The Skinny October 2011

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INDEP ENDEN T

JOURNAL ISM

Issue 73 October 2011

RUSTIE WARP’S WONDERBOY SPEAKS

INTERVIEWS: M83 REMEMBER REMEMBER MASTODON SLOW CLUB OTHERPEOPLE GARY NUMAN

PLUS: WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS DOCUMENT 9 FILM FESTIVAL ALLAN WILSON NEW WORK SCOTLAND GLASGOW CABARET FESTIVAL LONDON FASHION WEEK – S/S 2012

MUSIC | FILM | CLUBS | PERFORMANCE | TECH| BOOKS | COMEDY | ART | FASHION |TRAVEL| LISTINGS

AN

N JUS OU T N CE D

NICK LOWE SUN 26TH FEB

CONTENTS

Edinburgh QUEENS HALL 0131 668 2019 www.ticketmaster.co.uk www.regularmusic.com

VINTAGE TROUBLE

T D JUS UNCE NO AN

Nanci Griffith

A REGULAR MUSIC / ITB PRESENTATION

PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS

SATURDAY 10TH MARCH

0141 353 8000

0871 220 0260 www.ticketmaster.co.uk www.regularmusic.com

A

CONCERT HALL

PHOTO: NURIA RIUS

EDINBURGH HMV PICTURE HOUSE

GLASGOW

N J N U O S U T N C ED

FRI 18 NOV

PHOTO: MARTIN BARKER

plus special guests

P. 12 M83

P.19 GARY NUMAN

Lloyd Cole In Concert

PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS

TO KILL A KING

GLASGOW ORAN MOR

emily scott

Saturday 1st October Edinburgh Pleasance Cabaret Bar

WWW.REGULARMUSIC.COM 0141 353 8000 WWW.TICKETMASTER.CO.UK

GLASGOW ORAN MOR

Gillian Welch PLUS SPECIAL GUEST

LINDI ORTEGA

Mon 10 Oct Edinburgh Queen’s Hall

Sun 20th Nov

Glasgow Clyde Auditorium

P.34 LONDON FASHION WEEK

Mary Coughlan WED 02 NOV

GLASGOW

ORAN MOR FRI 04 NOV

0844 395 4000

EDINBURGH

VOODOO ROOMS

by arrangement with wme

WED 9TH NOV Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms

EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL

THURS 10TH NOV O2 ABC GLASGOW www.ticketmaster.co.uk www.regularmusic.com 0871 220 0260 or in person from Ticket Scotland: Argyle Street Glasgow, Rose St Edinburgh & Ripping Records and all usual outlets THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

OCTOBER 2011 Issue 73, October 2011 © Radge Media Ltd.

Editorial

Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: The Skinny, 3 Coates Place, Edinburgh, EH3 7AA

Editor Music & Online Editor Art Editor Books Editor Clubs Editor Comedy Editor Competitions Editor Deviance Editor DVD Editor Fashion Editor Film Editor Food Editor Heads Up Editor Listings/Cyberzap Editor Performance Editor Tech Editor Travel Editor

The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business.

Get in touch to find out more.

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

IN CONCERT

SUN 30TH OCTOBER

4

P.18 RSA RESIDENTS

Wed 16th Nov

Doors 7.30pm

JANIS IAN

MONDAY 24TH OCTOBER GLASGOW CONCERT HALL

ILLUSTRATION: DENNIS BRIX

plus special guest

WED 12 OCT

IMAGE: CHERYL FIELD

Thursday 10 November Edinburgh Pleasance Theatre Friday 11 November Glasgow Oran Mor Saturday 12 November Glasgow Oran Mor 0871 220 0260

Printed by Mortons Print Limited, Horncastle ABC verified Jan – Dec 2010: 32,147

Rosamund West Dave Kerr Andrew Cattanach Keir Hind Neil Murchison Bernard O’Leary David McGinty Ana Hine Keir Roper-Caldbeck Alexandra Fiddes Jamie Dunn Peter Simpson Anna Docherty Anna Docherty Gareth K. Vile Alex Cole Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Designer Chief Subeditor

Peter Marsden Lewis MacDonald Paul Mitchell

printed on 100% recycled paper

Sales/Accounts Head of Sales & Marketing Marketing Executive Accounts Administrator Sales Executive

Lara Moloney Michaela Hall Solen Collet Steven Barr

Publisher

Sophie Kyle

DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…DF CONCERTS PRESENTS…DF CONCERTS PRESENTS… 6: Not one but two competitions – Skinny on Tour and a special new film illustration comp; Joe Quimby waxes lyrical on Glasgow's burrito joints; Stop The Presses! and Shot of the Month all jostle for your attention. Alongside an incredibly witty and insightful editorial, of course.

8: Heads Up: Where we neatly segment the forthcoming lunar cycle into 24 hour units (clever, eh?) and try to make sure you’re never stuck for anything to do.

THE IMPOSSIBLE SONG & OTHER SONGS

Aberdeen The Lemon Tree

FEATURES 10: In advance of his debut album Glass Swords, Glaswegian electronic music guru Rustie flits seamlessly across dance genres. It’s all about respect for history yet desire for progress, he explains.

12: Anthony Gonzales, aka M83, admits that he was inspired into a career in music by the appearance of a spaceship... or something like that.

14: He’ll be known forever as the inimitable Spud in Trainspotting, but Ewen Bremner’s had a busy career. Here he talks about his new Glasgow-set sci-fi flick Perfect Sense.

15: Mastodon are back and they're embracing change, ditching the concept and rediscovering their inner child.

17: Graeme Ronald Remember Remember’s that he has a somewhat morbid obsession with the Prince of Darkness, but that he makes better music because of it.

18: Resident: 11 takes ten artists who’ve been in residency all year for a communal exhibition in Edinburgh’s RSA. 19: Gary Numan is a proper music legend, we all know that. He talks to us about why he hasn’t always been taken as seriously as he should have been.

20: As a development programme for emerging artists, New Work Scotland now thinks its time that all its participants should blether a bit more.

21: The seven tasks of Allan Wilson: The Glaswegian writer is put through his paces with a variety of facetious questions and pub sports.

23: The delightfully controversial American comedian Margaret Cho really doesn’t think much of Sarah Palin, but she does like Scottish chippies.

24: The international human rights documentary film festival Document 9 returns to Glasgow this month, as uncompromising and inspiring as ever.

27: A look ahead to the Glasgow Cabaret Festival, where the political meets the theatrical meets the plain old fun.

LIFESTYLE 29: Travel: Professional traveller and all-round gent Charley Boorman discusses his adventures to date in advance of his trip to Scotland in November.

31: Deviance: Scottish Marriage Equality and why one should not look askance at a gentlemen in a splendid hat and a pair of heels.

32: Showcase: Euan Robertson has been capturing some awesome images at music gigs for us for ages now. We thought we’d put a pick of the best on a two page spread.

34: fashion London Fashion Week – the trends and the looks of Spring Summer 2012.

36: Food & DrinK: We sent our F&D editor out into the Scottish wild to forage for some scran. Well, it was lunchtime...

SatURDAY 29th October

Perth Theatre MonDAY 31st October

Glasgow O2 ABC TueSDAY 1st November + THREE BLIND WOLVES (EDINBURGH ONLY)

55: LIstings: Pick a day, any day. There you go! Lots (and lots) of inspiration in case you find yourself stuck for something to do. Happy to help.

63: This month’s New Blood are Otherpeople, who aren’t afraid to explore their dark side.

Speaking of, Mystic Mark’s Crystal Baws are experiencing turbulence this month. It’s not great news for anyone really.

WedNESDAY 2nd NOVEMBER

EDINBURGH LIQUID ROOM THURSDAY 6TH OCTOBER NEW DATE ADDED

GLASGOW O2 ABC

FRIDAY 16TH DECEMBER

sam duckworth Buy the album at www.roddywoomble.com

Glasgow, Pivo Pivo Fri 28th October Edinburgh, Electric Circus Sat 29th October

O2 ABC2 Glasgow

+ BILLIE THE VISION & THE DANCERS

Thursday 13th October

REVIEW 39: Music: Slow Club bicker over this month’s singles, we salute Nirvana’s seminal Nevermind and We Were Promised Jetpacks. No really, we were.

46: Clubs: They took the Venga bus to Ibiza, and lived to tell the tale. Also check out some highlights of the clubbing month ahead.

48: Film: Gorefests galore in advance of Halloween as well as our thoughts on the latest from Woody Allen and Lynne Ramsay.

50: ART: We tell you what we think of Christian Newby at Tramway and look forward to Ross Fraser McLean's Cuba-themed exhibition at Such and Such 51: Books: Real ones, made of paper. We like these ones, we think you will too.

Tech: Gadget expert Alex has had a look at the hardware available, and would like to tell you about it.

52: Performance: Celebrating forty years of the Macrobert; the venue which reminds us that there are more than two cities in the Central Belt 53: Comedy: Canadian comic Craig Campbell doesn’t chat about alliteration per se, but perhaps he should?

54: COMPETITIONS: WIN! Document 9 passes! OR tickets to Cocktails In The City!

Edinburgh The Queen’s Hall

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW

TUESDAY 11TH OCTOBER NEW ALBUM YOU CAN’T TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS OUT NOW

+ DINOSAUR PILE-UP

GLASGOW GARAGE

TUESDAY 4TH OCTOBER NEW ALBUM ‘THANK YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ OUT NOW MYSPACE.COM/CAGETHEELEPHANT

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat + RM HUBBERT Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire

Saturday 14th October

FOREIGN OFFICE GLASGOW ORAN MOR MONDAY 7TH NOVEMBER

GLASGOW SWG3

FRIDAY 21ST OCTOBER

Tickets 24hr credit card hotline: 08444 999 990 Online: www.gigsinscotland.com | www.ticketmaster.co.uk In person: GLASGOW SECC B/O, Tickets Scotland | EDINBURGH Tickets Scotland, Ripping | ABERDEEN B/O, One Up Records | DUNDEE Grouchos.

October 2011

THE SKINNY

5

Competition

Editorial It’s been quite a month we’ve had at The Skinny, I can tell you. By now you should hopefully have had a chance to check out our new website. Isn’t it beautiful? We’re going to be making it even more exciting over the coming months, filling it up with even more up to the minute articles, expanding our blogs, providing you with pictures and reviews of all the things that you’re interested in across the cultural spectrum. Keep an eye on www.theskinny. co.uk for developments.

For the October issue, we met cover star Rustie in the Science Museum in London to get some exclusive insight into his new album, and also because we thought a cathedral of technology would make a rather fitting location for a photoshoot. It’s a Musicpacked issue this month, with highlights including words on the devil from Remember Remember’s Graham Ronald (new album The Quickening is sublime), and We Were Promised Jetpacks getting dressed up in the Scottish Storytelling Centre and talking troublesome second albums (all lies apparently). Gary Numan, Mastodon and Slow Club all drop by for some interview time, and we also talk to M83’s Anthony Gonzalez about his new album, and what makes the Hollywood Hills like the South

of France.

In Film we look forward to the ninth human-rights devoted Document Film Festival, and catch up with Ewen Bremner to hear about new David Mackenzie-directed Glasgow sci-fi Perfect Sense.

Art looks forward to this year’s batch of New Work Scotland exhibitions and RESIDENT: 11 at the RSA, which presents the fruits of this year’s funded residency programmes in satellite art centres across Scotland.

In Books, we present a somewhat unorthodox interview with new bright light of the Scottish literary scene, Allan Wilson. We made him work hard in this one, forcing him to compete in a series of seven pub games in order to win the right to be asked some non-ludicrous questions.

Our Fashion team was last month dispatched to London Fashion Week to report on the coming trends of Spring / Summer 2012 and generally hang out with the cast of Made in Chelsea. You can see a fully illustrated guide to how totes amaze this was on p34.

Hope you have a heavenly harvest and a horrible Halloween.

THIS MONTH’S COVER

This month's cover image was provided by Londonbased photographer Nuria Rius. Having grown up working in her mum’s butcher’s shop, Nuria Rius studied photography and the arts in Barcelona.

After eight years working as Editor in Chief & Photo Editor for a Spanish magazine covering art, design, fashion and music, she moved to London where she currently works as a freelance photographer. www.nuriarius.com www.nuriarius.blogspot.com

Illustrator Jamie Johnson has been taking a trip down memory lane this month, but which childhood favourite film has he been watching? If you think you know the answer you could win a pair of cinema tickets from those lovely people at the Cameo, Edinburgh. To enter, go to www.theskinny. co.uk/competitions. To work out what film you'd like to see, check out www.picturehouses.co.uk/ cinema/Cameo_Picturehouse/ for full listings.

Closing date: Fri 28 Oct 2011 Terms: www.theskinny.co.uk/terms

Shot of SKINNY the month ON TOUR Our Head of Marketing had a day off and what did she choose to do? Read The Skinny of course! (She was in no way coerced into doing this.) But where was she?

If you can guess where Lara was, go to www.theskinny. co.uk/competitions and you might win a bottle of wine courtesy of our expert friends at VINO WINES.

Gary Numan

by Martin Barker See more great photography at www.skinny.co.uk

6

THE SKINNY October 2011

Closing date: Fri 28 Oct 2011 Terms: www.theskinny.co.uk/ terms and www.drinkaware. co.uk for the facts.

Over 18s only. The prize isn't redeemable for cash and is to be collected from one of the Vino Wines stores.

Your section of the fruit tree doesn’t have to bear any resemblance to the one on our logo.

OPINION

GLASGOW MEGA STUDENT BURRITO Having firmly established himself as a player on the burrito scene with his blog, Take A Worm For a Walk Week frontman JOE QUIMBY offers a word of nutritional advice to Glasgow’s incoming Fresher population

SINCE I know most of you will be left to your own devices for the first time, you will be eating a lot of generally bad grub. Don’t fret because The Burrito Overlord is here to show the way to save your pennies, and the embarrassment of getting caught raiding the bins of Waitrose.

Knowing that, again, most of you can barely cook a Pot Noodle you will be a frequent face at most of the various brown water inducing takeaways. I’m here to point you to the right place to go. This is my guide to Scotland’s Burrito Blay Jaybe Heaven Most people’s first introduction to takeaway Mexican food is TACO MAZAMA. Having only opened last year it already has a second location on Byres Road. Great for all you mad besturts that think stonewash denims and glasses with no lenses are amazing. Once you have tasted the slow-roasted BBQ Pork you’ll hit a stauner so massive you will be too faint to backcomb your wee floppy quiff. Order the extra hot salsa for a guaranteed happy ending.

The first shop is located near Central Station and Stereo Cafe Bar. It’s open til 3am at the weekend so once you’ve gummed off that guy in that band you like I can’t think of a more delicious way to get rid of the taste than by smashing another big fat meat log into your gub.

Newly opened on Queen Street is PINTO. Their new shop has a massive interior, big enough to swing a Fraggle by the cock, or if you’ve done too many eccies there’s plenty of room to lie doon and chew yr face off.

Weirdly, looking like a fast-food chain (while independent) they offer quick, super fresh burritos.

Like Taco Mazama, they offer the standard fillings of chargrilled steak or chicken, BBQ pork and the standard veggie option for all you Smiths fans. On top of that, you can choose between black or pinto beans.

So far I’ve smashed a steak and a chicken burrito and have to say I love it. What’s cool about Pinto is that you can see the chefs in the back playing with their meat, so you know that shit’s fresh. Portions are a bit light, so don’t go thinking you’re gonna need a nap afterwards. Good hot sauce selection, and from what I’ve heard they have just made their extra hot salsa even hotter.

You will no doubt head out and get steamin’ and eventually end up at the legendary NICE N SLEAZY. After guzzling down White Russians, you’re gonna have to hit them up for a burrito. They have been serving up burritos for well over 10 years.

On a recent trip, I noticed some interesting filling choices, like tuna.

DEVIANCE

FUTURE WIVES IN CASUAL conversation my friends and I will often reference things that we do not yet have (our successful careers, apartments in the city, domestic house cats we’ll own) but the strangest example of this is the ‘future wife.’

The sentence will run something like this; “My future wife will like carrot cake, no, no, I mean I want to date someone who likes food. Not one of those vegan girls because it’s just so… annoying.

Do you want some of this [cake] then?”

Key to this issue is the question of whether it’s a waste of time to date someone who you know is not “future wife” material? Maybe this is a sign of us getting old but it’s starting to feel like every second spent with… whoever, is a second not spent with your future wife.

The Sleazy burritos are a great classic – served with melted cheese on top, salad, sour cream/ salsa on side as well as jalapeños. That might work out for you limp-wristers that think the hottest thing you’ve ever eaten was a Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle. Get them dealt wi!

Last on my Glasgow list is THE CAPTAIN’S REST, where funnily enough I currently get paid to prepare burritos!

Once you’re ready to take on the challenge from the almighty overlord, expect to find my signature GLASGOW MEGA BURRITO. With your filling of choice beef chilli/chicken or veg chilli (and heat level), I’ve been putting a Scottish twist to the mighty burrito by putting Spicy Chips inside. Also, depending on whether I think you’re cool enough, three different cheeses. The other chefs and I are lucky enough that LUPE PINTOS is near, so we can get some awesome chipotle peppers and hot sauces that give your mouth a pinger – there’s nothing else like it.

THE SKINNY DOES NOT ENDORSE MR QUIMBY’S HEDONISTIC LIFESTYLE – PLEASE DRINK (AND EAT) SENSIBLY WWW.GLASGOWMEGABURRITO.BLOGSPOT.COM

I guess it’s just because most of my closest friends are lesbians, but we never really talk about the ‘future husband.’ I’m sure people do though, maybe just not to me. I get the impression people think I’m against marriage. Sometimes I am.

But this is a super-romantic sort of piece discussing a turn of phrase that I’ve noticed in lesbian circles. I’m sure I’ll express other, contradictory opinions at a later date.

The future wife is a fantasy – involving ‘meet cutes’ and usually accompanied by a wish for an Aga. Yes, it’s disgustingly middle class aspirational bollocks, but it’s important to have an idea of what you want (or may want) from life, some sort of goal to work towards.

I don’t know if I honestly think my future wife is just around the corner. She’s a projection, a variable that we don’t have enough data about yet. The future wife cannot exist because she is necessarily hypothetical and unmet, and that’s what makes the concept so intriguing.

STOP THE PRESSES!

Important stuff we don’t have space for anywhere else. It's all gone QR code crazy ARTISTS & DESIGNERS: FRUIT TREE FOUNDATION NEEDS YOU! You may recall that last year the Fruit Tree Foundation brought together a stellar array of Scottish songwriting and recording talent to make an album and series of gigs in support of the Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. You should that do, we put them on the cover and the music year came out of the project was braw. Well, this g they’ve expanded the project, and are creatin a mentoring programme bringing together three unsigned and three established songwriters ) (James Yorkston, Withered Hand and Rod Jones m to collaborate in the studio, record and perfor ants, their work. All three of the successful applic and their mentors, will perform at a Fruit Tree An Foundation gig in Edinburgh on 20 October.

EP featuring a song by each of the Fruit Tree from mentees will also be available to download The Skinny website.

You’ll be able to read all about it (including exclusive access to the recording sessions . themselves) in an upcoming issue of The Skinny tment Depar Art Tree Fruit the time, In the mean for are looking for a bit of help with the artwork the EP. Says Fruit Tree’s Astrid Johnston, “We are , inviting you to play ‘consequences’ aka ‘heads bodies and legs’ with a fruit tree, and then tree. send us your version of one section of the form Three of the entries will be put together to a whole tree and used for the EP; we’ll have a gallery with all the ‘consequences’ on The Skinny website.”

To access the template scan the code to the res. right or go to www.theskinny.co.uk/art/pictu Which section of the fruit tree? Take the s second digit of your age and look at the group below. If the second digit is zero then use the first digit instead.

Ages ending in: 1, 4, 7 - The top of the tree.

Ages ending in: 2, 5, 8 - The middle of the tree. tree Ages ending in: 3, 6, 9 - The bottom of the you). to up roots (and any Anyone can apply as long as they’re over 16. can The deadline is the 13 October. Full details be found at http://bit.ly/mYjlCu Send your entries to fruittreeart@gmail.com

THIS MONTH’S cover shot was taken in the Science Museum in London. Than k you, The Science Museum, for being so acco mmodating and letting us capture such a lovely set of photos.

And for teaching us about the world , also.

FRUIT TREE TEMPLATE

THE SKINNY FOOD AN D DRINK SURVEY The Skinny launched a survey last month to find out what your fav ourite places to eat and drink are but neglected to include a link due to some level of confus ion on the part of the editorial team. Sorry if we made you confused too. If you would like to have your voice hea rd in the all-out battle for the crown of Scotland’s Best Place To Eat [Ins ert Category Name Here], go to bit.ly/skinn yfood and fill in as many of the questions as you would like. As our Food editor Peter said, “Over the next few months you will have a low statistical chance of affecting our conten t by telling us about your favourite food and drink destinations across the country.”

You can also access the form by scanning the QR code below (if you’re smart phone ena bled), and you can find out more on the survey by going to the link bel ow: www.theskinny. co.uk/food/features/1 03147-the_skinny_ food_survey_2011_q uestion_taste

EST – The DITAS GO W SCREEN BAN abandoned of s ur itas, savio Screen Band the CCA to ake their way 16mm film, m an evening of r fo ct O 1 in Glasgow on hedelia in cold minimal psyc archive film an , supporters ng ro W Long + laboration with provised and im l, experimenta of Scotland's s ic communitie electronic mus

WEST PORT BOOK FESTIVAL has just launched its programme – go to westportbookfestival.org/progra mme to find out more of what lies in store .

Events range from poetry readings to tea dances. They’re running from 13-16 October, across a collection of nine booksellers and one bookbinder in Edinburgh’s West Port.

GHOSTBUSTERS – As anyone who grew up in the 80s knows, bustin’ makes you feel good. So Park Circus’ rerelease of Ghostbusters in time for Halloween is enough to make film geeks across the land shoot ectoplasm. But remember, don’t cross the streams...

OCTOBER 2011

THE SKINNY

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Tue 27 Sep

WED 28 SEP

THU 29 SEP

Fresh from their first birthday shenanigans, I AM residents Beta and Kappa present a one-off ’Lights Out’ party. Yup, as in they’ll turn the lights off and we’ll all make merry under strobes and lasers, robo-dancing to their usual forward-thinking mix of dubstep, electro and dance. Sub Club, Glasgow, 11pm, £4. Free guest list entry at iamclub.co.uk/contact

With the Arches Live schedule offering up a suitably eclectic mix of performance one-offs and oddities, so they install a couple of old ladies in the venue toilets for Ladies in Lav. There you’ll be greeted by a gabby granny ala the toilet attendants of yesteryear, likely armed with a cup o’ tea and a can of Elnett. The Arches (East Corridor toilets), Glasgow, 27-28 Sep, 6.30pm, Free

The newest crop of GSA Fashion and Textile Masters students showcase their collections with a promenade show in the beautiful surroundings of The Mackintosh Museum.

Amongst the ten-strong student line-up, one of our highlights shall without a doubt be Scottish weaver Dora Hetherington’s seductive re-imagining of men’s pyjamas.

GSA, Glasgow, various showings from 6pm, £10

MON 3 OCT

TUE 4 OCT

WED 5 OCT

Students (and anyone else tough enough to venture out on a Monday night) are in for an extra treat at The Garage’s weekly cheesy chart spectacular, Space Invaders, as craft mafia collective Granny Would Be Proud pop-up for their first late-night fair, offering a select array of stalls, a vintage photobooth, and the ever-present cupcake stand. The Garage, Glasgow, 11pm, £5 (£3)

Joe King (aka Joe Queer) brings his New Hampshireformed outfit, The Queers, to Glasgow for a dose of this-is-how-it-should-be-done punk-rock, having honed their sound over the course of some 30-odd years. Watch and learn, kids. Nice 'n' Sleazy, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £tbc

The Heard It Through The Bassline crew pull it out the bag again with a guest slot from percussive maestro Blawan, with his signature stripped-back and uncompromising rhythms cementing his place in the UK dance scene. He’s also set to showcase some of his most recent Pariah collaborations on the night, mores the joy.

The Caves, Edinburgh, 11pm, £4 (£5 after 11.30pm)

October occasions an abundance of autumnal attractions.

Frolic with the Fruit Tree Foundation, catch Craig Campbell, Club Noir or Cooper, Alice in our Halloween High-jinks

Photo: Euan Robertson

HEADS UP

Blawan

COMPILED BY: ANNA DOCHERTY

TUE 11 OCT

WED 12 OCT

THU 13 OCT

Outspoken Mississippi song and dance man, Seasick Steve, returns to Scottish shores on the back of his latest album You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks. Staying true to his tried-and-tested style – foot-tapping dirty blues, finger-plucked guitar, and growling drawl: check – no one's gonna argue that this guy was pretty much tailor-made for a live setting. O2 Academy, Glasgow, 7pm, £21

For all those aspiring musicians amongst you, Rod Jones holds a laid-back songwriting workshop at Paisley Arts Centre where participants are invited to come along with their acoustic instruments and enjoy a hands-on mini masterclass. Paisley Arts Centre, Glasgow, 6pm, £10 (£6). Maximum of 15 places available (booking via Paisley Arts Centre website)

The Pecha Kucha returns to Tramway with another fast-paced and gloriously eclectic image-led discussion where a selection of creative speakers are allowed a quota of 20 slides, and just 20 seconds discussion time, to tell their story. This edition’s speakers include installation artist James Rigler, textile designer Mhari McMullan, and interior designer, and owner of Glasgow shop GOODD, Brian Proudfoot. Tramway, Glasgow, 7pm, £4.50 (£3.50)

TUE 18 OCT

WED 19 OCT

THU 20 OCT

Craig Campbell returns post-Edinburgh Festival with yet more of his yarn-spinning, full of whimsical personal tales and a unique ability to find humour in, well, anything. He’s also known to play it rather close to the bone, leaving our ex-Comedy editor somewhat scarred after a disturbing mountaineering anecdote (you probably don’t wanna know). The Stand, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £12. Also playing Glasgow’s The Stand, 17 Oct

The Horrors take to the road with their selfproduced third LP, Skying, their most curiously individual creation to date. We say curious, mainly because it manages to marry layered drone, pile-driving bass, and brass refrains, plus a sneaky use of maracas, in one gloriously odd whole. Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 7pm, £12

The Fruit Tree Foundation (aka Rod Jones and Emma Pollock’s mental health awareness-raising project) unveil the fruits, if you will, of their mentoring programme, which saw fresh talent paired up with an established act for a day of collaboration.

Tonight they showcase the outcome, with the aspiring musicians performing live with their mentors Rod Jones, James Yorkston, and Withered Hand. Nobles Bar, Edinburgh, 7pm, Free. Part of Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival

TUE 25 OCT

WED 26 OCT

THU 27 OCT

fri 28 OCT

Longstanding Manc rockers James continue their autumn tour of classical venues with a stop-off at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall, where they’ll be accompanied by a full orchestra and live choir to perform a cherrypicked selection of songs from their back catalogue.

Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, 7.30pm, From £22.50

Pretending like we’re all sophisticated and that, we’ll be heading along to Cocktails In The City and supping some fine creations mixed up by a selection of Edinburgh’s swankiest bars, whilst also learning some skills from the on-hand mixologists, and taste-testing some new drinks brands. To sum up, COCKTAILS! The Mansfield Traquair, Edinburgh, 5.30pm, £15 (includes three cocktails)

Anti-folk icon Jeffrey Lewis plays alongside his merry band of live players, The Junkyard, acting as a showcase of sorts for new album A Turn In The Dream-Songs. Likelihood is he'll also play a fair few old favourites, for which we'll be keeping everything crossed for mini rant of a song, Do They Owe Us A Living? Stereo, Glasgow, 7pm, £9

A trio of leftfield Scottish musicians – they be Aileen Campbell, Alasdair Roberts, and Wounded Knee’s Drew Wright – present newly-commissioned works in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the School of Scottish Studies Archives. Gaining access to the school’s unique selection of archived tape stacks, each of the musicians has cooked up something unique... CCA, Glasgow, 8pm, £7 (£5). Also playing Edinburgh’s Scottish Storytelling Centre, 16 Oct

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THE SKINNY October 2011

Image: Ed Fraser

Photo: Wes Kingston Photo: Ashley Good

Photo: Euan Robertson

Photo: Martin Senyszak

Photo: Jenny Anderson

MON 10 OCT Untitled Projects transform the Traverse into a 360-degree simulation of an opulent Parisian Salon for The Salon Project, with performances kicking off in the dressing room where guests will be transformed in full period evening dress.

Expect an all-out sensory experience, but then we wouldn’t expect anything less from the company that once installed a turfed garden in Traverse One and a 60-foot ramp in Glasgow’s Tramway. Traverse, Edinburgh, various dates until 22 Oct, £25

FRI 30 SEP

SAT 1 OCT

SUN 2 OCT

For what shall likely be the last music festival of the calendar year, new eco boutique festival on the block, Kaleidoscope, plays host to the likes of Kid Canaveral, FOUND, Fink, Stanley Odd, Horndog Brass Band, and Hidden Orchestra over the weekend. Other treats include interactive art installations, a people-powered cinema, live theatrics, and organic beer and wine (i.e. we’re sold). Kinkell Farm, St Andrews, 30 Sep-2 Oct, £59 (weekend)

Platform returns for a second outing of Eastern Promise, their mini festival aimed at highlighting the best and most interesting music-makers out there. Fitting the bill will be the likes of The Pastels, Withered Hand, 7WVWWV, Conquering Animal Sound, Nancy Elizabeth, and Animal Magic Tricks, plus you can stock up at Saturday evening’s independent record fair. Platform, Glasgow, 30 Sep-1 Oct, 7pm, £15 (£9)

Ah, where would our month be without a nostalgic GFT screening of the kind of films our prepubescent self watched on repeat? This month they offer up Predator: jungle-setting, pumped-up commandos, an extra terrestrial warrior, and the glory of Arnoldbloody-Schwarzenegger’s acting skills. Per-fection. GFT, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £7.50 (£5.50)

Kid Canaveral

FRI 7 OCT

SAT 8 OCT

SUN 9 OCT

Just back from their mini European tour with The Twilight Sad and Mazes, We Were Promised Jetpacks are back on home turf to give their new album, In the Pit of the Stomach (out 3 October), a live airing, cranking out the rolling drums, big guitars, and massive effing finales as per. The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 7pm, £10

Still riding high on the back of their glorious last album, Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells play a handful of UK dates over the month, armed also with new mini EP (like, three songs mini), which includes a cover of Bananarama’s Cruel Summer that has been getting a live airing of late (and is up there with Moffat’s version of Sonny and Cher’s I Got You Babe). Paisley Arts Centre, Glasgow, 8pm, £12 (£10). Also playing Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire, 14 Oct

After four years in Edinburgh, The 48-Hour Film Project takes to the streets of Glasgow for the first time.

Y’know the drill: a bunch of amateur filmmakers run riot in the city for two days making their own mini film, with just a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue as their starting point, with the GFT screening the fruits of their labour (11 & 12 October).

Across Glasgow, 8-9 Oct, register at 48hourfilm.com/glasgow

The cutesily-named Little Birds Market appears to be happily housed in its monthly home at Sloans, popping up once again with their mix of vintage, craft and design sellers offering an array of clothing, jewellery, homewares, and millinery. There’s also the ever-present cake salon, serving up sugar-heavy afternoon teas on vintage china cups ’n’ plates.

Sloans, Glasgow, noon-5pm, Free

Photo: Sally Jubb

THU 6 OCT

SAT 15 OCT

SUN 16 OCT

MON 17 OCT

Prepare for an early dose of Halloween gore as horror film allnighter, All Night Horror, rears its ugly head again with a quartet of grisly offerings in the form of John Carpenter’s classic Halloween, gory slasher Pieces, legendary video nasty The Living Dead, and 1978 oddity Blue Sunshine, about a group of baldy-headed psychopaths turned homicidal by some dodgy LSD. Cameo, Edinburgh, times tbc, £15.50 (£14.50)

The legendary Tindersticks and world-renowned filmmaker Claire Denis finally bring their 15-years-in-theworks collaborative soundtrack project to a live setting, with Stuart Staples et al playing live to an accompanying montage of scenes from six of Denis’ films (i.e. this’ll be nothing short of magical). Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 8pm, £18.50

Street Level Photoworks play host to Gayle Chong Kwan’s unique new photographic installation, The Obsidian Isle, featuring ten large-format photographic prints constructed from found images, three-dimensional elements, and mediumformat photographs taken by the artist, which connect up to form a panoramic vista of a fictional island. Oddly magical.

Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, until 11 Dec, Free

Photo: Ross McLean

FRI 14 OCT Dundee photographer Ross McLean premieres his exhibition of pictures capturing the life of Cuba, with a rum-soused launch event at Such and Such followed by a Cuban party in Leith Dockers. Such and Such, Brunswick Street, from 7pm, Free

Blue Sunshine

SUN 23 OCT

MON 24 OCT

If you’re one of the lucky buggers with a ticket for Bon Iver’s Edinburgh show then you’re in for a real treat as it is arguably in a live setting that their sound really comes alive, with Justin Vernon’s falsetto becoming a thing of such spellbinding beauty that Captain Hadley could probably hear a mouse fart. Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 7pm, £sold out

International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Document 9, continues in a suitably interesting vein with Camcorder Guerrillas, a mini showcase from the Glasgow community-based of the same name, a voluntary collective of filmmakers, artists and activists armed with their trusty camcorders, using them to document the things the mainstream media often shies away from.

Enlightening stuff, we’re sure. And there’s plenty more picks besides, see documentfilmfestival.org for details

American funnywoman Margaret Cho brings her new show, Cho Dependent, to The Stand for a two-night stint, meaning the braver amongst you can indulge in a double dose of in-your-face, taboo-busting humour and comedy songs. The Stand, Edinburgh, 8.30pm, £12. Read our chat with the lady herself on page 23 of this issue

Image: DL Anderson

How to Swim

Image: Lindsey Byrnes

SAT 22 OCT

The Scottish Oxjam contingent stage the biggie on their yearly calendar, the great Oxjam Takeover in Edinburgh (21 October) and Glasgow (22 October). The one-ticket, multi-venue affair will see FOUND, French Wives, and Meursault (Edinburgh), and How To Swim, Aerials Up, and Adopted As Holograph (Glasgow) play over the weekend, amongst a whole host of others. See listings for details

Image: Kenny McColl

FRI 21 OCT

SUN 30 OCT

MON 31 OCT

Cranking up their usual theatrics to the max, Glasgow’s burlesque club teasers host a Halloween-themed edition of Club Noir, with specially-themed acts including a Victorian-styled dominatrix, fire performer Morrigan Hel, and an ’evil’ cabaret Elvis (a scary thought indeed). O2 Academy, Glasgow, 9pm, £15.50. Dundee edition at Fat Sam’s, 22 Oct

Sub Club play host to one of the more legendary Halloween parties, Optimo Espookio, where regular hosts JD Twitch and JG Wilkes go all dark with an eclectic horror-themed mix, thick smoke, terror strobes and a somewhat competitive costume competition which, as legend goes, once saw someone dress as an actual fanny pad. Sub Club, Glasgow, 11pm, £tbc

We were trying to find some desperately cool Halloween bash to recommend to you all, but, well, Alice-bloodyCooper’s playing the SECC with his guts and gore filled ‘Halloween Night Of Fear’ and, quite frankly, he won out. Expect plenty of theatrics and a live airing of his new album Welcome 2 My Nightmare (a sequel of sorts to 1975 classic Welcome To My Nightmare). SECC, Glasgow, 7pm, £33.50. We’re not worthy.

Image: reynolds.james.e

SAT 29 OCT

October 2011

THE SKINNY

9

10 THE SKINNY October 2011

MUSIC

The Appliance of Science

Polygenre electronic music producer Rustie’s debut LP sees the erstwhile Glaswegian fulfill the glistening promise of his early hip-hop, R&B, Detroit techno and dubstep experiments. It comes as no surprise to find him in a museum dedicated to advancement Interview: Ray Philp photo: Nuria Rius The Science Museum on London’s Exhibition Road strikes as a particularly appropriate place to meet Glasgow-born, London-based producer Rustie. Encasing a wealth of hi-tech antiques and hyperfuture light displays is the Alfred Waterhouse designed exterior, a grand neo-Victorian face fortified with Grecian pillars and glazed with heavily buffeted stone and terracotta. Beyond the ‘Space Explorer’ exhibit, featuring scale replicas of the Sputnik satellite and the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, is a cafe (which, by a stretch, is the most aesthetically arresting area of the entire place, with its fluorescent rows of tables and glowing midnight blue walls) where Rustie sits down to explain how the gestation of his debut album, Glass Swords, mirrors the museum’s curious melding of the past, present and future.

“I tried to listen to a lot of older stuff, not just electronic stuff. I don’t want to just be influenced by something that’s been influenced by something... do you know what I mean? I like to go to the sort of root of... I dunno, I guess... music genres and stuff, when things are bubbling off and starting out, like in the 80s when lots of musicians had big studios and stuff, and they’re real musicians and they’re discovering all of this new electronic equipment, synths and stuff. Whereas now, you’re getting people who are sort of, kind of getting programs that do everything for you, so there’s less of a musical input. Whereas like... em.... yeah... I dunno what I’m trying to say here...”

Rustie – short for Russell Whyte – is often at pains to find the best way to articulate himself over the course of the interview. Answers usually begin with tentative pauses, and if a response proves especially tricky, he bows his head and feels for the back of his neck, a gesture that betrays both shyness and an aversion to excessive scrutiny.

Glass Swords, Rustie’s second Warp release following the 6-track Technicolor headrush of last year’s Sunburst EP, finds the softly-spoken Glaswegian in a far more expressive vogue, imbued as it is with a dazzling and disparate array of 70s, 80s and 90s references.

Even so, the majority of Rustie’s releases, from his seminal Jagz The Smacks EP for the nowdefunct Stuff Records to his last release for Warp, are heavily foregrounded with broad, primary coloured strokes of legendary Detroit electro outfit Drexciya, the kinetic melody of Underground Resistance founders Jeff Mills and Mad Mike Banks, and a selection of key 90s hip-hop producers, among them “Darkchild, Timbaland, Neptunes, Richard Harris, even the RZA”, he says.

“I guess it was something different from everything else that was going on... the musicality of it as well, especially the Detroit stuff. There’s a lot of jazz and soul influences, and it’s really quite musical, compared with a lot of other electronic music.

I guess the same with the hip-hop stuff, big R&B productions. There’s a lot of music and chords and soulful sounds, synths... it kinda speaks to me.”

Glass Swords is also informed by music that pre-dates, and in many cases directly influences, hip-hop and techno. Rustie cites prog-rock pioneers Yes and the jazz fusion of Allan Holdsworth as pivotal (you can hear the latter’s imprint all over the album’s titular opening track, an intoxicating perfume of flutes and chopped choral vocals that swirl around a naïvely epic, pedal-heavy guitar solo), as well as the pejoratively titled genre of ‘yacht rock’, as Rustie puts it – a “sort of smooth,

sort of jazzy sort of rock from the 80s” – of which Michael McDonald and the Doobie Brothers were prolific practitioners. (Fun fact: Warren G’s Regulate is a direct lift of Michael McDonald’s soggy-tissue break-up anthem, I Keep Forgettin’.)

Some of Rustie’s landmark singles – namely, his remix of Zomby’s Spliff Dub, the title track from Jagz The Smacks, and his collaboration with Joker on their Play Doe/Tempered 12” – have kettled him somewhat into the procession of mid-to-late noughties dubstep and kinda-dubstep producers, and the notable absence of half-step and sub-bass on Glass Swords gives weight to the suggestion that Rustie’s 140bpm outings were more flights of fancy than deliberate artistic statements. He is decidedly ambivalent about being considered a dubstep producer.

“I think if you go look for my records you’ll still find them in the dubstep section. It’s something that you can’t avoid really; it’s just something that’s stuck. Anything that’s electronic and not 4/4 is just getting called dubstep now. It doesn’t really worry me – there’s nothing I can do about it. Even the stuff that’s getting considered dubstep now, it’s so far away from dub music, like Skrillex and stuff like this, that’s what people in America think dubstep is... I dunno.”

A faintly dismissive laugh gives lie to the logic behind Rustie’s reluctance to peg himself as a producer of a particular genre. Beyond the creative freedoms it affords one of Warp’s most sonically pliable artists, might it be the case that by ploughing a particular furrow for a prolonged period, he fears that other artists (ones such as Skrillex, whose highly polemic take on dubstep, if one were being kind, sounds like Robocop having a nervous breakdown) would rip off and exaggerate elements of a sound that he may have inadvertently and indirectly helped to define?

“Yeah. I guess so, I kinda hear stuff like that already. For the past few years I’ve been hearing stuff that sounds like mine, but sort of a pumpedup and just a bit over-exaggerated version of stuff that I’ve done... not mentioning any names. It’s a bit annoying at first and then you just sort of get used to it. I’m not gonna go out and start fuckin’, sending out hate mail or shit like that.”

Rustie is one of a small group of producers manoeuvring with little effort across contemporary strains of dance music while still retaining a distinctive artistic identity (Cosmin TRG and Falty DL also come to mind here, if we’re talking about peers in the immediate vicinity); when asked of the sort of record he’d like to produce in the near future, he says: “I guess I’d like to experiment more with the next record, [having] less bright synthy sounds, and do something a bit more understated.”

He’ll certainly have plenty of time and space to do that. Far removed from the distractions of the goldfish bowl of Glasgow’s 5am afterparties, he says that his relocation to West London, where he’s lived for the last 18 months, has afforded him all sorts of advantages.

“It’s good like, it’s nice to get a change, just ‘cause I’ve lived in Glasgow all my life. It’s bigger, there’s more stuff to do, just easier to focus on doing music as well. I’m way out West in London as well, so there’s not loads going on. I’m away from my network of mates and family, so there’s less stuff to get in the way of the music. I was going out a lot more when I was living in Glasgow, ‘cause of all my mates; it’s more tempting to go

out. Also, it takes 45 minutes, up to an hour to get to East London from West, so there’s less incentive.”

Given the quality of Glass Swords, the move has evidently done the erstwhile Glaswegian a power of good, though he reveals that the process of assembling the record was not the product of an insular, studio-bound ingénue, but something altogether more inclusive.

“I’ve been working on this album for quite a long time; I’ve been doing live sets and just DJing early versions of the tracks, getting to road test the music and gauge crowd reactions and change the record, while constantly getting feedback from the crowd – basically tweaking the record to get the maximum reaction.”

Upon exiting the cafe, Rustie passes the satellites and rockets of the Space Explorer exhibit with little interest, instead diverting his attention to an old supercomputer encased in glass on the second floor of the building (we’re looking for some photoshoot locations, at the behest of the photographer). The Mechanical Analogue Computer is a large and indelicate object with exposed pulleys and fixtures, the functions of which look pretty unremarkable, though its very presence implies that it was a precursor to something more significant. He stands obligingly still for the photographer, as his inquiring gaze reflects off the surface.

If you go look for my records you'll still find them in the dubstep section... it's just something that stuck RUSTIE

Glass Swords is released via Warp on 10 Oct. Playing Stereo, Glasgow on 14 Oct www.warp.net/rustie

October 2011

THE SKINNY 11

MUSIC

L.A. Times: The Californication of M83

On the day after his new album leaked, The Skinny meets M83’s Anthony Gonzalez to talk space travel, stereotypes and the Hollywood Hills Interview: Finbarr Bermingham photo: Nuria Rius

Anthony Gonzalez is on the fifteenth floor of a plush hotel in London’s West End. It’s one of the last evenings of summer and the sun is making its leisurely way west, emblazoning the heavens and carving a diorama silhouette from the skyline. The Skinny finds him gazing out of one of the many huge windows that mark the bar’s perimeter. He looks relaxed, casual and boyish in his open shirt, t-shirt and jeans. The flecks of grey that pepper the side of his neatly coiffed hair are the only telltale signs of a man who has recently entered his thirties. One gets the impression that Gonzalez will only ever age with style.

He greets us with a warm, pearly white smile and a handshake. The Skinny compliments him on his freshness (he flew in from L.A. last night and leaves again in the morning), which draws a modest nod. Bubbling beneath the affable surface, though, are stormy undercurrents. The new album

by M83, the guise under which Gonzalez has been making music for over a decade, has just leaked online, six weeks before its release. “I don’t feel good,” he admits. “I almost don’t want to fight anymore. The fight is lost.”

Pirates aside, though, Gonzalez is a happy man. He’s just swapped the Côte d’Azur for the Hollywood Hills. His English, which is word perfect, has acquired an American twang and he’s found new stimulus for his music, too. “It’s different,” he says excitedly of Los Angeles, “but there are more similarities with my home than you might expect. I think it’s the beach, the mountains, the palm trees and the sunshine. It’s like the South of France, except ten times bigger. The main difference is the culture, but that’s exactly why I went there, to experience something new.”

