The Skinny North Sep/Oct 2016 by The Skinny

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September/October 2016 North Issue 40

NORTHERN LIGHTS THE PRINT PROJECT, COWTOWN, PINK KINK SHIELD PATTERNS, PSYCH FEST, PEANESS PLUS: Charlotte Church, Hollie McNish, Angel Olsen, Detroit Swindle, Lou Barlow, Frankie Cosmos, Ron Rash, Super Furry Animals & loads more inside

Photo: Olivia Rose

P.20 An Eye on Grime

P.29 Living in Mexico

P.66 Pedro Alomodóvar

P.26 Brian Finke

September/October 2016 I N D E P E N D E N T

C U LT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

Issue 40, Sep/Oct 2016 © Radge Media Ltd. Get in touch: E: hiya@theskinny.co.uk T: 0161 833 3124 P: The Skinny, Studio 104, Islington Mill, 1 james Street, Salford, M3 SHW The Skinny is distributing 38,000 copies across Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business are available. Get in touch to find out more.

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Editorial Commissioning Editor Film & Contributing Editor Events Editor Music Editor Art Books Clubs Comedy Deviance Fashion Food Theatre Travel

Lauren Strain Jamie Dunn Jess Hardiman WIll Fitzpatrick Sacha Waldron Holly Rimmer-Tagoe Daniel Jones John Stansfield Kate Pasola Alexandra Fiddes Lauren Phillips Jennifer Chamberlain Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Designer

Sarah Donley Kyle McPartlin

Sales Sales & Digital Marketing Analyst Sales Executive

Caroline Harleaux Issy Patience Mat Parry

General Manager

Kyla Hall

Editor-in-Chief Publisher

Rosamund West Sophie Kyle

Printed on 100% recycled paper

Contents

THE SKINNY

Contents UP FRONT Fury: We got it. 06 Chat & Opinion: Get yo’ horoscopes, your 08 last-minute news and a look ahead to November (wtf). Heads up: Your at-a-glance guide to cult12 ural happenings in September and October. EVENTS GUIDE

17 Art & Theatre: Your guide to the autumn’s unmissable exhibitions and shows.

18 Gigs: The best new music coming to a

venue near you; plus, chats with pop trio Peaness and Dinosaur Jr.’s Lou Barlow.

20 Clubs: The parties you shouldn’t miss this season, and a sneak preview of photography exhibition An Eye on Grime.

22 Comedy: If you only see one comedian this month, make it Simon Lomas.

23 Film & Books: As a live-soundtracked

screening of Hitchcock’s Psycho comes to Manchester, we look at its influence on cinema - plus, a rundown of the autumn’s best literature festivals.

LIFESTYLE

25 Food & Drink: It’s that time of year again: we’re launching The Skinny Food & Drink Survey 2017! Find out how you can take part.

29 Travel: Brexit got you plotting a move abroad? Here’s our guide to living in Mexico. 30 Deviance: Where mainstream pop once used female queerness solely to titillate straight men, Carly Rae Jepsen and other stars are beginning to reclaim the landscape. 32 Showcase: Marvel at the work of The Print Project, who make stunning art and design using technology that’s more than 500 years old. FEATURES premier post-punk idiosyncrats 35 Leeds’ Cowtown discuss new album Paranormal Romance, lazy journalism and the harsh lessons of touring.

Voice of her generation Hollie McNish 36 speaks to performer and activist

Charlotte Church about passion, politics and the creativity of kids.

38 Angel Olsen found the balance to con-

found her critics for a fourth time with new album My Woman - she chats about the process with us.

41 Taika Waititi takes a break from shooting Thor: Ragnarok to discuss his thrilling indie coming-of-age film Hunt for the Wilderpeople. 42 As a West African transposition of The

44 Why do we still think booze and com-

edy go hand-in-hand? Comedian Jayne Edwards considers the importance of the alcohol-free show as Women in Comedy festival tests out the format.

45 Acclaimed US author Ron Rash discusses drawing out the 'wonder' from a snarling modern America in his outstanding new work Above the Waterfall.

47 Why are economists topping the non-

fiction charts and what does that tell us about where our heads are at? Plus, who to see at Manchester Literature Festival.

48 We speak to emerging actor Michael

Barbieri about keeping it real in tender New York drama Little Men.

Tom Krell dives into the weird dreams and 51 holistic intentions behind Care, How To Dress Well's new album.

The native New Yorker behind music 52 project Frankie Cosmos, Greta Kline

conjures universal truths from minute details of daily life, and shares her fave BandCamp finds.

the UK’s biggest single survey of neon 55 As art opens in Blackpool, we consider the cultural history and enduring fascination of this alluring medium.

56 As Liverpool Psych Fest returns, we look at the city's long relationship with this most far-reaching of musical genres.

57 As Welsh heroes Super Furry Animals

prepare to headline Liverpool Psych Fest, guitarist Huw Bunford reflects on their formative years.

58 Liverpool band Pink Kink explain the

importance of fantastical, glittery stage personas.

60 With new album Mirror Breathing,

Manchester-based duo Shield Patterns enrich their electro template. They talk us though its creative development.

REVIEW

61 Music: Album reviews and guest selectors: your autumn listening, sorted.

64 Clubs: Theo Kottis chooses some

formative discs ahead of a date at The Warehouse Project.

65 Film: September and October in a cinema near you, reviewed.

66 DVD: As StudioCanal reissue some of

celebrated Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s early films, our Film ed wonders if these were actually his best works.

67 Books: This season’s reading rated. 68 Competitions: Win Dr Martens shoes and tickets to Women in Comedy festival.

69 Listings: What’s on and where, in Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.

79 Out back: Ahead of dates at 24 Kitchen

Street and Hidden, Detroit Swindle discuss paying homage to house music and a forthcoming release featuring a UK electronic icon.

Duchess of Malfi comes to Leeds, one writer considers the possibilities and pitfalls that come with reimagining the Western theatrical canon.

September/October 2016

Contents

Ear to the Ground

One writer argues for the need to listen

Street art by Phlegm, part of Cities of Hope, Manchester

Credit: Henrik Haven

e often complain of not being listened to in the North of England. Often we argue that we are being ignored by an aloof London-centric media and government. But the real question we perhaps should be asking ourselves is: are we listening to each other? It’s true that the North can be underestimated by the richer South of the UK, with less attention being paid to the concerns and wishes of our people. One state of affairs where this is evident is the ignorance of opposition to ‘DevoManc’, the imposed devolution deal to Greater Manchester central to the Conservatives’ Northern Powerhouse agenda, which seems as good an excuse to make our communities fend for themselves as it is an effort to empower them. However, this inattention also exists more locally.

Your North, your magazine The Skinny is seeking new voices

Track, a learning charity for disadvantaged adults and one of the building’s tenants, and painted a towering mural of a man in worn-in clothes with weathered hands, his head bowed and face obscured, leaning against a railing. The image is ambiguous; in keeping with Cities of Hope’s vision, it has been suggested that it's a contemplative piece, with the man thinking about the kind of life he wants in the future — while the artist himself titles the work Human Dignity Is Inviolable. To me though, it felt like an indictment; a universal image of the poor and precarious after years of punishing austerity: heads down and dog tired. In short, these feel like difficult times. The Skinny has always aimed to support voices that challenge the status quo, but until this point these voices have largely been limited to writing about the arts. From now on, we want to use this platform also to comment on, record and question the broader context in which we are living – in the North in particular, but wherever it matters to you. We have begun doing this online over the summer, with articles looking at (for example) the possible consequences of Brexit for local charities, and the problems of setting fire to £20 notes as cocktail garnishes in a city with some of the deepest deprivation in the UK (the notes are fake, but it’s the thought that counts). We want to hear from you on the urgent subjects in your area; we want to publish bold views and to celebrate the work of those fighting for them. Of course, writing alone isn’t enough, as observed in the other article on this page. But it’s a start. Right?

I’m a committed political activist in Manchester and a member of my party’s local committee, so I’m aware I’m perhaps unusually politically engaged, but one incident earlier this year brought this home to me particularly. A few months ago I sat through a sparsely attended party meeting – around ten people were there at most. Our discussion was a dry but necessary one, concerned with planning for the upcoming local elections, so in itself the turnout wasn’t surprising. When the meeting ended and we walked down to Piccadilly Gardens, we stumbled across a much larger protest which had been organised by unaffiliated local people. There were

speeches and a boombox, and it was clearly far more exciting. In that moment I realised my own awareness was extremely limited. It’s clear in the current political climate why people don’t believe that supporting a political party is for them, particularly if they’re made to feel that they aren’t knowledgeable or genteel enough to contribute. Brexit was, in part, a result of working-class communities rejecting the establishment after years of being ignored, having been allowed to develop the feeling that the European Union was not a party they were invited to. It’s notable that despite the North being a Labour stronghold, many towns outside of cosmopolitan centres ignored the party’s Remain position to vote Leave, no longer in tune with the middle-class professionals that represent them. The only people this remotely surprised were those who lived in those centres. Part of the reason for our being tone-deaf is that our social circles are becoming increasingly stunted, our perspectives skewed by the internet and social media. We choose our Facebook friends and the Twitter feeds we follow, leading to our experience becoming even more blinkered. This first became clear during the 2015 general election when many young people woke up stunned on the morning of 8 May, saying, “I don’t know anyone who voted Tory!” Even well-meaning people aren’t immune to this, engaging in fashionable ‘clicktivism’ such as changing our profile pictures temporarily to a ribbon or flag. We look to out-virtue each other, making a show of our support and our anger rather than actually going out, learning more about our communities and making the effort to help. Ultimately, we are far less motivated by politics than we are by our fellow human beings. Not long after Brexit, when the African Caribbean Care Group in Manchester’s multicultural area of Hulme was forced to close after a threatening phone call, people of all ages, classes and races publicly spoke and made a solidarity walk. This offered something promising and tangible. While political representation is invaluable, it’s therefore vital for us to get out of our halls and homes; to talk to those whose lives are different from our own and view their experiences with the same value. It’s only through this curiosity that we’ll come close to hearing the truth.

Get in touch: lauren@theskinny.co.uk

ON THE COVER: Hey! Colossus, by The Print Project for Golden Cabinet. theprintproject.co.uk Thanks to Giclee UK in Summerhall, Edinburgh for scanning in this beautiful print. gicleeuk.com

Human Dignity Is Inviolable by Case, part of Cities of Hope, Manchester

THE SKINNY

Credit: Henrik Haven

n the three years since we started publishing The Skinny in the North of England, a lot has changed. In 2014, Scotland saw 84% of its people answer the question of Scottish Independence – the biggest voter turnout in the UK since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1918. Though the result was No, the country emerged from the process with its political makeup completely transformed. In 2015, the Conservatives won the UK general election in the highest turnout for almost 20 years, breaking free of the coalition with the Lib Dems forged in 2010. In 2016, Britain voted by a narrow margin to leave the European Union. Since then, both main political parties have been embroiled in internal leadership contests and, in the case of Labour, a leadership election, with the rise of Jeremy Corbyn just months ago on a tide of popular support having met resistance within Parliament. Across Europe, right-wing parties are gaining support, and many people feel that the mood in the UK and EU is becoming more reactionary, more prejudiced and more fearful. Meanwhile in Manchester, where The Skinny office is based, we’ve watched the number of people living on the streets increase by visible increments. We walk to work past people sleeping under the scaffolding of billboards advertising new housing ‘concepts’, past homeless encampments being repeatedly moved on and past fences erected around derelict space to prevent them from resting there. Former chancellor George Osborne’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ initiative quickly found itself nicknamed the ‘Northern Poorhouse’, reflecting realities such as sky-rocketing foodbank usage. Exposing this great taboo of contemporary Manchester was a powerful image painted by the German graffiti artist Case on a building in the Northern Quarter this spring, as part of the Cities of Hope project – an international scheme that asks some of the world’s leading street artists to respond to the work of different social justice organisations. Case was paired with Back on

Words: Lauren Strain

“ We look to out-virtue each other rather than actually going out, learning more about our communities and making the effort to help”

Words: Chris Ogden

Graphic Content C

omics fans will gather in Leeds in November for the tenth anniversary of Thought Bubble festival – the UK’s biggest celebration of sequential art, from superheroes to small press and beyond. Whether you know your Robert Kirkman from your Jeffrey Brown isn’t the point: beginners are encouraged to dive in and join the fun, with a wide range of celebrity guests, exhibitors and forums on offer. This year’s event also plays host to the fifth annual British Comic Awards, and there’s even a chance to win a writing gig with legendary sci-fi weekly 2000 AD, widely renowned for its ongoing Judge Dredd series and former home to the likes of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. To give you a taste of the treats in store, we’ve collected work by some of our favourite artists at this year’s event. Birmingham-based Sarah Graley is the artist/ writer of Rick and Morty spin-off Lil’ Poopy Superstar, published by Oni Press for Adult Swim – her own title Our Super Adventure also saw her nominated for Emerging Talent at the British Comic Awards in 2015.

sarahgraley.com

Al Davison is best known for his graphic autobiography The Spiral Cage, originally published in 1988. Currently residing in Coventry, he’s hard at

work on upcoming sequel Muscle Memory, supported by Patreon, and will be appearing at Though Bubble this year alongside collaborator Yen Quach. @theastralgypsy

Canadian artist/writer Faith Erin Hicks worked in animation before moving into comics full-time in 2008. Since then she’s won an Eisner Award for The Adventures of Superhero Girl in 2014, and recently published the debut volume of her Nameless City project with First Second Books.

From Rick and Morty: Li’l Poopy Superstar #1 (Oni Press)

Credit: art: Sarah Graley, colours: Mildred Louis

Words: Will Fitzpatrick

faitherinhicks.com

James Turner won the 2015 British Comic Award for Best Young Persons’ Comic thanks to his strip Star Cat, which appears in weekly children’s comic The Phoenix. He is also the creator of acclaimed webcomic The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve. eruditebaboon.co.uk Thought Bubble 2016, Leeds, 1-6 Nov; the convention takes place at Leeds Dock, 5 & 6 Nov, weekend tickets £26, day tickets £16 We’ll be publishing the best in local graphic art at The Skinny over the coming months. If you’re an artist working in the North, we’d love to see your work! Send us a link via Twitter at @TheSkinnyNorth or find ‘The Skinny North’ on Facebook and drop us a message

September/October 2016

Credit: Al Davison

From Nameless City

Credit: Faith Erin Hicks

Credit: James Turner

thoughtbubblefestival.com

From Muscle Memory

Comic

Shout Outs Back to Basics gets a new home Leeds’ legendary club night Back to Basics opens its very own venue this autumn, marking the club’s 25th anniversary year. Church is both a club and a music academy, situated in St David’s Church, Woodhouse Lane, with the Basics Music Academy housed in the vicarage to the rear. There’ll also be food and drink, and the Basics crew hope the venue will come to be used as an all-round creative space; as head honcho Dave Beer christened it, “For the beloved congregation of the city of Leeds, I give you Church, our new home.” To keep up with opening details, head to facebook.com/churchleeds

Crystal Balls

fresh talent. For more information check out otrmcr.com Don’t miss Leeds International Film Festival LIFF30 launches on 6 Oct at it's original home, the mighty Hyde Park Picture House, with a special event to celebrate the fest’s 30th anniversary which’ll include a feature-length trailer reel previewing the films showing at the festival. The festival itself runs 3-17 Nov, presenting the best new and classic cinema from around the world.

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New to Leeds, Liverpool or Manchester? If you’re a student and new to your city, then you’re in luck: The Skinny Student Handbook is published in September, offering insider guides to the best music, clubs, food and drink and general all-round fun in your area. Pick up a free copy in a venue near you - it’s a great way to get acquainted with the scene and find out how you can make the most of your new home.

Taken from our Instagram, Follow The Skinny on Insta! @theskinnymag

Go to leedsfilm.com from 6 Oct to see the full programme and keep an eye on theskinny.co.uk/ film for coverage.

Support Islington Mill We’d like to bring your attention to a fundraising programme for Salford’s amazing arts club, Islington Mill. The Mill is embarking on a £2.5million renovation and refurbishment plan to secure its The Skinny: at a venue near you! independent future, including installing an urgentThe Skinny will be celebrating our new North issue ly needed roof and transforming the currently derelict fifth floor and attic space to create eight with parties in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds. Artist and Maker Residence Spaces, the first of You can find out more about the ace festival in their kind in the Northwest. To unlock the funding Manchester that we’re partnering, Stay Fresh promised towards the project by Arts Council Fest (The Deaf Institute, 24 Sep), on page 18 with England, Salford City Council and other benefacour Peaness interview, and about our film tors, the Mill now needs to raise a final £735,000 screenings at Liverpool Small Cinema (14 & 28 – which is where you come in. Sep) on page 23. But you can also come find us at The first stage of the Mill’s own fundraising Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds, on 21 Sep, where campaign will be artist Maurice Carlin’s we’ll be drinking and dancing the night away with Temporary Custodiansproject, a sale of an Now Wave, Superfriendz and Beacons Metro DJs, artwork installation consisting of 100 unique plus enjoying some grub from Patty Smith's limited edition prints taken directly from the Burgers and Dough Boys Pizza. Come one, come derelict fifth floor surface of Islington Mill. All all. funds from sales of these pieces will go towards the fundraising total – and by purchasing a print, Off the Record Festival comes to buyers contribute to the future of the Mill both by Manchester The Skinny will also be gearing up to be one of the donating money and by becoming a ‘temporary custodian’ via the artwork. To find out more, go to curators for Off The Record (4 Nov), a new music islingtonmill.com and mauricecarlin.com event and conference in Manchester celebrating

With Mystic Mark ARIES Our God is a nerd god – the universe He made is all about geek subjects like mathematics and science. Not like the cool Gods out there who built entire universes out of sport, leather jackets, hair gel, and cigarettes. TAURUS You should really keep a pen around for making notes while working at the tattoo parlour. Your arms and the bodies of most of your clients are covered in hasty scribbles like ‘GET MILK’ and ‘CALL DAVE RE: DISHWASHER’. Most memo pads angrily walk out of the shop taking your lists with them. GEMINI Useful tip: those rolled up paper tubes you use to snort cocaine powder into your skull are in fact worth quite a bit and can be traded in for more cocaine with your local cocaine stockist. CANCER This September, to celebrate the anniversary of your divorce, you and your ex meet at the restaurant for a candle-lit argument.

VIRGO Next time you put the plates in the oven to heat up a little before serving, why not stick the knives and forks in there to add an interesting talking point at the start of the meal as everyone yelps and whines and writhes around in delicious agony. LIBRA Your friends and family gather around the TV to watch your appearance on this week’s Embarrassing Bodies: “Why do maggots drop out of my pants everytime I take my cock out?” SCORPIO This month you try to put in more hours at work so you can spend less time with your family. SAGITTARIUS It’s really amazing to think that someone somewhere right this minute is having their head crushed in a vice. CAPRICORN Life is like the quote ‘life is like a box of chocolates.’ It’s short, trite, and meaningless. AQUARIUS This month you miss your train, and your boat, and your plane. You miss all of the expensive vehicles Daddy bought for you before his Ponzi scheme went bust and he fled abroad with his tiny new wife.

LEO This month biologists discover that all animals are made out of one of the three basic types of meat. Dogs for instance PISCES are made out of beef, cats out of Paleontologist is just a fancy word for a chicken, and of course snakes are made monster scientist. of pork. God makes those just like sausages, filling up a new snake skin with twitter.com/themysticmark freshly churned pork meat before tying a facebook.com/themysticmark knot in the end, gluing on a pair of eyes and letting it wriggle off into reality.

Spot the Difference A Pair of Puffins On the bill this month we’ve got two almost identical specimens with a beak full of treats. Have good hard look for any notable differences – you could end up winning a copy of Spark’s Europe by Muriel Spark.

By Jock Mooney 8

Chat

It’s a toughie, but even if you're left huffin’ and puffin, we'd encourage you to simply wing it – we’re preying for you. Take the bait ASAP, because your chance to land a tasty new read will disappear in a puff(in) of smoke.

Competition closes at midnight on Sun 2 Oct. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

THE SKINNY

We’re Breaking Up It’s not us, it’s them. Words: Martyn Young

fear Keith will keep on rocking into eternity. C’mon, this has to end at some point... Doesn’t it? The Cure Formed: 1977 Should have broken up in: 2000 It’s a tragedy, but it’s true. Once creative cultural forces, all your long established heritage bands will – one day – become a museum piece, consistantly producing diminishing musical returns. The Cure are one of the greatest bands of all time – but now, nothing feels quite right. The songs are still there, the fans are still there, Robert Smith’s hair is still there, but the magic is long since gone.

n the middle of August’s festival cycle, The Maccabees said, “You know what? We’re done.” They’ve had a decent run, so why call it quits? The Skinny reckons the indie Londoners did something more bands should do; the honourable thing. The right thing. They recognised that they’ve given all that they’ve got, and now they’ve gone home. Here’s a list of bands we wish wouldn’t continue to over stay their welcome.

Primal Scream Formed: 1982 Should have broken up in: 2001 It’s painful to think that the same band who made the spleen venting, frenzied electro punk of XTRMTR were having a jolly good country rock hoe-down on the excruciating Country Girl just 6 years later, but there you go. Let Bobby Gillespie and gang be a warning to you all.

The Rolling Stones Formed: 120 AD Should have broken up in: No time in the last 41 years would have been too soon. This one’s a no-brainer. They’ll clearly never find that satisfaction that they so loudly crave, and we

The Libertines Formed: 1997 Should have (stayed) broken up in: 2002 The good ship Albion is tattered and rusted, and the Libertines myth has evaporated into patchy solo careers, Pete Doherty’s inexplicable type-

writer collection and a lukewarm reunion that gamely tried to recapture past glories. Instead, Pete, Carl, Gary and John look – and sound – like a band out of time. Camden’s not cool any more. Have you heard Gunga Din? The Strokes Formed: 2000 Should have broken up in: 2003 (2006 if we’re generous) Imagine how annoying it must be to have people CONSTANTLY. BANGING. ON. about Is This It. It’s a close-to-perfect debut album, sure, but The Strokes could remake a glorious interpretive mash up of Dark Side Of The Moon and Pet Sounds, and you’d still get whingers crying on. “When are you going to do another Last Nite?” Their hearts clearly aren’t in it anymore, and we can’t blame them. Bloc Party Formed: 2003 Should have broken up in: 2007 Forget Silent Alarm, it’s 2016 and Bloc Party bears almost no resemblance to the band that were once so invigorating. Since a multitude of breakups and misguided side projects, Bloc Party resemble a punctured balloon with the air slowly leaking from it. * See also: Kaiser Chiefs; Stone Roses; Catfish and the Bottlemen; Kings of Leon; Courtney Love; anything involving a Gallagher.

Shot Of The Month

Photo: Beth Chalmers

Julianna Barwick at Deaf Institute, Manchester, 23 Aug, by Nick Bodjo

Online Only Ahead of Stay Fresh festival on 24 September, we’re helping you get to know each of the bands on the bill. Head to the website for chats with The Pictish Trail, Catholic Action, Kyotoya, and Ethan & The Reformation. Elsewhere, we talk pop with Glasgow girl band Teen Canteen and the now-legendary Teenage Fanclub, and look out for our weekly gig guides for the best live music across the North. theskinny.co.uk/music

Read our takes on Manchester’s first cat cafe and the Salford bar burning (fake) money as cocktail garnish, and get some expert Leeds tips from Tall Boys Beer Market in our Food Chain series. Oh, and we’ve a whole host of local guides to sink your teeth into, from vegan food and late-night guides to Liverpool and Manchester, to a comprehensive Bradford curry guide. theskinny.co.uk/food

Check out our weekly clubs guides, with our picks of the best club nights in Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. theskinny.co.uk/clubs

September/October 2016

Opinion

Red Bull Music Academy UK Tour

Liverpool 06

Thursday October

DIGITAL SOUL BOYS

SG Lewis, Suedebrown & Special Guest: Jamie Woon Show

CREDIT TO THE EDIT

Greg Wilson, Henry Greenwood, Peza & Derek Kaye Club Night

07 Friday October

A CONVERSATION WITH KREPT & KONAN Lecture

FUTURE SOUNDS OF HIP-HOP

Krept & Konan, Rejjie Snow, Loyle Carner, Suicideyear, Siobhan Bell & No Fakin’ DJs Show

Show details* and tickets at: uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com * shows/details subject to change

07 Friday October

Saturday October

09 Sunday October

IMMORTAL SOUNDS OF HIP-HOUSE Kenny Dope, Kidkanevil & No Fakin’ DJs Club Night

CLUB COSMOS

Stargazing for the Post-Disco Generation with Moodymann, Hunee B2B Young Marco, Sassy J & Or:la Special

RHYMEANTICS

D Double E curates an exploration of rhyme and the spoken word with AJ Tracey, Big Zuu, Dave, Footsie, Jammz, Lady Leshurr, Ocean Wisdom & Tommy Genesis Special

Leeds 27

Thursday October

AN EYE ON GRIME

A new photography and film exhibition curated by Hattie Collins that explores how Grime has been documented since its inception. Featuring; Cleveland Aaron, Ewan Spencer, Lord of the Mics, Olivia Rose, Practice Hours, Risky Roadz, Ruben Dangoor, Simon Wheatley, Tim + Barry & Vicky Grout Special

28 Friday October

FORM & FUNCTION

An all-Berlin techno takeover featuring Marcel Dettmann plus support from Objekt, Call Super and Laurel Halo Club Night

Saturday October

30 Sunday October

DISCOPOLIS

DJ Harvey returns alongside the new generation’s finest. With Leon Vynehall, Job Jobse, Palms Trax Club Night

STUDIO SCIENCE WITH SHURA

From her bedroom in West London to headline tours and festivals worldwide, Shura sits down to share an intimate workshop. Workshop

IT FOLLOWS - LIVE SCORE

A special live-scored screening of indiehorror smash, ‘It Follows’, featuring Disasterpeace. Arranged by Emma Jean Thackray and hosted by Gareth Averill Special

#RBMAUKTOUR 11

Compiled by: Jess Hardiman

As the sun bows out, autumn proves itself the more reliable scorcher – with Liverpool Psych Fest, Leeds International Beer Festival, the Warehouse Project and many more events to keep you occupied across September and October.

Head to Head

In the film world, September = Scalarama, the annual nationwide celebration of cinema that brings like-minded people together through screenings and events. Head to Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, Liverpool Small Cinema and HOME in Manchester (among others) for films both old and new, widely loved and underappreciated. 1-30 Sep, nationwide, times and prices vary

Castlefield Gallery welcomes Greek artist Vasilis Asimakopoulos and Berlinbased Christian Falsnaes for the venue's annual Head to Head exhibition (and, for Falsnaes, his first time exhibiting in the UK). The two will – one after the other – explore their shared interests in the nature of participation, event and social ritual in an exhibition context. 2 Sep-6 Nov, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, free Christian Falsnaes, Rise, 2014 (video still)

HOME

Yorkshire Whisky Festival

Lap up the last droplets of summer with outdoor screenings of Dirty Dancing, Top Gun and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, courtesy of The Luna Cinema. Don't forget the blankets, though – it is an English summer after all. 9-11 Sep, Tatton Park, Cheshire, 6pm, £13.50

Here's one for the boozehounds, as Yorkshire Whisky Festival returns to lift those September spirits. Tickets include a tasting glass, a bottle of water and unlimited access to all whiskies excluding the rarer 'under the counter' drams, and exhibitors include Few, Laphroaig, Nikka, The Lakes Distillery and many more. 10 Sep, York Racecourse, 11am, £27.50-£50

Sara Pascoe

Photo: Ed Moore

Top Gun

Liverpool Biennial curator tour

Photo: Steffen Appel

Outdoor screenings at Luna Cinema

Manchester Vegan Beer Festival

The UK's funniest descend on the North this September for Liverpool Comedy Festival, which offers more than 100 shows in 25 venues across Liverpool and Merseyside. Names to look out for include Romesh Ranganathan, Simon Munnery, Sara Pascoe and Ed Aczel. 16 Sep-2 Oct, Liverpool, various venues, times and prices

Join anti-oppression collective Fat Gay Vegan for a beer festival with a difference, as Manchester Vegan Beer Festival brings the crueltyfree bevs our way. Along with drinks from names including Pitfield Brewery, there will also be fine vegan scran from the 'Mother May I' truck and, of course, Manchester's vegan junkfood purveyors V Revolution. 17-18 Sep, Islington Mill, Salford, 12pm, £4

Romesh Ranganathan

Photo: David Welbeloved

Morley Arts Festival enters its 11th year this month, promising 17 days of art, live music, spoken word and more. Standout events include an evening with Simon Armitage (and a writing masterclass with him beforehand), an appearance from John Cooper Clarke and performances of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads series. 23 Sep-9 Oct, Leeds, various venues, times and prices

Chat

Islington Mill

John Cooper Clarke

Richard Dawson

Apostille

Photo: John Graham

Akram Khan's Giselle

Photo: Chris Thompson

Total Inertia festival

Lucy Beech, Passive Aggressive, 2015

Morley Arts Festival

Celebrate life on two wheels while also doing some good with the Big Leeds Bike Ride, which raises money for Leeds Children's Hospital through a choice of 100-mile, 100km or 50km routes along country roads taking in the stunning Yorkshire landscape. 18 Sep, start in Roundhay Park, Leeds, 7am, £19-£24

Leeds has itself a threeday DIY festival dedicated entirely to rousing experimental music in Total Inertia, which features progressive stuff from avant troubadour Richard Dawson, Leeds' psychedelic drone ensemble h, Rotterdam quartet Sweat Tongue, the hyperenegetic Apostille (aka Michael Kasparis) and many more. 23-25 Sep, Wharf Chambers, Leeds, 7pm, £31

As 2016's Liverpool Biennial art festival inches towards its final month, take a chance to see how it has filtered out from the galleries and into unused buildings, Chinese supermarkets, Arriva city buses and more with a curator tour of the festival's public spaces. 10 Sep, meet outside Cain's Brewery, Liverpool, 3pm, free (booking required)

Liverpool Comedy Festival

Big Leeds Bike Ride

Vasilis Asimakopoulos, Hide 2, 2015

Celebrated choreographer Akram Khan conjures up a new production for English National Ballet of Giselle, a classical ballet about love and betrayal. Not only is this Khan's first full-length ballet, but its run in Manchester also marks its world premiere. Composer Vincenzo Lamagna completes the package with an adaptation of the original score, performed live by the ENB Philharmonic. 27 Sep-1 Oct, Palace Theatre, Manchester, 7.30pm, £12-£54.25

SEPTEMBER

Giselle Rehearsals

THE SKINNY

Photo: Hugo Glendenning

Heads Up

Scalarama

A Streetcar Named Desire

HOME cinema celebrates the melodrama and screwball comedy of one of Spain's most venerated filmmakers with a Pedro Almodóvar film season. Expect to see gems from his back catalogue including Dark Habits, What Have I Done to Deserve This?! and Matador. 3-19 Sep, HOME, Manchester, times and prices vary What Have I Done to Deserve This?!

Leeds International Beer Festival It's time for the fifth annual Leeds International Beer Festival, a four-day celebration of craft beer from both here in the UK and overseas. Along with hundreds of beers and ciders, expect a dedicated street food market and live music across two stages. 8-11 Sep, Leeds Town Hall, times vary, £6-£60

Catch Maxine Peake in the iconic role of Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prizewinning masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire, which sees the Kowalskis' seemingly sturdy domestic bliss torn apart by a fragile family member who ignites bullish behaviour in the man of the house. 8 Sep-15 Oct, The Royal Exchange, Manchester, 7.30pm (2.30pm matinees available), £5-£16.50

Tracey Emin's My Bed

Ramsbottom Festival

Seize the opportunity to see one of contemporary art's most iconic pieces in Tate Liverpool's new exhibition, Tracey Emin and William Blake: In Focus, at the heart of which you'll find Emin's My Bed – on display in the North for the first time. You'll also get to unearth some surprising parallels with 18thcentury poet and artist William Blake. From 16 Sep, Tate Liverpool, free

Bringing a roster of great musicians from near and far to the outskirts of Manchester, Ramsbottom Festival returns this month with world-renowned types like Fun Lovin' Criminals, Public Service Broadcasting and Gaz Coombes, alongside celebrated local heroes such as Horsebeach, The Travelling Band and LIINES. 16-18 Sep, Ramsbottom Cricket Club, times vary, £28-£75

Tracey Emin, My Bed, 1996

Magic Rock Beer

Maxine Peake

Horsebeach

Liverpool Food and Drink Festival

Wolf Alice

September/October 2016

Liverpool Food and Drink Festival

The almighty Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia (or Psych Fest for short) is back for more swirling cosmic goodness, this time from Super Furry Animals, The Horrors, Acid Mothers Temple, Demdike Stare, The Wytches, Father Murphy and many more – plus a virtual reality collaboration between SFA's Pete Fowler and artists Draw&Code. FACT Picturehouse will also be hosting its own Psychedelia in Film season, screening flicks inspired by the festival. 23-24 Sep, Camp and Furnace, Liverpool, 3pm, £40-£80

Moderat

The Wytches

The Horrors

ENRG

Manchester Food and Drink Festival Albert Square comes to life with its tastiest highlight of the year, Manchester Food and Drink Festival. Along with a whole host of street food, drink and live music options, beyond the festival hub you'll also find The Hidden Banquets, a series of feasts at the Old Fire Station on London Road, and a 'Binner Party' from The Real Junk Food Project. 29 Sep10 Oct, Manchester, various venues, times and prices

Celebrate some of the region's finest culinary stars with the return of Liverpool Food and Drink Festival, which offers food from Neon Jamon, Piggie Smalls, Chicha, Maray and Lucha Libre along with booze and coffee from heavy hitters like Black Lodge Brewery, Hoxton Cidersmiths, Red Door, Dead Crafty Beer and Bold Street Coffee. 17-18 Sep, Sefton Park, Liverpool, 10.30am, £5.50-£7.50

Liverpool Psych Fest

The Warehouse Project The North's most iconic clubbing series kicks off its 2016 season, which this year features the likes of M.I.A., Moderat, Bonobo, Jon Hopkins, Danny Brown, DJ Shadow, Four Tet and many more heavyweights of the electronic realm. That's right: it's time to party at The Warehouse Project. 23 Sep-1 Jan, Store Street and additional venues, Manchester, various times and prices

Photo: Jordan Curtis Hughes

The stunning Roundhay Park hosts a major live music event for the first time in ten years, as it welcomes the inaugural edition of OnRoundhay, a music, food and family entertainment festival. Closing the summer season with a bang will be James, Primal Scream, Wolf Alice, Max Jury and The Haggis Horns, along with celebrity chefs, cookery demos and street food. 17 Sep, Roundhay Park, Leeds, 12pm, £45

Photo: Sam Huddleston

Primal Scream

Photo: Colin Macdonald

OnRoundhay Festival

The Kazimier's new venue in the North Docklands, the Invisible Wind Factory plays host to yet more mysterious happenings with ENRG, a sequence of electronic experiences, each honing in on a form of energy. As you'd expect from the Kaz crew, it's all very elusive, and we're all very intrigued... 30 Oct, Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool, 10pm, £TBA

Manchester Food and Drink Festival

SEPTEMBER

Diamond Dogs

Invisible Wind Factory

Chat

Photo: Solen Collet

Pedro Almodóvar film season

Following the success of their Unseen Places series, clubbing staple Meine Nacht return for a one-off special with two Liverpool debuts: one from German techno head Florian Kupfer, the other from Deejay Astral (aka Palace, aka Sam Walker). 1 Oct, venue TBA, Liverpool, 10pm, £15

Love Arts Festival

Indy Man Beer Con

An annual event highlighting mental wellbeing in Leeds through creativity and craft, Love Arts Festival adopts the theme of 'I Am' for its sixth year, inviting people to think about their own identity in a fun and artistic way. The programme boasts everything from photography workshops and artist talks to a huge conference and open-submission group exhibition. 5-20 Oct, Leeds, various venues, times and prices vary

Take a dip in Manchester's historic swimming baths as they're brought back to life with a liquid far superior to H2O – that's right, it's the return of Indy Man Beer Con, a contemporary beer festival combining great breweries from the UK and beyond with street food, DJs and other such nice things. 6-9 Oct, Victoria Baths, Manchester, times and prices vary

Manchester's Northern Quarter is filled with events dedicated to radical and creative women, as Ladyfest MCR takes over for the weekend. Expect live music, workshops, films and stalls, all bound by a strong feminist ethos and a desire to bring about social change. 7-9 Oct, Manchester, various venues, times and prices vary

Honeychild Coleman

Photo: Tyrone Brown Osborne

Ladyfest MCR

FADoubleGOT

Photo: Mark West

Meine Nacht

Neighbourhood Festival

Liverpool Fashion Week

A new metropolitan music festival for Manchester, Neighbourhood Festival sets its own bar nice and high with the likes of Circa Waves, Twin Atlantic, Rae Morris, Kate Nash, Lonely the Brave, Little Comets, Girlfriend, Babeheaven, Jazz Purple and many more – all taking over several of the city's favourite gig-holes like the Deaf Institute and Sound Control. 8 Oct, Manchester, various venues, times vary £30

Billing itself as the biggest fashion event outside of London, Liverpool Fashion Week promotes both inclusivity and individuality within the style world – an ethos that the runways of fashion capitals ain't exactly famed for. Along with couture, plussize, new talent, international and independent showcases, there's also a closing party at Nova 48. 10-13 Oct, The Liner Hotel, Liverpool, 6pm, £10/night

Twin Atlantic

Southport Comedy Festival

The Cocktail Experience

Join comedic big 'uns Sam Simmons, Jo Caulfield, Russell Kane, Jason Byrne, Paul Sinha, Tanyalee Davis and others as they bring the LOLs to Southport Comedy Festival, which also invites fresh local talent to battle it out and become the Southport New Comedian of the Year. 1323 Oct, Southport, various venues, times and prices

Heavyweights of the thriving Leeds bar scene are coming together under one roof for The Cocktail Experience, a new homage to the world of mixology. Whether it's a classic staple or a future favourite you're after, The Maven, The Hedonist Project, Pintura and other wellknown joints will be shaking up their best creations... and all you have to do is drink 'em. 14 Oct, Aspire, Leeds, 6.30pm, £15

Sam Simmons

Women in Comedy

Musicport

We once said that Women in Comedy was one of the UK's best comedy festivals, and we still very much stand by that as it enters its fourth edition this October with a line-up including Fern Brady, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Harriet Dyer, Hayley Ellis, Katie Mulgrew, Barbara Nice and many more bloody brilliant women. 20-30 Oct, Manchester, various venues, times and prices vary

It'll be well worth heading out to the North Yorkshire coast for Musicport, a three-day indoor festival featuring performances from around the globe, with classic rockers The Blockheads, South Africa's The Mahotella Queens, a DJ set from Don Letts, Icelandic outfit Árstíðir, Black Umfolosi from Zimbabwe, Lemn Sissay and many, many more on the bill. It's not just about fish and chips out there, y'know. 21-23 Oct, Whitby Pavilion, times and prices vary

Barbara Nice

Kiri Pritchard Mclean

Liverpool Music Week

Chat

Liverpool Music Week

Tame Impala

Photo: Jon Johnson

Beacons Metro

Photo: Jon Johnson

With creds as Europe's largest indoor winter music festival, Liverpool Music Week brings its A-game this year in the form of iconic horror filmmaker, John Carpenter, who headlines alongside a bill of Warpaint, Dinosaur Jr., Cat's Eyes, GoGo Penguin, Clean Cut Kid, She Drew the Gun and Louis Berry. 26 Oct 5 Nov Liverpool, various venues, times and prices vary (wristbands £50)

Kathryn Tickell and the Side

Trading in its autumn-towinter season format in favour of a focused week (or thereabouts) of live music, Beacons Metro returns to Leeds for more pop, experimental, psych, grime and techno sounds from rising names and old favourites such as Hookworms, Roots Manuva, Dinosaur Jr., Local Natives, Fucked Up, Lady Leshurr and Anna Meredith. 27 Oct-7 Nov, Leeds, Various venues, times and prices

OCTOBER

Dinosaur Jr

THE SKINNY

Light Night Leeds

Manchester Literature Festival

Prepare yourself for some serious twilight splendour with the 12th anniversary of Light Night Leeds, a multi-arts event that illuminates the city's darker hours with light projections, theatre, street performances, music, exhibitions, late openings and so much more across the city centre. 6 & 7 Oct, various venues, Leeds, 6-11pm, free

What would this month be if we didn't take a leaf from the boozy book of our Bavarian brethren? Indeed, Oktoberfest is upon us and in Leeds that means four days of authentic German beer, food and music – held, fittingly, in the city's favourite former brewery. 6-9 Oct, The Tetley, Leeds, times vary, from £8

Year on year, the programming for Manchester Literature Festival seems to outdo itself – and this edition ain't breaking the streak. You might want to catch literary behemoth Jonathan Safran Foer, who'll be in conversation with the equally first-rate Jeanette Winterson, though other exciting names include Alan Cumming (in Nov), Vivienne Westwood and Lionel Shriver. 7-23 Oct, Manchester, various venues, times and prices

Leeds Light Night

The Tetley

Journeys Festival

Design Manchester

Providing a platform for the powerful art, music and creativity that refugee artists bring to the UK, Journeys Festival International comes to Manchester. Among the live music, artist-led workshops, theatre, film and exhibitions, a highlight is Belarus Free Theatre's production Burning Doors, which features Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina. October, Manchester, festival schedule TBC, see: journeysfestival.com

Celebrating design and creativity, Design Manchester festival returns for another year with more than 30 events spanning talks, workshops, exhibitions (including Women in Print and letterpress artist Alan Kitching), a dedicated film season at HOME, a design fair at London Road Fire Station and the latest instalment of the Art Battle competition. 12-23 Oct, various venues, Manchester, times and prices vary

Burning Doors

Simon Armitage

Alan Kitching

Manchester Science Festival

Annual DIY music bash A Carefully Planned Festival swoops back in with another winning combo of established bands and rising stars from across the UK, including MOTHER, Cowtown, Joanna Gruesome, The Orielles, Fruit Bomb, Peaness, Lake Komo, Allusondrugs and Johnny Foreigner. We're hyped. 1516 Oct, Manchester, various venues and times, £20

Wolf Alice

September/October 2016

Manchester Science Festival

Doffing a cap to local and international indie cinema, No/ Gloss Film Festival champions the unconventional, underground and low-to-no budget, which we at The Skinny are also big fans of. There will also be a festival after party on Sat 23 Oct at a secret venue. 22-23 Oct, Canal Mills, Leeds, times and prices vary (weekend tickets £15-£24)

Now Wave All Dayer

Still from Soap

Still from The Desire of Seeing in the Dark

Psycho Live

Liverpool Disco Festival Get ready to fire up the D-IS-C-O at the Great Baltic Warehouse, New Bird Street Warehouse, Botanical Garden, Constellations and 24 Kitchen Street with the Liverpool Disco Festival – originally destined for one venue, but now a fullyfledged Baltic Triangle takeover with heroes of the genre like 70s group Odyssey. 29 Oct, various venues, Liverpool, 12pm, £40-£50

The largest festival of its kind in England, Manchester Science Festival marks its 10th anniversary this year, promising a programme that's 'part laboratory, part playground' including a rendition of the Star Wars soundtrack by the Hallé orchestra and music from electronic duo Public Service Broadcasting, who'll perform their second album The Race for Space in full for the first time. 20-30 Oct, Manchester, various venues, times and prices

No/Gloss Film Festival

Now Wave All Dayer Stalwarts of the Northern music scene, promoters Now Wave present the Now Wave All Dayer, taking over The White Hotel with a feast of delectable alt sounds from rising teenage duo Let's Eat Grandma, East London quintet Pumarosa (who we loved at this year's Sounds from the Other City festival, FYI) and more. 22 Oct, The White Hotel, Salford, 5pm, £10

Photo: Jordan Curtis Hughes

A Carefully Planned Festival

Peaness

Vivienne Westwood

DJ Louie Vega

OCTOBER

You'll find it hard to find an event more apt for the Halloween weekend than Psycho Live at Manchester's Albert Hall, where Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece, Psycho, is given the extra chilling touch by a live score from the classical prowess of Manchester Camerata. You can also catch it at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 31 Oct, while we're on the case. 30 Oct, Albert Hall, Manchester, 5pm/9pm, £30-£35

Alfred Hitchcock

Chat

Photo: Solen Collet

Oktoberfest at The Tetley

THE SKINNY

EV EN TS

Top Five: Beds in Art

Tracey Emin’s not the only person to use an art bed autobiographically. Bed Art is a much underrated genre in Art History that quite frankly deserves more funding. Here are a few of our favourite examples

her the Turner Prize) and evokes similar eerie domestic memories. Alison Watt is the epitome of Bed Art. Her entire career is based on painting bedsheets. The humans have departed but the crumpled sheets still allude to their forms. Sexual?

“ The humans have departed but the crumpled sheets still allude to their forms”

Tracey Emin, My Bed, 1996

an Goldin’s Nan and Brian in Bed, NYC formed the cover image of the Ballad of Sexual Dependency, her groundbreaking photography cycle documenting her chaotic life on New York’s Lower East Side in the early 80s. This is unflinching, seminal Bed Art.

Credit: Stan Chow

Credit: Rachel Whiteread Image courtesy: Tate

Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Air Bed II), 1992 Polyurethane rubber

West African reimagining of The Duchess of Malfi comes to Leeds' West Yorkshire Playhouse this September. Produced by Utopia Theatre, Iyalode of Eti (22-24 Sep) tells the story of a young chief who defies her brothers by marrying her lover. And it must be reimagination season at the Playhouse, as another original take on a classic lands at the venue a few days later in the form of Villette (24 Sep-15 Oct), Linda Marshall-Griffiths’ new vision of Charlotte Brontë’s 1853 novel. Part of a series of events celebrating the 200th anniversary of Brontë’s birth, Villette follows the quiet Lucy Snowe who, arriving at an archaeological site digging for the remains of the elusive Lady of Villette, must slowly open up to her co-workers. Closing October at Leeds Grand is a new staging by Opera North/Nederlandse Reisopera of Benjamin Britten’s psychological drama Billy Budd (18-29 Oct). Always a turbulent experience, this update from a cast of Britten experts promises to be extra intense. Theatre in Liverpool: legends and radicals The major show at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre this season is an energetic new production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona (5-29 Oct) directed by Nick Bagnall, who you may recall from his recent modern rethink (with poet Simon Armitage) of Homer’s The Odyssey. Look out, too, for a brave new piece from the Everyman/Playhouse’s youth arm: The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning,

The best autumn theatre in the North early November in the Studio. Elsewhere, Nina: A Story About Me and Nina Simone at Unity Theatre (15-29 Oct) is a rich tribute to the singer and activist by Olivier award-nominee Josette Bushell-Mingo, exploring Simone’s legacy beyond the music. Manchester: Fringe highlights and prize-winners Sobering stuff in Manchester comes from last year’s Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting winner Katherine Soper with Wish List (Royal Exchange Studio, 24 Sep-15 Oct), looking at life made precarious by zero-hours contracts. Also presenting urgent material is Contact, which hosts Burning Doors (10-12 Oct), a collaboration between Belarus Free Theatre and Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina sharing stories of persecuted artists living under dictatorship who, like Alyokhina, refuse to be silenced. Meanwhile, Black Gold Arts Festival returns 6-8 Oct across Contact and Z-arts, offering emerging work and aiming to change the face of theatre. Finally, acclaimed writer Bryony Kimmings’ latest project A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer – a musical treatment of the realities of life with diagnosis – comes to HOME (20-24 Sep), where you can also catch up on the cream of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe with Orbit festival (29 Sep-15 Oct). For more recommendations and to find out what’s on, head to theskinny.co.uk/theatre

Eleanor Antin

Juncture

Serving as both sculpture and sculptor, American artist Eleanor Antin photographed herself naked nearly every day for 37 days while dieting. The resulting work, Carving: A Traditional Sculpture (1972), comments on the pressures women face in conforming to current trends and societal expectations – as well as the role of the traditionally male sculptor in carving the ‘ideal’ female shape in classical art. Consisting of 148 prints, the piece is on display until January. From 28 Sep, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, free, henry-moore.org/hmi

Feel like dancing? Explore different modes of physical expression with some of contemporary dance’s most interesting innovators at Juncture festival – a series of workshops, surprises and performances programmed by Yorkshire Dance. Highlights include Dancing On My Own, a short film by Sara Lindström celebrating the joy of dancing to the songs we love, and groundbreaking theatre company Quarantine’s Wallflower, where three performers are challenged to remember every dance they’ve ever danced. 27-30 Oct, Leeds, various venues, times and prices, juncturedance.com

Purple

September/October 2016

Tracey Emin: My Bed is at Tate Liverpool from 16 Sep

Rachel Whiteread’s Untitled (Air Bed II) is a cast of an air bed and unusual in her practice as it is a literal replica of the source object – she’s better known for casts of the negative space created by the objects. It was made the year before the rather more ambitious House (a ghostly cast of an entire house interior in East London that won

A group exhibition celebrating the late, great funk heavyweight Prince, Purple brings together more than 30 artists curated by designer, illustrator and animator Robert Lomas. Taking over the street-facing exhibition space in the window of Manchester’s Fred Aldous art shop, the show features work by stalwarts of the international art and design scene including Barcelona’s Hey Studio, along with favourites from closer to home like DR.ME, Stanley Chow, John Powell-Jones, Instruct Studio, Sneaky Raccoon and Tash Willcocks. 5-23 Sep, Fred Aldous, Manchester, free, purplemcr.co.uk

On Stage

Lucien Freud’s Hotel Bedroom is a self portrait with his second wife. The domestic tableau alludes to a hidden drama, and the painting was one of the last executed in his early style. Mrs Freud was reportedly a bit pissed he’d made her look so weirdly old. This classic of Bed Art ticks all the boxes – domestic allusions, a hint of autobiography, narrative drama. [Rosamund West]

Édouard Manet’s Olympia was deemed shocking by contemporary audiences due to the inversion of the gaze (brazen) and because the subject is most likely a prostitute. It’s an interesting work from a feminist viewpoint because the shock value wasn’t caused by the fact it depicted a naked female form, rather the fact that this female had the audacity to levelly return the gaze of the (male) viewer, thereby challenging his traditional perving rights. “WHY DOESN’T SHE BOW HER HEAD IN SHAME?” they (presumably) bellowed.

Purple

Burning Doors

Tony's Last Tape

Tony’s Last Tape

Eleanor Antin, Carving: A Traditional Sculpture, 1972

Based on the diaries of political titan Tony Benn, whose radical left-wing campaigning from within the Labour party led to both controversy and esteem, Andy Barrett's critically acclaimed play Tony’s Last Tape examines the struggle of a respected but controversial figure of British politics via the personal recordings he made detailing his time in office and public service. 22-24 Sep, Everyman, Liverpool, 7.30pm (2pm Saturday matinee), £9.50-£18.50, everymanplayhouse.com

ART / THEATRE

Juncture

Peas in a Pod

Meet Chester’s wonderfully named Peaness (think about it), who play a brand new festival this September

e first fell in love with indie-pop trio Peaness when their debut EP No Fun appeared on Bandcamp last year, duly winning the hearts of unsuspecting listeners across the length and breadth of the DIY scene, right through to BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens. They’ve since put out a 7” on Canadian label Kingfisher Bluez, and they’ll join some of the most exciting acts in the North right now for Stay Fresh Fest, a new festival at Manchester’s Deaf Institute on 24 September. But before that, get to know 'em below! The Skinny: When and how (and why!) did Peaness begin? Jess: We all went to the same uni, did the same course and lived together for a bit, so a few years after graduating we started messing around, writing and practising, bedroom style. This was 2014. We called ourselves Peaness for a joke, but then we couldn’t think of anything worse or better so just stuck with it. Why? COS BEING IN A BAND IS GOOD FUN! How would you describe your sound in one sentence? Pea-pop! Three-minute melodic pop songs.

“Maybe we should write a love song for Jezza, give him an extra helping hand” Jess Branney

What are some records/live experiences that have been really influential on you as a band? Playing with some really cool and nice bands early on. We’ve played with a lot of bands on the (now former) label Fortuna Pop!, and groups like Mammoth Penguins, Chorusgirl and The Spook School made a lasting impression on us with how helpful, supportive and just lovely they all are. Being nice is cool. Tell us something people would be surprised to learn about you. We’re not very rock’n’roll, if at all. We usually ask if our free beers at gigs can be swapped for coffees,

Nightowls

or just bog standard tap water. And we usually jump straight back on the train home (we can’t drive) and go straight to bed. I guess that’s surprising? Cos stereotypically, people in bands party hard? Idk. We can only conclude that your song Oh George!, a scathing attack on former chancellor George Osborne, was hugely influential in his dismissal to the backbenches. Who else’s careers are you planning to ruin through song and why? Amazing isn’t it. I wonder if we do hold such power? If we did, the obvious choices are Trump, Tories in general? Haha, Katie Hopkins can do one as well. Maybe we should write a love song for Jezza, give him an extra helping hand. <3

We're really looking forward to seeing you play on 24 September, and to having several of the most exciting bands in the North right now all on one bill! Which of the other acts are you most looking forward to watching? All the bands on the bill are really cool! We're really stoked and happy to be on the same bill as them all. Catholic Action are who we're looking forward to seeing the most though. What does the rest of the year have in store for you? Gigging lots. At the start of October we're back in the studio to do our second EP, which should be released by the end of that month/November sometime. Then we're gonna pick a single to put

Peaness play Stay Fresh Fest with Cowtown, Catholic Action, Pink Kink, Ethan & The Reformation, Francis Lung, Kyotoya and Shaking Chains, The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 24 Sep, 4pm, £6 peanessband.tumblr.com

Deap Vally

The EVP Sessions #1 Electronic Voice Phenomena – the collab between alt literature producer Penned in the Margins and Liverpool’s arts innovators Mercy – returns with the first of this year’s EVP Sessions, a series of live explorations into the boundless worlds of music, hauntology, spoken word and glitch art. This time it’s the turn of musician Perera Elsewhere, artists Katrina Palmer, Sue Tompkins and Appau Junior BoakyeYiadom and poet-percussionist Antosh Wojcik, with sound and visuals from Kepla, DeForrest Brown and Chris Boyd. 22 Sep, The Bluecoat, Liverpool, 8pm, £5-£7, @_EVP

Indie Banquet

Manchester Camerata

Promoting music and food together, Pizza for the People throw their inaugural Indie Banquet in Leeds, using the occasion to showcase some solid local acts playing live under one roof with added burgers and pizza. Pop-ups from Mio and What’s Your Beef headline on the grub front, while ample tunes are provided by Leeds four-piece Mush, grunge-poppers Night Owls, psychedelic quartet Cactus Knife, Hull post-punk outfit La Bête Blooms and Chesterfield group Trash. 15 Oct, Duke Studios, Leeds, 6pm, £10, @WeAllWantPizza Deap Vally

Events Guide

And finally: What do you like to do outside of Peaness? Any projects we should know about? We all have full-time boring-ass jobs that suck any life we have left out of us. Boo. But when we're not working or writing or practising or gigging, we all like playing Pokémon Go! Haha. But the biggest project is Peaness.

