The Liverpool-based rockers return to promote their new LP, following the signing of a new record deal.
Sat 05 Apr LLOYD COLE
THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00, £20
The Lloyd Cole and The Commotions mainman plays as part of his solo acoustic tour. THE FALLING RAIN (NEMECYST + ISLASORNA)
OPIUM, 20:00–23:00, £2
Heavy rock and metal offerings from the fiery musical furnace of East Lothian.
RAGLANS
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. THUNDERBIRD GERARD
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7
The New York-based artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist does his thing.
Wed 09 Apr PRONTO MAMA
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5
Up-beat tunes from the Glasgow polyrhythmic indie-rockers/super cool dudes, launching their new EP on the night. GAVIN MARWICK
THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:00, £15 (£12)
The fiddle player and composer showcases the fruits of his ongoing Journeyman project, which began life at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections back in 2008. THE SPACE LADY
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £TBC
Captivating cult artist who rose to fame in the 80s and 90s with her Casio keyboard and array of echo and phaser effects. SHAPESHIFTER
THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £15
THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £10
New Zealand experimental quintet of the heavy slitch-meets-soul freakout variety.
WHO’S NEXT
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5
THE SMYTHS
The Smiths tribute act.
ABANDCALLEDBOY
The Who tribute act.
Hardcore-styled fun power trio hailing from Northern Ireland, touring with their new 7-track EP.
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, £6
Thu 10 Apr
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10
THE HAAR (KAPAULDIE’S + FRINK OUT + INDIGO VELVET)
Fledgling alternative Edinburgh quintet led by Rushee Morton-Teng on vocals, guitar and violin.
RIVERSIDE
THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £17
Progressive rock foursome hailing from Warsaw, back in a live setting for their 2014 tour.
SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £10
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra take on Vaughan Williams’ timeless Fantasia and Sibelius’ uplifting sixth symphony, alongside a selection of signature works.
FALLING RED (HONEYCOMB LOVE + DRILLER) BANNERMANS, 20:00–22:00, £7
UK rock mob whose sleazy anthems are unleashed in a speeding flood of catchy riffs and hooks. BIRDHEAD + TUFF LOVE
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 21:00–03:00, FREE
As part of the Wide Days showcase of emerging talent, Electric Circus play host to sets from Glasgow based lo-fi indie pop band Tuff Love and ballsy Edinburgh duo Birdhead.
Fri 11 Apr RODDY WOOMBLE
THE PLEASANCE, 19:30–22:30, £14
The Idlewild frontman plays solo acoustic, drawing on songs from his new solo album, Listen To Keep, as well as handpicking tracks from the Idlewild back catalogue. UNIVERSAL THEE (A.H.DOUNE + THE SOUTHPAWS)
HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:00–22:00, £TBC
Edinburgh-based alternative indie lot led by husband and wife pairing James and Lisa Russell, providing a quiet/loud contrast. RSNO: SHANKAR PLAYS SHANKAR
USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11.50
Ravi Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka, joins the RSNO for a rare performance of his Raga-Mala.
JOE AND SEKOU (WOVEN TENTS) THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–23:00, £10
Live set from the genre-hopping fusion duo made up of Guinea-born singer and Kora player Sekou Kouyaté and guitarist and rapper Joe Driscoll, playing as part of Kelburn Garden Party’s 2014 season launch. FLOWER CORSANO DUO
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £10 (£8.50)
Primal duo featuring Chris Corsano on drums and percussion and Mick Flower on shahi baaja. VERSE CHORUS VERSE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5
VUKOVI (PLASTIC ROSE)
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £9
JAMES BLUNT
Sat 19 Apr
The English singer/songwriter and former army captain takes his new LP on the road, we’ll do the hiding. MIKE WATT AND THE MISSINGMEN
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7
Punk-rock trio fronted by legendary bassist Mike Watt, best-known for co-founding the seminal punk rock bands Minutemen and Firehose. WINDHAND (INTER ARMA + ATRAGON)
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £10
Doom metal outfit hailing from Richmond VA, in the vein of Electric Wizard meets Sabbath. SIMONE FELICE (CARA MITCHELL)
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £9 ADV. (£11 DOOR)
EDINBURGH YOUTH ORCHESTRA
The Edinburgh Youth Orchestra play their annual spring concert, this time taking in an all-Russian programme. ARCANE ROOTS (EMPRESS + BOY JUMPS SHIP)
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £9
Surrey-based rockers adept at pushing the genre in fresh and unexpected ways. BRAQUEWORK (SHOOTING STANSFIELD + PARK PLANET)
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5
The futuristic post-funk-rock Edinburgh quartet play their rights-of-passage first Wee Red outing. DON VITO (JEALOUSY MOUNTAIN DUO + BLACK INTERNATIONAL + BATTERY FACE)
OPIUM, 19:30–23:00, £5
Noisy and abrasive Leipzig three piece, merging the best of hardcore, noise rock and Captain Beefheart. POND FLOYD
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £7
Pink Floyd tribute act.
Sun 13 Apr
Wed 16 Apr
GALLON DRUNK (JON DE ROSA + GAREEDA)
The London-formed swamp rockers return on ripsnorting form. LOST ALONE
OPIUM, 20:00–23:00, £7
Derby-based rock outfit who’ve previously toured with the likes of My Chemical Romance, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Enter Shikari and Paramore.
Thu 17 Apr CLICK CLACK CLUB
HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 20:00–23:30, £5 (£3)
Monthly experimental music club bringing the good times with their Beefheart-inspired funk. WITHERED HAND
THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £12
Edinburgh DIY folk-rock troubadour Dan Willson brings new look Withered Hand band to the stage, fresh from recording his longawaited second album. CARNIVORES (PRESS TO MECO + EMILIO LARGO)
OPIUM, 20:00–23:00, £5
Math-rock trio from the west of Scotland, describing themselves as two parts pop, two parts noise and one part prog. WE WERE KINGS (THE OOH LA-LAS)
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £6 (£5)
Washington-based band of alternative pop-rockers formed by frontman Nathan Ihara (formerly of Welbilt) back in 2010. LAURA STEVENSON (CHRISSY BARNACLE)
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £7
American singer/songwriter who pens tunes about the overwhelming notions of an infinite universe and the imminence of her own death. Nowt heavy, then.
DUNEDIN CONSORT: MATTHEW PASSION
Fri 18 Apr
THE QUEEN’S HALL, 15:00–17:00, FROM £12
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5
The Dunedin Consort perform St Matthew Passion by JS Bach for the fourteenth year in succession. BLACK CHEROKEE
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
One-off reunion show for the all-out rockers.
BANNERMANS, 19:00–23:00, £12 ADV.
FESTIVAL THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, FROM £33.50
TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, 19:30–23:00, £7.50
USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £15
Launch gig for local promoters Captainskydiver, with the gentle persuasion of chocolate eggs for the first 50 down.
Nashville rock ensemble made up of Cinderella band members Eric Brittingham and Jeff LaBar, joined by Brandon Gibbs (formerly of the Gibbs Brothers).
The former Felice Brothers man tours with his new live band.
Sat 12 Apr
UNIVERSAL THEE + MAD TANGO + THE NEX-TIDE
Kilwinning experimental rockers headed by the rather magnificent (read: at screaming) Janine Shilstone.
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £12.50
Experimental singer/songwriter Calvin Arsenia plays accompanied by his live troupe of players, The Earls of Grey, with all-local support.
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–23:00, £10
Monthly blues club taking in touring blues acts from the UK and beyond, with support from local blues artists.
CHEAP THRILL (SHOCK HAZARD + GUTTERGODZ)
REID CONCERT HALL, 19:30–22:00, £10 (£5)
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5
EDINBURGH BLUES CLUB (EILIDH MCKELLAR + GT’S BOOS BAND)
Mon 14 Apr
Guitarist Fred Frith, drummer Chris Cutler and trumpeter Tom Arthurs come together to perform a special concert in honour of distinguished scholar Simon Frith.
CALVIN ARSENIA (THE JELLYMAN’S DAUGHTER + CERA IMPALA AND THE NEW PROHIBITION)
Edinburgh rock quartet fusing blues and alternative rock into their own unique mix.
WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £4 ADV. (£5 DOOR)
Tue 15 Apr
London-based electronic chappie with a passion for field recordings and analog wizardry.
THE BANSHEE LABYRINTH, 20:00–23:00, £5
Former member/founder of And So I Watch You From Afar, Tony Wright (aka Verse Chorus Verse) adventures down a new path of rootsy blues.
FRED FRITH + CHRIS CUTLER + TOM ARTHURS
TOURIST
PENNY BLACK (KOBOSH + THE LEGENDARY GRAEME MEARNS BAND)
DROPKICK (THE GALYPAGOS)
Powerpop spirit channeled through classic Californian songwriting, with a touch of the obligatory C86. KING EIDER (DIRTY BEGGARS + THE BRAXTON HICKS)
THE CAVES, 19:00–03:00, £6 ADV. (£7 DOOR)
The Edinburgh-based folk-blues quintet launch their debut LP, The Deeper The Water.
THE NEW PICCADILLYS
CITRUS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £7 (£6)
Glasgow quartet taking their cue from the sounds of yesteryear, inspired by the 60s with a 70s punk-rock sensibility. FATALISTS (CLOSER)
OPIUM, 20:00–23:00, £5
Edinburgh-based alternative noisemakers celebrating all things loud and quiet – and flickin’ two fingers to anything inbetween. RECORD STORE DAY @ VOXBOX
VOXBOX, 12:00–18:00, FREE
In honour of RSD, VoxBox play host to live sets from Tuff Love, Stanley Odd, Book Group and LAW, alongside stock of as many of the exclusive RSD releases as they can get their mitts on.
DAPITZ (GLASSFACE + DUB PUNKS + SEAFIELD FOXES)
WEE RED BAR, 18:00–22:00, £5
Leith-residing band of ‘burgh punk-rockers, who met in the 70s but only formed a band in 2011. INDIGO SIXTEEN (BALOR MILE + SELFISH NEEDS + THE STEALS)
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, £6
Young West Lothian quartet, playing their fast-paced brand of alternative indie-rock. LIMBO (JESUS H FOXX+ HAILEY BEAVIS + TRAPPED MICE)
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–23:00, £10
Beloved gig-in-a-club night, this time manned by Edinburgh’s own tight indie-pop ensemble, Jesus H. Foxx, with support from Hailey Beavis and Trapped Mice EAGLES BORN VULTURES (THE FALLING RAIN)
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5
The progressive hardcore outfit make their Bannermans debut.
RECORD STORE DAY AFTER-PARTY
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £3 (FREE WITH RSD RECEIPT)
Electric Circus keep the Record Store Day celebrations going, with short sets from acts with RSD releases, guest DJ sets from local labels and tastemakers, and a pop-up record store from VoxBox. Free entry with Record Store Day receipt. BRUNCHEON: THE SONGS OF THE BEATLES
OUT OF THE BLUE DRILL HALL, 11:30–15:00, FREE
Some of Edinburgh’s best loved musicians interpret the songs of The Beatles, accompanied by a Beatles-inspired menu in’t cafe.
Sun 20 Apr
BIG DAY IN (ROMAN NOSE + BIRDHEAD + MIRACLE STRIP + CARBS + GYMNAST + INDIAN RED LOPEZ)
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 13:00–02:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£12 THEREAFTER)
Inaugural mini fest playing home to a hefty selection of acts – including locals Roman Nose, Indian Red Lopez, and Carbs, as well as Manc duo, Gymnast – before DJs lead you towards that [totally gonna happen] 2am booze haze.
Mon 21 Apr
REACHBACK (HOLD UP THERE’S HOPE)
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5
The West Essex punk rockers take time out from recording tracks for their debut LP.
Wed 23 Apr
THE MICHAEL NYMAN BAND
THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, £29.50
Man of many talented guises – amongst them filmmaker, pianist, author and composer – Michael Nyman plays a live set, composed of music from his Peter Greenway soundtracks. Rescheduled date.
WEAK RECORDS SCOTLAND (THE JESUS TACO + TOBIAS THOMHAVE + BOBBY VACANT AND THE WORN)
DALRIADA, 20:00–22:00, FREE
Swiss-based Weak Records head north with their folk and rootsinspired band mates The Jesus Taco, Tobias Thomhave, and Bobby Vacant and the Worn.
AMIDSHIPS + THE DEEP RED SKY (THE DEEP RED SKY) ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5
Northern Irish purveyors of highenergy, heartfelt, atmospheric indie rock.
Thu 24 Apr CHILDHOOD
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7
The London-based four-piece, formed at Nottingham University in 2011, bring their indie pop sound to an intimate setting. SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: BENEDETTI PLAYS MOZART
USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £10
Virtuoso violinist Nicola Benedetti joins the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for a special appraisal of Mozart’s mighty repertoire. DECLAN SINNOTT
THE CAVES, 19:00–23:00, £10
The renowned Irish songwriter, guitarist and producer – who found fame in Moving Hearts – makes a return visit to Scottish soil. DUNT
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5
Edinburgh pop-punk quartet imbued with metal overtones.
Fri 25 Apr NEU! REEKIE!
SUMMERHALL, 19:00–22:15, £8.50
Stellar night of poetry, music and short film, this time taking in live music from Johnny Lynch in his The Pictish Trail guise, and the launch of a book of works by the late Tom McGrath read by assorted cultural lovelies. EDDI READER
THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:00, £23.50
Reader weaves her velvety vocal palette around a selection of traditional and contemporary songs, as is her way. NEARLY DAN
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–23:00, £14
Steely Dan tribute act. THE NIGHTINGALES
CITRUS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £8 ADV. (£10 DOOR)
The Birmingham-formed postpunk outfit get back on the live circuit.
PUSSY WHIPPED FESTIVAL (MAYBECYBORGS + LIZ CRONIN + SEAFIELD FOXES + KINGS QUEER + ETHICAL DEBATING SOCIETY) WEE RED BAR, 19:00–03:00, £6 WEEKEND
Pussy Whipped present a weekend-long fest of queer/LGBTI+ and feminist shenanigans across a programme of music, film and performance, including live bands, DJs and drunken dancing on Friday and Saturday evening, hosted by Dive’s Miss Annabel Sings. MATTHEW AND THE ATLAS
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7
More dreamy Americana from the Aldershot-born, London-based musician. TOMMY CONCRETE AND THE WEREWOLVES (FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK + BATALIONS)
BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5
Old school Edinburgh extreme metalers led by Tommy Concrete.
RSNO: TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIRST PIANO CONCERTO
USHER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11.50
RSNO take on the brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s most popular concerto with a special performance from award-winning pianist Behzod Abduraimov. BANGERS
THE BANSHEE LABYRINTH, 19:30–22:00, £5
The Cornwall punk rockers lead up a noisy night of punk-styled tunesmithery. LONGHORN
OPIUM, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
The hard rockin’ Edinburgh ensemble play a hometown set.
THE SKINNY
Sat 26 Apr RED KITES
HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5
Emotive folk-rock ensemble hailing from Guildford.
PUSSY WHIPPED FESTIVAL (AMITY + PRISCILLAS + ORPHANS + ZDRADA PALKI + V FOR VAGINA) WEE RED BAR, 19:00–03:00, £6 WEEKEND
Pussy Whipped present a weekend-long fest of queer/LGBTI+ and feminist shenanigans across a programme of music, film and performance, including live bands, DJs and drunken dancing on Friday and Saturday evening, hosted by Dive’s Miss Annabel Sings. BOBOK
CITRUS CLUB, 18:00–18:00, £7 (£6)
Original music taking in elements of Balkan, Russian, ska and punk, sung across four languages.
THE UNDERGROUND YOUTH (FRANTIC CHANT + LIFE MODEL) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5 ADV. (£7 DOOR)
The Manc band of psychedelic rockers play Scottish soil, all raw garage sounds served up with a hauntingly beautiful twist. CLOCKWORK ANGELS (DIANE JARDINE)
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–23:00, £8
Rush tribute act. RAMMED
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–23:00, £5
Intimate club session with an underground vibe.
