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“Howay” (that’s Geordie for, “Come and join us”)
For a city break decked with a roster of top-notch culture, gigs and performances, visit NewcastleGateshead. Find out what’s happening and plan your city break at
www.NewcastleGateshead.com @altweet_pet #TheTyneisNow facebook.com/NewcastleGateshead
Win a NewcastleGateshead
Kings of Leon
city break
St James’ Park Sat 31 May
Find out more at NewcastleGateshead.com
Travel to Newcastle by train. For the lowest East Coast Advance fares book direct at eastcoast.co.uk Terms & conditions apply. Subject to availability.
Sunday 15 June
EMMA STEVENS SOUND CONTROL Sunday 06 April
EMILY & THE WOODS SOUND CONTROL Sunday 6th April
SIMONE FELICE THE DEAF INSTITUTE Tuesday 8 April
CHRYSTA BELL SACRED TRINITY CHURCH Saturday 12 April
PAUL THOMAS SAUNDERS SOUP KITCHEN
Saturday 12 April
UB40 MANCHESTER ACADEMY Sunday 13 April
FATHERSON GULLIVERS
Sunday 13 April
ASGEIR THE DEAF INSTITUTE Wednesday 16 April
AUGUSTINES ACADEMY 2
Thursday 17 April
JAMES BLUNT O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER Friday 18 April
A PLASTIC ROSE THE CASTLE
SCOTT MATTHEWS THE DEAF INSTITUTE Thursday 24 April
WILDFLOWERS SOUND CONTROL Friday 25 April
LUCERO THE DEAF INSTITUTE Sunday 27 April
EVERLAST GORILLA
Thursday 15 May
THE FALL MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL Friday 16 May
BELINDA CARLISLE MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL Saturday 17 May
S CAREY (OF BON IVER) RNCM
KINS THE CASTLE
HIGHASAKITE THE CASTLE
Thursday 01 May
SUBURBAN LEGENDS SOUND CONTROL Friday 02 May
THE TWILIGHT SAD THE DEAF INSTITUTE Sunday 04 May
SAN FERMIN THE DEAF INSTITUTE Sunday 04 May
THE RIFLES THE RITZ
NICK MULVEY GORILLA
BETA ALL DAYER*
THE DISTRICTS / PHOX / WET LIZZO / OLIVER WILDE / SEOUL / PRIDES & LOTS MORE TBC
Thursday 17 July
THE AFGAN WHIGS MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL
Friday 10 October
CLINT MANSELL RNCM
CLOUD NOTHINGS THE DEAF INSTITUTE
P.15 Cloud Nothings
GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS & HOWE GELB DEAF INSTITUTE
Tuesday 27 May
THE FLAMING LIPS O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER
Saturday 11 October
KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES GORILLA
Wednesday 28 May
THE WAR ON DRUGS MANCHESTER ACADEMY2
27th & 28th November
ED SHEERAN PHONES 4 U ARENA
Friday 30 May
ONLY REAL SOUP KITCHEN
Saturday 29 November
THE HUMAN LEAGUE O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER
Saturday 31 May
DAWN LANDES SOUP KITCHEN
*FREE ENTRY SHOW FACEBOOK.COM/MUSICINBETA
PETE MOLINARI SOUND CONTROL Friday 06 June
SON LUX THE DEAF INSTITUTE
VARIOUS VENUES
alt-ti
.uk / 0 cket s .co
8 4 4 85
4 13 48
P.31 Kerry Crone
WITH
£20
peace
I N D E P E N D E N T
C U LT U R A L
J O U R N A L I S M
Issue 13, April 2014 © Radge Media Ltd.
the midnight beast
DRENGE • SAINT RAYMONd • CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN REAL ESTATE • LAUREN AQUILINA • LUKE SITAL-SINGH COURTNEY BARNETT • DARLIA • KYLA LA GRANGE • WOLF ALICE THE PIZZA UNDERGROUND • HUDSON TAYLOR • JOSH RECORD
Amber Run • Barbarossa • Betty Who • BIG SIXES • Caveman • CHAMPS • Charlotte OC • EZRA FURMAN • Frank Hamilton FRED PAGE • Freddie Dickson • Fyfe • GALLERY CIRCUS • Gavin James • GENGAHR • George Barnett • GOD DAMN Horse Thief • JAWS • JOEL BAKER • LA FEMME • Lapland • Laura Welsh • Life • LIFE IN FILM • LSA • marika Hackman MT Royal • NO SINNER • NOAH GUNDERSEN • Norma Jean Martine • Sean McGowan • Sivu • SLAVES • SOUTHERN St Paul & The Broken Bones • Sundara Karma • THE 45S • THE HEARTBREAKS • THE JACQUES THE TROUBLE WITH TEMPLETON • We The Wild • We Were Evergreen • Wonder Villains • Young Kato
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plus many more acts still to be announced
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4
Contents
P.45 Atjazz
April 2014
tickets
2O14
P.19 Cactus
Friday 10 October
Wednesday 04 June
Monday 05 May
CHUCK RAGAN GORILLA
PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT THE RITZ
Thursday 22 May
Thursday 01 May
Wednesday 25 June
Thursday 25 September
Monday 19 May
Sunday 27 April
GLASS ANIMALS RUBY LOUNGE
Photo: Richard Alderson and Wesley Storey
Saturday 05 April
Wednesday 23 April
Saturday 21 June
Printed on 100% recycled paper
Editorial Northwest Editor Film & Deputy Editor Events Editor Music Editor Art Editor Books Editor Clubs Editor Comedy Editor Deviance Editor Fashion Editor Food Editor News Editor Theatre Editor Travel Editor
Lauren Strain Jamie Dunn Laura Howarth Dave Kerr Sacha Waldron Ryan Rushton Daniel Jones John Stansfield Ana Hine Alexandra Fiddes Jamie Faulkner Bram E. Gieben Alecia Marshall Paul Mitchell
Production Production Manager Designer Sub Editor
Amy Minto Thom Isom Kristian Doyle
Sales/Accounts Northwest Sales & Marketing Manager Sales Executive
Caroline Harleaux Issy Patience
Lead Designer
Maeve Redmond
Company PA
Kyla Hall
Editor-in-Chief Sales Director Publisher
Rosamund West Lara Moloney Sophie Kyle
26/03/2014 18:33
THE SKINNY
Photo: Dennis Konijnenburg
VIGO THIEVES SOUP KITCHEN
PAINTED PALMS SOUP KITCHEN
Photo: Pooneh Ghana
Thursday 03 April
FUCKED UP GORILLA
THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION GORILLA
Photo: Amie Hunt and Charlotte Hunt
Sunday 20 April
Sunday 10 May
Contents Up Front 06
Sounds from the Other City director Mark Carlin reflects on 10 years of the Salford festival; plus Stop the Presses, Online Only, Skinny on Tour, Shot of the Month, and, of course, utter BALLS.
08 Heads Up: Don’t be an (April) fool. Do
some of these things. If not all of them.
Lifestyle 29
30
Features
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After just two movies, Submarine and new feature The Double, Richard Ayoade can lay claim to being one of our most talented young filmmakers. Then why so modest, Richard? EMA’s ‘switched-on, clued up and defiantly alive’ The Future’s Void marries cyberpunk nihilism to satire. Erika M. Anderson explains it all.
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Optimo’s visceral ‘party band’ Golden Teacher talk aesthetics, weird gigs, and Art School associations ahead of hitting Sounds from the Other City.
19
Cactus gallery has opened up in The Royal Standard: director Joe Fletcher Orr and his first exhibitor Sebastian Jefford give us a tour of the new space.
20
Heading up the Northwest’s participation in Hunger for Trade, an international arts response to the global food crisis, playwright Simon Stephens relates the process behind the project.
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“I’m still vaguely on that weird angst tip,” says Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi, but ssshhh: on the run-up to the release of fourth album Here and Nowhere Else, we suspect he may be enjoying himself. Liverpool’s Wild Writers get in the ring for a spot of, er, literary Mexican wrestling.
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On the eve of an international tour and the reissue of their seminal 1991 album Spiderland, Slint’s David Pajo and Brian McMahan look back on some heady Louisville days, and the particular set of circumstances that birthed a masterpiece. The disgustingly young, talented and handsome Xavier Dolan explains why his new Hitchcockian thriller Tom at the Farm takes more inspiration from Titanic than Psycho. Joanna Hogg, one of the UK’s most idiosyncratic filmmakers, praises London, her home town and the setting for her new movie Exhibition; and this month our Comedy Spotlight falls on Liam Bolton, who hates all of our questions. Rounding up the pick of upcoming electronic and city-based festivals, with input from Factory Floor, East India Youth and Albert Hammond Jr.
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Deviance: Two writers consider their changing feelings when it comes to intimacy. Fashion: Liverpool John Moores University graduate Kerry Crone draws inspiration from punk and galactic happenings in her structural garments. Showcase: Glasgow School of Art graduate and recipient of The Skinny Award at this year’s RSA New Contemporaries, Rachel Levine explores “how power structures and ‘empirical’ versions of history affect our readings of objects, artefacts, architecture and the built environment.” If you’re quick, you can catch some of her work showing as part of Vernissage, at The Royal Standard, Liverpool, until 5 Apr. Food and Drink: In response to a reassessment of the ethics of rose veal, our Food editor provides an intro to learning more about ethical eating.
Review
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Music: We Came Out Like Tigers are our New Blood; Bird and Ex-Easter Island Head offer thoughts on Liverpool Sound City in a Festival Watch special, plus live reviews from Wild Beasts, Eagulls and Bugged Out; the latest releases from Teebs, The Body, Holy Mountain and the unkillable OFF! Clubs: Martin Iveson aka Atjazz digs deep on the origins of his sound, and Max Graef goes Under the Influence, picking ten favourite all-time albums. Art: Reviews of The Negligent Eye at the Bluecoat and Richard Hawkins: Hijikata Twist at Tate Liverpool. Film: Tom Hardy goes Welsh (in Locke), Brendan Gleeson gets stoic (in Calvary) and Xavier Dolan gets beat up (in Tom at the Farm). DVD/Books: Nymphomaniac arrives on DVD along with Donald Cammell’s hard to find psychological thriller White of the Eye; we’ve reviews of Nick Brooks’ third novel Indecent Acts and Alice Sinclair’s modern fairy tale Boy, Snow, Bird. Comedy: Liam Pickford delivers a eulogy for BBC Three, and our Comedy ed looks at the merits of free or ‘bucket’ shows. Theatre: A look ahead to David Grieg’s Fringe First winner The Events, and Gym Party, which is exactly as fun as it sounds.
54
Competitions: Win tickets to Parklife, and Bilbao BBK Live.
55
Listings: Very events, such excite, wow.
63 April 2014
Travel: Are these end times for global tourism? Or are there meaningful connections still to be made among the “crass, culture-defacing commercialism”? Our writer in Venice wrestles with the tourist’s two faces.
Out Back: Ask Fred, who has appointed himself your financial advisor.
APRIL 09 LUMERIANS + BOOGARINS
JUNE 05 FUTURE ISLANDS
09 ÀSGEIR
06 - EINDHOVEN PSYCH LAB - 07 effenaar, eindhoven
the shipping forecast
east village arts club w/ evol
the kazimier
the netherlands
11 PEGGY SUE
16 WARM SODA
leaf
the shipping forecast
w/ bam!bam!bam!
12 LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE
22 PARQUET COURTS
the shipping forecast
the kazimier
w/ liverpool psych fest
w/ evol
SEPTEMBER 26 - L’POOL INTERNATIONAL - 27 FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA
25 CHILDHOOD leaf
JUNE 03 LINDA PERHACS
camp and furnace
leaf
tickets available online: ticketweb / seetickets / ticketline in person: probe records (school ln) & the brink (parr st) follow on twitter: @harvest_sun @lpoolpsychfest
FG
The Bay Horse 35-37 Thomas Street Every Week Northern Quarter Live Performances & DJ Sets:
thebayhorsepub.co.uk
twitter@TheBayHorsePub facebook.com/thebayhorseMCR
Any bands wanting to play at Free Gig Friday contact Yvonne on bayhorsegigs@gmail.com
Free Gig Friday At The Bay Horse from 9pm
FRIDAY 4TH APRIL:
ESPRIT DE CORPS RECORDS PRESENTS MOBIUS LOOP, INDIA MILL OUR DEAD FRIENDS & DAVID SHURR
F
FRIDAY 11TH APRIL:
TNS 10TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS FEATURING THE KIRKZ, ACID DROP, THE FRANCEENS, OFFICER DOWN & HATED TIL PROVEN – STARTS EARLIER THIS WEEK DUE TO LOTS BANDS PLAYING- 7.30PM
WHAT’S ON IN APRIL HAPPY MONDAYS
Every Monday enjoy any food from our menu for HALF PRICE! TUESDAY HORSE PARTY QUIZ
£1 entry per person 7.30pm start Our weekly quiz featuring cash prizes and our rollover question with big money to be won! WEDNESDAY OPEN MIC
Open Mic with Matt & Edwin from 7.30pm. Special Headline Act Kristian Harting from Denmark on Wednesday 2nd April THURSDAY BASEMENT GIGS
10th – The Slovaks & Guests. Free Entry From 8pm
FRIDAY 18TH APRIL:
17th – The Ascension & Kill Pretty . £4 in (£3 with flyer) From 8pm
FRIDAY 25TH APRIL:
24th – From Another Place Presents Mother Tongue, The Bear Around Your Neck & Jesus Knievel. £4 in From 8pm
CHANTELLE ELLIOTT & MUTTLEY ACOUSTIC
ASH MOUNTAIN & THE PSYCHEDELIC PIRATES
MANCHESTER SPINS LAUNCH SATURDAY 19TH APRIL Manchester Spins #1 Limited Edition Vinyl featuring Ash Mountain launches this Record Store Day at The Bay Horse, in conjunction with an exhibition from its vinyl sleeve designer Trevor Johnson. With performances from Ash Mountain & Josh Lisiuk. Free Entry From 2pm www.facebook.com/ManchesterSpinsVinyl
SATURDAY D.J’S TOP OF THE POPS 5TH TRANARCHY 12TH MARK HOGG 19TH NICKS PICKS 26TH
SUNDAY PHONOGRAPHY
Peter Jay and guest DJs playing VINYL ONLY from 4pm THE BAY HORSE
35-37 Thomas Street, Northern Quarter, M4 1NA PHONE : 0161 661 1041
Contents
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Editorial
S
o you know how we might have said something last issue about a party? Well, we’re pleased to say that Ninetails DJs and electronic project WYWH have joined the bill for our First Birthday celebrations at The Kazimier, Liverpool, on Saturday 12 April (that’s a live lineup featuring Melodic Records’ modern shoegazers Patterns and psych guitarist John McGrath – and, on the decks, the mighty Scenery Records and Wet Play). It’s free, it starts at 8pm, and we would love to see you there – you can email rsvp@theskinny.co.uk, although you don’t have to do so to be able to turn up, but it’s cool being on lists eh. Being one year old means, somewhat confusingly, that we’ve made 13 issues, but for the sake of symmetry please accept this lovely composite photo of 12 months’ worth of Skinnies to the right – featuring covers by numerous regional illustrators and photographers including Melissa Murphy (launch issue), Anna Beam (June), Jennifer L Haley (July), Thom Isom (October), and Katie Craven (December), and more. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading the magazine as much as we have enjoyed – and occasionally had our sleeptime infiltrated by – making it; thankyou for picking it up, drinking pints over it, arguing online over it, papering your toilet walls in it (cheers Unity Radio), decorating your hairdressers’ window displays in it (spotted in Liverpool), and supporting us. If you would like to get involved and be a part of The Skinny in 2014, do get in touch. OK then. April. It’s a ridiculous but also exciting time of year where basically all of the spaces that exist are being taken over by events that form part of festivals with the word Sound in them, from Sound City in Liverpool and Sounds from the Other City in Salford, to Salford Sonic Fusion Festival (OK not quite, but y’know), all vying for your attention – and all touched on in these pages. There are also starting to be little lambs everywhere. Yay. So this issue, there’s a seasonally appropriate sense of rebirth and reinvigoration in Music, from EMA and Cloud Nothings’ latest albums that both find them enjoying a notable confidence and freedom of
expression, to Liverpool screamo/hardcore band We Came Out Like Tigers’ refreshing refusal to compromise on their rigorous ethics – as well as a healthy dose of spring madness in the form of a, um, literary Mexican wrestling match. Homage is also paid to things past (Slint’s seminal Spiderland, and, er, BBC Three); Clubs gets proper into the nitty-gritty of making noise, from visceral party band Golden Teacher to Atjazz to Max Graef; and Film speaks to auteur Xavier Dolan and Joanna Hogg on advancing their practice in Tom at the Farm and Exhibition, respectively. Elsewhere, food – our production, distribution and consumption of it – becomes something of a talking point, as playwright Simon Stephens discusses his part in the Hunger for Trade project in Theatre, and our Food editor offers a primer for the ‘ethical foodie’ after a look at the story of rose veal. Speaking of editors, we also welcome unto the fold two new section editors, with Sacha Waldron taking over Art (and commencing with a visit to Liverpool’s newest space, Cactus), and Alecia Marshall looking after Theatre. They both have defined visions for their sections, and we can’t wait to see where they take them. [Lauren Strain] This month's cover illustration is by Jamie Jones, and is a response to Richard Ayoade's film, The Double. Jamie Jones is an illustrator who, since graduating from the University of the West of England in 2012, has worked for clients such as British Airways, Global Blue, Google, The Sunday Times and Wired. He enjoys visual metaphor and exaggerated shapes, while using a combination of traditional and digital media to create work that is bold and colourful. Having recently moved to London, he spends most days working from his studio near Brixton and enjoying exploring a new city. www.whoisjamiejones.com
Shot of the Month
Wild Beasts at Albert Hall, Manchester, Wed 26 Mar, by Nick Bojdo
6
Chat
Online Only Eyes to the website Glasgow International takes place 4-21 April and our sister paper have gone deep into its programme: Bedwyr Williams shares his bittersweet vision of a dystopian future, we visit Michael Stumpf at his Easterhouse studio, and the BBC's Lindsey Hanlonget gives the lowdown on new arts documentary festival Art Screen. www.theskinny.co.uk/art Nigerian novelist and playwright (and now filmmaker) Biyi Bandele gives the lowdown on his hard-fought adaptation of Orange Prize-winning novel Half of a Yellow Sun. www.theskinny.co.uk/film
In the first of our new regular cartoon column, artist Jock Mooney asks Karen from Human Resources what she’s having for lunch. Next month, find out what Shelby Chuff thinks about germs.
The Amazing Snakeheads like to play no-frills rock’n’roll hard and fast, but insist they're not as intense as their stage persona suggests. Our sister paper have a drink with the band to talk about James Brown, finding a label and sharing a stout with Martha Reeves. www.theskinny.co.uk/music We’ve extended interviews with Brian McMahan and David Pajo of re-formed post-rock titans Slint, indie darlings The Twilight Sad, and rising stars of the Glasgow experimental electronic music scene, Golden Teacher. www.theskinny.co.uk/music
Jock is exhibiting in The Second Life of Sculpture in the Briggait, 4-21 Apr as part of Glasgow International. www.jockmooney.com
The Skinny on Tour
This month’s intrepid Skinny-reading traveller visited one of the world’s great cities. A former British colony, its natural harbour and geographical location have made it one of the wealthiest metropolises in the world. It’s also the tallest: its skyline has more skyscrapers than any other, which is probably why Hollywood love destroying it in terrible movies like Battleship, Pacific Rim and the forthcoming Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Those beautiful peeps at Canongate have another book – this month it’s Emma Jane Unsworth’s Animals, a filthy, funny story of friendship, love and the morning after the night before – to give away. For a chance to win it, just head along to www.theskinny.co.uk/about/competitions and tell us where you think this Skinny reader is holidaying. Competition closes midnight Sunday 27 Apr. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Full T&Cs can be found at www.theskinny.co.uk/about/terms
THE SKINNY
First Person: Ten Years of Sounds
S
ounds began as just a simple coming together of really positive energies. Me and my brother, Morry, had been based at Islington Mill for about a year and the combination of really great people that were there at the time and the feeling of opportunity and anything being possible – combined with the myriad of really interesting and unusual spaces in and around the area – made us feel really excited about doing something. A lot of the ideas are generated at the Mill – it provides the community that you can draw on, not just to come up with ideas but also to make them happen. I think Sounds is genuinely democratic. There is no one person who makes all the decisions or choices in the programming; rather a large group of people, all representing their individual tastes and opinions. This is also a developing group of people and doesn’t remain the same each year. So while the event provides a cohesive umbrella, the actual things that happen on the
Organiser Mark Carlin reflects on a decade of Salford’s Sounds from the Other City festival, which brings together local promoters and fierce DIY principles and celebrates its 10th anniversary this year
day are often really disparate. The idea of inviting a selection of our favourite promotors to programme a day event in some of the most interesting parts of our favourite part of the city was there from day one. But every year, it’s the little tweaks and sometimes ridiculous ideas that change. These have ranged from the sublime, like 2010’s Telephone Showbox, which featured live performances phoned into the only public telephone box on Chapel Street for an audience of one (Dan Deacon did a live set from an airport and Andrew WK gave some heavy party advice before performing a specially written song!), to the totally debauched (last year’s Chatroulette disco). I really loved The Telephone Showbox. It was part of project called Box Office that Morry did with artist Pippa Koszerek in the week running up to the event. I clearly remember the months of effort he put into making it happen, getting close to so many unlikely performers (Fleet Foxes were signed up before flight schedules scuppered it)
and then finally getting a ‘line-up’. On the day the audience member for each performance was pulled from a hat and went at the appointed time to the box – a drink, that each performer had requested, was there for the audience. For me, it really summed up a lot of what’s great about the event – on the face of it, it could seem like a massive effort for a very small return, but the actual outcome has stayed with a lot of people for a really long time. I think the one thing that is really important for any performance or performer is commitment – commitment to the idea or the performance. When that’s lacking it rarely works. Someone like Christeene, for instance, who played at the Mill last year and I tried to book for FutureEverything this year – on the face of it she could be seen as a comedy act but the sheer commitment to the character and the performance is massive, and you really feel that when you come face to face with it in the live arena. I think the scene is constantly changing.
A lot of the people involved in it are really only there because they love what they are into and want to bring it to other people. That takes so much effort and energy that invariably it leads to burnout and people stop doing it. But then there are always younger people with bundles of energy that are ready to take up the baton. This year we have a lot of new faces – the Video Jam Collective join us, as do Liverpool’s Deep Hedonia, Liverpool/Manc duo Chew Disco, local ’zine and promotor Tru Luv, as well as dub reggae collective Dub Smugglers and local club night El Diablo’s Social Club. The longest serving promoters must be a tie-up between Comfortable on a Tightrope and Hey! Manchester – I honestly cant remember who has done more. I would recommend having no plan whatsoever. That’s the best way to experience Sounds.
become infuriatingly slow with age and eventually die from a killer virus.
CAPRICORN As Easter approaches you take time to remember those brave Roman soldiers who risked their eternal souls to rid the world of the itinerant cult leader Christ.
Sounds from the Other City, various venues, Salford, 4 May, 3pm-late, ÂŁ18 Mark Carlin was in interview with Lauren Strain www.soundsfromtheothercity.com
accompanied by a display exploring the history of dazzle ships and the role of artists in the first world war. www.biennial.com
Excited for LIGHTNIGHT? Here’s a little preview: Grayson Perry’s exhibition The Vanity of Small Differences launches the festival; The Kazimier clash with the Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band to create an audio-visual ‘Sound Battle’; and Outpost studio open their doors for some live screen printing. Fri 16 May, 4pm ’til late. www.lightnightliverpool.co.uk WARRINGTON LITERATURE FESTIVAL runs 23 Apr-9 May, with sessions on everything from flash fiction and e-publishing to‌ erotic writing. Guests include iconic poet, comic and singer-songwriter John Hegley. www.culturewarrington.org LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL announces a public-domain work: master of kinetic-optic art Carlos Cruz-Diez will create a new monument for the city by applying ‘dazzle’ camouflage to the Edmund Gardner, a historic pilot ship by Albert Dock, as part of 14-18 NOW. Cruz-Diez’s work will be
BALLS.
with Mystic Mark ARIES In April the BBC commission a pilot of your ultra-realistic soap opera, where all the characters do is talk about all the soap operas they watched on TV the night before.
RECORD STORE DAY returns. In Manchester, The Bay Horse host Manchester Spins, a not-forprofit recording project – Ash Mountain provide the first release – while Common and Piccadilly Records hosts live sets from Songs for Walter and Withered Hand. In Liverpool, Heds-Up stretch their Not So Mello Rave at MelloMelo out to an alldayer – Oddbwar takes the helm – and 3B Records will have Hustle in store all day, with special guest Al Kent dropping by to share some tunes. Illustrators Caroline Dowsett and Alex T. Frazer take over Common in Manchester on 3 Apr with exhibition SAILING THROUGH THE TREES, which tells the story of a man lost at sea and his heartbroken but industrious wife. THE SKINNY IS HIRING: We are looking for advertising sales executives. To find out more and apply, visit: www.theskinny.co.uk/about/get_involved THE SKINNY IS ONE this month! Look at all these lovely covers. Which is your favourite? Come and tell us at our party at The Kazimier, Liverpool on Saturday 12 April (or, y’know, just drink and dance). 8pm-3am, free
GEMINI Your heart might be in the right place but your brain’s not.
CANCER Cancerians are known for their protective outer shells. Sadly this month, after failing to keep up with mortgage repayments, NatWest repossess it, leaving your delicious naked innards vulnerable to attacks by office-bound predators. Don’t be surprised if a Piscean walks past and takes a large bite out of your back while you stand at the photocopier.
TAURUS You’re a shrewd investor when it comes to your own resources, that’s why you LEO save as much sperm as possible down Your ruling celestial body is a superyour local sperm bank in their new tax-free ISA. massive black hole at the centre of When it matures after four years you’ll have our Solar System that up until now has almost twice as much sperm as you put in there. been missed by astronomers. Mirroring its qualiUnlike these people who blow it all on a night ties, all you do all day every day is eat. out, or spunk it all on pearl necklaces for their girlfriends. You’re also shrewd enough to invest a VIRGO load in a pension scheme to avoid hitting retireLife is like a PC. You fill your memory ment and having to beg passers-by to masturbate with unforgettably graphic images, into your upturned hat.
April 2014
LIBRA Your belief in the miracle of transubstantiation sits uncomfortably with your newfound vegetarianism. There’s something about eating the still-living flesh of God that makes you feel queasy. Undeterred, you develop a form of Quorn Eucharist.
SCORPIO In the midst of a manic fever and dripping with sweat you make a journey deep into the jungle on the hunt for the fabled Crystal Meth Skull, supposedly cooked up by an ancient alien civilisation and gifted to the Aztecs. Only its potent healing powers can save you now.
SAGITTARIUS There’s nothing you like more than a trip to church on a Sunday with your family decked out in your best clothes to drink God’s blood.
AQUARIUS two types of people in this There’s world: the ones that make simplistic sweeping statements and the ones who read them like a bunch of idiots. PISCES Your new anti-ageing cream is so potent that after two weeks your boyfriend is arrested on child molestation charges and you’re put in a foster home, after four weeks you’re crawling around shitting yourself and after 12 weeks your cells undivide until you’re little more than a radiant zygote, guided by cilia towards your ageing mother’s ovary.
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Chat
7
Mark Hollis
Mon 7 Apr
Tue 8 Apr
Liverpool-based kings of improv Impropriety return with their 33-and-a-half hour beast of a performance, Umbridge, taking place over two days and split into bite-sized 'chapters', so that viewers can opt to enjoy just one, come and go at will, or partake in a sleepover – jammies and all. The Kazimier, 5-6 Apr, until 10:34pm, from £5
Gein's Family Giftshop present their latest Bargain Basement show as part of their monthly residency, still serving up anything but cheap laughs in the trusty Salford watering hole. Ones to watch in 2014, the troupe will present their usual macabre sketches, drawing inspiration from human suffering and misery. Which is nice. The King's Arms, Salford, 8.30pm, Free
Heavy and heady in equal measure, David Greig's daring new play The Events comes to the Northwest, taking audiences through the aftermath of a random mass killing, with only two actors playing all parts throughout and the whole thing soundtracked by a different local choir every night. Everyman, Liverpool, until 12 Apr, 7.30pm (also 2pm on Sat), from £12
Umbridge
Photo: Sebastian Bruchner
Sun 6 Apr
Gein's Family Giftshop
Sat 12 Apr
Sun 13 Apr
Mon 14 Apr
The Skinny Northwest is one year old this month! We're throwing a free birthday party, and we’d love to see your mugs there. Expect live music from Melodic Records’ Patterns, electronic duo WYWH and psych guitarist John McGrath, plus sets from Ninetails, Wet Play and JA Shepherd (Scenery Records). The Kazimier, Liverpool, 8pm, Free, e-mail rsvp@theskinny.co.uk
Marking four years of putting funny folk on stage, Hot Water Comedy Club host a very special birthday edition with their resident comic and compere Paul Smith making jokes before, between and after sets from Mock the Week’s Gary Delaney – aka Sarah Millican’s new hubby – and Irish-Iranian comic Pat Monohan. The Holiday Inn, Liverpool, 7pm, £3 (£1.50)
The Kilmarnock-formed, Glasgow-based trio Fatherson pitch up in Liverpool to do their alternative rock-meets-powerpop thing in the nofrills Korova Bar. They'll be sharing tracks from their much-anticipated debut album, I Am An Island – blatantly disregarding John Donne's timeless advice – released on 7 April on A Modern Way. Korova, Liverpool, 8pm, £6
Bar Shorts
The Events
Fatherson
Gary Delaney
Fri 18 Apr
Sat 19 Apr
In what might be the first ever event to blend writing and, er, wrestling, Sancho Panza will see six nimble-fingered writers descend on The Kazimier for the fight of the year, taking to a custom-built ring to scrap it out for the heavyweight champion belt. There’ll be three rounds of short story writing, plus actual wrestling and music 'til late. The Kazimier, Liverpool, 7.30pm, £4
As part of his UK-wide tour, Space Dimension Controller pitches up in the Soup Kitchen basement with his usual ‘galactic funk’ style, blending psychedelic boogie and funk into contemporary nu-disco and house. In other words, you'll be dancing well into the smaller hours, accompanied by some cosmological live visuals. Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 11pm, £7
Edinburgh-based DIY folk-rock troubadour Dan Willson brings his new-look Withered Hand band to the stage, giving his highly anticipated second album, New Gods, a live airing. The record finds him on suitably fine form, adopting a more polished and refined sound after finding himself in a 'proper studio' with producer, Tony Doogan. Night and Day Cafe, Manchester, 8pm
Sancho Panza
Photo: Michael Fowler
Thu 17 Apr
Thu 24 Apr
A classic Northern tale makes its way to the stage, telling the story of Henry Hobson, a boozy bootmaker exploiting his three daughters and an unpaid apprentice for free labour and drinking their profits. After his eldest daughter rebels, he's given a Hobson's Choice and must go along with their new arrangement. Oldham Coliseum, 17 Apr–10 May, from £10.50 (£9.50)
Messrs Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip take their latest LP Repent Replenish Repeat to a live setting. This latest offering finds them again mapping Le Sac's fairgroundlike electronic beats with Pip's pent-up lyrical bombardment, squared off with an abundance of wily facial hair, obvs. East Village Arts Club, Liverpool, 7pm, £13.50
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Photo: Ian Tilton
Wed 23 Apr
Hobson's Choice
Withered Hand
Space Dimension Controller
Photo: Stephen Cummiskey
The Bar Shorts folk are at it again, marrying beerfuelled evenings with short film and animation screenings, this time taking to Manchester's newest pub venue, The Eagle Inn. Adopting a Super Sonic theme for the night, they'll be sharing shorts from a host of filmmakers including Greg Jardin, Phil Mulloy, Ethan Indorf and Roobarb & Custard's Bob Godfrey. The Eagle Inn, Salford, 7pm, Free
Photo: Emily Wylde
Our tick-’em-off-as-you-go list this month gets underway with some sparkly festival vibes courtesy of Fiesta Bombarda, leading on to a beer festival (or two), a writingmeets-wrestling hybrid, a night of short films as part of The Un-Rest festival, and finally, the second outing for SPACE//SOUND.
A low-key release party for That Wind is Foul, the longawaited, light-of-touch EP from post-rock forefather Mark Hollis. Compere Arsenio Hall presents an evening in the company of the former Talk Talk frontman, returning to the stage with an incendiary new band comprised of Ginger Baker, Montell Jordan and Patrick Duffy. The Gaslamp, Manchester, 8pm, £6 (masons free)
Photo: Pam Berry
Compiled by: Laura Howarth
Wed 2 Apr
Fri 25 Apr
Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip
London's lo-fi indie pop outfit Childhood – formed four years ago at Nottingham University – embark on a solo UK tour, following stints with Slint and Palma Violets last year. Catch them in the intimate surroundings of Leaf tea shop as they make their Liverpool debut, sharing tracks from their upcoming album. Leaf, Liverpool, 8pm, £7
Childhood
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Photo: Laura Coulson
Heads Up
Tue 1 Apr
Electric Swing Circus
Fri 11 Apr
Our next pick finds us traversing dimensions for an evening of intergalactic psych in The Shipping Forecast’s Hold. Californian space-rock five-piece Lumerians will use their trademark live projections to create a hypnotic and immersive experience, with support from mind-melting Brazilian outfit Boogarins. The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, 7.30pm, £8
The last of the five keg launches at Festival of Britain (s Beers) will see Magic Rock unleashing Un-Human Cannonball – and one surprise beer – on the world. Pair your beer with an ultimate chicken burger or crispy halloumi veggie alternative from resident foodies Mumma Schnitzel, and you've got quite the evening on your hands. Port Street Beer House, Manchester, 7pm, Free
Responding to The Bluecoat's exhibition The Negligent Eye, musicians and artists embark on an exploration of the intersection between audio and visual elements for the second SPACE// SOUND – expect live drawing from artists Jon Barraclough and Madeline Hall, and Ninetails presenting a reworking of their recent EP, Quiet Confidence. The Bluecoat, Liverpool, 7pm, £8
Lumerians
Festival of Britain (s Beers)
Photo: Seb Matthes
Thu 10 Apr
Photo: Contact Theatre
Wed 9 Apr
Wed 16 Apr
The latest exhibition to crop up at The Atkinson – Southport's new home for art, theatre, poetry, literature and history – explores 40 years of art walking, as artists use city streets and rolling hills as their studios. Walk On will bring together the work of 40 artists who have used the humble walk to spark creativity. The Atkinson, Southport, from Sat 12 Apr, Free
A charged piece by Cuban/ American duo Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla showing as part of the DLA Piper Series: Constellations, Balance of Power (2007) is a 30-minute performance, in which yoga practitioners will adopt a series of warrior poses while dressed in paramilitary clothing, raising questions about political power. Tate Liverpool, every Wednesday until 28 May, 2pm, Free
Marina Abramovic, The Lovers, Great Wall of China, (1988/1996)
Photo: Marina Abramovic
Tue 15 Apr
Tue 22 Apr
One half of A Love From Outer Space, Andrew Weatherall will be taking to the intimate locale of Liverpool's recently reclaimed Williamson Tunnels for a three-hour set, marking the first of 303's Easter bank holiday weekend double celebration – good job you've got Monday off work, eh? Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool, 9pm, £12.50 (£10)
It's time to drink the bar dry, as The Beer House Project at Dulcimer comes to a close following a beer-fuelled Easter weekend of fun. Along with their chums Love Beer Festivals and Beermoth, they'll be offering up 40 refreshing beers, ales, ciders and perries – all locally sourced and hand-selected by the hop-happy team. Dulcimer Bar, Manchester, Thu 17-Mon 21 Apr, Free
Young poet Kate Tempest turns her attention to theatre to present Glasshouse, a dark and gritty tale of everyday struggles told through interwoven stories from three family members. A twist in the second half will give the audience a chance to stop the action and rehearse alternative endings. Z Arts, Manchester, until 22 Apr, 7.30pm (also 12.45pm on 22 Apr), £10 (£7)
Andrew Weatherall
The Beer House Project
Photo: Will Pitcher
Mon 21 Apr
Photo: Steve Gullick
Sun 20 Apr
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Damski Czepek, (2006)
SPACE//SOUND
Balance of Power (2007)
Glasshouse
Sun 27 Apr
Mon 28 Apr
Giving independent interior designers and boutique homeware brands the chance to connect with buyers in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, Home is in the North takes to the resplendent backdrop of Hallé St Peter's for a pop-up interiors fair complete with stalls and free workshops – including sessions on furniture restoration and DIY art. Hallé St Peter’s, Manchester, 11am-4pm, £3
The Un-Rest festival of Northern Soul gets underway, exploring physical movement through art, theatre and moving image – including Movement, Magic and Mirrors, a rare screening of five short films by experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, known for her role in the avantgarde film movement of the 40s and 50s. Cornerhouse, Manchester, 4.20pm, £tbc
Field Music's David Brewis heads out on the road solo, taking to the stage under his utterly un-Google-able School of Language moniker and sharing tracks from his more cerebral and mathy release, Sea From Shore – hopefully opening the night with a sing-a-long chorus of ums and ahs. The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 7.30pm, £9
April 2014
Home Is In The North
Photo: Garry Lomas
Sat 26 Apr
Maya Deven - Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
School of Language
Chat
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Photo: Ursula von Rydingsvard & Galerie Lelong
Sonic Fusion Festival
Photo: Nata Moraru
For her most extensive exhibition to date, the Brooklyn-based artist Ursula von Rydingsvard presents her first largescale survey in Europe. The show spans the full scale of her diverse practice – from drawings to sculptures – liberally sprinkled over Yorkshire Sculpture Park, giving us a rather nice excuse to head out for a springtime mosey. Yorkshire Sculpture Park, until Jan 2015, Free
Photo: Allora & Calzadilla
The Fiesta Bombarda crew are gearing up for summer with some swishy festival vibes, taking it underground to the Williamson Tunnels and adding 100% more tropical paradise to the space. Expect eight live acts over two stages, an African drum workshop and live performances from Electric Swing Circus. Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool, 8pm, £7 adv (£9 door)
Photo: Cardboard Citizens
Salford Sonic Fusion Festival kicks off with a daring programme of avant-garde and improvised music and sound installation works, utilising venues across MediaCity and Peel Park. The opening day will see performances from MANTIS (Manchester Theatre in Sound) and Automatic Writing Circle. MediaCityUK, Salford, until 6 Apr, see listings for full details
Photo: James Cadden
Sat 5 Apr
Photo: Jessie Meyers
Fri 4 Apr
Photo: University of Salford
Thu 3 Apr
Existential Nightmare Richard Ayoade doesn’t like himself very much. That’s OK, though, ’cause we think he’s great. Here he is trying to downplay his considerable talents ahead of the release of his new film, The Double Interview: Jamie Dunn
The Double
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cacophony of laughter echoes around the downstairs bar of a flash Glasgow hotel. It’s early evening, but it seems a girls’ night is in full swing as a dreamy mixologist fashions cocktail shots for a party of ten who are falling about at the drinks’ saucy titles and the barman’s saucier banter. Watching on incredulously is filmmaker and comedian Richard Ayoade. If this were an episode of The IT Crowd and Ayoade was in character as the sitcom’s most potent comedic weapon, Moss, a geeky IT consultant with chronic asthma and a hot ear, one can imagine the hilarity that would ensue. Perhaps he’d bound over there and join the women on their hen night, or push the wannabe Tom Cruise to one side to take over the cocktail making – Moss can, after all, detect the ingredients for any drink using his sense of smell alone. If only Ayoade was as suave and confident as his onscreen alter ego. Wearing a brown corduroy suit and thickrimmed glasses, the 36-year-old’s default mode is bashful self-deprecation. If – or should that be when – Ayoade starts winning major awards for his filmmaking, you can imagine him shuffling on stage and bashfully declining the prize: “Thank you, Academy, but you’ve clearly made a mistake,” you’d hear him say before handing the Oscar back
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to Meryl Streep. It’s hard to believe that this is the same man who can hold his own in the extroverts stakes on TV shows like The Big Fat Quiz of the Year with professional show-offs like Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross. It’s tempting, therefore, to see The Double, the feature he’s in town to present at the Glasgow Film Festival, as a very personal film. It concerns a shy and unassuming young man who comes face to face with his confident, ladies’ man doppelgänger. Ayoade must feel some affinity with a character with dual personas. He has, after all, spent the 00s beloved by the British public for playing Moss, and other hair-brained characters in comedies like Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (which Ayoade co-wrote and directed), Nathan Barley and The Mighty Boosh, only to emerge this decade as one of the UK’s smartest and most cineliterate filmmakers with his coming-of-age film Submarine. “I think everyone has multiple personas,” the filmmaker says when I ask if people are ever surprised he’s so different from the Ayoade that appears on our TV screens. “I remember a friend at school saying that his idea of a nightmare was having loudspeakers attached to his head that broadcast his thoughts, and that would be the
worst thing that could ever happen.” Ayoade has a habit of answering personal questions with other people’s anecdotes. “Wallace Shawn [who has a small role in The Double] said an interesting thing,” he says, deflecting another inquiry about public vs. private personas, “he knows Noam Chomsky, and he says that Chomsky is amazingly consistent, that he’s the same with everyone. The same when speaking to the President of the United States or one of his students, he has the exact same address.” Ayoade is far more comfortable discussing The Double. It’s a nightmarish adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella of the same name, which Ayoade co-wrote with Avi Korine (brother of Harmony), and centres on Jesse Eisenberg’s Simon James, a low-level bureaucrat who’s desperately in love with his coworker Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), but he’s so shy and unassuming (“a nothing-person”) that he can barely bring himself to talk to her. Simon’s life changes, however, when the suave, mischievous James Simon (also played by Eisenberg) starts work at his firm. Doubles have been a cinema staple since the invention of split screen, and everyone from Hayley Mills (The Parent Trap) to Nicolas Cage (Adaptation) via Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers) and
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Jean-Claude Van Damme (Double Impact) have shared the screen with themselves. The Double’s twist on the genre, however, is that no one notices that Simon and James look exactly alike, down to their identical boxy grey suits. “It just felt like a very unusual way to deal with that occurrence,” he says of The Double’s central premise. “I mean, ordinarily you feel everyone would notice, it would be very remarkable, it would be of enormous interest to everyone. But the fact that no one cares is such an illogically strange nightmarish reaction that I just thought it was a really interesting idea.” And it’s also darkly hilarious, thanks predominately to the exasperation Simon feels when Hannah, who hardly notices he exists, starts to swoon for his exact double. It’s hard to think of a better Eisenberg performance. “He’s unique, I think,” Ayoade says of his lead. “I can’t think of any actors his age with his range and someone who would be able to play a very shy person and also a very confident person completely convincingly without resorting to the use of goatee beards or caricature.” This comment is one in the eye to the chief criticism that has been aimed at Eisenberg over the years: that he always plays the same nebbish character in all of his movies. Ayoade sees this
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as an unintentional compliment: “I think all good actors are charged with that, unless they make a massive show of physical transformation. James Stewart is not considered an actor with enormous range, but of course his range is amazing, from Anthony Mann westerns to Vertigo to It’s a Wonderful Life to Philadelphia Story – this incredible range, but he has this ability that you just feel it’s him. I think Jesse has that. You never feel that it’s a big performance, he’s very natural, but he is doing these very different things. The difference between The Squid and the Whale and The Social Network I think is enormous.” Eisenberg isn’t the only actor for whom Ayoade has deep admiration. Practically every speaking player from Submarine (as well as chums like Chris Morris and Chris O’Dowd from The IT Crowd) show up in The Double in small roles. Two films in and Ayoade seems to have built himself an extensive repertory troupe. “I just liked everyone on Submarine a great deal,” he says. “And they are all great actors and actresses, so any part that Yasmin [Page] or Craig [Roberts] can play – and they can play many different kinds of parts – I’ll cast them. And why wouldn’t you cast Paddy Considine whenever you could? The same with Noah Taylor and Sally [Hawkins], of course. There’s no thought required to it. You just go, ‘Yasmin’s great.’”
“The thing that I find genuinely depressing is if something is boring or just rubbish” Richard Ayoade
There’s one actor, however, who Ayoade is convinced is not much cop: Richard Ayoade. “I’m not really an actor at all, so it’s never come up,” he says when I ask why he’s never been tempted to appear in one of his films. The self-laceration continues: “I just wouldn’t be suitable for anything – at all,” he insists. “Just in terms of doing the things I’ve done, the actors are so good that I’m not even doing the same kind of thing as them. I’m not at the same level at all.” For Ayoade, the process of acting is just too exposing. “Yeah, it’s essentially just showing everyone your arse, but it’s really personal and humiliating and based on your physiognomy and all sorts of things,” he explains. “Not even Angelina Jolie wants to be an actor – she’d rather be a director.” Isn’t being a director even more revealing, though? Doesn’t your personality end up being channelled into the film’s DNA? “It doesn’t feel like that so much,” he says. “It’s not your face, which is a thin membrane. You are making something with a hundred other people, so it feels very shared.” It goes without saying that Ayoade doesn’t conform to the egotistical, megaphone-wielding cliché of maniacal director.
April 2014
Richard Ayoade
In fact, he’d have you believe his role on set was as a glorified cheerleader. “What I like about being a director is that you essentially get to be a fan of a bunch of other people’s work who you are specifically interested in, and that doesn’t happen to you as an actor, you can’t just enjoy anything about it. You can’t enjoy your own performance, it’s a weird and narcissistic thing. The actors I know don’t like watching themselves and their favourite thing isn’t watching their own films.” While acting may not be his forte, directing is something he does do well (although he would no doubt disagree). Submarine, his debut feature, was an oddball coming-of-age comedy that owed much to Wes Anderson and François Truffaut, but had such a lucid atmosphere and witty performances that it was easy to overlook its rough edges and over-familiar teenage angst scenario. With confidence and verve Ayoade bypassed many of the pitfalls associated with low budget British filmmaking by subverting the stock boy-meets-girl traditions and embracing very un-British formal experimentation. His new film is even stronger: if Submarine was Ayoade’s billet-doux to the nouvelle vague, The Double pays tribute to the filmmaking from the less chic corners of Europe. Its tone is that
of tongue in cheek bleakness that suggests Roy Andersson, blended with the genuine existential dread of Kieslowski and the bittersweet romance of Miloš Forman. “The ideal was that it was hopefully not rooted in one culture precisely,” he explains, “but that it felt like a place that doesn’t quite exist and never has historically and never will in the future. So it would be a slightly off world, like you feel a bit in Aki Kaurismäki films, when you know that isn’t what Helsinki is like.” This hazy attitude to time and place is very much Ayoade’s MO. Although Submarine was rooted in a recognisable middle-class Swansea suburbia, its cultural references and production design put its period setting on a sliding scale between the early 70s and the late 90s. The Double, meanwhile, doesn’t even have a fixed geography – the crepuscular city in which it is set is uncanny, a kind of absurd purgatory out of place and time that would have given Kafka nightmares. “I do like that,” says Ayoade. “It felt like it suited [Submarine and The Double] because they are very subjective films: they are from one character’s point of view. So they are slightly in their own fantasy worlds, in the same way that I think Taxi Driver is quite a fantasy for all the kind of realism and hard-edged elements of it – it’s quite an unrealistic film.” Does he have some sort
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of aversion to realism, then? Perhaps he’s trying to disassociate himself from the British socialrealist tradition. “It’s not to say I don’t like those films, but I don’t know whether I would be able to make one of them or not.” Though ostensibly comedies, Submarine and The Double are far from fluffy – The Double especially. Ayoade milks the comic potential from the situation at the heart of Dostoyevsky’s novella, but he also looks into its abyss: the crippling loneliness of introversion is palpably communicated in the early scenes and the psychic turmoil of being continually ignored is thrillingly realised in the latter. These are prickly films, and Ayoade wouldn’t have it any other way. “The thing that I find genuinely depressing is if something is boring or just rubbish,” he says. “I kind of find Charlie’s Angels 2 to be pretty depressing,” and not, Ayoade adds, because Charlie’s Angels was so good that Full Throttle really let him down. “I’m not depressed at the end of watching an Ingmar Bergman film. The Godfather is not a happy ending for a film, but if you like something, it doesn’t really enter into it. Catcher in the Rye is incredibly sad but incredibly funny and I just really like it. There’s nothing worse than something that is emptily cheerful.” The Double is released 4 Apr by StudioCanal
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Future Shock With The Future’s Void set to expand her reputation and fan base, Erika M. Anderson (aka EMA) talks to The Skinny about second album nerves and why artistic, rather than commercial, success is what drives her
ou’re calling from Manchester, right? That sounds like Manchester to me. Yeah, I can hear a little bit of that. You got that twang on the vowels.” Picture it: just as we’re really getting into it, just as we’re starting to pore over the deeper, darker levels of The Future’s Void, the head-spinning second album by EMA, Skype throws a wobbler and the line goes dead. Portland, Ohio and the drizzly Northwest of England wrenched apart on the whim of mere ones and zeroes. A nervous glance at the dictaphone – potential interview gold, lost forever. Thankfully, Erika M. Anderson laughs it off: “Oh yeah, man! I was talking about all this cool, really insightful stuff to myself and you missed it all!” But it’s a misstep that sets us off again at a tangent. The last time Anderson was around these parts, touring debut Past Life Martyred Saints over here three times in a year, she dared chide the locals for their apparent lack of indie heritage, her keynote cover of Violent Femmes’ Add It Up not quite getting the recognition she felt it deserved. “Yeah! People didn’t recognise that as much as I would have expected,” she says. “But I’m from the Midwest, so the Violent Femmes, you just grew up with that. Anyway, I’ve forgiven you.” It’s a shame her take on that twisted document of male sexual insecurity, reclaimed by a woman from the next generation no less, didn’t get its due. But it’s a sure-fire indicator of her seemingly insatiable hunger for exploration. If parts of her audience hadn’t clocked how little respect she had for sticking to the path, The Future’s Void should erase all doubts, even if during its conception Anderson had few qualms about airing her initial fears via Twitter. “Well of course, yeah,” she says. “It’s your sophomore record. I did tweet a lot about it at first, yeah. I think I tweeted something like ‘Everyone has a way to fuck up their sophomore record.’ And it’s a fine line, you know? A lot of people were like ‘Horns! Horns section! Don’t do it!’ which I thought was really funny. Yeah, I think… how do I explain this? It’s a little bit difficult. You perhaps don’t trust yourself as much the second time around. It’s a challenge in that you can’t be quite as free, perhaps. You find yourself thinking ‘Oh no – people are going to listen to this one!’” It’s a cliché well-worn – the oh-so difficult second album. If your first is an expectoration of teenage experience, beautifully unburdened by expectation, album number two is all too often over-thought and over-worked. Yet The Future’s Void, from the brute crackle of Satellites to Dead Celebrity – its closing, tender elegy – is a dark triumph, as secure in its vision as we perhaps never dared hope. The end product suggests an entirely untroubled gestation: “Well we can just pretend that that was the case! Mmm. I don’t think I ever necessarily felt secure. But that’s kind of what I like. I like doing things that make me feel a little insecure, because I think that’s when you’re bumping up against boundaries, that’s when you’re bumping up against things that are new. You’re asking yourself if you can even do this. Will it work? Is this cool? Those are good questions. So whenever you come across those, it just means that you have to keep going in that direction.” That title speaks of resignation and defeat but there’s no hint of that within. It’s switchedon, clued-up, and defiantly alive. De rigueur slacker cynicism? Not on the menu. “Well the title’s interesting in that there are a number of different ways in which it can be taken,” says Anderson. “And I guess it does have this kind of sinister,
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nihilistic, dystopian vibe to it but it’s also just a nod towards this kind of cyberpunk fiction that I was reading; 80s sci-fi movies I was watching. I imagined that title being spray-painted on a wall by some future punks on some 80s movie set in 2014. I think it also has this kind of West Coast stoner vibe. There’s a lot of humour in what I do – it’s almost satirical. It’s all about playing with genre. The song So Blonde is a satire on grunge, a loving satire on a typical grunge song.” The opening bar with that descending tom roll and those fat major chords, they could only have come from that scene. “Oh yeah! Totally. You know, grunge is coming back with some younger fans and I’m playing with that. The lyrics, they’re kind of ambivalent about the protagonists of grunge. It’s not lionising those people. It’s trying to look back with a slightly more critical eye. But also, I’ve always just wanted to try that grunge scream. So, yeah, that one can be enjoyed on multiple levels.” She considers for a moment. “Ha! Hopefully!”
