The Skinny December 2018 by The Skinny

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CULT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

December 2018 Scotland Issue 159

CHRISTMAS Aidan Moffat's Festive Playlist, Panto Season, Makers' Markets and Design Fairs, a Christmas Card Showcase and our Gift Guide 2018 IN REVIEW The Albums and Films of the Year, and our Comedy Highlights from 2018 MUSIC Julia Holter MHF Live Strike the Colours FILM Scottish Queer International Film Festival CLUBS SLAM Auntie Flo BOOKS Nina Bhadreshwar

TREEMENDOUS TIMES Step into Christmas, and reflect on the best of 2018

P.24 Gift Guide

Photo: Mia Mala McDonald

P.18 A Simple Favor

Photo: Sarah Donley

P.10 Courtney Barnett

P.54 The Last Days of Mankind

December 2018

Issue 159, December 2018 © 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.

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

Printed by Mortons Print Limited, Horncastle ABC verified Jan – Dec 2017: 25,825

printed on 100% recycled paper

Contents

Editorial Acting Editor Art Editor Books Editor Clubs Editor Comedy Editor Events Editor Film & DVD Editor Food Editor Intersections Editor Music Editor Theatre Editor Travel Editor

Peter Simpson Adam Benmakhlouf Heather McDaid Claire Francis Ben Venables Nadia Younes Jamie Dunn Peter Simpson Katie Goh Tallah Brash Amy Taylor Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Designer

Sarah Donley Fiona Hunter

Sales Sales Manager Sales Executives

Sandy Park George Sully David Hammond Joanne Jamieson

Online Digital Editorial Assistant Online Journalist Web Developer Intern

Alexander Smail Jamie Dunn Stuart Spencer Paris Karstedt

Editor-in-Chief Bookkeeping & Accounts Publisher

Rosamund West Aaron Tuveri Sophie Kyle

THE SKINNY

Contents Chat & Opinion: Setting the table for the 06 magazine ahead – a cartoon, The Skinny on Tour competition, details of our Scottish Album of the Year readers’ vote, Shot of the Month and the stuff that’s Online Only. Heads Up: Fill your social calendar to 08 frankly irresponsible levels with our December day-by-day planner.

LIFESTYLE

34 Intersections: Reflections on mental

health in BAME communities and the importance of self-care when you’re politically active, plus a look at the Filipino holiday tradition of Balikbayan boxes.

36 Food & Drink: The events to hit up this

month, and a recap of the food trends we got right and wrong in 2018.

2018 IN REVIEW

FEATURES

big ol’ look at our Music Team’s top ten 10 AAlbums of the Year, running the gamut

cottish Queer International Film 39 SFestival is back; we look at the pro-

from ambient solo piano to neo-industrial boy band, via pretty much everything in between.

16 Our Films of the Year round-up is split

into two parts; the first looks at the best films from the past twelve months, the second sees the Film Team highlight their favourite flicks which may have slipped under your radar (that’s the half that features Gerard Butler).

19 Team Chuckles share their highlights

from The Year in Comedy – live TV goofery, serendipitous stand-up and a Jackson Five tribute act all make the cut.

CHRISTMAS Theatre goes in two-footed on the 21 Fuckboys of Panto, calling Prince

Charming a creep and accusing Jack (off of the Beanstalk) of being a bean-obsessed idiot. Festive!

22 Aidan Moffat’s got a new Christmas

record out this month, so he’s pulled together a list of some of his favourite Yuletide bangers. There’s more reggae and calypso on there than you might expect.

Locally sourced, carefully curated 24 and lovingly photographed, let our Christmas Gift Guide steer your giftbuying in the right direction. does Christmas as Local Heroes 27 Design highlight their A Very Contemporary Christmas pop-up shop in Edinburgh.

28 Art puts all the makers’ markets, design

fairs and artists' sales of the festive season in one place, leaving you more able to dash between them.

oose! Vegetable Wellington! Desserts 31 G that won’t kill your dog! Food & Drink offers up its Alternative Christmas Dinner ideas.

gramme and talk to activist So Mayer.

40 Nina Bhadreshwar was Tupac Shakur’s prison pen pal and a key cog in the Death Row Records machine, and now she’s sharing her story in a new book.

41 Avant-garde treasure Julia Holter on

her new album Aviary, and making art in a chaotic world.

REVIEW

43 Music: We look back on 2018 in Scottish

Music, a year of tragedy, triumph and turmoil; Hannah Currie, Solareye, Be Charlotte and The Spook School on MHF Live; Jenny Reeve on Strike The Colours’ new album; the records to hear and gigs to get to this month.

47 Clubs: Glasgow techno titans SLAM in

interview; the mighty Auntie Flo on bringing his Radio Highlife album to sparkling, collaborative life; our highlights of the clubbing month ahead.

50 Books: Spoken-word and literary highlights, and reviews of the month’s new releases.

51 Art: An exhibitions and opportunities

round-up, and reviews of recent shows at Market Gallery and CCA.

52 Film & TV: Need out of the house?

Here’s what’s good at the cinema! Want to stay in? Here’s hours of great #content you’ve missed this year!

54 Theatre: Keen for some non-festive

board-treading this month? We have you covered with our round-up.

55 Comedy: Fringe Dog drops some knowledge on seasonal gifting. Five stars.

57 Listings: Here’s a list of all the things that you can go and see/do/listen to/watch etc.

32 Our amazing illustrators share their Christmas Cards in this month’s Showcase.

December 2018

Contents

Editorial aybe it’s just the fact that there’s about four hours of sunlight a day, but every December feels like a wild dash to stuff as much as possible into what’s left of the year. We’ve been revving up for these festivities since about September; why is this month still such an overbooked shambles? Why, we ask you! Oh, because it just is? Fair enough, that is how tradition works, so who are we to complain? Anyway, to help you navigate it all, this month’s mag is split into three distinct areas – first up is our recap of 2018. The music team have argued, wrangled, voted and tabulated to come up with our top ten records from the last twelve months. It should be said that, between the lot of them, our writers nominated over 200 albums for this year’s list, which either says that there’s simply too much music going around these days, or that it’s never been easier to take a new record to heart and check out something new. Spoiler alert: it’s the second one. This year’s top ten features shouty post-punk, euphoric pop, delightful R’n’B and a winner which combines elements of all three. Head to p10 to find out which acts I am being needlessly cryptic about. The film squad have also been at the round-up game – they’ve picked out the ten best films of the year, and also compiled a list of unsung films which deserve a second look before we barrel into 2019 – and comedy (led by outgoing editor, good egg and top banana Ben Venables) look back on their favourite moments from the year. 2018: you know what, it had some good stuff in it. But what’s that beardy jingling in the distance? Oh shit, it’s Christmas! Tis the season for gift-giving, so if we’re gonna perform this capitalist dance we may as well do it properly. Hence our lovely gift guide packed with items

from local producers, all nicely arranged and snapped. There’s a guide to the fairs and markets across Scotland where you can get Genuine Art direct from Actual Artists, and a look at the Very Contemporary Christmas pop-up from design champs Local Heroes and Hill Street Design House. Scotland’s favourite indie miserabilist Aidan Moffat has put together an excellent Christmas playlist, theatre takes the opportunity to tear a strip or two off some of panto’s worst men, and our brilliant crew of illustrators grab the centre spread with their excellent Christmas card designs. Oh, and yours truly harps on about eating geese and making meringues out of chickpea water. And when you get fed up of December’s weird mix of looking back on a year that hasn’t finished yet and forward to a Christmas that has been looming for months, we still have you covered. We chat to Julia Holter, who brings her exciting, challenging and inventive new album Aviary to Summerhall, and to author Nina Bhadreshwar about her memoirs of her time with Death Row Records. We also talk to Auntie Flo about presenting his globetrotting new record, and preview the returning Scottish Queer International Film Festival, back at the CCA to put a fantastic exclamation point on the venue’s return from a fire-imposed quarantine. They host Cage-A-Rama 2 to kick off January, then Glasgow Film Festival returns in February, and 2019’s calendar doesn’t slow down from there – before you know it we’ll be back here again. With that in mind, if you can, kick your feet up and enjoy this month’s festive orgy of tinsel, cultural reflection and big-time partying. Safe to say, we’ve all earned it. [Peter Simpson]

COVER ARTIST Jasmine Floyd This month's cover is by illustrator Jasmine Floyd. Based in Liverpool by way of Shropshire, she specialises in vibrant colours and funky subjects. You can see more of her on her site, jasminesillustrations.co.uk. Find her on Instagram @jasminesillustrations

By Jock Mooney

Shot of the Month

Slayer, The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, 12 Nov by Paul Storr Photography

Chat

THE SKINNY

Online Only

Read the full interview at theskinny.co.uk/film

2018 in Scottish film From Netflix sniffing around Scotland’s past and present to Avengers assembling in Edinburgh’s Old Town, there’s plenty to look back on from the past year. So we shall, over at theskinny. co.uk/film Hogmanay Clubbing guide As 2018 comes to a close, spend its final hours (and the first few of 2019) at one of the many wildly-curated line-ups across Scotland. Get the full lowdown on what’s happening at theskinny.co.uk/clubs Stephanie Sykes on techno and touring The techno great was on the panel when Soma’s summer school hit SWG3 this summer, and ahead of her Sub Club debut we catch up with Stephanie Sykes.

“My attitude towards producing music is to just try and be a little bit better than I was yesterday. To take my time and not get too pressurised. To do it because I enjoy it and to not worry about things not sounding perfect, because perfection doesn't exist.” Read more at theskinny.co.uk/clubs

All Saints on Testament and teamwork Following the release of this year’s Testament album, and ahead of their upcoming UK tour this month, we speak to the band about how they’re doing things differently this time round. “I think when we were back in our teens and 20s, how on earth would we have known how to be four business partners and best friends together in a band,” Shaznay Lewis tells us. “First and foremost, our friendship is most important. I think as long as we’re mindful of making sure we’re OK, then I think everything else falls into place." Read the full interview at theskinny.co.uk/music

Books of the Year Our Books team pull together their favourite reads from the past twelve months, just in time for you to fill your Christmas holidays with lovely words. Read our selections at theskinny.co.uk/books The House That Jack Built

Photo: Zentropa Christian Geisnaes

Lars von Trier on The House That Jack Built The Danish auteur discusses film violence, alcoholism, and the impact of David Bowie’s death on his life and outlook. “I still feel betrayed somehow,” von Trier says. “He's from Mars, you know, and they don't die on Mars. Somehow I can forgive all the other deaths of artists, but Bowie... I cannot, I cannot.”

Find more at theskinny.co.uk

The Skinny on Tour ¡Hola, comrades! As the weather outside is – to use a meteorological term – pure pish, we’ve jetted off to sunnier climes this month. We spent the trip listening to salsa, dancing the rumba and drinking rum and cokes – although we couldn’t find a can of Coca-Cola for the life of us. Turns out we were in one of only two nations where that brown, sweet nectar is outlawed (the other, incidentally is North Korea). Luckily, the local tuKola is just as delicious. The rest of the holiday was spent chilling in this city’s many parks – we particularly enjoyed the

ones dedicated to (John) Lennon and (Vladimir) Lenin. We also idled the days away admiring the vintage cars on the road and smoking the country’s famous cigars – they certainly beat a Hamlet. Our visit put us in mind of this quote from the country’s most famous adopted son. “We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.” ¡Viva la revolución!

Your Scottish Album of 2018

If you reckon you know where we’ve been this month, head across to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and you could be in with the chance of winning The Little Snake by AL Kennedy courtesy of our pals at Canongate.

Fatherson

In what’s becoming a bit of a festive tradition, we asked you lot to cast your vote for your favourite Scottish album of the last twelve months. And you did. In your thousands. In third place was Dance Music, the album from Frightened Rabbit and Editors supergroup Mastersystem, while genre-straddling Glasgow five-piece Lylo came in second. But top of your list for 2018 was Sum of All Your Parts, the third album from Kilmarnock’s own Fatherson. It’s an album that we gave the full five stars on its release back in September, saying that it “leaves long-lasting impressions that intensify with every listen”, and clearly you lot

December 2018

agreed. Congratulations to Fatherson; your full top ten is below, and head to p10 for our music team’s picks of the year’s best albums. 1) Fatherson – Sum of All Your Parts 2) LYLO – Post Era 3) Mastersystem – Dance Music 4) Kathryn Joseph – From When I Wake the Want Is 5) Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar 6) The Spook School – Could it Be Different? idan Moffat & RM Hubbert – Here Lies the Body 7) A 8) SOPHIE – Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides 9) Martha Ffion – Sunday Best 10) Makeness – Loud Patterns

Chat

Set in the decadent surrounds of The Georgian House in Edinburgh’s New Town, the National Trust for Scotland offer an immersive theatre experience in Enlightenment House – A Play in Five Rooms. Celebrating the Enlightenment period, the production will draw parallels between the ideals of the 18th Century with those of the present day. The Georgian House, Edinburgh, times vary, £15

Wed 28 Nov

Wed 5 Dec

Thu 6 Dec

Not quite in the Christmas spirit yet? Well, A Christmas Carol will practically make you feel like you’ve been walking around in an elf outfit carrying mistletoe in comparison to lead character Ebenezer Scrooge. Presented by the Citizens Theatre at Tramway, the sell-out 2014 production will be refreshed for its new surroundings but will still maintain its distinctive style. Tramway, Glasgow, 7pm, £9-12.50

Goth legends Bauhaus celebrate their 40th anniversary this year, and in honour of it, frontman Peter Murphy is heading out on tour with fellow founding member David J in tow. The live dates follow the first official release of the group’s debut studio recording, The Bela Sessions EP, in November, which features the original version of the iconic track, Bela Lugosi’s Dead. SWG3 Galvanizers, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £32.50

Continuing its celebration of queer cinema,the Scottish Queer Inter national Film Festival, or SQIFF for short, this year includes a strand on Queer Arab Lives. Screening today, as part of Kinning Park Complex’s monthly community meal, with food served on a pay-what-youwant basis, is Mr Gay Syria – a documentary following the lives of Turkish barber Husein and Syrian refugee Mahmoud. Kinning Park Complex, Glasgow, 6pm, £PWYW

A Christmas Carol

Credit: Alistair Devine and Toad's Caravan

Tue 4 Dec

David J and Peter Murphy

Mr Gay Syria

Thu 13 Dec

And the award for this year’s best-titled panto goes to… Òran Mór’s Christmas Panto, The Lying Bitch & the Wardrobe. As you can probably guess, this isn’t the kind of family-friendly panto you can take the kids to. Instead, it’s more of an alternative Christmas theatre affair, following Empress Evilyin on a vicious and brutal quest for power and love. Òran Mór, Glasgow, 12pm, £15

In almost complete contrast, Mouthpiece explores the two different sides of Edinburgh, from the perspective of two young artists from very different backgrounds. New Town-living writer Libby finds her latest story in young artist Declan, struggling with a volatile home life on the outskirts of the city, but the lines between telling his story and exploiting his circumstances become blurred. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 8pm, £8-15

With more hits than you can shake a disco ball at, Nile Rodgers & CHIC are embarking on a massive arena tour of the UK this month. Rodgers was recently appointed the Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Chief Creative Advisor for Abbey Road Studios; we’re not entirely sure what either entail, but they sound pretty important. The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, 6.30pm, £45-75

Mouthpiece

Credit: Stewart Armstrong

Wed 12 Dec

Credit: Jacky Sheridan

Tue 11 Dec

Panto Dames

Enlightenment House – A Play in Five Rooms

Nile Rodgers & CHIC

Fri 21 Dec

Opening this month at Tramway, Belgian-American artist Cécile B. Evans displays her most ambitious installation to date, and concludes a three-part series she’s been working on since 2017. AMOS' WORLD takes the form of a TV show set in a socially progressive housing estate split into separate episodes, with each taking place within its own unique installation. Tramway, Glasgow, until 17 Mar (closed 23 Dec 18-3 Jan 19)

The classic tale of that famous horse, Black Beauty is retold in this new production by Red Bridge Arts and Traverse Theatre Company, created by Andy Manley, Andy Cannon and Shona Reppe. With a unique blend of storytelling, music and puppetry, it’s sure to impress fans of the book and the TV show, as well as those new to the story. Platform, Glasgow, times vary, £5-9

It wouldn’t be Christmas without some sort of festive drag show. This year, our camp Christmas celebration comes from Fringe favourites the Bugle Boys, with their new show, Christmas Crackers. Ewan James Armstrong, Martin MacLennan and Tom Harlow are joined by pianist Chris Gorman to perform all your favourite Christmas tunes, from Bing Crosby to Mariah Carey. Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, times vary, £10-15

Prima ballerina Natalia Osipova stars in The Mother, a dance adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Story of a Mother. First published in 1847, the book tells the story of a mother on a mission to save her child, who has been taken by Death, but she must face some extreme obstacles along the way. Merry Christmas. Pleasance at EICC, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £20

Tues 25 Dec

Wed 26 Dec

Thu 27 Dec

Fri 28 Dec

CHRISTMAS DAY

Boxing Day is traditionally for lying on the sofa, watching films, and simultaneously regretting all the food and drink you’re consuming, yet continuing to consume it. If you feel like braving the outdoors today though, keep it festive with The Snow Queen. Another of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tales – the man put in work – is reimagined in this production. Dundee Rep, Dundee, times vary, £12-27

Dust those crumbs off your PJs and get ready to dance off your Christmas dinner at Animal Farm’s 14th Birthday tonight; just look at it as a preNYE warm-up. The techno connoisseurs have invited along a pair of heavyhitters in Shlømo and Stephanie Sykes to join in the celebrations, both making their Subbie debuts, with resident Quail on the support. Sub Club, Glasgow, 11pm, £10-12

Edinburgh Zoo once again play host to the spectacle that is Giant Lanterns of China. Over 450 lanterns will light up a trail through the Zoo, with stops along the way including the Monkey King, the Faerie Glen and the Mystical Winged Tiger. There will also be a festive marketplace, selling handmade crafts from Chinese artisans if you fancy a post-Crimbo treat. Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh, times vary, £0-20

Black Beauty

Credit: Julija Straižytė

Tue 18 Dec

Chat

Cécile B. Evans, AMOS’ WORLD

Bugle Boys

The Snow Queen

Shlømo

Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Thu 20 Dec

Photo: Nottingham University

Wed 19 Dec

Natalia Osipova

Giant Lanterns of China at Edinburgh Zoo

THE SKINNY

Photo: Bradley Secker

Jason Reynolds

Leeds-based trio Drahla make their Edinburgh debut with a stop on their brief nine-date UK tour at Sneaky’s. The band have already played in Glasgow twice this year – the first in a support slot for Canadian post-punks Ought at Stereo and the second on their own headline tour at Broadcast – but they make a welcome visit to the capital, with support from Sleep Eaters. Edinburgh, 7pm, £8

Photo: Iain Scott

Drahla

Photo: Rick Guest

Let’s not beat around the bush, 2018 has been a pretty diabolical year. With the world seemingly heading toward impending doom, we can only hope for a better 2019. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Independent publisher 404 Ink and multi-arts collective Neu! Reekie! join forces to bring forward An Evening with Jason Reynolds & Kayus Bankole. Reynolds – an award-winning American young adult fiction author – will discuss his new book, For Every One, with Bankole – one third of Edinburgh trio Young Fathers – which serves as a manifesto for dreamers. Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh, 7pm, £7.50

Photo: Roosa Päivänsalo

Compiled by: Nadia Younes

Thu 29 Nov

Photo: Ben Fractenberg

Heads Up

Tue 27 Nov

It’s been a massive year for Young Fathers. Since releasing their incredible third album, Cocoa Sugar, in March, they’ve appeared on Later… with Jools Holland, won the Scottish Album of the Year award, and even had time to release a new single, also called Cocoa Sugar, at the end of October. They’re seeing out the year with a brief run of UK dates. O2 Academy, Glasgow, 7pm, £22.50

Brian d’Souza’s latest release as Auntie Flo, Radio Highlife, has received rave reviews across the board for its exploration of global sounds, as also demonstrated at his Highlife parties. The Glasgow producer will be taking the album out on a special live show tour, where the breadth of those sounds, picked up during seven years of travelling, will certainly be heard. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, 7pm, £9

If you’re looking for a more unique present this Christmas, try your luck at A Very Contemporary Christmas, a pop-up shop featuring ceramics, jewellery, knitwear, prints, and much more all from independent designers. Organised by Hill Street Design House founder Jenny Hazel and Local Heroes director Stacey Hunter, browse products from the likes of Risotto, Jennifer Kent and Laura Spring. Hill Street Design House, Edinburgh, 12pm, free

Jupiter Artland

It’s officially December, which means we can actually talk about Christmas and not freak out about how IT’S ONLY (insert month here). Jupiter Artland's Christmas Fair is a good place to start to get you in the Christmas spirit. Have your first mulled wine of the season, shop for presents from artisan stalls, or even make your own wreath to take home. Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, 11am, £2-8.50

The Spook School Auntie Flo

Laura Spring

Fri 7 Dec

Sun 9 Dec

Mon 10 Dec

Glasgow collective Missing Persons Club bring back two former guests to help celebrate their sixth birthday. One, Umfang, is a co-founder of the NYC organisation Discwoman – a platform developed to promote female-identifying and LGBTQ+ artists and DJs – and the other, Anastasia Kristensen, is a rising star on the techno scene. Basically, it’s going to be a good night. Sub Club, Glasgow, 11pm, £10-12

Another day, another Christmas market; it is December after all. In Glasgow, Vegan Connections Christmas Market will offer you plenty of pressie options for your vegan pals, with 35 stalls setting up shop (BAaD, Glasgow, 10am, £0-4). While in Edinburgh, there will also be vegan treats and much, much more at the Summerhall Christmas Market. Summerhall, Edinburgh, 11am, £2

With three successful EPs already under his belt, Nigerian-born, Birmingham-raised soul singer Jacob Banks released his debut album, Village, at the start of November. Inspired by his upbringing, both in Africa and the UK, the album encompasses Banks’ wideranging influences and features guest appearances from Rihanna’s goto songwriter Bibi Bourelly and Swedish R’n’B singer Seinabo Sey. St Luke's, Glasgow, 7pm, £18.90

Out of the Blue Xmas Arts Market

Out of the Blue’s Xmas Arts Markets are back on the first three Saturdays in December, with over 150 artists and makers selling their works over the three dates. Today, the market also includes a one-off Xmas Bruncheon, with three hours of live music, as well as stalls from the likes of Ladykerry, Eira Soaps and BertyB. Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Edinburgh, 11am, £1.50

Sconefest

Photo: @futuredeadpoet

Anastasia Kristensen

Summerhall Christmas Market

Photo: Cat Thomson

Sat 8 Dec

Jacob Banks

Sat 15 Dec

Mon 17 Dec

Complete your food-fuelled weekend at The Pitt's Christmas Market Extravaganza, where there will be a festive edition of The Food + Flea Market until 7pm, as well as over 30 food and drink stalls all the way up until midnight, over two days. Eat, drink, be merry and maybe fit in some Christmas shopping while you’re at it; maybe. The Biscuit Factory, Edinburgh, 11am, £2

Immersive theatre seems to be all the rage at the moment. Following a successful debut last year, A Christmas Fairy Trail is back, with a new, revamped version and it’s being described as ‘bigger, brighter and bolder’. Presumably that means more people, more lights and more daring performances, but it’s anyone’s guess really. Archerfield Walled Garden, East Lothian, 4pm, £8-12

Jeff Goldblum

Fri 14 Dec

The Pitt's Christmas Market Extravaganza

Photo: Harrison Reid

Sun 16 Dec

If you haven’t been to one of Tasty Buns’ previous Sconefests, then you’ve sadly missed the likes of Sakesoaked hot smoked salmon, wasabi and seaweed scones and buffalo blue cheese chicken scones – yep, that’s right. We expect Festive Sconefest to live up to the high standards of past events and are hoping for some Christmas-y flavours. Mulled wine scones anyone? Tasty Buns Bakery, Edinburgh, 8.30am-5pm, free

The legend of Jeff Goldblum lives on, and whether you sit on the creepy or cool side of the Goldblum fence, it’s impossible to deny his status as a cult icon. In honour of the man, the myth and the legend, the always brilliant Burnt Church Film Club bring you A Night of Jeff Goldblum, with movie screenings and even a quiz. Flying Duck, Glasgow, 2pm, £8-12

A Christmas Fairy Trail

Photo: Robert C Brady

Young Fathers

Photo: Gabriela Zigova

Sat 1 Dec

Photo: Grace Rivera

Mon 3 Dec

Photo: Flavien Prioreau

Sun 2 Dec Photo: Anna Docherty

Fri 30 Nov

Sun 23 Dec

Mon 24 Dec

Have you ever been to the Usher Hall and thought, ‘well this would make a good nightclub?’ No? Us either. But FLY Club have gone and done it anyway. Sulta Selects The Usher Hall will include DJ sets from Denis Sulta himself, as well as the inimitable Honey Dijon and Horse Meat Disco. Weird venue choice aside, they’ve done pretty well on the lineup. Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 5pm, £30

The premise of Hobo Cinema is to watch Christmas films in an outdoor setting, but without having to freeze to death actually being outside. The Indoor Winter Woodland Cinema features set design from Pyrus Botanicals, with a programme of festive films shown on a big screen. Today’s options include Home Alone and White Christmas. Restoration Yard, Dalkeith Country Park, times vary, £10-13.50

What film feels more appropriate to watch on Christmas Eve than The Nightmare Before Christmas? None, we hear you say; well, we agree. Tim Burton’s classic Halloween meets Christmas flick follows Pumpkin King of Halloween Town Jack Skellington as he tries to hijack Christmas, but it doesn’t exactly go to plan. Glasgow Science Centre, Glasgow, times vary, £6-10

Sat 29 Dec The Stand’s annual Hootfest! is back to get you laughing your way into the New Year, with some top comedians at hand to help. Edinburgh’s edition is hosted by Stuart Murphy, with guests Dave Fulton, Liam Withnail, Jay Lafferty and Gareth Mutch; while, over in Glasgow, host Scott Agnew will introduce Janey Godley, Ray Bradshaw, Jamie MacDonald and Donald Alexander. The Stand, Edinburgh and Glasgow, times vary, £8-17.50

December 2018

Sun 30 Dec

Mon 31 Dec

Taking things a step further from putting your lighters up, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations kick off tonight with the famous Torchlight Procession. Beginning from three different meeting points, torchbearers will be accompanied by pipers and drummers as they march through Edinburgh’s Old Town, with the event concluding in Holyrood Park. You might want to avoid the area if you’re not taking part. Various venues, Edinburgh, 7pm, £3-13

The Black Madonna and Optimo will be spending Hogmanay this year bolting across the M8, with both playing at SWG3 present New Year’s Eve (SWG3, Glasgow, 10pm, £25) and FLY NYE (Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, 10pm, £25-35). If neither take your fancy though, La Cheetah x Cooking with Palms Trax sees in the New Year with Avalon Emerson, Or:la, Shanti Celeste and more. La Cheetah Club, Glasgow, 10pm, £30

Torchlight Procession

Photo: Steve Ullathorne

Janey Godley

Hobo Cinema

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tues 1 Jan

Rødhåd

Avalon Emerson

Photo: Joseph Wolfgang

Honey Dijon

Photo: Robert C Brady

Sat 22 Dec

Spend the last of your Christmas money and any energy you have left from the festive season at one of two massive techno parties this New Year’s Day. Maximum Pressure NYD will feature sets from the likes of DVS1, Charlotte de Witte and DJ Fett Burger (SWG3, Glasgow, 7pm, £30), while Pulse NYD have got Rødhåd, I Hate Models, Neil Landstrumm and more. La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, 9pm, £27.50

Chat

Albums of 2018 #10

Nils Frahm – All Melody Nils Frahm’s seventh studio album, All Melody, may be his masterwork, at once a beautiful mood piece and a collection of danceable barnstormers

Words: Adam Turner-Heffer

his year’s All Melody, Nils Frahm’s seventh studio album, saw the German composer taking the momentum he acquired from 2013’s Spaces and 2015’s Solo and running with it full steam ahead. It’s the perfect record to lose oneself in, and every fingerprint Frahm leaves over its 74 minutes makes it one of the most thrilling listening experiences 2018 has to offer; both a beautiful mood piece and a collection of danceable barnstormers. All Melody begins with the sound of footsteps, presumably Frahm’s as he approaches his organ, reverberating around his studio, a slight cough and we’re off. The organs pipe up, the vocal choir begin, the experience happens. The opening gambit of The Whole Universe Wants to Be Touched and Sunson display breathtaking levels of intimacy which colour All Melody unrelentingly

Nils Frahm

throughout. From there it’s difficult not to be taken into the trance that Frahm puts the listener under, such is his ability to create mood and atmosphere at the drop of a hat until the sudden dramatic pause wakes them. At the album’s centre is the double-headed beast of All Melody and #2, two tracks which over a total runtime of almost 20 minutes drive home

Frahm’s vision for this record suggested by its title. They swerve and shapeshift, peaking with energy and thrilling imagination and serve as the album’s most danceable songs. The album simmers considerably after this centrepiece, merely a sign that Frahm is fully capable of capturing both ambient and driving moods, seamlessly moulding them into one.

Photo: Alexander Schneider

Going into the album’s final stretch, the aptly titled Momentum further slows the pace without losing a hint of the mood Frahm has conjured. Kaleidoscope offers one final descent into madness, all dizzying arpeggiated keys that swirl as if traversing a maze, before Harm Hymn brings a peace and tranquillity that feels appropriate to close such a stunning record. Time will tell, but All Melody could be Frahm’s masterwork. Either way, it stands as one of 2018’s true highlights of electronic, ambient and contemporary classical music; with such cinematic scope and vision it seems surprising it isn’t an original soundtrack. All Melody was released on 26 Jan via Erased Tape Records nilsfrahm.com

Car Seat Headrest

Photo: Mikeal Beland

Courtney Barnett – #8 Tell Me How You Really Feel

Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy Words: Lewis Wade win Fantasy was the sixth album Will Toledo released under the Car Seat Headrest moniker, when he was 19, in 2011. It was also the first album that he recorded as an actual album, a conceptual treatise on a relationship Toledo was in at the time. Last year, with the backing of Matador Records and a full band at his disposal, he decided to revisit the songs that helped cement his early cult status. The result was this February’s Twin Fantasy (Face to Face), a complete rerecording of the aforementioned album with a certain amount of lyrical and instrumental tweaking. The emotional resonance of Twin Fantasy hasn’t dimmed in the slightest over the intervening seven years, nor is it likely to any time in the future, and the album only serves to demonstrate that Toledo’s gift for intricate storytelling and writerly panache isn’t something that just appeared when he signed with a label. The level of detail and feeling that is poured into these ten songs is nothing short of astounding. The main benefit of this rerecording is that the improved production brings Toledo’s vocals into sharper focus – undoubtedly the main draw of the record. But there are also lyrical changes that

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provide interesting insights into the development of Car Seat Headrest. Nervous Young Inhumans has undergone the most drastic changes, with the chorus completely overhauled and a spoken outro musing on the nature of good and evil (or lack thereof) and the ways in which touring can mess with your perception of time, rather than the nervous, bumbling sentimentality of the original. Given the sheer volume of recurring motifs, internal references and hidden easter eggs that appear across the Car Seat Headrest discography, Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) can be viewed as the ultimate, overarching example of Will Toledo’s proclivity for meta-textual tinkering. But what makes it one of the best albums of the year is that the lyrical content is still just as prescient as ever in its exploration of interpersonal neuroses and existential ennui. While the production quality adds to the clarity of the overall music, its concerns and revelations are as complex and timeless as ever. Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) was released on 16 Feb via Matador carseatheadrest.com

Words: Cheri Amour

The production quality of Car Seat Headrest’s rerecorded version of 2011’s Twin Fantasy adds to the clarity of the overall music, while its concerns and revelations are as complex and timeless as ever

Courtney Barnett’s Tell Me How You Really Feel was a bold return to form from the Australian artist, showing no signs of difficult second album syndrome

hen Melbourne musician Courtney Barnett rocked up into our peripheries in the Spring of 2015, she was branded a “refreshing anomaly”. It’s a fair assertion considering the previous year’s highlights were far more left field, with the wonky pop of FKA Twigs and giant hits of hip-hop supergroup Run the Jewels topping the year-end lists. Barnett’s debut, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, wasn’t an unfamiliar sound, but it ushered back in the doleful jangle of her grunge forefathers with open arms. Many branded Barnett under the ‘slacker rock’ title but it’s unfair to suggest her songwriting craft is lacklustre. Instead, this is an artist that prides herself on the minutiae of the every day, and coins these stories artfully through that trademark wit. Fast-forward three years then, and just four months after her tag-team album (Lotta Sea Lice) and tour with Kurt Vile, Barnett unveiled the lead single – Nameless, Faceless, a biting cuss at internet trolls – from her sophomore release, Tell Me How You Really Feel. Clearly not one to be affected by the difficult second album syndrome, it was a bold return, made bolder still by the recruitment of alt-rock icons Kim and Kelley Deal of The Breeders, who provide backing vocals on Nameless, Faceless and album number Crippling Self-Doubt and a General Lack of Confidence. Confessing to Louisville radio veteran Kyle Meredith, Barnett admitted she’d only begun listening to the iconic foursome in her early 20s: “[The Breeders] were a bit of a late discovery for me, but I think music always comes to you when it’s supposed to, when you need it somehow.”

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That’s fairly true of Tell Me How You Really Feel – alongside its cultural cornerstone nods, it also offers a lot of self-reflection. Chugging singalong Need a Little Time finds Barnett contemplating the intimacy of constant online connectivity: ‘I don’t know a lot about you / But you seem to know a lot about me’. Walkin’ on Eggshells is similarly cautious, as she plays out the balance between selfexpression and backtracking for fear of being misunderstood: ‘You know what I mean? Not really, it seems’. And, much like Sometimes I Sit and Think’s Pedestrian at Best’s sombre takeaway amongst fuzzed out guitars asking for a little forgiveness (‘Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you’), she’s quick to reinforce to her fans that she’s ‘not claiming I’m some patron saint’. Of course, we shouldn’t give artists God-like tiers to preach from but, against a backdrop of women finally speaking out, this record does ask a direct and important question: Tell me how you really feel? Scroll through Barnett’s website and you’ll find thousands of people have done just that, as the homepage swells with a running commentary from fan-inputted hopes, fears and insecurities. It’s a stark realisation that sometimes we all need to open up, even if it doesn’t quite come out how we expected it to. We should all cut ourselves some slack. After all, that doesn’t mean we aren’t busy making waves – Barnett is testament to that. Tell Me How You Really Feel was released on 18 May via Milk! Records, Mom + Pop Music and Marathon Artists courtneybarnett.com.au

THE SKINNY

From rerecorded albums to pop treasures, tackling toxic masculinity to explorations in femininity, longing to be kissed and representing culture as it really is, there's something for everyone in The Skinny's top ten albums of the year

#7 Aidan Moffat &

Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer

RM Hubbert – Here Lies the Body

Janelle Monáe’s third album, Dirty Computer, is protest music hidden beneath the guise of a party album and a celebration of Monáe herself – her sexuality, her femininity, her identity

Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert’s debut collaborative album, Here Lies the Body is the tale of two protagonists whose stories snake through passion, deception, grief and maternal abandonment

Words: Alexander Smail

‘I

Interview: Susan Le May

Janelle Monáe

Photo: Andy Witchger

’m not America’s nightmare / I’m the American dream’ Self-love is hard – harder still when the world doesn’t appreciate or even recognise your existence. Such is the crux of Janelle Monáe’s third album Dirty Computer, which is at once a scathing repudiation of a society that muzzles individuality and a raucous celebration of that individuality all the same. A 48-minute epic, Dirty Computer is the defiant album we need in these turbulent times; it’s protest music hidden beneath the guise of a party album. Screwed is at once a fearful reflection on the current state of the U.S. of A. and an absolute bop – its title a reference to getting fucked both literally and figuratively. ‘We go sex crazy / But we feel so screwed,’ she sings together with guest Zoë Kravitz on the chorus over a rich bass and glittering synths, before taking more pointed shots at fake news and Russia in a fierce coda. A reverent nod to Prince’s 1999, the song is an end of the world party anthem. The spirit of Monáe’s mentor looms large over the album, perhaps nowhere more so than on the gloriously smutty lead single Make Me Feel. From her cheeky sensuality to the track’s funkadelic electric guitar, it’s a fittingly sexy tribute to His Royal Badness. There’s even mention of a ‘shag carpet’; what more needs to be said? Looking past the eroticism though, the beating heart of Dirty Computer is its celebration of queer women. Sweet and spicy Take a Byte finds Monáe flirting with and comforting a lover insecure about their sexuality, while Pynk was inspired by, as she describes, “creation, self-love, sexuality and pussy power.” With its soft synth beat and gentle, carnal imagery, it’s an intimate

and affectionate ode to femininity. “It’s gon’ be my America before it’s all over,” Reverend Sean McMillan says in a spoken word coda on closing track Americans, following declarations that a country which would discriminate against women, black and queer people is not one that he would call home. Riding a gleaming synth melody, his words echo a sentiment Monáe expresses in the opening lines of the song: ‘Hate all around you, don’t have to face it on your own / We will win this fight’. Standing in solidarity with those who are oppressed, her parting message is ultimately one of hope and more than anything, Dirty Computer is a celebration of Monáe herself – her sexuality, her femininity, her identity. Dirty Computer was released on 27 Apr via Wondaland Arts Society, Bad Boy Records and Atlantic Records jmonae.com

here was an inevitability to the more permanent musical pairing of Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert following the success of Car Song from Hubbert’s 2012 Thirteen Lost & Found album, but that was just a glimpse of what was to come on Here Lies the Body. The duo’s debut emerged after years of interwoven history and friendship, and when they spoke with The Skinny before the album’s release earlier in the year, they admitted to a certain ease with the process. “It was almost an extension of the writing process where we just kind of left each other to it,” says Hubbert. “The core relationship on the record is trust.” The record features Siobhan Wilson on additional vocal and cello duties, as well as Arab Strap’s David Jeans on drums, whilst piano and saxophone act as delicate but delicious accoutrements. There’s discotastic pop, samba beats and strings, rare death-wail field recordings and nightmarish fairy tales with wolf-howl sax and sinister percussion, all embellishing Hubbert’s peerless playing and Moffat’s unmistakable vocal delivery and lyrical wit. It’s the tale of two protagonists; long lost lovers whose stories snake through passion and deception, grief, maternal abandonment, and all of the seedy spaces in between. The album’s primary themes emerged after

Moffat had been reading about a woman who had left her children. He wanted to both explore this taboo and take a backseat from writing about himself. Hubbert too was pleased to assume a role distanced from lyrical or vocal duties. “I would basically send off ten songs about death, and then they would come back about shagging,” he states. “The whole theme of the album – death and shagging,” roars Moffat. Moffat doesn’t shy away from referring to Here Lies the Body as a concept album: “I never used to talk about it because in the 80s the idea of a concept record was disgusting. People died in the punk wars for that fucking shit to be ended! But these days I think it’s important that folk know that albums have a bigger function beyond just being some songs. The songs are on one record together for a reason, they all came from the same place and have the same characters in them. I think it’s important to talk about these things so we can elevate albums beyond the idea that it’s just a wee pile of songs that people shat out at some point.” Here Lies the Body was released on 11 May via Rock Action hereliesthebody.com

Robyn – Honey Words: Katie Hawthorne

ime is fluid when Robyn’s in charge. It’s her driving force, the ticking bomb, the pulsing bass, the beating heart. And when she clicks her stopwatch, she can freeze for you a perfect, crystallised moment. She captures a single heartbeat – one breathless second – and spins it into perfect, complex pop treasure. Missing U, Honey’s first single, puts into lyrics this act of crystallisation. Metronomy’s Joseph Mount’s blissful, sun-kissed arpeggios dance in the light, helping us bear an almost unbearable sadness. ‘This part of you / This clock that stopped / This residue / It’s all I’ve got,’ she sings, making a monument out of an impossible feeling: ‘I’ve turned all my sorrow into glass’. Honey is the Swedish star’s eighth album, and her first full-length in as many years. Trusted

December 2018

collaborator Klas Åhlund heads up the album’s short list of select collaborators and, in an Instagram post, Robyn explained that the tracks are “more or less in the order I wrote them.” In recent interviews, she revealed that the break-up (and make-up) of a long-term relationship and the death of a close friend informs the emotional journey documented over its nine tracks. Honey feels softer than her previous LPs, and Robyn’s said that she found influence in the club – in the wave-like, time-bending power that a great DJ can harness for their dancers. The mood shifts almost imperceptibly, the edges are smoothed. The persuasion and desperation of Baby Forgive Me bleeds into the urgency and compassion of Send to Robin Immediately, a collaboration with Kindness’ Adam Bainbridge.

Robyn

The title track too is an ode to delayed gratification. But, more than any other track on Honey, Because It’s in the Music reveals Robyn’s time-travelling secrets. It’s a song about a song. More specifically, it shows Robyn vividly, viscerally refeeling the memories she’s tied to that song. It’s all there – that need to know if your memories look the same to someone else, that feeling of falling in love with a song that so precisely mirrors an exact moment in time. It feels fitting that Ever Again, the album’s last track, radiates sweetness and sincerity. Robyn promises us: ‘I’m only gonna sing about love / Ever

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Photo: Creative Commons

Robyn’s eighth album, and her first in as many years, Honey can capture a single heartbeat – one breathless second – and spin it into perfect, complex pop treasure

again! / Never gonna let it happen / Then it won’t be all for nothing / Oh, I swear I’m never gonna be brokenhearted / Ever again!’ And finally, at the three minute-mark, we have it! A huge, synth explosion! The breakdown we’ve been waiting for! The last 90 seconds of Robyn’s Honey are a euphoric celebration of pain, optimism, strobes, sweat, stilettos and broken bottles. As ever, Robyn lifts you up despite everything, because of everything. Honey was released on 26 Oct via Konichiwa and Interscope robyn.com

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IDLES – Joy as an Act of Resistance The combination of intelligent structuring, punchy songwriting and unifying messaging make IDLES’ sophomore album one of 2018’s best

IDLES

he great feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde famously said: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Her words ring as true in 2018 as they have at any point in history: greed is regarded as a virtue, mass consumption is encouraged though it’s destroying the planet, and fascism is again on the rise. For Lorde, attempting to resist the systemic pressures imposed by a toxic capitalist system through self-love was a revolutionary act. It’s an idea that

Photo: Ebru Yildiz

Words: Jonathan Rimmer

deeply resonates with IDLES, a five-piece from Bristol with big ideas about music’s role as a form of protest. Their second album, Joy as an Act of Resistance, is pretty much as on-the-nose as it sounds, a rowdy and assertive punk record that rails against everything from toxic masculinity to consumerism to British nationalism. We say ‘punk’ – a term Talbot “didn’t care about” when The Skinny spoke to him in August and one he’s now rejected entirely – but that refers more to

frontman Joe Talbot’s defiant tone than anything else. The band might stylistically resemble cult post-hardcore acts like Mclusky and Million Dead, but they’re nowhere near as cryptic or abstract in terms of lyricism. IDLES aren’t particularly interested in beating around the bush because their goal is to connect with the listener on a primal level. As Talbot told us in our interview: “It’s about tapping into the consensus and writing diegetically.” It’s partly why the band prefer to describe themselves as “passionate rather than angry.” IDLES are shouty and riffy in their approach, yes, but their perceived rage is driven primarily by empathy. The opening salvo of Television typifies this message best: ‘If someone talked to you / The way you do to you / I’d put their teeth through / Love yourself ’. Incitements of rebellion by rock musicians tends to feel clichéd and meaningless, visceral statements of machismo designed to appeal to angst-ridden adolescents. IDLES instead call for vulnerability and, most importantly, they practice what they preach. On I’m Scum, they wear their snowflake status with pride (‘I’m lefty, I’m soft / I’m minimum wage job’) and they express solidarity with “beautiful immigrant” pals on Danny Nedelko. The heartbreaking June deals with the death in childbirth of Talbot’s daughter (‘Baby shoes for sale, never worn’) and his proclamation on Samaritans that masculinity is ‘why you never see your father cry’ is absolutely shiver-inducing in its powerful delivery. IDLES aren’t necessarily the first band to

convey these sentiments, and acts as diverse as Loyle Carner and Sleaford Mods can testify they’re part of a wider generation of openly political working-class artists emerging in the UK. However, there’s a power to IDLES’ modus operandi. As a record, Joy as an Act of Resistance is extraordinarily well paced. Bursting out the gates on Colossus and Never Fight a Man With a Perm, guitarists Lee Kiernan and Mark Bowen are shown to have serious technical chops. They’ve been compared to 80s post-punk groups like New Model Army due to their intense, engine-like rhythms – perfect for the more reflective mid-album cuts – but closer Rottweiler shows they’re equally as adept at thrashing out. It’s this combination of intelligent structuring, punchy songwriting and unifying messaging that make it one of the best albums of the year. Rather than sour the points they’re trying to impart, their brutal sound only makes them more compelling – to them, protesting against injustice in a monolithic system is exactly what rock music is about. The band’s call for self-care isn’t an endorsement of capital-fuelled individualism but a rousing cry for collective resistance against such a concept. The tunes may be rumbling and menacing, but IDLES are ultimately as interested in their music bringing humans together as they are in anarchy in the UK. Joy as an Act of Resistance was released on 31 Aug via Partisan Records idlesband.com

Mitski – Be the Cowboy Mitski channels sadness into euphoria in a way few others can, and the songs on Be the Cowboy will have you dancing through the pain

Words: Nadia Younes

obody has been pining for a kiss this year more than Mitski Miyawaki. Once again teaming up with longtime producer Patrick Hyland for her fifth album Be the Cowboy, Mitski has simultaneously managed to make her grandest and saddest record to date, and it’s undoubtedly her best yet. Mitski channels sadness into euphoria in a way few others can, and the songs on Be the Cowboy will have you dancing through the pain. Told through the lens of a fictional character – inspired by Isabelle Huppert’s character in The Piano Teacher – Mitski embodies the role of a dissatisfied, repressed wife, who is at odds with her wants and desires. The haunting opener of Geyser establishes this new sounding Mitski straight away in an album that’s equal parts dramatic and intimate; youthful yet mature. What we’re used to hearing from her is still very much there in the fragility of the lyrics and the experimental song structures, and Be the Cowboy is still an exceptionally sad record, although shrouded in upbeat melodies. There’s an awareness from Mitski throughout that she is very much the architect of her own isolation. ‘Sorry, I can’t take your touch / It’s just that I fell in love with a war,’ she sings on A Pearl; on Remember My Name, she asks, ‘Just how many stars will I need to hang around me / To finally call it heaven?’ Why Didn’t You Stop Me? is an ode to pushing the ones we love away, and the feeling of frustration when they don’t try to win us back. On Lonesome Love, she gives us one of the

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Mitski

most heartbreaking lines of the year (‘Walk up in my high heels / All high and mighty / And you say, “Hello” / And I lose’), swiftly followed by one of the most cutting (‘Cause nobody butters me up like you / And nobody fucks me like me’). As the album reaches its halfway point, we also find its emotional core as Mitski lets out a deep sigh before the drums kick in on Me and My Husband and our understanding of the character she’s channelling reaches its peak. The juxtaposition of sadness and euphoria is then taken to its most extreme point on Nobody; its disco-leaning melody making it infectiously danceable, but its lyrics remaining extremely vulnerable. ‘Still nobody wants me,’ Mitski sings before leading into the powerful chorus, repeating the word ‘nobody’ in alternating tones, some hushed and others belted out; the varia-

tions in pitch all contributing to a sense of emotional instability. Nobody also serves as the introductory point for a running lyrical theme: longing to be kissed. ‘Give me one good movie kiss / And I’ll be alright,’ she pleads and then continues to long for in three more of the album’s tracks: Pink in the Night (‘I know I’ve kissed you before / But I didn’t do it right’), Washing Machine Heart (‘I’m not wearing my usual lipstick / I thought maybe we would kiss tonight’) and Blue Light (‘Somebody kiss me, I’m going crazy’). Although told from an external perspective, the album is essentially semi-autobiographical. Mitski may be playing a character here, but she’s only really using it as a means of exploring certain aspects of herself. There are allusions to the loneliness of being a touring musician and

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Photo: Bao Ngo

the pressures that come with fame, but mostly the record focuses on this push and pull relationship with romance and love – the initial longing for it and the inevitable dissatisfaction when it doesn’t live up to the ideal. Mitski captures the essence of female desire, and the anxieties that come with it, so accurately on Be the Cowboy; the idea that you can have such deep burning passions but have no idea how to express them. All that internal turmoil she has explored on her previous albums has finally reached boiling point, and she’s never sounded so free. Be the Cowboy was released on 17 Aug via Dead Oceans mitski.com

THE SKINNY

December 2018

THE SKINNY

Parquet Courts – Wide Awake! As Parquet Courts slip in and out of styles on Wide Awake!, what has resulted is an urgent work about letting yourself go amidst a storm of terribleness

otal Football, the opening track of Parquet Courts’ Wide Awake!, contains a multitude of killer lines, filled with wit and wisdom and delivered with the unimpeachable enthusiasm that is now expected of the New York four-piece. But one line sticks out: ‘We are troubled by your soft curiosity / But delighted to be anti everything you were taught’. It’s a challenge, a manifesto introduction, and a fuck you to (some) listeners: it says, if you’re not fully on board with what we are about to tell you over the course of this record, then stop listening. It is a “thank you, next” to anyone who might dream of showing up at a Parquet Courts gig wearing a MAGA hat; it is a not-so-kindly shut up to any beer-fuelled white lads heckling between songs. Parquet Courts want you to know that they are disgusted, and they don’t care if you take offence to that. Setting out early on in this way may seem like screaming into the echo chamber. Actually, Wide Awake! asks for the ear of the liberally-minded, environmentally-conscious, pro-gun regulation audience because it is meant as much as a respite to the doom and gloom of the world, as it is a reaction to it. Take the title track, which is a carnival of whistles and percussion, that plays on the idea of the modern, accepting, socially-conscious individual – a much chewed-over matter. It is also over the top, funny, but not insincere. Most discordantly with its themes, it makes you want to dance till your feet hurt.