LA’s bluesy rock’n’roll duo Deap Vally provide the perfect excuse to test out the Kazimier’s latest venue, as they head our way in support of their ingeniously titled new album, Femejism. With the eccentricity bar set high since their inception – they met at a crocheting class back in 2011 – it seems Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards need neither power in numbers nor strength in instrumentation to concoct an almighty compelling sound. 20 Sep, Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool, 8pm, £12, @ClubEVOL Manchester Camerata

out on 7" with Odd Box Records. We're also back in Manchester for A Carefully Planned Festival at Soup Kitchen in October.

Seize the rare opportunity to catch members of celebrated chamber orchestra Manchester Camerata in an intimate setting and, crucially, for free, as those classy dudes at Common put 'em up for a special performance (following the success of a similar set-up back in May as part of Manchester After Hours). Violinist Caroline Pether and cellist Hannah Roberts will be playing new arrangements alongside well-known pop classics from the likes of Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. 13 Sep, Common, Manchester, 8pm, free, @common_bar

MUSIC

Electronic Voice Phenomena

THE SKINNY

Hometown Glory As Dinosaur Jr prepare to play Liverpool Music Week and Beacons Metro alongside a host of local talent, we ask the band’s Lou Barlow to tell us about his own hometown heroes Interview: Mischa Pearlman

ou Barlow is the bassist of the legendary Dinosaur Jr, which he founded with prodigious guitar wizard J Mascis after their previous band Deep Wound broke up. Also the brains behind Sebadoh, Barlow is one of the most influential musicians in the alt-rock scene. Still, he also has his own influences, and here he delves deep into his roots to guide The Skinny through his favourite songs from Massachussetts, the state where Dinosaur Jr. formed in 1984. Neats – Now You Know [Ace of Hearts, 1983] “This is off their first LP. They’re from Boston and were contemporaries of R.E.M. – in the early 80s they played shows with them. I think they have kind of a similar sound in that it’s informed by 60s jangly stuff, but has a newwave rhythm going on underneath and really incredibly soulful vocals. They were a really important band for me when I was in my final years of high school and transitioning out of listening to a lot of hardcore punk, and this is something that I think if more people heard, they’d really like it.” Mission Of Burma – Academy Fight Song [Ace of Hearts, 1980] “Mission Of Burma I actually found out about on my own, before I met J. I think I saw a television performance by them and I was just like, ‘What is this?!’ The name was so mysterious and the band looked so mysterious. They were very popular within the Boston area and when the single came out I found it in the local record store; it’s one of the first real underground records I bought. It’s a beautiful pop song and a really unique-sounding record, and one of my first real discoveries. It was a really big song for me!” Gang Green – Rabies [Modern Method, 1982] “Gang Green are a hardcore band and I’d assume they’re exactly my age. There was an amazing compi-

lation called This Is Boston, Not LA, before the hardcore sound became really defined and – the word that I’ve heard smarter people than me use – codified. It was this real ragtag collection of bands from Boston; Gang Green are ridiculously fast with just full-on screaming. They were influenced by bands like Discharge, but took it a step further, making it into this screaming cacophonous burst of energy. It’s lyrically absurd but musically totally advanced. They still sound crazy to me! And they were wonderful live.” The Magnetic Fields – 100,000 Fireflies [Red Flame, 1991] “My girlfriend lived with this woman who was one of Stephin Merritt’s best friends. Through her, I became aware of the band and I bought the Wayward Bus CD and that song just totally blew me away. It’s such a beautiful song. I was just living in Boston and buying records in this really idyllic part of my life – I was in my late 20s, my bands were doing reasonably well and I had a lot of money to spend on records. I’d listen to college radio all day long and walk to a record store and buy whatever I liked. It was wonderful.” The Barbarians – Moulty [Laurie, 1966] This was a bona fide hit in the 60s, they were on TV lip-syncing to it. The Barbarians also had a hit song called Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl?, an amazing mid-60s song about changing hairstyle which was really catchy. But this song was sung by the drummer, who has one arm – he lost an arm in an auto accident or something [a pipe bomb-related explosion, actually – Fact-Checking Ed.]. If you watch the videos from the 60s he literally has a hook that he plays the snare with – the lyrics of this song are him explaining his story. The verses are literally just Moulty speaking: how he lost his arm, how he keeps going, how he’s got the spirit and how he’s looking for a woman to love him. It’s so touching,

Photo: David P Scott

and he delivers it all in this heavy Boston accent, which makes it even more charming. It’s a really unique song.” The Lemonheads – It’s A Shame About Ray [Atlantic, 1992] “This is one of my favourite songs. Evan [Dando] is Boston born and bred so to not include this song… like, I didn’t include The Cars or Aerosmith who have both written songs that are

among my favourites, but this just occupies a really nice spot in my head. It’s like this soft-rock punk that just endures. I listen to it a couple of times a year and every time I hear it I’m just, ‘Oh god, what a nice song!’ It’s beautiful and great.” Read the full list of Lou Barlow’s favourite Massachussetts songs at theskinny.co.uk/music Dinosaur Jr play Leeds University Stylus, 26 Oct (as part of Beacons Metro); Arts Club, Liverpool, 27 Oct (as part of Liverpool Music Week); O2 ABC, Glasgow, 17 Nov, and Albert Hall, Manchester, 19 Nov liverpoolmusicweek.com

The Goon Sax Manchester welcomes a visit from teenage Brisbane trio The Goon Sax, who’ve been busy sending over a gentle yet sturdy wave of buzz from their native Australia; blink and you’d miss the tip-off. Luckily, ever-reliable and ever-informed promoters Now Wave have been on the case, and have managed to rope the boys in as they hit the UK for their first European tour, in support of debut album Up to Anything. 29 Sep, The Eagle Inn, Salford, 7.30pm, £7, @nowwave

Broncho High-energy Oklahoman band Broncho crack on with their latest output, Double Vanity, a third album that marks something of a maturation from the hyperactive, scuzzy roughness of its predecessors. Shedding the pop pace in favour of textured, more experimental territory, tunes are ridden with murky guitarwork and reverbheavy vocals – a meatier remedy to the indie jangle of earlier stuff. Catch them in the flesh this autumn. 5 Oct, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 7.30pm, £9, @ FSELeeds

September/October 2016

Different Trains

Broncho

Music

The Goon Sax

American composer and minimal music pioneer Steve Reich takes over Edge Hill station with an open-air performance of his masterpiece, Different Trains – mere days before his 80th birthday. For the first time in its 28-year history, the piece will be accompanied by a newly commissioned film, made by artist and filmmaker Bill Morrison. This isn’t just a rare chance to hear Reich’s pivotal work, but also to experience it in a unique setting. 29 Sep, Metal at Edge Hill Station, Liverpool, 7pm, £20.90, @MetalLiverpool

Events Guide

First Look: RBMA Leeds T

his year, the Red Bull Music Academy UK tour comes to Liverpool and Leeds for the first time. Rising stars of the local music scene will join international names in a programme of shows, club nights, workshops, lectures and more across both cities in October. In Leeds, there’s a particular focus on grime – appropriate for a city that’s led the way in the form outside London. The final stop on the 32-date tour, RBMA Leeds opens with Kano, one of the scene’s

A new exhibition in Leeds captures the history and urgency of grime

originators, in conversation with i-D magazine’s Hattie Collins. They’ll be discussing grime’s relationship with documentation and photography, before giving attendees a first look at Collins’ new exhibition, An Eye on Grime, which brings together a diverse range of photographers who have followed the scene since its inception. Along with artists including Risky Roadz and Ewen Spencer, the exhibition includes work by photographer Olivia Rose, who has worked with Collins on a new book,

Andy Stott

Demdike Stare

Low Jack

Kano talks on the radio during his last day of the European tour – Amsterdam

30.09.16

global success and one of its first big stars, Skepta, back in the charts.

Photography by Olivia Rose taken from the book This is Grime

Acre Conor Thomas This Is Grime – a 224-page oral and visual Szare history of grime narrated by members of the scene itself. Presenting new portraiture and documentary imagery from Rose alongside insights from grime’s pioneers into the movement’s 15-year development, the book is the first publication to collect this kind of history of the scene and lands at a time when Scorcher – South Tottenham, N15 is resurgent, Venue:grime The White Hotel with Croydon’s Stormzy enjoying

Helena Hauff

A Conversation with Kano, Globe Road Car Park, Leeds, 27 Oct, 6pm, £5 An Eye on Grime exhibition, Globe Road Car Park, Leeds, 27-30 Oct (opening night 7.30pm-10.30pm), free This Is Grime is published 8 Sep by Hodder & Stoughton RBMA Leeds, 27-30 Oct uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

Kowton

Butter Side Up 6th birthday

Since rising to prominence with Bristol-based crew Livity Sound, Joe Cowton – aka Kowton – has dovetailed his wide-ranging sonic explorations into a focused debut LP, Utility. Built on his trademark spartan rhythms but embellished with colour and melody, it remains one of our go-to discs of 2016, and we suspect it may stay in the kit bag for a long time to come. He’s supported tonight by Boomkat’s Conor Thomas and Utrecht’s A Made Up Sound. 29 Oct, Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 11pm, £10, @SoupKitchen_Mcr

That committed lot at Butter Side Up celebrate their sixth year in the game this autumn, and to help raise a glass (and the roof) they’ve brought in Swiss DJ Sonja Moonear, one of the stars of the minimal techno scene. Fresh off the back of a string of dates in Ibiza, no doubt Moonear’s intense yet playful upper-register sound will be chiselled to precision. She’ll be playing a four-hour set with support from Butter resident Hamish Cole. 14 Oct, Wire, Leeds, 11pm, £9, @Butter_Side_Up

Modern Love

Helena Hauff Burrowing through strata of EBM, post-industrial synth and techno, Hamburg’s Helena Hauff is one of the most exciting producers working at the moment. She makes her Liverpool debut courtesy of promoters The Wonder Pot, who have a great autumn in store with Space Dimension Controller and Perc & Truss also among their bookings. Support comes from Upitup Records’ Jacques Malchance and Wonder Pot resident Or:la, while Thom Isom of art/music collective Deep Hedonia (and formerly The Skinny) provides visuals. 22 Sep, 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool, 10pm, £8, @24KitchenStreet

Events Guide

PRESENTS

23.00 - 06.00 TICKETS £15 AVAILABLE VIA SKIDDLE / RA

Modern Love showcase

Kowtown

Several of Manchester’s darkest practitioners assemble for an evening of haunted audio and sonic excavations; of course, we could only be talking about Andy Stott and Demdike Stare, who are joined tonight in a Modern Love label showcase by Equiknoxx, Low Jack, Acre, Conor Thomas (there he is again) and Szare. Live sets across the board ‘til 6am; tickets limited to 250, so get your skates on. 30 Sep, The White Hotel, Salford, 11pm, £15, @Project13MCR

CLUBS

DJ Sonja Moonear

THE SKINNY

September/October 2016

Spotlight: Simon Lomas The Yorkshire New Comedian of the Year recalls some excellent backstage nibbles

Interview: Edy Hurst

t’s not often that a new act in their first year of performing comedy enjoys the level of success Simon Lomas has. Beating gong shows and new act competitions across the Northwest, he’s been wowing audiences with his sharp and solid joke writing and in July was deservedly garlanded the crown of Yorkshire New Comedian of the Year, as part of the Great Yorkshire Fringe. This hasn’t gone to his head though. It’s hard to imagine any ego behind the soft-spoken outsider persona you see on stage, channelling his heroes such as Emo Philips and Steven Wright through a droll Ashton accent. In fact, possibly the proudest you’ll find him is when getting free food as part of a gig. With some free snacks to hand, we quizzed Simon on his first year in comedy and top-choice hauntings.

really nice and I got free chips. Also, Ian told me he liked my jacket.”

First gig: “It was King Gong at the Manchester Comedy Store. It went alright. I managed to clumsily stumble through my five minutes before losing tremendously in the clap-off to someone who was funnier than me, more likeable and actually looked at the audience when he was speaking.”

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing stand-up? “Well, I work full time as a research analyst doing data entry, so I would be doing that still and not much else.”

Last gig: “The Shinnon near Chesterfield supporting Ian Cognito. It was a packed-out room in a pub,

Events Guide

Best heckle: “A man once shouted, ‘You created Microsoft’ at me. I was so shocked by the injustice of his accusation that I exploded with rage and just yelled, ‘No I didn’t’ at his bewildered face.” Circuit favourites in the Northwest: “Liam Pickford is my hero.” Favourite joke not written by yourself: “I love this one by Paul Foot: ‘I remember when I was little, my pet budgerigar died and my mother went out and bought another one just the same so that I wouldn’t notice. But I knew, and I killed that one too.’”

Best gig: “New Comedians at the Manchester Comedy Store, which Alex Boardman runs. I did that in April and it was really fun. The audience was great and I even got to be on a podcast and eat

free pizza. Almost too much excitement to handle on a Sunday evening.” Worst gig: “I performed at a 21st birthday party in Liverpool. A band had just finished playing and the buffet opened just as the comedy started so it was a real struggle. Most of the other acts cut their sets short to save face but I soldiered on and saw mine through to the very end, like an honourable captain solemnly going down with his ship.” If you could be haunted by anyone, who would it be and why? “Probably Mitch Hedberg. I just think he’s really cool and funny and it would be great to meet him and listen to what he has to say.” If you were on death row, what would your last meal be? And why are you on death row? “I think I’d be a bit too worried to eat but if I had to choose it’d be Pizza Hut. I’m not very hardcore, so I’m probably on death row as the result of some kind of admin error.”

COMEDY

What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve received doing comedy? “’Please stop, for the sake of our friendship.’” If you lived in medieval times what would you do for a living? “Not sure, I’d probably still be doing data entry just with a tunic on or something.” Why did you start doing comedy? What’s wrong? “I always liked watching it and listening to it, so I just thought I’d like to have a go, really. I also love a good raffle and whenever I’m at a gig that doesn’t include a raffle I always ask them if it’s okay for me to start one myself.” Question from past Spotlighter Amy Gledhill: When did you last feel like a princess? “When I did a gig in Oldham and there were Pringles and chocolate fingers in the green room.” Simon Lomas is at Fred’s Comedy Club, Levenshulme, Manchester on 6 Oct. For news of more gigs, find him on Twitter: @simonlomas

THE SKINNY

The Legacy of Psycho Hitchcock’s Psycho returns to Manchester this Halloween in the form of Psycho Live, with an orchestral score provided by Manchester Camerata. But the 1960 classic has never been away, such is its impact on cinema. We look at some key films it influenced

Sisters

Le Boucher [1970] Claude Chabrol was one of the first critics to propose Hitchcock, who at the time was seen as a low-rent technician, as a cinema genius. It’s no surprise that when the Frenchman began making his own films he was heavily influenced by the Master of Suspense. This is most clearly seen in Le Boucher, in which a small-town schoolteacher falls for the local butcher, who may be putting his knife skills to more macabre use. As in Psycho, sex and violence are very much connected, but Chabrol’s approach is more objective. Hitchcock lets his gruesome sense of humour loose in Psycho; Chabrol, by contrast, never lets us off the hook. Sisters [1973] There’s no restraint with Brian De Palma, who, like Hitchcock, can almost be heard cackling behind the camera during his films’ most rococo moments of terror. Borrowing the plot of Psycho and throwing in elements of Rear Window and Vertigo for good measure, Sisters marked De Palma’s obsession with Hitchcock’s film grammar. He might even be the bigger joker, taking Hitchcock’s quaint Freudian ideas to demented extremes – and De Palma’s use of split screen is as inventive as Hitchcock’s iconic shower scene. Halloween [1978] Psycho may seem tame to audiences brought up on Freddy, Jason and the brutal Saw franchise, but those films wouldn’t exist without it. The first slasher to make an indelible mark on the general public was Halloween, and director John Carpenter wears his love for Hitch’s chiller on his sleeve. There are superficial connections:

24 Hour Psycho

Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of Psycho actor Janet Leigh, stars; the psychiatrist trying to stop Michael Myers’ killing spree is Dr. Sam Loomis, named after a character in Hitchcock’s film. But Psycho’s DNA runs throughout Halloween’s celluloid, from Carpenter’s use of point-of-view to the sly framing and foreboding lighting. 24 Hour Psycho [1993] In this much-celebrated video installation by artist Douglas Gordon, Hitchcock’s film is slowed down so its running time is a full day – turning a nightmare into a daydream. At this molasses pace, even the film’s moments of horror take on a serene quality. Gordon never saw his work as an act of appropriation: “It wasn’t a straightforward case of abduction,” he said in 1993. “I wanted to maintain the authorship of Hitchcock so that [the audience] would think much more about Hitchcock and much less, or not at all, about me.” Psycho [1998] This shot-for-shot Psycho facsimile from Gus Van Sant was greeted with confusion back in 1998. Why remake Psycho without calibrating its levels of sex and violence to meet modern audiences’ tastes? Looking back at this hypnotic film, it’s clearly as much a work of conceptual art as Gordon’s effort. The actors look like ghosts as they re-enact famous lines, with dialogue that seems innocuous in the original taking on sinister meaning. How apt that a film about split-personality and cross-dressing should get its very own off-kilter drag act. [Jamie Dunn] Psycho Live, Albert Hall, Manchester, 30 Oct, 5pm & 9pm alberthallmanchester.com

Get Lit

If the last few months were all about #summerreads, autumn is the season of the literature festival – and the North has some pretty major ones. Here’s our guide

Ilkley Literature Festival, 30 Sep-16 Oct The daddy of the North’s literature festivals, Ilkley Lit Fest has been running since 1973 and this year’s edition feels particularly strong as they’ve weathered the threat of funding cuts recently. Don’t miss the great Scottish author James Kelman in conversation about his new book, Dirt Road, a powerful story of father and son; and if you’ve been engrossed in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, you’ll be thrilled to hear that Ferrante’s translator Ann Goldstein will appear on a panel with others closely involved in the publication of the series. We’re also looking forward to Jamaican poets Kei Miller and Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze; Hollie McNish reading from her collection Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood, and science writer Ed Yong talking about his title I Contain Multitudes and how we’re not one person, we’re trillions of microbes. Yummy. ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk Manchester Literature Festival, 7-23 Oct Balancing Northern talent and global literature, Manchester Literature Festival offers a window on the world, with writers from Sudan and South Korea joining Preston’s finest. There’s no shortage of heavyweights – Margaret Atwood, Anne Enright and Ben Okri all appear – but there’s also a commitment to emerging work. Highlights include Eimear McBride discussing the follow-up to her Goldsmiths and Baileys prize-winning debut; and a duet from Jenn

Artist Film Weekender

The Loveless

Ashworth and Andrew Michael Hurley, who together will look at how the Lancashire landscape has influenced their writing. manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk Chester Literature Festival, 8-23 Oct As Chester prepares to welcome its new storytelling-focused arts venue ‘Storyhouse’, the Literature Festival provides a suitable warmup. Don’t miss comedian Sara Pascoe, whose funny and analytical book Animal encourages us to reconsider everything we think we know about the female body. We’d also recommend the very charming writing duo Molly Naylor and John Osborne, who both appear but in separate guises, Naylor leading a poetry pub crawl and Osborne telling a number of stories he’s broadcast on Radio 4. /storyhouse.com Liverpool Literary Festival, 28-30 Oct The new kid on the block this season is a oneweekend festival organised by the University of Liverpool. If the appearance of one of McBusted doesn’t do it for you (!), then Ali Smith – delivering a lecture on the value of public libraries – certainly should. You can also catch a masterclass from The Illuminations author Andrew O’Hagan, and ‘Three Revolutionaries’: a panel led by Shami Chakrabarti discussing the life and work of Mary Wollstonecraft, Eleanor Marx and Sylvia Pankhurst. liverpool.ac.uk/literary-festival For more recommendations, head to theskinny.co.uk/books

The Age of Loneliness

HOME’s lively festival dedicated to artists’ film returns for its second year. Highlights include Birdsong: Stories from Pripyat, a collaboration between filmmaker Clara Casian and Dutch Uncles’ Robin Richards that captures the haunting atmosphere of a never-opened amusement park near Chernobyl; loopy heist movie La Distancia; and three programmes dedicated to underground filmmaker Luther Price. HOME, Manchester, 30 Sep-2 Oct, times and prices vary, homemcr.org

It Follows

The Skinny screenings

It Follows with live score

As part of UK-wide movie celebration Scalarama – which channels the spirit of the gloriously disreputable Scala in London, a cinema that sold its last ticket stub decades ago – The Skinny is screening two films very much in keeping with the Scala’s attitude. Catch Kathryn Bigelow’s biker movie The Loveless (14 Sep) and Claire Denis’ blood-and-lust-filled vampire reverie Trouble Every Day (28 Sep), both at Liverpool Small Cinema – an indie cinema after the Scala’s own heart. 14 & 28 Sep, 6.30pm, £4 (£3), liverpoolsmallcinema.org.uk

La Distancia

David Robert Mitchell’s inventive indie horror film It Follows centres on a group of suburban teens infected by a sexually transmitted curse. One of this dreamy movie’s many pleasures is its score by Disasterpeace, the seductive sounds ranging from synthy melancholy to walls of electronic noise. You can experience it live and loud as part of the Leeds leg of the Red Bull Music Academy tour, with nine musicians performing as the film plays. Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, 30 Oct, 2.30pm, £10, uktour. redbullmusicacademy.com

September/October 2016

FILM / BOOKS

Folk singer Ewan McLennan muses on loneliness with the help of the Guardian’s George Monbiot in this curious music-storytelling hybrid. After Monbiot wrote a widely-read article on social isolation in 2014, the pair began sending narrative sketches to one another exploring the subject; from which McLennan has created an album. To mark the release, he’ll play an acoustic set interspersed with Monbiot’s depiction of the human stories behind the songs. Liverpool Philharmonic Music Room, 20 Oct, 8pm, £18.50, liverpoolphil.com

George Monbiot

Events Guide

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Koffee Pot and the Art of the Hangover

House pints and espresso martinis for £3 in Manchester’s Northern Quarter? Yep, you heard right. It can be done…

p there with a great brew and a Sunday morning lie-in, a solid local boozer feels like one of life’s requisites. It’s where pints are decently priced, you can always get a seat and there aren’t any dickheads. Substance over style, no airs and graces. It can be an elusive formula, and when it comes to city centres, options often prove thin. Manchester’s Northern Quarter may be well known for its bounty of bars and nightlife, yet it only has a handful of decent pubs. Sometimes you want for something simpler, and while Oldham Street’s Koffee Pot may be long established as one of the North’s favourite greasy spoons, these days it also has unexpectedly strong credentials as a boozy bolthole. Since moving from its original spot on Stevenson Square to a new home around the corner, acquiring an alcohol license and expanding the square footage, it’s become a firm local for evening drinks – specifically, ones that won’t cost you half of your monthly salary. “Our new strapline is ‘creating and curing hangovers since 1978,’” says Sam Dunwoodie, who coowns Koffee Pot with Chris Devlin. “We were curing hangovers before, but now we’re also creating them.” That’s not to say the booze is an afterthought: in the fridge you’ll always find brews from First Chop, Runaway, Budvar and Breton Cider alongside six guest bottles, while on tap it’s a combination of locally brewed ales and old favourites. “All of our draught beers – ShinDigger, Beck’s, Guinness and Freedom – are £3.60 a pint, whereas in most other places you’re probably looking at another quid on top of that,” Dunwoodie says. “We just want Koffee Pot to be a place that doesn’t rip you off. We want to be affordable and accessible. “We also do Cidre Breton, a really famous cider from Brittany that’s really popular in London, but we’re the only place apart from Carringtons off license that sells it in Manchester.”

Classic cocktails at happy-hour costs The cocktail list has a similar ethos. Classics like negronis and espresso martinis come with an attractively modest price tag of £6 – something that’s nearly unheard of elsewhere in the area. What’s even better, though, is that a daily happy hour (4-8pm) lets you nab them half-price, meaning you can get a round of Manhattans, White Russians, Spritz or whatever else tickles the tastebuds for £3 each. Not bad, especially when there are also playful nods to Manchester with the likes of in-house recipe KP Vimto – a blend of gin, Absolut Vanilla, raspberries, blackberries and, of course, the city’s classic fruity cordial.

“ Koffee Pot’s got that extra ingredient: it’s got love in it” Guy Garvey

And for the fizz fans? “On Friday nights and weekend days you can buy two glasses of Prosecco and get the rest of the bottle for free, so a bottle of Prosecco will cost you £9.” Happy hour extends to beer, too: you can get a pint of KP Brew, the Pot's house lager, for just £3 – while for students it stays at £3 day in, day out. Decent food for decent people Of course, when you can afford twice as many drinks as you’d normally buy for a post-office piss-

up, there’s a chance you’ll need something to soak them up with to avoid face-planting the pavement. Nay bother, the Pot’ll make sure you’re looked after: “If you come in and order some pints or cocktails during happy hour,” says Devlin, “we’ll bring out some free snacks to tide you over.” If you’re after something more substantial, in the evenings that famous breakfast trade makes way for ‘melts’, sarnies and other quick bites – or what Devlin refers to collectively as “beer food.” It’s all about simple, filling and inexpensive grub, the kind you crave after a couple of beers, ranging from snacks like nachos, chicken wings, jalapeño poppers and beetroot hummus with flatbread, through to threecheese melts served on sourdough and patties served on brioche alongside fries (both with pickles and slaw). “You can also build your own sandwich, and for these we’re making all our own salt beef, ox cheek pastrami and pickled ox cheek,” Devlin explains. Simply pick your meat, select your bread (sourdough, bagel or rye) and finish off with your condiment of choice (Colman’s mustard, horseradish sour cream or grain mustard mayo). Prices for evening mains range between £6 and £9, though on Tuesdays students who flash their NUS card can enjoy a meat or veggie one-pot dish and a pint of KP Brew for a nifty £7. Koffee Pot’s history is as rich as that of the locale it’s called home for three decades. In fact, the two are intertwined. But while the Northern Quarter at large faces accusations of becoming more and more gentrified, Koffee Pot is sticking to its roots as an affordable, neighbourhood joint – while also entering a boozier new chapter. And as we all know, beer can only make things better.

Interview: Jess Hardiman WHAT THE (FAMOUS) FANS SAY: Guy Garvey “When the rest of Elbow and I used to work at The Roadhouse, we’d finish cleaning at 5am and then go to Koffee Pot for breakfast. Back then it was a verb: it meant to stay up all night until the Koffee Pot was open. “I made the mistake of announcing from the stage when Elbow played at the Arena, ‘If you’ve never had a bacon sandwich from Koffee Pot, you’ve never had a bacon sandwich!’ Only to arrive there the next day looking like shit when it was full of Elbow fans. “It’s got that extra ingredient: it’s got love in it. It’s all about decent food for decent people. Just like what Kate did with Roadhouse, Yan with Night & Day and what the Unabombers have been doing with The Refuge: none of it’s done for the money. Koffee Pot feeds the soul as well as the belly… Long may it reign.” Crocodiles “To regulars like Crocodiles, the Pot is a safe haven. Not only is the food banging, but the atmosphere feels like a clubhouse; it’s got all the comforts of a pub or a dance club, only with better lighting and banging food!” Mary-Ellen McTague “I love the Koffee Pot because of the laid-back vibes, it’s not self-consciously cool and the food is the ONLY thing for hangovers. They put leftover pickle brine in cocktails, which is both thrifty and delicious. Plus, of course, they’re dead nice by letting us do Real Junk Food Project pop-ups there in the evening!” Koffee Pot, 84-86 Oldham St, Manchester thekoffeepot.co.uk

Lifestyle

FOOD AND DRINK

THE SKINNY

Vote in The Skinny Food and Drink Survey 2017 The voting opens in our 2017 Food and Drink Survey; our Food and Drink Editor entreats you to name your favourites, and to redeem the shattered concept of voting altogether Words: Peter Simpson Illustration: Mike Hughes

emocracy’s taken a kicking in the last twelve months, hasn’t it? Our American chums have narrowed down their Presidential election choices – that’s choices for President of the whole country of the United States of America, the one with all the guns – to a very rich woman who is possibly a massive crook, and a very rich man who is almost definitely a complete fucking headcase. We didn’t do much better, voting to leave a big successful cross-border group so we can stop French people from being doctors, chuck the environment in a big bin, and generally make our own stupid mistakes. Take that Strasbourg bureaucrats, wherever you are, we haven’t checked a map, haha, oh god what have we done. Even the flippant stuff made you lose faith in the power of the ballot box – the same public that voted to name Mrs Brown’s Boys the greatest sitcom of the century couldn’t even successfully name a boat. Boaty McBoatface is not funny, it just isn’t. What is it punning on exactly? “As you can see, it’s a boat, and... boats... faces... well, my mum thinks it’s funny.” Here are three funnier mock names for a boat: Ship Happens, Boat-al Recall and Epic Sail. Your move, Hypothetical Reader’s Mum. Still, there is one bastion of democracy that never fails to raise a smile. No, not Eurovision, but The Skinny Food and Drink Survey. In each of the past six years we’ve asked you to name your favourites across a host of food and drink categories, and you don’t let us down. Things are much the same as usual this year – we want to know your favourite pubs and your favourite local breweries (or equivalent, seeing as a hardcore of you keep mentioning cider at us and we’ve realised that tasty gins and rums also

exist). We’re also keen to know which are your favourite cafes and takeaway-type places, as well as your favourite food and drink shops – you know, posh delis, bottle shops with hundreds of different unpronounceable beers, that one place that sells the kind of flour you desperately need etc., etc. The last twelve months have been a bit of a whirlwind in the food world – more on that elsewhere on this page – so we want to know which is your favourite new place to open its doors in 2016, and we’ve melded a few categories into one to create the catch-all favourite restaurant category. Turns out that instead of using euphemisms like ‘world food’ and ‘date place’, we should just say what it is we really mean. We mean restaurants, so we’ll just say restaurants. Restaurants. The voting runs from September til November online at theskinny.co.uk/food – cast your votes there and look out for the hashtag #skinnyfoodsurvey if you’re on the Twitter. We assume you are, otherwise that whole Boatface thing from earlier will have made very little sense. We’ll tally up your votes in December – because nothing enlivens the festive season like a big ol’ spreadsheet – and get back to you with the results in our January Food and Drink Special. So there you are, a chance to restore the reputation of voters everywhere, and find out which is the best place for a pint and a slice of pizza while you’re at it. We trust you to treat this with the seriousness it deserves, and share your foodie favourites with us. And remember, even if you do all vote for Harambe the gorilla in every category, we’re still not putting it in... Cast your votes at theskinny.co.uk/food

Once More with Feeling Before they make way for a new generation of Food Survey victors, let’s have one last hurrah for last year’s winners

favourite pub is like a favourite child; you might struggle to pick one, but in reality, you definitely have a preference. When it came to choosing yours last year, the results were pretty wide-ranging. Where some of you liked the salubrious surrounds of a tasteful bar (Berry & Rye, Salut Wines), others opted for traditional ale houses with good craft beers (The Grapes and Ship & Mitre both ranked highly). But who supplies those pubs and bars with their quaffable quaffables? Why, local breweries, of course. For 2016, your top tipples included bottles from Blackjack and Track, and two sunny numbers from Liverpool Craft Beer Co. With the North’s brewing scene going from strength to strength, we’re sure

September/October 2016

there’ll be a fresh list of favourites for 2017. Your most treasured cafes shared a common theme: amazing breakfasts. We asked them for the secrets behind their best-selling brekkie items, and heard all about the process of salt-baking rainbow beetroot from Trove (sounds pretty trippy but it was for pikelets, apparently) and got wind of Koffee Pot’s recipe for the ultimate cheese on toast. If anything has changed the way we’re eating over the last couple of years, it’s the street food movement. These kinds of vendors featured prominently among your votes for best takeaways, including the mighty Northern Soul Grilled Cheese – and a newbie inspired by Asian street food, Pao!, scooped many of your votes for favourite new place. Meanwhile, your most reliable food and

“ If anything has changed the way we’re eating over the last couple of years, it’s the street food movement” drink shops included Matta’s, who waxed lyrical about their generations-old Punjabi curry spice mixture, and Unicorn, who praised the work of

Zapatista coffee in bringing positive social change to the Maya people. This year we’re shoehorning what we’ve previously termed ‘Best Date Place’ and ‘Best World Food’ into one category, restaurant, because this is basically what we’ve been trying to say for ages in a really convoluted way (it’s what we do best). This doesn’t mean your previous fave date or world-food places are now disqualified, because they are, after all, restaurants. Some 2016 picks included HOME – hello shareable plates and affordable pizzas – and classy falafel shack Maray. Who will it be this year? Conveniently, ONLY YOU CAN DECIDE. theskinny.co.uk/food #skinnyfoodsurvey

Lifestyle

Phagomania: The Lone Grazer

Photographer Brian Finke reveals the overlooked life of the desktop diner Photos: Brian Finke Words: Lewis MacDonald

ffice workers are a strange breed, aren’t they? If they were allowed to become sentient they would soon realise how unnatural their daily existence really is, but as it is, their most likely chance to make a break for freedom presents itself once a day – lunch time. However, a 2015 study by the British Heart Foundation found that only one in two UK office workers take this opportunity, with 50% regularly eating their lunch at their desks. Until recently desk lunching was a secluded affair, but then along came a viral Facebook group by the name of Meal Deal Talk. The set-up was simple – anybody partaking in a well-established ‘meal deal’ offer presented their choice in photographic form in order to have their acumen castigated in a swarm of keyboard abuse and slander. It is an entirely and wonderfully British approach to lunching in the 21st century. A much more American approach to the office lunch is a zany celebration through the lens of photographer Brian Finke. A regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he recently undertook an unusual brief for an article: Failure To Lunch – Desktop Dining. Finke visited offices around the USA to guerrilla-snap workers as they chomped at their desks.

“I just roamed around the offices during the lunch time,” states Brian. “I had complete freedom to shoot whatever people were eating and wherever they were around the offices.” He divulges: “Everyone has an ego so they were either into it or not.” Describing his photography style as “stylised documentary”, Brian seemed the perfect candidate to capture and mirror back to us that all too familiar scenario. Awkward poses over keyboards, and haphazard arranging of items across the desk are reoccurring traits throughout the intriguingly spartan images, with a voyeuristic feeling of briefly peeping into each subject’s life. Or, as Brian puts it: “I wanted to make wonderful, interesting, awkward photos of office lunches.” While certainly relatable, whether they represent a degradation of the work/life balance or a witty celebration of the reality of the workforce is in the eye of the beholder. One thing is for certain though: combine these pseudo-candid shots with a venomous Facebook group critique and you’ll really have something to chew on during your lunchtime. brianfinke.com/blog/work/desktop-dining/

New in Food If you feel overwhelmed by the number of restaurant and bar openings, our monthly online round-ups of the best new places should help you choose somewhere new to try. Here are our highlights for September and October Words: Jess Hardiman New bars and restaurants in Leeds Leeds’ Northern Quarter continues to bloom with the arrival of Vice and Virtue’s new fine dining restaurant, building on the venue’s reputation as a high-qual cocktail bar since opening late last year. With rotating five/eight or ten-course tasting menus, the restaurant is headed up by multi awardwinning Leeds chef Luke Downing, whose everchanging dishes aim to make the most of locally sourced British ingredients and the seasons that bear them. Opens 10 Sep, New Briggate. Birmingham export The Lost and Found is the latest to get tongues wagging in Leeds, thanks to a solid cocktail menu and a menu of modern British favourites including, above all else, charcoal oven-cooked steaks, each matured for at least 28 days. Open now, Greek Street.

The Refuge

Lifestyle

Cocktail spots and Cuban food in Liverpool The Alchemist adds to its ever-expanding empire with a new joint on Brunswick Street, joining existing sites in Manchester, Leeds, London and Alderley Edge. Expect all the molecular cocktail wizardry that the brand has become famous for, accompanied by a box-ticker menu of everything from burgers and sarnies to Katsu curry and fajitas. Open now, Brunswick Street. Peruvian small-plates restaurant Chicha is the latest addition to Bold Street, and while it’s not been around for long, it’s already knocking up some serious praise. Expect innovative flavour combinations from dishes including sweetcorn and feta pancakes, king prawn ceviche and pickled fruit and vegetables, all to be eaten in a similarly vibrant setting that uses splashes of colour to remind you of the sunny ingedients on your plate. Open now, Bold Street.

FOOD AND DRINK

Cuban street food bods Finca are packing up shop after a successful summer residency out in the Botanical Garden – but fear not, for you can get your fix from their new residency at The Merchant, building on their successful spread of cubanos, tacos and plantain crisps with new dishes like quesadillas and other South American sharing fare. Opens 17 Sep, Parr Street. Our favourite new hangouts in Manchester The Refuge, part of The Palace Hotel, is the long-awaited new venture from Unabombers Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford, who’ve already earned their stripes as restaurateurs with their existing venues, Volta in Didsbury and Electrik in Chorlton. Along with beers from First Chop and Beavertown, food-wise it’s once again about innovative small plates like sea bass ceviche, salt cod croquettes, black daal, tuna tartare and Gloucester Old Spot pork belly. EXCITING STUFF. Opens 14 Sep, Oxford Street. Community-built pub The Pilcrow finally opens its doors after a serious labour of love, which has seen volunteers learn new skills and crafts to create a venue handmade using traditional methods. Run by Cloudwater Brew Co. and the team behind Common, we’re sure it’s in safe hands. Opens end of Sep, NOMA. Meanwhile, over in Kosmonaut it’s out with the burgers and in with fresh seafood snacks, as street food purveyors Holy Crab take over the basement every Thursday-Sunday with their oysters, salmon sliders, crab balls, seaweed popcorn and other such fishy goodness. Opens 8 Sep, Tariff Street. Head to theskinny.co.uk/food for in-depth monthly roundups of the best new openings across Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester

THE SKINNY

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Inside Primrose’s Kitchen As the nights draw in and the leaves turn red, what could be more comforting than a bowl of cashew nuts for breakfast? The Skinny raids Primrose’s Kitchen for a pleasant surprise

RECLAIM DEMOCRACY! Your spirit may be bruised from the various disastrous electoral results of 2016, but fear not! Voting is now open in The Skinny Food and Drink Survey 2017. Head to theskinny. co.uk/food to make your voice heard.

theskinny.co.uk

ou're not sure why, but whenever the time comes to try one of these ever-so-healthysounding products from Primrose's Kitchen, you seem to be at the bottom of one of your dietary nadirs. Last time, when trialling a smoothie 'booster', you were tucked up in bed with the last of the Christmas marzipans. Before that, a course of Primrose's vegetable muesli rudely interrupted a sugary cereal binge. Tonight, you find yourself writing about her new range of granola while... scoffing a big ol' plate of 'midnight cheese'. Ah, well. Advocating a 'naturopathic' way of eating, Dorset-based Primrose produces a selection of breakfasts, sprinkles to pour on them, those aforementioned smoothie enhancements, and butters made from nuts. Organic, vegan and gluten-free, her granola comes in three slightly zany varieties: goji, black pepper and lemon (!); courgette and cacao; and orange and cashew. While you're pretty covetous of that first jazzy number, you've been sent a box of the latter; to be fair though, all three cartons are equally attractive, with the sherberty pink and fizzy tangerine of this one brightening up a few rainy summer mornings. Joined by sunflower seeds, coconut and sultanas, the orange and cashew mixture is chunky and solid (no dusty crumbs here), and serves nicely as a dry snack as well as in a bowl with dairy or almond milk. As each packet contains one whole orange, the fruitiness more than balances out the creamy savouriness of the nut – though the flavour is more of a warm orange oil than an overly-citrus zest. Paired with yoghurt instead of milk, and topped with fresh raspberries or blueberries, a serving keeps you full 'til lunchtime with energy to spare. While Primrose's mueslis might seem a little too exotic for some – combining raw beetroot with ginger and carrot with cinnamon – the granolas are more accessible, and taste sweeter without necessarily being so; a good starting point, then, for anyone looking to improve the nutritional value of their morning options without having to go full legume. You might want to ease off the Wensleydale, though.

@theskinnymag @theskinnynorth /TheSkinnyNorth

Illustration: Mica Warren

You can buy Primrose's products at primroseskitchen.com and stockists including Ocado, Planet Organic and Whole Foods

September/October 2016

THE SKINNY

Living in Mexico City Planning a bit of a life change post-Brexit? Our guides to living abroad in some of the world’s most vibrant places might help you out. First up: a city of tacos and two-hour lunch breaks – though there are some other things to consider... Words: Kate Morling Illustration: Eunjoo Lee

ver wondered what it would be like to run away and join the circus? Well, a move to La Ciudad de Mexico may be exactly what you’re looking for. Clowns and mariachi bands commandeering your 7am metro ride, streets lined with ‘corn on the cob’ venders, a government full of corrupt ring-leaders and taxi drivers who perform disappearing acts with your belongings; Mexico City is a maze of adventure and excitement. But like the rollercoaster, it certainly has its up and downs… Pro: Finding work as an English teacher is as easy as abracadabra Well-paid work as an English teacher abounds. Options include everything from teaching in preschools to teaching business English to CEOs and big-timers. Those with TEFL certification or a university degree will be in higher demand; however, these credentials aren’t obligatory. The widely admired British or Australian accents will take you places an American or Canadian accent can’t, though neither nationality will find themselves struggling to secure clients. Unless you speak a reasonable level of Spanish or have been transferred by an international company, finding work as virtually anything else is like trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Con: Big schools will rip you off Do your homework and make contacts. Many of the big schools pay as little as 80 pesos an hour (yes, that’s about $4 USD). The payoff is that often they will sponsor your working visa, provide a secure and steady flow of classes in one or two locations, and offer ready-made session plans. The best way to make money as an English teacher is to find smaller-run companies such as BE School or EFA who provide more personalised classes to individuals and groups. Be prepared to travel to homes, cafes and offices across the city but also expect to be paid three times more than that offered by the big schools. Pro: Time is relative Mexico City runs on Latino Time; la vida runs at a slower pace. Two-hour lunch breaks are not uncommon – however, expect to have a 9am-7pm (or even 9pm) work day. Unless you live the life of an English teacher, in which case you’ll be dusting the sleep from your eyes for your 7am class and downing coffee around 3pm in preparation for your afternoon classes. Many freelance teachers find their mornings and afternoons full, leaving plenty of time to gobble down tacos and work on your expanding waist line during the day, and still make a comfortable wage. Con: But… Time is relative… Don’t expect anything to happen on time, even if they say ‘a tiempo’. Showing up early is considered rude and if you ask someone the time they are likely to round it to the nearest half hour. There must be a black hole around here somewhere. Pro: Tacos ’Nuff said. Con: Transport to Tacos Much like the haunted house, transport in Mexico City will give you night terrors. With 22 million inhabitants in Mexico City and millions more commuting from the city’s outskirts, getting yourself from taco stand A to taco stand B can

September/October 2016

be problematic. But fear not, Mexico City offers a myriad of entertaining transportation options from practising your best sardine impression on the metro, to daredevil rides on the smoggy ‘kombi’ buses, which scoot citizens to every corner of the city. Make sure your health insurance is up to date. If public transport isn’t your thing and you find yourself more suited to the ‘fresa’ crowd (literal translation being ‘strawberry’ – street translation being ‘I’m far too cool and important to slum it with you plebs’), overcharging taxis are ample. Pro: Living ‘fresa’ in La Condesa As a foreigner in Mexico City, chances are, when searching for your new home, you’ll find yourself gravitating towards the upmarket avenues of Polanco or more hipster La Condesa and La Roma areas, where sausage dogs and vintage Converse All Stars rule. But you’d be selling La Ciudad short. Venture beyond these westernised pockets to where the real cultural experiences (and food) lie. Shop for delicacies like imported crocodile or artisan honey at San Juan Mercado in El Centro, or drink pulque (an oddly slimy alcoholic drink made from the sap of fermented agave) at one of the city’s many traditional pulquerias.

“ Quesadillas oozing with cheese and tinga de pollo will always taste better in a 4am tequila haze” Con: Cost of living in Condesa A room in a share house can range from 5000 pesos a month to selling your left lung. Your own hipster apartment could set you back somewhere between 13,000 pesos and selling both lungs. It all depends on how fresa you intend on being. A wage of around 20,000 pesos a month will see you living the fresa life comfortably and is easily achievable teaching English. Venture only slightly outside of the bubble and you’ll find yourself feeling like a millionaire. Pro: Weather Locals will whine about La Ciudad’s temperamental weather, but compared to the UK, Mexico City looks like the Caribbean. Sunny days occasionally wind down to late-afternoon thunderstorms and the variation between summer and winter is somewhat mild. That said, June through September brings rainy season with storms that may last an hour or two and flooding that may make your commute last much longer. Con: The sun’s disappearing act While the days are sunny, you may not actually see the sun. Mexico City’s pollution problem is undoubtedly its Achilles heel. The Air Quality Index frequently hits double the acceptable levels due to the 3.6 million automobiles that traverse its roads and highways, contributing to both poor air quality and traffic congestion. The problem is only exacerbated by the city’s

high elevation (at 2400m) and surrounding mountains, which act to contain the effluence produced. In a bid to control the problem, the government frequently implements a ‘no hoy circulation’ rule preventing a portion of its citizens from driving on certain days, greatly upsetting the fresa population. Pro: Did I mention tacos? We all love their Tex-Mex counterparts, but you haven’t truly appreciated a taco until you’ve sampled those found across La Ciudad de Mexico. From those hiding in baskets on street corners to gourmet fish tacos parading in Mexico’s finest restaurants, you’ll never be far from your next taco. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Away from the westernised interpretation (or defilement) of Mexican food lies the true jewel of Mexican culture: eating. Tortilla chips sautéed in red or green salsa, smothered in cream, cheese, refried beans and crowned with un huevo estrellado (runny fried egg) will cure any mescal hangover. Richly spiced tomato-based soups peppered with crispy tortilla pieces, avocado and pork crackling present themselves as main meals, but will undoubtedly be followed by an onslaught of main courses. And quesadillas oozing with cheese and tinga de pollo (shredded chicken cooked in a sauce of red and green tomatoes, chipotle chili and onion) will always taste better in a 4am tequila haze. Con: You WILL get fat Dieting is simply impossible in Mexico City when you are constantly stalked by stands selling tortas (huge buns filled to their extremities with

TRAVEL

assorted meats) and haunted by the smell of freshly grilled pastor. Don’t bother. Buy yourself a 15 peso freshly squeezed juice, tell yourself, ‘Well, that’s my vegetable intake for the day,’ and go and eat another taco. Pro: The element of surprise There is a fully grown pet pig named La Chata being exercised along the street, a man with a furnace attached to a trolley and an obnoxiously loud whistle selling roasted sweet potatoes and you’ve just learned the city’s water has been switched off for four days. Because Mexico… Con: You never know what’s around the corner It may just be a bus… This is not the country to be caught in without health insurance. Mexico’s public health care system is slow and underfunded, making private health care a must. If you, like many other immigrants to the country, are cheating the system and living off an easily obtainable tourist visa and simply skipping over the border every six months, travel insurance is your best and only option. Ready to join? Mexico City is a whirlwind that can only be tamed by embracing its extravagance. Searching for reality within the maze will only leave you lost and confused. Close your eyes and eat whatever they give you. Drink mescal until everything that felt weird feels normal. Take the metro and dance with the mariachis. And don’t be surprised if you find yourself never wanting to leave the circus. theskinny.co.uk/travel

Lifestyle

Carly Rae Jepsen and the Queerification of Pop Words: Hannah Williams Illustration: Jacky Sheridan

We’ve come a long, long way since Katy Perry’s accidental girl-kissing...

t’s 2008, and, writhing on a baby pink satin bedspread, a cat sitting on her lap – a cartoonish, heavy lidded wink to the audience – Katy Perry is introduced from the sole of her high heels, the camera panning up before settling on the gold ‘Katy’ pendant resting on her cleavage. The opening images of the video are typical late-noughties video fare; shots of legs in stockings, disembodied butts, all female, all white. The video wasn’t particularly notable even when it was released, yet nevertheless it drew in millions of views. The content of Perry’s lyrics is the crux upon which the visuals rest. “This was never the way I planned / Not my intention” is the opening line of I Kissed a Girl, and the precedent is set. Nobody plans to kiss girls, Perry implies. Perish the thought. The video and the song are a depressing masterclass in the heterosexual gaze, an outlook that dictates female sexuality should serve men’s sexual interests. The song even mentions a boyfriend, a quick aside hoping that he “don’t mind it”, as if it would be ridiculous if he did; as if kissing someone of the same sex could ever be a real threat. Rather than an account of female sexual exploration, or bisexuality, or queerness, the song focuses on how the act is shocking, deviant, but ultimately throwaway and without consequence. The song is the tenth best-selling single of the 21st century. Eight years later, and while the mainstream pop scene is still largely hetero- and gender-normative, filled with tired stereotypes and outdated depictions, in many ways the landscape is radically different. The rise of social media is

Feature

obviously a huge factor in this, and it’s hard to imagine I Kissed a Girl provoking as little ire today as it did back then. The increasing popularity of Twitter and Tumblr enable them to function as outlets for complaints about representation, platforms upon which the powerful can be, even in some small way, held to account. As LGBTQIA people become more visible, wider culture begins to sit up and take notice of them. And they have.

“Jepsen’s vision of queerness is a glimpse of female relationships filtered through stretched out pink bubblegum” Gay people have always, of course, had a close and complex relationship with pop music, whether that’s demonstrated through fandoms and support, or the appropriation of gay subcultures (in particular, the subcultures belonging to gay PoC). But the sea change is evident in the way mainstream acts have moved

from being content only to court a queer audience, to openly representing them in their lyrics and videos. A discourse has been started, one where queer female fans feel able to recognise themselves in liner notes, to scrutinise videos for nods towards same sex relationships. Of all of today’s pop stars, it’s Carly Rae Jepsen who seems to elicit such excitement from queer fans. Around the release of Jepsen’s second album, E.MO.TION, Jia Tolentino wrote an article for Jezebel entitled Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Boy Problems’ Is a Beautiful Gay Song of Discovery. Read straight (pun intentional) the song is a lament to losing your best friend, but it’s the privileging of another women over a heterosexual relationship that enables queer listeners to identify, to analyse the song as a narrative of sexual discovery. It’s the repeated chorus – “I think I broke up with my boyfriend today / And I don’t really care” – that serves as a refusal to follow male-centred relationship narratives we constantly see espoused in popular media. This sense is only furthered by the accompanying video for the track, directed by Petra Collins, known for her pastel-hued, dreamy take on female adolescence, girl gangs, and queerness. It’s a clear sign; Jepsen’s target is a particular kind of teenage girl, one less concerned with seeing repeated motifs of heterosexuality, and more with depictions of female relationships. In a much gif-ed moment, Carly decides to stop moping over a boy in her room and go dancing with her friends, one of whom she locks eyes with and dances towards. It’s a small moment, but it’s an important one; intentional or not, this small

DEVIANCE

gesture seems imbued with sexual tension, an invitation to interpret this video as a queer story. Jepsen’s vision of queerness is simultaneously nostalgia-tinged and firmly situated in 2016, a glimpse of female relationships filtered through stretched out pink bubble gum, but isn’t the only version of queerness that present-day pop has to offer us. Beyoncé’s Formation, in addition to being a depiction of blackness rarely seen in mainstream pop culture, presents us with an altogether different form of queerness from the biggest pop star in the world. As Danielle Moodie-Mills details in her piece Bey’s ‘Lemonade’ Celebrates Unapologetic Black Queer Love, even the visual aesthetic of the Formation video is informed by black, queer traditions, from the young black boy vogueing in the mirror to the influence of New Orleans bounce culture. Indeed, by sampling gay and genderqueer artists such as the Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia, and using the repeated refrain of “I slay...” (a usage coined by LGBTQ PoC), Beyoncé intertwines the voices of queer women of colour into the song’s narrative and into the national consciousness. That Formation was performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show demonstrates the interlinked nature of queer identities into mainstream pop culture. The rest of the short film for Lemonade also features a black lesbian couple, holding hands and softly twirling into each other; relaxed, smiling, intimate in that quiet way people in love have. The scene isn’t shown for a particularly long time, but it’s important. Not showy or sexualised, it’s just a sweet, honest depiction of a queer female couple. If both Jepsen and Beyoncé’s inclusion of queer identities are achieved in subtle ways – gently inferring, nudging open spaces for queer voices and interpretations – Shura’s vision is more forthright. The 25-year old has created one of 2016’s most critically acclaimed albums, signed to a major label, and been long-listed for the BBC Sound of 2015. She’s also openly gay, and her self-directed video for Touch features a variety of queer couples making out, slowly and tenderly and lovingly, to the strains of her minimalist synth-pop. It’s been viewed 26 million times. It’s a direct riposte to the heterosexual gaze; at the beginning Shura and a man briefly move towards each other, only for them to immediately pull apart, him then in an embrace with a man. There’s no othering, no centring on the straight experience; the song itself, she revealed in an interview with The Guardian, is about her feelings for an ex-girlfriend. There’s no queer subtext in Shura’s music; it’s the text. It’s not that the last eight years have suddenly made the mainstream pop landscape hospitable to queer people. Pop stars still sing using neutral or opposite-gendered pronouns, women kissing women is still used as shorthand for out-of-control sexuality, actual portrayals of queer women are still sorely lacking. But where lyrics and visuals once used female queerness as a tool to titillate straight men, we’re now slowly reclaiming our ground, being heard, being seen. We’re being represented, on our own terms.