Confused, we suggest that two places couldn’t seem more different. The L.A. Gonzalez has fallen for, though, is not the L.A. we had in mind. “It’s like everywhere,” comes his measured reply. “Every city is clichéd and in Los Angeles, the cliché is “being superficial”: big boobs, white teeth, Hollywood, fame and movies. That’s not what inspires me about the place, though. I was very influenced by the Californian landscapes. I was often heading into the desert with my computer and keyboards.

Most of the instrumental tracks on the album were recorded there. I would rent a small cabin in the middle of nowhere, smoke a big joint and make music for hours.”

At the mention of his recreational pursuits, he flashes another one of his winning smiles, suggesting the Hollywood ideal may not have been completely lost on him. Gonzalez comes from the Mediterranean port of Antibes, a sleepy Roman settlement that was once, briefly, home to Pablo Picasso. It was here that he learned how to play guitar as a ten year old. His upbringing, though, was anything but musical. “My parents didn’t listen to it very much,” he recalls. “They had three records and they played them all the time, but they weren’t inspiring.

“I was very lucky to have an older brother and he introduced me to a lot of great music. Being in France, culturally, we are very curious. We’re not afraid of foreign culture, like from America and England and through my brother, I became more and more interested in lots of different kinds of music. I think our generation, our age group, [The Skinny is too polite to mention that Anthony has a few years on us yet] had similar culture, despite being from different countries. We grew up listening to the same bands and watching the same movies. I barely

12 THE SKINNY October 2011

Through music, I have travelled a lot Anthony Gonzalez

ever listen to French music. Every time someone is singing in French, it kind of makes me sick!”

Unsurprisingly, then, M83’s lyrics are all in English. “It’s more natural for me,” he explains.

We suggest that the UK should be ashamed of its poor linguistic record, citing our pidgin French as Exhibit A. “I learnt English in school, but I agree.

How they teach languages in schools is not the best. But through music, I have travelled a lot and picked it up.”

There is one French artist, though, who has had a big influence Gonzalez’s music. “I will always remember being seven years old and watching this television show which featured a performance from Jean Michel Jarre. I have to say, it was a real shock. He looked so beautiful. He was surrounded by synths and lights and looked so picturesque; like a spaceship. This was the first time I realised that music could be so powerful and since then, I’ve had this love for synths and electronic music.”

Despite his polite protestations to the contrary, there is something decidedly Francophile about M83’s music. Along with Daft Punk, Justice and Cassius, to name but a few, they have been pivotal

in establishing France as the planet’s primary breeding ground for indie – dance crossover acts par excellence. Over recent years, though, the band’s sound has incorporated more “rock” sounds into their oeuvre. Saturdays = Youth, the 2008 album that brought M83 to a wider audience and which reaped universal critical acclaim, drew heavily from the shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins (with whom the album’s producer, Ken Thomas, worked extensively).

Gonzalez’s attitude towards the album is surprisingly aloof. “I was a little less proud of that one.

Approaching the new album, I felt the pressure of Saturdays… and I didn’t like having that. I wasn’t scared to make another album; I just didn’t want people to think I wanted to make Saturdays… number two. I wanted to do something different and was a little afraid of the reaction.”

When speaking of the earlier entries to his back catalogue, though, he beams with pride. The recording of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming in Los Angeles ushered in a new era for M83. The previous records were all laid down in France. Most of them were made on a shoestring and Gonzalez

recalls his early days in the band, alongside his former musical partner Nicolas Fromageau (who has sinced moved on to front the sublime Team Ghost), with misty-eyed nostalgia. “Ah!” he exclaims, with his head tossed back. “When you release your first album, you never know what’s going to happen. Are you going to find some people who like your music? It’s like jumping into a big black hole. You don’t know what to expect.

Nicolas and I made the first two albums (M83 and Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts) on a shitty 8-track recorder in my bedroom. We were both at school and we did this for fun. It wasn’t a job, you know? It’s funny how, if you listen to the other albums, you can get this sense of fun from them.

I am so proud of the first few records, but I’m probably most proud of the new one.”

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, the new double LP, is M83’s most ambitious album to date and Gonzalez views it as a culmination of his life’s work to date.

You can forgive him, then, a little ire over the album’s leaking. “This is, for me, a statement of how I used to buy music back in the day. This is my version of growing up and buying music in record stores. I’ve been dreaming of making a double record since I was a teenager, listening to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.”

It isn’t just the format that has been in his intentions since his youth. The album’s content and concept have been with Gonzalez for even longer, only to be evoked recently by his change of environment.

“Well, it’s mainly about dreams,” he explains. “When I moved to LA, I was in a new environment, a new city and I was lonely. I was remembering a lot of memories from my childhood, you know things I used to dream about as a kid, and I felt like I should write about them. When I was young, I dreamed about space a lot. There was a Japanese animation called Galaxy Express and I was obsessed with it. It’s the story of a young kid travelling through space on a train. As a kid, I dreamed that I was the captain of my own spaceship; like a space pirate, driving from planet to planet. This album is like the story of these adventures, in a way. This is the soundtrack of a movie that doesn’t exist. I hope that people listening to it can provide their own images, in their heads.”

Gonzalez, for all his globetrotting, still greets the release of a new album with the glee of a debutante. A conversation with him is like a breath of fresh air. He is charming, honest, funny and, even if he doesn’t think so, very French. The Skinny departs the dimly lit ambience of his hotel into the bustling Regent Street twilight, thankful that the forces of chance led a seven-year-old French kid to the dazzling lights of a Jean Michel Jarre show all those years ago, and reflecting on the ten years of brilliance that it helped to spark.

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is released via Mute on 18 Oct www.ilovem83.com

IN ANY BAR IN THE U.K. YOU KNOW SOMEONE BY NAME.

J A C K D A N I E L’ S

TENNESSEE WHISKEY

Your friends at Jack Daniel’s remind you to drink responsibly. ©2011 Jack Daniel’s. All rights reserved. JACK DANIEL’S and OLD NO. 7 are registered trademarks.

October 2011

THE SKINNY 13

FILM

Chaos Theory

Glasgow set sci-fi Perfect Sense makes its way to cinemas this month. We spoke to one of its stars, Ewen Bremner, back in June following the film’s UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival Interview: Jamie Dunn Illustration: Zoe Barker

You’d be foolish to think that an actor’s real life demeanour matched any of his/her film roles, but in the case of some performers their onscreen personas are so vividly realised that they become fused in the public's consciousness. One such actor is Ewen Bremner, whose role as Spud, the lovable runt of the pack of Leith ne’er-do-wells in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, is so iconic that it’s hard not to picture the character’s riotous, hopped-up job interview scene whenever the actor is brought to mind. But in general, all of Bremner’s best performances hinge on a similar manic hyperactivity, whether it’s as Archie, the shouty Glaswegian who’s lost his girlfriend in the labyrinth of Soho in Mike Leigh’s nightmarish Naked, or as the schizophrenic title character in Harmony Korine’s unhinged second feature Julien DonkeyBoy, where Bremner manages the inimitable feat of creating a character so deranged that he makes the outré performance of Bavarian filmmaking legend Werner Herzog, who plays Julien’s father, seem naturalistic.

In person, however, Bremner operates on a lower frequency. He speaks at a measured pace in an accent that’s more Morningside than Easter Road; his sentences are cautious and deliberate.

My first guess is that he’s shy or maybe he’s just cautious when speaking to the press, but after a few minutes of chatting in the grand surroundings of the Caledonian Hotel in his hometown of Edinburgh it appears his demure air may be more to do with the massive hangover he’s nursing.

“I’m a bit rough, I’m afraid,” the 39-year-old actor confesses wearily as he sips on some ice water.

“I’m not used to all this partying.”

The reason for Bremner’s sudden mini-bender is that he’s celebrating the UK premier of his latest film, the David Mackenzie helmed Perfect Sense,

14 THE SKINNY October 2011

at the city’s international film festival. Set in Glasgow, Perfect Sense is a curious mix of romance and apocalypse. A womanising head-chef (Ewan McGregor) and a beautiful, brittle epidemiologist (Eva Green) are falling in love as the world is falling apart. A mysterious virus is spreading the globe and robbing humankind of its senses, one by one – think of the film as José Saramago’s bestseller Blindness x 5. But where does Bremner’s character

If you are comfortable with the people around you everything is easier: conversation, jokes, sex, work, anything Ewen Bremner

James, the sous chef to McGregor’s character, fit in? “I think David [Mackenzie] employs me just to inject a bit of chaotic energy into his stuff,” says Bremner. “That’s my guess.”

My interview with Bremner takes place perched on a sofa on the landing of the Caledonian’s stately staircase; the tinkling of a piano wafts up through the banisters. “He’s got an interesting balance of being very considered and compositional about the look of his scenes,” Bremner says of Mackenzie, who he first collaborated with on 2007’s Hallam Foe, “but at the same time he’s kind of got these primal urges – he likes to have stuff sort of splurging out of his films.” And splurge Perfect Sense does. It’s a bold, heart-on-sleeve kind of movie, bursting with emotion and unabashed romanticism. The compositional skill that Bremner speaks of is there for all to see, but the film is also peppered with the kind of gonzo moments that characterise Mackenzie’s best work.

Unfortunately, though, Perfect Sense is not the Young Adam director at his best – far from it. For all its ambition there are some crippling misjudgements, such as Mackenzie’s over reliance on Max Richter’s ostentatious score and the use of an onthe-nose narration to communicate the onscreen emotions – he batters our eardrums when his images should be tugging at our hearts.

Bremner, unsurprisingly, disagrees with my take.

“It really speaks to me as a film,” he argues. “As an actor it’s impossible to be objective about anything you’ve worked on because you’ve seen it from the inside out then you’re watching it from the outside in. You know what goes on behind the curtain and you have all sorts of other associations that you bring to it, things that were going on at the time, but for me, Perfect Sense, I really feel it’s a film to be reckoned with.” The actor admits,

however, that the film’s overripe philosophising and unblinking sentimentality will not be to everyone’s taste. “I think it’s a very moving film, but, understandably, there will be people who have an emotional defence that they don’t want to break in order to engage with this movie. It will divide audiences to some extent along that line of how prepared a person is to go along with the film.”

The part I’m least inclined to “go along with” is the romance. There’s no spark between McGregor and Green: their bodies ooze sex but their eyes scream touch me again and I’ll stab you with a fork. While there’s not much fire in the bedroom there’s plenty of heat in the kitchen. The easy going banter between Bremner and his Trainspotting co-star and their knockabout antics in the restaurant where they work – there’s a nice running gag about the funky smell of chefs’ hands – adds much needed comedy and humanity to Mackenzie’s drama.

“Anything’s easier if you trust the people around you,” Bremner says of working with McGregor again for the first time since Ridley Scott’s 2001 war-movie Black Hawk Down. “If you are comfortable with the people around you everything is easier: conversation, jokes, sex, work, anything.

Things are easier if you are not on guard against the environment or the people you’re working with.

It helps in that sense, but it also helps that Ewan’s a very receptive actor: he’s very ready to play and engage with the actors around him. That helps more than the fact that we know each other.”

Despite the comfort he feels in the familiar, Bremner has not been shy about exploring the new and has enjoyed success in both the US and Europe. “I never had a game plan and I still don’t.

I think it’s kind of impossible to plan out your life in the real world. You can have your hopes and your desires and the roles you’d like to be handed to you on a plate, but in terms of game plan, I’m just trying to follow my nose. There’s all kinds of considerations involved in deciding whether to do one job over another. You’ve only got your own sense of judgement to work with and I mean that.”

Are there any films that you’re particularly proud of? “There are films that I'd like to have done better or been seen by more people, and there are things I’ve done that I wish no one had ever seen,” he says.

Do you want to name any? “No!” he chortles.

Back to Perfect Sense then: despite its flaws, it seems to be part of a growing trend of British films that take chances. This year has seen the likes of Kill List and Attack the Block emerge from UK productions, the type of high concept genre-hopping films that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. And in terms of foreign investment, Britain, and Glasgow in particular, now seems like a viable option for big scale studio productions. It seems like it’s becoming easier for British actors to find interesting projects on their doorsteps.

“I never feel jingoistic about it. I’m never like, ‘Aye, it’s great ta see, like, that Scottish or British films are doing really well, like,’” Bremner says, affecting his worst Scottish accent. “There’s a great culture here and a great tradition of creative, groundbreaking artists and thinkers. That’s part of our heritage, and it still seems to be healthy and strong. There’s really interesting new work coming through in the arts, but there’s not that much investment in Scotland.

“It’s always difficult to get any kind of film made; it’s always a mountain to move. It doesn’t matter where it is, they’re always extremely challenging.

But when you get it made and it plays to a packed festival audience, like we did the other night, it’s so rewarding” Perfect Sense is released 7 Oct by Arrow Films www.the-associates.co.uk

MUSIC

Do the Evolution

Having conquered the elements, Troy Sanders tells us what’s next for Mastodon Interview: Ross Watson Photo: Sarah Roberts

Troy playing the BArrowlands last year

In 2009, heavyweight Atlantan riffologists Mastodon released Crack the Skye – an epic and emotionally exhausting affair, envisioned as a complete work to be taken as a whole. It was the culmination of everything the band had achieved up until that point – from their trademark aggression and energy to the historical, literary and thematic influences shown throughout their previous three albums, with its story bringing together ideas about the cosmos, wormhole theories and Tsarist Russia into one huge, sprawling concept album.

It also brought another wave of critical appraisal for a band who seemed to be operating at their creative and artistic peak.

Mastodon come back down to earth this month with The Hunter, marking the quartet’s first full-length outing without a unifying theme; bassist and vocalist Troy Sanders makes it clear that this is simply the sound of a band with a new outlook: “We abandoned the idea of ‘the concept.’ The previous four touched on fire with Remission, water with Leviathan, earth with Blood Mountain and the ether with Crack the Skye. We wrote these four chapters of ‘elements’ and closed that book; we had a fresh, clean slate to work with.”

At first look, the band’s approach certainly seems to have changed, even before indulging in the music. Instead of employing their usual aesthetic collaborator Paul Romano (Earth, dälek, Jedi Mind Tricks), The Hunter’s cover art shows off an intimidating wood sculpture of a Minotaur head created

by AJ Fosik. The video for lead single Black Tongue shows the painstaking process behind it, standing as a metaphorical reboot for Mastodon, as if they’ve rebuilt themselves from the ground. “We were changing everything,” says Sanders. “We changed our sound, we got a new record producer [Mike Elizondo, more renowned for producing huge Dr Dre records], changed our logo and got a new artist for the album art. Everything was going great, but we embrace the idea of flipping the coin.”

Stripped down and refined, their new direct approach to songcraft (complete with tongue-incheek titles like Stargasm and The Octopus Has No Friends), Mastodon seem ready to show off the playful side that has often shone through in interview. “It’s refreshing to be a little childish at moments on this record,” concurs Sanders. “We wrote lyrics like ‘If you are sad and need to cry/

It’s refreshing to be a little childish Troy Sanders

then turn around and go outside’. It sounds like a four-year-old wrote that...”

Mastodon’s intention with The Hunter seems to have been to create a solid, honest rock and roll record rather than an overly serious, heavy epic – looser, leaner and less intense than before. “Oh yeah, it’s a rock and roll record,” Sanders nods.

“I never even considered us as a metal band.

There’s a big part of us that’s rooted in metal, but there’s a big part of us that’s rooted in bluegrass and psychedelic rock and 70s classic rock and all sorts. I like the term rock and roll a lot better.”

That diversity reflects in the wide array of bands Mastodon has toured with – from Queens of the Stone Age and Slayer through to The Mars Volta and Neurosis to name just a few – and it’s a privilege they don’t take for granted. “It’s always an honour to be asked to support all these bands that are heroes of ours,” Sanders beams. “I mean, we’re going out with Soundgarden next month; that’s a big deal – they flipped my world upside down twenty years ago.”

A lot has changed, then, since Crack the Skye – the last time The Skinny talked to the band, guitarist Bill Kelliher admitted that they looked to the monolithic Metallica as career role models, both in terms of their longevity and stature. What does success mean to Mastodon in 2011? Sanders looks at the band’s achievements to date: “For us being able to play 150 gigs a year and sell a total of 50,000 copies worldwide of each album, to me, that’s hugely successful.

I never imagined that happening. As far as being a mega-band – that’s one in a million. Who knows? I’m very happy with the position that our band is in now. I think we’re too ugly to get really popular!”

The Hunter is released on 26 Sep via Roadrunner www.mastodonrocks.com

October 2011

THE SKINNY 15

“A mix of the exotic and nostalgic” Sunday Times

PINK MARTINI THE SYMPHONIQUE TOUR with the SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

TUESDAY 11 OCTOBER 7.30PM

in arrangement with Musicians Incorporated

usherhall.co.uk 0131 228 1155

16 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

MUSIC

Graeme Fears Satan Before their glorious second album lands, Graeme Ronald explains the changing shape of Remember Remember and his obsession with the deil Interview: PJ Meiklem that great. Someone like Smog or The Silver Jews.

“A big part of the reason I do instrumental is that I’m not a particularly good singer and that I don’t write lyrics. I see myself as a composer and that’s what interests me, combining melodies and harmonies, and instruments and sounds. That’s my way of expressing myself where someone else might express themselves in lyrics or whatever. I say what I need to say through sound.”

As you’d expect from listening to his two albums and one EP, Ronald has little time for adding a singer into the mix for the sake of it: “I don’t really like the guest vocalist thing,” he says. “It was quite a 90s trend; Death in Vegas and Massive Attack even, getting in guest vocalists and it seems like you’re just trying to sell the song by putting someone famous on it.”

But if someone had a gun to his head, who would he choose? Brian Wilson or fellow American singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, he laughs, before straightening up: “In all honesty, if there was ever going to be singing in Remember Remember songs I’d like to think I’d be doing it myself, because if it happened it would be because I felt I had something to say.”

The demon is literally me

Although augmenting his seven-piece band (fleshed out by the likes of Divorce tubthumper Andy Brown and Take A Worm For A Walk Week frontman Joe Quimby) with a lap top computer for his latest live show, Ronald is equally feisty about his peers who rely too heavily on the pre-recorded backup, arguing his own machine is just there for the piano sounds: “I never wanted to use a laptop on stage, because I found that quite boring. Going to see someone play and it’s just a guy sitting behind his laptop. I used to be, not a purist, but I think everything you hear should be generated live.”

Ronald’s artistic single-mindedness is laudable, but principles don’t exactly pay the electricity bill.

Despite being signed to Mogwai’s Rock Action label, Ronald says he doesn’t earn enough to live by making music alone, and like most other musicians, writers and artists working outside the mainstream he does what he has to to get by.

“Temping, flyering, bar work, you name it,” he nods resignedly, before confessing an occasional fleeting desire for a more stable lifestyle.

“The plan was always to be an English teacher,” he smiles. “I’ve got halfway through filling in the forms for teacher training god knows how many times, but then I always put it aside and think ‘maybe next year.’”

A steely belief in the value of his music has helped keep those forms unfinished, which repeated listens to The Quickening will make you thankful for. Although he may not have the devil’s presence, Ronald certainly has some of beelzebub’s fire, and he might, just might, have some of his tunes as well.

“When you make instrumental music you feel you have to defend it. You have to explain why you’re doing it. Even though there’re no lyrics in these songs, they mean a lot to me. I’m expressing myself; it’s more vague than saying ‘this is exactly how I feel’, but something comes out of me. It’s important to say ‘this isn’t just background music, and it isn’t just some little ditty that I’ve written, this means something.’”

Graeme Ronald

Remember Remember

www.myspace.com/rememberremember

October 2011

THE SKINNY 17

Photo: Takeshi Suga

Graeme Ronald

Photo: Takeshi Suga

Satan isn’t the first word that jumps to mind when you meet Graeme Ronald. With his brown stripy jumper, thick-rimmed specs, and slightly shy way it seems unlikely that he’s dallied too long with the dark side. But Ronald, whose second album under the Remember Remember moniker The Quickening is imminent, is a man well aware of exactly who has the best tunes.

“Since I was kid I’ve always had this fascination... I mean, I didn’t have a particularly religious upbringing or anything, but I was really scared of the idea of the devil. There was all these rumours which went around my school – they began when people started playing with ouija boards and that – that if you say the lord’s prayer backwards the devil will appear. That scared the crap out of me when I was kid, and I’ve always been kind of obsessed with the idea of demons and possession.”

Ronald is talking through new album track A Larger Demon, which isn’t just a sad, piano-led piece of instrumental music, but a perfect place to start when you’re trying to get your head around Remember Remember’s world. You see, Ronald hasn’t deployed the idea of Auld Nick on his latest album for the sheer hell of it, but to deliver part of his wide-ranging vision, linking this new record with the last.

“The demon is literally me. A Larger Demon is an anagram of my name. The other song on the first record is called And The Demon Said.

When I wrote it I was working with another band called Flying Matchstick Men, and I fell out with them quite badly. I wrote that piano piece while not having that great a time, and that was my response – a very passive-aggressive reaction – saying this is my side of things and calling myself the demon in a way. I thought since both songs are both piano pieces it might be good to have some demonic link between them.”

Although far from demanding his work be taken seriously (his album title The Quickening is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the second Highlander movie starring Christopher Lambert), Ronald is keen to show that his work has thematic and musical depths that are worth taking a moment or two to consider. It’s been like that, he tells me, from the start. Kicking off in 2005, the former bassist from cult Glasgow scenesters The Royal We made an early name for himself playing live, alone, save for a guitar, a loop pedal and a collection of toys and other household bric-abrac which he would cajole into music. From the start, it seems, Ronald was thinking big picture: “With a debut album you’re trying to make as big a statement as you possibly can. I wanted to get as many ideas as possible on there. I had songs which featured all the kinds of unusual percussion: scissors, cutlery, coffee spoons, lighters and matches. Then the last four songs on that record combine into one. I wanted to say that anything can be an instrument. There were some pretensions towards classical music. It was trying to do grand things but on a budget.”

Ronald understands that instrumental guitar music is a strange beast; some post-rock, progressive, or whatever you want to call it, bands can deliver emotional knock-outs almost at will, yet a slight air of suspicion still surrounds lyric-less guitar music, as if the idea of the front man or woman is so hard-wired into the album and gig experience that we have to fight to shrug it off. Ronald has thought hard about the topic.

“When you’re in a band and you’ve got a singer the focal point is there instantly. It’s not that the music doesn’t matter, but you can get away with the music being less interesting if you’ve got a guy or a girl singing really good lyrics. If it’s a song, and it’s got lyrics, then there’s someone trying to express something very definite. A lot of the bands I love, I don’t even think musically they’re

ART

Resident Easel

RESIDENT: 11 brings together ten of the artists who’ve taken part in residency schemes across Scotland in the last year for an exhibition in Edinburgh’s RSA. We caught up with two of them, Cheryl Field and Erica Eyres, to hear about their new work interview: Andrew Cattanach

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18 THE SKINNY October 2011

BOUTIQU

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“I really wanted to go to Taigh Chearsabhagh up in North Uist because it’s such an elemental landscape,” says Cheryl Field of her decision to apply for the Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture’s residency programme. “To give you a good example, Stanley Kubrick used the Isle of Harris, which is the next island up the chain, as the moonscape for 2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Artists can have all sorts of reasons for taking up a residency, whether it is the opportunity to experience an unfamiliar landscape, or simply the chance to use facilities they’d otherwise have to do without. It can transport them to an unfamiliar context – often a great stimulus for making art – while giving them the opportunity to research something integral to their art practice.

Field is first and foremost a sculptor. She makes kinetic works that include the twitching, anthropomorphic found object – such as her pathos-riddled broken umbrella that schleps around the gallery floor – or floppy, mutant willies that pathetically lurch in darkened corners. And so she decided to go to North Uist and harness the elements to power her sculptures.

“Seeing as I make work using lots of movement, I really wanted to use energy sources that I hadn’t used before, because everything had been plugged in or switched on, or relied on batteries.

So, I wanted to play with solar power, wind power and wave power. Not in the traditional sense of here is a solar cell now I’ll make a little motor. I’d rather use them as materials themselves.”

And so she did just that. Among the works made in North Uist, Field produced a video of a temporary installation set in the island’s landscape called Scomber Scombrus. Mounted on poles, three reflective, Mylar tubes blow in the fierce Highland wind. There’s something quite sublime about the intensity of the conditions and how the Mylar alludes to the exposure you’d suffer if subjected to these conditions for any length of time.

Meanwhile, in the East End of Glasgow, video artist Erica Eyres was subjected to an entirely different set of conditions. She had taken up her residency at the

Wasps Studios in Dennistoun and had persuaded a group of children aged between 7 and 13 to re-enact an episode of the American soap opera Dallas.

“It’s based on this particular episode where the character Pam wakes up and finds it was all a dream,” Eyres explains in her Canadian drawl.

“There was this one season where Bobby had died and the ratings went really far down, so they had to bring him back. At the end of one episode she [Pam] just wakes up and it was all a dream. So things just go back to the way they were.”

So absurd a solution it reminded Eyres of children’s literature, such as Alice in Wonderland. And so, after making a replica set she found herself a child cast and started filming. “It’s so ridiculous, I guess – so over the top. And then just to use kids that knew nothing about it. I mean they knew more about it than I thought they would. I don’t know, they are just really awkward – making this thing that was just over the top, about money and power, and having it be played by kids.”

The video will be on display this month at the RSA along with works by nine other artists, including Cheryl Field, as a conclusion to the year’s residency programmes. A varied group of artists with diverse research interests, the show will likely keep you on your toes. It’s also a cross section of some of the most interesting artists working in Scotland today – and for this reason shouldn’t be missed.

RESIDENT: 11, RSA, 8-27 Oct, Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm, Free

Erica Eyres – Pam's Dream

MUSIC

The Rise and The Fall Ignoring your detractors can serve you well – electro godfather Gary Numan knows this better than most INTERVIEW: Ray Philp Photo: Martin Barker

Gary Numan has been a musician and recording artist for over 30 years; a reductive history would prefer only to document the first three as his most successful. His sales figures during his early 80s heyday, which, according to Numan, run into the “shitloads”, would attest to that, but it was a period that he has good cause to want to leave behind.

His first three albums, if you include Tubeway Army’s Replicas, were UK #1s. Cars and Are Friends Electric? charted at #1 too, and they are singles that continue to define him, a fact he still struggles to embrace (he says that those songs “create a shadow... you have to work hard to come out from under your own shadow for people to be aware of what else you do”). In the space of two years, he had attracted a devout following that bordered on cultish (his properties have attracted a number of unsolicited visits from ‘Numanoids’, many of whom he welcomed with a harpoon). It was a phenomena that peaked at Wembley Arena in 1981, where approximately 12,500 people had gathered to see Numan’s grand, Tron-like ‘farewell’ show, though he reneged on his decision to retire from performing shortly after.

But the facts obscure the reality of this period: Numan was hated by many of his peers. His success brought with it the sort of open derision usually reserved for, say, a Top 40 novelty act – and, indeed, his pioneering use of synths was wholly dismissed as a gimmick – but perhaps there was something running deeper behind the opprobrium than just another bout of sniping from the indie mafia. A brief stint at music college proved to be a prologue for the sort of obstacles Numan dealt with in the bloom of his career. “[The teacher] had asked us to go home and write, in notation, a four-part piano piece over eight bars. So I did all that and went back, and the man sits down at the piano and he plays everyone’s piece of music that they’ve written. He gets to mine, and he says ‘We can’t have this’. And I said to him, ‘But it sounds alright, doesn’t it?’ And he said, ‘That’s not the point.’

Numan’s muted Cockney vowels crackle with renewed disbelief, as if it had only happened an hour ago.

‘That’s not the point!? FAHKING MEWSIC!?

How can the way it sounds not be the point!? So I left music lessons, and I said ‘That’s utter bollocks.’ I had a big row with the teacher, got thrown out of my music course because of it. It was all about the dots and the dashes and the quavers and the crosses. Fuck that!”

Numan concedes that he’s “not as much of a musician as [he] should be.” His forthcoming record Dead Son Rising, like the majority of his albums, had been pieced together through a painstaking process of trial and error. Even so, this doesn’t quite strike at the heart of why Numan had become a bête noire for so many.

As Numan transgressed further into the weird, reclusive caricature that the NME and others took delight in reporting him as – his hair transplants and perceived aloofness were regularly mocked, as was his passion for air display flying, which he speaks of with considerably more affection than his career in music – so others became more open with their contempt for the man dubbed ‘the dark lord of electro-pop’. It wasn’t long after 1980’s Telekon, his last #1 album, that his career went into freefall.

Dwindling album sales and an increasing creative inertia, manifesting in oddly asexual funk-rock experiments and wayward songwriting, hit a nadir with Machine & Soul in 1992, an album that Numan says represented “the bottom of the barrel.”

“I don’t necessarily think it was a bad album musically, I just think it was a really bad Gary Numan album, I don’t think I should have made that album at all.

You have to work hard to come out from under your own shadow GARY NUMAN

“Creatively, I had no idea what I wanted to sing about, I had no passion for it, I didn’t even really like what I was doing. The good thing about it was that it was so bad, that it stopped me. I just... just... stopped doing anything, and I said ‘This is fucking dreadful; if I’m gonna stay as a musician, I need to sort myself out.’”

Dead Son Rising is a continuation of Numan’s critical rehabilitation, a recovery that began with the dense industrial stomp of 1994’s Sacrifice.

Though his new album documents another considered descent into cavernous darkwave that has more in common with Nine Inch Nails than erstwhile contemporaries Duran Duran or Soft Cell, Dead Son Rising makes tentative inroads into something resembling proto-EDM: for example, a conspicuous 4/4 rhythm drives The Fall’s horizon-spanning layers of buzzsaw synth and industrial guitar. Numan admits that he had intended to scrap the record altogether as it was nearing completion, because he “fucking hated it.”

“A year and a half went by [after he and Ade Fenton, a regular collaborator and producer of Dead Son Rising, had finished recording the album]. I was on holiday with my family and I heard my wife Gemma playing some music in this house we were renting, in another room, and it sounded great and I went flying in and said “What’s that, that sounds brilliant”, and it was fucking me! And she said, ‘That’s you, you idiot.’

“I dunno what happens with that, whether it’s a confidence thing or whether you just get a bad vibe about something that colours everything that you do, but exactly the same thing that I thought was a piece of poo about a year and a half ago I was now thinking was really good.”

It’s a view that his peers, past and present, have grown to share. Acts as disparate as Basement Jaxx, Factory Floor and Sugababes have flipped early Numan songs to (mostly) great effect, and even old foes like David Bowie have belatedly expressed their admiration. Numan seems grateful at a renewed appreciation for his seminal works, though the facade doesn’t hold up for long.

“Last year, we did Sonisphere. We do a set, bloody brilliant, crowd go mental, I walk off there thinking I’ve done something really, really worthwhile. Nearly all new stuff, only a couple of old songs in the whole set. Then they show it on TV, and they show fucking Cars.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake! And that really bothers you. It’s not me that needs those songs. For three or four years, I didn’t even play Cars live, 'cause I was so desperately trying to get away from it.”

Numan is prepared to cross borders to do so.

He is in the process of emigrating with his family to Los Angeles, partly because he sees his future in film music (“You can do the whole touring thing and being on stage and being angry and aggressive for so long, but you get to a certain age where it doesn’t work, unless you’re Mick Jagger”), and partly in order to facilitate a collaborative project with NIN lynchpin Trent Reznor.

“I love him, he’s such a brilliant bloke and he’s so clever. He’s a genius and I bow in awe, really.

But he’s a workaholic, so he’s always doing something really important, like an Oscar or something, and I feel really embarrassed about saying ‘Hey, how about my little thing, how about we get onto that in between those two Oscar things you’re doing?’ So I’ve been really passive about the whole thing. I think that he sees my passiveness as being not interested, and we’re both quirky blokes, we both have our emotional issues, but I’d love to do it.”

Conversation turns briefly back to Numan’s mid-80s decline, a précis of which is preserved on YouTube. It features an extract from an 80s television show called 8 Days A Week, in which a panel offer their opinion on a piece of music. One of the panellists is Marc Almond. He is shown a then new Numan album, 1983’s Warriors, and proceeds to rip it, and Numan, to shreds. The only thing more shocking than Almond’s vituperation is that his fellow panellists and presenters indulge him, which suggests how high the threshold for taking the piss out of Numan had gone.

“If you’re famous, that shit happens. You just laugh about it. Perhaps me having Asperger’s is a useful thing, because that kind of thing tends to roll off you. It’s inconsequential; it’s an annoying little aside that you forget about ten minutes later, because you’re driven in a certain direction, and only the things that help you go in that direction are important to you.”

Playing O2 ABC on 20 Sep Dead Son Rising is released on 24 Oct

Gary Numan at O2 ABC on 20 Sep

www.numan.co.uk

October 2011

THE SKINNY 19

ART

GROUP EFFORT

Firmly established as a development programme for emerging artists, New Work Scotland now wants its participants to talk to each other. The Skinny chats to Rhianna Turnbull and Gordon Schmidt about how the new cooperative focus went down Interview: Jac Mantle

Begun by the Collective gallery in 1999, New Work Scotland evolves year upon year but is as common a feature of the Scottish art scene as shows in tenement flats and rancid opening night wine.

This year Collective signalled a change to the programme with the introduction of a theme – Mining the Horizon – and the promise of more group dialogue and critical discourse. To find out what this new approach means for the artists, we spoke to Gordon Schmidt and Rhianna Turnbull, who are first to show this October.

“From what I can tell, the exhibition end game will be similar to previous NWSP years in that the same space is being used for solo shows with a single publication about all the participants. Business as usual.” Indeed. The residency at Studio Voltaire in London is once again part of the support offered, but while in the past just one artist was given an eightweek residency, this year the opportunity has been extended to all of the participants, each spending a fortnight there with their exhibition partner.

Schmidt and Turnbull have just returned from their slot, where they took turns to use the studio a day at a time. “Just being in London with someone who’s doing the same things as you is quite a nice buffer,” says Turnbull, who used the residency to shoot footage for a video work. “In the past I think people have found it difficult because Studio Voltaire is essentially a studio space, and you can try to contact people and things, but essentially you were there on your own.”

There was also a group weekend retreat to Hospitalfield House in Arbroath, which was attended by the NWSP panel and mentors. But, says Turnbull, the group focus hasn’t been forced on them. “It’s fallen more to us now to organise meeting up. Collective are trying this new thing out and they’ve changed the programme slightly, but we’re all still having solo shows so we’re not working together as such. The best part is that you get to understand better what everyone else does.”

What exactly the artists will be showing, however, is something even Collective’s director Kate Gray

fail 2009 (video still from stone roses powercut on The Late Show, BBC 1989) gordon schmidt

will have to wait to see. Schmidt is working on a three-projection synced video and sound installation, to show alongside prints based on research from The Mitchell Library’s microfilm archive. Taking as his starting point a Stone Roses gig held on Glasgow Green in 1990 – the year Glasgow was named European City of Culture – he is making a series of interviews to camera to create an oral history of the event.

“This approach fits well with the epoch of this particular event, as in 1990 video cameras and phone cameras weren’t accessible to most people, therefore personal footage does not exist for this event in the way that it has done from the mid 90s onwards,” he explains in his NWSP statement.

Turnbull will be showing a collection of collages assembled from magazine cuttings, moving between the generic and the very specific. They

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often feature banal situations that are nevertheless infused with glamour – a perceived attitude on behalf of the imagined protagonists that everything is “cool”. One is titled Rich Arabs have got the builders in; another is Early 90s, West End at Night.

“In the beginning, I was making collages of ideal situations,” she explains. “Then they became less generic and I wanted to make them more like real life, which is often less than amazing.”

She also plans to show a video work that muses on the sensibility of certain women when they drive – a casual attitude and confidence of being in their own domain. Despite life’s palpable lack of glamour for emerging artists, both Schmidt and Turnbull seem to occupy this very attitude: clearly NWSP is very much their domain. www.collectivegallery.net

An exciting new work of dance, music and visual theatre.

Directed & Choreographed by

KALLY LLOYD-JONES

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20 THE SKINNY October 2011

BOOKS

Getting Wasted with Allan Wilson

Allan Wilson’s debut short story collection, Wasted in Love, tells stories that could be described as ‘scenes from Glasgow, 2011’. And quite frankly, it’s a brilliant book, well crafted, authentic and necessary. And since it’s set in Glasgow, a number of the stories involve drink in one way or another, more by necessity than design... which gives us a tenuous but excellent excuse for an interview/pub game hybrid Interview: Keir Hind Illustration: Nick Cocozza

So here are the rules. Interviewer Keir Hind plays interviewee Allan Wilson at pub games, seven in all. If Wilson wins, he gets asked an interview question befitting a serious writer. If Hind wins, he gets to ask a pointless, trivial question for his own amusement. So we start with: Game 1: Darts. Except darts can’t be played in any pub that could be found, probably because drinking and sharp objects don’t mix. Working with what’s available, game one becomes: Connect 4. (It was that or noughts and crosses).

Winner: Wilson wins easily here. So, serious question number one please: KH: What made you want to start writing short stories?

AW: I started writing short stories because it was something that I thought I was quite good at. The real reason that I became serious about it was that I moved to Stirling and I went to university, and me and my pal, we were both doing an English degree – there were four of us in a flat, but me and this one guy, Kenny, were both doing English. And what happened was one time we were on the way home from the union, and he died, we were trying to swim across the River Forth. Mental, but we were both trying to swim across and then he died, and after that I looked at everything differently, including writing, including what I wanted to do in terms of jobs and all that – I re-evaluated everything I suppose. The book will be dedicated to him, and to my fiancée. I’ve been going out with my girlfriend since I was seventeen, so she helped me through all that. After that I just started getting serious about it and decided it was worth doing.

Game 2: Pool! It’s easy to find Pool.

Winner: This one goes back and forth. Hind takes an early lead, Wilson draws back, Hind clears all his colours but pots the white, Wilson finishes his colours but he pots the white too, leaving Hind with an easy shot on the black.

Hind misses, leaving Wilson an easy shot on the black. Wilson misses! Hind pots the ball – a tragedy for the boy Wilson! One pointless trivial question please!

KH: Nonsensical trivia number 1: What is the best film version of a book?

AW: I’ll go with Fight Club, because I saw it before I read the book, loved it, and maybe when I was in my early twenties when I was quite an angry guy I wanted to be in a fight club, and I was kind of determined to find a Glasgow based fight club.

But instead of fighting, I suppose I started writing.

Game 3: Not fighting, certainly, but we do find a pub that has Streetfighter 2 in it. Best of 3 rounds.

Winner: Mr ‘Fight Club’ Wilson wins 2-0.

Proper Question ahoy!

KH: What kind of work pattern do you have?

You work as an English teacher, so you’re dealing with some kind of writing all day. How do you then come home and write?

AW: I don’t usually, I tend to get up at four, half 3 even, and write before I go to work. I’m much better at writing before I do anything else. When the day starts, and there’s a lot going on, I don’t tend to write very well. So I tend to do most of my writing before 9 o’clock in the morning. In saying that, if I’ve got something on the go I’ll go home and write because I’ll have been thinking about it all day. I’ll write anywhere – I’ve written a story on a treadmill, I’ve been sitting waiting on buses writing stories, so I do write whenever I get

the time. I’ve got one of those wee laptops, so I take it around and use it to write on when I get a chance.

Game 4: Snakes and Ladders proves to be available, so let’s get that over with.

Winner: Wilson makes a fatal error here, because when chess pieces are used as counters, he chooses the terminally uncool White Bishop.

Hind’s choice of Black Knight makes it inevitable he’d win, and he does. Trivia!

KH; Another teacher-related question: What’s the best book you teach?

AW: I’ll say a play. It’s Arthur Miller’s View From The Bridge. It’s a really great story about a down and out guy in his fifties who realises he’s wasted the majority of his life in a job he doesn’t like, then something happens which changes everything and it all goes wrong.

Game 5: Back to screens, as the contestants line up against each other at FIFA Soccer.

Brazil (Hind) and The Netherlands (Wilson) are deadlocked until just before half time when Hind scores. Wilson equalises a little later, but after this no-one looks like scoring. Both contestants are wondering aloud whether a penalty shootout will be necessary, when Hind scores right at the death!

Winner: Final score Hind 2 (Bebeto 44, Bebeto 90) – Wilson 1 (R De Boer 54). Wilson, your boys took a hell of a beating! Trivia time!

KH: And speaking of beatings: Who is the writer you’d most like to fight. Not in a literary sense either. Real, proper fighting.

AW: [After much protesting and groaning] I’ll….

I was kind of determined to find a Glasgow based fight club. But instead of fighting, I suppose I started writing’ Allan Wilson

say…. Raymond Carver. I don’t want to beat him though, I’d want us to not actually hurt each other, and I want him to beat me, just so he’d say something, doesn’t matter what it is, just words of advice like something Mickey out of Rocky would say, just to make me feel better and inspire me.

Game 6: A retreat to the sedate world of draughts.

Winner: Wilson wins with astonishing ease.

Proper question time!

KH: Who do you see as influences?

AW: Well, lots. But overall, over time, it comes down to the same people which are basically James Kelman, Alasdair Gray, Tom Leonard, Alan Bissett, and then the Americans, so Amy Hemple, Tobias Wolff, Alice Munro, and of course Raymond Carver.

Alexander Trocchi changed everything when I read Young Adam. Dostoevsky, Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Agnes Owens, Chekhov…. They’re the main ones.

Game 7: At 3 games each, this is the decider: Table Tennis.

Winner: It’s no contest as Wilson wins 21-15, with the score frankly flattering Hind’s appalling display. So the final question will be a proper writer’s one: KH: What role does ambiguity play in your work?

AW: Okay. Well, for me as a reader, I always like to do the work. I don’t like it when the writer does the work for me, because it ruins reading for me. If a writer tells me everything I’ve got nothing to enjoy, I’ve got nothing to work out for myself, and it’s not a challenge. So in terms of writing I suppose I want that same thing to come across, that the reader has something to do, that the reader can be involved in some sense. I write the story as it comes though, it’s not planned like that. The thing with a short story, I suppose, is that a novel has room to explain things but a short story has to go on by raising some questions and the reader gets to join in and answer them.

Join in with pub game champion Allan Wilson by picking up Wasted in Love when it’s released on 11 Oct.Preorder at www.cargopublishing.com/wasted-in-love The book will be launched at a free event at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street, at 6pm on 11 Oct

October 2011

THE SKINNY 21

LATE NIGHT BAR / CLUB / LIVE MUSIC / PRIVATE KARAOKE

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22 THE SKINNY October 2011

bigdada.com

COMEDY

“I think it would be great if everyone was ordered to get gay married”

One of America’s most provocative comedians, Margaret Cho is on a world tour that begins and ends in Scotland. But where is she now?

Interview: Bernard O’Leary

Cho has blogged about some borderline racist experiences at this year’s Fringe, like being consistently ignored by Edinburgh taxi drivers and receiving racist and sexist abuse while walking across The Meadows (although the latter problem was solved by running at them with her iPhone while screaming “say it to the camera!’).

Talking to her now in September, all the stress of the Fringe has melted away. Racist cabbies and terrorised neds are all in the past; she remembers all the things she fell in love with in Edinburgh: the magical atmosphere at the Dans Palais in George Square, the buzz of being surrounded by artists, the late-night drinking, and “white cheddar and Branston pickle sandwiches. And a salt and vinegar chip. That’s all I ever really want to eat. That’s why I want to come back to Scotland, so I can eat those all day.”

Plans are already afoot for next year, with an idea for a gay-themed cabaret with her new friend Scott Capurro and the intention of getting guests ranging from the über-camp Bob Downe to Rich Hall’s hoedown band.

I found out that Bristol [Palin] didn’t want to do Dancing With The Stars but Sarah Palin forced her to, because she blamed her for losing the 2008 election MARGARET CHO Photo: Lindsey Byrnes

This should be a simple job. She was in Edinburgh during August for the Fringe; she’s going to play The Stand in Glasgow in October. She couldn’t have gotten far, right? But when we finally catch up with Margaret Cho, she’s in Australia preparing for a gig at the Sydney Opera House.

Which begs the question: how on earth do you deal with the jetlag?

“I’m still not over my Edinburgh jetlag,” she says, sounding suspiciously perky. “I was getting up at 8pm, doing my show at 9 and then having breakfast. For the whole month of August I was completely nocturnal.”

Cho Dependent, her first Fringe appearance in 10 years, was something of a hit, with a string of 5-star reviews and a great buzz around town. It sees a slightly more mellow Cho than 2001’s Notorious C.H.O., with thoughts on relationships and wanting to have children, as well as some songs from her Grammy-nominated album (featuring collaborations with the likes of Ani DiFranco and Tegan & Sara).

But there’s still plenty of the usual blend of political consciousness and hair-raising filth.

A self-proclaimed “patron saint of outsiders”, Cho is of Korean descent and grew up in the ultra-liberal Haight Street area of San Francisco region at the end of the hippie era. Ever since her comedy debut at the age of 16 she’s been outspoken on issues of race and sexuality, campaigning for LGBT issues and against the death penalty.