When we catch up with the band’s Sean Yeaton during their European tour in mid-November, he agrees: “It’s easier for a band like ours to have a more energetic reaction to certain devastating events because we have to play these songs every night. If we’re going to be playing these songs for a year or longer live, what kind of emotion do we want to conjure in the crowd? Most people are dealing with so much shit that bums them out, we might as well be doing something that’s uplifting. “In the period of time that’s passed since we wrote, recorded and released Wide Awake!, a lot of devastatingly apocalyptic things have happened in the US,” says Yeaton. “The immediate reaction, still, is one of extreme disdain and general depression. I don’t know that Wide Awake! would be the same if we were starting it now, but I can imagine the world as we know it having a pretty big influence on everything we do from now on. It’s been a pretty massive fucking shift.” Also significant was the presence of Brian Burton, otherwise known as Danger Mouse, as producer – the first time the band have enlisted the direction of an outside influence. In the end, those worries were misplaced. Burton did not so much exert an artistic influence on Wide Awake!, as bring everything into focus. “Brian helped us zero in on the songs that were the strongest, and strengthen them even more,” agrees Yeaton. “For the writing and arrangement process,

Interview: Tony Inglis

Parquet Courts

he was pretty hands-off. It’s kind of a weird compliment to give somebody: on the one hand, he technically did an incredible job of helping make a great Parquet Courts record, while that makes it seem like he didn’t have an awful lot to do with it. But in reality, he completely understood our language and was just like a fifth member of the band. For him to take himself out of his comfort zone and record this album in the desert for a month was a pretty massive sign that he was all in.” As they slip in and out of styles, the band

seem comfortable in any skin, working completely in sync, like the footballing philosophy that inspired the album’s rousing opener. What has resulted is an urgent work about letting yourself go amidst a storm of terribleness. Despite everything, while the album plays, we can enjoy ourselves. Wide Awake! was released on 18 May via Rough Trade parquetcourts.wordpress.com

Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar

Young Fathers

ith a Mercury Prize and a Scottish Album of the Year already under their belts, Kayus Bankole, Alloysious Massaquoi and Graham ‘G’ Hastings would have been forgiven for resting on their laurels. Instead, with the brilliant Cocoa Sugar, Scotland’s most exciting cultural export raised their game again. On 2014’s Dead and its follow-up Black Men are White Men Too, the trio tackled race, global conflict and media-induced passivity and these struggles play out on Cocoa Sugar too. But this time, Young Fathers delve

December 2018

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

With Cocoa Sugar, Young Fathers have made a record that’s restless and messy, elliptical and enlightening; a record about life and how if you stand still you’ll miss it

deeper into the personal too: love, faith and self-realisation. Born out of “a need to be uncomfortable again”, if a band this knotty and wilful could ever be said to have a comfort zone, Cocoa Sugar is a record for escaping it in their own inimitable fashion. See How kicks off with synths that stab and tinkle before an effect that sounds like a door hinge squeaking and a weary vocal kick in. Meanwhile the distant, dusty drums of Fee Fi feel like they’ve been beamed in from the aftermath

of a crate digging session with DJ Shadow; its final rapped verse looms out of the murk, distant and oblique as if it’s being chanted in some distant basement. Cocoa Sugar is a record that enshrines the trio’s reputation as musical magpies, flitting between electronica, hip-hop, gospel and more. In My View is as danceable as anything they’ve produced and a rare track that manages to be both wistful and imperious, mixing distinctly British slang (‘greedy bugger’) with a fearsome statement of intent (‘Nothing’s ever given away’). Turn opens with wall-shaking bass and sibilant vocal delivery and builds around the key line: ‘I didn’t work this damn hard / To stay where I belong’, as they push back against all of those telling you to stay in your lane. Lead single Lord is a gospel-influenced dark night of the soul. Its verse – ‘It’s too late / Too late / I won’t see you later / If you fade / I’ll fade / Fading together’ – is Cocoa Sugar’s most open and romantic moment but as with everything here, it’s not meant to last; snatched away by electronic burps and echoes. No wonder then that Hastings described the record to us earlier in the year as one of contradictions, unfolding from the trio’s “love of light and dark, hard and soft, against each other.” This dichotomy plays out time and time again on Cocoa Sugar; aggression rubbing up against beatitude. With a primal scream playing out in the background, Prince-like coos from Bankole, Massaquoi’s dispassionate dissection of ego and distinctive ‘shooby doo wop’ backing

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Words: Max Sefton

vocals, the propulsive electronic Wow perfectly captures their free roaming approach to both sounds and structures as they paint a dark picture of a world that treats consumption as self-care. Border Girl crams in a sexy hip-hop beat, blood-drenched imagery and gang vocals, while the absolute highlight Holy Ghost features a Massaquoi tongue twister about kicking back ‘smelling salts in the South Pacific’ and a crooned R’n’B hook that cheekily asks the audience, ‘are you all in?’ Toy questions whether seismic ambition can live alongside domestic duties, while the restive, repetitive rave of Wire is a party anthem – ‘Oouya fucker / I can dance / Oouya fucker / I can love’ – that still manages to question whether hedonism is enough. Only on closer Picking You do the band seem to find a degree of content, crooning ‘I’m picking you and you / Cos that’s all that seems to matter lately’ on a gloriously overstuffed track. In the past, Hastings has spoken about wanting to make records that represent “culture as it really is.” With this album, the Edinburgh trio have made a record that’s restless and messy, elliptical and enlightening. It’s a record about life and how if you stand still you’ll miss it. And for that reason, we all need a spoonful of cocoa sugar. Cocoa Sugar was released on 9 Mar via Ninja Tune young-fathers.com

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Movies Making Sense

10. Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski) Paweł Pawlikowski’s stunning Cold War is an epic romance that never fails to feel personal and intimate. Inspired by Pawlikowski’s own parents, the relationship between musicians Zula (Joanna Kulig) and Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) traverses 15 years and four countries but is told in the seclusion of bedrooms, desolate streets and the stage where the heart is free to pour out. Despite its title, Cold War strays from the average war-time romance – the real tragedy is how time pulls apart a pair of lovers who are perfect yet imperfect for each other. You’d be hard-pressed to find a film this year that’s as swoon-worthy as this. [Iana Murray]

9. Western (Valeska Grisebach) An obnoxious German construction crew meets an unfriendly welcome when they roll up – German flag and all – for a job in rural Bulgaria in the delicately pitched Western. Settling her camera on the mesmerising frame of Meinhard Neumann’s wiry loner and his ostensibly well-intentioned interactions with the local townsfolk, Valeska Grisebach borrows subtly from the genre from which she names her film to sketch a tense picture of the economic inequalities and violent histories that make Europe such a fraught and fragile proposition. This is major-league moody, psychologically astute and politically incisive filmmaking. [Tom Grieve]

8. Widows (Steve McQueen) Under lesser direction, Widows – a film about four widowed gangsters’ wives pulling off their own heist – might have come of as a fairly standard genre flick with a feminist twist. But Ocean’s 8 this is not. Under the steady hand of one of Britain’s best directors – the formidable Steve McQueen – not to mention scribe Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), Widows is something truly special; a bonnetmounted shot of a car driving through poor and rich neighbourhoods is worth the price of admission alone. The film may be based on an old ITV series, but the television it most reminds us of is David Simon’s The Wire; as a contemporary American fable, Widows is a complex, riveting meditation on the country’s myriad ills and inequities. [Christopher Machell]

7. Columbus (Kogonada) “It’s asymmetrical, but it’s also still balanced,” explains Casey (Haley Lu Richardson). She may be describing Eliel Saarinen’s modernist architectural first – the First Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana – but she is also describing Kogonada’s remarkably assured directorial debut, Columbus. It’s a film about the architectural forms of the town (a veritable oasis of modernism) and the ways in which a burgeoning relationship between Casey and Jin (John Cho) echoes the elegance of those forms. They occupy opposite spaces both physical and emotional but provide balance for one another. Elegant form and visuals eventually beget subtle, profound tenderness. [Ben Nicholson]

6. Leave No Trace (Debra Granik) Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace is a deeply affecting treatise on father-daughter relationships, alternative lifestyles, adolescence and post-traumatic stress disorder. Granik keeps all four plates spinning as we follow the lives of psychologically scarred combat veteran Will (Ben Foster) and his teenage daughter, Tom (Thomasin McKenzie), who live reclusively in a self-built camp in a vast public park. When their cover is blown and social services called, the conventional domestic arrangements they’re forced to adopt puts strain on their previously ironclad bond. That Granik weaves Leave No Trace with such a delicate touch – light on dialogue, the film relies on the tremendous non-verbal chemistry between its two leads – only amplifies its emotional profundity. [Joe Goggins]

5. Zama (Lucrecia Martel) Revelling in the open wounds of the past, Lucrecia Martel’s latest takes the themes of Antonio di Benedetto’s novel about an 18th-century conquistador stranded in Paraguay and refracts them into a hallucinatory tableaux of obsession, delusion and existential inertia. Preoccupied with the tension between human freedom and constricting circumstances, Zama is a film about being awake to false memories, with Martel’s intelligent sound design blurring the boundaries between past and present. The result is a mesmerising – if at times maddeningly opaque – exploration of present-day glories and past plunders, which dismantles the unreliability of history to expose the lasting traumas of imperialism. [Patrick Gamble]

4. First Reformed (Paul Schrader) Paul Schrader’s First Reformed follows Ethan Hawke as a self-destructive priest of a small Dutch Reformed Church in Upstate New York who’s consumed with doubt and guilt, and falling even deeper into despair. Channeling classic Bergman, Dreyer and Bresson, it’s the movie of 2018 that speaks most shatteringly to today’s condition of feeling dwarfed by a world rife with corruption and environmental decay. Hypnotically shot in a square frame, with Hawke brilliantly playing a man teetering between transcendence and despair, Schrader’s latest ‘God’s Lonely Man’ vision has both the wit and emotional turmoil to match his previous greats like Taxi Driver, American Gigolo and Light Sleeper. [Ian Mantgani]

3. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) In Lady Bird, the protagonist’s connections with family, friends, and teen crushes feel genuine, if often cringeworthy – after all, this is high school! At the emotional centre is a combative, fiercely loving mother-daughter relationship, creating an achingly honest family portrait. Surrounding these figures is the mundane minutiae of private high school life as a working-class, mediocre student; Saoirse Ronan’s assured performance balances an awareness of reality with more pressing senior year priorities – popularity, dating and moving out. The frank contrast between Lady Bird’s dreams and the unromantic inland California setting make this film a wry and poignant bildungsroman. [Carmen Paddock]

Films about an obsessive dressmaker, a traumatised hitman, a rebellious high school girl, a wayward priest and a group of criminal widows are just some of the works of cinema that have dazzled, thrilled and moved us in 2018

Faces Places

2. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) Not so much a breath of fresh air but a tornado, You Were Never Really Here is a character study in trauma. Joaquin Phoenix plays Joe, the PTSD-suffering hitman with a heart of gold, commissioned to recover a politician’s teenage daughter, played by Ekaterina Samsonov. Fragmented and visceral – and accompanied by a claustrophobia-inducing score from Jonny Greenwood – You Were Never Really Here is an electrifying statement on violence: about the violence done to us and the violence we do unto others. Lynne Ramsay’s fourth feature, You Were Never Really Here cements her as one of the greats. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. [Katie Goh]

Feature

1. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson) There are blatant shades of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, but the more one revisits this endlessly watchable movie, the more the spirits of Howard Hawks and Elaine May come through in its sly comic take on romantic power plays. The breakfast and dinner tables become a battleground as an arrogant, coddled artist is brought low and rebuilt by the woman he chose as his subservient muse, before they finally find a sense of equilibrium, as all relationships must. Anderson’s artistry feels more effortless with every picture (his camerawork here is astonishing), and Phantom Thread’s swooning elegance instantly seduces the viewer, before its perverse streak and morbid sense of humour is unveiled to startling effect. [Philip Concannon]

FILM

The Next Ten: 11. Shirkers (Sandi Tan) 12. Faces Places (Agnès Varda) 13. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie) 14. Make Me Up (Rachel Maclean) 15. Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda) 16. Hereditary (Ari Aster) 17. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles) 18. 120 BPM (Robin Campillo) 19. Lucky (John Carroll Lynch) 20. Annihilation (Alex Garland) theskinny.co.uk/film

THE SKINNY

Film Footnotes These are the films that didn’t set the box office alight but should have, the movies that critics roundly ignored, and the films that won’t be in conversations come awards season. In other words: these are the year’s most overlooked movies

Summer 1993

Downsizing

Downsizing (Alexander Payne) The marketing for Downsizing was something of a bait-and-switch, presenting the film as a wacky comedy about tiny people, including a gag about an oversized vodka bottle that doesn’t even appear in the movie. This is another Alexander Payne film about a small man (Matt Damon) struggling to figure out his place in the world, but the high-concept premise and the backdrop of impending ecological disaster makes it feel like a refreshing change of pace and expansion of vision from a director who needed one. Downsizing can feel like two or three screenplays awkwardly jammed together but it’s an ambitious, surprising and thoughtful film with an excellent cast, notably the superb Hong Chau, who emerges as the real heart of the movie. [Philip Concannon]

Tully (Jason Reitman) Diablo Cody seems to have struggled to prove herself as a serious voice in American cinema – or rather a voice that is taken seriously, despite being arguably the best-known female screenwriter in the business. Tully garnered decent but not rave reviews and made an okay-ish $15.6m at the box office, but the film’s sense of empathy, gently elicited by Jason Reitman’s direction, cannot fail to move. Grounded by a transformative performance by Charlize Theron and an enchanting turn from Mackenzie Davis, Tully is equal parts family drama and coming of (middle) age tale. Some may baulk at the final act’s turn to magical realism, and its depiction of mental illness drew criticism from some quarters. Nevertheless, Tully remains a tender, empathetic portrayal of self-rediscovery. [Christopher Machell]

Skate Kitchen (Crystal Moselle) Most debuts are saturated with superfluous flair, so as to make themselves heard. But Crystal Moselle’s Skate Kitchen is unlike most debuts. Moselle was a documentary filmmaker first, and the film feels like an amalgamation of fact and fiction. Based on and featuring the real-life skate collective of the same name, this coming-of-age tale stars Rachelle Vinberg as Camille, a precocious teen who finds friendship and identity with a badass group of female skaters. Light on plot, the film moves at a leisurely pace like that of a skateboard as it rolls on the pavement. It’s honest and authentic in every way, and proves that the kids are alright. [Iana Murray]

Thoroughbreds (Cory Finley) While its psychological suspense and thrills may not fully deliver, this 90-minute debut feature is a gripping look at emotionally vacant lives. Thoroughbreds invites comparisons to Heathers thanks to the upper-class high school setting and murderous bent, but that superficial analysis does neither film favours: where the former goes for outrageous, the latter goes for unsettling. The blank faces and flat voices of Cory Finley’s teenage protagonists; the picture-perfect countryside; and the atonal, deliberately-paced score create a fascinating soullessness. Indeed, the film’s main emotion comes from Anton Yelchin’s final performance – both due to its real-life context and the amusing pathos elicited by his hapless drug dealer character. [Carmen Paddock]

Thoroughbreds

Feature

The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey) The Breadwinner is an ode to storytelling, revelling in the boundless freedom of animation to create a kaleidoscope of tales within tales, framed by the story of the people who need them most. Living under Taliban rule in war-torn Kabul, 11-year-old Parvana uses stories as her sustenance and her escape. They offer her a glimpse of how the world might be – magical, mysterious, just – that helps her to remain unbroken by the daily crushing influence of how it really is. Stories about Afghanistan are commonly reduced to death tolls and headlines, the simple black and white. The Breadwinner paints the human colour back into the picture. [Ross McIndoe]

Summer 1993 (Carla Simón) In a summer where blockbusters, sequels and remakes dominated the multiplexes, one Spanish gem flew by largely unnoticed. A moving debut from Carla Simón, Summer 1993 follows six-yearold Frida (Laia Artigas) as she silently comes to terms with the death of her mother. Though told from a child’s perspective, the film requires attentive viewing – we are left to infer from details that fly over the protagonist’s head. Simón evokes hazy nostalgia, but underneath the film’s idyllic facade is a tender exploration of grief. As the pieces slowly come together, the degradation of a once idealistic childhood unfolds before our very eyes. The result is devastating. [Iana Murray]

Tully

Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes) It takes a while for Wonderstruck to find its feet. There’s an uncharacteristic clumsiness in the way Todd Haynes tries to establish two parallel narratives involving deaf children (Millicent Simmonds and Oakes Fegley) living 50 years apart, but stick with it and the film might eventually work its magic on you. Haynes adopts the perspective of his young protagonists and generates a genuine feeling of wide-eyed adventure as they explore the big city, building to an imaginatively staged and extremely moving climax. Even if you’re not affected by Wonderstruck, there’s no denying that this is a gorgeously crafted film, with Haynes’ regular collaborators Carter Burwell, Edward Lachman and Sandy Powell all making vital contributions to the film’s atmospheric and tactile sense of wonder. [Philip Concannon]

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (John Cameron Mitchell) Premiering at Cannes, critics didn’t take kindly to the knockabout daftness of John Cameron Mitchell’s sweet and sexy interplanetary love story about a geeky punk (Alex Sharp) who falls for an intense alien (Elle Fanning) he meets at a Croydon house party in 1977. We can understand why: this scrappy, scuzzy film is made with the kind of goofy let’s-put-on-a-show energy that’s the antithesis to the self-serious pomp of that prestigious festival. But there’s so much to adore in this open-hearted, boisterous, delightfully camp movie, from Elle Fanning’s pleasingly weird turn as the alien love interest who’s quick to embrace a punk ethos to Nicole Kidman as a leather-clad impresario who’s part Vivienne Westwood, part Toyah Willcox. [Jamie Dunn]

A Simple Favour (Paul Feig) Paul Feig’s latest is not a masterpiece, but the superlative unpredictability of its genre-bending, beautiful sets and costumes, and skilfully off-kilter performances make the tonal whiplash part of the fun. Anna Kendrick takes her usual wholesome image and completely, shockingly destroys it, and Blake Lively’s effortless cool and command is upstaged only by her wardrobe. Watching them both take the idea of the woman who has it all and turn it on its head with relish provides one of the year’s most satisfying arcs. A strong supporting cast and plot twists only matched by the chill-inducing mood changes make this a thoroughly engrossing picture. [Carmen Paddock]

Den of Thieves (Christian Gudegast) A scrapbook of moods, archetypes and scenes lifted from action noirs like Heat and To Live and Die in L.A., this heist thriller featuring Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr and 50 Cent balances some ludicrous plotting with a gloomy, foreboding atmosphere, epic scope, shocking violence and one of the best robbery climaxes in living memory. As derivative movies go, Den of Thieves knows how to deliver the goods in style and with at least an approximation of weight. [Ian Mantgani]

FILM

theskinny.co.uk/film

THE SKINNY

Auld Laugh Syne From stand-up at the Fringe and across the Atlantic, to the funniest specials on TV and within paperback thrillers, our comedy team found a lot to smile about in 2018

tribute band. There was mention of DILFs and daily routines, but the standout moment was his choreographed dance which proved pretty difficult when his four fellow bandmates were nowhere to be seen. A masterclass in character comedy, the ten minute open spot left me heaving with laughter, and is something I’ve not stopped quoting since. Genuine inspired lunacy. Tito, I want you back. [Polly Glynn]

Lazy Susan

Joe Pera Visiting New York recently for the first time, I’d planned to take in some comedy, and was keeping an eye on various listings to see if anything cool was happening. What I really wanted was to see was Adult Swim’s Joe Pera but it didn’t seem likely. Within an hour of dropping our bags, after accidentally walking through an industrial estate, we passed a bar with a sign that read ‘Tonight: Joe Pera’ – either evidence that God is indeed real in the land of the free, or pure luck. I’ll opt for the latter. Pera pairs brilliant character comedy with the ability to spin a good yarn. Adopting the persona of a sweet, gentle old man in the body of one 50 years his junior, his material is both absurd and oddly poignant. The other four acts on the bill all brought some serious laughs, and in a year with no shortage of

theskinny.co.uk/comedy

brilliant live shows, TV and Netflix, it’s still the element of surprise – having your expectations shattered – that triumphs. [Craig Angus] Lazy Susan There’s a lot about Lazy Susan’s Fringe show Forgive me, Mother! that is funny, but nothing quite like the moment when Freya Parker uses kitchen sieves for eyes. One simple movement and – voilà – she transforms into a fly, simultaneously adopting an utterly ridiculous facial expression. It’s a simple visual gag that somehow says everything about these two brilliant, silly and confident comedians. Parker and Celeste Dring have an impressive ability of being mature and juvenile at the same time, mixing subtle social commentary with, well, sieves for eyes. And why shouldn’t they? Sometimes simple does it, and those sieves still crack me up months later. [Veronica Finlay] The Edinburgh Fringe Programme “o boy i bin so strict this year with #edfringe program and only highlight best 5star comedy show on each page” — edimbrugh fringe dog, 7 June my favourite moment of 2018 was 1 to 27 august .but my editor tell me this is too big to be one moment !!! sooo ,to condense it to one moment it would have to be the thud of edfringe program arriving thru my letterbox in june !!! o boy it the most excitin noise you will ever hear !!! for a little while i even set my alarm clock to make the same noise ,but the excitment of thinkin the fringe program has arrived every single mornin was givin me palpitations !!! [love from fringe dog] Ross Foley as the Jackson Five, Project X at Monkey Barrel For me, it’s got to be seeing Ross Foley as a one-man, Tito Jackson-focused Jackson Five Fringe Dog

December 2018

COMEDY

Feature

Credit: Sarah Kirk

Inside No. 9’s Live Halloween Special Laughter and fear are not so far apart in your brain. Both are triggered when we encounter the unknown: the former in the absence of danger, the latter in its presence. For a masterclass in the trade-off between the two, you needed to be watching the Inside No. 9 Live Halloween Special. The indomitable Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton eased us in to a story of a mobile phone found in a graveyard, then cut away feigning technical difficulties. If you were watching the live broadcast, it was utterly convincing, with only a faint doubt – is there danger here, or is it all under control? The rest of the episode hinted at the ghosts and ghouls present in the show’s TV studio, and left us all with skin still crawling. The danger was never there. For a moment though, I’d say most of us believed the technical difficulties at the nine-minute mark. The laughter was from the jokes peppering the brief episode, yes, but also from shock and nerves, and finally relief. [Jenni Ajderian]

Dear Joan and Jericha When a friend messages after midnight to recommend a comedy podcast – “listening to Dear Joan and Jericha – it cracks me up” – you know it’s the kind of word-of-mouth recommendation that’s a dangerous download if you’re hoping to sleep. Written and performed by two of the UK’s best comedians and actors, Julia Davis and Vicki Pepperdine, the spoof radio write-in topped the iTunes charts when released in April. And yet, it still seemed to come out of nowhere. The ad-libbing nature of the series – and the obvious joy you suspect Davis and Pepperdine are having during the recordings – gives the quality of the writing an addictive layer. After downloading ‘one before bed’ you may find the dark humour carries you through, eight episodes later, until dawn. [Ben Venables]

Photo: Bobby Goulding

C.J. Skuse Criminally hidden among the never ending deluge of pop thrillers in my big Tesco’s two-for-£8 fiction, I stumbled across the dark gem Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse. Glittering with sly hilarity, it’s quite possibly the only book about a serial killer that’s made me snort-cackle out loud (I was in a cardiology waiting room at the time, there was a minor scene). Rhiannon knows she’s a serial killer because she’s passed a BuzzFeed quiz. The trouble is, between her frustrating job, cheating boyfriend and the sheer number of bastards who are just ripe for the cull, she’s not sure she wants to stop. The sequel, In Bloom continues the story, only now there’s a foetus with the voice of Ray Winstone. Smart,

deeply original and most of all brimming with inappropriate laughter. [Emma O’Brien]

THE SKINNY

C H R IS TM A

The Five Fuckboys of Christmas

It’s mistletoe and wine time, and in order to help you slay the busy festive theatre season, here’s our helpful and handy guide to the best (worst) of panto’s fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-fuckboys

t’s the time of year where theatres across Scotland invite the pantos in. But among the glitter, the tinsel and the panto dames lies a sinister secret; some of our favourite pantos do not showcase the best male protagonists. In fact, some of them are dyed in the wool fuckboys. From scheming idiots to manipulative dickheads, here are the shows that have some of Scotland's best (worst) boys in panto. The Softboy Well, you can’t write about fuckboys without mentioning their unholy cousin: The Softboy. Deep, arty, and totally and utterly in love with themselves, they have strong opinions and stronger emotions. They’re so sensitive, they’re so needy, and they want you to perform a lot of emotional labour for free. Perhaps the worst offender in panto is The Beast in Beauty and the Beast (at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, starring Allan Stewart and Grant Stott). While the production is sadly missing Andy Gray due to illness, it’s not missing The Beast’s ragingly emo softboy vibes. After all, he lives in a castle he got from his parents, he talks to furniture, he’s under a spell cast by a beautiful enchantress, he doesn’t even leave the house (because he’s still not over his ex), so he can’t even work. But he believes that all he needs is a woman, any woman, to listen to him about how hard his life in his big castle with his talking furniture has been. Then they’ll have to fall in love with him and he’ll be complete; he just needs to lock said woman in a castle and remove her free will and he’ll be sorted, righto. The Ultimate Fuckboy When it comes to Fuckboys, Prince Charming – who stars in Scottish Ballet’s Cinderella at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh, alongside panto productions at the Gardyne Theatre in Dundee and the SEC in Glasgow – is the leader of them all. Big PC, who we are often led to believe is the

hero in Cinderella’s fairytale, is perhaps the worst of the lot. Spoiled, entitled, and needing to marry to appease his (very, very rich) dad, he engineers a massive social gathering, so he can take his pick from all the women there. Then, when he finds one that he likes, he loses her then raids every home in the kingdom looking for her until he finds her. This guy is the worst. Swipe left.

“ Scrooge is an absolute bastard who can only change himself with a lot of repressed memories and a bunch of ghosts. Nobody needs that in their life” The Non-Consent Boy There seems to be an ongoing issue with themes of autonomy and boundaries within panto, by which we mean: These Princes Simply Do Not Understand Consent. Case in point, we know the tale of Sleeping Beauty - currently being performed at The Byre Theatre in St Andrews - where a beautiful young princess has a bit of a run-in with a magic spinning wheel and is doomed to sleep until some suitor happens to kiss her. Many years

Beauty and the Beast

December 2018

Cinderella

pass, and one day said suitor – a prince, no less – literally breaks into her castle and gives her a kiss that she didn’t ask for, thus breaking the spell. But did she ask to be kissed? Hell no. It’s a similar story with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen, where reliable Snow White eats a bad apple and is put in a glass coffin in the middle of a forest by her heartbroken adoptive family, who believe she is dead and just wanted to watch her rot, I guess. But then, Hark! A noble prince arrives, opens her crystal casket and plants a quick one on her not-quite-dead-yet lips. Of course, she didn’t ask for any of this, she just ate an apple and then woke up and got married. Panto princes, stop kissing unconscious people, they cannot consent. Gain enthusiastic consent, this is very basic information. The Elusive One Sometimes we hear stories about someone finding a guy. He’s great, he understands consent, he respects boundaries, he doesn’t lock women in his castle. You could even say that he’s pretty chill. Except the problem is he’s too chill, and his significant other never sees him. In fact, as in Dundee Rep’s The Snow Queen, she has to travel great distances to find him, often battling strange forces and evil magic in the process. Sure, he got something in his eye, and started acting a bit weird and distant after, and there’s a strange and possessive woman hanging around him a lot, but didn’t they have something? After battling the snow and ice just to see him, he’s elusive and cold, he’s someone else entirely, but could a girlfriend change him? Honey, no, get out of there; this is all very, very unhealthy. There’s cold and elusive, and then there’s just plain mean. Some fuckboys are just misers who want to watch the world burn and make money from its embers. One such man is Ebenezer Scrooge, currently, perhaps a bit reluctantly, treading the boards in the Citz’s production of A Christmas Carol - which takes place at Tramway because of the Citz’s ongoing refurbishment. While they won’t have spared any

THEATRE

Photo: Andy Ross

Words: Amy Taylor

expense, Scrooge certainly will; in fact, any girlfriend he gets who will try their best to “save him” will probably pay for everything on the days that she gets to see him, because he’s always working. She’ll start to wonder if it’s all really worth it. It’s not. He’s an absolute bastard who can only change himself with the help of a lot of repressed memories and a bunch of ghosts. Nobody needs that in their life. Thank u, next. The Bona Fide Hipster Ok, now Jack and the Beanstalk is a classic story and it looks great on stage, so much so that at least three different theatres are staging it this year. While Paisley Arts Centre and the Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh are both staging the story we know and love, and the Eastwood Park Theatre is going over and above the call of duty with a new production: Jack and the Beanstalk II: Return of the Farmer, there’s one thing you need to know about ya boy Jack. He traded a cow for beans. He traded a perfectly good cow – that he could have sold for actual, real money – for what some guy he met told him were “magic beans”. Some guy he’d never seen before and would likely never see again. He ignored his mother’s very clear instructions, and now all he has are beans. He probably carried said “magic beans” home in his pockets, or the artisan tote bag he carries with him at all times. He traded a cow for beans and he thought it was a good deal. It doesn’t matter what the beans did after. He traded a cow for beans. He traded a cow for beans. He traded a cow for beans. Can you imagine what his Instagram would be like? Take this enlightening guide wherever you go this Yuletide, because a fuckboy isn’t just for Christmas, they can often stick around for years sometimes, and you’re worth more. So, remember, wherever you go this month, from panto to non-Christmas show, there’s a fuckboy lurking somewhere, just make sure that they stay on stage and far away from you. theskinny.co.uk/theatre

Christmas

Sounds of the Season From indisputable classics to racy novelties, from pure soul filth to new wave disco, Aidan Moffat tells us about his favourite Christmas songs and why he loves the season so much

s a lifelong atheist, I often have a wobble at the end of November and wonder what the fuck I’m doing: What exactly will I be celebrating this year? But then I remember that midwinter celebrations predate Christianity by centuries and centuries of ancient ritual, and solstice parties are written into our evolutionary code. And even the Pope would agree that Jesus wasn’t really born on Christmas Day, and that 25 December was chosen by early Christians because the folk they wanted to convert were already raving around that time of year anyway, which of course gave us much of the symbolism we associate with the holiday today – the fir tree, the holly wreath, and the twelve days are all rooted in paganism. And then there’s Dickens. While it’s not accurate to say that Dickens invented the modern Christmas as we know it, it is true to say that he provided an almost secular text in which God hardly gets a mention, and thus provided heathens and heretics like me a guidebook of cheer and reflection. A Christmas Carol is a tale so ingrained in our culture that it rivals the nativity itself, and will perhaps one day be worshipped as gospel too: “Scrooge bless us, every one!” But my favourite part of Christmas, something that’s both crucial to the ambience and a reason to celebrate in itself, is the tunes. I’ve always loved and been fascinated by the sounds of the season, those songs that float around the cold air for weeks like the ghosts of old friends, those immortal, trusted triggers guaranteed to have our toes tapping and our eyes dampening. Here, then, are a few of my favourites, from indisputable classics to racy novelties, from pure soul filth to new wave disco. Darlene Love Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Let’s start with the best, a song absolutely guaranteed to get me in the mood. It has everything you need at this time of year: it’s a rousing tune tinged with heartbreak, both a celebration and reflection, filled with snow and longing; powerfully, passionately sung and rendered in Phil Spector’s rich, mono, wall-ofsound palette, with added sleigh bells and the most beautiful, plaintive piano line I’ve ever heard. Unparalleled genius. Lord Nelson A Party for Santa Claus There’s something seductively contrary about Christmas songs in a calypso style, a clash of mental imagery that shouldn’t really work. But Christmas is a celebration, and there’s none more celebratory than this soca classic from Tobago’s Lord Nelson. It’s based around the most joyously Caribbean rendition of Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town you’ll ever hear, and states the case for giving Santa some time off this year and taking him out clubbing for a wee treat. Unashamedly fun and open-hearted, this should have all the generations dancing round the (palm) tree. Dennis Waterman & George Cole What Are We Gonna Get ‘Er Indoors? Okay, I know it’s rubbish, but I can’t help myself. This spin-off from ITV’s Minder was a favourite in our house. The whole song is a mildly amusing comedy skit – or it was at the time, at least – which finds poor old Arthur Daley struggling to find a gift for the titular and notoriously difficult ‘her indoors’, the wife we as an audience never saw, all delivered in the kind of cockney rap that only Christmas can allow. It’s awful, but it’s awfully fun.

Christmas

Words: Aidan Moffat Illustration: Julija Straižytė

Clarence Carter Back Door Santa In which Clarence stalks the neighbourhood at dawn like a randy Santa, sneaking quietly into houses while the dads are at work, and paying off the children with loose change so he may be left in peace to bestow “gifts” upon their lonely mums. A soulful, sexy stomper of dubious morality, its link to the season is tenuous at best, while the back door of the title is, mercifully, literal – Carter likes to keep it open in case a quick escape is required. Utter filth. 10/10.

“ Christmas Wrapping has become almost ubiquitous over the years, and rightfully so, because it’s cool as fuck” Aidan Moffat

Big Dee Irwin and Little Eva The Christmas Song You’ll recognise this song as the ubiquitous Nat King Cole classic, that smooth, saccharine, string-led croon that you finally succumb to as it slinks through the speakers in Asda at 4pm on Christmas Eve. But this version is my favourite – it’s got that brilliant, bluesy, soulful, sexy, shouty feel to it, ensuring that I absolutely believe them when they wish everyone everywhere a very Merry Christmas. Reuben Anderson Christmas Time Again And it’s back to the Caribbean for another sexy, sunlit, and seemingly incongruous soca belter. Reuben begins his festive treat by describing his immediate surroundings: ‘Listen to the birds, how they’re singing / Listen to the wind, how it’s blowing’ – it sounds like Christmas in paradise, and should be listened to with a fiery cocktail in hand while wearing your shortest shorts and shades. In brief, I highly recommend the Trojan Christmas Box Set. Kay Martin and Her Bodyguards I Know What You Want for Xmas Ex-model Kay Martin and co were an early 60s comedy jazz act that specialised in racy innuendo, and this is their prurient peak: ‘I know just what you want for Christmas / But I don’t how to wrap it, dear’ goes the chorus, and – SPOILER ALERT – she might be talking about her privates. It’s all a bit Carry On Christmas: cheeky, silly, suggestive, but still oddly charming. Its only downfall is its punchline, when the true nature of the gift is revealed. The Waitresses Christmas Wrapping The Waitresses never quite took off in their time but Christmas Wrapping has become almost ubiquitous over the years, and rightfully so, because it’s cool as fuck. A new wave groove with a sax riff, it was recorded in NYC as hip-hop was taking hold of the city, hence the half-sung,

half-rapped vocal by Patty Donahue (and, of course, the title pun). Our heroine laments not phoning that hunk she fancied all year long, then rails against the season and vows to spend the holidays alone – but then she pops to the shops and bumps into said hunk, and they end up spending it together. And if that wasn’t lovely enough, it ends with her own Scrooge-like epiphany – how could she ever think of missing Christmas and spending it alone? Christmas is brilliant! It’s a little post-punk Dickens, and I love it. Slade Merry Xmas Everybody Listen, I said there’d be classics, and you can roll your eyes at such an obvious choice all you want, but there’s a reason that this is one of the biggest-selling Christmas singles of all time. It covers all the bases: love, snow, family, optimism, dancing grannies, and an alcoholic Santa. And while we all know Noddy’s primal ‘It’s Christmas!’ howl, it gets a special commendation from me for slipping in a triple pun at the end when Noddy

Music

tells us we’ve been slayed / sleighed / Slade. What an absolute fucking legend. The Fall No Xmas for John Quays From one legend to another. Granted, you’re not likely to hear this in any fairy-lit shopping centres this year, and I’m not even sure it technically counts as a Christmas song, even if Mark E. Smith does break into Good King Wenceslas in the middle. But it’s the first of The Fall’s many flirtations with the season, taken from their 1979 debut album Live at the Witch Trials. To be perfectly honest, I probably wouldn’t even normally listen to this at Christmas, seeing as it seems to be about a drug addict buying fags, but since Smith left us this year I think it’s only right that I add it right now to my ever-growing iTunes Xmas playlist. Have a good one when it comes! Ghost Stories for Christmas by Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert is released on 7 Dec via Rock Action Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert play Mono, Glasgow, 6 Dec hereliesthebody.com

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ADVERTISING FEATURE

The Whole Hog Go the whole hog this New Year's Eve, with three days of celebrations courtesy of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Words: Nadia Younes

Symphonic Ibiza

f you’re fed up of your annual tradition of paying a shit tonne of money to spend New Year’s Eve standing in a bar queue in a busy club, only for the ridiculously expensive drink you’ve just bought to be swiftly knocked out of your hand by some idiot – definitely not speaking from personal experience – then try something new this Hogmanay. Year after year, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party attracts revellers not just from Scotland, but from all over the world, who brave the capital’s often cold, wet and windy weather to ring in the New Year. This year’s Concert in the Gardens will be headlined by returning Scottish indie troupe Franz Ferdinand, with support from electronic four-piece Metronomy and rising Glasgow duo Free Love, while the Street Party will be hosted by Love Island’s Aftersun DJs The Mac Twins, with live music, DJs and entertainment across three stages. Just one of the musical acts on the Street Party’s line-up is Scottish sensation Gerry Cinnamon who’s had a belter of a year, and he’s rounding it off with two sell-out shows at Glasgow’s Barrowlands this month before his final gig of the year at the Waverley Stage, alongside Snap! and Vistas. Miracle Glass Company, Meute and Elephant Sessions will all perform on the South St David Street Stage, with the Castle Street Stage a more electronic affair, featuring DJ sets from the afore mentioned Mac Twins, Edinburgh DJ Trendy Wendy and the legendary Judge Jules. If the live music doesn’t take your fancy though, stick on some headphones and have your own party at the brand new Silent Disco arena on Market Street instead, where you can spend the night dancing on your own; well, not really, you’ll be surrounded by people, but you can always pretend. There will also be an array of Street Theatre Artists performing throughout the night, including aerial and circus performers An Act Above and Celtic fire theatre act PyroCeltica, to name a few. There’s no need to worry about booking a

December 2018

babysitter either, as Bairns Afore is back for a second year, this time with added Massaoke. The Edinburgh Fringe favourites will play through a variety of family-friendly tunes, including Disney classics and pop hits, with lyrics on screen for you and the kids to sing along. The event will conclude with a specially-curated fireworks display above Edinburgh Castle, so it will almost feel just like the real thing. But your Hogmanay celebrations don’t have to be limited to actual New Year’s Eve. Limber up for the main event the night before at the UK premiere of Symphonic Ibiza at McEwan Hall, where a 20-piece live orchestra will recreate a selection of Ibiza club anthems from the last 20 years along with Ibiza regular DJ Andy Joyce. With past residencies at infamous Ibiza nightclubs Pacha, Amnesia, Eden and Café Mambo, Joyce knows a thing or two about how to get a dancefloor going, so you’re guaranteed to be in safe hands. And if you’ve got any energy left, you can keep on going into New Year’s Day, at one of two – or both, if you’re feeling strong – of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay’s collaborative concerts with Celtic Connections, also taking place at McEwan Hall. Long-standing Oban folk group Capercaillie will kick off proceedings, and will be joined by some special guests for a big ol’ knees-up in typical Scottish fashion. Bringing things to a close, Galician multi-instrumentalist Carlos Núñez will be accompanied by some of Scotland’s best musicians in what’s sure to be an exciting and energetic start to the New Year. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, 30 Dec 2018-1 Jan 2019 edinburghshogmanay.com

Gift Guide

This page (clockwise from top left): What Lydia Made, Made To Order Bra £50, Pants £25 Jennifer Kent, Transit Travel Blanket — Skye, £120 Squint Clothing, Coin Purse, £16 Lucy Engels, Quilted Shopper no.7, £120 Risotto, 2019 Wall Calendar, £18

Kate Colin Design, Geometric Baubles in assorted colours, £12 each Steph Liddle, Stroke Long Vase, £75 Steph Liddle, Mimic Mid Pot, £35 Natalie J Wood, Loop Vase, Seafoam, £60

re:ply, re:ply X Philson Colab Deck Skateboard, £45 Loela, Square Earrings — Green, £24 Risotto, 2019 Mini Calendar, £9 INSTRMNT, T-42 Mens Watch, £180 Sugarsnap Chocolate, Coffee. Blond. Pecan. Bar, £4.50

Credits: Photography and styling by Sarah Donley @donley_photo

Christmas

SHOWCASE

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This page (clockwise from top left): Polymorphics, Marble Geometric Planter, Minimalistic Vase, £29 Emer Tumilty, 2019 Calendar, £18 SÒLAS, Sink Sleepmask — Machair, £45 Kate Colin Design, Geometric Baubles in assorted colours, £12 each Cairngorm Coffee, Seasonal Coffee Bags, £8-12 Heather Shields, Jazz Scarf — Neon, £165

Find out more: nataliejwood.com whatlydiamade.com stephliddle.com jenniferkent.com dreamlandclothing.co.uk re-plyskateboards.com tartanblanketco.com katetrouw.com katecolindesign.com risottostudio.com

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squintclothing.com eteaket.co.uk heather-shields.co.uk polymorphics.co.uk maiklondon.com nmarra.com emertumilty.com instagram.com/solas.sleepwear loela.co.uk rosiedrake-knight.com instrmnt.co.uk

Squint Clothing, Coin Purse, £16 Squint Clothing, Squint x Alice DanseyWright socks — Low Tide, £12 MAiK, Breton Blue Socks, £15 SÒLAS, Silk Sleepmask —Teal Buttercup, £45 The Squid Ink Co., Wiggles Concrete — Earrings Pink, £22 Kate Trouw, Small Loop Earrings — Pink/Olive, £40 The Squid Ink Co., Bends Concrete Earrings — Grey, £20 Kate Trouw, Tassel Earrings Grey/ Lime, £38

Cairngorm Coffee, Seasonal Coffee Bags, £8-12 Sugarsnap Chocolate, Artisan Collection, £9.50-33 Sugarsnap Chocolate, Coffee. Blond. Pecan. Bar, £4.50 Sugarsnap Chocolate, Madagascan Galaxy Bar, £4.50 eteaket, Isle of Harris Gin Tea, £5.55-7.95

lucyengels.com cairngormcoffee.com nikkimcwilliams.com sugarsnapchocolate.com studiowald.co.uk crispinfinn.com squidinkco.com katieravenscraig.com/riso-soup For more local gift inspiration head to theskinny.co.uk/art

SHOWCASE

Christmas

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Giulia Fiorista

Mistletoe and Design

Paulin Watches

The concept for A Very Contemporary Christmas is very simple. Best friends Jenny Hazel and Stacey Hunter drew up a wish list of what they’d like for Christmas and turned it into a shop Words: Local Heroes

Very Contemporary Christmas is a pop-up Christmas shop located in the ‘front room’ of a listed Georgian townhouse on Edinburgh’s Hill Street. Jenny Hazel and Stacey Hunter, the founders of Hill Street Design House and Local Heroes respectively, have brought together work by their favourite designers featuring ceramics, jewellery, knitwear, prints, and fashion and lifestyle accessories. “We both like to shop small and buy locally to support local businesses and we know that so many other people also want to avoid buying from huge corporations,” says Hazel. “We think people will enjoy this specially curated collection and we’ve made sure there are gifts for men, women and children from £5 to over £250, as well as some fun in-store events.” The duo are also offering custom gift wrapping to raise funds for local food bank the Edinburgh Food Project. The selection is eclectic and reflects both Hazel and Hunter’s taste in contemporary design. “We agreed to choose five designers each,” says Hunter, “and now we have over 30, so that gives you an idea of how much this pop-up is actually our own fantasy Christmas present list! Scotland is so great at knitwear, we really wanted to stock things you can buy for your partner, your parents or your children from stellar designers like Glasgow’s Jennifer Kent, Green Thomas and Mini McGhee and Orkney’s Hilary Grant Knitwear.” Ceramics is fast becoming the popular choice for gift-giving and the pop-up has Natalie J Wood’s slip cast parian clay vessels filled with Lucky Cloud’s blended soy wax candles in heady scents like geranium and spearmint. There are some new names among the familiar Local Heroes faces, including a special guest from Costa Rica – jeweller Jimena Bolaños Durman. “As well as Jimena’s amazing jewellery, we have completely new works from Emma McDowall who has made beautiful large-scale concrete planters and some specially designed ‘modern celestial’ vases and cups from Glasgow’s Morven Mulgrew,” says Hunter. “We also have exciting prints from Saskia Pomeroy and a Scottish and Italian themed food calendar by Giulia Fiorista.”