“I really see this one as a dark sequel in a trilogy. It’s a little bit Empire Strikes Back” Erika M. Anderson
As daring as its disdain for genre is the album’s uncompromising running order, a sequence that sees it open at volume and close on a whisper. Its three deathly quiet moments (100 Years, Solace, Dead Celebrity) all come at the end. The delicate 100 Years is Anderson’s greatest departure to date, a barely supported vocal that’s more madrigal than pop song, arranged on what sounds like an almost medieval scale. “Yeah, I love that scale. I believe it’s the Dorian mode, which is a super-British Isles thing and it’s one of my favourite scales. I could write in that all day. The record had this really upfront political punk song on it at one point and I just thought we needed some space. The whole album was very dense with electronics at that point and so I wanted that space.” There’s a quality to Anderson’s lyrics that’s hard to pinpoint. There’s little in the way of narrative or even viewpoint at times. But there’s an uncluttered elegance to her written form. The line ‘Disassociation is the modern disease’ is as close as she gets in song to standing alongside the claims of the album title. “Yeah, maybe,” she says. “I think that was about me having these really ambivalent feelings about being even a moderate success in the internet age, where all of a sudden you feel like your likeness and your words are being replicated everywhere. I feel like it’s really easy to… you can end up feeling disconnected from this person who is… you. I found that really difficult and I just really needed to get those feelings off my chest. Especially that song you mention (3Jane). I needed to be able to write that song, those words, to allow me to write anything else.” We should be wary of attaching labels too broad to works so complex, art deserving of
EMA
deeper consideration. But even at this stage, The Future’s Void stands as a sharp re-modelling; more thoughtful, multi-layered and, crucially, more of a musician’s album. With much of her initial coverage keen to capture the ‘character’, and paint her as a gobby scenester, it’s Anderson’s emerging musicianship (she’s a genuinely gifted singer into the bargain – oddly, rarely mentioned) that should be grabbing the headlines. Even so, with the album complete, is she still trying to fully understand it herself? “Yeah. That’s interesting. This record is a little more guarded in some ways,” she explains. “This time I had to set up boundaries for myself. And yeah, it is a little bit more musical. I’m trying more musical things. Will I stay like that? I don’t know. I would like to be able to combine the musicality of this record and the freedom of the first record. Plus, this record is about building my palette and building skills. I really see this one as a dark sequel in a trilogy. It’s a little bit Empire Strikes Back, you know? I’m figuring out what I like. I definitely didn’t want to just make the first record again. That would have been really false. I now need to figure out just what it is that I love and be able to go forward and just be who I am. It’s hard to come back from a record like Past Life Martyred Saints and please everybody, and have it be true.” In a world where young musicians ritually announce themselves and their genius with a
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self-belief bordering on psychosis, a musician like Erika M. Anderson, still figuring out her path, and doing it not just in conversation but through her art, is a rare thrill. You wonder what might come next. Her future seems far from empty, rather it seems limitless. “Oh yeah. Expect pivots,” she says by way of confirmation. “Expect the next record to be different. Some people talk about it as evolution but it’s also about keeping myself engaged, you know? I have to look at other people, see what else I can learn. Do I think that that is what I want to do forever? No. I did say to myself on this one, Let’s try and write a pop song – verse-chorus-verse. See how that works. See how it works, perhaps, for old friends in the Midwest who kind of liked Past Life Martyred Saints but who” – she pauses – “also didn’t totally get it... So I gave it a go. What’s a bridge? Let’s check that out. Let’s do the drop-out. Whatever. But you know, ultimately it comes back to what moves me. Not what moves records. So yeah, expect turns. Expect different – oh, I don’t know!” She laughs, seemingly amused by the ridiculousness of her own self-critique. Then all at once she seems to settle on how to best summarise the road ahead: “Don’t expect anything.” The Future’s Void is released on 7 Apr via City Slang. EMA plays Manchester Ruby Lounge on 4 Jun www.facebook.com/cameouttanowhere
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Photo: Alessandro Simonetti
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THE SKINNY
My Degeneration Cleveland trio Cloud Nothings are back to save angsty postadolescents everywhere. Whisper it, but main man Dylan Baldi might even be enjoying himself
Interview: Jazz Monroe
ylan Baldi, unspooling the morning, slouches on the double bed of his low-rent Cleveland apartment. The singer’s hometown property has somehow survived his relocation, for love, to Paris, and despite his modest income the suggestion of subletting seems to crawl in his skin: “I don’t like when people sleep in my bed,” he grumbles, tersely. “I just, I like to have a clean bed.” Sleeping arrangements aside, Baldi seems totally relaxed. You might be surprised. On fourth album Here and Nowhere Else, out on Wichita this month, he sounds fierce, contemptuous, permanently affronted. But his demeanour is chilled – jolly, almost – and by virtue of his hurtling tunes, massive acclaim and righteous lyrics, Baldi has become not just angst-free and world-ready but a kind of role model, a de facto ambassador for shut-ins. Still, maybe it’d be overkill to describe Baldi as happy. It’s hard to say exactly what he is. Certainly he believes he’s happy – or at least, in his company, you believe that he believes it – and though his laughter can seem reluctant, scrambling back down the windpipe, it’s true that it is charming and frequent, a laugh that insists, Here I am, taking on the day; a pop-punk man with nothing to prove! Not to overanalyse: the 22-year-old is pretty much like any postadolescent: moderately insecure, passionately noncommittal and overall unsure whether he’s happy, depressed, somewhere in-between or nowhere at all. He left college after three weeks and, despite living a year in France, barely recognises the language. His Parisian assessment resembles the kind of ringing endorsement you’d hear from Nevermind-era Cobain: “It’s nice,” he says. “It’s cooler than Cleveland.” Baldi met his girlfriend at a Cloud Nothings show in Paris, but that subject, like his bed, is off limits. “It’s not important at all! This is so funny.” Naturally we’re intrigued; was she a fan? “I don’t think she wanted to be at the show. I think she was there because her friends were there. But then we, I dunno...” He chuckles suggestively, prematurely concluding, “and that was that!” A furtive storyteller, perhaps, but Baldi is a veritable master of pop-punk songwriting. Attack on Memory, his 2012 breakout, harvested the dread of economic blackout and stormed the year’s hotbed of heavier indie-rock. As the Men singed minds, Metz got Wasted and Japandroids riffed windswept, Cloud Nothings alloyed the Wipers’ strop-punk with the Replacements’ beseeching blues (a formula carried into Here and Nowhere Else) to give a bleakly melodic youth forecast, their days wasted and plans spent. Following Baldi’s daintier incarnation as a one-man bedroom-pop act, it was a rousing, riotous effort: the record, as well as being a lighthouse to the darkly postadolescent, was designed to animate a generation deceived en masse by politicians and advertisers. “I thought! I would! Be more! Than this!” roared Baldi on Wasted Days, his tone less self-loathing than confrontational. Sure we’re fucked, he conceded, But hey, fuck you for fucking us. Ironically it was Attack on Memory’s whipsmart take on stasis that proved Baldi’s lifeline. And while he claims the record sprang not from genuine intensity so much as a sonic affinity for intense music, its inception was hardly breezy. “When I was writing that record, I’d been in the band for two and a half years and nobody liked us,” he observes, “which was sort of depressing. At a certain point it starts to get you down. You’re touring the world and nobody’s coming
April 2014
Cloud Nothings
to your shows. It’s different if you’re just playing local stuff – that’s fine – but if you’re really trying to make something of it, it’s sad. So I just wasn’t feeling great when I wrote Attack on Memory.” After the icy wilderness, Here and Nowhere Else is a sort of Holocene for Baldi, who jokes – yes, jokes – that its cover, which looks like an early dawn snapshot of some autumnal European asylum, signals cheerier horizons than its predecessor’s monochrome lighthouse: “There are some browns in there, you know? It’s not just black and white.” He laughs. “I hate to say the record’s more positive – that’s just the word in the press release – but that’s all I can say. It’s a more positive version of the same things I’m always thinking about.” Like what? “I’m still vaguely on that weird angst tip,” he answers, shuffling slightly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever really get over that. But,” he adds quickly, “the lyrics aren’t even important. That’s not even where I figure out what I’m thinking about. It’s not so much that I’m thinking about certain things – it’s more that I’m obsessed with songwriting. I have to think about that all the time.” It’s not until Baldi waxes musical that you get a feel for him. Dark-souled but light-hearted, distracted but determined, he is hugely selfassured and, admittedly, maybe a little geeky. I mention that his “weird angst tip” comment sounds uncharacteristically apologetic, like a Cloud Nothings skeptic’s description of Cloud Nothings. He responds that he was “being slightly self-deprecating; I’m not always angsty but the music expresses, essentially, just that for a lot of the time. Earlier you said I’m quite chatty, which is crazy because I am. I can talk to people. I’m just a normal person, in that sense. I talk to people, you know? I’m not weird. But people expect me to act a certain way because of the music. I guess I don’t like when people assume that.” Maybe song titles like Psychic Trauma don’t help, though in a way, he’s as contradictory and
uncertain as a punk in post-postpunk times ought to be. Minutes after assuring that he’s shaken angst (“not like I’m some old wise man now, but I just don’t feel that way anymore”), his chirpy tone swerves on to the subject of low moods and crippling perfectionism; later, Baldi concludes that his music is to “help me figure out who I am,” admitting “I’m kind of talking to myself, more than anybody, in these songs.”
“Most people think you join a band to become a drug addict, but I would’ve stayed in college and done that” Dylan Baldi
It buttresses his image as an outsider broken-in, a man whose idea of cool is always his own. Since growing up in Cleveland, barren postpunk home of Devo and Pere Ubu, Baldi has emerged from a scene offering little precedent for success. “My dad had a classic rock, Creedence Clearwater Revival type band that he played in,” he recalls of his Cleveland youth. “I thought that was cool, you know, because he was having fun. I’d go see him in bars occasionally. Actually, he wasn’t even in the band anymore at that point, because I was born. He had to quit that. But he would sometimes play with them,
MUSIC
and I’d go along and be like” – a nasal squeal emerges – “That’s my dad!’ I was like, Hey, maybe I’ll try to do that.” With getaway prospects few and far between – Baldi’s favourite pastime was visiting lighthouses and staring out to sea – songwriting soon became his escape hatch from a bad romance with education. Asked what aspect of college he disliked, the dropout offers, “Uh, everything?” but he was more disillusioned than desperate. “There was nothing alienating, necessarily, but it definitely felt like it wasn’t for me. And it felt like, looking around, it wasn’t for a lot of other people either. And that was the part that really bothered me. I was like, Why are all these people doing stuff they hate? I’ve gotta get out of here before I end up going crazy or becoming a drug addict.” He pauses, thinking. “You know, most people think you join a band to become a drug addict, but I would’ve stayed in college and done that.” Was that genuinely his future? “I really had no idea. I think that was the thing. I did not see a future for me if I stayed there.” For all the existential uncertainty and despite his impulse to constantly uproot, you sense Baldi has, in a spiritual sense, settled at last. Does he regret anything? “I feel alright, you know? I know a lot of people who went to college who are a lot stupider than me.” He pauses for effect, laughing broadly this time. “Once in a while we’ll have a really dark show, where we’re bad or something. And I ask myself, Why did I do this? But for the most part, it’s great. It’s actually just what I’ve wanted since I was ten and saw my dad play at this thing. It’s surreal, but it’s a lot better than anything else I would be doing. It’s the best thing I could be doing right now. For now, everything’s fine. I woke up today and had some coffee, made some eggs. Feeling good.” Here and Nowhere Else is released on 1 Apr via Wichita Recordings. Cloud Nothings play The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 22 May www.cloudnothings.com
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Photo: Pooneh Ghana
D
A Walk on the Wild Side How do you enliven a short story recital? Liverpool literary collective the Wild Writers have a solution, and it involves Mexican wrestling
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n a climate of persistent arts cuts with intense competition for the little funding available, the arts sector is an uncomfortable collective to belong to, especially as an emergent artist, also known as (to quote a recent Bryony Kimmings blog rant) a ‘poor fucker.’ It is therefore no surprise that there is a veritable tsunami of selffunded, self-organised and self-promoted events currently invigorating the Northwest arts scene. And why not? After all, there is nothing to stop a musician from playing a set at an independent coffee shop, or an artist from turning an abandoned, uninspiring space into a rousing exhibition. Indeed, a playwright can breathe life into a script by – in the wise, if slightly illegal words of Mike Bradwell – squatting a building or stealing a van. But what about those writers who belong to a different literary genre: the poet, the novelist, the crafter of those bite-size delicacies that declare themselves short stories? What kind of event can they create? Does the solitary nature of creative writing condemn authors to hide behind the unresponsive façade of an A4-sized page, faceless and removed, never to interact with their intended audience? So many rhetorical questions should be countered with an answer, an answer which materialises in the form of Liverpool literary collective the Wild Writers. Promoting grassroots writing and armed with a DIY attitude, the Wild Writers are changing the visual relationship we have with literature, one event at a time. It is an onerous question to consider: literature is certainly a visceral instrument but can it, outside of the realms of the reader’s imagination, embody the visual? Poetry nights and spoken word evenings can be well attended but they rarely offer much in the way of ocular delight. When it comes to producing an event, literature is perhaps the most difficult artistic medium in which to work. Michael Fowler, founder and leader of the Wild Writers (though he admits to his position with dignified reluctance), agrees. “First and foremost we understand that
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Interview: Alecia Marshall Illustration: Camille Smithwick
going to a literary night is not like going to a gig; there is always the assumption that you will be expected to sit down and be quiet. In truth, that isn’t what most people want to do – especially not everyday people who do not while away the hours reading poetry. We try to make it visual, interactive – we want to give something back to our audience.” I greet gang members (does a literary collective constitute a gang?) Michael Fowler and Sinéad Cooper at an upstairs table in the thankfully quiet Liverpool café Leaf. There is a touch of the ‘wild’ about them: Cooper has pink hair and Fowler a pierced ear. Apparently there are 13 Wild Writers in all, a number – it is revealed later – that was decided upon because it felt cool. Introduced to ‘Wilde Towers,’ a Toxtethbased dwelling in which the Wild Writers live (“and when we say ‘dwelling,’ we mean oldfashioned manor”), I am vocally guided through a fictitious maze of haunted corridors, obligatory oversized library and secret whisky cellar. “Writers have to have wine and whisky you know,” Cooper says seriously. “In abundance actually,” Fowler interjects. “We ship it in from all around the world – it comes in a secret truck in the dead of night.” It seems Napoleon was right, imagination does rule the world. The concept of the Wild Writers was prompted by an open call for participants for the writing festival In Other Words. “Four of us decided to submit something, so we had a meeting,” Fowler explains. “Instead of focusing on the festival the meeting spurred me to do something else: I went away and created a name, a website and an idea, all of which became the Wild Writers. I’m the only one left of the original four, they are too busy now to do silly, arty things.” It is almost one year since the aptly titled Imaginarium (the collective’s exhibition/kneesup at Slater Street gallery Drop the Dumbells) became the “first and favourite” outing of the newly launched Wild Writers. Inspired by Jeff’s Brain – the unarguable highlight of the 2012
Everyword programme – an ingenious concept in which playwright Jeff Young physicalised the accumulated flotsam of his mind, Fowler describes being gripped by its interactive quality. “You physically go inside his head, you pick up his books – it’s alive. It made me think about the things you can do with writing. Suddenly it didn’t have to be someone standing there reading a poem or a piece of prose, which I kind of loathe in a way.” He stops himself, recalibrates. “Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I can be engrossed in that, but sometimes it’s just not for me. To see something that I love doing – writing – outside of watching a man standing on a stage reading was refreshing.”
“We smash things together – a bit of art with a bit of writing” Sinéad Cooper
Infiltrating Drop the Dumbells with prints and projections, head shaving and a poetry vending machine, audiences were enthralled by the Imaginarium’s interactive aesthetic. (If you’re slightly confused by the orchestration of this highly intelligent vending machine, it’s because it wasn’t an actual machine: “[It was] just me sitting in a cardboard box,” Cooper confesses.) When it’s suggested that the extremity of the head shaving nudges towards the domain of Marina Abramovic, Cooper agrees enthusiastically. “That’s what I like about what we do; we smash things together – a bit of art with a bit of writing.”
BOOKS
Smashing things together is an amusingly apt comment in the context of the collective’s approaching event, Sancho Panza. Inspired by Lucha Libro, a Peruvian literary competition that marries writing and wrestling and results in a hefty publishing contract, The Kazimier will contain a 14-square-foot wrestling ring in which some of the city’s fastest, strongest and, dare I say, bravest writers are invited to battle it out for the title of ‘Sancho Panza World Heavyweight Champion.’ Literal and literary wrestling. Now that’s a mouthful. The masked writer luchadores face each other one-on-one to write the ultimate short story in five minutes, projected live for all to read and keep up with the action. Each round will be decided by an independent panel of judges that will send the victorious writer through to the next round to continue their fight, before forcing the loser to face the ultimate forfeit: the stripping of their ceremonial mask. “Sancho Panza is the name of Don Quixote’s squire,” explains Fowler. “We thought it was the perfect name for a South American themed writing/wrestling night: Spanish with a literary connection.” Ironically, Sancho Panza is an illiterate character, but we won’t mention that. With live music from Spanish Announcement Team (who specialise in wrestling covers) and the possibility of an appearance from the formidable ‘steel chair’, it all sounds rather bizarre. They laugh. Loudly. Bizarre, yes. But innovative? Inventive? I cannot help but think so. “Not wanting to sound arrogant,” laughs Fowler, “but I don’t think there is anything like the Wild Writers.” Sancho Panza, The Kazimier, Liverpool, 17 Apr, £4 The Wild Writers are also appearing as part of Warrington LitFest, running a drop-in session at The Pyramid, Warrington, 3 May, 2-5pm www.wildwriters.co.uk
THE SKINNY
Lost in Music
Golden Teacher join the bill at Sounds from the Other City, France’s Nuits Sonores festival and others this year, and they have a new record due on Optimo. We speak to them about structure, aesthetics, and getting bare-ass naked
Interview: Bram E. Gieben
olden Teacher strongly resist any attempts to categorise, classify or define them. They don’t fully agree that their music is ‘psychedelic,’ despite sharing a name with a species of magic mushroom. They resist being painted as another Glasgow Art School band, even though they are heavily involved with the Art School’s new showcase event Pleasure Garden. They have a tendency to sidestep each question asked of them, responding with a more interesting story than the one requested – the assertion that they have a psychedelic sound is countered with a story about the training methods of Samurai warriors, and references to hallucinating 11th-century nun Hildegard von Bingen. Their stage show has a lot in common with the extended, improv-heavy electronic excursions of Factory Floor, but filtered through the gaze of Afrobeat, heavy dub and mutant disco and techno, and featuring two vocalists, young Glaswegian singer Cassie Oji and Charles Lavenac, formerly of guitar noise terrorists Blue Sabbath Black Fiji. Infectiously dancefloorinfluenced, and effortlessly experimental, their own description of “party band” is a pretty good approximation of their sound, although as “noise and electronics” player Sam Bellacosa underlines, “what kind of party...?” Richard McMaster met Bellacosa on his first day in Glasgow, seven years ago – they later performed together as Silk Cut. The remaining members of Golden Teacher met at the city’s vibrant Green Door Studios, part of a loose collective of musicians that attended the funded courses in music production and other subjects available there under the stewardship of Emily MacLaren and Stuart Evans of The Rosy Crucifixion, and Sam Smith of Casual Sex, who run the studio and work there as engineers. According to Bellacosa, “The difference between the Art School and Green Door is in terms of the networks for these bands – at the Art School it’s like, ‘Hey – let’s form a band.’ Whereas at Green Door it’s like, ‘Oh... we just formed a band.’” With the majority of the band benefiting from classes at the Green Door Studio in music production, they were given the chance to experiment with different techniques and equipment, studying the approaches of famous set-ups like Sun Studios, Phil Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound’ approach, and Lee Perry’s Black Ark. As the band members – most of whom are involved in other projects – began to meet and get on, they started recording together experimentally, and out of these sessions they realised Golden Teacher had formed. “Anything could have happened” in those sessions, according to Richard McMaster, who also records with Tom Marshallsay, aka Dam Mantle, as General Ludd, and previously as Lovers Rights. “Loads of projects came from it and went through Green Door,” he says. “They’ve touched pretty much every band in Glasgow. We really only became a band because we were gonna do a record. It wasn’t anything before, it was just this project we’d been doing. And then it solidified into this party music... That was just the one that worked.” The approach with Golden Teacher has always been to let the tape run and see what happens, with their songs frequently clocking different tempos at each gig. “Sometimes, when you don’t think about it, the best results come out,” says McMaster. “Especially with recording – it’s such a primal thing. That’s the challenge – if you want to get lost in the moment, how do you document it? You have to get into the right situation. That’s why we’re so lucky there’s a place like
April 2014
Golden Teacher
Green Door. It’s the only reason we can exist, as a band.” After releasing two EPs on Optimo Records, and playing a huge number of gigs in Glasgow, and with time spent on the road playing gigs as far afield as London, Sheffield (“most of the crowd got naked,” McMaster remembers) and beyond, the band are set for much wider recognition over the next few months, playing at specialist electronic music festival Nuits Sonores in May, and eyeing some high-profile support slots and tour dates around the UK.
“Sometimes the best parties are the weirdest ones...” Richard McMaster
McMaster hails from New Jersey, and moved to Glasgow to study art and design – he shared a student residence with Sam Bellacosa, a native New Yorker, and at Green Door they met Laurie and Ollie Pitt, originally from York. The last two members to join were Charles Lavenac, who was looking for a new project a few years after moving to Glasgow from Paris, and was still touring regularly with Blue Sabbath Black Fiji; and the young Cassie Oji, who “pretty much left school and went to Green Door.” Oji cops to being influenced by Grace Jones: “I knew you were going to ask me that!” she laughs. “Who isn’t?” But she also insists that Green Door and her bandmates are an even bigger influence: “Being at Green Door influenced the way I listened to music, and the way I sought
it out,” she says. Her unique vocal style was found through experimenting, improvising: “There’s no technical, correct way to do it – that’s what I enjoy the most about it,” she says. The band had the freedom to approach recording and rehearsing very organically. “Whether it succeeds or not doesn’t actually matter – most of the time it doesn’t,” says McMaster. That freedom to explore vast sonic realms at their own pace eventually resulted in Golden Teacher. “Maybe the way I understand it is that it’s not aesthetics, it’s like... it’s your limitations, it’s what you’ve got, and what effect you want to have on people,” says McMaster. Describing that effect, McMaster says: “When people watch us live, I want it to feel like a party at one in the morning when everything’s getting as intense as possible.” Playing at Sheffield’s Audacious Art Experiment, this resulted in much of the audience disrobing, allowing Lavenac to briefly live out his dream of a life of “dancing; the dancefloor; the singing; everyone going crazy, people taking their tops off.” “Sometimes the best parties are the weirdest ones,” says McMaster. Bellacosa agrees: “That’s something you want to have control over – the kinds of gigs you play,” he says. “It’s important to play in these little concrete tubs, and realise you can make people go wild for two hours. We didn’t know what to expect when we showed up there. If people are taking their tops off and getting on each other’s shoulders, and they have to bring an extra fan out to cool everyone off, then you know what you’re doing is worthwhile.” With no plans yet to leave Optimo, who they praise for their DIY setup and impressive reach, not to mention the sage advice of Messrs. Wilkes and Twitch on all things musical and party-related, and with many musical adventures of their own on the horizon, the band are keen to keep things open-ended, reticent to make predictions about an eventual album or a label shift despite a few tempting offers.
CLUBS
“We don’t want to be proscriptive,” says McMaster, and it could apply to their recording approach and their career equally. “There’s no push to become something... There are ways for people to access your music, through the music industry at large. And it’s nice that we live in this age where that industry has really self-destructed – so you can kind of avoid it. We’re all only doing this because we really love doing it.” The hypnotic pulse of Golden Teacher’s music, played without the aid of computers, is rooted as much in boundary-pushing art-rock and the artful formlessness of deep dub as it is in techno, house and disco. Most importantly, it is rooted in an approach, a method, a willingness to explore, rather than a single aesthetic. Each member of the band is as excited by their solo projects as they are the idea of Golden Teacher being able to tour more widely and make new music. Golden Teacher intend to keep delivering their unique brand of party music at the best and weirdest parties around. Join them – lose yourself. “Dance music’s pretty Pavlovian – you go out and listen to the same drum beat all night,” says McMaster. “For most people, that’s what it is. People take drugs and lose themselves. But for me when things go wildly differently to how you expect them to, or you hear something confusing or challenging – when something is different in the structure of the night than what you expected – that’s really where it gets interesting. Some of the sounds we use are straight from the 1970s, some are more modern – but that’s the challenge. To me, that’s like... all it is.” He smiles and looks at his bandmates. “How do you negotiate that space?” To quote an old Hunter S. Thompson line: “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Golden Teacher’s new single, Party People, is out soon on Optimo Records. They play at Sounds from the Other City in Salford on 4 May www.optimomusic.com
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Photo: Liam Taylor
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THE SKINNY
Oasis in the Sand Cactus is Liverpool’s newest contemporary art space. Founder, curator and overall ‘boss’ Joe Fletcher Orr tells us about its conception, and Sebastian Jefford gives us a guided tour of his opening exhibition This Inferior Mirage
t is the day after Sebastian Jefford’s exhibition opening at Cactus, housed within Liverpool’s newly expanded Royal Standard complex – and the gallery is suspiciously clean. The only evidence of last night’s party is a few indented heel marks on the otherwise pristine floor. “We cleaned before you got here,” laughs Orr, Cactus’ curator and founder. “It was pretty busy last night.” Orr came to The Royal Standard (TRS) as a studio holder in 2013, after graduating from Manchester School of Art and just as TRS were developing their new building within the Vauxhall Road site. He had been working on a project called Hotel, in Manchester, with fellow artists Calum Crawford and Guy Broadhurst, which invited artists to exhibit in shop fronts and empty spaces around the city, but Orr was keen to open up something more permanent. “I got tired of filling out risk assessments and getting insurance so a permanent space was the best move,” he says. Orr saw the potential of a new space in Liverpool. “I felt like there wasn’t really any exciting programmes that supported emerging artists. Liverpool has a number of amazing galleries and the Biennial, who have been really supportive. There is obviously The Royal Standard, but they are quite well established now so there was definitely a need for something new.” Previous involvement with Rogue Studios in Manchester, which has two project spaces that support each other, led Orr to believe the relationship between TRS and Cactus’ programme could work. Orr has done quite a bit of work on the gallery space to get it up to standard (“It was too officey”), removing a wall to open up the space and replacing the floor with OSB (oriented strand board). This addition is as much about practicality as it is about the intended look and feel of Cactus: “I’d never seen a gallery use OSB for flooring, it’s about establishing a visual identity or brand. I want people to know immediately that it’s Cactus when they see documentation online,” says Orr. Cactus’ online presence is important – Orr has ambition for the space that reaches beyond the local Liverpool or even Northwest arts scene. “I prefer to think about where I fit in the UK and internationally,” he says. “Our approach to social media is that it allows Cactus to go reach beyond constraints of its physical space. I use the Cactus Twitter more like a DJ, just tweeting things I’m interested in rather than as a marketing tool, and our Facebook page and website are also
April 2014
important. They are as much a part of the project as the gallery.” Today, of course, especially with galleries and spaces outside of London or city centres, a large portion of your active audience does only exist online – and might follow your programme religiously, having never stepped inside your space. “You need to be good at communicating what you’re about,” says Orr.
“It’s about generating a sensory, tactile atmosphere that offers potential, but is always teetering on the edge of collapse”
of photographs, obscured by a wrapping of the soft grid of non-slip carpet underlay, are hung on the walls in series, seeming like speakers but emitting nothing. “I see the floors, walls and everything else as part of the work,” says Jefford. “I’m more interested in moving away from making exhibitions composed of a number of singular objects and Sebastian Jefford making more immersive environments. I like the idea that the viewer can be ‘in’ the work.” More of So what is Cactus about? “Good solo proa stage-set approach than an installation, Jefford jects,” says Orr. “It’s really exciting to work with is interested in “the residue, detritus, or afterone or two artists at a time because you can math of a fictional event or activity – in a way, give them all of your attention and work through a performative residue. It’s about generating a ideas together.” Orr finds the process of making sensory, tactile atmosphere that offers potential, exhibitions useful as research for his own artbut is always teetering on the edge of collapse.” making practice – inviting artists who he would Based in Bristol, working out of Spike Island like to have a conversation with is, he hopes, a Studios, Jefford has had a prolific 12 months, process that is useful for both of them. Sebastian with exhibitions at SW3 (Glasgow), Supercollider Jefford’s work had first been recommended by a (Blackpool) and Favorite Goods (LA). He is curfriend and, with a penchant for colourful protru- rently installing as part of a group exhibition sions and in combining and manipulating readyfrom Spike Island Associates, When Two or More mades, there are certain similarities between the are Together, opening at Glasgow International, two artists’ work. and preparing to move to London for an MA at the For opening exhibition This Inferior Mirage, Royal Academy Schools in September. In 2013 he Jefford has chosen to alter all the elements of was selected for the Regional Interference exhithe Cactus space, painting the walls a washedbition programme at WORKS|PROJECTS (Bristol). out desert brown and laying a new floor in a simi- “The support I received over that period was lar colour, suggesting the arid environment of incredible,” says Jefford. “It allowed me to push an exotic archaeological dig. A series of objects what I was doing.” The same is true of Jefford’s is arranged on both surfaces: dark green Fimo relationship with Orr during the process of the pots, piles of tyre-marked white blobs; a black Cactus show. “I couldn’t be here until the install, camera bracket supports a slab of white plaster so a lot of conversations happened via phone and in a way that suggests a sizeable portion of Mr email. Joe had the floor and walls already done Whippy is being analysed by microscope. Panels when I got here meaning I could really focus on
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Photos: Richard Alderson and Wesley Storey
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Interview: Sacha Waldron
the details.” Orr sees his curatorial role as a sort of invisible supportive infrastructure. “My ‘curating’ is making the show happen, supporting the artist, getting as many people as I can there and trying to make sure the artist gets something out of the show,” he says. “I don’t like to use the term curator as it suggests an unnecessary hierarchy. The best curation is when you don’t really notice it at all.” The work, for Orr, is central to everything – but the question of how to make it work is also on his mind. There is a certain momentum to a Biennial year in Liverpool – a good time to launch a new space and for Orr to test out his ideas about how Cactus will function in practice. He has about six months of exhibitions and projects already lined up, with Manchester-based Daniel McMillan and Lucas Wilson invited to show together directly after Jefford. “I’m interested in not just showing artists’ work, but representing them, supporting them. I want to concentrate on doing good shows, but finding a way to be a financially sustainable one. I’m going to be at a few art fairs this year,” says Orr, “acting as a kind of hybrid space, somewhere between artist-led and commercial. We’ll see how it goes.” Right now, however, with the first exhibition up, he can take a breath. It’s going to be a busy year ahead. Cactus is open Fri and Sun 11am-5pm or by appointment, The Royal Standard, Liverpool www.sebastianjefford.co.uk www.cactusgallery.co.uk
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Theatre as Research A collaboration across theatres and continents, Hunger for Trade is a performing-arts response to the international food crisis. Playwright Simon Stephens heads up the Royal Exchange Theatre’s involvement – and considers the history of a humble nectarine
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ow often do you think about the food you eat? By which we don’t mean thinking about which takeaway you fancy tonight, or whether that double-chocolate mocha with whipped cream is going to wreck your diet; no, we mean: how often do you actually really seriously think about what you eat, where it comes from and how it gets to your mouth? And how often do you think about what that process actually shows about the world we live in today? Hunger for Trade, an international event overseen by the Hamburg-based Schauspielhaus and orchestrated between several countries, cities and theatres, including the Royal Exchange, Manchester, sets out to “raise people’s awareness of the fact that the one thing that is innate in our lives – our need to eat – is also very politically charged. People rarely think about where their food comes from or the political infrastructures behind that.” That’s how Simon Stephens – the man in charge of mentoring the Manchester project’s four playwrights – puts it. Stephens was asked to choose who he saw as the four most exciting young writers from a Royal Exchange shortlist, and guide them on their way as they each wrote a short theatre piece in response to Manchester’s position in the global food trade. “I was looking for intelligence and imagination and linguistic energy and wit and a sense of dramatic action. And a sense of adventurousness… but also the sort of writer I thought could be challenged by this,” he says. Those writers turned out to be Miriam Battye, Alistair McDowall, Kellie Smith and Brad Birch. Research has been a key element in the Hunger for Trade process, and its results are to be delivered not only in these playwrights’ short theatre pieces, but also in a whole series of dialogues, performances and interventions staged at the Royal Exchange between 24 April and 3 May. This research has drawn on discussions with figures from all around Manchester who occupy varying positions and levels of involvement in the global food industry and include people from the University of Manchester and from Cargill – an international agricultural, financial and industrial producer – as well as restaurateurs, food activists and anything in between. The idea was that, from a mound of investigation and information almost paralysing in its size, each writer would get a sense of a certain thing that interested them – and then the theatre itself would help them research that point in more detail. Brad Birch has found the Hunger for Trade project to be “like nothing else,” and feels that his role – and the role of the other playwrights – is not to try to become the authority on the subject or just present a bundle of statistics, but to explore topics around the food trade in a way that an audience can grasp and empathise with. “It was clear from the start that we’re not the experts,” he says, “nor would we become experts. We are, at the end of the day, just artists. It’s about our reactions to the issues.” He feels that the purpose of Hunger for Trade is not to bombard audiences with information and opinions but to express a creative reaction. “It would be hard for it not to be [political]; there are grave injustices within the food industry… but it’s not going to hit you over the head with ideology.” Between them, the four playwrights have covered a startlingly diverse range of topics, each writer taking a very different approach and
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Interview: Conori Bell-Bhuiyan
picking up on one specific detail of the food trade that they have found particularly intriguing or compelling. ‘The food industry’ is a lot of issues bundled into one, and indeed Birch found that the most difficult part of his task was avoiding the temptation to tackle all of it at once. Instead, in his piece Tender Bolus, he focuses on the relationship between gluttony, Western consumer society and the global capitalism of the food market. He’s exploring the price of greed and excess on the fragile structures of unsustainable capitalism. “We live in a society where some people are getting surgery to stop themselves eating, and others are finding it difficult to get by,” he explains, adding that he’s saddened by the injustices in the food market that the Hunger for Trade research has confirmed. He’s also curious about “the rituals and mores that we have in our country around food, and the public eating of food. There are certain rules we follow when eating in public in this country… they are kind of implicit.”
“The one thing that is innate in our lives – our need to eat – is also very politically charged” Simon Stephens
Alistair McDowall’s This Land brings up the notion of copy-writing chemicalised food and geo-crops – exploring whether food is now an idea that can be owned, and therefore policed. Can big business now go to court to claim ownership of natural resources such as the crops that form huge parts of global food supply? Kellie Smith, meanwhile, will change the way you think of chocolate forever with Black Gold, her exploration of the role of African cocoa farmers on the Ivory Coast and the West’s relationship with cocoa, chocolate and the international cocoa trade. Miriam Battye, on the other hand, takes a look at the family dinner table as she shows how emotional instability is played out through complicated, comforting, or damaging relationships with food. An evening meal begins to fray at the edges as the strain of a mother’s ambitious career causes family stability to buckle; Balance is Battye’s attempt to examine Western emotional ties with food, be it refusal to eat or finding solace in food or restaurants. But what’s a theatrical tackling of an issue as huge and terrifying as the global food crisis going to be like for the audiences facing up to Hunger for Trade? “I’m sure there will be moments that are provocative and dark,” admits Stephens, “and moments that are very funny and light… I hope that people have a good time. I don’t think it’s to hector them or teach them, but hopefully it will get them to think about where we get our food from. I think it’s really fascinating.” Stephens proceeds to demonstrate exactly what he means, beginning with the simple question: “What was the
Simon Stephens
last thing you ate today?” I have to think a bit to remember, before coming back with a nectarine. Fruit, so that seems healthy – can’t be too bad in the global scheme of things. Then Stephens starts asking questions. “So then you think: so where did the supermarket get their nectarines from? And who was working at the supermarket, and where do they live when they’re not working?… And what are the nectarine farms like? And what are the work conditions of the people farming nectarines? How do they get all the nectarines to get the right taste? And what happens to
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the ones that don’t taste right? “Think about where that nectarine sits in the political infrastructures of the West’s relationship with the rest of the world… and within two minutes you’ve gone from just having a fucking nectarine to thinking about global capitalism.” Hunger for Trade, Royal Exchange Studio, Manchester, 24 Apr-3 May
Black Gold and Tender Bolus, 24-26 Apr, 7.30pm (8pm Sat); Balance and This Land, 1-3 May, 7.30pm (8pm Sat), £12 (£10) www.royalexchange.co.uk
THE SKINNY
Quiet Revolution As Touch and Go prepare to release a remastered and expanded version of Slint’s seminal 1991 album Spiderland, we speak to the band’s David Pajo and Brian McMahan about their early career, the worth of nostalgia, and Louisville’s special brand of craziness
Interview: Bram E. Gieben
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lint’s Spiderland is variously seen as a source document for the nascent grunge scene, a cornerstone in the establishment of the 90s post-rock sound that influenced everyone from Canada’s Godspeed You! Black Emperor to Scotland’s Mogwai, and perhaps the ultimate example of a ‘lost’ and rediscovered classic. Released after the band had broken up, accompanied by minimal liner notes and a single black and white photo of the band taken by future Palace Brothers founder Will Oldham, discovering Spiderland in the late 90s and early 2000s was a revelatory experience. Slint reformed in 2005 to play All Tomorrow’s Parties. Since then they have played select shows for ATP and Primavera, where they return this year, bringing Spiderland, and their Steve Albini-produced debut Tweez to a new generation of listeners. With their reputations as legends assured, and with the band’s David Pajo going on to become a valued guitarist for high-profile bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, Zwan and others, it’s easy to forget that Slint were a band of very young, almost completely unknown musicians when they recorded Spiderland, their masterpiece. As Breadcrumb Trail, a new documentary about the band conceived by veteran 90s rock journalist Lance Bangs reminds us, Spiderland was recorded in just two weekends – one to track, and one to mix, with 19 being the average age of the band members at the time. Slint began in the basement of Britt Walford’s parents’ home in Louisville, Kentucky in the late 1980s, formed from the remnants of two other bands, Maurice and Squirrel Bait. Despite their young age (ranging from 13 to 16) Maurice had already toured with Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig’s band Samhain. The band’s core members, mercurial drummer and songwriter Britt Walford, guitarist Brian McMahan and bassist Ethan Buckler, recruited David Pajo as the guitarist for the newly-minted Slint, taking their name from one of Walford’s many pets. “I remember that first practice, just really being blown away by Britt’s drumming, and the intensity of their show,” says Pajo. From the start, it was clear that he was a different breed, a musician’s musician: “I think especially in Louisville, in the punk rock scene, there weren’t that many musicians who were total music geeks like I was,” he remembers. “It was more of a ‘F you’ thing.” He laughs. “I was accepted pretty fast because there was kind of a shortage of decent guitar players. I kind of fell into that world.” After some time on tour – vividly evoked in Bangs’ documentary – the band came to record their debut, Tweez, with Big Black’s Steve Albini. “Britt and I, and Ethan, had written almost all of the songs,” remembers Pajo. Working with Albini was more exciting than intimidating. “These were the people that we idolised, you know? To become friends with them? We were super excited. We wanted them to be impressed with what we were doing.” Not all of the band were happy with Albini’s work on Tweez, however. “We didn’t want it to be a ‘typical’ Albini production, but we did want him to experiment, to try crazy ideas,” Pajo recalls. “Ethan was really upset. To him, it was like Albini had ruined our songs. But I think he knew that he didn’t... That was what we wanted Albini to do.” Buckler’s departure led Slint on to the next phase, and they began writing the songs that would become Spiderland. There are many memorable and unique features on that album, not least of which was the presence of intricate, almost mathematical
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guitar playing. Pajo’s style began to be more influenced by ‘clean’ sounds than the abrasive, distorted headrush of the Louisville hardcore punk sound. “I was into volume and aggressive playing,” he recalls, but “my tastes were expanding, and I was just more open-minded about certain things. I was definitely getting interested in playing in a way that still had dissonance, or kind of bizarre melodies, but didn’t have to be loud to get those feelings across.”
“If you stay focused on the music and only the music, everything else will fall into place for you” David Pajo
Another huge part of Spiderland’s unique appeal were the vocals, contributed by both Walford and McMahan. In a hushed, understated, spoken delivery, they told tales of fairgrounds and fortune tellers, and memorably re-told Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner on the album’s towering, ten-minute closer, Good Morning Captain. That direction was largely influenced by McMahan’s approach to the vocals, as Pajo remembers it: “If it wasn’t for Brian taking a bigger role in the band, I don’t think Spiderland would have become the kind of vulnerable record that it became,” he says. McMahan, incredibly softly spoken and modest, says it was a case of necessity being the mother of invention: “I felt like there wasn’t really a storyteller, for lack of a better term, in the band at that point,” he says. “It seemed like there
needed to be a humanising element. I perceived my role, at the time, to be one of engagement with the audience that wasn’t purely musical – something that was a little more psychic.” “We weren’t necessarily ‘literary’ but we loved to read,” says Pajo. The band consumed “the Beat writers, and other underground writing.” Pajo also namechecks a few Sonic Youth songs with spoken vocals as a touchstone. The key dynamic, as McMahan underlines, was storytelling. From Slint’s inception in 1986, they knew they were not the average rock or punk band. “The only thing we all wanted to do was to create something different,” says Pajo. “That became the template for us. If we wrote one song a certain way, the next song had to be different from that.” Asked if he thinks the band would have been able to make Spiderland if they had met a few years later, McMahan says: “No way. I don’t think that’s very likely. I think we could have easily come together within a few years, give or take, and had a fairly different outcome. It was definitely a product of that specific time.” Another aspect of Spiderland’s uniqueness was its stripped aesthetic, with little to no use of overdubs or studio production techniques. “That one recording session really changed everything for me,” says Pajo. “By the time we came to make Spiderland, we had started listening to old country music, Delta blues, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, all this stuff. We started to take more of a purist approach to recording – more of a documentary style.” The subtle alchemy and web of happy coincidence that led to Spiderland being such a classic album had a lot to do with the isolatedness of Louisville (McMahan describes it as “still kind of a backwoods town”) and its proximity to places like Chicago and Minneapolis. In Louisville, “we had a pretty rich set of inspirations to draw from,” says McMahan. “What we didn’t have was the sense of any sort of template for commercial success.” This is a very different scenario, he believes, than young bands encounter in today’s media-saturated market. “There was a much more physical, tangible relationship among band members and audience members, the people that constituted a regional or local music
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scene,” he says. “Working with Steve Albini and [Spiderland producer] Brian Paulson, they were guys in our region, our part of the country, who we met at shows, who we had personal relationships with. We saw their bands play, they were accessible to us.” Finally, The Skinny asks about a statement offered by Fugazi/Minor Threat guitarist Ian MacKaye, who in Breadcrumb Trail argues that “everyone in Louisville is fucking crazy.” Pajo agrees, to a certain extent: “Growing up in Louisville, I just thought that all your friends were crazy – I thought that was the way it was everywhere,” he says. “It wasn’t until I was in Tortoise and I moved to Chicago that I had any sort of perspective that that scene was sort of fucked up. Madness, and taking things too far, are really enduring qualities in Louisville.” McMahan thinks that brand of crazy can be found anywhere, if you look for it. “I’m going to have to take issue with the notion that Louisville has a corner on the craziness market,” he says. “To the great benefit of the narrative that has emerged around Slint and Spiderland, there have been moments of insanity involved, sure.” In Louisville, he says, “we don’t feel a lot of pressure to keep abreast of any given trend or ideological context. So I guess that could make us seem crazy.” Perhaps just crazy enough. Watching Breadcrumb Trail, it becomes clear that Spiderland is the document of a group of fameshy, bookish, deeply emotional kids who made a record that would slowly, and by increments, change the world. Stories of their exuberance and unruliness as teenagers, when the record was made, serve to illuminate how something so unique came to be – and demonstrates that not all young musical geniuses become bloated, egofed superstars. Some, like Slint, are content to keep their revolution quiet. The remastered and expanded Spiderland, including the documentary Breadcrumb Trail, is out on 15 Apr from Touch and Go Records. Slint play Primavera Sound, Barcelona and Optimus Primavera, Porto on 31 May and 7 Jun respectively Read an extended interview with David Pajo and Brian McMahan at www.theskinny.co.uk/music www.facebook.com/Slint
THE SKINNY
Aggro-culture French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan discusses his brilliant Hitchcockian thriller Tom at the Farm, and we’re surprised to find that at the time of making the film he hadn’t seen any Hitchcock
Interview: Jamie Dunn
“I
don’t know about you, Miss Kitty, but I feel so much yummier,” says Xavier Dolan, as we’re sat off the terrace of a grand old hotel on a balmy day in Venice during last year’s film festival. Don’t worry, the actor-director-writer hasn’t lost his mind: he’s simply acting out the transformation scene from Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, where Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle morphs from a bookish PA to Catwoman, a kickass criminal in a tight PVC catsuit. Pfeiffer’s baroque turn as Catwoman, it seems, is something of a touchstone for Dolan. “I’m inspired by that sort of performance, that sort of freedom,” he continues. “The way she’s acting, it’s like everything is possible, everything is allowed, she can do whatever she wants, and she screams, and it’s over the top, but she’s also showing us that it’s possible to be like this in life.” This larking around is likely to surprise those who only know Dolan from his films. The 24-yearold’s name has become a byword for prodigious filmmaking talent. By the age it takes most mere mortals to get through film school, Dolan has had three movies (I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats and Laurence Anyways) premiere at the Cannes Film Festival to wide acclaim. He’s a serious young man – and as an actor-director the less generous might call him self-serious and self-absorbed. In the films of his in which he’s taken the lead role (I Killed My Mother and Heartbeats) he shoots himself with the kind of admiring gaze that recalls the way Josef von Sternberg would shoot Marlene Dietrich. His latest, Tom at the Farm, made its big screen debut at Venice Film Festival, the Pepsi to Cannes’ Coca-Cola. But don’t take that as an indication of a drop in quality. This fourth effort, a claustrophobic psychological chamber piece in which Dolan stars as Tom, a copywriter holed up in an isolated farmhouse with the family of his recently deceased boyfriend, is by a long way his finest work yet – in front of and behind the camera. And, crucially, for the first time, there isn’t an ounce of vanity in his performance. Even before he’s had the first of his many beatings Tom is dishevelled, wearing the kind of ratty bleached-blond mullet that only surfer-dudes or Kurt Cobain can pull off. (A nod to Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, perhaps.) The film recalls Hitchcock in its classical form and Herrmannesque score. This isn’t the first time Dolan has been compared with other master filmmakers. The aesthetic mode and eyepopping primary colour of his debut, I Killed My Mother, drew comparisons to Pierrot le Fou-era Godard, while his use of slow motion and pop music in Heartbeats called to mind Wong Kar-wai. Dolan is quick to shoot down his status as a magpie filmmaker, though. “I’m considered to be a cinephile, but no one ever asks me if I’m one,” says the Québécois filmmaker – his perfect mid-Atlantic accent disguising his Francophone roots – when asked about Tom at the Farm’s influences. Are you? “I didn’t have the time to become one,” he says incredulously. “I started watching serious movies when I was 16. That is not a lot of time, because I started to direct movies full-time when I was 18. So between 16 and 18 there are only so many films you can see. I had never seen one Hitchcock before I had directed Tom at the Farm.” Really? “You would never believe the movies that are really influential to me,” he laughs. “The list is weird.” The films that have really inspired Dolan, he
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Tom at the Farm
explains, are the ones that marked him when he was a kid: “We’re talking about family entertainments from the 90s.” As well as Batman Returns, chief among these, it seems, is James Cameron’s Titanic. “[That film] has rooted deeply inside me the reflexes and instincts of filmmaking that you could never identify in Tom at the Farm because it looks to you like an art-house film. But, to me, there are about 17 reaction shots that I’ve stolen from Kate Winslet and you can never tell. That’s how inspiration works for me.”
“You would never believe the movies that are really influential to me. The list is weird” Xavier Dolan
While Hitchcock may not have been on Dolan’s mind during production, there is a distinct shift in style from his previous work. Gone are the florid, music video-like vignettes of the first three pictures, replaced by sophisticated, restrained camerawork and lush tableaux. “This needed another style,” he says. “I just want to
be sensitive to what a script needs, not what I need. I don’t like directors who direct movies so that they cut well on their demo reel. It is not my dream in life for people to say, ‘Oh, this is a Xavier Dolan movie.’” Another reason why Tom at the Farm feels so different from his earlier films is that it’s his first attempt at directing someone else’s source material: a play by Michel Marc Bouchard. The story concerns the twisted relationship Dolan’s title character forms with his deceased boyfriend’s brother Francis (Pierre-Yves Cardinal). Francis repeatedly beats him and sets him to work on the farm. Stockholm syndrome sets in and Tom becomes accustomed to, and even starts enjoying, his mistreatment; you could call this a sadomasochistic romance. What was it about the play that made Dolan want to make it into a movie? “The mother’s character spoke to me in her fragility,” he explains. “She was very vulnerable. I love strong female characters, as history has shown. And there are things that I did not see in the play that I wanted to see in the film. If you see a play that’s already a movie in so many ways, you are not as driven to making it a movie if there’s no work to be done. If it’s already so perfect, all you’ve got to do is take a Kodak and film the thing. You want to think, ‘There’s a reason why I want to make this into a film, it’s because it’s going to be different.’” What are those things that make it different? “The violence. The brutality. Strangling someone on a stage is a little funny, you know?” he says while miming strangling himself. “It works,
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it’s OK, but you’ll immediately see how it could be filmed. It’s appealing to think that you could do it differently and that it would be scarier, and more awkward.” The film ends with Rufus Wainwright’s Going to a Town playing under the credits, which, as well as being about leaving the past behind, is famously a sneer at America’s perceived moral superiority. Can we assume, then, that Tom’s battle of wills with the brutish Francis, who wears a Stars and Stripes bomber jacket in several key scenes, acts as an allegorical wink to the intolerance of his home country’s neighbours? It’s a theme that runs through his work. In I Killed My Mother, Dolan’s lead character is sent to boarding school and severely beaten by his schoolmates when they find out he’s gay. And in Dolan’s most controversial work, a music video for French New Wave act Indochine’s single College Boy, he depicts a young man being harassed, beaten up, then crucified and shot to pieces by the school’s bullies while the rest of the pupils (who are wearing blindfolds) film the incident on their iPhones. It’s clearly a subject close to his heart. “Intolerance is everywhere,” he says. “Everywhere where religious cults are deeply rooted in people’s mores, that’s where you’ll find the most shining intolerance: the most brutal violence and thinking and ostracisation. But it’s not only the USA. Look at Russia – unbelievable in 2013.” Tom at the Farm is released 4 Apr by Network Releasing
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Staying Home Joanna Hogg discusses working in London and using non-professional actors to tell her unique stories before the release of her latest, Exhibition Interview: Philip Concannon
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oanna Hogg has been living in London for over three decades, but it has taken her three feature films to finally make a picture in the city she calls home. Her acclaimed debut, Unrelated, was set in Tuscany and her second film, Archipelago, took place on the small island of Tresco, but Exhibition is set almost entirely in and around a very unusual residence in west London. The house is the work of the late architect James Melvin, to whom Exhibition is dedicated, and, as with her earlier work, Hogg drew upon her surroundings for inspiration as she put her story together. “There were a number of ideas I think I’d formed before finding the house,” Hogg told me in London recently. “One of the themes or ideas I’d wanted to explore was an idea of seeing an artist creating a piece of work, actually seeing inspiration at work, and how that creativity or inspiration is also connected with sexuality. All these ideas change and develop over months and weeks, and that’s what’s exciting about the early stages of creating a story; sometimes you’ll have all these different ideas and they seem to be disconnected, but the glue became the house, in a way. So many of the ideas came from just being in that house and observing the character of it.”
