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October 2015
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
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Editorial Northwest Editor Film & Deputy Editor Events Editor Music Editor Art Editor Books Editor Clubs Editor Comedy Editor Deviance Editor Fashion Editor Food Editor Tech Editor Travel Editor
Lauren Strain Jamie Dunn Simon Jay Catling Dave Kerr Sacha Waldron Holly Rimmer-Tagoe Daniel Jones John Stansfield Kate Pasola Alexandra Fiddes Lauren Phillips John Donaghy Paul Mitchell
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4
Contents
THE SKINNY
Contents
Up Front
06 Chat & Opinion: Welcome to the maga-
zine! Grab last-min news in Stop the Presses, Spot the Difference to win a book, gawp at our Shot of the Month and gain freakily accurate foresight from BALLS. Heads Up: Culture is a bit like vegeta-
08 bles or whole grain fiber – you should get
30
Fashion: It was all change at this year’s London Fashion Week – we report back.
32
Showcase: The still life photography of Stewart Honeyman gets the centrespread treatment.
35
Food & Drink: A look back at the last ten years of food trends, and all your news for the month.
at least one portion of it a day. Use this cultural calendar and you’ll live a long and happy life.
Review
Features
39
10
With another bracingly honest album on the way, we check in with John Grant and find that things are looking up for the troubled singer-songwriter.
12
Minnesotan indie rock veteran Alan Sparhawk considers the themes of his band Low’s new record, Ones and Sixes.
Music: Manchester noise-pop trio False Advertising are this month’s New Blood; we report from Liverpool Psych Fest and pick our Liverpool Music Week highlights; and we’ve reviews of new records from Joanna Newsom, John Grant and Autre Ne Veut.
47
15
A host of great acts performing at Manchester's Women in Comedy Festival tell us how the event is making a difference.
Clubs: Neil McDonald aka Lord of the Isles spans the globe to spill his current musical beans; plus all your don’t-miss nights for October.
48
Theatre: Simon Armitage chats to us about turning his hand to Homer’s Odyssey for a new play at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre; plus reviews of Kneehigh’s Dead Dog in a Suitcase and Lizzie Nunnery’s Narvik.
49
Art: Anthony Caro’s Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle show impresses, and we look forward to the exciting sonic art of Glasgow’s Sonica Festival – always worth a trip up north.
50
Film: Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos is back being bonkers with The Lobster and Emily Blunt is kicking ass and taking names in Sicario.
51
DVD: Creepy sci-fi thriller Seconds comes to UK DVD for the first time and Turbo Kid – think Mad Max on BMX bikes – gets set for cult status. Plus, an appreciation of Gothic Manchester festival’s Lovecraft double bill.
52
Books: David Constantine delivers a powerful study of the grieving process with The Life-Writer and actor Jesse Eisenberg turns his hand to short story writing – we review the results.
53
Comedy: Our spotlight falls on Bolton standup Sophie Willan.
54
Competitions: Win tickets to Liverpool Music Week and COLUMNS festival.
55
Listings: It’s a list. Of things. To do. Do them.
63
Out back: Martin 'Youth' Glover of Killing Joke gives us an education in all things dub with nine of his favourite tracks.
16
A hungover Cai Burns of Kagoule muses on Nottingham’s musical architecture and how his band came to be signed by the city's premier heavy metal label.
18
We get psyched for Manchester Literature Festival by digging into the programme.
21
Illustrator Graham Humphreys discusses the dark art of horror movie poster design.
22
Welsh actor Rhys Ifans tells us how he and director Kevin Allen found the erotic side of Dylan Thomas in their upcoming Under Milk Wood adaptation. Plus, ahead of her take on The Oresteia, director Blanche McIntyre explains how Ancient Greek theatre relates to modern-day politics.
25
Standup master Doug Stanhope laughs in the face of the Twitteratti’s fake outrage.
26
Brooklyn-based DJ Will Holland, aka Quantic, talks life in the studio and reveals what’s up his sleeve ahead of his UK tour.
Lifestyle 28
29
Travel: One intrepid traveler looks beyond the clichés and lazy perceptions of Bucharest to find a city full of life and contrasts. Deviance: A trip to a Patong ping-pong show leads one writer to contemplate her own labia’s talents; and some queer performers offer advice to cishets visiting their shows.
October 2015
Contents
5
Editorial
T
he witching hour is upon us, thus we have obediently gotten our freak on – on page 21, fright movie poster artist Graham Humphreys, he of A Nightmare on Elm Street fame, discusses the challenges posed to his practice by everencroaching decency guidelines, while on page 51 our writer dons waders to squelch into the schlocky world of 80s horror film – specifically, director Stuart Gordon’s takes on stories by the grandfather of weird, HP Lovecraft. Brrr. Now that’s out of the way, less scary matters can be found, well, everywhere else in the magazine. Why not begin with Liverpool Music Week? An annual highlight of the music calendar, its lineup is always testament to the city’s clout, even while the artistic community is increasingly zoned out of the centre as the spaces that helped establish that reputation are being handed over to developers. We chat to blitzkrieg local trio Barberos on that subject and others on page 41, as well as shout-out other local acts you should see beyond the heavies (hi, Deerhunter!). Elsewhere in Music: two fierce young bands in the form of Manchester’s False Advertising and Kagoule; a check-in with seminal Sub Pop band Low’s Alan Sparhawk, and oh, y’know, only John Grant on the cover. Manchester’s cultural scene is dominated this month by the Literature Festival and our Books team have dug deep into the lineup across pages 18-19, identifying the apparent recent trend for memoir’s impact on the programme, speaking to short story writer Adam Marek and illustrator Dave McKean about their combination of the fantastical with the everyday, and considering the migrant voice in literature ahead of an event supported by Amnesty International. (Another MLF regular, poet Simon Armitage, also appears in our pages this month but on behalf of his new theatrical project instead; he chats about his update of Homer’s Odyssey, which is currently premiering at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre, with fellow poet Michael Pedersen on page 48.) Our Comedy editor, meanwhile, speaks to numerous top folk from the local scene about the city’s burgeoning Women in Comedy Festival and how it’s helping us inch, though never quickly enough, away from the office idiot wot says women can’t do LOLs as well as men. Beyond all that, Clubs talks the beauty of recording and creating your own vibe with Quantic; Fashion reports from London Fashion Week
Shot of the Month
Menace Beach at Liverpool Psych Fest on 26 Sep by Stuart Moulding
(where it’s all about the, ahem, ‘side mullet’), and Travel muses on the ‘real’ Bucharest. Why are you even reading me? A couple of nods: The Skinny Scotland celebrates ten years of publishing in October, to which we have paid tribute by filching their article about what the past decade’s worth of trends in food and drink say about how pathetic we are as a nation. Seriously though, happy birthday (we nicked your pictures of birthday cakes also). Meanwhile, we’re excited to welcome our new Northwest Food and Drink editor, Lauren, to the fold – she’ll be running the section proper from November and, as somewhat more palatable initiation ceremony than those recently chronicled in the press, will have the results of our third annual Food and Drink Survey to mine hard for content. (Pssst. Vote! theskinny.co.uk/food.) Welcome, Lauren! And finally, thanks to all those who came down to The Deaf Institute at the end of September for what turned out to be a pretty volcanic combination of bands: Fruit Bomb (riotous power pop), False Advertising (a towering presence), a seething, singalong Menace Beach, and Weirds (the real thing). Props to the guys at Trof for bringing the acts together and inviting us to support; the artists for playing, and you guys for coming. This month’s Skinny has been brought to you by Ryan Adams covering Taylor Swift, Manchester Science Festival announcing an adults-only ball pool, Michael Fassbender doing Shakespeare and various other sequestered dreams realising themselves. ON THE COVER: John Grant by Gem Harris
Online Only We got ourselves rewired at Liverpool Psych Fest. Read the full review: theskinny.co.uk/music
She talks to The Skinny as her long-awaited new book is published: theskinny.co.uk/books
We’re promised a mix from Kelvin Brown, selector at Manchester’s legendary Eyes Down. Eyes on: theskinny.co.uk/clubs
Also in Books: Catherine Chanter describes the drought-stricken world of her outstanding debut novel The Well: theskinny.co.uk/books
Author David Constantine, published by Manc independent house Comma Press, talks about his new novel The Life-Writer and his republished collection of short form masterpieces: theskinny.co.uk/books
Actor Sally Messham on bringing Sarah Waters’ highly celebrated novel Tipping the Velvet to life: theskinny.co.uk/theatre
Petina Gappah has been dubbed the voice of Zimbabwe and is a rising star of African writing.
6
Chat
www.jockmooney.com
Eyes to the website
The Skinny’s first Deviance editor, Nine, discusses controversy, internet journalism and editing the section in a pre-Twitter universe… theskinny.co.uk/sexuality
THE SKINNY
Shout outs to all those who came down to The Deaf Institute on 25 Sep to see Fruit Bomb, False Advertising, Weirds and Menace Beach in a gig programmed by the dons at Trof and supported by The Skinny. It was ace. If you loved False Advertising, you can catch up with them in more depth on page 44. Design Manchester, an international festival about graphic design across all mediums, has revealed its full lineup (14-21 Oct). Among those appearing is New Order’s Stephen Morris, who’ll be discussing the group’s 30-year career. Chief exec of the RSA Matthew Taylor will be among those taking part in The Great Debate, about the contribution of design to Manchester. Full details: designmcr.com Science dreamboat Professor Brian Cox and his comedic chum Robin Ince bring their radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage to Manchester Science Festival this year, one of the highlights of the 11-day festival programme. Elsewhere amid an engaging, intelligent lineup of talks, demonstrations and performances across 22 Oct-1 Nov, we’re totally unashamed to admit that we’re also v excited to jump around in an adult ball pool to the sounds of indie DJs Underachievers Please Try Harder on Halloween. Full details: manchestersciencefestival.com Oui Love, an exciting opportunity for French artists to come and tour the UK with support from the bureauexport (the French music export office) and the Institut Français, returns to our shores this Autumn for a five-date tour, including
New Leeds venue Headrow House has launched in style this month, with a programme of more than 40 shows taking place between now and mid-December as part of Beacons Metro. This month’s highlights from within the four-floor entertainment space include Micachu & The Shapes, King Midas Sound and Darkstar, with Titus Andronicus and Daniel Avery among those appearing over the coming weeks. Full details: beaconsmetro.com More Headrow House-related news, with a show by Hookworms there on 17 Oct among the schedule for this year’s Recon music festival. Running across Leeds and Bradford throughout the month, other festival highlights include Warp-signed glitch producer Clark at Belgrave Music Hall on 16 Oct, while The Space Lady plays a special all-ages show at Bradford Playhouse on 18 Oct. Full details: reconfest.co.uk
John Darnielle
As California's Mountain Goats make their longawaited return to these shores, helmsman John Darnielle divulges the logic behind his recent pro wrestling obsession. Film will be chatting to
Anarchic punk rock four-piece Ill and local folk singer Tekla are among the highlights of the recently announced Ladyfest Manchester lineup, taking place at Islington Mill on 14 Nov. The daylong event will see a dozen live music acts joined by comedians and spoken word artists, as a way of celebrating female endeavour in the arts and opening dialogue about the issues they face. Full details: ladyfestmanc.wordpress.com
BALLS. with Mystic Mark
The Walker Art Gallery has now opened registration for the John Moores Painting Prize 2016, with past winners since it began in 1957 including David Hockney, Mary Martin and Peter Doig. Artists have until 16 Nov to submit images of their chosen painting, before a panel of judges (TBA) whittle entrants down to a shortlist, the winner scooping the ÂŁ25,000 first prize. Full details: liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/johnmoores
ARIES It’s hard to be yourself at interviews. That’s because you turn up wearing someone else’s face, thus inviting more difficult questions than you otherwise would. Just take the face off, smile and be yourself.
TAURUS Arguing with your partner about who gets to drink and who gets to drive, you reach a compromise whereby you both get to drink and both have to drive, one doing the brake, the other in charge of the accelerator, with an arm each on the steering wheel. GEMINI Take care not to achieve too much success, otherwise your likeness ends up immortalised in bronze and erected in a public space where pigeons take turns to land on your head and bukkake your metal face with their excrement all day, every day.
CANCER If you like lie-ins, you’ll absolutely love being dead.
LEO Your new time system has some teething troubles when the slow-minded investors in your fledgling clock business are late for the meeting you set for ‘4.5 o’clock’ since according to your new, more logical system, that would obviously stand for ‘half of nine.’ They got confused, because they thought that half-nine meant 9.5 o’clock, when in fact 9.5 times two is clearly 19 o’clock, which is 7pm, which equals half of 14:00, or 2pm in the afternoon.
There'll be an adult-only ball pool at Manchester Science Festival
VIRGO In October you land a part in the new Adam Sandler comedy, in which a rich man is mildly inconvenienced by a random scenario pulled from a hat five minutes prior to the start of filming.
October 2015
Photo: Wes Foster
Weirds playing at The Deaf Institute on 25 Sep
Saoirse Ronan about her moving turn in the unabashedly romantic Brooklyn and director Sean Baker will be telling all about his extraordinary iPhone-shot festival hit Tangerine.
LIBRA Finding your soulmate would require you having a soul in the first place. You’re all peel, there’s no orange.
SCORPIO This month you construct an alarm clock the size of a small building to help you wake up from The Matrix. It doesn’t work, it just perforates your avatar’s eardrums and renders you as a perfect simulation of a deaf person for the rest of your enslaved lifecycle.
SAGITTARIUS Yes, your better half has left you – sawing your body in half in the dead of the night, it hopped away somewhere to seek a better life with more opportunity. You’d be the first to admit, you were holding it back from achieving its goals.
CAPRICORN If you died tomorrow there’d be a hell of a lot of ticks, lice, crabs and fleas that would really miss you and probably never get over it.
AQUARIUS Prior to moving in, your new home was unfurnished, but since then you’ve wanked so much and cleaned so little you formed a memory foam mattress made of tissue paper hardened by your DNA. Sleeping on a billion fossilised tadpoles, filled with blueprints for making another you, you can now say with confidence to visiting relatives that the furniture is so you.
PISCES After winning at the Supreme Court you at last get an eviction order for your unborn child who has done nothing but leech off you since day one. Unless it’s prepared to go out and get a job like a real baby.
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Chat
7
Photo: Lalitree Darnielle
The November Issue: Out 3 Nov
a stopover at Fallow Cafe in Manchester on 30 Oct. Those being showcased include electronic producer Saycet and France-via-New York four-piece St LĂ´. Further info: facebook.com/ ouilovexchange.
A whole new kind of festival season is upon us, sans any tent erecting, rucksacks of cheap warm cider or the stench of drop toilets. Liverpool Music Week, Manchester Literature Festival and Liverpool Irish Festival provide all your cultural needs with no resulting crick in the neck.
California art rockers Xiu Xiu are no strangers to reinterpreting the work of others, as tribute LPs to Nina Simone and covering the, uh, Pussycat Dolls attest. Tonight they take on the music of David Lynch's seminal drama series Twin Peaks in what we reckon is a perfect match of performer and programme. The Kazimier, Liverpool, 7.30pm, £11.50
Liverpool Playhouse presents a new production, The Glass Menagerie, by exciting directorial talent Ellen McDougall, whose previous work includes critically acclaimed productions of Henry the Fifth, Anna Karenina, The Rolling Stone and Idomeneus. Liverpool Playhouse, until 31 Oct, from £12
Erin Doherty in The Glass Menagerie
Xiu Xiu
Mon 12 Oct
You may previously have known her as Beth Jeans Houghton, but the colourful Northeastern pop artist has reinvented herself and tonight plays a rescheduled date under new guise Du Blonde. Gone are the glocks, ukuleles and strings of old, replaced by rock primality – it's a jolting, thrilling experience. The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 7pm, £10
The Sunday Times EFG Short Story winner Kevin Barry and the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing co-director John McAuliffe are among the highlights of the first night at Manchester Literature Festival, which stretches out over two weeks and will later host Tracey Thorn, Paul Mason and more. Martin Harris Centre, Manchester, 7pm, £6 (£4)
Du Blonde
Photo: Derek Robertson
Sun 11 Oct
Kevin Barry
Sun 18 Oct
Resident compere at Glasgow comedy club The Stand and host of BBC Radio Scotland's Funny Friends, Susan Calman is one of the patrons of this year's Women In Comedy Festival (15-25 Oct) and, as well as helping launch its opening night, she performs her work-in-progress new show tonight. The King's Arms, Salford, 8pm, £12
Now five years old, A Carefully Planned Festival once again swarms over the Northern Quarter, with more than 100 acts descending on the area's venues. It's nearly impossible to pick a highlight, but we're plumping for Sheffield's Afrobeat-tinged Blood Sport. Various venues, Manchester, until 18 Oct, £17.50 weekend
Part of Recon Festival's programme of forward-thinking music and art, Out-There Sounds for all the Family not only includes a 'kids' gig' by Hookworms but also the enchanting sounds of 70s traveller The Space Lady (pictured), armed with just a synthesizer and her voice. Playhouse, Bradford, noon, £8 (£5)
Blood Sport
Photo: guywuy
Sat 17 Oct
Photo: Steve Ullathorne
Fri 16 Oct
Susan Calman
The Space Lady
Thu 22 Oct
Fri 23 Oct
Sat 24 Oct
Now finally free of the tag 'former D:REAM keyboardist', Professor Brian Cox (pictured) and stalwart funnyman Robin Ince bring their award-winning BBC Radio 4 science and comedy show, The Infinite Monkey Cage, to Manchester for the opening night of Manchester Science Festival, which this year runs until 1 Nov. MOSI, Manchester, 7.30pm, Free
"There's no way they'll be able to top that," we always say to ourselves after each Liverpool Music Week – and then they do. Holly Herndon (pictured) leads the bill for tonight's opening party, before the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Stealing Sheep play through the week. The Kazimier, Liverpool, 7pm, £10 (£7.50 student)
A coming together of the Liverpool underground's finest club promoters, Winter Garden Festival sees Hot Plate, Dot and The Wonder Pot team up with Melodic Distraction, Pagoda, Down To Funk, Boogaloo and Between The Borders to bring a special lineup – including Amsterdam house duo Detroit Swindle – to the Kaz Gardens. The Kazimier Garden, Liverpool, 2pm, from £10
Professor Brian Cox
Holly Herndon
Thu 29 Oct
Fri 30 Oct
Baltimore's Lower Dens have now made three brilliantly atmospheric albums of indie pop since their 2010 debut, Twin-Hand Movement. Their latest, Escape from Evil, is their most melodic yet – although don't think that the trio aren't capable of plenty of bite live, too. Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 7.30pm, £9
A performance born from curiosity about the nature of charm, the label of ‘monster’ and the tension between attraction and repulsion, The Ted Bundy Project is a performance piece by Greg Woehead in response to the Ted Bundy confession tapes. Pyramid Arts Centre, Warrington, 7.30pm, £13
It's the first Friday of the season at Sankeys and they're starting it in fine style, with the much-respected MOOD Records label boss Nicole Moudaber dropping in for a heady night of techno at the Tribal Sessions. She's ably supported by stellar residents Jozef K and Winter Son. Sankeys, Manchester, 11pm, £10
8
Chat
The Ted Bundy Project
Photo: Culture Warrington
Wed 28 Oct
Lower Dens
Photo: Tristram Kenton
Compiled by: Simon Jay Catling
Wed 7 Oct
Detroit Swindle
Nicole Moudaber
THE SKINNY
Photo: Blaise Adilon
Heads Up
Tue 6 Oct
Fri 9 Oct
Sat 10 Oct
Expect another sell-out as the Indy Man Beer Con (that's Independent Manchester Beer Convention for long) rumbles back into town, with more than 50 national and international breweries signed up and regional foodies Almost Famous, Bundobust and more providing the eats for this four-day craft boozathon. Victoria Baths, Manchester, until 11 Oct, prices vary
Earlybird tickets have already gone for the first Wonder Pot night in Liverpool, which promises to bring some of the biggest experimeters in dance music to 24 Kitchen Street's intimate confines. First up: a back-to-back special between Hessle Audio's Pearson Sound (pictured) and Pangaea. Oof. 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool, 10pm, from £10
Today marks World Mental Health Day, with Liverpool's Williamson Square hosting stalls, music and performance to raise awareness of and support those with mental heath illnesses. Among those curating the programme are local music festival Threshold. Willliamson Square, Liverpool, 10am, Free
Indy Man Beer Con
Pearson Sound
World Mental Health Day
Tue 13 Oct
Wed 14 Oct
Thu 15 Oct
Horror classic Nosferatu comes to the stage at The Brindley, with Henrik Galeen's classic screenplay – based on Bram Stoker's Dracula – focusing on the mystery cargo of a group of sailors. It's still as chilling as it was nearly 100 years ago. The Brindley, Liverpool, 7.30pm, £15
MMU lecturer Richard Gough Thomas and University of Manchester lecturer Jerome de Groot explain and explore the civil wars of the 1640s, with Thomas linking the issues of the time to the present day and De Groot hosting a screening of the 2013 film A Field in England. Geoffrey Manton Building, Manchester, 5pm, Free
Curators of laughter and general other silliness (mainly involving hotdogs) Sham Bodie are at Soup Kitchen tonight, with one of their strongest line-ups of the year. It includes the always hilarious Gein's Family Giftshop fresh from another acclaimed turn at the Fringe, and the garack rock of Peace and Love Barbershop Muhammed Ali. Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 7pm, £5
Nosferatu Greg Wilson
A Field in England
Tue 20 Oct
Wed 21 Oct
Pre-Star Wars, George Lucas made a stylistic sci-fi movie starring Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence, THX 1138, which came out in 1971. It's given the live score treatment tonight by a collective whose music has stylistically traversed several corners of the earth since 1993. The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 8pm, £19.50
Writing collective Manchester Left Writers and the North West Film Archive are teaming up for a special event, Precarious Passages – shared stories and experiences of a changing Manchester. The collective will place readings in the context of historic imagery supplied by the Archive. Central Library, Manchester, 6pm, Free
Manchester-based illustrator himHallows and Soup Kitchen, err, launch group exhibition L A U N C H, in which a group of artists mark the Hubble space telescope’s 25th year of science. As with the collaborators' previous two shows, artists are again tasked with using just paper and card in their submissions. Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 6pm, Free
THX 1138
Credit: Warner Bros 1971
Mon 19 Oct
Gein's Family Giftshop
Precarious Passages
Mon 26 Oct
Tue 27 Oct
The festivals keep coming in October, eh? Tonight sees local pop troupe Stealing Sheep team up with mercurial improv ensemble Immix for a special performance as part of the finale of Liverpool Irish Festival (which begins 15 Oct). The Bluecoat, Liverpool, 6.30pm, £7 (£6)
The Holden Gallery presents its first exhibition of the season, with group show Model Behaviour seeing artists including film artist Oliver Boberg and photographer James Casebere explore the impulse, desire and obsession involved in trying to make something visible. The Holden Gallery, Manchester, until 11 Dec, Free
Poet and playwright Hannah Silva brings her fast-paced cut-and-paste new show Schlock! to the Unity. Having ripped up 50 Shades of Grey, she begins to put it back together – addressing pleasure and pain, mothers and babies, domination and submission as she goes. Unity Theatre, Liverpool, 8pm, £10 (£8)
Stealing Sheep
Photo: Magnus Aske Blikeng
Sun 25 Oct
Luisa Lambri - Untitled (Teatro Regio 07), 2007
Hannah Silva
Sun 1 Nov
Mon 2 Nov
Bradford Cox brings the wonderful Deerhunter to Liverpool to close Liverpool Music Week. With Fading Frontier, the group have followed the protopunk of Monomania with a mellower yet no less engaging record; live, they can go from anything between dream-pop opulence to krautrock precision. Camp and Furnace, Liverpool, 6pm, £15 (£12.50)
Following a busy summer theatre calendar, the Greater Manchester Fringe returns with its Comedy Festival, running for ten days and featuring a host of new talent. Among the headliners is Matt Hollins, a deadpan comedian who'll be presenting his new show on the festival's opening night. Various venues, Manchester, until 10 Nov, prices vary
Liverpool pop starlet Låpsley continues her steady ascent with her biggest tour yet, including this stopoff in Manchester. Her most recent single Hurt Me is a bona fide banger with enough swerves in production to keep things interesting underneath. Next year could be her year... The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 7.30pm, £8
Deerhunter
October 2015
Photo: Euan Robertson
Sat 31 Oct
Matt Hollins
Låpsley
Chat
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Photo: Drew Forsyth
Photo: Maxime Chermat
Thu 8 Oct
S RE AT U FE
Coming in from the Cold He’s survived addiction, depression, heartbreak, homophobic abuse and a HIV-positive diagnosis. With a typically candid third album on the cards, are things finally looking up for John Grant? Interview: John Nugent
H
ow is John Grant? “Well, you know, I’m not sure how I am.” It is perhaps a fair response to the standard how-are-you conversation opener. Grant’s thoroughly eventful life – one of addiction, depression and disease – is a matter of record. But when The Skinny asks the singer how he is, there’s something more immediate on his mind – or rather, his stomach. “I’ve just had some horse. For lunch.” It is apparently a delicacy in Iceland, his home of four years, from where he speaks. “Horse. They just put it in front of me. It tasted fine, but I didn’t feel very comfortable.” Then, he deadpans: “Oh God, you’re not friends with Morrissey, are you?” How is John Grant? On this particular day, he’s in fine fettle: verbose, thoughtful, witty, the ideal interviewee. The image of eating horse chimes well with his bear-like appearance: tall, stockily built, and carrying a lustrous beard, it’s easy to imagine him tearing into a slab of red meat, sporting a fetching bit of knitwear, a cross between a north Atlantic trawlerman and a Viking. Approaching 50, sober for over a decade, safely ensconced in Iceland, he seems to be acquiring a somewhat calmer existence. A new solo album, his third, is “a very positive record,” Grant insists, though it might occasionally suggest otherwise. The title, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, comprises the rough English translations for ‘midlife crisis’ and ‘nightmare’ in Icelandic and Turkish, respectively. He seems well. Which, for someone with such an unusually turbulent life, is significant. It might almost seem trite to recapitulate his past troubles, had he not himself offered them up so candidly through his music. They’re there in the brutally autobiographical 2010 song Jesus Hates Faggots, a devastating account of his homophobic father; and in 2013’s Ernest Borgnine, in which he sings of finally kicking his alcohol and drug addictions, only to learn he is HIV-positive. It’s there throughout his first two albums, which both had a defining theme of heartbreak, two highly cathartic records about coping with the exit of a man he thought was The One. Today, it’s a heartbreak that largely no longer lingers, emotionally or musically. “I would say that that’s pretty much gone,” he admits. “There are one or two songs left over from that period. There’s one on this record called Guess How I Know, which I tried to do for the last one. It’s always going to be a part of me, but I don’t feel any of the pain any more. And that’s nice.” He is now in a long-term relationship with an Icelandic man – “the horse peddler” – and seems very happy about it. “And that affects you. He’s a delightful, wonderful human being, and that definitely puts you in a specific place. That brightens things up. I personally feel like it’s a very, very upbeat album. That’s a direct result of where I am in my life.”
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Which is not to say that Grey Tickles, Black Pressures is without its darker moments or provocative edges. Grant’s shrewd lyricism immediately comes to the fore in track two, the title song, which offers this startling chorus: “There are children who have cancer, so all bets are off... I can’t compete with that.” After baring his soul for two albums, is it a song about gaining perspective? “Every album that I do is about letting go and getting perspective. It’s about the need to stop trying to control the things that you can’t control and let go of them, and get perspective. Because somebody like me tends to think along the lines of: my problems don’t matter and I don’t matter. That’s not true.” He often speaks this way: the vocabulary of a recovering addict, of a man who has been forced to profoundly confront himself and somehow make peace with the guy in the mirror. “The song is saying: yes, you are important, and your problems are important, and you need to get your shit together. But there’s also a lot of pain out there, and it’s a very difficult life for other people – like children dealing with cancer – going through horrible, impossible, unbelievable realities, and through it all, never whinging. I think it’s ultimately a very positive song.”
“I think I’ll always feel like an outsider” John Grant
Love is a constant motif. The album opens and closes with 1 Corinthians 13, the famous Bible passage so beloved of wedding planners. Is this an earnest inclusion, or is it more cynical? Does he truly now believe that love is patient, love is kind, never envies, and so on? “I would say that it is earnest and also cynical and ironic,” he explains – inadvertently summarising his entire output in microcosm. “At the end of the album, it’s much more sincere” – the Outro is read by a child – “because the child is much more capable of loving unconditionally. It hasn’t been ruined by the world yet.” The Intro is read, incongruously, by a gruff Mancunian. “I have to say,” he continues, with characteristic candour, “there’s been a lot of negative stuff attached to the word ‘love’ in my personal experience. My album is sort of like an anthropological observation, with all these different emotions: rage, anger, frustration, sexual obsession, lust, jealousy, tenderness, the rush of being in love with somebody. It’s all bookended by this verse which was constantly quoted at me as I was growing up. It is ridiculous, but also quite beautiful. I thought it was an interesting contrast.”
Love features prominently in Disappointing, the LP’s first single, which despite its highmindedness is, resolutely, a love song. Grant reels off a list of high culture touchpoints in its lyric – “Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Dostoevsky” – which are all “disappointing... compared to you.” It embraces a typically dissimilar mesh of influences: Russian authors and composers in the lyrics, a trad love song theme, a disco-pop musical template. Grant even finds room for “shooby-shooby-do-wah-wah” backing vocalists. “It was probably just an excuse to get backing singers in my show with me, just so I could be around them. They make you look really really good. They’re fucking amazing.” By any standard, Grant’s influences are multifarious. But broadly, you could say he follows a fairly unique dichotomy: between the slower, 1970s-influenced guitar-driven ballads that characterised his debut solo LP Queen of Denmark, and the poppier, 1980s-influenced electro-disco of follow-up Pale Green Ghosts. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure feels like a wondrous blend of them both. As we speak, Grant is in the thick of a “very disciplined” rehearsal process, ahead of a lengthy international tour. He gets nervous about starting the process again – “I was writing such complicated chord structures in my songs that I always forget what I wrote, and then somebody else has to teach it to me” – but seems generally excited at the prospect of being on stage again. A John Grant live show has become an almost religious experience. He brings an unlikely presence on stage; more beard than man. But then that tremulous baritone explodes from nowhere, and suddenly all arms are aloft. Some songs, like GMF (with its brilliant chorus slam-dunk, “I am the greatest motherfucker that you’re ever gonna meet”) have become anthemic. In a short time, Grant has inspired incredible devotion. He’s still not sure what to make of it all. “It’s an incredible thing,” he acknowledges. “It’s sort of a mindfuck. The fact that I’m sober now – and I hope this doesn’t sound preachy – helps me keep my feet on the ground. If I were high, I think that I might allow myself to disappear into that realm...” He is careful not to disparage his fanatical audience, “because of course they’re expressing something real. But it’s not real life, obviously. And you can’t really carry that around with you in everyday life. It’s a little bit scary. I can see how people get to thinking that their shit doesn’t stink.” Back in the 1990s, of course, he struggled to find audiences at all; as lead singer of The Czars, he achieved critical acclaim but commercial failure. Last year, he played the Royal Festival Hall, with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra on backup duties; next year, he
MUSIC
has dates at Manchester’s Albert Hall and the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. Is the man who sang of himself as “the underdog” in GMF now part of the musical establishment? “I think I’ll always feel like an outsider,” he counters. “Because that’s the way I feel inside my head. I’m probably too negative to ever accidentally trip into the mainstream.” There’s surely nothing more mainstream than the Brit Awards, though, for which Grant was nominated last year, in the International Male Solo Artist category, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, and Eminem. These were, Grant admits, strange bedfellows. “I felt very nervous and out of place,” he says of the ceremony, which took place at London’s gargantuan O2 Arena. “But I found that I was able to just enjoy myself. I had a great time. I didn’t feel like I belonged. But I was very humbled and flattered to be nominated. I thought it was super cool. I met Boy George, which was a great thing.” Nudging towards the mainstream has its perks. He’s now casually fraternising with his idols – Elton John and Sinéad O’Connor are on first name terms – and he managed to recruit another for his new album: Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn provides guest vocals on Disappointing, after the two met at a party. “She’s a big one for me. A friend of mine from high school said to me the other day: ‘You’re living a really weird version of all of the dreams you had when we went to high school together.’ And it’s true! I’ve met so many of my heroes.” What’s really interesting to him, though, is that none have disappointed; the old maxim about never meeting your idols has proven false. He remains pragmatic about it. “I’ve always gone into it knowing that everybody’s flawed. It’s a bit of a headfuck. When people are weird and messed up, I’m just fine with that. I don’t see it as weird and messed up. I see it as quite normal from my perspective.” How is John Grant, then? He is in a happy, stable relationship. He is mingling with his childhood idols. He is critically and commercially acclaimed. He is also, irrevocably, by his own admission, weird and messed up. But he can’t deny that he feels more confident and relaxed, both as a musician and person, since recording Queen of Denmark half a decade ago. “Definitely,” he agrees. “It helps to have three solo albums under your belt. But I do feel more confident, for sure. I also feel very humble. I’m not in danger of thinking that I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’m just very pleased I get to do this. I feel like, very slowly, I’m going in the right direction.” Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is released on 9 Oct via Bella Union. John Grant plays Leeds Town Hall on 5 Feb; Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 7 Feb and Manchester Albert Hall on 8 Feb johngrantmusic.com
THE SKINNY
Photo: Michael Berman
October 2015
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Low and Order It’s been a mere two years since we last heard from Low, but their swift return presents a more intense sound and a cerebral, mysterious theme. Alan Sparhawk examines the figures that make up Ones and Sixes Interview: Will Fitzpatrick
“I
t started out as a fascination with numbers,” says Alan Sparhawk, matter-of-factly. “What is random and what is not – how do you set reality into motion to where it does what you want, even though it’s moving at a random trajectory? How do you steer chaos? Where’s the line between organised numbers and randomness? That kind of thing.” You join us in telephone conversation with the Minnesotan indie rock veteran, considering the themes of his band Low’s new record, Ones and Sixes. As with their previous ten albums, it’s a solemn, spiritually captivating piece, held together by the eerily symbiotic harmonies of Sparhawk and bandmate Mimi Parker, friends since childhood and married before the band’s formation in 1993. They’ve dealt with the vagaries of existence throughout their 22-year career, whether subtle and personal (In Metal, from 2001’s Things We Lost in the Fire, is a beautiful meditation on first experiences of parenthood) or more overtly political (2007’s Drums and Guns was partly written as a wounded and angry response to war in Iraq) – but this time it feels like the focus is wider. Bigger. Less straightforward. He offers another summary: “The idea of trying to grapple with finite definitions of something that’s infinite or constantly changing.” If that seems like an impossibly huge concept, then consider that Low are canny enough to ask these questions by turning the camera back on themselves. What Part of Me sounds pretty enough as a piece of gossamer-light sadpop, but unpick the seams and you’ll realise that its hummable refrain (‘What part of me don’t you know? / What part of me don’t you own?’) serves several purposes: it’s directed at Sparhawk and Parker’s married life, because how much more mystery can remain after a near quarter century of both living and working together? Equally, it muses on the public nature of the musician, expected to share their private life via their public persona as much as through their art. As listeners, fans, even journalists – what more can we possibly want them to give? Explaining the significance of that title would be a good start. “Trying to quantise, or even put a discernible pattern on something that’s random,” he continues. “Or the flipside of that being something that’s actually very concrete… like the number pi, you know? It’s an infinite number; we’re not able to define it. Even though it’s one of the most defined and real portions in existence.” And what of one and six? “We looked around a little bit. Something that came up was the way they measure the success of a website. One to six was the scale of, ‘Did the person just look at the website?’ right up to, ‘Did they buy what was being sold?’ It became the difference between looking and buying: one and six. “And years ago, scientists studying homosexuality were using one-to-six as a scale to test a person’s sexual preferences. That was an interesting reference, from yet another time when man was trying to put a number on something that was a lot more complex than we realised.” Christian numerology also reveals some interesting details, we suggest. According to that system, the number one relates to creation, enlightenment or purity of purpose, while six represents a nurturing mother figure.
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“There’s definitely something cosmic going on with those numbers,” he replies. “Even the number of the beast – for years it was thought of as 666. I read an article recently where someone had redone the math and realised it was 616. I had not heard the mother thing with six, that’s interesting.” Especially given the album’s themes of artistic and domestic identities becoming entwined… “Yep. There’s a lot of that. Trying to find a common thread in confusion.” Most of the common threads on Ones and Sixes seem to come from the band’s innate sense of coherence: despite dipping their toes into a plethora of sounds and styles across their career, Low have surely and consistently managed to sound like no one else but themselves. Does that make it easier for the band to shift gears? “[Recent albums] C’mon and especially The Invisible Way were not as aggressive, not as experimental. It ebbs and flows. We go in a certain direction for a while and then shift after a few records, once we feel like we’ve gotten somewhere with it. But my favourite times are when we shift into something that’s unfamiliar. We always have fun surprising ourselves.” Do you ever find yourselves wondering how these new directions will go down with your audience? “I dunno. Yeah. I mean, it’s always in the back of your mind. If I was into this band, what would be interesting? When I like a record, there’s a special connection there. The idea of being able to make something that someone else has the same connection with… I have to admit, it’s immensely attractive to me. “Nobody likes to admit that they care what their fans think – in a certain way it can get out of hand; it can be detrimental to your creativity to steer you in a way that’s unnatural… but I dunno. I’m trying to make good music, and the reason is that I want other people to hear it and think it’s cool.”
“I’m waiting for that serenity that comes with experience” Alan Sparhawk
Our conversation meanders around several topics, from Sparhawk’s listening habits (he cites Burning Witch and Kanye West as recent favourites) to the vitality of hip-hop (“Kendrick Lamar! That guy’s giving everything. He’s laying his ass out there, and people aren’t doing that standing behind guitars these days, that’s for damn sure”). Eventually, we land on the subject of ageing and shifting perspectives, and his tone becomes noticeably grave: “I think the older I get, the more concerned and the more irrationally frustrated I get with things in the world. Your awareness of misery and injustice only grows. You have to find new ways to detach. Hopefully in a positive way, whether just being hopeful, or realising, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do other than treat
everyone that I meet today with respect.’ It definitely bears on you more; I wish it didn’t. I’m waiting for that serenity that comes with experience, but it’s just not happened.” Serenity is a relative term, of course, and in that regard Sparhawk has certainly walked across more than his fair share of rocky ground. Having offered his experiences of mental illness as an explanation for cancelling the band’s 2005 tour, he has openly discussed his depression and subsequent substance issues in the past (the demon weed having conflicted with both his Mormon faith and his sense of stability). The severity of the situation was made abundantly clear at 2008’s End of the Road festival, when the visibly distressed singer closed Low’s by announcing, ‘Everybody who ever loved me told me they hated me today,’ before launching his guitar into an understandably shocked crowd. Seven years on, things seem somewhat different. “I guess from a certain perspective I’m doing better. You get more of a grip on things with a little help. It took me a long time to get that sick, and I imagine it’s probably gonna be a lifetime living with some of the residuals of that. I’m definitely not as in danger as I was maybe for a couple of years. You get frantic, you get desperate and irrational, and you make stupid decisions based on desperation and hopelessness. “I mean, I feel relatively sound but you don’t have to extend your arm too far to touch that familiar cape that once encompassed you. That’s one thing about mental breakdowns; if you’re ever crazy enough that you’re hallucinating, you think something’s going on that it turns out isn’t going on… nothing after that stands up. Nothing.
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Once that carpet is pulled out from under you, you’re gonna spend the rest of your life constantly questioning that. But it’s survivable.” Does it get claustrophobic balancing home, work and art when all three are so indelibly linked by the same people? “I suppose it does. All those things are co-existing on top of each other all the time. Something that’s tense or a struggle in the band, you have to be careful not to let that affect your relationship too much. That can be… yeah, claustrophobic. There’s times when it’s almost too close. “I know it’s a lot more work being in a band with someone you’re married to, but if you can pull it off, it’s pretty great. Being in a band’s difficult; you’re close to each other, you’re forced into these intense, extreme situations together… if just the slightest thing goes wrong it can kind of blow exponentially all over the place. So yeah, it’s treacherous. But I’m glad. When we were young, we mused and dreamed and prayed that we’d be able to have something we could do together in life, so we’re real lucky.” We’re approaching the end of our chat with Alan Sparhawk – a musician, performer and family man, battling to make sense of the overlapping tensions between order and chaos. Between work and home. Between stability and endurance. Before we say goodbye, he offers The Skinny some general life advice. “Be healthy,” he says. “I hope you’ve got your shit together.” We don’t request a definition. Low play Manchester Cathedral (with Two Gallants) on 7 Oct chairkickers.com
THE SKINNY
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≥ THE RITE OF SPRING Thursday 22 October, 7.30pm at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester PRE-CONCERT EVENT AT 6.30PM
Mozart Symphony No.35, ‘Haffner’ Mark-Anthony Turnage Piano Concerto (2013) UK premiere Stravinsky The Rite of Spring Ryan Wigglesworth conductor | Marc-André Hamelin piano Ryan Wigglesworth conducts Stravinsky’s iconic The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps). Its premiere in Paris in 1913 was a famous disaster: the sensational music and choreography pushed the audience to riot! It begins with a bassoon solo representing the first stirrings of life at the end of winter and ends in the brutal ritual sacrifice of a virgin. The concert also features the much-anticipated UK premiere of the jazz-inspired piano concerto by one of Britain’s leading composers, Mark-Anthony Turnage. The soloist is the exceptional Marc-André Hamelin, for whom the work was written.
Box Office 0161 907 9000 | www.halle.co.uk |
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THE SKINNY
Funny Is Funny Entering its third year with a bigger lineup than ever, Manchester’s Women in Comedy Festival is now a firm fixture on the national comedy map. A host of great acts performing among the October programme tell us about the difference it’s making n 2008 when Barack Obama was announced as President of the United States of America there was a quick assumption made that this would put an end to racism. A black president would automatically halt the mouthbreathers of the country from hating anyone based solely on the colour of their skin. In 2013 a similar sea change was felt in the world of comedy when Bridget Christie’s feminist treatise on the engendering of the inanimate, A Bic For Her, was announced as the winner of the coveted Foster’s Comedy Award. All of a sudden everyone in comedy stopped perceiving jokes coming from the mouth of a lady as lesser than those spewed from the mouth of a man. Roy Chubby Brown and Jim Davidson immediately exploded, unable to cope with a comedic landscape equal in its gender topography. Of course, none of this is true. Racism is still rife in America and the rest of the world, and Messrs Brown and Davidson are still peddling their backward acidic stylings with impunity. Women are still marginalised in the arts, especially in comedy where the old adage of ‘women can’t be funny’ is trotted out all too often by those hoping to add another pane to the glass ceiling. The focus is more on the content of their wardrobe than that of their mind; they are judged on the weight of their bodies rather than their words. Working to offset the balance of male to female comedians, the Women in Comedy Festival now enters its third year of promoting female talent in the Northwest and beyond. This year the festival boasts turns from Mae Martin, Birthday Girls, this month’s Spotlighter Sophie Willan, and many more. Instead of giving yet another white man’s opinion on the plight of the female of the species, we thought we’d ask some of the people involved in the festival both past and present – comedians Hayley Ellis, Kiri PritchardMcLean, Jana Kennedy, Harriet Dyer, Rachel Fairburn and Evelyn Mok, and comedy producer Alex Hall – to have their say on women in comedy. The Skinny: Why do you feel the Women in Comedy Festival is important? Hayley Ellis: When it’s still commonplace in an office to hear people use the phrase “I don’t like female comedians” I think it’s important that we show that female comedy isn’t a genre. The festival has a wide range of amazing comics who
are incredibly funny and also happen to have a vagina. Plus I need to stop temping in offices with idiots who say such things. Kiri Pritchard-McLean: It’s great to have a whole festival devoted to women performing in comedy because next time someone writes an awful piece called ‘Where are all the women in comedy?’ we can throw this brochure in their face. Also, from a purely business point of view there is a market and an audience for this festival. Plenty of people are tired of going to comedy clubs and watching four white men in their forties. I think audiences are after a more reflective experience.
“When it’s still commonplace in an office to hear ‘I don’t like female comedians’ I think it’s important that we show that female comedy isn’t a genre” Hayley Ellis
Jana Kennedy
Jana Kennedy: I think it is a brilliant platform for women to present their work. The audiences tend to be quite mixed so there is clearly demand and interest in female comedians. It allows people to see lots of different work, made by women, hosted by a brilliant grassroots festival, in Manchester, a city where shit gets done! Harriet Dyer: It showcases a wonderful amount of talented women in comedy and it’d be great if the dunderheads that still believe that women are not funny would have a gander to see how ludicrous that is. But I suspect they’ll be too busy being idiotic.
Evelyn Mok
October 2015
Photo: Emma Guilietta Pilsäter
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Interview: John Stansfield
Can you give an example of the sexism you’ve faced in comedy? Rachel Fairburn: I’ve had the old “Can’t have two women on the bill” comment from a couple of promoters. Which is odd, because a lot of lineups tend to be all male, so there’s no worry about having more than two men on. Some promoters seem to be under the illusion that women only talk about the same things, which is bizarre. Either that or they are scared we may synchronise and attract bears and sharks, thus putting the punters in peril. Evelyn Mok: Mostly it’s well-meaning audience members who tell you about their preconceived ideas about women not being funny but that you are an exception to that rule. Classic complisult. HD: This’ll sound odd but I actually forget I’m a woman until shizz like this happens – when there’s a large audience and the moment the compere announces my name (which is clearly female) you hear a chorused groan. My favourite was when I was following another female comic and heard from an audience member, “Aw no not another fucking woman!” Everyone’s got their own taste in what comedy they like but I think with male comics sometimes people tend to go, “Ah his stuff’s not for me,” whereas with female comics after they’ve heard material that hasn’t been up their street they’ll be a bit more like, “Eurgh this is why I don’t like female comedians blah blah blah blah.” Do you believe that things are getting better for women in comedy? HD: I think there’ll always be idiots, so the wonderful comics (that happen to be female) just need to keep representing as they are and
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anyone that doesn’t like that can go suck a bag of dicks. K P-M: Yes and no. I think audiences are more progressive than the industry in many ways. I think there is a genuine appetite on the circuit for more diversity from the voices we hear on stage. However, I think TV needs to catch up with radio where there’s no need for explicit quotas and there’s loads of women on comedy shows being brilliant and no one seems to be nervous about it. Alex Hall: Yes, but there’s still a long way to go. I’ve heard of shocking examples of sexism both from audiences and (sadly) within the industry, but in recent years the tide does seem to be turning, so to speak. RF: Definitely. I think attitudes are changing, I think it’s about time really. When you consider that in America some of the top comics are female like Amy Schumer and Tina Fey, it’s time we caught up. HE: With people like Hazel O’Keefe (Women in Comedy Festival director) around, comedy is all good. Although if she stops booking me she is defo a sexist. EM: Yes. Sexism is an -ism that is being actively dealt with in our society and it is reflected in the comedy industry. And one day, hopefully soon, we ladies in comedy won’t need to answer questions about it anymore. Evelyn Mok is at The Whiskey Jar, Mon 19 Oct, 8pm; Hayley Ellis is at Gullivers, Wed 21 Oct, 8pm; Harriet Dyer is at The Whiskey Jar, Wed 21 Oct, 7.30pm; Rachel Fairburn is at The Whiskey Jar, Wed 21 Oct, 10pm; Jana Kennedy is at Gullivers, Thu 22 Oct, 8pm; Kiri Pritchard-McLean is at The Castle, Fri 23 Oct, 6.30pm You can find the full festival lineup at womenincomedy.co.uk/2015
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Photo: Mark Leary
Hot or Notts Recovering in bed after a heavy session, Kagoule’s Cai Burns describes Nottingham’s musical architecture, the knock-on effect of the newly built Rough Trade and how his band came to be signed by the city’s premier heavy metal label
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ottingham is famous for a few things; Robin Hood, Brian Clough, Britain’s oldest pub (albeit debatable), and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, if you’re into saucy 20th-century literature. It once held the tower blocks made famous by This Is England (until they were demolished) and a bit of The Dark Knight was filmed in the city’s poshest park… but is it famous for its music scene? In recent history, the Midlands city’s seen several emerging chart-botherers, with local lad Jake Bugg, uni attendees London Grammar and Bramcote-born Saint Raymond busy doing things like Radio 1’s Live Lounge and supporting Haim on international tours. Or providing the soundtrack to the Olympics. Obviously there’s Sleaford Mods, too – the undisputed kings of the East Midlands dialect and savage portrayers of modern life. It’s also home to Rock City, one of the country’s largest independent venues, but now, in a very surprising turn of events, it’s also home to a brand new Rough Trade record store. After London and New York City, Nottingham is the iconic indie chain’s third location worldwide. It could seem incongruous with the store and label’s carefully crafted major-city aesthetic, but what does it say about Nottingham’s musical credentials? The Skinny called Cai Burns, from Nottingham’s premier post-punk outfit, Kagoule, to investigate whether their city’s worth the fuss. “There’s this weird thing, like, Nottingham’s a ‘hot’ place for music,” he reports.“But you’re walking around thinking, ‘it is definitely not.’ There are like, three bands at the moment. I’d absolutely love to have more bands that are our age here… and hopefully, maybe, what’s happened to us might mean that other people join us. “What’s happened to Kagoule is a story of elbow grease and chance encounter. Burns formed the band with school friends Lucy Potter and Lawrence English when the three were all in their mid-teens. Some four years on (he estimates) the still partially teenaged band have released their debut album, Urth, on renowned Nottingham metal label Earache, toured up and down the country, and featured on XFM, BBC 6 Music and Amazon’s new Front Row platform. A stalwart of Nottingham’s live scene, they’ve played almost every stage the city has to offer. When we speak, Burns is still in bed after a heavy session the night before. Last night saw the
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launch party for Urth, with the band showcasing the album in full at the new Rough Trade, accompanied by a free bar and a slowly buffering projection of old sci-fi films. Kagoule have played the new venue before, performing at the opening party in 2014: possibly a savvy move on behalf of Rough Trade in ingratiating the store within Nottingham’s local DIY culture. As Burns reflects, “it didn’t really fit in, but now everything else is standing up around it. It’s OK now. It’s gone from terrible to OK.”