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Products by Hill Street Design House residents are at the top of Hazel’s list. “MAiK London is an ethical homeware and accessories brand that recently relocated back to Scotland. Their high quality socks are made at a family-run factory, produced using eco-friendly dyes and packaged with no plastic. Leigh Elizabeth is a recent graduate (class of 2018!) of textiles and surface design from Heriot Watt University. The clutches we have chosen are hand-painted and embellished, and encased in PVC to protect the textile. I love everything from Rene Walrus and Mischke Lingerie, but having them creating luxury headpieces together is an absolute Christmas wish come true! These pieces remind me of a modern take on the headbands from Swan Lake, but with added madness, glitter and styling. I am very excited to try them all on. Don’t be surprised if I make one the uniform for the shop. Finally, Lauren Smith’s super cute embroidered pins are inspired by Christmas jumpers, and 70s colour combinations and patterns. Each pin is unique and meticulously stitched by hand, right here in Edinburgh.” The pair plan to shoot their own live Instagram stories in order to incorporate everyone’s work, with a knowing wink at shopping channel-style delivery: “It was our friend and PR genius Owen O’Leary who suggested that we do live sales where people can phone up to buy products and then pop round after work to pick them up.” With jewellery by Freya Alder, Cecilia Stamp, Lynne MacLachlan, Tom Pigeon and Heather Woof and accessories by Niki Fulton, Paulin Watches, Laura Spring and SÒLAS, the scene is set for sparkling demonstrations of headwear, rings and neck scarves. “It’s nice to be together again at Hill Street, which is where Local Heroes started,” says Hunter. “Come and see us and take away a gift for someone special that they’ll appreciate or just tune into our Instagram channel on your lunch break and see us introduce some brilliant design objects and designers.”

MAiK

A Very Contemporary Christmas, Hill Street Design House, Edinburgh, 1-8 Dec localheroes.design Jimena Bolaños Durman

ART

Christmas

The Art of Gifting H

ow do you keep up your anti-capitalist principles in the face of the most wonderful and consumerist time of the year? For starters, put down that gold-painted candlestick, or Cath Kidston mug, or whatever else you found in TK Maxx’s Miscellaneous/Cookery section. Maybe there’s not time for everyone to look up where their nearest independent makers’ arts and crafts fairs are. Scratch that, there’s definitely no time in December for this level of research. That’s exactly why it’s been pooled here for your perusal. Get in loser, we’re going shopping. At Dundee Contemporary Arts, they’ve got the 2018 edition of Crafted Christmas Market. They’ll have a line-up of “30 talented independent designers and makers.” Stalls will be selling jewellery, textiles, illustration, print, homeware and more. You’ve not got long to catch this one, as it takes place on 1 December from 11.30am5.30pm. If you miss it this year, it’ll likely be on again this time next year again so make a note in your brand new diary. On Sunday 2 December, Upmo (an Edinburghbased charity delivering creative workshops to adults with additional support needs) launch their first Christmas fair at Out of the Blue Drill Hall, “to introduce themselves to the community” as they move to Leith from Meadowbank. There will be unique works there made by Upmo students, as well as additional stalls selling works made by local artists. They also promise games and craft activities for all to enjoy. Also on 1-2 December is Etsy Made Local Glasgow, with each day bringing new artists and designers. There are finely-made ceramics with traditional influences from Karen Hanvidge, and handmade fun jewellery from Flossifo, whose trademark is the pom pom. This will be a big mixed bag of different works, so set aside some time to look carefully through what will be a large marketplace in The Briggait. Grey Wolf Studios are also getting in on the makers’ fairs with their own Christmas Sale on Thursday 7 December. Keenly avoiding the weekend, they’ve set up an evening of shopping where there will be plenty of designers, makers and crafters on hand to provide you with some gift inspiration. There will be some folks that exhibited in one of The Skinny’s favourite pop-ups of the past year, the Local Heroes shop. Ruth Mitchell, whose scarf featured in the Local Heroes line-up, will be bringing her distinctive abstract

and colourful style to the Christmas Sale. Always worthy of mention, there’s the Tea Green Festive Market, with its last two dates this year on 8 and 9 December. Going strong since 2014, the enterprise itself was set up by jewellery designer Joanne MacFadyen; since graduating, she’s made a concerted effort to meet and bring together the most talented makers from around Scotland to exhibit and sell their work in her variety of events and pop-up markets throughout the year. The Christmas Tea Green comes with a few seasonal bells and whistles, along with unique gifts that support the best emerging local art and design talent. There are two all-day markets across the weekend in the beautiful surroundings of Kibble Palace at Glasgow Botanic Gardens. After its first outing in 2016, the 16 Nicholson Street Christmas Fundraising Auction returns on 14 Dec-ember and is even bigger than before. As well as the sale, there will now be a week-long exhibition of all the works, so there’s plenty of time to assess the wares and choose one to bid for when the silent auction begins at 7pm. After it ends at 9pm, the successful bidders will be announced at 10pm. The works can also be bid for online until 6pm on 14 December, with images and information being posted on 16 Nicholson Street’s Facebook, Instagram and website. More than 20 artists are already confirmed to include work, with each of them having shown or associated with the space over the last couple of years. Artists interested in donating can request the auction document by email, and can drop off works from Wednesday to Sunday 11-6pm until 8 December. From an insider’s perspective, Glasgow Southside area Mount Florida has been slowly embellished with a few excellent independent cafes and eateries – special mention to Cornerstore Cafe and Mala Carne. Helping along this transition from Mount Florida to MoFlo, there’s the Mount Florida Gallery and Studios. And there’s no better time to go and visit than during its Christmas Design Market this year, which will be on Saturday 15 December from 11am-6pm. Like many of the events here, this makers’ market is run by a contemporary practicing designer, so promises to represent the cutting edge of local talent. Everyone is an artist, even if most of the world is a bit out of practice. Draw out the sculptor in your nearest lapsed creative pal with the help of the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.

DCA Crafted Christmas Market

There’s a whole menu of courses that are coming up in the new year, but if you’re a bit overwhelmed by the choices, you can always purchase a gift voucher and leave the choosing to the giftee. For the Glasgow folks, keep an eye on Glasgow Sculpture Studio for when it releases details of its own course catalogue for 2019. Glasgow School of Art was hardly out of the news over the summer after the destructive fire that spread through the main building, which has caused a lot of disruption for the students and staff alike. So it’s especially welcome to be able to mention some brighter news about the GSA, as it has recently opened its well-established store in Glasgow City Centre’s fanciest mall: Princes Square. Among Vivienne Westwood, COS and Radley, GSA is selling the work of former students and other makers from around the city, as well as a range of nifty Mackintosh and GSA merchandise. For similar homeware, jewellery and other uniquely nice items, see also Welcome Home in Tea Green Market

Christmas

Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

ART

Photo: Erika Stevenson

For anyone that’s wanted to spend their Christmas gift budget (no matter how much or little that may be) on a unique and thoughtful present, and in a way that can support local art and design, look no further

CCA. Just like GSA, they have an open source style of stock acquisition, so will represent at any one time a diversity of different styles and techniques of making. Also sharing the same building and street address as 16 Nicholson Street, the Glasgow Zine Library has also launched its own retail shop. Having only opened a couple of months ago, the Glasgow Zine Library evolved from the well-loved Glasgow Zine Fest that brings together all the best zinemakers who sell their work for one weekend in the CCA. Open Tuesday to Sunday, the Library offers folks free access to hundreds of zines, as well as a warm place to read and a soft couch to enjoy with a hot cup of tea. Bringing some of the creative energy of the makers they collect, they’ve started a retail shop that stocks totes, badges, stickers, cards, prints, wrapping paper, and more. The funds raised will be used to keep the Glasgow Zine Library open and free to visitors. theskinny.co.uk/art

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December 2018

THE SKINNY

On The Table Want to jazz up your festive dining? Need something to impress with at the dinner table? Keen not to burn the house down this year? We have some suggestions for you...

Words: Peter Simpson IIllustration: Ailsa Johnson

Kitchen Essentials Digital thermometer Christmas often means excess, and that often results in overly large bits of meat being thrown in ovens that really aren’t big enough for them. An instant read thermometer allows you to make sure you aren’t going to poison everyone or disappoint them with a dinner that’s half-underdone and half-incinerated. Knife sharpener No matter what you’re working on, we assume you’re going to need to cut your food. If you’re cutting in the kitchen, you need sharp knives – the sharper your blade, the less likely it is to slip and the less force you’ll need to put into your potato chopping. Either go old school with a honing steel, or pick up a knife sharpener like the AnySharp, which features a nifty suction feature to stop it flying away mid-sharpening. Mandoline Or if you really want to make some headway in the kitchen, a benriner or Japanese mandoline is the way to go. You’ll be getting through piles of veg in seconds, cutting anything and everything in your path into lovely uniform slices. We’ll warn you now, these things are razor sharp and if you look away mid-stroke you will slice the top of your finger off.

hristmas dinner – a time for friends and family to gather round a table that isn’t quite big enough, to wear paper hats while drinking heavily in the mid-afternoon, and to cover everything and everyone in gravy. And yet, when there’s YouGov research that shows the only thing we can all agree on about Christmas dinner is we like roast potatoes, there’s clearly some room for improvement. So improve we shall!

The Big Meat Manifesto Still want to eat a large white bird this Christmas, but don’t fancy dealing with turkey’s enormous size and uncanny ability to go a bit dry and mealy? What you need is a goose! Geese are fatty, tasty, fatty, raised free range in Scotland, and extremely fatty. This means succulent meat, delicious roast potatoes (which, as we’ve established, is the most important thing anyway), and everyone falling into a culinary coma by 2pm. This option is ideal for the carnivores who want to be extremely decadent while also buying themselves an hour of Christmas day rest. Equally OTT is porchetta. Of Italian origin, a porchetta is a boneless roast that’s part pork loin (meaty, tasty, and liable to hold together) and part pork belly (fatty, unctuous, and liable to drip all over the loin and baste it from the inside) that’s all rubbed down with herbs and spices, tied up into a big meaty ball and slow roasted. It looks the part, even before you pour hot oil over the skin to turn the entire outside of your Christmas dinner into one giant pork scratching. As Munchies host and ‘Loudest Man in TV Cookery’ Matty Matheson says in his YouTube tutorial, “if

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you treat this thing with disrespect, it will burn your fucking life away.” Duly noted.

“ When research shows the only part of Christmas Dinner we can agree on is that we all like roast potatoes, there’s clearly room for improvement” Veg Out For those of you who don’t want to celebrate the festivities by gnawing on the charred remains of a sentient animal, there are two words that loom large – ‘nut roast’. Sorry, but no, we won’t stand for it. Nut roasts look odd, they try to emulate meat but never get anywhere close so just end up disappointing your carnivore pals, and frankly the expression ‘nut roast’ is rank and horrible. Thankfully, there are other options with less offensive names, such as Tasty’s Seitan Roast

which combines beans and herbs with the festive fun of nutritional yeast and vital wheat gluten. Mmmm, ‘vital’. The result appears to have a lot of the bounce and spring associated with roasted meat but without the aura of death, even if visually it does have more than a touch of ‘mystery meat’ about it. If nothing else, it looks fairly straightforward and easy to get rid of if it all goes to hell. For a more involved vegan option, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of the much-revered Serious Eats website has turned his full arsenal of scientific food ideas on to the issue of veggies at the Christmas dinner table. The result is a 3,000 word recipe for a multi-stranded, outlandishly complicated but extremely appealing Vegetable Wellington. Do you have family or friends visiting this Christmas, and need something for them to work on for an extended period of time? Well let’s hope they like peeling veg and layering up pastry! Sweet Dreams Christmas Pudding is as traditional as they come, but frankly we aren’t fans. And it’s not just because mostly-apocryphal tales of brandy-soaked puds going on fire and scorching houses to the ground (we found one instance of a Christmas Puddingrelated blaze in recent years, and even then it was only a tiddler of a housefire). It’s the fact that it takes ages to make and tends to sit extremely heavily on the ol’ tummy. Oh, and because it’s packed with dried fruit, if the family dog gets their paws on it they’ll be in a world of trouble. What you need is a festive dessert that won’t burn down your house, block up your bowels or kill your dog. If you want something that still has

FOOD AND DRINK

Salad Spinner Don’t dry your salad by hand like a fool; let one of these wild contraptions do the work for you. Stick your damp leaves in, spin it a bit too hard, watch as it almost takes flight, take the salad out, find out it’s still some how wet, pop it back in, repeat several times and you’ve got yourself a salad. that festive spiciness about it, go for a German lebkuchen – it’s a spiced biscuit flavoured with many of the usual suspects like nutmeg and ginger. The advantage it has over a Christmas Pudding is you can’t dunk a slice of pudding into your cup of tea, or surreptitiously stuff it in your pocket to eat later. Well you can, but you probably shouldn’t. If you fancy taking things in a lighter and more interesting direction, the bibingka is a Filipino Christmas staple. It’s made with rice flour, coconut milk, eggs and butter, with the whole thing cooked in banana leaves. Plus it’s traditionally cooked over hot coals, so if you insist on your Christmas dessert posing some kind of fire risk, your wishes have been granted. And if you want to make your Christmas veggie-friendly this year, we have just the thing – it’s the kinda weird half-juice half-water stuff in your jars of chickpeas. Aquafaba turns out to be a pretty decent substitute for egg whites, which means you can crack out animal-free meringues if you’re willing to put in the time with your blender. That in turn means you can serve up an enormously festive pavlova to your overly-traditional relatives, but the joke’s on them because there isn’t a single bit of squeezed-out animal in there. Truly, a Christmas miracle. theskinny.co.uk/food

Christmas

Play Your Cards Right Some of our favourite illustrators share their Christmas Cards

Christmas

SHOWCASE

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Top Row (l–r): Megan Reddi, Ursi Tolliday, Lou Rowland, Andrew Denholm, Lea Vervoort. Bottom Row (l–r): Julija Straižytė, Jasmine Floyd, Ana Jarén, Liam Rotheram December 2018

SHOWCASE

Christmas

LE Y ST FE LI

Boys Don’t Cry Mental health is an intersectional issue. One writer explores how being a BAME man impacts his mental wellbeing

dinburgh is grey all the time. It is grey Georgian buildings standing proud in New Town, grey kirks tucked away in Old Town, and grey-haired men smoking cigarettes outside busy pubs. In summer’s glory, the greyness is bright, but winter is here and Edinburgh is dreich. Anxiety has a similar meteorological effect when it hits me. Like winter, it rolls in replacing crisp autumnal brightness with a muted bleakness. The issue with anxiety is that the sufferer is the sole proprietor of it. Being isolated with these feelings is difficult. Even harder to describe them to others. Often, it feels like it won’t make sense when explained aloud. Will anyone even understand it? Will they just dismiss it altogether? With all these swirling questions it seems easier to just keep silent.

“ I had to learn to exist with all my truths: that I am brown, I am gay, I am someone who has mental health issues” I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I became aware of my anxiety. As a child, I recall growing overwhelmed during big life changes. But my life was always changing due to my father’s transient career. My siblings often saw me as moody or aloof. The reality was I didn’t know how to articulate the worries, sadness, and frustration that came from our constant moving. I didn’t understand how to deal with the liminality of my life. I was never able to root myself in one place and felt impermanent. None of these issues were helped by the fact that I come from a culture in which men don’t discuss mental health or emotions. As a MexicanAmerican, machismo has a huge influence on how men behave. It dictates how men speak, how men

Lifestyle

Words: Andrés Ordorica Illustration: Terri Po

think, walk and even how they express feelings (or rather don’t). Machismo is dangerous. It perceives feelings as soft and softness is quashed early in life to quell femininity. Machismo is widespread among many families in the Latino community. I don’t blame my parents for the fact I kept silent on my mental health issues. For my parents, the right words did not exist to help them begin conversations around mental health. My sadness was born from the emptiness that came from not fully expressing my thoughts and worries. Outwardly, I was only ever a shell of the fully realised person that lived within. I had desires and dreams and questions that never made it out of my head. Being gay only exacerbated my anxieties and feelings of isolation. I learned to silence my longings as a means of protection from shame and self-hatred. I would not allow myself to live outwardly and proudly. Because of that, I missed out on a lot of life. I didn’t kiss another person until I was almost 20 (never mind anything below the belt). Suffering from mental health issues is difficult no matter your ethnic background, gender or sexual orientation. But, the hard reality is that among Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, these issues are further compounded by lack of access to support and an elementary misunderstanding by specialists of how intersectionality might affect someone’s mental health. As the Mental Health Foundation states, people from BAME backgrounds are more likely to be diagnosed and admitted to hospital, experience poor treatment outcomes and more likely to disengage from mainstream services which ultimately will worsen conditions. What do you expect when whole communities feel invisible to services, peers and wider society? Learning to manage my anxiety and depression has been like learning to ride a bike alone in the dark. That is to say it’s been a journey largely unseen by others. As I started to live proudly as a gay man, I began to bury my mental health issues. I lied to myself and said that nothing was wrong, even as friends asked: “What happened to the happy guy we knew?” By my fourth year of university, my light was dimming and greyness was rolling in once more. I didn’t know where that happy version of myself went. I remember one night being alone in my flat and just crying on my bed. I was in mourning from a failed relationship, the death of a

dear friend and the end of my undergraduate experience. I was once again stuck between two epochs and unsure how I was going to manage the transition. There is no rulebook on how to move on from failure, how to mourn young or how to navigate the future. Among all the chaos, I had lost the spirit and passion I once had and that needed to change. The solution – therapy – was a scary prospect. It was a concept that existed outside my family and cultural reference points. In therapy, I learned to confront a lot of things. I began to understand that I kept parts of

my life separate as a way to protect myself. I hid my gayness from much of my family as a means to avoid my own insecurities. I believed my loud Mexican and Catholic family would not accept who I was. It was easier to exist in my utopia: a liberal academic town. But, as university came to an end, I realised I might not always live in this safe space. I had to learn to exist with all my truths: that I am brown, I am gay, I am someone who has mental health issues. Prior to moving to Scotland, my husband warned me of its stoic culture. Stoicism promotes a quiet acceptance of what life may throw one’s way. Loud emotions or pronounced feelings are looked down upon. This can be troubling for those experiencing mental health issues. As I continue to grow roots in Edinburgh, I am learning to navigate these new cultural rules. It’s often a shock to my Scottish friends and family to hear me speak openly about therapy, anxiety or sadness. But I force myself to speak so that I don’t regress into being that quiet little boy again. Being me can be an isolating experience in Scotland. There are not a lot of BAME people (and even fewer people from a Latino background). Not everyone understands what it is to negotiate different cultures as an outsider. Not everyone realises what it’s like to not always feel represented or seen. But by talking openly about these issues, I can play my role in new narratives taking root. As candid conversations start to take place, then more people will grow confident in talking about these important issues. Hopefully, as men, we can eradicate the need for machismo and instead promote open dialogue around mental health and emotion.

You’ve Got Mail This month’s columnist looks at the Filipino Christmas tradition of the balikbayan box

s with a lot of Filipino families, saying “I love you” was not common in our household. Yet, a love that the Philippines unapologetically shares is love for the Christmas holidays. From September onwards, Christmas songs echo in shopping malls; from universal classics like Joy to the World to ballads that always seem to centre around longing for someone to remember you during the season. With over ten million overseas Filipino workers, it is unsurprising that this yearning has become universal across the country’s more-than-7000 islands. There’s always a loved one missing from the Nochebuena. While distance prevents millions from personally participating in holiday traditions, one that has formed due to this is the balikbayan box (repatriate box). The big boxes are filled with everyday items like pasta, toothpaste, toys, and clothes, with the overseas senders gathering the gifts over months. While they are sent throughout the year, many prepare them to arrive just in time for the holidays. When asking elder overseas Filipinos about why the tradition lives on, answers coincided in a harmonious notion: there is something different about letting someone know you haven’t forgotten them through a physical item. Something

INTERSECTIONS

Words: Graciela Mae

you’ve specifically bought for them and packaged meticulously with wrapping paper, the recipient’s name labelled in bold letters. In the days of social media, it would seem easier to blur the agonising distance between families, but sometimes this makes it worse. It only makes it easier to see everything you’re missing. The boxes help aid this pain from both sides. The family members in the motherland receive a physical notion of their relative’s love, whereas those overseas get the reassurance that they will not be forgotten. Not because of the gifts themselves, but the happiness they bring. Seeing relatives’ smiles in video calls, knowing that you’ve somehow caused this joy, however temporary, closes miles of distance despite not being able to (as the rough translation of ‘balik bayan’ reveals) “come home.” Having experienced the tradition from both perspectives – waiting for boxes in the Philippines as a child longing for her parents, and as a teenager buying her cousins’ favourite chocolates in the UK – it taught me that love is beyond words. Love is about remembering, despite your surroundings compelling you to a world so different from home. It’s about not letting distance become a hindrance, but a source of unwavering inspiration.

THE SKINNY

Burning Out Baby As 2018 comes to an end, it’s safe to say everyone’s feeling a bit of political burnout. We speak to three activists about how they balance self-care with politics

arlier this year, in May, I burnt out. I lay in bed for a week, unable to write and barely able to read, rewatching season after season of Gilmore Girls. My mental health was as wrecked as my physical health. My burnout came as an aftermath from Ireland’s referendum on the eighth amendment – the law that made abortion illegal in the country was repealed in May by public vote. While I couldn’t vote (I was born in Northern Ireland, where abortion remains illegal), I threw my full weight behind the pro-choice campaign. In three months, I wrote nearly 10,000 words on Irish abortion laws. When I wasn’t writing about it, I was talking or tweeting or emailing politicians about it. It was emotional, cathartic, and completely exhausting. While political turmoil is hardly new, the last few years have felt especially draining. In the UK, post-Brexit, there was a sharp increase in race-related hate crime and acceptable xenophobia while, in the US, there is an openly racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-immigrant liar sitting in the White House. In Brazil, a far-right president who once declared, “Yes, I’m homophobic – and very proud of it,” has been elected. Millennials have been smacked with a lack of job security while rent increases at a rate no other generation has experienced. Oh, and then there’s global warming. The world is, quite literally, on fire. As politics became increasingly outwardly aggressive, protesting has become great again. Anti-Muslim ban marches, anti-Trump marches, anti-Brexit marches, repeal the eighth marches, and who can forget Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi commercial march. But as the knee-jerk anger has died down with the realisation that while protesting is essential, it doesn’t change legislation overnight, a sense of weary fatigue has struck. Politics is burnt out. In a year of political hellfire, the Irish referendum to repeal the eighth was a success story of how a grassroots, inclusive, community-led campaign can change legislation through activism. While the movement peaked with this year’s referendum, for many Irish pro-choice campaigners, this has been a lifetime of emotional and difficult work.

December 2018

Lauren Crilly, part of the Scottish Irish Abortion Rights Campaign (SIARC), was active in the lead up to the referendum, fundraising in Scotland and campaigning on the ground in Ireland. She had a similar experience to me in May. “The whole campaign was the best thing I have ever been involved with and I am so proud of us all,” says Crilly, “[but] it almost killed me.” She explains: “Post-referendum, I came down with a bad virus which lasted for a week and then I was super fatigued for two and a half months after that. [It] was like a quiet burnout, one in which I wasn’t completely out of action but it also felt a bit like my limbs were made of concrete.” As well as the SIARC, Crilly works at the Repair Café Glasgow, a community-driven project focused on reducing waste and providing people with new skills. She also works at Kinning Park Complex, another community-focused hub, and organised the demonstration against the mass evictions of refugees from their Glasgow homes by SERCO in August. Crilly’s work and activism are interchangeable, and her many spinning plates mean that finding a work/life balance is difficult. “I used to work unpaid overtime pretty much every week because I felt so committed to the job,” she says. While being passionate about your job can be a great motivator, it can also make it harder to turn off or take a break. Rianna Walcott – a researcher, activist, and editor of The Colour of Madness, a book about BAME mental health – says that for her, work and personal activism inherently overlap “as a black woman in academia with mental health issues.” Walcott co-founded an initiative called Project Myopia that “seeks to diversify and decolonise university curricula and pedagogy.” As a result, she says that she doesn’t have a healthy work/life balance – “my work and life are far too interlinked.” Walcott explains that politics, particularly the rise of xenophobic, racist, and anti-immigrant politics that has become acceptable in the mainstream over the last few years, takes a personal toll. “I think I speak for most marginalised people in this moment when I say that constantly seeing hatred directed at you for simple factors of your

identity like race, gender, sexuality or religion is a constant wear on our health,” she says. “People who are unaffected by politics are usually those who stand to lose nothing.” Political activism, then, is personal activism. For those underrepresented in their fields, particularly BAME people, being an unofficial and unpaid consultant on issues of diversity can become a second job. Layla-Roxanne Hill, a Glasgowbased activist who campaigns on Blackness in Scotland and trade union organising, explains how being pigeonholed as a “diversity consultant” within political movements can be draining. “One of the things I struggle with is when I’m asked to speak and write on realities related to diversity, race, racism and ethnicity. Though I have advocated that Black and people of colour can and should be speaking/writing on those subjects, I also feel that we can and should be speaking and writing on subjects outside of these areas, which are still political.”

“ People who are unaffected by politics are usually those who stand to lose nothing” Rianna Walcott

So, how do activists cope with burnout? For everyone, mental health is a journey and there is no fix-all solution. Hill explains that “care changes with what knowledge you have of your mental health and stressors as well as the time and resources you have access to.” She explains that in the past, she would take on commitments, “particularly those that involved the emotional well-being of others,” as a means of self-care. “When I couldn’t cope with feelings of failure which inevitably came from not being able to do

INTERSECTIONS

Interview: Katie Goh Illustration: Jacky Sheridan

these things, I would attempt to alleviate these thoughts and feelings by getting pretty wasted! That would inevitably result in more guilt and feelings of failure, but I would re-enter that cycle of doing as I thought it demonstrated how well I was coping with my mental health.” Now, her self-care is a quest “to be more vulnerable; to feel the feelings I have; spending time in a place that’ll feel nice.” Oh, and also, “I sleep,” she says. “For days on end.” While mental health and physical health are perceived as binary conditions, one is dependent upon the other. When Crilly became ill post-referendum, her burnout manifested physically. “For me, my mental health is very dependent on my physical health; if I am sick I can go into very bad mental places,” she explains. Crilly has Crohn’s disease, an auto-immune illness that affects the digestive system, which impacts her mentally as well as physically. Learning to say no – “whether it is meetings, campaign tasks or just things like going to the pub” – have been important for managing her health. For Walcott, managing burnout is about small steps. “A lot of the advice is often near impossible to achieve in the midst of a depression – eating healthily, exercising etc,” she explains. “I’ve found it more helpful to think of self-care as what you can manage in that moment. If that is clearing out your room, going to the gym, cooking a gourmet meal and sorting through a backlog of work then congratulations! If on another day that is just making a Pot Noodle and writing a to-do list that is actually attainable when you’re moving at a fifth of your normal speed then that’s amazing too.” Activism is a privilege. So few countries have the freedom to campaign and protest without fear of detainment that, in the UK, we have a responsibility to speak out and show up. However, while being political is essential, so is mental well-being. As 2019 drags its baggage around the corner (hello Brexit deadline), now is the time to recuperate. Take care of yourselves and rest up over the holidays, because next year we have much more work to do.

Lifestyle

The Year in Food A look back on the year in food, in which we spent slightly less time outside, and significantly more time wincing at sour but delicious beverages Words: Peter Simpson Heading Indoors In 2018, Scotland’s street food and pop-up scene grew up a bit, which is to say a good number of folk have bought themselves homes of their own. From the guys behind pioneering street food van Chompsky branching out with their Pollokshaws bistro Gnom, to new bricks and mortar locations for the fantastic burgers and pizza from El Perro Negro and Pizza Geeks respectively, some of our favourite itinerant food pals have become somewhat easier to pin down. Throw in Platform’s new residency at the Argyle Street Arches (it’s no multiarts space and nightclub, but at least it’s something) and spots like Dockyard Social and The Pitt, and it seems like this street food malarkey might be here to stay. Hooray! Multiply and Conquer Edinburgh has the most restaurants per person

of any city in the UK outside London, and there’s hardly a week goes by without breathless reports from Glasgow of another new cafe or bar we need to check out. ‘Big cities have lots of places to eat’ – big shock we know – but the interesting thing in the past year has been what people have been eating. Edinburgh’s apparent desire to turn St Andrew Square into some kind of crash pad for London chain restaurants has kinda fizzled out, and a number of the country’s most prominent chains have run into some notable bother this year. Yet some of our favourite indies are branching out into second or third spots – El Cartel and Ramen Dayo! both opened new venues this year, Civerinos are lining up a pizza-fuelled dive bar to go along with their two restaurants, and Williams and Johnson are slinging their top-drawer coffee right on Princes Street, across from the Apple

El Perro Negro

Store. It seems if you support your local food and drinkeries, you’ll be rewarded with more of them – wild news, we’re sure you’ll agree. Sour Power In the beer world this year, it’s been all about the sour beers. Admittedly, they are somewhat of an acquired taste – overreach in your eagerness for something new and you might end up flinching your way through your schooner – but for fans of funky fermented flavours and people who find

standard beers a bit boring or bready, they’re fantastic. All-sour brewery Vault City impressed us earlier this year when they nearly blew The Skinny’s collective head off with their range of sours; consult your local craft beer emporium (Koelschip Yard, Salt Horse, The Hanging Bat etc) for a steer in the right direction. Read the results of The Skinny Food and Drink Survey 2019 in our January issue, out on 3 Jan theskinny.co.uk/food

Chews Bulletin Christmas markets, New Year celebrations, and enough wine and scones to go around feature in December’s food and drink events guide

Words: Paris Karstedt

Barras Art and Design

ecember begins with the first Colinton Market at Dreghorn Loan Hall. The market is the work of two local mums with a passion for supporting small businesses and fostering community spirit. The December Market’s carefully curated selection of local shops will include 2 More Heads, East Coast Cured, Sadie Baby, Lovecrumbs and more. This is the perfect opportunity to take care of all your holiday shopping while nurturing the community spirit with festive street food and drink. 1 Dec, 2.30-6.30pm, Dreghorn Loan Hall, free entry Over in Glasgow, Valhalla’s Goat Christmas Wine Festival is here to bring the holiday glow to your beaming rosy cheeks at Inn Deep. With the corks popping on over 100 different wines from your classic reds and whites to biodynamic and orange, the evening is sure to bring out your holiday spirit. And if all that wine isn’t encouragement enough to be jolly, there will also be a prize awarded to the best Christmas costume. 7 Dec,

Lifestyle

7-9pm, 445 Great Western Road, £10 advance purchase in store The Vegan Connections Christmas Market returns to the east end of Glasgow, with this year’s festivities held at the stunning Barras Art and Design. Thirty-five stalls will be overflowing with hearty vegan treats to fill space in your belly or beneath your tree. The warm glow of crueltyfree holiday goodness will be sparkling from the atrium throughout the night as the market collects donations for the Glasgow Winter Night Shelter. There’s a lot to feel cheerful about here. 9 Dec, 10am-4pm, 54 Calton Entry, £4 The Templeton Building's indoor courtyard will transform this December with the annual WESTive German Christmas Market. The market offers a mouthwatering selection of German food and a range of independent traders. You’ll cheers to the holiday season with your choice of luscious mulled wine, cider, hot chocolate, or even a special edition Christmas beer. No one will be left

out of this holiday celebration, even your favorite four-legged friend is invited. 9 Dec, 11am-5pm, Templeton Building, Glasgow Green, free but ticketed. Soul Food Sisters are here to fortify your cooking skills for the upcoming dizzying whirl of holiday feasts with a Soul Food Classics Workshop. The workshop will focus on delicacies from Polish and Roma communities with a menu consisting of Polish pierogi, fresh bread, vegetables, and grilled meat. After cooking, you’ll enjoy your culinary creation with a sit-down meal and shared company. 13 Dec, 6.30-8pm, 202 Gallowgate, £15 via soulfoodsisters.org Just in time for Christmas, Edinburgh’s Tasty Buns Bakery brings you Festive Sconefest. Sure to thrill any scone lover, this delightful event comes with the inspiration of Christmas. Eight scones to please your palate, whether you’ve been naughty or nice this holiday season, there are scones for you – two sweet, two boozy sweet,

FOOD AND DRINK

two savoury, and two boozy savoury. 14 Dec, 8.30am-5pm, 67 Bread Street, free entry Jumping ahead to New Year, The Pitt promises to amp up The Hogmanay Bash this year, and they aren’t going to let their current refurbishments halt the party. Instead, they are just moving the festivities next door to The Biscuit Factory. All the good things that infused last year’s celebration return including a complimentary dram of whisky. You’ll enjoy award-winning street food, and local musicians and DJs. 31 Dec, 7pm-2am, 4-6 Anderson Place, £22 And in Glasgow, Koelschip Yard Hogmanay boasts a craft beer-powered celebration that will include music, dancing and perhaps even singing. This event brings in local food and plenty of drinks including 14 kegs to choose from and loads of Fernet-Branca. Tickets come with five drink tokens and snacks. 31 Dec, 6pm-1am, 686-688 Pollokshaws Road, £30 theskinny.co.uk/food

THE SKINNY

December 2018

THE SKINNY

FE U AT RE

Merry SQIFF-mas

SQIFF returns in a new festive slot, bringing with it another playful, daring and provocative line-up of LGBTQIA films presented with all the love and care we’ve come to expect from this vital festival

Interview: Eleanor Capaldi

White Rabbit

he Scottish Queer International Film Festival is back for its fourth edition, this time falling in December. This early Christmas present has a typically vibrant programme from the SQIFF team that promises to warm the heart and fire up the brain. Proceedings kick off on 5 December with a night of contemporary international LGBTQ+ shorts, all screening in Scotland for the first time. The headline film, VISIBLE, created by Campbell X (Stud Life) and Kayza Rose (Head of Media, UK Black Pride), will explore QTIPOC (Queer, Trans Intersex People of Colour) histories, and we’re promised it’ll offer a much-needed “challenge [to] mainstream perceptions and the sanitisation of legacies, celebrating complexity, multiplicity, myths, gossip, and legends.” SQIFF say they want to focus more than ever on representing voices marginalised within film culture, and they’ve put their money where their mouth is this year, putting programming in the hands of talented guest curators bringing us under-represented stories. In partnership with Dardishi, the ‘zine and festival of Arab womxn’s art, Samar Ziadat takes the reigns of the strand Queer Arab Lives, which features films telling stories of the desires of genderqueer, trans and lesbian characters across Egypt and Lebanon. East Asian Focus, curated by Marc David Jacobs, includes Taiwanese feature Alifu the Prince/ss, about a trans woman in the indigenous Paiwan community, and The Story of the Stone, a queering of a tale from classical Chinese literature, updated and set in the middle of Taipei’s 21st century gay community. Unlike many major festivals, accessibility is central to SQIFF, and it’s reflected both in delivery and content. The festival’s sliding ticket scale returns having proven so successful last year, meaning that guests pay what they can afford, between £0-£8. Subtitling is mandatory for every film, and BSL interpreters will be at hand (see the SQIFF programme for specific events). Discussions will tackle balancing aestheticism with access, while shorts series Deaf Perspectives returns, with Scottish filmmaker and vlogger Ross Wilcock presenting short films expanding on his

December 2018

own film, Online Dating with a Disability. A queer film festival is a fitting place to question form and method. The ever-pervasive world of Virtual Reality finds a place in SQIFF’s programme, posing some inviting questions about the scope and role for VR in addressing marginalised experiences. In Walking:Holding, meanwhile, performance art and mobile technology converge in a collaborative documentary filmed entirely on mobile phones, weaving together a range of perspectives and experiences from across the country. Laughing in the face of danger may be something the LGBTQIA community has learned by default, but it’s the ability to laugh at yourself that’s explored in Queer Film Network’s strand Gay as in Hysterically Funny. This is the section of the programme in which you’ll find closing film White Rabbit, about a Korean-born LA artist finding an unavoidable connection with a familiar stranger. Lesbian experiences are the focus of double header, Dykes, Camera, Action! (Caroline Berler) and BOOM BUST. The first is an American documentary exploring contributions to lesbian filmmaking, featuring the lesbians we couldn’t have got here without, such as Rose Troche (Go Fish), Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman), and film critic B. Ruby Rich, who coined the term New Queer Cinema in the early 1990s. The doc is a consolidation of lesbian film history with key figures interviewed who show us just how astonishing their achievements were, at a time when lesbians were largely ignored when not being shamed. Among those featuring in Dykes! Camera! Action! is Desiree Akhavan, who’s a more recent contributor to the L/B film canon with work like Appropriate Behaviour and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Akhavan praises the likes of High Art and even The L Word for fulfilling her basic need to see desires on screen that reflected what she was feeling. BOOM BUST will be presented by poet, writer and activist So Mayer, whose work includes academic text Political Animals: The New Feminist Cinema. Mayer tells us audiences will leave the event equipped for dismantling the cis male dominance of the film industry. “BOOM BUST is designed

as a reminder that we’re not alone,” Mayer explains. “We have great queer/feminist film forebears and contemporaries to learn from and stand with, and their work can teach ours as activists and artists how to be both passionate and fun.” If those ceilings are made of glass, that leaves some sharp shards to fall. Pioneers of feminist filmmaking were there early. “The mainstream film world has proto-feminists at its root, in terms of the women writers, performers and producers of Hollywood and British silent cinema,” says Mayer. But despite talent and content from female, lesbian and queer filmmakers that has been consistent and transformative, it’s been an ongoing fight for fairness. The dominant film culture was at best largely uninterested, and at worst, says Mayer, deeply harmful. “If the mainstream film world had paid any attention whatsoever to 40 years of feminist film theory and criticism – Laura Mulvey calling out the gendered sadism of film culture in 1975! – then the systemic abuse that’s being called the #MeToo moment or #TimesUp would have been addressed decades ago!” Mayer suggests some reasons for the obstacles that have hampered feminist efforts to be connected to films linking early on “with American industrial capitalism and often to the militaryindustrial complex.” This battleground-inspired context, combined with a need for profit, meant and still means “that [the film industry] not only harbours, but depends on poor labour practices, including harassment and exclusion, at every level.” The galvanising prospect is that now, perhaps, more people are starting to pay attention. In the face of the Hollywood quagmire still hiding many dispiriting secrets, Mayer offers ways in which we, the audience, can truly help. First, there’s “social media campaigns such as #OscarsSoWhite or #femalefilmmakerfriday, which are viewer-led, are changing the industry.” Then, it’s a case of putting the phone down and getting to the cinema, if possible. “It’s crucial that there are huge audiences showing up for films such as Black Panther – but we also need audiences pulling for smaller films,” says Mayer. This is where support of the indie cinema – and a local festival

FILM

like SQIFF – come into their own: they can be a stomping ground for the more diverse and lesser-heard stories. Mayer recommends asking your local indie cinema if they’re showing a film you’ve heard of and to say you’ll bring friends. If you saw a film by a female filmmaker that you loved, let them know so they’re encouraged to programme more. If your local cinema or film festival isn’t part of F-Rated (which awards “F” ratings to films directed and/or written by a woman), then encourage them to join up.

“ We have great queer/feminist film forebears and contemporaries to learn from and stand with” So Mayer

Relaxing into new found legal equalities is still a relative luxury, especially when the dayto-day lived experiences of LGBTQIA identified folk can be so various. Mayer remembers, as someone who came of age as a film viewer in the 1990s, having seen “a ‘wave’ of inclusive independent filmmaking in Hollywood, in Britain, globally, rise and – largely, except for the white cismen – die out, once before. “Can the bold new cinema and film culture taking shape now sustain itself against the renewed (and well-funded) violence of the white right and its cinephile outriders? Festivals like SQIFF give me hope that it can.” SQIFF, 5-9 Dec, CCA and other Glasgow venues. For full programme information and tickets, head to: sqiff.org

Feature

Life After Death Row Writer and former hip-hop journalist Nina Bhadreshwar’s new memoir shares intimate details of her pen pal correspondence with 2Pac, her time at mega-label Death Row Records and the traumatic circumstances that followed Interview: Jonathan Rimmer

wo years ago, a letter written by Tupac Shakur, aka 2Pac, was auctioned off for $172,725. Penning the five-page document while incarcerated in 1995, he wrote it had helped his “spirit rebuild” and he planned to start a “new chapter” in his life. Just a year after the letter was written, he was shot dead in Las Vegas, leading to numerous police investigations as well as countless conspiratorial biopics. Depending on who you speak to, Shakur is remembered as a deep-thinking poet, political activist, gangsta rap icon or misogynistic thug. However, the recipient of this intimate missive was more surprising, not one of 2Pac’s Los Angeles entourage or family friends from New York, but a young journalist from Barnsley. Today, writer and poet Nina Bhadreshwar is back living in Manchester after a stint working as a school teacher in Dundee. But her book Finding CC chronicles a very different time in her life: when she was a publicist for sensational hip-hop label Death Row Records, an assistant to music executive Suge Knight, and close confidant to Shakur himself.

