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Meet the team
Championing creativity in Scotland
We asked: What items do you wish you could take to a music festival? Senior Editorial
Rosamund West Editor-in-Chief
"The guarantee of perfect sunshine, a warm shower, a hex to protect my tent from sta ering or pissing festivalgoers."
Cammy Gallagher Clubs Editor "A partner."
Peter Simpson Deputy Editor, Food & Drink Editor "A fully plumbed-in central heating system."
Anahit Behrooz Events Editor, Books Editor "My diffuser attachment."
Jamie Dunn Film Editor, Online Journalist
"My sense of adventure, which completely evaporates at the prospect of sleeping on the cold, hard, damp ground."
Tallah Brash Music Editor "An infinite wardrobe of clean clothes to serve all seasonal eventualities!"
Business
Laurie Presswood General Manager
"Everything I could ever wish for Tallah brings for me."
Commissioning Editors Sales
George Sully Sales and Brand Strategist
"The youthful desire to go to festivals again, the stamina I once had, and an actual bed."
Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor "A can-do attitude would be nice!"
Rachel Ashenden Art Editor "My cat, Spinach."
Polly Glynn Comedy Editor
"One of those big inflatable long lads with its arms in the air so your pals can't lose you. Lots of fun in a Portaloo I bet."
Rho Chung Theatre Editor "My house."
Production
Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Production Manager
"The ability to teleport back to my own bed at the end of the night."
Sandy Park Commercial Director
"The power to find and bring back my now long-lost ability to do things outdoors, past a certain time of night, two or more days in a row."
Phoebe Willison Designer
"I'd like to be important enough to be driven around in a golf cart, but sometimes I might want to galavant arm in arm, so I wish for a magic personal assistant who immediately gets me a golf cart if and when I need it."
Ema Smekalova Media Sales Executive "Maybe my water carbonator lol."
Ellie Robertson Editorial Assistant
"Everything in the Sims 4 build mode catalogue (with motherlode enabled)"
Emilie Roberts Media Sales Executive
"I'll be honest I don't really go to festivals. All my favourite things are indoors."
Editorial
Words:
Rosamund West
The (anticipation of) summer starts here – we’re looking forward to months of camping in fields listening to bands, imagining endless sunshine as compensation for the fact that summer never truly arrived last year, and also winter has been very cold. The expectations around weather may or may not be unrealistic, but the bands in fields are definitely real –welcome to the musical festivals special 2025.
On the cover this month, you’ll find rising star fae Fife Jacob Alon, brilliantly photographed by Nico Utuk. The shoot required a delegation to cross the water and set up a rudimentary festival site in a Dunfermline park, and the results are wonderful. We sit down with Alon in an Edinburgh gallery cafe for an in-depth walk through their debut album, In Limerence, touch on meeting Elton John, and look forward to their upcoming festival dates in the UK and beyond.
This year’s special explores accessibility and direct action within the festival space, as well as offering up an enormous tick list of lineups to explore, both near and far. We meet some of the team behind Gig Buddies, a year-round scheme helping autistic adults and those with learning disabilities to access the social life they’d like. In the summer Gig Buddies organise group trips to music festivals – we learn more about their hard work lowering the barriers to attendance and giving people the opportunity for a safe and fun live music experience.
We take a look at the work of Ravers for Palestine, who’re trying to instigate community discussion and action around festivals’ investment links. Feminist collective FLAPS (Fannies Listening with Advice and Peer Support) explain their work building safer spaces at music festivals. We meet the man who’s brought a dance music beach festival to Ayr, Pavilion Festival, and learn more about his inspiration to revive the scene of the 90s and 00s.
Beyond the music special, in Film we’ve got an interview with Maxime Jean-Baptiste, whose hybrid documentary Kouté vwa (Listen to the Voices), a fictionalisation of a real family
tragedy in post-colonial French Guiana, arrives at Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival this month. We meet the director of Belgian tennis prodigy drama Julie Keeps Quiet, Leonardo Van Dijl, and talk to the director and star of British thriller Restless, Jed Hart and Lyndsey Marshal respectively. And Georgian filmmaker Déa Kulumbegashvili tells us about the making of her abortion drama April, the importance of women being empowered to ask questions, and the role of cinema in challenging repressive systems.
Clubs meets Glasgow clubs icons Slam as they return to their old stomping ground of the Arches (now known as Platform) for an Easter Weekend party. Books hears from Edinburgh-based Irish author Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, whose debut novel Ordinary Saints explores one family’s attempts to get their son canonised. Comedy interviews Rosco McClelland about his approach to work in progress shows, amid the dawning realisation that he is now an elder statesman of the Scottish comedy scene.
Art looks forward to the Hayward touring exhibition Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which arrives in DCA this month, shining a light on the relentlessly obscured difficulties of being an artist and a mother. We also explore an events series happening at Stills, which examines the barriers to entry for disabled photographers, while Theatre meets the director of Scottish Opera’s new production of The Merry Widow. Intersections talks women and cycling – what are the challenges around it, how can it be supported in our cities and beyond? Our Design column looks at new restaurant Moss and ceramics studio ViViVi, both launched by a couple who are melding Scottish-Japanese influences with farm-to-table food sourcing and bespoke design, while Food takes a trip to Glasgow for some very good fried chicken.
We close with a return to the festivals focus – Dundee producer Hannah Laing takes on the Q&A, pondering fighting Gemma Collins as she prepares for her sellout hometown festival Doof In the Park.
Cover Artist
Nico Utuk is a photographer based in Edinburgh, but with Nigerian roots. He is a keen photographer with the intention of capturing details, documenting moments, people and places he comes across in a manner that is true and honest.
nicoutuk.com
I: nico_utuk
Additional Cover Credits: The colourful hanging ornaments used in the shoot were made by Sally Price, a mixed media artist whose work you’ll be able to see at Kelburn Garden Party this summer as one of their artists in residence. Additional art direction and assistance for the shoot was provided by Tallah Brash and Laurie Presswood.
Love Bites: Hot Cross Bun Bliss
This month’s columnist reflects on embracing one’s autonomy via baked goods – anytime, anywhere
Words: Quinn Rhodes
Nowadays, you can buy hot cross buns all year round. Maybe you’ve always been able to, but when I was growing up we only ate them in the lead up to Easter and immediately after. Not strictly limited to Good Friday or Easter Sunday, but still a rare treat to be savoured.
I would say hot cross buns are my favourite breakfast, but I don’t believe they’re exclusively a breakfast food. I also eat them: on bad depression days when it’s 2pm and I haven’t managed to eat anything yet; as a snack when I’m writing furiously before a deadline and don’t have time to stop for a bi er meal; in the middle of the night, when I wake up hungry and know food will help me fall back asleep. Toasting them fills the kitchen with a rich, fruity aroma, and the buttered, spiced bun all but melts in my mouth, leaving the tang of its chewy clusters of currants. It’s wonderful.
And the beautiful thing about being an adult is that there’s nothing to stop you from buying hot cross buns in June or August or November. Even now, I feel a thrill when I realise I can buy them whenever I want; stripped of their religious origins, just as I’ve shed my own Catholic upbringing, hot cross buns symbolise the autonomy I have over my own life.
I do not take my agency for granted: how can I, after years of ignoring my body’s needs and wants? I can go to the bathroom without asking permission, eat when I’m hungry, leave a party and go home when I want to. I can toast hot cross buns at 11pm and eat them sitting on my living room floor – crumbs on the carpet be damned. To me, their buttery deliciousness tastes like freedom.
Heads Up
Cloth
Mono, Glasgow, 27 Apr, 7:30pm
Sibling duo Cloth are back with their third album, the pop-infused Pink Silence, out with Rock Action Records on 25 April. Join them a couple of days later at Mono for a dreamy album launch celebrating their new baby –expect a new, upbeat sound married with their trademark ethereal vocals.
Horror Minus Horror
CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, 10-17 Apr, 7:30pm
What makes a horror film a horror? What about those films that use the genre’s aesthetics, themes, and general spookiness without ever delving into full horror? This intriguing two-film programme at the newly reopened CCA looks at two films –Stephen Karam’s sinister family drama The Humans and Andrew Haigh’s ghost story without a ghost 45 Years – to examine the tendrils that horror leaves across all genres.
Good Vibes: Record Store Day
It’s officially spring which means things are getting gradually brighter and sexier. Find fun club nights, queer cinema, and indie music on offer this month.
Compiled by Anahit Behrooz
Good Vibes Neighbourhood Store & Studios, Edinburgh, 12 Apr, 12pm
Record Store Day, the UK’s annual celebration of indie record shops, has rolled around again and Scotland’s record shops are putting on an incredible show. One of our favourite programmes is over at Good Vibes Neighbourhood Store & Studios: there’s an afternoon of music at the False Widow Bar with Town Centre, R.AGGS and Isabella Strange, and dancing at Leith Cricket Club in the evening courtesy of Supper Club DJs.
House Guest
Various venues, Glasgow, 12 Apr, 2pm
Various venues, Paisley, 25-27 Apr
Academy Late
RSA: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 11 Apr, 8:30pm
See this year’s RSA New Contemporaries, the annual exhibition celebrating the very best of groundbreaking and up-and-coming Scottish art, after dark at Academy Late. As well as a gorgeous meld of painting, installation, sculpture and moving image works, there’ll be live DJing from xivro, drinks from Heverlee and Dishoom, and weird and wacky performances by New Contemporaries artists Adam Lock, Ellis Ludlow, Ahed Alameri, and Amy Anna Graham with collaborators Tom Macfadyen and Nikodem Rodzeń
FERAL: A Queer Femme Club Night
The Mash House, Edinburgh, 3 Apr, 11pm
It’s a great month for queer clubbing as FERAL – a night dedicated to all things queer, femme and sapphic – descends upon the Cowgate. Put on your danciest of shoes and find Edinburgh DJ icons Bellarosa and Buckfast Barbie on the decks playing a mix of hyperpop, Jersey club, amapiano and hip-hop for a euphoric, high-energy night.
Moulin Rouge!
The Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh, 22 Apr-14 Jun
Enter the seedy glamour of the Belle Epoque with this lush stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s jukebox musical Moulin Rouge!, in which an impoverished writer falls in love with a tragic cabaret dancer and courtesan – think La Bohème meets Madonna. Featuring big sets, big costumes, and even bi er songs, this is theatre at its most sexy, garish, and impossibly romantic.
Martha Mazur + Kem Frances: An Invitation to Drift Generator Projects, Dundee, 12-27 Apr
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 15-19 Apr, various times
Calamity Jane
Paisley Book Festival
Photo: Hope Simmers
Photo: Mark Senior
Photo: Euan Anderson
Photo: Kem Frances
Image: courtesy of Artificial
Image: courtesy of artist
Photo: Matt Murphy
Photo: Andy Catlin
Photo: Sandra Ebert
Image: courtesy of Good Vibes
Tina Sandwich
R.AGGS
The original Broadway company of Moulin Rouge! The Musical Bellarosa
45 Years
Cloth
Academy Late 2024. Performance by Rho McGuire
Calamity Jane
An Invitation to Drift
Chris McQueer for Paisley Book Festival
Derek Jarman: Modern Nature on Film Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, until 27 Apr
Presented in partnership with the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, who are currently showing an exhibition focused on Derek Jarman’s work in painting, moving image and queer activism, this programme focuses on the filmmaker’s cinematic output, showcasing such films as Blue, In the Shadow of the Sun and Carava io.
NATI
Church, Dundee, 18 Apr, 7pm
Born and bred Fifer NATI started her music career during the pandemic, going viral after posting covers on her TikTok. She released her debut EP Older in 2023, an infectious mix of folk, pop and rock, and has since released numerous singles, including the ecstatic Heard It All Before. Catch her performing at Church before heading to festivals over the summer.
Double Thrills: Alex Franz Zehetbauer
CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, 1-3 Apr, 7pm
Part of Buzzcut’s spring programme of experimental queer theatre, this cabaret style evening is a delirious and creative exploration of the bounds of performance. Find the likes of Craig Manson skewering the critically acclaimed solo show in Bunny, or Femme Castatrice’s anticolonial take on Christina Rosetti in Gobbling Market, with the evening rounded off with a DJ set in Third Eye Bar.
Orla Gartland
SWG3, Glasgow, 31 Mar, 7pm
Polka Dot Disco Club invites Sama’ Abdulhadi
Sub Club, Glasgow, 18 Apr, 11pm
Sub Club mainstays Polka Dot Disco Club welcome Palestinian DJ and producer Sama’ Abdulhadi. One of the leading names of the Palestinian underground scene, her sets and edits have changed the shape of the techno scene in the region, blending Berlininspired beats with distinctly Middle Eastern sounds. Support on the night comes from Polka Dot Disco Club founder Frankie Elyse.
Pomegranates Festival
Various venues, Edinburgh, 25-30 Apr
The fourth edition of Pomegranates Festival, The Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland’s interdisciplinary festival of dance, is themed around masks, examining how masks have informed and shaped different traditions of dance from antiquity to the modern day. Highlights include a programme of short films exploring ideas of mythology and climate crisis and a hip-hop dance theatre solo show by Kalubi Mukangela-Jacoby.
Mojxmma FOREVER: Legends Never Die
Stereo, Glasgow, 12 Apr, 11pm
All good things have to come to an end, and so gorgeous club night Mojxmma is hanging up its hat. Never fear though, because they’re throwing one last party to celebrate five years of incredible clubbing dedicated to carving out a space for queer and PoC revellers. Find the likes of Salam Kitty, Babyjaii and effua on the DJ lineup, alongside performances from the Scottish ballroom scene.
Impressions: Selected Works from the Jerwood Collection Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, 4 Apr-29 Jun
Counterflows
Various venues, Glasgow, 3-6 Apr
Billy Woods La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, 3 Apr, 7pm
Photo: Alexander Richter
Photo: Nicole Ngai
Image: courtesy of BUZZCUT
Photo: Hiviz
Image: courtesy of Mojxmma
Photo: Greg Mcvean
Photo: Hiviz
Image: courtesy of GFT
Sama' Abdulhadi
Femme Castatrice
Mask Maker Model and artist Lorraine Pritchard for Pomegranates NATI
While Glasgow festivals happening this month like Counterflows (3-6 Apr) and HOUSEGUEST (12 Apr) get some love in our full festivals guide on p32, fans of LOUD music should seek out Dundee Metal Fest at Beat Generator Live! (19 Apr). Back in Glasgow, check out the To Glasgow With Love x all-dayer at Mono (6 Apr), a Refuweegee fundraiser, or the Commotion Promotions All-Dayer with Sweaty Palms at The Rum Shack (16 Apr). In between those, you’ll find Record Store Day (12 Apr). Head to your favourite record shop, buy records, enjoy live music, have a lovely time.
At the time of writing, not everyone has announced their plans yet, but in Edinburgh, so far VoxBox have announced they’re going to return to St Vincent's Chapel with performances from Withered Hand, Bell Lungs, Haiver, Sarah/Shaun, Jill Lorean, Chrysanths and more, while in Leith Good Vibes are hosting an afternoon of live music at The False Widow with Lost Map Records featuring Curtis Miles, Town Centre, Dominic Hooper, R.AGGS and Isabella Strange. They’re also co-hosting an after party with Supper Club at the Leith Cricket Club with live music from Health & Beauty, and all-vinyl DJ sets from DJ Ham, Arusa Qureshi and the Supper Club residents, of which I am one. Hi! Hello!
Keeping things local, Glasgow darkwave and electronic outfit Mercy Girl will be showcasing new tunes at The Hug & Pint (4 Apr) ahead of releasing an EP later in the year, pop provocateur Possibly Jamie will be doing similar at Nice N Sleazy a few days later (8 Apr), while VUKOVI’s rescheduled My God Has Got a Gun show will take place at SWG3 (11 Apr). In Edinburgh, soulful R‘n’B artist Nikhita celebrates her debut EP Solace at Whitespace (10 Apr), while Sacred Paws are set to bring their latest, Jump Into Life, to The Mash House on the 18th.
Back in Glasgow, Brooke Combe ends her Dancing At the Edge of the World tour at Barrowlands (19 Apr), her bi est Scottish headline show to date. The following night, Fiona Soe Paing brings her multimedia show Sand, Silt, Flint from Aberdeenshire to The Glad Cafe. A few days later, Glasgow political punks SOAPBOX bring their LOCK IN EP to The Glasgow School of Art (25 Apr), and Cloth launch Pink Silence at Mono (27 Apr), while in-between those, in Edinburgh Sarah/Shaun celebrate their latest EP, Someone’s Ghost, at The Bongo Club (26 Apr), part of Hobbes Music’s 12th Birthday celebrations.
Consider also checking out The Red Numbers Project at Stereo (17 Apr), a collective of experimental musicians and composers set to perform Riley Mackenzie’s new longform, electronic dance composition Dreamsummer. In Edinburgh, our last local pick is Grrrl Crush (24 Apr), returning to the capital for one night only with a punk double bill from The Menstrual Cramps and The Twistettes.
When it comes to tours passing through, in Glasgow consider Olly Alexander and Jacob Alon (Barrowlands, 3 Apr), HotWax (Nice N Sleazy, 4 Apr), Sugababes (Hydro, 17 Apr), Chat Pile (QMU, 23 Apr) or Benefits (The Rum Shack, 29 Apr), while in Edinburgh catch Pigs x7 (La Belle Angele, 15 Apr), Maria Somerville (Sneaky Pete’s, 20 Apr) or Penelope Trappes with support from SHHE (The Queen’s Hall, 26 Apr). [Tallah Brash]
Photo:
Tom White
Photo: Sam Crowston
Brooke Combe
Benefits
Fiona Soe Paing
Photo: Isla Goldie
Film
The CCA’s winter closure has been a massive blow to Glasgow’s film scene, but with spring arriving its doors are reopening with a film that will knock cinephiles’ socks off: Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker, which hijacks DC Comic IP to tell a dizzyingly inventive trans coming-of-age comedy (1 Apr). The screening will be followed by a pre-recorded chat between Drew and comic book writer Grant Morrison, who has spent much of his career writing for DC.
CCA also host Horror Minus Horror (10 & 17 Apr), an intriguing two-night film series pushing at the boundaries of the horror genre. First up, Stephen Karam's The Humans, an eerie Thanksgiving drama in which a family (featuring Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer, Beanie Feldstein and Steven Yeun) have a dinner from hell. Then it’s Andrew Haigh’s devastating 45 Years, a relationship drama where the spectre of a long-dead ex-girlfriend metaphorically haunts a married couple.
Readers of a certain age who remember the thrill of VHS rental shops should get a nostalgic kick out of Kim’s Video, David Redmon’s documentary about the legendary New York video rental emporium that was a favourite of people like Jim Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers, Chloë Sevigny and Quentin Tarantino. This quirky, affectionate doc takes viewers on a quixotic quest to discover where these videos ended up once Kim’s Video closed its doors in the late 00s. Film exhibitors Cinetopia are taking the film on tour, with screenings at GFT (10 Apr), DCA (25 Apr) and Montrose Playhouse (28 Apr).
To mark Record Store Day on 12 April, GFT are screening three music classics: School of Rock, Almost Famous and Empire Records (the latter in 35mm). GFT also continue their essential Chantal Akerman and Derek Jarman retrospectives into April. Meetings with Anna (6 & 7 Apr), All Night Long (9 & 10 Apr) and the little-screened musical Golden Eighties (12 & 14 Apr) are among the unmissible Akerman screenings, while Jarman fans can see the deeply moving sound piece Blue (13 Apr) and Carava io (27 Apr), Jarman’s take on the life of the great Baroque painter.
Talking of great filmmakers, GFT crowns British auteur and food critic Michael Winner their April CineMaster, with a day-long retrospective (think masterpieces like Dirty Weekend, The Sentinel and at least three Death Wish movies) on 1 April.
There’s also the usual mix of great Q&A screenings coming to Scottish cinemas this month. James McArdle comes to GFT with the warm Irish comedy Four Mothers (6 Apr), director Mikko Mäkelä will be at the Cameo to present his queer drama Sebastian (also 6 Apr), and Glasgow-based director Ciaran Lyons screens his low-budget psychological hangout movie Tummy Monster at GFT (1 May). [Jamie Dunn]
Clubs
Who’s the baddest of them all? On Thursday 3 April, it’s Eliza Rose – don’t miss the platinum-selling singer’s vinyl fetish tour at The Berkeley Suite in Glasgow. Close runners up, Orbital, bang out boomer techno and breaks to the Barrowland Ballroom from 7pm. On Friday 4 April, after a seven-year sabbatical, Hawkchild DIY returns to The Art School with a trance music triple threat: Courtesy, Dark0 + Torus. Alternatively, discover the UK cloud rap revival with Feng + Jah at The Flying Duck for CWX1 or head to EXIT for all things Latin re aeton and trap inside Club Beso. On Saturday 5 April, choose between leftfield dance in Dundee at Szentek’s Moving Castle or fast-paced pelters at the Carouse Day Party in Edinburgh at The Pitt.
For experimental club sounds, see Foodman & gyrofield at The Art School as part of Glasgow’s Counterflows festival. If you fancy a pint without the party, catch Baxter Dury’s post-Primal Scream bar set at McChuills (5 Apr). On Friday 11 April, 140 legend Loefah lands at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh for mantle with Feena. On Saturday 12 April, Stereo hosts (the very last) Mojxmma FOREVER: Legends Never Die – don’t cry because it’s over, smile since it happened. Numbers is back on Friday 18 April with Fergus Jones, Shell Company & Older Brother, Unspecified Enemies, and Ribeka at EXIT – expect forward-looking sounds from artists new and old. Otherwise, Supertouch DIY showcases grime-tech mutations with MJK and Chrissy Grimez at The Flying Duck, whilst Or:la offers off-kilter house cuts to The Berkeley Suite. On Saturday 19 April, DJ Lag brings the best of South African Gqom to Glasgow via EXIT. Hang Tough have UK techno’s holiest Pearson Sound at The Berkeley Suite with support from Chicha on Easter Sunday – free entry for those that pull up on a donkey (20 Apr). [Cammy Gallagher]
Carava io
Club Beso
The People's Joker
Kim's Video
Image: courtesy of Szentek
Image: courtesy of Club Beso
Image: courtesy of Hawkchild DIY
Hawkchild DIY
Szentek
Art
On 19 April, Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood arrives at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Bringing together works by over 60 feminist avant-garde and contemporary artists, including VALIE EXPORT, Paula Rego, and Carrie Mae Weems, Acts of Creation confronts the complexities and creativity of caregiving. This free exhibition is on view until 13 July.
Themes of motherhood and childbirth are also explored in Portia Zvavahera’s solo exhibition, Zvakazarurwa, which continues throughout the month at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh. Zvakazarurwa is Shona for ‘revelations’, the language the artist dreams in. In her striking mixed media method and vibrant colour palette, Zvavahera depicts figures and shapes from her subconscious. Catch Zvakazarurwa before 25 May.
Over to Edinburgh Printmakers, where Impressions: Selected Works from the Jerwood Collection exhibits works by the likes of Eva Rothschild, Bridget Riley and Lucian Freud. The exhibition runs from 4 April until 29 June, coinciding with Story: Selected Works from Edinburgh Printmakers Collection.
From 11 April, Edinburgh’s sculpture park Jupiter Artland reopens for the season. To mark Ian Hamilton Finlay’s centenary, rarely seen works by the late poet and artist will be on display. Finlay’s Little Sparta – his whimsical garden set in the Pentland Hills – inspired Jupiter Artland’s foundation. His works are brought into dialogue with sculptor and environmentalist Andy Goldsworthy with the presentation of Clay Tree Wall in Jupiter’s Upper Steadings Gallery.
At the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Ciara Phillips presents Undoing it, a new solo exhibition comprising woodcuts, etchings and screenprints. The title speaks to the improvisational nature of printmaking; in her words, the method involves ‘a back-and-forth live discussion with the work as it happens.’ Undoing it is here until 26 October 2025.
Also in Glasgow, Yuichi Hirako’s Number of Trees continues at The Modern Institute throughout the month. Hirako’s playful approach to sculpture and painting carries an undercurrent of environmental urgency as he addresses our intricate relationship with the natural world. [Rachel Ashenden]
Theatre
This month begins with National Theatre of Scotland’s Through the Shortbread Tin (1 Apr-2 May), a new play performed in Scots with songs in Gaelic. The production will visit 12 locations throughout Scotland, exploring folklore and tall tales.
Edinburgh-based group The Crunch Collective will stage Ben Ramsay’s new play, The Stag and the Hound, at Saint Augustine’s on 8 April. The dark comedy follows a groom-to-be after a stag do gone awry.
Stellar Quines will bring their largest ever cast to Fife with Frankie Stein (18-19 Apr), a feminist exploration of the rise of AI and gender equity inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The cast is joined by the Young Quines, Stellar Quines’ feminist youth company, and by a local Community Company. Frankie Stein is the first show created in the company’s new home in the Lochgelly Centre.
Dundee Rep will open a new adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable. Directed by Joanna Bowman, the production will be the first professional adaptation in Scotland for nearly 15 years, and runs 19 April to 10 May.
At the end of the month, Scottish Opera will open The Merry Widow, Franz Lehár’s operetta. The piece gets a new spin with an English translation and mid-century New York setting. The Merry Widow will open at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, before touring to Inverness, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and London from 30 April to 28 June. [Rho Chung]
Books
Paisley Book Festival kicks off over in, well, Paisley this month, with a great lineup full of favourites from 25 to 27 April: find the likes of Heather Parry and Hannah Lavery in conversation, a panel on food and memoir featuring Julie Lin, Pam Brunton and Katie Goh, and the Paisley heat of the Loud Poets Slam Series. Elsewhere on the West Coast, Waterstones Argyle Street welcomes Amal El-Mohtar to discuss her books The River Has Roots and This Is How You Lose The Time War (25 Apr), and Good Press does a group launch for Colin Bramwell, Patrick Romero McCafferty and Charles Lang for their new poetry books (7 Apr).
Ciara Phillips, 'Any time there is a surface… (2018) Woodcut, relief print and screen-print on paper. Installation view from Mead Gallery, University of Warwick
VALIE EXPORT, Die Geburtenmadonna, 1976
Over in Edinburgh, meanwhile, Kit de Waal launches The Best of Everything at The Portobello Bookshop (16 Apr) and there’s a showcase of the Inklings featuring Arusa Qureshi, Casci Ritchie, Thom James Carter and Xuanlin Tham (22 Apr) and the launch of Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin’s Ordinary Saints (24 Apr) also at Porty. Over at Lighthouse Bookshop, Emma Casey launches the intriguingly named The Return of the Housewife (9 Apr), Rahul Rao launches The Psychic Life of Statues (3 Apr) and Candice Chung launches her memoir Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You (16 Apr). And finally, The Skinny writer Andrés N. Ordorica launches his second poetry collection Holy Boys at Toppings on 9 April. [Anahit Behrooz]
Comedy
Early in April, the marvellous John Tothill graces Edinburgh with his second hour of stand-up, Thank God This Lasts Forever (Monkey Barrel, 5 Apr, 8pm). Centring on undergoing medical trials to fund his Fringe run, Tothill’s distinctive presence makes you feel as if he’s lounging in your front room with a robust red in one hand and a Marlboro Light in the other.
As for local lads, Rosco McClelland brings the critically acclaimed Sudden Death to both Edinburgh (Monkey Barrel, 13 Apr, 7:30pm) and Dundee (Number 57, 18 Apr, 8pm) this month. In his most personal show yet, the gravel-voiced Glaswegian intertwines tales of young, dumb fun with a surprising health scare. And Two Doors Down’s Kieran Hodgson embarks on a new quest to save America (Edinburgh Stand, 15 Apr, 8.30pm, £15) which is, in his own words, ‘having a cheeky one’ rn.
There’s a really exciting new night gearing up at The Old Hairdresser’s in Glasgow. Gnash (17 Apr, 8pm) is described as an experimental gig where art meets comedy, which sounds very much up our street. We’re expecting mad clown stuff, weird performance art and most importantly, something to tickle you in a completely unexpected way.
We’re also dead interested to see what Molly McGuiness has up her sleeve. Working up her debut hour at Monkey Barrel (28 Apr, 7pm), there’s a deceptive edge to McGuinness’s surface-level dream-like stand-up and with a killer BIG TWIST to be explored, we reckon she’s going to go great guns in August.
Finally, make sure to book ahead for one of our favourite shows from last Fringe – Ed Night’s The Plunge (Monkey Barrel, 9 May, 8pm). There’s something almost hypnotic about Night’s droll baritone as he drills into his specific brand of languorous nonsense. Totally unlike any other stand-up on the scene right now. [Polly Glynn]
Photo: Rebecca Need-Menear
Photo: Daniel McGowan Photography
Photo: Andrew Downie
John Tothill
Andrés N. Ordorica
Rosco McClelland
Xuanlin Tham
Image: Shiza Saqib, Nafs (detail)
Fragile Beauty
A new exhibition in Perth Art Gallery, GLASS explores the evolution of glassmaking locally and around the world
Words by: Rachel Ashenden
Perth’s relationship to craft runs deep. Once known as a ‘Craftis Toun’ in Medieval times, it has long been an epicentre of making, a tradition that earned it the title of the UK’s only UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art in 2021. Now, a new exhibition at Perth Art Gallery, simply titled GLASS, turns the spotlight on a material that has a rich social history. But more than a historical survey, the exhibition asks a compelling question: could it spark a glassmaking revival in the region?
Spanning centuries, from ancient civilisations to contemporary practice, GLASS traces the evolution of the medium, revealing its artistic and technical transformations. It begins over 2,000 years ago with Syrian glass, examining how early makers re ned the craft. Moving forward, it explores the Venetian revival of glassblowing in the 19th century, with a focus on Murano, which remains synonymous with exquisite glasswork today. Perth’s own history is woven into this global story, speci cally its glassmaking legacy shaped by migration, innovation and industry.
The region’s rise as a glassmaking hub can be traced back to the early 20th century and a Spanish migrant named Salvador Ysart. He worked at John Moncrie ’s factory, where he produced practical glass on the clock but experimented with sculptural techniques during his lunch breaks. His artistry caught the eye of Isabelle Moncrie , the
factory owner’s wife, leading to a new product line called Monart Glass, which blended craftsmanship with creative expression. In turn, Perth’s glass industry thrived, with companies such as Vasart Glass and Strathearn Glass following in Ysart’s footsteps. While large-scale manufacturing dwindled in the 1990s due to deindustrialisation, the craft never disappeared. The skills, techniques and traditions were passed down, kept alive in small artisan studios, particularly in rural Perthshire.