“Hopefully, maybe, what’s happened to us might mean that other people join us” Cai Burns
One of the chief complaints by locals against the new Rough Trade was that it might detract from The Music Exchange, an independent record store at the centre of Nottingham’s music scene that is, at heart, a social enterprise run by volunteers in need of work and support. It’s noted for providing a backbone for local bands, and, as Burns explains, “it has a cult following, and will always have certain people buying records there all the time.” He pauses. “But I do think Rough Trade are sneaking a lot of their business. I work in the cafe next to Rough Trade, and people really want to be carrying around a Rough Trade bag. 35-year-old hipsters, that kind of thing.” Both Rough Trade and The Music Exchange offered a pre-sale on Kagoule’s album, weeks before its ‘real’ release, but Burns headed straight to the Exchange to see the band’s record in vinyl flesh: “They’ve had us since the start. It was really overwhelming to see the record there. I was talking really quietly, in a high-pitched voice. Just holding it, and resting it on things… asking other people to hold it. It’s so surreal. I calmed down, went back and said sorry for how weird I’d been earlier.”
Despite any potential rivalries with local record stores, Rough Trade also doubles as a venue; hosting in-store sets, offering a stage during inner-city festivals like Dot to Dot, and enticing smaller touring bands that before “had nowhere to go.” It marks a clear change in the map of Nottingham’s music halls. Kagoule have launched previous EPs in institutions like The Chameleon, a quirky hub for the city’s artists which sees the sweat drip from the ceiling before even a hundred people have passed through the doors. The band are also affiliated with a practice space/ DIY venue called JT Soar – beloved for its sparse cover charges and BYOB ethos, it’s a by-word for Nottingham’s underground scene and, as Burns excitedly describes, “it’s definitely grown, it’s getting a name for itself. We’ll see it in more bands coming over from different countries to play, they’re starting to get a lot of American bands, hardcore.” Kagoule don’t necessarily sound like they’re into hardcore. Urth sees the three-piece pick and choose from four years’ worth of song-writing: earlier double A-side releases like Monarchy/ Mudhole showed a band fully at home within structural, gothic walls of sound, fuzzed-out and gargantuan – but tracks like these haven’t made it onto their first full length. “I really wanted Urth to be as little as possible. Never more than a few guitar layers. There’s synths on Mudhole, I’d never put synths on a chorus now. It’s a very angular album.” Made of Concrete, the second track the teenaged band ever wrote together, started life as crunchy post-punk, providing one of the few opportunities within an early-years Kagoule set for a crowd-based singalong. Captured on record now, in 2015, Made of Concrete sounds more subtle, more alien. Burns describes it as having grown “the confidence to mess around, to change, to have a horrible chord under the whole song” – a description applicable to the record on the whole. Urth sees new life breathed into older tracks, but also a young band who aren’t afraid to build upon older genres in a weird and markedly contemporary manner. Similarities to 1990s bands like Sebadoh and even Pavement have been floated in past reviews, but Burns is just into “heavy guitar riffs. My favourite thing in the world.” When the band announced they’d be releasing Urth with Earache Records – an iconic Nottingham metal label previously home to the likes of Napalm Death,
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Interview: Katie Hawthorne Pitchshifter and The Dillinger Escape Plan – the news fell on mostly baffled ears. Yet, as Burns explains, it’s not the most unlikely pairing. Did the Nottingham connection inspire the band’s decision? “I think… it was one of the deciding factors. People that worked there would see us playing… One of the guys there, Tom, he nagged them for ages: ‘What about this band Kagoule? What about this band Kagoule?’ It was at the stage when we wanted to take the next step, talking to various people. But then you get an offer from Earache with their flashing, scribbled logo. We were like, ‘I’d love to tell my friends I’ve just signed to a heavy metal label.’ “And a lot of the stuff they were doing in the ’90s is stuff we were already into. Fudge Tunnel and that. So it made sense to me. People wouldn’t think we have those influences, it might confuse them, but…” It’s likely that anyone confused by Kagoule’s signing might have expected the band to choose a smaller, DIY outfit, but Burns retorts, matter-of-fact: “Yeah, but those labels can’t ring up Amazon.” It’s a mixture of pragmatism and perversity: on the one hand, Kagoule enjoy appearing a cuckoo in the nest of Earache’s metal-heads, and on the other, are evidently well aware of the commercial benefits of being tied to such a prestigious name. This ethos seems apt for describing Nottingham’s half-resistance to Rough Trade’s invasion. In shaking the long-established infrastructure of the city’s record stores and smaller venues, it’s provided both competition and attraction. In highlighting the city as one of the UK’s musical hotspots, it’s drawn attention to Nottingham’s potential – and it could well provide a platform for a new generation of Midlands musicians. If a slightly more “big business” approach to music will inspire young bands to grow up through the grass remains to be seen – but as Burns reflects, somewhat incredulously, no one would ever have predicted that the three school friends would be releasing on Earache, “in a brand new Rough Trade… built in Nottingham? And be album of the month?” Surely stranger things have happened. Playing A Carefully Planned Festival #5, Manchester, 17 Oct, Headrow House, Leeds, 22 Oct, Cavern Club, Liverpool, 11 Nov and Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 20 Nov Urth is out now on Earache Records kagoule.bandcamp.com
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Inhabiting the Surreal A rare voice in short story fiction, Adam Marek has the ability to unsettle and provoke in a single sentence. Before his appearance at Manchester Literature Festival, he tells The Skinny how visions of monsters hide fears of a more material kind Interview: Abby Kearney
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dam Marek wrote his first short-story collection aged seven. He still has the only copy, and over the phone gives a brief synopsis of its contents. In one of the stories, a character looks out of their bedroom window. It’s nighttime, and, in the darkness, the trees and bushes take on the appearance of witches and ghosts. This scribbling of a pre-pubescent Marek acts as a pretty good hint to his future output, to his interest in the short story – a form he describes as allowing a “huge amount of creative freedom,” the most suited to “experimenting with absurdist conceptual ideas” – and to his thematic preferences of the surreal and unsettling, which he’ll be discussing at Manchester Literature Festival this month. He attributes this preference to a childhood diet of Stephen King, Japanese monster movies and fantasy comics.
Selfie Literature
“The best way to write about the normal human experience is by fusing the fantastic with the everyday”
Manchester Literature Festival celebrates a decade at the head of the Northwest’s literary scene this month with events focusing on the biographies of Eleanor Marx, John le Carré and Saul Bellow. The Skinny considers the rising prominence of biography and memoir Interview: Holly Rimmer-Tagoe Illustration: Emma Brown Owl
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he explosion of the first-person narrative is unavoidable: whether scrolling through the internet, browsing your local bookshop, or maybe even perusing an actual library shelf, it is difficult – nay, impossible – to dodge the trend of the omnipresent ‘I.’ First-person articles have spread across the blogosphere and are spewed out at the same speed as a factory line making carbon-copy smartphones. Memoirs from the likes of Karl Ove Knausgaard and Helen Macdonald have come to dominate shortlists for the big literature prizes, and biographies about the inner lives of famous and forgotten names continue to rise up bestseller lists. We live in the age of the confessional where oversharing is not restricted to a darkly lit corner of a Catholic church, but has become a mere constant fixture of life. Indeed, the conditions that render the first-person point of view necessary aren’t as novel as we may expect. The emergence of the biographical genre as we know it starts in the 18th century – think steam engines and revolutions aplenty. The struggle for self and autonomy, in the political arena and the literary form, is now less about getting rid of a tyrannical monarch, and more about the creeping digital tyranny of CCTV and our maternal attachment to the mobile phone. Millennials are struggling to define who they are in the face of an ever-present machine, identity politics continues to be the political raison d’etre, and the boom in self-publishing (coupled with the fading influence of traditional publishers) has democratised writing. Anaïs Nin asserted: “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” The personal reflections of biography and memoir live life twice by their very nature and, as such, deal with the question of individual bias, faults
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Adam Marek
of memory and the delusion of self-presentation; fiction is forced to lie alongside fact. The reader comes face-to-face with an unreliable narrator and has to walk a faulty tightrope between truths and make-believe. Literary bods have a habit of prophesising the death of memoir, which, to be fair, somewhat stems from the salvo of celebrity books acting as mere salad dressing to the latest promo opportunity. Other, more acerbic critics see the current popularity of memoir and biography as little other than the earmark of a self-obsessed generation eager to discover the intimate details of a grim life story – the publication of Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela’s Ashes led literary critics to coin a new genre, the ‘misery memoir.’ However, despite all the pre-prepared elegies, memoir has bypassed its commissioning overlords and demand continues to outstrip supply. Once again the literary establishment has been forced to play catch-up, and a raft of work from the likes of Samantha Ellis, Rebecca Mead and Henry Marsh proves the genre won’t be in need of the long-predicted funeral pyre any time soon. It’s always easy to dismiss the study of the subject as a rent-a-gob/self-serving mouthpiece opportunity, and yet the cultural phenomenon of ‘me’ taps into something much more profound and interesting. Namely, will the individual survive when we are all increasingly whittled down to our likes and dislikes and online shopping preferences, and our every move can be predicted by a simple set of algorithms? The search for identity and self is now more frantic than ever.
Marek has published two critically acclaimed collections, Instruction Manual for Swallowing and The Stone Thrower. Both works demonstrate a mad inventiveness – though Marek comments on the ever-present “fear of sitting down to a blank page” – and a talent for vivid, sharp prose. He’s interested in the “inter-zone between fantasy and reality.” One, he believes, can be used to help make sense of the other: “I think the best way to write about the normal human experience is by using some trope of science fiction, by fusing the fantastic with the everyday,” he explains. In the short story Testicular Cancer versus The Behemoth, from his first collection, Instruction Manual for Swallowing, a man is diagnosed with cancer. He wanders
through the streets, distraught. Elsewhere in the city, a gigantic monster is causing havoc. The man, oblivious, wonders why everybody seems so distracted. Fear and anxiety of very different kinds are forced to co-exist, and help to define the other. When we speak, Marek is just back from an unconventional computing conference in New Zealand. On commissions for Comma Press anthologies he’s also visited Sicily, looking at work on bio-buildings, and a facility researching cross-species impregnation (afterwards, Marek wrote a story in which a women gives birth to an orangutan). Presently he’s working with Dr Penny Lewis on research into sleep and memory; his latest piece for Comma looks at the effects of sleep therapy for traumatised primates. Marek gains “endless ideas” from working alongside researchers and scientists, although his fascination is always tempered by apprehension. “You’re like risk assessment officers for the future,” he says, “you take their research in a very dystopian way.” Following the publication of his first collection Marek became a father. His first son was born with autistic tendencies, difficult-tocontrol epilepsy and learning difficulties. The stories of his second collection are tied to the experience of parenthood, of caring for the vulnerable. In one, a father and son rescue birds choking on fish, pulling little bodies from the birds’ throats. About the way his personal life figures into his fiction, Marek analogises: “When snowflakes form you have to have dust from the atmosphere, tiny grains from which they can grow. I think of my own experiences as like that dust… part of myself as the starting point to grow something else.” With the Festival on the horizon, how does Marek enjoy public readings? He used to find it “absolutely petrifying.” Now, he says, it’s “the best feeling in the world if somebody at the end says it’s had some effect on them; it means those months and years have been well spent. And the experience of hearing a writer read their work adds so much, changing how you read their work, personalising it.” Adam Marek is in conversation with the Chinese satirist Diao Dou on Sat 17 Oct at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester, 4pm, £6 (£4) manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
Manchester Literature Festival takes place 10-25 Oct, times and locations vary manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
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THE SKINNY
Novel Graphics Artist Dave McKean’s work seems to span the entire cultural spectrum, but this month he shows his literary side at Manchester Literature Festival. He comments on why attitudes to art in literature are changing Interview: Emma Nuttall
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rtist, writer, filmmaker, musician, sculptor and photographer – Dave McKean is something of a creative chameleon. His diverse talents have fed an eclectic career that includes making cover art for authors such as Neil Gaiman, David Almond and Richard Dawkins, to commissions for Heston Blumenthal and concept art for the Harry Potter films. He also has a series of his own graphic novels, including Violent Cases, Cages and Signal to Noise, and has directed motion pictures MirrorMask and Luna. We caught up with him ahead of his slot at Manchester Literature Festival this month.
Many people in the literary world still haven’t woken up to the importance of art in literature – do you think attitudes are changing? Attitudes have changed over the last couple of decades. There’s been a hangover from a very British, Victorian idea: when they believed having pictures alongside words meant you were reading a children’s book. These ideas are being broken down now, and comics, as a means of expression, are going through a wonderful golden age. People are becoming much more visibly literate and accepting of unusual imagery and different ways of telling stories.
The Skinny: You were part of the revolution of comics in the late 80s alongside names such as Alan Moore, Frank Miller and Grant Morrison. What was that period like for you? Dave McKean: It was wonderful. It’s a very rare opportunity for an artist to be a part of the medium they love whilst everything about it is changing and developing. I got to see the old and more commercial stuff transition into something new, and I tried to make the most of it. Because very often, when new art becomes popular, the companies that own them decide they’re the ones that have the power to steer the work rather than the artists. At that point, the creative process gets blocked up, lost and corporate again.
When given a brief for a book project, do you have to follow the story faithfully or do you have creative freedom? I’m a great believer that the text in a book should live on its own and I don’t see the point in simply illustrating a story straight. Readers create characters in their head, which is often better than a clustering of lots of very literal images over it. I think if the pictures are going to be there, they have to be adding something, playing with the text, maybe undercutting them or perhaps acting as an environment to the words. There are all sorts of ways imagery can interplay with text without being quite so pedantic.
You use a lot of digital technology in your work method. How do you feel about the digital distribution of books? Certainly it has affected my work. There is a lot less room for cover artists and illustrators to create. Fortunately there are still publishers around and the impact of e-readers seems to be levelling off. I think books with images, where the physicality of the book is so important, will have a longer life. Distribution online is opening up all kinds of interesting possibilities to reach your audience directly, but it is also having many other implications. It means as an artist, you probably spend less time creating and more time having to be a showman online. It’s very hard to say how it’s going to play out – we are nowhere near the end of it yet. Can you tell us what you are currently working on, and what we can expect from you next? I’m currently doing a lot of work for Heston
Blumenthal. My post is ‘Director of Story’ – I’m not entirely sure what that means! There’s a whole narrative element to the launch of Heston’s restaurant The Fat Duck; I’ve been doing maps and all sorts of imagery, and taking care of the storytelling aspects of the brand. I’ve illustrated his books in the past and so I feel all our work is coming together for this project. I’ve previously written a play called A Wolf’s Child, which I’ve recently been shooting lots of footage for. I’m building a film from that – it’s sitting on my computer ready to be edited. Stuff with Neil Gaiman and David Almond is always ongoing too; there are always books to be doing. Dave McKean will be in conversation with author David Gaffney on Fri 23 Oct at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester, 7pm, £6 (£4) manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
The Migrant’s Story Manchester Literature Festival has teamed up with Amnesty International for an event looking at exile and asylum. The Skinny takes a look at the migrant story in literature Interview: Holly Rimmer-Tagoe Illustration: Emma Brown Owl
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man steps off a boat, wide-eyed and tired. Children are handed over to strange men in protective white masks; some cry, many expressions remain motionless and unsure. We don’t know how long these people have travelled for, and can only guess at the conditions they have left. The scene is familiar: these newsreel images have been seared onto our retinas in recent months as Europe’s refugee emergency reaches crisis point. Fiction may seem a tad trivial at a time of such upheaval, but it’s more vital than ever. With platitudes from politicians and the commentariat replacing the voices of the refugees themselves, we take a look at the novels and stories telling the migrant’s story in their own words.
Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi (2000) This semi-autobiographical graphic novel juxtaposes the slow creep of oppression and censorship in post-revolution Iran, with the coming-ofage story – and eventual escape to Europe – of a spirited young Satrapi, whose mind is otherwise occupied by American pop and punk rock. The images of Persepolis disrupt the pictures of suffering and desolation we have come to associate with the Middle East; instead, the black-andwhite panels of Satrapi’s drawings are filled with colour, as she shows us events we never get to
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see in the Western world – joke telling, dancing and parties. A tour de force of wit and sarcasm, Satrapi’s voice is one you won’t forget in a hurry.
The Lonely Londoners, by Sam Selvon (1956) Breaking ground in the post-colonial tradition by using creolised English, Selvon’s novel looks at the lives of London’s post-war West Indian immigrants. The promised Eden of London swiftly turns into a version of Dante’s Inferno when the protagonist, Moses, is forced to confront loneliness and racism in the city’s grey smokes. Selvon’s depiction of the journey of an immigrant can tell us all something about the difficult mismatch between expectation and reality. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (2001) Martel’s Booker Prize-winning novel is an extraordinary feat of imagination, managing to personify a Bengal tiger and pace an isolated shipwreck as if it were a crime thriller. The novel parallels a number of journeys across Pi’s life; we trail his migration from India to Canada, the dangerous expedition across the Pacific Ocean and the metaphorical journey of surviving adversity against all the odds. As to the eternal question: is it an allegory? Well, that’s up to you.
The Pickup, by Nadine Gordimer (2001) Gordimer follows the relationship between the middle-class protagonist, Julie Summers, and her partner, Abdu, who is an Arab immigrant. Visa troubles force the couple to return to Abdu’s homeland and the roles are reversed. Confronting an unfamiliar culture, Summers has to deal with her biases and prejudices as they begin to surface. As always with Gordimer, expect a twist that will dash any expectations you may have prepared. By the Sea, by Abdulrazak Gurnah (2001) Gurnah’s novel is a shape-shifter, resisting any moral platitudes or easy answers about the nature of migration. Asylum seeker Saleh Omar has adopted a shield of silence, which Gurnah fills
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with lengthy, twisting sentences that are a work of intricate beauty. A series of events leads Omar to face his past and leave behind the ‘half-life of a stranger.’
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (2003) With the high notes of a Shakespearean tragedy, Hosseini’s book explores the father-son relationship, betrayal and redemption. The first Afghan novel written in English, The Kite Runner is a poignant story about the resilience of the human spirit amid a background of violence, tribal factions and brutality. Bidisha and Gulwali Passarlay will be in conversation discussing asylum and exile on Sat 17 Oct at Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, 2pm, £8 (£6) manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk
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Art of Darkness The dark art of illustrator Graham Humphreys is finally seeing the light with an upcoming book and exhibition. His are the bold and bloody images to accompany the seminal horror films of our times, including A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Evil Dead
t could be said that Marlon Brando was to blame. In 1996, his contempt for his craft was dragging the already fractured production of The Island of Dr Moreau towards farce and chaos. By Brando’s grossly postponed on-set arrival, director Richard Stanley – thought the ‘next big thing’ after cult classics Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992) – was already long gone. Expelled both literally and metaphorically into the wilderness, smoking weed and licking wounds somewhere deep in the Cairns jungle, the visionary’s vision was in its death throes and the production being prepared for mainstream rigor mortis. It’s all chronicled in the tragically hilarious 2014 documentary Lost Soul. Both Moreau and the two previous Stanley films were storyboarded by his friend, the renowned illustrator Graham Humphreys. A lively talking head in the documentary, but here and now simply talking: he is on the phone with The Skinny discussing the upcoming exhibition of his iconic horror artwork and accompanying book, both titled Drawing Blood. “I mean the whole scenario was completely ridiculous,” says Humphreys of the cursed Moreau. “I think for him [Stanley], this was just going to be a low- to medium-budget film and he had all these fantastic ideas… the moment it got green-lighted, because Brando was interested, then he said, well the big money is coming in now, basically they’re going to take control of it.” It was crippling for Stanley to watch his creativity transformed into a bloated Hollywood beast. (Interesting background: Stanley’s ancestor was Sir Henry Morton Stanley, the controversial colonial conqueror and reported blueprint for Conrad’s Kurtz in Heart of Darkness – whom Brando famously played in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 adaptation, Apocalypse Now. H G Wells confronted Conrad upon its publication, suggesting that Kurtz was in fact the plagiarised offspring of his own creation, Moreau. And you thought this article’s title was just lazy punning.) Humphrey’s storyboards for the 1996 production presented a dangerously subversive visual concept to match Stanley’s febrile imagination. Religiously charged illustrations – perhaps based on the 12 Stations of the Cross – included snarling dog-people in surgical scrubs licking blood from hospital instruments as a firstborn is
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“I remember my razor-wielding monkey. I had to remove a whole lot of blood from the blade” Graham Humphreys
Credit: Graham Humphreys / www.proud.co.uk
Graham Humphreys - Nightmare on Elm Street 2 - Freddy’s Revenge
delivered to the dark deity Moreau. The fascinating Moreau story is in fact only a side note to Humphreys’ true calling. He is widely considered the last great movie-poster artist of our times – to which the upcoming book and exhibition pay tribute and testimony. Humphreys was responsible for the bold and bloody images that accompanied many of the seminal horror movies to have shaped the modern genre, from The Evil Dead onwards. It all started more innocently. “When I was a small child just watching TV, a lot of things would appeal to me,” he reveals. “Things like The Munsters, The Addams Family, Dr Who, Lost in Space, they all kick-started my imagination.” Art college made these fantasies flesh by cultivating the illustrating skills later used to shine a light on the dark side of cinema. Humphreys uses a craft far from the vulgar cut-and-paste techniques that drive the majority of modern film promotion. “When you have photography you have a literal interpretation. It doesn’t matter how much photoshopping you do,” he suggests. “The fact is you have a photograph, the actuality. An illustration takes it away from that into an area which is not defined… once you’ve got that photograph then you’ve got the actual item and suddenly the imagination has no place to go.”
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a case in point. The 1984 slasher, about a group of teens being menaced in their dreams by Freddy Krueger, a disfigured murderer who wears a ratty pullover and a glove of razor-sharp knives, was the second instance – sandwiched between Last House on The Left and Scream – of dearly departed horror maestro Wes Craven redefining the genre. “I remember it like it was yesterday, some things just stay with you,” Humphreys says of the now definitive artwork he created for the film. “I didn’t think I would be given it because I think I’d already been pigeonholed into the whole Evil Dead thing, and obviously this was a much more sophisticated film.” The studio considered the existing US flyer – showing only knives slashing through night sky – to not quite be doing its all. “So I just had a look at the film again,” says Humphreys, and incorporated “the whole thing about dreaming… this sleepy suburbia.” The knives and glove came later. “Of course at that point the Freddy Krueger character was unknown, you know? It was not part of the lexicon of horror at all.” And the character was far from the defused, wise-cracking Freddy of later sequels. “So, I thought he should remain this shadowy character, a silhouette with just the gloves and knives up front… he’s almost invisible there, like in the back of a dream, but then suddenly this hand is coming out. It’s
Graham Humphreys - Nightmare on Elm Street
suggesting that what she’s dreaming is actually becoming a reality. There’s a narrative threat going on there.” Some of Humphreys’ images proved simply too threatening during the high gore mark of the early 80s and the video-nasty moral panic that followed. “I think the most ridiculous time I ever had in terms of censorship of an image was Nightmare on Elm Street 2, which had Freddy standing over this school bus,” recalls Humphreys. “They had the poster in Leicester Square in a huge hoarding and they actually touched out the knives on the hand and the words ‘School Bus,’ so you had this silly man in a jumper and a yellow vehicle – no visual sense whatsoever.” There were tighter parameters for illustrators to live within once the Video Recordings Act 1984 attempted to inject some puritanical thinking into our viewing pleasure. “Every video sleeve went through a committee and you could certainly be told to remove things,” says Humphreys. The all-too-real simian threat was obviously high on the censor’s list: “with one poster I did – a theatrical release for Creepers [aka Dario Argento’s Phenomena], heavily, heavily cut of course as it was at the time – I remember my razor-wielding monkey, I had to remove a whole lot of blood from the blade. It was dripping down and I had to paint it out.” These restrictions failed to inhibit the films or their accompanying artwork. “If anything it probably stimulated the work,” Humphreys believes. “People like a bit of danger. If you look at the video covers at the time, people tried to make them as sensational as possible.” This was an era when Argento’s films were watched in the UK on tenth-generation VHS copies, leaking colour across the screen. But with the uneducated and rather arbitrary process of the BBFC at the time, provocative artwork proved a risky path. In place of a genuine consideration of content, films were reportedly banned over lurid covers or titles. “This is absolutely true,” Humphreys confirms. “I Spit on Your Grave, for instance. I talk about juxtaposition of images, well if you juxtapose certain words you end up with something quite offensive, or seemingly
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offensive. That just seems too much for some, you know it’s like a desecration almost. I think just the title alone ensured that some films didn’t go to market.” But we are living in an age of enlightenment. These films are now appreciated for the art that they are, or some simply enjoyed as the harmless trash they were always meant to be. It’s partly a generational thing, Humphreys believes, as the retro influence bleeds into modern filmmaking. “I think a lot of people making films now would have grown up in that 80s era, being influenced by the stuff of the period. There’s definitely a nostalgia trip for them. I mean, Eli Roth is another person. Green Inferno, obviously he’s revisiting stuff he watched as a kid.” This reappraisal of 80s horror has also led to a resurrected interest in the work by the original artists of those 80s VHS sleeve illustrations. “It’s partly being driven by the reissuing of a lot of films,” explains Humphreys. Arrow Films have been commissioning multiple pieces for their DVD and Blu-ray releases; in the age of the digital download, the tangible film product increasingly becomes a collector’s item. “Francesco [Simeoni] at Arrow literally said, look, we’ve got all these 80s titles. We want to give them a nostalgic marketing twist which harks back to the artwork of those video covers of the time.” A task that Humphreys began with 80s student slasher flick Slaughter High. This same nostalgia fuels the desire for Drawing Blood, Humphreys’ exhibition and resulting book, featuring 120 pieces including artworks for Mario Bava’s Rabid Dogs and Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case, alongside written contributions from Evil Dead director Sam Raimi and horror authority Kim Newman. At Proud Camden the gallery walls will bleed this November. The Drawing Blood exhibition of Graham Humphreys’ work takes place at Proud Camden, London, from 29 Oct to 22 Nov and is free to enter The limited edition book Drawing Blood is launched on 28 Oct and is available through Proud Galleries proud.co.uk
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Credit: Graham Humphreys / www.proud.co.uk
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Interview: Alan Bett
Radio Ga Ga Rhys Ifans tells us how his new film, Under Milk Wood, a cinematic version of Dylan Thomas’s radio play of the same name, blows the dust off the 1954 text and visualises its dark, erotic core
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reat screen actors need iconic moments; the images that cement them in the public’s consciousness. Rhys Ifans has one, and it was achieved while wearing a pair of unflattering underpants. It’s a path well trodden. Tom Cruise did the same in Risky Business. The film in question was in 1999’s Notting Hill, and Ifans, as Hugh Grant’s layabout flatmate, was a pleasingly anarchic presence in that glossy Richard Curtis-scripted affair. He didn’t let that breakout performance pigeon-hole him, though. In the succeeding 16 years he’s navigated a circuitous path, working on both small-scale indie projects and Hollywood blockbusters. Often, these films have been terrible. And more often than not, Ifans is the best thing in them. He’s played a DJ who ingests vodka through his eyeballs (Kevin & Perry Go Large), Satan’s eldest son (Little Nicky), the mutated villain in a superhero movie (The Amazing Spider-Man), and international cannabis smuggler Howard Marks (Mr Nice). He even got in on every British thespian’s favourite gravy train with a small role in the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This eclectic eye for roles was evident at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival; he was all over the programme. We found him playing a lascivious matinee idol in Peter Bogdanovich’s feather-light screwball She’s Funny That Way, a veteran rocker in Tim Godsall’s Len and Company, and an author with an enlarged head in Mills & Boon satire The Marriage of Reason and Squalor. When we meet the 48-year-old Welshman in a swish Edinburgh hotel, however, it’s to discuss Under Milk Wood, the finest of his EIFF quartet. The film is a vivid cinematic rendering of Dylan Thomas’s 1954 radio play of the same name. It centres on the fictional Welsh fishing village of Llareggub (now read that backwards) and the frisky goings on of its inhabitants (who include Charlotte Church as a saucy young mother and Ifans’ brother, Llyr). Ifans is Blind Captain Cat, our narrator, and the film unfolds as if we’re witnessing his wild fever dream. “It’s an assault on all the senses,” says Ifans of the film, “to the point where the imagery is so strong sometimes that I swear I can smell it.” A stuffy old film about poetry it is not. This isn’t the first time Under Milk Wood has been brought to the screen. Andrew Sinclair
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directed a star-studded version in 1972, with Richard Burton in Ifans’ role, and Liz Taylor and Peter O’Toole among the village folk. It’s been adapted for the stage too, with a major revival last year to mark the centenary of the poet’s birth. Despite its popularity, Ifans reckons its masterpiece status looms large over the text. “There’s a reverence towards this piece that has shackled it for years,” he suggests. “The same is true of any great literary piece; they accumulate a reverence around them that almost stops you really experiencing or addressing the piece for what it was originally.” And when we ask what Ifans considers Under Milk Wood to be originally, he doesn’t miss a beat: “It’s a bawdy romp – it really is. Essentially when you’re listening to this piece you become your own filmmaker: when you hear the shagging bits on the radio, you’re imagining it pretty vividly. That’s all we’ve done with the film.” Helping bring these “shagging bits” to life is Ifans’ old mucker Kevin Allen, who gave him his breakthrough role in 1997’s Twin Town, and who joins us during the interview. Its colour saturated visuals and dreamlike atmosphere suggest a Luis Buñuel satire that’s been filtered through the darkly erotic lens of a League of Gentlemen sketch. It really blows the cobwebs off the 50-year-old text, and, most pleasing of all, it reminds you how hilarious Thomas’s poetry could be. Allen is convinced that Thomas would have approved of their approach: “He was such an animal ahead of his time in terms of accessing technology,” he says of the poet. “He was connecting with great filmmakers, great composers. He would have explored this through film without a shadow of a doubt.” Ifans, however, doesn’t consider what they’ve made to be film at all. For him, the experience of this expressionistic collage of colourful tableaux is closer to listening to a good album than watching a movie. “Even the craziest films out there follow a kind of film grammar, in terms of continuity and story structure,” he explains. “That isn’t present here because the writing itself doesn’t have those elements: it’s poetry and prose intertwined. And that’s a one-off as a piece of literature, never mind as a piece of cinema.” Under Milk Wood is released 30 Oct
Blanche McIntyre
It’s All Greek to Me As this year’s third major production of The Oresteia opens, this time in Manchester, The Skinny speaks to director Blanche McIntyre about Ancient Greek theatre, modernday politics and being part of HOME’s debut season Interview: Alice Horne
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OME’s latest guest director, Blanche McIntyre, is ever so slightly late (and extremely apologetic about it) for our morning meeting in Manchester’s smart new arts venue. She just needs a coffee, she explains: last night was the first rehearsal for HOME’s second produced play, epic Greek tragedy The Oresteia. Having cut her directorial teeth “on the fringe,” McIntyre is keen to point out that her first paid directing job was only three years ago. But that’s not to say that she isn’t already making waves in the theatre world. In 2011, McIntyre was named the Critics’ Circle’s most promising newcomer (a title she shares with the likes of Eddie Redmayne and Sam Mendes) and she has already directed an impressive range of plays to critical acclaim, most recently As You Like It at the Globe. At HOME, McIntyre is returning to her classical roots (she has a double first in classics from Oxford) to direct Ted Hughes’s 1999 translation of Aeschylus’s Oresteia, a three-part drama first performed in 458 BC. McIntyre describes it as “a story about a spiral of revenge, a blood vendetta that gets out of control.” It is pretty bloody. It sees the king of Argos, Agamemnon, who has sacrificed his daughter to help win the Trojan War, triumphantly returning ten years later only to be murdered by his wife. And that’s just for starters. “It’s also a story about the invention of justice as an idea and how we as a people went from unthinking vendetta into trial by jury, justice, right and wrong – deciding what these ideas are.” Being part of HOME’s debut season is, understandably, quite a bit of pressure for a relatively young director. “[It’s] terrifying!” McIntyre exclaims. “Brilliant, but terrifying.” But this isn’t the only pressure McIntyre faces with The Oresteia. Despite not having a major London show for over a decade, there have already been two high-profile productions of the play this
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year, including one which transferred to the West End in August. So why is there such a sudden fascination with ancient drama? “I think people get interested in Greek theatre when they feel like they’re living in politically turbulent times. And I think there can be moments where there is suddenly an appetite to have things told very straight, very uncompromisingly, in an exhilarating and very powerful way.” As McIntyre explains, Greek plays were designed to be extremely political and public in a way that we don’t often expect in theatre today. “They are a way in which the city interrogates an issue, decides what it thinks about it, questions what it thinks about it... [Today,] the questions that Manchester is having to face about how it looks after itself and how it governs itself – these seem to be the sort of questions that we ought to be looking at,” says McIntyre. “And of course [Manchester] has this extraordinary long history of agitating for the common good, and of political engagement, so it seems like absolutely the right place partly to be raising these issues at all, but also to be getting the community involved in them.” Community is certainly crucial to McIntyre’s staging of the play: the six-strong cast is supported by a chorus of 50 local volunteers who have been rehearsing since early June. And this isn’t McIntyre’s first time working in Manchester, either. In 2013, she directed Harold Pinter’s 1957 play The Birthday Party at The Royal Exchange. Just two years on, she is embarking on a very different theatrical adventure, but her vision is clear: “I want [the audience] to go on a rollercoaster of a drama, and I want them to come out thinking.” The Oresteia is at HOME, Manchester, 23 Oct-14 Nov, £10£29.50 homemcr.org/production/oresteia/
THE SKINNY
Photo: Dominic Parkes
Interview: Jamie Dunn
Circus AT THE LOWRY
LIVERPOOL’S INTERNATIONAL ARTS VENUE
Fri 9th Oct • £7 adv
Blossoms + Declan McKenna Tues 13th Oct • £25 adv
WHAT’S ON www.thecapstonetheatre.com Autumn Season 2015
Rich Homie Quan Thurs 15th Oct • £25 adv
Ride
14 I Oct £12.50 (£9 con)
Thurs 15th Oct • £12 adv
Swim Deep
Ockham’s Razor present
Tipping Point Wed 11 - Sat 14 November ‘Britain’s most innovative and aerial theatre group.’ Total Theatre
Mon 19th Oct • £13.50 adv
Romeo and Juliet
The Shires
Thurs 22nd Oct • £12.50 adv
Spector + Spring King
20 I Oct £11.50
Fri 23rd Oct • £18 adv
The Cribs + Pulled Apart By Horses Thurs 29th Oct • £11 adv
Prides
Stephen Hough
Sun 1st Nov • £25 adv
Fish - Farewell to Childhood
23 I Oct £11.50
Fri 6th Nov • £12 adv
The Sunshine Underground Sat 7th Nov • £15 adv
Roller Trio
Lucy Rose + Flyte + C Duncan
The performers balance, climb and cling to this teetering world Co-presented with Contact Theatre
Tues 10th Nov • £17.50 adv
27 I Oct £12.50 (£9.50 con)
Thurs 12th Nov • £19 adv
I loved you and I loved you
The Fratellis
Joey Bada$$
Sat 14th Nov • £20 adv
Newton Faulkner Thurs 19th Nov • £20 adv
Public Service Broadcasting
Barely Methodical Troupe present
Bromance Tue 24 & Wed 25 November ‘...smartly crafted and highly entertaining.’ The Times
Sat 21st Nov • £14 adv
Reverend & The Makers Sun 22nd Nov • £15 adv
30 I Oct £11.50
Philip Clouts Quartet
Deaf Havana
Mon 23rd Nov • £10 adv
Chad Valley + Oslo Parks Tues 24th Nov • £13.50 adv
Slaves
Wed 25th Nov • £19.50 adv
The Wailers Performing the
04 I Nov £11.50
Julian Argüelles Tetra
album Legend in its entirety
Sat 28th Nov • £8 adv
The Sherlocks Sat 28th Nov • £10 adv
The Hummingbirds
12 I Nov £8 (£5 con)
Andy Frizell and the Theatre Orchestra
Mon 30th Nov • £10 adv
Jaws + Nai Harvest Tues 1st Dec • £15 adv
Exploring male friendship with physical heroics, humour and skill
Courtney Barnett Tues 1st Dec • £13.50 adv
The Rifles (Acoustic) Wed 2nd Dec • £30 adv
Public Enemy
thelowry.com/circus
0843 208 6000*
Fri 11th Dec • £25 adv Sat 12th Dec • SOLD OUT
Echo & The Bunnymen
BOX OFFICE 0844 8000 410 www.ticketquarter.co.uk TicketQuarter Handling Fee of £2.25 per order applies when booking online or by phone. Call charges apply. There is no Handling Fee when buying tickets with cash from the TicketQuarter Box Office, Queens Square Centre, Liverpool L1 1RG.
Fri 29th Jan 2016 • £16.50 adv
Gabrielle Aplin
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October 2015
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CITIZEN 06 Anthony, Manchester
TRANSLATED BY TED HUGHES DIRECTED BY BLANCHE MCINTYRE
Russell Maliphant Company production
A Sadler’s Wells/
CONCEAL | REVEAL Thu 22 October
‘Dancing bodies rarely look more beautiful than in the work of Russell Maliphant.’ The Guardian M Part of the Dance Mulitbuy. Find out more
thelowry.com/dance | 0843 608 6010
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THE SKINNY
“Comedians don’t have to apologise” Just before #Swine11 rocked the Twittersphere, we caught up with comedy’s master of the profane, Doug Stanhope Interview: Bernard O’Leary
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omedy is under pressure these days, struggling to keep abreast of changes in social dynamics, as well as the increasingly surreal nature of the world around us. For example, The Skinny recently spoke to Doug Stanhope, America’s spokesman for the profane and an angry voice against the conservative establishment. Between that interview and the publication of this piece, someone accused David Cameron of fucking a pig. How do you keep up with that? Back in that lost age of innocence of mid-September, when none of us had ever really thought about what noises David Cameron might make when spunking into offal, Stanhope is sitting out on his manager’s driveway, bracing himself for another tour of the UK. He’s done a lot of press recently and he admits that his head’s still not quite in the interview game yet. “I’m thinking of putting an FAQ on my website for shit like ‘where do you get your ideas from?’ or ‘why did you decide to be a comedian?’ I’m sick of answering that shit. And people always ask me like, ‘How far is too far? Where do you draw the line on offensive material?’ I’m supposed to be the fucking expert on that.” When we last spoke in 2011, he finished by declaring that: “There’s nothing really edgy in comedy any more. There’s no more bridges to cross.” Comedy, he said back then, would have to wait for another 9/11. Little did anyone know that less than a week later, we’d be speculating about whether there was photographic evidence of the British Prime Minister [allegedly] having his dick in a pig’s mouth, an event which was quickly dubbed #swine11 on Twitter. Social media – especially Twitter – is maybe the driving force behind what’s changing comedy. For one thing, it’s now policed a lot more heavily than it was a few years ago, with events such as 2013’s #CancelColbert campaign showing that no one is immune from criticism, while comics such as Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld raised
October 2015
questions about outrage culture and its effect on comedy. “Yeah, there’s a whole bunch of fake outrage these days,” Stanhope says. “There’s definitely a huge backlash to everything on Twitter. The thing is, the people who get upset are not people who go to comedy clubs, generally. It’s one blogger somewhere and then some shitheads like fucking Gawker or something will make a big story out of it, and it will develop into an argument, when there’s actually no offended group. It’s all fake. “They want to get someone in trouble, they want to get someone to apologise. Over here it’s been the rape joke thing. Like Daniel Tosh made some aside about rape and it blew up into this huge conversation about it. It was comics versus comics, and it kind of bifurcated the comedian base.” But Daniel Tosh is an asshole though. Stanhope laughs. “I love him!” Does Stanhope think he could survive a major online backlash if Twitter rose up against him? He laughs again. “I talk about that onstage. I often wonder what I would have to do to lose my fan base. ’Cause they’re a unique group. Trying to offend them is hard. I think if I quit drinking, they might get upset. I’m a role model to some. They draw inspiration from my perfect-attendence drinking record. “But it doesn’t matter. I think it was Amy Schumer who said recently that comics have got to stop apologising for everything. And the thing is, comedians don’t have to apologise. We never have to apologise. The only ones who ever end up apologising are people who have a network deal and worry it might get pulled from them. If you just do stand-up you never have to apologise.” Stanhope has been on TV, famous from The Man Show in the States, and best known here as a contributor to Charlie Brooker’s Wipe stable of programmes. Brooker, of course, once wrote a
TV drama about what it might be like if the Prime Minister fucked a pig, and even he wasn’t prepared for the ‘Bae of Pigs’ incident. But Stanhope’s attention recently has been on literature. “I’m sorry I can’t string a sentence together today,” he says, “I feel like I just got out of prison, writing this book. So I haven’t been doing stand-up or watching news.” What was the process of writing like? “Evacuating. I feel like I took a huge dump. And I still don’t remember half the shit that happened.”
“I often wonder what I would have to do to lose my fan base” Doug Stanhope
The upcoming book is going to be autobiographical, centered on Stanhope’s mother committing suicide after a long illness. The two were very close, his mother having appeared regularly on The Man Show to review porn. Stanhope is a passionate advocate for assisted dying, another news story that’s been through the Twitter cycle and out again in the past few weeks. “It starts with my mother’s suicide, and goes back and looks at how she affected my sense of humour and style of comedy,” he says. “I haven’t figured out how to pitch a book about life with your mother without making it sound fucking boring. A lot of the time it just seems boring, and I realise that that’s because I lived it. It’s not surprising or odd to me. You go through vacillating periods of being like ‘No one
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else is going to read this shit,’ and then sometimes you think ‘Well, nobody else has had a life like this.’” Did he learn anything during the writing of the book? “I learned that stand-up comedy is way easier than writing a fucking book.” We talk a bit about other Twitter-driven changes in comedy, like the rise of unscrupulous content thieves, from semi-anonymous accounts with the word LAD in their handle to questionable individuals such as The Fat Jew. This represents an existential crisis for most modern comics, although Stanhope seems to be bemused by it all. “There was one act who wrote something complaining that The Fat Jew stole one of his jokes, and I was reading this and I was like, ‘Wait a second, you stole your set-up from one of my bits!’ “I don’t really give a shit. It actually works in my favour. I’m doing longer and longer stuff these days, like 20-minute bits, so if you want to steal my jokes, you have to steal a lot.” Maybe the wily comedy veteran has instinctively figured out where stand-ups will fit in the post-Twitter world. When you throw something like a pig-fucking Prime Minister into that ecosystem, it’s like feeding time at the piranha tank, with every last morsel of comedy stripped from the bone in under 30 minutes. By the time a comedian gets to the next gig, the audience have moved on. And even if you find a great gag, other people will just steal it. Maybe the real role of the 21st-century stand-up is as a storyteller, offering deeper, richer insight into the world around us. Or maybe not. We’ll check back in with Stanhope in 2019, and see how it all worked out. Doug Stanhope tours the UK this October, playing O2 Academy Leeds, 5 Oct, and The Lowry, Salford, 16 & 17 Oct dougstanhope.com
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Another Day in the Life of Mr Holland Ringleader supreme Will Holland, aka Quantic, talks life in the studio and reveals what’s up his sleeve ahead of DJ dates in the region
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t’s difficult to pin down Will Holland, musically and geographically. The man holding the Quantic umbrella has shuffled through many cultural realms over the past 15 years – from Brighton to Bogotá – leaving few musical stones unturned. Now based in Brooklyn and prepping his bags for an imminent European tour, it’s no surprise to find his taste for adventure still keen... and work ethic still mean. “I’ve spent the past month working from my studio here in Bushwick,” Holland explains via Skype. “It’s a nice neck of the woods and I can be as loud as I want. I’m in the process of figuring out new music and mixing down various bits and pieces from the Flowering Inferno and Nidia Góngora sessions. I haven’t lived in the UK for about nine years now so it’ll be nice to nip back and play some records this month. “I’ll be bringing a bunch of stuff that isn’t out yet – all vinyl. The nice thing about turning up with a box of records is that you’re not entirely lobbied with the problem of endless choice from a two-million-song library. Being a DJ who travels with a box of records is an important thing for the industry because we sell vinyl more than anything these days. You have to commit to your passion in that way. I usually cut unreleased tracks to dubplates ready to go for the club, so there’ll be a lot of newer sounds, soul, funk, dub, classics for good measure. I always enjoy turning up a few Latin American obscurities, too, especially Colombian.” Seven years spent curating sounds from his Sonido del Valle studio in the highlands of Cali may have sharpened Holland’s taste for Pacific cumbia and tropical dub – and honed his Spanish – but moving to New York two years ago brought jazz back to the fore, fuelling thoughts for latest project The Western Transient.
