The Skinny January 2011

.CO.UK

FREE

ISSUE 64 • JANUARY 2011

EARTH

VERSUS THE WORLD

INTERVIEWS:

PLUS:

IRON & WINE

MANIPULATE

TU FAWNING

IDLEWILD

PETER MULLAN

TALIB KWELI

RIVAL SCHOOLS

REBECCA TORRES

THE GO! TEAM

AND MORE...

MUSIC | FILM | CLUBS | PERFORMANCE | DIGITAL | READING | COMEDY | ART | FASHION | LISTINGS

DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…

+ CROCODILES

GLASGOW BARROWLAND WEDNESDAY 16th FEBRUARY 2011

DUNDEE FAT SAMS LIVE SUNDAY 6TH MARCH 2011

EDINBURGH HMV PICTURE HOUSE

MONDAY 7TH MARCH 2011 PLEASE NOTE: CHANGE OF DATES - ORIGINAL TICKETS STILL VALID NEW SINGLE ‘TOKYO (VAMPIRES & WOLVES)’ OUT NOW THEWOMBATS.CO.UK | MYSPACE.COM/THEWOMBATSUK

+ MOJAVE 3 + GOLDHEART ASSEMBLY

GLASGOW SECC

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW

TUESDAY 15TH FEBRUARY 2011

THURSDAY 27TH JANUARY 2011

BUY ONLINE AT GIGSINSCOTLAND.COM TICKETMASTER.CO.UK & TICKETSOUP.COM

THE ALBUM INFINITE ARMS OUT NOW WWW.BANDOFHORSES.COM ‘THIS BAND COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE’ CLASH MAGAZINE

24HR CC LINES: 0844 499 9990 & 0844 395 4000

darwin deez PLUS GUESTS

Glasgow Garage

Sat 26th Feb 2011 ‘Darwin Deez’ the debut album out now Includes the singles Constellations, Radar Detector & Up In The Clouds www.darwindeez.com

WIRE EDINBURGH CABARET VOLTAIRE Tuesday 8th February GLASGOW KING TUTS Wednesday 9th February New Album ‘Red Barked Tree’ Released 10th January.

GLASGOW ORAN MOR Monday 24 th January 2011

& FREELANCE WHALES

O2 Academy Glasgow Thursday 3rd February

PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS

Edinburgh Liquid Room

Fri 25th Feb 2011 DF CONCERTS BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AGENCY GROUP

O22 ABC GLASGOW WED 23RD FEB 2011

Glasgow Oran Mor Friday 11th February 2011

The Deep Field – Album released January 24th 2010

TICKETS 24HRS 08444 999 990 • www.gigsinscotland.com • www.ticketmaster.co.uk

www.joanaspolicewoman.com

EDINBURGH LIQUID ROOM SUNDAY 30TH JANUARY 2011

IN PERSON GLASGOW SECC B/O, Tickets Scotland, EDINBURGH Tickets Scotland, Ripping, ABERDEEN B/O, One Up Records, DUNDEE Grouchos.

CONTENTS

A REGULAR MUSIC/BEYOND PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH PRIMARY TALENT INTERNATIONAL

ORKNEY FUSION

OBAN CORRAN HALLS

HAWICK TOWN HALL

TICKETS: GROOVES, ALBERT STREET, KIRKWALL, ORKNEY

TICKETS: BOX OFFICE, ESPLANADE, OBAN

WICK ASSEMBLY ROOMS

DUNOON QUEEN’S HALL

TICKETS: SPENCES MUSIC SHOP, 4 BUCCLEUCH STREET, HAWICK

TICKETS: MCALLANS, HIGH STREET, WICK

TICKETS: BOX OFFICE, ARGYLL STREET, DUNOON

FORRESS THE LOFT

TROON CONCERT HALL

TICKETS: THIRD BASE RECORDS, 19-21 CHAPEL STREET, DUNFERMLINE

TICKETS: CITADEL LEISURE CENTRE, SOUTH HARBOUR STREET, AYR

ON-LINE AT: WWW.SEETICKETS.COM HOTLINE:0871 220 0260 WWW.GLASVEGAS.NET

MONDAY 10 JAN 01631 567 333

FRIDAY 07 JAN 0871 220 0260

SATURDAY 08 JAN 0871 220 0260

TICKETS: SOUND & VISION, SOUTH STREET, ELGIN

TUESDAY 11 JAN 01369 702 800

WEDNESDAY 12 JAN 01292 269 793

FRIDAY 14 JAN 01450 372 115

DUNFERMLINE VELOCITY SATURDAY 15 JAN 01383 722 554

Teddy Thompson

PHOTO: ROSS TREVAIL

THURSDAY 06 JAN 0871 220 0260

P.18 IRON & WINE

P.12 PETER MULLAN

P.20 REBECCA TORRES

P.21 THE GO TEAM!

PLUS SPECIAL GUEST

DAVID FORD

EDINBURGH Queens Hall

0131 668 2019 0871 220 0260 www.seetickets.com

Sat 29th January

D ST CE JU UN NO AN

SUN 17TH APR O2 ABC2 GLASGOW

MOGWAI PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS REMEMBER REMEMBER (EXCEPT EDINBURGH ‘THE TWILIGHT SAD’)

0871 220 0260

STIRLING TOLBOOTH WED 26 JAN OUT SOLD 01786 274 000 WWW.TICKETSOUP.COM PAISLEY TOWN HALL THUR 27 JAN 0141 887 1010 WWW.RENFREWSHIRE.GOV.UK/ONLINEBOOKING PERTH THEATRE FRI 28 JAN 01738 621 031 WWW.HORSECROSS.CO.UK ABERDEEN MUSIC HALL SAT 29 JAN 01224 641 122 WWW.BOXOFFICEABERDEEN.COM GLASGOW GRAND OLE OPRY SUN 30 JAND OUT SOL 0871 220 0260 WWW.SEETICKETS.COM EDINBURGH PICTURE HOUSE MON 21 FEB 0871 220 0260 WWW.SEETICKETS.COM

www.seetickets.com 0871 220 0260 www.mogwai.co.uk

a Regular Music presentation in association with The Agency Group

BrianWilson

REIMAGINES GERSHWIN

GLASGOW Concert Hall Sun 11th Sept 2011

www.brianwilson.com

0871 220 0260 0141 353 8000 www.seetickets.com

primal scream PRESENT

screamadelica live

friday 18th march

GLASGOW SECC 0844 395 4000 0844 811 0051 www.ticketsoup.com www.gigsandtours.com A REGULAR MUSIC AND SJM CONCERTS PRESENTATION

TICKETS: www.seetickets.com 0871 220 0260

or in person from Ticket Scotland: Argyle Street Glasgow, Rose St Edinburgh & Ripping Records and all usual outlets

4

THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011 Issue 64, January 2011 © Radge Media Ltd. Let us know what you think: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: The Skinny, The Drill Hall, 30-38 Dalmeny St, Edinburgh, EH6 8RG The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business. Get in touch to find out more.

E: sales@theskinny.co.uk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher.

Printed by Mortons Print Limited, Horncastle ABC verified Jul 2009 - Dec 2009: 34,329

Editorial Editor Music & Online Editor Art Editor Clubs Editor Comedy Editor Competitions Editor Digital Editor DVD Editor Fashion Editor Film Editor Heads Up Editor Listings/Cyberzap Editor Performance Editor Reading Editor Travel Editor

Rosamund West Dave Kerr Andrew Cattanach Luke Dubuis Lizzie Cass-Maran Adeline Amar Alex Cole Keir Roper-Caldbeck Alexandra Fiddes Jamie Dunn Anna Docherty Anna Docherty Gareth K. Vile Keir Hind Paul 'Flowers' Mitchell

Production Production Manager Designer Chief Subeditor

David Lemm Lewis MacDonald Paul Mitchell

Sales/Accounts Head of Sales & Marketing Advertising Sales Execs Book Keeper

Lara Moloney Jan Webster Inga Ceicyte

Publisher

Sophie Kyle

THIS MONTH'S COVER PHOTO BY JOSEPH TRAINA

6: Opinion: Scotland needs a new anthem; the most exciting film of 2011; criticism spins out of control; Shot of the Month; Skinny on Tour and Hero Worshipping Dylan Moran.

8: Heads Up: New year, new you, new places to go each and every day of January.

FEATURES 10: A word with Dylan Carlson and an overview of Earth's ever expanding cult.

12: Peter Mullan: The Scottish director gives us an insight into how his new film NEDS is about more than hoodies and chibbing 14: Ryan Van Winkle is goaded by our Reading editor as he tries to promote his new book of poetry.

Dance class: How to transform yourself in 2011 through the gift of DANCE. 15: Manipulate proves that there's more to puppetry than child's play 16: After a lengthy hiatus, Rival Schools return to the fore with album number two.

18: Iron & Wine's Sam Beam blows the palette wide open with Kiss Each Other Clean.

20: Fashion: Rebecca Torres talks sci-fi clothes design, bright colours, and the joy of seeing a stranger wearing your clothes.

21: The Go! Team's Ian Parton distorts the cute stuff.

22: Introducing Tu Fawning – an accidental rock band made out of folkies.

LIFESTYLE 23: TRAVEL takes us to Moab, an extreme sports dream and budget Grand Canyon.

26: FOOD & DRINK offers an inept guide to whoopie pie, as well as some news and a magic diner.

28: SHOWCASE: Why it's RSA Skinny Award winner Omar Zingaro Bhatia! Have you read his blog?

REVIEW 31: MUSIC: In review: New music from Laeto, Seefeel, Wire and many more. Plus Idlewild review the month's singles.

39: CLUBS: Fuck the detox, there's obscure musical genres to be danced to.

42: FILM: Best of the month ahead in the cinema and on disc, including Black Swan, Blue Valentine and NEDs. 44: ART: Childish Things at the Fruitmarket, and Mel Gibson's DCA debut.

45: READING: New books, some of which we like, some of which we don't.

DIGITAL offers a glimpse of your 2011 tech future.

46: PERFORMANCE including Venue of the Month (we won't spoil the surprise) and some previews of shows that are almost 100% guaranteed to be amazing.

47: COMEDY is already getting excited about the Glasgow comedy extravaganza in February, chatting to Russell Kane and up and comer 48: COMPETITIONS: Win tickets to Glasgow Film Festival, and / or Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

49: LISTINGS: Takes you through the month ahead. There's lots happening to tempt you out of that misguided detox / hibernation.

55: Starter for 11 with Talib Kweli and a gloomy January lies before you, if Mystic Mark is to believed.

MOVE YOUR

FEET can’t dance?

won’t dance!

We are on a mission to help you on your way to finding that inner dancer. What a great joy it will be for us all when you discover that one of those two left feet is actually a right foot screaming to get out and partywith its pal.

It’s there, trust us.

Spring courses begin Sat 8 Jan (enroll by 21 Jan) or drop-in to any of 45+ classes every week

14-16 Grassmarket 28-30 Ferry Road 0131 225 5525 Edinburgh dancebase.co.uk

New season of classes begins 17 January 2011 and booking is now open Venues across the City

Glasgow

0141 552 2442 dancehouse.org Registered Charities: Dance Base (SC022512) Dance House (SC025343)

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY

5

HERO WORSHIP

EDITORIAL Happy New Year and welcome to 2011! Due to the requirements of our print deadlines I am shouting this from 2010, but the sentiment is at least genuine. I hope y’all had a good end of year, and didn’t get apocalyptically trashed before the bells.

For our first issue of the year we’ve gone for a little bit of seer-like visions of the future, the usual exclusive interviews, a few new faces, a couple of returning champions, the occasional legend. Deciding who would go on the cover was a genuinely difficult decision, a fiercely fought battle between Iron and Wine and Earth: both acts have brilliant new albums out soon, and are fully deserving of your attention. If we could have split the cover we would have, but we all remember the lessons learned from the Tim Minchin / Snakes on the Plane mash-up of August 2006. Earth ultimately tipped the scales with a fascinating interview about chemical abuse, cats and their status as pioneers, but both features make for a compelling read.

In other Music, we’ve spent some time talking resurrection with Rival Schools, caught up with resurgent The Go! Team, and asked Tu Fawning for some insight into their debut. They all kindly obliged. Our Starter for Eleven with Talib Kweli sparked a fierce Twitter debate over the correct answers. Do get in touch if you think we got the origin of the term ‘hip-hop’ wrong.

We’re also looking forward to the release of Neds, the new film from Magdalene Sisters director Peter Mullan. We’ve got some words from him on the making of the film, including why it was important to set it in the 70s rather than the present day. In the spirit of a new year, new you, our Performance editor has looked into dance

classes starting in January including a Video Dance class where you can learn to recreate your favourite music video – although the videos on offer will presumably be more Single Ladies than Just. We also preview puppet festival Manipulate: it’s puppets, but not just for kids, OK? Our Reading editor seems to have spent most of the past month goading poet Ryan Van Winkle into writing increasingly complex reviews of his own book, and you can read the results of his cruel torture in the Features section. Fashion catches up with local designer Rebecca Torres to hear about her new collection and her obsession with sci-fi.

In Travel you can start planning your escape from these frozen lands with extreme sports in Utah, Snowbombing and charity hitchhiking.

That’s the highlights of the January issue for you, please enjoy. I’m off to the pub.[Rosamund West]

TOO MANY CONCEPTS SPOIL THE COVER

SHOT OF THE MONTH

DYLAN MORAN The Skinny's Travel editor tries to make amends with his hero WORDS: PAUL MITCHELL THERE IS that adage which suggests you should never meet your hero, as the end result can only be disappointment. Turns out this is quite true, although the disappointment in question can take many forms. I was working in a pub a couple of years back when Dylan Moran ambled to the bar and ordered a coffee. I am a big fan of his work, have seen him live endlessly and adore the shambolic mess that is Black Books, and was quite looking forward to chatting with him. However, when I returned with the coffee Dylan had inexplicably disappeared. Being the prick I am, I lay in wait for his eventual return and watched in self-amusement as he fingered the cup reticently, before eventually being brave enough to try a sip, when I pounced.

“Coffee alright there Mr Moran?” I asked in my best Irish peasant, which is fine because I am an Irish peasant.

“Am…” “Congrats on Friday by the way, quite the coup!”

Dylan’s live show Monster had aired on Channel 4 the previous week, it was the only proper icebreaker I could think of as I poured him a fresh cup.

“Thanks, did you enjoy it?”

“Well, I was off my face on mushrooms while it was on. So yes, I laughed… a lot.”

Inexplicably, given the deplorable standard of badinage, Dylan invited me to join him for a drink after my shift had finished. I did, and it was fun. We talked about music, Christopher Hitchens, Chinese Imperialism (well, he did, I really don’t know my Ming from my Flash Gordon) in between good humoured banter with the autograph hunters (I insisted that he sign some too, haha).

Three, maybe more, Lagavulins in and eventually the grating sycophancy that you’ll hope to coolly avoid when you do meet someone of wide renown began to bubble to the surface. With a draminduced flourish, I revealed that the freewheeling bursts of limitless whimsy and seemingly stream of consciousness observation of early Dylan Moran was probably my favourite comedy of all time.

Dylan shot me a wide-eyed stare which remained in place when he repeated my words. “Early (murderous pause)…Dylan Moran?”

Oops. The stare remained fixed on me just long enough to discern that my stumbling efforts of a retraction or explanation were really not proving adequate before disappearing tablewards where they were to remain for the rest of our time together, which wasn’t very long. And so, whilst under no illusions as to the lasting impact of my careless faux pas on Mr Moran’s impressive career, I did manage to disappoint him momentarily. And so, I would like to try and make some form of amends by saying now, to my hero: “Dylan, your new stuff is great too!”

DYLAN MORAN WILL BE PERFORMING AT GLASGOW'S PAVILION THEATRE ON 18 & 19 JUN WWW.TICKETMASTER.CO.UK

SKINNY ON TOUR

Is that James and the Giant Peach? Has The Skinny finally managed to break through the dimensions and set up home in a supposedly mythical land?

The short answer is: no. No, it's a water tower. But where is it? If you think you know, please go to www.theskinny.co.uk/competitions and place your bid for a lovely prize.

ARCADE FIRE, SECC, 12 DEC

BY PETE DUNLOP

6

THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

Closing date: Monday 31 January

Reel Talk

Most Anticipated Film of 2011

OPINION

Scotland needs a new national anthem. In fact Scotland needs any national anthem. We don’t have one. Honestly. We’re pretty unusual that way. Instead we’ve got a few de facto substitutes that come in handy maybe five times a year for the rugby and maybe once more again when we beat the Faroes at football. If we beat the Faroes at football.

People have conducted polls on this subject you know – real-life, nationwide polls conducted by real-life, respected organisations with apparently nothing better to do. According to said polls it would seem that Jock McBloggs is 41% in favour of Flower of Scotland with only 29% opting for Scotland the Brave and a further 30% of deviants picking from the remaining melee of patronising teuchter detritus. Mind you, it’s worth bearing in mind that this poll was conducted from amidst the kind of people who fill out online surveys for The Royal Scottish National Orchestra and thus probably spend the rest of their day carving pheasant, reversing over postmen in 4x4s and kicking tramps. Not an entirely representative cross-section.

But before we go any further let’s get a few things straight: Jimmy Shand is out. That’s an executive decision influenced by a lifetime of Scottish bloody television on Hogmanay and the stereotypical orgy of fiddles, tartan and Jackie Bird it continues to peddle.

It’s worth asking, then: what would the public actually vote for if otherwise given carte blanche?

There’s a stubbornly naive nationalist somewhere inside me that wants to believe we’d pick something noble and inspiring; something with lyrics that tell of struggling against the odds, embracing disadvantaged strangers as we would our own kin, aspiring for excellence in our every pursuit.

But as Joe Esposito is American and his legendary Karate Kid classic You’re The Best is thus rendered effectively ineligible, there isn’t a hell of a lot else to choose from that carries the sheer motivational oomph our beleaguered sportsmen and women require.

Rather I suspect the people’s choice would be a wearying contemporary pop hit of native origin.

Strawberry-blonde, karaoke-monster 500 Miles

CRITICal mass THE ROLE OF THE FUTURE Since time itself is not a reality, but only a concept or a measure, and space time an illusion caused by our alienated sense of self within a larger, singular entity that contains both physical and spiritual reality, predicting the future is easy.

However, as both an ordained minister and an avid reader of Ben Goldacre’s column, I regard fortunetelling as an abomination against both God and Science. In that spirit, here are my tips for the year ahead in performance.

The National Theatre and Scottish Ballet face years that will be testing, but ultimately triumphant.

The NTS announced its programme, including the usual range of approaches, including Reveal, an exciting chance to see younger artists’ work as it evolves. This marks their fifth year, they will consolidate their position through imaginative collaborations. Scottish Ballet, meanwhile, have to replace Ashley Page. Since Page is the architect of the company’s revival, their deliberations will

Illustration: David Lemm

The Proposition WE NEED A NEW NATIONAL ANTHEM

is an obvious contender. After all, Auchtermuchty might as well contribute something to the country.

Don’t You Forget About Me is another pop behemoth bound to get a mention. Given that Flower of Scotland was only penned in 1967, time clearly isn’t a vital criterion and by those standards Westminster could quite easily have opted for Sabbath’s Paranoid UK-wide, which frankly might have

be fascinating, and the rumours that they are considering a critic as artistic director have yet to be officially denied.

The other big news in 2011 will be the rise of new criticism. Now that the internet has opened up the space for discussion, and critics discover new ways of retaining their relevance, a wave of “Performance Criticism” will overwhelm the traditional division between the performing and critical communities, seeking ways to extend the debates proposed by theatre. Vaudeville will receive a shot in the arm around November, when the Glasgow Cabaret Festival returns. In the meantime, neoburlesque will ponder what it means to be part of the mainstream, while the newspapers ponder what the appearance of striptease in popular culture means.

Finally, the funding cuts will lead to a pointless campaign on Facebook, riots outside the theatres – already, audiences for variety shows have been attacked – or a new wave of political art, self-funded, beholden to no-one and ready with a politically engaged quip. Either that, or a bunch of comedies to keep us all smiling in the darkness.

[Gareth K Vile]

made said union a slightly less distasteful affair. In fact we could use the new anthem to send a message to the Auld Enemy, making Ultravox’s Give It All Back a sure-fire winner.

But we have to be realistic about this. After all, we do live in a country where the majority of people look a lot more like Michelle McManus and Jimmy Somerville than Sheena Easton and Darius Danesh. The best answer might not necessarily be the answer we want to hear. Del Amitri cynically pre-empted the entire debate with the wryly appropriate Nothing Ever Happens whose frank, everyday pessimism is at least in keeping with 90% of the nation’s daily lives. Likewise Teenage Fanclub’s Alcoholiday ticks some important boxes. Hue and Cry had songs called Cynical, Violently and Long Term Lovers of Pain which collectively are at least fitting for most of the population of Glasgow. In that vein, if only we’d managed to thrust citizenship upon Lou Reed, Roger Waters and Spinal Tap we’d have Heroin, Money and Hellhole for Dundee, Edinburgh and Hamilton respectively.

Having reflected on it I say we make a statement; go deep into left-field. Let’s embrace our limitations and reflect on them in typically self-deprecating style. For that reason I’ve already taken the liberty of sending Murrayfield and Hampden my tape: a looped clip of a man coughing over some police sirens, subtly backed by a deep fat fryer and ending on the phrase “...Big Issue pal?”

If nothing else, we’ll probably prove much better at singing along when it comes to game time.

[Marc DeSadé]

Terrence Malick is a man who doesn’t like to be rushed. His elliptical films unfurl in lazy dissolves; minutes can fly by as he lingers on a seductive sunset or a babbling brook. The sight of the end credits is like waking from a dream; you’ve no idea how long you’ve been under his spell.

Malick brings this same narrative nonchalance to his film release dates. In his thirty-eight years of filmmaking he’s released only four features, each one a masterpiece. An unprecedented two decades elapsed between his 1978 sophomore picture Days of Heaven and his hallucinatory war epic The Thin Red Line.

A similarly fuzzy timetable applies to his forthcoming film The Tree of Life. Initially scheduled for a late 2009 release, Malick continued to tinker into the new decade. A planned premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival was scuppered by the mercurial director at the eleventh hour.

Speculation of an appearance at Venice also proved to be just that. An official release date of November 2010, a prime spot for Oscar contenders, was announced but missed. March 2011 has now been very lightly pencilled in for the film’s US theatrical run.

Therefore my most anticipated film of 2010 has now also become my most anticipated of the coming twelve months. This hunger for the new Malick was compounded when a bootleg of The Tree of Life’s trailer appeared for a short while on YouTube, before being pulled by distributers Fox. The quality of the bootleg was not great, and that’s putting it mildly. Shot at a jaunty angle on what looks to be about a 12 pixel camera phone by someone from the Paul Greengrass school of camera framing, it’s little more than a shaky blur.

But so much is the power of Malick’s image that even this is utterly captivating.

What did I glean from the trailer? Not much really. It’s a montage of haunting non-sequiturs.

There’s a majestic 2001-esque glimpse of Earth as seen from space, a developing foetus, a young boy running in long grass. It’s a coming-of-age heart-warmer, I think to myself. But no, there’s the same boy looking crestfallen, endless rows of picket fences, an angry Brad Pitt, a pensive Sean Penn. An exploration of suburbia’s dark underbelly, perhaps? I’ve no idea to be honest, which seems appropriate. After all, I’ve seen the whole of The New World and I’m still trying to unpick its mysteries. There’s one thing that the trailer does make perfectly clear, though: there’s going to be lots and lots of shots of sumptuous sky. I can’t wait.

[Jamie Dunn]

The Tree of Life

January 2011

THE SKINNY

7

We say ‘hello’ to 2011 in our own way: singalongs with Mogwai, the best of Celtic Connections, Sunday Roasts, and stuffed jungle animals.

Don't ask.

Acting as a kind of live gig-cum-record sale, Secret CDs presents a surprise batch of acoustic local acts – some that you might know, and some that you likely won't – whilst CDs are piled high on table-tops and sold in the foyer. Oh, and we've done a bit of Columbo-style investigating, and it looks like Night Noise Team will be on the bill... Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £3

Photo: Euan Robertson

wed 5 jan

The Stand's reliably good beginner's showcase, Red Raw, sees a hefty handful of newcomers make their mark on the scene at each of their handpicked nights.

And cosying up with Scott Agnew and Daniel Sloss this month is Sarah Cassidy, who's profiled in this very issue's Comedy section. High praise indeed. The Stand, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £2 (£1)

Sarah Cassidy

Mon 10 jan

Tue 11 jan

Wed 12 Jan

In Minimalist Works From The Holocaust Museum, Jonathan Horowitz presents a selection of works from past and present that work across media to tackle big themes and heavy subjects. The centrepiece is a film entitled Apocalyto Now, Armageddon presided over by Mel Gibson, terrifyingly. You can read our reviewer's take on it on page 44. DCA, Dundee, until 20 Feb, Free

Bringing together those two happiest of bedfellows, goth rock and er, classic disco, Danse Macabre invite along 80s-goth-loving DJ The Girl for a one-off guest set. She will play Depeche Mode. Mince pies and cakes from the door staff seal the deal in true goth rock style. Nice 'n' Sleazy, Glasgow, 11pm, £2 (£3 after midnight)

In keeping with the warm and quirky nature of his work to date, Michel Gondry's first autobiographical film, The Thorn In The Heart, is an endearingly homespun look at the director's family at home in the Cévennes, told mostly through his Aunt Suzette and various homemovies. GFT, Glasgow, 1.45pm & 6.15pm, £6.90 (£5.20)

Photo: Ralph Mackenzie

HEADS UP

Tue 4 Jan

COMPILED BY: ANNA DOCHERTY

Mon 17 Jan

Two years on from their debut gig at Celtic Connections, Scottish/Canadian supergroup The Burns Unit are back with a new batch of tunes penned during a songwriting workshop in an idyllic Scottish farmhouse. Support comes from the ever-wonderful Broken Records. Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, 8pm, £16. Part of Celtic Connections 2011 (13-30 Jan)

Regularly working with photoshopped montage photography, John Goto's new exhibition is a series of images of the Gaza conflict that have been fauxcensored using a Mosaic digital filter, revealing both a real, and doctored image in a Pantone map of tones and colours. Deeply thought-provoking, in a non-preachy way. Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, until 19 Mar, Free

Photo: Heidi Kuisma

Sun 16 Jan

sat 22 jan

sun 23 jan

Glasgow's Trembling Bells embrace the traditional folk sound of yesteryear, with lead singer Lavinia Blackwall doing a rather tremendous line in banshee-like wailing. It's essentially a two-fingered salute to your generic indie rock, and for that we bow down at their vegan leather-clad feet. Òran Mór Glasgow, 7pm, £12.50. Part of Celtic Connections 2011

It appears to be the weekend of the bells: Trembling Bells last night, and now Sleigh Bells tonight. Alas, the sleigh variety take things up a notch, with the hardcore New York duo's noisy brawl of white noise and distorted riffs rendering Santa's sleigh a bit of a joke. Stereo, Glasgow, 7pm, £9.50

The Embassy crew host their annual Members Show, displaying works from a selection of new and existing gallery members. Last year the walls were stacked sky high with different pieces that even crept floor-wards with sculptures and light installations, and up an iron staircase with a looped film installation. Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, until 6 Feb, Free

Thu 27 Jan

fri 28 jan

sat 29 jan

With a virtual musical tome of beautifully crafted post-rock at their disposal, Mogwai shouldn't have any trouble cherry-picking a set-list for their new European tour, which kicks off, as is only right, with a string of Scottish dates. Support comes from local faves Remember Remember. Paisley Town Hall, Paisley, 7.30pm, £17.50. Also playing Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow on 30 Jan

Having done his time in various post-hardcore rock outfits, Walter Schreifels has taken a mellower turn by playing acoustically under his own name. It's rock that's been stripped back to its bare bones, and it's also perhaps the most satisfying distillation of his sound to date. Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £7.50

Providing our first proper rave-up of the new year, and the reliable purveyors of big beats and even bigger names for nigh-on six years, Xplicit celebrate their birthday in style with a guest slot from D'n'B wavemaker Sub Focus, alongside talented youngster, MC I.D. The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 10.30pm, £12

8

THE SKINNY January 2011

Photo: crimsonglow

fri 21 Jan

Sub Focus

thu 6 jan

fri 7 jan

sat 8 jan

sun 9 jan

King Tut's host a mini New Year's Revolution, with a string of 70 Scottish bands taking over the venue for 14 nights. Sunny boy/girl popsters French Wives headline this one, with Cancel The Astronauts, Galleries, and Poor Things on support duty. Jingly jangly pop all round, then. King Tuts, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £6

Formed way back yon' (well, 1969), Thin Lizzy are back with a slightly re-jigged line-up, but all the classics shall likely be present and correct (i.e. you can bet your granny they'll play The Boys Are Back in Town).

O2 Academy, Glasgow, 7pm, £23.50

Cooling down after having Booka Shade in the house for Hogmanay, the Musika crew stage a relaxed residents night with Derek Martin, Kirk Douglas, and Jamie McKenzie knocking out the best in house and techno. The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 11pm, Free (£5 after midnight)

The Liquid Room replace Jelly Baby with the launch of their brand new Sunday night-er, Sunday Roast. It promises big tunes from the school of indie, pop and electro, traversing the line from MGMT to Micheal Jackson, with the ever present threat of The Ting Tings.

The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 10.30pm, Free

french wives

Jamie McKenzie

Fri 14 Jan

Sat 15 Jan

Two child psychologists discuss play, children's drawings, and child psychotherapy, as part of the rather wonderful Childish Things exhibition. Also on the rather intriguing series of accompanying events is a seminar the following evening, exploring the relationship between 1980s/90s art and attitudes to childhood.

Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 6.30pm, Free

Hispanic Panic takes a journey, er, apparently back to their childhood, with a jungle-themed fun night, complete with stuffed animals, foliage, and ice-cream. Oh, and some dirty jungle beats, naturally. Funds raised go to a research project in the Peruvian Amazon. Discount for monkey costumes. Stereo, Glasgow, 11pm, £5 (£4)

Mungo's Hi-Fi launch their new residency at Stereo by inviting along two special dub guests, in the form of digital tinkerer Disrupt, and bigmouth lyricist Soom T, who'll be debuting their first collaborative LP, Ode To A Carrot. They've also been known to kick things off with a chiptune version of Darth Vader’s theme. Words fail us. Stereo, Glasgow, 11pm, £8

Paul McCarthy, Children's Anatomical Educational Figure, c. 1990

Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

thu 13 jan

Soom T

Tue 18 Jan

Wed 19 Jan

Thu 20 Jan

Having already outgrown the surrounds of the art school's Wee Red Bar, ZZZAP! moves to The Liquid Room and welcomes Bloc Party mainman Kele for a rather special guest slot. But, staying true to their homespun roots, there will be live visual mixing from the art school students, plus local young buck, Dandy Riots, spinning some jumped-up bass. The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 11pm, £10

The creative folks at Raindog make their return to theatre with a new comedy production, The Ushers, a springtime tale of friendship, yearning, and six-foot girlfriends, penned by the Simon Crowther, and told with Raindog's usual panache. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until 22 Jan, 8pm, £9 (£7)

The brainchild of a bored drummer, Metronomy is Joseph Mount's extended foray into the world of electronica, with dirty robotic beats and addictive bass providing the hooks on which to hang some serious 'moves'. We believe they be otherwise known as dancing tunes. King Tuts, Glasgow, 8pm, £11

Mon 24 Jan

Tue 25 Jan

Wed 26 jan

Mucking around with the krautrock template, Timo Kaukolampi and his Finnish group K-X-P square electronics, bass, drums, and limited vocals to achieve a sound that is in turn subtly meditative and whack-to-the nuggin' bolshy. Praise be. Captain's Rest, Glasgow, 8pm, £7

Giving haggis the old heave-ho, we'll be celebrating Burns Night in the company of Woodpigeon's gentle harmonies, as Canadian-born singer/songwriter Mark Hamilton plays an intimate set alongside local folky favourite Withered Hand. Can't say fairer. Stereo, Glasgow, 8pm, £6 (£5)

Set in an old town version of Edinburgh, The Breathing House tells a familiar tale of love versus lust, while well kent themes of fear, secrets, death, and sexual disease bring in to play the idea that certain issues in society loop way, way back. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until 29 Jan, 8pm, £9 (£7)

Kele

Sun 30 Jan

Mon 31 Jan

Their November session was cancelled due to the gosh-darn snow, and bloody Christmas meant no December session, so we've been missing Glasgow's Dr Sketchy's life-drawing class, back for January with their usual jolly mix of burlesque gals, circus freaks, live performance, and cocktail swilling. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 4pm, £7 (£5)

Set in an unpleasant and not-so-distant future, Swedish director Tarik Saleh uses computer-altered and animated photographs in his visually-compelling feature film, Metropia, an odd little tale of conspiracy and mind control, with Vincent Gallo and Juliette Lewis. Traverse, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £6 (£5). Part of the Manipulate Visual Theatre Festival

January 2011

THE SKINNY

9

MUSIC

earthly pleasures Despite his role in birthing a genre, unassuming Earth founder Dylan Carlson never set out with any master plan interview: David Bowes

Formed in Olympia, Washington in 1989, Earth were never quick to make a name for themselves.

Only after a well-timed relocation to Seattle, and the chance rooming of founder Dylan Carlson and a then-obscure Kurt Cobain, did the gears really begin to turn and people start to take notice.

However, these people were not in Seattle.

“I think people were confused and didn’t know what to do. We were sort of the odd band out, I guess,” chuckles Carlson today. “We didn’t really fit anywhere. I mean, we do okay but we definitely seem to do better outside of Seattle than inside.”

Recording their first album in 1990, it was a release that has now become a part of history, not only for pioneering the drone doom sound so beloved of Sunn O))) and Boris, both of whom cite Earth as major influences, but also for featuring the vocals of a young Cobain on Divine and Bright, making it long sought-after by collectors.

And yet, it was only late in 2010 that the album was finally released in its intended format.

Carlson explains the complex background of the release: “We originally recorded it as a full album, but [seminal Seattle label] Sub Pop only released two songs and then the other stuff came out on bootlegs. We tried to release some of it on [Philadelphia indie] No Quarter but didn’t have a tape copy of it, so it didn’t sound very good. Greg [Anderson, Southern Lord founder] had always wanted to release it the way it should have been and that was the one record that was licensed to – rather than owned by – Sub Pop, so when their licensing agreement terminated I got it back and we were able to release it as it was intended.

It’s the way it should’ve been, but history is often different from what you intend.”

❝

I’m probably a little insane to most people

❞

They then teamed up with long-time friend and producer Stuart Hallerman (Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Built to Spill) to create Earth 2, possibly the most influential record of the band’s history to date. “It’s kinda funny to laugh about the things we did back on Earth 2 that seemed like the right thing to do even though, technically, they were probably not the correct studio techniques.”

Evidently, they did something right given the slow-burning reception to its mammoth sound, with eventual doom supergroup Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine going so far as to take their name from the album’s second track. “I’m glad people really like and admire it,” he offers in hindsight.

“When I did [Earth 2], it was not treated that way, but in time it has done well. It’s part of where I was and where I am now.”

10 THE SKINNY January 2011

Ultimately regarded as a pioneer in modern rock, how does Carlson feel about his part in creating a sound that would reverberate for decades? “I think most of the bands that have been influenced by us probably want to do their own thing,” he states in the ego-less manner of a musician uncomfortable with the mantle he’s been handed. “No-one really invents anything; it’s all a process of rediscovery. If people want to say I did then that’s fine but I would never really try and take credit. I have my own small part in it and that’s enough for me.”

Earth’s occasionally tumultuous relationship with Sub Pop ended in 1996, marking the beginning of a nine-year hiatus that saw the suicide of Carlson’s friend Cobain and a long struggle with addiction. “I don’t think I was a bad person back then but I definitely wasn’t a very sane person,” he confesses. “I’m probably a little insane to most people, but I try to be nicer now. I’m a more honest, humble person.”

It wasn’t until 2004 that Earth was reborn, albeit in an almost unrecognisable form. With the recording of Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method, only Carlson remained, bringing with him a new line-up and stripped down sound closer to classic Americana than their wall-of-noise albums of yore.

With their Sub Pop dealings over, a new alliance with Southern Lord came about, a decision that Carlson has no reason to regret. “I definitely prefer the business model that Southern Lord has compared to Sub Pop,” he says. “Back then, the only model was the major, so even the small labels were run that way. But there was a real change in Sub Pop from the beginning; even though they didn’t have money they acted like they did and made a big deal of it, and then suddenly they had money and were worrying about it. They lost the plot slightly, but I’m fond of them and I thank them for the opportunity to release music.”

Not only had Earth’s sound undergone a transformation, but evidently so had its founder, eschewing chemical consumption for significantly more earthy pleasures, something he finds as amusing as anyone. “I read a lot, watch a lot of movies… I have five cats so there’s a lot of cat care. I’m pretty much a homebody-type person now that I’m getting older. I can’t really touch intoxicants anymore so my strongest vice is black tea.”

❝

That’s my hope – that the major labels fall apart

❞

Shine A Light ❝

No-one really invents anything; it’s all a process of rediscovery

Defying life-threatening circumstances and a personnel crisis to bring Earth's impending seventh studio album to life, who better to give an insight than guitarist and principal member Dylan Carlson?

❞

This new, sober lifestyle brought with it new opportunities, not only in terms of recording but also touring, now a large part of Carlson’s life. “It was something I had always wanted to do more of but circumstances were not conducive to it back then and it was more hit or miss. But live, to me, is my favourite thing: looking back at the history of music, live music was more important than what was recorded, then suddenly recorded music became the important thing and the industry really changed after that. That’s my hope – that the major labels fall apart because of their whole business model and that live music will begin to become more appreciated.”

No matter how Earth changes, Carlson is keen to state that some things will always remain.

“None of the stuff I do has a big plan behind it,” he insists. “Some things are always gonna be the same – like the tempos and lengths of songs – but as a musician you start to grow, start to play different things and want to incorporate them. If I’m influenced by something it doesn’t mean I want to sound exactly like my influences, relating to what I do. If I learn a new technique on guitar, I don’t want to bust it out right away. I want to integrate it more to the playing so that it sits. If there’s any theme to the changes that Earth has gone through it’s more to do with rediscovering older influences with each record.”

Since the success of the now revitalised Earth, the band’s potential has not gone unnoticed, opening new avenues for exploration. and Carlson recognises the possibilities, “We’ve recently gotten a few songs in a couple of movies, which is nice. Like, the Jim Jarmusch movie [2009’s The Limits of Control], they used one of our tracks from [2008’s] The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull and then this other movie [a year in the life of infamous tap dancer, Jesco White, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia]used one from Hex. I mean, I would love to do a full soundtrack one day.”

While the thought of an Earth-helmed soundtrack is enticing enough, it’s not the only hand that Dylan has to play, though he is keeping this one close to his chest: “I want to do a solo album; I doubt it’d be radically different but it’ll be something different, that’s for sure.”