Glasgow Clubs SUB ROSA SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5
Subbie’s regular student night with residents Ray Vose and Desoto at the helm. DISCO RIOT
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Disco-styled party night with Alfredo Crolla spinning a selection of favourites, bolstered by karaoke and popcorn stalls, just cos. BEAST WEDNESDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)
DJs Izzle and Hutchy serve up their usual midweek rammy of pop punk, hardcore and deadly slushy drinks. VIRUNGA
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
New midweek party night making merry to a soundtrack of Afro funk and psychedelia.
Thu 03 Apr DANSE MACABRE
CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £4
The Danse Macabre regulars unite those two happiest of bedfellows, goth-rock and classic disco, in their regular home of Classic Grand. WALK ‘N’ SKANK
BALKANARAMA (THE DESTROYERS + THE SEA BASS KID + DJ ZARIJE) THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 22:30–03:00, £8
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. As in, we’re there. JAMMING FRIDAYS
MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)
Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to the 00s, with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. HARSH TUG
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4
Hip-hop and gangsta rap brought to you by the Notorious B.A.G and pals. YES!
THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
New gay indie night on the block, with a playlist that mixes classic Bowie, The Smiths, Blondie et al alongside new kids like Django Djanjo and Grimes. NIGHTRAVE (ARTWORK)
LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£8 AFTER 12)
THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:00, £17.50 (£15)
The very best in bass, featuring the talents of the Mungo’s Hi-Fi and Chungo Bungo collectives, with a guest or two oft in tow.
Nightrave bring the party once again with a live outing from one third of Magnetic Man, Arthur Smith (aka Artwork), playing in celebration of the new Nightwave record launch.
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
ELI PAPERBOY REED
Themed night with a live Twitter feed and a bouncy castle for added LOLs.
Split up night of chart classics in the main hall and underground hip-hop in the wee room.
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)
THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
SCOTTISH NATIONAL JAZZ ORCHESTRA + MAKOTO OZONE
The SNJO welcome gifted pianist, composer and arranger Makoto Ozone into their fold for the evening. ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £12
Boston teen prodigy on’t road again after two years of touring his 2010 LP, Come and Get It.
Sun 27 Apr KOBI ONYAME
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5
Ghanaian/UK based hip-hop artist and producer, infusing his sound with a mix of his life’s influences and circumstances.
THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
NEVERLAND
R.U.IN THURSDAYS
Rock, metal and emo mix up, plus guest DJs mixing it up in the Jager Bar. HIP HOP THURSDAYS
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3
Early weekend party starter, with Euan Neilson playing the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4
BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: RUNNICLES CONDUCTS MAHLER 9
Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.
USHER HALL, 16:00–18:30, FROM £10.50
SHED, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 (£2) AFTER 11)
Conductor Donald Runnicles takes on the romanticism of Mahler’s Ninth.
BECKY AND THE LUNAR ORCHESTRA
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–23:00, £3
The Edinburgh soul-pop sextet take their horns and strings to the stage to celebrate the launch of their debut EP.
Mon 28 Apr
THE SPOOK SCHOOL (HEATHERS + DORA MAAR)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5
The indie-pop styled Edinburgh quartet play a hometown show.
Glasgow Tue 01 Apr KILLER KITSCH
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
The Killer Kitsch residents take charge – eight years old and still offering up the best in house, techno and electronic. VOODOO VOODOO
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE
Duncan Harvey plays a mix of vintage rock ‘n’ roll, sleazy R’n’B, swing, soul, surf and pop from a bygone age. I AM (JACKMASTER)
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (FREE VIA IAMCLUB.CO.UK)
OUTBURST
Early-weekend student night with DJs Redmond McDonald and Callum Clarke playing a mix of dance, pop, rock and r’n’b. CASHMERE CAT
BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, £7
The Norwegian musician, producer and DJ/turntablist – known to his mammy as Magnus August Høiberg – takes to the decks. HIDE (RODRIGUEZ JNR + JUNIOR G)
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 EARYBIRD (£8 THEREAFTER)
New addition to the Glasgow underground clubbing scene, with the official Hide launch playing host to Watergate and Mobilee artist Rodriguez Jr, alongside Sub Club regular Junior G. ERA’S OF DISCO (BILLY WOODS)
LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
New disco-styled night kicking off with a guest set from local disco legend Billy Woods.
Fri 04 Apr OLD SKOOL
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)
Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul. DAMNATION
CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6
Two floors of the best in rock, metal and industrial tunes picked out by DJ Barry and DJ Tailz. CRASH
SHED, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of house, techno and electronica – a live guest or two oft in tow.
Andy Robertson spins chart and party classics, with his musical accomplice DJ Del playing r’n’b and hip-hop in The Loft space.
THE GARAGE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5
TV TUESDAY
Weekly Tuesday party playing a selection of dancefloor-friendly anthems.
Wed 02 Apr TAKE IT SLEAZY
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE
An unabashed mix of 80s pop, electro and nu-disco. They will play Phil Collins.
April 2014
PROPAGANDA
Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie music. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS
CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Residents night of rock, metal, punk and emo over two levels.
FRESH BEATS
EZYLIFE
The Ez Up chaps host their Berkeley Suite residency, celebrating all things funky, as is their merry way. OPTIMO (2 BAD MICE)
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
The Optimo chaps secure the talents of longstanding UK hardcore pioneers 2 Bad Mice, bringing ‘em to Glasgow for a special revival show.
HNDPCKD VS SOULFUL CHEMISTRY (ILE FLOTTANTE + LANGUID) BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Handpicked hip-hop cats with special live guests in tow.
Sat 05 Apr NU SKOOL
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)
Nick Peacock spins a selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. BLACK TENT
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4
Indie, electro and anything inbetween with Pauly (My Latest Novel), and Simin and Steev (Errors). ABSOLUTION
CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6
Alternative weekend blowout, taking in metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and ska soundscapes over two floors. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS
CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Punk, rock and metallic beats with DJs Billy and Muppet. THE ROCK SHOP
MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)
FREAKBEATS THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
Mod, soul, ska and groovy freakbeat 45s, with DJs Jamo, Paul Molloy and Gareth McCallum. SUPERMAX
THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £5
A taste of the decadent sound systems of NYC’s disco era with yer main man Billy Woods. THE SHED SATURDAYS
SHED, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
The Shed’s mainman Andy Robertson spins ‘charty poppy party classics’, for all yer Saturday night dancing needs presumably. HEATSICK (JOE MCPHEE + GOLDEN TEACHER)
THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 22:30–03:00, £10
Berlin-based experimental dance act Heatsick brings his multi-discipline Extended Play experience to Glasgow, joined on-stage at various points by a range of guest musicians including Joe McPhee and Golden Teacher. HARDCORE ALL STARS (ANGERFIST)
THE TUNNEL, 21:30–03:00, £18 EARYBIRD (£23 THEREAFTER)
Hardcore All Stars play host to a special set from leading hardcore nut-case, Angerfist – bringing the grimy beats attired in hooded sweater and the infamous Jasonmask, as per.
MELTING POT: RESIDENTS’ SPECIAL
THE ADMIRAL, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£10 AFTER 12)
The Melting Pot residents take centre stage, still in recovery from their 13th birthday bash last month. Be gentle on ‘em. SOIREE AT THE HUMMINGBIRD
HUMMINGBIRD, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Free party night in the basement club of the Hummingbird, playing eclectic tunes for dancing feet with the typical Soiree twist. 20 YEARS OF SUBCULTURE SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10
The long-running house night celebrates 20 years of greatness with a special residents party night.
Sun 06 Apr SUNDAY ROASTER
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
Residents Garry and Andrew incite more mayhem than should really be allowed on the Sabbath, taking in chart anthems, mash-ups and requests. BIG BANG!
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
All-new Sunday weekend-extender with Utter Gutter’s Madame S at the helm playing a mix of electronic-disco-tech-house. HAIR OF THE CAT SUNDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)
Sabbath-bothering mix of rock, metal and punk, with punter requests accepted all night long.
Mon 07 Apr BURN
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)
Long-running trade night with Normski, Zeus and Mash spinning disco beats. SPACE INVADER
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.
Andy R plays chart hits and requests past and present, while DJ David Lo Pan holes up in The Attic playing retro classics.
CATHOUSE, 16:00–21:00, £2 (£1)
Tue 08 Apr
VOODOO
Under 18s rock night playing, er, anything and everything rock. LOVE MUSIC
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5
Saturday night disco manned by Gerry Lyons and guests. DEATHKILL4000
BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Industro-rock noise party with live players and bespoke visuals to boot. LET’S GO BACK... WAY BACK!
LA CHEETAH CLUB, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)
Residents Bosco and Rob Mason bring acid-house, techno and rave back to the dancefloor. I HEART GARAGE SATURDAYS
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
Student superclub playing everything from hip-hop to dance and funk to chart.
KILLER KITSCH
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
TV TUESDAY
CRASH
THE GARAGE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
SHED, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Weekly Tuesday party playing a selection of dancefloor-friendly anthems.
Wed 09 Apr SUB ROSA
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5
Subbie’s regular student night with residents Ray Vose and Desoto at the helm. DISCO RIOT
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Disco-styled party night with Alfredo Crolla spinning a selection of favourites, bolstered by karaoke and popcorn stalls, just cos. BEAST WEDNESDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)
DJs Izzle and Hutchy serve up their usual midweek rammy of pop punk, hardcore and deadly slushy drinks. VIRUNGA
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
New midweek party night making merry to a soundtrack of Afro funk and psychedelia.
Thu 10 Apr
WALK ‘N’ SKANK (RADIKAL GURU)
THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
The very best in bass, featuring the talents of the Mungo’s Hi-Fi and Chungo Bungo collectives, with a guest or two oft in tow. NEVERLAND
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Themed night with a live Twitter feed and a bouncy castle for added LOLs. R.U.IN THURSDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)
Rock, metal and emo mix up, plus guest DJs mixing it up in the Jager Bar. HIP HOP THURSDAYS
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3
Early weekend party starter, with Euan Neilson playing 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.
GOOD GRIEF’S GOOP SHOP (THE NEW FABIAN SOCIETY)
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
The DIY label and zine collective present their monthly club outing and fresh zine launch combined. OUTBURST
SHED, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 (£2) AFTER 11)
Early-weekend student night with DJs Redmond McDonald and Callum Clarke playing a mix of dance, pop, rock and r’n’b. PLEASURE GARDEN
THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£2-£4 AFTER 12)
Thursday night party hosted by a rotating group of residents from the underbelly of Glasgow’s musical community. EVIAN CHRIST.
BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, £7
Tri Angle’s Evian Christ presents his recent work, Duga 3, in a murky late night setting.
REVERB:1ST BIRTHDAY (SKARABAEUS + BEJOY SANJEEV + RICHARD NUTEKK) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)
The underground music multidimensional night turns the grand old age of one, infused with various performances, art installations and live visuals. FREAKY FREAKY (THE BLESSINGS)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £TBC
Fun night with Vitamin’s Sam Murray, this edition playing host to a guest set from The Blessings.
AKRO (ANSOME + TILTMODE + BMBL + CIXOUS + SANTANGELO ) LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)
The Killer Kitsch residents take charge – eight years old and still offering up the best in house, techno and electronic.
New night celebrating the brightest young producers and DJs on’t metaphorical block.
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE
Fri 11 Apr
VOODOO VOODOO
Duncan Harvey plays a mix of vintage rock ‘n’ roll, sleazy R’n’B, swing, soul, surf and pop from a bygone age. 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 house, techno and electronica – a live guest or two oft in tow.
OLD SKOOL
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)
Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul. DAMNATION
CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6
Two floors of the best in rock, metal and industrial tunes picked out by DJ Barry and DJ Tailz.
WRONG ISLAND NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4
Andy Robertson spins chart and party classics, with his musical accomplice DJ Del playing r’n’b and hip-hop in The Loft space.
The legendary Teamy and Dirty Larry spin some fresh electronics for your aural pleasure.
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5
Belfast-based DJ Garry McCartney (aka Ejeca) joins the For The Record residents for the night.
CATHOUSE FRIDAYS
THE ARCHES, 22:00–03:00, £10 EARLYBIRD (£12 THEREAFTER)
PROPAGANDA
Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie music. CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Residents night of rock, metal, punk and emo over two levels. COMMON PEOPLE
THE FLYING DUCK, 21:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
Celebration of all things 90s, with hits a-plenty and a pre-club bingo session. JAMMING FRIDAYS
MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)
Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to the 00s, with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. FRESH BEATS
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
Split up night of chart classics in the main hall and underground hip-hop in the wee room.
THE PMR TOUR (CYRIL HAHN + LONE + JAVEON + KILLER KITSCH) THE ARCHES, 23:00–03:00, £7 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
PMR Records showcase a selection of their finest talent, with inimitable Swiss house chap Cyril Hahn topping the bill.
RETURN TO MONO (MARK HENNING)
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £9 (£7)
Monthly night from Soma Records, with Berlin-based UK house and techno chappie Mark Henning taking a shot on the decks. KINO FIST (POISONOUS RELATIONSHIP)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4
Genre-spanning mix of 60s psych, leftfield pop and Krautrock with resident Charlotte (of Muscles of Joy), this month celebrating their birthday proper with a live guest set from Poisonous Relationship. LEGOWELT
LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10
With the imminent release of his next album on Crème Organization, Dutch electronic musician Legowelt touches down to set La Cheetah ablaze.
Sat 12 Apr NU SKOOL
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)
Nick Peacock spins a selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. ABSOLUTION
CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6
Alternative weekend blowout, taking in metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and ska soundscapes over two floors. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS
CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Punk, rock and metallic beats with DJs Billy and Muppet. THE ROCK SHOP
MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)
FOR THE RECORD (EJECA)
LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10
LE YOUTH
Los Angeles-based chappie known for his 90s sounds refracted through a modern aesthetic, out on the road for his spring tour. HORSE MEAT DISCO (BILLY WOODS)
THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £10
The Horse Meat Disco crew bring their usual mischief and disco mayhem, with support from Billy Woods.
Residents Garry and Andrew incite more mayhem than should really be allowed on the Sabbath, taking in chart anthems, mash-ups and requests. BIG BANG!
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
All-new Sunday weekend-extender with Utter Gutter’s Madame S at the helm playing a mix of electronic-disco-tech-house. HAIR OF THE CAT SUNDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)
Sabbath-bothering mix of rock, metal and punk, with punter requests accepted all night long.
Mon 14 Apr BURN
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)
Long-running trade night with Normski, Zeus and Mash spinning disco beats.
Student superclub playing everything from hip-hop to dance and funk to chart. FANTASTIC MAN
BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Messy Saturday night uber-disco featuring a rotating schedule of live talent. SUBCULTURE (LIL’ LOUIS)
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10
Chicago-born house producer Louis Sims (aka Lil’ Louis) brings the party to Subculture’s Subbie lair. THE SHED SATURDAYS
SHED, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
The Shed’s mainman Andy Robertson spins ‘charty poppy party classics’, for all yer Saturday night dancing needs presumably.
HIP HOP THURSDAYS
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3
JELLY BABY
Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. OUTBURST
SHED, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 (£2) AFTER 11)
Early-weekend student night with DJs Redmond McDonald and Callum Clarke playing a mix of dance, pop, rock and r’n’b. LOVE ACTION (EROL ALKAN + DANIEL AVERY + MARC HOULE + YOUNG TURKS)
THE ARCHES, 19:00–03:00, £39 WEEKEND PASS
Brand new three-day weekender celebrating Easter in suitably clubhappy electronic style, with sets from the likes of Erol Alkan, Daniel Avery, Eats Everything, John Digweed and Kevin Saunderson over the course of the weekend.
VICIOUS CREATURES (ELLEN ALLIEN)
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
Fri 18 Apr
KILLER KITSCH
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
The Killer Kitsch residents take charge – eight years old and still offering up the best in house, techno and electronic. VOODOO VOODOO
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE
Duncan Harvey plays a mix of vintage rock ‘n’ roll, sleazy R’n’B, swing, soul, surf and pop from a bygone age. 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 house, techno and electronica – a live guest or two oft in tow. TV TUESDAY
THE GARAGE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
NOT MOVING
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE
BACK TAE MINE
I HEART GARAGE SATURDAYS
Rock, metal and emo mix up, plus guest DJs mixing it up in the Jager Bar.