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Interview: Daniel Jones
“I’m not looking to work with people who are extraordinary solo musicians; I’m looking to work with people who own their sound”
itself, the art form as we knew it before computers became more and more a part of the recording process in the 80s. “There are intricacies we miss out on now that you’re really aware of when recording with a tape machine. You personally have to achieve the vibe on the record that you want the listener to hear. You have to create that in the room; it’s not an afterthought. There’s something quite ballsy about that, and quite beautiful. Scenes are crafted and you’re actually capturing moments that would otherwise be lost forever.” His feelings on traditional studio sessions, and pulling people together in one room to see how they play off each other, are strong. He goes on to describe the “wasteland” territory that the art of the studio musician now occupies compared to 40, 30, or even five, years ago. “When these wonderful records were being made, particularly in the 60s and 70s, every town had a go-to band that would end up backing a ream of different artists, playing this and that. Those bands are so much fewer and farther between now, they don’t share as many experiences in one room, which is why we don’t hear records like that anymore. “Spontaneous interaction is always something I’ve tried to focus on, but more recently it’s been interesting working within a lot of different musical cultures and disciplines. For me, it boils down to a feel, and how the musicians feel together. That’s more important than ability. A lot of the time I’m not looking to work with people who are extraordinary solo musicians; I’m looking to work with people who own their sound.” Holland himself feels most at home with a guitar, and he’s quick to point out that he’s “not really what you’d call a multi-instrumentalist.” Modest maybe, as he can certainly turn his hand to a new instrument if a record requires it – notably saxophone and, more recently, accordion. As far as any classical training goes, though, his mum stopped paying for piano lessons when she realised he was happy enough with a tambourine. “I’m a guitarist, first and foremost,” he muses. “It’s important for the average human to have one instrument that you can really articulate
yourself through. A lot of these grandiose pieces of music that end up huge and crawling with tons of instruments often start with one guy playing one thing. In my case I’ve got a few crappy 50s supermarket guitars that I’ll never play live but they hold a special value when I’m working on something new on my own. Sentimental, I guess, but it got me through my teenage years in Worcestershire.” Around the turn of the millennium, Holland was also studying sound engineering at college in Birmingham. He was working on beats for television before being introduced to Breakin’ Bread Records through a pal. It was the heyday of the minidisc back then, so he ended up sending a few demos down on that format, including We Got Soul, which was soon snapped up by DJ Rob Life and Skeg at Breakin’ Bread. His passion for soul music was thriving thanks to regular trips to Mister Tee’s in Kidderminster and a blooming DJ partnership with fellow Limp Twin, Russ Porter. As the price of Northern records proved costly, Holland dipped his toe into esoteric funk and soul from Miami, Texas and other more obscure corners of the States, before exploring the more out-there stuff from guys like Sun Ra – not that there are many guys like Sun Ra, mind. Anyway, there’ll no doubt be plenty on show when your man comes to town. “I miss England,” he ponders, “But I value it more not being there. There’s a slight detachment as I’ve been away for nearly ten years, even when I listen to records I made when I was there. I love where I’m from but moving away from Brighton has given me a lot of space to get on with things. It was liberating in a way to move from Brighton to Colombia; much less disturbance, pissing neighbours off and having complete freedom to work on my music. That’s really, really important for anybody exploring their art. “On the gastronomical side, I do miss cheese, I have to say. I never realised it before leaving the UK: a good cheese is hard to find.” Quantic DJs at Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 3 Oct; HiFi Club, Leeds, 8 Oct; and The Kazimier, Liverpool, 9 Oct quantic.org
Will Holland
“Having been immersed in Latin music for quite a long time,” he says, “I wanted to have a stab at compositions with the sound and groove on labels like Impulse! and Blue Note during the 70s. I picked a group of musicians that I’d worked with at, and on, different stages in my career.” Eight people are listed on the record in total – including regulars Wilson Viveros on drums and Todd Simon on flugelhorn – each lending a hand to bring ten original Quantic compositions to life. The resulting album, out on Tru Thoughts, is an easy option for Sunday mornings on the lawn, if you have a lawn. “Usually, coming up with sketches for my tracks is a solitary process for me,” Holland continues. “This time it was more of a photogenic approach, writing all the scores, calling the band and going straight into the studio. This was, in
CLUBS
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Bella Hardy Tuesday 27 October –
Liverpool’s Newest Venue
Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald
MUSIC ROOM
Wednesday 28 October –
Music Room is a small, friendly and informal venue which will open its doors this October. Music Room is a home for emerging Liverpool artists, a new space for city festival events and a place to try out new things. Have a drink at the bar, grab a bite to eat and come and enjoy! Highlights announced so far include;
Tuesday 17 November –
Trecherous Orchestra
Wednesday 11 November –
Emily Portman Trio Sunday 15 November –
Thea Gilmore
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October 2015
Thursday 5 November –
L SO
Box Office liverpoolphil.com 0151 709 3789
9Bach
Tom Robinson Friday 4 December –
I Am Kloot’s John Bramwell Saturday 5 December
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Somewhere Between the Past and the Future
Ugly, uninteresting and yet to escape its history, Romania’s capital isn’t blessed with great PR. Yet beyond routine clichés and lazy perception sits a city full of life and contrast… just as long as you’re prepared to look Words: Duncan Harman Illustration: Nick Booton (Bruï Studio)
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he bars and restaurants of Lipscani do brisk business when the heat turns dry and tungsten. A block north of the Pia a Unirii – where even at 3am the temperature displayed beneath the billboards sits in the upper 20s – and the narrow streets of Bucharest’s Old Town coalesce with drinkers, smokers, dancers and chancers. “Ten years ago, none of this was here,” says Alina. “Well, the buildings are old, of course, but places to eat and drink, not so much.” A textiles student at the Universitatea Na ional de Arte, she sits with friends at an adjoining table, curious as to why we’re visiting. “It’s a beautiful country. A proud country,” she adds with a wry smile as we try to explain. “But Bucharest – and Romania in general – is still trying to work out what it is.” The idea had been a simple one: to spend some time in one of Europe’s less celebrated capitals, peeking beyond the lazy stereotypes frequently peddled by Western perceptions – all those travel pieces focusing upon Ceau escu kitsch and dark tales of medieval rulers; the damaging front pages (in certain newspapers) that whip up migration hysteria on slow news days. And it’s not as if Romania is without serious social issues. The transition to free-market economics has passed entire swathes of the population by, particularly in rural locations, where subsistence farming traps many below the poverty line and where mains water remains a luxury (even in major towns you can still find unpaved streets and abodes unconnected to gas, electricity or sanitation). The trains are crap, the roads are crap, and sometimes it’s not easy to work out what’s higher – the stray dog population or the number of politicians and officials on the take. Yet what these generalisations demonstrate is that unflattering portraits are easy to paint. Just as Lipscani – with its (mostly young, mostly local) crowd and burgeoning night scene – isn’t necessarily representative of the city as a whole. “The changes have been enormous,” explains Craig Turp, a British journalist based here since the ’90s and editor-in-chief of guidebook series In Your Pocket. “When we first started publishing back in 1999, Bucharest had about 80 restaurants. Now there are that many in Lipscani alone.” Renewal is the calling card of the dynamic city, even if – amid the big-brand lagers, the Italian food and all that listless techno pumping out from various PA systems – there is a discernibly generic feel behind the mesh of the Old Town’s tight streets; squint, and we could be anywhere from the Med to the Baltic, with a party of loud Brits on a stag-do strip-joint prowl just around the corner. It’s back on the Pia a Unirii – the outsized and rather ugly Union Square – where the real city comes into focus. Bisected by the Bulevardul Unirii (or Victory of Socialism Boulevard, to give the street its original name), and with the pomposity of the Casa Poporului (Ceau escu’s neoclassical, gateau-esque, still half-empty palace) dominating the view to the West, it’s a complex
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space; a bricolage of social-realist urban planning – architecture inspired as much by Pyongyang as Moscow – and a city in the process of getting on with things. One minute you’re standing amid traffic fumes and the banks of the pungent, stagnant Dâmbovi a River, the next it’s all florist kiosks and chic summer frocks. Heading in the direction of the main railway station, and wide avenues – at first glance dominated by unexceptional facades – disguise pockets of art nouveau grandeur when least expected, while the ecclesiastical architecture, predominately (though by no means exclusively) Romanian Orthodox, gifts otherwise undistinguished corners a baroque, Eastern presence. It’s actually the modern construction that’s the disappointment, much of it unimaginative, carrying the airs of corporate anywhere. As Craig Turp suggests, “Bucharest is never going to win any beauty contests, yet it does have some glorious architecture to admire, even if you do need to look for it. But it is a city that rewards the visitor prepared to simply wander the streets and get off the main thoroughfares.” And inasmuch as a serendipitous stroll or two is a fascinating way of exploring any destination, it’s in this manner that Bucharest’s charms and rhythms are fully appreciated (even if the charms end up as little more than a pleasant little park hiding at the end of a graffiti-plastered alleyway).
“Bucharest is a city that demands appreciation on its terms, not yours” Because this isn’t about preening or showpiece physicality; it’s more a city beholden to contrast – what Turp describes as its “idiosyncratic, hectic and downright life affirming” nature. “Hectic” is certainly one word to describe the traffic, with parking often erratic and pedestrians frequently treated as little more than a nuisance (for visitors planning to traverse the city, trams and buses are cheap if crowded, the Metro curiously retro in feel, as if one source of inspiration was the Glasgow Subway circa 1984). “Idiosyncratic” works better on a macro level, illustrating social and cultural mores (and, perhaps, the contradictions therein). Not everybody here smokes but they may as well do, such is the gleeful abandon with which so many cigarettes are wielded. Not everyone is welcoming, but many of those we spoke to – such as the welleducated and relatively affluent Alina and friends – were open and optimistic, with excellent English and an enthusiasm for Europeanism (however loosely defined).
“I suppose this can appear a strange place,” Alina tells us, back in Lipscani. “There are rich people here, driving Audis and living in smart villas. But there are many more who are poor. Ordinary people sometimes feel that others are setting the agenda on their behalf – business people, politicians – which leaves many people, and older generations especially, confused and guarded.” Does this mean that Bucharest is something of a contradiction? Stuck between the past and the future, between East and West? Alina considers this for a moment. “I think that, for ordinary Romanians, many promises haven’t been met. Aspirations have not been met.” And then she laughs; “it’s why everyone in Bucharest is still living in these damn blocs.” By which she means the utilitarian Communist-era apartment blocks that dominate the cityscape, define the cityscape, making Bucharest (population: two million) a compact and densely populated setting for everyday life. A couple of minutes in any direction, and you’re amid ugly buildings and sharp, unloved angles. Yet even the grimmest-looking streets suggest something above inertia; a recent lick of paint, a well-tended garden, an irreverent phrase – Against Modern Football – spray-painted onto a garage wall.
TRAVEL
“The city is changing. Its people are changing,” Alina concludes before heading off into the night. “It’s change that’s too fast for some and too slow for others, but I think we have to embrace it, because what else have we?” Turp too alludes to momentum when discussing Bucharest’s fortunes. “Recent changes have unquestionably been for the better, although as with any city that grows so quickly, the lack of a real vision for what kind of place Bucharest wants to be has meant that much of that growth has been chaotic, to say the least.” Can chaos help to define the charm? 3am on a sultry, Old Town night, and with fresh beers on the table in front of us, it seemed as good a conclusion as any. In many respects, Bucharest feels like any other European capital you’d care to mention. Yet in others, it’s as if the chaos and the contrasts exist to undermine preconceived notions of what the urban represents in the early 21st century. Bucharest is flawed – like everywhere else – but it isn’t vain enough to scrape on face paint in an attempt to draw attention away from those flaws. For that stance alone, whether by accident or design, it’s a city that demands appreciation on its terms, not yours – elegant chaos, elegant contrasts, and all. theskinny.co.uk/travel
THE SKINNY
My Golden Snatch A visit to a vaginal variety show in Thailand leads one writer to contemplate her own labial extracurriculars Words: Q Illustration: Jayde Perkin
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t Patong’s ping-pong show, balloons explode around my ears, shot through with darts hurtling from clenched Thai vaginas. A middleaged woman squats over a fishbowl and out plops a live, swimming goldfish from her undercarriage. Another reaches inside herself and pulls out a sparrow, chirping and dazed from its close cervical encounter. I ponder my own vagina. It’s alright, but it’s not a lethal weapon. Or a birdcage. My vagina has lived with me for 25 years, but we’re almost strangers, co-habiting the same building like tenement neighbours. She came with no instruction manual, before search engine diagnosis became an idiot’s guide to hypochondria, and I haven’t managed to teach her any tricks yet. The best trick I could master is to maintain a consistent pH level, or prevent my pants from looking like snails have had a big sticky orgy in them. I know what you’re thinking: that’s disgusting. I know. It’s the reality of caring for a temperamental bacterial ecosystem, one that gives zero fucks if random secretions and silver pant trails are unbecoming. That’s not to say I don’t like her, she’s just high maintenance. I give her orgasms and comfy cotton-gusset pants, and avoid wearing tight jeans on hot days; she rewards me with unpredictable menstrual cycles and the occasional mid-coitus whoopee cushion thunderclap. As far as folded flesh around a cave mouth goes, she’s a looker. While often depicted as a lotus or some other gently blossoming flower, a vagina’s physical appearance is more ‘sideways bacon sandwich’ if we’re honest. The notion of ‘badly packed kebabs’ is bandied around to denigrate protruding labia, as if they’re something to be avoided. Let’s be true to ourselves folks, badly packed or no – you’re still going to eat that kebab. As someone who has eaten both pussy and
kebab, well and poorly packed, I can confirm its appearance does not change the flavour, or the outcome. Lots of other feminists have made friends with their vaginas. They celebrate their clams, frolicking around the hillside with their muffs out. They collect their menstrual blood in cups and use it as plant fertiliser, they make furry dolls out of pubic hair. I watched an artist cover her fanny in golden glitter then use it to lip sync to Donna Summer, instantly shaming a lifetime of my karaoke efforts with the opening note. I’m less adventurous with mine. I once contemplated slathering her in poster paint to make a potato print, but decided against.
“I saw an artist cover her fanny in glitter and use it to lip sync to Donna Summer. I’m less adventurous” In Amsterdam’s Banana Bar, a naked barmaid told me she’d write me a postcard. She inserted the marker and scrawled, ‘To Q love from Pussy’ in perfect script. I won’t lie, my stationery set was violated in my own love letter attempts, but I never mastered the cursive. She might not fire darts or make a decent aviary, but she’ll do.
How Not to Behave at a Queer Clubnight Three active queer performers, clubnight organisers and DJs describe some troubling cishet behaviour they’ve noticed at queer nights
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hether it’s that cisgender heterosexual guy permitting himself to explore the staff and performers’ areas of the Free Pride venue, or the person who thinks it’s their privilege to jump on stage during the gigs of trans people, it remains clear that there’s an unusual and disrespectful presumption persisting in the minds of cishet people. The presumption of a liberal, all-access pass to the spaces and bodies of queer nights. Confirmation came in conversation with three other (anonymised here) queers, who are variously performers, organisers and attendees of queer nights. What follows is not only intended as advisory for the cishet, but also useful to the nonhet cis, the non-cis het, and anyone entering a queer space. First off, “Don’t remind me you’re fucking straight,” as musician and clubnight organiser Fez puts it. Waltz, a successful DJ, also remembers “a guy that was requesting songs and kept saying ‘I’m not gay.’ Which, really is like saying, ‘I don’t want you to think I’m gay because that would be awful for you to think I’m gay at this gay night.’ If someone hits on you in any club or night, you just
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Words: Gene Rib
have to take it with grace and say, ‘No, I’m not interested.’ You don’t have to say you’re straight.” For Waltz, it wasn’t just the gay nay-saying that was problematic in that situation. Too often, she experiences cishet men unhelpfully offering DJing tips. “A guy came up at the end of one night saying, ‘Play Jersey Club, it’ll go down really well.’ No, it won’t go down well. And I know because I’ve been DJing this night for a year. If Jersey Club was what people wanted to hear right now, I’d be fucking playing it.” An assertion of certain gender privilege is also evident in Rio’s experience as a femalepresenting trans performer. ‘You’re not like a woman, you’re so androgynous,’ Rio is frequently told, often as a misfired compliment. “Actually, when I’m onstage I just want to be feminine, but when you’re saying I‘m part-man part-woman, you’re saying I’ve not sufficiently communicated my femininity.” Then there are the cis women ‘fixing’ Rio’s make-up. “I don’t wanna hear it. Don’t presume you know what I’m going for and that I’m failing.” Thinking also of Waltz’s experience as a female DJ,
“They’re both kind of gendered skills. DJing is meant to be what cis guys do. Make-up is what cis women do. A totally random person will assume what you’re going for and not achieving. But maybe you just don’t know.” Reflect on whether you’re qualified to make ‘top tips.’ Chances are, you’re not. “Just stand over there,” Waltz advises. As well as unsolicited offers of expertise, the naivety and enthusiasm of some first-time cishet attendees can cause a fair amount of offence too. “A girl came up to me in the toilets,” Waltz describes. “She said, ‘This is the first time I’ve been to an LGT…F?... night? What is it?’ She proceeded to tell me she’d just asked someone if they were a ‘he or she’.” Waltz emphasises that, “For a lot of people, a queer night means coming out as their true gender identity for the very first time. And then someone comes up to them and asks, ‘What are you?’ Why do you need to know what someone’s gender is?” Waltz faces a similarly troubling curiosity when she’s with her girlfriend: “‘How do you have sex? What do you do?’ It’s a creepy man thing... Maybe people don’t say it to gay male-presenting
DEVIANCE
couples, but it’s not just me that’s had this.” For Fez, “It’s almost like they’re trying to figure out whether I’m able to have normal sex. Are you trying to see if I’m having a good time? It’s something you’d just never ask straight couples.” And finally, there’s the self-indulgent and exploitative ‘experimentation.’ “I’ve only ever been hit on by straight men in gay clubs,” Waltz recalls from when she was more feminine-presenting. More recently, she’s experienced straight cis girls hanging around her all night, exclaiming the likes of ‘I think I fancy you, so maybe I’m gay?’ and dancing in a sexually aggressive way. “I just want to stand and drink my beer,” she says. It’s a similar case for Rio – “When I’m feminine-presenting, I become like a weird gateway drug to being gay. People are not testing grounds for your sexuality.” Continually self-monitoring your speech, your use of space and your behaviour may appear a dull prospect. If so, then maybe remember that often the kindest relationship you can have with a queer space is to let it be – without you.
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Photo: Joe Hart
Georgia Hardinge
Emilia Wickstead
House of Holland
Christopher Kane
London Fashion Week: S/S 2016 This season feels like it’s ‘all change.’ Not just because London Fashion Week has a new home in Brewer Street Carpark, but because every designer’s inspiration list was as disparate as the collections themselves
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his era of change isn’t necessarily a bad thing (in fact, it kept things extremely interesting), but it does mean that when trends emerged, they stood out more. Here are a few things we’re excited about for next season... In terms of influences and cues, there is usually one decade or reference point that stands out across the collections. At presentations like Le Kilt (where the entire collection was a 90s ode to Shirley Manson) this remained the case. However, while the remnants of the 70s were found reinterpreted in Holly Fulton’s beautifully mature collection, it wasn’t as strong a feature as it was in the A/W shows. In fact, several designers adopted a real multi-decade approach. Topshop was by far the best example, with Kate Phelan describing the collection as a playful mix of heirloom pieces from different eras. Think layering pieces you’ve stolen from your great grandmother’s, grandmother’s and mother’s wardrobes. The contrasting reference points continued when it came to taking inspiration from places. Although there were nods to countries all around the world, the fascination with Asia still dominated. This was most obvious in collections like that of Jonathan Saunders, who layered exquisite kimono jackets over Paisley and African prints. It was a beautiful offering and a sign of exciting new things to come for the Glaswegian designer.
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Asian influences could also be found in Steven Tai, the subtle pleating of Georgia Hardinge and David Koma, to name a few. Even Zandra Rhodes took her inspiration from Malaysian horticulture! In terms of structure, we ask you to prepare yourself for the... ‘off-centre mullet,’ in the form of subtle hem gathers and splits at Eudon Choi and J. JS Lee (NB the latter gets a special mention for making candy stripes enter the superluxe territory). Striking panel shirts at PPQ and flowing dresses at Jean Pierre Braganza were given a modern edge using a combination of this technique, with the addition of sheer panels. And before you gasp in horror, we too remember the awful mullet dress trend, but trust us when we say that this is a surprisingly modern way to wear layers and that you’ll be a convert come summer. Equally important for summer are the deconstructed and reconstructed looks found at Christopher Kane, Preen, Versus and MM6 – these looks are an outward ode to the garment construction process and feel really fresh. Texturally, things got interesting this season. J.W. Anderson showcased voluminous, New Romantic/Hammertime sleeves with white overstitching. A subtle version of this could also be seen at Emilia Wickstead; accompanied by drop shoulders, her voluminous sleeves were infinitely wearable and architectural in feel. Romantic
macramé was also a key feature, showcased in two jaw-droppingly beautiful collections by Simone Rocha and Bora Aksu. Finally, fringing graduated from accessories and hemlines to the main event, as Phoebe English and Julien Macdonald demonstrated. Here, special note must be given to Christopher Kane’s collection for the masterful use of fringing. We’ve never been happier to see tassels swishing everywhere! One thing is for certain. Across the board, designers were feeling incredibly romantic and inspired by nature. Rising star Ryan Lo had us feeling all lovey-dovey, Molly Goddard’s chiffonladen, sandwich-making models (yes, really) were the talk of the town, and Mother of Pearl brought the Victorian ruffle collar into the 21st century, pairing it with structured knits. Elsewhere, ruffles and floral prints featured at Paul Costelloe and PPQ. The best floral look this season? A beautiful, De La Renta-worthy Emilia Wickstead dress, which we’ll no doubt be seeing on a red carpet very soon. These looks are equal parts girly and mature, so for a more urban nod to nature and romance, House of Holland’s urban-safari looks come recommended (although we accept no liability if you choose to wear bold, clashing patterns on a real-life safari). Finally (because this reporter has a soft spot for it), the most ‘London’ of all trends, humour,
FASHION
Words: Emma Segal
was definitely injected into the SS16 collections. The use of cartoons and playful prints couldn’t help but get us excited. Fyodor Golan were the absolute master this season, mixing side-mullet skirts with printed flowers on Perspex with… and here comes the fun part… Transformers. Perfect for those wanting to have their romanticism with a side of Optimus Prime(!). Like the Coca ColaAshish link up or Moschino’s Barbie collection, it proves some brand-designer partnerships are meant to be (although we’re not as convinced by KFC and Katie Eary). MM6 is seriously making us consider upcycling bin liners so we can go clubbing with the cool kids. Ashley Williams’ cartoon face jumpers showed you can inject a serious collection with humour and still be taken seriously. Markus Lupfer mixed Mexican luchador prints with sequins and star-shaped sunglasses, and the collection of one student at the Swedish School of Textiles was a sequined emoji-fest. Insert smiley face here. All in all, a complete mash-up of influences and trends to keep us on our toes and get us excited for SS16. But isn’t that why we always love London Fashion Week? londonfashionweek.co.uk
THE SKINNY
PPQ
October 2015
Photo: Jamie Stoker
Photo: Piers Cunliffe
Molly Goddard
Fyodor Golan
Holly Fulton
FASHION
Bora Aksu
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Stewart Honeyman “I
grew up in a field near Newcastle which meant lots of countryside and farming. Having been gifted my grandfather’s DSLR at the age of 16 I was out documenting the world around me. Then moving to Manchester to study Photography at Manchester Metropolitan University I continued to document how I saw the world. “During my time at university I was introduced to a photographic studio; here I could document my world in a different way to before. Now I could use objects that I found interesting to portray a message. I found a new way of photographing the countryside and farming that I had grown up with. “My passion for still life photography grew over my time at university. Having explored the De Stijl movement in Dutch Modernist art I was fascinated with their ideals of using art to advertise their ideals of society. Taking reference from the often oversaturated world of advertising
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my work has always been vibrant, however in a move away from the glossy perfection, much like with Andy Warhol’s pop art, I try to include a human element to my work by creating intentional mistakes. I started to see my still life work as a way of getting a message across in an appealing way. “With my current project, Food Waste, I used still life images to create a graphical depiction of the amount of food wasted in the UK in a given time. This project is currently featured in the Pingyao photography festival. I left university with a first and a newfound love for the still life genre but also commercialism’s impact on the world and how these two can interlink.” swhphotography.com Stewart also runs a photography collective, Northern Collective: northerncollective.net
SHOWCASE
THE SKINNY
October 2015
SHOWCASE
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now open! !88 federation house hope st, liverpool, l1 9bw Come and TRY our brand new evening menu includinG poutine & aligot! FOR ANY ENQUIRIES PLEASE CALL 0151 707 6738
mooseandmoonshine.co
The Food Trends of the Decade The Skinny celebrates ten years of publishing this month. As a toast, join us as we look at the high and low points of the past decade in the world of food Words: Peter Simpson Illustration: Stewart Armstrong
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et’s journey back to 2005. Molecular gastronomy was in vogue – Heston Blumenthal, fresh from bagging three Michelin stars at The Fat Duck but not yet in full-on ‘celeb chef ’ mode, was on the telly talking about protein strand separation and making his own processed-style cheese. Sous vide was no longer just something you couldn’t pronounce – now it was something you couldn’t pronounce or understand the appeal of – and liquid nitrogen was genuinely being touted as a cooking aid. In many ways, it was the trend that set the tone for the decade to follow – intensive technique and rigour applied to dishes, a focus on pairings that defied sense until you actually tried them, and a sense of pantomime that turned dinner into an edifying but terrifying event. Of course, trends are a bit like shooting stars – if you can only spot one at a time, chances are you’re not really looking hard enough. As all that faffing about with dry ice was going on in one corner, the other overarching trend of the past ten years – the rise of street food – was kicking off elsewhere. The appeal of the street food movement lay in both its simplicity – a lack of frills and fussing would come in handy when all the money got deleted at the turn of the decade – and the ability to focus on a few things and do them well. Only do steamed buns, or fried chicken? Fine by us, as long as they’re really, really nice. Taking these two into account, a lot of the other food trends we’ve seen make a bit more sense. Take the evolution of baking from ‘old ladies’ pastime’ to ‘all-consuming task that requires a cupboard full of specialist equipment.’ When the foodies on TV are going full out with the contents of a science classroom, and the guys at the local
October 2015
outdoor market can tell you the shoe size of the cow that was best friends with the one you’re currently gnawing through, you’d feel inspired and/or goaded into a response. You’re (presumably) no Michelin-starred chef, but you certainly feel like one when you’re using an oversized syringe to pump jam directly into the heart of your doughnuts. You made them with your own sourdough starter, because of course you did. Artisanal coffee, craft beer, barbecuing and slow-smoking any and every thing that will fit on a tray – all examples of our decade’s predilection with taking small details to the nth degree. Focusing on one thing, and getting it absolutely right, then doing it over and over until it can’t be improved upon. Maybe we’ve all been inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s theory that true expertise comes after 10,000 hours of practice, or conditioned by professional sport to believe that marginal gains in performance all add up in the end. Or maybe modern communication’s knack for only showing us things we already believe in has sent us all in an endless loop – ‘of course devoting all your spare time to meringue is a good idea, look at all those retweets!’ – but the real impact of these macro trends won’t be clear for a few years yet. For now, we can revel in our pricey but delicious flat whites, spending our weekends getting the smell of home-smoked fish out of the curtains. If the big picture was all about pushing boundaries and refining techniques, many of the smallscale trends of the last ten years seemed to be about making sure everyone’s bullshit detectors were still working. Goji berries, coconut water, quinoa – ‘superfoods’ flew in and out of fashion
throughout the past decade, and often didn’t make much of an improvement on what came before, not least because nobody really seemed to know why they were there.
“Many of the trends of the last ten years seemed to be about making sure everyone’s bullshit detectors were still working” Take coconut water as an example. Coconut water has solid celebrity backing and a vaguely scientific and sporty air, but guess what? Not only are you not a Michelin-star chef, but you ain’t no sportsperson neither. You’re about as likely to need a quick release of electrolytes as you are to need your hoofs reshoed – have a glass of water and save yourself a few quid, or have a coffee and ride that caffeine wave through the next few spreadsheets. Plus, coconut water looks like ectoplasm, your love of quinoa often slaps it out of the hands of the farmers who make it, and goji berries are… well, they’re just berries.
FOOD AND DRINK
We’ve seen restaurants, bars and cafes embrace a number of design trends – log cabin chic, distressed warehouse vibes and Orient Express-style chandelier-mageddon all spring to mind – and we’ve had plenty of time to check those details out thanks to the now-routine wait at a ‘no reservations’ venue with about 15 seats inside. But the one trend which cannot be ignored is the refusal of chefs, proprietors and general foodists to just put food on a flipping plate. No one has ever sat down to a meal and said: “You know what? This looks nice, but I wish it looked more like prison food, or that there was some kind of miniature furniture involved in its presentation.” This one started with the molecular gastronomy crew putting foams on everything and serving main courses with musical accompaniments, but those chefs can get away with it because they are great visionaries for whom it’s part of the act. John P Anychef, trying to emulate them by serving a chocolate cake on a piece of slate, isn’t being clever; he just thinks he is. Chips served in plant pots, meals served on steel trays and high tea presented on scale-model picnic benches – all of it can, and we believe this is how the expression goes, get right to fuck. And that, in a nutshell, was the past ten years, minus anything we’ve forgotten or run out of time for (sorry sriracha, we’ll have to discuss your brilliance at a later date). Trends, styles and fads come and go but the food scene is as vibrant and exciting as ever; just keep putting food on plates – plates! – and the next decade should be just fine. theskinny.co.uk/food
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Have Our Cake and Eat It To celebrate The Skinny’s tenth birthday, we’ve been on the hunt for the perfect confection to celebrate. OK internet, hit us with your worst birthday cakes... Words: Lewis MacDonald
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ith The Skinny’s decade of publishing in mind, what else could we do but salute the weirdest and most wonderful celebration cakes that the internet has to offer? Well, salute them, then point out that we can’t be held accountable for any upset children or confused relatives incurred in the case of copying any of these cakes. We’ll start with a slightly darker entry in the internet’s birthday cake compendium. Any cake that doubles as an intervention or insult is surely packing a bit more punch than anyone wants on a birthday, but at the same time it’s always nice to feel like you’ve been noticed (for better or worse) on your birthday.
Then there are the super-nerdy but technically impressive cakes, such as an expertly-iced Tom Selleck. Come on, who else are you going to put on a birthday cake? Sometimes, Selleck is just the right choice. There’s a Friends reference in there, but we don’t have time to make it. And if you head over to our website you’ll find our kind of birthday cake – enormous, unwieldy, and shaped like another equally outthere food stuff. After all, why have a birthday cake when you can have a giant sweetened birthday burger? It is a special occasion after all. theskinny.co.uk/food/phagomania
Food Survey 2016: Dates, pints & cafetieres
Food News
Our Food and Drink Survey is back – here’s a guide to what we’re looking for
Words: Lauren Phillips
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ere’s the short version of this article – we’re doing this survey thing, where you lot tell us where you like to eat and drink, then we tally up all the votes and do a big fancy ‘food special’ with all the results in January. Go to theskinny. co.uk/food, fill in the form, then just have a seat – we’ll be with you in two to three months. If that somewhat dispassionate explanation hasn’t won you over, we’ll get into a bit more detail on precisely what we’re looking for. The 2016 Food and Drink Survey features eight categories, so we’ll do half of them just now. First up, Best Pub. There are lots of pubs, and they’re all special in their own way, but we’re looking for your favourite no matter which one it is. Maybe it’s a swanky faux-speakeasy, or a grizzled old man’s pub. Maybe it’s the kind of place where you don’t get asked questions like ‘which is your favourite pub?’, in which case it sounds lovely and we’d like to know where it is please, thanks. After the pubs, we move on to the hunt for Best Cafe. Coffee, cake and, if we’re being honest, probably some slightly natty interior design choices. We deliberately keep these categories quite broad to let you lot express yourselves, so don’t worry if you’re struggling to pick between a super-technical third wave coffee shop and a quaint Beatrix Potter-esque tea
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Calendars at the ready phagomaniacs; we’ve got all the dates you need for a joyous, food-filled October
Words: Peter Simpson
house – it’s supposed to be tricky. Sorry. A potentially easier category to fill out is Best New Place. We all have our routines, and tend to flit between a small number of venues when we want a coffee, or a pint, or something nice to eat. Now, think back over the last year – did you suddenly start going somewhere you’d never seen or heard of before, but enjoy it so much that it’s now safely ensconced in the foodie rotation? That’s probably the place to vote for, then. As long as it opened this year, it’s fine by us. Then there’s our final category for now, the hunt for the Best Date Place in your city. From restaurants that subtly suggest charming character quirks, to bars where awkward conversation doesn’t need to be interspersed with admonishing headshakes for incompetent cocktail-makers, this one’s pretty open to interpretation. You lot can head wherever you want on your ‘dates’, but be sure to tell us your favourite places to go so we can make a note of them all. That scans badly when reading it back, but not to worry – we are, as we established earlier, just doing some research. theskinny.co.uk/food-and-drink/ survey/2016-food-and-drink-survey-vote
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horlton favourite The Beagle kicks off the Halloween shenanigans early with its month-long Day of the Deadfest (1-31 Oct). Expect spooktacular (sorry!) reworkings of Mexican favourites, from avocado-laden tortillas to a creamy cheesecake spiked with tequila, Grand Marnier and lime. Scarily good. beaglesabout.com Having rewritten the rules of the British beer festival, the Indy Man Beer Con returns to Manchester’s iconic Victoria Baths this month (8-11 Oct). Founded by the team behind Common and Port Street Beer House, the festival aims to bring together the most progressive, forward thinking breweries from across the UK, Europe and USA for a multi-sensory beer extravaganza. Beyond the stellar lineup of tastings and workshops, revellers can enjoy culinary delights from the likes of Honest Crust and Almost Famous, alongside an impressive music programme curated by Manchester label Aficionado. indymanbeercon.co.uk Something offal this way comes! Fear not, it’s just the latest supper club from catering magician Iain Devine, aka The Drunken Butcher. Famed for his obsessive love of using every part of the animal, Iain looks to celebrate all things offal with a five-course menu and a wine offering to match. One look at the menu is enough
FOOD AND DRINK
The Beagle
to convince any skeptic, but book early; this guy knows how to pull in the crowds. 21 Oct, The Fat Loaf, Sale, 7-11pm. thedrunkenbutcher.co.uk Liverpool’s Hope Street is getting all the action this month. Moose and Moonshine is the newest addition to the ever-growing Moose Coffee family, and aims to be the city’s first ‘Poutinerie.’ Combining the best of the Moose breakfast and brunch menu with a new Canadian/French evening offering, it’s one to watch. mooseandmoonshine.co.uk Fans of the street’s Everyman Bistro should rejoice – Paddy Byrne, the man behind the magic, has opened up shop next door. The Pen Factory – named after the pen company based there in the late 1800s – is a bright, laid-back space offering a range of seasonal small plates, continental beers and bespoke cocktails. The vast, herb-filled beer garden is a highlight (weather permitting) and a dream spot for wiling away a few hours. pen-factory.co.uk And last but not least, we’re offering a hearty – if not belated – shout-out to Home at Honest Coffee. Conceived as a free, co-working space and artisan coffee shop, this neat, Kickstarter-funded project is a welcome addition to Salford’s ever-impressive Chapel Street. Check it out for all things thinking, drinking, eating and meeting. @Honest_Coffee
THE SKINNY
ADVERTISING FEATURE
Northern Greats: Home Sweet Home After four years, the time has come for the best little cake shop in the Northern Quarter to expand its empire with a new venture in the Great Northern Warehouse
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lready Manchester’s go-to place for Sunday brunch, Home Sweet Home is soon to become one of the newest residents of the Great Northern Warehouse with a second citycentre venue to cater for the Deansgate crowd. Occupying the former Lucha Libre site, the new Home Sweet Home will cater for even more diners and boast even more outrageous cakes from legendary local baker Bake-O-Rama – and, in the words of boss Beau Myers, the new menus are going to be “truly indulgent and head-turning.” We caught up with Ben Grainger, general manager of Home Sweet Home, to get the lowdown on the new venue. The Skinny: Hi Ben! Let’s start with an introduction to Home Sweet Home. How did it start and what makes it special? Ben Grainger: In a nutshell, it’s all about brunch! We opened Home Sweet Home in 2011 and since then it’s been overwhelming and hugely humbling how popular our little place has become, which largely is down to the food, the drink and the staff. After your hugely successful venture in the Northern Quarter, you’re opening a second
cafe in the Great Northern Warehouse. What drew you to this area? It’s a bit of a dream site for us – more than a cafe, this is going to be a fully loaded restaurant and bar. Thanks to the size of the new site, we’ll have space to do everything we’ve always wanted to do while still being tucked away in our own little cake oasis. We’ve heard you’ll be launching an even bigger menu at your new venue – can you tell us what’s new? What would you recommend? Since it’s on the other side of town, the new Home Sweet Home will be geared towards fullon dining rather than just casual bites. We can’t give away all our secrets just yet but there’s a cakeshake menu that we’re really excited about and loads of hot desserts. And thanks to our great new bar area, there’ll be a bit more focus on booze and cocktails too! The menu at Home Sweet Home has quite an American flavour. Do you put your own twist on American dishes or aim to be authentic? We do, we take a lot of influence from Southern California and, let’s be honest, they know what they’re doing when it comes to cooking. Our food is SoCal comfort food at its best – fresh and
interesting with flavours that you end up craving. Loads of sauce, loads of juicy meats and loads of fresh veg. Home Sweet Home is famous for its spectacular cakes… what’s an absolute must-try? Red Velvet with Dreamcheese Frosting for the win! Trillionaire Shortbread and Deep Dish Cookiedough Pie always sell out too, and anything topped with peanut butter buttercream is my go-to pick-me-up.
it’s true that our coffee and cake is awesome, it’s just a small part of what we’re about. Last year we were the only Manchester restaurant in Yelp’s top 100. And we’ve got as many Michelin stars as anywhere else in Manchester! Find Home Sweet Home on Twitter at @homesweethome and @homesweethomegn thegreatnorthern.com | @gnwarehouse
Time’s almost up! Manchester’s full of independent cafes and coffee shops – what makes Home Sweet Home stand out? We’re a lot more than just a coffee shop. While
22 CHEESES, 11 HAND PULLS, 10 KEGS AND ONE VERY BEAUTIFUL PUB MFDF PUB OF THE YEAR A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED FOR US
October 2015
FOOD & DRINK
Lifestyle
37
RNCM Wed 07 Oct
EVAN CHRISTOPHER’S DJANGO À LA CRÉOLE Fri 09 Oct
NAMVULA
Thu 15 Oct
COLIN TOWNS MASK ORCHESTRA Fri 16 Oct
POWERPLANT Sat 17 & Sun 18 Oct
DONOVAN Sat 24 Oct
JOSS ARNOTT DANCE FEAT EVELYN GLENNIE Tue 27 Oct
THE TIGER LILLIES Thu 29 Oct
BELLA HARDY Sat 31 Oct
RNCM BIG BAND TAKE THE ‘A’ TRAIN Wed 04 Nov
TOM ROBINSON & BAND Sun 08 Nov
KRZYSZTOF URBANSKI & URBAN JAZZ SOCIETY Wed 11 Nov
LEROY JONES, IAN SHAW & LIZZIE BALL Tue 17 Nov
HUMAN REVOLUTION ORCHESTRA WITH ROBIN EUBANKS
28-34 HIGH ST, NORTHERN QUARTER, MANCHESTER, M4 1QB
THERUBYLOUNGE.COM H @THERUBYLOUNGE H @CLASSICSLUM H CLASSICSLUM.COM
SHOWS… SEPT 29: CLASSIC SLUM present ELI ‘PAPERBOY’ REED SEPT 30: TOM MCRAE OCT 1: BE MY ENEMY + ALTER RED + DED.PIXEL OCT 2: THE BURLESQUE BALL TOUR OCT 3: COASST + BLACK CLOUDS + HARVEY.IX OCT 4: BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES + guests THE CREATURE COMFORT + THE SLOVAKS
OCT 8: BITERS OCT 9: SLAUGHTER & THE DOGS (40TH ANNIVERSARY ORIGINAL LINE UP) OCT 10: GIRL FRIEND OCT 10: CLASSIC SLUM present RAE MORRIS + guests PORT ISLA + DAN OWEN @ THE RITZ
OCT 11: BEN MONTAGUE + guests EMMA STEVENS + THE SCIENCE OF THE LAMPS
OCT 14: LEPROUS + guests RENDEZVOUS POINT OCT 17: THE 20TH ANNUAL BRITISH RORY GALLAGHER TRIBUTE CONCERT featuring SINNERBOY + JACQUES STOTZEM + FALL APART + THE AIDEN PRYOR BAND
OCT 18: SPEAR OF DESTINY OCT 20: NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS OCT 24: SKA-FACE + guests 5FT FEZ OCT 25: LAUREN AQUILINA OCT 27: THE VINTAGE CARAVAN OCT 29: THE PHOENIX FOUNDATION OCT 30: LIAM FROST AND HIS BAND + guest ROBBIE CAVANAGH NOV 1: HARRY MANX NOV 3: JOJO MAYER & NERVE + guest DJ ARKELL & HARGREAVES NOV 6: CLASSIC SLUM present DINOSAUR PILE-UP NOV 8: EX HEX NOV 13: Y-KEY OPERATORS + guests THE MOODS + THE USUAL SUSPECTS
NOV 19: COMMUNION NEW FACES featuring
SEAFRET + FLYTE
+ DAN OWEN + JACK WATTS
NOV 20: FEEL THE KID NOV 20: CLASSIC SLUM present BRIX AND THE EXTRICATED @ NIGHT AND DAY CAFE
NOV 24: THE MEN THAT WILL NOT BE BLAMED FOR NOTHING NOV 26: MINI MANSIONS NOV 28: TIGERTAILZ + guests THE RESTLESS VENTURE DEC 2: LANTERNS ON THE LAKE DEC 4: DOPE D.O.D DEC 5: NOASIS + guests THE RECREATION JAN 23: CLASSIC SLUM present JASON ISBELL + guest JOHN MORELAND @ THE RITZ
JAN 30: LINDI ORTEGA JUNE 23: LOVE REVISITED
CLUBS… THE DOG HOUSE @THEDOGHOUSEMCR EVERY 1ST FRIDAY I 11PM I £4 NUS + CHEAP LIST + FLYER + B4 MIDNIGHT PLAYING THE VERY BEST IN ALTERNATIVE ROCK ACROSS 2 ROOMS
REMAKE REMODEL @REMAKE_REMODEL1 EVERY 1ST SATURDAY I 11PM I £3 GUESTLIST £5 OTD THE NATION’S SAVING GRACE OF ALTERNATIVE ROCK’N’ROLL. ALL KILLS, NO KILLERS
BREAK STUFF @BREAKSTUFFCLUB EVERY 2ND FRIDAY BI-MONTHLY I 11PM I £3 ADV A NIGHT OF NU METAL NOSTALGIA. THE SOUNDTRACK OF A GENERATION. WITH CLASSIC ‘ATTITUDE ERA’ WRESTING CINEMA HOSTED BY HXC WRESTLING + 32 BIT CONSOLE AREA
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BOX OFFICE 0161 907 5555 www.rncm.ac.uk RNCM, 124 OXFORD RD, MANCHESTER, M13 9RD
FRI 23 OCT I 11PM I £5 EARLY BIRD / £7 ADV DUB SMUGGLERS 1ST EVENT OF THEIR SERIES AT THE RUBY LOUNGE WITH FULL SOUND SYSTEM - FEATURING KENNY KNOTS // MUNGO’S HIFI // STALAWA // CAMPEEZI // KUNTRI RANKS // RED EYE HIFI FT. RIDER SHAFIQUE // DUB SMUGGLERS SOUND SYSTEM ALL POWERED OFF 8 SCOOPS ACROSS 2 STACKS..!
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38 RNCM Skinny Ad Oct 15 .indd 1
THE SKINNY 29/09/2015 17:04
HEALTH
Gig Highlights With Deerhunter, Holly Herndon and gazillions more, Liverpool Music Week threatens to dominate proceedings but Manchester more than shows its mettle with a trippy hat-trick of Battles, Acid Mothers Temple and The Space Lady Words: Laura Swift
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iverpool wipes the floor this month with the annual Liverpool Music Week, a week-long run of gigs with Holly Herndon, Micachu & The Shapes and Jam City firing the starting gun at The Kazimier on 23 Oct and Gang of Four, LA Priest and Brandon Cox’s eternally supreme Deerhunter besting the finish line on Halloween (at Camp and Furnace). In between those opening and closing parties you’ve got yer Josh T Pearson (roared gospels and smokestack vocals; Scandinavian Church, 28 Oct), yer HEALTH (synapse-scrambling industrial pop; The Kaz, 25 Oct); hell, even yer Godspeed You! Black Emperor (no introduction needed; Camp and Furnace, 27 Oct). Completely ridiculous really. On the 25th, Liverpool Irish Festival offers a lineup to compete (and indeed is presented in collaboration with LMW) in the form of evergreen experimentalists Immix Ensemble, who accompany Stealing Sheep in providing the score for a performance of contemporary dance from Fearghus Ó Conchúir and Aoife McAtamney. Taking place at the Bluecoat, this is the finale of a Festival that’ll also have welcomed the first ever Liverpool performance from Rusangano Family, a hip-hop/electronic trio based in Ireland with Togolese and Zimbabwean influences (The Kazimier Garden, 17 Oct), and the UK premiere of the ‘Meta-Perceptual Helmets,’ which allow wearers to experience their environment through the eyes of an animal. Get involved. If the above sounds up your street then you’ll probably also be of a mind to catch the music of Twin Peaks given the cover treatment by dark Californians Xiu Xiu; if frontman Jamie Stewart’s track record of twisted operettas – by turns febrile and abrasive, tender and unforgiving – is anything to go by, no doubt we can expect something singularly raw and haunted from his interpretation of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti’s cult score (The Kazimier, 6 Oct). As balm, more soothing fare comes in the form of Vetiver’s silver-leafed freak folk, at Leaf cafe on 17 Oct (also at Manchester’s Night & Day Cafe on 15 Oct), and a live outing for collaborators Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate (at Leaf on 4 Oct, and The Deaf Institute, Manchester, on 5 Oct). The songwriter/beatboxer and kora player are touring their unique electrified rap-folk hybrid, developed since meeting for the first time at a festival in 2010 and, despite not speaking each other’s language, immediately finding a connection through music. Manchester has its festivals too, if of smaller order. The fifth Carefully Planned Festival populates Soup Kitchen, Gullivers,
October 2015
Aatma (previously Kraak) and several other venues across the weekend of 17-18 Oct with fierce indie pop and attitude from the likes of Nottingham’s Kagoule (check our interview, page 16), Manchester’s False Advertising (p44) and Sheffield’s Best Friends, as well as electronic disturbances from worriedaboutsatan. The third COLUMNS all-dayer, so named due to its home inside the imposing architecture of Manchester Cathedral, offers a somewhat less assuming lineup than past instalments (previous headliners having included Future Islands); but that track record should provide a sturdy guarantor for this season’s crop, which includes the chart-built soul-pop of Jack Garratt and the wistful guitar/synth wash of Duck House. A hat-trick of fine songwriters gives us an excuse for a mini pub crawl in early October – Rozi Plain on the 6th at Eagle Inn, Euros Childs on the 7th at Gullivers and Jane Weaver on the 8th at, er, oh, actually you just stay in Gullivers for this one. Call it a pub… walk? A pub step. Anyway, as the nights draw in and the ochre leaves crinkle delightfully/mulch dangerously underfoot, what could be better than spending them in the company of Plain’s furled poetry, Childs’ Welsh plaintives or Weaver’s soft hypnoses? And if you’re not quite ready to bring things down to a fireplace pace, then over the course of the month you can rewire your brain slowly beginning with dirge heavyweights Melvins (Gorilla, 9 Oct), moving on to forefathers of new
The Space Lady
psychedelia Acid Mothers Temple (Band on the Wall, 20 Oct) and outsider music hero The Space Lady (Islington Mill, 20 Oct), and ending with art-rock agitators Battles (Manchester Academy, 23 Oct). All so far out you’ll need to take your MegaRider. Finally, self-described “child of grime” and BBC Sound of 2015 nominee Stormzy hits Gorilla on the 24th, the South London MC currently tearing up the charts with his witty freestyle Shut Up and sure to bring the railway arches to their knees with his smart, emotive flow. Halloween queen is Joanna Newsom, whose sold-out show plays at the Albert Hall on the 31st; recently seen inchoately narrating Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice and, prior to
that, bewitching a generation with her masterpieces Ys and Have One on Me, the harpist and vocalist returns to the stage with new album Divers. If a ticket drifts your way on the autumn breeze – which it’s not going to do, you’ll have to ring the venue or something – don’t snooze. It’s also somewhat of a comeback for Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth (would it surprise you to learn that he’s not?), who upgrades from past startlingly intimate shows at St Phil’s and the like to the Albert Hall on the 23rd with his tearjerking Swedish songcraft. In sum: things are pretty damn great, guys, and they haven’t even started putting coffee in red cups yet.