Angels Of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 is released via Southern Lord on 7 Feb Earth play Stereo, Glasgow on 5 Apr www.thronesanddominions.com

On the title, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1: I’ve been on this British folk rock trip with Pentangle and Fairport Convention and then I’ve been reading a lot of fairy stories, like, Scottish, Welsh, Irish fairy stories so that’s my obsession right now. That’s where the album title Angels of Darkness Demons of Light comes from; the angels of darkness would be the angels and demons from monotheism whereas the demons of light would be the fairy folk.

On Stacey Rozich’s artwork: I met Stacey through Karl [Blau, bass], she’d done a poster for one of his shows and I really liked it. All of her stuff has this obsessive quality to it; it’s all demonic, weird figures. Then there’s the colour and elements such as African folk masks and Lapland folk elements. It has a folk art element to it, in a way; I thought it fit quite well with the title and the theme. She’s an amazing artist. I hope she goes on to be very successful!

On the new line-up: I met Lori [Goldston, cello, formerly of Nirvana] through Steve Moore, the keyboardist and trombone player from the Bees album and Hex. We invited her to some shows that Steve couldn’t do and I liked what she did, we hit it off. Then Steve and [now former bassist] Don [McGreevy] had other stuff they wanted to pursue, so they went to do their thing. Karl I met through our manager Clyde and we played with him a few times at this thing called ‘Heck Fest’ – I liked his solo stuff. Unfortunately he can’t come on tour with us so we have another bass player called Angelina Baldoz.

On new instruments: I like the sound of the cello and the guitar; they seem to work well together.

I especially like the way Lori plays. A lot of people, when they have cello, well, it’s very classically oriented but she does a lot of improvisation, plays through an amp; so it doesn’t sound like some cod orchestra.

On new sounds: The new album is more melodic and riff oriented than before with Bees, becoming very dense with chords and piano.

I liked it, but listening to it now it seems a little cluttered. Again, the less is more approach seems to be working. The key to my whole existence, it seems, is less is more.

On recording setbacks: Before we did this record I was very sick and found out I had a bad liver from my previous lifestyle. I should have been in hospital during recording but I was like, “Well I have to get this record done. This might be my last so it’s gotta be good!” Towards the end of the recording I was put on medication and that seems to be working. It was like there was that darkness and then it became more uplifting so I realised, “OK, I’m gonna get to create a few more of these.”

On working with Stuart Hallerman: Stuart ran the studio where we did Bees but he hasn’t been doing a lot of production or engineering. I’ve known him for a long time, even before we worked on Earth 2 back in Olympia so it was nice to work with him again since we’ve both come a long way since the early days. Stuart was willing to just let us play as a band, he was a lot more concerned with getting that through the tape as unfiltered as possible.

On Angels of Darkness Demons of Light II: The first part has more songs except for the title track, which we just created in the studio. The second part is more spontaneous; I wrote most of the songs over a two week period before we hit the studio. As with part one there’s improvisation, but two was more of an on-the-spot creation.

There are similarities between the style, feel and the energy; they’re the same but different.

Originally the plan was to release both records in 2011 but there might be a slight delay on the second part. The label has its priorities and production schedules to adhere to so we’ll see what happens.[David Bowes] Angels Of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 is released via Southern Lord on 7 Feb Earth play Stereo, Glasgow on 5 Apr www.thronesanddominions.com

January 2011

THE SKINNY 11

FILM

NED: NONESTABLISHMENT DIRECTOR

After an eight year hiatus, PETER MULLAN makes a welcome return to directing with Neds, a punchy, personal tale of urban tribalism set in 70s Glasgow WORDS: JAMIE DUNN

❝

PETER MULLAN’S films feel big. They’re filled with grand gestures and bold symbolism. Take his 1997 directorial debut, Orphans, easily one of the most underrated films of the 90s, where four adult siblings spend a hellish night on the streets of Glasgow the day before their mother’s funeral.

In it, Mullan blends Greek tragedy and moments of pure surrealism with the everyday. There’s a draconian landlord who locks unruly punters in his cellar/dungeon, statues of the Virgin Mary make important plot interjections, and at one point a roof of the church where the mother’s body is lying in wake flies off into the Glasgow sky like Dorothy’s digs in The Wizard of Oz. Neds, the director’s much anticipated return to filmmaking following 2002’s award-winning The Magdalene Sisters, shares Orphans’ darkly comic but gritty tone, and is saturated with Mullan’s trademark biblical references and visual flights of fancy. Set in 1970s Glasgow, it’s a dark coming-ofage tale about working-class teenager John McGill (newcomer Conor McCarron), whose promise at school and potential for success is jeopardised by the allure of gang culture. Mullan talked bullishly about the film in a recent BAFTA Q&A, which he began by discussing his distinct style and his frustration at some critics’ close-minded reactions to it.

“I think the toughest thing coming from our background is that in the traditions of Scottish cinema emotions are slightly repressed. You’re kind of nailed down as social realism and you’re told, ‘Do not deviate from it!’. But, actually, that’s

12 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

not really our tradition, it’s England’s. So when you look at Scottish cinema, the work of Peter McDougall and Bill Forsyth, you see we do deviate from realism. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of English cinema, but I don’t want to be defined by it because then it becomes an oppressive dogma.”

After playing several festivals, including Toronto, London and San Sebastian, where Neds won the top prize, Mullan has found that this “oppressive dogma” is already being adhered to. “The early English reviews have slapped us on the wrists, which we haven’t had from critics in Spain or America or France. They say things like, ‘I was really liking it until the last half hour but then he went all fucking silly.’ They don’t like it, you’ve broke the rules.”

The “silly” stuff those critics refer to is John’s almost mythical descent into violence, that includes, among other things, a casual stroll through a literal lion’s den and a punch-up with a belligerent Jesus Christ. “They have their genre of social realism and within that they can say, ‘It was very realistic’ or ‘It wasn’t’, end of,” continues Mullan with the same aggressive intelligence as the film’s teenage protagonist. “The idea that something subtextual might be happening is really beyond their ken.

They don’t get it. The English look at film differently from any other country.”

One thing critics, both at home and internationally, have been unanimous about is Conor McCarron’s intense, star-making performance. “He’d done a couple of periods of drama at school, and the drama teacher didn’t like him,” says Mullan,

dryly, regarding McCarron’s acting experience.

Chosen from an open audition of over 300 youngsters, he carries, with considerable confidence, the film’s dramatic weight on his broad shoulders and is convincing as both the lumbering school swot at the start of the picture and the baby-faced hardman that he’s shaped into by life in the film’s tinderbox community. “We workshopped with him for about eight weeks because I just couldn’t decide. I couldn’t take the risk of miscasting that role because he’s in every bloody scene.”

With Neds, Mullan returns to the neighbourhoods where he grew up in the early 70s and the sense of time and place is vividly realised. But does the life of today’s Glaswegian teenagers bear any relation to what’s depicted in the film? “The whole point of doing the film in the first place was that there were a lot of guys my age who were saying things like, ‘[Gang violence] didn’t happen when we were kids’. Bullshit. It did happen when we were kids and it happened when our grandparents were kids.” The period setting also gives the film a Brechtian detachment, as Mullan explained: “By setting it in the relative past you can look at the issues and you’re not caught up with contemporaneous detail. If it was set in the here and now it would get bogged down in things like: do [the neds] wear hoods? Do they talk through their noses? And all that bollocks that goes on. The only difference between then and now is detail. It’s still territorial. It’s still little fascistic organisations brought together through nothing more than, ‘Do you want to join in and beat someone up?’”

If it was set in the here and now it would get bogged down in things like: do [the neds] wear hoods?

Do they talk through their noses? And all that bollocks that goes on. The only difference between then and now is detail. It’s still territorial. It’s still little fascistic organisations brought together through nothing more than, ‘Do you want to join in and beat someone up?’

PETER MULLAN

❞ The period setting also allowed Mullan to draw on his own formative experiences as a smart but wayward youth, and some moments are so acutely singular, such as when former star-pupil John masochistically goads the school’s only compassionate educator into handing out some corporal punishment like a “real teacher”, that they can only have come from real life events.

Mullan insists, however, that it would be inaccurate to describe the film as autobiographical. “Broadly speaking, the general journey is one I went through, but there’s no adherence to fact. I’d say percentage wise it’s about 40% true, 60% fiction.

It’s emotionally what I remember – I’m not a great one for details. It’s where I felt a teenager might go if he went to the dark side.”

NEDS GOES ON GENERAL RELEASE 21 JAN QUOTATIONS ARE TAKEN FROM A BAFTA Q&A WITH PETER MULLAN HELD IN GLASGOW ON 1 DEC 2010

Spring Season 2011 Box Office 0131 650 4673

www.eusalive.co.uk

With near on a decade of experience under their Louis Vuitton belts, ROLL DEEP continue to test levels of expectation having scored two No.1 singles in 2010 with their post-grime, electro-rap formula.

The Venue at Potterrow | Sunday 13 February @ 7.30pm | £11/£8 students

Live Music Theatre Comedy Dance Literature Film Club Nights Edinburgh University Students’ Association is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC015800

READING

a work in progress

Ryan Van Winkle, reader in residence at The Scottish Poetry Library, Editor of The Edinburgh Review, and used to write reviews for The Skinny. So when he said his first book of poems was being published, our Reading Editor was so sure it’d be great that he thought it best to get him to critique it himself…

Interview: Keir Hind

PERFORM

And so he began, somewhat hesitantly, with this 100 word review: I don’t read poetry. I just don’t get it. So, with that in mind – I’m lucky to be reviewing Ryan Van Winkle’s first book of poetry. The cover has a trendy Where The Wild Things Are font. I liked that film. I’m a big fan of whimsy. I have seen everything by Wes Anderson. The cover image looks like some hipster / indie wedding in Indiana. It is perfectly bound. It has about 60 pages. The back

has some pleasant quotes by people I’ve never heard of. But, they are all positive. Oh my, I’m out of space already!

“Jumping Jehosaphat of Jerusalem!” I told him. “You can’t do that! Lock yourself in a room and don’t come out until you’ve written a serious review, literary style. We’re trying to sell your book here!” And so he came back with the following: America. A distinct lack of formalism. A distinct lack of regular meter or rhyme. Violence. A little sex. A distance in the voices of the speakers.

Quiet. Understated. Plain-spoken. These poems don’t blow one away. They are not pyro-technic.

They get under your fingernails like the grime that appears after a long, drunk night. These poems are like Seinfield – about ‘nothing’ – but without the laughs. That said, if you like all that Raymond Carver, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love business this might be the collection for you.

“Crippled crab on a crutch!” I opined. “What are you trying to do, fool people into trying this out?! Okay, maybe this ain’t your thing. Look, come back to me with a poem, maybe you’ll pitch it better with what you know.” And so he did come back with a poem, a haiku no less: Violence. Quiet. Sex. Distinct American grime.

We talk about love.

“Bitter bananas of Basho! I cried. “There’s the seed of something there. Okay, here’s what you should do,” I told him. “1) Get yourself

down to the nearest airport. 2) Go into their bookshop. 3) Look at the blurb of any book there. 4) Write something like that blurb, but using the same words, in the same order, that were in the haiku you just wrote.” And if this don’t sell books, nothing will: It is 1977 and a seemingly random act of disturbing violence begins to have strange affects on a quiet Florida town. People stop having sex. The distinct smell of cabbage haunts the air. As police try to unravel the case – once pristine beaches are covered with an inexplicable and dark soot. Scientists have no explanation but they know the foreign substance is migrating towards town. American Airlines cancels all flights into and out of Florida.

Soon, all other modes of travel are restricted due to “The Grime”. “We cannot comment,” is all the Army Corps of Engineers will say of the mysterious happenings. Soon, talk turns into action as citizens turn against each other. No one is immune.

Americans blame immigrants. Brothers turn against brothers and even love becomes fear.

“Galloping Ghost of Grisham” sayeth I, “That was almost perfect. But you missed the word ‘about’. Damn. Oh well,” I told him, “I’ll have to punish you, I’m afraid. Write me a limerick! I’m told they’re popular or something, maybe that’s how to pitch poetry”. I should warn you that Ryan hated the result, but here, for the record, it is: There once was a boy from Connecticut who went as far as Scotland to forget it

he wrote a little book and wanted people to look so here he is trying to f’n sell it.

Oh dear. Well, maybe this joke has gone too far. In honesty, Ryan is a far better poet than the ludicrous lines from that Limerick above suggest, so I finally decided on the honest angle: I’d just print one of his poems and you, dear reader, can buy the book if you like what you see. So here we go:

Retrieving the dead

The losing army litters the roads we’ve paved.

We ride on the dead, getting to town, going home.

The dark raccoon, a sun-blind dog at midday.

We slow, drive in low gear till the guilt’s blown.

Rain and maggots take the flesh. But, sometimes the stench sticks in our entrails.

We have our own stones, the smell ruins a veal cut; a neighbor calls the town council and I come in jeans with a shovel and an orange truck.

All summer the roads tally bodies like bumps of fur and blood from route 11 to Walnut.

I peel the carnage, haul the dead to the dump, lift the soldiers up, try not to breathe till they’re tossed into our trenches of tea bags, messed diapers, spare parts.

Ryan’s collection, Tomorrow We Will Live Here is available now, published by Salt publishing, cover price £9.99. And if you’ve made it to the end of this piece, you probably owe it to yourself to buy it

New Year, New You Both Dance House and Dance Base have a commitment to supporting the next generation of dancers. The Creative Lab is how they do it

Creative Labs

“Essentially the Creative Labs offer physical space to create and think and actually be able to move and make your work happen,” says Jack Webb, one of Scotland’s promising young dancer choreographers. “In order to dance you need space and without funding I have no way of paying for that space so they actually provide me with the opportunity to make what’s in my head a reality.”

Both Dance House and Dance Base offer Creative Labs to artists: a week of studio time, with no pressure to develop a complete work, but the freedom to investigate and explore. Although the companies who receive the lab often give classes during their stay, the labs are a rare example of support that does not demand a specific outcome.

There are, however, the sharings: usually on the Friday afternoon, although a recent Lab from Jakko Lehmus, formerly of Scottish Ballet, did conclude in a performance in The Arches. These sharings, advertised online, are free and give audiences the chance to see inside the choreographic process, and respond to the artists’ processes.

The last time that Gypsy Charms and Chris J Wilson were given a creative lab, they managed to come up with more than the expected short

14 THE SKINNY January 2011

sharing. In one week, with a little help from Blonde Ambition and the indefatigable Des O’Connor, they choreographed an entire show, The Mating Ritual, which toured Scotland, visited London – pulling in guest star Kiki Kaboom, one of cabaret’s rising stars – and suggesting that burlesque is actually capable of sustaining intelligent, humorous shows that have narrative as well as striptease.

The Mating Ritual took a humorous look at the various courtship rituals of the past century. Now, the team has returned for another lab.”We are delighted to be given the opportunity by Dancehouse to create more cabaret mayhem,” laughs Gypsy.

“The Odd Ball burlesques famous partnerships and manipulates ‘cabaret space’ using a cocktail of dance, comedy and music.”

In Edinburgh, lab residents will include Plan B – hot from their successful revival of A Wee Home From Home, sometime Jack Webb collaborator Lucy Boyes and Tom Pritchard, who is also involved with Dance House’s Contemporary Community Company. The vitality of Scottish dance owes a great deal to the support of these two venues. [Gareth K Vile] Creative Lab Sharings Dance Base, Friday afternoons and Dance House, as advertised

Gypsy Charms and Chris Wilson being John and Oko

Video Dance

One of the surprise hits of the Dance House programme have been the Video Dance Classes.

While it might be predictable that a class based on learning the moves from pop videos would become a success, the identity of the teacher is not.

“I’m probably better known as a contemporary dancer and choreographer,” Ruth Mills admits.

Having taught the technique based on Martha Graham’s revolutionary explorations into free dance, and presenting work that combined a respect for contemporary dance’s intellectual heritage with a modern intensity, Mills found herself working with a far more mainstream material.

“I love music. I was a musician before I discovered dance as a teenager,” she elaborates, to explain her path. “Most of my inspiration as a choreographer begins with music and led me into the world of choreographing and directing music videos. I want to get the whole world dancing and expose them to great music along the way. So the two are inseparable.”

Mills’ classes, which are now divided into particular acts’ routines following their runaway success in

2010, have been made easier by the internet. There are rumours that she has taught routines from videos the very day after their release. “With the dawn of YouTube and access to recordings of almost every dance routine/music video you can think of, I had a new hobby: learning all those dances I loved to watch,” she explains. But the contemporary dancer couldn’t keep her secret. “So, what essentially started as a secret hobby has now evolved into a series of classes with Dance House which are literally bursting at the seams with enthusiastic participants.”

Another thing that separates this class from the herd, says Mills, is that “this is a great class for men. Men love being clever, and if they treat learning to move like Michael Jackson as they would a disappearing handkerchief then they may surprise themselves by how well they do.” Of course, there is more to it than hard work, with the rewards obvious, especially in the party season.”Is there a man on the planet who wouldn’t want to be able to pull off a mesmerising moonwalk, out of nowhere, at the work’s Christmas night out? I think not.” [Gareth K Vile] www.dancehouse.org

PERFORM

Performance. Strings.

Death. Despair. Puppets Manipulate returns to Edinburgh in February with a celebration of puppetry and visual theatre Words: Gareth K Vile

In his dialogue On The Marionette Theatre, German romantic philosopher Heinrich von Kleist commented that the puppet represented the potential of the human, once they pushed through the limitations of consciousness and freewill towards a state of grace. Von Kleist, like Plato, may have been ironic, as the puppet is more commonly seen as victim: the ballet Petrushka makes this point vividly, with a hero mercilessly punished merely for helplessly falling for a beautiful dancer. The true freedom within puppetry is perhaps in the hands of the puppeteer, who can manipulate his actors in ways beyond the fantasy of the most totalitarian director, or politician.

Manipulate elegantly describes itself as “innovative theatre arts for consenting adults,” implying that their annual jamboree of puppetry, film and cross-platform drama leads straight into this particularly dark metaphor for determinism. The presence of Giselle Vienne, last seen in Scotland cheering up Tramway with a slow motion meditation on teenage suicide and drone metal, alongside Kefar Nahum, a Belgian story of Creation gone wrong, suggests that puppetry is a natural medium for bleak, aggressive theatre.

Although the festival had its roots in puppetry, Manipulate features film and performance that defies easy categorisation. The film selection emphasises the easy connection between video animation and live puppetry: the shadow puppets of the East could be seen as the earliest example of cinematic technique, using light to cast an image upon a screen, while stop motion animation clearly comes from puppetry itself.

Yet many of the live performances push at the boundaries of what can be regarded as puppetry.

Mossoux Bonté, the company behind Kefar Nahum strive to integrate dance and theatre while grappling with the implicit gender relationships between their twin directors, Nicole Mossoux and Patrick Bonté.

Rather than being puppeteers by vocation, like Scotland’s Tortoise in a Nutshell, Mossoux Bonté come to the form to further their own performance philosophy.

If the bonds to a specific medium have been loosened, Manipulate is held together by certain themes. The sense of control, or lack of control, is easily invoked – Vienne’s Jerk uses glove puppets in an examination of a serial killer, while 1927 evoke an oppressive, brooding city through the use of film.

Macabre Animation 1927 aren’t exactly an uncomplicated skip through sunny summer afternoons, but their gothic aesthetic is informed by both a genteel humour and Russian surrealism. Fans of either The Chap or The Creative Martyrs will enjoy their particular take on encroaching terror, where film interacts with live performers in a world where even a shadow is a sinister spy.

Winners of an Arches Brick Award and a Herald Angel, 1927 tore up the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe through a mixture of silent movie shorts and fatalistic slapstick. The Animals and The Children Took to the Streets promises a more consistent narrative, delving into the horrors of a tenement block inhabited by Peeping Toms and curtain twitchers.

Using the naturally sinister atmosphere of monochrome film, 1927 conjure a reality that has its roots in the totalitarianism of Soviet Russia while resonating with the paranoia and state encroachments of contemporary Britain.

31 Jan - 4 Feb Traverse, Edinburgh, various times and prices The Animals and Children Took to the Streets

Both the short film selection and French compilation movie Fear(s) of the Dark investigate the horror lurking beneath the surface of apparently mundane relationships: Fear(s) includes a contribution from underground comic star Charles Burns, another master of black and white horror illustration.

As an object, the puppet easily lends itself to hybrid creations: metamorphoses and protean creatures litter the programme, whether it is Mossoux Bonté’s alarming spider deity or Matthew Robins’ half boy-half fly battling to live a normal life (part of the Snapshots cabaret event). The elegance that Robins brings to his storytelling, accompanied by live folk music and told languidly, supports von Kleist’s assertion that the puppet is capable of a fluidity and grace precisely because it is not troubled by human self-consciousness.

Photo: Alain Monot

Dead Children and Serial Killers

The brilliance of Kleist’s essay, perched gingerly between notions of freewill as positive and the problems caused by having consciousness – he did go on to kill himself – is reflected in the cunning programming of Manipulate. It is the idea of puppetry that serves as the festival’s starting point, rather than any rigid adherence to a particular medium, and from this blossoms a diverse, sometimes enchanting, sometimes troubling programme. If theatre’s function is to stimulate discussion, or challenge audiences to look beyond their own assumptions, Manipulate challenges the meaning of its own art form and presents artists who are willing to poke around in the darker zones of human experience.

31 Jan - 4 Feb Traverse various times, various prices www.manipulatefestival.org

Gisele Vienne is a theatre maker who is not frightened by the darkest side of human nature.

Kindertotenlieder, her last work to appear in Scotland, was a minimal mix of Boris’ drone metal, a text from Dennis Cooper and mannequins posed in a snow bound landscape. Slow and disturbing, it left behind an overwhelming feeling of despair and frustration, lamenting the death of children in ways that Mahler, who provided the title through his own miserable song cycle, could not imagine.

Jerk, Vienne’s entry in Manipulate, is the jolly tale of a serial killer who uses hand puppets to understand his activities. The audience are asked to play the role of psychology students while Jonathan Capdeviell plays the killer recreating his crimes.

It isn’t just the use of puppets that is shocking, although the sight of Sooty and Sweep killing for sexual kicks is disturbing enough. Vienne’s tone is cool, almost detached. The savagery of the crimes is not distanced by this questioning: rather, it opens up the mind of a murderer in a terrifyingly immediate manner.

3 Feb, 9pm Traverse

www.19-27.co.uk

Who’s pulling the strings?

Puppet Animation Scotland, the force behind Manipulate, is based in Aberdeen and stages two major festivals a year. Manipulate is aimed at “consenting adults”, while The Puppet Animation Festival is for all ages. Throughout the year, PAS promotes all forms of puppetry and animation in Scotland: they developed The Big Man Walking and supported Amanda Monfrooe, who gave Arches Live! the superb How Keanu Reeves Saved the World.

PAS’s mission is to take puppetry beyond its stereotypical and marginalised public image.

While it nurtures companies like Tortoise in a Shell, who do make work for younger audiences, artistic director Simon Hart is committed to engaging contemporary visual performance.

Manipulate’s connection to the Traverse, which saw the event move south to Edinburgh, is a natural fit. As Dominic Hill bravely expands the theatre’s definition of new writing, including puppetry across his programme, PAS’ selections bring international companies to the East Coast outside of the August festival frenzy, and remind Edinburgh that there is more to animation than sentimentality and Christmas cartoons.

31 Jan -4 Feb Traverse, Edinburgh

www.g-v.fr

January 2011

THE SKINNY 15

MUSIC

Good Things

Nearly a decade after their debut album broke the mould, New York's Rival Schools return for round two in 2011.

Frontman Walter Schreifels and guitarist Ian Love explain a welcome resurrection interview: Ryan Drever

Shot After Shot With lyrics spanning Psychic Kids, sexy Italian actresses, and that primal urge for a can of juice, Walter Schreifels offers a taste of Rival Schools’ long-awaited second album

When Rival Schools released their debut LP, United By Fate, in 2001, it was pretty much a godsend. Staring down hordes of squeaky-clean pop clones and a generally unhealthy obsession with nu-metal, here was a mature and wholly unique rock band that managed to offset such mediocrity and stand alone in its own skin. The album offered its fair share of hooks too, particularly Used For Glue, which became an MTV2 mainstay. As such, it didn’t take much for folk to catch on.

Still, after flirting with commercial success and enjoying nearly two solid years on the road, Rival Schools – a band whose collective CV reads like a handbook to the New York hardcore underground (Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, CIV, Glassjaw) and in turn, are perhaps one of the most promising and interesting acts to crawl out from the 90s ‘alt-rock’ rubble – somehow managed to slip through the cracks.

“I think we just felt a little burnt out,” the band’s affable frontman Walter Schreifels explains. “We made United By Fate and went through all the processes; we toured the world, we went to Australia, Japan, the States, Europe and it was a lot of fun, but towards the end it was like a few years had passed. We were all trying do a few different things and what was at first supposed to be a short break turned into a much longer one.”

As all four members went on to tend to a wealth of different projects and responsibilities – a list too long to print which includes running a label, various solo efforts and production duties, baby-making and of course, countless other bands (Cardia, Walking Concert, Nightmare Of You and, eh, Limp Bizkit) – rumours of a much-anticipated follow-up dragged on through the years, with various demos and off cuts leaking along the way. Although the band was never officially laid to rest, as time passed it was hard to believe it would ever see the light of day again.

16 THE SKINNY January 2011

Any such worries were eventually quelled in 2008 when Rival Schools suddenly jolted into life and reconvened for an extensive run of dates worldwide. Despite the considerable absence, these shows had no trouble coaxing old fans out of the woodwork alongside a new generation of listeners.

And if this wasn’t enough of a reward for such patience and loyalty, the following announcement everyone was really waiting for – of album number two – surely was. As a result, their long-gestating sophomore LP, entitled Pedals, is due for release this March and already heads up a promising year for new music. Still, it begs the question: why now?

“At a certain point it was like ‘ok, we know how long it takes if you get it wrong, so if we’re really going to do this, let’s do it now,’” Schreifels asserts.

“You can only wait so long. We’d been talking about it and we were able to play some music here and there, but about three years ago we started to get serious. So we did that tour, wrote some new songs, played some older material that was never released and started messing around to make this record.

“After United By Fate we’d written a bunch of other songs that were like demos for a follow-up album and we just left it at that,” he elaborates. “The motivation for getting back together and making this happen was really that we left this positive thing hanging in the wind. It was a challenge, but we picked up some of the pieces of work we’d done before and built a new story. It’s been a long and winding road.”

Guitarist Ian Love says that stepping back out on the live circuit confirmed the band’s decision to reunite for a bigger cause. “When we started playing again – those songs from United By Fate with everybody singing along to every word – it really solidified for me that we should be doing this, we should be making another record. Years later, these songs are still meaning something to these people at least, and us. I don’t think that happens very often.”

It’s safe to say that, even after several years of silence, they have our full attention once more. Initial impressions of Pedals – particularly lead single Shot After Shot – are already a positive reminder of what we’ve been missing. It looks sure to stand strong alongside a collection of songs that have had years to cement their popularity. But having set such a high benchmark, was it a challenge to live up to their first chapter’s legacy?

“Personally I thought it wouldn’t be too hard to top it, in my mind,” says Schreifels. “I believed we were capable of doing something even more interesting, or better, y’know? You always try to make the best thing you can. To make United By Fate out to be like Sgt. Pepper’s, and that we have to follow it up – it’s not productive.

“If I had a preference, we’d be on our sixth album right now,” he continues, with frustrated excitement. “I’m really happy that we do have this album, but also to rebuild the runway here and make more music. It wasn’t easy to put it back together; we’ve all had a sense of accomplishment, but there’s also a sense of opportunity.”

It’s an opportunity the band seem hell-bent on grabbing by the figurative horns, and they won’t be the only ones salivating at the prospect of a future with Rival Schools in their life once again. Soon to hit our shores with ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – surely a long overdue double-bill from the Gods – it would seem good things are finally coming our way.

Walter Schreifels (solo) plays Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh on 28 Jan Pedals is released via Photo Finish/Atlantic on 7 Mar Rival Schools return for a joint headline tour with ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead at The Garage, Glasgow on 17 Apr www.rivalschools.net

Wring It Out It started to come to me what kind of new songs Rival Schools should have and I felt this one had a good groove to it. The lyrics are about the desire to begin again in some way and it was very apt. It’s speaking more about relationships and the trials and tribulations of that, but also to begin again and be able brush yourself off to move forward.

That’s a theme I revisit a lot.

Shot After Shot This song is one that’s really evolved with us getting back together. After United By Fate we did a demo under a different title with different lyrics.

We’d been playing it live and the title was Sophia Loren. The words stuck out and of course she’s a sexy lady from Italy. In the end we were making a video for the song and we got a call from the legal department over at Atlantic saying ‘you can’t call the song Sophia Loren because we’ll get sued’. So, we had to rename it, and it was such a mind-fuck. By the end of the video shoot we’d come up with Shot After Shot. At least it implies action and excitement.

It went from this sexy Italian song to having this explosiveness about it...a funny evolution.

Big Waves Big Waves is pretty much about being in over your head, having too much to handle. Like being out on a surfboard on the ocean and being scared shitless ‘cause you don’t know how to surf, and trying to figure how to get back in alive - which is a metaphor for a lot of big things in life. I had just been in Mexico, surfing and had been terrified. It was kind of a collaborative song, a lot of different parts came from different members, which was interesting.

Small Doses This was more of a mellow one. Coming from hardcore, I think we always default to aggressive riffs, but one of the things I think Rival Schools do really well are these groovy, reggae jams. I had Small Doses from a while back but it was a very different vibe. We brought it up to speed with where we’re at now and it has a little bit more of the reggae groove that Cache and Sam did really well. As for the lyrics, it’s like that Suicidal Tendencies song, Institutionalized: ‘Just get me a fucking Pepsi, leave me alone, I’m fine.’

The Ghost Is Out There This is another one that Ian ripped out and the whole band came in on. I saw this show called Psychic Kids and that sparked the idea of what a pain in the ass it must be to be psychic. What a burden, and I thought it was a funny idea for a song. As a closing track it sums up the whole story.[Ryan Drever]

© 2011 Jack Daniel’s. All rights reserved. JACK DANIEL’S and OLD NO. 7 are registered trademarks.

JACK DANIEL MADE HIS WHISKEY IN LYNCHBURG FOR A REASON. AND IT WASN’T BECAUSE OF THE NIGHTLIFE.

Mr. Jack called it sippin’ whiskey for a reason. Please enjoy responsibly.

18 THE SKINNY January 2011

MUSIC

Glad Man Singing Making an ambitious return with his lush fourth album this month, Iron & Wine's Sam Beam talks poetry, unicorns, and expanding his sound by going back in time Interview: Paul Mitchell Photography: Ross Trevail

Sam Beam is exceptionally, almost unsettlingly polite when we catch up with him. “I really appreciate the interest,” he offers warmly before adding a disarming caveat. “If I stop making sense, let me know. Actually, maybe if I start making sense, could you let me know about that too?”

The reason we’re talking is Kiss Each Other Clean, Beam’s fourth studio album released under his stage and recording name Iron and Wine.

The record is another milestone in the distinct evolution of the singer from a spartan brand of introspective folk to a point where he is comfortable expanding his sonic palette to include a wider range of instrumentation and recording techniques, and even perhaps a specific theme or ‘concept’. In the case of Kiss Each Other Clean it’s the Super Sounds of the Seventies.

“There certainly is a nostalgic air about it,” Beam readily admits. “That’s what was on the radio when I was growing up, my parents had some Motown collections, Fleetwood Mac. It was stuff I liked to listen to and it just ends up on the record somehow.”

He admits though, that the choosing of this theme, with, as he puts it “a refreshing modern twist,” was done for a reason. “I feel like we were just as adventurous the last time out but definitely not as focused whereas that record [2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog] revelled in its eclecticism. This one gathers all those bits and bobs off the table and gives it to the listener on a platter. If you’re comparing it to the early records it might be a challenge but I don’t think my music in general is too terribly difficult. For sure there’s more of a classic 60s, 70s pop thing going on but that’s because I don’t like to put the same record out each time. So you try to push yourself a little further in one direction or another. This one definitely has a more up-tempo, major-scale danceable kind of thing, a bit more than the other records for sure.

It’s got some sass to it.”

One thing that distinguishes the album from accessible 70s pop is its lyrical content. Beam admits that while he does have a lot of time for contemporary performers and lyricists (he name checks Joanna Newsom, Stephen Malkmus and Dave Berman), he draws his inspiration for his work from poets such as Yusuf Komunyakaa, John Berryman, Norman Dubie and Lucille Clifton – American poets whose work, whilst drawn from the personal, is often characterised as being suggestive, allusive, rather than being particularly direct. What this boils down to in his work, he feels, is a scenario whereby lyrics “are not written as argument of a point or opinion. I’m not worried about people ‘getting’ what I was talking about.

As long as there’s an emotional effect I’m happy.”

This approach also allows him to achieve a stated aim of having his work become accessible on multiple levels. “I try to make them so there are a couple of different layers going on. You could put it on just for the beat, the arrangement and try to find something interesting, or if you have the time or patience to sit and listen to the lyrics, you could get something else out of it. The lyrics aren’t the only thing going on that draws somebody in, hopefully.”

Beam is quite open behind the rationale to this approach. It’s a logic that has seen him sign for the major label Warner Brothers/4AD in order to “hopefully reach a bigger audience because everyone likes to make a living.” Prior to his career as a musician, Beam had been a professor in Film and Cinematography at the University of Miami. With a wife and five daughters to support, being profitable is certainly a valid concern. So why take the gamble? “I certainly didn’t take the decision lightly because I had children and had to

ask myself, ‘Really? You’re going to try to make a living doing music?’ It does seem crazy but it got to a point where I couldn’t do both successfully.

The music and touring were getting in the way of me fulfilling my commitments to the school.

The school was taking me away from time on the road, so in the end I just picked music because it’s more fun.

❝

I’m not worried about people ‘getting’ what I was talking about. As long as there's an emotional effect I’m happy Sam Beam

❞

“That said, I enjoyed teaching. You always learn a lot about yourself and what you know when you have to get specific with it, because you have to get specific with it in order to explain it to somebody else. For example, I learn a lot by giving interviews about my music because you actually sit and think about how it all works for you. There are a lot of things as part of the process, in film and music and probably anything, that people just ‘do’ without thinking about.”

Calling the ability to turn a hobby into a career “a blessing whereby I’ve challenged myself and the audience and been rewarded,” Beam remains fascinated by the nature of creativity. “It’s more about the process of making something than it is about the final product.”

He likens this process to existence itself, suggesting that if there is an overarching theme in the album it’s not a clearly defined one. “It has pretty things and scary things, kind of like life in general which is both surreal and poignant. You try to describe the beautiful and the strange, the scary and the comforting; try to wink and say ‘It’s all for fun’. We can acknowledge that life is heavy, and also have a good time.”

And if, as some of Iron & Wine’s output has, the album ends up as the soundtrack to a Hollywood take on such existential ponderings – what might that film be about? “I’m not sure what kind of movie that would be,” shrugs Beam. “But I think there’d have to be a unicorn in there, somewhere.”

Iron & Wine play HMV Picture House on 11 Mar Kiss Each Other Clean is released via 4AD on 24 Jan www.ironandwine.com

Poetry of the Deed Sam Beam’s lyrics are about what he would describe as “the pretty things and the scary things, like life itself.”

Here's a look at the lives and works of four poets he draws inspiration from John Allyn Berryman (1914–1972) This Oklahoma-born poet is considered one of the founders of the Confessional School of poetry along with the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Sylvia Plath (though he did reject that label). Poetry has long been personal and intimate, but these writers were part of a trend towards revealing the more unflattering details of personal life, such as sexuality, depression and shame. His most famous work is Dream Songs, a series of 18-line poems filled with accounts of the deaths and suicides of family and friends. Berryman took his own life in 1972.

Lucille Clifton (1936–2010) Clifton, who tackled head on themes of race and feminism, was born with a genetic condition known as polydactyly, which meant she had an extra finger on each hand. Surgically removed in childhood, her two ‘ghost fingers’ and their activities became a theme in her poetry, which dealt with such dark matter as the massacre at Gettysburg, the claiming by disease of loved ones, and child molestation.

Norman Dubie (1945–) This Regent’s Professor of English has 18 published collections, and recounts his early inspiration being his mother, who was a nurse. Which is all very cute until you realise the reasoning for that inspiration were her frequent tales of the grim and gruesome.

Listening to all the different ways people can die encouraged him to pay attention to detail; even the ugly details. Dubie specialises in recounting historical episodes from a first person perspective.

Yusef Komunyakaa (1947–) Komunyakaa won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1994, but the Louisiana-born writer had already reached mass acclaim with the publication of the hugely influential Copacetic in 1984. This work mixed his expansive imagery with a penchant for colloquialisms and syncopated rhythms. Priding himself on his indirect style, he says of his work: “Poetry is a kind of distilled insinuation. It’s a way of expanding and talking around an idea or a question.

Sometimes, more actually gets said through such a technique than a full frontal assault.”[Paul Mitchell]

January 2011

THE SKINNY 19

FASHION

SHE’S ELECTRIC

As she prepares for her spring/summer 2011 collection to go on sale online, womenswear designer REBECCA TORRES speaks to us about going with your instinct, sci-fi heroines and bold colours INTERVIEW: ALEXANDRA FIDDES

20 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

STARTING OUT in textiles with patch work and running stitch as a small child, then discovering a talent and going on to do both an HND in fashion design at Cardonald College and a BA in fashion business at Glasgow Caledonian University, Rebecca Torres has come a long way in a short amount of time, gaining both media acclaim and a fast growing fan base, especially in her native Glasgow.

“League Of Electric is the name of my new collection,” Rebecca tells us, which we will be able to buy on her website from 8 Jan, and in independent boutiques such as We Love To Boogie. I’ve been lucky enough to see some of the new garments in the flesh, and when I ask about the inspiration behind the work Rebecca exclaims, “It celebrates my secret fascination for classic sci-fi. Not so much for the plots, but instead an obsession with the bright costumes and powerful female characters.

The colourful costumes which embraced feminine curves were their shield and armour.”

This latest offering from Rebecca’s label TORRES, her fourth seasonal collection, certainly does celebrate those super heroes and an unashamedly obvious female form. While definitely keeping the TORRES signature ‘colourful, feminine and electric’ look, this collection at the same time feels slicker and more grown up than her previous seasons, and will surely be a great seller (with all those brave enough to don specialist 4-way stretch lycra anyway) once it launches.

Trying to unlock the key to this success, we find that when creating her new garments Rebecca likes to work instinctively. “I tend to come up with ideas and quickly sketch them down. If I really like them then I go straight into production. Once

I’ve designed the garment, that’s when I realise where my inspiration came from. Go with your first instinct, why potter about with an idea? You lose its essence and meaning.”

This process, along with the backing of her friends and family, have pushed the label forward in the last couple of years. “They’ve always been behind me and supported me. They’re my biggest critics, especially my partner. He will always tell me straight if he likes something when I’m unsure of a garment.”