“ Death Row did everything to erase me. But they didn’t take hold of everything – they didn’t know I had Tupac’s letters. He validated me from beyond the grave” Nina Bhadreshwar

Bhadreshwar’s journey to LA is just one of the almost unbelievable stories that make up a vivid memoir stretching to nearly 500 pages. There’s delicate prose and brief poetic passages interlaced throughout, but much of the text appears in interview format, derived from transcripts going back to the early 1990s. “To be honest, it’s not just my story,” says Bhadreshwar. “It’s a collection of so many people’s stories. I’ve been writing Finding CC since I’ve been writing. A huge part are the interviews I’ve conducted as part of my journey, and these are people who may be alive or may be dead now. My interview with [the late] Nate Dogg is there, for example. “I felt a sense of duty and as soon as I returned to the UK, I started chronicling everything. I’m glad I did because it didn’t allow lag. I couldn’t write the book now because it’s so much, but I documented and kept everything. I did an MA in Professional Writing and picked up advice from people – all these sorts of things helped me learn structure and work out the right form for it.” Her story doesn’t begin in LA – the book’s title instead refers to a 15-year-old homeless Black poet who she befriended while volunteering

Feature

at a London night shelter in 1988. He was murdered on New Year’s Eve. She says: “My friend’s death is still unsolved – there was no police inquiry into what happened. I named the book after him because nobody even knows about him. This Black youth who mattered to me. The lack of care – I see it happening all the time. I felt like: ‘I can do something. I’m going to make a noise.’” Despite suffering bouts of depression and dealing with the death of her mother, Bhadreshwar made it her mission to document stories about struggling young people from minority backgrounds. After discovering hip-hop, a then-burgeoning art form where marginalised youth had space to articulate their own experiences as well as offer commentary on racism and systemic injustices, she started The Real State, her own graffiti and poetry zine, in 1992. “I was initially into the bass and jungle and underground rave scene,” she says. “I did my literature degree and all that sort of thing, but the emcees were the only poetry that really ignited that poetic spark in me. When I started publishing, I got into hip-hop and the cadences. I loved that it was energetic and had the breakdancing and spray paint. When I went to New York, the artists I met introduced me to the old school values. They schooled me on what it was about and showed me it was a positive force.” Her first major exposure to the American scene came in late 1993, and after a month visiting New York she discovered 2Pac through word of mouth. “I bought his tape and had a shudder down my spine as soon as Holler If Ya Hear Me came on,” she says. “I sent him a copy of the magazine through his publicist. He wrote back and said he loved the magazine, loved the underground stuff, loved the articles on social issues I did. Then all the craziness started.” She moved to America on 30 November 1994, the same day Shakur was shot in Times

Square and just weeks before he was convicted for sexual assault. Bhadreshwar still maintains “he shouldn’t have been in jail... regardless of where the rest of society wanted to put him” and that she felt like she “was in California for a purpose”. You get the sense that, for her, Shakur was more than a muse; he was a representative for young people of colour without a voice. Bhadreshwar went “hell for leather”, chasing every opportunity she could get until she was picked by 2Pac’s own hip-hop mega label Death Row Records as a chief editor and memo writer. “[I was] used to operating as a grey person like most people of colour,” she says. “But they embraced me and helped me develop confidence.” During this time, she also maintained her unique pen pal relationship with Shakur, sending him essays by Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass’ writings and excerpts from the Bible. Although Death Row was wildly successful, releasing multi-platinum albums by the likes of Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre as well as 2Pac, the label became embroiled in a series of controversies, lawsuits and gangland-related disputes. Despite Death Row ultimately bailing Shakur out of jail, Bhadreshwar felt “used and exhausted” as CEO Suge Knight’s behaviour became more erratic and the atmosphere became more and more “chaotic”. What followed was dramatic: Finding CC details how she was harassed, threatened at gunpoint and even held hostage after resigning from her role. She eventually managed to jump on a flight home. Her time at Death Row was minimised and denied by the label, with little beyond her letters and Real State publications left to verify her experiences. “They did everything to erase me,” she says. “But they didn’t take hold of everything – they didn’t know I had Tupac’s letters. He validated me from beyond the grave.” Parts of Finding CC are undeniably traumatic – How to Survive Puberty at 25, a previous

BOOKS

incarnation of the story, had to be rewritten on legal advice before ultimately being withdrawn and re-edited – but “you’ve got to break to grow”, as Bhadreshwar puts it. Reflecting on her own extremely unorthodox coming-of-age story, she hopes that the message readers get from the book is to “use your voice” regardless of background or circumstance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she’s chosen not to promote through sit-down readings and book shop Q&As, instead inviting local rappers, poets and breakdancers to perform on her tour. Following an “amazing” Dundee event, she’s announced a special Beats, Rhymes & Stories night at SWG3 on 15 December. Putting the spotlight on the predominantly working-class Scottish hip-hop scene, she believes the event is something her old pen pal would have enthusiastically approved of. “I have done readings in book shops before, but it’s not the people I need to reach or uplift,” she says. “They ask: ‘Why did you go on the wrong side of the tracks?’ They can’t relate – they don’t get it. The whole story is about my passion for music and me pursuing that, so I wanted musicians to be involved. And I wanted to not just be reading but conversing with an audience. “People like [Bhadreshwar publicist] Kirsty Miller and all the underground artists getting involved – their investment is fantastic. They have fantastic talent, and I hope the event showcases the Scottish scene well. It’s exactly what Tupac would have been buzzing off his head about. That was his vision. I want to carry on doing these kinds of events. I want people to really feel they belong and their voice matters and they’re part of the story.” Finding CC is out now via Bhad Publicity Beats, Rhymes and Stories, SWG3 Poetry Club, Glasgow, 15 Dec therealstate.co.uk

THE SKINNY

Follow the Sound

Photo: Dicky Bahto

Ahead of her appearance at Edinburgh’s Summerhall this month, we speak to Julia Holter about her latest album Aviary and why she finds explaining the message of her music so difficult

veryday is an emergency. This deceptively simple, prescient and encapsulating phrase is the title of a track on Julia Holter’s recently released fifth album, Aviary. It starts in a gust of noise – all whistles, chirping, hooting and what seems to be a blackly comic use of kazoos. Over its nearly eight minutes, it melts into something more melancholic and haunting as Holter chants, in her stream of consciousness way, about ‘clanging’ and ‘burning’, ‘terror’ and lizard faces. Perhaps most terrifying is that it alludes to how even the mundanity of daily life has become a panic. When Holter picks up the phone at her Los Angeles home in early October, the moment seems a world away from the horror this centrepiece evokes. But while in Glasgow we deal with the confusion over a looming Brexit and weirdly frequent building fires, the US has endured the separation of migrant children from their families; proposed government policies like defining transgender people out of existence; and multiple environmental disasters. Not long after our

December 2018

conversation, a number of public liberal figures, from Barack Obama to Robert De Niro, will receive pipe bombs in the mail. A few days later, a man will walk into a Pittsburgh synagogue and murder eleven people in a premeditated act of terror. Literally, every day is an emergency. Holter is reticent about explaining too much of her thinking behind the cacophonous, chaotic sounds of her new album. However, she is willing to admit that seemingly constant turmoil, socially and politically, gave her pause, and a way to focus her artistic energies. “When I started writing this record, I really didn’t know what to do,” she explains. “I was so confused, and I didn’t know what to do conceptually, so I figured I just had to follow the sound.” Confused creatively, or just generally? She emits an audible sigh. “Confused in all ways. It was really just a crazy time, and everything…” she pauses. “Obviously, the political situation affects you…” There’s another lengthy pause, out of frustration at being unable to find the right words

– for which Holter is apologetic – and partly from moving suddenly from making things to talking about what she makes, which she admits she finds difficult. Eventually she elaborates. “I don’t think the problem started with the election of our president, but I think that it was a very emotional thing for people to experience and it was hard to think about what I – what anyone – was going to do. It was hard to think about making art. It felt really weird and inappropriate. Which ultimately isn’t true, but it felt that way I guess. Maybe it was true for a while. I don’t think that feeling has gone away.” Holter’s frame of mind before starting to bring the record to life is understandable. However, when Donald Trump was elected president, and society seemed to take a turn for the worse, more than one person (perhaps apocryphally) stated that at least all this upheaval would give rise to great art as a reaction. Whether this is a true analysis, only time will tell. Whether it’s a constructive analysis, while communities are split apart and hate crimes skyrocket, is obvious. However, from the song titles to the lyrics to the general sense of unease, Aviary does seem to be a reaction to the mounting sense of dread we see on the news or, for certain people, experience personally every day. “There’s a really depressive, anxiety-ridden atmosphere these days,” Holter explains. “In general I mean, I’m not talking about myself specifically. But I think these questions are hard to tackle and not really worth talking about. So, I was like ‘let me just play sounds, let’s just explore sound’. A lot of this record in a way is just about exploring the sound of things, exploring the sound of words, meaning all coming second.” Aviary, like all of Holter’s music, defies straightforward description, but it is perhaps best framed in the context of her previous work. After three albums of conceptual imagination, 2015’s Have You in My Wilderness showed she could write something that approaches a more traditional, pop-leaning song with, of course, her inimitable voice and deep, abundant knowledge of music, literature, film and history. Aviary, at least initially, seems to catapult to the other end of the spectrum. Opening track Turn the Light On erupts in a burst of sounds, and you’re thrown headfirst into the cavernous world of the album. It mimics the unpredictability of life. It can be at times loud and scary, but can just as easily be playful (Chaitius), filled with beauty (I Shall Love 2) and even triumphant – the tail end of Les Jeux to You has horns that could herald the arrival of a Roman emperor on his chariot. “This is an embrace of things I’ve been trying to do for ten years,” she says. “It’s a culmination of a tonne of things I’ve been interested in and it’s hard to describe. I’m really digging at my subconscious with this record in an intense way.” This month, Holter and her band of incredibly talented musicians bring Aviary to Edinburgh’s Summerhall. To a mere journalist, the complexity of the sonic universe it creates for 90 minutes seems like it would be quite the feat to translate live. Holter, breezily, is just looking forward to it: “We rehearsed before we recorded, and live it’s almost all the same musicians as on the record. It’s not actually that hard – do you know what, it’s so fun. I think this is actually the most fun record to play live for me so far.” Holter’s music has developed, rather

Music

Interview: Tony Inglis

disparagingly, a reputation for being somewhat academic. It’s definitely true that she mainlines every ounce of her intelligence into her music. Reading Aviary’s lyric sheet, it seems to have been put together with the same care as an annotated thesis. It’s full of references and interpolations, nods to Nepalese Buddhist nuns, and lots of wordplay: Holter juggles English, Latin and the language of a medieval Occitan troubadour song over the course of a couple of tracks. Sometimes it’s like a musical Finnegan’s Wake.

“ A lot of this record in a way is just about exploring the sound of things, exploring the sound of words, meaning all coming second” Julia Holter

This album won’t dull those claims, those underhanded criticisms, as if this music is too difficult to be enjoyed – it’s not. To minimise this sprawling work to just its inspirations ignores the spontaneity, personality and meaning which come to the fore. Meaning though, as Holter pointed out, isn’t necessarily her end game. “What I find is, when I explore the sound of words, the moments I love the most end up meaning something as well, and that to me is what’s magical about not always having a strong intention of what you’re meaning. It comes through anyway.” Like any good artist, Holter is almost allergic to explaining her work. She pushes back against the idea that she is putting across some kind of message. In an interview with Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC Radio 6 Music, she described her music as simply waveforms. “I really appreciate you bringing all this stuff up. I do say a lot of things about this and try and hammer it in,” she says animatedly. “Music is not communicating something specific. A lot of people would disagree with me and I’d be happy to hear what they’d say. I think there’s probably complications that I’m simplifying. But it’s very true for me personally. “I don’t have a solution to the world. People have literally asked me, ‘What is the answer?’ I don’t know if it’s to shut yourself away and listen to my record. I don’t know, in a time of noise, what the purpose is of making something else that’s noisy, which is what my record is. I can’t logically tell you why I did that. All I know is I wanted to make it. I don’t know exactly what I’m trying to communicate. But yes, the personal is all a part of it, and the politics is all a part of it. People are receivers.” Aviary is out now via Domino Julia Holter plays Summerhall, Edinburgh, 10 Dec juliaholter.com

Feature

THE SKINNY

RE V IE W

What a Scene In what has been an eventful 2018, The Skinny takes a look back at the year in Scottish music with all its highs and lows

Words: Tony Inglis

fragile nature of men’s mental well-being and how it can often go unspoken, and reminding us to always do the best we can for our friends in need. Hutchison leaves behind a significant legacy, albeit one snatched away too soon. But his sombre words of his own struggles will continue to resonate, and ultimately bring joy to Frightened Rabbit’s loyal fans and those who discover his music in the future. It wasn’t the only time 2018 was touched by death. We’ve also lost the unrelenting energy of Dale Barclay, best known as the frontman of The Amazing Snakeheads, to a struggle with brain cancer, and Patrick Doyle, most recently the drummer in Veronica Falls. Pretty much anything pales in comparison to these losses, but it wasn’t to be the last time Scottish music would take a hit this year. On 15 June, the historic and hallowed rooms of the Glasgow School of Art once again went up in flam-

Scott Hutchison

December 2018

Young Fathers live at Electric Fields 2018

es, just four years since a multi-million-pound restoration project had begun to repair the damage caused by the previous blaze that ravaged its foundations. This time, the destruction spread to the nearby ABC, an integral venue to Glasgow’s world class live music scene, a place where young people from across the city had formative experiences. Months removed from the incident, passing by the iconic, but now hollowed out, front face of the building on Sauchiehall Street sends a shiver down the spine, and with other creative hubs like the CCA along the road also being affected (it only reopened in October), it is still unclear how much of a long-term impact its loss will have on live music in the city. While in Glasgow the live music scene was mourning a loss, down the M8, authorities were actively trying to harm it. Amid the gentrification of the area, Leith Depot had been earmarked for demolition, to be replaced by student housing and a hotel, but, as The Skinny reported in July, the campaigners behind Save Leith Walk were not going to stand by idly. The venue’s promoter, Ryan Drever, summed it up: “I know Glasgow is affected by gentrification too, but I think the city celebrates its music scene a little more. It seems weird to me that you’d take an existing popular place and put an unpopular thing in its place. It’s just hard to see how their plans would benefit the community in any way.” There’s no question that Scotland’s live music scene has been put under significant strain this year. But as the Managing Director of another Edinburgh venue, The Liquid Room’s John ‘Mick’ McWilliams, says: “The music scene is better now than it ever has been.” That bright side comes in the form of a burgeoning run of festivals – from the slightly uninspired homogeneity of TRNSMT, to the increasingly eclectic Doune the Rabbit Hole and mainstays like Electric Fields and Belladrum, with The Skinny even curating its own stage at this year’s Kelburn Garden Party. And with the loss of one venue, so springs up others, mainly thanks to Synergy Concerts, who’ve turned a day care centre for the elderly into The Great Eastern in Glasgow’s West End. The country has continued to attract the biggest names (Kendrick Lamar played twice this year) and at Dundee’s freshly opened

Music

V&A, music was placed at the heart of this anticipated centre of culture, which was opened by Primal Scream. A slew of homegrown labels have hit milestones: two years for Last Night from Glasgow, five for Eigg-based Lost Map. Song, by Toad announced that its tenth birthday was to be its last, while Glasgow gave birth to DIY label Possession Records, and Edinburgh to OK PAL Records. The year also provided an opportunity to take stock, whether that was in the form of the mammoth exhibition of Scottish pop music, Rip It Up, at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland, or the Edinburgh International Festival’s Light on the Shore series, which saw a jam-packed programme of Scottish talent taking over the stunning Leith Theatre: The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Vaselines, Mogwai, Anna Meredith, King Creosote and SOPHIE all played, with Carla J Easton and Blair Young’s Since Yesterday, celebrating the unsung women of Scottish music, being a real highlight. Most exciting has been the diverse and forward-thinking records released. Young Fathers have had an enviable year, releasing The Skinny’s favourite album of 2018, supporting LCD Soundsystem at SWG3’s Galvanizers Yard, headlining the Barrowlands and deservedly being awarded Scottish Album of the Year. Not to mention the truly original sounds of SOPHIE, the haunting From When I Wake the Want Is by Kathryn Joseph, and returns, in one form or another, from CHVRCHES, The Twilight Sad, Franz Ferdinand, Garbage, and even The Proclaimers. The tail end of 2018 brought reasons to be hopeful for the future: Edinburgh has a new radio station in EH-FM, and Glasgow could have one too with LP Records. A staple of independent music writing, GoldFlakePaint went physical with their journal; The Cure are set to play their first show in Glasgow for 27 years; and, rather surreally, Belle and Sebastian have organised a festival on a cruise ship called Boaty Weekender for next August. Rightly, it’s been a year of reflection, but as the years turn, we can admit that Scottish music is looking pretty great. theskinny.co.uk/music

Review

Photo: Ian Schofield

Carla J. Easton

Photo: Kat Gollock

ooking back at the year 2018 in the world of Scottish music shouldn’t be difficult. It has been a stellar year – in fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find the scene in richer health. Promising artists have kicked on, releasing some of the best work of their careers; the live music scene and festival circuit is expanding and thriving, even when it has been dealt a seemingly impossible hand; we have welcomed back old favourites, and said bittersweet goodbyes as others have stepped aside; new names have come to the fore; birthdays and anniversaries celebrated. This small, but ever influential country is a major player on a global scale, providing a fertile landscape to cultivate a range of bands and artists with important things to say and innovative ways of saying them. It has also been a year tinged with heartbreak, loss and devastation. The year started in a celebratory mood for one of the country’s biggest and most revered bands. Frightened Rabbit marked the tenth anniversary of their album The Midnight Organ Fight with a tour, starting in the United States in February and culminating at Glasgow’s O2 Academy in mid-March. It’s not just an album beloved by fans, but a true crossover work – even those who don’t count themselves among Frightened Rabbit’s legion of supporters can attest to its power. In a piece written about its creation for The Skinny, the band's frontman, Scott Hutchison summed up, in his own blackly comic way, the inherent inwardness of the songwriting and how it translated to listeners: “[It] was the equivalent of being sick on yourself then picking through the bits of carrot and sweetcorn to find interesting shapes and tiny colourful items that you didn’t know could exist in the bile and lining of a stomach.” Devastatingly, tragedy was not far away. Not even two months later, after more than a day of appeals to come home safe, Hutchison’s body was found by police near South Queensferry. As people across communities – from fans and creatives, to politicians – rallied together in support upon the news he was missing, so they did upon hearing of his death. It was a moment in which the world of Scottish music gasped for breath, putting the spotlight on mental health, especially the

Photo: Brian Sweeney

Good For the Soul We speak to Hannah Currie, Solareye, Be Charlotte and The Spook School about MHF Live, a new project that hopes to inspire events that encourage conversations about mental health rying to apply a one-size-fits-all solution to mental health is like making a party playlist with only one music genre; some people’s preferences are inevitably left out, and they’ll probably have a less good time at the party. Everybody’s experiences of mental illness, like their music tastes, are unique and it takes flexibility to cater to all. The best way to make people feel included, according to MHF Live’s Project Manager Hannah Currie, is to hand them the reins to fashion it how they see fit. Launching in February 2019, MHF Live invites individuals and communities from all around the UK to put on their own events that encourage conversations about mental health. The Mental Health Foundation will be on hand to make sure people with all levels of experience can take part, offering support from their office and a downloadable promoter pack online that gives industry tips on event planning, but the goal is to empower people at a local level to put on events they will enjoy. “We really want to get people involved everywhere if we can,” says Currie. “In my experience as a promoter, people want to

raise awareness about mental health, but there isn’t the structure at the moment to allow them to do that if they haven’t done it before.” To give some inspiration for how an MHF Live gig might look, the project is hosting some of its own nights early next year. On 10 February, there will be a screening of Currie’s documentary film We Are All Here, which tells the story of Glasgow rapper Lumo, whose suicide shook the Scottish hip-hop community last year. Rappers like Loki and Solareye will come together on the night to dissect the mental health issues that can be concealed behind bars and rhymes, and give special guest performances that complement the film’s Scottish premiere. “What’s interesting for me is that hip-hop is a hyper-masculine genre around the world,” says Dave Hook, aka Solareye, who is also one of MHF Live’s ambassadors. “In the past, I think it’s been very hard within that community to express feelings of vulnerability. What’s very interesting and very positive is you can see in the Scottish music community and the hip-hop community these issues are now being discussed and written

about.” He commends Currie’s documentary for helping to start some of those conversations between hip-hop artists, in turn creating a much needed support network. “I think that in any close-knit community you start to feel familial ties to it, so people are supportive of each other once you get to know each other,” he says, “and the Scottish music community isn’t a huge community. Everybody does know each other, so there’s a real opportunity there to be supportive.”

“ Music and art are so powerful, that you could feel very alone but that can be alleviated by some album letting you know that you’re not alone”

Do Not Miss

Pleasure Pool

Review

Photo: Alessandro Marini

Pentagram @ Skylight, Edinburgh, 1 Dec Dear Edinburgh pals, here's some excellent news. A very cool space called Skylight popped up at the Old Tolbooth Market just off the Royal Mile during the Edinburgh Fringe this year, and now it’s ruddy well back as a permanent venue, cafe, bar and creative workspace. Fucking yaaass! To mark its relaunch and to coincide with Decagram’s fifth birthday, head to the aptlytitled Pentagram tonight for sets from Numbers are Futile (who are also back!), Pleasure Pool, Heavy Pelvis and more. Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la. Too soon?

Slade

Slade @ SWG3, Glasgow, 6 Dec It’s Christmaaaaaaaaaasssss!!! Okay, well not quite, but it is December and Slade – creators of one of the most famous (and let’s face it, one of the best) Christmas songs of all time – touch down at Glasgow’s coolest warehouse SWG3 to get you in the mood for the month ahead. While they are in town as part of their It’s Christmaaaas! tour, there’s a lot more to the glam-rock band than just novelty Christmas songs so get your glad rags on and get ready to be slayed!

The life of a musician can be difficult – its irregular hours, the pressure of live performance, and an ever precarious career making perfect fodder for anxiety and depression. But there is a stigma around musicians sharing their struggles, Charlotte Brimner of Be Charlotte argues, as critics accuse artists of having the perfect life and thus no right to feel down. “I think it will be good for people to realise what goes on behind the scenes as well as what you talk about onstage,” she says. “To see what the real moments are, when people who work in music do need the most help.” Brimner hopes that the MHF Live events will make musicians more comfortable asking for help, and lead them to the resources they need – a move

AGP Christmas Party @ The Tunnels, Aberdeen, 7 Dec To celebrate another top year of live music, promoters AGP are pulling it out of the bag for one heck of a Christmas party in Aberdeen, which will see them take over The Tunnels tonight. At the time of writing, the line-up includes glam rockers Catholic Action alongside gothic new wave band The Ninth Wave, tropical indie foursome Indigo Velvet and super fun Chester trio Peaness. Nieves, The 101, Apache Darling, Zoe Graham and Steven Milne (The Little Kicks) are all set to play too, with a DJ set from broadcaster and journalist Vic Galloway. Party!

Music

The Ninth Wave

Photo: Sarah Donley

The Spook School

Photo: Cameron Brisbane

Niall McCamley, The Spook School

that feels especially urgent since Scott Hutchison’s passing earlier this year. “I really feel like everybody felt that and realised this isn’t okay,” she says. “He sang us his songs and he told everyone how he was feeling. I think in a way that has helped people to say, ‘I don’t feel good, I need help’.” When the news about Frightened Rabbit’s frontman first hit, messages of love flooded social media as people expressed how much his candid music had touched them. Niall McCamley of The Spook School was on tour at the time, and the band were frequently approached by fans at gigs to talk about Hutchison’s disappearance. “It was a strange and very difficult experience,” he says. “There was a level of catharsis being able to play the shows and connect with people, but then it’s also hard to keep going when something like that happens.” The Spook School share a similarly close relationship with their fan base, pouring personal stories into their songs that speak to the wider LGBTQ+ experience. McCamley himself battles depression on a day-to-day basis and has been heartened to hear that his music has helped some struggling in a dark place. “The thing with mental health and the LGBT community is there’s such a high rate of suicide and depression. It’s a lonely place,” he says. “For the people that like us, there’s a really strong sense of community. That’s where music and art are so powerful, that you could feel very alone but that can be alleviated by some album letting you know that you’re not alone.” MHF Live presents an opportunity to talk about all aspects of music’s ties with the mind. From the musician’s side, it’s a chance to address pressures on mental health within the industry and to elevate resources available to artists. For the audience, it’s a time to come together and find support in a community, making it feel safe to open up. By starting these conversations, either explicitly or by hearing ourselves in the music, we can see how everyday these struggles really are. As Currie says, “We believe that music’s good for the soul, so I think it’s a good place to start.” MHF Live launches in February 2019 We Are All Here will be screened at Saint Luke’s, Glasgow, 10 Feb 2019 mentalhealth.org.uk

OK PAL

Photo: Michael Ozmond

Interview: Becca Inglis

OK PAL presents Krampus in Paradise @ Skylight, Edinburgh, 8 Dec Just over a month since Faith Eliott and Hailey Beavis launched OK PAL Records, the DIY duo are back with a festive special: Krampus in Paradise. Taking over the aforementioned Skylight, tonight there’ll be music from eagleowl (who we hope will play their Die Hard-inspired Christmas single), Chrissy Barnacle and Moonsoup. Get down early to do some Christmas shopping at the festive art market and stay late to have a lovely time listening to lovely music. Been spending most our life living in the Krampus Paradise.

THE SKINNY

The Time is Now Ahead of the release of their third studio album, Flock, we speak to Strike the Colours frontwoman Jenny Reeves about touring and reuniting when the time felt right

Strike the Colours

December 2018

The Gracious Losers Christmas Shindig @ Community Central Halls, Glasgow, 15 Dec While Kid Canaveral are doing their thing in the Burgh, over in the Weej, Last Night From Glasgow’s The Gracious Losers will be hosting their own Christmas Shindig at Community Central Halls. They’ll be playing tunes from their debut album, The Last of the Gracious Losers, which came out at the end of August, as well as some of their favourite Christmas songs, with a little help from some special friends. It wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas songs or friends now would it?

The Gracious Losers

metaphor to hide behind, and I hadn’t been bold enough to come and say, ‘this is me, this is how I feel,’ because it’s hard to do that. But I think with this record, I wanted to be braver in the things that I was writing and what I was writing about, as hard as that may be.”

“ Every time I think that things are starting to wind down a bit, something else comes up… it never seems to end” Jenny Reeve

Flock is released on 30 Nov via Deadlight Records

No stranger to the road, Reeve packed up, grabbed an acoustic guitar and spent the first week of November promoting the new release by

WOLF

Christmas Carousal @ Platform, Easterhouse, Glasgow, 19 Dec Just when you thought we hadn’t mentioned Christmas enough across these two pages, here we are again, just six days before the main event and we’re still bloody talking about it. Who’d have thunk it!? Anyway, get yourself along to Platform’s Christmas Carousal tonight for performances from the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, Stevie Jones’ Sound of Yell and Kim Moore’s WOLF, who will all perform on the set of Platform’s Christmas show, Black Beauty. Platform are even putting on transport from the city centre, so no excuses – buses leave Mono at 6.30pm. Merry Christmas!

Music

opening for Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert on their UK tour. A full band line-up will be performing at Glasgow’s The Hug & Pint on 16 December, the only full band show announced thus far. However, this doesn’t mean that Strike the Colours will be returning to hibernation, as Reeve points out. “I think having been out on my own and done those shows, that’s a possibility, at the very least, or a different imagining of the record, either me and Davey (McAulay), or three of us, so in some way, shape or form we do hope to do some shows next year.” Collectively, Strike the Colours have been part of a wide range of influential Scottish bands, and coming together they create ethereal, emotional music that takes the listener on a journey through fear, worry and hope, emotions many of us can relate to. While the group may not have any solid plans to perform or tour going forward, it seems we’ll be hearing more from Reeve and co in some form or another in the near future. “Every time I think that things are starting to wind down a bit, something else comes up… it never seems to end,” Reeve laughs, “I’m fine with that, so long as it feels like the right thing to do, I’ll continue to do it.” Strike the Colours play The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 16 Dec facebook.com/strikethecolours

Start to End Hogmanay @ The Blue Arrow, Glasgow, 31 Dec After a top year of gigs from the Start to End team, which has seen them take on albums like John Martyn’s Solid Air, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill, Start to End are back once again to play the party album to end all party albums: Daft Punk’s Discovery. As well as that, the Glasgow supergroup will also play a set of 90s and 00s dance classics from The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Eric Prydz, Fatboy Slim and more. The perfect way to say bye to 2018 and see in a new year. Have a good one!

Start to End

Review

Photo: Cameron Brisbane

Kid Canaveral’s Christmas Baubles IX @ Summerhall, Edinburgh, 15 Dec As Christmas fast approaches, why not slow things down a little and head along to Kid Canaveral’s annual festive knees-up, Christmas Baubles, which this year celebrates its ninth outing. This year’s line-up features inimitable pop-punk party starters (and lovers of Linda McCartney vegetarian sausages) The Spook School and latest Lost Map signing, Callum Easter. Big Joanie, Jill Lorean (Jill O’Sullivan from BDY_PRTS and Sparrow and the Workshop), Happy Spendy and Kid C themselves are also set to play. Baubles at the ready!

travel home at night, so we could be recording at anti-social hours if the mood took us.” Flock has a noticeably more energetic and heavier feel than its predecessors, due in part to the band coming together in a more collaborative approach to making the record. Stepping away from the acoustic guitar-laden songs of old, Reeve explains that deliberately going into the recording process with an incomplete song made for a more complex album in which the entire band took a more prominent role. “Because I hadn’t written the bones of the song, quite often [this time] the parts were centred around a bass part or guitar part, or if I’m playing violin or doing whatever I’m doing. That lent itself to the instruments taking the lead and being a bit bolder, so it’s definitely louder and goes on more tangents than we have done previously.” The heavier tones and nuances of the album feel like a progression in the timeline of Strike the Colours; a new chapter with new stories to tell. A newer experience for Reeve on this record is the honesty and bravery found when creating its lyrics; although they were written in a shorter time period, she’s put more of herself into the songs than ever before. “Up until that record, I hadn’t been particularly brave in the way that I’d written,” Reeve says. “I just felt at the time I couldn’t put myself fully across, or I’d always been using imagery and

Photo: Weronika Bachleda Baca

Big Joanie

Photo: Sarah Donley

t’s been a while since Strike the Colours have made any kind of noise in the music world – nine years in fact since they graced us with their last release, Seven Roads. This isn’t to say that the band members themselves haven’t been busy. The group is made up of members who have in the past few years worked on releases and toured with bands such as BDY_PRTS, Arab Strap, CHVRCHES and The Kills to name a few. It’s a workload that seemingly left Strike the Colours dormant for the better part of a decade, but now the band returns with their third release, Flock. “I guess it seems like a long time, but it also seems like the right time,” frontwoman Jenny Reeve explains. “We’ve talked about putting a record out over the last seven years or so, but it’s just never been the right time, for one reason or another. We wanted to make sure we had the time and energy to dedicate to actually putting it out properly.” Making the decision to up sticks and leave their native Glasgow for the recording process, the band found themselves travelling to Monnow Valley Studios in Monmouth, Wales, used by the likes of Oasis, Black Sabbath and Biffy Clyro to name a few. “We wanted to record the album as live as we could, so we wanted to get away so we could be in the right headspace, and be in a studio where we could do that. And no one had to

Photo: Gary Sloan

Photo: Sarah Roberts

Interview: Paul Sinclair

Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert Ghost Stories for Christmas [Rock Action, 7 Dec]

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Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert enter the festive fray on formidable form with a sobering and intoxicating antidote to the sugar-sweet Christmas jingles and narratives we can’t always connect to; squeezed spots and traumatised trees in tow. Ghost Stories for Christmas arrives hot on the heels of the Rock Action heroes’ acclaimed debut Here Lies the Body, with the duo’s cover of Lonely This Christmas serving as a perfect (miserable) manifesto for their enticingly unorthodox coalition of Christmas. Gone are the sumptuous, soaring harmonies of Mud’s original. In their place, a drum machine as cold as Santa’s workshop when the heating packs in, and the lush, bruised baritone of Moffat: ‘Merry Christmas doll, wherever you are’. This voyage into the hollow, existential void many find themselves trapped in during CocaCola lorry season makes the tender reassurance of The Recurrence of Dickens all the more potent. Moffat’s lens focuses upon ‘present blessings’ and the ‘merry faces’ of children while Jenny Reeve’s stirring violin guides us towards a grounded yet joyous conclusion only the most driven and

Beans on Toast

A Bird in the Hand [Beans on Toast Music, 1 Dec]

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Jay McAllister (aka Beans on Toast) observes his decade long tradition of releasing an album on the same date each year with the release of A Bird in the Hand, the tenth studio album from the British folk artist, which marks a shift in his perspective as he becomes a new father. Taken from the proverb ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’, McAllister’s latest album is about learning to appreciate what you already have. In tracks such as Magic, about the birth of his daughter, instrumentals give colour to the tales McAllister expertly spins, like the tentative chime of the piano to mimic the faint sound

Diving Station

Feather Mouth EP [Self-released, 3 Dec]

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The orchestral exploration of an act is normally reserved for the veterans of the music scene. A right of passage that might come in the experimental, freewheeling portion of their career after all the ‘big hits’. Think Björk’s Stateside dates last year with the fabled LA Philharmonic or Thom Yorke’s recent announcement of his first film score. So Manchester four-piece Diving Station, who champion harp-driven dream pop, are streets ahead when it comes to ingenuity. They’re prolific in their songwriting too it turns out. Having only released debut Alice last year, latest EP Feather Mouth builds on those blissful strings, but, as harpist and vocalist Anna McLuckie admits, with “a slightly gutsier, darker”

Review

Photo: Lucus J Photography

Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert

committed of Scrooges could resist. Such Shall You Be finds Hubbert on piano as Moffat shares a touching exchange between a father and a daughter before his protagonist retreats to the bathroom for a quiet reckoning with ‘bloodshot eyes […] / Laden with the sacks of seniority’. Like Leonard Cohen before him, Moffat is well aware of how effectively a feminine presence and perspective can bolster songs and Reeve’s vocal is a beautiful foil throughout the record. During The Fir Tree, we enter the headspace of a Christmas tree-to-be who converses with gossiping birds and malicious mice: ‘Oh to be dressed in silver and gold’. His winter wish comes true, but the dark side of Christmas is soon revealed when his adoptive family turn on him (‘He was confused, naked and cold in the dark shed’). Shuddering, bowed guitars accompany a menacing Moffat. December is a difficult month for many (‘The countdown's started / It’s a hollow toll for the heavy hearted’) and these songs are likely to resonate with those feeling adrift. How comforting they are, despite the lack of ‘wise men and virgins’, is an additional triumph. Moffat and Hubbert (tremendous on Desire Path) examine Christmas without pretence and still find much to toast to: proving that Christmas on a comedown can still, miraculously, be Christmas. [Fraser MacIntyre] Listen to: Such Shall You Be, The Fir Tree, Desire Path of a newborn’s heartbeat. The album has a good sense of chronology as they journey to the hospital to deliver his daughter, before moving on to talk about the staff, from the kitchen porters to the surgeons, in an ode to the NHS on Here at Homerton Hospital. Despite growing older and more cynical, in tracks such as Alexa and Bamboo Toothbrush, McAllister makes light of, and even embraces, the tech-centered world he rails against. Despite the air of tongue-in-cheek cynicism, the songwriter acknowledges that there is much to celebrate in the little things in life. More mature and introspective, A Bird in the Hand is a simple recipe of folk songs and wholesome lyrics to help stave off the cynicism of an increasingly alienating modern world. [Amy Kenyon] Listen to: Another Year, Alexa, Magic

finish. Taking Tongues explores the blindness of love and self-preservation in a relationship, rather than melding into one nausea-inducing couplet. Tour Guide is humble and hopeful, looking for real connections rather than online realities as we hear McLuckie’s plea to ‘see through eyes and not cameras.’ In fact, it’s often this cleverly crafted lyricism that lifts these songs beyond the classical whimsy. The standout is certainly recent single You’re Not Listening, with its warm vibrato guitars and wandering basslines. McLuckie’s vocals deserve a special mention-thick and perfectly enunciated, she scales the depths and soars back with added support from drummer Barnabas Kimberley. It’s the perfect synchronicity. All musicians within the Northern scene in their own right, Diving Station feels like the perfect launch pad into new territories and explorative fields for this foursome. [Cheri Amour]

Selling

unpredictable directions. While much of the record is propelled by arpeggiated melodies sitting at the forefront of the mix, Dicker and Shaw also play with these motifs, warping or transforming them across each track. rrrrr What keeps On Reflection continually comDerwin Dicker, aka Gold pelling though is the attention to detail that Panda, and Jas Shaw, one half of Simian Mobile the pair imbue into every track. Across its 42 Disco, have had a long-standing friendship that minutes, they move from shimmering electronspans across a decade, including tours together ics, and sounds akin to techno, to more ambient and Shaw mixing two of Dicker’s solo records. Now waves, with each mood laid across a foundation they’ve taken that connection a step further with of intricate, textured layers of sound that seem a fully collaborative debut album under the to continually reveal themselves over repeated moniker Selling. listens. Blink and you could easily miss a detail, Casting off predefined notions of what they but Selling will keep drawing you back to discover wanted to create, their album On Reflection all of their secrets. [Eugenie Johnson] vaguely hints at the styles the pair have creListen to: Dicker’s Dream ated separately in the past but travels in often On Reflection [City Slang, 14 Dec (physical)]

Indi

Precipice [Flying Nun, 7 Dec]

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Having built her musical foundation on classical piano, being in Christchurch-based trip-hop group Doprah and previously collaborating with violinist Anita Clark, Berlin-based artist Indira Force – better known under the moniker Indi – has more recently been composing for screen, performance and gallery spaces. Between these many activities though, she’s also found time to bring her debut album into the world, one that brings aspects of her previous work together and strings them into beguiling forms.

Throughout Precipice, Indi often brings her neo-classical tendencies to the forefront. Cair Paravel is a purely baroque cut that propels itself on harpsichord and Indi’s own hazy vocals, while Tablelands revolves mostly around piano. The title track is a simmering blend of swelling strings and pulsing yet also downbeat percussion. Indi consistently creates an intimate but oddly eerie atmosphere, and even on the album’s most experimental moments – such as the haunting and choppy Pith – manages to finely balance all of these elements so that they fit together into an engaging, evocative whole. Indi forges an individual path that is both ethereal and earthily alluring, making Precipice an impressive foundation for an artist seemingly unafraid to try to break her own musical boundaries. [Eugenie Johnson] Listen to: Precipice

Strike the Colours

Jacuzzi General

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Flock [Deadlight Records, 30 Nov]

Glasgow’s Strike the Colours formed in 2006 and recorded this album (their third) in 2011. A plethora of creative endeavours for its members – Jenny Reeve, Jonny Scott, Graeme Smillie and David McAulay – have delayed its release until 2018. Balancing the weighty and varied credentials of each of the band’s members, it would be easy for Flock to sound a little disjointed. Nothing could be further from the truth. The four gel seamlessly as standout track Branches masterfully shifts from a meandering, eerie folk meditation into a ferocious onslaught of chaotic drums and fear-of-God-inducing violin before concluding with a tender, piano-led meeting of Reeve and Emma Pollock’s voices. Produced by Paul Savage, Flock was recorded almost entirely live and retains a feeling of joyous immediacy because of that. Listening to the record unfold almost feels like sitting in on a serene, informal practice session, with clever, minor additions accentuating songs that thrive when presented in a raw and honest manner. Reeve’s voice can transfix the listener with ease: subtly ethereal on New Snow and free to sour on lead single Aces. Gothic undertones and haunting pop hooks abound on an alt-rock record that flirts with folk and harbours a distinctively Scottish ambience. Flock is continuously inventive, surprising and emotive; and its spine-tingling title track finds four veterans of the Scottish music scene ably showcasing why they are so highly regarded and therefore so busy it has taken them seven years to find time to release their “labour of love.” [Fraser MacIntyre] Listen to: Flock, Branches, New Snow

Listen to: You’re Not Listening, Taking Tongues

RECORDS

Dreams of the Tropics [Paradise Palms Records, 7 Dec]

On Pool Shark, the lead single from his debut EP Dreams of the Tropics, Jacuzzi General threads together a looping Iranian guitar riff with jackhammer synth pulses and a short, repeated spoken word verse that proclaims to want the better things in life, including ‘100 pairs of custom-made shoes’. It’s a combination that on paper perhaps shouldn’t work, yet the self-styled General makes it seem natural. Everything hangs together in a mix that is textured and continually surprising. Pool Shark certainly sets the tone for the remainder of Dreams of the Tropics. The EP – which is also being released via the medium of washing instructions on embroidered cotton hand towels, aiding listening in both the bath tub and hot tub – constantly treads a fine line between dancefloor-filling beats and dreamy, exotic moods. Dramatic opener Prelude is both a cosmic voyage and a techno thriller that’s filled with tension and release. Meanwhile, Dreams introduces itself by aurally transporting the listener to more tropical climes before unravelling with languid percussion and light carnival vibes; it’s just a shame that it’s sometimes overshadowed by an electronic melody that can diminish these aspects. While there may be a few seemingly unpolished moments, the General’s first EP is immediately engaging, a kaleidoscopic voyage into multi-faceted electronica that’s both relaxing and danceable. [Eugenie Johnson] Listen to: Pool Shark

rrrrr Shite rrrrr Boring rrrrr Solid

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THE SKINNY

Beat Connection We speak to Stuart McMillan – one half of Glasgow techno mainstays Slam – about the duo’s new experimental album, Athenæum 101

Interview: Claire Francis

The Skinny: Firstly, let’s talk about 101 beats per minute. Why have you chosen that particular tempo for the new album, which explores “left field electronica, ambient, dub and experimental” over 61 continuous minutes? Stuart McMillan: Orde [Meikle] and I had both spoken about doing an album at that tempo for a few years now. There is no specific reason why it should have been that tempo per se, other than that we are both huge fans of dub reggae and I liked the idea of fusing a Jamaican dub ethos with electronic music, mainly because of the space that tempo allows within the sounds and textures. Also it is the antithesis of what we would normally do. Taking the tempo down and using a similar process to the way we normally make our club tracks gives the genre a different usage and changes the feel completely. For context, what BPM range would your productions usually fall into? We would be anywhere between 125 and 135 BPM for club tracks. Although, as a DJ I’m playing some older stuff now that sits quite well at 140! I like the uncompromising nature of fast, banging techno in a club. It takes the listener to a different place on the dancefloor. It becomes very primal, hypnotic and frenzied at the same time. But this new album isn’t necessarily about dancing so there’s no need for it to be that fast. How would you like listeners to approach the record? Is it a late night, continuous listen with a glass of wine kind of experience? A glass of wine, a joint, whatever! We didn’t envisage any particular place or environment. Personally, it was our downtime album for listening to when we weren’t DJing. On the road, travelling through airports or whatever. Maybe it’s the album you listen to when you return home from the club, as opposed to the one you play to get ready to go out.

“ I think most people have more depth than to just want to listen to full-on techno all day” Stuart McMillan

What inspired or motivated you to produce and release this new album? Can you tell us a bit about the circumstances, mood and emotions that went into it? I think it’s fair to say our dancefloor output has been relatively prolific lately. A lot of our time is spent either researching music or making music to play in a club. We had a few weeks off just before the summer and wanted a new challenge, and rather than just go in the studio and create more dancefloor tracks we decided to approach this album in a different way. It’s reflective too, as this year I found myself at a bit of a crossroads emotionally, mainly due to my father passing away among some other things. I needed an escape, and to find a release to

December 2018

create something different. The concept for this record has been floating around in our collective psyches for quite some time now. We both felt it was a good time to approach it again, as we have attempted to start it in the past but were always sidetracked with other things. The way the album was made commanded that it was given full attention over a short period of time.

particular project initially, but adopted it for the title instead. The origin is ancient Greek and is often used in reference to a library or place of scientific study. We liked the idea of using this in the title because the album is a collection of sequences, noises and percussive hooks that individually mean nothing, but when pieced together tell a story over time.

Where was it recorded and how long did it take? What was the writing process for you as a duo? It was recorded in my home studio and was done over two two-week periods. The way we generally work together is through a series of jamming sessions, then we catch the good moments and piece them together. This approach [to the album] was untraditional for us in that we started with one idea, which in turn inspired what happened next, then so on and so forth; a bit like [what] you would do when you choose a new record or change the mood within a DJ set. There are no traditional tracks per se, it is kind of one long track. Each new section often borrows from the piece that has gone before to create something new. We made the decision not to split the tracks up because: (a) there wasn’t really always a clear definition of when each new piece began and finished, and (b) in the current culture of downloads, we thought it would be a nice idea to try to create something which had to be essentially listened to in its entirety.

The album artwork is a set of symbols and numbers engraved in real wood; where did that idea come from? The artwork has four ambiguous symbols on the front. The use of wood and the design are purely architectural. We were working towards a design that we felt suited the music and so the finish and symbology are mainly there for aesthetic reasons. However, the numerical countdown on the back sleeve is relative to the timings where we feel there is a significant change in mood between the music on the album. When we wrote these out we thought it made a great design feature.