Tue 15 Apr
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
R.U.IN THURSDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)
Andy R plays chart hits and requests past and present, while DJ David Lo Pan holes up in The Attic playing retro classics.
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5
House-party styled night with residents Gav Dunbar and Sci-Fi Steve, plus free toast for all as standard.
Themed night with a live Twitter feed and a bouncy castle for added LOLs.
Fledgling party night intent on breaking free from the chains of normality, this time featuring German electronic musician, music producer, and the founder of BPitch Control music label – talented lass Ellen Allien.
SPACE INVADER
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
South African house, grime, jungle, R’n’B and hauntology – tropical mix, ayes.
THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
NEVERLAND
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4
SUNDAY ROASTER
Wed 16 Apr
Saturday night disco manned by Gerry Lyons and guests.
The very best in bass, featuring the talents of the Mungo’s Hi-Fi and Chungo Bungo collectives, with a guest or two oft in tow.
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
CATHOUSE, 16:00–21:00, £2 (£1)
LOVE MUSIC
THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
Sun 13 Apr
Weekly Tuesday party playing a selection of dancefloor-friendly anthems.
Under 18s rock night playing, er, anything and everything rock.
WALK ‘N’ SKANK (PETER YOUTHMAN)
Early weekend party starter, with Euan Neilson playing the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop.
Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. VOODOO
Thu 17 Apr
DISCO RIOT
Disco-styled party night with Alfredo Crolla spinning a selection of favourites, bolstered by karaoke and popcorn stalls, just cos. BEAST WEDNESDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)
DJs Izzle and Hutchy serve up their usual midweek rammy of pop punk, hardcore and deadly slushy drinks. VIRUNGA
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
New midweek party night making merry to a soundtrack of Afro funk and psychedelia. SUB ROSA (MOVE D)
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5
Subbie’s regular student night with residents Ray Vose and Desoto at the helm, joined by a guest set from Move D.
OLD SKOOL
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)
Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul. DAMNATION
CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6
Two floors of the best in rock, metal and industrial tunes picked out by DJ Barry and DJ Tailz. CRASH
SHED, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Andy Robertson spins chart and party classics, with his musical accomplice DJ Del playing r’n’b and hip-hop in The Loft space. PROPAGANDA
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5
Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie music. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS
CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Residents night of rock, metal, punk and emo over two levels. JAMMING FRIDAYS
MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)
Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to the 00s, with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez.
LOVE ACTION (EATS EVERYTHING + FRANKIE KNUCKLES + DAVID MORALES + BODDIKA + MANO LE TOUGH + KEVIN SAUNDERSON + JUAN ATKINS + DEETRON + ONEMAN)
THE ARCHES, 19:00–03:00, £39 WEEKEND PASS
Brand new three-day weekender celebrating Easter in suitably clubhappy electronic style, with sets from the likes of Erol Alkan, Daniel Avery, Eats Everything, John Digweed and Kevin Saunderson over the course of the weekend. FACE INVADERS
THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£4 AFTER 12)
New night powering itself on postpunk, 60s garage, funk, electro and the weirdest pop they can lay their grubby mitts on. OSMIUM (ANTONI MAIOWI)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4
Italo, disco, synthpop and funk with the residents joined by a guest slot by Antoni Maiowi.
Listings
57
10 YEARS OF HYPERDUB (KODE 9 + IKONIKA + SCRATCH DVA + TERROR DANJAH) THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 23:00–03:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£12/£15 THEREAFTER)
Special showcase celebrating dubstep pioneers Huperdub’s 10th birthday – with sets from founder, and true ambassador of the underground, Kode9, amongst others. OFFBEAT (M GUN)
LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (FIRST 50 FREE)
The Offbeat crew take to their now regular home of La Cheetah, with Manuel Gonzales (aka M Gun) their guest for the evening. First 50 go free. GOO FRIDAY
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
Friday mix of underground hiphop, rap and r’n’b, bolstered by karaoke in The Wee Room.
Sat 19 Apr NU SKOOL
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)
Nick Peacock spins a selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. ABSOLUTION
CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6
Alternative weekend blowout, taking in metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and ska soundscapes over two floors. SUBCULTURE
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8
Long-running house night with regulars Harri & Domenic manning the decks. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS
CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Punk, rock and metallic beats with DJs Billy and Muppet. 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. VOODOO
CATHOUSE, 16:00–21:00, £2 (£1)
Under 18s rock night playing, er, anything and everything rock. LOVE MUSIC
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5
Saturday night disco manned by Gerry Lyons and guests. I HEART GARAGE SATURDAYS
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
Student superclub playing everything from hip-hop to dance and funk to chart. SINGLES NIGHT
THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
Andy Divine and Chris Geddes’ gem of a night dedicated to 7-inch singles from every genre imaginable. STRANGE PARADISE
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4
SUNDAY CIRCUS
R.U.IN THURSDAYS
ABSOLUTION
THE SANCTUARY, 15:00–22:30, £12 (£10)
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)
CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6
Easter special of the house and dub techno night, taking in a live set from Eric Volta, alongside residents Affi Koman, Ronnie and Tricky. BIG BANG!
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
All-new Sunday weekend-extender with Utter Gutter’s Madame S at the helm playing a mix of electronic-disco-tech-house. MELTING POT (MR SCRUFF)
THE ADMIRAL, 22:30–03:00, £12 ADV. (£15 DOOR)
The Melting Pot crew’s Easter outing finds ‘em stepping out with none other than Mr Scruff – known for mixing a junk-shop bag of sounds and bringing his beats to life with squiggly, scribbled animations. BASS WARRIOR (PRINCE FATTY)
THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 22:30–03:00, £8 (£7)
Bass Warrior present a night of deep Jamaican sounds and bass culture with the help of British artist and producer, Prince Fatty. HAIR OF THE CAT SUNDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)
Sabbath-bothering mix of rock, metal and punk, with punter requests accepted all night long.
Mon 21 Apr BURN
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)
The all-female collective, blog and fanzine bring together a selection of live acts and DJs for their monthly party night.
LOVE ACTION (MK + JOHN DIGWEED + BEN PEARCE + DJ EZ + JOZIF + ONE RECORDS) THE ARCHES, 19:00–03:00, £39 WEEKEND PASS
Brand new three-day weekender celebrating Easter in suitably clubhappy electronic style, with sets from the likes of Erol Alkan, Daniel Avery, Eats Everything, John Digweed and Kevin Saunderson over the course of the weekend. LUSKA (PSYK)
LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 ADV. (£10 DOOR)
Hailing all the way from Spain, Manuel Anós (aka Psyk) joins the Luska residents for the night.
Sun 20 Apr SUNDAY ROASTER
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
Residents Garry and Andrew incite more mayhem than should really be allowed on the Sabbath, taking in chart anthems, mash-ups and requests.
58
Listings
STRETCHED
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Jazz-influenced sound sauna, moving through mathcore to post-rock. OUTBURST
SHED, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 (£2) AFTER 11)
Early-weekend student night with DJs Redmond McDonald and Callum Clarke playing a mix of dance, pop, rock and r’n’b.
Fri 25 Apr OLD SKOOL
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)
Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul. DAMNATION
CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6
Two floors of the best in rock, metal and industrial tunes picked out by DJ Barry and DJ Tailz. CRASH
SHED, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5
SPACE INVADER
Andy R plays chart hits and requests past and present, while DJ David Lo Pan holes up in The Attic playing retro classics.
Tue 22 Apr KILLER KITSCH
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
The Killer Kitsch residents take charge – eight years old and still offering up the best in house, techno and electronic. VOODOO VOODOO
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE
Duncan Harvey plays a mix of vintage rock ‘n’ roll, sleazy R’n’B, swing, soul, surf and pop from a bygone age.
PROPAGANDA
Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie music. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS
CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Residents night of rock, metal, punk and emo over two levels. JAMMING FRIDAYS
MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)
Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to the 00s, with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. SHAKE APPEAL
BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE
I AM
Damn fine evening of hip shakers and neck breakers, combining everything from Buddy Holly to Motorhead.
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (FREE VIA IAMCLUB.CO.UK)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4
MAGIC WAVES
Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of house, techno and electronica – a live guest or two oft in tow.
The Magic Waves party hits Sleazy’s hard, with the finest of everything Italo in their kit-bag.
THE GARAGE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Fresh from their inaugural partysmashing night in November, the Glue lads are back with all the best in indie, electro, punk, rock’n’roll and dance.
TV TUESDAY
Wed 23 Apr
BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
SHED, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
TYCI (WONDER VILLAINS + NATIVES ARE RESTLESS)
JELLY BABY
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4
Andy Robertson spins chart and party classics, with his musical accomplice DJ Del playing r’n’b and hip-hop in The Loft space.
Weekly Tuesday party playing a selection of dancefloor-friendly anthems.
THE SHED SATURDAYS
HIP HOP THURSDAYS
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3
Early weekend party starter, with Euan Neilson playing the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop.
Long-running trade night with Normski, Zeus and Mash spinning disco beats.
Party night from floral-shirted Wild Combination man David Barbarossa, specializing in leftfield disco, post-punk and far-out pop. The Shed’s mainman Andy Robertson spins ‘charty poppy party classics’, for all yer Saturday night dancing needs presumably.
Rock, metal and emo mix up, plus guest DJs mixing it up in the Jager Bar.
WALK ‘N’ SKANK (COMPA)
THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
The very best in bass, featuring the talents of the Mungo’s Hi-Fi and Chungo Bungo collectives, with a guest or two oft in tow. SUB ROSA
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5
Subbie’s regular student night with residents Ray Vose and Desoto at the helm. SO WEIT SO GUT
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE
The party sounds of Ean, Smiddy and Kenny White on decks. DISCO RIOT
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Disco-styled party night with Alfredo Crolla spinning a selection of favourites, bolstered by karaoke and popcorn stalls, just cos. BEAST WEDNESDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)
DJs Izzle and Hutchy serve up their usual midweek rammy of pop punk, hardcore and deadly slushy drinks. VIRUNGA
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
New midweek party night making merry to a soundtrack of Afro funk and psychedelia.
Thu 24 Apr NEVERLAND
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Themed night with a live Twitter feed and a bouncy castle for added LOLs.
GLUE
THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
FRESH BEATS
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
Split up night of chart classics in the main hall and underground hip-hop in the wee room. GORGON CITY
THE ARCHES, 23:00–03:00, £7 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
The north London production duo host their Arches takeover, known for their club-savvy pop soundscapes ripe for dancing feet. EZYLIFE
THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
The Ez Up chaps host their Berkeley Suite residency, celebrating all things funky, as is their merry way. SHANGRILA (GORGON CITY)
THE ART SCHOOL UNION, 23:00–03:00, £8
Special weekend edition of the midweek party night, featuring a guest set from English electronic music production duo Gorgon City. MISSING PERSONS CLUB (PATRICE SCOTT)
LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£10 AFTER 12)
Monthly evening of techno from the MPC crew and guests, this time joined by Patrice Scott.
Sat 26 Apr NU SKOOL
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)
Nick Peacock spins a selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.
Alternative weekend blowout, taking in metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and ska soundscapes over two floors. SUBCULTURE
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8
Long-running house night with regulars Harri & Domenic manning the decks. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS
CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)
Punk, rock and metallic beats with DJs Billy and Muppet. THE ROCK SHOP
MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)
Edinburgh Clubs Tue 01 Apr HIVE TUESDAYS
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie and punk. SOUL JAM HOT
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Fresh mix of funk, soul and boogie from The Players Association team. I LOVE HIP HOP
Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.
Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.
CATHOUSE, 16:00–21:00, £2 (£1)
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
VOODOO
Under 18s rock night playing, er, anything and everything rock. LOVE MUSIC
O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5
Saturday night disco manned by Gerry Lyons and guests. I HEART GARAGE SATURDAYS
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3
HECTOR’S HOUSE
The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines allied with home-cooked house beats.
Wed 02 Apr COOKIE
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Student superclub playing everything from hip-hop to dance and funk to chart.
Midweek student rundown of chart, club and electro hits.
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4
Sneaky’s resident bass spectacular of house, garage and bass adventures with Ross Blackwax and Danet.
THUNDER DISCO CLUB
The Thunder Disco Club residents churn out the 90s house, techno and disco hits. HOUNDIN’ THE STREETS
THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)
WITNESS
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
CHAMPION SOUND
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)
Nowt but bare bone-rattling, foot-tapping, ass-shaking hip-hop classics, new wave and disco.
Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae and dancehall.
SHED, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5
THE SHED SATURDAYS
TRIBE
The Shed’s mainman Andy Robertson spins ‘charty poppy party classics’, for all yer Saturday night dancing needs presumably.
Weekly night manned by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson.
BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE
New midweek party night, with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the small hours.
TEENAGE RIOT
Members of Glasgow’s posthardcore noise-masters, United Fruit, curate their lively monthly event of big-beat alternative indie. SOUTHSIDE SOUL
POLLOK EX-SERVICEMENS CLUB, 20:00–01:00, £5
DJs Felonious Munk and Duncan Harvey play soul, motown and R’n’B handpicked from their collection of sixties and seventies vinyl. #NOTSOSILENT (KLOSE ONE + BEN MARTIN) LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7
The #notsosilent lot return, playing host to live sets from London’s Klose One and High Sheen label boss Ben Martin.
Sun 27 Apr SUNDAY ROASTER
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
Residents Garry and Andrew incite more mayhem than should really be allowed on the Sabbath, taking in chart anthems, mash-ups and requests. BIG BANG!
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
All-new Sunday weekend-extender with Utter Gutter’s Madame S at the helm playing a mix of electronic-disco-tech-house. JOHNNY FIASCO
SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
The Chicagoan DJ and producer – who’s spent the last 20 years contributing his music to the global dance music community – plays a weekend-extending Sunday set at Subbie. HAIR OF THE CAT SUNDAYS
CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)
Sabbath-bothering mix of rock, metal and punk, with punter requests accepted all night long.
Mon 28 Apr BURN
BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)
Long-running trade night with Normski, Zeus and Mash spinning disco beats. SPACE INVADER
THE GARAGE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)
Andy R plays chart hits and requests past and present, while DJ David Lo Pan holes up in The Attic playing retro classics.
THE GETTUP
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE
PEANUT BUTTER WOLF
SNEAKY PETE’S, 21:00–00:00, £10
Gig-time DJ set from the founder of Stones Throw records, playing a likely pioneering selection of hip-hop and boogie.
Thu 03 Apr I AM
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)
Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of house, techno and electronica – a live guest or two oft in tow.
WONKY HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
A cast of players take care of all your hardtek and breakcore needs, with full UV decor and glowstick action. POP TARTS
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 17:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 12)
Pop and rock gems spun by DJs from Electric Circus’ Saturday club nights, including Magic Nostalgic, Beep Beep, Yeah! and Pop Rocks. FLY (WAZE + ODDESSY)
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
A powerhouse of local residents take over Cab Vol, joined by a selection of guest talent both local and further flung (aka London). SUGO
WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3
Suitably trashy vintage playlists taking in the best of the worst of Italian 70s, 80s, 90s music. HIDDEN DOOR AFTER-PARTY
THE MASH HOUSE, 22:00–03:00, £TBC
Official after-bash for the pop-up art festival, Hidden Door, spreading its party wares over all three floors of sprawling Mash House venue. SLEPT ON
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)
Special one-off showcase of some of Scotland’s best new producers, including Guised, Comrade Massie, Floating Boy, Atticus Jacks and Telfort.
Sat 05 Apr TEASE AGE
CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)
Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the classic and modern spectrums. BUBBLEGUM
THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)
Handpicked weekend mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics as standard.
Mighty mix of reggae, grime, dubstep and jungle played oot by the inimitable residents.
