The Skinny Scotland August 2016 by The Skinny

.CO.UK

INDEPENDENT FREE

CULT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

August 2016 Scotland Issue 131

COMEDY Sam Simmons, Bridget Christie, Brendon Burns, Al Murray, Phil Nichol, Tommy Tiernan, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Vir Das, Kieran Hodgson, Tez Ilyas, Elf Lyons, Matt Winning, Gemma Flynn, Steen Raskopoulos, Goose, Diane Spencer, Nina Conti THEATRE Rob Drummond Jack Webb Chef! Phoebe Eclair-Powell Liam Williams Paines Plough Gig Theatre

Feeling Stumped? Have a leaf through our guide to the festivals & beyond

ART Platform: The Brownlee Brothers, Paloma Proudfoot & Aniela Piasecka, Dorian Jose Braun and Jack Saunders Sally Hackett SiÃ¢n Robinson Davies Andy Black Camille Bernard Local Heroes design BOOKS James Kelman Edinburgh International Book Festival MUSIC Preoccupations Beth Orton Anna Meredith Factory Floor DJ Shadow Sweaty Palms Tim Commerford FILM Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival Todd Solondz Brady Corbet Steve Read

P.12 Fringe Dog

P.51 Anna Meredith

P.62 Elegant Grunge

P.54 Local Heroes

August 2016 I N DEPEN DENT

CULTU R AL

JOU R NALI S M

Issue 131, August 2016 ÂŠ Radge Media Ltd. Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: The Skinny, 1.9 1st Floor Tower, Techcube, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Pl, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business. Get in touch to find out more.

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Contents

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Music & Deputy Editor Editorial Assistant Art Editor Books Editor Clubs Editor Comedy Editor Deviance Editor Events Editor Fashion Editor Film & DVD Editor Food Editor Theatre Editor Travel Editor

Rosamund West Dave Kerr Will Fitzpatrick Adam Benmakhlouf Alan Bett Claire Francis Ben Venables Kate Pasola Kate Pasola Alexandra Fiddes Jamie Dunn Peter Simpson Emma Ainley-Walker Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Designer

Sarah Donley Kyle McPartlin

Sales Sales Executives

General Manager Managing Director Publisher

George Sully Sandy Park Grant Cunningham Kyla Hall Derek Birrell Sophie Kyle

THE SKINNY

Contents Welcome to the magazine: We ask – 06 does the Edinburgh population double in August? Plus Crystal Baws, Shot of the Month, What are you having for lunch? and Spot the Difference. Heads Up: A daily events calendar finely 08 balanced between Glasgow, Dundee (and Edinburgh, natch).

56 Beth Orton on stepping behind the production desk for new album Kidsticks.

57 Bardy Corbet on the Scott Walker-

scored, RPattz-starring The Childhood of a Leader.

58 Controversial director Todd Solondz on Wiener-Dog and his Marvel aspirations.

59 Director Steve Read on getting under

EDINBURGH FESTIVALS

12 Comedy: Our Comedy team have pulled out all the stops this year, opening with a host of former Edinburgh Awards winners being interviewed by top jrnliast Fringe Dog (thank you to Bridget Christie, Brendon Burns et al.) We also speak to (deep breath) Mary Lynn Rajskub, Vir Das, Kieran Hodgson, Tez Ilyas, Elf Lyons, Matt Winning, Gemma Flynn, Steen Raskopoulos, Goose, Diane Spencer, Nina Conti, Birthday Girls, Beasts, Desiree Burch, Colt Cabana, Lolly Adefope, and Pippa Evans. There’s even more online… 26 Theatre: We take a tour of the many

theatrical strands of the festivals from Fringe to EIF. Our Deviance editor goes for a date on stage for In Fidelity, a writer goes to Seoul to preview Chef and the Korean Showcase, plus interviews with Jack Webb, Phoebe Eclair-Powell and Liam Williams, previews of the Paines Plough and Institut Francais programmes, and the question: what the fuck is gig theatre?

36 Art: Edinburgh Art Festival brings emer-

gent talent to Platform, Sally Hackett and Siân Robinson Davies present visual art with a comedic bent, and Andy Black questions the cis male privilege of a solo exhibition.

42 Books: We speak to James Kelman,

plus a meandering guide to some of the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s many highlights.

44 Film: New fest on the block Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival brings virtual reality and broadcast to the Assembly Rooms.

47 Music: This year’s Fringe and EIF gig programme takes a step up. Here are some highlights.

the skin with his new Gary Numan doc.

Australian dance music pioneer Cam 60 Bianchetti discusses his Late Nite Tuff Guy guise.

LIFESTYLE

61 Deviance: Why Theresa May as PM is

shit for feminism. Plus one writer’s argument for deliberate singlehood.

62 Fashion: An ‘elegant grunge’ shoot in the Leith Theatre.

64 Showcase: A look at the work of GSA painting graduate Camille Bernard.

67 Food & Drink: A Foodie guide to the Fringe, a surprise vendetta against ducks, Food News and Phagomania.

REVIEW

71 Music: Album reviews from Factory

Floor to De La Soul, gig highlights plus words with New Blood Sweaty Palms and a dip into Prophets of Rage / Wakrat’s Tim Commerford’s record collection.

79 Clubs: Yer cloobing highlights for

August, plus a guest selector playlist from Joakim.

80 Art: August’s highlights, plus reviews of shows from Cathy Wilkes and Gerda Sheepers.

82 Film: Reviews including Pete’s Dragon, Kids in Love and The Wave, plus bigscreen events highlights.

83 Books: Poetry highlights, and reviews including Beast and The Tidal Zone.

84 DVD: Reviews of The Mermaid, Messi and Sing Street.

85 Comedy: Fred Fletch’s swansong – a FEATURES

48 Post-punk quartet Preoccupations on moving on from their problematic Viet Cong moniker.

51 SAY Award winner Anna Meredith dis-

cusses her transition from classical to pop.

52 Factory Floor's dynamic duo talk fluidity, geography and new album 25 25.

54 A celebration of Scottish design, Local

discussion of Knightmare and The M.M.O.R.P.G. Show with Paul Flannery.

86 Competitions: WIN THINGS. Festival Top 5s // Listings for Music, 87 Clubs and Art cos have you seen the size of the Edinburgh Comedy / Theatre listings mate?

71 The Last Word: DJ Shadow on keeping it fresh, and teaming with Run the Jewels.

Heroes pops up at Edinburgh Airport.

August 2016

Contents

Editorial A

Every Woman docked at Leith Docks. There’s so much more to the programme, though, from the early career artists on display in Platform (Brownlee Brothers, Paloma Proudfoot & Aniela Piasecka, Dorian Jose Braun, Jack Saunders) to the humorous art of Sally Hackett (as seen on our cover) and Siân Robinson Davies. Find words with all of them on these pages, and turn to the art section at the back to find out an overview of our Art editor’s picks of the programme as a whole. As is now traditional we’re partnering a couple of events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, namely those of celebrated author James Kelman and our Makar Jackie Kay. Our Books editor catches up with the former and takes a meandering walk through the wonderfully expansive Book Festival programme desperately trying to work out which events he’s most excited about. tl;dr: All of them. Film takes an unexpected dip into the August festivals scene, with the Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival (which debuts in the Assembly Rooms this year) offering a programme of streamed performance and powerful virtual reality experience. Casting our eyes outside The Greatest Arts Festivals On Earth™, we also have interviews with controversial director Todd Solondz on new release Wiener-Dog, Brady Corbett on directorial debut The Childhood of a Leader, and Steve Read, who explains what brought him to make a documentary about Gary Numan. Music speaks to Canadian post-punks Preoccupations, who’ve ditched their problematic moniker Viet Cong after much reasoned protest from members of the Vietnamese diaspora. Beth Orton shares tales of stepping behind the production desk for latest album Kidsticks, and SAY Award winner Anna Meredith talks about moving from classical to pop (and who needs these labels anyway?). We also have words with Factory Floor, Glasgow New Blood Sweaty Palms (or Sweats, to their pals), Wakrat / Prophets of Rage’s Tim Commerford (who shares his influential tracks) and DJ Shadow, who closes the magazine with the Last Word. Like always but even more so, in August if you head to the website you will find quite literally hundreds of reviews from across the different Edinburgh festivals. Does The Skinny “throw out more stars than a drunk, jealous ninja who has come home to find his wife with another ninja,” as Fringepig suggests? Is it true that “Only the North Korean military are more generous with the accolades. Seriously, if you get two stars from The Skinny, that’s like getting your dog’s head in a box from any of the others”? Only one way to find out – theskinny.co.uk. [Rosamund West]

Ask Auntie Trash:

Stop the World, I Wanna Get Off Illustration: Eunjoo Lee

Dear Trash, Is it just me, or is everything going to shit? I feel like I can’t watch the news anymore because of all the bad things that are happening around the world. The attacks in Nice, Orlando, Iraq and the refugee crisis have all really affected me, even though I’m not involved in it in any way. I’m trying to make some good out of this and use it in my art (I’m a bit of an amateur painter) – I want to help, but I’m not in the financial situation to do so and I don’t know what I could do. How do I make the world less shit? Yours, Amateur Artist

jockmooney.co.uk

ugust is it? The Edinburgh festivals? What an exciting time for us all. There’s a theatre directly beneath our office and a gig venue opposite my window so I’m looking forward to a month of free entertainment that certainly won’t get repetitive and annoying quickly. Srsly tho. Check out our mega issue! August is the time we get overexcited and add extra pages and let the Comedy section run riot and do things like send a dog to interview a series of award-winning comedians. They took it in good humour, bless ’em. Turn to page 12 to find out what Bridget Christie has to say to Fringe Dog about dealing with trolls. With a truly heroic 18 features in print and still more online, Comedy editor Ben Benables has gone the extra mile to ensure we offer a convincing overview of the best of the fest. Here you will find words with (deep breath) Sam Simmons, Brendon Burns, Al Murray, Phil Nichol, Tommy Tiernan, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Vir Das, Kieran Hodgson, Tez Ilyas, Elf Lyons, Matt Winning, Gemma Flynn, Steen Raskopoulos, Goose, Diane Spencer, Nina Conti, Birthday Girls, Beasts, Desiree Burch, Colt Cabana, Lolly Adefope, Pippa Evans and Paul Flannery. Paul Flannery’s interview may be our favourite troll’s swansong. It is with a tear in my eye that I say turn to page 85 to read Fred Fletch bellowing 80s references at an interviewee for perhaps the final time. Come back any time, Fred. On the Theatrical side of the festivals we’ve taken an unusually creative approach to commissioning (mainly cos we don’t currently have a Theatre editor). Our Northern editor was sent far outside her comfort zone (quite literally) on a trip to Korea to explore the wonders of Seoul and whet your appetites for cookery b-boy extravaganza Chef! and Assembly’s Korea season. She had a rare old time and returned raving about elusive sheep cafes and bibimbap. Our Deviance editor took a trip to London to participate in rehearsals for playwright Rob Drummond’s latest piece In Fidelity, which offers audience members the chance to go on a first date live on stage. Sadly Kate did not find the love of her life under Rob’s careful guidance, but perhaps you might? We take a more orthodox approach to previewing the latest dance work from choreographer Jack Webb with a straightforward interview about his practice, while Phoebe Eclair-Powell and Liam Williams each talk us through their latest works. Finally, we’ve noticed a theme emerging in terms of programming across the different festival strands of late. One writer asks – what the fuck is gig theatre? You’ll likely have seen images of the Edinburgh Art Festival’s highest profile commission for 2016, Ciara Phillips’ beautiful Dazzle ship

Chat

ello Amateur Artist, The world’s gone a bit funny, hasn’t it? I mean, it wasn’t like it was pure brilliant before; innocent people were still dying needlessly, Trump was still running for president, and the UK had a government that at least did a very good job of pretending that they knew what they were doing. And now look: we’re leaving Europe, a series of attacks have killed hundreds of people in Nice, Orlando, Iraq and beyond, and refugees are still drowning in the Mediterranean while they desperately try to escape the horrors in their homelands. The world is a mess, and we have to deal with that mess, because the people that caused it aren’t helping. This is more than a tad unfair. I know what you’re saying. What we see on the news now is enough to make us want to throw away our TVs and head to the nearest cave, where we can live out our days drawing on the walls. But literally running away isn’t going to solve anything. These problems aren’t going to go away. You don’t need to be rich to donate to deserving causes. A lot of charities are time-poor, and to make the world less shit, they need people like you and me, people who have seen the horrible news on TV and are asking Siri for the directions to the nearest cave, to sort through donations, man the till, be a pair of helping hands. That is one thing you can do.

Another thing that you can do to make the world less shit is paint. If you’re stressed about what’s happening in the world (and who isn’t?) then use that in your art. Paint what you feel, paint what you see. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be a polished piece of work; all that matters is that it matters to you. The early 20th century German-Jewish surrealist Felix Nussbaum documented his experiences of the Holocaust through his paintings. His most prolific period was the decade he was in hiding from the Nazis, when he was sheltered by friends who gave him art supplies. He painted during a time when the smell of turpentine would have given him away, he painted after his family were arrested and taken to their deaths at Auschwitz, he painted when he knew that the odds were stacked against him. He created art in the most painful and isolating of circumstances, and the pieces that he left behind include his best work, Self Portrait with Jewish Identity Card (1943) and Triumph of Death (1944). Painting what you are feeling might be ugly, but it might make you feel better, too, and act as the sort of record that you can look back at and say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s from my EVERYTHING IS SHIT period. Oh, I was well-depressed, then. I’ll get the robot to frame this and then I’ll go by hoverboard to the pub.’ The world is going to shit. But it’s our horrible, wonderful, beautiful, ugly, perfectly imperfect world, and we have to keep going. We have to keep dreaming. We must keep creating, because one day, that is all that we will leave behind. Lots of love, Trashy x AUGUST'S COVER: Sally Hackett and Mariella Verkerk, The Tree of Life, 2016

THE SKINNY

Crystal Baws With Mystic Mark ARIES A policeman is exactly the right size and shape to be used as a dildo for a giant. TAURUS You’re honoured to be asked to be the best man at your brother’s funeral, and you plan to make the stag a belter. With help from the lads, you drag his stiff cadaver out for Blue WKDs and shots at the local Wetherspoons, your brother getting so wankered he shits himself, you vomit on his back and all the lads are thrown out, the bouncer punching your brother in the face and knocking the traffic cone off his head. Next stop is the strip club where you treat him to a night he wouldn’t have forgotten, before hilariously handcuffing him to a lamppost and shaving his eyebrows off. As a result, he’s late for his own funeral. You and the lads will get years of banter out of this one when you visit his grave hole.

GEMINI Checking your ball sac for lumps you find a sweaty old quid. CANCER Your grandma leans in close and whispers a closely-guarded secret that the chocolate on the KitKats is thicker at the other Tesco further down the road. LEO Work is hard and boring but your office’s ‘wear your own socks day’ really allows you to let your hair down and express yourself. VIRGO A poltergeist keeps filling your pants with ectoplasm while you’re asleep.

LIBRA If the King gets all his men to boil all his horses down into glue then he can definitely put Humpty Dumpty back together again. And finally put those shelves on the wall like he promised last September. SCORPIO In sex, your favourite bit is when the stuff comes out. SAGITTARIUS Little known fact. Men can actually use female contraceptive pills and they are just as effective. You just jam one down your urethra with a pipe cleaner like loading an old musket.

CAPRICORN The UK is actually pronounced ‘yuck’. You’ve been saying it wrong this whole time. AQUARIUS In August you do a fart so loud God wakes up again. PISCES This month at work you’re feeling that you may not be on the right track, although since you work as a train driver this stuff is actually really fucking important. twitter.com/themysticmark facebook.com/themysticmark

Does Edinburgh’s population double over August? What fuels a factoid most is that it feels true – and we’ve all heard the one about Edinburgh’s population doubling during the Fringe. The Skinny investigates

dinburgh is not a big city, and we are closelypacked inside it. Throw in visitors attending six summer festivals within the space of a month, go to a bar, and try to get served: it certainly seems like the entire world has arrived and they’re all getting their pints before you. However, figuring out exactly how many visitors we get will take some number-crunching from official sources and a bit of lovely logic. The Edinburgh Festivals Impact Report is the best data we have, and also 12 years out of date. We have to assume the demographics of Edinburgh haven’t changed much since 2004, and take all our conclusions with a pinch of salt and an extended error-bar – but this survey does give a nice breakdown of visitor statistics and includes details that reports from later years left out. Namely, estimates of how many people stayed in Edinburgh during August. They found that 47% of respondents were out-of-towners on an overnight trip away from home, while 30% were Edinburgh residents. This doesn’t mean we can conclude that the other 70%

August 2016

of people around at the time were non-Edinburgh residents, though. The survey focused on festival attendees and so is a pretty biased sample. Figuring out how many attendees there were in total is another task, and not one we can solve by simply looking at ticket sales. Most people buy more than one ticket at the Fringe, and may even stroll over to the Art Festival or the Tattoo. To avoid counting everyone four times, we have to look at ticket sales in conjunction with survey data.

Down a Data Rabbit Hole

In 2004, each survey respondent attended an average of 2.8 events. Attendances of just over 2.5 million events leads us to just over 900,000 actual people. Still with me? Good. Roughly 40% of those people were extras staying in town, which gives us an additional 363, 132 people looking for a bed for at least one night. Our factoid isn’t looking too strong just now: even back in 2004 the population of our fair city was over 450,000. But just as we’ve made assumptions

about what counts as ‘the population of Edinburgh’, we’d then have to examine what we mean by ‘Edinburgh’: everything from Gogar out to the Shore, or just the parts where visitors usually stay? Then, the rabbit hole goes down even further. Over half of the population of Edinburgh live within 4km of the city centre – in 2011, that meant 55% of 476,262 people lived a mere half-hour jog from the castle. We can comfortably assume that most out-of-town festival-goers would want to stay in this same area, sharing space with the 262,144 permanent residents there. Since those additional 363,132 people looking for a bed for a night is a larger total than the 262,144 permanent residents, and by a margin of over 100,000 people, we could conclude at this point that our seeing double factoid is correct. Except, those visitors don’t all descend on Auld Reekie all at once: the same report showed that those surveyed stayed in Edinburgh for an average of 5 nights, not the whole 4 weeks of August. Even a conservative assumption of a

Words: Jenni Ajderian Illustration: Isabella Bunnell fifty-fifty split, with half the visitors arriving in the first half of August, brings our figure down to 181,566 extra people at any one time. That doesn’t look like double the population, even of the very centre of Edinburgh.

Data-fumbling conclusions

Of course, further data-fumbling could lead us to different conclusions. Permanent as the average permanent resident may be, a number of us let out properties or flee during August, potentially bringing the baseline for comparison down by a couple of hundred. Plus, Edinburgh plays host to tourists all through the year: is it fair to compare the overall population of Edinburgh in August to only the permanent residents in other months? Then, what about all the techies, performers and journos who show up during the month, and who may have been missed off the survey? Maybe we should have left well enough alone. www.edfringe.com

Opinion

(Glasgow and Dundee – chill out, we’ve got you covered too.)

Wayne Hemingway, Vintage Festival

Tue 2 Aug Fringetide might well have rolled into Edinburgh, but Glasgow's not about to let the capital get all the limelight just yet. Nope, first up we've got Glasgow's Merchant City Festival (30 Jul-7 Aug), returning for another year with all manner of street performance, crossplatform entertainment, activities, delicacies, and, indeed, merchants. Merchant Square, Glasgow, until 7 Aug, times and prices vary

In case you weren’t quite snowed under enough, Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival also hits the city this month, bringing screenings of international theatre, opera, exhibitions and ballet (including Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake!), to the big screen in Assembly Rooms’ Music Hall. There’ll also be a Virtual Reality cinema, a games studio and all manner of workshops and talks. The future is here, pals. 4-28 Aug, venues, times and prices vary

Project Y

Mon 8 Aug

Tue 9 Aug

Wed 10 Aug

If you didn’t get tickets to EIF’s opener Deep Time last night, console yourself today by checking out monumental, an unsettling and exhilarating piece of physical theatre from Montreal artrock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Vancouver dance company The Holy Body Tattoo. If you like scaring yourself silly with dystopian art and dark catharsis, this’ll be right up your street. Edinburgh Playhouse, 8 & 9 Aug, 8pm, £5-32

In the same way that Snapchat re-purposes highly sophisticated face recognition technology for the purpose of turning its users into face-swapped, rainbow-vomming vermin, 'IT Consultants' Foxdog Studios use their Computer smarts for the sake of gigantic lols. Bring a smartphone to their shows and you'll be taken on an interactive carousel of absurdity, novelty and deliriously dry wit. Nerdy glee aplenty. Laughing Horse @ The Cellar Monkey, Edinburgh, 4-28 Aug, 11.15pm, free

Malala Yousafzai campaigned for universal rights to education, blogged for BBC Urdu about life under Taliban occupation, survived a bullet shot to the head, became the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and had her story told in an Oscarshortlisted documentary, all before the age of 18. Hear that story at An Evening With Malala this month. Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, 7.30pm, prices vary

Blindtext

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Foxdog Studios

Sun 14 Aug

Tue 16 Aug

Wed 17 Aug

The founders of Cos-Con, the UK's only convention dedicated to Cosplay, refer to themselves as 'basically two over-grown, bearded children who have decided that dressing up and getting drunk should not be limited to 31st October'. Not everyone's jam, of course, but a sartorial mecca for costume designers, amateur cosplayers, make-up artists and members of fandoms. QMU, Glasgow, 13 & 14 Aug, 10am, prices vary

Duke’s Corner does its damned best to lure the Scottish population back out of Edinburgh with its first Night Market, a latenight pop-up showcasing local Dundonian produce. What’s more, the venue has shaken up its menu especially for the event and will be serving a taster menu of burgers paired with over 20 craft beers. Sounds good to us. Duke’s Corner, Dundee, 6pm, free

Fancy finding yourself a Fringe fling (or 'Flinge', if you will)? Well, get your romantic self down to In Fidelity at The Trav, Rob Drummond's follow-up to Bullet Catch and Quiz Show. Each show will feature a live blind date between two audience members, woven into a wider narrative about evolution, monogamy and Rob's own story. Read more on page 24. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 4-28 Aug (not Mon), times vary, £8.50-£12.50

Cos-Con

Poets Against Humanity

Mon 15 Aug Terrible human beings unite! It’s your time – Poets Against Humanity is returning to the Fringe. The show rallies literary champs and forces them to fill in the blanks of one another’s poems with absolute filth from a deck of Cards Against Humanity. Tonight’s edition features Sara Hirsch, Doug Garry of Loud Poets and Tina Sederholm. All profits donated to charity. The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, by donation

Duke Corner

Mon 22 Aug

Tue 23 Aug

Wed 24 Aug

Get a punch in the gut from In Your Face Theatre’s production of Trainspotting, a realisation of the classic novel so extraordinary that it shocked Irvine Welsh himself. It became infamous in the 2015 Fringe microcosm, sold out relentlessly and the crew were forced to stage extra shows to fulfil audience demand. Book in fast. 3-29 Aug (not Tues), Assembly George Square Studios (Venue 17), prices vary

Suffer us another theatre recommendation – this time batshittingly comedic B-musical Apocalypse Cruise Ship Love Affair, with original bangers, a live band and a cleverly clownish cast featuring Improverts alumni. The company responsible go by the name of Beach Comet, who you might recognise from previous Free Fringe fave (and equally transparently titled) Vampire Hospital Waiting Room. Gilded Balloon Teviot (Venue 14), 3-14 & 16-29 Aug, 1.30pm, prices vary

Triple-whammy hilarity is due to ensue at Massive Lazy Girls, a sketch show mash-up of Massive Dad, Lazy Susan and Birthday Girls, all of whom were met with acclaim (not to mention furious amounts of lols) at last year’s Fringe. Think of it like a whistle-stop tour of some bangin’ ensemble comedy talent returning to our Fringey embrace in 2016. Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) , Edinburgh, 2428 Aug, £8-10

Trainspotting

Apocalypse Cruise Ship Love Affair

Mon 29 Aug

Tue 30 Aug

Wed 31 Aug

It’s gunpowder galore tonight. Unbound draws to a fireworky finale after a bookish bash from Vic Galloway, Tom Lanoye, Anneliese Verbeke, Adam Stafford and Khartoum Heroes (Charlotte Square, 7pm). Then, if you time things right and leg it to North Bridge, you might just catch the fireworks concert above the castle, marking the end of EIF. Princes St Gardens, Edinburgh, 9.30pm, concert tickets £13.50-30

So that’s Fringe over for another year. What’s next? Back to normality of good old gigging, we say. How about you check out pop punk prodigies slash surf rock royalty SWMRS? They’re playing both sides of the central belt so you’ve no reason not to, really. Besides Fringe flu, maybe. Broadcast, Glasgow, 7pm, £8 and Electric Circus, Edinburgh, 7pm, £8

Telly buffs might take a liking to GSA grad Kathryn Elkin’s latest exhibition Television at CCA, a series of works in which the videosmith reworks proto pop videos, documentary interviews and talk shows to try and get to the bottom of what exactly makes something ‘televisual’. Intrigued? Check out the CCA website for various talks and workshops with Elkin herself. CCA, Glasgow, until 4 Sep, times vary, free

Chat

SWMRS

Vitual Reality Studio Session

Malala

Rob Drummond

Massive Lazy Girl

An Evening with Kathryn Elkin

THE SKINNY

Credit: Virtual Umbrella

Stuck for things to do this month? GET OUT OF TOWN, you big joker. It’s Fringe time, goddamnit.

Another West-side recommendation; dance company Project Y's annual tour, in which they'll present a series of new works choreographed by Artistic Director Anna Kenrick and guest choreographers Liv Lorent and Gavin Coward. The performers are 1621 year-olds who've completed a four-week course, meaning your evening's entertainment comes with a glimpse into the future of Scotland's dancing talent. Tramway, Glasgow, 3 Aug, 7.30pm, £4-6

Credit: Simon Davis/DFID

Compiled by: Kate Pasola

Thu 4 Aug

Credit: YDance and Paul Watt

Heads Up

Wed 3 Aug

Sat 6 Aug

Sun 7 Aug

Put the righteous rage you're feeling post-EU ref to good use; party your way to an improved world with Rave Against Racism, at Subbie. Optimo bosses JD Twitch and JG Wilkes will play all night long allowing you to rave 'til the early hours with like-minded lovelies. Proceeds will go to Glasgow’s Coalition For Racial Equality & Rights and unemployed folk get a hefty discount too. Sub Club, Glasgow, 11pm, £2-8

In case you Glasgow revellers weren't all partied out yet, SWG3 swoops in with an all-day street rave to put the final nail in the coffin that is your general health. There'll be live tunes from the likes of Adeva, N-Joi, Fri Project and Angie Brown, along with DJ sets from Norman Jay MBE, Jeremy Healy and Tall Paul. Totally worth losing half of Sunday for. SWG3, Glasgow, 2pm2am, £19.50-29.50

The French Institute's summer programme, Vive La Fringe is pretty slick this year, appealing to everso-serious adults and joyful children alike, despite hosting only a handful of shows. Serious adults, go and see Gaël Le Cornec's The Other, a darkly comic tale based on the stories of refugees. And for the joyful children? Get 'em involved with Chiffonade, a choreographic delight for tender young minds. French Institute, Edinburgh, dates, times and prices vary

Optimo

Thu 11 Aug

Fri 12 Aug

Sat 13 Aug

Next up; a corker of an eve at Art Lates, a series of four weekly art-marathons organised by Edinburgh Art Festival. We’re giddy at tonight’s itinerary: Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ft. Siân Robinson Davies’ amusing exhibition Conversations); Ciara Phillips’ Dazzle Ship, Rhubaba, a look at Inverleith House’s 30th anniversary exhibition, Helen Mcrorie’s The Clock in Commune AND music from our poppunk heroes The Spook School. Woah. ESW, 6pm, £5-7.50

Happy fourth birthday Glad Café! The buzzing wee venue this place is, it's no surprise they've taken the occasion as a prime opportunity to organise yet more top class giggery. Head along to their weekender, Glorious Traces, and catch a roster of local and international artists, including Ela Orleans, Kid Canaveral, Babe and Jonnie Common. Various venues in Glasgow’s Southside, 12-14 Aug, £35 weekend ticket or various individual ticket prices

Unsure where to start with Edinburgh Art Festival? Sit back and let the pros skim the cream of EAF’s most promising new talent for you at Platform: 2016. We’re intrigued by Paloma Proudfoot and Aniela Piasecka who, in collaboration with Jamie Roberts will be drawing attention to the eroticism of rituals through melodramatic, farcical demonstrations of tasks like cooking, dressing and shaving. EAF Kiosk, 12pm, free (also 5 Aug, 6pm)

The Spook School

Ela Orleans

Chiffonade

The Brownlee Brothers, Brain Invaders (Pickled Onion), 2016

Sun 21 Aug

Yet another bountiful programme of free, enriching entertainment comes courtesy of Unbound, Edinburgh Book Festival’s experimental efforts to bring literary delights to life throughout August. Tonight, get along to Poetry As Refuge, a multilingual, multinational, musical poetry evening with guest selector Bidisha. While we’re here, let us also recommend the riotous Tongue Fu (20 Aug) and Neu! Reekie! (26 Aug). The Spiegeltent, Edinburgh, 9pm, free

Head to GFT for Todd Solondz’s Wiener-Dog, a bleakly gorgeous series of vignettes about four individuals at different stages in life, connected by the film’s eponymous dachshund protagonist. If a dugbased plot’s not enough to get you waving tenners at the box office, take a look at the blazingly talented ensemble which includes Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn and Zosia Marmet. GFT, Glasgow, 12-21 Aug, times and prices vary

It’s Glasgow’s turn to celebrate Pride, and they’re doing so twofold. First, Free Pride at The Art School (20 Aug), where you can spend the day workshopping, performance-watching and learning to vlog, before partying into the night with SQUIFF, Letitia Pleiades, Junglehussy, Jak Soroka and Sgaire Wood. Today, get involved in the second leg of, er, non-free-pride with a line-up featuring Prides, Karen Harding and Stooshe. Glasgow Green, 12pm, £8-12

Illustration: Jayde Perkin

Fri 19 Aug

Illustration: Jacky Sheridan

Thu 18 Aug

Sat 20 Aug Maybe you’ve gone a little heavy at George Square crêpe stall this month. P’raps the thought of ramming another quarter pounder while running to Pleasance is giving you premature meat-sweats. Or you’re a bona fide vegan. Regardless, you’ll find oasis in Edinburgh Vegan Festival, a jubilee of vegan treats, ethical clothing and gifts, cruelty-free cosmetics and talks from campaigners. The Roxburghe Hotel, Edinburgh, 20 & 21 Aug, 10.30 am, £1-2

Weiner-Dog

Fri 26 Aug

Sat 27 Aug

Sun 28 Aug

Edinburgh Book Festival (13-29 Aug) continues today with Ron Rash’s discussion of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, an iconic short story collection by maestro of the art Raymond Carver. Explore the stories, both edited and unedited and find out just what sort of role editor Gordon Lish played in the development of the famous ‘Carveresque’ economical writing style. Charlotte Square Writers Retreat, Edinburgh, 1pm, £12-15

Fringe mania getting to you? Hankering for a bit of personal space and rural calm? Well, we’re not promising that at Electric Fields (it is a music festival, after all), but it’s certainly a change of scenery. And when that change of scenery features the likes of Everything Everything, Fat White Family, Emma Pollock, C Duncan, Tuff Love and Primal Scream? Sounds like a plan, Stan. Drumlanrig Castle, 26-27 Aug, £20-£89.50

The bloody ridiculous Richard Gadd is back, surfing the wave of fascination he’s created over the last two years with Breaking Gadd and Waiting for Gaddot. His new show, Monkey See, Monkey Do is a slightly more personal departure, musing over masculinity, mental illness and the valley between our inner selves and the face we present to the world. Banshee Labyrinth (Venue 156), Edinburgh, 9.45pm, free

Today's your last opportunity to catch Posh, Laura Wade's account of the revelry and devilry at a 'fictional' all-male dining club at Oxford University (*cough* The Bullingdon Club). You'll squirm, you'll cackle, you'll reluctantly realise that the bastards ruining this country are even more despicable than you originally thought. You might even feel like trying to change the world. Well, when the Fringe is over, at least. Bedlam, Edinburgh, 22-28 Aug, 6pm, £6-9

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Richard Gadd

Fat White Family

Credit: Helen Abraham

Thu 25 Aug

Thu 1 Sep

Fri 2 Sep

Sat 3 Sep

Today’s one of your last chances to see Making the Bed, Laying the Table, Katie Schwab’s solo exhibition in which she uses sculpture to explore how one's voice might be expressed through furnishing and upkeep of rooms, especially within communal spaces. There’s probably something to be taken from her work whether you’re a fresher in halls or a married couple in feng shui bliss. Glasgow Sculpture Studios, until 3 Sep, 11am-5pm, free

You've still not seen it?!? Right then, here’s another chance to catch Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this time from the lush surrounds of Edinburgh’s Botanic Gardens at The Luna Open Air Cinema. And if all that lightsaber chat isn’t really your bag, they’re also screening Romeo + Juliet on 3 Sep and Jurassic Park (4 Sep). Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 6.45pm, £9-13.50

Foodie collective Real Food Real Folk reprise their hugely successful ‘food festival with a social heart’ Let’s Eat Glasgow today and tomorrow at SWG3. Our usually deadpan Food & Drink editor is almost deliriously excited about it; evidence enough you should get involved. But if you’re still not swayed, p’raps take note of the fact it’s completely free of charge? More info on page 68. SWG3, 3 & 4 Sep, 11am, free

August 2016

Making the Bed, Laying The Table

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Prides

Posh

Let's Eat Glasgow

Chat

Credit: Oliver Buchanan

Fri 5 Aug

E DITION X X I V

Brought to you by the purveyors of the most unusual, HENDRICK’S GIN ®

MINISTRY OF MARGINALLY •••

SUPERIOR TRANSPORT •••

LOOKS TO MAKE TRANSPORT ~ ~ MARGINALLY SUPERIOR ~ ~

CUCUMBER FACT Forget what you’ve been told - the CUCUMBER is not a fruit or a vegetable; it is actually a portal into another dimension.

For too long commuters have suffered a claustrophobic life of caffeine, crowds and cantankerous pushing and shoving. But TODAY the head of the newly formed Ministry of Marginally Superior Transport (MMST) MMST MMST) announced a series of trivial, but delightful, improvements to give commuters a slower and more pleasurable journey. Speaking from his

@ H e n d r i c k s g i nU K

bathtub in Girvan, Scotland, Head of the MMST, David Piper, declared the opening of ‘Dawdle Hour’. “Commuting can be deeply unpleasant, mainly due to the stifling conditions and sense of urgency. By removing both of these problems we will create a happier world” In response to questions about whether the ministry was affiliated

MAKE YOUR JOURNEY MARGINALLY SUPERIOR IMMEDIATELY! Has your journey gone decidedly PEAR SHAPED? If so, please do GET IN TOUCH, and we’ll offer CALMING or distracting words to ease your throbbing brow. Share your travel WOES, commuter observations, or journey joys on that big screaming lobster that is the TWITTER. ~ TWEET US ~

@HendricksginUK #HendricksMinistry with Hendrick’s Gin, David replied - “Yes, of course we are - it’s lovely” before chewing the head off a cucumber and walking away giggling.

– Or busy us on Facebook and Instagram.

T H E U N U S UA L T I M E S

THE HENDRICK’S

Is your journey suffering from a lack of cucumber?

GUIDE TO

DON’T DELAY, TWEET @HendricksginUK #HendricksMinistry to make your journey more cucumberous.

TRAVEL ETIQUETTE

PANIC! PANIC! Society is in tatters! Newspapers are frequently discarded on train carriages, antisocially loud headphone use is rife and standing on the wrong side of escalators is up by a shocking 2%! We are caught in the belly of a pig called pandemonium (also known, somewhat euphemistically, as ‘modern travel’). What is that I hear you screaming? ‘How can order, fair play, and tranquility be returned to our daily journeys?’ Well, I am very glad you asked, as if you hadn’t, this rambling introduction could have continued forever. The answer is simple: manners, manners, manners. Here are 7 simple rules to ensure you are a polite passenger who will be loved and admired by your fellow commuters.

CUCUMBER FACT British Prime Minister, WINSTON CHURCHILL, was not able to throw a CUCUMBER a distance of half a mile. Likewise, JOHN MAJOR cannot eat fifty CUCUMBERS in one sitting.

8 HIGH

QUALITY

1. When a new passenger enters your carriage, shake their hand and ask if you can make them a tea or coffee. Put them at ease by introducing them to the other passengers. In London it is considered very rude to ignore strangers on trains. 2. If the ground of the platform is not clean, throw down your jacket to protect your fellow travellers’ shoes. 3. Recite an Edward Lear poem at every stop that has a V in it. 4. Only make the carriage sing a Gilbert & Sullivan song if they are in the right mood. 5. If someone is eating fried chicken on the bus, offer them a picnic hamper and escort them to the nearest green. 6. Practicing your alpine horn playing is only acceptable during nonpeak hours (spying is not acceptable during non-peek hours). 7. If the music from your neighbours’ headphones is audible to you, they must pay a royalty to the musician for public performance. Simply tap them on the shoulder and politely ask for a flat fee of £200.53. @ H e n d r i c k s g i nU K

‘BURGH BUSES ARE ‘TOO BORING’

Recent research by the MMST’S MINISTER OF WHIMSICAL OMNIBUS STUDIES (WOS), WOS), Laslo Pertinwig, reveals WOS that Edinburgh buses are too efficient and too ‘boring’. Pertinwig noted ‘..the ineloquent decoration’ and ‘distinct lack of cucumbers’ across Edinburgh’s fleet of 8,000 buses. He went on to describe - ‘an emphasis on speed and practicality over leisure and style that is leaving Edinburgers bored to tears.’ and asked ‘Isn’t it about time we had a bus loaded with nonsensical distractions- with a greater sense of romance and mystery?’ Many EDINBURGERS who use multiple daily buses agree with Pertinwig. Hannah Wood, who makes four bus journeys every day, was enthusiastically in favour of a new service- ‘‘Just because it’s every day - must it be everyday? I spend thousands of hours of my life travelling and I long for pleasant and ridiculous surprises, and treats that prove I am valued.’ Pertinwig has put together a ‘team of egg-

heads and pleasure-seekers’ in an attempt to solve the crisis. Many observers are expecting an announcement from WOS within the next few weeks.

CUCUMBER FACT

REASONS TO LIE

1. Because someone that size is likely to react violently. 2. Because if you do not locate and recover the precious stones, the kidnappers will certainly not release your pet ermine. 3. Because you are a rather fabulous storyteller, and frequent lying only helps to improve your craft. 4. Because not everyone shares your taste in facial hair. 5. Because the third day of hiking Mount Everest is neither the time nor the place for honesty. 6. Because you’ve already lost the one ear. 7. Because the WEDDING is tomorrow, for heaven’s sake. 8. Because being in a body cast is difficult enough.

The Pacific ‘pole of inaccessibility’ is the point farthest from any land (it is approximately 1,670 miles from terra firma) rma).. It is also often the furthest point on Earth from a CUCUMBER; the occasional British ship carrying CUCUMBER SANDWICHES breaks this isolation.

T H E U N U S UA L T I M E S

S RE AT U FE

Six Edinburgh Award Winners interviewed by a Dog Kinship, mortality, poetry, blasphemy, happiness, and dangerous animals – no topic is off-limits as Edinburgh Award winning comedians are interrogated by the master journalist Fringe Dog Words: Fringe Dog Illustration: Sarah Kirk SAM SIMMONS Hallo !! Sam Simmons :; exelent surreal comedy man from australia, i strive to be an incisive journalist and interviewer ( some people have nicknamed me “werner herz-dog” ), i try to get beneath surface of all my subjects and uncover big truths hiden within . do you have a dog? “I had a beautiful boy called Murray. He was a staffy beagle, and I lost custody of him during a break-up with an irate Italian.” it is little known fact that you used to work in a zoo !! when i go to edimbrugh zoo ,i look at the noble wolfs and feel kinship with my distant ancestors . Which animal do you feel kinship with and why ?? “I love the slow loris. If you don't know what it is, look it up. It's a low-order primate that has a toxic gland in its elbow that it licks to then stimulate it with saliva to paralyse insects. Also, it's incredibly cute.” if you were a crisp flavour ,what crisp flavour would you be ?? “Sperm and regret.”

BRIDGET CHRISTIE hallo briliant bridget !! i am exited to see your new show about death ,the great equaliser ! would you agree that death is the ultimat feminist ?? “Hello brilliant dog. I am excited to see you too. can we meet up do you think? or are you like banksy and never reveal your true identity? I like how you have terrible spelling and punctuation and no caps and things that's a nice touch which I am going to copy for consistency. I have a feeling you might be a cat, actually. I hope that doesn't offend you, but both you and I know that even though you dogs have your good points, cats are much more pleasant, shitting in private and cleaning themselves. you guys seriously need to sort out your toilets habits. there's no point in learning to type if your arse is covered in dried bits of poop, mate. Sort it out please. No death isn't the ultimate feminist because women's funerals cost more than mens, didn't you know? its all the make up and hair and that, which dead men don't bother with.” .in the past ,you have done amazin shows as a ant ,and also a king charles spaniel (i think that is right). do you ever plan to do more shows where you play a animal character to tackle big questions of life ?? “I am not ruling anything out, or anything in. perhaps we can do a show together like that woman who won that talent show? I thought that act was a bit shit and boring to be honest.” as a dog ,i reject the term “mans best friend” as bein sexist ,as i am a feminist ally and love all 5star humans equaly . do you have any special ways of dealin with nasties who troll feminists ?? i find that bitin their bum is efectiv “This is a hugely complex question, but I am

Feature

sitting on a rock in the corbierres on holiday, doggy, full of red wine, and so I don't want to give you a depressing answer. everyone has their own way of dealing with trolls. I just decided to not be bothered by them, and now I'm not.”

BRENDON BURNS hallo brendon ! you are renaissance man of many talents ,but you especialy fond of wrestling ! if i was wrestler i would be called “tornado terrier” and my catchphrase would be “i am going to collar you !! ” if you were wrestler ,what would your name and catchphrase be ?? “Good dog, Fringe Dog. Well done on growing so big. You're a very good dog, yes you are. You're the best. And that's a great catchphrase. *Scratches under chin* Yes it is. My wrestler name would be (and is) Brendon ‘The Brain’ Burns. My catchphrase would be (and is) ‘No! You are!’ in response to anything yelled at me, whether it be negative or positive.”

“ This is a hugely complex question” Bridget Christie

do you have a dog ,and if so ,what is his/ her profession ?? i am a journalist . “I don't have a dog, I have a three-legged cat. As I live on a farm and he is free to roam, his main occupation seems to be murdering for the fun of it. He is one murderous fucker. Also, that's what cats are born to do. You know all those funny videos of cats doing weird shit on the internet? That's because they can't go outside and they are clinically insane. Mine goes outside all the time and he does fuck all funny shit, because he hasn't been driven utterly mental by claustrophobia.” what is most dangerous animal you have ever cuddled ?? “A giraffe and she was hot. Long lashes like the female in The Lion King just before they were about to do it.”

PHIL NICHOL it very exiting that you are doin your 20th aniversary show this year !! that is 140 dog years of briliant comedy !! what briliant plans are you hatchin for the next 140 years ?? “Thought I'd become a dog and enjoy the next 140 years rolling around, chasing squirrels and getting heavily involved with a squeaky Ren and Stimpy toy. This is not far off of my present daily routine.” some times ,you bound around the stage like a happy terrier ,but other times you do

more introspective and melancoly shows ,like a sad bassett hound . can we expect to see all sides of mr phil nichol ?? “The show will have a little bit of everything, I hope. Like a daschund full of madness and sadness. Both are funny. I'm feeling rather silly this year – expect the terrier.” i know you are a poetry dab hand . i have writen a haiku about edimbrugh : bag pipes in the air , the smell of hops and much laughs o boy !! 5 star shows !! can you do a haiku about all your many fringes ?? “Happy to be part Of such an inspiring place, Learned so much from it.”

THE PUB LANDLORD – AL MURRAY hallo mr briliant al murray pub landlord !! i am bit of a culture vulture (not literaly ,in real life i am a dog !!) and the edimbrugh fringe is hot bed of vibrant diverse art !! where do you fit in to that ?? “No idea. The great thing is everything these days is art if you say it is. A crisp packet blowing across a pavement is art, a sandpit crapped in by a fox is art, a moped misfiring at midnight is art. So I guess someone telling it like it is four pints in is also art. And you, a dog who's a journalist, that's art too. ” if i was startin a micro brewery to make a nice 5star ale , i would call it “Schnauzerbout A Beer?” . what would your ale be called ?? “Well, the Beautiful British Beer I brought out last year was called just that.” you are very wise publican-politician-philosopher man !! can you give the briliant readers of the skinny one useful life tip to make them feel happy about the world ?? The best thing in life is to lower your expectations. Aim too high and you can only miss. You aren't going to play for your country, you aren't going to live forever, you aren't going to go down

COMEDY

in history. Life is a series of endless, relentless grinding disappointments, and the sooner you get your head around that the better.

TOMMY TIERNAN hallo briliant mr tommy tiernan !! you are doin a new show about extrem weather !! i am big fan of when it rains in edimbrugh ,all the freshly revitalisd smells !! a beutiful aromatic weewee i made yesterday is back in full force !! what is your favorit edimbrugh smell ?? “The smell of the morning, when you abandon yesterday's personality and open up today's one, full of hope and fear wondering what the next 18 hours will bring.” i hear you have been acused of blasphemy by the irish senate !! they sound bit touchy dont they !! have you all sat round a table and made big friends again ?? “Well, that my friend was a long time ago, my accusers went on to win the Lotto and dropped the blasphemy case immediately. In fact, they hired me to perform at one of their post winning parties. I myself have continued the struggle to try and articulate upon the inarticulable…” in 2009 you broke a world record for longest ever 5star comedy show !! i get my energy from watchin edimbrugh shows and a balancd diet of meaty chunks and deep fried biscuits !! where do you get your energy from ?? “I'm powered by a small consortium of English farmers. If you put your head quite close to my chest you may even hear the passionate thrum of their diesel engines that I had implanted in my heart.” finaly ,we have got to know each other and are now grate friends . please can i lick food morsels from your beard ?? “There's a queue, swing in behind the nun there on your left and you'll get your go in no time.” To read the full transcripts and all the latest Fringe news go to www.theskinny.co.uk/comedy Follow @FringeDog on Twitter www.edfringe.com

THE SKINNY

Living on 24 Hours 24 Hours with Mary Lynn Rajskub namechecks the TV series the American comedian is best known for, but her longstanding comedy smarts should make Edinburgh a natural home Interview: Tony Makos

Vir Das

Telling the Truth with Toilet Humour Vir Das is one of the biggest names in Indian comedy, and it’s apt that his first name means ‘brave’ – the last time he was in town, things didn’t quite go as planned Interview: Tamara Mathias

“M

y first Fringe was a devastating experience,” Vir Das admits, right off the bat. “We lost a shitload of personal savings, landed a shite venue in the middle of nowhere and ended up dancing the Bhangra and handing out free samosas on the streets of Edinburgh just to grab attention!” Back home in India, Das operates at the nucleus of an increasingly explosive performing arts circuit. When he’s not jamming with Alien Chutney, his tongue-in-cheek comedy rock band that croons about everything from man boobs to Game of Thrones, he’s either jetting off on international stand-up tours or shooting for Bollywood blockbusters. Finding a way to laugh at how a few weeks in the Scottish capital diluted his celebrity status says a lot about this down-to-earth comic. Humour comes first for Das, but he has built quite a reputation as a comedian with a conscience. His recent TV commercial for He deodorant received enormous praise for the manner in which it lambasted the objectification of women in advertisements. In his spare time, he makes motivational YouTube videos that cover everything from tackling internet trolls to encouraging high school students not to be fazed by the Board Exam – India’s trial-by-fire, rite-of-passage national test that sees thousands of teenagers buckle under societal pressures to perform. “The trick is to lead with humour and then get a little heavy,” he explains when asked about how he ensures his comedic material isn’t accused of trivialising the serious. He does this best, perhaps, via the Vir Das Potcasts, a news comedy webseries that sees him pontificate on world politics from atop a commode. Das attributes the videos’ success to format; according to him the position a comedian takes is critical – no toilet humour intended. “There’s a certain humility in saying, ‘I’m a professional idiot with an opinion. Sometimes I

August 2016

get it right and sometimes I get it wrong.’ At the end of the day I’m a guy sitting on a toilet with his pants down. And audiences identify with that.” This year he’s all set to perform at the Gilded Balloon with Unbelievable: The Dishonest Indian, a show that incorporates both the story of how he lost his virginity and his take on Islamophobia with seemingly no thematic conflict. Das has just returned from a tour in the US where he gigged 30 shows in 40 days, introducing India to audiences who have only ever been given “the touristy, snake-charmer-head-wobble version before.” Unbelievable is about being unapologetically Indian in a world that often doesn’t understand some very basic facts about people from the sub-continent: “Not all of us are tech-savvy, we’re really not that different from you and, oh yeah, Indian men are amazing lovers,” he clarifies, when asked to tell it like it is. Admittedly, one of the teething problems with being the First World’s first desi is getting round his homegrown accent. The comic deals with this by reeling audiences in with his opening disclaimer: “This is my accent. It is real. I’m not impersonating a relative. This. Is. The. Whole. Show.” “People laugh at that,” he says. “They’re suddenly on your side and just like that the context of the room is set.” The version of Unbelievable that will be performed this August has been specially re-scripted for the Fringe. Das appears enthusiastic: “If you’re not Indian and have never watched an Indian comedian before, you’ll know a little bit more about India at the end of the show. And I think that’s a pretty good reason to come.” Vir Das – Unbelievable: The Dishonest Indian, Gilded Balloon at the Museum, 15-28 Aug, 9pm, £11-12; Gilded Balloon Teviot: Sportsmans, 15-19 Aug, 11.45pm, £11-12 www.edfringe.com

ans of noughties TV drama will recognise Mary Lynn Rajskub as the Über-grump hacker Chloe O’Brien from FOX’s almost-real-time show 24. What UK audiences may not know isthat Rajskubhasbeenacomediansincethemid-90s,beginning as part of the alternative West Coast scene alongside Jack Black, Janeane Garofalo and David Cross – even starring in the original cast of the cult classic sketch show Mr Show with Bob And David. Aside from 24, Rajskub landed roles in countless formidable TV comedies such as It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Arrested Development and Flight of The Conchords. In 2009 she returned to her roots, touring the beautifully titled Mary Lynn Rajskub Spreads Her Legs, an autobiographical stand-up and theatre hybrid about becoming a mother for the first time. “Spreads Her Legs was very focused on me meeting my husband,” she tells us. “I had given up on men and he was just a hot piece of ass to me – and I ended up getting pregnant. That show was all about my son’s infancy and how we were thrown together. This is the next chapter of that – it’s about how you can create a family while maybe not even liking each other, which I think is pretty normal. Ultimately it becomes a story about communication with my husband and my child, and how you might hate somebody but it might end up being love. “My stand-up tends to be story-based, but here we take these short bits and jokes, where you go, ‘What’s the story behind that?’ One in particular I’m thinking of is a joke about me feeding my kid too much candy and him being constipated, but I sort of anchor that story in how my husband and I deal with it – and deal with each other.” The more dramatic nature of the show has presented Rajskub with some unexpected challenges, such as an attentive audience: “The other night when I did my theatre piece – for the first time in an actual theatre – it was jarring because they were paying so much attention, they were listening and were saying ‘aah’ and I’m like, ‘Would you just talk among yourselves? I don’t like how much attention you’re paying to me!’ I was so used to late night sets and having to quickly get the attention with a joke that it felt weird... Yes, they were completely with me, but I was like, ‘Stop being so sympathetic! Start drinking, eating, somebody yell at me, somebody fall asleep, please!’ “This show has a lot about me being on the road and grappling with being a woman in comedy, and also acknowledging that I am recognisable from 24, but also that there’s a 24-hour aspect to my life. While the TV show was still on the air I went into clubs and they would be packed with people who just thought I was going to play the 24 DVDs. They really didn’t want to hear about my C-section or my nether regions. They were a little bit taken aback at how personal and raw it was. “Now that the show is off the air I’m still doing that circuit – I’ll get the hardcore fans who sit at the front, with the people who don’t know why they’re there at the back. There’s the polite lady at the front who’s like, ‘There’s Chloe!’ and then there’s the guy at the back who’s incoherent.” The mixture of stand-up, drama and storytelling seems to suit someone who has spent a lot of time in front of the camera, as well

COMEDY

Mary Lynn Rajskub

as on stage. “Looking back at other stand-ups, the stuff I was always attracted to was always those spaces in between the jokes – I used to get very bored at just joke-telling because we all like it when you crack and you can see the spaces in between the funny. I really am looking for that hybrid. It’s been wonderful to have that wideranging experience.” 24 Hours With Mary Lynn Rajskub, Assembly George Square Studios (Two), 3-28 Aug (not 15), 8.20pm, £8-12 www.edfringe.com

Feature

The British experience Tez Ilyas’ sophomore show promises to reveal more about his family life than his satirical debut, while still discussing British identity Interview: James McColl

“I

love being on stage! The longer I can be on stage, the happier I am,” Tez Ilyas says about the transition from shorter sets to a longer Edinburgh show. “It definitely affords you a little bit of time to be indulgent and talk about the things that matter to you, and explain the things that people don't necessarily know.” At last year's Fringe, Ilyas decided to buck the trend and opt for a different kind of debut with his acclaimed show TEZ Talks: “There were a lot of things I wanted to say in TEZ Talks and I got across all those messages through humour. It was one of the more difficult and challenging things I've ever done, and getting the tour right took such a long time. By the time I took it to Edinburgh it was exactly the show I had envisioned in my head; I'm so pleased that it was received so well by so many people”.

“ The longer I can be on stage, the happier I am”

heart of the very personal Lance was a young Hodgson finding his way through the Yorkshire town of his birth to the city of his university days, all populated with his brilliant ability for characterisation. “I've always been good at voices,” he says. “I never really felt that Kieran Hodgson as a persona was ever going to be something that people were interested in.” The worry for Hodgson is that this mining from his own history will run thin. “French Exchange [his 2014 show] all took place in one time period, and with Lance I was growing up. With Maestro it's going back and forth quite a bit. So there's a bit where I'm 11, a bit where I'm at uni, and a bit where I was living in France. Not sure I can do another show that's along those lines. There's only so long you can tell your life story when you're 28.” There's always the possibilty his next show could be about the various Edinburgh shows he's taken to the Fringe over the last decade or so. “A friend asked me if I was going to do a show that was called Kieran Hodgson: Comedy, ‘where all the characters are like friends of yours in comedy.’” He ponders for a short time before adding, “But that would be the least relatable show ever.”

TEZ Talks dealt with a lot of issues facing British Muslims, with Ilyas unafraid to approach an audience with hard-hitting subjects: “At first they almost didn't realise. It was almost like they weren't watching comedy – like I was holding them hostage,” he says. “I thought, ‘I can't do a run like that for 25 nights – it would kill me.’ So the approach became a bit sillier and getting the tone right took a long time. Once that show was done and well received I said right, the second show; it would actually be good for the audience to find out who I am now.” This year, he sets out to make up for lost ground with Made in Britain. “I think Made in Britain will be a lot more personal. There are going to be stories in there, things that have happened in my life that I want to talk about. I'm going to talk about my parents, my big family and inevitably, because I am Muslim, there will be one or two bits in there about how certain life events have affected me and how certain news stories have affected me personally.” A core theme running through both shows is unity over division, but what does his family think of him delving into the personal this year? Tez laughs. “I haven't really told them. I think it would be better to apologise than ask for permission and there's nothing in the show that they would be too mad about so I think it's OK. My family are very private people; I touch on certain things that have happened but don't go into detail about anything in the show.” He adds: “I really enjoy watching people's faces in this new show when I reveal a couple of things about myself – they look at me as if to say, ‘What?!’ “I think one of the messages I want to get across in Made in Britain is that even though some of my life experiences haven't been necessarily traditional British experiences, just by virtue of the fact that they have happened in Britain, they are now British experiences. “I've shown I can do the satirical thing. Luckily it was received well so I'm going to concentrate on doing a really strong hour of stand-up.”

Kieran Hodgson: Maestro, Voodoo Rooms (Speakeasy), 6-28 Aug, 9.30pm, PBH Free Fringe

Tez Ilyas: Made in Britain, Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker Two), 3-28 Aug (not 15), 5.30pm, £6-12

www.edfringe.com

Kieran Hodgson

Sweet Symphony Equipped with a violin instead of a bike this year, Edinburgh Award nominee Kieran Hodgson brings classical music to comedy

ow do you follow a show that was deemed one of the best in 2015? For Kieran Hodgson – the man behind last year's cycling spectacular Lance – the answer is simple: write a symphony. “I was trying to up the ante,” he says. “Not sure how many others have tried to write a symphony. People might think, ‘We'll give him a hearing because he's gone to the effort.’ Marks are awarded for effort at the Fringe.” Effort is not something Hodgson can be accused of lacking. His prior show about Lance Armstrong, and the impact the American cyclist hero had on a young lad from rural Yorkshire, meant Hodgson spent the entire Fringe run and subsequent tour on an exercise bike. “I've put the resistance down,” he explains. “At Edinburgh it was on two but it's on zero now. Basically just freewheeling.” Though Lance was based around the symbolic death of an idol, it was more about the end of innocence. It's a similar story with Maestro, his new show about classical music – Hodgson uses the theme as a starting point to tell a story of his life: “The show is about the emotional attachment to the music, which is something people have regardless of the genre, and the process of me trying to write this symphony is mirrored with me trying to fall in love.” Hoping not to scare too many people away

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Interview: John Stansfield

with the supposedly haughty world of symphonies and orchestras, he's “making sure that zero prior knowledge is required,” adding: “The music that I'm drawn to is classical music. It might be easier to do something with the guitar but that's not how I operate.”

“ There's only so long you can tell your life story when you're 28” Kieran Hodgson

Maestro will see Hodgson play the violin on stage, something he says is much easier to trek across Edinburgh with than the exercise bike of last year's show. He has a special recording too: “Back in January I got some friends together to make an orchestra, so the music from that recording is going to play over the speakers throughout the show – it was prohibitively expensive to get 40 people to appear on stage.” Realism is key to his shows; the beating

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August 2016

THE SKINNY

Norseman of the Apocolypse With three shows in his hectic Fringe plans this year, it's no wonder Matt Winning's had his mind on the end of the world Interview: Craig Angus att Winning's had a hectic weekend. He's been to Marseille and back in 24 hours, on a whistlestop football tour to watch Iceland take on Hungary at Euro 2016. He was rooting for the North Atlantic Islanders, which comes as no surprise as we recall an old sketch – a foul mouthed hip-hop group called Focal Point, which he starred in alongside Richard Gadd and James Kirk. He laughs at the recollection. “Yeah, we did it at a night called Stockholm Syndrome in Glasgow,” he says. “Gadd and Kirk both had quite well defined characters, I just came on with a guitar and didn't really say a lot – but I ended up one night doing an Icelandic fisherman thing. Both of them went, ‘You're never doing that again.’” It's a story that tells you a lot about Winning; no matter the stage, you can't shake the sense he's dying to throw something new into the performance. Having played in bands in his youth (“If I ever do give up comedy,” he says, “I'd like to play in a band again, playing Metallica covers”), Winning's been doing stand up since 2009, initially venturing out to perform as a way of leaving his parents' house. Soon he was landing bigger gigs, meeting like-minded people and performing – for example – as volatile tennis star Steph E Graph, complete with jokes about deuce, love and Richard E Grant. Last year, he took his debut solo hour Mugabe and Me in 3D to Edinburgh. It was a career high point, in which Winning confidently addressed his complicated relationship with the dictator and committed fully to the third dimension aspect of the show (with “the most expensive opening joke at the Fringe”). Having performed at Edinburgh on various bills since 2010, there was a feeling that the show was both a breakthrough and a send-off. Looking forward, Ragnarok sees Winning return to Opium on PBH's Free Fringe, and while writing a follow-up has had its challenges, it's also given him a blank canvas of sorts. By his own

admission, he's got the opportunity to build a show, rather than parachuting lots of – admittedly first-rate – gags into a story about the pros and cons of your dad being Robert Mugabe. “The story in Mugabe and Me was fairly loose,” says Winning. “Ragnarok has more of a narrative. There's still tangents, but I'm trying to keep it fairly tied to an idea.” Day-to-day he's a researcher in environmental and climate economics, and his work life has given the show a tight theme. “The show is kind of about the end of the world, and Ragnarok is the Viking version of that.” It all sounds very serious, but then he swiftly brings things back to familiar territory. “There's a great bit about corn on the cob,” he continues, before spilling out some plot details, best left unspecified, about the distant, distant relatives of Matt Winning. Another busy summer awaits. A new sketch group – I Am Wario, comprising Winning, Stuart Laws and Anne Klein – have a debut show, and there are two special 100 Year Anniversary shows with the Bearpit Podcast crew to think about too. He says the importance of the latter group – and Stockholm Syndrome before it – can't be underestimated. “I think I'd have given up at some point if I hadn't been at some stage doing those two things. You arrive with mad ideas and have a place to try them out. It makes you realise you can do whatever you want.” That includes doing a show about the Viking apocalypse. “I'm taking a little step into the unknown – and I like that. I think that's what Edinburgh should be.”