GLASS also showcases the contemporary makers who push the limits of the medium. As JP Reid, the exhibition’s curator, points out: visitors will be both ‘surprised’ and ‘excited’ about what glass can achieve in ways that are inconsistent with its practical and everyday function. Some of the artists featured even have direct links to the historic manufacturers, their work demonstrating both continuity and reinvention. Take Jane Drysdale, for example, a Crie -based artist who has ties to the old Caithness Glass factory and Perthshire Paperweights. While her experimental kiln formed glass can be purchased in independent shops across the country, it’s never been displayed in a public museum context before.
The exhibition also highlights commissioned pieces that respond to museum collections, bringing fresh perspectives to the material’s possibilities. Among them is Ghost Orchid (2011), inspired by the botanical collections cared for at Perth Art Gallery. This is an intricate glass recreation of an incredibly rare ower recently rediscovered in the UK made by Siobhan Healy, a glass sculptor who focuses on endangered ora, fauna and corals. Ghost Orchid is both technically impressive and conceptually resonant: glass becomes a metaphor for the precarious state of biodiversity.
19th-century works by father-and-son team Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka also capture glass and nature in all its shared fragile beauty. During their lifetimes, the Blaschka duo made over 10,000 sculptures that capture the mystery and vastness of the sea and its inhabitants. Perth Art Gallery displays Serpulid Worm and Organ Pipe Coral, both astonishing for their scienti c precision.
Another exhibition highlight is Perthshire Sheep by Carrie Fertig, a life-size sheep sculpture unusually made entirely from borosilicate glass, which is a material most associated with test tubes. Layering ne coils of glass to mimic the texture of wool, Fertig’s work both highlights the practicalities of the medium and its artistic potential. Through the revival of traditional techniques and entirely innovative approaches, GLASS makes a compelling case for the enduring power of the craft.
Perth Art Gallery is open from Thursday to Monday from 10am
Perth Art Gallery, 78 George St, Perth PH1 5LB
www.culturepk.org.uk/perthartgallery for more information
Image: courtesy of Culture Perth & Kinross
Perthshire Sheep by Carrie Fertig
Ghost Orchid by Siobhan Healy, 2011
Image: courtesy of Culture Perth & Kinross / Julie Howden
Features
22 Music Festivals Special! We kick off the edition with a sit down with Dunfermline’s own rising star Jacob Alon, who’s got a busy festival season coming up.
25 We look at the work of Ravers for Palestine, working to stir discussion and action around festival links to genocide.
26 Gig Buddies break down access barriers in Scotland’s festival scene, allowing adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults to take control of their social lives.
29 Feminist collective FLAPS (Fannies Listening with Advice and Peer Support) on their work creating safe spaces at music festivals.
32 Festival calendars – a rundown of this summer’s highlights in Scotland and beyond.
38 Maxime Jean-Baptiste talks blending fact and fiction as he returns to Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival with Kouté vwa.
39 Director Leonardo Van Dijl on Belgian tennis prodigy drama Julie Keeps Quiet
47 Balancing nostalgia and techno futurism with Glasgow clubs veterans Slam as they return to The Arches.
48 Edinburgh-based Irish author Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin on her debut novel Ordinary Saints
51 Rosco McClelland on hell, and being an elder statesman of Scottish comedy.
52 Acts of Creation, an exhibition arriving in DCA, explores the impossible balancing act of art and motherhood.
54 We meet John Savournin, director of Scottish Opera’s new productions of The Merry Widow
On the website...
A bunch of additional reviews in comedy, theatre, music and art; lineup news from some of Scotland’s best festivals (some of which we can’t discuss yet, so shhh); our fortnightly film podcast The Cineskinny
Image Credits: (Left to right, top to bottom) Nico Utuk; Magda Michlak; courtesy of Gig Buddies; courtesy of FLAPS; Magnus Graham; Gabriel Renault/FIFIB; Nicolas Karakatsanis; Lewis Smith; Julie Broadfoot; Andrew Downie; courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine New York;
Shot of the month
Sharon Van Etten @ Barrowlands, Glasgow, 12 March by
Marilena Vlachopoulou
Across
9. Habit (7)
10. Forgetfulness (7)
11. Ill-advised (9)
12. Subterfuge – cliff (5)
13. Successors (5)
14. Daredevil (4-5)
15. In a significant way (7)
17. Thoroughly (2,5)
19. The OAT in GOAT (2,3,4)
22. Relating to sound (or a hedgehog?) (5)
23. Bird homes (5)
24. Spur of the moment (9)
25. Outperform (7)
26. Reimbursements (7)
Down
1. Comprehensively (4,3,6,2)
2. Daylight (8)
3. Intrigues – equips (anag) (6)
4. With care (8)
5. Bi er on the inside (6)
6. Without diminishing – a bad tune (anag) (8)
7. AF (2,4)
8. As expected (3,3,3,6)
16. Lucky charm – slant aim (anag) (8)
17. Amateur (8)
18. Table tennis (4-4)
20. Evaluate (6)
21. Apertures – flowers (6)
22. Derides – devours (6)
Compiled
by
George Sully
Feedback? Email crossword@theskinny.co.uk
Turn to page 7 for the solutions
In this month’s advice column, one reader stru les with a friend’s unwanted advances
What’s your advice on how to approach a close friend who is in love with you but it makes you feel uncomfortable. She’s unaware that I know but her advances are becoming more and more obvious. I’ve opposed the idea of us as a couple multiple times to her face but nothing’s changed. I don’t want to drop the friend however things have got out of hand. I’ve had two glasses of wine and am on the last train home and am so excited to answer this question, because what you’re asking is how to detect and convey the limits of what you are willing to tolerate, i.e. boundaries, and as someone who has never set a boundary in their life I feel I am uniquely qualified to answer this.
The thing I find most fascinating about boundaries is they are simple to dictate and almost impossible to enforce, because they require having to go against so many of our instincts of attachment. It is so easy to spell out DUMP HIM in tarot cards about a friend’s terrible boyfriend, but harder when it’s your terrible boyfriend. And I want to make the argument (because I’m tipsy and therefore brave) that maybe that is actually OK, and not something to desperately train ourselves out of. I feel I have to always be so furtive about serious conflict because the reflex from my friends and beleaguered therapist is to say maybe that person shouldn’t be in my life anymore. And not only does that break my heart, but it also means I then downplay all my complex feelings of anger and frustration and hurt to avoid that response. Like, whatever happened to bitching about an insane friend or avoidant ex over cocktails and going home and changing nothing. Maybe some traditions shouldn’t die!
My toxic take on boundaries aside, the only thing you can do here is communicate – if she’s unaware that you know, that su ests you’ve been dropping heavy hints instead of having a direct conversation. And yeah, there may come a point where if she doesn’t listen, the nature of your relationship will shift. But I guess I’m trying to say I understand the desire to not give up until you have to. Some things are worth navigating and are navigable. I really do believe this. I think.
Do you have a problem Anahit could help with? Email pettyshit@theskinny.co.uk or check The Skinny’s Instastories for fully anonymised submissions
TEXAS SUPERGRASS PAUL HEATON
NATASHA BEDINGFIELD THE PIGEON DETECTIVES
KASSIDY
TORRIDON • GIMME ABBA (LATE NIGHT)
FANNY LUMSDEN • NATI. • HÒ-RÒ
DYLAN JAMES TIERNEY • TARTAN PAINT
CHRIS MANNING’S HIGHLAND
SWING & SOUL BAND
DOUGIE BURNS & THE CADILLACS
SCHIEHALLION • TREMOLOCO
JOHN B’S DAUGHTER • IODYNES
ROSS ANDERSON • PARIAH • THE SHIRE
AMY HENDERSON & EWAN MACPHERSON
THE GREAT GLEN SWING BAND
KILTEARN FIDDLERS
CMAT SKIPINNISH GOK WAN DJ SET
KARINE POLWART BELUGA LAGOON ELLES BAILEY
THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN THE KIFFNESS • KATIE GREGSON-MACLEOD
TOBY LEE • THE LAURETTES
CASEY LOWERY • CUMBIATONES
BEN WALKER • BOHEMIAN MONK MACHINE
THE LIBBY KOCH BAND • JAMES EMMANUEL
OCTOBER DRIFT • MOTEH PARROTT
THE CALOWAYS • THE DANGLEBERRIES
THE SPRINGSTEEN SESSIONS
JARAD ROWAN • IONA ZAJAC
FINN FORSTER • DANK MANGO
FIDDLE FORTE • THE RETROPHONES
FOLK’D UP • CLEAVERS • MULLIGAIN
MARYANN, BEV & THE SUPERDANDIES
SPACE VAN • LYNSEY DOLAN BAND
LAURA BOYD & THE CAPRI SONS
THE SHIRE • BAD ACTRESS • FREEPEACE TARTAN PAINT • KAY-LISA DAVIDSON
TOM WALKER TIDE LINES EXAMPLE
GABRIELLE APLIN THE HOOSIERS • DREADZONE PETER CAPALDI
COLONEL MUSTARD & THE DIJON 5 THE PRIMITIVES • PORK PIE
CALUM MACPHAIL•RUMAC•RIDDEMPTION
CHRIS MANNING’S SWING & SOUL BAND GO TO THE MOVIES
LUSA • MY DARLING CLEMENTINE • BLUAI
THE JOY HOTEL • MACFLOYD • GUN GHAOL
DLÙ • LEWIS MCLAUGHLIN
BOHEMIAN MONK MACHINE
BECCA SLOAN • NORTH ATLAS • PAWS
THE DAZED DIGITAL AGE • MICHAEL LEWIS
RELIEVER • OVE OVE • THE COLLECTIVE THE DAVY COWAN BAND • THE IDIOTIX
DANCING WITH SHARKS • THE DIHYDRO
OXBOW STANDING • THE RETROPHONES
FEIS ROIS CEILDIH TRAIL
THE GREAT GLEN SWING BAND ANDY DUNCAN BELLA SINGALONG
With festival season just around the corner, we explore a wide array of topics in our annual festivals special. Before we get stuck into the nitty-gritty of it all, we meet with rising star Jacob Alon. A few of us joined Alon for a festival-forward photoshoot at Dunfermline’s Pittencrieff Park – known to locals as ‘The Glens’, it’s where Alon spent a lot of time during their formative years – while our writer Jack Faulds met up with them for an indepth chat at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Cafe to talk about their forthcoming debut album ahead of what’s looking set to be a busy summer of festivals.
Theatre Editor Rho Chung writes about the importance of collective action against festivals with ties to Israel, highlighting the work being done by Ravers For Palestine; Zoë White talks to Gig Buddies, a charity run via Thera Trust that enables adults with learning disabilities and autism to get out to festivals; Myrtle Boot speaks
to some of the team behind FLAPS (Fannies Listening with Advice and Peer Support) about the work they’re doing to help enhance festival safety from the inside out, and Clubs Editor Cammy Gallagher catches up with DJ, producer and festival co-founder Ewan McVicar ahead of the third installment of Ayr’s Pavillion Festival. After *gestures* all of that, we’ve pulled together a Scottish festivals calendar looking forward to the multi-venue, greenfields and big day festivals happening all across Scotland this spring/ summer season; we compile a shortlist of festivals happening outwith Scotland that could well be worth your time, and Clubs creates a more dancefocused calendar of events, looking at options from Dundee to Croatia. Speaking of Dundee and dancing, ahead of her inaugural Doof In the Park festival (Camperdown Park, Dundee, 5 Jul), turn all the way to the inside back cover as DJ and producer Hannah Laing takes on this month’s Q&A.
POSTER ARTIST (p40-41): Jordy García aka BLUMOO is a designer and illustrator who's dedicated to the creation of especially musical posters but also makes posters about life and the odd experiment. He is inspired by everything that surrounds him in his daily life, and his works are based on the cosmic, spatial, abstract. He likes to use geometric images, multicolor combinations, and simple themes to create unique posters that stand out for everyone.
I: @posters.blumoo behance.net/postersblumoo
Words: Tallah Brash
An Act of Hope
Jacob Alon joins us on a shimmery Saturday morning in the capital for a breakfast bagel. We discuss their otherworldly debut album In Limerence and what they’re most excited about this festival season
The sleek interior of Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Cafe is awash with sunlight as our April cover star Jacob Alon rolls in with a glamorous, oversized, hot pink, four-wheel-drive suitcase like Fife’s answer to Elle Woods. They thwack their guitar case down with a forceful sigh, telling me that they’ve just come from home in Dunfermline, and will be heading off to begin the Polari Europe/ UK tour with queer pop icon Olly Alexander directly after our interview.
Despite their overwhelming schedule, Alon sits down at our table with a gentle smile and a calm, collected handshake. The swishy cowboy fringe lining the tapered cap sleeves of their T-shirt also reminds me that they’re not long back from performing at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. ‘No rest for the wicked’, I think. Yet, as they sip contentedly on their iced oat latte, sharp as a tack, you’d really never know just how many plates they’ve been spinning over these past few months. And ‘wicked’ is certainly the very last adjective I’d use to describe the person sitting across from me, given their sunny disposition and perfectly
manicured fingernails. Alon is an angel in every sense of the word, radiant and attentive as they excitedly order a breakfast bagel.
The first time I’d encountered this sonic seraphim was in August of 2023 at McChuills’ in Glasgow where they served as a warm-up act for alt-pop darlings Walt Disco. I caught the tail-end of their performance, and ended up kicking myself the whole night wishing I’d gotten an earlier train. Their unique, intricate guitar-playing style and heavenly vocal timbre had everyone enraptured. The intense, trance-like focus on delivering each song to the audience in the most raw, honest, tender way possible was incredible to watch, even in that fleeting end-of-set moment. Since then, their otherworldly talent has taken them to soaring, Icarus-level heights. At the end of last year, they appeared on Later… with Jools Holland and just days before we meet they were interviewed by Elton John for his Rocket Hour. No bi ie.
I let Alon know that it’s slightly intimidating to be the person who has to follow up and fill the massive, sparkly, wedge-heel boots of a legend like Elton John, but they immediately put me at ease. “No, don't worry!” they laugh.
“He was very sweet and complimentary but it was very fast and the FaceTime call was very glitchy. Obviously, I love his music… and his iconic cameo in Kingsman 2. It was very surreal and so cool to be in conversation with someone like that who has done so much and had the career that he’s had and is still championing young artists.”
It’s plain as mud to see why good ol’ Uncle Elton would admire someone like Alon this much, especially now that I’ve listened through to their mystical upcoming debut album.
On In Limerence, Alon graciously grants you access to a lush, auricular garden hidden away
Words: Jack Faulds
Photography: Nico Utuk
in a realm of their own meticulous design. Here, you’ll lose yourself in a dense canebrake of remarkable, alchemic songwriting amongst which lurks themes of self-destructive cycles, unrequited queer love and retreating into fantasy. You’ll find yourself indulging in its delicious spoils – delectable morsels of scratchy acoustic guitar, dewy drops of electric piano and unfurling plumes of rambling trumpets. It is also a place imbued with a deep sense of temporal liminality by the hazy, muffled snippets from childhood home videos and other faded foley work that Alon scatters over its leafy expanses, but you are lifted through these uneasy territories by the winds of hope and perseverance.
“There was definitely an intention of hope when I was building that world,” Alon says, casting their mind off to a seemingly distant place.
“There’s a lot of despair I’ve felt and that has inspired a lot of the music, but I suppose the act of creating in itself is an act of hope. I believe in the other side of despair – transforming, healing, moving through pain and having it blossom into something beautiful. The album begins stepping into the mouth of the world of dreams and spiralling over the edge of what is real and what is memory, fiction, fantasy.”
Glimmer is the perfect instrumental track to lead you into this gaping maw of the dream world, calling out to you with an airy Greek mandolin, subtly submerging you in the mythology that the first song Of Amber explores – the story of Orion and the Pleiades. “I was fascinated with the story of Orion, this predatory hunter character who endlessly pursued these seven sisters – the Pleiades – who were then turned into stars by Zeus to protect them. I love telling stories through other stories and creating worlds in that way.
“Of Amber is a few things. I think of the song as embodying this idea of locking something away, like those amber inclusions that have bugs in them. The idea that you can contain something from millions of years ago, encased in something so beautiful, perfectly preserved in their youth… but also dead? I think it relates to that central idea of limerence and the self-protective nature of locking away a part of your heart inside of this place where, although it cannot age or be hurt, it also can’t be reached. It’s inaccessible, it can’t live. There’s also the person or character in the song, Amber, who I think represents the feminine parts of myself I can sometimes keep locked away.”
As Alon sits back in their chair, dabbing crumbs away from their cheeks and reflecting on what they have just unpacked, I see a person who cares infinitely about representing their feelings and experiences accurately through their art. Someone who will search tirelessly to find the exact metaphor or motif which best serves both themself and the music. Don’t Fall Asleep is another great example of this. Alon expels a stream of pensive lyricism from the perspective of
a distant cousin who tragically died by drowning before Alon was born. They imagine, through this tender soundscape, what it would have been like if this life wasn’t cut so short.
“It’s strange – even though I didn’t know him, I’ve felt the impact of his loss through the stories I’ve been told about him. I always had this kind of fictionalised idea of who he was, and would sometimes dream about him. His brother reached out to me with an album of ambient music he had made for falling asleep to, which was inspired by his brother’s passing. He told me that when they were kids, they used to pick out records to fall asleep to and, coincidentally, I had already half-written this chorus about ‘don’t fall asleep’. It was so spooky.
“This song means much more to me than just the story it was based on. It’s about actively choosing to keep living. There’s this quote, I can’t remember who from, ‘Sleep is the shy death’. I think that was my kind of philosophy with this song – don’t stay asleep in the world of fantasy because you don’t think you deserve real love.”
Alon touches base with almost every kind of love fathomable on this record. The stripped-back,
on-the-verge-of-tears tone of Confession creates a mellifluous, fertile flower bed over which they express the sorrow that too often comes to young queer people who pine for those trapped in shame.
The whispery, countrified rhythm of Zathura (which, yes, is a reference to the flop Jumanji spin-off starring Kristen Stewart and Josh Hutcherson) takes you into the woods near Alon’s childhood home where they explore their relationship with their little brother and the guilt they feel for not always being there for people when they ought to be.
Then there are songs like Liquid Gold 25 (which feels less like a hit of amyl nitrate and more like a deep breath of fresh morning air) and the closing track Sertraline (which has a Strawberry Fields Forever kind of bittersweet) that delve into Alon’s stru les with addiction and other vicious cycles. “I speak a lot from the perspective of the drug,” Alon remarks. “But the ‘drug’ can be a lot of different things. The cycles of love and hate, the deleting and redownloading of Grindr, different self-destructive behaviours that I’ve dealt with. Poppers feels like that too, a temporary triumphant euphoria that allows you to escape, followed
“I love European festivals... in Belgium
I got a full meal and my own cabin –over here you get a packet of cheese and onion crisps”
Jacob Alon
by crazy headaches and heart palpitations. I find myself chasing those ephemeral kinds of connection. Not sponsored by Liquid Gold.”
What is perhaps the most enchanting aspect of Alon’s character is their ability to find humour and optimism in almost everything, to find that crack of light piercing through the ceiling of a shadowy forest. It spills forth from them as they brush off the fact that they missed their first train to London – “oh well, we were just having such a great conversation!” – and it permeates this rich and multifaceted record. They squeal in delight like an eager puppy when I ask them about their various festival dates this year: “I’m so excited for festival season this year! I’m playing a festival this year that I’ve always dreamed of playing. Not many people know about it, it’s called Best Kept Secret… maybe for that reason? It’s a small one in the south of the Netherlands and it was the first proper music festival I ever went to. It’s a very cool, full-circle feeling.
“I love European festivals. A lot of UK festivals can feel very cheap, and like they’re just trying to make as much money as possible with as little as possible. Not that it’s all about me, but in Belgium I got a full meal and my own cabin – over here you get a packet of cheese and onion crisps and a slap on the bum. If you’re lucky. The government could be doing a lot more to support festivals in the UK financially. But I am very excited, and I’m hopeful that the UK festivals I’m playing this year will be great!”
In Limerence is out 30 May via Island Records/EMI
Jacob Alon plays Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, 5 Jun, as well as the following festivals: Les Nuits Botanique, Brussels, Belgium, 17 May; Dot to Dot, Bristol, 24 May; Nottingham, 25 May; Deer Shed, Baldersby Park, North Yorkshire, 25-28 Jul; Best Kept Secret, Beekse Bergen, Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands, 13-15 Jun; ypsigrock, Castelbuono, Sicily, Italy, 7-10 Aug; Green Man, Brecon Beacons, Wales, 14-17 Aug; PALP, Valais, Switzerland, 30 Aug + more TBA
instagram.com/jacobal0n
Collective Power
We take a look at the vital work being done by Ravers for Palestine to help instigate community discussion and action against festivals reportedly owned by companies with links to Israel
In late October of 2023, Ravers for Palestine (@raversforpalestine on Instagram) posted an open letter signed by hundreds of industry professionals calling on London’s electronic music scene to stand in solidarity with Palestine. The post read: “We urgently call on London’s electronic music parties and spaces, as well as our fellow ravers and artists, to publicly declare their solidarity with the Palestinian people in the face of the brutal violence they are currently experiencing in Gaza.”
The letter broadly called for its readers to use their platforms to condemn the genocide in Gaza. Ravers for Palestine quickly escalated their participation in community action; by February of the following year, they had launched a strike fund to support artists boycotting venues with links to Israel. Nearly 18 months after publishing their open letter, Ravers for Palestine has escalated its targeted action to support boycott movements. In coalition with Queers for Palestine, the group initiated a structured campaign to help artists across the UK boycott complicit spaces and events. This tried and tested model has already seen progress. Sharing information and resources to help workers claim their collective power has resulted in multiple acts pulling out of sets at Mighty Hoopla, Lost Village and Boiler Room.
Last March, Ravers for Palestine called for a boycott of about:blank, Berghain, E1, HÖR and Sweat Festival. The collective wrote that these targets were chosen because they have “silenced artists for solidarity with Palestine, or are otherwise materially implicated in the genocide.” The slides that followed illuminate just how pervasive imperialism is in our daily lives. The things we consume, from drinks to entertainment, have a knock-on effect that normalises and accelerates multiple ongoing genocides and occupations.
Many informed boycotters follow BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) guidelines (also applied in a handy app called Boycat), which designate corporations directly contributing to the genocide in Palestine and to the illegal seizure of Palestinian land as boycott and pressure targets. Other boycotts arise organically out of calls from Palestinians and workers. Regardless of its origin, a well-executed boycott can make a massive difference.
In May of last year, Bands Boycott Barclays relayed a call from PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) to boycott The Great Escape, a festival funded by Barclays, a BDS boycott target. When the call was posted, 46 acts had already pulled out of the festival. Less than two weeks later, that number
Words: Rho Chung
Illustration: Magda Michalak
‘Mass action is a reminder that these burdens are meant to be shared... the resounding message is that it will take all of us’
grew to over 100, then over a third of all scheduled acts. BDS called it the “bi est cultural boycott campaign of its kind, ever.” It was a landmark moment for organisers and artists, demonstrating not only that industry-wide solidarity is possible, but that it is a moral imperative. In response, The Great Escape no longer partners with Barclays, with other festivals like Download following suit for 2025. Recently, Ravers for Palestine named several pressure targets: Boiler Room and the festivals Field Day, Mighty Hoopla, Sónar and Flow. These festivals are reportedly owned by Superstruct, which was recently acquired by Israel-linked KKR Investments. In their statement, Ravers for Palestine wrote: “These festivals are important to many community members. We su est dialogue and outreach before taking further steps. Boycotts work best when they are narrow, targeted and a last resort.” Since that statement, Boiler Room has endorsed PACBI, distancing themselves from Superstruct. Boiler Room writes that, “No Boiler Room staff at any level held any ownership or voting rights in the company and had no control over the sale. We are also unable to divest because we have no say in our ownership.” The post doesn’t give any details about staff action or organising, but hopefully this statement is not the end of Boiler Room’s engagement with the issue.
With the ‘ceasefire’ decisively ended and the situation in Gaza and the West Bank becoming more desperate every day, the organised, steadfast commitment of the Palestinian resistance teaches us how to stand by each other. The grief of waking up to more news every day sometimes feels too heavy to bear, but mass action is a reminder that these burdens are meant to be shared. Following the success of these initiatives over the past 18 months, the resounding message is that it will take all of us; we can do it; and we will.
Follow the important work Ravers for Palestine are doing via Instagram @raversforpalestine
Ordinary Things
Gig Buddies with Thera Trust support adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults to take control over their social lives. Their Project Manager Sam Ma s discusses what can be done to break down access barriers in Scotland’s festival scene
In the mid 2000s, the Sussex punk band Heavy Load discovered something strange happening at their gigs. The group, made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities, noticed a lot of people leaving around 9pm, just as their set had begun. They realised that it was due to support worker shifts often ending at 10pm, meaning fans who were there with paid support had to leave early to be home on time.
To tackle this issue, the band set up a campaign called Stay Up Late, arguing that people with learning disabilities and autistic people should be supported to lead full and active social lives, and from this campaign, Gig Buddies was born. The project, which has spread across the UK and abroad since launching in 2013, pairs up adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults with volunteers who share their interests, enabling them to enjoy gigs, festivals, and events together.
In Scotland, the project is run by the charity Thera Trust. Sam Ma s, Gig Buddies’ Edinburghbased Project Manager, emphasises the importance of enjoying social activities with people who aren’t there in a professional capacity. “[It’s about] introducing people to other people, who aren’t paid to be in their lives, because you share a common interest,” he explains. “You like the same things, whether that’s getting out to the same kind
of gigs, you’re both fans of the same football team, or actually, you’re just a bunch of people who love meeting up on Friday night in a pub…”
“It means I can get more involved with the people that I get on with,” says Robert, one of more than 190 members Gig Buddies support across the Central Belt. Every year, the team organise group trips to Scotland’s music festivals, and for many members it’s a completely new experience. Robert had never been to a festival before attending Doune the Rabbit Hole in 2022 along with a large group of other Gig Buddies members.
Ma s describes the preparation that goes into making the experience of camping at festivals as positive as possible for the members. “In the lead up to it, we’d go for one or two nights to a local campsite in Edinburgh to get used to that. We do a lot of Zoom call prep with people around the festival site and talking about the festival experience.”
Venues and event companies also have a role to play in making their spaces more welcoming to those with learning disabilities, which is why Gig Buddies have been providing access advice to organisers. “A lot of the barriers that people can have are about knowing what to expect,” Ma s explains. “So if it’s going to be busy, is there a space that I can have a break from that crowd? If it’s loud, can I get ear defenders, earplugs? Is there a place I
Words: Zoë White
can get those? Do I have to bring my own? A lot of the time as well, we find that access information done well doesn’t just benefit people that know they have barriers to access. If you’re doing as much as you can to be an accessible event, it’s more accessible for absolutely everybody.”
But despite thorough preparation, there are some aspects of festivals and events in general that remain unpredictable and can prove challenging. Robert describes his experience of Doune the Rabbit Hole as busy and loud, and remembers his frustrations when another festival attendee got too close to him. Ma s admits these factors are hard to control, but says that venues can still take measures to make people feel welcome, such as making it clear that anti-social behaviour can be reported to staff. “It’s that idea of… you want to create a community, you want people to know that this is a space for them, right? And if they experience anything that says otherwise, they aren’t the issue there, that other person is the issue.”
“A social life is an essential part of people’s lives”
Sam Ma s, Gig Buddies with Thera Trust
This year, Robert is looking forward to going to Edinburgh’s Hidden Door festival in June, which Gig Buddies will be attending for the first time, while members Michelle and Joseph are both excited to return to Kelburn Garden Party in July.
But to secure a sustainable future, Gig Buddies with Thera Trust have launched a fundraising campaign for 2025. “It’s the first time we’ve ever publicly asked for money and it’s just very necessary for us to do it at the moment,” explains Ma s. “Grant funding is getting increasingly competitive. Local authority money is being cut left, right and centre, especially around learning disability services and social care support for people. We’re seeing a lot of cuts that are resulting in people just getting the support that’s deemed essential to their lives. And actually, we feel that a social life is an essential part of people’s lives.”
From staying out late at a gig, to spending a full weekend camping at a festival, Gig Buddies emphasise that having control over your own social life helps you feel like an active member of your community. “Ordinary is the word we use,” Ma s says. “It’s just people doing ordinary things, like anyone else does.”
Find out more about Gig Buddies with Thera Trust at thera.co.uk
To donate to Gig Buddies with Thera Trust’s 2025 fundraiser, head to gigbuddiestheratrust.raiselysite.com
Gig Buddies at TRNSMT
Celebrate Music, Land, Co unity in the hi s of South West Scotland » -25 MAY 2025
African Head Charge | Dub Pistols
Elephant Se ions | Rokia Koné
Ki aris Quintet | Moxie | Omega Nebula
The Fontanas | Gasper Nali
Kate Young | State of Sa a | Formidable Vegetable Samson Sounds | Bunty | Girobabies
Mungo’s Hi Fi Sound System ft. Cian Fi & AZIZA JAYE
General Levy, Serial Ki az & Euphonique
Legends of Moving Shadow ft. EZ Ro ers & Richie
Vandal (Kaotik) | Ben Pest (DJ Set)
Ixindamix | Katch Pyro | Simply Dread | DJM aka Dan the Hat Kornelia | Morphamish | Isa Gordon & Ha y Gorski Brown » www.knockengorroch.org.uk » Plus! workshops,
Tide Lines
+ Siobhan Miller Band / Beinn Lee / Gnoss
Blazin’ Fiddles Breabach Dougie MacLean
Eddi Reader / Mec Lir
RURA / Talisk / Valtos
Astro Bloc / Beth Malcolm / Ciaran Ryan Band
Dàimh / Dàna / Donald & Peigi Barker
Flook / HEISK / Jack Badcock
Laura Wilkie / LÉDA / Liv Dawn / Malin Lewis
Rebecca Hill & Charlie Stewart / Ryan Young
Shooglenifty / Sian / St Roch’s Big Band
Tarran / The Paul McKenna Band Park
Family Friendly Under 5s Go Free
With kids activities including Ceilidh Tots
Secret sets from special guests
Quality Scottish food & drink
Fannies Listening
We chat with feminist collective FLAPS (Fannies Listening with Advice and Peer Support) about their work in creating safe spaces at music festivals through sexual and emotional welfare provisions
For many of us, the arrival of spring means one thing: festival season. Plots of farmland emerge as makeshift cities; public parks become awash with music, amplified above the rumble of roadworks; castle grounds transfigure momentarily, inviting thousands of revellers to dance, experiment and connect. The magic of these temporary utopias lies in their detachment from daily life – yet for many attendees, the spell is broken by unwanted sexual behavior.