As well as the online spring/summer collection launch, also on the cards for the coming year are collaborations with other artists. “I am doing a couple of projects next year which I’m really excited about, but I am keeping tight-lipped about it just now as it is early days. So, keep your eyes peeled!” So, unfortunately, we will have to wait.

When asked what her biggest success has been so far, instead of mentioning styling for singer/ songwriter Roisin Murphy, inclusion in designers to watch lists or being shortlisted for the Creative 30 competition in 2008, Rebecca remarks, “Seeing my first purchased garment on a complete stranger on a night out recently! It was the greatest feeling of achievement, and that is what keeps me going.”

And for this coming year? “I’m not really a big fan of the New Years resolution, but I always say I’ll just do my best this year!” With an attitude like that, 2011 will surely prove to be Rebecca Torres’s best year yet.

REBECCA’S S/S 2011 COLLECTION WILL BE AVAILABLE TO BUY FROM HER WEBSITE FROM 8 JAN WWW.REBECCATORRES.CO.UK

MUSIC

ROLLING BLACKOUTS ARE GO! Cult live favourite THE GO! TEAM's Ian Parton talks to us about the band's sample-heavy third LP, Rolling Blackouts INTERVIEW: PAUL MITCHELL

UNDER THE INFLUENCE:

THE GO! TEAM IAN PARTON talks up the albums that got him into making music Shangri-Las – Leader of the Pack (1964) I love their voices; it’s all about the teenage melodrama and the romance of youth. They’ve created what could be seen as a female version of Rebel Without A Cause with really kick-ass production; reverb-drenched mini-dramas. Definitely an inspiration in popular music and particularly the idea of making things pretty epic.

The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967) The ‘Banana’ album is one of the best of all time. I think they’re the blueprint for how a band should be; they’ve got every angle covered.

They were into the idea of confusion and fucking around with people. You’ve got the cute glockenspiel thing on Sunday Morning and then you’d have All Tomorrow’s Parties with its driving relentless drone-core, and at the time it was uncharted territory. No-one would dream of doing this kind of shit. And they looked cool, they had mystery, and they had leather.

THE BRIGHTON-BASED sextet’s first album, 2004’s Thunder, Lightning, Strike was recorded

by Parton in his own bedroom and the band was subsequently created to perform it live.

Rolling Blackouts is a much more collaborative affair, with guest appearances from the likes of Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki and Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino. Ian Parton tells us how it took shape.

How has the change in MO impacted on The Go! Team sound?

It’s not massively different to be honest. I didn’t really want it to be. Lots of it was still done in a bedroom stylee. We started it off in a studio doing drums and loads of brass and stuff like that, but then shrunk it back. I kicked out my girlfriend and little kid – OK, not literally, but they left for a few weeks – and we covered the house in microphones and played until 4 in the morning. I’m a big believer in the psychology of recording as well. I really don’t fancy being in a posh studio, watching the clock, panicking. I think it should be quite a leisurely thang.

You’re renowned for getting through thousands of samples in an album, and that’s evident here. Are they tied together with any specific theme in mind?

It is more eclectic than the other records, but not self-consciously so. On some songs I was trying to get a ‘parade’ feel going, as if you’re actually on a street where there are people with

marching drums right in front of you, that ticker tape kind of feeling, or maybe the soundtrack to a Rocky movie.

The melodies were running the show and I was working backwards from there, trying to figure out what the demands of each song would be.

One song might be a Radiophonics Workshop interlude or it could be a theme tune to an Open University programme or something. With the track Yosemite for example, I was imagining a scenario where you’re discovering an old VHS which is really fucked up, and it could be a documentary about Yosemite Park. For some reason, I’m imaging things like time lapsing through seasons or shots of eagles with a voiceover in the background [adopts exaggerated American Attenborough voice] ‘The eagles ride the thermal...’

We actually put the whole album onto cassette at the very last stage, so it’s got this grain around it. It’s a pretty strange way of doing things. Spend all this money on mixing it and then ‘Right, let’s stick it on a cassette’, but for me that’s quite important, psychologically as well as sonically. I like tape hiss. That’s all.

There are more lyrics on this album than in previous efforts, why is this?

There are some tunes, like Secretary Song, where it was clearly trying to evoke another world.

I was thinking of an office in Tokyo in the 60s, people typing in symmetrical lines and the boredom of

the routine of a day’s work there, so the lyrics had to be in that style. ‘11.15, tap on the machine’ and all that. A song like Ready To Go Steady is that kind of classic songwriting, the technique where if you know the chorus is going to include the words Ready To Go Steady, the verse has to explain why that is. I’m hoping Ready To Go Steady will be the song you’d sing whenever you wanted to go out with someone. I don’t think it will happen, it’s just going to disappear into the vaults of musical history, but there you go.

It seems to be energetically giddy and upbeat throughout. Our review of the album summarises it as “a fun note to see a New Year in on.” Would you agree?

I don’t know if I would go with that completely.

I don’t think T.O.R.N.A.D.O. is particularly upbeat, or Rolling Blackouts. A lot of them are minor but you might not notice that. Songs like Bust Out Brigade to me isn’t really happy, it’s more determined, and about action and relentlessness. I think some of them are knowingly cheeky. [sings the trumpet riff from BOB]. See, that’s quite a cheeky melody.

Distorting the cute stuff is a vital part of it for me, to take the edge off it.

PLAYING ÒRAN MÓR, GLASGOW ON 3 FEB THE LIQUID ROOM, EDINBURGH ON 4 FEB AND LEMON TREE, ABERDEEN ON 5 FEB ROLLING BLACKOUTS IS RELEASED VIA MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES ON 31 JAN

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation (1988) This was probably my intro to good music when I was 17 or so. It’s influenced a lot of people since but I also think that one was quite a milestone for them as a band because they started putting warm melodies front and centre. So, using their previous framework of the detuned stuff they started getting a lot more expansive with it, with subsections and all sorts of interesting things going on. They are, quite simply, my favourite band.

Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children (1998) I appreciate bands that have such clear ideas about who they are and the world that they’re in, and a distinctly unique way of seeing that world. As far as I’m concerned, there is such a thing as a Boards of Canada way of seeing the world, and it all seems to be set in this twilight world of memories that you can’t quite grab a hold of. Things from when you were a kid that you can vaguely recall, and are slightly haunted by at the same time. There’s a wooziness to it that’s like a Super 8 film that’s speeding up and slowing down.

WWW.THEGOTEAM.CO.UK

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 21

MUSIC

introducing

tu fawning

Motivated by classical influences and hailing from backgrounds that have little to do with the dark matter of their music, Joe Haege gives a whistle-stop introduction to the enigma of Portland misfits Tu Fawning interview: Dave Kerr

Hello Tu Fawning – man is fast running out of band names and you’ve resisted the temptation to prefix yours with ‘The’. Well done. How did you find it?

Corrina [Repp, fellow multi-instrumentalist] is fond of making collages out of old National Geographic magazines from the 30s, 40s and 50s.

Sometimes she’ll snip out a few words to place on them. She just so happened to have a little arsenal of clipped words or phrases that she liked and ended up having “Tu. Fawning.” We have no idea what the sentence was pertaining to but we loved the way it sounded. It didn’t give us any initial image, which felt nice, like we could make it our own.

You started as a duo on your first EP (2008’s Secession], but grew some extra limbs recently. How did that happen?

Essentially Corrina and I were singing and playing on each other’s respective projects (Corrina Repp and 31Knots) and we just realised that we had a lot of common interests and fun. We talked a bunch about wanting to start a project influenced by a different pool of influences than we had done before.

After putting a set together and really getting into the band, we found ourselves a two piece with the ideas of a five piece. We were doing a short tour in France, getting really frustrated by the limitations of just the two of us. Whenever we’d discuss who of our friends we could get to join it always came back to Liza [Rietz] and Toussaint [Perrault]. They were just the perfect fit.

❝

We're a rock band that's influenced by music that isn't rock Joe Haege

❞

In the simplest terms, how would you describe your debut album (Hearts on Hold) to a stranger in a bar?

We’re a rock band that’s influenced by music that isn’t rock.

Who in music has had the biggest impact on your style?

In this project, overall I think Django Reinhardt and Joe Pass influence my guitar playing a lot. Al Bowlly is a huge melodic one for me. We all have so many though. It’s kind of crazy. I mean, Toussaint is ravenous for reggae, especially rare singles and Corrina adores old Hawaiian crooners from the 20s and 30s.

For this album, I would definitely say that Marlene Dietrich and Balinese gamelan music were big touchstones, along with a lot of African percussion What’s your New Year’s resolution?

To write more music and work in a bar less!

Hearts on Hold is released via City Slang on 10 Jan www.myspace.com/tufawning

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB LIVE COMEDY SEVEN NIGHTS A WEEK

JANUARY 2011 HIGHLIGHTS:

WICKED WENCHES with susan calman, jo enright and debrah jane appleby (4th edinburgh, 5th glasgow)

www.thestand.co.uk 22 THE SKINNY January 2011

RED RAW

new comedy, every monday (edinburgh) and tuesday (glasgow)

ANDREW O’NEILL

cult comedian stops off on national tour edinburgh 18th

BEST OF IRISH COMEDY

great value celtic comedy showcase - glasgow 26th

5 York Place, Edinburgh 0131 558 7272 | 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow 0844 335 8879

TRAVEL

MOAB: Adrenaline Town Our fearless writer takes on the thrills and extreme spills of a small town in Utah WORDS & photos: Kennedy Wilson

Dead Horse Point – Grand Canyon Lite

The name Moab is a biblical name for a place just short of the Promised Land. The Moabites were historically regarded as the perpetual enemy of ‘God’s chosen people’. Moab in the American state of Utah is, like its biblical namesake, a verdant valley in the middle of a serious desert.

Because of those similarities, the little town was dubbed Moab by Mormon settlers in the 1800s.

But don’t let that put you off.

Moab is now known as the extreme sports capital of the world, offering activities such as mountain biking, off-roading and rafting on the Colorado River. Two national parks are located in the Moab area: Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park.

Danny (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) Boyle’s new film 127 Hours is based on the true story of a rock climber who gets trapped and is forced to cut off his own arm to free himself. The movie was shot in the vicinity of Moab.

When Hollywood needs the Grand Canyon it comes to Moab (no special permission is needed to film here). The amazing scenery has long inspired movie-makers. Westerns like Rio Grande (1950) and Cheyenne Autumn (1963) to The Greatest Story Ever Told (1963) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1988) and even Austin Powers’ Goldmember (2002) were all filmed here. The pod races in Star Wars Episode I (1999) is a CGI montage of Moab landmarks.

There’s a real laid-back, great-outdoors vibe in this adrenaline town. Some 569 km (350 miles) from Denver, Moab sits in a basin surrounded by spectacular red rock buttes (isolated hills or mountains rising abruptly above the surrounding land). The town itself (population 5,000) is, it has to be said, pretty unremarkable, but it’s the surrounding countryside that visitors from around the world come for. Moab is the only town in Utah on the banks of the mighty Colorado River. Even

if you’re not into extreme sports (or sports of any kind for that matter) Moab offers epic scenery and value-for-money excursions. Whatever you do take plenty of memory cards for your camera – this place is a photographer’s paradise.

Mountain biking helped put Moab on the extreme-sports map. The famed Slickrock Trail was first laid out by dirt bike riders in the late 1960s.

Demanding ledges, climbs and drops make this trail a favourite for experienced mountain bikers.

Even the 3.2 km (2 mile) practice trail is not for the fainthearted. But there are other routes like the Bar M Loop, a 12.8 km (8 mile) dirt road that’s easy peasy. There are any number of places to rent bikes – one of the best is Poison Spider Bicycles right in the centre of town (the arachnid reference has nothing to do with nasty creepy-crawlies but is named after a rock formation).

If you’re looking for something a bit less challenging you can always rent an all terrain vehicle, quad bike or even a Hummer! About the most sedate form of transport is the jetboat that takes you up the Colorado River for about four hours.

It’s a great orientation lesson and a good way to see what the area has to offer.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon are often slightly miffed. It’s certainly “grand” but its scale is so huge that it’s difficult to appreciate the

overwhelming spectacular-ness of the place. Not so in Moab. Here you’re closer to the action. It’s a kind of Grand Canyon lite and so much better for it. From the jetboat you’ll see Thelma & Louise Point named after the über-chick flick in which at the end Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon take the ultimate wrong turn.

More dramatic still is Dead Horse Point State Park which offers views of the goose neck section of the Colorado River 600m (2,000ft) below, the distant La Sal mountains and the Canyonlands National Park. The name comes from the legend that in the 1800s cowboys corralled wild horses on this high point. The beasts were left too long without water and perished. For once the adjective “awesome” really applies. The views are, arguably, better than the sheer mass of the perspective-defying Grand Canyon. Visit Dead Horse Point when the sun goes down to see the famous western sunsets and watch the rocks turns from terracotta to astounding deep red.

If you want to get in touch with your inner cowboy horseback riding is another excellent way of seeing the natural wonders that surround Moab.

Red Cliffs Lodge offers great two-hour trails in real John Wayne country. Gentle quarter horses are ideal for inexperienced riders and the western saddle is far more comfortable than the equivalent in the UK. Protective headgear is available but most riders prefer a cowboy hat that keeps the sun off.

Treks start at 8.30am to avoid the midday heat.

The nearby Arches National Park is where you’ll find the largest number of arched rock formations anywhere in the world. The jewel in the crown is the Windows (all the top sites have names – Park Avenue looks like a street of slim skyscrapers).

The North and South Window Arches are like two giant eyes. There’s something very magical, inspirational (even spiritual) about the sheer scale of these immense structures: arches, spires and balanced rocks that look as though they’d tumble in a sudden gust of wind. It was water and ice, underground salt movement and 100 million years of erosion that created this strange surrealist landscape, a landscape that inspired Native Americans for thousands of years – their presence marked by pictographs of animals and figures.

Though Moab is not much more than a onestreet town there’s a heap of activities available and plenty of places to help you get the adrenaline pumping. The Moab Information Center is in the middle of town and nearby you’ll find the Moab Adventure Center which offers any number of “carefree adventure” packages.

A selection of high-octane activities: Mountain biking Moab has become a mecca for mountain biking partly because of the varied options close by.

You can DIY at several bike rental shops or take a professionally guided tour. As well as the Slickrock Trail there’s the 48km (30 mile) Porcupine Rim with its 914m (3,000ft) descent.

Canyoneering This is exploring the red rock canyons and you can tailor what you do to your experience.

You might need some basic climbing skills for some routes and others are strictly for hardcore enthusiasts requiring abseiling (Americans say “rappelling”) skills that take you 30m (100ft) into canyon chambers. Not for the fainthearted.

Rock Climbing There are hundreds of established climbing routes that are surprisingly uncongested. There are numerous sandstone walls and demanding crack climbs.

On the water Take a paddle raft with everyone with their own oar, try simple kayaking or adventurous whitewater action. Even when everything looks calm the Colorado has a strong undertow and you should always wear a lifejacket.

Off-roading The area’s uranium mining past means there are thousands of kilometres of 4x4, ATV and dirt-bike trails. Even the biodiesel-powered Hummer safari trips, with driver thrown in, are fun rides. The Moab Jeep Safari is held every Easter.

Skydiving There are tandem jumps for first-timers as well as opportunities for experienced skydivers. There is also the chance to do some BASE-jumping.

Getting there You can’t fly direct to Moab from Scotland.

Try Glasgow to Durango but there are two stops en route. Alternatively, most major carriers fly Heathrow to Denver. For reasonable car hire try Budget, Thrifty or Dollar.

Accomodation There’s a huge range of accommodation in and around Moab. Try the Hampton Inn (mid-price range). Rooms have flat-screen LCD TVs and coffee makers. The Super 8 is a 45-room budget hotel that has loads of features that come standard, like free WIFI and complimentary continental breakfast.

There is also an excellent 24 hour restaurant adjacent to the hotel. Rooms start at £31, off-peak.

The official website of the Grand County Travel Council in Moab, www.discovermoab.com Moab Adventure Center offers a range of outdoor adventures, www.moabadventurecenter.com

Mucking about on boats on the Moab stretch of the Colorado River

One of the Windows at Arches National Park

Poison Spider Bicycles, www.poisonspiderbicycles.com Moab lodging Red Cliffs Adventure Lodge is on the Colorado River on scenic Highway 128.

Activities include horseback riding, mountain climbing, www.redcliffslodge.com The annual Easter Moab Jeep Safari, www.moab-utah.com/jeep

January 2011

THE SKINNY 23

TRAVEL

GO AWAY! To Snowbombing '11

It’s rumoured the snow could be here until March, that is if the forecasters are to be believed. Of course, after the past couple of winters we’re now so accustomed to taking our lives in our hands just walking to the bus stop that it’s possible we’ve even been developing a fetish for the white powdery stuff.

Well, should the pangs of longing prove difficult to dissipate come the anticipated April thaw, allow us to recommend Snowbombing ‘11. Here, in the baroque mountain village of Mayrhofen, Austria, do descend thousands of hedonistic reprobates, seemingly on secondment from Ibiza.

Snowbombing began life in 2000 as a dance/ DJ-based festival, but has expanded its line-up to include acts from the indie-rock camp, however, the emphasis still remains on the former. The self-proclaimed ‘Greatest Show on Snow’ is a week-long maelstrom, involving daredevil days on the piste, and loud and lairy nights on the... oh dear.

This year’s acts are headlined by The Prodigy, with perennial favourite Fat Boy Slim also making an appearance. The Skinny favourites Toddla T and Dan le Sac V Scroobius Pip are also on the

bill, as is, rather excitingly, Hell’s Kitchen also ran Ms Dynamite. ‘Bonus Bonkerism’ includes treats ranging from a sky high igloo rave to an open-air gathering in a forest, from a secret backcountry bash to Austria’s biggest fancy dress street party.

Snowbombing is sold as an accommodation and entertainment package, meaning the event wristband is included in the price of your accommodation (which includes the option of igloos!), and prices for this vary considerably depending on budget and penchant for luxurious extras such as evening meals, but then eating’s cheating anyway.

Getting there: A Volvo Snowbombing Road Trip with hired car (guess which marque?) and organised events en route is available from the UK for £219 (return ferry included). Executive coaches depart from a variety of English cities (not Scottish alas) for approx £120 return, whilst flights to Salzburg and Munich (with airport transfer services in operation) are available from Edinburgh (see www.beoutgoing.com for prices). [Paul Mitchell]

CHARITY HITCHHIKE TO MOROCCO/PRAGUE. WHERE WILL THE ROAD TAKE YOU? This Easter why not put those itchy feet to work for a good cause?

For the past 19 years almost 7,000 people from all over the UK have spent their Easter break hitchhiking for charity to either Morocco or Prague. Last year alone the hitchers raised over £500,000 for Link Community Development. LCD works to provide sustainable education in Sub-Saharan Africa.

For LCD the work isn’t done when the building’s finished – they work with governments, teachers, local communities and children to identify ways to improve and develop schooling and education.

The Hitch is open to anyone over the age of 18 and you can start from anywhere in the UK. So whether you’re a student or not, get involved

in the Hitch this year and raise some money for a great cause! As one of our hitchers last year said, “For me, hitching was perhaps the most incredible experience of my life, and one of the things I’m most proud of accomplishing. It has given me countless stories to tell, and memories that I will never ever forget. I can’t wait to do it all over again!” [Philippa Hill] FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.HITCH.LCD.ORG.UK WHERE YOU CAN ALSO REGISTER TO TAKE PART. ON FACEBOOK: EDINBURGH HITCH 2010/11 EMAIL: EDINBURGHHITCH2011@GMAIL.COM WWW.HITCH.LCD.ORG.UK

4-9 APR WWW.SNOWBOMBING.COM/EN

“A MAGNIFICENT PRODUCTION FOR ALL AGES”

Scotland’s Winter Festivals

The Observer

November 2010-January 2011

JOIN THE CELEBRATION OF SCOTLAND’S WINTER SEASON

www.scotlandswinterfestivals.com

Choreography Ashley Page Music Sergei Prokofiev

Festival Theatre Edinburgh 12–15 January 2011 Box Office 0131 529 6000* Book Online www.festivaltheatre.org.uk* For full details visit www.scottishballet.co.uk

Sponsored by

WinterFestAd.indd 1

24 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

10/12/2010 11:59

*Booking fee

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

SNOW JOKE: A WINTER NIGHT OUT IT’S MID winter, it’s dark most of the time and the temperature is hovering just below zero.

What to do for a night out? The folks at Morgan’s Spiced challenged The Skinny’s crack team of editors to take to the streets of Edinburgh to find out. We know there’s still a wealth of excitement to be had in cosy pub havens across the land, bands to be watched, delicious beverages to be imbibed, and we’re determined to find them.

The night begins in the homely interior of Joseph Pearce’s, with a round of drinks and some scintillating chat about days spent trying to write features about baking. It’s Morgan’s Spiced and ginger ale cut through with a twist of lime to start, the ideal winter warmer.

The spice and ginger are festive, and the lime has vitamin C in it. Which is always handy.

We take some time in Pearce’s to work out our route for the night. It’s got to include some drinks, some bands, and some dancing. Also some snowball fighting, ideally.

A quick scramble up the perilously icy road takes us to the festive cheer of the German Market on Princes St for some all-important mulled wine.

The enduring popularity of the outdoor mulled wine drinking speaks volumes for the determination of Scots to drink outside.

! n i w A, MER S CA N IXU E AND A O N AM A CA AL FR F DIGIT OTTLE O ™ B ICED P S ’S GAN R O M

We’ll even do it in the snow, as long as the wine is warm and spiced with schnapps.

Or rum, in this case. The Heisse Liebe warms the cockles, although unfortunately not the feet. Outdoor drinking has to be abandoned when everyone loses the feeling in their toes. These are sub-zero conditions after all. Time to head to Limbo.

Limbo: once a weekly event, now sadly cut back to monthly, the night takes place in the glamorous surrounds of the Voodoo Rooms.

It offers a twist on the unsigned band night, each month presenting a selection of two or three carefully chosen up and coming acts in a cabaret-style venue. Meaning, there are seats.

And tables. And drinks that aren't warm beer.

This being the Christmas party, there’s an extra special line-up of bands who’ve pleased throughout the year, and a Prohibition-era dress code. Damn, we forgot to dress up. Well, we could probably pass if the fancy dress code was, for example, bear tracker. Gangster and moll is

Skinny's footsteps and If you would like to follow in The , Morgan's Spiced™ are town the on out ts nigh record your nightlife prize in the ect perf the er read offering one lucky a Canon Ixus digital , ed™ Spic form of a bottle of Morgan's can capture and keep your you so e fram al digit a and era cam ition. To enter, just answer memories in pristine digital cond : this simple question ormed at Limbo??

What type of karaoke was perf a) Edwardian b) Victorian c) Jamaican

sadly incompatible with our attire.

We get there in time for a quick round of Cuba Libres before FOUND take the stage. There’s no-one quite like FOUND – the band have an experimental approach, using found sounds and bespoke technical gubbins to create a unique live show that tonight proves completely entrancing. They’re followed by

local character Andy Brown and his Victorian Karaoke.

Yes, Victorian Karaoke. It’s a one of a kind show by a true local eccentric, which ends with flowers being chucked into the audience as he sings about his infant son in a somewhat terrifying fashion.

Sadly at this point we must head off, as we’ve promised to meet people in Pivo, temple of European lager and late night drinking.

We’re served by charming barmaid Zosia, who agrees to let us photograph her pouring our Morgan’s Spiced if we put her name in the article. Here you go, Zosia. Unfortunately time is marching on, and we cannot linger long in Pivo if we’re to get to Studio 24 for The GoGo. Edinburgh’s longest-running rock n roll, soul and 60s club night, The Go-Go takes place on the first Saturday of each month in the upstairs of the club, and has a dedicated following of loyal fans who come back time and again for a party. Oh how we dance (some much, much better than others but of course no names shall be mentioned…)

The night ends, fittingly, with a snowball fight all along the road home and into Holyrood Park. We have won the battle with winter, we refuse to let the relentless cold dampen our spirits and we will prove it by throwing ice at one another.

R

DISCOVE

SPIRIT

mpetitions to register Got to www.theskinny.co.uk/co your answer. be 18 years or over. The prize is Terms & conditions: Entrants must tions cash alternative. For full condi non-transferable and there is no erms please see www.theskinny.co.uk/t

The MORGAN'S SPICED words and associated logos are trademarks. © Captain Morgan Rum Co. 2010

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 25

FOOD & DRINK

Making whoopie Desperately searching for a cake to replace the cupcake (it's so over by the way), The Skinny tries its hand at baking Words: Rosamund West Photos: Jane Fenton

In the competitive world of fashionable bakery (yes, it is a real thing) there has been fierce (ish) debate going on for the last couple of years on the subject of which sugary treat should replace the cupcake as the ubiquitous patisserie du jour.

The humble cupcake was boosted to international fame by Sex and the City, and swiftly morphed from children’s party favourite to ludicrous symbol of decadent consumerism, topped off with teetering swirls of glittery, multicoloured buttercream.

Anything eaten by hen parties is quite clearly o–ver as far as fashion is concerned, so obviously we can’t be seen eating them any more.

The first natural successor to emerge was the macaroon, which perennially retains its fashion status due to a winning combination of bright colours (pretty!) but no glitter (tasteful!) tiny size (figure-conscious!) Parisian associations (Trés chic!) and hellish expensiveness (exclusive!). They also seem to be quite hard to make.

But lo! A new pretender has recently reached these shores, springing up in fancy bakeries across the country. The intriguingly named Whoopie Pie looks like the strange offspring of the two aforementioned cake varieties, comes in many, many flavours, contains cream, and has a nice backstory as baked good of choice of the Pennsylvania Amish. It’s so named because the Amish famers (bless ‘em) were known to exclaim “Whoopie!” when they opened their lunchboxes to discover a cream-filled delight lovingly prepared by wifey back home in the kitchen.

So they’re delicious enough to make you shout out loud, and, even better, a new recipe book – The Whoopie Pie Book by Claire Ptak – has just been released that tells you how to make a wide variety of flavours in the comfort of your own home.

26 THE SKINNY January 2011

As a confirmed bakery novice, I felt the best way to test the Whoopie’s effectiveness would be to try and bake some myself. To give you an idea of my level of novice-ness, I have only knowingly baked once in living memory (some fairly malformed mince pies), I had to buy a set of scales to take on this challenge, and the photographer had to explain spatulas to me. I also unwittingly undertook one of the most complicated recipes, believing it to be straightforward. For future reference, a recipe that requires you to make lemon curd from scratch is much more complicated than a recipe that requires you to simply flavour some whipped cream.

In the face of overwhelming odds, the cakes actually turned out quite well. They were at least tasty, as was the cream, although it wasn’t exactly what one might call solid. This might have had something to do with my having forgotten to add the lemon juice to the curd mixture at the prescribed time, or forgetting to put it in the fridge to set for long enough, or indeed stirring it into the whipped cream rather than following the precise requirements of folding. I also performed several unauthorised ingredient substitutions. Basically, there are many reasons why it might not have worked out exactly as intended, and they are all down to my incompetence rather than the very precise recipe. It presumably works just fine.

To make a lemon whoopie pie I used: 1 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp salt 125g unsalted butter, softened 300g plain flour 175g soft brown sugar 1 large egg

1tsp pure vanilla extract 75ml whole milk 50ml lemon juice Zest of 2 medium lemons Method: Sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl, stir in the salt and set aside.

In another bowl, cream the softened butter and the sugar together until light and, uh, creamy.

You can use a mixer or somesuch, but we used a wooden spoon. Add the egg and mix well. In a jug, combine the vanilla, milk and lemon juice. Add to the butter mixture, stirring well. Mix in the dry ingredients. Finally, fold in the lemon zest, then chill it all for 30 mins.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 180ºC and line two trays with baking paper. Using a couple of spoons, drop dollops of the chilled mixture onto the trays, about 5cm apart. Bake in the middle of the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the cakes are left with a slight impression when prodded.

Cool on a wire rack.

To serve: You’ll need some flavoured whipped cream, spread between two pies to make a cake sandwich. The lemon curd one would presumably work out by folding (FOLDING!) together whipped cream and shop bought lemon curd. But to see the wide wide variety of flavours available to you as well as actual professional instructions on how to make them, best pick up a copy of the book we used but departed from due to ineptitude.

The Whoopie Pie Book by Claire Ptak is out now, published by Square Peg. RRP £15

In December the Scotsman Hotel launched a new cocktail menu and on it is Mog's Meg 75. It’s a sparkling cocktail to brighten us all up in the winter months. The creator of the cocktail Claire spent quite some time in New Zealand before working at the North Bridge Brasserie as you can tell:

Mog's Meg 75 25ml Edinburgh Gin 12.5ml St. Germain 5ml gomme ½ kiwi 100ml Prosecco Deskin and chop the kiwi, and muddle in a Boston glass.

Add Edinburgh Gin, St. Germain, gomme and shake well.

Double strain and top with prosecco followed by a quick stir.

You can make it at home or (for an easier drink) head along to the bar and have the professionals make you one.

North Bridge Brasserie The Scotsman Hotel 20 North Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1TR T: 0131 622 2900 E: northbridge@tshg.co.uk

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE FOOD NEWS JANUARY School of Arts & Creative Industries

If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never do a day’s work in your life... ... take your next step towards a new career with one of our post-graduate programmes.

CCA Housed within the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, the CCA Café offers an extensive menu with culinary dishes to suit all tastes. The Café also offers an excellent range of wines, beers and spirits.

Coffee is also passion at the CCA so why not stop by and let their trained baristas dazzle you with their “coffee art”. Yes, coffee art.

The café is open Tues-Thu from 10am until 7.30pm, and 10am til 9pm Fri and Sat. The Terrace Bar up the side on Scott St (opposite Glasgow School of Art) opens Tues- Wed 12am-11pm and Thur, Fri & Sat 12am-12pm Please note CCA is closed on Sundays & Mondays

421 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3LG 0141 333 0900

350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD 0141 332 7959/ 0141 352 4920

MA Creative Writing MA Film MA Journalism MA Screen Project Development MA / PGCert* Screenwriting MA Sound Production MDes Interdisciplinary Design MFA Advanced Film Practice MSc Creative Advertising MSc Magazine Publishing MSc Publishing

Image: Kaylie Allan, BDes (Hons) Graphic Design

NICE 'N' SLEAZYS Sleazy’s has always enjoyed a reputation for generous portions and low prices, and the recent menu revamp sees a continuation of these values with a few changes that should please the more discerning palate.

Introductions such as Cheatin’ Chicken and a breaded halloumi burger increase the range of vegetarian options and the addition of dishes such as Spanish frittata and macaroni cheese (with optional chorizo) continue the policy of home-made recipes.

The new promotions run 12-4 pm, Mon-Fri. Offers include any main meal for £5 and soup of the day with either a baked potato or wrap, also for £5.

The bar is open from 12pm Mon-Sat and 1pm Sun, and food is served until 9 pm. The bar continues to offer pocket-friendly drinks promos such as bottles of Kronenbourg for £1.75 and White Russians for £2 all day, every day.

Research degrees - MRes / MPhil / PhD *PGCert is taught online

For more information go to www.napier.ac.uk or call 08452 60 60 40

THE SKINNY NEEDS YOU! Accounts Administrator

WANNABURGER

Recently renovated, Wannaburger has transformed itself from a gourmet burger joint to an upscale fast food burger joint. The distinction is subtle, but very important. While before it was all table service and burgers that had to be eaten with cutlery, now it’s a self-service diner, with an emphasis on quality produce (think Aberdeen Angus beef from the Borders) and an eye for detail that lends the place a little bit of magic. Crucially, the burgers are now hand-sized. I agree with Heston: burgers should always be small enough to eat with your hands.

None of this cutting in half crap.

The menu is straightforward yet exhaustive, providing a variety of mouthwatering options for both carnivores and vegetarians. There were four of us dining on the night we visited, so we managed to fit in a fair survey of the menu. We decided to bodyswerve the salads because that’s not really why you go to a burger joint is it? Although they did sound very nice. Ordering is done at the counter, where you’re given an exciting electronic order box that buzzes when your food is ready to be collected from the counter. Fizzy drinks are self service and refillable at no extra charge.

The bacon double cheeseburgers were meaty, juicy and ultimately defeated this particular reviewer. The halloumi burger was more restrained,

tasty but leaving enough room for sides. The extra guacamole on a double burger proved a little underwhelming in terms of spice, but was compensated for by the sides. Onion rings went down particularly well, and fries (available straight-up or with Cajun seasoning) were just right, crispy but still substantial. A giant pickle that can be ordered as a side for just 30p was a particularly nice touch, lending a cartoon-like feel to the serving tray.

Despite being incredibly full, we did our duty as good reviewers and ordered desserts. A short stack of pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream was painfully delicious, as was the warm, homemade chocolate brownie, also with ice cream. They were demolished, even after we’d all claimed near-deathly levels of fullness following the burgers.

We had all this tucked away in a booth in a diner lying somewhere between retro and futuristic (perhaps “very now”, as my brother would say).

Service was friendly, food was tasty and very reasonable, with Wannaburger ultimately offering a responsible local alternative to all those big, evil supersizing chains. [Rosamund West] DINNER FOR 4, EATING AS MUCH AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE, APPROX. £45 WWW.WANNABURGER.COM

We know this isn't the most glamourous job on the roster but it's an essential part of what we do. We need someone who doesn't mind the grunt work of creating invoices month on month, will maintain relationships with clients and finance departments, and has a good eye for detail. This is a part time position based in the Edinburgh office, and is a great way to get straight into the nuts and bolts of the company. The title is boring, but the opportunity to increase your involvement in one of the UKs most interesting media is great.

Responsibility will include managing the full financial transactional process and performing various management accounting duties, in particular managing overdue accounts.

• 12 hours per week.

• Knowledge of Quickbooks Pro 2010 preferable.

• Pay and detailed job description on application.

Day to day responsibilities include: Creating invoices Answering email queries Liaising with The Skinny staff Updating sales and purchase ledgers Reconciling to bank Producing management reports Please send CV and cover letter to jobs@theskinny.co.uk by 21 Jan

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 27

Photo: David Anderson

SHOWCASE

Omar Zingaro Bhatia was awarded The Skinny Award at last year’s RSA New Contemporaries show.

We’d first noticed his work at the Dundee degree show in 2009, and were impressed with his Spuriosity Shop when it came to the exhibition on the Mound. His installation of personal detritus draws in the viewer, hinting at multiple stories and histories that are infused with an overarching fascination with identity and self. Recently he’s been exploring the potentials of blogs as artwork, and you can see the results at www.zingaromar.blogspot.com

28 THE SKINNY January 2011

Photo: David Anderson

FACT FILE: 1. Omar's dream as a child, unrealised to this day, was to literally be Macaulay Culkin.

2. When his pet cat Moriarty died, Omar dug him up to make sure that he was indeed dead.

3. The strangest place Omar ever slept was a graveyard in Sighisoara, Transylvania.

4. Omar once witnessed an extremely rare lunar rainbow on the slopes of Kilimanjaro in Arusha National Park.

5. As a child and much to his eternal shame, Omar constructed a gecko gallows upon which he

hung his reptilian trophies.

6. He once hitch-hiked over 1000km through Eastern Europe.

7. A young Mr Bhatia once went skinny dipping with his parents in a deserted cove on Vancouver island, an event which disturbs him to this day.

8. In a bid to smuggle 4 frozen goldfish from a family friend's garden in his wellies, he arrived home fashioning a sort of fish-paste-based-footwear.

January 2011

THE SKINNY 29

Do you want

your business to grow in 2011?

More people through the door?

New products to shout about?

Nights to promote?

Make a difference, talk to The Skinny readers • 160,000 readers per month • 35,000 copies per month • 700 distributing venues

Advertise with The Skinny Sales@theskinny.co.uk

30 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

0131 467 4630

MUSIC

Live Music Highlights

METAL COLUMN

words: Mark Shukla

twin shadow

Preview Celtic Connections Various Venues (Glasgow) 13-30 Jan

Photo: Steve Gullick

The biggest celebration of Scottish music and talent gets even bigger in January, with an eclectic selection of acts to please even the fussiest of palates. Aside from a myriad assortment of musical workshops, Howe Gelb of Giant Sand fame will be providing an evening of psychedelic Americana (O2 ABC, 15 Jan) while Canadian/Scottish indie troupe The Burns Unit, featuring King Creosote, Emma Pollock and too many others to mention, will be bringing the spirit of Rabbie Burns to the 21st Century (Old Fruitmarket, 16 Jan).

New York’s The Walkmen will be tearing up the stage (Òran Mór, 19 Jan) with a sound that has drawn comparisons to everyone from The Pogues

Schools, but in his solo guise he likes to switch things up and play around with a playful, strippeddown folk sound – in between a lot of good banter and some classic hardcore covers, natch. See him at Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire on 28 Jan. Touring off the back of a quality second album, Broken Records kick off their 2011 with a hometown show at Edinburgh Liquid Room on 30 Jan – and a rousing affair it should be too.

Co-headline duties come courtesy of quirky NYC folk-pop heads Freelance Whales.

Despite displaying more chops than a butcher’s shop window, Maps and Atlases have fought hard against the math rock tag – but we ain’t fooled. Their melodic, folky motifs are well and good but their fascination with finger-tapping and herky-jerky rhythms speak the truth. When they really throw down, they’re mesmerising to watch, mind. Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s on 30 Jan.

many times before but fans of reverb-heavy surf guitar and 60s pop will dig.

Band of Horses aren’t pushing any boundaries with their endearingly moustachioed retro looks, pleasant melodies and expansive alt-country sound, but if you’re in the market for some balmy, feel-good rock then you’d do well to get yourself along to Glasgow Academy on 27 Jan. In 2010 George Lewis Jr. (aka Twin Shadow) established himself as a promising break-out artist as he capitalised on the ongoing cultural fetish for the new wave aesthetic whilst managing to marry that feeling with a tremendous talent for smart, evocative songwriting. Though his vocal stylings have seen him labelled as ‘the black Morrissey’ on many a blog there’s much more to him than that – Glasgow Captain’s Rest on 27 Jan should be lush.

You’ll know Walter Schreifels as that gnarly dude from Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand and Rival

to The Pixies, but if something more traditional is your taste folk pioneer Alasdair Roberts will be returning to his heritage with the assistance of Cameroonian guitarist/harmonica player Muntu Valdo (Tron Theatre, 19 Jan). Don’t miss an evening soon to enter legend with veteran songstress Ani DiFranco and MOJO award-winner Jim Moray (O2 ABC, 20 Jan), or Glasgow’s own avant-rock stars Trembling Bells (Òran Mór, 21 Jan) before the influential BMX Bandits celebrate their 25th anniversary at the same venue (23 Jan).

And who better to close the show than Mike Scott and an extended line-up of The Waterboys (Royal Concert Hall, 30 Jan)? [David Bowes]

Photo: Andrew Greer

There’s no better way to ward off the January blues than with high voltage rock and roll and that’s exactly what’s on the cards at Glasgow King Tut’s on 4 Jan as the hotly-tipped She’s Hit look to showcase their impressive swagger-punk noise bombs on a tidy-looking bill that also features fellow Weegies Suplex the Kid and Sing-Kill-Worth.