Does Mum know best? Multi-talented Elf Lyons is about to find out if honesty is the best policy where family relationships are concerned

Matt Winning: Ragnarok, Opium (Upstairs), 6-27 Aug, 3.45pm, PBH Free Fringe I Am Wario, Sneaky Pete's, 6-27 Aug (not 17), 12.05pm, PBH Free Fringe Bearpit Podcast (Podcast): 100 Year Anniversary, Pleasance Dome, 23 & 26 Aug, 11.30pm, £5 www.edfringe.com

Matt Winning

August 2016

Elf Lyons

Credit: Jessica McDermott

ith a glance at Elf Lyons’ CV, it looks like she's nearly done it all. She's written and directed plays and also rock operas for the Fringe, spent a year with Philippe Gaulier learning the fine art of theatre, a summer with Duckie's Homosexualists re-imagining cabaret, and two Fringe festivals with stand-up shows that were the perfect combination of pleasingly niche and joyously well-received. Right now, Lyons and her new show, Pelican, are in the getting-to-know-you phase of their relationship. “It's like falling in love with someone when you start dating. I'm just getting to figure out what it is.” On paper, Pelican is a show about Lyons’ relationship with her mother – the good, the bad, the screamingly ugly – and is in some ways the most classically-themed stand-up hour she's done so far. Underground Success, her first show, was about her obsession with the London Underground; Being Barbarella saw Lyons take inspiration from a sci-fi comic book character to discuss sex and body-confidence. In comparison, family matters could sound far easier, but this isn't really the case. “There's a tradition of doing a show after someone's passed away, but then you take away their opportunity to retort or talk back to you. I really want my mum to see the show and see what she thinks. It's probably one of the most tricky shows to do about another person, especially when they are still alive. How do you do a really honest show about your relationship with your mum that doesn't sever the relationship in the process? Comedy seems to be the only way that I can talk honestly to my mum about herself.” Relationships with parents can get fraught at any time of life. When Lyons’ mum was in her mid-20s, she had a little Elf to look after. Now, Lyons is 25 and she's asking questions about her own future and her mum's past. “I've always described my mum as an artist – she's an artist and she's had kids. But through the years my mum's not gone back to painting, and she always says to me: you can't have it all, you've got to choose whether

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Interview: Jenni Ajderian you want to be a comedian or whether you want to have kids. It's a really sad factor that for women now we still face this question.” Put this way, wanting to ‘have it all’ almost sounds greedy. The idea that women have to choose one mask to wear for the rest of our lives is absurd, but so is the idea that we should wear all the masks and be amazing at everything.

“We've got to stop being so judgemental towards women and their choices” Elf Lyons

“I get angry at my mum all the time, and it's a proper rage: why couldn't my mum do it all? Why couldn't it have been her that went on to become the incredible artist, why did she have to stay at home? And you can do that, but it doesn't really help anyone. We've got to stop being so judgemental towards women and their choices.” Delving further into their relationship, then, Lyons is really asking the eternal question: ‘Will I turn into my mother?’ and also: ‘What does that even mean? Is that good, bad or neither?’ Exploring each question with stories from her own life, her mother's life, and a few surreal asides, Lyons gets to play with a few different masks to see what fits. “It's not just about my relationship with my mum,” she adds, “it's about my relationship with the future me.” Elf Lyons: Pelican, Voodoo Rooms (French Quarter), 6-28 Aug (not 16 & 23), 7.50pm, PBH Free Fringe www.edfringe.com

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Vicars, laydeez and Kimye Part of Glasgow's Chunks Collective and a graduate of the Edinburgh Revue, to call Gemma Flynn a local hero would be an understatement. We find out what she has planned for her second solo show

our last show, Trap Queen, was about feminism, neo-liberalism and also Will Smith. Is there still a need to inform audiences of these things? What's different about Around the Way Girl? “I've been working on Around the Way Girl since my preview at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. I didn't want to talk about the same things, but then I went to a wedding and the vicar made a joke about my tits, so I thought, ‘OK, there's clearly need for more discussion in this realm.’ “I'm doing a lot with pop culture and the internet to try and discuss feminist issues, like how we objectify women like Kim Kardashian. I'm starting with my real lived experiences like this fucking goddamn vicar as a prompt to understand what is happening with the way women are treated, how they see themselves and trying to understand what we can take as positives from pop culture icons. “Essentially, it's a lotta LOLs, and making fun of Kanye is just so easy and fun.” Some of hip-hop's greatest thinkers have actually got in touch with questions for you. This one's from Rick Ross: ‘Am I really just a narcissist, just cos I wake up to a bowl of Lobster Bisque?’ “No, he's just a legend. I can only but dream of waking up to a steaming bowl of bisque. It's classy AF.”

Gemma Flynn

This one goes out to DMX – he says, ‘Where my dogs at?’ “[Barks] I'm here. I'm here for you, X.”

If he doesn't know where his dogs are at, should he get them microchipped? “Yeah. Get some posters up, get a picture of them, put them up around the city, call the RSPCA. I think he means his friends though, not dogs.” Maybe he should get them microchipped too? “I would take a chip for you.”

“ Essentially, it's a lotta LOLs, and making fun of Kanye is just so easy and fun” Gemma Flynn

Now, this is the first of three from someone who calls themselves K. West: ‘Have you ever had shoes without shoe strings?’ “I did have Velcro trainers when I was young but apparently Kanye's bringing out trainers that are just stretchy and you can step right into them.” Is that not just like Vans? “That is like Vans. That's the thing with Kanye – he believes himself to be a revolutionary. He recently declared that he invented leather jogging pants as well. He's a pioneer. He reminds

Interview: Polly Glynn

me of a keen first year, like, ‘some of what you just said is wrong, but your spirit is strong.’” Back to K. West: ‘Have you ever popped champagne on a plane while getting some brain?’ “I've popped champagne on a train! It was Virgin First Class and it was like getting brain. We were given complementary sandwiches and that was great. Although, if I was offered brain on a plane, I don't know if I'd really be in the mood to take it.” And his third question: ‘Have you ever had sex with a pharoah?’ “Not that I know of. If he was a pharoah, he kept that well under his wraps. I'd love to have sex with a pharoah though.” Would his mask-thing not get in the way? “I think it would just be so exciting and a real nod to history. My bed is just so sandy. Crumbs everywhere. It looks like I've already had sex with a pharaoh in my bed. One of my friends sat in it and he said it was like sitting on a Ryvita.” And finally, from A Tribe Called Quest – ‘Can I kick it?’ “Can you kick it? I feel like you can kick it. Kick it with me, anytime. You can kick it absolutely.” Gemma Flynn – Around the Way Girl, Sportsters, 6-28 Aug (not 15), PBH Free Fringe. @gemmaflynn

Little Raskal After scooping a best newcomer nomination in 2014, Steen Raskopoulos returns with a new selection of characters including a rather unorthodox drill sergeant Interview: Emma O'Brien

hat filmic depiction of war comes closest to the Edinburgh Fringe experience: a) Full Metal Jacket, b) Saving Private Ryan or c) Threads? “d) All of the above. You need the strength of a Full Metal Jacket to have the courage to do the Fringe while Saving Private Ryan reminds me of performing your own show and looking out for your friends at the same time. Threads are the only thing you have left when it's all over.” Sticking with the film theme, the making of Apocalypse Now was so intensely fucked up that a lot of the chaos is real – Martin Sheen almost died. What comedy festival experience took you into your own heart of darkness, and did you end up in a river? “At the Melbourne Comedy Festival last year there were many days on which I did double performances of my solo show followed by an hour-long improvised Bear Pack show [Raskopoulos’ improv duo with Carlo Ritchie], plus a few late night spots here and there. It was intense and took me to a pretty dark place (also known as ‘the flu’). Also, one time I ended up in a river but that was because I drank too much Schnapps and love a dare.”

People often consider National Service to be a character-building experience that enriches a young person's understanding of the world and their place in it. Can the same be said for comedy? “Yes, definitely. Comedy is a constant character-building experience. If you have physical and mental strength, the support of your fellow soldiers and the right tools you can travel the world and learn a great deal about yourself. I suppose the only major difference is being in the army puts you at risk of death and injury, whereas comedy puts you at risk of on-stage death and reputational scarring.” There's a famous episode of Blackadder where the soldiers pretend to be insane to avoid frontline combat and certain death. They do this by putting pencils up their noses and underpants on their head. It doesn't work, of course. How would you convince your own drill sergeant you're too crazy to be shot at? “Wow, you're really going for it with this military theme. Excellent commitment. Well, I would tell him that mental illness is a serious

matter that shouldn't be joked about. Then rip my shirt off and moonwalk away.” What's the most creative ‘punishment’ he'd inflict on someone who burst into tears mid-show? “The drill sergeant in my show is not what you might expect. If someone was crying tears of joy he'd probably make them drop and give him 20 hugs. If they were tears of sadness, he'd probably encourage them to talk about their feelings. He'd then hit them with an air strike of support and a barrage of reassurance.” Incongruously, the theme from M*A*S*H was released by the Manic Street Preachers as a charity record for Scope in 1992. If your drill sergeant were doing a charity record, what would be his bizarre cover and what's his good cause? “He would probably cover That's What Friends Are For to raise money for friendship. He says it's the most important ship in the fleet.” Steen Raskopoulos – You Know the Drill, Underbelly, Cowgate (Belly Laugh), 4-28 Aug (not 15), 7:40pm, £7-12.50. The Bear Pack, Underbelly, Cowgate (Belly Laugh), 16-28 Aug (not 22), 10:20pm, £7-12. Steen Raskopoulos

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Stitched up Last year, Diane Spencer gave us Power Tool, a truly glorious stitch-up of her former employer Nancy Dell’Olio. This year her Edinburgh show suggests stitching of a different kind Interview: Stu Black

“I

Goose

Good for the Goose With their splash zone clearly marked, Goose are hoping for a sweltering August in George Square Gardens Interview: John Stansfield

‘S

weaty one-man cartoons,’ reads the description on the website for sketch duo Goose – a description that could not be more succinct and apt. It’s best to start with the adjective: sweat. For where Goose are concerned, there’s a lot of it. “Every Edinburgh we have to write more and more references in about how sweaty he is,” says Ben Rowse, one half of the sketch group. It’s certainly true that Adam Drake perspires more than any act we’ve ever seen. At last year’s show, Kablamo, the front row was warned they were part of a splash zone, and the pair had to come up with increasingly inventive terms for the unleashed spray upon the crowd whenever Drake span to indicate a scene change. ‘Sweat tsunami’ was a particular favourite. Rowse explains: “We have to start addressing it earlier and earlier every year, because if you don’t address it, people do get quite worried. People get like, ‘Is he malfunctioning?’” “You see people going on WebMD on their phones,” adds Drake, “and we still don’t know if it’s healthy. It’s either really healthy or really unhealthy.” You may have noticed the initial statement also mentioned ‘one-man cartoons’, yet there have been two people speaking about Goose and its sweaty machinations. This is not an accident. Both write the shows but Drake is the one that performs. And perspires. Last year, Rowse’s acting gig consisted solely of setting up a sketch premise, but this year they’ve had a little departure. “We wrote a big song this year,” says Drake, “and there was going to be a bit about why Ben isn’t in the show. The joke was going to be that he was really bad and he was going to do things really badly. But then when we rehearsed it he was so bad at being bad that we had to cut it. So now we’ve just stopped referencing a second invisible member.” Perhaps most perfect, however, is the final word of that initial sentence – cartoons. Drake’s fast-paced, multi-role performances are reminiscent of scenes in Bugs Bunny cartoons, when the rapid-fire rabbit would play baseball, in

August 2016

turn becoming the batter, pitcher, catcher, umpire and sexy broad in the crowd. Following this kind of example, it’s no wonder Drake sweats so much leaping about the stage, playing the ludicrous cast of characters that make up their show.

t’s about my family coming together, with sewing as the running thread,” says Diane Spencer with an awkward chuckle on the textile pun. “It’s called Seamless, which is a reference to sewing but also about how you join into another family.” The livewire comic seems particularly content, and it isn’t all down to exorcising the Nancy Dell’Olio demon; Spencer got hitched in June to Kevin Shepherd, a comedy director who has three shows on at the Fringe this year too. So should we expect a ‘happy, shiny’ show focussing on domestic bliss? Though the two entertainers are a good match, the tricky bit for Spencer has been working out how to integrate into the lives of Shepherd’s two teenage daughters. “Becoming a stepmother isn’t easy. It isn’t talked about much and there’s hardly anything out there to help. I found one video on YouTube, but all the comments underneath were about how much everyone hated their step-parents. So that wasn’t great.” She includes jokes about the girls in her new show, but through the skewed prism of stand-up, this isn’t always 100% flattering and could be a risky strategy rather than an affectionate demonstration of how much she cares. Spencer is however adamant that she isn’t going to shy away from saying what she wants (this is the comedian who started one show a few years ago with the line “I wank too much”). So are the step-kids allowed to watch? “I’m not censoring myself and they’re not invited. Period. The show still has some rough elements, plus I do call their dad my sexy, horned goat that I ride to climax peak.” Fair enough then. This will be Spencer’s seventh show at the Fringe out of an eventual target of ten. She admits

that she’s still experimenting with forms and making mistakes, but says that her hope by the end of the ten is to have got beyond that. “I guess I’m aiming for artistic clarity – it’s not that I think when I reach number ten my head will pop open and there will be flowers or any physical change.” She disagrees with the idea that it’s the experimenting that is the fun part and reaching her goal might mean there’s less to motivate her. She throws another sewing analogy into the mix to explain her thinking: “The first dress I made was so bad it sent my step-kids into hysterics. It was too short, it was huge and it was lilac – so it looked like a hospital moomoo. I’d thought I’d followed the instructions to the letter but then found the collar was inside out and one of the sleeves was on upside down. The second dress I made, the collar was the right way round and it fitted a bit better, okay the pockets were still a bit skewiff but it was getting there.” So, third time lucky? “It actually fitted. I chose a better fabric and put a modesty panel on so it wasn’t too short. As I go along each time I’m getting better – once I’ve got all the rules in my mind and I know how it works then I can go fucking nuts. [After making the dresses] I went to the fabric shop and bought this shiny, gold quilting they have and I made a bolero for my wedding!” Right. So what does the shiny gold bolero of comedy that follows the dodgy dresses of comedy look like? Spencer pauses to think: “I don’t know yet but I will work that out.” Diane Spencer: Seamless, Gilded Balloon Teviot (Wee Room), 3-29 Aug (not 15), 5.45pm, £5-9.50 www.edfringe.com

“ If you don’t address the splash zone, people do get quite worried” Ben Rowse

Boundless energy brings the whole thing vividly and hilariously to life. The gags per minute and rate of the dialogue are reminiscent of Airplane! and The Naked Gun, as well as more modern cartoon-like sitcoms such as 30 Rock or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. “Ben lent me Police Squad! while we were at uni,” recalls Drake. “I remember watching that non-stop.” The speedy action also means that repeat viewings of Goose shows are encouraged, as the audience gets a chance to pick up on throwaway punchlines they might have missed the first time round. This year they have a bigger stage as their popularity has dictated they move to the Piccolo theatre in George Square Gardens. But one big problem faces them – will it be hot enough? Last year’s venue was, as Drake puts it, “kind of perfect for convection currents,” whereas 2016’s show Hydroberkserker is in a venue that is “legally ventilated”. With the sweatiness of their one-man cartoons in doubt, Rowse chimes in: “We can pack some heaters.” Goose: Hydroberserker, Assembly George Square Gardens (Piccolo), 4-28 Aug, 4.30pm, £6-12 Daine Spencer

www.edfringe.com

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In Two Minds

To become popular through an obscure art form is surely not as easy as Nina Conti makes it look, but then the ventriloquist is never alone Interview: Cara McNamara

ome years ago, during an interview, the actor Tom Conti outed his daughter as a ventriloquist. From the state of his eyebrows, he was plainly baffled but supportive. It would seem a leftfield choice for any parent – an antiquarian, out-of-time profession; like choosing to become a telegrapher, or one of those women who shove model troops across tables in old war films. But, she's certainly made it work. Left a box of puppets in the will of her former lover, theatre director Ken Campbell, Nina Conti found her voice. “I never wanted to be a ventriloquist. I thought I wanted to be an actress, but I was wrong. I always had much more interest in playing character parts, a girl in a bar for instance. Playing a lead just wasn't... me. I wanted to create art, but I had no clue – I didn't pick up a pen until I had a puppet. “I remember when I first started I would make long videos just talking to myself, it was really fun – I found them again recently. It was when I started to think in dialogue rather than monologue that it began to work.” The most astonishing thing about Conti's act is the complete separation of person and puppet, to the extent that you forget she's on stage alone. Achieved, perhaps, because the puppets are not

cartoonish, neither infantile nor grotesque, they're instead little beings with 3D personalities. Yet Conti and her puppets are two side of the same coin – ‘Nina’, when onstage, is demure and slightly neurotic, while her puppets are accented, rude and overbearing. They volley between each other, a divided self, the celebrated Monkey affecting a sardonic compulsion seemingly absent from his comedic partner. “As a stand-up I needed more guile, and the puppets helped me. Something I've realised recently really is that I find it hard to ‘know’ anything – to have a strong opinion that's unshakeable. Using the puppets allows me to stride between one thought and another without ‘knowing’.

“ I never wanted to be a ventriloquist” Nina Conti

“Monkey's always in my head. It's hugely liberating. I like saying the worst things, and then making it OK again. With Monkey, it's in a place between irony and politics, so silly, so wild – he

Nina Conti

says the kind of things that Frankie Boyle might say, but I, Nina, never would – I'm just not that type.” Recently, Conti has added a new string to her bow, picking audience members to take part in the show, giving them masks, then improvising their voice and personality. Like a conjuror, she apparates life-size dummies and grants them five minutes of squirming discomfort. “It doesn't feel like a one-woman show. It's less lonely. I remember touring with multi-puppet shows and coming into the dressing room afterwards, thinking back to what it was like doing shows with other people, and here am I,

puppets splayed all over the room, and just all these marble eyes looking back at me – me, and a bunch of inanimate latex. “Now when I come off the stage and I've been doing a show with the masks, and I look back at the night's show, I sometimes find myself laughing. ‘Wasn't it funny when he said that?’ Except... I made him say it. I fool myself. But of course, they're all human beings; a new person exists for that little while.” Nina Conti: In Your Face, Pleasance Courtyard (The Grand), 3-29 Aug (not 16), 8pm, £10-17.50 www.edfringe.com

Party Time Birthday Girls chat about sketch comedy's missing generation, the importance of a bruising Fringe experience and how to cultivate the exact aroma of a deep fat fryer

wo years ago Birthday Girls performed in one of the most notorious venues at the Fringe. “When we first saw it,” says Rose Johnson, “we were all, ‘Oh shit.’” Doors essential for access, emblazoned with ‘DO NOT ENTER’ signs; exposed wiring; no lights in the stairwell; and, as Beattie Edmondson remembers with mock indignity, “having to go to the toilet in that hay bale bar every night” were just a few examples of a lack of Health and Safety gone mad. Not that it mattered, the unstoppable Party Vibes became a word-of-mouth hit. Last year, they returned to reprise the show for a short run, but became ensnared by the spectacular fall-out between venue operators – the fiasco known as Cowgateheadgate. Birthday Girls were turfed out of the cursed building they had come to think of, and made feel like, a home. But they were also one of the lucky ones; managing to land at Pleasance's quickly organised afterhours rescue operation for some of the displaced acts. This year, they're back in the Courtyard with an all-new show

– and Sh!t Hot Party Legends has a decidedly late-night vibe. “We're trying to get across the idea that we're on a night out and the audience are coming with us,” says Johnson. Edmondson adds, “And we do need a bit more tech for that, like... lights.” Performing in the evening is important for this group – something they learned the hard way the last time they took a brand new work to Pleasance. Formerly part of mega-ensemble Lady Garden, when this group disbanded the remaining trio reformed as Birthday Girls, but perhaps underestimated they were now an entirely new entity. Subsequently, their debut as in 2013 was a somewhat bruising experience: “There was a bit where Beattie was talking about giving blow jobs to dogs,” says Johnson. “Afterwards we thought, ‘It's no wonder that didn't fly at 6pm.’” “Because we'd become Birthday Girls not that long before,” says Camille Ucan, “we didn't have that long to establish ourselves working as a three – and we had a ‘narrative’ for the first time ever.” The show

Birthday Girls

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title alone – 2053 – seemed to force the group to stick with a futuristic concept long after they realised the idea wasn't suiting their style.

“ We're trying to get across the idea that we're on a night out and the audience are coming with us” Rose Johnson

“It was important for us to be able to fail,” says Johnson. “Looking back, you think, ‘Well of course, we'd only just formed, we didn't know what our dynamic was.’ We were chasing our tails trying to catch up with ourselves. But it allowed us to strip it right back and really think about what we wanted to do. To go from 2053 to Party Vibes the next year – a show we're really proud of – was amazing.” That room to stumble, and find their feet, is something they think is missing from current TV commissioning. As Johnson says: “We're surrounded by this amazing community of exciting young performers, but very few of them get thrust in the mainstream. I don't know what the channels think is going to happen with this missing generation. I just keep thinking, ‘Are you going to keep making Are You Being Served?’ We seem to have lost a culture where channels take on acts and help develop them.” With UK TV comedy commissioning in a risk-averse phase, the work of other creative outlets

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Interview: Ben Venables in the UK is helping plug the gap. This year, Birthday Girls released a mockumentary – Birthday Girls on Tour – through Turtle Canyon, the Pinewood based comedy producers with a growing reputation for the quality of their online content. “My dream is for that to be what we make and put on telly,” says Edmondson, and Ucan adds: “We like it because we look pathetic in it, the reality of traipsing round the country for no money doing sketch comedy.” Edmondson tells us: “We're doing an Edinburgh one.” Given a recent documentary released on Netflix – Hannibal Takes Edinburgh – captured only a bizarro Fringe experience of sunny climbs up Arthur's Seat, a record of a ‘normal’ August would make a nice alternative. If previous years are anything to go by, there might be plenty of encounters to choose from – even without Birthday Girls’ Cowgatehead adventures. Recalling an early visit with “about 50” drama students sharing two flats, Edmondson says: “One of the flats had scabies,” adding with a hint of nostalgia: “We all got really quite ill.” Still, at least mites burrowing under the skin doesn't make anyone smell. “We lived above a chippy,” says Ucan, also remembering accommodation past, “and the smell came straight into our bathroom's extractor fan, so every time we went for a shower we'd come out smelling of chip fat. “We stayed there three years in a row.” Birthday Girls: Sh!t Hot Party Legends, Pleasance Courtyard (Upstairs), 3-28 Aug, 9.45pm, £6-10 Rose Johnson directs Suzi Ruffell: Common, Just the Tonic at The Mash House (The Snifter Room), 4-28 Aug (not 15), 8.20pm, £5-6/PWYW Massive Lazy Girls, Pleasance Courtyard (Upstairs), 24-28 Aug, 11.30pm, £8-10 www.edfringe.com

THE SKINNY

The Nature of the Beasts High-energy sketch group Beasts return to the Fringe to settle their differences once and for all

t's quite early in our conversation when the inevitable question ‘who is the funniest?’ rears its ugly head. By way of an answer, Beasts explain their upcoming show Mr Edinburgh has been designed to settle this knotty conundrum once and for all. The three lads – James McNicholas, Owen Roberts and Ciarán Dowd – play both the hosts and contestants in a talent show they describe as “a cross between Miss Universe, Gladiators, The Generation Game and X-Factor,” before admitting that it's really just an excuse to get Dowd down to his pants (as is customary at their shows). This is Beasts’ fifth time at the Fringe and they have a deserved reputation for raucous, audience-frightening fiestas where anything can – and usually does – happen. “We talk about breaking an audience,” explains McNicholas, “but not in a torture way; more like a stallion – so they can't help but get involved.” “If you nod off,” Roberts clarifies, “Ciarán will get naked and sit on you.” Pondering this self-image, Dowd concludes: “If I went to see our show I'd probably think, this isn't for me.” And then they all crack up. These Beasts are fun company out of character, but they also think deeply about their

Interview: Stu Black

comedy, which is what makes it transcend the wacky, student-style clowning you might imagine. Their last few shows have included compelling high concepts that hold the silly stuff together: Solo in 2014 saw them trying (and failing) to break off as go-it-alone stand-ups, while 2015’s Live DVD captured their futile attempts to record the best version of their set for a bigshot in Hollywood.

“ If I went to see our show I'd probably think, this isn't for me” Owen Roberts

Self-sabotage is the name of the game here, so imagine a battle for supremacy that leaves everyone with egg on their faces. “The crux of the last three shows,” says McNicholas, “has been the tension between our three characters as they try

Beasts

to pull the show in their own different directions.” Roberts then adds: “It's a dynamic that works on stage because it's just like our creative process. We are frustrated in real life and our characters are frustrated with each other in the show.” This creative friction is understandable considering the three work so closely throughout the year, only to then shoehorn themselves into a flat with only “two and a half rooms” over the Fringe itself. “It's quite intense, quite intense, quite intense,” chants McNicholas as he stares off into the middle distance. Roberts takes over: “I remember in the past having big arguments, the sort you'd normally only have with your girlfriend, and always over something ridiculous like, ‘which is funnier: a duck or a goose?’ Or, ‘is Dowd's thong too revealing or not revealing enough?’ Really stupid things like that, but it can get very heated. Then you walk away thinking, ‘What is this life that makes us end up like this?’” Keeping them just-about-in-check is their long-time director Tom Parry of sketch troupe Pappy's. McNicholas reads a text they've just got

from the boss to demonstrate his “delicate” mentoring technique: ‘Morning cunts, get up and make progress on your Edinburgh show. The clock's ticking and it needs to be the best show in the world. You're welcome.’ After the chuckles subside, McNicholas goes on to explain how Parry helps shape things: “We have to find a careful balance between a live show and a controlled narrative, and that's where Tom is brilliant. He's got a great mind for pacing and structure.” The high concept of Mr Edinburgh promises to put the Beasts through the mill again and so guarantees more delicious in-fighting. Whether they'll finally answer the question of who is the funniest remains to be seen. All we can say is that, after our chat in the bar of Soho Theatre, we left a biscuit behind with the parting comment: “Whoever is the funniest can have it.” We didn't look back to see what ensued, but we did hear the sound of a scuffle and a crunch. Beasts Present Mr Edinburgh 2016, Pleasance Dome (Queen Dome), 3-29 Aug (not 13), 7pm, £6-11 www.edfringe.com

‘ I'm still working it out’ After the success of her critically acclaimed one-woman show on race in America, Desiree Burch talks about evolution, expectation and Edinburgh Interview: Amy Taylor

Desiree Burch

August 2016

esiree Burch is a little lost for words. That's unusual considering our 90-minute interview has touched upon such diverse topics as her opinion of the Fringe (“it's like this weird theatre version of Burning Man in some ways”), memory loss (“The process starts at sexual maturation. Oh, my God, that means that that dude that I fucked at 25, literally fucked an idea out of my head!”) and the inexplicable rise of the current presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, one Donald Trump (“I just don't understand how we got to the point where we went, ‘Hey, this guy! He's run companies into the ground, let's help him run America into the ground!’”). Since relocating from the US to London two years ago, Burch has won The Funny Women Award 2015 and also received a Fringe First for her solo theatre show, Tar Baby. Summing up her latest work This is Evolution – her debut hour of stand-up – is difficult. “’A performer at the beginning of her midlife crisis,’” she begins, before pausing. “’A performer in her mid-30s looks at the things that have formed her life and how she can break free of them?’” She pauses again, before adding, “I think part of it is dealing with the expectation of what I was supposed to be right now.” Expectation weighs heavily on Burch's mind and in This is Evolution she's taking a look at the trappings of life, the expectations she has of herself and how to change for the better. “It's me going, ‘Fuck, I'm stuck like this, I'm not magically gonna become this person.’ You never think, ‘How do I get from here to there?’ You think something's gonna happen that's magically gonna get

COMEDY

you there. I've been doing this for a couple for decades. Can I be a butterfly now? When we were younger, we changed because of time. Now, it's not like that. Nothing besides death is going to come along and change you.” After her accomplishments at the last Fringe, Burch is aware it's not just her own expectations that are high but the audiences are too, something that her previous show, 52 Man Pickup, also taught her. “My first Fringe was incredible. That was the reason I came back the second time, and the second time was ten times as hard, when you're like, ‘I paid for this venue, and it's on Mars and I'm busting my ass because I know what's at stake.’ Whereas the first time, it's like, ‘It's theatre camp, hooray!’” The success of Tar Baby, which discussed race in America, took both the Fringe and Burch by surprise. By that point she was used to, as she puts it, “the backhand of the Fringe.” But the experience of performing the play made her think more about performing, and the kind of topics that she wanted to tackle. Having discussed sex with her trademark honesty and frankness, she wanted to present something that was more comedic and less restrictive. “With Tar Baby, I love doing that show, but it is a bit like being Sisyphus – once you're into it, it moves, but it really feels like you have to make the sun come up with your two hands every day. With comedy, you can do more complex ideas, but you can also be like, ‘I don't know, I'm still figuring it out.’” Desiree Burch: This is Evolution, Heroes @ Bob's BlundaBus, 6-29 Aug (not 17 & 24), 8.15pm, £5/PWYW www.edfringe.com

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Pleasance Futures Multi-stranded development scheme Pleasance Futures has helped shape a multitude of creative careers. We speak to some of the people who’ve benefitted from working at the Fringe

Words: Lauren Strain

“W

hen I look back at the shows that were in my venues, it’s really hard to believe it happened...” “I was slathered in makeup, wore a great big tutu and strutted around the Mile like a right peacock.” “It was absolutely mental, to be honest.” These are just a few of the tales told by artists and individuals who’ve come through Pleasance Futures: a network of support schemes and opportunities for emerging talent that Edinburgh’s Pleasance theatre runs every year. Designed to offer a leg-up into a range of creative industries, the different Futures paths welcome everyone from budding writers to aspiring theatre producers, fledgling comedians to whizzkid technicians, all of whom get to learn the ropes on that most turbulent and thrilling of rides: the Fringe. Though Pleasance has helped launch careers for more than three decades, the last couple of years have seen the Futures initiative grow; brand new for 2016, for example, is a technical mentorship programme. Meanwhile, the Media Futures strand continues to strengthen, now offering three reporters, one filmmaker and one photographer the chance to boost their portfolios producing festival newspaper The Pleasance Times; and more than 200 people join the Pleasance Festival Volunteers Programme each August in a variety of capacities, from stage management to artist liason, all receiving a subsistence and, if they need it, accommodation. But while the Fringe is an exhilarating experience in itself, what’s perhaps most important is the door to future projects and work it can open.

For journalist Ellen Cawthorne, her month working on the Pleasance paper in 2015 helped pave the way towards her later roles: as presenter of a documentary series on BBC Radio 4, and as website assistant with BBC History magazine. “I’d never conducted a proper interview, before Pleasance,” she says; but in the space of four weeks, she got the “bug,” realising this was the career she wanted to pursue. “I got to speak to a guy who was a mind reader! And comedians, and actors... To be able to meet them and pick their brains was just incredibly enjoyable.” She describes how the demanding print schedule – the Times goes to press every two days – taught her to think creatively to deadline: “You can’t be a complete perfectionist. If you’ve got to write 1500 words by tomorrow then you’ve got to have them written, and the paper’s going out whether or not your article is finished.” The editorial freedom, too, gave her confidence. “You can pick which shows you think would make good stories and follow them up, do whatever you want,” she says. “We were never imposed upon. It’s very daunting in that sense because it’s all self-generated; you had to take the initiative, which is scary but in the end it’s so much more rewarding.” It’s this investigative spirit that she’s carried forward to recent adventures – she had to identify some of the radio programme’s interviewees herself – and she credits Media Futures with allowing an “incredibly rare” amount of creative free rein for someone with no previous journalistic experience, ultimately helping set her on this course.

A stint with Pleasance also proved something of a turning point for Marec Joyce, who volunteered with the company in 2002 and is now Technical Operations Manager, responsible for pretty much everything you see around you as you enjoy a show, move between venues and gaze up at those friendly yellow signs. “When I first applied to Pleasance I’d always thought I would move into a career in sound, as this was the only area of production I had access to growing up,” Joyce recalls. “I used to mix bands and concerts at school and was relatively selftaught with a few pointers from older pupils and the watchful eye of my music teacher. When I started working for Pleasance I started to fall in love with the organisation and procedures side of theatre.” After starting out in crew for Pleasance’s Below venue, Joyce managed the Cavern and Queen Dome, became technical stage manager at Pleasance’s home in Islington, London – and then it was off to Europe and the BBC Proms, the Royal Court Theatre and an international tour with the National Theatre of Scotland, amongst other engagements. Quite a journey from that first day stood, shy and confused, in the Pleasance Courtyard: “‘Below Crew’, my welcome letter said. I had no idea what ‘below’ meant, I didn’t know it was a quirky venue name. I honestly thought it was some kind of experience grading system – was I below everyone else?” Like Cawthorne, Joyce praises Pleasance’s encouragement of trying new things – “Just because your experience is in sound, doesn’t mean you’re forbidden to learn some lighting”

– and testifies to the pace of the Fringe as a training like no other: “You will have 10 shows per day in your venue, with as little as 20 minutes in between to set up for the next. This can mean a working day of up to and in excess of 12 hours per day, every day for 28 days. Plus there is a lot of beer to drink in Edinburgh...”

“ When I started working for Pleasance I started to fall in love with the organisation and procedures side of theatre” Marec Joyce

Indeed, it’s not only the practical skills that are valuable: the social life is, too. “There is a huge amount of peer learning at the Pleasance,” Joyce says. “[And] You are almost definitely guaranteed to be working alongside a potential employer... The sheer volume of people involved in putting together the festival is phenomenal, so the chances that someone has observed you work and is impressed are stacked in your favour.”

Plus, you never know who you might meet: “In 2002 I worked with a sketch group called Navel Gazing made up of Ricky Gervais, Mackenzie Crook, Ewen MacIntosh and Jamie Deeks, followed by a double act of Matthew Horne and Bruce MacKinnon. In later years [I worked with a] comedy game show debut, We Need Answers starring Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne, and last but not least one of my childhood icons, Dave Benson Phillips. That’s the joy of the Fringe: you get to see the great acts long before they make it big!” One such act on the rise is comedian Jamali Maddix, a Salford University grad who won the 2014 Chortle Student Comedian of the Year award and performed at the Fringe last year as part of Pleasance’s Comedy Reserve – a strand of the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve fund that allows four up-and-coming comics to play a group show with no financial risk, giving them a venue, digs, and money towards marketing materials. Maddix had played the Fringe twice before but applied to the Reserve as he felt he wasn’t quite ready for a full hour set, and had heard from others that the Reserve is “one of the best”; he joined Tom Little, Joe Sutherland and Malcolm Head for an intense month of sharing responsibilities (sometimes MCing, sometimes closing the show), trying out new material and rooting for each other every night. Maddix has since written his debut solo hour, Chickens Come Home to Roost, a frank piece of work exploring how different chances and choices

THE SKINNY

For others, Pleasance has been a part of their lives since they were little. The daughter of a Festival regular, Phoebe Eclair-Powell found that being part of Young Pleasance – Pleasance’s in-house theatre company for young people – allowed her to make the Fringe part of her own story. After three seasons in which she performed in shows as varied as Faustus and Bus! the Musical (“I played a sort of poor barmaid-y type girl who had a joke about a saveloy – what a moment”), she returned to Pleasance the summer after leaving university with three other YP graduates to present One Under, a piece about suicide on the London Underground. She’s kept the relationship going, and this year brings not one, but two shows she has written to the Fringe: at Underbelly, Torch, a confessional one-woman piece “about the chasm between performance and reality, between our ultimate selves and our insecure truthful self,” and at Pleasance Dome, Epic Love and Pop Songs, which tells the tale of two best mates and “what you’ll sacrifice to save your best friend from themselves.” It wasn’t until after university that EclairPowell began to write. Having spent much of her young life performing, she’d thought she might become an actor or director (and went on to do a Foundation Degree at Drama Centre), but found inspiration on a writing course at the Royal Court Theatre and has seemingly never looked back. What Pleasance gave her, she says, was “a sound knowledge of all things show,” out of which an impressive portfolio of scripts is now emerging: when we speak, she is about to open a new play – Fury, a modern take on Medea – at London’s Soho Theatre, where she is playwright in residence, and is gearing up for the small matter of two titles to her name this August: “I have Berrocca ready to insert into my eyeballs.” With some “slightly terrifying” commissions and television work on the horizon – after a post-Fringe Megabus to the Isle of Islay for a big whisky and a big sleep, of course – it’s clear that Eclair-Powell has found her groove. And just as Pleasance can help an individual realise their ideas, so too can it guide the formation of a work. Skin of the Teeth, an adaptation of a Brothers Grimm fairytale by theatre com-

August 2016

pany Fat Content, began life at research and development nights including A Pleasance Scratch – a variety evening that gives artists a ten-minute slot to present their work-in-progress, plus two days’ rehearsal space, mentoring and technical support. A highly physical one-man performance in which 19-year-old Nicholas, impervious to fear, sets out on a mission to feel it, Skin of the Teeth is a continuation of the company’s interest in making surreal updates of ancient stories. “Our process has always been experimentation; we like to experiment with different ideas before we create a fully formed thing,” explains director Rachel Lincoln, “so [Pleasance] Scratch was the perfect opportunity for us to try out some of the things we were interested in.” With technical support enabling them to check visual ideas, like using little LED lights as teeth, Fat Content focused their ten minutes on testing effects as well as workshopping poet Anna Beecher’s script. By far the most important element of Scratch as Lincoln sees it, however, is the chance to get unbiased and open-minded audience feedback – of which they received “loads and loads! We wanted to see where they found the comedy and the darker sides... We asked them questions about what they enjoyed, what they didn’t grasp, and we used that feedback to help us develop the rest of the show.” Not only is the audience honest – because it’s not just an assembly of friends or people already familiar with a company’s work – but it is considerate of the fact that the piece is in beta. “There’s not that pressure of judgement. You can take risks,” Lincoln says. Fat Content have since scratched the play again at events including Ipswich’s Pulse festival, raised money to cover the costs of an Edinburgh stint via Kickstarter, and are now ready to bring this latest twist on ancient myth to Pleasance Courtyard (That Space). Comedian, technician, journalist, playwright and director: all those we speak to have travelled very different journeys through the Fringe and with Pleasance, but all seem united in their enthusiasm for the experiences they’ve had and the adventures that have followed. “It’s just an amazing opportunity to put your work out there,” says Lincoln of the Fringe; “to make the best work that you can make and share it with people.” And as Ellen Cawthorne advises: just do it. “There’s not many other places where you’d get a chance to do something a bit crazy, in the real world,” she says. “Be confident; try out some crazy ideas... and believe that you can do it.”

Credit: James Deacon

in life can lead to different outcomes, which he’s bringing to Pleasance Courtyard (Attic Space) this summer and which he’s in the middle of previewing when we call. “It’s been fucking hard, man!” he says of the process. “It’s been ups and downs, lefts and rights, there’s been tears and smiles... It’s hard because you’ve got to worry about structure and story and this and that. But I love it, you know. It’s like another element of creativity.” The hardest thing about putting together your first 60 mins, he says, is simply the length: “It’s an hour. The thing is, you do a set and it’s like 20 minutes and you don’t do well – it’s 20 minutes, you can fuck it up. But dying for an hour?! Feels like for fucking ever.” Fortunately, the previews have been going well and, off the back of a strong year that’s taken in a support slot for Jim Jefferies, touring the Middle East with the Comedy Store and various TV writing credits, Maddix is set to be one of the most in-demand young acts at this year’s festival.

Jamali Maddix

Jamali Maddix: Chickens Come Home to Roost, Pleasance Courtyard, 3-29 Aug (not 15), 8.15pm Epic Love and Pop Songs, Pleasance Dome, 3-29 Aug (not 15), 4.20pm Skin of the Teeth, Pleasance Courtyard, 3-29 Aug (not 16), 3.15pm pleasance.co.uk

Fat Content

“ It’s just going to be us, a couple of chairs, and a dream” Perennial Fringe favourites Max and Ivan bring an autobiographical show to Pleasance Dome and tell us about how their art has changed over the years Interview: Jenni Ajderian

mpty chairs are a rare thing at a Max and Ivan show, and this has been the case since their Fringe debut way back in 2010. If music be the food of love, their eponymous debut saw the duo singing, rapping and darting around displaying their trademark surreal take on relationships. But, as they insist down the line from sunny London, that first show of largely unconnected sketches: “Never happened”. The show that never happened garnered fivestar reviews and sold out runs from its very early days, but its legacy was to pave the way for the comedy duo to get their teeth into something bigger. “Each sketch is its own self-contained world,” says Max, “you go in and you go out, and there are lots of extensions to that form and people make their shows wonderfully, but we had a kind of niggling sense that we could get more out of a show in which we were telling a story. So the characters don’t come and go in one flock; you get to know them, you invest in them a little bit and you get to weave something together.” And weave they did: Max and Ivan are Holmes and Watson in 2011 saw the two taking two of the UK’s best-loved characters and spinning them into life. “Something definitely clicked when we tried that out,” Ivan says, on their first long-form comedic offering. “It felt right,” Max agrees. “It felt like the show we wanted to make. It felt like you could pour so much more into it, you could tell so much more of a satisfying story over the course of an hour than you could within 30 different two-minute chunks [in a sketch show]. It was well received, which was lovely, but we really enjoyed the process of firstly creating it and then, more importantly, performing it.” While performing it, the pair use facial contortions over costume, and mime over props, allowing them both to dazzle as performers. It turns out this was a practical choice as well as an artistic one: “That sketch show, if I remember rightly, we had so many props and costumes, we actually had two mates backstage to help us dress.” says Ivan. Max adds: “We had two full rails of costume, if not three, and basically it was wildly expensive, it was completely insane, and I’m pretty sure none of the costumes added anything. That was one of the other big choices: we thought we want to tell a story, and also we’re just going to do it without any props or costumes, and it’s just going to be us, a couple of chairs, and a dream.” Ivan continues, “Actually, Holmes and Watson had just one chair. It was super lo-fi, we sold out the next year and got two chairs.” What’s the furniture situation looking like for this year? “We got a bloody park bench last year, who knows,” Max wonders, before Ivan says: “We might have a sedan.” Since Holmes and Watson they have tried their hand at being Con Artists, a class full of school chums at The Reunion, and an entire doomed town in The End. They have also both given ridiculously athletic performances as pro-comedy-wrestlers at Fringe bi-annual barnstormer The Wrestling: a highly physical, comedic free-for-all which has to be seen to be believed.

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This Fringe will not see The Wrestling take to that stage, however. “It is indeed a fallow year. It’s essentially impossible to do it two years in a row.” Max tell us. “It takes a couple of years to recover.” Ivan says, understandably. “It is very much a deep excavation of the soul to vomit the whole thing into existence,” Max says of their joint creation, “We do it with the kind practical and production help of the Pleasance who very kindly make the Pleasance Grand look stunning. We’ve done everything from building the show, directing the show, working with all the acts and getting them in the ring and training them in the dark art of being a professional wrestler. Which I do with my long-time wrestling collaborator Dan the Hammerhead who is well-versed in slamming comedians.” Ivan is nodding all the while. “Max always works in double-acts.”

“ It is very much a deep excavation of the soul to vomit the whole thing into existence” Max

The partnerships we see in Max and Ivan’s shows are many and varied: from professional double-acts (tour guides, get-away drivers) to romantic partnerships (long-lost, clandestine or married and in need of the end of the world to relight their fire) and everything in between (an elderly man and his carer, a pair of penpals reunited as enemies, or the hapless Billy and his own inner monologue while on a date with a member of the audience). These vignettes of smaller relationships build up into a complex whole. In more recent shows in particular, the comedy and breathless character acrobatics have been centred around a powerful emotional core. The Reunion saw unrequited love battle chronic illness, and The End brought a prodigal son back home to watch the end of the world with his emotionally distant father. Are they mixing comedy and tragedy on purpose? The mood of each piece comes more from the story they are trying to tell than from any conscious move, as Max explains: “Stories tend to have some kind of heart – something central pulling at it. I don’t think that was a conscious decision, to go in a darker direction, but each show takes on a different flavour, be it silly or romantic or dark. In The End we enjoyed exploring a kind of run-down dilapidated town that was part the towns that we grew up in and part every town anyone’s ever been to, and then coupling that with a kind of mini-apocalypse gives that a slightly dark tone, which bled into the characters and the heart of it.”

The towns Max and Ivan grew up in will be making their way into the spotlight at this year’s Fringe in Our Story. After five years of pretending to be other people, Max and Ivan are finally telling us about themselves. But how much of the extraordinary true story is true? “One hundred percent,” promises Max. “Absolutely,” agrees Ivan. “It just happens that we’ve lived very, very, very funny lives.” “Weirdly, we were discussing how we met and all of that – and the audiences of Edinburgh will find out exactly how it happened,” Ivan continues, “we were also talking about our parents, and they’ve got ridiculous life stories as well. It got to the point where it got too bizarre.”

COMEDY

“People would think we were bad at comedy writing if we put our parents’ lives in the show. But everything you see is based on a true story,” Max insists. Whatever kind of furniture that story is accompanied by, Max and Ivan are excited to tell it on stage, all their complex story-weaving coming to life. “It’s up and running and growing and breathing and taking shape,” Max says. “It’s our best show yet.” Ivan adds: “Best – show – ever!” Max & Ivan: Our Story, Pleasance Dome: Queen Dome, 3-28 Aug (not 15), 8.20pm, £6-12.50 www.edfringe.com

THE SKINNY

The Wrestler who Met his Match Colt Cabana tells us how he learned everything he knows in comedy and self-sufficiency – by watching the very worst of wrestling

olt Cabana is the king of DIY. The professional wrestler has carved out a unique career, reinventing himself away from a huge corporation such as WWE. Instead he has found success on the indie wrestling scene, as well as with his podcast The Art of Wrestling, his comedy web shows Creative Has Nothing For You, Worst Promo Ever and his live shows – in which he and his guests commentate on bad wrestling. “The DIY world has helped me live my dream,” he says, “and it’s definitely been my mantra. I made the decision to make myself my own boss and the only person who could fire me is me – and I don’t plan on making that decision anytime soon." This year, he returns with late show Brendon Burns and Colt Cabana Do Comedy and Commentary to Bad Wrestling Matches!, something that Cabana doesn’t take for granted. The Fringe, he says, “was something that I always wanted to go to as a spectator and I couldn’t believe that Brendon was going to allow me to be a part of it. “We did the show four years ago and I think he thought it was going to be a one-off, but I had so much fun and I loved being a part of it – so much I keep on coming back.” He adds: “I mean, it’s not like I have to prepare for it; I’ve literally been preparing for it my whole life, watching bad wrestling. A lot of it’s just improvised, it’s just us goofing off. Brendon likes to call it a lounge show, so it’s kind of us just hanging out, watching bad wrestling.” For Cabana, however, the Fringe isn’t just about his own show. You can clearly hear his passion and love for the festival as he discusses it: “I’ll see as many shows as I can. I get really inspired when I go, seeing the other shows, seeing other people perform... It helps me as a performer so I try to see as many shows as I can.” Cabana is a regular in the UK and is quick to reference old British wrestlers as both his wrestling and comedic influences. “I have such an

August 2016

Interview: James McColl

affinity with the UK,” he says. “Guys like Les Kellett and Catweazle... they were natural comedians and it was a lot of the physicality, the face pulling and also the psychology... a lot of people don’t know how much psychology there is because there’s such a science behind making people laugh. I really love that aspect of it.”

“ There’s such a science behind making people laugh. I really love that aspect of it” Colt Cabana

What is most alluring about Cabana is his refusal to conform to being one thing. He is a wrestler, comedian, performer and artist – what’s most striking about that is his ability to be all of these things at the same time. “The crossover between comedy and wrestling is something that I’ve based my career on. I feel I’ve found a really nice niche. For so long it was only the wrestling, and now you see wrestlers on television shows, reality shows... Wrestlers have YouTube channels about video games, it’s really expanding. “I know who I am and what I am and what I represent. I love doing comedy and I love being the wrestling guy in comedy. I love inter-splicing myself into shows as the wrestler.” Brendon Burns and Colt Cabana Do Comedy and Commentary to Bad Wrestling Matches!, Pleasance Dome (Jack), 3-28 Aug (not 15), 10.45pm, £6-10 www.edfringe.com

COMEDY

Feature

Date Night Rob Drummond returns to the Fringe this year with In Fidelity, a play that brings members of the audience onstage for a blind date. Naturally, we sent our Deviance editor to the rehearsals to find her one true love

“I

’d rather set myself on fire.” Taking part in an onstage blind date in front of a paying audience; it’s fair to say that’s not an entirely inviting prospect for a certain proportion of the theatre-going population – along with, quite clearly, my host for the evening. But then there’s the rest of us, those with a lust for the limelight and a tendency toward spontaneity; the kind of people who’d be more than happy to risk embarrassment for the sake of deliciously validating attention and a chance to connect with a total stranger. I’m of the latter persuasion – and handily so, as I’d been invited to act as a guinea pig dater in rehearsals for In Fidelity, Rob Drummond’s latest play in which two audience members are united on their first ever date for the viewing pleasure of an entire auditorium. If you’re thinking the premise sounds a little like the reality TV programme First Dates – well, Rob thinks so too; “This show’s been in my head since 2012, before First Dates existed,” he tells me. Steven Atkinson, the show’s director, chuckles, recalling that Rob had even chosen the title ‘First Dates’ before it was snapped up by Channel 4. “They beat me to it, but I beat them to it up here,” Rob laments, tapping his temple. “Just means we’re plugged into the zeitgeist.” But title and premise aside, comparisons are brought to an end. In Fidelity swaps out the bombastic Franglais croons of First Dates' Fred for the wit, shoulder shrugs and casual companionship of Rob himself, who plays the dating show host. Instead of interviews and auditions, the daters are selected onstage via a series of questions such as “Do you ever cry at films?”, “Do you try to hide that you’re crying?” and “Is there someone on stage right now who you might fancy a bit?” This, along with the narrative tapestry woven into the live date transforms what could have been moreish voyeurism into a mature piece of millefeuille theatre. My own experience with In Fidelity was a pared-down affair. Though the actual run will take place in the Traverse, I was spared the stage and spotlight in favour of a rehearsal room in HighTide

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Theatre’s London space. The invited audience was a modest dozen or so, and Steven, the director, stood in as my date under the pseudonym of Sebastian. Contrary to my expectations, Sebastian turned out to be, well, a bit of a shit. A striking digression from the affable, articulate Steven to whom I’d been introduced just five minutes earlier, this alter-ego was disinterested, conversationally stubborn and boasted less chat than a Yeoman Warder.

“ I think out of three weeks of shows in Edinburgh it’s quite likely that some of the pairings will last longer than one or two dates” Rob Drummond

But, encouraged by Rob’s reassuring presence in the corner of the room, I dug deep. Recalling that ‘Sebastian’ had mentioned an interest in swimming, I offered an anecdote about a time I engaged in nudist swimming. I immediately regretted it, but the audience giggled, the tension disintegrated, Rob grinned and – victory of victories – my fictional date smiled too. “Sorry, about that, Steven really put you through the wringer, there!” Rob gasped after the rehearsal. Turns out the pair were workshopping worst case scenarios – how things might unfold if the daters didn’t click as expected. “But that’s proved something – if you just let these things run their course, it usually turns into something really nice.” It seems they’re out to create as many

of those organically lovely moments as possible, through whatever means necessary. “They say don’t try to recreate funny moments because it won’t go down as well the second time, but that’s not quite the case for lovely moments,” Rob explains. “Bizarrely enough, they do seem to work the second time. Maybe sincerity is easier to pull off than comic timing.” The show is a romantic departure from Rob’s dizzyingly tense Bullet Catch (brought to the Fringe in 2012) in which he performed the notoriously risky stunt of the same name with the help of a brave audience accomplice. In the same way that the central stunt in Bullet Catch facilitated a theatrical investigation into human nature, free will and magic, the In Fidelity dates are embedded within other subplots and segments. There’s the narrative of Rob’s own 15 year relationship with his wife, 'Lucy'; the story of his research on Match.com and what he describes as a ‘Pandora’s box’ that he subsequently opened; and the tale of Darwin, his wife and his evolutionary explanations for monogamy, fidelity and love. But why, exactly, are we so interested in watching other people’s dates? Rob cites Darwin, offering the explanation that it’s evolutionarily useful to observe successful mating behaviours. He’s got his own theory too, though. “Married couples like to watch people dating because it’s vicarious. There’s a part of you that misses that thrill of dating, of being able to just go, ‘I think I’ll shag you today!’ There’s something in that; and I think married people set single people up for that very reason.” I ask whether writing the show offered Rob himself that same vicarious catharsis, and his eyes shoot up to the ceiling for a second. “I spend far too much time analysing and thinking about small things – destructively a lot of the time. I’ve never thought of this before but yes, putting it down in ink kind of made the voices a little bit quieter.” There’s a beat of silence, broken by a cackle from Steven, coloured with both amusement and understanding. “I really think that’s why

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Interview: Kate Pasola Illustration: Verónica Grech

people write,” Rob continues, “to get rid of the voices. It’s like alright, I’ll fucking write it!” When the pair aren’t riffing on one another’s jokes, they’re modestly steering praise towards one another’s skills (Steven finds Rob’s creative flexibility and instincts a dream to direct; Rob thinks his instincts are nothing without Steven’s elucidation). They also have a pleasant habit of leapfrogging from topic to topic. We hear Rob’s story of performing Bullet Catch during political unrest in Brazil; “We discovered that the demographic of a riot is the same as a small experimental theatre show, because no one turned up! They were all three streets away, burning cars.” There’s Steven’s research on a religious dating website called Christian Mingle, on which gay users are forced to determine one another’s sexualities via subtle clues in their profiles, “which is its own problem, really.” Then there’s Rob’s disproportionate fury and Steven’s subsequent glee when we ‘touch wood’ so as not to jinx the fate of the show. The pair seem to grasp one another’s perspectives quite profoundly; a creative match made in thespian heaven. When we’ve composed ourselves, I ask whether they think they’ll succeed in coupling members of the public. “I think out of three weeks of shows in Edinburgh it’s quite likely that some of the pairings will last longer than one or two dates,” Rob enthuses. Steven agrees; “The things that you’re looking for are ticked; are you in the same place? Do you share similar interests? Have you given enough time to getting to know that person?” He makes a good point – even the most private of blind dates are a can of worms steeped in anxiety, fear and awkwardness. It’s a certain type of person who volunteers to crack that can open in front of an entire audience. And for two such people – after choosing to see the same show, queuing up on the same fairy-lit Fringe evening and sitting under the same Traverse roof – to meet finally their match? Well, it’s a start, isn’t it. In Fidelity, Traverse, 4-28 Aug (not Mon), times vary, £12.50 (£8.50)

THE SKINNY

70 Hours in Seoul A whistlestop tour of South Korea’s capital whets the appetite for the Assembly’s second Korea season and offers a timely reminder that the world can be beautiful

t is quiet in the library of Emperor Gojong. Mist obscures the peak of Mount Bugaksan, and warm rain drips from the eaves into our shoes, sandy and abandoned at the palace door. Standing among hand-painted books on this still, sweaty day, it is difficult to believe you are at the centre of the world’s ‘most wired’ city – although in a sense, you could not be more exposed. Partway along a gradual decline from Bugaksan to the skyscrapers of downtown Seoul, you are both in the sights of the Presidential Blue House, and on the site of centuries of political struggle; just around the corner is the spot where, towards the end of the 500-year Joseon Dynasty, Gojong’s wife Min was assassinated by Japanese agents who had invaded her private residence. In places like Gyeongbokgung – Seoul’s largest and oldest palace, which has been destroyed and rebuilt twice since its original construction in 1395 – history can seem to collapse. The whisper of a breeze could as easily be the breath of Min’s skirts, rippling through time, as the echo of traffic from the Sejong-daero road. We are in the South Korean capital for just 72 hours – not even that – to sample the shows coming to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe as part of Assembly’s second Korean Season. Spanning ancient and contemporary practices from mask play and folk song to b-boying (breakdancing) and beatboxing, the programme showcases the range and artistry of Korean culture. It shifts from a meditative exploration of the shaman tradition (theatre piece Binari) to the almost psychic synchronicity of dance/drum fusion group Tago; from the sweet story of family musical Singsing Bathtub and Fernando, the Space Elephant to narrative magic from award-winning illusionists SNAP. Finally, fans of K-pop culture will be amused and amazed by Chef: Come Dine With Us!, a frantic mash-up of acrobatics, martial arts and humour that could only have come out of South Korea. A popular hit in Seoul, where it is known as ‘delicious musical’ Bibap and has an open run at its home theatre, Chef expresses the joy of cooking through physical spectacle. Set in a

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kitchen where two chefs must battle it out to make the best bibimbap – the Korean signature dish – it combines a gameshow aesthetic, punky soundtrack and comic-strip characters with gravity-defying headspins from the b-boys, food-inspired medleys from the beatboxers and some unwitting cameos from the audience.

“ After weeks of anxious suspension in a post-referendum media climate, this all feels a vital reminder that life is bigger than click-driven panic” But you don’t fly nine timezones around the globe just to see some theatre. You do it to fall in love. The tight-knit production team, cast and director of Chef are our hosts for the weekend, and they introduce us to the tastes and pace of Seoul: the boutiques and green-tea emporia of Insa-dong; the medicinal temple foods of the Goryeo Dynasty, served in the peaceful Gosang restaurant; the after-dark social clubs of street food markets; and, reluctantly, some sea squirt (which does exactly what it says on the tin). After weeks of anxious suspension in a postreferendum media climate, this all feels a vital reminder that life is bigger than click-driven panic. That said, the world is as small as it is enormous; or rather, we are as connected as we are distant. The teen boys who show us around Gyeongbokgung as part of a youth volunteering

scheme want to know what we think about Brexit; if, living in Manchester, I support City or United; and what the differences are, if any, between their home and ours. Reports of the Bastille Day attack reach us on arrival at Incheon airport; our host hands us his phone and, as we drive through the immense urban sprawl – hundreds of outlying apartment blocks in uniform brown, dust and salmon pink – this unfamiliar landscape is shot through with all-too-familiar news. There is concern, there are questions; halfway across the hemisphere, England’s recent introspection is put to shame. Here, instead, exchange is at the heart of everything. It’s what the Korean Season is built on – a desire to share. The charismatic young drummers of Tago ask us for our thoughts on a new segment – how do we think it will go down in Edinburgh? (We haven’t blinked once during the seismic, mystic performance they give us in their rehearsal space in Gangnam; we’re pretty sure it’s impossible to be anything but stunned.) Which songs do we think Fringe audiences will enjoy the most?, Chef’s beatboxers are keen to know. As we share ideas, we share bottles of soju; baskets of sweet-sticky chicken; flame-fresh stoves of seafood stew, and bowls of creamy wine. Hell, we even share the penalty in a particularly fiendish drinking game. Failed five times and can’t down that pint? Don’t worry, I’ll do it with you. No wait – let me pour. Let me. It’s this kind of givingness – and giving of kindness – that is foremost in a major exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Deoksugung), where we spend our last afternoon. Marking the 100th anniversary of his birth is the first full retrospective of Lee Jung Seob (1916-1956), who lived and worked in a time of continuous turmoil; as a student during Japanese occupation and, after his marriage, in poverty during the Korean war. The war’s devastation forced Lee’s young family to live separately, his wife and sons moving to Japan while he attempted to earn a transient living in Korea. The pivot point of the exhibition is

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Words: Lauren Strain

a room full of his letters, many of them illuminated with colourful illustrations depicting wishedfor family life; in some, the artist draws himself reaching across the page for his children. The curatorial choice to highlight Lee’s selflessness and devotion seems telling. (There is also a display of wordless postcards painted for his wife during their courtship, and a big room dedicated to his ‘tinfoil’ etchings – images scraped into tobacco foil when he was too poor to afford materials, many of them portraying life with his kids.) For a long time Lee’s letters were animated and hopeful, but as the years passed he sank into despair and almost stopped writing completely. Cheated out of the proceeds from solo exhibitions he’d held to raise money for travel to Japan, he fell into a deep depression and became increasingly ill. Lee died alone at just 41, having never been reunited with his family. This is a hugely moving show, a portrait of a man whose life was refused by hardship and yet for whom a largeness of spirit and insistence on artistic expression survived longer than could be reasonably expected. As in the grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace, where a history tarnished by tragedy has been remembered and restored, there is a sense in these low-lit galleries of time in concertina; of past folding into present, sadness into repose. Above all, despite the fabled speed of Seoul there is a heavy serenity here – in the gardens of Deoksugung and in the blinking night skyline, which tracks our return to the airport along the vast Han river. As we outstrip the sunrise on our flight back home, the light seems to lift three times: three cheers, perhaps (clinkclink!), for this complex and generous place. Chef: Come Dine With Us!, Assembly George Square Theatre, 4-29 Aug (not 15), 4pm Binari, Assembly Hall (Rainy Hall), 4-29 Aug (not 22), 12pm Singsing Bathtub and Fernando, the Space Elephant, Assembly George Square Studios (One), 4-28 Aug (not 15, 22), 12.15pm Tago: Korean Drum II, Assembly Hall (Rainy Hall), 4-29 Aug (not 17), 2.55pm SNAP, Assembly George Square Theatre, 4-29 Aug (not 15, 22), 1.20pm

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THE SKINNY

Unfamiliar Things Choreographer Jack Webb is now a name familiar in the Scottish Contemporary Dance scene. We sent one of his former classmates to interview him ahead of his eagerly-anticipated return to the Edinburgh stage with The End

’ve known Jack Webb since our first shared classes at the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance in Dundee more than a decade ago. In the intervening years it has been a pleasure to watch him succeed, with funding, and tours, and to see him so well supported by Scotland, his homeplace. He has had much success relative to many of our contemporaries. So has this success changed his practice as an artist? “I try not to take myself too seriously,” he says. “A huge part of this is the simple act of talking to people; communication with audiences, performers, friends, strangers, to constantly receive new perspectives on my work.” Particularly the friends and performers he works with – their honest insight into his work is something he considers a foundation for his art. “In the first five years or so, I really didn’t care what people thought of what I created, but I’ve come to realise that the opinions of others, anyone, humans who see my work, is vital to my practice.” So, The End. Developed in a collaboration between Tramway and BALTIC Contemporary Art, the piece will have a limited run in Gateshead following its August residency in Dancebase. The name instantly inspires curiosity – what does he mean, an end to what? His answer is typically fluid (typically in that ever evolving nature of artistic meaning): “It’s a starting point, about starting again.” The phrase was born through some research he did last autumn, an idea of getting rid of the familiar. In his words: “I see The End as a catalyst for a new beginning.” Jack Webb’s process and methodology are intriguing. He’s constantly looking for a method that’s not a method, something not too polished, something that doesn’t reflect established contemporary dance aesthetics, an aesthetic he feels quite strongly exists, and persists, as a form which he does not wish to recreate. His use of improvisation as a performance tool is not entirely unique, but definitely still uncommon. Improvisation has long been used as a way of creating work in dance, but much less so in performance. His newest work is greatly inspired by working with larger groups of dancers (he has made numerous solos), and improvisation is used as a way to give the dancers space to keep the spontaneity, to give them room to stretch and evolve the choreography on a daily basis, to express how they are as people on that particular day within the work. This takes place within a set structure – the sequence of events is the same, but the details may vary. He mentions the ‘message’ of the work, and I’m not letting that go… There’s a message?! “Yes,” he says, “The End has a message. It asks the audience to look at the dancers, to look also at themselves, and to slow down, to experience time, to look at how one is in the world.” It explores excess, the society which consumes, it asks the viewer to slow down even more, to figure out how we can change, and if we can. Returning to his process, I wonder if he edits the work? “All the time,” he says. Everything is filmed, and he spends hours trawling back and forth through the videos after leaving the studio, watching and pulling out the moments that work. For him this is not an editing process but a refining process… condensing. Does he ever think of narrative structures in his work? “Especially in this one,” he says, “there is definitely a starting point which causes a chain of events leading to the final moment.” To define this he clarifies narrative – not for him in the traditional storytelling sense, but a narrative consisting of emotion, energy and physical

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Interview: Aedin Walsh

action. Although not overly literal, this takes the viewer on an emotional journey through the piece, with room for interpretation. Despite this room he allows, he says he has tried to give clear signals as to what the audience should experience. Has his practice changed with this work or is it a clear development of previous work, can he draw similarities? “All of them are connected,” he says, ”but not similar. The huge difference is the element of time.” When he first began a 20-minute piece was enough. Now, this work stands at one hour long. “I can’t imagine it being otherwise; with three dancers and such a big subject, the use of time is so important. One hour is exactly what is needed to express the clearest version of what I want to say.” Over the years he also feels his work has become less aggressive; he has become interested in the inherent subtleties. He’s not sure if his work has become clearer for the audience, but it has for him, he feels his ‘voice’ is more articulate.