What Hogg eventually came up with was the story of two artists, identified only as D and H, who have decided to sell their home and whose suppressed anxieties and fraught interactions are mercilessly captured by Hogg’s rigorous camera. Having cast non-actors in key roles in Archipelago, Hogg made the bold decision to enlist Viv Albertine and Liam Gillick in these parts, neither of whom had ever acted before. “It’s a total leap of faith. It’s a kind of bolt of lightning realisation that this person is going to be right,” Hogg says when I ask her how she came to this decision. “With Viv, I had the advantage of having known her for many years, but what I didn’t know was how good an actress she would turn out to be. Likewise with Liam, I knew he had some kind of performing gene in him, but not to the extent that he did. They both became actors. They’re not playing themselves as they’re both very much playing against type, and they do it brilliantly.” Albertine and Gillick’s performances are even more remarkable when you consider that they were cast in the film less than two weeks before shooting was set to begin. It was a gamble that could have backfired spectacularly for the director, but she sees an element of risk and a willingness to embrace the unknown as crucial
Exhibition
aspects of her filmmaking process. “There is a plan, but within that plan there’s a lot of room for the unknown, for me to change my mind. I’ve got a clear idea of what I want on some level, but I’m not afraid of something unexpected happening, and that’s a really interesting balance to try and maintain.” Having achieved her desired goal of “setting out to explore depicting different levels of reality and creating a piece of work that was less linear, more fragmented and more dreamlike,” Hogg is already looking ahead to future projects. “I’m
quite guarded at home and I don’t talk about my ideas until they’re formed enough to withstand any criticisms,” she says, “until the ideas stand on their own.” But one thing she is sure of is that she wants to make more films closer to home. “I’ve got another film that I’m developing, which is set in London, but I’ve also got another and I’m not sure where it is set yet, which is quite unusual for me, to not know where the film is going to be set when the story is already coming together. So that’s a bit of a mystery.”
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing stand-up? “I used to know every word on the film Titanic, so... that.”
that was posing as a travel guide for holidaying in Medi(æ)eval times that was really good, and I think as long as I had a laptop with a decent amount of RAM it’d be fine. It’d be funny to send an entire sixth form back in time, I reckon. Just pick one at random and send them back.”
Exhibition is released 25 Apr by Artificial Eye
Spotlight: Liam Bolton Meet a comedian who knows what he hates Interview: Debs Marsden Illustration: Louise Lockhart
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iam Bolton is a man-shaped human being who often finds himself posed, in upright fashion, at the front of darkened rooms. He co-wrote (with George Cottier) Danger Precinct, a cop show available on all good YouTubes. With series two currently in preproduction (eagerly awaited by many), the show is mesmerising, crackling with distinct oddness throughout. Bolton’s refusal to be drawn either on his age or how long he’s been performing is no doubt a calculated effort on his part to make the job of writing this preamble more difficult; something for which disingenuous thanks are surely due. Gigging throughout the Northwest, at anywhere within easy reach of public transport, he is the rarest of delights: a genuinely different, engaging voice and almost certainly the only man ever to transpose obscure composer Dieterich Buxtehude to a fictional dystopian future, in order to make him “less boring”. After an inauspicious start, Bolton’s future is now definitely a little more auspicious, which can only be a good thing. Influences: “I really like a lot of stuff, but I find if I have to pin down influences, I’m only really able to think of things I don’t like. I think if I was a musician, for instance, I would be far more influenced by Nickelback than I would be by Meshuggah: pretty sure it’s far more useful to see how not to be.”
April 2014
First gig: “Liverpool, a while ago, and it went alright. A drunk man stumbled in and threatened to kidnap me and everything.” Best gig: “Dunno really. (I’m English.)” Worst gig: “I hate both of these gig questions so much.” Circuit favourites in the Northwest: “I like anyone who gives it their all, with 110% effort, who brings home the bacon, keeps those plates a-spinnin’, takes it on the chin and moseys up to the start line all over again. #comedy2K14” Favourite venue: “Hot Water in Liverpool is good. The Stands are funny. The Frog’s a good laugh. Loads, really.” Best heckle: “I like hecklers. They’re generally a good thing. Once I saw an act go onstage and when he said ‘Good evening, are we well?’ someone went, ‘boooooo!’ Conversely, put-downs are bullying when you think about it.” Aspirations: “Money.”
If you could be haunted by anyone, who would it be and why? “Lucian of Samosata. I really like his writing and he’d hate it.” What’s the largest animal you think you could beat in a fight – no weapons? “A human.” If you lived in Medieval times what would you do for a living? “I’d really like to go to the past. I read a book
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Question from February’s Spotlight, Peter Brush: Which member of the animal kingdom do you think would most enjoy your comedy stylings? “Humans I hope! *audience laughs for 20minutes*” Liam Bolton plays Hot Water, Liverpool, on 18 and 19 Apr, and at the Stalybridge Frog & Bucket on 24 Apr @liam__bolton
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Summer in the City As the UK gears up for the kick-off of the festival season, we focus in on inthe-city, showcase and one-day events, and speak to Albert Hammond Jr., Factory Floor, Daniel Avery, East India Youth and Slam about their highlights
estivals, eh? Stinking mud, trench foot and tents riddled with cigarette burns. Or ungodly dustbowls peopled with sweaty punters covered in the three-day stink of eat-sleep-rave-repeat, gazing at stages in the distance where matchstick guitarists and miniature singers stagger. If that’s your bag, the UK has plenty to offer – we’ll be covering yer in-the-field festivals next month. Now, let’s take a look at the alternative – the many inthe-city, showcase and single day events taking place across the UK. One man playing seemingly every festival going this year is William Doyle, aka East India Youth. In particular, he is looking forward to Liverpool Sound City. He’s pleased that this year, he will be “getting to play at hours where I think my music fits and not at 3pm in the blazing sunshine.” Gabe Gurnsey of Factory Floor is also enthusiastic about the workshops, talks and networking events at Sound City. In an internet-dominated world, “it’s nice for people to meet face to face,” he says. Factory Floor play events like Sound City “because it does open doors to interesting collaborations and remixes.” Both Gurnsey and Doyle are looking forward to catching Jon Hopkins live at this year’s Parklife Weekender in Manchester, where they both play. “I seem to be following Jon Hopkins around the UK festival circuit pretty much everywhere,” laughs Doyle. “I just hope he doesn’t think I’m stalking him...” Gurnsey isn’t worrying about Factory Floor’s tight, locked-in playing perhaps over-running at this year’s events. “Sometimes we’ve gone over by half an hour and been kicked off stage – that’s happened before,” he admits. “It’s quite nice to cut it dead at some point, and leave the audience wanting more. But we could play forever to be honest, a week’s worth of music... a bloody krautrock frenzy jam.” Also playing Liverpool Sound City, and Glasgow’s in-the-city festival Stag & Dagger, is Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., playing tracks from his 2013 EP AHJ. “Both of these sound a bit like South By SouthWest,” he says. “I like being in the city. It’s closer to everything! I told my booking agent I had a great time playing in the UK last time, so I’ve always wanted to tour for three weeks and play everywhere. I’ve done my best to make that happen.” Hammond will also play dates supporting Phoenix when he hits the UK this summer. One city festival with a strong electronic lineup is London’s Field Day, where Daniel Avery will be playing back to back with his Phantasy label boss Erol Alkan. “They supported me from a very early stage,” he says. “I played to next to no-one, but in those early days I got to share the stage with artists I really respect and look up to,
and since then I’ve worked my way up the bill.” Scotland gets its own electronic music shindig at the Riverside Festival, where venerated Glasgow duo Slam will be showcasing their wares. “We are teaming up with our German brothers Pan-Pot for some back to back for the finale on the Saturday night,” says the duo’s Orde Meikle. He is looking forward to sets from Laurent Garnier, Andrew Weatherall, Maurizio, Visionquest, Jamie Jones, and a rare back to back on Sunday from Chicago legends Cajmere and Sneak. “Glasgow is extremely vibrant right now,” he believes. With Riverside taking place at an “unusual and breathtaking location, with the infrastructure built from scratch,” Slam will be serving up Glasgow techno in their own inimitable style at this one-off event. A look through the summer festival calendar for in-the-city and showcase events shows just how healthy and diverse the UK music scene is at the moment. If you care less about seeing Kasabian for the umpteenth time, and could do without Calvin Harris bothering you with cheesy trance drops while you’re trying to enjoy some avant garde surf-punk, these are the festivals for you. The Denovali Swingfest (18-19 Apr) in Berlin is not a celebration of big band swing-dancing, thank goodness. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we’d much rather see the likes of top-class experimental producer and Tri-Angle beatsmith The Haxan Cloak, and Tru Thoughtssigned jazz/folk/hip-hop collective Hidden Orchestra, than learn how to twirl and jive. Run by Germany’s Denovali Records, the lineup also features John Lemke, Ulrich Schauss and others. Brighton’s increasingly gigantic in-the-city showcase The Great Escape (8-10 May) have booked more than 400 bands this year. Highlights include Casual Sex and R.M. Hubbert, alongside big names like Wild Beasts, These New Puritans and Kelis, and hotly-tipped emerging acts like Blue Daisy and Circa Waves. The Supersonic Festival (30-31 May) in Birmingham celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. This year they’ll be welcoming a seriously eclectic lineup, with the big draw being the fullon sonic assault of Michael Gira’s Swans. In terms of city-based electronic festivals, one of the best this year will be London’s Field Day (7-8 Jun), attracting some of the biggest names on the non-tents ‘n’ mud circuit – as well as featuring Daniel Avery and Erol Alkan’s back-toback set, they have Pixies and Metronomy headlining, with support coming from Warpaint, Evian Christ, Neneh Cherry and Rocketnumbernine, The Horrors, Danny Brown, and Jackmaster, among others – with more still to be confirmed as we go to print.
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Feature
Jon Hopkins
In Manchester, the Parklife Weekender (7-8 Jun) has an equally impressive bill – curated by Manchester’s Warehouse Project team, the lineup is as diverse as it is mercurial, with headline sets from the likes of Snoop Dogg, Foals, SBTRKT, Kendrick Lamar, Public Enemy, Warpaint and Disclosure, and more experimental artists such as Flying Lotus (also appearing as his hiphop alter-ego Captain Murphy), Gold Panda, Illum Sphere, and the Givenchy-loving, punch-throwing, one man dubstep car crash that is Zomby.
“We could play forever... a week’s worth of music. A bloody kraut-rock frenzy jam” Gabe Gurnsey, Factory Floor
Back up in Glasgow, the Riverside Festival (3-4 May), organised in conjunction between Electric Frog and Sub Club institution Pressure, is a two-day festival of all things house and techno, with sets from French techno don Vitalic playing live, along with 2manydjs, Slam, Tiga, Felix Da Housecat, Laurent Garnier and Andrew Weatherall, among others. Meanwhile Tramlines (25-27 Jul), Sheffield’s inner-city music festival, with gigs across various venues in the city, have booked Public Enemy for their headliners, alongside Deap Vally, Gold Panda, Jonwayne, The Gaslamp Killer and The Wedding Present. Edinburgh gets its own mini-showcase festival at Wide Days (9-10 Apr), an industry convention organised by Born To Be Wide, and featuring performances from six carefully-selected upand-coming artists – Edinburgh’s mesmeric vocal experimentalist LAW, jangly indie tykes Model Aeroplanes, Lost Map newbies Tuff Love, The Jellyman’s Daughter, and Angus Munro. Also taking place in Scotland, up in Inverness, is goNORTH (4-5 Jun) – no lineup details had been announced when we went to print, but it’s a great place to discover Scotland’s Next Big Thing, with sets from emerging bands
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and labels from around the country, and talks, showcases and workshops from industry bigwigs. And of course, there’s Glasgow’s multi-venue blitzkrieg Stag & Dagger (4 May), always a healthy snapshot of the international landscape – they’ve got Albert Hammond Jr., Forest Swords, East India Youth (the boy’s a machine!), and many more. Two of the big players now, both in the Northwest – first there’s the gigantic Liverpool Sound City (1-3 May), now one of the UK’s biggest convention-cum-showcase festivals, with over 300 bands playing across a great swathe of Liverpool’s best venues over three days – as mentioned above, our chosen highlights include Factory Floor, Jon Hopkins, and East India Youth, as well as big names like Fuck Buttons, Kodaline, 65daysofstatic, The Hold Steady, and a plethora of up-and-coming bands. Keynote speakers include Thurston Moore and John Cale. Its smaller, more DIY rival, Salford’s Sounds From the Other City (4 May) might only last a day, but there’s some serious talent on offer – highlights include Golden Teacher, who we profile this issue, plus Lee Gamble, Adult Jazz and PINS, among others. Back up in Scotland, Aberdeen’s The Big Beach Ball (4 May) is a one-day festival absolutely jam-packed with both national and international talent – there’s a strong electronic lineup, with Green Velvet as Cajmere, Mylo, Kerri Chandler, Optimo and Silicone Soul manning the turntables, plus a wealth of Scottish indie talent, headed up by Admiral Fallow, The Pictish Trail, Malcolm Middleton, Fatherson and more. To finish up, a mention for two seriously avant garde and thrillingly experimental showcases. Firstly, the Tectonics Festival (9-11 May), taking place in Glasgow, twinned with a sisterevent in Reykjavik. They welcome Thurston Moore, Muscles of Joy, Conquering Animal Sound’s Anneke Kampman aka ANAK-ANAK, Bill Wells and others. Also featuring an impressive bill of avant garde performers is Dundee’s Counterflows (4-6 Apr), showcasing experimental jazz, electronica, psychedelic pop, drone and a myriad of other genres, with highlights including cult songwriter Ela Orleans in collaboration with filmmaker and counter-culture icon Maja Borg, Heatsick’s Extended Play live set / installation featuring Joe McPhee and Golden Teacher, and many other strange and wonderful highlights. Keep reading our Festival Watch coverage online for lineup additions and breaking news. www.theskinny.co.uk/latest/news
THE SKINNY
Photo: Richard Manning
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Interview: Bram E. Gieben
Venice and the Tourist’s Two Faces Our writer travels to Italy, and tries to comes to terms with two strangely contradictory sides of mass tourism
Words: Jim Troeltsch Illustration: Luke Brookes
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fter a couple of months spent as a tourist in Rome and the main cities of Northern Italy, I became sure of two things: 1) tourists are a blight, a ruinous and malign influence on their host destination, which, in almost every non-economic way, would be better and more authentic without them; 2) tourists are one of the few things that make modern travel worthwhile, and lend to it a real, lasting, old-fashioned value. Bear with me. The first one, being a widely held view, I had expected to be borne out pretty quickly in such a visited part of Europe – but I was surprised to be hit over the head with its blunt truth on only the trip’s second day. I started in Venice, which may seem like I was asking for it, but, despite being the most densely touristed city on my itinerary, it proved to be typical. It took me until the second day to become fully aware of its problems, though, because on the first I was all but struck dumb by its odd beauty. I arrived by train in late afternoon, and after the sudden appearance of gondoliers smoothly gliding alongside the window as it crossed the lagoon, the first thing I noticed was Venice’s muchvaunted light. It really is different, the light: golden in a burnished, hazy kind of way, it hangs low over Venice’s domed Byzantine skyline and gives the impression that this is somewhere wholly other, distant, exotic – not Italian, not even European. Once out of the station and standing in front of the low, dense, waterlogged sprawl of the city, watching the boats churn along the thick vein of the Grand Canal, this impression is reinforced: Venice is easily one of the strangest cities on earth. The mellow-toned, Easternish buildings that lined the canal looked like they’d recently risen from the sea, and, tidemarked and weathered, they looked like they could return to it at any moment. There was no sense of peril, though: they looked too strange to be occupied; they could have been false fronts, part of a grand stage set. Unfortunately, the whole bewildered-awe thing didn’t last long. The following day, I visited the Piazza San Marco, which turned out to be a dire microcosm of touristic vulgarity. The first thing you notice, approaching the piazza from the water, is not the busy mass of fellow tourists. What’s far more imposing is the black-and-acidgreen Heineken ad, about the size of two houses stacked together, overlooking the Grand Canal. Then, as you move into the piazza itself, home of some of Venice’s most venerated buildings – St. Mark’s Basilica and Campanile, the Doge’s Palace – you see another ad, this time a monstrous MaxMara canvas stretched out at the piazza’s far end. And suddenly you realise it’s really not so exotic after all – because nothing, just nothing, neutralises a city’s staggeringly original strangeness like a few massive beer and clothing ads draped across its landmarks. To think we’ve not yet reached this kind of thing’s logical terminus. How long until, in the manner of football stadiums, the whole square is renamed the Emirates Piazza? This crass, culture-defacing commercialism makes it difficult enough to truly appreciate the place’s richness and importance – artistic, architectural, historical – but when factoring in the seething hordes of tourists (the ads’ large audience) it becomes almost impossible. The tourists were everywhere, all the time, as though Venice was a city entirely without permanent residents. It’s wasn’t even summer yet, and already the piazza swarmed with what looked like thousands of amateur photographers, all wielding SLRs and iPads, many grouped in tight packs behind gesticulating tour guides, who stormed through other
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tourists and tourist packs like a rocket’s tip. Even in the magisterial St Mark’s Basilica, one of God’s very own personal houses, sanctuary wasn’t to be found. They poured in and rushed through as though breaking a personal best. Who had time to stand still and admire the basilica itself, in all its smoky battered golden grandeur? Blithely disregarding the ugly no-photos-please signs standing here and there, they flashed away, mostly at shiny or important-looking things, or at themselves, solo, in twos, threes; smiling, pouting behind peace signs, striking jokey poses, before evacuating as hurriedly as they’d entered, loot safely stashed in their cameras, and probably never looked at again (not that objects photographed were really looked at in the first place: can you really remember what you’ve seen if you’ve seen it mostly through a camera’s viewfinder?). Near the altar, one or two people knelt in prayer. They looked out of place. It was easy to be depressed by the whole thing, and to feel exactly this kind of self-righteous (not to mention hypocritical) animosity towards the seemingly infinite tourists, especially when so many really did seem to embody the map-carrying, McDonald's-eating, monoglot stereotype. But it was even easier to feel this way when the combination of commercial greed and touristic greed – which of course feed into and off each other – turned out not to be unique to Venice, but to be rampant in practically every city I subsequently visited. As the trip progressed, and I came to witness masses of tourists as they, say, crowded the Colosseum’s gift shop (yes, built into the Colosseum itself), or lined Florence’s Piazzale Michelangelo (from where there’s a view of the city in all its unweatherable terracotta-roofed Renaissance glory that’s so perspectively perfect it looks computer-generated) in an obscuring frenzy of photo-taking. Or, most striking of all, when I noticed the conspicuous absence of tourists; such as in an area of St Peter’s Basilica, that was for some reason cordoned off, and which, standing grand and hallowed in its
emptiness, had me gawping in awe. After seeing these things, it became hard to reject the idea that mass tourism can really only ever be a deadly enterprise. Here’s where the opening paragraph’s second point comes in, though. Because seeing things this way is easy and natural, but it fails to do justice to the other side of tourism, the tourist-as-individual side; the side that showed itself in the many people I’d met and talked to as I went from city to city. This part’s a lot more difficult to explain, so there’s a good chance this is going to look more than a little artless, not to mention simplistic...
“The game’s lost, and almost all once-culturallyvital cities are now so overrun with rabid tourism that there’s no going back” I’d argue that the real, lasting value of tourism has to do with how, with startling frequency, many of these people I met – these individual tourists – gave up themselves in conversation, and did so a lot more quickly and fully and generously than they would in ordinary quotidian life (and far, far more than the cities’ locals did). Whether it was the laid back, alcohol-drinking, meat-eating Hare Krishna woman from Utah, first
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time in Europe, who’d saved up to take her teenage daughter to the Krishna festival in Florence; or the two sprightly, wild-haired old French women on the vaporetto in Venice, friends from university, who after their husbands both died recently decided to travel around Europe and, if they could manage it, Asia; or the lonely and stereotypically stoic German in Trieste who, after losing his job as a climbing instructor in the Alps, spent two years cycling from Alaska to the south of Argentina (with a two-month break in San Francisco), and who was, when I met him, in the middle of cycling between his hometown, Berlin, and Istanbul; or any of the dozens of others. It was as though, on the basis of some sliver of touristic commonality, and with the knowledge that the time with one another was strictly limited and unlikely ever to be repeated, small talk was dispensed with. All the usual conversational nonsense was pared away, and instead, in the space of a few short hours, these people were happy to run through their lives, revealing freely (to the extent that it was possible) the things that make them who they are, the things by which they are defined. And it turned out that these encounters, or whatever you’d want to call them, long after the best of what the cities had to offer – the transitory pleasures of their views, galleries, restaurants, and so on – had all faded into nothing, were the things that remained; the stuff that seemed to stick. So now that the game’s lost, and almost all once-culturally-vital cities are now so overrun with rabid tourism that there’s no going back – their pristine glory days gone forever, if they ever even existed – it doesn’t seem all that unreasonable to come to the conclusion that such brief but revelatory human encounters are among the last few truly valuable experiences that modern travel’s got left to offer. And that, in the end, they might even be worth all of mass tourism’s souldeadening horrors combined.
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Taking the ‘Casual’ out of Sex When it comes to intimacy, have we become too blasé? Words: Miriam Prosser Illustration: Jayde Perkin
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hen you think that only a hundred years ago, coming to the dinner table without your cravat was considered a little indecent, you can see the British have really loosened up. These days you can have sex with someone once and no one will force you to marry. Hurrah! We’re more tolerant and more informed and less likely to swoon if we see someone’s ankle. ‘Casual’ sex is the norm; it’s fairly unusual to meet a single person who states categorically that they don’t have one-night stands. But has this casual attitude towards sex improved our relationship with it? Are we having better sex? Are we communicating better about it? Or are we just having it hammered into our consciousness, day in, day out, that we ought to be shagging? I don’t have a problem with one-night stands. They can be fun. But there was a period when I was 18 or so when I would sleep with just about anyone with a pulse. I slept with strangers, friends, my ex boyfriends, your ex boyfriends... I would have shagged your dad if he was hot. (Is he hot? Forget it, I’m over that now.) I don’t like the idea of all the dewy-eyed fresh-faced teenagers out there stumbling over their sexuality and kicking it around the way I did.
“It’s not always easy to talk about what you like in bed” I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I didn’t know what I liked, or what I thought about it. I got pleasure from it, I guess, but it was mostly the pleasure of being found attractive rather than any pleasure intrinsic to sex itself. Sure, I liked that someone wanted to sleep with me, but in retrospect I would have been happier with compliments and a cuddle. Now I know what I like and how I feel about sex: I love it. But as with everything else, it takes time to learn. It’s not always easy to talk about what you like in bed, especially with a stranger... And what are the chances of you both guessing each other’s preferences straight off? One-night stands often include a fair amount of fumbling, eye rolling, and all-round British discomfort. If I
can do a better job myself, why put up with some sweaty, snoring stranger hogging my duvet? I’m not saying everyone is as awkward as I am. I’m sure there are lots of confident people out there enjoying sex with or without emotional attachment. But if there are also people reading who haven’t quite figured out how they feel about it yet, let me say this: Almost all the sex I had back in my aforementioned period of... er... experimentation, wasn’t that great. In fact I had a pretty miserable time. I hadn’t realised that sex is an intimate thing. And whatever your feelings, or lack thereof, for the person you’re boinking, you are sharing yourself with them physically. I value myself and my body pretty highly, and I hope you do too... which makes sex a significant act. I was treating sex as if it was the same as passing someone the ketchup, and that made me feel sad. I didn’t want a relationship with any of these people (God forbid!) but I needed some acknowledgement of myself beyond my body, and some acknowledgement of the intimacy of the thing. The one-night stands I’ve enjoyed have been the ones where I felt we both understood and cared for each other... and it’s rare to click with a stranger that way. I’m not saying you should want to have deep, meaningful relationships with everyone you get sweaty with (although if you do, that’s OK!). But having fart-arsed around for so long, I know this about myself: sex is a big deal for me. I don’t take it lightly. So I can have one-night stands and enjoy them, but only if I feel I connect with the person I’m taking home. Rubbing groins with some random might scratch the itch, but ultimately it leaves me feeling lonely. You might be different. You might be happy with a warm body for the night, and that’s great. Whatever consenting adults do together is fine by me and I don’t think people need morality rammed down their throats. Just... maybe don’t treat sex as if it’s no more significant than playing tennis. After all, if what you’re looking for is to perspire all over a stranger, you can go to the gym. It’s not fashionable just now to talk about sex being intimate, but it is. And it can be meaningful. If I can choose between getting my rocks off with some dude about whom I know nothing and couldn’t care less, or waiting until I meet someone I really like, then I’m going home alone and waking up in the morning with hand cramp.
On Not Having Sex I
haven’t had sex for a few years. It wasn’t exactly an intentional move, it more just sort of… happened. Even though I don’t imagine it’s that unusual, I’m still struggling a little to articulate and understand exactly how I’ve found myself in this position. The last time I had sex was on Valentine’s Day. My girlfriend at the time had cooked a lovely dinner, and then we’d watched a film. We went through to the bedroom, but she was on her period so, rather than having full-blown sex, she went down on me. It was fine and a nice conclusion to the evening. Unfortunately, that was the last time
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Lifestyle
Words: Luke Cockayne
we connected in that way. I liked her a lot, but I wasn’t especially sexually attracted to her and that filtered into our sex life. She stayed at my flat a couple times after that and I made excuses rather than sleeping with her. It wasn’t like me. By then I’d gotten over most of my teenage hangups and had been enjoying one-night stands and casual sex more or less comfortably, as well as more long-term sexual relationships. But with this particular woman I just wasn’t feeling ‘it.’ I felt awful, and guilty, and ended up breaking up with her soon after out of… fear. I shouldn’t have ended it as soon as I did, and the regret made me wary. I didn’t want a similar
situation to happen again. So I avoided getting sexually intimate. I told myself I was waiting for it to ‘mean’ something, a concept I had never believed in before. Somehow years passed. I got close to some people, dated, rolled around in beds. But when it came to the moment where the mood music would start to play in my mind I’d back off. I started to get scared that I wouldn’t feel ‘it’ again, that it would cause that same disappointment and hurt. Because sexual rejection is difficult to deal with. The fact that very few of us actually verbalise our insecurities, our worries about sex, creates an environment in which misinterpretations
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and resentment can fester and grow. I have a new boyfriend and the other night he turned to me and asked whether he had done something wrong, whether I was avoiding having sex with him because I didn’t find him attractive. I didn’t know what to say. After all these years I still don’t know why I stopped having sex or when I’ll be ready again. I’m just not feeling ‘it.’ But I like being with him, sleeping next to him, kissing him, holding his hand… I just hope that’s enough for now. Sadly, I suspect it won’t be.
THE SKINNY
Halfway Across the Galaxy With a graduate collection inspired by outer space and experience designing for the high street already under her belt, Liverpool John Moores University alumnus Kerry Crone is on the track to success
Interview: Jessica Campbell
resh from university, Liverpool native and John Moores 2013 graduate Kerry Crone has already made an impact on the high street, showcasing a capsule collection with commercial brand Matalan. Having developed a liking for art and design at a young age, which later progressed to a love of fashion design, Crone recalls: “I enjoyed buying patterns and making my own clothes as well as customising clothing that I already had.” It was this creativity, mixed with an ability to manipulate fabric to create interesting shapes and patterns, that led her to pursue a career in fashion design. Choosing to study locally at Liverpool John Moores, Crone believes the BA (Hons) Fashion course has helped her achieve her goals. “The course was very supportive,” she states; “we were taught how to pattern cut, which I believe has helped my design work, for example in creating shape or panelling details.” During her time at the university, Crone was encouraged to enter competitions, resulting in her success with Matalan. “I entered a competition shortly before my graduation,” she explains. “The competition was to design a collection based around the punk trend, and luckily I won!” Crone was then offered the opportunity to work alongside Matalan’s design team, developing her collection for production. As part of her experience she was able to visit the suppliers during manufacturing, giving her first-hand insight into the processes of the fashion industry. When designing around the theme, Crone strayed away from the traditional trends typically associated with ‘punk’. Taking a fresh approach, she used pastel shades and cutesy silhouettes, adding femininity – and, inspired by traditional tartan, she developed a print for the collection. Using safety pins she created her own version of the classic check formation; and little black collars with stud details kept the ‘punk’ theme alive throughout the collection, contrasting against the soft, pastel hues in a striking way. Crone’s resulting collection consisted of eight jersey pieces that were sold in the Liverpool city centre store, and were also available to purchase online. Following the success of her collection, Crone was offered the job of Junior Designer at Matalan, where she now works within the dress design department. When designing, Crone begins with firsthand research from museums or galleries, which she later translates to a narrative that becomes the theme of her collection. From her research she likes to recreate interesting shapes, firstly working three-dimensionally on a stand. Through illustration, she then develops her designs, taking influence from unusual fabrics and photographs that relate to her theme. While at university, Crone was lucky enough to have her own workspace within the studio, meaning she could pin up her ideas and inspiration as visual aids when designing. However, it was a different story outside of university: “When working at home my studio was the living room floor!” Inspired by the future and outer space, Crone’s graduate collection was entitled Terra Nova, meaning ‘new world’. She explains the development of this theme: “I was firstly inspired by the exploration of Mars, by climate change and the structures of spacecraft and modern architecture. This then led to me looking at images of galaxies and researching space exploration.” Crone likes to use an “eclectic mix of
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Photo: Amie Hunt and Charlotte Hunt
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materials”: influenced by an astronaut suit, she used functional fabrics such as neoprene and Kevlar to create texture and add an exciting element to the garments within her collection. She also enjoys combining contrasting fabrics to enhance their qualities. For example, “To make the texture of the neoprene more interesting I layered perforated suede over the top,” she explains. Evident within Crone’s work is a focus on narrative. She likes to place herself in a situation and consider how she would react to a particular environment. “I wondered what it would be like if we were to move to another planet; what would we have to wear?” she explains. “I used my research from the structures and robotics of spacecraft to create shape, and this also inspired me to incorporate metallics into my colour palette. I also looked at galaxies to add a pop of colour into the collection.” Crone avoids using technology within her work, favouring a more traditional hands-on approach when making garments; however, she does use computer programmes such a Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to aid her design process. Self-described as “feminine, eclectic and quirky”, Crone’s collection made a dramatic impact on the catwalk at Graduate Fashion Week.
Silhouette and shape are her strong points, and her designs lent the models an almost sculptural quality. Her use of block colour was very considered, too, and complemented the structural aspect of the garments.
“I wondered what it would be like if we were to move to another planet; what would we have to wear?” Kerry Crone
Another informative experience in Crone’s development was a summer work placement, taken while at university, with print specialist and high-end designer Mary Katrantzou. Here, Crone gained a vast amount of experience while working on her SS13 collection. Her role as intern
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involved helping with the creation of patterns, fabric sourcing and embroidery – and she also benefited from the opportunity to work at the prestigious London Fashion Week show. In her spare time, self-motivated Crone also completed a live project with the English National Ballet, creating costumes for one of their performances. In the future, Crone hopes to create her own brand and work for herself. “My dream job would be to have my own label and to be able to show my collections in fashion shows or exhibitions,” she says. At the moment, however, she is thoroughly enjoying her time working for the high street and hopes to progress within the company of Matalan. As for Crone’s personal style? In some ways, it is similar to her design style: “I like to have a mix of items in my wardrobe,” she says, “I like to look at current trends along with mixing in more unusual or one-off pieces that could be found in a vintage or charity shop.” With successful catwalk and high street collections already under her belt, as well as securing a job fresh from university, ambitious Kerry Crone is certainly a young designer to watch. @Kerry_Crone
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Diaphanous Cloak, As part of Vernissage at The Royal Standard, Liverpool February 2014
Rachel Levine hrough my work I explore how power structures and ‘empirical’ versions of history affect our readings of objects, artefacts, architecture and the built environment. My practice is informed by processes of sculptural production and fabrication. Like layers of history I layer processes and materials, such as casting multiples in augmented forms, and using ‘inappropriate,’ unsuspecting materials and contrasting real and faux elements. In doing so I want to bring into question our assumptions of the history, structure and integrity of the objects we view and consume. Working predominantly in sculptural installations and assemblage I use objects and materials as signifiers to create abstracted but narrative environments, tensioning different materials and forms through placement and arrangement of the objects. The material properties, both physically and conceptually, of the objects and matter I work with are the foundations of my process. I like to play with inverting materials thus subverting their ‘usefulness’ or ‘value.’ To create something that looks solid and real, such as a marble plinth out of plywood, laminate and trompe l'oeil painting or taking away the core use of an object by casting concrete reinforcement bar in silicone rubber. I am interested in the political and cultural charges present within materials, the deeper meaning and significance that is present within them. Even certain types of stone, building material or functional objects cannot escape the
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cultural and political implications placed upon them by society. Casting increasingly informs the work I make. Recently I have been interested in leaving evidence of the making process within installations, from boards of wood used for a mould, or using a mould itself as the work, to depositing the leftovers from casting processes in amongst the installation. I am interested in the visibility – or non-visibility – of the traces of labour, effort and energy in the works. The effort and process of replication that can often outweigh the original creation. [Rachel Levine] Rachel Levine graduated from the BA in Sculpture at The Glasgow School of Art in 2013. That year she was the recipient of the Bram Stoker Medal and an Arts Trust Scotland Grant. In 2014 she received the Glasgow Visual Artist Mentoring Award and the Scottish Sculpture Workshops emerging artist residency. This year she has exhibited work at The Royal Scottish Academy as part of the RSA New Contemporaries, Dear Green at ZKU, Berlin and Vernissage at The Royal Standard, Liverpool. Levine’s first solo show took place at One Royal Terrace in Glasgow in March 2014. Levine will take part in two exhibitions, Fold Up Snap On and Hydrapagena, as part of Glasgow International Art Festival. She is the winner of The Skinny Award at this year's RSA New Contemporaries, and will be revealing her resulting show in CCA's Intermedia gallery in spring 2015.
SHOWCASE
Column, No Capital - Plinth, No Pedestal Degree show, 2013 the Glasgow School of Art
THE SKINNY
Photo: Janet Wilson
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Column, No Capital - Plinth, No Pedestal Degree show, 2013 the Glasgow School of Art
April 2014
SHOWCASE
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Photo: 1 Royal Terrace
Here, Create Distance, Tension it, Feel the Flex..
Photo: Janet Wilson
Four For Paradise
Image: Megan Mandeville BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion with Styling
EXHIBITIONS
Join us at our degree show exhibitions and see our students’ most creative work in the fields of Architecture, Design, Fashion, Fine Art and Photography. All welcome – free parking and free admission
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Upstairs bistro: daily 11.30am– 4pm espresso: Mon to Sat 8am– 6pm, Sun 10am–6pm @eatthebluecoat www.thebluecoat.org.uk The Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX. 0151 702 5324.
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Pause for Thought Why rose veal’s ethical credentials might not be enough Interview: Ruth Allan Illustration: Vicky Ledsom
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round 100,000 bull dairy calves are slaughtered each year as a by-product of the dairy trade according to the RSPCA. They don’t produce milk and their value as commercial meat, which is used for pies, burgers and ready meals, is so low that it’s not always worth the farmer’s time transporting them to market. When you take into account the gestation period, animal husbandry costs and vet fees, the sums just don’t add up. So the RSPCA – and campaign groups like Vets for Rose Veal and Compassion in World Farming – are backing ‘high welfare’ or rose veal as a humane alternative to immediate slaughter or transportation. Unlike crate-raised, iron-deprived ‘white veal’, the production methods of which were outlawed in the UK in 1990, rose veal is the meat of the dairy bull calf, fed on a carefully monitored milk and dry feed diet. The animals are kept in airy sheds on straw bedding in groups and slaughtered at between six and nine months. Now and then you’ll find this delicate meat served in restaurants like multi-Michelin-star chef Simon Rogan’s The French or Ramsons in Ramsbottom. It’s also sold at a few quality butchers in the Northwest, such as Manchester’s WH Frost. But after an initial rush five years ago, rose veal sales have stalled at around 0.14 per cent of beef consumption. Which is a problem for the calves in question.
Lee Frost is Operations Director for WH Frost; he describes the meat as having been “a bit hit-and-miss” in the past but he’s happy with his current supplier, Brookfield Farm in Dorset. He points out that cost is a real issue for producers – and perhaps one of high-welfare veal’s main problems. “The market has stabilised in the last three years but the meat is still not widely available,” he says. “It’s not getting to the mainstream supermarket and it’s quite expensive – the price really needs to come down.” As Frost also notes, farmers like Roger Mason, who produces rose veal at Heaves Farm in Kendal, have to make a significant investment in feeding and measuring machines, gauges, stabling, and kit. Mason has been producing rose veal for the last five years, and while business is steady, he’s one of a mere handful of rose veal farmers around the UK. Mason says that it’s been a bit of an uphill struggle to get the word out about rose veal, even though his son is also in the family business and helps out with marketing. “We’ve found that butchers struggle to get rid of the full carcass as I don’t think people want to pay a lot more for it than beef. There can be a lot of waste as restaurants might just sell a few prime cuts, but then there is the question of what to do with the rest of the animal.”
Heaves Farm Rose Veal is now stocked in high-profile places like Jamie Oliver’s designer butchery Barbecoa in St Paul’s, as well as food campaigner and TV personality Jimmy Doherty’s farm in Suffolk. But for other producers, investment in rose veal doesn’t always pay off, and they can be left in a worse position than when they started. The issue begs the question: is the UK in such a comfortable position in terms of food security and ethics that it can ‘discard’ half of the
dairy calves born in the UK for being the wrong gender? And is there really a market for an expensive, unfamiliar meat like rose veal, when many people are struggling to afford a basic weekly shop? Perhaps low cost, low quality ‘young beef’ could be a solution to both these problems. Or a change in our eating culture towards high-welfare veal as an everyday kind of meat. But whichever way you look at it, what to do with Britain’s dairy bull calves remains as pressing an issue as ever.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi to name but a few. But, here, we’re more concerned with films that examine the industrial food complex. These picks are eminently less epicurean, but that’s not the point. Vegucated and Food Inc. are eye-openers for those oblivious to how the constant pursuit of profit has come to bear on farming ethics. They might lack subtlety but their hearts are in the right place. The former will, almost certainly, make you question whether eating meat is worth the suffering it causes; the latter is a decent but emotive introduction to the ills wrought by big agribusiness. There is now, it seems, a TED talk for everything. Food being a pretty large topic, there’s a fair few videos to pick from: listen to Tristram Stuart’s thoughts on food waste and 'freeganism'; Anna Lappe considering how corporations market unhealthy food to children; and Treehugger.com’s Graham Hill on why he’s a weekday vegetarian.
Shops There’s no point in getting all preachy, telling you to start a rooftop allotment (especially when most of our roofs are so darn slanty) or hunt grey squirrels and city pigeons for some free protein. We know you’ll still end up going to the shops; but which shops? There is a lot to be said for becoming a 'meat reducer' or flexatarian, and making more vegan choices (considering the environmental impact of animal farming). If you want to give these choices a go, there are businesses that will oblige, beyond the supermarkets. Manchester has Chorlton’s Unicorn grocery – a proper, principleled co-op – and 8th Day for the non-suburbanites. Liverpool has Windmill Wholefoods. If you haven’t been put off by the anti-locavore arguments, you can also seek out farm shops (ones that are actually attached to farms, rather than ones that purport to be). Altrincham’s Apples for Eggs Food Swap relies on participants exchanging home/ allotment-grown produce, making a great way to eat seasonally and avoid the supermarkets.
A Primer for the Ethical Foodie To complement our piece on veal farming, we’re taking a look at what it means to be an ethical foodie Words: Jamie Faulkner Illustration: Nikki Miles
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nyone who’s studied philosophy, academically or otherwise, will know just how tortuous the field of ethics is. Introduce food into the debate, be it the effects of eating meat or big business’s role in the obesity epidemic, and you’ve got nothing short of a moral minefield. This inevitably invites knee-jerk reactions about what makes for a thoughtful eater, and plenty of partisan politics: the carnivores in one camp, sneering at the vegetarians, while the vegans look on (almost) blameless. Whatever side you take and for however long, what you choose to eat is, for once, really food for thought. So, we’ve put together a guide to help you navigate the landscape. It’s neither exhaustive nor infallible, but might come in useful. Literature Many of the ethical concerns these days over food came from folks questioning provenance, how the commercial food chain had treated the produce we receive. Portlandia parodied it beautifully in a sketch where two restaurant customers go to extraordinary lengths to trace the origins of their chicken dinner. So if you too care or have a burgeoning regard for this kind of thing, start out with The
April 2014
Good Shopping Guide’s food and drink section. It’ll give you a taste of the most ethically-minded suppliers and producers, be they fair trade or factory-farming free, of everything from bottled water to cooking oil. For a more anecdotal and comprehensive read, turn to Jay Rayner’s A Greedy Man in a Hungry World. Rayner eschews the earnestness and finger-pointing that’s all too common in the food debate, in favour of a levelheaded look at the virtues and vices of supermarkets and buying local, and the very real problems facing a growing global population. Oran B. Hesterman’s Fair Food looks at, among other things, the impact of public food policy on health in America (but the lessons apply equally to Britain) and the ways in which the system is failing everyone, from farmers to the poor. He encourages a more engaged approach from all of us and lays down a plan of action, including forming buying clubs to purchase food directly from suppliers. Writer Michael Pollan has also been very outspoken on many of the same topics. Film There are many great films that feature food: Babette’s Feast, Eat Drink Man Woman, and
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Lifestyle
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Phagomania: Edible Still Life Hey you! Amateur food-snapper! Put down your fancy phone and get off Instagram for a moment; you might just learn a thing or two from photographer Henry Hargreaves Words: Lewis MacDonald` e don’t have our own photographer here at Phagomania, but if we did, they would probably be a bit like Henry Hargreaves. A man after our own heart, you’d think he’d settle for sticking to his day job shooting for a range of high-flying fashion labels, magazines and design firms in New York. But no. “In my spare time I do the shoots I wish I was being hired to do,” reveals Henry. “I still feel there is a ton more stuff to explore in this genre.” No prizes for guessing what genre that is. We looked at Henry’s work a couple of years back to marvel at his deep fried gadgets (yep, iPhones in batter), bacon alphabet and rainbowcoloured food. Looking at what he’s been up to since then, he deserves to be the first return visit for this column. Taking a highly methodical approach, each project is painstakingly crafted by Henry’s fair hand. Jelly becomes a series of American presidential portraits as Henry’s tribute to the most recent US elections. “I liked the play of it being such a childish thing but being used to tell this presidential story,” the New Zealander explains. “From what I understand a couple of the ex-presidents have also seen the series and dug it.” Flaming cake-based models of fast food glimmering against foil become a satirical piece on America’s food culture, entitled Burning Calories. “We drenched them in lighter fluid,” Henry says. “The original paper backdrop went on fire so metal foil was both a stylistic and logical choice.” Humble maps become food artworks as their outlines are constructed from their most noted culinary stereotypes. France made out of
bread and cheese? Australia made out of shrimp? Britain made out of biscuits? It’s a fair cop, we can’t argue with that. You quickly start to wonder about the logistics behind some of these shots, and Henry admits to regularly being “on a race with time” before his props start stinking the place out. But, saving the best for last, dessert comes in the form of Henry’s ‘Gingerbread and Candy Art Galleries.’ A project so good, it was almost too good. Henry says, “A lot of people who came to the show thought they were just architectural shots and took a bit of convincing to get them to look closer and think again.” For Miami’s heavyweight annual art show, Art Basel, Henry and his partner-in-crime, food artist Caitlin Levin, crafted reconstructions of iconic art galleries. Elegantly shot in black and white, the results are a subversive play on his approach to date that might have been too artful for their own good. “We felt like we had bitten off too much with that,” grants Henry, “and weren’t going to be able to do the idea justice and we did; that was really satisfying.” So fair to say the creative collaboration brought something extra to the table? “I think collaborations are a really good way to work and by having someone else to work with you can more successfully critique something as it’s not exclusively yours.” So there we are – the bar has been set, the tips dispensed, the flaming backdrops extinguished. Over to you, your phone, and your dinner ,to see just what you can make of it.
Jello Presidents
www.henryhargreaves.com
Burning Calories
Gingerbread and Candy Art Galleries
Food News This month: a new Manchester pub, getting engaged with food poverty, going for a stroll, and lots and lots of itsybitsy, obesity-fighting, portion-controlling small plates Words: Jamie Faulkner Illustration: Kim Thompson
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e’ll kick off this month’s round-up with a miniature history lesson. It’s 16 August, 1819, and tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in St Peter’s Field (now St Peter’s Square), Manchester, to call for parliamentary reform. When the attendant cavalry charge on the protesters, brandishing their sabres, 15 people are killed and hundreds injured. It becomes known as the Peterloo Massacre. Beef & Pudding, the new venture from the New Moon Pub company, takes its name from Peter Cruikshank’s caricature of the event in which the yeomanry say of the rally: ”They want to take our beef and pudding”. This will evidently be pub grub as it should be. If you need convincing, check their Twitter photos. Opens 4 Apr, @ BeefandPudding, www.beefandpudding.co.uk Now, let’s move on to more topical matters. We ordinarily highlight new openings and food events (y’know, where it’s more about eating than
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Lifestyle
thinking) but, in keeping with the quasi-moralistic themes of this month’s section, we’ll point you to a more edifying form of foodism. Liverpoolbased, community-minded Can Cook are holding their third ever Food Poverty Conference in a bid to find some solutions to what’s become something of a national debate. Can Cook’s very own Robbie Davison and Martin Caraher, professor of food and health policy at Centre for Food Policy at City University, London, will be contributing their thoughts. 9 Apr, Conference Centre at LACE, tickets free at Evenbrite And...snap back to the world of new restaurants. Drawing on the public’s obsession with small plates (tapas, cicchetti), Liverpool’s Salthouse Bacaro is going Italian in a market that’s pretty saturated with Spanish joints doing diminutive dishes. It’ll probably pay off: we’re talking pizzettes (or mini-pizzas) with spreadable sausage of the moment, ’nduja, quality
charcuterie and awesome-sounding fish dishes. Lots of Negronis too, naturalmente. Again, lest you remain a doubter, check out some pictures or, better still, eat the damn stuff. Open now, Castle Street, @Salthousebacaro, www.salthousebacaro.com For those who shun restaurants: in Manchester on 5 and 19 Apr, Old Granada Studios’ new weekend market will play host to BITE, a gourmet and street food event with a huge array of traders. There’s also news that the guys behind Kosmonaut will be launching a new venture called Ply this summer. The space at 26 Stevenson Square will be a multipurpose
FOOD AND DRINK
venue with “some show-stopping elements”; and there are unconfirmed rumours of the holy grail – 90-second pizzas. Keep an eye on @plymcr for developments. Staying in that neck of the woods, we’ll finish with a constitutional. The recently-formed Manchester Food Walks will be running a Northern Quarter Taster on 5 Apr, which, for a nice bit of repetition and a circular narrative, will involve a bit of history of the area and some small plates (“why you pesky…” *shakes fist*) from 10-12 eateries along the way. Tickets at Eventbrite, www.manchesterfoodwalks.co.uk
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Photos: www.henryhargreaves.com
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THE SKINNY
Gig Highlights
Gallery (both 5 Apr). In fact, the latter venue plays something of a blinder this month, also finding room for the murkily invigorating drone of Carlton Melton (17 Apr) and The Nightingales, the West Midlands’ finest post-punk heroes (22 While Christians are celebrating the resurrection of their messiah this month, Apr, also at Liverpool’s East Village Arts Club, 18 we’re looking forward to the arrival of some peeps who can walk on water in Apr). Not too shabby, eh? Over at the Roadhouse on 17 Apr, Ontario’s our eyes, including Kiran Leonard, Timber Timbre and George Clinton textured indie-folksters Timber Timbre check in to see if we need a little more gloom in our lives, Words: Will Fitzpatrick which should serve as a tasty starter ahead of Fortuna POP!’s lyrical genius Withered Hand – he makes an appearance at Night and Day on 19 Apr. pring has sprung! Well, apparently. It’s still In any case, the Ruby Lounge is the venue courtesy of Ásgeir (9 Apr, also at Manchester’s fucking freezing as we write this, but hopemost deserving of the epithet ‘winning’ this Deaf Institute, 13 Apr)... plus there’s also the fully the magic of time should transport us to a month. From Goldheart Assembly’s effortlessly small matter of Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip land that’s warmer, drier and a little bit less sod- making a welcome return to the city (24 Apr), absorbing simplicity (2 Apr) to nu rave survivors ding grey. And even if it doesn’t, there’ll always Klaxons (3 Apr), and even the dizzy extremes but you’ve all had that marked in your diaries for be gigs to go to. of everyone’s favourite bellowing weirdo Matt months, right? Liverpool, admittedly, is taking things a little Berry (here with his band The Maypoles, 5 Apr). Away from EVAC, The Kazimier plays host easier this month – understandably, with Sound yessiree, they’re having a bloody good go at beto melodically-inclined noiseniks Sky Larkin (16 City just around the corner – but East Village Arts Apr), but this month the real treats are down ing all things to all men. But then shit gets real: Club continues to fight the good fight with little Mike muthaluvvin’ Watt & the Missingmen jam the road in Manchester. Schizoid krautpop loon concern for our hectic schedules or our empty econo on 13 Apr, reminding us all how it should Kiran Leonard dwarfs the Castle Hotel with his wallets (rightly so, obvs). The venue’s calendar be done, before a very special Factory night on skyscraping imagination, providing a quandary features the delicate psychedelia of British Record Store Day (19 Apr, for all those of you for anyone who fancies that and the increasingly Sea Power (5 Apr) and troubadour melancholia grumbling that ‘every day is record store day’), melodic tendencies of Let’s Wrestle at Kraak featuring Section 25 and Crispy Ambulance. That’s a good thing, honest. The month’s rounded out by helmet-clad blues-punker Bob Log III (24 Apr, also at Mello Mello, Liverpool, 29 Apr), deathdefying country miserabilist Micah P. Hinson (28 Apr) and the DayGlo pop party of Shonen Knife, the self-proclaimed ‘Osaka Ramones’ (30 Apr). It’s hard not to feel a little spoiled. If you’ve got the stomach for more – and why wouldn’t you? – then the Netherlands’ favourite anarcho-experimentalists The Ex hit Soup Kitchen (21 Apr), as does hip-hop’s favourite new son Jonwayne on 30 Apr (also at The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, 29 Apr). You’d also have to be a complete divvy to avoid the legendary George Clinton & P-Funk at the Ritz (17 Apr) – the richness, invention and downright brilliance of his back catalogue are enough to lend perspective to your pride in making a cup of tea the correct shade of orange. Meanwhile, who’ll win out British Sea Power at Alkaline Trio’s set at the very same place (22 Photo: Simon Bray
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Apr)? Thirtysomething ex-punks on a nostalgia trip, or gothed-up youngsters high on the power and possibility of the three-chord pop song? Only one way to find out, of course, and happily it involves staying warm and thoroughly unrainedon. Perfect. Oh, and you should totally come to our birthday party. The Skinny Northwest turns one in April, and we're throwing a free party to celebrate, with Melodic Records' Patterns, Liverpool electronic duo WYWH, psych guitarist John McGrath, and a host of DJs at The Kazimier, Liverpool, Sat 12 Apr, from 8pm. To RSVP, email rsvp@theskinny.co.uk.