THE SKINNY

September/October 2016

The Print Project S

ince 2010, The Print Project have been making stunning art and design using technology that’s more than 500 years old. Based in Shipley, designers Nick Loaring and Lucy Johnson use six letterpress machines and a vast collection of wood and metal type to hand craft high-quality, vibrant prints, including gig posters for local promoters Golden Cabinet. While working with vintage machines including a Heidelberg Platen and a Korrex Nürnberg, they also innovate and “challenge perceptions of what letterpress printing is or should be,” including laser-cutting their own type to use alongside original pieces. We asked Nick about their story and influences, and the joys and pains of working with analogue tech. You can read the full interview at

theskinny.co.uk/art The Skinny: Where did your passion for letterpress come from? Nick: Some time in 1996 I stumbled across a case of wood type in a bric-a-brac shop in Settle. It was covered in years of muck and dust and smelled funny. Needless to say I was smitten, so handed over £25 and walked out of the shop with no idea what I was going to do with it. Some ten years later a printing press was acquired for the price of a tank of diesel – it lived in a shed in bits for a further four years. I moved back to Bradford in 2010 and a friend told me about a printing press that had been donated to the 1 in 12 Club that I might be interested in. So my life as a graphic designer took a funny turn and six years later I’ve amassed somewhere in the region of 20 tonnes of equipment to ‘design with’. But the passion for putting ink on paper goes way back to when I was a teenager making ridiculous skate/punk fanzines – that stuff really opened my eyes to a world that was full of possibilities, and as soon as I’d scraped through my exams with enough passes to get into the local art college to study graphic design I was off like a shot.

We swear we have a physical reaction to your posters for Golden Cabinet. Do you choose the colours with a sensory response in mind? The only way I can explain how it happened is it’s like two worlds colliding that have had a major influence on me over the years – the mindblowing 60s/70s psychedelia of Barney Bubbles, Oz magazine, Monty Python and the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky smashing headfirst into the International Typographic Style and modernism of Emil Ruder, Max Huber, Max Bill and Josef MüllerBrockmann, etc. The sole intention was to produce a visually striking poster through the use of repeating patterns, overlays and over-the-top ink colours that jump off the paper they are printed on and poke you in the eyes. Once they are on a wall in a room they start playing tricks on you, and as long as they do that I feel like my work is done. The posters you can see here are from the 2015-2016 series that utilise the same colourways as the years before but are a lot freer and more relaxed than the earlier posters. Then you’ve got Pattern Man which was a collaborative piece of work with a poet, a book binder, two musicians and a printing co-operative to visualise Pattern Man in response to the written work of Leeds-based poet Rick Holland (who’s previously worked with Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins). Pattern Man is a wild and crazy ride that speaks volumes about who we are as people in 2016. Rick had seen some earlier work I did at [book shop and gallery] Colours May Vary and was crazy enough to want to get me involved in producing something for his third book that utilises an eye-melting moiré pattern in two colours.

What are you working on currently? Double Dagger – a 12-page broadside focusing on the role of letterpress in today’s digital age and printed entirely from hot-metal and wood type: doubledagger.co Letterpress workshops – our autumn/winter program of courses is now online and begins in September. If you’ve ever wanted to have a go at letterpress printing in a well-stocked workshop, now’s your chance! theprintproject.co.uk/ letterpress-workshops Tap Type – Tap room typography via Magic Rock Brewing, coming Autumn 2016. theprintproject.co.uk instagram.com/theeprintproject

SHOWCASE

THE SKINNY

September/October 2016

SHOWCASE

THE SKINNY

FE U AT

Bovine Intervention

RE S

One of the many jewels of Leeds’ diverse DIY scene, post-punk idiosyncrats Cowtown return with new album Paranormal Romance. Here they share their thoughts on lazy journalism and the harsh lessons of touring

Interview: Hayley Scott

any people familiar with Leeds’ DIY music scene will struggle to remember life before Cowtown. Not because they've been around forever (although 12 years is pretty good going), but because the city's musical landscape wouldn't quite be the same without them. Their songs are weird but high-energy and erratic; everything that's good about guitar-centric party music. Fun is their main objective, but it's clear that a lot of hard work has gone into it. The band formed in circumstances typical of Leeds’ tight-knit musical community: “I met Shieldsy [aka drummer David Shields] in Wakefield in about 2000, where I moved to go to art school,” explains synth player/singer Hilary Knott. “My course moved to Leeds in the last year so I just kind of took him with me, and I met Nash [singer/guitarist] at a gig in a squat. Cowtown started practising in our cellar and just never stopped. I don't think any of us ever imagined it would become such a big part of our lives at the time. I'm happy about it because I really had no idea what I was doing with myself.” With persistence come inevitable setbacks. Their recently released fourth album Paranormal Romance was recorded amidst the floods that damaged producer and Hookworms frontman Matt Johnson's Suburban Home studio in the winter of last year. Knott recalls how stressful it was for all involved: “The night of the floods I remember just being totally blown away by how different everything was. There was a river running past the Asda at the bottom of my street that isn't normally there. “It was kind of beautiful in a way, but then I saw Nash in a total panic – he said that Suburban Home was totally flooded and the reality of it sunk in. Lots of people lost their homes and businesses for a long time and it was pretty brutal, but in typical Leeds fashion the whole community pulled together and helped each other get back on their feet. There were a fair amount of fundraisers for a while after that. Just witnessing the generosity of people who don't have that much to begin with made me feel really proud.” Jonathan Nash is similarly enthused by his hometown: “It's just a great place to be creative and learn things and find other people to do that with. It's good for people who want to do things but don't have much money. It's taught me everything I know about DIY and what music's about. “The DIY scene has a very collaborative, non-competitive vibe and I think that's why the music is of such a high standard,” he explains. “This all happens in other cities too but maybe the geography of Leeds makes it easier, and the affordability of things like living and practising maybe gives us an advantage. Saying that, places like The Audacious Art Experiment in Sheffield and, more recently, places like DIY Space for London prove that a scene can flourish anywhere there are people willing to do the graft.” While Cowtown are largely celebrated locally, their appeal reaches far and wide. When asked how they're received outside of Leeds, Knott says: “The DIY music scene is everywhere! Having said that, we mostly play in the UK, and despite how long we've been at it, we often find ourselves playing to new audiences. We've worked really hard to craft songs and sets that will be exciting and interesting to people like us, who like weirdo party music. People who are that way inclined seem to appreciate it.” On the subject of favourite Leeds bands, she's quick with a list of responses: “Crumbs, Game_ Program, Mia La Metta, Beards, Guttersnipe, Commiserations, Xam, Bilge Pump, Milk Crimes, City

September/October 2016

Photo: Carolina Faruolo

Yelps... there's so many. All the hard-working weirdo spuds who do their own thing; that's what I like.” Although Cowtown have cemented their place in the list of great bands Leeds has spawned over the years, they still remain relatively unknown outside of DIY music scenes. When asked about the Guardian recently referring to them as ‘newbies’, Knott seems surprisingly unfazed: “Journos mostly have to write about things that get sent to them, 'cause that's their job. They need sandwiches like everyone else.”

“ I like the idea of making art as a form of resistance” Hilary Knott

Being ignored or misunderstood by the press is a recurring theme, she explains, especially within DIY music: “Anytime there's any kind of documentary about the Leeds music scene, it feels like it's about ten years late to the party and totally missing the point. The world of DIY music is largely undocumented because chasing after press is super-time-consuming, boring and expensive. There's lots of debate about what DIY means, but I like the idea of making art as a form of resistance. From a capitalist perspective it makes no sense as a thing to do with your life. In every other way it makes complete sense.” Indeed, Paranormal Romance encapsulates everything Cowtown are about, in particular their self-sufficiency and tendency to get friends involved. The artwork was done by Jonathan

Wilkinson, aka Idiots Pasture and also of Hookworms. Do these links make DIY easier, we ask? “There's definitely a symbiosis that happens as a result of being part of such a non-competitive, supportive creative community,” says Knott. “I love JW's work because it's funny and unpretentious and colourful. That's what we're going for as a band so it works well together.” Perhaps best thought of as Leeds’ version of Ohio misfits Devo, the band render us curious about their songwriting – particularly album highlight and live favourite Castle Greyscale: “It's about a building out in Holbeck I used to work in,” says Nash. “It's a particularly bleak example of brutalist architecture and being there every day was having a detrimental effect on my personality. So it's about environment affecting a person's emotional state. I was really down on brutalism for a while as a result but I'm back on board now. Brutalism rules when it doesn't suck.” Talk turns to the troubling way in which a lot of men – and some women – write about women in bands, for example using words like ‘sassy’ and ‘feisty’ to denote a particular kind of strong and positive attitude, presumably because they see women playing instruments as a novelty. We ask Knott if she's ever experienced it herself: “I've noticed it for sure, it's super-lazy. I don't feel like I've especially been a victim of it, though. In the early days people used to say that I looked angry or intimidating but as it turns out that's just what my face does when I'm concentrating really hard. “I do find that kind of music journalism annoying though – if I'm reading a review it's because I want to know what the band was like so I can decide if I want to listen or not, I don't really care if the singer is ‘elfen’ or ‘exotic’. It just makes me think that person should write fan fiction about girls in bands

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instead of music journalism.” This far into their career, and with Paranormal Romance co-released by Athens, Georgia indie label Happy Happy Birthday To Me, you'd imagine Cowtown would be no strangers to the US. Following recent trouble with the visa process, Knott explains that touring over there is not as easy as it seems, and they still seem understandably dejected by the whole situation: “Basically there's a good reason lots of bands tour on the downsies on tourist visas. The application process is like throwing money into a big hole, while a lawyer dressed like a clown laughs and throws knives at you.” It's not all bad news, though. Long-term fans of San Francisco noisepoppers Deerhoof, Cowtown have since become their regular tourmates, and it's taught them to take things a little more seriously: “The first time we toured with them Nash nearly had a meltdown,” says Knott. “Basically we got our asses handed to us every night. On the other hand it taught us a lot about how we approach everything as a band and made us try to step up our game. They're the sweetest people and really supportive; watching them play every night is like a dream. I'm a little bit in love with all of them.” As the interview comes to an end, we're reminded of why every city needs a band like Cowtown. They're the glue to Leeds’ DIY infrastructure – it wouldn't collapse without them, but it'd have a large, gaping hole in its backstory. Paranormal Romance is out now on Audacious Art Experiment. Cowtown play Stay Fresh Fest at The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 24 Sep and A Carefully Planned Festival, Manchester, 15 Oct

“ Now I don’t give a rat’s arse!” Hollie McNish meeting Charlotte Church is quite frankly something that needed to happen for the good of the world. As arts collective Neu! Reekie! prepare to bring Church's Pop Dungeon to the stage for just its fourth outing, they sent poet and voice of her generation Hollie to interview the multi-talented performer-slash-activist Interview: Hollie McNish Illustration: George Morton

’m not sure why, but I was petrified to meet Charlotte Church. Perhaps it was because being a similar age to me with similar age kids, a similarish career and a pretty parallel political passion, I quite wanted to get on with her. Or, erm, for her to like me a bit. Perhaps it was because I’ve been interviewed a lot, but never been on the other side of the mouthpiece, the side where you have to actually know more than your own opinion and life. Perhaps it was because I had recently read about her frustration with other performers who wouldn’t take a stance politically and in the two previous weeks I’d turned down three political panel discussions and two gigs at political rallies for fear of not knowing enough and sounding stupid. I’m going to sort that out now though. Whatever the reason, I was shitting myself and so fairly content that we finally managed to meet in an Edinburgh bar and – more importantly for the nerves – gin distillery. Within five minutes she asked me what my next poetry collection was about. I of course elegantly replied, “Well, it seems to be quite a lot about fingering.” For the next hour or so, that’s really where the conversation went; on that well-loved and often underrated (when tackled well) form of human contact. We had more in common than I’d known. Perfect.

A follow-up Skype was arranged to cover some other topics. HM: I’ve just got a few things to ask since I got too drunk last time and started talking about fingering. So… How old are you? CC: I’m 30 this year. HM: 30 this year! That’s a good age, I think. CC: Yeah man, I’m enjoying it. I’m having a ball.

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HM: I bet you are! When I turned 30 I made this long list of things I wouldn’t do anymore. I wouldn’t take the sort of shit I felt like I had taken in my 20s: all sorts of things, from asking someone to move on a train if they were sat down and their bag was on the other chair – which I used to be too scared to do – to just saying no if I didn’t want to do a gig or if my manager wanted me to wear a certain outfit that I didn’t want to wear... Sorry my daughter’s in the background, she wanted to listen. Oh wait... she’s going to the toilet! CC: Yeah I’ve got my little ones too. Are you watching that Ariana Grande stuff? My two are watching... What are they called? HM: I don’t know, as in on the telly? CC: Yeah, god! She’s got the most annoying speaking voice! Lovely singing voice but most annoying speaking voice! But no, carry on! On saying yes and not giving a rat’s arse HM: You’ve started doing stuff very independently and making all this really interesting music. Not that I didn’t think your stuff was interesting before, but you seem to be a bit freer. Is that to do with age? When did that start? CC: Yeah, that’s been going on for a while. It’s been a general gradual move over, because I did the whole record label thing and left them when I was about, I don’t know, 22, or something like that. And then I went off to make a record in Nashville – but that wasn’t quite what I wanted to do. Then I met Johnny [Powell, her partner and collaborator] and started making music much more independently. So I suppose, for me, I’ve gone a little bit the other way in that I used to say ‘No’ a lot. And actually, in recent times, I’ve just started saying ‘Yes’ a bit more. Just going ‘Yeah!

Yeah I’ll give that a go!’ HM: Why do you think you were saying ‘No’ before? Just being scared it was a bit different, or that you wouldn’t be good at it? Or just didn’t want to? CC: A lot of it was fear-based, I think. Even though your fear increases as you get older in certain ways, in other ways I feel like I’m letting go of it as well.

“ D’you know what? I feel sorry for those guys at their keyboards. I feel sorry for their lives and what it must have come to” Charlotte Church

I wasn’t really desperately trying to please but I definitely was aware of what popular culture thought I should be and I definitely did take some notice of that. Whereas now I don’t give a rat’s arse! HM: What’s been the thing you’ve been most pleased you said ‘Yes’ to, that you might not have however many years ago? CC: D’you know what? Pretty much everything! Because everything is completely connected, so one thing I said yes to would then lead to

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another thing, which would lead to another thing. So I think it’s just a general change rather than a specific thing. I did a little bit of acting when I was younger. I did one film when I was 16 and it was dreadful and I was like, ‘I’m never doing that again. I’m the worst actress ever!’ And then I did Under Milk Wood [the 2015 film] and I had a ball! I met some amazing people and it was really scary and I had to do it in Welsh and in English (and I’m not a Welsh speaker). Now I just feel like if the right opportunity comes along I can take it. I am in that fortunate position where I don’t necessarily have to do things. You know there’re a lot of people in my life who’ll be, like, ‘You could make so much more money…’ HM: Yeah, I get the same as well! I get told off for every time I turn down an advert, basically. Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon CC: We’ve had a couple of offers off people who are like ‘Oh my god. You should tour this’ and, you know, ‘We’ll represent you and we’ll be your booking agents,’ but I’m a bit like, ‘Nah!' I’ll only book gigs that are really special. But if we have more funds then I’ll definitely grow it. Bouncers and all sorts! HM: So who’s in it? Who did you set it up with? CC: It’s me and Johnny who’s my partner and guitarist. The bassist is our friend Gav who we’ve known for years and he’s a proper psych master! He’s in a great psych band called Asteroids of Luck. And then we’ve our drummer Dave who’s been with me pretty much since the start of the EPs so that’s been about six or seven years now. Robbie who’s our keys player, he’s a jazzer who studied at Birming-

THE SKINNY

ham Conservatoire, and he’s awesome as well. And the singers change depending on who’s available but mostly it’s just people from in and around Cardiff. A couple of singers who I did a project called The Last Mermaid with. HM: Did you choose the songs yourself? Or did everyone chip in? CC: Everyone has their say and everyone can put songs into the mix and see what we’re going to rehearse but mainly it’s me and Johnny. Basically we sit in the kitchen, drink copious amounts of wine and go through all of our favourite songs. And then decide which ones we think will work as a band and which ones not. We run it like a DJ set. So for example we’ve got a bit of our En Vogue cover Don’t Let Go and we’ve got a bit of King Crimson 21st Century Schizoid Man and then when we do Overload by the Sugababes we go into a little bit of White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane so it’s sort of like we mix and match and we do little skits in between. We just try and keep it so it’s constantly rolling along and people are constantly surprised and, hopefully, enthralled by the choices. Trolling and having an opinion HM: People must say it a lot, but you seem pretty brave. Before I met you I was a bit worried if I’m honest! That week I think I’d turned down three panel shows to do with politics and things, and also gigs where I was asked to do stuff with a band, which is bit out of my comfort zone. I turned them down because, basically, I’m worried about sounding stupid on the radio and then I was reading about you, like a lot of us were, crying when the Tories got in and finding it hard to get other people to stand up in terms of politics. And then I was like, ‘Aw that’s me. That is me.’ I mean I do it a little bit. But it’s really frightening. I get frightened because of stupid stuff, because of getting hate mail and trolling. I get worried that if I say something else then can I deal with that backlash? And then I do it and it’s fine because people do just sit at their computer and write nasty stuff. CC: Yeah, and also it’s just like, d’you know what, I feel sorry for those guys at their keyboards. I feel sorry for their lives and what it must have come to. But it’s not always bad, it’s sometimes just people who aren’t necessarily trolls or nasty or mean – they just really really disagree with you. You know, we all get to say what we think. I used to be exactly the same. I’ve done Question Time twice, and I used to be like ‘Oh my god! I’m going to say something stupid or it’s all going to go horribly wrong.’ And then I did say something where everybody said that I was stupid which was about the Syrian civil war and how the drought that was attributed to climate change possibly contributed to the unrest in Syria and hence the rise of terrorism. I said that on Question Time and there were lots of column inches and internet people who dedicated the next couple of days to how stupid I was. Then NASA came out with a study about it, as did various other people, all saying the same thing.

September/October 2016

So sometimes, even though you’re made to feel stupid about the stuff that you say, you’ve just got to say it anyway. Sometimes it’s just important to say, no matter how it comes out of your mouth. I’m not the most eloquent person, I mean the majority of the time I don’t even finish my sentences, my thought train runs off! But it’s still worth saying and I feel just like you. I get really scared and I try to do as much research as I can so I’m as prepared as I possibly can be. It’s important. HM: It is, isn’t it. I don’t mind at all the people that strongly disagree. On some of the videos I’ve put up that have had lots of hits, people are shouting or saying whatever, I ignore the bitchy ones and then read a lot of the ones that are disagreeing or look at the links they’ve sent because it’s quite a good way to learn as well I think. I find it funny how people don’t expect you to be human! I’ve put up a few posts on Facebook (I’m a bit more wary about it now as it’s 30,000 people that are going to get it in their inbox or wherever it is it goes to) and then someone’s been like ‘Hollie, that was last year’ or I’ve put something about the government and I’ve got the voting date wrong or whatever. But, after a few of them, I feel a bit less stupid and a bit more like ‘Everyone makes mistakes’ and that actually, it’s alright to say ‘Alright I didn’t know that. Thanks!’ CC: Absolutely! It’s good to learn. ‘Thanks for letting me know.’ And, do you know what, it’s my time on the earth and I’m going to learn all I possibly can. But if I am wrong, absolutely pull me up. Thanks for letting me know! HM: Yeah. And there’s nothing else you can do, is there? I feel like that. That’s sort of the point isn’t it. The point is to learn as much and do something helpful, if possible, I think. While looking after your kids! CC: Absolutely! The Last Mermaid Charlotte Church’s musical reinterpretation of The Little Mermaid was staged in Cardiff ’s Festival of Voice earlier in the year. HM: Alright, I’ve just got a couple more things and then I’ll let you get back to life. The Last Mermaid looked brilliant; I think I remember you saying that your kids had an input, that you used them as a test to see if they liked certain bits?

CC: Yeah, some of the bits, like for instance in the first scene we see this beautiful, utopic, shimmery glittery Mer Kingdom, and in the second scene there’s a poison into the sea. Take that as whatever you want it to be, whether it’s an oil spill or whatever, and the whole of the Mer Kingdom dies, all life in the ocean is wiped out. I did the music with a guy called Sean Trevor, and the music that we had at that juncture was pretty horrendous, really atonal, high strings and horns and it had this like low pulsing alarm-ish sort of bass – it was pretty terrifying [laughs]. HM: It sounds it! CC: So I played it to my kids like ‘How does this make you feel?’ and Dexter was like ‘I hate it! I hate it! It’s horrible!’ So I thought, coupled with the visuals, it might be a bit much. We might just have traumatised kids running screaming! So we toned it down a little bit. So, yeah, I tested it on my children! But they were fine because at least they didn’t have the visuals at that time. HM: I sort of use my daughter to test my work, but I’ve found that she only likes my poems with swearing in so it doesn’t work as well. Kids and creativity CC: [The kids] are a constant source of inspiration. Ruby is always walking round the place, singing her own songs. About the moon or about whatever’s going on, or friendship. She’s got a beautiful little voice. I’m constantly trying to stop myself from nabbing her songs! HM: Little ones are pretty genius aren’t they? CC: Yeah. There’s a really interesting talk by a guy called Sir Ken Robinson, Changing Paradigms in Education. He talks about this study that was done into divergent thinking; basically about the ability to have original thoughts and to have creativity. When they did a longitudinal test on kids, they tested kids who were kindergarten age and 98% scored at genius level. And then as they got older (they were tested up to about 16) that only decreased and he was saying that could be for a number of reasons – what’s going on at home, the individual or one of the most important things that had happened to them since that time was they had become educated. I think it definitely shows that we’ve all got this immense creative power. There’s a beautiful Kurt Vonnegut quote which goes around Facebook and the like which is just like, just create! It doesn’t matter how good or not good it is, just write a poem or draw a picture, sing a song, strum some stuff on the guitar; it’s just important to do it because you will have created something and that gives you such an immense satisfaction. That’s not the exact Kurt Vonnegut quote! It’s much more erudite! [Laughs] HM: You’re right! Kids’ creativity is so lovely and it’s also kind of scary. I keep thinking that my

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daughter’s so open minded and so fascinated by things and so comfortable with stuff and with herself and her body and making things and then slowly [that’s eroded] from going to school. ‘Oh this isn’t good’ or ‘This one isn’t good’ or ‘I’m not going to do this because I’m not good at it.’ CC: It’s a human thing as well though. Obviously the modern world doesn’t help with consumerism and capitalism and the way that it pays to make people feel bad about themselves, as that’s sort of what makes the economy go round. But, in a certain way, even if we were all cavemen, when we go through puberty and everything changes, it was always meant to be a bit shitty! So I think it’s about us trying to help them through it and manage it rather than being so dictatorial about it. I saw another interesting study the other day saying that stricter parents make their kids better liars. HM: I will look that up. Because everything’s helpful – I’ve never done this before! CC: Absolutely! It’s all a stab in the dark, isn’t it, really? HM: Yeah, everything is really; everything you do! And as you say, just give everything a shot and it might be terrible and you might not be good at it, but if you don’t try and you don’t do it then there’s no point really, is there? Neu! Reekie! Celts featuring Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon, Liz Lochhead, Ette, Loki & Becci Wallace, Lyre, Lomond Campbell and Bark Collective. Fri 23 Sep, National Museum of Scotland, 7.30pm, tickets from £14

Hollie’s top 5 Charlotte facts 1. She deals extremely politely with sleazy

men who very often stand and stare at her tits and talk about their equity or estate management, seemingly forgetting that she is an independent, self-managed businesswoman and mother who needs neither house nor drink bought for her by overpaid chimps in labelled tweed.

2. Everyone who realises who she is wants a hug – and she gives them all a hug.

3. She has, in my opinion, one of the most

perfect personal ideas of balancing fervour and fun: the desire to stand up for what you passionately and politically believe in – for her an anti-austerity, leftist, pro-Corbyn arena of play – with the need to address how tiring and draining this can be; hence the formation of her Pop Dungeon; a six- (then eight-, now ten-) piece band dedicating itself to everyone’s need to ‘fucking dance’; glittered leotards, backing singers, Bowie to Beyoncé to Super Furry dedicated cherry-picked covers. Read about it. Go to the gigs.

4. She is extremely passionate about all of her family.

5. She has very very soft skin and likes white wine more than gin.

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Gold Dust Woman

After discovering My Woman on the road, Angel Olsen found the balance to confound her critics for a fourth time

“I

’m sorry if I’m waterfall-talking right now, but a lot of times journalists don’t even fucking ask me about the music. They’re just like, 'So, the wig? What’s going on with that?'” Angel Olsen’s relationship with the press has been a bit of an arm’s-length affair in the past. Part of that had to do with the enigmatic manner in which she presented herself and her music, and the media’s unwillingness to try to dig beyond it; the scratchy, lo-fi videos and hand-drawn artwork that accompanied her 2014 breakthrough, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, were enough to see her pigeonholed as a tortured singer-songwriter. During one excruciating radio interview in Chicago, the American musician was asked to expand upon why she sounded like “a girl at the bottom of a dark well.” Reviews of the record were unanimous in their positivity but – whether through laziness or false preconceptions – many seemed to fundamentally misunderstand Olsen. Either way, My Woman, her fourth LP, is going to confound expectations. Stylistically it runs the gamut from synthpop (Intern) to smoky piano balladry (Pops) to out-and-out sixties girl-group fare (Never Be Mine). She swings from a runaway favourite for the year’s most infectious pop song, Shut Up Kiss Me, to the murky atmospherics of slow burners Sister and Woman, both of which push close to eight minutes in length. The scope of her musical ambition on My Woman is thrillingly broad, and whatever happens, nobody is going to be able to compartmentalise Olsen after this.

After the album came together in the most unexpected of places, Olsen and her band decamped from Asheville to Los Angeles to record at Vox Studios – where the majority of My Woman was cut straight to tape. “My friend Justin Raisen co-produced the record with me,” she explains, “and he was the last person I thought I’d work with. He knows that, too. He’s this very LA guy, with crazy blonde hair, Adidas tracksuits and chains, and he’s sort of best known for writing songs with people like Charli XCX and Sky Ferreira. We’d emailed a lot before we met up, and I was a little worried: is this guy going to be on my level? But he has this hyperactive sense of excitement about him that was really, really refreshing. It’s so easy to become jaded about the music industry, and here’s this guy who’s worked with these huge artists and yet still loves making weird demos that might never see the light of day.” Raisen’s relentless enthusiasm balanced out the natural approach of Olsen’s band, previously her only sounding board for demos and ideas. “I remember being nervous introducing the guys in my crew to Justin, because they’re all critics; they’re the sort of people who can sit around for hours on end arguing about Drake versus Kanye like it’s a philosophical debate,” she laughs. “And Justin’s a guy who was taking my demos home and dancing

with his wife to them, a guy who’d sit in the listening room and shout things like, ‘Scorsese’s going to put your songs in his next movie, and you’ll be all, “show me the money, Scorsese!”’ But I needed that. I didn’t want a producer who was going to pick apart the songs and look for the negatives.” Olsen’s lyrical rebirth As well as documenting an unorthodox recording process, My Woman is a rebirth for Olsen in terms of lyrical thematics, too. She’s tied up the album with a title that suggests a new straightforwardness, and it has already been widely interpreted as a feminist statement. There are points on the record in which she delves into direct questions of gender; 'I dare you to understand what makes me a woman,' she croons with operatic intensity on Woman, while Heart Shaped Face explores emotional manipulation of women by men. The album’s threads, though, are ultimately much more diffuse. “I didn’t think woman should have to be a dirty word,” Olsen explains, “but the title was just something that made me laugh. I was thinking about it in terms of being in a relationship with a guy, and him joking around and calling me ‘[his] woman.’ It’s kind of degrading, but also flirtatious. I didn’t hate it, and it made me sort of embrace that I like having traditional gender roles, even if I

Interview: Joe Goggins don’t always want to be stuck in them. I don’t object to the idea of being a mother, or somebody’s wife, but I also don’t want to make that point with the record, necessarily. The title’s just an access point. If people want to see it as me reclaiming that phrase, that’s fine. It was just supposed to be a conversation piece.” It is abundantly clear that Angel Olsen is at peace, now, with the possibilites of people interpreting her music whichever way they hear it. “I sent the record to a friend of mine, but without the lyric sheet, and they wrote me back saying, ‘Oh, I really loved this line.’ And they had the line wrong; they got a couple of words wrong that totally changed the context of it. I couldn’t bring myself to correct them, because I wanted them to be able to manipulate it. I guess it’s part of the beartrap I created for myself being an emotional, serious artist, but now I can’t even joke around with people! Whenever I do, they’re like, ‘Yeah, but what does that mean?’ Like everything I say has to have some deep subtext. So, you know, if you want to take My Woman as being overtly feminist, that’s fine. I just thought it sounded badass.” My Woman is available 2 Sep via Jagjaguwar. Angel Olsen plays Manchester’s Club Academy on 14 Oct and Glasgow’s SWG3 on 15 Oct angelolsen.com

The origins of My Woman We’ve spoken previously, shortly before Burn Your Fire was released. Then, she had her guard up; long, reticent pauses between answers punctuated the conversation, with her reluctance to give too much away obvious. This time around, it’s difficult to get a word in edgeways; Olsen routinely gets carried away with her own excitement about this set of songs. After never considering writing on the road, she explains that much of My Woman came together during a pair of tours that served as a holiday as much as anything else.

“ I didn’t think woman should have to be a dirty word” Angel Olsen

“Last summer, we went to Europe for a tour that I planned for no other reason than just to get away and hang out with my band,” she says. “It was really laid back; we’d spend three days in Spain, but just play one show in San Sebastian, and spend the rest of the time chilling out. Then we’d drive to Porto, have dinner, and then carry on to Lisbon to play a show together.” The band’s unhurried, refreshing schedule captured Olsen’s imagination, resulting in a spontaneous record that still sounds meticulously constructed. “It was a really romantic way to tour,” she enthuses. “Going to Istanbul and checking out places like the Grand Bazaar, then taking a ferry to Athens where we could spend all day swimming in the ocean and play that night at a venue that was like a cross between an aquarium and an 80s punk rock club. I had so much energy when I got home that I wrote six of the songs really quickly, and I already had a couple down from when we were in Australia earlier in the year, just things I’d come up with sitting by the pool in Byron Bay.”

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Music

THE SKINNY

September/October 2016

THE SKINNY

Indie Marvel From the set of Marvel’s latest movie, Taika Waititi takes a break from shooting Thor: Ragnarok to discuss his thrilling indie coming-of-age film Hunt for the Wilderpeople Interview: Michelle Devereaux

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here are so many movies these days where everyone’s separate and you don’t even really get to hang out,” Taika Waititi laments while speaking on the phone from Australia. He talks about a friend who, after twelve weeks working on a film, only met his co-star once. Waititi sounds a bit tired, but he’s still unfailingly affable and polite. The Kiwi filmmaker is currently directing inevitable blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok, his first major studio film. Ironically, the films from the Marvel “cinematic universe” that Thor inhabits, with their heavy emphasis on computer-driven effects, are some of the biggest offenders of this divide-to-conquer filmmaking mentality. Still, if anyone can build a sense of community within the confines of such a big-budget behemoth, it’s probably the 41-yearold Waititi, who excels in creating films about makeshift families of social misfits and oddballs. Waititi is probably best known in Britain for his brilliantly funny cult vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows (2014), which he cowrote, co-directed and starred in (as lovelorn dandy Viago) with longtime collaborator Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords). Since his 2007 feature debut, Eagle Vs. Shark, the filmmaker has specialised in creating off-kilter, visually inventive films that straddle the line between comedy and pathos, a tonal register sometimes derisively referred to as “quirky.” Despite his cult status over here, Waititi is something akin to filmmaking royalty in his native New Zealand. His latest, the utterly charming Hunt for the Wilderpeople, recently became the highestgrossing homegrown film in the country’s box office history, supplanting 2010’s Boy – also directed by Waititi. While Shadows, despite its singularly goofy premise, is targeted at a “mature” audience, Waititi seems to have a soft spot for telling stories about kids, especially ones who tend to fall through insti-

tutional cracks. Like Boy, Wilderpeople is about a young Māori, and it’s a tale told in a typically sympathetic yet unsentimental fashion. The film centres on 13-year-old Ricky Baker (newcomer Julian Dennison, possibly the best thing in a film full of great things), a chubby, troubled yet good-hearted foster kid from Wellington who thinks of himself as the consummate gangster living the “skux life.” Ricky is unceremoniously plunked down in the middle of the country to live with the enthusiastic Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and her husband, ornery and gruff bushman Hec (Sam Neill, clearly relishing one of his best roles in years).

“ Ultimately the movie is just about people looking for family” Taika Waititi

When Bella suddenly dies, Ricky flees for the bush in order to escape the authorities who want to re-institutionalise him (including psychotically intense social worker Paula, played with gleeful abandon by Rachel House). Hec chases after him, and soon the two are both on the run from the law, who assume Ricky has been kidnapped. Part comic pas de deux, part heartfelt adventure film, Wilderpeople is at turns hilariously deadpan and moving without being cloying, and it never stoops to mining archetypes or clichés. “What I was trying to avoid was saying this is what it’s like for all Māori,” Waititi says. “Every New Zealand film that involves Māori, they’re always the ones that are connected to the spirit world, or the wise old grandmother and all that, which I’m really sick of.” Waititi is Māori himself, and he refuses to romanticise Māori culture. “There are

Māori who are not connected to their family, to their culture. Ultimately the movie is just about people looking for family.” Wilderpeople also touches on what Waititi considers a national foster care system that “could probably do with some attention,” but never in a polemical way. In one scene, Ricky tells Hec his friend Amber died, but he doesn’t know the details behind her death. It’s actually an allusion to a real New Zealand foster kid who took her own life. “I’m not going to name names,” Waititi says. “I’m going to kind of hint at it, and anyone who knows about that may know, okay, this is the world [Ricky] is from. It’s all about him though. It’s gotta be focused on him.” Waititi’s use of hands-on, low-tech effects jibes with the humanistic sensibility of his narratives. Practical effects are “more French,” he deadpans, “more arrogant.” Wilderpeople in particular contains a complicated, bravura shot whose very attempt seems slightly mad: a 720-degree long take (the camera pans around the action twice) where characters pop in and out of frame on multiple occasions to suggest the passage of a much longer stretch of time. Actors hid behind bushes and hustled to make their new marks over and over in an intricately choreographed arrangement. “Those are the things that make me most satisfied with making films,” he says. “I still love in-

camera trickery, and I love animation, and I love things that are handmade… even if the audience doesn’t really know what they’re looking at.” True to form, Waititi wasn’t just interested in having everyone involved be there on the same day just to explore his technique. “It makes everyone feel part of the team,” he says. The film contains several unexpected cinematic allusions, from Robert Altman’s classic Western McCabe and Mrs Miller (that long take is set to Leonard Cohen’s The Partisan) to Apocalypse Now to Psycho, the latter two during a queasy scene involving Bella butchering a wild pig. This wasn’t so much an attempt to make his family-friendly film “edgier” as it was part of a desire to ground the story in the reality of its milieu. While Waititi says he hated the idea of depicting animal killing onscreen, considering his source material (Barry Crump’s 1986 novel Wild Pork and Watercress) is “all about hunting,” he didn’t have much of a choice. For the pig-killing scene, he took pains to exercise as much restraint as possible while still conveying gruesome reality. “Watching it back I feel like it’s actually super graphic, whereas all you really see is the knife go down and then there’s blood on the knife,” he says. “There’s only one shot with blood spraying, and it’s so kind of abstract.” The film’s tonal mix of affable goofiness and darker reality can be felt in Waititi’s eclectic music choices. “I think [songs] help me imagine the scene, visualise it – what’s going to happen and the tone,” he says. “So music’s super-important right from the very beginning.” In addition to the downbeat Leonard Cohen song, the film’s soundtrack features Nina Simone’s Sinnerman, cheesy calypso disco, operatic tribal-infused sounds, and retromodern synths. Wilderpeople is scored by New Zealand band Moniker, and Waititi has also worked with Wellington-based indie rockers The Phoenix Foundation. But currently he’s in the process of getting prolific composer Mark Mothersbaugh on board for Thor: Ragnarok. The Devo frontman is known for scoring quirkier films, which hints that Waititi might be able to preserve some of his idiosyncratic style regardless of his monster budget. He insists he wants to be surrounded by as many artists like Mothersbaugh as possible. “There will always be opinions from the business side of things,” he says. “As much as possible you need the people who balance it out.” If you’re worried Waititi won’t make another small film like Hunt for the Wilderpeople or Shadows, don’t – he still plans to direct a followup to the latter, shifting focus to the werewolves. Regardless, he seems intent on making films where people can still “hang out,” collaborate, and form a sense of community. He even actively pushed for a large percentage of Aboriginal crewmembers on Thor. Despite his ascendance to the major leagues, it seems he isn’t willing to forgo the concept of makeshift family, both on and off the set. Hunt for the Wilderpeople is released in 16 Sep by Vertigo

September/October 2016

FILM

Feature

Shifting the Stage As a West African transposition of The Duchess of Malfi comes to Leeds, one writer considers the possibilities and pitfalls that come with reimagining the western theatrical canon

Words: Holly Rimmer-Tagoe

Belle

or much of recent memory, being a black, classical stage actor has meant opting between the roles of the subhuman, animalistic Caliban in The Tempest and the militaristic, jealous protagonist in Othello – a vast choice. The lauded work of BAME actors like Cush Jumbo, Don Warrington, Adrian Lester, Sophie Okonedo and Paapa Essiedu in the plays of Chekhov, Miller and the Bard has given a muchneeded push to casting directors to look outside their traditional purview when casting the Western canon’s leading roles – but too often these opportunities remain rare and fleeting. According to the British Black and Asian Shakespeare database, the number of black and Asian actors in Shakespearean roles has fallen since the high point of 2012 (183 roles) and these actors are frequently cast in minor roles. In light of this, production companies and theatres are increasingly seeking to reimagine and adapt the canon to allow for diverse casts, and to give BAME audiences – who are on average less likely to visit the theatre – an opportunity to see themselves represented on stage. An upcoming reimagining at West Yorkshire Playhouse of The Duchess of Malfi, where the play’s setting is transported to West Africa and the Duchess becomes Iyalode of Eti, follows in a line of productions reshaping the classics to focus on contemporary concerns and issues. It’s interesting that a large number of these transposition plays are relocated to the African continent. It speaks volumes that audiences find it easier to see black actors in positions of authority as military leaders, court officials and monarchs in a foreign continent, with which the performers may be completely unfamiliar, than as members of the British establishment. Seemingly, it is somehow more credible to see a London-based actor

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portray a head of state from the other side of the world than it is to place them in a large estate four miles from their home. Successes and failures Last year, one of the most renowned directors working in British theatre, Trevor Nunn, was widely criticised for using an exclusively Caucasian cast of actors for his production, The Wars of the Roses. His defence was that the choice was an “artistic decision”, reflecting “historical verisimilitude.” Of course, it’s a historic fact that there hasn’t been a BAME monarch or Prime Minister in the UK, but the idea of clinging, limpetlike, to an ideal of total historical accuracy is a one-way road to certain creative death. There will inevitably be historical gaps and inaccuracies in every production, and an attempt to immaculately recreate the context of a play’s creation rejects the entire basis of interpretation and retelling. Audiences don’t want to see a play performed in the same way that has been seen many times before; instead, looking for different readings is vital for a play to resonate in changing times. Transporting a play to an alternative setting and era can foster new meanings and ways of construing the canon. Gregory Doran successfully staged an African production of Julius Caesar at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 2012. As well as renewing the play’s use of dreams and omens through African mythology, Doran also brought out the contemporary nuances of autocratic militarism by reflecting on the nature of modern dictatorships in some African countries. Michael Buffong’s All My Sons at Manchester’s Royal Exchange (2013) similarly extended Arthur Miller’s exploration of the downfalls of consumerism by drawing

attention to the particular racial injustices in employment and education in Ohio. New settings are not enough However, transferring the classical texts of the Western canon for BAME actors and audiences also has some pitfalls. Simply shifting classic plays to a new setting can appear to reinforce the idea that the Western, Caucasian experience is the frame for all other experiences, denying the global and racial particulars of history. If the reimagined play doesn’t try to acknowledge or question some of the assumptions or erasures of the original text, then the realities of the British upper class curiously come to stand in for the historical experiences of black people. Such productions also represent another way of suppressing diverse stories, by addressing the lack of visible diversity in British theatre without affecting its structural causes: an unwillingness to risk money on new, innovative plays and a lack of BAME writers working on their own stories.

“Total historical accuracy is a one-way road to creative death” Belle and Hamilton: a way forward? The unexpected success of Amma Asante’s film Belle and the worldwide phenomenon of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton represent

THEATRE

a very different way of providing historical, substantial roles to BAME performers. Belle follows the life of Dido Belle, an illegitimate, mixed-race relation of the 1st Earl of Mansfield who became an aristocratic heiress in 18th-century England. The film offers relief from the bland, Julian Fellowes-esque version of history – where servants live the life of Riley and their overlords always try to act in the most benevolent, genial way possible to their underlings – and is a much-needed refutation of the idea that black people have only became evident in history since the 60s. Hamilton takes on the story of the founding of America, relaying the tale of Alexander Hamilton with a diverse cast and relying on the African-American influences of jazz, blues, rap and R'n'B. Hamilton and Belle are both historical dramas with BAME protagonists, but neither relies on an original, canonical text. These two very different stories are hybrids of new and old forms. Hamilton tells the narrative of a Founding Father’s immigrant experience, reinterpreted by a BAME cast – while also allowing the story to be told through the outlet of African-American music. Belle is a total outlier in the British period drama industry, imparting the story of a mixed-race aristocrat in a well-worn British form. It may be comforting to imagine we live in a post-racial society, but as long as reality proves the opposite, we have to make the cultural leap of not only placing BAME actors in history, but allowing them to speak in their own voice as well. As Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr. puts it: “Colourblind casting is great, but you know what’s better? Roles that are actually written for you.” Iyalode of Eti runs 22-24 Sep at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds

THE SKINNY

September/October 2016

Just Four Laughs Four acts you should see at this year's Women in Comedy festival

f the idiotic outcry by MRA bedwetters over the idea of four women bustin’ ghosts in horrorcomedy Ghostbusters proves anything, it’s that Manchester’s Women in Comedy festival, the only festival of its kind in Europe, is still vital as it approaches its fourth edition. It returns 20-30 October, kicking off with Suzi Ruffell, Angela Barnes and Jen Brister at the launch night gala and offering up a wealth of talent over the following days, including many Skinny favourites who we’ve covered in these pages. We caught some of the acts earlier this year when they took their new shows up to the Edinburgh Fringe. Here’s what our reviewers had to say.

Katie Mulgrew “Katie Mulgrew’s new show Saboteur takes an introspective look at parenthood and the bond between child and parent. She wants the world to up its game, but has yet to muster more than the signing of e-petitions to make it happen. Saboteur references the fact that Mulgrew is prone to self-sabotage – now that she has the responsibility of a child, she faces an even bigger challenge to get it together. “Mulgrew’s conversational inclusivity and buddying charm create a cosy atmosphere, akin to a coffee-fuelled catch-up with an old friend around the kitchen table. ‘You don’t get to go out much with an 11-month-old baby,’ she says, before delving into a routine about emotional signposting. She is naturally funny, but it’s her storytelling that pins the show together.” [James McColl]

Losing the Booze I

f you ask any one of my many friends what I love more, a drink or a laugh, they will start to sweat. As you stand poised, your brow increasingly furrowed, your glare baying them for the answer, their panic-stricken brain will only be able to repeat one memory: Me, in all my top lad glory stating very clearly: “I love a drink as much as I love a laugh.” That’s who I am through and through. Until one day I saw a poster that shook me to my very core. A comedy night was being hosted in a local book shop. There would be NO alcohol. I was completely floored. The time had finally come. I would have to chose. A drink. Or a laugh. But in the end I just went to the comedy night and had a great time. The comedians were relaxed and fresh. No misjudged, awkward or violent heckling from the audience. No quiet tension for the safety of the acts. One woman did ask me if I could move my bag from under her chair which I took umbrage to, but I’m just a very difficult woman. All in all I just watched and enjoyed comedy and I didn’t miss a drink. Because when you think about it, the way we still think comedy and drink go together is actually dead weird. If you need a drink to enjoy it, how good is the comedy? This is not to mention the number of comedy nights that are ruined, and I mean RUINED, by drink. ‘Old school’ comedians would see this as part of stand-up, the macho beery atmos of it all. But this is an over-romanticised view of drunken heckling. It’s true that one or two acid putdowns to a singular heckle can be a beautiful thing (my trademark heckle smasher being, "Can you shut up, please, I’m trying to do stand-up comedy over here!") but when the heckler has been drinking heavily since 5pm, this will almost never be the end of it. Trying to politely make someone twice my age sit down nicely and be quiet because they’ve had too much to drink is just dead boring, both for me

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Fern Brady

Katie Mulgrew is at The Castle, 25 Oct, 8pm, £5

Illustration: Sonny Ross and the rest of the audience. And although I am tenmen-mega-hard, when you’re not built like a brick Bernard Manning, it can turn into a scary ordeal. I don’t know if anyone has told you, dear reader, but comedy is… quite… white. Still. In 2016. It doesn’t really reflect the world we live in. With many people in Britain not having drinking as part of their culture, nor something they wish to experience, I can’t help but think comedy has alienated many potential performers, brought up in different cultural backgrounds, by the majority of stand-up happening in pubs.

Fern Brady “An hour of quick-witted, acerbic stand-up from someone who’s soon to be a household name... Fern Brady’s show is tough-talking and packed with don’t-give-a-shit honesty. Yet despite the hard-hitting themes, she makes it all as light as a soufflé. For the first time this Fringe, I was crying with laughter.” [Polly Glynn]

Suzi Ruffell “Suzi Ruffell’s Common has a clear message – it’s cool to be proud of your roots, but there’s no shame in wanting after a dream house by the sea. Aspiration doesn’t go hand-in-hand with fucking people over. “Ruffell’s story takes us from a school classroom in her home city of Portsmouth to her recent television debut, and the narrative of her journey blends excellently with her message about class structure and LGBT rights. It’s a very well written show that gains momentum and never lets up, partly because Ruffell herself is hilarious, a performer with a formidable range that she utilises to the fullest extent.” [Craig Angus]

Fern Brady is at Nexus, 29 Oct, 9.30pm, £5-£10

Suzi Ruffell performs as part of the launch night gala at the Frog & Bucket, 20 Oct, 8pm, £15-£20

“ For the first time this Fringe, I was crying with laughter”

“ I can’t help but think comedy has alienated many potential performers”

Polly Glynn

Sophie Willan “Finding a way to laugh at real tragedy is never easy, but Sophie Willan resorts to levity so effortlessly, it’s almost as if she’s had plenty of practice. Which she has, it turns out, as is revealed in her performance of On Record – a cerebral take on a lifetime spent in and out of foster care, summed up succinctly via her analysis of the pile of personal records she received from the state on turning 23. “Willan sandwiches one hell of a life story into a delightfully scripted performance that leaves audiences marvelling at her upbeat, largely blameless version of what has evidently been a far more arduous childhood than she lets on.” [Tamara Mathias]

But why do we think a pub is the natural home of stand-up? Because that was where stand-up started out? Well, so what? Boiled down, all you really need for a gig is a quiet space, some tech and some chairs. There are some other admin requirements which I would rather fake my own death than do (flyering) but you get the idea. When you’ve been to a gig in a book shop, in a museum, in a cinema, in a cake shop or even in someone’s living room, you can get a feel for what stand-up actually is. Entertainment. Not just a reason to get hammo’ed. Fern Brady and Jo Neary perform at Manchester’s alcoholfree venue Nexus as part of Women in Comedy festival Joanna Neary: Animals and Men, 29 Oct, 8pm, £7-£10 Fern Brady, 29 Oct, 9.30pm, £5-£10 womenincomedy.co.uk

Katie Mulgrew

COMEDY

Photo: Stevie Ullathorne

Why do we still think that comedy goes hand-in-hand with drinking? Comedian Jayne Edwards investigates

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Sophie Willan performs as part of the wrap night party at the Frog & Bucket, 30 Oct, 8pm, £10-£20 Women in Comedy festival, Manchester, 20-30 Oct womenincomedy.co.uk

THE SKINNY

“ In America we’re in such a dark place” With his outstanding new work Above the Waterfall, the highly acclaimed US author Ron Rash tries to draw the ‘wonder’ from a snarling modern America. He talks about the novel here, and why while he's a proud Southern writer, don’t precede that with ‘just a’

Credit: Clemson World magazine, Ashley Jones

Interview: Ross McIndoe

t feels somehow relevant to reference our current year to a boxing match from back in 1973. With about half of it now gone, being alive in 2016 so far feels a lot like being Joe Frazier in the ring with George Foreman: we came into this thing all pumped up and feeling good but the bell had barely rung before we were getting pummelled from all angles, on our ass before we even knew what hit us and barely back up before we got pounded down again. Death has been stealing our cultural icons while atrocities have been exploding across the world. Doubling down on the terrible, the political response across the globe seems more and more inclined to fear as masses of people swing to the right and swarm to support leaders who dress ignorance up like strength. Right now it’s a hard world to write from optimistically, while remaining grounded in reality. As a writer known for the violence and darkness of his work, Appalachian author Ron Rash probably wouldn’t have been the most obvious candidate for the task. His latest novel, Above the Waterfall, doesn’t skimp on the violence or try to skim over the horror of the modern world. Instead it looks it dead on and sees the beauty too, and the reasons to be hopeful, and lays them all down in simple spoken prose. Split between two narrators, Above the Waterfall takes place in a small mountain town, awash with natural beauty but plagued by economic depression and drug problems. A retiring sheriff and a traumatised park rangercum-poet, the two heroes’ dual angles on the world offer a view both darkly pragmatic and lyrically hopeful. Each time a previous interview turned to his work in progress, Rash would always describe his latest novel as an attempt “to look at the world more hopefully.” Now that it’s complete, his description remains the same, coming back continually to the word “wonder” time and again as the element of life he most hoped to capture. “I’ve noticed now that people don’t tend to use the word as a noun very often,” Rash claims, “but when I’m out in the woods I do feel wonder.” Such an earnest appreciation of the world might seem odd coming

September/October 2016

from an author whose novels are littered with death, destruction and drug abuse, but as he goes on to explain, these two seemingly discordant tones are harmonised in the overarching aim of his writing: “I’m trying to be true to the world. Much of my work deals with the darker aspects of it but I’m not gonna be true to the total experience of what it means to be alive in the world if I don’t acknowledge wonder. And beauty.” The darkness of contemporary America The world his writing inhabits, and the America in particular, is a very difficult one to write from hopefully. Rash makes no attempt to shy away from this fact, suggesting that “In America right now we’re in such a dark place, such a troubled place.” Gun violence and racial conflict have been the dominant narrative in the US this year, all underpinned by a deeply unsettling surge of support for a man even Bill O’Reilly thinks is a bigoted loudmouth. Rather than being backed down by the darkening times though, Rash believes they only make it “even more important to write about wonder,” bursting into an exasperated chuckle as he attests that “You don’t ignore that but…you can’t give up!”

“ I’m trying to be true to the world. Much of my work deals with the darker aspects of it...” Ron Rash

That mixture of poetry and pain is typical of Southern writing, often taken as an extension of the landscape itself and the result of a life lived in close contact with the sublimity and savagery of nature. There’s an ancient, immovable quality

to the mountains too that Rash sees as speaking to writers like himself and forefather of the Southern tradition William Faulkner, distinguishing them from other American writers: “When you read Faulkner, you get a sense of generations of people. When you read Hemingway, you don’t get that.” This sense of being grounded in history, of the past being still fiercely present, is imbued in Rash’s writing. With its slow-moving, soft-spoken style it feels like it understands the big picture, the smallness of any one moment however incredible or horrifying in the true scope of our collective history. Though he can be proudly placed into its literary heritage, Rash remains sceptical of attempts to label him as a “Southern writer”, grinning as he admits that he’s always afraid of it being preceded by a “just a.” Though his mountain home is deeply embedded in his prose, this sense of connection to the land is far more important to him than the specific land itself. When asked to name his literary idols, he rolls off the names of Americans, Russians, Frenchmen and even the odd Scottish poet: writers from across the globe with a shared ability to draw on the land and channel it into their prose. It’s possible that when you’re able to step back and see the full story unfolded, appreciate the human drama around you as just a fleeting moment in a much older, vaster world, that things don’t appear quite so doomed. Pantomime villains like Trump don’t loom nearly so large when reduced to their true perspective. Writing for the screen While the style and philosophy of his writing can be traced back through history, the desire to make things new is a constant motivator for a man who chose the term ‘driven’ when asked to describe himself in a single word. “I don’t want anyone to pick up one of my books and think ‘oh he’s just repeating himself,’” says Rash, “I think I did something new with this novel.” Taking this desire to keep changing into the future, the question of writing for the screen seemed potentially like a natural next step for a man

BOOKS

whose works have been adapted into feature films twice in recent years, most prominantly in 2014, when Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper took lead roles in Serena. Rash remained intentionally hands-off with those works and he makes it clear that his opinion hasn’t changed, comparing the idea of writing for the screen to Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea: a tortuous, drawn out process where “people just keep chopping away” until your beautiful catch is reduced to a ragged skeleton, its original quality now only visible to the most discerning eye. So that’s a no. Having moved assuredly between novels, short stories and poetry already, the exact form he turns to next might not matter all that much. There’s always something hugely enjoyable when an author speaks like they’ve just walked out of one of their own stories, like you’re watching a part of the world they created slip off the page and into reality. When asked about his ambitions for the future, Rash replies in plainspoken Southern drawl: “I just want to write the best I can, as long as I can.” A poet by nature, Rash’s method is to begin with an image that resonates and build a narrative from there. In Above the Waterfall, there’s a recurring image that really echoes: a natural landscape alive with greenery and growth, littered with the detritus of drug abuse. The novel never asks you to look away from one or focus on the other. Both exist, exactly as present and important. Instead it demands that you hold these conflicting sides of the world in mind simultaneously and experience the yin-yang of the human life in its fullness. The political world and the media around them might be a-buzz with people determined to emphasise only the reasons to fear, but novels like Above the Waterfall are a reminder that this is only half a picture, that to be hopeful is not the same as to be naïve. In whatever medium he chooses, so long as Rash continues to write as well as he is, then the future holds at least one thing to look towards hopefully. Above the Waterfall is out now, published by Canongate, RRP £14.99

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THE SKINNY

Lit List There’s lots to see at this year’s Manchester Literature Festival, but if we had to whittle down our highlights, here are the five events we’d pick

Deborah Levy: Fashion & Freedom Manchester Art Gallery, 21 Oct, 1pm, free (booking recommended) Fresh off the back of praise for her latest novel Hot Milk – a confronting exploration of a motherdaughter relationship in the Spanish heat – British author Deborah Levy comes to Manchester Literature Festival with a new work, written in response to the Fashion & Freedom exhibition currently on show at Manchester Art Gallery. The display looks at the impact the First World War had on the role of women and fashion, and includes designs by Vivienne Westwood and Holly Fulton as well as students from universities in Leeds, Manchester and Salford. Levy will present her piece in the space and then discuss her work. Young Identity: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Contact, 22 Oct, 7.30pm, £11 (£6) The Skinny recently encountered poetry collective Young Identity on a late-night train, where their impromptu performances turned into a fullon poetry slam, enchanting tired commuters in the same carriage. For this special event, the Young Identity crew unite with spoken word collaborators Speakeasy and Inna Voice for an invigorating celebration of young people’s voices in the city. Hwang Jung-eun & Deborah Smith International Anthony Burgess Foundation, 17 Oct, 7pm, £7 (£5) Translator Deborah Smith made headlines earlier this year as the joint winner of the Man Booker International Prize with South Korean writer Han Kang, for The Vegetarian. Tonight Smith joins another of the Korean authors she works with, Hwang Jung-eun, to discuss the young writer’s novel One Hundred Shadows, which is published through Smith’s own imprint, Tilted Axis. The two will also talk about the growing interest in Korean fiction globally, and the art of translation.