Is it ever difficult to talk about important things while trying to be funny? “No, you have this idea that comedy should be beyond feminism or race, but we still have to focus attention on these issues. There are still inequalities. Like, when I see a female comic saying ‘I’m not a feminist’, I’m like, ‘That’s... strange.’ Feminism is such a basic part of who I am.”

All of which puts her on the exact opposite end of the political spectrum to people like Sarah Palin, a frequent target for Cho who has called her “the worst thing to happen to America since 9/11.”

Last year, Cho found herself directly in conflict with her nemesis when she appeared on Dancing With The Stars with Bristol Palin, the daughter who spoiled her family’s wholesome image by getting pregnant at 18.

“Yeah, it was really weird to be on the same show as her,” says Cho, “especially when I had said so many really rude things about her mother.

But I became friends with her after a while, and then we had this huge fight.

“I found out that Bristol didn’t want to do Dancing With The Stars but Sarah Palin forced her to, because she blamed her for losing the 2008 election. She told her, ‘You owe it to me to do Dancing With The Stars so I can have a good start to a run for the presidency in 2012’.”

“I talk about this a lot on stage, I got in trouble for exposing it. Bristol got mad and wrote this long blog about it. Actually, I think it was her mother’s speechwriter. Bristol is just one of these silent, wordless people. I would have loved to have taken her away because she’s totally in the shadow of her mother.”

Like a lot of American comics, Cho was slightly surprised to come to Edinburgh and find that everyone was already familiar with Sarah Palin, as well as figures like Michelle Bachmann and the Tea Party. It’s true that we love a bit of American political panto, but do we in Europe only hear about the extreme elements?

Cho disagrees. “No. It is extreme now. It’s become a kind of world theatre that’s not even about politics, it’s just this soap opera that’s fascinating and weird.”

In the interest of objectivity, let’s ask her to compare right-wing nutters on both sides of the Atlantic. The Daily Mail recently ran a headline screaming that gay marriage was “to be imposed on Scotland”. What do you make of that?

“So it’s going to be instated by force? That would be awesome. I think it would be great if everyone was ordered to get gay married.”

On the same day, there was a story about a Florida preacher who was calling for a national registry of atheists.

“Like a sex offender registry, so we can treat atheists like paedophiles? That’s more proof of all the idiots that are in America. That’s crazy.”

One-nil to us then. Does that mean that we are really smarter than Americans?

Cho laughs. “You know what, there are different dialogues happening in the two countries. There are some things I noticed in Edinburgh, like when it comes to environmental issues Scotland is way ahead of the US. The political consciousness there is generally more inclined towards helping and co-operating with the rest of the world.

“What Scotland maybe has less of is a race consciousness because there are fewer black people and a smaller range of minorities. You have more immigrants from South Asia who’ve been there for generations, and maybe a narrower racial spectrum. So it can be weird. When I’m in Scotland I’m not considered Asian. What? So where do I fit in? Oh, it turns out I’m American. Here’s me thinking I was Asian all this time.”

But her real desire to come back is so that she can try out her ideas on a foreign audience. “I love this thing of touring internationally and exploring different cultures,” she says. “Because we share a common language, but the culture is totally different.

“There’s a reserve in the UK that isn’t there even in Australia or Canada, certainly not in the US. If you can move an audience past that it’s really satisfying, That was my challenge, going into these taboo areas of talking about sexuality or politics and moving audiences past their level of comfort.”

Well, Edinburgh audiences might be reserved but Glasgow audiences are a little less so.

“Good! I can’t wait.”

Margaret Cho: Cho Dependent, The Stand Glasgow, 23 &24 Oct, £12

October 2011

THE SKINNY 23

FILM

The Revolution Starts Here 2011 has been a year of historic demonstrations across the globe. Glasgow based human rights festival Document, in its 9th year, takes inspiration from these public uprisings with a programme of films looking at protests from Egypt to Dalmarnock Words: Alan Bett

Set to return for its ninth year, Document (20-23 Oct), the Glasgow based international human rights documentary film festival, is showing no signs of complacency with its themes as relevant as ever. Founded in 2003, the festival was a response by coordinators Mona Rai and Paula Larkin to the treatment of the city’s asylum seekers and refugees, placing their discrimination within a global context. Since then the festival has established a reputation for screening films that not only engage with global human rights issues, but are simultaneously topical and significant.

Even from the briefest scan of the comprehensive programme, which includes panel discussions, workshops and music events alongside its documentary screenings, what is most striking is the relevance of the events and individual film selections to current situations around the globle.

Though the names of the directors may not be instantly recognisable, the issues being addressed by their films are invariably either shockingly disturbing or all too familiar. The festival’s selection panel have included films from subjects as diverse as the sale of young Cambodian girls’ virginities by their parents (The Girls of Phnom Penh, 6.15pm, 22 Oct), to the struggles of an Israeli singer and songwriter dealing with bipolar disorder (Wandering Eyes, 4.15pm, 22 Oct). In addition some shorter films with related subject matters have been grouped together, such as Leonid’s Story and Volunteer Come Forward!, which are screening as part of their Remembering Chernobyl In The Year Of Fukushima event (3pm, 21 Oct).

A particular highlight is the inclusion of former Dispatches producer Ruaridh Arrow’s How to Start a Revolution (8pm, 23 Oct), a film about the writings of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gene Sharp. Sharp, an American academic, may be relatively unknown outwith certain scholarly circles, but his works

on non-violent revolution have been, and remain currently, used to overthrow dictators around the world. His list of 198 ‘non-violent weapons’ has been utilised across Eastern Europe, helping to bring down Slobodan Milošević and Viktor Yanukovych in Serbia and the Ukraine respectively, was threatening to do the same in Iran in 2009, and can be seen as part of the revolution taking place in Egypt. These ‘weapons’ range from having protest signs in English to the uniform use of symbols and colours as a means to demonstrate unity. Arrow’s film explores the use of the scholar’s methods, described by Sharp himself as a “technique of combat” and “a substitute for war”, and the permeation of his ideas throughout global democratic uprisings. “I wanted to trace the influence of Gene Sharp’s work across revolutionary movements,” says Arrow. “When I started I couldn’t possibly have imagined that it would lead me to Tahrir Square in Cairo during the midst of the Egyptian revolution.” Perhaps in thanks to the intriguing nature of the film’s premise, to date it has received over $57,000 funding in pledges through crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter. This money is intended to assist in the exhibition and distribution of the film, which Arrow attests is crucial to the project’s ambition. “This is an important film of record, but we also hope it will help inspire people living under dictatorships all over the world.”

Through its diverse and engaging programme, Document 9 claims “to offer a broader understanding of issues often ignored by the mainstream media,” and it seems audiences should be well catered for, with not only a wealth of fascinating films, but related seminars to boot for those wishing to delve deeper into the lives and struggles faced by those on screen.

How to Start a Revolution

Document 9 Film Festival runs from 20-23 Oct – all screenings at the CCA in Glasgow. See Document 9’s website for more details Leonid’s Story

documentfilmfestival.org

Wandering Eyes

Memories and Dreams In its fifth year, The Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival has established itself as a key event on Scotland’s cultural calendar. The Skinny previews its film strand, the ideal art form to explore this year’s theme of memories and dreams Words: Alan Bett Since cinema’s inception it has portrayed the intricate interiors of our minds — we need only look to the dream logic of Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou. Hopes, dreams, anxieties and nightmares have been trapped in celluloid and projected onto the silver screen over the last century. So, it seems only fitting that film is a primary medium used by the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival (SMHAFF) to achieve its goals. Those admirable objectives are to stimulate discussion on mental health through a variety of arts events running throughout October. The festival’s film strand director, Eddie Harrison, backs cinema as a key tool. “It’s amazing how well cinema gets people talking... [it] breaks down barriers and allows audiences to take part in positive discussion.”

It’s the differing opinions expressed in these debates which enhance our awareness of this delicate subject matter. There are many misconceptions around mental health, and cinema has not always shown its actuality through the clearest lens. Mental illness has all too often been used to horrific or comic effect. Even Polanski’s portrayal of a fractured mind in Repulsion, or Sara Goldfarb’s slow descent into hell in Requiem for a Dream show highly stylised visions of truly frightening realities. Harrison agreed that films frequently

24 THE SKINNY October 2011

It’s amazing how well cinema gets people talking... it breaks down barriers and allows audiences to take part in positive discussion Eddie Harrison

stigmatise by resorting to over-the-top stereotypes, but his festival has painted with a broader brush.

“The SMHAFF looks at mental health generally, and mental illness is only a part of that.”

Curating with the guidance of Dr Peter Byrne (psychiatrist and senior lecturer at University College

London), Harrison has chosen films which deal sensitively with the themes of memory, sleep and dreams. This includes Away From Her (16 Oct, Filmhouse), Sarah Polley’s subtle study of Alzheimer’s effects. There is also Stand by Me (8 Oct, Eden Court, Inverness), Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (20 Oct, Paisley Arts Centre) and Bill Forsyth’s Scottish classic Local Hero (23 Oct, Filmhouse), a film Harrison describes as “a story about how a community’s memories provide a sense of identity.”

Particularly refreshing, this festival has no geographical boundaries within Scotland. Events take place in Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and the Highlands, alongside the usual Central Belt venues.

These events address topical issues which are relevant to these communities such as veterans’ post-conflict struggles and the consequences of drug addiction. Film is so often a Rorschach sketching, some see the endless possibilities of chance, the wonders of the universe; others view only a solitary blob of ink. As long as these disagreements lead to discussion and understanding then the SMHAFF will have done its job.

Scottish Mental Heath Arts & Film Festival takes place 1-24 Oct at venues across Scotland.

See their website for more details www.mhfestival.com

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

A Centre for the Arts and Creativity

Faith and science. Love and miracles.

By Abi Morgan

A co-production between National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

World Première 21 October – 12 November 2011 BOX OFFICE: 0131 248 4848 GROUPS 8+: 0131 248 4949 TEXT RELAY: 18001 0131 248 4848 MOBILE: m.lyceum.org.uk ONLINE: www.lyceum.org.uk/27 TWITTER: #27 Royal Lyceum Theatre is a Registered Company No. SC062065 Scottish Charity Registered No. SC010509 National Theatre of Scotland is a Registered Company No. SC234270 Scottish Charity Registered No. SCO33377

highlights october eXhibitioNs Project Ability Collected Glasgow Project Room Exhibition by Stuart Murray Glasgow Print Studio Featured Artist: Alan Cameron Street Level Photoworks The Obsidian Isle Trongate 103 Foyer Images from the 70s and 00’s by Keith Ingham Glasgow Print Studio Modern and Contemporary Masters

Tony Cragg

Until 6 November 2011 Belford Road, Edinburgh £7/£5 With support from

Media partner

SCULPTURES AND DRAWINGS National Galleries of Scotland is a charity registered in Scotland (No. SC003728)

eVeNts GMAC: Café Flicker Sharmanka Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre performance* Russian Cultural Centre: Sunday Evening Music Recitals* creAte* Trongate 103 offers a wide choice of creative classes in a variety of techniques and media including print, photography, digital imaging animation, film and video. troNgAte 103 Welcome Visits Learn more about the venue by joining us on one of these free behind the scenes tours.

ADmissioN Free 103 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HD 0141 276 8380 info@trongate103.com

t Firs DAY s r thU

Gallery previews, music, and fun — monthly 6-9pm

www.trongate103.com

Tony Cragg, Bent of Mind, © The Artist; photography © Charles Duprat

*Charges may apply for some performances, workshops, classes and events.

OCTOBER 2011

THE SKINNY 25

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26 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

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PERFORM

The Cabaret Revival (Reprise) It’s Here, It’s Queer, Get Used to It Interview: Gareth K Vile

The surprise at cabaret’s revival seems to have lasted a decade: newspapers were still talking about it in 2010, even though its earliest manifestation had been in the late twentieth century, and artists like Dusty Limits had refined their work into a sophisticated fusion of styles and influences. The much-heralded new Cabaret section in the Fringe brochure was not so much a sign of resurgence but a statement of maturity: the shifting fashions of Edinburgh’s annual cultural blow-out saw one artist, Miaow Miaow, graduate to the International Festival while the growth came from artists like Limits, Camille O’Sullivan or Le Gateau Chocolat, who stepped out from the variety line-ups to develop solo shows of powerful theatricality.

At the same time, burlesque was no longer the ultimate definition of cabaret. While shows like Comic Strip or Kitty Cointreau’s Brahaha affirmed that there was still an audience for striptease, more inclusive formats, as in Itsy’s Kabarett or Blonde Ambition’s Vive Le Cabaret flourished. Against this context, Rhymes with Purple’s decision to stage the second Glasgow Cabaret Festival this October is both timely and visionary.

“We had a very strong curatorial vision, the cornerstone of that being a commitment to quality and the desire to present something diverse and different,” affirms director Louise Oliver. “Because cabaret is starting to embrace its inherent theatricality, and more high quality artists define themselves using the term cabaret, the industry is starting to sit up and take notice.”

The Glasgow Cabaret Festival itself has captured some of those artists: Scotland’s own Creative Martyrs reprise their Free Fringe hit, Tales From a Cabaret, and pop iconoclasts Frisky and Mannish are heading north to wow audiences with their ironic take on pop celebrity. The Pavilion hosts an all-star touring cabaret, hosted

by burlesque radical Kiki KaBoom – her chavette striptease is intelligent and provocative. If the term cabaret is itself hard to define – it is often conflated with vaudeville and variety, or even burlesque – it gives artists a creative freedom to mix and match genres.

“One thing we wanted to achieve was a selection of shows with narrative, that were theatrical in their approach but by preferred definition are cabaret,” Oliver continues. “I think we have achieved that with The Creative Martyrs, Once Bitten and After Hours at the End of Time, which all use overlapping disciplines in their creation. These shows mix music, comedy, storytelling and elements of variety to create a finished theatrical product.”

Across the GCF, the full range of possibilities is explored. Des O’Connor, best known as a cheeky, ukulele-wielding compere, is bringing his new, more experimental work Once Bitten; Piff the Magic Dragon has an hour long show of his selfdeprecating magic. Since Rhymes with Purple are as much a theatre company as a cabaret promoter – they staged the disturbing study of waterboarding in 2010’s Mayfesto at the Tron – they are in the perfect position to identify and advocate the new wave of acts.

“From the Tron including Dr Sketchy (the burlesque art session) as a regular feature in its programme to the Soho Theatre in London opening up a dedicated cabaret space, cabaret is carving out a legitimacy for itself in the more ‘high brow’ cultural landscape,” Oliver says. “I hope that the Cabaret Festival can be a spearhead for that attitude in Scotland: this time next year there will be a Creative Scotland logo on our promotional material!”

Blonde Ambition, who were crucial in the reinvention of cabaret as a glamorous, high quality variety bill, have two entries in this year’s festival.

A reprise of Vive Le Cabaret gives the West Coast a chance to sample the show that has, for two years, been a flagship of the Fringe.

Vive takes its cues both from the British vaudeville movement and the French tradition of polished erotica. Dance company Hustle provide a touch of jazz sensuality, while the introduction of classical showgirls round out host Des O’Connor’s ironic schmaltz. During the Fringe, Blonde Ambition scoured Edinburgh to discover comedians, acrobats and burlesque performers to match the brilliance of their core cast, which included Edinburgh’s Gypsy Charms and Viva Misadventure, who are often credited with beginning the burlesque rival north of the border.

O’Connor has been crucial to Vive’s success.

Equally capable of singing the most obscene lyric with a carefree charm and sudden dark satire, his vision of cabaret is both subversive and innocent: he acts as the boy spotting the Emperor’s New Clothes and deftly cuts beneath prudery and decadence with ease. As compere, he pulls together the hidden connections between the turns, be they Amanda Palmer in her downbeat mode or the spectacular Ed Muir, a Diet Coke advert given life.

Rhymes with Purple are not the only company to have noticed the cultural shift. When Dusty Limits first started making the connection between the Weimar Republic and contemporary politics, the link between the political and the theatrical was affirmed. Recently, 7:84 and Wildcat, two vociferously engaged old school Glasgow crews, made a comeback in a variety format and former members of Benchtours have evolved into The Occasional Cabaret, touring their Apocalypse around Scotland. And Glasgay! is offering the Best of Jonny Woo – his stripping guerilla routine has an uncanny soulfulness – Amy Lame’s birthday party for

We had a very strong curatorial vision, the cornerstone of that being a commitment to quality and the desire to present something diverse and different, because cabaret is starting to embrace its inherent theatricality, Louise Oliver Missy Malone

Morrisey and Bourgeois and Maurice. Lame’s Ducky has trod the thin line between Live Art mayhem and kitsch cabaret charm for years in London: the presence of Scottee, Time Out’s performer of the year and an artist who defines the cutting edge, is a reminder of how neo-cabaret is far more than just a gentle reinvention of the old TV variety format.

Across in Edinburgh Missy Malone and Friends Burlesque Review’s Halloween special is a strong example of how neo-burlesque is increasingly standing alone beyond variety bills. Malone herself is one of the scene’s most dynamic performers.

“Burlesque is my passion and my life,” she says.

“I put a lot of time, effort and money into my performances and I am very self critical. I think the quality of your performances is the only thing that will sustain your success.”

One night that undoubtedly fuelled Scotland’s home scene was Kabarett. Curated by the Itsy Collective, it has lined up a typically idiosyncratic bill to celebrate its third birthday at the Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh’s spiritual home of cabaret.

Matching local acrobats with a street brass band and a headline turn from Fusion belly dancer and sword swinger Leah Debrincat, Kabarett is always an unpredictable, dynamic fusion of forms. The inclusion of the Creative Martyrs – who also turn up in the Cabaret Festival edition of The Gatsby Club – reminds how Kabarett has always walked on the darker side of the street.

The Glasgow Cabaret Festival is all-embracing, and provides a sure snapshot of the state of the art. From sexy glamour to the dark corners of satire, the idea of cabaret being the poor cousin of performance is already an outdated and facile notion, just like the next article on the revival.

8 – 16 Oct www.glasgowcabaretfestival.com/

FIVE FACETS OF CABARET Tease Art Exhibition (The Virginia Galleries) Fiona Wilson and Friends paint, photograph and sculpt responses to the business of the show, featuring images both erotic and confrontational.

Rayguns Look Real Enough (Art Club) Unhinged rock’n’roll duo try to piece together what went so wrong that they lost the flunkies and ended up on the variety circuit. Like Amanda Palmer, they might be looking for something in cabaret that a world stadium tour just can’t provide.

After Hours at the End of Time (Tron, Victoria Bar) Tribute to Tom Waits, both through his songs and the atmosphere that he conjures through them.

The Best of Jonny Woo (The Arches) Proving drag can be a great deal more than ironic posing, Woo goes wild with his favourite characters. A one man show of far too many dangerous personalities.

Matsuda Cabaret (Rio Cafe) Regulars from Spangled Cabaret, including Scunner and Peggy Lee team up with Thomas Truax to reveal how musical variety need not mean Perry Como.

October 2011

THE SKINNY 27

THE SKINNY SHOP EMERGING ART FROM SCOTLAND

Monday 7 November 7.30pm

28 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

‘He is a genius of African music’ Guardian PHOTO: MARKUS THORSEN

From November, own limited edition art

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TRAVEL

Meeting Mr Adventure

Professional traveller Charley Boorman discusses his forthcoming speaking tour on the vagaries of travelling the world, and gives sound advice on what to do in case of an elephant stampede Interview: Paul Mitchell

“If the big bull elephant with the flapping ears who’s trumpeting starts to charge in your direction, then run. Your chances of turning the bike in time are negligible. I always position myself behind two guys, make sure there’s someone else there first.” Thus does Charley Boorman outline his strategic ‘bravery’ in the face of an onrushing herd of elephants; a bona fide potential hazard when touring the plains of Africa.

The Skinny catches up with the actor and adventurer on the eve of one such tour: a journey from Cape Town to Victoria Falls and back again, in the company of thirty or so volunteers from around the world. All very well Charley, but what about the two guys in front of you? Boorman laughs (and lest this give the wrong impression, he is an unstintingly polite and genuinely warm interviewee): “Well, you fend for yourself in that situation. It’s in the contract we all sign up to. ‘Will do enough to survive’.”

Charley is the son of renowned director John Boorman, and has appeared in many of his father’s films, including the landmark 1972 film Deliverance, about a group of four city slickers who end up experiencing a series of misadventures in the Deep South of the USA. In 1997, on the set of the Phillipe Rousselot-directed thriller The Serpent’s Kiss, Charley became friends with that film’s star, Ewan McGregor, ultimately leading to their well-received motorbike-based TV travelogue Long Way Round in 2004, where the pair biked from London to New York via Europe and Asia (They subsequently biked from John O’Groats to Cape town in the 2007 follow-up, Long Way Down).

Boorman Jr is now firmly establised as one of the faces of ‘Adventure TV’ and to that end, has just finished filming his Extreme Frontiers Canada Expedition 2011, a motorbike trip across the world’s second largest country which is due to air early next year on Channel 5. “The idea of this show was to choose one country and spend a lot of time in it, and really get to know it. It’s the second largest, yet one of the least densely populated areas of the globe. Canada is built on frontiers. People used to go fur trading and it has a long history, where people have been exploring for centuries.”

So what then, in checking the title of the show doesn’t breach the Trade Descriptions Act, were the more extreme elements of the trip? “I went up a 3000 metre mountain with the guy, Barry Blanchard, who trained Sylvester Stallone to climb [for the 1993 box office hit Cliffhanger]. I mean I’d never rock climbed before and he’s taking us up vertical cliffs, shimmying up... it was terrifying. We ended up staying the night on the mountain, with this 80-90 mph hurricane/wind rushing through.

The tents were literally flat on my face at 2,500 metres up. I was thinking ‘If those pegs blow away I’ve got one hell of a fall’. I also did a rodeo ride, fell off, then the bull tried to kill me, skewer me. OK, the bull turned out to be more the size of a cow, well, maybe a baby cow, but it was still intense. I was never put on a big bull. Some of these bulls are 2,500 pounds and have just been bred to take these rodeo guys off. So mine was a small one, and it was still pretty hard. Then you watch these guys on the big ones, and you wonder how they can do that. None of them can walk properly, they’ve all bust every bone on their body and they’re all crooked and bent. That’s balls of steel those guys have.”

Travelling has always been part of Boorman’s

routine, criss-crossing the globe as a child wherever his father’s career took him. Since his meeting with McGregor however, this ingrained wanderlust has become a profession. But does travelling feel different when the cameras are constantly rolling?

“It feels fine to me. I guess it’s because I’ve been involved in TV and film production since I was a kid. Ewan and I were familiar with the procedures of production and putting it all together. We own the production company and everything is done between us. It’s not just a case of us heading out the door and then the filming starts, it’s everything involved in the process. I love all that.”

This autumn, Boorman adds another strand to his role as a professional traveller by touring a live show around the country. On 7 November, he hits the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh to share personal anecdotes about his experiences to date, accompanied by video clips and his erstwhile travelling partner Billy ‘Biketruck’ Ward. The show is ostensibly about “things that happen when travelling. A lot of people identify with the sense

few big rocks, this ain’t looking good’. So I picked up a rock from the river thinking ‘Oh god, here we go’. We somehow managed to defuse the scenario but it really was dodgy. My cameraman has been in Afghanistan and loads of places and even he thought we were in dire straits. An hour or so later we managed to cross the river and get back on our way. We just started looking at each other and started laughing. That’s the fun of travelling – when it all goes wrong and you get away with it.”

Boorman, who also spends an inordinate amount of time doing work for charity (including a role as president of Dyslexia Action, fundraiser for UNICEF and an ambassador for Movember in the aftermath of his own personal battle with testicular cancer) has one simple piece of advice for travellers in general, which is always to keep an open mind. “I think there’s an unfair opinion about a lot of countries and when you mention you’re going to Papua New Guinea or even Africa, people can tend to go ‘That’s a dodgy place, I wouldn’t go there’. ‘Oh really, have you been?’ ‘No.’ A lot

of people just pick up on the bad bits of the news and people can often generalise (perhaps even consider Africa as one country. If there’s something going on in Libya that must be the whole of Africa). Of course there are parts of Africa which are dodgy but most of it is really good. 90% of people that you meet along the way are really nice. I always find it’s the governments that fuck it up for everyone. Apart from perhaps warzones, you can go anywhere in the world and people are nice. The thing about it is, the less people have the more people are willing to give. I’ve always been quite humbled by that. You turn up on a motorbike in a little tiny village somewhere. They offer you a cup of tea and then they give you a bit of sugar and you know that sugar is a commodity they can scarcely afford, yet they’ll happily give you three or four spoons. It’s that sort of kindness and the fact that generally it’s pretty safe to travel anywhere that’s the most exciting thing.”

Charley Boorman Live, Queens Hall, 7 Nov, 7.30pm, £16 www.charleyboormanlive.com

I also did a rodeo ride, fell off, then the bull tried to kill me, skewer me. OK, the bull turned out to be more the size of a cow, well, maybe a baby cow, but it was still intense Charley Boorman

of adventure involved and will probably have done something similar before themselves. When you see other people do it, there are bits you can identify with and laugh about; those stupid, ridiculous situations you can laugh about together. Maybe even dangerous situations where you ask ‘What the fuck am I doing here?’ then you can laugh about those hysterical scenarios where you wonder how you got away with it.”

Does he perhaps have any example that stands out? “One was where we were in Papua New Guinea and in this old 1950s flatbed truck with a load of other people. We got to this river where there was no bridge, and it was too high to cross.

A few other trucks turned up and we were stranded there. Then we all started drinking and then an argument broke out between some of the guys on the other side of the river. They started chucking stones at each other and we were filming all this.

They suddenly realised this fact and then turned on us, pulling out these big machetes. The truck driver turned to me and said ‘Charlie, pick up a

October 2011

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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE AWARDS

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SJS: IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU

30 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

www.stjamesshopping.com

DEVIANCE

The Gay Marriage Debate

On Friday 2 September, the Scottish Government’s Consultation on same-sex marriage was launched. The Skinny caught up with SNP MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, John Mason, to discuss the process Interview: Ana Hine Illustration: Lewis MacDonald

Skirting the Issue What is this gender equality if a man cannot wear a pair of heels without attracting questions of sexuality!

Words: Matthew Bobbu Illustration: Steven Jarvis

On the day that the Scottish Government’s Consultation on same-sex marriage was launched, a British newspaper ran the headline ‘Scotland First to Have Gay Marriage Imposed,’ on their front page. In reference to that headline, Mason admitted he hadn’t yet seen it but that it was probably misleading. “I don’t think ‘imposed’ is the right word. That’s what a lot of the debate’s been about. Is this just something that’s going to happen and be available to people or will this be something that really everyone has to sign up to?

I assume, especially for the churches, that this will be an issue.”

John Mason tabled a motion regarding the same-sex marriage debate, which asked that ‘no person or organisation should be forced to be involved in or to approve of same-sex marriage.’

After an outcry, Patrick Harvie, Green regional MSP for Glasgow, suggested an amendment to the motion that emphasised the importance of allowing same-sex couples to have equal rights.

Harvie has urged the SNP not to get “sidetracked”

by Mason’s arguments.

On 31 August, the Scottish Youth Parliament had a small protest outside Mason’s new constituency office, to coincide with its opening. Mason referred to the protest as ‘very civilised and peaceful’. He went out and spoke to the protesters for a while. Mason expressed a desire, to The Skinny, to have a longer meeting with the SYP at some point in the future.

Mason worries that one of the side effects of equality legislation like this is that the place of religion in society would be minimised. “Churches should not be forced to be involved in gay marriage,” he says.

Jeff Duncan, a gay rights activist, wrote to every MSP as a response to Mason’s motion asking them to support gay and lesbian Scots. This

prompted Bill Walker, SNP MSP for Dunfermline, who supported Mason’s motion, to compare the “pro-homosexual lobby” to the pre-war Nazis.

Tensions are thus running a little high. Walker was unavailable to talk to The Skinny but Mason was happy to explain his stance in a little more depth.

“Within the churches there’s a whole range of views and I know that within the gay community there’s a whole range of views as to how you take things forward and how, well, aggressive people are and that applies to both the Christian lobby groups and the gay lobby groups as well.”

While Mason is opposed to the Church and state having too close a relationship, or the Church having an undue influence, he recognises that some members of the Christian community are worried that religious freedoms are being sacrificed in the fight for equality.

He says, “I passionately believe that everyone is of equal value and nobody’s rights should be trumping anyone else’s.”

When the Equality Bill was passed in 2009 Mason made sure that religious freedoms were protected. The changes he helped facilitate meant that religious organisations were exempt from certain aspects of the legislation.

One of the contentions surrounding the debate is over whether organisations can refuse to marry a same-sex couple on religious grounds and what would happen if they were to do so. While it’s unlikely that a same-sex couple would want to be married somewhere they clearly were not wanted, as Mason says, “Law that depends on someone’s good will is not good law.”

The problem is that there may be places where there is only one registrar (such as the smaller islands in the North West) and if that person decides to opt out on the basis of religious conscience

then in effect a same-sex couple would be unable to get married in their own community. Surely it’s the responsibility of the local registrar to officiate any marriage, whether they “approve” of it or not?

The significance of the approval (or disapproval) of a few local registrars is worth fighting over.

There are some religious organisations that want to be able to perform same-sex marriages – the Quakers for instance – and there are some who have been quite clear on their stance against it.

At base, some religions do explicitly state that homosexual practise is against the tenets of their faith. As Mason says: “When it comes to sexual behaviour or activity, that’s when some of the religions do have something to say, as to whether you can have one or more partners, of the same sex or not of the same sex and that sort of thing. I would draw a distinction personally, and a lot of the churches would draw a distinction between sexual orientation and sexual activity.”

The Skinny then asked whether it would be all right if same-sex couples who were celibate married, but Mason did not think that the definition of marriage included those who are celibate. He referred to an unconsummated marriage being grounds for divorce; unfortunately this position does not leave much room for compromise. While Mason says that he himself is “relaxed” about same-sex marriage, the whole conversation raises a lot of questions about how both sides can move forward in this debate.

If you’re interested in exploring this issue further, the consultation document is available to read and download at this address (www.scotland.gov.uk/ Publications/2011/09/05153328/0) – anyone is free to respond to it, either as an individual or as an organisation, within the consultation period of fourteen weeks.

We are moving inexorably towards gender equality, but there are many things still to change before we reach that distant goal. One is this: when women wear trousers they are considered emancipated, but when men wear skirts they are mocked.

When I go out wearing a sharp suit, splendid hat and a pair of high heels, why do people ask if I’m a fetishist, gay, or a transvestite? Why does my taste in footwear imply these kinds of sexuality, when I just like high heels?

There has been pretty equal freedom of choice with hairstyles for a while now. You may look twice at a woman with a shaved head or a man with waist-length hair, but you’re not likely to make assumptions about their sexuality from it. So why is a man wearing even one item of female clothing not considered as acceptable as a woman wearing jeans & a t-shirt?

I don’t think I know a single man who hasn’t worn women’s clothes at some point, especially for a stag do or birthday. No one feels uncomfortable doing it “for a laugh,” but my simple pleasure in tall shoes is apparently derisible.

Sure, clothes have to be designed differently to fit the different shapes of the sexes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t design high heels in a larger variety of sizes or make dresses that suit the figure of a man just as well as the figure of a woman.

Alright, I’ll come clean – I know why my outrage is funny. I understand the humour behind a man in a dress or high heels. But that’s why I get peeved: we still treat gender like a black and white issue, when there are far more colours to the palette.

October 2011

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SHOWCASE

Euan Robertson

Euan Robertson is a photographer based in Glasgow, originally from Ayrshire. He is primarily a music photographer who also dabbles in other genres including fashion, events and the odd wedding.

Having formerly played in fairly average (his words) bands, he's finding photography a much more satisfying way of enjoying the music world. He has recently taken the plunge into life as a full time photographer and is currently putting work together to feature in an exhibition on Scottish music next Spring.

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1. Bronto Skylift 2. Admiral Fallow 3. Blitz Kids 4. Rob Drummond 5. Public Enemy 6. Gay For Johnny Depp 7. Untitled 8. The Streets 9. Pulled Apart By Horses

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THE SKINNY 33

FASHION

London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2012

If London Fashion Week is anything to go by Spring/Summer ‘12 is going to be interesting, as there seem to be two camps emerging within London’s key designers: ‘luxe simplicity’ or ‘floral embellishment’ Words: Alexandra Fiddes and Emma Segal Illustration: Dennis Brix

Basso and Brooke

Floral Embellishment This London Fashion Week Spring/Summer ‘12 saw designers that specialise in print and embellishment getting very creative with their florals. Ashish burst into bloom with graphic flowers everywhere; Van Gogh style sunflowers, red roses, oriental poppies, french marigolds all in the brand's signature sparkling sequins. Although beautifully feminine, Ashish lost none of its trademark toughness as the garments adorned were simple in shape and had a 90s grungy feel (that was enhanced by the accessorising of chunky workboots and dark lipstick); shorts, sweats, shifts and loose jackets, so the overtly feminine nature of the collection was reined in. Contrasting prints increased the eye-popping nature of the collection, with flowers against brick walls, chessboards, zebra and leopard print backdrops, as well as the combination of differently patterned floral separates.

Additionally, this clashing of floral patterns was seen at Basso and Brooke, famed for their riotous use of colour and bold digital prints. For S/S ‘12

34 THE SKINNY October 2011

Christopher Kane

this meant hard edged exotic foliage being paired with angular, manmade textures and distorted seascapes, a look described by the designers as ‘tropical constructivism’. This was inspired by a (car!) journey from London to Beijing and the seemingly ever-changing landscapes on the way. Again, the simplicity of garments, in this case draped dresses, playsuits and shirts in luxurious soft fabric, calmed the kaleidoscopic floral patterns.

Designers such as Christopher Kane and Mary Katrantzou used both embellished and printed floral flashes within their collections. Christopher Kane’s printed flora were brown and blue, as well as bold and oversized, giving them a distinctly wallpaper-like retro feel. However, when printed on angular tailored garments with origami like folds and sharp slashes, or paired with metallic leathers and crisp white shirts, they became thoroughly modern and cutting edge. The stand out pieces on display were nude sheer dresses and tops decorated with bright photographic floral cut-outs, that looked like pressed flowers trapped within the material itself.

Mary Katrantzou

Ashish

Prints again took centre stage in Mary Katrantzou’s collection. Rather than the Versailles-like interiors and orderly baroque floral motifs, this time Katrantzou took us outside into the chaotic beauty of the garden itself. The prints have become much more abstract than the literal imagery we have seen in previous collections and were shown on softer flowing garments as well as her hallmark structured pieces. Bright floral prints of all types and in all colours of the rainbow; acid oranges, hot pinks, vivid violets and icy blues were layered together, in the form of sheath dresses over slim trousers and biker jackets over knitwear. 3D floral embellishment was at its height in the form of a surreal bejewelled asymmetric dress made from metal components. Right at the other end of the floral trend spectrum was Erdem, with a sublimely delicate and subtle collection of willowy blossoms in a palette of pale yellows, blues and nudes, which was unashamedly feminine.

For London Fashion Week’s last scheduled show, designers Maki Aminaka Löfvander and Marcus Wilmont brought folklore to fashion

(and also to florals); giving us a glimpse into the world of fairies, elves and the otherworldly. Titled Changeling, the Aminaka Wilmont collection was full of stain-like scatterings of soft abstract floral prints in dove grey, white, pale purple and powder blue. The garments themselves were streamlined; including slender body con dresses, skirts and shirts in jersey as well as whimsical billowing sheer chiffon trains. Cut out details and thigh high splits showed flashes of flesh which toned down the sweet and girly connotations of a floral pattern. At the end of the collection moss grey suede jackets and patterned body armour with 3D applique butterflies gave a lovely contrast between masculine shapes and floral feminine details. An enchanting end to London Fashion Week. These designers prove that florals for S/S ‘12 don’t have to be in any way boring or predictable; either, embrace the frothy feminine, wear them in masculine shaped pieces, with crisp tailored separates or with boyish accessories and if you are feeling brave, clash patterns and layer up to create a striking catwalk look. [Alexandra Fiddes]

Luxe Simplicity Designers had little to hide behind this S/S ‘12, as some focus shifted to the hidden complexities of craftsmanship and tailoring; ironically, complex, perfect design is that which offers us Fashion Week’s ostensibly ‘simple’ looks. The impact this has had on the season’s colour palette, in turn, is very intriguing.

Most importantly, black and white regained their status as important colours in their own right; they anchor or sometimes wholly made up key looks on silhouettes which would have previously relied on brighter colours in former seasons. The use of black and white was most successfully combined with the season’s male-influenced tailored looks at J JS Lee. Beautiful navy, black and white suits were expertly feminised with detailing such as a subtle asymmetrical cut on the jacket; similarly, skirt lengths were delicately layered without adding overall volume, ensuring a sleek and cohesive silhouette. The final look highlighted the power of black and white best, as a simple black pleated maxi dress was elevated to ‘luxe’ status through the simple addition of a white collar. Ann-Sofie Back’s navy skirts, which were accompanied by black wool jumpers finished off with white cuffs, also deserve a mention.

Far from meaning that other colours become obsolete, the cleaner lines actually allow for more striking juxtapositions of colour against black and white. At J W Anderson, white and pink suits were offset by black studded collars. Holly Fulton used the juxtaposition of colours to great effect; her turquoise cardigan with black and white chequered stripes was inarguably the most succinct manifestation of this particular trend. Lastly, Charlotte Eskildsen’s immaculate Designers Remix collection featured bright (almost neon) pink shirts, styled with beautifully crafted black

Holly Fulton

cigarette pants which featured a slick white racing stripe on the outer leg.

Equally, for some designers colour itself became the anchor of a look; or, in Richard Nicoll’s case, the anchor of an entire collection. Nicoll expertly used a variety of blue hues to create a gorgeous collection which nicely contrasted his pink and black looks. (In a more metaphysical sense, this serenity also offered a nice contrast to the manic chaos of fashion week!) Every shade from powdery cobalt to aqua green was on display, but it was turquoise which was undoubtedly championed across the board. The colour featured in almost every collection, even in those which didn’t strictly adhere to the simpler silhouettes being shown. Bora Aksu’s remarkable collection managed to incorporate turquoise into his demicouture aesthetic by panelling and roping the key colour across black silk-chiffon dresses to great effect; and at Topshop Unique, a silk turquoise maxi was elevated through the addition of gold Egyptian-influenced detailing.

Whilst turquoise was undoubtedly king, there are only two other colours worth talking about: bright sunshine yellow, particularly hues such as those seen at Mulberry, and playful pink, in either its neon form or in more subtle corals as seen at Issa.

The way to wear these new colours? Block. Again, Designers’ Remix gorgeous neon pink suit was shown as both a look in itself, and as separates which were paired with black and white counterparts to create new looks. Secondly, designers such as ACNE showed us how to mix hues of the same colour to add texture and depth to the relatively simpler silhouettes shown. A word of caution though; a more difficult look to achieve is the mixing of two or more of the season’s three main colours.

Whilst it was successfully achieved at Roksanda Ilincic in the form of a turquoise and hot pink blocked maxi, too much mixing and the look risks losing its ‘luxe simplicity’ feel. [Emma Segal]

Topshop Unique

Designers Remix

J JS Lee

Follow us on - twitter.com/theskinnywears www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

October 2011

THE SKINNY 35

FOOD & DRINK

The Forest Kitchen

There’s a lot of food to be found in the Scottish countryside. The Skinny tells a past tale of a failed attempt to find it, and talks to an expert to make sure we don’t get it wrong again Words: Peter Simpson

When we covered the trend for freeganism several years back, the results painted either a grim vision of utilitarianism run amok, or the tale of crusties fighting ‘the man’ by eating out-of-date bananas covered in blue dye (depending on your point of view). As compelling as freeganism seems as a two-finger salute to capitalism, it is essentially taking the idea of scrambling for sustenance like a background character in The Grapes of Wrath and turning it into a lifestyle choice. It doesn’t exactly look fun.

Wild foraging, on the other hand, strikes as an altogether more relaxed pursuit. Imagine a pleasant forage of a weekend and you see yourself wandering along quaint hilltops, like Heathcliff but with a basket and appropriate footwear. Picture the scene: rifling through nature’s larder, content in the assumption that no humans will have tainted your bounty through health & safety compliance or drunken ‘pit-stops’.

Nope, sorry. Wrong again. Foraging for wild scran requires serious logistical forethought, a working knowledge of botany and the patience of a saint. These are points that this writer can vouch for from personal experience. Foraging requires knowledge – where to go, what to eat, when to panic and what to expect to find.

On my sole venture into the suburban wilderness I wound up walking in circles for hours, slowly forgetting the little research I’d done as my shoes filled with water and my phone threatened to go to sleep unless I gave it some juice. In the middle of a two-mile nature trail, I ended up with some herbs, considered chasing down a squirrel, but ultimately decided against it.

Andy Fraser, on the other hand, is an experienced wild food specialist who has hunted for mushrooms, berries and other tasty treats for over ten years in hundreds of locations across the country. His squirrel-hunting record is unrecorded.

Yet even he hasn’t always met with great success.

“I have wandered many forests in my time,” he says, “some good and some bad. I have been startled by deer, fallen into rivers, fallen down cliffs. I’ve been caught out in rain so hard your waterproofs give up, been eaten by every insect the British Isles have to offer, and have found

36 THE SKINNY October 2011

Everything is edible, but some things only once Andy Fraser

myself lost on numerous occasions.”

Yet it’s clear that the lure of foraging outweighs the potential pitfalls. Andy says: “There is a definite sense of serenity about being in the woods or the hills picking wildfoods, feeling at one with nature. I know that’s a very hippyish and kooky thing to say, but I have no other way to put it.”

This desire for serenity can be a pitfall for those wishing to get into foraging and make a start of it. Think of it this way: if you went out into the woods, did your research and found a brilliant place off the beaten track, where you came across a treasure trove untouched by other people, would you want to tell some newbie about it? (This logic does not apply to the Skinny Food & Drink Survey. Bit.ly/skinnyfood people, tell us what’s good and where!)

However, with nearly 20% of the country covered in forests and other wilderness according

to Scottish Natural Heritage, there really is enough foragey fun to go around. And for Andy, part of the thrill of the forage is finding new patches, and further mapping out nature’s food cupboard. After all, if you wanted to go to the same place every weekend for food you could hit the supermarket.

They’re almost always warmer and drier, and the risk of deer attack is negligible.

Of course, at this point we need to address the visually appetising but incredibly toxic elephant in the room. We all know from childhood that eating mysterious food whose provenance is unclear is a bad idea, but it’s still best to turn back to the man who’s foraged for years for this bit. “They do say everything is edible, but some things only once,” Andy says. He adds: “I’m not particularly keen on any experimental meal being my last.

“The rule is pretty simple really; if you are not 100% sure of any wild food do not eat it. Some stuff out there will kill you stone dead.”

So, if you want to be a forager you’ll need some countryside, a little research time, a waterproof coat, a stare that can ward off medium-sized animals, the sense not to stick things straight in your mouth and a little patience. It can be trying, and you may want to take out your frustrations on the nearest sentient being, but you never truly get something for free in this life. Well, unless it’s covered in blue dye and giving off a highly suspect smell...

Andy Fraser is wild food specialist at Fresh Direct, Blachaim Road, Glasgow

IS IT LEGAL? To quote Rev. Lovejoy, ‘Short answer: yes, with an if’. Long answer: Scottish Natural Heritage’s guide to access rights and responsibilities says that picking mushrooms, berries and other natural goodies is legal, so long as it’s for non-commercial purposes. In return, you should leave things as you found them, avoid over-harvesting and treat the countryside like Aretha Franklin – with respect.

More info can be found at outdooraccessscotland.com and snh.gov.uk

Edinburgh’s Orchard This month’s cocktail has been made by Roddy Short of the Balmoral Hotel on Princes Street.

Edinburgh’s Orchard was named because it uses apple and lemon juice to create a really sharp taste! The heather honey creates a smooth sweetness.

The Edinburgh’s Orchard was also named in second place in the Edinburgh Gin Cocktail competition which took place last month.

50ml Edinburgh Gin 25ml apple juice 15ml lemon juice 20ml heather honey syrup - mix 2 parts honey to 1 part boiling water, stir and allow to cool before use Stirred over ice then serve in rocks glass with crushed ice.

Confessions of a Foodie #2 This month, we show how wild experimentation can lead to some tasty chicken Words: Fiona Buchanan In the grasp of the majority of pro cooks are a fistful of recipes that are very easy to do, and very hard to fuck up. Once mastered, a basic recipe becomes a sturdy foundation that can support all kinds of culinary wonders and whimsy. You can start jigging and re-jigging, practicing store-cupboard or seasonal sleight of hand. Tweaking and revving a recipe to increased heights of perfection or convenience. Here is one such recipe.

Now, Sammy G is a legend in the food world.