BALKANARAMA (THE DESTROYERS + THE SEA BASS KID + DJ ZARIJE)
STUDIO 24, 21:30–03:00, £8
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)
VEGAS!
50s-themed party fun night, with Frankie Sumatra, Bugsy Seagull, Dino Martini, Sam Jose and Nikki Nevada. Plus Vegas showgirls ago-go, natch.
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)
Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room. SPEAKEASY
THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
A selection of hip-hop, house, garage and dancehall sounds take over the bar and main room.
Fri 04 Apr MISFITS
THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)
Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems over two rooms. FOUR CORNERS
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
Soulful dancing fodder, from deep funk to reggae beats with your regular DJ hosts. PLANET EARTH
CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)
Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5
Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie music.
Sun 06 Apr THE CLUB
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of. CAB VOL SUNDAYS
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4
Eclectic hip-hop, funk and soul playlists with yer DJ experts Cunnie and Beef. COALITION (DE$IGNATED)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Weekly cross-genre of bass from a cast of Edinburgh’s best underground DJs, joined by a guest slot from bubbly house DJ De$ignated.
Mon 07 Apr MIXED UP
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Request-driven night of pop-punk, chart, indie and good ol’ 90s classics. NU FIRE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
DJ Fusion and Beef move from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.
Tue 08 Apr HIVE TUESDAYS
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Mash-up mix of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Mumbo Jumbo’s Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin, bolstered by Tall Paul’s vintage selections. HI-SOCIETY
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, FREE
After back-to-back shows with the likes of Viva Warriors and Riva Starr, Karnival return to their Liquid Room lair joined by the Kapital and Animal Hospital DJs.
BIG ‘N’ BASHY
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:30–01:00, £6
HULLABALOO
KARNIVAL (KAPITAL + ANIMAL HOSPITAL)
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£6 AFTER 12)
Pumped Thursday nighter playing a mighty mix of everything from Hud Mo to Fly Mo.
JUICE
Ever-changing party night taking you on a different musical journey every time, inspired by legendary nights such as MusicOn, Circo Loco and Enter in Ibiza.
Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie and punk.
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. As in, we’re there.
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
MAY DAY (ANDREA SEGHETTI JACK GIBSON) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)
SPEAKER BITE ME
The Evol DJs worship at the alter of all kinds of indie-pop, with their only rule being that it’s gotta have bite. POCKET ACES (THUNDER DISCO CLUB)
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
Dance-inducing party with an anything goes attitude and rotating schedule of guest DJs, with TDC making their monthly journey to the capital for a night of discoinfused house.
FABRIKA DE FUNK (SAMMY SENIOR)
THE ANNEXE, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)
New night spinning nothing but the funkiest in underground sounds. SCISSOR
THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£6 AFTER 12)
All-new gay night dedicated to playlists of house, electro and anything else you can dance to. WE OWN
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5
The We Own crew bring a concentrated version of their famed party blowouts to Sneaky Pete’s diminutive lair.
SOUL JAM HOT
Fresh mix of funk, soul and boogie from The Players Association team. I LOVE HIP HOP
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3
HULLABALOO THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)
Mash-up mix of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Mumbo Jumbo’s Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin, bolstered by Tall Paul’s vintage selections. 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. SPEAKEASY
THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
A selection of hip-hop, house, garage and dancehall sounds take over the bar and main room.
Fri 11 Apr MISFITS
THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)
Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems over two rooms. PLANET EARTH
CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)
Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. CONFUSION IS SEX
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)
Glam techno and electro night, mixing tunes, installation and performance – this time with a prohibition theme to proceedings. PROPAGANDA
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5
Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie music. POP TARTS
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 17:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 12)
Pop and rock gems spun by DJs from Electric Circus’ Saturday club nights, including Magic Nostalgic, Beep Beep, Yeah! and Pop Rocks. FLY (JASPER JAMES)
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
A powerhouse of local residents take over Cab Vol, joined by a selection of guest talent both local and further flung (aka London). TEESH
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5
DJ Cheers – frequent flyer at many a Sneaky’s night – finally gets his own show on the road, playing disco, house and boogie gems. FALLING UP
HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
The vinyl-obsessed Weegie residents play a four-hour long session of house tracks.
Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.
Sat 12 Apr
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)
HECTOR’S HOUSE
TEASE AGE
The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines allied with home-cooked house beats.
Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the classic and modern spectrums.
Wed 09 Apr
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3 (MEMBERS FREE)
COOKIE
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Midweek student rundown of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Sneaky’s resident bass spectacular of house, garage and bass adventures with Ross Blackwax and Danet. CHAMPION SOUND
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER MIDNIGHT)
Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae and dancehall. TRIBE
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5
Weekly night manned by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE
New midweek party night, with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the small hours.
Thu 10 Apr I AM EDINBURGH
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)
Resident young guns Beta & Kappa make their now regular trip east, playing the usual fine mix of electronica and bass. JUICE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Pumped Thursday nighter playing a mighty mix of everything from Hud Mo to Fly Mo.
BASS SYNDICATE
The regular Edinburgh breaks and bassline Manga crew takeover. BUBBLEGUM
THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)
Handpicked weekend mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics as standard. SOULSVILLE
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5
Swinging soul spanning a whole century, with DJs Tsatsu and Fryer. DR NO’S
HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£5 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. THINK TWICE (UBER)
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
Dance-inducing party night, this edition with a special guest slot from trance-loving DJ Uber.
UNSEEN (JUNIOR LAZAROU + PAUL CURRAN)
STUDIO 24, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 11)
More stripped-down techno with a back-to-basics warehouse style, as Unseen this month welcome two Scottish DJs who’ve been rocking the scene since the very beginning: Junior Lazarou and Paul Curran.
THE SKINNY
MIGHTY OAK SOUND SYSTEM THE MASH HOUSE, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)
Celebrating their 2nd vinyl release, Sail On by Marga, Mighty Oak come with a heavyweight roots reggae and dubwise selection played through their own custom built sound system.
Sun 13 Apr COALITION
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Weekly cross-genre of bass from a cast of Edinburgh’s best underground DJs. THE CLUB
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of. CAB VOL SUNDAYS
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4
Eclectic hip-hop, funk and soul playlists with yer DJ experts Cunnie and Beef.
Mon 14 Apr MIXED UP
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Request-driven night of pop-punk, chart, indie and good ol’ 90s classics. NU FIRE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
DJ Fusion and Beef move from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.
Tue 15 Apr HIVE TUESDAYS
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie and punk. SOUL JAM HOT
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Fresh mix of funk, soul and boogie from The Players Association team. I LOVE HIP HOP
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3
Fri 18 Apr MISFITS
COOKIE
Midweek student rundown of chart, club and electro hits. CHAMPION SOUND
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)
Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae and dancehall. TRIBE
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5
Weekly night manned by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE
New midweek party night, with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the small hours. WITNESS (EROL ALKAN)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £15.00
Sneaky’s resident bass spectacular of house, garage and bass adventures, this time playing host to Trash founder, Bugged Out resident and DJ extraordinaire, Erol Alkan.
Thu 17 Apr I AM EDINBURGH
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)
Resident young guns Beta & Kappa make their now regular trip east, playing the usual fine mix of electronica and bass. 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. SPEAKEASY
Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5
Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie music. ELECTRIKAL
COALITION
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Weekly cross-genre of bass from a cast of Edinburgh’s best underground DJs. THE CLUB
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of.
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£6 AFTER 12)
NIGHTFILM (ALEX METRIC + YUKSEK + MYLO)
POP TARTS
The musical hub and record label brainchild of Mighty Mouse and Matt Van Schie, Nightfilm makes its now regular appearance at Cab Vol – manned by a plethora of hot talent.
Soundsystem party-starters, part of a music and art collective specializing in all things bass. ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 17:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 12)
Pop and rock gems spun by DJs from Electric Circus’ Saturday club nights, including Magic Nostalgic, Beep Beep, Yeah! and Pop Rocks. FLY
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
A powerhouse of local residents take over Cab Vol, joined by a selection of guest talent both local and further flung (aka London). ETC25: 2ND BIRTHDAY
THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5 IN FANCY DRESS)
Edinburgh Tekno Cartel bring the sleazy bass and techno beats once more, this time celebrating their 2nd birthday with an underwater theme (aka make like a mermaid) – bolstered by a live set from DJ supremo Dolphin. SOUL DROPS
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3 (MEMBERS FREE)
TEASE AGE
CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)
Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the classic and modern spectrums. THE EGG
WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£5 AFTER 12)
Art School institution with DJs Chris and Jake playing the finest in indie, garage, soul and punk – now moving to a monthly slot, in what is their 20th year. BUBBLEGUM
THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)
Handpicked weekend mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics as standard. GASOLINE DANCE MACHINE
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
More classic Italo and straight-up boogie allied with contemporary house and disco, as Edinburgh’s GDM crew do their thing. MESSENGER
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£7 AFTER 12)
Conscious roots and dub reggae rockin’ from the usual beefty soundsystem. WASABI DISCO
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)
Heady bout of cosmic house, punk upside-down disco and, er, Fleetwood Mac with yer man Kris ‘Wasabi’ Walker. POP ROCKS!
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)
Pop and rock gems, taking in motown, 80s classics and plenty danceable fare (well, the Beep Beep, Yeah! crew are on decks after all).
HYPERDUB: 10TH BIRTHDAY (IKONIKA + SCRATCH DVA)
THE CAVES, 21:00–03:00, £20
THE IMAGINARIUM
THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£6 AFTER 12)
Party-styled night of ska, Balkan and rock sounds.
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
COLOURS (MK)
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £16
In-demand American House DJ and producer, MK, joins the Colour crew for a live set.
Mon 21 Apr MIXED UP
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Request-driven night of pop-punk, chart, indie and good ol’ 90s classics. NU FIRE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
DJ Fusion and Beef move from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.
Tue 22 Apr HIVE TUESDAYS
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie and punk. SOUL JAM HOT
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Fresh mix of funk, soul and boogie from The Players Association team.
BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–23:00, £7
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £12
Glasgow Theatre
FAT SAM’S FRIDAYS
CCA
PLANET EARTH
Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5
Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie music. XPLICIT
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)
Heavy jungle and bass-styled beats from the inimitable Xplicit crew, likely joined by a guest or two. POP TARTS
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 17:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 12)
Pop and rock gems spun by DJs from Electric Circus’ Saturday club nights, including Magic Nostalgic, Beep Beep, Yeah! and Pop Rocks. SHAKE YER SHOULDERS
COALITION
Derby-based rock trio headered by Steven Battelle on lead vocals and guitar duties.
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Sat 19 Apr
THE CLUB
Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of. ILLUSION (JOSH BUTLER)
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £10 (£8)
Bringing the freshest international DJ talent to the ‘burgh, Illusion welcome globetrotting Leeds based producer/DJ Josh Butler to their lair.
Mon 28 Apr MIXED UP
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Request-driven night of pop-punk, chart, indie and good ol’ 90s classics. NU FIRE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
DJ Fusion and Beef move from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.
STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 11.30)
Celebration of all things techno with the Shake Yer Shoulders residents. FLY (MIA DORA)
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
A powerhouse of local residents take over Cab Vol, joined by a selection of guest talent both local and further flung (aka London). VITAMINS (PIU PIU)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)
Vitamins welcome hardballin Paris gal Piu Piu for a set of chopped-up garage, boogie and house sounds.
Sat 26 Apr TEASE AGE
CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)
Dundee Music Thu 03 Apr ABSOLUTE BOWIE
BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–23:00, £12
David Bowie tribute act.
Fri 04 Apr JACK ROWBERRY
BUSKERS, 20:00–23:00, FREE
The young blues guitar singer/ songwriter plays an acoustic set. More fresh beats and flashy visuals from the Contour crew.
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£7/£5 STUDENT AFTER 12)
Captivating cult artist who rose to fame in the 80s and 90s with her Casio keyboard and array of echo and phaser effects.
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
Wed 23 Apr COOKIE
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Midweek student rundown of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
Sneaky’s resident bass spectacular of house, garage and bass adventures with Ross Blackwax and Danet. CHAMPION SOUND
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)
Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae and dancehall. TRIBE
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5
Weekly night manned by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE
Funk, soul, beats and mash-ups from the Mumbo Jumbo regulars, joined by Bubble DJs Brainstorm and Durkit for some added acid and house. BUBBLEGUM
THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)
Handpicked weekend mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics as standard. RIDE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5
The Ride girls play hip-hop and dance, all night long – now in their new party-ready Saturday night slot. MADCHESTER
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £6
Monthly favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. BETAMAX
STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)
Monthly offering of new wave, disco, post-punk and a bit o’ synthtastic 80s with your hosts Chris and Big Gus. DR NO’S
New midweek party night, with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the small hours.
HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£5 AFTER 12)
Thu 24 Apr
POCKET ACES (I AM)
I AM EDINBURGH
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)
Resident young guns Beta & Kappa make their now regular trip east, playing the usual fine mix of electronica and bass. HULLABALOO
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)
Mash-up mix of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Mumbo Jumbo’s Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin, bolstered by Tall Paul’s vintage selections. 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. SPEAKEASY
THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
Danceable mix of the best in 60s ska, rocksteady, bluebeat and early reggae. CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)
Dance-inducing party with an anything goes attitude and rotating rota of guest DJs, with i AM residents Beta and Kappa showing their versatility with a guest appearance. RAMMED
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–23:00, £5
Intimate club session with an underground vibe.
SEB FONTAINE + PAUL BLEASDALE
THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £TBC
A duo of DJ legends take over the sprawling Mash House space for one-night only. MAGIC ‘RANDOM ACCESS’NOSTALGIQUE
ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£7 AFTER 12)
A hodgepodge of quality tracks chosen by JP’s spinning wheel, this time with a French electro theme (aka a whole lotta Daft Punk).
Rockabilly, doo-wop, soul and all things golden age and danceable with the Locarno regulars.
Thu 24 Apr RANDOM HAND
NON-ZERO’S, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
Keighley-based punk metal champs, previewing tracks from their fourth studio LP.
Fri 25 Apr
PULLED APART BY HORSES (THE WYTHCES)
BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–23:00, £10
Leeds-based band of lunatics running to a tight check list of torturous vocals, distortion, serious riffage, and hardcore clatter. All in the name of some pretty bloody awesome balls-to-the-wall rock, y’understand.
Sat 26 Apr
MARTIN METCALFE AND THE FORNICATORS (COURTNEY’S CHAIN + ELEPHANT + SYANN GILROY)
Young Glasgow ensemble who bring the noise via biting solos from their two guitarists.
Mon 28 Apr EZRA FURMAN
BUSKERS, 20:00–23:00, £8.50
Chicago based singer/songwriter, formerly of Ezra Furman and the Harpoons, now hitting the road solo.
THE SPACE LADY (RHIAN THOMPSON)
DCA, 19:00–22:00, £8 (£6)
THE BRIMSTONE DAYS (POINT INAUDIBLE + ST KILDA MAILBOAT + SIMONIACS)
NON-ZERO’S, 20:00–23:00, £TBC
DJ PIERRE
The dance music legend heads up the decks, with resident support from Dicky Trisco and Carl Mendez. FAT SAM’S, 23:00–02:30, £4 (£3)
Fun Friday nighter soundtracked by big party tunes and punter requests.
Sat 12 Apr ROOMS RESIDENTS
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
The Reading Room residents hold the fort for the evening. MASK
FAT SAM’S, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£5)
Classy club takeover snaking across four rooms, with a VIP lounge to boot.
Dundee Clubs Thu 03 Apr ROOMS THURSDAYS
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest) playing anything and everything ‘good’. WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
FAT SAM’S, 22:30–03:00, £4
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 31 JUL AND 3 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£8)
Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest) playing anything and everything ‘good’. WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
FAT SAM’S, 22:30–03:00, £4
All-new early weekend partystarter, bolstered by a bouncy castle, gambling tables and a wedding chapel.