Do Not Miss Actress Islington Mill, 9 Oct
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ince being christened curators of Islington Mill’s live music and art programme in June, resident promoters Fat Out have been doing their darnedest to unstitch the time-space continuum, bringing mind-widening artists like William Basinski, Sly & The Family Drone and Richard Dawson deep into the bowels of Salford. On 9 Oct they team up with promoters Now Wave to present one of contemporary music’s most uncompromising artists, Actress. The artist otherwise known as Darren Cunningham came to prominence with 2012’s R.I.P., an album of chameleonic iridescence which flitted from sylphine ambient music (N.E.W., Glint) to cold, reptilian techno (Shadow
MUSIC
from Tartarus, The Lord’s Graffiti). The highly anticipated followup, Ghettoville (2014), was a more grisly affair, perhaps disappointing those who’d come to him via R.I.P.’s tensile beauty but, in its great strata of noise and slurried electronic byproduct, returning Cunningham to the girdling sonic waste of earlier records Hazyville and Splazsh. Live, he is known to thwart expectations, sometimes to the point of obfuscation – but not knowing what to expect only adds to the anticipation of seeing an artist who plays and manipulates at will, with only his own agenda to serve. [Laura Swift]
Review
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Various venues, 25-26 Sep
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Although Austin Psych Fest has been around since 2008, as far as Europe goes Liverpool Psych Fest got there first. With an inaugural 2012 lineup featuring Richard Norris’s project Time and Space Machine, whose track Indian Pill Party had piqued the interest of BBC 6 Music, Hookworms, months before they released their debut LP, and Palma Violets, then unofficial beneficiaries of the NME’s latest next-big-thing status, the all-dayer managed to – by design or happy coincidence – muster a vague semblance of capturing the zeitgeist. A year later the organisers added an extra day and increased the capacity – and promptly nearly sold out. As audiences increased, so too did the opinion pieces: ‘Why is psych enjoying a revival?’ ‘Are we seeing a truly international scene?’ ‘What classes as psychedelic music anyway?’ The last of these questions has befallen subsequent rival events, many deferring to a heavily male-orientated, meat-and-potatoes rock. Those elements have been in evidence at Liverpool
Ought
The Deaf Institute, 2 Sep
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Even a cursory listen to last year’s breakthrough record, More Than Any Other Day, should be enough to bring home the peculiar, contradictory niche that Ought have carved out for themselves. They are, at their heart, a postpunk band specialising in the kind of angular guitars and spiky rhythms that are very much the genre’s calling card, and yet they frequently pull off the trick of sounding kind of languid, too; it’s a strange juxtaposition, sharp edges so often cloaked in a shroud of drone. Last time out in Manchester, half a mile or so up the road at Sound Control, they stayed relatively true to that formula onstage, too, but if tonight’s show at The Deaf Institute is anything to go by, their
Joanna Gruesome Islington Mill, 18 Sep
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It’s hard to imagine Joanna Gruesome without Alanna McArdle, the lead singer who made listening to the band as sweet and surprising as chomping a spoonful of Krusty-O’s to find a jagged metal one in your mouth. Following McArdle’s unexpected departure earlier this year, the Cardiff noise-poppers kick off the first leg of their UK tour having newly expanded to a six-piece. With two new women at the mic, Kate from feminist punks Pennycress and Roxy from collaborators Trust Fund – and all sweltering in ill-advised black turtlenecks – the band launch straight into the raucous Secret Surprise from their debut album Weird Sister. As the band crash through their two-minute pop blasts it’s clear that they’re still figuring out where their new members fit, looking slightly self-conscious and cramped on the cosy Islington Mill stage. Part of J-Gru’s appeal under
40
Review
Psych Fest too, while last year they ditched some of the curious electronic offerings that had crept up in 2013 to focus almost exclusively on twonote riffery and garage rock squall. This weekend, though, there seems to be a renewed effort to dodge the question of what psych is, recognising instead a broad church that allows anyone to get their mind-opening kicks. Highlight of the opening night is Karen Gwyer, who starts off with techno as a base before prodding her skeletal rhythms delicately this way and that through her hardware setup, sending a packed District on a deeply immersive, body-propulsive trip unrivalled all weekend. Later, around 50 people have shunned the caramel licks of Carlton Melton and the juddering techno of Factory Floor for Bristol duo Giant Swan. Two tables’ worth of pedals and samplers face each other as the pair thrash about as though locked into the same electrical current powering their set. It’s incredibly raw, with easy signposts pointing the way to early HEALTH or Black Dice. In fact, it’s reminiscent, in its way, of Factory Floor – the pre-DFA-signed Factory Floor who had to be dragged from the stage after
getting locked into Gabriel Gurnsey’s furious, yet always metronomic drumming. Now a two-piece, Gurnsey’s still there as we catch the final half of their own set in Furnace, but he now stands alongside bandmate Nik Void, working knobs and faders, his former primitive energy replaced by a furrowed brow and nod of the head. The coursing viscerality of their former selves is still ghosting somewhere between the relentless 4/4, but this is a slicker and sadly more lacklustre display than that of old. Saturday in general bears far more resemblance to last year’s lineup, all big chugging riffs and lots of hair; but if psychedelic music is termed as something to challenge the mind then the set played by one-time Congos collaborator and master of drone deconstruction Sun Araw is easily the most psychedelic thing of the weekend. A full Furnace empties rapidly as Cameron Stallones begins to cut up and reassemble minimalist slow jams, before settling into a queasy take on late-night jazz club improv. Similar to Karen Gwyer the night before, he refuses to let his surroundings affect his chosen, frequently disruptive path.
Spiritualized are the weekend headliners but they aren’t on paper the most inspiring – with a selection ultimately of proficient session musicians around Jason Spaceman, and coming off the sort of tour schedule that reads like a band in need of money, expectations are low. Spaceman has spent a career fighting battles, though, and tonight he confounds preconceptions with a set that’s heavy on the hits (Shine a Light, Come Together) and early material, delivered with, were we able to see beyond his sunglasses, a fair amount of passion. Even the devout fans in attendance are surprised when they delve into not just Walkin’ with Jesus from Spaceman 3’s back catalogue, but also a gloriously serratededged rendition of Take Me to the Other Side - a reminder that, even if some of their more stately turn-of-the-millennium songs feel a step apart from those sharing a bill with them this weekend, they more than deserve to take their place in this rich glossary of what psychedelic music can be. [Simon Jay Catling] These are just some of our highlights from Liverpool Psych Fest. Read the full review online at theskinny.co.uk/music
upcoming, quickfire follow-up to More Than Any Other Day could be a different beast entirely. Both the older cuts and the material that they do air from Sun Coming Down feel meaty tonight, fleshed-out with a sharp focus that wasn’t always prevalent on the last LP. There’s an urgency, tempo and – in places – venom that elevates the Montreal natives beyond what they’ve laid down on record; Beautiful Blue Sky teems with aggression, complex new cut Passionate Turn zigs and zags with a palpable youthful vigour, and New Calm Pt. II dropped as part of the encore, feels genuinely punchy. More than that, Tim Darcy, fronting the band, suddenly seems to have much more of a commanding stage presence to him than last time out – Ought seem to be making strides on stage as quick as they’re turning out new material. [Joe Goggins] McArdle was her capacity to convey instability, and their effect seems lessened with their Jekyll and Hyde split into separate people, particularly the purposeful Kate who is often left standing between segments or drowned out by her bandmates’ squall. Roxy looks more comfortable in the Peanut Butter closer Hey! I Wanna Be Yr Best Friend, whispering through the lovely opening section before the song cracks open with guitarist Owen Williams’ colourful licks. Despite these growing pains, this short and sharp half-hour set does hint at the potential of the band’s new vocal pairing, as J-Gru follow up I Don’t Want to Relax’s pummelling blast beats with the closing salvo of Sugarcrush, Kate finally finding her place as the song thrashes to an end. We may have caught them in an intriguing transitional phase but Joanna Gruesome do enough to show that they’re still capable of grabbing our throats and hearts at the same time. [Chris Ogden]
Ratking
Ratking
The Deaf Institute, 26 Aug
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As the jazzy and soporific opening strains of Snow Beach announce Ratking’s arrival, it’s clear that in a live context, the NYC trio’s unique sonic palette is transformed. Their sublime marriage of visceral chaos with beautifully textured, psychedelic loops and powerful, crisp drum machine patterns takes on the abrasive quality of a warehouse techno night brought into more intimate surroundings. Sporting Life’s approach to instrumentals, so evocative of contemporary urban life, is perfectly matched by the two MCs. Wiki is a standout performer; stomping around the stage as his hyper-energetic, breakneck flow, as on Makeitwork, contains enough melodic inflections and rhythmic hooks to command attention.
MUSIC
Photo: Stuart Moulding
Spiritualized
In contrast, Hak’s rapping, as well as singing, is woozy and mellifluous, the balm to Wiki’s fire. For all the subtle and moody nuance of Ratking’s music, the cathartic audience response might come as some surprise. Throughout the majority of their set, the packed out Deaf Institute is taken up by a swirling mosh pit of thrashing limbs, with Flurry (a contender for rap’s greatest ode to the practical winter coat – “I need a 700 Fill cause it’s cold out here”) and Canal cause for a particular outpouring of aggression. The closing lines of the latter encapsulate the grievances of youth with a call to arms – “Think the city has let up? Better check up / Kids that is fed up / Instead of bitching and moaning they get bucked and get up.” Having exorcised something from its system, this rowdy crowd’s frustrations seem sufficiently vented, at least for the time being. [Edward Bottomley]
THE SKINNY
Photo: Priti Shikotra
Liverpool Psych Fest
Photo: Stuart Moulding
Factory Floor
Spandex Ballet Among those headlining this year’s Liverpool Music Week are Deerhunter, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and HEALTH – but further down the billing there’s plenty to get excited about locally, including three-pronged lycra-wearing noise rockers Barberos
“W
e’ve got these new black suits now. They’re very good, although you can’t see our curves so well in them. Some people are happy with that... some are not,” says PL, one third of Liverpool’s lycra-clad noise machine Barberos. The group recently made the switch from their all-white bodysuits that had served them well over several years, thanks to new designs courtesy of friends Frances Heap and Maria Luisa Olmos, a creative costuming partnership under the name of Costumologists. For the trio, originally founded in 2008 at LIPA as a five-piece, there’s a certain freedom in anonymity. “We can be anyone we choose on stage,” PL agrees. You could argue that their aesthetic also encourages a sense of uniformity, a constant state that contrasts with the group’s sound, which, over a handful of split seven-inches and EPs, as well as hundreds of live shows, has rarely stayed the same. Working off a base of dual drumkit synchronisation and piercing synthesizers, the trio flit between percussive gridlines crying out for the sweaty clamour of the club, to industrial squall and abrasive noise assaults capable of claustrophobia-inducing density. Yet their suits are pointedly blank, a canvas rather than a prescription: “I wouldn’t say we act in a certain way every time we perform, it’s just however the mood is taking us,” says PL. Quiet of late on record – although a new album is on the way – the group instead have committed to the road, making light of the established mainland Europe touring circuit and finding themselves in places as far flung as Russia and Lithuania; frequently, these trips have resulted in lost or stolen gear, but for PL it was worth it to – in the case of Russia – look behind the veil of a country that, from the outside, ranges from the socially volatile to the
October 2015
Interview: Simon Jay Catling
misunderstood. “The people are so lovely and accommodating,” he points out. “They all hate homophobia and nazis just as much as we do, y’know. The shows were mostly amazing – and they taught us how to drink vodka properly too. A valuable lesson.” Lithuania, meanwhile, resulted in the group recording in the country’s capital city, Vilnius, striking up a friendship with YMIR Audio producer Snorre Bergerud and now having him on board as a creative producer.
“We can be anyone we choose to be on stage” PL
If PL exhibits such positivity towards collaboration from outside the group’s hometown then his views on Liverpool itself are a little more clouded. The group have all been involved with independent venues now gone or soon to disappear, such as MelloMello, Wolstenholme Creative Space and The Kazimier. Each one has been a vital centrepoint of the city’s creative community; each one is making way for residential redevelopment. “I think Liverpool’s failing as a creative hub at the moment,” PL laments. “We as a creative community are being forced out of the city centre. No one was interested in Slater Street or Wolstenholme Square before Mello and The Kazimier etc. opened. Seel Street and Duke Street were lined with broken falling-down buildings and no one gave a shit. Now all these lovely buildings are being turned into ‘luxury flats in the cultural heart of Liverpool’s artistic
community’... except they’re killing the culture and soon it will all be gone.” Sadly this isn’t a new issue and, of course, it’s not one confined to just Liverpool – but there’s a particular sadness that it’s happening to a city historically so open-minded and inviting to people not just artistically, but in all walks of life. Thankfully that reputation has left an army of souls still keen to find space and create, which counts for far more in a community than brick and mortar. “I think it’ll be a few years before students will want to live in luxury flats by the Bootle dump... but who knows,” PL jokes. If such anger surrounding these issues infiltrates Barberos’s music, he’s less inclined to say. “It doesn’t have ‘a message’. But we are massively left wing, non-gender specific, vegan feminists,” he adds. “And we like to challenge ourselves and audiences as much as possible, while having fun.” Barberos support HEALTH during Liverpool Music Week on 25 Oct at The Kazimier
Three more local acts to see at Liverpool Music Week a.P.A.t.T. supporting HEALTH on 25 Oct at The Kazimier. Veteran experimentalists formed back in the late 90s with a revolving cast of members that, at one point or other, has seen members of Oufit and Barberos – among many others – pop up in their lineup, a.P.A.t.T. are not content with just that. They’ve also spent time opening up their core membership to the a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra, a scratch orchestra in the vein of Cornelius Cardew’s famous 1970s collective of mixed ability. a.P.A.t.T. have a new album on the way, but for now the best insight into their split-personality,
MUSIC
genre-diverging madness comes in the form of their 14-track long opus Ogadimma, which veers between Cardiacs-inspired bombast, furious post-punk and Girl Talk mash-ups. XamVolo supporting Shura on 30 Oct at the Arts Club. With his teens still only just over his shoulder, XamVolo has the sort of assured presence onstage of someone years his senior. Moving from London to Liverpool to study, the 20 year-old has emerged with a silkily smooth yet thoroughly crafted neo-soul influenced sound, not a million miles away from the godfather of the revival, D’Angelo. Not just a solo artist, XamVolo has a new EP on the way with his band The Equation, though for now your best bet is to get acquainted with last year’s EP, Binary in Blue. Stealing Sheep and Immix on 25 Oct at the Bluecoat. Bella Union-signed Stealing Sheep team up with local collaborative ensemble Immix for a special one-off show, which will see the two groups form the soundtrack to a unique commissioned contemporary dance piece by one of Ireland’s leading dancers and choreographers, Fearghus Ó Conchúir with Aoife McAtamney. Neither Stealing Sheep nor Immix are strangers to collaboration – indeed the latter have made a name for themselves using classical orchestration to combine with some of the region’s most forwardthinking artists. With Stealing Sheep’s openended pop capable of moving down any number of avenues, their chosen direction here should prove intriguing. Liverpool Music Week takes place at various venues, 22-31 Oct liverpoolmusicweek.com
Review
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Album of the Month Joanna Newsom
Divers [Drag City, 23 Oct]
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Joanna Newsom’s last album, Have One On Me was a three-disc, 18-track, two-hour odyssey. Album number four is perhaps more modest in scale – just the 11 songs, thanks – but no less lofty in ambition. Subjects as boundless as world war (Waltz of the 101st Lightborne) and the death of a historic New York City mayor (Sapokanikan) are lustily embraced, with a deceptively simple ‘love song’ thread woven through. This dense lyricism is keenly matched with rich, luxuriant instrumentation and Divers perhaps reaches a zenith in Newsom’s arrangement skills (the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra are featured players).
Dave Heumann
dragcity.com/artists/joanna-newsom
John Grant
Here in the Deep [Thrill Jockey, 16 Oct]
John Carpenter
Grey Tickles, Black Pressure [Bella Union, 9 Oct]
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Autumn. And as if to mark the occasion, the debut solo LP from the Arbouretum frontman arrives shaded in earthy, feuille-morte introspection, like a WB Yeats poem set to music (there’s even a track entitled Leaves Underfoot, in case the prevailing mood has us slow on the uptake). Fans will recognise Arbouretum’s trademark touches – particularly the sense of space within the production, affording scope for the material to breathe. The folk-rock leanings, however, are more pronounced than his day job’s outings, wispy instrumentals Morning Remnants and the aforementioned, acoustic-driven Leaves Underfoot suggesting that it’s autumn of 1975, not forty years later. It’s the rest of the album where matters come a little unglued, the AOR Americana and strident guitar of Switchback and Ides of Summer sitting uneasily aside the more reflective moments. And whilst there are a few cute touches – particularly the backwards guitar on Holly King On A Hill – the prevailing winds are uncertain; rather like autumn itself. [Duncan Harman]
There’s light and shade, of course: softer, piano-led ballads like the gently sad The Things I Say offer a contrast to the more bombastic entries like album opener Anecdotes. But it’s in these more elaborate tracks, ebbing and flowing between decorum and opulence, that Newsom really shines. Clavichords, mellotrons, and marxophones are pitted alongside her trademark harp and elegant, dextrous voice; each song boasts tremendous subtlety, movement, grace and nuance. Witness the carefully devastating conglomeration of vocals, strings, horns, percussion, and birdsong on album closer Time, As A Symptom, and it’ll be hard not to conclude that this is surely one of the albums of the year. [John Nugent]
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John Grant’s third effort sees the Iceland-based musician reach a new level of maturity, even as his stylistic choices shoot for something wilder. Grant’s lyrics – sardonic, raw, somehow both cynical and earnest – remain a key appeal. But he also builds on the electronic, ’80s-influenced sound established in Pale Green Ghosts, creating a bold hybrid of dancefloor fillers, lushly arranged orchestra pop, and poetic meditations. Indeed, for a man who seeks painful catharsis through music, he sure knows how to get funky. First single Disappointing, featuring Tracey Thorn, has wah-wah riffs and ‘shooby-shooby-da-ba-ba’ backing singers; mid-point track Voodoo Doll could be a Prince B-side. Global Warming seems more like ‘classic’ Grant, in which the singer sarcastically laments the effects of an overheating planet on his complexion. Few of his peers offer such depth, courage, or repeat listening value. [John Nugent] johngrantmusic.com
facebook.com/ArbouretumBand
Lost Themes Remixed [Sacred Bones, 16 Oct]
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A glorious paean to the science fiction soundtracks of our youth, legendary sci-fi and horror director John Carpenter’s Lost Themes, released earlier this year, is a portentous journey through ascetic beats, glacial synths and somber piano chords. It’s also unashamedly 80s in its aesthetic, and with Lost Themes Remixed, the objective – with interventions from Blanck Mass, Prurient, Zola Jesus and Bill Kouligas – was clearly to slough away some of the original’s more outmoded aural elements. Uniform’s Vortex remix is undoubtedly the most danceable, adding melodic synth and sophisticated percussion, while Blanck Mass updates Fallen with his now techno onslaught. Not all of these remixes enhance the original; ohGr eviscerates Wraith's gentle simplicity with heavy-handed beats. The beauty of Lost Themes Remixed is that it allows two versions of Carpenter’s work to co-exist – one for nostalgia’s sake, another for the here and now. [Claire Francis] theofficialjohncarpenter.com
Alex G
Esmerine
EL VY
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Beach Music [Domino, 9 Oct]
Lost Voices [Constellation, 16 Oct]
Return to the Moon [4AD, 30 Oct]
Alex Giannascoli pens songs like it’s some kind of bodily reflex; swift, spontaneous and essential. Beach Music is his seventh album in five years, and if anything he’s gaining momentum: since last year’s DSU, the Philly-based prodigy has dropped out of college, signed to Domino and knuckled down to music-making full-time, resulting in his best work yet. Beneath the rough-hewn veneer and casual disposition there’s considerable ambition and imagination at play, with tracks like Salt (a slow, shimmering ballad with an ominous undertow and unpredictable structure) and In Love (a piano-led lament with vivid trumpet fills) taking Alex G into fascinating new territory. Elsewhere, Thorns restates the melancholic influence of Elliott Smith, Station segues precariously between layered melodies, and Brite Boy delivers a breezy one-man duet; lead single Bug, meanwhile, evokes both Sebadoh and Alvin and the Chipmunks in the space of twoand-a-half minutes, to compelling effect. [Chris Buckle]
The fifth album from the Montreal chamber rock collective is a beguiling mass of dialled-down post-rock, classical figures and exploratory soundscapes. Led by ex-Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion members Bruce Cawdron and Rebecca Foon, the newly expanded quintet takes flight. Much of Lost Voices’ impact is due in no small part to the string arrangements of cellist Foon and Godspeed violinist Sophie Trudeau, who guests on four tracks. At its most muscular (the driving electric guitars of 19/14) or its most tender (the delicate A Trick of the Light), Lost Voices manages mood and melody with a deft and hypnotic grace. My Mama Pinned a Rose On Me introduces marimba and even here, where texture takes precedence over melody, the whole remains dynamic and taut. Lost Voices takes time, on occasion, to breathe and relax but it steadfastly avoids the indulgence of ‘ambient’ or wanton noodling. Beyond words, beyond beautiful. [Gary Kaill]
On the artwork for Return to the Moon, the first release from the collaborative vehicle of Matt Berninger of the National and Brent Knopf of Menomena and Ramona Falls, the former has eschewed his trademark solemn rags, the waistcoat being ditched in favour of a white shirt and trouser combo. It’s subtle, but telling: this album is more playful and less grand than the towering quatrains Berninger’s been indulging in on the day shift since 2003’s Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. The bouncy title track sets the tone for a chic, intelligent listen. Knopf’s projects have always been more experimental than Berninger’s, and the combination frequently ends up in the goldilocks zone, finding happy mediums on the rollicking Happiness, Missouri; the beautiful No Time to Crank the Sun and the funky I’m the Man to Be. Melodious and inventive, layered but not overly ornate: EL VY’s debut is too fully-formed to be dismissed as a side project. [Finbarr Bermingham]
andy.bandcamp.com
esmerine.com
elvy.co
Killing Joke
Kowloon Walled City
Mercury Rev
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Pylon [Spinefarm Records, 23 Oct]
Grievances [Neurot, 9 Oct]
Accomplished, you’d expect, but switched on and inspired? Neither is a given for a band fast approaching its fourth decade. In keeping with the blackened, raging apocalyptica of their post-2002 reformation output, the original line-up of Jaz Coleman, Geordie, Youth and Paul Ferguson detail the more metallic end of the Killing Joke sound with as smart an ear for a monster hook as they had in the mid-eighties when the likes of Love Like Blood were bone fide chart botherers. Pylon is all about size and scale, rich dynamics: a blistering proto-metal with keen pop sensibilities. When War on Freedom lets loose, Geordie’s ringing guitar a genuinely joyous throwback, their ongoing influence makes perfect sense. In a smarter world, Euphoria would be all over the airwaves. It’s still a toss-up as to whether this is the music that welcomes or causes the end of the world but its credibility is beyond question, so ditch the young ‘uns for a moment and show some respect for your elders. [Gary Kaill]
Third LP time for Kowloon Walled City, as the San Francisco post-hardcore types pull themselves out of the sludge to reveal something more intricate, yet no less raging than 2012’s mighty Container Ships. Scott Evans still yells with the same scintillating blend of gusto and ruin, while there’s no little muscle in the band’s performance – this time, however, silence is an equally powerful instrument. Backlit’s wirily off-piste chords drape themselves across ominously stark passages that occasionally give way to restrainedly doomy riffs, frequently fostering a hostile tension without catharsis. Sounds like a recipe for an unfulfilling experience, but Grievances manifests its majesty in mounting despair: once your ears attune, the emotional rush begins to border on the epic. Manna from heaven for anyone who’s ever entertained the idea of Slint, Floor and Twelve Hour Turn locked in a glaring contest; beautifully bleak heaviosity for everyone else. [Will Fitzpatrick]
killingjoke.com
inthewalledcity.com
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RECORDS
The Light In You [Bella Union, 2 Oct] Seven years after the dreamy Snowflake Midnight, Mercury Rev have plundered the toolkit which has served them so well in almost 25 years of recording. At its finest, The Light In You provides some moments of wide-eyed wonder, the kind of which have been scattered throughout their long career. Opening track Queen of the Swans leads in the orchestral head of steam, with the theme threaded throughout. Autumn in the Air, with brass, bells, swirling strings and elegiac lyricism, is majestic, and the shimmering Coming Up for Air is stunning. This is the grandest record Mercury Rev have made, laden with huge crescendos, which on unfortunate occasion tend to blend into one, rendering events a touch repetitive and nebulous. When they get it right, though, they nail it with gusto. And for those moments, The Light In You is a worthy addition to a towering back catalogue. [Finbarr Bermingham] mercuryrev.com
THE SKINNY
Larry Gus
Roots Manuva
Wavves
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I Need New Eyes [DFA, 22 Oct]
Bleeds [Big Dada, 30 Oct]
V [Ghost Ramp / Warner Bros., 2 Oct]
If anyone’s got a handle on life, you’d think it’d be musicians – right? Not if they’re Larry Gus, apparently. Convinced of his own incompetence and envious of his contemporaries, Gus is a hot plate of anxiety on his new record, prone to bouts of self-pity that are hard to swallow coming from a man head-hunted by DFA on the strength of his Myspace profile. Take opener The Black Veil of Fail, on which he confides “the success of others just makes me mad, unable to act straight or ever think clear.” Fortunately, Gus’s bizarre, exuberant compositions tell another story. Assembled from samples fished out for bargain bins, his kaleidoscopic collages teeter thrillingly on the edge of chaos. Taking the Personal Away is pure DFA, like a world music remix of LCD Soundsystem’s Us v Them, while The Sun Describes sparkles with the quiet ecstasy of Four Tet circa There is Love in You. Chill the beans, Gus, you did good. [Andrew Gordon]
‘The TVs and magazines keep them kinda hopeful that one day, in some way, they’ll get a lucky break, in the meantime that plant food provides a cheap escape,’ mourns Rodney Smith on Bleeds’ social lament and opener Hard Bastards, almost instantaneously quashing any notion that middle age might have softened the Brit-hop GOAT’s gimlet eye. Clocking in at less than 40 minutes, Bleeds is the shortest, but arguably most eclectic and intense Roots Manuva album to date, taking in everything from Four Tet-produced electronic jitterbugs (2:11), to morose retrospectives (I Know Your Face) and experimental soul (Don’t Breathe Out). Mainstream recognition might have passed Smith by at this point, but to have achieved this sort of longevity while operating at the coalface of innovation speaks just as loudly as, if not louder than any amount of top 40 hits. Witness the fitness, indeed. [Graeme Campbell]
Wavves has never really been about substance. At least not in any traditional sense, with weed being this particular slacker’s go-to drug – Nathan Williams’ plan of attack has always been the same. The gloomy figure on the cover might raise preconceptions that they’d continue in the grungier direction of last LP Afraid of Heights (their strongest yet), but V is instead V rides similar tides to 2010’s King of the Beach, with simple hooks, pretty vocal harmonies and mundane subject matter. Immediately apparent is the thin, simplistic production for what still adds up to a thicker sound; lead track Heavy Metal Detox and Pony mostly filter out the noise rock of old, giving way to jagged, danceable indie pop. Redlead’s refrain ‘I’m broken and insane’ is key to V’s underlying theme of alienation. There’s still a punk aesthetic running through Williams’ vision, yet Wavves have shed some of the more alluring aspects of their past. [Ross Watson]
soundcloud.com/larrygus
rootsmanuva.co.uk
wavves.net
A Mote of Dust
Protomartyr
The Spook School
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A Mote of Dust [Babi Yaga, 2 Oct]
The Agent Intellect [Hardly Art, 9 Oct]
It’s been a while since we last heard from Craig Beaton. While his Unwinding Hours colleague Iain Cook has reaped success with Chvrches, Beaton’s been hiding himself away – deep in contemplation, if the delicate beauty of A Mote Of Dust is anything to go by. Named after a Carl Sagan quote, and recorded by Paul Savage (who’s never produced a lousy record), this is an album awash with tenderness and emotional honesty, each of the nine tracks an étude in dislocation; acoustic guitar, piano, and the bittersweet catharsis of self-portraiture (“I’ve made mistakes; that’s how we find our way,” he admits ruefully on finale Home). Pull Me Back In speaks of damage and drama; Wolves In The Valley is a porcelain ballad with ghostly choir, while Eve even manages to tackle the Book of Genesis. And throughout (instrumental title track excepted), Beaton’s vocals drift like smoke, concussed and gentle; it’s been a while, but it’s grand to have him back. [Duncan Harman]
As a self-proclaimed mumbler, Joe Casey frequently obscures his lyrics with drawls and gritted teeth, while gothic shards – echoing Joy Division’s brooding shadowplay – only add to Protomartyr’s deliberate air of mystery. Clarity, it transpires, works best when used sparingly, as with the murky Cowards Starve and its preoccupation with “social pressures”. Then the chorus kicks in: “I will tear that mountain down,” bawls Casey, shortly before Greg Ahee’s guitar bursts into sunshine. Utterly glorious. The Agent Intellect is filled with such contrasts, all steeped in the taut insistence of post-punk and a loose barfly shimmy. Indeed, it feels like they’re yearning for answers, particularly when grappling with The Devil In His Youth’s duality-of-man issues; even final track Feast of Stephen seems to end on a question mark. But whether opaque, sprightly or just plain gung-ho garage rock, Protomartyr revel in a gnarled inspiration that often feels sincerely profound. [Will Fitzpatrick]
amoteofdust.com
hardlyart.com/protomartyr
Try To Be Hopeful [Fortuna POP, 9 Oct] “We need you to know that we exist,” sing The Spook School. It’s a sentiment which could come from the mouth of any band ever, but in the hands of the Edinburgh punk rock four-piece it cuts a little differently. Try To Be Hopeful dissects identity, fidelity, romantic despair, romantic bliss and a multitude of other fuzzy grey confusing feelings with a radical, radical tongue. “Every band talks about love and stuff!” we hear you cry, but nah, they don’t. Not like this. You might even think that punk bands pissing on the patriarchy is old hat, but The Spook School do a mind-bogglingly fantastic job at demonstrating how frank, honest appraisal of gender and sexuality is still worryingly incendiary – and worryingly rare. So, when you listen to Try To Be Hopeful with a proper, attention-paying ear, you’ll find a call to arms. A rallying cry encouraging you to speak up, to be heard, to exist in whichever way you feel most at home. To burn masculinity, to smash binaries and to have a life-affirming, wholly hopeful knees-up while you’re at it. [Katie Hawthorne] thespookschool.com
Deafheaven
VASA
Deerhunter
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New Bermuda [ANTI–, 2 Oct]
Colours [Self-released, 16 Oct]
Deafheaven’s critical acclaim off the back of Sunbather was one of the unexpected success stories of 2013. They gained fans outside of metal circles partly by recontextualising the genre, blending it with delicate melodies and working in elements from the more inviting end of the indie rock spectrum. New Bermuda emotionally overloads the listener like a mixed-state manic episode; it’s a darker autobiographical account than its predecessor, but equally gorgeous sonically. Brought to the Water sets the tone with its brutal blast-beats, bared-teeth vocals and waves of sorrowful guitars. Lead songwriter Kerry McCoy’s more traditionally heavy influences immediately come to the forefront much more here; while George Clarke’s rasps sound more pronounced, giving his vocals added weight. As they continually pair these fierce attacks with moments of delicacy, the band again showcase their mastery of blurring the lines between darkness and the light. [Ross Watson]
Post-rock, apparently, although we can probably lose the ‘post’ part – Colours rawks wholeheartedly, if not life-changingly, stitching mountainous riffs and fleet-fingered breaks together at head-spinning volume. Consider Poseidon’s Kiss and Smashletes as the outcome of the nu-metal generation growing up and wrapping their lugholes around the virtuosic complexities of Battles and Tera Melos: molten, mathy soundtracks for the most action-packed movies never filmed. Not that there’s no let-up. Not A Cop shimmers gently, opting for sweet and hopeful as opposed to heroic. Ditto Unpunched, a rare oasis of calm amidst so much scorching adrenaline rush. Their chosen genre occasionally runs the risk of lapsing into a chops-focussed dick-swinging contest, but VASA keep proceedings reined well within the ample parameters of fun, giving us reasonable hope that their impressive beginnings may evolve into the spectacular. [Will Fitzpatrick]
deafheaven.com
wearevasa.com
Blackalicious
Autre Ne Veut
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Imani Vol. 1 [Caroline International, 16 Oct] After nearly 20 years in the game, it seems almost platitudinous to peg Gift of Gab as one of rap’s most underrated sons. Yet it’s a label which seems destined to stick, such is the consistency of the emcee’s rhymes coupled with the forever puzzling disregard for Blackalicious outwith the realm of alternative hip-hop. After nearly a decade away, the Sacramento duo resurface with Imani, Vol.1, the first of an intended new trio. Even if Imani lacks some of the stardust names and funky experimentalism that defined landmarks like Nia and Blacking Arrow, it feels as if the time apart has been spent refining and alchemising the minutiae (propulsive production/uplifting lyrics/eclectic samples) that made Blackalicious so unique in the first place, as opposed to seguing to any au courant fads. Rather than a mere return, Imani feels instead like an overdue celebration. [Graeme Campbell] blackalicious.com
Age of Transparency [Downtown Records, 2 Oct] After his scrappy, hazy debut, pop experimentalist Autre Ne Veut – aka Arthur Ashin – struck critical gold with the consistently flavoured grooves of 2013’s Anxiety. Age of Transparency is, conversely and perhaps ironically, somewhat opaque, wrong-footing us with fickle gear changes. Like the record overall, opener On And On (Reprise) is many things: a soulful, glitching a cappella blending into pitch-warped jazz licks before climaxing, noisily and symphonically, with Ashin’s falsetto pleading and wailing. Then, for tracks like the laser-gospel Cold Winds, or the cocky Switch Hitter, ANV sidesteps to his synthesiser, and we’re back to Anxiety’s oblique pop sensibility. Age of Transparency flits from slow to fast, from choral to RnB, from stripped-back to orchestral to electronic. It’s a hot‘n’cold treatment, sure, but the album has a closed-eyes naturalism to it that must, surely, come from an artist channelling something real. [George Sully]
Fading Frontier [4AD, 6 Oct] Two tracks into Faded Frontier and Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox makes his intentions clear. ‘I’m out of range,’ he sighs over a looping refrain which reiterates, ‘I’m living my life.’ Gone is his trolling, wig-wearing alter-ego Connie Lungpin, who surfaced on 2013’s Monomania campaign. That record’s abrasive protopunk felt like a culmination of frustration with, among other things, his body’s ongoing battle with marfan syndrom and his sexuality; Faded Frontier in contrast is a slow release and a desire for solitude. The Broadcast-doffing opener All The Same (James Cargill also appears on Take Care) mentions a friend’s dad changing his sex to find solace; Leather and Wood’s skeletal piano meanders through a yawning, empty chasm; even the bright, funk-filled Snakeskin lets things go: “I lost my marbles all over the pink, pink cage,” Cox laments over a cocksure strut, doing as he always has, looking back to progress. [Simon Jay Catling] 4ad.com/artists/deerhunter
The Top Five 1
Joanna Newsom
3
EL VY Return to the Moon
4
Deerhunter Fading Frontier
5
Deafheaven New Bermuda
Divers 2 John Grant Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
autreneveut.com
October 2015
RECORDS
Review
43
Brand Association With their self-released debut turning heads, Manchester noise-pop trio False Advertising explain how songcraft, and not attitude, is at the core of their DIY ethos
I
t’s an inch away from patronising to label False Advertising’s recently released debut album as one of the surprises of the year. After all, with a growing reputation in and around their home base of Manchester, the guitar trio were already starting to wield serious onstage clout. And while their debut single, Wasted Away, was a tune and a half (imagine Juliana Hatfield backed by Dinosaur Jr), its follow-up, the pummelling Dozer, put scuzz before melody and False Advertising were suddenly double the prospect they were. The album, following a month later, confirmed not just that they’d nailed their nu-grunge styling, but that they had the songs to go with it. That self-titled, self-released, self-produced debut is, crucially, a songwriter’s showcase: 11 tracks and every one a monster. No wonder the delight. But, as we gather in a Northern Quarter bar for an early lunchtime pint – the general consensus is that midday is just too late for coffee – Jen Hingley, Chris Warr (both on vocals, guitar and drums) and Josh Sellers (bass) begin by explaining just why their opening shot really shouldn’t be raising eyebrows. “Chris and I started playing open mic nights,” explains Hingley as introduction to their stop-start beginnings, “and we’d known each other for a few years through friends. So we ended up bonding through doing that, really. That was how we began about three years ago.” Warr takes up the story. “I’d been trying to get Jen to play with me for ages, because I knew how good she was and she was always too busy. So it took a year of pestering her to get her to do it. We just picked a few covers the first time we did it. After playing here and there for a while, we started writing material, which then led us into forming a band. This was about two years ago.” Sellers was added to the core (“I’d known Chris for years and we’d been in bands together – we went to the same school”) shortly afterwards. “We also had a drummer then, so we were a four-piece,” continues Hingley. “Chris and I both played guitar and sang, so it was a different format but we wrote these new songs and played some gigs, and, as these things do, it just sort of disintegrated quite quickly!” “Yeah,” says Warr, “it culminated in a horrendous gig where we were out of tune,
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Review
Interview: Gary Kaill Photography: Alexander Bell
the stage was too small, the sound was awful. And Jen’s quite hard on herself, and us, so we were all pretty flat.” So Jen’s the leader? “Yes. Jen wears the trousers.” Ouch. “Please don’t say that,” says the only member of False Advertising not actually wearing trousers. “That’s really sexist.” Warr laughs: “How’s that sexist?!” A look is all it takes to silence one half of the band’s actual trouser wearers. Warr finishes the story: “So we lost that drummer and we had a bit of downtime. It was summer a couple of years ago. I was convinced me and Jen had to do something. I knew our voices went well together. Jen’s a web designer and does graphics, and I’m a producer, so it seemed almost obvious that we should do it all ourselves. So we sat down, had a chat and made the decision to start a new band.”
“I vent my frustrations through music” Chris Warr
“We were very ambitious,” says Hingley, “which may sound naïve, but we sat down and realised we’d been writing all the songs. Between us we can play all the instruments, so we thought if we could get slightly better at drums, we could record our own stuff – Chris has worked as a freelance producer for years. We can do all the artwork – we could probably do our own videos. So we realised that we had all these things – so as long as we can write some good songs and perform them in a reasonable way…” Aha! There’s the ultimate hurdle, and there’s the reason False Advertising stand out and why they will, if the other stuff happens (people open their ears, planets align, etc.), steal a march on the insipid UK guitar scene. A DIY ethos for its own sake is no good to anyone, but if the songwriting is advanced enough, the world beckons. And it’s this subject that, throughout our interview, really fires them up. Hingley: “It’s important to stress that when we
had this conversation where we realised we could do all of this if we work hard enough, it was very inspiring, and that fired the writing process. I immediately started doing demos, writing new songs from scratch but that feeling, that whole ‘Why can we not do this?’ was what made the songs happen, or at least the first ones that I wrote. And then it became more collaborative and we started to work on them together.” “I started doing the same thing,” says Warr. “I’m not quite as prolific as Jen. I was writing a fair bit of stuff as well but I ended up scrapping most of it because it sounded too much like the old band. But all of that was about establishing a direction for us to go in: that’s what came out of that initial burst of inspiration.” Even if the album’s foundations are established and solid, it’s still a hugely accomplished first album. With Warr taking lead vocals on four tracks, and the highlights demonstrating sharp musicianship and even sharper arrangements, False Advertising is leagues ahead of standard nu-grunge posturing. No two songs sound alike, which is some achievement. “I like albums where the songs are different from each other,” Sellers says. “It helps create a more characterful album, rather than just a sound the band is comfortable with. But I think with our album, the songs do differ throughout, as you say. That’s important to me, so that’s nice to hear.” It’s Warr, with his years of freelance production work behind him (he’s mixed recent and upcoming releases by The Orielles), who takes much of the credit for the album’s distinctive sound. A warm, heavy and authentic throwback, it benefits from everything being right there in your face. Bass, guitars, drums and vocals fight to the get to the front. “Well, it’s all really old gear we’re using,” he explains. “The drum kit is a 70s Pearl kit. So, although we use modern recording techniques, the gear is old. Jen’s got an old Fender Silverface amp, so we did get some authenticity of sound just by using older instruments rather than microphones. ‘Cause we couldn’t afford that! “The recording equipment itself is only about five grand’s worth – not a lot. And I reckon anyone could do it. If you know Cubase, you can do it. I’ve developed a technique based on no budget and it’s taken me a while. It’s
MUSIC
a needs-must scenario. You work with what you’ve got and the production process is definitely a creative process, too. I’ve honed those techniques. I was always going to be in a band – I can’t not be in a band. This is my thirteenth band.” As he laughs, Hingley deadpans: “He makes it sound like he has a fourteenth planned…” On record and on stage, their connection is nigh on telepathic, and in conversation, False Advertising are equally connected. They’re excellent company: articulate, warm and possessed of a smart and dry humour. Sellers is the quietest perhaps because his bandmates take the lead, but when he speaks, he’s quietly compelling. Hingley may or may not be the leader but she’s clear-sighted and passionate, whereas Warr is an explosion of words and ideas. He talks, you listen. And, based on his damning response to a side-road discussion point we alight on – a blog which earlier that day had described PINS, an act the band like and admire, as “Joy Division with a vagina” – sexism appears not to be an issue in the False Advertising camp. We return to songwriting methods as we finish up. “I think I just veil mine,” Hingley remarks of one of the album’s strongest suits: its brooding, accusatory, lyrics. “I think they mean something different to me than anyone else. There’s the odd moment where we’re like, ‘What’s this line supposed to mean?!’ but it’s been collaborative, overall. Wasted Away, for example, is just what I was singing on the demo, and a few things have actually found their way into songs that way.” As talk turns to forthcoming plans (more gigs, perhaps a tour in the new year), we circle back to inspiration and why it is that the band do what they do. It seems fitting that Warr has the last word. “I vent my frustrations through music,” he says. “I’m a fairly happy-go-lucky person in real life but it’s my alter ego in song, my opportunity to get it all out. That’s why I do music.” He pauses and smiles. “It balances me.” Playing Oxjam Leeds, 17 Oct; A Carefully Planned Festival #5, Mint Lounge, Manchester, 18 Oct; The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 21 Nov False Advertising’s self-released debut LP is out now falseadvertising.co
THE SKINNY
10 Years in the Making…
Launch Party Oct 17 2015 21.00-05.00 Room 1 Back 2 Back DJ Set
IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
Crystal Waters LIVE DJ Yella of NWA RIP Groove, Sam Divine Sam Holt Room 2
Clive Henry, D’Julz Greg Vickers B2B Jozef K Manu Gonzalez, Noir Robert Dietz, Tania Vulcano
CHETHAM’S SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Room 3
22 & 23 OCTOBER 7.30PM
Rautavaara Cantus Arcticus
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 1 in F Sharp Minor
Sibelius Symphony No. 5
VICTORIA WAREHOUSE TRAFFORD WHARF RD STRETFORD MANCHESTER M17 1AB
Franz Anton Krager Conductor Henry Cash Piano Thursday 22 October RNCM rncm.ac.uk
CSO ad The Skinny.indd 1
October 2015
East End Dubs, Igluu Miguel Manzano No Artificial Colours Ramon Tapia, Rosario
Friday 23 October Chester Cathedral chestercathedral.com
21/09/2015 10:24
TICKETS: WWW.SKIDDLE.COM WWW.SANKEYS-WAREHOUSE.INFO SANKEYSWAREHOUSE SANKEYSWHSE SANKEYSWHSE
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02/10/2015 11:21
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DJ Chart: Lord of the Isles Neil McDonald spans the globe to spill his current musical beans DJ Guy – Basf Ferro [Cejero] This EP has been unearthed from DJ Guy (Guy Evans)’s archive. Recorded sometime in the early 90s, it showcases Evans talent. From amazing ambient tracks to Balearic dreamers and ferocious experimental electro. It blew my mind when I first heard it and proves that great music really is timeless. Goodness knows what else he may be sitting on. Mosey – Tuff Times [Future Times] I fell in love with this on first listen. It’s so simple and honest-sounding. A real dreamy track that leaves plenty of head space to get lost in. Especially on the dancefloor where a big rig can add a real power to the emotional vibe. Induces goosebumps when played at the right moment. Aquarian Foundation – Mind Miniatures [Going Good] There’s been a lot of amazing electronic music coming out of Canada’s West Coast for the past few years and this is no exception. A real journey. Two 20-plus minute sides of live performance where elements come and go and evolve constantly. Reminiscent of early 90s ambient house records from The Orb or KLF (Space/Chill Out). As a full listen, the time flies – full of amazing moments from start to finish and in a long improvised format that I’m particularly fond of. Club No-No/SVN – Track 2 [Sued] Deeper than deep and positively hypnotic. Reminds me a little of early Prescription/Balance releases. So great in the mix, too, with amazing tropical textures weaving in and out for nearly ten minutes. Pure bliss. cv313 – Beyond the Clouds (Reprise) [Echospace] Adapted from a live performance in Detroit, this 23-minute ‘track’ is absolutely epic. I would go as far to say it’s the best-sounding vinyl record I own. So many layers to this and the quality of the production and recording methods come together to create something really special. Almost every time I listen to it I hear different things going on. It’s a record I play often to get away from it all – a great way to recalibrate the brain.
Dorisburg – Tundra [Aniara] A record that has literally not left my bag for four years. Cascading melodies swirl around a progressively building arrangement that is so captivating on the dancefloor. It creates “that” moment every time I play it out. People always ask about it. It gives me shivers every time I hear it in a club. It’s in my all-time top ten.
Clubbing Highlights
TMO – Insomniac EP [Public Possession] Raw analogue music from Moscow’s Lipelis. This is the real deal – rough and ready music that’s clearly been put together with craft. It sounds live, it sounds amazing! It really cuts through when played out. Also look out for his edits EP on US label Lies which is also great but in a totally different way.
Party people – herds of students have returned to graze, and it’s our job to unpack the wheat Words: E. Jon Lanside Illustration: Jess Ebsworth
Benjamin Brunn – Drop [Kimochi] Another beautifully honest-sounding record. So unassuming and simple. Brunn really allows the instruments to breathe here and it’s a joy to listen to. Packaged and put together impeccably by Chicago’s Kimochi imprint. Most of my Kimochi records could be on this list.
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Smackos – The Age of Candy Candy [Berceuse Heroique / Strange Life Records] Berceuse Heroique have reissued this Danny Wolfers (aka Legowelt) album from his own Strange Life Records imprint, released back in 2004. On vinyl for the first time it sounds and looks great. Beatless ambient soundscapes from Wolfers using vintage synths from his extensive collection. Sounds like a soundtrack to an imaginary 70s sci-fi movie. His Pacific Northwest Sasquatch Research CD on Strange Life is also worth checking if you like this. LOTI releases his second EP with Permanent Vacation on 23 Oct - eyes peeled
Photo: Eve McDonald
LNRDCROY – Much Less Normal [Firecracker Recordings / 1080p] Another wonderful release from the Canadian West Coast. Reissued from the always interesting Vancouver label 1080p by Scotland’s Firecracker Recordings earlier this year. Firecracker’s attention to detail both sonically
and visually has done something special to an already amazing album. I was familiar with the 1080p version and loved it. There was only one track I liked less than the others and this was thankfully replaced by Firecracker. The track order was also slightly changed. Firecracker have packaged it up beautifully in their trademark screen-printed cosmic designs. Having said all that, the real star is the music itself. Odes to British Columbia, they are atmospheric, original and personal sounding. Great productions that playfully dance around your head and heart long after you’ve heard them, demanding you return again and again. You know it’s an album that’s going to be your companion forever – yes, it’s that good.
October 2015
n the first weekend of this month alone, Manchester and Liverpool have both seen a huge surge in the number of bookings dotted about town. Dave Clarke, Quantic, Fred P and Midland are just four of the big guns who you may have already enjoyed as we go to print. For longevity’s sake, let’s get cracking on the remainder of the month. First, in the ’Pool, Mahogani Music alum Dan Shake plays a TBC venue somewhere in the centre on 8 Oct – catch him for a fiver. You’ve probably seen posters for Different Gravy pinned on various Mancunian bus stops and lampposts: Chimpo, Murlo and Fox all contribute to the grimy festivities at Antwerp Mansion, also on 8 Oct (£7). We recently overheard one fresher describe the venue to a friend as, “like a big house.” Space Dimension Controller runs the show on 9 Oct at 1 Primrose Street for five hours straight (£8) – always the chance of a Star Wars theme disco edit. Same night also sees Blade Runner fan Alden Tyrell bring his arsenal of acidic techno from Clone and beyond, to Soup Kitchen (£8). Spoilt for choice, really, as there’s also John Heckle at The Whiskey Jar – a comparative snip at £4! Quantic brings his record bags to The Kazimier on 9 Oct, with a little help from Mr Thing and Werkha (£8). For more info on that, read our chat with Will Holland on page 26. The following night, meanwhile, sees two-thirds of Hessle, Pearson Sound and Pangaea, take over 24 Kitchen St to the tune of £8. You’d be forgiven for missing that one purely to catch Luke Vibert at the Kaz – guaranteed to be a bit of everything thrown in the mix for that (£12).