“ I see The End as a catalyst for a new beginning” Jack Webb

He has worked from time to time within visual arts institutions, for research and performances. Does he draw inspiration from any other artistic fields in his practice? “Sculpture,” he says, “Contemporary sculpture. I ‘feed’ on the galleries available in Edinburgh; recently an exhibition at the Fruitmarket gallery really stuck with me, a work which blurred the boundaries between performance art and sculpture. I’m also very influenced by sound, not in ‘lovely music’ but in sounds that are difficult to listen to, composers whose strange soundscapes seem to go on forever. I feel a real parallel to my work in this.” His own use of objects onstage has been much influenced by the world of sculpture; for example two chairs on stage, for him, they are not props (although some may say they are), they are not sculptural (although some may say they are). In his work they have become an extension of his body; he finds simplicity in objects rather than complexity. I can’t help but draw parallels to my own field of circus, a world of bodies and objects. Within his practice, does he create any other types of art, work with other forms? “Writing – prosaic, stream of consciousness… a recent residency in the Northernmost point in Scotland (on the Shetland isles) resulted in the use of some of this writing in an exhibition.” He also never uses music or sound made by other people. In his own words, “I’m a control freak about sound.” The filming and editing in the creative process often inspire him to make short films. Finally, a Scottish artist working his whole career in Edinburgh – how is it? He loves it. “Even the idea of moving to Glasgow seems like an upheaval. Many years ago I toyed with the idea of moving to London. I’m so happy I never took the bait, as it’s clear that I would never have made the work I’ve made had I been there.” Now his work tours to London. “This is better,” he says with a smile. Being committed to working in one place, and equally committed to travelling with the work is the idea. Having a place, a home to come back to that he loves. The End, Dancebase, 5-21 Aug (not 8 & 15), times vary, £8-10

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What the Fuck is Gig Theatre? With the trend of gig theatre at the Fringe and beyond growing, we talk to a handful of performers who are bridging the gap between gigs and theatre Interview: Amy Taylor

n Friday 26 February, the folk singer Karine Polwart took to the stage at the Breathe Festival in Stoke Newington to perform a new piece she'd written on the theme of air. Based on her recent explorations and research of Fala Flow, a local moor with environmental protection near her home in Midlothian, the piece was inspired by the flights of the pink-footed geese that fly to Fala. She found herself creating a piece that discussed cooperation. Wondering what a human skein (the name given to a flock of flying geese) would be like, she set about creating her latest work. Except it wasn't totally folk music, it was something totally different, and Polwart was unsure. “I spent about half the show apologising for how shit it was! And apologising for the Sellotape on my notes, and I was just really unsure about where to go,” she explains. Later, after performing the piece at the Traverse as part of a scratch night, she received a call from David Greig, who had just been appointed as the new Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre. “He got in touch and said, ‘Loved the show. No idea what it is, no idea how to describe it to anybody, but really loved it. In fact, could you get us a pitch for it within the next 24 hours?’” The musician remembers of the fateful phone call that led to what became Wind Resistance, Polwart's first theatre piece, which premieres at the Edinburgh International Festival this month. Not quite a gig, not quite theatre, Wind Resistance falls into the growing genre of gig theatre, a more relaxed, less formal performance, where music, storytelling and performance combine. But the idea of gig theatre isn't limited to a few lone musicians going where they have never been before; the genre is a growing trend, with performers such as Kieran Hurley and Mhairi Campbell choosing to tell their stories in the overlap that exists between gigs and theatre. And this new movement isn't just limited to the EIF, or the Fringe, but can be seen throughout the country, where it is being used to attract new, more diverse audiences. Paul Smith of Middle Child Theatre Company, who are returning to the Fringe with their new gig theatre piece Ten Storey Love Song (the follow-up to 2015’s Weekend Rockstars), believes that theatre needs to consider the audience more when creating new work. “I just think that theatre needs to think about the audiences’ experience, because there's not enough new audiences coming to the theatre, young audiences. I think theatre needs to learn how to adapt for them, rather than getting them to change for it.” Lucy Rivers, who with Hannah McPake co-founded Gagglebabble, and will be performing their latest gig theatre work. Wonderman at the Underbelly this year, agrees. “We like gig theatre because we want to appeal to that non-traditional theatre audience. We find with our show, that people like to come back again and again. I think it is the music element, because they know they're going to get some good songs and music. I know we have attracted live music lovers into the theatre for the first time, so that's good.” Others, like Polwart, are trying something new for the first time. Matt Regan, a Belfast-born composer based in Glasgow, and creator of the

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gig theatre piece. Greater Belfast, fell into gig theatre after he realised that simply singing a song just wasn't enough for him to tell the full tale. “I would perform a song and I would see that I was only telling half the story, I'm only colouring half the picture, I'm doing this song, and I would always think there's more to that, I really want to talk to the audience in front of me and tell them there's more stuff to it.” It's this desire to not only tell a story, but to tell it in the right way, that inspired New Zealandbased Rochelle Bright and Kitan Petkovski, who will make their Fringe debut at the Traverse, with their play about Bright's parents, Daffodils (A Play With Songs). “ The story of my dad and my mum is something that I've always wanted to tell but couldn't. I'd been waiting for the right way to tell it,” explains Bright, who had been waiting “for twenty years” to tell the story of her parents and their life together. “And it was a couple of years ago that I finally found the right way to tell it, and it just flew out of me.” For Polwart, the experience of creating a gig theatre piece has given her the chance to explore new themes, thoughts and discover a whole new type of performance, one that sees her emerge from her previously static position behind a microphone and explore the space around her. “The folk scene, as a general rule, is very understated and nuanced, and the show is too. But there are a couple of places where it gets to be a little bit grand, and everything that's happening phonically, visually, writing-wise is supporting that. It's like having a cushion to fly on, actually, it's really lovely.”

Karine Polwart

“There's some really interesting shows going on using music, we're just adding to the collection” Hannah McPake

If gig theatre is about breaking established rules for performers, what does that mean for the audience? According to Petkovski, it's all about inclusivity in theatre. “It was about creating something that our peers would want to attend, our demographic. At the moment in New Zealand - I don't know if it's the same in Scotland - the theatre audiences are getting older and older. We wanted to create something that was for people at our age and I think the music, or the gig theatre element, is what will reach out to people.” Likewise, Smith believes that gig theatre will help get a younger audience to attend the theatre, but is aware that the concept may be problematic for some people. “Some people hate gig theatre. I'm totally ready for that. Some people do want to sit and be told a slow, quiet story, but I don't want to judge that at all. I mean, I enjoy that too! What

Greater Belfast

we're trying to do is fill a gap, I think there's lots of that around. What we're trying to do is attract new audiences in new ways.” But with so much interest in the genre, can it last? Polwart is optimistic about the future of fellow musicians straddling the music and theatre worlds. “I think there's a lot of interest in that [gig theatre] getting made just now, musicians coming out of the scene and trying to say something, they're trying to explore big ideas with music at the heart of it.” McPake agrees: “It

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feels like there's a real movement in this type of work, and we're part of that. There's some really interesting shows going on using music, we're just adding to the collection.” Wind Resistance, Lyceum Rehearsal Studio, 6-21 Aug, £Sold out Ten Storey Love Song, Pleasance Dome, 3029 Aug, 5.20pm, £6-10 Wonderman, Underbelly, 3-28 Aug, £7-13 Greater Belfast, Traverse, 4-28 Aug, £8.50-18.50 Daffodils (A Play With Songs), Traverse, 4-28 Aug, £8.50-20.50

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Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

THE SKINNY

Four Nation Theatre Celebrated commissioners of new theatre Paines Plough return to Summerhall’s Roundabout theatre with a programme of new works from each of the UK nations

aines Plough has one of the most exciting and varied programmes this summer at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival. Boasting three world premieres and critically acclaimed visiting companies with award winning works, all performed in their custom built/bespoke Roundabout pop up amphitheatre; it’s a season not to be missed. “We are the national theatre of new plays, so it’s really important for everything about us to represent the nation as a whole,” explains Joint Artistic Director James Grieve. “We do consciously try to work with writers, actors, designers and artists from across the UK. We think that’s the best way to represent the nation properly.” Paines Plough’s commitment to inclusion is ingeniously expressed in the architecture of their pop-up amphitheatre Roundabout. “There are 168 seats and every seat in the house has the same view by virtue of being in the round so it does feel incredibly intimate, incredibly close – you can see the whites of the actors’ eyes, the beads of sweat on their foreheads.” Grieve elaborates, “It’s got an extraordinary state of the art lighting rig with 627 individual LED units and surround sound, it looks beautiful and it’s really comfortable to sit in. It’s kind of a cool atmosphere – it’s welcoming, the ticket prices are cheap, you can bring a beer in if you like. Everything about Roundabout, from our perspective, is about inviting people in and saying theatre is not intimidating, theatre is not formal. Theatre can be really fun and joyous and a shared experience. And if you like comedy, or music, or Netflix, then you might find something that you like here too. Why not come and have a live experience? Try something different in a different environment.”

Scorch – Stacey Gregg (Northern Ireland) Winner of Best New Play at the 2015 Irish Time Theatre awards, Stacey Gregg’s Scorch centres on a gender curious teenager who finds an escape from stifling oppressive gender norms in cyberspace. “It’s inspired by a number of recent UK court cases that have been based on what is

known as ‘gender fraud.’ I think it’s quite a contested term, a new term and we as a society are not quite sure how to deal with it yet, particularly the press. The piece is about a teenager falling in love, who I would say is probably genderqueer, there’s a fluidity there. It’s a relationship that starts online and then goes into the real world and once that happens there are serious repercussions.”

“ Everything about Roundabout, from our perspective, is about inviting people in and saying theatre is not intimidating, theatre is not formal” James Grieve

Gregg’s work seeks to question the licentious narratives that tabloids weave around the young people charged with ‘gender fraud,’ without undermining those who feel victimised. “I think interestingly there’s a disconnect or a discrepancy at the moment between what I see as a really positive progression in attitudes towards queer and trans issues on one hand and this notion of ‘gender fraud’ on the other. There’s something that I find quite sinister and old fashioned that goes on in the press, that salacious take on the binary of monster and victim for young people.”

Interview: Rachel Bowles

Gregg’s Scorch comes to Edinburgh fresh from successful shows in Belfast and Ireland, before touring the UK. “Formally, Roundabout is perfect because Scorch was written for the round. So much of what the play tries to do is take the audience on a journey towards empathy so that they feel complicit and accountable for this young person in front of them.”

Love, Lies and Taxidermy – Alan Harris (Wales) Prolific playwright Alan Harris’ brand new original play Love, Lies and Taxidermy is a comical romance set in the valleys, which starts with a cute meeting at a medical research facility in Merthyr Tydfil between the son of a Polish taxidermist and the daughter of a failing ice cream salesman. Boy meets girl leading to a romantic first date in Tesco. Harris is tight-lipped about the plot, not wanting to give too much away, “Val (Valentine) is 17, he falls in love with a girl from the town whose father is in debt and really it is a kind of unconventional, offbeat love story. “It’s about people in society that don’t fit in but really want to. There is a lot of talk in our country at the moment about immigration, and it’s the subject of much anger and hate. It’s something I hope to address with this play.” Harris describes writing and developing his play with Paines Plough as a “dream come true”: “I really love working with the whole team and especially George [Perrin, Joint Artistic Director] who having so much experience really knows how to use the 360-degree space. It’s oddly enough quite a technical play. It’s such an open companyinclusive, from writers, to actors, to the audience. They really make you feel as a writer that you are at the heart of their research. You feel there’s real collaboration. “I love Edinburgh anyway but during the Fringe, I think it is one of the most exciting places in the world. I can’t wait to get back up there. Nothing fills my heart with joy more than an audience with non-traditional theatre-goers.”

I Got Superpowers for My Birthday – Katie Douglas (Scotland) Ethan, William and Fiona are wildly different kids that happen to share a birthday. They’ll also be sharing a special gift, as they turn 13 they’ll each gain superpowers. Not a moment too soon as the world is on the brink of being swallowed up by an evil overlord, The Darkness, who is planning to drag Earth as we know it kicking and screaming into a new ice age. Award-winning playwright and television writer Katie Douglas premieres her original play for seven year olds and up. “It’s a superhero adventure story in the spirit of the Marvel movies, although on a slightly smaller scale that is really lots of fun! I like to bring the space and excitement of television and film to the theatre with the immersion that I think is unique to the stage, particularly in Roundabout as it’s such a unique space.” Douglas enjoys the particular challenges writing for children presents. “You can tackle any subject but you have to tackle it in a way that kids can understand. It’s about keeping them interested. Kids are a lot more discerning than adults sometimes; if they don’t like something they are going to tell you within about 30 seconds.” All showings of Douglas’s play are ‘Relaxed Performances’: “We don’t expect parents to make kids sit as if it’s church. I will be bringing my seven month old. He might make a bit of noise but if he starts properly kicking off, I will probably take him outside. It’s just to make the audience feel comfortable so they don’t have to worry if their eight year old needs the loo or eat crisps.” Growth – Luke Norris (England) Toby has managed to ignore the lump in his testicles for two years but it’s rapidly becoming a real pain in the balls, not least when it starts to negatively affect his love life. It’s time for Toby to drop his pants, man up and make some hard decisions. A comedy about an all too common quarter life crisis, up-and-coming playwright Luke Norris hopes his original work Growth will resonate with Edinburgh audiences: “It’s definitely suited to the Fringe. It’s aimed at anyone who likes theatre but specifically people in their 20s.” Writing material for the Fringe with Paines Plough has significant resonance for Norris, who returns to Edinburgh’s festival after an eight year hiatus. “Paines Plough is a company I worked for as an actor and they’ve been on my radar ever since I left drama school. It’s a great theatre company if you want to get a play on as a youngish writer. They call themselves the national theatre of new writing and that’s certainly what it feels like. It’s really exciting; especially as we tour after Edinburgh with Roundabout.” Norris loves Roundabout’s “extraordinary” mobility. “We can just pack up onto one truck and move anywhere in the country,” and considers it a perfect stage for Growth: “It’s quite spare and relies on the actors an awful lot. That kind of raw theatre just focuses everything into the characters without any set or costume particularly or anything else. The very fact that it’s circular means it’s a very democratic space and the whole ethos of Paines Plough is that it’s a democratic environment. Anyone who’s willing to attend gets the same rewarding experience.” Scorch, 5-28 Aug (not 9, 16 or 23), 6.05pm £10-17 Love, Lies and Taxidermy 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 24, 26, 28 Aug, 1.35pm £10-17 Growth 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27 Aug, 1.35pm £10-17

Left to Right - Luke Norris, Katie Douglas, Alan Harris, Stacey Gregg

August 2016

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I Got Superpowers For My Birthday! 5-21 Aug (not 9, 16 or 23), 11am £5-10

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Liam Williams on his debut play Travesty Liam Williams has taken a break from his eloquent stand-up performances to write a play about the ‘ethical dimensions of modern love’ Interview: Craig Angus

lashback to August 2015, and a Friday night performance of Liam Williams’ Bonfire Night sees the comedian vigorously bashing the microphone against his skull. This leaves three separate cuts of varying size across his forehead, decorating a face crimson from exertion. A fist hits the ceiling after a punchline lands imperfectly. It was a show that talked about the desire to impact the world positively vis-à-vis homelessness, climate change and inequality – and the big picture futility of those dreams. The anger made sense in that context, but was it real? “I juggle with that too,” he says, laughing. “Looking back on it, it was fun at times, but I was definitely dealing with the frustration quite badly in the shows, and I’m not sure what it was exactly. I put a lot of pressure on myself, I’d had a good year the year before in terms of reviews, and getting nominated for the award...

“ I was caring too much, in a neurotic way” Liam Williams

“Also because I only decided to go to the Fringe at quite late notice I had quite a small room, it was very hot and late at night.” He adds: “The circumstances for trying to repeat the success of the previous year weren’t great," saying he was unprepared having been busy with TV projects and writing Radio 4 series Ladhood – a semi-autobiographical account of his teenage years in Yorkshire: “But I was mainly just caring too much in a neurotic way.” This year, Williams talks enthusiastically about Travesty – his debut play – praising the cast and director Emily Burns, saying just enough to keep the intrigue alive without giving too much away. “I’m more excited about this than anything I’ve ever done – at least at Edinburgh,” he says. “I just needed a bit of a rest from the psychological burden of having to perform...” Last November was a difficult, and as it

turns out painful, time for Williams. His sketch troupe Sheeps tweeted that the BBC hadn’t opted to commission a series of People Time – after the popular pilot episode was given almost universal acclaim from peers and critics. Then, days later, he was in hospital with something called a ‘Don Juan’ fracture. “I locked myself out of the flat,” he says. “I’d gone to feed my neighbour’s cat – the neighbour lives downstairs – and I had my neighbour’s keys, not my own. After I fed the cat I began thinking about how to get back in, and I’d been in the habit of climbing up the front of the house, up the masonry into my bedroom window.” A courageous plan, but not without an obvious flaw: “I got as far as my window, and I slipped down and fell onto my feet.” Turns out a Don Juan fracture has nothing to do with cantos or seduction. Williams had broken both of his calcareous heel bones: “I didn’t have any shoes on.” However, the downtime proved invaluable. After three consecutive years doing solo stand-up in Edinburgh, as well as additional shows with Sheeps, Williams came up with the idea that he’d do something different. Travesty promises to give a veritable assessment of modern relationships and their myriad complications – and for its creator, it’s been a revitalising experience. “The thematic emphasis is on love,” he says of the play, “and what love and commitment means to people my sort of age as they approach real adulthood and start planning their lives seriously. It’s quite a naturalistic play in many ways – the dialogue and the story are realistic – although hopefully funny in parts.” He says there’s a “surprise element” in the mix. In contrast, this year he’s dealing with ageing, the consequences of which are suspended, winding up until an inevitable and sudden release of tension. “The transition,” as he puts it, “from youthful merriment and relationships in your early 20s, messing around and trying things out, to feeling like you should be taking things more seriously.” Travesty, Assembly George Square Studios (Five), 3-28 Aug (not 15), 5.30pm, £6-11 www.edfringe.com

Travesty

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Torch

Phoebe Eclair-Powell on Epic Love and Torch Phoebe Eclair-Powell is the playwright behind two productions at the Fringe, exploring identity through comedy, music and the troubling answers she received from questionnaires Interview: Ben Venables

couple of years ago there was a script doing the rounds. It was titled Wink and revolved around a teacher and pupil baiting each other from behind social media masks before they became tangled in their digital cross wires. Though remarkably fresh and up-to-date, structurally Wink seemed to owe a debt to good old stage farces, with its mistaken identities, escalating complications and a plot that zipped along to a shit-your-pants funny crescendo. What really singled this script out, however, was not its quality but just how funny it was on the actual page – just as funny as when later performed at Battersea Arts Centre. So much of comedy relies on timing, intonation and the visual gag that it doesn’t come across until performed, but if the purpose of writing is ‘to see’ then playwright Phoebe Eclair-Powell could bring the most turgid instruction manual to vivid life. Now, she brings two very different plays to the Fringe. “Epic Love and Pop Songs is in the same vein as Wink,” says Eclair-Powell: “I am a bit obsessed with schools; Epic Love is set, in a way, in the same school with two other teenagers. I do have this weird fabric in my head of one school with many, many stories. School is such a holding pen of that cusp from teenager to adulthood, with everyone finding out who they are.” The play also keeps both Wink’s sense of humour and modern sensibilities; its plot centres on a lie and the snowballing cover-up that ensues – and it’s all set to a soundtrack by Charley Mackley, DJ at London’s famous club Fabric. Her second play at the Fringe, Torch, is something of an altogether different production in mood and execution. “That’s been the one which has messed with my mind the most. It’s made me question who I am a little bit. I’ll be really honest, it’s the one that makes me the most nervous, because I feel like it is quite exposing. It is a much more nebulous and chameleon type of show.” Torch started with at least a hint of comedic intention. As with a previous production, Eclair-Powell used an online survey to research material: “Before we were asking people about their sex lives – and the answers were just

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fascinating and hilarious and rude and just brilliant. We had fun with that sort of material!” The questions for Torch, however, were on female identity, eliciting answers that went in a different direction, one that was harder to process than Eclair-Powell had expected: “We wanted to make a celebratory, emancipatory play about freedom of expression. I still think we’ve done that but we couldn’t ignore the responses from these questionnaires.”

“ School is such a holding pen, with everyone finding out who they are” Phoebe Ecliar-Powell

She continues: “Some answers were full of strength, sisterhood and camaraderie but others of insecurity and anxiety. There was an overwhelming sense of fear and confusion. It has felt like a conversation between a lot of women rather than just my thoughts. It has been really different from the way I usually write and a huge challenge – but it’s going to be interesting, I think it will find its feet in Edinburgh.” Despite the range and difference between these two plays, it is identity that unites them and to a certain extent makes Torch something of a natural next step, with the dilemmas of youth in Epic Love giving way to questions of young adulthood: “With Torch I think the biggest thing was it really had to be deeply quite personal, it had to reflect being a young woman today and reflect all the contradictions of how you pull together an identity.” Epic Love and Pop Songs, Pleasance Dome (10 Dome), 3-29 Aug (not 15), 4.20pm, £6-10 Torch, Underbelly Cowgate (Big Belly), 4-28 Aug (not 16), 8.50 pm, £6-10 www.edfringe.com

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Vive le Fringe! Creatively hitting back at the isolationist political current of post-Brexit Britain, the Institut Français d’Ecosse has programmed its most culturally and linguistically diverse and eclectic season at the Fringe to date, Vive le Fringe! Words: Rachel Bowles

rimming with French and francophonic works from not only France but Germany, Turkey and the UK, the French Institut’s programme is a tour de force of cultural dialogue and a celebration of our common European heritage through theatre, dance and literature. The Institut kick off their 2016 season with a dreamy, ethereal awakening in Chiffonnade, French dance company Carré Blanc Cie’s endearing, gentle tale of childhood and growing up, suitable for one year olds and over. Emerging from a chrysalis on stage, a snail brings out pieces of fabric to dance with, starting a whimsical and beautifully choreographed transformative journey to becoming a mermaid. Elsewhere for children and big kids alike, Berlin based company Shake Shake Theatre have installed a giant pop-up book in the Institut’s studio and twice a day Swiss-Australian artistic duo Pierre Filliez and Jessica Nicholls will tell The Story of Mr B. using puppetry, animated objects and shadow theatre. This magical, humorous tale unravels around the adorable curmudgeon Mr Bumblegrum, who grumpily wanders through the year’s seasons before realising all he’s ever wanted is a friend. French-Brazilian performer Gael Le Cornec, known for her acclaimed shows Frida Kahlo: Viva la Vida! and Camille Claudel, returns to the Fringe with her topical and original one woman play The Other based on actual refugee accounts. Displacing the action from real geopolitical crises onto the cosmos, The Other tells the story of Mana, a little girl from the alien red-yellow planet desperately journeying to our “beautiful blue” world. It’s a fantastical and darkly comic coming of age story that explores the pressing, timely issues that refugees face in a sensitive, engaging manner through the lens of a poetic fairy tale retelling. Following a successful run at the Avignon Festival and Guichet Montparnasse Theatre in Paris, French theatre company Compagnie des Perspectives premieres its new production in

English of Nikolaï Gogol’s infamously dark and farcical masterpiece Diary of a Madman. Our unlikely hero, the underachieving Arksenty Ivanovich Poprishchin is a low ranking civil servant in the Tsarist bureaucracy, who becomes unstuck as he records his insanity in his journals. Poprishchin discovers he can speak dog fluently, prevent stellar collisions and through his deranged diary entries discovers he is destined for the Spanish throne in this comic and biting satire. Always popular with students of French culture, Boris Vian’s arcane and absurdist play The Empire Builders makes for a riotous and darkly comedic finale for the Institut’s Vive le Fringe! season, having won much acclaim for Turkish company Theatre Hayal Perdesi and award-winning director Aleksandar Popovski with their lauded production at the Avignon Festival in France. Performed in Turkish with English subtitles, Popovski’s adaptation features the Dupont family who, rattled by an indefinable terror, the noise, flee ever upward from apartment to apartment, becoming more and more trapped with each floor and increasingly and insanely afraid. With their world ever narrowing, the Duponts repeatedly come across a mysterious figure, the Schmürz. Continually maltreated, refused and ignored by the Duponts, the Schmürz appears everywhere they go and refuses to die. A meditation on fear, The Empire Builders is brilliantly realised in Popovski’s imaginative interpretation and through Selin İşcan’s claustrophobic and minimalist set design, adding some delightfully absurd and surreal Turkish flavour to the Edinburgh festival. Chiffonnade / Carré Blanc Cie 5-28 Aug (not 10 & 15 & 22), 10.30 & 11.30am £6-8 The Story of Mr B. / Shake Shake Theatre 5-28 August (not 15 & 22), 11.15am & 2.30pm, £6-8 The Other / Gael Le Cornec 5-28 Aug (not 15 & 22), 2pm, £810 Diary of a Madman / Compagnie des Perspectives 5-28 Aug (not 15 & 22) 4pm, £8-10 The Empire Builders / Theatre Hayal Perdesi 5-21 Aug (not 15), 6.30pm, £10-12

Chiffonnade/Carré Blanc Cie

August 2016

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Where to Begin Edinburgh Art Festival sets up Platform, its emerging artist set of exhibitions at the very centre of its map in the Kiosk. This year marks another diverse grouping of some of the most exciting emerging talent from around the country with two duos and two solo presentations

ow in its second incarnation, Platform offers emerging artists the opportunity to showcase their work to the Edinburgh Art Festival audience. At a time when Scotland’s capital is heaving with culture, it can often be hard to decide what to see and do in amongst the cacophony of the festival season, but Platform promises to highlight the work of some exceptional young artists to keep an eye on. The works and performances will be showcased at the epicentre of the festival, within the Edinburgh Art Festival Kiosk on Blair Street. It’s a strong statement that these four individual artists or collaborative groups are not merely a nod to emerging artists, but that the Art Festival itself feels they are at the heart of Scotland’s artistic future. As the cultural climate shifts so precariously in a time of bewilderment and dismay, Platform offers an outstanding opportunity to explore those artists whose practices will be navigating the treacherous cultural landscape to come. Many of these artists’ works have been showcased in the RSA New Contemporaries, or the New Scottish Artists in London's Fleming Collection, but never before has there been such an incredibly diverse

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between the ludicrous and the sporting, between physicality and its fragility. Likewise, the Brownlee Brothers’ work Lying on the Temple Floor instils the slightly ridiculous humour into works highlighting rote and religious signs.

and unique collection of emerging artists works on show within the festival season.

COLLABORATIONS The Skinny had an opportunity to talk to those taking part in this year’s incarnation of Platform, and there was an overwhelming sense from all of the artists that despite not working directly together to create Platform, there had been different moments of exchange between the contributors. As the Brownlee Brothers explain: “It has been interesting during install as there are a couple of collaborative practices on show. Hearing snippets of Aniela Piasecka and Paloma Proudfoot discussing the placement of sculptures and how the performance will work around them has made us consider how other artists go about collaborating with each other.” During their interview, exhibitors the Brownlee Brothers mention a kind of “sanctity” that they think might resonate through the show, and indeed many of these artists’ practices. The notion of ritualistic tradition is eked out of the performance works by Paloma Proudfoot and Aniela Piasecka, which push the boundaries

Words: Rosie Priest physicality and power – both of these artists are pushing their own vulnerable boundaries in both practice and performance. Made to be Broken will be a re-imagining of what it means to create sculpture and perform whilst also being aesthetically intriguing and illustrious.

PALOMA PROUDFOOT AND ANIELA PIASECKA

DORIAN JOSE BRAUN

Ceramicist and performer Paloma Proudfoot and Aniela Piasecka will be presenting a series of performances throughout the festival. Titled Made to be Broken, the project will centre around the notion of “taking control and losing control,” between the push and pull of vulnerability, both within the individual artists’ practices, and within the relationship those practices have with one another. Unlike much of their previous work this performance will not involve both of the artists as Proudfoot has deliberately given her ceramics over to the performance itself, pushing the boundaries of artistic will and control by fully letting go of her ownership of the pieces and how they’re handled, and leaving Piasecka in control. This control however is limited by Piasecka’s own

The notion of the great unknown in performance practices, of making something tangible and unrehearsed real is a shared sensibility of another of Platform’s artists, Dorian Jose Braun. Braun’s interdisciplinary practice has enquired into the history of sound, through audio and video works and self-made instruments. Like Proudfoot and Piasecka, Braun seems to share an interest in the notion of leaving himself up to the unknown or the unforeseen: “I sometimes come across things that I find I know nothing about but still carry on. I trust that through this persistent process the work might reveal something. I start working and then go further and further until items or ideas start revealing themselves and the works start speaking.”

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THE SKINNY

Photo: Rosie Harriet

Paloma Proudfoot and Aniela Piasecka, The Jockey II

“ Never before has there been such an incredibly diverse and unique collection of emerging artists' works on show within the festival season” He documents one specific interest in exhibition, “about a violin design from Inverness.” It was after visiting the Inverness Museum archives that he became “more and more interested in [musical instrument maker] Alexander Grant’s Rondello,” a disc-shaped violin. With the artists Cristina Garriga, Claudio Crist and Jasper Coops,

he documents his own attempt at making the instrument in an artist’s book. Though “Scotland specifically for this exhibition is intrinsic” to Braun’s work, the sound work he includes was recorded in the Netherlands, which for him “is equally important… All the elements that let the recording happen were very specific to that time and place.” It was in 2015 that he spent three months in Holland on residency and made the work he’ll show in Platform, which begins with the Prologue to Goethe’s Faust, as it poetically imagines the “sound of the sun.” Thinking of how his work will interact with others, Braun imagines the sound “will move into other rooms and possibly affect the works of the other artist showing in the exhibition. It might be present throughout the viewer’s stay in the space.” Though he’s hesitant to say for sure how it might operate as he installed his first, the Brownlee Brothers made a special point to mention how “Braun’s sound piece pulls you into the space and adds sanctity to [their] sculptural work.”

THE BROWNLEE BROTHERS Comprised of Calum and Fraser Brownlee, The Brownlee Brothers have been collaborating together since 2012. As fourth generation Dundee publicans the Brownlee Brothers don’t consider themselves as coming from the most conventional art background: “Our father/grandfather/great grandfather all owned pubs around Dundee and became quite infamous in the trade. Even now you still get old boys stopping [us] in the pub then proceeding to tell a story about how when Lochee United won the cup [our father] filled the trophy with voddy and coke and everyone passed it round the pub.” They count their background as very important to their practice. “The people we meet and stories that are shared influence a lot of our work. This warped narrative is present in our practice and we often borrow imagery from religious artefacts, masonic symbolism and prison tattoos to investigate its meaning and significance in today’s culture.”

Jack Saunders, No Haters, 2013

Their work may explore the loaded connotations of symbols and signs and the bombardment of complex understandings surrounding this imagery, but as a work Lying on the Temple Floor refuses to take itself too seriously. As the Brownlee Brothers explain: “Scotland is really important to our practice. We take it for granted, but we are surrounded by an enormous amount of history and culture. It is something that we often reference within our own work – playing with colloquial norms and this self-deprecating humour that the Scots have perfected.” For Platform, they describe the work as “a natural progression” from their exhibition in London last year as part of New Scottish Artists 2015. “We used 50 custom embroidered patches and 50 shop bought patches to create a large scale textile piece entitled Mort Cloth. It was the first time we had used iconic logos in our work and considered how branding is being used all around us for both positive and negative means.” They describe the importance of “sigil magik,” which allows ideas and views to be condensed into a single, “simple icon.”

Dorian Jose Braun, Replica No. 4, Olmec Mask, 2015

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Photo: Karin van der Meul

JACK SAUNDERS Perhaps sharing some similar sensibilities to the Brownlee Brothers, Jack Saunders explores the poorly defined realms of the conscious and the subconscious: “I see my practice as one big train of thought, irrespective of occasional, seemingly disparate works. All the works I’m making at the moment are influenced by all the works I’ve made previously, whether I’m aware of it or not.” For Platform: 2016, Saunders sets out to reflect on the restructuring and reordering inherent to the cyclical nature of life: “If I had to point to the unifying thread between my most recent works, I’d say they are all addressing ideas of pressure, tension and confusion.” Like all of the artists included, Platform

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exhibitor Jack Saunders does not align his work with any specific medium. For the show, he’ll be including photographs combined with large text (a framed image of a washing line, above a large ‘PFFT’) and longer poetic texts. There’s also interest in icons and logos, with a neon rendering of a steaming hot dog in a bun included amongst Saunders’ multimedia works. Though putting together this grouping for the exhibition, he explains that he doesn’t “set out to make bodies of work.” Nevertheless, of the parts of his practice that have stayed consistently important, he describes “the idea of mis representation and the subjective nature of preconceptions” and “addressing ideas of pressure, tension and confusion.” Saunders is hesitant to draw together themes for Platform, having not “really had a chance to investigate [the others’] work in much detail,” but for him that’s in “itself exciting… exhibiting alongside strangers – with the initial connection coming via converging practices opposed to a physical or social connection.” From the observations he’s made so far, “it seems a lot of the work connects through the opposing ideas of fragility and strength. This seems to be evident in all the works, whether it’s in an emotional sense, a hypothetical sense, a material sense, etc.”

NEW BOUNDARIES All of the artists represented this year share an uncanny train of thought: notions surrounding the vulnerability of consciousnesses, a heightened awareness to pull apart the signs, rituals and sounds we experience every day to unearth something murky and disturbing. Perhaps due to the cultural climate these artists are working in, or maybe a kind of collective unconsciousness of the creative community, every single one of these works promise to reveal new boundaries to push against. Platform 2016 at Edinburgh Art Festival Kiosk until 28 Aug

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Photo: Jack Saunders

Despite Braun being represented as a solo artist, his practice is possibly the most collaborative of all those represented by Platform this year. It’s no surpise that in the past he also worked as an artistic duo. Now he works with a changing range of collaborators, as Braun explains: “It has been exciting for me to discover new ways of working... In the past I have collaborated a lot but never to this extent.” For this work, he’s worked with multiple different artists, singers, as well as music recording and mastering professionals between the Netherlands and Glasgow and each production is developed with the specialist knowledge of his collaborative partners. Like the work of Proudfoot and Piasecka there is an overarching vulnerability to Braun’s work rooted within the unknown, the push-pull of relying on other people.

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Our Andrew of the Flowers In advance of his first solo show at Embassy Gallery, Andrew Black speaks candidly about what the opportunity has meant to him as a white cis male, and how he’s not trying to get away guilt-free

Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

ndrew Black's compiling a long list of collaborators for his first solo show Our Andrew of the Flowers. There are friends’ voices transcribed from conversations about recent trips together, then re-enacted by other important people in his life, as well as videos of folk he's fond of, the majority of whom are non-straight. He's intending to acknowledge some of his anxieties about the individual-centric format of the solo show, and the fact it was given to him as a cis white male. Across the videos, paintings, sound work, drawings and collage he's including, the show's put to this specific end. “It's about the way it breaks it down,” he says. He might have accepted the solo show, but the works are each in different ways intended to frame his position as a queer-but-cis-male artist, and problematising the masculine elements but foregrounding the queer elements of that position.

“ Being a ‘receptive’ sexual being is still the thing you get accused of that is meant to bring you down irredeemably”

Andrew Black, Objets, Film Still, 2016

Andrew Black

Speaking in advance of the show, he continues, “At the end of the day it will totally read as a solo show, I think. I don't want to make any big claims for it being an anti-solo show before I know how it will work, just acknowledge that the solo show is quite an uncomfortable format.” Thinking away from the more conventional queer signifiers and situations, Black's giving pride of place to a recent short trip to Skye with queer friends. For him, it was a time when he was “wanting to exist as queer in opposition to the identities that had claimed those landscapes before.” That's to say, “the macho,” “the male extreme sports and masculine survival tourists,” or the “romanticised poetic experience.” He gives a sense of why the sound piece that recounts this holiday is so important to the whole exhibition. Though not rejecting theory, Black's suspicious of a certain canon of writers. So he distances himself from a kind of dry radicalism, and much of Our Andrew of the Flowers makes a virtue of a sensitivity to “the valuable points of learning and context happening in lived experience, especially the elements that are deemed shameful.” Black's looking towards environments beyond the usual metropolitan idea of queer life. He mentions remote and provincial identities as important to explore; he describes the surety of his identity he felt while there, and “revisiting the landscape with a group of queer friends and feeling safe and validated, through working out our context together.” In this way, it's important for Black to look outside of the term's predictable uses and definitions. That's to say, to begin to consider contexts and situations that aren't typically considered relevant to being ‘queer.’ Elaborating on this, he considers the moments other than sexual activity. As one example, he questions if

August 2016

Andrew Black, Objets, Film Still, 2016

working a menial job is “more abject” for a non-straight person than “the straight guy on the same shift.” Specifically, he thinks about “the stress and energy it requires.” He asks, “How is a queer person set up to perceive that in a way that is less favourable than for straight cis men, and what are the differences in how we both take it home with us?” As much as Black has a problem with being the star of the show, he's careful to acknowledge his influence and authorship throughout. He speaks in particular of the four-way conversation about travelling to Skye that will play in Embassy, “I've got the final say on what goes in and I've steered the conversation. I still do feel like it is quite heavily authored.” It's a problematic position, but one that he's assuming consciously and perceptibly in the different works, “rather than just opting out, which is a use of privilege and is unproductive and not generous.” This decision not to author the show is intended to be made very obvious, leaving that open for discussion. He complicates his position further, saying “I'm definitely choosing to remain like an author but problematising it, but also wanting to invite people to be involved who are friends… because I need them and we're all important to each other's experience... I definitely also want to acknowledge that whatever's in that

work is not me telling or me explaining, it's informed by other people's experiences as well… I'd feel cautious of saying this does something positive. That's not for me to qualify... others can call me out.” In contrast, with the video of his friend playing a song, there's not such a complicated set-up. “He just asked me if he could, and I filmed him… That seemed like the right thing to be in there as well. And that's how we hang out, in someone's bedroom and we talk a lot, and about music.” While parts of the show have no clear relationship to familiar queer visuals (Black reading the day's cheques in a kitchen where he worked in one video, or in others of landscapes), one video in particular depicts a banal erotic scene. He gives some context for its inclusion, thinking in particular “when male bodies get penetrated it is a fundamental point of tension where they become potentially un-male and queer, and the masculinity is put into a very intense position. The intense moment of shameful penetration is something that has echoes at the points where an element of queerness is identified in myself in a non-queer environment.” Black also acknowledges texts like The Screwball Asses by French queer theorist Guy Hocquenghem and writers like Leo Bersani, who

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“foreground the anus as the ‘revolutionary’ sexual organ of the male body, trying to get away from the phallus.” As well as these textual sources, Black references a different generation of artists who used the body as a primary medium “because that was where the fight was going on and inscribed – and of course still is for non-straight, nonwhite, trans and nonbinary people.” So there's some trepidation about making public a personal investment in issues around sex and the body – “being a ‘receptive’ sexual being is still the thing you get accused of that is meant to bring you down irredeemably. Homophobic abuse given to male-gendered people is often around that, and sadly, it's tied into a complex of shaming that was established at school.” But for him it's a funny video too. It's important that the show's “visually gratifying, enjoyable and not an essay but an enjoyable space to be in that's entertaining.” This in a way brings up aesthetics. He doesn't “want it to be swallowed up into a language of the art gallery and art space. I don't want that to be the language I'm talking in, or what represents these things. It's more about being a fairly straightforward reflection on, and framing of these things as they are experienced.” Our Andrew of the Flowers, Embassy Gallery, 13-28 Aug, Thurs-Sun, 12-6pm

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Difficult Childhood Sally Hackett discusses her latest ceramic sculptural commission Fountain of Youth for Edinburgh Art Festival, and collaborating with pupils from Tollcross Primary School Interview: Isabella Shields

ow did you respond to the programme’s theme of monuments? “My exhibition is about missing monuments and under-representation, while the programme involves under-used spaces.”

“ The beauty industry has been the same for thousands of years and we haven’t moved on” Sally Hackett

Like how there are more statues of dogs than of women in Edinburgh? “And absolutely none of children. Children’s work is also so separate from the gallery or museum space, which seems stupid to me because of how amazing it is. I like work by untrained artists, so the idea here was to get children’s work to the forefront as well. It’s also a play on the idea that people come into contemporary and modern art galleries and say, ‘My four-year-old could have done that.’ They couldn’t have, because they don’t have that kind of thought process or direction, so it’s a tongue in cheek take on the naïvety of that.”

Sally Hackett, untitled, 2016

Is that where Tollcross Primary gets involved? “Yeah, so the exhibition is a literal interpretation of the Fountain of Youth – putting childrens’ work into a fountain! I’ve made all the ceramics and done workshops where I asked children questions about the advantages of youth, but also the disadvantages. People look back on being young nostalgically and they don’t remember how frustrated they were. So I asked the children questions like ‘What’s the most annoying thing about being young?’ and got them to draw what antiageing cream does to your face. The show is the visual response to that in a way that makes sense to these kids and to adults.” The focus on anti-ageing also brings in the idea of commodifying the impermanent. “The Fountain of Youth was meant to rejuvenate in the same way these creams are today. The idea of the Hero of Alexandria making the first vending machine dispensing holy water is connected to the idea of the mythological properties of water, and through that it’s connected to the Fountain and face cream. The beauty industry has been the same for thousands of years and we haven’t moved on. I don’t think anyone knows if anti-ageing creams work, but most of the kids have an awareness of the products. I found out from asking what they wanted to be when they grew up that a lot of them wanted to be YouTubers. I wanted to be a Spice Girl, but they want to be YouTubers. The idea of documenting themselves continues In the

Sally Hackett, The Fountain of Youth, 2016

vein of self-expression and being the best possible version of yourself, and the historical aspect of that was particularly interesting to me.” Since YouTubing is pretty ephemeral, how does that tie into your use of ceramics and the permanence or monumental quality of a work? “People associate ceramics with fragility and preciousness but the way I work with it is less perfectionist and more playful. It’s more about making things three-dimensional and the idea of me trying to break the rules of the medium. There’s no point in making work if you’re not challenging yourself or what’s been done before.

Glazing elevates the ceramics into being artefacts, and the idea of the pieces that were painted by kids suddenly having that status gives the kids this huge opportunity, and gives other people an opportunity to see their work. Children have great ideas and we can reconnect with that part of ourselves as adults, but only to an extent. It’s more about relearning how to think in that expressive way without aesthetic consideration, where feelings and movement are more important. The kids came out of the workshop saying ‘We’re making history!’” The Fountain of Youth, Museum of Edinburgh, 28 Jul-28 Aug

Hearing Voices We talk to Siân Robinson Davies about combining art and comedy and Conversations, her upcoming show of scripted conversations between inanimate objects, body parts and concepts

hat piqued your interest in the 18th Century It Narratives? “I was actually made aware of the It Narratives after I had started writing Conversations. In the It Narratives, the strategy of writing from an object’s perspective was used as a way of having a central character that could transgress the strict social boundaries that divided people from different classes, genders and ethnicities, such as a coin that passes between hands. Conversations is more about how the objects communicate and learn from each other. When two differing perspectives come together, there is the opportunity for lear-

Siân Robinson Davies, Conversations, 2016

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ning. Often the characters in the conversations fail to understand each other or explain themselves, just as we humans do.” How to you negotiate the balance between art and comedy in the Conversations? “I don’t see the two as being mutually exclusive. I see humour as being a quality that can be employed in art. Comedy is a humorous art form that happens in comedy clubs, or is a genre of film or literature. I love the improvisational premise of stand-up comedy, where much of it is written and rehearsed, but when it’s good, it sounds totally off-the-cuff. I really enjoy writing dialogue and making it sound life-like and discursive. Writing Conversations was very much like writing stand-up comedy, but because I was writing for other voices, I had to work on the characterisation more than I usually would. I had lots of friends read through the scripts as I was still editing them and they would often read them in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Their interpretations helped me to bring the characters to life.” Was it your own train of thought that informed the characters? “All the conversations were developed in different ways. Soup and Table came from my boyfriend’s struggle to understand that bestbefore dates don’t apply when you put things in

the freezer, and this led to the idea that a freezer is a kind of time machine. I was also thinking about how the different timescales that objects live through might affect their perception. In some cases, I started with a particular subject for the conversation and the objects were decided on later, as in the discussion between the apple and the grass about metaphors and symbols. Lipstick and Breeze Block was written from the starting point of tactility; I was imagining how they would touch each other, in a really sensual way. The objects become aware of their own roles because they have to explain themselves to another object. I was thinking how strange the things I take for granted become when I try to explain them to someone who doesn’t understand. I teach computer literacy to adults and I was once describing how Facebook works to a woman who had never encountered it, and as I was talking I was thinking, ‘Facebook is mental.’” Absurdity comes into the work but it’s all grounded in the mundane. “I’m asking people to work hard imaginatively, because there’s very little spatial content in the exhibition. The colours on the monitor are more something to rest your eyes on while you listen, and a way of maintaining the playfulness of the work in a fairly stark room. Using everyday objects that are familiar eases the imaginative

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Interview: Isabella Shields

Siân Robinson Davies, Conversations, 2016

work that the viewer has to do. There are some talking concepts in there too, but they are always coupled with an object. Perhaps the most moralist conversation is Pillow and Revenge, but there is also something in Flying and Feather, which is about whether abstract concepts can take responsibility for actions. Can businesses take responsibility for damages? Legally and financially they can, but not emotionally. Flying’s character is an opportunist, taking credit for the good things and passing the buck when things go wrong.” Conversations will exhibit at the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop until 31 Aug

THE SKINNY

August 2016

Immigrant Song James Kelman’s important new novel plays a soundtrack to America’s immigrant heritage, pulsing to a Zydeco rhythm and a Scottish beat. While being termed as among his most accessible works, it’s nice to find that the great author has not yet mellowed Interview: Alan Bett Illustration: Raj Dhunna

won’t call James Kelman’s new novel the feel-good book of the summer. Partly as, while sunnier in disposition than many previous works, its story is still painted over a backdrop of grief. Partly as the formidable novelist would surely hunt me down. Still, Dirt Road is undeniably optimistic. Moments of wonder radiate from its pages like sun streaming through a window. It is a story of family and freedom. Of a son travelling from Scotland to Alabama along with his father. Of their fragile yet loving relationship in the wake of the deaths from hereditary cancer of both the boy’s sister and mother. Yet, in the foreground, the book glows with the vitality of youth and music: Murdo, a natural musician from whose naïve viewpoint we encounter the world, and the Louisiana Zydeco music he’s bewitched by (a French heritage blend of blues and R&B, with an accordion and washboard – le frottoir – as its staples). While Kelman has previously railed against his perceived place on “the margins” of the broader literary scene, it is difficult to imagine an easy embrace between the man and the mainstream. His novels often leave you feeling like you’ve tussled with something vast and thorny: the Booker Prize-winning How late it was, how late with its dizzying spirals of repetition. The Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Kieron Smith, Boy with its unrelentingly and utterly realistic worldview of an unremarkable Glasgow youth – what Michel Faber described at the time as "revolutionary and very, very dull." It’s interesting then to ponder on how Kelman might feel about Dirt Road being deemed accessible enough to be chosen for Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. “It’s probably the first one that was ever possible,” he admits when we meet for coffee, and punctuates with a laugh. “Well, I don’t know if they’d ever enquired before.” But Dirt Road in no way dilutes the author’s celebrated technique. His trademark dialogue remains uninhibited by quotation marks, allowing him, he explains, to “ move in a seamless way from the third party narrative to the inner psyche of the character.” There is his complex use of tense: “It’s a third person narrative, it operates in the immediate past. It’s almost like the present, the recorded present.” But his workings here are transparent, allowing the reader to glide through stream of consciousness text which forms into thoughts and voices, ultimately lives; impossible to associate with ink on a page. A form of alchemy perhaps? Well, there’s a suggestion the author would surely bristle at, equating the graft of his writing when we spoke last year to "pulling teeth." While the morning sun bathes our booth in Glasgow’s Rio Café, the EU Referendum result has just this day landed, so political skies are more uncertain. Following this national debate, partially stained by views on immigration, Dirt Road reminds us that Scots have been an immigrant nation across centuries. Canada and the States are littered with communities of Caledonian origin, many traceable to individual crossings or acts of history, like the MacDonalds being driven out in

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the 1700s. It's the same for those in turn reaching Scotland. “If you’ve come from Italy at a certain point you’re likely to have come from that [particular] range of mountains.” Kelman explains. “Usually it’s to do with hardship at home.” Of course emmigrant Scots preserved their culture in the New World. Dirt Road sets a significant section at The Gathering, a display of shrink wrapped shortbread tin tradition in Alabama. A celebration of outdated heritage by an enclave community clinging to marks of identity. “I mean it’s one of the things you become aware of, travelling in the States,” says Kelman, “But it’s like travelling in parts of anywhere else. You enter into places that are ghettoised, either enforced or through choice.” The situation is further exasperated by what can be an inability rather than reluctance to integrate, something the author experienced first-hand when he journeyed to America as a young man: “The problem for me being there at 17 was that I had left school at 15 so I was serving my time as a compositor in the printing trade, but when I arrived in the States I wasn’t able to work, because you had to be 18, that was a federal law… you can only work within the black economy… You can only do it because you know a family and they’re giving you a job in this hamburger stall or something.” The flight from hardship, ghettoised communities, black market existence; aspects of modern migration we now often view from the opposite side of the glass. Dirt Road gathers together the pieces of the American cultural jigsaw, including amongst others the French (divided here further into Cajun and Creole), Scots, Irish, Mexican and African. “I think it’s a crucial aspect of the novel, because the older forms of immigration are alluded to at one point. There should be nothing needs to be said about the States,” Kelman suggests of their historical make-up, “although it continually has to be said because of the right-wing nationalism that goes on, which is such a kind of absurdity.” That absurdity is highlighted by the novel’s Scots dividing down finer lines when singer Declan Pike introduces loosely understood Billy Boy lyrics into Marching Through Georgia: “I mean Declan would expect to be thought Scottish since his mother’s Scottish, but

of course the old Glasgow guy Uncle John, who comes from a different tradition, he would say, he’s a bloody Irish immigrant! I mean what are you talking about?” Kelman shakes his head, smiles a wry smile. “The absurdity of this whole thing about immigration gets shown up in these characters. The idea of any culture being homogenous, which is nonsense.”

“ That's to assume that the people within the Tory party have some liberal or moral or ethical position” James Kelman

We’ve been discussing immigration in more historical and complex terms than the crude tactics often used throughout the Brexit debate. There are those who stoked the fires of nationalism. Will they now be able to dampen them? “Why would they want to?” Kelman shrugs. “I mean that’s to assume that the people within the Tory party have some liberal or moral or ethical position. There are things that they’ve been wanting to do for a while.” He lists them: “The need to cut out employment law. The need to destroy human rights legislation… they want absolute freedom to employ people at [a rate of] free teacakes for an 80-hour week… they want to be able to discriminate against disabled employees… close down any factory, close down anything.” I push a recent pamphlet by the celebrated author Kirsty Gunn across the table – Notes Towards a National Literature – which initiated much debate within the Scottish literary community. Kelman has not read it as yet, and while the essay is far more complex than soundbites, certain quotations relating to Scotland’s place in both the contemporary and historical literary

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canon run contrary to the marginalisation he has regularly claimed. “All I can say is that’s great,” Kelman says. “ but it’s not my experience that Kirsty is talking about. It certainly doesn’t bear [resemblance] to the hostility I’ve received and continue to receive.” It’s a confusing claim for this multi-prize winner, to view himself as still working from the margins. “It depends what you mean by margins,” he counters. “You don’t earn a living at it in the ordinary way. My work still gets marginalised in book shops… What I feel is, in retrospect, you can’t underestimate the damage that was done through the hostility for How Late It Was.” That novel of course attracted controversy and ire when certain Booker Prize judges and critics condemned its use of language. Kelman has spoken often of this war with the UK literary establishment. During a 2008 interview with 3AM Magazine he replied: "Your question suggests it is a fair go, an even fight, or some such nonsense. It isn’t. One side has power and authority and the other doesn’t. One has the power to stop the other from earning a living." It’s perhaps with a sly wink then that Dirt Road features the following sarcastic dialogue, lamenting the treatment of a legendary musician whose reputation far exceeds her earnings: ‘Oh please come please come; please come play for us Miss Monzee-ay you are a legend, an all-time star of the world; you are the Queen of Zydeco music. Only we can’t pay you no money!’ Balancing this, his young central character Murdo performs music as a collaborative act. Never competing for applause or chasing monetary reward. Might this be your own creative manifesto? I ask. “Well that’s a good way of putting it, as a creative manifesto.” Then he tells a story. “There’s a great quotation by a Texas musician. He’s asked why he’s never made any dough – and he’s a good name this guy – his response to the question of why he's still scrabbling around, he said what he’d come to realise was, 'I want to live my life doing this.' There is a pause. “That’s how it equates for myself. Dirt Road is out now, published by Canongate, RRP £16.99 James Kelman will be appearing at Edinburgh International Book Festival on Sunday 21 Aug

THE SKINNY

An incomplete guide to the Book Festival Our Books Editor struggles to work logically through a recommended list for Edinburgh International Book Festival – such is the volume and quality of events on offer. Finally, through the power of cheap and ambiguous links, there forms a path Words: Alan Bett

ow might you boil Edinburgh International Book Festival down to a single page? With over 700 events featuring more than 800 authors it’s impossible to limit your recommendations. How do you plot a map through the multitude of conversations and themes on offer? How to break them down into separate groups? I mean, along what lines? To start, the term author relates to novelists, poets, scientists, philosophers, sportsmen, illustrators, comics creators, historians, musicians, biographers, environmentalists and economists. Writing within genres and forms including crime, thriller, ‘literary’ fiction, historical non-fiction, short form, long form, poetry and prose. We have writers from China, Korea, Russia, the USA; a multitude of nationalities presenting their work and discussing the big questions which arise from them. Where do you start with a festival that seemingly engages with every subject under the sun, in terms that are funny, affecting, occasionally graphic… ah-ha, now there’s my in. So you like graphic novels? Very much? Well let’s start with Very Graphic Images (13 Aug), Edward Ross’s joyful and whip smart journey from the dawn of cinema through to its present day, in line with his book Filmish. Then there’s Bryan Talbot & Mary M Talbot: The Irresistible Urge for Utopia on 27 Aug. The pair brought previous pièce de la résistance Sally Heathcote Suffragette to Edinburgh a couple of years back and it seems their spare and affecting use of colour will once more push political thought to the fore, in their new illustrated tale of a French Revolutionary, The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia. You say you want a revolution? Well, on 24 Aug EIBF welcomes Charlotte Hobson & Marina Stepnova for Revolutionary Roads. While Hobson’s The Vanishing Futurist and Stepnova’s The Women of Lazarus both open during Russia’s 1917 Revolution, the novels each take very different paths. Stepnova’s ‘masterpiece’ is now finally available in English, spanning a century of Russian history on the page. Poet Zaffar Kunial also works in centuries, looking at ‘the legacy of exchanging words’ across them. In the highly recommended first Skinny sponsored event on 15 August, he speaks with our Makar Jackie Kay on being a British writer of mixed heritage in the 21st century, Between the Dee and the Don. If a century seems long, novelists Paul Kingsnorth & György Spiró combine for The Two Thousand Year Story (29 Aug). While Spiró’s novel Captivity is described as a road-movie of a novel set in the Holy Land in the 1st Century AD, Kingsnorth moves from 11th century to present day with the highly lauded second part to his Buckmaster series, Beast. This is a mould breaking novel whose ripples will surely spread over time, our reviewer suggesting that ‘To read Beast is to feel the overwhelming dreamlike intensity of hallucination.’ While Kingsnorth travels in time, Wolfgang Bauer travelled across the sea with Syrians, going undercover to experience and document the journey of refugees into Europe. He described his covert experience to The Skinny earlier this year in the terms of: “You’re an actor, acting for your life.” He appears on 19 August for To Risk My Life Had to Mean Something. Then our greatest living Scottish novelist travels over different

August 2016

waters, the Atlantic. James Kelman presents his new master work Dirt Road during our second Skinny Event: A Road Trip Through America (21 Aug). This is a beautifully optimistic novel of family and freedom: huge and important themes blending seamlessly into a simple narrative of a boy and his love for music. Kelman is a must-see; controversial, divisive and outrageously talented. Here is a chance to catch one of the world’s most original and influential authors, speaking his mind no doubt. So, we’re now in the US of A, what else can we see? Well, as a land of extremes it’s only right we first look at the American Dreamers (26 Aug) that are Megan Bradbury & Benjamin Markovits. Then the nightmare, Lionel Shriver: Letters from a Troubled America (20 Aug). Bradbury’s supremely assured debut Everyone is Watching takes a multi-stranded approach to The Big Apple’s personal narrative, focusing in on some famous faces among the teaming masses; Walt Whitman and Robert Mapplethorpe amongst others. A ‘love letter to New York and its people – past, present and future.’ Shriver of course achieved infamy through We Need to Talk About Kevin. On August 20 she discusses her new novel The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047, set in an America stunted by a vast financial crisis. Where do these authors come up with their ideas?