Research conducted in 2022 (by Hannah Bows et al) found 34% of women and 6% of men experienced sexual harassment at a festival in the previous five years. In anticipation of the festival season’s return following COVID-19 restrictions, Fannies Listening with Advice and Peer Support (FLAPS) was created in 2022 by members of feminist collective Fanny Riot. Through the provision of sexual welfare services, an on-site safe space and tailored training workshops, the FLAPS crew have tasked themselves with enhancing festival safety from the inside out.
Marie, Ruby and Hannah have been active members of FLAPS since its conception. “We were all feeling very angry and frustrated about so many things that were going on in our communities and
in the world at large,” says Ruby, “We all gravitated towards this issue and that became our focus.” These fledgling discussions have since progressed into the many strands of the FLAPS project, ranging from immediate support to the provision of free menstrual and sexual health products to anyone who might need them.
The collective noticed a considerable lack in services, support and transparency surrounding sexual and emotional welfare at Scottish festivals. A 2022 study conducted by Fanny Riot, in partnership with Popgirlz Scoltand and POWA Scotland, found only two out of 60 festivals in Scotland displayed a formal sexual violence policy on their website. The campaign, Friendly Fests Scotland (FFS), aimed to kickstart the conversation about harassment and assault at festivals. “You can have policies in the background, but that means nothing to anyone trying to see whether a space is safe,” Marie says. “You have to be visible with what you do.”
This visibility may come in the form of the onsite work the FLAPS volunteers conduct with their festival partners. Festivalgoers at Kelburn Garden Party, Hidden Door Arts and Solfest have likely seen the hot pink boiler suits, the fuchsiatasseled teepee, or the FLAPS caravan (baby pink, of course). The collective’s services range from outreach games around the festival site to specialist one-onone support in the caravan. “[We work] in collaboration with the event control teams, welfare and first aid as a unified safety net,” says Hannah. “It’s an on-call service overnight. So no matter the time of day, if somebody is stru ling, then one of us is available to help.”
Festivals can be overwhelming: sobriety is scarce; the novelty of tent-life wears off when the rain starts; and the neverending fields can feel a long way from home. FLAPS offer their services to anyone who might need a breather, a calming space or someone to lend an ear. “We start from a place of active listening,” says Ruby. “Even just giving prompts to do a
Words: Myrtle Boot
“You can have policies in the background, but that means nothing to anyone trying to see whether a space is safe”
Marie, FLAPS member
bit of grounding and mindfulness... We’re very attuned through [our] training to help somebody to process whatever feeling they might be having in that moment.”
The preparation the FLAPS volunteers undergo before the festival season is extensive. “The training that we do with our team is absolutely key,” says Ruby. “[It] draws on the training that we, as the core team, have done with the Good Night Out campaign and Rape Crisis Scotland.”
The FLAPS team is often 20 people strong for good reason. “We’ve always got people to dip in and out,” Marie says. “If somebody’s feeling a bit down they can go and have a sit down and a cup of tea. It’s all about us as a group just keeping our energies up. It would be sad if we were very serious with our pink boiler suits on and with our pink fluffy vulva-looking tent!” Care for the team is as important as care for festivalgoers.
Team bonds are strong, as are the relationships cultivated between FLAPS and their festival partners. From crew members to festival organisers – FLAPS offers knowledge, support and welfare across the board. “If [festivals are] in touch with us, it’s because they really want us to work with them,” says Marie. Such conversations will often take place months in advance. “We want to make sure that we’re not a plaster; we want to change the scene from the inside out.”
The FLAPS ethos of championing a culture of consent extends beyond the festival gates. “While a lot of what we’re doing is reactive to things in the environment, it’s also preemptive,” Hannah says. “Festivals are a microcosm of community. It’s a really concentrated environment that mirrors the outside world. If we can take [this ethos] to that kind of space, then hopefully we can have that preemptive culture of consent everywhere.” Long after the party is over, these pink-cladded activists persist with making Scotland’s music scene that bit safer.
Find out more about FLAPS on Instagram @theflapsproject; the collective is currently welcoming volunteer applications for summer 2025
Ayr We Fucking Go
Ahead of Pavilion Festival’s third edition, we catch up with the festival’s co-founder, DJ and producer Ewan McVicar to find out more
Words: Cammy Gallagher
You can take the boy out of the town, but you cannot take the town out of him – it’s a cliché hard to look past when it comes to Scotland’s superstar Ewan McVicar. From his breakout Street Rave EP to the big room Ninja Tune hit Heather Park, an ode to Ayr is always there. Both released either side of platinum breakout record, Tell Me Something Good, the port town DJ and producer has always kept his feet in the sand.
Grafting from his garden studio on a scarce sunny afternoon, and a week off the international gi ing circuit, the 31-year-old sits at a transitional point in his career. Having recently become a father, he’s also the brains behind beach festival Pavilion – fast propelling the regeneration of southwest dance culture – McVicar is a parent in more ways than one.
“Being a dad and a producer and trying to figure out your career at the same time, it comes with a lot of stresses,” he admits. “I don’t wish it on anyone... but I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t love it. Having a baby is the best thing that’s happened to me, it’s the bi est lever to come home and see the smile on his wee face.”
Reflecting on his career, he continues: “Going from working in Sub Club, making underground acid house productions as Granary 12 to all of a sudden being in the charts overnight, you almost get flung in this conveyor belt of the ‘next big thing’,” he explains. “But I never wanted to be that guy.”
Through scaling the decks of humble – but bouncing – small-cap pubs around Prestwick circa 2017, there’s a case to be made that McVicar was always the guy. The guy that was going to make things happen in his hometown and at any cost. “It was a ten-year dream of mine to do a festival,” he says. “I used to go drinking down The Low Green (where Pavilion Festival is now held) when I was a wee guy growing up and always knew this was the spot, but it was never really a reality, just something I imagined at the time.”
“I
was born in the wrong era”
Ewan McVicar
With Ayr recently voted in a survey as the worst seaside town in Scotland, it’s hard to conceive how McVicar’s coastal showcase Pavilion Festival could shift tens of thousands of tickets in a handful of minutes in its first year. Currently gearing up for its third edition – hosting Happy Mondays, Robert Hood, and James across three stages – the fast-growing festival seeks to combine decades of cultural heritage into three days of live music.
“My mum was pregnant with me while she worked in the Ayr Pavilion in the 90s at a night club called the Hangar,” explains McVicar on how the name of his festival came to be. The multi-purpose hall was also home to the Powerhouse Rock Club: “that’s why we have a stage named [Powerhouse] in homage – dedicated to local bands of Ayr on the Friday,” he tells us.
“I was born in the wrong era,” McVicar laughs, pointing to a STREETrave documentary he’s practically studied as a primary influence on Pavilion, the festival he co-runs today with STREETrave and Colours head honcho Ricky Magowan. “He started what basically became Scotland’s Haçienda, so I thought it would be biblical if I could get him on board and bring STREETrave home. Ricky threw parties at the Ayr ice rink and got planning permission to do a rave at Prestwick airport, but all that history was gone by the time I was growing up... that’s why I started my own [club night] TEN.”
Taking pointers from his place of work at Glasgow’s weekly I AM party, McVicar made it his mission to add to the diversity of music and nightlife in Ayr again. “It was about working out how to start something with quality music that wouldn’t go over people’s heads because although I was obsessed with it, the town wasn’t.”
Building a sound system, no-nonsense music policy, and slick graphic design with good buds Roose, Cairn and Steven, the bunch of pals found local BNOCs to share their cause on Twitter. The coastal town renaissance would begin in the countryside with a rave in a nearby forest, though the ambition to do something different didn’t come without backlash.
“People would say, ‘Who does he think he is selling early birds, Carl Cox?’” he admits. “I love Ayr so much, but fuck me I couldn’t wait to get away from it in that sense. There’s a 50,000 population and if you whittle that down to how many folk are in your year at school and others, everyone knows your business.
“But I think that doubt is what made me who I am today. I’ll meet DJs from Amsterdam, and they’re almost arrogant in comparison because that self-assurance is just alien to us. It’s easier to put yourself down and take the piss before you pat yourself on the back – it’s just being Scottish man.”
Pavilion Festival takes place on The Low Green, Ayr, 2-4 May pavilionfestival.com
Ewan McVicar
Photo: Franny Mancini
Glasgow Summer Sessions Bellahouston Park
Terminal V
Pavilion Festival
Robbie Williams Murrayfield
The Reeling Festival Roukenglen Park
Lana Del Ray Hampden
Doof in the Park Camperdown Park
Kendrick Lamar Hampden
TRNSMT Festival
Belladrum Festival
Coloursfest Braehead
Party at the Palace Linlithgow
Sam Fender
Ingliston
Oasis Manchester
Oasis Murrayfield
ACDC Murrayfield
OVO HydroGlasgow
Wed 11 - Sun 15 June Turnhouse Road, Edinburgh 5
Tickets:
That Festival Feeling
We take a look at what’s happening across the spring, summer and early autumn months in Scotland’s festival calendar, from multivenue efforts to camping weekenders and everything in-between
As my partner joked the other day, ‘spring has sprang’, and, well, he’s not wrong.
With the days now officially longer than the nights, crocuses are crocusing and blossoms about to do their thing, so too is the music scene about to burst into full colour as festival season starts to come ever closer, the blurriness of plans slowly coming into sharp focus.
With that in mind, we’ve pulled together some of the Scottish festivals we’re most excited about for the year ahead, from intimate multi-venue festivals in city centres to colossal greenfields festivals, and everything in-between.
Multi-venue/indoor festivals
Festival season proper truly gets underway with Counterflows (3-6 Apr), Glasgow’s longest running festival of experimental music. This year’s carefully curated lineup includes a special focus on artists and vital new work from South-East Asia – seek out experimental pop from Vietnam (Tran Uy Duc and Vũ Hà Anh), uncategorisable sounds from Beijing (Yan Jun) and ramshackle pop from Japan (Maher Shalal Hash Baz and Foodman). Later in the month, alt-indie fest HOUSEGUEST (12 Apr), featuring Walt Disco, Tina Sandwich and Cowboy Hunters, returns for its sophomore outing, taking over Nice N Sleazy, CCA and The Variety Bar.
The following month, Stag & Da er (3 May) takes over a whole host of Glasgow City Centre venues with Big Special, Grandmas House and Water Machine on the bill, while the same weekend sees Tectonics (3 & 4 May) return to Glasgow City Halls and Old Fruitmarket. With a focus on ‘the profound act of listening and the potential of collaboration,’ artists like Lauren Sarah Hayes and Beatrice Dillon will push the boundaries of their artform.
In June, Glasgow is set to host two brand new multi-venue music festivals. Wastelands (6-8 Jun) will take over Barras Art and Design (BAaD), Stereo, Slay and Room 2 with Mandidextrous, Ebi Soda, kitti, Pippa Blundell, Gaïa and more set to play. The following week, cross-cultural performances, installations and discussions between UK/Scottish and Ukrainian artists will take place at venues like the David Dale Gallery, Civic House and Glasgow Women’s Library under the banner Time Based: Sonic Interventions (11-15 Jun). Scottish sound artist Zoë Irvine and celebrated Ukrainian composer Alla Zahaykevich are part of the lineup.
Elsewhere, at this point in time, information is a little lacking for some of our faves. Under good authority, we’ve been informed that Glasgowbased rapper Bemz’s M4 Festival will return, with the location, dates and the lineup all TBA at the time of writing. So too will King Tut’s Summer Nights series, forming part of the iconic venue’s 35th anniversary celebrations. Glasgow’s core., a festival celebrating all things noisy, returns to Woodside Halls and The Hug & Pint (12-14 Sep), Freakender’s three-day weekender once again takes over The Old Hairdresser’s (19-21 Sep) and Tenement Trail’s festival for music discovery returns to East End venues (11 Oct).
In Edinburgh, offerings of this nature begin in May. Despite their convention not going ahead for the first time since its launch in 2010, this year Wide Days will host two nights of live music under the banner New From Scotland (1 & 2 May) at La Belle Angele and Sneaky Pete’s, featuring artists from their Talent Development programme among others. If traditional music is more your bag, then the mighty Tradfest (2-12 May) returns to the
capital with a packed lineup. While the opening night will bring together piper and composer Ross Ainslie with the Sanctuary Band and Terra Kin, other fellow Scots headliners during the run include the likes of Siobhan Miller and Beth Malcolm, while Pelkkä Poutanen and Seckou Keita form part of their international offering.
After its first winter festival last November, Hidden Door (11-15 Jun) returns to The Paper Factory, a gargantuan former industrial site located in Maybury in the west of the city. The festival will bring another week of captivating live music, immersive performance, art and collaboration to the capital with names like Mermaid Chunky, Snapped Ankles, Alice Faye, Moor Mother and The Orielles all set to play. Back in the city centre, the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival (11-20 Jul) is set to return for its usual summer splash, while the Edinburgh International Festival (1-24 Aug) features an Up Late series as part of its contemporary programme with Alabaster DePlume, Kathryn Joseph and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith announced. On 31 August, Edinburgh Psych Fest returns to the city with possibly its bi est and most exciting lineup yet with Nadine Shah, Deadletter, Du Blonde and Getdown Services amongst the lineup. And as the year unfolds, keep your eyes peeled for the second installment of the Soundhouse Winter Festival which hopes to return from 27 November to 1 December.
Camping Festivals
If you’re serious about living that most classic of festival lifestyles throughout the spring and summer, there are loads of camping festivals on offer across the country. We’ve picked out eight for inspiration. Starting on the Isle of Skye, this year Skye Live (8-10 May) celebrates its tenth anniversary with the live music programme including the likes of Skippinish, Beth Malcolm and Kinnaris Quintet, with Eclair FiFi, Lord of the Isles and Optimo (Espacio) on DJ duties. Later in the month, Knockengorroch (22-25 May) returns to the beautiful scenery of the Carsphairn Hills in Galloway, South West Scotland with African Head Charge, Dub Pistols and Elephant Sessions heading up the bill.
Up in Argyll, Fynefest (30 May-1 June) returns to Glen Fyne courtesy of the Fyne Ales brewery. With a lineup just as delicious as their beers, expect live music from the likes of Talisk, Sacred Paws, Pictish Trail, Man of Moon and loads more. In the middle of the month, consider heading down to Moffat in Dumfries & Galloway for the four-day Eden Festival (12-15 Jun) where Bob Vylan, Orchestra Baobab, Slum Village and Leftfield (DJ) top the bill. The following weekend, more family-friendly camping adventures await at Errol Park in Perthshire courtesy of Solas Festival (20-22 Jun), who since 2009 have been a solid
Words: Tallah Brash
Bob Vylan at TRNSMT
Rascalton at Tenement Trail
Kelburn Garden Party
Photo: Roosa Paivansalo
Photo: Cameron Brisbane
Photo: ReCompose
fixture of Scotland’s summer festivals calendar. Hamish Hawk headlines this year, with KatieGregson Macleod, Theo Bleak, Alice Faye and Iona Zajac also set to perform.
Sliding into July, Kelburn Garden Party (3-7 Jul) is back on the grounds of Kelburn Castle, near Largs, for its 15th edition with another exceptional lineup. Expect DJ sets from Sofia Kourtesis, Jamz Supernova and Auntie Flo, while performing live you can catch The Allergies, Romare, She Drew the Gun and TAAHLIAH, who headlines our very own stage on the Friday night. If you fancy a really big trip from the mainland, then we’d su est checking out Tiree Music Festival (11-13 Jul) on Tiree, a gorgeous island in the Inner Hebrides often referred to as the Hawaii of the North. The festival, co-founded by Skerryvore’s Daniel Gillespie, could well be one to tick off the bucket list – lineup TBA. And rounding out those summer camping months, you’ll find Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival (31 Jul-2 Aug) at its home in the Belladrum Estate, Kiltarlity, near Inverness. Texas, Paul Heaton (featuring Rianne Downey), CMAT, Tide Lines, Natasha Bedingfield, Karine Polwart and loads more are all set to play a festival that truly does feature music for all tastes.
Big In the City
Of course, camping isn’t for everyone, and big day
festivals are happening in the major cities too. In Glasgow, big things are happening in Rouken Glen Country Park thanks to The Reeling (6-8 Jun). Taking place over three days, expect some of the bi est names in Scottish trad like Malin Lewis, Tide Lines, Talisk and more. On 21 June, get your eyeliner and safety pins at the ready for the Punk All-Dayer in Bellahouston Park with the Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter, The Stranglers, Buzzcocks, The Undertones and more set to play. The following month, the enormous TRNSMT returns to Glasgow Green (11-13 Jul) with Wet Leg, Kneecap, Fontaines D.C., 50 Cent and Gracie Abrams topping the bill, with the brand new BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage featuring the likes of Jaguar, Big Miz and Arielle Free.
Just outside of Edinburgh, Fringe by the Sea (1-10 Aug) takes over the seaside town of North Berwick with French duo Air playing Moon Safari on the 2nd in the Big Top. Courtesy of a collaboration as part of Edinburgh Art Festival, Jupiter Rising returns to Wilkieston art park Jupiter Artland (16 Aug), with electronic producer TAAHLIAH headlining the late night stage in Jupiter’s gorgeous woodlands. And on the same day back in Glasgow, as part of the Summer Nights at the Bandstand series (29 Jul-16 Aug), Mogwai’s all-dayer Big City returns, the lineup still TBA at the time of writing.
Skye Live Jam Eye at Jupiter Rising
VOMITON with Maranta at Hidden Door
Photo: Charlotte Cullen
Photo: Dan Mosley
Photo: Magnus Graham
Hit the Road
Sometimes it’s fun to double up your festival with a bit of a road trip or holiday, so we’ve picked out 12 festivals outwith Scotland for you to consider this year
Polygon Live LDN
Crystal Palace Park, London, 2-4 May
Polygon Live LDN is the largest 360° spatial audio festival in the UK and will feature the world premiere of Polygon’s dual-dome stage design, so for a fully immersive experience this is not to be missed. Tinariwen, Nitin Sawhney, Arooj Aftab, Kaitlynn Aurelia Smith and Jon Hopkins (360° Ritual) will all play. polygon-productions.live
The Great Escape
Brighton, England, 14-17 May
Known as the festival for new music, The Great Escape returns to Brighton this May for four days of music discovery. Alongside a full conference programme, around 500 live artists are expected to perform, with Bottle Rockets, corto.alto, Indoor Foxes and Water Machine representing Scotland. greatescapefestival.com
Wide Awake
Brockwell Park, London, 23 May
Back in London, Wide Awake returns to Brockwell Park for its fifth edition, courtesy of Bad Vibrations, LNZRT and the team behind MOTH Club and the Shacklewell Arms. This year’s festival is headed up by Irish hip-hop outfit Kneecap, with CMAT, English Teacher, Fcukers, Marie Davidson, jasmine.4.t and Mermaid Chunky all on the bill. wideawakelondon.co.uk
LIDO Festival
Victoria Park, London, 6, 7 & 13-15 Jun
Taking place across two weekends, the brand new LIDO Festival are teaming up with Outbreak Fest to host their London leg on 13 June, while Charli xcx leads the charge on 14 June for a huge party girl sesh with A.G. Cook, Gessafelstein, Kelly Lee Owens, The Dare and more. lidofestival.co.uk
Outbreak Fest
Manchester B.E.C. Arena, Manchester, 14 & 15 Jun
Following a huge party in London, Outbreak Fest heads to Manchester for a two-day party. Originally focusing on all things hardcore and punk, Knocked Loose will likely be the big draw here, while artists like Alex G, Danny Brown, Slowdive, Feeble Little Horse and Kumo 99 show the festival’s evolution. outbreak-fest.co.uk
MEO Kalorama
Parque de Bela Vista, Lisbon, 19-21 Jun
At Lisbon’s MEO Kalorama festival, sustainability and diversity are key, and when it comes to the music, they’re all about bringing the party. Alongside Pet Shop Boys, FKA twigs, Azealia Banks, Scissor Sisters, Róisín Murphy and L’Imperatrice, Flaming Lips will perform Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in full. meokalorama.pt
Open’er
Gdynia, Poland, 2-5 Jul
In Eastern Europe, Open’er, on the Baltic coast of Poland, looks like an absolute banger. Crowned Best Major Festival at the 2024 European Festival Awards, this year’s lineup features Doechii, Linkin Park, Caribou, Camilla Cabello, FKA twigs, JPEGMAFIA, Justice, Magdalena Bay, St. Vincent and loads more. opener.pl
Durham Brass Festival
Durham, 13-20 Jul
This one’s a bit of a wild card, perhaps, but it sounds brilliant. Highlights across the festival’s eight-dayrun include Barry Hyde performing his latest album, Miners Ballads, with the Durham Miners Association Brass Band, and Bill Ryder-Jones performing a special arrangement of Iechyd Da with The NASUWT Riverside Band. brassfestival.co.uk
Words: Tallah Brash
Øya
Tøyenpark, Oslo, Norway, 6-9 Aug
If you missed out on tickets for Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Norway’s uber-sustainable and popforward Øya festival could be the answer. Headliners Charli xcx and Chappell Roan are joined by the likes of Kelly Lee Owens, Kneecap, Lola Young, Nilüfer Yanya, The Chats, Pom Poko, girl in red and more. oyafestivalen.no
ArcTanGent
Fernhill Farm, Somerset, 13-16 Aug
After a hugely successful tenth anniversary last year, Arctangent bring all things noisy back to Somerset this August. Headliners include Norse dark folk outfit Wardruna, Australian prog-rock metallers Karnivool and British prog-metal lot Tesseract. Representing Scotland, catch Arab Strap, Maud the Moth and DVNE. arctangent.co.uk
Shambala
Secret location near Market Harborough, Northamptonshire, 21-24 Aug
The fiercely independent Shambala festival returns with its Adventures in Utopia theme this summer to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Digable Planets, Fat Dog and Moonchild Sanelly lead the charge on the lineup, while Glasgow faves corto.alto and Mungo’s Hi Fi will also play. shambalafestival.org
Forwards
Bristol Downs, Bristol, 23 & 24 Aug
Split across two stages on Bristol Downs, Forwards is one of those rare festivals where you should, in theory, be able to see everyone on the bill. With great sound and brilliant local food options, this year’s lineup is another banger with Barry Can’t Swim, Doechii, Ezra Collective, Confidence Man and Katy J Pearson all set to play. forwardsbristol.co.uk
Left of the Dial
Rotterdam, Netherlands, 23-25 Oct
Taking over all sorts of spaces, from rooms in classic music venues and theatres, to retro arcades, art galleries and more, Left of the Dial is one of the coolest festivals, with a great cross-section of rising talent to match. This year, Soapbox, Bruise Control, Fuzz Lightyear, Clara Mann and Low Island are all set to play. leftofthedial.nl
Open’er
Øya
Polygon Live LDN
Photo: Luke Dyson
Photo: Ewap ł onka Kamil
Photo: Steffen Rikenberg
Image: courtesy Polygon
TRNSMTFE ST.COM TICK ET S ON S ALE NOW GL ASGOW GR EEN 11-13 JULY @TRNSMTFE ST + MANY
50 CENT THE SCRIPT
WET LEG * KNEECAP
JAMIE WEBSTER * TWIN ATLANTIC * CONFIDENCE MAN
THE ROYSTON CLUB * GOOD NEIGHBOURS
TANNER ADELL * ARTHUR HILL * CALUM BOWIE * NOFUN!
BIFFY CLYRO FONTAINES D.C.
UNDERWORLD * THE KOOKS
INHALER * SIGRID
JAKE BUGG * WUNDERHORSE * ALESSI ROSE
JAMES MARRIOTT * BIIG PIIG
LUCIA & THE BEST BOYS * AMBLE * BROGEAL * HOTWAX * CHLOE QISHA
SNOW PATROL GRACIE ABRAMS
JADE * MYLES SMITH THE LATHUMS * SHED SEVEN
BROOKE COMBE * THE K’S
NIEVE ELLA * NINA NESBITT * RIANNE DOWNEY KYLE FALCONER * KERR MERCER * NXDIA AND THE
NATHAN EVANS SAINT PHNX BAND * TOM WALKER
Dance Yrself Clean
From all-day raves and camping weekenders to multi-venue festivals and more, our Clubs editor picks out some festivals to keep you dancing through the spring and summer months
Pavilion Festival
Low Green, Ayr, Scotland, 2-4 May
A weekend of top DJ sets and live acts across Ayr’s beach and seafront. From Happy Mondays to Robert Hood and more, Scottish superstar Ewan McVicar sure knows how to throw a party – at an affordable price too. pavilionfestival.com
Queen’s Park Spring Weekender
Queen’s Park Recreation Ground, Glasgow, Scotland, 3-4 May
Two days of quality house, techno, and dub that you can bank on. Mr. Scruff, The Blessed Madonna and Aba Shanti-I, amongst others, are set to serve Glasgow’s Southside their very best selections inside the iconic Big Top Tent. IG @queensparkspringweekender
Dundee Dance Event
Various venues, Dundee, Scotland, 4 May
One city, 12 hours, 170 DJs – Dundee Dance Event is nothing short of pandemonium. Enjoy free entry across 30 venues with varying sounds and setups in what’s become the UK’s bi est multi-venue dance music event. dundeedanceevent.co.uk
DEMSFST
Mains Castle, Dundee, 17 May
An annual party at a castle run by students for students. Dundee Electronic Music Society takes over Mains Castle for nine hours showcasing the likes of Oneman, Elkka and LWS – all profits donated to The Brain Tumour Charity. IG @demsfest
Watching Trees
North Wiltshire, England, 30 May-1 Jun
Leftfield dance and Funktion-1 sound in a forest brought to you by Optimo and Ransom Note. Due to high demand, ticket holders can now pitch their tents across three days – air horns are prohibited. watchingtrees.com
DAYS
The Pitt, Edinburgh, Scotland, 31 May Garage, house, and a probable good time are on the cards at Granton’s Pitt Market. Ben UFO, Soul Mass Transit System, Dusky and more join the EHFM and Sneaky Pete’s aficionados in the capital for 12 hours. IG: @days.festival
Gottwood
Carreglwyd Estate, Anglesey, Wales, 12-15 Jun
Heaps of house, bass, and techno corkers crammed into one mystical Welsh woodland. This four-day dance music throwdown gives you the reason you’ve been looking for to head southwest. Artists include Peach, Eris Drew & Octa Octa, DJ Tennis, and more. gottwood.co.uk
Terminal V Croatia
Garden Resort, Tisno, Croatia, 17-21 Jul
The bi est names in techno and hard house take on Tisno via Scotland over five days, three stages and mf boat party. Brought to you by the team behind Terminal V, this Euro excursion offers sun, sea, and plentiful fun. terminalvcroatia.com
Island Vibe by Hometown Sound
Isle of Arran, Scotland, 25-26 Jul
Serious sound system musik lands blasting off the Isle of Arran – the landmass might not be huge, but the bass bins certainly are. Campers can expect dub, re ae, and a reasonable chance of midges. IG @hometownsoundsystem
Houghton
Houghton Hall, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England, 7-10 Aug
Minimal in sound and maximal in detail. This non-stop 72-hour party offers extended DJ sets, slick stage designs, and bespoke sound systems. From Ricardo Villalobos to Joy Orbison and Objekt, Craig Richards’ brainchild festival has it all. houghtonfestival.co.uk
We Out Here
Wimborne St Giles, Dorset, 14-17 Aug
A showcase of soul, hip-hop, and weirdo electronics curated by BBC Radio 6Music’s Gilles Peterson. Ben UFO and Batu join the likes of Bukky Leo and Pa Salieu for four days in an idyllic campsite surrounding St Giles House. weoutherefestival.com
Draaimolen
MOB-Complex, Tilburg, Netherlands, 5-6 Sep
A two-day non-profit shelling weird and wonderful electronics out of a defunct ammunition factory in the Netherlands. Unrivalled A/V installation and light shows, alongside stellar local artists and carefully curated stages – camping available. draaimolen.nu
Words: Cammy Gallagher
Terminal V Croatia
Houghton
Gottwood Dems
We Out Here
Photo: Franko Kelam
Image: courtesy of Houghton
Image: courtesy of Gottwood Image: courtesy of Dems
Photo: Sienna Gray
Cycles of Change
Riding a bike is no mean feat. One writer unpacks the need for gender equality in active travel and what support is available for women taking on the path less cycled
Sophie Morrison doesn’t cycle to work. “The area I live in is not the safest place for a woman to cycle alone,” says the young professional, who lives in Cumbernauld and works in the west end of Glasgow. Upon learning that it would take roughly the same amount of time to cycle to her job as it does to commute via bus, she ponders whether she could.
“Changing that vision of cycling from a male-dominated sport to one of an everyday activity for anyone takes time and concerted effort, but the benefits to cyclists and society are wide-reaching”
Like Sophie, an estimated 29 percent of women do not cycle regularly but would like to, according to Sustrans’ 2023 Walking and Cycling Index, with perceived danger being the top reason people who want to cycle choose not to. The data also reveals a gender gap in cycling in the UK, with 21 percent of men cycling at least once per week, compared to only 10 percent of women.
“If there was a group of women cycling to Glasgow from Cumbernauld, I would definitely join them,” Sophie says. It’s something many cycle trainers and women’s ride leaders understand: women generally feel safer in numbers. And in Glasgow, numerous organisations and initiatives seek to meet the needs of women so that they feel safer cycling.
Carol Thompson, a founding member of Glasgow Gals, an all-women’s recreational cycling club, says, “We have women in our club who would not still be cycling if it weren’t for the club.” Glasgow Gals, formed in 2017, has capped membership at 160. Carol says they could easily triple that number, highlighting an appetite for womencentred cycling. Keeping membership relatively low, however, encourages active participation and builds a sense of community with strong social connections. The success of Glasgow Gals is in part down to rides that are tailored to the needs of women. While lots of cycling clubs for men and mixed genders exist, women-only clubs are rare in Scotland.
When Carol, who is also the project manager of Sunny Cycles – a charity that seeks to enable people of all ages and abilities to take part in cycling – is asked for advice on how to make cycle
rides more appealing to women, she has counter questions to ask. Do you plan toilet stops? Do you wait for slower riders or charge ahead, leaving them behind? “It’s a different way of planning,” she says. The Glasgow Gals rides are carefully planned, set at a moderate pace, and include a cafe stop. “We have a slogan in the club: no cake left behind.”
The very term ‘cyclist’ can conjure images of a Tour de France racer, a very fit man—probably white—decked out in Lycra and postured a ressively on a road bike. But the Glasgow City Council has adopted an active travel strategy that seeks to make “walking, wheeling and cycling the first and natural choice for everyday journeys, for people of all ages and abilities.” Changing that vision of cycling from a male-dominated sport to one of an everyday activity for anyone takes time and concerted effort, but the benefits to cyclists and society are wide-reaching, from increased health and wellbeing to reductions in pollution.
Among the priorities listed in Glasgow’s Travel Behavioural Change Strategy, training for cycling is a short-term priority focus area, utilising partnerships with local organisations to teach everyone to cycle competently on roads, something women often prefer to avoid.