Can you tell us more about the album title, Athenæum 101? We wanted to use Athenæum as an alias for this

Are you at all concerned about how your more die-hard techno fans will react to the record? Is commercial appeal something that comes into the equation when you’re formulating a new release? No, not at all. People who know us know we have an infinite love of experimental music. There have been elements of that in previous albums of ours, Reverse Proceed being the best example. I think most people have more depth than to just want to listen to full-on techno all day. I suppose this album is deliberately more esoteric than previous

CLUBS

albums, but that’s why I personally like this one more than the others, it’s not trying to be too many things. I hear a lot of techno albums which are just a collection of tracks. The bangers, the electro track, the EBM track, the ambient track, and so on. That in my mind doesn’t become one thing or the other. It’s just a collection of tracks with no real relevance to the others. Commercial appeal isn’t at the forefront of our minds when making a record like this, or any other for that matter. It is usually the record we want to make and we hope others will resonate with that too. Could this new album pave the way for more ‘left field’ Slam productions, or is it more of a one-off experiment? Who knows? We usually get bored doing the same thing, so perhaps it’s paving the way for a dark distorted dysfunctional K-pop album! You’ve had an intense year of touring and performing – what’s next for Slam in 2019? Heading into the studio to record a dark distorted dysfunctional K-pop album. Then we kick off 2019 in Italy, then come home for our Maximum Pressure NYD party. We’re also planning next year’s Riverside Festival. We’re really going to concentrate on developing our live shows too; last year we played live a few times and we really started to enjoy that process again. Athenæum 101 is released on 30 Nov via Soma Records Maximum Pressure x NYD 2019, 1 Jan, SWG3, Glasgow slam-djs.com

Go With The Flo Scottish export Auntie Flo tells us what to expect from his collaborative Radio Highlife live shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh this month

J, producer and musician Brian d’Souza – aka Auntie Flo – released his latest album Radio Highlife in October, sharing its name with his popular radio show on Worldwide FM which explores the best dance sounds from around the world. Fittingly, the new record is the culmination of “seven years of wild travelling, serendipitous encounters, deeply personal moments” comprised of 14 tracks with field recordings and studio sessions from Cuba, Cape Town, Bali, Russia, Istanbul, Senegal, Norway, the UK and beyond. Born in Glasgow to parents of Kenyan and Goan heritage, d’Souza has been a key figure in the city’s club scene as founder and resident DJ of the popular Highlife parties and with previous releases on Glasgow imprint Huntley & Palmers. This month, he will bring the Radio Highlife live show to Glasgow’s Sub Club and Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s. “I’m back in Glasgow quite a lot, but still miss it,” he says of his hometown. “I really miss the people, the banter, the spirit of the place. Having travelled the world, I really believe Glasgow has a unique character that is very special. I miss walking down the street, bumping into someone and having a chat.” Being such a seasoned traveller has opened d’Souza’s ears to sounds from across the globe which inform his radio show and his own

productions. He explains the significance radio has had on his travels, being in many instan ces the first introduction to the local music of a place. “I think it is for all of us, taxis and public transport will often be playing it whether we want to listen or not. For me radio is about telling stories – the best thing is playing music and then telling a story about why – what makes it special, where it was discovered, who made it. It’s that context that opens up a whole new dimension to the music,” he says. Likewise, the people d’Souza met while on the road became important collaborators in the making of Radio Highlife. The track Mame’s Story details the difficulties faced in obtaining a visa for Senegalese multi-instrumentalist Ndiack to perform and record with d’Souza in the UK. We ask whether it looks likely Ndiack will be able to join the planned live shows, and d’Souza responds: “I’m gonna say YES. “We’ve applied for a visa for him and he’d already been playing as part of the European shows we’ve been doing as warm-ups for the UK tour. You never know in this day and age if visa applications are going to be successful though – we recently had [Turkish DJ] Zozo not allowed in to play our stage at Kelburn Garden Party, only eight months after she had been allowed in with

Auntie Flo

exactly the same application! Fingers and toes crossed it works out for Mame.” He continues: “The live show really takes the album in a new direction. We started with the songs on the album as the basis for the tracks but Yohan [Kebede, keyboardist] and Mame are so talented they really have room to flourish. It means the tracks take on a whole new meaning that really makes the live show unique.” Another collaborator on Radio Highlife is Golden Teacher drummer Laurie Pitt, with whom d’Souza crafted the track Western Princes. When we mention that Golden Teacher’s No Luscious Life is one of our favourite albums of the past 12 months, d’Souza responds enthusiastically: “Mine too! It was album of the month on my first Radio Highlife show on Worldwide FM. I’m definitely a fan. “I can’t remember how I first met Laurie but we started working together in 2016 when I asked him to perform on a few Sun Ritual live shows we did that summer. Laurie is a free spirit and I really

Clubbing Highlights All our Christmases have come at once with this superb offering of festive season parties Hot Towel with The Lawnmower and David Barbarossa @ The Art School, Glasgow, 1 Dec Here’s a very pleasant way to kick off a very full month of partying. Let dreamy duo The Lawnmower take you on a Balearic-inspired ride through their luxurious synth-pop catalogue, before Glasgow’s own disco extraordinaire David Barbarossa gets behind the decks. Plus Lew & Sean, visuals from Maurice Andresen, and artwork by Réka Ferenc. A truly tropical affair to combat the winter blues. Pass the piña coladas. Auntie Flo Radio Highlife Live Show @ Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 2 Dec Brian d’Souza, aka Auntie Flo, brings his new Radio Highlife album to the stage this month. Expect a show inspired by d’Souza’s extensive travels and musical forays through Cuba, Bali, Russia, Norway, the UK and more. Some special international guest performers are also on the cards. Missing Persons Club 6th Birthday with Umfang and Anastasia Kristensen @ Sub Club, Glasgow, 7 Dec Umfang, aka Emma Olson – one of three cofounders of New York-based Discwoman, a platform to promote female-identifying artists along with DJs from the LGBTQ+ community – is back for another Missing Persons Club shindig, after playing a slamming techno set for their fifth birthday celebrations last year. She’s joined by another previous MPC guest and fast-rising techno talent, Denmark’s Anastasia Kristensen. G.Y.A: One Whole Year Of Queer Parties @ Stereo, Glasgow, 7 Dec Queer-based, femme-friendly club night Grind Yer Axe celebrate their first birthday with live

Review

Photo: Flavien Prioreau

Interview: Claire Francis

admire his warmth and general up-for-it-ness!” For now, d’Souza is focused on the upcoming live shows, but it appears future travel – and future musical plans – are never far from his mind. We ask him, of all the places you visited while crafting the album, which one would you most like to return to? “I loved my time in Tromsø in the Arctic Circle, there’s something about cold places in the wilderness that really draws me to them,” he reveals. “Last time I was there I was chatting with our host (DJ and producer) Charlotte Bendiks, who was telling me about her Sami ancestry and how it would be amazing to record some of their traditional music. I’d love to have an opportunity to go back there to do that.” Radio Highlife is out now via Brownswood Recordings Auntie Flo plays Sub Club, Glasgow, 1 Dec; Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 2 Dec auntieflo.net

Words: Claire Francis Illustration: Jake Hollings

music from Sue Zuki and Cucina Povera, performances from CC Time, Nima Sene, and DJ sets from MRS BAXTER2U and LISALööF. This is a safe space environment with gender neutral toilets and a trans taxi fund is also available. SO LOW: Security @ The Poetry Club, Glasgow, 7 Dec SO LOW returns for a mega dark days of December instalment with Ribeka, Katie, Optimo’s JD Twitch and Iona Fortune. This edition of SO LOW also welcomes Glasgow/Harlow shock troops Security, a techno-pop/industrial duo formed of Joe Ahmed of Chekists and p6 of Stretchheads/Desalvo. The event will have gender-neutral toilets, and The Poetry Club is a wheelchair accessible venue. La Cheetah x Acid Flash: Solid Blake & Mama Snake @ La Cheetah Club, Glasgow, 14 Dec Solid Blake, the DJ and producer from Glasgow operating via Copenhagen, and Copenhagen native Mama Snake champion the Danish capital’s ‘fast techno’ on a Friday night in the Queen Street rave cave. Support from the always-excellent Acid Flash founder IDA, and La Cheetah resident Wardy. Thunder Disco: Xxxmas with Hammer, Cromby, Sally C and Jubé @ Sub Club, Glasgow, 21 Dec Northern Ireland descends on Subbie for this special Thunder Disco Christmas edition featuring the Irish trifecta Hammer, Cromby and Sally C, plus spacey techno courtesy of Jubé. Sulta Selects The Usher Hall @ Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 22 Dec The historic, 104-year-old Usher Hall hosts a rave

for the very first time, with three dance powerhouses at the helm. Denis Sulta, Honey Dijon and Horse Meat Disco will be steering us through from 5pm until 11pm, followed by an after party at Cabaret Voltaire right through until 5am. Headway and RRP presents Gary Beck @ The Reading Rooms, Dundee, 26 Dec Headway and Reading Rooms Productions welcome Gary Beck back to Dundee for what has become an annual Boxing Day techno sesh. Beck is on fine form following the release of his Dál Riata LP on his own BEK Audio imprint last month, and he’ll be ably supported by Andy Barton, Neil Clark and Graeme Binnie. Animal Farm 14th Birthday with Shlømo and Stephanie Sykes @ Sub Club,

CLUBS

Glasgow, 27 Dec Animal Farm celebrate 14 years of rip-roaring techno events with Sub Club debuts from two of the most exciting names in the scene: Shlømo aka Shaun Baron-Carvais, the fastest-rising producer on Taapion Records, and German-born, UK-based techno master Stephanie Sykes. La Cheetah X Cooking with Palms Trax NYE 2018 @ La Cheetah Club, Glasgow, 31 Dec So many great NYE parties to choose from... but if we have to pick, we’ll go with this six-hour La Cheetah extravaganza. With Shanti Celeste, Palms Trax and Dom D’Sylva upstairs and Avalon Emerson, Or:la and Wardy downstairs, we can’t think of a better crew to soundtrack us into 2019. theskinny.co.uk/clubs

THE SKINNY

December 2018

Review

The German Room

By Carla Maliandi translated by Frances Riddle

rrrrr Carla Maliandi’s debut novel, translated by Frances Riddle, explores the harrowing but hopeful experience of displacement. The narrator has fled her previous life in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has moved back to Heidelberg, Germany, the

city where she was born. She seeks peace, and distance from her troubles, but her situation is one which she cannot long outrun. Pregnant, and on a seemingly futile mission to recover her childhood happiness, the narrator must confront the difficult question of what it really means to belong. Told from the perspective of a nameless woman, The German Room reflects on her struggle to find her place in the world. Maliandi’s prose is viciously perceptive, and manages to capture a heady mix of excitement and nostalgia – a recognisable recipe to anyone who has experienced sudden new beginnings. The narrative is simple and the characters fresh, tangible and bright. As the narrator finds her place in Heidelberg, so does the reader, which only emphasises the cruel irony of their displacement back to their previous lives once the novel is through. Like many of Charco’s novels, The German Room is short, but manages so much more than a novel of 1000 pages could ever dream. This is a journey of fear, of isolation, and of transcending culture to find that which lies at the very root of humanity: the desire to belong. Carla Maliandi speaks to the soul, and to anybody who has ever thought of starting over. [Mika Cook] Charco Press, out now, £9.99 charcopress.com/bookstore/german-room

Rhyme Watch This month features a bumper Christmas bash from two of Scotland’s top literary outfits, plus plenty of opportunity to discover some new voices before 2018 ends

At Dusk By Hwang Sok-yong, translated by Sora Kim-Russell

he big one for your Christmas diary of poetry events (of course, we all have one) is Neu! Reekie! and 404 Ink presenting The Big Ten For Christmas (Summerhall, Edinburgh, 14 Dec). With both Neu! and 404 celebrating birthdays in December, combining to make ten years of decadent literary revelry, they’ll be throwing the Christmas bash to rival the rest. The line-up includes not only the 2018 Orwell Prize-winner Darren ‘Loki’ McGarvey, but also hip-hop revolutionaries The Honey Farm. Sharing the stage are poets and storytellers from this year’s list of favourites: Helen McClory, Nadine Aisha Jassat and Chris McQueer. Not sold yet? Well, they’re throwing in a virtual visit from international bestselling novelist Margaret Atwood. She’ll be chatting with hosts Michael Pedersen, Kevin Williamson and the team from 404 Ink, as well as giving an exclusive reading. Head down to Edinburgh’s Lighthouse Books on 11 December for New Voices: Poetry out of Fife (maybe go along and ask if those voices will be doing a similar event in Fife too?) The four poets – Mhairi Owens, Alexa Winik, Lily Clarke and Sean Robinson – are all recent poetry graduates from the University of St Andrews. The graduates of the MFA in Poetry course have, throughout the year, been tutored by two of St Andrew’s finest poet-lecturers: John Burnside and Don Paterson. It’s sure to be a quality night of quality poetry, and as it’s a BYOB event you can ensure your own quality booze. Black Agnes Press is launching its first pamphlet on 1 December, in the cosy back room of The Rocks in Dunbar. The event celebrates the launch of The Weather Looks Promising, a series of poems by Jo Gibson, Ruth Gilchrist and Emma Moller. The poetry will be complemented with folk music from Karen Dietz and Richard Klein, in addition to Carey Lunan and John Hardman of

Review

Firefly Fortyfive. Tickets will be available on the door. Last month, Iain Morrison released his debut collection, I’m a Pretty Circler. He’ll be following the release with a launch night at the Fruitmarket Gallery on 9 December. The event will feature readings from Morrison with responses from artist and movement researcher Claricia Parinussa and artist Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay. Join the artists for free at this night of poetic partying. In Glasgow, Futurology will be presenting a brand new monthly event WordSmiths at Phillies Bar in Shawlands (6 Dec). The debut of this night is a welcome one in Glasgow’s Southside – WordSmiths will be bringing the best of Scotland’s hip-hop to the stage for new audiences and shining the proverbial spotlight on, you guessed it, wordsmiths and artists from Glasgow. Glasgow Zine Library is hosting an informal introduction to bookbinding on 8 December. Although this is a sold out event, its popularity would indicate a second (third and fourth?) workshop should be on the cards. Zine-making is an innovative and individualistic production model, and one that proves time and again to be popular with poetry publications. This particular workshop focuses on the basics of the craft: sewing-book practise and creating a custommade hard cover book by hand, for example. Fingers crossed this workshop will run again in the New Year, and good luck to all you soon-to-be zine makers. In the meantime, off you go and read some Christmas poems (Candlestick Press have just released The Twelve Poems of Christmas, selected and introduced by Carol Ann Duffy), or maybe pick up a pen to write someone a festive poem – maybe they’ll even thank you for it. theskinny.co.uk/books

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As Park Minwoo, a wealthy and successful architect, reaches the dusk of his life, he receives a note from his childhood sweetheart, Cha Soona. As Minwoo and Soona begin corresponding and reflecting on their childhood spent in a poor slum on the outskirts of Seoul, Minwoo looks back on his life and asks himself if he missed the point as he raced towards financial success. Interspersed with Minwoo’s chapters, we meet Jung Woohee, an insomniac who works the graveyard shift at a convenience store while pursuing her life’s passion of theatre. She has her own role to play in Minwoo’s setting narrative. Written by Hwang Sok-yong, one of South Korea’s most beloved authors, At Dusk is a gently told story of a man’s life, his greatest achievements and bitterest regrets. With a tone of deep set melancholy, Hwang asks us to look backwards and forwards simultaneously. What hold does our childhood still have over us? How can we trust our memory when there are so many versions of the past? Who did we betray to get ahead? The book is on the verge of something, and despite the gentle care in Hwang’s storytelling, there is an urgency to his words. Dusk is a short-lived time of reflection when pink clouds split the dying sunlight. Aptly named, At Dusk is made up of this gorgeous setting light as Minwoo pauses to look around at a Seoul he no longer recognises; just enough time to take it all in before everything goes dark. [Katie Goh]

After Olivia Sudjic’s debut novel Sympathy was published, the writer experienced new anxieties. In Exposure, Sudjic explores this uneasy period, at odds with her objective accomplishments. She compares it to ‘Saturn’s Return’, an astrological period when orbit is completed, “said to be a time of self-scrutiny when harsh truths are laid bare, a casting out from the comparative shelter of youth.” Exposure opens with a compelling description of a writer’s retreat where Sudjic expected to move on from her first novel. Via intelligent comment on hypervigilance of social media (“a creeping feeling of being observed, followed, recorded, predicted”) and cultural tendency for women’s writing to be considered not art but self-confession, Sudjic shares her own experiences as a debut writer, describing encountering online reviews of her work “as though ants crawled over” her skin and the “solipsistic crawl space” of the writer’s mind. There are frequent references to writers such as Ferrante, Cusk and Maggie Nelson: “The more I read by the women I admire – and I retreat into those talisman texts to reorient myself every time I need to – the more I think of anxiety as a dual force that seems essential not just for living but for creativity.” Exposure is a smart book, insightful on mental health and modern anxieties, and a fascinating peek into the artist’s private rooms. [Laura Waddell]

Scribe, 29 Nov, £12.99

Peninsula Press, out now, £6

scribepublications.co.uk

peninsulapress.co.uk

Words: Beth Cochrane

Exposure By Olivia Sudjic

#GIRLHOOD By Cat Hepburn

One More Chance By Lucy Ayrton

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Cat Hepburn's new collection is the lovechild of slam poetry and the snatched rant over coffee or in the loo, away from unfriendly ears. Based around familiar subjects and scenarios, #GIRLHOOD takes us through the experiences that create, develop, warp, break and strengthen women and girls. While the style may prove a little on the declamatory side, the ring of truth in every line will nevertheless find its mark. The collection switches frequently between manifesto pieces on the challenge of womanhood, to the schoolgirl wanting to have it all and realising that other people's views are as much an impediment as her own mistakes. One of the keynotes is Good girls go to Heaven, bad girls go to Magaluf, in which four school friends find their end-of-term trip isn't quite the riot they imagined, and the personas they put on – influenced by social norms and pressure – aren't what really brings happiness or freedom. Bittersweet, irreverent and to-the-point, these poems speak of life's knots and identity pitfalls all too clearly. Laughter will often be accompanied by a twinge of pain – the kind of laugh we all need sometimes, if only to purge us of the bottled up emotions we (still) don't always feel comfortable expressing on a daily basis. [Clare Mulley] Speculative Books, out now, £6.99

Fiction that navigates issues not often showcased on the page with care and without judgement is something to savour. One More Chance does just that. Dani has made some bad choices in life and is paying the price; it’s her tenth prison sentence, this time for possession of heroin and intent to supply. She’s been unable to stay out of trouble, but her daughter Bethany is the core of her focus. With her child having grown up in foster care, it’s Dani’s goal to get out and be reunited with her; her new cellmate may just have the answer. Lucy Ayrton weaves a story of prison life that shirks the stereotypes often shown on the page and TV, drawing from her own experience and those of people met through her work as a Communications Manager at a prison charity to create a vividly real world that leaps off the page. She dives behind the stigma that can often surround prison to showcase real people who cope, who survive, who suffer – navigating how they form alliances and friendships, the ups and downs, the humour and the darker moments of their lives. This is an excellent book; Ayrton’s voice distinctive and impressive. At times funny, others bleak, One More Chance is consistently gripping, and when it comes to reading, there’s not much more you can ask for than that. [Heather McDaid] Dialogue Books, out now, £7.99 littlebrown.co.uk

speculativebooks.net

BOOKS

THE SKINNY

Jasleen Kaur Market Gallery, Glasgow rrrrr “Please take off your shoes,” the sign reads. There’s a richly abstracted floral patterned carpet over a lot of the space. A huge-scale white shirt lies across the rest of the floor and extends up to the top corner of the ceiling. A golden streamer hangs across the line of the projector’s beam, its glints sliding around the dual channel video. On the floor, hand-painted brown skintoned ceramic feet form two paths. They are filled with rice and marigolds sprout from them. Sitting comfortably on the carpet, there’s the kind of intimate and observational close gaze that comes from sitting cross-legged in a crowded party. The huge white cotton garment that goes from the floor to ceiling seems to be the body for them all, suggestive of the community of a room full of people wearing the same work uniform or ceremonial garment. These kinds of parallels provide the shifting structure for the video work. The two channels

skip between what might be recognisable streetscapes, food preparation and perhaps a wedding, into interiors where a ritual takes place. The terminology ‘non-Western’ is undercut as cultural signifiers slide across spaces that resist their own placing. Footage of a busy night street in a city taken while travelling (literally, shot from the back of a moving vehicle) is combined with domestic scenes. Brown bodies sing, work and walk in procession. Three people stop and stare into the window, through the beaded curtain. On leaving, the Market Gallery a committee member jokes thatshe’s been keeping count of them. What are they staring at? The carpet, the brown feet, a Middle Eastern guy kneeling contentedly on the soft floor. There’s an interesting tension, as something’s making them take pause, and it might be the same thing that they can’t bring themselves to open the door to greet. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Jasleen Kaur: I Keep Telling Them These Stories, Market Gallery, Glasgow, until 2 Dec jasleenkaur.co.uk

December brings a new set of exhibitions from DCA, as well as opportunities from the major residency providers across Scotland Words: Rosie Priest

December 2018

Jonas Staal CCA, Glasgow rrrrr It is dim, and there’s a sombre tone to the first of the three rooms of Jonas Staal’s The ScottishEuropean Parliament. Coming in, the European Union flag has a few dislocated shoulders, all in black and white like the rest of the room. Though pristinely printed, it’s looking skewiff, a little unfamiliar. Through this room, there are the variously charismatic tones of a series of different speakers. They speak earnestly and with the unpolished fluency of people who speak about politics a lot, but haven’t had media training. Their comments sound off the large starshaped wooden sculptures in the room. Looking partially submerged, they are incomplete and lean around at different angles. Are they sinking or rising up? The artist structures the show around these large set pieces, and this very duality of crisis of Brexit and any potential opportunity for future better governance. The idea of performance within politics features in the video in the large central space of February and coincide with a series of exciting events such as talks and tours. The fantastic showcasing of women’s work spreads its way into Glasgow in December, as Tramway present the work of Lucy Beech and her new film which addresses the power and agency of reproductive relations, exploring women’s labour, visibility and the flow of bodily revenue streams in what has come to be known as Reproductive Exile (also the title of the exhibition, which runs until 10 Feb).

Where Art Now? Exhibition Highlights We mentioned this incredible exhibition last month, but are not afraid to reiterate how brilliant it is again: Tremble Tremble by Jesse Jones in the Talbot Rice Gallery is a performance and installation piece not to be missed: take your coven along or explore the space alone, you will not be disappointed by this eerie celebration of the power of magick. The Talbot Rice have knocked it out of the park, as alongside Jesse Jones they have At the Gates: work by women artists inspired by the tidal wave of change that has been sweeping the world and have amplified the global struggle towards women’s self-empowerment. We were especially blown away by the work of Mexican artist Teresa Margolles: do not miss out on the opportunity to

Jonas Staal, The Scottish-European Parliament, CCA Glasgow

touch and explore the sensational culmination of her work. You have until 26 January to explore this pair of exhibitions. In Dundee, DCA are opening two new exhibitions this month celebrating the work of artists living and working in Scotland. Margaret Salmon, a Glasgow-based artist and filmmaker, will present a new moving image work and installation commissioned specifically for DCA: Hole is about our bodies and the intimate human connections we seek with others. Meanwhile, multi-material artist Lorna Macintyre will be pushing materiality to its limits and exploring new ways to play with the likes of cyanotypes, digital prints and photography in her exhibition Pieces of You Are Here. Both of these exhibitions are open until 24

Residencies The Royal Scottish Academy have an exciting residency opportunity which allows artists to apply for funds of up to £5000 to partake in a programme at one or more of their partner venues. Deadline: 20 Jan Scottish Sculpture Workshop have a paid three-month residency opportunity based in Finland which seeks to explore the multiple knotted knowledges and practices situated between ecology, location, community and history in order to share and learn from these relationships. The deadline is fast approaching so be sure to apply quickly! Deadline: 7 Dec Cove Park have several paid residencies available for visual artists (as well as for experimental filmmakers, writers, designers and more)

ART

Photo: Alan Dimmick

Photo: Matthew Arthur Williams

Jasleen Kaur, I Keep Telling Them These Stories, Market Gallery, Glasgow

the CCA gallery, which is itself dominated by the motif of the saltire crossed with the European stars, and a video of Staal’s proposed ScottishEuropean Parliament to be built on a disused oil rig. In the video, Staal himself gives a speech in the same room, and mentions the idea of the performativity of political assembly – parliaments, marches, occupation. Staal’s acknowledgment of the politics, potential and symbolism of the spatial design of the rooms in which political discourse takes place propels many of the proposals and sculptures around the exhibition. In the final room, there is further documentation of a conference-style meeting, and it’s clear that Jonas Staal’s exhibition doesn’t shy away from being dense, academic and sober. In the face of the current political climate of bipartisanship and the bellowing reactionarism of the right wing, an emphasis on considered discourse is a necessary counter to the punishing entertainment of BrexTrump 2018. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Jonas Staal: The Scottish-European Parliament, CCA, Glasgow, run ended jonasstaal.nl

with a variety of deadlines throughout December. The spaces available offer artists the opportunity to work in incredible environments on the West Coast of Scotland, not too far from Glasgow, with the important time and headspace to create works. Deadlines: 7, 10 and 16 Dec Unlike the other residencies highlighted this month, the Banff Artist in Residence programme has a way to go before the deadline crunch. This residency allows participants to delve deeply into their practice while away from the constraints of everyday life. Participants are provided with a studio, accessible 24 hours a day, as well as access to extensive creative facilities – a brilliant opportunity to immerse yourself in your practice in among the brilliant Canadian rolling mountains. Deadline: 6 March Awards and Call for Entries With the 2018 Scottish Portrait Award exhibition still on, the Scottish Portrait Awards are already thinking ahead to 2019 with increased prize money and a drive to make sure all artists are aware of this opportunity. The Awards will be taking submissions from April 2019, and are open to anyone over 16, born, living or studying in Scotland. Deadline: 30 Jun theskinny.co.uk/art

Review

In Cinemas The House That Jack Built

Director: Lars von Trier Starring: Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sofie Gråbøl, Riley Keough

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How seriously should we take Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built? The film will undoubtedly be dismissed by many as a cheap act of trolling from a man who lives to provoke, while others will see it as the work of someone grappling with complex ideas and trying to purge something ugly from deep within himself. Perhaps both views are correct. This is another audacious and nakedly personal self-examination from a fascinating artist, but it’s also a film in which the man banned from Cannes for praising the Nazis finds time to extol the virtues of Albert Speer and German Stuka bombers. Even von Trier’s admirers often have to roll their eyes. You might also be closing your eyes as serial killer Jack (Dillon) recounts five “incidents” to his off-screen companion Verge (Ganz). Jack’s killings are cruel and extravagant, but what’s disturbing about them is less the gore and more von Trier’s

skill at extending the build-up to a painful degree, even finding queasy laughs in the ugliest scenarios. The second incident almost feels like an excessively violent Woody Allen skit, with the OCD-afflicted Jack repeatedly returning to the scene of the crime to make sure he’s covered his tracks before making a spectacularly botched getaway. Other viewers might find the philosophising harder to swallow than the violence. As Jack considers the relationship between creation and destruction, he repeatedly spins off on tangents, touching on subjects as eclectic as Glenn Gould, the architecture of Cathedrals, William Blake, fermenting grapes and even von Trier’s own films. (“Wasn’t there something about a house?” Verge wearily asks after one digression.) The House That Jack Built can be exasperating, but all of this – the murders, the montages and the monologues – adds up to a complicated portrait of an artist and his art. Not everyone will want to take this journey with von Trier through his own tortured psyche, but if you do leave before the final act, you’ll miss one hell of an ending. [Philip Concannon] Released 14 Dec by Curzon; Certificate 18

The Image Book

Director: Jean-Luc Godard Starring: Jean-Luc Godard

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Master auteur Jean-Luc Godard slices, stitches and obfuscates images and sounds to create an essay film that develops the themes that preoccupy his more recent work. The Image Book is like a condensed version of his video collage masterpiece Histoire(s) du cinéma. His subject is representation, specifically of the world through text and then through images. Clips from Hollywood films are juxtaposed with war newsreel and overlaid with Godard’s own gravelly voiceover. He forms a narrative through references and quotes from philosophers and writers, exploring parallels and dissonance between the revolutions that formed Europe and those which Europeans commit around the world. Godard crafts cinema as an artist: images and sounds blend or stay separate like oil and vinegar layering meaning atop his work. There are some striking similarities and comparisons to be made with Adam Curtis, much of whose work also explores how the Arab world is represented in

media. Curtis’ Bitter Lake or HyperNormalisation offer exquisitely researched macro views of how representation affects reality. Godard offers visual poetry: art that relies on the audience to connect to be effective. The most tense and arresting moments are those when footage of a city street somewhere in the Middle East lingers on screen. You can feel it, the pregnancy of impending doom, because we expect these images to shatter, engulfed in smoke and fire. Later, Godard cuts together material from home videos and footage shot on phones, and – without any notion of smooth editing – the jarring calamitous sound of bombing intermittently roars around you. The Image Book presents a damning judgement of cinemas complicity in Western history whilst itself bolstering the canon of cinema that seeks to be radical and revolutionary. But when a disillusioned female voice says, “we are never sad enough for the world to be better,” it rings true. Godard sees us as burdened under masses of knowledge yet unwilling to listen. [Gianni Marini] Released 2 Dec by Mubi; Certificate 15

Roma

Sorry to Bother You

Director: Boots Riley Starring: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Armie Hammer, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Danny Glover

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White Boy Rick

Director: Yann Demange Starring: Richie Merritt, Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rory Cochrane

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Down and out Oaklander Cassius Green (Stanfield) is living in his uncle’s garage; he’s behind on his rent, out of work and out of luck. When he blags a job at a call centre, he’s hopeful that his fortunes are on the turn, but in debut director Boots Riley’s brilliant, absurdist satire, Cassius has yet to learn just how far the odds are stacked against him. Riley’s sense of the absurd is top notch here, equal parts Luis Buñuel, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry (the latter being cheekily lampooned in one of the film’s numerous inventive visual flights of fancy). But as well as those visual gags, Riley’s film is shot through with a righteous anger at systemic injustice. Satire weaves its way through the history of cinema, and classics like Metropolis, Network and The Stepford Wives are all echoed in Sorry to Bother You. Riley builds on the history of satirical cinema to tell a sharply contemporary fable that critiques the related inequities of race, class and unionised labour. [Christopher Machell]

Yann Demange’s follow-up to his intense Belfast thriller ’71 keeps the attention to period detail, but scales back the tension. Inspired by the story of Richard Wershe Jr (Merritt), who at 14 became an undercover informant for local and federal law enforcement agencies in mid-80s Detroit, White Boy Rick is as much about its location as it is about its titular character – if not more so. Set in the moribund Motor City, the once-thriving metropolis that, once it collapsed economically, became the ideal setting for Paul Verhoeven’s dystopian future in RoboCop. Tat Radcliffe’s cinematography does excellent work of capturing a city that’s worn thin and patchy, just like its denizens, and where the only (literal) spots of brightness come from the life-sucking light of neon tube lighting. Merritt’s performance as Wershe Jr. has the feeling of verisimilitude, but it’s also cripplingly listless and pales in comparison with Matthew McConaughey’s infinitely more engaging turn as Wershe’s father, Ricky Sr. [Tom Charles]

Released 7 Dec by Universal; Certificate 15

Released 7 Dec by Sony Releasing; Certificate 15

Review

Roma

Disobedience

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Director: Alfonso Cuarón Starring: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta

Director: Sebastián Lelio Starring: Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola

Roma is Alfonso Cuarón’s tribute to the housekeeper who helped raise him, with the beguiling newcomer Yalitza Aparicio starring as Cleo. Her story is placed against the context of a tumultuous period in Mexican history, with violent clashes between student protesters and the government-backed Los Halcones taking place on the streets and overwhelming Cleo at one critical moment. But in this sequence and other heartin-the-mouth set-pieces, are we gripped because we’ve formed a deep connection with Cleo, or because Cuarón has weaved his undeniable technical virtuosity around easy emotional triggers? Working as his own cinematographer, Cuarón has opted to shoot Roma in black-andwhite, but his images have a grey digital flatness. Roma is more impressive as a feat of crowd control than as a piece of visual storytelling or as a character study. Still, it does have plenty to admire, particularly when seen on the big screen, where its ambitiously constructed shots and extraordinarily rich sound design can be fully appreciated. It’s a sad irony, then, that the film’s Netflix-heavy release strategy has severely undermined its main raison d’être. [Philip Concannon]

After her father, a revered British Jewish Orthodox, dies, Ronit (Weisz) returns to the community from which she was ostracised. She’s met with cold shoulders but is reluctantly welcomed to stay with two old, now married, friends – Dovid (Nivola) and Esti (McAdams). A love triangle begins as Ronit and Esti rekindle a previous relationship. Disobedience moves slowly and without surprises. Chilean director Sebastián Lelio’s filmography is full of women coming to terms with their sexuality, but other than one central sex scene, Disobedience’s lesbian lovers lack passion, and more frustratingly, they become increasingly passive. The emotional arc between Dovid and Esti is much more compelling. The film’s themes of restraint and discipline are reflected in Leilo’s aesthetic choices. The visuals are as monotonous as the community depicted in the film. This is drab everyday suburban London; everything is concrete grey and dirt brown. It’s a disappointing follow-up to the visual magic of A Fantastic Woman, Leilo’s previous film, that used its aesthetics to convey its similarly oppressed protagonist’s interiority to much more convincing effect. [Katie Goh]

Released 14 Dec on Netflix (with a limited theatrical release in Curzon cinemas from 30 Nov); Certificate TBC

Released 30 Nov by Curzon; Certificate 15

FILM & TV

THE SKINNY

Streaming of a White Christmas Christmas; a time for giving, a time for laughing, a time for sharing, a time for sitting around in your pants watching all the movies and TV shows you couldn’t make time for in the last year

t was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the epoch of video on demand. It was the age of a new, must-see TV series every week and films by master filmmakers surreptitiously slipping on to streaming sites. It was the winter of despair, as we all scrambled to keep up with the amount of content coming at our eyeballs. Thank heavens for Christmas, the one week of the year where you can, without shame, sit around in your pants curled up on the sofa catching up on the plethora of films and television that passed you by in the last twelve months. Let’s start with the big guns. Only a few years ago, the idea of a film bypassing cinemas altogether and going direct to home viewing was the sign of a filmmaker in decline. With directors as great as the Coen brothers and Alfonso Cuarón doing exactly that this year at the height of their powers, it suggests the straight-to-video stigma has all but vanished. The Coens’ Netflix effort is The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a meticulously constructed portmanteau western that’s as bleak as it is hilarious, while Cuarón, also working with Netflix, delivers his most personal film with shimmering realist drama Roma. Between the two, the streaming service can lay claim to producing two of the best-looking films of the year. Cuarón and the Coens could have probably got these films financed anywhere. What’s been more heartening to see is Netflix offering up a platform to the kind of medium-

budget films that might not get made otherwise. Two films that might have slipped through the cracks are Tamara Jenkins’ Private Life and Nicole Holofcener’s The Land of Steady Habits. The former is a spiky study of an aging, arty couple trying to get pregnant; the latter is notable for giving a starring role to the great Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn that isn’t as the villain in a major blockbuster (see Rogue One, Ready Player One and the upcoming Captain Marvel). Both are the kind of keenly observed, quietly devastating dramas for grown-ups that the Hollywood studios gave up on a long time ago. While we’re on the subject of films Hollywood no longer makes, Netflix was also the home to a number of surprisingly excellent romantic comedies this year. Take your pick from sweet queer teen comedy Alex Strangelove, office-based matchmaker lark Set It Up and the platonic ideal of Netflix rom-coms, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. If you’re after something a little edgier over the festive season, Netflix has also offered up two of the year’s darkest visions in Alex Garland’s Annihilation, a pleasingly weird body horror sci-fi following a crack team – Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson – investigating a mysterious biosphere steadily taking over the earth, and Jeremy Saulnier’s bloody arctic noir Hold the Dark, in which Jeffrey Wright’s retired wolf expert is summoned to a backwater town to investigate a child’s disappearance. Christmas should also provide you with ample time to catch up on the television shows you’ve

Words: Jamie Dunn

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

been putting off all year. First on your list should be Killing Eve, the wry cat-and-mouse thriller from the pen of the great Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Less witty but no less gripping is the sexy political intrigue nonsense of Bodyguard, while the award for the most handsome TV show of the year should go to Park Chan-wook’s ’70s-set spy series The Little Drummer Girl. All three are available on iPlayer now. Netflix was not without great shows this year too – including stranger-than-fiction doc series Wild Wild Country, the hilarious second season of American Vandal and The Haunting of Hill House which is spine-tingling up until its soppy final episode – but Amazon had it beat. Dramedy Barry gave Bill Hader a role worthy of his talents as a hitman who goes to LA for a job and ends up

wanting to give up murder and take up acting. Hader’s fellow SNL alumni Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen shone as a couple pondering an eternal relationship in the afterlife in tragicomic Forever. And Amazon’s show of the year dropped just last month: the ingenious Homecoming, a fat-free mystery-thriller in which Julia Roberts stars as a retired military therapist who suspects she’s lost her memory – or it’s been taken from her. So in short, there’s much great film and television to catch up on. But if you insist on a Christmas movie over the festive season, plump for The Christmas Chronicles, if only to see Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) play a no-nonsense Saint Nick. We wouldn’t want to be on his naughty list, that’s for sure. theskinny.co.uk/tv-radio

Competition

The Howl & The Hum

The Howl & The Hum describe themselves as “a miserable disco who write Bond themes for films where Jimmy is still hung up on that girl”. They combine dark hypnotic pop with post-punk influences, pierced with lyrics “that make you call your mum the next morning”. Following acclaimed sets at Neighbourhood Festival and Loopallu, and a debut tour of the Scottish Highlands in 2017, the York-based fourpiece embarked on their first headline tour of England in early 2018 to coincide with the release of new single Portrait I. Following this, the band are releasing a series of new songs leading up to their first festival season in summer 2019. To be in with the chance of winning a pair of tickets to The Howl & The Hum’s upcoming

December 2018

Photo: Sam Boullier

Win tickets to see The Howl & The Hum in Dundee or Edinburgh

Scottish gigs at either Clarks in Dundee (17 Jan) or Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh (22 Jan), simply head over to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer this question: Where did the The Howl & The Hum’s debut tour take place? a) The Lake District b) Yorkshire c) Scottish Highlands Competition closes midnight Sun 30 Dec. Entrants must be 18 or over. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Transport to and from the event is not included. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

FILM & TV / COMPETITIONS

Review

Stage Directions Love theatre, but hate panto? Think you can’t go to the theatre this season? Ho-Ho-Ho-hold your horses, there’s still a bunch of shows you can see this December – here’s a quick round-up

Words: Amy Taylor

The Last Days of Mankind

worst UK poets ever to set pen to paper. Featuring a score by Frightened Rabbit guitarist Simon Liddell, the play also boasts a free glass of mulled wine and a mince pie for every member of the audience (should they wish to partake, that is). Perhaps the jewel in the Traverse’s festival coverage is Jo Clifford’s infamous play The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, which runs from 13 to 16 December, and then 19 to 22 December. In the play, Jesus returns to Earth as not just a trans woman, but a trans woman with a lot to say to a surprised and unnerved world. Recently returning to Scotland from a tour of South America, which saw the play at the centre of several outraged headlines and raised issues of freedom of speech and human rights, the Portuguese translation of the play is now deemed too dangerous to perform following the election of the far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in October. The performance on Sunday 16 December will offer the audience a special ‘enhanced experience’, with a post-show discussion with Jo Clifford and director Susan Worsfold, joined live by the company’s Brazilian colleagues via video link. The event will also be streamed on social media and available to watch on YouTube afterwards.

The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven

Review

A Different Ballet The Mother, a new ballet adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Story of the Mother, is set to come to The Pleasance at EICC for two nights only on 21 and 22 December. Starring ballet sensation Natalia Osipova, the show follows a young single mother, as she desperately tries to save her child. Will evil prevail or will motherhood succeed? Featuring a score by Frank Moon and Dave Price, this experimental piece combines narrative dance and drama to create a compelling piece about motherhood, with not a single panto dame in sight. A Christmas Sing-Along (Or Two) Get ready for a lot of singing, bitching and wigsnatching, because Doris, Dolly & the Dressing Room Divas… at Christmas! are taking over Gilded Balloon’s Rose Theatre until 16 December. This five-star Fringe hit is back by popular demand and features the stories and songs of Doris Day, Dolly Parton and many more. Directed by Morag Fullarton, and starring Gail Watson, Jenny Hulse, Joanne McGuinness and Hilary Brooks, this is a show about your favourite divas sprinkled with a touch of festive cheer. Following the departure of the divas, the

Photo: Rod Penn

The Least Christmassy Venue Over the years, the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh has developed a reputation not just as Scotland’s new writing theatre, but also as the theatre that doesn’t put on a panto, or even a show that’s vaguely Christmas-related. Instead the Trav opts for shows that explore such diverse topics as philosophy, sexuality, the afterlife, as well as non-Christmassy children’s shows. This year, the Traverse is chock full of new and exciting productions, all written by Scottish writers which either aren’t very festive, or simply fail to mention the season completely. How refreshing. The Traverse’s flagship “festive” production is Mouthpiece by Kieran Hurley, which runs from 5 to 22 December and also marks the final production directed by the theatre’s Outgoing Artistic Director, Orla O’Loughlin. Mouthpiece follows two young people, writer Libby (Neve McIntosh) and Declan (Lorn MacDonald), a talented young artist from Pilton. The play is a deeply personal look at the different Edinburghs which often exist in ignorance of one another, and examines whether it’s possible to tell someone else’s story without exploiting them along the way. The play will run alongside a community project titled ‘EH…’, tying in with the themes of Mouthpiece. It’s a project that brings together young people's responses to ‘their Edinburgh’, in both photographic and written word format, which will be exhibited in the Traverse Café Bar from early December. Gary McNair’s McGonagall’s Chronicles (Which Will Be Remembered for a Very Long Time) originally premiered as part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Òran Mór earlier this year, and it heads to the Traverse this month, from 5 to15 December. A hit with audiences during its original run, this theatrical biography concerns the eponymous 19th century Dundonian poet, William Topaz McGonagall, who is believed to be one of the

Rose Theatre will play host to another festive version of an EdFringe hit, with Sing Sistah Sing! The Christmas Celebration, the non-festive edition of which was well-received at this year’s festival. Conceived and written by Andrea Baker, the internationally-renowned mezzo-soprano, who was also the first African American Carmen to perform at the Sydney Opera House, the play celebrates the sound and breadth of the African American female voice. The show runs 20 to 23 and 27 to 30 December and will also feature former SNP Councillor Richard Lewis on piano.

THEATRE

Non-Pantos For Kids While it’s true that pantos are usually aimed at children and their parents and/or guardians, if your child wants a Panto-free Christmas, here are a couple of options. Returning briefly (galloping, even?) to the Traverse, and fresh from a hugely successful run in New York City, Red Bridge Arts and the Traverse Theatre Company bring back their CATS Award-winning adaptation of Black Beauty for two nights on 29 and 30 November, before touring to Platform in Glasgow (18-23 Dec). Created by Andy Manley, Andy Cannon and Shona Reppe, this vibrant, fun and utterly spellbinding two-man show is an exceptional re-imagining of the classic tale for fans of the story in books, TV shows, films, or even those who are totally unfamiliar with it. Another panto dame-free option can be found just across the road at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, who, as you might already know, prefer to stage Christmas shows as opposed to traditional pantomimes. This year’s production is Wendy and Peter Pan, Ella Hickson’s adaptation of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan, which was originally performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2013 and 2015. Unlike previous versions, this celebrated adaptation put the fearless Wendy centre stage as she flies with Peter to a magical world of dastardly pirates, feisty fairies, raucous lost boys, and one very hungry crocodile. However, Peter Pan purists will be pleased to know that all the magic and wonder of JM Barrie’s original is retained, as the audience join the Darling children flying above the rooftops, and follow the second star on the right and lose themselves in Neverland. Suitable for children aged five and over. theskinny.co.uk/theatre

Gail Watson as Liza Minnelli

THE SKINNY

Photo: Leslie Black

h, pantomime. Out of every artform available to people around the world, this has to be the theatre lover’s Marmite. For every ten people that love panto, you’ll find at least three that prefer to keep away from it at all costs. If this sounds like you, or someone you know, then never fear – you can still enjoy theatre this season. You can avoid a run in with an angry panto dame (in the theatre, at least) although you might have to stomach a little festival cheer while you do so.

A Dog is for Christmas The Christmas gift guide for humans on a budget, as curated by Fringe Dog

ou eat a wallet once and people will forever say you dont understand money . but you know that money is not the only way to give this christmas .o boy ,you can always afford to think dog !!! let us start with a basic item : idea #1 wrappin paper o boy controversial opinion :in my experience wrappin paper leave very little to imagination .last year we wrapped up uncle piper in novelty paper but aunty katie guesses it was him straight away !!! to truly keep loved ones in suspense for presents i humbly suggest alternative to wrappin them in paper— bury all gifts in garden !!! o boy i guarantee anyone who find nothin under tree , who has to go out diggin up treasures ,will have 5star surprise on christmas morning !!!

Words: Fringe Dog Illustration: Sarah Kirk

idea #3 park turns out you can give someone acres of land for absolutesly nothin !!! just take them out on christmas day to a park .they can use it whenever they wish and maybe walk their radioactive dog there !!! now ,you’re thinkin: but the park isnt free ?!? as ever I have to congratulate you on being brilliant and right it even better than free : you’ve already paid for the park with council tax !!! council tax is like a wonderful christmas club where no one runs off with all the funds —except maybe some naughty councillers ,o boy !!!

idea #4 pavlov’s bell now if you want to keep christmas on a budget ,and food waste down ,this is a very economical way to do it . idea #2 adopt a radioactive dog all you need is “pavlovs bell’ your family tree might be full of old fruits who voted it amazin psychological bell that famous ever so very differently to you in the referendum behaviourist ring to dogs at food time. the mere ,and they want to chat to you all about it while pass- association with food meant dogs salivated with in around the gravy boat !!! o boy ,be kindly, with big hunger just at the sound of ding-ding !!! families it take work for everyone to get along !!! to keep costs down , offer to cook christmas now ,how would you feel if your family was a dinner . then, at one o’clock simply ring bell and pack of abandoned dogs left to roam a nuclear all your friends and family will come runnin in for wasteland ??? meal exactly as if youd actually cooked one !!! if you were a dog In chernobyl you’d be desceuh oh ,it high frisk strategy !!! nded from exactly such dogs ,left there 32 years but just as they hold their empty tummies ago after nuclear power disaster . and shout “why do you persecute us ?!!” you shout but o boy great news !!! the new generation back “surprise !!!!” and you lower down remnants of dogs-- your generation- are not quite as of peanut butter in jars ,corn on cob, delicious radioactive as their ancestors !!! they still a little meaty chunks and gourmet banana skins .o boy , bit radioactive ––especially their fur– that to be yum yums !!! expected ,but the brillant nonprofit clean futures its a bit of a crass christmas prank, like fund is helpin these dog relocate !!! christmasy crackers joke, but o boy follow these why not help your relative sponsor a slightly tips and i promise this will be one unforgettable radioactive dog leave the nuclear exclusion zone 5star christmas ,generous in a different way ??? that way you now have special dog in family love from fringe dog and can talk to relative with enthusiasm about a twitter.com/FringeDog leave campaign you support !!!

December 2018

COMEDY

Review

THE SKINNY

Glasgow Music Sat 01 Dec

ABBA GOLD CHRISTMAS EXTRABBA-GANZA

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

Celebrating all things ABBA at Christmas.

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE QUEEN SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £25

One of Damon Albarn’s many post-Blur projects. FREE LOVE (SUE ZUKI)

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £8.25

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £20.75

Glasgow synth-pop duo (and Skinny favourites), FKA Happy Meals.

DECEMBER

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15

DEFINITELY OASIS

Oasis tribute band.

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £9.90

December are a band influenced by the likes of Springsteen and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

PIGSPIGSPIGSPIGSPIGSPIGSPIGS (SUZUKI JUNZO + THE COSMIC DEAD) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8

A band creating an almighty psychic charge that has blown minds and summoned bedlam in sweat-drenched venues across the UK’s underground and beyond. RÜFÜS DU SOL (ICARUS + ZOLA BLOOD)

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, FROM 19:00, £19.60

The Australian trio have emerged as one of the world’s preeminent live electronic acts. CHRISTMAS QUEENS

SEC, FROM 18:00, £44.25 - £147.55

STEVE ‘N’ SEAGULLS

Finnish country group, continuing to put a bluegrass twist on wellknown hard rock and metal tunes with their second album. STILL CORNERS (PSYCHIC MARKERS)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £12.10

Greg Hughes and Tessa Murray’s emotive pop outfit. PSEUDO SATELLITES

STEREO, FROM 19:30, £9 - £14

Glaswegian grunge-rock trio who recorded their first EP before they had even performed a gig. CLAIRE RICHARDS (AJ BROWN)

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £26.25

Ex-Steps member Claire Richards touring in support of her solo album My Wildest Dreams. QUINNY (MARIE COLLINS + KAZE + VELCROLOVE)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £5

The cream of the drag scene take to the stage for a festive bash.