“ Where do you start with a festival that engages with every subject under the sun?” But let’s look for answers. How can we avoid this worrying future? Well, Alex Bell & Dominic Hinde ask Can We Make the Planet a Better Place? (15 Aug). In a time of political distrust and referendum fatigue, journalist Bell’s book The People We Could Be suggests how power can be brought closer to the people. Hinde looks to the perfect model, or is it? A Utopia Like Any Other separates the reality and myth of the Swedish political model – one many suggest an independent Scotland pursue. Hinde is an acknowledged Nordic expert having written for a number of respected publications, reserving his best work for The Skinny. A further source of personal betterment might be Laura Bates: A Manifesto for Empowered Women (14 Aug). Bates is the founder of the highly influential online project Everyday Sexism. She will be discussing her new book Girl Up, termed a ‘no nonsense survivalguide’ by The Sunday Times, and also as very funny by The Daily Telegraph. And we all like a laugh, don’t we? And what loosens us up more than music? Perhaps closer to a slipped disk than a casual warm-up is Stuart Cosgrove’s personal history of Northern Soul, Young Soul Rebels. A book we described as charting ‘ in effortless detail the cosmic freedom that music provides.’ On 26 Aug, Cosgrove educates us on Why the Northern Soul Beat

Goes On. Earlier, on 18 Aug, Tim Burgess meets with Ian Rankin to tell More Tales of a Charlatan. Burgess’s brutally and hilariously honest memoir Telling Stories did just that, charting the history of his band The Charlatans. In Tim Book Two the avid collector charts vinyl adventures from Istanbul to San Francisco. Rankin, a fellow music fan, will surely provide excellent questions and company – he’s basically book festival family after all. Good family that is. Not like your dodgy uncle, or ‘The family’. Although, if that floats your boat then meet a man who stuck their members behind bars. Giancarlo Carofiglio is a former anti-Mafia prosecutor from Bari. He has now turned real life court cases into bestsellers – the Guido Guerrieri legal thrillers – and lived to tell the tale. Refunds hopefully available (just in case) for an event he shares with crime writer Steve Cavanagh: Legally Thrilling (27 Aug). The week previous, Giancarlo De Cataldo brings his epic Romanzo Criminale to Edinburgh for When in Rome… (19 Aug), the tale of the gangster known as The Lebanese, set during Italy’s

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politically volatile Years of Lead in the 70s. This is just a small taste of what Edinburgh International Book Festival has to offer this August. For once I please ask you, don’t take my word for granted. These are simply my personal picks and there is something for everyone. If you’re less interested in the big names on the big main stage such as Jonathan Safran Foer, in from the US, or our very own Bailey’s prize winner Ali Smith, then discover new blood such as the literary find of the year Lara Williams (18 Aug), bringing her outstanding short story collection Treats, or Dundee International Book Prize Winner Martin Cathcart Froden with his newly published novel Devil Take the Hindmost (26 Aug). Don’t feel that you must have read the book, use these events as an introduction to new writers and new themes. Stroll into Charlotte Square, order a pint, peruse the day’s programme and pick a show. While I’ve plotted a meandering journey on this page, in actuality it really is that simple. Edinburgh International Book Festival runs from 13-29 Aug in Charlotte Square Gardens. Tickets are on sale now www.edbookfest.co.uk

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Step Inside the Empathy Machine Edinburgh has a new festival in town in the form of the Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival, and it’s taking us into the brave new world of virtual reality Interview: Jamie Dunn

nce the bleeding edge nightmare of 90s science fiction movies, virtual reality (VR) is now on the cusp of being an everyday reality. The tech is already in the wild. Last year saw the release of Samsung’s Gear VR, the Oculus Rift hit the market in March and the PlayStation’s first VR device is due later in the year. Expense isn’t even a barrier. Google Cardboard, a cheap and cheerful virtual reality set-up that plugs straight into your smartphone, is already out there too – the New York Times gave over a million of them away to their subscribers last November. You can pick one up yourself for less than a tenner. “This year VR has definitely been the big buzzword,” says Samantha Kingston, client director (and co-founder) of Virtual Umbrella, the UK’s first VR PR and events agency. In other words: VR is about to go mainstream. The technology’s applications seem endless. It looks like it’s certainly going to be big in gaming, but it’s also been heralded as the future for other artforms. It may be the next major innovation in filmmaking. Festivals like Sundance, Cannes and Sheffield Doc/Fest have already embraced VR, giving space to the medium’s pioneering works in their programmes. The technology could also revolutionise immersive theatre, bringing this live, local experience to a mass audience and allow these ephemeral performances to be kept forever. Facebook and Google, meanwhile, are scrambling to work out VR’s applications for social interaction. In these formative years of the technology, says Kingston, it’s vital that the tech gets into the hands of the general public as quickly as possible. “They’re going to be the consumer adopters, hopefully this year and in the years to come,” she says, “so it’s really important in terms of developers and content creators for them to really be out there and shouting about it and telling everybody how exciting a platform it is.” They’ll be doing just that at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. The meeting between the worlds of art and technology is at the heart of the festival’s newest addition: Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival (EDEF), which takes over Assembly Rooms throughout August, letting audiences experience the latest in gaming, event cinema, live arts and, of course, virtual reality. While every other available space in the city is given over to the creation of cutting edge art and theatre, the same anything goes ethos will be at play at EDEF, where you’ll find similar innovation and experimentation in the world of VR. “There’s a little bit of the Wild West about the technology, so it fits in with the Fringe pretty well,” says Mark Atkin, who heads up EDEF’s 360 Filmmaking Lab, which will help teach aspiring VR filmmakers the art of shooting and editing for VR. “There aren’t any rules and regulations, it’s all to be discovered and created, and it will be formed by the kind of collaborations that come together in order to create stuff. So it is a very exciting moment to be involved.” The tech is improving all the time, and the content is just about keeping up. “It’s quite clear that the quality of what’s coming out is becoming phenomenal,” says Atkin, who also curates Sheffield Doc/Fest’s pioneering Alternative Realities programme. “The sophistication, now, is incredible.” What seems to be so appealing about VR is its ease of use. It doesn’t have the kind of barriers that, say, gaming has, where one has to

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familiarise themselves with controllers and rules and styles of play. “Everybody just gets VR,” notes Atkin. “It doesn’t matter if you’re six years old or 60. Once you’re in it, you get it.” This universality, of course, appeals to filmmakers. Those moving from big screen storytelling to the VR headset aren’t going to find the transition easy, though. “Filmmakers will have to reevaluate the way they write a script or film a scene,” notes Kingston. The 360 degree filming course at EDEF is a nice entry level to VR filmmaking. The challenge is to take the skills learned there and create something truly interactive. “When you go to the cinema you see something that’s flat,” explains Kingston, “so you know you can’t see anything around you. The filmmaker is in total control of what you see. But then if you go and create a film in virtual reality you have to think about how that story is going to play out in a 360 degree environment.”

“ It changes you. It changes the way you read the news subsequently. There’s something about how you remember things from VR; memory is most powerful when it’s spacial.” Say, for example, a filmmaker wants the person watching their film to turn their head to advance the story – how are they going to achieve that? “They have to ask themselves things like, ‘Shall I interlink some audio that’s going to make a door creak behind them so that they’ll turn and they won’t miss anything?’” says Kingston. “It’s an incredible way of looking at it, but it’s also a really cool new form of entertainment. As a [VR] filmmaker, you have to be in the shoes of your audience member and be able to try and figure out where they’ll look. Will they look up? Will they look down? Or will they just freak out and not look anywhere?” For people coming from a theatre background, they’re used to these types of challenges. Atkin reckons the key to filmmakers being successful in VR is to embrace some of that chaos of immersive theatre. “The people who’ve grown up in the film world, they need to let go of that sense of absolute control,” he says. “They have to think differently about composing a shot. It really is a different medium.” Once filmmakers get their heads around the fact that audiences respond differently in the VR space, however, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities, chief of which is the medium’s built-in intimacy. “Because all of your sensors are cut off while you’re in there are no distractions,”

explains Atkin, “you’re totally involved in that world.” So you can’t be fiddling on Twitter or Facebook during the performance – or at least not yet, anyway. You have to be in the moment. “That’s the dream for a creative,” he says. “And that’s the payoff for these filmmakers: they might be losing a certain amount of control, but they’ve got the audience’s undivided attention.” The festival includes a VR studio, which hosts 23 short VR films. The experiences on offer are myriad. You can visit the ice-encrusted plains of Pluto, swim with dolphins or check out the art of Skid Row. One of VR’s most appealing features is that it can simulate the experience of being someone else for a few minutes. You can see through the eyes of Australian aboriginal Nyarri Morgan, and relive his experience of colliding for the first time with western technology in the 1960s; witness the London bombings of 7/7 from the perspective of Jacqui Putnam, who survived the Circle Line blast; spend time as an animated bunny fighting off an alien invasion; or live a few minutes as a zombie apocalypse survivor trying desperately to escape a horde of the living dead. To put it another way: VR can put you directly in other people’s shoes. It’s no wonder it has been dubbed the ultimate empathy machine.

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And it’s no wonder that several of the films on show at EDEF choose to tackle the world concern that is in most need of our empathy: the Syrian migrant crisis. “One of the films lets you sit in a boat next to a Syrian family who are desperately trying to find a safe haven in Europe,” says Atkin. “It changes you. It changes the way you read the news subsequently. There’s something about how you remember things from VR; memory is most powerful when it’s spacial.” Perhaps what’s most exciting about VR is that it’s still in its infancy. How it’ll impact our future is still unknown. “In terms of consumer adoption, we’ll be learning what people want as we go along,” says Kingston. “It’s a bit like selling a helmet before you have a bike.” What’s essential, then, is events like EDEF, which let people take VR for a spin. “It’s a really odd platform to market because if you haven’t had the chance to try it, you won’t necessarily know what it’s all about or how exciting it can be. Or you might have completely different expectations of it until you put it on.” Put on a headset and find out for yourself at EDEF. The Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival, presented by Riverside Studios, runs 4-28 Aug at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh. For more information and tickets please visit www.edef.co.uk

THE SKINNY

August 2016

THE SKINNY

WHITE

Cabaret, Punk & Collaborative Pop The Skinny ploughs through the Fringe programme so you don’t have to. Our guide to August’s musical happenings, with commentary from some of the players

hose festivals, eh? Coming over here, taking up our streets, plying us with all the things we love the most. Brilliant things like jokes, drama, glitter, booze. However, unless you're into classy concertos or questionable open mic covers of Wonderwall, music bookings have taken a bit of a back seat in years previous. Happily, The Skinny's here to tell you that the Edinburgh Festivals’ tides have changed: it is 2016, and there is a mad variety of exciting, outrageous, cutting-edge musical happenings to be savoured this year. We're going to walk you though the whole damn lot. First, a disclaimer: gigs throughout August are jumbled within loads of fantastical, artsy happenings. There are plenty of great, straight-up live shows on offer – and we'll tell you about those too – but be sure to seize your chance to see good music in rare settings.

[Godspeed You! Black Emperor] really like Godspeed. People who are very engaged and passionate – that's what the festival should be about. And, artists who are doing something that is very singular – you might walk in and go, ‘God, no. I'm walking straight out,’ but they're reaching into really interesting places.”

“ Our goal is to draw the crowd into our world” Sage Francis

Summerhall's NEHH Fringe gigs

Nothing Ever Happens Here, Summerhall's sassily named gig series, addresses Edinburgh's lack of mid-sized music venues. Since March 2015, bookThis year the Edinburgh International Festival ings chief Jamie Sutherland has curated starry specialises in unique, interdisciplinary perforselections of local music heroes and international names – and he describes August's festival marmances that show your favourite artists in a new athon (“27 shows in 28 days might be the end of light... or even backed by a dance company. We me”) as NEHH's “centrepiece.” give EIF Festival Director Fergus Linehan a quick Spanning experimental club nights, morose call to ask about his bold, diverse booking policy, and he explains that 2016’s theme of sorts is indie rock and shiny synth pop, he explains the “Scottish artists doing collaborative projects.” one unifying theme: “We focus on artists who You'll find this spirit in Mogwai and Mark have a unique view of the world. It's an enormous Cousins’ concert/film experience Atomic, in Aidan privilege to host acts as seminal as Grandaddy Moffat's Where You're Meant to Be, and in ANOHNI's and Billy Bragg, but we take our responsibility for (formerly of Antony & the Johnsons) recent providing a platform to young Scottish artists HOPELESSNESS: an album/collaborative project very seriously – hopefully one of the support acts on this year's bill can come back and headline like with Glasgow producer Hudson Mohawke and Kathryn Joseph this year!” electronic supremo Oneohtrix Point Never, If emerging Scottish music makers are your holding human conflict at its heart. Linehan thang, Summerhall indeed has plenty. On the warns: “It's very confrontational! It's not a fun night out... It's a tough theme and it's really good.” 13th you'll find a bananas double billing of Glasgow's freshest party starters: tropical popThreads of political commentary will surge sters Bossy Love haven't wasted a single second of through shows like Flit and in the appearance 2016, charming audiences from Hidden Door to of Young Fathers, about whom Linehan laughs, Glastonbury, and they share their ridiculous “maybe a bit of an obvious choice, but they're an Edinburgh band and they're doing incredible charisma with glam, glittery synth-rock band things. It's about trying to reflect what's actually WHITE. going on. WHITE vocalist Leo Condie tells us he's played “Peoples’ tastes are much more diverse than at the Edinburgh festivals before, as part of a “kind they used to be,” Linehan emphasises. “The stuff of Bertolt Brecht act, three years ago,” and that we're trying to do... like, people who like WHITE participated in the ART LATE line-up in Leith

Music at Edinburgh International Festival

August 2016

Words: Katie Hawthorne

last year – but this headline show is the band's biggest fest billing yet. “To know that we're on the same bill as [Bossy Love], I'm really excited!” he tells The Skinny. “We'll be putting in all the effort to make sure it's a special show… We will pull out all the stops. All of them. Every single one.” It's going to be a sweat-box, isn't it? “YES. I hope so!”

clearly relieved. “But it's quite a big venue. We'll bring in more musicians to fill out the sound – and the instrumentation on the album does feature drums and stuff, so it's a nice thing to do!” Released in July, Undercurrents was supported by Creative Scotland, and the dreamy, haunting record features musicians from the Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Duncan usually tours with as Music at the Edinburgh Fringe a three-piece – with harpist Fiona Rutherford and Best of the Fringe: Stabbing a biro at random acts bassist Lawrie Macmillan – so expect an extra magical show when she brings a full band to St in the Fringe programme is one way to navigate Edinburgh at peak fest frenzy, but you should both Brides on the 21st. fear and respect the likelihood of finding yourself Sage Francis on making his trapped at a 4am free show that's heavy on Fringe debut audience participation and low on laughs. Don't In contrast, Sage Francis will be travelling Transworry; we've got you. From our favourite garage-pop two-piece Tuff atlantic to woo Edinburgh crowds for the first time. Via emails from over the ocean, Francis tells Love taking to theatrical boards at the Traverse, The Skinny that his label-mate and co-performer as part of the New Zealand play Daffodils (A Play with Songs) or beatbox maestro Shlomo leading B. Dolan has been encouraging him to watch kid-friendly workshops, there's a righteous documentaries on the Edinburgh Festival, but abundance of talent. If glitzy cabaret is your deal, thus far he's resisted: “If I start predicting what I'm New Yorker Lady Rizo returns to rip up our about to encounter my stress levels will get out of favourite pop songs at Assembly Checkpoint. Jazz control!” fan? The Graeme Stephen trio will live-score The two American emcees/poets offer creepy 1920s German classic The Cabinet of Dr uniquely cutting perspectives on the world, with a Caligari in a Leith bar – a perfect excuse to leave powerful belief in the importance of political behind Old Town madness for a few hours. lyricism. They'll be at the Stand in the Square for a Alternatively, for the ultimate in August's anything- whopping 20 shows, which Sage reflects “will goes attitude, experimental punk twins The really feed into my Groundhog Day nature.” Francis and Dolan intend to work on new material Garden visit Electric Circus for a show that'll be throughout their stay, on a project they've titled far weirder than your usual. Epic Beard Men, and he reckons “there's a fair For a deeper insight into the minds of preparing performers, we speak to Fringe veteran chance we'll test some of that material live… It'll mostly be a performance where we bounce off Amy Duncan, an Edinburgh-based folk music maestro. Duncan describes her festival history as each other and that brings us back to how we met in the slam scene in the early 00s.” having played “bits and bobs,” which undersells New to Edinburgh but a leader of the spoken her billing on a Made In Scotland showcase in word world, Sage is fully on board with the Fringe's 2013 and her three-night residency in 2014, chaotic, creative energy. “Our goal is to draw the during which she workshopped material that would become her newest record, Undercurrents. crowd into our world as soon as possible. It's only an hour show, so there's no time to play around! Despite sounding totally calm and completely Let's go!” collected, Duncan remembers well the inherent Finishing up on that motivational note, we'll challenges in pulling together a Fringe show. She reflects, “[last time] there was no PA set up – we just leave you with WHITE's words of festival had to do it ourselves every night. And the sound wisdom: “It's relentless. Give all your time to it and in the room was quite reverby… it was a challenge, just go wild, follow the free drinks and follow the but it was good! We had a good time!” Her St good shows and just be like, cool… where's the Brides show is a return to a favourite venue, next crazy place?” though. “It has a really lovely sound,” she says,

Music

theskinny.co.uk/festivals/edinburgh-festivals

Feature

Photo: Ryan Johnston

B. Dolan and Sage Francis

Local Heroes Looking for a survey of contemporary Scottish design? Local Heroes are here with a range of original souvenirs

nternational arrivals at Edinburgh Airport this summer will be greeted by an exciting new project that aims to reclaim Scottish design from the clutches of the tartan shortbread tin. In a converted shipping container next to the massive EDINBURGH sign, Local Heroes presents a range of bespoke products from a handful of the designers whose work represents the vision and international ambition that has become prevalent in this nation’s design community over the last ten years. The reasons for this new movement are at least twofold. From a practical viewpoint, the internet has made it easier to access markets anywhere in the world. It has facilitated increased ease of production, and allowed brands to create an identity which transcends locale. From a creative point of view, the injection of energy, confidence and ambition that came about in the debates of the Scottish referendum, of our communities discussing and reimagining the shape of the world that we wish to live in, cannot be underestimated. Local Heroes curator Stacey Hunter is certain that the referendum offered a turning point for the confidence of our creative life. “There’s no doubt in my mind that there was a real change of attitude in the people that work in the creative industries before, during and after the referendum,” she says. “I think there was just a real sense of people recovering or finding a sense of confidence that had been lying dormant.

“Once people started to speculate about what an independent Scotland might be, that speculation sparked ideas of what else might be possible. People started to think about their businesses and their practices a bit differently and be more experimental. They found it easier to collaborate with one another – there was a lot more trust. There’s a general sense of not waiting for permission for someone to say you can go and do something. You can just go and do something.” Local Heroes sets out to reflect that invigorated design community on the international stage of airport arrivals during the Edinburgh festivals, as part of the Year of Innovation, Architecture & Design. Says Hunter, “Design exhibitions have a really important role to play when it comes to reflecting a culture at a point in time.” This particular exhibition combines an acknowledgement of the realities of the marketplace (these products are for sale) with a curated approach which offers a snapshot of the quality and ambition of Scottish design now. Funded by Events Scotland and Creative Scotland, each new product’s manufacturing costs were underwritten, allowing the designers to be more experimental and diversify their ranges. Karen Mabon, known for her fantastical scarf designs, used the opportunity to try out making an umbrella. She enjoyed the unusual level of freedom the Local Heroes brief offered. She says,

Hilary Grant, Archipelago, £120

Karen Mabon, Rain Dance, £55

Lifestyle

FASHION

Photo: Stuart McClay

Words: Rosamund West

Rebecca Torres, Axis, £75

THE SKINNY

Risotto, Tropical Beach Towels, £35 each

Tom Pigeon. Totem, £60

August 2016

Photo: Stuart McClay

Trakke, Assynt 12, £125

“I love any kind of project that trusts your skill as a designer to add things to the world. To design an object under the brief of a souvenir is liberating and that’s really good for generating new ideas.” Given the ludicrously changeable nature of the Scottish climate, an umbrella / sunshade seemed like the perfect gift to offer to new arrivals to our shores. Each product in the range has been created bespoke and is available for the first time. Says Hunter, “All the products are designed as souvenirs, and the idea of travel was brought in to as great or as little a degree as the designers wanted.” There’s a maximalist aesthetic on display in many of the pieces, from the bold trio of beach towels from Risotto studio to the brightly coloured geometry of Rebecca Torres’ swimsuit. Even the über minimalist aesthetic of Instrmnt’s watch is given a splash of colour in the form of a packaging collaboration with Risotto. Warriors studio represent graphic design, with Nummer Wans, a souvenir poster celebrating

FASHION

the inventions of the Scottish nation. Turns out we started Halloween – who knew? Jewellery designers Tom Pigeon have created an acrylic neckpiece that can be worn in the pool, perhaps with your Rebecca Torres swimsuit before drying off with the Risotto towel. Orkney knitwear designer Hilary Grant has made an intricately woven travel blanket out of geelong wool for extra strength and cosiness. Laura Spring and Trakk offer practical products for airport travellers, with a purse for your liquids and a bright waterproof rucksack respectively. As a whole, the show should go some way to reclaiming and reimagining what ‘Scottish design’ means. While the editions of the products aren’t limited, the August supply is. There are as few as 25 of some of the pieces, so once they’re gone from the Local Heroes store, they’re gone. Best get along to the airport quick. Products are available to buy online at localheroes.design #ScottishDesign

Lifestyle

Photo: Stuart McClay

Warriors Studio, Nummer Wans, £15

THE SKINNY

Best of Both Worlds What happens when a classical composer tries her hand at a pop record? Scottish Album of the Year, that’s what… We meet Anna Meredith

here’s a point, early on in the conversation, when it strikes you just how intrinsically nice Anna Meredith is. Okay; nice is such a lazy, anodyne adjective, frequently used in the pejorative; it’s very much the Mumford & Sons of descriptive words. So let’s try warm instead. Engaging. Modest. About to Ryanair it to Bratislava for a festival set, the Edinburgh-raised artist has a way of talking that highlights the enthusiasm she applies to her craft – and enthuse she may, what with picking up this year’s SAY Award for the delightfully playful Varmints (an album The Skinny has been banging

on about for an age – but what do we know?). “It’s been amazing,” Anna explains down the phone of the past few months, accommodatingly finding the corner of her studio’s lobby with the sharpest mobile signal. “I didn’t want to expect too much in case nothing happened – the worst thing would have been that nobody was into it; that would have been a very hard thing to pick yourself up from. That people have loved it – it’s been a really humbling, amazing thing, especially when the SAY Award shortlist was so strong and interesting that I didn’t allow myself to even think about winning.”

Yet win she did – deservedly so – and without wishing to second-guess the judging panel, the album’s appeal is multi-faceted. ‘Cute, erudite electropop rich in grace and glide’ is a description that works on one level, but more than this, it’s Meredith’s ‘day job’ as classical composer that speaks of a musical fluency, and the extrapolation of themes and ideas within different contexts. “I think that context is the right word. Quite often people ask me about different genres – ‘Oh, so is this your pop record?’ – and that’s not really how I see it. For me, the musical ideas are really similar to how I’d write for kids or a piece for orchestra; I use the same sort of harmonies and rhythms across what I write. I’ve always loved writing and I really just want to represent these ideas as a sort of statement about being where I’m at. I guess that was my starting point; what things could I not, not include.” Ideas that include a lithe 80s feel to the record: “I suppose I’m a child of the 80s and 90s. I love my trashy synth. I love a trashy dance anthem, and I suppose that those sounds are in there.” But on the flipside, “I definitely didn’t go out to be looking for them as specific reference points.”

“ Sometimes it’s just semantics that make things sound more segregated” Anna Meredith

Instead, it’s the fertile cross-pollination between two culturally distinct (or at least perceived to be distinct) art forms that makes Varmints such an engaging listen. Genre politics can be a dull and self-defeating subject, yet by engaging orchestral patterns in a pop setting, there’s certainly a sense of artist subverting rigid notions of what different musical styles represent (not to mention the unusual prominence of a tuba on an electropop disc). “There’s tons of overlaps if you actually step back and don’t worry about ‘That’s got drums, therefore it must be pop,’ or ‘That’s got a violin, therefore it must be classical.’ That’s a very black and white way to look at stuff. I’m definitely not someone who could give you a brilliant snapshot of where we’re at, but I do think that right now we’re in a very healthy place where you see lots of people experimenting on their own terms. Not out of fashion but out of curiosity and wanting to develop themselves in either direction, whether that’s bands wanting to have different instruments or arrangements, or those wanting to work with electronics in their classical stuff. Sometimes it’s just semantics that make things sound more segregated. “I can kind of understand why people might want to categorise something – ‘that’s post-modernist prog art house’ or whatever – but I think that’s just to help people make sense of stuff. Much more challenging – but I also think much more exciting – is to try to look for the similarities. You can listen to big symphonic works and it’s got loads of things that you might enjoy in pop or a dance track. They’re probably there in the classical repertoire – you just have to look for them in a slightly different way.” So how does Anna Meredith the composer

August 2016

Music

Interview: Duncan Harman Photo: Leah Henson

coexist with Anna the pop star? Is there much compartmentalisation going on? “It sounds a bit ego-y, but that’s why I didn’t give myself a band name; it’s all me. I do know people who write really well when they’re wearing different hats – different versions of themselves that focus upon different incarnations – but I’m maybe not flexible enough for that. This is kind of how I write, and there are variations of that; the way my musical interests can lead to music that can sound quite different. “There are things to take into account, of course – the instruments that you’re writing for, what kind of occasion, how much money you’re getting paid,” (at which she laughs). “When is the deadline – there’s lots of stuff to factor in, but ultimately I try not to think about it too much. “I took time off from commissions,” she explains of Varmints’ origins. “I had to carve out distinct months, so it wasn’t one big onslaught. I’ve had residencies at the Aldeburgh Music Festival in Suffolk, and they’ve been amazingly supportive in giving me space and a writing room, and even then – and it feels much crazier now – there was all this admin, so going to Aldeburgh was a brilliant way to think about the album rather than, ‘Where’s my tax return?’” The growing pile of admin becomes a recurring (if humorous) theme of our chat – expect to see an advert for help in the situations vacant sometime soon. Admin that includes the ephemera of organising and playing live – again, a contrast to the day job. “I’ve done some workshop stuff at huge classical gigs where I’ve worked with the audience, but otherwise you’re thinking, hands sweating, nervously watching a performance of which you have very little control and direct input because your work is done. So playing with the band is a huge change. It’s great that we’ve started to move from the tiniest venues those sweaty, higgledy-piggledy gigs that we’ve done. The music actually works best on a huge sound system with space for everybody to get into a bit of a tunnel and focus on it with a bit of room to breathe. In an ideal world there’ll be humungous stages with humungous PAs but it’s starting to move a little bit, which is great and that means you can start to look at all aspects of what the performance can be.” With festival dates sandwiched by spring and autumn tours, and an itinerary that doesn’t let up on the classical side of things (amongst other projects she’s currently finalising arrangements for the Bowie Prom, as well as working on a piece for the Kronos Quartet), it’s certainly been a hectic period. “This year has definitely been unlike any other. Next year is a bit of an unknown; I’ve deliberately kept quite a lot of space… writing for film, possibly/probably album two.” Yet the overriding impression is one of a writer/performer thrilled to be doing what she’s doing (and receiving recognition as a result). “I have a bit of a habit of giving anything a go. If someone asks me to write something I’ll normally say yes and then think about how I’m going to do it later on. I’ve had many weird and wonderful commissions where I’ve just figured out the practicalities of what it is after I’ve agreed to it.” The good news being that in whatever field she finds herself working in, Anna will keep saying yes. She’s nice like that. Varmints is out now via Moshi Moshi. Anna Meredith plays Glasgow CCA on 2 Nov annameredith.com

Feature

Two Different Ways Ahead of hotly anticipated new album 25 25, Factory Floor’s dynamic duo talk fluidity, geography, and why the term ‘post-industrial’ doesn’t do them justice.

he year is fucked up. Its inhabitants are mean, the news is drunk, and we need a whole new set of musical heroes because the current lot are all in the morgue. We could do with something to get us back into the groove. To assist in that quest to keep feeling fascination. A new Factory Floor record, you say? Yes please. Plug us in. “Utilitarian,” says Gabe Gurnsey as The Skinny asks them to describe 25 25. “Playful. Minimal. To the point,” adds co-conspirator Nik Colk. And then they both laugh… It’s been three years since their eponymous, critically-acclaimed debut, a period in which losing a member (Dominic Butler exiting soon after the release of Factory Floor) coincided with a recalibration in how their darkly hypnotic sound could travel. “We had a change in set-up in terms of gear,” percussionist Gabriel Gurnsey explains. “We started migrating towards other instruments, Nik starting to explore modular synthesis and moving away from the guitar, which really worked. That was the backbone when we were embarking on 25 25. “It’s quite a major part of the story – we both didn’t know modular synthesis at that time. I think that’s why it’s quite minimal and exploratory. We set up in an old silk factory up north, and we put a big PA in there, so we were actually playing through the PA as we were making the record.” “We had the warehouse in north London where we were set up,” says multi-instrumentalist Colk of their previous modus operandi. “We were recording as we went along, but it’s more a kind of jamming in a sense, and you listen back to those recordings and take a section that works, where everyone’s working together. “This one was a lot more clinical. Because of the process of playing more club-orientated shows and changing set-up, Gabe and I were more in sync with each other. Because there weren’t any room mics everything was fed directly in, and we could talk or show each other over the top of recording. There was this dialogue going between us at the same time as writing, and it was really exciting. It was almost like playing anew; that’s why I say that the album is pretty playful.”

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Another shift is in location; if Factory Floor was their London album, the 25 25 journey takes in such diverse settings as Manchester, Los Angeles, and rural Norfolk. Not – as Gurnsey details – that this was necessarily deliberate. “We follow where we can find the space at the time. We always find ourselves in some kind of big, old warehouse where we have to plant ourselves in and get in that headspace of creating a record, and not really listening to external stuff. “That’s the way we work, and the way we like working as opposed to going into someone else’s studio or whatever. We need it to feel like it’s our own space – to be able to make a mess and be as loud as we want. That’s a big part of the process, and because we’re blasting it through a PA at the same time as recording, you can kind of really lose yourself in it.

“ I think that’s what people like about watching Factory Floor. That it’s like a machine has started” Nik Colk

“It’s just a great way of working because you’ve got that intensity of the sound as opposed to mixing it through headphones or tiny monitors.” Colk continues the geographic theme. “After Manchester we took the files away and had our own separate space from each other. I set up a studio in Norfolk – I’ve moved to the countryside – and Gabe was in LA, and we both had the same equipment so we could hear the same things that were going on. “The difference from being out of London is that now I can go for a couple of days without

seeing anyone – the closest shop to where I am is five miles away – and that sense of being away from what’s going on, it makes you really focused and get lost in what you’re doing. “You kind of detach yourself from reality in a way and pick up your own narratives through the tracks. Every track has a different type of vocal; I was really excited about playing around and manipulating my voice. I took it about as far away from my natural voice as possible so you could read a different persona in each track.” And does that feed in to the album’s rich seam of claustrophobia? “Yeah, I think it’s probably down to the fact that I was a bit claustrophobic, not seeing anyone…” “But the drums sound really LA…” Gurnsey replies, cueing further laughter. It’s an approach that works on manifold levels; there’s a necessary relentlessness to 25 25, its pared-back physicality trapping the listener in its sly momentum. “I love the way the band is now,” Gabe continues. “It’s like the communication’s been concentrated into an easier, more fluid way of working. Instead of ping-ponging ideas between three people it’s now going between two, and it seems a lot more of a spontaneous process.” Colk agrees. “It did feel like being ‘at one’ as opposed to three. Before, we were keeping our separate space, whereas this time we kind of changed our tools to suit our personalities. I think we’ve got to the point where we know what our sound is so we feel easy about exchanging ideas and not being too precious about it.” Gurnsey, again: “It’s really fun in that way, we’ve got an amazing freedom to do that on stage as well. Factory Floor have always had that spontaneity of changing stuff live, and it’s going to continue on this record.” And should Factory Floor exist as a fluid concept, it certainly seems to suit the duo’s mindset – particularly, as Colk admits, a change in the particulars of playing live has afforded the opportunity to evolve in multiple directions. “We’ve been playing these late club nights, but we’re going to go back to playing drums to tour this record because we want to keep growing; we don’t want to just go out and play the

Music

Interview: Duncan Harman

record as it is. We’re shifting our instruments round again and we’re going to interpret it as more of physical version. If we’re offered a show in a club, we’ll probably think more electronically but if it’s a venue then we’ll probably do a drum set-up; you can feed off both. “I think that’s what people like about watching Factory Floor. That it’s like a machine has started – so we like people to feel that there are humans behind the machine, to bring the drums back in.” Again, Gurnsey is in agreement. “The fact that we’ve changed set-up, it’s opened a massive door in terms of having confidence. We were worried about the intensity of our live show as a solely electronic set because you haven’t got the human element in there, but we’ve achieved that in a lot of late nights at festivals and smaller clubs in the last year, so it’s great that we can switch between those two, and it will be different each time. It opens up more possibilities, to grow creatively.” So how would they describe their sound, currently? Certainly not as ‘post-industrial’ – a categorisation that’s been applied in part to Colk’s work – as Carter Tutti Void – with industrial veterans Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti. “It’s weird,” Gurnsey suggests. “It doesn’t piss me off but it seems strange that people aren’t coming up with more interesting terms. The post-industrial thing – I don’t really think that we fall under that a lot of the time; maybe we do live – we do sound a lot heavier live than we do on a record – but we always like switching between those ways of working; it’s not a set thing in my mind. “Going back on the drums and doing the live set again – I think that bringing that into the equation is going to send us in another direction. It could throw up a lot of possibilities.” “It’s exciting,” Colk concludes. “This way we have of communicating is real exciting. There’s going to be a lot of interesting paths that the band are going to take in the future.” A future that, with the August release of 25 25, starts shortly. Bring it on – no way can it be worse than the present. 25 25 is released on 19 Aug via DFA Records. Factory Floor play Electric Fields in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries on 26 Aug facebook.com/factoryfloor

THE SKINNY

August 2016

THE SKINNY

Separation Anxiety Preoccupations, the Canadian post-punk quartet formerly known as Viet Cong talk reinvention, forward movement and personal politics

arly last year, Preoccupations released their debut LP. Since forming in Calgary, Alberta in 2012, they’d worked their way up to this point gradually, in tried and true fashion; a self-released EP cassette, an appearance at SxSW that set tongues wagging, a deal with a local label, the re-release of that EP – simply titled Cassette – to a wider audience, and then another deal with a big indie player – in this case, Jagjaguwar. The eventual full-length record met with rave reviews, nabbed the coveted Best New Music mantle on Pitchfork, wound up near the top of a slew of end-of-year rundowns, and secured a nomination for the Polaris Music Prize in their native Canada. They spent practically all of the last calendar year on the road, selling shows out on both sides of the Atlantic. There is, of course, a caveat here. They weren’t called Preoccupations in 2015. In one of the more memorable recent incidents of indie rock foot-shooting, they went by Viet Cong, a gross cultural insensitivity that was naïve at best. That it took them so long to back down and change it suggested boorish ignorance in the face of both a slew of internet thinkpieces and protests outside shows. They weren’t the only band to ruffle feathers with their moniker at the time, with Slaves and Girl Band coming under fire also; Viet Cong themselves were born out of the ashes of Women, another group that could potentially stand accused of titular clumsiness. Unlike those outfits, though, they bowed to the pressure last autumn, acknowledging the upset caused and promising to rebrand themselves. “It was something that definitely got stressful a few times,” says guitarist Scott ‘Monty’ Munro over a transatlantic phone line. “There were a few shows in the States, and a few in Toronto, that were heavily protested – there were maybe more than a hundred people showing up to some of them.” It was, he explains, those interactions that ultimately led the band to realise the gravity of their faux pas, and seek to make amends. “It wasn’t like they were hipster kids, or YouTube trolls, or anything like that. It was actually elderly Vietnamese people who had fled the war there, so having conversations with them and their children was eye-opening. I think, because of that, it ended up being a positive thing.” By September, they announced their intention to ditch the Viet Cong banner, a move they’d apparently decided upon months earlier. They didn’t rush it, though... in fact they were so relaxed that by the following March, Canadian music mag Exclaim! reported that they were continuing to book shows as Viet Cong, starting up a counter online – ‘days since Viet Cong promised to change their name.’ The band took time to ruminate on the subject, with each member drawing up a list of potential options and asking their friend and labelmate Chad VanGaalen to do likewise. “We spent a while weeding through all these lists we’d put together,” explains Munro, “and then finally ended up with a final five that we all liked. Preoccupations basically won out by default, because it was the only one that wasn’t already a band.” The four-piece went public with their new identity back in April, announcing another self-titled album in the process. With personnel on the record remaining the same as on Viet Cong, right down to Holy Fuck’s Graham Walsh once again manning the boards in a production capacity, this is ostensibly the follow-up that the band would have made either way, although this certainly isn’t to say they haven’t made clear developments. Viet Cong was an invariably tense affair, thick with doomy atmosphere; Preoccupations has the band playing around with

August 2016

electronics in a way that brings a degree of lightness to their sound. “There’s some major key stuff on there which just didn’t exist on the last record,” Munro elaborates. “There was a lot of dissonance on Viet Cong, and it felt like everything was coming over in a minor key. We had a couple of riffs for the last album that we just kind of knew we couldn’t use, because they wouldn’t fit or feel right. This time, they made it onto the album, and they were some of the first things that we gravitated towards. We were ready to go in that direction. Something like the end of Memory, for example – that feels a long way from the last album.” Memory is the one track on Preoccupations that is bound to draw comparisons with Death from its predecessor. Both tracks sprawl beyond 11 minutes in length and veer into drone territory, but where the latter flitted between melodic guitar lines and harsh, clanging riffs, Memory gradually drifts towards a shimmering wall of reverb that fades into ambience, like Explosions in the Sky channeling Eno’s Music for Airports.

“ We put all our things into storage and lived this transient life” Monty

“It feels like there’s less urgency, like it’s more measured, it’s a result of the way we worked on this record,” says Munro. “It was more like how we worked on our first EP. The last album, we took those songs out on the road for a long time, and then re-recorded the demos in about five days total. We had a lot longer this time. We just took it pretty easy, going back to Graham’s studio in rural Ontario. There’s a loft you can live in there, and it made sense to just book a couple of weeks every time we had a break from the road, because it wasn’t like we had anywhere to go back to anyway; we put all of our things into storage and just lived this transient life, so we had no houses to go back to or anything. We’d get up late, make breakfast, and then work late into the night, just sort of chipping away at the songs, which were much more like construction projects than last time.” That state of rootlessness, of a lack of a sense of a settled base, has helped to inform the mood and themes of Preoccupations; even a cursory glance over the tracklisting suggests that this is very much a record concerned with the politics of the self – Anxiety, Degraded, Monotony, Stimulation and Fever are amongst the one-word titles distilling the feel of the songs themselves. As Munro puts it, “We definitely made a conscious choice to try to encapsulate what was going on in the track in one word, and those ideas are definitely reflective of things that have been going on in our lives since the last record.” Personal upheaval is a clear thematic throughline, more so than on Viet Cong. “I feel like the lyrics are even darker in places,” says Munro. “Matt and I both had long-term relationships break down over the course of the last year, and that definitely played into the record. It’s definitely been a transitional period of my life, and I’m sure that’s affected the music. Like I said, we didn’t really live anywhere last year, and it forced us to throw everything we had into becoming a full-time band. That’s daunting, but it also made

Credit: Alessio Boni

Interview: Joe Goggins

me realise that I’m probably happier when I’m not tied to too many things.” As much as personal politics provide the emotional bedrock on Preoccupations, it doesn’t seem as if the band are likely to turn their gaze outwards at the state of the world around them any time soon – even if they did break character to urge UK-based followers on social media to vote remain last month. “We were in London playing a couple of small shows and doing press while that was happening, and it just felt like the right thing to do to put that out there. Anything that divides people is bad – we’re not pro anything like that, ever. There was no deep meaning behind it – it was more just a case of ‘go vote, it’ll make a difference.’ But obviously it didn’t, which is super unfortunate. It seems like the only outcome is going to be that the UK loses its seat at the table and its voice in making the rules. It looks like, ultimately, it just came down to xenophobia.” Munro has been casting a concerned eye over his North American neighbours south of the Canadian border, too. “I think, in the context of the U.S. election, it feels like it’s a lot easier to vote for an idea, rather than a person. If the leave and remain campaigns had been down to actually voting for two different people, there might have been a different outcome. Like, if Americans were

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put to a referendum about leaving the North American Free Trade Agreement, I feel like a lot of people would vote to leave it, but it wouldn’t necessarily be the same people who’d vote for Trump. We’re going to be on tour in America in the lead-up to the election, so that should be super interesting. I still have hope.” What is clear is that Preoccupations have put themselves in a position to be considerably more optimistic about the future, the weight of that self-inflicted wound now lifted. “Honestly, it does feel like a clean break,” admits Munro. “We knew from the very first session that this record was coming out under a different name, and that gave us a clean slate, so we knew we didn’t need to worry about keeping anything the same if we didn’t want to. We talked about maybe breaking the band up, and reforming with an extra member so that it felt like a new band. I sort of feel like we did do that – just with the same four guys!” Preoccupations’ self-titled LP is out on 16 Sep via Jagjaguwar. They play Le Guess Who? festival, Utrecht on 10 Nov preoccupationsband.com

Feature

The Liberation of Beth Orton A head-spinning conversation with Beth Orton reveals an artist who is as passionate about her work now as she was 20 years ago

Interview: Finbarr Bermingham

eth Orton has just released her finest work in 17 years. Dense, atmospheric and a lot of fun, Kidsticks is a grand and stark departure. If the three albums that preceded it had cast Orton comfortably as a folkie singer-songwriter, this reinvents her as an experimentalist and a risk taker. Her earliest dalliances with electronica were 20 years ago, when she was largely unknown. To take such a sharp volte-face so deep into her career is remarkable. In short, this is the bravest record she has made. It’s no wonder she sounds excited. Peppered with expletives and long, winding tangents, 40 minutes of higgledy-piggledy conversation reveal an artist who is more enthused about her work than ever. This was the first time she took a hand in record production, having worked with the likes of Andrew Weatherall, William Orbit and Jim O’Rourke in the past. Orton swapped her acoustic guitar for a keyboard and worked along with Andrew Hung of Fuck Buttons in building an album that’s grounded in loops and beats, but which also includes a stellar cast of musicians including Dustin O’Halloran (A Winged Victory For The Sullen), Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear) and George Lewis Jr (Twin Shadow). Discussing Kidsticks and the work that went into it, she beams with pride. “It is really liberating being able to do your own recording,” she says. “Someone said it’s a bit like pulling back the curtain and seeing the Wizard of Oz. ‘What the fuck are you doing behind there?’ They’re like: ‘It’s really difficult. You can’t come back here…’. Yeah I fucking can, I just did! That’s why we co-produced it. I drove the little motherfucker. I was like, ‘I’ve got to do this. I’ve fucking had a baby… I can do this.’ One of the reasons I had kids was to make better music, hah. Oh god… shut the fuck up, just shush me…” Orton has returned to the UK from Los Angeles, were she has spent the past few years living with her husband Sam Amidon – the celebrated folk alchemist – and raising her young children. The collaboration with Hung began as an uncommitted 10-day doodle. He had remixed Mystery, a track from previous record, Sugaring Season, and the pair had vowed to do something again in the future. After she decamped to California, Orton told him: “Fuck it, come out.” He bought himself a ticket and they spent a week and a half in a garden studio playing with loops and experimenting with sounds. As Orton puts it: “We had these beautiful ten days and it was fun. We got very high and were like, ‘Let’s be a band! Yeah, fuck it, let’s do it!’” The Skinny spent some time with Hung in Hong Kong the week the first single from the record, Moon, was released. His excitement was palpable and he confessed to being a big fan of Orton’s early work, while the latter albums bypassed him. Perhaps this is why, instead of entrusting her with an acoustic guitar, he handed her a keyboard and taught her how to use Ableton. Whether it was intentional or not, it was something that seems to have greatly inspired Orton and which planted the seeds of a musical rebirth. When asked what he brings to his musical endeavours, Hung said, cryptically, “emotional intelligence” – an ability to convey emotion in the music; to connect with the listener. “Interesting!” replies Orton when informed of these conversations. “I would say he brought some sweet sounds and he put a keyboard in front of me. In his way, without realising it at all, he empowered me. If that’s an emotional intelligence, he was right on with that. “I started playing and he was fiddling with sounds and it was just fun, and it continued to be fun. But as the days went by it became more

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serious and I was thinking, ‘I’ll layer this over that, I can do this and I can do that’ – learning about how the sound affected what I was playing and how what I was playing affected the sound. A very symbiotic situation occurred. After ten days of this we had 26 of these four-bar loops. Andy went back to London, I stayed in LA and started to write for them.” Orton was conscious, she says, of not becoming “a singer on someone else’s record”. She is proud of her collaborations with The Chemical Brothers and on William Orbit’s Strange Cargo project, but was determined that this would be a vehicle for her own songwriting, and so began to write lyrics to put to the loops they created in LA. The pair continued to correspond and collaborate from afar, but it was Orton’s decision to bring in “the band”. The resulting record is a hybrid of their respective musical geneses. The sum is just as great as the parts. “At a certain point I thought, ‘I want to write songs to this,’” she explains. “I felt if I disengaged I would lose my sense of power in the situation and very quickly become a vocalist on someone else’s record and I wasn’t interested in doing that. I have done it before in my own way. I don’t mean that as a diss… I don’t actually mean The Chemical Brothers – that was wonderful and I’ve loved everything I’ve done. At a certain point I really wanted to hear something done with my melody.” Having worked with the notoriously controlling and curmudgeonly Jim O’Rourke on Sugaring Season, Orton found this project refreshing. She may never produce anything again, she says, but at least she can tick that box. On working with O’Rourke, Orton says: “You hand it over, right, you fucking hand it over! He was like, ‘I don’t know why a singer or musician ever puts their name on a record as a producer.

Everyone knows they’ve got nothing to do with the fucking production.’ I was like, ‘Alright, alright.’ He’s hilarious – one of the funniest people I’ve worked with, but you don’t fuck about. I mean, no. Yeah, no. You know what I mean.”

“ That’s why we co-produced this album. I drove the little motherfucker. I was like: I’ve got to do this. I’ve fucking had a baby… I can do this” Beth Orton

Much of the press around Kidsticks has centred on “a return to her roots”, drawing comparisons with the electronics found on Trailer Park and Central Reservation. In reality, the new album sounds nothing like that stellar pair, but the return to electronica renders the parallel easy to make. Orton finds the suggestion reductive. She even shirks away from the suggestion that Kidsticks is an electronic record, saying its density makes it more of a comfortable bedfellow with Sugaring Season than her earlier work. “People are reducing what ‘roots’ means,” she says. “It’s associations I made with the music I

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grew up with. Sometimes owning bits of yourself. Personal stories as well. Associations with a life that you live and breathe a bit more. I can’t explain it. It’s like going back to school and people are saying, ‘You’re wearing a stripy jumper, why are you wearing a stripy jumper?’ Shut up, I’ve always worn a stripy jumper at home! Shut up. It’s like, you get famous and… listen to me, poor me!” Orton frequently has bursts of self-awareness: catching herself on when she feels she’s going overboard, or flying off on a tangent. She is often self-deprecating and seems very honest about her own capability. “I am a very emotional writer, but never a very clever writer,” she says, in a moment of self-assessment. “I’m not one of those people who can go into a character and say: ‘I am channelling fucking Virginia Woolf,’ or whatever. I wish I could because I am always impressed by people who can do that – but I always think it’s a lie! The song is about yourself but you’re trying to make it more interesting than it is.” But the residing impression is of an extremely funny and passionate person. Two decades deep into her recording career, Beth Orton is as exuberant about her work as any artist you’d care to mention. It’s impossible not to get caught up in her buzz: it is simply intoxicating. Where next? Orton will tour with her band which is “fucking great”, but as for the future and a return to LA? “I’ve no idea, let’s not fucking go there.” With an exasperated sigh and exaggerated cockney twang, the comment is, as always, delivered as pure theatre. Kidsticks is out now via ANTI-. Beth Orton plays St Luke’s, Glasgow on 2 Oct www.bethortonofficial.com

THE SKINNY

Child’s Play Brady Corbet has come a long way from 2004’s Thunderbirds reboot. Since that inauspicious start he’s chosen his acting roles wisely and with The Childhood of a Leader he delivers one of the most impressive directorial debuts in recent years

he weather is clement in Edinburgh on 19 June, the day we meet 27-year-old American actor and now director Brady Corbet, but the climate is bleak. Three days before, MP Jo Cox, one of the most compassionate voices in British politics, was murdered in a brutal act of political intolerance. A few days after our interview the people of the UK will vote on whether we should remain part of the European Union; conflict, fear, suspicion and resentment hang in the air. As the result of the referendum proved, Britain, in 2016, is a divided country. The timing of The Childhood of a Leader, Corbet’s blistering behind-the-camera debut, couldn’t feel more apposite. Set shortly after the First World War, the film centres on a family of three who’ve recently moved from New York to a dilapidated château in northern France. The father (Liam Cunningham) is a US official serving as emissary for Woodrow Wilson’s government during the post-war peace talks that will become known as the Treaty of Versailles. He shows few diplomacy skills at home, however, where his seven-year-old son (Tom Sweet, also making an extraordinary debut) is waging a war of his own. The first image of the boy is as a cherub in his new church’s nativity play but we quickly realise this is a fallen angel. His first transgression is to pelt the congregation with rocks as they leave the church following the performance, and he soon moves on to psychological manipulation and intimidation of the household, including his repressed German mother (Bérénice Bejo), his flirtatious French tutor (Stacy Martin) and his kindly housekeeper (Yolande Moreau). Inspired by Margaret McMillan’s Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed The World, which chronicles the lead up to the Treaty of Versailles’ signing, Corbet was interested in making a study of that period in European politics. “The uprising of fascism was one of the results of that treaty,” explains Corbet when we meet on the day of the film’s UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. “I was really haunted by the book and I was trying to figure out a way of making a film on the subject, but in an alle-

August 2016

gorical way, and a kind of poetic way. I wanted to avoid it turning into a PBS documentary or something.” Corbet struck on the notion of telling the story from the point of view of a child who was a product of that time. “I liked the idea of a character who seems sort of possessed by the notions of the era,” he says. “He is an embodiment or the physical manifestation of the result of those talks.” Jean-Paul Sartre’s short story of the same name, which tells the similar story of a privileged boy who grows into a fascist, became a very loose template for this tale of the making of a tyrant. A few real life details from Mussolini’s warped childhood were thrown in for good measure. It’s difficult to recall the last time a debut filmmaker came out of the gates with something so audacious. On top of the period setting, The Childhood of a Leader is shot on 35mm, required a full orchestra for the score, employed hundreds of extras and involved a head scratching co-production between American financiers and several European nations, who proved as unwilling to cooperate as they did in 1919. “I realise there’s a reason why co-productions between five different countries don’t really happen, because everybody just fucking hates each other,” says Corbet. “It’s always someone else’s problem, whenever you call somebody they say, ‘Don’t bother me, it’s not our territory’s issue.’” Making the film took the best part of a decade. Did he ever think of abandoning the project, or making his directorial debut on a more modest scale? “It was hard to have a lot of gusto about it at times and there were definitely days that we thought about quitting, but my wife (Norwegian filmmaker and actor Mona Fastvold), who’s also the co-writer of the film, she wouldn’t let it die.” Pressure continued to mount on the couple when Fastvold became pregnant halfway through the process of trying to get the film off the ground. “We had no money. We’d spent all of it waiting for this film to happen, basically. It was so time-consuming to develop that we couldn’t really do anything else, either of us – I

mean not properly.” If you’ve ever wondered to yourself why you’ve only seen Corbet in blink-andyou’ll-miss-him roles over the last few years (Eden, Force Majeure, While We’re Young, Clouds of Sils Maria), here’s your answer. We’re grateful he stuck with it: the results are stunning. As an actor, Corbet has worked with some of the finest filmmakers working today, including Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier and Mia HansenLØve. With The Childhood of a Leader, Corbet is welcome in their company. There might be shades of The White Ribbon in the film’s themes, and the very deliberate structure echos some of Von Trier’s more recent films, but the heady brew Corbet creates is all his own. “I didn’t really show up to any of my sets with a notepad,” he confirms. In fact, Corbet’s bravura filmmaking is pleasantly at odds with the austere Haneke-like aesthetic that has become the dominant style in European cinema. “Michael Haneke and I are good friends and I love Michael’s films, but Michael’s very dogmatic,” explains Corbet. “I don’t have a philosophy that I’ve developed over the course of 60 years, like he has; I’m more free.” A closer comparison would be the formal fireworks of Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick (catching Childhood of a Leader with the current Barry Lyndon rerelease would make for a very satisfying double bill). “I’m of the feeling that there’s not a lot of separation between the form and the content,” says Corbet. “For me, the form is the content.” And what form. As operated by Welsh cinematographer Lol Crawley (45 Years, Ballast), the camera, loaded with genuine celluloid, seems to explore the family’s massive house of its own free will, smoothly roaming the long corridors, taking in the crumbling walls, ceilings and decor, becoming more frantic as the war of attrition between the child and his parents reaches boiling point. “I had a lot of ideas about starting the film with a promise of something very stylised and then falling back into something more restrained,” explains Corbet, “and then slowly let it start to unspool again until it really developed into something that was totally jaw-dropping.” Corbet reckons this distinctive style comes from his love of extremes. “I like silence and I like noise. I’m not that interested in the middle. And I especially like

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Interview: Jamie Dunn it when you put the two next to each other.” This is no more evident than on the soundtrack, where a cacophonous, atonal score is provided by experimentalist icon Scott Walker. It sets the film’s menacing tone from the off with a searing, heart attack-inducing over-ture that plays over a rapid montage of scratchy Great War newsreel. As the boy’s misbehaviour escalates, building to an unhinged crescendo, Walker’s strings are ominous and ever-present. The reclusive singer/songwriter is hardly prolific. His only other soundtrack was for Léos Carax’s film Pola X. Corbet wasn’t daunted, though, and took a chance that the subject might hook him in. “Scott had written a lot of albums and songs addressing themes of tyranny in the 20th century, so I reached out to him in a variety of different ways because he was notoriously hard to reach… I think he got the same letter six times on the same day,” laughs Corbet, “so it must have convinced him.” The result of the collaboration is a powerhouse score – easily the year’s finest. Suffice to say, a few bows got snapped during the recording. “You could tell that half the orchestra were a bit confused,” says Corbet. The director, though, was delighted. “I never quite imagined how gargantuan [the score] was going to be, but when you ask Scott to do something grand, you can’t be like, ‘Hey, could you just tone it down a little bit?’ You have to let him turn it up to 11, it’s where he operates at his best.” A few months on from seeing the film, with tensions in Europe continuing to escalate and a potential tyrant on the rise across the pond, The Childhood of the Leader feels even more urgent. Corbet notes, however, that the sad truth is that whenever he made the film its themes would resonate. “I knew that no matter how long it took to get the movie made, it would never not be pertinent. I could have made it 30 years ago and it would have been relevant, and I could probably make it 30 years from now and it would still be relevant.” The Childhood of a Leader is released 19 Aug by Metrodome

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Keaton Nigel Cooke in Wiener-Dog

Todd Solondz

It’s a Dog’s Life For over two decades, Todd Solondz has wryly explored the lives of middle-class suburbanites trapped by their own melancholy and anxieties. We speak to him about his latest film, WienerDog, and his controversial journey through America’s indie film scene

hat do filmmakers draw satisfaction from when they look back over their careers? The impact of their films? The awards they have won? The careers they have launched? For Todd Solondz, the answer is somewhat different: “I’m the author of the only studio movie ever to be released with a big red box in it. I take pride in that!” We are discussing his 2001 film Storytelling, in which a rough, interracial sex scene had to be covered up to appease the Motion Picture Association of America, and Solondz recalls this censorship battle with some glee. “I actually felt bad for the Europeans because they didn’t get to see the version with the red box,” he tells The Skinny. “You know, it came out around 9/11 when they were cutting pictures of the World Trade Centre out of movies, and they asked me if I would remove mine. I said I wouldn’t but I would put a big red box over that too – but with movies like mine, that costs money and nobody wants to throw more money at removing shots.” Solondz’s career has been marked by such disputes and provocations. The director, whose film Happiness was dropped by Universal in 1998 for being “morally repugnant”, has frequently touched on subjects like paedophilia, rape, bullying and abortion in his explorations of American suburban life, and the ‘controversial auteur’ label is one he has gotten used to. “I hear it all the time so it doesn’t mean much to me,” he says. “It’s a sort of reductive term to throw: ‘Oh, that’s Todd, he’s controversial.’ It’s a way of not looking at the movie.” Solondz doesn’t, however, relish the idea of his films dividing audiences. “There are people who feel that a movie is much more meaningful if it has as many detractors as it does people who like the movie. That means your movie has some substance to it, but I don’t feel that way,” he says. “I’d be much

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happier if everyone liked it. I would! I’m weak. If someone doesn’t like it I feel a little sad, and if they like it I feel a little happier. I don’t have the strongest fibre, you know. I’m only human.”

Keaton Nigel Cooke in Wiener-Dog

Perhaps more people than usual will like WienerDog. Solondz’s latest film follows a plucky little dachshund as he introduces us to four disparate characters, and the director has cited the lovable 70s doggy movie Benji as a reference point. “There’s nothing terribly taboo here,” he says. “I can’t think that there’s anything seriously taboo.” Before you start planning a family day out to the cinema, however, Solondz has a second thought. “To me the only taboo subject hovering over this movie is death. It’s mortality that shadows everything within this movie, so I guess that’s controversial.” Wiener-Dog is, in fact, a piercing contemplation of ageing and mortality, as the hound’s various owners – Keaton Nigel Cooke, Greta Gerwig, Danny DeVito and Ellen Burstyn – take us on a journey from childhood innocence, via middle-aged disillusionment, to the loneliness and regret of a person facing the imminent end. There are moments of Solondz’s trademark biting humour throughout the film, but it might ultimately be his most profoundly moving work to date. Some viewers may suspect that it is his most revealing too, with DeVito’s role as a frustrated screenwriting professor inevitably suggesting an element of self-portraiture by NYU professor Solondz, although he denies any explicit connection. Teaching is a vital outlet for Solondz and he talks enthusiastically about his work with the students there, but it also gives him the freedom to resist taking directing jobs for money between his personal projects. Discounting his 1989 debut Fear, Anxiety & Depression, which he

subsequently disowned, Solondz has directed seven features in the 21 years since Welcome to the Dollhouse, which isn’t a bad return for a filmmaker who has remained so uncompromising in the pursuit of his vision. “I just can’t do what Scorsese or Soderbergh do, like one for me and one for them, because I don’t want my obituary to be dying on the set of a movie that I didn’t really want to direct,” he says. “Movies are too hard to make, so if I’m going to do one I want it to be something I want to do. I feel that if you don’t do it for yourself, you really can’t please other people – that’s the paradox of it.”

“ In Hollywood, the only thing that’s morally repugnant is losing money” Todd Solondz

In fact, Solondz frequently sounds surprised that he still has a viable filmmaking career at all. “Working outside of the studio system is always a struggle,” he says. “I think I’ve managed a quasicareer, but in the States it’s all market-driven. Here in the UK it seems there is some government financing to some extent, but it just doesn’t exist in the US. If I were French I would be making more movies, just as if Claire Denis lived in the US she would have made one movie and then be directing episodes of Sex and the City.” Television is another alternative route that Solondz quickly dismisses, having no interest in ‘episodics’, as he rather quaintly refers to that

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Interview: Philip Concannon

medium. “It would really be too horrible for me to direct other people’s writing; an episode of House of Cards, and there are a million people who can do it just as well and better. They’re not looking for someone who’s going to look at it in a different way.”

Greta Gerwig in Wiener-Dog

Despite his admirably resolute independence, Solondz did once have a brief flirtation with franchise filmmaking, as unlikely as that sounds. It’s hard to know what Drew Barrymore saw in his work that made her think he was the perfect director to bring Charlie’s Angels to the screen, but discussions were had before the project went to McG, and the mind boggles at what a Todd Solondz-directed action blockbuster might look like. “I would have loved to have done that!” he insists, “but the problem is that my movie, instead of making $300 million would have made $3 million, so it just never made sense for the studio. I would never have hired me, but it would have been fun to play with those icons.” So we shouldn’t expect to see Todd Solondz being poached by the Marvel Cinematic Universe anytime soon, then, and we can rest assured that he will continue to follow his own unique path. He has ideas and new scripts ready to go, but right now he’s waiting to see how Wiener-Dog plays with audiences, and hoping it does prove less divisive than his previous films, before deciding what he’ll do next. “It’s always about dollars and cents. If your movie is not profitable it makes it more difficult to make your next one, and if your movie loses money then it makes it that much more difficult to get another movie off the ground,” he says. “As everyone knows in Hollywood, the only thing that’s morally repugnant is losing money.” Wiener-Dog is released 12 Aug by Picturehouse Entertainment

THE SKINNY

OK Computer Gary Numan is the subject of Steve Read and Rob Alexander’s new documentary Gary Numan: Android in La La Land. Read tells us how he got under the electronic music pioneer’s skin

“I

s Numan Human?” one tabloid asks following new wave 'godfather of electric music' Gary Numan’s explosive debut and sophomore no.1 singles Are ‘Friends’ Electric? and Cars in the summer of 1979. The question’s childish humour and its deceptive simplicity belie what is really at stake when the press asked this – Numan's legitimacy as an artist and ultimately as a socially acceptable human being. Numan’s Kraftwerk-like stylings – an obsession with machines, his android affectations and flair for technological spectacle – made him an uneasy fit with stripped-down, ‘authentic’ punk rock sensibilities that were en vogue at the time, his larger than life hyperreal pop seen as an insult and a distraction to the ‘real’ politics of punk. It’s an unfortunate critical dismissal of Numan’s work and paranoid android persona, which were born as much out of his Asperger’s and as a mask for his stage fright and social anxiety as they were artistic concerns. It’s a question that directors Steve Read and Rob Alexander’s candid documentary Gary Numan: Android in La La Land successfully reframes and answers with a resounding 'yes.' 21st century Numan cuts a vastly different figure from his flashy days of yore. He is essentially a husband and dad, casually goth with kohl-ringed eyes and dyed black hair, who also happens to walk on stage and move thousands with his musical genius, with huge, ecstatic festival crowds exuberantly singing his songs back to him. Steve Read just happened to be another face in the crowd. “I went to see him play at the Hop Farm Festival in Kent,” recalls the director. “I hadn’t thought of Gary Numan in years. Before this film, I wouldn’t say I was a fan. I knew his music but I only really knew his old stuff, like a lot of people. I saw him and I was blown away by his set. I thought it was really brilliant and he played some of the older stuff but it had a much heavier sound to it – guitars and more industrial.” What really got Read excited, however, was Numan’s performance. “He was jumping all over the place and I loved it. The scenes we shot at the festival, he’s playing Are ‘Friends’ Electric? in the film and it’s pretty much what I was seeing – similar festival crowd rather than the staunch humanoid fans. That’s when I first connected with him, when I heard him play Are ‘Friends’ Electric? That’s why we used it in the film. You can see the energy and how exciting it is and the kids going mental for it.” After the gig, Read bumped into the performer backstage and they got chatting. “I realised very quickly Gary was this interesting and engaging person – Gemma [Gary’s wife] was there and those two together were brilliant – just really, really funny and they had a lot of chemistry. I just blurted out, ‘Gary, I want to make a film about you!’” Luckily, after Numan’s initial response of bafflement (“Really? Why? What about?”) and Read’s honest answer (“I don’t really know, I just want to!”), Numan agreed. The resulting film is neither a nostalgic biography, nor an archival affair (“We didn’t have the budget,” notes Read) but, through happenstance, an intensely personal documentary chronicling a crucial chapter in Numan’s life: the lead up to (spoiler) Gary Numan’s first critical and commercial success in 25 years with album Splinter. Essentially Android follows the Numan family through their personal and financial gamble on a move to Los Angeles. Uprooting their three young daughters and many pets in the process, they hope that it will be good for Numan’s career and the family’s happiness.