Metronomy have had several drastic revisions to their live setup over the years but they emerge blinking into the harsh light of 2011 as a superrobust outfit that can deliver dancefloor-ready artrock and angular electro-pop with equal aplomb.

Shiny, sexy aesthetes they may be but their sound has been put together with real craftsmanship.

Check them at Glasgow King Tut’s on 20 Jan. Super-hip and super-hyped, NYC duo Sleigh Bells made waves in 2010 peddling the kind of aggressive, dynamic industrial-pop that moved us to fondly reminisce over the long-defunct but much-missed Snake River Conspiracy. It may be a pretty contrived sound but there’s no doubt they manage to wring one hell of a live show out of an overdriven backing track plus live guitar and vocals. Glasgow Stereo on 22 Jan should be a sweat festival.

Although overlooked in most quarters, Scandinavian trio K-X-P released one of 2010’s best dance records. More interesting still is the fact that it wasn’t really a dance record at all; comprised of pounding tribal-kraut live drums, strangled electronics and occasional vocalisations it managed to approximate the sound of Can, Throbbing Gristle and Suicide getting together to jam out a party album. Having already previously caught the ears of the Optimo heads, there’s little doubt that their sound is built to be deployed live – count on their gig at Glasgow Captain’s Rest on 24 Jan to really go off.

Led by the charismatic Louis Jones, Spectrals will demonstrate their mastery of gently psychedelic tune-smithery when they play Glasgow Captain’s Rest on 26 Jan. You’ve heard their like

Ticket prices vary Full listings available from www.celticconnections.com

Right, let’s avoid any idealistic New Year sentiment for a second and just admit it: January is a drag, man. It was always going to be impossible to top Napalm Death’s rampaging display at Ivory Blacks this time last year, but nevertheless it’s a particularly meagre month for metal.

Still, glaring cynicism aside, there might just be enough sustenance here to keep us nourished.

Kicking things off at the 13th Note (6 Jan), Pennsylvania crew Tigers Jaw take their melodic guitar attack to the murky Glasgow basement, sharing the floor with anguished New York post-hardcore quintet and Deathwish records mainstays End Of A Year.

Forgetting for a moment that any post-Phil Lynott incarnation of Thin Lizzy is, in essence, just a bangin’ tribute, this revised line-up featuring Dio/Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell and Ricky Warwick of The Almighty on vocals has the potential to be anything but a joyless rehash.

Hitting Glasgow’s O2 Academy and Aberdeen Music Hall (7 & 8 Jan respectively), they’re joined by unhinged legends of meat and potatoes rawk, Supersuckers and The Union.

From the old guard to the new, the O2 Academy plays host to a bill of Scottish metal upstarts that same Saturday (8 Jan) with Arbroath’s Vidi Well leading the charge alongside the deep groove of Inverness’s Zombie Militia and Paisley metalcore crew Blood Red Visions.

Rising North East thrashers Fallen Fate take to Ivory Blacks (15 Jan) before the highlight of a suitably slow month. Nearly six years on from Lifesblood For The Downtrodden, bearded Southern sludge-merchant Kirk Windstein and his seminal New Orleans outfit Crowbar return to punish King Tut’s (18 Jan). Alongside a truly bowelshaking back catalogue, this is a rare opportunity to hear new material from forthcoming ninth effort Sever The Wicked Hand.

Back in the Academy, hard rock heavyweights The Cult (29 Jan), mark their return to Glasgow, brandishing a handful of new tracks as part of their multimedia ‘Capsule’ project. Joined by the bongedout genius of Chris Goss’ desert welling Masters Of Reality, it’s as solid a rock bill as you’re likely to meet in the thick of winter.[Ryan Drever]

Bmx Bandits

HOT TICKET of the month Mogwai various, Jan–Feb

So, not only have Mogwai blessed their new record with one of the greatest album titles in recent memory (Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will), they’ve also dropped one of the most memorable singles of their career in the form of Rano Pano: a track that churns and lumbers with planet-crushing momentum beneath a web of haunting spectral synthetics.

It’s quite brilliant, and sets them up nicely for their upcoming dates at Stirling Tolbooth on 26 Jan, Paisley Town Hall on 27 Jan, Perth Theatre on

28 Jan, Aberdeen Music Hall on 29 Jan, Glasgow’s Grand Ole Opry on 30 Jan and Edinburgh’s Picture House on 21 Feb. With support from the always terrific Twilight Sad on the Auld Reekie show, and the sublime Remember Remember elsewhere, this is an unmissable tour whichever way you cut it. [Mark Shukla]

Times and ticket prices vary Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is released via Rock Action on 14 Feb www.mogwai.co.uk

Chris Goss, Masters of Reality

January 2011

THE SKINNY 31

The Arches, 24 Nov

photo: Pete Dunlop

rrrr

rrrr In a venue known to take no prisoners, Arcade Fire’s flop-haired frontman Win Butler sensibly asks tonight’s bulging SECC crowd to meet the band in the middle. He needn’t have wasted his breath. The audience are, unsurprisingly, euphoric at the mere presence of the Canadian eight-piece, creating quite a buzz anyway, but it’s the group themselves doing the legwork.

By the time third song Keep The Car Running and follow up Laika are dropped, indelible Cheshire cat grins are slapped on faces stretching back to the rafters. At these moments, Arcade Fire seem untouchable, with crowd-pleasing, multiinstrumentalist William ‘brother of Win’ Butler epitomising the atmosphere with his ‘ADHD kid with a Jim’ll Fix It medallion’ routine. From there they hardly let up, though Mountains Beyond

Mountains is a little muddy and ill-placed perhaps, a pity as Régine Chassagne proves to be their secret weapon at other points tonight.

A slow-burning Rococo gets things back on track immediately, its stomping chorus chant exploding with pin-point accuracy. Win eventually takes up his mantle of doom-mongering preacher on We Used To Wait’s thrilling coda, though he seems to have lightened up since the apocalyptic Neon Bible tour.

A stunning finale of Power Out quickly segued with Rebellion (Lies) near brings the house to its knees, but of course we all know there’ll be an encore with that song still in the bag. Win introduces Wake Up with his Dad’s description of “that Scottish war song,” launching into its one-chord guitar salvo before the entire arena joins in, armsa aloft, for the near-ecclesiastical liturgy of the chorus. It’s an obvious send-off, writ large, but one that needed to happen. [Darren Carle] www.arcadefire.com

Stereo, 24 Nov

rrrr

Jenny & Johnny photo: Michael Gallacher

Cabaret Voltaire, 30 Nov

mutt caught in the act, while still delivering precise fretwork.

Bands like Torche may be the reason music has gotten so genre happy – they’re referred to as doom-pop – but one thing’s plain to see: they’re kings in the recent metal renaissance, with a live show to match the title.

[Jason Morton] Songs for Singles is out now on Hydrahead Records www.torcheband.blogspot.com

32 THE SKINNY January 2011

rrrrr

www.atari-teenage-riot.com

Torche

Torche are a conundrum. Like: Are they even metal? Coming into Glasgow’s Stereo, the band’s got a low end that could rattle fillings loose and a massive sound overall – dually impressive as they’re just a three-piece – but they also play pop hooks that would make top-40 phonies jealous.

Added to that, while trudging bass tones and chugga-chugga riffs dominate tracks from early albums, newer offerings from Songs for Singles pepper in sun-shiny harmonics, building toward epic crescendos.

Their aesthetic doesn’t help this dilemma either, as Torche carry themselves like a pop-punk band. During more upbeat fare such as Hideaway, guitarist Steve Brooks hops around the stage, his face pulled, in what recalls a mischievous

O2 Academy, 26 Nov

photo: James Gray

SECC, 12 Dec

The National

A steady ascent is a rare thing in the contemporary indie rock landscape, but from the humble success of Alligator onwards The National have become an incrementally staggering exception. Explaining to the sold out Academy that they’ve returned to the scene of their “lowest point” tonight – sleeping on wet pants in a Euro Hostel bunk after playing to five folk at Sleazy’s some years ago – the perception is that they’ve run the treadmill to get here with some dignity.

Leaning heavily on material from 2007’s Boxer and this year’s chart-bothering sequel, High Violet, shouts of “Abel!” are swept aside by the sheer

majesty of their latter-day catalogue – loaded with affecting pathos and profound emotional triggers. Much like the slowburning nature of their songs, those albums, and the curve of Matt Berninger and co’s success so far, their set unfurls with surefooted purpose.

As they finally bring the house to its feet for Mr November, the typically shy Berninger takes a glorious moment to wade in the arms of fans as he howls the chorus, meeting the determination of the song’s eponymous protagonist head-on. Turning the microphones off for a breathtaking encore of the lilting ballad Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks, The National gracefully depart with the crowd’s heart in their hands. [Dave Kerr] www.americanmary.com

photo: Gavin Bain

Arcade Fire

Alec Empire could hardly have timed the return of Atari Teenage Riot more astutely.

Inactive since 2000, the Berliners’ hyper-politicised take on distorted hardcore techno has been dormant during a period of political apathy in much of Europe. With nationwide student protests earlier today signalling a resurgence in unrest, the band – now comprised of Empire, Nic Endo, and new member CX Kidtronik – take to the stage amidst an expectant, febrile atmosphere.

New track Activate opens the set, a trademark blend of overdriven, pounding beats and

screeched political sloganeering.

The lyrics, as ever, are generally vague to the point of vacuity (“too much government control” could, after all, have been taken from the Tories’ last manifesto); but trying to articulate the complexities of anarchist theory over 200 BPM hardcore would be absurd.

The band’s sound has aged surprisingly well: although the breakbeat sections have dated, when the 4/4 beats kick in the primal simplicity and sheer brutality of the assault feels as stirring as it did ten years ago.

With the crowd getting pretty frenzied by the end of the night, it’s clear that if radical leftist politics is on the rise again, ATR provide as potent a rallying cry as ever. [Sam Wiseman]

photo: Ryan McGoverne

Atari Teenage Riot

photo: Euan Robertson

LIVE REVIEWS

rrr “Here’s one about being bound and tied up in a dungeon – not unlike this club.” Jonathan Rice informs the Cabaret Voltaire crowd, finishing the introduction with: “This is for you Mom, if you’re out there. I’ll take the reins.” Well, the album they’re here to play is called I’m Having Fun Now. Rice and bandmate/girlfriend/ Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis are known collectively (along with two other off-top-billing bandmates) as Jenny and Johnny.

They’re trying not to make it too complicated for us, and succeed in doing so with a mix melodic indie-pop and country-tinged Americana underpinned by their playful vocal duetting.

The material is not without its subversion however. The couple eye each other up suspiciously during My Pet Snake, a song featuring a lover’s tiff and lyrics of murderous fantasy, whilst upbeat radio playlister Big Waves is a song about the current economic depression.

All in all however, the evening proves to be a straightforward take on straightforward material. Appearing on their own for the encore (not that the other musicians do them a disservice), perhaps it’s telling that Lewis’s most evocative vocal performance of the evening, and the song best received by the crowd, is a stunning rendition of Silver Lining by Rilo Kiley. [Paul Mitchell] www.jennyandjohnnymusic.com

Frightened Rabbit Barrowland, 6 Dec

rrrr A two night sell-out at the Barrowlands is the stuff dreams are made of round these parts, and Scott Hutchison isn’t hiding his glee tonight. It’s tempered however by the growing audience the band now attracts, evident when Scott grimaces through a depressing ‘here we fucking go’ chant. “That’s the first time that’s happened at a Frightened Rabbit gig,” he states factually, wearing his diplomatic hat. It’s a pity that the pint-flinging blokes and squawking hen party cutouts seem to hog the limelight these days, though the quintet themselves put on a solid, at times great show nonetheless.

Opening couplet Things and Modern Leper simply sound fantastic, the latter ramped up impressively without losing its ramshackle bombast. Not Miserable is a surprising highlight, sounding equally full and robust thanks to Grant Hutchison’s mighty skin-pounding. Dips occur with an overly ambitious take on Skip The Youth, whilst Scott’s solo encore of Poke proves too intimate a song for these surroundings. With major label backing now behind them, these are problems that are only likely to increase.

But having weathered far bigger hardships, and on this evidence, the lads look steely enough to take on all comers.

[Darren Carle] www.frightenedrabbit.co.uk

RECORDS

THE DIRTY DOZEN

Just hours before taking the stage to perform their seminal 100 Broken Windows, IDLEWILD’s ROD JONES takes the January singles to task INTERVIEW: DARREN CARLE PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTOPHER ESPINOSA FERNANDEZ Bruno Mars – Grenade (Elektra, 10 Jan) I’m not a fan of this. I can imagine him doing that up and down thing with his hand as he sings and I really fucking hate that. If he took that away and just sang the song, it would be turgidly boring which it is anyway. I’ll give him three-and-a-half just so that James Blunt is still last.

The Brute Chorus – Birdman (Tape, 16 Jan) I’m not a massive fan of people putting too much affectation in their voice. Some people naturally have it, whereas this guy sounds like he needs a jobbie. He’s trying to do that Cramps thing but it sounds more like when Vic and Bob do club singing. The music is more interesting though.

Can I give the music seven and the singer six?

Heathers – Slices of Palama (ADA Global, 24 Jan) I like the feel and melody of this, but if I’m completely honest I find the accent they’re singing in slightly annoying. I really don’t have anything against Irish people but I find that harsh sound to their voices just grates a little bit. I think it’s a seven. It’s nothing new but I’d feel bad about marking them down on their accents.

HMS Ginafore/Iona Marshall – 10x10:07 (DeFence, 16 Jan) [On HMS Ginafore] It’s nice when you can just hear someone sing off the cuff. I’m a bit of a hater of all things modern but I do like the electro bits in this. I’m a big fan of the understated and it definitely falls into that category.

[On Iona Marshall] Lovely voice; a wee bit like Karine Polwart. I’m a big fan of this pastoral, picky acoustic music. It’s nice to hear something like that but with a modern edge. This one definitely stands out of the two. It’s melodically more interesting. I think I’ll maybe give them a seven out of ten. It’s the side of digital music that I can listen to.

Iron & Wine – Walking Far From Home (4AD, 17 Jan) I wouldn’t have known this was Iron and Wine just by this. I’m a big fan but this isn’t my favourite.

It starts really well and it has a lovely sound, but it’s not the most melodically strong song they’ve ever done. I think I’ll give it a six though on the trust that it’s a grower. They have a good track record of that.

Rumer – Am I Forgiven (Atlantic, 24 Jan) This is the kind of music you can drift off to. I quite like music that makes me feel like I’m meandering. It’s also old fashioned, and I like old fashioned things. It’s quite Christmas-y, which I like but it’s not out until January? In that case I’m going to give it a six, but I’m going to give it a Christmas bonus one to make it seven.

James Blunt – So Far Gone (EMI, 3 Jan) This sounds like he’s just bought a Snow Patrol record. I can’t tell the difference between this sort of thing and stuff on The X Factor, I really can’t.

I do feel bad that everyone seems to stab him in the back – or even the front, to be honest – so let’s give him one for effort, one for trying to do something different and one just out of sheer pity.

The Vegas Fame Index – Square Eyes (self released, 10 Jan) They’re probably really young so I don’t want to be too disheartening – I mean our first record was shit – but people who haven’t found their own sound quite often emulate everything that they hear. It sounds like they can play but that they haven’t quite decided what they want to play.

They’ve got some good ideas and there’s some potential there. I’ll give this a six.

Sunday Girl – Stop Hey (Polydor, 16 Jan) Oh, sounds a bit modern straight away. Although it sounds like the music I had on my computer games when I had an Atari ST. I’m going to give it a five. I can imagine this is going to stick in my head. I’ll probably phone you up at 11 o’clock to tell you I want to give it one out of ten cos it’s been pissing me off all day.

Imelda May – Inside Out (Decca, 17 Jan) I’ve got a bit of a problem with saxophones and I think I can hear a couple in the background. I know so little about this kind of music that I don’t know if it’s particularly good or bad but it’s not really to my tastes.

It’s colourful though and they sound like they’re having fun. Without being mean I’m going to give it a five.

SINGLE OF THE MONTH Evryone – Flamingos (Feraltone, 24 Jan) I actually quite like this. It’s like it should be in some kind of stage musical. It’s very different; I could imagine it done with a whole orchestra and it would be brilliant. Maybe they just didn’t have the money, but then who does? I might use it for our intro music tonight. Roddy would love it. I would actually go so far as to check out their stuff so I’m going to give that an eight out of ten.

WWW.IDLEWILD.CO.UK

The Streets – Going Through Hell (679/Atlantic, 31 Jan) This is like a London version of Walk This Way, just nowhere as good. I know it’s ‘rough and ready’ and dealing with his personal life but there’s very little left to the imagination. This is just shoved down your throat. It’s fun, although it’s probably not supposed to be fun. It’s probably supposed to be really hardcore and meaningful. I’ll give it a six overall.

EP REVIEWS BEN BUTLER & MOUSEPAD INFINITE CAPACITY EP OUT NOW, LOAF

rrrr

FICKLE PUBLIC

TEXTURE

13 DEC, SMALLTOWN AMERICA

OUT NOW, BLACK LANTERN

rrrrr

rrr

GREATEST HITS

SYNAESTHESIA

BB&MP is one Joe Howe, previously known for his work with electronic terrorists Gay Against You and Germlin, but whereas those acts were renowned just as much for their extremity as their complexity, now with Ben Butler, Joe is easing back on the velocity and letting his addiction to the groove shine through.

The EP’s stand-out is Electric Bamber-Boo, an electro-dance behemoth, featuring clever off-kilter timing and layers of breathtaking, Herbie Hancock-esque electronic funk. With the likes of Dam Mantle and Skweee-master Eero Johannes also paying their respects with some tasty remixes, it’s certain that BB&MP’s full-length in 2011 is promising to be an atomic-electro-jazz-prog-funk thrill-ride. [John Keys]

Fans of this much missed Elgin-via-Glasgow quartet’s debut Bucko can finally breathe a sigh of relief with the release of the cheekily titled Greatest Hits EP, comprising five tracks that would have most likely made up half of Bucko’s ill-fated successor. Adam Hocing and Revel Revel bite and growl in a scathingly brutal fashion, the latter a masterclass in disjointed pop, unapologetically heavy with spat out vocals and ping-pong guitar duelling.

Non-Stop Hot is the most swaggeringly cool the band has ever sounded, and San Diego Hair is effortlessly refined, hypnotic postpunk. A bittersweet slab of the art these boys had mastered, plus a most fitting send off for a band that could’ve, should’ve and most certainly would’ve on the strength of this. [Alan Souter]

“Scottish hip-hop is a non-sequitur,” rhymes Edinburgh based emcee Texture (of The Chemical Poets) on the track by the same name, before going on to give a slightly capitalcentric rundown of greats – past and present. It’s a solid introduction for those yet to be acquainted, and more proof of the city’s ever emergent hip-hop undercurrent.

Fans of fellow local heroes Penpushers will appreciate the likes of Echo Boomers (Generation Why), as Texture gives a dystopian view of the zeitgeist over glitchy, electronic beats. On occasion Texture pushes his experimentalism too far; with the African-tinged house track The Dawn View falling well on the wrong side of good taste.

But Synaesthesia makes for a promising release in all, hopefully indicative of greater things to come. [Martin Skivington]

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/BENBUTLERANDMOUSEPAD

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/FICKLEPUBLIC

WWW.BLACKLANTERNMUSIC.COM

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 33

ALBUM REVIEWS

RECORDS

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: LAETO III

3 JAN, SELF RELEASED

rrrrr In case you haven’t heard of them – and if that’s true, you’re Scottish and consider yourself a fan of quality rock music, shame on you – this Dundonian quartet are approaching their 12th year. Astonishing previous album Zwoa was voted a debatably conservative 41st by readers in our Scottish Albums of The Decade, and this latest opus is every bit the equal of that earlier masterpiece.

Besides recurring nods to cult Kansan post-rockers The Appleseed Cast are some more apparent classic rock influences, with Thin Lizzy playing an especially significant part in III. The songs are generally longer than before, reflecting Laeto’s wholehearted embrace of their prog rock roots, yet it avoids lapsing into self-indulgence with admirable restraint. Closing tracks Ecuador

and Mount Black Prince deserve special attention, with the former representing the group at their most accessible, poppy best, and the latter brilliantly showcasing the clever way they marry melody with innovation.

Ultimately, far from parting amidst some hilarious, acrimonious fist fight, it was a geographic difficulty that eased Laeto into a gigging standstill. Given that fact, repeated airings of III actually serve to infuriate – a petition for their immediate resumption of normal services is surely inevitable. [Austin Tasseltine] AVAILABLE NOW FOR FREE DOWNLOAD VIA THE BAND’S WEBSITE WWW.LAETO.CO.UK

THE DECEMBERISTS

ANNA CALVI

IRON & WINE

17 JAN, BEGGARS

17 JAN , DOMINO

24 JAN, 4AD

rrrr

rrr

rrrr

THE KING IS DEAD

ANNA CALVI

KISS EACH OTHER CLEAN

There’s something about The Decemberists’ whimsical pseudo-folk balladry that you really want to hate, but try hard as you may it seems the human brain is somehow tuned to resonate with the prolific Portland quintet. It might be Colin Meloy’s vocals, unthreateningly pleasing to the ear; perhaps it’s their vivacious yet oddly calming melodies, or maybe it’s something infinitely more sinister. No matter what it is, The King is Dead has it by the barrowful.

Just try not singing along to Calamity Song after only half a listen, or to refrain from being swept away when This is Why We Fight’s tom-heavy intro lets loose. It can’t be done. They’ve taken the core elements of folk songs and sea shanties that gave them such a timeless quality and infused them with an oddly palatable sheen via the cunning insertion of big guitar licks (more Peter Buck than the Tommy Iommi homage that was 2009’s The Hazards of Love). It’s a simple tactic that works in spades. [David Bowes]

It’s January, which means it’s time for the annual “BBC Sound of...” pasting to begin. There’s admittedly schadenfreude to enjoy watching shooting stars burn, but scoffing at such lists has become a peculiarly popular pastime. Anna Calvi finds herself in the top fifteen this year, so place your bets: will she live up to industry expectations and shift a shed-load à la Florence, or fumble and fade like Joe Lean?

The odds are noncommittal, though it’s heartening that an album incorporating instrumental spaghetti-western fret-work alongside pseudo-Bond themes and Patti Smith-style high drama can be widely considered a strong commercial prospect. The Devil encapsulates her enigmatic style, a ballad balancing on the verge of quivering exhaustion. Sales potential aside, here’s another bet: will Calvi stick to her bombast and potentially consolidate her debut’s considerable promise, or be meekly turning out weak Elton covers by the year’s end? Pray god the former. [Chris Buckle]

The first studio album in almost four years sees Samuel Beam continue to push his own boundaries, defying any notions that he should be categorised merely by his Americana-tinged songwriting nous. There’s less of the lo-fi introspection and more a picking up of the kaleidoscopic baton which began in earnest when he teamed up with Calexico on 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog, introducing elements of blues and even dub to frame his evocative allegories.

With West Coast harmonies meeting prog rock experimentalism, Beam infuses tracks like the melodious first single Walking Far From Home with ominous synth and at times dystopic imagery. The influences are vast but reined in masterfully throughout, with little by way of unnecessary bombast. The funk-tinged Big Burned Hand is a dark tale of war while closer Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me veers from upbeat African jazz into a surreally humorous Eastern Mantra which could be – and probably is – about anything. His most enlightened work to date. [Paul Mitchell]

PLAYING O2 ABC, GLASGOW ON 5 MAR

PLAYING THE ARCHES, GLASGOW ON 27 FEB

PLAYING HMV PICTURE HOUSE ON 11 MAR

WWW.DECEMBERISTS.COM/

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ANNACALVI

WWW.IRONANDWINE.COM

VARIOUS ARTISTS

3...2...1... A ROCKET GIRL COMPILATION 24 JAN, ROCKET GIRL

rrrr

STONE GHOST COLLECTIVE

DUKE GARWOOD

10 JAN , SHARK BATTER

17 JAN, FIRE

rrr

rrr

UNREQUITED LOVESONGS

DREAMBOATSAFARI

Merge and Warp set high benchmarks for label retrospectives last year with their respective 20th anniversary archive-trawls. Thirteen-year-old UK label Rocket Girl proffers 3...2...1... with more modest aims: a reappraisal of the last decade on CD one, with previously unreleased exclusives on disc two. A Place To Bury Strangers appear on both, with debut album cut I Know I’ll See You delivering dark, abrasive noise-pop on the first, and Just Out of Reach adding menace and bite to the second.

Other high profile acts include Lilys (whose A Diana’s Diana kicks things off), Ulrich Schnauss (his remix of the Howling Bells’ Setting Sun is a highlight) and Television Personalities (represented by You’re My Yoko, sounding refreshingly simple amidst the dream-pop wash that surrounds it). If you’re fond of synth-lullabies and reined-in feedback, the whole slots into sequence so smoothly you’d swear label-founder Vinita Joshi made the mix-tape for you personally. [Chris Buckle]

That the press release for Unrequited Lovesongs can claim it mistakable for “an obvious and predictable grab for acceptance” reveals something of its creator’s usual idiosyncrasies. First, Dawn of the Replicants built a solid reputation for odd-pop experimentalism, now ex-guitarist Mike Sorensen Small’s Stone Ghost Collective embark on further musical adventures, including a forthcoming third album (also due in 2011) of “Pagan, indie-folk oratorios.”

In context, this is indeed relatively straightforward, but remains far from humble: She Doesn’t Care combines autotune and harpsichord for perhaps the first time, while The Saddest Truth swoops on sighing strings. When it strikes the correct balance, it’s eye-opening, but it often occupies an unforgiving hinterland – either too conventional to excite or too self-conscious to provoke a purer pop sensation. It’s not often such things can be said, but perhaps Pagan indie-folk oratorios will prove a more natural fit for Small’s intriguing talents. [Chris Buckle]

As a Londoner whose musical roots lie in Delta blues and early jazz, Duke Garwood is immediately distinguishable from your average solo songsmith. On Dreamboatsafari, his maverick approach results in a meandering take on stoner blues that recalls early Beck: think One Foot in the Grave, or the more wacked-out tracks on Mellow Gold. Fuzz guitar is laid over skittish percussion, occasionally accompanied by muffled, burned-out sax.

Another point of reference is Michael Hurley, whose music has a similar lazily eccentric quality. While Hurley is always warmly endearing, however, Garwood’s persona often feels distant and obscure – in large part because of the vocals’ frequent unintelligibility. This suggests a lack of confidence in the music’s personality, not helped by Garwood’s indulgence in some rather aimless instrumental excursions towards the end of the LP. Nonetheless, Dreamboatsafari has a distinctiveness and breadth of imagination unusual in the world of singer-songwriters. [Sam Wiseman]

WWW.ROCKETGIRL.CO.UK

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/STONEGHOSTS

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DUKEGARWOOD

ENSEMBLE

ALAIN WEBER

SPOKES

17 JAN, FAT CAT

31 JAN, POOR

17 JAN, COUNTER

rr

rrrr

rrrr

EXCERPTS

HOOVER COVER

EVERYONE I EVER MET

Olivier Alary is evidently talented: you don’t end up with Cat Power, Lou Barlow and Björk in your Filofax without bringing something special to the table (the former both appear on Ensemble’s self-titled 2006 album, while the third collaborated with Alary on Medulla). But while Excerpts’ construction is ornate and its orchestration pleasingly varied, his talents otherwise seem muted.

After an uneventful overture, Things I Forget exhibits hints of the contrast Alary seem to be aiming for: as the music stretches and strains, groaning like deteriorating metal, vocalist Darcy Conroy coos sweet but anonymous fluff. The combination is initially interesting, till Alary ups the pace and demolishes its fragility. The album never recovers, and long-term collaborator Conroy’s unimposing voice is partly to blame: disinterested and wan, she’s a bilingual Dido wrapped in candyfloss. There’s enough complexity here to reward multiple listens, but little incentive to commit the time. [Chris Buckle]

Hoover Cover is Swiss composer Alain Weber’s attempt to soundtrack the bleakest scene in everyone’s life, that moment where hope is just the faintest glimmer in the distance, yet is still undoubtedly within reach. Accomplished primarily through gently lilting piano melodies and backed by a string section that often proves ominous in tone, there is a sorrowful beauty radiating throughout.

An obvious focal point is his cover of Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus, an oft-imitated classic here given a new lease of life, an instrumental rendition which captures the desolation of the original without becoming a poor facsimile. When the use of piano at times proves too simplistic it’s Weber’s skilful composition that lifts his work above many of his contemporaries, his use of strings giving a depth of tone and emotion, with the relaxed Pyramids utilising space as much as instrumentation to breathe new life into the album’s core. [David Bowes]

While their EP of last year wallowed rather tepidly in soft/loud guitar alchemy, Spokes’ debut album proper is a far brighter affair, on which the Mancunian post-rock quartet have utilised the power of vocals to produce memorable songs of frequently towering scale, rather than simply accomplished instrumental pieces.

Opener 345 sets out the group’s new manifesto with aplomb, as ebullient, group-sung vocals collide with wave-like crescendos of guitar and strings.

Elsewhere, We Can Make It Out and Give It Up To The Night are positively anthemic, while Happy Needs Colour and Sun It Never Comes give Spokes ample room to showcase their down tempo, melancholic side. Only When I Was A Daisy, When I Was A Tree finds the band meandering slightly, but as debut albums go Everyone I Ever Met feels fully formed and more than punches its weight; this is leagues beyond what most in their field can muster. [Martin Skivington]

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/OLIVIERALARY

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ALAINWEBER

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SPOKESSOUND

34 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

GANGRENE

EATERS

TU FAWNING

17 JAN, DECON

OUT NOW, SELF RELEASED/BLACK LANTERN

10 JAN, CITY SLANG

rrr

rrrr

rrr

GUTTER WATER

SHOUTING AT THE WIND

HEARTS ON HOLD

Hip-hop duo Gangrene consist of emcee/beatsmith Oh No and renowned producer The Alchemist; a combination which should be a match made in heaven for any beat junkie, especially when you throw a slew of hip-hop’s most gifted — including Raekwon and Guilty Simpson — into the mix. And for the most part Gutter Water does its job, no more and no less.

Opener Boss Shit finds the duo at full force, delivering a spot of bravado-filled, verbal sparring over string-laden, boom-bap; but the duo struggle to keep momentum over the ensuing thirteen tracks, and things soon revert to predictability. Even Rae fails to impress on the title track, and it soon becomes apparent that Alchemist’s microphone skills don’t quite match his beat-making nous. There are some impressive tracks here — the menacing Brass Knuckle Rap for one — but ultimately Gutter Water feels like what it is: a side project.

[Martin Skivington]

“We had a first class delivery, like the Royal Mail,” spits Eaters’ emcee Laughing Gear on Burn, a track which details the Edinburgh hip-hop collective’s career to date. The verse also makes a valid point: Eaters have been doing this for the best part of a decade now, which is no mean feat for a scene which often struggles to stay invigorated – financially and creatively.

Shouting At The Wind gained some solid plaudits on its original release last year, not least being awarded album of the year by music blog Weaponizer, and it’s easy to see why. The group are able to charm both musically and vocally, as the three-part No Coherence, with its Latin groove and spacey synth-licks will testify. Laughing Gear’s rhymes throughout are less battle-rap, more backpack; digging into subjects ranging through philosophy and economics like an earnest student, ready to engage the listener. If you like it raw, here’s one you shouldn’t miss. [Martin Skivington] AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD VIA WWW.BLACKLANTERNMUSIC.COM

Hearts on Hold is the first flowering of a collaboration between fellow Portlanders Joe Haege (of 31Knots) and singer Corrina Repp. Although the pair are known, respectively, for indie rock and understated folk, in Tu Fawning they have embraced the liberating possibilities of the side-project. The result is a strangely compelling mixture of thudding, repetitive drums, piano, organ and horns; refreshingly little guitar is in evidence here.

In its boldly minimalist approach, marrying simple loops to insistent percussion, Hearts on Hold sounds at times like a darker, doped-up cousin to Sleigh Bells’ Treats. What they lack in that band’s harsh energy is here compensated for by a wider emotional range, from the haunting melancholy of opener Multiply a House, to the Fleet Foxesesque Just Too Much. Although the sonic palette does start to run dry towards the end, this is for the most part a compelling vindication of Tu Fawning’s willingness to leave their comfort zones. [Sam Wiseman]

WWW.DECONRECORDS.COM

WWW.BLACKLANTERNMUSIC.COM

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/TUFAWNING

THE GO! TEAM

WIRE

BRITISH SEA POWER

31 JAN, MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES

10 JAN, PINKFLAG

10 JAN, ROUGH TRADE

rrrr

rrr

rr

RED BARKED TREE

ROLLING BLACKOUTS

If you’re one of those people who like to meet their hangovers head on, blasting out the festive badness before it can settle on your soul, then The Go! Team’s third album is the record for you. This is relentless and unapologetically upbeat, energetic and good fun stuff. The chaotic promise of earlier releases is back in spades; the Blaxploitation samples, the scuzzy guitar, the lo-fi ethic; something about it screams of a US schoolyard back in the sunny seventies, the kind of place that may never have existed outside of some cool kids’ imaginations.

Then there’s the tunes: a cast of extras including Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof and Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino have been brought in on some off-kilter melodic pop killers; Ready To Go Steady is the Supremes on helium, Secretary Song (featuring Matsuzaki) strikes with an odd infectiousness and Buy Nothing Day (with Costentino) plays like a fresh breeze. Importantly, it’s a fun note to see a New Year in on. [PJ Meiklem] PLAYING ÒRAN MÓR, GLASGOW ON 3 FEB, THE LIQUID ROOM, EDINBURGH ON 4 FEB AND LEMON TREE, ABERDEEN ON 5 FEB WWW.THEGOTEAM.CO.UK

VALHALLA DANCEHALL

Having begun their career in 1977 with arguably the definitive post-punk record, Pink Flag, Wire have sought to reimagine rock’s parameters with each subsequent release. In recent years, 2003’s Send stands out as proof of their continuing potency and relevance, a blistering assault on the blandness of contemporary rock characterised by interlocking layers of shimmering metallic riffs.

By contrast, Red Barked Tree opens cautiously, with the understated Please Take; a track which invokes the dreamy phased guitar style of early classics like Outdoor Miner, without ever really reaching their heights. Indeed, things don’t fully kick off until track four, the self-explanatory Two Minutes, which conjures some of the hypnotic intensity of the band’s best work. Although they don’t really break any new ground here, Red Barked Tree features enough to demonstrate that, even at cruising speed, Wire are more compelling than most of their followers. [Sam Wiseman]

Every discerning band or musician wants to make music that’s at the very least interesting. British Sea Power, though, have consistently strived to go a step further, hanging fascinating and niche concepts of ice shelves (Oh Larsen B) and long gone football teams (Canvey Island) on hooks made to measure.

On their first full length release since 2009’s Man of Aran instrumental, concept album, the Brighton outfit is still exploring off-kilter themes, but the musical invention that glued them together isn’t as cohesive as before: the electronic leanings hinted at on the recent Zeus EP are, disappointingly, explored all too sparingly.

Yan’s vocals are siphoned through a vocoder on standout track Mongk II, whilst the glitch-pop of Living Is So Easy is an impressive, successful departure. But too often (the shouty Who’s In Control and M.O.R. Observe The Skies) BSP are content to play it simple, resulting in the first real disappointment of their careers. [Finbarr Bermingham]

PLAYING CABARET VOLTAIRE, EDINBURGH ON 8 FEB AND KING TUT’S, GLASGOW ON 9 FEB

BRITISH SEA POWER PLAY THE ARCHES, GLASGOW ON 13 FEB

WWW.PINKFLAG.COM

WWW.BRITISHSEAPOWER.CO.UK

SEEFEEL

JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN

SORE EROS

31 JAN, WARP

24 JAN , REVEAL

31 JAN, SHDWPLY

rrrr

rrrr

rrrr

SEEFEEL

THE DEEP FIELD

KNOW TOUCHING

The release of this eponymous self-titled album from abstract electronic experimentalists Seefeel may represent their first in over fourteen years, but the reassembled London-based outfit’s return to Warp Records finds them firmly in the same mindset.

With Mark Clifford having declared that they were on hiatus until they felt sufficiently positioned to break down creative boundaries following 1996’s (CH-VOX), the length of their hibernation is testament to his sincerity, and Seefeel confirmation that they’re in that place now.

With the addition of Shigeru Ishihara (DJ Scotch Egg) and former Boredoms drummer Iida Kazuhisa (E-Da), when the mix is right – as found on Making, or the intoxicating Airless – the results are sublime; think of their debut Quique reworked by Autechre in Oversteps mode. There are, perhaps expectedly, moments where their vision spills over in to wild indulgence, but Seefeel were always going to present a challenge; here that challenge simply equates to a great album earned with time. [Paul Neeson]

Following on from 2008’s emotionally superweighty ode to her recently passed mother, To Survive, NYC’s Joan Wasser returns with her third album. As with all of JAPW’s output to date, it’s an album almost wholly defined by Wasser’s distinctively commanding locution over the music, here again perfectly following the emotional nuance of every chord, ramping from fevered confessional to youthful angst with an admirable effortlessness.

Stylistically The Deep Field finds Wasser reflecting on her path so far, reworking those influences deftly; opener Nervous aptly startles with a jagged hark back to her earliest EP, whilst the heralding Run for Love sits at the polar end of her career – dense, matured and dignified. That it works so fluidly is testament to both her talent and the rich body of work she’s amassed, to which The Deep Field is an outstanding addition. [Paul Neeson] PLAYING ÒRAN MÓR, GLASGOW ON 11 FEB

There’s something altogether endearing about Know Touching; a lo-fi, pretty sort of mess by Connecticut’s Sore Eros.

Opener Shake The Walls bristles along in ghostly fashion, beautiful in its simplicity and setting the tone for a largely intimate record which revels in its scruffy attire. The DIY template is consistent throughout the album’s 12 songs, with acoustic guitars at times delicately picked, and at others deliberately played with a nervous twang.

Percussion is always on the tinny side (when not completely distorted) while the keys are sprawling but dirty. Frontman Robert Robinson has a similar timid whine to Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donohue, or ex-Grandaddy man Jason Lytle, and so perhaps it’s no coincidence that songs like Pull My Hair or Yellow Dress sound so reminiscent of those bands. But for all the homage and deliberate disorder, there’s nothing slack about the songwriting chops on show from this psychedelic troupe. [Alan Souter]

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SEEFEELMYSPACE

WWW.JOANASPOLICEWOMAN.COM

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SOREEROS

ULTRAPHALLUS

SOWBERRY HAGAN 24 JAN, RIOT SEASON

rrrr Deviants of the world, rejoice! After four years of having no-one twisted enough to fill the blackened boots of Khanate, we now have Ultraphallus around to blight our dreams. Their take on industrial noise is a much more groove-oriented one than that practiced by Alan Dubin and co., but it’s just as malevolent; think old-school punk rock run through an industrial thresher and you’re almost there.