Anne Glass, project manager for Drumchapel Cycle Hub, has led a successful women’s Monday evening ride since August 2016. She acknowledges that behaviour change, while sometimes slow, is possible. “Many of the women would not go out cycling themselves, especially in the evenings
Words: Charlene Hewitt
Illustration: Zofia Chamenia
– some wouldn’t even walk alone in the evenings,” she says. “Even I didn’t go out on my bike much in the evenings until I started the evening ride, and now it’s no big deal to me. But it takes a long time to build up to that.”
Anne’s approach is to create a safe space to allow women to get outdoors on a bike and build confidence and skills, acknowledging that women with lower socioeconomic status are even less likely to have time or money to cycle. Through funding, she is able to keep the costs of skills lessons, equipment rental and repairs extremely low or free. She also works with Community Links Workers to get people cycling and build community. A number of Glasgow-area cycling charities operate similar models for all people, often with sessions specifically catered to women and people of marginalised genders. In addition, Anne has also trained as a bike mechanic, which she says gives her more confidence leading groups of women because she knows she can fix mechanical problems that might arise.
Sophie has since gathered the courage and curiosity to try cycling. She found a bike abandoned by a family member in the garage and cycled around the park. “I hadn’t been on a bike since I was 16,” she says, adding with a laugh. “I’m cycle uneducated.” She’s keen to do more cycling now that the days are getting longer, and she’s learned of car-free cycle paths, and cycling organisations to support her on her journey. Helmet on, bell at the ready – Sophie’s taking on the road.
Fact/Fiction
Maxime Jean-Baptiste returns to Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival with Kouté vwa, a hybrid documentary concerned with familial grief, coming-of-age and the shadow of colonialism in French Guiana. He talks to us about blending fact and fiction
“It’s an illusion I had when starting this film – that it’s going to be a catharsis, that it’s going to be therapy for them to heal their wounds.” Maxime Jean-Baptiste is discussing his feature film Kouté vwa (Listen to the Voices), a powerful depiction of grief and trauma that fictionalises a real family tragedy. In 2012, the director’s cousin, Lucas Diomar, was killed in an act of gang violence. Over the past several years, Jean-Baptiste has explored this subject through several iterations of short films and performance, eventually arriving at a hybrid documentary work that audiences can see at this year’s Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival.
“Originally it was classical interview, more documentary, reportage,” explains Jean-Baptiste. “But Nicole [Lucas’ mother] and I were frustrated by this format. In 2022, Melrick [Lucas’s young cousin] was there and, I don’t know, he has a sort of freshness, this natural way of being with the camera that was striking. From there, I decided to rewrite the film with my sister Audrey, as a sort of fictionalisation of the reality, because it could be clearer in terms of intention and in terms of imagination.”
“By telling this story again, you can reopen what destroyed you, so it can be dangerous”
Maxime Jean-Baptiste
As such, the film depicts a summer holiday in French Guiana for Melrick, who is visiting his grandmother, Nicole, from Europe. There he also spends time with Yannick, Lucas’s best friend, who is still haunted by the night of his death. JeanBaptiste explains that his protagonists “were more at ease having to play their own role than being the pure subject of classic documentary.”
The process of arriving at this hybrid approach was a long one, and one that allowed the subjects to take the lead during filming and be aware of the dangers of such reenactment. “It required a lot of time, a lot of patience,” says Jean-Baptiste, “and also lots of hanging out. It’s such an intense, traumatic story, so we needed to take time with the protagonists, to take care of them. By telling this story again, you can reopen what destroyed you, so it can be dangerous.”
This is something the filmmaker has spoken about before, the sometimes misguided sense that a documentary offers an inherently therapeutic framework for subjects to work through their trauma. “It’s a huge responsibility,” says JeanBaptiste. “I’ve seen the damage even in my own process. Sometimes we got so close to destroying something – to destroying a relationship, to destroying people, to destroying a place. When you come in with such a subject as murder, it doesn’t help a place that might have lots of problems, but is trying to continue with living. This is why I speak about the violence of making a film. I’m pessimistic, perhaps, but most of the time, when films go to a festival saying they helped the people, I don’t think it’s the full reality.”
Jean-Baptiste hoped to allow his subjects the room to explore their fictionalised selves in their own way and at their own pace. “There was no dialogue written,” he says, “so that was the point of departure. With Audrey, I wrote the scenario but we wanted their words, their way of saying things. As I know them a lot, I could trust them. So, what was written in the kitchen scene was only the actions. It was through themes that we would discuss a scene with them. So, the shooting itself was quite fluid, you know? Sometimes we’d even get lost, and the crew would be a bit like ‘Where are we going, Maxime?’ But this is part of the experience of making this story with them.”
This allows Kouté vwa to include some truly poignant moments and remarkable conversations – not least one in which Nicole describes the experience of encountering the man who killed her son after his release from prison.
Such fluidity isn’t necessarily this filmmaker’s typical comfort
Words: Ben Nicholson
zone; Jean-Baptiste has garnered a reputation in recent years for several thought-provoking archival films. “Yeah, it’s two totally different processes. When working with the archive, almost everything is controlled – I have the image and I am in front of the computer and I am doing everything except the recording of the voiceover, but even that is also written. Everything is kind of set and controlled as a plan.”
The experience of being out and working directly with subjects on Kouté vwa and taking the lead from them was completely alien, but clearly rewarding. “I learned a lot, actually,” says Jean-Baptiste. “I was also working with a team – I had a DoP, sound engineer... I had to let go of the image and the sound, which was hard, but it helped me a lot.”
Has the experience been one he wants to repeat going forward? “I think that for the next film I am now planning to do, I will use this way of working – which is to let go,” he confirms. “Sometimes there’s something quite natural about that.”
Kouté vwa has its UK premiere at Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival on 3 May
Alchemy takes place in Hawick, 1-4 May; full programme at alchemyfilmandarts.org.uk
Stills from Kouté vwa
Maxime Jean-Baptiste
Silent Witness
Belgian drama Julie Keeps Quiet centres on a teen tennis prodigy who’s trying to keep it together during an abuse scandal at her elite tennis academy. Director Leonardo Van Dijl explains his inspirations for the film and his hopes for its reception
Words: Josh Slater-Williams
Ataut examination of power, abuse, repression, class dynamics and troubling things left unsaid, the debut feature of Belgian director Leonardo Van Dijl brings to mind a few veterans who made their name with realist filmmaking. “What can I say, I love the movies of Ken Loach and the Dardennes,” he tells me at the London Film Festival – the latter two, brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc, actually have co-producer credits on the film.
What makes Julie Keeps Quiet such a striking calling card is the restraint maintained throughout. Despite the anger and fear bubbling below the calm, collected exterior of his lead character, Van Dijl never shifts gears into loud outbursts or too convenient plot turns, something that’s bothered dissenters of Loach’s more recent work.
Played by acting newcomer and teen tennis player Tessa Van den Broeck, Julie lives and breathes her sport. A star pupil at a tennis academy, she’s set for a promising professional career. But when her coach is suspended after the suicide of a former prodigious student, suspicions of inappropriate conduct follow. Urged to speak up as an investigation is underway, Julie instead focuses on her game with a replacement coach. Her abstaining from commenting on anything, despite her close relationship with the accused, becomes more concerning the longer it goes on. It’s evident to us, however, that Julie is contending with inner turmoil and trauma that she doesn’t know how to articulate, rather than truths she is deliberately trying to conceal.
In contrast to his protagonist, Van Dijl welcomes opening up about the film’s issues of abuse and repression, to some extent. “To talk about the movie is also a way to advocate for the values that I hope it presents,” he says. “I made this because I want to talk about how we, as a society, can create a safer world for Julie, and for all other children like her.”
The sincerity and intention behind the film helped attract the endorsement of Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, a prominent activist herself, who signed on as an executive producer just a few weeks before the film’s Cannes premiere last May. Heading to the festival, Van Dijl was apparently fearful of a specific complaint that might arise in the reception.
“When you tell narratives about young promising women, they always get punished,” he tells me. “I often would say [Greek mythological heroine] Antigone was my inspiration for this, but she also gets punished. Look at Joan of Arc or The Red Shoes. That’s [often] the narrative: these female characters who have a drive, ambition and who also have grit, and they get punished in one way or another. I was really keen that Julie wouldn’t get punished for the choices she makes;
that she holds agency to do that was very important. Going into Cannes, I was scared that the movie would get punished in reviews because I didn’t punish Julie in the movie. That’s why the support of Osaka was so welcoming because it was really like God, almost, saying, ‘I’m with you on this one.’
“The whole society falls prey to the bad intentions of that coach. And it’s hard for society to deal with that”
Leonardo Van Dijl
“Luckily, we got good reviews,” he continues. “Of course you can see the movie and think it’s bad. I can handle that, it’s fine. But when people get personal in attacking Julie [the character], I feel a responsibility [to comment] because how you talk about this character is also how you talk about young boys and girls enduring the same as her, perhaps pushing them more into silence,
when we want to offer new ways for them to, in a safe way, start whispering or speaking up.”
Understandably given the film’s subject matter, Van Dijl takes many long pauses to properly express what he wants to convey. “In making this movie,” he says, “I started to understand that many more people than you’d think actually do want to talk, but they do it in a language that you sometimes can’t always hear. I wanted to show that as with any form of injustice, Julie isn’t the only victim. The whole society falls prey to the bad intentions of that coach. And it’s hard for society to deal with that.
“This story is not only about the emancipation and liberation of this victim, but also about the work surrounding it; the people around her who also, little by little, learn how to deal with it in a better, more delicate way because we don’t know [how]. If you don’t have that language, how do you deal with it? Ultimately, the problem with abuse is that everybody, in a way, takes on the responsibility. And that idea of responsibility is also a reason for somebody to keep quiet – they’ll be silent because they don’t want to make other people feel guilty about what happened to them. We are, in that way, designing a system that encourages silence to keep on going, when, really, the only responsible [person] is the a ressor who makes the wrong [choice].”
Julie Keeps Quiet
17APRIL–10MAY,2025
OpeningEventThurs17Apr,5-7pm
www.scottlawrie.com
Can’t Get No Sleep
Restless taps into a nightmare scenario that will be familiar to many: being sent around the bend by annoying neighbours. Its director (Jed Hart) and star (Lyndsey Marshal) tell us more about this stylish, tense and very funny British thriller
Hollywood thrillers aren’t very relatable, are they? Not many people can claim to have been behind the wheel of a bus ri ed to explode if its speed drops below 50 miles per hour or hired to infiltrate multiple layers of a person’s dream to surreptitiously plant an idea inside their mind. But pretty much everyone will have some familiarity with the setup of British thriller Restless, the debut feature from Jed Hart. It’s about a middle-aged woman who’s driven to increasingly insane levels of distraction by an obnoxiously noisy neighbour.
“Jed knows where to put the camera, which quite a lot of directors don’t. That was exciting”
Lyndsey Marshal
Hart’s script grew out of his own nightmare experience. “I had these terrible neighbours above me, and they used to keep me awake,” he tells me on a visit to Glasgow Film Festival for Restless’s UK premiere. “I’d just lie there at night, staring at the ceiling with my own disturbing thoughts of revenge, and just think, this could be a great movie.” He began to rack his brains for other films built around this premise; there are surprisingly few of them. “The only one I could think of was that comedy with Zac Efron [Bad Neighbours]. I just thought it was such an interesting pressure cooker environment to place a character.”
That character is Nicky (played by Lyndsey Marshal), an overworked care worker who finds herself with an empty nest – her son has left for uni – and an empty house next door, which used to belong to her parents, who have both recently passed away. She’s somewhat lonely but seems to be enjoying the solitude with only her cat, Radio 3 and some calming meditation tapes for company. Her respite is short-lived, though, when Deano (Aston McAuley), a 30-something party animal whose motto is ‘he’ll sleep when he’s dead’, moves in next door, and spends his nights partying with his equally antisocial pals, playing bone-rattling music through the walls.
Marshal joins us and explains that Nicky’s bubbling emotions attracted her to the part. “Nicky was vulnerable: her son’s gone off to university, her parents have recently died. Without even having time to process that next part of her life, these neighbours move in and they bully her, and it’s an arrow straight to her heart.” That’s not to say Nicky is some doormat, though. She’s
Words: Jamie Dunn
initially intimidated by the thu ish Deano, but when her other neighbours provide no solidarity and the authorities refuse to help, she takes matters into her own hands with increasingly reckless acts of retribution. “You don’t want it to be a film where she’s completely hammered to the ground,” says Marshal. “I love the fact that she, out of sheer desperation, steps up her game.”
Marshal was also convinced to take on the project when she saw Hart’s crackerjack short Candy Floss from 2016 starring the then little-known Barry Keoghan. “I thought, Jed knows that crucial thing: he knows where to put the camera, which quite a lot of directors don’t. That was exciting.”
Hart’s visual flair is evident in Restless, too. The film opens with a sly nod to Goodfellas – the red light from a car boot illuminating Nicky’s face – and baroque music swelling on the soundtrack. You might think you’re watching a stylish American crime film, only for the screen to flash back to a week earlier to the facade of a grey, pebble-dashed semi-detached where much of the action will take place. Hart mines much tension and plenty of laughs by walking this tightrope between slick Hollywood film grammar and kitchen sink realism. “I’m just trying to mix the style of the things that I love,” says Hart of this juxtaposition. “I love classic British filmmaking. I’m obsessed with Shane Meadows, with Mike Leigh, Ken Loach. I wanted to take that as a kind of bedrock, and then build into
something that feels a lot more melodramatic and lean into genre, kind of bringing those other influences [he cites the Coen Brothers and Polanski during our chat] into the pot.”
It was a tough shoot, shot fast over two weeks in a real semi-detached ex-council house. The film was particularly taxing on Marshal. It’s a highly subjective film, told through the eyes of Nicky as she’s slowly sent over the edge. “I found it challenging because I felt quite lonely filming it,” says Marshal. “You know, everyone on the crew was really nice, Jed’s amazing, but even though I was surrounded by everyone in the house, the part is [Nicky] on her own for quite a lot of it throughout the night, and I felt that. But she was also a dream of a part.”
While this subjective style was hard on Marshal, Hart seems to have been in his element. “I do love that mode of filmmaking where you’re completely with one character,” he says. “We know very little to nothing about the neighbour or his backstory; we’re completely in Nicky’s point of view. So as the film progresses, I loved leaning into those psychological elements. We had so much fun with the sound design, and really trying to reflect her inner psyche through what we’re seeing and hearing. It’s what cinema is all about.”
Restless is released 4 Apr by Metis Films
The War on Women
Georgian filmmaker Déa Kulumbegashvili talks to us about the making of her abortion drama April and the role of cinema in the face of repressive systems
Like the home abortions carried out by its protagonist Nina, the making of April was shrouded in secrecy for writer-director Déa Kulumbegashvili. Flying under the radar isn’t easy when you’re “constantly followed by police”, she tells us ahead of her film’s UK release.
After her debut Beginning made waves during the pandemic, the Georgian filmmaker returned to her hometown, Lagodekhi, for her sophomore feature, which follows an obstetriciangynecologist moonlighting as an abortionist. Terminating an unplanned pregnancy is legal in Georgia, but restrictions and stigma, particularly in more rural areas like Lagodekhi, hinder safe access to the procedure – hence the need for Kulumbegashvili’s secrecy. “They knew I was making a film about a female doctor. But we could not say what it was really about,” she explains.
“I want cinema to be not just about telling stories, but also giving hope”
Déa Kulumbegashvili
Shadowing local OB-GYNs for a year, Kulumbegashvili witnessed some incidents that shifted her perception of the filmmaker’s role. “As a young director, you have this feeling that you just have to tell a story,” she explains. “And then, I went to this hospital and met these doctors and started to see things… it was a very humbling experience. I learned that maybe making films is not a way to intervene, but to provide a glimpse of a way out.”
Co-produced by Luca Guadagnino, April reunites Kulumbegashvili with her Beginning star Ia Sukhitashvili. “Ia was mostly with me [during research] and it was a tremendous commitment [for her],” the director says. After playing Yana in Beginning, Sukhitashvili gives another disquieting performance as Nina, a haunted doctor fighting a system that’s waging war on women’s bodies.
Since its latest elections in December 2024, Georgia has been eyeing even more draconian limitations on reproductive freedom. “They’re discussing not allowing IVF for single women,” Kulumbegashvili tells me. “Basically, you can only get pregnant with the agreement of your legal husband. And they’re discussing even further restricting abortions.”
This hostile, shame-ridden atmosphere lies heavy on the women of April. Not just Nina, but her patients too – a child spouse forced to hide her contraception and a deaf-mute woman dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. Defiantly, the film features a graphic birth scene, a C-section and an
abortion, all focusing on the anatomy of the female body with refreshing neutrality. “I don’t want to bring any extra beauty to these female stories,” Kulumbegashvili says. “I want to be able to convey our experiences just the way they are. Even when we were filming the birth, there was this [question], ‘How do you beautifully frame [it]?’ I don’t want to beautifully frame births. It’s all-encompassing.
“There are all these questions, which mostly are asked by men, when it comes to female characters,” she adds. “And I want those questions to be asked by women.”
Her next film, produced by Emma Stone, will be about “women and children, again” and set in the US — another country rife with patriarchal politics. The upcoming project, which Kulumbegashvili is currently writing, marks her first outside her homeland. “I understand that there are certain films I cannot dare make [in Georgia]. And that’s very terrifying for me, this idea that I just can’t do it because I know that I would endanger so many people.”
For someone who believes “dialogue is a big part of the soundscape,” the switch to English will open new possibilities. “I’m fascinated to be able to work with really incredible actors. I love actors in general, so English just gives me so much more [scope],” Kulumbegashvili said, sharing her hopes for some Georgian stars to join her in this American production too.
“I really hope that I will never lose Georgia,” she adds, reflecting on turning the camera away from familiar places. “This country has lived through horrible dictatorships. It lived through the Soviet Union, it lived through the purges in the 1930s. The best part of this country was killed [back then].”
The director sees cinema as “an unresolved relationship,” much like the one she maintains with her hometown. Looking back on growing up in rural Georgia during the Civil War, she shares bittersweet anecdotes of walking to school in the freezing cold with her sister, both in awe of the country’s breathtaking nature. “It was not an easy childhood, but it was a beautiful one,” she says. “And it gave me all the people who made me who I am and who I’m very grateful for.”
Those human relationships shaped her as a filmmaker, though her village didn’t have a cinema –and still doesn’t to this day. “The children and most of the women who star in my films have never been in a cinema,” she explains. “And I hope we can have a small one. I want cinema to be not just about telling stories, but also giving hope or an example to somebody in the audience, and tell them they’re not alone and that we can connect somehow.”
Released 25 Apr by BFI; certificate TBC
Words: Stefania Sarrubba
la Sukhitashvili as Nina in April
APRIL TOURS & SPECIALS
SOMETHING ABOUT DOGS (WIP)
WO IN P OG ESS
IS SHE HOT ( )
WO IN P OG ESS
WO IN P OG ESS
THE W ITING ON THE STA
THE M STANDS O MIDD E ASS
THAN GOD THIS ASTS O E E
DEADNAME
E U B
SI WO M
ABSO UTE
HAS TO BE O ING
EMOTIONA DA EDE I
AN IE MON OE IN P OG ESS
THE EA
S OB (WIP)
Nostalgic Futurism
Glasgow clubbing veterans Slam on their future at The Arches and a new album
Words: Peter Walker
When Police Scotland drug complaints and a Glasgow Licensing Board midnight closing time abruptly forced The Arches into administration in 2015, the city lost one of its great nightclubs. Among the nights unable to have a proper send-off was Pressure, run since 1998 by Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle.
So almost a decade later, when new management of the space, now named Platform, opened the door to a series of events under the New World banner, the pair better known as Slam plotted their return.
“We’re not that into nostalgia, but The Arches is such an integral part of us, to have that prematurely taken away, it felt like unfinished business,” says McMillan. “Initially we were testing the water and only planned one party – but that sold out in a few hours – which just blew our minds.”
That five-hour, one-arch set of Pressure classics at the end of October was followed by another in-between Christmas and Hogmanay, which has led to a third open-till-close party this Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
“We weren’t sure about how it was going to pan out, but it was a pleasingly diverse demographic – and it gave us a chance to explore a lot of the older music that we’d played there over the years,” added Meikle.
When pushed about what this might all mean for the resurrection of Pressure proper, it’s a tight-lipped “watch this space,” but McMillan does point out that putting on multi-arch, multi-DJ nights monthly might not be financially viable in the current climate.
“Logistically, with what DJs charge these days, I think what was possible ten or 15 years ago is really only feasible at larger one-off events and festivals,” he su ests. “If you want to go in there and make a really special production, you can have maybe part of the lineups that we’d put on before – but many are asking too much in fees.”
Slam are still out on the road regularly though, and it’s been this post-COVID reconnection with the dancefloor that has inspired their eighth album – Dark Channel – out 9 May on their long-running label, Soma.
Where Slam’s previous LP outing was an ambient affair, this is unapologetically clubfocused from start to finish. “It’s a homage to that space, which is somewhere people can get together and forget division,” explains McMillan. “We’re
“Any talk of ‘career’ seems a bit weird; this is a passion, a hobby”
Stuart McMillan, Slam
living in a horribly fractured world, so more now than ever we have to celebrate that; it’s a thing of beauty.”
Meikle reckons the record only took a couple of months to put together, starting life as a few rough tracks that worked while touring. “One track inspires the next, so we got on a roll and it felt quite effortless, which is not often the case.
“But I’m aware that in terms of the fragmented nature and the way people play music, most will just pick out their favourite moments from it.”
The sound is unmistakably Slam: raw and industrial, but with a percussive groove honed from their more than 30 years together making people dance. More so than many, they’re able to assess what techno actually means these days, given how ubiquitous its variants seem to be.
“The music has changed a bit post-pandemic, you often see OG guys moaning about the state of techno, but I’m of the opinion that young kids need to find their own sound,” says McMillan. “What they don’t need is someone like me telling them what they can and can’t listen to.
“Having said that, I do think ‘proper techno’ is back, as while there’s a much more hard and fast commercial sound at the moment, it seems like many young producers are moving away from that and appreciating slightly deeper forms.”
A European tour, followed by trips to North and South America in the coming months, is something that clearly enthuses the duo, despite their advancing ages. They’re quick to dismiss any talk of retirement, mostly because the word su ests they had a real career in the first place.
McMillan is forthright: “The way we got into this, we never perceived it as a job – those hours behind the decks just fly by – so any talk of ‘career’ seems a bit weird; this is a passion, a hobby – so I suppose it just highlights how some people focus on that side of the scene.
“It’s fair to say that perceptions have changed; DJing might be seen as a desirable or attainable lifestyle, but that just didn’t exist in the early days. There was no obvious endgame or career path, you just had to be genuinely into music for the love of it.”
Slam: Return to Source [Easter Weekend], New World at Platform, Glasgow, 18 Apr, 9pm-2am
Photo: Lewis Smith
Holy Orders
We chat with Edinburgh-based Irish author Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin about her debut novel Ordinary Saints, about a family who try to get their son canonised in the church
Words: Elspeth Wilson
In her debut novel Ordinary Saints, Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin explores grief and the complexity of family relationships through Jay, who must navigate her parents’ attempts to get her brother canonised. After Ferdia died in a freak accident, Jay’s mother and father began the complex process that could lead to him becoming a saint as a way to cope with their grief. No longer religious and having left Ireland, Jay is forced to reckon with her family’s relationship with her queerness and the conflicting claims on her brother’s legacy. We speak to Ní Mhaoileoin about the legacies of the Catholic church, the flattening of narrative, and whether sainthood can be queered.
Something that struck me about the novel is that every character is written with empathy, even those who are homophobic to Jay. How do you achieve that empathy in your writing as a queer writer?
I feel slightly surprised at how generous the book ended up being to most of the characters. When I started out, the earliest drafts were a lot angrier. It was a very incremental process and I guess you just spend so much time with your characters that they become real to you. The subconscious, craft side of writing got me there in a way that my conscious mind probably wouldn’t.
Jay’s brother Ferdia is kind, knowledgeable and thoughtful and yet he’s a human with flaws, a narrative denied to him in life where he was seen as positively angelic. There’s something about the stories of very devout people that can be flattened – were you consciously trying to add shape and nuance to Ferdia’s story?
The spark for this story was when I read about the real case of Carlo Acutis who is being called the first millennial saint. He’s actually being canonised two days after the book comes out, which is bizarre and slightly spooky. I started to think how do I tell this story and turn it into a novel? Where I landed was this sibling perspective, but that raises this huge question of who controls our memories once we’re gone. He’s not quite reachable to the reader, who can’t know if he’s being represented fairly by the church or even Jay.
Throughout the book, there’s discussion of other saints, modern and ancient. How much research did you do on the canonisation and beatification process?
Growing up in Ireland, we’re pretty saturated in the stories of certain saints but it was in 2020 that I became aware that not only are saints still being
made but that there’s more of them than ever. The process is extremely complex and, like lots of things involving the Catholic church, extremely secretive. I was talking to experts and watching documentaries about saints and YouTube videos of beatification masses. Writing in the first person was useful because I was doing the same thing Jay is doing, trying to understand the process as best I could.
You never shy away from an honest account of the horrific trauma and violence enacted by the Catholic church and yet there’s a recognition within the novel of the genuine sincerity behind many people’s religious faith. Was this nuance something you were aiming for from the start? There was a very fine line that I wanted to walk: I had a real fear of going too easy on the Catholic church – I still have that fear slightly that I may have gone too far in trying to understand some of their motivations. But I also have lots of people in my life who are religious and I think that’s a completely reasonable and valid way to understand the world and I wanted to capture that. One thing that came out in editing was finding ways to distinguish the institution from the people. I think that’s true for all of us – if we hate an institution but it means a lot to people we love, we find ways to reconcile that.
“If we hate an institution but it means a lot to people we love, we find ways to reconcile that”
Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
The title of the book, Ordinary Saints, nods to the church’s wish to create more ‘relatable’ saints but also speaks to the people around us who are in some way performing miracles by surviving in societies and families that don’t support who they are. Do you feel like there’s a queer, secular equivalent to saints?
I think all of us encounter people in our lives who are just special, who just have something about them where you know this person is good, this person has something ethereal about them. I definitely think that’s true in the queer community. You see it very powerfully in the way that we remember a lot of queer people who were lost during the AIDS crisis. A fundamental part of the understanding of saints is around martyrdom and death – the suffering of queer communities and queer elders is part of what elevates them to that wisdom, kindness and generosity to others even when the world hasn’t been considerate with them.
Ordinary Saints is released on 15 Apr via Bonnier Books
Photo: Julie Broadfoot
Elder Statesman
We talk to Rosco McClelland about hell, writing about birds and committing to the bit (of being nominated for the Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award each and every year)
Words: Polly Glynn
“Iwas thinking earlier on,” says Rosco McClelland mere hours after hosting The Stand’s legendary Red Raw, “there was nobody from my era on the bill, and I thought ‘Am I now an elder statesman of Scottish comedy?’”
Having honed his craft for over ten years now, the comic surged onto the Scottish scene in a wave of equally talented peers (Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, Liam Withnail, Gareth Waugh, and more).
McClelland’s most recent live show, Sudden Death, was a standout at last year’s Fringe and his most personal yet. “I’ve tried to talk about this before, but I wasn’t ready.” ‘This’ is his diagnosis of a rare heart condition, Long QT Syndrome. Now keen to explore the issue onstage, he has no trouble leaning into the show’s darker undertones. “There’s some great tension in it which I love... previously, I’d introduce something to the room, pop it and go, ‘Don’t worry it’s fine.’ But there’s some bits in this where I’m just letting it hang, going, ‘Do you know what, I’ve been dealing with this for 36 years, how about you deal with it for a minute or two.’” McClelland still has no trouble popping tension in other ways though: “There’s also a bit about how my dog’s going deaf and that’s really funny.”
Sudden Death also saw McClelland view success in a way he’d not before. “I had a great Fringe, and I got to see how things were working at the top of it,” a window into the machine which is the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. “I was like, ‘Is that really it? Is the main goal here to win Best Show so you can come back and do what you want without worrying about it?’, cos well, if that’s the peak of artistic existence, how could Hell be any worse?”
“Sometimes I’ll go down to London and gig and I’m going ‘Is this your brightest and best here?’”
Rosco McClelland
But the comedian’s already looking ahead to the summer. “Some of my friends, my peers, they’re taking a year off,” he jokes, like a boxer staring down the barrel of a weigh-in. “I’m not scared, right? I’ll do it every year. I love it. I love the pressure. I work better under pressure so I might as well just stay under it.”
Having tested the waters at Glasgow Comedy Festival last month, his approach to WIPs is a little different to other comics. “I like to be ready,” he says. “I want people to enjoy themselves. I can’t be pulling back the curtain too much and saying ‘what do you think about this?’” Although there’s no theme yet, he lets us in on what he’s writing about at the moment: “mostly, it’s about birds,” like his favourite which his wife keeps showing him on TikTok.
Returning to his stint at Red Raw, McClelland is quick to name some newer local acts who he recommends we keep an eye out for: Kathleen Hughes, Ayo Adenekan and Alvin Bang are all on his watchlist. He credits their self-assuredness as to why. “Just knowing who they are and what they want to talk about is such a great starting point. It took me a while to find that.”
It’s something he thinks is particularly well-formed in Scotland. “Sometimes I’ll go down to London and gig and I’m going, ‘Is this your brightest and best here? What is going on man? Don’t send these up cos they won’t come back with happy stories’.”
On the ‘Made in Scotland’ theme, McClelland has a second nomination for the Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award, courtesy of the Glasgow Comedy Festival (at the time of writing, the winner’s still TBA). He was bowled over by the nom last year, especially when he found out the Big Yin watches videos of those shortlisted. “It’s just really cool to know he’s seen me, cos I saw him once in Buchanan Galleries but he was standing next to a stall that sold wellies and I thought ‘Well that’s a bit on the nose.’”
Good to know he remains humble despite the talent. “When I lost last year, you could go, ‘Ah well, you gave it a shot,’ but what would be funnier would be to continually enter it every year regardless.” And though the result’s currently unannounced, he’s already decided how it’ll go. “I’m saying ‘I’ll see you next year’ even before it’s been judged so I’m ready, I’m committing to the bit. That’s what you get from me.”
@roscomcclelland on Insta / @rossisacoolguy on X / @roscomcc on Twitch
Rosco McClelland
Photo: Andrew Downie
Motherhood in the Art World
This month, Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition, arrives at Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA). We talk to curator Hettie Judah on the importance of making space for motherhood in the art world
Can an artist survive the material and mental shocks of motherhood? How does creative practice fit with the repetitive, relentless demands of care-giving? What if we placed cultural value on mothers as makers rather than muses? These questions are at the centre of Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood.