August 2016

In its observational moments of quotidian family life, albeit in a castle with a rock star dad, it resembles a funnier, less obnoxious version of The Osbournes. What makes the film unique is Gary and Gemma’s refreshing openness when reflecting on their stories of personal struggles – poor mental health, miscarriages, family arguments and financial instability. Issues that will likely resonate with many viewers, fans or not.

“ Someone of Gary’s stature talking about mental health is really a great thing” Steve Read

“When Gary talks about things like anxiety and depression, I’ve experienced them myself so I knew someone of Gary’s stature talking about [mental health] is really a great thing,” says Read, “especially as a lot of people, particularly men, find it difficult to talk about. I’m very proud we

managed to get that on camera. There was stuff he was beginning to write about on the album [Splinter] that he hadn’t really processed. These [interview] sessions we were having were a bit like therapy sessions. I think it was the first time he was talking about this stuff to someone and getting it off his chest. It’s so raw and honest. It’s kind of nerve tingling to watch and I think that’s why the film is having such an effect on people.” Numan also opened up about a recent, painful schism between himself and his parents, who were once so integral to his career – his dad was his manager, his mum made his costumes and talked him out of running away from his first Top of the Pops appearance. “I had no idea he’d start talking about that, I didn’t even know it had happened,” says Read. “The experience as a viewer watching Android is a bit like our experience as filmmakers. We were finding out things, we were going on this journey and the narrative was developing as we went. The story’s evolving around you and you get sucked into it. The film starts off as a fairly conventional music doc – hopefully it’s much more engaging and deeper. It’s more a life story than anything else. It’s part music doc, part road trip, part therapy session, part love story.” The love story at Android’s core is between Gary and superfan Gemma, as unlikely as it is funny and romantic. “Gemma’s helped Gary a

Interview: Rachel Bowles huge amount to come out of his shell and she’s been pivotal to not only resurrecting his career but his life,” explains Read. “He’s much more comfortable around people than he was back then.” Read refers to the few clips of interviews included in the film of Numan at the height of his career, one interviewer in particular treating him like an eccentric freakish figure of fun. A “stark contrast,” as Read describes it, compared to the frank and verbose discussions in Android. “One-word answers back then. Gary’s obviously been through a hell of a lot. Asperger’s has informed the way he was in the early days. I think it’s a big part of why his music was as it was and his lyric writing and so on. “Now, he’s more comfortable. I think that’s partly down to him wanting to get this story out. For me, in documentary making, I think it’s about trust and access and the more trust you get the more access. He obviously trusted us very much very early on. We connected very quickly and that’s why he’s comfortable with me. I could ask anything I wanted to and we were allowed to film anywhere, so I’d often just roam around finding him in the kitchen talking to Gem or reading stories to his kids. It was a good opportunity for Gary to tell his story.” Gary Numan: Android in La La Land screens at various venues across the UK from 26 Aug numandroid.com

Gary Numan: Andriod in

FILM

Feature

Q&A with Late Nite Tuff Guy From techno to disco: we chat to Australian dance music pioneer Cam Bianchetti about his Late Nite Tuff Guy guise, the making of a good edit, and a very special Scottish gig from the 90s

s Late Nite Tuff Guy, Cam Bianchetti is one of the new guard of house music defenders, bringing the best disco cuts of the 70s and 80s to 21st century clubs across the globe. Since his first international tour in 2013, Australian-based Bianchetti’s alter-ego has won wide acclaim on the European circuit. Yet prior to adopting the Late Nite Tuff Guy moniker, Bianchetti was already highly regarded for his work as the acidtechno originator DJ HMC, with seminal 90s tracks Phreakin and 6am cementing him as a pioneering force in Australian dance music. Having introduced techno to audiences Down Under, it’s only in recent years that Bianchetti has turned his attention to disco and funk reworks, yet his tracks have already been played in sets by the likes of Jackmaster, Heidi, and Frenchman and fellow disco vigilante Dimitri from Paris. A number of personal issues (not least a fear of flying which kept him grounded in his hometown of Adelaide for the better part of his career) forced Bianchetti to take stock of his career direction in the early 00s. The result was a kind of rebirth; the emergence of Late Nite Tuff Guy, an alias that shines a spotlight on Bianchetti’s lifelong love of music and his prowess in the production booth. A spin-off of this reinvention was the creation of Tuff Cut, Bianchetti’s Sydney-based label. The label’s EP release Tuff Cut 01 then followed, with lead track Bless The Rains (a re-worked, sparkling synth version of Toto’s Africa) delineating Bianchetti’s wade-ranging influences in no uncertain terms. Ahead of his upcoming headline show at SMD’s Boat Party Summer Special at Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, we asked ‘the godfather of Australian techno’ a few questions about his disco influences, the art of a good edit, and a very special Sub Club gig back in 1999...

Feature

Your Late Nite Tuff Guy alias is a surprising step away from the house and techno of your earlier work as DJ HMC. Was your transition towards a more disco-oriented sound a deliberate decision? No. It was really something that happened naturally. I like to joke that I’ve mellowed out as I’ve grown older.

Early disco evolved from the secret jazz clubs of WW2-era France, to the domain of gay, Latin and black communities in the 70s – what is it about disco that you think appeals to modernday audiences? I love dancing (who doesn’t, right?). I think out of all the genres of music, disco really allows you to be free on the dance floor.

“ My first ever Scottish gig was at the Sub Club in Glasgow back in 1999, and to this day it has remained my favourite gig of a 34-year career”

What new techno and house records are you listening to at the moment? I really love the music of Detroit’s The Oliverwho Factory. How did you get into editing tracks? And what is your golden rule when editing a classic track; what should the DJ be trying to achieve? I wanted to quantise and beef up some old disco cuts so I could mix them seamlessly with house tracks. I don’t think there are any rules to editing, except to say I really like to try and keep the integrity of the original material. How does the Australian techno scene differ from that of Scotland, or of Europe? I think the major difference is that the Australian scene is smaller than that of anywhere in Europe, but we do have some great venues and very dedicated followers of techno here. I’ve played some amazing gigs across Australia this past summer.

Cam Bianchetti

Where did the name Late Nite Tuff Guy come from? It was given to me from a friend I was sharing a house with back in 1990 – I would stay up late almost every night making techno music. One night she just came out with it, and it’s stuck ever since.

From your previous experiences in Scotland, how would you describe playing to Scottish audiences? It’s always amazing playing in Scotland. My first ever Scottish gig was at the Sub Club in

CLUBS

Interview: Claire Francis

Glasgow back in 1999, and to this day it has remained my favourite gig of a 34-year career. Which disco artists do you most enjoy playing in your sets? And which tracks get the biggest audience reaction? I always enjoy playing a Chic track. My edit, One Nite In A Disco (Sister Sledge’s He’s The Greatest Dancer) always gets a massive reaction. Tell us the best set you’ve ever played? Well as I have already mentioned Sub Club, but having said that, I have just played at Revolver (Melbourne) last Sunday and it's a big contender. What’s next on the horizon for Late Nite Tuff Guy? Well I’ve recently uploaded an official remix of Rise by Herb Alpert, which comes out internationally late July, and I’ve got some exciting projects coming up for a couple of major labels, but I can’t really talk about that just yet. And I really need to finish my LNTG original LP. It’s hard to do studio work when I’m touring, but I’m really looking forward to being back in the UK and Europe doing shows over your summer. It’s been a rough year for our music greats, having sadly lost the likes of David Bowie, Prince and Maurice White. What’s your favourite Bowie track? Yes it has been a very hard year and I’m just glad you didn’t ask me what my favourite Prince track is! I love a lot of Bowie’s music, but I’d have to say my favourite track would definitely be Ashes To Ashes.

THE SKINNY

LI FE

My Dating Hiatus

ST Y LE

There’s a lot to be learned from self-imposed singleness, as one writer learned when she abstained from romantic interactions for a whole year

couple of years ago I suffered my first ‘true’ heartbreak. In the following fortnight, I discovered it is possible to cry for eight hours without stopping, and that tears know not of embarrassment nor shame, even if every other fibre of your being does. I cried on the bus, in the vegetable aisle of Sainsbury's, and at one point had to pause between every length I swam for a momentary sob-fest. After three months of mourning, I decided to dip my toe back into the dating pool, and promptly left again. During that fortnight I'd become involved with three different guys: a friend I'd liked since I was 15, but soon discovered I was crap at speaking to in person; a guy I vowed never to see again after he called me ‘good girl’ during sex; and a friend-of-a-friend, who was kind and funny, but with whom I shared the worst sex that has ever happened, on a mattress that shrieked to all neighbours in a three-mile radius. I became relationship-repulsed, and decided to take some time to recover

from the ordeal. One year. No kissing. No dating. No sex. It started off as a silly experiment, but there were a lot of factors that really warranted it. My heartbreak and the ensuing horror inflicted upon my clitoris during the rebound period. Finals beckoned. And my depression, at the time wavering and too fragile to subject to the uncertainty of romance. I found I quickly became frustrated with the scrutiny placed on my relationship status, that seemed overwhelmingly linked to my gender. One of the cleaners at work quizzed me about who I was seeing as I was dodging the wet patches of her freshly mopped floor. “You'll find someone,” she cooed when I told her I was single. A notion that had echoed itself in the break-up condolences I'd received. My ex-boyfriend got drinking buddies and a short “sorry to hear…”. Meanwhile, I got the “maybe you'll get back together” optimists and countless reminders about the person waiting out there for me.

Words: Chloë Maughan

But as I learned in a year of singlehood – to be single is a valid choice, and sometimes the best one. A choice that can bring empower-

ment, stability, and comfort in solitude. Certainly, if I learned anything, it's the importance of making yourself whole. I stopped waiting around for someone to spend summers away with, and instead took my first solo holiday in Croatia. I started making plans with my books on Sundays, and planning to meet the sky at sunset. I rediscovered the callings I'd lost time for when I was in a relationship, and stopped swiping right, realising there is just as much contentment to be found sleeping starfish as in a six-month anniversary dinner. I broke my year of solitude at 14 months as a favour to a journalist friend: a blind date. We weren't a match. But as I walked home, having ended the date early, instead of bad-date-blues, I remember being filled with this wonderful euphoria: my life wasn't missing anything. Singlehood – true singlehood, no maybes, no waiting for someone – ceased to be an experiment, and became a lifestyle.

Theresa May. I'm dreading her policies and attitudes, but I'm also dreading the inevitable barrage of misogyny she will endure. I'm dreading her legacy as a witch; for her evil actions to be tethered arbitrarily to her gender. I don't want to see a woman given the power to represent my gender and let it go to heartbreaking waste. I don't want to be torn between my

feminist instincts and my left-wing beliefs. We're supposed to believe this is equality in action; as if this group of evil old men suddenly forgot to be sexist for a hot minute. But it isn't equality. Don't buy into the narrative of the female phoenix rising from the ashes of ‘Brexit’. It's nothing more than a starving fish floating to the top of a poisonous pond.

To be single it seems is an accidental status, and more so for a woman. Indeed, even writing this, there comes a certain self-consciousness, as if no one would ever choose to be single. Instead, I probably haven't met the one yet, I must be too picky, or the sort no one would dare to fuck, even with a paper bag over their head – or whatever it is the misogynists are into these days.

“ One year. No kissing. No dating. No sex.”

Theresa May is Not a Victory for Feminism The Conservatives manage to ruin absolutely everything – even getting a female prime minister

e're all very angry at the moment, aren't we? After a month spent watching the tug-of-warring divs entrusted with the job of looking after the country all let go of the rope and drown themselves in a pit of mud and privilege, you're within your rights to be infuriated. But I've found a brand new thing to be angry about – the fact that some of my greatest wishes are coming true and I can't even enjoy their realisation. Take, for instance, David Cameron's resignation. For a good half a decade I've been waiting to see Call-Me-Dave Cameron crumble; the Conservatives splitting at their smugly sewn seams. His regretful speech, full of half-hearted boat metaphors and desperate Queen Liz name-drops should have been euphoric. But I couldn't even spare a shred of cheer. After all, getting your wish isn't quite the same when you're being stripped of your European identity, your rights, your future and the safety of your fellow humans. But do you know what else I can't enjoy? The victor in the ridiculous game show that was British Prime Minister 2016 ½. Once again, this whole situation should be exhilarating. After confirming that Gove is nothing more than a yogurt-filled condom with a hateful heart, a woman will now step up to the joyless, terrifying task of inheriting a volcanic British public. A female prime minister, doing what cowardly BoJo and Dodgy Dave could not. I should be doing handstands on the back of a motorbike; braless, wasted and screaming for joy, because that's fucking exciting. Isn't it? Well, yes, momentarily. But on remembering

August 2016

Words: Kate Pasola Illustration: Nick Cocozza

that our prime minister is now Theresa fucking May, everything is suddenly awful again. Let's take a look at her voting history; I'll spare your blood pressure and pick out the best bits.

“ Is this what Emily Davison threw herself under the king's horse for?” During her time in Parliament, Theresa May voted to raise the tuition fee cap to £9,000; voted in favour of fox hunting; consistently voted in favour of the Iraq war (and then, ironically, for an investigation into the Iraq war); voted in favour of repealing the Human Rights Act 1998; voted to protect the rights of those who wish to discriminate on the basis of caste; voted against allowing non-straight couples to adopt. She's voted against restrictions on fees charged to tenants by letting agents. She's also consistently voted for selling England's forests. Just, y'know, to whoever. She voted to restrict the support available to failed asylum seekers and illegal migrants. She voted against a banker's bonus tax and mansion taxes, meanwhile supporting bedroom tax, welfare reductions and benefit restrictions. To quote a particularly witty acquaintance, is this what Emily Davison threw herself under the king's horse for? Intersectional feminism gains nothing from a female PM when that PM is

DEVIANCE

Lifestyle

Elegant Grunge Shoot Credits

Models: Niamh McNamara and Zoe Wright from Colours Stylist: Laura Macintosh Photographer: David N Anderson dnanderson.co.uk Hair: Roy Rogers at Milk milkhairdressing.co.uk Make up: Danielle Dickson Location:Â leiththeatretrust.org

Lifestyle

FASHION

THE SKINNY

Clothing Credits Dress: Mairi McDonald (left) Boots: Dr Martens Top: Zara Leather Jacket: Aero Leather Jewellery: Katie Lees Kilts: Le Kilt; Mairi McDonald Silk vest: Mairi McDonald Blouse: Judy R Clark Tulle skirt: Judy R Clark Trousers: Topshop Bralet: Zara Jacket: Topshop Unique Dress: Topshop Unique (top left)

August 2016

FASHION

Lifestyle

Camille Bernard C

amille Bernard was born in 1994 in Paris, where she grew up and went to school. Having a French father and a Scottish mother, she left France as soon as she passed her Baccalaureat to go to Ullapool in the Highlands to follow a portfolio course in winter 2011. She moved briefly to Brighton before studying at the Glasgow School of Art. She graduated from the Painting department in summer 2016. “The theme of harvest is a subject in which coexist, different possible layers of comprehension as it refers to various ideas: tradition and ritual, nature and community, abundance and necessity, completion and cycle. This series, Harvest, works as a narrative navigating through

a parallel and constructed macrocosm. Depicting an environment both utopian and daunting, the imagery tries to reveal the ambiguities of human society and relationships, of their violence, their tenderness, and domination. Making short films within the Harvest series permitted me to explore the rhythms that constitute its narratives. Film narrates, like painting does with its handling-ability, colour and shape; by editing, by orchestrating sounds and movement. It has brought me to scale up the size of my paintings, so as to offer more legitimacy to the existence of the Harvest world. This pushed me to create a set for the films The Monster, The Lion, The Hunters in my studio space. The set was

constituted of painted cardboard cut-outs which offered to my paintings, as well as my film, a different nature. Using set design and costumes permitted me to direct the atmosphere and aesthetics of the piece, giving it more intent, consistency and singularity. It enabled my film to adopt the surrealistic quality of my paintings, in composition, colour and landscape and embrace the theatricality in my imagery. “The films, however, have a different take on the surreal. The costumes and set design show the viewer a world of illusion and game, where humans and animals, disguised, interact in a cardboard set. Having various elements of my practice – painting, set design, film – co-existing

SHOWCASE

within a space allows the viewer to immerse himself into a narrative, into its plurality, its theatricality. He becomes witness of a sort of a masquerade in a cardboard world where a sense of childhood nostalgia is darkened by the distance we make of things, symbols and situations as adults. That use of disfigured innocence in surrealism attracts me. Both the costumes and set, naïve and simplified, underline this tendency my work has towards fantasy and play, myths and memory. However, the subjects underlining the fable-like narrative distort the naïvety of the setting with undercurrents of violence, domination, bestiality and injustice.” cargocollective.com/camillebernard

THE SKINNY

August 2016

SHOWCASE

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n the words of both LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, and television’s Hannah Montana, everybody makes mistakes, with some more important than others. However in the alwaysexciting world of cocktails, a rookie mistake can easily be turned into an exciting new discovery, with many of the drinks we demand perfection of originally stemming from behind-the-bar screw-ups. Take the story of the Sbagliato, which reportedly earned its big break in the drinks world courtesy of a careless bartender who couldn’t tell the difference between a wine and spirit bottle. Aiming to whip up a negroni – the classic cocktail made with vermouth, Campari and gin – the barman got the first two steps right, before accidentally grabbing a bottle of prosecco in place of the gin. It made its way into the glass, and the sbagliato – Italian for ‘mistake’ – was born. The Basement’s White Sbagliato refines the accidental recipe a touch, while sticking to the wine and herb base that made the original such a happy surprise. The White reintroduces that errant gin and pairs it with the herby flavour of St Germain, the elderflower liqueur. Throw a touch of dessert wine into the mix, then top with bubbles, and you’re onto a winner. Balanced, crisp and packed with flavour – just keep one eye on your drinks shelf at all times and you’ll do fine.

White Sbagliato INGREDIENTS: 20ml Beefeater gin 20ml Dessert wine 20ml St Germain 3 dots Orange Bitters Splash of Valdivieso sparkling wine METHOD: S tir the gin, dessert wine, St Germain and bitters, and strain into a champagne coupe. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with a lemon twist.

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THE SKINNY

Chewing at the Fringes From cake-inspired stand-up to whisky-based personality tests, we round up the best Edinburgh Fringe shows for food and drink fans... Words: Peter Simpson Illustration: Tom Saffill

e’ll start with breakfast; the most important meal of the day, but one that often gets overlooked in a festival where the bars stay open til 5am and the shows begin again shortly after. Shakespeare for Breakfast can help kill two birds with one stone – it’s a Fringe institution in its third decade, kicking off the day with a whirlwind of Shakespearean banter. Plus, there are croissants. And coffee. Get your day off to a theatrical flyer, or fight through your hangover covered in pastry flakes while trying to keep up with the pentameters. As the kids say, ‘you do you’. 3-29 Aug (not 15 Aug), 10am, C Venues, £8.50-9.50

After breakfast comes Lunch, and despite its clear violation of the Fringe rule that a show’s gimmick should match its timeslot, we’re still intrigued by Luke Courtier’s musical comedy. Described as a “high-octane series of musical comedy vignettes”, the show presents the tale of the midday meal from a host of different perspectives; spending most of our lunchtimes eyeing each other’s sandwiches, we can empathise. 4-28 Aug (not 16 Aug), 6.20pm, Underbelly Cowgate, £9.5010.50

Speaking of lunches, we aren’t exactly fans of the whole #eatclean thing. Eat clean? We’ll have you know we washed our hands before and after we went to get this shawarma, now if you’ll excuse us, nom nom nom. Thankfully, character comic Bella Younger is here to rip the everloving piss out of “nutribullshit”. Enter a world where Fruit Pastilles are part of your five-a-day, and Malibu is the best kind of coconut water; we approve. 3-28 Aug (not 15 Aug), 7.15pm, Pleasance Courtyard, £10-12

In further sweet-toothed comedy, the debut solo show from the much-vaunted Bilal Zafar will take you on a journey of confusion, confection and far-right idiocy. Cakes charts the fallout from the time that Zafar “was mistaken for a Muslim-only cake shop” – that one-word title seems set to hide a show packed with political and social commentary, and cakes. 4-28 Aug (not 15 Aug), 3.40pm, Just the Tonic at the Mash House, £4

Onto a pair of returning foodies, and JoJo Bellini is back with an hour of food-based comic cabaret, promising Tom Jones-inspired culinary and comedy larks. Last year JoJo survived a trip to a fetish club with our very own Fred Fletch, so there’s no doubting her mettle or courage under pressure. This bodes well for a lunchtime hour of foodinspired cabaret. 4-28 Aug (not 15 Aug), 1.20pm, The Stand 2, £8/6

things, beatboxing, acrobatics and body-popping in a high-octane hour. Expect to be shocked, amazed, confused and amazed again. 4-29 Aug (not 15 Aug), 4pm, Assembly George Square, £12.50-£14.50

Moving from food to drink, and the return of the Whisky Theatre project with new show Spaced. It’s a show that looks at the Cold War, the Space Race, and the role played by whisky on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Laughs, drinks, and chat about how close we came to a nuclear perma-winter? Count us in. 9-12 & 17-28 Aug (not 22 Aug), various times, Valvona & Crolla Scottish Foodhall @ Jenners, £15

From whisky to gin, and a trio of gin-themed, historically-inspired pieces. There’s absurdist faux-radio play The Gin Chronicles: A Scottish Adventure from Interrupt the Routine, which centres on a pair of 1940s amateur detectives sent from London to investigate the source of a gin shortage. Meanwhile, The Gin Whore Tour promises a historical trip into a world of “hooch & harlots” with a host of gin tastings along the way. 8-25 Aug (not 21 Aug), 6.30pm, artSpace@StMarks, £12; 27 & 28 Aug, 3.30pm, The Devil’s Cut, £30

Also on the gin theme, Edinburgh Gin’s Evening of Literature and Liquor returns to explain the numerous crossover points between the literary and liquid worlds with the help of copious literature-inspired cocktails. Yep, that’ll clear things up. 8, 15, 22 & 29 Aug, 7pm, Edinburgh Gin Distillery, £30

Next, magic! At the Illusionist’s Table at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society blends high-class illusions with first-rate whiskies and delicious grub. They say: “Thoughts transcend. Whisky materialises. Dreams are revealed.” We say: “Woo magic, whisky, magic, dinner, yeah!” It’s a pricey evening out, sure, but then it does come with its own magician. You get what you pay for sometimes... 5-29 Aug (not 8 or 22 Aug), 7pm, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, £59

Also at the SMWS this Fringe is Project Flavour Behaviour: Personality Test. Sounds intriguing, eh? It’s a scientific research experiment from the Society and Edinburgh University’s Psychology Department, which takes the form of “a unique psychometric personality test” designed to predict the kind of dram you’ll like, and a subsequent taste test to see if it works. There’s a joke to be made in there about the psychometric tests, but we’re in for a busy August and don’t want to get sued. 5-29 Aug, 6pm, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, £15/12

Also returning to the Fringe this year is George Egg, the self-styled ‘Anarchist Cook’ bringing his trusty hotel room props back for a three-night run. Egg whips up all manner of delicious dishes using everyday household appliances rather than your standard ovens and hobs. Half-chef, halfcomedian, all iron-cooked pancakes and fish poached in sinks of water. Take that, ‘The Man’. 22-24 Aug, various times, Gilded Balloon Teviot, £10

And finally, food-themed Korean b-boying! Chef: Come Dine With Us! combines cookery with, of all

August 2016

Finally, if the thought of spending the whole Fringe cooped up inside fills you with dread, check out the returning Foodies Festival at Inverleith Park. A host of demos, street food stands and other food-based goings on, all within easy walking distance of the city centre and right next to the insouciant ducks of the Botanic Gardens. You’re not the only show in town this August, ducks; you’d better up your game. 5-7 Aug, Inverleith Park, £10-14

FOOD AND DRINK

Lifestyle

Food News As everyone and their dog heads to Edinburgh, we focus on the western end of the M8 in this month’s Food News Words: Peter Simpson

Let's Eat Glasgow

ow we don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s some kind of festival going on in Edinburgh this month. Haha, what a funny joke, now please stop building a theatre space directly underneath our office. We’ve put together a guide to our pick of the foodie events at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, so this month’s food news takes on a distinctly Glaswegian flavour. We start with the Merchant City Festival, continuing this month with a clutch of foodie events. Dress for the Weather lead a Pub Typology Tour, touring Glasgow’s most architecturally significant pubs and bars and looking at the ways in which their design and style were influenced by the political and social factors in play at the time. 6 Aug, 2pm, merchantcityfestival.com At the other end of the scale, Brewdog’s Doghouse bar in Hutcheson Square host the culmination of the Festival’s Pooch Parade. In addition to the usual range of people beers, Doghouse will be serving up mutt-friendly beers to the incoming canine horde. Expect to become jealous of dogs wearing nicer clothes than you; bet they don’t even get a round in. Bloody dogs. 6 Aug, facebook.com/doghousemerchantcity From beer to gin, and a gin tasting session from Times Like These, although in the notes they say: “This is not another tasting, this is entertainment.” Note that full-stop; not an exclamation mark, or ellipsis, but a full-stop. This

is entertainment, and you will be entertained. You will also try six gins and hear a lyrical history of the Scottish gin trade while you’re at it. Lovely stuff. 7 Aug, Browns, 1 George Sq, £45, tickets via Eventbrite We close the month looking ahead to September, and a couple of events to get in the diary, the first of which is the welcome return of Let’s Eat Glasgow to SWG3. The free festival from the Real Food, Real Folk collective of Glasgow restauranteurs was a runaway success in 2015, as you’d expect from any food fest featuring the teams behind Ox and Finch, Crabshakk and Mother India among its organisers. There’ll be a produce market, you’ll be able to get up close with genuine actual animals, and inside a host of Glasgow’s best restaurants will be knocking together bespoke dishes for you to get stuck into. Long may this continue. 3 & 4 Sep, 1000 Eastvale Pl, free entry, food vouchers on sale at letseatglasgow.co.uk Also at SWG3 is the debut Glasgow Juniper Festival after several successful runnings at Summerhall in Edinburgh, bringing together oodles of gins from across Scotland and beyond under one (warehouse) roof. Head along, try loads of different gins, head home with several bottles, and convince yourself that you could start your own gin festival. 10 Sep, 12-4.30pm and 5.30-10pm, £16.50, tickets via Eventbrite.

Phagomania: Out on the Cheese Pull We take a look at the wild world of melted cheese, from the science of selling the stuff to the magic of a rainbow toastie

heese, glorious cheese. Everybody loves cheese, and whichever cheese you love, the luscious ooze of melted dairy goodness is the money shot of the food industry. It’s been employed for decades by everybody from fast food giants like Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Taco Bell, up to modern day bloggers and Instagram snappers. You know the classic shot – a slice lifts up from a whole, fresh pizza trailing a web of gooey cheese threads. It now even has its own title in the advertising biz – the ‘cheese pull.’ Dreaded by food photographers, it reportedly takes hours and lots of equipment (steamers for cheese anyone?) to set up the perfect ‘cheese pull.’ Advertisers and marketers know that there is some science behind the pull, with the cheesy image speaking to the brain in a very primal way. Communicating beyond words, it sets a yearning trigger. A recent study showed that cheese can trigger the same chemicals in the brain as addictive drugs; it virtually puts the ‘porn’ into ‘food porn’. They say ‘sex sells’ but in the food industry, stretched cheese sells. We’re particularly taken by one recent twist on the classic cheese toastie. As reported in this very column back in April, rainbow-coloured foods have been the big trend of 2016, and it’s a trend that knows no bounds. Behold, the Rainbow Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Recently made available at London pop-up stall Grill My Cheese, it is owners Nisha Patel and Nishma

Lifestyle

Chauhan’s take on a similar invention from Hong Kong’s Kala Toast. “We just wanted to have a bit of fun with it,” explains Nisha. “It had to taste amazing. Goats cheese and truffle oil go well with the flavours and make it into something really special.” But they also had to combat negative assumptions about the rainbow colouring. “It was important to keep the colouring as natural as possible,” says Nisha. “We used beetroot, rocket, caramelised onions and a small amount of food colouring. We trialled everything multiple times to get it perfect.” It sounds serious, but in reality the Grill My Cheese outfit are set on fun and experimenting. “People take food too seriously these days,” Nisha proclaims. But as a small, independent business, what about battling that corporate “cheese pull”? “We absolutely can take on the big dogs, with our cheese-pull images at least!” says Nisha, who regularly posts pull shots on the pop-up’s Instagram account. “We don’t have stylists to prepare our cheese shots for us, so they’re a lot more natural, and therefore in one way more appealing.” Ah, that elusive cheese attraction – where does it come from? “I can’t put my finger on what is so appealing about melted cheese,” Nisha muses. “But it really is mesmerising. I watch cheese being melted every day and it still fascinates me.” Nisha also proposes that it has a truly universal, international appeal: “There’s a

version of grilled cheese / a cheese toastie from so many countries. It’s totally relatable for everyone. On seeing an image of melted cheese, everyone can imagine the taste and the texture and how delicious it is.”

FOOD AND DRINK

Words: Lewis MacDonald

So whether you were truly aware of it or not, there’s a seriously strong chance that at any moment the power of cheese could compel you – so why fight it? Get grilling! grillmycheese.co.uk

Grill My Cheese's rainbow toastie

THE SKINNY

August 2016

ADVERTISING FEATURE

How to change your career in 16 weeks

y now you’ll have hopefully heard of Scotland’s first digital skills academy CodeClan, an increasingly popular destination for restless professionals looking for a change in career. Created in response to the widening skills gap in the country’s IT sector, CodeClan’s graduate employment rate is very strong, with 50% of students nabbing a job in the tech industry within six weeks of graduating. The course is an intensive 16 weeks, equipping anyone with the right aptitude and attitude with the tools they need to make the leap into IT. We spoke with two graduates about their stories. “Before coming to CodeClan I was working in the offshore oil and gas industry,” says Gordon MacIntyre, now a software developer. “After offshore work started becoming few and far between I moved to onshore work.” Soon the opportunities began to dwindle further still, and though still relatively young, MacIntyre feared for his prospects should the work dry up completely. “I didn’t want to take that chance so I decided to move to an industry that offered a future.” Oil to software isn’t exactly a textbook career move. What drew him to the new path? “I was first attracted by my love of gaming. Between offshore jobs I had a lot of time on my hands so I started looking into game development and seeing how they are made.” MacIntyre took that curiosity and turned it into a job, thanks to the academy’s 16 week course. “CodeClan gave me the experience I needed to make my start in the industry. They opened up a whole new world of knowledge and skills that I can keep gaining.” Michael MacLeod, meanwhile, now works for a major social networking app. Before all this, what was he doing? ”I was a journalist and TV producer for over 10 years and worked at the Guardian and STV among others.“ What prompted him to apply? “I had already been approached about a job with a technology firm in the past, but felt I lacked the skills. So when the scholarship was advertised, that was my chance.” What was the application process like? “There was an interview which really helped settle my nerves about changing career.” The course itself can be quite full on. “The truth is, it’s a highly demanding course. You must commit fully, or will struggle to catch up.” Fortunately, MacLeod says, the teachers are “a super-positive bunch of people who are patient with slow learners (like me)”. So what’s the new job exactly? “I’m an Editorial Associate Producer at the company in London, and loving the job. I get to work with some of the world’s most talented people in their fields.” Anything to say to someone considering a job in IT? “If you love to constantly learn then go for it! Scotland’s tech industry is blossoming and so has a real buzz about it. Workplaces are positive and open to ambition.” Total course cost is £4,500, applicants must be 18 or over. Full application details can be found at codeclan.com/apply

THE SKINNY

RE V

Gig Highlights

IE W

Just as festival season looked to have rendered August’s gig listings DOA, a few big hitters rock up to provide some last-minute resuscitation.

August 2016

very, extra, super special chance to catch electronica legends Silver Apples at The Hug and Pint (26 Aug). The perennially under-the-radar Karl Blau is then on hand to provide a plaintive summer farewell at the same venue five days later (31 Aug). Save for the Fringe, there’s still plenty going on in Edinburgh to whet the proverbial appetite, starting with cracked-blues enigma Willis Earl Beal and Myles Manley at Summerhall (11 Aug). At the same venue, and keeping on the theme of appetite, there are certain things that are made for each other: if WHITE and Bossy Love were food items, we reckon they’d go together like ice cream and apple pie. You can treat that joint headline (13 Aug) show as a dessert, but make sure you save enough room for arguably two of the biggest performances of the year when Sigur Rós (15-16 Aug) and Anohni (1718 Aug) hit the Playhouse as part of the stramash of theatre and pavement rage that is the International Festival. Since reforming in 2012, Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle has repeatedly teased a new album – the band’s first in 11 years – with an early 2017 release date said to be mooted. That’s still at least four months away, but there’s a chance you can grab a sneak peek of what they have in store at Summerhall (22 Aug). If you miss out on tickets then fear not, for the brilliant Julianna Barwick is at Electric Circus that same eve. Jeffrey Lewis and his Los Bolts eschew the big two in favour of a show at Dundee’s Beat Generator (23 Aug) the following day, before Emma Pollock (The Hub, 25 Aug), then Mogwai and Mark Cousins’ moving flashback of the nuclear age (Atomic; Playhouse, 27-28 Aug) bring this year’s Festival to a close.

The Bronx

Do Not Miss Young Fathers, The Hub, 14–15 Aug Given their cultural sapience, penchant for confrontation and unswerving political stance, Young Fathers represent everything a music act at an arts festival should. By this point, Drylaw’s favourite sons need no introduction, and yes, there are probably less heralded acts deserving of our ‘gig of the month’ spotlight, but having watched the group ascend from a promising rap crew in their teens (as 3style) to world domination, we’d be liars if we refuted any charges of nepotism. That’s not to say they’re here without merit, however. As a live proposition, Young Fathers’ bite is, impressively, even worse than their bark. Twisting in and out of sonics to the point where genre labels feel redundant, the trio’s all or nothing approach onstage with Massive Attack recently saw them labelled ‘revelatory’ on these very pages. If you’re yet to experience the divinity, then what better way to do so than in the intimate confides of The Hub? Playing two nights at the prestigious 400-capacity venue, this is a homecoming that promises to be extra special. See you down the front.

Grandaddy

MUSIC

Young Fathers

Preview

Credit: Mihaela Bodlovic

sually at this time of year we’d begin with some sneering quip about the great Scottish summer that never was, but relative to the norm, 2016’s edition could be considered something of a sizzler (no laughing at the back, there). As we approach the solstice’s end and the big man in the sky exudes his dying embers, there’s plenty here to ensure the long goodbye is a celebration rather than a funeral. So long sunlight, old pal.. Sauntering up with booze to get the party started at The Hug and Pint (2 Aug) are noisers Young Legionnaire, who are comprised of former indie stalwarts Gordon Moakes (Bloc Party) and Paul Mullen (yourcodenameis:milo). If such connotations still evoke mid-00s feelings of dread in the shape of warm Red Stripe, stud belts and terrible haircuts, then North Africa’s finest Imarhan are also in town that night – you can catch their blisteringly hot brand of Algerian desert rock at Broadcast. As one fifth of orchestral folk homies Admiral Fallow, Sarah Hayes is no stranger to these pages. The composer has been carving something of a name for herself since 2013, with last year’s solo effort Woven quite possibly one of the most underrated records of the year. She plays The Hug and Pint (3 Aug) with Olympic Swimmers, while New Jersey punk/pogo doyens The Bouncing Souls spring in from the opposite side of the musical spectrum to hold down the (very bouncy) fort at the ABC on the same date. Like Hayes, Catherine AD, or The Anchoress as she likes to be called these days, is another who has stepped out from the shadows to forge her own path. She’s first slated to play CCA (5 Aug), before making the short trip east to Summerhall for a very special show with Scottish Album of the Year 2015 winner Kathryn Joseph (6 Aug). That same weekend also marks the opening of the much vaunted Kelvingrove Bandstand series, with home favourites Idlewild kicking off the jamboree (5 Aug), followed by Welsh cosmic projectors Super Furry Animals (6 Aug). Since the much-mourned breakup of emo titans My Chemical Romance, music fans around the world have anticipated the members’ next move with bated breath. As the typically understated Gerard Way plots world domination under his solo project ‘Gerard Way’, former guitarist Frank Iero has poured his energies into surprisingly-not-awful digital hardcore group Death Spells. Iero played to a sold out SECC when he was last here, and so the cosy surroundings of Broadcast (9 Aug) will no doubt take some getting used to, but at least he won’t be alone on that front as former NWA superstar turntabalist DJ Yella jets in for an intimate night at St Luke’s (11 Aug) the same week. Things in Glasgow then take a quiet turn, giving you a good week to get ready for the onslaught of hardcore vets The Bronx when they take over King Tut’s for two nights (18-19 Aug). Fashion icon and Kanye West protégé Travis Scott is another who’s garnered a reputation for his wild live shows, so what better excuse to don your best Raf Simons and Moncler gladrags when he comes to the ABC (23 Aug)? If such fayre is too ostentatious for your tastes, however, then pensive folk rocker Kevin Morby will be on hand to bring the brood at Broadcast (23 Aug) and then Summerhall (24 Aug). On the final stretch of our Glasgow coverage we have Eagles of Death Metal at Barrowlands (25 Aug), and then there’s a

Credit: Neil Jarvie

Credit: Claire Taylor

Words: Graeme Campbell

James Blackshaw / John Lemke

Glasgow Platform, 9 Jul

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Nice 'N' Sleazy, 17 Jul

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jamesblackshaw.tumblr.com

Weaves kick off their Sunday night show at Nice 'N' Sleazy with the grunge/punk gripe Shithole – ‘I'm living in a shithole,’ frontwoman Jasmyn Burke intones cheerfully over the band's cacaphonous jumble of wriggling riffs and crashing drumbeats. It's a wry, confessional and kooky track that entwines art-punk with a touch of whimsy; this summation could further be applied to the Toronto-based outfit's self-titled debut album, which they're in town to promote. Unfortunately, it appears that the indie rock quartet are yet to find a fanbase further from home. As the group soldier on with their second song (the twanging, fuzzy Buttercup), Sleazy's basement holds just a paltry handful of spectators, but despite playing to a near-empty room, Burke remains admirably upbeat throughout. Not even wrongfooted by a broken string, the singer replaces lyrics with a sung commentary on the guitarist's frantic efforts to restring his instrument and rejoin the group. Weaves’ songs are odd assemblages of licks, beats and riffs; thunderous and jarring but at the same time strangely melodic. Held together by Burke's commanding voice, the group power on through their performance with commendable verve, recalling the bluesy bent of Alabama Shakes and Karen O's pop-punk vivacity. It's an accomplished, impressive show, that could have been even bigger and better with the right atmosphere. [Claire Francis]

DJ Shadow

O2 ABC Glasgow, 20 Jul

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The rumble of floor-quaking bass announces Joshua Paul Davis, aka DJ Shadow, to the gloom of the O2 ABC. Barely visible on the dimly lit stage, our maestro builds a slow, dark, ambient intro. It's just past 9pm, and he remains unhurried, mounting his charge with the practiced patience of an artist who knows exactly how his cards will fall. Cuts from latest release The Mountain Will Fall come early in the set – “This is one of the new ones,” Davis announces to a cavalcade of skittering beats, flitting between drum machine and deft flicks of the turntable. A constant stream of tripped-out graphics flood the screens flanking the stage – pop art tigers lope in time to the beat and spinning figures fall through the air in a nostalgic Bond/Mad Men homage. Images of lush rainforests then appear, and a clear-running mountain river. Neither grandiose nor groundbreaking, the visuals nonetheless make a fitting companion to the show; understated and considered, much like DJ Shadow himself. An as-yet unreleased Hudson Mohawke remix shows off Shadow's remarkable scratching talents; the show begins to gather momentum and swaying bodies draw closer to the stage. Curls of red smoke twist across a black screen

Review

as the psychedelic strains of Six Days then waft out into the darkness, before Listen (featuring the legendary Terry Reid) forms one of the show's most poignant moments, with stylised flowers beamed across the black screens. The carefully crafted mood of introspection thus set, Davis pauses to speak to his eager audience. “Sometimes I don't know whether I should talk more, or not talk, but sometimes I feel like I should express my appreciation,” he admits to whoops of adulation from the crowd. “These are fucked up times we're living in – music is a healing force,” he continues. “I come from the States and shit is just as fucked up there as it is here... even more so.” Cue the bombastic thump of Nobody Speak, Shadow's collaboration with Run The Jewels, to drive home the collective disillusionment. Chants of ‘Shadow, Shadow, Shadow’ draw our leading man back for an encore, and the trifecta of Organ Donor/Midnight In A Perfect World/The Mountain Will Fall seamlessly melds the DJ Shadow of old with the promise of the new. An amazingly deft DJ, and a humble, magnanimous onstage presence, a single grievance worth levelling is that such a compelling show feels stifled by the early hour and static venue – leaving us to lament the loss of late-night venue The Arches for performances of this sonic magnitude. [Claire Francis] djshadow.com

Photo: John Graham

Photo: Ryan Johnston

Photo: Cameron Brisbane

There's a detectable melancholy in Easterhouse; the stark, sad, drifting beauty of James Blackshaw's material compounded by the recent announcement marking an end to his career as a touring artist. Should tonight indeed prove to be Blackshaw's final Scottish gig, it's a typically intimate, low-key affair, the contrast provided by John Lemke's bricolage of slippery electronica in which themes and styles coalesce. Focusing on tracks from his recent Nomad Frequencies LP, there's a little bit of Trent Reznor to Lemke's sound (that's Reznor when channelling Debussy rather than shouting about sadomasochistic sex and general self-loathing) yet stylistically it's the breadth of his brief set that impresses. The icy tendrils and discombobulated beats Lemke conjures grow and stretch to encompass

Weaves

dub leanings and portentous flourishes. As James Blackshaw takes to the stage he does so carrying his guitar in its case, as if we're on the High Street and he's shown up for a spot of busking. Then again, appearances can be deceptive; as soon as he begins to play it's as if he's secreted several other guitarists in the wings, such is the intricate nature of his craft. Yes, his stage presence remains a little awkward – he looks uncomfortable in his chair, the space between the tracks extended exercises in how to tune a 12-string – but his tender expressionism leaves ample room for reflection. That's true whether each piece is an instrumental or a more recent track with added vocals; Confetti, with its suicide-in-seedy-motel narrative, being particularly haunting. “I enjoy playing Glasgow more than anywhere else in the UK,” he tells us while explaining his forthcoming hiatus; “Haste ye back” isn't an appropriate sentiment, but it's there all the same. [Duncan Harman]

Ette

The Old Hairdressers, 21 Jul

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As parties go, this one gets off to a quiet start. Folk-popsters Randolph's Leap usually appear as a 16-legged beast, but with the rhythm section exempt from duty tonight, the slight jauntiness that often tempers Adam Ross’ wordy ruminations is gone. The resulting sound – softer than their already-light fare – actually works surprisingly well, giving Ross’ natural melodic melancholy more room to breathe. They're the right kind of funny too: an accidental error in I Can't Dance To This Music Anymore ends up creating its own hilarious narrative and subsequently ramps up the atmosphere. Nice work. Speaking of which, BooHooHoo know how to get the room going. Their neon riot of a set draws from 80s pop, Prince-styled funk and electropop, creating something entirely danceable and kinda irresistible, but it's their DIY approach that keeps things interesting. At times you can almost hear nods to Glasgow predecessors Bis; specifically the synth-heavy period around the turn of the century that narrowly pre-dated the

Music

electroclash explosion. There's no doubting that BHH's sights are set higher, however, and when the thoroughly infectious Stay Intact peaks on an intense wave of vocoder, you can almost smell the faint burning of blown minds. Still, the night belongs to headliners Ette, with Carla Easton and Joe Kane both on effervescently fine form. We're gathered here to launch their debut album Homemade Lemonade – a frantic, head-spinning collection of elastic synthpop and stridently catchy hooks – which naturally makes up the majority of their set. It's initially difficult to see why they refer to themselves as an ‘experimental’ pop band; despite the psych pulses and dubbed-out bass that often propels the songs, they're always subtle side dishes rather than the main course. Regardless, in the flesh, these songs truly come alive: The Spector flourishes of Attack of the Glam Soul Cheerleaders are uniformly joyous, while Heaven Knows takes us down the disco with pep and pizzazz etched across its chest-swelling refrain. Not so experimental, then, but with chemistry like this, who gives a fuck? [Will Fitzpatrick] www.facebook.com/ettemusic

THE SKINNY

An Anxious Energy Sweaty Palms are an energetic four-piece garage rock band from the Southside of Glasgow who admit their music is inspired by drug-fuelled anxiety. They open up on fighting sexism, hating conservative bands and channeling negative energy

t was the week before last Christmas when Sweaty Palms announced themselves to the Glasgow music scene in shambolic style while playing the Green Door studio’s eighth birthday party. It’s the kind of gig unsigned acts are desperate to play, given the esteem in which its organisers are held. The type of event where most groups are on their best behaviour. “It was an honour to be asked to play and we were really up for it – but it turned into a bit of a disaster,” reflects guitar player Ronan Fay with an air of nonchalance. “I spilt booze on my amp and it stopped working about mid-way through...” “You had a bitch fit,” grins vocalist and fellow guitar player Robbie Houston. “I took Robbie’s guitar and we carried on – but we got told it was our last song,” continues Ronan. “So we wanted to go out with a bang. Robbie was stood singing on the drumkit, and I might have encouraged him to come off it. But it couldn’t have happened in a more uncouth way; the symbols toppled over, the kick drum went on its head, Robbie landed on our drummer... and the sound engineer battered through the crowd and tried to square up to Robbie. I cowered behind my broken amp and got off scot-free.” “A lot of people came up and shook our hands afterwards. I think they just wanted to see a bit of drama,” adds Robbie. This unintended piece of performance art could prove to be the making of Sweaty Palms. Postgig, they were introduced to Dale Barclay, former frontman of The Amazing Snakeheads, and Gerry Blythe, one of the best-connected promoters in the city. The duo were suitably impressed with the Sweats and eager to work with them in the future. The end result was that Blythe arranged for the band to release their first 7” single last month – a ‘double B-side’ featuring Love Me and Pretty Poor

For A Posh Boy, two songs they taped at Green Door. Meanwhile, Barclay invited them to support his new band, And Yet It Moves, on a short UK summer tour. “We were going to record regardless,” Ronan insists, “but Gerry offered to help us. It’s through his management we now have something to promote. That’s why we played at T in the Park and are booked for Electric Fields. We’re trying to get the word out. The more gigs you play in Glasgow, the smaller the city becomes. So it’s good to get out.” An unusually humid evening in late July is an appropriate time to meet a band named after uncontrolled perspiration. The Skinny has been invited to a vast industrial estate in the southwest of Glasgow to meet Sweaty Palms. The four-piece rent a tiny shed at the rear of an office block as a permanent rehearsal space and general headquarters. A few chairs are squeezed between amplifiers, a Keith Moon-sized drum kit (“It’s not ours, it belongs to And Yet It Moves”) and various paraphernalia – including a Rolf Harris cartoon pinned to the wall, which the band swear is an original. Empty Buckfast bottles double as candle holders; an alternate career as interior designers surely beckons. We’re here to look back at what has been an action-packed six months for the band. Ronan and bass player Shaun Montgomery hail from Knightswood and have known each other since school. Shaun met Robbie, from Kinning Park, ‘through a friend of a friend’ and the pair were jamming together by 2014. Ronan came on board soon after and the proto-Sweats went through a series of drummers before meeting present sticksman Tom. “We all came together with a mutual interest in inciting anger, fear and any other complex emotions in a nation of empty vessels, staring into an endless void on their iPhones,”

states Ronan, who just laughs when asked if he’s prepared any of his answers. Sweaty Palms play a frantic, thrilling brand of garage rock laced with acerbic commentary. Glasgow’s Fuzzkill Records gave them a helping hand last October by releasing Hollywood Wax, a cassette-only EP which offered a beguiling snapshot of a band clearly bursting with ideas. Its stand-out track, Captain of the Rugby Team, a howl of rage against sexism and alpha-lad culture – more of which later.

“ The most lyrics I ever write is when I’m on a comedown” Robbie Houston

Introductions complete, let’s talk about that name. “It’s probably because we’re all very anxious people. I’ve got sweaty palms right now,” confides Robbie. “I wrote a song called Sweaty Palms, but we were known as The Sweats first. We were in between the two names until last week or something, until we were forced to choose.” “Promoters were getting pissed off because they thought they were booking two separate bands, and that was getting us extra gigs,” adds Ronan. “Most of our songs, at the start, were to do with drug-fuelled anxiety. So the name kind of fitted the bill then. But I’m not worried at all – as has been put to me – about the name ‘not fitting

Interview: Chris McCall Photography: Ryan Johnston

the sound’ five years from now. I like the ambiguity of it. The band is still ambiguous. It’s nice to be playing shows where you’re not expecting us four to do the same thing, every time.” A Sweaty Palms song starts when Ronan hands a list of possible song titles to Robbie, who writes lyrics to fit. The group will then jam for as long as neccessary to create a suitable musical template. “The most lyrics I ever write is when I’m on a comedown,” Robbie admits. “When it’s a lose-lose situation and I feel like shit. But you get something positive from it.” Ronan agrees. “You do seem most productive when things are on a downward spiral. But it’s channeling negative energy, and that fits under the bill of the Sweaty Palms thing.” So what about the songs? Captain of the Rugby Team opens with a defiant: ‘I can’t stress enough, how much I want to be a man’ – but don’t get the wrong idea; this is not a lads’ call to arms. “It’s more a feminist song, against the alpha-male,” insists Robbie. “Especially in Glasgow. Look at places like [city centre nightclub favoured by footballers] Sugarcube, and all the rest of it. It’s too much. You can’t walk up Sauchiehall Street without some idiot trying to fight you for having long hair.” Robbie describes “almost being bottled” at T in the Park several years ago after walking through the festival while wearing a skirt. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I was by myself and was walking to meet my girlfriend. I wasn’t trying to be provocative. We think we have it bad, but what women have to put up with is atrocious. You see videos of people shouting abuse with thousands of likes.” Ronan picks up the theme. “The whole culture of ‘as long as I have mine’ encourages it. ‘As long as I have my fun at the expense of everyone else.’ It’s the nature of the internet. You can justify your prejudices.” A discussion follows on the impact of the internet on both songwriting and even the names of bands. Halfrican, a Glasgow-based fuzz-rock trio, last month announced they would change their name of four years after discovering it was considered derogatory by some. ”But that’s the climate,” offers Ronan. “They’re not shitty people, they’re not trying to offend. It’s like Viet Cong [the Canadian post-punkers now called Preoccupations, who you’ll find elsewhere this issue] – the problem wasn’t their name, it was the fact four privileged white men had taken it on.” Not that Sweaty Palms are against the internet or the destruction it has wreaked on the traditional music industry. Ronan admits there are other Glasgow bands – he won’t name names – “whose noses have been put out of joint” over the Sweats’ attitude towards what some still describe as ‘playing the game.’ “I find it preposterous when people say, ‘I want to sign a major record deal,’” he says. “It’s not going to allow you to make the music you want to make. I think it’s more important than ever that people should be making honest, challenging music. I’m not saying what we’re doing is superprogressive, but at least we’re trying to be original. I think the music industry is the best it’s ever been – you can find the strangest music you want. Which is why I have a problem with certain bands who are making extremely conservative music.” Following their appearance at Electric Fields, the Sweats will regroup and plan their next move. They are very keen to record an album. But they’ll only do it on their terms. “We could make a record tomorrow,” adds Ronan. ”But we want to make it well. That takes time. If that takes gigging and saving, it will happen eventually.” Sweaty Palms play Electric Fields festival, Drumlanrig Castle, on 26 Aug www.facebook.com/sweatypalmsofsweat

August 2016

Music

Feature

Album of the Month Factory Floor

25 25 [DFA Records, 19 Aug]

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Described by the band as both utilitarian and playful, there’s something extremely necessary to 25 25. Reduced to a duo comprising Nik Colk and Gabe Gurnsey, album #2 has an urgent focus about its personage. Icy, claustrophobic, and hypnotic, the beats arrive refracted; cool-filtered; a continuum of sorts through which Colk’s vocal triangulations arrive in a succession of mutations; vaguely retro (and therefore hip) yet simultaneously contemporaneous (thus detached from vogue).

Law Holt

Tobacco

City [Soulpunk, 26 Aug]

Sweatbox Dynasty [Ghostly International, 19 Aug]

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The momentum behind lead single Dial Me In is a case in point; a relentless six and a half minutes akin to being blasted in the face by a 60-mile-per-hour breeze while out for a feisty jog. This is rhythm to get lost in, the bass notes doing all of the legwork but also pointing to a rich and crafty subjugation of sound. Elsewhere, modular synths wreak patterns akin to laying a trap, handclaps and fragments of vox the tripwire we call sound. The acidic slyness of opening track Meet Me At The End. The hedonistic tribalism behind Slow Listen. The playful allure of the title track. It all speaks of erudition, repetition used and abused in a dizzy concatenation. 25 25 is music as heartbeat (and screw the arrhythmia). Essential. [Duncan Harman] facebook.com/factoryfloor | Playing Electric Fields in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries on 26 Aug.