The alternative Glasgow institution launch their new EP.

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15

Mon 03 Dec

THE DUALERS

The infamous nine-piece Jamaican rhythm and blues band from South East London get back on the road.

JOHN MACLEAN CENTENARY (HEIR OF THE CURSED + JAMES KELMAN + DECLAN WELSH + ARTHUR JOHNSTONE) STEREO, FROM 19:00, £5 - £10

Celebrate the Centenary of great John Maclean coming home to the Clyde. MUDHONEY (THEE HYPNOTICS + THE WILDEBEESTS)

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £21.45

American grunge rock bunch, formed in Seattle from the ashes of Green River. THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD SHOW

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £33.50 - £44.85

Pink Floyd tribute act. May well be Australian.

RESILIENCE FOR SAMH (BETATONE DISTRACTION + THE MAP DEPT. + PELTS + BRYAN DRUMMOND)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

ULI JON ROTH

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £25

Widely recognized as perhaps the single most important protagonist of neo-classical guitar playing, Uli is seen by many as a trend-setter who has often been considerably ahead of his time.

BABY FACE AND THE BELTIN’ BOYS

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Jazz and gospel mixed with some southern charm. BLOSSOMS (SAM FENDER + FUZZY SUN)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £21.75

Psych-pop riffs, vocal melodies, a film noir meets 60s aesthetic, a range of audible references from Arctic Monkeys via Abba to The Doors. PVMNTS (SHADED)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £13.20

The pop-punk/alt-rock outfit featuring actor Tyler Posey. ACOUSTIC OPEN MIC W/ GERRY LYONS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, FREE

A night of music in support of the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

Come and see some of the best unsigned artists in the country for free.

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £16.50

CHRIS CLARK JAZZ

Chris Clark is one of the country’s premier jazz entertainers with an unrivalled knowledge and execution of the American Songbook. LORENZ KELLHUBER TRIO

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £10

The first German musician to receive first place in the renowned Parmigiani Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition. MURRAY BROTHERS JAM

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 23:00, £5

Jam session hosted by one of Glasgow’s busiest trios.

Sun 02 Dec

THE CLASSIC ACOUSTIC SONGBOOK WITH RONNIE & OLIVIA

ORAN MOR, FROM 17:00, FREE

Ronnie and Olivia play tunes from their Classic Acoustic Songbook in the cosy bar. BLOC+ JAM OPEN MIC

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Weekly Open Mic with host Jamie Stuart and friends. A PERFECT CIRCLE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £48.35

The gloomy art-metal lot make a welcomed live return with a new album and tour. THEATRE OF HATE

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £19.80

Previously disbanded 80s post-punk unit, now putting in the odd live appearance with Kirk Brandon at the helm and various new members.

December 2018

GRAVEYARD

The Swedish blues rockers make their return to the UK. WESLEY FULLER

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

The Perth-born, Melbournebased power pop boy wonder. CYPRESS HILL

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £32.50

The 90s hip-hop group who brought us massive tunes including Insane in the Brain return to the road with a new album in tow. KITTY MACFARLANE

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

Somerset-based singer/songwriter, whose lyrics combine honest snapshots of everyday humanity with the bigger questions that have connected minds and voices for centuries.

Tue 04 Dec HARRIET

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £20

The glorious singer, reminiscent of Karen Carpenter, has been a regular voice on Radio 2 and championed by both Graham Norton and Paul O’Grady. THE CARDIGANS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £37.10

The Swedish indie veterans’ return to the road to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their fourth album, Gran Turismo.

OCTOBER DRIFT KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8.80

October Drift appeared at the start of 2015 with their beefy yet melodic sound and gained a reputation for delivering blistering, high-energy live shows. THE BURNING HELL (BROKEN CHANTER + RANDOLPH’S LEAP)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £10

Canadian folk artist Mathias Kom returns to the UK with a full band in tow for this latest round of Burning Hell shows. LEA MICHELE AND DARREN CRISS

SEC, FROM 18:30, £36.90 - £53.90

The Glee co-stars join forces for a global tour. THE WILDHEARTS

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £25.20

The British rock veterans head out on’t road, with Ginger reunited with his bandmates CJ and Ritch, alongside the return of Scott Sorry on bass. DAN BAIRD

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £13.50

The Georgia Satellites frontman returns to Glasgow with his rockin’ and rollin’ live band, Homemade Sin.

25 YEARS WITHOUT FRANK ZAPPA (PYGMY TWYLYTE) THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £10

A celebration of Frank Zappa’s life and music, featuring two sets of Zappa classics from Pygymy Twylyte, Scotland’s premier Zappa tribute band.

Wed 05 Dec

THE STRANGE BLUE DREAMS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

Long known as go-to players in Glasgow’s vibrant underground roots music scene. ARTIE ZIFF

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Glasgow trio playing ‘rage indie’. FIREBALL - FUELLING THE FIRE TOUR (THE BRONX + FLOGGING MOLLY + FACE TO FACE + LOST IN STEREO)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £17.40

A tour showcasing some of the best live bands the international punk scene has to offer, celebrating punk rock, ska, reggae and roots music. PETER MURPHY: 40 YEARS OF BAUHAUS FT. DAVID J

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £32.50

Founding members of infamous goth group Bauhaus, Peter Murphy and David J celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary. SEVENDUST & ALL THAT REMAINS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £23

The heavy metal veterans head out on a co-headline tour. AMMAR 808

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £11

Tunisian musician Sofyann Ben Youssef treads a fine yet invigorating line between tradition and modernity. LUCERO

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £15

Melodic gruff-punk from the States, being touted as Memphis’ answer to Bruce Springsteen. JAMES & THE CHARLATANS

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £44.85 - £56.20

Two Brit heavyweight acts combine forces in a one-off show.

Thu 06 Dec DECLAN HEGARTY

ORAN MOR, FROM 21:30, FREE

Fully trained folk harp player who also plays the guitar and sings, bringing his multi-instrumental talents to a regular Oran Mor crowd. SLIPPERY NIGHT PRESENTS: WHATEVER FOREVER

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Loud and sad music from Western Sydney. HEAVEN 17 (XPROPAGANDA FEAT. CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN AND SUSANNE FREYTAG)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £31.45

The Sheffield synth-pop duo get back on the road with their chilly atmospherics.

CHASE ATLANTIC (RILEY + XAVIER MAYNE) KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £13.20

Indie rock trio from Australia, consisting of Christian Anthony and brothers Clinton and Mitchel Cave.

PETE SPIBY & THE BEAT ALLS (NAKED SIX) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £10

THE MEN THEY COULDN’T HANG (ESPERANZA)

ALL SAINTS (JETTA + ASHER KNIGHT)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £17.60

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £33.70

Longstanding London-based folkrock crew in a re-jigged guise, but still featuring founding members Phil Odgers and Stefan Crush on lead vocals and guitar. LAST GREAT DREAMERS (CYSTER SCALPEL + PETE K MALLY)

Never ever have we ever been so excited for a concert. GIODYNAMICS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, FREE

Improvised open mic with Jer Reid. JACOB BANKS (ANNA LEONE)

Mixing alternative rock swagger and punk attitude with a southern bluesy Americana heart.

UK Glam-tinged power pop rockers.

Smooth soulful vocal stylings from the Nigerian-born, Birmingham-raised singer.

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £27.45

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15.75

Tue 11 Dec

SLADE

The band that bring us annual wails of ‘It’s Christmasssss’ every December. THE MAGPIE SALUTE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £29

Comprising former members of Black Crowes, The Magpie Salutes formed in 2016. They seem to like birds. DADDY ISSUES (PAWS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £10

TIDE LINES (KERRI WATT)

Four-piece band who launched in the summer of 2016 with the release of their debut single Far Side of the World. DMA’S (NEON WALTZ)

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £16.50

Nostalgic garage pop straight from the heart of Newtown in Sydney.

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV (JOE PURDY)

BERRIE BIG BAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Johannesburg-born indie-meetsfolk singer-songwriter more at home on the road than not.

American three-piece grunge pop band from Nashville, Tennessee. ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £5.80 - £7.80

The Berrie Big Band aim to play a wide range of music to appeal to a broad age range. NATALIE PRYCE + SWEATY PALMS

THE RUM SHACK, FROM 19:00, TBC

Live music from Natalie Pryce and Sweaty Palms.

Fri 07 Dec

JOHNNIE & JAZZ WITH GG JAZZ DUO

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, FREE

Sunday Jazz in the main bar with saxophonist Gordon Dickson and guitarist Graham Mackintosh. ABBA GOLD CHRISTMAS EXTRABBA-GANZA

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

Celebrating all things ABBA at Christmas. HOZIER (SUZANNE SANTO)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £32.35

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £16.50

THE POSTCARDS

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, FROM 19:30, £5

The Postcards will be headlining a very special evening of ‘the songs that saved your life’. THE SLOW READERS CLUB

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 19:00, £16.50

Electro/indie outfit from Manchester, churning out everything from catchy upbeat indie tunes to introspective ballads. OCEAN COLOUR SCENE (MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS)

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £38 £43.70

The Birmingham Brit-poppers return to a live setting.

MONO, FROM 19:30, £15.40

THE SINKING FEELING (THE KIDNEY FLOWERS + FAT BLACK CATS + DEATH BED)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:00, £5

Glasgow band named after the film of the same name.

RANZAS (THE FENCES + THE RIOT VANS)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

Post-indie fuzz pop band from Glasgow. BABY CHAOS

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

The riff-heavy Weegies playing a hometown show. BEN HOWARD

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £36.90

Devon-based folk rocker using his guitar to build percussive beats around his melancholic ditties. YAKIMA

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7.50

Bright and brilliant guitar tones, melodic driving bass, steady and forthright drums and melodies to bring a smile to the most zealous of shoegazers. BLACK SNAKE ROOTS

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

Glasgow guitarist Fraser John Lindsay and Australian born vocalist and bassist Charlotte Marshall deliver an exciting blend of blues music in their own harmoniously relaxed fashion. RACHEL LIGHTBODY SINGS THE MUSIC OF GRETCHEN PARLATO

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £5 - £8

Young Chicago-born, Glasgowbased vocalist, singing the songs of renowned jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato.

Sat 08 Dec

ABBA GOLD CHRISTMAS EXTRABBA-GANZA

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

Celebrating all things ABBA at Christmas.

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

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £10

London-via-Toronto songstress. AUGUST BURNS RED

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:30, £16

Christian metalcore outfit hailing from Pennsylvania, US. AMIGO THE DEVIL

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £15

Danny Kiranos has been challenging the expectations of traditional folk, country music purists, and rock/extreme metal fans alike with his morbid, yet oddly romantic, take on folk. DEF LEPPARD

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £42.55 - £62.45

The iconic rock group return to play their seminal Hysteria album in full.

Wed 12 Dec

COURTNEY PINE & OMAR: BLACK NOTES FROM THE DEEP

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £25

The UK metalcore heavyweights Bury Tomorrow headline The Garage. FANGCLUB

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £8.80

Grungy 90s riffs over a throbbing pop heart, they’re a deafening feedback loop of leather and amp stacks with a sugary sweet edge. LUNAR C (P SOLJA + RANSOM FA)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £11

The English MC/rapper (know to his mammy as Jake Brook). LILY ALLEN

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £37.50

The London songstress returns to a live setting as part of her winter UK tour. RETRO VIDEO CLUB

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

Scottish indie at its finest.

MACHINES IN THE HEAD (MARY HURRELL + METEOR/RODEO + GIUSEPPE MISTRETTA + HUMAN HEADS)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, FROM 20:00, £5

A launch to celebrate the A Plume’s publication of Please Touch by Giuseppe Mistretta.

NILE RODGERS & CHIC (MISTAJAM)

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £51.10 - £85.15

The disco legends head out on their first ever arena tour of the UK. NIMBUS SEXTET

FOLKIFY

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Fri 14 Dec

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

Sun 09 Dec

Glasgow-based muso, composing e’er beautiful choral harmonies and acoustic instrumentation in his bedroom-studio set-up.

TESS PARKS

BURY TOMORROW

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £18

Contemporary jazz six-piece, blending jazz, hip-hop and world music elements.

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £15.40

C DUNCAN (CLOTH)

The Glasgow collective launch their EP. Expect brazen, riffcurdling alt-rock.

URIAH HEEP

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £30.50

The long-haired, longtime rockers get back on the live circuit. Bow down.

THE RUM SHACK, FROM 19:00, £5

LYLO celebrate their new single release followed by the Loosen Up club. Everybody dance now! Sandy Nelson, Morna Young and Jon Reid, aka Folkify, present new ‘folked up’ arrangements of your favourite songs.

Manuel Gagneux’s avant-garde black metal musical project.

UNDO (GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY)

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

Occult blues rock band from Edinburgh.

British-born jazz giant Courtney Pine CBE and UK soul star Omar revive their Black Notes From The Deep project.

LYLO (PLEASURE POOL)

Irish soul-meets-blues oneman-band, aka Andrew HozierByrne, who joined his first band at the tender age of 15. ZEAL & ARDOR (BLANKET)

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £18.90

JUNIPER GRAVE (BACCHUS BARACUS + ISAK)

BACKBEAT: NON-STOP 60S POP

ORAN MOR, FROM 17:00, FREE

Journey back to the swingin’ sixties with an evening of nothing but beat-boom, mod music and dripping psychedelia. BLOC+ JAM OPEN MIC

HANDPICKED CASSETTES

Get locked in the loop with a selection of live electro and hip-hop performances from some of the label’s most prolific heads, outputting direct from the boxes. BJÖRN AGAIN

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £28.65

The 30th anniversary tour of the ABBA celebration show. CLOVES

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £11

The musical guise of Australian singer-songwriter Kaity Dunstan.

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

THE TEA STREET BAND

The South London rappers embark on their latest UK tour.

Weekly Open Mic with host Jamie Stuart and friends. KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8.80

Up and coming Liverpool troupe who’ve been described as like 808 State having a meeting mid-Channel to hear some French electronic by Space Disco You. SWEET

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £20

British glam rockers that rose to fame in 1970s. DMA’S (NEON WALTZ)

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £16.50

Nostalgic garage pop straight from the heart of Newtown in Sydney. WILLIWAW

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, FROM 18:00, TBC

Williwaw’s monthly residency at the Old Hairdressers continues. Expect only the finest in amp’d uke histrionics, silent reels to tantalise the optic nerves and even some snacks. COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:30, £16.50

Former session and backup singer and guitarist for nearly 40 artists, who has built a reputation as a songwriter’s songwriter.

ANDREW DICKSON (KATE MCCABE)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £5

All-round music man from Glasgow. YACHT ROCK CREW

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £5 - £8

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15

JENNY STURGEON TRIO (MEGAN AIRLIE)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £11

Jenny Sturgeon plays in a trio with Jonny Hardie and Charlie McKerron.

FALSE FRIENDS (ALEX MAXWELL)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £5

NINE BELOW ZERO

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £17.60

Freakender Christmas party with special guests, including headliner Benedict Roger Wallers, AKA The Rebel, who has been weirding out, alienating and egging on audiences for decades. POGUESFEST

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, FROM 19:00, £18

All the classic Pogues tracks we know, love and miss, recreated and played live by incredible musicians. 808 STATE (LONE)

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £21.95

Longstanding Manc electronic ensemble taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine. MGMT

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £31.35

The US-of-A psychedelic rockers – founded by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden – hit the road. NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING CARPETS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 16:45, £10

Tribute to Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

FRIENDS OF THE FANZINE (SECTIONED + SUFFER/WALLOW) BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5

Live music and art at Broadcast. SAINT SISTER

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

New project from Morgan MacIntyre and Gemma Doherty, drawing on early Celtic harp traditions, 60s folk and electronic pop. ‘Atmosfolk’, apparently. RASCALTON (CALVA LOUISE + STRANGE BONES + SNASH)

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £9

The increasingly popular Glasgow upstarts drop by for another predictably raucous live show. ANDO GLASO’S CHRISTMAS PARTY WITH GYPSY MUSIC AND DANCE

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 20:00, £8

An explosive mix of blues and rock that’s been leaving audiences illuminated and exhausted for three decades.

Ando Glaso’s Christmas party features Roma artist groups from Eastern Europe and a special guest.

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £25

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £51.10

GLASVEGAS

Boom-voiced James Allan and co. return with more musings on social realism played out via glacial guitars and heavyweight singalong choruses. AMY DUNCAN (ROSEANNE REID)

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £7

An evening of alt/anti-folk and excellent songwriting with Edinburgh’s loop-based multi instrumentalist Amy Duncan.

DEACON BLUE

The Glasgow-formed 80s popsters hit the road again celebrating their immense career. THE PROG BEFORE CHRISTMAS

DRYGATE BREWING CO., FROM 14:30, £20

Annual event raising funds for Maggie’s Centres, with a fiveband bill. KAPIL SESHASAYEE

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:30, £15

Kapil Seshasayee ends his tour with a home show featuring a performance of the whole album with a live band and some special guests.

PAUL MCCARTNEY

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

DORIAN CONCEPT

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £5 - £10

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £73.80 - £141.90

Emma is a singer/songwriter based in Glasgow.

DIY OR DIE: 100 FABLES (JOSEPHINE SILLARS + THE MANIC PIXIE DREAMS + ELIZA YOUNGER + BARNEY BRIDGES)

One of Scotland’s most exciting groups, comprised of Fergus McCreadie on piano, David Bowden on bass and Stephen Henderson on drums.

A meeting of minds, and a declaration of the vibrancy and creative potential of the guitar in Scottish and contemporary trad music.

Thu 13 Dec BROWNBEAR

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £8

Musical collective led by singer/ songwriter Matt Hickman, whose debut single Dead or Alive gained them national radio exposure and high profile gigs. DECLAN HEGARTY

ORAN MOR, FROM 21:30, FREE

Fully trained folk harp player who also plays the guitar and sings, bringing his multi-instrumental talents to a regular Oran Mor crowd. DAMMIT PRESENTS: THE LEMONADES

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Mon 10 Dec

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £31.45

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

Glasgow singer who sings in his own accent. Oh, the talent.

THE REBEL

MONO, FROM 20:00, £8 - £10

Self-taught, Viennese-born and raised keyboardist and producer.

INNES WATSON’S GUITAR COLLOQUIUM

The new outfit bring the best in garage rock.

THE BLAS COLLECTIVE

GERRY CINNAMON

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £28

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £11

Glasgow’s finest genre hoppers, The Hoojamamas take you on a whistle stop tour of six decades of great music.

Five-piece focusing on writing catchy hooks and thoughtful lyrics.

LA-based band performing 70s and early 80s soft rock, AKA ‘yacht rock’.

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £0 - £8

THE HOOJAMAMAS (AWKWARD FAMILY PORTRAITS + WEATHERSTON)

FISH

The set list for this tour will include the entire Clutching at Straws album and songs from the new Weltschmerz album.

The Beatles man plays his first Scottish show in almost a decade.

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6

Fronted by Lyndsey Liora, fourpiece 100 Fables combine influences from the likes of Blondie, Altered Images and Le Tigre. JOHN RUSH

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

Glasgow based singer/songwriter John Rush plays his ‘folk tinged pop songs’. AMOR (SUE ZUKI + APOSTILLE + RIBEKA X SOFAY DJ)

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 21:00, £10

A musical collaboration between Luke Fowler, Richard Youngs, Paul Thomson and Michael Duch.

Sat 15 Dec CHINA CRISIS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £18.50

After sell out tours of the UK and America in 2015 and 2016, China Crisis return in support of their new album Autumn in the Neighbourhood.

EMMA MURDOCH

FERGUS MCCREADIE TRIO

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

Sun 16 Dec

THE CLASSIC ACOUSTIC SONGBOOK WITH RONNIE & OLIVIA

ORAN MOR, FROM 17:00, FREE

Ronnie and Olivia play tunes from their Classic Acoustic Songbook in the cosy bar. BLOC+ JAM OPEN MIC

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Weekly Open Mic with host Jamie Stuart and friends. HOLLOW ILLUSION (PROJECT STARMAN + CERBERON)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, TBC

Norwegian Metal hailing from Stange, Norway. IFFY RECORDS SHOWCASE

THE RUM SHACK, FROM 19:00, TBC

Iffy Records showcase with three live acts from the label.

GERRY CINNAMON

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £28

Glasgow singer who sings in his own accent. Oh, the talent.

Listings

STRIKE THE COLOURS THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8.50

Reindeer Selection alum Jenny Reeve weaves her web of melancholy, with breathy, translucent whispers and rolling country guitars. HIT THE ROAD PRESENTS (JOSEPH HEWER + KEIR GIBSON + RILEY)

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:00, £3 - £5

Triple bill line-up from Hit the Road.

Mon 17 Dec

ACOUSTIC OPEN MIC W/ GERRY LYONS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, FREE

Come and see some of the best unsigned artists in the country for free. MADNESS

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £42.55 - £56.20

Fri 21 Dec LOUIS BERRY

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £16.50

A very lonely rebel with a very revolutionary mind.

GLASGOW WINTER NIGHT SHELTER (THE PRIMEVALS + THE REVERSE COWGIRLS + DJ NEIL MCINNES) MONO, FROM 20:00, £5

The rock’n’roll legends play a special Christmas benefit for Glasgow Night Shelter. A VERY SLEAZY XMAS! (SECOND HAND MARCHING BAND + LITTLE LOVE & THE FRIENDLY VIBES + SONGS OF THE OLD COUNTRY)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6 - £8

Sleazy’s Christmas party, with all proceeds going to the Scottish Association for Mental Health. I LOVE THE 90S XMAS PARTY

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £10

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

90s-themed Christmas night.

Tue 18 Dec

Congolese-born British rapper, songwriter and producer.

STRATA FEAT. QUITTER

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

The award-winning jazz collective team up with one of alternative rock’s newest talents.

CHILDREN’S HOSPICE’S ACROSS SCOTLAND CHARITY CONCERT (MELBOURNE SCHOOL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ) COTTIERS THEATRE, FROM 19:30, FREE

Melbourne School Symphony Orchestra perform a charity concert as part of a UK tour. BARBE ROUSSE (CONOR HEAFEY)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

Barbe Rousse follow up their new single release by sharing the stage with two new Edinburgh bands. Funky shirts encouraged.

PHIL CAMPBELL & THE BYSON FAMILY

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £16.50

From the primordial soup arises ‘barn rock’ – harmonious music from The Byson Family with Phil Campbell on lead vocals.

Wed 19 Dec

IGNITE THE SKY (TURBYNE)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8.80

Post-Metalcore band from the musical hub that is the Isle of Man. CHRISTMAS CAROUSAL

PLATFORM, FROM 19:00, £7.50 - £10

Glasgow’s most unique festive gig returns for another year, with some of Scotland’s best musicians. SISTER SLEDGE CHRISTMAS PARTY

BARROWLANDS, FROM 20:00, £35

Sisters Debbie, Joni, Kim (sans Kathy) bring the classic D-I-S-C-O vibes through old favourites like Thinking of You, He’s the Greatest Dancer, All American Girls and, of course, We Are Family. AVOCET SINGLE RELEASE PARTY

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, FROM 19:30, £5 - £7

Avocet make contemporary music with a traditional folk-y feel to it yet also influenced by blues and world music.

MATTHEW CARMICHAEL QUARTET (BAILE) THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £5 - £8

RCS student Matt Carmichael’s compositions are influenced by jazz and folk music.

Thu 20 Dec DECLAN HEGARTY

ORAN MOR, FROM 21:30, FREE

Fully trained folk harp player who also plays the guitar and sings, bringing his mult-instrumental talents to a regular Oran Mor crowd. TONIC NOTE RECORDS PRESENTS: LORD FORGIVE ME FOR MY SYNTHS

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

Over seven acts making the best synthesizer music in Scotland with a live EP being recorded at the same time. CAST (THE BOHOS)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £25.85

The Liverpool Britpoppers return. THE DUNTS (SHREDD + GALLUS)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £8.80

Four-piece council punk band from Glasgow.

FALLEN ARCHES (DEREK J. MARTIN + PETRA TAYLOR)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8

Drummer Colin Bell turns frontman in new Greenock band Fallen Arches. HIPSWAY

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £25

Scottish new-wave popsters who have been around for a good three decades.

Listings

PAQUE

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £8

WOLFSBANE

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £15

UK rock legends return for a oneoff Scottish show. THE SMYTHS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £13

The Smiths tribute act. SKIDS + BIG COUNTRY

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £29.50

Two of Fife’s most influential bands come together. SITTING HERE IN SILENCE (NICK MERCER JR)

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer tribute. TRAVIS

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £39.75 - £51.10

Wonder if it’s stopped raining on them yet? MANDULU AND HEPHZIBAH

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

High octane contemporary folk harmony duo, whose songs are dark but upbeat and lyrically mature.

ANGUS MUNRO: THE GREAT HIPSTER SONGBOOK CHRISTMAS EDITION

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £8

HELENA KAY’S KIM TRIO THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £5 - £8

Helena Kay’s KIM Trio leads a trio comprising some of the most in demand young musicians on the London jazz scene.

Sun 23 Dec BLOC+ JAM OPEN MIC

BLOC+, FROM 21:00, FREE

JOE STRUMMER TRIBUTE NIGHT

Annual fundraiser with various bands paying tribute to the late, great Joe Strummer. All proceeds go to the Strummerville charity.

A PUNK BENEFIT FOR THE UNITY CENTRE (FIT TO WORK + BRATAKUS + DROVES + ACID CANNIBALS) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £7

Four band benefit gig.

BABY STRANGE & PCL PRESENTS: IN THE FLESH!

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 15:00, £15

The Glaswegian punk trio invite along an array of pals to play across two floors at SWG3.

COLONEL MUSTARD & THE DIJON 5

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £15

THE LONELY SOULS

STEREO, FROM 19:30, £5

Mon 03 Dec

GERRY CINNAMON

THE CLASSIC ACOUSTIC SONGBOOK WITH RONNIE & OLIVIA

ORAN MOR, FROM 17:00, FREE

Glasgow singer who sings in his own accent. Oh, the talent.

Winner of Best Emerging Artist at Adelaide Fringe 2018 and Weekly Best Music, expect original songs and quirky covers.

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £11

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £16.50

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

LOKI THE SCOTTISH RAPPER

Lyrically-gifted, Glasgow-based writer and rapper Loki (AKA Darren McGarvey) performs with his live band of experienced musos. MICK HARGAN & THE VINTAGE APOLLOS

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £10

Mick Hargan & The Vintage Apollos mix Hargan’s emotive powerhouse performances with the virtuoso high energy musicianship of The Vintage Apollos. LP RADIO: CHRISTMAS KARAOKE PARTY

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 21:00, TBC

LP Records throw a party to thank all of the backers helping to fund their new radio station through Kickstarter.

STOP THE CLOCKS

Oasis tribute night.

FREAKENDER HOGMANAY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, £6 - £8

Freakender take over two floors in Sleazy’s for their Hogmanay bash. NEW YEAR’S EVE AT STEREO (SACRED PAWS + PATIENCE + HAIRBAND) STEREO, FROM 20:00, TBC

Night School and Stereo proudly present a New Year’s Eve to begin all years. START TO END PRESENTS HOGMANAY AT THE BLUE ARROW

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 20:00, £15

Start to End presents a Hogmanay Party of 90s and 00s dance classics.

Mon 24 Dec JIGS AND REELZY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, FREE

Trad/folk open mic night with Neil Mcdermott. GERRY CINNAMON

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £27.50

Glasgow singer who sings in his own accent. Oh, the talent.

Thu 27 Dec DECLAN HEGARTY

ORAN MOR, FROM 21:30, FREE

Fully trained folk harp player who also plays the guitar and sings, bringing his multi-instrumental talents to a regular Oran Mor crowd.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £3

Sleazy’s festive party.

CATHOUSE, FROM 20:00, £12.50

Europe’s premier tribute to AC/DC.

Fri 28 Dec

ARTIE ZIFF (LAZER EYE)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, TBC

Glasgow trio playing ‘rage indie’. WHOLLY CATS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:00, FREE

Glasgow cowboy jazz, boogie rock’n’roll trio. FELL OUT BOY

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, TBC

A tribute to Fall Out Boy, because they really need one.

MIC CLARK - ACOUSTIC BUTTERFLY

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

Mic Clark began his musical journey on violin then moved onto piano during his childhood and eventually picked up the guitar in his mid 20s.

Sat 29 Dec

THE NICKAJACK MEN (PYRAMIDS)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £11

The four-piece indie-rock / altcountry unit from Denny.

Sat 01 Dec

PUNK IN HENRY’S (HAPPY SPASTICS + CRITIKILL + THREATS + THE APPARENTS + BLACKLIST) HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:30, £5

Punk rock in Henry’s with five bands.

KNOCKENGORROCH WINTER WARMER (AGE OF GLASS + YOKO PWNO) THE CAVES, FROM 22:30, £9.50

Hard hitting, bass-driven, vibrant, live electronic dance-pop from Manchester’s premiere mischief makers The Age of Glass.

THE SUPER MOONS (SOMETHING FOR NOTHING)

WEE RED BAR, FROM 19:00, £5

The Super Moons arrived from outer space to bring solid guitar music to the masses.

PARTY FEARS THREE (RAINLAND)

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £12

One of the UK’s leading and most highly-respected 80s cover bands, celebrating the era’s music and sounds. INYAL

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £8

Melding traditional Scottish music with new sounds from electronica and elsewhere, Inyal are one of Glasgow’s most hotly-tipped young bands. THE SMYTHS

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 19:30, £13

The Smiths tribute act.

LITTLE LOVE & THE FRIENDLY VIBES PRESENTS (LITTLE LOVE & THE FRIENDLY VIBES + FISTYMUFFS + FAST GIRLS + THE COSMONAUTS + STEPHEN MCLAREN)

BANNERMANS, FROM 15:00, FREE

ANDRÉ RIEU

Famous Dutch violinist and conductor.

SONGWRITER CIRCLE: MICK HARGAN, KATEE KROSS & ANDY MCBRIDE (13 CROWES + SEAN C KENNEDY)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £10

Mick Hargan, Katee Kross and Andy McBride perform their songwriter circle concert for the second time this year. CHRIS CLARK JAZZ

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

Chris Clark is one of the country’s premier jazz entertainers with an unrivalled knowledge and execution of the American Songbook.

GUNS OR ROSES

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, TBC

Guns ‘n’ Roses tribute night. HUGH KEARNS

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

A colourful lyricist and expert in harmonica neck-brace playing. LUCA MANNING: MUSIC OF CHET BAKER

THE BLUE ARROW, FROM 19:30, £5 - £8

Two of London’s exciting young improvisers come together to explore the music of legendary trumpeter and vocalist, Chet Baker.

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £9.90

Jordan Allen have quickly established themselves as one of the UK’s must-see indie acts and look likely to be one of 2018’s brightest prospects. BOOK YER ANE FEST XII (DREAM NAILS + PAPER RIFLES + FIGHTS AND FIRES + FISTY MUFFS + TIM HOLEHOUSE)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Weekend-long celebration of DIY music, culture and community in venues across Dundee.

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, FREE

Members of various Edinburgh bands remember the Husker Du legend.

THE SNUTS

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £16.50

JORDAN ALLEN

Tue 04 Dec

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:30, £11 - £13.20

The Snuts bring raspy, fuzzy indie rock.

Saxophonist and composer Martin Kershaw marks the 10th anniversary of David Foster Wallace’s passing with a major new work featuring a stellar line-up of Scottish musicians.

GRANT HART TRIBUTE NIGHT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

Eight-piece group, with no member called John McIain. Mysterious.

MARTIN KERSHAW OCTET

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, TBC

Little Love & The Friendly Vibes celebrate the release of their Christmas EP with a merry shindig.

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £51.10 £135.05

LAURIE BLACK: SPACE CADETTE

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 20:30, £6

Ronnie and Olivia play tunes from their Classic Acoustic Songbook in the cosy bar.

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £27.50

THE JOHN MCIAIN BAND (ARCHANGEL)

Christmas edition of the popular live karaoke party.

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Mon 31 Dec

CHRIS GLEN

A ginormous blend of genres, from indie to flamenco, gypsy to hip-hop, new school to North Lanarkshire ska. And probably the best fun you’ll have this month. XMASSAOKE

A BLUESY KINDA THING (DANIEL BARR + BAND)

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, TBC

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band bass chappie plays a special solo set.

Sat 22 Dec

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £11

Ronnie and Olivia play tunes from their Classic Acoustic Songbook in the cosy bar.

Edinburgh Music A get together of three epic blues musicians performing their classics.

AC/DC UK

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £23

ORAN MOR, FROM 17:00, FREE

Alternative folk, Americana and blues-tinged rock from Mark Clinton’s Bellshill-based outfit.

HAPPY WINTERFEST (SPEE SIX NINE + PETE & KEV + BARRY & BLAIR (DJ SET) + BEATBOX BATTLES)

Indie-rockers taking their inspiration from Madchester and Britpop times.

THE CLASSIC ACOUSTIC SONGBOOK WITH RONNIE & OLIVIA

Weekly Open Mic with host Jamie Stuart and friends.

Join award-winning five-octave vocalist Angus Munro and his floor-stomping jazz trio as they interpret modern indie classics into authentic American Standards of the 20th century. THE TWANG (MONA + CUT GLASS KINGS)

Sun 30 Dec

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Sun 02 Dec OPEN MIC

Free music all day from acoustic to blues and rock. LIVE ON MARS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £26.50 - £36.50

A tribute to David Bowie. PETER BRUNTNELL

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 19:30, £12

PRESSURE VALVE UNPLUGGED

Local artists play stripped back sets, before the public get to be the stars at karaoke. THE WANDERING HEARTS (THE WANDERING HEARTS)

THE CAVES, FROM 19:00, £14.10

London-based country/Americana group.

KARMA FOR VANDALS (CAMEO HABITAT + BAD PROTAGONIST CLUB)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5

Groovy post-rock heroes Karma For Vandals make the trip from Aberdeen and Dundee to come entertain us with their harmonically beautiful and texturally delicious brand of instrumental music. KAT HEALY PRESENTS

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

An intimate acoustic show featuring some special guests and duets.

Wed 05 Dec THE QUIREBOYS

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £18 - £20

Spike and co are back for another acoustic show. DON GALLARDO

Thu 06 Dec THE LAST BAND

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £18 - £22

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Dean Owens is reuniting with his old Felsons (and Smile) bandmates – Kevin McGuire, Calais Brown and Dave Stewart.

A public ceilidh and a fun night out, with one of the most respected ceilidh bands in Scotland, Teannaich.

LAU

Lau’s final show of 2018 is a chance to hear some of the band’s first new music since 2015, alongside fan favourites. THE OSMONDS ROCKIN’ CHRISTMAS

USHER HALL, FROM 19:00, £35.20 - £44

Merrill and Jay Osmond perform a special Christmas show. THE ALARM

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £26.25

Welsh new wave rock quartet, heavily influenced by Welsh language and culture. ANDY BROWN

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 19:00, £15

Frontman of boy band Lawson, who has gone solo and recorded a country-tinged pop album. BANGERS ‘N’ MASH: CRYSTAL

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £6 - £8

Bold, brazen and utterly mesmerising, Crystal are a four-piece grunge/punk band from Glasgow.

TREMONTI

The Grammy Award-winning guitarist for American rock bands Creed, Alter Bridge and Tremonti plays his Edinburgh date. FRESH PRODUCE PRESENTS (PARIS STREET REBELS + BRAINGLUE + HOLY SAVAGE)

USHER HALL, FROM 18:30, £32.45 - £43.45

Lo-fi indie rockers return to the Depot.

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5

FUZZY STAR PRESENTS

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Tue 11 Dec

PRESSURE VALVE UNPLUGGED

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, FREE

Local artists play stripped back sets, before the public get to be the stars at karaoke. BARBE ROUSSE (JIMI GET YOUR FUNK ON + LOLA)

THE COCKNEY REJECTS AFTERSHOW (PANIC ATTAK + HALF CHARGED + SMEEKERED) BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, TBC

Aftershow for The Cockney Rejects gig. CARA DILLON

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £22 - £47

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £7.50

Formed by four friends who met on Edinburgh Napier University’s popular music course, The Motion Poets set out to challenge and develop its members’ musical ability and songwriting craft. KAPIL SESHASAYEE

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Kapil Seshasayee ends his tour with a home show featuring a performance of the whole album with a live band and some special guests.

Sat 15 Dec BOOTLEG BEATLES

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £28.05 - £32.45

BILLY MITCHELL (BRIGHT SKIES + RUN RUNNERS)

Prepare for an eclectic mix of Smiths classics and fan favourites, courtesy of this highly acclaimed tribute act.

The Dundonian singer plays with a full band. OVERLAPS

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Experimantal open jam session.

Wed 12 Dec

JED POTTS & THE HILLMAN HUNTERS

More intimate and electric blues from Potts and his merry band.

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 14:00, £10 - £12

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

BANNERMANS, FROM 21:00, FREE

JAMMIN’ AT VOODOO

Acclaimed Edinburgh label Hobbes Music assembles a proper cast of favourites from the past, present and future of the label.

Monthly Live Jam Session with some of Scotland’s leading musicians playing lounge grooves from many genres.

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 19:00, £15

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £28.50

THE GODFATHERS

THE MOTION POETS (THE MYSTERINES)

The Beatles tribute act.

Delicate-voiced Irish singersongwriter, joined live by her partner and husband Sam Lakeman (brother of Seth). DAYGLOW FOR WOMEN V CANCER

ASSEMBLY ROXY, FROM 19:30, £10

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 20:00, £4

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5

Mix of soul and rock’n’roll.

BOYZLIFE

FRANKLY, THE SMITHS

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £10

KID CANAVERAL’S CHRISTMAS BAUBLES IX (KID CANAVERAL + BIG JOANIE + SEAMUS FOGARTY + HAPPY SPENDY + JILL LOREAN (SPARROW & THE WORKSHOP) + CALLUM EASTER) SUMMERHALL, FROM 14:00, £15 - £20

Live music and DJs across multiple rooms, with hosts Kid Canaveral. PHOENIX FESTIVE SOUL & GOSPEL CELEBRATION

ASSEMBLY ROXY, FROM 19:30, £10 - £12

Edinburgh’s uplifting, high-energy Soul & Gospel Choir are back, with an evening of songs to make you tap your feet and get your gospel step on.

WINTER SOLSTICE CEREMONIES (DVNE + PIJN + OLD MAN LIZARD + BACCHUS BARACCUS) LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 18:00, £10

British rock’n’rollers formed back in 1985 by brothers Peter and Chris Coyne from the ashes of their previous band, The Sid Presley Experience.

Brian McFadden from Westlife and Keith Duffy from Boyzone join forces to celebrate the success of each of their chart-topping bands.

Wasted State Records showcases its current roster for a night of heavy riffs, envelope pushing grooves and psychedelia.

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £11 - £12

WEE RED BAR, FROM 20:00, £5

Charity folk night.

TRUE SOUL

A weekend of amazing soul music played by Europe’s finest DJs in the heart of Edinburgh. ABSOLUTE BOWIE

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £15

WYLDE

Drawing influence from the likes of DIIV and Echo and The Bunnymen, Wylde are a four-piece post-punk and dream-pop band.

MARTIN STEPHENSON AND THE DAINTEES

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £30

SUMMERHALL, FROM 20:00, £18.50

The LA-based musician again displays her gift for merging high concept, compositional prowess and experimentation with pop sensibility. Go marvel.

Sat 08 Dec

TEQUILA MOOSE

English punk rock band behind the song Oi Oi Oi – you could say they named an entire generation of music.

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 19:00, £18

JULIA HOLTER

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

THE COCKNEY REJECTS (CONTROL + BRASSKNUCKLE)

British rockers fusing elements of rockabilly, show tunes and rootsypop into their mix.

DEAN OWENS & THE FELSONS

Barbe Rousse follow up their new single release by sharing the stage with two new Edinburgh bands. Funky shirts encouraged.

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

The Swedish rockers are ready to kick ass on the Bannermans stage for the first time.

Temporary, named after the drummer’s temporary tattoo, is a band new to the Edinburgh music scene with a sound full of pop, rock, indie and jazz vibes.

EDINBURGH CEILIDH CLUB (TEANNAICH)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5

A dynamic set of original rock’n’roll.

GREYWIND

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £9 - £11

TEMPORARY (SCREAMIN WHISPER)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £6

Two-piece Irish alt-rockers making a real name for themselves.

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

THE MOANIN BONES PRESENTS

Mon 10 Dec

Scottish indie at its finest.

The UK rockers with great critical acclaim make their Edinburgh debut.

Scottish debut of the singer tipped by Rolling Stone Magazine as ‘one of the 10 new country artists you need to know’.

Fresh Produce present a trio of local bands whose influences strongly stem from the punk era.

Pink Floyd tribute act.

NEON ANIMAL

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £6

Europe’s favourite Bowie tribute act takes you on a musical journey through the ever-changing phases of his music and fashion, with incredible attention to detail.

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 19:30, £12

One of the UK’s most consistent songwriters with countless highprofile fans including Rumer, REM’s Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner and Son Volt’s Jay Farrar. THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD

Fri 07 Dec

RETRO VIDEO CLUB THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £8.80

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 19:00, £16

CHANGO MUNKS (DALAS + MATATUNES)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Fast-paced, high-energy ska, punk and rock.

Sun 09 Dec ZIGGY SPLYNT

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £6

Alternative rock outfit from the Netherlands. FEELS LIKE THURSDAY

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5

Feels Like Thursday are an indierock outfit from Livingston who make emotional songs that make it feel like a Thursday. CALUM BAIRD

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

City for Sale single launch.

FOLK NIGHT AT THE DEPOT

Thu 13 Dec

TYLA’S DOGS D’AMOUR (MATTY JAMES)

BANNERMANS, FROM 17:00, £15 - £18

Dog’s D’amour frontman unleashes new band album with an intimate show. STILL MAKIN’ NOISE

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

A live band made up of central Scotland’s finest musicians take you through Weezer’s self titled 1994 debut album and a few choice hits after. 67

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £16.50

The South London rappers embark on their latest UK tour.

RÆVOLUTION WORLD TOUR 2018 (THE MAENSION + MARQUIS OF VAUDEVILLE + THIRTEEN-SEVEN + VORSTELLAN) SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £6 - £8

A killer line-up of metal bands. LIAM THOMAS FROST + HARRY HARRIS: UNPLUGGED

SUMMERHALL, FROM 19:30, £10

A night of acoustic, unplugged songs and storytelling with Liam Thomas Frost and Harry Harris. BEN OTTEWELL

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £16.50 - £18.50

THE DUNWELLS

Folk rock bunch hailing from Leeds, made up of brothers Joseph and David Dunwell and cousins Robert Clayton and Jonny Lamb.

Sun 16 Dec

THE REBEL (FUTURE GLUE + BLUEBIRDS)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £8

Freakender Christmas party with special guests, including headliner Benedict Roger Wallers, AKA The Rebel, who has been weirding out, alienating and egging on audiences for decades.

AYNSLEY LISTER (AYNSLEY LISTER)

THE CAVES, FROM 19:00, £14

Blues-rock guitarist, delivering contemporary songwriting fuelled with heart and soul. THE DYLAN PROJECT

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 19:30, £20

This forthcoming tour celebrates the 50 years since the recording of Dylan’s enigmatic Basement Tapes, largely held to be one of the origins of the Americana genre, featuring original Dylan songs. CHRISTMAS WITH CATTLE & CANE

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £8

Led by siblings Helen and Joe Hammill, Teesside’s Cattle & Cane are capable of shifting even the hardest of hearts with their perfect soaring harmonies.

Gomez singer and lead guitarist Ben Ottewell rides solo for a stint of Scotland sets.

THE EXPLOITED (HAPPY SPASTICS + BUZZBOMB)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Scottish hardcore punk band from Edinburgh.

LIZABETT RUSSO

A night of Romanian traditional music.

Fri 14 Dec NOT SORRY

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 19:00, £15 - £18

MOTHER EAT MOTH PRESENTS (RED LARSEN + LIAM KIDD)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

A night of rock and punk.

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, TBC

Great bands join together in support of ex-The Wildhearts bassist Scott Sorry.

THE SKINNY

Mon 17 Dec MUSICIANS CIRCLE

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, FREE

A mass gathering of musicians playing together in an off the cuff fashion.

CHILDREN’S HOSPICE’S ACROSS SCOTLAND CHARITY CONCERT (MELBOURNE SCHOOL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ) THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, FREE

Melbourne School Symphony Orchestra perform a charity concert as part of a UK tour.

Tue 18 Dec

PRESSURE VALVE UNPLUGGED

BANNERMANS, FROM 15:00, FREE

Local artists play stripped back sets, before the public get to be the stars at karaoke. HIPSWAY

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:00, £27

Scottish new-wave popsters who have been around for a good three decades. MISSY MCANULTY

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5

CRANACHAN BANNERMANS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Classic rock covers from the 60s to present day. THE DURTY WURKS (BETTY AND THE BASS)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Indie rock’n’roll Christmas party.

Thu 27 Dec

RAB HOWAT XMAS PARTY

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, FREE

The classic rock regulars host a festive gig outing. UNDER THE WIRES PRESENTS (VICTIMS OF TIME) LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Proto-punk and glam.

Fri 28 Dec

JOSHUA “KOUK” KOUKPAKI

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, TBC

Blending classic hip-hop and rap with elements of R’n’B and soul, Kouk creates a contemporary sound which is compounded by an energetic and highly entertaining live performance. SALT (CARBONAS)

Missy Mcanulty, an MTV accredited artist, has belted her soulful sounds in music venues around the globe.

A night of crazy punk rock’n’roll.

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

DARKNESS DIVINE (NESHIMA + PROGNOSIS + BLACK MARKET TYRANTS)

TOM TYLDESLEY

Album launch of Tom Tyldesley solo artistic project, D810.

Wed 19 Dec

CHOKA (ILL FITTING THOUGHTS + AVU) SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5 - £7

Choka are a psychedelic rock band based in Edinburgh, currently building an underground following in the Scottish scene. PUNK AEROBICS

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Mixed feminist punk music with an inclusive – and not too strenuous – aerobics session.