Acts of Creation radically shifts the narrative around mothering and making art by turning away from the idealised iconography of mother and child typically depicted by male artists in Western art history and instead centring the messy, complex lived reality of motherhood. It’s an antidote to what Judah describes as a “failure of imagination to think that an artist might also be a parent or have caring responsibilities.” The result is a wide-ranging exhibition that brings together established and lesser-known artists working across a range of disciplines and mediums.
The first space that welcomes visitors to DCA is ‘The Temple’, with walls painted in the ultramarine shade of the Virgin Mary’s cloak. In this space, Judah counters depictions of the Madonna with a display of self-portraits that show motherhood as an ever-changing, unwieldy state of being. It can be raw, fleshy, intimate and awkward, as in Chantal Joffe’s Self-Portrait with Esme; or it’s a tentative balancing act between domestic chaos and the performance of a polished public self, as depicted in Billie Zangewa’s exquisite tapestry Every Woman. The images in ‘The Temple’ tap into one of the exhibition’s key themes: motherhood as a life’s work. “It felt important to honour the fact that motherhood doesn’t finish when you’ve weaned the baby,” Judah explains, noting it also encompasses a huge range of stages, such as parenting children with complex needs, supporting children as they become adults, or, as Barbara Walker’s Louder Than Words explores, the stress of raising Black sons in a society marred by structural violence and institutional racism.
For Judah, “one of the great joys of the show was to take a sideways look” at familiar works of art or familiar tropes through the lens of motherhood. Carrie Mae Weems’ iconic Kitchen Table series is represented here as a portrait of maternal ambivalence that tracks the moods of motherhood. Caroline Walker’s painting of baby feeding paraphernalia drying on a draining rack quietly subverts the still-life tradition by foregrounding the gruelling daily labour that goes into keeping a baby alive.
Motherhood can also mean loss or the decision not to mother. Tracey Emin’s Something’s Wrong sits alongside works from Paula Rego’s powerful Abortion Series to consider the complexities of
abortion, as a choice that can be painful, empowering – or both. One of the great strengths of Acts of Creation is the attention and importance it attributes to the rich diversity of experiences that aren’t always acknowledged as part of motherhood, including abortion, infertility, and the creation of, in Judah’s words, “queer family constellations.”
In the wonderfully expansive text that accompanies the exhibition, Judah notes exhibiting artist Su Richardson’s despair at taking part in another show that champions artist mothers, decades after her participation in Feministo’s 1977 touring exhibition Portrait of the Artist as a Housewife: “In another 50 years, will we be doing this again?” How does Judah think we break this cycle? “You tend to get patterns of failure to make things more accessible and accountable” in large public institutions and commercial galleries, where, Judah su ests, there can be an attitude of “that’s just how it is [here]”. But there are reasons to be hopeful. In Scotland, Judah cites the National Galleries of Scotland’s acquisition of Caroline Walker’s monumental painting Theatre, DCA’s shift to working arrangements that accommodate caring responsibilities, and the work of
Words: Lottie Whalen
Spilt Milk Gallery as evidence of changing attitudes to motherhood in the art world.
Judah feels that actively engaging audiences is also vital to this work. Continuing the legacy of the women’s movement’s mantra that the personal is political, Judah wants visitors to activate the exhibition space through hands-on participation. “I’d love it if people felt they had the license to come and interact with the show,” she says, inviting them to breastfeed, peel potatoes, or fold laundry at the communal kitchen table that forms part of the show.
In Acts of Creation, Judah challenges us to examine our role in vital networks of care, at a time when it’s becoming impossible for anyone to ignore the fact that the body is a key battleground in the fight for a fair future. It’s a bold exhibition that shows making space for mothering and care – in all its messy, brutal, beautiful glory – is something that should concern us all.
Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Nethergate, Dundee, 19 Apr-13 Jul, free dca.org.uk
We zoom in on how Stills challenges the institutional barriers that prevent disabled photographers from greater exposure in the Scottish art scene
Words: Laura Baliman
‘Where are the disabled photographers?’ is an events series by Stills, hosted by their Creative Learning Coordinator, Louise McLachlan. Over the past year, two events invited photographers with lived experience of disability to share ideas about their practice and education. In May, the series will travel for a new iteration at Peckham 24, an annual contemporary photography festival.
The series is titled with a strong provocation for change. The incredible photographers exemplified in this series show that there is an abundance of disabled photographers in Scotland, but that they are not widely visible. McLachlan remarks to me, and I personally have a similar experience, that “even though I work in the arts, I don’t know many disabled artists.” The experience of many of the event participants su ests that this disparity is partly due to a lack of support by photography education providers.
Participant Chris Belous notes that lack of clear communication and bureaucratic processes stand in the way of access, and Natasha Williamson speaks about the bullying she experienced at school and college – from both students and teachers.
“Disabled artists earn 70% less than nondisabled artists”
McLachlan mentions a harrowing statistic reported by the University of Glasgow in 2024 that disabled artists earn 70% less than non-disabled artists, and it’s clear from these educational experiences that not only does disability present a barrier in itself, but so do the attitudes of education providers who actively prevent the development and success of disabled artists.
Stills School – an alternative photography school for 16-25-yearolds who face barriers to engaging with the arts – positions itself as part of the solution to the event title’s question. Many of the participants could not access formal education but Stills School’s focus on access presented a new opportunity for learning and development without traditional barriers. It is free to attend; individual access requirements are prioritised; you cannot ‘fail’ it; all equipment is provided, and there is one-to-one tutoring.
Sasha Saben Callaghan also uses photomontage, and works primarily digitally – noting that accessible studio space in Edinburgh is extremely hard to find. Other photographers have also had to find ways around production barriers: Eleanor Wetham developed a cyanotype practice, photographing plants in her garden when chronic illness left her unable to leave the house. Many of the participants in this events series have a socially engaged practice, blending their artistic work with advocacy. Natasha Williamson’s socially engaged photography, for example, focuses on “portraying people the way they want to be seen.”
This kind of environment allows for the success of disabled photographers such as the many who participated in this event series, sharing their stories, practices, and educational experiences. I was struck by one participant in particular – Ink – who attended Stills School and has created some inspiring photomontage work depicting cathedrals. They quote the poet Jay Hulme, who said that ‘cathedrals are trans, trans people are cathedrals’ – because of how they are “so often partially knocked down and rebuilt”. Ink’s use of trans bodies in their cathedral montages are visually stunning, and also provide them comfort – to think of trans people as “old and ancient, as a community who often dies early.” Ink really appreciates the space of Stills School to develop their practice and su ests that accessibility is “not a separate process… but just the process of learning itself.”
McLachlan’s passion for helping these artists become more visible is clear, driven by her own experience of inaccessibility in mainstream education, which she left at 16. She speaks about her work as an artist and arts worker as being inextricably intertwined: “I really know what it’s like to be on the other side of the glass when nobody will open the door, but I also know the impact it makes when that one person opens the door.” Louise’s beautiful work Mōtae (shown at Stills and MIMA) displays her care and attention towards disability through the depiction of bodies in motion in a grid of self-portrait photographs. What stands out to me about this work is its emotional softness created by a blend of photo and painting: a sense of calm; a feeling of a gentle breathing in and out as the bodies move silently across the grid. This kind of softness is visible too in her work at Stills, where she leads by example in creating a supportive environment for learning and making: “I use my own lived experience and access requirements as examples to showcase that [Stills School] is a space in which it’s safe to do so.”
The disabled photographers are here, and as Louise says, they “just need a platform and investment.” More institutions – both educational and artistic – need to put this kind of work into exposing and uplifting the myriad of disabled photographers and artists in Scotland. As Ink astutely comments: “What I experienced here at Stills School was brilliant, but that doesn’t mean it should be rare.”
stills.org
JINGYI, Soft Haunting
Image: courtesy of Stills
Amy Iona
Image: courtesy of Stills
All Guns Blazing
We speak to John Savournin, director of Scottish Opera’s new productions of The Merry Widow and Trial by Jury, on the updating of classic operetta for modern audiences and the experience of translating a piece through time
You’ve updated The Merry Widow from 1900s Paris to 1950s New York – why?
It mirrors the original really well. In the original you have a displaced people, the Pontevedrins, who are in Paris and learning how to operate in this other environment, this grand embassy. And in our context there is a displaced people, the Italian immigrants, who are finding a way of surviving culturally in New York. Apart from the elements which fit really well, such as recasting Baron Zeta as Don Zeta, the ‘godfather’, and the hierarchies which come out of mafia organisation – conciliaries, capos, wives – it also adds a kind of a gutsiness and extroversion which lifts the energy and really suits the show.
As you’re rehearsing it, you’re like, “Oh wait, that also works on all these levels”?
Exactly that! Within the story there’s this friction – characters having affairs or butting heads – and it’s amplified in a world where any mafioso who has an affair with someone else’s wife would be in serious trouble in the mafia community. Plus the people who are angry about it aren’t angry in a polite fashion – it’s all guns blazing if you excuse the pun!
I’m also interested that you translated the libretto from German to English. Was it easy to get your important themes across?
In fact, it’s unusual for Merry Widow not to be translated into English. But David Eaton and I, who have done the translation, have been careful to look after the story, particularly Hanna and Danilo’s arc. One of the main challenges was leaning into the New York American dialect. Another challenge has been the story elements – for instance, Act 1 is a dance, a formal ballroom.
Formal ballroom seems very 1900s. Now it’s the 1950s Merry Widow, how does the dance look?
It’s Don Zeta’s new-money penthouse, and he’s throwing himself a birthday party! He invites Hanna Glawari, because her dead husband was a Sicilian mafia boss, and Don Zeta sees the opportunity for one of his own to marry Hanna and into one of Europe’s most powerful mafia families. And the dancing comes into that because dancing is one way that Zeta can pair Hanna with his conciliary Danilo. Everyone there is a close-knit community, at the party with champagne in hand, LPs on record players – we’re one step away from people swinging off the chandelier!
The Merry Widow – why now?
Fundamentally it’s a story about people finding their way in the world in quite a human way – so it’s totally accessible, we can recognise ourselves in it; and the music amplifies that. We
Words: Gabriel von Spreckelsen
hope the audience will be roaring with laughter one moment, then crying at the beauty of it the next. That’s what you’re looking for: a fullyrounded evening at the theatre that has it all.
I love how you’re passionate about how it’s funny. How important is comedy?
I think comedy always has to be earned. It’s not a case of bringing on a horse and a hoop-skirt and hoping it works. It’s integrating it into the story. What’s nice about our mafia world is we’re able to reference. Once you put the mafia world through a comic lens, the audience know what they want to see next – a car bomb, a horse head, a TNT barrel! And while the comedy is hugely important, it is more than a comedy. There’s pathos and that’s key to its success; you need both to make it work.
You’re also doing this as a trio of comic operas, with Trial by Jury and A Matter of Misconduct! What would be the audience experience of seeing all three?
So both Merry Widow and Trial by Jury are operettas from the same period – Trial by Jury is 150 years old, almost to the day.
Wow, an anniversary!
Very much so. Merry Widow is a bit later but operetta was a big part of that era. There is a similar style to that comedic element between Trial and Widow there. Then A Matter of Misconduct! is in a way inspired by Trial, but new and written for now, looking at that relationship between the law and politics. There’s a step between each of our trio of operas which is really nice. If you like one, you will like the next – and then you get treated to this brand new piece, which makes it very fun for the audience!
You know how professional chefs come home and don’t want to cook dinner?
Like a lot of opera singers, I might decide to switch off if opera comes on the radio, to cleanse my ear, but – if Bon Jovi came on, I would be there!
The Merry Widow is at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 30 April-17 May, then touring
Trial by Jury and A Matter of Misconduct! is at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 14 & 16 May and Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 30 May & 6 Jun
Image: courtesu of Festival Theatre Edinburgh
The Merry Widow
Sounds Good
3rd SCO 24/25: Moza t and St auss
4th
Fastlove - The T ibute to Geo ge Michael
5th John Shuttlewo th - Raise The Oof
6th Foste & Allen - 50 Yea s of Hits
8th Black Count y, New Road
9th Imelda May
10th
11th
13th
Seonaid Aitken Ensemble featu ing Ha ben Kay
Dunedin Conso t: Matthew Passion
Scottish Ensemble: Thuit an Oidhche Oi nn
14th Ma y Coughlan
20th Session A9
22nd David C oss
24th Matt Ca michael ‘Dancing With Embe s’ album launch
25th Swing That Music with Down fo the Count AllSta s
26th Penelope T appes + SHHE
30th Toots and the Maytals feat. Leba Hibbe t
1st SCO 24/25: Moza t Sinfonia Conce tante
2nd Edinbu gh T adfest 2025: Ross Ainslie & the Sanctua y Band
3rd Clea wate C eedence Revival
5th Foivos Delivo ias T io 8th China C isis
9th Hanley and the Bai d, Sing In The City Aw Blacks 17th F ancis Rossi
18th Mugenkyo Taiko D umme s: In Time
19th Levison Wood: Walking the Wo ld - A Life of Explo ation and Adventu e
20th The Music of Hans Zimme & othe s
27th Elkie B ooks - Fa ewell Tou
28th29th Mo gan Jay - The Goofy Guy Tou
30th A Night fo MAP
31st Malin Lewis P esents: F igg, Ma va a, Me Lost Me
Album of the Month
Self Esteem — A Complicated Woman
Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s third album as Self Esteem sharpens what’s always been at the core of her musical identity: the tension between frank vulnerability and pop maximalism.
‘I’m whinging in a new way’, she deadpans on I Do And I Don’t Care – the album’s manifesto in miniature. Its thesis is less a declaration than a reluctant truth: ‘Fuck me, is this all there is? / This really is all there is, and that’s the thing you’ve got to get comfy with’. A Complicated Woman’s realism is barefaced, funny and often moving.
Sonically, the record shifts into something brasher, more combative – less concerned with polish than pressure. The ensemble vocals are no longer just ornament (as they arguably were on Prioritise Pleasure) but the album’s bellwether: richer and more muscular, as exemplified on If Not Now, It’s Soon. Logic, Bitch! shares the signature vocal-andstrings palette but introduces new techniques – woodwind-like synths echoing the hook –culminating in a barmy, brilliant Sue Tompkins outro.
Mother, recalling the sparse, choppy production of Kate Bush’s Experiment IV, captures the fatigue of being emotionally outsourced. Taylor is clear: she’s not your mother. The refusal cuts both ways – against the domestic caregiving
expected of women in private, and the unspoken contract of public femininity to be maternal, grateful, giving care; never in receipt of it.
Lies, a duet with firebrand rockstar Nadine Shah, is a barely restrained war cry, perfectly teeing up 69. Its arresting intro, delivered by Meatball, is a deadpan whinge about mutual fellatio that plays like political Scissor Sisters – but it’s unmistakably Self Esteem. It utterly resists the sexual expectations placed on the compliance of women, flipping them into a full-throated assertion of agency: ‘If you beg, I will peg’ The outro explodes into a dancefloor catharsis, 90s house vocals riding basslines that crackle and threaten to melt through the floor. These full-pop moments are drip-fed with precision – Cheers To Me being the only other properly uptempo cut, like Carly Rae Jepsen with bite.
The album’s clearest statement arrives on In Plain Sight, as Moonchild Sanelly’s devastating verse on identity and exploitation ends in a scream: ‘What the fuck you want from me? / I’m saving you, you’re killing me’. As the choir swells and afrobeat drums crest, Taylor and producer Johan Hugo find catharsis in conflict. On Mother, Taylor states: ‘I recommend listening’. We’re inclined to agree. [Rhys Morgan]
Listen to: Mother, In Plain Sight, Lies, 69
Scowl Are We All Angels Out 4 Apr via Dead Oceans
Black Country, New Road Forever Howlong Out 4 Apr via Ninja Tune
Sleigh Bells Bunky Becky Birthday Boy Out 4 Apr via Mom+Pop
Bon Iver SABLE, fABLE Out 11 Apr via Jagjaguwar
Viagra Boys viagr aboys Out 25 Apr via Shrimptech Enterprises
Upset the Rhythm, 4 Apr
Listen to: Blue Chairs, Blue Floors, Blue Folders, Whitsun Sound, The Slowing of the Shoes
Perfect Hit! is a chocolate box, each track offering new, delicious morsels from the ridiculous to the sincere. The sweet, childlike lilt of Blue Chairs, Blue Floors, Blue Folders recalls Deerhunter’s Halcyon Digest; a perfect accompaniment to Perry O’Bray’s tender appraisal of awaiting a newborn, a ‘hurricane’. Another Face Entirely recalls Parquet Courts’ driving dancey rock, whilst the punchy little drum beat and squirrelly synth of Whitsun Sound brings to mind The Fall, and The Slowing of the Shoes shares Pavement’s slacker energy.
Building on the band’s rich imagination and craftsmanship, beautifully exhibited on last year’s For Display Purposes Only and 2021’s The Power of Rocks, there’s a depth and fresh perspective provided by newcomers Matt, George and Jack. Three singles are accompanied by increasingly hilarious videos, from creating a social experiment with a chair, to the deranged communion in the video for Whitsun Sound, by Joshua Roland. The cover and title track video were shot in Portobello Town Hall. The setting complements the record’s Vaudevillian moments; honking kazoo, the music’s tipsy sway, O’Bray’s delightfully silly lyrics. Perfect Hit! is exactly that; a record that delights and surprises with each listen. [Vicky Kavanagh]
Listen to: Memories of Cordelia,
Andrea, Janice
The strange brew of rubbery and sharp that made 2023’s Perpetual Morphosis jut out from its contemporaries is still present on Gloria, although given a surprise dose of surf guitar and Hawaiian slide. It makes for a kind of avant-exotica, and there’s something really moving hidden in its murky, digitised warmth, particularly on Memories of Cordelia.
On the one hand it has the sonics and nostalgic glow of the loading screen from the beach level of a late 90s Tekken clone. Simultaneously though, in the way the rhythm gormlessly lopes along like a faithful oaf of a dog, there’s a real unaffected sweetness there. A lot of the record’s joy is in the way these two feelings and images pull at each other.
This warmth isn’t without reason the album is dedicated to, and actively informed by, the life of his grandmother that passed last year. But this makes the record’s sense of fun all the more pleasing. It eschews the maudlin for songs like Bear Hotel, Grants Pass and Glass Beach, songs that playfully meander through errant squawks with pinball energy, songs that pulse with colour and giddy, child-like invention.
[Joe Creely]
Listen to: Spring Grove, Cicada, Forcefed
Named for Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Cemetery, The Ophelias’ fourth full-length album is a stunning ode to mid-size cities, intimacy and the self. It feels almost unbearably emotional to listen to an album so intricately entwined with a city that I haven’t called home for over a decade. But one needn’t be from Cincinnati to connect with this album. Cincinnati is the vehicle through which The Ophelias explore self-narration and the process by which our experiences become our histories. As an album, Spring Grove has deep roots. Produced by Julien Baker, the album ranges from melancholy nostalgia to the more rageful sounds of Salome, released as a single last month. With Mic Adams on drums, Jo Shaffer on bass, Andrea Gutmann Fuentes on violin and Spencer Peppet on guitar and lead vocals, the fullness of the sound so completely echoes the emotional content of the lyrics. Peppet’s voice is warm and empathic, full of grief and love and hope. The quartet produces a rich, orchestral sound, imbuing our collective memories of Cincinnati with a folkloric quality. At its emotional climaxes, the album reaches cinematic scope. Spring Grove, an album executed with honesty and compassion, has tremendous heart. [Rho Chung]
25 Apr
Listen to: Anticipate, War Games, DMZ
On his debut album Guerilla, Nazar combined field recordings with ‘rough Kuduro’ – his hybrid version of Angola’s upbeat dance music – as a way of processing his experience of growing up in the aftermath of the Angolan Civil War. Although Demilitarize sees the Amsterdam-based producer retreat from those battle lines, he continues to push his club-derived soundscapes into uncharted territories.
Shedding the armour he’s forged throughout his lifetime as a form of protection against the weight of inherited trauma, there’s a newfound vulnerability to Nazar’s sound. ‘Freedom comes at a cost’, he sings on Anticipate, his voice phasing in and out, as if laboring on the brink of exhaustion. It sets the tone for an album that reflects a journey of self-discovery hampered by illness.
During the COVID pandemic, Nazar became seriously ill when the latent tuberculosis he developed whilst living in Angola resurfaced. His submerged vocals mirror this stru le, as lyrics percolate through thick layers of reverb before dissolving like shapes on water. However, there’s a quiet tenderness to tracks like Mantra and Safe that points towards a more hopeful future. Yet, as DMZ closes the album, that peace feels increasingly like a fragile armistice rather than a lasting resolution. [Patrick Gamble]
Buffet Lunch
Perfect Hit!
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Nazar Demilitarize Hyperdub,
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Dustin Wong
Gloria Hausu Mountain, 1 Apr
Bear Hotel, Grants Pass, Malcolm, Carey, Darrel,
The Ophelias Spring Grove Get Better Records, 4 Apr rrrrr
& Moor Mother
The Film Thrill Jockey, 25 Apr rrrrr
Listen to: Scene 2: The Run, Camera, Scene 5: Breathing Fire
Turn the appropriate dial back to the Obama-era optimism and growth of 2011, and you’ll find the most people had to be angry about was Metallica and Lou Reed’s fearlessly terrible Lulu. Flip the dial to the year signified with a skull and crossbones and you’re in the present, with a revisiting of that core premise best described with an enthusiastic sigh. It’s a full realisation of the political fury and intensity that stylistic combination deserved, but we can only be so happy about being told “We’re fucked” in a more artistically robust way. We’re still fucked.
Moor Mother’s delivery matches the pedigree she’s built up, and SUMAC’s swirling, stoner doom is a mystifying cloud of distortion. In terms of Moor Mother collaborations, which peak somewhere around True Opera, The Film reads more like Moor Mother overdubbing someone else’s album rather than a synthesis of styles. We are allowed, however, to throw up our arms, remember how bad Lulu was and how bad we have it now, and let it play. It’s noisy, it’s militant, it’s human, and it’s a time capsule for the year you’re already burning an effigy of. Get it while it’s hot. [Noah Barker]
Silence Rock Action, 25 Apr rrrrr
Listen to: Polaroid, I Don’t Think So, Write it Down
After making light work of their so-called difficult second record, Glaswegian twins Cloth sought advice from producer Ali Chant on how to approach their third record. Chant’s advice was both simple and cryptic - he told them that the best records are made by the artists who “let go”.
For Cloth, this meant aiming for a more muscular, expansive sound, which they achieve, in part through Owen Pallett’s sharp strings that swoon through half of the album’s ten songs. They bite through the bobbing cadence of Polaroid and elsewhere perk up Rachael and Paul Swinton’s meticulous palm-muted rhythms, helping to nudge the arrangements from portrait into cinematic landscape. The shift is also aided by Portishead’s Adrian Utley who lends his guitar to a handful of tracks. On I Don’t Think So he uses it to create a thick, gooey riff that bursts into the song’s chorus. On Stuck he provides an atmospheric rattle as the song builds towards its conclusion.
But it’s Paul’s lyrics where Cloth truly let go. His words of loss and heartbreak are carried by Rachael’s serene, hushed vocals, ensuring that on Pink Silence, Cloth expand their sound while retaining their intimacy – ultimately they succeed in letting go. [Adam Clarke]
Maria Somerville Luster 4AD, 25 Apr rrrrr
Listen to: Garden, Spring, Violet
There’s a perfect place to listen to Luster. It’s probably just before sunrise, and the streetlamps are about to dim. It’s cold enough to see your breath, but the vapour quickly gets lost in the mist that surrounds you. The pavements are quiet, just you and your headphones. But the magic of Maria Somerville’s 4AD debut is that as soon as you click play, it doesn’t really matter where you are. The gossamer synths of the sub-two-minute Réalt are a transportive, and then grounding, introduction to a finely constructed soundworld, a gateway to the Galway artist’s redefining of dreampop, goth, shoegaze and ambient swirl.
What makes Luster more than just perfectly executed homage are the canny updates Somerville makes to the inspirations and references she draws on, like stitching colour into this tapestry of blacks, whites and greys. Spring is the apotheosis of this: breakbeats and autotuned vocals twist the more familiar reverberations of its guitars into a slowcore take on hyperpop. The wordless interstitial Flutter is abstract and freeform, its processed violin combining with cranked up electronics into a great surge, but Somerville can just as easily channel that spirit of experimentation into a perfect pop song like all her forebears. [Tony Inglis]
Solace EP self-released, 4 Apr rrrrr
Listen to: Cleopatra, Chamomile Clouds, Insurance
Solace has been long-awaited since BBC Introducing’s feature of Nikhita, and so here marks the arrival of a distinct and promising voice. Edinburgh’s Nikhita has crafted a collection of songs that seamlessly blend neo-soul sensibilities with ethereal R’n’B soundscapes. The EP immediately wants to sit alongside Cleo Sol or Skye, and does reflect a sound that is both new and deeply rooted in neo-soul and R’n’B overlaps. Although Nikhita’s unique artistic choices, with more live instrumentation and meditation bowls, bring the tracks her unique textures. Her ethereal falsetto, a clear highlight, demonstrates a remarkable level of vocal control and emotional depth.
Lake Karachay showcases her ability to weave intricate metaphors, transmuting experience into our shared narratives. If solace is the aim of Solace, then yes, it’s real and happening, for everyone. The promise of vulnerability within the tracks allows us to connect. Solace is a compelling debut that establishes Nikhita as an artist with vision and a gift for crafting emotionally resonant music. Laying the foundation for a promising future, Nikhita’s ability to blend diverse musical influences with her own brings a sound both captivating and deeply moving.
[Tommy Pearson]
SUMAC
Cloth Pink
Nikhita
Music Now
There’s a spirit of collaboration in the air this springtime, as the Scottish music scene’s cream of the cool come together to give you the most danceable April you could ask for
Words: Ellie Robertson
Let’s be real, the most exciting thing about March was seeing the sun set at almost 7pm; but great new music is a close runner-up. Releases that didn’t make it into last month’s column include a teaser track from the debut album of this month’s cover star Jacob Alon (Don’t Fall Asleep) and singles by Kathryn Joseph (HARBOUR), Alice Faye (Bitter Minded Lover), Barry Can’t Swim (Different), Water Machine (Tiffany), The Twistettes (ALL I WANT), Kapil Seshasayee (Whose bright idea was this?), Hannah Laing (4am In A Rave), Humour (Neighbours), LVRA & Soda Plains (Hard Decisions), Theo Bleak (Peach Sky) and Brìghde Chaimbeul (Bog an Lochan). As always, keep an eye on our Spotify playlist for new releases throughout the month.
But even if these recent blue skies have just been a premature prank on any April fools, there’s still a lot of springtime left, so here’s good tunes this month; to start, the sophomore EP of husband and wife duo Sarah/Shaun, Someone’s Ghost, is out on 11 April. The partnership’s creative syzygy is displayed across four dreampop tracks, delving into Anhedonia (a concept for which Sarah McLachlan’s echoing vocals are the antidote), and a tribute to Debbie Harry; ‘Everything you do, shakes me to the core’. Expect buzzy drum beats, high, distant chimes, and heavenly electronics. Filter Of Love fades into a cacophonous wall of sound, epitomising the record’s namesake; indistinguishable, but very ethereal.
Someone’s Ghost isn’t the only otherworldly project cooked up by a pair of eclectic artists. Right on the opposite side of April, Paradise Palms Records releases Real Dreams (25 Apr), an acid dance EP by George T and Mairi ‘B’ Pots, alias Accident Machine. Opener Real Dream Scene (which drops 4 Apr) is a concoction of persistent, droning beats, layered over the delivery of hypnotic lyrics, and, like in the noisome Doors cover (Break On Through) that follows, so loaded with textural effects that it plays good trip/bad trip with your nervous system. Even with their disorientating sonic manipulations, these two make you want to dance – it must be something subconscious.
Prolific instrumentalist Alasdair Roberts is back with fellow folk artist Màiri Morrison, for the first time since 2012’s Urstan. This collaboration, Remembered in Exile: Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia (25 Apr), employs all of the pair’s expertise and brings to life ten traditional ballads sourced from the Scottish diaspora in Canada. Also on the 25th, twin siblings cloth release Pink Silence, which has a full review on page 59
– other local heroes on the reviews pages include R’n’B singer Nikhita, with her new EP Solace, and Perfect Hit! by bluesy art-rock unit Buffet Lunch, both out 4 April.
Jumping back to the end of the month, Highland-born Tide Lines release Glasgow Love Story (25 Apr), the band’s love letter to the Dear Green Place. Their high-flying folk sound on Homeward Bound and By the Quayside is achieved with a blend of traditional instrumentation and Robert Robertson’s energetic, indie vocal style. Other nostalgic notes include the 80s, alluded to with keyboards and electric guitars in opener Better Days. It’s a personal toast to days gone by, told through Glasgow’s places and people against the bitter backdrop of a changing world.
On the same day, there’s a decidedly different take coming from the West Coast, as Glasgow punk band SOAPBOX unleash their EP LOCK IN. An immediate assault on the ears, SOAPBOX are putting punk back where it belongs; right up against the establishment. Between the rapid-fire percussion and snarling guitar riffs, Tom Rowan attacks neoliberal propaganda on Good Guys and the desperate financial reality of artists on Do As Ur Told.
Earlier in the month sees the release of Kite (11 Apr), the debut album by Lapland-born, Edinburgh-based dreampop songwriter Aino Elina. Elina’s vocals come in both English and Finnish, and with a backing of heady, hazy beats, it’s the perfect sound for her untethered explorations of the natural world and liminal states of mind. Reflected, reflected, a mixtape of bonus tracks from Canadian-born indie composer L.T. Leif, is out on Lost Map Records on 4 April, while Scottish music mainstays The Waterboys’ 16th studio album Life, Death and Dennis Hopper, a retrospective of 20th century history told through the lens of pop culture, comes out on the same day.
Singles we’re excited for include Copycat by Rosé Chrissy and Wasted by Pippa Blundell, both out on 3 April; Niamh Maclennan’s single Escape comes to us on the 11th, the same day as a new song from Morgan Szymanski & Tommy Perman (Harmonic Rain). Maxwell Weaver & The Fig Leaves release a Jukebox-ready retro jam (Shake It (If You Want)) on the 4th, while the end of the month brings the latest opus from Her Picture – Reasons I Tried (25 Apr).