We’d also recommend Sungju Lee (Central Library, 15 Oct, 1pm, £7/£5), the North Koreaborn writer and activist whose memoir recounting his abandonment at 12 years old, Every Falling Star, offers a vivid portrait of a young boy forced to fend for himself. Olivia Laing: The Lonely City International Anthony Burgess Foundation, 12 Oct, 6pm, £7 (£5) We’re living in an age of loneliness, and it’s killing us, argued writer George Monbiot in a widely read essay from 2014. In her critically acclaimed book The Lonely City, Olivia Laing has a somewhat more positive outlook, questioning why the state of solitude is seen as a source of shame in our society and considering the creative possibilities of aloneness. Tonight she will discuss her own experience of loneliness in New York and how it helped her understand the work of artists such as Edward Hopper and Andy Warhol, who occupied a liminal space in the city that never sleeps. Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi Central Library, 17 Oct, 1pm, free (booking recommended) One of the foremost African voices writing in Arabic, Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi will be reading from his new bilingual Arabic-English collection A Monkey at the Window (with works in English read by writer Travis Elborough). Resident in London since 2012, Al-Raddi had previously been culture editor of the Al-Sudani newspaper but was forced to leave his country due to the political situation under president Omar Al-Bashir. This is a great opportunity to hear some of the Arabic-speaking world’s most lucid poetry. Manchester Literature Festival, 7-23 Oct manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk

Money Matters This year’s Manchester Literature Festival has a good number of events looking at economic ideas and how they shape us, from Yuval Noah Harari speaking about his new book on inequality to Richard Hines on the story behind Kes. Why is economics seeping into the literary sphere?

he year 2008 should have sounded the death knell for economists. The overwhelming majority of them failed to predict the financial crisis that has since caused massive upheaval in countries all over the world, ushering in an era of slash-and-burn for the state and creating the conditions for the rapid rise of unlikely political figures Jeremy Corbyn, Donald Trump, Yanis Varoufakis and Bernie Sanders. But rather than quietly cowering in a dark corner, financial discourse and its propagators have thrived. Broadcaster and writer Paul Mason talked to a sell-out crowd at last year’s Manchester Literature Festival about the future of the economy and technology; Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, exploring the historical data of inequality, became a number-one bestseller; and talk about deficits, debt and stagnating wages has become a national obsession, dominating news headlines and leading to Twitter memes and a wave of activism as part of the Occupy movement.

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How did Piketty’s 700-page book about statistics move so easily from dense analysis reserved for economic experts to a mainstream bestseller? There appears to be a huge appetite from readers – moving on from autobiographies by YouTube ‘sensations’ and ways to cook a meal in 0.5 seconds to educating themselves about the obscure terminology that clouds economics. The national mood, post-expenses scandal and post-Brexit, seems to be increasingly riding on a wave of anti-status quo sentiment, with widespread distrust in the national institutions of Parliament, banks and broadsheet journalists. This distrust provides the backdrop for a swathe of armchair economists keen to consume statistics and offer their own take, who are no longer convinced by the fundamentals outlined by the Treasury and financial authorities. Piketty joins a number of luminary economists and social scientists growing in prominence, who lean to the left. The likes of Paul Krugman (End This Depression Now!, 2012),

Joseph Stiglitz (The Price of Inequality, 2012), Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson (The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, 2009) and Ha-Joon Chang (23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, 2010) have moved from the fringes of academia to become prominent media pundits and non-fiction writers. In many ways, the field of economics has always acted as a form of wish fulfilment: when the zeitgeist is a rejection of the current financial order, we get a raft of critical commentators trying to offer evidence for a viable alternative. These books provide an outlet by fostering a kind of counterculture (with a lot less drinking, fun and flowy dresses) that breaks the economic consensus of deregulation, consumer debt and growing house prices, while also outlining the bigger picture for those who feel they are falling behind financially. We read fiction in the expectation that we’ll dive into a story full of emotional and human circumstances that we recognise, but are also detached from. Similarly, books about

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Words: Holly Rimmer-Tagoe prevailing economic trends give the reader a sense that they’re part of a community – such as millennials being crunched by their baby-boomer parents – while also veiling their life in dull statistics, making problems that seem individualised real and structural. With the current vein of politicians trying to imitate The Thick of It more and more with every passing minute, the ludicrous spin doctor Stewart Pearson would simply (or, in his case, not so simply) say, “It’s the economy, Stewpot.” The economy now dominates every narrative, and the appetite for doing economics differently shows little sign of abating. Yuval Noah Harari, The New Inequality: Will the 21st Century Be the Most Unequal Era in History?, The Dancehouse, Manchester, 8 Sep, 7.30pm Working Class Writing Walking Tour with Anne Beswick, People’s History Museum, Manchester, 19 Oct, 1pm Kes with Ian McMillan & Richard Hines, Central Library, Manchester, 18 Oct, 1pm manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk

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Made in Manhattan From a Sundance indie to the Spider-Man reboot, it’s been an eventful six months for emerging actor Michael Barbieri. We speak to the 14-year-old about keeping it real in tender New York drama Little Men

“I

never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?” This corny line from Stand by Me chokes on nostalgia, but that doesn’t mean it rings any less true. The notion gets a contemporary, urban twist with a pair of chalk-and-cheese adolescent New Yorkers in Little Men, the new film from Ira Sachs. The boys of the title are shy Manhattanite Jake (Theo Taplitz) and exuberant Brooklynite Tony (Michael Barbieri). Jake finds himself across the East River when his estranged grandfather dies, leaving his struggling actor dad Brian (Greg Kinnear) a brownstone apartment and the ground floor boutique that Tony’s mother Leonor (Paulina García) runs. “You’re going to like the neighbourhood,” Tony says to Jake when they first meet. “It’s becoming a very bohemian area.” Both are aspiring artists: Jake paints, Tony acts. But they’re also into kids’ stuff. They love video games, and exploring the city’s sunlit streets at speed on their preferred modes of transport – Jake on rollerblades, Tony on his scooter. Like 13-yearolds can do, they become best friends immediately. Their parents? That’s a different story. When Brian, broke after years on the off-Broadway circuit, realises his father was letting Leonor’s boutique out for a song, he proposes bringing the lease terms in line with Brooklyn’s current postgentrification prices. The fiery Chilean seamstress refuses the rent hike and a battle of wills ensues, with the boys caught in the middle. The young actors are terrific. Taplitz, who lives in LA, plays Jake as introspective, thoughtful and delicate, which makes his outburst of emotion towards the end of the film all the more powerful. Barbieri’s Tony, meanwhile, is Jake’s polar opposite: swaggering, charismatic and a little cocky, he’s charm personified. The differing on-screen energies – one precocious, the other gregarious – work wonderfully together. “I knew I had to cast kids that would be memorable, that would stick with you,” Sachs told Vulture. “And I found that with Michael and Theo, and cast them oppositional. I thought of Theo as being out of a Robert Bresson movie, and Michael out of a Scorsese movie, and worked with them as such.” We mention this to Barbieri when he speaks to us down the phone from his parents’ Battery Park apartment, and it’s music to his ears. “Martin Scorsese is by far my favourite director,” he says, speaking with the kind of ‘fugeddaboutit’ accent that only a true New Yorker, or maybe Daniel Day Lewis in Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, can get away with. “I love his work. My favourite film of all time is definitely Goodfellas.” At only 14 years old, Barbieri probably shouldn’t be all that au fait with the director’s work, but it clearly hasn’t done him any harm. Barbieri’s acting heroes are from a similar movie milieu. “If I’d to pick two people that I’ve looked up to over the years, it would be Al Pacino and Robert De Niro,” he says. “My favourite De Niro performance is Raging Bull and my favourite Pacino film is tied between Scarface and The Godfather.” He pauses for breath… “If I could be in a Martin Scorsese film opposite De Niro and Pacino, that would be my dream come true.” His dream has surely already come true, we think. The young New Yorker’s vivid turn in Little Men has caught the eye of Hollywood. Since its premiere at Sundance in January, Barbieri has landed himself a role in The Dark Tower, a horror-western based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, opposite Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. “It was my first time out of the country,” he says enthusiastically. “I was out in South Africa for a couple of weeks, which was amazing. The whole set was crazy.”

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Bigger news was to come when he was cast in Spider-Man: Homecoming. “When I told my friends, they were so excited for me,” he says. “They were jumping up and down. Me and the kids I grew up with, we used to love Spider-Man. We watched the Spider-Man movies, we had the Spider-Man action figures. He’s my favourite superhero.”

“ If I could be in a Martin Scorsese film opposite De Niro and Pacino, that would be my dream come true” Michael Barbieri

What can he tell us about his role? “Sadly, I can’t tell you anything about my character,” he says. “I’m sworn to secrecy.” Come on, you can tell us something, we insist. Does your character have any super powers? “All I can say,” he says, “is that I play one of Spider-Man’s good friends.” We’re impressed. He’s barely been a film star for six months and he’s already deflecting journalists’ questions like a pro. Back, then, to the performance that launched all these opportunities. While the war that brews between the parents in Little Men brings up many questions regarding the economic and gentrification concerns of mo-

dern day New York, Sachs is clearly more interested in his young characters. When we ask Barbieri how he achieved such a naturalistic performance as Tony, his answer is pleasingly straightforward. “The character was me,” he says. “He’s Italian and, like me, he’s really into acting.” On set, Barbieri was in his element. “Everywhere [we shot] was close to my house or the neighbourhoods of my family and friends, so I know those streets pretty well. It’s a real New York movie and shot on New York sets, so that was pretty cool.” Barbieri also contributes the film’s showstopping moment in a scene set within the Lee Strasberg acting school, where he’s been training since he was nine. “That’s my favourite scene,” he says. For people who’ve seen the movie, it tends to be theirs too. “I’ve watched it with an audience many times – at Sundance, at MoMA, at BAM – and every time that scene comes on people just clap and cheer at the end of it. It’s crazy!” Who wouldn’t cheer? We watch Tony in acting class as he begins an improvisatory repetition exercise opposite his flamboyant teacher. The idea is to repeat your partner’s dialogue, but with attitude, reflecting their emotional register back at them. Little Men, like all of Sachs’s movies, has been quiet up to this point, but this scene is a shot of adrenalin; it’s a dazzling explosion, and the freewheeling Barbieri is the fuse. “That is my actual acting teacher Mauricio [Bustamante],” Barbieri reveals about the actor he shares the scene with. “Ira said, ‘Listen, we’re going to get your actual acting teacher for this scene,’ and I remember waking up in the morning ready to shoot the scene and being nervous because there was no script. But then I relaxed when I was like, OK, because that scene is all improvised, I wasn’t even sure they were going to

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Interview: Jamie Dunn

use it. It’s crazy how my favourite scene in the movie was not meant to be in it.” This seems to be Sachs’s technique for keeping the actors fresh. “Ira does not believe in rehearsal,” says Barbieri. “He believes that if you don’t rehearse, it’s more realistic. Every scene you shoot, the rehearsal is the first take.” Sachs also likes to send his actors on ‘dates’ before the shoot. He wanted Barbieri and Taplitz to be good friends off screen before they even thought about trying it in front of the camera. “When we first met it was through Skype, because Theo is based in LA,” he recalls. “Then Ira had us meet up with each other a couple of weeks before we shot. We just skated round the park, we would talk, we hung out, watched a movie. I think I felt that our bond in the film was so realistic because we became really good friends in real life.” There is a point where Barbieri’s life diverges from that of his character. In the film, Tony dreams of one day going to LaGuardia, New York’s premier high-school of music, art and performing arts, but it’s Jake who makes the grade. For once, real life provides a happier ending than the movies. “I’ll be starting at LaGuardia for the freshman year of high school in September,” says Barbieri, “so I’m very excited to start a new school that really has a passion for what I do.” We ask what he thinks is the most important thing he’ll take away from his first feature. “There’s a code I live by now: know your lines, do your best and be respectful. If you do that, you can’t really go wrong.” Before the phone call ends, he remembers something else. “Oh, and also: be confident. I learned that from Ira Sachs.” Confidence? This young man has it in spades. He’s sure to go far. Little Men is released 23 Sep by Altitude

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September/October 2016

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Photo: Ben Tricklebank

Take Care T

om Krell is doing super good. That’s what he tells The Skinny, right after our phone interview interrupts a rare, lazy morning. “I’m literally just waking up and having coffee right now. I slept in today.” It’s reassuring to hear because, as How To Dress Well, Krell has traditionally hit pretty hard on the emotions. His bedroom-recorded debut Love Remains (2010) was an introspective heart breaker, combining shy R’n’B balladry with icy shards of synth. In 2012, he dropped Total Loss – a record as quietly devastating as its title suggests. 2014’s What Is This Heart? turned up the drama; epic, experimental pop saw his sometimes brutal self-analysis take an outward turn, with high-stakes choruses borrowed from Celine or Mariah’s songbooks. Breaching the divide between intellectualised electronica and mainstream popular music, the Chicago-born musician has always been an oddity. His research into nihilism and German philosophy earned him a PhD from DePaul University and it makes sense, just about, that after spending so much time in library archives of human hopes and dreams, Krell should make music which seeks out the life-affirming value of creativity. Krell name-checks David Bowie as readily as New Found Glory, and his songwriting reflects his openly, unabashedly diverse listening habits. His Soundcloud mixes featured Justin Bieber long before the pop star’s strangely credible turn, and span FKA Twigs, Rich Homie Quan and Everything But The Girl. Leave your cynicism at the door. How To Dress Well’s music emphasises the importance of valuing what it is that you get from a song: if a classic pop-punk chorus takes you down a fuzzy warm nostalgia trip; ride that trip. And if it makes you want to write a song after? Even better. “Creatively, I’m pretty free,” he laughs. “I’ve never had an impulse where I start on a song and I like it, but I don’t know if it ‘fits’? Like, I don’t know if it’s a How To Dress Well song? I’m just like, this is sick. It makes me feel good. This is what I want to do, and I don’t care.”

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Tom Krell dives in to the weird dreams and holistic intentions behind Care, How To Dress Well’s fourth – and bravest – album How To Dress Well’s fourth full album Care – to be released on 23 September – takes bolder, braver detours than any of his previous records. After writing the album, Krell collaborated with Dre Skull, Jack Antonoff, CFCF and Kara-Lis Coverdale for the production process, and each of the eleven tracks is an outrageous pop hybrid. Balearic beats clash with classical piano, crashing synth, bouncy indie guitar lines, theatrical vocals and those huge, trademark choruses that make you want to punch the air, Breakfast Club style. Cathartic and clever, Care is Krell’s most accessible, most adventurous record to date.

“I think people could push harder, in terms of the experimentation they’re willing to take. People want to hear it, too” Tom Krell

“People want to pat each other on the back, like pop has reached this new level of artistry: check out the new Beyoncé, check out the new Kanye. But, I mean, my record is still 10-15 strides ahead on the weirdness scale,” Krell says, thoughtfully. He’s not wrong. “My writing is always a dialectic with what I’m listening to, and over time I’ve developed a tool box of so many different things – sounds from a rap template, sounds from an ambient or noise template, sounds from a Kiss FM template; pushing that hybridisation further,” he continues. “Music

is one phenomenon – so I think people could push harder, in terms of the experimentation they’re willing to take. People want to hear it, too. I genuinely believe that. I love this video that Team USA posted on their Instagram, the Olympic basketball team? They’re all on this private jet, singing Vanessa Carlton. It’s so sick. All these powerful young black guys – all of their advertisements are scored with rap music – and they’re all singing like cute boys to Vanessa Carlton. Because that’s how people live.” On Care, this complete disregard for “false” genre boundaries translates into songs like The Ruins. A cutesy, Ed Sheeran-esque melody opens the track (Krell a-okayed this comparison: “I’m down. Ed Sheeran is sick.”), before the song takes an unexpected nose dive toward the totally apocalyptic. “That’s cool to hear,” Krell enthuses. “The Ruins is an odd duck. It was initially a song I recorded over an acoustic guitar, and then I started piling in more and more layers... I thought a lot about writing music that makes changes. When you’re like: ‘Oh what? I never could have seen this coming. Oh man, what a treat.’ “I think surprising music is so important for pleasure,” he explains. “People are making a mistake in art – we live in extremely fucking dire and serious times and for some people, art must be dire and serious. I think often times people mistake art for politics. We need help soothing ourselves – but not pacifying ourselves. You need to give people something, not just corroborate the fucking news cycle. So, it’s important to take pleasure, but it can’t be cheap pleasure. Side by side with stories about police brutality it’s like, 'Oh, here’s a slide show of Kylie Jenner’s butt.' Oh, hell yeah, now I’m really satisified. This is supposed to be the balance?” In personal – not political – response, Care is a statement of method. For the first time in his life Krell suffered writer’s block, questioning: “Do I do this out of pathology? If I were ‘fixed’ would I make music?” After working through his own attempts to find comfort, these longer, more elaborate songs are an exercise in concentration and imagination. Salt Song sees Krell break free from his

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Interview: Katie Hawthorne moniker to address himself by name: it feels strangely, quietly radical, and it came to him in a dream. No, really. Twenty minutes in to our conversation, Krell is describing with relish how he, suddenly elderly, met a four-year-old version of himself in a huge, empty house. It’s the kind of dream that a cynic (or psychoanalyst) could have a field day with, but Krell rides it out. Toddler Tom “says super sagely shit” to him, like “all that matters is you feel good – and not good like when you have candy, but good like when you hug your mum.” He cackles, “I was like, 'Uhhh this child is going to make me cry.' And I woke up and felt my face, because I thought I’d been crying in my sleep. It was fucking amazing. It stuck with me for weeks.” How To Dress Well’s live shows have always been electrifying – marked by Krell’s earnest, holistic intentions to give everything he has, out of openness rather than vulnerability. Typically, though, he’s determined to push that feeling further still. “Directness is a concept I keep coming back to,” he says, suddenly serious. “Towards the end of the last tour, we did a show with all the lights up in the entire space; lights on the crowd, lights on the stage, everything. It was so fucking thrilling. Holy shit. It felt like the first time I was presenting music to people, this real exchange of trust and grace and creativity. It was also really terrifying. It’s like...” He pauses, and bursts out laughing. “It’s like when you’re having sex, and the person suddenly says, ‘Look at me.’ Fuck. I mean, it can be amazing, obviously.” “This next tour, we’ll still do some cool lights and stuff but I just wanna be like, ‘Hey, I’m here. Singing my songs for you.’ And the way that I sing – I’ve never been into easy shit. Like, what if I go two octaves up from here? It really demands a full focus, physically.” Krell takes a breath. “I just want to do a fucking great job, always.” Care is released on 23 Sep via Weird World / Domino How to Dress Well plays Stereo, Glasgow, 23 Nov, and Band on the Wall, Manchester, 24 Nov

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Universal Joys Greta Kline tells it like it is: the native New Yorker behind Frankie Cosmos conjures universal truths from minute details of daily life Interview: Graeme Campbell

t’s just gone 9.30am and Greta Kline has not long woken up in her home of New York City. From outside, the frequencies of NYPD sirens punctuate our Skype connection, and also audible is the whirr and clank of everyday street life. For some, such an environment would hardly be conducive to quality downtime but, after a mammoth spring tour and run of early summer shows, Kline is thankful to be home – even if it might seem different to how she left it. “I think home starts to feel weirder because you’re less rooted every time you come back, and have less connection to being there. Also it feels like vacation… but not really,” she posits, before reasserting: “We’re still practising two times a week, working on new music and all that kind of stuff. It feels more like vacation because we’re finally staying still for a couple of weeks.” That Kline and her Frankie Cosmos project are so in demand will come as no surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention to indie rock wires over the past two years. In a similar vein to the likes of Car Seat Headrest and Alex G, the story began on the Bandcamp platform. Initially operating under the moniker of Ingrid Superstar, Kline uploaded over 40 home recorded albums and EPs from 2009 through 2014. During this period she met her boyfriend Aaron Maine, and toured for the first time playing bass for his synthpop band Porches; a favour he’d repay by helping out on drums and backing vocals in Frankie Cosmos. Kline’s first studio album Zentropy arrived to critical acclaim in 2014, via her local Brooklyn label Double Double Whammy. She went on to sign with Beach Fossils’ Bayonet Records before repeating the trick with Next Thing: a record whose status as a fixture on Class of 2016 lists is all but guaranteed. Two weeks before our interview, the band

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experienced a watershed moment in headlining New York’s 575-capacity Bowery Ballroom. For Kline, whose hands on approach incorporates everything from managing the band to writing the songs and running the merch stall, the jump in venue size was marked: “[Selling merch is] getting kind of exhausting for me. In some places I can do it fine because nobody knows what I look like, but at the Bowery show every person who came in was trying to talk and it was intense. So it’s getting where maybe me doing merch becomes unhelpful.”

“ I’m writing about being in my body and how it’s so constantly changing and weird” Given her universality and ability to connect with fans, such a situation could be read as representative of the issues Frankie Cosmos faces going forward. As the shows grow in size, so too does the pressure of fame and expectation: an expectation that – on paper at least – would appear to run incongruous to the bedroom artist, DIY ideals that inspired her in the first place. “I can’t imagine being so big that I can’t be out in the crowd watching a show and talking to people,” Kline assures The Skinny. “I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I’m not out there at all. Maybe if the show is huge, and it’s in a stadium or something? That’s the only time I could picture doing that. Some bands start out liking to be in the green room, but I feel it makes me purposeless when I’m not doing anything.” Next Thing is an album that makes mammoth declarations from minute details, with tracks written in Kline’s teenage years but rebooted in the studio. Themes of existentialism are undercut by tongue-in-cheek references to the eclectic composer and fellow New Yorker Arthur Russell and celebrity magician David Blaine, while any charges of navel gazing are kicked into touch by songs like I’m 20, which paints Kline as the dumb, self-effacing kid in the story of her own midlife crisis: ‘I’m 20, washed up already’. As Kline gets older and the band’s circumstances change beyond recognition, the desire to be relatable remains undimmed in her writing.

“With the new stuff, the theme isn’t necessarily about being on tour. I think that’s such a stupid thing,” Kline explains. “It’s more like the actual feeling of not being home, or not feeling rooted and being in all these different places. That’s more universal. I can feel it when I’m in New York and I can feel it when I’m on tour, and that theme is now showing up in my new stuff. It’s not necessarily about the actual location – I’m not writing a song about being in California or being in the UK, I’m writing about being in my body and how it’s so constantly changing and weird.” Kline admits that any new material is still a long way off, but some of her more vigilant fans have been carrying out their own detective work: earlier in the summer, they discovered an Instagram photo of Kline in the studio with Maine

and slacker-rock champion Mac DeMarco. “He was producing some songs for our friend Yuki [who’s] from Tokyo. but was living in New York for the summer. Mac produced some songs of his. Me and Aaron sing on one of them, so it will probably come out soon actually,” says Kline, before tempering: “But yeah, it’s nothing huge, we’re not doing a record or anything, although that would be amazing! It was so mind blowing for me to watch him work in the studio because he’s so… brilliant.” At the beginning of September, Frankie Cosmos will fly the nest for yet another tour – this time in Europe. New York will always be New York, but if Greta Kline’s band remains on their current trajectory, returning home will feel more and more like vacation. ingridsuperstar.bandcamp.com

Frankie Cosmos’ BandCamp treasure chest

ver 51 digital releases Greta Kline documents her world with microscopic detail. Enjoy weird, poetic snippets that last less than a minute, exemplary Microsoft Paint-style illutration skills and the opportunity to trace Frankie Cosmos growing in ambition. Sketchy bedroom demos from 2011 become full- band recordings in 2016 – and even now that the world’s reading her diary, Kline hasn’t lost a single ounce of intimacy. Try five of our favourite songs: cryb aby (much ado about fucking, 2012) Through the lowest of lo-fi recordings, a guitar strums 49 seconds of the most concise teenage doubt you’ll ever hear: ‘I hate my body, I hate myself / Cry baby, can’t some-

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one help?’ ronnie ronaldo! (im sorry im hi lets go, 2013)

her mouth.’ embody (affirms glinting, 2014)

‘If your butt touched my butt [...] would you think it was cool?’ sings Kline, over sorrowful, elegiac keys. In 12 words she captures that exact moment when your stomach drops and you realise you’ve fallen way, way too hard for someone.

Embody gets the full studio treatment on 2016’s Next Thing, but here it exists in wobbly, brittle, joyful form. Kline describes a single perfect moment: ‘It’s Sunday night, and my friends are friends with my friends.’

pov of toothbrush (quick songs, 2014)

Dancing In The Public Eye (Zentropy, 2014)

This album’s described simply: “some friends and I decided to make a song every day for a week.” One such result is this weirdly heartbreaking bathroom ballad from the perspective of a lovelorn toothbrush: ‘I only see you twice a day now / And then I go straight into

The introduction of capital letters celebrate the release of Frankie Cosmos’ official debut. ‘My ass is made of velvet and my hips are made of stone’ should be everyone’s pre-night-out mirror mantra.

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September/October 2016

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Credit: the artist and White Cube

Cerith Wyn Evans, TIX3, 1994

The UK’s biggest ever survey of neon art opens in Blackpool – but why does neon still fascinate us over a century after it was first commercially produced? Cerith Wyn Evans, Meanwhile ... across town, 2001

Words: Polly Checkland Harding

ook up the word ‘charged’ in the Oxford English Dictionary and you’ll find two meanings: ‘having electric charge’ and ‘filled with excitement, tension, or emotion’. The Grundy Art Gallery’s title for its new exhibition, then, does a rather good job of suggesting how neon, first commercially produced in Paris around 1911, has come to have more associations than your average lightbulb. NEON: The Charged Line is the UK’s most significant survey of neon art to date, featuring work by world-leading artists in the medium across eight rooms, as well as sending new commissions out onto the streets of Blackpool. The exhibition explores works from a range of time-periods and countries, and with different aesthetic preoccupations, showcasing pieces by French artists François Morellet and Bertrand Lavier – two of the earliest experimental practitioners – alongside work by modern artists such as Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk. The location could hardly be more appropriate: not only does NEON coincide with Blackpool’s Illuminations, the annual six-mile-long lighting display that has taken place along the promenade for over 100 years, but it also opens in the seaside town that was one of the first places to show neon in the UK, in the early 1930s. Neon’s popularity had first taken hold in Paris, with one of the first commercially produced signs hung over the Champs-Élysées, before transferring to Los Angeles and New York. Neon went on to dominate the advertising hub at Piccadilly Circus in London from 1908 until the last neon hoarding, for Sanyo, was turned off in 2011. In America, shops initially used neon signs to keep their brand competitive, until cheaper alternatives isolated their use to motels and sex shops. While New York was populated with tens of thousands of signs in the 1970s, only hundreds remain today.

September/October 2016

Artists like Bruce Nauman have reflected on neon’s role in consumer culture, using its links with advertising to question the role and function of art in society. Where once a fluorescent doodle of a comely woman signalled a strip club, it’s more difficult to define what ideas are being pushed by Nauman’s installations of sexually explicit silhouettes – or by Tracey Emin’s confessional neon phrases, which lit up Times Square’s billboards at midnight throughout February 2013. Other artists have used neon as a technology that goes beyond itself, exploiting the way that light and colour bleed from the gas-filled glass tubes when lit. Dan Flavin and Robert Irwin have both explored how the use of light can affect the experience of space – although, ironically, the European Commission has ruled that Flavin’s works are ‘light fittings’, not art (for tax purposes at least), a definition that would have served Nauman’s preoccupations better. Then there are artists like Joseph Kosuth (on display in NEON) and rising star Jung Lee, who have used neon to consider how we think about language; Lee lights up sentimental, romantic phrases like ‘HAPPILY EVER AFTER’ in desolate landscapes. Neon’s many and varied uses make it difficult to pinpoint a single reason why it has such enduring fascination for artists and viewers alike. From transforming an otherwise featureless space to layering semantics with symbolism, it is perhaps its versatility – as well as its live beauty – that makes it so powerful. Richard Parry, curator of NEON, has the last word: “Neon is one of the most evocative mediums… It is a light that is designed to be seen rather than merely to illuminate.” NEON: The Charged Line, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, 1 Sep 2016-7 Jan 2017 Blackpool Illuminations run 2 Sep-6 Nov

Bertrand Lavier, Telluride II, 2005

grundyartgallery.com

ART

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Credit: the artist and Kewenig, Berlin

The Light Fantastic

Credit: the artist and White Cube

Tracey Emin, I know I know I know, 2002

Liverpool and Psychedelia: A Brief History The Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia returns to expand our consciousness once more this September. We look at the city’s long relationship with this most far-reaching of musical explorations

ver heard the one about how Courtney Love turned a generation of Liverpool musicians on to LSD? Back in the early 80s, way before Babes in Toyland, Hole or meeting Kurt Cobain, Love was a teenager obsessed with Julian Cope and Echo and the Bunnymen, ready to hit Merseyside with little more than the clothes on her back and a parcel full of acid. Love’s dad Hank had been a roadie with The Grateful Dead and was happy to supply his daughter with the means to pay rent the only way she could. Within months the city’s existing penchant for psychedelia had its pharmaceutical wherewithal and Love had moved on. It’s a neat story and goes some small way to explaining Liverpool’s strange and surreal relationship with all things psychedelic. That relationship has since manifested in the city’s own International Festival of Psychedelia, which this year will see a new generation of heads groove to the likes of Super Furry Animals, The Horrors, Silver Apples and The Stairs. While the city will always be able to lay claim to producing the ultimate psychedelic band, Liverpool’s close affinity with mind-expansion goes back much further than The Beatles’ decision to turn off their minds, relax and float downstream. In the early 60s, Liverpool became a centre of the emerging beat counter culture with a new art-school crowd hungry for jazz, poetry and performance. When US beat poet and counter-cultural icon Allen Ginsberg visited in May 1965, he declared the city to be “at the present moment, the centre of consciousness of the human universe,” echoing philosopher Carl Jung’s previous assertion that “Liverpool is the pool of life.”

School of Language, Music, Dream and Pun. Spurred on by future KLF prankster Bill Drummond’s theory that the nearby manhole at the junction of Mathew and Button Streets was the intersection of a ley line, the venue became an inspirational space for the next set of Merseyside dreamers. How the city seemed to react to punk is key to understanding why it remains a cradle of psychedelia. After the Sex Pistols and The Clash had led the London-centric battle cry, each large urban centre in the UK followed suit in different ways that often seemed to echo their environments. The inland factory-dominated cities of Sheffield and Leeds adopted industrial synthnoise, while just down the road Manchester’s rain-grey skies seeped into Joy Division’s brutalism. But Liverpool, with its big skies, green spaces and wide Victorian terraces, took a different road – one with none of the scorchedearth policy that defined so many of the back-tobasics three-chord wonders who turned their noses up at anything pre-New York Dolls. Not for nothing were Echo and the Bunnymen tagged ‘the new psychedelia’: vocalist Ian McCulloch’s voice could not hide his admiration for Jim Morrison, while their fluid guitar lines owed much to Television and their acid rock-influenced transcendentalism. Likewise The Teardrop Explodes, whose name seemed to come straight from the Warhol factory and whose organ-driven songs recalled the likes of The Seeds and Question Mark and the Mysterians. Both bands embodied a kind of glorious escapism and joyous

abandon that took them far away from the dour sounds of so many of their near neighbours down the East Lancs Road; and with their rejection of phony protest or politics, Liverpool’s music adopted an arty, kaleidoscopic feel, conveying those dreamy visions of landscape and hallucinogenics that became so popular with each group’s musicians as their respective stars rose. As cultural historian Andrew Lees wrote of the Teardrops’ shamanic leader Julian Cope, here was a “new spirit with the uncontrollable energy of the jungle, a soul with a thousand masks, dark and devious, light and seductive, an artist charmed by birds of paradise and poisoned by serpents, a soul born, fornicating and dying all at the same time.” From that moment on, Liverpool’s musical landscape became increasingly dominated by the psychedelic trappings of the 60s and early 70s. Cannabis became a given, acid popular and heroin would soon follow as the city adopted a strange escapism that has defined it ever since. Progressive rock forged a northwestern bulkhead with Pink Floyd adopted as the soundtrack, as the ‘retro-scally’ look took hold. Emerging from this smoke-filled room were The La’s, whose obsession with Captain Beefheart and motto of “skin up yer bastards” chimed as beautifully with the times as their magical, Byrdsian riffs. From the same era, The Stairs make a welcome reappearance at this year’s Psych Fest, complete with the scene’s unofficial anthem in the immortal Weed Bus. Into the new millennium, it was The La’s shadow that cast its influence over the next generation of cosmic scallies as the likes of The

Words: Jamie Bowman

Coral and The Zutons adopted their outlook, influences, intake and style into the charts and beyond. Today many more Liverpool acts continue to hold a candle for psychedelia, whether it’s in the vintage keyboards of Clinic, the stark minimalism of Ex-Easter Island Head or the garage rock of Strange Collective. By its very nature, psychedelia is hard to define, which is where Psych Fest comes in – a broad meeting of the tribes and a chance for the scene to take a step back and revel in the city’s innate strangeness. For festival organiser and Bido Lito! magazine editor Chris Torpey, it’s this feeling that remains at the heart of the event’s ethos and perhaps explains why it continues to go from strength to strength. “There’s just something trippy about Liverpool, something weird and open-minded that makes it a perfect seat for psychedelia,” he says. “It’s easy to look at eras where LSD has been prevalent – and Liverpool has had periods of acid indulgence in the 60s, 80s and 90s – but I think the connection runs deeper. For me it’s to do with a sense of adventurism, thinking big and dreaming of the possibilities of ‘what if?’ The city’s focal point is the river, and being a portal to new worlds and cultures: this has instilled a deep-rooted feeling of discovery in all who are brought up here. It’s empowering and exciting, and a little bit unhinged. There’s also a certain magnetism about that open-minded outlook that attracts waifs and strays, wanderers looking for a journey of discovery. Something just resonates here with the oddball thread that’s woven into the fabric of Liverpool’s collective psyche: that’s psychedelia.”

“ There’s just something trippy about Liverpool, something weird and open-minded” Ginsberg would go on to describe Liverpool as “like San Francisco except the weather is greyer” after visiting such locally famous venues as Ye Cracke, the Philharmonic and Hope Hall (later to become the Everyman Theatre), and he had a point. Here was a west coast city with its own fully formed bohemian quarter where artists, musicians and poets mixed freely and where, this being a busy port, drugs were plentiful. But despite this fecund environment for psychedelic behaviour to blossom, the Beatles’ decision to move to Swinging London left Liverpool trailing behind the world’s new counter-cultural centres. While the zenith of the band’s drug-influenced songwriting hit its peak with the immortal Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane single in 1967, their choice to revisit their childhood haunts only emphasised that something was missing from late 60s Liverpool. The beautiful people had moved on. By the 70s, Liverpool needed to shake its post-Beatles torpor – although it was to the Fab Four’s old haunt of Mathew Street where the attention turned next. A former merchant seaman called Peter O’Halligan was so influenced by Jung’s vision that he opened the Liverpool

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Menace Beach at Liverpool Psych Fest 2015

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Photo: Stuart Moulding

Chris Torpey

Five to see at Psych Fest

Fantastic Fur Since they got back together in 2015, Super Furry Animals have been on a roll. Now, as the Welsh heroes prepare to headline Liverpool Psych Fest, guitarist Huw Bunford looks back on their formative years and a glorious summer for Gareth Bale

t’s been a memorable year for Super Furry Animals. The Welsh group’s reunion tour, now rolling on for 18 months, continues to sell out venues across the UK and abroad. Bing Bong, their first single in seven years, easily outclassed another comeback song released that same week in May – the forgettable All For One by The Stone Roses. As satisfying as this was for the five SFA members, the real high point of this summer was watching Gareth Bale and company propel Wales to the semi-finals of the European Championships in France. “The Welsh team were amazing, man,” recalls Furries lead guitarist Huw Bunford with obvious delight. “We played in Toulouse in front of 1000 mad Welsh fans, and some very confused French ones, two days before Wales played Russia. That was hilarious.” It was Wales’ first appearance at an international finals since 1958, and meant the band – all keen football fans – could finally release a track they had been holding back for such a momentous event. “Bing Bong was a reflection on our own excitement really,” says Bunford, known to fans and bandmates alike as Bunf. “It wasn’t contrived, although it had been 12 years in the making. Every time we failed to qualify we had to put it back on the shelf.” The Furries are now gearing up for a headline appearance at Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia on 23 September. Bunf admits it’s the kind of event he would attend as a punter himself, and has no problems with his band being labelled with the psych tag. “If you do experimental pop you’re seen as a psychedelic band now,” he ponders. “It’s lost a bit of its 1970s tag, which meant Tangerine Dream and 18-minute concept songs. I think it became a tag for bands people couldn’t easily pigeonhole. When we started out, the NME couldn’t really pin us down as our albums always changed – even within an

September/October 2016

album, we would change styles. But we would rather have a psychedelic tag to us than Britpop. There’s no contest there. That’s when you start pulling your hair out.” It’s easy to forget the Furries arrived on the national pop scene at the height of the British music industry’s last hurrah. Their debut album, Fuzzy Logic, was released in May 1996 and its mixture of Welsh-inspired rock and playful lyrics provided a welcome antidote to a London-centric scene that was taking itself far too seriously. Musically, SFA may have had little in common with the likes of Oasis. But they did both share the patronage of Alan McGee’s Creation Records, then the country’s most successful independent label by some distance.

“ We would rather have a psychedelic tag to us than Brit pop. There’s no contest there” Huw Bunford

Not that the Furries were particularly bothered. “We had an attitude of ‘come and get us,’” laughs Bunf. “And in those days there were loads of labels. Our first gig in London was full of A&R men. McGee turned up in Camden – because they never left North London – and he came up and said something like: ‘Fuckin’ brilliant.. but it’d be great if you could write some songs in English.’ To which we pointed out only one had been sung

Gwenno

Interview: Chris McCall

in Welsh. At that point we thought he was the kind of guy we needed – enthusiastic, but wrong.” Bunf and his bandmates have reason to look fondly back at that time. Their first two albums for Creation, Logic and 1997’s Radiator, were remastered this summer and will be re-released with a clutch of rare bonus tracks on 4 November. The band will then undertake a short December tour in which they will play both LPs back to back, in order. It was the success of Mwng, the band’s turn-of-the-century Welsh language album, re-released to critical acclaim last year, which led them to consider other reissues. Former Flaming Lips drummer Kliph Scurlock, who acts as the official SFA archivist when not touring himself, helped select outtakes and other rarities that make up the re-releases, along with a new ‘best of ’ compilation which comes out on the same day. “We didn’t know what the reaction to Mwng would be from the fans,” Bunf says. “It wasn’t a new record, you know? All our hardcore fans probably own it. But it was lovely to see the enthusiasm for it, and that led us to look back. It is a bit of nostalgia, fair enough, but then it was a mad 18-month period of our lives. We were given an opportunity to do an album, and one of the things on our minds was it might be the last one we do. If no one liked it, end of story. But Creation stuck with us and we were very prolific. It was a real rush, that time. A whirlwind. You’d do four singles, when there was that kind of industry: churn out product; something in the shops all the time. We were very prolific. We loved it. We embraced it.” Super Furry Animals play Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia on 23 Sep. Fuzzy Logic and Radiator are rereleased via BMG on 4 Nov superfurry.com

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Gwenno Highlighting the poppier outer reaches of psychedelia while also tapping into its dreamy celestial core, former Pipette Gwenno heads to the Psych Fest for what she’s warned will be her last live show in Great Britain for some time. Go catch her while you still have the chance. [Jess Hardiman] Flamingods The recent Soundway signings are all over the map, in the best possible way. The London-viaBahrain quintet’s sound brings together influences and instrumentation from across African and Asian music in a free-flowing, experimental melange. [Peter Simpson] Demdike Stare It’s less immediately obvious how Manchester’s Demdike Stare fit under the psych umbrella; their take on ambient electronica conjures rusted steel and sci-fi dystopia more vividly than kaledioscopic colour. However you slice it, though, their immersive fug is an essential experience. [Will Fitzpatrick] La Luz La Luz have a magical lightness of touch. Surf rockers from LA by way of Seattle, their last record Weirdo Shrine was produced by the king of weird, Ty Segall, and it adds a perfect dusting of fuzz to their frenzied, blue skies sound. [Katie Hawthorne] Ye Nuns The legacy of hypnotically wracked garage rockers The Monks is perfectly upheld by this shadowy collective. Featuring members of Curve and Thee Headcoatees, Ye Nuns repurpose the scintillating 60s originals with a decidedly femme perspective: they’re doing God’s work. [Martin Schumann]

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Photo: Alexander Bell

Photo: Mark James

Unsure where to start with Psych Fest’s impressively eclectic line-up? Here are some of our favourites

Revert to Hype Liverpool band Pink Kink explain the importance of fantastical, glittery stage personas and tease details of their mysterious debut

“I

different stuff all the time and it’s all inspiring.” “We keep our minds really open all the time, so we never close our ears to any style,” Inés elaborates. “We all listen to absolutely everything – from, like, classical and jazz music and all that to new, electronic queer noise and absolutely everything. And then our process is pretty collaborative, so there’s always someone with a completely different idea to what we’re doing that somehow fits.” Having only performed their debut show in October 2015 (impressively, a sold-out performance at the much-missed Kazimier), Pink Kink have built up an unprecedented amount of hype in their adopted hometown – and all despite a total absence of recorded output. Mysterious as ever, Inés confirms that fans won’t have to wait too long before they have something tangible to hear from them, though as you might expect, details are shrouded in secrecy. “We’re working right now on our first release,” she says. “We’re really looking forward to getting to the studio and we’re really happy to be working with who we’re working with, but that’s all that we can say right now.” The supreme lack of information regarding the band online is deeply refreshing at a time when most other musicians seem eager to share demos, live sets or DIY EPs across the internet. But it’s also something which has appeared to confound those who’ve built them up thus far, with the band often placed within tiresome, lazy labels which offer a distinct lack of insight to their actual sound. With four women among their five-person line-up (they’re completed by drummer Amanda and guitarists Sam and Bridget, with the latter doubling up on lead vocals – the lack of disclosed surnames only adds to the mystery), Pink Kink have been inelegantly dumped into the riot grrrl category across the internet, which feels like the sort of lazy music critique which many female musicians

have regularly, and unfairly, faced in the music press. Inés rolls her eyes when I bring it up. “I feel like if you’re a woman in music and you shout twice and you also have a bit of a political thinking,” she says, “then you’re straight tagged as a riot grrrl rather than as a musician. We’re feminists because that’s the we way we are, not because it’s a trend that we’re following or trying to be cool or anything like that. It’s just the way it goes. If a music critic just tags us as that, and then it distracts people from our music, then someone is doing their job pretty badly.”

“ If a music critic just tags us as riot grrrl and then it distracts people from our music, then someone is doing their job pretty badly” Inés, Pink Kink

But it isn’t the only label which seems to be unfairly categorising the band as something that they’re clearly not. With all five band members currently studying at the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, Pink Kink have also been mercilessly pinned into the groan-worthy music box of the ‘LIPA band’. It’s a tag which continues

to be used in the city as a term of denigration, almost suggested with a sneer of disapproval; a shrug of contempt which implies that the band hasn’t worked as hard for their success as any other. It’s something which they’re openly tired of hearing, and it’s easy to understand why. “LIPA is amazing,” says Nina. “We all met there because we all come from different countries – that’s the greatest thing about it. And we can rehearse there which is really nice. For me personally, it’s like making the university into this stamp. Like, it’s not LIPA who have made us be a band.” Inés continues: “It’s unfair. It’s like we’re doing whatever thanks to [LIPA], and that’s not at all what it is. I mean, it’s just the place where we met. I’ve spoken to people in Liverpool about it, I can get what they say about it, but that’s why we don’t like to have to talk about it. It’s just a university. We don’t like its ‘elitism’ or anything like that – if you work hard and if you have something about you then you can do it from any place.” It’s hard to argue with this sentiment, particularly when you only need to witness Pink Kink’s live show in order to experience first-hand the results of their hard work and talents. A university can’t create what Pink Kink’s music or live show offers, it can only give them a ground from which to grow. And they’ve clearly grown bigger than the lazy labels which they’ve so far been offered. When they finally unleash their super-secretive release on the world, don’t be surprised if it demonstrates that they also have the power to redefine the current music scene. As their neon, glittering stage presence and audacious fusion of sound jointly prove, there’s no tidily-labelled, restrictive boxes that can contain them. They’re about to break out, and they’re going to cause a scene. Pink Kink play Stay Freshat Deaf Institute, Manchester, 24 Sep with Peaness, Cowtown and more...

Photo: Michelle Roberts

t’s just cool to play around and add a bit of fantasy. To be a bit different on stage, like a character.” There’s a moment during our interview with two fifths of Liverpool-based band Pink Kink where keyboard player Inés is describing how the band like to have fun with their on-stage aesthetic. “Using glitter and face paint – it makes us feel like we’re in a different skin. Like artist superheroines!” Her laugh is big and bold at this statement, although she quickly rethinks it and self-deprecatingly shrugs off the idea with a mumbled “I don’t know…” Actually, the superhero comparisons are quite fitting for this high energy, sonically luminous band. Pink Kink have built up a palpable hype for themselves based solely on the merits of their powerful live show – seriously, their musical style is so tenacious that it could probably lift a car if it really wanted to. Skipping seamlessly between electro, post-punk, jazz, rock and pop-infused noise, the Pink Kink live experience is nothing short of stunning. Just when you think you have a handle on what their sound is, it diverts and mutates, as though bitten by a radioactive bug and granted the transformative fluidity of supersonic abilities. What could descend into a melange of ill-fitting chaos instead holds firm as an elegant force. It sweeps you off your feet, it shakes your very bones. It can compel you to dance whether you count yourself as much of a dancer or not. And that’s a superpower that few musicians possess. Their sound is very much their own. It’s not surprising when you consider that it’s made up of the diverse musical tastes of five members, who all hail from different countries across Europe. “I think it just comes naturally when you have five people who come from completely different backgrounds,” bassist Nina explains. “But I also think that is a very big influence, that five people in a band all listen to different stuff. There isn’t one band in particular, we’re listening to

Interview: Amy Roberts

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THE SKINNY

September/October 2016

Come Together With Mirror Breathing, Manchester-based duo Shield Patterns enrich their electro template with fuller arrangements and an intimate, affecting narrative. They talk us through the creative development behind their second album

“T

he approach was quite different this time. We moved house and we spent a long time doing it up, and Claire had these new songs – she was very clear that they were going to be the next record, but we didn’t really have anywhere to work. But we managed to build the studio and, as soon as that was done, we just got to work.” Richard Knox reflects on the genesis and realisation of the follow-up to Shield Patterns’ staggering 2014 debut Contour Lines with a wry smile. For an act whose entire being is grounded in the DIY ethos, it’s more than just rolled-up sleeves that propels their art. But with visual design, PR, tour management and release (Knox runs Gizeh Records, the label he founded in 2004) managed solely by him and partner Claire Brentnall, it’s a timely reminder that in the modern industry, logistics and commerce increasingly throttle the business of making music. That music begins with Brentnall, a classcally trained musician whose distinctive vocals and lyrical acuity defined much of their debut. This time around, with the template in place and ready to be explored, the Shield Patterns sound is fuller, expansive, fearlessly free. Acclaimed cellist Julia Kent plays on three tracks – “I just asked her,” says Knox, “we were thrilled when she said yes” – but her contribution aside, Mirror Breathing is a leap of some magnitude. A deftly sequenced work, its soundboard of keys, clarinet, deeply layered electronica and stark beats showcases the duo’s best songs to date.

Mirror Breathing: Connections and impermanence That title holds the key, though. Is there a double meaning in there? Fogged glass? Or, on reflection, a more fulfilling notion of co-existence and hearts beating as one? Brentnall nods: “That’s really nice that you’ve seen it that way because I love the duality of the words of that phrase: mirror breathing. It does conjure the picture of breathing on a mirror and I’m kind of obsessed with this idea of impermanence at the minute. But the primary function of it was connection, and so when you actually synchronise with someone, and when the breathing is matched, you achieve that kind of connection with other people: feeling part of something as well as recognising that you are this impermanent thing – this tiny thing in this universe.” After Contour Lines, Shield Patterns subsequently released the four-track Violet EP, a chill work that brutalised the elegant melodics of their debut. The rich and complex arrangements of Mirror Breathing blur the line between melody and beats. “I started writing almost immediately after the first album was finished,” says Brentnall. “Four of the songs worked quite well together and they formed the EP. They seemed like, as you say, this kind of dissonant thing compared to the album. The first album for me was about finding a way to communicate. I’ve always been very shy and making music was something that felt right, like a way to kind of express something I never found the right way to express. I’m not very good at speaking.” Is that true? “Well, okay, expressing how I feel... I think I’ve got better. I was always very shy and would struggle to actually say how I felt. The first album was kind of finding a way to communicate and now the second album is exploring that communication and those connections, and feeling part of the collective. That was, for me, the main

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Interview: Gary Kaill

impetus for this album: finding meaning in connection. It’s more about love and hope, I think, this album. “I find writing music and lyrics very cathartic,” she continues. “I wouldn’t say that we are a political band, it’s more of an emotional questioning, trying to figure out why we’re here. I do sometimes feel overwhelmed by stuff but at the same time I love feeling really small. I love feeling that we are so fleeting. It’s a musing of sorts. It’s about starting a conversation.” Mirror Breathing carries a deep emotional charge. Lyrically, its intimacies emerge as an often harrowing internal dialogue but for the listener, that sharing can provide a satisfying consolation. You hope the same applies for Brentnall. “Oh god, yeah. Making music is everything to me. lf I didn’t have that in my life... well at one point I didn’t, and I felt like there was something missing. If I’m not making music, I start to get anxious. The music helps, definitely.”

“ I felt like there was something missing. If I’m not making music, I start to get anxious” Claire Brentnall

We talk about the arithmomania that gives the band its name: a routine that has affected Brentnall since she was a child and that causes her to create mental patterns with numbers and words in a bid to stave off anxiety and concern for the people around her. “Well, I’ve come to realise that it was a symptom of having a set of base anxieties; it’s something I’ve worked on a lot,” she explains. “It’s about finding ways to work with it because it does calm me at times. Like, for example, doing an interview – what I’m saying is being recorded and that’s really important to me, but while I’m doing it, I’m making this kind of pattern with my hands. That’s where the name of the band came from. It’s something that I’ll probably always do my whole life. But now I’m starting to understand it better.” Knox picks up on the theme: “This is a tangent, perhaps, but do you remember when Cameron did his resignation speech and there was that whole furore about when he turned around and sang a little tune? What’s the big deal? The Prime Minister of the country has just given up his job and we jump on him for that? To me that just showed his human side. I mean, I dislike the guy intensely but it showed a human quality. Whatever insanity is going through his body when he turns and walks away for the last time, that’s the thing that comes out: him humming a little tune. We should try to understand rather than ridicule.” He laughs. “We’ve got plenty of other material to ridicule him with. “The name is really overlooked with this band,” he continues, “and I’ve been thinking about how we can make more of that.” It tells the story. “Yeah, it does. It’s a really good name but you can misunderstood it – it can come over as really shite!”