Thu 20 Dec MOTHER EAT MOTH

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5

A night of loud music and killer tones, with fuzzy noise/punk trio Mother Eat Moth. FLEETWOOD MAC’S RUMOURS: PERFORMED BY THE TRANSATLANTIC ENSEMBLE

SUMMERHALL, FROM 20:00, £21

The Transatlantic Ensemble are returning to Summerhall by popular demand, performing Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album live and in its entirety.

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Sat 29 Dec

ANGELIC UPSTARTS

SOLSTICE SMASHER (FIT TO WORK + TWISTETTES + PETROLEUM GENDERLOSS) HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:00, £5

Fit to Work present a fast and dirty solstice smasher of a punk/ noise/thrash gig at Henry’s.

THE APPLEBEGGARS CHRISTMAS PARTY (THE STEVIE AGNEW BAND)

THE CAVES, FROM 20:00, £10

Duo Kenny Herbert and Rab Howat write melodic and heartfelt songs, full of classic harmonies.

GUS HARROWER (BARON SALMON + RAAB) SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £6

Three young musicians raise money for Edinburgh’s homeless community. REFUGEE BENEFIT GIG

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Raising much needed funds for refugees in need.

Sat 22 Dec

DIRTY HARRY (STRAIGHTEN OUT)

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 19:00, £12

Alternative rock group from Edinburgh.

FRANTIC CHANT (THE RHEMEDIES)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Psychedelic indie rockers. Live music with Djs.

Sun 30 Dec BAD MANNERS

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £24

English two-tone and ska band, led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel.

Mon 31 Dec

MOJO HOGMANAY CEILIDH (DA HOOLEY)

ASSEMBLY ROXY, FROM 20:30, £27

Don’t worry if you don’t know the steps, Drew is an expert caller and will walk you through first. SIXTIES ON A SUNDAY (FAYE AND THE CRUISERS)

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 14:00, £7.50

A Sunday afternoon to drink, dance and sing along to simply the most authentic 60s band you will ever hear.

Sat 01 Dec THE ILLEGAL EAGLES

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:30, £26.50

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, FREE

Free music all day from acoustic to blues and rock.

December 2018

CHURCH, FROM 19:00, £6

Exciting young punk band from Perth, Scotland.

Fri 28 Dec THE SKIDS

CHURCH, FROM 19:00, £26.50

Fife punk rockers with over 40 years experience in the biz. STOP THE CLOCKS

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £8

FAT SAM’S, FROM 19:00, £14

Sat 29 Dec

TIDE LINES (KERRI WATT)

Four-piece band who launched in the summer of 2016 with the release of their debut single Far Side of the World.

BILLY MITCHELL (NOVELLA + SAINT LOUIE + CRAIG WEIR)

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 19:00, £7

AC/DC UK

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £12

Europe’s premier tribute to AC/DC.

Sun 30 Dec

THE SENSATIONAL DAVID BOWIE TRIBUTE BAND

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £11

The Dundonian singer plays with a full band.

David Bowie tribute act.

Sat 08 Dec

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:00, £10

OSKAR BRAVES (OH!RIO + BLIND UNICORN)

CHURCH, FROM 19:00, £5

Edinburgh five-piece whose name is taken from the protagonist in the Günter Grass novel, The Tin Drum.

Sex Pistols tribute act.

THE BARD IS WELL

An eclectic cast of singers and musicians pay tribute to the songwriting legacy of Michael Marra.

Mon 31 Dec THE HOGMANAY HOOLIE

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 20:00, £10

Live music from Miami Vince, mixed with tunes from the resident DJ.

Sun 09 Dec HARD RAIN

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 15:00, £5

The songs of Bob Dylan, live at Clarks.

Thu 13 Dec HIPSWAY

FAT SAM’S, FROM 19:00, £28.25

Sat 01 Dec

SATURDAY SHAKEDOWN

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £8

Resident DJ Bobby Bluebell mixes up the house, R’n’B and chart. DAMMIT ALL TO HELL

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Scottish new-wave popsters who have been around for a good three decades.

Big chorus club extravaganza where punk meets pop hits.

Fri 14 Dec

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

BOYZLIFE

CHURCH, FROM 19:00, £28.50

Brian McFadden from Westlife and Keith Duffy from Boyzone join forces to celebrate the success of each of their chart-topping bands.

Sat 15 Dec THE PROCLAIMERS

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:00, £33 - £35.50

Expect to hear the classics Sunshine on Leith, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) and Letter From America.

FUNK CONNECTION

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 15:00, £5

Aberdeen’s finest 10-piece funk, soul and R’n’B band.

Sun 16 Dec BURNT OUT WRECK

CHURCH, FROM 19:00, TBC

Rock band, who also have their own brand of whisky and red wine, oddly.

GLITTERBANG

Disco divas and Euro-pop anthems for those ready to sweat. WAREHOUSE 91

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £6 - £10

An authentic 1990s warehouse rave. 2MANYDJS

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £19.50

From politically incorrect progrock to funky R&B, from trendy hip-hop to banging German techno, the Dewaele brothers have it in their record collection. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £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. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £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.

Eagles tribute act.

ANOTHER SWINGIN’ XMAS WITH THE VINTAGE GIRLS

CHURCH, FROM 19:00, £6

The Vintage Girls are a trio based in Dundee, performing close harmony songs from the 1940s right up to the present day with a vintage twist.

LA CHEETAH CLUB 9TH BIRTHDAY (GESLOTEN CIRKEL)

Sat 22 Dec

SUB CLUB, FROM 19:30, £11

THE ROOV

Four-piece from Lossiemouth who want to make music that could change your life. MAIDEN SCOTLAND

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £10

The best Iron Maiden tribute act out there return to play a cracker of the hits. BOOK YER ANE FEST XII

CONROY’S BASEMENT, FROM 12:00, £5 - £30

Weekend-long celebration of DIY music, culture and community in venues across Dundee. A SWINGIN’ XMAS WITH THE VINTAGE GIRLS

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 15:00, £5

The Vintage Girls are a trio based in Dundee, performing close harmony songs from the 1940s right up to the present day with a vintage twist.

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

OPEN MIC

HYPOCRITES (DEAD FICTION + STOP THE RAIN)

Oasis tribute night.

THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION

Dundee Music

Thu 27 Dec

Fri 07 Dec

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £8

Weekend-long celebration of DIY music, culture and community in venues across Dundee.

Sun 23 Dec

A tribute to David Bowie.

The Doors tribute band.

Sun 02 Dec

Experimental noise riff rock madness.

LIVE ON MARS

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:30, £26.50 - £36.50

THE FILTHY TONGUES

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £12.50

A definitive homage to punk and new wave’s best, Blondie.

FUZZ BAT PRESENTS (THE LEG + DR. VZX MOIST + JACK WEIR)

Wed 05 Dec

THE SEX PISTOLS EXPERIENCE (THE CHERRY BOMBZ)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £10

Punk legends bring it to Bannermans in true old school style.

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 19:30, £6

October Drift appeared at the start of 2015 with their beefy yet melodic sound and gained a reputation for delivering blistering, high-energy live shows.

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £10

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

Fri 21 Dec

OCTOBER DRIFT

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5 - £7

An end of year metal monster bash.

WE SHALL OVERCOME (CALUM BAIRD + GALLO ROJO)

A fundraiser as part of We Shall Overcome for the Edinburgh North East Food Bank.

Mon 03 Dec

BOOK YER ANE FEST XII

CONROY’S BASEMENT, FROM 12:00, £5 - £30

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 15:00, £5

ABBAMANIA

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:30, £25

Europe’s leading ABBA tribute. ROCK THE HALLS 5

WHITEHALL THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £17.75

Dundee’s Christmas rock tribute show returns for its fifth year.

THE SCOTTISH PINK FLOYD SHOW

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £10

Pink Floyd tribute act.

Sun 23 Dec ROCK THE HALLS 5

WHITEHALL THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £17.75

Dundee’s Christmas rock tribute show returns for its fifth year. DIRTY HARRY

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 16:00, £10

A definitive homage to punk and new wave’s best, Blondie.

LA CHEETAH CLUB, FROM 23:00, £12 - £15

La Cheetah continue their 9th birthday celebrations. AUNTIE FLO LIVE

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, TBC

A hearty blend of emo, drive-thru, old school and new school pop punk, to see your Sunday through to the stars. SESH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Twister, beer pong and DJ Ciar McKinley on the ones and twos, serving up chart and remixes through the night.

Mon 03 Dec BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no?

Tue 04 Dec CRATER COVE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Funk, disco, boogie and house. #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence. I AM

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, with a special guest or two oft in tow.

Wed 05 Dec

“IT’S NOT A PHASE, MOM!” NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Nu-metal, pop-punk, emo and early 00s tunes. BEAST

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £4

DJ Jonny soundtracks your Wednesday with all the best in pop-punk, metalcore, house & EDM and there’s even beer pong. GLITTERED! WEDNESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

DJ Garry Garry Garry in G2 with chart remixes, along with beer pong competitions all night.

Thu 06 Dec PRAY 4 LOVE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

All love songs + all bangers. UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, TBC

Ross MacMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey. INCEPT (PAN-POT + FRAZIER & RADIATE)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £20

iNCEPT welcome German brothers Pan-Pot for their latest party. DJ FAT BRESTOVCA

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

Every Thursday from November, catch DJ Fat Brestova from 8pm til the wee hours.

Fri 07 Dec FRESH! FRIDAY

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £6

Resident DJ John McLean brings you the biggest tunes and best deals to make your weekend one to remember.

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £6

Shake what you got to the sound of the best of the worst Italo/Euro trash from the last four decades.

HOT TOWEL! (LEW & SEAN + DAVID BARBAROSSA + THE LAWNMOWER)

Hot Towel returns to the luxurious surroundings of the Art School, with special guests The Lawnmower and the one and only David Barbarossa. SUPERMAX

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £8

DJ Billy Woods, start to finish, open to close.

ADVENTURES IN PARADISE (WAYNE DICKSON)

THE RUM SHACK, FROM 21:00, £3 - £5

Wed 26 Dec CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 16:00, £6

Sun 02 Dec

OUT ON THE FLOOR

CLIFFHANGER

The Auntie Flo ‘Radio Highlife’ live show will be an engaging live rendition of not only his newly released album, but an expansive summation of his career thus far.

80s electronic funk, soulful disco and more from Grooveline/Big Break Records’ Wayne Dickson.

Classic Northern Soul and Motown anthems featuring local band The Messarounds.

Glasgow Clubs

NULL / VOID

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Industrial goth rock disco.

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

SUGO

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

HARSH TUG

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

OG Kush + hip-hop bangers with Notorious B.A.G.

FREDDIE’S OUTRAGEOUS RADIO GAGA

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £5 - £7

The ultimate audio-visual club tribute to Freddie Mercury. TRAX

CATHOUSE, FROM 22:30, £5 - £6

DJ Daryl kicks off the first weekend of the month, spinning hip-hop, grunge, trap and dance tunes.

FRESH BEAT THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £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.

GRIND YOUR AXE (SUE ZUKI + CUCINA POVERA + CC TIME + NIMA SENE + MRS BAXTER2U + LISALÖÖF)

STEREO, FROM 23:00, TBC

GYA celebrate a whole year of queer parties.

DIMENSIONS X RBMA (MARTYN + SHY ONE)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, FROM 23:00, £5 - £10

Red Bull Music and Dimensions Festival present ‘Get Down Early’; a brand-new club series to celebrate the emerging DJs of UK dance floors. MISSING PERSONS CLUB 6TH BIRTHDAY (UMFANG + ANASTASIA KRISTENSEN)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £5 - £12

MPC welcome back two former guests to celebrate their 6th birthday.

GIOVANNI’S ROOM (PEACH + SOFAY + PLANTAIN CHIPS)

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £0 - £8

SQIFF closing party, focusing on black, queer and non-binary visibility and solidarity in dance music spaces.

BASS WARRIOR PRESENTS RAS DIGBY

THE RUM SHACK, FROM 21:00, £5 - £8

As co-founder of Sir Jessus Sound System, Ras Digby was instrumental in building one of West London’s leading sound systems.

Sat 08 Dec

SATURDAY SHAKEDOWN

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £8

Resident DJ Bobby Bluebell mixes up the house, R’n’B and chart. MONSTER HOSPITAL

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Botch meets Beyonce DJ smash. A club night like no other. BEN NICKY

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £33.20

DJ/Producer Ben Nicky stirs up the trance. ANNA & HOLLY’S DANCE PARTY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Rock’n’roll, garage and soul. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

#TAG TUESDAYS THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence. I AM

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, with a special guest or two oft in tow. SOUL JAM / FESTIVE FUNK!

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

Expect nothing but the very best in funk, soul and disco with a few funky festive cuts thrown in.

Wed 12 Dec

SMALL TALK W/ DJ ADIDADAS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Happy Meals’ Lewis seduces w/ Eurowave + Vaporbeat. BEAST

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £4

DJ Jonny soundtracks your Wednesday with all the best in pop-punk, metalcore, house & EDM and there’s even beer pong. GLITTERED! WEDNESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

DJ Garry Garry Garry in G2 with chart remixes, along with beer pong competitions all night.

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £15 - £18

LOOSEN UP! (CHARLIE MCCANN + FERGUS CLARK + DAVID BARBAROSSA) THE RUM SHACK, FROM 22:00, £3

Afro, disco and fun times with three of the best record collections in Glasgow (and beyond).

Sun 09 Dec RAVE FOR REBECCA

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 20:00, £5

Disco, house and dance classics. SESH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Twister, beer pong and DJ Ciar McKinley on the ones and twos, serving up chart and remixes through the night.

Mon 10 Dec BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no?

Tue 11 Dec OBZRV MUSIC

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

All the electronic dance.

THE YELLOW DOOR CHRISTMAS PARTY

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, TBC

A night of contemporary classics, unheard of gems and well-kent belters, all for your general dancing pleasure, natch. MELTING POT CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

THE POETRY CLUB, FROM 23:00, £5 - £8

Melting Pot residents, Andrew and Simon, are let off the leash to play all night long to finish off the year.

Sat 15 Dec

SATURDAY SHAKEDOWN

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £8

Resident DJ Bobby Bluebell mixes up the house, R’n’B and chart. FANTASTIC MAN

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Incoherent madness for those with a death wish. The worst club night in the world. SINGLES NIGHT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Beans + Divine explore the hits on 7” vinyl. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

MINDSET (MARK DICKOV + CRAIG HAMILTON + GOURLAY)

Local legend and close friend Mark Dickov joins Mindset for their final event of the year. Expect minimal and deep techno vibes throughout the night. SCIENCE FICTION

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

The Queens of the Glasgow disco scene, FKA Drugstore Glamour.

I LOVE GARAGE

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up.

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, TBC

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 22:00, £9

UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £2 - £4

ELEMENT

Ross MacMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey. DJ FAT BRESTOVCA

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £6

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests.

DABJ are the sound of house and raw techno in Glasgow right now.

BASURA BLANCA, FROM 22:00, £3 - £5

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

SUBCULTURE (HENRIK SCHWARZ)

DIXON AVENUE BASEMENT JAMS

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £8

Thu 13 Dec

Every Thursday from November, catch DJ Fat Brestova from 8pm til the wee hours.

Queer karaoke night with performances.

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.

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. I LOVE GARAGE

SGÀIREOKE! (SGÀIRE WOOD) THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 21:00, £0 - £2

Fri 14 Dec FRESH! FRIDAY

Resident DJ John McLean brings you the biggest tunes and best deals to make your weekend one to remember.

A LOVE FROM OUTER SPACE

Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston’s rather ace London night comes our way. MOJO WORKIN’ (FELONIOUS MUNK)

THE RUM SHACK, FROM 21:00, £2

Monthly soul party hosted by Felonious Munk with special guests.

Sun 16 Dec CLIFFHANGER

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, TBC

A hearty blend of emo, drive-thru, old school and new school pop punk, to see your Sunday through to the stars. SESH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

80s buzz, non-binary, hedonistic queer fun shit.

Twister, beer pong and DJ Ciar McKinley on the ones and twos, serving up chart and remixes through the night.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Mon 17 Dec

SISTERS IN DISTRESS

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

SHAKA LOVES YOU

Hip-hop and live percussion flanked by wicked visuals.

BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

CATHOUSE, FROM 22:30, £5 - £6

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no?

FRESH BEAT

Tue 18 Dec

RUCKUS

Sarah Legatt’s monthly hip-hop, trap and R’n’B night. THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £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.

SOUTHSIDE SOLIDARITY PRESENTS ANU

#TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence. I AM

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

THE FLYING DUCK, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, with a special guest or two oft in tow.

LA CHEETAH CLUB X ACID FLASH (MAMA SNAKE + SOLID BLAKE + IDA + WARDY)

Wed 19 Dec

LA CHEETAH CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

A night of alternative punk, rock and garage.

Southside Solidarity return for their third night with anu (Rhythm Section/NTS) supplying the heat from her hugely varied collection.

Acid Flash and La Cheetah combine forces for the first time to bring Copenhagen’s finest party instigators, Solid Blake and Mama Snake, to the Queen Street basement. RETURN TO MONO (SLAM + FJAAK)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10 - £15

Monthly night from Soma Records, often with special guests.

REPEATER

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

DON’T BE GUTTED

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Nefarious beats for dangerous times. BEAST

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £4

DJ Jonny soundtracks your Wednesday with all the best in pop-punk, metalcore, house & EDM and there’s even beer pong.

Listings

GLITTERED! WEDNESDAYS

SESH

FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £6

DJ Garry Garry Garry in G2 with chart remixes, along with beer pong competitions all night.

Thu 20 Dec CLUB KIDZ

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

Flamboyant fashion disco feast with Ruby Waters. UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, TBC

Ross MacMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey. WIP (HARRI + WHEELMAN + LIAM DOC + FINDLAY STEPHEN)

STEREO, FROM 23:00, £6

A charity fundraiser with all proceeds going to the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

Twister, beer pong and DJ Ciar McKinley on the ones and twos, serving up chart and remixes through the night.

Mon 24 Dec BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no?

Tue 25 Dec #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence.

Wed 26 Dec

BOXING DAY IN THE CLUB ROOM (ILLYUS & BARRIENTOS) ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £15

Every Thursday from November, catch DJ Fat Brestova from 8pm til the wee hours.

The latest duo to set dancefloors alight in Glasgow and far beyond are Illyus & Barrientos, who drop by Oran Mor for a Boxing Day special.

Fri 21 Dec

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

DJ FAT BRESTOVCA

PIE & BREW, FROM 20:00, FREE

FRESH! FRIDAY

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £6

FREAK LIKE ME

Soul, hip-hop and funk.

SWG3 PRESENT: 90S RAVE

Resident DJ John McLean brings you the biggest tunes and best deals to make your weekend one to remember.

A 90s rave, with UV canons and loads of glowsticks. Just like the old days?

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £4

DEATHKILL 4000

Ultra-cutting edge dark electro, hip-hop and post-punk. SHAKA LOVES YOU

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Hip-hop and live percussion flanked by wicked visuals. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, FROM 22:30, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £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.

Sat 22 Dec

SATURDAY SHAKEDOWN

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £8

Resident DJ Bobby Bluebell mixes up the house, R’n’B and chart. UNSUNG PODCRASH

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

All the best tunes other DJs ignore because they’re yella’ bellies. EXCELLENT WOMEN

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Hip-hop, bass and trap.

HARDSTYLE SUPERHEROES CHRISTMAS PARTY

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £24.50 - £29.50

All the best in hardstyle.

MADONNA POP DISCOTHEQUE

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £6 - £10

Madonna tribute club night. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £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. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests. HORSE MEAT DISCO

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £10

Horse Meat Disco return to The Berkeley Suite, spinning discs all night long.

Sun 23 Dec CLIFFHANGER

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, TBC

A hearty blend of emo, drive-thru, old school and new school pop punk, to see your Sunday through to the stars.

Listings

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £10

BEAST

DJ Jonny soundtracks your Wednesday with all the best in pop-punk, metalcore, house & EDM and there’s even beer pong. GLITTERED! WEDNESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £0 - £4

DJ Garry Garry Garry in G2 with chart remixes, along with beer pong competitions all night. LA CHEETAH CLUB X RAPID (JD TWITCH + ECLAIR FIFI)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

Eclair Fifi’s Rapid residency series is revived for one last bash on Boxing Day. CREAM GLASGOW

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 20:00, £34.50

The mighty Cream returns to Glasgow for a huge Boxing Day bash at SWG3.

Thu 27 Dec

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore.

Sat 29 Dec

SATURDAY SHAKEDOWN

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £8

Resident DJ Bobby Bluebell mixes up the house, R’n’B and chart. GONZO

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

The quest to bring epic nostalgia back in the form of all things MTV2 (pre-trash) and 120 Minutes continues. The return of Indie Disco. THE LANCE VANCE DANCE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Exotic dreamy disco. MISBEHAVIN

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

Retro-pop, alt, dance and electro from DJ Drewbear. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

STEREO, FROM 23:00, £5

A new regular promotion event in Stereo.

LA CHEETAH X ASSEMBLE AGENCY (DETROIT IN EFFECT) LA CHEETAH CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

DJ Maaco, AKA Detroit In Effect, finally makes it along to La Cheetah for a Motor City Electronics party. SUBCULTURE

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic, oft’ joined by a carousel of super fresh guests.

Sun 30 Dec SLIDE IT IN

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, TBC

Classic rock through the ages from DJ Nicola Walker. SESH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Twister, beer pong and DJ Ciar McKinley on the ones and twos, serving up chart and remixes through the night.

NYE 2018 (FORT ROMEAU + SPENCER + OOFT! + LYLA + THE YELLOW DOOR) THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £8 - £15

The Berkeley Suite’s NYE party brings in some of the best Glasgow has to offer. NEVER BEEN KISSED HOGMANAY THROWDOWN (MILK DJS)

THE RUM SHACK, FROM 20:00, £15

Shake it off into 2019 to the soundtrack of the Venga Boys, DJ Sammy, Daniel Bedingfield, Destiny’s Child, Backstreet Boys, N-Trance, Gala and more.

Sat 01 Dec

MUMBO JUMBO W/ THE GOGO

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £3 - £7

Funk, soul, beats and bumps from the Mumbo Jumbo gang and room two residents The GoGo. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, FROM 21:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. PLEASUREDOME

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £5

Funk, disco and oh-so-soulful house.

ALAN FITZPATRICK PRESENTS WE ARE THE BRAVE

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:00, £16.50 - £25.25

Alan Fitzpatrick brings his We Are The Brave label to Edinburgh as part of his Nightvision residency.

FIRECRACKER RECORDINGS PRESENT HEAL YOURSELF & MOVE #18 (MAC-TALLA NAN CREAG) SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £7

Firecracker Recordings bring you a rare and exclusive urban sighting of the elusive beard and bard combo. GET LOOSE

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 23:00, £5

Indie, Britpop, new wave, rock’n’roll club. SAMEDIA SHEBEEN (PETE ON THE CORNER)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £6 - £8

As always Samedia play music spanning Afrobeat, Latin, kuduru, dancehall, samba, soca, cumbia and beyond. HONKIN HIFI PRESENTS: ANIKONIK METRAGNOME & OH MY JOSH!

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £7

Mon 31 Dec

UNHOLY

ORAN MOR, FROM 22:00, £15

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

CATHOUSE, FROM 23:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mash-up. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, TBC

Ross MacMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey.

ANIMAL FARM 14TH BIRTHDAY (SHLØMO + STEPHANIE SYKES) SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £8 - £10

Glasgow’s techno specialists, frequently bringing in the big guns, celebrate their 14th birthday.

Fri 28 Dec FRESH! FRIDAY

ORAN MOR, FROM 23:00, £6

Resident DJ John McLean brings you the biggest tunes and best deals to make your weekend one to remember. SHAKE APPEAL

BLOC+, FROM 23:00, FREE

Six decades of rock’n’roll under one roof, hosted by the ultimate DJ trivium.

THE CRAIG CHARLES FUNK & SOUL CLUB (SHAKA LOVES YOU)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £17.95 - £21.35

DJ and actor Craig Charles will be manning the decks, playing his picks of funk and soul, with an array of guest spinners and live acts joining him. EASY PEELERS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, £0 - £3

Bangers ripe and ready for your enjoyment. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, FROM 22:30, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style.

HOGMANAY IN THE CLUB ROOM

Celebrate New Year with DJ Bobby Bluebell at Oran Mor. JELLY BABY NYE SPECIAL

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £7.90 - £11.25

Hogmanay edition of the chart, disco and party tunes Thursday nighter, with the Rubbermensch lot manning the O2 Academy. HARDSTYLE SUPERHEROES NYE

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £25 - £30

All the best in hardstyle.

SWG3 PRESENT NEW YEARS EVE

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £25

A whole complex takeover for NYE, featuring some of the best Djs around, including The Black Madonna and Optimo. BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Lasers, bouncy castles and DJ Gav Somerville spinning out teasers and pleasers. Nice way to kick off the week, no? BLINK 142: A POP-PUNK NYE

THE FLYING DUCK, FROM 23:00, £5 - £8

DJs spinning all your favourite pop-punk classics to bring you into the New Year. LA CHEETAH X COOKING WITH PALMS TRAX NYE 2018 (PALMS TRAX + AVALON EMERSON + SHANTI CELESTE + OR:LA)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, FROM 23:00, £20 - £30

Party into 2019 with Palms Trax and pals at La Cheetah’s NYE dance. HOGMANAY W/ HILL52 RADIO AND FRIENDS (SUBCITY RADIO + GRIND YOUR AXE + VAJ.POWER + GIOVANNI’S ROOM + ZOOM)

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £8 - £12

Hill52 Radio guide you through the vortex into 2019 at The Art School, accompanied by some of their favourite local acts, collectives and friends.

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £1 - £5

RIVIERA PARAISO

Join resident Montalto and guests as they explore avant-techno experiments.

Sun 02 Dec SUNDAY CLUB

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday. COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, FREE

Believe presents the best in bass DJs from Edinburgh at his weekly Sunday communion. AUNTIE FLO LIVE

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £8

The Auntie Flo ‘Radio Highlife’ live show will be an engaging live rendition of not only his newly released album, but an expansive summation of his career thus far. APPRAISE REWOUND

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 16:00, FREE

Jorja Vaet will be soundtracking your recovery Sunday, digging deeper into the artists, record labels, genres and periods featured on the eh-fm radio show Appraise.

Mon 03 Dec MIXED UP

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. CALIBRATE

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £4

A new take on clubbing promising a different vibe to the usual.

Tue 04 Dec HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

Since May 2012, Hector’s House (known affectionately to many as Hector’s) has become Edinburgh’s stalwart midweek shindig, drawing in capacity crowds each and every Tuesday.

MADONNA’S SANTA BABY BALL

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £10

Weekly Bongo night by Electrikal Sound System, dishing out drum and bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage.

Celebrating the work of one of the biggest selling artists of all time, but with a festive twist.

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

RYOT DJs Scott Davidson and Ryan Wilson take control all night long for a four-hour showcase of electronic, house and techno.

TRASH

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. WILD ONES

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 23:30, FREE

80s themed party extravaganza.

MIDNIGHT BASS

Wed 05 Dec

Anikonik, Metragnome and Oh My Josh! Go B2B2B all night, playing the heaviest of D’n’B.

BREAKFAST CLUB W/ GERRY LYONS

Edinburgh Clubs

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Perfect blend of modern club chart, and 90s and 00s guilty pleasures. HEATERS: SNEAKS STAFF DJS

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

The Sneaky’s family step away from the bar and into the booth for a night of bangers from those who know the sweatbox best.

Thu 06 Dec UNDERGROUND SOCIETY

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Weekly party every Thursday with Residents Merlot and Dave Hill. TASTY

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Delicious start to the weekend with a chart, R’n’B and club anthem flavour. POPULAR MUSIC (NICK FROM SNEAKS + PEAKY BINDRUNK)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

RYOT

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

JACUZZI GENERAL

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Dip your toe into the sounds of pleasure powerhouse Jacuzzi General.

Sun 09 Dec SUNDAY CLUB

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday. COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, FREE

Believe presents the best in bass DJs from Edinburgh at his weekly Sunday communion.

Mon 10 Dec MIXED UP

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. SOFT HANS B2B P. BREAKS TAKEOVER

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

A new weekly night with a danceable mix of music made by bands, cutting across genre, age and nation.

A cold Monday night made warm with disco sweaters, bass burners and house melters from in-house duo Soft Hans and P. Breaks.

Fri 07 Dec

Tue 11 Dec

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £8 - £9

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

FLY PRESENTS BRAME & HAMO

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. OVERGROUND X PULSE: SUNIL SHARPE

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £6.50 - £8.50

Overground and Pulse team up to bring one of the most energetic and relentless Djs in the techno scene, Sunil Sharpe, to Bongo. FLIP

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, £0 - £4

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect. WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

TEMPTATION: ROBYN SPECIAL

Robyn’s latest album Honey will be played in full, followed by a usual mix of synth bangers, as well as Robyn favourites and classics.

MERRY CHRIST-MISS WORLD WITH KATE HARAHAN (DJ APHID + EMILY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £5

Get festive at Sneaky Pete’s for a very merry Christ-Miss World, featuring the soulful stylings of Kate Harahan and her sound remedies. HOMESLICE: WATERMELON X HOMETOWN XMAS PARTY

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5

HECTOR’S HOUSE

Since May 2012, Hector’s House (known affectionately to many as Hector’s) has become Edinburgh’s stalwart midweek shindig, drawing in capacity crowds each and every Tuesday. MIDNIGHT BASS

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £1 - £5

Weekly Bongo night by Electrikal Sound System, dishing out drum and bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage. TRASH

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

All 90s, all night. Glowsticks, facepaints and retro goodness.

HEATERS: NAZIRA & PERCY MAIN

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

Burgeoning New East movement superstar, Nazira brings a whirlwind of techno all the way from Almaty to the Capital.

Thu 13 Dec

UNDERGROUND SOCIETY

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Sat 08 Dec HOTLINE

TASTY

Delicious start to the weekend with a chart, R’n’B and club anthem flavour. POPULAR MUSIC (NICK FROM SNEAKS + PEAKY BINDRUNK)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

Smashin’ cloob, ‘run by women, for everyone. R’n’B, disco, funk and dancing.

A new weekly night with a danceable mix of music made by bands, cutting across genre, age and nation.

THE HIVE, FROM 21:00, £0 - £4

Fri 14 Dec

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

BUBBLEGUM

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

TEESH WITH COOLANT BOWSER (DJ CHEERS) SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £5

The Pickle Factory London resident, Coolant Bowser returns to TEESH. KEEP IT STEEL

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 23:00, £5

Starting in the 60s with Hendrix, Sabbath and Zeppelin, Edinburgh’s No.1 Metal club embarks on a riff-tastic journey with each hour devoted to a different era of heavy metal. Irresponsible party games, banter and delightful steel visuals.

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £1 - £5

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 21:00, £4 - £8

Full spectrum psychedelic music. ALLSORTS

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5

A judgement-free party space with no specific genre policy. LE COWBOI

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

FLY PRESENTS JASPER JAMES

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £7 - £15

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. HEADSET

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Skillis and friends playing garage, techno, house and bass, with special guests often joining in. FLIP XMAS JUMPER PARTY

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, £0 - £4

Dust off that awful sweater and hit the dancefloor.

MIDNIGHT BASS

Weekly Bongo night by Electrikal Sound System, dishing out drum and bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage. NIGHTMARE BEFORE TRASHMAS

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

A pop-punk Christmas with a Halloween twist.

A wild combination of FRANk and Sofia Venezia rounding you up with boots full of electronic sleeze and lonesome rarities.

SOUL JAM MISSION CHRISTMAS PARTY WITH THE MIRROR DANCE (PADDY D + TAISCHE + TUESDAY GONZALEZ + PERCY MAIN)

Sat 15 Dec

Tuesday night bikram disco with Percy Main, Tuesday Gonzalez and their pals.

SOULSVILLE: SOUL JAM

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £5

Soulsville and Soul Jam combine for a December session of fine melodies and carefully-curated grooves.

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £0 - £3

Wed 19 Dec

WILD ONES END OF TERM PARTY

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

THE HIVE, FROM 21:00, £0 - £4

Go Wild celebrating the end of exams with a chart and cheese soundtrack.

HEART OF GLASS

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

BUBBLEGUM

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £4 - £6

Glamourous, glittery, flamboyant, feathery, ostentatious and rock ‘n’ roll, Heart of Glass plays only the best music from the 70s and beyond. REWIND

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £5 - £6

Monthly party night celebrating the best in soul, disco, rock and pop with music from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and current bangers. LAUREN HANSOM AT NICK’S DRUM WORKSHOP (NICK FROM SNEAKS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £5

Lauren Hansom waves through jazz, soft pop, balearics and soul, as well as throwing down dancefloor burners from electro and boogie to acid, industrial, new wave and 80s-90s house. DECADE PRESENTS: THE PARTY BEFORE CHRISTMAS

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

Emo and pop-punk party.

Wed 12 Dec

Weekly party every Thursday with Residents Merlot and Dave Hill.

Discotheque provocateurs SYS take you higher with a programme of Italo and synthetic house Djs.

COSMIC

Edinburgh underground heavyweights channeling serious nae-nonsense techno and dark body music.

Watermelon and Hometown team up for a Christmas party. SHOOT YOUR SHOT

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £5

Hot Mess is a hot and messy queer rave. Non-stop bangers and mash, selected and sequenced with love by Simonotron.

POWERHOUSE: HEDONISM, UNITY & FREEDOM (MECHANOID + LUCID + NEFELIBATA + DARKALI)

THROWBACK TO THE 90S

HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

Since May 2012, Hector’s House (known affectionately to many as Hector’s) has become Edinburgh’s stalwart midweek shindig, drawing in capacity crowds each and every Tuesday.

HOT MESS (SIMONOTRON)

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

Tue 18 Dec

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £6

OTHER THUMPERS

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Enter Planet Dust. Italo heat and proto house from a man clad in studded leather. REGGAE GOT SOUL

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

A night of reggae, dub and ska.

Sun 16 Dec CAROUSE: DEMUJA

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £5 - £10

Salzburg-based ex-drummer and breakdancer turned beatmaker Demuja joins Carouse for this second Sunday party. SUNDAY CLUB

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday. COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, FREE

Believe presents the best in bass DJs from Edinburgh at his weekly Sunday communion.

Mon 17 Dec MIXED UP

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R’n’B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. SHLEEKIT DOSS

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

Tunes and such from the bams, Proc Fiskal, Skillis and pals. Disco, grime, jungle, donk. Keep it Shleekit.

HEATERS: ACID FLASH (IDA + GILES WALKER)

Acid Flash is back with resident IDA and local legend Giles Walker both ready to shake the walls.

Thu 20 Dec UNDERGROUND SOCIETY

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Weekly party every Thursday with Residents Merlot and Dave Hill. TASTY

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Delicious start to the weekend with a chart, R’n’B and club anthem flavour. POPULAR MUSIC (NICK FROM SNEAKS + PEAKY BINDRUNK)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

A new weekly night with a danceable mix of music made by bands, cutting across genre, age and nation.

Fri 21 Dec

FLY PRESENTS WAXXXMAS

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. SUBSTANCE

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, TBC

Described by Resident Advisor as “one of Edinburgh’s most important outposts for house, techno and bass”. FLIP XMAS GIFT GIVEAWAY

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, £0 - £4

Everyone gets a special something with entry. Chart and mash-ups. SEAN JOHNSON (A LOVE FROM OUTER SPACE) AT NO STRINGS ATTACHED

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, TBC

NSA are back at Sneaky’s with Sean Johnson, the man behind Hardway Bros. and the incredible A Love From Outer Space nights, for what is bound to be an unforgettable party. CLUB MERCADO XMAS PARTY (GREG MARTIN + STEVIE CARNIE + PAUL MONCUR)

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 22:30, £8

Classic and modern disco, funky and vocal house.

RAREWAVE VS JUNGLISM FESTIVE SESH

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5

The rarewave crew and Junglism are teaming up to bring you a dose of the festive rave and jungle bangers. GILES WALKER

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Post Punk, New Beat, Disco, 80s Goth, and Italo 12”s mixed together better than your mate who’s a ‘really good dj’ can. This is all very true- like the best mac ‘n’ cheese.

Sat 22 Dec MESSENGER

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

Conscious roots and dub reggae rockin’ from the usual beefy Messenger Sound System. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, FROM 21:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

THE SKINNY

DEFINITION (MARK BALNEAVES + MARTIN LIGHTBODY) SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £5

Sneaky Pete’s longest running club night, with over 10 years of parties, almost all of which were soundtracked solely by the residents. TONTO TECHNO: THOMAS SCHUMACHER

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 23:00, £13

The Berliner and best-selling techno artist on Beatport joins Tonto for a 5am workout.

FIRST EDITION (ONDA + SHAUN G + ASH IS + J WAX + FROST + SEAMUS)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5

Techno night from Glasgow and Edinburgh crews on the first floor of Mash House. PERCY MAIN SOCIAL CLUB

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

An evening with you, Percy and a bag full of boogie throbbers and haus melters.

Sun 23 Dec

XMAS KRACKERS SUNDAY CLUB

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Everyone can pull this Christmas at The Hive with hundreds of free Christmas crackers. COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, FREE

Believe presents the best in bass DJs from Edinburgh at his weekly Sunday communion.

Mon 24 Dec XMAS EVE TILL FIVE

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Open until 5am guaranteed. Three bars, two dancefloors.

HEATERS: BOXING DAY BONANZA (BONANZA BROTHERS) SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

Christmas time festivities with a monstrous line up of Heaters’ nearest and dearest.

Tue 25 Dec MIDNIGHT BASS

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £1 - £5

Weekly Bongo night by Electrikal Sound System, dishing out drum and bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage. XMAS DAY TILL FIVE

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Open until 5am guaranteed. Three bars, two dancefloors.

Wed 26 Dec BOXING DAY TILL FIVE

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Open until 5am guaranteed. Three bars, two dancefloors. LET’S GO BACK TO THE 80S

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £10

DJ’s Bosco, Rob Mason and JP have been DJ’ing since the 80s and will take you back to the sound of the dancefloors in 1980s.

Thu 27 Dec

UNDERGROUND SOCIETY

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £4

Weekly party every Thursday with Residents Merlot and Dave Hill. TASTY

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Delicious start to the weekend with a chart, R’n’B and club anthem flavour. POPULAR MUSIC (NICK FROM SNEAKS + LIAM REILLY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £1 - £3

A new weekly night with a danceable mix of music made by bands, cutting across genre, age and nation.

Fri 28 Dec FLY PRESENTS TONTO

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. SOUNDSYSTEM LEGACIES XXL

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £5 - £8

Two rooms of sound system music and culture, all the way until 5am. FLIP

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, £0 - £4

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

CRÈME FRESH: THE LAST DANCE (RING MA + DJ CHEERS) SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £5

Your final chance to dance with a beloved nomadic Edinburgh house and techno party.

December 2018

JACKHAMMER PRESENTS 12 HOURS OF TECHNO (DJ FUNK + DJ DEEON + DJ ROLANDO + DJ SKULL + STEPHEN BROWN (LIVE) + BILLY NASTY + HANS BOUFFMYHRE + LEX GORRIE) LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 23:00, £17 - £25

Chicago vs. Detroit techno stand-off.

HIGH SOCIETY (JAMIE BOSTRON + JUNIOR LAZAROU + LUDWIG + ZIGGY GEE + ZODOWNLO)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, FREE

A free entry reggae, jungle and bass soirée with the High Society residents.

EYEANGLE RECORDS X SO ELECTRIC PRESENTS: CHOOSE LIFE EDINBURGH (LIAM DOC B2B FEAR-E + THOMSON S.E + KEALIN LENNON) THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £4

Charity fundraiser for Choose Life, featuring some of Scotland’s top electronic music talent. NIKNAK

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

MR. SCRUFF’S HOGMANAY THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £27.45 - £32.95

Known for mixing a junk-shop bag of sounds and bringing his beats to life with squiggly, scribbled animations, Mr. Scruff’s Hogmanay will be a right party. NIGHTVISION PRESENTS GEORGE FITZGERALD

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 22:30, £19.25 - £30.75

The British DJ/producer brings his distinctive take on moody, melancholic R'n'B and deeply analogbased techno/house sounds. EH-FM NEW YEAR PARTY

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £5

See in the New Year with more radio presenters than you can ring a bell at, as fresh community station EH-FM take control of Sneaks. MASSAOKE HOGMANAY HOOTENANNY

SUMMERHALL, FROM 21:00, £20 - £25

Presenting you with the finest spread of oofties and heart melters, NikNak know how to bring the party.

Massaoke takes over Summerhall for Hogmanay, with mass karaoke and live Djs.

Sat 29 Dec

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 23:00, £12 - £20

MUMBO JUMBO W/ THE GOGO

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 23:00, £3 - £7

Funk, soul, beats and bumps from the Mumbo Jumbo gang and room two residents The GoGo. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, FROM 21:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

NIGHTVISION PRESENTS JEFF MILLS

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 23:00, £21.95 - £32.95

The infamous techno pioneer/ legend/behemoth that is Jeff Mills drops by for a pre-NYE warm-up. RIDE (TEACHA EL + CHECKYERSTRIDES)

WEE DUB HOGMANAY 2019

Roots, dub, dancehall, jungle and tropical NYE party. MIDNIGHT BASS

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, TBC

Weekly Bongo night by Electrikal Sound System, dishing out drum and bass, jungle, bassline, grime and garage heads to The Mash House for NYE. HEY QT HOGMANAY PARTY

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 22:00, FREE

A big special one-off Palms party for the bells, courtesy of your local queer disco darlings. REGGAE GOT SOUL

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:30, TBC

A night of reggae, dub and ska.

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, £5

Live fast die yung, Ride gals do it well. Teacha El and CheckyerStrides play 00s R'n'B and 90s hip hop and put their lighters up. METROPOLIS VS HEADS UP: THE FOURTH FIGHT + GUESTS

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

Metropolis go head-to-head with Heads Up for an evening of strictly drum ‘n’ bass and jungle; the ultimate finale. TAIKOSOUND

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

A night of techno, acid techno and acidcore.

MANY ANIMALS (RIBEKA + FRANK)

PARADISE PALMS, FROM 21:00, FREE

Many Animals return for their monthy residency at Palms, known for booking legends such as Justin Robertson, Timothy ‘Heretic’ Clerkin and Jon Pleased Wimmin.

Sun 30 Dec SUNDAY CLUB

THE HIVE, FROM 22:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday. COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 23:00, FREE

Believe presents the best in bass DJs from Edinburgh at his weekly Sunday communion. BIG FISH, LITTLE FISH

LA BELLE ANGELE, FROM 14:00, £8

Family clubbing fun in the afternoon.

Mon 31 Dec

THE PSYCHEDELIC WIZARD OF OZ

CABARET VOLTAIRE, FROM 20:00, £0 - £10

Hector’s House and Pleasure join forces for a Hogmanay special at Cab Vol. HEADSET HOGMANAY

THE BONGO CLUB, FROM 22:30, £5 - £18

Headset bring in the New Year at their home of Bongo.

THE CAVES EDINBURGH HOGMANAY PARTY

THE CAVES, FROM 21:30, £15

Enjoy floor fillers past and present and a bit of good old Scottish Ceilidh earlier in the night. RAINBOW UNICORN HOGMANAY

THE HIVE, FROM 21:00, £8 - £15

Unicorns, rainbows, glitter. The most magical NYE in Edinburgh. VEGAS! THE GRAND HOGMANAY BALL

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 21:00, £25

Scotland’s award-winning retro club night presents an evening of cocktails and cool, showgirls and swing and roulette and romance.

Dundee Clubs Sat 01 Dec

ALL GOOD PRESENTS: BIG MIZ

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £6 - £12

The newest addition to Scotland’s top tier of DJ and production talent, Big Miz hits Reading Rooms.

Fri 07 Dec THE SPACE BROTHERS

CHURCH, FROM 22:00, £10

Two-hour trance classics set. FREQUENCY PRESENTS: CRAIG HUGHES

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £5 - £7

Scottish born techno DJ and producer, and co-founder of Glasgow club night ENTITY, Craig Hughes plays the small town club. BEZ & ROWETTA PRESENT ON THE SIXTH DAY GOD CREATED MANCHESTER

FAT SAM’S, FROM 23:00, £12

Bez and Rowetta of the Happy Mondays present their Haciendainspired club night.

Sat 08 Dec JUTE CITY JAM

Glasgow Theatre Oran Mor

DORIS, DOLLY & THE DRESSING ROOM DIVAS

19-30 DEC, 7:00PM, £20

Secrets, songs and the love lives of five legendary divas, with a distinctly festive feel. THE LYING BITCH AND THE WARDROBE

1-29 DEC, TIMES VARY, £15

Oran Mor Christmas Panto 2018, written by Morag Fullarton.

Platform BLACK BEAUTY

18-23 DEC, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Blending storytelling, music and puppetry, this vibrant re-telling of Black Beauty offers fun and adventure for fans of the book, classic TV show and those brand new to the tale.

SEC

CINDERELLA

12-30 DEC, TIMES VARY, £18.15 - £32.35

The Krankies return to the Armadillo to star alongside funny men Gavin Mitchell, Jonathan Watson, Keith Jack and actress and singer Francis Thorburn in Cinderella.

The King’s Theatre ALADDIN

1 DEC-6 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £12 - £42.50

Elaine C Smith returns as Widow Twankey alongside Johnny Mac as Wishee Washee and Paul-James Corrigan as the Imperial Palace Guard in the magical pantomime adventure.

Theatre Royal THE BODYGUARD

3-29 DEC, TIMES VARY, £17.50 - £68.50

Musical based on the blockbuster film of the same name, with XFactor winner Alexandra Burke taking on warbling Whitney duties.

Tramway

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

4 DEC-6 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £9 - £12.50

The Christmas staple takes to the stage thanks to an adaptation by Citizens Theatre and director Dominic Hill, starring everyone from Scrooge to Tiny Tim. Bah humbug, etc. HUMBUG!