Do Not Miss Thunderbird Gerard East Village Arts Club, Liverpool, 10 Apr
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t’s pretty difficult not to be at least mildly curious about anyone dubbed ‘the Kerouac of hip-hop,’ and this New York-born producer’s bass-heavy output certainly occupies the same territories of intuitive rhythm and total absorption. With absurd made-up genre terms like ‘ill wave’ flying around, it’s clear that Gerard attracts excitable nonsense like new carpets attract red wine spillage; but it’s not without good cause – beneath these slick, futuristic grooves is the story of a man who left his native US at the age of 20, subsequently living illegally on the poverty line in London, before somehow obtaining a publishing deal and relocating to his current home in Berlin. Hard work has only brought greater recognition, although we imagine being almost-unfairly gifted with ideas and an instantly arresting voice has helped as well. His live shows are a sweaty affair, heavy on bouncing with plenty of arms held aloft, and filled with the infectious delectability of his essential T.R.O.U.B.L.E. EP. It’s not so much ‘why is no one else making music like this?’ as ‘why are so few people making music as good as this?’ – quality shines through at all times, with a little help from a thoroughly cocksure strut. [Will Fitzpatrick]
Festival Watch Bird and Ex-Easter Island Head consider the scope of Liverpool Sound City on the run-up to the May bank holiday weekend event Interview: Simon Jay Catling
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ike any city-wide, multi-event music festival, Liverpool Sound City has two main objectives. The first is obvious: pull the biggest, most richly diverse names together to pull the public in and shift tickets; but it also has something of a regional responsibility, the size of the 25-strong venue event potentially providing a platform for its local talent and, if it performs its role properly, giving them a platform to new audiences they might not usually have on a midweek night in the basement of The Shipping Forecast. “It’s something that’s been problematic in the past,” says Ex-Easter Island Head’s Benjamin Duvall, of the festival’s efforts to include locals. The mallet-hitting Rhys Chatham-inspired guitar trio have a relatively prominent spot on this year’s bill, supporting Jon Hopkins – a sign, perhaps, that Sound City is learning year-on-year and striving for diversity. “You can do a gig to a lot of people who don’t know or care who you are, but then there is the potential to play to a whole new audience in that particularly special environment that comes with a festival and suddenly find a whole load of new fans or like-minded peers.” This year several Merseyside artists are joining Duvall and co in taking prize slots among the likes of Fuck Buttons, Thurston Moore and Gruff Rhys,
April 2014
with All We Are, Ninetails and Circa Waves all taking pride of place on the bill. Bird are another. Having spent most of the year readying their debut LP, My Fear and Me, Sound City will act as – what they hope will be – a stirring home launch pad for its release and a subsequent tour in support of the legendary Rodriguez. “It’ll be our first show in Liverpool of the year, we’ve been holding back,” says Adele Emmas. “There’s loads of great bands coming out of Liverpool at the moment – there always has been – and there’s a real buzz around at the moment. I think Sound City highlights and celebrates that.” Bird will be playing the salubrious setting of the Anglican Cathedral (“It’s going to be really special, and as a venue works for the atmosphere we already try and create in our live set”). Other Northern multi-venue crawls on the bank holiday weekend go two ways – Live at Leeds places most of its acts in established, to-spec venues; Salford’s Sounds from the Other City goes the other way, with international touring bands finding themselves playing pubs and cafes. Sound City finds a balance. The Kazimier and The Shipping Forecast are used, but then so are the Cathedral and, in the past, the Bombed-Out
Bird
Church. Placing artists out of context can be a tricky act of booking, but when perfected it can change the entire perception of live performance. “We really like that we’re playing [former super-club Cream] Nation,” says Duvall. “We’re normally playing either really intimate venues or spaces like galleries or churches... I think it’ll be a good juxtaposition having us as a ‘guitar band’ in one of the defining spaces of dance music.” Both groups feel that Sound City’s strongest benefit is to the city itself, and the atmosphere it provides over three days, its sprawling festival site bringing in all corners of Liverpool. “Cultural infrastructure does incredibly well out of it,” Duvall agrees. “Local magazines, freelance photographers, sound techs, crew all get work out of it, and the venues get a guaranteed crowd through the door. There are great people like Horse Design – who normally curate an exhibition of gig posters and series of shows to go with
MUSIC
them – involved, which balances out the more industry side of the conferences.” In terms of the loose definition of a ‘local scene’, the year-on-year event also allows artists to catch up on how peers are progressing. “Sound City doesn’t focus on just those at the top, it caters for musicians at various stages in their career,” says Emmas; “and it’s always nice to see how they’re developing.” Where to start on who to see, then? Emmas lists Drenge, The Wytches and Pins among her must-sees; Duvall picks Kogumaza, Jon Hopkins and Bird themselves. So whichever path people choose to navigate Sound City, it’s clearly unlikely to be the same as anyone else’s. [Simon Jay Catling] Liverpool Sound City, various venues, 1-3 May, three-day wristband £55, conference and live venue pass £120, day tickets and two-day live passes available www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk
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Album of the Month EMA
The Future’s Void [City Slang, 7 Apr]
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Erika M Anderson’s Past Life Martyred Saints was an explosive, unsettling debut, a day-glo riot of sputtering confessional and expressionist worldview. It had colour and identity, its creator’s ambition seemingly boundless. That daring, a bespoke aesthetic that harnesses jittery electro (Satellites), 70s singer-songwriter reimaginings (When She Comes) and chamber elegy (Dead Celebrity), hits paydirt on this fascinating and fearless follow-up. “Disassociation, it’s just a modern disease,” Anderson whispers on 3Jane, but The Future’s Void has heart and brains beyond the blank resignation of its title. It plays like a series of
acutely-observed dispatches from the American nightmare, one at war with her emerging artistry and, crucially, celebrity. Amidst this undercurrent of instability, Anderson emerges as an arch dramatist, her lyrics, though still pleasingly opaque, tracking further and wider than before. Aided by co-producer and touring band member Leif Shackelford, a deeper, fuller production supports her striving. Amidst the taut sequencing, rattling percussion and trademark distorted vocals, there are moments of unexpected fragility. The hymnal quietude of 100 Years is an untypical showstopper; one of several beguiling detours that make this album so beautifully difficult to pin down. Its genre-switching initially wrong-foots, but The Future’s Void, bolstered by a deep musicality, is visionary to the core. [Gary Kaill]
The Afghan Whigs
Elephant
Cloud Nothings
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Do to the Beast [Sub Pop, 14 Apr]
Sky Swimming [Memphis Industries, 28 Apr]
Here and Nowhere Else [Wichita, 1 Apr]
From their rough-hewn beginnings with Big Top Halloween to the enduring elegance of 1965, each Afghan Whigs album somehow arrived with the air of a moment they’d always been building towards. A complete surprise upon its unceremonious announcement by Breaking Bad’s Bob Odenkirk (via Twitter) two months ago, Do to the Beast blows the dust off 16 years with a swaggering barroom rocker and Greg Dulli’s clear statement of intent: “If they’ve seen it all, show ‘em something new.” As daring as the cover’s protagonist shovelling two fistfuls of coke into his face, Dulli again proves himself a master of misdirection, proffering a gothic, modern twist on the classic R&B atmospherics of Marvin Gaye over some ten-a-penny guitar brawl – it can’t be a coincidence that Matamoros segues into It Kills as fluidly as What’s Happening Brother into Flyin’ High. From the countrified lament of Algiers to The Lottery’s hurtling, glitch-infused energy, this is a slowburner dripping with soul. [Dave Kerr]
Is the recent explosion of boy/girl electro duos a sign of the artistic times or a necessity born of economic downturn? Austerity rock: everybody’s doing it. But with the market flooded, you demand ever more for your hard-earned. Enter Amelia Rivas and Christian Pinchbeck and their debut, Sky Swimming, a lustrous and compelling confection that lives up to the poetic promise of its title. The creative process began on a £10 Casio, a charity shop find that gives the Elephant back-story weight, and makes the leap from its DIY provenance to something this fully-featured and expansive all the more remarkable. And if further indication of their pop heritage savvy were needed, the duo fell in and then out of love during recording. The songs are impeccably crafted: Skyscraper revisits the twilight doo-wop of Julee Cruise while Rivas’ multi-layerered vocal melodies on Torn Tongues recall prime Julia Holter. Lo-fi but high art, Sky Swimming ascends way above the competition. [Gary Kaill]
“I’m moving forward while I keep the past around me,” rasps 23-year-old Dylan Baldi on Pattern Walks, the seven-minute earth-scorcher from his Cleveland trio’s fourth album. The lyric is typical self-interrogation from Baldi, a pop-punk songwriter of remarkable nuance who has, over five years, endeared a cross-genre fanbase by nestling hardcore angst beneath melodies so perfect they’re almost edible. His lyrics, he says, don’t bear analysis, which you suspect is true: despite I’m Not Part of Me’s undeniable charm as a postbreakup anthem, Baldi’s targets elsewhere, villainous but vague, seem to facilitate rage rather than genuinely incite it; at best, his words evoke the political and existential disaffection of goldenera predecessors like the Wipers. And yet while unoriginal, Baldi’s music is never overshadowed by influences. Instead he wears them comfortably, like patches on his rucksack, moving forward with the past around him. [Jazz Monroe]
www.theafghanwhigs.com
www.thisiselephant.com
Playing The Deaf Institute, Manchester on 22 May
Evil Blizzard
The Dangers of Evil Blizzard [Louder Than War, 7 Apr]
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Menacing vibes engulf the soul on the maliciously titled debut from this UK-based, Mark E. Smith-approved experimental quintet. The quadruple bassassault is truly cranium-rattling – sometimes a solitary bass will carry a rhythm, other times all four guitar players will play in unison, causing an unholy racket. Part of the group’s charm is their unsettling stage presence, so while it’s a shame that they sometimes have trouble capturing the same eeriness on record, the band still channel an impressively diverse range of styles; Feed The Flames echoes the best aspects of British doom metal, while Clones rides an irresistibly repetitive kraut-groove. Other times, proceedings get floaty and sparse, like on the soothing, moody Sleep. Such an eclectic mix runs the risk of jarring, but Evil Blizzard understand the subtle links between the genres they blend, so thankfully it’s a cohesive, mind-bending journey. [Ross Watson] www.evilblizzard.bandcamp.com
OFF!
King of the Mountains
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Wasted Years [Vice, 7 Apr]
Zoetrope [Melodic, 14 Apr]
Some aspects of life are inevitable. Politicians will break their promises, British summertime offers more shades of grey than literary-pretentious trashporn, and there will never, ever be anything good on telly when you’re skint. Another one for the list: Keith Morris will always be pissed off – and thank fuck for that. His crushed-gravel bark remains one of the most singularly compelling voices in punk rock, spitting corrosive bile over the exhilarating likes of Void You Out and Exorcised on OFF!’s second album proper. With hardcore wandering down increasingly diverse paths across the past decade, there’s a shuddering thrill in the back-tobasics bruising of Dimitri Coats’ pulverising power chords. With notes cribbed from his own rifftastic Burning Brides, the guitarist occasionally slows proceedings to a metallic creepy-crawl, most notably on the sludgy Red White and Black, but of course brevity and brawn ultimately win out. As ever, Keith’s scene-stealing presence ensures these years could never truly be wasted. [Will Fitzpatrick]
While the term is often deployed as a smokescreen when bickering bands part ways, genuine “musical differences” can be invigorating, yoking oppositional tastes and creating something original from the tensions. In the case of currently inactive Manchester act Working for a Nuclear Free City, the divergent interests of its core songwriting duo resulted in an ambitiously eclectic fusion, compared to which its members’ solo offerings can’t help but appear conservative. First came Gary McClure’s acoustic-leaning, song-based Wreaths; now Phil Kay releases his debut under the guise of King of the Mountains, focusing squarely on the electronic side of the WFANFC coin. But narrowing the stylistic range has its benefits, furnishing Zoetrope with an impressive consistency and clarity. From endorphin-releasing opener Undone onwards, textured production creates an immersive ambience, whether serving minimalist pieces like Airstrips or the more assertive beats of Shinkansen. All in, Zoetrope is well worth taking for a spin. [Chris Buckle]
www.offofficical.com
www.melodic.co.uk/zoetrope
Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks
Chain and the Gang
The Cosmic Dead
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Enter the Slasher House [Domino, 7 Apr] While his Animal Collective wing-man Panda Bear’s songs are otherworldly and angelic, Avey Tare (né Dave Portner) frequently occupies the other end of the sonic spectrum – nervy, almost neurotic; bursting with energy and information. It can be overwhelming at times; his previous solo effort Down There was an interesting if slightly unmemorable homage to B-movie swamp monster aesthetics. Similarly the band he’s put together here – Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors) and Jeremy Hyman (Dan Deacon) – take their cue from ‘slasher flicks,’ and Enter the Slasher House has a similarly gorey feel to it, the songs often swamped in menacing synths and fiery drums. It’s when the music is stripped back that Slasher Flicks most succeed – Little Fang is the best solo song Portner’s written, almost a bona fide pop hit. Elsewhere the album flickers into life: Catchy (Was Contagious) flirts with melody and space, as does Roses on the Window. But there’s simply too much going on for the album to be digestible – the vocals too affected, the drumming too intense, the keyboards swallowed by effects. Come back out of the swamp, Dave. [Sam Lewis]
Minimum Rock N Roll [Fortuna Pop!, 14 Apr] “What are you in here for?” croons Ian Svenonius dolefully; half-welcoming us back into his band’s secret universe, whilst also digging an immaculately-dressed elbow into our ribcages and winking theatrically. Having spent a 30-year career picking at the bones of post-punk, garage rock and yé-yé, the DC icon’s current outfit extricates what sumptuous meat remains and serves it all up with an irresistible gospel glaze. Lucky swine that we are, this fourth LP catches ‘em at their smartest, funniest and most irrepressible. So Devitalize rails against gentrification whilst channelling The Fall, and Curtain Pull affects a certain 60s Euro-kitsch amidst a kaleidoscopically infectious groove. Katie Alice Greer’s riot grrrl holler provides a neat foil to Svenonius’ untethered howl too, particularly on floor-shaking closer Everything Worth Getting (Is Gone). “I’m in here for loving too much,” admits our hero in response to his earlier question, mock-martyring himself for all our sakes. You could certainly hope for worse saviours. [Will Fitzpatrick] Playing The Kazimier, Liverpool on 27 May www.chainandthegang.bandcamp.com
Easterfaust [Paradigms Recordings, 7 Apr] Glasgow’s The Cosmic Dead are the real deal, and have been trading in the kind of tweakedout, acid-drenched, sprawling riffage so currently in vogue for four years. On Easterfaust, two extended, 20-minute jams recorded live and issued on a limited-edition vinyl, they serve up a powerful reminder of the darker side of psych-rock. Part 1 begins sedately, a minor-chord riff gilt with buzzing, drifting solo playing. At about eight minutes, a passage of rumbling static plunges into a driving riff with howling guitar riding propulsive drums, evincing the band’s krautrock leanings. Reverbheavy vocals eventually begin to coast over the top, channeling the lizard-cool of Jim Morrison, culminating in a riot of noise and feedback. Part 2 tears straight into the riffs, the phased guitar coiling and snapping like a caged conger eel, the band showcasing some hypnotic, tightly-locked rhythmic playing. A mind-manifesting blast of authentic psych-rock from some of its modern day masters – essential. [Bram E. Gieben]
www.entertheslasherhouse.com
40
Review
RECORDS
THE SKINNY
The Body
The Amazing Snakeheads
School of Language
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I Shall Die Here [RVNG, 1 Apr] The Haxan Cloak spent months processing The Body’s urgent, howled vocals and feral blasts of shredded guitar noise, transfiguring them into the dense and oppressive I Shall Die Here. From the plodding, scream-infested bass wash of opener To Carry the Seeds of Death Within Me, this record speaks to your gut. Alone All the Way’s chilling vocals sound like the pleas of a tortured soul. Hail To Thee, Oh Everlasting Pain hauls itself bleeding from washed-out dub into a brutal slab of reverberating bass, while the proto-techno of Our Souls Were Clean finishes with a wall of feedback and bone-chilling screams of anguish and horror. Closer Darkness Surrounds Us allows the reverb-soaked bass to mutter and grumble like a dying man’s death rattle, providing, if not calm, then at least a measure of resignation. Remorselessly avant garde, emotionally wrenching, without a chink of light on its clouded horizon. [Bram E. Gieben]
Amphetamine Ballads [Domino, 14 Apr] Those unfamiliar with Glasgow’s The Amazing Snakeheads might presume this album is the sound of a band going back to basics; there’s drums, bass, guitar, vocals and precious little else. But upon first listen you’ll realise that this is a group who are playing to their strengths, firing on all cylinders and outmuscling much of the opposition in the process. The no-frills rock’n’roll of opening track I’m a Vampire recalls The Cramps at their most primal, and frontman Dale Barclay’s blues-howl gives an unsettling edge to Where Is My Knife? The second half of Amphetamine Ballads slows the pace, and some of the earlier momentum is lost, but the threadbare Heading for Heartache touches a raw nerve. Given that the Snakeheads have built their reputation on being a live band of sometimes frightening intensity, they’ve done well to capute much of that spirit on this bare-bones but often illuminating record. [Chris McCall]
Old Fears [Memphis Industries, 7 Apr] Indie pop renaissance man David Brewis takes time out from the day job to return to School of Language. Actually, make that day jobs – his role as Field Music CEO supplemented in recent years by a host of consultancy work for the likes of Maximo Park and Eleanor Friedberger. The follow-up to Sea from Shore, 2008’s debut in this guise, is a defiantly solo work. Arrangements are precision-tooled (clipped guitar, spare beats, Brewis’s reedy alto), the production unfussy, the songs driven by groove rather than melody. With its sidelong observations and lyrical introspection, there are hints of similarly uncompromising pioneers. Older heads will detect shades of early Talking Heads while the skewed funk of Dress Up suggests Brewis is a fan of Justin Timberlake’s recent work. A single play sucks you in: accomplished and diverting, Old Fears adds up to a fascinating whole. [Gary Kaill] Playing The Deaf Institute, Manchester on 28 Apr
Teebs
Shonen Knife
Chad VanGaalen
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E s t a r a [Brainfeeder, 7 Apr]
Overdrive [Damnably, 14 Apr]
Shrink Dust [Sub Pop, 28 Apr]
Teebs’ new album is at once definitively a product of the LA beat scene, and evidence of his capacity to grow beyond that scene’s far-reaching, experimental aesthetic. View Point’s side-chained drums and percussion initially feel like a cut that would set LA’s Low End Theory alight, but with its rising, euphoric synth sounds and rich, textured bass, it’s also more than ‘just’ a beat – there’s a compositional, painterly feel to Teebs’ production which recalls fellow Brainfeeder alum Daedelus’ work. Layers of field recordings underpinning the production and, Jonti’s contribution on Holiday sounds like a half-remembered Beach Boys tune set to shimmering electronic shoegaze, by turns summery and ethereal. SOHM nods to Aphex Twin with super-fast, shutter-click rhythms; the broken house beat of NY pt. 1 shuffles enigmatically, while closer Wavxxes veers towards the sunlit pop of Sun Glitters. Rich, textured and warm – an album to cherish. [Bram E. Gieben]
There’s just something about the Japanese approach to pop music that sets both knees and lower lips a-tremblin’. Its batshit vitality serves as a neat contrast to the way we’ve turned rock’n’roll into a careerist treadmill; an industry that barely even pretends to have anything to do with rebellion or counter-culture. You could speculate endlessly as to how Shonen Knife’s deliciously silly ramalama-punk transcends all that, from their never-ending supply of bubblegum hooks to their remarkable understanding of winsome pop gibberish (instantly hummable odes Ramen Rock and Green Tea make perfect sense for all the same reasons as Who Put the Bomp or Do-Wah-Diddy). Overdrive’s sugary take on 70s dinosaur rock also stands unexpectedly in its favour, but ultimately all you need to know about the Osaka trio’s nineteenth album is this: it’s fucking AWESOME. Best not to question love when it’s inevitably, irredeemably absolute. [Will Fitzpatrick]
“Cut off both my hands and threw them in the sand,” sings Chad VanGaalen cheerfully, adding: “Watched them swim away from me like a pair of bloody crabs.” You’re gonna struggle to find a better opening couplet – so dark, so repulsive, so intriguing. It revels in his ability to wrap this decidedly unusual fare in soft, warm sheets of pathos, rendering even his more grotesque lines somewhat beautiful. A nifty trick. Chad apparently regards Shrink Dust as a country album, which is certainly going to surprise listeners bowled over by the hazy fug of Where Are You – but for all his psych-weirdo tendencies, he’s still looking for the most deliriously fried route to Nashville. There’s a classicist sheen to Weighed Sin’s woe-begotten pedal steel, while the inescapably catchy Evil is pop simplicity personified. What, say, Willie Nelson would make of it is immatieral – dude never once ruminated on the comical beauty of his own severed limbs, so pfft! What does he know? [Will Fitzpatrick]
www.soundcloud.com/teebsio
www.shonenknife.net
www.subpop.com/artists/chad_vangaalen
Loops Haunt
Exits [Black Acre, 7 Apr]
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The full-length debut of Scotland’s Scott Douglas Gordon combines carefully treated field recordings, spectral synth work, musique concréte and questing, experimental beats. On Exits and Trap Door, snatches of struck metal, stuttering drums, whistles, robotic speech and distant laughter coalesce into a pulsing, meditative soundscape – Gordon creates a compositionally intricate sonic world, navigated by means of subtle synth melodies. Hollowed’s hymnal, static-laced hip-hop occupies similar crepuscular territory to Forest Swords, while the time-stretched vocals and dubbed-out kicks of Ellum Tonal share stylistic markers with oOoOO and Holy Other. Howl’s motorik rhythm has more in common with BEAK> or James Holden, while the narcotic dub of Tunneling is in a reverb-soaked universe of its own. The deconstructed electro of IIVA stands out as a dancefloor-friendly cut, while droning closer Tymadlyb is like a distant light seen from the bottom of a cold cave. A bold, definitive statement from one of the UK’s most exciting producers. [Bram E. Gieben]
Holy Mountain
Ancient Astronauts [Chemikal Underground, 7 Apr]
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Glasgow trio Holy Mountain turn the psych-factor up to eleven on their latest release; there’s a noticeably extended sense of scope on this follow-up to mini-debut Earth Measures. Though Ancient Astronauts is still a relatively brief outing, the trio’s fascination with the cosmic gives the impression that we’re dealing with a much grander beast here. That’s not to say they’ve trimmed their bar-brawl roots; this band cut their teeth playing filthy, quickfire jams in sweaty dive bars as a duo, so it’s nice to know that they still display urgency on faster-paced, stripped back tracks (Lv-42666, Tokyo). But they also know that their reputation can’t rest on these well-worn tricks alone, so they’ve followed in the steps of peers The Cosmic Dead and Hey Colossus, resulting in unpredictable tempo-shifting and all-round experimentation on tracks like Star Kings and Gift Giver. What we’re left with is a record admirably indebted to both retro psychedelia and modern noize. Tone freaks are going to love it. [Ross Watson]
Wye Oak
Shriek [City Slang, 28 Apr]
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In which the Baltimore duo continue to defy lazy labelling. Shriek, their fourth album, carries on where 2011’s much-lauded Civilian left off, further rationalising their edgy palette and sharpening their songcraft. If they were ever part of the noughties’ indie folk revival, this largely electronic work transports them to somewhere else entirely. With Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner writing apart this time, and on a wider range of instruments, Shriek is their brightest, fullest work to date. Those shoegaze comparisons always felt a little off, too, but with Shriek embracing large-scale melody and dealing its tunes with such a generous hand, it has the look of School of Seven Bells or even Chairlift. Wasner’s plaintive vocals remain a joy. Throughout, the songs, from the pure pop of the title track to the squalling beats of Glory, carry mood and mystery, and, for a band known for intimacy and restraint, unexpected clout. [Gary Kaill] Playing Soup Kitchen, Manchester on 11 Jun www.wyeoakmusic.com
www.facebook.com/LOOPSHAUNT
Thee Oh Sees
Drop [Castle Face, 19 Apr]
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With rumours of a split now thankfully put to bed, John Dwyer and pals get back to doing what they do best: making ear-splitting garage rock that feels like the greatest idea anyone’s ever had. First track Penetrating Eye gets off to a dream start, with its molten riffage occupying that mythical promised land between Sabbath and The Stooges. It’s soon revealed to be something of a trick, however – the explorative kosmische of Encrypted Bounce places us on a more thoughtful path, before Drop takes a sharp turn towards more cerebral territory. Skronks’n’hollers drown Put Some Reverb On My Brother in thrilling cacophony, while the prog-scented The King’s Noise might just be the closest that the razorwire-tense Oh Sees have ever got to ‘pastoral.’ If this all seems a tad less immediate than the raucous psych-pop of last year’s Floating Coffin, it’s by no means inferior. They’ve donned their thinking caps, and it’s a look that suits ‘em just fine. [Will Fitzpatrick] www.theeohsees.com
Woods
With Light and With Love [Woodsist, 14 Apr]
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While many ‘alternative’ bands make a habit of becoming more esoteric as they age, Woods have taken the other route. The first Woods record At Rear House was a hauntingly strange and ethereal record, pared back to bare bones, singer Jeremy Earl’s voice coming across like a ghost. Five albums later Woods have gradually come out of the shadows in occasionally resplendent fashion – 2010’s At Echo Lake was an especially vivid slice of buzzing, blinding indie-pop-rock. With Light and With Love is their mellowest effort yet, layered with Hammond organs and rolling guitar licks. Leaves Like Grass is a particularly shameless Dylan rip, the instrumentation culled straight from the 1966 bootleg tapes. Needless to say, Woods are at their best when they sound like Woods, and there’s enough of that here to make this a worthy addition to Earl’s canon. New Light is an alluring acoustic ballad, while Twin Steps has just the right blend of vintage and modern to sound more Earl, and less his influences. [Sam Lewis]
The Top Five 1 2 3 4 5
EMA
The Future’s Void
Loops Haunt
Exits
The Afghan Whigs
Do to the Beast
Shonen Knife
Overdrive
The Cosmic Dead
Easterfaust
www.woodsist.com/woods
April 2014
RECORDS
Review
41
Breaking the Static Fiercely political and steadfast in their refusal to stand still, Liverpool’s We Came Out Like Tigers are an antidote for the times
We Came Out Like Tigers
‘W
hen everyone is self-conscious you are stuck in your place, because you’re always aware of everything, and you will never make the big leap like falling in love or creating a revolution or doing anything really radical because you are so aware of yourself and all the pressures on you.’ Adam Curtis, speaking in an interview in the the New Statesman, believes that we’re stuck in a time of ‘static culture’. Music doesn’t progress, no one sticks their neck out, and everyone looks around them or, worse, behind, in a way so as to absorb past contexts without ever trying to further them. The crux of Curtis’s attack was aimed at Savages, a little misguided, as the minimalism of post-punk will always retain its relevance during times of bloat elsewhere – in their instance, reacting to a lot of the fat of all-access technology in the 21st century – but his point rings true enough. We’re in an age where ‘leaving things open to interpretation’ has become a stock answer and by-excuse for ‘nothing interesting to say’. Sure, not everyone should be bleeding their sleeve crimson but nor should so many be turning away the realities of a world that at times feels as though it’s hanging by a thread. We Came Out Like Tigers are a band based in Liverpool. They don’t turn away, they confront. Fiercely politicised, they’re a group who believe strongly in fighting the current social structures we exist within to live actively. “When we started this band Labour were still in power, the economy hadn’t crashed, things didn’t seem that bad for most people, so you could make vague political statements because it hadn’t come to your door,” says vocalist and violinist Simon Barr as we meet in a Liverpool café. “But now it’s come to the point where people in this country are relying on food banks, people die over winter because they can’t afford to heat themselves, and we’ve
42
Preview
seen bands turn away from that.” Their politics, Barr says, simply come out of a desire to “make the world better”. His group are strictly DIY, their politics green, pro-working class and opposed to central powers. They inspire by their bloody-minded attitude to getting across their convictions when so many of their 20-something peers are so easily driven to oneclick distraction. “It’s not to do with individuals not caring, it’s the problem with advanced capitalism,” comments guitarist Fabian Devlin. “You’ve got a working class that’s dismantled and a consumer class, whose role in the eyes of the government is to just do that. I’m hesitant to blame people because the whole Western environment is geared towards us living this way. You’ve just got to do your best to disrupt it.”
“I thought screaming was more than just a vocal technique” Simon Barr
Musically, the group are well-travelled around a screamo and hardcore scene that stretches Europe-wide. They’re two EPs and an album – 2012’s burnt black atmosphere of Agelessness and Lack – down. Their new EP, EverCrushed at Pecket’s Well, recorded in isolation apart from each other and producer Tom Dring’s company, is their most assured yet. A constant aim of theirs is to “write the angriest, saddest,
most emotional songs we can,” but whereas in the past that meant pushing the sum of each part to its most wrought conclusion, with EverCrushed… there is greater dynamism at play. To Ruin a Fine Tenor Voice pulls away from its suffocating dense web of sound to allow Barr to wrap his violin vine-like around the remnant structure left behind; Careworn’s melancholic build-up offers little hint of the torrent it’s about to pour forth. Listen and compare to much of the occasionally over spilling 2011 EP You, You’re Just Bone Structure, for instance, and it’s clear that they’ve learned the art of whispering to say the loudest things. “It partly comes down to what we’ve been listening to,” says bassist Mykle ‘Ollie’ Smith, “we listen to a lot of ambient and folk and with this record especially we tried to work the dynamics.” “It also comes down to the change from blasting it all out and getting it out of your system to having those quieter moments to reflect on the sadder things; some situations call for you to be more pensive,” adds Devlin. Sadness, despair and finding the qualities to fight back define the themes We Came Out Like Tigers revolve around – or as Barr puts it, “making sad music that had elements of hope in it, but then taking even more of the hope out of it” – but their targets are much more tightly hemmed in on their new release than on Agelessness and Lack, which took in variously: depression, cancer, antifascism, government oppression, organised religion and society as a prison. Ever-Crushed at Pecket’s Well comes with a manifesto, and arrives with a sense that where once they committed to their convictions with relish, buoyed by initially finding a like-minded hardcore scene upon their conception in 2008, they’ve now seen too many bands within it fall away, go back on their words or compromise
MUSIC
Photo: Robin Clewley
Interview: Simon Jay Catling
themselves. ‘We found disappointment at every turn,’ the manifesto reads. ‘We sang songs about changing the world because we believed we could, we played this music because we thought punk rock was a scene that would never allow fascists, sexists, homophobes and their apologists to be tolerated, but such ideas seemed to be little more than a token mention whilst people awkwardly tuned instruments.’ Barr says there was a naïvety to how they started out, “and we don’t want to lose that completely, because you need a bit of it to maintain hope in this world,” but admits, “I got into hardcore thinking that people played angry music because they were actually angry about things; we’ve been around a few years now and seen a lot of DIY bands go back on things they’ve said very quickly. I thought screaming was more than just a vocal technique, and that heavy guitars were more than just an aesthetic.” Consequently, We Came Out Like Tigers have unearthed something altogether more inspired by folk in its attitudes to what they’ve produced before. Where Agelessness and Lack finished with a live recording in the form of the violin-led, acoustic I Sing of Sorrow & Joy, so Ever-Crushed… continues and opens with an Irish choir. “That choir is really important”, says Devlin. “The lyrics are almost irrelevant, it’s the context that the people singing are working people living hard lives and trying to find a way to express themselves that’s so important.” Their artwork and imagery deliberately depicts woodland scenes and countryside images, a reflection of their belief in the restorative powers of nature, but also a reclamation of the countryside and its heritage from being ideological cornerstones of austerity politics, Britain’s Green and Pleasant land having been turned into something more wholly nationalist. “There are bands in England too who are nationalist and talk about preserving British culture, which is just a thin veil for fascism”, says Barr. “I don’t want people like that to spoil the history of England for everyone else; there’s a big move to the right in English music at the moment and while preservation and respect for the past is important, for me it’s not tied into any nationalism or borders at all.” Such a movement is perhaps part of the overall gentrification of music in this country – as the cash around it runs out so only the privileged can afford to do it, narrowing the spectrum of perspectives that inform Britain musically. See Mumford & Sons’ gross misappropriation of folk. “Where I grew up in Ireland there’s an international bluegrass festival and it’s so separate from what people understand as folk music today,” says Devlin. “It’s sad to see so many are using it at surface level for their own gain.” That’s something We Came Out Like Tigers never look like doing; a band who won’t even pay for PR for that same reason of gentrification (“we’d hate to be in-part responsible for taking the press space of great artists who maybe can’t afford to pay for PR”). They do things their own way, with the greatest respect to the past but, crucially, with a fierce desire to push the lessons and traits of the heritage they’ve learned onwards. It is that which breaks static culture; it’s why the Liverpool three-piece are so vital. As Smith puts it towards the end of our chat, “the world can’t stop making art; if it stops it means people have lost their platform for expression.” Ever-Crushed at Pecket’s Well is released on 14 Apr. We Came Out Like Tigers play The Old Blue Last, London on 13 Apr www.wecameoutliketigers.co.uk
THE SKINNY
APRIL LISTINGS
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Tuesday 22nd April
ALKALINE TRIO + SPECIAL GUEST
Coming up at The Ritz... The Rifles, Drive By Truckers, Echo & The Bunnymen, North West Calling, Rend Collective, Mac Demarco, Dot To Dot Festival, Leroy Hutson, Graham Parker, Bad Manners, Kacey Musgraves, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Peter Hook & The Light.
Augustines Wednesday 16th Kvelertak Monday 21st
PEATBOG FAERIES
Brody Dalle Tuesday 22nd Clutch Thursday 24th Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats Thursday 24th Jace Everett with band Friday 25th
the the
the the
Tuesday 1st April
TICKETMASTER.CO.UK :
Patent Pending + People On Vacation Friday 25th The Smiths Ltd – The UK’s No.1 Smiths Tribute Saturday 26th
FEATURED CLUB NIGHTS Every Saturday
John Butler Trio Sunday 27th
SOCIAL BEAT OUR WEEKLY SATURDAY PARTY
Blood Red Shoes Monday 28th
MAY
First Friday of the month
De La Soul Friday 2nd
CLUB X OVER
Northside Saturday 3rd
MANCHESTER’S FRESHEST ALTERNATIVE NIGHT
Friday 2nd May, 7.30pm, £11.50 (£10 concessions)
Neon Trees Monday 5th www.facebook.com/mamaco.theritz
Whitworth St West, Manchester, M1 5NQ
Janelle Monae Wednesday 7th Martin Stephenson & The Daintees Thursday 8th
JOHANNES MÖLLER
Jagwar Ma Saturday 10th The Clone Roses Saturday 10th Action Bronson Monday 12th Michael Franti & Spearhead Tuesday 13th Lit Wednesday 14th Capone-N-Noreaga & Onyx Saturday 17th Fishbone Wednesday 21st
Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th May, 7.30pm, Free Admission
FINE MESH
Goldfinger/Zebrahead Thursday 22nd Swans Thursday 22nd Gigantic – Classic Indie All Dayer – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin + The Wedding Present + Chameleons Vox + CUD + The Sultans Of Ping + The Frank & Walters Saturday 24th The War On Drugs Wednesday 28th
Friday 16th May, 7.30pm, £10 (£8 concessions)
DARK INVENTIONS
The Three Johns Wednesday 28th AWOLNATION Thursday 29th FutureProof Thursday 29th Francis Dunnery Band Friday 30th The Enemy Saturday 31st
JUNE Schoolboy Q Sunday 1st
Saturday 17th May, 7.30pm £11.50 (£10 concessions)
ROGER BEAUJOLAIS QUARTET
The Polyphonic Spree Saturday 7th Pond Monday 9th George Ezra Thursday 12th Andy Jordan Wednesday 18th Jurassic 5 Thursday 19th Gareth Gates Tuesday 24th
LATER IN 2014 Ska Face Saturday 5th July In Hindsight Wednesday 9th July Anberlin Thursday 7th August The Magic Numbers Friday 12th September Sleaford Mods Friday 19th September
BOX OFFICE 0844 8000 410 www.ticketquarter.co.uk
Vance Joy Thursday 25th September Miles & Erica Saturday 11th October Heather Peace Friday 24th October
For full listings visit manchesteracademy.net
April 2014 April 2014
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Eagulls
Eagulls
The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, 27 Feb
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It’s over too quickly. That’s the general consensus in the Shipping Forecast tonight, as a raucous set slaloms to a sudden end. But that’s Eagulls for you. They’ll give you half an hour, and when they race ahead with this level of frazzled, furious energy, maybe not even that much. Still, it’s one helluva party they throw: fuelled by shitty beer, oblique sounds and existential woes, but still drunk enough to try skating over sofas, headlong into plate glass windows. One person present is definitely having a bad time – bassist Tom Kelly appears to be the sickest man on earth, judging by his dynamic combination of zipped-up winter coat, pallid complexion and bleary, woe-begotten eyes. But he soldiers on heroically, steadily propelling
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Review
everything forward while the guitars spatter the speakers with the textured pulse of Nerve Endings and their woozy-punk classic Possessed. If there’s a surprise in store tonight, it’s that they draw from the familiarly noisy element of their oeuvre rather than indulging us in the Cureesque jangles that colour their self-titled debut. But this isn’t about pretty melodies or crowdpleasing. It’s about wrapping us up in sheets of noise and throwing us off a cliff – witness the effects-laden scree that engulfs George Mitchell’s mic, scuppering the front row’s attempts to sing along with a buzzing rendition of Coffin. And here’s what makes them such a thrilling prospect: that battle between electrified pop and ugly, scuzzed-out frequencies, where the conflict is naturally far more gripping than the prospect of a victor. Just make sure you don’t blink. [Will Fitzpatrick]
the release of Drone Logic late last year, tonight provides a window into a not-so-distant future where Avery cements his place as a household name. For the undefeated revellers, The 2 Bears pull in summer four months early on Saturday afternoon, with one of Bugged Out’s infamous pool parties. The atmosphere remains playful, but their set dissolves into peripherals among inflatable balls. Whoever set up tonight’s itinerary, however, deserves a high five, as Ten Walls lays down his set at ten o’clock. Arcade games that have seen better days provide back support for a slew of club casualties, as the walk from George Fitzgerald’s pounding drums and club-ready chord progressions leads to Chicago house legend Green Velvet, aka Cajmere, who gives a nod to stage predecessor Paul Woolford by opening with his remix of Woolford’s Erotic Discourse. A satisfyingly grimey techno expedition follows. We also couldn’t miss the father of UKG, and upon arrival into the adjacent Room 3 (also: pub), an optimum body-popping spot is found for DJ EZ. Such tight perimeters lend his dexterous set a houseparty vibe, and when 21 Seconds booms through the speakers, the audience’s nostalgic spirits unite in
enthusiasm and sweat. Sunday gets darker over at Boddika, who takes the music to a morbid, harsh but sadistically satisfying place – and the London-based producer’s hard-hitting bass nicely sets up the ambience for regular partner Joy Orbison, who, unsurprisingly, swims through a flawless mix of genres reflecting the crowd’s yearns and wants. The next body to commandeer Room 1 is one that many, many eyes have seen naked (remember last year’s promotional video for Eastern Electrics?): tache-donning legend Seth Troxler, who opens with Blood Orange’s Champagne Coast as Eats Everything swaggers behind him necking a bottle of vodka. For all the sombre techno that has speckled the weekend, Troxler’s iridescent energy serves as counterpoint. As he closes, he kindly wishes for all to get laid, and promises an afterparty. Finally, Dave Clarke, who’s watched Bugged Out grow and develop, remains at the top of his game as he tests the crowd’s resilience with unremitting bass. As his set draws to a close, the crowd lift their arms skyward, embracing a DJ and clubnight that serve as a reminder there are still pioneers who make sure this community remains authentic and very much alive. [Edwina Chan]
Wild Beasts
Wild Beasts
Albert Hall, Manchester, 26 Mar
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Anyone would think it were a homecoming, as almost 2000 people join the swell of Lion’s Share: “Boy, what you running from?”, they implore, the opener of 2011’s Smother having evidently become a classic at only three years’ vintage. Sure, Wild Beasts haven’t played in Manchester for as many years – but this, this is like the closing set of a festival at summer’s end. It would be naive not to acknowledge the venue’s role in this atmosphere, however – the deep, stepped balcony of the Albert Hall allowing ampitheatre-like views, the vast, shallow dome of the roof providing a wide canvas for the band’s quixotic laser show, emeralds and cyans playing out like supernovae on an observatory ceiling. Indeed for the first few songs, while they aren’t dwarfed by it, the band certainly aren’t acclimatised to the space either, and Mecca and
MUSIC
Devil’s Crayon struggle with muddy sound. But after ten years playing together, these long-time best friends are formidably tight and intuitive, and by the time Daughters’ suspecting, watchful drums mark out their territory, they’ve risen to the challenge. Braced against their keys, Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming mirror each other’s stance; but, vocally, they’re their most defined in complementary counterpoint yet. Where Thorpe’s tenor-falsetto can sound vulnerable on record, here it is molten gold, full and honeyed; Fleming’s feathered, huffed gruffness, meanwhile, acquires a razor’s edge. Led by his whorling, blown-glass vowels, the standout tracks from current album Present Tense – Nature Boy and A Dog’s Life – are tonight’s show stealers too, and throughout, there is a feeling of wonder at the idea that these two singular voices should ever have found each other in a school in Kendal in the first place. Long may they prosper. [Lauren Strain]
THE SKINNY
Photo: Nick Bojdo
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The attraction of a full English by the seaside isn’t the only reason why over six thousand punters would choose to set up camp at Southport’s Pontins holiday park. A certain someone celebrates their 20th birthday this year. Jockey Slut was the brainchild of Paul Benney and John Burgess, a magazine for ‘punks, bums, drunks and junkies,’ and marked the first milestone in Bugged Out’s journey. After clubnights at Sankeys and Liverpool’s Cream, where Daft Punk celebrated their fourth birthday in 1995 (it was five of our Great British Pounds to get in, ladies and gents), the debut Bugged Out Weekender in 2000 nearly bankrupted them – but you don’t get anywhere by not taking risks. This weekend, the chalets ensure that the focus is on raving rather than comfort. First stop on Friday’s voyage is Dirtybird founder Claude VonStroke’s set in Room 1 – but with a few too many callow loops, the journey continues to Danish artist Rune Reilly (Kölsch), who brings his spectrum of melodic techno, signature black fedora, and of course notable tracks such as Loreley and Goldfisch to Room 2. With great
choice comes great sacrifice, so back to Room 1 it is – but not before an encounter with Daniel Avery pondering his poison at the Green Room Bar. By the time Norwegian disco king Todd Terje graces the stage, the crowd’s functionality suggests it’s already 4am, but the buzz is appropriate for Terje’s first live UK set. A refreshing break from hard-hitting techno, his armsin-the-air party features the funky, thumping basslines and 80s shimmering synths of Delorean Dynamite, single from appropriately named debut It’s Album Time (out this month). After his edits of the likes of Chic and Stevie Wonder, it’s no wonder the crowd are Terje’s helpless discodancing puppets. The gathering melodic force of Ragysh climbs to the room’s summit, and the crowd happily loses its sanity. Back in Room 2 (spotted on the way: Mount Kimbie on a stag-do), Erol Alkan, a resident since 2001, has become a name synonymous with Bugged Out and brings his musical wizardry of hectic beats and wildly oscillating electro. Daniel Avery plays a B2B set with long-serving master selector Andrew Weatherall, a man who also boasts production credits for the likes of Fuck Buttons and Primal Scream – and, after
Photo: Tom Horton
Photo: Tom Horton
Pontins, Southport, 7-9 Mar
Photo: Adam Akins
Bugged Out Weekender
Teenage Geekery Atjazz returns with a long-awaited solo EP, Does This Qualify?, but that’s just the beginning: with a wealth of collaborative projects on the horizon, it’s going to be a busy year
Atjazz
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softly spoken sound-designer from the heart of County Durham, Martin Iveson plies his trade somewhere in rural Derbyshire, miles away from the club setting his music is tailored towards. From here, he’s been bubbling under the radar for a good few years, focusing more on collaborative, label-head and remix duties than his Atjazz output – until last month’s long awaited three-track release, that is. Posed as a trio of questions, the songs – Does This Qualify?, Well, Does It?, and Happy Now? – are an attempt to quantify the position of Atjazz in the current realm of dance music. “I’ve done nothing purely for myself for so long that I almost felt pressured to get something out there,” Iveson admits, calling from his half-built studio in Derby. “The titles are a bit tongue-incheek, but I’m asking myself these questions as much as I am anybody else. There’s a new breed of producer these days; I need to know if I can still chip in on my own. “I’m in between set-ups at the moment,” he explains. “The bulk of these tracks were made on a chunky old PC with a really nice sound card and NI Kontakt. I’ll often record myself playing keyboard and resample the result, then resample that, and so on. It’s the same process when I use jazz records. I’ve still got quite a bit of outboard gear knocking about though: Fender Rhodes MK II, Roland SH-101 and Waldorf XTk are a few favourites.” The fact that Iveson only spent “about three days” putting the tracks together certainly belies his non-stop work ethic as an omnipresent studio workhorse and all round team player. Atjazz Record Company is a solid unit these days,
April 2014
curating a range of talent sourced from around the globe. In fact, Iveson’s latest collaboration is perhaps the most tantalising yet, a live project with Baltimorean wizard Kris Klayton – aka Karizma. Going under the alias Exist, the pair are actively guiding “good, strong dance music” through unchartered territory. “We’re doing something different,” Iveson affirms. “The sound of Exist is centred on very basic ideas and techniques, techniques that can be reproduced as a live spectacle. To give you an idea of the sound, we’ve just written a track called Need This that has two intertwining vocal samples, a core bassline and drum beat. That’s it. But it’s how it works; it sounds perfectly like both of us but just that little bit harder. “It’s been a good few years since I first met Kris,” he reminisces, taking us back to around 2007. “We used to hang out together in Simbad’s studio in Brick Lane. We all had the same agent back in those days, and would often get booked on the same bill. That led to us doing a little crossover section between our sets, adding in loops and that kind of thing. Kris turned around one day and suggested taking it a bit more seriously, so that’s what is happening right now! We’re taking advantage while he’s in the UK to get an album ready.” Individually, Klayton brings an incredible knowledge of hip-hop to the table, as well as being a machine when it comes to the technicalities of retrigger, beatmatching and all that jazz. “He’s a quiet genius,” Iveson adds, “And there’s definitely a mutual appreciation between us because of that. My role is to harness the groove, holding it all together and keeping watch for anything too
sporadic. We’ve also got my good friend Ross on bass and, just recently, the drummer from Magic Number. He’s going to cut up our loops and reapply them to his kit so he can play our beats to an audience. We’re doing our very best at making Exist sound like Exist, live.”