“Who else sounds like us?” Mirror Breathing is eminently accessible, and while the world overflows with boy-girl electro duos, Shield Patterns eschew the vogue modes – their complex aesthetic is a world from ersatz disco or monochrome industrial. They’re unique (Knox agrees: “Who else sounds like us?”). Where the album really succeeds is as an album: a longform piece; an out-and-back adventure. It’s not made for random play. It starts pensive, builds dread, finds comfort (or, at least, clarity) by the time closing track Glow shudders to a halt. “Well, it started out as a collection of songs,” explains Knox, “but then you have to figure out how they work together. We had a beginning and an end early on. We had five songs in the middle where we had a distinct flow. It was a challenge but one I think we met.” After the release of their debut, Knox was intrigued by a friend who’d said that Shield Patterns wasn’t what he (Knox) thought it was. Has that changed? “No. Not really,” he says. “I’m

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not sure what it is, really. It’s been a very different process making this album but, no, it’s still unclear in some ways.” Brentnall offers her take: “The first album began because of some songs I’d written solo, before I met Rich. Then for this one, I basically took six months off work and decided to put everything into making it, and we worked really intensely on it together. It’s been a really nice process but I don’t know – I kind of get the fear once an album is finished, so now I’m like, ‘Fuck! What comes now?’ I kind of like the fear and I’m also a little bit shy about it. But I feel so proud of this one and it really matters to me that it connects with someone else. Even if it’s just one person, than that’s brilliant.” She smiles and shrugs. “And if people don’t like it, then that’s fine as well.” Mirror Breathing is released via Gizeh on 2 Sep Shield Patterns play F use, Bradford, 7 Sep; Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 10 Sep; Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, 16 Sep; and The Hug and Pint, Glasgow, 17 Sep

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Album of the Month

Angel Olsen

My Woman [Jagjaguwar, 2 Sep]

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‘Is it me you’re thinking of, when you’re thinking of me?’ This time around, Angel Olsen asks the big questions and supplies punchlines to match: ‘Or is it your mother?’ Olsen’s unique vision sparked and connected on 2014 breakthrough Burn Your Fire For No Witness and here she applies minimal but pointed tweaks to her rich aesthetic. Musically, much is as before. Her band play with a ‘last take before dawn’ vitality and dare themselves to see where the songs might lead them: several of Woman’s high spots begin as a whisper before stretching into extended instrumental passages. There is nothing quite as rug-pulling on My Woman as lead track Intern, a hypnotic electro ballad, whose drifting synths frame the song’s draggy cadence. ‘Still gotta wake up and be someone,’ she sings – a neat trick to sound so disconnected so deeply within the song. No wonder the melody mirrors classic Orbison: going back is so often the only way forward. Intern is a stylistic diversion but it holds the clue to Olsen’s lyrical intent: a compelling dialogue that fuses unflinching candour with stripped back, spare language. Her gift for narrative manifests itself in simple truths. Shut Up Kiss Me (‘I could make it all disappear / You could feed me all of your fears’) is a breathless devotional so

intense, it shaves down to mere microns that ever-thin line between love and hate. My Woman’s thematic intent (it’s about “the complicated mess of being a woman”) informs its honesty and its hurt. Song titles only hint at the deeper meaning: Woman. Sister. Both hit the eight-minute mark as the band improvises and explores, and the latter, where Olsen howls, ‘I wanna live life, I wanna die right’ is shattering. The voice – that pure, craggy vibrato – is bold and beautiful, and on her fourth and (by some distance) best album, it finds the showcase it needs and deserves. ‘I dare you to understand what makes me a woman,’ she demands on the not-quite-title track; a not-quite-break-up song that wearily kicks around the rubble of a dying relationship. It’s a challenge that, for the unwary listener, might prove too much – but the rewards are great. In some ways, My Woman is the love song reimagined: a fearless and accomplished work whose deep-seated humanism is a stirring reminder that falling in love is for idiots, and that we should put our faith in any artist who might just convince us otherwise. [Gary Kaill] Angel Olsen

Listen to: Sister, Shut up Kiss Me

Shield Patterns

Mirror Breathing [Gizeh Records, 2 Sep]

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The Wedding Present Going, Going... [Scopitones, 2 Sep]

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Credit where it’s due to David Gedge and his various incarnations of The Wedding Present, but their latest something new is a little cack-handed. Going, Going... is split between unlistenable horribleness like Secretary (Gedge wails, ‘I only get through to your secretary’ over and over) and taut US hardcore-influenced indie rock like Fordland. The band sound hard – harder than they have for a while – which is good; Gedge’s voice appears to have lost its growl, but Rachel is lovely, sparse and plaintive, and Santa Monica is a ferocious album closer. One for the fans, in summary: what other kind of Wedding Present album is there? [Pete Wild]

Listen to: Rachel, Santa Monica

September/October 2016

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard

Y Proffwyd Dwyll [New Heavy Sounds, 30 Sep]

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Jenny Hval

Blood Bitch [Sacred Bones, 30 Sep]

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It’s a silly name, but it does the job. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard give exactly what you’d expect; beefy, lumbering riffs churned over to the point of hyponosis, drenched in bonerattling distortion and delivered with an occasional wink. The Welsh quartet have fun with the format, deploying endearingly kitsch electronics that have the tenor of a Dalek invasion upon their otherwise stony, Celtic graveyard aesthetic. Jessica Ball’s magnificently eerie vocals are still a revelation, bringing sensitivity and melodicism. She plays cello now, too, as if MWWB didn’t already sound creepy enough: the patient, menacing staccato twitches on Y Proffwyd Dwyll like a demon biding its time. [Andrew Gordon]

On Blood Bitch, Norwegian experimentalist Jenny Hval eschews the sonic grandness of career highlight Apocalypse, Girl to retreat into a battle with herself. This time out, Hval’s ambient experiments are influenced by industrial noise and her home country’s black metal, while synth-led songs like the urgently racing Female Vampire and the gorgeously pillowy Conceptual Romance contain the closest to a pure pop chorus the musician’s ever written. Underneath the album’s horror tropes, Hval’s voice and reflections are powerful as ever; Blood Bitch is a curious study of a restless musician fighting to keep her insecurities at bay. An understated but intriguing album by a perpetually fascinating artist. [Chris Ogden]

Listen to: Y Proffwyd Dwyll, Cithuula

Listen to: Female Vampire, Conceptual Romance

‘Touch me lightly, share / How you hate me and all the ways you care,’ sings Claire Brentnall on Dusk, the opening track on the follow-up to Shield Patterns’ 2014 debut Contour Lines. Rest assured, this one’s from the heart. The twitch and burr of Richard Knox’s beats and the elegant shadowplay of Brentnall’s melodies find connection and harmony on this wide-reaching and accomplished work. Recorded at their home

How To Dress Well Care [Weird World/ Domino, 23 Sep]

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Tom Krell has long been preoccupied with matters of the heart. As How To Dress Well, his first three albums traversed seriously rocky emotional terrain; from the lo-fi R’n’B melancholia of his debut to the maximalist pop theatrics of 2014’s What Is This Heart?, Krell’s soul-searching is not for the faint-hearted. Combine his fearlessness in the face of feelings with a die-hard, academic belief in the cathartic power of music, and you have Care.

RECORDS

studio, Mirror Breathing’s DIY ethos belies its scale and ambition. Complex orchestrations (enhanced on three tracks by cellist Julia Kent) serve a rich and developing songcraft. The pair switch effortlessly from lyrical, tender rhapsodies (Cerulean, Sleepdrunk) to an implacable brutalism (the bruising Balance and Scatter). A life-affirming and mind-altering journey, these songs burrow under the skin. Contour Lines was a dark wonder; Mirror Breathing is its equal and then some. A stirring confessional, a thrilling musical evolution, and an inch away from perfect. If that. [Gary Kaill] Listen to: Cerulean, This Temporary Place

In defense of all the genres, Krell picks through tropes, traditions and nostalgia trips with the rigour of an Antiques Roadshow host – but he dusts off his findings to reveal something totally contemporary (and usually NSFW). The album freewheels through soundscapes borrowed from pop, trap, balearic house and old-fashioned balladry with irrepressible joy; I Was Terrible mixes classical piano with the bounce of poppunk, and – don’t lie – you’ll definitely enjoy it. Krell told The Skinny that Care is intended to soothe – a balm for anxiety, a salve for our worries. It’s also his most personal record to date; in the face of a song like The Ruins, it’s impossible not to return the favour. [Katie Hawthorne] Listen to: Salt Song, The Ruins

Review

Warpaint

Heads Up [Rough Trade, 23 Sep]

Warpaint’s third LP Heads Up is too easily evaluated in terms of trade-offs. The band expand their sonic palette, exploring a more ‘mature’ Warpaint sound, but the record offers only a shadow of that transportative, supernatural sound still found in its purest form on 2014’s self-titled LP. The band’s growth is most evident in the vocals, which are richer, occupying a lower register, and there’s a more lushly harmonized here. Gone, though, is the siren sound of former albums; high and uncannily keening, full of quiet violence. Tracks like New Song, The Stall, and So Good are accessible, but the album lacks the lyrical complexity and aching ambiguity that they’d made their own. Their decision to record alone or in pairs allowed them to draw on a wide range of synths, polyrhythmic digital percussion, and beautiful vocal layering, but (excepting the closer Today Dear, a spare and beautiful number) the album suffers without the rough, untrained and honest immediacy of their earlier efforts. [Aidan Ryan] Warpaint

Listen to: Today Dear, The Stal Given the circumstances surrounding its inception, it’s no wonder that Preoccupations seems so humourless at times. When Viet Cong succumbed to a seemingly unending backlash and settled to change their name, you would think that alone would be enough to put a damper on recording the follow-up. Instead, the darkness that seeps through Preoccupations’ self-titled offering comes from a more personal place. Written amidst breakups and instability, the album is more introspective than its predecessor – and a hell of a lot more visceral. Suffocating opener Anxiety finds the Canadian four-piece wading through this uncertainty,

Preoccupations

Preoccupations [Jagjaguwar, 16 Sep] Preoccupations

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Flock of Dimes

Teenage Fanclub

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If You See Me, Say Yes [Partisan Records, 23 Sep]

Here is an unexpected treat, and a surprisingly timely one too. As usual Norman Blake, Gerard Love and Raymond McGinley share songwriting duties, but the latter exhibits the biggest about-turn. Faced with a modern life that ‘corrodes us all’, McGinley – who previously advocated seeking refuge in days gone by – now sounds quite wisely committed to the present. ‘Past lives, they’ve got to go,’ he vows on the meditative Steady State. Love puts in an exemplary turn, channeling airy, pastoral psychedelia and offering up the album’s standout track in I Have Nothing More to Say. Shimmering vocal harmonies and hazy, flanged guitars flutter along like a long sigh, making short work of the doubts and heartache alluded to within. Lead single I’m in Love comes courtesy of Blake. Lyrically it’s a straightforward ode to lifelong companionship, but it’s a peppy, entertaining number that finds the sweet spot between his early barnstormers and more contemplative recent material. With chord voicings like honey and a Neil Young-meets-Thin Lizzy guitar solo, it sounds both boisterously raw and masterfully sculpted. Connected to Life makes an oddly sombre closer for what’s otherwise such an optimistic record, but Here is another good record in an outstanding discography; hard proof that a goodbye from Teenage Fanclub would be woefully premature. [Andrew Gordon]

Listen to: Apparition, Birthplace

Listen to: I’m in Love, I Have Nothing More to Say

Review

Listen to: Anxiety, Stimulation

Here [Merge, 9 Sep]

If You See Me, Say Yes is the out-and-out debut for Jenn Wasner’s side project pseudonym, and it plays like a grab-bag of her myriad off-kilter pop influences. Birthplace is the sort of sunny throwback that could have made it onto the latest Blood Orange album; You, The Vatican is all languid groove; and Flight channels Bat for Lashes, with floaty vocals over a bed of undulating synth. Wasner spoke frequently, around the release of Wye Oak’s Shriek, about the extent to which exhaustive touring had effectively rendered her unable to write on the guitar any more, but as on Tween, there’s evidence of it beginning to seep back in: the brooding Apparition has some lovely acoustic work. For the most part, though, Wasner is working with an electronic palette and it suits her down the ground; the clattering beat makes Everything is Happening Today, for instance. Wasner’s ability to wrap her vocal melodies around her instrumentals allows her the sort of flexibility you need to be able to pull off this kind of experimental pop record, and the vision, too – by the time you reach closer ...To Have No Answer, with flashes of brass circling its swirling crescendo, you realise this is an album that’s been made with care and intelligence. The results are compelling. [Joe Goggins]

into the unknown. Frontman Matt Flegel describes the song as indicative of Preoccupations “changing as a band”, and he’s not wrong. Where Flegel’s vocals on much of their last record were buried beneath layers of jangly guitar lines and drum patterns, he’s front-and-centre here, evoking dread and angst as he growls about nightmares and empty vacuums over a raspy drone. And that’s where the album’s greatest strength lies. It doesn’t present cookie-cutter visions of fear and insecurity to observe from afar; it crawls under your skin and drags them out to you – whether you want it to or not. [Alex Smail]

C Duncan

PWR BTTM

Oozing Wound

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The Midnight Sun [FatCat, 7 Oct] C Duncan’s debut Architect was swallowed by Mercury Prize shortlist media frenzy. A year later, The Midnight Sun shows that the Glaswegian musician hasn’t lost any composure. This follow-up was recorded and produced in the same bedroom as his first LP – only his ambitions have changed. Duncan cites sci-fi classic The Twilight Zone as inspiration, and there’s an extraterrestrial touch to the album’s labyrinthine spirals. Like You Do is gently, unsettlingly psychedelic; Wanted To Want It Too swells as Duncan’s voice rings like a full choir over warped, futuristic chords. The title track shines with all the luminescence of an Arctic winter. Stars align. [Katie Hawthorne] Listen to: Like You Do, The Midnight Sun

RECORDS

Ugly Cherries [Big Scary Monsters, 7 Oct] Queercore goes glam-powerpop – and how! Ugly Cherries is an absolute fucking delight. You’ll likely spot similarities to Weezer’s freewheeling hooks in the sunny power chords of 1994 and I Wanna Boi, but these songs offer so much more. Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce have made an album about reaching adulthood as a gay male, teeming with intelligence and an overactive self-awareness; tackling queer identity and relationships with wit and charm, and some stellar shredding. They’re romantic as hell too: ‘The stars above me are the same ones above you,’ sings Hopkins on West Texas. ‘I’ve been trying to play it cool but I still love you.’ PWR BTTM are your new favourite band. [Will Fitzpatrick] Listen to: 1994, West Texas

Whatever Forever [Thrill Jockey, 14 Oct] Chicagoan metallers Oozing Wound have been referred to as ‘the Nirvana of thrash,’ presumably based on their heroic devotion to the concept of The Riff. The trio certainly thrash away confidently (and with no let-up), but it’s the tangents that offer the biggest thrills: Lightning Bolt and Jesus Lizard fans should be cheered by the moody squalls of Mercury in Retrograde Virus, with Zack Weil screaming ‘keep it clean’ as our eardrums slowly implode. For anyone of a more delicate persuasion, Whatever Forever will feel a bit like playing Tetris on the hardest setting while pneumatic drills chisel away at their cranium, but there’s plenty fun to be had here. [Will Fitzpatrick] Listen to: Mercury in Retrograde Virus, Eruptor

THE SKINNY

Photo: Daniel Harris

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Frank Ocean, Kanye West and the art of the surprise album We want new music, and we want it now! But what’s worse? Frank Ocean’s ridiculously postponed record drop, or Kanye’s confusion over The Life of Pablo? Words: Nadia Younes

ver a year ago Frank Ocean posted the first of many cryptic hints on his website, suggesting a follow-up to 2012’s masterpiece channel ORANGE was on its way. It was a picture of Ocean sitting next to a stack of magazines entitled Boys Don’t Cry, captioned: “I got two versions. I got twoooo versions. #ISSUE1 #ALBUM3 #JULY2015 #BOYSDONTCRY.” Since then, the wait for Boys Don’t Cry has been an emotional rollercoaster and Frank Ocean fans have had no chill. The ex-Odd Future member and R’n’B god has been so elusive that fans resorted to putting up ‘Missing: Frank Ocean’ posters across New York. Any sightings can be directed to “808-WYA-BRUH.” Malay, Ocean’s close collaborator and co-producer of channel ORANGE, recently addressed Ocean’s new album – or lack thereof – in a Reddit AMA. He told fans that “art cannot be rushed”; an age-old expression we have begun to ignore when it comes to albums. This urgency seems to stem from a generation of impatient fans who are used to finding new music instantly available online. And on to the recent big reveal: Ocean has finally dropped not one, but two new albums. The first, a visual album entitled Endless, makes

sense of the live-streamed art installation that has been running on his website since the beginning of August. What’s more, Ocean revealed that Boys Don’t Cry is the title of his new magazine, and that his long-awaited full album is actually titled Blonde. Who knew? We finally have the two versions we were promised (or does that make it three?), with the streamed version of the record differing from Blonde’s physical release. The lyrics to opening track Nikes make it official: 'Special shout out to the icon dynasty, Slip-N-Slide Records / I got two versions, I got two versions, I got two versions.' But is it really important for fans to remain informed throughout the album making process? Should we be kept out of the loop? Compare the release of Blonde to the release of Kanye West’s 2016 album The Life of Pablo; in terms of hype levels there are similarities between the two, but the latter was a complete circus. Even before TLOP even dropped, there was a great deal of confusion over its title. Yeezy changed the name a grand total of four times prior to the record’s release. We were first led to believe it would be called So Help Me God, then it was re-announced as SWISH, after that it was

changed to Waves, before he finally settled on The Life of Pablo. Initially the album was released as a Tidal exclusive, and featured just ten tracks. Over the course of four months, as Kanye added, re-recorded and replaced tracks on the album, TLOP eventually reached a peak at 20 tracks. In theory, an interesting way of breaking the conventional album release format and showing Kanye’s dedication to involving his fans in the process – in practice, it all just got messy. There is a clear differentiation between Frank Ocean, who has been working tirelessly for

years, shrouded in mystery, in order to achieve perfection and Kanye West, who referred to The Life of Pablo as “a living, breathing, changing creative expression,” and constantly updated fans about the album via Twitter. Essentially it all comes down to a matter of preference; do we prefer to have every tiny detail about an album fed to us, or are we quite happy to sit back and wait for a new release to drop? Both processes are rollercoasters, it just depends which one we would rather ride. theskinny.co.uk/music

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September/October 2016

Illustration: Rachel Davey

MUSIC

Review

Guest Selector: Theo Kottis Edinburgh’s emerging talent shares the records that have shaped his taste in music, ahead of an apperance at The Warehouse Project Interview: Claire Francis

heo Kottis is certainly a talent on the rise – since the release of his debut EP Waiting Game on the Moda Black label in late 2014, he’s already gone on to play alongside the likes of Jamie Jones, Tale Of Us, Seth Troxler and Nicolas Jaar. As part of FLY CLUB’s upcoming Open Air Festival in Edinburgh, Kottis joins a top line-up of Booka Shade, Mr G, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Detroit Swindle and more. He also plays Manchester's Warehouse Project in October. Ahead of the shows, he shares with us the records that have inspired his burgeoning career. “The music I’ve chosen to share comes from all stages of my life,” Kottis explains. “Some have stayed with me as favourites but others have formed great memories I often go back to when producing. I’ve kept my list original and raw; my shortlist included some obvious classics, but I delved deeper. I won’t lie that I could have been tempted to opt for ten songs that show my ‘matured tastes’ to impress the chin strokers – but these are the tracks that mean the most to me, and have influenced and inspired me.”

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here [1975] A timeless album ahead of its time. It’s a tribute to former band member Syd Barrett, who suffered from a mental breakdown. When Pink Floyd were recording the album, Syd appeared at the studio, quietly watching at the back. He was un-recognisable as he had completely shaved his head and eyebrows. Eventually the band realised it was him and were reduced to tears. I recently watched a documentary about their story and found it fascinating – I got into it and have scoped more and more documentaries since. I love seeing music being celebrated and explored in such a profound way. The guitar, synth and saxophone sounds throughout the album are beautiful; listening to this when I was younger motivated me to learn to play the guitar. Please listen to this album in its entirety, it is perfection. Tame Impala - Lonerism [2012] Tame Impala often get compared to albums from the late 60s and early 70s and I love that. Kevin Parker, the lead singer, also writes and produces all of the tracks; he is a real idol of mine. He uses a lot of synths and new technology that I can relate to and experiments to recreate sounds of psychedelic rock. I think he is very similar to electronic producers as he doesn’t write a typical verse and chorus, he plays around with the arrangement of tracks.

Review

Brian Eno - Music for Airports [1978] Brian Eno… what a legend! I love his experimental and minimalistic approach to music. I always listen to this album when I can’t sleep, it helps clear my head. The album was designed to ‘defuse the tense, anxious atmosphere of an airport terminal.’ Sometimes when I am travelling to my gigs I’ll get this on and fall asleep on the plane so easily! Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians [1992] Once I heard this album I couldn’t stop listening to it all the way through, it really grabbed my attention. It’s one of those I can put on in the background when I start working, only to realise by the end I’ve been blissfully unaware of the task at hand. Soul Capsule - Lady Science (NYC Sunrise) [1999] The greatest house record written in my opinion – pure beauty. I listen to this and float away, it’s a classic. I closed my set with this at a sold-out O2 Academy Brixton when I supported Paul Kalkbrenner, and I received the biggest applause. Goosebumps!

Edinburgh. Kerri Chandler was also on the bill, so I had to pull out all the stops. When he heard me play this, he ran up on the stage and started playing the keys live alongside me. The energy in the club was electric. I’ll never forget this moment, there was a bond formed and we have stayed in touch since. Massive Attack Unfinished Sympathy [1991] I really love string orchestras and they sound perfect on this record. The strings were originally recorded on synths, a technique I use, but they eventually recorded a real orchestra at Abbey Road Studio to emphasise and enhance the sound. I wish I could do that! It was released the year I was born and I love playing an edit that fits in my sets perfectly. DJ Shadow Private Press [2002] Tough choice between this album and his Endtroducing... album. Vivid memories of listening to this when I was younger before I really knew what sampling & being a DJ were. I guess my subconscious knew I was going to end up working in this industry!

St Germain Rose Rouge [2000] An edit of this has been a regular in most of my sets for the last year. I played this on NYE 2015 in

CLUBS

Tiesto - In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza [2007] Maybe this isn’t something I should be admitting to, but aged 15 I was a huge trance fan. None of my friends were interested, but I

remember constantly trying to introduce them to this album. I was so into it. I remember when Tiesto played in Edinburgh in 2007, I was 16 and absolutely gutted as I was too young to go to the gig. Even my mum told me to get a fake ID as she knew how much I loved this album. Funnily enough, the likes of Matthew Dekay were releasing music on this series and his label, ‘All Day I Dream’ with Lee Burridge, has become one of my current favourites.

“ Even my mum told me to get a fake ID as she knew how much I loved this album” Theo Kottis

Moby - Play [1999] Shout out to my aunt for this one. I always used to visit her in Scotland when I visited on summer holidays from Greece. She always had new CDs she would let me borrow. I was 8 years old and I remember trying to breakdance to this. Moby made history with this album as it was the first of a kind to license out every single track to an ad, film or TV show. Marketing genius! FLY CLUB Open Air Festival, Edinburgh, 24 Sep and The Warehouse Project, Manchester, 8 Oct

THE SKINNY

In Cinemas I, Daniel Blake

American Honey

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Director: Ken Loach Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Briana Shann, Dylan McKiernan Released: 21 Oct Certificate: 15 When did it become unfashionable to discuss class and social inequality? Earlier this year, certain parts of the British media were quick to voice their shock and disappointment when the Cannes Film Festival awarded Ken Loach with his second Palme d’Or for I, Daniel Blake, a humane drama that acts as a brutal indictment of the British welfare state. Instead of celebrating the film’s pertinent message they bemoaned its moralistic approach. This cynicism is disheartening, but hardly surprising at a time when working class voices are noticeably absent from our screens. Using black humour to capture the frustration of life on the breadline, those familiar with Loach’s work won’t discover anything radically different here. His latest follows downtrodden carpenter Daniel Blake (Johns) as he navigates the red-tape and bureaucracy of claiming Employment Support. Daniel’s Kafkaesque encounter with the state leads him to Katie (Squires), a single mum who has moved to Newcastle due to a shortage of council housing in the capital. Their platonic friendship becomes the beating heart of I, Daniel Blake, with Loach and long-time collaborator Paul Laverty using the characters’ precarious situation to highlight the human cost of a shrinking welfare system. This intimate approach allows the performances to resonate with great intensity. Newcomer Squires excels in a difficult role, painfully concealing Katie’s suffering with a veneer of stoicism so fragile it’s impossible to hold back the tears once her façade finally shatters. Johns – best known for his stand-up comedy – is the real find, however, lending the film some muchneeded humour and compassion. Dismantling the myths and demonisation surrounding benefit claimants, I, Daniel Blake isn’t based on a true story but it certainly feels like it could be. Inspired by Loach and Laverty’s encounters with various families across the country who are dependent on food banks, this painfully moving film gives a voice to the voiceless and is a timely example of protest filmmaking that speaks to audience’s hearts. [Patrick Gamble] Released by Entertainment One

Director: Andrea Arnold Starring: Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough Released: 14 Oct Certificate: 15 Picture the scene. Calvin Harris and Rihanna’s We Found Love blares over a tannoy; Shia LaBeouf jumps up on to a checkout counter before he is escorted out by security; newcomer Sasha Lane gazes on adoringly from afar. The atmosphere, despite the drab surroundings of a dingy Walmart, is immediately euphoric. American Honey is Andrea Arnold’s first film in the US, and the result is a sensual, rapturous road trip that captivates from start to finish. Following on from her brooding and strippedbare take on Wuthering Heights, this latest feature couldn’t be more of a contrast. Echoing aspects of her earlier Fish Tank, American Honey is a giddy breath of fresh air that, from the opening scenes, pops with life and the glow of youthful love on the road in the American Midwest. Lane plays Star, who falls for Jake (LaBeouf), a travelling salesman who hires her to join a band of door-to-door magazine touts. There are many scenes capturing this rag-tag troop in their van, listening to Juicy J, Big Sean and Wale while smoking, chatting and making the best of

American Honey

what little they have. Their lives are all about the hustle, making it through each day as it comes. They can’t afford to waste time on dreams. The narrative is loose, at times rambling, but it doesn’t matter, even if the film does clock in at nearly three hours. Once you’re on the ride, you drink in the characters, with the resulting effect similar to that of Richard Linklater’s

Captain Fantastic

The Greasy Strangler

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Director: Matt Ross Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Frank Langella, George MacKay Released: 9 Sep Certificate: 15

September/October 2016

Director: Jim Hosking Starring: Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar, Elizabeth De Razzo Released: 7 Oct Certificate: 18

In The Mosquito Coast, Allie Fox (Harrison Ford) sold his home and moved his family to Central America, where he aimed to build a utopia. Hubris and mania kept the utopia from his grasp. In Matt Ross’s Captain Fantastic, we see what might have been if Allie had been less fanatical and more Zen. Ben (Mortensen) raises his six kids in the woods of Washington State. Despite an unorthodox approach to parenting, his children have soaked up everything he’s taught them. When a tragedy intrudes on their idyllic lives, they’re forced to leave their home and travel across the country to fulfil a family duty, and are faced with a world that doesn’t know what to make of them. Ross’s sophomore effort is helped no end by Stéphane Fontaine’s cinematography and Alex Somers’ score – but it’s the performances that linger longest. Mortensen is excellent, and George MacKay’s turn as Bo, Ben’s intensely smart, capable, and yet completely un-worldly eldest child, will have you wishing that this road trip lasted a little longer. [Tom Charles]

Michael St. Michaels and Sky Elobar star as a father-son duo in Jim Hosking’s scatological surrealist comedy set to divide opinions with its perverse brand of puerile humour. Cut in the mould of a John Waters’ midnight movie, but lacking the edge, the film follows the foul-mouthed Big Ronnie (Michaels) and his middle-aged son Brayden (Elobar), who run a dodgy disco walking tour together. By night, Ronnie slathers himself in grease, stalks the streets committing murder and fries off the odd eyeball of his victims before degreasing at a local carwash. Meanwhile, Brayden has fallen for one of their clients, Janet (De Razzo), much to the annoyance of his father. Hosking’s offerings wear thin, relentlessly attempting to sicken us with cartoon violence, excessive nudity (be prepared for endless shots of microand macro-prosthetic penises) and crass language. It is a truly bizarre, and purposefully grating, bad-taste flick that will no doubt find a small band of loyal fans, but The Greasy Strangler is guaranteed to make most people flee from cinemas. [Joseph Walsh]

Released by Entertainment One

Released by Picturehouse Entertainment

Kate Plays Christine

Swiss Army Man

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Director: Robert Greene Starring: Kate Lyn Sheil Released: 14 Oct Certificate: 15

Swiss Army Man

Boyhood or Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood. It’s a film that makes you hope there’s more to come from Lane, who makes a lasting impression with her debut performance. American Honey also provides LaBeouf’s career-best performance. Together they make for an entrancing duo in a film that shows that love appears in even the most hopeless of places. [Joseph Walsh]

Director: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert Starring: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead Released: 30 Sep Certificate: 15

In Robert Greene’s non-fiction feature Kate Plays Christine, actor Kate Lyn Sheil painstakingly prepares to play the role of TV reporter Christine Chubbuck, whose successful on-air suicide attempt in 1974 allegedly inspired Network. No footage of the incident exists in the public sphere, however, nor much video of Chubbuck at all, so Sheil finds great difficulty in trying to get to grips with the world and mind of this unknowable figure. But then more pressing issues plague the actor’s headspace, such as the actual worth of exhuming the dead through film; the merit of constructing drama from a depressed individual’s tragedy; and the issues of accountability and empathy that arise from doing so, despite whatever intent a director may use to justify the project. Sheil’s research processes – including a Vertigo-esque physical transformation and retracing of Chubbuck’s known steps – are intertwined with speculative re-enactments of events leading up to the suicide, deliberately conveyed in a sterile, disconcerting fashion. The resulting effect is a thoroughly disturbing cinematic experience: non-fiction filmmaking by way of psychological thriller. [Josh Slater-Williams]

From the directing duo behind the unforgettable music video for Turn Down for What comes Swiss Army Man, the most philosophically profound movie featuring a flatulent corpse yet made. Daniel Radcliffe plays the eponymous, multi-purpose individual, a dead body that essentially pushes another man back to life when it washes up on a deserted island where the hopeless Hank (Dano) is about to hang himself. Hank’s new castaway companion seems to be deceased, but the body’s various magical powers – a projectile-firing mouth, a compass erection and propellant farts – offer potential salvation. Yes, really. Christened Manny by Hank, the corpse, whose skill set is as elastic as the film’s tone, soon begins to speak (yes, really), and his naiveté about the human condition becomes the therapeutic means by which Hank starts to probe the insecurities and superficialities of interpersonal relationships. It’s with these stabs at earnest, anguished sentiment, rather than the fairly flat body comedy, that this macabre, demented curiosity hits its better notes – though a case of too many endings somewhat spoils the attempted emotional catharsis. [Josh Slater-Williams]

Released by Dogwoof

Released by Picturehouse Entertainment

FILM

Review

In praise of Pedro Almodóvar’s early, funny ones Pedro Almodóvar has another arthouse hit on his hands in the form of sincere drama Julieta, but we wonder if his best work was back in his puckish youth Words: Jamie Dunn

The key films of Brian De Palma New documentary De Palma, from Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, lets New Hollywood survivor Brian De Palma talk through the ups and downs of his career. Ahead of the film, we offer a primer on this most exciting of filmmakers Words: Jamie Dunn Hi, Mom! and the early political comedies

Brian De Palma has a wicked sense of humour (and we mean wicked in both senses). He’s famous for thrillers full of delicious irony, but his comic roots are evident much earlier. In the 60s he claimed ambition to be the “American Godard,” and he came as close as any with his searing political comedies like Greetings (1968) and Hi, Mom! (1970). There’s little of the slick formal skill De Palma would showcase later in his career. These are scuzzy counter-culture flicks formed from anarchic sketches concerned with ideas of anti-authoritarian politics, sexual revolution and racial tension. The most notorious sequence comes from Hi, Mom!, which contains a fake filmwithin-film showing a black militant theatre group turn the tables on their white, middle-class audience by dressing them in black face, before verbally harassing and physically abusing them. The liberal audience lap-up the ‘authentic’ experience. Satire has rarely been so cutting.

Dressed to Kill and the Hitchcockian thrillers

“He just rips off Hitchcock.” That’s the charge you’ll hear most from De Palma detractors. Well, yes, he does take many ideas from the Master of Suspense. Obsession (1976) replays Vertigo; Sisters (1973) borrows from Psycho; Body Double (1984) splices Rear Window with Vertigo. But he’s doing much more than just reheating plots. These homages have a weird, kinky energy all their own. The imagery is much more surreal and erotic than anything Hitch dared. Take, for example, Dressed to Kill (1980), De Palma’s greatest Hitchcock homage, where he riffs on Psycho’s suspense plot of a girl who steals money from her boss, and replaces it with the story of a bored housewife who ventures on a secret erotic life. Like the pop artists of the 50s, De Palma appropriates Hitchcock’s familiar images and techniques, creating his own subversive works of art.

Carlito’s Way and the gangster movies

What marks De Palma’s gangster pictures apart from those by his New Hollywood contemporaries is that he sees these crooks for what they are: soulless and ruthless. With Scarface (1983) he ripped the guts out of the gangster movie after Coppola had elevated it to Oscar-winning

Review

acceptability. In the Scorsese movies, Robert De Niro’s wise guys were as charismatic as they were vicious, while in The Untouchables (1987), De Palma casts the same actor as Al Capone and the result is repellent. In his greatest gangster film, Carlito’s Way (1993), he creates a grand tragedy about an ex-trafficker trying to go straight, but we know long before its heart-in-mouth ending that, in the hands of this great cynic, there’s no escape.

A brush with blockbusters on his two Missions

When De Palma watched the premiere of Carlito’s Way at the Berlinale, he thought to himself, “I can’t make a better picture than this.” This made its mixed reviews and lackluster box-office all the more heartbreaking. When he was offered a hack job to direct Mission Impossible (1996), he saw the chance of a reprieve: “‘I’m going to make a big hit,’ I thought. ‘Tom Cruise. Mission Impossible. Come on!’” But even then, De Palma couldn’t play it straight, surrounding his spectacular setpieces with an audaciously labyrinthian plot. Audiences were thrilled, but baffled. “If you want to see Law and Order, it’s on every night,” was his defence. Four years later he had audiences scratching their heads again with philosophical sci-fi Mission to Mars (2000), his biggest budget movie. The French loved it, everyone else hated it, and his brief affair with Hollywood blockbusters was over.

Carrie and the other outliers

De Palma has other strings to his bow. There are his two underrated anti-war movies, Casualties of War (1989) and Redacted (2007); his demented rock opera, The Phantom of the Paradise (1974); more stunning thrillers, Blow Out (1980) and Femme Fatale (2002); more demented thrillers, Raising Cain (1998) and Snake Eyes (1998); and two telekinetic teen movies, Carrie (1976) and The Fury (1978). In short, one of the most interesting careers in American cinema, and one of most misunderstood. “I’ve never been accepted as that conventional artist,” he told the Guardian in 2006. “Whatever you say about David Lynch or Martin Scorsese, they are considered major film artists and nobody can argue with that. I’ve never had that…” Maybe Baumbach and Paltrow’s film is a step towards his critical rehabilitation. De Palma is released 23 Sep by StudioCanal

arlier this year, New Yorker critic Richard Brody sent out a typically didactic tweet: “If you think that someone’s first or second film in a long career is their best, you don’t really like their work. Artists grow.” Twitter took the bait, with people lining up to disagree with Brody. On the whole, however, I tend to go along with his thesis. As Brody notes in a followup post on his Front Row blog, in later years “artists tend to be freer... to affirm their ideas and their passions with less inhibition.” While watching Julieta, the 19th film from Pedro Almodóvar, I realised I’d found an exception to Brody’s rule. Emerging in the 80s in a nation recently freed of Franco, the Spaniard was once the most mischievous figure in world cinema. Those early films were wild and subversive. His characters, whom he clearly adored, were, like him, misfits. He told stories about drag queens, nymphomaniacs and junkies; he provocatively set his third film (Dark Habits) in a convent with LSD-taking, porn loving nuns. Flaunting the post-Franco freedom in Spain, they’re filled with heat and passion. I felt little of this vitality watching his latest film. Based on a trio of short stories by Alice Munro, Julieta spans three decades of the title character’s life, looking back at moments of love, loss and guilt. Like many of Almodóvar’s later films, the story is densely plotted, told in flashbacks and peppered with subtle twists and ironies. And it’s gorgeous: the images are crisp, with costumes to die for. It’s also cosily middlebrow. Brody’s notion that artists are “freer” as they become more established doesn’t seem to fly with Almodóvar. Now he’s an arthouse darling, he seems more interested in creating tasteful films rather than delirious ones. There’s nothing especially terrible about this impulse. Subtle often trumps hyperbolic, but in Almodóvar’s hands it’s an uneasy fit. Rewatching some of Almodóvar’s early films, I realised how much I miss his freewheeling style; it suits his love of melodrama. How are we meant to get worked up about Julieta’s opaque feelings

FILM / DVD

of guilt and abandonment if we compare it to the family life of What Have I Done to Deserve This?’s Gloria (played by Carmen Maura, Almodóvar’s favourite muse in his early years)? As well as her multiple cleaning jobs, she’s putting up with her skinflint husband; her life-sucking mother-inlaw with a lizard obsession; and her youngest son, who’s renting out his body to old men. It’s no wonder she’s popping pills to keep on top of it all. She’d love, like Julieta, to have a night to herself to wistfully reminisce about her past. OK, not all of the ad hoc plotting makes sense, but who cares when it’s this alive? Even in the earlier films in a darker register, such as gay stalker melodrama Law of Desire, Almodóvar would throw in a joke to punctuate the brooding. The best gag in that film is in the eccentric casting: cis actress Maura plays Tina, the trans sister of a porn director in the middle of a deadly love triangle; Tina’s lesbian ex-lover, and the biological mother of Ada, the adolescent girl whom Tina cares for, meanwhile, is played by famous trans actress and singer Bibi Andersen. It’s typical of Almodóvar’s fluid attitude to gender and sexuality. Brilliantly, the casting also accentuates another great joke later in the film when young Ada looks up at Tina’s ample chest and asks, “Will my boobs ever be as big as yours?” “Oh yes,” says Tina, knowingly. “When I was your age, I was flat as a board.” The peak of Almodóvar’s early period is Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, a breakneck farce that brought the director his first taste of international acclaim. Almodóvar’s fondness for rollercoaster plots, retina-searing design and expressive mise en scène hit its apex here. With each subsequent film he’s dampened the hysteria and stripped out the kitsch. More awards and film festival treasure would follow, but it was only the surface of the subsequent films that were more sophisticated. The emotions bubbling under can’t touch these early treasures. Restored versions of Dark Habits, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Law of Desire, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Kika and Flower of my Secret are released on 19 Sep by StudioCanal as The Almodóvar Collection

THE SKINNY

The Fat Artist and Other Stories

Eve Out of Her Ruins By Ananda Devi

The Glue Ponys: Short Stories

Dear Mr M

rrrrr

Building on the success from his award winning first novel, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, Benjamin Hale brings something delightful and disturbing to the table with his collection The Fat Artist and Other Stories. Bulging with humour and swollen with poignant comments on life and death, this new book looks set to be another – in hopefully a long line of – successful publications for the young writer. Hale captures something dark, wicked, and quite frankly human in the seven tales that make up this collection, one that brings a feeling of violence and menace to the surface without ever losing the delicate quality of its characters and themes. Seamlessly funny and harrowing, it is full of understated beauty and intergrity and its subtly reflective outlook allows this modern collection to echo a dreamlike ancient quality. In that respect not too unlike the late great Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but with a modern dystopian quality that will appeal to the contemporary generation of Pokémon Go and Theresa May. Although reeking of the kind of creative mastery that comes through literary and academic learning, Hale’s collection of short stories is fresh and blunt in its depictions of the human being, in a way that may be all too familar for some readers. A must-read. [Rosie Barron]

This slim volume is such a harrowing experience, some may balk at continuing once the fate of the titular Eve becomes clear. Translated from Mauritian writer Devi’s original French, Jeffrey Zuckerman’s essential introduction explains how he combined the author’s preferred written language with trace elements of Mauritian Creole in this new English version of her 2006 novella. If one of his key objectives was to retain the spare poetry of her native prose, he has triumphed. For while the events that take place against a stark backdrop of political instability and social injustice are difficult to acknowledge, the language of Eve Out of Her Ruins is irresistable. Narrated in turn by four characters, each memorably drawn, the book charts the life of teenager Eve, on whom unspeakable cruelties are visited by the men of the island capital Port Louis. Her friend, Savita; the troubled dreamer, Saadiq; the wolfish and ultimately cowardly gang member, Clélio: all three ‘support’ characters are unique and identifiable. But it is Eve whose voice lingers. Devi gives her a clear-sighted and expressive worldview, one that brings a flinty beauty to the uglinness that surrounds her – 'This troubled water, this murky world, this faraway smile like a moonlit night, when the wind comes to whisper things that make us pensive and sad' – while her strength and resolve slowly levers a way out of an impossible hell. [Gary Kaill]

Of all the elements of a book which might kindle our interest, the positioning of an author’s biography rarely so much as prompts a raised eyebrow. But in the case of Chris Wilson’s short story collection The Glue Ponys, it is telling that Wilson’s biog sits on the back cover, neatly following on from the blurb. The implication is that we should somehow value Wilson’s short stories about ‘the lost and wandering of America’ the more for knowing that the author himself spent years ‘living in the streets and prisons of the USA.’ The Glue Ponys is populated by misfits, hustlers and heroin addicts. Wilson is no romantic, and their tales are rarely pleasant, rarely pretty: this is no feel good read. While short stories frequently revolve around a moment of revelation or redemption, here, life is cyclical and the only redemption sought is the clarity of a clean hit. Other features of the genre, though, are skilfully brought into play to depict life on the margins of society: Wilson is a master of the unspoken and the fragmentary, and his characters often remain unnamed, unsure of where they are going or how they will get there. The best of Wilson’s short stories are reminiscent of Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side. The worst feel repetitive and relentless, their depiction of prostitution and abuse veering dangerously close to titillation. [Annie Rutherford]

Mr M is a writer, and he’s being stalked by his neighbour. The stalker, our narrator, really doesn’t like Mr M. He watches the writer with contempt as he slouches through the day. There’s a backstory and a reason for this intense dislike: Mr M’s most successful novel was based on a story he took from our narrator. It’s a story of adolescent sexual power as a girl and a boy, on the cusp of adulthood, kill their history teacher at a cabin in the snow one winter. There are layers of stories in here. It’s an examination of the narratives we construct around ourselves, and of the dirty work of the writer who makes money and success out of them. The book is at its best when we leave behind the selfawareness of a writer writing about being a writer (which is rather dull for the reader), and instead get into the well handled power-shift, the menace of events clicking slowly into place. At its heart, this is about how writers live off people’s lives. It’s an interesting subject, but the self-reflexivity feels clunky, laboured, and self-important. The plot is too slow; the prose lacks energy. And it’s a struggle to maintain interest in a group of characters that are essentially unlikeable. But maybe that’s entirely Koch’s point. Do all writers, he seems to ask, have to be arseholes? [Galen O’Hanlon]

Out now, published by Les Fugitives, £10 lesfugitives.com

Out now, published by Tangerine Press, RRP £9

Out now, published by Picador, RRP £14.99

By Benjamin Hale

By Chris Wilson

By Herman Koch

Out 8 Sep, published by Picador, RRP £12.99

September/October 2016

BOOKS

Review

Win a pair of Dr. Win tickets to Martens’ new DM’s Lite! Women in Comedy! famous for, but on a new ultra-lightweight Phylon midsole, to offer styles that transcend from workwear to fashion and take classic shoe-making skills into street lifestyle products. This unisex collection includes three key styles: the Newton Boot, Cavendish Shoe and Edison Tassel Loafer, resulting in contemporary designs that combine original DM’s silhouettes. Each comes with a SoftWair memory foam insole, with moisture wicking technology. The lightweight but tough and flexible rubber outsole maximises durability and comfort for the wearer. The famous yellow stitching and grooved sidewall on the sole are familiar brand markers. All styles are available in Black or Cherry Red Temperley leather in Dr. Martens UK stores. We’ve teamed up with Dr. Martens to give away three pairs of DM’s Lite footwear. To be in with a chance of winning one, simply head to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer this question:

fter three successful years producing “a terrific roster of stand up” (The Independent), Women in Comedy has been named one of “the UK's best comedy festivals” (The Skinny) and one of the festival picks for this year (City Life). Europe's only comedy festival of this kind, it takes place 20-30 Oct at various venues across Manchester, with over 200 acts including Angela Barnes, Jo Neary, Jen Brister, Barbara Nice, Fern Brady, Suzi Ruffell and Sophie Willan. We’ve two sets of tickets to give away: a pair of tickets to see Barbara Nice, ‘housewife superstar of the Northwest’, at the Frog and Bucket (23 Oct); and two pairs of tickets for the festival wrap party (30 Oct). To be in with a chance of winning tickets to one of the shows, simply head to

theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer this question – and please make sure to let us know which show you’d prefer to go to: What was the name of the TV comedy series Caroline Aherne co-wrote and performed in? a) Mrs Brown’s Boys b) Birds of a Feather c) The Royle Family Competition closes midnight Sun 16 Oct. Entrants must be 18 or over. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms More info: womenincomedy.co.uk

What is the name of Dr. Martens’ brand new AW16 collection?

he AW16 season sees Dr. Martens introduce its most evolutionary concept since the 1960s, when the original ‘AirWair with Bouncing Soles’ technology was engineered as a performance shoe for the working man: DM’s Lite. DM’s Lite takes all of the iconic DNA, associated comfort and durability that the brand is

a) DM’s Bounce b) DM’s Flex c) DM’s Lite Competition closes midnight Sun 2 Oct. Entrants must be 18 or over. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Find full Ts&Cs on the entry page. The Skinny’s Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

COMPETITIONS

THE SKINNY

Leeds Music Fri 16 Sep

Fri 23 Sep

HEADROW HOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £7

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £26.60 - £60

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–23:00, £15

Former Porches bassist Greta Kline trails her ethereal alter-ego, fresh from the release of her second studio album, Next Thing, earlier this year. FENTON BOOGIE

JOHN LODGE

HOWIE PAYNE

HEADROW HOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £7

Fri 09 Sep

Singer-songwriter formerly of The Stands, who’s previously worked with the likes of Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher and Bill Ryder-Jones.

THE WARDROBE, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Sat 17 Sep

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, FREE

Weekly open mic jam session. FAMILY SILVER

Founded by three respected UK musicians, Matt Deighton, Damon Minchella and Steve White, whose joint credits include work with Paul Weller, Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene, The Who, Ian Dury, Richard Ashcroft and many more. PRETTY ADDICTED (DRAVENFALL + DEAD SENSE + PETRICHOR)

THE FENTON, 20:00–02:00, £4 - £6

London’s GDMers Pretty Addicted return to Leeds as part of their The Shadow Man Tour.

Sat 10 Sep

DAISUKE TANABE (FRAMEWORKS + ELSA HEWITT)

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 21:00–02:00, £8

In / On / Up / Down and Destroy All Monsters present this late show with Japanese producer Daisuke Tanabe, whose sound incorporates elements of hip hop, electronica, folk and jazz.

Mon 12 Sep

GASLIGHT CLUB (JORDAN MACKAMPA + OPHELIA + MORE)

OPORTO, 20:00–22:30, FREE

A free night of folk, Americana and

LOWKEY

The Moody Blues’ member performs old favourites alongside tracks from his own solo albums.

RODDY WOOMBLE AND BAND

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £15

THE MAGIC OF A THOUSAND STRINGS

UNITY WORKS, 19:30–21:00, £17

The National Youth Harp Orchestra play a repertoire spanning classical to Celtic to contemporary. THE FENTON, 19:00–02:00, £2

A night of epic riffing, trippy noises and the doomiest of doom metal.

Sun 18 Sep SAINT SISTER

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £6

HIFI CLUB, FROM 22:00, FREE

Musical tribute to the long-running BBC TV series of the same name, providing a nostalgic throwback to those in the know.

UK SLAM FEST 2016 PRESHOW (THE AFTERNOON GENTLEMEN + KAKOTHANASY + LACERATION + GOREHEAD + RECTAL IMPLOSION + EXHUMATION + IMPALER)

Sat 24 Sep THE GOOD OLD DAYS

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 12:00–15:00, £17 - £25

Musical tribute to the long-running BBC TV series of the same name, providing a nostalgic throwback to those in the know.

HiFi’s weekly free Sunday sesh, this week welcoming Brighton dub and reggae outfit Resonators.

TOMBSTONE CROW (HOOFKNUCKLE + REMONATION + DEAD SENSE + SCREAM OF SIRENS) THE FENTON, 20:00–02:00, £4.50 - £6

Groove metal from that there Newcastle.

UK SLAM FEST 2016 (THE AFTERNOON GENTLEMEN + KAKOTHANASY + LACERATION + GOREHEAD + RECTAL IMPLOSION + EXHUMATION + IMPALER) TEMPLE OF BOOM, 13:00-22:00, £15-£20

A day of death metal, tech death, goregrind and slam death metal from around the globe.

Sun 25 Sep

SOUL IN THE WARDROBE

THE WARDROBE, 13:00–21:00, £7

Northern Soul all-dayer featuring top DJs from across the North. SUNDAY JOINT (BACKYARD RHYTHM ORCHESTRA)

HIFI CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FREE

HiFi’s weekly free Sunday sesh, this week welcoming Brighton dub and reggae outfit Resonators.

Mon 26 Sep MEADOWLARK

HEADROW HOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £7

blues music with local talent and touring special guests.

Tue 13 Sep FENTON BOOGIE

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, FREE

Weekly open mic jam session. RORY BUTLER (JOLLY AND THE LIGHTWEIGHT )

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £6

Mon 19 Sep

GASLIGHT CLUB (LAISH + MORE)

OPORTO, 20:00–22:30, FREE

HOLY HOLY

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £6 - £7

Bristolian folk duo out trailing their second EP, Dual, which was released earlier this year.

GASLIGHT CLUB (HENRY BATEMAN + MORE) OPORTO, 20:00–22:30, FREE

Thu 29 Sep LESLEY GARRETT

Live music

Fri 30 Sep THE HUNNA

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £11

The Hertfordshire indie rock quartet return to stages. UB40

O2 ACADEMY LEEDS, FROM 18:30, £30

UB40’s three founding musicians dig out some classic reggae from their archives. THE GOOD OLD DAYS

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:00–22:00, £14.40 - £18

Musical tribute to the long-running BBC TV series of the same name, providing a nostalgic throwback to those in the know.

RUE ROYALE (HUNTING BEARS)

Wed 21 Sep

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £6

Husband and wife duo made up of Ruth and Brookln Dekker, loved equally for their indie-pop goodness and hand-knitted merch.

Thu 15 Sep ROY G HEMMINGS

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £20.60 - £48.20

GREEN JELLY

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, £8 - £10

Four-piece punk rock puppet show band from the States. Yeah, you read that right. FENTON BOOGIE

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, FREE

Weekly open mic jam session. TUSK + HABITATS

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £6

Alt-rock double-header.

After 2011’s lauded album Blood Pressures, The Kills have FINALLY brought out another album, entitled Ash & Ice. Catch them live this September. HENNING WHEN

UNITY WORKS, 19:30–22:30, £17

Jolly stand-up German comic, who pretty much seems to have selfappointed himself German Comedy Ambassador to the UK.

Sun 02 Oct THE LOTTERY WINNERS

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £TBC

The Lottery Winners are an indie-pop four-piece from an exact point equidistant between the musical meccas of Manchester and Liverpool. SUNDAY JOINT

Country singer, songwriter and guitarist from the States, now signed to Warner. WARD THOMAS

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £13.50

GOO GOO DOLLS

The long-standing American rockers return to the live circuit to air their new LP, Boxes. LLOYD COLE

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, FROM 19:30, £20.60

Performing a live set of vintage material from 1983 to 1996. THE ESKIES (THE ESKIES)

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £8

Drifting through the realms of everything from sea-soaked waltz and Italian tarantella to Klezmar knees-ups and brassy funeral marches - in short: sea shanty meets folk meets gypsy jazz. SUNDAY JOINT (JENNA & THE GS)

HIFI CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FREE

NINA NESBITT

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £11

Half-Swedish, half-Scottish singer/ songwriter in possession of a fine technical agility and emotive style. GASLIGHT CLUB (KETO + MORE)

OPORTO, 20:00–22:30, FREE

A free night of folk, Americana and blues music with local talent and touring special guests.

FENTON BOOGIE

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, FREE

Weekly open mic jam session. AMAZONS

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £8

BLACK HONEY

BUZZCOCKS

UNITY WORKS, 19:30–22:30, £22.50

Young local singer songwriter whose lyrics cut through politics and crime, love and loss. MAN OF MOON

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £6 - £7

STEVE HOWE

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £21 - £47

The legendary guitarist from seminal prog rockers Yes tours the latest volume of his Homebrew album.

The original punk rockers take to the road, a little balder but still in possession of all the hits.

Fri 14 Oct

Fri 07 Oct

The Mancunian singer-songwriter continues his steady ascent.

FSN PRE-GIG (JEHST)

HiFi welcomes one of the most prominent figures in UK hip-hop.

JP COOPER

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £11

STEVE MASON

UNITY WORKS, 19:30–23:30, £18

The Beta Band frontman plays a solo set, back with his latest output from earlier this year, Meet the Humans.

Leeds September/October 2016

THE WARDROBE, 19:00–23:00, £11

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £12.50

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 20:00–23:00, £15

Tarek Musa-fronted lo-fi pop-punk outfit, riding an increasingly big wave of hype after the release of their debut album, Tell Me if You Like to. CARNIVAL YOUTH (CARNIVAL YOUTH)

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £6

Latvian indie rock group.

LEEDS CENTRAL SOUL CLUB ALL DAYER

HIFI CLUB, 13:00–21:00, £TBC

They’ve been around since before the HiFi was HiFi, but the Central Soul Club are still going strong. SUNDAY JOINT (BACKBEAT SOUNDSYSTEM)

HIFI CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FREE

HiFi’s weekly free Sunday sesh, this week welcoming Brighton dub and reggae outfit Resonators.

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

THE COMPLETE STONE ROSES

The Stone Roses tribute act. Live music.

Hardcore punk outfit hailing from Toronto: as brash and ballsy as their name suggests.

Sun 23 Oct

THE FENTON, 20:00–01:00, £TBC

GORILLA RIOTZ

THE FOUR TOPS & THE TEMPTATIONS

London Britpoppers, with brothers Malone at the helm.

JOSIENNE CLARKE & BEN WALKER (BENJAMIN WILLIAM PARK)

GLOBE ROAD CAR PARK, 18:00–19:30, £5

Classic Motown hitmakers, times two. OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £6

The BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners for Best Duo in 2015 come to Liverpool.