She knows pro-level jiggery-pokery that yields wonderous results every time, and she’s one of the very few people involved in professional cooking who have managed to cruise past their 3rd decade in the industry without completely losing their mind. This is a recipe-in-a-paragraph, murmured over coffee and bitching one happy, work free, morning. If you want to know why it’s called Stolen Chicken then you need to find Sammy and ask her yourself.

Here it is: Chunk up some potatoes, and take some free range chicken thighs – bone in but fat trimmed, skin slashed; add some garlic, some olive oil, and a good old season with salt and pepper. Mix them all up on a roasting tray and pop (if you’re Delia), whack (Jamie), or put (a normal human being) into a 200 degree oven. When the potatoes are crispy and roasty the dish will be done. This dish can work for one and it can work for sixty.

Then freestyle it – before roasting add a whole lemon and some fresh rosemary. Or olives, red onion, red pepper, capers, and balsamic. Or thyme, chilli, and anchovies. Or bashed lemongrass, ginger, and lime leaves, finishing with coriander.

Or chorizo and a sh**load of parsley. You have your steady foundation; the secret is to chuck on whatever you fancy on top.

Food News With Peter Simpson

TV personalities, science, and Germans all feature in this month’s food news round-up October is another month, and it brings with it another over-sized food market-cum-exhibition in the form of the BBC’s Good Food Scotland.

Selling points for Good Food Scotland include a watertight indoor location, a line-up packed with people off of the telly such as Tom Kitchin and a litany of Masterchef contestants and judges, and a wide range of produce stands for you to circle like the vultures you are.

Speaking of Masterchef, John Torode (non-bald Australian judge) is hosting a science-based dinner party in Glasgow this month. You are not dreaming, this is a real event that is happening. A Taste of Science Dinner offers the chance to learn about science’s role in high-falutin food, have a top-notch meal in a science museum, and ask John if he’s seen that YouTube mash-up from a few months ago.

If overly-precise preparation of drinks is your thing, you’re in luck. Cocktails in the City will have you making tasty cocktails under the watchful eye of Edinburgh’s top mixologists. If you struggle to get mixed drinks to taste of anything other than tequila, the burning stares of grizzled bar staff should help you concentrate. All mistakes will, of course, be quaffable.

Not long ago this writer was mocked for a lack of familiarity with the wasabi pea. For the uninformed, they taste like caper-flavoured gravel but are apparently a legit pub snack. If you’ve ever met a similar situation, the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School’s beer and food course can help avoid a repeat. Learn what beer goes with which food, appreciate the complexities of flavour and

Cocktails in the city

the human palate, and use this knowledge to make your friends and colleagues feel like the philistines for a change.

The timing couldn’t be better as October brings with it Oktoberfest, the annual celebration of Lederhosen, oompah bands and unfeasibly large glasses. From fortnight-long beer festivals in Glencoe to cheese and beer tastings in St Andrews, Oktoberfest has a fair grip on Scotland this month. Grab some friends, some culturallyinsensitive headgear and a brass instrument, and get involved. We’ll see you back here next month.

BBC Good Food Scotland, 21-23 Oct, SECC, tickets from £16.50; Taste of Science Dinner, 20 Oct, Glasgow Science Centre, £60; Cocktails in The City, 26 Oct, Mansfield Traquair, Edinburgh, £15 (inc. 3 cocktails); Beer and Food Course, 11 Oct, Edinburgh New Town Cookery School, £35; Oktoberfest Cheese and Beer evening, 14 Oct, Guid Cheese Shop, St Andrews, £20; Octoberfest, 14-29 Oct, Clachaig Inn, Glencoe

October 2011

THE SKINNY 37

38 THE SKINNY October 2011

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MUSIC

Live Music Highlights

METAL COLUMN

is Michael Franti and Spearhead is set to hit Glasgow Òran Mór on 24 Oct. Tackling issues ranging from criminal justice to the benefits of good Mary Jane, Franti’s boundless confidence (together with the jaw-dropping technical skills of Spearhead) allows him to juggle hip-hop, punk, soul and reggae influences with ease, and his ability to command an audience’s attention is second to none. Don’t miss it.

Glasgow’s Sons and Daughters made a triumphant return to form earlier this year with their Mirror Mirror LP, but they’ve always shone in the live arena, making the most of their group dynamic to deploy a sound that’s both visceral and dripping with atmosphere. See them at Aberdeen Tunnels on 19 Oct, Dundee Fat Sam’s on 20 Oct, and Glasgow ABC on 28 Oct. It’s been almost a decade since they recorded House of Jealous Lovers, and whilst The Rapture are unlikely to ever again steal the spotlight in such an explosive way, new album In the Grace of Your Love proves they’ve got the songs to back up their hooks, making their gig at Glasgow’s SWG3 on 30 Oct a solid recommendation for anyone with even a passing interest in taut, danceable art rock.

[Mark Shukla]

Photo: Sol Nicol

HOT TICKET of the month The Horrors The Liquid Room, 19 Oct

Whether or not you believe them to be an original creative force or merely brilliantly astute musical magpies, this year’s Skying LP confirmed that there are few UK bands who know how to put together a song as well as The Horrors; not merely in terms of structure but in the way they marshal texture and tone in the service of a greater whole.

That they’re able to achieve this fragile balance in the live setting is a credit to how far they’ve come since their eyeliner-caked salad days; a change paralleled by the evolution of Faris Badwan from sneering provocateur to quietly magnetic sophisticate. Who knows where they’ll go from here, but right here, right now, they’re a band you can’t afford to miss.

7pm, £12 www.thehorrors.co.uk

Gruff Rhys

Sons And Daughters

Photo: Martin Senyszak

Taking place over the weekend of 30 Sep/1 Oct, the Eastern Promise two-day festival returns to Glasgow’s Platform this year. Arty electronic twopiece Tarwater top the bill on Friday before their drummer Ronald Lippok returns to his mothership in time for a headline performance from motorik experimentalists To Rococo Rot on the Saturday.

Appearances from free-jazz heavyweights The Thing, plus local notables The Pastels, Withered Hand and Conquering Animal Sound (amongst many others) add to the festival’s eclectic feel.

There’s also an independent record fair on the Saturday and tickets are a snip at £15 for the weekend. Snap them up at Monorail, Tickets Scotland or See Tickets.

Energetic alt-pop four-piece Mazes stop by Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s on 5 Oct and Glasgow Captain’s Rest on 6 Oct as part of their first headline tour. Anyone pining for the days of breezy, ruffle-haired mid-nineties indie would do well to check out these talented youngsters. Support comes courtesy of intense Manc labelmates Milk Maid, with unstoppable local boys PAWS joining the bill at Pete’s.

The creative coupling of Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat produced one of this year’s most affecting Scottish records in the form of Everything’s Getting Older, and we recommend you jump at the rare chance to see them perform live at Paisley Arts Centre on 7 Oct, Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire on 14 Oct or Aberdeen Lemon Tree on 15 Oct. Both of these gents have great form and given the grit and glory of the material they’re working with, these dates promise to be something a bit special.

Super Furry Animals honcho Gruff Rhys stops by Edinburgh’s Bongo Club on 8 Oct for an evening of pleasantly psychedelic folk-rock, sugar-sweet melodies and wistful lyricism. Bisto, motherfuckers.

Space-rock warlocks Spiritualized head to Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall on 9 Oct for what should be one of the gigs of the month. With a knack for imbuing even their most psychedelic indulgences with potent emotional clout, it’s rare that Jason Pierce and co. turn out anything less than a stellar performance. Expect fireworks, people.

A lot has happened in the world of The Icarus Line since they first staggered into our consciousness a decade ago, and we’d be lying if we said we knew exactly what kind of line-up is going to appear at Glasgow King Tut’s on 12 Oct, but as long as the cartoonish rock n’ roll swashbuckler that is Joey Cardamone lives and breathes it’s bound to be an engaging show.

Quirky steamfolk experimentalist Thomas Truax stops by Aberdeen Tunnels on 12 Oct for an evening of concentrated discombobulation. Using hacked and homemade instrumentation (who wants an 808 when you can have a solenoidpowered bicycle wheel?) Truax’s blend of off-kilter loops, shambolic improvisation and fantastical storytelling may be fanciful, but he’s got enough charm and ingenuity to pull it off.

Stonehaven four-piece Copy Haho play lovinglycrafted indie rock that vibrates with colour and energy. Paragons of originality they may not be, but their enthusiasm and youthful bluster should make for a fine evening at Aberdeen Cafe Drummonds on 14 Oct, Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s on 18 Oct and Glasgow Captain’s Rest on 19 Oct. Under-appreciated synth-pop pioneer John Foxx (together with present-day collaborators The Maths) heads to Glasgow Arches on 23 Oct for an evening of retro-futuristic decadence. Punters can expect numerous cuts from his acclaimed 2011 opus, Interplay, together with choice solo joints and even a few Ultravox gems.

The unstoppable juggernaut of positivity that

Photo: Mark James

words: Mark Shukla

Metal’s most impressive asset has always been the vast range of styles, talents and personalities that lie under that simple catch-all term. It caters for all races, creeds, ages and temperaments and it stands to reason that there is also a gig for every situation, whether it’s a sweaty pit-a-thon kind of night or a Scotch in one hand, stroking the beard with the other sort of evening.

Say you’ve had a bad September and want to kick things off with nothing but wall-to-wall brutality. Auld Reekie’s Banshee Labyrinth has your back with a weekend of gore, grind, death and fury as Blastonbury takes over (1-2 Oct).

Two days, twenty bands from across the breadth of Europe (including Dunfermline’s Party Cannon and E-town’s own Cancerous Womb) and enough volume to incinerate yer eardrums.

For something more restrained and, dare we say, thought-provoking, why not spend the evening with Aidan Baker (5 Oct, Nice & Sleazys). Even for those unfamiliar with his insanely prolific output, you can’t go wrong with some gorgeous improv drone and it beats sitting at home alone reading Foucault again.

Turning the volume back up and cranking the, ahem, ‘smoke machine’ up to 11, Oregon’s premier stoner-doom trio Yob will be accompanied by like-minded Floridians Dark Castle in Bannerman’s for a very cloudy but unique night (12 Oct). When we say “special,” we mean it in the loud, slow and cripplingly heavy sense of the word.

If you’re a more ‘modern’ kind of metal fan, you’re a teenager, or you just really like the thought of spending a night surrounded by teenagers (The Skinny doesn’t judge) then perhaps some hardcore/ dubstep/drum’n’bass gubbins in the form of Enter Shikari (13 Oct, Barrowlands) might scratch that itch.

After all this insanity, 13th Note steps in to provide something intimate yet bloody loud. Head along on the 15 Oct to witness Glasgow’s own Achren tear the walls down as they celebrate the release of their debut full-length The Forgotten King. We’ve had a listen and it’s a beast, so go join the party and bang yer heid.

If you want to have yourself a very special weekend, ignore that massage parlour and instead get down to Birmingham for this year’s Supersonic Festival. If you can’t afford that or just can’t stand a Brummie accent, Stereo are your new best friends as they’ll be hosting two of the festival’s star attractions, namely Washingtonian hippie-black metal wonders Wolves in the Throne Room (23 Oct), followed by Japanese post-rock/ screamo par excellence from Envy the night after.

Seeing out the month, Bannermans strikes back with the second incarnation of the Blood of Christ all-dayer (30 Oct), this time seeing pagan black metallers Wodensthrone and dark riffologists of the moment Altar of Plagues topping off a day of class-A metallic shenanigans. There’re nine bands to get through and it all kicks off at the unholy hour of 2pm, so prepare thyself for epic carnage.

Finally, it’s time for the metalhead version of Christmas, also known as Halloween, and who would you rather spend it with than Alice Cooper? He’s bringing his Night of Fear to the Clyde Auditorium and with rumours of freak shows and his obvious love for the most devilish night of the year, it’ll be worth attending just for bragging rights. [David Bowes]

October 2011

THE SKINNY 39

O2 ABC2, 25 Aug

Cabaret Voltaire, 19 Sep

rrrr As Slow Club herald the arrival of their tasty new album, Paradise, with a show packed full of messy energy, articulate banter and exquisitely stripped-down laments, two aspects of the band’s steady evolution from 2009’s Yeah So are clear. Firstly, as jagged riffs and sly bass rumbles wrench open Where I’m Waking, the new additions to the live line-up fit like a glove, extending a muscular, vital undertow beneath songs old and new.

PJ Harvey Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 4 Sep

rrrr Given the conceptual character of PJ Harvey’s latest LP Let England Shake, and her decision to play the Royal Concert Hall, it could be expected that the set-up for this tour would focus on bringing out the nuances of the record.

Visually, Harvey’s outfit – gothicpeasant robes and extravagant black headdress – suggests a determination to emphasise its historical theatricality in every aspect of the show.

Yet the stripped-down, rockcentred approach, featuring a band of three along with Harvey on guitar and autoharp, defies concert-hall convention: the sound reveals hard edges to

The Bronx/ Mariachi El Bronx The Garage, 26 Aug

rrrrr While it is the promotion for Mariachi El Bronx’s recently-released second album that presumably motivates this double-header tour, they’re first up tonight, closing their set at a time when other venues have yet to start tearing ticket stubs. Though nominally the LA punks’ gentler outlet, it proves a false reputation: when Silver or Lead is introduced as “a bit of a rattlesnake”, make no mistake – it’s the bit that bites.

Look beyond the charro suits and focus on their smiles: not tonguein-cheek smirks, but genuine joy.

It’s enough to make you wonder if – aye carbumba! – the running

Secondly, Rebecca Taylor and Charles Watson continue to forge ahead with an expanded, receptive vision, their performances tonight breathing fresh life into Our Most Brilliant Friends and Giving Up On Love.

Endearing tales of last night’s antics in Glasgow lace the second part of the set, the band banter forming an idiosyncratic chemistry between the group and the audience. Roaming between desolate songs and bumpy, playful explorations with ease, Slow Club are in splendid form. [Simon Fielding] www.slowclubband.com

the new songs, only hinted at in their recorded incarnations.

Consequently, there is an unexpected pace and intensity to the album’s dreamier pieces, All and Everyone and The Glorious Land.

When things are slowed down, it’s for the older material: The Devil, Down by the Water and Angelene standing out in a setlist that flits across Harvey’s diverse repertoire. Despite Let England Shake’s distinct thematic focus, it’s a show that deftly marries new songs and old with no sense of incongruity.

Ultimately, tonight emphasises the continuities that underpin Harvey’s restlessly shifting career: these are songs united by the clarity and intensity with which she approaches all of her subject matter. [Sam Wiseman] http://www.pjharvey.net/

www.mariachielbronx.com

40 THE SKINNY October 2011

Public Enemy O2 ABC, 6 Sep

rrr Billed as a run-through of the classic Fear of a Black Planet album, tonight’s show clings loosely to the promised narrative whilst delving into a rag-bag of hip-hop’s greatest hits. Fierce polemic and incendiary rhythmic patterns are at the core of Public Enemy’s finest moments.

Welcome to the Terrordome, Don’t Believe the Hype and Fight the Power form the backbone of the set, as DJ Lord scatters White Stripes and Nirvana samples across the tight bass slaps and succinct drumming of Davy DMX and Flavor Flav respectively. An air of pantomime threatens to undermine the more potent offerings tonight; sub-Queen style vocal warm-ups and surface observations of the

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins Grand Ole Opry, 7 Sep

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Howling Bells / Cold Specks Òran Mór, 19 Sep

order might end up reversed on future tours…

Then the band reappears as The Bronx, and the pecking order is emphatically restored. Shorn of greco getup, Matt Caughthran spearheads an intense sixty minutes, that, though not immune to punk cliché, hits hard. Only Notice of Eviction quells the raucous pace, which peaks when a request for “bodies on bodies on bodies” results in dense waves of crowd-surfers being plucked from the air by harried security. Let’s hope their fans’ enthusiasm doesn’t come back to bite the band – if the going punishment for trying to incite a riot is four years in the slammer, The Bronx are amassing multiple life sentences. [Chris Buckle]

www.glassjaw.net

photo: James Gray

Slow Club

Two Scottish gigs in 18 months is swift work by the measure of Glassjaw’s previous form. The New York quartet came close to kicking the plug out completely when frontman Daryl Palumbo’s debilitating Crohn’s disease continually derailed their touring plans in the first few years of the new millennium, yet here they are again tonight; with Palumbo on a healthier stride, it’s a thrill to see them on fiery form.

Announcing themselves with the violent waltz of You Think You’re (John Fucking Lennon), it’s obvious that time has brought focus and maturity to their formerly ramshackle live show.

As they roll out the obscurities (see Stars, Convectuoso and All Good Junkies Go To Heaven) as often as the big hitters, Durijah Lang and Manuel Carrero’s dubby rhythm section is a rigid backbone, excelling early on with

photo: Ricky Skinner

photo: Sol Nicol

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the steamroller opening combo from 2002’s ferocious Worship & Tribute. Palumbo – pacing the stage in a weathered Zappa t-shirt – slides out of the way so they can shine, motioning an open fist towards Lang’s crash cymbal as though lobbing a grenade for the breakdown to Mu Empire.

Ignoring goofy pleas from the crowd for Freebird and Bah Bah Blacksheep, the precise execution of Two Tabs Of Mescaline is a testament to a newfound ability to harness (rather than solely rely on) the mayhem that made them famous – alternately angry and melodic in all the right places.

Showing a glimpse of what they can offer beyond nostalgia in 2011, a hypnotic, dub-inflected three song encore from their recent Coloring Book EP confirms that Glassjaw is far from a spent force. “Oasis is talking about living forever; I’ll talk about going to fucking bed,” Palumbo says before departing. Let’s hope they don’t oversleep. [Dave Kerr]

photo: Euan Robertson

Glassjaw

rrr Canada’s Cold Specks (****) is something of a pleasant surprise; 23-year-old singer Al Spx has one of those powerful old (but young) soul voices that can stop you at 20 paces, and does exactly that on a gloomy Monday night in Glasgow’s west end.

Playing a set of what the lady herself has labelled ‘doom soul’, her thoughtful lyrics, minimal but perfectly poised accompaniment on the cello, guitar and keys, makes for a mesmerising start.

Now recording an album with former PJ Harvey producer Ron Ellis, expect to see much more of Spx in the future.

Aussie four piece Howling Bells (**) could only dream of being so hypnotic tonight. Fronted

by the kitten-sized Juanita Stein, it all starts so promisingly: with a gravelly yelp, and sexy guitar swirl, the band don’t just take to the stage; they wholeheartedly occupy it. Stein’s model good looks only adding to the wow factor. Sadly, they can only keep it up for a couple of numbers. By the time the band are chewing through the almost Flight of the Conchords-esque Bowie pastiche of Spaceman they’ve well and truly lost the thread. It’s a frustrating show, as there’s something raw and interesting in their best moments, bluesy like The Doors, woozy and raw, but the set is hampered by too many lumpen moments, evoking some of Britpop’s leaden howlers, and as clichéd titles like Ballad of the Bleeding Hearts slip past, you’re left wishing the bells would chime no more. [PJ Meiklem] www.facebook.com/howlingbells

It’s the evening after the night before; you’d never guess by looking at them that Fife’s favourite troubadour King Creosote, or his ivory-twinkling producer and partner in crime Jon Hopkins, had been nominees at the Mercury prize only 24 hours earlier – perhaps only KC’s comfort-fit brown t-shirt hinting at a lingering hangover.

The duo open with the highlights from nominated record Diamond Mine, the emotional clout of stand-out tracks – such as Bubble or Bats in the Attic – hits harder live than their ambient counterparts on record, although opener John Taylor’s Month Away, and its partially gloating, partially consoling ‘I’d much rather be me’ refrain is smothered not in the

photo: Alex Woodward

Live Reviews

current political scene undercut the urgency and lustre of Timebomb and rarely performed 33&1/3.

Chuck D’s rhetorical segments on the struggles of the people and the unity of the human race are, no doubt, well-intentioned. Offering welcome dramatic relief from the otherwise pounding, relentless pace; they serve up no original insights, reinforcing the suspicion that this rapturously received show is primarily an exercise in nostalgia.

Drawing upon expansive Led Zeppelin riffs and free-floating Chic sound bites, PE can still stir memories of how they once shattered the existing demarcations of music, but too often tonight their formerly penetrating treatment of current affairs is lost in bluster. [Simon Fielding] www.publicenemy.com

intended melancholic melody, but by feedback squall. The intensity of these new compositions is such that the King’s usually entertaining between song banter seems slightly off-key tonight, the man himself needlessly apologising for a downbeat tempo.

Then there’s the promise of hits, but instead we get old favourites like Homeboy and Not One Bit Ashamed mixed with a trawl through the lesser-heard end of the Fife troubadour’s back catalogue: the childhood tale Spokes, a wonderfully taut And The Racket They Made, and the comparably clumsy Spystick.

The duo finish in theatrical style, with a bow, and a cover of Nothing Compares 2 U, which, echoing the sad delights already performed, makes complete and perfect sense. [PJ Meiklem] www.facebook.com/King.

Creosote.and.Jon.Hopkins

RECORDS

THE DIRTY DOZEN Rebecca Taylor and Charles Watson, AKA SLOW CLUB, take time out from seducing Scottish crowds to reacquaint themselves with the good old CD single INTERVIEW: SIMON FIELDING PHOTO: SOL NICOL Real Estate – It’s Real (Domino, 10 Oct) C: [Referring to the lush guitar sound] Chorus pedals are back in a big way. I really like this band.

R: Really like this band. We saw them at South

by Southwest. They’re great. Shame they’ve been labelled as ‘chill-wave’ or whatever, because they’re the best at this. 8.

C: The voice is really nice. Good to go to sleep to.

IT’S A TIE

The Joy Formidable – Cradle (Atlantic, 17 Oct) Charles: Is that a CD single?

I haven’t seen one of them in ages. Nice cover. Like the artwork. It isn’t really ticking my boxes, though. The bit in the middle I really like, but this isn’t really my kind of thing.

Rebecca: It sounds good, and well recorded, but it’s not like the kind of thing I listen to really. Can I give point five marks?

The Skinny: I suppose so, yes.

R: 5.5 out of 10.

C: This isn’t a complete thumbs down, I don’t dislike it.

Sons and Daughters – Rose Red (Domino, 17 Oct) C: They’re from Glasgow, aren’t they? On Domino? We’ve played with them a couple of times.

R: It’s not my thing, again. The guitar sounds really cool though.

TS: So, you admire it rather than like it?

R: Yes...

C: The guitar is amazing. The guy on guitar, when I’ve been to see them... he has these layers of pedals, and he’s great at getting Nancy Sinatra style sounds. 6.

Feist – How Come You Never Go There (Polydor/ Interscope/Universal/Arts & Crafts, 3 Oct) TS: This doesn’t really sound like a single. More of an album track that you get into over a period of time.

C: She does this kind of thing really well, doesn’t she? You were saying it doesn’t really sound like a single, but I like album tracks, especially when they take a while to get into. I’m going for an 8.

R: Her voice is really amazing. I think this is the best so far. Nice song.

Josh T Pearson – Sorry Within A Song (Mute, 3 Oct) TS: This song is from a very sad, intense album, I’m surprised he’s released a single from it at all.

R: Has this got a model on the front again?

And dodgy artwork? I hate his artwork but I’m listening...

C: We met him recently – very cool!

TS: We saw him live recently; he opened with Rasputin by Boney M – in his own style, of course.

He’s a brilliant guitarist.

R: [after singing the chorus to Rasputin by Boney M] Mmmmm. Alright, it’s nice. You can’t argue with stuff like this, really. It’s not offensive...possibly.

Nice guy. I don’t like the really skinny models on his covers. But he’s cool. I love nude women on stuff, but sometimes it gets a bit...urrgh.

C: What’s Rasputin?

R: You know Rasputin, Charles. Boney M! C: He looks a bit like Rasputin.

TS: Do you see this getting airplay?

R: It must be hard for this kind of act, to write with a single in mind...

C: I’d probably need time to get into it. A bit mumbly. 6.

R: Hey Josh! Cheer up!

C: He’s got a very strong look.

R: He’s totally hot.

Two Wounded Birds – Together Forever (Moshi Moshi, 31 Oct) TS: They’re label mates of yours, and they’re from Margate. Anyway, let’s hear it...

C: Definitely the catchiest one yet. Johnny B. Goode with loads of reverb. Catchy, fun...7.

R: I agree. I’m sure they’re really cool. She [the bass player] looks really gorgeous... probably really cool live. Great.

Marina & the Diamonds – Radioactive (679 Artists, 3 Oct) R: Oooooooh!

TS: Getting the sense already that this one isn’t going to go down well.

C: I like her, actually. She’s quite impressive live.

R: I just find... Hmm. I like R n’ B, that’s my favourite music, I’m not so indie that I can’t like that kind of thing. This doesn’t really do it for me... you can’t really dance to it. There are so many standard rave sounds on records like this.

C: I agree with what Becky said about the rave thing – you know, the lighters come out, the same formula of sounds ... 2.

Deathrays – Gebbie Street (Too Pure Singles Club, 10 Oct) C: I find it difficult to remember anything about this. Sinfully boring!

R: Charles! [Rebecca looks slightly shocked at the way Charles has condemned the poor Deathrays] R: I find it hard to say... it is probably good for what they are trying to do. It is very hard to judge this... I’d need the knowledge of some different reference points. 3.

SINGLES OF THE MONTH Django Django – Waveforms (Because, 17 Oct) R: Best one so far. Best groove. The vocal melody is very cool.

TS: I was reminded of something John Peel used to say – he’d always be more interested in bands when he couldn’t tell who they’d been listening to. I can’t tell where that song has come from, what they’ve been influenced by.

C: Sounds a bit like These New Puritans. I agree, nine as well .That’s a winner, yeah. 9.

Portugal the Man – So American (Atlantic Records, 10 Oct) R: Nine on ten. Cool. I like the drum sound...very like the Beatles or something of that era.

The melody is really nice.

C: Like it. Reminded me of the Beatles...always a good thing. 9.

The Travelling Band – Sundial MMXI (Cooking Vinyl, 17 Oct) C: The Travelling Band?

Sounds like the Traveling Wilburys. Do you know they only got together because they knew Roy Orbison was really ill and they wanted to record something?

R: Yeah, anyway, I think we have our winners, but it’s a 6.

Various Cruelties – Chemicals (Hideout Recordings, 10 Oct) C: Sounds like Hard-Fi, so I give it ten...

R: You’re wrong, 4.

C: No, you’re wrong.

R: You are wrong.

C & R: You’re wrong [laughter]...

C: Just let it be known that I’m right.

SLOW CLUB’S NEW ALBUM PARADISE IS OUT NOW ON MOSHI MOSHI RECORDS WWW.SLOWCLUBBAND.COM

SALUTING NEVERMIND WORDS: CHRIS CUSACK A CURSORY glance at almost any “top albums” list of the last twenty years will almost always involve one familiar shot of a baby swimming after a dollar bill. Yet, more than just being a classic album, Nevermind spearheaded a revolution.

Perhaps the last profound, grass-roots musical revolution of our lifetimes.

That feat still stands in stark contrast to the top-down, press-led trends we have come to recognise in the two decades since. After all, this was not a band calculatedly hand-picked for success and thrust under the public’s noses. As word of Nirvana’s second album began to snowball it quickly became apparent that its initial modest pressing of 50,000 copies was not going to suffice. Few could have predicted that twenty years later, having been sold a further 30 million times (and copied innumerable others), it would nestle in amongst – often above – the works of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones and Queen in the “Greatest Album...” lists of even the most dad-friendly present-day rock publications.

It doesn’t bear repeating just how massive the repercussions of flagship anthem Smells Like Teen Spirit were at their time, especially for MTV. Quite apart from the musical bombshell of that tune, Nevermind was packed with sheer excellence.

As the famous singles, including Come As You Are and Lithium, were played into submission and dust gathered on the works of contemporaries, the lesser known tracks on Nevermind (such as the joyous On A Plain, the perfectly formed Lounge Act or the melodically rich Drain You) invited further investigation. It is an album shorn of any fat and blessed with depth which in turn has ensured longevity.

Though it ultimately led Cobain to resent his creation, it was Nevermind’s commercial success that allowed it to reach so many people and secured it in the popular psyche. In an era before the internet, it meant that even the smallest record stores in the smallest towns finally had something of substance on sale. All those folks thrashing out power chords and distorted riffs now had a flag to rally behind.

This was something widely available that awkward teenagers with self-confidence issues and chinstroking 30-somethings alike could agree on.

Nirvana – and Nevermind in particular – blew open the doors of possibility for almost everyone.

You didn’t have to shred like Slayer, shriek like Steve Tyler or loll about in a tracksuit like Shaun Ryder and, at last, your limited technical ability didn’t have to consign you to a lifetime of noble obscurity. As a result, a lot of people, whether they realise it or not, owe it a huge debt of thanks.

MULTI-FORMAT REISSUES OF NEVERMIND CONTAINING NIRVANA’S UNHEARD DEMOS, UNSEEN LIVE FOOTAGE AND B-SIDES OF THE ERA WILL BE AVAILABLE VIA GEFFEN ON 26 SEP WWW.NEVERMIND20.COM

OCTOBER 2011

THE SKINNY 41

ALBUM REVIEWS

RECORDS

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: THE MOTH & THE MIRROR HONESTLY, THIS WORLD OLIVE GROVE, 10 OCT

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Comprising previous and occasional members of bands including Frightened Rabbit, Smoke Jaguar and The Reindeer Section, The Moth & The Mirror form a smouldering collective, finely balancing tentative acoustic suggestions within patterns of climactic cacophony. Opener Everyone I Know heralds this approach, as delicately picked notes contrast with sturdy bass undertones and dissolving layers of steely guitar.

Vocalist Stacey Sievwright, whose performance here at times recalls Beth Gibbons in collaboration with Rustin Man, is complemented by Tony Doogan’s nuanced production; in fact each song illuminates the strengths of each player as well as the potent chemistry of the group.

Amongst the album’s brooding atmospherics and cavernous echoes, Beautiful Creature unexpectedly smuggles raunch into a tight, rapidly shifting mix of trumpets and horns. Elsewhere, the title track’s unobtrusive, haunting piano line succumbs .to the friction of wild, exuberant guitar abandon and is probably the best example of the Moth dynamic, while the closing Oceans and Waves succeeds by tapping into melancholy and joy simultaneously – a fitting end to a striking debut. [Simon Fielding] PLAYING STEREO, GLASGOW ON 12 OCT AND CABARET VOLTAIRE, EDINBURGH ON 16 OCT WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEMOTHANDTHEMIRROR

RUSTIE

DJ SHADOW

THE DEAD MAN’S WALTZ

WARP, 10 OCT

ISLAND, OUT NOW

GREAT NORTH WESTERN, 27 OCT

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GLASS SWORDS

THE LESS YOU KNOW, THE BETTER

As the comical specificity of labels like ‘aquacrunk’ suggests, it’s generally a futile enterprise to attempt to negotiate the bewilderingly diverse and hyperactive world of contemporary UK bass music through generic classifications. Nonetheless, Glasgow’s Numbers scene has added some strikingly distinctive characteristics to the gene pool, shared at least by Rustie and Hudson Mohawke.

Both specialise in a kind of fluorescent, high-BPM dubstep that takes the delirious exuberance of classic rave as its guiding principle. Glass Swords sees Rustie embellish this template with a strong 80s funk influence, realised through the use of slap-bass samples, pitch-bent synth chords and reverb-heavy drums. The assuredness of his touch occasionally places Rustie alongside reverent funk preservationists like Dâm-Funk (see Flash Back, for example); for the most part, however, the tracks here exhibit a characteristic delight in digital excess that renders such comparisons void. Glass Swords may defy categorisation, but it’s all the more compelling for that. [Sam Wiseman]

Abandoning the goodtime crunk and tombolaplucked guests of 2007’s die-hard riling The Outsider, Josh Davis returns with a jukebox album, bound to at least partially feed the appetites of fans from all other quarters.

Stay The Course’s vibrant b-boy approach (featuring the velvet tones of Posdonous) feels like classic Quannum; the wails and snare breaks of Redeemed are sheer Endtroducing; upbeat instrumental jam Run For Your Life plays out like an off cut from The Private Press, and the John Carpenter meets Travis Bickle street sermon that is Give Me Back The Nights could make a convincing appendage to the criminally overlooked Dark Days score.

There are surprises, too: Border Crossing is essentially Shadow does thrash (at last!), while Tom Vek brings his laconic funk to Warning Call.

Yet at times it’s a frustrating listen – almost every cut is a success in isolation, but the running order makes for a disjointed combination.

Still, you’ve got to admire the scale of the guy’s ambition. [Dave Kerr]

PLAYING STEREO, GLASGOW ON 14 OCT

PLAYING O2 ABC, GLASGOW ON 5 DEC

THE DEAD MAN’S WALTZ

Taking their cues from the more morbid side of life, The Dead Man’s Waltz don’t so much pen songs as craft twisted tales of betrayal, murder and obsession that would’ve left Edgar Allan Poe feeling a bit flushed. That they choose to deliver them draped in brush-stroked snare and an accordion’s mournful drone is merely one facet of this quartet’s macabre collective personality, but from what’s on show here it’s a charming personality indeed.

Opening with an unsettling blend of wartime radio broadcasts and fairground paraphernalia, Union Street leads the way in an unassuming wave of soft balladry, but it’s the album’s more ostentatious pieces that capture the imagination. Fallow Fields rolls along with a bouncing accordion melody and a dramatic, rousing outro while Old Man delivers a psychedelic burst of rock that retains the solemn tone while adding a whole new realm to their sound. Call them stories or call them songs, they all deserve to be heard. [David Bowes] PLAYING THE JAZZ BAR, EDINBURGH ON 6 OCT AND THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, GLASGOW ON 27 OCT

MARTYN

LOCH LOMOND

SISKIYOU

BRAINFEEDER , 10 OCT

CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND, 24 OCT

CONSTELLATION, 10 OCT

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GHOST PEOPLE

Dutch producer Martyn’s Brainfeeder debut isn’t the ‘statement’ record that some observers might have anticipated, nor does it represent a wholesale paradigm shift from the polyrhythmic dubstep-techno blueprint mapped out by his superlative first album, Great Lengths. Martjin Deijkers’ sonic signature is advanced on Ghost People only in techno-centric increments, but his ongoing affinity for subtly abrasive textures (there’s a rolling radio frequency crackle on Masks that wraps the rhythm in a sort of Brillo Pad blanket) and off-centre 4/4 still yields some exceptional results.

Sunburst synth stabs and sub-basement kicks anchor the excellent eponymous track; it’s one of a clutch of dancefloor-baiting songs replete with considered production flourishes, the best of which arrives in the shape of closing track We Are You In The Future, a near nine-minute odyssey of coruscating warehouse melodies and dilating chords that ascend into a chemically-enhanced ether. [Ray Philp] WWW.BRAINFEEDERSITE.COM

LITTLE ME WILL START A STORM

Every Scottish review of this record will doubtlessly refer to the recognisable moniker of this sextet from Portland, Oregon, but with this, their first release on Chemikal Underground, the connection seems virtually impossible to ignore. Loch Lomond are no strangers to Scotland’s musical landscape – the album’s opener, Blue Lead Fences, was previously released by Edinburgh based Song, by Toad Records, who also put out their 2010 EP Night Bats.

Having toured the States with The Decemberists, clear comparisons between theirs and the sound of Colin Meloy’s troupe frequently abound. Yet strikingly confident, often joyous, moments in tracks like I Love Me and instrumental Water Bells, stir reminiscences of new labelmates Zoey Van Goey. Furthermore, you might swear the folky arrangements of Blood Bank were by Broken Records. Perhaps these are merely the results of shared influence, but within the context of their adoption these elements appear more prominent. Small world. [David McGinty]

KEEP AWAY THE DEAD

This second LP from indie-folk band Siskiyou finds a balance between soft reflective folk songs and angst-ridden stomp-alongs. Recorded mostly in the tiny town of Mara, BC in the dead of winter, that desolation finds its way into the music through Colin Huebert’s delicate, whispery-quiet vocals.

His voice is often counterbalanced with the mischievous use of instrumentation – whether that be the pounding drumming in the background of the title track, or the flurry of horns in the excellent Twigs and Stones – giving this album a satisfyingly dark and occasionally sadistic twist.

That tension comes to a head on their cover of Neil Young’s Revolution Blues, a murder ballad of sorts, but most of the time there’s just a beautiful sense of desperation on tracks like Sing Me To Sleep and So Cold, and that’s where Siskiyou shine the most. A satisfying, gothic little journey. [Ross Watson] WWW.CSTRECORDS.COM/SISKIYOU

SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS

MACHINE HEAD

DUM DUM GIRLS

ROADRUNNER, OUT NOW

SUB POP, OUT NOW

DAPTONE, 31 OCT

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SOUL TIME!

rrr Soul Time!, the fifth studio outing from Sharon Jones and the DapKings, sees the band’s insistence upon replicating the exact character of vintage soul firmly intact. Using only traditional analogue recording methods, Jones’ rich vocals are underpinned by an impeccablyrendered brass section; the overall effect is so successful in its unswerving devotion to the past as to sound less like an exercise in nostalgia, than a disorientingly uncanny time-travel experiment.

Jones’ songs, which centre around familiar themes of indignation and defiance, are remarkably well-honed examples of the genre, and Soul Time!’s backward gaze will strike many soul devotees as a mark of authenticity, rather than a lack of imagination. Nonetheless, it’s a pity that a band of such obvious songwriting talent, led by a genuinely powerful vocalist, should have no interest in engaging with the soul tradition in a way that attempts to capture the musical particularities of their own era. [Sam Wiseman]

42 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

UNTO THE LOCUST

For a band who’ve been given their fair share of flak for changing with the times, you have to at least hand it to Machine Head for continuing their unapologetic evolutions. While their latest sees them falling in with NWOAHM luminaries like Lamb of God, there are plenty of nods here to the glory days of Iron Maiden and AC/DC, a noble attempt at keeping both the old and new school fans happy.

The one constant in a scattered career, Robb Flynn’s distinctive twenty-a-day growl, is at its harshest throughout, his roar on Locust’s chorus apocalyptic yet none the worse for his ‘sensitive’ vocal turn elsewhere in the song, while the twin guitar harmonies and glorious solos on Who We Are will bring a fond tear to the eyes of those who grew up before the dark days of Korn and Avenged Sevenfold. It’s not their strongest moment so far, but enough to keep the torch of modern metal burning bright. [David Bowes]

ONLY IN DREAMS

On their second outing, Los Angeles’ Dum Dum Girls absorb themselves with a clutch of more mature concerns than evidenced by their no-frills debut I Will Be. A photo of singer Dee Dee’s now deceased mother appears on the cover, and a clutch of the songs at the heart of the record are mined from the frontwoman’s feelings of tour-induced separation from cherished loved ones.

Musically, though, there is only a little deviation from the back-tobasics garage indie of their first LP, but this time without such rough hewn pop gems as Bhang Bhang, I’m A Burnout and Oh Mein Me to hook in listeners. It’s far from a disaster; Always Looking has an echo of the psychedelic, girl-group strut of their best work, and there’s more than a little bit of Chrissie Hynde on the country-ish strum of Heartbeat, but you can’t shake the feeling that Dum Dum Girls are a band much in need of a new, unifying idea. [PJ Meiklem]

PLAYING SECC, GLASGOW ON 5 DEC WWW.MACHINEHEAD1.COM

WWW.WEAREDUMDUMGIRLS.COM

ROOTS MANUVA

DEUS

M83

BIG DADA, 3 OCT

PIAS, 3 OCT

NAIVE, 17 OCT

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4EVEREVOLUTION

A Rodney Hylton Smith full-length usually comes with a guarantee of three things – rhymes that vary from the profound to the inexplicable, a hefty dose of soul and the kind of bass designed to be heard on soundsystems that’ll push the groove through to Shanghai. If that’s all you want, Beyond This World or Watch Me Dance will be enough to satisfy your urges, the first lacing primo 80s soul with chunky beats and the latter a dancehall stomper that sucks you in like a black hole of immense funkified gravity.

Roots has never been a one-trick pony, though, and there’s a diversity here that’s rare in a career as far gone. Crow Bars invokes the spirit of hip-hop’s godfathers via Daddy Kope’s fluid linguistics and Roots even gets his croon on in a reggae style in the album’s token tokin’ moment Wha’ Mek? A few of the cuts might fade to the back of the mind after a listen, but that’s only because the rest are so very fine. [David Bowes] WWW.ROOTSMANUVA.CO.UK

KEEP YOU CLOSE

Opinions on dEUS vary wildly. The band effectively divided their career in two when they went on hiatus early last decade only to return with a significantly slicker sound. Many admirers still swear by the more adventurous, Zappa-infused earlier works, whereas greater consistency in style has earned them a loyal new following since returning from the wilderness.

What is fair to say is that Keep You Close is certainly one of their strongest second-phase releases. Perhaps not as enthralling as 2005’s sprawling Pocket Revolution but certainly superior to its dancier follow up, Vanishing Point. Dark Sets In is a particular highlight, with its understated verse and oppressive chorus. The opening title-track equally successfully deploys their signature progressions and dynamics. Closing number Easy also deserves a special mention for its chorus and the inspired backing vocals in particular. Keep You Close is unlikely to define the Belgian troupe’s career, but it’s a worthy addition to an already impressive catalogue. [Chris Cusack]

WILD FLAG

WAKE THE PRESIDENT

WICHITA, 10 OCT

WE CAN STILL PICNIC, 3 OCT

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WILD FLAG

ZUMUTUNG!

The latest noteworthy outfit to emerge from the US Pacific Northwest are something of a supergroup, combining members of Sleater-Kinney, Helium, Quasi and the Minders. With both Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals) and Janet Weiss (drums) present, it’s unsurprising that Sleater-Kinney’s angular, twin-guitar take on indie rock is the most obvious reference point. Wild Flag, however, recalls that outfit’s less adventurous early output, eschewing the wild squalls of their last LP. This is a series of driving, energetic pieces which illustrate the depth of talent present, without succumbing to the aesthetic incoherence that often taints such collaborations. The sound is embellished with Rebecca Cole’s 60s-style organ playing, which both complements and restrains the guitars in equal measure. Wild Flag is essentially the sound of four musicians seeking to escape the limitations of their day jobs: what it lacks in ambition being more than compensated for by an endearing sense of fun and immediacy. [Sam Wiseman]

Channelling their Josef K, Orange Juice and Arab Strap infused sound through an increasingly discordant frequency, Wake the President to and fro between thrilling, immediate guitar pop and shadowy hypnotic experiments on this seductive second album. Zumutung! (meaning ‘imposition’) is streaked through with self-fear, anxiety and suspicion, yet the sensory force of the rhythm section and ricocheting treble modulations offset the gnawing sense of paranoia underpinning these songs.

Pitching a swarm of incomprehensible vocal echoes against a forbidding guitar slide, A Messiah Complex provides a perverse, captivating centre-piece. Your Expressions and This Is New combine knowing literary references with clean bass lines and sparingly layered keyboards, as Glaswegian twins Erik and Björn Sandberg succeed in adding new dimensions to their Postcard template, perhaps pointing the way towards a more capricious journey next time. [Simon Fielding]

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/WILDFLAG

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/WAKETHEPRESIDENT

HURRY UP, WE’RE DREAMING

M83’s last album, Saturdays = Youth, was their biggest critical and commercial success to date. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, then, is a curveball. Whilst not being completely sidestepped, the shoegaze aesthetic that became so prominent must jockey for position with elements that defined earlier albums, like the grander, digital soundscapes of 2003’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts.

That it’s a double album makes it riskier still. But, with the style that’s now second nature, maintstay Anthony Gonzalez pulls it off in spectacular fashion. There are highlights littered throughout the 22 tracks, but special mention is reserved for Midnight City, which replaces Kim and Jessie and Unrecorded as the most instantly gratifying M83 song to date, and Wait, a sublime, skeletal, yet euphoric track of the sort that’s dotted all over their prolific back catalogue. Consider this, then, as a “greatest hits” of unreleased material that celebrates all that is and has been great about ten years of M83. [Finbarr Bermingham] WWW.ILOVEM83.COM

SCREAMING TREES

LAST WORDS: THE FINAL RECORDINGS SUNYATA, 17 OCT

rr Having bookended the ‘grunge era’ with the albums Sweet Oblivion and Dust, yet failing to capitalise on the situation, Screaming Trees officially split in 2000, leaving this document of their final songs to be shelved for over a decade. Its release in 2011 comes apropos of nothing in particular, merely serving as a curio for long-time fans.

Shorn of the psychedelic guitar flourishes and inventive timechanges of predecessor Dust, Last Words feels somewhat sedate and by-numbers in comparison.

Tracks like Ash Gray Sunday, Revelator and Black Rose Way show promise but lack bite, while Crawlspace ignites a spark of something genuinely menacing but feels smothered by what surrounds it. Penultimate tracks Low Life and Anita Grey fare better, with Mark Lanegan’s soulful growl elevating some decent studio jams.