Exploded View

Exploded View [Sacred Bones, 19 Aug]

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Law Holt finally bestows her debut LP upon us and, boy, is it magnificent. Astute Edinburgh listeners will know her from collabs with Young Fathers, but we’re only here to talk about Law: underwater pop music heard through a crackling, long-distance line, City makes a claustrophobic, sticky summer sound totally fresh. Holt’s gigantic vocals arrive drenched in woozy, confusing feedback – the kind of disorientating aural mess that would drown out anyone less mighty. Her ear for a melody is uncanny, and the record’s first five tracks are perfect, oddball pop songs built on bricks of twisted, hazy beats, but it’s on City’s darker, denser cuts that Holt shows off the scope of her introspective imagination. On single Spit, she half-croons, half-shouts, ‘I’m always alone, on my own / I’m always alone, on my phone’ as the ceiling collapses and the walls cave in. Stories of could-have-beens and missed connections slide alongside sultry, straight-talk warnings about what’ll happen if you sleep on this: ‘Think twice baby, ‘cause there’s other boys / Talking ‘bout me.’ Take note. [Katie Hawthorne]

Experimentalist and analogue fanatic Tobacco is back with a total melter: Sweatbox Dynasty is a beast to be feared. Electronic bruises recorded via casette and fucked with via a sampler, Thomas Fec’s got a thing for musical brutality, and on his fourth solo work a sci-fi end-of-days vibe prevails. Songs like Fantasy Trash Wave and Home Invasionaries see muddy, messy waves of sound smashed together with the ruthless hand of a playful overlord. You might find yourself grabbing on to a beat and wanting to dance – or at least, to throw yourself on the floor – but Fec’s not here for that, and he chops and changes beat with a heartless lack of remorse. We understand if the phrase ‘breaking the album format’ makes you eye-roll, but this collection of un-songs, half-rhythms and sound snapshots really questions the point in breaking a record into individual tracks. That said, single Gods In Heat is one you can properly get your clammy little hands around... even if sometimes it feels as if Tobacco might value pure sensationalism over all else. [Katie Hawthorne]

Beginning with the premise that anything on Sacred Bones is worth investigating, Exploded View doesn’t disappoint on the esoteric front. Fronted by AngloGerman performer Annika Henderson and recorded straight to tape in Mexico City, there’s something distinctly post-categorisation to the band’s debut long player. Messy, discordant, and beholden to the serrated edge, there’s nonetheless a seam of verisimilitude in the execution; it’s the way in which both Disco Glove and No More Parties in the Attic unfurl in a haze of skidpan velocity, One Too Many turning up at 5am the worse for wear. This is also a record that doesn’t shy away from taking different routes through left-field experimentalism – as much as Can and early Faust are obvious reference points, Lark Descending wouldn’t be out of place on a Broadcast record, whilst Call On the Gods alludes to cinematic divinity (with dub dénouement). Add a deliciously slanted production and Henderson’s Nico-esque vocals to the brew, and there’s a strange caul of fascination herein. [Duncan Harman]

lawholt.com

facebook.com/tobaxxo

explodedviewband.tumblr.com

The Veils

Gonjasufi

Russian Circles

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Total Depravity [Nettwerk, 26 Aug]

Callus [Warp, 19 Aug]

‘How could you love me, babe, just to strip it all away?’ laments Finn Andrews on In the Blood, a highlight of The Veils’ excellent fifth album. As with much of the band’s earlier work, Andrews leads from the front: a fearless troubador with tales to tell and a heart ever in need of mending. This time around, production duties are shared with Run the Jewels’ El-P, and with the band opting for looser grooves and a greater emphasis on beats and texture, it’s a canny shift. So while the largely spoken word King of Chrome and Here Come the Dead spark with preacher-man conviction, it’s the cool nu-soul leanings of Swimming With the Crocodiles that act as reminder that The Veils have never quite had their commercial or critical due. Cross your fingers for them on this one: a soulful and bewitching brew, and a superlative demonstration of how to prod at your aesthetic without selling your soul. [Gary Kaill]

Callus is not an album for the faint-hearted. Clocking in at a mammoth 19 tracks, the latest release from Sumach Ecks, better known as Gonjasufi, explores more of the fuzzy, hallucinogenic head-nod music for which the American vocalist, DJ, producer, actor and yoga teacher is renowned. From the industrial heft of opening track The Maker, with its breathy, distorted vocals, to the all-consuming riffs that drive the concise slow burner The Kill, then on to the eerie synth-led epic Shakin Parasites, Callus is a hulking beast of a record. Replete with meditations on pain, suffering and overcoming negativity, Gonjasufi’s third studio album explores themes as heavy as the experimental, psychedelic compositions he creates. It’s the kind of record that needs to be approached in increments, but the rewards reveal themselves when given the patience and time that Callus deserves. [Claire Francis]

theveils.com

sufisays.com

Guidance [Sargent House, 5 Aug] Ok, let’s just get it out of the way: ‘post-rock’ is a dead concept in 2016. Despite implying a level of innovation or deviation from hoary cliché, it’s developed its own standard formulae, becoming little more than a by-word for a certain type of instrumental rock. Loud plus quiet plus veryfuckingloud, multiplied by lots of pedals and nods to Mogwai’s Like Herod and ...Fear Satan – you know the drill. Anyway, Russian Circles are an instrumental rock band (yep), now 12 years into their career, currently displaying an enviable mastery of sound on album number six. For proof, try the densely rhythmic Mota, which shifts almost imperceptibly from nervous stutters to violent torrents – it takes a certain panache to puncture cinematic soundscapes so perfectly with such metallic crunch. By deliriously atmospheric closer Lisboa, it’s clear that the Chicagoan trio have little new to offer the genre, but they sure know how to make a dead concept feel alive. [Will Fitzpatrick] russiancirclesband.com

Wild Beasts

Lisa Hannigan

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Boy King [Domino, 5 Aug]

At Swim [Play It Again Sam, 19 Aug]

Wearing hearts, lungs and other vulnerable organs on their sleeves, Cumbrian artisans Wild Beasts turn their gaze to the male ego on their newest record. Exhibit A, titles: Big Cat, Tough Guy, Eat Your Heart Out Adonis – even Boy King itself. Present Tense may have explored identity, but here the focus is patently gender. He The Colossus is a fearful, conflicted thing, helpless in its power (‘Everything just dies in these hands’), while Alpha Female is a square-jawed, futurist groove on feminism, with Chris Talbot’s high-fidelity drums driving mounting, distorted synths. In fact, this album’s rhythm section is its backbone, a castiron scaffold around which Hayden Thorpe’s floury vocal puffs and weaves. With our ears pressed up close to the warm, noisy machinery beneath, there’s a grounding firmness to each thud and frazzled, luminescent synthesiser chord. Certainly a contender for the most electronic of their canon, Boy King is perhaps also their most compact and claustrophobic release since 2011’s Smother. [George Sully]

As with her first two records, At Swim favours stealth over force, and its subtleties demand repeated listens. There are no showcase tunes, or at least nothing with a hook large enough to immediately add to the loyal audience she won with 2008’s debut Sea Sew. But Hannigan’s oeuvre requires patience and focus, and while much of this new collection is dependent on tone and texture to connect, eventually deeper qualties shine through. The boldy dramatised Prayer for the Dying – a classically styled torch song – and the spares keys and percussion of We the Drowned: these are songs built from, seemingly, little. Typified by the acapella Anahorish, they make much of their unadorned presentation and their understated melodics. Hannigan (here joined by The National’s Aaron Dessner, who approached her to offer production support) sings with a joyous and unfettered sense of freedom. The way she delivers the closing Barton – a beautful and mesmerising elegy – is an inch away from miraculous. [Gary Kaill]

wild-beasts.co.uk

lisahannigan.ie

Hieroglyphic Being The Disco’s of Imhotep [Technicolour, 5 Aug]

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Think of Hieroglyphic Being’s productions as hieroglyphs themselves, and you’ll get the idea. The alias of American sound artist and experimental composer Jamal Moss, Hieroglyphic Being’s latest full-length takes nine enigmatic, sensory tracks and stitches them together to create a language of deeply cerebral electronic music. Whilst staying true to the spirit of Chicago house, the prolific Moss (who records under a range of aliases beides this one) has crafted a self-contained album that probes the limits of the genre, while simultaneously being danceable as hell. From the breezy, beatless intro track The Shrine Of Serpent Goddess, through the midway heft of tunes like Heru and Crocodile Skin, to the upbeat, ambient house groove of the title track, the progression feels intuitive and seamless. Where previous releases under the moniker have explored the grittier, DIY side of house, here Moss leans towards the lush, psychedelic end of the spectrum, and delivers a kaleidoscopic sonic journey that commands you to keep going back. [Claire Francis] soundcloud.com/somuchnoise2beheard

Review

RECORDS

THE SKINNY

Marielle V Jakobsons

Thalia Zedek Band

Blossoms

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Star Core [Thrill Jockey, 19 Aug]

Eve [Thrill Jockey, 19 Aug]

Blossoms [Virgin/EMI, 5 Aug]

Less an album, more a masterclass in sonic sculpture, Star Core is a beautifully sparse affair. Evocative, meditative and fluid, its exploitation of drone translates into a web of subtlety, each of the six pieces focusing on strings or woodwind or vox behind tangles of repeated motifs and a gliding, fretless bass – eerily reminiscent of Lazer Guided Melodies-era Spiritualized. A classically-trained musician, sound designer and artist, Jakobsons knows the value of touch – and to that extent, this is a record that’s all about feel. It’s in the diffused vocal of White Sparks (‘Seep in the sun, lay one more day / Rise to the moon, weave a new way’). The oriental violin of the title track. The mordent flute underpinning The Beginning is the End. And everywhere: patterns. Patterns to get lost in. Synths at their most reflective, their most botanical. When Star Core isn’t summoning goose bumps, it’s busy tingling spines. [Duncan Harman]

Another prime mover from the late 80s US alt scene faces down middle age with fire in her belly and her creativity undimmed. Zedek remains best known for her work with Boston’s Come, and while their legacy doesn’t quite reflect their unique and often unsettling dismantling of indie rock forms, the band’s former frontwoman has remained active since their split over a decade ago. Eve is a collection of upfront confessionals that fuses guitar, bass and drums into a hellfire brew. Zedek’s guitar and her rasping vocals can still lift the hairs from your arm; there are few artists whose commitment to performance is so absolute and fearless. This time around, it’s the longer tracks that hit the hardest. On the eight-minute Not Farewell, Zedek and her group feel their way out of a strummed, whispered intro before all hell breaks loose, and the result is beautiful and terrifying. Long may she rail. [Gary Kaill]

Here comes the old adage: beware the hype. While this Stockport outfit’s self-titled debut does a commendable job of showing off the group’s strengths – power riffs, woozy keyboard lines, an overall debt to Oasis, The Stone Roses and other psychslanted rock bands of the 90s – it also exposes Blossoms’ soft underbelly. Take Getaway, a breezy, atmospheric indie rock lament that positions itself as ‘album highlight’ material but recedes from the memory almost immediately, devoid of any lasting hook or lyric. Bland ballads Honey Sweet and Onto Her Bed further underscore the fact that Blossoms' talents actually lie in crafting vampy, upbeat pop-rock hybrids, like the moody, chugging, 80s-inspired track At Most A Kiss. By current standards, it’s also indulgently long for a debut. It’s not short on marketable material, but the impact could have been enhanced by ruthless pruning. [Claire Francis]

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thrilljockey.com/artists/thalia-zedek

blossomsband.co.uk

Dinosaur Jr

Slow Club

De La Soul

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Give A Glimpse of What Yer Not [Jagjaguwar, 5 Aug]

One Day All Of This Won’t Matter Anymore [Moshi Moshi, 19 Aug]

And The Anonymous Nobody [AOI Records, 19 Aug]

New tricks? Whatever. Dinosaur Jr’s 11th album continues on the trajectory they’ve ridden since reforming in 2005: J Mascis yowls frankly about anxiety (Key lines: ‘I can’t face myself’ and ‘I’m overwhelmed’) while Lou Barlow dives into relationship politics. Musically it’s still fuzz-coated powerpop interspersed with skull-crunching riffs (I Walked For Miles), bittersweet jangles (Be A Part) and gnarly, face-melting solos (virtually everything here). All crucial ingredients for a great Dinosaur record, essentially. The chunky vitality of Tiny is as natty a slice of rock’n’roll as they’ve ever put together, and when elsewhere you catch ‘em cribbing the outro from Springsteen’s Thunder Road, you may even permit yourself a wry smile. The guitar explorations may be trimmed here, but when was the last time you found yourself complaining that an album didn’t feature enough solos? If they’re happy to keep refining a formula that was pretty damn fine in the first place, we’d be fools not to indulge ‘em. [Will Fitzpatrick]

Depending on how your glass is filled, a title like One Day All Of This Won’t Matter Anymore could promise some pretty gloomy prospects – but Slow Club strike for a tentative, silverlined optimism on their fourth LP. Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor remain a two-piece, but see their sound swell in size with huge arrangements abetted by the Spacebomb Studio house band, and covered in gloss by producer Matthew E White. This roomier fit suits them, too; Slow Club are right at home cushioned by glamorous, morose choral vocals and expansive soundscapes. Weatherworn balladry and backdated apologies on Where The Lights Get Lost and authoritative, retro mimicry on Give Me Some Peace show the band reaching for bolder expressions, and mid-record track Tattoo punches hard on a wistful retrospection trapped in picture-perfect past tense. The breathy melodrama starts to wear out, though, and tracks like Come On Poet feel a bit thin... unless you’re an optimist too, perhaps. [Katie Hawthorne]

‘Freedom + Collaboration = Success.’ That’s what De La Soul’s Kickstarter page advertised, and it’s totally brought on And The Anonymous Nobody. Where to start? The title is, possibly, a shout to all the fans who donated $600,874 to fund the process. It’s also possibly a wink to the record’s eclectic mix of guests. You can tick off the varied likes of Justin Hawkins, Pete Rock, 2 Chainz, Little Dragon, Damon Albarn, Snoop Dogg and, wait, Usher...? Jill Scott opens the record with some cinematic spoken word, and then we’re off; a David Byrne collaboration is wonky pop sliced with some classic verses. Snoop keeps it characteristically chill. Usher seduces the whole damn universe, and Hawkins orchestrates a fullblown rock opera with a very 2k16 relevant chorus: 'Fuck everyone, fuck everything.' Pos, Dave and Maseo take centre stage on only five of the 18 tracks, but CBGBS and Trainwreck will stand tall against their wellloved discography. Exhausting, ridiculous and full of life, De La Soul still do it like no-one else. [Katie Hawthorne]

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slowclubband.com

www.wearedelasoul.com

Morgan Delt

Corbu

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Phase Zero [Sub Pop, 26 Aug]

Bob Moses

Crayon Soul [3Beat, 5 Aug]

Days Gone By (Never Enough Edition) [Domino, 19 Aug]

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West Coast slacker psychedelia – it’s hardly under-represented on the record racks these days. Which isn’t necessarily a problem – at least until originality falls subservient to vibe, and while Delt’s first LP on the Sub Pop label acknowledges the former, it does tend to get a little lost en route, as if the Californian singer-songwriter is too preoccupied marking off genre mileposts to truly break any new ground. Vague alt-country leanings, diluted Haight-Ashbury-isms and Taylor Courtney-Courtney vocal touches (A Gun Appears certainly has something of The Dandy Warhols to it) – they’re all present in various measures. But it’s not that Phase Zero is an exercise in pastiche or imitation; this is a record in which appeal pivots upon understatement. Opener I Don’t Wanna See What’s Happening Outside is wry and fluid (and rather beautiful with it), while Some Sunsick Day ends things on a neat, uplifting, note. All in all a gracious record, and one that grows on the listener. [Duncan Harman]

It’s not all that often that your ears encounter a debut as stylistically ambitious and texturally nuanced as Crayon Soul, with New York duo Corbu possessing both an ear for sound and an uncanny ability to dress electro-pop motifs in an array of different guises. They do dreamy (Better Better Off), bittersweet (Battles), fuzzy (Watchmaker), even left-field (Marching Orders) – and all of it alluding to perky 80s reference points that suggest a healthy seam of musical exploration. Except there’s a ‘but’ or two before we get well and truly carried away. Doubts are emphasised (somewhat perversely) by all of the above, for this is a record that swims in and out of focus, the (overtly) slick production and an overriding lack of clarity chiselling away at fixation – with its overlong instrumental break, Branches even manages to head down a total blind alley. There’s plenty of talent here; it’s just a pity that there are few rough edges to accompany it. [Duncan Harman]

When NY house twosome Bob Moses originally dropped Days Gone By late 2015, heads were turned. It was clear its constituent musicians – Canadian-born Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance – were channeling decidedly non-house influences, with conspicuous guitar lines and moody, leather-jacket-clad alt-pop songwriting, but playing it all out on a woozy four-to-the-floor beat. This is an expanded 2016 re-release, with vinyl bonus tracks and a clutch of remixes. It’s worth it just to revisit Howie’s half-lidded, too-coolfor-school vocal, its wounded storytelling (like the bittersweet Before I Fall) the airy counterpoint to Vallance’s humid, languorous arrangements. The bonus tracks (particularly Here We Are, a heady guitarplus-birdsound ballad) rightly build on this, but offer little variation to their dusky low-tempo template. Ideal if this is your jam and you’d missed the first release; disappointing if you were hoping for richer fruits. [George Sully]

facebook.com/morgandeltmusic

corbucorbu.com

bobmosesmusic.com

of Montreal

Glass Animals

Innocence Reaches [Polyvinyl, 12 Aug]

How to Be a Human Being [Caroline International / Wolf Tone, 26 Aug]

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One of the joys of keeping pace with of Montreal’s output, particularly of late, is discovering which version will emerge from the chrysalis next. In the last half-decade alone, Kevin Barnes has shapeshifted through Paralytic Stalks’ knotty psychpop, Lousy with Sylvianbriar’s backward-glancing 60s-tribute, and the invigorated rock-n-roll of last year’s Aureate Gloom; now, Innocence Reaches takes another mercurial swerve, with synths back in favour and flamboyance reembraced. The results flit capriciously and deliciously through tones and genres, with highlights including the mechanical electro of Let’s Relate, the stuttering du jour production of A Sport and A Pastime, and the glam rock/spaghetti western/prog hybrid (aye, another one…) that is Chaos Arpeggiating. The bitter lyrics and baleful air of Def Pacts, meanwhile, deliver a spine-tingling echo of Hissing Fauna’s wounded magnificence. That breakthrough record set a benchmark that Barnes is yet to match, but the many kaleidoscopic twists and transformations – both within and between his subsequent albums – are ample reward. [Chris Buckle]

August 2016

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Like a trip to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, Glass Animals’ debut Zaba was a fruit salad-coloured melting pot of fizzing percussion, popping synths and tempting vocals that was not only interesting to listen to but horrendously fun. Every track was an earworm created from the contents of a test tube, designed purely to get the feet shuffling and those hips twitching. It was so specific a style, however, that it is nigh-on impossible to imagine the Oxford foursome doing anything else. Fortunately, we don’t have to; How to Be a Human Being is arguably yet more effervescent than its predecessor. A student of hip-hop, Dave Bayley’s lyrics are welcomingly pretension-free, perfectly capturing the absurdity of life for a high proportion of western millennials. Exercise in self-examination Life Itself proves something of a confessional (‘I can’t get a job, but I live with my Mum / I take her money but not quite enough’) – an unlikely peak in an album that’s all about highs and infectious fun. [Will Moss]

The Top Five 1

Factory Floor

25 25 2 Exploded View Exploded View

Wild Beasts

Boy King

De La Soul And The Anonymous Nobody

Law Holt

City

glassanimals.eu

RECORDS

Review

Under the Influence: Tim Commerford Famous for holding down Rage Against the Machine’s low-end, Tim Commerford pulls double duty this summer as politicised supergroup Prophets of Rage and neo-punk nihilists WAKRAT steamroll across North America. He pauses for breath to run us through ten of the most incendiary corners of his record collection Interview: Dave Kerr

1. H elmet Strap It On [1990] Helmet is a band I’ve always really loved, which is something I share with [WAKRAT drummer] Mathias. I enjoy Meantime and Betty, but their first record Strap It On was a big influence of mine. I loved that song Repetition – that’s my jam on that record. I can go back and listen to that today and still get a great vibe off of it, unlike a lot of records of my youth, where I may think, ‘Y’know, that doesn’t sound as good as it did back then.’ They seemed to have the most success of hardcore bands. I love hardcore punk – the whole DC punk movement, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Fugazi – Helmet had that vibe although they weren’t from there. They still took it the furthest, I think. Rage played with Helmet quite a few times so I got to see them up close. And dude, John Stanier is the sickest drummer ever. Stanier and Henry Bogdan, killer rhythm section. iles Davis 2. M Nefertiti [1968] I’ve been listening to a lot of jazz lately and I went through a bit of a phase in the 90s. I have a couple of upright basses – I was taking lessons and got into the whole bebop and post-bop era; my favourite period of jazz. Obviously on those terms you have to pay respect to the Miles Davis quartet (or in this case, ‘second great quintet’). Nefertiti was mostly written by Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock and it’s just one of his records that I really love. Hand Jive is the jam I’d recommend here. I’m a student of Miles Davis; I still listen to him and some of the other greats from that time and am truly blown away. I believe that bebop jazz is where the real genius lies in music – it’s not in Beethoven and Bach, as far as I’m concerned. Miles and Coltrane are the greatest musicians that ever lived. It was part of them. 3. B ad Brains I Against I [1986] A must; the track I appreciate the most on this record is House of Suffering. It’s fast, it’s chaotic – as they are. I’ve always loved the Bad Brains, I feel like they missed their calling. They could’ve been one of the biggest bands of all time had they wanted to be. So I guess they didn’t miss their calling – ha! They did what they wanted to do, so they were a true punk band. The quintessential punk band, as far as I’m concerned. 4. B ranford Marsalis Quartet Crazy People Music [1990] Another jazz record, led by the great saxophonist. I love Crazy People Music; the

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track to look out for is number one, Spartacus. Again, this is rule-breaking genius beyond my comprehension. All I can do is just enjoy it and never understand it on the level this man did. This album was a bit of a breakthrough. 5. S ex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols [1977] Now, when I just told you that the Bad Brains were the quintessential punk band, my brain was going ‘really? I don’t know that they are?’ I think the Sex Pistols are. Never Mind the Bollocks is simply one of the greatest, rawest albums ever made. The song that I still appreciate the most here is Bodies; as a kid I certainly dug the amount of swearing in there. I hadn’t heard anything like that as a child. Zack de la Rocha and I were little kids at the time – we’ve been friends since elementary school – and this was the record that we listened to. There was a time when he could play every song from that record on guitar. I had no idea how to play an instrument in elementary school, so I’d play the drum parts on books with skateboard rails and sing the songs. I’d try to be Johnny Rotten. Recently I had an opportunity to sing Anarchy in the UK on Jonesy’s Jukebox [radio show hosted by ex-Pistol Steve Jones] the morning after the Brexit vote – that was epic shit right there! That was all I listened to for many years of my life, that record. I had it on 8-track. 6. T he Prodigy The Fat of the Land [1997]

WAKRAT

hip-hop influences were KRS-One, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. When I was 20 years old, those were the first hip-hop bands I loved.

A classic. Whether it’s Firestarter, Smack My Bitch Up, or the other single – Breathe. I really dug the bassline on that… man, I love The Prodigy. WAKRAT is heavily influenced by this; we’re not an electronic band but we’re going for the same visceral energy with guitar, bass, drums and vocals. We almost strive to go electronic – ha! There’s a lot of Prodigy-esque drumbeats that Mathias plays. The guitar parts that Laurent goes after often sound to me like a fucked up loop. That’s really influenced by the Prodigy – big time! 7. KRS-One Return of the Boom Bap [1993] On the hip-hop side of things, I think KRS is one of the greatest lyricists of all time. I was watching Ride Along 2 the other day – that movie with Kevin Hart and Ice Cube – and at the very end credits they had Sound of Da Police. I just love the lyrics, the whole message… the genius of that is, dare I say, Coltrane-esque. It’s beyond me; the dude’s an intellect on the highest level. He was huge for Rage Against the Machine – for us, the most direct

8. F ugazi Repeater [1990] My favourite Fugazi album, without a doubt. I especially appreciate Shut The Door. They’re definitely another influence on WAKRAT – punk rock but not your classic punk rock. I love all kinds of punk, but I don’t consider WAKRAT a classic punk rock band either. We’re more of a new school thing – we play in odd time signatures and do it in a different way. Fugazi were the same; I hadn’t heard punk rock played like that when I encountered them for the first time. I was really into Minor Threat, too. I’d love to meet Ian Mackaye; he’s one of the greatest frontmen… ever! I’d put him on that list with H.R. and Zack de la Rocha. He brought the intensity to the stage, for sure.

MUSIC

9. G eto Boys The Geto Boys [1990] Another hip-hop group – and some people hate that I love ‘em. Recently I’ve had

opportunity to talk to Chuck D and B-Real a lot more and run this by them. There was maybe a time where I was a little embarrassed to love this group. Honestly, I still think this is one of the greatest hip-hop records ever made, and so does Chuck D – ha! Which is fucking beautiful. There’s a track on here called Mind of a Lunatic which is hard to listen to but an incredible song. I’ve gotta say, I loved it. Lyrically, it’s coming from really hard dudes. It’s real. That’s been an inspiration. 10. J ohn Coltrane Giant Steps [1960] Last one. Coltrane! I can’t list ten artists and records that had an impact on me without bringing this man up. I looooove Coltrane, man. The ballad on this album – Naima – I’ve always loved that melody. He’s the greatest musician that has ever lived on this planet, y’know? That’s where I’m at. I read Miles Davis’ book where he talks about Coltrane being in his band, Davis would look over at Coltrane while he was onstage and see he was asleep on the bandstand while they’re in the middle of the set. Then it comes time for Coltrane to play his solo and a second before he wakes up and starts killing it – ha! WAKRAT’s self-titled debut album is out on 11 Nov via Earache. wakratband.com

THE SKINNY

June 2016

THE SKINNY

August, and the opening party features an all-star lineup of joint headliners – think dynamic Glaswegian duo Slam, Italian techno spearhead Joseph Capriati, plus a five-hour stomper from three-headed French outfit Apollonia (26 August). Finally, the Sub Club Soundsystem weekender takes over Glasgow’s Barras Art & Design Centre on 27 & 28 August. Tickets have all but disappeared for this one, so act quick if you don’t want to miss out on what will surely be dynamite performances from the likes of Tale Of Us, Ame, Mano Le Tough, Joy Orbison b2b with Roman Flügel, and more.

EDINBURGH

Clubbing Highlights Prepare to decimate your bank accounts this month, folks. Summer is in full swing, festival season is upon us, and there’s so much clubbing joy on offer it’s hard to know where to begin. Cash at the ready… Words: Claire Francis Illustration: Terri Po GLASGOW Sub Club kicks off our month of clubbing with a school-night affair headed up by British DJ/ producer George FitzGerald. Currently residing in Berlin, he’s known for techno/house hybrid productions indebted to both his London roots and his newly adopted German hometown. Last year FitzGerald also released his first full-length album Fading Love, an impressive collection of pop-leaning house productions (2 Aug). Glasgow techno collective Animal Farm host a couple of special guests at The Art School on 5 August – along with Quail and Turtle, the outfit welcome back Jonas Kopp, one of Argentina’s finest music makers. An accomplished DJ, remixer and live performer, Kopp’s genre-pushing brand of house has drawn comparisons to Leon Vynehall, Marcel Dettman and Ryan Elliot. Stephanie Sykes, a current resident at London’s Jaded, also makes her Scottish debut on the night. Can clubbing be altruistic? Absolutely, if the guys behind Optimo have anything to do with it. Optimo’s Rave Against Racism takes place at Sub Club on 5 August, with Twitch and Wilkes playing all night. Bring along your minimum donation of £8 (for unemployed attendees the minimum donation is £2, although proof is required) and 100% of money raised will be donated to Glasgow’s Coalition For Racial Equality & Rights (CRER). Their key mission is to “protect, enhance and promote the rights of ethnic minority communities across all areas of life in Scotland; and to empower ethnic minority communities to strengthen their social, economic and political capital, especially those at greatest risk of disadvantage.” Amen to that. On 12 August, multi-instrumental music whizz Joakim returns to Scotland for the first time in five years, and his headline show at The Berkeley Suite

August 2016

(with support from Ewan Chambers) will be an exciting, unpredictable foray through house, disco, funk, pop and everything in between. Two nights later the venue cedes the decks to the deep-house intellectual DJ Sprinkles (14 August). The brainchild of Terre Thaemlitz, a musician, public speaker, and owner of the Comatonse Recordings record label, DJ Sprinkles’ production styles explore club-oriented deep house, digital jazz, ambient, and computercomposed neo-expressionist piano solos. Turbo Recordings head honcho Tiga returns to our shores on 18 August with a headline show at Sub Club, marking a hectic year for the Montrealborn DJ/producer, including a residency at London’s esteemed XOYO. He’s joined on the night by man of the moment Jonas Rathsman, a Swedish artist whose star continues to rise after being declared a ‘Future Star of 2013’ by BBC Radio 1’s key dance gatekeeper, Pete Tong. Another man enjoying a purple patch is our very own Jackmaster – after the release of his highly anticipated DJ-Kicks record last month, and with a recent Boiler Room show in the bag, he leads a home town knees-up at The Art School on 19 August. It wouldn’t be summer without a party or two, and there are outdoor options aplenty this August. Glasgow based boat party SMD return with the freshest sounds in underground house, disco and techno on 6 August, celebrating the summer season with a massive eight-hour party led by Australian disco king Late Nite Tuff Guy. He’ll kick off with a four-hour boat party that sets sail from Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, where Craig McHugh and Don’t Drop will also be on hand for seafaring tunes, before the after party at Admiral Bar has LNTG, Vilmos and Gary Hunter keeping the good times flowing. Pressure’s 18th season returns at the end of

Tickets are moving like lightning for Tweak’s Edinburgh Festival Opening Party – and no wonder, with a killer line-up of Hot Since 82, Moodyman, Theo Kottis, Subb-an and more. In suitable festival style, the event will be spread across two venues (The Liquid Room and The Basement) and in addition to the top-notch tunes, there’ll be sound and light installations, all-out decorations, and a few other surprises in store too (6 August). Festival fever continues on 12 August with Bigfoot’s Tea Party Edinburgh Festival party at Sneaky Pete’s. Tickets are a mere £5 on the door, and there’s a 5am license to boot. And on 5 August, Disorder is proud to announce its special Mash House Festival party with Lindsay Green, a regular resident of The Club (Paisley), one of the most reputed techno clubs in Scotland. Get ready for a banging techno night at The Mash House. Over the years she’s supported the likes of Slam, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, Darren Emerson, Joseph Capriati & Nicole Moudaber – and with another 5am license in play, get ready for a night of festival-ready techno. Meanwhile, The Sulta Shakedown Festival Special is set to be a top notch display of local talent, as the Glasgow favourite invites friend and fellow disc-spinner Ryan Martin (of All Caps) along to take advantage of yet another 5am licence (Cabaret Voltaire, 19 Aug). The next evening, Swiss music maker Raphael Ripperton, one of Switzerland’s busiest DJs and producers, commandeers the latest installment of Gasoline Dance Machine (with support from Cheap Picasso, Martin Valentine and Rob Ralston). And if all this festival frivolity has you craving something a little sedate? Check out Fleetmac Wood (The Mash House, 25 Aug) paying homage to the incredible musical powerhouse that is Fleetwood Mac. Not a tribute act, no cover versions,

CLUBS

no greatest hits CD – just quality edits and remixes that expand your Fleetwood Mac journey.

DUNDEE (AND ELSEWHERE) A favourite across Europe, the inimitable Chicagoborn Curtis Alan Jones, aka Green Velvet, returns to our shores with what will surely be a colossal night at Reading Rooms, with support from All Good residents Van D, Callum and Addy, and Jamie Daw (26 August). Fancy a clubbing experience in Scotland’s wilderness? On 20 August, Groove Festival returns to transform Loch Ness into ‘Scotland’s biggest nightclub under the stars’. The one-dayer boats an exciting line-up of hot acts including Duke Dumont, Leftfield, Optimo, Leon Vynehall, Moxie and more – and you can take your tent, too. And don’t forget the Sneaky Pete’s dance tent at the delightful Electric Fields Festival – if the boutique layout, charming rural location and chilled-out vibe of this grassroots festival aren’t enough of a draw, a killer dance line-up of Joy Orbison, Denis Sulta, Erol Alkan, Éclair Fifi, Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, and many more, should do the trick (26 & 27 Aug).

Do Not Miss Thunder Disco presents: Bicep and Jasper James The Liquid Room, 20 August

Are Bicep one of the hottest dance music duos around right now? Their march towards world domination continues unabated with a relentless summer touring schedule, marked by a number of European festival slots and the recently announced 2016 Warehouse Project lineup. There’s also their upcoming remix release of Blaze’s 1997 deep house belter Lovelee Dae, due out this month, to get excited about. In a fittingly special extravaganza for the capital’s current festival atmosphere, the London-based lads from Belfast are joined by Scottish protégé Jasper James, along with Izzy Demzky, Laurie Neil, Jamie McKenzie, and further announcements to follow (Bicep also play Sub Club on 19 Aug).

Preview

Big Names take Long Walks August brings the Edinburgh Art Festival, including a blockbuster exhibition from Inverleith House, the festival’s emerging artist showcase Platform, a series of walks as part of its events programme, and a free bus to Jupiter Artland Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

E Cathy Wilkes Untitled, 2016 (detail), Mixed media

Cathy Wilkes

referencing ‘last days’ and the Hiroshima book on the table at the back, the blobs begin to cohere into figures surrounding the orange of a high fire or apparition. They could each be the bottom of a conventional oil painting somehow stripped of its layers. The paintings present a call-and-response with a child’s skirt, brittle and flattened onto the concrete floor. Between them, there’s a look of dank leftovers, but underneath the dress, we can see straight lines drawn on other fabric underneath. It’s just the same on the newspaper obituary, drawn to interact with the oily residue on the paper. Wilkes’ objects are lyrically manky, and their muted tones murky. Made at once anonymous, important and forgotten, they both are and represent the persistent debris and grime that Wilkes extends from Barras market bric-a-brac into an otherwise indistinct post-apocalyptic future. [Adam Benmaklouf]

The Modern Institute

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In the tall, former factory space of The Modern Institute’s Aird’s Lane gallery, Cathy Wilkes has left old-looking found objects along the walls and floor, and a set of paintings hung in the middle. In one grouping on the left wall, there’s a yellowed obituary of Princess Diana and a papier mache cast of a balloon; a box of two small, scuffed and strangely unidentifiable toys; and a shell. Plenty of space has been left around the small number of works on show, drawing attention to each part, while at the same time their arrangement suggests the splayed detritus of long-abandoned houses. As such, the little found objects punctuate the huge room and order its space into a significant emptiness. For their part, the paintings seem formed of carefully arranged stains, mostly seeping directly into the canvas. With the short exhibition text

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Gerda Scheepers Installation view, Body Corporate, Mary Mary, Glasgow, Jun 2016

Gerda Scheepers

Mary Mary

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In white thick acrylic line on black fabric, parts of a garment pattern are drawn in a neat arrangement with an efficient space economy. This is on the large panel in the first room of Gerda Scheepers’ Body Corporate. Sleeves, trouser legs and cuffs are set conveniently side by side without any of the components touching or overlapping. Bulging forms are nevertheless suggested by the subtle curve of the hand-drawn lines. All of the standing works in the two rooms are made up of the rods of ‘instant garment closets’. In one, titled Maintenance, a thigh-height cuboid has a black fabric covering, unzipped at the side and with a part of it hanging off. A large blue thick plastic bag is set in it, and pursed into a pucker. Heft, bulk and convulsing are suggested, but it could also pass as a biohazard bin.

Review

Scheepers makes for moments of incongruous drooping and unexpected convex forms so that in even the most boring consumer spacesavers, there’s an abject bodiliness. Curving bubble text is cut into the fabric covering of one of the travel wardrobes in the second room. ‘It’s all ok. Don’t worry,’ it reads, with its remainders still attached like peelings, undermining its own assurances. In an identical structure, a rectangle has been cut out of its covering, bordered by a strip at the bottom that loses its tautness and bends. When the material gives way there’s a familiar tugging gravity, and the cut sections fold over themselves weightily, their plastic skeletons made an important feature. Almost made to ooze out from all the readymade parts and graphic aesthetic of Body Corporate, there’s a delicate but distinct luxuriating in the mess of viscera and bodily functions. [Adam Benmakhlouf]

dinburgh Art Festival is on throughout this month, and there are new exhibitions from almost every gallery across the city. For the August issue, we’ve interviewed Sally Hackett about her ceramic Fountain of Youth commission at the Museum of Edinburgh, while Siân Robertson Davies discusses her exhibition at the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and her dual identity as comedian and artist. For the big names, head to Inverleith House for I Still Believe in Miracles. It features the likes of Louise Bourgeois, Andy Warhol, Philip Guston, Cy Twombly, John Cage and Cathy Wilkes – whose lyrical but dreich installation is reviewed below. Celebrating the gallery’s 30th birthday, it’s open through the festival and beyond, until 23 October. For the best in emerging art, look no further than the festival Kiosk, featuring four separate presentations from some of the most exciting up and coming young artists. They’re all also the subject of a bumper feature this month (page 36). Outwith EAF but still in Edinburgh, there’s Andrew Black’s first solo show in the Embassy, spanning video, painting, sound and bloody handkerchief. In his interview this month, he speaks about addressing the problematic format of the solo show. Titled Our Andrew of the Flowers, Embassy will preview the new work on the 12 August. Last year, before Anthony Schrag went on his megawalk from Aberdeenshire to Venice, we caught up with him to hear what he was hoping to get from it all. He made it safe and sound, thankfully, and has lived to tell the tale this month during an all-day event on 12 August. Before he gets into the details in discussion with a psychologist from 11am-1pm, then later in a panel discussion from 2-4pm (both free events at Summerhall), he’ll be out on an Ugly Walk through some industrial estates from 9-11am – tickets £6.24 (that price includes the booking fee), see the EAF website. For his morning walk, he’ll round up his group at the Ocean Terminal, and counter expectations that a beautiful walk needs nature. The next day, on 13 August, also arranged by the Walking Institute, Munich-based artists Thomas Huber and Wolfgang Aichner will also be leading an Edinburgh walk. They’re heading a bit further out to the Pentland Hills for a fivehour round trip, meeting at Blackford Pond at 9am. As much a performance as perambulation, they’ll be wearing wetsuits and carrying perforated umbrellas, and definitely not talking about the Indyref or Brexit.

In the name of EAF again, all throughout August there will be a free bus to Jupiter Artland. To sweeten the deal, that includes free entry to Jupiter Artland when booking together. They’ve just unveiled a new permanent exhibition by Christian Boltanski, comprising hundreds of small bells attached to low stems on the ground. New exhibitions also include an outdoor commission from Caroline Mesquita – French sculptor of enigmatic figurative tableaus – and Hayley Tompkins, who combines painting with the readymade. In the past, there’s been gouache on twig, acrylic on plastic trays or bags in buckets. See the weekly online column for details of other events at Jupiter that will take place during August.

“ Munich-based artists Thomas Huber and Wolfgang Aichner lead a walk 'round the Pentlands wearing wetsuits and carrying perforated umbrella, and definitely not talking about the Indyref or Brexit” Coming to the end of the month, The Common Guild present an ambitious performance work by Turner Prize winning artist Simon Starling in Holmwood House on the southside of Glasgow on the evenings of the 26, 27 and 28 August. Titled At Twilight, Starling combines references to Japanese Noh Theatre, via a close reading of Modernist poet WB Yeats’ play At the Hawk’s Well. Tickets can be booked through the gallery’s website, and are priced £14 full price and £9 concession. See the Edinburgh Art Festival, Embassy and The Common Guild websites for all details and booking.

Caroline Mesquita, 123 Soleil, 2015, steel, oxidized brass

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ART

THE SKINNY

August 2016

ART

Review

Film Event Highlights The month offers up films based on work by the talented Miss Highsmith, a trio of multi-sensory film screenings at Edinburgh Festival’s newest addition and the first UK screening of Mark Cousins’ Atomic, with Mogwai playing their score live Words: Jamie Dunn

atricia Highsmith was the creator of claustrophobic tales filled with psychological intrigue and commonplace deviancy. It’s no wonder filmmakers have been so drawn to her work, and many of the best adaptations are showcased in Adapting Miss Highsmith, a touring film season heading to GFT this month. Some are classics you’ll be familiar with (a trio of Ripley films: Plein Soleil, 14 Aug; The American Friend, 21 Aug; and The Talented Mr Ripley, 28 Aug). Some are little-known and rarely-screened (Enough Rope, 10 Aug; This Sweet Sickness, 17 Aug; The Glass Ceiling, 24 Aug; Deep Water, 31 Aug). Best of the lot might be Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (7 Aug), screening from 35mm.

Mogwai

Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival is a very welcome new addition to this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Taking over Assembly Rooms throughout August, the wide-ranging programme is concerned with the intersection between entertainment and technology. We’re particularly intrigued by its Atmosphere series, which reimagines the concept of atmospheric movie theatres from the 1920s and 30s. With a special focus on analogue, electronic and digital sound, these screenings invite a team of artists to create a multi-sensory interactive element to screenings using technology new and old. They have three visionary films to work from: Berberian Sound Studio (5 Aug), Dune (12 Aug) and La Jetée (19 Aug). Following on from last month’s screening of Long Shot, Matchbox Cinemaclub have another rarely-screened meta-movie about the filmmaking process: The Wizard of Speed and Time (CCA, 18 Aug). The wizard of the title is a special effects genius who makes lo-fi movies in his garage, but gets a chance of a life time when Hollywood comes calling. Matchbox calls it “a lost classic and a tourde-force of outsider filmmaking.” The rarity of this screening already makes it unmissable, but as an added bonus it’ll be preceded by a practical special effects demonstration from SFX supervisor Mike Kelt (Hot Fuzz, Four Lions, Macbeth). A cinematic highlight of the International Festival looks to be its screening of Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise (Edinburgh Playhouse, 27&28 Aug), Mark Cousins’ bracing cine-essay on the history of the nuclear age, made to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Cousins eschews his trademark voiceover, and instead a brooding score by Mogwai, who’ll be performing live on the night, provides a nightmarish soundscape to the impressionistic collage of archive clips. Finally, Cameo in Edinburgh continues its delicious Nicolas Winding Refn Presents season. Coming up are three dreamy and cinematic masterpieces: Brian De Palma’s insane study in voyeurism Body Double (8 Aug); David Lynch’s curdled Hollywood dream Mulholland Dr (12 Aug, in 35mm) and Dario Argento’s hallucinatory horror Suspiria (22 Aug).

Review

The Childhood of a Leader

Wiener-Dog

The Childhood of a Leader

Wiener-Dog

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Director: Brady Corbet Starring: Bérénice Bejo, Liam Cunningham, Robert Pattinson, Stacy Martin, Tom Sweet Released: 19 Aug Certificate: 12A

Director: Todd Solondz Starring: Julie Delpy, Greta Gerwig, Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn, Zosia Mamet, Kieran Culkin, Tracy Letts Released: 12 Aug Certificate: 15

For the past decade, Brady Corbet has acted for some of the greatest filmmakers (Haneke, Von Trier, Mia Hansen-Løve) working today. He clearly wasn’t playing Angry Birds between takes. His stunning directorial debut opens with archive images from the First World War set to heart-attack-inducing strings, courtesy of Scott Walker. The rest of the film, set in northern France in 1919, concerns war within a well-todo family, and it’s their adolescent son (the future despot of the title, played by Tom Sweet) causing the uprising. Corbet follows these battles of will with operatic virtuosity, his sense of space, rhythm and textures suggesting he’s studied the great stylists like Hitchcock and Welles as much as the current European masters. Shot by Lol Crawley, the camera roams the family’s home at full tilt, spinning and swirling with overhead shots and long tracking sequences, adding a feverish quality to this buttoned-up psychodrama that becomes increasingly Freudian. Much is suggested, little explained, but the film is rich with allegorical meaning and we’re left with plenty to chew on between elliptical episodes. [Jamie Dunn]

Todd Solondz has always been drawn to life’s underdogs, so making his protagonist a literal underdog was inevitable. In Wiener-Dog we meet four individuals at different stages in life, and through the eyes of the film’s eponymous dachshund they each adopt, we see how youthful optimism can harden into bitterness and regret over a lifetime. As ever with Solondz, the perspective is bleak, but it’s also sharply funny and skilfully constructed, with Ed Lachman’s precise cinematography even adding elegance to a trail of canine diarrhoea. Solondz elicits terrific work from his eclectic ensemble – Julie Delpy and Tracy Letts are hilarious in the film’s first segment, while Danny DeVito and Ellen Burstyn bring a tangible sense of pain to their performances – but this is a film in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. WienerDog has an accumulative emotional power as it builds towards a remarkable climax. It is not only this director’s most accomplished film in years, but it might be his most profoundly moving work to date. [Philip Concannon]

Pete’s Dragon

The Wave

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Director: David Lowery Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Oakes Fegley, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, Oona Laurence, Robert Redford Released: 12 Aug Certificate: PG

Released by Picturehouse Entertainment

Director: Roar Uthaug Starring: Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Jonas Hoff Oftebro, Edith Haagenrud-Sande, Fridtjov Såheim Released: 12 Aug Certificate: 15

Disney’s ongoing spate of live-action remakes has once again upped the ante with Ain’t Them Bodies Saints director David Lowery’s reboot of Disney’s lesserknown live-action/animated film Pete’s Dragon. The story opens with Pete, played with impeccable charm by newcomer Oakes Fegley, travelling in his car with his parents. Seconds later the car swerves off the road in a deadly crash, leaving the young Pete alone deep in an American wood. Here he encounters a giant green dragon – a cross between The NeverEnding Story ’s Falkor and an excitable Labrador pup – who befriends him. What follows is a heart-warming tale of friendship (bringing to mind Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are) loaded with ecological themes that is more robust and rousing than the 1977 original. Gone are the songs and the bayou setting. In their place Lowery crafts a family film which, while treading well-worn Disney motifs, is an utterly charming fantasy adventure that will bring a smile to the face and a few tears to the eye. Disney magic at its best. [Joseph Walsh]

Set in a real tourist village in Norway that actually is under constant threat from potential mountain erosion into the surrounding fjord, The Wave can be seen as an attempt to ground the disaster movie with a vague element of realism. The 300-foot tsunami threat that comes halfway through is, according to bookend exposition, a legitimate possibility, while its core characters are largely restricted to a geologist who monitors the mountain and his immediate family members. As a result, you don’t get the sort of outlandish motley crew of, say, a Roland Emmerich film. To be honest, that force of personality is sorely missed. While the central destruction set-piece here is thrilling and the special effects impressive, the more subdued (for this genre) band of characters don’t make for very engaging figures pre- or post-tsunami. The ‘grounded’ approach actually makes some of the film’s manipulative plotting infuriating, especially when members of the ostensibly heroic nuclear family at the centre actively get other people killed. [Josh Slater-Williams]

Released by Disney Pictures

Released by StudioCanal

The Shallows

Kids in Love

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Starring: Blake Lively Released: 12 Aug Certificate: 15

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Director: Chris Foggin Starring: Will Poulter, Alma Jodorowsky, Jamie Blackley, Cara Delevingne Released: 26 Aug Certificate: 15

Following the death of her mother, Nancy (Lively) needs to get away from it all. She travels to a secluded beach in Mexico to experience a moment from her mother’s past, which involved a surfboard and crashing waves. End of character development; enter shark, stage right. Director Collet-Serra’s CV may suggest a journeyman, but his films (which include House of Wax, Orphan and Non-Stop) are often surprisingly exuberant and inventive, and that’s the case here. The shark attacks that terrorise Nancy on her getaway are as unsettling as any in cinema. The cinematography, meanwhile, is a cut-above, especially considering this is very much B-movie fare. The Shallows may be light on plot, but its sheer momentum, combined with an engaging turn from Lively, keeps the story from becoming so slight it washes away. But tension was in-built from the get go. The Shallows relies heavily on what came before it: namely Jaws. And when it’s not relying on that, it’s busy expecting Nancy’s sartorial choice – of mostly-no-clothes – to carry what remains of the film. [Tom Charles]

Alma Jodorowsky (granddaughter of the great Chilean auteur Alejandro, who would despise this film) is Evelyn, the main object of affection here. After Jack (Poulter) spies Evelyn walking down the street in cut-off short-shorts while he’s canvassing for charity, she coyly invites him to a local bar. Fresh out of school, Jack tentatively accepts and is soon plunged into the bohemian existence of pretty young Londoners without much in the way of occupation aside from being pretty, although sometimes they’re also faux-profound. The dialogue is peppered with lines about how great Jack is, but the more the film tells us so, the more obvious it is that he’s nothing but a cipher: bland, boring and permanently bewildered. Evelyn is no better. Jodorowsky plays her dead-eyed and resigned, as if a manic pixie dream girl type realised one day that she could just coast on her model-good looks. First-time director Chris Foggin seems to be going for a vibe of dreamy romanticism, but what he comes up with feels more like a Less Than Zero photo-spread for a millennial clothing catalogue. [Michelle Devereaux]

FILM

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THE SKINNY

Beast

Above the Waterfall

The Heavenly Table

The Tidal Zone

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By Paul Kingsnorth

A man alone in a barn on a moor. Outside is whiteness and emptiness and heat then rain. The man isn’t sleeping much. He’s come out here to escape; to get back to living; to find something real. He’s left commas behind. We are there with him among sentences that pour over one another all at once in a sort of wild poetry. Then the roof falls in. He’s injured, his body’s broken, but he survives. Something’s hunting him. A black shadow glimpsed at the corner of his vision then nothing. His world is all heather and soil and pain and cloud and sharp little shards of philosophy among it all. Beast is an astonishing work. It asks a lot of you. It’s frustrating, powerful, dark. Slim and intense, Kingsnorth has stripped the world bare in his exploration of madness and solitude. There’s no boundary between the man, the narrative, and the world. Only a featureless moor, and these sentences running loose into the emptiness. Kingsnorth’s prose works in strange ways, always in the process of unravelling: first the commas go, then the capital letters. To read Beast is to feel the overwhelming dreamlike intensity of hallucination. We have no reference points, only the scramblings of a disintegrating mind filling the silence and meaninglessness of the moor. And then somewhere high in the clouds above a skylark sings – with no regard for commas. [Galen O’Hanlon]

By Ron Rash

If Tommy Lee Jones’ character in No Country for Old Men had been able to see out his final days on the force without the interruption of a bowlcut-wearing death figure, it might have played out at lot like Above the Waterfall. Les is an Appalachian sheriff in the home stretch of his career, looking only to see out the final weeks and pass on the mantle without anyone he cares about ending up dead or in jail. He mediates between the high school friend who dragged himself up from nothing and the old man who can’t stand to see the little he has left taken away, trying to protect those on a bad road from hurting themselves and those too far gone from hurting anyone else. His self-proclaimed accomplice, closest friend and partner-in-narration Becky works as a park ranger – she writes the beauty she finds there into Whitmanesque verses, trying to ignore the needles discarded in the bushes. There’s a slowness and a space in the way Rash writes, the essence of a landscape dominated by vast mountains and an openness that can only be traversed slowly, deliberately. A quiet, often dark but gently hopeful meditation on age and nature amidst a cast of characters enduring bravely on as the society around them continues to decay. [Ross McIndoe] Out now, published by Canongate, RRP £14.99

Out now, published by Faber & Faber, RRP £12.99

By Donald Ray Pollock

The revisionist treatment of the American West has gathered pace over decades, with John Wayne’s pristine duds and decency decomposing into Deadwood’s carcass. In The Heavenly Table, cult novelist Donald Ray Pollock cheerfully defiles what’s left. His story, set around three ne’erdo-well brothers and a crime spree fuelled by fanaticised outlaw myths, is populated by every possible grotesque. The filth and depravity is in fact exaggerated to such a degree that the novel demands a strong stomach. Yet those with the required levels of endurance will be rewarded by a fine (and often very funny) multi-stranded yarn, set at the dawn of US involvement in WW1 with the nation on the cusp of modernity. As Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight dared onscreen, The Heavenly Table lances the boil of modern America on the page. What spurts forth isn’t pretty: racism, misogyny, inequality and horrific violence. As a fitting reflection of our troubled and rotten times, the most dicriminatory treatments are reserved for the sole black central character, his injustices piled high and regular. This is a provocatively un-PC and highly cynical work – the only characters untarnished by intolerance are those Pollock suggests are without the mental capacity to question moral codes. Most troublingly, the narrative voice maintains a refusal to judge – that ball remains firmly in the reader’s court – or offer irony to soften its more extreme elements. [Alan Bett]

By Sarah Moss

‘If I had dared, I would have reached out to put my arm around my sad, cold daughter.’ At the core of Moss’s fifth novel is a parent-child relationship tenderly observed and delicately wrought. When narrator Adam Goldschmidt’s 15-year-old daughter Miriam collapses and nearly dies as a result of a severe anaphylactic episode, weeks of hospital incarceration preface a lifetime of anxious watchfulness – the unthinking freedom of youth snatched back and replaced with the medical identity bracelet and the epipen. In how Moss manages not just its central narrative, but also its supporting strands, The Tidal Zone achieves a sense of scale beyond the humdrum of its West Midlands setting. A pointed detangling of family life, and an equally sharp examination of social justice and healthcare politics, it resonates with an emotional intelligence that recalls the work of Jon McGregor. At its close, when the book’s oblique title is finally explained, it is not Adam’s voice that lingers, but Miriam’s. Uncowed by her condition (‘If it happens again and I don’t survive, burn me, OK? There isn’t room for everyone to be buried’) and possessed of a steely worldview and mordant wit (‘It’s a sign of despair,’ she offers after taking up knitting in hospital), she breathes life into a novel that manages laughter and tears with extraordinary assurance. [Gary Kaill] Out now, published by Granta Books, RRP £12.99

Out now, published by Harvill Secker, RRP £12.99

Bard is a Four-Letter Word It’s festival season again in Auld Reekie – this one’s going to be a good ‘un, with plenty of must-see poetry events to add to your list

he thing I love most about festival season as a whole is the welcome it gives to fresh faces as much as seasoned ones. Edinburgh International Book Festival is a treat all by itself, naturally featuring what I’m starting to call the Big Three – Kay, Duffy and Lochhead – but not as eclipsers; just a great slice of what’s turning out to be a colossal range of talent. It opens with four of the poetry world’s most recent successes, T.S. Eliot prize-winner Sarah Howe and Scottish star William Letford, in a double act called Roots and Roofs (Aug 13), closely followed by Outspoken Women (Aug 13) Claire Askew and Helen Mort. It seems the double act approach is very popular; Carol Ann Duffy is teaming up with both Jackie Kay (Aug 17) and Gillian Clarke (Aug 18) on separate occasions. Again, this is great to see because most poets aren’t completely isolated pods (funnily enough a common mistake), and letting them bounce off one another occasionally creates a much more realistic impression of the dialogue that goes on between different artists and styles all year round. There’s lots to get topical with as well, if you like your poetry tailored to more of a set theme. The animalistically-inclined among us should definitely aim to catch Jenni Fagan and Andrew McMillan for their foray into Unflinching, Sensual Poetry (Aug 19), and anyone who has, or is thinking of having children, would do well to go and hear Hollie McNish’s Poetry for Parental Beginners (Aug 20) – part of the Babble On spoken word strand of the

August 2016

festival – based on her own rollercoaster of discovery and the questions it brought up. For political beans, 80s ranters Attila the Stockbroker and Tim Wells will be throwing the gauntlet in Stand Up And Spit (Aug 20) alongside newer ranters Bridget Minamore and Luke Wright, and Lemn Sissay’s Poetry With A Sharp Edge (Aug 21), travels between the smaller circle of family and the wider one of Thatcherite Britain. If you’re interested in the technical side of literature, Gerry Cambridge, editor of Dark Horse magazine, will be talking about how to typeset poetry, along with punctuation expert Keith Houston, In Praise of Books and Typography (Aug 16). On the spoken word side, one show which sparks my interest is Speaking With Feeling (Aug 16), part of a series of events called Migrant Stories. It is shared, again, between two artists, both of whom have moved from their countries of origin to live and work elsewhere – Swedish born Agnes Török, a politically-flavoured performer with a wry wit, and South African born Chimwemwe Undi, who has Chewa heritage and powerfully opens audiences’ eyes to the immigrant experience. Another in the series that looks promising is Poems That Cross The Atlantic (Aug 15), in which Métis writer Gregory Scofield and Scottish poet Peter Mackay explore the links between language and identity. Finally, don’t forget that the Unbound section of the Festival has some fantastic – and completely free – evenings in store too. Neu! Reekie! are performing from #UntitledTwo with their usual

Words: Clare Mulley dose of fizziness (Aug 26), Liz Lochhead and The Hazey Janes are showcasing their new album, The Light Comes Back (Aug 16), and the experimental improv/lit/music show Tongue Fu (Aug 20), starring the likes of Ross Sutherland and Deanna Rodger, will also be well worth seeing.

“ Most poets aren’t completely isolated pods – the Book Festival lets them bounce off one another” In Print:

Hot on the heels of Shore to Shore, a new anthology triggered by the tour – Off the Shelf: A Celebration of Bookshops in Verse – has just been released. It’s what you’d expect – an anthology of mostly well-known names, all with their own take on bookshops. But that doesn’t detract from its quality, or how much it will resonate with anyone who enjoys reading. Unlike other, rather tired themed anthologies I’ve seen done for the sake of a good package, this drives home, acting both as paen and elegy to an institution

BOOKS

which is ever more at risk, and which so many are desperate not to lose. In addition, Picador have also recently released a new collection, Say Something Back by Denise Riley, whose voice is such a spellbinding combination of plainspoken grief and haunting music that it was all I could do not to weep. The collection explores absence and invoking those lost to us; Part Song, a documentary spanning her own personal loss, is fast becoming one of my favourite long poems, and opens up new avenues in the mind every time you go back to it. I’ve also been reading spoken word artist Liam McCormick’s debut pamphlet Why Do People Never Snap and Think They’re Buddha, released earlier this month, and was sad not to make it to the launch, because I’d really love to hear it aloud, as was meant. While the style is very different to Riley’s, the subject matter is no less piercing; a display of urban social issues, education and backdrops through the eyes of several young, interlinked characters, who will seem familiar to anyone listening. Edinburgh International Book Festival runs from 13-29 August Off the Shelf: A Celebration of Bookshops in Verse is out now, published by Picador, RRP £10 Say Something Back is out now, also published by Picador, RRP £9.99 Why Do People Never Snap and Think They’re Buddha is available through liammccormick.bigcartel.com for £3 www.edbookfest.co.uk

Review

The Mermaid

Director: Stephen Chow Starring: Jelly Lin, Chao Deng, Show Luo, Yuqi Zhang Released: Out now Certificate: 15

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In The Mermaid, Stephen Chow doesn’t so much take the fish out of water as bodily catapult her out of her lagoon, into the world of ravenous land developer Liu Xuan (Deng). Liu is all set to reclaim conservation area Green Gulf with the use of some deadly sonar and the assistance of sharklike realtor Li Ruolan (Zhang). Rendered in wide-eyed, snaggle-toothed charm by newcomer Jelly Lin, mermaid (merperson, surely?) Shan is tasked with the seduction and assassination of Liu by her tribe of merfolk. So far, so silly. Since this is a Chow film, the more ridiculous elements of such a premise are rejoiced in. Shan gets around on her fins with an awkward shuffling gait, hunched, fishlike posture… and the use of a skateboard. Her assassination attempts are inept to the max; in one scene, she successfully poisons herself and stabs her own hand. Beguiled by the prospect of another Stephen Chow movie? You’ve probably already been lured by the siren absurdity of 2004’s Kung Fu Hustle, or foundered on 2013’s rockier Journey to the West. Chow habitués will be primed for hyperbolic acting, ludicrous wirework, ugly CGI and outlandish action sequences. Rest assured, those points will be satisfied. But there’s also an attempt to harpoon a moral; indeed The Mermaid’s subject matter adds salience for a country as ravaged by pollution and overpopulation as China. This results in some tonal discordance between the film’s cartoonish artifice and its environmental concern. Of course, hero Liu learns that money isn’t everything, and there’s often a toll to be paid for material gain. But ultimately, Chow barely gets his feet wet in such treacherous waters, never wading in far enough to risk being out of his depth. DVD Extras: A music video for Invincible, a making of featurette that chiefly explores the cast’s tribulations shooting in freezing cold water and a brief behind the scenes chat with the actors. Deploy the English dub if you really want to ratchet a ridiculous experience up to full-on lunacy. [Kirsty Leckie-Palmer]

Sing Street

Director: John Carney Starring: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Lucy Boynton, Mark McKenna, Jack Reynor, Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy Released: 8 Aug Certificate: 12

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John Carney’s latest film is joyous and infectious, just like the 80s pop music that it riffs on. Carney’s previous features (Once, Begin Again) were charming and affecting, but his latest is even more so. While coming of age in Dublin in the 80s, Cosmo (played with affable positivity by Ferdia Walsh Peelo) must juggle an unhappy home life, a disaffected brother (Jack Reynor, who almost steals the film) and a strict new school. A happy distraction appears in the form of Raphina (a beguiling Lucy Boynton), a would-be model. He offers her a role in his band’s music video, and she tentatively agrees, leaving Cosmo with two notable hurdles: he needs a band and he needs a song. Even if your own youth had nothing in common with the specifics of Cosmo’s, you’re likely to find plenty to chime with the experiences of growing up. Sing Street is, quite possibly, the best film about the coming-of-age experience since Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me. The 80s soundtrack is great, albeit (knowingly) dated, and the original songs (particularly Drive It Like You Stole It) are superb. Carney has managed to show all of the melancholy and loneliness of youth, but has counterbalanced it with so much joy and enthusiasm that you’ll be left reeling. DVD Extras: Extras include a music video of Adam Levine performing Go Now – the film’s closing song, as well as a Making Of about how he came to sing it. If it had been performed by Cosmo and his band then the song might have worked, but as it stands, Go Now is the film’s weak link. The last extra sees part of the Sing Street band (Walsh-Peelo and Mark McKenna) performing A Beautiful Sea live at the Sundance Film Festival. It’s mostly notable for how Walsh-Peelo appears to have morphed into Casanova since filming Sing Street. [Tom Charles] Released by Lionsgate

Messi

Director: Álex de la Iglesia Starring: Johan Cruyff, Kike Domínguez, Álex García, Pere Gratacós. Lionel Messi Released: Out now Certificate: PG

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Director Álex de la Iglesia filmed his documentary on Lionel Messi’s life story and genius, from unlikely child prodigy to arguably the greatest footballer in the world, without his subject’s input or control, albeit with his blessing. Though Iglesia’s doc brings to light heart-warming anecdotes from Messi’s youth and rare footage previously unseen to anyone outside of his small hometown of Rosario, Argentina, the man himself remains largely a blank. It’s fitting for a footballer who “isn’t worth a cent off the pitch”, as his childhood coach puts it. Messi is an enigma; all lightness, balletic wizardry and silence to contemporary Cristiano Ronaldo’s physicality and relentless egomania. Iglesia isn’t much of a football fan, and this is Messi’s blessing and curse. It offers a fresh, outsider’s perspective, gobbling up the anecdotes and reflections of a host of key voices in Messi’s life – childhood friends, teachers, coaches, his Barcelona teammates, Spanish journalists and football greats, not least the recently-deceased Johan Cruyff – and re-enacts them without cynicism. This is most successful when capturing the joy of young Messi’s single-minded obsession with football and his devotion to his similarly obsessed grandmother. Atypically of sport docs, Iglesia sets most of the action in a restaurant, showing that half of the joy of watching the beautiful game is to passionately debate and dissect with others over alcohol and food, lending Messi a carnivalesque, polyphonic quality so central to football. DVD Extras: The practical drawback to this approach is the necessity to film conversations first, making them frustratingly dated for 2016. The scenes seem to be filmed around 2012, at the height of Spain’s domination and Barca/Messi’s tiki-taka style. The DVD is a barebones release with no extras. It’s an opportunity missed; a catalogue of archival clips of Messi, especially his jaw dropping talent as a child, wouldn’t have gone amiss. [Rachel Bowles] Released by Soda Pictures

Released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Review

DVD

THE SKINNY

The Games People Play Paul Flannery is the retro-genius who brought 80s hit show Knightmare back as a Fringe experience; this year he’s also rolling The M.M.O.R.P.G. Show into the Counting House Interview: Fred Fletch

or those of you raised on Pokemon and lack of taste, Knightmare might mean absolutely nothing; but to those of us who sat cross legged on beanbags, at 4.30pm, weekdays in 1987 – it meant everything. A live action role-playing gameshow where eager dungeoneers were sent blindly into a maze of cutting edge green screens, armed only with a helmet and a knapsack of enthusiasm. The Virgil-like guide on this journey was Treguard, the host and soul of the show and whose mantel Paul Flannery took on when, like a delightfully unexpected finger in the butthole of nostalgia, he turned Knightmare into a Fringe experience. Treguard is where we would start.

Treguard: Past, Present and Future

FRED FLETCH: Should we do this interview with you as Treguard? Paul Flannery: “Um. I don’t know...” It would be cool, but I think it’s going to get annoying fast if I have to keep explaining modern technology to you like you’re a 14th century Dungeon Master. “Yeah, let’s just do it as ourselves.” So, right off the bat, the original Treguard was Hugo Myatt, and in Knightmare Live you pay convincing homage to his performance. What exactly made Hugo so good in the TV show, and what do you take from his character? “His eyes. His huge bulging eyes... but also, his aloofness. He’s like this neutral character, sort of like a caretaker, he’s there – especially in my show – to keep things going in a way that doesn’t seem like he’s driving things, because the player drives it. Treguard is this mystical force who... (laughs) has huge bulging eyes.” I was stoked researching the original guy, he didn’t just do Knightmare for eight seasons then fuck off into unemployment. That great voice, those boggle eyes went on to do voiceovers on cartoons and even – I shit you not – played a part in a Crimewatch reconstruction. “No way!” Can you imagine Treguard on Crimewatch UK? (In Treguard voice) “Welcome officers... There seems to have been a murrrder... “A plumber’s been decapitated... But you must only take one piece of evidence. Ooonly one... So much horror...” Knightmare ran for seven years. It surprised me they didn’t end up trying to launch a version of it in America. “I think they did. I saw a pilot... it wasn’t very good. They made a French version.” You know, if they did go ahead and made a remake of it in America, who do you think would make a good Treguard? “I don’t know... who would you suggest?” There’s only one man who could capture the aloof, mystical, child-friendly Dungeon caretakering vibe Treguard deserves... “Who?” Gary Busey. “I’m sold on that. In fact right now I can think of no one else who would even come close. Busey all the way.”

August 2016

Trusting Treguard

You can be honest with me, is it actually possible to win the game? Or is your dungeon just a goblin-filled middle-finger to fairness? “When we started this show in the beginning we thought, 'OK, let’s make the first few rooms easy, then amp up the difficulty.' Ease them in, then... You die. But you get into the game, you play it smart, maybe get a few more levels in, then...You die... But if it’s just a show with people dying in a stupid hat, that’s no fun. Sure, the show can’t run for hours, we can’t just have someone go on indefinitely, so there’s a story: a quest... Winning is all a matter of perspective. But this year we’ve changed things a bit. The fun is in seeing how different people play... see how they think they’re going to win. For me, it’s just going to be a game of seeing exactly how many people survive this time.” There’s kind of a lot of trust issues going on here. As Treguard, it’s your dungeon. we need to know the odds aren’t stacked against us. “Oh, you can trust Treguard.”

“ If it's just a show with people dying in a stupid hat, that's no fun” Paul Flannery

But can we? You know, the original series, like the very first season, they had multiple rooms. Like a million options for every contingency because kids are crafty, unpredictable bastards. Especially when you’re trying to murder them with a Cyclops... “They had millions of these rooms all mapped out so the kid’s choices actually mattered. You turn left, you enter one room, you turn right, it’s another... but theoretically, fans of the show could memorise that. Actually plot out the dungeon... that’s a lot of work the makers just put in, only to have some Joe 90 learn the safest way through the maze. So from that point of view, I guess they thought to hell with it.” Even if it’s the illusion of choice? Like, ‘Do you want a kick in the dick or a kick in the balls?’ Either way, you’re ending up on the ground with junk that smells of Lord Fearmaster’s foot. “Not exactly. A room’s a room. It’s the choice you make in the room that matters.”

Funhouse: memories of Pat Sharp

What other shows influenced you? “Krypton Factor.” Fuck, yes. “Knightrider... that’s a show I’d race home to watch. You gotta remember back then there was only four channels... that’s not exactly the choice of shows we have now. That’s probably why Knightmare was so unique. I mean, it’s not like having 600 channels where you can afford to take a chance on something so strange and unpredictably brilliant as a virtual reality dungeon show

like Knightmare... I guess it’s why children’s TV played it safe with more cartoons, and less green-screen riddle telling rock monsters.” There weren’t exactly any real contemporaries to Knightmare that would translate well to a live Fringe show. Closest I can think of is Funhouse... but quite frankly... fuck Pat Sharp. “Yeah, Funhouse, what an imaginative high concept game show. ‘Right kids. Get in this ball pit. OK? Right, good. Here’s a prize... now do it again 600 times... 'It’s not exactly the Crystal Maze.” Richard O’Brien would love a good ball pit, but point taken. “The Crystal Maze was like a living installation. You travel around it. The risks are real, the victory, or defeat is sweeter. It’s not just a go-cart, twins and a ball-pit but then that’s the 1990s, that’s when it changes. You get Power Rangers, Tamagotchi... cool stuff...but try buying the rights to any of them to make a Fringe Show.” It sucks that the whole vibe of Knightmare hasn’t carried through into modern TV shows. You’re pretty much the only person determined to keep that beautiful, batshit crazy magic alive. “True. True, but it was a different era.” Closest we’ve got now is that fuck awful shit: Raven. “Oh yes. I know of Raven, not exactly a fan but I do use it as a point of reference for people too young to remember Knightmare. Like when you describe Knightmare to someone who’s never seen the show, and they go, ‘Oh, a bit like Raven,’ and I’m like....*sigh* yeah, ‘a bit like Raven.”