SUNDAY JOINT (EDD BATEMAN’S WEST AFRICAN LOVE AFFAIR)

HIFI CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FREE

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £8

Mon 24 Oct

Four men from Dorset/Athens, who’ve recently supported Sundara Karma. A twine of post-punk, shoegaze and sunny harmonies – everything the Vaccines should have been but sorta weren’t.

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 20:00–23:00, £15

OPORTO, 20:00–22:30, FREE

GASLIGHT CLUB (CHRIS TAVERNER + MORE)

GASLIGHT CLUB (SEAS OF MIRTH & MORE)

AQUILO

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £8.50

EMANCIPATOR ENSEMBLE (MAJIK + LUO)

Portland-based electronic producer Doug Appling is joined by his ensemble for a European tour. OPORTO, 20:00–22:30, FREE

A free night of folk, Americana and blues music with local talent and touring special guests.

Tue 25 Oct JAGWAR MA

BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, 19:30–23:00, £13.50

Weekly open mic jam session.

Often two-piece, occasional three-piece, hailing from Sydney and making alternative indie music that’s thoroughly danceable.

Wed 19 Oct

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £8

FENTON BOOGIE

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, FREE

KHRUANGBIN

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £12

Psychedelic Texan trio influenced by 1960s Thai music. TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE (TRUDY & THE ROMANCE)

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £6

Thu 20 Oct LEO STANNARD

Leicester’s young singer-songwriter heads out on a headline tour. BILLY TALENT

O2 ACADEMY LEEDS, FROM 19:00, £18

Toronto punk-rock ensemble with angular tendencies, led by Benjamin Kowalewicz. CHERYL, MIKE & JAY

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £22.60 - £54.20

A cross-section of the Bucks Fizz lot head out under a clunky moniker to avoid getting sued and that.

Fri 21 Oct NINE BELOW ZERO

BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, FROM 19:00, £15

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

BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, FROM 19:30, £8

The half-Panamanian, halfItalian South Londoner tours his sun-drenched reggae sounds.

ADAM & ELVIS

FIRSTDIRECT ARENA, 19:30–22:30, £45

Mon 17 Oct BEACH BABY

FUCKED UP

THE FENTON, 20:00–02:00, £TBC

HiFi’s weekly free Sunday sesh, this week welcoming Brighton dub and reggae outfit Resonators.

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 20:00–23:00, £7

LOUIS BERRY

Thu 13 Oct

Wed 05 Oct

Thu 27 Oct

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £8

FEWS

Motorik noise-pop from the Swedish post-punk group.

Sat 22 Oct

SPRING KING

Liverpudlian trio channelling what they descrive at ‘50s mutant pop’.

The young Edinburgh-based twopiece embark on a UK tour.

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £8

Sun 16 Oct

Great British songwriting with a band that has real character and charm, fronted by the uniquely vocals of Izzy Baxter. Tippped for big things in 2016.

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, FREE

Weekly open mic jam session.

HBE are seven brothers from the south side of Chicago who come from an extraordinarily musical family. They’ve performed Coachella, WOMAD AU, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall.

Electronic duo, dreamily atmospheric and addicted to melancholy.

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 19:30–22:30, £7

OPORTO, 18:00–22:30, FREE

HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE

HIFI CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £15

FENTON BOOGIE

LEEDS BECKETT STUDENT UNION, FROM 19:00, £18.50

GASLIGHT CLUB (ROXANNE DE BASTION)

THE FENTON, 19:00–02:00, £5

The Birmingham death metal outfit are joined by metal acts from Manchester, Bradford, Sheffield, Halifax and Leeds.

Tue 18 Oct

Ms Nash keeps it reliably chirpy with her vocally-loose melodic ramblings.

Wed 12 Oct

The much-loved folktronica pioneer heads out on the road, trailing her latest album, Tindersticks.

HAERKEN (IMPAVIDUS + VALAFAR + PSYTHON + KINGDOM IN KAOS + THONDERHORNNEN)

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £11

KATE NASH

Mon 03 Oct BETH ORTON

You may know Vonda from her Ally McBeal theme tune - no, wait, that’s literally all you’ll know her from.

Tue 11 Oct

Born and raised Reading locals, Matt, Joe, Elliot and Chris take the aggression of grunge and punk and attempt to splice it with melody and harmony.

HIFI CLUB, FROM 22:00, FREE

VONDA SHEPARD

A free night of folk, Americana and blues music with local talent and touring special guests.

HiFi’s weekly free Sunday sesh, this week welcoming Brighton dub and reggae outfit Resonators.

HIFI CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £TBC

Performing the sounds of Philadelphia and Motown.

FRANKIE BALLARD

BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £15

Mon 10 Oct

THE KILLS

Tue 04 Oct

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £18.10 - £43.20

Sun 09 Oct

LEEDS BECKETT STUDENT UNION, FROM 19:00, £20

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 20:00–23:00, £10

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, FREE

Live music fundraiser.

Sat 01 Oct

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £9

Weekly open mic jam session.

DECLAN’S FUNDRAISER

THE FENTON, 20:00–02:00, £TBC

HiFi’s weekly free Sunday sesh, this week welcoming Brighton dub and reggae outfit Resonators.

DEAD MEADOW

Wed 14 Sep

Ann Arbor rockers signed to Run For Cover Records come to the UK.

O2 ACADEMY LEEDS, FROM 19:00, £27.50

SKY DIVERS

Tue 27 Sep

FENTON BOOGIE

PITY SEX

HEADROW HOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £7.50

THE FENTON, 20:00–23:00, £TBC

Tue 20 Sep

Influential Washington DC stoner/ psych lot, formed in 1998 from the remnants of two young indie DC bands – The Impossible Five and its immediate follow-up, Colour.

Experimental rock from the Bradford five-piece.

Folk duo made up of twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy, who tour in support of new release, Cartwheels.

A free night of folk, Americana and blues music with local talent and touring special guests.

THE SHERLOCKS

NGOD (THE INDIGO PROJECT)

The popular soprano hosts an evening of songs and anecdotes that no one actually asked her to share - but, y’know.

A free night of folk, Americana and blues music with local talent and touring special guests.

Sheffield indie-rock unit made up of two sets of brothers.

Rock ‘n’ roll show that’ll allegedly have you saying “I can’t believe it’s not Buddy!” Given that he’s been dead for some time now, we’d like to hope you’re smarter than that.

Lewisham’s Jodie Abacus embarks on a headline UK tour, trailing his promisingly positive-minded brand of future funk.

A free night of folk, Americana and blues music with local talent and touring special guests.

Scottish singer-songwriter channelling a modern-day Woody Guthrie through politicallyminded, protest lyrics. BUDDY HOLLY & THE CRICKETERS

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £24 - £53

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £23.10 - £53.20

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 16:30–19:30, £18 - £25

SUNDAY JOINT (DR SYNTAX + PETE CANNON)

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £6

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:00–22:00, £14.40 - £18

THE GOOD OLD DAYS

New project from Morgan MacIntyre and Gemma Doherty, drawing on early Celtic harp traditions, 60s folk and electronic pop. ‘Atmosfolk’, apparently.

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 19:30–22:30, £8.50

Musical project born of awardwinning singer-songwriter Timothy Carroll from Brisbane and guitarist/ composer Oscar Dawson (Ali Barter, Dukes of Windsor) from Melbourne.

THE FENTON, 20:00–02:00, £8

THE APROGALYPSE (ZIGGURAT + TOH + POCKET FOX + STRING VILLAINS)

Sat 15 Oct

After a long hiatus, Lowkey returns. Known for his controversial lyricism, Lowkey is an English rapper and political activist of Iraqi descent who first became known through a series of mixtapes released when he was just a teenager. THE GOOD OLD DAYS

The Idlewild frontman celebrates the 10th anniversary of his first solo album, My Secret is my Silence.

Sat 08 Oct

JODIE ABACUS

Tue 06 Sep FRANKIE COSMOS

Wed 28 Sep

HIGH TYDE

Brighton indie teens on the rise. CROWS

HEADROW HOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £8

A CONVERSATION WITH KANO

Grime legend Kano sits down for a chat with friend and collaborator Hattie Collins. A Red Bull Music Academy Lecture.

Fri 28 Oct

GHETTS (FRISCO + ELF KID + AJ TRACEY)

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, FROM 21:00, £15

East London MC, known as Justin Clarke to his closest pals.

Sat 29 Oct AKALA

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 20:00–23:00, £15

Award-winning hip-hop artist and younger brother of rapper Ms. Dynamite, currently carving out his own path with his rap, rock and electro influences and now hitting the road for his 10 Years of Akala tour. JMSN

HEADROW HOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £7

R’n’b singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, aka Christian Berishaj, returns with this year’s new album, It Is. HIGH FOCUS RECORDINGS

HIFI CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £TBC

The UK’s leading hip-hop label head our way. Always a fun night.

Sun 30 Oct LADY LESHURR

BELGRAVE MUSIC HALL AND CANTEEN, 20:00–23:00, £12.50

Dublin merrymakers Crows head out on the road, bringing the gloomy and intense hardcore.

Ultra bad ass rapper who quotes Adele and raps insults like “your lips looks like crispy bacon” in her tracks. Make of that what you will.

THE FENTON, 20:00–00:00, FREE

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £TBC

FENTON BOOGIE

Weekly open mic jam session. THE LAPELLES

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £6 - £7

East-Kilbride five-piece.

Wed 26 Oct JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR

BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, FROM 19:30, £20

British blues rock guitarist discovered as a 16 year-old by the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. HOOTON TENNIS CLUB

THE WARDROBE, 19:30–22:30, £TBC

The ascendant Liverpudlians and recent Heavenly signings head our way. MARTHA FFION

HEADROW HOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £6.50

Fuzz pop Irish singer-songwriter, inspired by the ethereal pop sounds of the 1960s. PALACE WINTER

OPORTO, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £8

Duo comprising Aussie singersongwriter Carl Coleman and Danish producer and producer Caspar Hesselager, who released their debut EP, Medication, earlier this year.

BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT

Bright Light Bright Light (aka Rod Thomas) is a Welsh-born pop artist who now splits his time between London and New York. He’s opened for Ellie Goulding, Erasure and Scissor Sisters. TONY CHRISTIE

CITY VARIETIES MUSIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £26.50 - £60

Still going, though not necessarily strong, with a Golden Anniversary tour. SUNDAY JOINT (RESONATORS)

HIFI CLUB, 22:00–04:00, FREE

HiFi’s weekly free Sunday sesh, this week welcoming Brighton dub and reggae outfit Resonators. STUDIO SCIENCE WITH SHURA

LAMBERT’S YARD, 14:00–15:00, £5

From her bedroom in West London to headline tours and festivals worldwide, Shura sits down to lead an intimate workshop.

Sun 31 Oct

GASLIGHT CLUB HALLOWEEN SPECIAL (THE MOST UGLY CHILD) OPORTO, 20:00–22:30, FREE

A free night of folk, Americana and blues music with local talent and touring special guests.

#RBMAUKTOUR uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

Listings

Liverpool Music

Tue 20 Sep

Sun 25 Sep

ELVANA (BLACK CAT BONES + DUKES OF HAWK)

THE MAGNET , 19:30–22:30, £5

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 14:30–17:30, £19 - £45

Elvis-fronted tribute to Nirvana, in a strange twist of events.

Tue 06 Sep

INVISIBLE WIND FACTORY, 20:00–23:00, £12

XAMVOLO

Singer-songwriter and producer, aka Sam Folorunsho. DEAP VALLY

LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION

EPSTEIN THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £15 - £25

A concept show celebrating the music of John Lennon, featuring 31 of his hits from his back catalogue as both a solo artist or alongside McCartney. Matinee performances available. BROKEN BRASS ENSEMBLE (THE BLOWBACK HORNS + THE SOUL RAYS)

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £12

Broken Brass Ensemble combines the traditional New Orleans brass with hiphop, Balkan, funk, fanfare and much more.

Wed 07 Sep BARENAKED LADIES

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £28

The longstanding Canadian rock quartet take to the road, allowing audiences nationwide to once again try and keep speed with the verse of One Week. LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION

EPSTEIN THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £15 - £25

A concept show celebrating the music of John Lennon, featuring 31 of his hits from his back catalogue as both a solo artist or alongside McCartney. Matinee performances available. THE WHO

ECHO ARENA, FROM 18:30, £60 - £70

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

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £10

The American musician, known as one half of indie outfit The Fiery Furnaces alongside her brother, hits the UK gig circuit in support of her third album, New View. LEVERET

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £14

A folk trio, who were nominated as Best Group at this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Fri 09 Sep

LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION

EPSTEIN THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £15 - £25

A concept show celebrating the music of John Lennon, featuring 31 of his hits from his back catalogue as both a solo artist or alongside McCartney. Matinee performances available.

THE RAT PACK VEGAS SPECTACULAR SHOW

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £21 - £29

Rat Pack-styled musical favourite, taking a trip back to the glitz and glam of 50s Las Vegas.

Mon 12 Sep DANIEL O’DONNELL

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £42.50 - £48.50

The most successful easylistening-country star tours his back catalogue of hits.

Tue 13 Sep SVFFER

NEXT TO NOWHERE, 18:30–23:00, £6

The Hamburg grindcore/hardcore outfit are joined by Coffin, Tout Suite, The Mighty Bossmags and Leavers for an evening of live hardcore and punk at Next to Nowhere.

Wed 14 Sep LEON ROSSELON

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £12

Stalwart of the 1960s folk revival, whose recent and final album, Where are the Barricades? promises some of his finest work yet.

Thu 15 Sep PURPLE RAIN

EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:00–22:00, £15.50

SMART CASUAL (MEET THE ROBOTS + PLASTIC + HIGHLITE + CROSSLIGHT)

A full eight-piece live band pay homage to Prince.

MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, 19:00–22:00, £PAY WHAT YOU WANT

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £19 - £45

Heading Liverpool-way as part of their Taking Back the Power UK tour.

EORICA

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform Beethoven’s iconic Eroica symphony.

THE SHERLOCKS (BLAENAVON + THE ISRIGHTS)

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £9

Sheffield indie-rock unit made up of two sets of brothers.

Fri 16 Sep PURPLE RAIN

EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

A full eight-piece live band pay homage to Prince.

NATHAN CARTER AND HIS BAND

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, FROM 19:30, £23 - £32

Twinkly-eyed young Irish country singer. NATHAN CARTER AND HIS BAND

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £23 - £32

Twinkly-eyed young Irish country singer. OH WELL GOODBYE (ECHO BEACH)

MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, 20:00–23:00, £2

Celebrating the release of new 7”, Swoon.

DAYS N DAZE / CRYWANK / LAB RATS / PAPER WINGS MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, FROM 19:00, £5 - £7

Dead Good Gathering presents folk-punk group Days N Daze, punk-inspired anti-folk band Crywank and more. GRATEFUL FRED’S: CAHALEN MORRISON & ELI WEST

THE ATKINSON, 19:30–22:30, £9 - £11

Roots duo drawing on old folk sounds.

Thu 08 Sep THE BLOCKHEADS

THE CAVERN CLUB, FROM 20:00, £17.50

The punk generation legends take to the stage to share their genre defying jazz, rock’n’roll, funk, and reggae sound. AN EVENING WITH JENNIFER JOHN AND LORNA BROOKS

UNITY THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £12 - £15

Liverpool-based Jennifer John and Edinburgh-based Lorna Brooks come together for a unique, intimate event. LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION

EPSTEIN THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £15 - £25

A concept show celebrating the music of John Lennon, featuring 31 of his hits from his back catalogue as both a solo artist or alongside McCartney. Matinee performances available.

Sat 10 Sep

LENNON: THROUGH A GLASS ONION

EPSTEIN THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £15 - £25

A concept show celebrating the music of John Lennon, featuring 31 of his hits from his back catalogue as both a solo artist or alongside McCartney. Matinee performances available.

NASHVILLE IN THE ROUND (SARAH DARLING + JENN BOSTIC + KYSHONA ARMSTRONG)

THE ATKINSON, 20:00–23:00, £10

Nashville in the Round will comprise three Nashville residents and wonderful female voices performing together and individually whilst supporting each other.

Sun 11 Sep

SPEAR OF DESTINY (SUPER FAST GIRLIE SHOW)

ARTS CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £15

Anthemic punk power rock band Spear of Destiny were founded in 1983 by singer and songwriter Kirk Brandon. MAWKIN

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £12

New Brit-folk group fusing folk, blues and rock.

Primal, bluesy, LA rock’n’roll duo consisting of crochet pals Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards.

Wed 21 Sep THE BEAT

THE MAGNET , 19:30–00:00, £18

The legendary ska collective come to Liverpool with very special guest Dave Wakeling. ROMESH RANGANATHAN

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–23:00, £18.50 - £24.50

The maths-teacher-turned-comedian (and 2013 Edinburgh Festival Best Newcomer) tours his new show, Irrational, which explores the rationality of his world view. Or perhaps lack thereof… SUNDARA KARMA (THE NIGHTH CAFÉ + FREAK)

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £10

Sundara means ‘beautiful’ in Sanskrit, and this quartet live up to their blissful name with some epic and anthemic indie rock, gaining comparisons from Arcade Fire to Bruce Springsteen. THE RUBETTES

THE BRINDLEY, 19:30–22:30, £20

The 70s glam rockers return.

Thu 22 Sep PASTORAL

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £19 - £45

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra take on Beethoven’s calming classic Pastoral symphony. KRS-ONE

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

The highly respected KRS One brings his iconic catalogue of tracks our way.

Fri 23 Sep

LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA VARIOUS VENUES, 15:00, £40-£8

The largest mind-expanding rock festival in the Northwest returns with an international line-up ready to leave earth behind and launch into space. O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Liverpool r’n’b heroes fast on the rise.

PAUL DUNBAR AND THE BLACK WINTER BAND

LEAF, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £9

RODDY WOOMBLE

The launch for Paul Dunbar’s debut single release.

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 19:30–23:30, £18.50

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, 4

WESTERMAN

The Idlewild frontman celebrates the 10 year anniversary of debut solo album, My Secret is My Silence, with a special UK tour and song book.

London-based singer-songwriter, whose modern folk ballads have made him an up-and-comer.

Sat 17 Sep

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

DEFINITELY MIGHTBE

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Oasis tribute act.

LIQUIDATION (THE FLOORMEN + RONGORONGO + UPTIGHT DJS)

HEEBIE JEEBIES, 19:00–04:00, £0 - £3

The regular club night with 2messyDJs playing sonic guitars, synths and 6Ts, now with added free live gig beforehand. DUH-DUH-DUH-DUMMMMM

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £19 - £45

Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra perform Beethoven’s Fourth symphony. MOON HOOCH (HALEM)

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £8

Peddlers of ‘cave music’, a jagged, raw take on house music featuring sax and drums, apparently.

Sun 18 Sep

THE LOTTERY WINNERS

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £10

The Lottery Winners are an indie-pop four-piece from an exact point equidistant between the musical meccas of Manchester and Liverpool.

RURA

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £14

Sat 24 Sep

LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA VARIOUS VENUES, 15:00, £40-£8

The largest mind-expanding rock festival in the Northwest returns with an international line-up ready to leave earth behind and launch into space. LIQUIDATION (SEAWITCHES + THE SHIPBUILDERS)

HEEBIE JEEBIES, 19:00–04:00, £0 - £3

The regular club night with 2messyDJs playing sonic guitars, synths and 6Ts, now with added free live gig beforehand. OSCAR

STUDIO 2, 19:00–22:00, £6

Off-kilter pop musings disappointingly not from the Chelsea footballer of the same name.

Liverpool 70

Listings

ODE TO JOY

Hear Beethoven’s ninth, Ode To Joy, performed in the capable hands of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. KING NO-ONE (DAEZ + SCARLET + THE BAD HABITS)

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6

Yorkshire indie rock quartet.

LULO REINHARDT AND ANDREW KRENGEL QUARTET

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £15

Grand nephew of jazz legend Django Reinhardt, young Lulo plays a set of his gypsy-folk soundscapes alongside leading German guitarist, Andre Krengel.

Mon 26 Sep

LEAGUE OF WELLDOERS BENEFIT SHOW

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 14:00–17:00, £12

Variety concert with compere Tony Ravel and eight other Liverpool entertainers. THE MAGIC GANG

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £8

Energetic Brighton-based indie-pop.

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £8

NATALIE MCCOOL

BUYERS CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £6.50

Songwriter with a unique turn of phrase and melody and razor-sharp alt-pop production.

Sun 02 Oct ANDY IRVINE

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £14

The traditional Irish folk singer/ songwriter and multi-instrumentalist plays a set plucked from his hefty repertoire.

Mon 03 Oct AKALA

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £14

THE ATKINSON, 13:00–13:45, £11

The Phil’s artist in residence plays Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin.

Andrew Gregory performs The Silver Dial, a collection of 12 original piano pieces based on the story of an English soldier who goes to war and takes with him a silver pocket watch, which has the power to contain and recall twelve special memories.

Wed 28 Sep

Tue 04 Oct

Tue 27 Sep JAMES EHNES

ST GEORGE’S HALL, 19:30–22:30, £25

JAKE QUICKENDEN (BAILEY MCCONNELL + LAUREN PLATT)

BRONCHO

THE MAGNET , 20:00–23:00, £8

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £11

High-energy Oklahoman trio who first found fame in the closing credits of Lena Dunham’s HBO series, Girls. Now returning with third LP, Double Vanity.

Thu 29 Sep

The Phil’s artist in residence plays Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin.

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £15 - £30

English singer and multi-time contestant on The X Factor. Joys. THE HUNNA

The Hertfordshire indie rock quartet return to stages. KESTON COBBLERS’ CLUB

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £12.50

Kent-hailing, toe-tapping, indiefolk five-piece – favourites on BBC 6 Music and winners of the Rebel Playlist.

Fri 30 Sep THE ZUTONS

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

The iconic indie rockers reunite for a special one-off gig to commemorate the late Kristian Ealey, billing the event as their last ever show. CHEKHOV NIGHT

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £8

A double bill featuring The Bear and The Proposal by the brilliant Anton Chekhov.

THE MEMBRANES (THE MEMBRANES)

THE MAGNET , 19:00–00:00, £10

The influential 80s UK post-punk band return to Liverpool after their sell-out performance with Buzzcocks last year at The Kaz. BEETHOVEN FINALE

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £19 - £45

Guest conductor Andrew Manze leads the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and artist in residence, violinist James Ehnes. HANNAH SANDERS (DAVID BENTLEY)

THE ATKINSON, 19:30–22:30, £10 - £12

Hannah Sanders launches her new album. THOMAS LANG

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £17

Toxteth-born, Liverpool-based singer-songwriter celebrating new album, The German Alphabet, on Klee Records.

Sat 01 Oct UNION J

O2 ACADEMY, 19:30–22:30, £20 - £50

The X-Factor boy band grace Scotland with their presence. EVENING RAGAS

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £10 - £12

Grammy Award winner Vishwa Mohan Bjatt is joined by tabla player Rajkumar Misra.

JAMES EHNES

ST GEORGE’S HALL, 19:30–22:30, £25

PINEGROVE

STUDIO 2, 19:00–22:00, £7.50

American indie group from New Jersey, whose debut LP, Cardinal, was released earlier this year.

WOODY GUTHRIE: HARD TIMES AND HARD TRAVELIN’

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £10

Live documentary’ presented by singer, multi-instrumentalist and Professor of American Literature and Culture Will Kaufman.

Wed 05 Oct NGOD

THE MAGNET , 19:30–22:30, £7

Experimental rock from the Bradford five-piece.

NE OBLIVISCARIS (OCEANS OF SLUMBER)

STEVE MASON ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £18

The Beta Band frontman plays a solo set, back with his latest output from earlier this year, Meet the Humans.

RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY PRESENTS DIGITAL SOUL BOYS (JAMIE WOON + SG LEWIS + SUEDEBROWN) PALM HOUSE, 19:00–23:00, £12

RBMA alumni Jamie Woon lines up alongside SG Lewis and Merseyside native Suedebrown. THE KAST OFF KINKS

THE BRINDLEY, 19:30–22:30, £21

Former members of the legendary band The Kinks, back together to re-live the good times. HEIDI TALBOT

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £16

One week after the release of her new album Here We Go, 1, 2, 3, Co Kildare singer-songwriter Heidi Talbot takes to the Queen’s Hall stage for live performance.

Fri 07 Oct

TINA MAY & ENRICO PIERANUNZI

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £11.50

One of Europe’s finest jazz singers and internationally-acclaimed pianist Enrico Pieranunzi tour their 2015 album, Home is Where the Heart is. A CONVERSATION WITH KREPT & KONAN

CONSTELLATIONS, 17:00–19:00, £6

A sit down with potent grime duo Krept and Konan to chat about breaking into the mainstream while staying true to their roots. A Red Bull Music Academy Lecture.

BIG BLUES FESTIVAL (DR FEELGOOD + ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW & THE LOW RIDERS + ROSCO LEVEE + THE CONNIE LUSH BAND + DAN BURNETT + JON CASEY BLUES BAND) THE ATKINSON, 19:30–23:00, £34 - £39

Progressive melodic metal from Melbourne.

The Atkinson’s second annual Big Blues Festival, celebrating everything that rock, rhythm and blues has to offer.

THE ATKINSON, 19:30–22:30, £9 - £11

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £14

ARTS CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £10

GRATEFUL FRED’S: CONNLA (CONNLA)

Sensitive and innovative arrangements of traditional and modern folk songs. ENSEMBLE 10/10: 23 SONGS OF A MAD WOMAN

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £15

Conductor Clark Rundell and Ensemble 10/10 perform music by composer James Wishart in honour of his 60th birthday.

Thu 06 Oct

DEEP HEDONIA PRESENTS MIKE COOPER

THE BLUECOAT, 19:00–21:30, £7 - £10

Deep Hedonia welcome underground blues singer and ambient exotica pioneer Mike Cooper, whose early career as a folk-blues guitarist and singer-songwriter has since branched out into improvised and electronic music, along with sound installations and more. ELAINE PAGE

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £28.50 - £99

Stage musical actress known for iconic roles in Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Evita and Cats.

CATFISH KEITH

With his innovative style of footstomping, deep delta blues and American roots music, Catfish has reinvented the guitar.

Sat 08 Oct DEAN FRIEDMAN

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £27.50

US-of-A singer/songwriter doing his thing on vocals, piano, keyboard, guitar... and maybe even harmonica. VONDA SHEPARD

EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:00–22:00, £24

You may know Vonda from her Ally McBeal theme tune - no, wait, that’s literally all you’ll know her from. A KIND OF MAGIC

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £15

Queen classics are given a new lease of life by a symphony orchestra. LIVERPOOL SOULFEST

ARTS CLUB, 12:00–04:00, £25

Liverpool SoulFest returns to town featuring, among others, Fame Academy alumnus and r’n’b singer Lemar.

Sun 09 Oct UB40

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £30

UB40’s three founding musicians dig out some classic reggae from their archives.

A DECADE THROUGH THE DECADES

EPSTEIN THEATRE, FROM 13:00, £11

The Singing Our Socks Off choir celebrate their 10th anniversary.

RHYMEANTCIS - AN RBMA SPECIAL (D DOUBLE E + AJ TRACEY + BIG ZUU + DAVE + FOOTSIE + JAMMZ + LADY LESHURR + OCEAN WISDOM + TOMMY GENESIS) ST GEORGE’S HALL, 20:00–23:00, £10

D Double E lays down the gauntlet for some of the UK’s finest MCs to exercise their lyrical prowess within the imposing St. George’s Hall. EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £22 - £28

Post-rock vets, whose repertoire of largely instrumental material grew earlier this year with the release of seventh studio album, The Wilderness. RAGGED UNION BLUEGRASS

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–23:00, £14

Hard-driving bluegrass led by husband and wife team, Geoff and Christina Union. PITY SEX

STUDIO 2, 19:00–22:00, £8

Ann Arbor rockers signed to Run For Cover Records come to the UK.

Mon 10 Oct LEVEL 42

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £28 - £34

The 80s and 90s-straddling English rockers play the hits. CC SMUGGLERS

STUDIO 2, 19:00–22:00, £8

Folk band CC Smugglers are currently writing new music set for release early 2016 and are eager to hit the road with their brand new record. CELLO SONATA

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 13:00–14:00, £8

A lunchtime concert featuring musicians from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tue 11 Oct SEAN FORAN

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £11.50

Acclaimed Aussie pianist unveils an album featuring a brand new ensemble of British players. LLOYD COLE

EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

Performing a live set of vintage material from 1983 to 1996.

Wed 12 Oct THE LAPELLES

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £6

East-Kilbride five-piece.

HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE

THE MAGNET , 20:00–23:00, £15

#RBMAUKTOUR uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

THE SKINNY

HAZEL O’CONNOR

JORDAN ALLEN

THE BRINDLEY, 19:30–22:30, £20

BUYERS CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £TBC

Cult movie star turned singer/ songwriter returns to the touring circuit with a full band to deliver a live show crammed with all the Breaking Glass hits. O’HOOLEY AND TIDOW

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £14

The folk duo known for interpreting everything from Massive Attack to traditional Irish ballads return with a new album in the bag.

Thu 13 Oct FOCUS

EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:00–22:00, £18.50

Fronted by founding member Thijs Van Leer, the iconic Dutch music masters best known for hits Hocus Pocus, House of The King and Sylvia are back.

The Boltonian bard and indie rocker (and pals) performs a headline Manchester show, having recently played to a packed out room at this year’s Dot to Dot festival.

Sun 16 Oct LYNCHED

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £15

Shockingly not FWD playing heavy metal, as much as the moniker would have you believe. In fact, Lynched are a traditional folk group from Dublin, with ditties made of uilleann pipes, concertina, Russian accordion, fiddle and guitar.

GEORGE MONBIOT AND EWAN MCLENNAN LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £18.50

Author and journalist George teams up with folk singersongwriter Ewan McLennan for The Age of Loneliness, a musical project inspired by the former’s Guardian article exploring the personal and social effects of loneliness.

Fri 21 Oct

THE FOUR TOPS & THE TEMPTATIONS

ECHO ARENA, 19:30–22:30, £45

Classic Motown hitmakers, times two.

DAMIEN DEMPSEY

JOHN CARPENTER

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £17.50

THE OLYMPIA, 19:30-22:30, £29.50

Favourited Irish singer/songwriter bringing his mighty voice to bear on topics both local and global.

Mon 24 Oct HOWLING INTO THE SUN

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £8 - £10

A solo performance from dancer and choreographer Anoikis (aka Melissa Pasut), inspired by 7thcentury Islamic architecture. PINK MARTINI

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £27 - £36

Diverse orchestral 12-piece specialising in Hollywood show tunes, complete with original Pink Martini vocalist China Forbes.

Tue 25 Oct THE BREATH

MOZART’S CLARINET CONCERTO

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £11.50

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £15 - £42

Composed of guitarist Stuart McCallum, his fellow Cinematic Orchestra alumni, John Ellis and Luke Flowers, and Honeyfeet’s Ríoghnach Connolly.

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Clarinet Benjamin Mellefont is joined by young conductor Nicholas Collon, who makes his Liverpool debut.

SLOW CLUB

THE MAGNET , 19:30–22:30, £12.50

THE HYENA KILL

Fri 14 Oct

Rather lovely alternative folkiness from Sheffield duo Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor, returning to the touring circuit with their latest album, One Day All of This Won’t Matter Anymore.

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £16

Wed 26 Oct

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6

Manchester-based duo, made up of Steven Dobb and Lorna Blundell, fond of riffs and grooves. GORGON CITY

YAK

The north London production duo hit town, known for their clubsavvy pop soundscapes ripe for dancing feet.

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £9

Psych pop types, one of whom used to play in Peace for a bit. CALL OF THE NORTH

THE TRAVELLING BAND

THE MAGNET , 20:00–23:00, £10

Manchester alternative folkies, all shimmering and harmonic in their understated psychedelia kind of way. MOZART’S CLARINET CONCERTO

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £15 - £42

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Clarinet Benjamin Mellefont is joined by young conductor Nicholas Collon, who makes his Liverpool debut. WARD THOMAS

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

Folk duo made up of twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy, who tour in support of new release, Cartwheels. MEGSON

THE ATKINSON, 19:30–22:30, £14

Award-winning Megson draw heavily on their Teesside heritage to create a truly unique brand of folk music. WE BANJO 3

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £16

Award-winning bluegrass quartet from Galway.

Sat 15 Oct

GERMANIC GREATS (LIVERPOOL MOZART ORCHESTRA)

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £13.50 - £15

The LMO open their 2016-17 season with the lush, romantic harmonies of Wagner. THE 4TUNES

EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, £19

A bunch of blokes known for starring in West End shows bring their vocals together for a night of classics from the movies and musicals. THE HOLLIES

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £25 - £31

The Manchester-formed rockers celebrate some 50+ years on the circuit, tight pop harmonies as present as ever. THE LINDISFARNE STORY

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £18.50

Celebration of Tyneside acoustic rock group Lindisfarne, complete with former members Billy Mitchell and Ray Laidlaw performing live and sharing anecdotes.

Mon 17 Oct BLACK FOXXES

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £7

Raw and ragged noise-rock Devonshire three-piece.

Tue 18 Oct MØ

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Copenhagen-based electronic soul songstress (aka Karen Marie Ørsted), touring in the wake of releasing her latest single, Final Song.

Wed 19 Oct

JAMIE BARTON AND JAMES BAILLIEU

ST GEORGE’S HALL, 19:30–22:30, £25

American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is joined by pianist James Baillieu. WE ARE SCIENTISTS

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £16.50

LISA HANNIGAN (HEATHER WOODS BRODERICK)

ST GEORGE’S HALL, 19:30–22:30, £15

Acclaimed Irish singer/songwriter who cut her teeth playing with Damien Rice.

Another evening of orchestral adventures with conductor Clark Rundell and Liverpool’s team of new music champions, Ensemble 10/10.

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £12.50

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £27.50 - £75

ARTS CLUB, 18:30–22:00, £20

BLUE ROSE CODE

JIMMY OSMOND

London-based folk group, fronted by Dan Heptinstall and Lorna Thomas, delivering a reliably foot stomping show.

The youngest Osmond bro pays tribute to Andy Williams with his show, Moon River and Me.

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 19:30–23:00, £13.75

Award-winning Scottish five-piece contemporary folk.

BLUE ROSE CODE

BREABACH

THE ATKINSON, 19:30–22:30, £12 - £14

WARPAINT

London-based folk group, fronted by Dan Heptinstall and Lorna Thomas, delivering a reliably foot stomping show.

The psychedelic LA indie-rockers return to our shores.

Sat 22 Oct

Thu 27 Oct

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

ARTS CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £22.50

LADY LESHURR

GRAND CENTRAL HALL, 19:30-22:30, £20

DINOSAUR JR

Formative alt-rock titans (aka the bastard kids of Neil Young and Black Sabbath), making their way across the pond in support of their lat

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

Ultra bad ass rapper who quotes Adele and raps insults like “your lips looks like crispy bacon” in her tracks. Make of that what you will.

THE ATKINSON, 19:30–22:30, £15 - £17

HEEBIE JEEBIES, 19:00–04:00, £0 - £3

JAZZ CAFÉ (GINGER TUNES QUARTET)

THE HUMMINGBIRDS

Ginger Tunes Quartet play songs from their latest album, Mersey, Mersey, Mersey, an album that celebrates the defiant humour and artistic mischief that’s distinctive of Merseyside.

KATHRYN TICKELL AND THE SIDE

Folk quartet fronted by Northumbrian Kathryn Tickell. SCOTT FAGAN

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £15

Former teenage prodigy of the late 1960s, Scott Fagan is back at it after the re-issue of debut album South Atlantic Blues, steeped in a delicate psych quality that will no doubt resonate even more now than when it was released some 50 years ago.

Thu 20 Oct

HEAVEN 17 AND BRITISH ELECTRIC FOUNDATION

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £29.50 - £99

Performing to mark the 35th Anniversary of Heaven 17’s Penthouse and Pavement. IVO NEAME QUINTET

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £11.50

A dynamic quartet led by pianist Ivo Neame, best known for his collaborations with the likes of Hermeto Pascoal and the Cinematic Orchestra. ROMANTIC RACHMANINOV

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £15 - £42

Rachmaninov’s most romantic work is joined by pieces from Stravinsky and Ravel.

LIQUIDATION (REVO DJ SET)

The regular club night with 2messyDJs playing sonic guitars, synths and 6Ts, now with added free live gig beforehand. ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £10

Six lads from Liverpool blending Merseybeat heritage with folky rhythms. JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR

THE ATKINSON, FROM 19:30, £20

British blues rock guitarist discovered as a 16 year-old by the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR

THE ATKINSON, 19:30–22:30, £20

British blues rock guitarist discovered as a 16 year-old by the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. ROBYN HITCHCOCK

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £15

Self-described as making ‘paintings you can listen to’, the London-based singer/songwriter does his e’er impressive thing.

Sun 23 Oct MIDGE URE

EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:00–22:00, £20

The former Ultravox bassist and Live Aid man revisits his back catalogue. RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 14:30–17:30, £15 - £42

THE ATKINSON, 19:30–22:30, £5

Fri 28 Oct GLASS ANIMALS

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £15

Baroque folk trio with distinct pop(ish) influences, returning with new album, How to be a Human Being. THE YORUBA WOMEN CHOIR

THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £17.50 - £20

Nigerian choir featuring 10 singers and a seven-piece band. CARL DAVIS’ 80TH BIRTHDAY

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £19 - £45

An evening of live music celebrating the 80th birthday of conductor Carl Davis, introduced by Aled Jones. SLEAFORD MODS

LIVERPOOL GUILD OF STUDENTS, 19:00–22:00, £15

Punk electronics and spoken word hip-hop fusion from the Nottingham-hailing duo, touring in the wake of last year’s album, Key Markets – released on the Harbinger Sound label.

The acclaimed filmmaker and composer headlines Liverpool Music Week, having recently released the rock-driven follow-up to last year’s Lost Themes, aptly titled Lost Themes II.

Sat 29 Oct

LIQUIDATION (SILENT SLEEP’S POP DUNGEON)

HEEBIE JEEBIES, 19:00–04:00, £0 - £3

The regular club night with 2messyDJs playing sonic guitars, synths and 6Ts, now with added free live gig beforehand. MUSIC FOR THE MIND AND SOUL

THE CAPSTONE, 13:00–14:00, FREE

Kousic Sen joins Jonathan Mayer as he makes his debut for Milapfest’s long-running concert series. THE MASSED BANDS OF HER MAJESTY’S ROYAL MARINES

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £15 - £25

Over one hundred military musicians come together, kitted out accordingly in their uniforms for a huge spectacle. CLEAN CUT KID

ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £8

New Liverpool band making waves after the release of new EP, We Used to be in Love.

Sun 30 Oct Y&T

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £16.50

Rock’n’roll long-timers, continuing to melt faces some 30 years on. CHARLIE LANDSBOROUGH

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £20 - £26

Singer/songwriter known for his easy listening ballads and country blues that has earned him a spot in the British Country Music Hall of Fame. SHE DREW THE GUN

LEAF, 19:30-22:30, £8

Dreamy lyrical psych-pop from the banks of the Mersey. THE SOLDIER’S TALE

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £15

Stravinsky’s minature musical drama is brought to life with full orchestral flair.

Mon 31 Oct AUGUSTINES

O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £15

NYC trio who do a rather fine line in anthemic indie-rock (formerly playing as We Are Augustines), due in no small part to frontman Billy McCarthy’s measured and majestic vocals. LOUIS BERRY

LEAF, 19:30–22:30, £10

Young local singer-songwriter, whose lyrics cut through politics and crime, love and loss. PSYCHO: LIVE

LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, £19 - £45

A live-scored screening of the Hitchcockian classic.

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER (CHRIS COHEN)

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

The American musician, known as one half of indie outfit The Fiery Furnaces alongside her brother, hits the UK gig circuit in support of her third album, New View. TEENAGE FANCLUB

GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £18.50

Cherished and celebrated alt-rock band who formed in Bellshill in 1989.

NIGHT & DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (ABLE’S ARMY + THE VOLUNTEERS + MADAME RED) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers.

GARY QUINN + LUKE & MEL (ROBBIE CAVANAGH)

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £8

Co-headline show from local country musicians.

Thu 08 Sep

BADFINGER (THE ELECTRIC STARS)

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £17

The 70s powerpop group perform hits from their back catalogue alongside previously unheard tracks. Mysterious.

JOHN CHANTLER (SAM WEAVER + OTTO WILBERG + ECKA ROSE MORCDECAI) ISLINGTON MILL, 19:00–23:00, £5

Musician and organiser living in Stockholm, celebrating the release of his latest LP for Lawrence English’s ROOM40 label, Which Way to Leave? NAKED

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £6.50

Naked are a macabre take on pop with contemporary sounds and visuals. LOVESTARRS

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Manchester Music Tue 06 Sep STICKY FINGERS

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £10

Australian reggae / indie fusion outfit, with support from Melodic garage band Home$lice. KAYO DOT (HEXAGON TRAIL)

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–23:00, £8

American avant-garde group fronted by Toby Driver.

DANNY AND THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £10

Genuinely affecting country-folk from the Australian-born, south London living, Danny George Wilson and his merry band. Roald Dahl similarities left at the title.

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

SHIELD PATTERNS

JORDAN MACKAMPA

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £5

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, FREE

Duo comrising Manchesterbased artist Claire Brentnall and Glissando’s Richard Knox, whose songs are born in cathartic bursts, with subtle poetry intertwined with piano phrases, strings and hypnotic synth patterns. An album launch night. L7

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £18.50

The classic grunge group are back on the road, after re-grouping back in 2014.

DELAMERE (NEW YORK TOURISTS + BARRON)

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £6

Stoke four-man who’ve supported the likes of Palma Violets and Peace, now out headlining their own shows with their recent singes Bright Young Things and Heart in tow. LUCY SPRAGGAN

NEW MILLS ART THEATRE, 19:00–23:00, £15

Little Lucy Spraggan, of X Factor fame, now a fully fledged touring musician making ‘flop’ – that’s folk meets hip-hop for the uninitiated.

Sun 11 Sep

THE WEDDING PRESENT

THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT

In their Going, Going? Audio-Visual Tour 2016, The Wedding Present play their forthcoming album in its entirety in front of film projections.

Mon 12 Sep MCFLY

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £32.50

What are you waiting for? Tickets are selling out as we speak. Nobody’s too cool for McFly. Not even you.

Coventry singer-songwriter hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who hits the road in support of his soulful, sundrenched debut EP, Physics.

NIGHT & DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (PROLETARIAT + TREASON + THE AVOCADOS + LIN RICHARDSON) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers.

SCARLET (THE ORCHID HUNTERS + MARUJA + WE THE FEW)

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £6

An evening of live music headlined by jangle-pop/shoegaze group Scarlet.

Wed 14 Sep MCFLY

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £32.50

What are you waiting for? Tickets are selling out as we speak. Nobody’s too cool for McFly. Not even you. RORY BUTLER

THE CASTLE HOTEL, FROM 19:30, £5

Scottish singer-songwriter channelling a modern-day Woody Guthrie through politicallyminded, protest lyrics. HUW EDDY AND THE CARNIVAL + BLACKLIGHT PANDA + DIVING STATION THE WHISKEY JAR, 19:00–23:00, £4 - £6

An evening of alternative indie from the North.

NIGHT & DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (BRAVE THE NORTH + ELBOWDROP + THE PSYCHOMOTORS) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers.

Using pop hooks, honest lyrics, drum machines and funk bass lines, brother and sister duo Lovestarrs create their very own unique brand of pop. PEAKS (IAN BREEN + PANTA REHI)

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £3

The loop-driven guitar pop brainchild of Manchester-based songwriter Ben Forrester.

Fri 09 Sep

STRANGE WAVES FT. KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD (THE WYTCHES + THE BIG MOON + THE PARROTS)

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–01:00, £17.50

Indie rock from Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

SAM DICKINSON (DANIELLE RIPLEY)

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £7

Soul singer from the North East, who embarks on an acoustic tour.

TAKE YOUR CHANCES (KHAN + FIGHT FOR FRIDAY + ELEPHANT BAY)

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £7

Dusty Pop presents Manc pop-punk group Take Your Chances. THROUGH THE MILL

HALLÉ ST PETER’S, 17:00–23:00, £8 - £10

Featuring Rachmaninov’s sumptuous Symphonic Dances and more.

September/October 2016

Wed 07 Sep

An Ancoats community arts festival celebrating the neighbourhood, with live music, spoken word, walking tours, art, talks, cinema, food, craft beer, comedy and even a drumn ‘n’ bass ceilidh.

Sat 10 Sep

LUNAR (THE HOTSPUR PRESS + RYAN JARVIS + KING KARTEL)

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £7

Local indie outfit. THE BLOCKHEADS

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £17.50

The punk generation legends take to the stage to share their genre defying jazz, rock’n’roll, funk, and reggae sound. TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–22:00, £25

Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert brings his lung-busting Memphis soul boom our way, ably backed by his mighty rhythmic mainstays, The Maytals. SUNFLOWER BEAN

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £SOLD OUT

The low-slung psyche punk band that had Brooklyn in a spin in 2015 head on over to UK shores.

LIONLIMB SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £8

Dreamy psych-pop project by songwriter Stewart Bronaugh and drummer Joshua Jaeger. CLUB KURU

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £5

Club Kuru enter their new phase as a five-piece, still peddling some solid retro psychedelia. CASSELS + ITOLDYOUIWOULDEATYOU

THE WHISKEY JAR, 19:00–23:00, £3 - £5

Double-header of emo indie-punk from Big Scary Monsters duo Cassels and seven-piece DIY emopunk outfit itoldyouiwouldeatyou. JIMMY WEBB

ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:00–22:00, £22.50

The veteran songwriter takes to the stage for a career-spanning show.

Tue 13 Sep MCFLY

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £32.50

What are you waiting for? Tickets are selling out as we speak. Nobody’s too cool for McFly. Not even you.

JULY TALK SOUND CONTROL, FROM 18:30, £8

Canadian indie-rock ensemble led by the twin singing talents of Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay.

Thu 15 Sep

DR SYNTAX AND PETE CANNON (CHEECH + MARTIN CONNOR + PRO P) THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £8

The Banbury hip-hop artist and producer Pete Cannon head out into the live setting. TERENCE BLANCHARD AND THE INNER CITY ENSEMBLE

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £15

The internationally renowned New Orleans trumpeter, film composer and innovator in the modern jazz scene, takes to the Band on the Wall stage. JEZ DIOR

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £9

LA-based hip hop artist whose forthcoming mixtape marks his first ever solo release. GUADALUPE PLATA

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £8

Hardcore Andalucian delta blues outfit, who released their third album earlier this year.

#RBMAUKTOUR uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

Listings

Manchester Music DOOK DOOTSON AND THE FLIGHTLESS BIRDS (COULTON BROTHERS + DANIEL WHITEHOUSE) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

A special headline show supporting the release of their forthcoming EP, A Picture in Time. KRS-ONE

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £17.50

The highly respected KRS One brings his iconic catalogue of tracks our way.

Fri 16 Sep

Sun 18 Sep THE HEADHUNTERS

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £15

American jazz-funk fusion band, best known for backing Herbie Hancock in the 1970s. DAN + SHAY

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £10

Ever-so-wholesome country music from a thick-knit clad duo Dan + Shay. MATIAS AGUAYO AND THE DESDEMONAS

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–23:00, £10

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £5.90

The Kompakt stalwart and Cómeme label founder takes to the stage with a full band.

THE SHADY 80S

THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, £23 - £26

EMMA MOULD

Emma and her band launch debut album, Kites and Chasms. THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £8

NATHAN CARTER

An evening of live hip hop, funk and rock from the rising local band.

The Liverpool-born Irish singer tours with his band.

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 19:30–22:30, £3

THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT

LAVENDER (THE PEACE PIPERS + THE BLEACHES)

Supreme Foliage EP launch. THE SHERLOCKS

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £9

Sheffield indie-rock unit made up of two sets of brothers. PETER HOOK AND THE LIGHT

O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £26

Former New Order and Joy Division bloke reliving his glory years, performing Lowlife and Brotherhood live and in their entirety. JOHN MURRY (MALOJIAN)

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £12

The Bay Area (by way of Mississippi) songwriter and noisemaker plays a set of his sparse and emotive rock’n’roll. THE CHRISTIANS

WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–23:00, £20 - £23

Big in the late 80s and early 90s with hits such as Forgotten Town, Ideal World, Born Again, Harvest for the World, What’s in a Word and more, fronted by lead singer Garry Christian.

ALBERT HAMMOND

Longstanding singer/songwriter and producer, perhaps now best known for being The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr’s ol’ da.

Mon 19 Sep GUTTERDÄMMERUNG

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £27.50

Rock ‘n’ roll and immersive cinema concept from the mind of Belgian-Swedish visual artist Bjorn Tagemose. DILLY DALLY (WEAVES + ABATTOIR BLUES)

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £10

Toronto indie-punks built on a rumbling tumult of unsanitised aggression. DANIEL DOCHERTY

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £7

Acoustic folk-pop singer/songwriter from Glasgow.

Wed 21 Sep

NIGHT & DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (DOLLIE DEMI + ROMARIO + CHINA LANE) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers.

Thu 22 Sep

DARVOS AND THE DEEP SPACE DEVIANTS (THE PICCADILLY RATS)

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £8

An evening of intergalactic punk sounds. MAGMA

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £30

French band Magma visit Scotland for the first time in 40 years, led by drummer extraordinaire Christian Vander. PLAID (THE BEE)

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £12.50

British electonic duo, aka Andy Turner and Ed Handley - back with a new album, The Digging Remedy, on Warp Records.

NIGHT & DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (CAVANA + SHALLOW WATERS + TOO COOL KID + WHITE ELEPHANT) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers. SUNDARA KARMA

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £10

Sundara means ‘beautiful’ in Sanskrit, and this quartet live up to their blissful name with some epic and anthemic indie rock, gaining comparisons from Arcade Fire to Bruce Springsteen. FAITALA

FALLOW CAFE, 19:30–22:30, £3 - £4

Manchester alt-pop trio, launching their debut EP via Tiny Records.

FATHER MURPHY (MUSCLE & MARROW + MOTHER + LOCEAN) ISLINGTON MILL, 19:00–23:00, £6

Experimental art rockers building their sound on the back of some hellish guitar noise. AFFAIRS (BETHLEHEM CASUALS + STRAY SCENE + PUPPET THEORY)

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Manchester locals Affairs bring their indie rock music to Night & Day Cafe. DIRTY SAINT (THE SLUMDOGS + EDUCATED RISK + OK BROKEN + LIAM MCCLAIR)

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £9

Manchester-based balls-out rock ‘n’ roll. Their words, not ours. PRETTY VICIOUS

SOUND CONTROL, FROM 18:30, £8

Fledgling Welsh rock foursome formed in 2014. RONAN KEATING

O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £35

Co-headline tour packed with power pop-rock.

Sat 24 Sep

THE SPITFIRES (SAMUEL ROGERS’ MAGNIFICENT DREAMS)

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £10

The Walford-based trio do their fiery and anthemic thing.

STAY FRESH FEST (COWTOWN + CATHOLIC ACTION + ETHAN AND THE REFORMATION + FRANCIS LUNG + KYOTOYA + PEANESS + PINK KINK + SHAKING CHAINS)

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 16:00–22:00, £6

We’re teaming up with The Deaf Institute and ShinDigger Brewery for a two-floor all-dayer of great live sounds! Come play. BRANDY CLARK

GORILLA, 18:30–22:00, £18.50

Contemporary country and storytelling songs from Grammy Award nominee Brandy Clark. KULT (GABINET LOOSTER)

O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £35

Life is a rollercoaster. Y’just gotta ride it.

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Sun 25 Sep JODIE ABACUS

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £8.50

Lewisham’s Jodie Abacus embarks on a headline UK tour, trailing his promisingly positive-minded brand of future funk.

The English indie-rock Britpop troupe return to the live stage.

THE TUTS (CRYWANK + JOYCE DELANEY)

PSYCHOTROPIC #001 (PURPLE HEART PARADE + THE 99 DEGREE + THE MIND AT LARGE)

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £5 - £6

Uxbridge DIY group The Tuts bring their raucous pop-punk rock up North in support of their debut album, Update Your Brain.

SOUP KITCHEN, 18:30–22:00, £6

Scuff of the Neck presents an evening of psych. HALEY REINHART

SOULFEST NORTHWEST (JOHNNY ‘BOY’ PRYERS + DOUGIE JAMES SOUL TRAIN + GROOVEMENTAL + SOULVATION)

GORILLA, 18:30–22:00, £15

The singer-songwriter takes to the stage following the release of Better, earlier this year. Fun fact: her single Can’t Help Falling in Love With You was featured in an Extra chewing gum advert. Ring a bell? ANALOGUETRASH PRESENTS TREGENZA + FACTORY ACTS + THE WEBB

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 14:00–22:00, £11

TAUPE (BIG MACHINE + CRASHTACTICS + HISTORICALLY FUCKED) THE WHISKEY JAR, 19:00–23:00, £2 - £4

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £3

Experimental polyrhythmic freejazz from Newcastle.

FLATBUSH ZOMBIES

The folk-pop alterego of Iceland’s Unnar Gisli Sigurmundsson.

AnalogueTrash throw an evening of live music from two of their acts, along with some other good pals. O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £16.50

American hip-hop group named after the area of Brooklyn from which they collectively hail ? Flatbush.

A NIGHT OF ROXY MUSIC & BRYAN FERRY (ROXY MAGIC)

WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–23:00, £15 - £17

Roxy Music tribute act. RAT BOY

ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £13

Parlophone Records mischief maker Rat Boy (AKA Jordan Cardy) brings his Jamie T vibes to the stage.

JUNIUS MEYVANT

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £9

SEISMIK / AFTERSHOCK

THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11 - £13

Tension-charged, frequencyfraught AV show, where the artist renders the invisible visible.

Tue 20 Sep

NIGHT & DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (HUNGDRAWN + NO SUNLIGHT + INNER INFLUENCE + MOUTH IN THE SOUTH) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers. BLUE OCTOBER

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £25 - £55

Shimmering rock lot hailing from Texas, touring with their eighth studio album, Home.