“I’m confident enough now to push a more diverse blend of styles from all over the world” Martin Iveson
If that’s the case, the overall effect of their music depends entirely on production quality in the studio. There is an element of danger here; if the duo lose that edge in their sound then they risk slipping into the ether like every other live dance band. That’s why both guys seem to be checking themselves from noodling around too much, being disciplined in the way that they approach each track. It’s the kind of discipline that should pay off in abundance when it comes to rolling out the hardware for this year’s club, or festival, or boat appearances. Again, these settings are a world away from
CLUBS
Photo: Tony'Tk'Smith
Interview: Daniel Jones the bedroom “teenage geekery” that Iveson committed himself to in his younger years. In fact, the Commodore 64 was what first turned him on to the idea of sound design, specifically Rob Hubbard’s soundtrack to the game Delta. “The Commodore had this thing called a SID chip, which is pretty sought after these days. It’s basically four channels of monophonic noise, and you could choose between crazy synths, mixing sounds and drums as the game was loading. Games took about 15 minutes to load back then, remember.” With the support of his parents, Iveson eventually branched out to an Amiga and an Atari ST, which is when he started to write tracks himself. “When I was about 17, a friend who I met in a videogame shop asked me to come for a random job interview in Derby; that must have been about 1991,” he recalls, “I literally hopped on the first train and got the job, working for a fairly young start-up called Core Design.” It turned out to be a very wise move, with Core Design going on to release the first of the legendary Tomb Raider series in 1996. “I remember sitting in a golf club and Toby [Gard] pitching the game to us; he wanted to make an Indiana Jones-style video game but with a woman with big boobs instead of Harrison Ford. Crude, yes, but his storyboards were incredible; the guy is an insanely talented visual artist. “I didn’t actually find working on Tomb Raider too fulfilling, to be honest. I was working as the FX guy, but the media hype meant a lot of pressure and ridiculous time constraints – we literally had 55 minutes of music to record in five hours. To put that in perspective, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers took six weeks to record and seven weeks to mix down three hours of music. It was a different type of challenge, but it definitely wasn’t as fun as working on the shoot ’em ups. The soundtrack for Shellshock 2: Blood Trails is what I’m most proud of, it’s got this eerie John Carpenter/Apocalypse Now thing going on. I did that in 5.1 surround sound too.” A trip to Glastonbury a few years earlier to see The Orb play live had already instilled Iveson with a passion for the ambient side of things, which is largely the style he was producing early on: “I was starting to get into hip-hop and triphop too, which is when I sent my first demo to DIY in Nottingham and formed my initial label, Mantis Recordings.” Mantis unfortunately collapsed under the strain of “three distribution cockups and a dodgy business partner,” but it certainly had its time, providing the platform a wealth of quality material, including 2001’s Lab Funk: “I learned a lot from that experience, and you have to view the new imprint as a phoenix from the ashes. I’m confident enough now to push a more diverse blend of styles from all over the world. Before, it felt like I was working in a limited arena. In fact, I’ve still got a ton of ambient DATs sitting in the attic that I might choose to release one day,” he says, with the trace of a snigger in his voice. “Be warned!” Whichever way Iveson chooses to go, it will undoubtedly involve Atjazz Record Company spreading its wings even further away from the standard house routine. His date in Liverpool this month is followed by a slew of releases later in the year: “I’ve got some stuff planned with Kyodai and Jazzanova, as well as a single with Rancido, and another album under my Martin Iveson project. Keeping busy, alright, but I can’t help myself, I have to make noise. I don’t know how to stop.” Atjazz plays The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, 12 Apr www.atjazz.co.uk
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Thurs 10th Apr • £20 adv
Matt Cardle
Sat 19th Apr • £8 adv
The Hummingbirds Fri 2nd May • £14 adv 11pm - 5am • over 18s only
Horizon Bank Holiday Special ft. Radium + The Melodyst (UK Exclusive) + Big Worm + Soul Destroyer B2B Disturbia + Extremist B2B Conspirecy
Sat 3rd May • £22.50 adv
Fish A Moveable Feast Tour Sat 3rd May • £17.50 adv
Andrew Strong
Weds 7th May • £16.50 adv
Martin Stephenson & The Daintees + Helen McCookerybook
Thurs 8th May • £10 adv
Moulettes Fri 9th May
Embrace Sun 11th May • £18.50 adv
Professor Green
Tues 13th May • £13.50 adv
The Wonder Years
+ A Loss For Words + State Champs
“
“spread love
Weds 14th May • £15 adv
it’s the brooklyn way BrooklynMixer SeelSt Liverpool
Hank Wangford & The Lost Cowboys ‘Waltzing With Wangford 2014’
Fri 23rd May • £10 adv
Bury Tomorrow
Weds 28th May • £9 adv
The Riptide Movement Sat 31st May • £20 adv
The Rutles
Sun 1st Jun • £19.50 adv
Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott Sat 7th Jun • £16 adv
Silicon Dreams 2014
ft. Tenek + Vile Electrodes + Northern Kind + Future Perfect plus DJs Tracey ‘Electric Dream’ McKenzie (Bedsitland London) + Dave Charles (Harborough FM)
Sat 7th Jun • £15 adv 9pm - 3am • over 18s only
Drome
ft. Ultra-Sonic + DJ Trix + MC Cyanide + DJ Nibbs + DJ Rob & MC Cutter
Fri 20th Jun • £10 adv
The Real People Tues 1st Jul • £15 adv
Heaven & Earth + M.ill.ion Tues 8th Jul • £18 adv
Dropkick Murphys Fri 1st Aug • £13 adv
The Blackout
Thurs 25th Sep • £15 adv
Primal Fear + Chrome Molly Fri 10th Oct • £14 adv
Kids In Glass Houses Thurs 20th Nov • £18.50 adv 6pm
Pop Punks Not Dead ft. New Found Glory + The Story So Far + Candy Hearts + Only Rivals
Wed 3rd Dec • £15 adv
Graham Bonnet
Catch The Rainbow Tour
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THE SKINNY
Clubbing Highlights Floating Points, The Revenge and DJ Nature are on hand to keep you in foolish cheer for the whole of April. There’s also The Skinny’s First Birthday Party! Hip hip… Words: Jack Burns Illustration: Roel van Eekelen
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t’s hard to believe that we’re a third of the way through this year already. The nights have been flowing thick and fast, with a range of promoters bringing in quality selectors on a regular basis. April follows in the same vein, with the enticing prospect of Cosmin TRG and Floating Points at Sound Control, Manchester on 4 Apr (£10). The boys from Lo-Fi have outdone themselves again, after last month’s inaugural party featuring Surgeon. Expect sketchy rhythmic beats from TRG and dusty funk and soul from Flo Po: a good mixture by all accounts. Elsewhere, there’ll be an intimate little gathering at Soup Kitchen, with German mood-maker Dario Zenker heading up Eastern Bloc’s second party of the year (£8). Same day in Liverpool, Ruf Dug and The Mighty Zaf take control at Polka Does Disco at Kitchen Street Pop Up (£6). A Northwest legend in his own right, Ruffy is everywhere at the moment, so if you’ve yet to catch his party-party vibes then here’s another opportunity. A day later sees mUmU hosting the man behind London’s infamous FUSE parties, Enzo Siragusa, all night long on 5 Apr. Again, the venue is Kitchen Street Pop Up, which means a 6am finish on Sunday morning (£13.50). Back in Manchester at the Roadhouse, Bank bring in Baikal to take over their first birthday celebrations on 5 Apr. You probably know him best as the force behind 2012’s mega-hit Why Don’t Ya? – a question that could easily also serve as the tagline for any £7 night. There’s also Mr Scruff at Band on the Wall, a precursor to Keep It Unreal’s imminent 15th birthday. Your other option is spending £27.50 to go witness Steve Aoki jump around at Warehouse Project. A week later at HAUS, Liverpool, Addison Groove brings his arsenal of mutant juke to the masses on 11 Apr (£8). Plenty of 808-derived percussion on offer for a tenner, a must for anybody who appreciates a good cowbell. Over in Manchester on the same night, flagship promoters Music Is Love continue to reel in the big guns, with Marcel Dettmann taking to the den that is downstairs at Sankeys (£10). If you’ve still got a bit of money to burn mid-month, then the prospect of Terekke at Islington Mill on 12 Apr is certainly enticing (£10). Bohemian Grove have outdone themselves again, pillaging another big name on the L.I.E.S. roster for the benefit of those in the vicinity of Salford. Might well be worth saving those pennies to catch one half of Masters at Work, Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez, on the decks at the rebranded Twenty Twenty Two (£12). Gonzales is a bona fide master of the remix, while also reissuing hordes of forgotten funk and soul on his Kay Dee imprint. But if you’re after a more rounded affair that weekend then look no further than The Skinny’s First Birthday Party! We’ll be taking over Liverpool’s Kazimier on Sat 12 Apr to bring an
April 2014
entire evening of hijinks and revelry. Our mates at the formidable Scenery Records are chipping in, as well as the guys from Wet Play and a goldmine of bands and artists. And, what’s more, it’s completely free (RSVP: rsvp@theskinny.co.uk). Can’t argue with that. On 19 Apr, Cutloose bring DJ Nature to Roadhouse (£7). A Golf Channel regular, Nature – aka Milo Johnson – is one of Harlem’s finest jocks, and he’ll no doubt be bringing bags of warm, soulful house. A rare treat indeed. On 20 Apr, Detroit purist and man behind the legendary Record Time store, Mike Huckaby, joins Hi Ku to celebrate Community’s 6th birthday at Dry Bar. Huckaby has cemented his reputation as one of the busiest remixers from the D over recent years, setting up two labels for his own outputs that have garnered much respect from the worldwide house scene. An absolute bargain at £7. You’re spoilt for choice that night, though, as Tiger & Woods showcase material from their new album at Gorilla, supported by soulful Scottish sorcerer, Graeme Clark, aka The Revenge (£10). His aliases span a range of projects, most notably the incredibly versatile 6th Borough Project alongside Craig Smith. There’s also an opportunity to catch one of the hottest guys on the planet right now at Roadhouse on 20 Apr. Nineteen-year-old Berliner Max Graef releases his debut LP on Tartelet this month, a concoction of hip-hop, house and miscellaneous, underpinned by fuzzy jazz and funk samples. Go see him for £7! Elsewhere, in Liverpool, Zoo Project team up with mUmU for their warm-up party at New Bird Street Warehouse on 20 Apr (£15). Sonja Moonear, Evan Baggs, Nic & Kaleb and Michael James provide the sounds for what is set to be a messy bank holiday weekend. The following Saturday (26 Apr) is the return of Freeze, a ten-hour marathon with John Digweed and Ellen Allien running things (£16) at The Garage. It’s a Bedrock Records shindig, showcasing a plethora of tunnelling techno, trippy sonics and groove-heavy house. Opening times are 10pm to 8am, good news for anybody getting the first bus home. Chicago pioneer Marshall Jefferson comes to Soup Kitchen on 25 Apr, largely thanks to the teamwork of Underland and Witch*unt – good value at £8 too! Same venue the following Wednesday (30 Apr) for Stones Throw mainstay Jonwayne’s Manchester debut (£6). His Cassette mixtape series has recently been championed by Gilles Peterson among others. So, there you have it: April in an elongated nutshell. We’ll hopefully see you at the Kaz on Apr 12, but until then… peace and love, amigos. All prices are advance unless otherwise specified; some events may be more on the door
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Preview
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Under the Influence: Max Graef On the eve of the release of his debut LP, producer of the moment Max Graef gives us his ten favourite albums of all time
Interview: Daniel Jones
B
arely 20 years old, Max Graef has already crafted his way into the realm of jazz-fuelled beatfreakery with the style and grace of a seasoned pro. Comparisons to Pepe Bradock and Motor City Drum Ensemble are fair, but Graef has a dexterous touch all his own, honed through years playing guitar and drums in jazz bands as a youth. His debut LP, Rivers of the Red Planet, lands on Tartelet this month and follows a steady stream of quality releases for the likes of Melbourne Deepcast and Box Aus Holz. Coming in at 16 tracks in less than an hour, it’s a pulsing guide through a range of tempos and tones, from the graceful fuzz of Itzehoe through switchflipping cinematic snippets, to straighter hip-hop vibes. Which bring us to business. Here, Graef kindly donates ten of his favourite albums to our chart, and explains the significance of each artist in shaping the formidable sound of his new record. Wojciech Karolak – Easy! [Polskie Nagrania Muza] Amazing and inspiring work by this Polish fellow. I also found his name listed as a composer on many other Polish funk and jazz records. Quite a genius! This was very inspiring in terms of crossing the borders of genre. Instant Groove, for example, is a funky freakshow! Without getting too annoying, Karolak experiments with the Rhodes like nobody I’ve ever heard before.
Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage [Blue Note] Well, obviously one of the greatest musicians of all time: Herbie Hancock. Maiden Voyage is a beautiful album, probably one of my favourite jazz albums. I tried to record a version of the title track for the album but gave up quite quickly. I realised while recording how simple most of the parts are but still, I wasn’t able to capture an even close-to-similar smooth and light mood. I learned a lot from this album, especially how less can be a lot more. Also, it’s fascinating how there is not one second on this LP when I get annoyed by the brass section – very organic sound fusion. Breakout – Blues [Polskie Nagrania Muza] My dad played this to me a few years ago and I loved it straight away. Since then I had my most trippy and colourful listeningexperiences with this record. The guitar solo on Gdybym Był Wichrem is absolutely insane. Tadeusz Nalepa had a way to make the guitar scream like a human, maintaining its sweetness and warm timbre with extremely exaggerated vibratos – a little like Paul Kossoff. How he starts the solo with the feedback is legendary to me. It has been a very inspiring album in terms of sound as well. I love how rough and dirty this record sounds. Hysear Don Walker – Complete Expressions (Vol. 2) [Brunswick] Crazy good record. The Rhodes will always be the most mystical and beautiful instrument to me. This record is a full Rhode-trip, as I would call it, from beautiful and almost
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Max Graef
cheesy over smooth and extremely danceable to scary freaked-out stuff. I stole at least unconsciously a few chords and hooks when I recorded the Rhodes for my album. A Tribe Called Quest – People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm [Jive/RCA] Terrible artwork; incredible record. Luck of Lucien is probably one of my favourite hip-hop tracks of all time. I think Midnight Marauders was the first ‘real’ hip-hop I got confronted with and I loved how it combined a lot of energy with this laid-back smoothness. Years later, when I got really into hip-hop, I discovered Tribe’s first album and I was blown away. I definitely tried to create a similar vibe on some of my tracks for the album but I always ended up a lot more melancholic. It’s very, very hard to make happy but tasteful music! Cro-Magnon – Cro-Magnon EP [Jazzy Sport] Cro-Magnon was one of my biggest discoveries last year, when Andy Hart pointed them out to me. Since last summer this record never left my bag. Crazy Japanese dudes making heavy futuristic funk and disco with a very natural jazzy swing to it. It inspired me a lot
in terms of drum sounds and clever simplicity. Beyond the Summer is a wonky masterpiece, big inspiration! Jimi Hendrix – War Heroes [Polydor] I’ve been a Hendrix fan since I was a little boy. The versions of Bleeding Heart and Midnight you’ll find on this record are out of this world. With these two cuts you can hear a lot and, as the song is progressing, you can hear how Hendrix gets more and more comfortable with the tonality and mood of the tracks. I love this kind of progression. I learned to play the guitar by wanting to sound like Hendrix and I guess you can hear this poor attempt whenever I used the guitar on the album! Ryo Kawasaki – Juice [RCA] Insanely futuristic, psychedelic and, surprisingly, casually funky for a Japanese virtuosic composer like Kawasaki. This record has the funk of The Meters and the weirdness of Zappa. There are great synth/sound experiments on there too. I have to admit I also stole some kicks from this recording... sick drum sounds throughout the record.
CLUBS
Hulk Hodn & Hubert Daviz – Kaseta [ENTBS] German instrumental hip-hop, very refreshing, and the production of Hubert Daviz continues to surprise me. I love his unconventional drum programming and sounds. Definitely an album I can put on, sit back and listen through entirely and feel very balanced and challenged at the same time. Glenn Astro & IMYRMIND – KDIM EP [Odd Socks] At last an inspiration in house music: Glenn Astro & IMYRMIND. The freshest boys in the scene, if you ask me. There was not one house record in the last couple of years that I was inspired by more. I love the wonkyness and rawness. Very clever sound structures and sound mixtures: all four tracks progress into straight party starters without actually being anything close to straight in a rhythmic sense. The few house tracks I did for the album were inspired by this record for sure. Max Graef plays the Roadhouse, Manchester, 20 Apr. He also plays Beacons festival, 7-10 Aug www.soundcloud.com/max-graef
THE SKINNY
The Negligent Eye
Richard Hawkins: Hijikata Twist
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The Bluecoat, Liverpool, until 15 Jun
A monochrome baby boy stares warily out at the viewer. The child is from another world, an alien or astronaut; lines run down his face in cosmic interference. Created in 1957 by computer scientist Russell Kirsch, this is the first print ever to be made on a digital scanner. Kirsch chose a photograph of his son to mark this technological rite-of-passage – opening the door to satellite imaging, CAT scans, barcodes and the replicable printable future we know today. The Negligent Eye has been curated by Jo Stockham, Head of Printmaking at The Royal College of Art, in an attempt to ‘reflect increasing experimentation (in the print-making form) with computers, rapid-form, 3D scanning and digital multiplication’. It’s certainly a lot of ground to cover and, due to its scale (at least 28 artists and groups exhibiting), the show can be a little hit and miss. What it lacks in clarity, however, it makes up for in variety, and maybe that’s the point – there will be something for everyone. Some of the strongest smaller works come from big names (Wolfgang Tillmans, Rachel Whiteread and Thomas Bewick), but there is a broad range of younger artists. In the first gallery, Beatrice Haines’ electron microscopic scans of her mother’s gallstones, Heavenly Bodies, brain-like moons glowing against the walls are romantic and disgusting – reminding us of the distant universe lurking inside, remote even to ourselves. Good Morning Captain from Juneau Projects (Ben Sadler and Phil Duckworth) is funny and a little sad, with the artists dragging a scanner around a garden at night. The usually officebased appliance produces wobbly grass scans on its plug-leash travels. On top of the box monitor showing documentation of this process, a crow
Tate Liverpool, until 11 May
Elizabeth Gossling – Ventriloquist (Dan Horn & Orson) (2011)
keeps watch as, finally, the scanner realises the subversion of its true purpose, crashes and dies. Most successfully, the sometimes tricky top-floor gallery is given over solely to a pared down version of Imogen Stidworthy’s installation, Sacha, originally shown in its entirety at Matt’s Gallery, London, in 2003. The video follows wiretap analyst Sacha van Loo, who was born blind and works as a language and dialect genius with Antwerp Police. The viewer can physically step inside the installation and become temporarily immersed in van Loo’s intimate processes. Using his body as the device, Sacha is a picture of concentration as he detects and scans – deciding fates, guilt and innocence. [Sacha Waldron] 10am-6pm, free
Sadako crawls in jerking slow-motion out of the well and into her victim’s television set in Ring, and Kayako, a little less discerning, reigns disjointed, creeping terror on everyone she meets in Ju-on: The Grudge. These deceased and troubled ladies are not just, as writer David Kalat terms them, the ‘Dead Wet Girls’ of Japanese Horror: they are also practitioners of a form of dance-performance style Butoh, founded in the early 1950s by choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata (1928-1986). Butoh’s complex form of movement, its influences and notation, are the subject of Tate Liverpool’s current ground floor exhibition, Richard Hawkins: Hijikata Twist. Working mainly in a collage, LA-based Hawkins has an enduring fascination with Hijikata’s cut and paste scrapbooks called ‘Butuoh-fu’ (‘fu’ meaning ‘notation’). The choreographer would combine his own notes with poetry and prose from writers (such as Jean Genet) and clip black-and-white reproductions of Western paintings from magazines. Artists such as De Kooning, Dubuffet, Sutherland and Bacon were used as material to explore the extremities of figuration and the potential of the human body. Hijikata’s interpretive descriptions can be found in the scrapbook documents, loaned from Japan for the exhibition: ‘a monster made of dust’, he writes of Jean Dubuffet’s The Tree of Fluids (1950); of Van Gogh’s portrayal in Bacon’s work, ‘(he has) a body composed entirely of particles… His skull packed with branches and straw’. Hawkins has been working on his own reconfigurations of Hijikata’s scrapbooks in the form of individual and gridded collections of framed collages, often pasted onto sugar-paper coloured office filing dividers. Hawkins’ process is akin to an archiving of Hijikata’s original documents, but
Richard Hawkins – Ankoku 9 (Index World Flower) (2012)
with the method’s free-association allowing the artist to go off on his own tangents and indulge in the pleasure of making. A selection of the midcentury work from De Kooning, Bacon etc. that is referenced has also been taken from the Tate collection for this exhibition – but it is testament to the strength of Hijikata’s and Hawkins’ work that these superstar items are not the central focus of the show. Hawkins’ collages are psychological, wormhole puzzles that allow you to fall into a mirror world of Hijikata and the history of Butoh, but which also open up the ‘twist’ of Western figurative painting – its potential to go beyond its art-historical status and be mined for creative potential. [Sacha Waldron] Mon-Sun, 10am-5pm, free
Band on the Wall
April Listings 2014 www.bandonthewall.org / 0845 2500 500
THURSDAY 3 : 7.30PM
ED MOTTA
SATURDAY 19 : 8PM
HORACE ANDY & DUB ASANTE
——————————————————— FT. MATIC HORNS FRIDAY 4 : 9PM ——————————————————— XFM FIRST FRIDAY FT. SUNDAY 20 : 6PM
BIG DEAL, AMBER RUN & TRAMPOLENE ACOUSTIC BHUNA ——————————————————— SATURDAY 5 : 9.30PM
MR SCRUFF KEEP IT UNREAL
——————————————————— TUESDAY 22 : 7.30PM
FT. GREG OSBY ——————————————————— VEIN ——————————————————— SUNDAY 6 : 6PM ACOUSTIC BHUNA
THURSDAY 24 : 7.30PM
ROOM ——————————————————— PANIC — — — — ——————————————— TUESDAY 8 : 7.30PM THURSDAY 24 : 7PM STONE AT THE RITZ, MANCHESTER ——————————————————— ANGIE ——————————————————— THURSDAY 10 : 7.30PM FRIDAY 25 : 7PM
STEVE FORBERT
THE LUMERIANS + BOOGARINS
JACKSON & THE ARBOUR ——————————————————— BRIDIE ——————————————————— FRIDAY 11 : SOLD OUT THE SELECTER
FRIDAY 25 : 11PM SOUL:UTION EXIT RECORDS SPECIAL
JOE DRISCOLL AND SEKOU KOUYATE
INTALEX, BANE & MC DRS
THURSDAY 17 : 7PM
CRAIG CHARLES FUNK & SOUL CLUB
——————————————————— FT. DBRIDGE, SKEPTICAL, MARCUS TUESDAY 15 : 7.30PM —————————————————— ——————————————————— — SATURDAY 26 : 9PM
GEORGE CLINTON & P-FUNK
FT. LACK OF AFRO BAND + SPECIAL GUESTS AT THE RITZ —————————————————— ——————————————————— — TUESDAY 29 : 7.30PM THURSDAY 17 : 8PM JOHN ABERCROMBIE & MARC COPLAND MIND ON FIRE MEETS TRU THOUGHTS FT.
——————————————————— WERKHA, HARLEIGHBLU & DJ MATTHEW HALSALL + MIND ON FIRE DJS ———————————————————
April 2014
ART
Review
49
April Film Events
Hang on, how is it April already? Nevermind, there are films to watch, including classics at FACT, oddities at The Dancehouse and a live score weekend at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Words: Simon Bland
Exhibition
Tom at the Farm
Exhibition
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Director: Xavier Dolan Starring: Xavier Dolan, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Lise Roy Released: 4 Apr Certificate: 15
Director: Joanna Hogg Starring: Viv Albertine, Liam Gillick, Tom Hiddleston Released: 25 Apr Certificate: 15
In its setup and execution, Tom at the Farm, the fourth film from Québécois wonderkid Xavier Dolan, is pure Polanski. The title character (played by Dolan) is holed up in an isolated farmhouse with the family of his recently deceased boyfriend, Guillaume. He’s visiting for the funeral but the mother is under the impression that her youngest was straight, and Guillaume’s thuggish older brother Francis (Cardinal) wants to keep it that way. A war of wills begins: Francis repeatedly beats Tom and sets him to work on the farm. Stockholm syndrome sets in and Tom becomes accustomed to his mistreatment. In fact, he starts to like it; you could call this a sadomasochistic romance. Stylistically, Tom at the Farm is a huge departure from Dolan’s three previous features. Here he gets maximum voltage out of the material (a Michel Marc Bouchard play) by preferring elegant tableaux over his usual florid, music video-like flourishes. The result is a mean little absurdist thriller, and, by some margin, the best of Dolan’s work so far. [Jamie Dunn]
After two impressive features that established Joanna Hogg as a distinctive voice in British cinema, her third film, Exhibition, finds the filmmaker pushing her artistry in a number of fresh and adventurous directions. Gone are the ensemble dramas of Unrelated and Archipelago, here being replaced by an elliptical, fragmented style that is simultaneously more intimate and more oblique. First-time actors Viv Albertine and Liam Gillick play D and H, two artists preparing to sell the modernist London house they have lived in for most of their two-decade marriage. With this imminent change creating a rupture in their relationship, an undefined past trauma is gradually brought back to the surface. Exhibition is a probing study of the creative process, female sexuality and the myriad ways in which we relate to our environment and each other. Both Hogg’s exceptional use of space and the complex sound design ensure that the striking architecture D and H inhabit is as much of a character as they are. [Philip Concannon]
The Double
A Story of Children and Film
Director: Richard Ayoade Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska Released: 4 Apr Certificate: 15
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As its mimetic title might indicate, A Story of Children and Film plays more like an appendix to Mark Cousins’ encyclopaedic The Story of Film than a fresh project. It’s a welcome added chapter, shrugging off historiography in order to thematically dart from country to country, decade to decade, examining cinema’s many depictions of childhood with characteristically contemplative insight. Neither confined to nor wary of obvious or mainstream examples, Cousins shuffles his cine-deck to find the connections between, for instance, US blockbusters and 30s Japanese cinema (E.T. and Children in the Wind, respectively), or the ways in which Tom and Jerry cartoons and the early work of Lynne Ramsay both use the frame to block out the adult world. With excerpts from 53 films squeezed into 104 curatorial minutes, some readings inevitably cry out for further elaboration (particularly when discussing more obscure or harder-to-obtain selections), but such frustrations are rare; for the most part, this side-odyssey is a stimulating and perspective-broadening experience. [Chris Buckle]
Calvary
Locke
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Calvary, McDonagh’s followup to The Guard, opens with a brilliantly startling opening line. I won’t spoil it here, not that it matters though, as the writer-director spoils it himself a few seconds later: “That’s certainly a startling opening line,” says Father James (an earthy Brendan Gleeson) to the unseen man who’s giving confession. This smug, meta self-commentary continues throughout as we discover the confessor plans to kill the priest in seven days as punishment for the Catholic Church’s sins. What follows is an uncompelling comic whodunit (or whowilldoit) with delusions of existential grandeur. Father James does the rounds of his small parish – each of his flock the potential assassin, none believable characters – and engages them in debates about faith. Perhaps to compensate for his talky script and repetitive structure, McDonagh’s direction is distractingly fussy, all asymmetrical framing and on-the-nose symbolism. The one grace note is Gleeson. Beefy and wise, his forlorn marked-man is always watchable, even when spouting smart aleck dialogue as his director strains for transcendence. [Jamie Dunn]
50
Review
anchester’s Dancehouse Theatre brings a whole head of fun this month. Confidential Film Club kick things off with Reservoir Dogs (3 Apr), the movie that shot Quentin Tarantino into the public consciousness and modern cinema in the kneecaps. Tarantino’s controversial debut beckoned in a new wave of young filmmaking, much to the Board of Censors’ dismay. The Hocus Focus folks are at the same venue later in the month with two evenings’ worth of movie magic: Joel Schumacher’s littleseen 1981 sci-fi comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman makes an appearance on 14 Apr, followed by a bit of biblical buffoonery with Monty Python’s enduring classic The Life of Brian on 17 Apr.
Director: Mark Cousins Released: 4 Apr Certificate: PG
Richard Ayoade deftly crafts humanist comedy from dark, Kafkaesque absurdity in his Dostoyevsky adaptation The Double. Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) is trapped in an uncanny, Orwellian nightmare, living in a lonely tower block and stuck in perpetual night. He works for a sinister company with the obscure objective to turn people into data “as there is no such thing as a special person”. Simon knows this more than most – not only is he not special, he’s a forgettable non-person, so much so that when his literal and figurative doppelganger James Simon (also Eisenberg) shows up to win over his office and his girl, not even his friends notice that he is an exact simulacrum of Simon. Eisenberg’s duAL performance crackles as the hapless romantic Simon and the misogynistic, manipulative James. Mia Wasikowska is Hannah, Simon’s unrequited love and a manic pixie dream girl with a voice. Ayoade’s film is wonderful artifice, perfectly constructing a claustrophobic microcosm of aural and spatial unheimlich; an intensely hostile world, as terrifying as it is funny. [Rachel Bowles] Director: John Michael McDonagh Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly Released: 11 Apr Certificate: 15
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Director: Steven Knight Starring: Tom Hardy Released: 18 Apr Certificate: 15 If the close-up is cinema’s most powerful tool not to be overused, tell director Steven Knight, who focuses almost explicitly on the face of Tom Hardy in this thrilling single-person piece. Also tell Atom Egoyan, who in similar fashion projected a 30-minute single take of Michael Gambon’s crumbling features for his adaptation of Beckett’s Eh Joe. It’s only right to compare Locke to theatre in style, and absolutely necessary to compare specifically to Beckett, from which it takes so much. While the great playwright was haunted by the past, Hardy’s Ivan Locke is by the present. Sealed in the modern isolation of his car, speeding down the M9 but as distant as Sandra Bullock in Gravity ’s pod, he navigates domestic and professional situations that have taken on Herculean significance. Krapp, another Beckett protagonist, endured his own folly through aged tapes; Locke is tormented by the live present through his incessant car phone. This does not quite share the subtlety of Beckett, or the poetry, but must be considered a strong modern equivalent. [Alan Bett]
FILM
Moon
Liverpool’s FACT, meanwhile, has a handful of re-releases worth catching, starting with Duncan Jones’ psychological sci-fi Moon (7 Apr), part of its Science Fiction: New Death season. This space tale follows an industrial worker who’s spent three years alone on that big rock above us mining for Earth’s new energy source, Helium-3. Days before his shift is up, things take a sinister turn when he runs into a familiar face. Thought-provoking and boasting an interstellar turn from Sam Rockwell, if you missed Moon on its limited theatrical run back in 2009, here’s a second chance. FACT also continues its Disneylovin’ spree by revisiting classics The Love Bug (12 Apr), Beauty and the Beast (13 Apr) and The Lion King (20 Apr). Smiles at the ready, people. On 9 Apr those Grimm Up North guys will host the exclusive UK premiere of James Franco’s latest directorial effort, Child of God. This sinister serial-killer horror is an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s chilling novel of the same name and follows the fractured life of Lester Ballard, a twisted necrophiliac existing on the fringe of society. This one-off screening takes place at The Dancehouse and marks the only UK showing you’re likely to find in the near future. And finally, Liverpool’s Philharmonic goes to the movies with two nights’ worth of live scored cinema (23-24 Apr). These immersive events transport the iconic sounds of beloved movies into the theatre thanks to legendary Hollywood conductor Richard Kaufman and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Expect tunes from the likes of Austin Powers, The Mission, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Meet the Parents, Flashdance and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Sounds good, right?
THE SKINNY
Blind Woman’s Curse
Nymphomaniac
Outpost III: Rise of the Spetsnaz
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Director: Teruo Ishii Starring: Meiko Kaji, Hoki Tokuda Released: Out now Certificate: 15
Blind Woman’s Curse opens in the most breathtaking fashion. A Yakuza Clan, tensed and snarling in torrential rain, synchronise to reveal a full dragon tattoo running across their bare backs, each one a single link of a greater whole, ready for attack. It’s visually stunning, more so because peeking scornfully from beneath her straw hat is the phenomenal Meiko Kaji, better known as Lady Snowblood or Sasori the Scorpion in the famous series. This is an earlier film, shot in a surrel/lunatic aesthetic by Teruo Ishii (Female Yakuza Tale). After blinding a woman with a misplaced sword swipe, Meiko is terrorised by a black cat ghost (kaibyo), her clan’s flatulent nemesis and a sinister hunchback with a vengeful master. It’s too ridiculous to work but runs with enough cult cool to bewitch any viewer. A grotesque Japanese ghost story with Carry On humour and 70s sleaze, culminating in geysers of blood and an exquisite final face-off. [Alan Bett]
Director: Lars von Trier Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg Released: 28 Apr Certificate: 18
Director: Kieran Parker Starring: Bryan Larkin, Iván Kamarás Released: Out now Certificate: 18
Lars is back to his provocative self with sex confessional Nymphomaniac. Erudite yet impotent Seligman (Skarsgård) happens upon a battered Joe (Gainsbourg) and takes her home for tea and sympathy. Joe unreliably narrates her sexual escapades, while Seligman relates her stories to fly fishing and Bach. Von Trier frames this with fussy chapters and laboured metaphors, in either a display of stylistic flourishes or mockery of such conceits. Nymphomaniac’s casual attitude towards racism and sexual abuse is at best idiotic – Joe's sexual assault of a male acquaintance is presented as a kindly act. Gainsbourg is thoroughly immersed in von Trier’s typical destructive feminine mode, and for a film about nymphomania, there is a distinct lack of jouissance. Nymphomaniac’s clunkiness and desperation to shock could be forgiven if it wasn’t so uniformly dull. With a talent such as Lars, it really is unforgivable. [Rachel Bowles]
By this third film in the Outpost saga, you know what you’re getting into. If zombie Nazis in secret bunkers aren’t your thing, you might want to stay clear. This prequel to the 2008 hit has elite Russian soldiers (the Spetsnaz of the title) captured by Nazi scientists, who are experimenting with the undead in their underground lab. The zombie Nazi series is from Scottish-based production company Black Camel, and its Celtic roots are felt in the casting, with Glasgow-born Bryan Larkin as lead soldier Dolhokov. Sporting a passable Russian accent and an impressive physique, Larkin completely commits to the role. Without him this ‘Die Hard in a bunker’ could easily have gone off the rails with its cartoonish bad guys and outrageous dialogue like “asshole or bullet-hole, in the end you all scream just the same.” It’s scrappy, but it’s not as indulgent or half as smug as other films in the genre. [Scott McKellar]
Wrinkles
White of the Eye
Hands over the City
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Director: Ignacio Ferreras Starring: Martin Sheen, George Coe Released: 28 Apr Certificate: 15 From recent efforts like The Illusionist and Up to 1986’s When the Wind Blows, animation as a medium has served elderly protagonists particularly well; the form’s limitless visual possibilities have also provided several of cinema’s most potent ruminations on memory and the passage of time. Spanish production Wrinkles is another great example of this. Focusing on a man slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s, and the morally questionable roommate he befriends at a care home, it ventures into territory that many live-action films have explored, but without the usual coating of saccharine sentiment. Wrinkles is a nuanced, rich look at human frailty and the beauty of life, alternating between frank and tenderly humane notes with perfect precision, making the conventional beats its story does hit genuinely poignant. Ferreras’ film, based on a comic book of the same name, also maintains a fine balance between the graceful gutpunches and well-judged humour regarding the film’s centrepiece friendship. [Josh Slater-Williams]
Director: Donald Cammell Starring: David Keith, Cathy Moriarty Released: Out now Certificate: 18 Brutal violence, Native American mysticism and infidelity collide in Donald Cammell’s visually impressive and often dizzying thriller, which gets a long-awaited release through Arrow Films. When a brutal killer strikes an isolated desert community, a young wife (Cathy Moriarty) starts to have doubts about the man that she married (David Keith). Despite some lurid murder sequences and inventive camera work, this is closer to Peter Weir than Argento. Lingering shots of vast desert landscapes and suggestions of dark primal influences, along with a soundtrack from Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, help sustain a haunting atmosphere where things are not quite what they seem. Cammell gets some great performances from his two leads in particular. If the narrative jumps are occasionally a little disorientating, Moriarty’s grounded, imperfect Joan brings focus. A disappointingly contrived climax slightly mars things, but this is an unashamedly cerebral film that deserves to be discovered. [Scott McKellar]
Book of the Month
Indecent Acts
Boy, Snow, Bird
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By Helen Oyeyemi
Director: Francesco Rosi Starring: Rod Steiger, Salvo Randone Released: Out now Certificate: PG When a residential building collapses at the start of Francesco Rosi’s Hands over the City, it exposes a web of corruption that the director investigates with a journalistic rigour. A dubbed Rod Steiger brings characteristic intensity to the role of a property developer simultaneously trying to extricate his family from scandal and secure votes for an upcoming election. Hands over the City largely consists of men having discussions and debates in crowded rooms, but this potentially dry material is invigorated by Rosi’s direction. His roving camera makes us feel like unseen observers in these clandestine meetings, and the performances he draws from his cast (including members of the Naples City Council, playing themselves) generate gripping drama. This is a film propelled by a genuine outrage at the chicanery of contemporary politics and a keen awareness of the human cost; over 50 years after it won the Venice Golden Lion, its power and resonance have not dimmed. [Philip Concannon]
Other People’s Countries: A Journey into Memory
By Nick Brooks
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Gutter 10
By Various
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By Patrick McGuinness
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Boy is a beautiful, contrary young woman who runs away from her abusive rat-catcher father in New York and ends up at the end of the line in Flax Hill, an idyllic town where everyone is a specialist – whether in cake-making, jewellery or teaching history. There, she meets Arturo and his daughter Snow, a charming, distant child who entrances everyone, including Boy. But when Boy has her own daughter, whip-smart little Bird, everything changes. Oyeyemi is a beautifully lyrical writer who excels at weaving stories within stories, spinning dark fables without a hero or moral. This is a modern fairy tale, where the uncanny flits in and out, but it is grounded in a real time and (what could be) a real place. You never quite get a grip on the three female protagonists’ characters – even when you’re reading from their point of view, you seem to be seeing them through other characters’ eyes. Their personalities, like their reflections in the mirror, have trouble staying still enough to be captured, and they are defined by their relationships to one another. This is an elegant, poetic tale of identity, loss and the ties that bind us to each other. [Alice Sinclair] Out now, published by Picador, RRP £12.99
Opening Nick Brooks’ acclaimed third novel, Indecent Acts, you are immediately struck by the fragmented patois on the page. These are the semi-illiterate ramblings of Grace, the lovable yet simple protagonist and narrator of this novel. Sticking the balance between tragedy and comedy, you can’t help but be moved by her frank account. Flawlessly tapping into the psyche of this jaded and middle-aged woman, Brooks presents us with a true working class character. We encounter Drumchapel through her defeated eyes. As a 40-something mother of two grown up children, we vicariously feel her sense of impending loneliness. With her son, Vincent, who is adamant about joining the army, and her enigmatic daughter, Francis – missing for over a year – Gracie fears for her future and that of her grandson, Sean. Brooks’ ability to create such animated and captivating prose through the unconventional vehicle of a dim and self-deprecating woman makes Indecent Acts a real literary treat. The protagonist’s humorous outlook on life, coupled with her shambolic idiom makes a disastrous bus journey, in deepest Drumchapel, feel like the Tour de France. This book will immerse you in these characters’ lives to the point you won’t want to leave. [Maria Whelan]
Far removed from the current trend in celebrity biographies, Patrick McGuinness’ memoir is an unusual and striking foray into the past. The book is a collection of Proustian pieces, varying in length from a paragraph to a few pages, on subjects as diverse and ramshackle as sweet shops to ‘pissing in your chips.’ From this eclectic collection of musings, a picture of McGuinness’ childhood may be drawn, the reader piecing together the details to create an odd sort of fragmented narrative. McGuinness is renowned for his poetry, and here his lyricism seeps into his prose. Set in the small Belgian border town of Bouillon, the text paints a picture of a past which is almost exotic in its quaintness. It is all too possible for a memoir to descend into solipsism, yet McGuinness extricates himself from potential self-indulgence with powerful universal observations on memory. He is particularly strong on the way in which the places of our childhood embed themselves in us, shaping our futures. ‘Most of my childhood feels more real to me now than it did then’, he writes; this remembered reality is shared with the reader, so vividly that it is almost disquieting. [Rosie Hopegood] Out now, published by Jonathan Cape, RRP £14.99
Scotland’s leading literary magazine has marked its fifth birthday with a new layout, another fine selection of new Scottish writing, and an interview with Alan Bissett, the first of a regular feature. Zoë Wicomb leads the pack with Art Work, a masterful short story set during the Edinburgh Festival about a mother dealing with, or not dealing with, a son who has chosen to be an artist – not a doctor as she’d hoped. Gutter debuts from Kate Tregaskis and Nick Athanasiou are both promising – the former for its semi-surreal treatment of turning Edinburgh Zoo into a protest art piece, and the latter for its postmodern uneasiness in separating author and narrator, for the self-conscious manner in which the story unfolds and edits itself. Elsewhere, J Johannesson Gaitán’s Beluga Song has a whale appear in the bath one day, singing ‘like a drunk in a BBC Christmas drama.’ For the narrator and his partner, the whale in the bath is the unmanageable opposite of the elephant in the room: their failing relationship. The numbers in the editorial are good to know: in five years they’ve published 169 men and 166 women, which is a pleasing balance. It’s a sparkling pool of excellent writers. [Galen O’Hanlon] Out now, published by Freight, RRP £6.99
Out 7 Apr, published by Freight, RRP £8.99
April 2014
DVD / BOOKS
Review
51
In Defence of BBC Three Words: Liam Pickford Illustration: Paul Law
Comedian Liam Pickford takes a look at the lost legacy of the Beeb’s brief dance with the next generation, and dreams of what might have been
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hen I was a boy, I dreamed some dreams. I dreamed about being Peter Schmeichel, and using my massive Danish hands to save all the goals ever to the delight of the pie-crumb coated Stretford End. I dreamed that one day I’d convince my gran that knitted green balaclavas would never catch on and however well intentioned her gift was, I looked like a proper belm. But most of all, I dreamed about being on telly. That dark, mysterious, foreboding box in the corner, so full of the vivid colour of life, sounds from places never visited, laughter from characters ill conceived. One day in the North in the mid-90s, bathed in the Sun Lolly light of a donewithschool evening, a bloke in a blue suit came round and put a tiny satellite box on top of the TV. Had I known what Pandora’s Box was about to be opened, I’d have said “Hang on a minute pal! That’s too much telly!”, but I couldn’t because I had braces and sounded like a piece of my mouth had been shot out by a bad man. The arrival of cable television made the dreams I’d nurtured seem all the more possible. If Terry from Leeds with the denim face can get on Challenge TV, then so can I! But it was not to be – I waded through ten years of being told I couldn’t go on Gladiators and wept tears of frustration as I made Tamagotchi after Tamagotchi poo itself to death in a callous dirty protest against all technology and its arbiters. The tiny digital box had actually made TV seem further away than ever. Until, that is, the arrival of BBC Three. The possibilities seemed infinite. For people who’d always fancied projecting their
self-indulgent, conceited but sometimes funny mouthspewings to a wider audience, BBC Three held its tattooed and American Apparelclad hipster arms open and said “Send us your shit. We’ll ferment it into a telly friendly brew!” The brew would optimistically ferment under a banner of fresh, young, bold, edgy and, above all, accessible. The much-maligned channel was created with ‘da yoof’ in mind. A bold mission statement for your 16-30s, who were seldom catered for by Auntie Beeb. We wanted coke, she gave us jam. And, by the hands of Arthur Christ, they captured the spirit of this age. Lily Allen talking to Jermain Defoe. That’s what we want. Girls and boys going on holiday and weeing on Spanish things. Yes! Yes, BBC, that’s what we’re like! Thank you! Thank you so much! Alas, this celebration of human endeavour and discovery was deemed too raw, too free, too alive by the powers that be. BBC Three is being taken off the air. In the comedy circles I inhabit and borrow money from, this has been extensively discussed, with its proponents and opponents airing their views with the freedom of a promiscuous daft bastard. At first I was slightly resentful. Despite its obvious flaws and the brunt of commissioning being left to Cambridge Footlights graduates who made sketches about Hitler and the poor, it nevertheless provided aspiring comic writers some platform for new and fresh ideas, however terrible, racist or clichéd. A shining example of this bold statement, never-say-die, gung-ho bold programming is a programme called Hair. It’s about people cutting
hair. No attempt has been made to appease the nasty, grumbling cynic with a clever wordplay title. They rose above that. It’s just called Hair. It’s about hair. Young people love hair. A lot have it on their heads, arms and balls. Some don’t, but a lot do. Good, honest programmes like this are vital to inspiring young people. I only watched four seconds of this, but I’ve already written four series of similarly naked telly. Scabs, Butchers, Bums and Widge Nurse all owe their potential 5000 viewer rating to programmes such as this. So to deny the public BBC Three is to deny Oxbridge graduates the right to make these
shining truth orbs of things and that would be a grave mistake. Support your local Oxbridge graduate intern and film your balls for 30 minutes. Send it to them. The solidarity will be palpable and is the only way to satiate the vanities of that fading childhood. Support them, or force an entire generation through the curtain of the Channel 4 berkcircus, where they’ll just write stuff about poor people. Then, literally dozens of viewers will go “Ahahahah. Their lives are terrible. Burn them!” But above all, remember those dreams. Dreams. They dreamed such beautiful dreams.
Funny for Nothing, and Your Quips for Free Free ‘bucket’ comedy shows are commonplace at the Edinburgh Fringe, but frowned upon by some promoters and pro comics across the country. A quartet of free regional nights lay forth on the merits of comedy without commerce
W
hen something is presented for free it is met with a skeptical eye. The assumption is that, if something is being given away, it won’t be any good. The cynic in us tells our minds not to expect much. Caution, however, rarely leads to invention and discovery – and while some comedy promoters and pro comics across the country are reluctant to let laughs they could have charged for be released into the ether for naught profit, some have embraced their gratis brethren, where comics can take to the stage without the fear of hitting the middle of the road – and are able to swing on tangents they might not be afforded at a pay-in gig. Do free shows perhaps offer more freedom of expression? We spoke to four purveyors of such free entertainment to see what they were selling. Alastair Clark, Shiny New Comedy Lab, Liverpool I will book anything as long as it’s funny, so we often have all sorts on: stand-up, sketch, character, improv, clown, etc. There aren’t many pay-in places that offer genuine variety in terms of comedic form. Also we have an anarchic anything goes kind of atmosphere that I think the audience are more willing to buy into since they haven’t spent £10-plus on a ticket. There’s nothing like a comedian under no pressure just having fun with an audience that are up for it. It’s what live comedy should be about.
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I’m aware there’s an argument that free open mics billing themselves as a night of top class stand-up comedy on the same night as a pro night not very far away could take away the pro night’s business. But what we’re offering is a genuine alternative. If people stop going to a paid night to come to us, it’s because they like what we’re doing. If you like both you can go to both, it’ll cost you no more money.
Shiny New Comedy Lab takes place at The Lantern Theatre on the second Wed of the month. Follow @alastair_clark for more info Jack Evans, Quippopotamus, Manchester There’s already an abundance of phenomenal paid shows in Manchester – the point of Quip is to add something new. Something for the acts between the gong shows and the open mics and the big weekend clubs. Something for audiences where they know they’re going to get quality comedy, but without having to tolerate odious Groupon drunkards. It’s interesting when new people come, avoiding the front seats, all timid and defensive because they only know comedy from what they’ve seen on TV or on Mad Debbie’s hen do. There’s this weird balance of inclusivity and exclusivity. Inclusive in terms of the atmosphere, the lack of door charge and the kind of acts you’ll
see. Exclusive because sometimes there’s a sense that the audience is part of something special – there’s an intimacy to it. Excluding ghosts, we get about 15 to 20 people a week to see strange acts experiment more than they could in the confines of open spots at bigger clubs.
Quippopotamus takes place the first Tue of the month at Odd Bar in the Northern Quarter and the fourth Sun of the month at Fuel in Withington. Follow @QuippoComedy for more info Red Redmond, Dead Cat Comedy, Manchester From experience, professional comedians actually love our shows. They desperately need low pressure gigs with attentive audiences to try out new material. However, we have received a lot of criticism from local comedy promoters who believe we are ‘devaluing comedy’. We aren’t! We are bringing top quality comedy to an audience that weren’t going to see live stand-up. Our audience don’t like the big clubs. They don’t want to pay £15 to see three misogynists at Deansgate Locks on a Saturday. They want something intimate and affordable. We also help sketch and character acts get a bit of stage-time, as most big clubs refuse to book them.
COMEDY
Interview: John Stansfield Dead Cat Comedy takes place every Mon: the first three Mons of the month are at Sandbar; the fourth is at TV21. Follow @DeadCatComedy for more info David Alnwick, Another Comedy Night, Liverpool First off, we started as completely free with the intention of bringing a bucket in shortly afterwards based on successful attendance, but a month into the night’s success we chose not to introduce a bucket. We never planned for our gig to make money, all we wanted was somewhere to practice new material regularly and be able to help our friends do the same. Somewhere where there was no pressure to impress or worry about not meeting certain expectations, and most of the time removing that pressure leads to a better show. There’s also a real sense of an ‘underground’ scene (however wanky that sounds); everything is unpolished. You’ll see things that you’ll never see at a paid night. Much riskier material.
Another Comedy Night takes place the third Mon of every month at Maguire’s Pizza Bar on Renshaw Street Read the full interviews at theskinny.co.uk/comedy
THE SKINNY
The Events
Everyman, Liverpool, 8-12 Apr Edinburgh Fringe First Award-winner and the Guardian’s No. 1 play of 2013, David Greig’s quiet yet provocative drama The Events makes its way to Liverpool’s newly refurbished Everyman at the beginning of April. Asking some big questions about us, them, justice and the limits of empathy, The Events is a masterpiece of honesty that resonates within every community. Claire is our challenged protagonist: the liberal vicar of a small seaside community whose understanding of the world is questioned when the choir she formed as a sanctuary for those in need becomes the target of a lethal attack by a gun-wielding local boy, ignorance his only motive. Unlike many in the choir, Claire survives the massacre but is filled with anger, a desire for revenge, and a desperate need for understanding. But is rationality enough? This is a work written as a response to the killing of 77 people by Anders Breivik in 2011, and
you may recall a slight Twitter flurry in response to Greig’s (perhaps a touch insensitive) research trip to Norway. But backing from German and Norwegian theatre groups, as well as the Actors Touring Company and the Young Vic, has proved Greig’s piece has earned itself a great deal of serious respect. Directed by Ramin Gray, the production is accompanied by a soaring soundtrack, while a different local choir participates in each performance, rather like a Greek chorus, setting up a questioning dynamic between the group and the individual. Responsible for Midsummer (Brighton Festival 2011), Dunsinane, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (Brighton Festival 2012) and the new West End musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Greig is integrating himself firmly within the theatrical landscape, and it is well worth experiencing his work. [Alecia Marshall] 7.30pm, Saturday matinee 2pm, £12-£18
Photo: Stephen Cummiskey
The Events
Gym Party
Gym Party
The Studio, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 4-5 Apr Finally, Made in China bring their hugely successful Gym Party to the Northwest. It’s about time. Gracing the Royal Exchange Studio with a characteristically lo-fi meditation on our society’s obsession with competition and winning, Made in China promise a weekend of vim, honesty and pain – both mental and physical (neither, thankfully, yours). A noisy, boisterous and hugely talented company, specialising in devised theatre that balances precariously on the precipice of performance art, Made in China are masters of audience interaction. Perhaps best known for their outdoor spectacular, Get Stuff Break Free, performed atop the National Theatre’s roof as part of their 2012 Inside Out Festival, they have long been attracting attention from the right sort of people. So what can we expect from Gym Party? More than its three-syllable title suggests? The performers appear in a stark-white
ensemble of vest and shorts – reminiscent of an old-fashioned gym kit that most of us thankfully avoided. But there ends the allusion. Essentially, this is a show in which the performers invite the audience (albeit not so politely) to judge them in their endless quest to win. If they fail, they are not just going to beat themselves up, but beat one another up, too. The obvious point of reference is reality TV contests (although some of you may make the more sophisticated connection to those Belgian provocateurs, Ontroerend Goed), as the three performers compete to stuff as many marshmallows into their mouths as they can. They do it as if they might never fill the terrible void inside. Who can maintain the perfect Macarena with a book balanced on their head? You decide. As audience members, we are all drawn into the game and compromised – because when it comes down to it, we all want to be on the winning team. Nobody likes a loser. [Alecia Marshall] Fri 7.30pm, Sat 8pm, £12 (£10)
A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller
Directed by Charlotte Gwinner
27 Mar - 19 Apr
Walk On
– 12 April – 9 August 2014 This major new exhibition explores 40 years of Art Walking, from Richard Long to Janet Cardiff. In association with:
(01704) 533 333 theatkinson.co.uk : TheAtkinson : @AtkinsonThe
New York, 1954. Eddie Carbone; family man, working man, man of honour. King of his world. But the walls of his world are about to come crashing down.
The Atkinson Lord Street Southport PR8 1DB
Box Office 0151 709 4776 everymanplayhouse.com
Body techniques (after a Line in Ireland, Richard Long, 1974), 2007 © Carey Young. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
April 2014
THEATRE
Thanks to the City of Liverpool for its financial support
Preview
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Win Tickets to Parklife!
Win Tickets to Bilbao BBK Live!
Taking place the weekend of 7-8 June, Parklife Weekender returns with epic proportions and one of the best line-ups on the circuit spanning dance, pop, hip-hop and indie. Headlining the two-day spectacular are none other than legendary US rapper Snoop Dogg and indie sensations Foals. Other live highlights of the weekend include dance outfits Rudimental and Disclosure, and success stories Bastille, London Grammar and Warpaint. Representing hip-hop will be an exclusive performance from Kendrick Lamar plus legends Public Enemy, Danny Brown, Pusha T and Flying Lotus aka Captain Murphy. Meanwhile electronic heavyweights such as SBTRKT, Moderat and Jon Hopkins are all performances not to be missed. Parklife’s 2014 DJ line-up is also second to none. Fans can catch acts such as Carl Cox, Jamie Jones B2B Seth Troxler, Annie Mac, Julio Bashmore, Maya Jane Coles, Bonobo, David Rodigan, plus a whole lot more. With so much on offer at the legendary Heaton Park, Parklife can promise an electrifying weekend for discerning music fans across the UK. To get your hands on one of four pairs of weekend tickets to the festival, head along to theskinny. co.uk/about/competitions and correctly answer this simple question:
The Skinny and Bilbao BBK Live festival have teamed up to give one lucky reader a pair of three-day tickets to Bilbao BBK Live, taking place Where does Parklife Weekender take place? from 10-12 July 2014. Boasting an incredible lineup that includes the likes of The Prodigy, The A) Platt Fields Park Black Keys, Franz Ferdinand, Phoenix, MGMT and B) Heaton Park White Lies to name just a few, Bilbao BBK Live is C) Wythenshawe Park one of this summer’s unmissable festival. Make the most of this experience – the site’s proximWeekend and Saturday tickets are SOLD OUT, ity to the city and beach and the late start of however Sunday tickets and VIP are still available bands will leave you with enough time to enjoy a from £49.50. Visit www.parklife.uk.com for furweekend break in Bilbao; a surprisingly modern ther information and to purchase tickets. city famous for its architecture, museums and gastronomy, and just a stone’s throw away from some of the best waves in Europe.