To offset the grimy riffs of songs like River Jude there is the nightmarish doom of Indians Love Rain and The Red Print, the latter featuring Oxbow’s Eugene Robinson on vocals, turning the charm up to maximum and half-crooning, half-croaking his way through the musical equivalent of a bomb-stricken city. That such a sound was recorded at a farm in Belgium is strange, but given the contorted nature of the album and its creators, perhaps it’s not so surprising after all. [David Bowes] WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ULTRAPHALLUS

TOP FIVE ALBUMS 1 2 3 4 5

LAETO

III

IRON & WINE

KISS EACH OTHER CLEAN

SUUNS

ZEROES QC

SEEFEEL

SEEFEEL

SPOKES

EVERYONE I EVER MET

SUUNS

ZEROES QC 10 JAN , SECRETLY CANADIAN

rrrr Zeroes QC is the first full-length from Montreal kraut-prog quartet Suuns, and they’re already out exploring infrequently charted waters. When entering the studio, the band reportedly wanted to avoid anything that might be tagged simply as ‘indie-rock’, a mission they’ve accomplished with conviction. There are similarities in scope to Battles’ Mirrored, another debut that felt like the product of a much older band operating with the hindsight of decades spent engaged in studio experiments.

A motorik beat underpins most tracks, with hints of Clinic on Up Past the Nursery’s sinister groove, but elsewhere they’re operating more singularly. The opening Armed For Peace ticks along ‘til thick guitars crunch in and upend the mix, while Marauder resembles Rage Against the Machine if designed and performed by an actual machine; mechanical and prone to eye-opening direction-changes, a description both apt and yet utterly inadequate in attempting to summarise this startlingly assured calling card. [Chris Buckle] WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SUUNS_

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 35

MUSIC

FORGED IN FIRE

Haemorrhaging members quicker than they can book a tour, CEREBRAL BORE are undeterred in their quest for global dominance INTERVIEW: RYAN DREVER

36 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

FORMED IN Glasgow by core members Paul McGuire and Allan “McDibet” MacDonald in 2006, grindcore outfit Cerebral Bore have worked tirelessly to forge a name for themselves in a musical community dictated by tradition and expectation, yet growing in appreciation every day under most of our noses. Dropping and picking up bassists and singers with frustrating unpredictability, the band now appear to be galvanised as a fully-fledged four piece, but that wasn’t without considerable effort: “We’ve had a fair few members since we got started,” guitarist McGuire explains. “Most people want the glory without the work. When we started afresh [with new personnel], we made the decision to take it seriously and try to get our name well known throughout the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. In order to do that, anyone involved would have to be absolutely dedicated to a lot of rehearsing, touring and jumping on every opportunity that we could get our hands on.”

He’s not kidding either, as the band have already toured relentlessly across the globe, clocking up a slew of appearances at many of the planet’s most prestigious death metal festivals, as well as countless support slots – playing alongside the likes of genre-spawning legends such as Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation and Carcass.

Bolstered by the addition of bassist Kyle Rutherford over a year ago, 2010 saw the arrival of an unlikely secret weapon in the form of 18 year old Dutch vocalist, Som Pluijmers. Having practised guttural vocal techniques from the age of 12, the young girl from Vlissingen is utterly terrifying, producing some of the most unnatural yet fantastically brutal noises one could ever hope to hear from any metal vocalist.

In the space of merely a few weeks, the band’s long-gestating debut had a new voice, and, finally devoid of flaky frontmen, everything seemed to click. The resulting album, Maniacal Miscreation, was as merciless as you might expect,

demonstrating an obvious love for both the most melodic and destructive elements of extreme metal whilst driven by a remarkable fluency and energy that sets them above merely playful amateurs.

“We wanted to get as much of our own loves and hates in there as possible, as well as throwing in some of the usual gory bullshit you would expect from a typical death metal band,” McGuire explains before musing on their subtle patriotism. “The cover is a picture of Glasgow, completely destroyed, with only a few structures remaining including the famous Clydeport crane. Lyrically, we have thrown in tons of Glaswegian slang and references, so we have tried to celebrate our Scottish roots, although it may come across in a negative way with samples from Trainspotting in our tracks, including Renton’s immortal line: ‘It’s shite being Scottish!’”

Having just inked a deal with the internationally reknowned Earache Records (Dillinger Escape plan, Clutch, Godflesh), Cerebral Bore seem eager to play away from home. As 2010 saw the band play more consecutive dates in Israel than old Caledonia, their elusive trend is set to continue with gigs lined up in Spain this February. With one date in the diary for Ivory Blacks, a rare chance to see the band on home turf presents itself in April, and in McGuire’s own words: “Anyone reading who’d like their face battered in by loud music would do well to check us out.” You’ve been put on notice.

PLAYING IVORY BLACKS, GLASGOW ON 12 APR WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CEREBRALBORE2

With gathering acclaim and a debut album under their arm, YOUNG FATHERS – Scotland's premier 'rap boy band' – gear up for their busiest year yet INTERVIEW: LAUREN MAYBERRY

counter harmonies and slick synchronised dance moves, culminating in a live show that blows the latter-day ‘Edinburgh music is boring’ theory to bits.

“We hate dancing but our manager makes us do it because that’s what A1 did and look how successful they were,” they joke. “We go for enjoying ourselves and keeping it exciting for us, which will in turn keep it exciting for you… I like the thought of ‘intensive humour’, though.

Appreciated more in the south than on home soil, Young Fathers seem to be quashing any assertion that the Scottish hip-hop scene is not worthy of a second look, adding in elements of soul, dub and electronica to boot. “If you do go to London, go with something ready. That’s where the separation comes from, and they respect you for it too,” they advise. “We’d like to see the music scene in Edinburgh be able to do more stuff outside of the festival. Don’t know if the council can handle that though, bless them.”

New single, Fevers Worse, is released this month, with their debut LP – recorded with producer Timothy London – to follow.

“This is no half-hearted hobby. Believe in this,” they state in parting, exemplifying the strut which sets them apart from their peers. If the inexplicable success of Colin ‘cannae really act but still gets jobs’ Farrell has taught us anything, it’s that ladies love that bad boy thing, and Young Fathers are working it just nicely, tongues firmly wedged in cheeks.

FEVERS WORSE IS OUT NOW ON BLACK SUGAR WWW.MYSPACE.COM/YOUNGFATHERS

MUSIC

hem? If so we’ll take the lithe and ty of Isabella Rosellini, couple it with istrionics of Elton John, and marry uture-race breeding of the Olsens and s-a-sacrificial-cow ambition of James , this sexual, ambitious future-race “wrapped in plastic, à la Joan Rivers.” sounds elaborate and messy, it fits tities; if their answers sound articulate reflects their crafty, cultured smarts. nds are too readily vilified for not nailund,” they argue. “It seems to us that tte can produce the most interesting ults.” Their particular palette reaps our-way musical input that doesn’t aturally in the same direction. be fair to say that we began this at o the approach has been to try and

www.culturalenterpriseoffice.co.uk/starterfor6 T: 0844 544 9990 Applications close at midnight, Monday 31 January 2011

MILK SUPPORT FOUND AT THE ELECTRIC CIRCUS, EDINBURGH ON 7 AUG AS PART OF THE EDGE FESTIVAL

challenge each other, taking our disparate inspirations and finding ways to harmonise them. We enjoy sifting through the noise.” When the sifting is finished, nuggets of Lizard King stargazing, smooth 80s grooves, moody atmospherics, deadpan humour and prog-squiggles remain. The unorthodox blend slips through genres like cow lactose through fingers. “We converge in strange places,” they acknowledge.

Milk confound classification in part through tactical shyness. Their low-profile moniker and lower-profile web presence constitute a genuine attempt to avoid the pigeonholing that rubberstamps acts straight from the womb. Milk are leaving their options open and keeping followers guessing.

“We’re still in the formative stages of playing this music together, so anything that allows the freedom to go off on creative tangents is a must,” they explain. “The name gave us the blank slate. If you treat a band’s name as a statement of intent, then ours remains open to interpretation.” Refreshingly, in an age where choosing a MySpace background sits uncomfortably high on new-starts’ ‘to do’ lists, they’re uninterested in cultivating a potentially-straitjacketing online persona. “We want the opportunity to surprise others and ourselves.”

Live, they don’t let such opportunities pass them by. But what about recordings? Any releases on the horizon? “In this regard,” they assert, “we reserve the right to remain mysterious.” Seems Milk will be whetting appetites a little longer yet.[Chris Buckle]

Find out more and apply:

the crow’s nest, is all guitar-cradling wearing, while Sam will go down ghing to the last at his cockpit of ctively explain Glasgow (via Fife) chael plays at drums and dressing ngine room, and Pablo stands at indy rhetoric and last night’s om for a celebrity endorsement on hat ‘Got Milk’ campaign has done y sales over the years – want to he-Drink lovers as spokespersons for

23-25 St. Leonard’s Street, Edinburgh EH8 9QN

We can help you make a business

ckle .ryanmcgoverne.co.uk

www.theauldhoose.co.uk

t Milk?

Cask Ale Hobgoblin, Deuchars IPA & Guest Ale Addlestones Premium Cloudy Cider Student Discount On All Food Including Our Famous “Big Nachos” Metal, Punk & Goth Jukebox Find Us In CAMRA’s 2011 Good Beer Guide!

Great source of calcium, won Sean Penn an r, hang on, something’s off. Google has failed s, you’ll have to introduce yourselves…

originated by

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 37

HOME OF THE EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

films worth talking about

Had a brainwave?

Clockwise from top left: Pablo; Callum; Michael; Sam

www.theelectriccircus.biz www.theelectriccircus.biz u P of p to itc in £ h f ve 10 or st ,0 m 0 en 0 t

MUSIC

STRAIGHT BACK ON IT

At the mention of the words ‘boy band’, many a Skinny reader may feel the urge to hurl. Quite violently. But hold fast, because Young Fathers – Scotland’s bigger, better and sexier JLS – ain’t no regular boy band.

All in their early twenties, MCs Ally Massaquoi, Kayus Bankol and Graham Hastings – otherwise known as ‘G’ – met at an under-18s night in Edinburgh’s Bongo Club in their early teens. Officially rising as Young Fathers from previous moniker 3 Style some three years ago, the trio bring a certain edgy ‘tude to hook-laden hip-hop with pop tendencies.

“I’ll tell you what’s not fair – boxing all those sardines into that little tiny tin,” they tell us as a collective statement, describing their music as “a glorious mess of organized sounds.” Since the release of acclaimed debut single Straight Back On It under two years ago, the Fathers have further found their swagger-filled stride, playing the BBC Introducing stage at various festivals last summer, taking props from copious Radio 1 DJs and appearing on Big Brother’s Big Mouth. “Davina wanted it,” say the Fathers. “She’s more powerful than you think. Like on some illuminati shit.”

The NME went so far as to dub Young Fathers as “the best rap group in Scotland [...] locked somewhere between De La Soul and 3T, but reimagined for the hipster generation.” Back-handed compliment or not, others have less awkwardly likened their vibrancy, energy and downright cheek to that of Spank Rock.

“We never had any desire to be known as just a ‘rap’ group,” they tell us. “But again, think about the sardines. I don’t think they wanted to be all stuffed in like that, but how else are they going to store them in the supermarket?”

There are fast-spat lyrics, dirty beats, smooth

www.thestorevenue.com 37 guthrie (formerly the GRV) FREE ENTRY EVERY TUESDAYWEDNESDAY-THURSDAY 11pm-3am RESTLESS-LA BUENA VIDATHE BUNKER-GLOCK'N'SHPIEL

Lo-Tone LAUNCH NIGHT FRI 7th JAN

a collective of djs and producers with an affliction for dance music in all its permutations £3 entry www.facebook.com/LoTone

PULSE FREE ENRTY PARTY SAT 8th JAN HOUSE-TECHNO-ELECTRO

FRESH AIR PRESENTS KANJI KINECTIC SAT 15th JAN

£5 entry beats from bassline & 4x4, dubstep and oldskool breakbeat hardcore

WOLF PARTY FRI 21st JAN

£3/5 the indpendent indie night

£15 +BF IN ADVANCE. 10.30PM - 3AM THE ARCHES FACEBOOK.COM/PRESSURE.GLASGOW

http://www.facebook.com/wolfpartyedinburgh

JAKN-3 FLOORS FREE ENTRY PARTY SAT 22nd JAN

House, Techno, Breaks, DnB & Oldskool Party covered over 3 floors www.facebook.com/jakn.edinburgh

MODERN LOVERS FRI 28th JAN

Rhythm & Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Garage Punk, Funk & Breaks, Northern and Rare Soul

LEE ALEXANDER PROMOTIONS EVERY SATURDAY LIVE MUSIC feat. the best bands from across scotland 7pm-10pm http://www.leealexaander.com/

Private Bar/Theatre/Cinema/ AVAILBLE FOR HIRE for all bookings email info@thestorevenue.com or call 0131 220 2987

FOR FULL LISTINGS VISIT www.thestorevenue.com

38 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

FRIDAYS AT THE SUBCLUB

JAN 14 SLAM 4 HOUR SET £5 FEB 11 CRAIG RICHARDS £10/£8

CLUBS

PREVIEWS Axis presents Dem Slackers

Xplicit’s 6th birthday celebration: Sub Focus

Cabaret Voltaire 21 Jan

The Liquid Room 29 Jan

Dutch Wonderkid Dem Slackers has quickly worked his way up the electro scene in the past year. Having only started making his own music five years ago, it is astonishing that he has already completed official remixes for the likes of Lil’ Wayne, Mighty Fools and Foamo. Oh, and did I mention, he’s only 18-years-old? Now that you feel old and unaccomplished, be sure to check out the brilliant Let’s Go EP out on Boemklatsch Records for an idea of the mayhem that shall be descending upon the Cabaret Voltaire on 21 Jan. Having cut his teeth touring in Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands and England you can relax in the knowledge that his set will be an effortless performance of skill and relentless distortion. Be sure to check out Axis residents Anarkid, Hot Knives and Dickie Drysdale who shall be setting the mood from 11 pm onwards. [Jodie Barnaby]

Being responsible for bringing some of the biggest names to Scotland, legendary D'n'B night Xplicit shall be celebrating its 6th birthday. In their long history it would prove somewhat difficult to pick out one defining moment of greatness, whether it was Pendulum’s first ever live dates, Chase and Status, Noisia or Sub Focus jumping on the decks. To help celebrate, Xplicit shall be bringing back no other than D'n'B legend Sub Focus. Having been responsible for some of the most memorable Xplicit moments it comes as little surprise that he has been asked back to perform for the capital once more. Having worked his way up through the ranks since 2003, Sub Focus has now established himself as one of the D'n'B elite. His album released last year confirmed that as a producer he is not confined to any one genre, blending elements of dubstep, old school breakbeat, house and lashings of electro and rock effortlessly. Support comes in the form of Eno (Parlay) and Scotland's finest dubstep producer Taz Buckfaster (Rwinda/Numbers/Subway). [Luke Dubuis]

11pm - 3am, Entry £7

10.30pm - 3am, £10 early birds, then £12

Yuksek, Acid Washed, Visions Of Trees The Parisian pairing of Andrew Claristidge and Richard D’Alpert's suave gallic flair applies both to their music, and their dress sense Words: Cal Sweeney

www.thecabaretvoltaire.com

The Sub Club 28 Jan

How’s Your Party? kick off 2011 with an exciting three DJ lineup for their January event. Headliners A1 Bassline and Tomb Crew will be taking to the Sub Club DJ booth, with support from local musician DJ NoFace. Over the last three years, HYP? has gained a reputation for an eclectic but solid booking policy, favouring artists with bass heavy intentions rather than subscribing to one specific genre. January’s guests fit these principles, citing influences from hip hop to techno in their current sound today.

Hailing from Croydon, London, A1 Bassline has been quickly establishing himself as a producer and remixer, releasing his 2010 EP Breathless on Fatboy Slim’s Southern Fried label as well as remixing the likes of mainstream artists Little Boots and Ladyhawke and the revered Buraka Som System. Also coming from London are Southern Fried label-mates Tomb Crew, a group of artists who will be bringing their live mashup sound to the Subby sound system. Having had a remix release on Drop The Lime’s Trouble And Bass, their forthcoming EP will be released on the same iconic label. Glasgow local, DJ NoFace completes the lineup for an auspicious first HYP? of 2011. [Kat Young] 11pm- 3am, £6 adv

panah, koreless, bake The Caves 19 Jan

The 19 January episode of Heard It Through The Bassline once again hosts Pariah on one of his homecomings from London back to his native Scotland. In turn mustering a strong lineup that features Koreless, Bake of Glasgow’s young All Caps collective and the night’s own dub conductor, Colebs. Pariah is one of the youth squad already traversing the pigeon holes of a musical no-mans-land, ignoring any notions of a prevailing genre as he rides firmly astride his newest venture, the heartwarming Safehouses EP on famed R&S records.

It features some meditative downbeat works, exemplified by the pad and piano of the track C-Beams, a fitting soundscape for the Blade Runner quote its name alludes to. However, the night might well see the microsampled vocals and upbeat tempo inherent in garage works like Crossed Out or Orpheus (from his debut 12” Detroit Falls). Koreless also makes for a fitting addition. Not even twenty, he has been singled out to make releases for label Pictures and his enlightening track Maria is amazing groundwork.

At £6 (£5 with a flyer / £4 before 11.30pm), it’s a very humble asking price for an insight into a large branch of the UK’s modern sound. [Craig Massie] 19 Jan, 10.30pm - 3am. Tickets £6 (£5 with a flyer / £4 before half 11)

www.subcluib.co.uk

www.thecavesedinburgh.com

Numbers & LuckyMe

Pressure: LBS Tour with Laurent Garnier

The Sub Club 7 Jan

Having both made huge strides in 2010 it comes as little surprise that LuckyMe and Numbers shall be joining forces to showcase some of the incredible talent they have been nurturing in 2011. This month’s lineup sees The Blessings, Jackmaster and Rustie take over the booth of the Sub Club for a truly eclectic blend of sounds. Having gone a long way since last playing Glasgow in 2009, Rustie has released a fantastic debut for Warp Records and honed his wild style of mixing. His recent remix for LuckyMe’s golden boy Lunice has to be without a doubt my favourite track of last year.

Numbers Resident Jackmaster has been in high demand over the past year, playing all around Europe and winning crowds’ hearts with his varied DJ sets. His efforts have been well rewarded, recently being nominated by DJ Mag as Best British Breakthrough DJ. Last but not least LuckyMe founders The Blessings have been going from strength to strength this year with their imaginative take on RnB, hip hop, electronica, garage & deep house. Having made mixes for Radio One, XLR8R, URB and Dazed to name but a few these guys really define taste. As if this wasn’t enough, entry is free before 12! [Luke Dubuis] Free before midnight

The Arches 28 Jan

2010 was something of a quiet year for Pressure.

After the Smirnoff sponsored run of parties So… SlamSub, there was a noticeable lack of heavyweight bookings for the iconic club night, with even the November birthday party having a considerably smaller lineup in comparison to those of previous years. The first party of the year sees the return of favourite Laurent Garnier in yet another incarnation; this time as part of the LBS Tour with fellow artists Benjamin Rippert and Stephane ’Scan X’ Dri. His performance last year in Glasgow was with his live band tour, and this latest concept intends to combine elements of live performance with a conventional DJ set, in a similar notion to Richie Hawtin’s ‘Contakt’ and Ricardo Villalobos’ ’Narod Niki’ projects.

Garnier’s latest endeavour promises to be less of an exercise in chin stroking however, with a strong dance floor orientated sensibility creating organic sounds from various machines and turntables that will allow the trio to incorporate live tracks into a DJ set. With 2011 marking 20 years of Soma Records, it seems like they’re getting the party started early. Silicone Soul and Slam complete the lineup at The Arches on 28 Jan. [Kat Young] 10.30pm - 3am, £15 adv from www.thearches.co.uk/Pressure-January-2011.htm

photo: Clement Pascal

HYP? Presents A1 Bassline and Tomb Crew

After far too many heavy nights during the New Year period some detox is in order. Thankfully, Acid Washed are on hand to provide a cleansing splash of their luscious disco sound at the Arches for the first Death Disco of 2011.

The Parisian pairing of Andrew Claristidge and Richard D’Alpert have recently emerged with a distinctly Gallic sound, yet one that steps away from the heavier Ed Banger electro of the late noughties. Instead, they take inspiration from nineties French touch as well as cosmic disco label DFA. Their sound has already attracted the interest of Sebastien Tellier’s Record Makers label, on which they released their self-titled debut album last year.

The seal of approval from one of France’s most eccentrically brilliant musicians has to be an excellent indication at such an early stage of their career.

Their euphoric signature single, again self-titled (clearly their imaginations are limited to the music), saw a huge clamour for remixing duties with a wide range of strong productions; from the eerie, space electro of DANGER to Mickey Moonlight’s swirling, summery interpretation of the track.

The duo’s passions aren’t limited to music though, as they demonstrate a strong fashion and art consciousness, which is led by British designer Anthony Burrill who acts as artistic director for Acid Washed. All of the art for the two-man process shares striking, geometric visuals, from the album sleeve through to their visceral live show. The connection with Burrill has even led to

Acid Washed providing the soundtrack to shows on London Fashion week, apparently astro disco was the perfect backdrop for after-show parties full of pink poncho wearing models. They certainly strike you as an act in keeping with the alternative Death Disco ethos, refreshing the club’s crowd for the new year.

Continuing the night with even more suave Gallic flair will be Yuksek, a man whose career has been on a soaring trajectory following the release of his 2009 album Under the Sea. Tracks such as Extraball and Tonight landed straight on to countless dancefloors, while Yuksek’s on-the-road package has also gained him a fine reputation, with fiery live sets and regular appearances alongside countryman Brodinski as half of the Krays DJ pairing. Coming from a more pop orientated background Yuksek’s sound is similar to that of Acid Washed; rather than heavy electro club bangers he offers a deep and multi-faceted style of music, with disco grooves and hip hop beats complementing his effortless pop hooks.

Acid Washed and Yuksek will be joined by London’s practically indefinable Visions of Trees, who promise to bring an undeniably unique quality to the evening. They’ve certainly been described fairly colourfully so far; whether witch chill is more fitting than ghost step is perhaps open to debate, but either sound might mark new territory for Death Disco, which is quite the feat for such an experienced club.

The Arches, 15 Jan, 11pm-3am, £14/£7 www.deathdisco.info

The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, Glasgow 0141 565 1000 www.deathdisco.info

January 2011

THE SKINNY 39

CLUBS

CLUBBING HIGHLIGHTS WORDS: CALUM SUTHERLAND ILLUSTRATION: MATTHEW SWAN

With (somewhat) well rested ears and techno fingers recumbent from the festive season we dive into January, arms and legs akimbo. The first month of 2011 is already shaping up to be an eclectic soirée for the nation’s clubbing community as the country’s capitals line up a fair few fantastic opportunities to show off your new jumpers.

Numbers and Luckyme team up this month to bring home-grown talent Rustie, The Blessings and Jackmaster to the booth of the Sub Club on 7 Jan. Numbers’ success story needs no emphasis here but suffice to say, with an already accomplished Warp signing and national mainstay at the helm it’ll be a glitch laden punch drunk party for sure.

The Arches we all know and love are also bringing something special with Yuksek sound-tracking the usual Death Disco-derived debauchery on 15 Jan, and Laurent Garnier’s L.B.S. project giving you something to think about on the 28th. The former sees the Parisian electro powerhouse sharpening his tools for another shot on the chopping board, whilst L.B.S. (Garnier DJing, Benjamin Rippert bashing the keyboards and Stephane “Scan X” Dri operating the machines) combines DJing flexibility with live track manipulation to create

an organic, improvisational experience for all involved.

To the east, Edinburgh’s Caves plays host to Pariah, courtesy of Heard It Through The Bassline on the 19th – a night oblivious to the notion of genre, rearing delightfully quixotic results. The party’s impressive lineup is also bolstered by Koreless, Bake of Glasgow’s young All Caps collective and the night’s own dub conductor, Coleb. Over to Liquid Rooms and the city’s central D'n'B hub Xplicit welcomes back the much sought after Ram Records’ Sub Focus with open arms this month to help blow out the candles on the club night’s 6th birthday party. Xplicit’s unparalleled rise to the top of Scotland’s drum and bass scene is one which demands respect, and with six years behind them are already well overdue for a bump up to the top of the class. The first Friday of the month also sees the fresh faces of the Lo’Tone collective manning The Store (formerly GRV) with a host of accomplished residents – Ameldrum (Coalition), Wasted Youth (AXIS, Split), D-Fade (Split) and Paranoise (VOLUME) all banging out a varied selection of upright party treats to keep the shelves well stocked.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

40 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

REVIEWS January Events

FILM

The Filmhouse in Edinburgh is showing specially restored prints of two mistreated masterpieces between 4-6 Jan. Peeping Tom, the story of a voyeuristic killer, was famously derided upon its 1960 release and the criticism effectively ended director Michael Powell’s career. It has since been supported by Martin Scorsese, who helped bring the film the acclaim it deserves and was instrumental in this restoration. Fritz Lang’s silent Metropolis can be viewed in all its original glory, following the astonishing discovery of an extra twenty-five minutes of footage in a museum in Argentina.

Black Swan Peeping tom

Black Swan

Neds

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Director: Peter Mullan

Starring: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder Released: 21 Jan Certificate: 15

Starring: Conor McCarron, Peter Mullan, Gary Lewis, Joe Szula, Stephen McCole Released: 21 Jan Certificate: tbc

rrr

rrrr

Natalie Portman gives a career-best performance in Black Swan, and at times she’s the only thing holding Darren Aronofsky’s hysterical melodrama together.

She stars as perfectionist ballet dancer Nina Sayers who has the chance to play the lead role in impresario Vincent Cassel’s new production of Swan Lake, but only if she can unlock her dark side to portray both the White and Black Swan. Tortured by a supporting cast of one-dimensional demons, including her tyrannical mother (Barbara Hershey), a sexy rival (Mila Kunis) and a fading star (Winona Ryder, sadly), Portman’s committed turn gives the film a vital emotional anchor as Aronofsky continually pushes things to the edge. The director scores with some vivid moments, but his imagery is too simplistic (dichotomy = mirrors), as is his take on the female psyche, and the over-the-top grotesquerie of the second half is frequently laughable. Still, you can’t fault anyone involved for effort, and Black Swan has a crazy momentum that keeps us hooked, even if it eventually topples off the stage. [Philip Concannon]

What the fuck are you lookin' at? Did I say you could read my review? Did I?The Non-Educated Delinquent: aggressive, confrontational, relentlessly pressing for a slip of the tongue that’ll seal you a hiding. It’s usually desirable to avoid behaviour of this nature, but miss out on Neds and you’ll be kicking yourself. Set in 1970s Glasgow, Peter Mullan’s semi-autobiographical film tells the story of young John McGill (played by Conor McCarron in an incredible debut) and his psychological breakdown culminating in extreme violence.

John, a swotty teacher's pet, seems set for a bright future despite troubles at home, chiefly his angry drunk father (a chilling Mullan). Upon turning fifteen, however, he is increasingly pushed in the direction of delinquency and brutal gang culture. Tower block lessons in territorial dogma replace conventional schooling and John begins to snap. An uncompromising work that bravely blends gritty realism with fantastic flourishes, it asks: If you cross a line is there any way back to the straight and narrow?[Matt Stanger]

The King’s Speech

Blue Valentine

Director: Tom Hooper

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi Released: 7 Jan Certificate: 12A

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, John Doman, Mike Vogel, Ben Shenkman Released: 14 Jan Certificate: 18

rrrr

rrrr

Just when you think Academy Award nominee Firth is out of costume dramas, they pull him back in. Here he dons the crown of stammering king-to-be George, whose failings as a public speaker are brought home by a newfangled contraption-radio. Desperate, George and wife Liz (Bonham Carter) turn to Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Those expecting a lesson in the fineries of elocution may be surprised by Logue’s unorthodox methods. He encourages singing and swearing, stripping away class and emotional guards to get George talking and in the process an unlikely bromance forms between royal and commoner – performed pitch perfectly by both. Shits and giggles are put on hold, however, when war kicks off with Germany. An address to the nation is called for, and the now King George VI must face his old foe the microphone. A fascinating insight into an untold piece of history, The King’s Speech is warm-hearted and funny when it could have been frightfully dull. [Alastair Roy]

In Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine we witness both the birth and death of a relationship. Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) have been together for five years, but their marriage is now reaching breaking point, with the nadir coming during a misguided romantic evening at a cheesy hotel that is painful to watch. Cianfrance observes this disintegrating couple with unflinching honesty, even threatening to drive the conflict too far at times, but the raw emotion of these scenes is balanced by our view of their budding romance, with the director cutting away to flashbacks at emotionally potent moments.

In both of the film’s narrative strands, Gosling and Williams are authentic and touching, marking the passage of time through their altered physical appearance and creating a moving portrait of a couple struggling to come to terms with the loss of a love that once burned bright. Blue Valentine is a tough and tender drama that doesn’t pull any punches, and it’s a thrill to see two of the best actors of their generation going toe-to-toe. [Philip Concannon]

www.kingsspeech.com

www.bluevalentinemovie.com

The Next Three Days

Amer (Bitter)

Director: Paul Haggis

Director: Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani

Starring: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Brian Dennehy, Liam Neeson Released: 5 Jan Certificate: 12A

Starring: Cassandra Forêt, Charlotte Eugène Guibeaud, Marie Bos Released: 7 Jan Certificate: 18

rr

rrrr

John and Lara Brennan (Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks) are a white collar couple who enjoy argumentative flirting and the odd quickie in the back seat of their Prius. This marital bliss is interrupted, however, when Lara is convicted of bludgeoning her boss to death with a fire extinguisher. Dutiful hubby John remains convinced of her innocence despite the orgy of evidence to the contrary and proceeds to do all in his power to emancipate her, initially through court appeals, then using less kosher methods. The Oscar pilfering Haggis, who writes and directs, doesn’t quite have his leading man baking files into cakes, but what unfolds is scarcely more plausible. A laborious thriller that lacks wit, intelligence, and, most unforgivably, thrills, The Next Three Days continues the steady decline of Crowe’s career.

With his early electric performances (Romper Stomper, L.A. Confidential) fading memories and last year’s humourless turn as Robin Hood still fresh in the mind, the cantankerous Kiwi is morphing into this generation’s Kevin Costner. [Jamie Dunn]

Amer is a glorious celebration of giallo, those feverish Italian thrillers of the 60s and 70s. Stripping away the whodunit plots and violent murders, directors Cattel and Forzani have boiled the sub-genre down to its purest essences, sex and fear.

A portmanteau, its trio of terror sees Ana at three stages of her life: in the first she’s a curious prepubescent exploring a creepy villa where her grandfather’s wake is in progress; in the second, an adolescent Ana discovers the power of her nubile physicality as she sashays through the windy alleyways of a sleepy village wearing a dangerously short summer frock, sending the male population into a sexual frenzy; and the final portion plays like a Dario Argento wet dream, as adult Ana is stalked by a killer with a kink for leather gloves and straight razors. Near wordless, the film is a banquet of baroque imagery and kaleidoscopic colour. It also has a classic giallo twist that will leave you reeling. [Jamie Dunn]

42 THE SKINNY January 2011

www.amer-film.com

Actor-turned-director Diego Luna will be at the Filmhouse on 9 Jan for a Q&A session after a special screening of his behind the camera debut, Abel. Best known for his roles in Mexican films such as Y Tu Mamá También and Rudo y Cursi, Luna’s directorial effort follows a young boy’s attempts to fill the role of his absent father and his family’s decision to play along, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.

DIEGO LUNA

Recently Mel Gibson has become better known for his hateful outbursts than for his filmmaking, but the DCA in Dundee is offering audiences a chance to remind themselves of his substantial acting and directing talent. On 11 Jan Mad Max is being screened, followed on 18 Jan by Apocalypto. The former, the film that catapulted Gibson to fame, is an Australian cult classic with Gibson playing the title character out to avenge his family’s murder in a apocalyptic future. The latter, a tale of a young Mayan attempting to avoid being sacrificed, sees Gibson in the director’s chair.

On 23 Jan Scottish actor/director Peter Mullan will be at the GFT for a Q&A following a screening of his most recent feature, NEDS. Following the acclaimed The Magdalene Sisters and a role in the latest Harry Potter film, Mullan returns to his roots to tell the story of a young man in 1970s Glasgow trying to escape poverty and the lure of housing estate gang culture.

Every month the GFT hosts free discussion groups for people interested in cinema. On the first Wednesday of every month the Glasgore! Horror and Cult discussion group takes place, followed by a Film discussion group on the second Wednesday of each month, the latter led by critic/writer Eddie Harrison.

Whether you’re interested in learning more about cinema, you want to share your own opinions and knowledge, or you just like to argue passionately with others, these events are light-hearted and undoubtedly an entertaining way to pass an evening.[Becky Bartlett]

Peter mullan

FLIM

DVD REVIEWS DEADLY CROSSING

BATTLE ROYALE LIMITED EDITION

22 BULLETS

DIRECTOR: KEONI WAXMAN

DIRECTOR: KINJI FUKASAKU

DIRECTOR: RICHARD BERRY

STARRING: STEVEN SEAGAL RELEASED: OUT NOW CERTIFICATE: 15

STARRING: TAKESHI KITANO, CHIAKI KURIYAMA RELEASED: OUT NOW CERTIFICATE: 18

STARRING: JEAN RENO, GABRIELLA WRIGHT RELEASED: 31 JAN CERTIFICATE: 18

rr

rrrrr

rrr

Steven Seagal is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, cloaked in XXXL martial arts pyjamas. He has spun a career in the movies for more than two decades from the most intangible assets. Given that – with his ever-expanding size, immobile expression, and slow, imperturbable progress across the screen – he has come to resemble a small planet moving through space, it might be best to chalk up his appeal to a force as inexplicable and inevitable as gravity.

Deadly Crossing is a feature culled from a never aired TV series, True Justice, which sees Seagal leading an elite police squad in Seattle.

The story is derivative, the dialogue hackneyed and characterisation paper-thin, but what is unforgivable is Seagal’s absence from much of the action. We are stuck with his subordinates while the man himself remains glued to the seat of his car. He even shoots while sitting down.

One for true believers only. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]

SHED YOUR TEARS AND WALK AWAY

This limited edition release of one of contemporary Japanese cinema’s key releases comes with enough extras to make even the most ardent completist swoon, but it is a moot point how much light they cast on this pitch-black, teasingly allegorical fable. Set in the near future, after Japan has gone through some form of societal collapse, a class of teenagers find that their school trip has taken a drastic turn for the worse. They are informed by their embittered former teacher (Takeshi Kitano) that “today’s lesson is you kill each other off.”

They have entered the world of Battle Royale, a government-organised fight to the death on a deserted island, from which the last survivor will emerge to a hero’s welcome from an expectant nation. What follows is a unsettling mix of shocking violence, inappropriate comedy, adolescent romance and pulp philosophy, all set to a lush score of popular classics. Baffling and unforgettable. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck] WWW.BATTLEROYALEFILM.NET

Luc Besson and Jean Reno take another shot at the French gangster thriller. Retired crime boss Charly (Reno), who has turned his back on the underworld, survives a hit by “professionals” who fire at him 22 times. Like Steven Seagal in Hard to Kill, Reno bides his time before seeking vengeance. Nursing flesh wounds in hospital, he consoles his teary-eyed mum and shoots the shit with detectives.

Once Charly discovers the people behind the plot, however, it’s art house executions all round, with slo-mo slaps and pretty head shots scored to classical music.

It’s unfair to judge a film on previous, though 22 Bullets misses the quirkiness of Leon and ass-kicking, face-smashing energy a la Pierre Morrel’s The Transporter. Director Richard Berry offers a film in limbo; a guilty pleasure shoot-em-up with pretensions to be something more. And even with Besson as producer, 22 Bullets can’t quite find that je ne sais quoi sweet spot. [Alastair Roy]

THE LAST EXORCISM

THE OTHER GUYS

DIRECTOR: DANIEL STAMM

DIRECTOR: ADAM MCKAY

DIRECTOR: JEZ LEWIS

STARRING: PATRICK FABIAN, ASHLEY BELL RELEASED: OUT NOW CERTIFICATE: 18

STARRING: WILL FERRELL, MARK WAHLBERG, EVA MENDES RELEASED: 24 JAN CERTIFICATE: 12

RELEASED: 17 JAN CERTIFICATE: 15

rr

rrrrr

rrrr Picturesque Hebden Bridge has long been a magnet for tourists and commuters looking for a rural paradise, but for a significant portion of its residents it is purgatory. First-time director Jez Lewis, who was born and raised in Hebden, is disturbed to realise that increasingly he only returns to attend the funerals of friends who have succumbed to the plague of drink, drugs and suicide that seems to have overtaken the town. He takes his camera to try to find out why this is so and quickly falls into an easy – if sometimes chiding and despairing – intimacy with his old contemporaries as they engage in Hebden’s version of the al fresco lifestyle – getting wrecked in the park. Filmed over the following 18 months while the deaths continued to mount up, Shed Your Tears is a deeply sympathetic portrait of lives that would normally only be brought to the screen to be pathologised. A humane, engaged and compelling documentary. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]

The “found footage” horror movie has become a staple of low budget film-making. But they’re hard to get right and for every hit like REC or Paranormal Activity, there’s a painfully underwhelming Diary of the Dead.

This latest offering is a mock documentary following a former child evangelist and exorcist now determined to expose the exorcism “industry” as a pack of lies. Or the first part is and it works well as a decent facsimile of an ITV2 documentary on the subject. But when the emphasis shifts to him taking on a supposedly “possessed” girl on an isolated farm, it all falls apart. It just can’t resist being a conventional horror film, and despite some very creepy scenes, the more horror concessions it makes, the less convincing it all becomes.

Where is the spooky incidental music coming from?? Enthusiasm is great but it can make you lose track of your original intentions.

Somewhere the Blair Witch is spinning in her grave. [Scotty McKellar]

Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) and Allen Gamble (Ferrell) are mismatched partners in the New York detective bureau. Hoitz’s contempt for spineless bureaucrat Gamble (“paper bitch”) is exceeded only by that in which they are both held by their colleagues. But then the department’s top team die in a heroically stupid accident. Could this be the chance for “the other guys” to step up? Thankfully, The Other Guys doesn’t depend on its jokily derivative plot: the film is a series of great set pieces stitched together by running gags (the phrase “soup kitchen” will never mean the same thing again), inspired comic turns (including Michael Keaton as the department chief), and the bickering of its leads. Gamble is the usual Ferrell boilerplate, a mix of incongruous character traits and antics played with manic conviction; Wahlberg’s Hoitz is more subtle, a wounded egotist who has learnt to dance ballet “sarcastically” simply to get back at an ex. Very funny. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]

GLASGOW MARGARET TAIT AWARD

GLASGOW BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM AWARD

17-27 FEbRUARy 2011 DON’T MISS THE HOTTEST TICKETS!