The M.M.O.R.P.G. Show – Casting the 20-sided dice

You’ve got this sweetass M.M.O.R.P.G. show coming to the Fringe this year. If you think I’m excited about Knightmare, you should see the neighbour-worrying boner I have right now for a live Tabletop role playing game. “It’s like a simplified live version of Tabletop Dungeons and Dragons.. I pick a few people from

COMEDY

the audience, they take on the characters of a narrative of my devising. All they get is a huge 20-sided dice, for all their actions or decisions. Do you play any D&D?” Fuck yeah. I was thrown out of Warhammer for Warhammering too hard. It’s a guilty pleasure. “Then I’m preaching to the converted. But that’s the problem that needed addressed. It’s such a great game, but it had to be accessible to everyone. Something you could enjoy, even if you’d never played before. Even if you came in cold, you could leap in and have the greatest and most exciting adventure of your life, without having to spend three hours on admin working out exactly how many points you need to lift a broadsword or shoot a lightning bolt.” That’s spot on for what puts people off... like if it takes five idiots an hour to design the perfect character, then another 38 minutes of arguing over exactly the carrying bonus of a dwarf on heat... “We shaved all that down. You’re a character. I give you a vague mission and off you go. Do whatever you want, all you need to do is choose to do something. Roll that dice. Get a high score, you do that thing awesomely... score a one... Not so much. But either way, you have so much fun. We’ve already played it in London – we won an award for best show of the festival. That’s telling you exactly how good this show is. You gotta come play it. I know there’s a few things like this going around, but how can I say this? This one is the most fun. Not just for the players, who are running about just doing anything, but for me. The one who controls it all. In Knightmare, I’m the neutral gatekeeper. In M.M.O.R.P.G. it’s my world... the fun we’ll all have.” The M.M.O.R.P.G. Show, Gilded Balloon at the Counting House (Ballroom) 3-28 Aug (not 15), 9.30pm, £6-8/PWYW. Knightmare Live: The Game Has Changed, Pleasance Dome (King Dome), 3-28 Aug (not 15), 7pm, £7.50-12 www.edfringe.com

Preview

Win Queens Hall Tickets! A

s everyone gears up for another frantic August at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016, the Queen's Hall unveil another programme packed full of music and theatre. Still trying to decide what to see? Why not head along on Tuesday 23 Aug, when Stu Goodall and his 13-piece band give us The Paul Simon Treatment? They pay tribute to the legendary New York songwriter, from Garfunkel to Graceland and beyond. Alternatively, Dean Owens and The Celtabilly Allstars visit the venerable concert hall on Wed 24 Aug, playing the songs of another key figure in American music. Settin’ the Woods on Fire – The Songs of Hank Williams does exactly what it says on the tin: a show full of country classics penned by the 'Hillbilly Shakespeare'. Or for something simultaneously traditional and forward-thinking, you may want to check out the Isle of Skye's Niteworks on Sun 28 Aug. Welding electronics and twisted beats with the fiddles and pipes of Gaelic song and Scottish folk,

they took the Up and Coming Artist of the Year prize at the 2012 Scottish Trad Awards, and come with a reputation as a formidable live act. Interested? You're in luck – we've got four tickets to give away to a show of your choosing from the three listed above. To be in with a chance of winning, simply fill out the form below with the correct answer to the following question: Paul Simon sang about Graceland; but who lived in a house called Graceland? a) Roy Orbison b) Elvis Presley c) Johnny Cash Competition closes at midnight on Thu 18 Aug. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

Spot the Difference TWO CREATIVES One of these is an award-winning creative at the theskinny.co.uk/competitions and enter the draw top of his game who got to talk to Bridget Christie to win a copy of Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark, and Sam Simmons this month. But which one is courtesy of our good friends at Canongate. it? If you think you know, head to Competition closes at midnight on Sun 4 Sept. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

COMPETITIONS

THE SKINNY

Top Edinburgh Festival Picks

Glasgow Music

Our section editors narrow their Edinburgh Festival picks down to a tick-'em-off-as-you-go top 5...

Tue 02 Aug

Fri 05 Aug

XDEVOUREX (IN TONGUES + GAIA BLEEDS) THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6

Music 1. A nohni: Hopelessness

“A scream of fury against the evils of today’s world: mass surveillance, drone warfare, ecocide.” It’s fair to say that margin walker Antony Hegarty’s reincarnation as Anohni has arrived with a prescient agenda. Joining her group on stage for this multimedia residency is Daniel Lopatin – AKA Oneohtrix Point Never – who knows a thing or two about balancing light and shade. Edinburgh Playhouse, 17 Aug, 7pm, £20-£30

2. Sage Francis and B. Dolan: Strange Speech, Famous Development

A lyricist since the age of 8, Rhode Island’s Sage Francis brings a lifetime of rhyme, wit and undiminished charisma to the fringe. As hip-hop continues to change shape, Francis and long-term wing man B.Dolan remain at its vanguard. Here’s 20 opportunities to witness the Epic Beard Men on fire. Stand in the Square, 5-27 Aug, 1.40pm, £14

3. E IF: Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Sigur Ros? Check. Mogwai? Oh aye. EIF are at the post-rock bingo this August. Montreal dons Godspeed You! Black Emperor tip up for a three night run at the Playhouse, the first two evenings of which will be backing their countrymen and punk-as-fuck dance company The Holy Body Tattoo in their presentation of monumental. Night three features Godspeed in their own right. We’re all in. Edinburgh Playhouse, 8-9 (with The Holy Body Tattoo) and 10 Aug, 7pm, £20-£30

4. Aidan Moffat: Where You’re Meant To Be

An encore opportunity to see Paul Fegan’s recent documentary of Moffat’s highland tour, which sees the Arab Strap frontman go toeto-toe with travelling balladeer Sheila Stewart on the conventions of Scottish folk music. The screening is followed by a set from the ever candid performer; a welcome dose of realism while the news shows us smoke and mirrors. The Hub, 16 Aug, 8.30pm, £20-£25

5. Nothing Ever Happens Here: White & Bossy Love

Who’d have guessed that three quarters of Kassidy and The Low Miffs’ Leo Condie could make such shiny guitar pop together? Far from the CSNY aspiring folk rock of the former and Brel indebted presentation of the latter, there’s a bit of Bowie and a splash of The Associates about their union. Joined by righteous R’n’B-inflected electro duo Bossy Love, this smells like a night of alchemy done right. Summerhall, 13 Aug, 7pm, £12

Theatre 1. The Glass Menagerie

First up, a prime example of EIF’s knack for bringing outstanding theatre-going opportunities to Scotland – The Glass Menagerie. A revival of the acclaimed Broadway production directed by John Tiffany (hot off the heels of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and starring Cherry Jones, this one’s not to be missed. King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, 7-21 Aug, times and prices vary

2. Trainspotting

Get a punch in the gut from In Your Face Theatre’s production of Trainspotting, a realisation of the classic novel so extraordinary that it shocked Welsh himself. The show became infamous in the 2015 Fringe microcosm, selling out relentlessly and staging extra performances to fulfil audience demand. Book in fast. 3-29 Aug (not Tues), 6pm & 8.30pm, Assembly George Square Studios (Venue 17), prices vary

3. H eads Up by Kieran Hurley

Bit nervous that we’re hurtling inexorably towards an apocalypse? Cool – work through those fears at Kieran Hurley’s solo storytelling masterpiece, featuring a live score from Michael John McCarthy. If Beat (his 2012 sell-out show about rave culture) is anything to go by, this could be terrific. Summerhall, Edinburgh, 3-28 Aug (not 4, 15, 22), 7.05pm, £8-11

4.Expensive Shit

Set in the fictional nightclub toilets of a club based on Glasgow’s Shimmy club, Adura Onashile’s new play Expensive Shit tells the story of an attendant whose experiences cause her to reminisce of times spent at the legendary Shrine Club in Nigeria, when she aspired to become a dancer in the revolutionary band of the late Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti. See the world premier this Fringe. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 4-28 Aug (not Mon), times vary, £8.50-18.50

5. Bird

Clowning, physical theatre and foley (live SFX) combine to create Sita Pieraccini and Feral’s Bird. The play depicts a lone creature who’s struggling for survival on a small patch of soil in a desolate world; a fascinating piece of physical theatre with a profound message to wordlessly share. 5-28 Aug (not Mon), £8-12, 6.30pm, £8-12

Comedy 1. Richard Gadd: Monkey See Monkey Do

Everybody's got something to hide... After dazzling Edinburgh last year with an inventive show, the elusive Mr Gadd returns with a more personal reflection on masculinity, mental illness and the division between our inner world and public face. Banshee Labyrinth (Cinema), 6-28 Aug, 9:45pm, PBH Free Fringe.

2. Foxdog Studios The rock’n’roll lifestyle might seem unsuited to a pair of IT consultants, but Peter and Lloyd's innovative and interactive style provides the perfect soundtrack for a latenight Fringe joyride. Comparisons to Flight of the Conchords aren't unreasonable, if the Conchords held first class honours in Computer Science. Laughing Horse @ The Cellar Monkey (Cellar), 4-28 Aug, 11:15pm, free

3. Fern Brady: Male Comedienne An annual brunch takes place each year for the female comedians in Edinburgh – but Fern Brady wasn't invited. In her sophomore show, Brady gives the lowdown on this devastating snub along with reflecting on her strict Catholic upbringing and time as a stripper. The Stand Comedy Club 2, 4-28 Aug (not 15), 12:10pm, £7-9

4. Mat Ewins Will Make You A Star Maverick character comedian Mat Ewins' use of multimedia and costume changes seems to give his shows the presence of a full cast. This year's hour has been subcategorised in the official brochure as both "Flamenco" and "Farce" but then we'd expect nothing less from a member of the eclectic set of comedians behind the Bearpit podcast. Heroes @ The Hive (The Bunka), 4-28 Aug, 9pm, £5 in advance or Pay What You Want at the venue.

5. Danielle Ward: Seventeen Summer, 1996: Wannabe is Top of the Pops, Scotland and England rue missed penalties in the Euros and a guitar strumming Tony Blair shouts education three times and becomes the thrusting young hope of the British left. Danielle Ward makes a slight return to her teenage past and brings her own unique perspective on the era, or as she put it while researching the show, "I feel like I've tapped into a stream of nostalgia I didn't even know was happening." Just the Tonic @ The Caves (Just Out of the Box), 4-28 Aug, 2:40pm, £6.

Art 1. Platform: 2016

Every year EAF selects its pick of Scotland’s most exciting emerging talent. This year’s programme includes duo Paloma Proudfoot and Aniela Piasecka’s melodramatic, erotic and at times shambolic roleplay demonstrations of mundane tasks (in collaboration with Jamie Robson, 5 Aug, 6pm & 13 Aug, 12pm). Joining them are the Brownlee Brothers, Dorian Jose Braun and Jack Saunders. Edinburgh Art Festival Kiosk, until 28 Aug, 10am-6pm, free

2. Sally Hackett: The Fountain of Youth

Hackett’s ambitious ceramic exhibition The Fountain of Youth is a tongue-in-cheek protest to the blue rinse crew dominating Edinburgh’s monuments. She uses medium-scale, humorous sculptures to investigate society’s obsession with the obvious advantages of youth – and the many downsides so often overlooked. Museum of Edinburgh, until 28 Aug, Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm, free

Books 1. Can Xue: A Hellacious Imagination

In August, Charlotte Square welcomes the world and is home to a truly international, outwardly looking festival. Can Xue is a 2016 highlight, being one of China’s most brilliant novelists and winner of the prestigious 2015 Best Translated Book Award for Fiction. Widen your horizons. Charlotte Square Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre, 17 Aug, 7pm, £6-8

2. Ron Rash on What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

Discussing the short form maestro Raymond Carver’s work is interesting enough, especially in light of his famous editor Gordon Lish recently taking credit for the famous ‘Carveresque’ economical writing style. To discuss alongside the respected American author Ron Rash (Serena) is a rare treat. Charlotte Square Writers Retreat, 25 Aug: 1pm, £12-15

3. Edward Ross: 3. Siân Robinson Davies: Film: Very Graphic Images Conversations Artist and comedian Siân Robinson Davies exhibits Conversations at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop; a new sound work developed from a series of scripted dialogues between talking objects and concepts. The exhibition humorously ponders over improbable conversations, such as an exchange between a credit card and a penis about contactless payment. Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, until 31 Aug, Mon-Sat 11am-5pm, free

4. I Still Believe in Miracles

A blockbuster show from Inverleith House as it celebrates the big three-zero. Head to the garden to see works from Louise Bourgeois, Philip Guston, Karla Black, Nicolas Party, Ciara Phillips, William Eggleston and Robert Ryman – among many others. Inverleith House, until 23 Oct, Tues-Sun 10am-5.30pm, free

5. Jonathan Owen

Jonathan Owen transforms artefacts; re-carving busts, editing pre-existing images to invigorate the pre-existing forms beneath. This exhibition features film stills, celebrity portraits and documentary images in which Owens has erased the subjects. Ingleby Gallery, until 28 Aug, WedSat 10am-5pm, free

Edward Ross discusses the visual medium of cinema through the visual medium of illustration in Filmish, his graphic journey through film. The big directors (Hitchcock, Tarantino) and big issues (censorship, the male gaze) are covered in smart yet accessible style. Charlotte Square Studio Theatre, 13 Aug, 8.45pm, £10-12

4. Giancarlo De Cataldo: When in Rome…

For those glued to the TV for the spaghetti western inner city wilderness of Gomorrah, why not travel north to the Eternal City and Romanzo Criminale. The author here confronting the politically volatile period in the 70’s known as the Years of Lead. Charlotte Square Garden Theatre, 19 Aug, 5.45pm, £10-12

5. Claire Louise Bennett & Milena Busquets: Women on the Edge

Edinburgh International Book Festival’s finest moments are often ones of discovery, made in the sometimes half empty Writer’s Retreat rather than the packed main stage. This year the hot (not so) secret tip is Claire Louise Bennett, the Irish author of Pond. Appearing here alongside Catalan author Milena Busquets. Charlotte Square Writer’s Retreat, 28 Aug, 5pm, £6-8

THE HONEYBADGERS + THE ‘62

THE ANCHORESS

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:30, £14

A night of classic rock with a modern twist. IMARHAN (RAZA)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

Imarhan are a pick for fans of Tinariwen, Mbongwana Star, Songhoy Blues, Goat and Gnoomes. Their debut record focuses on western preconceptions of Tuareg music.

DEAN OWENS AND THE CELTABILLY ALLSTARS (MARTHA HEALY)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 20:00, £10 - £13

One of Scotland’s best loved troubadours, singing some of his favourite songs by Hank Williams, the Hillbilly Shakespeare, with honkeytonk musicians The Celtabilly Allstars. YOUNG LEGIONNAIRE

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 20:00, £8.50

The hardcore trash-rock Londoners make their usual racket.

Wed 03 Aug THE BOUNCING SOULS (PEARS) STEREO, FROM 19:00, £15

New Jersey punk-rock lot who’ve entered that landmark 20-years-in-the-biz zone, all done under their own admirable DIY style.

TRIBAL PULSE: LEE WILLIAMS (BOOM MERCHANT) STEREO, FROM 18:30, £14

Tribal Pulse do their underground thing at Stereo with Lee Williams and Boom Merchant. LIAM MCCORMICK

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £3 - £4

Spoken word artist launches his debut pamphlet, entitled Why Do People Never Snap and Think They're Buddha? ALEX CORNISH

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £10

Alex Cornish is a singer-songwriter from Dunbar in Scotland. If you’re keen on your Rufus Wainwright and your David Gray, check this one out. SARAH HAYES (OLYMPIC SWIMMERS)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Sarah Hayes is a singer, instrumentalist and composer of dazzling versatility. Best known for her work with Admiral Fallow, over the past few years she has been in demand for projects with Wildings, Alistair Anderson & Northlands, Inge Thomson and more.

Thu 04 Aug FÉIS ROIS CEILIDH TRAIL THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £7 - £9

Join Féis Rois Ceilidh Trail - an initiative which provides young musicians with professional gigging opportunities - for a brilliant evening of lively reels and jigs and beautifully melodic Gaelic songs. KURUPI (PURE PARA + BLEAKERS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

A farewell gig for Glasgow four-piece Kurupi, who’re joined by the Libertines-esque Hollow Room, punky trio Bleakers and the ever-so-screamo Old Guard. DEPARTURES (LOST LIMBS + NORTHERN + SLOWLIGHT

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Glasgow-based hardcore rock lot Departures return to King Tut’s after playing their Summer Nights festival last month.

The Anchoress performs in support of her debut album Confessions of a Romance Novelist, wrapping intricate, intelligent songwriting in a pop confection. SONIC TEMPLARS (SPLEEN + OLD BULL LEE)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

The homegrown alt-rock outfit launch their EP Ascension at Broadcast. SLOMATICS (HEADLESS KROSS + BOSPHERUS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5 - £7

Slabs of heavy and lots of fuzz from this Belfast band. THIS FEELING WEEKENDER (FOGGY CITY ORPHAN + THE DEAD SETTLERS + RASCALTON + HOMEWARD JAMES) KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Rock’n’roll club This Feeling bring a glimmering line-up of musical fresh meat to King Tut’s. TONGUES (APACHE DARLING)

SCROOBIUS PIP: DISTRACTION PIECES ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £14

Vocalist and rapper Scroobius Pip does his oft-political solo lyrical thing, minus regular sparring partner Dan Le Sac.

SLOWCLUB PRESENTS: THE BLAS COLLECTIVE

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Celtic Connections glitterati perform a night of inspiring covers, originals and classics MAIRI FENELLA (ST. DUKES + ANDREW DUNCAN)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6

Gorgeous bluesy woozy pop-jazz from outstanding chanteuse Mairi Fenella, with accompaniment from Jack Boyce.

BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE (BOMSKARE + THE AMPHETAMINES) O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £12

The electronic pop / rock ‘weegies make the journey down the M8. O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

Tue 09 Aug

DAG NASTY (SICK OF TALK + ELK GANG)

A long-awaited UK debut from melodic hardcore pioneers Dag Nasty, touring a new 7”, entitled Cold Heart. SUMMER NIGHTS AT THE BANDSTAND (IDLEWILD)

KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 18.30, £27.50

Much vaunted Kelvingrove Bandstand series, with home favourites Idlewild kicking off the jamboree.

Sat 06 Aug OCEANS (THE NORTHERN + GREGOR COLEMAN) BROADCAST, FROM 20:00, £6

An EP launch show from Glasgow five-piece alt-rockers Oceans. ROMAN NOSE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

The fast-rising Scottish electro-meets-techno nutters do their thing, most likely in freaky masks.

THIS FEELING WEEKENDER (MOONLIGHT ZOO + STRAWBERRY WINE + THE INSOMNIAC PROJECT + THE TWISTED MELONS) KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Rock’n’roll club This Feeling bring a glimmering line-up of musical fresh meat to King Tut’s. DAS PLASTIXX

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £4

Das Plastixx unleash their sleazy rock’n’roll on the Glaswegian public after a lengthy stint in the rehearsal room. SUMMER NIGHTS AT THE BANDSTAND (SUPER FURRY ANIMALS)

KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 18.30, £28.50

Welsh cosmic projectors Super Furry Animals hit Kelvingrove Bandstand's Summer Nights series.

Sun 07 Aug CARINA ROUND KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £10

The dark folk songstress tours her new album, Tigermending, inspired by Amy Cutler’s painting of three women siting in a field stitching the bellies of tigers. THE MAWB (MAGNUS)

Heavy rockers The Mawb and punch-packers Magnus give Broadcast a pounding.

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

Mon 08 Aug

Ska-meets-punk ensemble formed back in 1995 in Boston, where its members met in college.

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5 - £7

August 2016

Ragey 90s metal for fans of Arkangel and Divebombs.

THE KUT + LITTLE HANDS OF SILVER + MISC. MEAT BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

London female rock outfit for fans of Hole, L7 and Placebo. HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:30, £12

Ohio-born rock band Hawthorne Heights celebrate double figures in the industry with their If Only You Were Lonely tour. DEATH SPELLS

BROADCAST, 19:00, £17.50

Since the much-mourned breakup of emo titans My Chemical Romance, former guitarist Frank Iero has poured his energies into surprisinglynot-awful digital hardcore group Death Spells.

Wed 10 Aug WERECATS (SPOILERS + KIMBERLY STEAKS) BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Post punk, pop punk, emo for the masses. Prepare to rammy. NAPOLEAN

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:30, £7

Intelligent, melody-driven hardcore from Exeter quartet Napoleon. SHOW ME THE BODY

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

The Queens hardcore and hip-hop hybrid storm into Broadcast.

CHEYNE HALLIDAY (JAMES BREADNER + ANTHONY MARTIN + JENNIFER LEITCH + MATTHEW MCALLISTER + JOSHUA MCBRIDE) THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6

Ex yacht-performer Cheyne Halliday self-produced his debut single, In Our Pride, which was used for Edinbugh Pride Fest. See him perform this, and other ditties, live at H&P.

Thu 11 Aug DJ YELLA ST LUKE'S, 20:00, £13

NWA’s very own DJ Yella swings by St Luke's for a set. STONETHROWER

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Dundee’s Stonethrower promise complex riffs, math rock sensibilities and punk attitude. SPEAKING IN SHADOWS

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:00, £6

Alt-rockers from Nuneaton show off their brand new EP at Classic Grand.

Listings

DONALD WG LINDSAY

GLORIOUS TRACES

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, TBC

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 12:00, £5 - £35

Join Donald WG Lindsay, the innovative piper/inventor and 3D printmaker responsible for the Lindsay System Scottish Smallpipes chanter (pictured), in a special concert organised to coincide with Glasgow’s Piping Live festival. MOLOCH (SAVAGE REALM + DROVES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

LA band Moloch bring a little indie to the Sleaze, with support from Savage Realm and Droves. SONIC DISPACE

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

A modern rock unit with a mission to craft stylistically varied tunes. They released their debut EP See You In Therapy this spring. FLORAL (GREATER THE DIVIDE + ELASTIC LEG PARTY)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £5

Intricate, experimental and instrumental mathrock. This gig will be a banquet for yer lugs.

Fri 12 Aug GIANT HEAD COLLECTIVE ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £8

Giant Head launch their new album 9 Tales (produced by Stuart McCredie) at Oran Mor with support from Glasgae modern rock trio Lonehead. VOODOOS (AROUND 7 + CONOR FERRAIOLI + BREATHER)

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £14

Indie rock, fresh from the shores of Glasgow / Coatbridge. And when we say fresh, we mean it - they’ve only been around since last March. LAURA ST. JUDE

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £2

Balladeur Laura St. Jude brings the mature melancholy of her brand new record to Broadcast for a one-off preview. GLORIOUS TRACES

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 12:00, £5 - £35

The Glad celebrates its fourth birthday with a three day musical extravaganza. Line-up features Ela Orleans, Trembling Bells, Kid Canaveral, CARBS and Guttersnipe, among many others. SULK (BLACK CAT REVUE + NOAH)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6.50

London five-piece bringing a rainbow of Britpop, shoegaze and psychedelia to Glasgow’s H&P. HARDSTYLE SUPERHEROES

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 20:00, £27

All the best in hardstyle, including Ran-D, Atmozfears, Deetox, Kutski, Audiofreq, Chimera and Gunz For Hire. Show rescheduled from 29 Jan.

Sat 13 Aug THE DELTA SLOW KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Brooding four-piece from Glasgow who’ve earned comparisons to The Kills and Yeah Yeah Yeahs since the release of their debut EP, Dark Lines, earlier this year.

THE OH HELLOS (WILDWOOD KIN)

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:00, £13

Since forming, The Oh Hellos have earned a rightful reputation as a very special live act. The siblings are joined on stage by an often-epic ensemble; a rotating roster of pickers and players numbering as many as 13 at any given time. SARABETH & GLEN MITCHELL

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £11 - £13.20

Full throttle country from Texan artists SaraBeth and Glen Mitchell.

DIAMOND JACKS (THE HUSHTONES + THE FABLES) BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5

The Glasgow rockers bring their tour to Edinburgh for a special Fringe show.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6

Classic heavy rock and protodoom with a 70s flavour from Norwegian band Dunbarrow.

JAMES MICHAEL RODGERS (DEAN ROBINSON)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £5

A Saltcoats export and former member of band Arthouse with a brand new solo record out soon.

Sun 14 Aug HALF FORMED THINGS (URVANOVIC + NOT FORGOTTEN GIRL + DRAWS CREATURE MASK) BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, TBC

Edinburgh makers of lush, cinematic treats launch their debut record with help from an equally delicious support line-up. GLORIOUS TRACES

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 12:00, £5 - £35

The Glad celebrates its fourth birthday with a three day musical extravaganza. Line-up features Ela Orleans, Trembling Bells, Kid Canaveral, CARBS and Guttersnipe, among many others. PAINTED WAVES

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Ruminative lyricism and lavish guitar make Painted Waves poignant and joyous in equal measures.

LUKE JACKSON (WILLIE CAMPBELL)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Young gun roots singer-songwriter hailing from Canterbury, Radio 2 Young Folk award nominated n’all.

Mon 15 Aug SYREN CITY (APHERIUM + MAGIC TRIK) CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:00, £6 - £8

British hard rock sound drawing from punk, metal and hardcore influences.

Tue 16 Aug TKAY MAIDZA KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £6.50

Adelaide emcee armed with flast flow and bossy beats. TEN MOUTH ELECTRON

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

An unrivalled feast for the mind and ears, this band’s kraut/ electro jams are terrific and terrifying in equal measure. HUMAN HANDS (ASTHENIA + ARKLESS + KADDISH + OLD GUARD)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6

Punk band straight outta Birmingham. NO ZODIAC

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, £8

Metal band from Chicago who take influence from the likes of Arkangel, Hatebreed and Cradle of Filth.

Wed 17 Aug MINISTRY

O2 ABC, FROM 18:00, £21

Industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen back in the early 80s.

THE BOY WITH THE LION HEAD (ESPERI + DRAWS CREATURE MASK) BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

A five piece from Hawick, in the Scottish Borders. They play a mix of ambient, experimental and melodic alternative rock, influenced by a variety of acts from Frightened rabbit to Silver Mt. Zion. MONDEGREEN (BIANCA + DEAD WRESTLERS)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, TBC

Extraordinarily interesting almost-math-rockers Mondegreen head up a night at Broadcast their wonk-poppy, Deerhoofy vibes.

Listings

Thu 18 Aug

TOTORRO (VASUDEVA + DIALECTS + DONNIE WILLOW)

MARIACHI EL BRONX

Totorro formed in 2004 in Rennes and specialise in math and post rock. They’ll be joined at Stereo by New Jersey instrumental rockers Vasudeva, dreamy math-rock band Dialects and alt-rock trio Donnie Willow.

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £15

The mariachi alter-egos of LA punks The Bronx, taking to a live setting and bedecked in dapper charro suits, as per. CAVALCADES (KNIFED OUT OF EXISTENCE)

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

A masterclass in sparkling Scottish guitar music with noughties US emo and indie influences to the fore. SICK OF IT ALL

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:30, £15

New Yorker hardcore four-piece Sick Of It All have been around since 1986. See them celebrate three decades at Brudenell this August. THE ANIMAL MOTHERS (THE FIRE EXPLODED + KIDNEY FLOWERS + THE DRAYNES)

STEREO, FROM 18:00, £10

BOREAS

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £10

THE BRONX KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £15

The hard rock stalwarts get back to their ‘dayjobs’. BATTERIES (RAPID TAN + THE POOCHES)

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £6

Sci-Fi Steven of Bis brings his solo project Batteries to Glasgow’s Stereo with support from Rapid Tan and The Pooches. HIT THE ROAD: SKJOR (FIVE COUSINS + NOVEMBER LIGHTS)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £5

National youth music touring project which gives 14-19 yearolds the opportunity to develop skills and learn about the live music industry.

Sat 20 Aug HUXTABLE KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

The Scottish-based riffrockers showcase a selection of new tunes. SALLY PEPPER (DIVIDES + THE PROPHETS + LOST IN STEREO)

STEREO, FROM 19:00, TBC

Pop-rock artist Sally Pepper hits Stereo with homegrown heavy rock unit DIVIDES, female-fronted four-piece The Prophets and alt-rockers Lost in Stereo. FREE PRIDE (DAYTIME)

THE ART SCHOOL, 14:00–19:00, FREE

Fancy something a bit more radical and a bit less commercial than mainstream Pride? Head to the Art School for workshops, performance, deep chats and inclusive, intersectional, progressive lovin’. ULTRAS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5 - £7

Ultras is a word European young’uns use to describe pride and solidarity in their place of origin. It’s also the name of a promising indie/kraut-rock band from Glasgae. See the launch of their new record this August. ERNEST

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £10

Talented bunch of players taking in everything from 60s soul to country-folk covers, also dipping into their own back catalogue for the occasion.

Sun 21 Aug HARK

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Swansea-based four-piece making furious noises on a UK tour.

The prolific fiddle group bring 17 years in the folk biz to Glasgow’s Oran Mor. NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS

BELLAHOUSTON PARK, FROM 16:00, £49.50

Actual good indie pop. Hooky as fuck, upbeat and airy, with lyrics that read like a Californian’s Tumblr feed. (Seriously, their 2016 EP was called ‘kinda’ and featured a songs called ‘yea, babe, no way’ and ‘WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS’.) THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, TBC

Mon 22 Aug

G-town rock’n’roll from a seven-piece stunner of a band.

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

COHEED AND CAMBRIA

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £22.50

The American hard rock powerhouse return to the live arena.

STRUMMERJAM: THE STUMBLERS (THE ZIPS + THE CUT THROAT RAZORS + THE RONAYNES)

Fri 19 Aug

BLAZIN’ FIDDLES

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

LANY KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Riotous, adrenalin-soaked Scottish alternative rock unit in the fuzzy, scuzzy flesh.

Celtic Connections glitterati perform a night of inspiring covers, originals and classics

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Emo band from Ayrshire. You probably wouldn’t understand.

Tue 30 Aug

Noel Gallagher and his new band of warriors tour in support of their latest LP, Chasing Yesterday.

SLOWCLUB PRESENTS: THE BLAS COLLECTIVE

The Joe Strummer Foundation do their philanthropic thang, collaborating with New Hellfire Club to bring a line-up of local talent to Sleazy’s.

TWIN HEART

Boreas are an enchanting musical union between Scotland and Norway; four world class traditional musicians from different backgrounds making a highly original noise.

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £3

Mangled surf rock from Glasgow.

Fri 26 Aug

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

DANIEL NORGREN

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

Swedish hidden treasure Daniel Norgren’s had a busy decade since the launch of his debut album Kerosene Dreams, but tonight you can catch his atmospheric, heartfelt and rootsy music live. Nice if you like having your heart ripped out and massaged a bit.

Tue 23 Aug TRAVIS SCOTT O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £18.50

Hip-hop artist and producer who also goes by the name of Jacques Webster, stopping by the ABC for an eve.

VIVIENNE THE WITCH + BLOOD OF THE BULL

THE BAR DOGS (EMMA WOODS)

SILVER APPLES (KASPAR HAUSER + RAZA) THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £14

Groundbreaking 60s electronica duo, featuring surviving founder Simeon Coxe III.

PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH (MIXKINGS)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15 - £20

One of the forerunning duos of the 90s hip hop scene, Pete Rock and CL Smooth return to a live setting with their jazz-driven beats.

Sat 27 Aug THE RONAINS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

GOOD CHARLOTTE O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £25

Waldorf’s Madden bros-fronted pop punk outfit return with new material. BIG SANDY & HIS FLY-RITE BOYS

MONO, FROM 19:30, £12.50

Singer, songwriter, frontman and entertainer Big Sandy hits Stereo with his rootsy, rockabilly band of musicians in support of latest album What A Dream It’s Been. EXXASENS (MOUNT VERTIGO)

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Prepare for a full on ethereal, emotive and inspiring night of music with these post-rock giants. ROSS WHYTE (LUCA NASCIUTI)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £6

Ross Whyte is a Glasgow-based composer, originally from Aberdeen. He’ll perform from his sumptuous album, Kaidan, this month at The Glad Cafe.

Thu 25 Aug CROW’S FEET

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Cloud-like ambient pop peppered with a bit of weirdness. EAGLES OF DEATH METAL

BARROWLANDS, 19:00, £20

Huge night of garage and blues rock from Californian rockers Eagles of Death Metal. STRETCHED

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

The secret meeting place of contemporary jazz-enthused savants POLITBURO

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

The spellbinding five-piece from Manchester swing by Sleazy’s.

Punk rock from Cali. Of course you wanna go. It’ll be the best fun ever. RICHARD YOUNGS (LUMINOUS MONSTERS WITH PAUL MICHAEL HENRY + BELL LUNGS)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5 - £8

Iconic UK Underground artist Richard Youngs delves into his eclectic catalogue of releases, which range from fragmental folk to all-out fuzz. He’ll be joined by Luminous Monsters (AKA Matt Evans) and Edinburgh’s Bell Lungs. FREE-MEN-LIFE (THE PESTS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £7

Wed 31 Aug

DAVID SPEARS

David Spears plays a set at Classic Grand as part of Strummerjam Four Zero. VIGILANTE ROGUES (LOVE-EYED FACES + THE ELECTRONIC NOISE + MADE OF EYES)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6 - £7

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, £5

Wed 24 Aug

SWMRS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:00, TBC

KEVIN MORBY

American singer-songwriter, also known for his role as bassist in Woods and as frontman in The Babies. Now onto his third album, Singing Saw, released earlier this year.

Perth alt-rock outfit.

Chilled acoustic pop from Germany and support from funk-pop girl band The Pests.

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

NUCLEAR CLUB

Rock’n’rollers from Glasgow who’ve just drafted a brand new drummer to the fray, RCS talent Lauren Macdonald.

What's The Noise does its thing bringing wicked local talent to a stage for your open-minded perusal.

Female Italian trio bring their starkly, explicitly rock’n’roll set to Glasgow.

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £25

M.G. EVANS (AMY MALCOLM + GENTLE GHOUL)

Marc Evans (AKA M.G. Evans) pours a load of Americana roots all over your eardrums at Nice ‘N’ Sleazy.

Sun 28 Aug SAMURAI DRUM IKKI THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 18:30, TBC

The Japanese Taiko drumming group, Samurai Drum Ikki, stop off in Glasgow after their annual trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

UP IN SMOKE + JAMIE ROBERT ROSS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6

After sharing the same tour circuit (and fans), Ayrshire’s Up In Smoke and crooner Jamie Robert Ross join forces for a show, with a little help from special guests Gregor Hunter Coleman, Jordan Rawson, Samuel Logan, Doug Gibson and Deni Smith. GUY JONES

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

Americana singer-songwriter who’s been lauded by the likes of BBC Introducing and Americana UK.

Mon 29 Aug THE WHO THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £68.20 - £79.45

Famous 1960’s rocker tour for what could be their final time, so expect all o’ the hits. KARL BLAU

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £9

Northwest producer, singer and puppeteer out to blaze new trails with music and community events.

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £25

Riotous, adrenalin-soaked Scottish alternative rock unit in the fuzzy, scuzzy flesh. KARL BLAU

HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £9

The perennially under-theradar Karl Blau provides a plaintive summer farewell.

LOVERS TURN TO MONSTERS (FRASER MURDERBURGER + JOYCE DELANEY) BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

One of Scotland’s most underrated DIY artists launches his first collaborative debut album.

Thu 01 Sep DANIEL DOCHERTY SAINT LUKE’S, FROM 20:00, £10

Acoustic folk-pop singer/ songwriter from Glasgow. Rescheduled date. HOODIE ALLEN

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

New York-based rapper and songwriter with a knack for candid storytelling and witty punchlines.

Edinburgh Music Tue 02 Aug CLOCKWIRE (BELLAROSE + CHEYNE HALLIDAY) ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6 - £8

Brought together by a mutual love of The Divine Comedy, Muse and Porcupine Tree, Clockwire boast an award-winning percussionist, a saxophone playing bass and an adept guitarist / singer (who also happens to be a classical pianist). Got that?

Wed 03 Aug ROUND EYE HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 20:00–23:30, £5

Experimental freak punk outfit from China.

Thu 04 Aug MADNESS CORN EXCHANGE, FROM 19:00, £35

The longstanding Camden Town ska ensemble embark on their brand new UK tour. SARAH HAYES (OLYMPIC SWIMMERS)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £7 - £9

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

Alternative rockers from London make their Edinburgh debut.

Fri 05 Aug MADNESS

BARENAKED LADIES

WE ARE SCIENTISTS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £16.50

California-based indie-rockers with a penchant for big riffs, on the road showcasing a selection of new songs.

Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky plays Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody under Musical Director Sir Antonio Pappano.

Mon 08 Aug

MARK PADMORE & KRISTIAN BEZUIDENHOUT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

Schubert’s heartbreaking Schwanengesang alongside lesser-known but equally impassioned love songs by Beethoven, from two of today’s finest Lieder performers. TEN TON SLUG (RAMAGE INC + A RITUAL SPIRIT)

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

An intense and structured metal extravaganza.

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR (HOLY BODY TATTOO)

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £20 - £30

The first of three EIF Godspeed You! Black Emperor shows at Edinburgh Playhouse. BARRY HUMPHRIES’ WEIMAR CABARET AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £45

Songs and instrumental music by Weill, Hindemith, Krenek, Eisler, Schulhoff, Hollânder and more. Part of EIF.

Tue 09 Aug GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR (HOLY BODY TATTOO) THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £20 - £30

The second of three EIF Godspeed You! Black Emperor shows at Edinburgh Playhouse.

Songs and instrumental music by Weill, Hindemith, Krenek, Eisler, Schulhoff, Hollânder and more. Part of EIF.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £8 - £14

York-based folk rock, making a stop at La Belle for your ears only. MAN OF MOON

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £7.50 - £10

Sat 06 Aug

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £28

ORCHESTRA DELL’ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DI SANTA CECILIA USHER HALL, FROM 18:00, £12.50 - £45

BLACKBEARD’S TEA PARTY (AYAKARA + DAN COLLINS BAND + CANDI’S DOG)

Fri 02 Sep The longstanding Canadian rock quartet take to the road, allowing audiences nationwide to once again try and keep speed with the verse of One Week.

Sun 07 Aug

BARRY HUMPHRIES’ WEIMAR CABARET AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Glasgow boys Twin Pines take their indie pop sound, peppered with psychedelia to King Tut's.

TWIN PINES

EIF cuts the ribbons of its 2016 programme with Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano.

CORN EXCHANGE, FROM 19:00, £35

The longstanding Camden Town ska ensemble embark on their brand new UK tour.

In 2015 this band released their debut single, led by A-side The Road. It was a gliding, motortikdriven piece of neo pop psychedlia, produced by Frightened Rabbit's Andy Monaghan. Their new EP Medicine feels like the next step up the mountain.

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £8

EIF OPENING CONCERT USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £14.50 - £47

KATHRYN JOSEPH (THE ANCHORESS) SUMMERHALL, 19:00–23:00, £15

The Scottish singer-songwriter and pianist does her lyrically compelling thing, still riding the wave of her 2015 SAY Award victory.

AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

The Queen’s Hall series opens in style with one of the world’s most celebrated chamber ensembles, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, famed for its vivid, dramatic performances in which every note tells a story, under charismatic Director Richard Tognetti. DUNBARROW (KING WITCH + SAPIEN)

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:00–22:00, £6

Classic heavy rock and protodoom with a 70s flavour from Norwegian band Dunbarrow.

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £45

Wed 10 Aug RACHEL SERMANNI (MATT NORRIS & THE MOON) SUMMERHALL, 20:00–23:00, £14

Rachel Sermanni hails from the Highlands and specialises in a folk noir sound. GEORGE LI

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

20 year-old, piano prodigy George Li makes his EIF debut with a sparkling virtuoso programme that begins with the classical astringency of Haydn’s B minor Sonata Hob. XVI:32 and the intense tragedy of Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’ Sonata No 2. THE KUT (SACRE NOIR)

BANNERMANS, FROM 15:00, £6 - £8

Currently all over the likes of Kerrang TV and the like, this trio are not to be missed.

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £20 - £30

The final of three EIF Godspeed You! Black Emperor shows at Edinburgh Playhouse. MAXIM VENGEROV

USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £6 - £39

Russian-born violinist and revered musician Maxim Vengerov, joined by regular recital partner pianist Roustem Sa‹tkoulov performs a concert featuring the works of Beethoven, Schubert, Ravel and Paganini.

SLOMATICS (HEADLESS KROSS + WOZNIAK + DENCHER)

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £6

Slabs of heavy and lots of fuzz from this Belfast band.

THE SKINNY

Edinburgh Music Thu 11 Aug WILLIS EARL BEAL (MYLES MANLEY) SUMMERHALL, 20:00–23:00, £12

Philosophical and truly original soul tunes from Willis Earl Beal at Summerhall’s NEHH series. SIMON KEENLYSIDE & FRIENDS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

Baritone Simon Keenlyside is celebrated on opera and concert stages worldwide for his exquisite tone, his nuanced expression, and the intelligence and honesty he brings to his captivating, dramatic interpretations. DIAMOND JACKS (HUSHTONES + RETURN TO THE SUN)

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

The Glasgow rockers bring their tour to Edinburgh for a special Fringe show. SCHUMANN’S MANFRED (SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA)

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £45

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Fri 12 Aug MARK SIMPSON, ANTOINE TAMESTIT + PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

Three of the world’s finest chamber musicians, each also a respected soloist in his own right, come together for a concert celebrating the fantasy of Robert Schumann and the playfulness of Hungarian composer György Kurtág, who turns 90 this year. THE OH HELLOS (WILDWOOD KIN)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £13 - £15

BANNERMANS, FROM 18:00, £6

Hard rockers hailing from England.

PIERRE BOULEZ: A FESTIVAL CELEBRATION (BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA)

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £45

A special event celebrating the life of musical pioneer Pierre Boulez, who shared a 56-year relationship with EIF before passing away in January 2016.

Sat 13 Aug WHITE (BOSSY LOVE) SUMMERHALL, FROM 19:00, £12

The gloriously cacophonous five-piece from Glasgow play a NEHH alongside experimental R'n'B duo Bossy Love. DANIELLE DE NIESE & DUNEDIN CONSORT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

International opera star Danielle de Niese joins Scotland’s own leading period-performance ensemble, The Dunedin Consort. RURA

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £16

Scottish five-piece who won Live Act of the Year at the 2015 Scots Trad Music awards for their unique blend of fiddle, Highland pipes, whistle, flute, bodhran, guitar and voice. BACH’S ST MATTHEW PASSION

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £45

Sir John Eliot Gardiner delivers his second concert at the 2016 International Festival - Bach’s St Matthew Passion, a drama depicting the final events leading to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

August 2016

Sun 14 Aug

RODDY HART & THE LONESOME FIRE + HONEYBLOOD

SILKY CRISS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £16.50

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £10

Late night reggae-rousing until the early hours of Monday. ELGAR’S THE APOSTLES (ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA)

USHER HALL, FROM 15:00, £12.50 - £45

Edward Gardner conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Elgar’s mystical masterpiece The Apostles. YOUNG FATHERS

THE HUB, 21:30, £20-25

As a live proposition, Young Fathers’ bite is, impressively, even worse than their bark. Beg / borrow / steal your way in to one of their EIF gigs and get bitten.

Mon 15 Aug BILLY BRAGG & JOE HENRY SUMMERHALL, 18:30–22:00, £18

Bragg and Henry took a railroad trip in March 2016, recording tracks in waiting rooms and at trackside while the train paused to pick up customers. This August at NEHH they play a couple of these treasures alongside old classics. TEEK

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

Oscillating between alt rock, hip-hop and pop, Edinburghbased Teek combine piercing melodies and chunky hooks for an intoxicating live sound. SIGUR RÓS

EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 20:00, £20-30

Icelandic post-rock giants Sigur Rós play a double-bill of gigs across 15 and 16 Aug. SHLOMO

UNDERBELLY, COWGATE, FROM 22:10, £14

Guess who’s back with a brand new beat? Well, actually, it’s record-breaking beatboxer Shlomo, and his show’s called #NewRules. Children’s afternoon shows also available.

DAS RHEINGOLD: MARIINSKY OPERA

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £14.50 - £47

Powerhouse conductor Valery Gergiev leads the Mariinsky Opera and a cast of international-class soloists in an EIF performance of Das Rheingold. YOUNG FATHERS

THE HUB, 21:30, £20-25

As a live proposition, Young Fathers’ bite is, impressively, even worse than their bark. Beg / borrow / steal your way in to one of their EIF gigs and get bitten.

Tue 16 Aug ANDREAS OTTENSAMER & KELEMEN QUARTET THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

Two beloved masterpieces of the chamber repertoire, performed by some of today’s most distinctive, charismatic young musicians. SHLOMO

UNDERBELLY, COWGATE, FROM 22:10, £14

Guess who’s back with a brand new beat? Well, actually, it’s record-breaking beatboxer Shlomo, and his show’s called #NewRules. Children’s afternoon shows also available. AIDAN MOFFAT: WHERE YOU’RE MEANT TO BE

THE HUB, FROM 20:30, £20 - £25

Second chance to see Paul Fegan's recent documentary of Moffat's highland tour, which sees the Arab Strap frontman go toe-to-toe with travelling balladeer Sheila Stewart on the conventions of Scottish folk music. SIGUR RÓS

EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 20:00, £20-30

Icelandic post-rock giants Sigur Rós play a double-bill of gigs across 15 and 16 Aug.

Glasgow singer-songwriter Roddy Hart and live The Lonesome Fire band bring their compelling conjunction of classic Americana and Celtic soul to bear.

Wed 17 Aug TENEBRAE THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

One of the world’s finest vocal ensembles, chamber choir Tenebrae is renowned for its thrillingly expressive performances of music from the Renaissance right through to the present day. THE DURTY WORKS (THE BEGBIES + COLOUR CARNIVAL)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

The Durty Wurks are a psychedelic rock’n’roll group from Edinburgh. They write, perform, promote and produce all their own songs, recordings and artwork. THE IRRESISTIBLE URGES

BANNERMANS, FROM 15:00, £5

Voodoo rythms, avant-garage and kaleidoscopic assortments from a homegrown group. BLAZIN' FIDDLES

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £17.50

The prolific fiddle group bring 17 years in the folk biz to Queen’s Hall. ANOHNI: HOPELESSNESS

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £20 - £30

A holy trinity of modern music’s biggest names unite to present ANOHNI’s recent album. The songwriter, formerly of Antony & The Johnsons, paints a sharp, savage picture of political failings and inequality, with incredible vocals and video work.

Thu 18 Aug RICHARD DAWSON SUMMERHALL, FROM 19:30, £14

BERLIOZ’S ROM‚O ET JULIETTE (SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA) USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £12.50 - £45

Robin Ticciati conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a rendition of Hector Berlioz's beguiling Roméo et Juliette as part of EIF. NEU! REEKIE!

CHARLOTTE SQUARE GARDENS, 19:30–20:30, £10 - £12

Neu! Reekie! relaunch their shimmering gold poetry anthology and double album #UntitledTwo at EIBF with the help of ten(ish) readers and a splash of music.

Fri 19 Aug THE SOUL FOUNDATION SUMMERHALL, FROM 21:00, £10

A motown and northern soul revue featuring covers, dancing and tasty, tasty harmonies from The Harmonettes. EMERSON STRING QUARTET

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–13:00, £9

With enormous experience and authority gained over nearly 40 years of playing together, yet still a bracing freshness to their electrifying performances, the eminent Emerson Quartet has an exalted place among chamber groups. THE RICH (THE NAKED FEEDBACK + DAS PLASTIXX)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

The Rich headline Electric Circus during the capital’s festival, with support from The Naked Feedback and Das Plastixx. ERIC BOGLE IN CONCERT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £17.50 - £20

The internationally known and respected songwriter stops by The Queen’s Hall for a festival show.

MAHLER’S NINTH SYMPHONY (SWEDISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA) USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £45

Young British conductor Daniel Harding, highly praised for his powerful and precise performances, conducts the Swedish RSO in an International Festival concert featuring Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 1 and Mahler’s Symphony No 9.

Tynesider Richard Dawson brings his back-catalogue of ballads to Summerhall’s Dissection Room.

Sat 20 Aug

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:55, £9

SUMMERHALL, 19:00–22:00, £14

STEPHEN HOUGH

Cultural phenomenon and a true polymath, British pianist, composer, writer and thinker Stephen Hough performs a powerful, provocative programme of spiritual music by three great pianist-composers, joining them in his own recently unveiled Third Sonata. THE BOY WITH THE LION HEAD

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

A five piece from Hawick in the Scottish Borders. Who play a mix of ambient, experimental and melodic alternative rock. Influenced by a variety of acts, from Frightened rabbit to Silver Mt. Zion. CARI Q

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

Indie singer Cari Quoyeser hits Bannermans with musicians Rebecca Laird, Momin Ahmad and Paul Pinon in tow. ANOHNI: HOPELESSNESS

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £20 - £30

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £16.50

Hot melodies, chunky grooves, a mighty wall of acoustic driven sound that’ll leave your chest bone throbbing. This band have the sonic ammunition to finish off any festival. You have been warned, miss them at your peril.

BROKEN RECORDS (ADAM STAFFORD)

A fifth return to the Fringe for Broken Records following the 2014 release of their acclaimed record Weights & Pulleys. PATRICIA PETIBON & SUSAN MANOFF

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

Songs, chansons and piano music by Satie, Poulenc, Fauré, Hahn, Bernstein, Gershwin and others. RED LIGHT DISTRICT (THE BACK BEATS + CARL THACKER)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

West Lothian four-piece, specialising in rock riffs and catchy choruses.

HARK (NNNN + ELECTRIC MOTHER)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £10 - £12

Swansea-based four-piece making furious noises on a UK tour.

RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA 1

USHER HALL, FROM 19:45, £12.50 - £45

Kirill Karabits conducts Musorgsky, Mozart and Tchaikovsky as part of EIF.

GUERRAZ (FITZROY SOUL + SACRE NOIR) HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 22:00–01:00, £5

Minimalist instrumental noiserock from Brighton. THE BARRA MACNEILS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £14 - £16.50

SUUNS SUMMERHALL, FROM 20:00, £12

The Montreal rockers bring 10 years of treats to Summerhall’s NEHH series this August. AMY DUNCAN

ACOUSTIC MUSIC CENTRE @ ST BRIDE’S, 20:00–21:15, £12

Amy Duncan performs folk-pop treats from her Creative Scotland supported album, Undercurrents.

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

N’Dour brings his unmistakable soaring tenor to EIF for his first Scottish performance in far too long. Sold out.

Canada’s Celtic ambassadors celebrate thirty whole years of stunning musicianship and prowess.

Thu 25 Aug

USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £12.50 - £45

Austrian baritone Florian Boesch brings his provocative, highly dramatic account of Schubert’s heartrending song cycle Die schöne Müllerin to The Queen’s Hall with regular collaborator, eminent Lieder pianist Malcolm Martineau.

RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCHESTRA 2

For the Russia National Orchestra’s second EIF concert, Pletnev plays Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto under the baton of Kirill Karabits. HARRIET BRAINE: ART HISTORY SONGS

SPORTSTERS BAR, FROM 16:15, FREE

Musical Comedy Awards Best Newcomer 2016 presents a series of groundbreaking ‘performance essays’ on the History of Art from Da Vinci to Damien Hirst. The course will be delivered through the medium of comedy song. Further performances until 28 Aug.

Mon 22 Aug GRANDADDY

FLORIAN BOESCH & MALCOLM MARTINEAU THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:10, £9

KING CREOSOTE

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £20

Fife-born Kenny Anderson (AKA King Creosote) performs his new album at The Queen’s Hall. ROTTERDAM PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £45

Nézét-Séguin conducts Mahler's Tenth Symphony. EMMA POLLOCK

THE HUB, 19:00, £20-25

Scottish songstress formerly of The Delgados fame gets in on the EIF action.

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–23:00, £23

American indie rock band featuring Jason Lytle, Kevin Garcia, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild and Tim Dryden. Sold out – keep an eye on Summerhall’s website for late release tickets. DANIIL TRIFONOV & FRIENDS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 11:00, £9 - £31.50

Young Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov celebrates another side of his musical personality - as an eloquent chamber musician - in the last of his three performances at the EIF. JULIANNA BARWICK

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10 - £12

Louisiana-born musician, currently based in Brooklyn, whose looped, layered, minimalist and melodic music has been met with acclaim.

SÃO PAULO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £45

Marin Alsop conducts Bernstein, Villa-Lobos and Shostakovich.

Tue 23 Aug STEVEN ISSERLIS & ROBERT LEVIN 1 THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:50, £9

In a special two-concert International Festival residency, eminent cellist, writer and teacher Steven Isserlis performs the complete works for cello and keyboard by Beethoven, joined by the dramatic fortepianist and scholar Robert Levin. MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA

USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £12.50 - £45

Osmo Vänskä conducts Sibelius’ Pohjola’s Daughter and Concerto for violin, along with Beethoven’s Fifth.

Wed 24 Aug KEVIN MORBY SUMMERHALL, FROM 20:00, £12

American singer-songwriter, also known for his role as bassist in Woods and as frontman in The Babies. Now onto his third album, Singing Saw, released earlier this year. STEVEN ISSERLIS & ROBERT LEVIN 2

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

Sun 21 Aug

YOUSSOU N'DOUR USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £15 - £34

Fri 26 Aug ESKA SUMMERHALL, 19:00–22:00, £14

Mercury nominated ESKA brings her critically acclaimed self-titled masterpiece to Summerhall. Soul and blues fans take note. RICHARD GOODE

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–13:00, £9

MOGWAI

EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 21:00, £20-30

Mogwai perform their glorious soundtrack to Atomic, filmmaker Mark Cousins' provocative documentary. Part of EIF.

Sun 28 Aug THE SOCIAL ORDER (THE MINK STOLES, ONE IOTA) ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £7

Scottish alt-rock band that started life as a trio before Billy Stag added electric guitar into the mix. GURRELIEDER (BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA + EDINBURGH FESTIVAL CHORUS)

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £14.50 - £47

Donald Runnicles brings Usher Hall’s 2016 EIF concerts to a close with Schoenberg’s epic Gurrelieder. MOGWAI EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 21:00, £20-30

Mogwai perform their glorious soundtrack to Atomic, filmmaker Mark Cousins' provocative documentary. Part of EIF.

REVENGE OF THE PSYCHOTRONIC MAN (BUZZBOMB + SHATTERHAND + MAXWELLS DEAD + DANIEL WAX OFF + DELINQUINTS)

TRAMPOLENE BUSKERS, FROM 19:00, £5

Seemingly a protégé of NME and The Libertines alike, Trampoline had a bit of a batshit year warming up the stage for Pete Docherty himself on a tour of the UK. Catch them headlining Buskers this August.

Sat 13 Aug JAGGER LIPS (SAHARÂ+ THEE RAG AND BONE MAN + THE LAW OF THE CHORD + HAYSTACK MONOLITH) BUSKERS, 19:00–00:00, £5 - £6

Jaggerlips return, showcasing musical gems they’ve gathered from all over Scotland.

Tue 23 Aug JEFFREY LEWIS AND THE LOS BOLTS BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £8

The folk-tale telling punk makes a trip to Dundee with his band Los Bolts.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–23:00, £5 - £7

Electric Circus waves g’bye to the Edinburgh Festivals with a line-up of dashing East coast talent.

Wed 31 Aug

A Sudden Burst of Colour formed in 2012 and have been creating atmospheric, semiambient, energetic rock music ever since.

Fri 12 Aug

THE AFTERSHOW (RETURN TO THE SUN + LOST IN VANCOUVER + SHAMBOLICS + RUDI N'SPIDER + SOLAR SONS)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6 - £8

A SUDDEN BURST OF COLOUR (EARTHS + FORGOTTEN DRIVE)

Dundee Music

Mon 29 Aug

EDINBURGH METAL PARTY 2016 (CROSSFAITH + HACKTIVIST + CERTAIN DEATH + DEAD LIES)

STUDIO 24, 18:00–05:00, £10 - £17.50

Exactly what it says on the tin (pun intended). Afterparty begins at 3am.

SWMRS ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £8 - £10

Punk rock from Cali. Of course you wanna go. It’ll be the best fun ever.

BANNERMANS, FROM 18:00, £5

A night of rock headed by Manchester thrash trio Revenge of the Psychotronic Man. Rolls off the tongue. THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI (THE GRAEME STEPHEN TRIO)

LEITH DEPOT, 20:00–22:00, £8 - £10

Stephen is celebrated for his innovative, adventurous muscianship and his ambitious approach to re-scoring seminal films, Dr Caligari is a classic 1920s German film about creepy sleepwalkers and fateful prophecies. Done and Done. GEWANDHAUSORCHESTER LEIPZIG 1

USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £14.50 - £47

Herbert Blomstedt conducts Bach and Bruckner in the first edition of this two-part Edinburgh International Festival series.

Sat 27 Aug DANISH STRING QUARTET

The 2016 Queen’s Hall recitals come to a vivid close with the Danish String Quartet, joined by the exceptional horn player Alec Frank-Gemmill, principal at the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a BBC New Generation Artist.

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £16.50

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £6

One of Scotland’s best loved troubadours, singing some of his favourite songs by Hank Williams, the Hillbilly Shakespeare, with honkeytonk musicians The Celtabilly Allstars.

USHER HALL, FROM 20:00, £14.50 - £47

Sir Andr s Schiff plays Beethoven's Emperor Concerto in the second edition of this two-part Edinburgh International Festival series.

Richard Goode has enjoyed a five-decade career as a celebrated soloist, admired as much for his penetrating intellect as for his commanding performances. For his EIF recital, he combines evocative atmospherics with cheeky humour.

Steven Isserlis and Robert Levin complete their Festival survey of Beethoven’s complete music for cello and keyboard with a recital contrasting the composer’s elegant early Classicism with the searching spirituality of his late works. DEAN OWENS AND THE CELTABILLY ALLSTARS

GEWANDHAUSORCHESTER LEIPZIG 2

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 11:00–12:45, £9

TOY TIN SOLDIER ( + ROSEANNE REID)

Scottish indie rock from singersongwriter Joe Gallacher AKA Toy Tin Soldier.

Listings

Glasgow Clubs

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

PROPAGANDA

WE SHOULD HANG OUT MORE (DR. PACKER)

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

We Should Hang Out More celebrate their second birthday with Australia’s Dr. Packer.

Stereotone label mate Bleaker joins Wheelman at the La Cheetah.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Tue 02 Aug KILLER KITSCH BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence.

THE I AM (GEORGE FITZGERALD)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10

The brand spankin’ new Sub Club gets the George Fitzgerald treatment as he joins i AM for some Tuesday night soul-soaked electronica.

Wed 03 Aug JELLY BABY O2 ABC, FROM 00:00, £6

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

Thu 04 Aug HIP HOP THURSDAYS BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop. UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up.

Fri 05 Aug OLD SKOOL BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

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

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off the week’s stressors in true punk style. MISSING PERSONS CLUB

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

The MPC residents are back in the basement for a full night of bumping, jumping bangers from start to finish. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, FROM 22:30, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

VOX POP: IMMACULATE TEMPTATION (DJ SYCHOPHANTASY + GO-GO GAL) SWG3 GLASGOW, 22:00–02:00, £5

The third episode of Vox Pop’s arts-club experience for saintly angels and devilish sinners. Dress accordingly. OPTIMO RAVE AGAINST RACISM

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £2 - £8

The legendary duo get all philanthropic in a fundraiser for Glasgow’s Coalition For Racial Equality & Rights. Minimum donation œ8, or bring proof of unemployment for œ2 entry. MILK’S POP PUNK KARAOKE

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Belt yer heart out on the O2 stage to everything from American Hi Fi to Alien Ant Farm, Blink 182 to Bowling for Soup, Catatonia to Coheed - all suggestions and all singers welcome, with lyrics projected on stage so folks can sing along all night long.

Sat 06 Aug BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. SMD BOAT PARTY (LATE NITE TUFF GUY)

RIVERSIDE MUSEUM, 19:00-23:00, £26

Glasgow based boat party SMD return with the freshest sounds in underground house, disco and techno, celebrating the summer season with a massive eighthour party led by Australian disco king Late Nite Tuff Guy. Craig McHugh and Don’t Drop will also be on hand for seafaring tunes. SMD AFTER PARTY (LATE NITE TUFF GUY)

THE ADMIRAL, 23:00-3:00, £10

LNTG alights the boat party and gets the after party jumping at The Admiral. Supports from Vilmos and Gary Hunter. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

DJ Paddy promises he’ll rock your blues away. We’ll choose to believe him. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. DEATHKILL4000

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Ultra cutting edge hip hop, dark electro and post punk.

MAGGIE MAY’S, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC)

DRUG STORE GLAMOUR

Long-running house night with regulars Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

Rock’n’roll, soul, funk, jazz, indie rock, punk and more with DJ Lopez. NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Trashy, tacky, glamorous and ridiculous. Oh, and fun, too. Very fun. DIRTY SIRENS

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Crossover hip-hop and grime from up and coming DJ Fatale ANIMAL FARM (JONAS KOPP)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £10

Another double whammy of techno awaits the Art School as Animal Farm welcome back Jonas Kopp, an accomplished producer, in-demand remixer and versatile performer from Argentina. COLD SWEAT

BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Partial powerhouse Adler heats things up at Cold Sweat.

Listings

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £4

Kübler Ross; the brand-new music machine comprising Katie Shambles, Carol Vortex and Dave Clark. Expect a wild, full-on burst of synths, drum machines, live drums and striplit industrial vocals. STREETRAVE ALL DAYER

SWG3 GLASGOW, 14:00–02:00, £19.50 - £24.50

SWG3’s all-dayer returns with another stellar line-up. Come exhaust yourself with 12 hours of disc-spinning talent.

Sun 07 Aug SUNDAY SCIENCE THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

HARSH TUG

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no? BURN MONDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

Tue 09 Aug KILLER KITSCH BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence. THE I AM (BETA & KAPPA)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

The i AM residents spin their usual eclectic mix of electronic.