Ultimately though, these final recordings should be approached by fans only, and even then they may feel these ‘words’ constitute a disappointing epitaph for a band that deserved better. [Darren Carle]

MARTIN JOHN HENRY

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS

THE JOHN KNOX SEX CLUB

GARGLEBLAST, 10 OCT

FAT CAT, 3 OCT

SELF-RELEASED, OUT NOW

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THE OTHER HALF OF EVERYTHING

After the disappointing split of De Rosa on the back of their excellent second album Prevention, this first solo offering by frontman Martin John Henry is a welcome addition to the local musical landscape. That said, it takes a good spin or two to acclimatise to The Other Half of Everything. De Rosa themselves were hardly averse to some of the ol’ indie electro trimmings, but at times here, Henry fully embraces such pleasures.

Span is a multi-tiered, lazer disco mini-epic whose early doors appearance is as revitalising as it is unexpected. It rubs shoulders with I Love Map which finds Henry on more familiar grand acoustic territory and sets up the varying tones of the album. Thankfully, Henry’s reliable song-writing chops act as a steadying counterweight to the experimental leanings, allowing him to colour these eleven nebulous offerings to their respective edges. Marvellous stuff. [Darren Carle] PLAYING PLATFORM, GLASGOW ON 4 OCT, AVALANCHE RECORDS, EDINBURGH ON 7 OCT AND STEREO, GLASGOW ON 8 OCT

FEIST

METALS POLYDOR, 3 OCT

rrrrr Leslie Feist returns with the eagerly anticipated follow up to 2007’s The Reminder which, assisted by an iPod iteration that even today seems quite dated, propelled the singer to new levels of international recognition. Those wanting Metals to grab them with the unmistakable immediacy of I Feel it All or 1234, may be initially apprehensive.

Instead the album merges the more undulating pulses of her previous record, Let it Die, with the ensemble dynamic of The Reminder, creating a sound that is at once stunning in its intimacy, and overwhelmingly powerful. Feist’s songwriting seems further matured without losing any of its charm.

Songs like The Circle Married the Line, and Graveyard, you’ll think you’ve always known. They sound as if, like the album’s title, they were mined from the ground, like they already existed, but their swells and subsidences are almost inexplicably exciting and refreshingly new. [David McGinty]

IN THE PIT OF THE STOMACH

RAISE RAVENS

If you name your second album In The Pit Of The Stomach, anything less than gut-punching is going to disappoint.

Opener Circles And Squares is a long way from disappointing: gargantuan riffs clamour over Adam Thompson’s distinctive bellows, before a boldly-conducted coda pushes the track into ‘personal best’ territory.

It’s a gutsy rebuttal to the whole concept of ‘Difficult Second Album Syndrome’ – the first of several confident strides forward for the Edinburgh quartet. Recorded in Sigur Rós’ Icelandic studio, We Were Promised Jetpacks don’t evoke ‘glaciers’ so much as ‘massive fuck-off rock capable of tearing the surrounding landscape a new one’: lead single Medicine and Human Error are burly and bold, repeatedly nudging your hand to towards the volume dial. It’s not quite perfect – a little spark dissipates whenever they take the foot off the pedal – but on those (numerous) occasions where the band locks in and nails it, the Jetpacks truly soar. [Chris Buckle]

At a mere six tracks long, this second album from Glasgow’s John Knox Sex Club packs its weight within its densely layered, yet loose recordings. Compared to last years’ comparatively straight Blud Rins Cauld, Raise Ravens sounds like a real game raiser.

Opening number Kiss The Dirt clocks in at an epic thirteen minutes, taking sojourns around Dirty Three style coastal soundscapes, towering Godspeed rock crescendos and elegiac guest vocals courtesy of Sparrow and the Workshop’s Jill O’Sullivan.

It may be a make or break for listeners, but Raise Ravens holds plenty in reserve either way. The bucolic Above The Waves, which slowly morphs into a rousing lament courtesy of singer Sean Cumming’s sermon like delivery, is another choice moment whilst the driving, near-anthemic The Neighbours is a welcome distillation of the Sex Club sound. In a somewhat crowded scene of new folkies and old post-rock stalwarts, The John Knox Sex Club are cutting out a clear path of their own. [Darren Carle]

PLAYING RELOAD FESTIVAL, STIRLING ON 1 OCT AND THE LIQUID ROOM, EDINBURGH ON 6 OCT

PLAYING HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, EDINBURGH ON 1 OCT

THE TOP FIVE 1 2 3 4 5

THE MOTH & THE MIRROR

HONESTLY, THIS WORLD

FEIST

METALS

THE JOHN KNOX SEX CLUB

RAISE RAVENS

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS

IN THE PIT OF THE STOMACH

MARTIN JOHN HENRY

THE OTHER HALF OF EVERYTHING

VARIOUS

FAC. DANCE: FACTORY RECORDS 12” MIXES & RARITIES, 1980-87 STRUT, 24 OCT

rrrr It’s hard to believe that another compilation of genuine interest can be wrung from the Factory stable, such has been the level of interest in the label in recent years. Fac. Dance, however, is just that: gathering together dance tracks from Factory’s earlier years, including work from less-remembered outfits like Streetlife and The Hood, the double album offers a snapshot of a remarkably fertile club scene.

Before its gradual narrowing into the baggy sound, Factory’s output in the early- to mid-80s embraced cross-pollination with New York club culture, covering abrasive dance-funk (Blurt), electro (52nd Street) and reggae (X-O-Dus), among other genres. The compilation traces links across this broad spectrum, revealing a common enthusiasm and adventurousness. Here is a tantalising glimpse of routes that British indie and dance might have pursued in the late 80s and early 90s, had the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays not imprinted their influence so emphatically. [Sam Wiseman]

OCTOBER 2011

THE SKINNY 43

MUSIC

Telling Stories Once upon a time, four young men, who went by the name We Were Promised Jetpacks, picked up some guitars and drums and made an album that lots of people really liked. So much so in fact that they decided to do it again...

Interview: Darren Carle Photos: Sally Jubb

44 THE SKINNY October 2011

The Scottish Storytelling Centre on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile may seem an odd place to meet and interview a raggedy bunch of local indie musicians.

The clean, bright, family-friendly space is certainly at odds with the typical rustic boozer or grimy gig venue that normally plays host to such occasions. However, such a lack of pretence is something that helps mark out Edinburgh quartet We Were Promised Jetpacks.

That fun moniker feels imbedded in the group and their outlook, particularly when the preceding photoshoot descends into a game of dress-up thanks to a handy costume box found on site.

“Well, we certainly got our agenda across,” jokes guitarist Mike Palmer as he and the band settle down post-frivolity to chat to The Skinny.

By agenda we assume he means ‘penchant for arsing about and not taking things too seriously’.

That said, with sophomore album In the Pit of the Stomach on the horizon, serious thoughts are firmly fixed on the group’s future.

“I’ve often wondered why bands change so much from their first album to the second,” begins singer and guitarist Adam Thompson, trailing off from the standard journo question on the evolution of the band since we last heard from them. “Our first album (2009’s These Four Walls) was a wee bit patchy,” he admits. “It was almost completely recorded live and we had all the songs set before we even began rehearsing.” The feeling seems to be that a lack of recording knowledge, and perhaps some inflexibility in responding to the writing process under these conditions, led to an album which never truly satisfied the band themselves.

By contrast, the songs that now make up In the Pit of the Stomach were less of a known quantity when the opportunity for a second album inevitably presented itself. “There’s a difference between just writing songs when you have the time, to suddenly approaching it as a job with a six-month deadline,” says Mike. “It’s challenging, but it really helped us.” And in spite of their frolicking, they aren’t afraid of some weightier tones. “You can still tell it’s us,” clarifies drummer Darren Lackie, “But it sounds a bit more…mature. Yeah, we’re using

I’ve often wondered why bands change so much from their first album to the second ADAM THOMPSON

that word. More mature and a bit more polished sounding. But still us.”

Such a trajectory is usually the case of course, though fans can rest assured in Darren’s words.

In the Pit of the Stomach remains charged with the band’s up-tempo rhythms and off-centre pop nous. Yet if These Four Walls was in need of a little pruning, as the band attest, then album number two shows they didn’t shy away from getting out the secateurs. “A lot of things were different this time,” explains bassist Sean Smith. “We had a set team and we knew who we wanted to work with.

Andrew Bush, our sound engineer, was there for the whole process. He became a fifth member and would tell us if things were working or not. We were more than happy for him to do that.”

This process inevitably led to changes, some of which will become evident at future live shows.

“We avoided recording songs like Conductor,” says Mike of one of their debut album’s more popular numbers. “It’s a wee bit, um, ‘rom-com’ – I think that’s a good way of describing it. We never felt we got it right when we played it live, so it’s gone [from the setlist] now.” Sean elaborates

more positively; “Songs like that felt good at the time, but after playing them so much, we just wanted to be rocking out a bit more.”

Having signed to Fat Cat records for their debut and with their new album also coming out on the auspicious label, it seems the band were given exactly this kind of flexibility. “We knew that Fat Cat would rather put out a good album late than a patchy one on time,” says Mike. “So we never felt any pressure from them. All they said was just to make it amazing.” Pressure enough it would seem, though by their own standards, it’s a requirement they seem to have met. “I never felt the urge to listen to the first album,” Mike continues. “But I really want to listen to this one. I’m playing it when I don’t really have to and it’s actually on my iPod.” Meeting a band at this point is always an interesting experience; the hard work has been done, the album is finished, but it hasn’t been released for mass consumption yet. “I’m just starting to think about how it’s going to be received,” admits Adam. “We do care, but also, to a certain extent, we don’t care. We’re happy with it and that’s what’s important, but obviously we would like it to get good reviews and have folks still come to our shows. That’s still important to us.”

Mike is equally modest in what he would like the new album to achieve. “Our hopes with the first album were to get to make another,” he claims.

“And that’s the same for this one really. We hope that the venues don’t get smaller. We’re happy that they seem to be getting slightly bigger; a nice, steady, slow rise.”

This may be something of an erroneous comment, mind you. For a wee Edinburgh indie outfit, the Jetpacks have achieved an enviable level of success and exposure off the back of one album so far.

They are popular enough to play sizeable gigs in the States, whilst many of their songs have found their way onto both British and American television shows. “We’re still overwhelmed by it,” admits Mike.

“We’ve played to 1400 people in New York. There’s so much to do over there, yet people still come to see us, sometimes travelling hours to make a gig.”

Of course, an early roster of touring with label mates Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad didn’t hurt things. Indeed, the former were initially making better headway across the pond than they were on home territory. “We did get a little bit tired of the comparisons to begin with,” admits Mike.

“But we can hardly deny it; we did totally ride on the coat-tails of them both to begin with. On our first US tour, we were playing to 900 Americans who loved Scottish rock music. It was a good place to start.” “And a good way to nick their fans,” adds Adam.

Yet having gaily admitted to this leg up, the Jetpacks look ready to prove that they can stand their own ground. In the Pit of the Stomach certainly comes across as a more confident album.

It’s more dynamic, with little filler and is astutely recorded whilst being playful and a joyfully loud racket to boot. “We set out to record something that would be fun for us to play,” concurs Darren.

“And hopefully fun for people to listen to as well.”

And with that, in a venue befitting such an analogy, this particular story comes to an end. Well,

almost. “We apparently have a few celebrity fans,” claims Mike when I ask the band if they can furnish me with a hitherto unknown little story of their own.

“Harry Potter and Irvine Welsh,” he continues.

“Oh, Jim and Dwight from the American Office came to see us, but they didn’t like us very much.

Well, they didn’t buy any of our merch.”

Sensing he has let us down with celebrity tid-bits, Mike then whispers into The Skinny’s dictaphone: “Darren was in the womb for ten months,” he deadpans. “That’s no word of a lie.” Does that say something about him I ask, at which point the remainder of the band, who clearly enjoyed a more standard birthing process, loudly agree in unison. “He always says stuff like that,” claims Darren himself with mock offense. “He’ll just walk up and say ‘ten months explains it all for me’. I don’t know what that means!”

Sounds like a whole other story to us.

IN THE PIT OF THE STOMACH IS RELEASED VIA FAT CAT RECORDS ON 3 OCT PLAYING STIRLING RELOAD FESTIVAL @ TOLLBOOTH ON 1 OCT AND THE LIQUID ROOM, EDINBURGH ON 6 OCT WWW.WEWEREPROMISEDJETPACKS.COM

NICE N SLEAZY OPEN ‘TIL 3 AM 7 DAYS A WEEK FOOD SERVED 12-9PM EVERY DAY (SUN 1PM-9PM)

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THE SKINNY 45

PREVIEWS Blitz

Nu Fire Presents Lunice

Flying Duck, 7 Oct

Sneaky Pete’s, 10 Oct

LuckyMe family member Lunice will be bringing his own brand of hip hop and R’n’B inspired fun to the intimate confines of Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh for their Monday night residency Nu Fire. Anyone who’s seen Lunice either in person or on his memorable Boiler Room performances, will know all about his energy and passion (and pretty awesome dance moves) behind his MIDI controller. For those that haven’t, well you’re in for something a cut above your usual DJ appearance.

Originally a B-boy, Lunice incorporates his personality and creativity into his eclectic and entertaining sets, often MCing and having some serious fun in front of a crowd.

Having just recently released One Hunned, his second EP for LuckyMe after the highly successful Stacker Upper last year, Lunice has also put out releases on Diplo’s Mad Decent label, Young Turks and XL Recordings amongst others. With the growing admiration for this young producer extending far beyond his native Canada, his label put it best when they say “Lunice Fermin Pierre II is just THAT guy. So cool, so easy.” [Kat Young]

11pm-3am, £4

11pm - 3pm, FREE

www.flyingduckclub.com

www.sneakypetes.co.uk

Tribute (Launch Night) Presents DJ Stingray

Perc

CLUBS

First time DJs Corrina Hornsby-Walsh and Paul Challinor launch their queer and camp Eighties-inspired club night Blitz at Glasgow’s Flying Duck. They were inspired by the realisation that the city, which is so on trend and has a lot of diversity in both the music and fashion scenes, lags behind when it comes to diversity in the gay scene.

They describe the music as being like “the mix-tape that your first boyfriend or girlfriend in High School never gave you.” Musically there’ll be a smattering of Culture Club, Kate Bush, Patrick Wolf, Beth Ditto, The Cure, The Smiths, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, T-Rex, The Kinks…and maybe even a little Sleater-Kinney if you ask really nicely. “You feel so alone as a teenager,” explains Paul, “then you go to University and you start to find these people who ‘get’ you and you just kind of think, ‘Where the fuck have you been these past four years?’” Expect New Romantic tunes and thought-provoking, hilarious visuals (remember when Paula Radcliffe peed in the street during the London Marathon? They have a clip of that). [Ana Hine]

La Cheetah, 19 Nov

Detroit’s enduring influence on electronic music is hard to play down, not least it would seem, in Glasgow. It’s fitting then that the city’s newest event will open by hosting one of the most imposing artists to emerge from the ruins of the motor city. Tribute is the brainchild of a consortium of DJs who have each had a hand in some of the best underground nights Glasgow has had to offer in recent years.

Members of Stay Plastic, Jelly Roll Soul, Scrabble, Pest Control and the All Caps team from Subcity Radio have pooled their considerable resources to bring the mighty DJ Stingray to La Cheetah.

Over several years, Stingray (Sherard Ingram) has developed a dynamic sound which, despite being dark and otherworldly, remains rooted in the place where machine music and soul music collides. As the founding member of Urban Tribe he has co-produced highly praised records on labels such as Mo’ Wax, Rephlex and Planet E. On the turntables, Ingram is renowned for embarking on rapid-fire electro excursions, having held the esteemed position of being Drexciya’s touring assault DJ. As such, the ski-masked American is well-armed to deliver the kind of electronic funk promised in Tribute’s mission statement. [Ronan Martin]

Pounding, pounding techno music comes to La Cheetah this week in the form of bass throbbing tub-thumper Perc. With releases on Kompakt, Adam Beyer’s Drumcode and in his role as head of influential label Perc Trax as well as one of CLR’s main men, UK born Ali Wells established himself as one of modern techno’s safest pair of hands long ago.

Fortunately for all, that safe pair of hands can do some pretty terrifying things to a soundsystem and the cochleae of all those in the surrounding area.

With a sound that is generally seen as something of a driving, relentless force, embodied by tracks from the likes of Perc Trax signing Sawf, Wells has never been afraid of experimentation and has continually twisted the expectations and perceptions of the global community. By meandering from the bare bones industrial sounds of techno’s origins to the dubbed out broken beats he’s able to contort the dancefloor into shapes only thought up in the dimly lit rooms of afterparties (and coming to an area near you soon!). His debut album Wicker and Steel hit the ground running earlier this year and the widespread response to the release has seen this 4/4 behemoth go from strength to strength. Expect fireworks (not literally, it’s a club). [Calum Sutherland]

11pm-3am, £10

11pm - 3am £10 on the door, £7 adv

www.facebook.com/maxlacheetah

www.facebook.com/maxlacheetah

Death Disco Presents Peaches (DJ Set)

Gasoline Dance Machine Presents Mustang

The Arches, 15 Oct

Cabaret Voltaire, 5 Nov

Outlandish costumes and lascivious lyrics have been the cornerstone of the stratospheric rise of Lady Gaga in recent years. The idiosyncrasies of Ms Germanotta’s guise will have their origins exposed to Death Discoers as Peaches takes to the wheels for an evening of warped electro sleaze. Remember the Jackass 2 ‘old man’s balls’ scene? If Johnny Knoxville grotesquely masquerading as a saggy elder gent hasn’t indelibly etched itself on your consciousness then the “suckin’ on my titties” refrain it was set to from Fuck the Pain Away, with its malign bassline and thunderous symbols, will serve as the first port of call for those unaware of the electro goddess’s output.

Tent in Your Pants sounds like a would-be parody of much of the present chart music, with its salacious neologisms (“Hurts so good I gotta soregasm!”) and, whether or not she is a burlesque parody, she does have a tangible knack for filling floors. While her sexually suffused brand of electro clash will make for an eccentric evening, wits must be kept intact in the highly likely event that magnums of champagne are used to douse dance floor passions. This act, habitually executed by Peaches after having physically mounted the decks, almost certainly ignites rather than placates the party.

Other shocking surprises are sure to unfold and, whatever happens, it will be filthy. [James Corlett]

Belgian duo Mustang can be best surmised as traversing right across the entire electro spectrum.

Combining elements of funk, synthy pop and disco invariably entails Crazy P comparisons in terms of their upbeat grooves and funk-personified bass lines. Take for instance their Chameleon Circus EP on Gomma Records on which Try to Dance and the eponymous track emulate Chris Todd’s outfit to a T but as these guys are signed to Paris’s strictly electro/fashion label Kitsune, expect some seriously trans-European pop to permeate their set (minus the cheese).

While Nu Disco doesn’t quite pin them down (although strains of cosmic sub 120bpm does comprise an aspect of their sound) Discodeine’s collaborative effort with Jarvis Cocker, Synchronise would be a fair reflection of how shamelessly pop orientated things might potentially get. Nonetheless, with venerated labels Hot Creations and Visionquest the current bastions of the underground that is, according to pack leader Seth Troxler, producing ‘underground pop’, the difference between Cocker’s croonings and Ali Love’s Forward Motion is rendered more negligible than ever. This won’t be for techno gurners of this world but Mustang’s blend of pop inflected electronica offers all the ingredients for a full dance floor: wiggling posteriors, hand claps and an air of the chic and maybe just the freak. [James Corlett]

11pm-3am, £14 (£7)

11pm-3am, £7

www.thearches.co.uk

www.facebook.com/gasolinedancemachine

La Cheetah, 7 Oct

46 THE SKINNY October 2011

clubbing HIGHLIGHTS Words: Neil Murchison Illustration: Jamie Allan Shaw Festivals: over! Summer: over! You might as well get a good selection of soup stocked in your cupboards, dig out the winter wardrobe and invest in a SAD lamp because darkness, my old friend, has come to talk to you again. So the old script goes, but that’s not you, that’s the vitamin D talking and it’s the last you’ll be getting for sometime. Us pagan people have nothing to worry about as the approaching darkening months will just make the flashing lights seem a bit brighter and this month is utterly rammed with some seriously major talent surfacing behind decks all over the place.

This month’s standout event takes place on Fri 14 Oct in Glasgow with the annual Waverley Boat Party where the DJs themselves are put on deck aboard the world’s last remaining seagoing passenger steamer. Optimo, Subculture’s Harri & Domenic and Melting Pot’s Andrew Pirie and Simon Cordiner are all lined up for the three hour cruise with the optional afterparty kicking off at Chambre 69. Sub Club also host the annual Optimo Espookio on Sat 29 Oct which once again dares you to don costume and makeup for their fright night party.

Plastician, one of the DJs present at the birth of dubstep and one of the biggest influences on the scene, comes north to Bongo Club on Fri 14 Oct for Xplicit to drop the latest grime and dubstep sounds. Bongo Club will also play host to another scene originator, DJ Hype, as he returns for what will be a huge night of drum’n’bass from the True Playaz confederate on Sat 22 Oct and, completing the trilogy, Xplicit will have Foreign Beggars, fresh from a mammoth tour with The Prodigy last year, playing live at The Liquid Rooms on Wed 26 Oct. I have no idea what music most 12 year olds play on their birthday (honestly, I don’t) but it’s probably not the same as what Ultragroove will be dropping at The Green Room and Below the Stairs as they celebrate their final year before teenagerdom on Sat 15 Oct. Along with Heavy Gossip they introduce Horse Meat Disco to the party and on Sat 29 Oct they also host their Halloween Ball where everyone attending takes

a trip to the costume shop or tries to find out where PJ Harvey sources her outfits. Don’t come dressed as a zombie to Sneaky Pete’s for Zombie Nation on Sun 9 Oct though because you won’t get in and, let’s face it, you’ll want to if you are in any way interested in hearing the Berliner’s thrilling electro set. Pretension free genre-hopping party madness also rolls into town in the form of Annie Mac Presents as the Radio 1 DJ unleashes Fake Blood and Jigsaw upon The Liquid Rooms on Sat 1 Oct. Berlin’s fearsome electronica chameleon Apparat shuffles out from behind his laptop as he takes a four piece live band to the Arches on Wed 19 Oct for what should prove to be a sonic meltdown of unprecedented magnitude. Unlike previous collaborations with Ellen Allien and Modeselektor (as Moderat) this will dial back the electronic edges and replace them with a wall of noise made by actual, real instruments. After a summer of appearing at Sonar and Bestival the Numbers crowd return with a big double header. First up will be a Numbers and LuckyMe get together to celebrate the launch of Rustie’s new album Glass Swords at Stereo on Fri 14 Oct and on Fri 4 Nov Numbers will return with Pearson Sound & Space Dimension Controller to Sub Club.

Simply one of the hottest DJ talents around comes to Cabaret Voltaire on Fri 21 Oct in the form of Subb-an as part of his seemingly unending tour of the word’s hottest clubs. Having already held a residency at Below in Birmingham he’s broken out his utterly danceable techno to crowds at Glastonbury, Sonar and The Warehouse Project. Expect space on the dancefloor to be at an utter premium.

Another under-the-radar one to check out is Benjamin Damage who is in cahoots with the techno/ all genre rebels Modeselektor at the Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh on Fri 21 Oct. Having supported Modeselektor regularly and released numerous tracks on their 50 WEAPONS label he has a similar ear for dark, fun techno with a sense of the absurd which make him essential clubbing material.

O2 ABC Love Music Column

As Ibiza’s party season wraps up for another year Kat Young checks out two of the major players, WE LOVE and COCOON.

IMAGES (L-R): JORDIET (DARK CLUB), DAVID BOYLE (PLANE), CHRISTIAN KLÖPPEL (BLUE CLUB), CARLOS ZAMARRIEGO (PEOPLE), STEVEN STRAITON (BEACH) & DAVID BOYLE (OTHER CLUB).

CLUBS

DISPATCHES FROM THE GOLDEN ISLE

Maybe it was because this time I didn’t have the sounds of Sonar at Night’s Surgeon or Silent Servant still ringing in my ears but this, my second trip to Ibiza this summer, was nothing short of one of the best parties I’ve attended this year. Despite the massive We Love Space @ Space lineup of Claude Von Stroke, 2ManyDjs, James Zabiela and Groove Armada, my personal highlight was found witnessing Steffi. She is a DJ that rarely disappoints, from Sunday mornings in Panorama Bar to intimate Glasgow clubs; even here in Ibiza, the polar opposite to Berlin clubbing, her warmer tech-house take on the Ostgut Ton sound translated nicely to the Red Box room. I never like to deviate too far from the small club vibe and the Red Box provides an atmosphere intimate enough that it is almost possible to forget you are in a massive venue. Following an excellent set by Ryan O’Gorman the biggest crowd reactions came from Steffi’s own productions such as ‘Yours’ which had everyone in the room suitably enthused. The remainder of the evening was spent migrating between the smaller rooms and this remains one of the most perfect things about Space, dancing to different music across many rooms, enjoying the unique vibe in each.

The following night inevitably brought Cocoon @ Amnesia. I really love Amnesia and the larger than life Cocoon productions always seem to fit the venue, with the dancers and the visuals providing a dark backdrop to the signature music of the label.

In the main room Nina Kraviz, perhaps better known for her moody and seductive productions

DJ CHART COBI

In 2009, after 6 years experience as a DJ in the Edinburgh club scene COBI turned from DJ to producer. Within a year he was signed to top German electro label Plasmapool. He shares his current DJ Top Ten with us.

1. Amen – Chris Luvly (Burn The Fire) A great choppy–electro, amen break–describing release from Chris Luvly. Yes luvly.

2. Lotus – Mumbai Science (Lektroluv) Loving the punchy lead synth in this tune, a proper club track this one.

3. Blow Out – Felguk (Dongle Records) Yet another great track from the insanely talented Felguk.

4. First Of The Year – Skrillex (Big Beat/Atlantic Records) Another crazy Skrillex dubstep offering, with the usual synthy voices included as standard!

5. Verbal Abuse – Uppermost (Unsigned Track)

than her mixing abilities, was on warming up duty and her track selection was disharmonious, jolting from relentless beat to relentless beat without any of the warming subtlety of her work. Naysayers often dismiss Sven Vath and his rolling empire in the electronic musicscape but his style suits the big-room clubbing environment which is also quintessentially fitting to Amnesia. Unfortunately Kraviz’s opening set the tone for relentless bpms which Vath continued upon and ultimately there was something special lacking from the occasion.

Similarly the sounds of Seth Troxler and Loco Dice on the Terrace didn’t vary much from what the main room was offering. Ibiza goers love Cocoon, the brand, the DJs and the music and on my visit in June I was nothing short of blown away

by Jamie Jones and Richie Hawtin on a night that reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the Minus label boss. This night, however, was unable to live with my expectations by comparison.

Despite the disappointment there’s something about Ibiza that still gets me every time I visit and the idea of an island that revolves around clubbing is too tempting to resist. It is increasingly the case that you really can find something for everyone here, from small rooms, intimate sets to the big, major rooms, world famous labels to resident DJs, Tiesto to Cassy: it’s all here. [Kat Young] WE LOVE SPACE @ SPACE, 11 SEP COCOON @ AMNESIA, 12 SEP WWW.COCOON.NET WWW.WELOVE-MUSIC.COM

The savage sawtooth bass in this track makes me want to go clubbing every time I hear it!

6. The Electric Dream – Mord Fustang (Plasmapool) Been really enjoying Mord Fustang’s tracks lately and I’m liking the organic feel of this release.

7. People Bounce (Dirtyloud Remix) – Costello (Peak Hour Music) I couldn’t make a chart without including this great Brazilian act. Here’s another signature bass– adventure from Dirtyloud.

8. Dovregubben – Zedd (Dim Mak) An inspired electro–classical mashup with choppy bass and choir stabs all the way.

9. Mad Town – Zodiac Cartel (U&A Recordings) Zodiac Cartel’s latest offering is a great club track that definitely lives up to its name.

10. Cobitron Maximus – Cobi (AUX) I’m going to have to plug my newest release through Bristol label AUX. This one’s for the electro bass lovers!

ZOMBIE NATION

AT A time when new music is king and most clubs are afraid to deviate from the newest, latest big thing, Northern Soul stands alone as the only British musical cultural explosion from the 60s and 70s which hasn’t been reduced to a select few played-to-death classics. In clubs, the scene has never really gone away and in the last few years its influence has again begun to permeate the mainstream, as witnessed in Janelle Monae’s high octane robotic soul and Mark Ronson’s Winehouse-led version of Valerie. Next year British photographer Elaine Constantine will begin filming her debut feature – Northern Soul – following how this music changed the lives of a generation of kids who lived through it; but why wait for a film about music that was made to be danced to?

Glasgow now has the Northern Soul night it has long craved in the form of Nowt But Northern at O2 ABC2 on the first Saturday of every month. DJs Ally MacLean and Sean Courtney are reintroducing the city to the Northern Soul scene by maintaining strict adherence to genre and playing only Northern Classics, Oldies, Motown, Modern and Crossover which would have emanated from the famous clubs of Manchester, Wigan and Blackpool. They operate a strict vinyl-only policy where even re-issues and bootlegs are banned, so every record played is the original article. On 1 October Duce of Greenock/East Lothian Soul Club will be the guest DJ. Following him on 5 November will be Ian Anderson from Aberdeen’s Northern scene and then Lenny Harkins, a mainstay of Glasgow’s last major Northern Soul club Caledonia Soul, will feature on 3 December. Becoming friends with Nowt But Northern on Facebook will keep you up to date with all the latest goings on.

DJ BUNTY @ 90S HIP HOP O2 ABC, 1ST & 3RD SATURDAYS

DJ Bunty brings his 90s hip-hop night to Polar Bar at O2 ABC on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month as part of Love Music. Having played around the world at festivals and clubs, DJ Bunty is known for his wild party sets and has also brought his scratching skills to the tables by representing Scotland and the UK in DMC Finals – expect to be blown away.

Catch him this month on 1 and 15 October.

ZOMBIE NATION @ FTW O2 ABC2, SAT 8 OCT

Berlin techno giant Zombie Nation plays O2 ABC2 on Saturday 8 Oct, bringing with him his everevolving electro beats and synths. Best known for producing Kernkraft 400, still one of the most recognisable techno songs of all time, the DJ, producer and prodigious remixer has steadily been releasing albums and EPs over the last ten years which are just as ruthlessly pounding.

WWW.O2ABCGLASGOW.CO.UK

LOOK OUT FOR COBI’S NEXT RELEASE THROUGH UKRANIAN LABEL DIRTY WAVES. THE TRACK IS AN ELECTRO REMIX OF ‘GLITTER & PAIN’ BY SEX IN SPACE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM 10 OCT ON BEATPORT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/COBITRON

OCTOBER 2011

THE SKINNY 47

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REVIEWS

October Events FILM

As the trees begin to turn various shades of red, so too do our cinema screens with brains, intestines and blood being gratuitously splattered as horror fans’ favourite holiday approaches. October’s Film Events column, therefore, celebrates the horror happenings across Scotland.

First up, the Cameo serves a smorgasbord of terror with their third All Night Horror Madness (15 Oct).

Catering for all tastes, the terrifying quartet on offer ranges from stonewall slasher classic Halloween to acid-flashback mind-fuck Blue Sunshine. Throw in Sam Raimi’s haunted cabin in the woods riot The Evil Dead, campus killer-on-the-loose shocker Pieces, and a Cameo 1 filled with like-minded gore-hounds and you’ve a perfect night of cinema. The horror will be all the more vivid as three of the movies are screening from beautiful 35mm prints.

Tyrannosaur

Tyrannosaur

When China Met Africa

Director: Paddy Considine

Director: Nick Francis, Marc Francis

Starring: Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Ned Dennehy Released: 7 Oct Certificate: 18

Starring: Felix Mutati, Mr Liu, Mr Li, Released: 7 Oct Certificate: TBC

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Tyrannosaur opens with an act of astonishing cruelty and at times the relentless bleakness of Paddy Considine’s directorial debut threatens to becomes suffocating. Stick with it, however, because the film possesses a deep compassion and moments of harsh beauty that make it much more than a wallow in misery. Building upon his award-winning short Dog Altogether, Considine explores the unlikely bond between raging, drunken widower Joseph (Mullan) and devout charity shop owner Hannah (Colman), who secretly suffers abuse at the hands of her petty husband (Marsan). The film pulsates with simmering violence throughout, but slowly the focus shifts onto the bond between Joseph and Hannah, two damaged souls who find solace in each other. Mullan attacks his role with customary conviction but Colman is a revelation, delivering a multifaceted performance of extraordinary emotional power; the heart-wrenching scenes they share feel devastatingly real. Dog lovers may be advised to give Tyrannosaur a miss, but there’s much to appreciate for admirers of bold, challenging cinema. [Philip Concannon]

Napoleon once said, “China is a sleeping giant but when she wakes she will shake the world.” Capturing this rising titan’s strides into Africa, filmmaking brothers Nick and Marc Francis (Black Gold) turn their lens on three Chinese entrepreneurs as they develop farms, build roads and bring jobs to Zambia encouraged by jovial trade minister, Felix Mutati. This triumvirate of hard working Eastern businessmen form part of the estimated million Chinese now living in Africa.

This languorous account of a new world order under construction lacks drama but provides plenty for an engaged audience to ponder over. To share in real personal dramas and witness cultures clash against a backdrop of global change is to gain a rare opportunity to watch the future taking shape.

As the West’s influence falls into the shadow of an Eastern dawn, the Francis brothers offer us a unique insight into a hidden corner of the present and an insightful glimpse of an emerging world order. [Danny Scott]

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Perfect Sense

Director: Lynne Ramsay

Director: David Mackenzie

Starring: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller Released: 21 Oct Certificate: 15

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Ewen Bremner, Denis Lawson, Connie Nielsen, Stephen Dillane, Alastair Mackenzie Released: 7 Oct Certificate: 15

rrrr Lynne Ramsay’s return to cinema is an adaptation of – and an improvement upon – Lionel Shriver’s best-selling novel; within the film’s opening moments we’re reminded why her long absence from behind the camera has been so keenly felt. Opening with the surprising image of Eva (Swinton) covered in tomatoes as she enjoys a European holiday, Ramsay continues to produce such arresting visuals throughout. To watch We Need to Talk About Kevin is to watch a director in full command of her material. Through the exceptional cinematography and sound design, a sense of constant unease is created as Eva battles with her malevolent son (a chilling Miller) while her ineffectual husband (Reilly) remains oblivious to the civil war going on in front of him.

Swinton is magnificent, expressing Eva’s conflicting emotions as she comes to terms with the hatred she feels for her own son, but this is Ramsay’s show, and while her symbolic imagery may occasionally feel heavy-handed, the film as a whole is a remarkable cinematic experience. [Philip Concannon]

When China Met Africa is playing twice at the Take One Action Film Festival: Sun 25 Sep, 3:15pm, Glasgow Film Theatre; Sun 25 Sep, 8:30pm, Filmhouse

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Reunited with Ewan McGregor, Young Adam director David Mackenzie helms this high concept, pseudo-apocalyptic vision concerning the threat of a global virus. Instead of grisly deaths or zombification, Perfect Sense offers a glimpse at societal collapse as a result of the sequential loss of our five ‘main’ senses.

Crucially the script focuses on the senses required to interact with others, rather than, say, proprioception. (Presumably a film about people losing their ability to tell where their arms are without looking at them would be pretty odd.)

From the first instance of global sense loss, the audience is left anticipating which is next to go. At its best this structure creates palpable tension, though it teeters on becoming a countdown to when the cinema lights go up. Mackenzie does some of his best work offsetting this suspense with a burgeoning relationship between a chef (McGregor) and an epidemiologist (Eva Green). At times the film lacks in confidence and could rely far less on Green’s narration, especially in its conclusion. [David McGinty]

cabinet du dr. caligari

Over to Glasgow now for a bat-shit German doctor and some shuffling living dead. Back in May, Southside Film Festival closed its hugely successful first programme of events with horror masterpiece Nosferatu. They continue their love of Weimar-era chills with Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a dazzling example of German Expressionism, which screens 16 Oct with live Wurlitzer Cinema Organ accompaniment in the beautiful surroundings of Pollokshaws Burgh Hall. Rounding off this mini southside Halloween season, George A. Romero’s apocalyptic debut Night of the Living Dead is screening 30 Oct at the Shed. The film is preceded by a zombie walk through Shawlands. (A braver man might ask, ‘How will we be able to tell?’, but not me.)

October also sees the return of much-loved film season Psychotronic Cinema, which will be giving movie fans on both the East and West coasts a shot of celluloid goodness each month until May 2012, and kicks-off with three baroque belters. At the GFT, in Glasgow, there’s a rare 35mm screening of Dario Argento’s sinewy giallo The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (19 Oct), while at the Filmhouse, in Edinburgh, Paul Morrisey’s Blood of Dracula shacks up with the sexy adventures of Ilsa: Tigress of Siberia for a trashtastic double-bill (20 Oct).

Interstella 5555

Blood in the Mobile

Midnight in Paris

Director: Frank Piasecki Poulsen

Director: Woody Allen

Starring: Frank Piasecki Poulsen Released: 21 Oct Certificate: TBC

Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cottiard, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni, Released: 7 Oct Certificate: 12A

rrrr Blood in the Mobile is a film of contrasts. The scorched heat and violence of Africa juxtaposes sharply with the glacial serenity of the Finnish Nokia HQ, although its boardroom smiles exude more threat than even the machine gun-toting Congolese rebels. Director Frank Poulson confronts both these dangers in his new documentary on blood minerals and their use in the very same mobile phones we hold to our ears each day. Poulson is a formidable interviewer and chips away splenetically at the mighty corporate monolith of Nokia. He seeks answers as to why they continue to use these blood minerals in their products, financing a civil war which has claimed over five million lives. Contrary to many modern documentaries it is the story rather than the filmmaker which takes centre stage here. There is little room for egotism with such subject matter. This is a valuable film which needs to be seen and which holds an uneasy truth that makes us all complicit. [Alan Bett] Blood in the Mobile is screening three times at this year’s Take One Action Film Festival 2011: 23 Sep, 3.30pm @ Filmhouse; 23 Sep, 6pm @ GFT; 24 Sep, 8.20pm @ Filmhouse

48 THE SKINNY October 2011

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Woody Allen’s latest feature is as much a love letter to Paris as Manhattan was to its namesake. The opening montage of la Ville-Lumière acclimatises us to the film’s leisurely pace and begins its charm offensive. Meet Gil (Owen Wilson), a successful yet unfulfilled Hollywood screenwriter and his belittling fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) as they court parents and friends in the titular city. Enchanted by his surroundings, Gil departs one evening to wander the streets and gather inspiration. At midnight, thinking himself lost, he is summoned into a vintage car and whisked back to the 1920s.

Like the audience should, Gil simply smiles in disbelief, asks few questions and is rewarded with a whirlwind tour of an early 20th century’s who’s who, from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Picasso by way of muse Adriana (Marion Cotillard), from whom he will learn his most valuable lesson. Full of hope and whimsy this loving embrace of romanticism may be slow but it is oh so sweet. [Thom Atkinson] Midnight in Paris is released 7 Oct by Warner Bros

Rounding off (rather incongruously you might think) this month’s horror selection is Scotland Loves Anime Film Festival 2011 – it’s those big eyes, they freak me out. Highlights include the European premiere of Hotarubi no Mori E (8 Oct, GFT; 14 Oct, Filmhouse), a poetic fairytale about a little girl lost in the woods; Mardock Scrambles Parts 1 and 2 (8 Oct, GFT; 15 Oct, Filmhouse), described as “a pulse-pounding cyberpunk adventure”, also a European premiere; and Interstella 5555 (7 Oct, GFT), the bonkers visual interpretation of Daft Punks brilliant second album Discovery.

Do have nightmares... [Jamie Dunn] All Night Horror Madness on Facebook: www. facebook.com/event.php?eid=149039121806221 Southside Film Festival blog: southsidefilmfest.blogspot.com Psychotronic Cinema on Facebook: www.facebook. com/pages/Psychotronic-Cinema/276764062350835 Scotland Love Animation website: www.lovesanimation.com

FILM

DVD REVIEWS BAD TEACHER

AS IF I AM NOT THERE

MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE

DIRECTOR: JAKE KASDAN

DIRECTOR: JUANITA WILSON

DIRECTOR: NAGISA OSHIMA

STARRING: CAMERON DIAZ, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, LUCY PUNCH, JASON SEGEL RELEASED: 31 OCT CERTIFICATE: 15

STARRING: NATASHA PETROVIC, MIRAJ GRBIC, STELLAN SKARSGÅRD. RELEASED: 26 SEP CERTIFICATE: 18

STARRING: DAVID BOWIE, TOM CONTI, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, TAKESHI KITANO RELEASED: 17 OCT CERTIFICATE: 15

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Cameron Diaz is Elizabeth Halsey and she is a Bad Teacher. Her goal in life is to take care of number one – not her number one student.

The wily and highly inappropriate junior high teacher puts the model in role model in this colourful comedy from Orange County director Jake Kasdan. After being dumped by her rich fiancé, she launches a scheme to win over handsome, spiritual substitute teacher Scott Delacourte (Justin Timberlake) – oh, and to save up for a new pair of tits to improve her chances. Shooting for the best teacher bonus, she has competition in the classroom and the dating game from the dedicated but ruthlessly competitive Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch). Outlandishly unrealistic characters clash in an ambitious war of wills, with hilarious set pieces from sexy spy subterfuge to field trip dry humps. To our relief, Elizabeth never stops being bad, leaving plenty of room for laughs. An A for effort. [Nicola Balkind]

Samira is a young woman from Sarajevo who moves to a tiny village to take up a post as a supply teacher. It is her first job and her first time away from her family, but this taste of independence will cost her dearly. This is the beginning of the Yugoslavian war and soon soldiers come to ethnically cleanse the village. After killing the men, they load the women, including Samira, onto buses and take them to an isolated internment camp where she is one of those chosen for their entertainment; she, along with a handful of other women, is repeatedly raped with great brutality.

The story is told with a studied spareness. Dialogue and characterisation are minimal, the violence graphic. Whilst this is undoubtedly powerful, there comes a point when it begins to feel manipulative. It is only when, half way through, Samira acts to change the course of her internment that the film begins to accrue some necessary moral complexity. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]

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A haunted David Bowie dominates the screen in one of his most iconic roles as British soldier and prisoner of war Jack Celliers, pitched into a battle of wills with the repressive Japanese camp commander Captain Yonoi (Sakamoto). The deeply traditional Yonoi is fascinated by Cilliers, and conflicted between his feelings for him and his commitment to the samurai code. Whether the attraction is sexual or more a kind of spiritual affinity, it’s unclear, perhaps even to Yonoi himself, and his attempts at repression escalate into acts of brutality that eventually will destroy them both. Between these two excellent performances and the legendary “Beat” Takeshi as the camp's second-in-command, Tom Conti’s more routine Lawrence struggles to make an impression, but it’s no loss. Oshima’s classic tale of wartime taboo has never looked better than on Blu-ray and Sakamoto’s BAFTA award winning soundtrack is crystal clear in all its beauty. A slice of pure cinema. [Scotty McKellar]

THE BEAVER

MAN OF ARAN (BRITISH SEA POWER)

CHALET GIRL

DIRECTOR: JODIE FOSTER

DIRECTOR: ROBERT FLAHERTY

DIRECTOR: PHIL TRAILL

STARRING: MEL GIBSON, JODIE FOSTER, ANTON YELCHIN, JENNIFER LAWRENCE RELEASED: 10 OCT CERTIFICATE: 12

STARRING: COLMAN “TIGER” KING, MAGGIE DIRRANE, MICHAEL DIRRANE RELEASED: OUT NOW CERTIFICATE: NONE

STARRING: FELICITY JONES, TAMSIN EGERTON, ED WESTWICK, BILL NIGHY RELEASED: 3 OCT CERTIFICATE: 12

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It is hard to come to The Beaver without preconceptions, starring as it does Tinseltown’s greatest pariah and featuring a story about a man who talks through a furry hand puppet. And initial impressions are not good. The film opens with a montage sequence which charts the descent of Walter Black (Mel Gibson) into depression, set to the music of a jaunty accordion. The heart sinks. Will this really be a kooky take on mental health issues, a bi-polar Amelie?