KAREN MATHESON WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 20:00–23:00, £8 - £16.50

The woman known as the voice of iconic Gaelic folk group Capercaillie plays a solo show after releasing her latest album, Urran, last year. TONY MORTIMER AND HIS BAND

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £16

The former East 17 shows he ain’t the baby-faced rapper in a fluffy hood anymore. CHEESY CHIPS

TEXTURE, 17:00–23:00, £1 - £3

An evening of live chiptune performances and retro gaming tournaments.

Fri 23 Sep MAGMA

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £27.50

French band Magma visit Scotland for the first time in 40 years, led by drummer extraordinaire Christian Vander. INEGO (THE VULNERABLES)

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £7

Alternative rock and pop fourpiece hailing from Manchester.

An evening of Northern soul and Motown in support of Cancer Research UK, Kidney Patients Association and Help Musicians. BANG! BANG!

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £3 - £5

Improv comedy for grown-ups with CSZ Manchester. NOAH STEWART

THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, £30

The dashing young Harlem tenor his the UK to perform classic favourites alongside West End and big screen masterpieces. PATCH AND THE GIANT

NEW MILLS TOWN HALL, 19:00–22:30, £13 - £15

Seven-piece alternative folk band, playing as part of New Mills Festival.

Mon 26 Sep THE INVISIBLE

SOUP KITCHEN, FROM 19:00, £10

The Dave Okumo-fronted, Mercury Prize-nominated London trio play tracks from their new album, Patience.

Glasgow 72

Listings

THE GOON SAX (BOYS FOREVER)

EAGLE INN, 19:30–22:30, £7

GROUPLOVE

Brisbane teen three-piece whose debut album was released earlier this year to critical acclaim.

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12

Fri 30 Sep

MIC LOWRY

Sunny LA-residing rockers formed back in 1998 by guitarist/singer Bobby Hecksher, moving between the psychedelic and drone soundscapes of the genre.

Contemporary indie five-piece formed when band members Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi met and clicked in lower east Manhattan.

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £12.50

Liverpool r’n’b heroes fast on the rise.

American singer-songwriter, son of the legendary Jim Croce.

CATS IN SPACE / ELEVATOR

Sat 17 Sep THE BLUETONES (CAST + MY LIFE STORY)

LOVE ZOMBIES + THE AMORETTES

Pop-rock group formed by Yorkshire-born singer-songwriter Johnny Carr.

GULLIVERS, 19:00–22:00, £8

LA punk rock group Love Zombies are joined by Scottish rock ‘n’ rollers The Amorettes.

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £10

RONAN KEATING

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £21.50

More stoner pop sounds from the west LA-hailing lo-fi artist as she’s joined by Cassie Ramone.

Tue 27 Sep

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 17:30–22:00, £25.50

American soul singer-songwriter.

TOWNSMEN MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £15

Life is a rollercoaster. Y’just gotta ride it.

Polish rockers formed in 1982 make their return to the UK.

NOAH GUTHRIE

COLLEEN GREEN & CASSIE RAMONE THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £7

A.J. CROCE

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £14

CHELOU (CAVAN MORAN + YOUNG WAR)

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £5

Unsigned songwriter and producer fresh from the Camden punk scene, who’s suppored the likes of Bloc Party and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.

THE WARLOCKS (PURPLE HEART PARADE)

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–22:00, £10

BLOSSOMS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT

Psyche-pop riffs, vocal melodies, a film noir meets 60s aesthetic, a range of audible references from Arctic Monkeys via Abba to The Doors. ULTIMATE PAINTING

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £9

New project featuring Veronica Falls’ James Hoare and Jack Cooper from Mazes, dealing in slightly rough-edged but sweetly melodic indie-pop.

CLASSICAL EVOLUTION

THE NIX (NOIR NOIR + MARCADIA + THE VOLTS + FLY THE BIRD)

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, FREE

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 19:30–22:30, £7

An eclectic evening of live classical music, original compositions and improvisation in a sociable and informal setting. BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12.50

Citing Arcade Fire, Ryan Adams, and Bruce Springsteen as his inspirations, BFL’s known for his hearty, wistful acoustics and rounded melancholy. THE LEISURE SOCIETY

THE LOWRY STUDIO, 20:00–23:00, £10 - £12

Lovely folk-pop lot lead by Nick Hemming – of early 90s indie fame with former group She Talks To Angels – drawing comparisons to the Fleet Foxes, which is hardly a bad thing.

Wed 28 Sep THE BLACK QUEEN

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £14

Synthy, ambient electronica from The Dillinger Escape Plan and Nine Inch Nails alumni. DEAD MEADOW

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £12

Influential Washington DC stoner/ psych lot, formed in 1998 from the remnants of two young indie DC bands – The Impossible Five and its immediate follow-up, Colour. UNION J

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £20

The X-Factor boy band grace Scotland with their presence. WATSKY

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £13.50

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £10

The South London rappers embark on their first UK tour in suport of new mixtape, Let’s Lurk. HANNAH GRACE

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £TBC

Singer hailing from South Wales, who’s heading out onto the road for her first solo UK tour. BOWIE EXPERIENCE

OPERA HOUSE, 19:30–22:30, £28.40

Celebrating the music of the world’s greatest icon. THE KILLS

ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT

After 2011’s lauded album Blood Pressures, The Kills have FINALLY brought out another album, entitled Ash & Ice. Catch them live this September.

English singer and multi-time contestant on The X Factor. Joys. THE HOLLIES

THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, £28

Sun 02 Oct

MILBURN

Sheffield’s indie rockers mark ten years of debut album, Well Well Well. MEADOWLARK

FALLOW CAFE, 19:00–22:00, £7

Bristolian folk duo out trailing their second EP, Dual, which was released earlier this year. RED FANG

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £15

The Portland-based rockers mark a more thought-out and trippy approach. THE MAGIC OF MOTOWN

OPERA HOUSE, 20:00–23:00, £31.15

In praise of the finest sounds to come out of Detroit and beyond in the Motown period. A.R. RAHMAN

MANCHESTER ARENA, 19:30–22:30, £35 - £100

Internationally renowned composer, musician, singer and record producer, celebrated for chart-topping and award-winning film soundtracks including Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. THE RED SHOES

WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–23:00, £12 - £14

The ultimate Kate Bush tribute show will take you through the career of one of the world’s most iconic artists of the 20th Century. THE PETRA FLOWERS (ARCADIA + THE CHASE)

Sat 01 Oct

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £13.50

Tue 04 Oct

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £15

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

Thu 29 Sep 67

JAKE QUICKENDEN (BAILEY MCCONNELL)

Californian metalcore outfit on’t road touring their new LP, Restoring Force.

Local indie-rock five-piece dishing out tri-guitar melodies, raw vocals and tight rhythm and basslines.

Psychedelic blues rock.

The 90s Britpoppers go at it again.

UGLY KID JOE MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £17.50

The Manchester-formed rockers celebrate some 50+ years on the circuit, tight pop harmonies as present as ever.

The San Franciscoan hip-hop chap does his slam poetry thing. THOUSAND YARD STARE

OF MICE & MEN O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £17.50 - £22.50

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £7

BRONCHO

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £9

High-energy Oklahoman trio who first found fame in the closing credits of Lena Dunham’s HBO series, Girls. Now returning with third LP, Double Vanity. JR GREEN

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £8

Purveyors of poetry and feral-folk brother duo from a remote Scottish village. THE LUCID DREAM (PLASTIC MERMAIDS)

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £8

Fusing layered, heavily effected guitar sounds with the futuristic punk awareness of Vanishing Point and general nonchalance of Seventies art rockers Suicide, TLD have an incendiary and occasionally visceral take on psychedelia. MARYLA RODOWICZ

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:00–22:00, £35

IL SOGNO DEL MARINAIO

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £9

Stooges bassist Mike Watt puts in a rare Glasgow appearance with his new band, formed in 2009 with Stefano Pilia and Andrea Belfi. BLACK HONEY

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £7

Great British songwriting with a band that has real character and charm, fronted by the uniquely vocals of Izzy Baxter. Tippped for big things in 2016. FEWS

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £7

Motorik noise-pop from the Swedish post-punk group. AGAINST THE CURRENT

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:00–23:00, £14

Pop rock trio from Poughkeepsie, NY, hitting Garage after the release of their debut LP, In Our Bones. BLUE ORCHIDS (BLACK DOLDRUMS)

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £10

A Musicians Against Homelessness gig. THOMAS LANG

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:00–23:00, £17.50

Toxteth-born, Liverpool-based singer-songwriter celebrating new album, The German Alphabet, on Klee Records. FU MANCHU

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:00–22:30, £12

Stoner rock from The OC, bitch.

Mon 03 Oct

THE BEAT FT. DAVE WAKELING

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £19

The legendary ska collective come to Liverpool with very special guest Dave Wakeling. ALL THEM WITCHES

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £9

Thundering psychedelica from Nashville with an underbelly of bluesy soul and Southern rock. FEEDER

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £22.50

The Newport pop-rock ensemble return with more catchy guitarfuelled choruses. THE HUNNA

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £11

The Hertfordshire indie rock quartet return to stages. BUSTY AND THE BASS

GULLIVERS, 19:00–22:00, £7

80s-formed Californian rock troupe whose name is a riff on Pretty Boy Floyd. MEILYR JONES

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £9

Whimsical and dreamy chamber pop from Welsh artist Meilyr Jones. AKALA

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £14

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £8

UK headline tour from the former Tribes frontman, who returned earlier this year with new EP, Dreamland. LEVEL 42

THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £28

The 80s and 90s-straddling English rockers play the hits. BETH ORTON

MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL, FROM 19:00, £18.50

The much-loved folktronica pioneer heads out on the road, trailing her latest album, Tindersticks.

Wed 05 Oct

SKINNY LISTER (DUCKING PUNCHES)

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £12

London-based folk group, fronted by Dan Heptinstall and Lorna Thomas, delivering a reliably foot stomping show. MITSKI (TRUST FUND)

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £8

Sonic experimentalists trading in large string arrangements for guitar and bass. DESMADRADOS SOLDADOS DE VENTURA

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £6

The Manchester-based drone rock collective play a hometown show to launch their mammoth four-LP new album, The Grand Celestial Purge. THE MISSION

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £27

30th anniversary tour. MARC O’REILLY

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £8

Irish singer/songwriter whose unique sound encompasses folk and blues with African percussive rhythms. LUNA

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £18

The American dream pop outfit head to the UK to perform seminal album, Penthouse, in full. KATE RUSBY

THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, £23

Yorkshire folk vocalist, showcasing tracks from her forthcoming album.

Powerful electro-soul/hip hop collective made up of nine young musicians.

The Polish singer heads to UK shores.

#RBMAUKTOUR uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

THE SKINNY

Thu 06 Oct

THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE (AMONG THE ECHOES + STEREO JUGGERNAUT + DEF NEON) THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £16

The London-formed, Canadabased synth-rock outfit return in their latest guise. SORORITY NOISE

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £9

Connecticut-based quartet, making a slight departure from their emo beginings. THE ESKIES

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £7

Drifting through the realms of everything from sea-soaked waltz and Italian tarantella to Klezmar knees-ups and brassy funeral marches - in short: sea shanty meets folk meets gypsy jazz.

THE ARKYARD SESSIONS (RIVERS & ROBOTS + CHARIOTS + WRITTEN IN KINGS) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 19:30–22:30, £8

The Arkyard Sessions hit the road with a handful of rising names from across the UK.

FRANKIE BALLARD

VONDA SHEPARD

ROYAL REPUBLIC

SCOTT FAGAN

LAST NIGHT OF THE AUTUMN PROMS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–22:30, £15

THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £25

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £10

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–22:15, £15

BRIDGEWATER HALL, FROM 19:30, £30 - £40

Country singer, songwriter and guitarist from the States, now signed to Warner. THE SEX PISSED DOLLS

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £13.50

All-female five-piece playing punk, ska and dirty rock music.

Sat 08 Oct

INTRODUCING PLAYS DJ SHADOW’S ENDTRODUCING…

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £15

10-piece band Introducing celebrate the 20th anniversary of DJ Shadow’s seminal masterpiece, Entroducing…, by performing it live. MYKKI BLANCO

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £10

All-encompassing metropolitan artiste who can list poet, rapper, actor and author among her varying vocations.

Expect folk, country and old-timer mountain music.

Doom trio powerhouse.

Wed 12 Oct

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £7.50

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £11

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:00, £10

You may know Vonda from her Ally McBeal theme tune - no, wait, that’s literally all you’ll know her from.

Mon 10 Oct YOB (BLACK COBRA)

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £14

LUKE CHRISTOPHER

LA rapper, singer and producer.

FIREBALL - FUELLING THE FIRE TOUR (LESS THAN JAKE + THE SKINTS + MARIACHI EL BRONX + THE BENNIES)

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:00–23:00, £10

Inaugural tour showcasing some of the best live bands the international punk scene has to offer, celebrating punk rock, ska, reggae and roots music.

THE PAPER KITES

THE RAINKINGS (THE TRAIN SET + DEJA VEGA)

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £10

Comprising alumni from Inspiral Carpets, The Bodines, Dub Sex and Dumb.

The Lottery Winners are an indie-pop four-piece from an exact point equidistant between the musical meccas of Manchester and Liverpool.

GILAD ATZMON & ALAN BARNES

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £13

Two of Britain’s most celebrated virtuoso reed players team up for an evening of live jazz.

DESTRUCTION (FLOTSAM & JETSAM + ENFORCER + NERVOSA)

THE LOUNGE KITTENS

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £8

MOOSE BLOOD MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £12.50

THE TUBES

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £15

DUA LIPA

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £25

GORILLA, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

BAYONET (CORDELIERS + MOSLEY BAR)

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £6

Sheffield alt-pop outfit serving up classic indie riffs and catchy pop hooks. WHITE DENIM

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £17.50

Genre-spanning Texans, omnivorously squeezing as many diverse influences as possible into every track. CHRISTY MOORE

BRIDGEWATER HALL, FROM 20:00, £32 - £35

Irish folk singer/songwriter, also known for being one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. FIFTH HARMONY

MANCHESTER ARENA, FROM 19:30, £27 - £40

Five-piece pop group on tour in support of their sophomore album, 7/27. FIFTH HARMONY

MANCHESTER ARENA, 19:30–22:30, £27 - £40

Five-piece pop group on tour in support of their sophomore album, 7/27. BUZZCOCKS 40

ALBERT HALL, 20:00–23:00, £25

The original punk rockers take to the road - a little balder but still in possession of all the hits - for their 40th anniversary world tour.

ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 18:30–22:00, £38.50

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £17.50

JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES

The American metal guitarist heads out on tour.

The singer-songwriter (and model, ‘cos they all are these days, right?) tours ahead of her forthcoming debut album, released at the beginning of next year.

SUZANNE VEGA

The much-loved songstress makes her live return, performing new material alongside earlier classics from her impressive back catalogue.

Canterbury-based emo lads out on No Sleep Records.

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £8

Ann Arbor rockers signed to Run For Cover Records come to the UK.

Award-winning folk musician from South Africa, whose debut album Trading Change debuted at number one in his homeland and was named Album of the Year 2014 by iTunes SA.

Thu 13 Oct

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:00–22:30, £10

PITY SEX (EUGENE QUELL)

JEREMY LOOPS

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £11

Rock’n’roll outfit formed by the Gizzi brothers in the mid-80s.

THE LOTTERY WINNERS

London-based trio specialising in lush, ethereal soundscapes.

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £10

70s pop-rock stars.

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £15

An evening celebrating the finest of acoustic blues with two longestablished artists, performing a variety of both traditional and contemporary material.

BEAUTY HEART

ALAN MERRIL AND THE ARROWS

GUN (RITUAL KING)

WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–23:00, £8 - £10

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–22:15, £8

American alt-rock group fronted by Dan Layus.

The long-standing American rockers return to the live circuit to air their new LP, Boxes.

BEX MARSHALL & BLUESMAN MIKE FRANCIS

Fri 07 Oct

AUGUSTANA

GOO GOO DOLLS

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £10

The veteran metallers bringing the noise since 1983.

FREAKWATER

EAGLE INN, 19:30–22:30, £12

ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £27.50

Melbourne natives peddling tender folk-rock.

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 18:30–23:00, £18

Swedish punk and funk-influenced four-piece, who specialise in making a big ol’ racket.

Legendary San Francisco rockers well-known for their 1975 smash White Punks on Dope and their theatrical live performances.

PARQUET COURTS (EAGULLS)

The NYC ensemble return to the Northwest, mixing up punk-rock and indie in their own inimitable way.

THE COMPUTERS (GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY)

NEIGHBOURHOOD FESTIVAL (CIRCA WAVES + TWIN ATLANTIC + RAE MORRIS + LONELY THE BRAVE + KATE NASH + RATIONALE + LITTLE COMETS + GRACE)

A band born in Exeter who knit together garage soul and ‘punk’n’roll’. Inventive.

VARIOUS VENUES, FROM 13:00, £25.50 - £30

THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT

Manchester’s new multi-venue metropolitan festival, featuring over 100 artists across 10 of the city’s best gig spots.

Sun 09 Oct WILD BEASTS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £16

The Kendal quartet take to the road to give their new LP, Present Tense, an airing - oxygenated by clean synths and carried by Chris Talbot’s rich percussion. LOYLE CARNER

GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £12

The MC from South London stops off as part of his autumn tour.

SWANS (ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF)

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £22

NYC-based post-punk lot, built on Michael Gira’s affecting baritone, unprecedented levels of volume and oodles of sheer visceral bloody energy. AKERCOCKE (THE KING IS BLIND + IMPAVIDUS)

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:00–22:30, £12.50

Prog metal group from London.

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £10

LLOYD COLE

Performing a live set of vintage material from 1983 to 1996.

Tue 11 Oct STEVE HOWE

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £20

The legendary guitarist from seminal prog rockers Yes tours the latest volume of his Homebrew album. MAN OF MOON

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

The young Edinburgh-based twopiece embark on a UK tour. DROWNERS (SCARLET RASCAL + CRITICS)

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £8

American alternative rock ensemble formed in NYC in 2011, taking their name from Suede’s debut single. SUMMMER CANNIBALS

GULLIVERS, 19:30–22:30, £9

Portland rock group led by guitarist and vocalist Jessica Boudreaux, out trailing 2016’s album, Full of it, released via indie label Kill Rock Stars. JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW

Unveiling their debut album, Sequins and C-Bombs, with a September tour. ULRIKA SPACEK (KYOTOYA)

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £7

The Berlin-formed experimental rock lot give their debut album, The Album Paranoia, a live airing. HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE

GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £15

NIMMO

London five-piece signed to Columbia Records. Going places basically. BROOKLYN & BEYOND

SOUP KITCHEN, 23:00–04:00, £5

Brooklyn and Beyond return to the Soup Kitchen basement, this time armed with DJ and producer Frits Wentink, Rikki Humphrey and others. CROCODILES

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £8

San Diego garage rock duo made up of Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell. ARAB STRAP

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £20

20 years since forming and 10 since they parted ways, the Scottish cult-pop duo reunite for three birthday shows. SPRING KING (THE MAGIC GANG + GET INUIT)

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £10

Tarek Musa-fronted lo-fi poppunk outfit, riding an increasingly big wave of hype after the release of their debut album, Tell Me if You Like to. JAMIE LAWSON

O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, FROM 19:00, £18

MAD4BRIT

WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–23:00, £10 - £12

Energetic tribute to the Madchester movement of the late 80s and early 90s.

A CAREFULLY PLANNED FESTIVAL #6 (ALLUSONDRUGS + CHAMPIONLOVER + FRUIT BOMB + JOANNA GRUESOME + LAKE KOMO + PSYBLINGS + THE TUTS + MORE)

VARIOUS VENUES, 12:00–04:00, £20

The much-loved DIY music festival returns to multiple venues in Manchester city centre, this year with 163 acts including the likes of Fruit Bomb, Lake Komo, Peaness, Psyblings, Admiral Fellow and much more.

Sun 16 Oct CHARLIE WINSTON

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £10

Cornish-born, Suffolk-bred and London-based folk-pop artist. DEATH GRIPS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–22:30, £14

The Californian heavy-hop trio deliver their usual full-frontal musical assault, touring their album, Bottomless Pit. LEO STANNARD

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £7

Leicester’s young singer-songwriter heads out on a headline tour. GRAND ORGAN GALA

Acoustic singer/songwriter, heading our way a year on from the release of his self-titled fourth album.

BRIDGEWATER HALL, FROM 15:00, £35 - £40

WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–23:00, £18 - £20

Norwegian violin star Henning Kraggerud performs Equinox, as part of the programming for this year’s Manchester Science Festival.

FOCUS

Fronted by founding member Thijs Van Leer, the iconic Dutch music masters best known for hits Hocus Pocus, House of The King and Sylvia are back. ANGEL OLSEN (LITTLE WINGS)

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £12

Always popular in the Northwest, Jagjaguwar’s Angel Olsen returns.

Sat 15 Oct CC SMUGGLERS

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £10

Folk band CC Smugglers are currently writing new music set for release early 2016 and are eager to hit the road with their brand new record.

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

One of the original UK grime dons makes a welcome return to live venues across the country.

Includes work by Medelssohn, Elgar and Handel. EQUINOX

ALBERT HALL, 15:00–17:00, £3 - £35

Mon 17 Oct THE BEARDS

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £15

Fuzzy-faced folk from South Australia, responsible for such beard-loving anthems as If Your Dad Doesn’t Have a Beard, You’ve Got Two Mums... and You Should Consider Having Sex With a Bearded Man, which is nice. RICHMOND FONTAINE

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £17

Portland-based alt-country quartet allegedly named after an altruistic burned-out hippy, heading our way as part of their farewell tour.

SCHERZO FOR PIANO AND STICK

Composer Nikola Kodjabashia performs a 45-minute newlycomposed chamber piece, moving between contemporary classical, world music and jazz.

ALLAH-LAS

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £11

Los Angeles-based rock quartet keeping true to their Californian roots, building their sound on fuzzy harmonies, well-worn Fenders and suntans. WALTER TROUT

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, FROM 19:30, £25

The former lead guitarist with Canned Heat et al returns to the touring circuit. JAKE BUGG

MANCHESTER ARENA, 19:00–22:00, £27.50

LA quartet churning out the tongue-in-cheek glam metal tunes to a happy bunch of dedicated followers.

Wed 19 Oct AQUILO

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £8.50

Electronic duo, dreamily atmospheric and addicted to melancholy. BEACH BABY

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £8

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £18

Toronto punk-rock ensemble with angular tendencies, led by Benjamin Kowalewicz. SOUND OF THE SIRENS

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 18:30–22:15, £10

Folk-rock Devonshire duo, aka Abbe and Hannah. CHAS & DAVE

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £22

Cockney duo formed back in’t 1972, playing what they term ‘rockney’, and we just call plain annoying.

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

THE DUKE SPIRIT (JOE GIDEON) GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £12.50

Punchy London ensemble noted for the authentic twenty-a-day vocals of irrepressible frontwoman Leila Moss, channeling the muscular spirit of classic rock with hella energy. MICHAEL FRANTI

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £22.50

Genre-hopper blending hip hop with funk, reggae, jazz, folk and rock.

The Swedish electronic duo embark on a UK tour. BAD BREEDING

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £6

Stevenage ensemble informed by all shades of deviant rock’n’roll. LOWKEY

GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £15

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £7

DMA’S

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

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING (ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC)

ALBERT HALL, 19:30–23:00, £SOLD OUT

The acclaimed electronic music outfit perform their hit album, The Race For Space, in its entirety for the first time.

Fri 21 Oct

DUB PISTOLS (KIOKO + DJ STEVE THORPE)

Four men from Dorset/Athens, who’ve recently supported Sundara Karma. A twine of post-punk, shoegaze and sunny harmonies – everything the Vaccines should have been but sorta weren’t.

London-based dub ensemble chewing up hip-hop, dub, techno and ska-punk and spitting it out in a renegade futuristic skank.

THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £10

BAND ON THE WALL, 20:00–23:00, £15

DAVID ROVICS (ED COTTAM)

Anarchistic American indie singer-songwriter, whose songs tread none too carefully through the likes of the 2003 Iraq war, globalisation and social justice.

NIGHT & DAY’S LOCAL SHOWCASE (FOXGLOVE + GUL SWING + CARPETS + VULTURE AUTHORITY) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6

Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers.

O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £25

BILLY TALENT

GALANTIS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £16.50

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £10

JAKE BUGG

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–22:00, £22.50

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £16

Charenee Wade pays homage to one of history’s greatest musical icons with her latest material, the first full-length album tribute to Scott-Heron and musical collaborator Brian Jackson by a woman artist.

STEEL PANTHER

Marty Wilde, Eden Kane, Mike Berry and Mark Wynter join forces.

JUDIE TZUKE

CHARENEE WADE & THE GIL SCOTTHERON PROJECT

O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £25

Young Nottingham-born folkmeets-indie singer/songwriter, known to his mammy under the slightly less cool moniker of Jake Edwin Kennedy.

PALACE THEATRE MANCHESTER, 19:30–22:30, £31.65 - £33.65

Touring their brand new studio album, Temple of Artifice.

Thu 20 Oct

Dublin-based quartet formed in a festival tent back in 2010, riding along on muscular new wave guitars, gritty pop melodies and indie-folk arrangements.

THE SOLID GOLD ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SHOW

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £6

ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £20

THE UNDERCOVER HIPPY

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £9

Former drum ‘n’ bass DJ and MC Billy Rowan brings his five-piece, interactive live project to Manchester.

FALLOW CAFE, 19:30–22:30, £6.50

TWISTED ILLUSION (DIE NO MORE + THE WORKING MAN BAND + FAITH IN GLORY)

Wistful Irish singer/songwriter of the folky-pop variety, balanced on just the right amount of nostalgia and sentiment.

The affecting Oslo-born singer heads our way, just a year an a half on from her latest LP, Apocalypse, Girl.

Fuzz pop Irish singer-songwriter, inspired by the ethereal pop sounds of the 1960s.

Fri 14 Oct

UB40’s three founding musicians dig out some classic reggae from their archives.

JENNY HVAL

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £9

MARTHA FFION

HOME, 21:00–21:45, £10 - £12

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £28.50

Instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Tim Garland tours One, what is billed as a ‘defining album of his music’.

Copenhagen-based electronic soul songstress (aka Karen Marie Ørsted), touring in the wake of releasing her latest single, Final Song.

Glaswegian outfit playing the music of US TV series, Nashville.

UB40

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–22:00, £16

MØ

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12

The English singer/songwriter showcases new songs alongside classics spanning a three-decade career.

TIM GARLAND

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £12.50

GLASVILLE

Glasgow September/October 2016

A feast of uplifting classics crowned with a jubilant proms finale, including Rossini, Sousa and Pachelbel.

Tue 18 Oct

Young Nottingham-born folkmeets-indie singer/songwriter, known to his mammy under the slightly less cool moniker of Jake Edwin Kennedy. NICKELBACK

MANCHESTER ARENA, 19:30–22:30, £38.50

Responsible for the most (over) played song of the 00s; now regulars on the meme scene. THE FEELING

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £16.50

Aw, remember those skinny-jeaned lovelies who spent 2006 telling us we fill their little worlds right up (right up)? They’re back with one last tour before taking a break!

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £12

BANCO DE GAIA

Toby Marks comes to BOTW, pedalling his at-the-time groundbreaking world music-infused dance and ambience, in line with peers such as the KLF and The Orb. CRAIG DAVID PRESENTS TS5

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £27.50 - £100

Mr David brings his renowned club/ music night to Manchester. KHRUANGBIN

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:00, £12

Psychedelic Texan trio influenced by 1960s Thai music. MUMS

ISLINGTON MILL, 19:30–23:00, £5

The Widnes noise-rock trio launch their new album. SKINNY LIVING (NUUXS)

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £7

Soulful vox and four part harmonies which defy the coat hanger of any genre in particular. JAMIE MCCOOL

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £10

The Mancunian former Black Lights frontman continues his solo route. POLIÇA

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £15

Super slick electronic pop-meetssoul outfit fronted by icy cool vocalist Channy Leanagh. JAGWAR MA

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £13.50

Often two-piece, occasional three-piece, hailing from Sydney and making alternative indie music that’s thoroughly danceable. ABC

BRIDGEWATER HALL, FROM 19:00, £35 - £65

The 80s English new wave group from Sheffield – now essentially just Martin Fry – takes to the road once more. BAND OF SKULLS

ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £16

London-based alternative garage rock trio who cemented their musical bonds at college.

#RBMAUKTOUR uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

Listings

ANTI NOWHERE LEAGUE

MIDGE URE

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £13.50

THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–23:00, £21

Long-standing punk rockers, on the go since 1980. SOME KIND OF ILLNESS

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £7

Manchester’s alt-indie three-piece throw an album release show.

Sat 22 Oct SUNSET SONS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £14

Aussie shaggy-haired indie outfit based in French surf hotspot, Hossegor. WARD THOMAS

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–22:30, £14

Folk duo made up of twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy, who tour in support of new release, Cartwheels. MICHAEL KIWANUKA

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £15

British soul artist combining soul and roots influences in one deep and husky-voiced whole. MATTHEW HALSALL AND THE GONDWANA ORCHESTRA

ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:00–22:00, £18

Trumpeter, composer and arranger Matthew Halsall continues to work with his latest project, The Gondwana Orchestra.

The former Ultravox bassist and Live Aid man revisits his back catalogue.

JOSIENNE CLARKE & BEN WALKER

EAGLE INN, 19:30–22:30, £10

The BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners for Best Duo in 2015 come to Liverpool.

Tue 25 Oct LYNCHED

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £14

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £10

Multi-platinum Irish act, embarking on their first major headline UK tour. DUNE RATS AND DZ DEATHRAYS

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £8

Two of Australia’s noisiest party bands combine forces for their ‘International Disaster’ tour.

Thu 27 Oct MARTIN TAYLOR

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–22:30, £18.50

Witness five decades of guitar expertise come to life live on stage with the multi award-winning Martin Taylor. SLEAFORD MODS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £15

Punk electronics and spoken word hip-hop fusion from the Nottingham-hailing duo, touring in the wake of last year’s album, Key Markets – released on the Harbinger Sound label. THE MARCUS KING BAND

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £8

The son of bluesman Marvin King peddles his soul-infused psychedelic Southern rock alongside his band. THE NIGHTINGALES (BAND OF HOLY JOY)

SOUP KITCHEN, 20:00–23:00, £10

Post-punk outfit originally formed by former members of The Prefects. THE VRYLL SOCIETY AND HIDDEN CHARMS

GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £8

Co-headline show.

NAO O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

The fledgling London-based singer heads our way. JOHN SMITH

EAGLE INN, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT

Taiwanese experimental duo.

English folk guitarist and singer from Devon, doing his one man with a guitar thing to suitably fine effect.

FALLOW CAFE, 19:30–22:30, £6.50

Wed 26 Oct

East-Kilbride five-piece.

Mon 24 Oct DAUGHTER

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £20

Moody and electronic folk-esque melodies from the London-based trio, formerly just the solo work of Elena Tonra. PALACE WINTER

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £7

Duo comprising Aussie singersongwriter Carl Coleman and Danish producer and producer Caspar Hesselager, who released their debut EP, Medication, earlier this year. BAD COMPANY

MANCHESTER ARENA, 19:00–22:00, £50 - £60

Rock ‘n’ roll supergroup, still going strong after over 40 years, and still featuring the key members originally from Free and Mott the Hoople. WARPAINT

Sat 29 Oct

KYTV FESTIVAL (NED’S ATOMIC DUSTBIN + EMF + DUST JUNKYS + BRIX AND THE EXTRICATED + FEROCIOUS DOG + DJ MILF) MANCHESTER ACADEMY, FROM 17:00, £26

Manchester Academy and Gigantic present KYTV Festival. KOWTOWN

SOUP KITCHEN, 23:00–04:00, £10

The Livity Sound producer is joined by A Made Up Sound and Conor Thomas.

MARTIN HARRIS CENTRE FOR MUSIC AND DRAMA, FROM 18:00, £5.50 - £8.50

BILLIE MARTEN

EAGLE INN, 19:30–22:30, £6

Boy band trio of early 90s fame, back together for a hits tour. Don’t all rush at once.

MANTIS FESTIVAL

Sun 23 Oct

THE LAPELLES

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT

Among the 568 bands who claim to be John Peel’s favourite band, The Undertones have more of a claim than most. Come see them play Teenage Kicks and the like.

Celebrate the good old days with the second annual Ultimate Manchester Renunion all-nighter.

The veteran prog rockers get back on the road some 45 years after they started out.

911

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £20

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 22:00–05:00, £10

WISHBONE ASH

The psych-pop London foursome do their thing.

THE UNDERTONES

ULTIMATE MANCHESTER REUNION

WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–23:00, £20 - £22

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £8

FIELD MUSIC

The Swedish alternative and experimental fusion music group hit town with an impressive bill of support acts.

Songwriter with a unique turn of phrase and melody and razor-sharp alt-pop production.

The soul-pop singer and musician returns with new material.

The Mercury Prize-nominated brothers Brewis tour their new album, Commontime.

ALBERT HALL, 18:00–00:00, £20

NATALIE MCCOOL

TELEGRAM (PHOBOPHOBES)

MANCHESTER ARENA, 19:30–22:30, £50 - £55

JAMIE LIDELL AND THE ROYAL PHAROAHS

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 18:30–22:00, £13.50

GOAT (HOOKWORMS + JANE WEAVER + MUGSTAR + JOSEFIN OHRN + THE LIBERATION + ANDY VOTEL)

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–23:00, £7.50

GORILLA, 18:30–22:00, £15

The ever-talented Matt Berry – yes, the funnyman from The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh etc. – doing a full band set, laden with deep vocals and his usual cheeky charm.

The San Franciscan psych-rock disciples show y’all how it’s done.

Classic Motown hitmakers, times two.

SCATTERED PURGATORY (NECRO DEATHMORT + HOWES + STUPID COSMONAUT)

Soup and Deep Hedonia team up to bring the mercurial Dean Blunt, aka Hyperdub signing Babyfather, to the Soup Kitchen basement.

GORILLA, 19:00–22:00, £16

THE FOUR TOPS & THE TEMPTATIONS

The North Yorkshire-born singer kicks off her UK headline tour in Manchester, supporting the release of new material through Chess Club/RCA Records.

MATT BERRY & THE MAYPOLES MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:00–23:00, £18

WOODEN SHJIPS

MANCHESTER ARENA, 19:30–22:30, £45

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £8.50

BABYFATHER SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:15, £9 - £15

LAURA CANNELL (MARISA ANDERSON + ECKA MORDECAI)

ISLINGTON MILL, 19:30–23:00, £7

Fiddle and recorder player drawing on medieval music for her improvisational compositions, incorporating fragments of 5th14th century music. JESSY LANZA (SCRATCHA DVA)

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £10

Canadian synthpop artist Lanza takes her sophomore album, Oh No, for a spin. HONNE

GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £12

East London duo mixing classic soul with synths. NO SINNER

NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £10

Vancouver-based, bluesy rock foursome led by singer-songwriter Colleen Rennison. HEAVEN 17 AND BRITISH ELECTRIC FOUNDATION

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £29.50 - £99

Performing to mark the 35th Anniversary of Heaven 17’s Penthouse and Pavement. GLASS ANIMALS

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £15

Baroque folk trio with distinct pop(ish) influences, returning with new album, How to be a Human Being.

THE POSIES (THE PRESIDENT LINCOLN) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £17.50

The American alt-rockers kick off their Autumn tour in Manchester. EZRA FURMAN

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £14

American singer/songwriter gaining increasing mileage on national radio. JP COOPER

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £11

The Mancunian singer-songwriter continues his steady ascent.

FORTY SHADES OF GREEN MEETS COUNTRY ROADS (JASON BRACKEN + TRENA MARIE + LYNDON MARK) WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:00–23:00, £14 - £16

Vocalists perform all the great Irish and Country hits. KT TUNSTALL

ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £25

Manchester Theatre in Sound present a mini-festival of new electroacoustic music, with special guest artist, Japan’s Junya Oikawa. TONY JOE WHITE

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £20

Returning to the UK following a 45 year absence, Tony Joe White brings his swamp rock sounds to the stage.

MANTIS FESTIVAL

MARTIN HARRIS CENTRE FOR MUSIC AND DRAMA, FROM 14:00, £5.50 - £8.50

Manchester Theatre in Sound present a mini-festival of new electroacoustic music, with special guest artist, Japan’s Junya Oikawa.

Leeds Clubs Liverpool Clubs

BARS & MELODY (LUKAS RIEGER)

O2 Academy

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 18:30–21:30, £20

PROJEKT, 22:00-04:00, £5

Babyfaced British rapping duo. KAT & ROMAN KOSTRZEWSKI

MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £20 - £40

Polish thrash metal.

Mon 31 Oct AMON AMARTH

MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £22.50

Swedish death metallers of the long-haired and melodic variety.

SATURDAYS

An 2700-capacity indoor festival vibe each week, with Co2 jets, confetti cannons, pyrotechnics and dancers, with residents PBH and Harley Sanders playing deep house, future house and classic club anthems.

Attic

SATURDAYS

PROPAGANDA’S ATTIC, 22:30-04:00, £4-£5

Long-running indie night, serving 28 cities across the UK, Ireland and Australia; expect The Libertines, The Fratellis, Kate Nash and such.

Canal Mills WEDNESDAYS

BONGO’S BINGO, 18:00-23:30, £5

A bingo rave with DJs, dance-offs and, of course, bingo.

The Warehouse FRIDAYS

STICKY FEET, 23:00-02:00, £TBC

Leeds’ biggest weekly bass night, powered through monstrous Funktion One dance stacks.

The White Rabbit SATURDAYS (EVERY FIRST OF THE MONTH)

JUICEBOX, 21:00-02:00, FREE

Indie night spanning alt rock, 60s, Northern Soul, r’n’b and everything in between.

Manchester Clubs

Brooklyn Mixer

Albert Hall

NO-WAVE SOCIAL CLUB, 22:00-03:00, FREE

BONGO’S BINGO, 18:30-23:00, £5

WEDNESDAYS

Join the No-Wave DJs as they play hip hop, r’n’b, funk, soul and indie each week.

Camp and Furnace THURSDAYS

BONGO’S BINGO, 18:00-23:30, £5

A bingo rave with DJs, dance-offs and, of course, bingo.

Level

WEDNESDAYS

LOVE WEDNESDAYS, 22:00-04:00, £TBC

Billing itself as Liverpool’s biggest weekly student event, with three levels of house, r’n’b, hip hop, party anthems and guilty pleasures. FRIDAYS

#HASHTAG, 22:00-04:00, £TBC

Three levels of nostalgic pop, dance anthems, r’n’b and hip hop, topped off with stilt walkers, dancers and trapeze artists. SATURDAYS

LEVEL SATURDAYS, 22:00-04:00, £TBC

Laser shows, trapeze artists, acrobatics, fire eaters and more complement the EDM, dance, progressive house and pop anthem soundtracks from the past and present.

Modo

TUESDAYS

A bingo rave with DJs, dance-offs and, of course, bingo.

Band on the Wall SATURDAYS (EVERY FIRST OF THE MONTH)

MR SCRUFF KEEP IT UNREAL, 22:00-03:00, £12

No less than a DJ mastermind, known for playing marathon sets, mixing a junk-shop bag of sounds and bringing his beats to life with squiggly, scribbled animations.

Black Dog Ballroom NQ FRIDAYS

LOVE FRIDAYS, 22:00-03:00, £2-£3

Hark back to the Soul Train and Studio 54 days with chic disco and grooves. SATURDAYS

SATURDAYS AT BLACK DOG, 22:00-03:00, FREE-£3

Black Dog’s resident DJs spin everything from disco and house to hip hop and chart smashers.

Black Dog Ballroom NWS MONDAYS

MONDAY CLUB, UNTIL 4AM, £TBC

SATURDAYS

STYLE SATURDAYS, UNTIL 04:00, FREE

Two floors, three DJs and a whole lotta, er, style – allegedly.

Party hip hop, grime, r’n’b, dancehall and much more down in Black Dog’s downstairs club, UnderDog. TUESDAYS

INFERNO TUESDAYS, UNTIL 4AM, £TBC

Party vibes aplenty with Co2 cannons, confetti guns and balloons, all soundtracked by r’n’b, bass and house tunes.

LOUIS BARABBAS AND THE BEDLAM SIX

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £10

The prolific Debt Records songwriter and his six-piece deliver their familiarly twisted dirty folk tales of lust and loathing.

FRIDAYS

FIZZ FACE FRIDAY, 17:00-04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM

Black Dog's weekly club night, which sees the end-of week thirst of Manchester's 9-5ers quenched by £12 bottles/£3 glasses of Prosecco.

PSYCHO LIVE! (MANCHESTER CAMERATA)

ALBERT HALL, 17:00 & 21:00, £30-£35

A live-scored screening of the Hitchcockian classic.

Factory 251

LOVERS ROCK MONOLOGUES (JANET KAY + CARROLL THOMPSON + VICTOR ROMERO EVANS)

MONDAYS

QUIDS IN, 23:00-04:00, £1-£2

More singalong pop with substance, via Tunstall’s trademark earthy melodies and folky guitar, mixed to great pop effect with disco stomp and clever keyboards.

Punch Records celebrate Black History Month with three living legends known for transforming the sound of UK reggae.

Cheap as chips Monday student night, where the price of various drinks match the alluring entry fee (which rises to £2 after midnight, btw).

Fri 28 Oct

THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £9

F//CK TH//RSDAY, 22:30-05:00, 99P-£5

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–22:00, £15

JMSN

Manchester-based five-piece serving up discordant post-punk.

R’n’b singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist, aka Christian Berishaj, returns with this year’s new album, It Is.

BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:30, £8

CABBAGE

THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £6

SLOW CLUB

Rather lovely alternative folkiness from Sheffield duo Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor, returning to the touring circuit with their latest album, One Day All of This Won’t Matter Anymore.

THE BLINDERS (THE HOTSPUR PRESS + CAVANA) THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:15, £7

Alt trio hailing originally from Doncaster, now based in sunny ol’ Manchester.

AMBER ARCADES

The musical moniker of Dutch-born Annelotte de Graff, whose previous credits include working as a legal aide on UN war crime tribunals before funding her own album. DXP16: HEELS OF HELL

O2 RITZ MANCHESTER, 20:00–23:00, £40

Holy Trannity present Jinkx Monsoon, Alaska Thunderfvck, Sharon Needles, Katya, Team HT and UK Queens.

The psychedelic LA indie-rockers return to our shores.

Liverpool Listings

Arise, please, for the legendary Mary J. Blige. The R’n’B pop legend visits hits new and old alongside co-headliner Maxwell, who also helped pioneer the neo-soul movement back in the 90s.

Find listings below for weekly and monthly fixtures at clubs across Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. For regularly updated listings including one-off club nights and the best parties from independent promoters, head to theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

Sun 30 Oct

ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £18

MAXWELL & MARY J. BLIGE

Clubs

THURSDAYS

The Attic

Student Thursday-nighter, with resident DJs Steve Davies, Bill Murray's Rock n Soul club and Nicola Bear serving up anything from retro classics to electro mashups across three rooms.

4MATION, 22:00-03:00, FREE

#FRI251, 22:30-05:00, 99P BEFORE MIDNIGHT

FRIDAYS (EVERY LAST OF THE MONTH)

4Mation returns with a free night of underground house and tech house.

FRIDAYS

Student Friday-nighter, with mashups in room one, indie, funk and Motown in room two, and electro house in room three. SATURDAYS

THE BIG WEEKENDER, 23:00-4:00, £2 BEFORE MIDNIGHT

Three rooms of commercial dance, indie and deep house, powered by Funktion One Sound.

#RBMAUKTOUR uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

THE SKINNY

Mint Lounge FRIDAYS

TOP OF THE POPS, 22:30-04:00, £4

Get your weekend off to a great start with this healthy mix of dancefloor fillers and guilty pleasures served up by residents and guest DJs. SATURDAYS

FUNKADEMIA, 22:30-04:00, £5-£6

Mancunian nightclub institution – delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective.

Theatre Leeds Theatre

CarriageWorks Night and Day Cafe Theatre FRIDAYS (EVERY THIRD OF THE MONTH)

ELECTRIC JUG, 23:00-03:00, £3

Serving up the best of the 60s, ranging from psych and rock'n'roll to Britpop and soul.

COMPANY

20 SEP-24 SEP 18, TIMES VARY, £12 - £14

Award-winning musical by Sondheim following the commitmentphobic 35 year old, Robert.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW 31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £19 - £39

The latest incarnation of the much-loved cult rock’n’roll musical.

Live Art Bistro

JUNCTURE: LAURA LAURA DOUBLE PENETRATION

27-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, £0 - £15

Performance by independent conceptual dance outfit immigrants and animals, as part of Juncture Festival.

SATURDAYS (EVERY LAST OF THE MONTH)

Soup Kitchen

One man explores grief and the human experiences that connect us to both each other and the world.

A night of alternative rock'n'roll shenanigans.

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

Always summery vibes from the Swing Ting boys, pushing their street and soundsystem numbers.

29-30 SEP, 7:00PM, £13 - £15

Texture

GROW UP GRANDAD

Hip hop, r’n’b, house and ping pong going strong until 4am.

The Deaf Institute TUESDAYS

GOLD TEETH, 22:00-03:00, £4.50-£5

Legendary weekly mixed-bag night, often invites use of the term 'carnage'. SATURDAYS

GIRLS ON FILM, 22:00-03:00, £3-£6

Pink lady cocktails, disco balls, glitz and glamour – a club night where you're free to let your inner 80s child loose.

The Ruby Lounge

SATURDAYS (EVERY FIRST OF THE MONTH)

REMAKE REMODEL, 23:00-03:30, £4

A night of alternative rock'n'roll shenanigans.

SATURDAYS (EVERY THIRD OF THE MONTH)

HOWLING RHYTHM, 23:00-03:00, £5

The 60s soul and Motown-centric night returns for another outing, serving up even more Northern soul and funk courtesy of the Howling Rhythm residents.

Apocalyptic play following a schoolgirl and a barmaid as they search for their missing friends in a world of mysterious blackouts.

8 OCT, 7:00PM, £12.50

REMAKE REMODEL, 23:00-03:00, £2-£4

SATURDAYS

29 SEP, 7:00PM, £5

FURNACE FESTIVAL: THE ECONOMY OF ECOLOGY

MONDAYS

STYLUS, KLEPTO & GUESTS, UNTIL 04:00, FREE-£3

FURNACE FESTIVAL: A GIRL IN SCHOOL UNIFORM (WALKS INTO A BAR)

Work-in-progress reading of work by Zodwa Nyoni, fusing poetry, beat-boxing, rap and drama.

Funky house, grime, r'n'b, UK garage and more at the veteran club.

Residents Lee Majors and Bad Osiris spin hip hop, r’n’b, disco, garage and house throughout the night.

Informal showcase of raw and untested performance ideas, as part of this year’s Furnace Festival.

6 OCT, 7:00PM, £5

P.A.R.T.Y, 22:00-03:00, £4

FRIDAYS

27 SEP, 7:00PM, £3

FURNACE FESTIVAL: SPEAK UP! LEEDS YOUNG AUTHORS

THURSDAYS

LEE MAJORS AND BAD OSIRIS, UNTIL 04:00, FREE-£3

FURNACE FESTIVAL: SCRATCH 1

Choreographer and theatre-maker Pauline Mayers urges us to pause, breathe and reconsider the stories we tell about our past and the history on which we build our futures.

Sankeys

Twenty Twenty Two

Unique West African transposition of one of the greatest dramas ever written, John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi.

30 SEP-1 OCT, 7:00PM, £12.50

Cult indie, electronica, psychedelia, retro anthems and more from the Antics residents and guest DJs.

Anthemic house music from the Secluded residents, Kirk Paten, Fi La Funk, Lee Freeland, Francois Jean, Jake Angelo and Diana McNally.

IYALODE OF ETI

22-24 SEP, TIMES VARY, £10.50 - £12.50

FURNACE FESTIVAL: WHAT IF I TOLD YOU

ANTIX, 23:00-03:00, £3

SATURDAYS

Contemporary theatre created by a group of older performers.

Three actors weave together three famous tales - all of which also feature the number three.

FRIDAYS/SATURDAYS (EVERY SECOND OF THE MONTH)

SECLUDED, UNTIL 03:00, FREE

THE RIVALS 5-29 OCT, 7:30PM, £9.50 - £28

FURNACE FESTIVAL: THREE

Indie club night featuring tunes from Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Courteeners, David Bowie, The Smiths and much more.

SWING TWING, 23:00-03:30, £5

THE LITTLE MERMAID 29-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, £11 - £13

1 OCT, 11:00AM, £8.50

THIS FEELING, 20:00-03:00, £5

SATURDAYS (EVERY THIRD OF THE MONTH)

ANNIVERSARY 14-17 SEP, TIMES VARY, £10.50 - £12.50

A magical new adaptation of C. S. Lewis’ timeless adventure. Matinee performances also available. 12-22 SEP, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

An inter-generational story dealing with love, loss, hope and sadness, written and directed by award-winning writer Gordon Steel. THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

27 OCT, 7:30PM, £10.50 - £12.50

Inspired by HG Wells’ novel of the same name, The Shape of Things to Come is a poignant look at our history of the future… MUDDY COWS

13 OCT-10 DEC, 7:45PM, £9 - £11

Delving into the world of elite female rugby, in a scrum of personal battles, crashing tackles, rucking mothers and real life hookers. FIRE IN THE SKY: EPIC TALES FROM FINLAND

15 OCT, 8:00PM, £10.50 - £12.50

Tales of the extremes of the Finnish landscape, told through songs, adventure and the stories of Finland’s national epic, Kalevala.

City Varieties Music Hall MUSIC HALL TAVERN

23-28 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, PRICES VARY

Paul Carroll hosts a comedy drag variety show.

Leeds Grand Theatre DER ROSENKAVALIER

24 SEP-17 SEP 17, TIMES VARY, £15 - £55

David McVicar’s sumptuous period staging of Richard Strauss’ comic masterpiece returns with gorgeous music, lavish costumes and romantic intrigue. IL TABARRO & SUOR ANGELICA

14-26 OCT, 7:00PM – 10:00PM, £15 - £55

An evening of vintage Puccini, where a double bill of intense oneact dramas takes audiences from the darkly atmospheric music of Il Taborro to the ethereal beauty of Suor Angelica.

JUNCTURE: MINE 28 OCT, 5:30PM – 6:30PM, £0 - £15

From dance company Fitzgerald & Stapleton, as part of Juncture dance festival.

The Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre PHOENIX @ HOME

28 SEP-10 JAN 19, 7:30PM – 8:30PM, £10 - £15

Phoenix Dance Theatre commemorate their 35th anniversary with the annual home performance featuring a mixed bag of classic and recent works. BALLET BLACK TRIPLE BILL

14-15 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:00PM, £15

Ballet Black collaborates with three bold and inventine choreographers for a triology of narrative and abstract dance. JUNCTURE: ASSEMBLY

29 OCT, 1:00PM – 4:00PM, £0 - £15

London-based choreographer Nicola Conibere presents Assembly, as part of Juncture.

VILLETTE

24 SEP-15 OCT, TIMES VARY, £13.50 - £22

WHEN WE ARE MARRIED

18-22 OCT, TIMES VARY, £13.50 - £30

J B Priestley’s Northern comedy is brought to life by Northern Broadsides. WASTED

20-22 OCT, TIMES VARY, £8

New musical drama telling the remarkable true story of four young people with huge passions and even huger dreams. BLACKTHORN

13-17 SEP, TIMES VARY, £10.50 - £12.50

Debut play from Charley Mills, exploring the tiny changes that pull us from the places and people we love.

Philip Pullman’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s seminal ghost story. 3pm matinee available. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

14 SEP-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

A new production led by an ensemble of players, who’ll hurl Shakespeare’s anarchic comedy straight into the 21st Century. Matinees available.

Liverpool Empire Theatre SISTER ACT

10-15 OCT, 7:30PM, £10 - £39.50

Theatrical re-telling of the hit movie, in full singalong glory with original music by eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken. Matinee performances also available. CHICAGO

12-24 SEP, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Broadway and West End musical set in the 20s, featuring cell blocks, smokin’ guns, pinstripe trousers and and all that jazz, we’re told. BLOOD BROTHERS

19 SEP-1 OCT, 7:30PM, £13 - £39

The favourited musical tale of separated-at-birth twins who grow up on opposite sides of the tracks. Matinees available. THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

17-29 OCT, 8:00PM, PRICES VARY

The latest incarnation of the favourited rock’n’roll musical heads our way. Matinees available.

TWOPENCE TO CROSS THE MERSEY

20 SEP-8 OCT, 8:00PM, £16 - £32

Helen Forrester’s famous tale returns as a straight play, following a successful run as a musical. Matinees also available. FATHER O’FLAHERTY SAVE OUR SOULS

14 OCT-12 NOV, 8:00PM, £16 - £18

Alan Stocks’ comedic show combining rude jokes with singing nuns. Matinees available.

The Atkinson NUNKIE THEATRE: THE TIME MACHINE BY HG WELLS.

17 SEP, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £10 - £12

Bringing the science fiction classic to life in another thrilling one-man show. MURDER MYSTERY: RETURN OF THE RIPPER

23 SEP, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £17.50

Liverpool 1922. A series of grisly murders have taken place. They coincide with the arrival of a stranger. Could it really be the return of Jack The Ripper? Tickets include glass of wine wine and two-course buffet. THE HAUNTING AT GREENACRE COTTAGE

27 OCT, 12:00AM, £8 - £10

Ginificent Productions present a real time production that will chill you to the bone, written and directed by Liam Scott and Clare Keating.

JUNCTURE: WALLFLOWER

Experimental theatre company Quarantine present Wallflower. Scratch night showcasing new work by independent choreographers and small dance companies. THE CARPENTERS STORY 1 SEP-8 OCT, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

A musical dedication to the life and times of The Carpenters. KISS ME KATE

5-7 OCT, 7:30PM, £6 - £36

Cole Porter’s multi awardwinning Broadway classic comes to Liverpool courtesy of the Welsh National Opera. Matinees available.

Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

THE SIMON AND GARFUNKEL STORY

6 SEP-2 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Musical retelling of the songwriting partnership’s stellar career, told using both original photos and film footage.