CLUBS
Back in Manc, High Hoops bring the business to Hidden on 10 Oct with Hunee, Gerd, Medlar and Fort Romeau all coming to town for one night of debauchery (£15). Hit & Run is also back at a secret location with Mouse Outfit, Dub Smugglers and your boy Rich Reason (£8). Danuka also goes b2b with Eglo boss Alex Nut at The Whiskey Jar, which is £3 before 11pm. Nice midweek option in Liverpool on 15 Oct: Delroy Edwards flies in to new venue Buyers Club with a predicted barrage of new LIES-esque fare (£5 earlybird). Same night in Manchester you’ve got Bambooman at Soup Kitchen for a fiver. On to the weekend, Black Bee Soul Club returns on 16 Oct with a high-octane mix of Northern stompers at the venue formerly known as Kraak, Aatma (£3 adv). Over at Hidden on 17 Oct, Marcel Fengler, Pariah and Fumiya Tanaka join forces to form a pretty monstrous bill, worth £10. Dub Smugglers unite Red Eye Hi Fi and Mungo’s for an almighty sound clash at The Ruby Lounge on 23 Oct – a fun alternative to ironing, will probably shake the creases out your shirt for £7. Then, on 30 Oct, Inside Out have secured the services of David Moufang – aka Move D – for one night at Soup Kitchen. Again, well worth £8; sure to be a lecture in all things groove from one of the very best currently above ground and still breathing. No doubt there’ll be more nights of a Halloween bent springing up towards the end of the month – keep your peepers peeled. Until next time… play nice.
Review
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The Poet’s Odyssey Photo: Steve Tanner
The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead – a play by (the maestro) Simon Armitage, wi’ its roots and tentacles in an ancient past; head bobbing in the wind, slapped around by the foul gust(s) of contemporary (politicised) Britain...
HOME
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Run ended
Photo: Decoy Media
HOME is starting to establish a recognisable style in the theatre it is producing and staging; cinematic in scope, it mixes drama, music and dance together, stirring in some show-stopping staging and finishing it all off with a sprinkling of ‘wow’ moments. Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs) is no different, making for an exciting – if somewhat detached – night of theatre. Dead Dog, from Kneehigh Theatre, is a reimagining of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera and Bertolt Brecht’s later adaptation, The Threepenny Opera. It tells the story of Macheath, a conscience-free criminal who will say anything to solve a problem and kill anyone for cash. As he stalks the fictional town in which Dead Dog is set the list of his emotional and physical victims grows ever longer. Meanwhile, the mayor is murdered by local criminal Les Peachum who, with the help of his scheming wife, intends on taking over the town for himself. Bertolt Brecht’s Mack the Knife became an instant classic, so how does Charles Hazlewood’s new score stand up against those high standards? Very well, it turns out, with a mix of mournful, funny and furious numbers spread evenly across the production. Ska, pop, metal and
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psychedelia all have outings, with the live band (who at various points become part of the production) giving the show a feeling of vitality. Dominic Marsh’s Macheath is slimy yet sympathetic, a tricky balancing act that’s central to Dead Dog’s success. Another notable performance is Rina Fatania, whose larger than life Mrs Peachum generates lots of laughs. Finally, a tip of the hat to Sarah Wright, whose sinister Punch and Judy puppetry acts as narrator and envelops the whole show in an old-time atmosphere. Director Mike Shepherd certainly has a lot on his hands here, and has done well to balance all the various elements and keep a complicated piece moving along at a steady pace. The stage, which incorporates a slide and a gallows, is almost a character in itself, providing many striking visual images that will stick in the mind for some time. So, plenty of great performances and many memorable moments, but what Dead Dog doesn’t have is much emotional impact. Yes it is impressive, but it doesn’t move this viewer, and one wonders if all the razzmatazz in these HOME shows might actually be detracting from the drama itself. [Andrew Anderson]
Narvik
Liverpool Playhouse
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A new play with songs by the award-winning Liverpool playwright and singer-songwriter Lizzie Nunnery, Narvik tells a compelling story of love and loss set against the backdrop of Norway in World War II and present-day Liverpool. Produced by the up-and-coming Manchesterbased theatre company Box of Tricks, it seems particularly well suited to the intimate space of the Playhouse Studio. It’s inspired by memories and family history, and draws partly upon the war-time experiences of Nunnery’s grandfather, who served with the Royal Navy to free the Norwegian port from the Nazis in 1940. The result is a moving and powerful piece exploring themes of guilt, regret and the impact of war upon the lives of ordinary people, each with their individual vulnerabilities. The play opens with the character of Jim, a 90-year-old, who has suffered a fall in his
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Review
any describe Simon Armitage as our greatest living poet. He’s certainly up there among these literary luminaries – you’ll get no squabble from me if that’s your vibe cadre. This interview, however, occurs on the first day Armitage has entered a rehearsal space with the cast/team/troupe that are bringing his theatrical work The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead to stage. The play premieres at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre – an important place to begin, as Armitage regards it as part of the heart and soul of Liverpool’s cultural beat. It’s not a place he knows very well but it has, he says, been “fantastically welcoming, and there’s a real tangible spirit in the city towards the arts, theatrical ideas and relishing language. We’re riding quite high on that. Given this is a piece set on a boat about ports and maritime culture, [Liverpool] feels like a good place to start.” The play then heads off on tour – so has an “Odyssey of its own” to undertake. Commissioned by English Touring Theatre, the production sees Armitage team up once again with director Nick Bagnall, who directed The Last Days of Troy – Armitage’s dramatisation of Homer’s Iliad – for Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre last year. “Myself and [Nick] just had a real urge to see the story through – so let’s think of the Odyssey as the sequel to the Iliad. That’s what Hollywood would call it anyway. “It’s set in two worlds really,” he explains. “In its contemporary guise we meet a high-ranking politician in the government – all the themes about the Gods and the power brokers in the story are based in Westminster. He gets sent to Turkey on an ambassadorial junket to watch a football match on behalf of the government and gets involved in a fight in a bar. At that point he drops through the trap door of time into the ancient classical past. All our Odysseus’s journeys – the obstacles he meets and the barriers he has to overcome – are set in the ancient past.” Armitage has himself followed in the wake of Odysseus – for BBC Four’s Gods and Monsters series – and drew inspiration for the play from his own incredibly vivid journey, commenting:
“Before I went to Hisarlik, I probably thought Troy was just a made up place, an invention; to suddenly be walking around in that geography and to have that in mind when talking about the journeys, the battles and the characters gives a living landscape as backdrop to the storytelling format.” On the Whitehalls and Downing Streets of the play chiming true, Armitage notes: “One thing that’s come increasingly to the fore since we started working on this, is the issue of people crossing Europe in boats and now by foot; which is very much what Odysseus is doing in this and the original story. He is trying to get from Asia back to Western Europe and some of those parallels and resonances have been echoed much louder now than when we started.” In actuality, this project goes back some 16 years for Armitage, who dramatised the Odyssey for BBC radio about 15 years ago. “People are often saying to me, Why are these ancient myths relevant? You can talk for a long time about how they continue to be topical and actually, some of the things [these myths] talked about as fantastical are coming true – you can be a man and a woman in the same lifetime, or feel that we are on the brink of, if not eternal life, much longer lives; you can feel physically and emotionally like you’re experiencing some of these things that were dreams back then. Beyond that they’re just great stories and that’s why we’re still interested in them now; there’s something universal about them to be recognised that we can apply to our own lives. “Homecomings have always been a theme for me,” he adds, “people having this inner compass and this inner needle directing them back to the place that they either come from or they want to be. “Maybe it’s my signature tune,” he chuckles out – having himself walked the Pennine Way a few years back... The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead is at Liverpool Everyman Theatre until 17 Oct, before touring everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/odyssey-missingpresumed-dead
Liverpool basement flat. He descends into a recounting of his past: he recalls his time as a young sailor; his brief love affair with Else, a school-teacher from Oslo, played alluringly by Nina Yndis; and his experiences as a radio operator with Kenny, his cynical friend in service, played by Lucas Smith. Jim Callaghan brilliantly plays both the younger and older Jim, navigating between the roles with ease. What is perhaps most hypnotic about Narvik, apart from Nunnery’s poetic story-telling, is the music, which is haunting and atmospheric. Nunnery herself performs with her regular collaborators and fellow musicians, Vidar Norheim and Martin Heslop, to become a modern-day Greek chorus. The musical interludes and songs, which include a mixture of ballads and sea shanties, echo, reflect and comment on the unfolding scenes, drawing the audience in with their siren melodies. [Jennie Lee]
Photo: Gary Calton
Dead Dog in a Suitcase
Interview: Michael Pedersen
Run ended
THEATRE
THE SKINNY
Caro in Yorkshire
Preview: Sonica
Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle
Anthony Caro - Terminus (2013)
Seismik
feel that we just want the premier of the work.” Boyd assures us that Sonica is also “supporting emerging British talent – people like Morton Underwood, Mark Lyken, NORTH OF X and Robbie Thomson. These highly, highly talented emerging British artists.” Lyken is paired with Kathy Hinde – while Hinde’s visuals “merge machinery and natural stimuli,” Lyken’s Oscillon Response bases itself on late mathematician and artist Ben F Laposky’s Electronic Abstractions. Broadening this theme, NORTH OF X presents The Age of Digital/Analogue, “an audio-visual piece that travels the UK exploring the relationship between man, machine and landscape.” With Boyd’s two-decade experience of running Cryptic, it’s no wonder that Sonica comprises such diverse and ambitious international and domestic talent. If Sonica is still a young festival, it’s a precocious child with much ahead. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Sonica, various venues, Glasgow, 29 Oct-8 Nov sonic-a.co.uk
Anthony Caro is considered one of our most important sculptors, a true pioneer whose work is now being reassessed by an exhibition across the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle (largely The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, with the work Aurora (2000-2003) outside the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds). This survey of work, a daring and comprehensive retrospective, reconsiders Caro’s importance to art history and his significant influence on the development of sculpture. In the early 1950s Caro worked as a studio assistant to Henry Moore, and it was Moore who introduced Caro to the ideas of Modernism, a formative influence on his later work. In 1953 Caro began to teach at St Martin’s School of Art, London. His students later included Gilbert & George, Roelof Louw and Richard Deacon, and through Caro’s tutorage there was a rejection of the apparently staid and laboured figurative style of sculpture favoured by the past generation. Instead, artists turned to using affordable and everyday materials, and using the floor to display their work in a departure from conventional plinths and pedestals. Created with the valuable input of Caro’s estate, the exhibition Caro in Yorkshire reveals an industrious and courageous artist who explored the boundaries of materials like never before. Caro’s work was somewhat overshadowed
by the advent of Pop Art in the early 1960s, but his decision to unify his constructions by painting them in a single colour was as crucial to the course of art as Andy Warhol’s screen-printing techniques. From the monumental sculptures such as Promenade (1996) displayed in the YSP grounds, to an exquisite display of scale maquettes shown at The Hepworth, the exhibition reasserts the gravity of Caro’s achievements spanning his early tentative steps in figurative form, such as Man Holding His Toe (1953), to the grand proposals of public sculpture such as the unrealised project for Park Avenue in New York, represented by a 2011 scale model. The Henry Moore sculptures that are dotted around the Caro works appear achingly trivial in comparison. Moore, so often considered to be our greatest sculptor, is knocked from glory by Caro’s audacious and breathtaking structures. This is a long overdue assessment of Caro’s complex oeuvre, past retrospectives having been required to edit his output due to limitations in space. The use of The Hepworth’s elegant galleries and YSP’s extensive parkland allows the biggest showcase of Caro’s work to date, magnificently curated – an exhibition his legacy deserves. [Matthew Retallick] Runs until 1 Nov
FOR MORE INFO, SEE
WILLIAMSONARTGALLERY.ORG/PERFECT?
October 2015
ART
Review
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Photo: John Hammond
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Photo: Herman Kolge
Set up to present “the most exciting sonic art in the world” – in the words of founder Cathie Boyd – Sonica Festival has been across six continents since it launched in Glasgow’s Tramway in 2012. After 20 years of running Cryptic – the Glasgow-based organisation that produces Sonica – Boyd has her own working definition of sonic art: “Music which is presented visually or visual art which is presented sonically.” This year Sonica takes place between 29 October and 8 November across Glasgow, with parts of the programme reflecting Boyd’s recent enthusiasm for showcasing more geographically distant developments in sonic art – for example, the Govanhill Baths will house a large-scale kinetic sculpture, commissioned from Indonesian visual artist and theatre-maker Jompet Kuswidananto. As well as new talent from further-away countries, Sonica is also showcasing some of the usually inaccessible or hidden spaces in Glasgow. In the Glasgow Science Centre basement, you’ll find Wintour’s Leap’s tiny LED lights that visualise sound. There will also be an afternoon concert by the Maxwell String Quartet, performing a programme including Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt. This audio-visual element of the programme is, Boyd says, “a new addition to Sonica,” observing that much of this work was “made by artists, duos, or solo like Herman Kolgen. The visuals are as strong as the music and they do completely ravage you.” For Boyd, presenting the most interesting sonic art also involves “taking existing work that deserves to be seen again.” While the festival does have a lot of commissions this year, she refers to Kathy Hinde’s work, commissioned in Glasgow CCA and premiered last year. Since then, Hinde has performed it “in London, Brighton and Aberdeen,” but will present it for the first time in Glasgow at Sonica, “so we don’t
Film Event Highlights This month’s column is dominated by two events: multiple screenings marking the date when Marty McFly sees his future in Back to the Future Part II, and Halloween, the horrorbuff’s favourite night of the year Suffragette
Words: Simon Bland
G
reat Scott! It’s 2015 and while we may not have hoverboards or self-lacing Nikes, the one thing we have plenty of is Back to the Future screenings. As any time traveller will know, 21 October is “Future Day,” aka the date Marty McFly arrived in a neon-coloured Hill Valley in the year 2015 and almost unravelled the space-time continuum like a right silly idiot. To celebrate, cinemas across the Northwest are zapping the Doc’s DeLorean back on to their screens. Catch Back to the Future Part II this month at FACT Liverpool or with R.A.D at Gorilla, Manchester, alongside a science boffin Q&A. Meanwhile, at the Odeon Printworks in Manchester, there’s an epic back-to-back trilogy screening. That’s right – where we’re going, we don’t need toilet breaks. (All 21 Oct.) Speaking of old favourites, FACT are also resurrecting a load of classics to keep you warm on those chilly autumn evenings. Here you’ll find feel-good comedy Little Miss Sunshine (6 Oct), Pixar’s Monsters Inc (10 Oct), Leslie Nielsen sci-fi Forbidden Planet (11 Oct), the cheeky Monty Python and the Holy Grail (14 Oct), revolutionary animation-live action hybrid Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (17 Oct) and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner: The Final Cut (25 Oct). From there on out, things get a bit spooky as FACT switch to Halloween mode, conjuring screenings of undisputed comedy heavyweight Ghostbusters (25 Oct) and Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie on Halloween night. What a treat. The fun continues with Grimm Up North in Manchester. Hot off the heels of their annual Grimmfest, they’re hosting a Lovecraft double bill at MMU’s Geoffrey Manton building, featuring 80s horror staples Re-Animator and From Beyond (24 Oct).
Back to the Future Part II
Meanwhile, the Grimm team’s R.A.D buddies are running their own double bill on Halloween night at Gorilla, boasting suburban comedy gem The Addams Family, featuring Raúl Juliá’s definitive Gomez, and Joe Dante’s The ’Burbs, starring late-great that-guy actor Rick Ducommun alongside Tom Hanks and Bruce Dern. What’s your favourite scary movie? Head to Kabinett in Liverpool for The Scream Experience (8 Oct) and catch late legend Wes Craven rewrite the rules of a genre he helped create with teen-slasher Scream. They’ll even throw in an artwork sale, cocktails and a few competitions to sweeten the deal. The very same venue continues the fright-filled fun with their The An American Werewolf in London Experience (29 Oct), bringing John Landis’s landmark lycanthrope movie back to the big screen, groundbreaking effects and all. Just remember to stay off the moors on your way home.
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Review
The Lobster
Red Army
Suffragette
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Director: Gabe Polsky Starring: Slava Fetisov, Vladislav Tretiak, Scotty Bowman Released: 9 Oct Certificate: 15
Director: Sarah Gavron Starring: Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter Released: 12 Oct Certificate: 12A
Gabe Polsky’s compelling film about the world-beating Soviet ice hockey team that dominated the sport from 1954 to 1991 is a swift and incisive examination of one of the greatest teams in the history of professional sports and the political environment that created it. Conceived as part of the Soviet national sports programme used to extol the superiority of the Soviet way of life, the team was constructed as an extension of the communist philosophy of collectivism. Players were encouraged to repress individuality and trained together in isolation for most of the year. This led to unparalleled success in the sport, but the incestuous relationship between politics and the game quickly became suffocating. Weaving insightful interviews with archival footage of the team in its heyday, Polsky cleverly moves the focus from the team’s undeniable brilliance to the harrowing effect operating under such an oppressive regime had on the players. He film reminds us that, despite a team’s success, the game is only as good as the people who play it. [Michael Jaconelli]
From its opening scene set in the veritable hellscape of the Glass House Laundry, a literal sweatshop where women are forced into servitude as children and live in constant fear of abuse and even death, Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette cannily links the women’s suffrage movement, and human struggle in general, to issues of economy and class. While the film at times lacks subtlety and veers into didacticism, it’s compelling throughout, mostly due to the full-bodied strength and sensitivity of Carey Mulligan’s extraordinary central performance as laundry worker Maud Watts. Steam-burned and bedraggled, Watts becomes a foot soldier in the sometimes violent movement of real-life British suffrage leader Emmeline Pankhurst (Streep) both out of desire for survival and the idea that perhaps there should be more to life than merely surviving. Suffragette has been criticised for its inability to resonate with the concerns of a modern audience, but the fact that it took a mere hundred years for this story to be told on the big screen is an indication that it’s still pretty damn relevant. [Michelle Devereaux]
Taxi Tehran
The Intern
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Director: Jafar Panahi Starring: Jafar Panahi Released: 30 Oct Certificate: TBC
Director: Nancy Meyers Starring: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo Released: Out now Certificate: 12A
Ingeniously circumventing the Iranian state’s ban on his filmmaking, Jafar Panahi’s Golden Bear winner Taxi Tehran is filmed almost entirely within a makeshift cab. A surprisingly genial statement on the restrictions placed upon him and fellow artists under similar circumstances, Panhai positions a camera on the dashboard of a taxi cab, capturing a flowing assortment of local stories that unfold to ultimately present life under the strain of a repressive regime. Initially, there’s a documentary feel to the film, but it eventually becomes apparent that Panahi has allowed fiction to seep into his taxi, with each of his fares expressing views linked to the reoccurring themes of his previous work. There’s a teacher and mugger who argue about crime and punishment, and even Panahi’s own niece makes an appearance, discussing a school project where she’s been asked to shoot a “distributable” film. Panahi’s latest not only highlights the difficulty faced by filmmakers attempting to represent Iranian reality, but how a blend of fact and fiction can sometimes be the only route to unearthing the truth. [Patrick Gamble]
Audiences are so used to Robert De Niro mortgaging off his reputation that his appearances in predictable fluff like The Intern no longer seem quite so unpalatable. Once a complacent giant, he now calls to mind a faintly embarrassing father figure to whom respect is nevertheless owed. This latest offering from writer-director Nancy Meyers riffs on our perception of the star as she plunges him into a sentimental fish-out-ofwater story. A cuddly and besuited 70-year-old, his character certainly isn’t an obvious fit for Anne Hathaway’s hip Brooklyn-based online fashion retailer. Much to the surprise of his workaholic boss, he nevertheless proves a great asset to both the company and her personal life. Meyers, who’s only five years younger than her protagonist, makes some salient points concerning the cyclical nature of fashion and the enduring qualities of kindness and integrity. She’s to be applauded for bringing a driven, female breadwinner to the big screen, but her progressive, humanist credentials are ultimately undermined by a belief that fulfilment can be achieved through wealth accumulation and business. [Lewis Porteous]
The Lobster
Sicario
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Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Starring: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Jessica Barden Released: 16 Oct Certificate: 15 The cinematic worlds that Yorgos Lanthimos creates are defined by their rules and codes of behaviour, and the drama in them comes from the consequences faced by characters who cross those lines. In his sci-fi satire The Lobster, single people must find a mate within 45 days or face transformation into the animal of their choice – an absurd premise that is played to deadpan comic perfection by the director and his superbly chosen ensemble. The Lobster finds Lanthimos working with more familiar actors and a bigger budget than he enjoyed in his previous three features, but this elevated status hasn’t blunted his edge, and his ability to combine arch humour and outbursts of shocking violence is as potent as ever here. The only misstep occur in a lengthy woodland interlude, where the narrative briefly seems to have reached a dead end, but Lanthimos pulls it together for an unsettling climax, and the film’s perceptive commentary on the nature of contemporary relationships and society will leave you with plenty to think about and discuss. [Philip Concannon]
FILM
Director: Denis Villeneuve Starring: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin Released: 8 Oct Certificate: 15 A timely critique of America’s ruinous drug wars, Sicario is set in an area of Texas that has always felt extra-legal, locked in an eternal schism between cartel drug traffickers and cowboy vigilantes. FBI agent Kate (Blunt) finds herself thrust into this Wild West, ostensibly to ‘consult’ on an operation. But things seem awry from the start, and Kate grows increasingly mistrustful of flip-flop wearing Texan Matt (Brolin) and enigmatic Colombian Alejandro (a simmering Benicio Del Toro), who take a cavalier approach to the rule of law in their hunt for a cartel king. In truth, this ‘web of conspiracy’ plot is nothing new, and while Kate grows increasingly shocked at the corruption of her superiors, it’s difficult to share her surprise. Still, while the structure might be familiar, the execution is fiercely fresh. Villeneuve knows how to create tension with devastating precision and stunning visual swagger; on this strength, his upcoming Blade Runner sequel looks to be very promising indeed. [John Nugent]
THE SKINNY
The Man Who Could Cheat Death
Night and the City
Seconds
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Director: Terence Fisher Starring: Anton Diffring, Christopher Lee Released: Out now Certificate: 15 There’s a scene in Terence Fisher’s Hammer Horror classic in which Dr Bonner (Diffring) shows someone a photo of himself from decades ago and they gasp at the identical faces of the man staring up from the sepia-toned photograph and the one holding it. Watching the late, great Christopher Lee, iconic in his old age, as a young man has an opposite effect that’s almost as unsettling. The Man Who Could Cheat Death is a horror film of a different era in every way. The special effects are lo-fi to a degree that’s kind of charming now and they’re also used incredibly sparingly – the film contains just a handful of brief action sequences with minimal gore. Instead it places a number of highly intelligent characters together with a dark secret sitting between them, and we watch as they play cat and mouse, relishing the quiet build-up of tension as much as the bloody pay-off. [Ross McIndoe]
Director: Jules Dassin Starring: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney Released: Out now Certificate: PG Few films are as drenched in fear, anger and desperation as Night and the City. It was Jules Dassin’s first film in exile from America after being blacklisted for alleged communist sympathies and his experience seeps into every aspect of this breathless adaptation of Gerald Kersh’s eponymous novel about a small-time American huckster trying to make it big in the London wrestling rackets. Star Richard Widmark embodies the futile anxiety of the film as Harry Fabian, the scam-artist who over the course of the film slowly drowns in his own ambition. Like a caged rat, Harry feverishly scurries through the labyrinthine back alleys of a post-war London, his eyes rolling and beads of sweat popping from his forehead as Dassin’s unrelenting camera follows him every step of the way, peering into the darkest corners of a London underworld that pulsates with malevolence and despair. A seminal film noir. [Michael Jaconelli]
Results
Deep Red
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Director: Andrew Bujalski Starring: Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders Released: Out now Certificate: 15 If Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess was his most defiantly uncommercial film to date, Results initially seems like the first time this filmmaker has courted a mainstream audience. It’s a romantic comedy with attractive protagonists played by Pearce and Smulders, but the most interesting thing about the film is the way Bujalski attempts to impose his own aesthetic on this genre and refresh its familiar narrative beats. In truth, it doesn’t quite work, but the dissonance between the content and Bujalski’s approach is oddly compelling, and he does create a number of memorable moments that feel particularly striking within this context. Pearce and Smulders deliver noteperfect performances as the fitness freaks negotiating personal ambition and sexual tension, while Kevin Corrigan is tremendous as a nouveau riche slob who enters their world. A director more in tune with the demands of the rom-com might have kept the story from fizzling out, but it’s an admirable effort. [Philip Concannon]
Director: Dario Argento Starring: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi Released: 5 Oct Certificate: 18
Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) is prolific Italian horror auteur Dario Argento’s self-proclaimed masterpiece, and arguably the definitive magnum opus of giallo. Strongly influencing American slasher flicks, most notably John Carpenter’s Halloween, Deep Red spectacularly realises Argento’s unique stylistic formalism and thematic obsessions that made the supernatural Suspiria, his subsequent film, his most popular work. Much like Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, in which trauma is also inexorably linked to the eponymous semiotic colour, Deep Red is concerned with the trials of an artistic Anglophone in Italy. Jazz pianist Marcus Daly (Hemmings), having perchance witnessed a horrific, bloody murder of a psychic, decides to hunt down the killer, who simultaneously stalks both him and anyone who can help solve his macabre puzzle. Expect prog rockers Goblin, creepy lullabies, free-associating psychoanalytic imagery, freewheeling cinematography, gothic re-imagined as lurid psychedelia, queering of gender and pints and pints of bright red blood. [Rachel Bowles]
Director: John Frankenheimer Starring: Rock Hudson, John Randolph Released: 26 Oct Certificate: 15 There’s a good reason this paranoid thriller bombed at the 1966 box office – it’s possibly the bleakest film ever made. John Frankenheimer’s chief target is a society obsessed by youth and success. For anyone unhappy with their career, relationship or even themselves, Seconds will touch the rawest of nerves. Arthur Hamilton (Randolph) is a burned-out executive trapped in a loveless marriage. A sinister corporation offer him a second chance. His death is faked and he undergoes surgery to be reborn as “successful painter” Tony Wilson (Hudson). Has Hamilton/Wilson finally found the happiness he craves? Seconds has proven to be highly influential, with its DNA apparent in the likes of The Stepford Wives, Jacob’s Ladder and Fincher’s The Game. It’s taken almost 50 years for Frankenheimer’s film to be recognised as a modern classic – this Masters of Cinema release is a cause for celebration. [Steve Timms]
Turbo Kid
Director: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell Starring: Munro Chambers, Michael Ironside Released: 5 Oct Certificate: 15
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An affectionately schlocky homage to bottom-shelf 80s genre flicks, Turbo Kid goes all out on the nostalgia front, packing ViewMasters, Rubik’s Cubes and an air-punching John Farnham power ballad in the opening minutes alone. Set in the distant future of 1997, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland roamed by ragtag BMX-biker gangs, it marks the feature debut of Montreal collective RKSS – a trio whose filmmaking creed appears to be “if in doubt, throw a bucket of blood at someone.” For a while, this playful collision between retro kids’ adventure and gushing gore is reason enough to follow laser-gloved teen The Kid (a suitably puppyish Munro Chambers) on his quest to defeat megalomaniacal warlord Zeus (era icon Michael Ironside, faultlessly cast). The arterial sprays and comic disembowelments later lose their edge through overuse, but the film has plenty of warmth and charm to fall back on, securing it the instant cult status it clearly craves. [Chris Buckle]
Sexcraft
Grimmfest and Gothic Manchester host a HP Lovecraft double bill, featuring Re-Animator and From Beyond, this October. We take a look at how director Stuart Gordon brought a more salacious vibe to the sci-fi writer’s work with his 80s film adaptations Words: Ben Nicholson Illustration: Camille Smithwick
“I
have seen beyond the bounds of infinity and drawn down daemons from the stars...” These may be words penned by HP Lovecraft in his short story From Beyond, but they could easily be attributed to Stuart Gordon, the director best known for bringing the horror author’s work to the big screen. Where Lovecraft regularly reached beyond the perceived reality of his characters, so Gordon reached beyond Lovecraft’s words to create adaptations at once entirely fitting and diabolically, gleefully risqué and irreverent. The most famous of these are 1985’s gloriously tasteless Re-Animator – which holds a cult position all of its own – and the following year’s (arguably superior) adaptation of From Beyond, which were followed by several other versions of Lovecraft tales. Re-Animator, based on the short story Herbert West – Reanimator, contains easily the most infamous scene in the cinematic portrayals of Lovecraft: a BBFC-curtailed sequence in which a severed head, now infused with life anew, attempts to perform an act of cunnilingus on a nubile young woman. It’s recently been restored to the film in full, and it perfectly encapsulates the gruesome and racy hybrid of the original source material with saleable 80s
October 2015
titillation and Gordon’s mischievous provocation that characterise these films. Lovecraft himself was writing during the interwar period and was actually rather averse to depictions of sexuality, among many other things. Lovecraft’s ugly attitude towards cultures different from his own – which still puts people off his writing today – often manifested in the terrifying fear of the ‘other’ and particularly of interbreeding between races. While one of Gordon’s later Lovecraft films (2001’s Dragon) features a plot that far more clearly foregrounds these fears, neither of the original stories contain sex acts or particular arousal. Yet Gordon imbues both stories with deep, underlying sexual drivers and unsettling and sometimes shocking deviances. Of course, sex sells. That’s undoubtedly part of the reason that opportunities aplenty are taken to strip Barbara Crampton, who is the female lead in both films, down to as little clothing as possible. Whether she’s strapped to a gurney naked with a disembodied head between her legs in Re-Animator, or clad in leather fetish gear straddling a prone protagonist in From Beyond, she’s intended to salaciously engage the attention of the audience members while at the
same time that desire is twisted, via this grubby artistic mirror, into the despicable longings of the monstrous entities at the film’s centres. Sex always plays an oddly bifurcated role in the horror genre – a major selling point for a film, and a punishable sin within its narrative – and Gordon toys with this notion through his lusty antagonists’ intent on Crampton’s body. In From Beyond, Dr McMichaels (Crampton) endures the advances of what used to be Dr Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel), whose experiments with a machine known only as The Resonator have seen him transformed into an indescribable beast from another dimension. Affecting the part of the brain that inhibits sexual desire, the machine turns anyone near into a raging sack of frustrated hormones, but most of all the mutated doctor whose hunger for knowledge is both metaphysical and carnal.
DVD / FILM
It’s a similar story in Re-Animator when the eponymous student, Herbert West (played by Jeffrey Combs, who also stars in From Beyond) decapitates Dr Hill (David Gale) only for his lascivious designs on Crampton’s Megan to exponentially increase after his re-awakening. In both instances, Gordon astutely aligns the insatiable academic appetites of the original stories with sexual ones to chime with his splatter-fuelled and hilarious contemporary takes on the source material. It’s an inspired and ironic warping of Lovecraft’s own reality, which the writer would never have condoned, but might have grudgingly had to admire. Lovecraft in the 80s – A Double Bill, takes place 24 Oct, 6-10pm at MMU Geoffrey Manton Building as part of Gothic Manchester festival www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/gothicmmu/gothic-manchesterfestival-2015 grimmfest.com
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Book Highlights We might be inching close to winter, but October is the hottest month for book lovers in the Northwest, with two literature festivals bringing some of the most exciting writers to the region
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anchester Literature Festival (MLF) celebrates its tenth anniversary this month with one of its most impressive programmes yet. Among those not-to-be-missed events is an evening with Manchester-born writer Jeanette Winterson, who presents her long-awaited prose retelling of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale on 13 Oct. Expect to enjoy this classic story of love, jealousy and reconciliation in a whole new way. Elsewhere, the award-winning journalist and broadcaster Paul Mason will be discussing his latest book, PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future, on 22 Oct. Currently economics editor at Channel 4 News, Mason’s most recent publication argues that capitalism is reaching the end of its useful life. He will be considering what we should do next alongside Katy Shaw, author and principal lecturer in contemporary literature at Leeds Beckett University. Similarly forward-looking is bestselling author Iain Pears, whose new novel Arcadia is published as both a hardback book and an innovative app. The digital version has an additional 70,000 words, allowing the reader to choose their own path through the narrative and making it the first digitally native title from Faber. Pears will be discussing digital storytelling with author David Gaffney on 21 Oct. For those who prefer their classics to their e-books, MLF is also showcasing the work of
BOOK OF THE MONTH City on Fire
By Garth Risk Hallberg
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Hard to ignore the hype surrounding this almostdebut (Hallberg published a novella in 2007), but try, because anything tipped as the next Underworld, let alone “the greatest American novel I’ve ever read” (the words of the, er, publisher), will struggle to meet expectations. Taken on its own terms, though, it’s an outstanding novel. Over 900-plus pages, Hallberg tries to pin down the writhing beast of 70s New York, anatomising the dying city through POV characters of practically every social type. There are too many to list, but they include Long Island kids desperate to swap suburban ennui for the Lower East Side, dropout drug-addled anarchists bent on chaos and warring members of one of those Illuminati-grade old-money NY families. He pretty much pulls it off, too. It’s a little more Richard Price than DeLillo, but we’re talking roughly a dozen POVs, and every single one handled with preternatural smoothness, plus a kind of Salingerian compassion, even love, that’s now all too rare in ambitious literary fiction. Same goes for the back-and-forth momentumsustaining architecture of the book, which is just as dazzling. The form’s so dazzling, in fact, that it can distract from the book’s fundamental problem: centrelessness. Hallberg is so restless, jumping between so many characters and plotlines, that you seldom feel the sense of vicarious consciousness, of inhabiting another sensibility, afforded by the truly great novels. Less width, more depth, in other words. Still, what an accomplishment. [James Troeltsch]
several literary greats. The Whitworth brings the poetry of WB Yeats back to the gallery where he performed a sell-out show in 1903. True Harmony: Yeats at 150 marks the Irish poet’s 150th birthday with experimental music and readings in celebration of his love of poetry, music and performance on 15 Oct. Singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams also explores the powerful relationship between music and poetry with her album Hypoxia, directly inspired by her re-engagement with the work and life of Sylvia Plath. Williams will be performing the album in full with her band on 17 Oct, before discussing the project with Observer writer Rachel Cooke. But it’s not all big names. MLF continues to support up-and-coming authors such as journalist and critic Bidisha and Afghan writer Gulwali Passarlay. As the Syrian refugee crisis continues to hit the headlines, this Amnesty International event on 17 Oct focuses on the themes of asylum and exile in today’s world. Elsewhere, authors Stephen Kelman and Sunjeev Sahota will be reading from their hotly tipped new books, both centring on India, on 24 Oct. The annual Chester Literature Festival is also back this month with its own star-studded programme. Top of our list is actor and screenwriter Nick Frost (11 Oct), most famous for starring in films including Hot Fuzz, who will be discussing his memoir, Truth, Half Truths and Little
Jeanette Winterson
White Lies, in the week of its publication. Meanwhile, the Poetry Pub Crawl (16 Oct) returns to take poetry lovers on a tour of Chester’s pubs, with a literary twist provided by hosts Mark Grist and Luke Wright. Both poets are also appearing elsewhere at the festival, with Grist’s one-man show Rogue Teacher (17 Oct) and Wright’s theatrical monologue What I Learned from Johnny Bevan (17 Oct). Poetic wit is sure to flow as steadily as the beer. Finally, ex-business secretary Vince Cable discusses his new book, After the Storm, the follow-up to his bestselling exploration of the 2008 world economic crisis. Gain a previously unreported view into the coalition government and Cable’s uniquely positioned perspective on the British economy on 19 Oct. If that’s not enough literature to get you through autumn, Tate Liverpool is hosting USborn poet Tamar Yoseloff, who will be reading poetry inspired by Jackson Pollock on 11 Oct. Renowned for her interest in the relationship between poetry and visual art, Yoseloff’s
Bream Gives Me Hiccups: And Other Stories
The Life-Writer By David Constantine
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By Jesse Eisenberg
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Jesse Eisenberg’s collection is a study in neurotica, taking humour and hilarity from the pains and delusions of the New York millennial. The stories exist in a distorted prism of illusion, where every reflection says, “me, me, me.” The comedy setup is clear. Eisenberg is playing to the crowd, with a disdain for hipsters and the bourgeois bandwagon-jumpers who are never seen without a copy of Lolita, a green juice, and a line about ways to flirt in a ‘post-gender’ world. The collection takes the reader on an assault course where pellets, stun guns and tyre rings are replaced by an ambush of every anxiety and neurosis that the therapist’s book can throw at you. Daddy issues, the breakdown of a relationship seen through the prism of the Bosnian genocide, and smiling through the murder of a now happy ex make up Eisenberg’s treatise on the modern world. As a parody of the people he has made a career playing, it would be difficult to write a book that is more Jesse Eisenberg. At some point, roughly after the fifth restaurant review from a privileged child, the dry irony begins to wear thin. The problem with Eisenberg’s decision to opt for first-person narration – arguably, the only way that he could portray neurosis effectively – is that you find yourself hoping for the staccato, self-censoring constraint of the verse to burst out into a tirade of emotion. The emotional outlet is glimpsed (in Smiling Tricks Your Brain into Thinking It’s Happy), but never fulfilled. [Holly Rimmer-Tagoe]
Katrin’s husband dies, and she decides to write his biography. It seems, at first, like a simple way through the grieving process: a task worthy of her academic mind, a continuation of her career as a biographer. It begins with the letters in the attic, and conversations with his friends. It is a way to remember him, to gather his stories. But then it becomes much more. She begins to imagine her husband’s feelings, then to write little sketches, longer pieces. Soon she has conjured him, full of young passion and energy and love. She begins to think that he loved these other women more than he ever loved her, and once she has summoned the thought, it threatens to annihilate her. At the heart of Constantine’s work is a fascination with the past. In his hands the past is restless, ever-present. It is a living thing, a menace, threatening always to unbalance his characters. The man she discovers in the letters is different to the man she knew and that difference begins to unravel her memories of their relationship. It is a painful discovery and Constantine dissects her grief and obsession with signature precision. These things are captured in the details. There is a lasting image of Katrin, sitting at her desk, poring over the letters, wearing her husband’s jacket that still smells of him. It is a powerful, engaging novel, tying together grief, biography and translation – all the ways in which it is possible to articulate a life. [Galen O’Hanlon]
Out now, published by Grove Press, RRP £14.99
Out now, published by Comma Press, RRP £9.99
Out 22 Oct, published by Vintage, RRP £18.99
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sequence The City with Horns will introduce listeners to iconic New York locations as well as characters in Pollock’s life. Manchester Literature Festival: Jeanette Winterson, The Royal Exchange Theatre, Tue 13 Oct, 7.30pm, £12 (£10); Paul Mason, Royal Northern College of Music, Thu 22 Oct, 7.30pm, £10 (£8); Iain Pears, International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Wed 21 Oct, 6pm, £6 (£4); True Harmony: Yeats at 150, Whitworth Art Gallery, Thu 15 Oct, 7.30pm, £10 (£8); Kathryn Williams: Hypoxia, Hallé St Peter’s, Sat 17 Oct, 8pm, £15 (£12); Asylum and Exile, Cross Street Chapel, Sat 17 Oct, 2pm, £8 (£6); Stephen Kelman and Sunjeev Sahota, International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Sat 24 Oct, 4pm, £4 (£3) manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk Chester Literature Festival (all following events at Chester Town Hall): Nick Frost, Sun 11 Oct, 7.30pm, £15.50; Poetry Pub Crawl, Fri 16 Oct, 7.30pm, £15.50; Mark Grist: Rogue Teacher, Sat 17 Oct, 2pm, £12.50 (£10.50); Luke Wright: What I Learned from Johnny Bevan, Sat 17 Oct, 4.30pm, £12.50 (£10.50); Vince Cable: After the Storm, Mon 19 Oct, 7.30pm, £15.50 (£13.50) chesterperforms.com/literature/ Tamar Yoseloff, The City with Horns: Poems Inspired by Jackson Pollock, Tate Liverpool, Sun 11 Oct, 2pm, free (booking essential), tate.org.uk
Endgame
By Ahmet Altan
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‘What is life if we don’t play it like a game? Nothing but an overwhelming stretch of anxiety and boredom.’ In Endgame, internationally acclaimed Turkish novelist Ahmet Altan explores dangerous secrets and murderous intrigues in a seemingly quiet little town – where violence, betrayal and suspicion live side by side with everyday life and an iniquitous virtual world. When a writer decides to retire and move into what was supposed to be the tranquil shelter of this small Turkish town, he finds himself involved with hidden treasures, corruption and murder. But what really happened, and who did he kill? Sensual, highly psychological and introspective, this is a profound and complex work that brings up arcane religious and moral debates as well as the eternal conflict between man and woman. Altan uses a devious, unreliable narrator to capture the reader’s attention with powerful and intensely sensorial descriptions. Providing interesting psychological insight, involving guilt, pleasure and paranoid thoughts to resemble Dostoyevsky’s finest, Endgame is intriguing, disturbing and revealing all at once. This novel comes from one of the most significant authors and journalists on the Turkish and international literary scenes. Throughout his career, Altan has won several prestigious awards such as the Prize for Freedom and Future of the Media, and published great literary successes including Like a Sword Wound and Four Seasons of Autumn. Endgame is another. [Vanessa Piras] Out now, published by Canongate, RRP £12.99
BOOKS
THE SKINNY
Photo: Peter Peitsch
Words: Alice Horne
Spotlight: Sophie Willan Blending politicised comedy with an occasional dance routine, the Bolton standup has marked herself out as one to watch. We shine our spotlight in her direction
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hough she has been an active theatre-maker for some seven years, Bolton’s Sophie Willan only turned her hand to standup in the last year or so, and has immediately made her mark as one to watch after flying into the finals of two handfuls of new-act competitions with her easy charm and insightful observations. Her softly spoken, almost maternal style is peppered with hard-hitting social commentary, which on occasion is reminiscent of Northern comic legend Barbara Nice – both of them are also prone to the occasional uplifting dance routine. Honest, thoughtful politicking is always a welcome addition to any comedy bill and as we enter a strange new Corbyn era at Westminster, Willan may just find herself an even bigger audience.
Best gig: “I recently did tour support for Luisa Omielan when she was filming her DVD at Bloomsbury Theatre. Her audiences are so much fun and it was really inspiring to see her filming her DVD having raised all the funds herself! I love it when people do things their own way, take risks and achieve something great as a result.”
First gig: “Well I suppose my first performance is my first gig, isn’t it? I was eight and I’d just gone to live with my gran – she’d recently got divorced and decided to take us to Ibiza. She went clubbing in a zebra-print onesie and I joined the hotel drama club. I was cast as the ‘Crying Clown’ and gave an Oscar-winning performance... according to my gran and Dave, the hotel manager!”
Favourite venue: “I love the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a legendary queer arts pub in Vauxhall. The audiences are wild and you get treated brill; I arrived to a 20pack of fags and a bottle of gin on ice – what more do you need?! It’s a melting pot for avantgarde, cabaret, standup and punk performance and has been home or haunt for some of my favourite acts – David Hoyle, Zoe Lyons, Lily Savage, Scottee, Bryony Kimmings, Dickie Beau, Bourgeois & Maurice.
October 2015
Worst gig: “I did a gig at a festival a few years ago with my best mate, Lydia. I had to dress up as a garden gnome and she was dressed as an Avon Lady. We performed to seven confused strangers gurning in a yurt! One audience member tried to pick me up so Lydia rugby tackled him to the ground.”
Photo: Steve Ullathorne
Interview: John Stansfield
“I also really like The Frog and Bucket – staff really friendly and audiences lovely. I feel very at home there!” If you were on death row, what would your last meal be? And why are you on death row? “Gonna have to be a cliché Northerner and say, steak pudding, chips and gravy or a pasty from Ye Olde Pastie Shoppe in Bolton. I’m probably on death row for my unorthodox dance moves – once had my hips compared to a sensual piece of donner meat slowly working their way around a skewer!”
Question from past Spotlighter Adam Staunton: Women in Comedy. Discuss. “All I’ve got to say here is Women in Comedy Festival [see page 15]. October! It’s gonna be fantastico! So many amazing acts from across the UK taking part. Brilliant shows and great parties to be had!” Sophie Willan performs at New Stuff, The Comedy Store, Manchester, 11 Oct, 7.30pm, and at Women in Comedy Festival: The Frog and Bucket, 15 Oct, 7.30pm; Gullivers, 17 Oct, 7.30pm, and Gullivers, 22 Oct, 7.30pm womenincomedy.co.uk/2015 sophiewillan.com
What’s the largest animal you think you could beat in a fight? No weapons. “A walrus if it didn’t have teeth.”
COMEDY
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Win tickets to COLUMNS Festival
Deerhunter
Opening on 23 October, Heineken Liverpool Music Week is the UK’s largest indoor music festival – nine days of shows featuring Richard Hawley, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Josh T Pearson, Best Coast and many more. The opening party at the much loved Kazimier on 23 October features Holly Herndon, Micachu & The Shapes and Darkstar, with the week of shows climaxing with a multi-venue closing party in the Baltic Quarter on 31 October, headlined by Deerhunter and Gang of Four. We have a pair of tickets to both the opening and closing parties to give away. To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets to one of the parties, simply head along to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer the following question:
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Mica Levi of opening party headliners Micachu & The Shapes won a BAFTA in 2013 for her score to which film? a) Under Siege b) Under the Skin c) Up ‘n’ Under Competition closes midnight Sun 18 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 For tickets and more information, go to liverpoolmusicweek.com
Photo: Ryan Stang
Win Tickets to Heineken Liverpool Music Week
Jack Garratt
Having seen stunning performances from the likes of Purity Ring, Zola Jesus, Ghostpoet and Future Islands during previous outings, COLUMNS returns for its third edition on Friday 30 October 2015. This year boasts a lineup that includes BBC favourites Jack Garratt and Indiana as well as the rising talents of Georgia, Cloves, Dreller and Duck House, and it all takes place in the striking setting of Manchester Cathedral. To be in with a chance of winning two tickets to COLUMNS, simply head along to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer the following question:
COMPETITIONS
Who headlined the inaugural COLUMNS event back in 2014? a) Ghostpoet b) Future Islands c) Zola Jesus Competition closes midnight Sun 25 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 COLUMNS on Facebook: facebook.com/columnsfestival COLUMNS on Twitter: twitter.com/ColumnsFestival
THE SKINNY
Manchester Music Tue 06 Oct
TUESDAY LIVE (THE MOODS + AKCADAMY + MORE)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 20:00–23:00, £4
A host of local talent take to the stage for Joshua Brooks new music night. GIN WIGMORE
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £7
The Island Records signing tours in support of her new album Blood to Bone. STUART MCCALLUM RESIDENCY
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
Cinematic Orchestra guitarist trying out new material in the realm of beats, electronica, classical orchestration and jazz. XZIBIT
GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £22.50
From Cypress Hill to Dr Dre, this Detroit rapper has collaborated with them all — not to mention hosting MTV’s Pimp My Ride of course. PATCH AND THE GIANT
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £6
London folkies head out on tour in support of their latest EP.
DIY PRESENTS... THE NEU TOUR (VANT + INHEAVEN + THE BIG MOON )
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6
DIY take to the road for their Neu Tour, stopping by 11 UK cities with three of their favourite new bands. BOY JUMPS SHIP (ONLY RIVALS)
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:30, £7
Newcastle punk-rock quartet big on the thundering choruses.
MANCHESTER CAMERATA (UPCLOSE)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £15
Giving the classical canon a modern twist. BORN RUFFIANS
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, £8
2004-formed Canadian indie pop types back with their fourth album RUFF. LEGENDS LIVE TOUR
MANCHESTER ARENA, 18:00–23:00, FROM £42.50
Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack, The Drifters and Mary Wilson of The Supremes all on one bill together for a night of Motown classics. ROZI PLAIN
EAGLE INN, 19:30–23:00, £7.50
WISHBONE ASH THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:30, £20
The former Smiths guitarist plays two nights in the city where he made his name. FOLLY AND THE HUNTER
EAGLE INN, 19:30–23:00, £6
Thu 08 Oct
SLAUGHTER AND THE DOGS
BITERS
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £8.50
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
Powerful trio playing a heady mixture of jazz, blues, funk and soul. BABY STRANGE
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £7.50
Hyped Glasgow indie-punk crew with decidedly dark credentials, made up of brothers Connaire and Aidan McCann and singer Johnny Madden. THE LEMONHEADS
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £17
Evan Dando et al return. HEY ROSETTA!
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £10
Canadian six-piece of the indierock variety, layering their live sound with piano, video and cello. EVAN CHRISTOPHER’S DJANGO À LA CRÉOLE
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
Hot gypsy swing mixed with the cool Creole rhythms of New Orleans. EUROS CHILDS
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, £10
The Welsh musician and songwriter, best known as the frontman of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, plays a stripped-back acoustic set in support of his 11th LP Sweetheart.