Scan the QR code to follow and like our Music Now: New Scottish Music playlist on Spotify, updated on Fridays
Photo: Victoria Sykes
Photo: Kyle Ross
Soapbox
Sarah/Shaun
Film of the Month — April
Director: Déa Kulumbegashvili
Starring: Ia Sukhitashvili, Kakha Kintsurashvili, Merab Ninidze, Roza Kacheishvili, Ana Nikolava, David Beradze, Sandro Kalandadze, Tosia Doloiani, Beka Songulashvili
RRRR R
Released 25 April by BFI
Certificate TBC
theskinny.co.uk/film
Georgian writer-director Déa Kulumbegashvili explores the hurdles of womanhood in April, a stripped-down abortion drama thriving in the contrast between a hostile society and a generous nature. Like her arresting debut Beginning, this new film tackles a female-fronted, ordinary tragedy, with a story centred on Nina (Ia Sukhitashvili), an OB-GYN in a rural Georgia hospital. While abortion is technically legal in the country, religious and patriarchal constraints hinder access to the procedure outside of major cities. Those who can’t go to the likes of Tbilisi or Batumi have no choice but to seek the help of doctors like Nina, who puts her career on the line to perform unregistered terminations.
These secret procedures on kitchen tables are female-only rituals occurring away from prying eyes, orthodox fanaticism and male coercion. April is very clear in stating that women are regarded as little more than walking wombs and that anyone who prevents them from fulfilling their maternal role poses a threat to the status quo. Facing an internal investigation after a delivery results in a stillbirth, Nina finds her professional ethics questioned over her life-saving side gig. She can’t be both an abortion provider and a respected maternity doctor, her detractors say, shielding behind pro-life arguments.
Nina’s stru les are distilled into a haunting performance by Sukhitashvili. Her restrained turn becomes assertive when the character attempts to flip the power dynamics in casual sexual encounters at dusk. Kulumbegashvili shares a fascination for the blue hour with her lead. The camera offers Nina’s POV as she drives across villages at sunset, soaking in the beauty of the elements through long, naturalistic takes. Cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan juxtaposes dizzying camerawork in the spaces weighed down by
bureaucracy and misogyny with nurturing sequences of serene landscapes and forceful storms. Meanwhile, the sound design, carefully curated by the director with Lars Ginzel, weaves an unsettling tapestry of breaths, soft-spoken dialogue and hyperpresent ambience.
April, which was co-produced by Luca Guadagnino, won the Special Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival last year, but its reception at home has been less warm; it’s been banned from exhibition in Georgia, where censorship continues to jeopardise the country’s exciting new wave of cinema. In this repressive climate, Kulumbegashvili stands her ground with graphic scenes focusing on the tangible physicality of the female body. Steering clear of glorifying the miracle of life, the camera stays on an unmistakably real, matter-of-fact birth scene early on in the film. And at the film’s midpoint, an abortion turns into a secular function of its own, an intimate moment framed from a narrow angle.
Between pristine operating rooms and crepuscular fields, a third plane of existence emerges, inhabited by an alien-like figure resembling a giant foetus, or the monstrous female cliché of a certain type of horror. A Nina-like being, the creature drags herself throughout the movie but remains an allegoric accessory to an already impactful presentation.
After just two films, Kulumbegashvili is proving to be an auteur whose distinctive audiovisual language holds an indecipherable, subjective component. Her latest, challenging offering comes after a year-long research period, revealing the director’s meticulous knowledge of and deep care for a tough subject matter. With April, Kulumbegashvili lucidly looks back on the town she grew up in, succeeding in making a defiant movie and honouring the women who’ve entrusted her with their experiences. [Stefania Sarrubba]
Scotland on Screen: Ruaridh Mollica
Scottish actor Ruaridh Mollica is about to go stratospheric. He’s recently joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe and been garnering much praise for his lead role in provocative queer drama Sebastian. He discusses the latter ahead of its UK release
Words: Jamie Dunn
Filmography (selected)
Film: Sebastian (2024), Too Rough (2022), Tell It to the Bees (2018), Sunshine on Leith (2013)
TV: Vision Quest (2026), A Thousand Blows (2025), The Franchise (2024), Ridley (2024), The Jetty (2024), Witness Number 3 (2022), Red Rose (2022), Case Histories (2013)
i: @ruaridhmollica
Ruaridh Mollica is only 25, but he’s already a film and TV veteran. Born in Prato, just outside Florence, but raised in Leith, he fell into professional acting when he was 12 on a visit to Out of the Blue Drill Hall to try out for Strange Town Youth Theatre. “I went along because a few of my friends went there,” he tells me on the phone from his flat in Hackney. “I’d arrived with my mum and almost instantly a casting director asked, ‘Can you ride a horse?’ I said, ‘Yes,’ auditioned and somehow got the part.” It turned out to be a small role in the BBC crime drama Case Histories. “I had no idea what was going on,” he says of that first acting gig, “but I was getting taught how to act by Jason Isaacs and Mark Bonnar.”
More small jobs followed, including as a background dancer in Sunshine on Leith and a Victorian street urchin in a BBC educational programme. By the time he was 16, though, those child parts were drying up, and people were asking what he wanted to do with his life. “I still hadn’t thought about acting as a career,” he says. “And also, drama school costs money.”
He opted instead for the ‘sensible’ route: he got a bunch of Highers, then did computing science at Heriot-Watt. But his acting fervor was reignited when he landed the lead role in Sean Lìonadh’s bruising short film Too Rough while in his final year of uni. “My heart just felt full [doing Too Rough] in the way that it hadn’t been in the same way with computer science,” he says. After some soul searching and another small part – in teen horror series Red Rose – he put a place on a Master’s degree in cybersecurity on hold and threw himself into acting.
It’s safe to say the world of cybersecurity will have to manage without Mollica for a while, following juicy roles in Channel 5 crime thriller Witness Number 3 and Armando Iannucci’s satire The Franchise, where he plays an overworked PA on the set of a chaotic superhero movie. And now comes his first lead role in Mikko Mäkelä’s Sebastian. It’s a provocative
and multi-layered queer drama following Mollica’s Max, an aspiring novelist in London who begins moonlighting as a sex worker under the moniker Sebastian. Initially, this side hustle is to add verisimilitude to a book he’s writing about an escort, but it becomes clear Max is getting more from these transactional sexual encounters with lonely men than just research material.
Mollica had an instant affinity with the character. Both had just moved to this big city of London, and both were going on a journey of self-identity. “Max was going on one with sex work, and I was going on one with my queerness,” explains the actor, who says he identifies as bisexual but prefers the term queer. “The circles I moved in at school and uni were not really queer circles, so I only started to learn about queer culture as I was coming out in London.”
Sebastian is a chilly film drenched in urban isolation, but its study of queer loneliness can sometimes slip into cliché and pretension. Mollica is more impressive than the clunky script. He appears in every scene, subtly conveying Max’s conflicting feelings of power and shame, attraction and disgust, that become more complex with each new liaison. One thing that’s not subtle in Sebastian, however, is the sex. There’s no discrete panning away or fade to black when it comes to the scenes in which Max provides a service to his clients.
Mollica admits these explicit scenes did initially give him pause, but when he discussed them with his writer-director, Mäkelä, he started to understand the reasons for their prominence. “The more I talked to Mikko, and when we started to rehearse scenes, I started to realise how important these sex scenes would be and started to understand just how beautiful they would be. What’s happening in those scenes is they’re conveying Max’s inner monologue, and you’re noticing how Max sees these other people, and how that changes from the start to the end of the film.”
After taking the piss out of superhero movies in The Franchise, he’ll soon be joining the superhero game proper with a role in Vision Quest, Disney+’s series centred on Paul Bettany’s humanoid robot character from the Avengers films. Discussion of Vision Quest is strictly verboten, but when I su est this superhero gig might mean he won’t be working on any Scotland productions anytime soon, the young actor sounds crestfallen.
“I’d love to do more Scottish roles,” he protests. “I mean, growing up in Edinburgh and seeing a film like Trainspotting was so cool.” It sounds like that film’s star, Ewan McGregor, is someone Mollica, who often sports a Rentonesque buzz cut, would like to emulate. “Yeah, I’m a big fan of Ewan McGregor, who’s somehow managed to do the majority of his career in his own accent, which is so jammy – I don’t know how he managed that. But I’d love to do some exciting Scottish stuff. There are so many incredible projects getting written and made in Scotland. So yeah, who knows what’s to come?”
Sebastian is released 4 Apr by Peccadillo Pictures
In 2008, Italian filmmaker Gianni Di Gregorio gave us Mid-August Lunch, a gentle comedy he directed, cowrote and starred in, playing a middle-aged man living in Rome with his fussy mother. During the August holiday of Ferragosto, his character gets saddled with three other elderly women in his small apartment for a few days as a favour to friends to whom he owes various debts.
With a premise ripe for a transplant to different cultures, it’s surprising that it’s taken so long for a remake to emerge. But then, the thing about Mid-August Lunch is that it’s very modest, including in runtime (70-ish minutes). There’s nuance to its deceptive simplicity, but Di Gregorio’s movie is notably light on plot.
Holy Cow
Director: Louise Courvoisier
Starring: Clément Favreau, Luna Garret, Maïwene Barthelemy, Mathis Bernard rrrrr
In rural France, a young man’s life is thrown off track when his father dies suddenly. Left to parent his sister and provide for the family, he turns to the profession his dad dedicated his life to – cheesemaking.
In Louise Courvoisier’s debut feature, she crafts a coming-of-age story that’s sensitive yet visceral. Dirt and grime coat arms and faces, bloody grazes ooze after fist fights, ropes are heaved and truckles hammered. Characters are often framed through thresholds and doorways – Totone (Clément Favreau) and his kid sister Claire (Luna Garret) are walking through borders of worlds old and new, starkly leaving behind versions of themselves they won’t meet again. As the underdog, Totone identifies the ultimate grift to turn
Clocking in a little longer but with brisker pacing, Irish filmmaker Darren Thornton’s Four Mothers adds a lot more to the story in terms of locations and incidents. But far from overcomplicating the recipe, Thornton’s film – co-written with brother Colin – proves one of the sharpest reimaginings of recent years; not just in the way it fully exploits and expands the comedic potential, but in the successful injection of drama that meaningfully explores upbringing and caring through a specifically Irish lens.
Among the major changes to the original is a younger protagonist and the queering of him and his friends. As Edward, a gay Irish novelist afraid to take crucial steps to open up his life beyond looking after his mischievous mum (Fionnula Flanagan), reliable supporting actor James McArdle proves a winning leading man. [Josh Slater-Williams] Released 4 Apr by BFI Distribution; certificate 15
their fortunes around – with a prize of 30,000 euros on offer, the local Comté cheese competition could be the solution to all their problems. While this provides a framework for the unfolding action, Totone’s arc is imbued in contrasting elements symbolising his sharp entry to adulthood. Cool mist in the remote mountains is interspersed with the warmth of the sun gilding gentle halos around young love, and coarse strings punctuating quiet moments alongside the disco synth that soundtracks his friendships.
Courvoisier and co-screenwriter Théo Abadie resist traditional narrative dots, subverting to deliver a satisfyingly truthful conclusion. Just like the product he’s be ed, borrowed and stolen to make, Totone also needs more time to mature, though he has overcome significant barriers already, leaving room enough for hope. [Eleanor Capaldi] Released 11
The latest film from Kiyoshi Kurosawa initially presents as a chilly satire of what the internet has made of us, particularly men. It follows Ryosuke, an online reseller who flips tat at inflated rates while working in a factory during the day. He’s not an actively evil man; he’s barely actively anything – he’s just numb. His anonymity to the people he rips off means he can dwell in moral ambivalence and greed for the sake of it. He’s a spookily recognisable figure: that lad you know obsessed with making money but with no interests or life to spend it on; an everyman for a world of men who’ve grindsetted themselves into total moral spinelessness.
Cloud has a split structure. Its first half is a series of minor but
The Return Director: Uberto Pasolini
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer, Marwan Kenzari, Tom Rhys Harries rrrrr
Uberto Pasolini’s adaptation of the closing chapters of The Odyssey is a quiet take on the familiar finale. Here, Ithaca is in ruins, its lands wasted by the loss of its king and soldiers and, more pressingly, by the suitors vying for Penelope’s (Juliette Binoche) hand. When Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes up on the shore, he remains reticent in the background, watchful and patient in discerning the state of the land and life he left behind.
Fiennes and Binoche’s performances are the reason to see The Return. Both carry the weight of years of unspoken, unspeakable trauma in their eyes; the Trojan War left no one unscathed, and the two actors masterfully convey multitudes in glances and silences.
accumulating transgressions, and the second shows their violent consequences, allowing Kurosawa to demonstrate he’s a master of his very specific craft. His ability to imbue everyday life with quiet horror is on full display here. Maybe not since 2008’s Tokyo Sonata has he managed to colour the mechanics of everyday human interaction with such affecting, creeping horror.
The film’s second half goes unexpectedly broader, becoming as much of an action film as is allowed in the world Kurosawa has created, featuring shootouts populated by incels, monologuing like they’ve seen in anime. Cloud is funny but, like in much of Kurosawa’s work, it’s a laughter from the bleakest of places, and only adds further to the film’s satirical bite. [Joe Creely]
Released
Exquisitely filmed on location throughout Corfu and Ilía in the Western Peloponnese, Pasolini and cinematographer Marius Panduru root these mythic figures in their beautiful yet unforgiving natural world. Unfortunately, The Return finds no true surprises in this retelling – while selective in what it adapts, it interprets its chosen material with no narrative and few interpretive twists. The quotidian script is a far cry from Homeric poetry in any translation, and Charlie Plummer finds nothing in Telemachus beyond tiresome insolence.
Handsome to look at and more than handsomely acted by its two leads, The Return is a nice entry for Odyssey adaptation completists and Fiennes / Binoche fans – and offers an intriguing, subdued take on a tale Christopher Nolan is soon to deliver in blockbuster form – but leaves little for the casual viewer. [Carmen Paddock]
Released 11 Apr by Modern Films; certificate 15
Holy Cow
Four Mothers
The Return Cloud
25 Apr by Blue Finch; certificate 15
BIRDS FRIED CHICKEN, GLASGOW
The team behind much-loved burger restaurant El Perro Negro turn their hands to chicken, with new Shawlands popup Birds Fried Chicken
Birds Fried Chicken at Phillies of Shawlands, 1179 Pollokshaws Rd, Glasgow, G41 3YH
Kitchen open Wed-Fri, 5-9pm, Sat-Sun, noon-9pm; bar open Mon-Thu 4-12pm, Fri-Sat 1pm1am, Sun 1-12pm
It’s Sunday in Shawlands, and spring is in the air. With the national football team’s latest calamity occurring just down the road, it’s fairly quiet in Phillies, the jumbo-sized bar and venue on the corner of Pollokshaws and Kilmarnock Roads. When we say jumbo, we mean it; this place is huge, with velour booths, a nicely zoned layout, lots of deep red paintwork, a comically long bar and some frankly enormous windows to take in the early evening sunshine. It’s a bit like the brighter cousin of the Roadhouse from Twin Peaks, with space for a house band up on an elevated stage. For this evening, we’re treated to a projector screen of an extremely vibey jazz band playing at the top of a mountain (it’s amazing what you can find on YouTube these days).
We’re here for Birds Fried Chicken, the brand new popup from Nick Watkins and the folk behind the excellent burger joint El Perro Negro. Those burgers are at the more refined end of the scale, while also being extremely unctuous and decadent (their Top Dog is a ball of blue cheese, dry-aged beef and bone marrow that is both delicious and faintly horrifying). It’s the ideal pedigree for this kind of comfort food; preexisting proof that you know what you’re doing is always welcome, particularly on a short menu that centres fried chicken and not a whole lot else.
But before we can get to the chicken, we need to get some attention, as for the second month in a row we find ourselves basically being forgotten about for a while. We arrive in the early evening, it is *not* busy, it’s broad daylight outside, and we’re sat next to the bar; you couldn’t miss us. I get it, days are long in hospitality, it’s easy to lose track of stuff, there are so many things happening on shift that the public don’t know about – but come on, I’m right here. I can see that you’ve forgotten my pint, and I can tell you have because it’s somehow still settling when it comes over about ten minutes after I ordered it. Anyway, on to the food. For reasons that will become apparent shortly, we’ll start with the sides, and some Old Bay waffle fries (£6). The menu says ‘criss cut fries’ but friends, these are waffle fries; the classic UFO-with-holes-in-it shape, the endless crunchy edges, you’ve had them once, you’ve had them a dozen times. What does perk them up is a liberal dusting of the classic American mix of paprika and celery salt. They’re waffle fries. They’re tasty. Let’s move on to a slaw (£3.60) that is extremely, almost comically creamy. It doesn’t have a huge amount going on, but it is rocking a classic Willy Wonka shade of purple. So after all that, hopes really are resting on the eponymous chicken, and thankfully, it’s a big hit. The Nashville Hot tenders (£11.50) are tinged with a bright red rub that’s heavy on the cayenne and paprika. It’s earthy, it’s punchy, with a level of spice that’s extremely moreish while lingering for long enough to slow you down. In terms of crunch, we’re in the sweet spot between crispy crumbiness and full-on ‘carapace that protects the beast within’. That’s in part down to the extreme juiciness of the chicken, but when you do get a particularly crunchy piece or a really cra ly corner, it’s delightful.
It’s really good stuff, and in the context those sides now make a bit more sense – the creamy slaw’s a
Words: Peter Simpson
nice counterpoint to the hot chicken, the waffle fries give you more textural variety than you’d get from a classic, matchstick-thin chip. The ranch dip is impressively herby and nicely balances out the heat from the chicken, the portions are actually enormous, and the virtual house band have morphed into Khruangbin (it’s amazing how many people NPR can fit behind that Tiny Desk).
The short version of this review, then, is ‘imagine El Perro Negro, but it’s chicken instead of beef’. It’s a tasty, straightforward, and highquality riff on a long-established classic – big flavours, expertlybalanced – in a venue with plenty of room for you and all your pals. Even though there were some bumps in the road, spring is here, and it’s brought some very good chicken.
Farm to Plate
Our design writer speaks to Akiko Matsuda and Henry Dobson about their collaboration for new restaurant Moss and their plans for their future in Scotland
Last year ceramicist Akiko Matsuda and chef Henry Dobson said goodbye to their home in the buzzing bohemian district of Shimokitazawa in Tokyo to settle in Edinburgh. This spring they opened a new restaurant called Moss on St Stephen’s Street, and ViViVi Studio for pottery on St Giles Street in Leith.
The restaurant serves high-end Scottish cuisine and has been developed as a rural diversification project to take advantage of the resources of the couple’s family farm in Angus. They aim to use as much as possible from their own farm with an emphasis on game, foraged ingredients, and farmed meats and vegetables. Examples from the current menu include a winter leaf gnudi with smoked anster and Jerusalem artichoke in an onion broth followed by a toasted chiffon with rose cream, apple and miso and fig leaf snow.
Aside from its highly distinctive menu, what makes this restaurant quite different is the desire to use resources from the farm that go past foodstuffs. Hardwoods for the furniture, clay for the tableware – even the paint on the walls was made using ash from the farm.
Eagle-eyed readers might recognise Akiko’s characteristic style when dining at Moss – she was one of 20 designers commissioned by Dundee Design Festival to create a unique pair of bookends and used clay from the farm and clay from Japan to create her piece Beyond “Working with Akiko on the tableware was very special. Her work has made a huge impact on our dining experience and is one of the things our diners comment on the most,” says Henry, who trained at The Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork and has worked at Noma, Kabi and MAZ.
“I think [Japan and Scotland] share a deep commitment to craftsmanship and a pursuit of high quality”
Akiko Matsuda
Akiko describes her approach for Moss as something that evolved over time: “When I started working on the tableware project for Moss, we reflected on the inspirations we gathered in Japan, particularly during our time in Shigaraki, a renowned pottery centre. During our stay at the artist residency program there, I had the opportunity to explore and work with various types of clay. Even the tableware in the place we stayed felt like sculptural pieces, almost like natural rock formations.
“After returning to Scotland, my approach to ceramics evolved. I began to see texture and form differently, thinking more about how the shape of a piece could enhance the presentation of food. This shift in perspective has definitely influenced my creative process.”
Her pottery studio is called ViViVi Studio and she explains that the name comes from a Japanese onomatopoeia that represents the spark of an electric shock, “symbolising moments of inspiration, discovery, and imagination.”
ViViVi Studio produces homeware designed to bring joy and a touch of excitement to everyday life, and through her workshops, Akiko aims to inspire creativity and provide hands-on experiences that spark imagination. Small, intimate classes are open to all ages and skill levels, making them perfect for beginners and for those looking to refine their pottery skills. There are handbuilding and wheel throwing classes, as well as Kintsugi – the traditional Japanese technique of repairing broken ceramics with gold.
How are the creative couple adapting to the shift in tempo, from a bustling megapolis with a population of 14 million to Edinburgh’s comparatively tiny half a million? “We absolutely love it here! The atmosphere is so relaxed and compact, and everyone seems genuinely happy to be here, excited about discovering new things and sharing stories. Having easy access to beautiful nature and historic places is truly a blessing.
Words: Stacey Hunter
“After living in London as a family, we felt that moving to Tokyo would be a great experience for both our daughter and ourselves. I also wanted them to explore and connect more deeply with my home and Japanese culture. Living and working in Tokyo was a wonderful time for all of us, filled with inspiration. In the end, we decided that Scotland would be the best place for us right now to start our own business and achieve a better balance between life and work,” says Akiko.
At first glance, Japanese and Scottish design and food culture seem to be very different, both in terms of how they are presented and discussed. Do Moss and ViViVi Studio look for the commonalities?
“I think both cultures share a deep commitment to craftsmanship and a pursuit of high quality,” says Akiko, adding: “In the UK, I feel there’s a stronger emphasis on individualism. Each brand and community has its own unique identity and story to tell, which I find truly fascinating.”
Henry explains that for him, Japanese and Scottish food culture are constantly evolving, often revisiting traditional styles and reimagining them with a modern touch. Starting both businesses must have been a mammoth task for a young family, but it seems that Akiko and Henry have the energy and commitment to make anything they do together a success.
“It feels like we finally have a platform to showcase our ideas and work every day! This year, I’d love to focus on updating and expanding our ceramic collection as much as possible. And I hope to make my new studio space a hub where people can connect through hands-on experiences and creativity.”
Moss, 112 St Stephen St, Edinburgh
For updates on the latest creations and workshops, follow @moss_edinburgh and @vivivi_studio on Instagram
@localheroesdesign mossedn.co.uk
Photo: Henry Dobson and Akiko Matsuda
Moss
JERWOOD SURVEY III
This group exhibition at Collective takes a refreshing anti-institutional stance, with leading artists – not curators – selecting the early-career artists on display
The Jerwood Survey, a biennial touring exhibition, arrives in Scotland for the first time in its third edition, spanning Collective’s three exhibition spaces. Showcasing 10 early career artists, the exhibition fosters an intrinsic dialogue, inviting viewers to not only observe, but activate its emerging themes.
Entering the City Dome, I’m enticed inside by the audio, with Alliyah Enyo’s Aphotic Archaeology. A hypnotic sound piece weaving memory, song, and meditation into a multi-textural ‘sonorous myth’ that evokes deep-sea whale song. The accompanying installation –incorporating sage, chain, latex, ceramic and metal relics – creates a queer, feminist neo-mythology. Enyo’s work is the show’s anchor – you hear it first, encounter it visually soon after, and its haunting melodies set the tone for what follows. Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh, operating on a similar wavelength, constructs his own archaeological history through a series of sculptures and prints linking surgical bodily modifications with Irish lore and legend. Organic glass and ceramic artefacts complement scientific diagrams of their biological analogies, bridging embodied legacies of trauma, ecological decline, and land rights with the lived experience of chronic illness.
'At its core, Jerwood Survey III rejects institutional modes of exhibitionmaking'
While Ebun Sodipo’s Left Hand of the Sisters collages scanned images of loved ones’ hands into a bronze sculpture, a spectrum of black transness made visible, filling gaps in history and archive, Sam Keelan’s film Tired as the Land
observes a scene of gay surrealist domesticity, two figures entwined in bed – one human and the other a human-sized hot water bottle. Keelan’s work unfortunately feels overshadowed. Placed amidst more impactful works, we are not given the legroom to truly observe its durational nuances. Aqsa Arif’s two-channel film Marvi and the Churail, however, establishes a staging, with an extended frame of ornate fabric. Arif explores the multiplicity of womanhood and cultural identity through archetypes of South Asian folklore. Uniting polarities, Arif addresses displacement, migration, and ultimately healing. At moments, Arif’s and Enyo’s audios collide, culminating in a crescendo that underscores a transcendence of individual practice, instead revealing the deep intersections and shared sensibilities amongst the artists.
In the Hillside Gallery, we are invited to meditate and reflect upon the exhibition’s nascent themes.
Phillipa Brown’s A Summoning (I Would shed my skin for you) collects found materials in an ‘intuitive bricolage’ of utopian fantasy. Scoring this is Paul Nataraj’s sound installation, centring the sonic materiality of absence. Nine vinyl records in differing states of repetitive nothingness evoke a contemplation on personhood, grief and the ritual of listening.
Che Applewhaite’s untitle ‘HANDLE WITH CARE’ engages with institutional critique, comprising printed emails, a crystal-clear plinth, a stack of papers and a self-inking stamp. Inviting attendees to collaborate in the work through its gradual removal from the space, Applewhaite’s work encourages active participation, though its success depends on viewers’ engagement with the work, which may not always materialise as the artist intended. Kandace Siobhan Walker equally casts an invitation. A double mattress becomes a site for Dreamerism, a rumination on themes of coloniality, dreaming, belonging and spirituality. Invigilators observed how the space has naturally transformed into a site where visitors
linger, reflecting Walker’s exploration of collective contemplation.
Finally, behind a sheer black curtain in The Library, MV Brown’s System of Chance provides an opportunity to frolic, as an AI avatar of Brown leads us in a karaoke performance. Though playful in form, Brown addresses identity in an increasingly digitised world, interacting with cyber-feminist and transhumanist theory.
At its core, Jerwood Survey III rejects institutional modes of exhibition-making, with each participating artist nominated by another rather than selected by directors. This non-institutionality pervades the third edition, emphasising participation and the
fluid interplay of sound, installation, film, and sculpture. Collective’s non-white cube space allows a cohesivity between the artists – a dialogue that didn’t exist in its earlier iterations. The show feels refreshingly stimulating, contrasted with Scotland’s current exhibition landscape, often dominated by retrospectives. Jerwood Survey III reaffirms the importance of artist-led approaches in shaping contemporary discourse and expanding the possibilities of exhibition-making.
[Ella Williamson]
Jerwood Survey III, Collective, Edinburgh, until 4 May, free
collective-edinburgh.art
Jerwood Collection, Aqsa Arif, Marvi and the Churail 2024
Great Big Beautiful Life
By Emily Henry rrrrr
A new Emily Henry novel is an event, ushering in longer days and promises of summer. Great Big Beautiful Life is Henry’s most ambitious novel yet in terms of scope, following our protagonist Alice Scott as she competes for the coveted breakthrough of her journalism career: the opportunity to pen the supposed authorised biography of enigmatic media heiress, socialite, and musical muse Margaret Ives.
Set in the small Georgian coastal town of Little Crescent, the novel follows Alice’s run-ins with her professional competitor, Pulitzer Prize winner Hayden Anderson who is as determined to bag the job as he is ru edly handsome and grumpy. The rivals turn reluctant co-sleuths as they begin to suspect Margaret is editing the truth about her elusive history and identity.
This novel has Henry’s trademark warmth as she writes love, grief, and humour with tender authenticity. Alice is Henry’s most earnest protagonist yet and the heart of the novel; her scrappy determination is both endearing and captivating for the reader as we try to put the pieces together alongside her, and Hayden is a wonderful foil for her optimistic grit.
The meta-textuality of Alice’s story interwoven with Margaret’s with a focus on family, reputation, loyalty, and myth-making adds layers and depth to the romantic comedy brewing between Alice and Hayden. Great Big Beautiful Life is both a triumph and bold evolution for Emily Henry. [Katalina Watt]
By Andrés N. Ordorica rrrrr
After his critically acclaimed debut novel How We Named The Stars, Andrés N. Ordorica returns to his first love of poetry with Holy Boys. Following on from his previous collection At Least This I Know, the poet continues to examine his own life through themes of family, liminality, belonging, love, desire, sexuality, and much more. There are explorations of his Latinx heritage in poems such as La terecera rueda, and La Reza del Viento, and he also displays an exquisite taste in classic films in Dating from Across an Ocean Wearing influences with pride, poems are dedicated to, among others, poets Zaffar Kunial, Tomás Q. Morín and Tishani Doshi. But one name looms large – the late Edwin Morgan, who not only provides the book’s epigraph but whose influence is felt throughout, which Ordorica acknowledges calling him “[…] a mentor I never met but who has influenced my writing like none other.” Speaking to each other across generations, both write beautifully about queer love and identity, and that is in evidence in both the substance and style of Holy Boys There are even examples of concrete poetry similar to that which Morgan was known for, most notably with Forty-one monarch butterflies dancing in a summer shower. Written with a mastery of language and imagery, and displaying a sensuality which is palpable, Holy Boys is an exquisite and often heady collection of poetry from a writer who continues to explore and dig deep into what it means to be alive.
[Alistair Braidwood]
On the Calculation of Volume (Book I)
By Solvej Balle rrrrr
Growth, transition, death: love conquers everything except, perhaps, for the fact of time – the last immoveable frontier between two people. In Danish writer Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume (Book I), this insurmountable divide is literalised through Tara, a woman who slips through the cracks of time and is forced to live out the same day again and again alongside her husband who continues to move linearly forward. Balle transforms the classic time loop narrative structure from its traditionally speculative or comedic proportions into something more lyrical and existentially wracked: a mediation on the ways we come to be separated, ultimately, from those we love, the impossibility of ever bridging the gap between two different subjectivities, the ways in which love is so often never enough. Her prose, translated masterfully by Barbara J. Haveland, is filled with yearning and heartbreak precisely because it is so crisp and matter-of-fact, as Tara comes to understand the limits of herself within the world, and the loneliness that this brings. Paying attentive detail to mundane, everyday moments and actions, Balle makes a case for the components of our lives being formed by these small things, that keep us tethered to the present and propel us forward to the future, either together or apart. “We were living in two different times. That was all,” Tara says. Time loop or not, On the Calculation of Volume argues that this is true of us all.
[Anahit Behrooz]
Happiness and Love
By Zoe Dubno rrrrr
In Zoe Dubno’s debut novel, Happiness and Love, readers will delve into the heart of New York City’s contemporary art scene, where the rich and unaccomplished children of famous artists host dinner parties for writers, intellectuals, and the next big movie stars. Over the course of one of these ‘cultural evenings’, drinking wine in an expensively decorated Manhattan apartment, a young woman watches her old circle of friends — the one she thought she had escaped years ago — and quietly muses about how much she hates them all.