25-26 OCT, TIMES VARY, £9 - £10

Liverpool Playhouse

THE BALL OF FIRE

4-8 OCT, 7:45PM – 9:45PM, £12 - £16

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

12 OCT, 7:00PM, £15

The Blue Park Theatre Company present a celebration of Alan Ball. SHOWTIME 2016

16 OCT, 7:00PM – 10:00PM, £13

The Carmen Maria Academy enters its 16th year with a one-night-only gala special.

JUST AN ORDINARY LAWYER

A play with songs recalling heroic sporting achievements alongside epoch-defining political events. Matinee and earlier performances also available.

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

HAPPY HOUR 13 OCT, £10-£12, 19.30-22.30

A poignant, fast paced, hilarious comedy exploring our 21st century obsession with happiness and success, combining Tmesis Theatre’ trademark physicality with humour, music and text from longterm collaborator Chris Fittock.

SCRATCH NIGHT

13 SEP, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £0 - £15

An evening featuring excerpts of brand new shows from local and national theatre companies. TICKET TO WRITE

23 SEP, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £10 - £12

Liverpool’s Beatles-themed play festival returns to Unity. THE LIMA SYNDROME

21 SEP, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 - £12

The Lima Syndrome brings together Sergei and June, two people more opposite than each of them could possibly imagine. THE BRINK

20 SEP, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 - £12

The first play from emerging playwright Helen Jeffery, The Brink is a one-woman show depicting one woman’s spital into postnatal illness. HACKSTAGE

16 SEP, 4:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Technologists, technicians and creatives come together to explore how digital technology can open up new forms of interaction in the theatrical/digital space. The event is free but tickets must be booked in advance.

A new play performed by Olivier award-nominee and Unity patron Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE, featuring Nina Simone’s iconic songs and accompanied by a live band.

CALL AND RESPONSE - A REACTION TO NINA

28 SEP, 6:00PM – 7:00PM, FREE

13-17 SEP, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £12 - £13

5-8 OCT, £10-£14

HOT FLUSH!

8 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £11

Share in the friendships, the secrets, the tears, the laughs and ups and downs of four ordinary women - and one man - living extraordinary lives. MUSICALITY 20

6-10 SEP, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £13 - £15

A celebration of the awardwinning and critically-acclaimed CODYS productions, featuring musical numbers from Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and more from a cast of almost 100 and a 20-piece on-stage orchestra.

Pop-up Opera take to Band on the Wall for a ‘daringly unfussy production’ of Rissini’s iconic comic masterpiece.

Unity Theatre

The Brindley Comedy exploring the values of 1950s’ Catholic convent schools and the female adolescent response to those values.

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

29 SEP, 7:30PM, £20

A gory mash-up of all of Shakespeare’s death scenes performed by four clowns from Brightonbased physical comedy company Spymonkey.

Three artists respond to Nina – A Story about me and Nina Simone. The responses are completely autonomous, taking you deeper into the rich tapestry of Nina Simone’s phenomenal musical legacy.

ONCE A CATHOLIC

Band On The Wall

Contact Theatre

15 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £12 - £19

7 OCT, 6:00PM, FREE

Manchester Theatre

Immersion Theatre present R C Sheriff’s multi award-winning First World War masterpiece.

NINA: A STORY ABOUT ME AND NINA SIMONE

BISH BASH BOSH

A musical version of the muchloved children’s book by E. Nesbit.

JOURNEY’S END

18-18 OCT, TIMES VARY, £10 - £12

Three of Britain’s best political stand-up comedians take to the stage at the Unity Theatre during Labour conference. It’ll be like other political events, but substantially funnier and less harrowing. And there’ll be beer.

28-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, £0 - £15

Paul Carroll hosts a comedy drag variety show.

The Capstone

27 SEP, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £5

Yorkshire Dance

23-28 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, PRICES VARY

The usual colour and glamour from the Lady Boys as they return with another sizzling show.

LIVE FROM THE BROADCHURCH

Sell-out Polka Theatre production of the award-winning picture book by Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne.

MUSIC HALL TAVERN

LADY BOYS OF BANGKOK

13 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £22 - £24

Across the UK, the new government scheme for housing has been ripping down terraced houses and turfing out its tenants. In Liverpool, though, they meet their match with Maureen...

GORILLA

Epstein Theatre

Following the lives of four ordinary women, living in four terraced houses in the back streets of Liverpool.

GHOST STREET

27-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, £10

Liverpool Theatre

4-5 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £14 - £16

17 SEP, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 - £12

Liverpool September/October 2016

Royal Court Theatre

SLEUTH

25-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, £13.50 - £30

Susan Hill’s acclaimed ghost story comes to Leeds.

28-29 OCT, 7:45PM, £5

Tony Award-winning thriller by Anthony Shaffer, in which nothing is quite as it seems.

JUNCTURE: SWARM SCULPTURES

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

FRANKENSTEIN

28 SEP-15 OCT, TIMES VARY, £13.50 - £30

28-30 OCT, 1:00PM – 3:00PM, £0 - £15

West Yorkshire Playhouse

Everyman Theatre

An elegant comedy of manners, following the social climbings of one Mrs Malaprop as she endeavours to find her niece, Lydia Languish, a fortuitous match. Matinees available.

Charlotte Brontë’s Villette is re-imagined by a contemporary fellow Yorkshire writer, Linda, Marshall-Griffiths.

The Tetley

Internationally-renowned Yorkshire choreographer Lucy Suggate presents Swarm Sculptures. Part of Juncture dance festival.

Hans Christian Anderson’s beautiful tale is woven into a garish panto. Tis the season, after all.

DESPERATE SCOUSEWIVES BY LYNNE FITZGERALD

HAPPY HOUR

THE COMPLETE DEATHS

4-5 OCT, 7:30PM, £10 - £15

BURNING DOORS

10-12 OCT, 8:00PM, £10 - £15

Belarus Free Theatre team up with Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina to share stories of persecuted artists who will not be silenced. RETURN TO GREY GARDENS

14-15 OCT, 8:00PM, £15 - £25

Peaches Christ and Jinkx Monsoon star in this theatrical comedy spoof paying homage to the acclaimed documentary film, Grey Gardens. STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

22 OCT, 7:30PM, £6 - £11

Young Idendity poets collaborate with Speakeasy and Inna Voice to present a poetical production of epic proportions.

Gullivers

MIND’S A LABYRINTH

20-27 SEP, TIMES VARY, £6 - £10

Stevie Helps’ hard-hitting exploration into the mind of a borderline personality sufferer and her traumatic family, featuring live music by singer-songwriter Lizzie Tupman.

HOME INSTITUTE

19-22 OCT, 7:30PM, £10 - £23

A funny and moving show in which four male performers portray four very familiar humans, each driven by a desire to care and be cared for. Matinees available. WOMEN’S HOUR

29-30 SEP, TIMES VARY, £10 - £12

A show from Sh!t Theatre that’s part comedy, party theatre, part cabaret and part performance art, exploring what happens when women are given time to think about what it is to be a woman. DOMESTICA

14-15 OCT, 7:45PM, £10 - £12

The final part of Lose in the Funhouse, a loosely-connected trilogy about pleasure and boredom in the 21st Century. A PACIFIST’S GUIDE TO THE WAR ON CANCER

20-24 SEP, 7:30PM, £10 - £20

Bryony Kimmings' all-singing, alldancing examination of life with a cancer diagnosis, confronting the highs and lows of the scariest word in our lingo. Matinees available. THE EMPEROR

28-30 SEP, 7:30PM, £10 - £26.50

A world premiere from Kathrun Hunter, based on the astonishing book about Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie by the legendary journalist, Ryszard Kapu?ci?ski. Matinees available. THE PRIVILEGED

30 SEP, 7:00PM, £10 - £12

Live artist Jamal Harewood presents a series of playful performances exploring ideas of identity and race within the community, aiming to abolish the performer/audience hierarchy of traditional theatre. TWO MAN SHOW

13 OCT-10 DEC, TIMES VARY, £10 - £12

Abbi and Helen present a playful new show about man and men, addressing masculinity and patriarchy through words, music and dance.

#RBMAUKTOUR uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

Listings

946: THE AMAZING STORY OF ADOLPHUS TIPS 25-29 OCT, 7:30PM, £10 - £23

Co-adapted by the brilliant Michael Morpurgo, 946 explodes everything we thought we knew about the D-Day landings. Matinee performances also available.

Hope Mill Theatre SANS MERCI

7-24 SEP, TIMES VARY, £12 - £14

Play With Fire Productions presents this raw, powerful play telling the story of Kelly, a survivor of rape and attempted murder, which sees input from community partners including Rape Crisis and The Factory Youth Zone. BETTE MIDLER AND ME

25 SEP, 8:00PM, £14 - £16

A show celebrating the life and songs of the Divine Miss M. YOU FORGOT THE MINCE

27 OCT, 7:30PM, £10 - £12

A new play by Francesca Joy, directed by Stephen Whitson.

Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama GYPSY QUEEN

23 SEP, 7:00PM – 8:30PM, £3 - £5.50

The story of two men who find themselves, and each other, in the most unlikely of worlds, questioning the influence of our roots, the satisfaction of our desires and the formation of our identity.

Royal Exchange Theatre A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

8 SEP-15 OCT, TIMES VARY, £5 - £16.50

Maxine Peake stars in this production of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, following one heated summer for Stella, her fragile sister Blanche and, of course, the bullish Stanley. BREAKING THE CODE

8 SEP-5 NOV, TIMES VARY, £5 - £16.50

Intertwining the account of Alan Turing’s most heroic hour with the story of his betrayal and neglect by the nation he helped in its darkest hour. BIRTH

19 OCT, 11:00AM – 7:30PM, £5 - £25

A global festival of theatre and debate, aiming to provoke debate about the vast inequality in healthcare across the world through seven specially-commissioned plays and debates with experts.

The King’s Arms HOUSE ON HALLOWED GROUND

21 OCT-16 OCT 20, 7:30PM – 9:00PM, £TBC

Spooky comedy horror show by Nathan Smith featuring original songs and puppetry – and arriving in Salford just in time for Halloween.

DARE DEVIL RIDES TO JARAMA

ALL GENIUS ALL IDIOT

6-7 OCT, 8:00PM, £10 - £12

20-21 SEP, 8:00PM, £13 - £15

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War and the creation of the International Brigades, through powerful storytelling, stirring songs, poetry, dance and movement. A BENCH ON THE ROAD

THE HEAD WRAP DIARIES

25 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:00PM, £18 - £20

18 OCT, 8:00PM, £10 - £12

Dance theatre production using comedy to explore women, beauty, hair and culture.

The Lowry: Lyric Theatre BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S SHAKESPEARE DREAM BILL

15-17 SEP, 7:30PM, £9 - £39

A celebration of Shakespeare told through dance, with a witty distillation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, José Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane and Jessica Lang’s Wink. MANDELA TRILOGY

23-24 SEP, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £18 - £29

A musical tribute to the life of Nelson Mandela. Matinee performances also available.

Opera House THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

31 OCT-5 NOV, 7:30PM, £17.90 - £42.90

Cult comedy rock musical written by Alan Menkin and Howard Ashman, telling the tale of a hapless florist as he raises a plant that feeds on human flesh. Matinee performances also available. KEEP DANCING

4-8 OCT, 7:30PM, £23.40 - £50.40

Strictly vibes live on stage. So. Much. Spangle. AKRAM KHAN’S GISELLE

27 SEP-1 OCT, 19:30, £12 - £54.25

Classical ballet about love and betrayal, with composer Vincenzo Lamagna creating an adaptation of the original score, performed live by English National Ballet Philharmonic. Matinees also available.

The Lowry Studio POLARIS

31 OCT, 8:00PM – 9:15PM, £10 - £12

Set in 1920s Louisiana as a man begins to relive a nightmare against the backdrop of a strange, chilling aurora of light. THE TIME MACHINE

23-24 SEP, 8:00PM, £10 - £12

Nunkie bring H G Wells’ iconic sci fi novel to life, adapted and performed by Robert Lloyd Parry. AM I DEAD YET?

22 OCT, 8:00PM, £10 - £12

Unlimited founding members Jon Spooner and Chris Thorpe star as two friends talking and singing their way through the important milestone that no one talks about: what happens when we die. THE FUTURE

1 OCT, 8:00PM, £10 - £12

Bringing together dancers from Rambert with rising talent from the North of England, delving into everything from star constellations to male bonding. SOPHIA’S ASHES + THE PORTER

14 SEP, 8:00PM, £10 - £12

A double bill from 30Theatre, where audiences get to help shape the journey of the theatre pieces in an informal setting. TANJA

16-17 SEP, 8:00PM, £10 - £12

Royal Exchange Studio

A story of one woman’s bravery in the midst of prejudice and abuse, particularly poignant as immigration issues reach fever pitch.

24 SEP-15 OCT, TIMES VARY, £5 - £16.50

29 SEP, 8:00PM, £10 - £12

WISH LIST

Debut play from Katherine Soper, the winner of the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, exploring what our labour is worth and how life can be lived when the system is stacked against you.

CAKE

1-1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £6.50 - £8.50

Listings

The Jacaranda

Attic

Hot Water Comedy Club take to The Jac with new material from pro comedians from across the UK.

FRIDAYS

The Magnet

SATURDAYS

LIVERPOOL COMEDY CELLAR, 20:30-23:30, £13.50

Four top comedians come together for one night of solid laughs.

12 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £10 - £12

Four top comedians come together for one night of solid laughs.

THE TEMPEST

Brave the elements and witness a company of four actors romping through this magical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, which stays entirely faithful to the original text, whilst offering a riotous departure from the norm.

WEDNESDAYS

NEW MATERIAL, 7PM, FREE

JONGLEURS, 20:00-22:00, £15.50-£16.50

A story of valour and bravery as fresh as lemon-scented washingup liquid from Whalley Range All Stars.

JONGLEURS, 20:00-22:00, £16.50-£17.50

The HiFi Club SATURDAYS

COMEDY SESSIONS, 20:00-23:00, £10-£12

The HiFi’s weekly evening of funny stuff.

Verve TUESDAYS

FREE COMEDY TUESDAYS, 20:00-23:00, FREE

Serving well at doing exactly what it says on the tin, with weekly free comedy to ease you into the week.

SATURDAYS

The Liverpool Comedy Cellar features the cream of the international comedy circuit “up close and personal” every Saturday.

The Slaughterhouse WEDNESDAYS (MONTHLY)

THE LAUGHTER FACTOR, 20:00-23:00, £3-£5

A monthly event giving comics the chance to try out new material before the weekend shows – it helps if you think of yourself as a comedic guinea pig.

I, MYSELF AND ME

A solo show about what it means to be a single woman in her 30s, and how we can challenge the social conditions holding us back.

RAMBERT: A LINHA CURVA PLUS OTHER WORKS 28-30 SEP, 7:30PM, £10.50 - £21

Rambert brings Itzik Galili’s colourful A Linha Curva to the stage, filled with percussion and samba. Matinees available. ALVIN AILEY: AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

7-8 OCT, 7:30PM, £11 - £19

The dancers of Ailey return to the UK after a five-year absence. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

11-15 OCT, 7:30PM, £18 - £23

That ol’ Austen classic - this time with added Matthew Kelly as Mr Bennet. Matinee performances available.

Manchester Comedy Frog and Bucket Comedy Club MONDAYS

BEAT THE FROG, 19:00-23:00, FREE-£3

A ten-act long heckle-fest inviting a handful of amateurs to take to the stage and try to Beat the Frog, and the audience decides who stays – brutal! TUESDAYS (EVERY LAST OF THE MONTH)

LIP SYNCIN’ BATTLE, 20:30-23:00, £3-£6

Comics, guest celebrities and the general public all battle to become the best Lip Sync in the city. WEDNESDAYS (EVERY SECOND OF THE MONTH)

WORK IN PROGRESS, 20:30-23:00, £3-£5

Headline comedians treat us to brand spanking new material. Not for the cupboard-lover comedy fan, this night showcases material which is most definitely a work in progress.

Regular night of standup with a line-up of five top circuit comedians. SATURDAYS

THE BEST IN STAND UP, 19:00-21:30, £16-£22

Regular night of standup with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.

SUNDAYS (EVERY FIRST OF THE MONTH)

KING GONG, 19:30-22:30, £4-£6

A night of standup from some fresh-faced comics trying to break on to the circuit – be nice.

SUNDAYS (EVERY SECOND AND LAST OF THE MONTH)

NEW STUFF, 19:30-22:30, £2-£4

MC Toby Hadoke presents a showcase of new, never seen before material from established acts of the circuit. SUNDAYS (EVERY THIRD OF THE MONTH)

NEW COMEDIANS, 19:30-22:30, £2-£4

Alex Boardman's New Comedians series continues.

The Dancehouse FRIDAYS (EVERY FIRST OF THE MONTH)

D.A.F.T, 20:00-23:00, £8

Comedy's strangest and strongest acts come together for an evening of silliness hosted by Randolph Tempest (Phoenix Nights, Ideal, The Detectorists).

The King’s Arms TUESDAYS (EVERY SECOND AND LAST OF THE MONTH)

THE WORST COMEDY CLUB IN SALFORD, 20:00-23:00, FREE

Keeping expectations low with this night of open mic standup, opening up the stage to anyone willing to give it go.

Part riotous gig, part tender storytelling, Ross Millard (The Futureheads), Maria Crocker (The Letter Room) and Alex Elliott (Northern Stage) reveal the epic emotions within people’s relationships with music.

THURSDAYS

The Pub/Zoo

THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE, 19:00-23:00, £7-£13

XS MALARKEY, 19:00-22:00, £3-£5

12-22 SEP, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Pepper your weekend with laughs from four top class comics, sat comfortably at a table while enjoying your comedy with food and drinks, followed by Frog and Bucket's classic cheesy disco until late.

Watch four top class comics, sat comfortably at a table while enjoying your comedy with food and drinks. FRIDAYS

BARREL OF LAUGHS, 19:00-23:00, £13-£19

An inter-generational story dealing with love, loss, hope and sadness, written and directed by award-winning writer Gordon Steel.

Palace Theatre Manchester

SATURDAYS

MICHAEL CLARK COMPANY: NEW WORK 2016

19 OCT, 8:00PM, £15 - £19

Returning to The Lowry for the first time since 2013.

The Lowry: Quays Theatre BURLESQUE AT THE LOWRY

10 SEP, 8:00PM, £14

A healthy dose of burlesque in the form of singers, dancers, magicians and acrobats, starring Cece Sinclair, Coco Malone, Whisky Falls, Millie Dollar, The Saucy Pear and award-winning host Des O’Connor. MY BIG FAT JOBSEEKERS WEDDING

5-6 SEP, 8:00PM, £20.50 - £22.50

Following the ups and downs of a family living on a council estate, where organising a family wedding can prove quite difficult. ADLER AND GIBB

13-17 SEP, 8:00PM, £15 - £17

The story of a raid - on a house, a life, a reality and a legacy - told through theatre and film.

The rather ace comedy night continues with its usual Tuesday night shenanigans.

Waterside Arts Centre

SATURDAYS (EVERY THIRD OF THE MONTH)

BEST OF BUZZ COMEDY, 20:00-00:00, £10-£12

The Waterside's regular comedy night, featuring one of the UK comedy circuit's up and coming stars.

BARREL OF LAUGHS, 19:00-23:00, £15-£22

AKRAM KHAN’S GISELLE

Classical ballet about love and betrayal, with composer Vincenzo Lamagna creating an adaptation of the original score, performed live by English National Ballet Philharmonic. Matinees also available.

TUESDAYS

Pepper your weekend with laughs from four top class comics, sat comfortably at a table while enjoying your comedy with food and drinks, followed by Frog and Bucket's classic cheesy disco until late.

27 SEP-1 OCT, 19:30, £12 - £54.25

London 76

Leeds Comedy

GROW UP GRANDAD

17-29 OCT, 8:00PM, PRICES VARY

The cult 80s film revamped for the stage – cue Baby and Johnny, sexy dancing and a good dose of hungry eyes. Matinee performances also available.

Waterside Arts Centre

Find listings below for weekly and monthly fixtures at comedy clubs across Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. For regularly updated listings including one-off shows and the best nights from independent promoters, head to theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

PUTTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

The heat and intensity of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is brought to life in the Octagon’s main auditorium.

DIRTY DANCING

Greece’s Novi_Sad present a double bill of multi-sensory AV performance.

Comedy

28 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:30PM, £12 - £14

8 SEP-15 OCT, TIMES VARY, £11 - £27.50

10-15 OCT, 7:30PM, £15.40 - £64.90

31 OCT, 8:00PM, £11 - £13

A fast-paced crash course in everything you wanted to know about bad language that school couldn’t teach you with Manc punk poet Thick Richard (aka Matthew Duffy).

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Palace Theatre Manchester

SIRENS & INTERNATIONAL INTERNAL CATASTROPHES

20 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £6.50 - £8.50

With song, dance, laughter and one of the most extraordinary climaxes in any of Shakespeare’s plays, this deeply moving story is brought to life in Bolton on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

New stage adaptation of the BAFTA award-winning film about six steelworkers with nothing to lose, well, except their clothes.

INTER_UPTED

A high octane yet intricately crafted dance piece from Indian choreographer Aditi Mangaldas.

SWEAR SCHOOL

21 OCT-5 NOV, TIMES VARY, £11 - £27.50

THE FULL MONTY

23-24 SEP, 8:00PM, £18 - £20

Spontaneous musical comedy. Matinee performances also available.

The female experience of migration examined through musical and visual storytelling.

THE WINTER’S TALE

24 OCT-5 NOV, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

SHOWSTOPPER: THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL

29 SEP-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Octagon Theatre

The latest incarnation of the favourited rock’n’roll musical heads our way. Matinees available.

Stockholm-based Svalbard Company present their first full-length indoor piece under the name All Genius All Idiot.

FRIDAYS THE BEST IN STAND UP, 20:00-23:00, £12-£18

Liverpool Comedy Baby Blue

THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS

LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL, 18:0022:00, £15

Regular triple headline show, with three comics lined up to tickle your funny bone.

The Holiday Inn, Lime St FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS

HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB: BOILING POINT, 20:00-23:00, £10-£15

New and established comics take to the stage, for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way. SUNDAYS

HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB: TESTING THE WATER, 20:00-23:00, £1.50-£3

Showcase night for up-andcomers and undiscovered stars, offering a great value night out if you don't mind being a comedy guinea pig.

FRIDAYS LAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00-23:00, £10-£15

Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk. SATURDAYS

LAUGHTERHOUSE, 20:00-23:00, £17.50

Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.

SUNDAYS (EVERY FIRST OF THE MONTH)

LAFF TIL YA FART, 20:00-23:00, £7

Trevor Lynch presents the latest in a series of comedy nights, aptly titled Laff 'til Ya Fart. SUNDAYS (EVERY LAST OF THE MONTH)

LAUGHING COWS, £7

All-female line-up of comics from the Laughing Cow bunch; a group that has helped the likes of Sarah Milllican and Jo Brand launch their careers.

Gorilla

SATURDAYS (EVERY FIRST OF THE MONTH)

GROUP THERAPY COMEDY CLUB, 19:0022:00, £10-£12

Manchester’s much-loved monthly comedy club, known for bringing in the big guns of the national and international circuit.

The Comedy Store THURSDAYS

STAND UP THURSDAY, 20:00-23:00, £8-£12

Regular night of standup with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.

#RBMAUKTOUR uktour.redbullmusicacademy.com

THE SKINNY

Art

Leeds College of Art: Blenheim Walk Gallery

Leeds Art

1 SEP-13 OCT, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Abbey House Museum DECADES OF YOUTH

1 SEP-1 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, £3.40 - £4.20

Revealing stories from members of the local community about being young from the 40s right up until the 00s, told through objects, photo and film. CRIME & PUNISHMENT

1 SEP-31 DEC, TIMES VARY, £3.40 - £4.20

Exploring the dramatic changes in crime and punishment over time, this exhibition features displays on Victorian street crime, deadly poisons that could be bought over the counter and gruesome man traps.

Gallery at Munro House DENCH DOES DALLAS

12 SEP-22 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition depicting the work of award-winning photojournalist Peter Dench, who, in the summer of 2015, photographed the iconic city of Dallas, Texas, capturing the colour and characters he met along the way for a saturated slap about the senses. ESSENCE OF GENDER

1-9 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcasing a group of artists each using a different and unique approach to representing gender in art, featuring works by Bobbie Rae aka Cubs, Romily Alice, Megan Helyer and Michael Pittman.

Globe Road Car Park RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY PRESENTS AN EYE ON GRIME

27 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, FREE

A private view of new exhibition, An Eye on Grime, exploring the documentation of the scene.

LIFE MODELS AT LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART

Leeds College of Art celebrates its rich history of life drawing with a display of select life drawings of Anne Baxter, one of the College’s most distinctive life models, among many others.

Leeds College of Art: Vernon Street Gallery

PATRICK HUGHES: FORWARD TO BACKWARDS

1-9 SEP, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Featuring the work of Londonbased surrealist artist Patrick Hughes, who taught at Leeds College of Art in the 1960s. His pieces will also be accompanied by a catalogue essay by Murray McDonald. 2001

22 SEP-21 OCT, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Exploring the acclaimed practices of nine alumni artists, curators and lecturers who studied Leeds College of Art’s Foundation Diploma in Art and Design in 2001, with moving image art, video art and much more.

Leeds Industrial Museum WOMEN, WORK AND WAR

1 SEP-24 SEP 17, TIMES VARY, £3 - £3.80

Honouring the vital role women played in the First World War, through stories of women working in the city’s munitions manufacturing - which began in Armley and expanded to the Barnbow site in East Leeds.

Left Bank LEEDS ZINE FAIR

10 SEP, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

The zine fair returns with a huge celebration of zine culture, self-publishing, radical politics and DIY spirit, with over 50 stalls, workshops, a Zine in a Day printed there and then from the pages visitors hand in, along with street food and a bar.

Holy Trinity Church

WARRIOR TREASURES 1 SEP-2 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Saxon gold from the Staffordshire hoard, featuring a decorated gold pommel cap, a gold and garnet button from a scabbard and other such vintage greatness.

Temple Newsam VISIONING THE LANDSCAPE

1 SEP-30 OCT, 10:30AM – 5:00PM, £5

Temple Newsam joins nationwide celebrations of the 300th anniversary of Sir Lancelot Capability Brown, by exploring its own landscape through time.

The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery

FUAM GRADUATE ART PRIZE SHOW

1 SEP-1 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery hosts the work of this year’s four finalists in the Friends of University Art and Music (FUAM) Graduate Art Prize, featuring pieces by Zoe James, Francesca Ivaldi, Emii Alrai and India Pearce. GYÖRGY GORDON: JOURNEY OF A WAILING HEART

19 OCT-25 FEB 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

60 years since the violence of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, this exhibition celebrates the life and work of Hungarian-born painter György Gordon, who settled in Wakefield after escaping as a refugee from the violence in Hungary.

The Tetley POLYCULTURE

1 SEP-9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

London-based sculptor Jonathan Trayte presents his first solo show in a public gallery in the UK, featuring a variety of recent works exploring our complex relationship with food - from the production industry and global supply chains to its emotional and social role. LOVERS & ROMANCES

1 SEP-9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A collection of paintings by Cypriot artist Stass Paraskos, painted in the revolutionary era of flower power and free lurve - and the subject of an obscenity trial in 1966.

Yorkshire

9-18 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Artists Edward Bruce and Ian Mason agitate and disrupt English country life.

Gostins Building NOT DARK YET...

UNTIL-15 OCT, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

New exhibition of paintings by artist Paul Mellor, exploring the idea of the painting medium in a digital age through influences including Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky.

Huyton Central Library CRAFTED

2-24 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Biennial show presenting work by makers in contemporary craft, design, sculpture and fine art, shown for the first time simultaneously across two Knowsley galleries. 16TH KNOWSLEY OPEN ART EXHIBITION

10 OCT-7 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Celebrating local talent by people who live, work, volunteer or study in Knowsley, who’ll be showcasing their 2D artwork at Huyton Gallery, with the Young Artists Open (for those ages 17 and under) also part of the overall exhibition.

International Slavery Museum BROKEN LIVES

UNTIL 11 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Photographs depicting the slavery that continues to exist in modern day India. AFRO SUPA HERO

UNTIL 11 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A celebration of the importance of role models and icons in combating discrimination, shown through London-born Jon Daniel’s personal collection of pop cultural heroes and heroines of the African diaspora, in the form of comics, games and action figures. Project exploring the struggle of Merseyside’s black community to reach racial equality and social justice, taking you from post-war Britain through to the 1980s to tell the tales by voices were heard and those that were not.

An art exhibition focusing on religion, workship and Holy Trinity Church’s near-300-year history, featuring works by Alisa Read, Lois Bentley, Maureen Rich, Juliette Gregg, Terry Lister, Carol Sorhaindo and Daniel Barker-Bey.

Kirkby Gallery

Leeds City Museum

DRAWN FROM LIFE: PEOPLE ON PAPER

UNTIL 22 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS

An exhibition that brings together some of the finest life drawings in the Arts Council Collection, with work on display from Moore, Hepworth, Lowry and Hockney.

1 SEP-8 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Preservative Party (Leeds City Museum’s group of young curators) pays tribute to those involved in WWI with a unique exhibition exploring how those from the region were affected, showcasing the impact on local civilians, soldiers, nurses and industrial workers.

Part of Leeds City Museum’s First World War commemorations, featuring two strands: a year-anda-half-long community project by a group of women from different faiths and stories and material curated by the Leeds Quakers and the Bradford Peace Museum.

SHOW SATURDAY

UNTIL 31 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

WORKSHIP & HERITAGE

1 SEP-4 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Arena Studios and Gallery

CONTINUING THE JOURNEY

8 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

COURAGE, CONSCIENCE & CREATIVITY

Liverpool Art

Lady Lever Art Gallery PICASSO LINOCUTS

UNTIL 8 JAN 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Lotherton Hall OUR COUSIN FLORENCE

1 SEP-31 DEC, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, £4.40 - £5.50

Before Florence Nightingale became The Lady with the Lamp, she was part of a large, fashionable Victorian family. Find out more about her early life with her beloved cousin, Marianne Nicholson, and their time spent at Lotherton Hall.

Royal Armouries Museum BLOSSOMS AND BLADES: INSPIRED BY JAPANESE ARMOUR

1 SEP-30 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of textile work created by TAG (Textile Art Group), based on the Royal Armouries’ collection of Samurai armour.

Sculpture Park NOT VITAL

1 SEP-2 JAN 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The first major exhibition in the UK from internationally renowned Swiss sculptor Not Vital, echoing Vital’s nomadic and diverse practice through paintings, works on paper, indoor pieces and outdoor sculptures. NIGHT IN THE MUSEUM: RYAN GANDER CURATES THE ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION

1 SEP-16 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Leading British artist Ryan Gander curates this major new touring exhibition, serving up a unique view of the Arts Council Collection in its 70th anniversary year.

17 large linocut prints by Pablo Picasso, being displayed for the first time outside of the British Museum to showcase the progressive process that Picasso explored in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Merseyside Maritime Museum

LUSITANIA: LIFE, LOSS, LEGACY

UNTIL 31 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Marking the centenary of the sinking of the Lusitania, telling the story of the ship while also considering the role of Liverpool’s liners in WWI.

TITANIC AND LIVERPOOL: THE UNTOLD STORY

TRACEY EMIN AND WILLIAM BLAKE IN FOCUS

UNTIL31 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

16 SEP-3 SEP 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Exploring Liverpool’s central role in the Titanic story, where real life stories of those who sailed on the ship are told through film footage, images, costumes and interactive elements. IN SAFE HANDS: LIVERPOOL PILOTS

UNTIL JUNE 2017, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Exploring the development of the Liverpool Pilotage Service, from the explosion of growth in the 18th and 19th Centuries, decline in the mid to late 20th Century, through to the thriving port of the 21st Century.

Museum of Liverpool

GROWING UP IN THE CITY

1-25 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Photographs of Liverpool childhood over time. REEL STORIES

UNTIL JAN 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

YVES KLEIN

UNTIL 5 MAR 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8 - £10

As the UK’s most-filmed city outside of London, this exhibition shines the light on Liverpool’s cinematic history through around 40 original film posters from the 1950s and beyond.

The UK’s first museum solo exhibition in over 20 years of Yves Klein, one of the post-war era’s most influential figures who was known for an artistic breadth that embraced painting, sculpture, performance, theatre, music, film and architecture.

TBC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The Atkinson

1916 EASTER RISING: THE LIVERPOOL CONNECTION

Community display spanning photography, medals and other archive material marking the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, exploring the roles that Liverpudlian men and women played in this pivotal moment in history. FIRST WORLD WAR: CHARITY AND LIVERPOOL’S HOME FRONT

TBC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Exploring the work of some of the charity organisations that formed during World War 1, giving muchneeded assistance to returning soliders and their families, as well as looking at how these charities function today.

Open Eye Gallery

JERWOOD/PHOTOWORKS AWARDS

28 OCT-18 DEC, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

Group exhibition of new photography enabled by the first national Jerwood/Photoworks Awards, with work by Matthew Finn, Joanna Piotrowska and Tereza Zelenkova.

VICTORIAN DREAMERS

UNTIL 13 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Drawn from The Atkinson’s own collection of Victorian art, this exhibition looks at the themes of travel, storytelling, the antique past and nature.

PANTHEON: ROMAN ART TREASURES FROM THE INCE BLUNDELL COLLECTION

UNTIL 30 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Highlights from a collection of Roman portraits, classical subjects and funerary sculptures that local landowner Henry Blundell of Ince Blundell Hall amassed in the late 18th Century. TINTED STEAM & LIQUID LIGHT: WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS FROM TURNER TO SARGENT

UNTIL 6 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Outstanding examples of watercolour art from the permanent collections of The Atkinson and The Williamson, Birkenhead, illustrate the medium’s delicate fluidity and versatility.

Sudley House

The Bluecoat

UNTIL 31 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

UNTIL 16 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

PUTTING ON THE GLITZ

Dazzling 1930s evening gowns take centre stage in this exhibition, revealing how the glitz and glamour of Hollywood was reflected in the fashions of the period.

Tate Liverpool ELLA KRUGLYANSKAYA

UNTIL 18 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Showcase collection of paintings from the Latvia-born, NYC-based artist, depicting women in unresolved, sometimes combative situations – marking her first solo exhibition in Europe. FRANCIS BACON: INVISIBLE ROOMS

UNTIL 18 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £9 - £12

The largest exhibition ever staged in the North of England of the work of Francis Bacon, presenting around 30 paintings from across his career alongside a group of rarely seen drawings and documents. MARIA LASSNIG

UNTIL 18 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £13.20

The first UK retrospective of one of the 20th Century’s most original painters, whose work - in the early days influenced by art informel, tachisme and surrealism - is celebrated for its boldly expressive, brightly coloured nature, while addressing the fragility of the body, the ageing process and the passing of time. This exhibition features 40 largescale paintings that showcase her long-standing exploration of the body and self-representation.

London September/October 2016

Tate Liverpool directs its focus to the work of Tracey Emin and William Blake to reveal surprising links between the two famed artists, including a shared concern with spirituality, birth and death. Welcoming for the first time in the North of England – Emin’s My Bed (1998), the unflinching self-portrait told through stained sheets and detritus that was to become the controversial and iconic artwork she’s most known for. My Bed, along with drawings by Emin from the Tate collection, will be presented alongside pieces by visionary British poet and artist William Blake, including The Blasphemer (c.1800) and The Crucifixion: Behold Thy Mother (c.1805).

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BLOOMBERG NEW CONTEMPORARIES

Championing final year students, graduates and artists ony year out of study, the Bloomberg New Contemporary exhibition is a regular in the Biennial calendar and a constant champion of burgeoning artistic talent worldwide. DENNIS MCNULTY: HOMO GESTALT

UNTIL 16 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A series of new commissions by Irish artist Dennis McNulty, including a data driven installation in Bluecoat’s Vide, a digital app and an off-site performance work set around 1970s’ office building New Hall Place in Liverpool’s commercial district. Part of the programming for 2016’s Liverpool Biennial. ADHAM FARAMAWY

UNTIL 22 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of work by Dubai born, London based artist of Egyptian origin, Adham Faramawy, whose practice spans moving image, sculptural installation and print to examine how identity is constructed in the twenty-first century. KEITH PIPER: UNEARTHING THE BANKER’S BONES

UNTIL 15 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

New solo show from renowned British artist Keith Piper, addressing contemporary anxieties about race and class through the perspective of a fictional future, featuring the premiere of a threechannel video installation from which the show takes its title.

The Royal Standard

GETTIN’ THE HEART READY

Manchester Art

2-11 SEP, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Retrospective showcase celebrating 10 years of The Royal Standard, featuring work by 23 artists including the likes of Jo Addison, Dave Sherry and Liliane Lijn, each of whom have helped it grow into the cultural giant that it is today. Here’s to another decade of artistic brilliance!

Citywide

LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL

UNTIL 6 OCT, TIMES AND PRICES VARY

Split into six ‘episodes’ exploring links to Ancient Greece, China and beyond, Liverpool Biennial 2016 will involve 42 artists from 15 participating countries, and a theme of ‘Time Travel’. Head to our full preview here.

Victoria Gallery and Museum HARD TO HANDLE

1 SEP-31 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition exploring the development of hafted tools - y’know, stuff that’s attached to a handle of some kind, like an axe or hammer.

Walker Art Gallery

TRANSFORMATION: ONE MAN’S CROSS-DRESSING WARDROBE

UNTIL 1 FEB 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A stunning collection of 16 garments from the collection of Peter Farrer, who has been cross-dressing since he was 14, with a particular focus on women’s period costume including evening dresses made between the 1930s and 1980s.

Castlefield Gallery

HEAD TO HEAD: VASILIS ASIMAKOPOULOS AND CHRISTIAN FALSNAES

2 SEP-2 OCT, 1:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

For its annual Head to Head exhibition, Castlefield Gallery welcomes Greek artist Vasilis Asimakopoulos and Berlin-based Dane Christian Falsnaes - the latter of whom will be exhibiting for the first time in the UK.

Central Library LIFE’S A DRAG

UNTIL 26 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Curated by artist Jez Dolan, this exhibition celebrates the history of drag in Manchester through costumes donated by stars of the scene and screenprints by Dolan based on selfies taken by today’s favourite drag queens.

Centre For Chinese Contemporary Art JAMES STANLEY, THE SEVENTH EARL OF DERBY

UNTIL 16 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Exhibition by Shanghai-based artist Lu Pingyuan, whose interest in the supernatural led him to researching a Bolton pub reportedly haunted by the Seventh Earl of Derby, James Stanley. REMNANTS OF AN ELECTRONIC PAST

UNTIL 9 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

To celebrate Manchester’s position as this year’s European City of Science, the CCFCA welcomes Shanghai based new media artist aaajiao for a solo exhibition exploring the relationship between art and science.

HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING

UNTIL 22 JAN 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Yorkshire born artist Kirsty Harris explores the notion of nuclear explosions as cultural, historical and aesthetic objects. KUO I-CHEN

UNTIL 13 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Residency from Taiwanese artist Kuo I-Chen, who interrogates the process of residencies themselves. Working with different artists, studios and university courses across the city, I-Chen will explore the concepts of collaboration and exchange.

Common DONUT BOY

UNTIL 30 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Playful new exhibition by Manchester’s resident funnyman and illustrator supremo David Bailey, which sees a series of drawings follow the titular Donut Boy through life.

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Contact Theatre BENJI REID: A THOUSAND WORDS

22 SEP-17 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

A new photographic exhibition from the award-winning Benji Reid, the celebrated performer and creative director, regarded as one of the most compelling cultural makers in contemporary British theatre.

Gallery of Costume

SCHIAPARELLI AND THIRTIES FASHION

UNTIL 23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

One of the most celebrated fashion designers of the middle twentieth century.

Imperial War Museum North

FASHION ON THE RATION: 1940S STREET STYLE

17 AUG, 3:40PM – 3:40PM, FREE

Exploring how men and women found new ways to dress as clothes rationing took hold in 1940s Britain, featuring original clothes from the era including military uniforms and functional fashion.

VOGUE 100: A CENTURY OF STYLE UNTIL30 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Bringing together vintage prints from the early 20th Century, photographs from renowned fashion shoots, unpublished work and original magazines, celebrating 100 years of cutting-edge fashion, beauty and portrait photography by British Vogue. JAI REDMAN: PARADISE LOST

UNTIL24 SEP 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

A selection of new and existing oil paintings and watercolours, which function as contemporary interventions within the historic collections, from Jai Redman, whose work combines modern materials with a passion for traditional painting techniques. THE EDWARDIANS

UNTIL 31 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

Curated as a complementary display to Vogue 100 and Fashion & Freedom, The Edwardians explores the glamour, rural nostalgia, landscape and city of the 1900s.

The International Whitworth Art 3 Gallery PRIMA DONNA

UNTIL 30 SEP, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Solo exhibition from Louise Giovanelli, developed out of an interest in classical musical terminology and the ways in which interpretation is shaped through how a piece of music should be played.

The John Rylands Library OFF BEAT: JEFF NUTTALL AND THE INTERNATIONAL UNDERGROUND

8 SEP-5 MAR 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

A prolific artist, poet, musician, author and publisher, Jeff Nuttall was one of the few people in the early 1960s to publish William S. Burroughs’ most experimental writing. Yet, despite being one of the most pivotal figures in British counterculture, the Lancastrian-born polymath is

Based on specially recorded oral histories, this display reveals the forgotten histories of service personnel and civilians who came to Britain during the Second World War, when the national and ethnic diversity of the population was unprecedented.

Manchester Art Gallery THE SEA FULL STOP

UNTIL 25 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Hondartza Fraga’s imaginary seascapes explore our understanding of the sea, and give the focus of a seascape back to the sea. MODERN JAPANESE DESIGN

UNTIL 15 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Thirty two designers display over one hundred pieces in a dynamic display conveying the essence of the unique Japanese design ethos. FASHION AND FREEDOM

UNTIL 27 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Vivienne Westwood, Roksanda, Holly Fulton, J JS Lee, Emilia Wickstead and Sadie Williams unveil new pieces inspired by the impact of WWI on women’s lives and fashion, alongside wartime pieces from MAG’s costume collection and original short films. BORIS NZEBO URBAN STYLE

UNTIL 13 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Cameroon-based Boris Nzebo addresses the complex relationship between individuals and the urban spaces they inhabit in his first solo exhibition in a UK public gallery. GOODBYE TO ALL THAT

1 JUL, 4:00PM – 4:00PM, FREE

A display of art of the First World War, commemorating the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY

An exhibition exploring the work of one of the radical originators and innovators of the European tradition of printmaking, Marcantonio Raimondi (c. 1480-c. 1534), and his groundbreaking collaborations with the Renaissance artist Raphael (c. 1483-c. 1520).

ROME IN THE RAIN

Books, paintings, prints and sketchbooks by the artist Rena Gardiner, who was best known for her guidebooks to historic places and the countryside, alongside work by artists inspired by Rena including Eric Ravilious, John Piper and Edward Bawden.

UNTIL 29 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exploring the outburst of creativity that took place against the backdrop of political tumult in the early decades of the 20th century, when textile design took off in new directions.

MARCANTONIO RAIMONDI AND RAPHAEL

1-30 SEP, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

12 SEP-18 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

REVOLUTIONARY TEXTILES 1910-1939

30 SEP-23 APR 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

International Anthony Burgess Foundation

RENA GARDINER: ARTIST AND PRINTMAKER

A snapshot of the the faces behind the Whitworth, with everyone from artists to collectors.

UNTIL 30 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

MIXING IT: THE CHANGING FACES OF WARTIME BRITAIN

MMU Special Collections

PORTRAITS

14-23 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A Hayward Touring exhibition opening at the Whitworth, curated by Turner Prize-winning Elizabeth Price and featuring works from 70 artists including Constantin Brancusi, Edward Burra, Alice Channer and more.

17 AUG, 3:40PM – 3:40PM, FREE

An exhibition bringing Anthony Burgess’ ‘Roman Project’ - novels, musical compositions, translations, articles and a study guide for English literature from his time spent living in Rome in the 70s – to life.

NICO VASCELLARI

UNTIL18 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition by Italian artist Nico Vascellari, who takes over the Whitworth’s Landscape Gallery with haunting installations, Bus de la Lum (hole of light) and Darvaza (door to hell), which interconnecto through light, shadow and soundtrack.

THE GARDENER DIGS IN ANOTHER TIME

UNTIL 9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Museum of Science and Industry

WONDER MATERIALS: GRAPHENE AND BEYOND

UNTIL 25 JUN 17, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Combining science, art and history, Wonder Materials tells the story of graphene - the world’s first two-dimensional material that was isolated by scientists in Manchester, and is one of the strongest, lightest and most conductive materials in the world.

little remembered today. The John Rylands Library’s provocative new exhibition is set to change that with this new exhibition, exploring Nuttall’s pioneering use of art as rebellion is a template for modern activism. Warning: rude stuff!

The Lowry

PERPETUAL MOVEMENT

29 OCT-26 FEB 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

National Football Museum

Five international artists explore convergences between contemporary visual art and dance, their works inspired by the Rambert Archive and by Marie Rambert’s call for ‘perpetual movement’ - ceaseless change in the search for new art and ideas.

UNTIL 31 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

16 SEP-6 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

1996 WORLD CUP EXHIBITION

JEROEN EROSIE: YUCK PRINT HOUSE

Marking 50 years on from England’s golden summer, with stories from the people who made the games, played the games and watched the games.

A large-scale mural and collection of prints by Dutch artist Jeroen Erosie, who is part of a wave of European graffiti artists.

UNTIL 23 APR 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

WOMEN ARTISTS: FROM 1861 TO 2015

1966 WORLD CUP EXHIBITION

50 years on from England’s golden summer, the National Football Museum pays homage to the 1966 World Cup with an immersive exhibition, which features the 1966 Jules Rimet trophy and ball from the final among much, much more.

Old Granada Studios BUY ART FAIR

22-25 SEP, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

The largest art fair outside of London lands in Manchester offering artwork from over 500 artists for between £50 and £5000.

Touchstones

UNTIL 30 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A selection of art from Rochdale, celebrating its art gallery’s history of collecting work by women and tracing the role gender has played in the production of art, with pieces from Cornelia Parker, Henrietta Ward, Dorothea Sharp and others.

Inviting visitors to reflect upon the role of the garden in articulating hope, this display explores the use of the garden in visual culture as a vehicle for utopian thought and emblem for an ideal society. VISIONS OF THE FRONT 1916-18

UNTIL 20 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

In commemoration of the Somme (2016 being its centenary) and to mark the other terrible battles of the First World War, this exhibition brings together work created from the experiences on the front line of battle. MARCANTONIO RAIMONDI AND RAPHAEL

Follow The Skinny on Instagram! For roving reportage from gigs, amazing design and illustration, photos of people drunk at art festivals and the occasional cat pic (obviously), find us on Insta: @theskinnymag

30 SEP-23 APR 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

The first exhibition in over 35 years (and the first ever in the UK) featuring the works of Marcantonio Raimondi, one of the leading printmakers of the Italian Renaissance and best known for collaborating with Renaissance artist Raphael.

I N D E P E N D E N T

C U LT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

KEITH PIPER: UNEARTHING THE BANKER’S BONES

29 OCT-15 JAN 17, TIMES VARY, FREE

Waterside Arts Centre ROGUE AT WATERSIDE

UNTIL 22 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A new exhibition showcasing work from Rogue Artists Studios, featuring a range of large scale and intimate pieces in different mediums by over 35 Rogue artists including paintings, digital work, installation, photography and mixed media to celebrate 21 years of the largest independent studio groups in the North West.

Red Bull Music Academy UK Tour

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THE SKINNY

Dutch Hustle Amsterdam-based duo Detroit Swindle take time out from a busy touring schedule to discuss paying homage to house music, an upcoming date in Liverpool, and a forth-coming release featuring a UK electronic icon Interview: Claire Francis

n house music’s formative years, it was common for non-American producers to adopt a misnomer that would have them mistaken for natives of Detroit or Chicago. It’s an indication of the level of admiration for – and appropriation of – house and techno music produced from these two cities, and for Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets, their chosen name of Detroit Swindle is both playful and self-analysing. Formed in 2011, the duo’s Boxed Out LP and a hefty succession of EPs have established them as high-calibre house producers, drawing heavily on the staples (bustling beats, hi-hat claps, liberal vocal samples) of classic house music. They take time out of a mammoth international tour, which includes dates in Liverpool and Manchester, to chat about paying homage to the genre, clubbing from Beirut to Kyoto, and the pleasures of spinning vinyl. Your name is a light-hearted nod to your mutual love for Motown – could you tell us a little more about this? Maarten: My dad is a big Motown fan, and ever since I can remember, he’s played all the records from Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding, so that was my introduction. When we started playing together, and especially when we started doing more diverse sets, I dove deeper into disco, funk and soul from back in the day, and discovered great Northern Soul stuff and more underground artists. Going through all those old 45s in record stores is really fun, especially when you find those hidden gems. What do you think it is about Motown that holds such a continuing appeal? Lars: Motown really is music from the heart and that’s something for all ages. Also, it’s a really, really sexy genre. Who doesn’t like a song when it’s called Sexual Healing? You’ve also cited hip-hop and early house music as influences – any particular records or tracks? Lars: Anything by J Dilla basically (the other reason we chose to pay homage to Detroit). I like to think we put a bit of Dilla into every track we make. As for house, Larry Heard and Carl Craig are big influences, and our good friend Kerri Chandler. Talk us through the elements of your live show. You have quite an arsenal of digital and analog instruments, including an additional member on the keys, is that right? Lars: Yes, the live show is a fun beast! We’re taking SO much gear with us, it’s a hefty six metres wide on stage. By adding our keys player Lorenz Rhode to the set-up, we can improvise a lot more. We’ve got a great dynamic amongst the three of us. You’ve got a date coming up in Liverpool where you’ll be spinning vinyl for three hours – what do you like about playing vinyl-only shows? Maarten: Playing real records has a certain feel to it you just can’t get with any digital format. Each time you take a record out of its sleeve and play it, you create a moment and take a little bit of that physical thing with you to the next show. It’s something tangible that makes what you do a bit more real, in a way.

September/October 2016

These days it’s a bit complicated though, with loads of clubs that don’t have a proper set-up for vinyl. It takes a lot of effort from our side, doing soundchecks, bringing our own mixer and needles, balancing everything... all aimed at making sure that you can really bring your music across the way you want and not be obstructed by technical issues. The fun thing about playing vinylonly is the limits you impose upon yourself. You’ve brought a set of records and that’s it, there’s no back-up of millions of songs on a USB, just your personal selection for that specific night. We’ve got a couple of days planned to go digging so I hope we get to bring a few new (old) records and if we’re lucky, we’ll get our upcoming release just in time for this show. You’ve had a busy summer playing festivals across Europe and the UK, and earlier in the year, as far as Australia, Brazil and Japan. Can you name any tour highlights? Lars: The year isn’t even over yet and we’ve done so much touring already. In general those longer tours in South America, Asia and Australia were very special. We brought our live set with Lorenz to the USA for the first time, which was insanely ambitious, but we pulled it off and it was fantastic to see the response overseas. In particular, Star Festival in Kyoto was an amazing experience, where we had hilarious times with (French tech house trio) dOP.

“ Playing real records has a certain feel to it you just can’t get with any digital format” Maarten Smeets

We were in Kyoto playing the Star Festival this summer, and after our set, we spent some time with the guys from dOP, who are just as cool as they are weird. After a few joints by the campfire, we all ended up joining this guy who was giving djembe lessons (and who was actually really bad at playing) and we took over his class, got some shakers out, and improvised a whole band out of camping material and this dude’s tent. I don’t know if he actually liked it, but we were rolling on the floor from laughter.

Festival in Belgium last summer was pretty special. It was our first time ever doing the live show in the new set-up with Lorenz, so as you can imagine, we were pretty nervous. We found out that Seven Davis Jr. was playing the same stage that day, and since we had just remixed his track Friends, we invited him up on stage with us to do the vocals. It was a non-rehearsed, improvised-on-the-spot moment but it turned out great – so big thanks to him for that. Also the crowd just went nuts over there. To see 3000 people digging your music on that level with inflatable bananas, Christmas lights for clothing decorations, girls in bikinis just vibing out; it was really something else. A memory we will not forget easily!

You recently played a show at The Garten in Lebanon too – how was that? Lars: Really great! Beirut’s clubbing scene is quite vibrant, which we didn’t anticipate, but it’s so good. Also the promoter took really great care of us – we had some time to hang out, party and explore the city a bit.

In September you’ll be playing at the foot of one of Scotland’s most iconic landmarks, Edinburgh Castle – what other things spring to mind when you think of Auld Reekie? Maarten: The first time ever that we’ve played in Edinburgh was probably our most fun show of the year, playing in a venue that’s closed now. We probably had 40 people in, but everyone went out of their minds. That was a warm welcome, and luckily, coming back to Scotland has been great. Also, haggis. We tried it. Will never order it again, but we tried. Points for that, right?

Can you tell us a career favourite show that you’ve played to date? Maarten: There are too many, but I guess Dour

Could you tell us about your label, Heist Recordings? Lars: We do our own A&R, so we’re quite involved

CLUBS

in it, and it’s a great way to extend the family a bit. We really wanted to give other artists who are just starting out the same chance we got, and we can invite producers we like or look up to, to do an EP or a remix for us. Also fellow Dutchies Nachtbraker and Frits Wentink have got their studios in the same building so we see them a lot and share stories and experiences. Right now, we’re doing more label showcases all over Europe, so we’re getting to hang out more with our friends while playing records at our favourite places. We’re very lucky like that. Finally, what’s on the horizon for Detroit Swindle? Maarten: On the horizon is zero sleep! We’ve got a new EP on Heist coming out, which we’ve managed to get Matthew Herbert involved in too. He’s made an excellent remix for us. Then we’re doing a Boiler Room vinyl-only set in Madrid for Ray-Ban, and we’re starting our new residency Heist in Amsterdam. We’re gonna be back in the USA for a couple of weekenders and touring a lot til the end of the year, so it’s gonna be busy as hell but super fun. Detroit Swindle play Hidden Manchester, 23 Sep; FLY Open Air Festival, Edinburgh, 24 Sep, and 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool, 1 Oct

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