Fri 18 Apr EROL ALKAN
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £13.50
The Trash founder, Bugged Out resident and all-round DJ extraordinaire takes control for the evening, best known for his tight productions and damn good remixes. FAT SAM’S FRIDAYS
Fun Friday nighter soundtracked by big party tunes and punter requests. GORILLA IN YOUR CAR
KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
Hardcore, emo, punk and scenester selections. Also perhaps the best-named club night in Dundee’s existence.
Sat 19 Apr LOCARNO
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
Rockabilly, doo-wop, soul and all things golden age and danceable with the Locarno regulars.
Fri 04 Apr READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
FLUORESCENT FIELDS (THE IQONS + VINTAGE MIND + THE NSA)
NON-ZERO’S, 20:00–23:00, £DONATION
Alternative rock four-piece, originating from various corners of the world, but formed and based in Dundee. BLOOD RELATIVES
BUSKERS, 20:00–23:00, £6
Glasgow pop-styled ensemble – none of whom are related to each other, FYI – still riding high on their first LP release.
Fri 11 Apr
FAT SAM’S, 23:00–02:30, £4 (£3)
Thu 24 Apr
Fun Friday nighter soundtracked by big party tunes and punter requests. WARPED
KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead.
Sat 05 Apr
AUTODISCO (PETE HERBERT)
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)
BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–23:00, £4 ADV. (£5 DOOR)
Sat 12 Apr
Classy club takeover snaking across four rooms, with a VIP lounge to boot.
Showcase night taking in garage punk, post-punk, surf and good ol’ rock’n’roll. VLADIMIR (THE DEATH RAYS OF ARDILLA + WAITING FOR JACK)
BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–02:30, £4 ADV. (£5 DOOR)
Noisy indie-rock ensemble from Dundee, launching their new single on the night, followed by DJs Andrew Smith and Andy Wood taking y’all into the wee drunken hours.
Wed 16 Apr PALMA VIOLETS
BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:30–22:00, £10
South London garage-rock quartet, based on the musical partnership of frontmen Sam Fryer and Chilli Jesson.
ASYLUM
Saturday best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes.
Electro-funk, house and disco with your regular hosts Dave Autodisco and Dicky Trisco, joined for a special guest slot by Maxi Discs’ Pete Herbert.
THE EDSEL FURYS + THE FNORDS + THE BUCKY RAGE + STOOR + BOBBY STICKAH
MASK
FAT SAM’S, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£5)
More fresh beats and flashy visuals from the Contour crew. FAT SAM’S FRIDAYS
MASK
FAT SAM’S, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£5)
COMIC BOOK NIGHT
KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £5 (FREE IN FANCY DRESS)
Unofficial Dee-Con after-bash dedicated to comic book heroes. Free entry in fancy dress.
Thu 10 Apr ROOMS THURSDAYS
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest) playing anything and everything ‘good’. WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
FAT SAM’S, 22:30–03:00, £4
All-new early weekend partystarter, bolstered by a bouncy castle, gambling tables and a wedding chapel.
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 9 APR AND 18 MAR TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY
Oran Mor
ROOMS THURSDAYS
BUSKERS, 20:00–23:00, £7 ADV. (£8 DOOR)
Thu 10 Apr
THE BEAUTIFUL COSMOS OF IVOR CUTLER
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
Classy club takeover snaking across four rooms, with a VIP lounge to boot.
CONTOUR
Citizens Theatre
Thu 17 Apr
ASYLUM
KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
All-new early weekend partystarter, bolstered by a bouncy castle, gambling tables and a wedding chapel.
Liverpool-based high octane pub rock/blues led by the harmonica and vocals of George Hexmen.
Intimate theatre performance telling the tale of an ageing drag queen, playing for one-night-only to raise funds for Cardboard Fox Theatre’s ongoing work.
Saturday best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes.
The Swedish noisemakers play a set of their soul and blues-styled rock. THE HEXMEN
THE MADNESS OF LADY BRIGHT
16 APR, 7:30PM – 8:30PM, £10 (£5)
Weaving together the music, prose, poetry, and biography of Ivor Cutler to tell the story of his remarkable life – from birth, through boyhood, to old age and ultimately death.
FAT SAM’S, 23:00–02:30, £4 (£3)
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
HECTOR’S HOUSE
The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines allied with home-cooked house beats.
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
CONTOUR
THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3
MUMBO JUMBO
LOCARNO
BUSKERS, 19:30–23:00, £5
Sat 05 Apr
Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.
LEFT ALONE
Weekly cross-genre of bass from a cast of Edinburgh’s best underground DJs.
Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the classic and modern spectrums.
I LOVE HIP HOP
A selection of hip-hop, house, garage and dancehall sounds take over the bar and main room.
April 2014
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE
CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)
Musika pull it out the bag with a monster session in celebration of their 6th birthday, featuring a live set from Sasha – debuting his Last Night On Earth label, joined by key artist Simon Baker.
The iconic British label celebrates its 10th birthday, having spearheaded the move in the dance underground from dubstep to new territories of joke, footwork, and future bass.
THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)
Sun 20 Apr
MUSIKA: 7TH BIRTHDAY (SASHA + SIMON BAKER)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5
Fri 11 Apr
PLANET EARTH
THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
A selection of hip-hop, house, garage and dancehall sounds take over the bar and main room.
Fri 18 Apr
CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)
Sat 19 Apr
THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE
Sun 27 Apr
MISFITS
Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems over two rooms.
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)
Wed 16 Apr
Fri 25 Apr
Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems over two rooms.
Stephen Wilson, Kipp$ and the rest of the crew bring the funk, soul, house and disco sounds.
The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines allied with home-cooked house beats.
THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £10
The Jackhammer crew up our dose of all things techno, this time featuring headline sets from Ben Sims and Derrick Carter.
THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)
Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be. HECTOR’S HOUSE
JACKHAMMER (BEN SIMS + DERRICK CARTER)
ROOMS THURSDAYS
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest) playing anything and everything ‘good’. WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
FAT SAM’S, 22:30–03:00, £4
All-new early weekend partystarter, bolstered by a bouncy castle, gambling tables and a wedding chapel.
HINDSIGHT
Dark comedy drama about growing up, the Hydron Collider and the lengths we will go to prove ourselves wrong.
The Arches FAG
3–5 APR, TIMES VARY, £12 (£10)
Work in progress collaboration between Adrian Howells, Konstantin Bock, Aldo Palstra and Lucy Gaizely, exploring themes of age, activism and family. Part of Behaviour Festival. SAM HALMARACK AND THE MISERABLITES
4–5 APR, TIMES VARY, £12 (£10)
Interactive work located somewhere between a theatre show and a stadium pop concert, with the audience expected to sing and hand-clap along. Part of Behaviour Festival. JOB SEEKERS ANONYMOUS
8–9 APR, 8:30PM – 9:30PM, £12 (£10)
Humorous exploration of unemployment in the UK today, presented as part cabaret theatre piece and part sketch show, with Sh!t Theatre’s Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit examining their own experiences of being on the dole. Part of Behaviour Festival. BAN THIS FILTH
9–11 APR, 7:00PM – 8:00PM, £12 (£10)
New work from talented chappie Alan Bissett, where he plays himself and controversial late radical feminist and anti-porn campaigner, Andrea Dworkin. Part of Behaviour Festival. LA MERDA
10–11 APR, 8:30PM – 9:30PM, £12 (£10)
Cristian Ceresoli’s critically acclaimed play, with Silvia Gallerano giving a captivating performance as an angry and literally naked woman peeling back the layers of her anger. Part of Behaviour Festival. THEOLOGY
14–19 APR, NOT 16, 7:30PM – 8:30PM, £5
MUNGO’S HI FI
Playwright Martin O’Connor explores the place of religion in Glasgow today, featuring spoken word and song inspired by its people, dialects and faith. Part of Behaviour Festival.
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £5 (£7 AFTER 11.30)
22–25 APR, 7:30PM – 8:30PM, £11 (£9)
Fri 25 Apr More heavyweight selections from Mungo’s Soundsystem, playing a full soundsystem set joined by Chungo Bungo and Miss Dlove. FAT SAM’S FRIDAYS
FAT SAM’S, 23:00–02:30, £4 (£3)
Fun Friday nighter soundtracked by big party tunes and punter requests.
Sat 26 Apr BOOK CLUB
READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £TBC
Is Kill and Diabetic spin all genres of electro, disco, techno... and anything else they damn well fancy. MASK
FAT SAM’S, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£5)
Classy club takeover snaking across four rooms, with a VIP lounge to boot.
THE FORBIDDEN EXPERIMENT
This year’s Platform 18 Award Winners, Rob Jones and Michael John O’Neill, present the fruits of their work, which started life in 2009 as an FOI for data on the British Army’s activities on Inchkeith during the Second World War. Part of Behaviour Festival.
The King’s Theatre ANNIE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 8 AND 12 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £13
New staging of the contemporary musical favourite telling the tale of little orphan Annie. May also include adorable Sandy the dog action.
ASYLUM
KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4
Saturday best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes.
Listings
59
Theatre Glasgow GREASE VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 AND 5 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £9
New rendition of the frothy musical favourite, delivered in full-on singalong glory as per. SCOTTISH BALLET: ROMEO AND JULIET
19–26 APR, NOT 20, 21, TIMES VARY, FROM £10.50
Scottish Ballet’s majestic take on Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed lovers, set against a dramatic multimedia backdrop.
The Old Hairdressers
ENA AFORE THE WILDERNESS
28–30 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10
New play based on the alleged tempestuous weekend in which Scottish author Ena Lamont Stewart wrote her seminal work, Men Should Weep.
Tron Theatre LOST
10–12 APR, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £8
After the success of Multiplex, the S3-S6 Skillshops return with a brand new piece of devised theatre exploring all things lost. UP TO SPEED
12 APR, TIMES VARY, £5
Exclusive preview of Rosalind Sydney’s new play – before the show’s debut as part of Imaginate Festival 2014 – telling the tale of a boy and a girl and what it is like to be the odd one out. TIPS
25–26 APR, 7:00PM – 10:00PM, £17 (INCLUDES TWO-COURSE MEAL)
Interactive dining experience performed by 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Best Actress nominee, Mary Gapinski, taking in a two-course meal with theatrical waitress interaction.
Edinburgh
Usher Hall
BOOGIE NIGHTS: THE 70S MUSICAL
1–5 APR, TIMES VARY, £15.40 (£13.20)
UNDER THE MULBERRY TREE 3–12 APR, NOT 6, TIMES VARY, FROM £12.50
Five leading actors bring to life Timothy Jones’ compelling and oft-disturbing account of a middle aged couple’s relationship as they holiday in the South of France.
King’s Theatre PRINCESS IDA
1–5 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £12
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM/THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
16–19 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £14
Summerhall INVISIBLE EMPIRE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 26 AND 27 APR, 7:30PM – 8:30PM, £11 (£9)
NAKED WOMEN
27 APR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £7 (£5)
Second production by the Edinburgh Stage School highlighting the extremities of the female psyche – with this piece demonstrating how our insecurities can eat away at us and ultimately consume us.
Traverse Theatre CAPTAIN AMAZING
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 3 AND 5 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £15.50 (£12.50 STUDENTS/£8 UNEMPLOYED)
New glitzy production of the stage musical, based on the classic 80s film of the same name.
Bruntwood prize-winning Alistair McDowall’s funny and poignant show, featuring a tour-de-force performance by Mark Weinman as a man whose life begins to unravel.
Festival Theatre
8–12 APR, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £15.50 (£12.50 STUDENTS/£8 UNEMPLOYED)
14–26 APR, NOT 20, 21, TIMES VARY, FROM £10
MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 22 NOV AND 26 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £17
Matthew Bourne (y’know, he who is tirelessly reimagining just about every classic in theatrical existence) presents his re-telling of the majestic Swan Lake. BOXE BOXE
1 APR, 2 APR, 8 APR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY
France’s Compagnie Käfig company return to the UK with an impressive new show fusing the art of boxing with dance.
The Gardyne Theatre 42ND STREET
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 17 AND 19 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £7.50
UNION
Timely tale delving into the story of the original Union of Scotland and England in 1707 – with Tim Barrow’s retelling set amidst the Royal Mile, Kensington Palace and the Scottish Parliament, populated with a cast of famous historical figures.
THIS MAY HURT A BIT
Stella Feehily’s new play exploring one family’s journey through the digestive system of the NHS, told with characteristic wit, tenderness and surrealism. FACTOR 9
24–26 APR, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £15.50 (£12.50 STUDENTS/£8 UNEMPLOYED)
Visceral horror story of human survival, set against the backdrop of the tainted blood products scandal affecting thousands of haemophiliacs worldwide.
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
SWG3
In her first institutional solo exhibition in the UK, Aleksandra Domanovic focuses on the figure of the lone female cosmonaut, exploring the marginalised representation of women within popular science fiction and time travel. Part of GI.
1 Royal Terrace AUGUSTUS VEINOGLOU
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 12 APR AND 27 APR, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE
Solo showcase of work from the Greek-born, Edinburgh-based artist, primarily concerned with ideas of entrapment, sanctity and melancholy as the means of instigating desire, imagination and sensuality within poetically designed space.
SIMON MARTIN
New film commission from the London-based artist, taking the form of a remote drift through objects and reproductions gleaned from multiple sources, presented over a number of key sites throughout Kelvingrove. Part of GI. LUCIE RIE + GEORGE PLATT LYNES
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
celebrating arts documentaries bbc.co.uk/artscreen SUE TOMKINS: COME TO OZARK 10 MAR – 21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
The Glasgow-based artist presents new work combining both vocalised and physical structure and form, transferring aspects of performance such as rhythm, tempo and composition into the gallery via two-dimensional works. Part of GI. ATELIER PUBLIC #2
20 FEB – 27 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Following the success of its first iteration in 2011, Atelier Public #2 explores ideas of play, participation, democracy, permission and the public space, developing as the show progresses. Part of GI.
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
4 APR – 18 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
4–21 APR, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
First retrospective of the Palestinian artist’s work, bringing together existing and new paintings, installations and conceptual work from throughout his career. Part of GI.
LUCY CLOUT + KATE COOPER + ANNE HAANING + MARIANNA SIMNETT
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Shortlisted for the second edition of the Jerwood/Film and Video Umbrella Awards, moving image artists Lucy Clout, Kate Cooper, Anne Haaning and Marianna Simnett showcase their four proposals. Part of GI.
Fleming House Car Park OPERA AUTONOMA: GYMNASIA
4–20 APR, NOT 7, 14, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE
Multi-disciplinary work by Opera Autonoma collective, inspired by the non-hierarchical alignment between physical exercise and scholarly activity in the ancient Greek institution of Gymnasia, functioning as a live performance and installation. Part of GI. LE SWIMMING
4–20 APR, NOT 7, 14, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE
Artists Nadège Druzkowski, Sukaina Kubba, Jenny Lewis, Philippe Murphy, Alys Owen and Beth Shapeero transform the unique space of Fleming House Underground Car Park into a body of a swimming pool. Part of GI.
Major new exhibition featuring an array of Scottish gold items from the Bronze Age to the present, focusing on the occurrence of gold in Scotland and Scottish gold mining.
Kendall Koppe
CCA
KHALED HOURANI
SCOTTISH GOLD
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Scottish playwright Stuart Patterson’s blackly comic and moving portrait of a towering woman battling with her mortality.
Glasgow
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 20 MAR AND 12 APR, 7:45PM – 10:00PM, FROM £12
Gallery of Modern Art
Ambitious new body of work from the Glasgow-based artist, considering the context of the art school as an ‘expanded field’, whereby creating a sequence of points where the audience can encounter the artwork. Part of GI.
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 14 MAR AND 15 JUN, TIMES VARY, £5 (£3)
4–21 APR, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
4 APR – 4 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
MICHAEL STUMPF: THIS SONG BELONGS TO THOSE WHO SING IT
CARS AND BOYS
Royal Lyceum Theatre
The Bongo Club
FAME
Uplifting wee tale of true love, family advice, favourite sweets and what whisky can do to you, told from the perspective of a longdistance relationship spanning NYC and Scotland.