Competition closes midnight Monday 5 May. Entrants must be 18 or over. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at www.theskinny.co.uk/about/terms
Which band will be headlining Bilbao BBK Live 2014? A) The Black Sheep B) The Black Friday C) The Black Keys Competition closes midnight Sunday 27 April. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at www.theskinny.co.uk/about/terms. Tickets don’t include camping. A total of 5 Euros will have to be paid to make use of the camping area for four nights. No age restrictions to enter the competition, but under 18s should be accompanied by an adult www.bilbaobbklive.com/2014/en
For your chance to win, head along to www.theskinny.co.uk/about/competitions and correctly answer this simple question:
Horse & Jockey the inn on the green
POP IN AND HAVE A LOOK AT THE NEWLY REFURBISHED CHORLTON HOTSPOT Real Ales Craft Beer Deli Counter
Farmers Market Craft Fairs Live Music
The Horse & Jockey. 9 The Green, Chorlton, Manchester M21 9HS Tel: +44 (0) 161 860 7794 email: info@horseandjockeychorlton.com web: www.horseandjockeychorlton.com
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Lifestyle
3/26/2014 11:20:48 AM
COMPETITIONS
THE SKINNY
Manchester Music Tue 01 Apr
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH (UPON A BURNING BODY + POP EVIL)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £18
Melodic rock machine from Las Vegas, with hefty heavy metal stylings. STUART MCCALLUM
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
Cinematic Orchestra guitarist trying out new material in the realm of beats, electronica, classical orchestration and jazz. FOLKS
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–23:00, £6
Melodic six-piece from the northwest of England, led by Scott Anderson’s weighty vocals. DEXTERS (SLYDIGS + THE SONIK SEEDS + MAN AND THE ECHO)
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, £7
Indie rock five-piece hailing from East London, more than apt at penning catchy wee guitar anthems. ADAM ANT (NEW KILLER SHOES)
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £23.50
The frontman of new wave popsters Adam and the Ants takes to the road solo. TIM HECKER (JULIANNA BARWICK)
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC, 19:30–23:00, £14.50
The Montreal-based ambient electronic musician and sound artist returns to our shores, focused on exploring the intersection of noise, dissonance and melody – fostering a physical and emotive approach to his songcraft. Part of FutureEverything. MANIC STREET PREACHERS
O2 APOLLO, 19:00–23:00, £29.50
The Welsh trio are out on the road once more, touring like it’s 1989 with their new album, Rewind The Film.
Wed 02 Apr
THE VISITORS (MIRROR GORILLAS + WILSON + SWORD IN AIR)
ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £4
Four-piece indie rock bunch from Oldham. GOLDHEART ASSEMBLY (THE CORNELIUS CRANE + BIRD TO BEAST)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £8
Experimental pop five-piece from London touring with their new album, Long Distance Song Effects. MARMOZETS
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £8
Cheeky young alternative math rock lot, recently signed to Roadrunner Records. NIK SVARC ORGAN TRIO
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
Three piece jazz outfit comprising guitar, loops, drums and keys. PRONG
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £14
American metal band formed by ex-CBGB’s sound man, Tommy Victor. THE HALLE (JAMIE PHILLIPS + JOHN LILL)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 14:15–16:15, FROM £10
The Halle orchestra perform under the direction of conductor, Jamie Phillips, leading the orchestra through Berlioz, Beethoven and Tchaikovky. FOUR TOP + THE TEMPTATIONS
PHONES4U ARENA, 19:30–22:00, £42.50
Classic Motown hit makers, times two.
THE ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT (SOWETO KINCH) MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £17.50
The Texas-based jazz musician takes his latest release, Black Radio 2 out on the road.
Thu 03 Apr
SURGE (HYDROSIS + JACKS NOT SMOOTH + JOHARI WINDOW)
ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £4
ED MOTTA BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, £15
Brazilian singer and multi-instrumentalist, playing a set spanning funk-soul and jazz, melded together with film soundtrack and Brazilian music influences. CANTERBURY (BLITZ KIDS + BIG SIXES)
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £8
Stylistically varied Surrey rockers perform their unique brand of melodic indie. BEN MARTIN QUARTET
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
Swing, bebop and free jazz quartet, playing originals and standards. VIGO THIEVES
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–23:00, £6
Wishaw alternative indie quartet, rich with synthesizers and emotionally-charged vocals, hopefully still riding high on the fact John-bloody-Leslie was in one of their first videos.
NIGHT AND DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (LAST HORIZON + STOLEN FROM A CROW + KELLY’S HEROES) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, £5
Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers. GORGOROTH (VITAL REMAINS)
SOUND CONTROL, 18:30–22:30, £16
Norwegian black metallers formed back in 1992. THERAPY? (LONELY THE BRAVE)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £17.50
Alternative metal outfit hailing from Northern Ireland, still touring some two decades on. THE HALLE (JAMIE PHILLIPS + JOHN LILL)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–21:30, FROM £10
The Halle orchestra perform under the direction of conductor, Jamie Phillips, leading the orchestra through Berlioz, Beethoven and Tchaikovky. FOREIGNER
O2 APOLLO, 19:00–23:00, £38.50
The British-American rockers drop by to play I Want to Know What Love Is and, erm, some other tunes. EMBLEM3
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12.50
American twee pop-rock trio consisting of brothers Wesley Stromberg and Keaton Stromberg, and their pal Drew Chadwick. MANTIS AUDIO-VISUAL ELECTROACOUSTIC CONCERT
DIGITAL PERFORMANCE LAB, 17:45–19:00, £5 (£3)
Manchester Theatre in Sound curate a concert with American/ Hungarian vocalist Aniko Toth and electronics by Greek composer Nikos Stavropoulos. Part of Sonic Fusion Festival. AUTOMATIC WRITING CIRCLE AUDIOVISUAL PERFORMANCE
DIGITAL PERFORMANCE LAB, 20:00–21:20, £10 (£6)
Experimental group, Automatic Writing Circle perform FLAT TIME/ Sounding by David Toop and Minuet On/Off by Thomas Gardner, traversing imrpovisation and composition as they go. Part of Sonic Fusion Festival. MANTIS AUDIO-VISUAL ELECTROACOUSTIC CONCERT
DIGITAL PERFORMANCE LAB, 19:45–21:00, £5 (£3)
Manchester Theatre in Sound curate a concert with American/ Hungarian vocalist Aniko Toth and electronics by Greek composer Nikos Stavropoulos. Part of Sonic Fusion Festival.
Fri 04 Apr
REMOTE CONTROL UNIVERSE (STRANGEWAYS + INDIGO EMPIRE + SQUARE ONE) ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £5
Hard rock/metal quartet hailing from the UK and Pakistan.
Alt-rock trio hailing from Bury.
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £12
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 20:00–23:00, £7
KLAXONS
The prototype London psychedelic nu-ravers take their new LP out on a UK tour.
TURRENTINE JONES (BLACK LIGHTS + JIM ADAMA)
Mancunian rock trio made up of Julian Neville, Thomas Scotson and Rich Watts. HALESTORM (DAYSHELL + THE SMOKING HEARTS)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £14
Hard rockin’ American quartet led by feisty vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale.
April 2014
THE LAST CARNIVAL (DE’ NOVA + THE COLLIERS + ROOM SERVICE) THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 18:00–22:30, £7
More pumping melodies and driving guitar from the energetic rock five-piece, if you can handle it. SKUTCH MANOS
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Formerly The Acoustic Conquistador, Skutch Manos is a self-taught classical/flamenco guitarist chock full of flair. LE YOUTH
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:30, £8
BIPOLAR SUNSHINE MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £8
Solo project of Manchester-based musician Adio Marchant (formerly of Kid British fame), still riding the wave of his newly-released EP, Aesthetics. THE ELO EXPERIENCE
PALACE THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, FROM £21
Electric Light Orchestra tribute act. STATUS QUO (TOSELAND)
O2 APOLLO, 19:00–23:00, FROM £38.50
The original line-up – as in Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan – reform for a one-off series of UK dates. STEVE AOKI
VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, 21:00–05:00, £20 EARLYBIRD (£25 THEREAFTER)
Los Angeles-based chappie known for his 90s sounds refracted through a modern aesthetic, out on the road for his spring tour.
The Dim Mak label founder and electro-house DJ/producer does his energetic live thing, as per.
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, £5
Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean and Kevin Richardson back together at last, celebrating their 20th anniversary.
DEPARTMENT M (HARTHEIM + U.V)
The former Gymnastics front man brings his electronic pop project to the fore, returning to Manchester under his Department M moniker. BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC, 19:00–23:00, £14
London-born singer/songwriter of Ghanaian origins, honed his craft while busking on the Paris metro. FREE GIG FRIDAY (MOBIUS LOOP + OUR DEAD FREINDS + DAVID SHURR)
THE BAY HORSE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Fill your Friday night with free live music – guests and DJs selected by a different band each week. VIRTUAL PIANO/VOCAL DUO RECITAL
DIGITAL PERFORMANCE LAB, 18:00–19:00, £8 (£5)
Lithuanian pianist, Lauryna Sableviciute performs alongside Taylor Wilson, based in the recital room of Edinburgh Napier University, made possible through streaming technology. Part of Sonic Fusion Festival. KOALAS
FOYER SPACE, 13:00–14:00, FREE
Synth-guitars, voice and drums come together for a lifting set from KOALAS. Part of Sonic Fusion Festival.
Sat 05 Apr
BACKSTREET BOYS
PHONES4U ARENA, 19:30–23:00, FROM £29
LAUREN REDHEAD AUDIO-VISUAL ORGAN RECITAL
ST PHILIP’S CHURCH, 13:00–14:00, £8 (£5)
Lauren Redhead performs new works for this audio visual organ recital taking place as part of Sonic Fusions Festival. UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD BIG BAND CONCERT
ST PHILIP’S CHURCH, 15:30–17:00, £5 (£3)
The University of Salford Big Band present an exciting concert playing the music of Oliver Nelson, and joined by soloist Jan Kopinski as part of Sonic Fusion Festival. MENTALLICA VS MEGADETH UK
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £10
Double header of tribute acts. APARTMENT HOUSE DEAD SYMPHONY CONCERT
PEEL HALL, 19:00–21:00, £10 (£6)
Award-winning ensemble Apartment House headline the Sonic Fusion Festival with their performance of Australian artist, Saskia Moore’s hauntingly beautiful Dead Symphony. UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD BRASS BAND CONCERT
PEEL HALL, 13:00–14:00, FREE
ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £5
The University of Salford Brass Band perform alongside euphonium soloist David Thornton, utilising digital technologies to mesmeric effect. Part of Sonic Fusions Festival.
MATT BERRY AND THE MAYPOLES
Sun 06 Apr
PHANTOMZ (BLACK CASINO & THE GHOST + WE ARE AUDIO + FADE)
Indie/punk pop outfit selfdescribed as a ‘cross between the Gossip and Joy Division’. THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £8
The ever-talented Matt Berry – yes, the funnyman from The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh – doing a full band set, laden with deep vocals and his usual cheeky charm. DEAF HAVANA (THE MAINE + THE PEOPLE THE POET)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £15
Four East Coast Village lads making a rammy of rock sounds. MIKE PETERS
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–22:30, £12
The frontman of Welsh band The Alarm continues to go it alone. NEW YORK BRASS BAND
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
North Yorkshire’s only contemporary New Orleans inspired brass band. LET’S WRESTLE (CHARLES HOWS)
KRAAK, 19:00–23:00, £7
London-based psych pop fourpiece and recent Fortuna Pop signees tour their self-titled LP. EPMD
GORILLA, 19:00–22:00, £23
NYC hip-hop duo made up of MCs Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith. KIRAN LEONARD
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–23:00, £SOLD OUT
Experimental singer/songwriter hailing from Oldham, sharing tracks from his début LP, Bowler Hat Soup.
NIGHT AND DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (NEW RICH + THE DEAD BLUES + JOSH BEESON) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, £5
Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers.
EMMA STEVENS (JESS ROBERTS)
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:15, £8
Country pop-styled Surrey singer/ songwriter who began her musical journey when she was bought her first guitar at the age of 3.
ACOUSTIC BHUNA (DBH + ROBERT CLOSE + RACE TO THE SEA)
BAND ON THE WALL, 18:00–22:00, FREE
A new event pitching up at Band on the Wall will see acoustic sets paired with homemade curry, making for a relaxed sorta Sunday. SIMONE FELICE (DAVE FIDLAR)
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £13.50
The former Felice Brothers man tours with his new live band. SOUL SESSIONS (JUDITH UDE EP LAUNCH)
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 19:00–00:00, £5 (£3)
The Nottingham-born, Manchester-based singer/ songwriter launches her latest EP, Introspection on the night.
SONIC FUSIONS: FESTIVAL CLOSING CONCERT
ISLINGTON MILL, 17:30–01:00, £3
To mark the end of Sonic Fusions Festival, Islington Mill will play host to a variety of performances, including electroacoustic, liveelectronics, mixed-media, jazz, indie and experimental dj sets. VERSE CHORUS VERSE
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 20:00–23:00, £6
Former member/founder of And So I Watch You From Afar, Tony Wright (aka Verse Chorus Verse) adventures down a new path of rootsy blues. EMILY AND THE WOODS
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–23:00, £6.50
Grassroots quartet made up of Emily Wood, her brother Benedict, and two childhood chums.
STATUS QUO (WILKO JOHNSON BAND) O2 APOLLO, 19:00–23:00, FROM £38.50
The original line-up – as in Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan – reform for a one-off series of UK dates. RIVERSIDE
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £17
Progressive rock foursome hailing from Warsaw, back in a live setting for their 2014 tour. DANIEL O’DONNELL
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, FROM £39.50
The most successful easylistening-country star tours his back catalogue of hits. THAD BECKMAN
CHADS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £8
American indie folk musician.
Mon 07 Apr JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
PHONES4U ARENA, 20:00–22:00, FROM £55
The Pop Prince continues to ride the mania of his 20/20 LP tour, having sold over 3.5 million copies to date.
Tue 08 Apr STEVE FORBERT
THE MADDING CROWD (THE RIVER VERSUS + GARDENBACK + ASHTON TUCKER BAND)
ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £4
Singing songs that span the emotional spectrum, from passion to despair, the Manchester-based four-piece make a go of it with what they call ‘melodramatic popular song’.
GAP DREAM (WILD BIRDS + FRANCIS LUNG + THE JUNGFRAUS)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £4 (£3)
Solo project of California native, Gabriel Fulvilmar, currently signed to Burger Records. LUMERIANS + BOOGARINS
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, £10 ADV (£12 DOOR)
A double header of other-worldly psych rock, by way of California and Brazil. THE WILDHEARTS (HEY! HELLO!)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £20
The British rock veterans head out on’t road, with Ginger reunited with his bandmates CJ and Ritch, alongside the return of Scott Sorry on bass. JAMES WALSH
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–22:30, £13.50
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, £15
The Starsailor frontman plays it solo, his enormous yet fragile vocals all well and in place.
BLIND MONK TRIO
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
American singer/songwriter, best known for his 1980’s hit, Romeo’s tune. MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
Three Northwest musicians putting a fresh spin on the classic, chordless jazz trio format. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
PHONES4U ARENA, 20:00–22:00, FROM £55
GARRISON STARR + P.J. PACIFICO
A double headline set with P.J Pacifico and Garrison Starr performing solo and alongside each other, navigating folk and rock as they go.
MARTIN HANNETT: THE REDEMPTION
The Pop Prince continues to ride the mania of his 20/20 LP tour, having sold over 3.5 million copies to date.
A night of film and music in tribute to Martin Hannett, some 23 years after his death.
SACRED TRINITY CHURCH, 19:30–23:00, £11
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, £6
CHRYSTA BELL
GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £6
RETRAK BUSK OFF
Talented songstress/model who started her career in Texas as the lead vocalist for 8 1/2 Souvenirs, and went on to collaborate with David Lynch.
The best buskers from the streets of Manchester raise money for street children in Africa with charity, Retrak.
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £24.50
Following a reuinion show last year, the Manc band take to the stage for their first full headline show in 25 years.
JULIE FOWLIS
Traditional folk loveliness moving from the sprightly to the melancholic ballad, with Fowlis’ words riding the flowing fiddles and guitar with the usual consummate grace.
Wed 09 Apr ARCANE ROOTS
ROADHOUSE, 19:00–22:30, £9
Surrey-based rockers adept at pushing the genre in fresh and unexpected ways.
DUB SEX (HOT VESTRY + STEVE)
SOUND CONTROL, 19:30–23:00, £10
THURSDAY BASEMENT GIGS (THE SLOVAKS)
THE BAY HORSE, 20:00–23:00, FREE
Manchester’s garage rock trio The Slovaks headline this week’s Thursday Basement Gig. THE HALLE (SIR MARK ELDER + STEPHANE RANCOURT)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–21:30, FROM £11
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £11.50
The Halle orchestra perform under the direction of conductor, Sir Mark Elder, leading the orchestra through Shostakovich, John Casken and Kurt Weill’s work of musical theatre, The Seven Deadly Sins.
MACIEK PYSZ TRIO
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £17.50
STEPHEN O’MALLEY (AULK TODOLO)
The founding member of Sunn O))), KTL and Burning Witch continues to explore the darker aspects of human existence via his solo persona. MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
Energetic trio led by guitarist and composer Maciek Pysz, presenting their latest album, Insight. PEGGY SUE
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £7
The London and Brightonstraddling post-folkies take their soulful new LP, Choir of Echoes, on’t road. DELOOZE + THE WITCH HUNT
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–23:00, £5
Electronic post punk outfit hailing from London, sharing tracks from their début album, Glass Army, all awash with classical instrumentation and earthy vocals. MATT CARDLE
THE RITZ, 18:00–22:00, £20
X-Factor winner done good(ish), now on album number three of his career. DEVILDRIVER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £17
THE HALLE (JAMIE PHILLIPS + JOHN LILL)
Santa Barbara heavy metallers DevilDriver headline the night. You may as well just start moshing now.
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–21:30, FROM £10
PHONES4U ARENA, 19:30–22:00, FROM £30
The Halle orchestra perform under the direction of conductor, Jamie Phillips, leading the orchestra through Berlioz, Beethoven and Tchaikovky.
Thu 10 Apr
ELBOW
The Mancunian songsmiths tour on the back of their sixth studio LP, lynch-pinned as ever on Guy Garvey’s impressively powerful vocal talents.
JOHNETTE NAPOLITANO (MICK FLANNERY)
American alternative rock singer/ songwriter, best known for her role as lead singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde. HUE & CRY
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £19.50
The Coatbridge duo mark 25 years with a very special stripped back set.
Fri 11 Apr
THIS FEELING (THE TAPESTRY + DUMB + BLOSSOMS + JORDAN ALLEN + CLINT BOON DJ SET) THE RUBY LOUNGE, 20:00–23:00, £5
The favourited London rock’n’roll night takes a trip North with a selection of live bands taking to the stage. THE SELECTER
BAND ON THE WALL, 20:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
2-tone ska revival band formed in Coventry back in 1979, now back on’t live circuit celebrating 35 years of being. JESCA HOOP
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £10
Manchester-based, Californiaborn songstress rich with layered harmonies, cavernous production and slow, sombre seduction.
Listings
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Manchester Music MANIERE DES BOHEMIENS
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Gypsy jazz outfit hailing from Nottingham, playing anything from improvised Reinhardt to Eastern European swing. SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £8.50
ALL THE KING’S MEN (SABELLA + VANDETTAS + SKELETON DISCO)
Icelandic singer/songwriter crafting an idyllic blend of folk, indie and electro, touring with his début release, Dyrd i daudathog.
Seattle-native, Benjamin Laub takes to the stage as Grieves, sharing his mixed up hip hop sound as he goes. NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, FREE
The Mancunian rock’n’roll outfit, All The King’s Men headline this Mancunia Presents night.
FREE GIG FRIDAY (THE FRANCEENS + THE KIRKZ + ACID DROP + OFFICER DOWN + HATED TIL PROVEN) THE BAY HORSE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
TNS Records celebrate their 10th birthday with a special edition of Free Gig Friday, inviting Yorkbased three piece garage punk lot, The Franceens to headline the night. WITHIN TEMPTATION (DELAIN)
O2 APOLLO, 19:00–23:00, £20
Dutch progressive metal noisemakers, fronted by live howler Sharon den Adel. MEMPHIS MAY FIRE (THE WORD ALIVE + CYOTA)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:00–23:00, £11
ÁSGEIR
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £10
CHERIE BEBE’S BURLESQUE REVIEW
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 19:00–00:00, FROM £8
Bella Donna Berry, Kiki DeVille and, er, Titsalina Bumsquash provide the live cabaret entertainment. LEOPARDS (ATLANTA YOUNG)
SOUND CONTROL, 19:30–23:00, £6
Alternative pop rock lot hailing from Manchester BONEY JAMES
THE DANCEHOUSE, 18:45–22:00, £27
Returning to the UK following a decade absence, the legendary jazz saxophonist takes to the Northwest to deliver one of his compelling live sets. FATHERSON
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, £6
The Kilmarnock trio do their alternative rock-meets-powerpop thing, launching their new LP on the night.
Metalcore outfit hailing from Texas, fronted by Matty Mullins.
Mon 14 Apr
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £12.50
SOUND CONTROL, 19:30–23:00, £7
MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
The Atlanta-based lot (yea, they’re not actually Mancs) play a set of heavy rock, predominantly cherrypicked from their new LP, Cope.
Sat 12 Apr THE WOODENTOPS
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £12.50
British rock outfit of mid-80s fame, back on the road with their first studio album in 25 years. UB40
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £28.50
Renowned dub reggae band, formed in Birmingham back in 1978 and currently riding the wave of their revival years. MANCHESKA
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Eight-piece ska band fronted by a four-strong horn section and eight vocalists, playing originals, rare gems and some Jamaican classics thrown in for good measure. PAUL THOMAS SAUNDERS
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £6
Contemporary songwriter built on ethereal guitars, haunting harmonies, wide reverb and tingling folk sounds. PAUL THOMAS SAUNDERS
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:15, £6
Contemporary songwriter built on ethereal guitars, haunting harmonies, wide reverb and tingling folk sounds. TIGERSIDE
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–23:00, £5
Mancunian five-piece formed at Glastonbury in 2007, crafting indie electro as they go. TSN 10 YEAR BIRTHDAY PARTY (RANDOM HAND + REVENGE OF THE PSYCHOTRONIC MAN + BOOTCRAPERS + BEAT THE RED LIGHT) SOUND CONTROL, 13:30–22:30, £9
TNS Records mark their 10th birthday with a whole day affair, inviting the likes of Random Hand and Bootscraper to take care of the music. ALY BAIN + PHIL CUNNINGHAM
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC, 20:00–23:00, £16
Traditional Scots fiddle and accordion duo now in their 27th year of touring together. JOHNNY MATHIS
PHONES4U ARENA, 19:30–22:00, FROM £45
The American romantic crooner hits the road with a slew of hits in tow. PENETRATION
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12
Punk rock lot hailing from Country Durham, reformed back in 2001 with Pauline Murray still leaving proceedings.
Listings
MIKE WATT AND THE MISSINGMEN
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £8
Punk-rock trio fronted by legendary bassist Mike Watt, best-known for co-founding the seminal punk rock bands Minutemen and Firehose.
GRIEVES
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Sun 13 Apr
LOSTALONE
Derby-based rock trio headered by Steven Battelle on lead vocals and guitar duties. GARY BARLOW
PHONES4U ARENA, 19:30–22:00, FROM £35
The Take That frontman embarks on a stadium tour for your general pleasure, armed with tracks from his first LP in some 14 years.
Tue 15 Apr
CRAIG HANSON PROJECT
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
Drummer Craig Hanson takes to the stage for another unusual set. CUT COPY
AUGUSTINES
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £12.50
NYC trio who do a rather fine line in anthemic indie-rock (formerly playing as We Are Augustines), due in no small part to frontman Billy McCarthy’s measured and majestic vocals.
Thu 17 Apr TIMBER TIMBRE
ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £10
Canadian folk trio made up of Mika Posen, Simon Trottier and Taylor Kirk, taking their name from the timber-framed cabin in which they put down their earlier recordings. RED KITE (THE WILD EYES + HAPI)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £7
Alternative six-piece outfit hailing from London, signed to The Shipping Forecast label. THE DUNWELLS
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £10
Folk rock bunch hailing from Leeds. JAMIE BROWNFIELD QUARTET
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
A mix of bebop, mainstream swing and New Orlean’s funk from British Jazz Award up-and-comer, Jamie Brownfield.
CARLTON MELTON (MIND MOUNTAIN)
KRAAK, 19:30–23:00, £6
Five northern chaps who, when combined, create a finely-honed, psychedelic-tinged, amp-steeped din of a thing. KALOPSIA
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–03:00, FREE
A new club night pitching up at Night and Day, headed by Manchester Psych Festival. GEORGE CLINTON + P-FUNK.
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £22 EARLYBIRD (£25 THEREAFTER)
The Godfather of funk – er, that’d be George Clinton – takes to Manchester with fellow legend, Parliament Funkadelic (aka P-Funk). AGNES OBEL
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC, 19:00–23:00, £17.50
The folk-inspired Danish singer/ songwriter takes to the road to play tracks offa her new album, Aventine.
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £13.50
THURSDAY BASEMENT GIGS (THE ASCENSION + KILL PRETTY)
HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS (ACODO)
Alternative punk rock trio The Ascension take to The Bay Horse basement for a night of heady, danceable indie sounds.
Guitar-strumming Australian electronic outfit formed back in 2001 by DJ Dan Whitford. SOUND CONTROL, 19:30–23:00, £10
American rock outfit hailing from Dayton, Ohio.
BRASY: POLISH SEA SHANTY STARS
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC, 19:00–23:00, £10 (£8)
The Polish folk outfit perform a set of traditional sea shanties. GALLON DRUNK
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £10
THE BAY HORSE, 20:00–23:00, £4
JAMES BLUNT (SHAKE SHAKE GO)
O2 APOLLO, 19:00–23:00, £35
The English singer/songwriter and former army captain takes his new LP on the road, we’ll do the hiding. THE SUMMER SET
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12
Wed 16 Apr
Arizona-based five-piece making breezy pop rock – often seen touring with the likes of Yellowcard and Hey Monday, but heading out on their own for a UK-wide tour.
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £9
Fri 18 Apr
The London-formed swamp rockers return on ripsnorting form. SLEEPY SUN
San Franciscoan psychedelic rockers built on lead vocalist Bret Constantino’s drowsy vocals and the dovetailed fuzz riffage of guitarists Matt Holliman and Evan Reiss. THE MANOUCHETONES
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
The latest collaboration between Micky Dunne and Karl Webb, performing a misture of Reinhardt and Grappelli classics as a trio. DENA
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:15, £7
Bulgaria-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter, navigating 90s hip hop influences and Buglarian Chalgo music with her experimental sound. BLOOD RELATIVES
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 20:00–23:00, £6
Glasgow pop-styled ensemble – none of whom are related to each other, FYI – still riding high on their first LP release. COMEBACK KID (XIBALBA + THE GREENERY + MALEVOLENCE)
SOUND CONTROL, 18:30–22:00, £11
Canadian punk noisemakers formed back in 2000 in Winnipeg.
THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £15
4TH STREET TRAFFIC (PALADINS)
THE EX
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £6
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:15, £8
Welsh rock lot touring their second studio album, Claim to Fame. FREE GIG FRIDAY (CHANTELLE ELLIOT + MUTTLEY ACOUSTIC)
THE BAY HORSE, 19:30–01:00, FREE
Fill your Friday night with free live music – guests and DJs selected by a different band each week. THE SOLID SILVER 60S SHOW
PALACE THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, FROM £23.50
The UK’s first 60s show marks 29 years, with a tribute night jammed full of 60s hits. CHRIS FLYNN
THE LOWRY STUDIO, 20:00–23:00, £8 (£6.50)
Salford-based singer/songwriter, navigating the indie folk genre.
Sat 19 Apr
A FACTORY NIGHT ON RECORD STORE DAY (SECTION25 + CRISPY AMBULANCE + MINNY POPS + DJ FAC COL)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–23:00, £10
Blackpool’s Section25 headline Ruby’s Record Store Day celebrations, bringing the post-punk textures awash with psychedelic influences. HORACE ANDY + DUB ASANTE
BAND ON THE WALL, 20:00–23:00, £22.50 ADV (£25 DOOR)
A legendary voice in reggae history, Jamaican roots legend and Massive Attack collaborator Horace Andy plays with long-time band, Dub Asante. THE INDIGO KINGS
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Vintage pop from the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire six-piece. WITHERED HAND (MATTHEW GRAY & THE AWFUL TRUTH) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, £8
Edinburgh DIY folk-rock troubadour Dan Willson brings new look Withered Hand band to the stage, fresh from recording his longawaited second album. OF MICE AND MEN (ISSUES + BEARTOOTH)
THE RITZ, 18:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT
Californian metalcore outfit touring their 2014 release, Restoring Force. RAGLANS
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £5
Dublin-based quartet formed in a festival tent back in 2010, riding along on muscular new wave guitars, gritty pop melodies and indie-folk arrangements. HOLY MOUNTAIN
FALLOW CAFE, 19:00–23:00, £6
The doom’n’roll Glasgow trio launch their new LP, Ancient Astronauts, emitting their usual sludgy sonic assault at intensely-loud levels. Amen. MANCHESTER SPINS LIMITED EDITION LAUNCH (ASH MOUNTAIN)
THE BAY HORSE, 14:00–00:00, FREE
Making the launch of not-forprofit vinyl imprint, Manchester Spins, on Record Store Day 2014, debut release artists Ash Mountain will perform throughout the day, with limited edition copies of the EP on sale. BERLIN BERLIN (PUPPET REBELLION)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £8
BRAND NEW (SAVES THE DAY)
Manchester’s very own melancholic and experimental three piece, launching their single, Josef on the evening.
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £22.50
Sun 20 Apr
The self-styled ‘God Of Hellfire’, a certain Mr Arthur Brown, celebrates 45 years of Fire.
Laid-back, Long Island rock quartet formed back in 2000.
FRANNY EUBANK’S THE BLUES
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Original Chicago blues from the Manchester-based Franny Eubank – delivering knock out performances with a harmonica and vocals. A PLASTIC ROSE (VUKOVI)
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–23:00, £6
Belfast quartet firmly rooted in the sounds of mid-90s posthardcore. LUCIUS
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, £7.50
The NYC indie-pop ensemble drop a set of their luscious lullabies. SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR
THE RITZ, 18:00–22:00, £20
The pop singer/songwriter/model/ DJ tours her fifth studio album, Wanderlust.
ACOUSTIC BHUNA (JAMES KELLY+ THE KORA COLLECTIVE + ADAM DUBALE)
BAND ON THE WALL, 18:00–22:00, FREE
A new event pitching up at Band on the Wall will see acoustic sets paired with homemade curry, making for a relaxed sorta Sunday. PAINTED PALMS
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–23:00, £6
Collaboration between San Francisco-based cousins, Reese Donahue and Chris Prodhomme, opting to work together via e-mail.
Mon 21 Apr RIXTON
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £7
Manchester four-piece navigating the pop rock meets r’n’b genre, drawing comparisons to the likes of Maroon 5.
The adventurous Dutch punk/ noise/jazz/whatever quartet do their e’er eclectic thing. JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £16
Joan Wasser relinquishes her blend of gritty, yet soulful and bluesy, indie rock. TURBOWOLF (HOUNDS)
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–23:00, £7
Bristol-based psychic noisemakers on guitars, drums and bass.
Tue 22 Apr
KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES
ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £11.50
THE UKULELE ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, £23
The all-plucking orchestra take in Edinburgh as part of their current world tour.
Thu 24 Apr MINOR ALPS
ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £12
Pop rock project of ex-Nada Surf frontman Matthew Caws and singer/songwriter Julianna Hatfield.
BOB LOG III (HOPPER PROPELLED ELECTRIC + BEES OF BURDEN)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £10
The Berlin-based garage rock and psychedelic soul lot play their usual live crazyathon, most likely kitted out in a variety of bizarre headwear/capes/nakedness.
The one-man blues punk dynamo and slide guitar legend that is Bob Log III takes to the stage, most likely avec crash helmet.
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £9
Alternative rock of the awardwinning variety, served up with a distinctly sultry edge.
SICK PUPPIES (THE FEUD)
Australia modern rock trio made up of vocalist and guitarist Shim Moore, bassist Emma Anzai and drummer Mark Goodwin. VEIN + GREG OSBY
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, £15
Experimental Swiss outfit, joined by saxophonist, composer and producer, Greg Osby. THE SONOROUS QUARTET
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
Modern jazz quartet playing originals inspired by everything from European jazz and swing to Latin and Film Noir. THE NIGHTINGALES
KRAAK, 19:00–23:00, £8
The Birmingham-formed postpunk outfit get back on the live circuit. ALKALINE TRIO
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £20
Classic-styled emo from the Chicagoan trio, fuelled on a steady diet of angst-ridden lyrics and adrenaline. THE CROOKES (HIGH HAZELS + THIEVES LIKE US)
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–23:00, £8
Expect guitar-led pop all the way as the Sheffield quartet bring their jangly brand of joy. BRODY DALLE
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £12
The Distillers front woman goes it solo, with her latest offering, Diploid Love in tow.
Wed 23 Apr
JUSTIN LO + TERENCE SIUFAY
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, FROM £40
Connected bring two top Chinese music artists to Manchester for a special live outing. SCOTT MATTHEWS
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £13.50
Talented lyricist, and winner of the Ivor Novello award for best song. STUART MCCALLUM
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
Cinematic Orchestra guitarist trying out new material in the realm of beats, electronica, classical orchestration and jazz. JAMIE LENMAN
GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £12
The former singer, guitarist and songwriter for underground heroes Reuben brings his colossal double album, Muscle Memory, to a live setting – twiddly moustache all well and in place.
I AM YOUR AUTOPILOT (IDLE GIANTS + ABSINTHE ANNE & THE PSYCHIC CHINESE BUFFET) THE CASTLE HOTEL, 20:00–23:00, £5
PANIC ROOM
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, £12
CLUTCH
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £16.50
American rock band formed in 1990 fronted by guitarist Neil Fallon.
IVAN CAMPO (SCOUTS + SEATTLE YACHT CLUB + YOUTH ANXIETY + ELECTRIC OCEAN)
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 18:00–23:00, £8
Manchester City’s community programme bring together five bands for this live music and raffle night, headlined by folky trio Ivan Campo. THE ALEC ROBINSON QUARTET
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
A quartet of young jazz musicians, formed at Leeds College of Music in 2010. CHET FAKER
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:15, £8
The Australian electronica muso showcases tracks from his debut LP, Built on Glass. ANGIE STONE
THE RITZ, 19:00–22:00, £25 EARLYBIRD (£30 THEREAFTER)
The soul/r’n’b sensation takes to the stage with her full US live band, cherry-picking a set list from her five platinum-selling albums. WILDFLOWERS
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:15, £6.50
London-based indie-folk quartet put together by lead singer and chief songwriter Siddy Bennett. THURSDAY BASEMENT GIGS (MOTHER TONGUE + THE BEAR AROUND YOUR NECK + JESUS KNIEVEL) THE BAY HORSE, 20:00–23:00, £4
The Thursday night basement gigs continue, with a three-strong line-up comprising Mother Tongue, The Bear Around Your Neck and Jesus Knievel. UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS (BLACK MOTH + ADMIRAL SIR CLOUDSELEY SHOVELL)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £11.50
Psychedelic doom band hailing from Cambridge, drawing influences from late 60s metal.
Fri 25 Apr NORMA JEAN
ROADHOUSE, 19:00–22:30, £12
Atlanta’s post-hardcore giants make their usual racket; expect nowt less than sonic bedlam.
BRIDIE JACKSON AND THE ARBOUR
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–23:00, £10
Ethereal and dark folk from the Newcastle-based quartet. LUCERO
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–22:30, £12
The Mancunian trio, inspired by the likes of Brian Eno and Grizzly Bear, tour their latest album, The Stillness of the Sea.
Melodic gruff-punk from the States, being touted as Memphis’ answer to Bruce Springsteen.
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 19:30–02:00, £7
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
CHILDHOOD
The London-based four-piece, formed at Nottingham University in 2011, bring their indie pop sound to an intimate setting. THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £11
Alternative, blues-drenched rock’n’rollers formed between London and Glasgow in the summer of 2011. DEAD GHOSTS (FRUIT TONES)
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, £6
SWINGOLOGY
The Liverpool-based five-piece perform a set inspired by the gypsy jazz made famous by Reinhardt and Greppelli. SPECIAL FX (CAVAN MORAN + LITTLE SPARROW)
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 18:00–19:00, FREE
Enjoy an hour of free music from Manchester’s folk troubadour, Cavan Moran and the captivating sounds of Little Sparrow.
The Canadian garage rock lot stop by in the midst of their Europewide tour.
THE SKINNY
SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS (THE RUBY DUKES + TRAPPED IN AUTUMN) THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–23:00, £5
Progressive four-piece hailing from Salford, crafting a dark and melodic sound and riding the wave of the current grunge revival. WALK OFF THE EARTH (CAMERA2)
THE RITZ, 18:30–22:00, £15
The Canadian rock outfit – best known for their cover of Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know, during which they all shared one guitar – take some of their own material out on the road. MR SMITHS SOUL REVIVAL
THE RITZ, 22:30–03:00, £7 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
The legendary soul night, once housed in Mr Smiths in Warrington, makes a move to The Ritz to continue proceedings. Expect soul, r&b and hip-hop. ELI PAPERBOY REED
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:15, £10
Boston teen prodigy on’t road again after two years of touring his 2010 LP, Come and Get It. FREE GIG FRIDAY (ASH MOUNTAIN + THE PSYCHEDELIC PIRATES)
THE BAY HORSE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Fill your Friday night with free live music – guests and DJs selected by a different band each week. RICK WAKEMAN’S JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH
O2 APOLLO, 20:00–23:00, FROM £40
Marking the 40th anniversary of its release, Rick Wakeman takes his concept album based on Jules Verne’s novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth, out on the road.
NOISE ABOVE NOISE (COLIN WEBSTER AND GRAHAM DUNNING + SOPHIE COOPER + YEAH YEAH INDUSTRIAL + DEBBIE SHARP + ROSANNE ROBERTSON) THE PENTHOUSE, 19:00–22:30, £5
The Penthouse open their doors for a night of experimental sound-making in the streets above the Northern Quarter, with sound artists including Sophie Cooper and Yeah Yeah Industrial providing an open studio experience. JACE EVERETT
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £14.50
Nashville singer-songwriter best known (by us, at least) for True Blood theme song, Bad Things. Part of Celtic Connections. PATENT PENDING (PEOPLE ON VACATION)
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £12.50
Infectious and energetic punk-rock outfit hailing from Long Island, New York – chock with fist pumps and pop hooks, as standard.
JOHN BUTLER TRIO
TEK-ONE
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £20
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–23:00, £7
Australian roots and jam band led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler. SABINA
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £9
The Brazilian Girls frontwoman tours her début solo album – recorded in no less that five languages.
DAY OF SONG (VICTORIAN ENGLAND)
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 11:30–12:15, £7.50
Students from the RNCM take audiences on a musical journey through history, taking in Viennese waltzes, Italian verismo and the salon music of Victorian England. DAY OF SONG (JUNGE LIEDER)
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 12:30–13:15, £7.50
Students from the RNCM take audiences on a musical journey through history, taking in Viennese waltzes, Italian verismo and the salon music of Victorian England. DAY OF SONG (LA BELLE EPOQUE)
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 14:00–14:45, £7.50
Students from the RNCM take audiences on a musical journey through history, taking in Viennese waltzes, Italian verismo and the salon music of Victorian England. DAY OF SONG (AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE LANDS OF BOHEMIAN CROWN)
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 15:00–15:45, £7.50
Students from the RNCM take audiences on a musical journey through history, taking in Viennese waltzes, Italian verismo and the salon music of Victorian England. DAY OF SONG (RISORGIMENTO: THE RISE OF THE NEW)
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 16:30–17:15, £7.50
Students from the RNCM take audiences on a musical journey through history, taking in Viennese waltzes, Italian verismo and the salon music of Victorian England. DAY OF SONG (FIN DE SIECLE)
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 18:00–19:30, £15
Students from the RNCM take audiences on a musical journey through history, taking in Viennese waltzes, Italian verismo and the salon music of Victorian England. EVERLAST
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £16
Solo rock, hip-hop and blues sounds from the chap otherwise best known for his tenure in rap unit House of Pain. KINS
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–23:00, £6
Sat 26 Apr
Icy guitar pop four piece hailing from Brighton, fronted by Thomas Savage.
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £8
THE RITZ, 13:30–22:30, £29
SOUTH OF HEAVEN + PANTERA UK
Double header of Slayer and Pantera tribute acts. THE ORIELLES
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–22:30, £7
Bright young things from Halifax offering their take on the 60s surf pop genre. ANTELOPE
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Eight piece soul, jazz and dubstep outfit, performing their experimental sets live without any samples or loops. MATTHEW AND THE ATLAS
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:15, £8
IMPERICON FESTIVAL 2014
All day heavy metal festival, with organisers Impericon building on their succession of sold out German dates and expanding to four more cities throughout Europe. MANCHESTER CAMERATA
ALBERT HALL, 15:00–17:30, FROM £10
Hungarian violinist and composer, Gábor Takács-Nagy will take the helm for this performance, with Norweigan pianist Christian Ihle Hadland joining the Manchester Camerata in the resplendent surroundings of the Albert Hall. NEIL FINN
More dreamy Americana from the Aldershot-born, London-based musician.
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:00–22:00, £34.50
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–23:00, £8.50
Mon 28 Apr
GEORGIA RUTH
Welsh folky singer/songwriter, touring her début album, Week of Pines. RUFUS
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–02:00, £8.50
Aussie trio blending electro pop with Balearic-style house. MAGNUM
THE RITZ, 18:30–22:00, £20
Birmingham’s progressive rock lot tour their 18th studio album, evidently still riding the wave of their reunion years.
Sun 27 Apr DIE SO FLUID
ROADHOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £8
Metallic-rock styled trio known for ripping it up live.
Crowded House front man tours his third solo album, Dizzy Heights. MICAH P HINSON (BURIERS)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–23:00, £15
Americana-styled singer and guitarist steeped in banjos and finger-picked guitars. SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £9
Solo project from Field Music’s David Brewis, taking him on a more cerebral and mathy bent. JAMIE LAWSON + MATT TILLER
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 20:00–23:00, £5
Acoustic singer/songwriter Jamie Lawson sharing tracks from his latest release, Between Each Breath, alongside a set from local funny man Matt Tiller and special guest Little Rach.
Dubstep trio making sounds from children’s toys, broken keyboards and anything that requires two AA batteries. BLOOD RED SHOES (SLAVES + DZ DEATHRAYS)
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £10
Brighton-based indie rock’n’rollers made up of anthemic yelper Laura-Mary Carter and drummer Steve Ansell, out and touring their fourth LP. BEN HARPER
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £32
The Grammy award-nominated blues, folk and soul multi-instrumentalist embarks on an acoustic headline tour.
Liverpool Music
Liverpool Music GRAND NATIONAL AFTER PARTY (THE ROBERT MATHER BAND) STUDIO 2, 21:30–23:00, FREE
Six-piece soul and funk band from Liverpool, formed in 2012 as the resident band for Eric’s, playing a special set to mark the Grand National.
SNØKRYSTALL (SILENT CITIES + RAGZ NORDSET + HENRY PULP & THE SONS ELECTRIC + X-RAY KATT + BEATEN TRACKS DJS + WUNDERKAMMER VISUALS)
SWEDISH SEAMAN’S CHURCH, 19:00–23:00, £6 ADV (£8 DOOR)
OUR VINYL WEIGHS A TON (PEANUT BUTTER WOLF + FINGATHING)
THE KAZIMIER, 19:30–23:00, £10
A screening of the feature-length documentary about LA-based label Stones Throw Records, weaving together rare archive footage of concerts, interviews and home videos – bolstered by live sets from Fingathing and Peanut Butter Wolf. RHODES
LEAF, 19:30–23:00, FREE, BOOKING REQUIRED
Singer/songwriter hailing from Hitchin, touring with his debut album, Raise Your Love.
50s-pop-inspired garage rock up-and-comers from Leeds. FIESTA BOMBARDA
The everisland bunch return with their latest carnival event, this time taking it underground with the usual cacophony of music, visuals and performances.
The Cheshire singer/songwriter, who also fronts Pele and Amsterdam, does his solo thing. PARR STREET ACOUSTIC SESSIONS
STUDIO 2, 19:00–23:00, FREE
Parr Street Studios shine a light on local talent with an acoustic night.
Thu 03 Apr MOLOTOV JUKEBOX
THE KAZIMIER, 20:00–23:00, £10
Kurt Cobain tribute show.
KOROVA, 19:00–23:00, £5
Fri 04 Apr JOHNNY FOREIGNER
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:30–23:00, £7
The fast’n’loose guitar popsters play a set mostly taken from their newest album, Johnny Foreigner Vs Everything. BABYHEAD
ERIC’S LIVE, 20:00–23:30, £5
Bristol-based eight-piece ska, hip hop and dub outfit. THE LIGHTNING SEEDS + ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £27.50
A celebration of the music of Liverpool-born singer/songwriter Ian Broudie, with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performing music specially arranged for the occasion alongside the Lightning Seeds.
THE GIT AWARDS
COLOUR SINGLE LAUNCH PARTY
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £5
The electro-inflused art rockers from Liverpool celebrate the launch of their latest single, Joanna.
LIVERPOOL ROCKS: BATTLE OF THE BANDS FINAL
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £7
The starting line up of 48 bands has been whittled down to just five, eagerly battling it out for a spot at Liverpool Sound City. Go! Support!
THE SKINNY 1ST BIRTHDAY (PATTERNS + WYWH + JOHN MCGRATH + WET PLAY + JA SHEPHERD + NINETAILS DJ SET) THE KAZIMIER, 20:00–03:00, FREE
The Skinny Northwest is one year old this month! To mark the occasion we're throwing a free birthday party, with live music from Patterns, WYWH and John McGrath followed by DJ sets from Ninetails, Wet Play and JA Shepherd (Scenery Records). Come join us!
Sun 13 Apr SCOTT MATTHEWS
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £17
Talented lyricist, and winner of the Ivor Novello award for best song.
HUE & CRY
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:30–23:00, £6
KOROVA, 20:00–23:00, £6
RIVERSIDE
Progressive rock foursome hailing from Warsaw, back in a live setting for their 2014 tour. ERIC’S LIVE, 20:00–23:30, £17.50
THE FINAL AFTER 8 (IAN PROWSE)
To mark the end of the intimate After 8 series in the Rodewald Suite, Ian Prowse will perform a special farewell set before the space is refurbished in May. FLYNN AND TONICS
STUDIO 2, 21:30–23:00, FREE
Funk and soul wedding band, comprised of LIPA graduates. BRITISH SEA POWER
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £12
The Brighton indie-rockers do their romantic, pastoral longing thing to suitably fine effect. EMILY AND THE WOODS
KOROVA, 19:00–23:00
Mon 07 Apr
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £25
Floridian acoustic pop-meets-rock band of brothers Alejandro, Fabian and Daniel Manzano. TINIE TEMPAH
ECHO ARENA, 19:00–23:00, £28
More pop-styled rap offerings from the South London chap. VERSE CHORUS VERSE
KOROVA, 19:30–23:00
Former member/founder of And So I Watch You From Afar, Tony Wright (aka Verse Chorus Verse) adventures down a new path of rootsy blues.
Tue 08 Apr
TRUE WIDOW (BROKEN DC)
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:30–23:00, £7
More hazy shoegaze from the Dallas-based trio, playing tracks offa their third LP, Circumambulation.
Wed 09 Apr
ANTTIX (JORDAN O’KEEFE + GABZ)
O2 ACADEMY, 18:30–21:00, FROM £10
The Just Another Pop tour drops by, headlined by Bristol chap, Anttix. You know the drill. LUMERIANS + BOOGARINS
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:30–23:00, £8
A double header of other-worldly psych rock, by way of California and Brazil. IAN SIEGAL
STUDIO 2, 20:00–23:00, £10 ADV (£12.50 DOOR)
Contemporary blues singer/songwriter rich with passionate guitar playing and soul-infused vocals.
April 2014
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £6
London-based session band, playing anything from 70s classics to modern hits.
Liverpool’s music prize, the GIT awards host a night of lavish 70s pomp, with live performances from some of the nominated artists, and one-off collaborations.
BOYCE AVENUE (NICK HOWARD + EBONY DAY)
Mancunian four-piece, drawing influences from the Northwest’s musical heritage to craft a Brit pop sound with a clear nod to the 60s.
12 GAUGE (RAIN MAY FALL + THUNDERGROUND + NEST OF VIPERS)
THE KAZIMIER, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
STUDIO 2, 21:30–23:00, FREE
THE GRAMOTONES
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB , 19:30–23:00, £10
Indie rock four-piece from Liverpool, led by guitarist and singer Kiernan Oates.
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB , 19:30–23:00, £5
A TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC OF KURT COBAIN
Grassroots quartet made up of Emily Wood, her brother Benedict, and two childhood chums.
Six-piece soul and funk band from Liverpool, formed in 2012 as the resident band for Eric’s, playing a special set to mark the Grand National.
WHITE WIDOWS
Sat 05 Apr
Genre-bending six-piece outfit blending gypsy, samba, ska and dubstep influences into one danceable whole.
GRAND NATIONAL AFTER PARTY (THE ROBERT MATHER BAND)
THUNDERBIRD GERARD
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £8
The hard rock lot from Liverpool celebrate the launch of their latest album.
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:30–22:30, £6
IAN PROWSE
MATT CARDLE
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £20
X-Factor winner done good(ish), now on album number three of his career.
Fri 11 Apr
CHINA RATS
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–23:00, £12
Thu 10 Apr
KOROVA, 19:00–23:00
Wed 02 Apr
The London-based duo tour their début EP, Book of Hours.
Icelandic singer/songwriter crafting an idyllic blend of folk, indie and electro, touring with his début release, Dyrd i daudathog.
The New York-based artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist does his thing.
The Coatbridge duo mark 25 years with a very special stripped back set.
CLOUD BOAT (ADROITE + WYWH + DROHNE)
NEW POWER SOUL CLUB STUDIO 2, 21:30–23:00, FREE
An enthralling night of music and visuals, with Silent Cities headlining the night along with visuals from Wunderkammer.
WILLIAMSON TUNNELS, 20:00–03:00, £TBC
Tue 01 Apr
ÁSGEIR EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £10
THE FAUNS
Bristol’s indie noise popsters take their most recent release, Lights out on the road for a live airing. ARUN GHOSH QUINTET: A SOUTH ASIAN SUITE
THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:00, £10 (£8)
Clarinettist, Arun Ghosh presents his trademark IndoJazz, with a full band line-up. PEGGY SUE (EYES AND NO EYES)
LEAF, 20:00–23:00, £8
The London and Brightonstraddling post-folkies take their soulful new LP, Choir of Echoes, on’t road. GARY BARLOW (ELIZA DOOLITTLE)
ECHO ARENA, 19:30–23:00, FROM £39
The Take That frontman embarks on a stadium tour for your general pleasure, armed with tracks from his first LP in some 14 years. THE VIPER KINGS
STUDIO 2, 19:00–01:00, FREE
Blues and heavy soul outfit navigating the rock’n’roll revival sounds of their heroes, Chuck Berry, Otis Redding and The Rolling Stones. THE CORRESPONDENTS
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £12
The genre-hopping London MC/ DJ duo continue with their quest to revamp vintage sounds for the modern ear. GET CUBS
KOROVA, 19:30–23:00
Much-hyped indie four-piece hailing from Burton-on-Trent, all killer riffs and catchy sing-along lyrics.
Sat 12 Apr
LIVERPOOL ROCKS: BATTLE OF THE BANDS
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £7
Elimination style competition for local up-and-comers, with a spot on the Liverpool Sound City line-up up for grabs.
LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE (SPECTRES)
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:30–23:00, £6.50
The Mexican psych rock outfit take their hazy sounds out for a spin, touring Europe before heading off to Austin Psych Fest in May. PEATBOG FAERIES
THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:00, £15
More high octane instrumental contemporary folk from the Isle of Skye crew. JOHNNY FLYNN AND THE SUSSEX WIT (COSMO SHELDRAKE)
THE KAZIMIER, 19:30–23:00, £13
Mon 14 Apr FATHERSON
The Kilmarnock trio do their alternative rock-meets-powerpop thing, taking their latest album, I Am An Island out for a live airing.
Tue 15 Apr
GARY BARLOW (ELIZA DOOLITTLE)
ECHO ARENA, 19:30–23:00, FROM £39
The Take That frontman embarks on a stadium tour for your general pleasure, armed with tracks from his first LP in some 14 years.