And yet it’s not that bad. Mel Gibson gives an intriguing performance, one which suggests that he is not unacquainted with the demons that affect his character. Nor is the film the ponderous affair we might have expected from its director and co-star, Jodie 'Nell' Foster. It moves along at a sprightly clip and the script has a cracked quality that keeps us guessing. Not a great movie, but an unexpectedly entertaining one. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]

Not a new release but a recent discovery here at The Skinny’s DVD reviews, this disc accompanies the British Sea Power album of the same name and features a version of Robert Flaherty’s 1934 documentary with a soundtrack composed and performed by the band. Initially, the sound of driving guitars and feedback can be disconcerting, but this is a magical transformation of a film that has been dismissed as an anachronistic irrelevance. For Flaherty, whom his supporters called 'The Innocent Eye', was also innocent of any idea of documentary fidelity, constructing in Man of Aran a fantasy of primitive living that had little relevance to the Aran islanders lives. But BSP’s sometimes eerie, often raging soundtrack sweeps away the director’s tired romanticism, and allows us to appreciate the incredible detail of rocks, cliffs and sea that he captured in his stark images, the intensely modern, Sovietinfluenced editing, and the extraordinary shark hunt which comes straight from the pages of Moby Dick. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]

With a made-for-TV screenplay thinly veiled as a funky new take on mountaintop athletics, Chalet Girl follows ex-skateboarder Kim, a plain Jane with a big heart and a tiny wage packet. Working to support herself and dad (an out-of-place Bill Bailey), she takes an opportunity to work for a whopping £12.50 per hour as a chalet girl to a monied transatlantic family. You can guess which sport – you do it on a board – takes her fancy, and everything that follows is as slow and predictable as learning to snow plough.

The film’s only redeeming features are Bills Bailey and Nighy, but even they seem confused as to what they’re doing on screen alongside the biggest caricatures committed to screen since the seven dwarves.

Chalet Girl proves that ski lodges are only fun to those who are in them and – as Hot Tub Time Machine demonstrated – their cinematic and popular appeal went out with the 80s. [Nicola Balkind]

Cask Ale: Hobgoblin, Deuchars IPA & Guest Ale Addlestones Premium Cloudy Cider Student Discount On All Food Including Our Famous “Big Nachos” Metal, Punk & Goth Jukebox Find Us In CAMRA’s 2011 Good Beer Guide! www.theauldhoose.co.uk 23-25 St. Leonard’s Street, Edinburgh EH8 9QN OCTOBER 2011

THE SKINNY 49

PREVIEW

ART

REVIEW

CHRISTIAN NEWBY TRANSMISSION, UNTIL 8 OCT

rrr A large-scale, intensely patterned marbled-ink drawing decorates a freestanding wall in Transmission’s basement space. It’s stunning and compelling, but the work – and your visual pleasure – do not go undisturbed: two screen-printed light fixtures are mounted on the wall, interrupting the swirling patterns.

Continuing his practice of constructing seemingly archaic spectacles from personalised histories, the black and white photographs in the 16mm projection look to be from the past. Some show photographic illustrations from old books, while others are less easily discernible. A shard of white light on black and a door peppered with bullet holes are reduced to formal compositions.

Initially, the varied subject matter of the images seems important, but in noticing the hand that

holds the images to take the photo, or the edge of a desk, we are distanced from the film’s content.

Instead of the image being simply the subject, we are also presented with the image as an object, a potential cultural or historic reference. It also draws attention to our own gaze. It is impossible to refrain from analysing the artist’s intentions as we watch. The objects or art works in the images – home interiors and lengths of metal piping – seem subordinate to the form of the film, or to a greater scheme of the artist’s.

Prompting these self-referential musings on theatrical and cinematic space is surely Newby’s intention. But the realisation that the film is made wholly of referents with perhaps no drama, no subject matter, at its centre is familiar and a little deflating. Such is the hard truth of many a work of art. [Jac Mantle] UNTIL 8 OCT, TUE-SAT, 11AM-5PM, FREE WWW.TRANSMISSIONGALLERY.ORG

PATRIA O MUERTE SUCH AND SUCH, 14 - 21 OCT

Patria O Muerte (Homeland or Death). The subtitle, A Photographic Exhibition of Cuba, explains the seemingly simple premise behind this solo exhibition

by Dundee photographer Ross Fraser McLean. In 2009 McLean journeyed to Cuba during the country’s 50th anniversary of the revolution equipped with a variety of cameras and set about taking photos documenting the country, and its daily life.

The immaculate images he ended up with (hundreds of them) reveal snapshots of a world of contradictions, images somewhat in the spirit of William Eggleston that don’t seek to define a nation or a people, rather to capture the subtleties of the mundanity and the sparks of brilliance that make up daily life anywhere and everywhere. The Cuba that comes out is surprisingly still, sun bleached, surrounded by blue seas and skies and covered in dust and frayed electrical wires. It’s dotted with old American cars (a common image in this

collection – says McLean, “My dad’s really into cars, I guess it’s a way of connecting with him.”), pro-state graffiti, and palm trees, rotting colonial palaces and ramshackle music halls from another era.

What emerges from the collection should resonate with anyone who has ever travelled to a country and felt the need to make their photos live up to an image they already have in their minds. Imagine Havana and you will surely conjure up images of cigars, Mojitos, Che Guevara, dusty colonial streets.

McLean has gone in with an open mind, observed, and caught something different, the moments that happen outwith that predefined frame. For this show he’s displaying them in non-linear fashion, leaving interpretation open for the viewer to explore. There are lots of different ideas here, ideas that lead to more ideas, the exhibition providing many more questions than it has answers. [Rosamund West] 14-21 OCT, 12-5PM (11AM-6PM SAT&SUN) WWW.ROSSFRASERMCLEAN.COM

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

PRINCE OF DARKNESS Artist NORMAN SHAW is showing at Edinburgh’s RSA as part of their Resident 11 exhibition.

The RSA operates the Own Art scheme INTERVIEW: ANDREW CATTANACH

CHURCH OF INHERENT LIGHT

Galleries across Scotland are members of the Own Art scheme. By offering interest-free loans of £100-£2,000 through Own Art, buying an original piece of quality contemporary art or craft couldn’t be easier. A list of participating galleries is available at the Creative Scotland website: www.creativescotland.com/ownart Look for the pink logo. (representative 0% APR)

50 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

“I GREW up with Gaelic,” artist Norman Shaw explains, his distinct brogue implying as much.

Both his parents are native Gaelic speakers but never fully imparted this inclination on to wee Shaw. “My dad’s a minister, so I had to sit through Gaelic services and Gaelic Psalms singing. It was such a fundamental part of my upbringing that I sort of just switch off when I hear it.”

But it was only meaning that the young Shaw learned to ignore. He has always maintained an enthusiasm for the sound of Gaelic speaking – its musical qualities – and he admits that the rhythms of language are important to the way he draws.

As with a lot of teenagers, it took a move away from his parental home for Shaw to realise the importance of his heritage. He went to Edinburgh College of Art to begin a degree in drawing and painting, where he soon realised there was a bond between him and his native Highlands. “Moving to the city was very important. I was very homesick when I first moved and art, in a way, became a kind of lifeline.

“There’s a Gaelic word – cianalas – which means longing; a sort of nostalgia that is characteristic of the ex-isles Gaels.”

Having lived for so long in the Highlands, it’s no wonder landscape painting has always been central to Shaw’s art practice. Living in the Highlands would surely have that effect on anyone. But oddly, it was through representations of landscapes that he first encountered an interest in his impressive surroundings.

“Back at home, it was through album covers that I started to get into nature, because I realised this stuff was derived from nature.”

Shaw has been a record collector ever since, and confesses – perhaps invoking an irate partner – that he owns too many. And in 2010’s Edinburgh Art Festival, he took part in Prints of Darkness at

Edinburgh Printmakers. The show highlighted the influence record cover art has had on artists and was one of the highlights of that year’s festival.

His work, in turn, is more than a little fantastical.

Like the golden age of record cover art, Shaw’s prints and drawings are influenced by myth and folklore. He recently completed a residency through the Royal Scottish Academy, travelling to the Isle of Skye and staying at the Gaelic school Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, where he explored the connections between landscape and music.

“I was looking at the landscape, in a way relating it to sound and sonic phenomena, the repetitive chant of the Ossianic myth. It involved a lot of drawing and writing as well as sound-based work. I was drawing an arch between Gaelic song and the oral tradition right through to techno and ambient music.”

Not simply flights of fancy, Shaw’s artworks are based on experience, and his landscape drawings are rooted in real places he visited during his residency, such as Druidic woods around Skye. “The drawings are derived from visits to these places,” he explains, “but I’m always looking for a kind of parallel landscape, that sort of inner landscape that runs parallel to the corporeal landscape. It’s about finding the world of symbol and metaphor in the real world.”

Shaw’s drawings are imbued with what he calls a “mythic consciousness”. They show us how inclined we are to find meaning in our surroundings – a meaning that runs counter to a reasoned understanding of the landscape. Deep down, we are all Romantics, desperately grasping for a deeper, more satisfying interpretation of the world.

We are all harbourers of myth and folly.

You can buy works by Norman Shaw through Edinburgh Printmakers. Edinburgh Printmakers operates the Own Art scheme.

Offer subject to age and status. Terms and conditions apply.

You will need a UK bank account that can handle direct debits, proof of identity and address, and you will also need to be over 18. Own Art is operated by ArtCo Trading Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arts Council. Registered address: Arts Council England, North East, Central Square, Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3PJ

249 West George Street Glasgow G2 4QE

BOOKS

REVIEWS RAGNAROK: THE END OF THE GODS

BY AS BYATT

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One of the most distinguished contributors to Canongate’s ‘Myths’ series, AS Byatt has long been fascinated by the nihilistic glamour of Ragnarok, where, in a maelstrom of savagery and violence, the Norse gods destroy themselves and their world. Unlike other authors in the series, Byatt avoids the temptation to update or modernise her story, to make it more human or relevant. Instead, she presents the tales through the semi-autobiographical perspective of a “thin child in wartime”, evacuated to the countryside during the Blitz and finding solace in a book of Norse legends. Much of the text is a simple retelling of these grim and blood-stained myths; of Odin the All-Father, of the ravenous serpent Jörmungandr, and Fenris, the wolf who swallowed the moon. Rendered in bold, alliterative prose, Byatt’s mastery of language gives back to these stories something of their original uncanny power, and by the end it is clear that this cautionary tale of cupidity, greed and mindless violence is endlessly applicable to our own destructive age. If the book feels slightly depthless, or insufficiently rounded, then that is only testament to the stark, uncompromising nature of the myths themselves, and Byatt’s success in reframing them for us. [Richard Strachan]

TECH

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY CANONGATE. COVER PRICE £14.99

GOOD OFFICES

THE DARKEST WALK

GIOCONDA

BY EVELIO ROSERO

BY MALCOM ARCHIBALD

BY LUCILLE TURNER

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Evelio Rosero won his first literary award in 1979, and it would come as no surprise if he were given another honour for new novel Good Offices. Set in Rosero’s Colombian hometown of Bogota this story focuses on characters living in a church. Tancredo, a hunchback who assists the spiritual leader of the church Father Almida in his duties, helping to feed the poor and vulnerable, has become frustrated with his life. Sabina, the sacristan’s god-daughter, pines for Tancredo and her deep, burning, sinful desire is thrilling to follow. One Thursday evening Father Almida and the sacristan leave to hold talks with the parish’s principal benefactor. Their absence disrupts the routine way things are done as Father Matamoros, an alcoholic, arrives to conduct Mass. The Lilias – three widows who have worked tirelessly and tediously in the church for many years, become captivated and inspired

by Matamoros’ ways and drink with him. Good Offices exposes the negativity that can prevail in the Church and a human desire for fulfilment in life. It shows that those who are condemned to grow old in the service of God may want a different life after all, yet struggle to find a way out. [Tina Koenig]

The workers are revolting – and not just because they haven’t had a wash. Insurrection is in the air, and only one man can save the respectable classes from ‘the effluvia of society’. Step forward, James Mendick, a Victorian constable in the Metropolitan Police.

Mendick goes undercover among Manchester’s Chartists to gather intelligence on their plans for parliamentary reform. But once exposed to the grim realities of life with the impoverished workers, Mendick shows signs of going native.

His divided loyalties are further complicated by the discovery that the Chartists are being used to create a diversion from a much deadlier conspiracy. With no backup, and mobile communications limited to carrier pigeons, Mendick must warn Scotland Yard of a grave threat to the heart of the state. Yet, even with a sprained ankle, our hero takes it all in his stride. Some may find Mendick’s squeaky clean character far-fetched, but he wouldn’t be the first improbably decent detective to win readers’ hearts. In an afterword, Malcolm Archibald openly acknowledges that he has played fast and loose with historical fact. But his efforts to capture the miseries endured by the Victorian working classes ring true. In this story, squalor stalks every page. [James Carson]

Gioconda – a study of the life of Leonardo da Vinci – is a first novel by Lucille Turner, imagining the life of the artist, from his humble beginnings as a precocious but solitary child to his infamy in the art world and beyond.

Leonardo is a child with a wild imagination and a curiosity beyond anything which his family can comprehend. The beginnings of his vision are portrayed as entirely logical and its development as a struggle as he attempts to fit his way of thinking in with the rest of society. Leonardo later moves to Florence where he develops his work, culminating in the production of his most famous piece, the Mona Lisa. The text questions the mysteries of da Vinci’s life, including his relationship with the girl behind the smile of la Gioconda. Turner purposely isolates the young da Vinci, whose work and thinking processes transcend him to ‘lonely heights’. She builds up an enigmatic portrayal of a man attempting to convince others of his vision and beliefs. His constant battle with the minds of men leads only to further isolation and segregation from a world that can’t quite understand his way of thinking.

Compulsive and intuitive, this is a great first novel. [Megan Agnew]

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY MACLEHOSE. COVER PRICE £12

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY FLEDGLING PRESS. COVER PRICE £8.99

OUT NOW. PUBLISHED BY GRANTA. COVER PRICE £12.99

GEAR REVIEWS WORDS: ALEX COLE

BITE-SIZED TECH NUGGETS WITH ALEX COLE

THE FEED

NuForce Icon iDo ($250): It’s no secret most i-devices have pretty crappy sound from the speakers, and true audio nerds stick up their noses at the compressed-audio sound from these aluminum toys. Enter the iDo, which plugs straight into the dock connector, runs your audio through its sweet, sweet converters, and pumps out crystal clear tunes fit for your home audio or fancy-pants headphones. It’s a lot to shell out for sound that most people can’t even appreciate, but if you know you need this, you need this. 3/5 Pentax Optio WG-1 (£209): Digital cameras are a touchy, delicate lot, but when you absolutely, positively have to go snowboarding and get the everloving crap kicked out of you, while getting a picture of it, this is your beast. It’s everythingproof, fast, and takes a decent picture. There aren’t many cameras with a carabiner on the strap, but this one has one. That’s basically everything you need to know. 4/5 HTC Evo 3D (£400-£500): Maybe I’m biased, since 3D never really worked for me, but honestly, it’s exactly this kind of thing that makes me want

to give the whole thing up as a bad idea. I do not need a 3D camera and screen on my phone.

Neither do you. 2/5 Sony Tablet S (£399): Fact: You can’t be a serious gear company unless you make a tablet.

It’s like, a law or something. So it’s good to see Sony jumping in, with a wedge-shaped Android tablet that looks like a folded-over magazine. It’s light, and runs the OS at a good clip. Still, there isn’t much to offer that’s over and above the iPad, most especially the price. Credit to Sony for going a bit weird on the design, and reading it flat on a table, with the inclined screen, is a nice trick, but for all that there just isn’t enough to slot this into your bag. 3/5 Sony Tablet P (£499): Even weirder is this guy – a folding screen tablet that supposedly replicates reading a book, or typing on a dedicated screen-keyboard. It’s the kind of idea you want to get excited about, but you just can’t quite see the point. The whole point of a flat tablet is a big screen, and the whole point of a small one is to be a phone. The price ain’t helping things either. 2/5

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY ROCKSTEADY STUDIOS 21 OCT WINDOWS, PS3, XBOX 360 £39.99

rrrr Batman’s return to gaming in 2009 with Arkham Asylum was so damn fun a sequel was pretty much a sure bet, and this month that bet pays off.

Arkham City picks up a year later from the previous game, but the gameplay, the tactics and the story should all be instantly familiar to any veteran of the first.

The story is a comics version of riot kettling, where all Arkham’s criminals are cordoned off in the slums of Gotham, free to roam so long as they don’t escape. Naturally, they decide to put a little-known villain in charge of the whole thing, so naturally, it’s all going to go just fine. Players control Batman, Catwoman and Robin, all of whom have different styles and storylines, as they try to mop up the newly-mean streets.

The game is a visual treat, and some of the rough edges from the previous game have been polished nicely. Normally I’d give the developers some guff for not changing much, but in this case it’s a matter of not messing with a good formula.

All the gadgets have a few tricks, there are some new takedown options for the brawls, and the whole thing plays smooth as a rubber catsuit.

For fans of the first, this is a no-brainer. For everyone else, this is a great alternative to a brainless shoot-em-up, while still giving you the fun of kicking ass. As Batman. [Alex Cole]

NEW IPHONE COMING THIS MONTH, MIGHT BE THINNER, SMALLER, COMES WITH FREE POCKET PROTECTOR • CHATBOT SITE GETS ALL SORTS OF FAME FOR TALKING TO PEOPLE, ITSELF. WE’RE EASY TO PLEASE • REGISTRATION STARTS ON .XXX DOMAIN NAMES, FIRST TO GET BBC.XXX WINS A PRIZE! • WATERSTONE’S TO FINALLY GET AN E-READER, CATCHING UP WITH 2007 AT LAST • RUMOURED ‘FACEBOOK VIBES’ MUSIC APP TO DO EVERYTHING REGULAR STREAMING MUSIC DOES, ONLY MORE… SOCIAL-ISH • AOL AND YAHOO PLANNING TO MERGE, CREATE ONE LARGE SUCKY INTERNET HOLDOVER FROM TWO SMALLER ONES

OCTOBER 2011

THE SKINNY 51

Photo: Douglas McBride

PERFORM

venue of the Month:

Macrobert Here’s to forty more years Words: Phil Gatt

Macrobert’s October programme is a strong reminder that the Central Belt has more than just two cities: touring companies, including the controversial David Hughes Dance and Icarus Theatre Collective, make it a regular stop on their trips around the country, while it accomodates homegrown talents such as the Stirling and Bridge of Allan Operatic Society, who promise an evening of Musical Showstoppers. With one of the best medium scale auditoriums in Scotland, Macrobert has always attracted companies with a international reputation, even as it retains a close connection with local performers and has developed a reputation for serious investment in future audiences.

From Hughes’ Last Orders through to Icarus’ bracing and brutal reinvention of Macbeth, Macrobert has lured these companies away from the M8 corridor for the benefit of Stirling’s audiences. Last Orders is certainly the most discussed choreography of the year: during the Fringe, it split critics and audiences with the same intensity as more famous controversies. The anger of responses which accused the National Theatre of Scotland and the Traverse of insulting the audience suggests that this Al Seed production has, at least, a ferocity to excite emotions. More positive critics have noted that the skills of the performers is never in doubt and that making a work about cannibal Sawney Bean was never supposed to be an exercise in expectations fulfilled in the first place.

Icarus Theatre Collective, who work with live musicians and rescue Shakespeare from traditional

Apocalypse

interpretations through a visceral mix of styles, add to the thread of violence and destruction that runs through the month’s bill. Kes, the latest production from acclaimed Catherine Wheels, revisits the famous film and novel and reflects on the brutality of comprehensive education in an uncaring world; Sell A Door get back to nature with Lord of the Flies. Whether this programme is a happy accident of touring timetables, or a representation of how the credit crunch is encouraging a new sentiment in Scottish theatre, Macrobert is offering chances for considering the nature of human violence as part of its forty year anniversary. There’s even an Occasional Cabaret about the Apocalypse.

Fortunately, there is more than just bloodshed.

Fringe hit A Conversation with Carmel is an intelligent mixture of community and professional dance, starring octogenarian dancer Diana Paine-Myers

and gently reflecting on age and memory. Scottish Opera show their lighter side with celebrity satire and burlesque influenced dancing in Orpheus and Eurydice, and Vanishing Point’s companion to Interiors, Saturday Night, sees the company get back to their intimate best. There’s even an aerial drama coming up from Brighton, Mindwalking, which fuses script and acrobatic display to look at the impact of Alzheimers on a family.

Macrobert has traditionally been between two worlds: whether competing with Glasgow or Edinburgh venues, or providing something for Stirling audiences, it has never flinched at supporting new, imaginative performance.

Icarus Theatre Collective Thu 27 Oct 7.30pm Kes Fri 21 Oct 10.30am & 7.30pm Lord of the Flies Wed 5 Oct 7.30pm A Conversation with Carmel Wed 26 Oct 7.30pm www.macrobert.org/live.htm

PREVIEW

Photo: Douglas McBride

REVIEW

Kes

Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off The Lyceum Theatre, until 15 Oct

rrrr Throughout Liz Lockhead’s masterful and almost Shakespearian study of power politics, the two queens and two nations are kept apart, yet work towards one tragedy. Like opposite sides of a boxing ring, one side of the stage represents Scotland, and the other, England. In one corner, Elizabeth: Queen of England, Protestant, strongwilled and extremely dedicated to her duties. In the opposite corner, Mary: Queen of Scots, Catholic, young, inexperienced and thrown into the fray that is 16th century Scotland. Tony Cownie directs in such a fashion that the stage becomes a divided television screen, with action happening on either side of the divide – albeit never at the same time.

Aside from the comic blowups in the script,

52 THE SKINNY October 2011

the actors themselves demonstrate flexibility and aptitude through playing multiple roles. For example, Shauna Macdonald stars as Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth’s servant, and a member of the ensemble. The switch becomes easy through intelligent use of props and clothing, allowing them to step out of one character and into another.

The exuberant amount of roles doesn’t seem to present any difficulties for this fairly small cast.

A combination of modern-day props and period costume is used. For example, Lord Bothwell struts about carrying a golf club, while the doomed Signor Riccio wears a bright blue frill yet uses a typewriter. This serves up Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off as a metaphorical modernised Aesop’s fable for those dabbling in politics and current affairs. [Daph Karoulla] 16 Sep - 15 Oct, various times, Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh 19 Oct - 5 Nov, various times, Dundee Rep Theatre, Dundee www.lyceum.org.uk/webpages/show_info.php?id=1101

Love Hurts Tron theatre, 18 – 22 Oct

Over the past decade, Random Accomplice grew into one of Scotland’s most versatile and energetic companies. Although they emerged from the Young Glasgow Live Art tradition – they are graduates of the Conservatoire formerly known as the RSAMD – RA are notorious for their playful intelligence and accessibility.

Their Glasgay entry, Love Hurts, is a sharp, witty look at the darker side of human nature. “The main character likes to watch people and make up their back stories,” explains McKnight. “I am very interested in exploring the notion of frustrated desire.

Also we wanted to present something at Glasgay that wasn’t so much a gay man show about a gay man. I wanted to write a piece that explored, from

a character point of view, the idea of where sexuality – gay, straight, or bi – can take you.”

While McKnight admits that this is a new venture for RA – both in format and content – it continues in the tradition of early work, being intimate, challenging and witty. The monologue begins with the arrival of a new couple in a street, and unwinds the response of someone caught up in the fantasies they create about others. “The main character, Susan, is sexually oblivious and has her eyes opened to her own sexuality,” McKnight adds.

Despite this dark premise, McKnight has not lost his way with comedy. “It’s all rather camp and with a wicked sense of humour.” [Gareth K Vile] Tron Theatre, 18-22 Oct, 8pm www.tron.co.uk/event/love_hurts/

COMEDY

IN PROFILE:

CRAIG CAMPBELL Following a tour with Frankie Boyle and his most successful Edinburgh Fringe to date, Canadian CRAIG CAMPBELL is in the ascendancy

Vanishing Point www.vanishing-point.org

INTERVIEW: SIMON FIELDING ILLUSTRATION: CHRISTINE JONES

You’re about to go back on the road after a successful Fringe. Did your summer experience inform your approach to the tour?

This was my first Edinburgh with a fully formed show. It was a strange place to be in, as I ended up with so much material, and it was very polished.

It requires a different mindset to do a normal club show. I’m not in a rush with this material, I can pace it.

An audience member collapsed during your show at The Stand. That’s a pretty strong reaction. (The person turned out to be OK..)

Other comedians have put audience members in hospital, it happens. Also, Paul Sinha, who is a qualified doctor, was on after me, so he was very helpful that night.

Paul Sinha’s advice to his fellow comics is ‘aim to be the comedian only you can be’. Does this ring true with you?

Oh,that’s so true on a lot of levels, Paul has a very succinct way of wrapping things up. It’s

something I worked on for years and years.

Almost anyone can write a joke. Quite early on, I steered myself away from that pub joke kind of thing. Being a Canadian of Scottish descent living in Devon gives me a unique perspective. It can create a limit, but it can make you a diamond in the rough. That’s why I can’t do Mock The Week – I can’t get into the mind space of giving a shit about what Lady Gaga has on her head. I’m not going to compromise. I’m not into pub jokes.

You engage with questions of law and order in your shows, especially in relation to the UK. We are in a strange place... the poor are vilified in the news, which is detached from actual life. There are no longer expectations of justice. I don’t own a TV – it is 99% propaganda. But we can look into each other’s eyes and see human contribution. The greatest thing we have is discourse with each other.

CRAIG CAMPBELL WILL BE APPEARING AT THE STAND, GLASGOW ON 17 OCT AND THE STAND, EDINBURGH ON 18 OCT WWW.MOOSEFUCKER.COM

NEW ACT OF THE MONTH:

JAMES STEWART

PHOTO: IONA SPENCE

How did you get into comedy? I knew I always wanted to do it. I watch endless American sitcoms and then joined a comedy society while at University (what is now The Edinburgh Revue).

Best gig? At a charity event in Portsmouth. The audience didn’t expect a comedian let alone one from Edinburgh. Everything just worked and it was so much fun.

What do you try and do on stage? I make sure I have a connection with people. My comedy is about how I view the world and performance art is about connections. If you can make someone understand how you see the world, and they can see it in a similar way, that’s art, that’s the base for stand-up.

Who is your hero on the Scottish Comedy scene? Ben Verth, a friend of mine who I started doing comedy with at Edinburgh Uni. He knew what he wanted to do and now he’s doing it and hasn’t diluted who he is at all.

What joke would you tell to save your life? What did it cost the pirate to get his ears pierced? A Buccaneer.

JAMES IS PART OF ‘WE HAPPY FEW’, TO BE FOUND IN THE BANSHEE LABYRINTH, EDINBURGH. CHECK FACEBOOK.COM/WHFCOMEDY FOR DATES.

PHOTO: EUAN ROBERTSON

Name: James Stewart Age: 26 Based: Edinburgh Number of gigs to date: 150

W W W .T H E S K I N N Y. C O . U K

OCTOBER 2011

THE SKINNY 53

COMPS

WIN DOCUMENT 9 WIN COCKTAILS IN FESTIVAL PASSES THE CITY TICKETS

They’re back! Glasgow's most loved documentary film festival takes over the CCA from 20-23 October. Their unique programme is made up of over 50 of the best documentaries from around the world.

Document 9 also presents at the GFT, GMAC and The Old Hairdressers.

You can’t afford to miss a minute so here’s one sure-fire way to make sure you don’t! We have two full festival passes to give away so if you want to experience the full shebang, just answer this question:

Q. WHICH MULTI-PURPOSE ARTS VENUE TEAMS UP WITH DOCUMENT TO SERVE AS THE MAIN HUB OF OUR FILM FESTIVAL? Competition closes Fri 16 October For full terms and conditions, go to www.theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

Don’t know a Martini from a mug of tea? For all budding Don Drapers or Carrie Bradshaws a bit of cocktail knowledge is indispensable.

Luckily for you, The Skinny is offering the chance to win one of 5 pairs of tickets to Cocktails in the City, an entire evening of cocktail making, drinks education, and entertainment designed to transform you and a friend into true connoisseurs (or at the very least show you a great night out).

The prize includes the chance to take lessons from some of Edinburgh’s finest bartenders, learning how to make a whole manner of concoctions, and of course getting to try some of their signature drinks.

Cocktails in the City takes place at Mansfield Traquair on Wednesday 26 October 5.30 – 9pm.

To win yourself two tickets, go to www. theskinny.co.uk/about/competitions and answer the following question:

Q. WHAT BASE SPIRIT WOULD BE USED IN A TOM COLLINS?

CCA, GFT, GMAC & THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS

Film Screenings: 20th - 23rd October

Exhibitions: 13th - 23rd October

A: GIN B: RUM C: TEEN SPIRIT Competition closes Mon 24 October.

For full terms and conditions, go to www.theskinny.co.uk/about/terms www.cocktailsinthecity.co.uk/ http://bit.ly/cocktailsinthecity

54 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

Glasgow music Tue 27 Sep

Fri 30 Sep

Is Tropical

The Revival Tour (Brian Fallon, Dan Adriano, Chuck Ragan, Dave Hause)

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

The mysterious London trio who perform their bass-heavy dance with veils over their faces. Those London types, eh?

Hard-Fi O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Chuck Ragan’s legendary Revival Tour hits the road once again, with a string of acoustic collaborators in tow.

The Kooks Barrowland, 19:00–23:00, £22.50

Staines-formed indie-rock foursome, led by Richard Archer.

Tousled-haired Brighton kids with their guitar-based pop offerings.

Acoustic Open Mic

Lake Montgomery, Roscoe Wilson, Tragic O’Hara

Oran Mor, 20:00–00:00, Free

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Magic Carpet Cabaret Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

A night of poetry, song and story, with an additional open mic session.

Ganglians Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

State Bar, 20:00–22:30, £6

Americana and blues showcase, as part of the Americana Fringe.

Latecomers Lauries Bar, 20:15–23:00, Free

Acoustic pop loveliness from the Glasgow-based outfit.

Wing and a Prayer Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Bearded outdoorsy Americans with a hankering for harmonies.

Live showcase of blues-influenced singer/songwriters.

The Glasgow Slow Club

Vukovi

Bloc+, 21:00–23:30, Free

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Acoustic music night with live guests from the local scene, hosted by the inimitable Squirrel of This Silent Forest.

Wed 28 Sep Dodgy King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, Free

The reformed Britpop rockers play a one-off free gig. First come, first served.

Ut (Divorce) Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £7.50

Classic New York trio sprung from the downtown no-wave scene back in the late 70s, masters of the rock, free jazz and avant garde collision.

Les Yeux De La Tete (Grande Duke) Bloc+, 21:00–23:30, Free

Eccentric musical geniuses from France (think: whacked-out gonzo riffs and absurd timings).

Jonny Cola and The A-Grades 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Johnny Cola-fronted glam indie-pop outfit from London.

Chris Pureka Brel, 19:30–22:00, £7

Touring troubadour from New England.

Thu 29 Sep The Twang King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £12.50

Attitude-heavy five-piece with their balls-to-the-wall brand of rock ‘n’ roll.

Y&T O2 ABC, 18:30–22:00, £15

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

Death Grips Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Kilwinning experimental rockers headed by the rather magnificent (read: at screaming) Janine Shilstone.

Glasgow PodCart: Mix-Up Mayhem Bloc+, 22:00–03:00, Free

A trio of live bands perform a combination of their own and the other bands’ material, cue one giant musical mish-mash of a thing.

Ghosts of Progress (Craig Hughes, Sleepy Eyes Nelson) 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

The Scottish bluesy rockers do it with their usual energy and awesomeness.

Jericho Hill Brel, 19:30–22:00, Free

Johnny cash tribute act.

Lightguides (Part Wind Part Wolf)

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Musical ensemble playing a unique blend of gypsy folk-hop, psychedelic tribal bounce and organic punk.

Nerina Pallot Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £15

London-born soulful songstress who’s also written songs for for a certain Miss Kylie Minogue.

From Armenia With Song Cafe Cossachok, 21:00–23:00, £6

Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannissyan presents a programme of operatic arias.

Bombay Bicycle Club (Dry The River) Barrowland, 19:00–23:00, £15

Damaged affectations of indie from the London-based four-piece led by Jack Steadman.

Mon 03 Oct Cattle & Cane (Emma Jane, Andrew Lindsay and the Coat Hooks) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £11

The US indie-rockers tour their third album, a heart-on-sleeve meditation on lead singer Andy Hull’s marital, physical and mental failures.

Brel Sessions Brel, 21:00–23:30, Free

Mazes (Milk Maid) Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6

London-based quartet with their punchy brand of garage-rock, still riding high on their snappy debut LP.

Regardless Of Me (Farseer) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

The Kris Tennant Band (Julia and The Doogans, Superbad Comrade) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £5

Acoustic indie-rock outfit, headed by, er, Kris Tennant.

The Paris Riots (Johnny and The Bomb, Armadillo Band, San Antone) O2 Academy, 19:00–22:00, £6

Glaswegian acoustic pop trio, veering between the grandiose and the intimate.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

The Nimmo Brothers Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £16

The favourited Glasgow bluesmen back for another hometown show.

Crosby and Nash SECC, 20:00–22:30, From £45

The Arches, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Urban hip-hop foursome who rocketed to the mainstream consciousness with megahit Cupid’s Chokehold.

Teeth Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £5

Highly danceable trio mashing punk with dirty electro, touring in advance of their new album.

Fires Attract (Altered Sky) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £6

Barrowland, 19:00–23:00, £13

Dave Dominey Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Richard Burton Band Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Afternoon session of jazz standards and the like from Burton and his merry band.

Pop-punk scamps from Glasgow..

The Kooks

Night Is Day: Movie Launch Party (A Band Called Quinn, Echofela)

Barrowland, 19:00–23:00, £22.50

The talented fingerstyle jazz guitarist plays his own arrangements of standards.

Wed 05 Oct T E Morris (I Khant) 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Scragfight (Drop Dead Belles) Glasgow trio putting their twist on Riot Grrrl punk.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:30, £5

Ten Tracks compilation release party, with a live set from four of the bands featured on the CD (which is included in the ticket price).

Puressence (Healthy Minds Collapse) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £12

Manc indie-rockers who met on a bus on their way to a Stone Roses gig.

Monofly (The Dark Lights) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Glasgow-based indie-rockers touring off the back of their trio of self-released EPs.

The Liverpudlian indie-rock scamps return bigger, brighter, and with their new album in tow.

The Aviators O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £6

Lively East-Kilbride foursome led by Darren Hutton.

PlanningToRock Alter ego of multi-instrumentalist, artist and videographer Janine Rostron, a dazzling audio-visual presentation that borrows from classical music, glam rock, cosmic imagery, disco and hip-hop.

Martin John Henry (Seventeenth Century) Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £4

Martin John Henry (aka the guy from De Rosa) launches his debut solo album.

Liquid Jazz Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

Afternoon session of groove-styled jazz on tenor sax, electric bass, electric guitar and drums.

Sun 09 Oct Kwjaz 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Frayed electronic mutations and hallucinatory beats from the mysterious solo tinkerer.

Alejandro Escovedo The Arches, 19:30–22:00, £13.50

Snoop Dogg (Chipmunk) SECC, 18:30–22:30, £tbc

The legendary West Coast rapper (Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. to his mother, the Doggfather to us) makes the trip to Glasgow.

Sarah MacDougall

True Widow Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £7

Hazy shoegaze from the Dallasbased trio, still riding high on their second album.

Wolf Gang (S.C.U.M, Niki and The Dove) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £9

Max McElligott tours under the guise of Wolf Gang, all symphonic grandeur and multi-instrumental ornate pop.

Part of the Emerge NME Radar Tour.

Acoustic Open Mic Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, Free

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Rihanna SECC, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

The US popstress plays an intimate, ahem, gig at Glasgow’s SECC.

Brel Sessions Brel, 21:00–23:30, Free

Indie folk session with Laura Wilkie (of Rachel Sermanni) and Sarah Hayes (of Admiral Fallow).

Michael Simons Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Folk and blues fingerstyle guitarist.

Tue 11 Oct Brooke Fraser The Arches, 19:00–22:00, £15

Platinum-selling alternative popstress hailing from New Zealand.

Sarah Blasko Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £8

Dapper Aussie indie-popstress and one-time front-woman of Acquiesce.

Seasick Steve O2 Academy, 19:00–22:00, £21

The storytelling country-rockin’ bluesman returns to Glasgow with his foot-stomping live band, The Dukes.

The Feeling O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £16.50

Harmless indie-popsters led by Dan Gillespie Sells’ wishy-washy vocals.

Thomson & Brown

State Bar, 20:00–23:00, £4

October’s Vagabond Social will feature the Americana-infused sounds of Edinburgh’s The Firebugs, plus support from awesome one man blues beatbox Conn Harp.

Sun 02 Oct

The hardcore trash-rock Londoners make their usual racket.

Madskull (Blue Nove)

Plurals, Aidan Baker, Small Scale Collisions, Sun Dogs

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £9

First Charge Of The Light Brigade Brel, 19:30–22:00, Free

Four songwriters and two frontmen, bridging the gap between indie, Americana and folk.

Slouch, 18:00–21:00, Free

Early evening showcase of live blues bands.

Black Veil Brides (Yashin, My Passion) O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Oran Mor, 20:00–23:00, Free

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Nedry Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £5

Three-piece post-electro, trip-hop and pulsing dubstep collision hailing from North East London.

The Icarus Line King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £8

Joe Cardamone and his band stick to what they know best: untamed rock ‘n’ roll done with assured confidence.

Spector Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, Free

OTT heavy metallers, all leather, eyeliner, black hairdye and a shitload of hairspray.

The happy-go-lucky London fivesome churn out the pop tunes.

Electric Boys (Tainted Nation, Miss Behaviour, Dynazty, Sencelled)

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £18.50

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £10

Melocic sleaze-rock assualt, headered by Electric boys. Part of the Smokehead Rocks tour.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £8

Gentle, acoustic pop from the Yorkshire singer/songwriter.

Intimate songwriting workshop with Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones.

Thu 13 Oct

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:00, £18.50

Canadian Dallas Green’s alter ego, under which he makes some rather lovely acoustic folk-rock sounds.

Stillmarillion O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £8

Marillion tribute act.

Brighton group making perfectly summery, dreamy pop, also suited to, er, autumn.

Cave Painting

Blues Kitchen (Driller, Pete Westwater)

Paisley Arts Centre, 18:00–20:00, £10 (£6)

City and Colour

Mon 10 Oct

Sheffield-based indie-poppers born from a shared love of 60s pop and rag-time indie.

The Firebugs (Conn Harp, Jim McAteer)

Rod Jones: Songwriting Workshop

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £5

New jazz-styled band fronted by the versatile young drummer and percussionist Mark Scobbie.

Beerjacket The one-man alternative folk band that is Peter Kelly.

Minimalist post-punk from the South Londoners, who’ll be performing their Pagan Strings album in its entirety.

Four Seattle lads playing some fine indie-pop tunes for you delectation.

Wed 12 Oct

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £5

The elusive sextet (made up of various bands, including Arab Strap, Admiral Fallow and Frightened Rabbit) tour in support of their rather lovely new album.

Half-Canadian, half-Swedish singer/ songwriter making emotionallycharged songs that might even melt your cold, cold heart.

Acoustic Open Mic

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

Blurt (Tut Vu Vu)

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Martin Scobbie Quartet

Texan singer/songwriter, and onetime member of alternative punk group The Nuns, presents another slice of solid rock.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £5

The Moth & The Mirror

Craft Spells

Brel, 19:30–22:00, £9

The Crookes (Cherri Fosphate, The Regiment)

Talented singer/songwriter whose Americana-styled rock tunes are underpinned with soul-trampled country drawls and gospel choirs.

An ambient night of lush drones, discarded melodies and visuals ft.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £8

Cafe Cossachok, 20:30–22:30, £3

Harpist Cheyenne Brown launches her new solo album.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £9.50

Young Legionnaire (Cities and Skylines, Mechanical Smile)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 20:00–22:30, £5

Draw The Line

Parralel Latitudes

Scottish and Russian music arranged for guitar and fiddle.

Tousled-haired Brighton kids with their guitar-based pop offerings.

Experimental Glaswegian noisemakers who label their sound simply as ‘bongbeat’.

Alabama-born alternative folk sister duo, seemingly raised on Simon and Garfunkel.

The Scottish harpist launches her new album.

Ambient Brighton band gently traversing the line between chillout and tropical.

Israel Nash Gripka (Wynntown Marshals)

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £5 (34)

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

The Berkeley Suite, 21:00–03:00, £7

Solo set from the Her Name Is Calla mainman, all acoustic singsongs and finger-plucked strings.

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £6

Essex beatsmith and one of the golden boys, if you will, of 2010.

Fri 07 Oct

North London grime MC and producer who cut his teeth on pirate radio.

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £10

New Glasgow youth pop-punk band, with an age range of 15-19 years old.

Crazy Arm

Jamie Bell

Gold Panda (Dam Mantle)

Funked-up bass loops with laptop, electric bass and a featured guest soloist.

Skepta

The glorious Glasgow indie-pop foursome play a special EP remix night, for which the likes of FOUND, Adam Stafford and We Were Promised jetpacks have remixed ZVG tracks.

Free EP for all ticket holders.

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £8

Live music and discussion dedicated to all that is fine in roots and cultural music.

The Pierces (Marcus Foster)

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Flying Duck, 19:00–22:00, Free

Kids In Glasshouses

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:00, £16

Oran Mor, 20:00–23:00, Free

Roots Rock Reggae

The singer and bass player from Factory Records’ punk pioneers, A Certain Ratio, tours his new album.

The Queers (The Jackhammers)

Acoustic Open Mic

Metallic punk-rock, all bishy-bashy and that.

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £7

The Wombats (Morning Parade, Team Me)

Punk-rock outfit formed by New Hamshire native Joe King (aka Joe Queer) back in 1981.

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £7.50

The energetic pop-punk Glasgow foursome tour their debut EP.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Eddy and The T-Bolts (The Plimptons, Filthy Little Secret)

Cloud Control

Gym Class Heroes

Tue 04 Oct

Sat 08 Oct

Jez Kerr (The Dirty Cuts, L’il Ze)

Glasgow four-piece offering an intriguing blend of 50s rock ‘n’ roll, Scottish twang and cinematic flair.

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £6

Paisley Arts Centre, 20:00–22:00, £12 (£10)

Melodic death metal from the Milan foursome led by Pamela Manzo.

Folk and blues fingerstyle guitarist.

The Devonian roots-punk quartet tour in support of their second album, Union City Breath.

Stereo, 19:00–23:00, £2

Glaswegian indie-punksters The Kings Hats headline this alternative showcase, as part of Oxjam 2011.

The Imagineers (The Merrylees, The Four Johns and Amelie, The Stagger Rats)

Zoey Van Goey (Kid Canaveral)

Silly Wee Films launch their superhero movie before touting it over LA-way, with live sets on the night from A Band Called Quinn and Echofela (who both feature on the film soundtrack).

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

1990s, Jacob Yates and the Pearly Gate Lockpickers, Casual Sex, Charles of the Ritz

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

The Murderburgers (Deecracks)

The King Hats, Sonic Hearts Foundation, Alan Smithee

Michael Simons

Tayside foursome of the rather delightful acoustic post-punk variety.

New monthly music showcase introducing musical gems you may not know, but shall probably really rather like.

Thu 06 Oct

Welsh rock five-piece who take their name from a Glassjaw lyric.

Old-school rockin’ musical team-up of David Crosby and Graham Nash.

Bloc+, 21:00–23:30, Free

Rootsy, American and folk flavours from the exciting new Scottish vocal talent.

Sat 01 Oct

The Jam tribute act.

Cast The Net (Miniature Dinosaurs, The Dirty Demographic)

Brel, 19:30–22:00, £6

Acoustic Open Mic

Manchester Orchestra

A night of poetry, song and story, with an additional open mic session.

Jake Cogan

Alternative rockers hailing from the Blue Mountains in Sydney.

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Cafe Cossachok, 18:30–22:00, £3

The duo return to Paisley Arts Centre with an exclusive stripped-back, pre-tour gig.

Life-affirming indie-folk from the Teeside five-piece, made up of members of the prodigious Hamill family (plus Paul Wilson).

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, Free

Cheyenne Brown

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Fink

The Barents Sea (The Recovery, Hounds)

Portnawak & The Woo (Adam Stearns)

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £10

Magic Carpet Cabaret

A selection of favourited local bands untie to raise funds for the British Red Cross East Africa appeal.

Indie folk session with Laura Wilkie (of Rachel Sermanni) and Sarah Hayes (of Admiral Fallow).

The Jamm

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and DJ (i.e. one talented bugger), Fin Greenhall tours under his solo musician alias of Fink.

Slouch, 18:00–21:00, Free

Early evening showcase of live blues bands.

Hidden Orchestra, Mungo’s Hi-Fi, Captain Slackship’s Mezzanine Allstars, Banda 71

Intricate, intelligent little pop songs from the Glasgow-formed chaps.

Californian avant hip-hip trio.

Oran Mor, 19:00–22:00, £12

Blues Kitchen (MAIR, Bad Sign, Johanna Crossley)

Roddy Frame The founding member of 80s group, and Rough Trade stars, Aztec Camera returns to the stage with some new solo material.

Wakey! Wakey!

Oran Mor, 19:00–23:00, £10

Alternative indie-rock from the States, where lead singer Michael Grubbs is also in the TV series One Tree Hill.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6

Munich

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £6

Erasure

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:00, £sold out

The legendary pop duo of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell tour their brand new album.