Retelling of the timeless tale of small town Peggy Sawyer’s rise from chorine to Broadway star.
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 31 AND 5 APR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY
Naughty musical comedy starring Lesley Joseph, following the ups and downs in the lives of four ordinary women and one man as they navigate mid-life crisis territory.
PIRATES AND MERMAIDS
Edward Hall’s all-male company, Propeller, perform a contrasting pair of Shakespearean comedies across four nights – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (16 & 17 April) and The Comedy of Errors (18 & 19 April).
DANCE ‘TIL DAWN
3 APR, 6 APR, 9 APR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY
Dundee Rep
11–26 APR, NOT 13, 14, 20, 21, TIMES VARY, £10
Edinburgh Playhouse
HOT FLUSH!
Dundee
8 APR, 10 APR, 7:15PM – 10:00PM, FROM £15
Scottish Opera present a revival of Dominic Hill’s 2005 production of the atmospheric and unsettling Macbeth, in celebration of the 2014 Year of Homecoming, drawing inspiration from events in the war-torn Balkans.
Queens Park Railway Club
ALEKSANDRA DOMANOVIC
9–10 APR, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £12
SCOTTISH OPERA’S MACBETH
Hunterian Art Gallery
4 APR – 1 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
The Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society perform a re-telling of the classic tale of a princess who founds a women’s university and teaches that women are superior to men and should rule in their stead.
Interrogation of our conflicting tendencies to conform and to rebel, told using dynamic movement with haunting polyphonies from Siberia and Albania performed live.
Vincent Simone and Flavia of Strictly Come Dancing fame return with their second live show, if any of you give a bugger.
Based around British culture in the decade that taste forgot, telling the story of wannabe rock star Roddy O’Neill in the disco-heavy 70s.
Art
Glasgow School of Art
HYDRAPANGAEA
Group exhibition comprising a wunderkammer of objects contemplating the history of Glasgow’s collected archive of foreign curiosities collected through trade. Part of GI.
Glasgow Green JANNICA HONEY
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 MAR AND 13 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Photographer Jannica Honey showcases a selection of photos shot in Kahnawake, a Mohawk reservation outside Montreal, capturing the diverse range of residents she spent two days with whilst walking around the 9000-strong community.
Glasgow Print Studio ALEX FROST: REPRODUCTION
4 APR – 18 MAY, NOT 28 APR, 5 MAY, 12 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
New work investigating themes of multiplicity, uniqueness and reproduction – based on the playful use of references, processes and materials dually referencing the nature of print and the current baby boom. Part of GI.
Glasgow Sculpture Studios GARETH MOORE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 7 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
Produced during a three month residency at Glasgow Sculpture Studios, sculptor Gareth Moore’s presents a series of new commissions that engages with the environment and landscape surrounding the studios and the Possilpark area. Part of GI.
Glasgow Women’s Library RUTH BARKER + KIM MOORE
4–21 APR, WEEKDAYS ONLY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Ruth Barker and Kim Moore present work in response to Glasgow Women’s Library’s East End Women’s Heritage Walk, incorporating live performance and spoken word poetry from Barker, and a new sound piece from Moore. Part of GI.
Govanhill Baths ANTHEA HAMILTON + NICHOLAS BYRNE: LOVE
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Artists Anthea Hamilton and Nicholas Byrne inhabit Govanhill Baths with large brightly-coloured inflatable sculptures, incorporating influences from advertising, popular culture, psychedelia and an underlying cheeky sexuality. Part of GI.
House For An Art Lover
SUZANNE DÉRY: COSMOLOGY OF THREE
4–21 APR, 10:00AM – 7:00PM, FREE
The Glagsow-based French Canadian artist presents a number of site specific sculptures and installations developed from her immersive, research and production residency at House for an Art Lover’s new Art Studio complex. Part of GI.
First exhibition in Scotland of British potter, Lucie Rie, alongside American photographer, George Platt Lynes, each using the loose theme of ‘form’ as a conceptual concern, Part of GI.
Mary Mary
JESSE WINE: CHESTER MAN
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 31 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
The London-based artist showcases a group of new ceramic sculptural works, made using traditional materials and construction methods. Part of GI.
McLellan Galleries JORDAN WOLFSON
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Mini-survey of sculptural video artist Jordan Wolfson’s work, showing a selection of videos from over the last decade. Part of GI. AVERY SINGER
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
KLING KLANG
Series of collaborative projects by Jim Colquhoun, Steve Hollingsworth, Patrick Jameson and Ellis Luxemburg, including an open access electronic music studio for members of the public to interact with. Part of GI. LACHOSE ENCADREE
3–26 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Featuring work by Gabriele Beveridge, Paul Wan, Michael Krebber, Landon Metzand Jesse Moetti. Part of GI.
WHEN TWO OR MORE ARE TOGETHER
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Glasgow-based artists Lauren Printy Currie and Lauren Gault continue their artistic collaboration with Spike Associates, showing new work testing out ways in which one practice could meaningfully inform another. Part of GI.
Southside Studios
THE MUSEUM OF ALTERNATIVE MOTIFS
4–21 APR, 11:00AM – 11:00PM, FREE
Glasgow-based artists Olivia Guertler and Ellis Luxemburg present their The Museum of Alternative Motifs project; the beginning of an exploration of their shared interests in museology and alternative viewpoints. Part of GI.
Street Level Photoworks
ARNIS BALCUS: VICTORY PARK
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 18 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
For his first major solo show in the UK, Latvian artist Arnis Balcus presents a new body of work and visual narrative of what Latvia is like in the 21st Century. Part of GI. JOHAN NIEUWENHUIZE: IMG_
4 APR – 18 MAY, NOT 28 APR, 5 MAY, 12 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Residency showcase of work portraying fictional tableaux of stylized figures occupying generalized spaces, reducing figures to pure geometric forms bathed in light. Part of GI.
Johan Nieuwenhuize presents his new project, IMG_, a growing collection of abstract and semiabstract photographic observations of the city. Part of GI.
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
The Arches
HUDINILSON JR
Retrospective look at the work of Sao Paulo-based Hudinilson Jr’s, whose practice shifted between autobiographical and diaristic collage, performative collaboration, small sculptures and Xerox works. Part of GI.
FUTURE REFLEXIONS
1–30 APR, 12:00PM – 11:00PM, FREE
The Briggait
RECLAIMED – THE SECOND LIFE OF SCULPTURE
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
A vast selection of sculptural works works from past and present fill the Briggait courtyard, celebrating a multitude of sculptural practices whilst addressing issues of production and collection of three dimensional work. Part of GI.
The Common Guild
GABRIEL KURI: ALL PROBABILITY RESOLVES INTO FORM
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 7 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
New body of work by the internationally acclaimed Mexican artist, known for works that utilise the remains of everyday objects and materials. Part of GI.
The Hidden Lane Gallery ALASDAIR GRAY + FRANKETIENNE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 22 MAR AND 17 MAY, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Scottish poet, painter, graphic artist and short-story writer Alasdair Gray displays a selection of work – including half a dozen of a more abstract bent – shown alongside pieces from Haitan writer, poet, playwright, painter and musician, Frankétienne.
The Lighthouse
IT’S NOT VERY NICE THAT: POLITICS IN CONTEMPORARY GRAPHIC DESIGN
21 FEB – 27 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
A look at graphic and communication design’s active engagement in an evolving political landscape, examining the resurgence of political practice among designers since the mid-00s.
BRITAIN FROM ABOVE: SCOTLAND’S INDUSTRIAL MIGHT
14 FEB – 27 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Exhibition tracing the histories of factories, shipyards, mills, ironworks and their surrounding communities over three decades, from 1919 to 1953, drawing on many rare and previously unseen aerial images.
FRIENDS OF WILSON: ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTIC PANELS
28 FEB – 6 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Major installation of the new modular wall panel system, Tessellate, alongside video and audio that highlights the important benefits that good acoustic design can bring to the spaces we live, work and socialise in.
CHARLOTTE PRODGER
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
New sculptural installation from the Glasgow-based artist, expanding her on-going enquiry into the contingency and intimacy of materials both physical and textual. Part of GI.
New Glasgow Society
MOLATHAM: STUDIO PORTRAITURE FROM THE WEST BANK
10–24 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Collective exhibition looking at the role of studio portraiture photography in occupied Palestine, including work from a Nablusbased graphic design company specialising in martyr and political prisoner iconography.
Project Ability HENRIK PÄTZKE: CLOUD
4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Known for his tent sculptures and large fabric costume works float and suspend in the air displaying a closed quality and sculptural effect, Hernik Pätzke takes over the Project Ability space with an all-new expansive installation project. Part of GI.
Showcase exhibition running alongside this year’s Behaviour Festival, featuring photographic and video work from five leading contemporary artists: Jelili Atiku, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, M¬chiri Njenga, Dennis Feser and Jim Chuchu.
The Modern Institute
LIFE & THE INVITATION& VAPOUR IN DEBRI&
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 17 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
The collaborative ensemble of Jeanne Graff, Tobias Madison, Flavio Merlo, Emanuel Rossetti, Gregory Ruppe, William Z Saunders and Stefan Tcherepnin explore notions of spatial, textual, visual and sonic distortion in their UK debut. Part of GI.
For full programme details visit: bbc.co.uk/artscreen 60
Listings
THE SKINNY
The Modern Institute @ Airds Lane ANNE COLLIER
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 7 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
First solo exhibition in Scotland by the New York-based artist, presenting photographic work drawing on continued investigation into perception and representation, the nature and culture of photographic images, and the mechanics of the gaze. Part of GI.
Edinburgh
Ingleby Gallery
City Art Centre
Solo exhibition presenting a selection of major drawings and sculptural works made since 2012, representing Owen’s unique brand of elegant vandalism – reducing his subjects in order to delicately examine the essential qualities of an object or image.
A-Z: AN ALPHABETICAL TOUR OF SCOTTISH ART
26 APR – 16 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
Informative exhibition cutting across time periods, themes and media to explore the breadth and diversity of Scottish art, representing the key movements that have shaped Scotland’s artistic identity.
The Pipe Factory Collective BRICOLAGE Gallery 4–21 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE Programme of exhibitions/events developed by The Pipe Factory, with artists utilising the concept of bricolage across immersive installations, interactive sculptures, and architectural interventions, to talks, screenings and performance. Part of GI.
The Virginia Gallery MAMA
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 25 APR, 11:00AM – 5:30PM, FREE
Collaborative exhibition of work by Thomas Abercromby and the artists collective, Little Book Transfers, who’ll be creating a sprawling wall illustration in response to the work displayed by Abercromby.
DAVID OSBALDESTON
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 15 MAR AND 27 APR, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
The UK-based artist displays a new installation created especially for Collective’s City Dome space, with his work known for taking a sideways glance into established forms of communication where the ‘familiar’ is often re-imagined and constructed. KATHRYN ELKIN: MUTATIS MUTANDIS
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 28 MAR AND 11 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Glasgow-based artist Kathryn Elkin presents a new video and installation exploring the potentials for abstraction and misdirection in the combination of language, object, body and memory.
JONATHAN OWEN
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 MAR AND 19 APR, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
Inverleith House CORIN SWORN
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 12 APR AND 22 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:30PM, FREE
The winner of the 2013-15 Max Mara Art Prize for Women presents a body of new work made after a period of research into the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh’s Herbarium’s collection of plant specimens.
McEwan Hall ECA FASHION SHOW 2014
23–25 APR, TIMES VARY, £12
The ECA’s Fashion, Performance Costume, and Textile graduating students host their annual run of shows, taking their alwaysinspired creations to a catwalk setting.
4 APR – 4 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
In his first solo exhibition in a UK institution, Michael Smith presents a series of important works from the last three decades, across Tramway 1 and 5. Part of GI. BEDWYR WILLIAMS: ECHT
4 APR – 25 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
The Welsh artist – concerned with worst-case scenario situations – presents a new installation, including a film depicting a dystopian future where a fast-track feudal system has left the country divided among new chieftains. Part of GI.
Transmission Gallery BEATRIZ SANTIAGO MUÑOZ: POST-MILITARY CINEMA
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 22 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Moving image project about the ideology embedded in the physical landscape of a decommissioned US Navy Base in the town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico. Part of GI.
iota @ Unlimited Studios GEE-I-OTA!
5–19 APR, NOT 6, 7, 13, 14, TIMES VARY, FREE
Group show taking in a range of contemporary art and design, performance and cross-genre collaboration from eight artists whose events have been curated or hosted by iota over the past four months.
David Dale Gallery CLAUDIA COMTE
4 APR – 24 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
The Swiss artist displays a new body of work incorporating largescale wall murals, wood-cuts, and sculptures produced while on residency in South Africa. Part of GI.
The Edinburgh-based artist – known for the portrayal of light in his signature pastel cityscapes – presents a series of pastel and charcoal drawings inspired by numerous visits to the Isle of Skye.
Out of the Blue Drill Hall PERSPECTIVE
21–25 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Group exhibition of works by six third year Edinburgh College of Art photography students, consiting of independent projects brought together under the banner ‘perspective’.
Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) 188TH RSA ANNUAL EXHIBITION 29 MAR – 4 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Annual highlight showcasing work from RSA Academicians the length and breadth of Scotland, providing a platform for contemporary paintings, sculpture, film, printmaking, photography and installation alongside work by leading architects.
10. – 13. April 2014 At the CCA & Glasgow Film Theatre
PAUL MARTIN: WHEN MEN AND MOUNTAINS MEET
4–19 APR, NOT 6, 13, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE
The Edinburgh artist presents a distillation of the his lifelong exploration of the nature of nature, and the ways – aesthetic, symbolic, poetic, spiritual – in which we see and understand it, featuring new works that utilise a range of organic materials.
Edinburgh Printmakers REBECCA GOULDSON: THE INDUSTRIAL SHIFT
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 29 MAR AND 24 MAY, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
The Liverpool-based metal work artist displays a series of etched metal artworks influenced by the sites and relics of historic industry, including shipbuilding and printmaking, featuring new work commissioned specially by Edinburgh Printmakers.
Embassy Gallery VULCAN POINT
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 11 APR AND 27 APR, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE
Group exhibition looking at the intersection between capital and the colonization of the domestic sphere, exploring how sci-fi and accelerationist aesthetics in corporate design, architecture, art and new media technologies embody neoliberal ideologies.
National Museum of Scotland
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 AUG AND 1 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
49th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year award exhibition, brought together by judges from across the globe, featuring 100 images taking in everything from fascinating animal behaviour to breathtaking wild landscapes.
Open Eye Gallery
ADRIAN WISZNIEWSKI
5–23 APR, NOT 6, 13, 20, TIMES VARY, FREE
Showcase of over 40 paintings, drawings and prints by ‘New Glasgow Boy’ Adrian Wiszniewski, coinciding with the publication of a monograph of the artist by Alex Kidson. ROLAND FRASER: FOUND
5–23 APR, NOT 6, 13, 20, TIMES VARY, FREE
Exhibition of furniture and relief wall panel works by Roland Fraser, created entirely from salvaged wood and inspired by the source of the reclaimed materials.
JAMES FAIRGRIEVE – CONNECTIONS: NEW STILL LIVES
28 APR – 14 MAY, NOT 4 MAY, 11 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
The talented observational artist presents a selection of his still lives, constantly revisiting the purpose of a traditional still life to establish an understanding of how the subjects are connected to each other, their surroundings and himself.
Scottish National Portrait Gallery WORK, UNION, CIVIL WAR, FAITH, ROOTS
5 OCT – 6 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Group exhibition created during five community outreach projects investigating the contemporary relevance of major transformations in Scottish history – inspired by portraits and personalities from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery collection. MAKING HISTORY
12 OCT – 28 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE
10 APR – 12 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
16 NOV – 11 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Series of new paintings produced as a result of winning the RSA Painting prize, concerned with the night in an urban environment – using Edinburgh, London and Berlin as inspiration.