October 2015
EAGLE INN, 19:30–23:00, £4
Fri 09 Oct
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £SOLD OUT
Rock and roll band all about authenticity, tradition, heritage, that sort of thing.
The original line-up of these Manchester stalwarts celebrate 40 years as a band.
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £12
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £14.50
MARK GUILIANA JAZZ QUARTET
Drummer extraordinaire Mark Guiliana assembles an acoustic jazz quartet featuring pianist Shai Maestro, saxophonist Jason Rigby and bassist Chris Morrissey. UFOMAMMUT
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:15, £12.50
The mighty Italian power trio return with their seventh album Ecate. JANE WEAVER
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £10
The Piccadilly Records 2014 album of the year artist brings her krautinfluenced psychedelic sounds to increasingly larger audiences.
NIGHT AND DAY LOCAL SHOWCASE (SLIVER STORY + THE BOURBON HOUNDS + RECKONER + REVOLUTION IN PARADISE ) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6
Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers. GRAVE PLEASURES
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £8
Self-styled apocalyptic post punks Beastmilk return from Finland with a new name and a new record. BRAND NEW ORCHESTRA
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, FREE
RNCM composers perform their latest work. GAZ COOMBES
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £16
The Supergrass frontman (and his impressive sideburns) continue to go it alone. THE HALLÉ
OPERA HOUSE, 19:30–22:30, FROM £28.40
THE SUNSHINE TRIO
QUADRUPEDE
Le Mans-based math rockers.
Wed 07 Oct MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £20
The veteran prog rockers get back on the road some 45 years after they started out.
Indie-folk band from Montreal founded by Nick Vallee, Laurie Torres and Christopher Fox.
The Hallé’s Autumn schedule sees the renowned orchestra go through some of the finest pieces of the classical canon as well as more contemporary works.
Australian metalcore band who’ve had more changes in personnel than they’ve had albums.
COUNTERPARTS
SAMUEL C LEES
THE HALLÉ
FINK
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:30, £12
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £15
APRIL TOWERS
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £13.50
The original punk rockers take to the road, a little balder but still in possession of all the hits. ASH BEFORE OAK
JOHNNY MARR ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
The Lost Map Records label lass continues to ride the wave of 2015 LP Friend – a gem-like batch of ramshackle folk tunes, built on hand-picked guitar lines, groove-laden drums and her spell-like vocals. NORTHLANE
BUZZCOCKS MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 16:00–23:00, £20
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11
THE SENSATIONAL 60S EXPERIENCE
The original hits of the 60s performed by popular artists from the time, including The Marmalade, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Chris Farlowe and Steve Ellis’ Love Affair. LITTLE MAY
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, £8
Sydney trio imbued with folky and rhythmic elements. INDY MAN BEER CON
VICTORIA BATHS, 17:30–23:00, PRICES VARY
Beer, music and food – that most holy of trinities – come together for the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (or Indy Man Beer Con), with a music line-up and more than 50 breweries to sup on. DERVISH
WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 20:00–22:00, £15 (£7.50)
The Irish traditional music veterans return to the stage having recently celebrated their 25th anniversary. JOHNNY MARR
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £25
The former Smiths guitarist plays two nights in the city where he made his name. HOFFMAESTRO
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £16.50
Swedish ska, electronic and alternative pop.
ORPHANED LAND
Israeli breakthrough band, pioneering the Oriental metal genre. NEW YORK BRASS BAND
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
North Yorkshire’s only contemporary New Orleans inspired Brass Band. ACTRESS
ISLINGTON MILL, 21:00–01:00, £12.50
Darren J. Cunningham aka Actress an electronic musician has made releases on a variety of different record labels including Ninja Tune, Honest Jon’s Records, Nonplus Records, and Werkdiscs, a label he co-founded in 2004. MELVINS
GORILLA, 18:00–22:00, £20
The hugely influential sludge band formed in 1983 return to the UK, counting everyone from Nirvana to Soundgarden and Tool among their disciples. METRIC
THE RITZ, 18:30–22:00, £15.50
The Broken Social Scene affiliated rockers return with another new album. CLAY + KASSASSIN STREET
SOUND CONTROL, 18:00–22:00, £6
Double headlining tour featuring newbies Clay from Leeds and Portsmouth psych heads Kassasin Street. THE JAPANESE HOUSE
FALLOW CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £8
19 year-old artist named - but not actually - Japanese House, with a debut EP just out. NAMVULA
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, £15
Singer/songwriter drawing inspiration from her homeland of Zambia, fused with her Scottish roots and the current London scene BBC PHILHARMONIC (BERNSTEIN’S FINAL CONCERT)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £10
The BBC Philharmonic’s Autumn schedule sees Auntie’s finest orchestra explore classical mainstays and more leftfield compositions. FALL OUT BOY
MANCHESTER ARENA, 18:00–23:00, £34.95
The US rock kings play a not-sointimate set in some of the region’s largest air hangar-cum-gig venues. INDY MAN BEER CON
VICTORIA BATHS, 11:30–23:30, PRICES VARY
Beer, music and food – that most holy of trinities – come together for the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (or Indy Man Beer Con), with a music line-up and more than 50 breweries to sup on. BELINDA CARLISLE
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £32.50
The former Go-Go’s vocalist and multi-million selling artist in her own right hits the road. BLITZ KIDS
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £SOLD OUT
Alternative rock foursome formed by a band of school chums from Nantwich.
Sat 10 Oct
GIRL FRIEND (CASSIASOUNDS + ANTIDOTES)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £7
Wild Beasts-inspired Manc ensemble, draping subtle lyrical musings over a dreamy pop backdrop.
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £7
Canadian hardcore punk band formed in 2007. DEAN FRIEDMAN
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:30, £25
A pop band who thrive on the unpredictable, supposedly celebrating the release of their debut album.
US-of-A singer/songwriter doing his thing on vocals, piano, keyboard, guitar... and maybe even harmonica.
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:00–23:00, £15
THE SOUL JAM BAND
The weekday Soul Jam musicians come together for a weekend party. RHODES
GORILLA, 19:00–22:00, £10
Affable singer/songwriter (aka David Rhodes) hailing from Hitchin. RAE MORRIS (PORT ISLA + DAN OWEN)
THE RITZ, 18:30–22:00, £13
Young Blackpool singer/songwriter singing mostly about love’n’that, as you do. THE AMAZONS
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £5
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.
KWABS
London-based singer songwriter best know for his hit Walk. INDY MAN BEER CON
VICTORIA BATHS, 13:00–19:00, PRICES VARY
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £10
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:00, £10
Liverpudlian rockers from the same era that spawned Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. THE HALLÉ (JOHN WILLIAMS)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11
The Hallé’s Autumn schedule sees the renowned orchestra go through some of the finest pieces of the classical canon as well as more contemporary works. BLACKLISTERS (USA NAILS)
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, £5
Noisy Leeds types who draw comparisons to The Jesus Lizard (with good reason). INDY MAN BEER CON
VICTORIA BATHS, 11:30–23:30, PRICES VARY
Beer, music and food – that most holy of trinities – come together for the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (or Indy Man Beer Con), with a music line-up and more than 50 breweries to sup on. AGAINST THE CURRENT
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £SOLD OUT
Three piece pop-rock troupe from New York.
HONNE
East London duo mixing classic soul with synths.
TWELVE24 (BRIGHTLINE + GEEK BOY + VITAL SIGNS + LZ7) THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £12
TWELVE24’s music has scored comparisons to Macklemore. You have been warned. ESCHER QUARTET: PETER FRANK MEMORIAL CONCERT
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, £25
Featuring work by Mendelssohn, Zemlinsky, and Brahms.
SQUEEZE (JOHN COOPER CLARKE)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:00–22:00, FROM £32.50
The longstanding new wave quintet get back on the live circuit for a special tour. MICHAEL MONROE (HARDCORE SUPERSTAR)
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £17.50
The glam punk front man for Hanoi Rocks goes it alone. DAVID FORD
THE KING’S ARMS, 19:30–22:30, £12
East Sussex singer/songwriter and former Easyworld frontman, touring to celebrate ten years of going it solo.
Tue 13 Oct
TUESDAY LIVE (YOUNG MONARCH + SARAH DE WARREN + MORE)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 20:00–23:00, £4
Sun 11 Oct
A host of local talent take to the stage for Joshua Brooks new music night.
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £10
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
BEN MONTAGUE (KRISTYNA MYLES + EMMA STEVENS + THE SCIENCE OF LAMPS)
Tousle-haired acoustic singer/ songwriter blessed with an acute sense of melody. MARTIN SIMPSON + DOM FLEMONS
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–22:30, FROM £14.50
Fingerstyle and slide guitarist Martin Simpson teams up with American Songster Dom Flemons for a performance of collaboratively written music, rooted in English and American folk traditions. DU BLONDE
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £10
Newcastle singer/songwriter Beth Jeans Houghton in her new Du Blonde guise. POKEY LAFARGE
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £18
Country blues and early jazz restyled for the 21st century, thanks to the suited-and-booted St Louis musician. EVERING
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:00–22:30, £5
Duo formed by Scottish songwriters Chris Yendell and Dawn Coulshed. BY THE RIVERS
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £7
The Leicester six-piece fond of crafting “real music” since their 2010 inception.
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £12
WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–22:30, £18
REEVES GABRELS & HIS IMAGINARY FRIENDS (LISA RONSON)
The Cure’s Reeves Gabrels comes to Manchester with his Imaginary Friends. FOREVER CAME CALLING
SOUND CONTROL, 18:30–22:00, £7
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 14:15–16:45, FROM £11
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, £15
THE ICICLE WORKS
Anthemic electronic pop duo.
Mon 12 Oct AKUA NARU
NO GOOD BEATNIKS TRIO
A collective of musicians operating as a jam band playing around with distorted jazz and improvisation. BLACK HONEY
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £5
Guitar pop types signed to Duly Noted Records. DARWIN DEEZ
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:30, £12.50
US-of-A indie-popsters fronted by curly-locked frontman Darwin Smith, touring in support of their new album, Songs For Imaginative People.
CHEADLE HULME SCHOOL AND KATIE DERHAM
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, £12
A celebration of the work of Music in Hospitals by pupils of Cheadle Hulme School.
Wed 14 Oct
LEPROUS (RENDEZVOUS POINT)
THE HALLÉ
More in the way of party ska hits, with the larger-than-life Buster Bloodvessel still gurning away at the helm. THE HOTHOUSE FLOWERS
Longstanding German orchestra founded way back in 1870. RAINTOWN
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:45–23:00, £12
Glasgow contemporary countryfolk duo made up of Paul Bain and Claire McArthur. CARA MITCHELL
EAGLE INN, 19:30–23:00, £6
Aberdonian singer/songwriter in possession of a unique voice.
Thu 15 Oct MONARCHY
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £7.50
The two-piece make their debut Manchester stopover, five years into a career that’s seen two studio LPs and remixes for Ellie Golding and Kylie Minogue. THE TOM SEALS BAND
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
Talented young pianist from Liverpool, touring with his debut album, Ace. VETIVER
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £10
Devendra Banhart-collaborating collective, continuing with their totally mellow line in folksy Americana, crucially of the catchy, upbeat variety. 911
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £23.50
Boy band trio of early 90s fame, back together for a hits tour following the ITV2 reunion show. Joys. RAGLANS
FALLOW CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6
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. AN EVENING WITH JUDY COLLINS
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:30, £22.50
American singer/songwriter known for her eclectic style and social activism.
DUKE SPECIAL
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, £15
MAJOR LAZER
Mighty dancehall collaboration from DJ/producers Diplo and Switch, fronted by a cartoon zombie-slaying Jamaican soldier.
CIRCA WAVES
The latest in the daytime concert schedule.
WOLFSBANE
The English heavy metallers return to the stage. LA LUZ
Seattle-based surf rock quartet rich with doo-wops. WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE...? THIS IS!
THE KING’S ARMS, 20:00–23:00, £10 (£6)
The latest WTA? Night, which promises to reject corporate pop and revel in true independence. A CAREFULLY PLANNED FESTIVAL
VARIOUS VENUES, 12:00–03:00, PRICES VARY
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–22:30, £8
THE BAD MAN CLAN
Sun 18 Oct
GENGAHR
Smooth melodic indie-rock unit. MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Five-piece electric blues band playing original and cover material. JOSEF SALVAT
GORILLA, 19:00–22:30, £9.50
Breezy popster from London, drawing comparisons to Gotye and Morrissey. SWIM DEEP (THE MAGIC GANG)
THE RITZ, 18:30–22:00, £12
Bright indie hopefuls making sun-kissed dross-pop in their hometown of Birmingham, then touring it to a venue near you. SPEEDY ORTIZ
SOUND CONTROL, 19:30–22:15, £10
US-of-A-hailing indie rock quartet, built on the lo-fi output of singer Sadie Dupois. POWERPLANT
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 20:00–22:30, £15
From Steve Reich’s My Name Is to new music by Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and Gabriel Prokofiev, experimental trio Powerplant propel you into a world where minimalism and electronica collide.
SPEAR OF DESTINY
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £14
Dark rock outfit founded in 1983 by singer and songwriter Kirk Brandon and bassist Stan Stammers. BRUCE COCKBURN
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–22:30, FROM £18
Revered Canadian songwriter and acoustic guitarist Bruce Cockburn picks cuts from his 45 year career. MIGUEL
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £26.50
LA native equipped with a healthy set of vocal chords, adept at honeyed falsettos on those well-worn themes of love’n’heartbreak.
RICH HOMIE QUAN (TIM WESTWOOD + MORE) THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, FROM £22.50
The up and coming American rapper embarks on his first ever UK tour. MANCHESTER CHAMBER CHOIR
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 18:00–20:00, £15
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £16.50
The 2002-formed choir return, boasting performances at the Royal Albert Hall, Manchester International Festival and more to their name.
JAMIE XX
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:30, £25
PROTOJE & THE INDIGGNATION
The reggae revivalist and his band do their thing. ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
The xx chappie plays a sold out set. ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12.50
Long-standing punk rockers, on the go since 1980. POLO + ACTOR
EAGLE INN, 19:30–23:45, £4
Sat 17 Oct
A unique event from The National Autistic Society to raise funds.
The geeky London popsters arrive with their kit-bag of electronics.
Multi-venue two-dayer taking place across the Northern Quarter, including Soup Kitchen, Night & Day, Aatma, The Castle, Gullivers and more.
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:30, FROM £18
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £10
HOT CHIP
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
Fri 16 Oct
Double headlining bill courtesy of Sunny Manchester.
UNPLUGGED FOR AUTISM (COCO AND THE BUTTERFIELDS + GRACE PETRIE + ED GOODALE)
A feast of uplifting classics crowned with a jubilant proms finale, including Rossini, Sousa and Pachelbel.
EAGLE INN, 19:30–23:00, £7.50
The traditional rock ‘n’ roll band tour again, now into their fourth decade of making music together.
COLIN TOWNS MASK ORCHESTRA
Theatre is the inspiration for Colin Towns Mask Orchestra’s new album Drama, a recording that features fresh re-workings of scores plus original music from Towns’ extensive writing for the stage.
LAST NIGHT OF THE AUTUMN PROMS
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
DRESDEN PHILHARMONIC
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and DJ (i.e. one talented bugger), Fin Greenhall tours under his solo musician alias of Fink.
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, FROM £28
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £12
MANCHESTER MID-DAY CONCERTS SOCIETY (DAUTRICOURT TRIO)
Liverpool garage-pop quartet taking their cue from the early-00s indie scene.
BAD MANNERS
Belfast piano-based folk songwriter with a distinctly accented voice and some even more distinctive dreadlocks.
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 13:10–14:00, £9.50 (£7.50)
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
GULLIVERS, 19:00–22:30, £5
The Hallé’s Autumn schedule sees the renowned orchestra go through some of the finest pieces of the classical canon as well as more contemporary works.
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 18:00–21:30, £12
Finnish metal unit.
The Hallé’s Autumn schedule sees the renowned orchestra go through some of the finest pieces of the classical canon as well as more contemporary works.
Double headlining show courtesy of Now Wave.
Formed as a Senses Fail and Taking Back Sunday cover band (the horror) Forever Came Calling have now put out two albums of their own material.
SING MESSIAH FOR ST ANN’S HOSPICE
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £17.50
DORNIK + ROYCE WOOD JUNIOR
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £8
Beer, music and food – that most holy of trinities – come together for the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (or Indy Man Beer Con), with a music line-up and more than 50 breweries to sup on.
With classic boom-bap hip hop sounds and socially conscious rhymes, Naru and her six-piece band DIGFLO create soulful live hip hop for fans of Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill.
An enormous choir coming together to sing Handel’s Messiah and raise funds for St Ann’s Hospice.
Gypsy guitar playing, emerging as one of the leaders in the UK scene, playing a blend of originals and covers of modern classics.
BAD ASS BRASS
DONOVAN
Legendary folk-rock-pop poet who remains an important part of popular culture since his career began in 1965. R5
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 20:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
Los Angeles-based pop-meetsrock pups, made up of Ellington Ratliff, and siblings Riker, Rocky, Ross, and Rydel Lynch (yes, really). THE HALLÉ
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11
Since forming in 2008, Bad Ass Brass has been thrilling audiences with their bold, funky music.
The Hallé’s Autumn schedule sees the renowned orchestra go through some of the finest pieces of the classical canon as well as more contemporary works.
GORILLA, 19:00–22:00, £12.50
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
SPECTOR (SPRING KING)
YEARS AND YEARS
The happy-go-lucky London ensemble churn out the pop tunes.
The latest in the BBC Sound List’s self-fulfilling prophecy gear up for their year in the sun.
THE RITZ, 19:00–22:00, £25
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:00–23:00, £12
THE SISTERS OF MERCY (BLACK MOTH)
Leeds-born post-punk gothic rockers who’ve been a veritable groove machine since 1977. DONOVAN
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:30, £25
Legendary folk-rock-pop poet who remains an important part of popular culture since his career began in 1965.
THE WOODENTOPS
British rock outfit of mid-80s fame, back on the road performing their record Giant. A CAREFULLY PLANNED FESTIVAL
VARIOUS VENUES, 12:00–03:00, PRICES VARY
Multi-venue two-dayer taking place across the Northern Quarter, including Soup Kitchen, Night & Day, Aatma, The Castle, Gullivers and more.
Listings
55
Manchester Music
DAN REED NETWORK
CRADLE OF FILTH
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £20
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £18
Mon 19 Oct
THE PROCLAIMERS
VÄRLDENS BAND
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FREE
Funk rock guitarist par excellence, Dan Reed, takes to the road with his live band Network. THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 20:00–22:30, £29.50
A truly multicultural musical outfit, with fourteen members from three continents.
Expect to hear the classics Sunshine on Leith, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) and Letter From America.
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £25
Wed 21 Oct
JACK OFF JILL
The legendary riot goths reunite. ALEX G
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £8
Pennsylvania native (aka Alex Giannascoli) making bruised and melodic guitar pop. JACK SAVORETTI (MAX JURY)
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £16.50
The Italian-English solo acoustic singer plays a set accompanied by his trusty guitar. GHOST TOWN
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £10
The Californian four-piece return to the UK with a new album to plug.
ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION LIVE SCORE OF GEORGE LUCAS’S FILM THX1138
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 20:00–22:00, £19.50
Performing a live soundtrack to George Lucas’s cult sci-fi classic film. A$AP ROCKY + WIZ KHALIFA
MANCHESTER ARENA, 18:00–23:00, FROM £36
NYC born-and-raised rap MC, selfproclaimed as Harlem’s ‘Pretty Motherfucker’ is joined by one of his main contemporaries, in Wiz Khalifa for a massive co-headlining tour. LUCY ROSE
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £16
Singer/songwriter who has contributed vocals to Bombay Bicycle Club tracks, now striking out on her lonesome.
Tue 20 Oct
TUESDAY LIVE (GOOD FOXY + WAKING SIRENA + MORE )
JOSHUA BROOKS, 20:00–23:00, £4
A host of local talent take to the stage for Joshua Brooks new music night. NATHANIEL RATELIFF + THE NIGHT SWEATS
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £10
Indie folk rock hard-knock from Denver, Colorado, touring with his band of spirited musicians.
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE AND THE MELTING PARAISO UFO (DEAD SEA APES) BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £11
Kawabata Makoto and his band of sonic outlaws, mixing traditional melody with hyper-aggressive playing techniques and plenty of improvisation. THE SPACE LADY
ISLINGTON MILL, 19:30–23:00, £8
Susan Dietrich brings her cosmic tales from the road to the UK, the travelling musician initially building her sound around the very first battery keyboard released on the American market. STORMS
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £7
Noisy London-based four-piece touring their latest release Shame. THE SOFT MOON
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £10
Oakland post-punk project of main producer, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Luis Vasquez. STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES (THE MASTERSONS)
THE RITZ, 19:30–23:00, £29.50
The Godfather of alternative country music calls in to Manchester with his trusty backing band. EKKAH
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £7
Birmingham based duo making funky disco-pop. HABITATS
FALLOW CAFE, 19:30–23:00, FREE
Standard unremarkable London indie types.
THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL PASSION
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:30, £15
Combining Hans Christian Andersen’s tragic short story with J S Bach’s setting of the St Matthew Passion to dramatic effect. KID INK
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £22.50
The young LA-based rapper, producer and songwriter brings his much-tattooed self to our shores.
56
Listings
MUTOID MAN
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £10
Musical project of Cave In’s Stephen Brodsky, along with Converge drummer Ben Koller, and bassist Nick Cageao. THE BOOGIE WILLIAMS TRIO GRANDE
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
The extreme metal veterans from Suffolk return with a new album, Hammer of the Witches, after nearly 25 years on the road. THE HALLÉ
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11
The Hallé’s Autumn schedule sees the renowned orchestra go through some of the finest pieces of the classical canon as well as more contemporary works. IAN MCCULLOCH
WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–22:30, £18.50
A rare solo performance from the Echo & The Bunnymen front man playing his band’s classic as well as his own material. NOTHING BUT THIEVES
Boogie Williams is joined by Alan ‘The Hat’ Whitham on bass and Richard young on drums, playing soul jazz, boogie and 60s groove.
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £SOLD OUT
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £7
EAGLE INN, 19:30–23:00, £6
CHASTITY BELT (SEX HANDS)
Seattle rock’n’roll foursome made up of guitarists Julia Shapiro and Lydia Lund, bassist Annie Truscott and drummer Gretchen Grimm.
NIGHT AND DAY LOCAL SHOWCASE (BETHLEHEM CASUALS + PADDY CLEGG + OOK & THE ELEPHANT + HAVELOCK) NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6
Live music showcase, giving a stage to local up-and-coming performers.
CONSERVATOIRES UK CONCERT
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, FREE
A showcase of performances from all RNCM Schools of study taking place as part of the annual CUK conference being hosted by the RNCM.
MANCHESTER MID-DAY CONCERTS SOCIETY (UGNIUS PAULIUKONIS)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 13:10–14:00, £9.50 (£7.50)
The latest in the daytime concert schedule. THE WOMBATS
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–23:00, £21
The Liverpudlian indie-rock scamps return bigger, brighter, and with their new album in tow. THE CRIBS
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £18
The Wakefield indie-rockers do their guitar-heavy and frantic thing. MARLON WILLIAMS
EAGLE INN, 19:00–22:30, £6.50
The former Lyttelton choirboy does his angelic-voiced thing.
Thu 22 Oct CHRIS SMITHER
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £13
The American blues poet does his gravelly-voiced thing. EDITORS
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
The Tom Smith-led ensemble cut the anthemic romanticism deep, playing a set of new tracks and old favourites. MARLEY CHINGUS
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
Liverpool-based jazz quartet, making waves on the Northwest jazz scene since 2008. COASTS
GORILLA, 18:30–22:00, £13
Bristol-based five-piece known for making shimmery pop sounds that go well with cold cider and a sunny day. Or, y’know, beer and dark clouds. RIVERSIDE (THE SIXXIS + LION SHEPHERD)
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £17.50
Progressive rock foursome hailing from Warsaw, back in a live setting for their 2015 tour. THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:30, £19.50
The US-of-A alternative rock trio continue to champion their own raw and rhythmic sound to suitably fine effect. CHETHAM’S SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra returns to the RNCM.
The Southend on Sea ensemble take their new LP out on the road. NADINE CARINA
Switzerland-via-Liverpool minimalist pop composer and singer.
Fri 23 Oct FOCUS
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £14.50
Dutch pop-rock exports fronted by founding member Thijs Van Leer best-known for their beserk 70’s hit Hocus Pocus. MAD DOG MCCREA
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £12
Raggle taggle folk ensemble blending a unique mixture of rock, pop, gypsy jazz and bluegrass into their mix. LULA & THE BEBOPS
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Lula & the BeBops play jumping, jiving, rocking rhythm and blues like they mean it, cause they do. LEFT LANE CRUISER
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £10
Whisky-fuelled three-man frenzy of blues-driven rock ‘n’ roll. RYAN BINGHAM
GORILLA, 19:00–22:00, £16
American singer/songwriter who won an Oscar and a Grammy for his songs written for the film Crazy Heart. RIOT JAZZ (MC CHUNKY)
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £4
The riotous, 11-piece jazz band hailing from Manchester celebrate the launch of their latest album. BLOSSOMS
THE RITZ, 18:30–22:00, £10
Manc mosaic-like five piece mixing pop nous with psychedelic blurriness, to everybody’s pleasure. HENRI HERBERT BAND
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:30, £10
The former pianist of the Jim Jones Revue brings his own band on the road for a spot of boogie woogie. TOM MCCONVILLE
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 20:00–22:30, £13
Name-checked as Seth Lakeman’s biggest influence, the ‘Geordie Fiddler’ plays an intimate Manchester show. BATTLES
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:00–23:00, £15
The American experimental rockers make their way UK-way with new album La Di Da Di in tow. MARCUS MILLER
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £20
Multi Grammy Award-winner presents his highly anticipated new album. THE MILD HIGH CLUB
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, £7
Home for the output of Alexander Brettin, a past support for Wire and Mac DeMarco. THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £22.50
Moniker of Swedish folk musician Kristian Matsson, doing his thing on vocals, guitar, banjo and piano. ALEX VARGAS
EAGLE INN, 19:30–23:00, £7
London-based singer/songwriter of the acoustic noise soul variety. MANCHESTER CAMERATA (THE SEQUEL)
MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £12
Giving the classical canon a modern twist.
Sat 24 Oct SKA-FACE (5FT FEZ)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £8
Ten piece Ska band from Blackpoolon-Sea with a combined age exceeding 450 years, old enough to know better but young enough not to care. GONG
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £15.50
Legendary prog-jazz eccentrics Gong will play Band on the Wall to mark the memory of late main man Daevid Allen. GARY NUMAN
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
The electro-pop pioneer presents a selection of tracks new and old. DMA’S
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £7
Sydney ensemble who enjoy a good hook and chorus, which is handy given that’s the bulk of what makes up pop music. THE BOOM YEH
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Rootsy jazz-funk with a nod to Fela Kuti. NATTY
CONTACT THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £14 (£8)
Singer-songwriter and producer Natty, and his band The Rebelship, headline a very special Black Sound Series as part of WHY? Festival. SUNDARA KARMA
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £6
LOWER DENS
PALACE (LAKE KOMO)
BOB DYLAN AND HIS BAND
THE AFTER HOURS RAUCHESTRA
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £10
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £7
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 18:30–23:00, FROM £45
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £12.50
MIKE KROL
HOOTON TENNIS CLUB (BEACH BABY)
BEACH HOUSE
Merge Records signed American solo artist touring his third album Turkey.
Alternative electronica-styled quartet from Baltimore, building their wares on gentle rhythms, androgynous vocals and dreamy soundscapes. BOXX RECORDS PRESENTS THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 19:00–00:00, £6
New talent and emerging jazz artists.
SOUND CONTROL, 12:00–16:00, £20
SONGHOY BLUES
THE RITZ, 18:30–22:00, £15
SPACE MONKEYS
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £10
The last band ever to sign to Factory Records, Space Monkeys perform their 1997 debut LP The Daddy of Them All in full. SETRALINE
FACTORY 251, 19:00–22:00, £6
Leeds-based metal five-piece formed just over a year ago. DELAIN
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £15
Dutch symphonic metal named after the Kingdom of Delain in Stephen King’s novel The Eyes of the Dragon. TABLA TARANA
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 13:00–15:00, FROM £10
Milapfest present the respected tabla player Kousic Sen. O>L>A (DIALECT + PATTERNS (ELECTRONIC SET) + THE BEAR AROUND YOUR NECK + AKRANES) SECRET LOCATION, 20:00–03:00, £4
The soaring Manchester electronic pop duo launch their new EP, with stellar support from Outfit’s Andrew Hunt under his Dialect moniker, an electronic set by Mancunian dream-poppers Patterns and more. GENO WASHINGTON
WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, 19:30–22:30, £18
The 60s soul man takes it back on the road, cherry picking a set list from his impressive arsenal of albums. THE STAVES
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £16
Headline set from the Communion Records all-female folk harmony trio. FOXES
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £SOLD OUT
One-woman band riding along on Louisa Rose Allen’s resplendent synths, industrial percussion and by-turns-searing-and-soaring vocals.
Sun 25 Oct LAUREN AQUILINA
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £9
Melancholic piano-pop from the teen Bristol dwelling songstress.
JOEY DEVRIES
Young desert blues punk ensemble from Timbuktu, who’ve featured on Damon Albarn’s past Africa Express recordings.
Part of X Factor wannabees Overload Generation, if that’s in anyway an advert.
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:00–22:30, £7.50
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, £10
CIARAN LAVERY
Irish alt-folk troubadour who’s picked up support from the likes of Zane Lowe. And he’s not a man to give out praise freely. ANTI-FLAG
SOUND CONTROL, 18:30–23:00, £15
The mid-90’s founded political punks return with new album American Spring.
PETER WARLOCK BIRTHDAY CONCERT
RNCM students perform pieces by the British composer Warlock to celebrate his 121st anniversary. THE TIGER LILLIES
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:30, £15
The legendary American singer/ songwriter plays returns to the UK for what could be the last time. EAGLE INN, 19:00–22:30, £4
Thu 29 Oct
THE PHOENIX FOUNDATION
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £9.50
Prog-styled indie-rock from New Zealand, founded back in 1997 when Conrad, Samuel and Luke were but young high school pups. PEATBOG FAERIES
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £15
More high octane instrumental contemporary folk from the Isle of Skye crew. ROOK AND THE RAVENS
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:30–23:00, £6
Alternative rock quintet from Manchester, making ballsy guitar pop sounds. JAMIE BROWNFIELD QUARTET
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:30, FREE
SOUND CONTROL, 19:30–23:00, £8
The Grammy-nominated Godfathers of alternative cabaret are back on tour with another show of dark and deviant theatrics. BOB DYLAN AND HIS BAND
A mix of bebop, mainstream swing and New Orlean’s funk from British Jazz Award up-and-comer, Jamie Brownfield.
GRAND ORGAN GALA
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 18:30–23:00, FROM £45
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:15, £8
STRAIGHT LINES
Welsh rock duo made up of Tom Jenkins and Dane Campbell.
Pop-meets-rock outfit with brothers Michael Newcombe (lead vocals and bass) and Daniel Newcombe (drums) at the helm.
Charlie Simpson-led alternative rock unit, still apparently making music.
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £18
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £12
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £7.50
GORILLA, 19:00–22:00, £10
FIGHTSTAR
LA noise rock band who’ve taken a turn for the pop on their first LP in six years, Death Magic.
London types telling it how it is over some retro synth backing.
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 15:00–17:00, FROM £14.50
South London rapper championed by Radio 1Xtra and, um, Jools Holland.
HEALTH
Lush-pop girl/boy duo from Baltimore, all floaty melodies, gently plucked guitars and angelic ‘ooh-aah’ vocals from yer wumman Victoria Legrand.
REAL LIES
Young Reading-based quartet who sum themselves up as ‘four pointy-shoe wearing sun-huggers with music to awaken the soul’. That’ll do us. STORMZY
The London alternative rock foursome plays tracks from their new LP Chase the Light.
Includes work by Medelssohn, Elgar and Handel. IN HINDSIGHT
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £5
STEVE HACKETT
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, FROM 27.50
A gig spanning Hackett’s full discography with solo material and Genesis classics.
Mon 26 Oct
VICENNIAL: 20 YEARS OF HOT 8 BRASS BAND + BRASSTRACKS + DJ ANDREA TROUT
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £15
Long-running New Orleans jazz band. MATES OF STATE
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:30–22:15, £7
Married Connecticut-based indiesynth-pop duo of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. HERO FISHER + FUFANU
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, FREE
Instrumental techno lot Fufanu play a joint headline set with London’s Hero Fisher. HAELOS
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £8.50
Cinematic rock three-piece from London making music for a “world that’s forgotten the chillout room LADY LESHURR
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £8
Rapper/singer/producer from Kingshurst, aka Melesha O’Garro. REEL BIG FISH
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:00–23:00, £15
Ska-pop will never die with Reel Big Fish around.
Tue 27 Oct
TUESDAY LIVE (JAMES VEZER BAND + GAVNER P + MORE) JOSHUA BROOKS, 20:00–23:00, £4
A host of local talent take to the stage for Joshua Brooks new music night. THE VINTAGE CARAVAN
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:30–22:30, £10
Icelandic trio now two albums old. SKIP ‘LITTLE AXE’ MCDONALD + KING SIZE SLIM
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £10
The legendary American singer/ songwriter plays returns to the UK for what could be the last time.
The experimental prodigy (aka Jospeh Lyons) tours our way.
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, FREE
Contemporary acoustic folk duo.
FEMME
London-based singer-songwriter and producer. CAT POWER
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £25
The multi-instrumentalist and vocalist makes her much anticipated live return three years after her last record, Sun. DAPPY
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £SOLD OUT
The N-Dubz chap entertains the yoof, avec baseball cap. Obviously.
Wed 28 Oct
THE MILK + SAMPLE ANSWER
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–23:00, FROM £8
The Milk channel the soulful sounds of 1970’s. SUSANNE SUNDFØR
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £10
Norwegian singer-songwriter who’s found much fame in her native country over six studio albums. KYLA BROX
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:00–00:00, FREE
UK-based blues and soul singer/ songwriter, redefining her sound as a duo performance, joined by Danny Blomeley on guitar. BO NINGEN
ISLINGTON MILL, 19:30–23:00, £8
Four Japanese Londoners adept at head-bending psyche-rock that manages to fit elements of kraut-rock, metal, hardcore and funk into its mix. BROKEN HANDS
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £8
Impressively skuzzy garagey/blues sounds with a nod to psychedelic rock courtesy of this just-aboutold-enough-to-vote quartet from Kent. HALF MOON RUN
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £12
Talented young trio from Ottawa, Ontario and Comox, British Columbia, working their magic across elements of indie, pop and folk.
OXJAM FESTIVAL PRESENTS UNDERGROUND FLAMBEAU (KAI & DENZIL + LIPS INKED POETS + MORE )
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £5
Oxjam Charity brings acts from near and far to Night & Day.
A double bill of unadulterated, high octane blues.
ASKING ALEXANDRIA (MEMPHIS MAY FIRE + AUGUST BURNS RED + IN HEARTS WAKE)
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £9
Hardcore-meets-screamo inspired rock’n’roll from the English fivepiece, led by Danny Worsnop.
LITURGY
Brooklyn black metal unit led by guitarist and vocalist Hunter Hunt-Hendrix.
LYDIA LUNCH & WEASEL WALTER’S HORRIBLE TRUE CONFESSIONS (DEADLY ORGONE RADIATION + ASIAN BABES + DENIM & LEATHER) ISLINGTON MILL, 19:30–23:00, £6
The first of two live events around the legendary Lydia Lunch’s twoweek residency at the Mill courtesy of Samarbeta.
EAVES (RORY BUTLER)
THE RITZ, 18:00–23:00, £18
STEVE ‘N’ SEAGULLS
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £10
The Finnish rockers return to the UK having completed their debut LP Farm Machine.
GILMORE AND ROBERTS
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, £10
THEN THICKENS (MORE TREES PLEASE + BRITAIN)
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £6
Alternative indie outfit, built up from the solo project of front man, Jon-Lee Martin. SLAMBOREE (TOO MANY T’S + AGE OF GLASS + CAPTAIN HOTKNIVES + WOLFIE RAZZMATAZZ)
Hot-jazz enthusiasts originally founded as a duo. SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £6
The ascendant Liverpudlians and recent Heavenly signings make the journey north. THE HOOSIERS
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £13.50
Now trading as a four-piece, the London-based chaps showcase their pop-meets-rock musical wares.
DEATHCRUSHER TOUR 2015 (CARCASS + OBITUARY + VOIVOD + HEROD) THE RITZ, 17:00–22:00, £23.50
The popular heavy metal tour returns. BLACKALICIOUS
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £15
The American hip-hop duo return from ten year hiatus. RNCM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
The resident Symphony Orchestra return for the Autumn. MC DEVVO
FACTORY 251, 19:00–22:00, £TBC
”I like getting mashed out me mind and jail cells” according to the man himself. How fabulous. THE SIXTEEN CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £12
Join Associate Artists, The Sixteen, for a festival of Handel, including his early work Dixit Dominus which is filled by exciting and original choral-writing. JESS AND THE BANDITS
GULLIVERS, 19:30–23:00, £10
Country pop ensemble led by Jessica Clemmons, out on their first headline tour. TURBOWOLF
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:00–23:00, £9
THE RITZ, 20:00–01:00, £12.50
Bristol-based psychic noisemakers on guitars, drums and bass.
BELLA HARDY
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £10
The one-of-a-kind dub rave massive return for another huge party. ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:30, £15
2014’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer Of The Year. THE RAF IN CONCERT
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £19
Programme includes Bernstein’s Mambo, Holst’s Mars and Goodwin’s Battle of Britain March on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. GLENN HUGHES
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY, 19:30–23:00, £20
The some-time Trapeze, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath bassist hits the road. SOUL LEGENDS
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 20:00–22:30, FROM £24.50
Gwen Dickey, vocalist of Rose Royce stars in a night of classics from the Motown city.
Fri 30 Oct
LIAM FROST AND HIS BAND (ROBBIE CAVANAGH)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £11
Hailed as the UK’s answer to Bright Eyes, local boy Liam Frost blends delicious alt-folk melodies with heartfelt lyrics – all while navigating hefty subject matter. COLUMNS (JACK GARRETT + INDIANA + GEORGIA + CLOVES + MORE)
MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL, 18:00-23:00, £12.50
The cathedral one-dayer returns for a third installment, promising a host of industry-tipped stars of the future" HORSE
BAND ON THE WALL, 19:00–22:00, £17.50
Scottish singer/songwriter with a career spanning some 25+ years, playing a selection of her personal favourites. PETER HOOK AND THE LIGHT
MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
Former New Order and Joy Division bloke reliving his glory years, performing Lowlife and Brotherhood live and in their entirety. BØRNS
AMBER RUN
Rising young Nottingham quintet of the soft folk-rock variety.
Sat 31 Oct
FROM THE JAM + THE UNDERTONES + THE BEAT MANCHESTER ACADEMY, 16:00–23:00, £22
A trio of assorted late 70’s guitar stalwarts come together for a triple-header. SLUG
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £8
A project of Ian Black’s, a merrily disruptive influence on the North East music scene for more than a decade. HALLOWEEN SPECIAL FT. THE HOT BOTZ BRASS BAND
MATT AND PHRED’S JAZZ CLUB, 21:30–01:00, £5
Halloween special by the sonically and visually striking brass band.
LYDIA LUNCH HALLOWEEN SEANCE (PINS + WATER + ILL) ISLINGTON MILL, 20:00–03:00, £7
The second of two live events around Lydia Lunch’s Samarbeta residency, with locals Water, Ill and Pins joining her for this special Halloween party. GEORGIE
THE CASTLE HOTEL, 19:30–22:30, FREE
Singer and composer heads out on the road.
AN ACOUSTIC EVENING WITH GAVIN DEGRAW
THE RITZ, 18:00–22:00, £22
New York-based singer/songwriter of the blue-eyed, charming and soulful variety. RADKEY
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £9
Punk trio made up of three brothers, Dee, Isiah and Solomon from Missouri. RNCM BIG BAND
ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC RNCM, 19:30–22:00, FROM £15
The in-house big band play some classic selections. HEAVEN 17
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2, 19:30–23:00, £20
The Sheffield synth-pop duo get back on the road with their chilly atmospherics.
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–22:30, £8
Michigan-based artist mixing folk, glam and electro rock.
THE SKINNY
Manchester Music Sat 31 Oct
THE HALLÉ (FRIGHT NIGHT)
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £11
The Hallé’s Autumn schedule sees the renowned orchestra go through some of the finest pieces of the classical canon as well as more contemporary works. ABDUL HAFIZ
THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, FROM £10
Abdul Hafiz has been hugely influenced by one of the greatest Indian singers of all time, Mohammed Rafi. He will be singing many of his own songs plus some Mohammed Rafi hits.
VEVO HALLOWEEN (YEARS AND YEARS + WOLF ALICE + JAMES BAY + LITTLE SIMZ + MORE)
VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, 20:00–04:00, £SOLD OUT
Radio One botherer James Bay headlines the latest Vevo Halloween shenanigans. JOANNA NEWSOM
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
The harpist and vocalist makes her hugely anticipated return, with new record Divers also on the way. DAN BAIRD AND HOMEMADE SIN
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £12.50
The Georgia Satellites frontman returns with his rockin’ and rollin’ live band, Homemade Sin. BIG UNIT
THE KING’S ARMS, 19:30–22:30, £7
New Manchester band, originating from 808 States’ Darren Partington.
Sun 01 Nov HARRY MANX
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–22:00, £12
The blues, folk and Hindustani blending musician hits the road. MY BABY
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 19:00–23:00, £10
Delta blues dub trio, who recently supported Seasick Steve on his UK tour. GOBLIN
GORILLA, 19:30–23:00, £22.50
Legendary Italian progressive outfit, chiefly known for their luridly engrossing soundtracks to Dario Argento classics, backed by e’er gory live visuals. KILLING JOKE
THE RITZ, 19:00–23:00, £22.50
Jaz Coleman’s uncompromising post-punk unit tour once again. MOZART MASTERPIECES
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 15:00–17:00, FROM £14.50
Featuring Don Giovanni, Eine kleine Nachtmusik and more. JOE SATRIANI
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:30–23:00, FROM £34.50
American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with a touring history that reads like a who’s who of rock, now out on a solo tour.
Mon 02 Nov CLEAN CUT KID
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £6
New Liverpool band making waves after their debut single Vitamin C. BANE
GORILLA, 19:00–23:00, £12
Hardcore punk lot who began life as a side project between Aaron Dalbec (then of Converge) and Damon Bellardo. LUSTS
SOUND CONTROL, 19:00–22:00, £6
The Leicestershire brothers Andy and James Stone tour off the back of new single Waves.
STEVE HARLEY AND COCKNEY REBEL
BRIDGEWATER HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £31
A seven-piece Cockney Rebel lineup performs The Best Years of Our Lives LP in full. RICHARD HAWLEY
ALBERT HALL, 19:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
The Sheffield crooner melts some hearts with his trademark luscious odes. BARS AND MELODY
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3, 19:30–23:00, £SOLD OUT
Youngsters Leondre Devries and Charlie Lenehan (offa Britain’s Got Talent).
58
Listings
Liverpool Music Tue 06 Oct
XIU XIU PLAYS THE MUSIC OF TWIN PEAKS
THE KAZIMIER, 19:30–23:00, £11.50
Experimental art-rock from New York riding along on ringmaster Jamie Stewart’s take on the music of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.
Wed 07 Oct THE PARROTS
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 20:00–22:30, £5
Fresh-from-college garage surf trio from Madrid. KUNT AND THE GANG
MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, 20:00–23:00, £6
The inimitable Kunt sings his way through a variety of obscene subjects, taking in such hits as Fucksticks and Use My Arsehole As A Cunt. Nice.
Thu 08 Oct EUROS CHILDS
LEAF, 20:00–23:00, £10
The Welsh musician and songwriter, best known as the frontman of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, takes to the stage solo in support of his 11th LP, Sweetheart. ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
Vasily Petrenko conducts Mendelssohn Elijah THE BOHICAS
ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £9
The Essex/London rock’n’roll foursome head out in support of their debut LP.
Fri 09 Oct BLOSSOMS
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £7
Manc mosaic-like five piece mixing pop nous with psychedelic blurriness, to everybody’s pleasure. BOXED IN
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 20:00–23:00, £6
Musical brainchild of Oli Bayston, formerly of indie outfit Keith, taking his name from a Francis Bacon painting. ALEXANDER (VYNCE)
ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6
Durham-based indie rock fourpiece.
Sat 10 Oct
THE VELCRO TEDDY BEARS (LILIUM)
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB, 19:30–00:00, £4
Sheffield-based rock ‘n’ rollers. DEAN FRIEDMAN
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 20:00–22:30, £26.50
DONOVAN LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, FROM £25
Legendary folk-rock-pop poet who remains an important part of popular culture since his career began in 1965.
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, £25
SIENA ROOT
Swedish proggy types coming up to their 20th anniversary as a band. KESTON COBBLER’S CLUB
LEAF, 19:30–22:30, £10
Kent-hailing, toe-tapping, indiefolk five-piece – favourites on BBC 6 Music and winners of the Rebel Playlist. FITKIN WALL LOST
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–22:00, £15
A heart in mouth display of piano virtuosity, incendiary Steinway frenzy, and melodic inventiveness.
Sun 11 Oct
JOHN REILLY (LEWIS NITIKMAN)
STUDIO 2, 15:00–19:00, £TBC
An intimate evening with the Canadian songwriter who’s found critical acclaim from Paul O’Grady nonetheless!
Mon 12 Oct
PERSONAL MESSAGE DUO FOR VIOLIN AND CELLO
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–22:00, £15
SWIM DEEP
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £12
Bright indie hopefuls making sun-kissed dross-pop in their hometown of Birmingham, then touring it to a venue near you. RIDE
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £25
English rock outfit out riding the wave of their reunion, playing their first batch of shows in 20 years. GIRLS NAMES
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 20:00–23:00, £7
Moody Irish post-punkers returning with a new album. SEA LEGS
LEAF, 20:00–23:00, £7
A live union between Aghagallon folk songwriter Ciaran Lavery and minimal electronic composer Ryan Vail, the pair inspired by maritime life and the coastal surroundings of Donegal. ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
The Phil's in-house orchestra return for another season of classical selections and modern re-works. THE MONO LPS (RED WINTER + ARKHAM KARVERS + THE CHEAP THRILLS + THE THOUGHT POLICE)
MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, 20:00–23:00, £6
Liverpool indie four-piece The Mono LPs break cover from a recent stint in recording. FRIGG
A hair-raising, voice-losing, heart-burstingly beautiful gig full of traditional Finnish tunes with Norwegian detours. DELAMERE
THE MAGNET , 19:30–23:00, £7
CUPIDS
R’n’B singer four albums into a 15-year career.
LEAP OF FAITH (COLD OCEAN LIES)
ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £6
THE ISRIGHTS
Birkenhead rockers head up a local bill.
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £15
Reggae-influenced punk-rockers, formed in 1981 after The Ruts demise, playing a rare Northwest date. INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–22:30, £14
The world’s foremost acoustic guitarists to perform their latest original compositions and exchange musical ideas in a concert setting.
Mon 19 Oct THE SHIRES
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £13.50
Hertfordshire and Bedfordshirehailing duo riding the wave of country music’s recent success. MARCUS MILLER
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–22:30, FROM £21
Multi Grammy Award-winner presents his highly anticipated new album.
Tue 20 Oct YEARS AND YEARS
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £15
The latest in the BBC Sound List’s self-fulfilling prophecy gear up for their year in the sun. THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA
THE KAZIMIER, 20:00–00:00, FROM £8
Canadians pushing a mix of soul, jazz, Afro, Latin and Caribbean styles. STEPHEN HOUGH
THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £11.50
RON SEXSMITH
The prolific Canadian singer/ songwriter performs songs from his much-admired back catalogue of elegant melancholic pop songs.