Dubno’s novel offers a modern reinterpretation of Woodcutters by Thomas Bernhard, and much like in Bernhard’s portrait of an artistically decadent society, the narrator in Happiness and Love monologues for nearly the entirety of the book about consumerism, the transactionality of relationships, and the pseudo-intellectualism of her peers.
The diatribe is witty, often funny, and surprisingly engrossing; the pages fly by even if the plot consists of little more than a woman sitting in a corner. It also shows the narrator’s hypocrisy in a satisfying way that reveals the real complexity of the social dynamics she condemns.
Happiness and Love is a smart and entertaining debut, but if its plot is borrowed from Bernhard and its ideas come unadulterated from Bourdieu and the last century of Cultural Studies, the book’s proposal can be reduced to another account of a woman’s love-hate relationship with her privileged New York lifestyle.
[Venezia Paloma]
Viking, 24 Apr
Polygon, 3 Apr
Faber, 10 Apr
Doubleday, 10 Jul
Holy Boys
Behind the Mic
We shine a light on one of Edinburgh’s newest regular comedy gigs, Hot Comedy, brought to you by stand-ups Nicholas Elliott and Eva Peroni
Words: Polly Glynn
Tell me about Hot Comedy – what’s it like?
Hot Comedy is a lovely supportive show featuring pro acts, semi-pros and the best up-and-coming comedians here in Scotland and the rest of the UK. No edgelords here, just actually funny people. We always have really solid lineups of comics who are well known safe pairs of hands, and a couple of fresher people who we think have star quality.
How did the gig come about?
We started the night in January so our baby is still new: its fontanelle is still soft but we conceived the night in September. We wanted to create a mixed bill night that was truly demographically mixed, reflecting society at large. As we’re fortnightly, we can really curate each lineup carefully which is a privilege. The night features queer, POC, differently-abled, female and non-binary comics, and because we are so super inclusive and woke, white male comics. Someone should give us a medal.
What was the first Hot Comedy gig like?
The first gig was a real joy. The hilarious Kathleen Hughes headlined and we had Sabina, Alvin Bang, Jodie Sloan and loads more. It was a real celebration of the diversity and talent we have here and we’re lucky to have a really supportive scene. Hot Comedy has only been going a couple of months but we can honestly say they have all been absolutely fantastic. We have had great audiences and lineups. Our headliners MC Hammersmith, Pheebs Stephenson and Al Stevenson, were total maestros in holding the room.
Who’d be on your dream lineup?
Elliott: This one is so tough! Who to pick?! For me, an absolute standout of last year’s Fringe, Kemah Bob, would be a dream. Her show Miss Fortunate was so relatable to me. Also Daniel Foxx is a real talent.
Peroni: I would love a line-up of non-comedy figures that, for me, really embody the Hot Comedy spirit: Irish TikToker Danielle Walsh who mixes drinks and finishes them in 0.5s, lesbian icon Amy Spalding from I Kissed a Girl, Ornacia the mannequin head (belonging to Vivacious from Drag Race), and that deep-sea fish found near the surface.
“All of our upcoming lineups are hella sexy and we’re very excited for them all”
What’s been your best bit of comedy/gig-running advice?
Peroni: Not necessarily advice but I studied hosting pretty intensely before we started the show: a good MC can really make a night. The MCs that really stood out to me were Amy Matthews and Jay Lynch at The Stand, George Fox and Liam Withnail at Monkey Barrel and Kate Hammer at All Mouth. None of them target people in a mean or uncomfortable way, they bring the audience in so it feels like a big room of friends.
Elliott: Have fun organising lineups. It reminds me of casting runway shows in NY for my old fashion line. It’s the magic of putting people together to enhance everyone’s talents.
Who on the comedy scene do you think we should look out for?
Choosing favourites is kind of the opposite of our vibe, (god we sound like dicks) but we truly believe most of our lineups feature stars of the future. They all have such original USPs.
Who’s the funniest comedian you’ve seen and why?
Peroni: I have been obsessed with Celya AB for a while and eventually got to see her at Monkey Barrel in February. It was an extremely giddy moment for me – her writing is just perfect.
Elliott: I couldn’t pick just one. I love Simon Amstell and Michelle De Swarte, who I’ve known forever. They both have really distinctive voices in both senses.
What’s hot right now?
Elliott: Flares: solar, rescue, and trousers. Cocktails: molotov and alcohol free. Disorder: mental and civil.
Peroni: Mixing metals, feeding ducks in the park, shoplifting, umbrellas when it isn’t raining, and people who look like Victorian children.
What’s next for Hot Comedy?
Do you have anything exciting coming up?
We are super excited to have Krystal Evans on in May, with Amanda Dwyer and Maddie HW. But all of our upcoming lineups are hella sexy and we’re very excited for them all. Also, keep an eye out for Hot Comedy at the Fringe.
Hot Comedy runs fortnightly on Sundays at Bar Fifty, Edinburgh, 6.45pm, free entry
Sun 6 Apr, headlined by Chris Thorburn Sun 20 Apr, headlined by Paul McDaniel
Listings
Looking for something to do? Well you’re in the right place! Find listings below for the month ahead across Music, Clubs, Theatre, Comedy and Art in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. To find out how to submit listings, head to theskinny.co.uk/listings
Glasgow Music
Mon 31 Mar
ORLA GARTLAND
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Indie from Ireland.
Tue 01 Apr
DEHD (MASS TEXT)
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock from Chicago.
PUNKBAND (SLOBHEADS)
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00 Punk from Hersham.
COURTING
SWG3 19:00–22:00 Rock from Liverpool.
OKGIORGIO
SWG3 19:00–22:00 Electronica from Italy.
SOUTH OF SALEM
CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Hard rock from Bournemouth.
DEAN WAREHAM
THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Singer-songwriter from the US.
AIKO
THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Pop from Brighton.
CHRIS BRAIN (JUDE NORTON-SMITH) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30 Folk from Yorkshire.
BILLY MAHONIE THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Indie from the UK.
Wed 02 Apr
MIKE DAWES
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00 Indie from the UK.
GANS (APOLOGIES + PUSH BAR)
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Indie from Birmingham.
ALESSI ROSE
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Pop from the UK.
SAVE FACE THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from New Jersey.
LYNNE HANSON THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30 Folk roots from Canada.
EWY THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Punk from Leeds.
Thu 03 Apr
ORBITAL O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Electronica from Kent.
SPYRES (HUNNY BUZZ + FLETCHER FLETCHER)
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Indie rock from Scotland. NEMZZZ SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Hip-hop from Manchester. ALLIE SHERLOCK
THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Pop from Cork.
OLLY ALEXANDER BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00 Pop from the UK. EXTC STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Post-punk and new wave from Swindon.
SPIRIT BLUE (NURSE) THE FLYING DUCK, 21:00–01:00 Gothic cold wave. HOLLY MACVE THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Alt indie from Galway. CROSSPIECE X PRINCESSA MANGIONE III & MATT ROBIN EXIT GLASGOW, 20:00–23:00 Experimental. Fri 04 Apr
PRIMAL SCREAM O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Scotland.
ZEBRA LANE KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Metal from Glasgow. HOTWAX NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00 Alt rock from Hastings. RUTI SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Pop from the UK. JACK KANE THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Pop from the UK. THE ZUTONS BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock from Liverpool. DRUIDESS (SOLAR SUNS + NEW SUN) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Doom metal from Newcastle.
POLICE DOG HOGAN ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Folk from the UK. MERCY GIRL THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Electronica from Glasgow. Sat 05 Apr
PRIMAL SCREAM O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Scotland. NORTHSIDE KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Indie from Manchester. FAT SALAMI (CROX & SOX + WSKR) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00 Rock from Scotland. SOFY SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Indie pop from Leicester. ORACLE SISTERS THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock from Paris. ELD VARG THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Heavy metal from Scotland.
DIVORCE STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Chamber pop from Nottingham.
PALE BLUE EYES
ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00 Pop rock from the UK. Sun 06 Apr
NORTHSIDE KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Indie from Manchester.
LORDI
SWG3 19:00–22:00 Metal from Finland.
NELL MESCAL SWG3 19:00–22:00 Indie pop from Ireland. LITTLE COMETS
STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock from Jarrow and Washington, Tyne and Wear.
PEACH PIT OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Indie pop from Vancouver. THE KANE GANG
ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Pop from the UK. Mon 07 Apr
LILO SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Folk from the UK.
Tue 08 Apr
POSSIBLY JAMIE (PLEASURE TRAIL + CRUSH MOUSE) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00 Electro pop from Glasgow. VINCENT LIMA (ELINA) STEREO, 19:00–22:00
Pop folk from New Jersey. TRANLATIONS RADIO (SOPHIA ARCHONTIS) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Synth.
IMELDA MAY
ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Jazz from Dublin. THE SAM EVERY BIG BAND THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:00 Jazz from the UK.
Wed 09 Apr
TOPLOADER
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Rock from the UK. HERIOT
THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Metalcore from the US. TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00 Blues rock from the UK. SLUG THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Punk from Glasgow. LAMBRINI GIRLS
ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Punk rock from Brighton. LAUREN HOUSLEY & THE NORTHERN COWBOY
THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30 Singer-songwriter from Yorkshire.
Thu 10 Apr
SKUNK ANANSIE O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the UK. STRATUS (WHAT IT MEANS + WHITNEY
KING + WHITE BOY SUMMER)
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Indie rock.
ABIGAIL PRYDE
SWG3 19:00–22:00 Folk.
BOUNDARIES
CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Metalcore from the US.
LITTLE BARRIE (MALCOLM CATTO) STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Blues and funk from London.
EVIL SWORD (MAD LUDWIG / L) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Noise.
HOUSE GOSPEL CHOIR
ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Dance from London. THE CINELLI BROTHERS
THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:00 Blues from the UK.
Fri 11 Apr
LEIFUR JAMES
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Electronica.
MENACE
NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00 Punk from London.
JAMIE GREY
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Folk pop. VUKOVI
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Rock from North Ayrshire.
M HUNCHO
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Hip-hop from London. MANIC STREET
PREACHERS
BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Wales. NEONWAVES
STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock from Glasgow. INDEX FOR WORKING MUSIK
THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30 Post-punk. ALMA (NICKY MURRAY ) THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:00 Folk from Scotland. ANATOLE MUSTER (GIANT HOGWEED) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Jazz from London. THE KEITHS (MARY OF SILENCE + KAPSULE + THE TRANQUILS)
ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00 Indie from Glasgow. Sat 12 Apr
PROUD MARY
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Blues rock from Manchester.
STANLEYS
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Wigan. NOVA SCOTIA (UPRIZING + THE FRESCOES)
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Local lineup.
SI CRANSTOUN THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the US. MANIC STREET PREACHERS BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Wales. DEWOLFF STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Psychedelic blues from Limburg. LEANOVER (MALLET SPACE / BIG COUNTER / COMBER) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Post-punk from Glasgow. AWKWARD FAMILY PORTRAITS THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30 Gypsy jazz from Glasgow. OSLO TWINS THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Indie pop. Sun 13 Apr
NIGHT CALLER (ELECTRIC SHOCK + THE HERITAGE + MRDB)
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Alternative. NIGHT CALLER EMILIE LESLIE SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Pop from Scotland. CARBON BASED LIFEFORMS THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Ambient from Sweden. CHARLIE & THE BHOYS BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00 Folk from Ireland. PORCHES STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Indie pop from New York. BEN BABY COPPERHEAD (+ LUCE MAWDSLEY + CHRIS CUNDY + L.T. LEIF) THE GLAD CAFE, 18:00–22:30 Alt folk from Brooklyn. Mon 14 Apr
SEA POWER ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the UK.
SARAH SHOOK AND THE DISARMERS THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Country punk from North Carolina.
Tue 15 Apr
OCEAN COLOUR SCENE O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the UK. ALEX SPENCER KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Indie from Manchester. BABY LASAGNA SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Pop from Croatia. DAYDREAMERS THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock from the UK. KULKU STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Experimental krautrock. MEN MATTER CHARITY NIGHT (THE BRASCOS + HARLEY WALSH + DAN PARKS) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Eclectic lineup. BELLE CHEN THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30 Piano from London. SEAN PAUL + ASHANTI THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00 Pop.
Wed 16 Apr
OCEAN COLOUR SCENE O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the UK. OSCAR JEROME KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Singer-songwriter. MUSIC FOR MENTAL HEALTH (DYSTOPIAL + MARGHERITA KELT + ECLECTIC 21) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00 Indie rock from Glasgow. THE LAFONTAINES SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Motherwell. BRAT COVEN SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Doom rock from Glasgow. GIRLS NIGHT IN THE ROUND THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Country from the UK.
TENNOTA & ROSE ANSCHÜTZ THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30 Experimental. MONG TONG THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Psychedelic from Taiwan. Thu 17 Apr THE YOUNG'UNS ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00 Folk. CAITY BASER KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Pop from the UK. CRUISE BALLOON MONO, 20:00–22:00 Indie from Glasgow. TOAST NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00 Indie rock from Cheltenham. THE LAFONTAINES SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Motherwell. THE RED NUMBERS PROJECT STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Instrumental from Scotland.
VACUOUS (CAVALERIE) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Death metal from London.
SUGABABES THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00 Pop from the UK.
Fri 18 Apr
GALLUS ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00 Indie punk from Glasgow. TONTO (PANHEAD SHARPS + GRADY KINNELL + JACK TORRANCE) KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Alternative. GIRLS OF THE INTERNET (JAMES ALEXANDER BRIGHT) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00 Dance from London. GIGI PEREZ SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Alt indie from the US. BLACK SPIDERS CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Sheffield. FREDDIE HALKON THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Indie from the UK.
POZER
THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rap from London. URIN (KUTE + OPERANT)
THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00
Noise from Berlin. DALLAHAN (KRIS DREVER + EOMONN
COYNE + HANNAH
RARITY )
ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Folk from Glasgow.
JER REID & RAYMOND
MACDONALD
THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:30 Experimental/improv guitar and sax.
EROTIC SECRETS OF POMPEII
THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Art rock from Bristol.
Sat 19 Apr
CUT CAPERS
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00 Funk from Bristol.
NEWSHAPES (SIXTH WONDER + SINCE 2000)
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Pop rock.
THE FRANKLIN ELECTRIC SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Indie folk from Montreal. WAYWARD SONS
CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the UK.
HALFLIVES
THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Italy.
BROOKE COMBE
BARROWLANDS, 19:00–22:00
R’n’B from Scotland.
MARIA SOMMERVILLE (GREAT AREA)
THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Dream pop from Ireland. SINGLE MOTHERS
THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Punk rock from Canada. Sun 20 Apr
FINNEAS
O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Singer-songwriter from the US.
HECTOR SHAW (ERIN
HEPHZIBAH + HOLLY POWERS)
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Folk from Glasgow.
ABRASKADABRA (THE HOSTILES + THE GUILLOTINES) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00 Ska-punk from Brazil. BANK STREET MEDIA LABS PRESENTS CONTROL (PROC FISKAL, K.YALO AND S3LKIE) STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Eclectic lineup. STRESS POSITIONS THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Indie from Chicago. Mon 21 Apr
COCHISE
SWG3 19:00–22:00 Rap from Florida. ESME EMERSON SWG3 19:00–22:00 Indie pop from the UK. GREAT FALLS (GLASSING) STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Post-hardcore from Seattle. Tue 22 Apr
KUUNATIC MONO, 20:00–22:00 Experimental rock from Japan.
BLAIR GILMOUR (RYAN BROWN + THE FALLS + DROP JONNIES) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00 Alt pop from Irvine. EMPLOYED TO SERVE CATHOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Metalcore from Woking.
CHRISTIAN LOFFLER ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Dance from Germany. ORCHARDS THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Indie pop from Brighton. Wed 23 Apr
CHEAP DIRTY HORSE NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00 Queer trash folk punk from Nottingham. CHAT PILE (THE HIRS COLLECTIVE) QUEEN MARGARET UNION, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Oklahoma. KATIE RIGBY THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Alt folk from the UK. Thu 24 Apr
TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND
ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00 Electro world from the UK.
HANNAH GRACE
SWG3, 19:00–22:00
Singer-songwriter from Wales.
BBNO$ SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Rap from Canada. FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Industrial electronica.
BREADSTAIN THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Noise from Glasgow. MACSEAL THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Emo indie.
Fri 25 Apr
ANDREW DICKSON KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Singer-songwriter from Glasgow.
BBNO$ SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Rap from Canada. INTERLAKER SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Alt. THE DOLLYROTS (DON’T PANIC) THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Punk rock from the US. SCHEME HING THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Rap and grime from Glasgow. WREST
OLD FRUITMARKET GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Indie from Edinburgh. EXIT NORTH ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Sweden. KNATS THE RUM SHACK, 19:30–22:00 Indie from Newcastle. NEVER EASY (LASTELLE) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Shoegaze from Montreal.
BAMBARA ROOM 2, 19:00–22:00 Post-punk from New York.
Sat 26 Apr
KELSY KARTER & THE HEROINES KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Indie rock.
JEREMIE ALBINO NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:00–23:00 Folk from Toronto.
MXMTOON THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Indie from the US. BLACK CAT BONES THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Blues rock.
TOBY LEE THE HUG AND PINT, 20:30–22:00 Jazz and blues.
Sun 27 Apr
MATILDA MANN (JO HILL)
KING TUT’S, 19:30–22:00 Indie rock from London.
CLOTH MONO, 19:30–22:00 Indie electronica from Scotland.
ROADHOUSE PRESENTS: GLASGOW (RAINTOWN + KATEE KROSS + LUCY TAY ) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00 Country from the UK.
SKEGSS
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Surf punk from Australia.
ALFIE JUKES
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Pop from the UK. ÒRAIN
SWG3, 19:00–22:00 Folk jazz. FALSE HEADS THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Punk rock from London.
SHEPPARD THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Indie pop from Australia. JAMES AND THE COLD GUN THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00 Alt rock from Cardiff.
ENERGY DOME (MOSS + PEACEMAKER + INQUITIOUS SAVAGERY + SUFFERING RITES) THE FLYING DUCK, 19:00–22:00 Hardcore from Glasgow.
JAH WOBBLE ST LUKE’S, 19:00–22:00 Reggae from the UK. CENTRAL CEE THE OVO HYDRO, 18:30–22:00 Rap from London.
SBT (SARABETH TUCEK) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00 Singer-songwriter from the US.
Edinburgh Music
Mon 31 Mar
THE LOST CONFORMISTS (SIMEON CHIEN & THE NOISY BOYS + THE WALKERS) BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Rock lineup. ALEX CORNISH THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–22:00 Singer-songwriter from Dunbar.
VAN MORRISON IN CONCERT USHER HALL, 20:00–22:00 Singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland.
CASSIE RAMONE (OF VIVIAN GIRLS)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock.
Tue 01 Apr
SIBEL TÜZÜN THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–22:00 Pop from Turkey.
Wed 02 Apr
GURRIERS
THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00 Post-punk from Dublin. EXTC THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Post-punk and new wave from Swindon.
THE BISCUIT TIN COLLECTIVE (THE BISCUIT TIN COLLECTIVE + SKOGSIEBOY ) WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00 Folk and jazz.
THE BISCUIT
PUNKBAND VS SLOBHEADS (COWBOY HUNTERS)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Trash punk.
Thu 03 Apr
EDINBURGH BLUES CLUB PRESENTS
DEBORAH BONHAM BAND+ ANDY TAYLOR GROUP
THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00 Blues lineup. PRIMAL SCREAM
USHER HALL, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Scotland. LUNA J
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Pop.
BILLY WOODS LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00 Rap from New York. Fri 04 Apr
GREYFOX
CONSPIRACY (8TH CIRCLE + PICT)
BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Southern rock from Wales. IAN PROWSE & AMSTERDAM
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Indie from Liverpool. MILANGE (PUPPY TEETH + PVC)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Post-punk. HOT MILK LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00 Emo pop.
Sat 05 Apr
SUPERSUCKERS (STOATERS)
BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the US. POLICE DOG HOGAN THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Folk from the UK. HOTWAX (THE PILL)
SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Alt rock from Hastings. DUBINSKI THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Indie.
Sun 06 Apr
RHONA MACFARLANE
THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Singer-songwriter from Scotland.
JULIAN J3PO POLLACK THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Jazz fusion from the US. RYAN MCMULLAN LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00 Blues. ERJA LYYTINEN THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Blues.
Mon 07 Apr
DEAD FREEDOM
BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Blues from the UK.
Tue 08 Apr
FELIX RABIN (ROBBO G)
BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Blues rock.
Wed 09 Apr
KILL ALL THE GENTLEMEN (TEMPORAL PROPHET)
BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Metal from the UK. THE ZAC SCHULZE GANG THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Blues from the UK.
Thu 10 Apr
MORASS OF MOLASSES BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Blues from Reading. DUKE SPECIAL THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–22:00 Singer-songwriter from Belfast. JUTEBOX (ECHO HOTEL COLLECTIVE + NORTH ORBITAL) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock.
Fri 11 Apr
NOT NOW NORMAN BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Hard rock from the UK. AWKWARD FAMILY PORTRAITS THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Gypsy jazz from Glasgow. OSLO TWINS SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Indie pop. OFF AXIS PRESENTS EYES OF HOME AND THE MARCHES THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Indie.
Sat 12 Apr
SAD SOCIETY (HAPPY SPASTICS + REALITY ASYLUM + THE DEPLOIED)
BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Punk from Edinburgh. THE CINELLI BROTHERS THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Blues from the UK. PIT PONY SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Post-punk. CALUM ANDERSON THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Singer-songwriter.
Sun 13 Apr
THE SUPERNATURALS
THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock from Glasgow. ABIGAIL PRYDE SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Folk.
Tue 15 Apr
NICOTINE WISDOM
BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Hastings. PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00 Rock.
Wed 16 Apr
THE RAZORBLADES BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Surf punk from Germany. TANKUS THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Rock from the UK. HALLAN SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Post-punk.
Thu 17 Apr
TEN TONNE DOZER (THE FICTION + AS ABOVE + CHEKHOV’S GUN) BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Groove metal from the Shetlands. SLOW DEATH (WRONG LIFE + FISTYMUFFS) WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00
Alternative and punk. GIRLS OF THE INTERNET (JAMES ALEXANDER BRIGHT) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Dance from London.
Fri 18 Apr
TROYEN (MEDUSA TOUCH) BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Metal from the UK. DRUM CLUB THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00 Drum. BARON NONESUTCH WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00 Alternative. SHUNA LOVELLE SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Neo-soul. SACRED PAWS THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Pop. INSIDER TRADING THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Post-rock.
Sat 19 Apr
SUBVERSIVE BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the US. HEILUNG O2 ACADEMY EDINBURGH, 19:00–22:00 Folk from Denmark. YOKO PWNO THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00 Folktronica from Edinburgh. NON APPLICABLE THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Rock.
EMERALD SUNDAY THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Indie rock from Scotland., Sun 20 Apr
VALERY MELADZE O2 ACADEMY EDINBURGH, 19:00–22:00 Singer-songwriter from Russia. THE OLIVER HARRIS BAND THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00 Singer-songwriter from the UK. MARIA SOMERVILLE SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Shoegaze and folk. IONA FYFE LEITH DEPOT, 19:30–22:00 Folk from Scotland. Mon 21 Apr
WOLFSMOKE (UNDER THE ROCK) BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Rock from Yorkshire. Tue 22 Apr
ELLIOT MINOR THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00 Rock from York.
Wed 23 Apr
HYPE LIGHTS BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Pop punk from Lyon. HANNAH GRACE THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Singer-songwriter from Wales.
YETI VALHALLA BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Hard rock from Vancouver. JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00 Alt indie from the US.
CHEAP DIRTY HORSE SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Queer trash folk punk from Nottingham.
KYLA BROX BAND LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00 Blues and soul.
Fri 25 Apr
GYPSY PISTOLEROS (THE OUTLAW ORCHESTRA) BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Punk rock. QUEER AS PUNK (GENDER CHORES + DYLAN WILSON + THE SABOTAGERS) WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00 Punk.
FAIRWAYS SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Indie pop. THE SPECIALS LTD LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00 Ska.
ONSLAUGHT THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Thrash.
Sat 26 Apr
EMPYRE (ETHYRFIELD) BANNERMANS, 19:00–22:00 Rock from the UK. RHYTHM & REVOLUTION (EXTRATEMPORAL + SUPPORT) WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00 Jazz and funk.
ROBERT JON & THE WRECK THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00 Rock from South Carolina. THIS FEELING SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00 Rock.
STAYJ THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00 Jazz pop.
Sun 27 Apr
BICURIOUS THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–22:00 Post-rock from Dublin.
Dundee
Music
Fri 18 Apr
NATI CHURCH, 19:00–22:00 Folk rock from Fife. Wed 23 Apr
WELLY BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 19:00–22:00 Indie.
Glasgow
Clubs
Thu 03 Apr
FLY GLASGOWGASKIN SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00 House. THE BERKELEY SUITE: ELIZA ROSE THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–06:00 House.
Fri 04 Apr
PARTIBOI69 SWG3 23:00–03:00 Club.
OUTFLIGHT SWG3 23:00–03:00 Techno. CLUB SPIT W/ DJ G2G (MISS CABBAGE + VXYX) STEREO, 23:00–03:00 Trance and hardcore. CWX (FENG & JAH + LEAHGTE + CJ808 + SOSAINE) THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00 Hip-hop and drill. 10 YEARS OF LEZURE: BLUMITSU + STEVIE COX + SLOAN OF LEZURE LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00 Techno.
HARAM HARAM X SUB CLUB PRESENTS: MANARA + G33 WITH HU-SANE + DJ DAKILEI SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00 Garage. MISSING PERSONS CLUB THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00 Techno.
PHG PRESENTS: REMON VERHOEVE + ARTLUS ROOM 2, 23:00–03:00 Techno and hardcore. CLUB BESO 2 EXIT GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00 Experimental. Sat 05 Apr ACT NATURAL NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00 House and Italo disco. BLOODSPORT 2 - PETAL SUPPLY (RAHUL.MP3 + PURE GIRL + ANGEL.WORLD) STEREO, 23:00–03:00 Club and trance. WSHWSH THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00 SWANA pop. BEDROOM TRAXX X THE BERKELEY SUITE PRESENTS: GABRIELLE KWARTENG THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00 Techno and house. DILF GLASGOW: DJ EDDY MURF ROOM 2 23:00–03:00 House and disco.
Thu 10 Apr
RARE CLUB // LOCKLEAD SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00 House and techno. SAY SO X SCANDAL. GLA - MIDNIGHT RAVE THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00 Trance and baile funk. Fri 11 Apr
BIRTHDAY BLUETOOTH BANGERS NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:00–03:00 House and club. DJ 6EJOU SWG3, 23:00–03:00 Techno. STILL EXISTS SWG3, 23:00–03:00 Techno. SPINNIN’ ON THE SPECTRUM (DYOLL + THE SANDMAN + SHEDCAT) STEREO, 23:00–03:00 Techno and electro. CHISPA X ECCO RECORDS: HONEYDRIP + ELIJAH MINNELLI THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00 Bass and dub. WARFARE PRESENTS: OUTRAGE ROOM 2 23:00–03:00 Techno and hardcore. Sat 12 Apr DJ HEARTSTRING SWG3, 22:00–03:00 Trance. MOJXMMA FOREVER: LEGENDS NEVER DIE (SALAM KITTY B2B STAR EYE + MAKAYA
B2B EFFUA + BABYJAII
B2B LUCKYBABE + BELLAROSA B2B DJ GARLIC BREATH + EYVE) STEREO, 23:00–03:00 Baile funk, club, amapiano. OPTIMO (ESPACIO) 2025 RESIDENCY PARTY# 2 THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00 Acid. ABYSS: MARK BROOM ROOM 2, 23:00–03:00 Techno and hardcore. SCOTT GORDON + ALLIYAH ENYO EXIT GLASGOW, 21:00–03:00 Experimental.
Regular Glasgow club nights
The Rum Shack
SATURDAYS (LAST OF EVERY OTHER MONTH)
VOCAL OR VERSION, 21:00
Vintage Jamaican music on original vinyl by resident DJs and guests.
Sub Club
FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)
RETURN TO MONO SLAM’s monthly Subbie residency sees them joined by some of the biggest names in international techno.
Edinburgh club nights
Cabaret
Voltaire
FRIDAYS
FLY CLUB, 23:00
Edinburgh and Glasgowstraddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.
SATURDAYS
PLEASURE, 23:00
Regular Saturday night at Cab Vol, with residents and occasional special guests.
The Bongo Club
TUESDAYS
MIDNIGHT BASS, 23:00
Big basslines and small prices form the ethos behind this weekly Tuesday night, with drum’n’bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage aplenty.
FRIDAYS (THIRD OF THE MONTH)
ELECTRIKAL, 23 00
Sound system and crew, part of a music and art collective specialising in BASS music.
FRIDAYS (MONTHLY, WEEK CHANGES)
SOUND SYSTEM LEGACIES, 23 00
Exploring the legacy of dub, reggae and roots music and sound system culture in the contemporary club landscape.
FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)
DISCO MAKOSSA, 23 00
Disco Makossa takes the dancefloor on a funk-filled trip through the sounds of African disco, boogie and house – strictly for the dancers.
FRIDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)
OVERGROUND, 23 00
A safe space to appreciate all things rave, jungle, breakbeat and techno.
Wed 16 Apr
HOUSEPARTY: PRE EXAM PARTY THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00 Trance and garage.
Thu 17 Apr
FLY GLASGOWOBSKÜR - EASTER THURSDAY SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00 House.
CANDLE: LOUIE G THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00 Techno and house.
Fri 18 Apr
GIRLS OF THE INTERNET LIVE TOUR
2025 NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–23:00 House and disco.
KI/KI SWG3, 23:00–03:00 Techno.
SATURDAYS
SUBCULTURE, 23:00
Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests.
SATURDAYS (FIRST OR SECOND OF THE MONTH)
MESSENGER, 23 00
Roots reggae rocking since 1987 – foundation tune, fresh dubs, vibes alive, rockers, steppers, rub-a-dub.
SATURDAYS (MONTHLY )
CHROMATIC, 23 00
Championing all things UKG, grime, dubstep, bass and more, with disco, funk and soul from Mumbo Jumbo upstairs.
SATURDAYS (EVERY OTHER MONTH)
PULSE, 23 00
Techno night started in 2009 hosting regular special guests from the international scene.