Fluorescent Hearts Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Glasgow pop foursome built of guitars, bass, drums and Chris Ashton’s vocals.

James Apollo (Numbers & Letters)

Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

Noah and The Whale Barrowland, 19:00–23:00, £15

Nu-folk singer/songwriter Charlie Fink churns out a batch of polished pop numbers.

Sun 16 Oct Dead Harts (Hand Over Hears, Kill All Celebrities) 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Hardcore and experimental metal from the North of England five-piece.

Mostly Autumn, It Bites The Arches, 19:00–22:00, £20

Quietly epic singer/songwriter, taking time out from recording his new album with indie pioneer Damien Jurado.

Prolific prog-folk act Mostly Autumn team up with 80s prog-pop crossovers It Bites for a collaborative UK tour.

Enter Shikari

Ms Dynamite

More new-wave, post-hardcore politicking from the St Albans quartet.

London-born garage rapper, aka Ms Dynamite-ee-ee.

Brel, 20:00–22:00, Free

Barrowland, 19:00–23:00, £17

Fri 14 Oct Against One Of The State Killers (The Nudists, Grahame Busby) 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Alternative rock from the Glasgow foursome, perhaps best summed up in their own words: “singy singy strummy strummy tappy tappy”. Ahem.

The Arches, 20:00–22:00, £10

Herman Dune (Sean Finn) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £10

Delightful slabs of quirky pop from yer man David-Ivar Herman Dune.

Blues Kitchen (Rebel 69, Joanne Summer) Slouch, 18:00–21:00, Free

Early evening showcase of live blues bands.

The Blood Arm

The Toi (Heavy Smoke, Carrion)

Pop-loving Los Angeles art rockers, openly drawing inspiration from the mainstream British new-wave of the late 70s.

Glasgow three piece blasting out poppy-rock tunes in any and every Glasgow venue they can.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £7

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £6 (£5)

Peter Murphy

Darren Hayes

Boasting four decades of service to post-punk, including vocal duties for Bauhaus.

One half of pop duo Savage Garden, and solo artist in his own right, Hayes tours his newest solo album.

Skippy Dyes

Nigel Clark

The tech-happy Glasgow five-piece launch their new EP, a predictably genre-hopping mix of jazz, rock and powerpop.

Solo evening with the Russian virtuoso guitarist.

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £16

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Katy B

O2 Academy, 19:00–22:00, £14.50

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £25

Cafe Cossachok, 21:00–23:00, £6

After Hours At The End Of Time Tron Theatre, 19:30–22:00, £7 (£5)

Ed Sheeran

Frank’s Wild Band perform a tribute not just to the music of Tom Waits, but to the heady atmospheres evoked by his work.

New singer/songwriter on the block (i.e Radio 6 is playing the shit outta his debut) plays a sell-out Glasgow date.

Greg Holden

Pop’s goldengirl continues her quest for radio domination.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £sold out

The Ashtones (Cairo, Eat Dr Ape) O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £8

Amiable indie-pop from the East Kilbride-based combo.

Lite (Maybeshewill, Mojo Fury) Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £7.50

Math rockin’ Tokyo foursome big on the emotionally-charged cinematic compositions.

The Ray-Bandos

Brel, 19:30–22:00, Free

Local troupe playing 60s rock ‘n’ roll, soul and motown covers.

Sat 15 Oct Achren (Zombie Militia) 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Heavy Glasgow foursome blending razor-sharp metallic riffs and death metal growls in one angry whole.

Kyla La Grange

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £5

Watford-born mellow-pop singer/ songwriter who began penning tunes at the tender age of five.

The Chevin (Horizon) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

Leed-based acoustic rockers.

Mon 17 Oct Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £5

Scottish-born, English-raised singer/songwriter known for his honest lyrics and folky yet melodic soundscapes.

Acoustic Open Mic Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, Free

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Little Comets Oran Mor, 19:00–23:00, £8.50

Kitchen sink-styled indie-rock quartet led by the somewhat dynamic Robert Coles.

Brel Sessions Brel, 21:00–23:30, Free

Indie folk session with Laura Wilkie (of Rachel Sermanni) and Sarah Hayes (of Admiral Fallow).

Michael Simons Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Folk and blues fingerstyle guitarist.

Tue 18 Oct Red City Radio 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Oklahaoma punk-rockers whose interests include “drinking hundreds of beers”. Says it all, really.

October 2011

THE SKINNY 55

G lasgow music The Sensational Shiverin’ Sheiks Blackfriars Basement, 21:00–23:00, Free

Madcap rock ‘n’ roll and 50s psychedelia for your Tuesday night pleasure.

Sonic Boom Six (Farewell Singapore, Espionage) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £8

Compelling Manc soundclash of punk-heavy, dancefloor-savvy beats mixing elements of reggae, jungle and ska with the rigorous commentary of hip-hop.

The Dykeenies Oran Mor, 19:00–23:00, £9

Art-pop scamps hailing from the fiery furnace of Cumbernauld.

The Specials SECC, 18:30–22:30, £35

The legendary ska group back on the road two years after their 30th anniversary tour.

Chase and Status O2 Academy, 19:00–22:00, £sold out

Manc DJ duo and dance music’s hot property, effortlessly marrying liquid funk with rich ragga sounds, much to many a clubber’s delight.

Whole Lotta Led O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Led Zepellin tribute act.

Acoustic battle-cum-singalongcum-piss-up, with two classic bands pittest against each other.

Apparat The Arches, 19:30–22:00, £13.50

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

River City Ransom

The Birthday Suit (Davey Horne)

Live showcase of blues-influenced singer/songwriters.

Sat 22 Oct More yearning lyricism and soaring melodies from the Glasgow five-piece.

Veronica Falls Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £7.50

The Paris emigres tour their new album, full of exploding guitars and big, circling melodies.

Miles Kane O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Wiley indie chap, best known as the co-frontman of The Last Shadow Puppets.

The Joy Formidable Oran Mor, 19:00–23:00, £11.50

Hardworking female-fronted Welsh trio and their atmospheric indie rock, heavy on melody but with plenty of driving, sinewy riffs.

Thu 20 Oct Marshall Chipped (Sugar Crisis, Ross Gilchrist) 13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Alternative psych and electro-rock from the Ayreshire chaps, packing in clever lyrics and unique sound arrangements as they go.

Imperial Leisure (Mike Only, The Willie G Trio) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £7

The ska, punk and rap straddling Londoners tour their new album, Death To The One Trick Pony.

Josh Pyke (Passenger) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £7.50

Young Australian singer/songwriter of the indie-pop variety.

Glastival (Lloyd Daniels, Lawson, GMD3, Little Eye, The Coverboys) O2 ABC, 14:00–20:00, £18 (£15)

Daytime popathon for the teeniebopper amongst you, featuring a performance from X Factor’s Lloyd Daniels, amongst other treats (we use that term lightly).

Andrea Heins Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

The Canadian-born singer/songwriter works her magic on guitar, vocals and auto-harp.

Fri 21 Oct The Answer (The Treatment) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £13

Geordie/Northern Ireland foursome sounding pretty much like what you get when you cross classic, hard and blues rock together.

David Dondero Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £6

Jaunty country rhythms from the US troubadour, erstwhile Bright Eyes mentor and former lead singer of Sunbrain.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, Free

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £6

The Glasgow metallic-pop foursome play a hometown show.

Michael Franti and Spearhead

Oran Mor, 19:00–23:00, £16

Genre-hopping Americans who blend hip-hop with funk, reggae, jazz, folk and rock. That do you?

Remember Remember (Clorinde, Ben Butler & Mousepad) Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £7

The Glasgow experimentalists launch their new album.

The Travelling Band (The Feather Man, Penny Black, The Rudiments)

Brel Sessions

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £6

Copy Haho

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

Acoustic singer/songwriter with his kit-bag of soulful, gravely tunes.

Stripped-back acoustic set from the ramshackle four-piece.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £18.50

Underground Railroad (The Dot, The Random Guy)

Glass at 75: The Smith Quartet

Wing and a Prayer

The talented producer (aka Sacha Ring) plays with his four-piece band, recreating his ambient, technodriven electronica for a live setting.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £5

Thu 27 Oct

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Manchester alternative folkies, all shimmering and harmonic in their understated psychedelia kind of way.

The energetic indie four-piece giving their debut LP a proper airing. About time too, seeing as they’ve been regulars on the scene for nigh-on a decade.

The return of the English ska-tinged punksters, back on the circuit after a four-year split.

Rock group meets amplified chamber group. Part of the Glass at 75 festival, celebrating the 75th birthday of Philip Glass.

Acoustic Open Mic

The British rockers (of Dancing In The Moonlight fame) re-form after a five year break.

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Jon Allen (John Rush)

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Indie-rock four-piece formed by Steven Adams, former singer of cult Londoners The Broken Family Band.

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Acoustic Tribute Night

Chirpy pop-meets-punk stylings from the Wolverhampton foursome.

Glass at 75: Bang On A Can

Singing Adams

The Hardy Boys (Wake The President)

Wed 19 Oct

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Capdown (Mouthwash, The Hostiles)

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £10

Toploader (The Mars Patrol)

Gus Stirrat Monthly jazz session with bassist Gus Stirrat and a selection of guests.

Mon 24 Oct Maycomb (Wolves At Heart, Adrienne, Yeah Detroit, Layton)

E D I N B U R G H music

Ash The Irish Britpopsters play Free All Angels in its entirety, plus a few other hits and live favourites to coincide with the release of their new ‘best of’ compilation.

Veronica Falls Mono, 16:00–18:00, £tbc

Stripped-back acoustic set from the ramshackle four-piece.

Gus Stirrat Quartet Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

The eclectic bass virtuoso and his merry bunch of players.

Oxjam Glasgow Takeover Bloc+, Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, Buff Club, Box, The Griffin, Flat 0/1, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

The Oxjam crew host their rather ace multi-venue takeover. Expect some fine tunes as they go.

Brel, 21:00–23:30, Free

Indie folk session with Laura Wilkie (of Rachel Sermanni) and Sarah Hayes (of Admiral Fallow).

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £7

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £7.50

Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones plays with his new band, The Birthday Suit, an ever-changing collective of musicians.

Steve Earle O2 Academy, 19:00–22:00, £27.50

The stellar country-rocker tours his new album, backed by his electric live band The Dukes and Duchesses (featuring Allison Moorer).

Mayhem Underground (Insomniac, Psychotropic System, CEMTEX.) Pivo Pivo, 20:00–23:30, £6

New night uniting Glasgow’s metal scene under one roof, with live bands, DJs and weekly competitions.

Jeffrey Lewis and The Junkyard

Attack Of The Mad Axemen (Fat Janitor)

Intimate (like, 80 folk intimate) set from the London-based soulster.

Hardcore experimentalists. And possibly the two band names that have pleased us most this month.

Fri 28 Oct

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

General Fiasco

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £6

Ulster chaps wholly dedicated to the rock ‘n’ roll sound.

Bowling For Soup (Suburban Legend)

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £18.50

Jaret and Erik return to the UK after their acoustic tour earlier in the year, and this time they’ve got the rest of the band in tow.

Alternative indie from the Glasgow foursome.

Yann Tiersen O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

The collaborative French musician emerges from behind a wall of vintage synths and electric guitars in tour of his seventh album.

Sound Of Guns O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £6

Liverpudlian alternative rock scamps, fresh from touring with The View.

Gitane Ecosse Cafe Cossachok, 21:00–23:00, £6

Authentic interpretations of Django Reinhardt classics, featuring gypsy guitar virtuosos Ricardo Wiszniewski and Darius Szoma.

Wolves In The Throne Room Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Nathan Weaver’s black metal ensemble, with their mysterious trance-inducing take on the genre.

56 THE SKINNY October 2011

The Kixx

Oran Mor, 20:00–23:00, Free

James

Royal Concert Hall, 19:30–22:00, From £22.50

The longstanding Manc rockers continue their tour of classical venues, where they’ll be accompanied by a full orchestra and choir to perform a selection of songs from their back catalogue.

Reading the Leaves

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Monthly night of poetry and short story readings.

Wed 26 Oct 15 Times Dead (Teb Tonne Dozer, A Thousand Lies, Semperfi)

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Longstanding Glasgow metalheads whose brain-pounding riffs are somewhat of a calling-card.

HTRK

Kono Michi

Ugly Duckling (Hector Bizerk) King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £10

Classic hip-hop group who we will forever love for their witty ditty, Meat Shake.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £4

Sons and Daughters O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £11

Brooding electro-folk driven by Adele Bethel and Scott Paterson’s urgent boy/girl vocal interplay.

Jericho Hill Brel, 19:30–22:00, Free

Johnny Cash tribute act.

Archive Trails: Aileen Campbell, Alasdair Roberts, Wounded Knee CCA Café, 20:00–23:00, £7 (£5)

A trio of leftfield Scottish musicians present new work, drawing on the Sound Archive of the School of Scottish Studies, accompanied by archive film footage.

Sat 29 Oct If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Gothic Glasgow folkies, all haunting lyrics and acoustic melodies.

Royal Republic (The Toi)

The Glasgow ensemble pursue their awkward art-school rock meets punk chaos sound.

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £6

DZ Deathrays

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £6

Formerly just DZ, this noisy thrash Aussie duo started life at a house party, quelle surprise.

The Cat Empire

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £19.50

The Australian ensemble celebrate their 10th anniversary, blurring the line between hip-hop, jazz and reggae as only they know how.

Slouch, 18:00–21:00, Free

The Arches, 19:30–22:00, £9

London rappers with a fresh take on the genre, fusing hip-hop and dance in one eclectic whole.

Dananananaykroyd

Swedish punk and funk-influenced four-piece, who specialise in making a big ol’ racket.

Blues Kitchen Early evening showcase of live blues bands.

Captain’s Rest, 20:00–23:00, £6.50

Somewhat mysterious Melbourne trio who brand their sound as ‘hate rock’.

Houston-born rapper fusing his sound with rock ‘n’ roll attitude.

Foreign Beggars (Lazer Sword)

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

SWG3, 19:00–23:00, £13.50

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £8.50

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Amongst The Arrows

Sun 30 Oct The Rapture

Hyro Da Hero

Acoustic Open Mic

Early evening showcase of live blues bands.

Scottish Ensemble and renowned violinist Robert McDuffie perform Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Glass’ new violin concerto The American Seasons. Part of the Glass at 75 festival, celebrating the 75th birthday of Philip Glass.

Brel, 19:30–22:00, £6

Elephant Stone (The Hidden Masters, Fried Medicine)

Slouch, 18:00–21:00, Free

Tramway, 20:00–22:30, £17.50 (£15.50)

Michael Kiwanuka

Sun 23 Oct

Blues Kitchen (Black River Theory, Betatone Distraction)

Glass at 75: Scottish Ensemble

Tue 25 Oct

Andrew Hodson and Steve Jefferis’ mighty mix of free drumming, percussion, guitar and radiographic electronics.

Collaborative project between ex-Ultravox frontman John Foxx and electronic composer and synthesizer collector Benge (aka Ben Edwards).

Tramway, 17:30–19:30, £12 (£10)

Rock group meets amplified chamber group, performing a selection of works by Philip Glass. Part of the Glass at 75 festival, celebrating the 75th birthday of Philip Glass.

Folk and blues fingerstyle guitarist.

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £9

Mini EP tour for the Reading popsters who’ve recently toured with Olly Murs and JLS. Lucky chaps.

The Arches, 19:00–22:00, £20

Glass at 75: Bang On A Can

Frenetic New Yorkers making a fine dance-punk racket. Altogether now: “one, two, three, four, kick that fucker out the door”.

Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Warm Digits (Fur Hood, She’s Hit)

John Foxx and The Maths (Tara Busch)

Tramway, 15:00–17:00, £12 (£10)

The versatile string ensemble perform The Glass Quartets 1-5. Part of the Glass at 75 festival, celebrating the 75th birthday of Philip Glass.

The anti-folk icon tours with his merry band in support of his new album, A Turn In The Dream-Songs.

Michael Simons

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £10

The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Rishi Dhir, a founding member of Montreal psyche-pop veterans the High Dials, and sitar player for basically every outlaw psyche band out there.

Tramway, 13:30–14:30, Free (ticketed)

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £10

Maverick Sabre O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £10.50

London born, Irish-raised, soulful hip-hop singer/songwriter discovered by Plan B.

Chatham Country Line Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

American group of musicians fusing bluegrass past and present.

JazzMain Brel, 15:00–18:00, Free

Afternoon session of driving jazz rhythms fronted by Nick Gould on tenor.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, £tbc

Having made the transition from classical violinist to singer/songwriter, Brooklyn’s Kono Michi does her thing with instrument-heavy, genre-defying loveliness.

Lykke Li O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Tue 27 Sep Y&T The Caves, 19:00–23:00, £15

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

Lafaro (A Fight You Can’t Win, The Fatalists)

Neu! Reekie! (Duglas T Stewart, Des Dillon, Dilys Rose, Jonathan Freemantle) Scottish Book Trust, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£4)

A night of avant-garde poetry, music and film, with guests including BMX Bandits Duglas T Stewart and comedia-cum-poet Des Dillon.

Masters of the slow-building epic, the WWPJ lads mix rolling drums, big guitars, and massive effing finales.

Suffice to say we like their style.

Sat 01 Oct

Sonic Thrill (Skyless, The Head Henchmen)

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £6 adv.

Dark and rhythmic post-hardcore from the Belfast foursome, deftly combining wry lyrics and acerbic delivery with white-knuckle riffing.

Wed 28 Sep Bouska (Rob Moir, Abigail Lapell)

Frantic Chant (Black Market Karma, The Jackals) Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £5

The Frantic Chant scamps mix up Nuggets-era garage, shoegaze and psych-rock for their second EP launch.

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, Free

Flying Man Shark (Auxygen)

Modhan (Rallion)

The Edinburgh rockers launch their new album, recorded with Aberfeldy’s producer.

Psychedelic folk-rockers from Vancouver, formerly known as The Kyla Coopman Band.

Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–01:00, £donation

Funky grooves and jazz-rock fusion from the Edinburgh collective, upholding more than a little respect for their Scottish roots.

Voice of the Black Knife (The Freewheelin, Reubam) Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £4

Anarcho folk-punk, formed from the ashes of Scottish Bands STML, Soss, Endorphin and The Supply.

Onslaught (Gama Bomb, Fallen Fate, Circle Of Tyrants, Black Talon) Studio 24, 17:00–22:00, £12 adv.

Long-time thrash metal veterans from Bristol, bringing their war machine Edinburgh-way.

Huevo and the Giant Blind Poet, 09:00–12:00, Free

All-too-bloody-sweet indie-pop from the Glasgow foursome.

Thu 29 Sep

Henry’s Cellar, 22:30–03:00, £4

The John Knox Sex Club (Easter) Henry’s Cellar, 19:00–22:00, £5

Glasgow quintet and their helterskelter brand of art-rock.

Cattle & Cane Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £6 adv.

Life-affirming indie-folk from the Teeside five-piece, made up of members of the prodigious Hamill family (plus Paul Wilson).

Phil Cunningham, Ally Bain Queen’s Hall, 20:00–22:30, From £16

The traditional Scots duo celebrate 25 years of touring together with this, their Silver Anniversary Tour.

Forth Valley Chorus Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £12 (£10)

Hearty choral mix of jazz, swing, gospel, pop and classic barbershop from the all-female chorus group.

Keava Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Straight No Chaser

Edinburgh indie-rock fusion on guitar, bass, vocals and drums.

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:00, £20

Supermarionation

My Other Life

Punk-powered pop-rockin’ threepiece from Edinburgh.

Modern-styled male a’capella group.

Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–01:00, Free

Indie-pop four-piece from Newcastle, with added pianos.

Trapped In Kansas (Half A Dead Bird, Widlestray) Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £6

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £4

Sun 02 Oct Hair of the Dog Sundays (Open Couch Session) Red Dog Music, 15:00–16:30, Free

Glorious primitive beats, sparse keyboards and airy, monotone vocals from the Swedish singer/songwriter.

Rescheduled date.

Ayr indie-rockers borne out of interband conversations on space, time travel, the Hadron Collider and other assorted quandaries of physics.

North Atlantic Trio

Fri 30 Sep

Alternative rock of the awardwinning variety.

Ambient trio moving in jigs and reels to the pling of Cheyenne Brown’s harp.

Love and Money

Contagious Behaviour

Glasgow cult heroes of the edgilyliterate jazz-rock variety.

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

Mon 31 Oct

My Electric Love Affair

Julie Fowlis

Ben Howard

Edinburgh-based popsters play in advance of their new single launch the following day (at Elvis Shakespeare).

Cafe Cossachok, 21:00–23:00, £6

King Tut’s, 20:00–23:00, £9

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

Acoustic Open Mic

Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:00, £25

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, Free

Murderburgers (Dee Cracks, Buzzbomb) Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, £5

Open music session.

Panic Room (David B Black) The Caves, 19:00–22:00, £10 adv.

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

The Caves, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

Electric Circus Live Lounge

Debutant (Mike Nisbet)

SECC, 19:00–22:30, £tbc

The American rocker takes control of Halloween, welcoming new album Welcome 2 My Nightmare into the world.

Bruno Mars SECC, 18:30–22:30, £tbc

Mainstream American singer/ songwriter and producer, aka Peter Gene Hernandez.

Brel Sessions Brel, 21:00–23:30, Free

Indie folk session with Laura Wilkie (of Rachel Sermanni) and Sarah Hayes (of Admiral Fallow).

Michael Simons Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 20:00–22:00, Free

Folk and blues fingerstyle guitarist.

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £10

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Really rather lovely ambient pop offerings from Edinburgh’s Philip Quirie.

Wed 05 Oct Cloud Control Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £7

Alternative rockers hailing from the Blue Mountains in Sydney.

Blank Canvas (Edwars And The Itch, Fragile Chaos)

Mazes (Milk Maid, PAWS)

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £4 adv.

London-based quartet with their punchy brand of garage-rock, still riding high on their snappy debut LP.

The talented Edinburgh gang launch their new single, with free copies available to everyone at the gig.

Bay City Rollers (Everyday At Ten) Corn Exchange, 20:00–01:00, £15

Les McKeown returns to header some Rollermania. Plus 70s DJ set post-gig.

Soundscapism Vol. 1 (Rafal Iwanski, Kamil Kowalczyk) Maggie’s Chamber, 20:30–23:00, £5

First in a new series of audiovisual concerts, focusing on spacey and eclectro-acoustic soundscapes.

Seven Deadly Sins (Bowery Street) Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £3

Edinburgh-based foursome with their own take on early punk, mixed with a good dose of swagger.

This Feeling (Pengu!ns, The Stagger Rats, Modern Faces, Dexters, Hamish MacBain, She Bangs The Drums) The Caves, 20:00–03:00, £6 adv. (£8 door)

The London rock ‘n’ roll night makes its Scottish debut.

Electric Circus Live Lounge Electric Circus, 17:00–22:00, Free

Acoustic-styled musical variety show, with different live guests each week.

Hosted by HP ‘The Sauce’ Neilson.

Joshua Radin HMV Picture House, 19:00–22:30, £15.50

Delicate wordsmithery from the Ohio singer/songwriter who first garnered interest at a New York open mic night.

Battle Of The Banks 2011 (Bond Jovi, The Merrylees, Echo Arcadia, The Resistors, Havana Rising, The Stantons, The M8s, Superhouse) The Liquid Room, 17:30–22:00, £6

The third annual battle of the bands, offering up four original bands and four cover bands. All funds raised go to Save The Children.

The Number 9s (Friends Are Friends, The Rules) Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Heavy Edinburgh post-punksters, led by singer/songwriter Stepher Scarcliffe.

RSNO: Debussy and Rachmaninov Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £11

Soulatino

The Jam tribute act.

Alice Cooper’s Halloween Night Of Fear

Bongo Club, 19:00–22:00, £7

The Edinburgh outfit layer their crisp, vaporous vocals in understated two-part harmonies.

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Glasvegas

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £11

Fri 07 Oct Blueflint

Edinburgh mainstays blending elements of country, roots and powerpop.

Hamburg-born soprano Michaela Kaune interprets Strauss’s achingly beautiful Four Last Songs.

Scotland and France combine for this one-off show, including Debussy’s playful tribute to a Scottish pipe tune. Star violinist Nicola Benedetti joins the cast.

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £9.50

SCO Chorus Principal Conductor Robin Ticciati opens the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s new season with Berlioz’s masterwork, Symphonie Fantastique.

The Sunshine Delay

The Jamm

RSNO: The Auld Alliance

SCO: Symphony Fantastique

Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:00, £16

Weekly open mic night hosted by Ross Clark of Three Blind Wolves.

Music and comedy variety show, with different live guests each week.

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £3

Unsigned Edinburgh hard rock outfit with distinct flourishes of 80s hair metal, mores the joy.

Traditional folk loveliness moving from the sprightly to the melancholic ballad, with Fowlis’ words riding the flowing fiddles and guitar with consummate grace.

Pop-punk scamps from Glasgow.

Electric Circus, 17:00–22:00, Free

The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £10

The most recent installment of RSNO’s colourful Debussy celebrations.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 19:30–22:30, Free

Glasgow quartet led by the boomvoiced James Allan. Cue glacial guitars, heavyweight lyrics, and renewed chat about how they’re going to save rock and roll with a whiff of their quiffs, or some such.

Thu 06 Oct We Were Promised Jetpacks (Three Blind Wolves)

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £6 adv.

Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £10

The popular Moscow orchestra play their only Scottish date, with an evening’s worth of expertly-performed Russian music.

Secret CDs (Bob Hilary, POL Arida) Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–23:00, £3

Live gig-cum-CD sale from musicians based in and around the Edinburgh area.

Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–23:00, £5

Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–23:00, £15

Collective result of the merging of ideas and influences of eight musicians living and working in Scotland, spanning Latin American and roots rhythms.

Sat 08 Oct Your New Favourite Band (The Heirs Of Dust, Ghosts Of Progress, Shoogar, The Gold Lions) Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £5

A selection of alternative up-andcomers fight it out to be your new favourite band.

Gruff Rhys Bongo Club, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

The Super Furry Animals mainman takes to the road with his newest solo album, Hotel Shampoo, his trademark lyrical cleverness ever present through strings, distorted guitar, and mariachi-tinged forays.

Pilotcan (The Tango Rhums, Constant State, Murdoch Macleod) Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £5

The Edinburgh indie-rock veterans launch ther new EP.

CCJ, Three For A Girl Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £5

Mini showcase of student bands spawned from Edinburgh University.

EDINBURGH music Steve Cradock (Aaron Wright, William Douglas & The Wheel) The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

The Ocean Colour Scene guitarist does his solo thing.

Bruncheon!

Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 11:30–15:00, Free

Brunch and live music event in the Drill Hall cafe.

Paco Fernandez Ensemble Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:00, £16 (£13)

Guitar maestro Paco Fernandez and his rhythmic ensemble, combining flamenco gypsy purity and contemporary expression in one wonderful whole.

Limbo (Birdhead, Edinburgh School for the Deaf, Plastic Animals) Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Live music-cum-club night, with a consistently quality line-up of local favourites.

The Dark Lights (Havana Rising, Tall Tales) Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, Free

DIY indie-pop from the London-based ensemble, full of beats and hooks.

Sun 09 Oct

Thu 13 Oct Electric 5 (Bwani Junction, Miniature Dinosaurs, Blank Canvas) Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£3)

Five-day programme of studentorientated live music, club beats and maybe a bit o’ karaoke. This time with a selection of bands handpicked by Vic Galloway.

New Model Army The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £18.50

Hard-rockin’ five-piece from Bradford, named after the English revolutionary army of Oliver Cromwell.

Spectrals Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £5

Washed-out garage pop from the one-man dream of a band, last seen supporting Best Coast.

Black Umfolosi Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:00, £16

Zimbabwe-based performing arts troupe fusing harmonic acapella tunes with traditional African dance.

SCO: Mullova Plays Beethoven Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £9.50

Violin master Viktoria Mullova takes on some of Beethoven’s finest. Preconcert talk at 6.30pm, with Martin Suckling talking about his new work.

Hair of the Dog Sundays (Tom Vevers)

David MacGregor (Knox & Ion)

Red Dog Music, 15:00–16:00, Free

Scottish virtuoso solo finger style guitarist.

Scottish singer/songwriter who writes nice little ditties and wears his glasses with pride.

Soulfood (The Mike Kearney Ka-Tet, Chasing Owls, Le Salon de Jazz Refuse, The Roo Birds) Bongo Club, 21:00–01:00, £5

Live music showcase in aid of Oxjam 2011.

Contagious Behaviour The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

Koreless Sneaky Pete’s, 22:00–00:00, £5 adv.

Late ‘n’ live set from the talented producer whose deconstructed take on garage and house makes for a beast of a live show.

Spiritualized Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:00, £17.50

With their textured guitar rock as thunderously emotive as ever, Jason Pierce and the gang tour their seventh album.

Mon 10 Oct

Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–23:00, £5

Fri 14 Oct Bill Wells and Aidan Moffet Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £10 adv.

Still riding high on the back of their glorious last album, Moffat and Wells come armed also with their new mini EP, which includes a cover of Bananarama’s Cruel Summer.

Michelle Shocked

Queen’s Hall, 18:30–22:00, £15 (£12)

The traditional Celtic Edinburgh-based label celebrate 25 glorious years, joined by a host of guests including Dick Gaughan, Paul McKenna Band

We Luv Musik (Greg Pearson, Pose Victorious, Steve Heron, Evan Grey)

Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–23:00, £5 adv. (£7 door)

Monthly live music night featuring a rota of new and established acts.

Another Bendy Window Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–23:00, £5

Shimmering 80s-style indie-racket, as the Edinburgh scamps launch their new album. Free CD with entry.

Song, by Toad (Eagleowl) Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £5

Local music blogger Song, by Toad handpicks a selection of local and touring up-and-comers for your delectation, headered by Edinburgh quartet Eagleowl, lush with stirring strings, ringing bells and sparse backing vocals.

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Ralph McTell Queen’s Hall, 18:30–22:00, £20

The acoustic guitar songsmith plays songs from his most recent album, Somewhere Down The Road.

Sat 15 Oct

Contagious Behaviour

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £5

Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:00, £15

Archive Trails: Aileen Campbell, Alasdair Roberts, Wounded Knee

Scottish Storytelling Centre, 19:00–22:00, £8 (£6)

A trio of leftfield Scottish musicians present new work, drawing on the Sound Archive of the School of Scottish Studies, accompanied by archive film footage.

Tindersticks

Usher Hall, 20:00–22:30, £18.50

The fruits of the collaboration between renowned French filmmaker Claire Denis and the inimitable Tindersticks, with the band playing over a live film montage.

Wistful Irish singer/songwriter of the folky-pop variety, balanced on just the right amount of nostalgia and sentiment.

Erasure

Tue 11 Oct

The legendary pop duo of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell tour their brand new album.

Michael Feerlick (Matthew Collings)

Chapel Club

Diwan

The Amusement Parks On Fire frontman plays a solo acoustic gig. Expect the ethereal, deafening beauty of Feerick’s band to be stripped right back to its intimate core.

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £11 adv.

Corn Exchange, 19:00–22:00, £30

Bongo Club, 19:00–22:00, £10

London five-piece specialising in unabashedly heartfelt lyrical tone, with an intuitive grasp of the emotive power conjured by reverb-drenched guitars and an insistent rhythm section.

Afrobeat percussive six-piece with Senegal’s Samba Sene on vocals, playing in aid of FOCUS charity.

Pink Martini

Airdrie-born experimental indie sextet who will play for cheese sandwiches.

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £19.50

A mix of nostalgic Holywood movie tunes from the Pink Martini gang, collaborating in a one-off show with the resident Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Maruosa (Vore, Jamin Nimjah, Annoying Ringtone) Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £5

The Japanses digital grindcore and breakcore hero hits Edinburgh as part of his European tour.

Wed 12 Oct Electric 5 (Munich) Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £6 (£3)

Five-day programme of studentorientated live music, club beats and maybe a bit o’ karaoke. New talent Munich provide some anthemic tunes.

Flood of Red (Eras, Dweller, We) Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £5

Heart Of Rust Citrus Club, 19:00–22:00, £7 adv. (£10 door)

Neil Young and Crazy Horse tribute act.

Electric 5 (Strawberry Ocean Sea) Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£3)

Five-day programme of studentorientated live music, club beats and maybe a bit o’ karaoke. Underground alternative types Strawberry Ocean Sea provide the tunes.

Caravan HMV Picture House, 19:00–22:30, £18

The hard-working 70s rockers return, much to their devoted fans pleasure.

Jammin’ at Voodoo (Jerry Donahue)

New Confessions (The Directors, Selfish Needs, Sonic Thrill)

Voodoo Rooms, 21:00–23:00, £10

The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £5

Monthly live jam session, with various Scottish musicians playing lounge grooves from myriad genres.

The Edinburgh indie-rockers launch their new EP with what shall likely be a trademark energetic live set.

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Somewhat of a master tunesmith, the Manchester-based improvisational musician creates his own brand of orchestral magic using only guitar, loops pedals and his fine vocal-work.

One Night of Elvis Edinburgh Playhouse, 19:30–22:00, From £19.50

Elvis Presley tribute act.

Grand Maestro Mohammad Reza Shajarian Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £22.50

The celebrated Iranian vocalist, with a career spanning some 50 years, is joined by the 16-strong Shahnaz Ensemble.

Sabrina Malheiros Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–23:00, £12

Sublime mix of bossas and sambas, with touches of hip-hop, R’n’B and electronica.

The Travelling Band (Jonnie common)

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £6

The elusive sextet (made up of various bands, including Arab Strap, Admiral Fallow and Frightened Rabbit) tour in support of their rather lovely new album.

Born from the disbanded Hawkwind, Harvey Bainbridge and Steve Swindells et al join forces for this live re-group.

Hey Enemy (Your Loyal Subjects)

Denis Jones (Adam Stafford)

The Moth & The Mirror

Middle Finger Salute The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £8

The festival-trotting indie-rock sevenpiece take to the stage with their mightly mix of originals and covers, in a stripped-back acoustic set.

Thu 20 Oct

The Doors tribute act.

Pop-meets-punk foursome from Blackburn who’ve more than earned their stripes on the underground UK punk scene.

Blind Poet, 20:00–22:00, Free

Sun 16 Oct

The Hawklords

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £8 adv.

Queen’s Hall, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

The Dark Jones

Doors Alive

Stirling-raised troublemakers trading in angular and impressive punk sounds.

James Vincent McMorrow (Lindi Ortega)

Greentrax: 25th Anniversary Concert

Quietly epic singer/songwriter, taking time out from recording his new album with indie pioneer Damien Jurado.

HMV Picture House, 19:00–22:30, £12.50

The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £12

More in the way of driving guitars and big harmonies as The Horrors bridge the gap between rock, goth and punk theatrics as only they know how.

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £5 adv.

The Caves, 19:00–22:00, £15

Stage persona of American singer/ songwriter Michelle Karen Johnston.

The Horrors (Toy)

Local folky bill headered by Edinburgh alternative folkies Chasing Owls, all acoustic and wholesome in their sound.

James Apollo (Numbers & Letters, The Stu Goodall Band)

Benjamin Francis Leftwich (Daughter) Gentle, acoustic pop from the Yorkshire singer/songwriter.

Chasing Owls (Bear Bones, Matt Norris and the Moon)

Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £5

Mon 17 Oct Catfish Keith

Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–23:00, £12

Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £6 adv.

Manchester alternative folkies, all shimmering and harmonic in their understated psychedelia kind of way.

Fruit Tree Foundation (Rod Jones, James Yorkston, Withered Hand) Nobles Bar, 19:00–22:00, Free

The Fruit Tree Foundation unveil the fruits, if you will, of their mentoring programme, with the aspiring musicians performing live with their mentors Rod Jones, James Yorkston and Withered Hand.

Tropics Sneaky Pete’s, 22:00–00:00, £5 adv.

Live band set from the talented youngster behind Tropics (aka Chris Ward), with his unique texture and groove explorations.

Svara-Kanti Queen’s Hall, 20:00–22:00, £15 (£12)

Indian-meets-Western supergroup from visionary guitarman Simon Thacker.

Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £15

Bulgarian-formed traditional female folk choir, full of timeless melodies and breathtaking harmonies.

Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover (Endor) Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £10 (allaccess wristband)

The Oxjam crew host their rather ace multi-venue takeover. Expect some fine tunes as they go.

Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover (Aerials Up, Trapped Mice) Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £10 (allaccess wristband)

Tue 18 Oct

Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover (FOUND, Dead Boy Robotics, The Spook School)

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £5 adv.

8 GB (Fragile Chaos, Comptroller, An-Cat-Max) Wee Red Bar, 19:00–22:00, £4

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:30, £10 (allaccess wristband)

The Oxjam crew host their rather ace multi-venue takeover. Expect some fine tunes as they go.

Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover (Yahweh) Medina, 19:00–22:30, £10 (all-access wristband)

The one-man Argentinan partystarter, forging electro, breakbeat and techno sounds with old computer hardware.

The Oxjam crew host their rather ace multi-venue takeover. Expect some fine tunes as they go.

Wed 19 Oct

Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover (Citizens)

The Winter Tradition (The Merchants)

Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £5

Nosiy powerpop-meets-rock from the Scottish quartet. Part of Oxjam 2011.

Stanley Odd

Stiff Little Fingers

The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Inventive hip-hop musings as the Odd Squad move from chopped electrofunk to crunchy 8-bit, via well-constructed vocal flows from Solareye and Veronica Electronica.

The Dark Jones Whistlebinkies, 21:00–23:00, Free

The festival-trotting indie-rock seven-piece take to the stage with their mightly mix of originals and covers.

Fiddlers’ Bid Queen’s Hall, 20:00–22:00, £16 (£14)

Leading exponents of Shetlan’s rich fiddle tradition, and a bit of a musical tornado in their own right (i.e they’re also powered along by guitar, piano, bass and harp).

RSNO: Natalie Clein Plays Haydn Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £11

Violinist Natalie Clein takes on Haydn. Pre-concert talk at 6.45pm.

The Banshee Labyrinth, 19:00–22:30, £10 (all-access wristband)

The Oxjam crew host their rather ace multi-venue takeover. Expect some fine tunes as they go.

DZ Deathways

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £6 adv.

Formerly just DZ, this noisy thrash Aussie duo started life at a house party, quelle surprise.

Scottish Ensemble: Alistair Beatson

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:00, £10

Perth-born Alistair Beatson performs a unique concerto written by Felix Mendelssohn at the tender age of 14, alongside later work.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds

Usher Hall, 18:30–22:30, £sold out

Noel Gallagher and his new band play as part of their three-date mini tour, in support of their debut album released earlier in the month.

Skip Little Axe McDonald Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–23:00, £10

Fri 28 Oct

Whole Lotta Zed HMV Picture House, 19:00–22:30, £13

Led Zeppelin tribute act.

Patrick Wolf (CocknBullKid) The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

Experimental London singer/songwriter Patrick Wolf and his kit-bag of electro-pop gems, as fanciful and offbeat as ever.

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:00, From £9.50

The Jackals (The Merrylees, The Venus Flytraps) Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £5

Guitar-driven psychedelic sounds crossed with gritty songsmithery, served up with a good dose of attitude.

Focus, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown The Caves, 19:00–22:00, £20

The 70s classic-styled progressive rockers, supported by the selfstyled ‘God Of Hellfire’, a certain Mr Arthur Brown.

Friday night bill of comedy, live music and DJs.

The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Neu! Reekie!

Scottish Book Trust, 19:00–22:00, £5 (£4)

A night of avant-garde poetry, music and film, with guests including The Machine Room and house band Emelle..

Ryan Adams

Festival Theatre, 20:00–23:00, From £25

The Jacksonville country rocker and former Whiskeytown mainman plays a large-scale Scottish set.

Alvin Stardust

The Caves, 19:00–22:00, £16.50

The glam rock legend lives, no doubt still sporting leather and big hair.

Fright-Night Fest (The Defaults, Central, The Rich, Modern Misfortune)

Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £4 adv. (£5 door)

Electric Circus’s music-heavy Halloween bash, with live sets from a host of local bands. Fancy dress encouraged.

Contagious Behaviour

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Sat 29 Oct

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

Peja

British Sea Power

Polish rapper, songwriter and producer, best known as the frontman of Slum Attack.

The Brighton indie-rockers do their romantic, pastoral longing thing to suitably fine effect.

The Merrylees

Dead Boy Robotics

The country-tinged Edinburgh trio launch their new album, packed with retro vibes, bouncy guitar licks and a load of reverb.

The Edinburgh duo launch their new album, incorporating laptops, guitars, vocal yelps and tribal drumming in their rather epic brand of new wave.

Sam Duckworth

Janics Ian

The Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly mainman plays under his real name, in support of his debut solo album.

American folk singer/songwriter with nine Grammy nominations to her name.

Blackout (We Are The Ocean)

Toby Keith

Hardcore rock anthems a-plenty from the Welsh sextet currently touring in support of their new album, Hope.

The country-styled American singer/ songwriter plays a rare Scottish date, cowboy hat firmly on head.

Bongo Club, 19:00–22:00, £17

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £10 adv.

HMV Picture House, 19:00–22:30, £15

The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £13.50

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Queen’s Hall, 20:00–22:00, £22.50

Usher Hall, 19:00–22:30, From £32.50

Mon 31 Oct

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: New Babylon

Ugly Duckling

Orchestral performance of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s film music for 1928 satire New Babylon.

Classic hip-hop group who we will forever love for their witty ditty, Meat Shake.

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:00, From £9.50

Dunfermline experimentalists touring in support of their new album.

Edinburgh’s original ten-piece ska juggernaut host their annual Halloween night of mayhem. Fancy dress essential.

Electric Circus, 19:00–22:00, £10 adv.

Voodoo Rooms, 18:30–23:00, £9

Satirical and biting political verse, delivered in Cooper Clarke’s rapidfire performance style. Punk poetry at its finest.

Bon Iver

Sun 23 Oct

The Friday Fix (Bethany Black, Tony Jameson, Damien Crow)

Singleskin

HMV Picture House, 19:30–22:30, £15

Bombskare Skalloween 5

The tender-voiced Justin Vernon plays a sold-out show under his Bon Iver guise, awash with hypnotic piano loops and heart-searing strings.

Usher Hall, 19:30–22:30, From £11

John Cooper Clarke

Live orchestral performance of the popular Beethoven symphony.

Usher Hall, 19:00–22:30, £sold out

Two classic Bobby Wellins works are rearranged and orchestrated for this special event, with Wellins himself as guest saxophonist.

Conductor Peter Oundjian leads the RSNO chorus group in a rendition of the haunting Mozart’s Requiem.

Pre-concert talk at 6.45pm.

Original punk-pop four-piece, par excellence.

Sat 22 Oct Bongo Club, 19:00–22:00, £7 adv. (£8 door)

Queen’s Hall, 19:30–22:00, £17.50 (£12.50)

RSNO: Mozart Requiem

Elephant Stone (Delta Mainline, The Merrylees) The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Rishi Dhir, a founding member of Montreal psyche-pop veterans the High Dials, and sitar player for basically every outlaw psyche band out there.

Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

HMV Picture House, 18:30–22:30, £14.50

The American bluesman takes it back to its roots (i.e. raw, stripped-back and intense).

Twee-clad chaps hailing from that lesser known Mecca of punk rock delinquency, Oxford.

The Oxjam crew host their rather ace multi-venue takeover. Expect some fine tunes as they go.

The energetic indie four-piece giving their debut LP a proper airing. About time too, seeing as they’ve been regulars on the scene for nigh-on a decade.

The Oxjam crew host their rather ace multi-venue takeover. Expect some fine tunes as they go.

Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover (Meursault, Trapped in Kansas) The Oxjam crew host their rather ace multi-venue takeover. Expect some fine tunes as they go.

The Caves, 19:00–22:00, £7.50 adv.

Having made the transition from classical violinist to singer/songwriter, Brooklyn’s Kono Michi does her thing with instrument-heavy, genre-defying loveliness.

The Young Knives

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £10 (all-access wristband)

Kono Michi

The Left Bank, 19:00–22:30, £10 (allaccess wristband)

Fri 21 Oct

Blues singer/songwriter and master of the slide guitar.

Copy Haho (Cafe Disco)

Oxjam Edinburgh Takeover (I Build Collapsible Mountains)

Voodoo Rooms, 20:00–23:00, £5

Sun 30 Oct Eilen Jewell

Bongo Club, 19:00–22:00, £12

Idaho-born singer/songwriter trading in Americana-tinged folk and blues.

Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £10 adv.

London Haydn Quartet

Queen’s Hall, 19:45–22:00, From £12 (£11)

Born out of a shared passion for Haydn’s string quartets, the Londoners play out on gut strings and classical bows, officially opening the Queen’s Hall’s Haydn season.

The Cureheads

Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–23:00, £8

The Cure tribute act.

Airship

Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £6 adv.

Manchester foursome with some rather nifty pop tunes.

Contagious Behaviour The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

Tue 25 Oct Astro Sneaky Pete’s, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Legendary Japanese noisemakers, the pet project of musician Hiroshi Masegawa and his assorted analog equipment.