Scottish National Gallery TITIAN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF VENETIAN PAINTING
22 MAR – 14 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE
Special exhibition celebrating the recent acquisition – jointly with the National Gallery in London – of two mythological paintings by Titian, shown alongside work from almost all of the major names in Venetian art of the period. 15 FEB – 8 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
Dovecot
The winner of the 2012 John Watson Prize, awarded each year to a graduating student at ECA, presents her most recent work belying her fascination with the ways in which digital technologies have begun to alter our experience of the world.
Scottish Arts Club
EDWARD LEAR IN GREECE
bbc.co.uk/artscreen
ZOË FOTHERGILL: FUR, BIZMUTH & SPINY OYSTER 8 MAR – 6 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Solo exhibition of recent work by Sandy Stoddart (Sculptor In Ordinary to The Queen of Scotland), of which the main focus will be the creation of a new figurative statue of William Birnie Rhind commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
PAUL MOWAT: AT NIGHT
Tramway
MICHAEL SMITH: VIDEOS AND MISCELLANEOUS STUFF FROM STORAGE (PT. 2)
MATTHEW DRAPER: EILEAN A’ CHEO 28 APR – 14 MAY, NOT 4 MAY, 11 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
A collection of 27 watercolours by the famous Victorian writer, poet and artist, taking in his depictions of Greek landscapes – an area which, from his first visited in 1848, positively mesmerised him.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art LOUISE BOURGEOIS: A WOMAN WITHOUT SECRETS
28 OCT – 18 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Major presentation of works by the late French-American artist, highlighting a selection of her late work – revealing how Bourgeois, working in a variety of materials and scales, deftly explores the mystery and beauty of human emotions.
THE SCOTTISH COLOURISTS SERIES: JD FERGUSSON
7 DEC – 15 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £7 (£5)
The National Galleries of Scotland draw to a close their Scottish Colourist Series, culminating with a retrospective of the work of Edinburgh-born JD Fergusson – taking in more than 100 paintings, sculptures, works on paper and items of archival material. NEW ACQUISITIONS
27 JAN – 4 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
All-new display occupying the whole top floor of the Modern One, highlighting some of the most recent additions to the gallery – including a major bequest from the collection of the late Henry and Sula Walton of prints by Picasso, Cézanne, and Hockney.
MODERN PORTRAITS
Collective exhibition bringing together a varied series of 20th and 21st century works of portraiture, including Stanley Curister, Robert Heriot Westwater, Victoria Crowe, Maggi Hambling and William McCance. THE TAYLOR WESSING PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE
1 MAR – 26 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Selection of sixty portraits anonymously selected for inclusion from over five thousand, featuring a batch of emerging young photographers, alongside that of established professionals, photography students and gifted amateurs. PIONEERS OF SCIENCE
27 JAN – 11 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Revealing exhibition looking at the innovative figures who have helped shape the modern world, moving from portraits of John Logie Baird and Alexander Fleming, to Dolly the sheep’s death mask.
Stills
CONSTRUCTIONS OF LANDSCAPE: WORK IN PROGRESS 3
1 FEB – 6 APR, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
The Fruitmarket Gallery TANIA KOVATS: OCEANS
Work in Progress series presenting the photography of artists working with Stills’ production facilities and residency programmes, with this exhibition employing techniques of refraction, juxtaposition, montage and alternative photographic processes.
15 MAR – 25 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
12 APR – 20 JUL, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
The Vaults
A THOUSAND OF HIM, SCATTERED
Group exhibition exploring the history, definitions and simultaneous utility/redundancy of diaspora as an umbrella term, sparked by Edward Said’s outright rejection of the concept,
Summerhall
JESSICA LLOYD-JONES: HIDDEN ENERGIES
5 APR – 24 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
Merging art, science and technology, Jessica Lloyd-Jones’ energy inspired sculpture and installations manipulate materials and light to reveal new perspectives, revealing her interest in energy and her distinct fascination with natural phenomena. SILAS PARRY: POSSIBILITY OF LIFE
5 APR – 24 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
New work from the kinetic sculptor – known for working with materials that have lost their original purpose – taking in a series of robotic taxidermy, with a soundscape at the core of each piece coming from the creatures themselves. 26/04/86
British artist concerned with our experience and understanding of landscape, with her latest commission including her All The Seas installation – displaying water from all the world’s seas, amassed via a global social media open call to arms. HIDDEN DOOR FESTIVAL
28 MAR – 5 APR, 6:00PM – 11:00PM, VARIOUS PRICES
Temporarily transforming the 25 disused vaults of Market Street over nine curated evenings, Hidden Door Festival (28 March-5 April) takes in some 70 artists and 40 bands, alongside theatre, cinema and spoken word. Full programme on hiddendoorblog.org.
VoxBox
JANNICA HONEY: BORN TO BE HONEY
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 2 APR AND 18 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Music photography exhibition taking in Scottish-based acts including Honeyblood, Stanley Odd, Withered Hand, Roman Nose, Plum and Bart Owl, presented in the fitting music store surrounds of VoxBox.
Dundee
5 APR – 24 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
Group exhibition in which artists Norrie Harman, Rebecca Appleby, Dean Kemp and Dean Townend explore the nuclear nightmare of Chernobyl through the media of paint, ceramics and sculpture. THE BONE LIBRARY
5 APR – 24 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
Students and staff from Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies explore the use of 3D models in veterinary education, examining and interpreting the creation of 3D models.
Cooper Gallery KATHRIN SONNTAG: I SEE YOU SEEING ME SEE YOU
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 28 FEB AND 4 APR, 9:30AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Newly-commissioned series of photographs by Berlin-based artist Kathrin Sonntag, marking her first solo exhibition in the UK.
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design INTERACTION(S): PORTRAITS
6 MAR – 16 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Collective project conceived and realised through a series of workshops involving second year Fine Art students – using portraits as its subject matter, but not what one would most usually understand as portraits.
Hannah Maclure Centre PIXEL PUSHERS
28 MAR – 9 MAY, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 9:30AM – 4:45PM, FREE
Five renowned artists – all with ties to Dundee – demonstrate that be it for illustration, modelling, games or books, it is the artists’ vision that is the driving force behind their art, with technology simply another brush in their palette.
The McManus A SILVERED LIGHT
6 DEC – 30 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
Exhibition of Scottish art photography selected from Dundee City’s permanent collection, showcasing images from over 50 photographers collected in the 28 years following the purchase of two important early photographs by Thomas Joshua Cooper in 1985.
WASPS Studios LOOM
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 11 APR AND 2 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
Exhibition and participatory project by Rachel Barron and Nathan Clydesdale, encompassing print, sculpture and installation referencing Dundee’s history in the textile industry, with the public invited to contribute their own geometric prints.
THE MODERN SCOT
27 JAN – 11 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Exhibition revealing how Scottish artists and writers expressed a uniquely modern sensibility in the first decades of the twentieth century, looking at the creative men and women who championed a progressive national culture post-WW1.
Sofi’s Bar
ERIN MCGRATH: FAMILY
14 MAR – 13 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
Month-long exhibition from Glaswegian Erin McGrath – who has previously done work for PAWS, Take a Worm.., Holy Mountain and Withered Hand – displaying a selection of exclusive pieces under the theme ‘family’.
St Andrew’s Square FIELD OF LIGHT
3 FEB – 27 APR, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
Magical outdoor art installation for which the work of internationally acclaimed artist and light art practitioner, Bruce Munro, will illuminate Edinburgh’s St Andrew’s Square using thousands of acrylic stems gradually lighting up as darkness falls.
Talbot Rice Gallery
ALASDAIR HOPWOOD: FALSE MEMORY ARCHIVE
15 MAR – 19 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Based on scientific research that demonstrates how susceptible we are to false memories, Alasdair Hopwood’s new exhibition features contemporary artworks and a unique collection of vivid personal accounts of things that never really happened.
DCA
NAVID NUUR: RENDERENDER
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 29 MAR AND 15 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
Largest UK exhibition to date by Dutch-Iranian artist Navid Nuur – known for his magical mixed media installation, he plans develop an ambitious new installation for DCA, presented alongside a developed configuration of existing work. DCA EDITIONS
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 19 MAR AND 15 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
Showcase of work from the DCA Editions programme 2013 – one of the most productive years in DCA Print Studio’s history, including work by Ilana Halperin, Jutta Koether, Nikolaj Larsen, Ciara Phillips, Thomson & Craighead, Lucy Skaer and Hiraki Sawa.
Tickets available from the GFT & CCA Box Offices: www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre & www.cca-glasgow.com April 2014
Listings
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Comedy Glasgow Tue 01 Apr
SUSAN CALMAN: THE 68 COMEBACK SPECIAL
THE STAND, 19:00–21:00, £12 (£11)
The Glasgow-based funnywoman returns with a brand new show in which all she’s giving away is that she may touch on cats and jogging, but not at the same time. BEST OF RED RAW
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £5
Open mic style beginner’s showcase, in a special best-of edition as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival.
Wed 02 Apr DES CLARKE
ORAN MOR, 20:00–22:00, £13.50
The Capital Breakfast Show host does his unique blend of comic observations, topical material and Glasgow banter. SUSIE MCCABE: TOURIST MISINFORMATION
THE STAND, 19:30–21:30, £8 (£7)
The quick-witted comic examines our obsessions with holidays, from Butlins to Bali, and camping to Cancun, delving into the joy of the family holiday as she goes. JOKE THIEVES
THE STAND, 22:00–00:00, £5
Will Mars hosts his live comedy swapfest, where a handpicked batch of comedians perform their own jokes and then each others. ZOMBIE SCIENCE: WORST CASE SCENARIO
CCA, 20:30–22:30, £5
Sat 05 Apr THE COLOUR HAM
QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 20:00–22:00, £10 (£9)
Three-man sketch project built on character comedy, mentalism and magic – we’re talking contacting your dead pets, re-enacting your first kiss, and rewriting Pinocchio through the medium of a military crotch. BROTHERS AND SISTERS... IT’S THE REVEREND OBADIAH STEPPENWOLFE III
THE STAND, 17:30–19:00, £10
Star-studded chat show with a twist, with The Reverend being his usual un-holy self (aka expect a tour de force of political incorrectness).
HOMECOMING GALA SHOWCASE (CHRISTINA WALKINSHAW + JOHN HASTINGS + TED MORRIS + MC JOHN ROBERTSON) THE STAND, 19:30–21:30, £12 (£10)
A talented bunch of Canadian and Australian acts celebrate the Year of Homecoming, with Perth native and renowned showman John Robertson introducing three of Canada’s finest. THE EXPLORER’S CLUB (BRUCE MORTON)
THE FLYING DUCK, 20:30–22:00, £7
Monthly comedy club taking in an off-beat selection of stories and jokes with a different theme each edition – with a certain Bruce Morton making a guest appearance this time around.
Mon 07 Apr FUNNY LITTLE FROG
BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Spoof tutorial hosted by Theoretical Zombiologist Doctor Austin on the real science behind a zombie epidemic and how we might survive it, aka WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE.
The Slow Club lot host their monthly hybrid quiz night with sets by a selection of speciallyinvited stand-up comedians.
VESPBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3
More improvised comedy games and sketches, with an unpredictable anything-goes attitude – as it should be.
NEW MATERIAL NIGHT
Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering, yes, all new material.
Thu 03 Apr
SARAH MILLICAN: HOME BIRD
SECC, 20:00–22:00, £25
The self-effacing comic touches on everthing from building your own treadmill, to the practicalities of an orgy. ROB ROUSE: RIDE OF YOUR LIFE
THE STAND, 19:30–21:30, £10 (£9)
Crude comic par excellence, Rob Rouse is back on the road following the birth of his second child, for which the majority of his chat centres around the tricky balance of being a grown-up.
Fri 04 Apr
CRAIG HILL:TARTAN ABOUT!
ORAN MOR, 19:30–22:00, £14.50
The cheeky comic chappie brings his new show to Glasgow, presented in his usual live and unleashed manner. COLIN MURPHY
THE STAND, 19:45–21:45, £12 (£11)
The Irish comic performs an ever-tight set of his observational stand-up. THE WEE MAN’S RAP BATTLE SHOWDOWN
THE ARCHES, 20:00–22:00, £8 (£6)
A selection of Scottish comics go head-to-head with a batch of UK rap talent in a hip-hop battle to the death*, with guests including Mark Watson, Carl Donnelly and Daniel Sloss. *No one really dies.
HOMECOMING COMEDY GALA (CHRISTINA WALKINSHAW + JOHN HASTINGS + TED MORRIS + MC JOHN ROBERTSON) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £8.0
A selection of the brightest acts from Canada and Australia take to The Glad Cafe to celebrate the Year of Homecoming.
IMROV WARS
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £6
Tue 08 Apr DAVID SEDARIS
CITY HALLS, 19:30–21:30, £25.00
The American novelist takes his hilarious self out on the road, delivering snippets and quips from his succession of critically acclaimed novels, including Me Talk Pretty One Day and When You Are Engulfed in Flames. RED RAW
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2
Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.
Wed 09 Apr NEW MATERIAL NIGHT
VESPBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3
Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering, yes, all new material.
Thu 10 Apr
THE THURSDAY SHOW (KEVIN GILDEA + HAILEY BOYLE + OWEN MCGUIRE + MC JOE HEENAN)
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)
Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.
Fri 11 Apr DES MCLEAN
PLATFORM, 20:00–22:00, £10 (£8)
The stand-up comic tours his new show working his way through the alphabet, picking a unique and iconic piece of Scottishness to laugh at for each letter.
THE FRIDAY SHOW (KEVIN GILDEA + HAILEY BOYLE + OWEN MCGUIRE + MC JOE HEENAN)
THE STAND, 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.
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Listings
Sat 12 Apr DES MCLEAN
PLATFORM, 20:00–22:00, £10 (£8)
The stand-up comic tours his new show working his way through the alphabet, picking a unique and iconic piece of Scottishness to laugh at for each letter. THE SATURDAY SHOW (KEVIN GILDEA + HAILEY BOYLE + OWEN MCGUIRE + MC JOE HEENAN)
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £15
Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.
Sun 13 Apr
MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)
Chilled Sunday comedy showcase with resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond and guests.
Mon 14 Apr FUN JUNKIES
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4 STUDENTS/£2.50 MEMBERS)
More diverse offerings from the comedy spectrum, featuring stand-up, variety acts, sketches, musical comedy, magicians... and a partridge in a peartree.
Tue 15 Apr RED RAW
Mon 21 Apr
AYE RIGHT? HOW NO’?: THE COMEDY COUNTDOWN TO THE REFERENDUM (PROPAGANDA NOW + FRED MACAULAY + BRUCE MORTON + MCS VLADIMIR MCTAVISH + KEIR MCALLISTER) THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £7 (£5)
Thu 17 Apr ALAN DAVIES
SECC, 20:00–22:00, £25.00
The English comic, writer and actor – best known for Jonathan Creek and his regular slot on QI – makes his long-awaited return to stand-up, marked with his usual deft silliness and whip-smart observation. THE THURSDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH + TEDDY + LYNN RUTH MILLER + JAMIE DALGLEISH + MC JOJO SUTHERLAND )
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)
Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.
Fri 18 Apr
RED RAW
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2
Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.
CANON’S GAIT, 20:30–22:00, £5 (£4)
NEW MATERIAL NIGHT
Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering, yes, all new material.
Thu 24 Apr
THE THURSDAY SHOW (CAREY MARX + STEVEN DICK + MC SUSAN MORRISON)
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)
MAGGIE MAY’S LIVE COMEDY
Live comedy showcase in Maggie May’s basement, featuring a selection of regular stalwarts o’ the scene.
Fri 25 Apr
THE FRIDAY SHOW (CAREY MARX + STEVEN DICK + MC SUSAN MORRISON) THE STAND, 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.
Sat 26 Apr
THE SATURDAY SHOW (CAREY MARX + STEVEN DICK + MC SUSAN MORRISON)
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £15
Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.
Sun 27 Apr
MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)
Mon 28 Apr
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £15
Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.
Sun 20 Apr
EASTER BANK HOLIDAY COMEDY SPECIAL (ADDY VAN DER BORGH + LYNN RUTH MILLER + MC MICHAEL REDMOND)
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9)
The Stand celebrate the Easter bank holiday weekend with a special Sunday show of laughs.