Wed 16 Apr
ONES TO WATCH (FARRA + FIGHT THE DICE + CONQUER RIO + VIOLA BEACH)
O2 ACADEMY, 18:45–22:45, £7.50
Jar Music present their one to watch line-up, headlined by Farra. SKY LARKIN
THE KAZIMIER, 19:30–23:00, £7
The Leeds-based trio – making indie rock since 2005 and known for touring with the likes of Frightened Rabbit – bring their third album, Motto, to a live setting. LE YOUTH
KOROVA, 20:00–23:00
Los Angeles-based chappie known for his 90s sounds refracted through a modern aesthetic, out on the road for his spring tour.
Thu 17 Apr NOVANA
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £10
Nirvana tribute act. SANCHO PANZA
THE KAZIMIER, 19:30–23:00, £4
Wrestling meets literature night, with six writers battling it out for the heavyweight champion belt in short story writing.
NEVILLE SKELLY (SERPENT POWER)
STUDIO 2, 19:30–23:45, £10 ADV (£12 DOOR)
Liverpool native drawing inspiration from jazz and big band music, famously toured with The Coral, and now stepping out on his own. BEN WATT W/ BERNARD BUTLER
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £15
One half of Everything But The Girl, and in-demand DJ turns to the guitar to try out the solo singer/ songwriter thing. BLOOD RELATIVES
KOROVA, 19:30–23:00
Glasgow pop-styled ensemble – none of whom are related to each other, FYI – still riding high on their first LP release.
LEAF, 19:00–23:00, £15
After a two-year hiatus from the live circuit, folk-rock singer/songwriter Johnny Flynn dusts off his guitar for a mini tour in celebration of the release of his third LP with his The Sussex Wit cohorts.
WWW.THEKAZIMIER.CO.UK
Listings
57
Fri 18 Apr
SANKOFA (EDGAR SUMMERTIME + CHEAP THRILLS + BEACH SKULLS + MERCURY 13)
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB , 19:30–23:00, £5
Psychedelic rock’n’roll lot from Liverpool. BLACK DIAMOND
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £6
Seattle-based rock five-piece, made up of ex-members of The Purps, Petty Enemy and more. THE ROBERT MATHER BAND
STUDIO 2, 21:30–23:00, FREE
Six-piece soul and funk band from Liverpool, formed in 2012 as the resident band for Eric’s. THE NIGHTINGALES
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 18:30–22:30, £8
The Birmingham-formed postpunk outfit get back on the live circuit.
Sat 19 Apr
THE SONGBOOK SESSIONS (EMMA STEVENS + T.J. & MURPHY + PROFESSOR YAFFLE + THOM MORECROFT & THE FULL MOON BAND + ALEXANDER JAYNE) THE ZANZIBAR CLUB , 19:30–23:00, £6.50
A showcase event for new and upcoming songwriters in Liverpool and the surrounding areas. THE HUMMINGBIRDS
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £8
Hotly tipped for a Mercury Prize in the not too distant future, the Hummingbirds are 6 lads from Liverpool blending Merseybeat heritage with folky rhythm. GALLON DRUNK (JON DE ROSA)
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:30–23:00, £8
DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP (ITCH + SARAH WHITE) EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £13.50
Messrs Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip air their new LP, Repent Replenish Repeat, again mapping Le Sac’s fairground-alike electronic beats with Pip’s pent-up lyrical bombardment, squared with wily facial hair, obvs. BLEECH
KOROVA, 19:30–23:00
London rock-meets-grunge trio, chock with heavy drums and howlin’ vocals.
Fri 25 Apr CHILDHOOD
LEAF, 20:00–23:00, £8
The London-based four-piece, formed at Nottingham University in 2011, bring their indie pop sound to an intimate setting. RIOGHNACH CONNOLLY TRIO
STUDIO 2, 21:30–23:00, FREE
Blues, jazz and swing trio, enriched by Rioghnach Connolly’s warm vocals. NATALIE MCCOOL (KALANDRA + RACHEL WRIGHT AND THE GOOD SONS + INGE BREMNES)
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £5
Kick-starting the year with a show on home turf, Liverpool's Natalie McCool takes her delicate fingerstyle and formidable riffing out on the road. DIE SO FLUID
KOROVA, 20:00–23:00
Metallic-rock styled trio known for ripping it up live.
The London-formed swamp rockers return on ripsnorting form.
Sat 26 Apr
ERIC’S LIVE, 20:00–23:30, £10
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB , 19:30–23:00, £5
THE REZILLOS
ONLY CHILD
Running on high octane, guitar driven, melodic anti-mope rock, The Rezillos host their almost annual pre-Christmas knees-up.
Launching their début album on the night, Liverpool’s Only Child present one of their trademark gut-wrenching emotional sets.
ECHO ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £44
THE CAPSTONE, 13:00–15:00, FREE
MCBUSTED
SUR
You know that nightmare you had about Busted and McFly touring as one? Well it was real. Run for the hills! THE SOLID SILVER 60S SHOW
A showcase of up and comers as part of Milapfest, this time presenting Mithilla Sarma, Achuthan Sripathmanathan and Prathap Ramachandra.
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £24
STUDIO 2, 21:30–23:00, FREE
NEW POWER SOUL CLUB
The UK’s first 60s show marks 29 years, with a tribute night jammed full of 60s hits.
London-based session band, playing anything from 70s classics to modern hits.
STUDIO 2, 21:30–23:00, FREE
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £12.50
FLYNN AND TONICS
Funk and soul wedding band, comprised of LIPA graduates. EDGE OF THE OCEAN
THE LANTERN THEATRE, 19:30–23:00, £8.50 (£6.50)
Alternative indie rock four piece hailing from Colchester, formed in the summer of 2010 when vocalist and keyboardist Connor McBurney set up a makeshift studio in his nan’s dining room. RESTORATIONS
IAN MCNABB (COLD SHOULDER)
Rock’n’roll from the Liverpoolbased singer/songwriter and former frontman of The Icicle Works.
Sun 27 Apr SOUL4SOUL
STUDIO 2, 20:00–23:00, FREE
Soul showcase night, offering a stage for Liverpool’s up-andcoming soul musicians.
KOROVA, 19:30–23:00
Philadelphia-hailing five-piece outfit, touring with their latest offering, LP2.
Sun 20 Apr VICTORIA SHARPE
Manchester Clubs
STUDIO 2, 21:00–23:00, FREE
The Liverpool-based piano vocalist plays a set of originals and covers.
Tue 01 Apr
Tue 22 Apr
JOSHUA BROOKS, 22:00–04:00, £1.50 EARLYBIRD (£2.50 THEREAFTER)
LISTENER
KOROVA, 20:00–23:00
Talk music from the US of A outfit, touring with their latest album Time is A Machine, released on Tangled Talk.
Wed 23 Apr
KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES
KOROVA, 19:30–23:00
The Berlin-based garage rock and psychedelic soul lot play their usual live crazyathon, most likely kitted out in a variety of bizarre headwear/capes/nakedness.
Thu 24 Apr COVES
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:30–23:00, £5
Leamington Spa-hailing duo made up of John Ridgard and Beck Wood, touring their suitably spacey EP, Soft Friday.
VISIONS
Manchester’s newest deep/tech house continues proceedings with their monthly outing. ITCHY FEET
MINT LOUNGE, 23:00–03:00, £2
A unique blend of rock’n’roll, funk and swing, engineered to get feet moving. GOLD TEETH
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4.50 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Legendary bad boy, mixed-bag night that invites use of the term ‘carnage’. DISTRKT
FACTORY 251, 22:30–03:00, £TBC
Student-leaning night of house, hip hop, r’n’b and garage. STUDENT HOUSE
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £2
The weekly student house and techno night returns to South, keeping you on the dancefloor till the early hours.
Manchester Clubs Wed 02 Apr JUICY
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–03:00, £1.50
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. HIGHER GROUND
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Residents Stuart Richards and Joshua Goddard guide us through the mid-week slump, navigating motown, ska and rock’n’roll as they go.
Thu 03 Apr
FOUR 20 (ROY DAVIS JR)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 22:30–04:00, £8
The Chicago house legend, Roy Davis Jr headlines this Four 20 night, paying an extended threehour set of house. REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
New weekly event, with the ever-charming Duncan from Dutch Uncles taking to the decks for a vinyl only set of golden age pop and disco. KABUKIMONO (SHANTY + NICK GARCEV + ALEXA AND THE THIN WHITE DUKES)
KRAAK, 21:00–03:00, £3.50
Fashion and music collide for this eccentric night hosted by clothing label, Kabukimono. STOP MAKING SENSE
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Common’s regular club-in-a-bar night of hipster bullshit, with Mr Seb Valentine, Benatronic & Luke Warm. F//CK
FACTORY 251, 22:30–03:30, £3 (99P CHEAP LIST)
Student Thursday-nighter, with resident DJs Steve Davies, Bill Murray’s Rock n Soul club, and Nicola Bear serving up anything from retro classics to electro mash ups across three rooms. SHAKE DOWN
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Underdog resident DJ Da Funk takes to the decks to spin the best in hip hop, funk and dupstep.
MASH UP THURSDAY (MIKEY D.O.N + DOM) TV21, 19:00–01:00, FREE (£1 AFTER 10.30PM)
A strictly vinyl-only selection set from Mikey D.O.N and Dom Blood, taking in reggae, soul and funk as they go. MURKAGE
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £3
House, hip-hop, grime and garage from the Murkage residents. AUDIOJUNKIES
WALRUS, 20:30–01:00, FREE
CactusMCR DJs delve into their collections to serve up some audio yet untold, with a mish mash of genres taking over the bar area.
Fri 04 Apr
TRIBAL SESSIONS (KINK + DARIUS SYROSSIA + MINEO)
SANKEYS, 22:30–06:00, £10
Experimental producer and DJ, KiNK headlines the latest tribal session, delivering a set of house and techno. MEAT FREE DJS PARTY #5
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Meat Free mark their first birthday with five house of back to back techno courtesy of the Meat Free residents, and a set from Manchester’s GRRD. RED LASER DISCO
ROADHOUSE, 23:00–04:00, £5
The Red Laser Records lot return for their first party of 2014, inviting DJ/producer Ali Renault to headline the night. Arrive ready to boogie. TOP OF THE POPS (JUSTINE ALDERMAN + LOZ NEWY)
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–03:30, £2
DJ set from Chris Massey, serving up the hits of the decade along with some guilty pleasures. XFM FIRST FRIDAY (BIG DEAL + AMBER RUN + TRAMPOLENE)
BAND ON THE WALL, 21:00–02:00, £4 EARLYBIRD (£6 THEREAFTER)
The gig and club combo night continues, with a three-strong line up headed up by the experimental London duo, Big Deal, getting all ethereal and lovely like.
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Listings
GOLD TEETH THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Legendary bad boy, mixed-bag night that invites use of the term ‘carnage’. REVOLVER
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £3 ADV (£4 DOOR)
Manchester’s premier 60s party, now a bi-monthly reason to get excited. Expect 60s pop, garage, motown, rock’n’roll. DARIO ZENKER
SOUP KITCHEN, 23:00–04:00, £8
Eastern Bloc records return with their second party of the year, this time inviting German DJ and producer Dario Zenker to lead the way into subterranean techno territory. WELL FUTURE
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Guest DJs on the decks, bringing you music from the past, present, and well, future. CLUB X OVER
THE RITZ, 22:30–03:30, £5 (£3.50)
Monthly alternative club night offering an eclectic mix of rock, grunge, metal, hip hop, industrial and more courtesy of their resident DJs. FRI251
FACTORY 251, 23:00–03:00, 99P (£6 AFTER 12)
Student Friday-nighter, with mashups in room one, indie, funk and Motown in room two, and electro house in room three.
OUTCROSS SHOWCASE (MIGUEL CAMPBELL + INLAND KNIGHTS + MIGUEL PUENTE) GORILLA, 22:00–04:00, £12
The Leeds-based Outcross Label showcase some of their finest, with underground house trailblazer Miguel Campbell headlining the night. SOCIAL BEAT
THE RITZ, 22:30–03:30, £5
New weekly club night taking the GoGo spot, relaunched as a house party mash up. EXCESS (BURNSKI)
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £8
The launch of Excess sees the night taking to the road for a country-wide tour, with eccentric performances involved stilts and/ or fire, extravagant décor, and vinyl advocate Burnski headlining the night. TOP OF THE POPS
THE BAY HORSE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
DJ set from Chris Massey, serving up the hits of the decade along with some guilty pleasures. FACTORY SATURDAYS
FACTORY 251, 23:00–03:00, £3
Three rooms of commercial dance, indie and deep house, powered by funktion one sound. STEVE AOKI
VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, 21:00–05:00, £20 EARLYBIRD (£25 THEREAFTER)
The Dim Mak label founder and electro-house DJ/producer does his energetic live thing, as per. CLINT BOON
WITCH*UNT WEEKENDER (MARSHALL JEFFERSON + ALEX BLAXX + FALLACY + LEE MAJORS + RENOCHILD)
Mixed-bag night from local DJ ledge Clint Boon.
UNDERLAND, 22:00–04:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
ALBERT HALL, 21:00–04:00, £SOLD OUT
The Witch*unt weekender kicks off, pitching boys against girls with a line-up spanning old-school hip hop, house and electro.
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £5
CHASE AND STATUS + PENDULUM
Manc DJ duo and dance music’s hot property, effortlessly marrying liquid funk with rich ragga sounds, much to many a clubber’s delight.
Sat 05 Apr
WITCH*UNT WEEKENDER (MADAM X + MØRK + LUCY IRONMONGER + DOLLY MIXTURE + WITCH*UNT RESIDENTS)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–04:00, £10
UNDERLAND, 23:00–04:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
CRACK THE WHIP (CERA ALBA + LEE WEBSTER)
Crack the Whip get going on their second year of being with a double headline set from underground house DJs Cera Alba and Lee Webster. BANK (BAILKAL)
ROADHOUSE, 23:00–04:00, £5 EARLYBIRD (£7 THEREAFTER)
Bank invite Innervisions’ Baikal to headline the night with a threehour set spanning disco, house and techno. FUNKADEMIA
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–03:30, £5 ADV (£6 DOOR)
Mancunian nightclub institution – delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective. REMAKE REMODEL
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 23:00–03:00, £14
A night of alternative rock’n’roll shenanigans. MR SCRUFF KEEP IT UNREAL
BAND ON THE WALL, 21:30–02:00, £11
DJ set from the musical mastermind, known for mixing a junkshop bag of sounds and bringing his beats to life with squiggly, scribbled animations. GIRLS ON FILM
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–04:00, £3 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Pink lady cocktails, disco balls, glitz and glamour – a monthly club night where you’re free to let your inner 80s child loose.
WITCH*UNT (MADAM X + MORK + LUCY IRONMONGER + DOLLY MIXTURE)
KRAAK, 23:00–04:00, £5 ADV (£7 DOOR)
Old school, hip hop and electro are the focus of this female-fronted club night. TREMENS (JON K)
SOUP KITCHEN, 23:00–04:00, £2 (£4 AFTER MIDNIGHT)
The Manchester native and founder of Eyes Down headlines the night, sharing his eclectic mix of sounds. FRIENDS IN COMMON
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Common invite their buddies to take over the decks.
The Witch*unt weekender kicks off, pitching boys against girls with a line-up spanning old-school hip hop, house and electro.
Sun 06 Apr MURKAGE CARTEL
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 22:00–04:00, FREE
The Murkage DJ collective pitch up at Black Dog to share a dose of hip hop, soul, house and funk for their weekly outing.
Mon 07 Apr RUM N REGGAE
SOUP KITCHEN, 12:00–23:00, FREE
Rum & Reggae returns as a monthly event, with music from Hotmilk’s Joey B and Swing Ting’s DJ Samrai, and Caribbean treats, like rum cocktails and goat curry.
Thu 10 Apr SWOON
Sat 12 Apr
Thu 17 Apr
SANKEYS, 22:30–06:00, £10
The Soul Clap duo headline the latest Crew Love night, bringing their forward-thinking take on techno to the fore.
JOSHUA BROOKS, 22:30–03:00, £3
CUFF RECORDS (AMINE EDGE & DANCE + STUFF + CLOUDED JUDGEMENT)
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
Cuff Records label bosses Anime Edge and Dance headline this showcase night, sharing the line up with Stuff and Clouded Judgement.
Monthly club night dropping house anthems, disco classics and party bangers. THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
New weekly event, with the ever-charming Duncan from Dutch Uncles taking to the decks for a vinyl only set of golden age pop and disco. ENDLESS CITY
KRAAK, 23:00–03:00, £3 ADV (£4 DOOR)
Beats, rhymes and cosmic visuals courtesy of the leftfield hip hop night, Endless City. STOP MAKING SENSE
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Common’s regular club-in-a-bar night of hipster bullshit, with Mr Seb Valentine, Benatronic & Luke Warm. F//CK
FACTORY 251, 22:30–03:30, £3 (99P CHEAP LIST)
Student Thursday-nighter, with resident DJs Steve Davies, Bill Murray’s Rock n Soul club, and Nicola Bear serving up anything from retro classics to electro mash ups across three rooms. SHAKE DOWN
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Underdog resident DJ Da Funk takes to the decks to spin the best in hip hop, funk and dupstep.
MASH UP THURSDAY (MIKEY D.O.N + DOM) TV21, 19:00–01:00, FREE (£1 AFTER 10.30PM)
A strictly vinyl-only selection set from Mikey D.O.N and Dom Blood, taking in reggae, soul and funk as they go. MURKAGE
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £3
House, hip-hop, grime and garage from the Murkage residents. AUDIOJUNKIES
WALRUS, 20:30–01:00, FREE
CactusMCR DJs delve into their collections to serve up some audio yet untold, with a mish mash of genres taking over the bar area.
Fri 11 Apr
MUSIC IS LOVE (MARCEL DETTMAN + FRANCIS INFERNO + ORCHESTRA + OLI FURNESS + RIO PADICE + MALIN GENIE) SANKEYS, 22:30–06:00, £10
The house label continue their eclectic nights, this time inviting German DJ and produder Marcel Dettman to take the helm.
CHOW DOWN (DJ Q + JT THE GOON + TIMBAH) JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–04:00, £4 EARLYBIRD (£5 THEREAFTER)
Huddersfield-based DJ and radio presented DJ Q headlines the latest Chow Down night, taking in grime, garage and bassline as he goes. TOP OF THE POPS (POP CURIOUS + GUS GORMAN)
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–03:30, £2
DJ set from Chris Massey, serving up the hits of the decade along with some guilty pleasures.
FUNKADEMIA
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–03:30, £5 ADV (£6 DOOR)
BAND ON THE WALL, 20:00–03:00, £6 EARLYBIRD (£8 THEREAFTER)
GOO
Monthly club night tribute to 90s indie – expect Pulp, Nirvana, Suede, Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies and more. TRIANGLE (SOUTH SEVEN + LUSHINGTON + JORDAN TURBILL + JOEL Y MAN + LIAM DUTTON)
KRAAK, 23:00–04:00, FREE (£2 AFTER 11.30PM)
Triangle returns to Manchester with a free residents party to mark the Easter weekend. FRIENDS IN COMMON
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE (£2 AFTER 10)
Common invite their buddies to take over the decks. PARANOID LONDON (HANFY MARTINEZ)
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, £12
System2 leave their rave bunker behind and bring their legendary night up north with a headline set from producers behind Paranoid London Records. SOCIAL BEAT
THE RITZ, 22:30–03:30, £5
New weekly club night taking the GoGo spot, relaunched as a house party mash up. MAJEFA
SOUND CONTROL, 22:30–04:00, £9
The Drop the Mustard regulars welcome German producer Kolsch for a turn on the decks. TRANARCHY
THE BAY HORSE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
The Manchester-based music and DJ collective prove their worth as seasoned party-throwers. Expect glitter. FACTORY SATURDAYS
FACTORY 251, 23:00–03:00, £3
Three rooms of commercial dance, indie and deep house, powered by funktion one sound. CLINT BOON
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £5
Mixed-bag night from local DJ ledge Clint Boon. APOCA-LOCK-N-LOAD
ZOMBIE SHACK, 22:00–03:00, FREE
An apocalyptic night serving up electro, house, grindhouse and bass.
Sun 13 Apr MURKAGE CARTEL
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 22:00–04:00, FREE
The Murkage DJ collective pitch up at Black Dog to share a dose of hip hop, soul, house and funk for their weekly outing.
Hot Space bring their sleazy club night concept to Manchester’s dingy Kraak venue, with Drunk at Vogue’s Thom Docking helping club goers get their sweat on.
Legendary bad boy, mixed-bag night that invites use of the term ‘carnage’.
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE (£2 AFTER 10)
FACTORY 251, 22:30–03:00, £TBC
DISTRKT
FACTORY 251, 22:30–03:00, £TBC
Student-leaning night of house, hip hop, r’n’b and garage. STUDENT HOUSE
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £2
The weekly student house and techno night returns to South, keeping you on the dancefloor till the early hours.
Wed 09 Apr JUICY
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–03:00, £1.50
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. HIGHER GROUND
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Residents Stuart Richards and Joshua Goddard guide us through the mid-week slump, navigating motown, ska and rock’n’roll as they go.
PUMPING IRON
Tue 15 Apr GOLD TEETH
The Mysterious Danish producer, also known as Rune Reilly Kolsch, Rune RK and one half of Artificial Funk brings romantic techno sounds to Drop the Mustard. FRI251
FACTORY 251, 23:00–03:00, 99P (£6 AFTER 12)
Student Friday-nighter, with mashups in room one, indie, funk and Motown in room two, and electro house in room three.
New weekly event, with the ever-charming Duncan from Dutch Uncles taking to the decks for a vinyl only set of golden age pop and disco. STOP MAKING SENSE
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Common’s regular club-in-a-bar night of hipster bullshit, with Mr Seb Valentine, Benatronic & Luke Warm. COVERT (ROBERT JAMES + ALEXIS RAPHAEL)
GORILLA, 22:00–04:00, £12
The latest Covert night pitches up with a headline set from Hot Creations’ Robert James, promising a set of his infections dancefloor sounds. KALOPSIA
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–03:00, FREE
A new club night pitching up at Night and Day, headed by Manchester Psych Festival.
TANGLED (DANNY HOWELLS)
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £10
Tangled mark the Easter weekend with Tangled residents appearing alongside Danny Howells’ melodic house and Meat Katie’s broken beats. F//CK
FACTORY 251, 22:30–03:30, £3 (99P CHEAP LIST)
Student Thursday-nighter, with resident DJs Steve Davies, Bill Murray’s Rock n Soul club, and Nicola Bear serving up anything from retro classics to electro mash ups across three rooms. SHAKE DOWN
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Underdog resident DJ Da Funk takes to the decks to spin the best in hip hop, funk and dupstep. MASH UP THURSDAY (MIKEY D.O.N + DOM)
TV21, 19:00–01:00, FREE (£1 AFTER 10.30PM)
A strictly vinyl-only selection set from Mikey D.O.N and Dom Blood, taking in reggae, soul and funk as they go. MURKAGE
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £3
House, hip-hop, grime and garage from the Murkage residents. AUDIOJUNKIES
WALRUS, 20:30–01:00, FREE
Fri 18 Apr
The weekly student house and techno night returns to South, keeping you on the dancefloor till the early hours.
DROP THE MUSTARD (KOLSCH)
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
DISTRKT
TOTALLY LOST IT
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £10
Mind on Fire join forces with UK label, Tru Thoughts for an Easter weekend showcase, inviting Werkha to headline the night.
CactusMCR DJs delve into their collections to serve up some audio yet untold, with a mish mash of genres taking over the bar area.
Student-leaning night of house, hip hop, r’n’b and garage.
Hardcore night Totally Lost It mark their 10th birthday with a special guest appearance from Dyprax.
MIND ON FIRE + TRU THOUGHTS
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4.50 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Mixed-bag night of nu cosmic Italio, vintage avant garde disco and lo-fi rhythmic punk funk. SOUND CONTROL, 22:00–04:00, £17
JOSHUA BROOKS, 22:00–04:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–04:00, £3 ADV (£5 DOOR)
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4.50 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Legendary bad boy, mixed-bag night that invites use of the term ‘carnage’.
COCHERA (ELIPHINO + MARK WELLS)
Hoya:Hoya’s Eliphino headlines the first ever Cochera night, a new garage, house and techno night pitching up at Joshua Brooks.
HOT SPACE (THOM DOCKING + JOHN HODGKISS)
KRAAK, 23:00–04:00, £5
SANKEYS, 22:30–06:00, £10
Mancunian nightclub institution – delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective.
Tue 08 Apr GOLD TEETH
CREW LOVE (SOUL CLAP + WOLF AND LAMB)
STUDENT HOUSE
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £2
Wed 16 Apr JUICY
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–03:00, £1.50
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. LOST CONTROL
KRAAK, 21:00–03:00, £3
Lost Control returns with Scenery Record’s ASOK and Cold Recordings Acre sharing the line-up. HIGHER GROUND
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Residents Stuart Richards and Joshua Goddard guide us through the mid-week slump, navigating motown, ska and rock’n’roll as they go.
HACIENDA (MIKE PICKERING + GRAEME PARK + GREG WILSON + JUSTIN ROBERTSON + JON DA SILVA) SANKEYS, 22:30–05:00, £10
The Hacienda continues to re-live its heyday, with M People founder Mike Pickering headlining the night and joined by Hacienda legends Graeme Park and Greg Wilson. QUINTESSENTIAL (KYLE HALL)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–04:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
Detroit techno pioneer Kyle Hall headlines this month’s Quintessential before playing London’s Fabric and Berlin’s Panorama Bar. TOP OF THE POPS (PING PONG CLUB + GUS GORMAN) MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–03:30, £2
DJ set from Chris Massey, serving up the hits of the decade along with some guilty pleasures. UPTOWN
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £3 ADV (£5 DOOR)
A new night landing at Deaf, offering up the best in disco, funk, boogie and party classics.
THE SKINNY
SPACE DIMENSION CONTROLLER
MAX GRAEF
SOUP KITCHEN, 23:00–04:00, £7
ROADHOUSE, 23:00–04:00, £5 EARLYBIRD (£7 THEREAFTER)
A leading figure in ‘Galactic Funk’, Space Dimension Controller blends psychedelic boogie and funk with his contemporary nu-disco meets house sound. WELL FUTURE
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE (£2 AFTER 10)
Guest DJs on the decks, bringing you music from the past, present, and well, future. ULTIMATE POWER
THE RITZ, 22:30–03:30, £8
A new club night sweeping the nation, offering up nothing but power ballads. It’s like one big communal karaoke night. ELEVATE
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £5
Underground basement rave taking in old skool house and techno. FRI251
FACTORY 251, 23:00–03:00, 99P (£6 AFTER 12)
Student Friday-nighter, with mashups in room one, indie, funk and Motown in room two, and electro house in room three.
Sat 19 Apr DJ NATURE
ROADHOUSE, 23:00–04:00, £7
Cut Loose invite NYC-native, DJ Nature to headline this special Bank Holiday, bringing with him bags of new material spanning jazz, soul and funk. FUNKADEMIA
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–03:30, £5 ADV (£6 DOOR)
Mancunian nightclub institution – delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective. REVOLVER
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 23:00–03:00, £3 ADV (£4 DOOR)
Manchester’s premier 60s party, now a bi-monthly reason to get excited. Expect 60s pop, garage, motown, rock’n’roll. FRIENDS IN COMMON
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE (£2 AFTER 10)
Common invite their buddies to take over the decks.
SCANDALISM (THE ALEXANDERS + MIGHTY MOUSE + MYLO + YUKSEK + ALEX METRIC)
GORILLA, 22:00–04:00, £12 EARLYBIRD (£12 THEREAFTER)
The London-based disco night heads north for a late one beneath Gorilla’s arches, with long-time club favourites The Alexanders headlining the night.
STRANGERS CLUB (ISLE OF HER DJS + GIRLS ON FILM DJS) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 23:00–03:00, FREE
New club night with Isle of Her DJs going back to back with Girls on Film DJs, playing anything from Blondie to Talking Heads. RELAPSE
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £8
Heavy night of forward-thinking drum’n’bass, jungle and future. DEEPDARK
FALLOW CAFE, 23:00–03:00, £2 ADV (£3 DOOR)
Monthly club night pitching up at Fallow, taking in house, garage and all-around feel good tunes throughout the night. MARK HOGG
THE BAY HORSE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
One half of The Slammin’ Boys, and Funkademia resident navigates classic disco and funk as part of his new monthly residency. FACTORY SATURDAYS
FACTORY 251, 23:00–03:00, £3
Three rooms of commercial dance, indie and deep house, powered by funktion one sound. CLINT BOON
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £5
Mixed-bag night from local DJ ledge Clint Boon.
SWING AND SHOUT (HALLOUMINATI + WOLFIE RAZZMATAZZ + MC TUNES + SWING DANCE CLASSES + JEZ SINGS THINGS + RACHELE WHATEVER + KELLY BLUE) UNDERLAND, 20:00–04:00, £6.50 ADV (£8/£10 DOOR)
A mixed bag night of gypsy, ska, punk, electro, swing and everything in between.
Sun 20 Apr
DIRTY DUTCH (DJ CHUCKIE)
SANKEYS, 22:30–04:30, £15
Cream and Composit Music join forces to bring DJ Chuckie’s Dirty Dutch party to Manchester for an Easter bank holiday special.
The boundary pushing DJ and producer, designed to make you feel old (he was born in ‘93) pitches up for a Easter bank holiday weekend special. I AM THE RESURRECTION
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–04:00, £3 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Deaf mark the Easter weekend by, ahem, resurrecting all those old school indie classics, throwing in some britpop and shoegaze for good measure. HAXAN: 10TH BIRTHDAY SPECIAL (SEAN CANTY + YONG YONG) COMMON, 16:00–01:00, FREE
The first of many many many birthday celebrations in advance of their tenth birthday later this year, with a special edition of Haxan inviting one of the original instigators, Sean Canty, back to the booth. MICRON (TIGER & WOODS + THE REVENGE)
GORILLA, 22:00–04:00, £10
Micron mark the Easter weekend with a special extended set from disco duo Tiger & Woods appearing alongside the analogue sounds of The Revenge. MANCHESTER RITZ REVIVAL
THE RITZ, 20:00–03:30, £10
Northern Soul revival all night long, headlined by Ian Levine. MURKAGE CARTEL
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 22:00–04:00, FREE
The Murkage DJ collective pitch up at Black Dog to share a dose of hip hop, soul, house and funk for their weekly outing. LAST NIGHT ON EARTH: SASHA (GEORGE FITZGERALD + DEETRON + MIDLAND + EJECA) ALBERT HALL, 18:00–04:00, £20
The majestic Albert Hall is the backdrop for this Easter bank holiday event, with a headline four-hour set from game-changing DJ, Sasha.
Tue 22 Apr GOLD TEETH
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4.50 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Legendary bad boy, mixed-bag night that invites use of the term ‘carnage’. DISTRKT
FACTORY 251, 22:30–03:00, £TBC
Student-leaning night of house, hip hop, r’n’b and garage. STUDENT HOUSE
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £2
The weekly student house and techno night returns to South, keeping you on the dancefloor till the early hours.
Wed 23 Apr HIGHER GROUND
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Residents Stuart Richards and Joshua Goddard guide us through the mid-week slump, navigating motown, ska and rock’n’roll as they go.
Thu 24 Apr
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
New weekly event, with the ever-charming Duncan from Dutch Uncles taking to the decks for a vinyl only set of golden age pop and disco. MIC RIGHTEOUS (TENCHOO + BRIGZY & ILLATANT + THREEWAYS) KRAAK, 19:00–04:00, £7
Hip hop/grime artist – and younger brother of Iranian boxer, Takaloo – gaining traction with the masses, with 10 million Youtube hits and counting. STOP MAKING SENSE
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Common’s regular club-in-a-bar night of hipster bullshit, with Mr Seb Valentine, Benatronic & Luke Warm. F//CK
FACTORY 251, 22:30–03:30, £3 (99P CHEAP LIST)
Student Thursday-nighter, with resident DJs Steve Davies, Bill Murray’s Rock n Soul club, and Nicola Bear serving up anything from retro classics to electro mash ups across three rooms. SHAKE DOWN
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 23:00–04:00, FREE
Underdog resident DJ Da Funk takes to the decks to spin the best in hip hop, funk and dupstep.
April 2014
MASH UP THURSDAY (MIKEY D.O.N + DOM) TV21, 19:00–01:00, FREE (£1 AFTER 10.30PM)
A strictly vinyl-only selection set from Mikey D.O.N and Dom Blood, taking in reggae, soul and funk as they go. MURKAGE
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £3
House, hip-hop, grime and garage from the Murkage residents. AUDIOJUNKIES
WALRUS, 20:30–01:00, FREE
CactusMCR DJs delve into their collections to serve up some audio yet untold, with a mish mash of genres taking over the bar area.
Fri 25 Apr
VIVA WARRIORS (STEVE LAWLER + NIC FANCIULLI + DETLEF + UNDER DJS)
SANKEYS, 22:30–06:00, £10
THE UNDERGROUND & FRIENDS (ANDRE CROM + MAT.JOE + JAMES SILK) GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
Resident DJs spin the very best of the last six decades of controversial icons, from Elvis, The Clash, Chick Berry and Snoop Dogg. YOU DIG?
SOUP KITCHEN, 22:00–04:00, £5 EARLYBIRD (£7 THEREAFTER)
Funky music for funky people. WELL FUTURE
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE (£2 AFTER 10)
Guest DJs on the decks, bringing you music from the past, present, and well, future. BLOCK PARTY
TROF NORTHERN QUARTER, 21:00–03:00, FREE
Another Mof Glimmers night, serving up block party essentials with free house punch ‘til it’s gone. MR SMITHS SOUL REVIVAL
THE RITZ, 22:30–03:00, £7 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
The legendary soul night, once housed in Mr Smiths in Warrington, makes a move to The Ritz to continue proceedings. Expect soul, r&b and hip-hop. FRI251
FACTORY 251, 23:00–03:00, 99P (£6 AFTER 12)
Student Friday-nighter, with mashups in room one, indie, funk and Motown in room two, and electro house in room three.
Sat 26 Apr
APOLLONIA (JOHN DIMAS + CHAPPELL)
SANKEYS, 22:30–06:00, £10
The Apollonia collective descend on Manchester, with Shonky, Dan Gehncia and Dyed Soundorom kicking up some house and techno mayhem.
BEATNIKS 1ST BIRTHDAY (YOUSEF)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–04:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
Bringing the underground sound as per, with house DJ Yousef helping the Beatniks mark their first birthday. FUNKADEMIA
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–03:30, £5 ADV (£6 DOOR)
Mancunian nightclub institution – delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective. ROCK ASYLUM
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 11PM)
Rock and metal club night, with residents Dan Clifford and Mikke Diablo appearing alongside guest DJs. CRAIG CHARLES FUNK AND SOUL CLUB (LACK OF AFRO BAND)
BAND ON THE WALL, 21:00–03:00, £13 EARLYBIRD (£15 THEREAFTER)
DJ and actor Craig Charles will be manning the decks until 3am, playing his picks of funk and soul. POP
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–04:00, £3 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Pop classics in the music hall and glitzy girly disco in the main bar – all of which is designed to keep you dancing all night. FRIENDS IN COMMON
COMMON, 21:00–02:00, FREE (£2 AFTER 10)
Common invite their buddies to take over the decks.
THE KAZIMIER, 20:00–03:00, FREE
Deep Hedonia and Upitup Records transform MelloMello into a ravecave of sorts, serving up a heady mix of techno, abstract techno and live visuals.
THE RITZ, 22:30–03:30, £5
Fri 04 Apr
MODU:LAR (RHADOO + A:RPIA:R)
The Skinny Northwest is one year old this month! To mark the occasion we're throwing a free birthday party, with live music from Patterns, WYWH and John McGrath followed by DJ sets from Ninetails, Wet Play and JA Shepherd (Scenery Records). Come join us!
SOCIAL BEAT
New weekly club night taking the GoGo spot, relaunched as a house party mash up. REACH OUT
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–03:00, £1
A night of 60s sounds, with Motown and soul on the agenda thanks to Sound Control resident, Daniel Deighan. NICK’S PICKS
THE BAY HORSE, 21:00–01:00, FREE
Three rooms of commercial dance, indie and deep house, powered by funktion one sound.
REBEL MUSIC
HEDS-UP (ODDBWAR + JOHN LOVELESS + UNION JACQUES)
THE SKINNY 1ST BIRTHDAY (PATTERNS + WYWH + JOHN MCGRATH + WET PLAY + JA SHEPHERD + NINETAILS DJ SET)
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–03:30, £2
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £3 ADV (£5 DOOR)
Sat 12 Apr
Student night with drinks offers and resident DJs providing the urban soundtrack to your Thursday night.
A selection of rare and private press rock, punk and psychedelia, courtesy of Nick.
DJ set from Chris Massey, serving up the hits of the decade along with some guilty pleasures.
SWAG!
The Underground welcome their friends to Gorilla’s cavernous space, with OFF Recordings head honcho Andre Crom headlining the night, bringing the deephouse sounds as he goes.
The infamous Ibiza collective descend, bringing with ‘em the usual Balearic heat and dancefloor mayhem. TOP OF THE POPS (JUSTINE ALDERMAN + GUS GORMAN)
Liverpool Clubs
FACTORY SATURDAYS
FACTORY 251, 23:00–03:00, £3
CLINT BOON
CAMEL CLUB, 22:30–04:00, FROM £2
THE GARAGE, 22:00–08:00, £10 ADV (£15 DOOR)
Aiming to broaden the horizons of an already burgeoning electronic music scene, Modu:Lar pitch up with their latest event.
Sat 05 Apr RAGE
THE KRAZY HOUSE, 22:00–05:00, £3
Mixed-bag night spread out over all three floors, serving up indie, rock, alternative and dance tunes. OUR OF THIS WORLD
CHAMELEON BAR, 20:00–02:00, FREE
Following their recent relaunch, Chameleon Bar presents an out of this world Saturday night, with guest and resident DJs taking care of the sounds.
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £5
BEDLAM SATURDAY
Sun 27 Apr
Extravagant and flamboyant club night complete with resident entertainers, including Foxy Grunt and Barbie the hostess with the mostess.
Mixed-bag night from local DJ ledge Clint Boon. MURKAGE CARTEL
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 22:00–04:00, FREE
The Murkage DJ collective pitch up at Black Dog to share a dose of hip hop, soul, house and funk for their weekly outing.
Liverpool Clubs
GARLANDS, 22:00–04:00, £10 (£5)
BOUTIQUE AFTER HOURS
BOUTIQUE, 00:00–06:00, £TBC
Liverpool’s only after hours night club, keeping the party going until the smaller hours.
Mon 07 Apr DIRTY ANTICS
BUMPER, 22:30–04:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 11)
Messy Tuesday-nighter, bring your dirty shoes. UNI BAR
CAMEL CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FROM £2
Tue 01 Apr DIRTY ANTICS
BUMPER, 22:30–04:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 11)
Messy Tuesday-nighter, bring your dirty shoes. UNI BAR
CAMEL CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FROM £2
Long-standing student night, serving up a mix of hip hop, r’n’b, funk and dancehall courtesy of residents, the RocRite DJs.
Wed 02 Apr
PAUSE VS CLARKS SPRING SOUNDCLASH
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 22:00–03:00, £6
Liverpool’s UK garage and house night goes head to head with Liverpool-based dancehall and bashment night, Clarks. MEDICATION
NATION, 22:30–03:00, £5
Long-running student night serving up three rooms of house, electro, chart and r’n’b – complete with visuals and occasional fancy dress. KILL YOUR TV
BUMPER, 20:30–05:00, £2
An anything-goes affair – think indie, punk, ska, new wave, electro and more. NO-WAVE SOCIAL CLUB
BROOKLYN MIXER, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Alternative indie and hip-hop night from the No-Wave bunch, expect the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Hot Chip and Pixies.
Thu 03 Apr JUICY
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £3
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. SUPER RAD
BUMPER, 20:00–05:00, £TBC
A night of classic rad sounds spanning indie, rock, crunk and disco, with free gin and juice for the first 100 guests. TIME SQUARE
THE KRAZY HOUSE, 22:00–04:00, £2
Staple student night with a mix of music across the three floors (think: rock, indie, alternative, dance and a sprinkling of cheese). GOSSIP!
GARLANDS, 22:00–03:00, £4
Student night with 5 rooms of music spread over 2 floors and occasional theme nights.
Long-standing student night, serving up a mix of hip hop, r’n’b, funk and dancehall courtesy of residents, the RocRite DJs.
Wed 09 Apr MEDICATION
NATION, 22:30–03:00, £5
Long-running student night serving up three rooms of house, electro, chart and r’n’b – complete with visuals and occasional fancy dress. KILL YOUR TV
BUMPER, 20:30–05:00, £2
An anything-goes affair – think indie, punk, ska, new wave, electro and more. NO-WAVE SOCIAL CLUB
BROOKLYN MIXER, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Alternative indie and hip-hop night from the No-Wave bunch, expect the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Hot Chip and Pixies.
Thu 10 Apr JUICY
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £3
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. SUPER RAD
BUMPER, 20:00–05:00, £TBC
A night of classic rad sounds spanning indie, rock, crunk and disco, with free gin and juice for the first 100 guests. TIME SQUARE
THE KRAZY HOUSE, 22:00–04:00, £2
Staple student night with a mix of music across the three floors (think: rock, indie, alternative, dance and a sprinkling of cheese).
HUSTLE (TONY LIONNI + ATJAZZ)
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 22:00–03:00, £10
The Berlin-based DJ and producer Tony Lionni plays his first full hometown show, serving up real house as per the Hustle standard. RAGE
THE KRAZY HOUSE, 22:00–05:00, £3
Mixed-bag night spread out over all three floors, serving up indie, rock, alternative and dance tunes. OUR OF THIS WORLD
CHAMELEON BAR, 20:00–02:00, FREE
Following their recent relaunch, Chameleon Bar presents an out of this world Saturday night, with guest and resident DJs taking care of the sounds. BEDLAM SATURDAY
GARLANDS, 22:00–04:00, £10 (£5)
Extravagant and flamboyant club night complete with resident entertainers, including Foxy Grunt and Barbie the hostess with the mostess. BOUTIQUE AFTER HOURS
BOUTIQUE, 00:00–06:00, £TBC
MELLOMELLO, 22:00–02:00, £2 DONATION
RAGE
THE KRAZY HOUSE, 22:00–05:00, £3
Mixed-bag night spread out over all three floors, serving up indie, rock, alternative and dance tunes. OUR OF THIS WORLD
CHAMELEON BAR, 20:00–02:00, FREE
Following their recent relaunch, Chameleon Bar presents an out of this world Saturday night, with guest and resident DJs taking care of the sounds. BEDLAM SATURDAY
GARLANDS, 22:00–04:00, £10 (£5)
Extravagant and flamboyant club night complete with resident entertainers, including Foxy Grunt and Barbie the hostess with the mostess. BOUTIQUE AFTER HOURS
Liverpool’s only after hours night club, keeping the party going until the smaller hours.
Sun 20 Apr GRAEME PARK
CAMP AND FURNACE, 22:00–03:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER)
The Hacienda legend plays a rare set in Liverpool’s Camp and Furnace, armed with his kitbag full of classic house.
Following their recent relaunch, Chameleon Bar presents an out of this world Saturday night, with guest and resident DJs taking care of the sounds. BEDLAM SATURDAY
GARLANDS, 22:00–04:00, £10 (£5)
Extravagant and flamboyant club night complete with resident entertainers, including Foxy Grunt and Barbie the hostess with the mostess. BOUTIQUE AFTER HOURS
BOUTIQUE, 00:00–06:00, £TBC
Liverpool’s only after hours night club, keeping the party going until the smaller hours.
Manchester Theatre Contact MOTHER’S RUIN
25 APR, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £9 (£5)
Four Northwest performers go head to head in this variety talent show as part of Queer Contact Festival, with £250 up for grabs for the winner. TURN 2014
4–5 APR, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £9 (£5)
A mini festival of danceworks presented by performers from the Northwest, exploring form and space in intense and fearless ways.
Mon 14 Apr
EAST VILLAGE ARTS CLUB, 22:00–04:00, £22 (£20)
15 APR, 7:00PM – 10:30PM, £6 (£3)
Mon 21 Apr
Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama
DIRTY ANTICS
BUMPER, 22:30–04:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 11)
Messy Tuesday-nighter, bring your dirty shoes. UNI BAR
CAMEL CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FROM £2
Long-standing student night, serving up a mix of hip hop, r’n’b, funk and dancehall courtesy of residents, the RocRite DJs.
Wed 16 Apr MEDICATION
NATION, 22:30–03:00, £5
Long-running student night serving up three rooms of house, electro, chart and r’n’b – complete with visuals and occasional fancy dress. KILL YOUR TV
BUMPER, 20:30–05:00, £2
An anything-goes affair – think indie, punk, ska, new wave, electro and more. NO-WAVE SOCIAL CLUB
BROOKLYN MIXER, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Alternative indie and hip-hop night from the No-Wave bunch, expect the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Hot Chip and Pixies.
Thu 17 Apr JUICY
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £3
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. SUPER RAD
BUMPER, 20:00–05:00, £TBC
Circus resident Yousef goes back to back with Eats Everything for the latest installation of the staple club night. DIRTY ANTICS
BUMPER, 22:30–04:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 11)
Messy Tuesday-nighter, bring your dirty shoes. UNI BAR
CAMEL CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FROM £2
Long-standing student night, serving up a mix of hip hop, r’n’b, funk and dancehall courtesy of residents, the RocRite DJs.
Wed 23 Apr MEDICATION
NATION, 22:30–03:00, £5
Long-running student night serving up three rooms of house, electro, chart and r’n’b – complete with visuals and occasional fancy dress. KILL YOUR TV
BUMPER, 20:30–05:00, £2
An anything-goes affair – think indie, punk, ska, new wave, electro and more. NO-WAVE SOCIAL CLUB
BROOKLYN MIXER, 21:00–02:00, FREE
Alternative indie and hip-hop night from the No-Wave bunch, expect the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Hot Chip and Pixies.
Thu 24 Apr JUICY
HIT THE ODE
A showcase of work by local, national and international poets, presented by Ben Mellor
ROMEO AND JULIET: BLACK BOX THEATRE
23–25 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £5
Following a successful run with Othello, Black Box Theatre turn their attention to the Great Man’s tale of star-crossed lovers.
Opera House THE PERFECT MURDER
15–19 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £9
The stage adaptation of Peter James’ crime thriller, following a married man as he attempts to craft the perfect murder, and then keen young detective determined to foil his plan. Now with added Les Dennis.
FROM HACKNEY TO HOLLYWOOD: THE DON BLACK SONGBOOK
8 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £22.50
A musical celebration of the life and times of Don Black, starring special guest Martine McCutcheon. THE EASTER FUNNY SHOW
11–12 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £12
Tam Ryan and John Thomson present an Easter pantomime suitable for the whole family. 20TH CENTURY BOY
22–26 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £10
A night of classic rad sounds spanning indie, rock, crunk and disco, with free gin and juice for the first 100 guests.
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk.
Musical inspired by the life of Marc Bolan, with music and lyrics by the man himself, taking audiences on a touching journey through his myriad experiences
THE KRAZY HOUSE, 22:00–04:00, £2
BUMPER, 20:00–05:00, £TBC
Palace Theatre
TIME SQUARE
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £3
SUPER RAD
SWAG!
GARLANDS, 22:00–03:00, £4
THE KRAZY HOUSE, 22:00–04:00, £2
CAMEL CLUB, 22:30–04:00, FROM £2
OUR OF THIS WORLD
CHAMELEON BAR, 20:00–02:00, FREE
CIRCUS (YOUSEF B2B EATS EVERYTHING + JORIS VOORN + VISIONQUEST + LEWIS BOARDMAN + SCOTT LEWIS)
A night of classic rad sounds spanning indie, rock, crunk and disco, with free gin and juice for the first 100 guests.
Student night with drinks offers and resident DJs providing the urban soundtrack to your Thursday night.
Mixed-bag night spread out over all three floors, serving up indie, rock, alternative and dance tunes.
Liverpool’s only after hours night club, keeping the party going until the smaller hours.
Staple student night with a mix of music across the three floors (think: rock, indie, alternative, dance and a sprinkling of cheese).
Student night with 5 rooms of music spread over 2 floors and occasional theme nights.
RAGE
THE KRAZY HOUSE, 22:00–05:00, £3
BOUTIQUE, 00:00–06:00, £TBC
GARLANDS, 22:00–03:00, £4
GOSSIP!
Sat 26 Apr
GOSSIP!
Student night with 5 rooms of music spread over 2 floors and occasional theme nights. SWAG!
CAMEL CLUB, 22:30–04:00, FROM £2
TIME SQUARE
Staple student night with a mix of music across the three floors (think: rock, indie, alternative, dance and a sprinkling of cheese). GOSSIP!
Student night with drinks offers and resident DJs providing the urban soundtrack to your Thursday night.
Student night with 5 rooms of music spread over 2 floors and occasional theme nights.
Sat 19 Apr
CAMEL CLUB, 22:30–04:00, FROM £2
MAX COOPER
CAMP AND FURNACE, 22:00–03:00, £10
Catch a full set from the Londonbased electronica and techno producer known for his remixes of the likes of Hot Chip and Sasha.
GARLANDS, 22:00–03:00, £4
SWAG!
Student night with drinks offers and resident DJs providing the urban soundtrack to your Thursday night.
I’M SORRY I HAVEN’T A CLUE
30 JAN, 1 APR, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, FROM £21.50
The BBC Radio antidote to panel games starts an all-new touring stage show/evening of inspired nonsense, with host Jack Dee keeping Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Jeremy Hardy on board. HOT FLUSH!
3 APR, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £15
Naughty musical comedy starring Lesley Joseph, following the ups and downs in the lives of four ordinary women and one man as they navigate mid-life crisis territory.
Listings
59
Theatre Manchester THE KINGS OF SWING 4 APR, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, FROM £20.50
A celebration of swing legends, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and more recent additions to the genre, including Paulo Nutini and Michael Buble, as performed by the Kings of Swing Orchestra. ALL THAT JAZZ
12 APR, 7:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £16
Showcase of performers from the Natalie Woods School of Dance and Drama.
Royal Exchange Theatre GYM PARTY
4–5 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £10
Razor sharp, darkly comic exploration of our universal desire to win, in which three intrepid contestants compete in a series of games, from the hilariously stupid to the arbitrary and downright heart-breaking. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 27 MAR AND 3 MAY, TIMES VARY, FROM £14.50
Shakespeare’s greatest comedy comes to the stage under the guidance of Maria Aberg, making her Royal Exchange debut, placing the emphasis on the importance of community and celebration as a pinnacle factor in the production.
HUNGER FOR TRADE (BLACK GOLD + TENDER BOLUS) 24–26 APR, TIMES VARY, £12 (£10)
An international and cross-border exploration of the modern food crisis, with Black Gold taking us to the Ivory Coast as a British trader clashes with a cocoa farmer, and Tender Bolus following a couple on the brink of bankruptcy.
The Dancehouse THE CITY & IRIS
7 APR, 7:15PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£8)
Glass-Eye Theatre present a physical theatre experience following a young woman who finds herself experiencing the city in a strange new light after she breaks her glasses. CABARET REGALE
5 APR, 7:30PM – 11:00PM, £10 (£8)
A variety performance spanning poetry, music, comedy, dance and more. MOVE IT
12 APR, 7:15PM – 10:00PM, £5
An evening of dance presented by evening class participants, taking in flamenco, ballet, jazz and more.
The Edge Theatre & Arts Centre
WARNINGS TO THE CURIOUS: THE GHOST STORIES OF M. R. JAMES
4 APR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£7)
Don’t Go Into The Cellar take on the classic ghost tales of Edwardian scholar, M. R. James, presenting a one-man show likely to end with you sleeping with the light on.