11-31 DEC, TIMES VARY, £9

Festive fun from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for 3-6 year olds and their families.

Tron Theatre MAMMY GOOSE

1 DEC-6 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £9 - £23

Mammy Goose’s life is a mess, until a mysterious stranger makes her an offer: the chance to be young again. All she has to do is trade in her pet goose. REMEMBER DECEMBER

1-31 DEC, TIMES VARY, £6.50 - £9

A fun-filled festive adventure.

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, TBC

Resident pushers Max Galloway and Ronan Baxter will be in control for the evening’s dance.

Thu 13 Dec

DISCLAIMER: CHRISTMAS WITH KAI KASPAR

Edinburgh Theatre

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £5

Kai Kaspar’s back, bringing you the best of everything from disco to house, with some hidden gems to spice up the night.

Wed 26 Dec

HEADWAY & RRP PRESENTS GARY BECK

READING ROOMS, FROM 21:30, £8 - £12

Glasgow-born producer, now tourer of the world, Gary Beck brings his unique beats to Dundee’s Reading Rooms.

Thu 27 Dec DARE

READING ROOMS, FROM 21:00, £15

Disco-tinged 80s delights and eclectic electronica with residents John Pleased Wimmin and DJ Billy Morris.

Assembly Roxy

BUGLE BOYS: CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

11-30 DEC, TIMES VARY, £12 - £15

Edinburgh Fringe’s campest drag queens are back in town with a brand new festive show with a difference.

LE PERE NOEL EST UNE ORDURE (SANTA IS A TRAMP) 15 DEC, 7:30PM, £7

Cult French comedy, created by legendary theatre collective Le Splendid. RHINOCEROS

5-8 DEC, 19:00, £6-£12

Theatre Paradok's exciting new production will see the play updated to explore modern social and political issues.

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

Theatre

Comedy

NATIVITY! THE MUSICAL

BLACKFRIARS BASEMENT, FROM 20:00, FREE

One hilarious show, completely improvised by two teams, based off an audience suggestion. Improv comedy at its finest.

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (SUSIE MCCABE + KAI HUMPHRIES + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + STEPHEN BUCHANAN)

Wed 05 Dec

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond.

Festival Theatre 1-2 DEC, TIMES VARY, £22 - £55

Feel-good, funny and full of yuletide joy, this cracker of a musical was adapted for the stage by Debbie Isitt, the creator of the much-loved films. SCOTTISH BALLET CINDERELLA

8-30 DEC, TIMES VARY, £18.50 - £45.50

Scottish Ballet perform their majestic take on the classic fairytale, telling the story of Cinders, her ugly stepsisters, wicked stepmother and a run-in with a dashing prince.

King’s Theatre Edinburgh BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

1 DEC-20 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £17.50 - £35

Allan and Grant return in a beast of a Pantomime.

Pleasance @ EICC THE MOTHER

21-22 DEC, 7:30PM, £20

Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s wintry tale, The Mother is a compelling production, combining narrative dance and drama.

Dundee Theatre Dundee Rep THE SNOW QUEEN

1-31 DEC, TIMES VARY, £7 - £25

A fun, thrilling and magical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s wintery tale. A co-commission between Dundee Rep and the Citizens Theatre. FLUTTER

18-22 DEC, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

An interactive, immersive performance for 2-6 year olds that takes its audience on a multi-sensory journey through a world of winter snow.

The Gardyne Theatre BFAOS PRESENTS TITANIC

20-24 DEC, TIMES VARY, £17

Based on real people aboard the ship, Titanic the Musical is a stunning and stirring production focusing on the passengers and crew members.

THOMSON LENG MUSICAL SOCIETY PRESENTS BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Royal Lyceum Theatre

27 DEC-2 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £14 - £16

1 DEC-5 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £10 - £30

ROBERT C KELLY PRESENTS CINDERELLA

WENDY AND PETER PAN

One of the world’s best loved stories about the boy who never grows up, from Scottish writer J.M. Barrie.

The Basement Theatre THE SONG OF FERGUS & KATE: WINTER SPECIAL

16-17 DEC, 2:00PM, £5 - £6

An interactive adventure that uses storytelling, music and animation to encourage children to celebrate their differences.

The Edinburgh Playhouse MOTOWN THE MUSICAL

1-8 DEC, TIMES VARY, £15 - £85

Motown The Musical tells the thrilling tale of the man who broke barriers, fought against the odds to create something more than a record label. KINKY BOOTS

10 DEC-5 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £19.50 - £70

With songs by Grammy and Tony Award-winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, Kinky Boots takes you from the factory floor to the glamorous catwalks of Milan.

Traverse Theatre

MCGONAGALL’S CHRONICLES (WHICH WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR A VERY LONG TIME) 5-15 DEC, TIMES VARY, £13.50

The latest show from multi-award winning writer/performer Gary McNair, telling stories of the trials and triumphs of growing up in working class Scotland. EDINBURGH’S CHRISTMAS: YOU CHOOSE

1 DEC-5 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £10 - £15

Based on the book by Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt, Nonsense Room Productions present a brand new interactive musical show for the whole family. EDINBURGH’S CHRISTMAS: LA CLIQUE NOËL - PART DEUX

1 DEC-5 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £15.50

La Clique Noël - Part Deux has a reimagined line-up of new dysfunctional artists plus a few firm favourites for this year’s seasonal edition. MOUTHPIECE

1-22 DEC, TIMES VARY, £8 - £12

A frank and unflinching look at the different Edinburgh’s which often exist in ignorance of one another. MAGICFEST CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: THE MIRACLE OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE

27-27 DEC, TIMES VARY, £15 - £22

The MagicFest Christmas show is back, this year presenting a Christmas collaboration between Scottish magician-scientist hybrid Kevin Quantum and Swedish hightech wizard Charlie Caper.

The eighth pantomime season for Thomson-Leng delves into the ‘tale as old as time’. 8-31 DEC, TIMES VARY, £23.75

River City favourites Scott Fletcher and Tom Urie star alongside Scot Squad’s Darren Connell in this rags to riches family pantomime.

GLASGOW HAROLD NIGHT

COMEDIAN RAP BATTLES (THE WEE MAN)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £4 - £6

Comedy and rap collide.

NEW MATERIAL COMEDY NIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

Thu 06 Dec

THE THURSDAY SHOW (CARL HUTCHINSON + GUS LYMBURN + MARC JENNINGS + DAISY EARL + MARTIN MOR)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £7 - £10

Start the weekend early with five comedians. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 07 Dec

THE FRIDAY SHOW (CARL HUTCHINSON + GUS LYMBURN + MARC JENNINGS + DAISY EARL + MARTIN MOR)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £10 - £12

The big weekend show with five comedians.

Sat 01 Dec

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

Sun 02 Dec

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (JOHN GAVIN + JOE MCTERNAN)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out. GLASGOW KIDS COMEDY CLUB (MR FIBBERS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 15:00, £4

The Stand Comedy Club presents a live stand-up show for younger fans every month, with three top comedians at every show.

YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s Comedy Sunday School.

Mon 03 Dec

MONDAY NIGHT IMPROV (BILLY KIRKWOOD + STU MURPHY + GARRY DOBSON)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £3

Fab comedian improv battle KOMEDY

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £0 - £3

From the people who brought you CHUNKS, comes a night of actual komedy.

Tue 04 Dec

RED RAW (GEORGE FOX + STUART MITCHELL)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £3

Legendary new material night with up to ten acts.

NEW MATERIAL COMEDY NIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

Thu 13 Dec YESBAR VIRGINS YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 14 Dec

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £17.50

THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

Sat 08 Dec

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £17.50

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

THE SATURDAY SHOW (CARL HUTCHINSON + GUS LYMBURN + MARC JENNINGS + DAISY EARL + MARTIN MOR)

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

THE LATE SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £12

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond.

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £17.50

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

Wed 12 Dec

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (SUSIE MCCABE + KAI HUMPHRIES + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + STEPHEN BUCHANAN)

THE EARLY SHOW

The big weekend show with five comedians.

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

LIGHT BULB

BLACKFRIARS BASEMENT, FROM 20:00, FREE

An alternative comedy showcase and brand new night of stand up comedy.

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

THE SATURDAY SHOW (GARRY LITTLE + FERN BRADY + JOHN MEAGHER + AMY MATTHEWS + ASHLEY STORRIE)

The big weekend show with five comedians.

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £12

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (SUSIE MCCABE + KAI HUMPHRIES + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + STEPHEN BUCHANAN)

THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Glasgow Comedy

Tue 11 Dec

THE LATE SHOW

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

Sun 09 Dec

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (DAVID KAY + ROB KANE + ROBIN GRAINGER + AMY MATTHEWS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out. YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s Comedy Sunday School. GARY MEIKLE: BEFORE ALL THIS

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 17:45, £10

Scottish comedy viral sensation and award-winner, Gary Meikle has risen through the ranks quicker than most and is now in high demand at the best comedy clubs across the UK. STAND COMEDY KIDS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (VIV GEE + MR FIBBERS + BILLY KIRKWOOD + SANTA)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 15:00, £4

Let the excitement for Christmas reach fever pitch, with a chance for the little un’s to go mental and unwrap this hilarious tinsel-covered stand-up kids comedy show.

Mon 10 Dec

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (SUSIE MCCABE + KAI HUMPHRIES + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + STEPHEN BUCHANAN) THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £12

THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Sat 15 Dec

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (SUSIE MCCABE + KAI HUMPHRIES + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + STEPHEN BUCHANAN) THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £17.50

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit. CROSSMYLAFF COMEDY (BRUCE MORTON + CHRIS HENRY + THE CREATIVE MARTYRS)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 20:00, £11

An evening of stand-up comedy featuring a hand-picked selection of local up and coming comics. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit. STAND COMEDY KIDS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (VIV GEE + MR FIBBERS + BILLY KIRKWOOD + SANTA)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 15:00, £4

Let the excitement for Christmas reach fever pitch, with a chance for the little un’s to go mental and unwrap this hilarious tinsel-covered stand-up kids comedy show.

Sun 16 Dec

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (CHRISTOPHER MACARTHER-BOYD)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out. YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s Comedy Sunday School.

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond.

Listings

SNOW WHITE 2 - APPLEY EVER AFTER (LEE KYLE + HAL BRANSON + SAMMY DOBSON + HANNAH WALKER + KATHERINE TANNEY) THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 13:00, £5

The Stand Comedy Club presents its first ever pantomime.

Tue 18 Dec

RED RAW (MARC JENNINGS + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £3

Legendary new material night with up to ten acts.

Wed 19 Dec

NEW MATERIAL COMEDY NIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

SH*TE CHRISTMAS (SUSIE MCCABE + LIAM FARRELLY + MARC JENNINGS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Enter The Stand’s dark basement; they’ve had the Christmas spirit exorcised.

Thu 20 Dec

THE THURSDAY SHOW (TOM STADE + JOHN ROSS + DAISY EARL + LOUISE YOUNG + SUSAN MORRISON)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £7 - £10

Start the weekend early with five comedians. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

SCOTT GIBSON: ANYWHERE BUT HERE

ST LUKE’S, FROM 19:00, £14.30 - £16.50

A hysterical hour about hedonistic holidays, this is a story about friendship, pool parties, travel insurance and the Greek thirdchoice goalie.

Fri 21 Dec

THE FRIDAY SHOW (TOM STADE + JOHN ROSS + DAISY EARL + LOUISE YOUNG + SUSAN MORRISON)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £10 - £12

The big weekend show with five comedians. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

Sat 22 Dec

THE SATURDAY SHOW (TOM STADE + JOHN ROSS + DAISY EARL + LOUISE YOUNG + SUSAN MORRISON)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £17.50

The big weekend show with five comedians.

Fri 28 Dec

HOOTFEST! (JANEY GODLEY + RAY BRADSHAW + JAMIE MACDONALD + DONALD ALEXANDER + SCOTT AGNEW) THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £15

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

Sat 29 Dec

HOOTFEST! (JANEY GODLEY + RAY BRADSHAW + JAMIE MACDONALD + DONALD ALEXANDER + SCOTT AGNEW) THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £17.50

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club. THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

Sun 30 Dec

HOOTFEST! (JANEY GODLEY + RAY BRADSHAW + JAMIE MACDONALD + DONALD ALEXANDER + SCOTT AGNEW) THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £17.50

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club.

YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s Comedy Sunday School.

Mon 31 Dec

HOOTFEST! (JANEY GODLEY + RAY BRADSHAW + JAMIE MACDONALD + DONALD ALEXANDER + SCOTT AGNEW) THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £27.50

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club.

Edinburgh Comedy

THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 22:15, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a late night comedy show, with some of the best comedians on the circuit. THE EARLY SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 19:30, £10

Resident MC Viv Gee hosts a weekend comedy club with some of the best comedians on the circuit.

Sun 23 Dec

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (VLADIMIR MCTAVISH + ROSS LESLIE + JORDAN WISTUBA)

THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out. YESBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Yesbar’s Comedy Sunday School.

Thu 27 Dec

HOOTFEST! (JANEY GODLEY + RAY BRADSHAW + JAMIE MACDONALD + DONALD ALEXANDER + SCOTT AGNEW) THE STAND GLASGOW, FROM 20:30, £15

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Sat 01 Dec

THE SATURDAY SHOW (RON VAUDRY + ANDREA HUBERT + ROBIN GRAINGER + ROSS LESLIE + RAY BRADSHAW)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £17.50

The big weekend show with five comedians.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + BETHANY BLACK + BRUCE FUMMEY)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £14

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

THE COMEDY SHOW (JAY LAFFERTY + LIAM WITHNAIL + JOJO SUTHERLAND + STEEN RASKOPOLOUS)

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 21:00, £10 - £12

Weekly comedy show at the Basement every Friday and Saturday night, with a different line-up and headliner each week, combining up-and-coming talent with Fringe favourites.

Sun 02 Dec

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + STU MURPHY + STEPHEN BUCHANAN + RUARIDH MILLER) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Chilled Sunday night comedy to see out the weekend. STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 13:30, FREE

Legendary free Sunday afternoon improv show.

THE COMEDY SHOW (JAY LAFFERTY + LIAM WITHNAIL + JOJO SUTHERLAND + KAE KURD)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + PAUL CURRIE + HARRIET KEMSLEY)

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 21:00, £10 - £12

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £14

Weekly comedy show at the Basement every Friday and Saturday night, with a different line-up and headliner each week, combining up-and-coming talent with Fringe favourites. TBC IMPROV COMEDY

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

The To Be Continued crew return with more sketches, scenes and improvised antics. MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SUNDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £5

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

THE COMEDY SHOW (KATIE MULGREW + SUSAN RIDDELL + RACHEL FAIRBURN + ALFIE BROWN)

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £10 - £12

Weekly comedy show at the Basement every Friday and Saturday night, with a different line-up and headliner each week, combining up-and-coming talent with Fringe favourites. MUM’S THE WORD

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 13:00, £9 - £10

Laugh your way into a new week with a cracking stand-up bill of seasoned pros and hotly-tipped rising stars.

Mum’s the Word is a comedy gig designed for parents with babies hosted by comedian and mum, Katie Mulgrew.

Mon 03 Dec

Sun 09 Dec

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £3

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (RAYMOND MEARNS + ROSS LESLIE + JOE MCTERNAN + GUS LYMBURN)

Tue 04 Dec

Chilled Sunday night comedy to see out the weekend.

RED RAW (KIMI LOUGHTON + STU MURPHY)

Legendary new material night with up to ten acts. MIDWEEK COMEDY CABARET (DAVID KAY + MARC JENNINGS + ROBIN GRAINGER + GUS LYMBURN)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Midweek comedy showcase. EDINBURGH REVUE

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, TBC

The University of Edinburgh’s stand-up and sketch comedy show.

Wed 05 Dec GRASSROOTS COMEDY

THE PLEASANCE, FROM 19:30, £1

Come and see the freshest comedy Edinburgh has to offer, watch acts grow and perform brand new material. VIVA LA SHAMBLES

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £4 - £5

Anarchic comedy mayhem from Scotland’s finest young acts. TOP BANANA (LIAM WITHNAIL + ROBIN GRANGER)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £3

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

Thu 06 Dec

SPONTANEOUS SHERLOCK

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

An entirely improvised Sherlock Holmes comedy play from Scotland’s hottest improv troupe.

Fri 07 Dec

THE FRIDAY SHOW (JARRED CHRISTMAS + GARETH WAUGH + DAISY EARL + JOE HEENAN)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £10 - £12

The big weekend show with five comedians.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + PAUL CURRIE + HARRIET KEMSLEY)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £10 - £12

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

BEARFOOT COMEDY CLUB (STEPHEN BUCHANAN + GRAHAM MACKIE + JAY MILES)

THE MERLIN, FROM 19:30, £10

Bearfoot Comedy Club brings you a fabulous comedy extravaganza of stand-up, sketch and musical comedy. NEW SH*T

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 20:00, FREE

The ultimate comedy test-ground for new acts and old pros.

Sat 08 Dec

THE SATURDAY SHOW (JARRED CHRISTMAS + GARETH WAUGH + DAISY EARL + JOE HEENAN)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £17.50

The big weekend show with five comedians.

A CHRISTMAS CABARET (BRUCE DEVLIN + ELLIOTT BIBBY + JESUS L’OREAL + MICHELLE MCMANUS)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £5 - £6

A variety packed show for the Christmas cocktail hour that costs less than a cocktail.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 13:30, FREE

Legendary free Sunday afternoon improv show.

THE COMEDY SHOW (KATIE MULGREW + SUSAN RIDDELL + RACHEL FAIRBURN + ALFIE BROWN)

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 21:00, £10 - £12

Weekly comedy show at the Basement every Friday and Saturday night, with a different line-up and headliner each week, combining up-and-coming talent with Fringe favourites. MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SUNDAY SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £5

Laugh your way into a new week with a cracking stand-up bill of seasoned pros and hotly-tipped rising stars. GARY MEIKLE: BEFORE ALL THIS

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 19:00, £10 - £12

Scottish comedy viral sensation and award-winner, Gary Meikle has risen through the ranks quicker than most and is now in high demand at the best comedy clubs across the UK. CARL HUTCHINSON: I KNOW I SHOULDN’T BEHAVE LIKE THIS…

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £12

Geordie comedian Carl Hutchinson is back with a brand new show.

Mon 10 Dec

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (GLENN WOOL + MC HAMMERSMITH + ASHLEY STORRIE + WIS JANTARASORN + BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £12

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond. PETER PANCAKES’ COMEDY EXTRAVAGANZA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, FREE

Phil O’Shea brings a handpicked selection of riotous lols to Monkey Barrel.

FRED MACAULAY IN CONVERSATION (LEWIS MACLEOD + SANJEEV KOHLI) THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 17:00, £11.50 - £12.50

Fred MacAulay, one of Scotland’s best-loved stand-ups, is back with his monthly live chat show.

Tue 11 Dec

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (GLENN WOOL + MC HAMMERSMITH + ASHLEY STORRIE + WIS JANTARASORN + BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £12

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond. PROJECT X (IAIN CAMPBELL)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £3

Iain Campbell hosts an experimental and new ideas alternative comedy showcase.

Wed 12 Dec

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (GLENN WOOL + MC HAMMERSMITH + ASHLEY STORRIE + WIS JANTARASORN + BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £12

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond.

Listings

TOP BANANA (LIAM WITHNAIL + GARETH WAUGH) MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £3

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

Thu 13 Dec

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (GLENN WOOL + RYAN CULLEN + ASHLEY STORRIE + WIS JANTARASORN + BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £12

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond. SPONTANEOUS POTTER

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

A brand new Harry Potter play from some of Edinburgh’s most top notch improv wizards.

Fri 14 Dec

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (GLENN WOOL + MC HAMMERSMITH + SUSAN MORRISON + WIS JANTARASORN + BRUCE DEVLIN) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £17.50

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + MARK MAIER + DAVE WILLIAMS + STU MCPHERSON)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £10 - £12

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy. LOUD COMEDY (GARETH MUTCH)

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £6

Bringing you the best and brightest of the comedy scene, showcasing brand new work alongside tried and tested material.

Sat 15 Dec

A CHRISTMAS CABARET (BRUCE DEVLIN + STEVEN DICK + THE BUGLE BOYS + JESUS L’OREAL)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £5 - £6

A variety packed show for the Christmas cocktail hour that costs less than a cocktail.

THE STAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (GLENN WOOL + MC HAMMERSMITH + ASHLEY STORRIE + WIS JANTARASORN + BRUCE DEVLIN)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £17.50

Christmas cheer from the very best comics from the UK and beyond.

Mon 17 Dec

RED RAW (GARETH MUTCH + ROSS MCLELLAND)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £3

Legendary new material night with up to ten acts. CABARET FROM ELSEWHERE

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

Elsewhere is a troupe of artists, musicians and circus performers. Find them staging shows, telling stories or playing music and games anywhere people gather in celebration.

Tue 18 Dec

PROJECT X (IAIN CAMPBELL)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £3

Iain Campbell hosts an experimental and new ideas alternative comedy showcase.

SH*TE CHRISTMAS (RYAN CULLEN + ROBIN GRAINGER + AMY MATTHEWS + GUS LYMBURN) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Enter The Stand’s dark basement; they’ve had the Christmas spirit exorcised.

Wed 19 Dec

TOP BANANA (LIAM WITHNAIL + MARC JENNINGS)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £3

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

THE END OF THE WORLD SHOW (STU MURPHY + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH + KEIR MCALLISTER)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £5 - £7

Armageddon is not so much nigh as teabagging the world in the face. So now that we’ve bought the tickets to Hell in a handcart and this really is the end of civilisation, surely we can still find the time to trivialise it?

Thu 20 Dec

THE THURSDAY SHOW (STU & GARRY + MICHAEL LEGGE + RADU ISAC + JOJO SUTHERLAND) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £7 - £10

Start the weekend early with five comedians. SPONTANEOUS SHERLOCK

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

THE COMEDY SHOW (JAY LAFFERTY + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + HARRIET DYER + SCOTT GIBSON)

THE COMEDY SHOW (SCOTT GIBSON + SUSIE MCCABE + WILL DUGGAN + TANYALEE DAVIS)

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £10 - £12

Sun 23 Dec

Sun 30 Dec

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 13:30, FREE

Weekly comedy show at the Basement every Friday and Saturday night, with a different line-up and headliner each week, combining up-and-coming talent with Fringe favourites. THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN

Chilled Sunday night comedy to see out the weekend. STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 13:30, FREE

Legendary free Sunday afternoon improv show.

THE COMEDY SHOW (JAY LAFFERTY + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + HARRIET DYER + SCOTT GIBSON) THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 21:00, £10 - £12

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £5

JOJO SUTHERLAND AND SUSAN MORRISON: FANNY’S AHOY!

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £4 - £5

Set sail with the award-winning grand dames of Scottish comedy. IMPROVISED PANTOMIME

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

Sun 16 Dec

Sat 22 Dec

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £5 - £6

Chilled Sunday night comedy to see out the weekend. STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 13:30, FREE

Legendary free Sunday afternoon improv show.

THE COMEDY SHOW (CHRIS FORBES + JAY LAFFERTY + SCOTT AGNEW + AMY HOWERSKA) THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 21:00, £10 - £12

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £5

Laugh your way into a new week with a cracking stand-up bill of seasoned pros and hotly-tipped rising stars.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + BETHANY BLACK + BRUCE FUMMEY)

Fed up trying to conform to society’s labels, Jay Lafferty decided to turn her back on the anxiety of expectation and frolic in the fun of failure.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 13:00, £5

THE SATURDAY SHOW (STU & GARRY + MICHAEL LEGGE + RADU ISAC + JOJO SUTHERLAND) THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £17.50

The big weekend show with five comedians.

A CHRISTMAS CABARET (BRUCE DEVLIN + CAMERON GIBSON + JESUS L’OREAL + THE CREATIVE MARTYRS)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £5 - £6

A variety packed show for the Christmas cocktail hour that costs less than a cocktail.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + GARY LITTLE + MARK NELSON + MARC JENNINGS) MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £14

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 21:00, £10 - £12

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SUNDAY SHOW

HOOTFEST! (DAVE FULTON + LIAM WITHNAIL + JAY LAFFERTY + GARETH MUTCH + STU MURPHY)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £27.50

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club. JOJO SUTHERLAND AND SUSAN MORRISON: FANNY’S AHOY!

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £4 - £5

Set sail with the award-winning grand dames of Scottish comedy.

Dundee Comedy

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £15

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £10 - £12

The Stand Comedy Club presents its first ever pantomime. THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (DAVID KAY + KRYSTAL EVANS + STU MURPHY)

HOOTFEST! (DAVE FULTON + LIAM WITHNAIL + JAY LAFFERTY + GARETH MUTCH + STU MURPHY)

The big weekend show with five comedians.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £10 - £12

THE COMEDY SHOW (SCOTT GIBSON + SUSIE MCCABE + WILL DUGGAN + TANYALEE DAVIS)

Mon 31 Dec

A brand new Harry Potter play from some of Edinburgh’s most top notch improv wizards.

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG FRIDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + GARY LITTLE + MARK NELSON + MARC JENNINGS)

Set sail with the award-winning grand dames of Scottish comedy.

SPONTANEOUS POTTER

Fri 21 Dec

SNOW WHITE 2 - APPLEY EVER AFTER (LEE KYLE + HAL BRANSON + SAMMY DOBSON + HANNAH WALKER + KATHERINE TANNEY)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £4 - £5

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

Fri 28 Dec

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £10 - £12

JOJO SUTHERLAND AND SUSAN MORRISON: FANNY’S AHOY!

Laugh your way into a new week with a cracking stand-up bill of seasoned pros and hotly-tipped rising stars.

IMPROVISED PANTOMIME

Weekly comedy show at the Basement every Friday and Saturday night, with a different line-up and headliner each week, combining up-and-coming talent with Fringe favourites.

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £15

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £5

THE FRIDAY SHOW (STU & GARRY + MICHAEL LEGGE + RADU ISAC + JOJO SUTHERLAND)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £17.50

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £14

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £10 - £12

HOOTFEST! (DAVE FULTON + LIAM WITHNAIL + JAY LAFFERTY + GARETH MUTCH + STU MURPHY)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £0 - £5

HOOTFEST! (DAVE FULTON + LIAM WITHNAIL + JAY LAFFERTY + GARETH MUTCH + STU MURPHY)

An entirely improvised Panto featuring Scotland’s leading improv comedy talent.

THE COMEDY SHOW (CHRIS FORBES + JAY LAFFERTY + SCOTT AGNEW + AMY HOWERSKA)

Legendary free Sunday afternoon improv show.

Thu 27 Dec

An entirely improvised Sherlock Holmes comedy play from Scotland’s hottest improv troupe.

An entirely improvised Panto featuring Scotland’s leading improv comedy talent.

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

Weekly comedy show at the Basement every Friday and Saturday night, with a different line-up and headliner each week, combining up-and-coming talent with Fringe favourites.

Laugh your way into a new week with a cracking stand-up bill of seasoned pros and hotly-tipped rising stars.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + MARK MAIER + DAVE WILLIAMS + STU MCPHERSON)

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

Weekly comedy show at the Basement every Friday and Saturday night, with a different line-up and headliner each week, combining up-and-coming talent with Fringe favourites.

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

Fri 07 Dec

STEWART FRANCIS: INTO THE PUNSET

CAIRD HALL, FROM 20:00, £20.25

Star of Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo embarking on his last tour ever.

JAY LAFFERTY: BESOM

THE BASEMENT THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £6

JOJO SUTHERLAND AND SUSAN MORRISON: FANNY’S AHOY!

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £4 - £5

Set sail with the award-winning grand dames of Scottish comedy.

Glasgow Art CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art

INTERMEDIA: ALEX SARKISIAN: -IAN

1-2 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Sat 29 Dec

ian is a new video and installation that grasps at family derivatives through hypotheses.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 17:00, £5 - £6

8 DEC-27 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A CHRISTMAS CABARET (BRUCE DEVLIN + ANDREW MCKINLEY + JESUS L’OREAL)

A variety packed show for the Christmas cocktail hour that costs less than a cocktail. HOOTFEST! (DAVE FULTON + LIAM WITHNAIL + JAY LAFFERTY + GARETH MUTCH + STU MURPHY)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, FROM 20:30, £17.50

Laugh your way to the end of the year at Scotland’s favourite comedy club.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY’S BIG SATURDAY SHOW (RICK MOLLAND + BETHANY BLACK + BRUCE FUMMEY)

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 19:00, £14

Monkey Barrel’s flagship night of premier stand-up comedy.

A WEAKNESS FOR RAISINS: FILMS & ARCHIVE OF ESTER KRUMBACHOVÁ

Ester Krumbachová was a key figure in Czech New Wave cinema in the 1960s. This exhibition is based on the only film directed by Krumbachová, The Murder of Mr. Devil, displaying key elements of her archive within a much broader context.

Compass Gallery NEW GENERATION CHRISTMAS EXHIBITION

1 DEC-31 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Renowned for selecting and supporting each New Generation artist for almost 50 years, this year’s Compass Christmas Show focuses on their works which includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and ceramics.

THE SKINNY

Art

Cyril Gerber Fine Art

THE WINTER EXHIBITION 2018

1 DEC-31 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Briggait THE WIND IN MY SOUL

1 DEC-25 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Wasps Studios are delighted to present The Wind in My Soul, a solo exhibition by Aberdeen-based artist Bibo Keeley following her residency at the Wasps’ Admirals House on the Isle of Skye.

Specially selected exhibition of works by Eardley, Scottish Colourists, Modern Scottish Masters & Contemporaries and many others.

The Common Guild

David Dale Gallery and Studios

An extension of the live performance of Janice Kerbel’s major new artwork Sink, commissioned by The Common Guild as part of Festival 2018, featuring a series of doublesided prints that further explore the language of synchronisation.

MIRKO CANESI: CONTRA

1-15 DEC, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Curated by The Workbench, Milan, Mirko Canesi organises this exhibition at David Dale Gallery in two complementary environments: the Gallery’s own space and the Garden.

Glasgow Print Studio ACADEMICIANS V

1 DEC-27 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Glasgow Print Studio is pleased to present the fifth in the series of exhibitions bringing together the outstanding work of wellrespected Royal and Royal Scottish Academicians. Featuring Sam Ainsley, Kenny Hunter, Jane and Louise Wilson and Bill Woodrow. DOUGLAS THOMSON

1-2 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Greenock-born fine art artist, Douglas Thomson is this month’s featured artist at Glasgow Print Studio.

GoMA

JACK KNOX: CONCRETE BLOCK

1 DEC-13 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

One of Scotland’s most influential artists of the 20th century, Jack Knox presents an exhibition looking at a ten-year period of work, from the late 1960s onwards.

Mary Mary

AMANDA ROSS-HO: HURTS WORST

1 DEC-19 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Amanda Ross-Ho’s first solo exhibition at Mary Mary, featuring a suite of new large scale textile assemblages and a group of small text-based paintings.

New Glasgow Society

WATER BODIES / BODIES OF WATER

1-8 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A series of new oil paintings that explore our relationship to the sea and to one another.

MEREL BEKKING: THE THINGS I NEED – COLOUR, LIGHT AND LIFE 14-16 DEC, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

A series of striking and colourful sculptural user objects created from Merel Bekking’s need to surround herself with bold colours, living plants and bright lights.

Platform

HENRY COOMBES AND MARCELLA MCINTOSH: AYES IN YOUR HEAD

1 DEC-19 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition bringing together drawings and paintings by awardwinning filmmaker and visual artist, Henry Coombes and collaborator, Marcella McIntosh.

RGI Kelly Gallery

ALASDAIR GRAY AND JOHN BYRNE: TWO GREAT GLASGOW POLYMATHS

1 DEC-1 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

In the wake of the catastrophic fire that has reduced the Glasgow School of Art to ashes, RGI Kelly Gallery remember Charles Rennie Mackintosh as an architect, furniture designer, painter and visionary.

Street Level Photoworks

AND THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THAT

1-2 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

A series of 35 images chronicling the changing face of Cuba, captured by Glasgow based photographer Iain Clark in 2015.

December 2018

DENISE ZYGADLO: SABLE CHARM AND DUMB ENCHANTMENT 1-21 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

New works by Denise Zygadlo will explore the relationship between the body and cloth, featuring collage and photography.

City Art Centre

IN FOCUS: SCOTTISH PHOTOGRAPHY

1 DEC-12 MAY 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Museum of Childhood

GROWING UP WITH BOOKS

1-9 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

This exhibition will have a large selection of books from the Museum archives, ranging from the 18th century through to the mid 20th century.

Museum of Edinburgh

The Lighthouse

In Focus: Scottish Photography showcases the City Art Centre’s photographic collections, charting the development of fine art photography in Scotland from the 19th century to present day. The exhibition features work by a range of historic and contemporary artists, including Hill and Adamson, Thomas Begbie, Joseph McKenzie, David Williams, Maud Sulter, Wendy McMurdo, Calum Colvin, Christine Borland and Dalziel + Scullion.

1 DEC-1 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

1 DEC-10 FEB 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

NEW TO THE NATIONAL COLLECTION

JANICE KERBEL: NOTES FROM SINK

1 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

VISAURIHELIX

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s birth, sound and audiovisual artist Louise Harris takes inspiration from the many geometric forms found in his architecture to transform the Tower of The Lighthouse. STILL LIFE

1 DEC-31 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Over the course of their sixmonth residency in Gallery 2a, Aaron Ziggy and Will Jenkinson will investigate plastics, its potential uses and shortcomings. WEAR CRM

1 DEC-27 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Following the two-day interactive workshops, Marie O’Connor will have an exhibition that will continue with images taken during those days and objects on display in the Mackintosh Interpretation Centre. SUZHOU UTOPIAS

1 DEC-13 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

The exhibition compares Chinese and Western identities, as a preamble to a book on utopias, draws future vectors with the purpose to (re)define Asian modernity. MORE THAN JUST BOOKS: PRINTING IN GLASGOW

1 DEC-6 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

In the 19th and 20th Century’s newspapers, periodical production and printing for business were major enterprises, operating large printing offices in the city and employing many people.

Tramway

LUCY BEECH: REPRODUCTIVE EXILE

1 DEC-10 FEB 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A documentary fiction on the theme of transnational assisted conception, focusing on the movement of bodies and bio-genetic substances across borders in what has come to be known as ‘reproductive exile’. CÉCILE B. EVANS: AMOS’ WORLD

14 DEC-17 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

This exhibition represents Cécile B. Evans most ambitious installation to date and constitutes the culmination of a three-part installation and video work titled AMOS’ WORLD (2017-ongoing).

EDWIN G. LUCAS: AN INDIVIDUAL EYE

100 YEARS OF SCOTTISH POTTERY 1740-1840 1 DEC-24 FEB 19, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Featuring examples of 18th and early 19th century Scottish East Coast pottery from Scotland’s foremost private collection.

National Museum of Scotland

The first major exhibition to focus on this unusual and enigmatic artist and one of the most unique Scottish painters of the 20th century, featuring over sixty artworks from public and private collections.

1 DEC-24 FEB 19, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

1 DEC-17 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

LEON MORROCCO RSA RGI: FROM NORTH TO SOUTH

ROBERT BLOMFIELD: EDINBURGH STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

The exhibition displays a selection of Robert Blomfield’s stunning private archive, documenting the dramatic shifts taking place in Scotland’s urban landscape during the 1960s. ANOTHER COUNTRY

1 DEC-17 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Another Country examines contemporary immigration to Scotland, exploring themes of integration, nationality and identity.

Dovecot Studios BATHS TO BOBBINS: 10 YEARS AT INFIRMARY STREET

1-31 DEC, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

Celebrating 10 years of weaving in the Infirmary Street Baths, Dovecot will share some memories on the Tapestry Studio Viewing Balcony, open from 12-3pm Mon-Fri and 10.30am-5.30pm on Saturday. LIBERTY ART FABRICS & FASHION

1 DEC-12 JAN 19, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, £4.50

Dovecot Gallery brings to Scotland a major retrospective celebrating the innovative retailer and design studio Liberty London. Featuring over 100 garments and fabrics spanning 140 years, this exhibition explores how textiles bring art into everyday life. THE SCOTTISH DEPARTMENT STORE

1-31 DEC, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

Dovecot Studios have teamed up with Historic Environment Scotland and the SCRAN and Canmore online archives to bring together an exhibition of historic images of Scottish department stores from across the decades.

Edinburgh Printmakers DELUGE

Exhibition highlighting some of National Museums Scotland’s recent acquisitions, several of which will be on display for the first time.

Open Eye Gallery

1-22 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

In an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper, Leon Morrocco takes us on a journey from the cold harbours around his childhood home of Dundee to the blissful heat of the Mediterranean. PAUL FURNEAUX RSA: BETWEEN MOMENTS

1-22 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of semi-abstract and contemplative works in the Japanese woodblock technique of Mokuhanga, by renowned artist and printmaker Paul Furneaux. ON A SMALL SCALE

1-22 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Placing the most established names in Scottish art alongside artists at the beginning of their careers, the exhibition celebrates the scope of contemporary art in Scotland.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA

JOHN BYRNE RSA: ROGUES’ GALLERY

1-23 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of new paintings, drawings, prints and objects by one of Scotland’s most celebrated working artists, John Byrne.

Scottish National Gallery

PIN-UPS: TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND THE ART OF CELEBRITY

1 DEC-20 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, £8 - £10

Pin-Ups: Toulouse-Lautrec and the Art of Celebrity will be the first exhibition held at the National Galleries of Scotland devoted to the art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). The exhibition will focus on Toulouse-Lautrec’s lithographic posters, portfolio prints and illustrations which made stars of Montmartre’s venues and their entertainers - personalities such as Yvette Guilbert, Jane Avril and Aristide Bruant.

Transmission Gallery

1-22 DEC, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

1-8 DEC, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Scottish National Gallery Embassy Gallery of Modern Art ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: DANIEL

UNTOUCHABLE GYPSY WITCH BY DELAINE LE BAS

The installations, photography, film and performance of Delaine Le Bas visualise, wrestle with, and interrogate the idea of being a minority within a minority; the other within the others; an outsider amongst the outsiders.

Edinburgh Art Arusha Gallery JULIE AIREY

1-21 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Julie Airey will present a new body of work featuring painting and installation, exploring human fragility.

DELUGE, curated by artist David Faithfull, is the final show of Edinburgh Printmakers at Union Street, before the new gallery and studio space opens at Castle Mills in Fountainbridge in spring 2019.

TWIST

1 DEC-18 JAN 19, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

EMBASSY has invited Daniel Twist to contribute toward their discussion and application of ideas through a residency-style project.

Ingleby Gallery ANDREW CRANSTON: BUT THE DREAM HAD NO SOUND

1-21 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The largest exhibition of Andrew Cranston’s work to date, accompanied by a 164pp publication, available for purchase, featuring an interview between the artist and his friend and colleague, painter Peter Doig.

NOW: MONSTER CHETWYND, MOYNA FLANNIGAN, HENRY COOMBES, BETYE SAAR, WAEL SHAWKY

1 DEC-28 APR 19, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

At the centre of the fourth instalment of the NOW series of contemporary art exhibitions at Modern One is a major survey of work by the Turner Prize nominated artist Monster Chetwynd.

ANDY WARHOL AND EDUARDO PAOLOZZI: I WANT TO BE A MACHINE

1 DEC-2 JUN 19, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Taking its theme from a muchquoted remark by Andy Warhol, this exhibition examines Warhol’s and Paolozzi’s work, showing how they captured images from photography and advertisements.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery SCOTS IN ITALY

1 DEC-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. THE MODERN PORTRAIT

1 DEC-27 OCT 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A display collating paintings, sculptures and works from the Portrait Gallery’s twentiethcentury collection, feat. a variety of well-known faces, from Ramsay Macdonald to Alan Cumming, Tilda Swinton to Danny McGrain. REFORMATION TO REVOLUTION

1 DEC-1 APR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition examining the cultural consequences of the national religion becoming Protestantism in 16th century Scotland. HEROES AND HEROINES

1 DEC-31 MAY 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A re-examination of major Scottish figures which questions our habit of framing history around individuals and idols.

ART AND ANALYSIS: TWO NETHERLANDISH PAINTERS WORKING IN JACOBEAN SCOTLAND

1 DEC-26 JAN 20, TIMES VARY, FREE

A small exhibition focusing on two 17th century artists, Adrian Vanson and Adam de Colone, showcasing a group of paintings which have been examined by paintings conservator Dr Caroline Rae, along with the findings from her research. IN FOCUS: THE EXECUTION OF CHARLES I

1 DEC-26 JAN 20, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition centred around a painting of the execution of Charles I – based on eye-witness accounts and contemporary engravings – by an unknown Dutch artist. PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: TRANSPORTATION PHOTOGRAPHS FROM NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND

1 DEC-13 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Planes, Trains & Automobiles is the third in a series of thematic exhibitions exploring the exceptional permanent collection of photography at the National Galleries of Scotland.

THE REMAKING OF SCOTLAND | NATION, MIGRATION, GLOBALISATION 1760-1860

1 DEC-21 JUN 20, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition exploring the lives and careers of the Scots behind the period of dramatic change between 1760 and 1860, when Scotland rapidly attained a central role in European cultural life and in Britain’s industrial and imperial expansion. It documents the material and artistic benefits of their achievements, while also confronting the darker shadows they cast. BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2018

15 DEC-10 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

The most prestigious portrait painting competition in the world, representing the very best in contemporary portrait painting. Over the years, this has attracted over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries.

Stills

ANDRES SERRANO: TORTURE

1 DEC-3 MAR 19, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A curated exhibition of work by controversial artist Andres Serrano, featuring a selection of recent photographs from Serrano’s Torture series, commissioned by socio-political arts organization a/ political in 2015.

Summerhall

GRAEME TODD: STREET HERMIT

1-23 DEC, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Curated by Andrew Mummery, this exhibition is the first significant survey of Graeme Todd’s work to be presented in Scotland since his solo show at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh in 2000.

369 REMEMBERED - THE WOMEN 1-23 DEC, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

From the very start, without positive discrimination, the 369 Gallery showed equal numbers of male and female artists and this is primarily devoted to paintings by the female artists who exhibited at the 369 Gallery during the 1980s. VISIBLE GIRLS: REVISITED

1-21 DEC, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of photographs by Anita Corbin, which capture pivotal “coming of age” moments in the lives of 56 young women from different subcultures in 1981. INVISIBLE SPACES

1-21 DEC, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

As part of the Year of Young People, Historic Environment Scotland asked a group of 18-26 year olds to document the significant spaces that inform their identity, informing the creation and curation of a thought-provoking and timely exhibition. AILEEN KEITH: HEAD AND HAND

1 DEC-4 JAN 19, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

RSA Summerhall Exhibition Prize 2017 winner Aileen Keith presents a collection showcasing her interest in the process of remembering and forgetting, combined with the process of drawing, explored through an eclectic range of materials and methods.

Talbot Rice Gallery

TREMBLE TREMBLE / AT THE GATES

1 DEC-26 JAN 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Group exhibition At the Gates, which brings together artists whose voices have amplified the global struggle towards female self-empowerment, is shown alongside Jesse Jones’ performance installation Tremble Tremble.

The Fruitmarket Gallery EMMA HART: BANGER

1 DEC-3 FEB 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A major solo exhibition of the work of Emma Hart, and her first in Scotland. The exhibition will include the recent installation Mamma Mia!, made as part of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women which Hart won in 2016, and a major series of new work commissioned by and for the Fruitmarket.

Dundee Art

The McManus REVEALING CHARACTERS

1-31 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Part of a joint exhibition of selected works from the City’s permanent collection, Revealing Characters includes an array of portraits, which examine the construction of identity. PORTRAITURE

1-31 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

In the history of art, ‘the portrait’ has taken on many guises, from exact likenesses to abstract collections of ideas and emotions. Selected from the City’s permanent collection, this exhibition includes an array of portraits, which examines the construction of identity.

ARTIST ROOMS: LAWRENCE WEINER

1 DEC-17 FEB 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

This exhibition will bring together a cycle of wall texts from ARTIST ROOMS with a later wall piece and a selection of posters, drawings, artist books and ephemera from the Tate and The University of Dundee.

V&A Dundee MAEVE REDMOND

1 DEC-15 SEP 20, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A compelling piece of graphic design that unpacks the wider context around a 19th century trade catalogue by cast iron manufacturers Walter MacFarlane & Co. CIARA PHILLIPS

1 DEC-15 SEP 20, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A new commission, championing the often-unseen process of making by evoking a moment suspended in time where vital decisions about materials and their composition are made. SCOTTISH DESIGN RELAY

1 DEC-15 JAN 19, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

This exhibition charts the hurdles and lightbulb-moments of the design process through the research, sketches and prototypes made by the teams who took part in the Scottish Design Relay. SCOTTISH DESIGN GALLERIES

1 DEC-15 SEP 20, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Explore the everyday relevance of design and how it improves our lives, experience the processes that underpin it and discover little-known stories of Scottish design with international impact. OCEAN LINERS: SPEED AND STYLE

1 DEC-24 FEB 19, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £6 - £12

Discover how ocean liners became one of the most powerful and admired symbols of 20th century modernity.

Cooper Gallery

BOW GAMELAN ENSEMBLE: GREAT NOISES THAT FILL THE AIR

1-15 DEC, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The first retrospective of influential artist collective Bow Gamelan Ensemble (Anne Bean, Paul Burwell, Richard Wilson).

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts MARGARET SALMON: HOLE

8 DEC-24 FEB 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Glasgow-based American artist and filmmaker, Margaret Salmon will present a new moving image work and installation commissioned specifically for Gallery 1 at DCA.

LORNA MACINTYRE: PIECES OF YOU ARE HERE

8 DEC-24 FEB 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

Scottish artist Lorna Macintyre’s first solo exhibition in a major UK institution will debut a new body of work commissioned specifically for Gallery 2 at DCA.

Generator Projects HU

1-15 DEC, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

hu focuses on the layered narratives inherent in the works of five Hungarian artists residing in the UK and attempts to capture the diaspora of these early-career artists focusing on shared common questions, interests, and motifs.

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