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)
VESPBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10 STUDENTS/£6 MEMBERS)
THE SATURDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH + TEDDY + LYNN RUTH MILLER + LEE KYLE + MC JOJO SUTHERLAND )
Thu 03 Apr
Wed 23 Apr
Chilled Sunday comedy showcase with resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond and guests.
Sat 19 Apr
THE PEAR TREE, 20:00–22:00, £2
Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.
THE FRIDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH + TEDDY + LYNN RUTH MILLER + LEE KYLE + MC JOJO SUTHERLAND )
Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.
FRESH MUTTON COMEDY
THE THURSDAY SHOW (ROB ROUSE + DAVEY STRONG + MC SUSAN CALMAN)
Wed 16 Apr Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering, yes, all new material.
More fast-paced and anarchic skits and character comedy from The Stand’s resident sketch comedy troupe.
Tue 22 Apr
MAGGIE MAY’S, 19:30–22:00, £10
NEW MATERIAL NIGHT
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4)
All-new alternative comedy showcase night shining a spotlight on the weird and wonderful underdogs of the scene.
Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.
VESPBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3
THE BROKEN WINDOWS POLICY
A sideways, satirical look at the big choice facing Scotland in 2014 – with MCs Vladimir McTavish and Keir McAllister looking at some of the bigger issues, as well the smaller ones, joined by a selection of guest comics.
Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2
Wed 02 Apr
GLENN WOOL: THE JOKES I’M MOST FOND OF (FRANKIE BOYLE)
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)
The Canadian-born, UK-living comic performs a special set of jokes cherrypicked from his personal favourites, with a different set chosen for each date of the tour. Support comes from cantankerous bastard Frankie Boyle.
MEN WITH COCONUTS
Fringe favourties Improv FX – made up of West End actors, physical comedians and musicians – stage their fast-paced sketch show at home in the ‘burgh, inspired wholly by audience suggestions.
Fri 04 Apr
THE FRIDAY SHOW (ROB ROUSE + DAVEY STRONG + MC SUSAN CALMAN) THE STAND, 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, £7
Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. Check their Facebook page on the day for line-ups. EDDIE IZZARD: SCOTLAND, PLEASE DON’T GO
FESTIVAL THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £25.00
One-off gig featuring Eddie Izzard and a selection of comics guests, as he pledges his case for Scotland staying with the UK. All profits go to the Better Together campaign.
Sat 05 Apr
THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB
BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £7
Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. Check their Facebook page on the day for line-ups.
Sun 06 Apr
THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (GARY LITTLE + JAMIE DAGLEISH + NEIL PUMMELL + LEONA IRVINE + MC SIAN BEVAN) THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)
Chilled comedy showcase to cure your Sunday evening back-towork blues.
STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW
THE STAND, 13:30–15:30, FREE
Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.
Mon 07 Apr RED RAW
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2
Edinburgh Tue 01 Apr GRASSROOTS COMEDY
THE PLEASANCE, 20:00–22:00, £1
Showcase night featuring the best in fresh, local talent – bringing together first-time and upand-coming comics in a series of quickfire 10-minute slots. In the Cabaret Bar. JONNY AND THE BAPTISTS: THE STOP UKIP TOUR
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9)
The musical comedians return with a brand new show, taking on Nigel Farage’s bunch of loonies ahead of the European Elections.
Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.
Tue 08 Apr ELECTRIC TALES
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4)
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 09 Apr THE MELTING POT
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4 STUDENTS/£2.50 MEMBERS)
Series of comedy sketches picked by the audience and performed by a varying troupe of actors and musicians.
MATHEMANIA! SUMMERHALL, 17:30–18:30, £8 (£6)
Stand-up mathematician Simon Pampena examines how maths infects every part of our daily life in a not-at-all geeky evening of maths-based comedy antics (P.S – we lied about the not-at-allgeeky part).
Thu 10 Apr
THE THURSDAY SHOW (JOHN MOLONEY + WENDY WASON + DAN PETHERBRIDGE + MC JOJO SUTHERLAND)
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)
Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. ABSOLUTE IMPROV
THE TRON, 19:00–20:00, £5 (£3)
Improv-styled comedy show in the vein of Whose Line Is It Anyway, in which the performers create sketches based on audience suggestions. LOL-GARITHMS!
SUMMERHALL, 17:30–19:00, £8 (£6)
Stand-up mathematician Simon Pampena teaches y’all how to spot a logarithm, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the logarithmic scale.
Fri 11 Apr
THE FRIDAY SHOW (JOHN MOLONEY + WENDY WASON + DAN PETHERBRIDGE + MC MARTIN MOR)
THE STAND, 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. SARAH MILLICAN: HOME BIRD
FESTIVAL THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £26.50
Wed 16 Apr
Thu 24 Apr
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £5
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)
G-SPOT (JOHN RYAN + KATIE MULGREW + ARIADNE GALADRIEL CASS MARAN + WILL DUGGAN)
MC Jojo Sutherland leads an all-new camp-styled evening of comedy and cabaret. FRESH MUTTON COMEDY
THE PEAR TREE, 20:00–22:00, £2
Fri 25 Apr
Thu 17 Apr
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £12 (£10 STUDENT/£6 MEMBERS)
THE THURSDAY SHOW (STEVE GRIBBIN + PARROT + JULIA SUTHERLAND + MC BRUCE DEVLIN)
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)
Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. ABSOLUTE IMPROV
THE TRON, 19:00–20:00, £5 (£3)
Improv-styled comedy show in the vein of Whose Line Is It Anyway, in which the performers create sketches based on audience suggestions. MEN WITH COCONUTS
CANON’S GAIT, 20:30–22:00, £5 (£4)
Fringe favourties Improv FX – made up of West End actors, physical comedians and musicians – stage their fast-paced sketch show at home in the ‘burgh, inspired wholly by audience suggestions.
Fri 18 Apr
THE FRIDAY SHOW (STEVE GRIBBIN + PARROT + ANGELA BARNES + MC BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND, 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.
BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £7
BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £7
Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. Check their Facebook page on the day for line-ups.
Sat 12 Apr
THE SATURDAY SHOW (JOHN MOLONEY + WENDY WASON + DAN PETHERBRIDGE + MC JOJO SUTHERLAND)
THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £15
Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. SARAH MILLICAN: HOME BIRD
FESTIVAL THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £26.50
The self-effacing comic touches on everthing from building your own treadmill, to the practicalities of an orgy. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB
BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £7
Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. Check their Facebook page on the day for line-ups.
Sun 13 Apr
THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (WENDY WASON + OWEN MCGUIRE + MC SCOTT GIBSON) THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)
Chilled comedy showcase to cure your Sunday evening back-to-work blues. STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW
THE STAND, 13:30–15:30, FREE
THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB
Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of upand-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. Check their Facebook page on the day for line-ups.
Sat 19 Apr
THE SATURDAY SHOW (STEVE GRIBBIN + PARROT + ANGELA BARNES + MC BRUCE DEVLIN)
THE STAND, 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, £7
Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of upand-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. Check their Facebook page on the day for line-ups.
Sun 20 Apr
STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW
THE STAND, 13:30–15:30, FREE
WORK IN PROGRESS: FRED MACAULAY + DANNY BHOY + PHILL JUPITUS + ALUN COCHRANE
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £10
A batch of comedy stalwarts roadtest a selection of work in progress material.
Sat 26 Apr
THE SATURDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH + STUART MITCHELL + ABI ROBERTS + MC STU MURPHY)
THE STAND, 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, £7
Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. Check their Facebook page on the day for line-ups.
Sun 27 Apr
THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (SIAN BEVAN + MC THE REVEREND OBADIAH STEPPENWOLFE III) THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)
Chilled comedy showcase to cure your Sunday evening back-towork blues. ROCK AND ROLL PING PONG
THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–23:00, FREE
The It’s Funtime jokers present a free, fun, table tennis evening with a comedy bent, bolstered by dancing discs from DJ Ding Dong (ahem). STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW
THE STAND, 13:30–15:30, FREE
Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.
Mon 28 Apr RED RAW
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2
Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material. PANDAMONIUM
CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:30–23:30, £3
The Pandamonium Comedy crew return to Cab Vol with a line-up of the best in new, fresh stand-up comedy. Hosted by Rory McAlpine.
Fri 04 Apr
Mon 21 Apr RED RAW
Wed 23 Apr
Tue 15 Apr
THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB
BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:30, £7
Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. Check their Facebook page on the day for line-ups.
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9)
The Stand celebrate the Easter bank holiday weekend with a special Sunday show of laughs.
Mon 14 Apr THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2
Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.
Dundee
EASTER BANK HOLIDAY COMEDY SPECIAL (STEVE GRIBBIN + STU & GARRY + ANGELA BARNES)
Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.
Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.
THE FRIDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH + STUART MITCHELL + ABI ROBERTS + MC STU MURPHY)
Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from off-the-cuff audience suggestions.
Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions. RED RAW
Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.
All-new alternative comedy showcase night shining a spotlight on the weird and wonderful underdogs of the scene.
The self-effacing comic touches on everthing from building your own treadmill, to the practicalities of an orgy. THE BEEHIVE COMEDY CLUB
THE THURSDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH + STUART MITCHELL + ABI ROBERTS + MC STU MURPHY)
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UNEXPECTED
THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £5
A bright collective of comedians experiment with the medium of stand-up, under the ever-watchful eye of regular host Jo Caulfield. Email your questions for the audience round to shewasfunny@ yahoo.com.
JERRY SADOWITZ
THE GARDYNE THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £22.50
The defiantly un-PC comic – known for hating, well, pretty much everything – does his reliably offensive thing, most likely hating on gays and foreigners... Some more.
Fri 18 Apr JONGLEURS
BONAR HALL, 20:00–22:00, £12
The famed comedy club hits Dundee for its monthly outing, joined by three comics and a compere.
Sat 26 Apr
HARDEEP SINGH KOHLI: HARDEEP IS YOUR LOVE
THE GARDYNE THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £12
The broadcaster, writer and Celebrity Masterchef finalist takes his new show on the road, with extra points for a puntastic title, obvs.
THE SKINNY
Ask Fred: Money Whatever your financial status, Fred Fletch is here to help – unless you haven’t seen Roadhouse, in which case, you’re officially screwed
T
he Conservatives have unveiled their latest budget, and it brought with it fewer surprises than a remake of The Crying Game called ‘SHE’S GOT DICK.’ The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has widened to the point where Elysium is found in video shops under ‘Things to do next week,’ meaning your average banker will replace his insoles with bald eagle pelt, and the man on the street can enjoy an asshole that smells of exotic birds. To their credit, they did promise to give “the hardworking people more of what they enjoy,” and promptly took one pence off bingo and beer – one patronising discount short of cutting tax on cannibalism and rolling in your own cave filth. This month I answer questions on money. Dear Fred, work on the tills of a popular high street store. Every week a woman comes in to buy stamps. She’s always loaded with designer store shopping bags and pays for her stamps with a £50 note. She makes snooty small talk and waves her fancy shopping around while I slave away, ten hour shifts, dealing with idiots. She says thank you like her tongue is sore from licking gold, and is oblivious to rubbing how rich she is in everyone’s faces. How can I let her know she’s a spoilt twat without losing my job? I’d like to let her know where she can stick her stamps. Mandy
I
H
aving spent almost six years of my life as a till-monkey, I feel your pain; but since this isn’t 1992, and I’m not Kevin Smith, it’s hard to give a fuck about your selfless battle against people who aren’t you. I’ve seen enough episodes of DuckTales to know that wealth does not define the man and/ or duck’s worth, and that with fiscal exuberance
April 2014
Words: Fred Fletch Illustration: Zhang Liang
there’s usually a unique set of problems, mostly involving time-travel or ghosts. Don’t make others feel bad about their own finances. Yes, a certain degree of tact should be shown around people who can’t buy exorbitantly expensive things, but it’s not up to every millionaire buying stamps to check that your urologist has cleared you to work with the public. Most of the time, the world has some self-awareness and logical class. Harrods don’t have a store in Ethiopia, and no one in Rwanda returns my Xbox One friend requests. Despite not being ‘rich,’ I have accumulated three DVD copies of Roadhouse (for Roadhouse related reasons). Sure, a child in North Korea might view my display of consumerism to be crass, but dysentery makes everyone a critic and I’ll be damned if some orphan’s going to make me feel guilty about my movie collection. The rich generally aren’t an evil race of higher beings whose hobbies include inbreeding, yacht purchases or homeless hunting. People are generally good and are defined by their actions, not by how much of a mystery the inside of a Poundstretchers is. The woman carrying 34 Harvey Nichols bags isn’t rubbing it in your face; you can have a problem with her when she feeds you one of her handbags while beating her driver with a jar of pickled panda hearts. Until then, she’s just a lady you don’t know. Give her a fucking break. Finish your shift, head home, and thank your lucky stars your parents gave birth to something that can live on both land and sea. You know nothing about her other than an inspection of her shopping trip. As far as you know, her money came from kitten resuscitation and research into removing the stick from your angry, unforgiving anus. Dear Fred, ill money bring me happiness? Scrooge McDuck
W
M
ost of what I know about money is from the 124 minutes of Trading Places that aren’t nude Jamie Lee Curtis. Since happiness is subjective and based on the outlook of the individual, logic suggests I can’t answer this. But this text-me-a-joke service I just signed up for says otherwise. I punched in the word ‘money’ and told my happiness to brace its everythings… This is what I learned: Q: What’s six inches long, two inches wide and drives women wild? A: A $100 bill! I was going to suggest rabies, but I’ve never actually measured a vole. Q: What did the cat say when he lost all his money? A: I’m paw! Jesus fuck, this is exactly what you get when a joke’s mother drinks during pregnancy. Q: What do stockbrokers say to each other when they want the other person to shut up? A: Put a stock in it! HA HA, what a delightful pun. I bet this is actually used by real stockbrokers every day. STOCKBROKER 1: “HEY MARK, I JUST SHIT AWAY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY, PLUNGING THE WORLD INTO ENDLESS DESPAIR-FLAVOURED RECESSION.” STOCKBROKER 2: “PUT A STOCK IN IT AND SHRED ALL THE FUCKING EVIDENCE.” STOCKBROKER 1: “HA HA. COCAINE RULES.” Q: How do you hide money from a hippie? A: Put it under the soap. Yeeeeeah. Take that, hippies. Q: What is the only way to keep your money from the casinos in Vegas? A: When you get off the plane, walk into the propellers! This isn’t so much a joke, as something ‘Mandy’ writes on a stamp-filled corpse. Q: Where did the fish put his money?
COMEDY
A: In the river bank. This joke bases its success on the fact that ‘bank’ can be several different nouns, and that the audience is both six, and unfussy. Q: Where did the Snowman keep his money? A: In the snow bank. FUCK YOU. Since this service cost me £2 per ‘joke’ delivered, I can confirm that the only person laughing is the asshole who made this God-awful bullshit. In answer to your question Scrooge: NO. Money just brought me the comedy equivalent of an Eddie Adams portfolio. Dear Fred, ’m one of those infamous ‘bankers’ you hear about, and I’ve just been awarded my hardearned bonus. I worked to get where I am and my only crime was being smart enough to land a wellpaid job. I’m viewed as the devil incarnate by the public, but it’s just jealousy. Why should I turn down the money I’m due, just because others didn’t make good choices and succeed? I’m rich, so deal with it. I’m not going to apologise for it, or for not having a minimum wage job, and I refuse to ‘come down to their level’ to be liked.
I
A
s I’ve said, there’s nothing wrong with being rich. Sure bankers are demonised. Mathematically, it’s like the public consciousness took ‘money investor’ and multipled by ‘HITLER SQUARED.’ You’re part of something perceived as bad, so it’s up to you to deal with that as you see fit. No one needs to come down to anyone’s level. That would be patronising. That being said, please enjoy the following joke: Q: Where did the cactus keep his money? A: Eat a dick you arrogant fucknut.
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