SATURDAYS (MONTHLY )
HOBBES MUSIC X CLUB
NACHT, 23:00
A collaboration between longrunning club night and Edinburgh record label ft. house, techno, electro, UKG and bass.
Sneaky Pete’s
MONDAYS
RIDE N BOUNCE, 23:00
R‘n’B, pop, rap and hip-hop bangers every Monday.
TUESDAYS
RARE, 23:00
House, UKG and occasional techno from special guest DJs and rising locals.
THURSDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)
VOLENS CHORUS, 23:00
Resident DJs with an eclectic, global outlook.
FRIDAYS (SECOND OF THE MONTH)
HOT MESS, 23:00
A night for queer people and their friends.
SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH)
SOUL JAM, 23:00
Monthly no-holds-barred, down-and-dirty disco.
SUNDAYS
POSTAL, 23:00
Bass, breaks, grime and more from a selection of Cowgate all stars.
The Liquid Room
SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH) REWIND, 22:30
Monthly party night celebrating the best in soul, disco, rock and pop with music from the 70s, 80s, 90s and current bangers.
The Hive
MONDAYS POPTASTIC, 22:00
Pop, requests and throwbacks to get your week off to an energetic start.
TUESDAYS TRASH TUESDAY, 22:00
Alternative Tuesday anthems cherry picked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.
WEDNESDAYS COOKIE WEDNESDAY, 22:00 90s and 00s cheesy pop and modern chart anthems.
THURSDAYS HI-SOCIETY THURSDAY, 22:00 Student anthems and bangerz.
FRIDAYS
FLIP FRIDAY, 22:00
Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and noveltystuffed. Perrrfect.
SATURDAYS
BUBBLEGUM, 22:00
Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.
SUNDAYS
SECRET SUNDAY, 22:00 Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday.
Subway Cowgate
MONDAYS
TRACKS, 21:00
Blow the cobwebs off the week with a weekly Monday night party with some of Scotland’s biggest and best drag queens.
TUESDAYS TAMAGOTCHI, 22:00
Throwback Tuesdays with non-stop 80s, 90s, 00s tunes.
WEDNESDAYS TWISTA, 22:00
Banger after banger all night long.
THURSDAYS FLIRTY, 22:00 Pop, cheese and chart.
FRIDAYS FIT FRIDAYS, 22:00
Chart-topping tunes perfect for an irresistible sing and dance-along.
SATURDAYS SLICE SATURDAY, 22:00 The drinks are easy and the pop is heavy.
SUNDAYS SUNDAY SERVICE, 22:00
Atone for the week before and the week ahead with non-stop dancing. The Mash House
TUESDAYS MOVEMENT, 20:00
House, techno, drum ‘n’ bass and garage.
SATURDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)
SAMEDIA SHEBEEN, 23:00
Joyous global club sounds: think Afrobeat, Latin and Arabic dancehall on repeat.
SATURDAYS (LAST OF THE MONTH) PULSE, 23:00
The best techno DJs sit alongside The Mash House resident Darrell Pulse.
TIMOTHY J. FAIRPLAY THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00 Techno and electro. 10 YEARS OF CRAIGIE
KNOWES LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00 Techno and electro. ANIMAL FARM: QUAIL
SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00 Techno. CÉLESTE W/ PUREBLAST (FKA BARAKA) THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–04:00 Techno. KHAOTIC X VELOCITY
NSA 30TH BIRTHDAY WEEKENDER LA BELLE ANGELE, 18:00–00:00 Techno.
RITMO PROFUNDO THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Latin.
Sat 12 Apr
DBT X CAB VOL W/ HARRY MCCANNA CABARET VOLTAIRE, 22:00–03:00 Techno and house.
ASCENSION WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00 Goth and industrial. MYD
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Dubstep. UNTITLED THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno.
Wed 16 Apr
YBZ SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 UK garage.
Thu 17 Apr
AGORA SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Bass.
Fri 18 Apr
EDINBURGH DISCO LOVERS
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 UK techno.
LUCKYME
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 House.
AUDIOFLUX # 1 (BOM SHANKA MUSIC) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Psych. INKOHERENT THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Hardcore gabber. Sat 26 Apr
MUSIKA // DAY PARTY // SASHA CABARET VOLTAIRE, 16:00–23:00 House.
KPOP PARTY
LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00 K-pop. PULSE THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Techno. SPIT THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Trance.
Glasgow
Comedy
The Glee Club
SAMMY OBEID: LIVE! 7 APR, 7:30PM –10:00PM Lebanese-Palestinian American, born in Oakland California, Sammy Obeid double majored in Business and Mathematics at UC Berkeley and then turned down a job at Google to be a comedian.
SEAN MCLOUGHLIN: WHITE ELEPHANT
16 APR, 7:30PM –10:00PM Acclaimed beanpole Sean McLoughlin is back on the road with a new stand-up show about getting on, getting lost and getting the feeling he might be useless forever.
STORIES FROM STAGE AND SCREEN
23 APR, 7:30PM –10:00PM A variety of stories, written and performed by people in the entertainment world, about the entertainment world.
ANDREW BIRD: A TICKLISH MIND 24 APR, 7:30PM –10:00PM Join Andrew as he finds the funny from sports washing to spa hotels.
The Old Hairdressers
PERFECT IMPROV - SUSAN RIDDELL GUEST MONOLOGIST
8 APR, 7:00PM – 8:00PM
Glasgow Improv Theatre Presents: Wade into the stream of improv comedy with stories flowing from a special guest monologist.
Edinburgh
Comedy
Monkey Barrel Comedy Club
IAN SMITH: WORK IN PROGRESS
12 APR, 6:00PM –7:00PM
Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee 2023 and co-host of the Northern News podcast returns with a work in progress of a new show.
STUART MCPHERSON: WORK IN PROGRESS
19 APR, 6:00PM –7:00PM
Stu returns with a brand new work in progress for his highly anticipated new show about settling down, growing up and how he's being controlled by his step-dog.
CAMPFIRE IMPROV 14 APR, 7:45PM –8:45PM
Gather round the campfire to watch Scotland’s top improvisers create hilarious scenes based on stories from a special guest monologist.
STUART MITCHELL: TESTING TESTING
27 APR, 5:00PM –6:00PM
Join the longest running panellist from BBC Scotland's ‘Breaking The News’ and star of BBC Radio 4 as he runs through new material.
PHIL O’SHEA: SOMETHING ABOUT DOGS (WIP)
4 APR, 8:00PM – 9:00PM
Phil O'Shea is a clown/ comedian who wants to take you on a journey.
THE IMPROV SHOW 7 APR, 8:00PM – 9:45PM The Improv Show is an evening of comedy based entirely on audience suggestions, as multiple improv teams create sketches and scenes (with no preparation) before your very eyes.
JODIE SLOAN: IS SHE HOT? (WIP)
10 APR, 8:00PM –9:00PM
OUT OF BOUNDS X STEREO: VAN BOOM & BLOOD OF AZA STEREO, 19:00–22:00 Techno, experimental and hardcore.
EZUP WITH VLADA LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00 Techno and electro. POLKA DOT DISCO CLUB: SAMA’ ABDULHADI SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00 Techno and electro. NUMBERS (FERGUS JONES + SHELL COMPANY & OLDER BROTHER + UNSPECIFIED ENEMIES + RIBEKA) EXIT GLASGOW, 22:00–03:00 House and techno.
Sat 19 Apr
DANCE NO EVIL X GUEMS: NORA SCOTTISH DEBUT (SPEKI C + BREWBOY + LEWIS ROBERTSON + CACKETT + SANTIAGO) STEREO, 23:00–03:00 Garage and bass.
PEDESTRIANISM # 1 THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00 Garage and jungle. DEKMANTEL CLUB TOUR LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00 Techno. SHOOT YOUR SHOT: PABLO BOZZI THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–05:00 House. DJ LAG EXIT GLASGOW, 22:00–03:00 Gqom.
Sun 20 Apr
JAIVA 6TH BIRTHDAY THE FLYING DUCK, 20:00–01:00 Afro house. PLTFRM EASTER SUNDAY WITH YANAMASTE + DRUM ARCHIVE
SUB CLUB, 23:00–04:00 Techno and dub.
Thu 24 Apr
FLY GLASGOW: CLOONEE SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00 House. Fri 25 Apr
10 YEARS OF CRAIGIE KNOWES CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00 Techno and electro. COLOURS 30 PRESENTS.. EDDIE HALLIWELL CABARET VOLTAIRE, 17:00–23:00 Trance.
ECHO VOL.1 (MILRA + ONA V + VESELOV) WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00 Techno, jungle and rave. EHFM PRESENTS: CHROMATIC, AMINABONTHEBEAT, MYRTLE
SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 House. WAIT AND BLEED LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00 Nu metal. SAMEDIA THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Tropical.
DILF - SPRING FLING LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00 Pop. INDUSTRIAL ESTATE THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00 Industrial electronica.
Sat 19 Apr
CLUB MEDITERRANEO SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Disco.
DECADE
LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00 Pop punk.
Wed 23 Apr
HEADSET SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 UK garage.
Thu 24 Apr
TAIS-TOI SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00 Bass.
Fri 25 Apr
HOPELESS ROMANTICS WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00 Goth and post-punk.
HAROLD NIGHT 1 APR, 7:00PM – 8:00PM Two Glasgow Improv Theatre house teams performing The Harold. Featuring F.L.U.S.H. and Raintown.
GIT IMPROV CAGE MATCH
22 APR, 8:30PM –9:30PM
Two improv teams battle to be crowned champions of the Glasgow Improv Theatre this month. Audience decide who wins.
COUCH SURFS THE WEB
22 APR, 7:00PM –8:00PM Glasgow Improv Theatre Presents: A night of improv comedy where Couch... SURFS THE WEB! Bring your desktop PC and a LAN cable!
GIT BIT SHOW 1 APR, 8:30PM – 9:30PM A fun variety night of short and silly ‘bit’ formats.
Jodie Sloan is thrilled to be performing her much-anticipated debut show after gigging across Australia, North America and the UK.
ROAST BATTLE (+ LIVE STREAM)
14 APR, 8:00PM –9:45PM The show that turns smack talk into an art form.
PATRICK SPICER: ABSOLUTELY
18 APR, 8:00PM –9:40PM
Freshly minted viral superstar Patrick Spicer is hitting the road for his firstever tour of the UK, Ireland, and mainland Europe.
STUART LAWS: HAS TO BE JOKING?
19 APR, 8:00PM –9:00PM
Last year Stuart started telling the truth on stage and was diagnosed autistic: he got the best reviews he’s ever had, and his show was a must-see.
Regular
Glasgow Theatre
CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art
DOUBLE THRILLS: ALEX FRANZ
ZEHETBAUER
1-3 APR, 7:00PM –
10:30PM
Queer experimental cabaret featuring the likes of Femme Castatrice, Craig Manson and Jess Paris.
Oran Mor
A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: NIGHT, IDIOT
1-5 APR, 1:00PM –
2:00PM
A darkly comedic, riproaring theatrical ride about one woman's quest for impossible answers.
A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: IVOR
7-12 APR, 1:00PM –
2:00PM
A surreal and darkly comic drama about the survival and secrets of three women on one unforgettable birthday.
A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: JOCASTA
14-19 APR, 1:00PM –
2:00PM
A new dark comedy putting a fiercely witty twist on a classic Greek tragedy.
A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: NUN OF YOUR BUSINESS
21-26 APR, 1:00PM –
2:00PM
A fast-paced comedy play featuring a cast of riotous nuns and one confused criminal.
The King’s Theatre
AN INSPECTOR CALLS
1-5 APR, TIMES VARY
Stephen Daldry’s multiaward-winning National Theatre production of JB Priestley’s classic thriller.
BAT OUT OF HELL
7-19 APR, TIMES VARY
A heavy rock musical featuring songs from Meatloaf’s extensive back catalogue.
LET THE PEOPLE SING: LES MISERABLES
23-27 APR, TIMES VARY
Part of a nationwide project putting on amateur productions of Les Miserables.
Theatre Royal WAR HORSE
1-5 APR, TIMES VARY
War Horse’s incredible puppetry and stage design tells the story of Albert and his beloved horse Joey, adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s novel.
GHOST STORIES
8-12 APR, TIMES VARY
One of the best reviewed shows of the West End, this chilling play will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Tron Theatre THROUGH THE SHORTBREAD TIN
4-5 APR, TIMES VARY
Martin O'Connor takes on James McPherson takes on Ossian in this musical exploration of one of the great literary hoaxes of all time.
STUDIO3 SEASON: ALRIGHT SUNSHINE
26 APR-17 MAY, TIMES
VARY
A policewoman tries to break up a brawl on the Meadows in this exploration of gender, power, and the politics of public space.
FLEG 26 APR-17 MAY, TIMES VARY
Taking place in Belfast the day the Queen died, this absurdist comedy explores the romanticised notion of the Union.
FRUITCAKE
26 APR-17 MAY, TIMES VARY
A new romantic comedy for the existentially doomed.
Edinburgh
Theatre
Assembly Roxy
CIRQULATION: HERITAGE
27 APR, 6:00PM –10:30PM
Acclaimed Scottish circus performers come together in a performance themed around heritage.
Festival Theatre
MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE
8-12 APR, TIMES VARY Matthew Bourne (he who is tirelessly reimagining just about every classic in theatrical existence) presents his re-telling of the majestic Swan Lake.
CALAMITY JANE 15-19 APR, TIMES VARY
It's a whipcrackin' good time in this adaptation of the Doris Day musical.
LITTLE WOMEN
1-5 APR, TIMES VARY Rediscover the beloved children’s tale in this heartwarming new adaptation.
PRIDE & PREJUDICE*
(*SORT OF)
22-26 APR, TIMES VARY
Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this irreverent, all-female adaptation of Jane Austen’s unrivalled literary classic.
Royal Lyceum
Theatre
WILD ROSE
1-19 APR, TIMES VARY
An aspiring country singer seeks to escape Glasgow for Nashville in this brand new Scottish musical based on the awardwinning play.
The Edinburgh Playhouse
MOULIN ROUGE! 22 APR-14 JUN, TIMES VARY Baz Luhrmann’s decadent classic gets the theatre treatment in this lavish new musical adaptation.
The Studio NESSIE
2-5 APR, TIMES VARY A gorgeous new musical for children, telling a fresh spin on the beloved tale of the Loch Ness Monster.
ALAS! POOR YORICK
8 APR, 7:30PM –10:30PM
A comic adaptation of Hamlet focusing on the sidelined characters of the two gravediggers.
Traverse Theatre
A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: DANCING SHOES
1-5 APR, 1:00PM –2:00PM
A life-affirming comedy about addiction, support networks, and dancing like no one is watching.
A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: NIGHT, IDIOT
1-12 APR, 1:00PM –
2:00PM
A darkly comedic, riproaring theatrical ride about one woman’s quest for impossible answers.
A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: IVOR
7-19 APR, 1:00PM –
2:00PM
A surreal and darkly comic drama about the survival and secrets of three women on one unforgettable birthday.
STUPID SEXY POEM
SHOW
26 APR, 8:00PM –10:30PM
An anarchic lyrical journey through RJ Hunter’s life as a trans queer word-jester.
Dundee Theatre
Dundee Rep
DOUBT: A PARABLE
19 APR-10 MAY, TIMES VARY
Against the backdrop of 1960s America, faith and suspicion collide when a devout nun accuses a beloved priest of abuse.
Glasgow Art
David Dale Gallery and Studios
KATE POWER: MOLECULE OF INTEREST
3-26 APR, 12:00PM –5:00PM
Inner bodily functions are externalised through abstract materiality in this exhibition by Australian Glasgow-based artist.
GoMA
JOHN AKOMFRAH: MIMESIS: AFRICAN SOLDIER
1 APR-31 AUG, 11:00AM – 4:00PM
A film installation from acclaimed artist exploring the significant contribution of over six million African, Caribbean and South Asian people from across former colonies who fought and died in World War I.
CIARA PHILLIPS: UNDOING IT
1 APR-26 OCT, 11:00AM – 4:00PM
An exhibition of woodcuts, etchings and screen prints by Canadian-Irish artist exploring ways of capturing the creative process.
New Glasgow Society
AJ DUNCAN: GIRL TALK NO UPCOMING DATES, 10:00AM – 5:00PM Exhibition by AJ Duncan exploring the value and camaraderie found in women’s discussions.
Patricia
Fleming
SEKAI MACHACHE: THE TRANSCENDENT FUNCTION
1-11 APR, 11:00AM –4:00PM Moving image and photography work exploring the centrality of spirituality in the face of ongoing cultural erasure.
The Briggait
JULES MATHER: TRAVELLING ALONE
1-14 APR, TIMES VARY Semi-abstract landscape paintings that evoke the sensory experience of being on the land.
The Modern Institute
ANNE COLLIER
1 APR-21 MAY, TIMES
VARY
A juxtaposition of selfportraiture and pop culture interrogating the shifting depiction of female subjects in photography.
The Modern Institute @ Airds Lane
JULIA CHIANG: SECRET SMILE
1 APR-3 MAY, TIMES VARY
Abstract paintings caught in a state of transformation, exploring momentary interactions through colour and shape.
YUICHI HIRAKO: NUMBER OF TREES
1 APR-21 MAY, TIMES VARY
Large-scale installations of acrylic paintings and wooden sculptures pose a reconsideration of our relationship with nature.
Edinburgh
Art
&Gallery
40 DIMENSIONS
5-26 APR, TIMES VARY
&Gallery’s second opencall exhibition featuring 40 artists drawn from 13 different countries.
City Art Centre INKED UP: PRINTMAKING IN SCOTLAND
1 APR-1 JUN, TIMES
VARY
A survey of the historic versatility and experimentation in Scottish printmaking practices.
Collective Gallery
JERWOOD SURVEY III
1 APR-4 MAY, 10:00AM
5:00PM
A major biennial touring exhibition presenting new commissions by 10 earlycareer artists from across the UK, coming to Scotland for the first time.
Dovecot
Studios
THE SCOTTISH COLOURISTS: RADICAL PERSPECTIVES
1 APR-28 JUN, 10:00AM
5:00PM
A groundbreaking exhibition placing the landmark work of the Scottish Colourists in conversation with their wider European context for the first time.
Edinburgh Printmakers
STORY: SELECTED WORKS FROM EDINBURGH PRINTMAKERS
COLLECTION
4 APR-29 JUN, 11:00AM
4:00PM
A showcase of works by a range of artists including John Byrne, David Shrigley, Victoria Crowe, Rachel Maclean and Callum Innes spanning five decades of Edinburgh printmaking.
IMPRESSIONS: SELECTED WORKS FROM THE JERWOOD
COLLECTION
4 APR-29 JUN, 11:00AM
– 4:00PM
Predominantly featuring etching as well as other printmaking techniques, this impressive survey features 20 works by artists such as Tracey Emin and Lucian Freud.
Regular Glasgow comedy nights
The Stand
Glasgow
FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH
MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV, 20:30
Host Billy Kirkwood & guests act entirely on your suggestions.
TUESDAYS RED RAW, 20:30
Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.
FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 20:30
The big weekend show with four comedians.
SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30
The big weekend show with four comedians.
Glee Club
FRIDAYS FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00
The perfect way to end the working week, with four superb stand-up comedians.
SATURDAYS SATURDAY NIGHT COMEDY, 19:00
An evening of awardwinning comedy, with four superb stand-up comedians that will keep you laughing until Monday.
Regular Edinburgh comedy nights
The Stand
Edinburgh
MONDAYS RED RAW, 20:30
Legendary new material night with up to 8 acts.
TUESDAYS (FIRST OF THE MONTH)
STU & GARRY’S IMPROV SHOW, 20:30
The Stand’s very own Stu & Garry’s make comedy cold from suggestions.
THURSDAYS THE BEST OF SCOTTISH COMEDY, 20:30
Simply the best comics on the contemporary Scottish circuit.
FRIDAYS THE FRIDAY SHOW, 21:00
The big weekend show with four comedians.
SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW (THE EARLY SHOW), 17:00
A slightly earlier performance of the big weekend show with four comedians.
Fruitmarket
PORTIA ZVAVAHERA: ZVAKAZARURWA
1 APR-25 MAY, 10:00AM – 6:00PM
An exhibition of remarkable paintings by Zimbabwean artist that deploy a unique combination of techniques to construct a visually beguiling cosmology.
Ingleby Gallery WINGS OF A BUTTERFLY
2-19 APR, 11:00AM –5:00PM
A group exhibition responding to French avant-garde painter Pierre Bonnard’s final diary entry.
Jupiter Artland
IAN HAMILTON FINLAY + ANDY GOLDSWORTHY: WORK BEGAT WORK
11 APR-28 SEP, 10:00AM
5:00PM
This exhibition brings together work by Ian Hamilton Finlay and Andy Goldsworthy – two significant artists who have been foundational to the development of Jupiter Artland.
Out of the Blue Drill Hall
TIC TAC TOE
1-12 APR, 10:00AM –5:00PM
A new exhibition by Out of the Blueprint artist-inresidence Maddie Lennon, who has been using publication and poster design to explore notions of play.
SATURDAYS THE SATURDAY SHOW, 20:30
The big weekend show with four comedians.
Monkey Barrel
Comedy Club
SECOND AND THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH
THE EDINBURGH REVUE, 19:00
The University of Edinburgh’s Comedy Society, who put on sketch and stand-up comedy shows every two weeks.
WEDNESDAYS TOP BANANA, 19:00
Catch the stars of tomorrow today in Monkey Barrel’s new act night every Wednesday.
THURSDAYS SNEAK PEAK, 19:00 + 21:00
Four acts every Thursday take to the stage to try out new material.
Royal Scottish Academy RSA
RSA NEW CONTEMPORARIES
2025 1-16 APR, TIMES VARY Now in its 16th year, RSA New Contemporaries brings together some of the most cutting-edge emerging artists in Scotland today.
DELIA BAILLIE: MEMORY BOX 1-20 APR, TIMES VARY Celebrating the life and career of a remarkable artist who was a leading figure in the Scottish art scene.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
EVERLYN NICODEMUS
1 APR-25 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM
The first ever retrospective exhibition by landmark Edinburgh artist, whose joyful artworks explore and resist the global oppression of women and the profound impact of racism.
IAN HAMILTON FINLAY
1 APR-26 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM
A free display of the celebrated Scottish artist’s work to celebrate the centenary of his birth.
Scottish National
ZOE WALKER + NEIL BROMWICH: SEARCHING FOR A CHANGE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
1 APR-31 MAY, TIMES VARY
Large-scale inflatable sculptures and immense costumes act as totems for exploring issues surrounding climate change and social justice.
Dundee
Art
Cooper Gallery
SUZANNE LACY: BETWEEN THE DOOR AND THE STREET 1-12 APR, TIMES VARY
FRIDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.
FRIDAYS DATING CRAPP, 22:00 Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, Farmers Only...Come and laugh as some of Scotland’s best improvisers join forces to perform based off two audience members dating profiles.
SATURDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW, 17:00/19:00/21:00
Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.
SUNDAYS MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SUNDAY SHOW, 19:00/21:00 Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.
Portrait Gallery
THE WORLD OF KING JAMES VI AND I 26 APR-14 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM
Marking the 400-year anniversary of King James’s death, this exhibition charts one of the most fascinating periods of British history through stories of friendship, family, feuds and ambition.
Stills AFTER THE END OF HISTORY: BRITISH WORKING CLASS
A survey of working class photography, exploring how the end of the fierce countercultural period of the 1980s shifted radical practices.
Talbot Rice Gallery
TRADING ZONE 2025
1 APR-31 MAY, TIMES VARY
Talbot Rice Gallery’s interdisciplinary student exhibition featuring moving image, painting, creative writing and design responding to a broad variety of global, local and diverse issues concerning creative practitioners today.
The first solo exhibition in Scotland by pioneering American artist capturing her life-long commitment to the critical issues confronting women today and the necessity of continued community organising and political activism.
DCA: Dundee
Contemporary Arts ACTS OF CREATION: ON ART AND MOTHERHOOD 19 APR-13 JUL, TIMES VARY
This major group exhibition collates together the joys, heartaches, myths, mess and mishaps of motherhood as told through over 100 artworks spanning from the feminist avant-garde movement to the present day.
Generator
Projects
MARTHA MAZUR + KEM FRANCES: AN INVITATION TO DRIFT 12-27 APR, 12:00PM –5:00PM
An Invitation to Drift is a dreamy new exhibition featuring drawings, paintings and writing by artists Martha Mazur & Kem Frances.
CCA Highlights
After a winter spent in hibernation, the CCA is reopening its doors and its spring programme looks incredible. We get into the nitty-gritty of some of the best things on over the next few months
Words: Anahit Behrooz
Alia Syed: A Ring in the Fish Opening 16 May
The CCA’s big spring exhibition is Alia Syed’s A Ring in the Fish, which uses moving image work to explore Kabbadi, a traditional South Asian sport, women’s stories, monuments, and the construction of national narratives and storytelling. Her experimental work has been shown in cinemas and galleries globally, and it examines how storytelling, time and memory can illuminate different subjectivities in relation to culture, diaspora, and personal geographies.
Inclinations Film Club: Fragments, wholes and One Minutes
8 Apr, 7.30pm
Sat 31st May
Malin Lewis presents Vibrant, inspiring, groundbreaking folk
The new edition of Inclinations Film Club presents a programme of experimental and found footage cinema, interrogating ideas of fragmenta tion, time and cinematic form. Jessica McGoff’s two minute film Spring Crazy features the work of Joseph H. Lewis’s Gun Crazy and Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, exploring legacies of uncontainable women. Pirate Cinema Berlin’s Get In the Car/Get Out of the Car uses 400 film clips to consider the politics of the automobile, while One Minutes Vol. 12 curated by Kerry Baldry brings together work by dozens of moving image artists.
House Guest 12 Apr
It’s the second edition of House Guest, Glasgow’s new multi-venue festival featuring a wealth of Scottish talent across Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’s, Garage, CCA, Attic and The Variety Bar, organised by DIY promoters Crowded Flat and SMC. Catch acts like Tina Sandwich, Majesty Palm, Parliamo, Bandit Country and Roller Disco Death Party.
Welcome Home Closing Down Sale
1-5 Apr
The CCA has been hosting Welcome Home store, a creative retail space showcasing craft, design and illustration, for a while, providing a scene for a community of makers in the heart of Glasgow’s arts scene. To celebrate its time at the CCA, Welcome Home is throwing a closing down sale in the building, with big discounts on various prints, textiles and ceramics from local and national artists.
Weird Weekend: The People’s Joker 1 Apr, 6.30pm
Weird Weekend are hosting a special screening of The People’s Joker, an unauthorised, revolutionary trans coming-of-age film that entirely subverts the DC Comics narrative, reimagining the Joker’s origin story through a surreal and queer lens. The screening includes an exclusive pre-recorded conversation between director, co-writer and star Vera Drew and iconic comic book writer Grant Morrison.
Marvara
One Minutes
The People's Joker
Welcome Home
Photo: Kerry Baldry
The Skinny On... Hannah Laing
Dundee DJ and producer Hannah Laing has a busy 2025 coming up as she brings her Doof events to stages across Europe. As her hometown festival Doof in the Park sold out in a matter of hours, we set her against the Q&A
What’s your favourite place to visit?
Ibiza because I have been going there for 14 years and the place is absolute magic. It has this unique energy that makes every visit feel like a new adventure. Whether it’s the beaches, the incredible nightlife, or just the overall atmosphere, it never fails to amaze me. Each time I go, I discover something different. Some of the best memories of my life have been made there, and I can’t imagine ever getting tired of it.
Favourite food?
Turkish food! It’s like a posh kebab but so much more than that, it always hits the spot.
Favourite colour?
Blue. It’s such a calming and beautiful colour. It reminds me of the sea, the sky and that feeling of being relaxed.
Who was your hero growing up?
Avril Lavigne. She was such a huge inspiration to me when I was younger. Her music spoke to me in a way that no other artist did at the time. I loved how she stayed true to herself and didn’t try to fit into a mould. Her songs were full of emotion and authenticity, and I still listen to them now with so much nostalgia.
Whose work inspires you now?
Amelie Lens, not just because I love her music, but because she’s such a good mum while still holding down a crazy touring schedule, which blows my mind! She proves that you can be successful in music while also maintaining a personal life, which is something I really admire. Her sets are always top-tier, and she has an incredible energy that makes her stand out. I also love how dedicated she is to her craft, constantly evolving and pushing boundaries.
What three people would you invite to your dinner party and what are you cooking?
Amelie Lens, Carl Cox, and Lucinda from Married at First Sight! I’d cook Turkish food, of course! Maybe a few mezze bits to start and baklava for dessert. And wine to keep the conversations flowing!
What’s your all-time favourite album?
Definitely Maybe by Oasis. It never gets old, no matter how many times I listen to it. There’s something timeless about it – the attitude, the raw sound and the lyrics all just hit perfectly.
What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?
Insidious. I know a lot of people love it, but I just couldn’t get into it. I found it more frustrating than scary, and the storyline didn’t do much for me. Plus, I’m not a huge horror fan in general, so maybe that didn’t help!
What book would you take to a desert island?
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. It’s such a great book for
putting things into perspective, and I feel like if I were stuck on a desert island, I’d need that mindset! It’s funny, honest, and gives some really valuable life lessons without being preachy.
When did you last cry?
The other day when I found out Tiësto is closing EDC Las Vegas with a trance set. I cried happy tears because I never thought I’d get to witness it, and I’m obsessed with everything in his older trance catalogue. It’s going to be such a special moment!
What are you most scared of?
I’m pretty scared of animals in general. I never grew up around them, so I think that’s why. It’s not that I don’t like them, I just don’t feel comfortable around them. Even small animals like dogs or cats make me a bit nervous!
When did you last vomit?
Before my show in Newcastle a few weeks ago because I was nervous. It was such a big gig for me and the adrenaline was insane. Thankfully, I pulled it together and had an amazing night, but yeah, the nerves definitely got the best of me for a moment!
Tell us a secret?
I have a special intro planned for my Doof in the Park festival this year. I can’t say too much, but it’s going to be something really exciting that I know the crowd will love!
Which celebrity could you take in a fight?
Gemma Collins. No idea why, but I feel like that would be an interesting showdown haha!
If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be?
Something cute since I’m scared of them ha! Maybe a meerkat?
What’s your favourite plant? Cactus.
What’s one item you wish you could take to a music festival?
An Oodie for when it’s freezing at night. Festivals are amazing, but once the sun goes down, it can get so cold, and there’s nothing worse than shivering when you’re trying to enjoy the music. An Oodie would be a game-changer!
Doof in the Park, Dundee, 5 Jul
Hannah Laing and rhys from the sticks’ double single 4am in the Rave / Speed Is a Deed is out now via Doof