Wed 10 Aug KRIS BREAZY NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

House, techno and merrymaking vibes.

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

LET’S GO BACK… WAY BACK (BOSCO + ROB MASON + JONJOSE + CELINO)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Bosco and Rob Mason take on two of Glasgow’s best upcoming DJs in an epic old skool vs new school battle. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Garage by name, but not by musical nature. DJ Darren Donnelly carousels through chart, dance and classics, the Desperados bar is filled with funk, G2 keeps things urban and the Attic gets all indie on you.

Cosmic Dead-curated avantelectro psyche-out disc selections. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, FROM 22:30, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore. JAMMIN’ FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4

ENJOYABLE MOMENT

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

BARE MONDAYS

Thu 11 Aug

Pop punk, metalcore, house and EDM. Oh, and beer pong too.

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

Slam take control of Return To Mono all night long, bringing you four hours of electronica, dub, house and techno.

Mon 08 Aug

Hip-hop and rap brought to you by Notorious B.A.G and pals.

BEAST

RETURN TO MONO (SLAM)

Rock’n’roll, soul, funk, jazz, indie rock, punk and more with DJ Lopez.

NU SKOOL

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore. JAMMIN’ FRIDAYS

NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR (KÜBLER ROSS)

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off the week’s stressors in true punk style.

THAT PARTY RIGHT NOW

The NOTJ crew drive the party bus to the dark side of Berlin via Ibiza. Musically speaking. HEALTHY (EWAN CHAMBERS)

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Acclaimed DJ, multi-instrumentalist producer and Tigersushi and Crowdspacer label owner Joakim plays his first Scottish show in 5 years. PARTIAL X CONCRETE CABIN (MOTHER + DJ CRUD + ADLER) LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6

Fundraiser for Mental Health Institution with help from Concrete Cabin. Expect jungle, grime, Music Concrete, experimental sounds and all that good stuff. HEALTHY (JOAKIM)

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00-03:00, £4

Multi-instrumental music whizz Joakim returns to Scotland for the first time in five years with support from Ewan Chambers for an exciting, unpredictable foray through house, disco, funk, pop and everything in between. BIJOU X SWEATBOX: 80S PARTY

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, TBC

Turn back time at an 80s shindig in Broadcast.

Sat 13 Aug BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

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

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R’n’B and hip-hop. O2 ABC, FROM 23:00, £6

MAGGIE MAY’S, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

JELLY BABY

I LOVE GARAGE

THE ROCK SHOP

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £10

Liam Butler and Jack Jutson make up duo Pender Street Steppers, a unit which sits bang in the middle of Vancouver collective Mood Hut. The duo embody the humble Vancouver crew’s many stylistic facets drifting between house, techno and New Age vibes. NITE TRIPPER LAUNCH PARTY

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, FREE

The Gimme Shelter clubbing gurus launch new club Nite Tripper, ft. resident DJs Holly Calder and Craig Reese who’ll be spinning modern psych, garage, fuzz and golden olds.

Sun 14 Aug SUNDAY SCIENCE THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

As scientific as a club filled with tipsy Sunday night partiers can get, really. LED lights, glow in the dark wands, ‘Science’ cocktails and cannons. Unlikely to instigate any eureka moments, but it’ll do. FENIX: DJ SPRINKES

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00-03:00, £8-10

The Berkeley Suite cedes the decks to the deep-house intellectual DJ Sprinkles, making for a night of club-oriented deep house, digital jazz, ambient, and computer-composed neoexpressionist piano solos.

Mon 15 Aug BARE MONDAYS THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no? BURN MONDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

Tue 16 Aug KILLER KITSCH BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

SINGLES NIGHT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Fri 12 Aug OLD SKOOL BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

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

THE I AM (BETA & KAPPA)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Pop, disco and rock action at Sleazy’s Singles Night.

Thu 18 Aug

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC)

Long-running house night with regulars Harri & Domenic manning the decks. BEAST

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Pop punk, metalcore, house and EDM. Oh, and beer pong too.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

SHOW (TIGA & JONAS RATHSMAN)

SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC)

REGION FREE (PENDER STREET STEPPERS)

The i AM residents spin their usual eclectic mix of electronic.

Help yourself to some weirdo, vapour wave bangers at Sleazy’s.

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10

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

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

DJ ADIDADIS

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up.

Fri 19 Aug

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

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

LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

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

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Incoherent madness for those with a deathwish. The worst club night in the world.

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence.

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up.

DJ Paddy promises he’ll rock your blues away. We’ll choose to believe him.

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4

FANTASTIC MAN

DJ Paddy promises he’ll rock your blues away. We’ll choose to believe him.

UNHOLY

THE I AM (BETA & KAPPA) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Long-running house night with regulars Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

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

LOVE MUSIC

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £6

THE ROCK SHOP MAGGIE MAY’S, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

Show runs back into the homely embrace of a shiny new Subbie, bringing in Turbo’s enigmatic Tiga and Jonas Rathsman.

NU SKOOL

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs.

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £7

STEREOTONE (BLEAKER + WHEELMAN)

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

O2 ABC, FROM 23:00, £6

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

OLD SKOOL BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off the week’s stressors in true punk style.

OFFBEAT (DJ SLYNGSHOT + BIG MIZ + JOE MCGHEE) LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

DJ Slyngshot, founder and operator of YAPPIN records arrives for bone-rattling breakbeat roughness and raw, bumpin’ street house. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, FROM 22:30, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore. JAMMIN’ FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

Rock’n’roll, soul, funk, jazz, indie rock, punk and more with DJ Lopez. MASTER BLASTER

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

A club night dedicated to the best of motown, funk and soul. JACKMASTER & OPTIMO

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £10 - £12.50

Numbers co-founder, acclaimed DJ and prosperous partychucker joins DJ team Optimo (JG Wilkes and JD Twitch) at The Art School for a bigg’un. THUNDER DISCO (BICEP)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £15

A live show from Bicep, drafting in Hammer, Jub‚ and Thunder Disco residents for support. 12TH ISLE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Outsider heavy beats, fully facilitating a fresh night out.

Sat 20 Aug HIGHLIFE : SUN RITUAL VI THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Highlife returns to The Art School for the sixth edition of their annual Sun Ritual party. Expect Sunny anthems from Auntie Flo accompanied by a mega-watt sun lamp, a light show and percussion from drummer Laurie Pitt. NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. BULLET:DODGE: JOEY BELTRAM

STEREO, FROM 23:00, TBC

bullet:dodge draft in American DJ and producer Joey Beltram to choose the grooves. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs.

BEAST

Pop punk, metalcore, house and EDM. Oh, and beer pong too.

SLEAZE (SUBJECTED + LEX GORRIE)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Sleaze boss Hans Bouffmyhre makes a trip to La Cheets. LANCE VANCE DANCE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Red-hued adventure travelling through 70s funk, motown and 80s R’n’B, highlighted with glorious rays of disco sunshine. Or summat. DILF

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, TBC

A pride party from DILF (you know what it stands for). I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

A Botch meets Beyoncé DJ smash.

FREE PRIDE (EVENING) (DEEP BRANDY ALBUM CUTS + WHEELMAN + LETITIA PLEIADES + JUNGLEHUSSY )

THE ART SCHOOL, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Free Pride fierceness and frivolity in equal parts at The Art School, with SQUIFF screenings, DJ sets and live tunes. Line-up includes all the above plus Kaiserin, Jak Soroka and Sgaire Wood. 1994 LIVE & DIRECT (ULTRA-SONIC + ADAMSKI + TREVOR REILLY + JOE DEACON + DAVIE FORBES + CRAIG WILSON + MC CYCLONE) SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 20:00, £20

Experience original rave culture courtesy of seven specially selected artists who represent everything that make this era unforgettable. Act fast, it’ll sell out.

Sun 21 Aug SUNDAY SCIENCE THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Mon 22 Aug BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no? BURN MONDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

Tue 23 Aug KILLER KITSCH BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence.

The i AM residents spin their usual eclectic mix of electronic.

Wed 24 Aug DRUG STORE GLAMOUR NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Trashy, tacky, glamorous and ridiculous. Oh, and fun, too. Very fun.

Thu 25 Aug HIP HOP THURSDAYS BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

O2 ABC, FROM 23:00, £6

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

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up. DOMESTIC EXILE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Gone are the days of So Weit So Gut. Witness the birth of something new.

Fri 26 Aug OLD SKOOL BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

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

SWG3, 21:00-2:00 £17-20

Pressure launch their 18th season at SWG3 with the help of Slam and Joseph Capriati, Apollonia, Shonky, Dan Ghenacia and Dyed Soundorom. PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off the week’s stressors in true punk style. SHAKE APPEAL

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Six decades of rock and roll on under one roof hosted by the ultimate DJ Trivium. HOT DUB TIME MACHINE

O2 ABC, FROM 18:00, £15

The dance party journey through time returns to make merry for a one-off airing, sticking to its tried-and-tested schtick of playing a hit a year from 1945 to present day, accompanied by screens playing the original videos. EZUP (GENERAL LUDD)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Ezup invite Glasgow natives General Ludd for the raw sound, good rhythms and good times. SHOOT YOUR SHOT

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

SYS continue their regularirregular-semi-regular-ohwhatever slot at the Art School, with visuals courtesy of Mango Bomato. BASSMENT

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, FREE

Guess who’s back with a brand new beat? Bassment, that’s who. To celebrate their return to Broadcast, they’re giving y’all a free party, packed full of techno and house. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, FROM 22:30, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore. JAMMIN’ FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

Rock’n’roll, soul, funk, jazz, indie rock, punk and more with DJ Lopez.

THE SKINNY

FLEETMAC WOOD: PRESENTS TANGO IN THE NIGHT STEREO, FROM 23:00, £10

Contrary to what the name might suggest, this isn’t some funky dad / groovy aunt tribute act. SYG nights are soundtracked exclusively by Fleetwood Mac remixes, edits and original tracks. A pick’n’mix bag of sonic nostalgia, if you will.

BIGFOOT’S TEA PARTY (XOSAR) (FIEDEL) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

Bigfoot brings in the big guns; San Fran talent Xosar stops by, along with Berghain resident Fiedel. HOT HOUSE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Cat Reilly spins the best in joyous party magic. OZ IN THE UK: WILL SPARKS + TOMMY TRASH (UBERJAKD + MASHD N KUTCHER)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 21:00–03:00, £24

Ozzie dance music travels down under for the benefit of the Glaswegian public.

Sat 27 Aug NU SKOOL BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

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

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

DJ Paddy promises he’ll rock your blues away. We’ll choose to believe him. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

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

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, TBC

The Danse Macabre regulars unite those two happiest of bedfellows - er, that’d be goth rock and classic disco - at Broadcast. BEAST

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Pop punk, metalcore, house and EDM. Oh, and beer pong too. GONZO

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

The quest to bring epic nostalgia back in the form of all things MTV2 and 120 Minutes continues. The return of Indie Disco.

WEST END COMMUNICATIONS (LA-4A)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

The man behind the Delft imprint, La-4a, brings his sound to the masses. With sought-after releases from the likes of Alden Tyrell and Vin Sol it’s unsurprising that Delft’s output is often found in the record bags of the world’s top selectors. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

The very best old skool hiphop with a side plate of live percussion. HOTBOYZ PARTY

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

A final summer thrash from Hotboyz, celebrating music from the UK and beyond, including jungle, dub, garage, niche / bassline and soca.

SUB CLUB SOUNDSYSTEM 2016: SATURDAY IS SUBCULTURE (ÂME + STEFFI + JOY ORBISON B2B ROMAN FLÜGEL + OPTIMO + SPENCER + MWX + HARRI & DOMENIC) BARRAS ART & DESIGN CENTRE, 14:00–23:00, £30 - £65

Good ol’ Sub Club celebrate the May bank holiday weekend in suitably party hard style, with two days and nights of big name clubbing. SUB CLUB SOUNDSYSTEM AFTER PARTY

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Subbie keeps the bank hol party vibes sky-high following the second day of their SoundSystem weekender.

Sun 28 Aug SUNDAY SCIENCE THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

BARRAS ART & DESIGN CENTRE, 14:00–23:00, £30 - £65

Good ol’ Sub Club celebrate the May bank holiday weekend in suitably party hard style, with two days and nights of big name clubbing. SUB CLUB SOUNDSYSTEM AFTER PARTY

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Subbie keeps the bank hol party vibes sky-high following the second day of their SoundSystem weekender.

Mon 29 Aug BARE MONDAYS THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no? BURN MONDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Edinburgh Clubs Tue 02 Aug

MUTINY VS TEK’IN’BURGH: FRINGE INVASION (SCAMP + GENERAL WASTE + RONIN)

TRASH

STUDIO 24, 23:00–05:00, £7 - £10

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

Wed 03 Aug COOKIE THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £4 - £6

Midweek student night with local DJs and the biggest beer garden on the Cowgate.

Thu 04 Aug JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room.

Fri 05 Aug PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £4 - £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like.

Tue 30 Aug

Edinburgh’s original rock ‘n’ roll bash, mixing indie, pop, electro, hip-hop and alternative styles to make one hell of a party playlist.

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

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

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

EVOL

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £5 - £6

DISORDER (LINDSAY GREEN + DARRELL HARDING + SEAN LAIRD)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, TBC

Lindsay Green et al. bring a night of techno to The Mash House at Disorder. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, £0 - £3

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence.

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–05:00, £5 - £7

THE I AM (BETA & KAPPA)

The i AM residents spin their usual eclectic mix of electronic.

Wed 31 Aug BREAKFAST CLUB NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Gerry Lyons delivers 80s and 90s pop and rock hits.

Sat 03 Sep SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

Long-running house night with regulars Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

ETC

Tekno with a K, bass and kore (also with a K) courtesy of Edinburgh Tekno Cartel. Costume theme’s ‘Life’s a beach’.

JACKHAMMER FESTIVAL WEEKENDER (CHRISTIAN SMITH) (KIRK DEGIORGIO)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £8 - £14

Jackhammer brings one of LBA’s faves, Christian Smith, up onto the decks.

FLY: FESTIVAL OPENING PARTY (HERD & FLIC) CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

Lunge into the Fringe in the nosiest of ways with Mutiny and Tek’in’Burgh’s Studio 24 takeover.

DIXON AVENUE BASEMENT JAMS WITH BIG MIZ (OFFBEAT)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5

DABJ are the sound of house and raw techno in Glasgow right now, and since their residency last year they’ve have been touring Europe and the States. Looks like the Sneaks decks are in safe hands for the first 5am finish of the fest.

Sat 06 Aug TEASE AGE CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. SPEAKER BITE ME

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £5 - £6

There?s a fine line between poptimism and cheese. Speaker Bite Me is a club night that values good party music for dancing, drinking and having fun. This is pop music with bite and attitude. TWEAK_ (HOT SINCE 82 + SUBBAN + MOODYMANN)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £15 - £20

Minimal monthly takeover, this edition with San Proper on duty.

JACKHAMMER FESTIVAL WEEKENDER (JOSH WINK) (STEPHEN BROWN)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £8 - £14

Saturday night sees Jackhammer bringing global house and techno artist Josh Wink to the capital.

GASOLINE DANCE MACHINE (BEDOUIN) (CHEAP PICASSO, EYEMAN, MARTIN VALENTINE)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

More classic Italo and straight-up boogie allied with contemporary house and disco, as Edinburgh’s GDM crew do their thing. SERV (ALLTEN + CAMPBELL + DJ TONTO + MAGIL)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £5

Serv stirs up the sound of Chicago at a six-hour Saturday night party. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

FIRECRACKER RECORDINGS: HEAL YOURSELF & MOVE #4 (LINKWOOD + HOUSE OF TRAPS + FUDGE FINGAS) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £7

A new night run by the Edinburgh based label with international reach and acclaim, specialising in oddball house, techno and electronics.

Sun 07 Aug

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday.

Mon 08 Aug MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room. NU FIRE (DJ FUSION + DJ BEEF)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Hip-hop and bass since 2008.

August 2016

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect. RITMOCLECTIC

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

KILLER KITSCH

FLIP THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, £0 - £3

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

LIVE LOUNGE LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak.

Tue 09 Aug TRASH THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. LIVE LOUNGE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak.

Wed 10 Aug COOKIE THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £4 - £6

Midweek student night with local DJs and the biggest beer garden on the Cowgate. PRESCRIBED

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

La Belle serves up bass, dub, techno and drum & bass, delivering everything your Fringe fever’s calling for.

Thu 11 Aug JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room. LIVE LOUNGE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

Fri 12 Aug PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £4 - £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. HOT DUB TIME MACHINE

CORN EXCHANGE, FROM 21:00, £18.50

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–04:00, £2 - £5

Latin, Balkan, Afrobeat, soul, electronica and swing at Henry’s. ENRICO SANGIULIANO

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £6 - £12

An italian based DJ and Producer, a regular Beatport chart-topper and a highly regarded star on Adam Beyer’s DRUMCODE label. BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £3 - £4

The Green Door Gang presents a late night festival party of slow grindin’ grooves. Join ‘em for a special evening of low down blues, popcorn, surf, soul and R&B. Experience The Green Door like never before. FLY: FESTIVAL SPECIAL (YOUNG CARDINALS + JEZZ)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. MIGHTY OAK SOUND-SYSTEM

THE MASH HOUSE, 01:00–05:00, £5

Scotland based Roots and Dub Reggae record label and soundsystem. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers. BIGFOOT'S TEA PARTY (CHRIS + WRICK + GEORGE + JAMES)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

Big Techno from Up North. With a successful Sub Club residency already added to their Aberdeen activities, it makes sense to tackle the capital in the venue that always reps authentic music. Their first bi-monthly show in a series of six.

Sat 13 Aug TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. DR NO’S

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–04:00, £4 - £6

Ska, rocksteady and boss reggae as Dr No’s meets Messenger with guest DJs Steve Messenger and Ras Istalion. REWIND

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £3 - £5

Classics from the past four decades - From Abba to Gaga mixed by The Liquid Room’s best selectors. HOT DUB TIME MACHINE

CORN EXCHANGE, FROM 21:00, £18.50

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £8

Carnival-styled Edinburgh music night showcasing a selection of musicians from across the UK. BEEP BEEP, YEAH! (BEBOP-ATALLAH + AT THE HOP)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £5 - £6

Expect only the best pop tunes from the 50s, 60s and 70s at this retro pop club night.

TWEAK_ (SIMON BAYS + KIERAN APTER + JONNY HERD + FLIC + KIRK DOUGLAS)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £6

Minimal monthly takeover, this edition with San Proper on duty.

MOUTH! (DJ FOOD + JAZZ SPASTIKS) LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £12

A new monthly launch night, feat. DJ Food and the questionably named Jazz Spastiks. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers. TEESH NO.37: SEMI DELUXE + DJ CHEERS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5

Semi Deluxe returns, fresh from the second year of his residency at Glastonbury’s The Beat Hotel for a six-hour set with DJ Cheers.

Sun 14 Aug COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday.

Mon 15 Aug MIXED UP THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. LIVE LOUNGE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak. OVERGROUND + SHAPEWORK

THE MASH HOUSE, 11:59–05:00, £6

Overground and Shapework take over The Mash House’s top floor with techno and trance galore. EAST COAST ENDS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Edinburgh's grime crew in residence.

Tue 16 Aug TRASH THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. LIVE LOUNGE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak.

Wed 17 Aug COOKIE THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £4 - £6

Midweek student night with local DJs and the biggest beer garden on the Cowgate. PRESCRIBED

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

La Belle serves up bass, dub, techno and drum & bass, delivering everything your Fringe fever’s calling for. REZZIE

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £5.50

Overground & Weird bring Rezzie (1080p/Purple Trax) to The Mash House with supports TBC.

Thu 18 Aug JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HOT DUB TIME MACHINE

CORN EXCHANGE, FROM 21:00, £18.50

SUMMERHALL, 23:00–03:00, £14

Minimal electronic duo, made up of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos bring a DJ set to Summerhall with support from Huntley and Palmers faves Hi & Saberhägen. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room. LIVE LOUNGE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak. MISS WORLD (HONEY GROOVE + KATHMANDU)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £5

A Fringetastic Miss World special, featuring Honey Groove, Kathmandu and other special guests. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

Fri 19 Aug PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £4 - £6

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. LUCKYME (BENJI B + ECLAIR FIFI + PIU PIU + S-TYPE + THE BLESSINGS)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, TBC

LuckyMe records bring an absolute banger back to Edinburgh Festival once more. Turn up for yer annual dose of grime, house, techno and hip-hop. HOT DUB TIME MACHINE

CORN EXCHANGE, FROM 21:00, £18.50

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £7

Headset throws on a Fringe special, skimmin’ the cream of the DJ crop for your Saturday night delectation.

NICE PEOPLE DANCING TO GOOD MUSIC (SAMEDIA SHEBEEN + FOUR CORNERS)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £5

FLIP THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, £0 - £3

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect. FILTHY RICH

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–05:00, £0 - £3

Official after party for The Rich's headline show, featuring powerful party playlists and anthem selection from members of the bands. Free entry with every gig ticket.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £5

A festival fiesta with SLVR residents and guest selectors.

Listings

SULTA SHEIK DOWN: FESTIVAL SPECIAL (DENIS SULTA + RYAN MARTIN) CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £10

Denis Sulta brings along record shop buddy Ryan Martin for a festival Sheikh Down. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

HIGHLIFE ANNUAL SUN RITUAL PARTY (AUNTIE FLO + LAURIE PITT)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5

Auntie Flo’s summer extravaganza. Free sunglasses for the first 50 partiers to help ‘em enjoy the light show.

Sat 20 Aug TEASE AGE CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. MUSIKA (JASPER JAMES)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £14.50

The full Liquid Room complex is taken over by Northern Ireland’s finest, Bicep, alongside the the rapidly rising Glaswegian star Jasper James. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. POP ROCKS (TALCOLM POWER)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £5 - £6

Crackin’ indie, pop and dance from the 80s and 90s. If you don’t hear Kelis or Wheatus at least once, sue us! (Don’t.) WASABI DISCO (KRIS WASABI)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5

Notorious night from Optimo?s Edinburgh?s resident Kris Wasabi. Mutant Disco sleaze - the very coolest of house sounds. HOT DUB TIME MACHINE

CORN EXCHANGE, FROM 21:00, £20

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £7

Headset throws on a Fringe special, skimmin’ the cream of the DJ crop for your Saturday night delectation. ROUGH CUT

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–04:00, TBC

Live cuts from the flipside of electronics. An alternative electronic music night showcasing live electronic acts and promising up-and-coming DJs.

CHAMPION SOUND X XPLICIT (CONGO NATTY) (REBEL MC + IRON DREAD + CONGO DUBZ)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £10 - £12

In the UK jungle movement, this man needs no introduction. But we?ll give you one anyway. Hailing from Tottenham, North London, Congo Natty AKA Rebel MC has been at the vanguard of the genre for over 20 years.

GASOLINE DANCE MACHINE (RIPPERTON) (CHEAP PICASSO + EYEMAN + MARTIN VALENTINE) CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

More classic Italo and straight-up boogie allied with contemporary house and disco, as Edinburgh’s GDM crew do their thing. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

Sun 21 Aug

FLEETMAC WOOD: TANGO IN THE NIGHT

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends. PROSUMER (NIGHTWAVE + ES.Q + STE ROBERTS)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, TBC

The long-running house night makes its way to Edinburgh’s Mash House. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday.

Mon 22 Aug MIXED UP THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. NU FIRE (DJ FUSION + DJ BEEF)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Hip-hop and bass since 2008. LIVE LOUNGE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak.

Tue 23 Aug TRASH THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. LIVE LOUNGE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak.

Wed 24 Aug COOKIE THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £10

CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

Fri 26 Aug PLANET EARTH CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £4 - £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. SURE SHOT

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £2 - £4

Golden age hip-hop and R’n’B night hosted by two bearded men with an equal love of food and music; The Skinny’s Food Editor Peter Simpson and one half of Edinburgh’s Kitchen Disco, Malcolm Storey. LIONOIL (FYI CHRIS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5

The Lionoil pride return, bringing back something special from their travels. They welcome Peckham’s FYI Chris – the janus of jam, the hydra of hip and the two newest members of two newest members of the East coast Caledonian cosmic cohort! LEZURE

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Lezure chucks a ‘Summer Samba’, an evening of residents and guests picking out some fine house and techno. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, £0 - £3

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect. FLY: LA LA LAND

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

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

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £4 - £6

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, TBC

TRIBE

Midweek student night with local DJs and the biggest beer garden on the Cowgate. PRESCRIBED

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

La Belle serves up bass, dub, techno and drum & bass, delivering everything your Fringe fever’s calling for.

WE ARE... ELECTRIC

We Are? Electric returns to La Belle for a one off festival special. Keep an eye on LBA’s website for further announcements. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

Dundee Clubs

MADCHESTER

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £5 - £6

Long running Edinburgh club night celebrating the baggiest beats from the late 80s and early 90s. STACKS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:59–05:00, £5

It’s birthday time for Stacks; see ‘em celebrate a demidecade with a night of funk, soul, rhythm & blues and live percussion. KARNIVAL (DJ SNEAK)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £12.50 - £14

Chicago house legend and self proclaimed ‘house gangster’ DJ Sneak comes to Karnival for an extended three-hour set. TWEAK_ (SAN PROPER + GARETH SOMERVILLE)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £8

Minimal monthly takeover, this edition with San Proper on duty. CEILIDH IN THE CAVES (THE STRAVAIG CEILIDH BAND + DJ CALVERTO)

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

Fri 05 Aug MAD SOUNDS

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/handle on a Sunday. SUCH A DRAG (GROUNDSKEEPER FANNY & FRIENDS)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, FREE

Queen, queer or just straight up crazy, it matters not to Such A Drag’s groundskeeper Fanny (nor to her friends). Leave your judgements and dignity at the door and get involved in the live acts and dancing. OVERGROUND (RUDOLF C + SHEDBUG)

Glasgow Theatre

Dundee Theatre

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art

Dundee Rep

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £7

Get stuck into some alty, indie goodness at Dundee’s Reading Rooms.

Fri 12 Aug POP NOIR BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 23:30–02:30, £4

Beat Generator see to kicking off your weekend with a gorgeous pile of indie, electro, 60s beats, rock’n’roll and mowtown.

Fri 19 Aug RED RACK’EM (KEN SWIFT) READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £5

Red Rack’em makes his a Reading Rooms debut, coinciding with his first gig on Scottish turf in three years.

Sat 20 Aug LOCARNO

Sun 28 Aug

Theatre

READING ROOMS, 21:00–03:00, £5 - £7

A night dedicated to the 50s and 60s that’s been running for over half a decade.

Fri 26 Aug ALL GOOD (GREEN VELVET) READING ROOMS, 21:00–03:00, £20 - £25

Following a brief hiatus, the All Good chaps return with house and techno legend Green Velvet.

RYAN VAN WINKLE: INTIMACY, READING, HEARING AND FEELING POEMS 2 AUG, 7:00PM, £0 - £6

The award-winning Ryan Van Winkle is a poet and live artist. His one-to-one intimate poetry performance Red Like Our Room Used to Feel was hailed as a landmark of poetry performance.

INVISIBLE KNOWLEDGE: WHAT LIES BENEATH LANGUAGE

20 AUG, 6:30PM, FREE

A workshop exploring movement, silence, language and their layering in communication and performance. Participants will ask how our bodies can build a physical language and communicate stories.

Citizens Theatre GLASGOW GIRLS 30 AUG-3 SEP, 7:30PM – 9:45PM, £2 - £19.50

Inspiring story of the seven teenage girls who became known collectively as The Glasgow Girls following their campaign to bring back their friend who’d been forcibly removed from her home in a dawn raid. Matinees available. OPEN DAY

Sat 27 Aug BOOK CLUB READING ROOMS, 21:00–03:00, £6 - £8

The Good Stuff DJs spin all genres of disco house and techno, alongside anything else they damn well fancy.

20 AUG, 12:00PM – 3:00PM, FREE

The Citz throw open their doors and lift the curtain on a day of drama, music, arts and crafts.

The King’s Theatre DAN TDM 6 AUG, 7:00PM, £16.25 - £25.15

Mon 29 Aug

Crazy-famous YouTuber Dan TDM fills out Kings Theatre with fanboys and fangirls the world over for chats, meet’n’greets and what is claimed to be an ‘amazing Diamond Minecart adventure’.

MIXED UP

8-12 AUG, FROM 19:30, £15 - £62.90

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £8

Overground see off another Fringe with a house / lo-fi closing party.

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. NU FIRE (DJ FUSION + DJ BEEF)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

The latest incarnation of the favourited rock’n’roll musical settles into King’s. Matinees available.

Tramway

The Caves see to your Ceilidhbased needs with a live band before DJ Calverto takes to the decks to spin out some bangers.

Tue 30 Aug

YDANCE: PROJECT Y

Thu 25 Aug

Sat 27 Aug

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN)

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

ALTITUDE (DOC DANEEKA)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £8

A mid-week night of house and techno at The Mash House.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R’n’B and urban in the back room. LIVE LOUNGE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:45–05:00, FREE

Generous folks they are, LBA host a night / morning of free clubbing, featuring a rotating line-up of DJs playing ‘til daybreak.

TEASE AGE

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. MAGIC NOSTALGIC

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–05:00, £7 - £9

At Magic Nostalgic every half an hour a crowd member is invited up on stage to spin a wheel. Wherever it lands determines what kind of music gets played for the next 30 mins, be it Brit pop, power ballads or Prince vs MJ. Oh, the delicious spontaneity. SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £5

Hip-hop and R’n’B jams all night.

Listings

Pulse bring Truss and Neil Landstrumm, live to the Mash House.

Hip-hop and bass since 2008.

THE CAVES, 23:00–04:00, £5 - £10

RIDE (LAURYN ILL + CHECK YE OOT)

PULSE THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £9

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines. TRASH

3 AUG, 7:30PM, £4 - £6

A selection of four new dance pieces created by YDance Artistic Director Anna Kenrick and guest choreographers Liv Lorent and Gavin Coward.

BARNUM 17-20 AUG, 7:30PM, £10 - £13

A musical based on the life of circus impresario Phineas Taylor Barnum, featuring music, juggling, stilt walking and hunners of circus tricks beside. THE CHEVIOT, THE STAG AND THE BLACK, BLACK OIL

Wed 31 Aug COOKIE THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

JOE HEENAN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (JOE HEENAN) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

Joe Heenan hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:45, £10 - £20

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sun 07 Aug MICHAEL REDMOND’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (MICHAEL REDMOND) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £7

31 AUG-10 SEP, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Michael Redmond hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

BARD IN THE BOTANICS: MACBETH

Comedy session suitable for little ears (i.e. no swearies), for children aged 8-12 years-old.

The Dundee Rep stage John McGrath’s story of the history and the tragedy of Scotland. 2-3 AUG, 7:30PM, £9 - £18

An off-site performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in University of Dundee Botanic Garden on (located on Riverside Drive).

The Gardyne Theatre STARLIGHT EXPRESS 24-27 AUG, 7:30PM, £9 - £12

The longstanding futuristic tale about love and hope in the face of adversity returns to the limelight, Andrew Lloyd Webber hits in tow.

Whitehall Theatre LEGALLY BLONDE 31 AUG-3 SEP, 7:30PM, £10 - £13

All-singing, all-dancing musical adaptation of the hit movie featuring teen queen Elle and her trusty chihuahua, Bruiser. Matinee performances also available.

GLASGOW KIDS COMEDY CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 15:00–16:30, £4

Mon 08 Aug FRANKIE BOYLE: WORK IN PROGRESS (FRANKIE BOYLE) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £15

Cantankerous bastard Mr. Boyle takes to a live setting to limber up for the September airing of his new show, Hurt Like You’ve Never Been Loved, a response to Compton hip-hopster Kendrick Lamar’s last album.

Tue 09 Aug RED RAW THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–23:00, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 10 Aug BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £8

Glasgow Comedy Tue 02 Aug RED RAW THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–23:00, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 03 Aug FRANKIE BOYLE: WORK IN PROGRESS (FRANKIE BOYLE) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £15

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

Sat 06 Aug

Thu 04 Aug JOE HEENAN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (JOE HEENAN) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £8 - £10

Joe Heenan hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Fri 05 Aug JOE HEENAN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (JOE HEENAN) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £10 - £12

Joe Heenan hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:45, £10 - £20

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Billy Kirkwood hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Fri 12 Aug BRUCE DEVLIN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £10 - £12

Bruce Devlin hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:45, £10 - £20

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sat 13 Aug BRUCE DEVLIN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

Bruce Devlin hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:45, £10 - £20

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sun 14 Aug MICHAEL REDMOND’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (MICHAEL REDMOND) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £7

Michael Redmond hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Mon 15 Aug FRANKIE BOYLE: WORK IN PROGRESS (FRANKIE BOYLE) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £15

THE SKINNY

Comedy Tue 16 Aug

Fri 26 Aug

RED RAW

SUSAN MORRISON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (SUSAN MORRSION)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–23:00, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 17 Aug BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £8

Billy Kirkwood hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Thu 18 Aug BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £8 - £10

Billy Kirkwood hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Fri 19 Aug BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £10 - £12

Billy Kirkwood hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:45, £10 - £20

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sat 20 Aug BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

Billy Kirkwood hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:45, £10 - £20

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sun 21 Aug MICHAEL REDMOND’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (MICHAEL REDMOND) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £7

Michael Redmond hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Mon 22 Aug BILLY KIRKWOOD: JOKESLAM TO HELL (BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £8

A comedy look at wrestling culture, this one’s a must for any fans of fighting.

Tue 23 Aug RED RAW THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–23:00, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £10 - £12

Art Glasgow Art

Susan Morrsion hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Art Pistol

YESBAR, 20:00–21:45, £10 - £20

BEST OF SCOTTISH ART SCHOOL GRADUATES 2016

LAUGHTER EIGHT

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sat 27 Aug SUSAN MORRISON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (SUSAN MORRSION) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

Susan Morrsion hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:45, £10 - £20

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm? Manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sun 28 Aug MICHAEL REDMOND’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (MICHAEL REDMOND) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £7

Michael Redmond hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Tue 30 Aug

3-31 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Check out what Art Pistol considers to be the most exciting emerging artistic talent in Scotland.

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art KATHRYN ELKIN: TELEVISION 2 AUG-4 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Kathryn Elkin presents three new works alongside a small overview of some of her recent films. Documentary interviews, proto pop videos and talk shows are reworked into new and less stable forms to find out what constitutes the ‘televisual’. AARON MCCARTHY: NEW PYRE

2-5 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Intermedia space hosts a complex of dialectic works featuring sculpture, moving image and language; a body of work surrounding an investigation into the infrastructural role of language in belief, thought and place-making.

RED RAW

MICHAEL KENT: SHAVED FADES & BAMBOO GRAFFITI

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–23:00, £2

20-31 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 31 Aug BENEFIT IN AID OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL GLASGOW WEST (CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR BOYD + PAUL MCDANIEL ) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £7

A charity comedy night raising funds for Amnesty International.

BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £8

Billy Kirkwood hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

Thu 25 Aug

JOHN TAYLOR: GLASGOW & SOMETIMES FURTHER AFIELD 5 AUG-18 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

John Taylor exhibits a selection of paintings of Glasgow which, due to the fact they were each painted over the course of the last decade, document the altering skylines of the city.

18 AUG, 7:00PM, FREE

New work by Glasgow-based artists and GSA alumna Birthe Jorgensen and Sogol Mabadi, inspired by the subject of diaspora and migration.

Glasgow Sculpture Studios MAKING THE BED, LAYING THE TABLE 3 AUG-3 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A solo exhibition of the work developed by Katie Schwab during her one year Graduate Fellowship at GSS. Schwab uses sculpture to explore how one’s voice might be expressed through furnishing and upkeep of rooms, especially within communal spaces.

GoMA WOLFGANG TILLMANS: PICTURES FROM NEW WORLD 1-7 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

WHO’S EXPLOITING WHO IN THE DEEP SEA?

Cosima Von Bonin analogises the human condition via a series of works from 2006 onwards, all relating to a theme of ‘under the sea’. From textile to music, sculpture to performance, video and painting, the exhibition is a charmingly multi-platform affair. DEEP IN THE HEART OF YOUR BRAIN

1 AUG-13 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Cyril Gerber Fine Art THE SUMMER EXHIBITION 2016 1-31 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

A selection of 19th-21st Century British paintings, drawings and sculpture including works by the Modern British & Scottish Masters, Scottish Colourists, Glasgow School, Blackadder, Colquhoun & MacBryde, Cowie, Eardley, Herman, Kay, Lanyon and more.

Embassy 13-28 AUG, 12:00PM-6:00PM, FREE

Andrew Black's first solo show which, by drawing upon collaborative influences, seeks to problematise the individualcentric format of single-author shows, while foregrounding his position as a male-but-cis artist. Features videos, paintings, sound work, drawings and collage work.

A major solo show from Jacqueline Donachie, a Glasgow-based artist whose ambitious new work explores disability, care and loss following over a decade of research and collaboration with scientific and medical professionals.

Hunterian Art Gallery

WILLIAM HUNTER TO DAMIEN HIRST: THE DEAD TEACH THE LIVING

2 AUG-5 MAR 17, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

An exhibition curated by students on GSA / University of Glasgow’s students of Curatorial Practice, featuring objects and art which explore moments of synergy between the fields of art and science.

RENAISSANCE PRINTS: MANTEGNA, MARCANTONIO AND PARMIGIANINO

2 AUG-22 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

A collection of prints by three major figures in Italian Renaissance art: Andrea Mantegna, Marcantonio Raimondi and Parmigianino.

SUSAN MORRISON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE (SUSAN MORRSION)

A collaborative event with photographer Alex James and brand Kestin Hare.

Street Level Photoworks SIBYLLE BERGEMANN: FOTOGRAPHIEN 6 AUG-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of the works of the late Sibylle Bergemann, an eclectic photographer whose work was intended as a critical analysis of reality and covered many subjects. A film profile of Berhemann’s life will also be screened.

The Common Guild AT TWILIGHT

With a full title of At Twilight: A play for 2 actors, 1 dancer, 8 masks (and a donkey costume), this project from Simon Starling will begin as an exhibition of a group of masks and costumes for a performance based on WB Yeats play, At the Hawk’s Well.

The Lighthouse ONE. 1 AUG-11 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

One. is a debut exhibition from The Garnet Collective, and will showcase the work of four Scottish jewellers and designers; Nicholas Faill, Adam Henderson, Jennifer MacKinlay and Hannah Grace Ryan. ADVENTURES IN SPACE

1 AUG-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition offering insights into the architecture of science fiction, Adventures in Space will compare the ideas of architectural visionaries with startling representations of buildings and cities from the birth of cinema to the present day. Curated by Berlin-based Scots designer Jon Jardine and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. NOBODY’S HOME

1-31 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition featuring the work of photographer (and former Buzzcocks drummer) John Maher, which captures abandoned crofts from across the Outer Hebrides. Part of Architecture and Design Scotland’s Say Hello to Architecture Programme. PERIPHERAL HISTORIES

5 AUG-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Four len-based artists, Calum Douglas, Sarah Amy Fishlock, Kotryna Ula Kiliulyte and Alan Knox, present a group show of new work sharing thematic, aesthetic and conceptual overlaps. This exhibition is taking place in both Platform and The Lighthouse.

The Modern Institute

ADAM MCEWAN: TINNITUS

1-27 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £8 - £10

Tinnitus aims to ‘reveal a disquieting resistance within the very familiar’. It comprises a steel banding sculpture and several large-scale photographic images printed on sponge and punctuated by rough iron piping and a car airbag cast in iron.

Susan Morrsion hosts four of The Stand’s picks of the Fringe.

August 2016

VLEXJAMES

The Modern Institute @ Airds Lane CATHY WILKES 4-27 AUG, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

A new exhibition of the work of Northern Irish Turner Prizenominated artist Cathy Wilkes at The Modern Institute. The showcase contains four paintings which depict visions of ‘the last days before the end’, and of aged or divine atoms and objects.

Tramway PRINTSHOP! 6 AUG-4 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An ‘immersive print environment’ featuring an exhibition, a print workshop and free studio located in Tramway for the month of August. Workshops and demos led by Glasgowbased designer and printer Edwin Pickstone.

iota @ Unlimited Studios CONFESSION. 27 AUG-10 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An interactive installation; word, image and installation combine to present international cultural icons. For performance times please see www.iotaarts.space

2 AUG-3 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

1-7 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Home & Away brings together four artists whose work provides a creative extraction of the domestic space. Developed through a high craft finish, the works add permanence to the otherwise disposable and unnoticed.

HOSTS AND VISITORS 1-21 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Cass Art HOME AND AWAY

PERIPHERAL HISTORIES 5 AUG-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

SWG3 Glasgow

Shaved Fades & Bamboo Graffiti presents a series of experiments and works in progress using drawing and moving image to consider aridity as a starting point while approaching the exhibition as an oscillation between potential and limitation.

6-18 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Platform

Glasgow School of Art

Turner Prize-winning Wolfgang Tillmans brings an exhibition of photographs from his series Neue Welt (New World) to the GoMA. After ten years spent abstracting and conceptualising, Tillmans exhibits a re-enchantment with seeing the world for what it is.

OUR ANDREW OF THE FLOWERS

Wed 24 Aug

Glasgow Print Studio

Find full listings at theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

Edinburgh Art Castle Mill Works @ Gilmore Park DONOVAN & SIEGEL: RUST GARDEN UNTIL 28 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

As part of their off-site 'Temporary Artworks Programme', Edinburgh Printmakers have commissioned Matt Donovan and Hallie Siegel to produce Rust Garden, an outdoor installation in partnership with The Grove Community Garden and HERE + NOW. The exhibition transforms a neglected and overgrown nook into an intimate garden space for contemplation at the venue which will serve as Edinburgh Printmakers' new home in 2018.

City Art Centre PAPER TRAIL: DRAWINGS, WATERCOLOURS, PRINTS 1 AUG-21 MAY 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition exploring some of the many ways artists create works from the starting point of a fresh sheet of paper, including work by celebrated figures like Anne Redpath, Joan Eardley, Eduardo Paolozzi and Paul Sandby. WILLIAM GILLIES & JOHN MAXWELL

1 AUG-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition tracing the careers of William Gillies and John Maxwell, two Scottish artists of the 20th century with differing approaches and contrasting personalities but who exhibited, travelled and socialised together and remained friends for life.

Collective Gallery WILL I MAKE A GOOD FATHER, MOTHER, SISTER? 2 AUG-4 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition by Glasgow based artist Jennifer Bailey, developed as part of Satellites Programme and EAF. Jennifer’s practice explores and questions the permeability of art production to patriarchal structures, desire, capital and paid work. Often revealing the conditions of its making, her work investigates the visual codes that constitute authenticity. Departing from an interest in the productive body at work, the exhibition will include a new wall drawing, a series of ceramic sculptures and photographs. STRUCTURE FOR THE CITY OBSERVATORY

2 AUG-4 SEP, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

A viewing structure created by Simon and Tom Bloor in collaboration with Collective, designed to facilitate looking into the City Observatory site while it is in its initial stages of development. Part of Edinburgh Art Festival.

Dovecot Studios THE SCOTTISH ENDARKENMENT: ART AND UNREASON - 1945 TO THE PRESENT 1-29 AUG, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

A showcase of over forty diverse works which range from the satirical to the dark, aiming to give insight into the range of provocative topics capturing the minds of Scotland’s artists. Features exhibits from David Shrigley and Steven Campbell. DAZZLE JEWELLERY

5-29 AUG, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

Jewellery design exhibitors Dazzle return to Dovecot for the fifth time for their 33rd year at the Fringe. See works from dozens of designers, including Karolina Baines, Lynne Maclachlan, Morna Darling, Stacey Bentley and Genevieve Howard.

DAZZLE EXHIBITIONS: EDINBURGH - OUR CITY 5-29 AUG, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

Dazzle Exhibitions showcases the photographic works of henni.photo, a joint project from photographer and filmmaker Lynn Henni and freelance designer / sculptor Paul Henni.

Edinburgh College of Art

ECA: MASTERS DEGREE SHOW 2016

13-27 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

ECA’s MA and MSc students from the Art, Design, Architecture and Landscape Architecture schools exhibit their artwork, taking in sculpture, painting, illustration, product design and architecture.

Edinburgh Printmakers DONOVAN & SIEGEL: HISTORY MACHINES UNTIL 22 OCT, 10:00AM-6:00PM, FREE

A UK premiere exhibition of new commissions and existing artwork by Toronto artists Matt Donovan and Hallie Siegel which explores the enduring legacy of print that continues to shape how we communicate – even as we launch ourselves into a digital future.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop CONVERSATIONS 1-31 AUG, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Artist and comedian Siân Robinson Davies exhibits Conversations at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop; a new sound work developed from a series of scripted dialogues between talking objects and concepts. THE MIRACULOUS

1-31 AUG, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A textual and architectural experiment in which poet and critic Raphael Rubinstein collaborates with designers Maeve Redmond and Sophie Dyer to transpose short narratives of the lives and works of various artists onto the spaces of ESW. VOICING THE ARCHIVE: MAP

1-31 AUG, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A series of readings and recordings from the MAP magazine archive presented by MAP guest editors Suzanne van der Lingen & Claire Walsh as part of Footnoting the Archive, 2016. REPRODUCTIVE

1 AUG-1 OCT, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of new work from Scottish Sculptor Kenny Hunter that tests the potential of digital technologies and their relationship to existing processes of production.

Ingleby Gallery JONATHAN OWEN 3-27 AUG, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Interview Room 11 CORRESPOND 3-27 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of 35 UK-based contemporary painters, all recent participants in TURPS contemporary painting programme in London.

Inverleith House I STILL BELIEVE IN MIRACLES 2 AUG-23 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition celebrating the 30 years of Inverleith exhibitions, featuring work from the likes of Louise Bourgeois, Isa Genzken, Nicolas Party and Richard Wright. I STILL BELIEVE...

2 AUG-25 JAN 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Inverleith House celebrates 30 years with an exhibition of rarely seen posters and invitation cards on display in the John Hope Gateway’s Gateway Gallery at the West Gate.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA UNREALISED: ARCHITECTURAL IMAGINATION FROM THE RSA COLLECTIONS 1 AUG-13 FEB 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

RSA showcases the architectural plans, sketches and competition entries detailing plans for buildings that never came to be. Have a wander and wonder ‘what if?’. RSA OPEN 2016

1-30 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition of small works sourced by open submission from artists across Scotland, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints and photographs – all available to buy – from around 400 different artists. Expect the usual pick’n’mix wonderland.

Listings

Scottish National Gallery ROCKS AND RIVERS: THE LUNDE COLLECTION 1 AUG-30 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Long-term loan from one of the finest private collections of 19th-Century Norwegian and Swiss landscape paintings, American collector Asbjörn Lunde, taking in 13 works by artists including Johan Christian Dahl, Alexandre Calame and Thomas Fearnley. INSPIRING IMPRESSIONISM: DAUBIGNY, MONET AND VAN GOGH

1 AUG-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, £9 - £11

A showcase of the full artistic output of nineteenth-century French landscape painter Charles François Daubign, who influenced many practices associated with impressionism, yet who has never been the subject of a major international exhibition. RUBENS & COMPANY

1-28 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of Flemish paintings, including famous pieces by Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck. The exhibition is accompanied by an impressive illustrated catalogue. TESCO BANK ART COMPETITION FOR SCHOOLS 2016

1 AUG-27 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of 53 winning artworks from this year’s Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools, selected from over 7,400 entries. This year’s themes are ‘Creepy Crawlies’ and ‘Slimy Things’, ‘Circus’, ‘Horse’, ‘Darkness and Light’, and ‘Trees’.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art BRIDGET RILEY: PAINTINGS,1963-2015 1 AUG-16 APR 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A focused display of selected paintings from the works of Bridget Riley, born in 1931. The exhibition chronicles her earlier, iconic use of monochrome, her transition into using a grey palette, before an expansion into using an array of colour. SURREAL ENCOUNTERS: COLLECTING THE MARVELLOUS

1 AUG-11 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8 - £10

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art showcases surrealist works from the legendary private collections of Edward James, Roland Penrose, Gabrielle Keiller and Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch. RICHARD DEMARCO AND JOSEPH BEUYS: A UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP

1 AUG-16 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A showcase of the artistic works, lectures and ‘actions’ that Richard Demarco – an Edinburgh-based avant-garde gallerist – commissioned from post-war German artist Joseph Beuys. JOSEPH BEUYS: A LANGUAGE OF DRAWING

1 AUG-30 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The largest collection of work by German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) outside of Germany, this exhibition features 110 drawings covering the artist’s career between 1945 and 1986.

THE TWEEDDALES: POWER, POLITICS AND PORTRAITS 1 AUG-28 MAY 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Artwork featuring and commissioned by the Tweeddale family, a highly influential dynasty at the heart of Scottish society in the latter half of the seventeenth century who were known best for contributions to politics and the military. SCOTS IN ITALY

1 AUG-5 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of the Scottish experience of Italy in the eighteenth century, a time when artistic, entrepreneurial and aristocratic fascination with the country was reaching boiling point. OUT OF THEIR HEADS: BUILDING PORTRAITS OF SCOTTISH ARCHITECTS

1 AUG-5 FEB 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

An opportunity to peer into the minds of some of Scotland’s greatest architects via The Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s collection of portraits and designs. BUILDING SIGHTS

1 AUG-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A series of photographic portraits by Tricia Malley and Ross Gillespie (aka Broad Daylight), each featuring a celebrity and their favourite building. The exhibition will showcase the magnificent architecture and design to be found in Scotland. FACING THE WORLD: SELFPORTRAITS REMBRANDT TO AI WEIWEI

1 AUG-16 OCT, TIMES VARY, £7 - £9

Taking lead from the ongoing phenomenon of self-portraits on social media, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery presents a collection of portraits spanning six centuries and various media, from paintings to Instagram posts.

St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral THE CATHEDRAL COLLECTION 1 AUG-19 SEP, 9:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An installation of glass and metal sculptural works by sculpture and design duo Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg. In conjunction with Paul Musgrove of Gallery TEN.

Stills JO SPENCE 1 AUG-16 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Stills exhibits two aspects of photographer Jo Spence’s creative output; documentary images from the 1970s illustrating the educational workshops that she developed with collaborator Terry Dennett, along with therapy-based self-portraiture.

Summerhall LAURE PROUVOST 4 AUG-30 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

French Turner Prize winner Laure Prouvost presents a series of videos which interact with one another to tell surreal, non-linear stories. These narratives are disorientating, humorous and demonstrate a cynical awareness of contemporary communication. ADAM, EVE, OTHERS AND A UFO

4 AUG-30 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Haroon Mirza creates kinetic sculptures which test the interplay and friction between sound and light waves and electric current. This sonic installation urges us to reconsider the perceptual distinctions between noise, sound and music. CONTEXT IS HALF THE WORK. A PARTIAL HISTORY OF THE ARTIST PLACEMENT GROUP

4 AUG-5 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

The Artist Placement Group (APG) was founded in the UK in 1966. This internationally acclaimed exhibition, curated by Naomi Hennig and Ulrike Jordan in dialogue with Barbara Steveni examines seven APG placements through a showcase of research material, video works, art works and documentation of the group’s activity. DIAGRAMMING THE LISTENER

4 AUG-30 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

South Yorkshire-based artist and producer Mark Fell presents an installation which draws from interests in geometry, time, technology and the self, and how these shape and sustain one another. PESTER AND ROSSI

4 AUG-30 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

DJCAD graduates Pester and Rossi continue their collaborative practice of sculptural performance, using outlandish costumes, visual puns and irony to subvert the everyday, to explore norms and rituals and to make feminist and sociological comments. HYPER BOWL

4 AUG-30 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Tamsyn Challenger brings the fruits of her award-winning practise to Summerhall; an OMG-laden, tongue-in-cheek installation questioning the notion of hype, star-ratings and our uninhibited exaggeration of literally everything on earth,

Talbot Rice Gallery THE SUBJECT AND ME 1 AUG-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

The first solo exhibition in Scotland of Alice Neel’s striking and resonant portraits, entitled The Subject and Me. The exhibition is part of a wider series promoting the work of leading women artists, previously including Hanne Darboven and Jenny Holzer. ECLECTRC PANOPTIC

1 AUG-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Jess Johnson’s suite of drawings, tessellating patterns and VR tech which aims to bridge a portal into another realm. The installation takes genesis from psychomagic group rituals conceived by filmmaker and comic book writer Alejandro Jodorowsky.

The Fruitmarket Gallery DAMIÁN ORTEGA 1 AUG-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Fruitmarket’s showcase of new sculptures from Damián Ortega, a prominent Mexican artist whose imaginative works will focus on how the forces of nature – wind, water, earth and fire – act on the earth, independently and in relationship to man.

The Scottish Gallery SCOTTISH ART GALLERY FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 4 AUG-3 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Programme features Elizabeth Blackadder’s Decades, The Scottish Colourists Festival Exhibition, Paul Scott’s Cuttings, Ruins, Refugees and Wild Roses and Michael Lloyd’s The Beauty of Rain & Other Cherished Observations.

Whitespace BINGE ROMANCE 26 AUG-1 SEP, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

A week of art events at Whitespace interrogating the idea of ‘coming of age’. See bingeromance.com for programme listings. A SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS: THE THIRD KINGDOM RISING

6-11 AUG, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Illustrator Cordula Marks Venters showcases a selection of her works and stories at Whitespace.

Dundee Art Centrespace JODI: VARIABLE ART FOR THE ZX SPECTRUM 2-28 AUG, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Artist duo JODI, also known as Jodi.org present an exhibition featuring experiments based on the ZX Spectrum, the 8-bit home computer that was manufactured in Dundee.

Cooper Gallery DJCAD MASTERS’ SHOW 2016 20-27 AUG, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The Masters graduates showcase the fruits of their labour, taking in art, animation and visualisation across the schools of MFA Art & Humanities, MSc Medical Art, MSc Forensics Art, MSc Animation & VFX and MFA Art, Society & Publics.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts SMALL WARS 1 AUG-4 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

An exhibition in partnership with Abertay University featuring an installation of Eddo Stern’s celebrated piece Vietnam Romance. His practice explores the ‘uneasy and otherwise unconscious connections between physical existence and electronic simulation’. CD-ROMS

1 AUG-4 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

The second of two DCA exhibitions carried out in partnership with Abertay University. An opportunity to play the conserved computer games designed for girls by the late writer, filmmaker and game developer Theresa Duncan (1966 – 2007).

The McManus DRAW THE LINE: OLD MASTERS TO THE BEANO 1 AUG-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A celebration of ‘one of the most basic and enduring of human activities’, The McManus showcases a selection of figure studies and portraiture, illustration, preparatory sketches, landscape and topography by historic and contemporary artists. CHARTING NEW WATERS

1 AUG-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition introducing two major acquisitions to Dundee’s collection, including Scottish artist Frances Walker’s dramatic icescapes of Antarctica, created after she was granted the James McBey Travel Award in 2007.

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Scottish National Portrait Gallery THE TAYLOR WESSING PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE 1 AUG-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of sixty portraits anonymously selected for inclusion from over five thousand, featuring a batch of emerging young photographers, alongside those of established professionals, photography students and gifted amateurs.

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THE SKINNY

The Last Word: DJ Shadow Master sampler DJ Shadow talks The Skinny through technical theatrics, Run the Jewels’ inspirational power and the importance of keeping it fresh

he Endtroducing… producer needs little introduction. Josh Davis is a forefather of instrumental hip-hop; his revolutionary approach to sampling on that 1996 album changed the course of modern music making. He has united a cult following all over the globe, and although his records since the 90s have thrown a couple of curveballs, DJ Shadow remains the undisputed king of his craft. A virtuosic approach to the turntables and a mammoth record collection often see Shadow pinned as a purist – but nothing could be further from the truth. Since the Millennium bug gave us all a hankering for technological tricks, DJ sets have swollen in spectacle; DJ Shadow is not one to be left behind. His infamous Shadowsphere – a whopping, spherical set that reflects trippy visuals while shrouding the man himself in mystery – set the bar high, but in honour of his fifth studio album The Mountain Will Fall, Shadow's got some new tricks up his sleeve. The Skinny caught up with Davis just three days into his huge summer tour. On Re-imagining His Live Shows... I didn't want to be like, ‘Oh, this time there's two Shadowspheres!’ or like, you know, ‘This time it's a square!’ It's more about a new concept. So, without giving a lot away, I think it's come together in a way that we didn't even really anticipate. I work very closely with my long term visuals guy [Ben Stokes], and we talk about all these things we want to do, but last week was the first time I got to see them rendered out and on the screen. I remember, vividly, sitting down with him and talking about what we wanted to do on a technical level. After we feel like it's a viable option, then we start kicking around thematic concepts. It's even more convincing and, I think, groundbreaking than we thought it would be.

On the Importance of Planning… Think of it this way. Definitely the hardest thing I have to do, I think in my entire career, is to plan a show that works in almost every conceivable setting. Take the first shows of this tour – last weekend, for example, the very first show was a sold-out 12,000 seat arena in the northern part of France, with almost exclusively 90s New York rap acts and then myself. The next show is a dedicated 800-capacity room and it's a hard ticket – they're coming to see me. Then, this Friday, I play the Montreux Jazz Festival… so you can imagine trying to build a programme of music which works in all three of those settings! But so far so good. I always feel, when I'm doing these big shows, that you don't have the luxury of having off nights. I feel too much of a sense of responsibility for people who pay their money, and I take it very seriously.

Interview: Katie Hawthorne

done shows. Primarily because it was just not something that was done back then. Hip-hop DJs didn't tour on their own. It wasn't something that anybody did. It really wasn't until I started coming to England, and to Germany and France, that I started doing DJ shows. As my records started to become known, I started to do festivals. I mean, first off, I didn't grow up wanting to be an entertainer on stage. I didn't seek that out. It's not something that really appealed to me growing up. But I feel like if you're making music you have an obligation to represent it live. Yeah; I do it to support the music that I make, because I want people to see that the music is more important than my hang-ups about being in front of people.

“ I didn't grow up wanting to be an entertainer on stage. I didn't seek that out”

On CDJs, MySpace and Discovering New Technologies... I feel like I'm never going to be the earliest adopter of anything! Know what I mean? I like to see if I encounter something naturally, or serendipitously. I always feel that's a good barometer of whether something works for me. I never had any desire to be on MySpace, but Instagram is something that makes sense to me. And when it comes to DJing, I mean, CDJs came on the scene in 2001 and I used it for the first time on my 2002 tour. I embraced Serato a few years later, and Ableton a few years after that. When it comes to making music I like to inject a bit of new technology each time, so that I'm constantly having to learn and adjust.

On the Pros and Cons of Touring... I think my experiences are a little bit unique in the sense that I was not really established in the States before I started going abroad. I was doing a lot of different things, and I'd already put out records, done mixes on the radio… I just hadn't

On Purists... Personally – well, all of my friends who have been DJing for 30, 40 years – whenever these topics come up, we just look at each other and shrug. There's an overemphasised sentiment about vinyl purism and to me – and I think for most DJs, although not to speak for anyone else – we used vinyl because it was the predominant media.

DJ Shadow

Music came out on vinyl for 100+ years, so of course there's tons of music that exists on vinyl. But there's tons of music that exists on CD, there's tons of music that only exists in MP3 form. Why limit yourself? You should be able to play all the music that you wanna play. That was certainly something that became apparent to me in the late 00s – that most of the music I was listening to, or wanted to play, just didn't exist on vinyl. At that point? Adapt or die. On the Comforts of Disco... The only era I really look at for comfort when I'm trying to figure out how to weather the storm is the disco era. In the disco era, a lot of artists were just kind of cruising, and it was like, ‘Oh, this is going to last forever.’ But then almost overnight, people started to prefer to hear DJs and the records they heard on the radio played exactly as they sounded on the radio, only louder. These jazz artists went from playing 1,200-capacity supper clubs to like, holes in the wall. Only a few figured out how to navigate those waters – it was a huge shake-up at the time. It's something I like reading about, moments like that, so that I can have a little bit of a bearing on what I'm supposed to be doing now. On the Concepts Behind The Mountain Will Fall... Songs going in different directions – that was definitely a concept, going in. I wanted it to feel like songs within songs, because I feel that there's so many opportunities when it comes to making instrumental music that seem to never really be seized upon. One of them is an arrangement evolving as a song plays. Rather than just build/drop/ build/drop… the idea that, okay, you get to this point and then it completely changes. California, Three Ralphs… those are just some examples of songs on the record that do that. On Collaborating With Run the Jewels... I've been really vocal telling El, privately, how much I'm inspired by what he's managed to do. It's not easy to re-contextualise yourself in the way that he has, at his age. I don't like to get into the ageist thing, but after you turn 40 it can be difficult to have a chance to do what he's managed to achieve. I said many times to him, in text messages or DMs, just like… ‘I wanna say again, man, that it's so inspiring. Keep it up. Keep doing it. It means so much to people like me.’ He's not stuck in one place, he's always looking to the future, and that's why I really wanted Run the Jewels on that song. I'd made a track that on a certain level is very obviously almost a throwback, but I didn't want an old school rapper. I didn't want to steer the track in an old school direction. I wanted to reimagine that mid-90s boom bap hip-hop sound, as applied to 2016. For me, it was going to be Run the Jewels or nobody. On Scratch Tracks and New Breaks... I was like, I miss scratch tracks, but I don't want to use ‘Ahhh’ and ‘Freshhh’ and all the same sounds that turntablists have been using over and over. Even to this day, when I hear a contemporary sounding track but they've got a DJ scratching on it, what they're scratching on is always the same thing over and over. To me, it's such an obvious, small step to take: What if the breaks were totally unknown? And all the little phrases and sounds were totally unknown? Wouldn't that be so fresh? The Mountain Will Fall is out now on Mass Appeal djshadow.com

August 2016

Music

The Last Word