PROGRAMME ON SALE: 20 JANUARY The fastest growing film event in the UK returns this February. GFF11 offers a jam-packed programme of the best new releases from around the world, gala screenings, red carpet premieres, special guests, live performances and unique one-off events in venues across the city.

FIND OUT MORE AND SIGN UP FOR UPDATES AT WWW.GLASGOWFILM.ORG/FESTIVAL

Glasgow Film Festival is an operating name of Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT). GFT is registered as a charity (No SC005932) with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 43

ART

REVIEWS

PINK TANK, 2010

JONATHAN HOROWITZ @ DCA MINIMALIST WORKS FROM THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM DCA 27 NOV - 20 FEB

rrr For the screening of Jonathan Horowitz’s 20-minute film Apocalypto Now, the audience is seated in a chamber that’s declared entirely carbon-neutral and impeccably eco-friendly. We’re gathered here to see a film that cuts up Hollywood disaster movies with news reports of environmental destruction, an Armageddon presided over by the smirking, wouldbe lovable rogue Mel Gibson, earnestly propagating his faith while flirting with a starstruck interviewer.

This gripping, terrible spectacle has the fickle gallery crowd glued to their seats. Nobody moves for the duration. A rarity on a busy opening night.

Apocalypto Now is the explosive centrepiece of Horowitz’s solo exhibition at the DCA, Minimalist Works from the Holocaust Museum. Presenting art that dares to tackle heavy subjects, his work delivers big themes with a direct approach, sweetening the pill with doses of elegance and wit.

Pink Curve remakes an Ellsworth Kelly sculpture

LOUISE BOURGEOIS, OEDIPUS, 2003. COURTESY CHEIM & READ AND HAUSER & WIRTH. PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTOPHER BURKE

from the Washington DC Holocaust Museum, and is here presented in the shade of pink used to distinguish homosexuals in Nazi Germany.

The pristinely white Pillow Talk Bed features pillows emblazoned with the names of renowned couples of recent history, from John and Yoko to Bert and Ernie.

Throughout the exhibition are works that play a reassuringly straight bat, accessible and easy to digest. When discussing politics and popular culture, such an approach is surely acceptable.

However, when leaflets explaining the meaning of each artwork are handed out, one starts to pine for something that retains an air of mystery. Is it really necessary for the artist to tell us what tofu is?

Despite this, much of Minimalist Works from the Holocaust Museum undoubtedly succeeds in its own strident fashion. Apocalypto Now, nonetheless, thoroughly steals the show. It signifies the end of the world as media event, a rapid jump cut from phosphorus rocket fire to the twinkling of Mel’s eye.[Ben Robinson] TUE - SAT 10.30AM-5.30PM; THU (LATE OPENING UNTIL 8.30PM); SUN 12AM-5.30PM CLOSED 24-25 DEC & 1-2 JAN WWW.DCA.ORG.UK

CHILDISH THINGS @ FRUITMARKET GALLERY FRUITMARKET GALLERY UNTIL 23 JAN

rrrr Pin-pricking the nostalgic bubble that surrounds our memories of childhood, the Fruitmarket Gallery’s latest show presents our formative years as an unsettling period of social conditioning, vulnerability and sexual taboos.

Like a nightmarish toyshop, Dada’s Boys curator David Hopkins deliberately takes the kitsch and iconic and subverts it to perverse and dark ends.

Jeff Koons’ colouring book-like policeman is distracted from his duties by a giant teddy-bear; Paul McCarthy’s over-sized, mop-haired, anatomical education doll is violently zipped open, leaving his fabric entrails to fall out onto the gallery floor; Susan Hiller’s Punch and Judy video accentuates the puppet show’s violence, overlaying it with a threatening soundtrack.

Manipulation is emblematic of the whole show.

It’s what Hopkins terms the exhibition’s “dark

films worth talking about

HOME OF THE EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

recommends this month...

poetics”. Turned upside down and played back to front, McCarthy’s inversion of the children’s classic, The Sound of Music, subverts Julie Andrew’s familiar melodies into something resembling a sci-fi movie soundtrack.

However, this exhibition is not merely an advocate of sensationalism, or descriptive of the identity politics popular during the 80s and 90s that unites the seven artists on show. Carefully arranged, it articulates a rigorous enquiry into a period of art history. The Fruitmarket’s first floor space presents this analysis best. A selection of exhibits sit awkwardly together, creating a friction that is a consequence of the post-modernist and post-conceptual dialogues the works simultaneously engage in: Louise Bourgeois’s soft, Freudian patchwork dolls overlook Robert Gober’s cold, conceptual frame, for example. This emphasises the incongruity of the already distorted subject matter.

Rousseau said that childhood is the sleep of reason. This show certainly testifies otherwise.

[Rachael Cloughton] FRUITMARKET.CO.UK

January – February 2011

Abel 7 Jan to 13 Jan Mexican actor Diego Luna (Y Tu Mamá También) moves behind the camera for this tale of a young boy stepping into his father shoes as the family man. Luna himself will be flying into Edinburgh to attend a very special Q&A at Filmhouse on 9 January. Not to be missed.

The King’s Speech From 7 Jan Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter star in this inspiring telling of the life of King George VI (Firth), the monarch who suffered from a severe stammer. With war looming, George is forced to face his demons to unite the country. Expect plenty of nominations come awards season.

NEDS From 21 Jan After his acclaimed film The Magdalene Sisters, Peter Mullan returns to the director’s chair with NEDS, a coming-of-age story set in 1970s Glasgow. John is a star pupil but suffers prejudice because of his deprived upbringing.

Will he suffer the same fate as his hardcase brother or can he avoid being dragged into the dangerous knife culture of the local estate.

CCA Glasgow presents an eclectic programme this January and February including free exhibitions, live music, performance and film. Pick up a brochure at CCA or in selected venues across Glasgow.

Join us in the Terrace Bar every Friday and Saturday from 9pm for free DJ nights!

Keep up to date with CCA news on Twitter @CCA_Glasgow and

www.facebook.com/CCA.Glasgow.1 Get your free Filmhouse Loyalty Card supported by THE SKINNY Sign up for FREE! Collect loyalty points and spend them on FREE tickets and DVDs!

FILMHOUSE 88 LOTHIAN ROAD EDINBURGH Box Office 0131 228 2688 BOOK ONLINE at www.filmhousecinema.com

WE NO LONGER CHARGE BOOKING FEES

44 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

REVIEWS

READING

DRIVE!

BY ANDREW MCCALLUM CRAWFORD

rrr

THE PASSAGES OF HERMAN MELVILLE

STRAMASH

THE LEGACY

BY DANIEL GRAY

BY KIRSTEN TRANTER

BY JAY PARINI

rrrr

rrr

rrr Jay Parini’s last novel was The Last Station, about the final days of Tolstoy. How to follow up a novel about the writer of War and Peace?

With a novel about the writer of Moby Dick.

Tolstoy’s life is better documented than Melville’s, but this is a curse and a blessing – Parini can’t know his subject as well, but this means there’s more room for imagination. And happily, what we do know about Melville is packed with incident, the most interesting of which are his adventures on the high seas, something he later made much use of, but they’re by no means the end of it. Parini structures the book as a dual narrative, with one strand straightforward biographical fiction, and one narrated by his wife, in his later, less adventurous years. Parini can’t resist the occasional knowing reference to famous Melville lines (the author does say ‘Call me Herman’, for example), which is slightly annoying. His Melville is also, interestingly, attracted to men at points, which does actually have some basis in the available evidence of the author’s life. It’s an odd book which will appeal to Melville readers, but has limited appeal for anyone else. [Ryan Agee]

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY SKEPDEK PUBLISHING. AVAILABLE VIA AMAZON, OR THROUGH THE BOOK’S FACEBOOK PAGE

RELEASE DATE 20 JAN. PUBLISHED BY CANONGATE. COVER PRICE £17.99

DIGITAL

A debut novel with a lot of good things in it, Drive! is not only the name of the book, but the name of a band that main character, Terry, joins. Well, joins eventually, because McCallum Crawford keeps the reader in suspense for a good portion of the book. Drive! the band have problems, mainly the lack of a lead singer, and Terry has problems too, although more serious – his Dad is out to ruin his life, and is doing a good job of it. We know that he’ll join Drive! though, and it’s simply a matter of when. The setup isn’t wasted, because it’s packed with incidents which develop as the story unfolds later on. McCallum Crawford writes dialect well, but occasionally overdoes his descriptive prose, using some particularly torturous similes. And although the story remains compelling throughout, the pace can be uneven. So, some small qualms, but the great achievement of the book is its depiction of the pub and club-centric music scene in Edinburgh in the 80s. This reader wasn’t there, but was utterly convinced that this was how it was – anyone who was there is sure be enthralled by this fascinating debut novel. [Nat Smith]

Somewhat unusually, Daniel Gray has followed up Homage To Caledonia, his book about the Scots who fought in the Spanish Civil War, with a book about lower division Scottish football teams. Happily, it’s a great read, because Gray doesn’t write about just football, he uses football as an excuse to explore the histories of small towns in Scotland. Employing the same research skills used in Homage, he digs up theoretically fascinating facts about towns like Arbroath, Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. And they are fascinating, because he works these into a narrative of his visits to see the small town’s football teams in action. So historical detail combines with the day-to-day, as when he writes “[A manufacturer’s] family would later gift the town the museum in which I now stood, being tutted at by a curator for allowing my mobile phone to erupt,“ and it’s this approach that keeps the book moving pacily along, before we even get to the football. As for that, if you’ve ever wanted to know why Arbroath FC are called the Red Lichties or why Tommy Ring and ‘Vodka Vic’ are legendary in some postcodes, this richly researched and humorously written book is for you. [Keir Hind] DISCLAIMER: DANIEL GRAY HAS WRITTEN REVIEWS FOR THE SKINNY, BUT THIS DIDN’T AFFECT THE REVIEW ABOVE. [IN ALL HONESTY I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO HAMMERING THIS BOOK, BUT THE REALITY FORBADE ME] OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY LUATH. COVER PRICE £9.99

JETPACKS ARE FOR NEXT YEAR All tech to watch for from 2011

WORDS: ALEX COLE ILLUSTRATION: EDWARD MCGOWAN

BITE-SIZED TECH NUGGETS WITH ALEX COLE

THE FEED

2011 BABY! The future! Jetpacks and rayguns for everyone!

Alright, I’m almost ready to consider the 2000s as normal and not some sci-fi date involving silver jumpsuits. Same goes for the tech we get in our hot little hands: baby steps, with just a few holy-crap advances to make sure we’re paying attention. Here’s the stuff worth paying attention to for 2011, teleportation be damned.

• Motion: The Wii, Xbox Kinect and Playstation Move got the ball rolling, but motion control will hit way more than just games this year. Imagine web pages thrown around like a scene from Minority Report, DJ applications with no need for turntables, and even lame PowerPoint presentations conducted like an orchestra. Yeah, they can already pull this off, and it’s just a matter of time before it hits your living room.

• Near Field: Wanna use your phone as an Oyster card, a key to your flat, or debit card? Sure you do. The next Android and iPhone hardware is coming with near-field communication which, with the right app, can let you do all this just by bumping your phone against a special receiver. They do this trick in Japan with vending machines, but scale this up to your Nectar card, and you get an idea of where this can go.

• Online ID: There’s been a push for this for a while, but with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Gmail all playing nice together, you’ll start to see the slow consolidation of all your logins to just a handful of IDs. All your contacts, your mail, your

A literary novel that borrows elements from Portrait of a Lady and The Big Sleep sounds a bit too literary and not very novel. But The Legacy isn’t all gong and no dinner. At the heart of the story is Ingrid, a luminescent lovely from Western Australia. Ingrid charms everyone on the Sydney scene, from her bisexual cousin Ralph and family friend Julia right down to Racer, the grumpy greyhound. But when a high-flying art collector suddenly whisks the pretty heiress off to New York, Ralph’s suspicions are raised. And when Ingrid disappears on the morning of 11 September 2001, Ralph is sure it has more to do with domestic violence than international terrorism. Too sick to travel himself, he dispatches Julia to solve the mystery of the missing missus. It’s an engrossing tale, embellished by the author’s formidable powers of description. Nothing is safe from Kirsten Tranter’s gazillion-watt searchlight: teacups, apartments, facial expressions, Brooklyn. The sedate rhythm enhances a story that’s not so much narrated as percolated. Add a cast of characters that includes a randy professor, a drugged-up fortune teller and a dominatrix, and you’ve got yourself a mystery to remember. [James Carson] RELEASE DATE: 6 JAN. PUBLISHED BY QUERCUS. COVER PRICE £12.99

❝

Use a few different passwords, don’t leave data lying around, and accept that you’re probably not the prime target for Chinese hackers

❞ messaging and networking go under just one login, accessible from any device, and it’ll mean any new applications that come along don’t have to start from scratch as long as they know your Facebook profile.

• Privacy: Forget about it. If you’re really paranoid of someone looking up your stuff, you’ll ditch all online profiles, run your own mail server, encrypt all your drives, and never sign up for any online service. If you’re not exactly running WikiLeaks, then remember the old adage: security through obscurity. Use a few different passwords, don’t leave data lying around, and accept that you’re probably not the prime target for Chinese hackers.

• The Cloud: The reason a device like the iPad can work is because it hooks up wirelessly to the Cloud, connecting to your files (on a storage program like Dropbox), your contacts (saved in Gmail), your notes (in Evernote), and even your applications (like Word and Photoshop, all running online). Your hardware is just a window to your real stuff, whatever it is, and if you lose the device, you’re only out some cash, not that mystery series you’ve been writing since 2002.

WIKILEAKS PROVES YOU CAN’T ERASE INFO FROM THE WEB, BUT YOU CAN HUNT THE OWNER LIKE A RABID DOG • FACEBOOK REDESIGNS PROFILE PAGES, PEOPLE ALREADY WHINGING FOR NO REASON • UK TO GET FIBRE-OPTIC BROADBAND BY 2015, JUST LIKE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE LAST YEAR • WORLD OF WARCRAFT GETS NEW ADD ON, NERDS START STOCKPILING THEIR BASEMENTS • WI-FI MAY BE KILLING TREES; IN OTHER NEWS, INTERNET PORN CURES CANCER • SMARTPHONES DROPKICKING DESKTOP AND LAPTOP SALES, NO HOPE IN SIGHT

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 45

PERFORM

Venue of the Month:

Ramshorn Ramming home the importance of theatre WORDS: Gareth K Vile

At the end of December, Susan Triesman, the energetic and creative force behind Strathclyde Theatre Group (STG) retired from her post at the University. Since the company’s home, the Ramshorn Theatre, has only just recovered from the latest threat to its continued existence, the timing is unfortunate. Triesman has been a powerful advocate for the importance of the company and venue since the 1980s, and her leadership has seen the Ramshorn become a major feature in Glasgow’s theatrical landscape since its conversion in 1991.

In person, Triesman is passionate and knowledgeable about theatre, recognising its importance within the academic community and recalling the many successes of the STG during her tenure. Not only is STG open to non-students – a rare example of a university connecting directly with Glasgow’s wider communities – it has inspired many now-famous performers and runs a busy annual programme that includes new writing, established classics and unfamiliar works from contemporary playwrights.

There is no question that Triesman has been crucial to the Ramshorn – as she points out, it stages more shows across the year than any other theatre, from STG’s own programme through lunchtime concerts and visits from outside companies. She can recall the first years of the venue, long before The Merchant City regenerated, when the arrival of the Ramshorn as a dedicated venue was an outpost of culture in an impoverished adjunct to the city centre.

Now, of course, the proximity to Buchanan Galleries and the new, improved gallery spaces make the Ramshorn a prime property making the recent campaign to defend it all the more necessary.

Ironically, the building that perhaps precipitated the cultural growth of the East End could have

become a victim of the success. Since G12 at Gilmorehill has effectively closed its doors to the community, the Ramshorn has become an even more vital home for student theatre.

Before her departure, however, Triesman has programmed a season for the Ramshorn, which includes the annual week dedicated to new plays, a swathe of comedians from the comedy festival and Triesman’s direction of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Although she directed the show over a decade ago, she has been waiting for the necessary permission since before the film. She explains that Disney held the rights for years, and prevented anyone from staging it until long after the film had been made, shown and sold on DVD. The eclectism of 2011’s season is a reminder of The Ramshorn’s ongoing commitment to a diversity of scripted work: from John Byrne’s Cuttin’ a Rug (part of The Slab Boys Trilogy) through to a surprise visit from Black Market International as part of New Territories, The Ramshorn is a flexible space that can host traditional drama alongside more radical processes. Triesman points out that her version of Ibsen’s Ghosts, in the 1990s, was one of the first mixed-media events in Scotland: STG was the first company to present work by Sam Shepard and many other contemporary authors.

The departure of Susan Triesman represents the end of an era for the theatre, and following both the recent threat to the building, when the university debated whether it should continue in its present use, and the general threat to the arts posed by government cuts, vigilance is necessary to ensure that it remains, as the website says “a jewel in the crown of Strathclyde Theatre.”

Season begins in February with Cuttin’ A Rug, and continues until July with Shakespearian additions to the Merchant City Festival www.strath.ac.uk/culture/ramshorn/info

PREVIEW

PREVIEW

The Ushers

A View From the Bridge

Tron 18 - 21 Jan

royal lyceum 14- 12 feb

Stuart Davids, director of Raindog’s forthcoming The Ushers, is adamant that this production is appropriate for the current social climate. “There aren’t many good, new theatre comedies,” he observes. “And if people are paying to see a show, they want to go home feeling that they’ve had a good evening.”

Raindog are one of Scotland’s success stories: although they have been absent from the stage since 2002, the company moved into television and film, making the feature film Wasted in 2009 and the BAFTA nominated Tinsel Town series for the BBC. Davids actually met writer Simon Crowther when they were working together on Coronation Street: “He showed me the script,” Davids remembers. “It is an intelligent portrayal of two friends, with four really strong parts.”

The emphasis on the importance of the roles reflects Raindog’s origins: the company came about when three actors decided that they wanted to stage certain plays, and banded together. Even now, Davids admits he is “Happy to say that Raindog are an actor-led company.”

During the 1990s, Raindog were one of the many companies thrusting Scottish theatre forward after many fallow years: their AD, written by Glasgow ‘poet laureate’ Edwin Morgan was Glasgow’s contribution to the millennium celebrations, while one of the founders, Robert Carlyle, has become one of Scotland’s most high profile actors.

With The Ushers, Davids sees the company “coming full circle” back to their 1991 genesis, reconnecting with Andy Arnold who, back then “was just getting the keys to The Arches.” Although on

In their capability to unite and divide there is something compelling about bridges that encourage writers to build stories around them. And as seen in The Bridges of Madison County, they are also a meeting point for dreams and romance.

In the longing quote from A View from the Bridge “Once I am a citizen... I would start to be something wonderful here,” New York jests its classic lucrative offer of a bigger and better picture on the other side of pond. But what makes this archetypical dream that little bit different?

Winning the Pulitzer Prize for drama, Arthur Miller’s writing has been praised for its ability to grip: as the play tackles indecent love, obsession, jealousy, tragedy and politics its ability to transfix should be a sure thing.

Having directed Miller classics such as The Price and The Man Who Had All The Luck, John Dove knows what he is doing, and familiar Lyceum faces like Richard Conlon, Greg Powrie and Kirsty Mackay provide warmth and continuity.

First staged in 1955, there is no one real reason why Miller’s play has been revived – there are a few. Shortly after Miller’s death in February 2005 it was rumoured that A View from the Bridge would grace the big screen. Having already produced other Miller plays to great applaud it makes sense for Dove to continue. Tapping into economic times, thoughts of emigrating and starting life afresh may be crossing people’s minds for the first time. But over and above these, the production simply has the timeless ingredients of great drama.

[Zoë Keown]

46 THE SKINNY January 2011

a more modest scale than the multi-media frenzy of AD, The Ushers is the welcome return of a company who have always been able to span both comedy and tragedy, stage and screen. [Phil Gatt] The Ushers Tron, Glasgow 18 -21 Jan www.tron.co.uk/event/the_ushers

Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh 14 Jan - 12 Feb various times and prices www.lyceum.org.uk

COMEDY

TO BE USED FOR THE SKINNY ONLY

In Profile:

Russell Kane

“Once I am a citizen…

I would start to be something wonderful here.”

We catch up with Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Russell Kane on his way back from the jungle interview: BERNARD O'LEARY It’s been quite a year for Russell Kane. No sooner had he scooped the Edinburgh Comedy Award than he was jetting off to the Australian jungle to host ITV2’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Now, an experience he describes as “amazing, adrenaline fuelled insanity.” It’s a description that could apply to Kane himself, an erudite Essex motormouth who specialises in picking apart the working class mindset. We caught up with him just as the ITV2 show had ended.

Kane can bounce between high and low culture with ease, from getting slapped on TV by Lembit Opik – who objected to being told that he had a face like a kidney bean – to touring his side-project Fakespeare, which rewrites modern pop culture into Shakespearean verse.

After nominations in 2008 and 2009, Kane was finally given the Comedy Award this year for his show Smokescreens and Castles, a universally praised show that was generally considered to be Kane’s coming of age moment. The show looks at Kane’s family, growing up as a sensitive literary type in the cultural wasteland of Essex. Along the way there’s a probing exploration of the British class system, with a lot of it focusing on the figure of his BNP-voting dad, who believes that an Englishman’s self-purchased council house is his castle. Has doing this show affected his relationship with his father at all? “Yes. I’m more at peace now than I have ever been. I hope to move forward into positive reflection.”

Kane will be taking Smokescreens and Castles on tour as soon as he gets back from Australia, although the show will have changed since its run at the Fringe. “I feel free to improvise,” he says.

“Some nights I don’t even follow the show. I make the hour of comedy fit the room, not vice versa as one must in Edinburgh.”

When asked if he now feels the pressure is off for Fringe 2011, he laughs, “Quite the opposite. I feel that the flabby champ must now climb into the ring and be knocked out!”

Finally, we asked who he thought would win an

By Arthur Miller

By arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd

14 January–12 February 2011 BOX OFFICE: 0131 248 4848 GROUPS 8+: 0131 248 4949 www.lyceum.org.uk/view Company No. SC062065 Scottish Charity Registered No. SC010509

all-comedian version of I’m A Celebrity… “Stewart Lee would win, as he is pretty much king of all comedy so far as I’m concerned.” And who would he most like to see doing a bush tucker trial? “I would love to see my mate Simon Brodkin (aka Lee Nelson) do a trial and eat a bollock. He’s veggie so it’d be funny on so many levels.”

VISUAL THEATRE FESTIVAL #4

31 JAN – 5 FEB 2011

Smokescreens and Castles tours Scotland this January and returns for the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival on 18 Mar, 8pm, the garage, £12/10 www.russellkane.co.uk

INNOVATIVE THEATRE AND FILM FOR CONSENTING ADULTS Presented by PUPPET ANIMATION SCOTLAND at the TRAVERSE THEATRE, EDINBURGH

New Act of the Month:

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR PROGRAMME OF INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES AND SCREENINGS AT:

Age: 25 Based in: Glasgow (originally from Florida) First gig: December 2009, in Dumfries Number of gigs: About 60 Worst gig? I’ve definitely had a few embarrassing gigs. You have to make a lot of beginner’s mistakes. It’s the process of finding your own sense of humour and learning to be positive about everything that could happen on stage.

How did you get into comedy? When I first got to Scotland I was living in Dumfries and had a friend who loved stand up – he was doing a lot of writing but was too afraid to perform. He encouraged me to put together a set because he was too afraid – so it was half dare, half helping a friend.

How would you describe your comedy? My father is from Fife, but moved to America in the 1960s, so a lot of my first material was about him, because I wanted to prove my Scottishness in a way – I was really afraid that I wouldn’t be accepted. But I’ve realised that if you’re funny it doesn’t matter where you’re from. From now on, I want to speak about America; my native country is a circus and a vast source of material.

Photo: Euan Robertson

Sarah Cassidy

WWW.MANIPULATEFESTIVAL.ORG

Who are your heroes on the Scottish comedy scene? There is such a supportive community here – especially people like Paul Sneddon, Keir McAllister and Keara Murphy. There are a lot of places where that community network between comedians doesn’t really exist and it can be difficult getting started – the crowd doesn’t really appreciate it, or doesn’t have any enthusiasm for open spots like people do in Scotland. All of the open spots here I find are really positive and very mutually supportive and encouraging. I’m really thankful that if I’m doing it, I’m doing it here.[Lizzie Cass-Maran] See Sarah at gigs around Scotland this month, including 4 Jan at Red Raw, Glasgow. You can also see her, along with a whole bunch of rising stars, in Sketch Comedy by The Collective at the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival – 23 and 30 Mar at The Halt Bar

January 2011

THE SKINNY 47

COMPS

Win tickets to the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival!

We’re pretty chuffed to once again be a partner of the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival (17 March – 10 April) as it is about to start its 9th year.

The programme details will be announced in the forthcoming launch on 20 January – check out www. glasgowcomedyfestival.com for details – but we can already reveal the following comedians will be present – and we’re offering two pairs of tickets to each show!

- Phil Kay: In Tweed (Oran Mor, Fri 18 March) - Jon Richardson: Funny Magnet (Oran Mor, Sat 19 March) - Norman Lovett (Oran Mor, Thu 31 March) - Cabaret Noir (The King’s, Sat 26 March) - Tom Wrigglesworth: Nightmare Dream Wedding (The Stand, Tue 22 March)

Q: Which of these comedians was one of the original cast members of Red Dwarf?

Closing date: Monday 31 January To enter, visit www.theskinny.co.uk/competitions Terms: www.theskinny.co.uk/terms Tickets are not redeemable for cash.

Over 18s only.

Win passes to the Glasgow Film Festival!

Love movies? Here's a chance to win a 10 film pass to Glasgow Film Festival.

There'll be hundreds of films and events to choose from and, because it's nice to come to the cinema with a friend, you can share the pass and come to see five things with someone else.

Or, you can keep it all to yourself and come to lots. It's up to you, we won’t judge.

The programme is announced on 19 January with tickets available on 20 January; best to redeem your pass for tickets as close to programme launch as possible to avoid disappointment.

Glasgow Film Festival runs from 17 - 27 February 2011 in venues across the city.

Q: When did the first Glasgow Film Festival take place?

Closing date: Monday 31 January To enter, visit www.theskinny.co.uk/competitions Terms: www.theskinny.co.uk/terms Tickets are not redeemable for cash.

48 THE SKINNY January 2011

Edinburgh MUSIC

Glasgow music Tue 04 Jan

Sun 09 Jan

Drake (J. Cole)

The Wankys, Toecutter, An T-Uabhas, 69 Dessous

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £27.50

Canadian hip-hopper.

She’s Hit (Marco Polo, Suplex The Kid, Sing-Kill-Worth)

13th Note, 20:00–23:30, £tbc

Hardcore punk, progressive and garage.

Tango In The Attic (The Regiment, Pose Victorious, Dave?)

The Glasgow Slow Club (Miaoux Miaoux)

Counterbalance (Sonnet 65, Lemon Party)

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Relaxed night with guest band.

Scosha Bretell, The Glitch

Wed 19 Jan

Garage indie poppers.

Box, 21:00–00:00, Free

Bloc+, 21:00–01:00, Free

Indie and alternative.

Celtic Connections: The Walkmen

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Sat 15 Jan

Wed 05 Jan

George Gajjic

Drake (J. Cole)

Virtuouso accordian.

Celtic Connections: Giant Sand (The Boy Who Trapped The Sun)

New York indie. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Post punk.

Skies Fell (Toy Fires, Jack The Wolf, Fires Attract) Experimental rock tinkerings.

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £27.50

Canadian hip-hopper.

Live Jazz Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

Jazz classics and modern standards.

The River 68’s (The Scruffs, The Amorettes, The Scimitars)

Cafe Cossachok, 21:00–23:00, £6

Butterfly Strategy Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–12:00, Free

Acoustic acts; local and farflung.

Mon 10 Jan Michael Simons Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Folk and blues fingerstyle guitar.

Muso

Young Aviators (Lightguides, The Gap Year Riot, Pareto)

Glaswegian experimental rock.

Buff Club, 21:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Live indie pop and DJs.

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Alternative trio.

Thu 06 Jan Dave Dominey Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

Funked-up bass loops.

Dirty Diamond, The Gun Slinger Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

Blues rock and metal.

Tigers Jaw, End Of A Year, Basement, The Barents Sea 13th Note, 20:00–23:30, £tbc

Indie blues, post-punk and rock.

French Wives (Cancel The Astronauts, Galleries, Poor Things) King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Indie pop, with a hint of folk.

Fri 07 Jan Niverse, 5 Bar Gate, Devour Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:30, £6

Alternative rock, grunge and metal.

Thin Lizzy (Supersuckers, The Union) O2 Academy, 19:30–22:30, £23.50

Irish rock legends.

The Serious Men, Coriolis, Selina Henriquez

Tue 11 Jan San Fran and the Siscos Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

Favourite acts showcase.

Park Circus (Fiction Facation, Micheal Maclennan, Dante) King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Big, anthemic pop tunes.

Wed 12 Jan Live Jazz Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Alternative noisemakers.

Sat 08 Jan

Mezak (Ben Butler and Mousepad, Crasier Frane DJs) Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Alternative rammy.

Fallen Fate (Daedalus, Nerrus Kor, Diementia, Fallen Eternity, Chasm) Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:30, £7

Thrash metal.

Cobra, Burning Sunrise, Psycho Babe, Sarwathi, Deadly Incription The Ferry, 19:00–00:00, £5

Live music showcase.

EH!, Dead City Radio, Youthless, The Beagle, Brendan Campbell Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

Indie rock and pop.

Halt Bar Hijack Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

Strawberry Ocean Sea (The Vespas, The Twist, Jumpersknee)

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Alternative rock.

Alternative indie.

Notebooks

Danika Star, LK Audio

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Pissed-off hardcore rock. From Stirling.

Muso (Colin Hunter, Sean Kennedy, The Fear, Alan Cranney, Toy Fires) Buff Club, 21:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Live indie pop and DJs.

Veronica Is Boring, Monolith, Scum

Bwani Junction (Gogobot, Crayons, The Black Rats)

Distinctive folk. Part of Celtic Connection 2011.

Underground band takeover.

Talking Through Tin Cans indie punk.

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £13

Flood of Red (Scores, Penguinskillpolarbears, Carnivores)

Thu 13 Jan

Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

Celtic Connections: Mabon, Lorne MacDougall

Jazz classics and modern standards.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Rock, alternative and industrial.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Indie Americana. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Ivory Blacks, 18:30–22:30, £6

Experimental metal and punk.

Washington Irving (Open Swimmer, White Heath, Blue Sky Archives) King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Lovely folk pop tunes.

Simon Doherty (Duck Hunt, Borthwicks)

Lyrical soul beatmaster.

Celtic Connections: Dick Gaughan & Friends

Lev Atlas

The Ashtones O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £6

Alternative indie blues.

Vidi Well (Zombie Militia, Maplenectar, Blood Red Visions) O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £6

Airdrie metallers.

Mob Rules, Vom, Sefferinfuck Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–23:00, £5

Melodic rock and experimental.

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Marking 40 years since Gaughan’s debut. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Celtic Connections: The Treacherous Orchestra, Fia Na Roca O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Vibrant folk. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Very.Bad.Things (Surgyn, Analog Angel) Classic Grand, 19:00–22:00, £8

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Thu 20 Jan

Noise pop.

Band Of Horses

Smooth R’n’B man.

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £16.50

Jack and the Wolf

Alexandra Burke SECC, 19:00–22:00, £30

Talent show popstress.

Celtic Connections: Ani DiFranco

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

Powerful folk. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Chasing Amy

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:30, £6

Punk pop.

Andrea Heins

Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

Canadian-born singer/songwriter on guitar, vocals and auto-harp.

Metronomy

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £11

Electro beats and bleeps.

Fri 21 Jan O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £16

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £6

Celtic Connections: Henrick Jansberg Band

The Arches, 19:30–22:30, £12.50

Folky types. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Aaron Wright and The Aprils

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–23:00, £6

Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

Mon 17 Jan

Box, 21:00–00:00, Free

Indie and punk.

Indian classical music.

The Sneaky Russians, Craig John Davidson, The Fiction, Horza, Strange October Box, 21:00–00:00, Free

Indie and alternative.

Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

Tue 18 Jan Rumer, Phantom Limb Classic Grand, 19:00–22:00, £15

Lyrical soul and blues.

Gus Stirrat Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £3

Alternative rock and powerpop.

Jazz with bassist Gus Stirrat.

Xavia

Crowbar

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 20:00–23:00, £5

Rhythmic experimental.

Low Sonic Drift, Koresh, Sunsmasher, Jackalheaded Guard Of The Dead Progressive thrash, rock and punk.

Showcase trio. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Red Light District, 100 Paper Boats, State of Emergency, Dead Men’s Shoes

The Dirty Cuts, Nevada Base

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Box, 21:00–00:00, Free

Indie and blues.

Sun 23 Jan Celtic Connections: Hazy Recollections O2 ABC, 13:30–16:00, £10

Folk showcase. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Celtic Connections: BMX Bandits

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Celebrating 25 years since their debut single. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £16

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:30, £9

Alternative punk.

Butterfly Strategy

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–12:00, Free

Acoustic acts; local and farflung.

Mon 24 Jan Celtic Connections: Smoke Faeries

Oran Mor, 19:00–23:00, £7

Experimentalfolk. Part of Celtic Connectins 2011.

Michael Simons

Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

Folk and blues fingerstyle guitar.

Experimental rockers.

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £6

We Came From The Sea, Mile Away Chant, Diamond Mindworks

The Admiral, 20:00–22:30, £5

Secret Cities

Unit 7, The Media Whores, James Foley

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £13.50

Metallic rock.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £16

Nu-folk. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Celtic Connections: Justin Townes Earle

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

US country/folk. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Breakdown Bands (Brothers of Craig, The Miniature Society, Wee Free Man)

Soundhaus, 19:00–22:30, £6 (£5)

Live band rock-out.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Alternative types.

The Sea Kings

Butterfly Strategy

Post-punk.

SECC, 19:30–22:00, £40

Celtic Connections: Aeriels Up, First Charge of the Light Brigade, Acoustic Butterfly

K-X-P

Acoustic acts; local and farflung.

Alternative rock.

Bryan Ferry-fronted art rock.

Acoustic rock and indie.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £28

Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

Underground band takeover.

Experimental four-piece.

Indie rock.

King Tut’s, 20:30–23:00, £6

Halt Bar Hijack

SECC, 19:30–22:00, £65

Peter & The Test Tube Babies

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Halt Bar Hijack

Alternative indie.

Roxy Music

Acoustic trio. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Celtic Connections: Crooked Still (Lau, Move)

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–22:30, £3 (£2)

Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

Dreamy orchestral pop.

Experimental types.

Kochka (BoyGirlAnimalColour)

Yaman

Alternative acoustic.

The Clock

Jerry Douglas Trio (The Scotsville Units)

Epico (The Edge of Noize, Eye’s Own)

Dead Sea Souls (Boycotts, The Side, The Mixups)

Stereo, 19:30–23:00, £9

Glaswegian experimental folk rock. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Alternative indie and punk.

Underground band takeover.

The Cult (Masters of Reality, Romance)

Usher

Sat 22 Jan

Paws, Johnny Reb

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:30, £tbc

Rock and metal.

Happy musical tales. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Hardcore punk riot.

Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

The Arches, 19:30–22:30, £14

Bass master. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Acoustic set.

Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £14

Celtic folk. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Isolysis (15 Times Dead, Ludovico)

Sleigh Bells

Album launch.

Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

Celtic Connections: Jah Wobble (The Nippon Dub Ensemble)

Thu 27 Jan Celtic Connections: Gary O’Connor Quartet

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £14

Cluster rock eight-piece. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £9

Elan Few, Sneaky Pete, Blind Watchmakers

The Ferry, 19:00–00:00, £5

Buff Club, 21:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Celtic Connections: Tom Fun Orchestra (Orkestra del Sol, Mystery Juice)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Oscar Cordoba Band

Deez Nuts, This Is Hell

Bloc+, 21:00–01:00, Free

Experimental acoustic.

Alternative indie rock.

Good Bad News, Not Half Right, The System

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–12:00, Free

Loup

Page 44

tron theatre, 20:00, £12.50

Charming melodies.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Barrowland, 19:00–23:30, £16

Experimental pop.

A chance to see the neo-folk renaissance man Roberts plus the African Sawa Blues guitarist Valdo.

Cafe Cossachok, 21:00–23:00, £6

Violin master.

Derek Warfield and The Young Wolfe Tones (The Biblecode Sunday)

Celtic Connections: Saoghal Sona, Eilidh MacKenzie

Celtic Connections: Alasdair roberts, munto valdo

Alternative rock and pop.

Fri 14 Jan

Roots and alternative.

Live indie pop and DJs.

Old Fruitmarket, 20:00–22:30, £16

Scottish/Canadian supergroup.

Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Figure 5, The Temperance Movement, The Dots Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Buff Club, 21:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Celtic Connections: The Burns Unit (Broken Records)

Scottish songwriting prodigy.

Ivory Blacks, 18:30–22:30, £tbc

Muso (Codeen, Becca Fox)

The Celestians (Stag Firm Collapse, D-Corum, Gruesome Green Fever)

Punk rock.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Monthly battle-cum-singalong.

Celtic Connections: Trembling Bells

Traditional fusion. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Irish singer/songwriter. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Live music showcase.

Celtic Connections: Hazy Recollections

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6

Acoustic Tribute Night

Ex-Del Amitri frontman. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Celtic Connections: Skerryvore (Manran)

Spectrals

Ivory Blacks, 19:00–22:30, £6

Classic rock.

Jazz classics and modern standards.

Sun 16 Jan Folk showcase. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Gypsy Mojo

Live indie pop and DJs.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Wed 05 Ja n Secret CDs (Night Noise Team, Lissa-Kathe, Anita Govan, Sam Barber & The Outcasts)

Rock thrash.

M-Class Planet, 32 Miles to Breakfast, Jiezuberband

Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

Sat 29 Jan Celtic Connections: Declan O’Rourke

Jazz classics and modern standards.

Muso

Alternative rock.

O2 ABC, 13:30–16:00, £10

Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £6

Classic Irish talent.

Live Jazz

Celtic Connections: Justin Currie (The Heathers)

Box, 21:00–00:00, Free

Kobi Onyame (Stanley odd, The Crossover, Patricia Panther)

New Years Revolution

Oran Mor, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

Live Jazz

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £7

The Arches, 19:30–22:30, £12.50

EP launch.

Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

Garage punk and rock.

Halt Bar Hijack Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

Twin Shadow Experimental noisemakers.

Miss The Occupier, Transmata, Rosco Vacant & The Gantin’ Schreichs

Brides

Indie punk and alternative.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Post-punk outfit.

Fri 28 Jan Celtic Connections: Daimh (Anxo Lorenzo) O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £14

Pipe and fiddle instrumentals.

Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

The New Tradition (Ciorras, Gillian Frame, Fiona MacAskill, Sam Lee) Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Contemporary Irish traditional.

Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Indie and rock.

Sun 30 Jan Celtic Connections: Hazy Recollections O2 ABC, 13:30–16:00, £10

Folk showcase. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Fri 07 Ja n You Me at Six Corn Exchange, 19:00–22:30, £16.50

Rock and pop. Rescheduled date.

RSNO: Viennese New Year Late ‘n’ Live (The Number Nine) The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Rock and pop five-piece.

S at 08 Ja n Bruncheon!

Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 11:30–15:00, Free

Brunch and live music event at the Drill Hall Arts Cafe.

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:30, £5

Rock and pop. Rescheduled date.

The Wankys, Toecutter, Happy Spastics (Daddy No, 69 Dessous) Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £6

Crust-punk and hardcore.

Celtic Connections: Raul Malo (Doghouse Roses)

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:30, £15

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £16

The Jazz Bar, 20:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

Roxy Music

Latin singer/songwriter. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Barberos, Beast

Arse-kicking punk rock.

SECC, 19:30–22:00, £65

Bryan Ferry-fronted art rock.

Mogwai

Celtic Connections: Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives

Grand Ole Opry, 19:00–22:30, £17.50

The Arches, 19:30–22:30, £15

Beautifully-crafted post rock.

Country blues. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Celtic Connections: Richard Wood

Jail Guitar Doors

Oran Mor, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

Fiddle sensation. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Wing and a Prayer

Celtic Connections: Koshka

Indie punk.

Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

Blues-influenced singer/songwriters.

Cafe Cossachok, 21:00–23:00, £6

Hollow Point Maggie May’s, 20:00–22:30, £5

WORLD PREMIERE QUINTET Hand-picked jazz five-piece.

Henry’s Cellar, 20:00–03:00, £tbc

Liverpudlian double bill.

Late ‘n’ Live (The Privates) The Jazz Bar, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Soul and guitar grooves.

Sun 09 Ja n The Party Program, Dead At The Scene, Knee Deep In The Dead, Here Lies A Warning Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:30, £3

Best of Edinburgh hardcore.

Rumours of Fleetwood Mac Queen’s Hall, 20:00–22:30, £22.50

Fleetwood Mac tribute show.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6.50

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–12:00, Free

CRANACHAN

Funeral Party

Acoustic acts; local and farflung.

Classic rock covers.

Celtic connections: waterboys

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £7.50

DIY new wave five-piece.

Violin master. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Tronic

Wed 26 Jan Madskull (The Girobabies)

Bismarck, Alana McLernon, Six Million Broken Windows, Anton

Alternative experimentalists.

Box, 21:00–00:00, Free

Yaman

Ginja Show (JJC, Mr Feasibility, Bizzy Mante, Levis Albano)

Indian classical music.

Folk rock. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

New bands showcase.

A Day To Remember

Ambient pop four-piece.

The Arches, 19:30–22:30, £15

Unpeeled The Jazz Bar, 20:00–23:00, £5 (£4)

You Me at Six

Bagpipe chaps. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Celtic Connections: Teddy Thompson (David Ford, Ashley Cleveland)

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Driving hard rock.

Corn Exchange, 19:00–22:30, £16.50

Butterfly Strategy

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £5

Thu 06 Ja n Bad Reputation, A Ritual Spirit

Hard rockin’ bill.

Allo Darlin’

Cafe Cossachok, 21:00–23:00, £6

Blues and funk five-piece.

Box, 21:00–00:00, Free

Grunge rock.

Celtic Connections: Lev Atlas & Friends

The Ka-Tet The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Tam’s Railways, Ghosts Of Progress, Seneka

Celtic Connections: Red Hot Chilli Pipers O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £16

Inventive jazz.

Three Minute Warning, Eat Meat, Inspired, Monofly

Traditional gypsy, Russian and jazz. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

Tue 25 Jan

The Jazz Bar, 20:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, £12-£32

Underground band takeover.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £7.50

Leah Gough-Cooper’s Quintet

Waltzes, polkas and mazurkas.

The Works

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–23:00, £4

New wave and electro pop.

Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–01:00, £3

Live gig-cum-CD sale.

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Live electronic showcase night.

Indie and pop.

The Ferry, 22:00–02:00, £20

Nigerian artists showcase.

Royal concert hall, 17.30, £27.50

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, Free

The Sunday Night Sinners Funk and soul six-piece.

You'll see the whole of the moon.

Mon 10 Ja n

Mon 31 Jan

Glamour & The Baybes

Tchai-Ovna, 20:00–22:00, £2

CW. Stoneking King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £11

Jazz and blues.

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Jazz, rock and funky blues.

T ue 11 Ja n Sax Ecosse Usher Hall, 14:30–15:30, £2

Vibrant saxophone quartet.

January 2011

THE SKINNY 49

EDINBURGH MUSIC LEITH FOLK CLUB (DICK GAUGHAN)

KILLING TIME, THE BARRY VAN DYKES

MON 17 JA N

FRI 21 JA N BAD REPUTATION, FIREPROOF MATCH, CIRCUS CIRCUS, ALTEREDSKY

Powerful, passionate folk.

Good-time rock and roll.

MAMA ROSIN (SELECTIVE SERVICES)

WED 12 JA N

LATE ‘N’ LIVE (WASHINGTON STREET)

Zydeco group making big waves.

THE VILLAGE, 19:30–22:45, £10

FRASER URQUHART HENDERSON’S RESTAURANT AND ARTS VENUE, 19:00–21:30, FREE

Young jazz talent.

THE ALCHONAUTS, ANOTHER OPTION, THE LIBERTY BELLS HENRY’S CELLAR, 19:30–23:30, £4

Wonky punk and indie rock.

JAMMIN’ AT VOODOO

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Funk and soul with trumpets.

S AT 15 JA N AMPLIFIED (UNDERCLASS, THE INDUSTRY, THE DEEP RED SKY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:30, £7.50

GLAMOUR & THE BAYBES THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Jazz, rock and funky blues.

T UE 18 JA N GO AWAY BIRDS

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, FREE

Psychobilly punk, hardcore and rock.

THE CANDIDATES HENRY’S CELLAR, 19:00–22:00, £4

WORLD PREMIERE QUINTET THE JAZZ BAR, 20:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

LEITH FOLK CLUB (RACHEL CROSS & PUNCH IN THE DARK)

Hand-picked jazz five-piece.

THE VILLAGE, 19:30–22:45, £6

ROCKABILLY BURLESQUE (AM PREACHER, HETTIE HEARTACHE, MISS HELL’S BELLE) THE CAVES, 20:30–23:00, £12

Southern rock and burlesque.

Blues rock and garage psych.

WED 26 JA N

MY ELECTRIC LOVE AFFAIR

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

FRASER URQUHART

Experimental niceness.

HENDERSON’S RESTAURANT AND ARTS VENUE, 19:00–21:30, FREE

RSNO: RACHMANINOV TWO

Young jazz talent.

Russian symphony recital.

Multi-instrumental band.

Hot club jazz.

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £4 (£3)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:30, £7.50

Ethereal acoustic duo.

THE KA-TET

Chilled acoustics.

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

CASTAWAY

BROKEN RECORDS (FREELANCE WHALES)

Blues and funk five-piece.

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

RED DOG MUSIC, 15:00–16:00, FREE

Indie rock.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £11.50

Edinburgh seven-piece.

SUN 23 JA N

NAPIER LIVE WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Live student showcase.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:30, £5

USHER HALL, 14:30–15:30, £2

Pop and rock trio.

THE KA-TET

WORLD PREMIERE QUINTET

I AM KLOOT

THE JAZZ BAR, 20:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

Acoustic indie pop.

Hip-hop rockin’ five-piece.

Edinburgh-based indie poppers.

LEITH FOLK CLUB (WENDY WEATHERBY)

THU 27 JA N

LIMBO (THE OATES FIELD, EAGLEOWL, GUMMI BAKO)

S AT 22 JA N

NELL BRYDEN

DESAFINADO

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:30, £14

HENDERSON’S RESTAURANT AND ARTS VENUE, 19:00–21:30, FREE

Handpicked live acts.

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Blues and funk five-piece.

Hand-picked jazz five-piece.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £15

THU 13 JA N

WE LUV MUSIK

DESAFINADO

New and established acts.

Warm-voiced cellist.

LATE ‘N’ LIVE (THE LEONARD JONES POTENTIAL)

WED 19 JA N

HENDERSON’S RESTAURANT AND ARTS VENUE, 19:00–21:30, FREE

Jazz and bossa nova.

SCO: TICCIATI’S SCHUMANN QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:30, £9-£27

Unique symphony performance.

THE KETTERLEYS BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–01:00, £TBC

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Funk and soul with horns.

SUN 16 JA N

FRI 14 JA N

HAIR OF THE DOG SUNDAYS (AARON WRIGHT AND THE APRILS)

GRAHAM HIGH

Indie-folk with lyrical charm.

Indie rock newcomers.

HENDERSON’S RESTAURANT AND ARTS VENUE, 19:00–21:30, FREE

Hot club jazz.

ALTERED SKY (TALKING SIDEWAYS, GHOST RIDE THE WHIP) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:30, £TBC

Alternative rock.

FRANZ NICOLAY, JACK TERRICLOTH, DAVE HAUSE, THE MURDERBURGERS CITY CAFÉ, 20:00–23:00, £7

Showcase night.

RED DOG MUSIC, 15:00–16:00, FREE

CRANACHAN BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, FREE

THE VILLAGE, 19:30–22:45, £8

MEN DIAMLER HENRY’S CELLAR, 19:30–23:30, £5

THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£3)

Dark purveyors of folk rock.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:30, £6

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

Roaringly negative hardcore.

PAUL KIRBY, DAN PUGACH THE JAZZ BAR, 20:00–23:00, £5 (£4)

Jazz piano and drums.

STORMY SUNDAY BLUES

Experimental rock, with added carnage.

THE WINTER TRADITION (KERRIE LYNCH) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:30, £TBC

Noisy post rock.

SCO: THE CHAMBER BALLETS I QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:30, £9-£27

Seasonal orchestral loveliness.

Blues and funk five-piece.

THREE LONG WORDS

THU 20 JA N

Single launch.

STUDIO 24, 19:30–23:00, £7

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

MAD NURSE

Funk and soul six-piece.

Eerie lo-fi rock.

50 THE SKINNY JANUARY 2011

Scuzz progressive rock.

LUPEN CROOK

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

THE SUNDAY NIGHT SINNERS

HENRY’S CELLAR, 19:00–22:00, £4

HAMMERS, LATITUDES, HUSH, PLAGUE VESSEL

THE KA-TET

Live blues showcase.

HOSEMOX

West Country wanderer.

Classic rock covers.

THE JAZZ BAR, 20:00–23:00, £5 (£3)

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

THE REAL MCKENZIES, ROOT SYSTEM BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £9

Canadian-Irish punks return.

Live funk bands and DJs.

WALTER SCHREIFELS

Live funk bands and DJs.

Indie and rock showcase.

LATE ‘N’ LIVE (THE ORDINARY ALL-STARS)

LATE ‘N’ LIVE

SUN 30 JA N

WEE DUB FESTIVAL (VIBRONICS, RADIKAL GURU, BRINA)

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Live jam session.

VOODOO ROOMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

HENRY’S CELLAR, 22:00–03:00, £4

HENDERSON’S RESTAURANT AND ARTS VENUE, 19:00–21:30, FREE

HAIR OF THE DOG SUNDAYS (HOPWOOD AND BLACK)

LATE ‘N’ LIVE

Dub and reggae mini festival.

GHOSTS OF PROGRESS, ACID FASCISTS, FATALISTS

USHER HALL, 19:00–22:30, £10-£32

Soul covers.

STUDIO 24, 22:00–03:00, £16

FRI 28 JA N GRAHAM HIGH

HAIR OF THE DOG SUNDAYS (ECHO ARCADIA)

Jazz, roots & blues from the Brooklyn singer.

Jazz and bossa nova.

THE SUNDAY NIGHT SINNERS

VERSATILE

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, FREE

Hippity-hop types.

Funk and soul six-piece.

SCO: NEW ROMANTICS III

MON 24 JA N

QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:30, £9-£27

POST FATA RESURGO, ONLY FUMES AND CORPSES

DIRTY DISTRICT

HENRY’S CELLAR, 19:30–23:45, £5

Orchestral rhythms and poetry.

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, FREE

Punk types.

Old-school hip-hop night.

A NEW HOPE, DEAD AGENDA (THE DEFENESTRATORS)

DIWAN

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

Pop-punk overload.

GLAMOUR & THE BAYBES THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Jazz, rock and funky blues.

T UE 25 JA N BURNS’ DAY CELEBRATION

THE JAZZ BAR, 20:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

Afrobeat seven-piece album launch.

VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–01:00, £7

LATE ‘N’ LIVE THE JAZZ BAR, 23:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Live funk bands and DJs.

S AT 29 JA N GREAT JUNCTION MUSIC STUDIOS HENRY’S CELLAR, 19:00–22:00, £4

Local studio showcase.

RED DOG MUSIC, 15:00–16:00, FREE

MAPS AND ATLASES (Y’ALL IS FANTASY ISLAND, DUPEC, LADY NORTH) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:30, £7.50

Mathy post rock.

ALASDAIR CAMERON QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–22:30, £12 (£7)

Virtuous piano recital.

FOREVER THE LIVING DEAD, THE SUN EXPLODES (EMILIO LARGO) BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £4

TEDDY THOMPSON (DAVID FORD)

Singalong alternative rock.

QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00–22:30, £14

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Folk rock. Part of Celtic Connections 2011.

LITTLE KICKS (EASY TIGERS, VERY WELL) ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:30, £3

THE SUNDAY NIGHT SINNERS Funk and soul six-piece.

MON 31 JA N

LAPTOP LOUNGE

Upbeat indie rock.

ARTAS ENSEMBLE

VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–01:00, FREE

ETERNAL HELCARAXE, OLD CORPSE ROAD

QUEEN’S HALL, 19:45–22:30, £11-£19

Contemporary electronic.

HIDDEN ORCHESTRA, DIGITAL JONES, ASAZI SPACE FUNK EXPLOSION, DONNA MACIOCIA

USHER HALL, 14:30–15:30, £2

THE CAVES, 21:00–03:00, £6

Scottish traditional music.

Red Dog Music night.

BANNERMAN’S, 20:00–23:00, £5

String ensemble.

Progressive black metal.

GLAMOUR & THE BAYBES

WORLD PREMIERE QUINTET

THE JAZZ BAR, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

THE JAZZ BAR, 20:00–23:00, £4 (£3)

Hand-picked jazz five-piece.

Jazz, rock and funky blues.

Glasgow CLUBS Tue 04 Jan I Am

Voodoo Voodoo Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Tue 11 Jan

Sleazy R’n’B, 60s pop and jive.

I Am

Student party with Beta & Kappa.

Wax Works

Student party with Beta & Kappa.

Killer Kitsch

Underground house and techno.

Killer Kitsch

Damaged Goods

Electro clash and old classics.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Electro clash and old classics.

Revolt

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Rock and metal. In the Attic.

Y’Uptae

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Student fun night.

Wed 05 Jan Vinyl Night

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–12:00, Free

Hip-hop, mod, funk and ska.

Ad Lib, 23:00–03:00, £4

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 11.30)

Disco and funk.

Numbers + Lucky Me Sub Club, 23:00, £TBC (Free before 12)

Feat. The Blessings, Jackmaster and Rusite

Sat 08 Jan Voodoo Cathouse, 16:00–21:00, £6 (£3 members)

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Revolt The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Rock and metal. In the Attic.

Y’Uptae The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Student fun night.

Danse Macabre (The Girl) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Synth funk and urban jams.

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–12:00, Free

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Stoked

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Varied rock. In the Attic.

Take It Sleazy

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £1 (£3 after 12)

Electic fun night.

Thu 06 Jan Thursdays

Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

Deep house and slo-mo techno.

Funk, soul and hip-hop.

Butterfly Saturdays Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–03:00, Free

House bands and DJ Dave Stone.

Jilted

Shed, 22:00–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Pop classics and hip-hop.

Absolution Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Pop, punk, metal and rock.

Underground dance weekly.

Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

I.DJ

I Heart the Garage more than yer Maw

Punter iPod playlists.

The Garage, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Electro, dance and dirty pop.

Rubbermensch

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Indie night.

Rumble Thursdays

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Bouncy castle fun night.

Shake It Up

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, £5

Massive student fun night.

Love Music O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £7

Saturday night disco.

Nu Skool Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Funky disco and soul.

Pass The Peas Blackfriars Basement, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 after 12)

Bass, funk and soul.

Indie, rock and pop.

Power Tools

Side Show

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

80s sleaze, house and disco.

Skint/Vengeance

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Emo, punk and metal. Resident DJs.

Soul Glo

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Funk and R’n’B.

Thursdays

Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £3

Emo, punk and hardcore.

Cheap ‘n’ Nasty

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Electro and disco.

Gaga Wednesdays The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Chart and classics with Andy R.

Yoyo Saturday

Rock, punk and metal.

Misbehavin’

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Synth funk and urban jams.

Varied rock. In the Attic.

Cathouse Saturdays

Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

Doppelganger

Stoked

Co-Op

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Hip-hop, mod, funk and ska.

Soundhaus, 21:30–03:00, £tbc

House and techno.

Italo, disco and house.

Subculture (Harri & Domenic) Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £5

Dubbed-out electro.

The Rock Shop Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 (£3 after 12)

Rock, indie and metal.

Pandemic Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 11.30)

Y’Uptae

Good tunes for dancing feet.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Synth funk and urban jams.

Voodoo Voodoo

Cathouse, 16:00–21:00, £6 (£3 members)

Student fun night.

Sat 22 Jan

Gaga Wednesdays

Sleazy R’n’B, 60s pop and jive.

Saturday @ Bookclub

Wed 19 Jan

Voodoo

Chart and classics with Andy R.

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Vinyl Night

Rock, metal and indie. Under 18s.

Funk, soul and hip-hop.

Butterfly Saturdays Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–03:00, Free

Soundhaus, 22:00–03:00, £12 (£10)

Trance, tech and hard dance.

Yoyo Saturday Shed, 22:00–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Pop classics and hip-hop.

Absolution

Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Hip-hop to dirty house.

Underground dance weekly.

I.DJ Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

Punter iPod playlists.

Rubbermensch O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Indie night.

Rumble Thursdays The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Bouncy castle fun night.

Shake It Up Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, £5

Indie, rock and pop.

Side Show Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

80s sleaze, house and disco.

Skint/Vengeance Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Emo, punk and metal. Resident DJs.

Soul Glo Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Funk and R’n’B.

Thursdays Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £3

Emo, punk and hardcore.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Butterfly Fridays Butterfly & Pig, 19:00–03:00, Free

Mungo’s Hi-Fi (Soom T, Disrupt) Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £8

Dub superdons.

Nu Skool Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Funky disco and soul.

Power Tools Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Italo, disco and house.

Subculture (Ame) Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £10

Ame’s first ever live show in Scotland.

The Rock Shop Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 (£3 after 12)

Rock, indie and metal.

Wrong Island Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 11.30)

Electronic and classics.

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Crash Shed, 22:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 11)

Pop, dance and hip-hop.

Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Classic Fridays Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Aternative rock, metal and punk.

Mobile Disco Fridays The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Chart, indie and hip-hop.

Old Skool Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Old Skool

Alibi Mondays

Propaganda

Vintage disco, funk and soul.

Andy R plays the hits.

Indie audio visual night.

Propaganda

Burn

Riot Radio

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, £5

Indie night.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Bouncy castle fun night.

Shake It Up

Butterfly Saturdays

Cathouse Saturdays

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

House bands and DJ Dave Stone.

Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

90s nu-metal and 2010 hits.

Rock, punk and metal.

Do U Remember?

Anthing goes tunes and nostalgic visuals.

The Garage, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £7

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Impact 9th Birthday (Promo, Day-mar) Soundhaus, 21:00–03:00, £13

Hardcore, darkcore and industrial.

Yoyo Saturday Pop classics and hip-hop.

Absolution Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Pop, punk, metal and rock.

Cathouse Saturdays Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Rock, punk and metal.

Italo, disco and house.

Shake It Up

I Heart the Garage more than yer Maw

Subculture (Harri & Domenic)

Indie, rock and pop.

Massive student fun night.

Side Show

Love Music

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£10)

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, £5

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Garage, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £7

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, £5

Dubbed-out electro.

Indie, rock and pop.

The Rock Shop

Side Show Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 (£3 after 12)

Rock, indie and metal.

Emo, punk and metal. Resident DJs.

Funky disco and soul.

Skint/Vengeance

Bottle Rocket

Soul Glo

Power Tools

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 11.30)

Funk and R’n’B.

Italo, disco and house.

The Rock Shop

80s sleaze, house and disco.

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Emo, punk and metal. Resident DJs.

80s sleaze, house and disco.

Saturday night disco.

Skint/Vengeance

Nu Skool

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Indie, punk and twee pop.

Thursdays

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Sun 23 Jan

Emo, punk and hardcore.

Thursdays

Sunday @ Bookclub

Soul Glo Funk and R’n’B.

Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £3

Emo, punk and hardcore.

Best in Show Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Indie, electro and pop.

Hillhead Bookclub, 17:00–20:00, Free

Rockabilly social club.

Button Up Flat 0/1, 21:00–02:00, Free

R’n’B, jump jive and exotica.

Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £3

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 (£3 after 12)

Rock, indie and metal.

Pump Club Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Electronic bass and dubstep workout.

Fri 28 Jan Butterfly Fridays Butterfly & Pig, 19:00–03:00, Free

Subculture (Nicolas Jaar) Sub Club, 23:00–04:00, £12

Special guest set from Nicolas Jarr.

Hot Club Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 11.30)

Garage and psych.

Fri 21 Jan

Cathouse Sundays

Sunday @ Bookclub

Butterfly Fridays

Requests and a hip-hop bar.

Friday @ Bookclub

Sun 30 Jan

Hillhead Bookclub, 17:00–20:00, Free

Resident bands night.

Hung Up!

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Sunday @ Bookclub

Rockabilly social club.

Friday @ Bookclub

Optimo-curated weekly party.

Button Up

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Pin Up Pirates (Jacob Yates & the Pearly Gate Lock-Pickers, The Plimptons, Ace City Racers, Paul Thompson DJ)

Rockabilly social club.

Sun 16 Jan

Flat 0/1, 21:00–02:00, Free

R’n’B, jump jive and exotica.

Cathouse Sundays Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Optimo-curated weekly party.

Shedkandi Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

House and R’n’B.

Sin City Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Funk, house and electro.

Suck My Deck The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Hip-hop to dirty house.

Butterfly & Pig, 19:00–03:00, Free

Classic and underground disco.

Crash Shed, 22:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 11)

Pop, dance and hip-hop.

Ballbreaker/Vice Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Rock, metal and indie. Resident DJs.

Classic Fridays

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Shedkandi Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

House and R’n’B.

Sin City Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Funk, house and electro.

Suck My Deck The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Hip-hop to dirty house.

Resident bands night.

Classic and underground disco.

Flying Duck, 21:00–03:00, £6

Indie, punk and electro-pop.

Shed, 22:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 11)

Pop, dance and hip-hop.

Symbiosis (Instra:Mental) Soundhaus, 22:00–03:00, £tbc

Mon 24 Jan

Special guest night.

Aternative rock, metal and punk.

Alibi Mondays

Ballbreaker/Vice

Point 4 (Animal Farm)

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Soundhaus, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Chart, indie and hip-hop.

Tue 25 Jan

Part of the Live Booth Sessions tour.

Old Skool

I Am

Banjax

Inked The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Rock, emo and punk. In the Attic.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

The Arches, 22:30–03:00, £15

La Cheetah, 23:00–03:00, £10

Vintage disco, funk and soul.

Student party with Beta & Kappa.

Dub, techno and bass.

Propaganda

Killer Kitsch

Mobile Disco Fridays

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Indie audio visual night.

Electro clash and old classics.

Chart, indie and hip-hop.

Riot Radio

Revolt

Old Skool

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, £5

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Disco, funk and electro.

Indie rock and roll.

Indie rock and roll.

Rock and metal. In the Attic.

Vintage disco, funk and soul.

Inked

Voodoo Voodoo

I Am

Subcity Party

Y’Uptae

Indie rock and roll.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Rock, emo and punk. In the Attic.

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £5

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Propaganda

January party night, with guests.

Student fun night.

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Trash and Burn Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £3

Glam and hair metal classics.

Mon 31 Jan Alibi Mondays The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Andy R plays the hits.

Burn Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Riot Radio

Student party with Beta & Kappa.

Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

House and R’n’B.

Hip-hop to dirty house.

Rock, emo and punk. In the Attic.

Disco, funk and electro.

Shedkandi

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Aternative rock, metal and punk.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Optimo-curated weekly party.

Suck My Deck

Inked

Mon 17 Jan

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Hung Up!

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Disco, funk and electro.

Alibi Mondays Burn

Requests and a hip-hop bar.

Funk, house and electro.

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

PRESSURE (Laurent Garnier, Scan X, Slam, Silicone Soul)

Andy R plays the hits.

Cathouse Sundays

Classic Fridays

Argonaut Sounds Roots reggae and dancehall.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Flat 0/1, 21:00–02:00, Free

R’n’B, jump jive and exotica.

Sin City

Burn

Mobile Disco Fridays

Button Up

Rock, metal and indie. Resident DJs.

Andy R plays the hits.

Cerebral dance over three rooms.

Blackfriars Basement, 23:00–03:00, £3

Hillhead Bookclub, 17:00–20:00, Free

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Crash

Indie audio visual night.

Sleazy R’n’B, 60s pop and jive.

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–03:00, Free

Shed, 22:00–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

Tue 18 Jan

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, £5

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Counterfeit

Rumble Thursdays

Saturday night disco.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Cathouse, 16:00–21:00, £6 (£3 members)

Rock, metal and indie. Under 18s.

Pop, punk, metal and rock.

Bouncy castle fun night.

Co-Op

Chart, indie and hip-hop.

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Power Tools

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £7

Sat 29 Jan Voodoo

Underground dance weekly.

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Rubbermensch

Jumpcore danceathon.

Funk, soul and hip-hop.

Rumble Thursdays

Punter iPod playlists.

Love Music

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 11.30)

Co-Op

Indie night.

Alternative disco.

Vintage disco, funk and soul.

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Absolution

Black Tent

Saturday @ Bookclub

Funky disco and soul.

Deep house and slo-mo techno.

Deep house and slo-mo techno.

Mon 10 Jan The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Pop classics and hip-hop.

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

Deep house and slo-mo techno.

Thursdays

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Shed, 22:00–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Thursdays

Nu Skool

House and R’n’B.

Mobile Disco Fridays

Yoyo Saturday

Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

Classic Fridays

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

House bands and DJ Dave Stone.

The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £14

Rock, metal and indie. Resident DJs.

Residents and friends.

Thu 27 Jan

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–03:00, Free

Rubbermensch

Shedkandi

Club 69, 23:00–03:00, £6

Butterfly Saturdays

Punter iPod playlists.

Optimo-curated weekly party.

Suck My Deck

Underground beats and visuals.

Saturday night disco.

Rock, metal and indie. Resident DJs.

Funk, house and electro.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Funk, soul and hip-hop.

I.DJ

Ballbreaker/Vice

Blink (Martin Muir, Jordan, Nino, Mofo)

Jakebeats

Dirty Noise

Thu 13 Jan

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £3

Varied rock. In the Attic.

Varied rock. In the Attic.

Love Music

Crash

Aternative rock, metal and punk.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Classic and underground disco.

Sin City

Stoked

Saturday @ Bookclub

Stoked

Underground dance weekly.

Cathouse Sundays

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Chart and classics with Andy R.

Rock, metal and indie. Under 18s.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Death Disco (Yuksek, Acid Washed, Visions Of Trees)

Classic and underground disco.

Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

Gaga Wednesdays

Thu 20 Jan

Hung Up!

Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Synth funk and urban jams.

Cathouse Saturdays

Friday @ Bookclub

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electro and dubstep.

Pop, punk, metal and rock.

Flat 0/1, 21:00–02:00, Free

Ballbreaker/Vice

Doppelganger

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Requests and a hip-hop bar.

Hung Up!

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–12:00, Free

Hip-hop, mod, funk and ska.

Cathouse, 16:00–21:00, £6 (£3 members)

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Techno happening.

Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

sub club, 23:00–03:00, £6

Voodoo

Resident bands night.

Requests and a hip-hop bar.

Bassline + Tomb crew

Rock and metal. In the Attic.

Massive student fun night.

Hillhead Bookclub, 17:00–20:00, Free

Shed, 22:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 11)

Doppelganger

Sat 15 Jan

I.DJ

Butterfly Fridays

Pop, dance and hip-hop.

How's your party?

Massive student fun night.

Fri 14 Jan

R’n’B, jump jive and exotica.

Hip-hop, mod, funk and ska.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 11.30)

Co-Op

Sun 09 Jan

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Upside Down

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

The Garage, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Teenage Lust

Button Up

Revolt

Butterfly & Pig, 21:00–12:00, Free

I Heart the Garage more than yer Maw

In About It!

Maggie May’s, 23:00–03:00, £5

Sleazy R’n’B, 60s pop and jive.

I Heart the Garage more than yer Maw

They will play The Fall.

Rockabilly social club.

Indie rock and roll.

Electro clash and old classics.

Halt Bar, 20:00–00:00, Free

Sunday @ Bookclub

Friday @ Bookclub

Riot Radio

Thursdays

Fri 07 Jan Resident bands night.

Wed 26 Jan Vinyl Night

Rock, punk and metal.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Indie spectacular.

Butterfly & Pig, 19:00–03:00, Free

New wave and krautrock.

Rectify (Neal Thomas, Dersonna)

Vinyl Night

Chart and classics with Andy R.

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

House bands and DJ Dave Stone.

Saturday @ Bookclub

Gaga Wednesdays

Voodoo Voodoo

Buff Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Wed 12 Jan

Rock, metal and indie. Under 18s.

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Killer Kitsch

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 11.30)

Goth rock and classic disco.

Doppelganger

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Kino Fist

Disco, funk and electro.

Inked The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Rock, emo and punk. In the Attic.

Indie audio visual night.

January 2011

THE SKINNY 51

EDINBURGH CLUBS Tue 04 Jan Circus Arcade

Electric Circus, 20:00–01:00, Free

Pop quiz and musical bingo.

Antics

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Rock, indie and punk.

Restless

The Store, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electro, breaks and dubstep.

Soul Jam Hot

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funk, soul and hip-hop.

Split

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

D’n’B, breaks and techno.

Rotating DJs.

Tuesday He artbre ak

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Swirling guitars and driving beats.

Wed 05 Jan Hush

Electric Circus, 22:00–01:00, Free

Cult retro.

Bangers & Mash

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11)

Char t and cheese.

Indigo

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£1)

Indie, pop and alternative.

A xis

Tok yoblu

Bangers & Mash

Te ase Age

Indigo

JakN (FuK-NuT, Sekonz)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11)

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£1)

The Store, 22:30–03:00, Free

Indie, pop and alternative.

House, techno and underground house.

A xis

Madchester

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £6

Te ase Age

House and live percussion from David McGeorge.

Char t and cheese.

Indie, rock and soul.

This Is Music

Indigo The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£1)

Be at Control

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–05:00, £3 (members free)

Indie, pop and alternative.

Indie and alternative.

Indie and electro with the Sick Note DJs.

Electro, fidget and bassline.

A xis

Big ‘N’ Bashy (Reso, Newham Generals)

S at 0 8 J a n

Electro, fidget and bassline.

Reggae, grime and dubstep.

He ard It Through The Bassline (Pariah, Koreless)

Bubblegum

JungleDub

Driven

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 11)

Dub, dubstep and jungle.

Char t, dance and retro disco.

Sl ap Bang

Musik a

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free (£5 after 11)

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Genre-spanning night.

House and techno residents special.

T h u 13 J a n

Te ase Age

Movement

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Electric Circus, 21:00–01:00, Free

Funk, soul and electro.

D’n’B, dubstep and bassline.

Sick Note Saturday

Animal Hospital

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 after 12)

Inde and electro fave.

Bass Syndicate Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–05:00, £3 (members free)

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electric Circus, 21:00–01:00, Free

Only new releases.

Frisk y

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Char t, dance and electro.

Ill Behaviour

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£3 after 12)

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free

New mix of indie, pop and electro.

Coalition

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Current and past classics.

M o n 10 J a n Mixed Up

Dapper Dans

Hip-hop, char t and R’n’B.

Crushed-up disco to soul.

Octopussy

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Char t, indie and electro.

Sick Note

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Nu Fire Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop to dubstep.

Trade Union Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free (£2 after 12)

Any thing goes par ty tunes.

Inde and electro fave.

T u e 11 J a n

Fri 07 Jan

Circus Arcade

Lost Weekend

Electric Circus, 17:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 10:30)

Live music, DJs and bandaoke.

Misfits

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 11)

Char t, electro and alternative.

Evol

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Indie, pop and electro.

Pl anet E arth

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Retro from 1970 to 1999.

Adventures In Sound

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 12)

Indie and alternative.

Inkling (Astroboy)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electric Circus, 20:00–01:00, Free

Pop quiz and musical bingo.

Antics The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Rock, indie and punk.

Restless The Store, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electro, breaks and dubstep.

Gay and bi-girl night. In Speakeasy.

Wasabi Disco Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £3 (members free)

Cosmic house, punk and disco.

S u n 16 J a n

Electric Circus, 21:00–01:00, Free

Only new releases.

Frisk y The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Char t, dance and electro.

Ill Behaviour The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£3 after 12)

D’n’B, dubstep and bassline.

Homegrown

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free

New mix of indie, pop and electro.

Coalition Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dubstep, breaks and D’n’B.

Killer Kitsch Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Char t, indie and electro.

Inde and electro fave.

We Got Soul Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funk and soul beats.

Char t, electro and alternative.

Nu Fire

Evol

Hip-hop to dubstep.

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Retro from 1970 to 1999.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Trade Union Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free (£2 after 12)

Any thing goes par ty tunes.

T u e 18 J a n

Adventures In Sound

Circus Arcade

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 12)

Electric Circus, 20:00–01:00, Free

Indie and alternative.

Pop quiz and musical bingo.

Bedbug (Hostage, Jigsaw)

Antics

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5

Special guest night.

Bound For Glory (Fudge Fingas, Kris Wasabi, Colvin Cruickshank, Beefy, Flying Saucer) Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£4 after 12)

DJs play whatever they like, with proceeds going to Oxfam.

In Speakeasy.

Disgracel and Henry’s Cellar, 23:00–03:00, £5

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Rock, indie and punk.

ZZZAP (Kele) The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £10

Bloc Par ty mainman on the decks.

Restless The Store, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electro, breaks and dubstep.

Soul Jam Hot Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Live music, DJs and bandaoke.

Misfits The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 11)

Char t, electro and alternative.

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Retro from 1970 to 1999.

Adventures In Sound

Char t, indie and electro.

Indie and alternative.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Sun 23 Jan

Sick Note

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00,

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

£12

Coalition Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Current and past classics.

M o n 24 J a n Mixed Up The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Hush Electric Circus, 22:00–01:00, Free

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 11)

Char t, electro and alternative.

Evol The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Fakin’ It Henry’s Cellar, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Any thing goes par ty tunes.

T u e 25 J a n Circus Arcade

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5

Pl anet E arth

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Electronic bass.

This Is Music Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–05:00, £3 (members free)

Indie and electro with the Sick Note DJs.

W e d 12 J a n

Char t, dance and retro disco.

Cult retro.

S at 2 2 J a n

His & Hers

Bangers & Mash

Bubblegum

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11)

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 11)

Char t, dance and retro disco.

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 12)

Indie and alternative.

The Store, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electro, breaks and dubstep.

Soul Jam Hot Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funk, soul and hip-hop.

Split Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

D’n’B, breaks and techno.

Rotating DJs.

Tuesday He artbre ak The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Swirling guitars and driving beats.

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11.30)

Indie institution.

Dare Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–05:00, £5

Underground electronic. In Speakeasy.

S u n 30 J a n Rock Show The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Rock, punk and alternative.

Sunday Roast The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free

New mix of indie, pop and electro.

Swingin’ soul.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £15

Restless

The Egg

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5

Sugarbe at (Erol Alk an, Clouds, Utah Saints)

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

House with Stewar t and Steven.

Soulsville

Electric Circus, 20:00–01:00, Free

Rock, indie and punk.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £3 (members free)

Indie, pop and electro.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free (£2 after 12)

Hush

Char t and cheese.

Electric Circus, 17:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 10:30)

Confusion is Sex

Antics

Bubblegum

Lost Weekend

Adventures In Sound

Souloco

W e d 19 J a n

Fri 28 Jan

Retro from 1970 to 1999.

Pop quiz and musical bingo.

S at 15 J a n

Funk and soul beats.

Trade Union

Old-school D’n’B, breaks and electro.

Swirling guitars and driving beats.

Pl aydate

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop to dubstep.

Stepback

Indie and alternative.

New mix of indie, pop and electro.

Celebrator y par ty night.

We Got Soul

Electro to futurebass.

Tuesday He artbre ak

Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 after 12)

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free

Inde and electro fave.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

This Is Music

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 11)

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Circus-themed glam techno.

Karnival 5th Birthday (Andrew Weatherall, Ivan Smagghe)

Hip-hop and dance.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Indie and electro with the Sick Note DJs.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1

Brand new club night.

Funk, soul and hip-hop.

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Ride

A xis (Dem Sl ackers)

Deep to tech-house. In Speakeasy.

52 THE SKINNY January 2011

(£5 after 12)

Nu Fire

D’n’B, breaks and techno.

Rotating DJs.

Cult retro.

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Indie and alternative.

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3 fancy dress)

Be at Control

Octopussy

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11.30)

Hip-hop, char t and R’n’B.

Deep funk to hippity-hop.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–05:00, £3 (members free)

D’n’B, dubstep and bassline.

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £12

Residents and guests, plus visuals from Intlabs.

The Egg

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 12)

Split

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 after 12)

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£3 after 12)

Misfits

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electric Circus, 22:00–01:00, Free

Ladies on the decks. In Speakeasy.

Ill Behaviour

Killer Kitsch

Lo'Tone Collective

The Store, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 after 12.30)

Live music, DJs and bandaoke.

Dancefloor filling beats.

"Dance music in all its Permutations."

Xplicit: 6th Birthday (Sub Focus)

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Dubstep, breaks and D’n’B.

Four Corners

Swirling guitars and driving beats.

Char t, dance and electro.

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Pl anet E arth

after 11)

Frisk y

Evol Indie, pop and electro.

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6

Ladies On Rotation (Simmone Black, Jo Myles, Carina Ramos)

Sunday Roast

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Te ase Age

Indie, rock and soul.

Electric Circus, 17:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 10:30)

Hip-hop, char t and R’n’B.

after 12)

90s rave to power ballads.

Only new releases.

Rock, punk and alternative.

Mixed Up

Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6

Classic disco, funk and electro.

We Own

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Jazz Bar, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Electric Circus, 21:00–01:00, Free

Indie institution.

Split

Tuesday He artbre ak

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£5 after 12)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Punk, blues and rock.