THE ENSEMBLE OF ST. LUKE’S
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–22:30, FROM £18.50
Programme includes Elgar and Haydn. CATFISH KEITH
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:30–22:30, £14
911
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £23.50
Boy band trio of early 90s fame, back together for a hits tour following the ITV2 reunion show. Joys. RUSANGANO FAMILY
KAZIMIER GARDEN, 19:00-23:00, £3
Ireland-based hip-hop and electronic outfit made up of Togolese MC MuRli, Zimbabwean rapper God Knows and Irish producer mynameisJohn.
SPECTOR (SPRING KING)
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:00-23:00, £3
THE BASEMENT EFFECT (WASTED LIGHTS + SKYLIGHT + ELIZA HILL + ZONER + MORE)
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB, 13:30–18:00, £4
Local super young looking Liverpool rockers who count Biffy Clyro as one of their main influences.
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £12.50
PADDY CLEGG (AFTER THE RUSH HOUR + LEAP OF FAITH + THE JJOHNS + THE CHAIN + MORE)
THE WOMBATS
The local singer-songwriter headlines one of his favourite haunts.
The happy-go-lucky London ensemble churn out the pop tunes. O2 ACADEMY, 00:00–23:00, £22.50
The Liverpudlian indie-rock scamps return bigger, brighter, and with their new album in tow. AN EVENING WITH ALAN BURKE
STUDIO 2, 20:00-23:00, £10
The Rambling Boys of Pleasure man steps out alone. THE PHANTOM BAND
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 20:00–23:00, £11
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB, 19:30–00:00, £4
LIVERPOOL IRISH FESTIVAL: ROISIN O DALLAHAN
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–23:00, FROM £30
Daughter of the great Mary Black, Róisín O joins the Liverpool Irish Festival to play her first ever date in Liverpool. GENTLEMAN’S DUB CLUB
Performing a live soundtrack to George Lucas’s cult sci-fi classic film. MERRY HELL
THE BRINDLEY, 20:00–23:00, £12
A folk-rock band with a history, pedigree and a bright future. They have risen to become festival favourites with three critically acclaimed albums. Appearing here in their acousticish format.
Wed 21 Oct REEL BIG FISH
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £15
Ska-pop will never die with Reel Big Fish around. THE VRYLL SOCIETY
THE KAZIMIER, 19:30–23:00, £6
Liverpool-based five-piece mixing in everything from Funkadelic to Aphrodites Child and krautrock.
MAD DOG MCREA
Raggle taggle folk ensemble blending a unique mixture of rock, pop, gypsy jazz and bluegrass into their mix. ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
The Phil's in-house orchestra return for another season of classical selections and modern re-works. SPEAR OF DESTINY
ARTS CLUB, 19:30–23:00, £14
Dark rock outfit founded in 1983 by singer and songwriter Kirk Brandon and bassist Stan Stammers. TOYAH WILLCOX
THE BRINDLEY, 20:00–23:00, £21
Household name, pop icon, TV presenter, and stage and screen actress Toyah performs an intimate acoustic show alongside recalling stories from her colourful career. JOHN JOSEPH BRILL
Two lads from the Noelrock veterans going acoustic. EDWARD II
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £15
A unique blend the rhythms of the Caribbean with traditional songs from the British Isles.
Sun 25 Oct HEALTH
THE KAZIMIER, 19:00–23:00, £10
LA noise rock band who’ve taken a turn for the pop on their first LP in six years, Death Magic. Part of Liverpool Music Week. ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 14:30–17:00, FROM £14
The Phil's in-house orchestra return for another season of classical selections and modern re-works. THE MILK
ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £10
THE BLUECOAT, 18:30-21:30, £7 (£6)
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB, 19:30–00:00, £4
THE CRIBS (PULLED APART BY HORSES)
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £18
The Wakefield indie-rockers do their guitar-heavy and frantic thing.
LIVERPOOL MUSIC WEEK OPENING PARTY (HOLLY HERNDON + MORE)
THE KAZIMIER, 19:00–03:00, £15
Here we go again! Holly Herndon headlines the first night of the ever brilliant Liverpool Music Week. ROLLER TRIO
THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £11.50
Leeds-based young jazz tinkerers of the menacing and bass-heavy variety. JOE BONAMASSA
ECHO ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £75
The American blues rocker previews songs from his forthcoming album, alongside a selection of songs cherrypicked from his back catalogue. STEVE HACKETT
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £27.50
A gig spanning Hackett’s full discography with solo material and Genesis classics. PALACE
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:00-23:00, £3
The London alternative rock foursome plays tracks from their new LP Chase the Light. CHIPFEST #13
MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, 19:00–23:00, £5
Comptroller and Men of Mega perform as The Misfits for this Halloween special.
Thu 29 Oct PRIDES
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £11
Glaswegian synthpop trio who last year had the honour of performing at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony. MY BABY
ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £TBC
Delta blues dub trio, who recently supported Seasick Steve on his UK tour. PIXX
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:00-23:00, £3
Young songwriter from south London also known as Hannah Rodgers.
AN EVENING WITH SIMON AND OSCAR FROM OCEAN COLOUR SCENE
Fri 23 Oct
Four piece rockers from Liverpool with a drummer who’s name is prefixed by the adjective “Dangerous”. Be warned.
Four-piece psych pop from London appear as part of Liverpool Music Week.
Local punk types listing all the of the sort of NYC punk influences you’d expect.
JJB (not the sports store) makes a headlining stopover in Liverpool. MATCHSTICKMEN (BLACK DIAMOND)
TELEGRAM
Fri 30 Oct
Essex rock’n’rollers led by Rick Nunn, throwing some soul, pop, dance and R’n’B into their mighty mix.
ALOFT LIVERPOOL, 18:00–22:00, FREE
An integral part of the Sugar Hill house band, he has made some of the most adventurous UK music of the last 20 years.
ARTS CLUB, 18:30–22:00, £14
LIVERPOOL GUILD OF STUDENTS, 19:00–23:00, £20
RUTS DC
ARTS CLUB, 19:00–23:00, £4
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 13:00–14:00, £8
Thu 22 Oct
Sat 24 Oct
LEAF, 19:30–22:30, £12.50
ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION LIVE SCORE OF GEORGE LUCAS’S FILM THX1138
Local showcase of heavy rock.
Noise punks from Berkshire aiming to melt faces everywhere. Bring ice.
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £14
Named Ireland’s greatest living musician by RTÉ’s in 2007, Christy remains a force in today’s contemporary music scene.
Sun 18 Oct
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:30–22:30, £25.50
SKYWALKER + SKIES IN MOTION + WASTR + BEARING LOSS + MORE
MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, 17:30–23:00, £DONATIONS
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 19:30–23:00, £12
An “erratic” three-piece who write indie and shoegaze music.
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:00, FROM £14
The Phil's in-house orchestra return for another season of classical selections and modern re-works.
WORKIN’ MANS NOISE UNIT (SHAMAN YEW + KNIFEDOUTOFEXISTANCE)
SKIP LITTLE, AXE MCDONALD + KING SIZE SLIM
Suited and booted dub collective who also take in elements of ska and roots reggae.
CAESAR (MEDICS)
MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, 20:00–23:00, £3
One of 20 living Polymaths, RNCM alumnus Stephen Hough comes to The Capstone.
ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
The ‘Mozart of Guitar’ finger style acoustic guitar virtuoso is recognised as one of the great guitar players of the 21st century.
LIVERPOOL IRISH FESTIVAL: CHRISTY MOORE
Having put various side projects on the back-burner, the mighty Phantoms reunite to continue their unholy fusing of indie, folk and krautrock styles.
Anthemic Stoke four-piece.
Sat 17 Oct
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 20:00–23:00, £5
Devendra Banhart-collaborating collective, continuing with their totally mellow line in folksy Americana, crucially of the catchy, upbeat variety.
ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £7
Tue 13 Oct RICH HOMIE QUAN
VETIVER
LEAF, 20:00–23:00, £11
Thu 15 Oct
James Clark and Jonathan Aasgaard perform Glière, Kodaly and Bartok.
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £25
The 80s Liverpudlian pop-rockers return home for a stop-off on their current tour.
Local rockers.
With his innovative style of footstomping, deep delta blues and American roots music, Catfish has reinvented the guitar.
The up and coming American rapper embarks on his first ever UK tour.
CHINA CRISIS
Ruth Wall and Graham Fitkin perform FitkinWall Lost and Steve Reich Harp Phase.
Fri 16 Oct
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–22:30, £15
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 20:00–23:00, £7
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £8
MAGUIRE’S PIZZA BAR, 19:00–22:00, £4
STEVE NIEVE PLAYS ELVIS COSTELLO
SALES
American guitar-based pop band from Orlando.
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:30–23:00, £15
New Zealand-based post-punk lot definitely for fans of stuff on Flying Nun Records.
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £12
American pop band back in the UK with their second full length album.
Wed 14 Oct
US-of-A singer/songwriter doing his thing on vocals, piano, keyboard, guitar... and maybe even harmonica. SHOCKING PINKS (PUZZLE + QUEEN MAUND)
METRO STATION
PIERRE BENSUSAN LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–22:30, £13
STEALING SHEEP + IMMIX ENSEMBLE
A special coming together between the Bella Union-signed pop trio and local improv collective Immix.
Mon 26 Oct
SECKOU KEITA: 22 STRINGS (GWYNETH GLYN) LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–22:30, £14
A true master of the kora - the 22 stringed West African harp. ALL TVVINS
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:00-23:00, £3
The new solo pop guise of exAdebisi Shank member, All Tvvins.
Tue 27 Oct
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
CAMP AND FURNACE, 19:00–23:00, £20
The elusive Canadian post-rock collective return to a live setting in celebration of their new LP Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress. Part of Liverpool Music Week. BELLA HARDY
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £15
2014’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer Of The Year. DMA’S
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 19:00-23:00, £3
Sydney ensemble who enjoy a good hook and chorus, which is handy given that's the bulk of what makes up pop music.
Wed 28 Oct THE PROCLAIMERS
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–23:00, FROM £25.50
Expect to hear the classics Sunshine on Leith, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) and Letter From America.
THE GENTLE SCARS
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £6
BEST COAST
THE KAZIMIER, 19:00–23:00, £10
LA scuzzy-pop trio, fronted by the punchy drawl of Bethany Cosentino. Part of Liverpool Music Week. WILL YOUNG
LIVERPOOL EMPIRE THEATRE , 19:30–22:30, FROM £39.90
The one-time Pop Idol singer/ songwriter tours on the back of his latest studio album.
CLIVE CARROL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–22:30, £12
‘Probably the best and most original young guitar player in Britain’ according to Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
Sun 01 Nov LAZULI
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB, 19:30–00:00, £15
90s formed group combining progressive rock with world and electro music. FISH
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £25
The charismatic former Marillion frontman delves into his back catalogue, spanning an impressive 20+ years.
Mon 02 Nov THE COMPUTERS
THE KAZIMIER, 19:30–23:00, £8
Visceral and hardcore bluesy punk from the Exeter four-piece. SONIC INTERACTIONS
THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:00, FREE
Now in its sixth year, Sonic Interactions returns with a variety of electroacoustic works alongside acousmatic works for loudspeakers.
Manchester Clubs Tue 06 Oct GOLD TEETH
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4.50 (£5 OTD)
Legendary weekly mixed-bag night, often invites use of the term ‘carnage’. BASEMENT SESSIONS
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £2
THE CAPSTONE, 19:30–22:30, £11.50
Every week DJs from South’s favourite Manchester club nights take control of the decks to bring you top quality house and techno through a Funktion One system.
D.I.D
Wed 07 Oct
PHILIP CLOUTS QUARTET
Experimental quartet mixing South African township jive with souljazz, hard bop and impressionism. STUDIO 2, 19:00–23:30, £TBC
Nottingham-based quintet formerly known as Dog Is Dead, led by Robert Milton, doing a rather fine line in uplifting pop harmonies SHURA
ARTS CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £3
Pop producer and singer/songwriter, aka Aleksandra Denton when she’s off stage. ALY BAIN, ALE MOLLER + BRUCE MOLSKY
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC MUSIC ROOM, 20:00–23:00, £17.50
Join three of the world’s finest exponents of their art and experience, close up, them sharing their Celtic, Nordic and Appalachian cultures.
Sat 31 Oct
FEROCIOUS DOG (ELLIE MAY KEAGAN)
THE ZANZIBAR CLUB, 19:30–00:00, £10
The Mansfield-based band, mixing up traditional instruments – think fiddles and whistles – with buzz saw rock’n’roll vibes. HAWKLORDS
O2 ACADEMY, 19:00–23:00, £16
Born from the disbanded Hawkwind, Harvey Bainbridge and Steve Swindells et al join forces for a live re-group. LIVERPOOL MUSIC WEEK: CLOSING PARTY (DEERHUNTER + GANG OF FOUR + SOAK + SPRING KING + MORE)
CAMP AND FURNACE, 18:00–23:00, £15
Big closing party to mark the end of Liverpool Music Week headlined by the mighty Deerhunter, whose latest album Fading Frontiers is one of the year’s finest. TABLA TARANA
THE CAPSTONE, 13:00–15:00, FREE
Milapfest present the respected tabla player Kousic Sen. HOTHOUSE FLOWERS
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 19:30–22:30, FROM £28
Combining traditional Irish music with influences from soul, gospel and rock. SPACE
THE BRINDLEY, 19:30–22:30, £20
Expect the likes of Female of the Species, Neighbourhood and Me & You Against the World and tracks from their new album.
RETOX
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
The downright dirtiest in garage, grime, bass and trap, the slickest in old school hip-hop, disco and funk and infectious deep house and tech.
Thu 08 Oct P.A.R.T.Y
SANKEYS, 22:00–04:00, FROM £4
Funky house, grime, R’n’B, UK Garage and more at the veteran club. SOULJAM 1ST BIRTHDAY
MINT LOUNGE, 23:00–04:00, £4
The best in soul, funk and boogie. HOLY MOLY
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £4
Student party in the rave cave with house, garage and bass music plus unbeatable drinks offers. MASHUP
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
The freshest beats in grime, hip hop, drum & bass, garage, house and beyond. BIG BONED
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £5
Expect sex, grime and rewinds from the Bassface team every Thursday.
Fri 09 Oct TOP OF THE POPS
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–04:00, £3
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. CRASH THE WEDDING
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£7 OTD)
Where the DJ is set to wedding reception tunes every. Single. Night. JUICY
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, £3 (£5 OTD)
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. 45 FILTERS X VOID (AUD!IO + MACKY GEE) SOUTH, 23:00–05:00, FROM £7
Hard and heavy drum and bass line-up featuring Aud!o and Macky Gee. CLINT BOON
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £7 (£5)
Mixed-bag night from local DJ ledge Clint Boon.
THE SKINNY
Manchester Clubs JACOB COID BLACK DOG BALLROOM NWS, 22:00–04:00, FREE
Rebel Music’s Jacob Coid supplies an unpredictable mix of his leftof-centre collection, featuring Dylan to Dre, the Strokes to Snoop Dogg, Bowie to the Beastie Boys and anything in between. MELLOW YELLOW
HIDDEN, 22:00–04:00, FREE
A call for hidden hippies to get up, stand up and dance, with funk and soul from the 60s to the present day.
Sat 10 Oct
MOVEMENT LAUNCH PARTY (OLIVIER GIACOMOTTO + THIRD SON)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–04:00, FROM £6
House and techno night gets a-going at Joshua Brooks. GOODGREEF 15TH BIRTHDAY
VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, 8:00PM – 4:00AM, FROM £25
The long-running touring superclub night comes to Victoria Warehouse for the first time to celebrate its 15th birthday with Eddie Halliwell and Lisa Lashes heading things up. FUNKADEMIA
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–04:00, £5
Mancunian nightclub institution, delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective. CRAIG CHARLES FUNK AND SOUL CLUB FT. BUFFALO BROTHERS
BAND ON THE WALL, 21:00–03:00, £16
The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Club returns with a set off funky floor fillers from Craig Charles. GIRLS ON FILM
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11PM)
Pink lady cocktails, disco balls, glitz and glamour – a monthly club night where you’re free to let your inner 80s child loose. AUDIO REHAB (CAUSE & AFFECT + MARK RADFORD + CARNAO BEATS + OLLIE JULIEN + MORE)
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £12.50
Kooky present the popular London underground house based label. TIM WRIGHT
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 22:00–04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM
New Saturday resident bringing the dancefloor classics all night long. RIVAL CONSOLES (APPLESCAL)
TEXTURE, 22:00–03:00, £7
The Erased Tapes-signed producer (a home to Olafur Arnalds among others) tours his latest LP Howl. HIGH HOOPS (HUNEE + GERD + FORT ROMEAU + MEDLAR + MORE)
HIDDEN, 22:00–04:00, FROM £15
The house and disco party find a new home in industrial Salford, bringing DJs from around the globe to Hidden.
Mon 12 Oct
Thu 15 Oct P.A.R.T.Y
SANKEYS, 22:00–04:00, FROM £4
Funky house, grime, R’n’B, UK Garage and more at the veteran club. HOT WUK
MINT LOUNGE, 22:00–03:00, FROM £6
The Heatwave arrives in Manchester, just in time for uhh Autumn. Expect to sweat. HOLY MOLY
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £4
Student party in the rave cave with house, garage and bass music plus unbeatable drinks offers. MASHUP
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
The freshest beats in grime, hip hop, drum & bass, garage, house and beyond. BIG BONED
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £5
Legendary weekly mixed-bag night, often invites use of the term ‘carnage’. BASEMENT SESSIONS
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £2
Every week DJs from South’s favourite Manchester club nights take control of the decks to bring you top quality house and techno through a Funktion One system.
TUSSLE (TERRY FRANCIS + LOVE DOSE + PLAY IT DOWN)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 22:30–04:00, £7
Tussle celebrate their third birthday with tech house man, Fabric’s Terry Francis. TOP OF THE POPS
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–04:00, £3
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. GOO 3RD BIRTHDAY
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11PM)
Monthly club night tribute to 90s indie – expect Pulp, Nirvana, Suede, Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies and more. CHERRY 3RD BIRTHDAY
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
Celebrating all things naughty from the noughties, with a music policy that spans 2000’s pop and houseparty anthems. MUTE! AND LIVEWIRE (FREEMAN AND FARRELLY + DILLA B2B DAN PARTINGTON + CLASS + ENEMY DECZ + MORE)
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, FREE
A free party featuring local Manchester talent with no headliners, just a commitment to the rave. CLINT BOON
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £7 (£5)
Mixed-bag night from local DJ ledge Clint Boon. JACOB COID
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NWS, 22:00–04:00, FREE
Rebel Music’s Jacob Coid supplies an unpredictable mix of his leftof-centre collection, featuring Dylan to Dre, the Strokes to Snoop Dogg, Bowie to the Beastie Boys and anything in between. FUNKADEMIA
Mancunian nightclub institution, delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective. HOWLING RHYTHM
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 23:00–04:00, £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. GIRLS ON FILM
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11PM)
Pink lady cocktails, disco balls, glitz and glamour – a monthly club night where you’re free to let your inner 80s child loose.
Wed 14 Oct
HIGH FOCUS (DIRTY DIKE + VERB T & ILLINFORMED + THE MAN WITH THE FOGGY EYES + MORE)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–03:00, £1.50
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £6
JUICY
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk.
London-based label High Focus showcase a new generation of rappers and producers.
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
SOUND CONTROL, 22:00–04:00, £15
RETOX
The downright dirtiest in garage, grime, bass and trap, the slickest in old school hip-hop, disco and funk and infectious deep house and tech.
October 2015
VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, 21:00–05:00, FROM £27.50
Launch event as the veteran Manchester club night moves out of Ancoats and across to Trafford in the vast confines of Victoria Warehouse. Featuring DJ sets from Basement Jaxx and Armand Van Helden. HIDDENEVENTS X LO-FI (MARCEL FENGLER + PARIAH + FUMIYA TANAKA + MORE )
HIDDEN, 22:00–04:00, £10
Mon 19 Oct
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–04:00, £5
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4.50 (£5 OTD)
SANKEYS WAREHOUSE (BASEMENT JAXX (DJ) + ARMAND VAN HELDEN + DJ YELLA + CRYSTAL WATERS + MORE)
Fri 16 Oct
REBEL MONDAYS
GOLD TEETH
New Saturday resident bringing the dancefloor classics all night long.
Marcel Fengler and Pariah are among the heavyweights on the decks for the latest Hidden party.
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £4 BEFORE MIDNIGHT (£5 THEREAFTER)
Tue 13 Oct
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 22:00–04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM
Expect sex, grime and rewinds from the Bassface team every Thursday.
Sat 17 Oct
Sixty years of the most provocative icons and the music that defined generations.
TIM WRIGHT
MAJEFA
The veteran DJ Akira Kayosa performs a mammoth six hour set of trance, techno and everything in between.
MINISTRY OF SOUND PRESENTS
FACTORY 251, 22:00–04:00, £6
Four-strong line-up featuring DJ S.K.T, Majestic, Charlie Tee and DJ Daniel Hills. REBEL MONDAYS
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £4 BEFORE MIDNIGHT (£5 THEREAFTER)
Sixty years of the most provocative icons and the music that defined generations.
Tue 20 Oct
Fri 23 Oct
FLOW MOTION (MARQUIS HAWKES + DENIS SULTA)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–04:00, £6
Flow Motion continue their monthly party series with Houndstooth’s Marquis Hawkes and Dixon Avenue Basement Jams protege Denis Sulta. TOP OF THE POPS
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–04:00, £3
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.
DUB SMUGGLERS + RED EYE HIFI (SCOTTISH BONNET)
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 22:00–04:00, FROM £5
Reggae, dancehall and ska a-plenty courtesy of local sound system crew Dub Smugglers and friends. UPTOWN
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 OTD)
The best in disco, funk, boogie and party classics. RIOT JAZZ (MC CHUNKY)
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £4
The riotous, 11-piece jazz band hailing from Manchester celebrate the launch of their latest album. CLINT BOON
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £7 (£5)
Mixed-bag night from local DJ ledge Clint Boon. JACOB COID
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NWS, 22:00–04:00, FREE
Rebel Music’s Jacob Coid supplies an unpredictable mix of his leftof-centre collection, featuring Dylan to Dre, the Strokes to Snoop Dogg, Bowie to the Beastie Boys and anything in between.
MINT LOUNGE, 23:00–03:00, FROM £2
Sat 24 Oct
GOLD TEETH
Manchesters legendary acid techno night returns for one night only.
ITCHY FEET
A unique blend of rock’n’roll, funk and swing, engineered to get feet moving. THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4.50 (£5 OTD)
Legendary weekly mixed-bag night, often invites use of the term ‘carnage’. BASEMENT SESSIONS
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £2
HAVOK 20TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–04:00, £TBC
FUNKADEMIA
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–04:00, £5
Mancunian nightclub institution, delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective. ABSOLUTE SH**E
Every week DJs from South’s favourite Manchester club nights take control of the decks to bring you top quality house and techno through a Funktion One system.
Proudly one of the worst nights in Manchester, expect some of the worst tunes known to humankind.
Wed 21 Oct
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11PM)
REHOUSED (APPLEBOTTOM)
SANKEYS, 22:00–04:00, FROM £4
From the basements of Fallowfield, to the bright lights of Ancoats. Catch Applebottom fronting the Rehoused Residents at the legendary Sankeys. JUICY
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–03:00, £1.50
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. MISCHIEF
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £4
Resident Dan Hills play a range of genres from house, funk and hip-hop. RETOX
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
The downright dirtiest in garage, grime, bass and trap, the slickest in old school hip-hop, disco and funk and infectious deep house and tech.
Thu 22 Oct P.A.R.T.Y
SANKEYS, 22:00–04:00, FROM £4
Funky house, grime, R’n’B, UK Garage and more at the veteran club. PIRATE MATERIAL LAUNCH
MINT LOUNGE, 23:00–03:00, £6
Newcastle clubnight comes south, renowned for bringing some of the biggest names in bass music to party. HOLY MOLY
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £4
Student party in the rave cave with house, garage and bass music plus unbeatable drinks offers. MASHUP
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
The freshest beats in grime, hip hop, drum & bass, garage, house and beyond. BIG BONED
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £5
Expect sex, grime and rewinds from the Bassface team every Thursday.
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 23:00–04:00, £5 (£4)
GIRLS ON FILM
Pink lady cocktails, disco balls, glitz and glamour – a monthly club night where you’re free to let your inner 80s child loose.
GLOBAL ROOTS X BANANA HILL (THRIS TIAN + CERVO)
SOUP KITCHEN, 23:00–04:00, FROM £3
Banan Hill team up for a new quarterly residency with Global Roots and Boiler Room founder Thris Tian. APESH*T (LOUIE ANDERSON)
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £6
D-Vine’s Louie Anderson takes the headlining slot for the latest in Apesh*t’s wild run of parties.
MASTERS OF DNB (HEIST + BENNY PAGE + DJ BLACKLEY + ROWNEY & PROPZ) SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £13
Masters of DnB return after a summer break with another huge line-up. TIM WRIGHT
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 22:00–04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM
New Saturday resident bringing the dancefloor classics all night long.
Tue 27 Oct GOLD TEETH
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 22:00–03:00, £4.50 (£5 OTD)
Legendary weekly mixed-bag night, often invites use of the term ‘carnage’. REBEL MONDAYS
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £4 BEFORE MIDNIGHT (£5 THEREAFTER)
Sixty years of the most provocative icons and the music that defined generations. BASEMENT SESSIONS
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £2
Every week DJs from South’s favourite Manchester club nights take control of the decks to bring you top quality house and techno through a Funktion One system.
Wed 28 Oct RETOX
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
The downright dirtiest in garage, grime, bass and trap, the slickest in old school hip-hop, disco and funk and infectious deep house and tech.
Thu 29 Oct P.A.R.T.Y
SANKEYS, 22:00–04:00, FROM £4
Funky house, grime, R’n’B, UK Garage and more at the veteran club. RUFF JAM (FOOTSIE)
MINT LOUNGE, 22:00–04:00, FROM £1
LIVEWIRE (LEFTWING & KODY B2B MAX CHAPMAN) GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £8
Livewire celebrate Halloween with Lost Records bosses Leftwing and Kody. THIS FEELING CLUBNIGHT (FLESH + WHITE CLIFF + VIOLA BEACH + THIS FEELING DJS )
NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, 20:00–23:00, £3
The indie club night returns for October instalment.
THE HIDDEN FOREST HOCUS POCUS PARTY (TAMA SUMO + XOSAR + VAROSLAV + ANGUS JEFFORD + PAUL KAMINSKI)
HIDDEN, 14:00–04:00, FROM £12
The Ruff Jam crew present present former Nasty Crew member Footsie.
A Halloween night to remember with Tama Sumo and Xosar among those on the decks.
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, FROM £4
Sun 01 Nov
HOLY MOLY
Student party in the rave cave with house, garage and bass music plus unbeatable drinks offers. MASHUP
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
The freshest beats in grime, hip hop, drum & bass, garage, house and beyond. BIG BONED
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £5
Expect sex, grime and rewinds from the Bassface team every Thursday.
Fri 30 Oct POP BUBBLE SHOCK!
JOSHUA BROOKS, 22:30–04:00, £5
Old skool prom Halloween special, with the PBR house band playing cover songs in tuxedos and a photo studio and pizza parlour to-hand. TOP OF THE POPS
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–04:00, £3
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. NICOLE MOUDABER (JOZEF K + WINTER SON)
SANKEYS, 23:00-05:00, £10
It's the first Friday of the season at Sankeys and they're starting it in fine style, with the muchrespected MOOD Records label boss Nicole Moudaber. LUV DANCIN (NICKY SIANO)
THE DEAF INSTITUTE, 21:00–03:00, £15
Launch night featuring NYC loft party man Nicky Siano as its opening headliner. GOLD TEETH
GORILLA, 23:00–04:00, £3 (£5 OTD)
TIM WRIGHT
BLACK DOG BALLROOM NQ, 22:00–04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM
New Saturday resident bringing the dancefloor classics all night long.
Mon 02 Nov REBEL MONDAYS
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £4 BEFORE MIDNIGHT (£5 THEREAFTER)
Sixty years of the most provocative icons and the music that defined generations.
Liverpool Clubs Tue 06 Oct MORNING GLORYVILLE
THE KAZIMIER, 06:30–10:30, FROM £8
Rave your way into the day because why should you have to stay up late party? A variety of yoga and massage classes, juice and coffee bars await to get your day off to the best start - or you can just head straight back to the dancefloor. Dress to sweat. PAUSE
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £2
Garage, grime, funky and house. DIRTY ANTICS
BUMPER, 22:00–04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM (FROM £3 AFTER)
Messy Tuesday-nighter, bring your dirty shoes. GRIME OF THE EARTH
24 KITCHEN STREET, 22:00–03:00, £8
Legendary weekly mixed-bag night, often invites use of the term ‘carnage’.
Bringing the latest grime from off the grid in the grimiest venue in the city! Discover the new wave of Urban music.
THE RITZ, 22:30–03:30, £8.00
Wed 07 Oct
ULTIMATE POWER
Club night sweeping the nation, offering up nothing but power ballads. It’s like one big communal karaoke night. CHERRY HALLOWEEN PARTY
SOUND CONTROL, 23:00–04:00, £4
Celebrating all things naughty from the noughties, with a music policy that spans 2000’s pop and houseparty anthems – plus some Halloween favourites.
ILLUMINATI (JAKE REES + SALLIE PRZYBEK + INK DOLLS + CHARLOTTE REES)
SOUTH, 23:00–05:00, FROM £10
Halloween special of the South nightclub staple. CLINT BOON
SOUTH, 23:00–04:00, £7 (£5)
Mixed-bag night from local DJ ledge Clint Boon.
LOVE DOSE PRESENTS DEAD MEN CAN’T DANCE (THE MOLE + PROSUMER + DAVE HARVEY + TOM CRAVEN + MORE)
HIDDEN, 22:00–04:00, FROM £8
Halloween special of the burgeoning club night, prescribing an evening of big love and big beats in equal measure.
Sat 31 Oct
MEAT FREE (JEROEN SEARCH)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 23:00–05:00, FROM £8
One of Manchester’s most consistently brilliant club nights continues with techno DJ Jeroen Search on the decks. FUNKADEMIA
MINT LOUNGE, 22:30–04:00, £5
Mancunian nightclub institution, delivering a chronological history of soul on a weekly basis, courtesy of their DJ collective. THE DOG HOUSE
THE RUBY LOUNGE, 19:00–04:00, £4
Alternative rock and metal night gears up for a Halloween special.
BSSMENT
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £3
Grime and trap courtesy of the BSSMENT Sessions residents.
Thu 08 Oct JUICY
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £4
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. GET YOUR WOOD ON
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, £TBC
The best of all three floors at the Krazyhouse packed into one. SOLAR
GARLANDS, 22:00–02:00, £5 (£4)
Three floors playing everything from house, hip hop and old skool anthems. FOR THE LOVE OF GARAGE
24 KITCHEN STREET, 22:00–04:00, FROM £6
Celebrating the finest old skool garage. VIBE THURSDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 22:00–04:00, £TBC
R’n’b, hip-hop and urban floorfillers.
Fri 09 Oct QUANTIC
THE KAZIMIER, 21:00–03:00, FROM £8
Producer, musician, DJ and composer Quantic drops into the Kaz. CATFACE
BUMPER, 22:00–05:00, FREE
New night at the notorious Bumper, where drawing whiskers on your face gets you free entry. AMBUSH!
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, £TBC
REMISSION (TOMMY FOUR SEVEN) 24 KITCHEN STREET, 23:00–04:00, FROM £10
A night of none stop techno courtesy of Berlin-based Londoner Tommy Four Seven. TREND FRIDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 21:00–04:00, £2 (£3 AFTER 12:30AM)
Everything from R ‘n’ B to old skool garage, hip-hop and deep house.
Sat 10 Oct LUKE VIBERT
THE KAZIMIER, 22:00–04:00, FROM £7
UpItUp present electronica mainstay Luke Vibert with a strong supporting cast including Graham Massey’s Massonix. CHIBUKU SHAKE SHAKE (HANNAH WANTS + REDLIGHT + JOSHUA + SHADOWCHILD + MORE)
ARTS CLUB, 22:00–04:00, £16 (£14)
Chibuku returns for its Autumn program of internationally renowned guests. VOGUE BALL
CAMP AND FURNACE, 7:00PM – 11:00PM, £18
Camp and Furnace is transformed into a catwalk reminiscent of 70s and 80s New York, as club culture and high fashion go head to head. RAGE
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–05:00, £3
Mixed-bag night spread out over all three floors, serving up indie, rock, alternative and dance tunes.
THE WONDER POT (PEARSON SOUND B2B PANGAEA) 24 KITCHEN STREET, 22:00–04:00, FROM £10
Launch night of a new night promising some of the biggest hitters in experimental dance. Pearson Sound and Pangaea is a good start. PURE SATURDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 21:00–04:00, £TBC
Smoonth RnB and urban floor fillers.
Tue 13 Oct PAUSE
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £2
Garage, grime, funky and house. DIRTY ANTICS
BUMPER, 22:00–04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM (FROM £3 AFTER)
Messy Tuesday-nighter, bring your dirty shoes.
RAGE
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–05:00, £3
Mixed-bag night spread out over all three floors, serving up indie, rock, alternative and dance tunes. WORRIED ABOUT HENRY LAUNCH PART II (DUB PHIZIX + STRATEGY)
24 KITCHEN STREET, 23:00–04:00, FROM £8
Multi-genre bass music parties bringing together established legends and forward thinking yunguns. PURE SATURDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 21:00–04:00, £TBC
Smoonth RnB and urban floor fillers.
Tue 20 Oct PAUSE
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £2
Garage, grime, funky and house. DIRTY ANTICS
BUMPER, 22:00–04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM (FROM £3 AFTER)
Messy Tuesday-nighter, bring your dirty shoes.
Wed 21 Oct BSSMENT
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £3
Grime and trap courtesy of the BSSMENT Sessions residents.
Thu 22 Oct JUICY
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £4
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. GET YOUR WOOD ON
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, £TBC
The best of all three floors at the Krazyhouse packed into one. SOLAR
GARLANDS, 22:00–02:00, £5 (£4)
Three floors playing everything from house, hip hop and old skool anthems. VIBE THURSDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 22:00–04:00, £TBC
R’n’b, hip-hop and urban floorfillers.
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £4
Fri 23 Oct
JUICY
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk.
LESS EFFECT 2ND BIRTHDAY (KODE9)
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, £TBC
Hard-hitting night of bassline, dubstep, house and techno, with Kode9 dropping in on the birthday bumps.
GET YOUR WOOD ON
The best of all three floors at the Krazyhouse packed into one. SOLAR
GARLANDS, 22:00–02:00, £5 (£4)
Three floors playing everything from house, hip hop and old skool anthems.
HIGH FOCUS TAKEOVER (DIRTY DIKE + VERB T & ILLINFORMED) 24 KITCHEN STREET, 22:00–04:00, FROM £8
High Focus takeover featuring a legion of hip-hop dons. VIBE THURSDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 22:00–04:00, £TBC
R’n’b, hip-hop and urban floorfillers.
Fri 16 Oct CATFACE
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, FROM £10
CATFACE
BUMPER, 22:00–05:00, FREE
New night at the notorious Bumper, where drawing whiskers on your face gets you free entry. AMBUSH!
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, £TBC
Friday night capers at Liverpool’s gnarliest rock club. TREND FRIDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 21:00–04:00, £2 (£3 AFTER 12:30AM)
Everything from R ‘n’ B to old skool garage, hip-hop and deep house.
Sat 24 Oct
BUMPER, 22:00–05:00, FREE
WINTER GARDEN FESTIVAL (DETROIT SWINDLE + TROJAN SOUND SYSTEM)
AMBUSH!
A coming together of the best Liverpool club promoters to present an all day and all night party.
New night at the notorious Bumper, where drawing whiskers on your face gets you free entry. THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, £TBC
Friday night capers at Liverpool’s gnarliest rock club. HOT PLATE (BIG NARSTIE)
24 KITCHEN STREET, 23:00–04:00, FROM £6
The Brixton rapper comes to 24 Kitchen with his trajectory on a clear upward curve.
THE KAZIMIER, 14:00–02:00, FROM £10
CREAM — THE GRAND FINALE (DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE + DANNY HOWARD + WATERMAT + CARNAGE + MORE) NATION, 21:00–06:00, £40
CAMEL CLUB, 21:00–04:00, £2 (£3 AFTER 12:30AM)
The long-running club night hosts another night of wall-to-wall DJ celebrity at the legendary Nation for the final time, before its redevelopment.
Sat 17 Oct
Suited and booted dub collective who also take in elements of ska and roots reggae.
TREND FRIDAYS
Everything from R ‘n’ B to old skool garage, hip-hop and deep house.
CHIBUKU SHAKE SHAKE (BONOBO (DJ) +PBR STREETGANG + JASPER JAMES + RAM JAM + MORE)
DISTRICT, 21:00–04:00, £15
CAMP AND FURNACE, 14:00–23:00, £25 (£22)
The bass music special heads to District for another big party, this month with added Keinemusik.
NATION, 21:00–06:00, £40
The long-running club night hosts another night of wall-to-wall DJ celebrity at the legendary Nation for the final time, before its redevelopment.
Thu 15 Oct
Friday night capers at Liverpool’s gnarliest rock club. RUBIX (KEINEMUSIK)
CREAM — THE GRAND FINALE (PETE TONG + ROGER SANCHEZ + TIMO MAAS + PAUL OAKENFOLD + MORE)
Chibuku returns for its Autumn program of internationally renowned guests.
GENTLEMAN’S DUB CLUB
ARTS CLUB, 18:30–22:00, £14
RAGE
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–05:00, £3
Mixed-bag night spread out over all three floors, serving up indie, rock, alternative and dance tunes. PURE SATURDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 21:00–04:00, £TBC
Smoonth RnB and urban floor fillers.
Listings
59
Liverpool Clubs Tue 27 Oct PAUSE
Theatre Manchester
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £2
Contact Theatre
DIRTY ANTICS
UNTIL 22 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £15 (£10)
Garage, grime, funky and house.
BUMPER, 22:00–04:00, FREE BEFORE 11PM (FROM £3 AFTER)
Messy Tuesday-nighter, bring your dirty shoes.
Thu 29 Oct EVIAN CHRIST
THE KAZIMIER, 22:00–06:00, FROM £5
THE NOTEBOOK
The story of twin brothers evacuated to their impoverished grandmother’s farm in the Hungarian countryside during World War II, based on Ágota Kristóf’s award-winning novel. I HEART CHOCOLATE
Tri Angle’s prodigal son and Kanye West collaborator Evian Christ brings his self-curated Trance Party to the Kazimier as part of Liverpool Music Week.
8 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £15 (£10)
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £4
BATTLE OF THE MINDS
JUICY
All party, no bullshit night of everything from classic hip-hop to disco and funk. THE GUILTY PARTY (OLIVER DOLLAR + LEWIS BOARDMAN)
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 23:00–03:00, £10
The Guilty Party return for student season with a mean looking double header. COLOURS
ARTS CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £9
New student clubnight, bringing names both new and big in from the deep house world. GET YOUR WOOD ON
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, £TBC
The best of all three floors at the Krazyhouse packed into one. SOLAR
GARLANDS, 22:00–02:00, £5 (£4)
Three floors playing everything from house, hip hop and old skool anthems. VIBE THURSDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 22:00–04:00, £TBC
R’n’b, hip-hop and urban floorfillers.
Fri 30 Oct CATFACE
BUMPER, 22:00–05:00, FREE
New night at the notorious Bumper, where drawing whiskers on your face gets you free entry. AMBUSH!
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, £TBC
Friday night capers at Liverpool’s gnarliest rock club. TREND FRIDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 21:00–04:00, £2 (£3 AFTER 12:30AM)
Everything from R ‘n’ B to old skool garage, hip-hop and deep house.
Sat 31 Oct THE VOODOO BALL
THE KAZIMIER, 20:00–03:00, FROM £8
Searching for an alternative Hallowe’en? Look no further than the spectacle that is the Voodoo Ball, which urges you to ‘cast off your shadows and abandon your beliefs. HORSE MEAT DISCO
THE SHIPPING FORECAST, 22:00–03:00, FREE
More mischief and disco mayhem from the long-running crew. CIRCUS (MACEO PLEX + DANNY DAZE + SHALL OCIN & LEWIS BOARDMAN + DAVIDE SQUILLACE)
ARTS CLUB, 22:00–04:00, £22.50 (£20)
Circus hosts an Ellum label showcase, featuring Maceo Plex, Danny Daze and more. RAGE
THE KRAZYHOUSE, 22:00–05:30, £3
Mixed-bag night spread out over all three floors, serving up indie, rock, alternative and dance tunes. 303 (DJ HELL)
CONSTELLATIONS, 22:00–04:00, FROM £10
303 presents a headline set from DJ Hell for a Halloween special event. PURE SATURDAYS
CAMEL CLUB, 21:00–04:00, £TBC
Smoonth RnB and urban floor fillers.
An evening of decadent indulgence courtesy of Le Gateau Chocolat, which will treat your senses through opera, musical theatre, jazz and rap. 20 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £11 (£6)
Young Identity present their own take on the curriculums of education and knowledge, teaching their lessons of life and sharing playground parables for Manchester Literature Festival. HERCULES — A DANCE CABARET
29 OCT, 7:00PM – 9:00PM, £13 (£7)
The story of Hercules as you’ve never seen it before. Told through dance routines and speciality acts. Matinee also available.
HOME GOLEM
7–17 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10
Arriving in Manchester with a host of five star reviews, 1927’s latest production Golem explores one of the great questions of the modern world – who or what is in control of our technologies? Matinees available. THE ORESTEIA
23 OCT – 14 NOV, NOT SUNDAYS, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10
Palace Theatre Manchester
HALFWAY TO PARADISE: THE BILLY FURY STORY
12 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £23.90
Now in its 17th year of touring, Bill Fury’s own band re-live his timeless hits backed by personal movie footage. HAIRSPRAY THE MUSICAL
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 12 OCT AND 31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY
Toe-tapping musical based on the film by John Waters, following the tale of a girl with big hair and an even bigger heart. Matinees also available.
Royal Exchange Studio SO HERE WE ARE
UNTIL 10 OCT, 7:00PM – 9:00PM, £12 (£10)
Playwright and actor Luke Norris takes a look at young lives cut short and presents a portrait of childhood friendships under strain in adult life.
Royal Exchange Theatre THE CRUCIBLE
UNTIL 24 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FROM £16
Arthur Miller’s famous Tony Award-winning re-telling of the 1692 Salem witch trial hysteria, a powerful modern tragedy of one man’s search for self. Matinees also available. POMONA
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 29 OCT AND 21 NOV, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £16
A sinister and surreal thriller from Alistair McDowall, writer of Talk Show , Brilliant Adventures (Bruntwood Prize winner) and Captain Amazing.
Taking the translation by one of the great poets of the twentieth century, Ted Hughes, this swiftmoving, newly cut version radically condenses Aeschylus’ epic trilogy into one play.
Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM)
Manchester Jewish Museum
The Grammy-nominated Godfathers of alternative cabaret are back on tour with another show of dark and deviant theatrics.
CONVERSATIONS
18–19 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £8
David Rendel, a psychiatrist, meets Shlomo Weider, a Holocaust Survivor, at a Holocaust Memorial Day event at the Holocaust Centre in 2003 in this coming together of two people who know more about each other’s pasts than they realised.
O2 Apollo Manchester DYNAMO
6–18 OCT, NOT 12, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £32.50
The world-renowned illusionist brings his array of tricks to a live setting.
Octagon Theatre AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
8–31 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10.50
Arthur Miller’s play adapted from the Ibsen book is performed in honour of the playwright’s 100th birthday. Matinees also available.
Opera House AN EVENING OF BURLESQUE
10 OCT 8:00PM – 10:30PM, PRICES VARY
Britain’s biggest burlesque show makes its way North after a run on London’s West End, complete with knife throwing act. JERSEY BOYS
27 OCT – 7 NOV, NOT SUNDAYS, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £23.90
True life story of multiplebucketload selling group The Four Seasons, from their beginnings to their extended run along the hit parade. Matinee performances also available. MACK AND MABEL
12–24 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £20
Direct from its premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre, this major new production of the classic Broadway musical Mack and Mabel stars double Oliver award-winning Michael Ball as Mack Sennett.
THE TIGER LILLIES
27 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:30PM, £15
THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS
13–18 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY
Based on the book by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson. Matinees also available. JOSS ARNOTT DAME EVELYN GLENNIE
24 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £15
In a brand new triple-bill, Joss Arnott Dance demonstrate the athleticism and breath-taking choreography that has made them one of the most exciting voices in British contemporary dance.
The King’s Arms SCOTTISH FALSETTO SOCK PUPPET THEATRE
23 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £9 (£7)
Tackling every genre from film noir to Breaking Bad, from Z Cars to scandi-crime in sock form. THE RUINATION OF ISAIAH SQUIFF
8 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:00PM, £8 (£6.50)
Old fashioned farce and a splash of Python-esque surrealism. MR MERRICK, THE ELEPHANT MAN
18 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £7
Stage adaptation of the famous story about the disfigured Mr Merrick. STRIKING DILEMMAS
21 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £TBC
SCAB!!, The Blue Pawn and Banners Bands & Bitter Pills combine to tell personal stories of the year that changed not only the lives of thousands of people but also transformed the British political landscape forever. CASUAL VIOLENCE + JAMES HAMILTON
28 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £12
Double play action.
The Lowry
LOST IN THOUGHT: A MINDFULNESS OPERA
18–19 OCT, TIMES VARY, FROM £28
This four-hour work is based on the classic structure of an extended meditation, with Rolf Hind’s music exploring the points of contact between sound and silence in music and meditation.
Theatre Liverpool
Epstein Theatre DIRTY DUSTING
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 10 OCT AND 15 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £21
The Lowry Studio
Three cleaning ladies set up a telephone sex line. Innuendos ensue.
26 OCT, 7:00PM – 9:00PM, £14
31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £15
MORGAN AND WEST
Family-friendly show featuring two Victorian time-travelling magicians. NOSFERATU
29 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10
ALL STAR VARIETY SHOW
Ricky Tomlinson and Stan Boardman bring a bunch of comedy pals together in memory of Colin Bridge.
Nosferatu tells the dark tale of the sailors in Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, as they journey from Varna to Whitby with an unknown car.
Everyman Theatre
10 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10
Jenny hates Michael, Michael hates Bobby and Bobby hates everyone! But when tragedy hits, can the siblings unite for the good of the family?
E and P Associate Director Nick Bagnall joins forces again with award-winning poet and author Simon Armitage for a tale about a high ranking government official on the run. Matinees available.
15–16 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10
20–24 OCT, TIMES VARY, FROM £12
TERMINAL
GHOST OPERA
Following their latest Edinburgh success Ablutions, award-winning FellSwoop Theatre present a two-hander, spoken and sung, accompanied by a string quartet and devised in development with The Lowry. KAPA HAKA TALE
20 OCT, 7:00PM – 9:00PM, £12
Kapa Haka Tale, fuses the native Maori performing art, kapa haka, with contemporary dance, and brings to life the well-known enchanting Mãori tale. Matinee also available. WE WANT YOU TO WATCH
22–23 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £12
Choreographed theatre courtesy of RashDash. ADA ADA ADA
30 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10
Interactive storytelling of the world’s first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace.
The Lowry: Lyric Theatre CONCEAL: REVEAL
22 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £16
The Russell Maliphant Company present both new and classic work to celebrate 20 years together.
The Lowry: Quays Theatre KAASH
6–7 OCT, 8:00PM – 9:00PM, FROM £15
THE ODYSSEY: MISSING PRESUMED DEAD
UNTIL 17 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FROM £12
ORPHEUS
Set to a live score of hot club jazz, opera and French chanson, Orpheus is a musical re-imagining of the Greek myth. Matinees also available. JANE WENHAM: THE WITCH OF WALKERN
27–31 OCT, TIMES VARY, FROM £12.50
Inspired by events in a Hertfordshire village, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s new play is alive with the mysteries of nature, sex and the supernatural, and blasts society’s hunger to find — and create — witches.
Liverpool Empire Theatre AN EVENING OF BURLESQUE
23 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:30PM, PRICES VARY
Britain’s biggest burlesque show makes its way North after a run on London’s West End, complete with knife throwing act. THE CARPENTERS STORY
20 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £19.90
A musical dedicated to the life and times of The Carpenters. PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ
UNTIL 10 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10
Dance production featuring some of Strictly Come Dancing’s finest. Matinees also available. HAIRSPRAY THE MUSICAL
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 12 OCT AND 31 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY
Contemporary dance courtesy of Akram Khan, which sees the choreographer revisit his 2002 work with Anish Kapoor and Nitin Sawhney.