The King’s Arms LET’S SEE WHAT HAPPENS
5 APR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £3
Improv from the members of CszUK – using audience suggestions a comedian will tell a story based on this, followed by imrpovised sketches from a troupe of actors. EMBRYO 83
4 APR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £5
Mixed bag night that acts as a platform for performances currently in development – you’ll see anything from short films and comedy to poetry and bands of all genres. THE BEAU DEFEATED
31 MAR – 1 APR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£6)
The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts present this gripping satire, focussing on two women and their search for husbands.
60
Listings
THE LAST 5 YEARS 7–13 APR, TIMES VARY, £12
Jason Robert Brown’s award winning musical following two New Yorkers as they fall in and out of love. ME. OLD. MAN
18–19 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £6 (£4)
A poignant tale written by Dan Atkinson, following an old man as he recovers from a fall and his past, present and future are discussed by close family and friends. ANDROID + HEADSPACE
21–22 APR, 9:00PM – 10:30PM, £5
A double-bill performance with Lindsay Avery’s tale of two lonely figures trying to establish why the land is slowly dying, and Rob Johnston’s exploration of mental health. CLOSE/DISTANCE
24 APR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £8
A dance, speech and animation performance looking at four people brought together by where they live. FEEDING FINGERS
26 APR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £5
Austrian post-punk trio, making their UK debut as part of their Occupant tour.
The Lowry Studio TAKING CHARLIE
28–29 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £12
Neil Warhurst’s dark comedy returns to The Lowry, recounring the real-life tale of the abduction of Charlie Chaplin’s body in 1978. SING SOMETHING SIMPLE
3–4 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £12
Comic play about the musical aspirations of a young man craving the spotlight, with his journey taking him all the way to the Albert Hall. THE GHOST HUNTER
19 APR, 8:00PM – 11:00PM, £12
Theatre of the Damned present this tale of a ghost tour guide with a chilling story to tell. THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY
24 APR, 8:00PM – 11:00PM, £12
A stage adaptation of the 400year old, 1500-page attempt to pin down the causes and cures for melancholy, offering some arcane advice from the world’s most surreal self-help manual. A PLEASING TERROR
25–26 APR, 8:00PM – 11:00PM, £12
A one man show performed by R M Lloyd Parry, taking on two of M R James’ most chilling ghost stories.
The Lowry: Lyric Theatre LORD OF THE FLIES
2–5 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £20
Matthew Bourne’s adaptation of Lord of the Flies, choreographed by Olivier prize-nominated Scott Ambler and starring New Adventures dancers from the Northwest. BOXE BOXE
8 APR, 7:30PM – 11:00PM, FROM £18
France’s Compagnie Käfig company return to the UK with an impressive new show fusing the art of boxing with dance. ICE
15–20 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £16
Olympic champion and head judge on Dancing on Ice, Robin Cousins leads a troupe of world class skaters through some mesmeric skating set to a soundtrack of original and reworked classics.
The Lowry: Quays Theatre RIME
12–13 APR, TIMES VARY, £16
Square Peg present a circus, theatre and dance show based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. BALLET CENTRAL 2014
2 APR, 7:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £15
Ballet Central present a repertoire of newly commissioned works spanning ballet, contemporary, jazz and narrative dance, performed by the company’s young dancers.
THE RITE OF SPRING + PETRUSHKA
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
22–23 APR, 8:00PM – 11:00PM, FROM £17
22 APR–3 MAY, TIMES VARY, FROM £10
A dance theatre double-bill directed by Michael Keegan-Dolan and presented by Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, offering new interpretations of Stravinsky’s classics. RAPUNZEL
26–27 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £14
A family-friendly dance show presenting a re-telling of the Grimm Brother’s classic tale, Rapunzel, built up on collaborations with Carol Ann Duffy and Game of Thrones costume designer, Michele Clayton.
Victoria Baths
UN-REST FESTIVAL (LAUNCH NIGHT)
24 APR, 6:00PM – 9:00PM, FREE
The launch of a ten-day arts festival exploring physical expression through contemporary art, video installations and dance performances.
Z Arts GLASSHOUSE
22–23 APR, TIMES VARY, £10 (£7)
Kate Tempest’s dark and gritty writing is brought to life in this Forum Theatre and Cardboard Citizen production of her latest work, exploring family, love, and the pressures of living together.
Liverpool Theatre Epstein Theatre ALADDIN
15–21 APR, TIMES VARY, £15 (£12.50)
A rock’n’roll panto adaptation of Aladdin, complete with a rave in a cave and some frothy dance moves. BEBOPALULA
4–5 APR, 6:00PM – 9:30PM, £17.50 (£15)
Gavin Stanley and Lars Young pay tribute to the music of Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Billy Fury and Roy Orbison. THE WIZARD OF OZ
10–12 APR, TIMES VARY, £15
Easter pantomime production of The Wizard of Oz, complete with live band, adorable dog and a slew of TV stars. ESCORTS
24–25 APR, 6:30PM – 10:00PM, £15
Risqué comedy musical about the sex industry, following the manager of an escort agency as she attempts to get revenge on her cheating fiancée.
Everyman Theatre THE EVENTS
8–12 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £12
David Greig’s daring new play looking at how far forgiveness will stretch in the face of atrocity, touching upon tragedy, obsession and our destructive desire to fathom the unfathomable as it goes. TWELFTH NIGHT
8 MAR – 5 APR, NOT 9 MAR, 16 MAR, 23 MAR, 30 MAR, TIMES VARY, FROM £12
One of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies (y’know, the one with a man playing a girl disguised as a boy) gets a reworking, marking the re-opening of Liverpool’s Everyman theatre.
Liverpool Cathedral OTHELLO
3–5 APR, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £10 (£6)
Off The Ground Youth Theatre present a re-working of Shakespeare’s classic tale of jealousy and deceit, taking place in the beautiful surroundings of the Cathedral’s Lady Chapel.
Liverpool Empire
THE MAGIC OF MOTOWN
5 APR, 8:00PM – 10:30PM, £25
Singalongable motown hits, capturing the original Detroit sound of The Supremes et al.
The West End production of Singin’ In The Rain arrives, drenching audiences in feel good vibes with their fizzy re-telling of the first Hollywood musical making its way to the silver screen. Matinee performances also available. LET IT BE
7–12 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £19.50
West End show charting the meteoric rise of the Beatles, taking the audience on a musical journey through all the hits, from their early days at the Cavern Club to their global hits, Yesterday and Hey Jude. DANCE ‘TIL DAWN
31 MAR–5 APR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY
Vincent Simone and Flavia of Strictly Come Dancing fame return with their second live show, if any of you give a bugger. HOT FLUSH!
6 APR, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, FROM £15
Naughty musical comedy starring Lesley Joseph, following the ups and downs in the lives of four ordinary women and one man as they navigate mid-life crisis territory. FAME
14–26 APR, NOT 20, 21, TIMES VARY, FROM £10
New glitzy production of the stage musical, based on the classic 80s film of the same name.
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
FROM HACKNEY TO HOLLYWOOD: THE DON BLACK SONGBOOK
6 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £22.50
A musical celebration of the life and times of Don Black, starring special guest Martine McCutcheon.
Liverpool Playhouse
The Liverpool Actors Studio Theatre ALICE IN WONDERLAND
12–13 APR, 7:00PM – 10:00PM, £8 (£6)
Liverpool Actors Studio and Studio Youth Theatre present a radical re-working of Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland, sending audiences tumbling down the rabbit hole into a strange and unfamiliar world.
Unity Theatre MORE LIGHT
1 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £7 (£5)
Respiration Theatre Company present Bryony Lavery’s story of concubines buried alive and their desire to survive; contains cannibalism. AFTER WHAT COMES BEFORE
3 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£8)
Manic Chord present a darkly comic tale of three scientists aiming to construct a machine that can extract thoughts and in the process become the subjects of their own experiment. HOOF!
4 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£8)
Spike Theatre transform a bare stage into a visual, verbal and musical feast, using only five performers and a musician. DESERT
14 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £12 (£10)
A multimedia exploration into the life of US Army Intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning and his alleged link to WikiLeaks, written by Edward Fortes and directed by Bethany Pitts. AN EXTRAORDINARY LIGHT
16–17 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£8)
Award-winning playwright Rob Johnston presents his touching portrayal of a woman at the heart of the race to discover the structure of DNA, often at great personal cost.
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
27 MAR – 19 APR, NOT 30 MAR, 6 APR, 13 APR, 18 APR, TIMES VARY, FROM £10
Charlotte Gwinner brings Arthur Miller’s tale set in 50s New York in an Italian-American community of Red Hook to the stage, untangling the complex family ties and culture clashes as Marco and Rodolpho come crashing into Eddies world.
Royal Court Theatre SPECIAL MEASURES
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 APR AND 3 MAY, TIMES VARY, £12
Comic play set in an ordinary school in Netherton deemed “failing” by OFSTED and placed under Special Measures while the teachers get up to snuff.
The Kazimier UMBRIDGE: IMPROVATHON
5–6 APR, 11:00AM – 10:34PM, £25 WEEKEND (£5 PER EPISODE)
The fifth annual Improvathon returns to The Kazimier, this time taking on The Archers, the Women’s Institute and Postman Pat, for their aptly-titled show, Umbridge - an improvised story about country life.
The Lantern Theatre BEYOND HILLSBOROUGH
11–13 APR, TIMES VARY, £8.50 (£6.50)
Twenty three years on, lives lost, families torn apart and brought together by the same tragedy, Hillsborough. Using original interviews with survivors, bereaved family members, politicians, police and journalists, we ask is there hope after Hillsborough? JOHN BERKAVITCH: SHAME
15 APR, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £8.50 (£6.50)
Powerful spoken word show from John Berkavitch, incorporating dance and animation in his hiphop theatre way. BOUNCERS
25–26 APR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £10.50 (£8.50)
Comic parody of the disco scene, with four bouncers playing 20 roles throughout the production, from giggly girls to lairy lads.
Manchester Comedy Tue 01 Apr
I’M SORRY I HAVEN’T A CLUE
PALACE THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, FROM £21.50
The BBC Radio antidote to panel games starts an all-new touring stage show/evening of inspired nonsense, with host Jack Dee keeping Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Jeremy Hardy on board.
XS MALARKEY: DAVID TRENT (PHIL ELLIS + LEE GROUNDS + KATY TRUELOVE)
PUB/ZOO, 19:30–23:00, £5 (£3)
The rather ace comedy night continues with their Tuesday night shenanigans.
THE WORST COMEDY NIGHT IN SALFORD
THE KING’S ARMS, 19:30–22:00, FREE
Keeping expectations low with this night of open mic stand up, opening up the stage to anyone willing to give it go.
Wed 02 Apr SOS TV SHOW
THREE MINUTE THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £5
The Superstars on Saturday bunch present an evening of silly character sketches.
CARL HUTCHINSON: ALL THE RAGE
THE LOWRY STUDIO, 20:00–23:00, £12
Relaxed, likeable and naturally funny comic experiments with letting rip in life, the way he does on stage – witness as he relives the consequences.
Thu 03 Apr
BIG VALUE THURSDAYS (JOHN WARBURTON + STEVE HARRIS + ROB COLEMAN + FREDDIE FARRELL + MC DAVE WILLIAMS) THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £9 (£6)
A Frog flagship event offering up four great acts for stonkingly great value.
Comedy STAND UP THURSDAY (CHRIS MCCAUSLAND + SEAN COLLINS + MC JASON COOK) THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£8)
Cheat life and get that Friday feeling one day early with a night of comedic delight from some circuit funny folk.
Fri 04 Apr
BARREL OF LAUGHS (JOHN WARBURTON + SCOTT GIBSON + ROB COLEMAN + MC DAVE WILLIAMS) THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–02:00, £16 (£8)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. THE BEST IN STAND UP (CHRIS MCCAUSLAND + SEAN COLLINS + MICHAEL FABBRI + MC IMRAN YUSUF)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £18 (£12)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians. COMIC FX
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 18:00–19:00, FREE
An evening of free stand up comedy, with this edition bringing Andrew Ryan and Rich Wall to the stage.
Sat 05 Apr
BARREL OF LAUGHS (JOHN WARBURTON + SCOTT GIBSON + ROB COLEMAN + MC DAVE WILLIAMS) THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–02:00, £17 (£10)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. THE BEST IN STAND UP (CHRIS MCCAUSLAND + SEAN COLLINS + MICHAEL FABBRI + MC JUSTIN MOORHOUSE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:00–21:00, £20 (£14)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians. THE BEST IN STAND UP (CHRIS MCCAUSLAND + SEAN COLLINS + MICHAEL FABBRI + MC JUSTIN MOORHOUSE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 21:30–23:30, £20 (£14)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians. SEANN WALSH
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £17
Rising comedy star presents his all-new show, demonstrating to the world that he is the Lie-In King.
Sun 06 Apr
KING GONG (MC MICK FERRY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £6 (£4)
A chance for those on the circuit to test out some new, never before heard or seen material, with MC Toby Hadoke. SEANN WALSH
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £17
Rising comedy star presents his all-new show, demonstrating to the world that he is the Lie-In King. SKETCHOLE
THE LOWRY STUDIO, 20:00–23:00, £10
A selection of sketch and character comedy performances aiming to fill the comedy gap, so they say.
Mon 07 Apr
BEAT THE FROG (MC DAVID LONGLEY)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £3 (FREE WITH STUDENT ID)
A ten-act long heckle-fest inviting a handful of amateurs to take to the stage and try to Beat the Frog, and the audience decides who stays – brutal! DEAD CAT COMEDY CRÈCHE
SANDBAR, 20:00–23:00, FREE (DONATIONS)
A brand new comedy night for brand new comedy, offering comedians the chance to hone their craft in front of a friendly crowd (that’s you!).
GEIN’S FAMILY GIFTSHOP BARGAIN BASEMENT THE KING’S ARMS, 20:30–22:00, FREE
New sketches and material drawing inspiration from misery and human suffering.
Tue 08 Apr
BOOTHBY GRAFOOE THE LOWRY STUDIO, 20:00–23:00, £13
A comic look at the weird world of scratch cards, asking important questions such as, who buys them? And what are the odds of actually winning?
Mon 14 Apr BEAT THE FROG (MC DAN NIGHTINGALE)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £3 (FREE WITH STUDENT ID)
PUB/ZOO, 19:30–23:00, £5 (£3)
A ten-act long heckle-fest inviting a handful of amateurs to take to the stage and try to Beat the Frog, and the audience decides who stays – brutal!
Wed 09 Apr
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £18
XS MALARKEY: PHIL WALKER (ARCHIE MADDOCKS + LUKE HELLY)
The rather ace comedy night continues with their Tuesday night shenanigans. HAYLEY ELLIS AND KATIE MULGREW EDINBURGH PREVIEWS
THE KING’S ARMS, 19:30–22:00, £3 (£2)
Northwest comics Hayley Ellis and Katie Mulgrew present a preview of their new stand up show before they head up to the ‘burgh.
Thu 10 Apr
BIG VALUE THURSDAYS (CAIMH MCDONNELL + FREDDY QUINNE + JONNY GREATREX + DAVID LONGLEY + MC ED GAMBLE) THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £9 (£6)
A Frog flagship event offering up four great acts for stonkingly great value. AN EVENING WITH JENNIFER SAUNDERS
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC, 19:00–23:00, £12
The English comic promotes her new book, Bonkers, likely to highly comic effect. ROBIN INCE
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £17
The comic-cum-science enthusiast follows up his Happiness Through Science show with a humourous look at his favourite scientists – Charles Darwin and Richard Feynman.
Fri 11 Apr
BARREL OF LAUGHS (CAIMH MCDONNELL + STEVE BUGEJA + JONNY AWSUM + MC ED GAMBLE)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–02:00, £16 (£8)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (IAN STONE + PETE JOHANSSON + ZOE LYONS + JASON COOK + MC ANDRE VINCENT) THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £18 (£12)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians. EINSTEIN: RELATIVELY SPEAKING
THE DANCEHOUSE, 18:15–21:00, £10 (£7)
Comedy meets music show exploring everything from e=mc2 to Einstein’s moustache.
Sat 12 Apr
BARREL OF LAUGHS (CAIMH MCDONNELL + STEVE BUGEJA + JONNY AWSUM + MC ED GAMBLE)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–02:00, £17 (£10)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. THE BEST IN STAND UP (PETE JOHANSSON + ZOE LYONS + JASON COOK + MC ANDRE VINCENT)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:00–21:00, £20 (£14)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians. THE BEST IN STAND UP (PETE JOHANSSON + ZOE LYONS + JASON COOK + MC ANDRE VINCENT)
THE COMEDY STORE, 21:30–23:30, £20 (£14)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians.
Sun 13 Apr
NEW STUFF (MC TOBY HADOKE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £3
A night of stand-up from some fresh-faced comics trying to break on to the circuit – be nice.
HAL CRUTTENDEN
As seen on The Royal Variety Performance, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and The Rob Brydon Show, Hal Cruttenden brings his usual brand of simultaneously warm and catty stand-up to the Northwest.
Tue 15 Apr
XS MALARKEY: DANNY MCLOUGHLIN (ADAM STAUNTON + CHRIS VEASEY + CALLUM SCOTT)
PUB/ZOO, 19:30–23:00, £5 (£3)
The rather ace comedy night continues with their Tuesday night shenanigans. RICH HALL’S HOEDOWN
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £19
The grouchy deadpan comic from Montana brings his unique perspective to the fore for his latest touring show. THE WORST COMEDY NIGHT IN SALFORD
THE KING’S ARMS, 19:30–22:00, FREE
Keeping expectations low with this night of open mic stand up, opening up the stage to anyone willing to give it go.
Wed 16 Apr
20TH ANNIVERSARY (LINE UP TBC) THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £9 (£6)
The Frog and Bucket mark 20 years of putting funny folk on stages with a very special line-up. RICH HALL’S HOEDOWN
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £19
The grouchy deadpan comic from Montana brings his unique perspective to the fore for his latest touring show.
Thu 17 Apr
STAND UP THURSDAY (CAREY MARX + MC MICK FERRY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£8)
Cheat life and get that Friday feeling one day early with a night of comedic delight from some circuit funny folk. RICH HALL’S HOEDOWN
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £19
The grouchy deadpan comic from Montana brings his unique perspective to the fore for his latest touring show.
Fri 18 Apr
THE BEST IN STAND UP (CAREY MARX + PHILBERTO + MC MICK FERRY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £18 (£12)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians.
Sat 19 Apr
THE BEST IN STAND UP (CAREY MARX + PHILBERTO + MC MICK FERRY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:00–21:00, £20 (£14)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians. THE BEST IN STAND UP (CAREY MARX + PHILBERTO + MC MICK FERRY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 21:30–23:30, £20 (£14)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians. JONNY AND THE BAPTISTS
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 18:00–19:30, FROM £10
The musical comedians return with a brand new show, taking on Nigel Farage’s bunch of loonies ahead of the European Elections.
THE SKINNY
JONNY AND THE BAPTISTS ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, 20:00–21:30, FROM £10
The musical comedians return with a brand new show, taking on Nigel Farage’s bunch of loonies ahead of the European Elections.
Sun 20 Apr THE BEST IN STAND UP
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–22:00, £10 (£7)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians.
Tue 22 Apr
XS MALARKEY: JOHN-LUKE ROBERTS (ADNAM AHMEN + HELEN KEELER + STEVE T)
PUB/ZOO, 19:30–23:00, £5 (£3)
The rather ace comedy night continues with their Tuesday night shenanigans.
Thu 24 Apr
STAND UP THURSDAY (STEVE SHANYASKI + ALISTAIR BARRIE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£8)
Cheat life and get that Friday feeling one day early with a night of comedic delight from some circuit funny folk. MARK THOMAS
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £18
All-new material from the renowned political comic, chronicling his task of committing 100 acts of minor dissent in the space of 12 months – cataloguing everything from the smallest and silliest gesture, to the grandest of confrontations. COMEDY AT THE KINGS
THE KING’S ARMS, 19:30–22:00, £3
An evening of live stand up comedy and a cake raffle, what’s not to love?
Fri 25 Apr
THE BEST IN STAND UP (STEVE SHANYASKI + ALISTAIR BARRIE + DANIEL SLOSS + STEVE WILLIAMS)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £18 (£12)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians.
Liverpool Comedy Wed 02 Apr I’M NOT DRUNK, HONEST
UNITY THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, FREE
Hal Lever shares his experiences following a car accident that left him in a coma for 20 days, going from being unable to talk, to suffering exclusion due to his slurred speech, to talking about it at length on stage. THE LAUGHTER FACTOR
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £5 (£3)
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians.
Sun 27 Apr
NEW STUFF (MC TOBY HADOKE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £3
A night of stand-up from some fresh-faced comics trying to break on to the circuit – be nice. QUIPPOPOTAMUS
FUEL CAFE, 20:00–23:00, FREE
Fuel’s free stand up night returns for another night of – let’s face it – slightly bizarre comedy. ANTWERP MANSION COMEDY NIGHT (GARY DELANEY + RUTH COCKBURN + AFC BAGGY)
ANTWERP MANSION, 19:30–22:30, £5
The Antwerp Mansion comedy night returns with the IrishIranian stand-up comic and Edinburgh fringe favourite, Patrick Monohan.
Mon 28 Apr
SIDEKICK COMEDY (KATE MCCABE + WILL SETCHELL + JON NEWELL + EDY HURST + ALLYSON JUNE SMITH) VIA, 19:30–23:00, £2
A monthly comedy gig offering an alternative to the usual comedy nights, offering a new take on the template with a nerdy-cool vibe. BRIAN CONLEY
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £25.50
The multi-talented entertainer returns to the stage with his latest touring show.
April 2014
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £15
Marlon Davis present his unique brand of soul-baring comedy.
BOILING POINT (ADAM ROWE + PAT MONOHAN + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £8 (£4)
Sat 12 Apr
CAREY MARX (VIKKI STONE + LEE RIDLEY AKA LOST VOICE GUY + MC WILL DUGGAN)
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £15
Mischievously dark comic navigating controversial topics with ease. KEITH CARTER AS NIGE
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £12 (£10)
Keith Carter presents the lovable scouse, Nige, renowned for securing Liverpool the title of Capital of Culture, so they say.
Fri 04 Apr ROY CHUBBY BROWN
LIVERPOOL EMPIRE, 19:30–22:30, FROM £21.50
The English stand-up comic does his usual line in rude and crude banter, as politically incorrect as ever.
CAREY MARX (VIKKI STONE + KELLY KINGHAM + MC DAN NIGHTINGALE)
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £15
Mischievously dark comic navigating controversial topics with ease.
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:00–21:00, £20 (£14)
THE COMEDY STORE, 21:30–23:30, £20 (£14)
MARLON DAVIS (LUKE TOULSON + KEVIN DEWSBURY + MC NEIL FITZMAURICE)
Thu 03 Apr
3’6” Canadian comic – favourite at the Edinburgh Fringe and regular on the oh-so politically incorrect I’m Spazticus.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (STEVE SHANYASKI + ALISTAIR BARRIE + DANIEL SLOSS + STEVE WILLIAMS)
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £15
Crude comic par excellence, Rob Rouse is back on the road following the birth of his second child, for which the majority of his chat centres around, well... pretty much crapping and peeing.
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
Sat 26 Apr
Regular night of stand up with five world-class comedians.
ROB ROUSE (TUDOR OWEN + STEVE DAY + MC PHIL ELLIS)
A monthly event giving comics the chance to try out new material before the weekend shows – it helps if you think of yourself as a comedic guinea pig.
TANYALEE DAVIS (SMUG ROBERTS + BRENDAN DEMPSEY + MC CHRIS CAIRNS)
THE BEST IN STAND UP (STEVE SHANYASKI + ALISTAIR BARRIE + DANIEL SLOSS + STEVE WILLIAMS)
Fri 11 Apr
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £15
BOILING POINT (PHIL NICHOL + MC PAUL SMITH)
ROB ROUSE (TUDOR OWEN + STEVE DAY + MC PHIL ELLIS)
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £18
Crude comic par excellence, Rob Rouse is back on the road following the birth of his second child, for which the majority of his chat centres around, well... pretty much crapping and peeing.
LUKE TOULSON (MARLON DAVIS + KEVIN DEWSBURY + MC NEIL FITZMAURICE) THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £17.50
Circuit funny man Luke Toulson presents his gimmick free brand of comedy.
BOILING POINT (ADAM ROWE + PAT MONOHAN + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £10 (£5)
HOT WATER COMEDY: 4TH BIRTHDAY SPECIAL (GARY DELANEY + PAT MONOHAN + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £3 (£1.50)
Hot Water Comedy Club mark their fourth birthday with a special headline set from Mock the Week’s Gary Delaney.
Tue 15 Apr GARY DELANEY
UNITY THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £12
Thu 17 Apr
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £17.50
Manc comic known for his roles on Mrs Browns Boys and Cold Feet. BOILING POINT (MARK MAIER + PHIL NICHOL + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
Sun 06 Apr
TESTING THE WATER (MC PAUL SMITH)
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £3 (£1.50)
ROGER MONKHOUSE (STEVE SHANYASKI + MARC SMETHURST + MC SULLY O’SULLIVAN)
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £15
Banter-heavy stand-up set from the charming and menacing observational comic.
Fri 18 Apr
ROGER MONKHOUSE (STEVE SHANYASKI + DANNY DEEGAN + MC SULLY O’SULLIVAN)
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £15
Banter-heavy stand-up set from the charming and menacing observational comic. CHRIS CAIRNS (PIERRE HOLLINS + IMRAN YUSUF + MC STE PORTER)
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £15
The regular compere takes the headline spot for the night, bringing bags of charm and quick wit to the stage.
BOILING POINT (RORY O’HANLON + LIAM BOLTON + CARL HUTCHINSON + MC PAUL SMITH) HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £8 (£4)
Showcase night for up-andcomers and undiscovered stars, offering a great value night out if you don’t mind being a comedy guinea pig.
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
Thu 10 Apr
Sat 19 Apr
ROB ROUSE (TUDOR OWEN + DAMION LARKIN + MC PHIL ELLIS)
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £15
Crude comic par excellence, Rob Rouse is back on the road following the birth of his second child, for which the majority of his chat centres around, well... pretty much crapping and peeing.
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
Sun 20 Apr
TESTING THE WATER (MC PAUL SMITH)
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £3 (£1.50)
Showcase night for up-andcomers and undiscovered stars, offering a great value night out if you don’t mind being a comedy guinea pig.
Thu 24 Apr
MARTIN MOR (ALEX BOARDMAN + ROB THOMAS + MC DAVE TWENTYMAN) COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £15
The bearded comic uses his near-death car crash experience as the basis for his latest comedy outing, as you do. BOILING POINT (MC PAUL SMITH)
THE FLORRIE, 19:00–22:30, £6 (£4)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
The bearded comic uses his near-death car crash experience as the basis for his latest comedy outing, as you do.
Sat 05 Apr
SMUG ROBERTS (TANYALEE DAVIS + BRENDAN DEMPSEY + MC CHRIS CAIRNS)
BOILING POINT (RORY O’HANLON + LIAM BOLTON + CARL HUTCHINSON + MC PAUL SMITH)
Sun 13 Apr
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
Mischievously dark comic navigating controversial topics with ease.
Versatile comic who has gone through various incarnations in his time, from acrobatics and audience abuse to his more recent appearances with an electric squash racket.
Fri 25 Apr
Writer and stand-up comic Gary Delaney continues with his quest to tell as many jokes as possible, because apparently most shows simply don’t contain enough for his liking.
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £18
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £17.50
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £8 (£4)
CAREY MARX (VIKKI STONE + KELLY KINGHAM + MC DAN NIGHTINGALE)
PIERRE HOLLINS (IMRAN YUSUF + CHRIS CAIRNS + MC STE PORTER)
ROGER MONKHOUSE (STEVE SHANYASKI + DANNY DEEGAN + MC SULLY O’SULLIVAN)
COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £18
Banter-heavy stand-up set from the charming and menacing observational comic.
MARTIN MOR (ALEX BOARDMAN + CHRIS TURNER + MC DAVE TWENTYMAN) COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £15
JOJO SMITH (STE PORTER + MATT REED + MC NEIL FITZMAURICE)
Art
Manchester Castlefield Gallery
RE:VIEW: IAIN ANDREWS
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 7 MAR AND 13 APR, 1:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE
Known for his style of mixing bold, contemporary colour with the cracked varnished hues of the Old Masters, Iain Andrews presents his more famous pieces alongside new works, including a site-specific work that will turn the gallery into a stage.
Centre For Chinese Contemporary Art
DARIUS CHANG JUI-YU: FIRST STEP
Common
SAILING THROUGH THE TREES: CAROLINE DOWSETT + ALEX T. FRAZER
4 APR – 24 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE
The latest exhibition to take over Common will see local illustrators and makers Caroline Dowsett and Alex T. Frazer tell the story of a man lost at sea and his heartbroken wife.
Contact
PAM VAN-DAMNED: WORLD WARPAINT
6 FEB – 18 APR, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 10:00AM – 11:00PM, FREE
Photographer Pam Van-Damned presents a collection of photographs documenting bands, inspirational figures and drag queens, with the majority often captured wearing make-up, a dominant theme in her work.
GAYS OF MANCHESTER: LEE BAXTER AND GEORGE HOUSE TRUST
6 FEB – 18 APR, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 10:00AM – 11:00PM, FREE
RESIDENCY: KAO JUN-HONN
An exhibition of Lee Baxter’s work, capturing portraits of LGBT people from Manchester, celebrating the communities ongoing support of George House Trust, a charity working people people affected by HIV.
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 13 MAR AND 9 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
17 APR, 7:00PM – 11:00PM, £10
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 4 JAN AND 3 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Graduate Darius Chang Jui-Yu presents a showcase site-specific installation, taking over the stairwell.
ART BATTLE MANCHESTER III
CFCCA present their first international residency exchange, with Taiwanese artist, Kao Jun-Honn presenting his site-specific drawings, performance work and video exploring his school days and meandering path into the art world.
Turning art into a live spectator sport, painting gets all competitive as some of the city’s most talented artists create a masterpiece in only 30 minutes – and you decide who stays for the grand final.
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 11 APR AND 31 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 18 JAN AND 20 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
THE VOICE CURRENCY
CFCCA present a new exhibition curated by Ying Tan, focussing on new engagement systems in contemporary art and design, and opening up gallery 1 for to artists and visitors to share ideas and develop ongoing, trans-cultural dialogues.
Cornerhouse
JAMIE SHOVLIN: HIKER MEAT
Jamie Shovlin cooked up his art movie Rough Cut – a remake of the non-existent 70s film, Hiker Meat – as a low-budget exploitation film crafted from found video clips; his process is laid bare in this accompanying exhibition.
MARSHA BALAEVA: GHOSTLY PORTRAIT 6 MAR – 1 APR, NOT 10 MAR, 17 MAR, 24 MAR, 31 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE
The latest in the Cornerhouse Project series explores ghostly spirits as individuals are invited to sketch their interpretation of their spirit on a large sheet of paper.
Gallery of Costume
OSSIE CLARK, A BRITISH FASHION GENUIS, 1967-1977
30 JAN – 29 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
A retrospective of work by renowned British fashion designer, Ossie Clark, famous for his distinct cuts and for working with bold prints designed by his wife, Celia Birtwell.
Hallé St Peter’s HOME IS IN THE NORTH
26 APR, 11:00AM – 4:00PM, £3
The travelling pop-up event arrives in Manchester, bringing with it an array of independent interior designers and boutique homeware brands for an exclusive shopping event and showcase.
Imperial War Museum North WOMEN AND INDUSTRY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR
27 JAN – 31 JUL, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An open air photographic exhibition of work by George Parham Lewis, revealing images of women during the First World War as they took on roles in industry during the conflict. FROM STREET TO TRENCH: A WORLD WAR THAT SHAPED A REGION
5 APR – 31 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An exhibition of over 200 objects, photographs, diaries, letters and artworks from the First World War, revealing the lives shaped by the conflict and marking the centenary of WWI.
Instituto Cervantes
UNCOVERING THE INVISIBLE: A PORTRAIT OF LATIN AMERICANS IN THE UK
20 MAR – 8 MAY, 9:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE
A photographic exhibition based on the work of Cathy MacIlwaine, bringing together portraits of Latin American individuals living in the UK.
Kosmonaut
CONSPIRACY THEORIES: DOMINIQUE BYRON
7 MAR – 2 APR, 12:00PM – 11:00PM, FREE
The first solo exhibition by artist Dominique Byron, exploring her fascination with the obscure and bizarre side of conspiracy theories through digital illustration.
MMU: Special Collections
A CHROMATIC REVOLUTION: THE SEARCH FOR AFFORDABLE COLOUR IN 19TH CENTURY BRITISH BOOK ILLUSTRATION
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 27 JAN AND 16 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
Exploring the world of 19th century book illustration, this exhibition looks at the techniques of the time, from half-coloured wood block printing, to the lush practice of chromolithography.
Manchester Art Gallery
HOME, LAND AND SEA: ART IN THE NETHERLANDS 1600-1800
24–23 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE
A collection comprising over 50 paintings from the Manchester City Galleries’ 17th and 18th century Dutch and Flemish collection, including portraiture, landscapes and seascapes from Pieter de Hooch, Gerard ter Borch and Jacob van Ruisdael.
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £15
Jojo Smith reflects on her life as a German-born, Canada-raised Air Force brat. BOILING POINT (LEWIS CALVERT + MIKE WILKINSON + MC PAUL SMITH) HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £8 (£4)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
Sat 26 Apr
MIKE MCGEAR MCCARTNEY: SEX, DRUGS & ROCK’N’ROLL (I WISH!)
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 18:30–22:00, £15
Liverpool local recalls his life in the 60s Merseybeat scene, taking audiences through his family album and his illustrious career. MARTIN MOR (ALEX BOARDMAN + CHRIS TURNER + MC DAVE TWENTYMAN) COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:00–22:00, £18
The bearded comic uses his near-death car crash experience as the basis for his latest comedy outing, as you do. MATT REED (STE PORTER + JOJO SMITH + MC NEIL FITZMAURICE)
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £17.50
Sunderland comic known for his affable, at-ease style and destroying the spirit of any heckler who dares get in his way. BOILING POINT (LEWIS CALVERT + MIKE WILKINSON + MC PAUL SMITH) HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
Sun 27 Apr
TESTING THE WATER (MC PAUL SMITH)
HOLIDAY INN, 19:00–22:30, £3 (£1.50)
Showcase night for up-andcomers and undiscovered stars, offering a great value night out if you don’t mind being a comedy guinea pig.
Listings
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Art
Manchester Jewish Museum
Manchester A HIGHLAND ROMANCE: VICTORIAN VIEWS OF SCOTTISHNESS 20–1 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE
A collection of popular 19th century paintings and works on paper by Scottish artists is displayed alongside visions of Scotland by artists from England, exploring the changing view of Scotland and Scottishness over the past two centuries.. ART FOR ALL: THOMAS HORSFALL’S GIFT TO MANCHESTER
29 NOV – 8 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
An exhibition of nature-themed artworks from Manchester’s Thomas Horsfall collection, cocurated by local school children. JOANA VASCONCELOS: TIME MACHINE
15 FEB – 1 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos brings over 20 of her large scale sculptures to Manchester following her success representing Portugal at the 55th Venice Biennale – she will also be presenting a new textile work. DAN DUBOWITZ AND ALAN WARD: CITIZEN MANCHESTER
22 MAR – 22 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
An exhibition of large-scale works exploring the re-development of Manchester Central Library, built up on the artists’ research into the city archives, photographs and from recorded tales.
FOUR FOUR JEW: FOOTBALL, FANS AND FAITH
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 18 MAR AND 21 SEP, TIMES VARY, £3.95 (£2.95)
An exhibition exploring the ways Britain’s Jews have taken to the beautiful game, tracing football’s roots from the 19th century to the present day.
Manchester Museum
FRAGMENTARY ANCESTORS: FIGURINES FROM KOMA LAND, GHANA
27 JAN – 5 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
The UK’s first ever officially approved exhibition of clay figurines made by the people of Koma Land in Ghana; with the the often fragmented figurines of two-headed creatures, birds and animals thought to be representations of their spiritual ancestors. FROM THE WAR OF NATURE
11 APR – 31 AUG, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An exhibition exploring conflict, and resolution, in nature – from boxing hares to prowling wolves – challenging the notion that war must come from conflict.
Manchester Photographic SEBA KURTIS: KIF
24 APR, 6:00PM – 9:00PM, £TBC
The launch of an exhibition of photographs by artist Seba Kurtis, exploring the social and cultural effects of economic migration.
SCULPTURAL FORMS: A CENTURY OF EXPERIMENT
13 MAR – 7 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE
National Football Museum
Salford Museum and Art Gallery
GAME CHANGERS: 125 YEARS OF THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE
10 JAN – 27 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
An exhibition charting the changes in the game from 1888 to the present day, with stories from all 72 current league teams and never before seen personal items from George Best, on loan from his sister and the Best Chances charity.
Paper Gallery PAPER #12: PARTY FAVOURS
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 8 MAR AND 19 APR, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
For their first ever joint exhibition, PAPER invite Douglas and Hamilton to display their works in graphite alongside each other to explore their individual approaches to hyperreal works. PAPER #13: JEMIMA BROWN: UNTITLED PROFILE PICTURES
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 26 APR AND 26 JUL, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
The latest PAPER exhibition, inviting Jemima Brown to share her ongoing drawing project for which she presents drawings of her friends public Facebook profile pictures.
People’s History Museum
THE PEOPLE’S BUSINESS: 150 YEARS OF THE CO-OPERATIVE
12 OCT – 11 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An exhibition exploring the vast history of The Co-operative, from their origins as the Co-operative Wholesale Society in Manchester, to their innovative branding.
A three part exhibition – split into The Human Condition, Abstraction and Transformations – exploring the boundaries between sculpture, craft and design, and the ways the form has been re-invented over the years.
RANDOM VISUAL POEMS: CHARLIE HOLT
5 APR – 6 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE
An exhibition of work drawing influences from pop art and surrealism, and comprising cut and paste collages and digital montages inspired by Manchester and Salford.
Soup Kitchen RECORDS
17 APR, 6:00PM – 10:15PM, FREE
Video Jam make a brief departure from moving image to curate an exhibition of 3D sculptures made out of records, coinciding with Record Store Day, naturally.
The Holden Gallery WUNDERCAMERA
14 MAR – 9 MAY, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE
The gallery becomes the subject of the exhibition in this exploration of the nature of museums by 15 artists, looking at ways in which venues display their works and offering a glimpse behind the interaction between audience and museum.
The Lowry
IN THE FRAME: DANCE ON FILM
8 MAR – 27 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE
Releasing dance from the constraints of the stage, this exhibition of film work explores how visual artists, choreographers and dance companies can use moving image to capture the art form. JONATHAN YEO: PORTRAITS
15 MAR – 29 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
An exhibition of work by selftaught, British portrait painter, Jonathan Yeo, bringing together his most famous subjects, including Helena Bonham Carter and Grayson Perry. The final work is shown alongside preparatory materials.
The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) COME CLOSER: WINNERS OF THE WELLCOME IMAGE AWARDS 2014
12 MAR – 7 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An exhibition of images from the Wellcome Image Awards 2014 – from an x-ray of a bat, to a cross section of a flower bud – showcasing the scientists, medical professionals and image makers traversing science and art.
Twenty Twenty Two BCNMCR
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 27 MAR AND 23 APR, 4:00PM – 11:00PM, FREE
Bringing us aesthetically and culturally closer to Barcelona, BCNMCR pitches up with a free exhibition showcasing the varied work of the 11 Barcelona-based design studios involved. A series of inspiring talks runs parallel on 28 Mar.
Untitled Gallery
TONY CHARLES: ABRASIVE ACTION
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 22 FEB AND 5 APR, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE
A solo exhibition of work by Tony Charles, exploring the relationship between sculpture and its twodimensional counterpart, painting.
Victoria Baths
UN-REST FESTIVAL (DRAWN TO THE BEAT)
26 APR, 6:00PM – 9:00PM, £5
A live drawing performance led by artist Naomi Kendrick, inviting participants to fill a giant 75ft long scroll that will fill the gala pool.
Liverpool Art Cactus Gallery
THIS INFERIOR MIRAGE: SEBASTIAN JEFFORD
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 21 MAR AND 20 APR, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE
A new solo exhibition of work by Bristol-based artist Sebastian Jefford, exploring his interest in ‘the idea of surface as a line of flight’.
Exhibition Research Centre PLEASE COME TO THE SHOW
Beacons Festival, The Deaf Institute and The Skinny present a
Pre-Beacons warm-up party Wednesday 30 April The Deaf Institute, Manchester 6-10pm
13 FEB – 11 APR, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Ephemera from the MoMA Library collection of artists’ files – containing everything from announcement cards to press clippings – are presented as an alternative way to approach and consider art.
FACT
SCIENCE FICTION: NEW DEATH
27 MAR – 22 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
Sudley House
20TH CENTURY CHIC: 100 YEARS OF WOMEN’S FASHION
An exhibition exploring modern science fiction, inspired by J. G. Ballard’s landscapes of the future and underpinned by a narrative crafted by China Mieville, with video works, installations and a personal archive made up of open call submissions.
6 MAR – 31 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
International Slavery Museum
DLA PIPER SERIES: CONSTELLATIONS
LAURA FACEY: THEIR SPIRITS...
31 JAN – 7 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Jamaican artist, Laura Facey presents an exhibition exploring the cruelty of slavery and the transcendent nature of the human spirit, with her 2006 piece, Their Spirits Gone Before Them sitting at the heart of the exhibition. BRUTAL EXPOSURE: THE CONGO
24 JAN – 7 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
A distressing exhibition of photographs by missionary Alice Seeley Harris, documenting her time in the Congo and exploring the brutality experienced by the Congolese people in what was probably the first photographic campaign for human rights.
Lady Lever Art Gallery TURNER
14 FEB – 1 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
A chronological exploration of JWM Turner’s life and work is presented in this exhibition of some 30 works by the landscape painter, pulled from across the National Museum Liverpool’s collections.
Museum of Liverpool
APRIL ASHLEY: PORTRAIT OF A LADY
27–21 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
A exhibition exploring the life of April Ashley, the Liverpool-born Vogue model and actress and one of the first people in the world to undergo gender reassignment surgery. BY JOVE! IT’S KEN DODD!
7 JAN – 21 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
The life of the entertainer and comic Ken Dodd is celebrated in this exhibition of photographs by fellow Liverpudlian Stephen Shakeshaft.
Open Eye Gallery
LETIZIA BATTAGLIA: BREAKING THE CODE OF SILENCE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 22 FEB AND 4 MAY, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE
An exhibition of black and white photography by Sicilian photographer and photojournalist, Letizia Battaglia, made up of images from the mid 70s to late 90s, depicting a dark time in Italian history when the Corleonesi mafia held the country in its grip.
A collection of 12 evening outfits spanning 1900 to 2000, charting the changing role of women in society throughout this period, and how these changes were reflected in the fashion of the time.
Tate Liverpool 23 NOV – 31 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An exhibition displaying ‘trigger’ artworks surrounded by groups, or ‘constellations’, of artworks from the same period. With the first floor open you’ll be able to see five ‘trigger’ artworks from before 1960, from artists including Picasso and Pollock. RICHARD HAWKINS: HIJIKATA TWIST
28 FEB – 11 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
American artist Richard Hawkins presents his first museum exhibition in the UK, bringing together new works that demonstrate his complex style of juxtaposing images and ideas. KEYWORDS: ART, CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN 1980S BRITAIN
28 FEB – 11 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8 (£6)
Taking words from Raymond Williams’ collection of essays, Keywords, as impetus, Tate Liverpool’s new exhibition explores parallels between shifts in language and culture.
The Bluecoat THE NEGLIGENT EYE
8 MAR – 15 JUN, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
A group exhibition curated by Jo Stockham, exploring the shift in the increasingly critical approach to technology, through print, sculpture, video and mixed media work. ROBIN TARBET
The Cornerstone Gallery THE OBJECT PROJECT
27 MAR – 2 MAY, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 9:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Also known as At Home with Art in Everton, this project set out to create a dialogue between artists and Everton residents, with Lin Holland and Jane Poulton leading the research project alongside 17 households.
The Royal Standard VERNISSAGE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 28 FEB AND 5 APR, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE
Five recent graduates based in the UK come together for this exhibition spanning sculpture, painting, installation and film, with the studio space acting as a showcase for existing works and springboard for new works.
Unity Theatre
CLAIRE STRINGER: INFLUENCE OF SOUND
1–26 APR, NOT 6, 13, 20, TIMES VARY, FREE
Claire Stringer returns to Unity Theatre following her Monument exhibition in 2008, this time presenting a selection of drawings, prints and paintings drawing inspiration from the act of listening to music by Berlin-based musician, Andy Muir.
Walker Art Gallery
PORTRAIT OF THE ENGRAVER
13 DEC – 30 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
The Wirral-born artist James Hamilton Hay is the focus of this exhibition of landscapes and city etchings, showcasing his life’s work after leaving the Liverpool School of Art and seeking the guidance of British Impressionist Julius Olsson.
22 MAR – 13 APR, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE
Taking on the curious role of folk scientific explorer, Robin Tarbet presents a selection of work exploring the ‘material residue of technological processes’, through print, film work, sculpture and assemblage. SPACE//SOUND
11 APR, 8:00PM – 11:00PM, £8
Responding to The Bluecoat’s exhibition The Negligent Eye, musicians and artists embark on an exploration of the intersection between audio and visual elements for the second Space//Sound event.
The Brink MAKE YOUR MARK
1 APR – 27 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE
Taking the Brink ethos – what we make makes us – as a starting point, this exhibition will bring together creative recovery service users from across Liverpool to share their journey and make their mark.
Come along for DJs, goodies, and the chance to win tickets to this year’s Beacons festival Plus pick up the May issue of The Skinny hot off the press! More announcements soon, follow:
@theskinnyNW
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0151 708 0166 bookings@middledistance.org www.middledistance.org
THE SKINNY
Ask Fred: Money Words: Fred Fletch Illustration: Zhang Liang
Whatever your financial status, Fred Fletch is here to help – unless you haven’t seen Roadhouse, in which case, you’re officially screwed
T
he Conservatives have unveiled their latest budget and brought with it fewer surprises than a remake of The Crying Game called ‘SHE’S GOT DICK.’ The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has widened to the point where Elysium is found in video shops under ‘Things to do next week,’ meaning your average banker will replace his insoles with bald eagle pelt, and the man on the street can enjoy an asshole that smells of exotic birds. To their credit, they did promise to give “the hardworking people more of what they enjoy,” and promptly took one pence off bingo and beer – one patronising discount short of cutting tax on cannibalism and rolling in your own cave filth. This month I answer questions on money. Dear Fred, I work on the tills of a popular high street store. Every week a woman comes in to buy stamps. She’s always loaded with designer store shopping bags and pays for her stamps with a £50 note. She makes snooty small talk and waves her fancy shopping around while I slave away, ten hour shifts, dealing with idiots. She says thank you like her tongue is sore from licking gold, and is oblivious to rubbing how rich she is in everyone’s faces. How can I let her know she’s a spoilt twat without losing my job? I’d like to let her know where she can stick her stamps. Mandy
Having spent almost six years of my life as a tillmonkey, I feel your pain; but since this isn’t 1992, and I’m not Kevin Smith, it’s hard to give a fuck about your selfless battle against people who aren’t you. I’ve seen enough episodes of DuckTales to know that wealth does not define the man and/ or duck’s worth, and that with fiscal exuberance there’s usually a unique set of problems, mostly involving time travel or ghosts. Don’t make others feel bad about their own finances. Yes, a certain degree of tact should be shown around people
April 2014
who can’t buy exorbitantly expensive things, but it’s not up to every millionaire buying stamps to check that your urologist has cleared you to work with the public. Most of the time, the world has some self-awareness and logical class. Harrods don’t have a store in Ethiopia, and no one in Rwanda returns my Xbox One friend requests. Despite not being ‘rich,’ I have accumulated three DVD copies of Roadhouse (for Roadhouse-related reasons). Sure, a child in North Korea might view my display of consumerism to be crass, but dysentery makes everyone a critic and I’ll be damned if some orphan’s going to make me feel guilty about my movie collection. The rich generally aren’t an evil race of higher beings whose hobbies include inbreeding, yacht purchases or homeless hunting. People are generally good and are defined by their actions, not by how much of a mystery the inside of a Poundstretchers is. The woman carrying 34 Harvey Nichols bags isn’t rubbing it in your face; you can have a problem with her when she feeds you one of her handbags while beating her driver with a jar of pickled panda hearts. Until then, she’s just a lady you don’t know. Give her a fucking break. Finish your shift, head home, and thank your lucky stars your parents gave birth to something that can live on both land and sea. You know nothing about her other than an inspection of her shopping trip. As far as you know, her money came from kitten resuscitation and research into removing the stick from your angry, unforgiving anus.
happiness to brace its everythings… This is what I learned: Q: What’s six inches long, two inches wide and drives women wild? A: A $100 bill! I was going to suggest rabies, but I’ve never actually measured a vole. Q: What did the cat say when he lost all his money? A: I’m paw! Jesus fuck, this is exactly what you get when a joke’s mother drinks during pregnancy. Q: What do stockbrokers say to each other when they want the other person to shut up? A: Put a stock in it! HA HA, what a delightful pun. I bet this is actually used by real stockbrokers every day. STOCKBROKER 1: “HEY MARK, I JUST SHIT AWAY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY, PLUNGING THE WORLD INTO ENDLESS DESPAIR-FLAVOURED RECESSION.” STOCKBROKER 2: “PUT A STOCK IN IT AND SHRED ALL THE FUCKING EVIDENCE.” STOCKBROKER 1: “HA HA. COCAINE RULES.” Q: How do you hide money from a hippie? A: Put it under the soap. Yeeeeeah. Take that, hippies.
Dear Fred, Will money bring me happiness? Scrooge McDuck Most of what I know about money is from the 124 minutes of Trading Places that aren’t nude Jamie Lee Curtis. Since happiness is subjective and based on the outlook of the individual, logic suggests I can’t answer this. But this text-me-a-joke service I just signed up for says otherwise. I punched in the word ‘money’ and told my
Q: What is the only way to keep your money from the casinos in Vegas? A: When you get off the plane, walk into the propellers!
This joke bases its success on the fact that ‘bank’ can be several different nouns, and that the audience is both six, and unfussy. Q: Where did the Snowman keep his money? A: In the snow bank. FUCK YOU. Since this service cost me £2 per ‘joke’ delivered, I can confirm that the only person laughing is the asshole who made this God-awful bullshit. In answer to your question Scrooge: NO. Money just brought me the comedy equivalent of an Eddie Adams portfolio.
Dear Fred, I’m one of those infamous ‘bankers’ you hear about, and I’ve just been awarded my hardearned bonus. I worked to get where I am and my only crime was being smart enough to land a wellpaid job. I’m viewed as the devil incarnate by the public, but it’s just jealousy. Why should I turn down the money I’m due, just because others didn’t make good choices and succeed? I’m rich, so deal with it. I’m not going to apologise for it, or for not having a minimum wage job, and I refuse to ‘come down to their level’ to be liked. As I’ve said, there’s nothing wrong with being rich. Sure bankers are demonised. Mathematically, it’s like the public consciousness took ‘money investor’ and multiplied by ‘HITLER SQUARED.’ You’re part of something perceived as bad, so it’s up to you to deal with that as you see fit. No one needs to come down to anyone’s level. That would be patronising. That being said, please enjoy the following joke:
This isn’t so much a joke, as something ‘Mandy’ writes on a stamp-filled corpse.
Q: Where did the cactus keep his money? A: Eat a dick you arrogant fucknut.
Q: Where did the fish put his money? A: In the river bank.
COMEDY
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