D’n’B, breaks and techno.

Rotating DJs.

Movement

Sick Note

Soul Jam Hot Funk, soul and hip-hop.

Thu 27 Jan

Devil Disco Club

Lost Weekend

Pl anet E arth

£7 (£5)

Underground house and techno.

M o n 17 J a n

Indie, pop and electro.

Lane Nightclub, 22:30–03:00,

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Genre-spanning night.

Rock Show

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

JungleDub

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

F r i 21 J a n

Killer Kitsch

Club 10-86 (Sasha Carassi)

Magic Nostalgic

Electric Circus, 17:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 10:30)

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 11)

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electro, fidget and bassline.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Lost Weekend

Misfits

Char t, dance and retro disco.

Definition

Current and past classics.

Live music, DJs and bandaoke.

D’n’B, dubstep and bassline.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

F r i 14 J a n

Be at Control

after 11)

A xis

Movement

House, disco and techno.

Octopussy

Funk and soul beats.

Old R’n’B and nor thern soul.

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free (£4

Indie, pop and alternative.

Techno special

Liquid D’n’B.

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Henry’s Cellar, 23:00–03:00, £5

Bubblegum

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£1)

Sl ap Bang

Sunday Roast

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Basics

Indigo

Dub, dubstep and jungle.

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Sick Note

Punk, electronic and cult.

Charity headphone disco, with a host of DJs.

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£5 after 12)

Rock, punk and alternative.

Char t, indie and electro.

Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 after 12)

Char t and cheese.

Indie and alternative.

Rock Show

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dubstep, breaks and D’n’B.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Octopussy

We Got Soul

Sunday Roast

Sl ap Bang

Minimal and techno.

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Sun 09 Jan

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dub, dubstep and jungle.

Wire

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11)

Ocean Terminal, 22:00–02:00, £tbc

Thu 20 Jan

Mumbo Jumbo

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free (£3 after 12)

JungleDub

Indie, rock and soul.

Bangers & Mash

Genre-spanning night.

Ill Behaviour: Refreshers Party

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 after 12)

The best in UK bass.

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Cult retro.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £8 (£5)

Char t, dance and electro.

Indie and alternative.

The Caves, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£6 after 11.30)

Baggy Manc classics.

Electric Circus, 22:00–01:00, Free

Headphone Disco (Neolithic, Monterey Jack, ?clair Fifi, Brian d’Souza, Andrew Ingram)

Ultragroove

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£5 after 12)

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Rock, punk and alternative.

Movement

Indie institution.

Frisk y

Dub, dubstep and jungle.

Thu 06 Jan

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11.30)

Be at Control

Inde and electro fave.

Genre-spanning night.

The Egg

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£5)

Rock Show

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Industrial, EBM, and goth.

Velvet

JungleDub Sl ap Bang

Henry’s Cellar, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£4 after 12)

Only new releases.

Breaks and bassline crew.

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Indie, rock and soul.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Electro, fidget and bassline.

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£5 after 12)

Wed 26 Jan Hush

Genre-mashing DJ sets.

Techno For Bre akfast Henry’s Cellar, 23:00–03:00, £5

Techno and electro.

Vintage Violence Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £4

Garage, soul and junk-shop.

This Is Music Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–05:00, £3 (members free)

Indie and electro with the Sick Note DJs.

S at 2 9 J a n VEGAS! Voodoo Rooms, 20:30–01:00, £5

60s fun and showgirls a-go-go.

Coalition Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dubstep, breaks and D’n’B.

Killer Kitsch Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Current and past classics.

M o n 31 J a n Mixed Up The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Hip-hop, char t and R’n’B.

Trade Union Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free (£2 after 12)

Any thing goes par ty tunes.

DUNDEE MUSIC bar / live music / club / private karaoke rooms

!p goss

cOmINg sOON...

Student Sundays are back!

Weekly. See Facebook for details.

lost

FRIDAYs

WEEKEND cocktail of the week £5

bar open from 5pm Fridays 7pm Free live music & dj residencies.

LIVE BANDAOKE

Sing on stage with our house band, The Bearded Ladies! 150+ songs, see if they know your favourite 10pm weekly. Free entry beFore 10.30/£5

midnight-3am £5 1960s - 2010 pop/rock/indie/disco/rave/party

SAT 15 JAN ASYLUM

FRI 21 JAN

TWA BAD PENNIES, DARREN CAMPBELL

BEASTIE, IAN BLACK

Chilled tunes.

Acoustic singers session.

SAT 08 JAN

SAT 22 JAN

FRI 07 JAN

DOGHOUSE OPEN DECK

DOGHOUSE ROCK

HE ADWAY

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30,

Indie, retro pop and rock.

DOGHOUSE, 20:00–23:45, £3

DOGHOUSE, 20:00–23:45, FREE

DJ showcase night.

MON 10 JAN RUMOURS OF FLEETWOOD MAC

CAIRD HALL, 20:00–22:30, £22.50

Fleetwood Mac tribute.

FRI 14 JAN COURTNEY STUART, EMMA WILLIAMSON, SARAH BIRD, ELLIE FRASER, STEPH DOGHOUSE, 20:00–23:45, £3

Acoustic singers session.

SAT 15 JAN 10:04S

Indie punksters.

DOGHOUSE, 20:00–23:45, £3

DOGHOUSE, 20:00–23:45, £5

Alternative rock showcase.

FRI 28 JAN DUNDEE SUPER GROUP DOGHOUSE, 20:00–23:45, £5

Acoustic session from the Dundee crew.

SAT 29 JAN LORD LUKEN, RUSH HOUR SOUL, PANIC BY FLARE, BALACLAVA MODELS, BOSTON TEA PARTY DOGHOUSE, 20:00–23:45, £5

Host of live bands, with proceeds going to Cancer Research.

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30,

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £5

£3.50 (£5)

Rock, metal and punk.

Rock and roll.

£TBC

FRI 21 JAN FELT

House and techno.

SAT 22 JAN

RENEGADES

ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Electro, trip-hop and funk.

Rock, metal and punk.

SAT 08 JAN

FRI 28 JAN

ASYLUM

BE ARTRAP

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £5

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Rock, metal and punk.

Ar t rock, indie and punk.

FRI 14 JAN

SAT 29 JAN

TRANSMISSION

ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Indie, pop and hardcore.

Rock, metal and punk.

T H E AT R E

2nd sAT mONTHLY 10:30pm-3am

3rd sAT mONTHLY 11pm-3am art punk/ electronic love/ cult independia

GLASGOW

KING’S THEATRE

KING’S THEATRE

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

SNOW WHITE VARIOUS TIMES, 04 JAN—09 JAN, NOT 5TH, FROM £12.75

Fairytale panto. Matinee performances also available.

10:30pm-3am

LAsT sATURDAY mONTHLY

IN THE FLESH 07:30PM, 12 JAN, £26

Pink Floyd experience.

LIVE mUsIc

29.01

THU 06 JAN FEVER

FRI 07 JAN

DOGHOUSE, 20:00–23:45, £5

sATURDAY cLUBs

DUNDEE CLUBS

WE WILL ROCK YOU

with EAsY TIgERs, VERY WELL

07:30PM, 18 JAN—29 JAN, NOT 23RD, FROM £11.50

Queen meets Ben Elton for sci-fi musical.

THEATRE ROYAL THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN

07.02

07:15PM, 21 JAN—29 JAN, FROM £8.50–FROM £13.50

Intimate Opera

TRON THEATRE

16.02 JAmEs APOLLO & JOsHUA

FLO WHITE 07:30PM, 04 JAN—08 JAN, FROM £9

Annual panto from the Tron, and slightly more unusual than most.

THE USHERS 08:00PM, 18 JAN—22 JAN, £9 (£7)

Can friendship conquer all?

17.02 7pm

THE BREATHING HOUSE 08:00PM, 26 JAN—29 JAN, £9 (£7)

A gothic tale of friendship, death, sex and public health.

VARIOUS TIMES, 05 JAN—23 JAN, NOT 10TH, 17TH, FROM £11.50

Annual pantomime fun with Grant Stott. Matinee performances also available.

PLAYHOUSE HAIRSPRAY 07:30PM, 04 JAN—08 JAN, FROM £18.50

Big hair and Michael Ball. Matinee performances also available.

SWAN LAKE ON ICE VARIOUS TIMES, 18 JAN—22 JAN, FROM £21

Tchaikovsky music, a classic love story and sparkly costumes.

THE RAT PACK: VEGAS SPECTACULAR 07:30PM, 27 JAN, FROM £16

Classic songs, and the Vegas showgirls doing their thing.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE VARIOUS TIMES, 14 JAN—29 JAN, NOT 16TH, 17TH, 23RD, 24TH, FROM £12.50

Arthur Miller’s modern social tragedy set in a post-war New York.

TRAVERSE DITTO VARIOUS TIMES, 20 JAN—22 JAN, £6

22.02 7pm

EDINBURGH 09.03 7pm NAPOLEON IIIRD

BEDLAM THEATRE CIGARETTES AND CHOCOLATE

HALF PRIcE

Karaoke for January.

From £1.25!

CALL & QUOTE ‘SKINNY’ TO BOOK 0131 226 4224

www.theelectriccircus.biz 36-39 Market Street. 0131 226 4224 Tickets: ticketweb.co.uk 08444 77 1000 Ripping Records, Tickets Scotland.

Facebook/twitter: electriccircusedinburgh

DUNDEE

02:30PM, 26 JAN, £4

DUNDEE REP

FESTIVAL THEATRE

SLEEPING BEAUTY

THE SECRET GARDEN

ATTENTION sKINNY PEOPLE!!!

Exploring the space between sounds, thought and our emotions.

VARIOUS TIMES, 04 JAN—08 JAN, FROM £13

07:30PM, 05 JAN—08 JAN, £14.50 (£10)

Festive fairytale sparkle.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel comes to wondrous life.

BREAKIN’ RULES

SCOTTISH BALLET: CINDERELLA

HANGING IN THERE/FALLOUT

VARIOUS TIMES, 12 JAN—15 JAN, FROM £11.50

Balletic take on Cinders.

07:30PM, 14 JAN—15 JAN, £8 (£5)

Hip-hop dance theatre.

08:00PM, 27 JAN, £14 (£7)

One-off double bill.

THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN

DOORWAYS IN DRUMORTY

07:15PM, 21, 22, 27, 29 JAN, FROM £8.50–FROM £13.50

The rural North East in the 1920s.

07:30PM, 28 JAN, £14 (£7)

FIND MORE LISTINGS ONLINE

Intimate Opera

JANUARY 2011

THE SKINNY 53

COMEDY GLASGOW Tue 04 Jan Red Raw (Scott Agnew, Daniel Sloss, Sarah Cassidy) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2 (£1)

Open mic beginner’s showcase.

Wed 05 Jan Wicked Wenches (Jo Enright, Debra Jane Appleby, Ailsa Johnston) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£3)

All-female stand-up. Hosted by Susan Calman.

Thu 06 Jan The Thursday Show (Tony Burgess, Steven Dick, Debra Jane Appleby, Derek Johnston) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4)

Headliners and newcomers. Hosted

by Bruce Devlin.

Fri 07 Jan Highlight Comedy Highlight, 19:00–23:00, £12

Live stand-up.

The Friday Show (Tony Burgess, Steven Dick, Debra Jane Appleby, Derek Johnston) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5)

Prime stand-up. Hosted by Bruce Devlin.

ART

Thu 20 Jan

Thu 06 Jan

Sun 16 Jan

The Thursday Show (Gavin Webster, Andy Sir, Alex Maple, Mark Davies)

The Thursday Show (Kevin Gildea, Jo Enright, Scott Agnew, Gordon Alexander)

Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4)

Headliners and newcomers. Hosted

by Joe Heenan.

Fri 21 Jan The Friday Show (Gavin Webster, Andy Sir, Alex Maple, Mark Davies) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5)

Prime stand-up. Hosted by Joe Heenan.

Sat 22 Jan Secret Policeman’s Ball (Chris Henry, Billy Kirkwood, Des Clarke)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4)

Headliners and newcomers. Hosted

by Raymond Mearns.

Fri 07 Jan Fit O’ The Giggles (Graeme Thomas, Alan Sharp, Paul Cronin) Beehive Inn, 21:00–23:00, £5

The Stand, 13:30–15:00, Free

Improvised comedy skectches.

The Sunday Laugh-In (Quincy, John Gavin, Ray Bradshaw, Mark Davies) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£1)

Chilled comedy. Hosted by Sian Bevan.

Mon 17 Jan

Fri 28 Jan The Friday Fix (Vladimir Mctavish, Viv Gee, James Kirk, Cammy Sinclair, Billy Kirkwood)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2 (£1)

Open mic beginner’s showcase.

The Friday Show

Absolute Beginners Beehive Inn, 20:30–23:00, £2 (£1)

Live stand-up.

Thu 20 Jan

Beehive Inn, 21:00–23:00, £5

Fit O’ The Giggles (Graeme Thomas, Alan Sharp, Paul Cronin)

The Thursday Show (Carl Donnelly, Keir McAllister, Chris Ramsey, Alan Sharp)

Live comedy. Hosted by Keara

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service (Chris Ramsey, Niall Browne, Richard Melvin, Alan Scott) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£1)

The Irish funnyman hosts.

Beehive Inn, 21:00–23:00, £5

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4)

Live comedy. Hosted by Keara Murphy.

Headliners and newcomers. Hosted

by Susan Morrison.

The Saturday Show (Kevin Gildea, Jo Enright, Scott Agnew, Gordon Alexander)

Fri 21 Jan

Weekend laughs. Hosted by Raymond Mearns.

Fit O’ The Giggles: Burns Supper (Vladimir McTavish, Keara Murphy, Dave McLennan)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Beehive Inn, 19:30–23:00, £25

Sun 09 Jan

Live comedy, supper and ceilidh.

Hosted by Keara Murphy.

Homegrown acts special.

Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

Sun 09 Jan

Phil Differ

The Stand, 13:30–15:00, Free

Improvised comedy skectches.

The Friday Show (Carl Donnelly, Keir McAllister, Chris Ramsey, Alan Sharp)

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service (Steven Dick, Jeff O’Boyle, Phil O’Shea, Ray Bradshaw, Julia Sutherland)

Avuncular comic and writer.

The Sunday Laugh-In

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5)

Tue 25 Jan

Chilled comedy. Hosted by Scott Agnew.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£5)

13th Note, 21:00–23:30, £tbc

Red Raw (Derek Johnston) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2 (£1)

The Irish funnyman hosts.

Open mic beginner’s showcase.

Tue 11 Jan

Wed 26 Jan

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2 (£1)

Open mic beginner’s showcase.

Wed 12 Jan How Do I Get Up There?

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£2.50)

Sketch trio. Hosted by Jeff O’Boyle.

Thu 13 Jan The Thursday Show (Mark Maier, Steve Day, Kim MacAskill) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4)

The Best of Irish Comedy (Shane Browne) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £7 (£6/£3)

Sat 15 Jan The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4)

Headliners and newcomers. Hosted

by Sandy Nelson.

Fri 28 Jan

Prime stand-up. Hosted by Sandy Nelson.

Sat 29 Jan The Saturday Show (Junior Simpson, Stu & Garry, Shane Browne) The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Weekend laughs. Hosted by Sandy Nelson.

Sun 16 Jan

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service (Ivor Dembina, Gerry McDade)

The Irish funnyman hosts.

Tue 18 Jan Red Raw (Bruce Fummey, John Ross) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2 (£1)

Open mic beginner’s showcase.

Wed 19 Jan

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£1)

The Irish funnyman hosts.

EDINBU R G H Tue 04 Jan Wicked Wenches (Jo Enright, Debra Jane Appleby, Ailsa Johnston) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£3)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £4 (£2)

Madcap cabaret session. Hosted by Gavin Webster.

54 THE SKINNY January 2011

Live comedy, supper and ceilidh.

Hosted by Keara Murphy.

Melting Pot The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£2.50)

Comedy sketches chosen by the audience.

Thu 13 Jan The Thursday Show (Ian Cognito, Quincy, JoJo Sutherland, Ben Verth) The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4)

Sun 23 Jan The Stand, 13:30–15:00, Free

The Sunday Laugh-In The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£1)

Chilled comedy. Hosted by Jeff O’Boyle.

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5)

Prime stand-up. Hosted by Joe Heenan.

Sat 15 Jan Fit O’ The Giggles (Gus Tawse, Gus Lymburn, Richard Gadd) Beehive Inn, 21:00–23:00, £5

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Weekend laughs. Hosted by Joe Heenan.

Mearns.

Sat 29 Jan Smokescreens and Castles: Russell Kane The Pleasance, 20:00–22:00, £10 (£6)

Edinburgh Comedy Award winner tours the country.

Fit O’ The Giggles (Neil McFarlane, Gus Lymburn, Chris Scoular) Beehive Inn, 21:00–23:00, £5

Live comedy. Hosted by Keara Murphy.

The Saturday Show The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

The Stand, 13:30–15:00, Free

Calman.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2 (£1)

Open mic beginner’s showcase.

Absolute Beginners

Tue 25 Jan Fit O’ The Giggles: Burns Supper (Vladimir McTavish, Keara Murphy, Dave McLennan)

DUNDEE

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£3)

Scotch selection. Hosted by Bruce Devlin.

Various times, 04 Jan—30 Jan, not 10th, 17th, 24th, Free

Quadruple-hander between Eileen Cooper, David Mach, Neil MacPherson and Michael Visocchi.

School of Art Living Today

Various times, 15 Jan—29 Jan, not 16th, 23rd, Free

Group exhibition presenting artists whose work explores aspects of the society they live in.

Sculpture Studio

EarthwormandTambour-Powder

The Young Vermeer

Various times, 04 Jan—16 Jan, Free

Sculptural works from Deniz Uster and Tom Harrup.

EDINBU R G H Axo Gallery Domestic Bliss 10:00AM, 22 Jan—23 Jan, Free

Members show, based around their take on ‘domestic bliss’.

Bourne Fine Art Katharine Aarrestad

Sat 22 Jan

Annual showing of Turner’s watercolours, brought out just one month a year.

City Art Centre Ian Hamilton Finlay

Works inspired by prose, poetry and song.

10:00AM, 10 Jan—25 Jan, not 16th, 23rd, Free

Various times, 04 Jan—30 Jan, £tbc

Exhibition of two recently-acquired stone sculptures, alongside prints and a group of photographs of Little Sparta.

Spirit Of Air: Inscriptions by Lizzie Farey Various times, 04 Jan—30 Jan, Free

A new body of expressive willow works.

Window To The West: The Rediscovery of Highland Art Various times, 04 Jan—30 Jan, £tbc

Asking questions about art and the Highlands, both historical and contemporary.

Collective Gallery Anxious Glory: Christmas Window Display 2010 09:00AM, 04 Jan—06 Jan, Free

Whilst Collective’s closed for Christmas, the windows are lit-up with Laura White’s specially-commissioned display.

11:00AM, 07 Jan—30 Jan, not 10th, 17th, 24th, Free

10:00AM, 15 Jan—29 Jan, not 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, Free

Abstract mosaics, prompted by the invasion of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Defense Force.

Out of the Blue Drill Hall Wandelung

10:00AM, 07 Jan—15 Jan, not 9th, Free

Paintings and poetry by Karl Sylvester, alongside new piano works from

by Vroni Holzmann.

Maryam Hashemi, Haleh Jamali 10:00AM, 24 Jan—29 Jan, Free

Paintings and installations by two contemporary Iranian artists.

RSA 10 Dialogues: Richard Demarco

Various times, 04 Jan—09 Jan, £tbc

Addressing the percieved imbalance of Scottish art and the place of Scotland in a European context.

Stills Social Documents: The Ethics of Encounter Part 2 11:00AM, 04 Jan—30 Jan, Free

Looking at alternative means to engage with social realities.

Talbot Rice Gallery Rosemarie Trockel: Drawings, Collages and Book Drafts 10:00AM, 29 Jan, Free

Presentation of Trockel’s works on paper, taking in 30 years of graphic output.

The Henderson Gallery

Members Show

Drawing together the differing stages of artistic practice.

Sorcha Dallas

The Embassy crew’s annual members show.

Sophie Macpherson

11:00AM, 14 Jan—29 Jan, not 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, Free

New body of bold, colourful and abstract works from the GSA graduate.

Street Level Photoworks Revealing The Invisible: The Art of Stansfield and Hookas Various times, 04 Jan—30 Jan, not 10th, 17th, 24th, Free

Seminal visual arts duo. Doublehander with the CCA.

The Common Guild Tacita Dean

12:00PM, 22 Jan—30 Jan, not 24th, 25th, 26th, Free

Fruitmarket Childish Things Various times, 04 Jan—23 Jan, Free

Works from seven different artists, looking at what curator David Hopkins terms the ‘dark poetics’ of childhood.

Henderson’s Restaurant and Arts Venue Roddy Martine: Scenes From A Life 08:00AM, 04 Jan—29 Jan, not 9th, 16th, 23rd, Free

Personal snapshots of recognisable figures.

12:00PM, Multiple dates, Free

Natural forms as still life, focusing on growth, transformation and demise.

Various times, 14 Jan—29 Jan, not 16th, 23rd, Free

New solo body of work.

Dundee Rep, 20:00–22:30, £12 (£9)

10:00AM, 04 Jan—30 Jan, Free

Past, Present & Future

Dirk Bell

Double bill of hit Fringe comics.

National Gallery Turner in 2011

Embassy Gallery

Dundee Rep, 20:00–22:30, £15.50 (£12)

Daniel Sloss, Kai Humphries

Comprehensive exhibition of Surrealist art.

Quadruple hander between Audrey Capel Doray, Lotte Gertz, Hanna Sandin and Nicolas Party.

12:00PM, 04 Jan—15 Jan, not 9th, 10th, Free

The Modern Institute

Sat 29 Jan

10:00AM, 04 Jan—09 Jan, £7 (£5)

Open Eye Gallery

Part of the New Work Scotland series, supporting new creatives.

Craig Hill: Why Don’t You Come Down The Front?

No-holds-barred comedy.

Gallery of Modern Art Another World

Painted Words

New work inspired by a John Godsir sculpture, taken from a cast of a medically-anatomised corpse.

Various times, 04 Jan—11 Jan, Free

Intimate display of paintings by a young Vermeer.

Various times, 04 Jan—15 Jan, not 9th, Free

Nicolas Party, Catherine Payton

09:00AM,04Jan–29Jan,not9th,16th,23rd,Free

10:00AM, 04 Jan—30 Jan, Free

Reverse painting on glass.

Christine Borland

Interference With Twigs

Beehive Inn, 20:30–23:00, £2 (£1)

The Best of Scottish Comedy (Sandy Nelson, Andy Sir)

Print Studio Academicans

The Sunday Laugh-In (Stu & Garry, Woody, Gus Lymburn)

Short comic sets.

Wed 26 Jan

Contemporary photography, video and installation from artists based outside the UK.

Mary Mary

Short comic sets.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£5)

Various times, 04 Jan—30 Jan, Free

Improvised comedy skectches.

Red Raw (Scott Agnew, Neil McFarlane)

Homegrown acts special. Hosted by Susan Morrison.

Unsettled Objects

Portraits by inmates, in collaboration with artists Kevin Reid and Fraser Gray, and photographersCraig MacLeanandFinMacrae.

Exhibition-cum-sale, raising funds for the Riverside Museum Appeal.

Red Raw

Burns Night Special (Sandy Nelson, Graeme Thomas)

Playful works from artists including David Shrigley, Roderick Buchanan and Beagles & Ramsay.

10:00AM, 04 Jan—16 Jan, Free

Trongate 103

Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

Mon 31 Jan

Live comedy, supper and ceilidh.

Hosted by Keara Murphy.

Various times, 04 Jan—30 Jan, Free

Mirrors: Prison Portraits

Glam burlesque life-drawing class.

Edinburgh Printmakers

Beehive Inn, 19:30–23:00, £30

Beehive Inn, 19:30–23:00, £30

Gallery of Modern Art Hertie Querty

04:00PM, 30 Jan, £7 (£5)

John Goto: Mosaic

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£1)

Beehive Inn, 20:30–23:00, £2 (£1)

08:00PM,Tue4th,Tue11th,Tue18th,Tue25th,£4

National Gallery Complex

Kelvingrove

Chilled comedy. Hosted by Susan

Absolute Beginners

Solo work from Cody Smith, dealing with the subject of memory.

Tron Theatre

The River Runs Through It

Mon 24 Jan

Open mic beginner’s showcase.

Hosted by Sian Bevan.

Various times, 13 Jan—30 Jan, not 17th, 24th, Free

Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School

Sun 30 Jan

Fit O’ The Giggles: Burns Supper (Vladimir McTavish, Keara Murphy, Dave McLennan)

Fri 14 Jan

The Friday Show (Ian Cognito, Quincy, JoJo Sutherland, Ben Verth)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5)

Prime stand-up. Hosted by Raymond

Mearns.

Weekend laughs. Hosted by Susan Morrison.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2 (£1)

Beehive Inn, 21:00–23:00, £5

The Friday Show

Weekend laughs. Hosted by Raymond

Headliners and newcomers. Hosted

by Joe Heenan.

Live comedy. Hosted by Keara Murphy.

Murphy.

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Live comedy, supper and ceilidh.

Hosted by Keara Murphy.

Fit O’ The Giggles (Gus Tawse, Gus Lymburn, Richard Gadd)

Fit O’ The Giggles (Neil McFarlane, Gus Lymburn, Chris Scoular)

The Saturday Show

Wed 12 Jan

Wed 05 Jan The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £4 (£2)

Beehive Inn, 19:30–23:00, £25

Improvised comedy skectches.

The Saturday Show (Ian Cognito, Quincy, JoJo Sutherland, Ben Verth)

Midweek Comedy Cabaret

Fit O’ The Giggles: Burns Supper (Vladimir McTavish, Keara Murphy, Dave McLennan)

Whose Lunch Is It Anyway?

Live comedy. Hosted by Keara Murphy.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £7 (£5)

Sat 22 Jan

Madcap cabaret session.

All-female stand-up. Hosted by Susan Calman.

Benefit Night (Gavin Webster) Comedy in aid of Marie Curie Hospice in Glasgow.

Beehive Inn, 20:30–23:00, £2 (£1)

Midweek Comedy Cabaret

Sun 30 Jan

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£1)

Absolute Beginners

The Thursday Show (Junior Simpson, Stu & Garry, Shane Browne)

Weekend laughs. Hosted by Scott Agnew.

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service (Steve Day, Sean Grant, Martin McAllister, Lucy Oldham)

Open mic beginner’s showcase.

Tue 11 Jan

Fri 14 Jan

The Saturday Show

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2 (£1)

Thu 27 Jan

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5)

Prime stand-up. Hosted by Scott Agnew.

Red Raw (Billy Kirkwood, Michael J. Dolan)

Short comic sets.

The Friday Show (Junior Simpson, Stu & Garry, Shane Browne)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5)

Mon 10 Jan

Celtic headliners and newcomers.

Hosted by Michael Redmond.

Headliners and newcomers. Hosted

by Scott Agnew.

The Friday Show (Mark Maier, Steve Day, Kim MacAskill)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£1)

Prime stand-up. Hosted by Susan Morrison.

Gray

Drawing class with a backdrop of DJ beats and a bar to the side.

Highlight, 19:00–23:00, £13

Sun 23 Jan

Cafe Cossachok

and DJs.

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £13

Weekend laughs. Hosted by Joe Heenan.

Seminal visual arts duo. Double-hander with Street Level Photoworks.

Flying Duck

Highlight Comedy (Billy Kirkwood, Gus Tawse, Kai Humphries, Stu Who?)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7)

11:00AM, 05 Jan—29 Jan, not 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, Free

All The Young Nudes

The Saturday Show (Gavin Webster, Andy Sir, Alex Maple, Mark Davies)

Gag-packing youngster.

CCA Revealing The Invisible: The Art of Stansfield and Hookas

Voodoo Rooms, 18:00–01:00, £16

Andrew O’Neill: Occult Comedian

Tue 18 Jan

G L A S G OW

Live comedy, followed by a band

Sat 08 Jan

Burns Night Special (Scott Agnew, Daniel Sloss, Gus Tawse)

Red Raw (Gavin Webster, Michael J. Dolan)

by Raymond Mearns.

Comedy benefit, in aid of Amnesty International.

QMU, 19:30–22:30, £5

Highlight Comedy (Patrick Rolink, Mikey Adams, Steve Harris, Des Clarke)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£1)

Headliners and newcomers. Hosted

Short comic sets.

Mon 24 Jan

Highlight, 19:00–23:00, £15

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4)

Prime stand-up. Hosted by Raymond Mearns.

Sat 08 Jan

Live stand-up.

The Thursday Show (Chris McCausland, Caroline Robertson)

Red Raw (Davey See, John Ross)

Live comedy. Hosted by Keara Murphy.

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5)

Thu 27 Jan

Ingleby Gallery A Little Bit Of Magic Realised 10:00AM, 04 Jan—29 Jan, not 9th, 16th, 23rd, Free

A look at the careers of two cameraless photographers, Susan Derges and Gary Fabian Miller.

11:00AM, 04 Jan—08 Jan, Free

Total Kunst Three Piece Suite: Green Room 10:00AM, 04 Jan—09 Jan, Free

Installation using neon light, acetate prints, and knitted pieces.

DUNDEE DCA Jonathan Horowitz: Minimalist Works From The Holocaust Museum

Various times, 04 Jan—30 Jan, not 10th, 17th, 24th, Free

New work in response to Horowitz visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

Duncan of Jordanstone Textile Design Work In Progress

Various times, 17 Jan—28 Jan, not 23rd, Free

Works in progress, in print, knit, weave and mixed media. In the Bradshaw Gallery space.

Inverleith House

Generator Projects

Days

Marc Camille Chaimowicz

Annual Members Show

An assembly of works by Lucy Clout, Sarah Forrest and Alastair Frazer.

Interconnected installations of new and historical work.

Transmission Gallery 11:00AM, 04 Jan—22 Jan, not 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, Free

10:30AM, 04 Jan—29 Jan, not 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, Free

12:00PM, 21 Jan—30 Jan, not 24th, 25th, 26th, Free

Members showcase.

CRYSTAL BAWS

STARTER FOR ELEVEN:

Talib Kweli

WITH MYSTIC MARK

Influential New York MC Talib Kweli battles through a round of hip-hop history for the unrivalled glory of a haggis supper Quizmaster: Dave Kerr Q1. Which Jamaican DJ born Clive Campbell is known as “the man who started it all”?

Kool Herc.

A. DJ Kool Herc (1 point) Q2. Which New York rapper, born Gabriel Jackson, is credited with originating the term ‘hip-hop’?

I’m gonna guess…is that Grandmaster Flash?

A. Spoonie Gee (0 points) Q3. Who were the first rap artists to be inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in 2007?

Run DMC. A. Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five (in 2007) (0 points) Q4. Born in London in 1965, which Grammy nominated rapper recorded tracks such as Children’s Story and Hey Young World?

Slick Rick.

A. Slick Rick (1 point) Q5. A point for each member of De La Soul – any incarnation of their names…

Trugoy, Plug One, Dave Posdnus, Plug Wonder Why, Plug Two, Maseo, Vincent ‘Maseo’ Mason, Plug Three…

A. Kelvin Mercer (AKA Posdnuos, Mercenary, Plug Wonder Why, Plug One), David Jude Jolicoeur (AKA Trugoy the Dove, Dave, Plug Two) and Vincent Mason (AKA P.A. Pasemaster Mase, Maseo, Plug Three) (3 points) Q6. Who was known occasionally as Plug 4 or The Undertaker?

Prince Paul.

A. ‘Prince’ Paul Huston (1 point) For a bonus point, can you name all three groups he’s been a part of?

Gravediggaz, Stetsasonic and Handsome Boy Modeling School.

A. Gravediggaz, Stetsasonic and Handsome Boy Modeling School (1 point) Q7. Which group debuted on the 3rd Bass song The Gas Face in ‘89 before finally releasing their own album titled Mr Hood in 1991?

KMD. A. KMD (1 point) A bonus point if you can name the MC who eventually emerged from that group to have great solo success since 1997.

Zev Love X, AKA MF DOOM. A. Daniel ‘DOOM’ Dumile (known in his KMD days as Zev Love X) (1 point) Q8. Which influential South Bronx group was dubbed after the area’s nickname?

A. Oh, Boogie Down Productions.

A. Boogie Down Productions (1 point) Q9. Which abstract MC from Queens invited a hard rock vocalist to guest on his 1999 solo debut simply because they shared the same birth name?

Wow, I have no idea.

A. Q-Tip (birth name Jonathan Davis) enlisted Korn frontman Jonathan Davis to sing on End Of Time (0 points) Q10. What is ‘industry rule #4,080’?

A. Record company people are shady.

A. Record company people are shady (a lyric from A Tribe Called Quest’s Check The Rhime on 1991 album The Low End Theory) (1 point) Q11. Who was the first MC to sign to a major label?

Kurtis Blow A. Kurtis Blow (signed by Mercury in 1979) (1 point) A respectable 12 points rockets Mr Kweli to the top of the leaderboard, A delighted Mr Kweli: "Oh really? Daaamn."

• Shortly after this quiz our reigning champ triggered a fierce Twitter debate over who really coined the term ‘hip-hop’. Did Wikipedia lie to us? Was Talib robbed of a point? Answers on a post card.

ARIES 21 MAR – 20 APR Oh hai Arians! Whilst watching The Room on DVD you start the new year by forming a spiritually unbreakable bond of empathy with Tommy Wiseau.

Thereafter you finally “understand lyfe”. In Tommy’s case life began when he was ripped out of the womb as a foetus, stamped on with a golf shoe then stuffed back up his mother and left to finish growing.

a

TAURUS 21 APR – 21 MAY Uranus has been bleeding since a NASA probe visited it in 2010, and it enters your sign this month. You have my sympathies.

b

GEMINI 22 MAY – 21 JUN Writhing in a Sleep of Kali comedown, your eyes like rotten crab apples, you promise yourself you’ll never, ever let yourself feel this bad again, ever.

Exactly like you did at the start of last year. You rat-louse!

c

First Cut:

Talib Kweli's Cold Rain Introducing the lead single from his forthcoming fifth solo album, Talib Kweli says a good beat is a terrible thing to waste Cold Rain is a track I got from Ski Beatz, who has been one of my favorite producers since [Jay-Z’s 1996 debut] Reasonable Doubt. He brings such an inspirational flavor. I’ve had it since I was working on [2007’s] Eardrum; some pieces of music are so powerful that you don’t want to taint them by rapping all over them.

There are beats I have from [eminent late producer] J Dilla and [Reflection Eternal partner] Hi-Tek on my laptop right now that are incredible but I’ve never rapped to them because I didn’t want to destroy the sanctity or integrity of the track by adding my two cents to it. Cold Rain was one of those tracks that I’d written maybe four songs to before the one you hear on this album.

It was so powerful that I had to keep revising what I did; the first draft wasn’t going to cut it.[Dave Kerr]

CANCER 22 JUN – 23 JUL You have an enviously luscious loaf of hair. High five!

d

LEO 24 JUL – 23 AUG How’re you that orange?

It’s freezing out there yet you look like Dale Winton marinated in Ronseal! Your resolution should be to NOT hang out of a party limo on Sauchiehall Street with your pink cowboy-hatted, arse-cleavaged pals this year. Also, don’t smear your roadkill labia against the glass at pedestrians again, don’t projectile vomit blue WKD, and don’t stagger all night on your highheeled hooves cackling at nothing.

I mean, for the love of God!

e

VIRGO 24 AUG – 23 SEP Ha ha, you big lunatic!

What, whenever you look up into the sky you see crabs, bulls, lions and virgins?

f

Talib Kweli’s new album Gutter Rainbows is released via Duck Down on 31 Jan www.yearoftheblacksmith.com

LIBRA 24 SEP – 23 OCT Venus entering your sign this month gives you extra energy and makes you scream “HADOUKEN” every time you orgasm. After the flash you’ll

g

find yourself wet-humping a collection of mangled, steaming organs and charred bone.

SCORPIO 24 OCT – 22 NOV I sense your disappointment. We were promised the video call watch way back in the 50s and all you have that’s close to a robot is an Eastern European man named Pavel who doesn’t have an English language setting, sneers at every command you give him and runs solely on “feesh butter”, or as you more commonly know it, tuna mayonnaise.

h

i

SAGITTARIUS 23 NOV – 21 DEC

Sagittarians, stubborn as they are, never listen to me when I say the end of the world is nigh!

Well, you’re all going to feel so stupid when the apocalypse comes and we’re sat around a camp fire eating babies together.

j

CAPRICORN 22 DEC – 20 JAN

Yeah, I don’t like Simon Cowell either, but murdering him won’t solve the problem. He’s like Hitler. Kill him and someone even worse will just step in to fill his shoes. An example needs to be made. Try shoving a triumphant fistful of wasps up him, then sew him up. That always works.

AQUARIUS 21 JAN – 19 FEB You make masturbation a science this month, coming so many times and so powerfully the seminal fluid turns to resin and your bedroom ends up looking like a xenomorph’s lair. Who says romance is dead?

k

PISCES 20 FEB – 20 MAR You ponder what the final end product of any higher intelligence race would likely be, surmising the eventual goal of any species in the universe would be to achieve the status of a deity, as we define one. Sadly, you conclude, the human deity will most probably be a blind idiot god with an app for tearing holes in reality whilst it LOLs for aeons in pea-brained amusement.

l

January 2011

THE SKINNY 55

New Shape MINI One with PEPPER Pack made surprisingly affordable by Peter Vardy

Low Rate Finance.

New Shape Limited Stock Available with five years complimentary servicing.

Interior Mood Lighting Bluetooth Phone Preparation Air Conditioning · 15” Alloy Wheels Front Fog Lights · Up to 64.2 mpg MINI One with PEPPER Pack 46 monthly payments On the road cash price† Peter Vardy Incentive Customer Deposit First monthly payment

£189 £14,565 £1683.04 £699 £189

Amount of credit Optional final payment Total amount payable Contract mileage Excess mileage charge per mile

£12,182.96 £5,691.34 £16,956.38 8000 3.30p

6.8% APR Typical

PETER VARDY EDINBURGH

19 Seafield Road, Edinburgh EH15 1ED Tel. 0131 341 0824 www.petervardymini.co.uk Finance example is based on a 48 month MINI Select agreement for the model shown, a MINI One with PEPPER Pack. Vehicle condition charges may apply. †On the road cash price includes 12 months road fund licence, first vehicle registration fee, delivery, number plates and VAT. Figures are correct at time of going to print and are subject to change without notice. All finance is subject to status and available to over 18s in the UK only (excluding the Channel Islands).Guarantees and indemnities may be required. We can arrange finance and hiring facilities for you. Images for illustration purposes only. Figures are correct at time of going to print and are subject to change without notice. All finance is subject to status and available to over 18s in the UK only (excluding the Channel Islands). Guarantees and indemnities may be required. We can arrange finance and hiring facilities for you.* Cars must be registered before 24.12.10.