Toe-tapping musical based on the film by John Waters, following the tale of a girl with big hair and an even bigger heart. Matinees also available.
16–17 OCT, 7:00PM – 9:00PM, £14
Liverpool Playhouse
THE HOGWALLOPS
Circus skills, physical comedy, theatrical storytelling and slapstick in this colourful, loud dramatisation of the domestic adventures of a chaotic family of misfits. POLES APART
21–24 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, FROM £17
John Godber examines the role of the theatre in the life of the working man and the role of the working man in the life of the theatre, and asks, are they Poles Apart? Matinee available.
Waterside Arts Centre ADOLF AND WINSTON
7 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £14 (£12)
Adolf and Winston walks the tightrope of taste and decency with another slice of poorly-researched history... prepare for an evening of hilarity with two of the most unlikely comedy stars!
THE GLASS MENAGERIE
7–31 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £12
Reworking of one of Tennessee Williams’ most powerful and haunting memory plays, a touching and profound tale of love and loss, illusion and escape, fragility and innocent hope. Matinee performances also available. OUTSIDERS
13–17 OCT, 7:45PM – 9:00PM, FROM £10
Pilot’s new production, written by acclaimed writer Emteaz Hussain, gives voice to the forgotten in a compelling re-imagining of Camus’ novel, L’Etranger. Matinees also available.
Royal Court Theatre LET IT BE
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 8 OCT AND 14 NOV, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £21
West End show charting the meteoric rise of the Beatles, taking the audience on a musical journey through all the hits, from their early days at the Cavern Club to global hits like Yesterday and Hey Jude. Matinees also available.
St Helens Theatre Royal THE WIZARD OF OZ
24 OCT – 1 NOV, 5:00PM – 7:00PM, FROM £9
All-singing production of the musical favourite for all the family. Matinees also available.
60
Listings
COPPELIA 18 OCT, 5:00PM – 8:00PM, FROM £13
Vienna Festival Ballet take on the classic comedy of errors, set in a creepy doll-maker’s workshop. THE ALE HOUSE
6–10 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £15
St Helens has got a brand new local as new comedy The Ale House opens its doors at the Theatre Royal this October. Matinees also available.
The Brindley NOSFERATU
13 OCT, 29 OCT,7:30PM – 9:30PM, £14 (£12)
Nosferatu tells the dark tale of the sailors in Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, as they journey from Varna to Whitby with an unknown car.
The Capstone I BURN FOR YOU
28 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £12
A chillingly atmospheric new musical theatre work based on Bram Stoker’s legendary Dracula story. I Burn For You is a chilling musical journey into the bleeding heart of the vampire legend. Chilling.
The Lantern Theatre TEECHERS
HANNAH SILVA 27 OCT, 20:00–21:30, £10 (£8)
Hannah’s ripped up Fifty Shades of Grey and now attempts to put the female body back together. Join her for pleasure and pain, mothers and babies, domination and submission as we discover there are no safe words… KISSING FROGS
9–10 OCT, 7:00PM – 8:15PM, £12 (£10)
Meet Jess. 30 years old. Still single. No children. Join her in her desperate mission…To find a husband. A comedy set to an 80s sountrack. JESS GREEN & THE MISCHIEF THIEVES
13 OCT, 8:00PM – 9:30PM, £10 (£8)
Jess Green & The Mischief Thieves tell stories of everyday underdogs, from Janice on the picket line to Movember-man Kev and zealot librarian Sandra. Don’t miss this topical and humorous commentary on the state of education. THE SAND DOG COMETH
14 OCT, 8:00PM – 9:30PM, £12 (£10)
Mary Pearson pays homage to the avant-garde, to kitsch, shtick, snobbery, trash and easy laughs. Inspired by ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, the 70s, academic language, classic crooners, Rihanna, Scouse fashions dereliction and shopping centres. SHE CALLED ME MOTHER
29–31 OCT, 8:00PM – 9:30PM, £12 (£10)
Evangeline waits for a little warmth and kindness. She waits for a ticket home to Trinidad, the sun, the mango trees and street vendors. She waits for the daughter she let walk away.
19-21 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £9.50 (£7.50)
John Godber’s modern classic comedy following three fifth form students using their end of term play to tell the story of an idealistic new teaacher joining the ranks.
Manchester Comedy
16 OCT, 7:30PM-10:00PM, £8 (£5)
Tue 06 Oct
NOTHING TO BE DONE
An absurdist piece of new writing inspired by Beckett's classic Waiting For Godot. The all-female play questions our search for the meaning of life, or the lack of it. Is ignorance truly bliss? THE PARTING GLASS
18 OCT, 7:30PM-10:00PM, £10 (£8)
A show set on the night that Thierry Henry’s left hand dashed Ireland’s World Cup dreams. THE BOX OF TRICKS
31 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £12.50 (£6.50)
Intense drama written by Ric Brady and Stephen M Hornby: when Mike returns home for his estranged brother’s funeral, he is met with difficult realisations about his brother and the events that drove them apart. TERMINAL
8 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £8.50
Jenny hates Michael, Michael hates Bobby and Bobby hates everyone! But when tragedy hits, can the siblings unite for the good of the family? ASHES TO ASHES
13–15 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £9.50 (£7.50)
In the everyday calm of an English country house, Devlin at times bullying and cajoling, probes Rebecca about a former lover, but the threads of Rebecca’s disturbing memories evade the certainty of truth. REVOLUTIONARY BALLADS
25 OCT, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £10.50
A performance of Brecht songs set by Weill and Eisler with Frankie Armstrong and Mikey Price in a re-telling of Brecht’s iconic play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. THE HOODIE & THE HIGH RIP GANG
28 OCT, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10.50
A historical play of love and redemption witnessed through the eyes of a Hoodie who is transported back in time to Victorian Liverpool.
Unity Theatre THAT’S AMORE
28 OCT, 8:00PM – 9:30PM, £12 (£10)
Passionate physical theatre exploring the vast world of romantic love: from chance encounters to hidden desires and the science of romance, discover what makes our hearts beat faster.
XS MALARKEY (TOM TAYLOR + RACHEL FAIRBURN + ROB ROUSE + MORE + MC TOBY HADOKE)
PUB/ZOO, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£3)
The rather ace comedy night continues with the usual Tuesday night shenanigans. FREDDIE FLINTOFF
OPERA HOUSE, 20:00–22:00, FROM £28.90
Freddie Flintoff continues to be allowed to do things seemingly just because he’s Freddie Flintoff.
Wed 07 Oct DANIEL SLOSS
THE LOWRY STUDIO, 20:00–22:00, FROM £11
The award-winning comedian and internationally acclaimed halfman-half-Xbox brings the laughs once more. SMUG ROBERTS
FRED’S ALE HOUSE, 19:30–22:00, £5
The local comic headlines the latest Fred’s Ale House comedy night.
Thu 08 Oct
STAND UP THURSDAY (CHARLIE BAKER + MIKE GUNN + MC JOHN MOLONEY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£8)
Cheat life and get that Friday feeling one day early with a night of comedic delight from some circuit funny folk. THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE (BARRY DODDS + MIKE NEWALL + PHIL NICHOL + CLAYTON JONES)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £10 (£7)
Start your weekend early at the Frog and Bucket with a host of top notch comedians.
Fri 09 Oct
THE BEST IN STAND UP (CHARLIE BAKER + MIKE GUNN + OTIZ CANNELLONI + GEOFF NORCOTT + MC JOHN MOLONEY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £18 (£12)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
BARREL OF LAUGHS (BARRY DODDS + MIKE NEWALL + PHIL NICHOL) THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £16 (£8)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. ALL STARS OF COMEDY
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 19:45–22:00, FROM £16
Slim, Wayne Dibbi Rollins, Axle, Judy Love and Smash return for another dose of raucous laughs.
Sat 10 Oct LEE NELSON
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £21
That guy who got up onstage during Kanye West’s Glastonbury set. Let’s all get up on stage while he performs and see how he likes it eh? THE BEST IN STAND UP (JOHN THOMSON + MIKE GUNN + OTIZ CANNELLONI + GEOFF NORCOTT + MC JOHN MOLONEY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:00–21:00, £22 (£16)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (JOHN THOMSON + MIKE GUNN + OTIZ CANNELLONI + GEOFF NORCOTT + MC JOHN MOLONEY)
THE COMEDY STORE, 21:30–23:30, £22 (£16)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
BARREL OF LAUGHS (BARRY DODDS + MIKE NEWALL + PHIL NICHOL) THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £17 (£10)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ.
LIVE FROM THE AIRING CUPBOARD THE INTERNET (VINCE ATTA + THICK RICHARD + FOX DOG STUDIOS + TAM HINTON + MORE)
THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE, 20:00–22:30, FROM £8
Airing Cupboard returns from its hiatus with a new season of comedy, satire, horror and wonders.
Sun 11 Oct
NEW STUFF (MC TOBY HADOKE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £6 (£4)
Up and comers trying out their stuff before hitting the circuit. DAN AND PHIL
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £25
The daft comedy double act combine the best features of their book, YouTube channels, radio shows and infamous online videos. Matinee also available. ALFIE MOORE
THE LOWRY STUDIO, 20:00–22:00, £12
Former police sergeant turned stand-up comedian, and star of BBC Radio 4’s, It’s a Fair Cop.
Mon 12 Oct BEAT THE FROG
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £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!
Tue 13 Oct
XS MALARKEY (DAN NIGHTINGALE + JAYNE EDWARDS + TOM SHORT + MC TOBY HADOKE)
PUB/ZOO, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£3)
The rather ace comedy night continues with the usual Tuesday night shenanigans.
Thu 15 Oct
STAND UP THURSDAY (ADAM BLOOM + JARRED CHRISTMAS + MC PHIL ELLIS) THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£8)
Cheat life and get that Friday feeling one day early with a night of comedic delight from some circuit funny folk. SHAM BODIE (GEIN’S FAMILY GIFTSHOP + PEACE AND LOVE BARBERSHOP MUHAMMED ALI + MORE)
SOUP KITCHEN, 19:00–22:00, £5
Sham Bodie returns with another rib-tickling evening of music and sketch show comedy.
COMEDY NIGHT @ MJM (SOL BERNSTEIN + ADAM BLOOM + MARK MAIER)
MANCHESTER JEWISH MUSEUM, 20:00–22:00, £10
Three award-winning comedians – Sol Bernstein, Adam Bloom and Mark Maier – bring their unique stand-up acts from the international comedy circuit to the museum's historic synagogue.
Fri 16 Oct SUSAN CALMAN
THE KING’S ARMS, 20:00–21:00, £10
The favourited funnywoman takes a look at triumphs, the tribulations and the romantic meetings that made her. And cats.
THE SKINNY
Comedy
Manchester SUSAN CALMAN THE KING’S ARMS, 21:30–22:30, £10
The favourited funnywoman takes a look at triumphs, the tribulations and the romantic meetings that made her. And cats. DOUG STANHOPE
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £30
Expect more in the way of brutal comedy rants about the stupidity of our social and political systems, courtesy of Mr Stanhope.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (THE NOISE NEXT DOOR + ADAM BLOOM + SCOTT CAPURRO + ADDY VAN DER BORGH + MC JARRED CHRISTMAS)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £18 (£12)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
BARREL OF LAUGHS (MC JONATHAN MAYOR)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £16 (£8)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. NICK HELM
THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £12.50 (£15 OTD)
Nick Helm comes to Manchester to deliver truths about life, love and being a living legend in a bod that don’t quit.
Sat 17 Oct DOUG STANHOPE
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £30
Expect more in the way of brutal comedy rants about the stupidity of our social and political systems, courtesy of Mr Stanhope.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (THE NOISE NEXT DOOR + ADAM BLOOM + SCOTT CAPURRO + ADDY VAN DER BORGH + MC JARRED CHRISTMAS)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:00–21:00, £22 (£16)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (THE NOISE NEXT DOOR + ADAM BLOOM + SCOTT CAPURRO + ADDY VAN DER BORGH + MC JARRED CHRISTMAS)
THE COMEDY STORE, 21:30–23:30, £22 (£16)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
BARREL OF LAUGHS (MC JONATHAN MAYOR)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £17 (£10)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. TIFFANY STEVENSON
NEXUS ART CAFÉ, 22:10–22:50, £6
A finalist on ITV1’s Show Me the Funny, Tiff Stevenson is a stand-up comedian, actor and writer, known for her honest material and instantly likeable disposition.
Sun 18 Oct MILTON JONES
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £25
The neurotic English comic takes to the road with another tour, rich with one-liners, and some pictures wot he drew specially. NEW COMEDIANS (MC ALEX BOARDMAN)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £4 (£2)
A night of stand-up from some fresh-faced comics trying to break on to the circuit – be nice. JAMES ACASTER
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £15
The three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show nominee comes to the Lowry with his show Represent, promising another evening of riotous storytelling and awkward physicality.
Mon 19 Oct BEAT THE FROG
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £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!
October 2015
LIP SYNCIN’ BATTLE (MC TREVOR DWYER-LYNCH) THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £6
Comics, guest celebrities and the general public all battle to become the best Lip Sync in the City.
Tue 20 Oct
XS MALARKEY (JOHN KEARNS + PAT CAHILL + OLAF FALAFEL + GEORGE RIDGEN + MC TOBY HADOKE)
PUB/ZOO, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£3)
The rather ace comedy night continues with the usual Tuesday night shenanigans.
Wed 21 Oct HARRIET DYER
THE WHISKEY JAR, 19:30–20:30, £3
Dyer weaves her surreal and hilarious tales.
Thu 22 Oct KEVIN BRIDGES
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:30, £25
The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography. STAND UP THURSDAY (SEAN COLLINS + STEVE GRIBBIN + MC ROB ROUSE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£8)
Cheat life and get that Friday feeling one day early with a night of comedic delight from some circuit funny folk. THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £10 (£7)
Start your weekend early at the Frog and Bucket with a host of top notch comedians.
Fri 23 Oct KEVIN BRIDGES
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:30, £25
The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (SEAN COLLINS + STEVE GRIBBIN + TOM WRIGGLESWORTH + JO CAULFIELD + MC ROB ROUSE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £18 (£12)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians. BARREL OF LAUGHS
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £16 (£8)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. SCOTTISH FALSETTO SOCK PUPPET THEATRE
THE KING’S ARMS, 19:30–22:00, £9 (£7)
Tackling every genre from film noir to Breaking Bad, from Z Cars to scandi-crime in sock form. BETHANY BLACK + MAE MARTIN + GUESTS
THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£15 OTD)
As part of Women in Comedy festival, Dead Cat Comedy with the Dancehouse Theatre presents Mae Martin and Bethany Black.
Sat 24 Oct KEVIN BRIDGES
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:30, £25
The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (SEAN COLLINS + STEVE GRIBBIN + TOM WRIGGLESWORTH + JO CAULFIELD + MC ROB ROUSE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:00–21:00, £22 (£16)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (SEAN COLLINS + STEVE GRIBBIN + TOM WRIGGLESWORTH + JO CAULFIELD + MC ROB ROUSE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 21:30–23:30, £22 (£16)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians. BARREL OF LAUGHS
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £17 (£10)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ.
Sun 25 Oct
FESTIVAL OF THE SPOKEN NERD
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £16
Live comedy for the sci-curious, with geek songstress Helen Arney, science expert Steve Mould and stand-up mathematician Matt Parker KEVIN BRIDGES
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 19:00–22:30, £25
The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography. NEW STUFF (MC TOBY HADOKE)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £4 (£2)
Up and comers trying out their stuff before hitting the circuit.
Mon 26 Oct BEAT THE FROG
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £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! SIDEKICK COMEDY (KATE MCCABE + MATT FONG + CHEEKYKITA + DAVE WILLIAMS)
VIA, 19:30–22:00, £2
Your friendly,monthly, neighbourhood comedy gig. All comedians are hero-approved. MORGAN AND WEST
THE LOWRY STUDIO, 19:00–21:00, £14
Family-friendly show featuring two Victorian time-travelling magicians.
BLACK COMEDY NIGHT (MC TREVOR DWYER-LYNCH)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £5
Trevor Lynch presents the latest in a series of comedy nights, aptly titled Laff ‘til Ya Fart. ANDY HAMILTON
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, FROM £19
That wee fella who pops up making wry jokes on Have I Got News For You returns with a new solo comedy show.
Tue 27 Oct
XS MALARKEY (SUZI RUFFEL + LOUS CONRAN + LEE PEART + JAMES BENNISON + MC TOBY HADOKE)
PUB/ZOO, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£3)
The rather ace comedy night continues with the usual Tuesday night shenanigans.
Wed 28 Oct PATRICK KIELTY
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £18
Patrick Kielty returns to his stand up roots with a brand new show.
Thu 29 Oct MICHAEL MCINTYRE
MANCHESTER ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £41
The English comic (of the Michael McIntyre Comedy Roadshow) takes to the road again no doubt flopping his head about in a silly way. STAND UP THURSDAY (STEVE SHANYASKI + GORDON SOUTHERN + MC SEAN MEO)
THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£8)
Cheat life and get that Friday feeling one day early with a night of comedic delight from some circuit funny folk. THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE (RAY BRADSHAW + TOM TAYLOR)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £10 (£7)
Start your weekend early at the Frog and Bucket with a host of top notch comedians. SEAN KELLY
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £16
You wouldn’t guess from his terrible put downs on Storage Hunters, but Sean Kelly actually started out as a stand-up comedian. He returns to his roots.
Fri 30 Oct BILL BAILEY
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 20:00–22:30, £25
The ever-funny Bill Bailey tours his new show, Limboland, exploring the gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are. MICHAEL MCINTYRE
MANCHESTER ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £41
The English comic (of the Michael McIntyre Comedy Roadshow) takes to the road again no doubt flopping his head about in a silly way.
THE BEST IN STAND UP (STEVE SHANYASKI + GORDON SOUTHERN + MARKUS BIRDMAN + PETE CAIN + MC SEAN MEO) THE COMEDY STORE, 20:00–22:00, £18 (£12)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
BARREL OF LAUGHS (RAY BRADSHAW + DAN NIGHTINGALE + LEE PEART + JEFF INNOCENT)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £16 (£8)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. ROB BECKETT
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £15
The multi-award-winning comedian tours his latest show. JASON BYRNE
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £18.50
The respected comedian marks 20 years of making people laugh with another live show.
Sat 31 Oct BILL BAILEY
O2 APOLLO MANCHESTER, 20:00–22:30, £25
The ever-funny Bill Bailey tours his new show, Limboland, exploring the gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are. MICHAEL MCINTYRE
MANCHESTER ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £41
The English comic (of the Michael McIntyre Comedy Roadshow) takes to the road again no doubt flopping his head about in a silly way.
Comedy
Liverpool Wed 07 Oct
THE LAUGHTER FACTOR (MC PAUL SMITH)
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£3)
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.
Thu 08 Oct
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (HOWARD READ + RICH WILSON + MARC SMETHURST + MC PHIL ELLIS) COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £15
BARREL OF LAUGHS (RAY BRADSHAW + DAN NIGHTINGALE + LEE PEART + JEFF INNOCENT)
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £17 (£10)
Three top-notch comics, a sprinkling of Frog compere funnies and a late night disco courtesy of the resident DJ. ROB NEWMAN
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £16
Writer, comedian and political activist, known for his work with fellow Cambridge classmate, David Baddiel. CHRIS RAMSEY
THE LOWRY: LYRIC THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £18.50
After being booted off the Soccer AM sofa, Chris Ramsay takes his musings on saying the wrong thing at the wrong time on the road. A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS
THE LOWRY STUDIO, 20:00–22:00, FROM £10
Over a century after their first appearance, M R James’s ghost stories retain their power to terrify and amuse. This one-man show retells two of the eeriest.
Sun 01 Nov KING GONG (MC DANNY MCLOUGHLIN)
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:30–21:30, £4 (£2)
A night of stand-up from some fresh-faced comics trying to break on to the circuit – be nice. HAL CRUTTENDEN
THE LOWRY: QUAYS THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, FROM £14
As seen on The Royal Variety Performance, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and The Rob Brydon Show, Hal Cruttenden brings his usual brand of simultaneously warm and catty stand-up to the Northwest.
Mon 02 Nov BEAT THE FROG
THE FROG AND BUCKET COMEDY CLUB, 19:00–22:30, £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!
DIRTY DUSTING
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £21
Three cleaning ladies set up a telephone sex line. Innuendos ensue.
Thu 15 Oct DIRTY DUSTING
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £21
Three cleaning ladies set up a telephone sex line. Innuendos ensue.
COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £15
MANFORD’S COMEDY CLUB
Fri 09 Oct
BOILING POINT (PATRICK MONAHAN + ADAM ROWE + CHRIS MCCAUSLAND + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn, Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
Wed 14 Oct
THE BRINDLEY, 20:00–23:00, £15
Jason Manford has carefully select some of his favourite comedians to give you the best night out you’ve had for a long time!
THE COMEDY STORE, 19:00–21:00, £22 (£16)
THE COMEDY STORE, 21:30–23:30, £22 (£16)
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £21
Three cleaning ladies set up a telephone sex line. Innuendos ensue.
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
LAUGHTERHOUSE (TANYALEE DAVIS + VINCE ATTA + NICK DIXON + MC CHRIS CAIRNS)
THE BEST IN STAND UP (STEVE SHANYASKI + GORDON SOUTHERN + MARKUS BIRDMAN + PETE CAIN + MC SEAN MEO)
DIRTY DUSTING
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (MARLON DAVIS + DAMIAN CLARK + PHIL PAGETT + MC JAMIE SUTHERLAND)
THE BEST IN STAND UP (STEVE SHANYASKI + GORDON SOUTHERN + MARKUS BIRDMAN + PETE CAIN + MC SEAN MEO)
Regular night of stand up with a line-up of five top circuit comedians.
Tue 13 Oct
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £15
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (HOWARD READ + DALISO CHAPONDA + RICH WILSON + MC PHIL ELLIS) COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £15
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone. PATRICK KIELTY
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 20:00–22:00, £16.50
Patrick Kielty returns to his stand up roots with a brand new show.
Sat 10 Oct
BOILING POINT (PATRICK MONAHAN + DYLAN GOTT + CHRIS MCCAUSLAND + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn, Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way. LIVERPOOL COMEDY CELLAR (ROB ROUSE + JAMIE SUTHERLAND + MC JONATHAN MAYOR)
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CELLAR, 19:30–22:30, £13.50
The Liverpool Comedy Cellar features the cream of the International Comedy Circuit up close and personal; every Saturday and this week is no different.
LAUGHTERHOUSE (TANYALEE DAVIS + VINCE ATTA + NICK DIXON + MC CHRIS CAIRNS) THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £17.50
Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (HOWARD READ + DALISO CHAPONDA + RICH WILSON + MC PHIL ELLIS) COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £18
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Sun 11 Oct
TESTING THE WATER (MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £3 (£1.50)
Showcase night for up-andcomers and undiscovered stars, offering a great value night out if you don’t mind being a comedy guinea pig.
Mon 12 Oct DIRTY DUSTING
EPSTEIN THEATRE, 19:30–22:00, £21
Three cleaning ladies set up a telephone sex line. Innuendos ensue.
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Fri 16 Oct
BOILING POINT (PETER BRUSH + EDD HEDGES + ANTHONY KING + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn, Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
LAUGHTERHOUSE (SOL BERNSTEIN + JOHN LYNN + JOHN FOTHERGILL + MC NEIL FITZMAURICE) THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £15
Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (MARLON DAVIS + DAMIAN CLARK + PHIL WALKER + MC TOM TOAL) COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £15
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Sat 17 Oct
BOILING POINT (SCOTT GISON + EDD HEDGES + ANTHONY KING + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn, Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CELLAR (RICHARD MORTON + ANDY WHITE + MC CHRIS CAIRNS) LIVERPOOL COMEDY CELLAR, 19:30–22:30, £13.50
The Liverpool Comedy Cellar features the cream of the International Comedy Circuit up close and personal every Saturday and this week is no different. THE KEN DODD HAPPINESS SHOW
ST HELENS THEATRE ROYAL, 19:00–21:00, £21
The venerable comic goes back on tour again.
LAUGHTERHOUSE (SOL BERNSTEIN + JOHN LYNN + JOHN FOTHERGILL + MC NEIL FITZMAURICE) THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £17.50
Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (MARLON DAVIS + DAMIAN CLARK + PHIL WALKER + MC TOM TOAL) COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £18
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Sun 18 Oct
TESTING THE WATER (MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £3 (£1.50)
Showcase night for up-andcomers and undiscovered stars, offering a great value night out if you don’t mind being a comedy guinea pig.
Thu 22 Oct
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (MICKEY D + DANNY DEEGAN + FREDDIE FARRELL + MC PETER OTWAY)
COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £15
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone. PADDY MCGUINNESS
LIVERPOOL EMPIRE THEATRE , 19:30–22:00, FROM £21.40
Peter Kay’s partner in crime goes it alone, as part of his Saturday Night Live tour.
Fri 23 Oct
BOILING POINT (SIMON KING + CLAYTON JONES + PAUL SMITH + MC WILL DUGGAN)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn, Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way. LAUGHTERHOUSE (DUNCAN OAKLEY + MARK NELSON + DAVE TWENTYMAN + MC CHRIS CAIRNS)
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £15
Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (MICKEY D + DANNY DEEGAN + RHYS JAMES + MC PETER OTWAY)
COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £15
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Sat 24 Oct JIMMY CARR
ECHO ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £25
The hardworking comic tours his latest solo show, packed with oneliners, stories and incisive musings on the human condition. BOILING POINT (SIMON KING + CLAYTON JONES + PAUL SMITH + MC WILL DUGGAN)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn, Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CELLAR (GARY DELANEY + MICK FERRY + MC SAM AVERY)
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CELLAR, 19:30–22:30, £13.50
The Liverpool Comedy Cellar features the cream of the International Comedy Circuit up close and personal every Saturday and this week is no different. LAUGHTERHOUSE (DUNCAN OAKLEY + MARK NELSON + DAVE TWENTYMAN + MC CHRIS CAIRNS)
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £17.50
Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (MICKEY D + DANNY DEEGAN + RHYS JAMES + MC PETER OTWAY)
COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £18
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Sun 25 Oct JIMMY CARR
ECHO ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £25
The hardworking comic tours his latest solo show, packed with oneliners, stories and incisive musings on the human condition. TESTING THE WATER (MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £3 (£1.50)
Showcase night for up-andcomers and undiscovered stars, offering a great value night out if you don’t mind being a comedy guinea pig.
Thu 29 Oct
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (JEN BRISTER + PRINCE ABDI + AARON TWITCHEN + MC JONATHON MAYOR)
COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £15
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Fri 30 Oct
BOILING POINT (CARLY SMALLMAN + JOHN PENDAL + MICHAEL FABBRI + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn, Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way. TIM VINE
ECHO ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £SOLD OUT
The renowned punslinger returns with a new tour. LAUGHTERHOUSE (MARKUS BIRDMAN + PAUL THORNE + MATT REED + MC NEIL FITZMAURICE)
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £15
Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (JEN BRISTER + PRINCE ABDI + STEPHEN CARLIN + MC JONATHON MAYOR)
COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £15
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Sat 31 Oct
BOILING POINT (CHRISTIAN STEEL + JOHN PENDAL + MICHAEL FABBRI + MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £10 (£5)
New and established comics take to the stage (found upstairs at Holiday Inn, Lime Street), for an evening of chuckles with their resident compere leading the way. LAUGHTERHOUSE (MARKUS BIRDMAN + PAUL THORNE + MATT REED + MC NEIL FITZMAURICE)
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £17.50
Triple headline show with a delightfully hilarious line-up of circuit funny-folk.
LIVERPOOL COMEDY CENTRAL (JEN BRISTER + PRINCE ABDI + STEPHEN CARLIN + MC JONATHON MAYOR)
COMEDY CENTRAL AT BABY BLUE, 18:00–22:00, £18
Triple-headlining bill set to test your funny bone.
Sun 01 Nov JIMMY CARR
ST HELENS THEATRE ROYAL, 22:00–23:00, £25
The hardworking comic tours his latest solo show, packed with oneliners, stories and incisive musings on the human condition.
TESTING THE WATER (MC PAUL SMITH)
HOT WATER COMEDY CLUB, 18:00–22:00, £3 (£1.50)
Showcase night for up-andcomers and undiscovered stars, offering a great value night out if you don’t mind being a comedy guinea pig. FREDDIE FLINTOFF
LIVERPOOL EMPIRE THEATRE , 20:00–22:30, FROM £28.90
Freddie Flintoff continues to be allowed to do things seemingly just because he’s Freddie Flintoff.
BILL BAILEY
LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–23:00, FROM £25
Mon 19 Oct THE BRINDLEY, 19:30–22:30, £20
Tue 27 Oct
LEE NELSON
The ever-funny Bill Bailey tours his new show, Limboland, exploring the gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are.
Mon 26 Oct The ever-funny Bill Bailey tours his new show, Limboland, exploring the gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are.
That guy who got up onstage during Kanye West’s Glastonbury set. Let’s all get up on stage while he performs and see how he likes it eh?
BILL BAILEY LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, 20:00–23:00, FROM £25
JIMMY CARR
ECHO ARENA, 20:00–23:00, £25
The hardworking comic tours his latest solo show, packed with oneliners, stories and incisive musings on the human condition.
Listings
61
Art
Manchester Bankley Studios & Gallery OPEN CALL EXHIBITION
10–11 OCT, 12:00PM – 4:00PM, FREE
The best of the applicants from the studio’s recent open call present their work.
Bury Art Gallery and Museum MODERN HISTORY VOL. III
UNTIL 21 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
One of a series of contemporary art exhibitionsworking between Bureau and guest curator Lynda Morris.
Castlefield Gallery TWELVE
UNTIL 1 NOV, 1:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE
Melanie Manchot’s major new multi channel video installation exploring the intimate stories, rituals, repetitions and ruptures of lives spent in addiction and recovery.
Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art
BOTH SIDES NOW: IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES?
UNTIL 6 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Artists’ film and video works from the UK, China and Hong Kong spanning a quarter century will be presented in a new exhibition that seeks to draw comparisons between the identity and culture of China and the UK.
HOME
HOME PROJECTS: DR.ME
UNTIL 8 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
Work by design studio DR.ME, taken from their recent year-long project 365 Days of Collage which draws upon advertising ephemera, travel supplements, ethnographic magazines and material sourced from thrift stores. I MUST FIRST APOLOGISE…
UNTIL 1 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
Major new exhibition from Beirutbased artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige exploring the history of online spam and scamming through film, sculpture, photography and installation.
Instituto Cervantes SELF EXILE
15 OCT – 15 DEC, 9:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE
Work from Raul Loya who, focusing on painting, printmaking and drawing, has since 2002 been taking part in a number of group shows, mainly in Mexico, but also in Chicago and the UK.
MMU: Special Collections
ARE WE THERE YET? 150 YEARS OF PROGRESS TOWARDS EQUALITY
UNTIL 6 NOV, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE
An exhibition exploring the progress that has been made in the UK towards achieving equality, in terms of suffrage, gender, disability, sexuality and race, over the last 150 years.
Manchester Art Gallery BLACK ON BLACK
UNTIL 9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE
An exhibition by 17 jewellery artists from 10 countries curated by Jo Bloxham.
62
Listings
ABSENT PRESENCE
MODEL BEHAVIOUR
UNTIL 3 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE
UNTIL 11 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE
Inspired by Exposed Painting Green Lake by contemporary artist Callum Innes, this new display of works from the gallery’s collection takes its inspiration from this painting, looking at how art captures a moment in time.
The Holden Gallery presents its first exhibition of the season, exploring the impulse, desire and obsession involved in trying to make something visible.
UNTIL 10 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE
SHADOW WORLDS | WRITERS’ ROOMS – FREUD’S HOUSE
AN EXHIBITION FOR MODERN LIVING
Matthew Darbyshire’s largest solo exhibition to date, including ten of his large-scale environments from the last decade and new sculptural works for the Gallery’s grand 19th century entrance hall. HOUSE PROUD
UNTIL 1 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE
A new exhibition of glass, metalwork and furniture is inspired by the Gallery’s pioneering Industrial Art Collection.
Manchester Craft and Design Centre HATCHED: TWELVE HANDPICKED MAKERS, FRESH FROM THE BOX
UNTIL 9 NOV, NOT SUNDAYS, 10:00AM – 5:30PM, FREE
An exhibition to mark the end of the Crafts Council’s six-month creative business development programme, Hatched features 12 of the North’s best emerging designer-makers, including ceramicists, jewellers, furniture makers and more.
Manchester Museum
DANCE OF THE BUTTERFLIES
UNTIL 31 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
New art work by one of Africa’s foremost contemporary artists Romuald Hazoumè. It features swarms of multicoloured ‘butterflies’ which will take over the Museum’s Living Worlds gallery.
Nexus Art Café
UNTIL 30 OCT, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE
Brass Art’s new work forms the second chapter of an ongoing project which allows them to enter the domestic spaces that selected authors occupied. Next up: Sigmund Freud.
The Lowry EXTRAORDINARY
UNTIL 18 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE
A collection of renowned visual artists including Bruce Nauman, Karina Smigla-Bobinski and Willi Dorner present a mixture of work that incorporates every day objects and the human body.
The Portico Library
BUILD A WOR(L)D WITH ‘ING’
2–31 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY,
Award-winning contemporary artist Helen Wheeler creates fragile, functionless objects, frozen in a state of imminent change or collapse, which explore the relationships between mortality, the body and science.
Various venues
MANCHESTER SCIENCE FESTIVAL
22 OCT – 1 NOV, 10:00AM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY
Nearly two weeks of workshops, talks, demonstrations, performance and art as the annual Science Festival rolls back into town. Full programme at manchestersciencefestival.com.
UNTIL 31 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE
JADE HANLEY
UNTIL 3 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE
Large scale photographs of Manchester skylines. UNTIL 31 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE
Series of large framed collages of postcards drawn daily.
OBJECT / A
THE THIRD HAND PROSTHESIS
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 30 OCT AND 28 NOV, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE
New work by artist Rowena Harris.
Paper Gallery
PAPER #24: THE SHADOW OF AN UNSEEN POWER
UNTIL 24 OCT, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
70 years ago the first Atomic Bomb was detonated at the Trinity Site in New Mexico. The Shadow of an Unseen Power is an exhibition of drawings informed by the artists personal experiences of antinuclear war activism growing up in Germany in the 1980s.
Salford Museum and Art Gallery OUT OF THE ORDINARY
UNTIL 1 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
Highlighting ordinary objects in a photo-realist style was local artist Colin Burrows’ main style of painting. This retrospective exhibition brings these together with family portraits and several almost abstract paintings from his earlier career.
The Holden Gallery MMU MA SHOW 2015
1–12 OCT, WEEKDAYS ONLY, TIMES VARY, FREE
The latest batch of post-graduates from Manchester Metropolitan University present their final work in this always eagerly-anticipated group show drawing together all the creative schools.
Liverpool
The International 24 Kitchen Street 3 INKBEAT*
Whitworth Art Gallery
CHRISTELLE VAILLANT
Art
RICHARD FORSTER
The Bristol artist displays a series of his complex pencil drawings, made with an intense level of skill and a lonely determination over many months, drawing from photographs rather than life. BEDWYR WILLIAMS
UNTIL 10 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE
From a tiny pebble caught in a terrazzo floor, to the infinite enormity of the cosmos, acclaimed Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams invites you on a journey through his extraordinary installation, The Starry Messenger.
Z Arts
CRIC CRAC 2015 MASTER OF VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY
15–17 OCT, 12:00PM – 9:00PM, FREE
A collective of 33 visual anthropologists and filmmakers set off at the end of May and spent the summer researching topics from all over the world. Returning to Manchester in October 2015 they will showcase their work in a 3 day exhibition.
22 OCT, 8:00PM – 11:30PM, £6 (£4)
Models and performers are transformed into living canvasses by local artists, all set to a soundtrack of live music and DJ sets spanning electronica and breaks.
A Small View SYMBIOSIS
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 9 OCT AND 31 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE
Kit Brown’s Symbiosis is a collection of four recent audio-visual works that demonstrate a practice focused on presenting interconnectivity, through examinations of things between things.
Constellations ISLA NUBAR
9–10 OCT, 7:00PM – 3:00AM, FROM £6
Inspired by best selling novel and film, Jurassic Park, No Homers Club are back with an exhibition of prehistoric proportions.
FACT
LESIONS IN THE LANDSCAPE
UNTIL 22 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
Artist Shona Illingworth investigates the effect the experience of amnesia and broken cultural memory has on individual and collective agency, identity and the capacity to imagine the future.
International Slavery Museum GEORGE OSODI: OIL BOOM, DELTA BURNS
UNTIL 31 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Exhibition by internationallyrenowned Nigerian photographer George Osodi, who spent six years documenting the effects of the oil industry in the Niger Delta. Osodi’s aims are not to offend or incite guilt, but to inspire change.
Open Eye Gallery VUKANI/RISE
UNTIL 29 NOV, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE
South African photographer and visual activist Zanele Muholir explores gender, race and sexuality, particularly in relation to South African society and political landscape.
St George’s Hall MIKE MCCARTNEY LUVS ST GEORGE’S HALL
UNTIL 18 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £2.50
The much-loved photographer uses St George’s Hall itself as the focus for his latest exhibition.
Tate Liverpool
JACKSON POLLOCK: BLIND SPOTS
UNTIL 18 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £10 (£7.50)
The largest collection of the influential US artist’s black pourings work to be exhibited in the UK, with the Tate Liverpool exploring a lesser known element of Pollocks’ work. GLENN LIGON: ENCOUNTERS AND COLLISIONS
UNTIL 18 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £10 (£7.50)
A collection of the American artist’s work, which relates to abstract expressionism and minimalist painting, remixing formal characteristics to highlight the cultural and social histories of the time, such as the civil rights movement.
The Atkinson ELEMENTAL
UNTIL 15 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
Two series of Antony Gormley drawings: Body & Light and North Light. The works evoke fleeting moments of illumination in the darkness of the body, the earth, the ocean or deep space.
The Bluecoat GLASSHOUSE
10 OCT – 10 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE
The first major solo show in a UK public gallery by Dublin based artist Niamh O’Malley. Working across video, drawing, painting, print & sculpture, O’Malley’s work is distinctive for her use of reflective surfaces such as mirror and glass. WE APPROACH
UNTIL 31 OCT, TIMES VARY,
New work by Anne Harild, the recipient of the Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award Artist in Residence 2015 at Bluecoat, centred around a colonnade-like structure inspired by the architecture of the building. DO NOT YET FOLD YOUR WINGS
UNTIL 22 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE
A multi-media art work by Bisakha Sarker that reflects on the notion of a meaningful life as presented in Dr Atul Gawande’s 2014 Reith Lecture series The Future of Medicine.
The Cornerstone Gallery TINDER BOX
UNTIL 2 NOV, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 9:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An exhibition of collages by artist John Bunker.
The Gallery Liverpool ART EXHIBITION
UNTIL 9 OCT, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE
An exhibition of locally acclaimed artists who will be exhibiting an eclectic display of their work.
The Royal Standard CLAM JAM
UNTIL 1 NOV, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE
Group show featuring work made by emerging female artists. The playful title hopes to uncover work that is gendered through construction, material and mass rather than through open dialogue with the body or gender construct.
Various venues WARRINGTON CONTEMPORARY ARTS FESTIVAL
2–31 OCT, 9:00AM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY
A full programme running through the whole of October, featuring art exhibitions, live performance, film screenings and talks. Full details at www.warringtonartsfestival. co.uk.
Victoria Gallery and Museum THE AUDOBON GALLERY
VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 11 OCT AND 19 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Permanent gallery of wildlife artist and naturalist John James Audubon. RETROSPECTIVE
UNTIL 31 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An exhibition celebrating the career of Liverpool fine artist Peter Corbett.
View Two Gallery
LIVERPOOL IN A NEW LIGHT
UNTIL 17 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE
Artist Dominic Burkhalter brings a brand new exhibition of Liverpoolbased landscapes created with oils, and all produced in 2015, to the View Two. The exhibition also includes a series of small sketches of the Liverpool city and country landscapes.
Walker Art Gallery REALITY
UNTIL 29 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Walter Sickert, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, LS Lowry, George Shaw, Alison Watt and John Bratby are among the artists exhibited in this display which explores the role of painting within contemporary art. TRANSFORMATION: ONE MAN’S CROSS-DRESSING WARDROBE
24 OCT – 31 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Sixteen garments of Peter Farrer’s, who was born in 1926 and has been cross-dressing since he was 14.
BROKEN LIVES
UNTIL 24 APR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Photographs depicting the slavery that continues to exist in modern day India.
Lady Lever Art Gallery PUTTING ON THE GLITZ
16 OCT – 28 FEB, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Dazzling 1930s evening gowns take centre stage in the Putting on the Glitz exhibition, revealing how the glitz and glamour of Hollywood was reflected in the fashions of the period.
Merseyside Maritime Museum
ON THEIR OWN: BRITAIN’S CHILD MIGRANTS
17–4 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Photos and exhibition telling the story of more than 100,000 children who from the 1860s until the late 1960s were moved abroad from the UK.
Museum of Liverpool IT’S GLAM UP NORTH
UNTIL 6 DEC, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
An exhibition of works by some of the biggest names in art and design, curated by photographer Rankin. POPPIES: WOMEN AND WAR
UNTIL 5 JUN10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE
Exhibition featuring striking portraits of women whose lives have been affected by conflict, from the First World War to present day.
THE SKINNY
Under the Influence: Killing Joke’s guide to dub Founder of the first psychedelic trance label and an instrumental figure in UK ambient, Killing Joke’s Martin ‘Youth’ Glover gives us an education in all things dub with nine of his personal favourites
Augustus Pablo and King Tubby – King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown [1976] Augustus Pablo is a great melodica player and a great master of melodies. What Tubby does with the dubs and the way he reinvents is just revolutionary, like Perry, but Tubby’s more bass and drums focused. I remember listening to this record in 1977 when it came out, in west London where the Killing Joke was squatting. You’d go into a very small, dark living room in the bottom of a Victorian house in the basement and there’d be a small room, maybe six foot by four… very minimal lighting – just shadows. You’d be rammed up next to loads of other people with a tiny little bar at the back and smoke from ganja weed. It was an amazing place to hear that sound – the bass would just penetrate your bones. With Tubby, the crispness of the hats and the drums really set him apart... he still remains one of the great innovators of the genre. Scientist – Scientist Meets the Space Invaders [1981] I remember being with [The Orb’s] Alex Paterson when we had a bedsit in Earl’s Court and we’d go down to the kebab shop that had Space Invaders and Asteroids. We’d literally be in there for three or four hours just getting really good and then we’d go back to our room and listen to dub, so when Scientist did one based on Space Invaders we couldn’t believe it. It just appealed to our infantile sense of humour and it was kind of comic book and silly. He would go crazy and just add the most silly sounds – all these household sounds like creaking doors – and dub them up with big reverb. And it was busy as well. It was crazy to the old dub heads, who found him a sort of young upstart, but for us at the time it was just fantastic. Aswad – A New Chapter of Dub [1982] Another classic from the time, which is unusual because it’s British. Aswad lived in Ladbroke Grove near where we lived, so we were in awe of them. I think what they managed to achieve was to meet, and even go beyond, what some of the Jamaican dub masters were doing. And I think the first track, Dubfire, with the horns, was just blinding. It had a bass line from heaven with this spritely synthesiser thing doubling it. I play that
October 2015
track in some of my DJ sets before we come on with Killing Joke. It’s the dub album that we can recall from memory. The Orb – The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld [1991] I’m going to do a little bit of self-promotion here and mention someone I’ve been involved with. I produced Little Fluffy Clouds. By this time, me and Alex had got a lot more experience in the studio. We just started to dub in our way with our vocabulary and our language from where we’d been growing up in squats in west London. I don’t know what more to say: I think it’s a masterpiece today, I think it’s a monumental piece of work and it has been frequently used in classic dub compilations, so I have to include this. Hallucinogen – In Dub [2002] Simon Posford was a young assistant I picked up from Olympic Studios. He was too hippy and wild there. Eventually I badgered him and bullied him into doing trance and he became and still remains a premiere producer and the artistic benchmark of trance music. Hallucinogen’s In Dub was made with me and him and another one of my in-house Butterfly engineers, Ott, who’s also become huge in the electronic psych-dub scene and is now touring the world. I’m very proud of that – that two of my former assistants have eclipsed me. What a great validation! This became a groundbreaking album on the psych-trance and chillout scenes and remains a kind of benchmark of dub production.
“PiL did everything I wanted to do with Killing Joke first!” Martin Glover
Suns of Arqa – All Is Not Lost, But Where Is It? [2015] This is really unique production featuring John Cooper Clarke and many others. A great dub excursion mixed by big Wadada who’s made over twenty dub albums infused with traditional Indian music. It has a lot of electronic influences, it’s got some heavy bass lines and it’s a very modern album: the kick drums sound different than they did in the 90s. I think this new album’s eclipsed everything he’s done over the last 20 to 30 years. African Head Charge – My Life in a Hole in the Ground [1981] An Adrian Sherwood one… he’s done so many! I grew up with his industrial dub and it’s been such a pivotal inspiration – again, British. He keeps reinventing himself. He had a great album with these New York guys, Tackhead, and
Photo: Markus Thorsen
Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters – Super Ape [1976] I was already into Perry by the time this came out but Super Ape just seemed to go further than the others. The atmosphere, the ambience and the mashing up of everything was unbelievable for me at the time. Subsequently learning that he was doing that on a little eight-track mixer with the bare minimum of equipment was mind-bending. It certainly illustrates what any great dub album does: he’s taking backing tracks from other records and productions and reinventing them, alchemising them. It’s just blinding. I recommend it to anyone.
his U-Sounds label was huge. I like the dubstep album he did a couple of years ago and I love his politics, the stuff he was doing with Mark Stewart from the pop group As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade; it’s got very politically conscious lyrics. And there was Dub Syndicate… but I’m going to have to go with the African Head Charge album. They had Jah Wobble, one of the great bass players of dub. And Skip McDonald, a great guitarist.
MUSIC
masterpiece, a monumental work, with Dennis Morris’s packaging it in a metal film box with three 12-inches. I thought they just got that whole art punk thing. They fulfilled the promise of punk. They did everything I wanted to do with Killing Joke first! They were the big influence, and they remain a vital force in music individually. Pylon by Killing Joke is released on 23 Oct via Spinefarm. Killing Joke play Manchester Ritz on 1 Nov killingjoke.com
Public Image Ltd – Metal Box [1979] Again, it features Wobble. And Lydon. Although I love the first album, Metal Box is a
Out back
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Design Manchester 15 14–21.10.15
A week-long festival celebrating creativity in art, design, digital, film and music.
Highlights Include:
Tickets & Full Schedule www.designmcr.com
Music How
Northern Soul the film - screening
Design How
Thurs 15th Oct 70 Oxford Street
Mon 19th Oct 3.00pm - 5.00pm 70 Oxford Street
Tues 20th Oct Royal Northern College of Music
In conversation with:
Stephen Morris (New Order) Jon Drape (Festival No.6) The Great Debate Fri 16th Oct the Whitworth The Values of Design Panel guests include: Sir Howard Bernstein, Lou Cordwell, John Mathers + more Film How Sun 18th Oct 70 Oxford Street Made You Look Screening and Q+A with the producers. Manchester Print Festival
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Sat 17th - Sun 18th Oct 11.00am - 4.30pm People’s History Museum
Sponsored & supported by D
15
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Film How Mon 19th Oct 70 Oxford Street In conversation with:
Northern Soul Factory
An insight into the creatives and makers of film and animation.
Design Now Mon 19th Oct Royal Northern College of Music Malika Favre Hudson - Powell Fred Deakin An evening of inspirational design, illustration and thinking.
IDEO Territory Studio Ben Terret (Gov.uk) Clive Grinyer (Barclays) A unique insight into some of the UK’s greatest thinkers, creatives and doers, including a Q&A afterwards.
Manchester Moleskine & DM15 Party Weds 21st Oct Twenty Twenty Two Nearing the end of the festival with a celebration of Manchester creativity, live illustration, DJs and some special guests… all for free.
Also Includes Swifty Exhibition / Coder Dojo / Manchester Mind Exhibition Manchester Print Festival Manchester Worker Bee Exhibition
Tickets are now on sale, ranging from free to just £12. Images above taken from DM13/14