Eliza Carthy Voodoo Rooms, 19:30–23:00, £13 adv. (£15 door)

The award-winning Scottish folkie, currently breathing new life into the genre.

For full listings go to www.theskinny.co.uk/listings or scan below

Wed 26 Oct Aames (Kat Healey) Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £5

Glasgow-based indie-pop-rock band, made up of two Scotsmen, an Englishman, and a Welshman.

Foreign Beggers The Liquid Room, 19:00–22:00, £12

London-based rap and grime troupe consisting of MCs Orifice Vulgatron and Metropolis, producer Dag Nabbit and DJ Nonames.

Thu 27 Oct Carrie Rodriguez (Luke Jacobs) Cabaret Voltaire, 19:00–22:00, £12 adv.

Young singer/songwriter on the contemporary roots-rock scene.

October 2011

THE SKINNY 57

Glasgow CLUBS Tue 27 Sep Y’Uptae The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Weekly student night with Andy Wilson.

I Am Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £4

Residents Beta & Kappa present a oneoff ‘Lights Out’ party. Yup, as in they’ll turn the lights off and we’ll all make merry under strobes and lasers.

Wild Combination (Jonnie Wilkes) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Kilmarnock’s hairy disco legend, David Barbarossa, digs out some vinyl gems from his rather massive collection, joined by Optimo’s Jonnie Wilkes.

Wed 28 Sep Wednesdays @ Flat 0/1 Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Skwee Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Funk, 80s synth and wonky beats are all of the order at this genrespanning night.

Badseed Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

Handpicked selection of indie, rock and electro with DJ Heather McCartney.

Pin Ups Red Light Night (Frank McAvennie, Aidan Moffat) Flying Duck, 21:00–03:00, £7

The Banjax crew celebrate their first year of being by welcoming back label owner, DJ and genre-spanning mixmaster extraordinaire, Jerome Hill.

The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £15

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Saturday @ Bookclub Funk, soul and hip-hop with everyone’s favourite floral-shirted vinylist, Andy Taylor.

Rip This Joint

Feel My Bicep

DJ Jopez plays a choice selection of indie, rock, blues and funk.

Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

Cosmic and sweaty mix of 80s sleaze, house and disco.

Pandemic

Rubbermensch O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3 earlybird)

Chart, disco and indie.

Cross-genre danceathon with residents Noj and Mark. They will play The Fall.

Taking Back Thursdays

Love Music

Coconut Foam Beach Party The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Massive coconut-scented foam party in the main hall, with sand covering the floor.

It could only be a freshers beach party.

Sub Thursdays Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Weekly party with eye-popping visuals and rotating DJs.

Idiosync Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Dedicated to all things electronic.

Fri 30 Sep Friday @ Bookclub Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Classic and underground disco, plus dusted-down old soul with Solar Disco’s Kev Stevens.

Fridays @ Flat 0/1 Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 11.30)

Saturday night disco with Gerry Lyons and guests.

Melting Pot: Residents Special The Admiral, 23:00–03:00, £8

Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £12

Residents Bosco and Rob Mason bring acid-house, techno and rave back to the dancefloor, with a little help from guests Teddy Farley and his musical co-hort, Ashley Beedle.

Shed Saturdays Shed, 22:30–03:00, Free (£7 after 11)

Pop classics and a good dose of cheese in the main hall, plus hip-hop hits in the Red Room.

Subculture (Jackmaster) Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £10

Long-running house night with Harri & Domenic.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £4 (£3)

New night dedicated to all things electronic, from goth-pop to Italo synth goodness.

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Shed Sundays

Cathouse Fridays

The Shed’s regular weekendextender.

Cathouse, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£5)

Rock, metal, dance and indie over two levels, with the inimitable residents manning the decks.

How’s Your Party?

(Jack Beats) Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £10 (£8)

How’s Your Party? return postsummer sweats with the kings of wobble, Jack Beats.

Infexious: 4th Birthday (Crypsis, The Pitcher) Soundhaus, 20:30–03:00, £15

Hardstyle and hard-dance special, raw and highly danceable.

Power Tools

A night of pure vinyl grooving, of the heel-stomping 50s and 60s garage type.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £7

Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

Instruments Of Rapture (The Revenge, Ali OOFT) Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £5

Choice picks from the Instruments Of Rapture label, including a live set from Glasgow’s pitched-down house master, The Revenge.

Tue 04 Oct Wild Combination Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Kilmarnock’s hairy disco legend, David Barbarossa, digs out some vinyl gems from his rather enviable collection.

58 THE SKINNY October 2011

The Blind Pig, 21:00–00:00, Free

Considered mix of garage, post-punk and girl groups, presented by Adele of Sons and Daughters and the Sophisticated Boom Boom.

Jellybaby

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £3 adv. (£5 door)

Chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

CMYK

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

The Homebass DJs are joined by local and international talent for an evening of electro and electronica.

Jellybaby

Sat 08 Oct

Sub Rosa

Saturday @ Bookclub Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

Streetrave: 22nd Birthday (James Zabiela, M.A.N.D.Y., Shades Of Rhythm)

Brand new student night for Subbie, with residents Ray Vose and Desoto joined by various live guests.

The Streetrave crew celebrate a massive 22-years with a host of rather special live guests.

Thu 13 Oct

The Arches, 22:00–03:00, £15

Power Tools

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Back Tae Mine

Flying Duck, 21:00–03:00, £5

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Walk ‘n’ Skank Club 520, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

The Mungo’s Hi Fi crew in their official Glasgow residency, bringing you the very best in bass, natch.

Feel My Bicep Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Cosmic and sweaty mix of 80s sleaze, house and disco.

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Rip This Joint

Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

DJ Jopez plays a choice selection of indie, rock, blues and funk.

Wrong Island

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

The legendary Teamy and Dirty Larry spin some fresh electronics, fresh from their fourth birthday bash in September.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Jellybaby O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £3 adv. (£5 door)

Chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

Fri 14 Oct

Fri 07 Oct Old Skool

New monthly night offering up a mighty mix of industrial, electronic, wonk, pop and rock. That do ye?

Duncan Harvey provides a soundtrack of funk, motown and northern soul.

Disuko

Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, Free (£3/£5 after 12)

Damnation

Classic Grand, 22:30–03:00, £5

Alternative rock, metal, punk and ska.

Fridays @ Flat 0/1

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Blitz!

Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Fridays @ Bookclub

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Classic and underground disco, plus dusted-down old soul with Solar Disco’s Kev Stevens.

Badseed

Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

Badass mix of indie, rock and electro.

David Barbarossa’s Thing Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Two floors of post-punk, reggae and classic disco, with Glasgow’s greatest small-but-hairy DJ, David Barbarossa.

Propaganda (The Wombats) O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Student-orientated indie night with guest DJs dropping by.

Apollo 23, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Soundhaus, 22:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Bi-monthly blend of electro, techno, disco and ghetto house.

Shed Saturdays

Shed, 22:30–03:00, Free (£7 after 11)

Pop classics and a good dose of cheese in the main hall, plus hip-hop hits in the Red Room.

Subculture Vs Animal Farm (Moritz Van Oswald, Tikiman, Animal Farm) Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £15 (£12)

Special edition of the long-running house night, as they go head-tohead with Animal Farm.

Sun 09 Oct Supersonic Electronic

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £4 (£3)

Thunder Disco Club Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £5

Gloriously eclectic Italo soundtracked and RPZ-influenced night.

Buff Club, 22:00–02:00, £5 (£3)

Long-running trade night, with Normski, Zeus and Mash spinning disco beats.

Tue 11 Oct

UK techno duo Forward Strategy Group pay a unique three-hour live set.

Kilmarnock’s hairy disco legend, David Barbarossa, digs out some vinyl gems from his rather enviable collection.

Soundhaus, 21:30–03:00, £tbc

Underground dance energist Kanji Kinetic shares decks duty with garageheavy DJ and producer, Submerse.

Badseed Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

Badass mix of indie, rock and electro.

Kino Fist Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Genre-spanning mix of 60s psych, leftfield pop and Krautrock with resident Charlotte (of Muscles of Joy).

Propaganda

The Shed’s regular weekend-extender.

Wild Combination

Triple Drop: Mutant Bass Records Tour (Kanji Kinetic, Submerse)

Classic and underground disco, plus dusted-down old soul with Solar Disco’s Kev Stevens.

La Cheetah, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 after 12)

Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

Wax Works Vs Equalised: Forward Strategy Group

All things techy from two of Glasgow’s up-and-coming club nights.

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Cut Down (Maurice Fulton)

Burn

Soundhaus, 22:00–03:00, £5

Fridays @ Bookclub

Shed Sundays

Myriad club nights (including Stay Plastic, Scrabble and Jelly Roll Soul) combine for an underground mix of techno, house and electro. Urban Tribe’s DJ Stingray guests, dropping some electro-bass into the mix.

Squelch Vs Freshlick

Monthly indie-pop dance party playing anything good from twee-pop to acid rave. In the kitchen bar.

Student-orientated indie night with guest DJs dropping by.

Mon 10 Oct

The Admiral, 23:00–03:00, £5 adv. (£8 door)

Primitive Painters

New night dedicated to all things electronic, from goth-pop to Italo synth goodness.

Tribute (DJ Stingray)

La Cheetah, 23:00–03:00, £10

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

I Am

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

A rare appearance from DJ-cum-offthe-wall remixer, Maurice Fulton, with his mutated mix of house, funk and disco.

Darkside (Paul Elstak, Re-Style) Soundhaus, 20:30–02:30, £15 adv.

Hardcore night with a double dose of Dutch DJ guests.

Waverley Boat Party The Waverley, 20:00–23:00, £20 earlybird (£25 thereafter)

Three of Glasgow’s longest-running club nights - Optimo, Subculture and Melting Pot - take to the waves. Plus and a vat of rum.

Rustie (The Blessings, Spencer) Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

The Glasgow-based man of the moment, in the world of dance music anyway, launches his debut album, Glass Swords.

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa joined by a rota of rotating guests.

Crash

Wed 12 Oct

Andy Robertson plays a mix of loveable pop, dance and hip-hop.

Octopussy

Return To Mono (Cassy, Slam)

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

Popular techno offerings, with guest including the inimitable Slam boys.

The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Shed, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £10

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Fri 21 Oct Fridays @ Flat 0/1

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Buff Club, 22:00–02:00, £1

Supersonic Electronic Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £4 (£3)

New night dedicated to all things electronic, from goth-pop to Italo synth goodness.

Shed Sundays Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

The Shed’s regular weekend-extender.

Indie dancing club, playing anything and everything danceable.

Duncan Harvey provides a soundtrack of funk, motown and northern soul.

Highlife (Auntie Flo, Esa)

Love Music

Lock Up Your Daughters (Kitty Cowell, Camino Real, The Beaks)

Afrobeat, funk and house with evercapable resident Brian D’Souza and guests.

Straight-friendly gay party with a special live bands night, plus the LUYD regulars.

Wild Combination

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 11.30)

Saturday night disco with Gerry Lyons and guests.

eXploit Apollo 23, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

New monthly night offering up a mighty mix of industrial, electronic, wonk, pop and rock. That do ye?

Shed Saturdays Shed, 22:30–03:00, Free (£7 after 11)

Pop classics and a good dose of cheese in the main hall, plus hip-hop hits in the Red Room.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £10 (£5)

Saturday night disco with Gerry Lyons and guests.

Sun 23 Oct

CMYK

Bottle Rocket

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Love Music (Zombie Nation)

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £10 (£5)

Long-running house night with Harri & Domenic.

Electro, funk and disco soundtrack, plus a chance to win the door fees.

Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Subculture

Quids In

DJ Jopez plays a choice selection of indie, rock, blues and funk.

Rip This Joint

Shed, 22:30–03:00, Free (£7 after 11)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £3 adv. (£5 door)

The Homebass DJs are joined by local and international talent for an evening of electro and electronica.

Subculture (Junior, Esa & Telford)

The Homebass DJs are joined by local and international talent for an evening of electro and electronica.

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 11.30)

Funk, soul and hip-hop with everyone’s favourite floral-shirted vinylist, Andy Taylor.

CMYK

Fridays @ Flat 0/1

Connoisseur’s mix of vintage jazz, funk and soul.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

The Nomadic techno and tech-house night finds its home at the Sub Club.

eXploit

Buff Club, 22:00–02:00, £6

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Rev Up!

Korben Dallas and Nushta Drognova play a zesty mix of Italo, disco and house.

Boom Boom!

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £14

Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 12)

Eclectic weekly playing R’n’B, northern soul, rock ‘n’ roll, stax and rarities.

New fortnightly fun with Vitamin’s Sam Murray, sifting through some fresh R’n’B and electronic from Scotland and beyond.

Brand new queercentric night with its focus firmly on 90s-inspired new romantic and danceable pop hits.

Supersonic Electronic

Student-orientated indie night.

Seeing Swine At Night

Bigfoot’s Tea Party (Christopher Kelly, Wrick, Dave Scott)

Funk, soul and hip-hop with everyone’s favourite floral-shirted vinylist, Andy Taylor.

Let’s Go Back... Way Back! (Teddy Farley, Ashley Beedle)

Crash

Propaganda

The best in new hip-hop and R’n’B with DJ Cool Master.

Saturday @ Bookclub

Duncan Harvey provides a soundtrack of funk, motown and northern soul.

Sun 02 Oct

Andy Robertson plays a mix of loveable pop, dance and hip-hop.

Post-punk, dub and some promised musical surprises.

Afrobeat, funk and house with evercapable resident Brian D’Souza and guests.

Freaky Freaky

Cosmic and sweaty mix of 80s sleaze, house and disco.

Pop classics and a good dose of cheese in the main hall, plus hip-hop hits in the Red Room.

Death Disco welcome Canadian electronic musican Peaches into the fold for what shall likely be their coup of the year.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Melting Pot residents take centre stage. About time too, seeing as it has been over three years since they last held a proper residents’ bash.

Duncan Harvey provides a soundtrack of funk, motown and northern soul.

Shed, 22:30–03:00, £6

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Shed Saturdays

Hungry Beat

Stereo, 19:00–22:00, £tbc

Feel My Bicep

Thu 29 Sep

Cathouse, 23:00–01:00, £2 (£1)

Sub Rosa (Clouds)

Thu 20 Oct Ready Ready

Highlife (Pareja, Auntie Flo)

Hed Kandi Ibiza Reunion (Andy Daniels, Ian McNab, Johnny Rea)

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Cult rock hits from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

The Blind Pig, 21:00–00:00, Free

Eclectic weekly playing R’n’B, northern soul, rock ‘n’ roll, stax and rarities.

Sat 15 Oct

80s synth and funk with your hosts Dom and Darrell.

House-party styled night, with a group of rotating DJs alongside regular guests DJs. Plus free toast for all.

Octopussy

Slide It In (Nicola Walker)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Andy Robertson plays a mix of loveable pop, dance and hip-hop.

Thu 06 Oct

Korben Dallas and Nushta Drognova play a zesty mix of Italo, disco and house.

Cathouse, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£2)

Take It Sleazy

Wednesdays @ Flat 0/1

Death Disco (Peaches, Justus Kohncke)

Pre-club selection of funk, disco and all things house.

Common Room, 20:30–00:00, Free

Resident DJ Otis Galloway plays hip-hop, breakbeats and funky Chicago house.

Emo, pop-punk and rock, plus extreme death metal and thrash in the back bar.

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Shed, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Korben Dallas and Nushta Drognova play a zesty mix of Italo, disco and house.

Power Tools

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Club Olympico

Crash

Brand new student night for Subbie, with residents Ray Vose and Desoto joined by various live guests.

Durty Booty

Student fun night, with a bouncy castle and hot tub.

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

Seeing Swine At Night

A selection of house anthems handpicked direct from the White Isle.

The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

La Cheetah, 23:00–03:00, £10

Ska, pop-punk, emo, and rock hits with DJ Haze. In the Attic.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Octopussy

An unabashed mix of 80s pop, electro and nu-disco. They will play Phil Collins.

Sat 01 Oct

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Wed 05 Oct

Banjax: 1st Birthday (Jerome Hill)

Back II Jack

Stoked

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa joined by a rota of rotating guests.

Bi-weekly night of ear-exercising disco, cosmic, electronic and techno.

Garage Wednesdays Chart and classics with yer man Andy R, plus a bar tab up for grabs for the punter with the best music choice.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Long-running indie celebration, with a sleaxy special (think: red lighting, peep shows and general filth). Dressing up encouraged.

80s synth and funk with your hosts Dom and Darrell.

The Garage, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

I Am

Long-running house night with Harri & Domenic.

Sun 16 Oct Ms Dynamite The Arches, 20:00–22:00, £10

London-born garage rapper, aka Ms Dynamite-ee-ee.

Supersonic Electronic Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £4 (£3)

New night dedicated to all things electronic, from goth-pop to Italo synth goodness.

Shed Sundays Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

The Shed’s regular weekendextender.

Derrick Does (Derrick Carter) Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £5

Chicago house legend Derrick Carter hosts his very own night (i.e get the fuck excited).

Tue 18 Oct Wild Combination Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Kilmarnock’s hairy disco legend, David Barbarossa, digs out some vinyl gems from his rather enviable collection.

I Am Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa joined by a rota of rotating guests.

Flying Duck, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Fridays @ Bookclub

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Classic and underground disco, plus dusted-down old soul with Solar Disco’s Kev Stevens.

Badseed

Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

Badass mix of indie, rock and electro.

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Milk Flat 0/1, 21:00–03:00, £4 (£3)

Rather ace music-cum-club night, with handpicked live bands, DJs, milk, biscuits and 75p cider.

Not Moving Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

South African house, grime, jungle, R&B and hauntology. A tropical mix, yes.

Seeing Swine At Night The Blind Pig, 21:00–00:00, Free

Eclectic weekly playing R’n’B, northern soul, rock ‘n’ roll, stax and rarities.

Sub Rosa Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Brand new student night for Subbie, with residents Ray Vose and Desoto joined by various live guests.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa joined by a rota of rotating guests.

Wed 26 Oct

Propaganda (Nick Grimshaw) O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Student-orientated indie night with guest DJs dropping by.

The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

Wednesdays @ Flat 0/1 Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Crash

80s synth and funk with your hosts Dom and Darrell.

Andy Robertson plays a mix of loveable pop, dance and hip-hop.

Durty Booty

Shed, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £2

Sensu: 7th Birthday (Shonky, MK) Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £10

Resident DJ Otis Galloway plays hip-hop, breakbeats and funky Chicago house.

One of Glasgow’s most popular underground nights celebrates seven glorious years.

Seeing Swine At Night

Sat 22 Oct

Eclectic weekly playing R’n’B, northern soul, rock ‘n’ roll, stax and rarities.

Highliander Ibiza Reunion (Michael Paterson, Kaveh Porter, Joe Docherty, Matt Finlay) The Arches, 23:00–04:00, £10

White Isle celebration playing all the biggest Ibiza anthems in the main room, plus underground business in the dance arch.

Power Tools

Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Korben Dallas and Nushta Drognova play a zesty mix of Italo, disco and house.

The Blind Pig, 21:00–00:00, Free

Sub Rosa Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Brand new student night for Subbie, with residents Ray Vose and Desoto joined by various live guests.

Thu 27 Oct Feel My Bicep Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Cosmic and sweaty mix of 80s sleaze, house and disco.

Danse Macabre Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Saturday @ Bookclub

The regulars unite those two happiest of bedfellows, goth rock and, er, classic disco.

Funk, soul and hip-hop with everyone’s favourite floral-shirted vinylist, Andy Taylor.

Jellybaby

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

DJ Jopez plays a choice selection of indie, rock, blues and funk.

Bi-weekly night of ear-exercising disco, cosmic, electronic and techno.

I Am

Octopussy

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Octopussy

Club Olympico

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Kilmarnock’s hairy disco legend, David Barbarossa, digs out some vinyl gems from his rather enviable collection.

Good music played by bad peope (so say they), with Rafla in the upstairs club.

Rip This Joint

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

Tue 25 Oct

Upside Down

Wed 19 Oct The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £5

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £3 adv. (£5 door)

Chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

CMYK

The Hot Club

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

The Homebass DJs are joined by local and international talent for an evening of electro and electronica.

Love Music

Fridays @ Flat 0/1

Saturday night disco with Gerry Lyons and guests.

Duncan Harvey provides a soundtrack of funk, motown and northern soul.

Spinbox (Steven McDonagh, Derrick Walsh, Paul McDonagh, Fin)

Fridays @ Bookclub

Tearin’ it up with 60s psych-outs and modern sleaze, provided by Rafla and Andy (of The Phantom Band).

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 after 11.30)

La Cheetah, 23:00–03:00, £5

Fine selection of house and techno, handpicked by guests Paul McDonagh and Fin, whol’ll be joined by local lads Derrick Walsh and Steven McDonagh.

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Fri 28 Oct Flat 0/1, 23:00–03:00, Free

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Classic and underground disco, plus dusted-down old soul with Solar Disco’s Kev Stevens.

Badseed Slouch, 23:00–03:00, Free

eXploit

Badass mix of indie, rock and electro.

New monthly night offering up a mighty mix of industrial, electronic, wonk, pop and rock. That do ye?

Black Tent

Apollo 23, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Balkanarama (Gypsy Hill, DJ Kobayashi) Stereo, 23:00–03:00, £8

All singing, all dancing Balkan orgy, plus belly dancing and free brandy. As in, we’re sold.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £3

Indie, electro and anything inbetween with Pauly (My Latest Novel), and Simin and Steev (Errors).

Propaganda O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Student-orientated indie night with guest DJs dropping by.

EDINBURGH CLUBS Banjax: Luke’s Anger

La Cheetah, 23:00–03:00, £10

Bonus Round’s head honcho Luke’s Anger heads to Glasgow to deliver a live set of rather sublime techno and electro. Can’t say fairer.

Secret Wars: Semi Final Flat 0/1, 22:00–03:00, £5

As live grafitti event Secret Wars enters into the semi finals stage they do as all good nights should: host a fancy dress party. Alfie Dexterous and Rogue one will be the ones doing live battle with the black paint.

Crash

Shed, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Andy Robertson plays a mix of loveable pop, dance and hip-hop.

Tue 27 Sep

LuckyMe (Oneman)

Antics

Homegame show for the globetrotting music, art and all-round party crew.

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Alternative anthems, cherry-picked from genres of rock, indie and punk.

Zzzap! (The Foals)

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £tbc

The inimitable electro-beats party welcome a live set from The Foals, with their cool electronic take on the indie genre.

Split

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Long-running D’n’B night from a rotating collective of DJs.

Soul Jam Hot

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funk, soul and hip-hop.

How’s Your Party? Vs Vitamins

Wed 28 Sep

The bassline, dub and house collective square up to the Vitamins crew for a rather special one-off night.

Bangers & Mash

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Sat 29 Oct Nu Skool

Buff Club, 22:00–03:00, £6

Nick Peacock spins a fine selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

Inside Out: XL Halloween Ball (Eddie Halliwell) The Arches, 21:00–04:00, £20

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11)

Midweek student favourite of chart and cheese classics.

Indigo

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£4)

Indie, pop and alternative favourites, with the ever-present threat of the Ting Tings.

JungleDub

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Dub, dubstep and jungle, from DJs across the Scottish scene.

Hard dance and trance-styled Halloween bash.

Slap Bang

Classic Grand’s Halloween Party

Genre-spanning midweeker with the residents playing a musical mish-mash, alongside rotating guests. In Speakeasy.

Classic Grand’s legendary Halloween bash, with a cash prize for the best costume.

Witness

Classic Grand, 22:00–04:00, £7

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Flat 0/1, 23:00–04:00, Free

Sneaky’s resident bass spectacular of garage, dubstep and bassline house.

Korben Dallas and Nushta Drognova play a zesty mix of Italo, disco and house.

Thu 29 Sep

Saturday @ Bookclub

Octopussy

Power Tools

Hillhead Bookclub, 21:00–00:00, Free

Funk, soul and hip-hop with everyone’s favourite floral-shirted vinylist, Andy Taylor.

Rip This Joint

Slouch, 23:00–04:00, Free

DJ Jopez plays a choice selection of indie, rock, blues and funk.

Leather Jackets (Paul Thomson) Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–04:00, £tbc

Halloween-themed club night, with Franz Ferdinand’s Paul Thomson taking on deck duty, plus a special live act which we’re keeping a secret.

Love Music

O2 ABC, 23:00–04:00, Free (£5 after 11.30)

Saturday night disco with Gerry Lyons and guests.

eXploit

Apollo 23, 23:00–04:00, £5 (£4)

New monthly night offering up a mighty mix of industrial, electronic, wonk, pop and rock. That do ye?

Shed Saturdays

Shed, 22:30–04:00, Free (£7 after 11)

Pop classics and a good dose of cheese in the main hall, plus hip-hop hits in the Red Room.

Subculture

Sub Club, 23:00–04:00, £10 (£5)

Long-running house night with Harri & Domenic.

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £5 (members free)

Sat 01 Oct Wired For Sound The Village, 21:00–01:00, Free

Monthly disco, playing anything and everything danceable.

Soulsville Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5

The Sunday Club

Long-running D’n’B night from a rotating collective of DJs and special guests.

Livebandkaraokesession.Alsogetsyoufree entrytoretroafter-club,PlanetEarth.

Two rooms of chart, cheese and all the indie-pop requests you can think of.

Soul Jam Hot

Retro Catz

Fresh mix of funk, soul and hippity-hop.

New night with a cast of all-female DJs working their way through some sexy retro, complete with glitter balls, naturally.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Antics

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Alternative anthems, cherry-picked from genres of rock, indie and punk.

Wed 05 Oct JungleDub

Gasoline Dance Machine (The C90’s)

Dub, dubstep and jungle, from DJs across the Scottish scene.

Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £7

Classic Italo and straight up boogie allied with contemporary house and disco.

Launches with special guests The C90’s.

Beep Beep Yeah Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £3

Retro pop stylings from the 50s to the 70s. In Speakeasy.

Tease Age Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night.

His & Hers Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£6 after 12)

Handpicked alternative and indie, from the 70s to present day.

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Slap Bang (Parker)

Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £3

Genre-spanning midweeker with the residents playing a musical mish-mash, alongside rotating guests. In Speakeasy.

Electrosex

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Fine electro mix from the resident masked DJs Phantom and TonyKeo, plus weekly performers and giveaways.

Heard It Through The Bassline (Blawan, Bake, Colebs, Hannibal Selecta)

The Caves, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£6 after 11.30)

Heard It Through The Bassline returns to The Caves with Blawan going backto-back with Allcaps co-creator Bake.

Studio24 Rawks Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 (£4) after 11.30)

Rock, metal and alternative, plus a fair few surprises along the way in the form of live bands, burlesque acts, competitions and arts stalls.

Dirty District

Bubblegum

Monthly dose of old-school hippity-hop.

Handpicked weekend mix of chart, dance and 80s classics.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

TheCab’sflagshipindieandelectrofavourite.

Ride

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Ride girl’s Checkie and Lauren play hip-hop and dance, all night long.

Fri 30 Sep Planet Earth

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, £1 (£6 after 11)

Retro from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top.

The Hive, 21:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 10)

The Egg Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 after 12)

Indie institution with DJs Chris and Paul.

Sun 02 Oct Underground Sunday The Southern Bar, 19:30–01:00, Free

Local acoustic acts followed by indie and alternative tunes from the Dream Sequence DJs.

Killer Kitsch (Ado) Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £3

Tim Westwood

Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems.

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

The veteran hip-hop DJ-cum-radio presenter plays a rare Scottish date.

Devil Disco Club

The Hive, 21:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 10)

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Contagious Behaviour Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

Coalition

Thu 06 Oct The Funky Doodle Do

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Funk and soul classics plus a dose of 60s R’n’B, with DJ Red6 joined by the Players Association DJs.

The usual mix of disco and soul, with Decks FX and OSX.

Frisky

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Chart, dance and electro fare, plus punter requests.

HushHush

New night dedicated to all things electronic, from goth-pop to Italo synth goodness.

Pumped-upmixofdubstep,garageandD’n’B.

The Shed’s regular weekend-extender.

Optimo Espookio

Sub Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Legendary Halloween bash, with an eclectic horror mix, thick smoke, terror strobes and a somewhat competitive costume competition which, as legend goes, once saw someone dress as a fanny pad.

Departure Lounge: 8th Birthday (Zed Bias, Federation Of The Disco Pimp)

Moving from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.

After a brief summer hiatus, Departure Lounge return to celebrate eight glorious years.

Request-driven night of hip-hop, chart and R’n’B.

Big Time

New night playing all the best in old and new disco, funk, soul and rock ‘n’ roll, handpicked by dapper chaps Gav & Jack. Pre-club bandaoke session.

Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £5

Mixed Up

JungleDub

Long-running indie, rock and soul night.

Dub, dubstep and jungle, from DJs across the Scottish scene.

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

The Den

Electric Circus, 22:00–03:00, £5 (£6 after 12)

Handpicked selection of jive, rock, blues and funk from the B-Sides DJs.

Beat Control

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£5 (£3) after 12)

Indie and alternative with the resident Evol DJs.

Musika (James Zabiela, Maye Jane Coles)

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £15

Fri 07 Oct Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 after 12)

Cab Vol Stars (Jackmaster, Al Meldrum, Dickie Drysdale) Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £6

New night programmed by, and featuring performances from, Cab Vol’s very own bar staff, plus some of their favourite local DJs.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £3 (members free)

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 (£4) after 11.30)

Studio24 Rawks

Electrosex

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Fine electro mix from the resident masked DJs Phantom and TonyKeo, plus weekly performers and giveaways.

Headlock (Pearson Sound)

The Caves, 23:00–03:00, £8 adv. (£10 door)

For headlock’s third outing yer man Pearson Sound follows ably in the footsteps of February’s guests David Rodigan and Toddla T.

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11)

Funk and soul classics plus a dose of 60s R’n’B, with DJ Red6 joined by the Players Association DJs.

The Hive, 21:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 10)

The Egg

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 after 12)

Indie institution with DJs Chris and Paul.

Sun 09 Oct Underground Sunday

The Southern Bar, 19:30–01:00, Free

Local acoustic acts followed by indie and alternative tunes from the Dream Sequence DJs.

Thu 13 Oct Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sick Note

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

TheCab’sflagshipindieandelectrofavourite.

Spin

Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

The notorious Magic Nostalgic ‘wheel’ takes on a new persona, picking a more alternative and underground selection with each spin.

JakN

Octopussy

Handpickedselectionofundergroundtechno.

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

The Left Bank, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

I Love Hip Hop

Planet Earth

Citrus Club, 22:30–03:00, Free (£6 after 11)

Bangers & Mash

Handpicked weekend mix of chart, dance and 80s classics.

Contagious Behaviour

Retro from 1970 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Funky Doodle Do

Non-commercial blend of the best in rap, dancehall, R’n’B, soul and funk.

In Speakeasy.

Cabaret Voltaire, 22:30–03:00, £5

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£1)

Bubblegum

Tue 04 Oct Selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Genre-spanning midweeker with the residents playing a musical mish-mash, alongside rotating guests. In Speakeasy.

Midweek student favourite of chart and cheese classics.

Killer Kitsch

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Slap Bang

Rock, metal and alternative, plus a fair few surprises along the way in the form of live bands, burlesque acts, competitions and arts stalls.

Sugarhill (Little Joe, Isla Blige, Yemster)

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, Free (£5 (£4) after 11.30)

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Supersonic Electronic

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Wed 12 Oct

Tease Age

Dapper Dans

Trade Union (Bang & Olufsen)

Nu Fire

Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £7

Blues and soul from the 50s and 60s, handpicked by Tony ‘Two-Eyes’ and The Go-Go DJs.

Sugarbeat welcomes SBTRKT, a man gaining acclaim in all the right places on the back of his recent debut album.

Anything goes trade night with Beefy and Wolfjazz (and their pals).

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Alternative anthems, cherry-picked from genres of rock, indie and punk.

New mash-up night of electronic fare with Johnny Junk-House at the helm, so expect fresh cuts and underground remixes a-plenty.

The Wonky crew celebrate with a live set from Grandma Sta Flash and The Furious Grandads, plus Wolfjazz and Hobbes pumping out the bass ‘n’ beats.

Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £5

Antics

Sneaky’s resident bass spectacular of garage, dubstep and bassline house with residents Attic Kings and Blackwax, plus Stateside guest Marc Glasser (aka Dubbel Dutch).

Mon 03 Oct

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Sick Note (XXXY)

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Fresh mix of funk, soul and hippity-hop.

Witness

Sugarbeat (SBTRKT)

Dubstep, breaks and bassline house.

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £6 (37 after 12)

Soul Jam Hot

Land of a Thousand Dances

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£3 after 12)

Halloween edition of the rather ace music-cum-club night, with handpicked live bands, DJs, milk, biscuits and 75p cider straight from the jimbo supermarket bottle.

The Caves, 23:00–03:00, £7 adv. (£10 door)

Wee Red Bar, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Electric Circus, 20:00–03:00, Free

Monstar Mash

Wonky: 1st Birthday

Shed, 23:00–03:00, £2

Five-day programme of studentorientated live music, club beats and maybe a bit o’ karaoke. Tonight launches Electric Circus’s new punter-picked mp3 night, You Say, You Play.

Indie, pop and alternative favourites, with the ever-present threat of the Ting Tings.

Two rooms of chart, cheese and all the indie-pop requests you can think of.

Shed Sundays

Hot Mess

The regular Edinburgh breaks and bassline crew takeover.

The regulars unite those two happiest of bedfellows, goth rock and, er, classic disco.

The Left Bank, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Electric 5: You Say, You Play

The Hive, 21:00–03:00, Free (£4 after 10)

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

Milk: Halloween Party (PAWS, Young Aviators, Cities and Skylines)

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, 23:30–03:00, £4 (£3)

Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems.

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, Free

Indigo

The Sunday Club

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £8

Long-running D’n’B night from a rotating collective of DJs and special guests.

Bass Syndicate

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Danse Macabre

Flat 0/1, 21:00–03:00, £4 (£3 fancy dress)

Misfits

Octopussy

Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, £2

Monthly glam trash and sleaze tease.

Wee Red Bar, 22:30–03:00, £5

Split

TheCab’sflagshipindieandelectrofavourite.

Sick Note (Discopolis)

Trash and Burn

Classic Grand, 23:00–03:00, £4

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, Free

Musikareturnwithanothergloriousdouble line-up,withdigitaldancemaestroJames Zabielaandyoungelectronicproducertalent MayeJaneColestakingturnsonthedecks.

From classic disco to acid jazz with the regulars Giles Walker, Hobbes and D’Viking.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

Request-driven night of hip-hop, chart and R’n’B.

Launch of a brand new night specialising in rare funk, rock, psych and jazz.

TheCab’sflagshipindieandelectrofavourite.

Wee Red Bar, 21:00–03:00, £tbc

Mixed Up

Selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

Bangers & Mash

New style of club night brought to you by messers Sutherland, Main and Tennant.

Includes a special cinematic screening of cult classic The Room, swiftly followed by music, dancing and partying.

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Moving from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£5 (£4) after 11.30)

Volume!

Brand new mash-up night of electronic fare.

Sick Note

Soundburger

The Radio 1 DJ brings her club night north of the border, with man of the moment Fake Blood taking centre stage.

Studio 24, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£5 (£4) after 11.30)

Nu Fire (Lunice)

Tue 11 Oct

Sweet reggae rockin’ from the original sound system.

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 after 11)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Anything goes trade night with Beefy and Wolfjazz (and their pals).

I Love Hip Hop

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, £3 (members free)

Sneaky’sresidentbassspectacularofgarage, dubstepandbasslinehousewithresidents AtticKingsandBlackwax,plusStatesideguest MarcGlasser(akaDubbelDutch).

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Mon 10 Oct Trade Union

Indie and electro from the Sick Note DJs.

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £15

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

This Is Music

Messenger

Monstar Mash

Bannerman’s, 20:00–23:00, Free

Anything-goes indie and alternative anthems: think Sonic Youth and NWA.

Witness

Long-running retro night with veteran DJs Tall Paul and Big Gus.

Second September outing for the glam techno and electro night, with the usual themed fun.

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, Free (£5 after 11)

Annie Mac Presents (Fake Blood, Jigsaw)

The Raspberries

Bongo Club, 23:00–03:00, £tbc

Evol

Sat 08 Oct

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£1)

The Go-Go (Tall Paul, Big Gus)

Confusion is Sex

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £3

Brand new mix of anything you ears want to hear, from resident DJ Gentleman Jonny.

Indie, pop and alternative favourites, with the ever-present threat of the Ting Tings.

The Hive, 22:00–03:00, Free

The Liquid Room, 22:00–03:00, £4

Go-Go

Indigo

Midweek student favourite of chart and cheese classics.

Chart, dance and electro fare.

Electric Circus, 22:30–03:00, £4 (£5 after 12)

Indie and alternative with the resident Evol DJs.

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£5 (£3) after 12)

Edinburgh’s original dubstep, garage and funky crew.

Frisky

Citrus Club, 19:30–22:30, £4

DJ Simonotron hosts the gay disco party like no other, playing disco, house and acid on vinyl only.

Beat Control

Electronic music of all ages, for all ages.

The Arches, 23:00–03:00, £8

Bandioke

Cabaret Voltaire, 22:00–03:00, Free

Swinging soul spanning a whole century with DJs Tsatsu and Red-6, plus live dancers a-go-go.

Misfits

Sun 30 Oct

Split (Utah Jazz)

Cabaret Voltaire, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Electronic music of all ages, for all ages.

HMV Picture House, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Monstar Mash

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£3 after 12)

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

New mash-up night of electronic fare with Johnny Junk-House at the helm, so expect fresh cuts and underground remixes a-plenty.

Coalition

Animal Hospital

Dubstep, breaks and bassline house.

Minimal and techno for cool kids.

The Liquid Room, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

Sneaky Pete’s, 23:00–03:00, Free

October 2011

THE SKINNY 59

EDINBURGH CLUBS FRISKY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Chart, dance and electro fare, plus punter requests.

FRI 14 OCT XPLICIT

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Heavy jungle and bass-styled beats from the inimitable Xplicit crew and special guest DJ Hype.

BED BUG (SHY FX )

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £8 ADV.

City-hopping, cutting-edge night, with Shy FX taking control of the decks.

BOUND FOR GLORY (BEEFY)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£4 AFTER 12)

Eclectic-themed monthly where guest DJs get to play whatever they damn well want (with all profits going to Oxfam).

DANCEHALL (GOSPLE FISH, RIDDIM TUFFA SOUND, BIG TOE’S HIFI) THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£8 AFTER 12)

Penthouse Posse’s Gosple Fish headlines, alongside Riddim Tuffa and Big Toe’s HiFi, once again niceing-up the dance with some heavyweight dubplates and a massive selection of digital reggae. Hosted

by MCs Dangerman and Ras Ista.

PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)

Retro from 1970 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top.

BANDIOKE

CITRUS CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £4

Live band karaoke session. Also gets you free entry to retro after-club, Planet Earth.

BIG TIME

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £4 (£5 AFTER 12)

New night playing all the best in old and new disco, funk, soul and rock ‘n’ roll, handpicked by dapper chaps Gav & Jack.

EVOL

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Anything-goes indie and alternative anthems: think Sonic Youth and NWA.

THIS IS MUSIC

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3 (MEMBERS FREE)

Indie and electro from the Sick Note DJs.

COSMIC (DISCOORDINATION, PSYUBIK, SLEEP PARALYSIS)

WASABI DISCO

Monthly club bringing the spirit of the psychedelic trance dance ritual to the floor.

A heady bout of cosmic house, punk and upside-down disco.

BETAMAX

THE GREEN DOOR

Disco, new wave, post-punk and a bit o’ synthtastic 80s.

Surf, blues and rockabilly from the 50s and early 60s, plus free cake!

Nuff said.

MISFITS

STUDIO24 RAWKS

STUDIO 24, 22:00–03:00, £TBC

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£5 (£4) AFTER 11.30)

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3 (MEMBERS FREE)

STUDIO 24, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£5 AFTER 11)

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£5 (£4) AFTER 11.30)

NU FIRE

BANGERS & MASH

XPLICIT (DJ HYPE)

WITNESS (DUBBEL DUTCH)

SAT 29 OCT

Moving from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.

Midweek student favourite of chart and cheese classics.

Heavy jungle and bass-styled beats from the inimitable Xplicit crew and special guest DJ Hype.

Sneaky’s resident bass spectacular of garage, dubstep and bassline house with residents Attic Kings and Blackwax, plus Stateside guest Marc Glasser (aka Dubbel Dutch).

SOULSVILLE

BANGERS & MASH

KARNIVAL: A NIGHTMARE ON BLAIR ST (KARNIVAL VS KAPITAL, BARRY O CONNELL, BRAD CHARTERS, MIKE PINKERTON)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 AFTER 11)

THU 20 OCT

Request-driven night of hip-hop, chart and R’n’B.

THE FUNKY DOODLE DO

TUE 18 OCT

Funk and soul classics plus a dose of 60s R’n’B, with DJ Red6 joined by the Players Association DJs.

I LOVE HIP HOP

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

SICK NOTE

Rock, metal and alternative, plus a fair few surprises along the way in the form of live bands, burlesque acts, competitions and arts stalls.

Selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

SPLIT

SPIN

BUBBLEGUM

Long-running D’n’B night from a rotating collective of DJs and special guests.

Handpicked weekend mix of chart, dance and 80s classics.

SOUL JAM HOT

The notorious Magic Nostalgic ‘wheel’ takes on a new persona, picking a more alternative and underground selection with each spin.

THE EGG

Fresh mix of funk, soul and hippity-hop.

OCTOPUSSY

GASOLINE DANCE MACHINE

Indie institution with DJs Chris and Paul.

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Classic Italo and straight up boogie allied with contemporary house and disco.

SUN 16 OCT

SAT 15 OCT MUMBO JUMBO (JD TWITCH)

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)

Party soundtrack of funk, soul, disco and house from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin, joined for a one-off slot from Optimo’s JD Twitch.

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

SATURDAY NIGHT BEAVER (TRENDY WENDY)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£5 AFTER 11)

Lesbian and bi-friendly favourite.

TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night.

POP ROCKS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£4 AFTER 12)

Pop and rock gems, taking in motown, 80s classics and plenty of danceable fare (well, the Beep Beep, Yeah! crew are on decks after all).

BEAT CONTROL

HMV PICTURE HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£5 (£3) AFTER 12)

Indie and alternative with the resident Evol DJs.

NUKLEAR PUPPY: 10TH BIRTHDAY (KUTSKI, JASON CORTEZ, PHIL YORK, SIMON MCLEOD, GARETH BINKS) THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £12.50

The underground dance spectacular celebrate ten glorious years with a host of live guests, including Radio 1’s Kutski.

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, FREE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

ANTICS

Alternative anthems, cherry-picked from genres of rock, indie and punk.

UNDERGROUND SUNDAY

WED 19 OCT

Local acoustic acts followed by indie and alternative tunes from the Dream Sequence DJs.

JUNGLEDUB

THE SOUTHERN BAR, 19:30–01:00, FREE

KILLER KITSCH

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Electronic music of all ages, for all ages.

CONTAGIOUS BEHAVIOUR

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Dubstep, breaks and bassline house.

THE SUNDAY CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of chart, cheese and all the indie-pop requests you can think of.

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Dub, dubstep and jungle, from DJs across the Scottish scene.

SLAP BANG

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Genre-spanning midweeker with the residents playing a musical mish-mash, alongside rotating guests. In Speakeasy.

ELECTROSEX

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Fine electro mix from the resident masked DJs Phantom and TonyKeo, plus weekly performers and giveaways.

INDIGO

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£1)

Indie, pop and alternative favourites, with the ever-present threat of the Ting Tings.

MON 17 OCT

WITNESS

TRADE UNION

Sneaky’sresidentbassspectacularofgarage, dubstepandbasslinehousewithresidents AtticKingsandBlackwax,plusStatesideguest MarcGlasser(akaDubbelDutch).

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Anything goes trade night with Beefy and Wolfjazz (and their pals).

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

TheCab’sflagshipindieandelectrofavourite.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

HMV PICTURE HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

MONSTAR MASH

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£3 AFTER 12)

New mash-up night of electronic fare with Johnny Junk-House at the helm, so expect fresh cuts and underground remixes a-plenty.

SPARE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Dan Bruce and pals drop some hench beats.

FRISKY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Chart, dance and electro fare, plus punter requests.

FRI 21 OCT FOUR CORNERS

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

Soulful party fodder, from deep funk to reggae beats with your regular DJ hosts.

DEFINITION: 4TH BIRTHDAY

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)

Residents Mark Balneaves and Martin Lightbody mix underground dance music across four decks for Definition’s 4th birthday celebrations.

STUDIO24 RAWKS

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£5 (£4) AFTER 11.30)

Rock, metal and alternative, plus a fair few surprises along the way in the form of live bands, burlesque acts, competitions and arts stalls.

BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Handpicked weekend mix of chart, dance and 80s classics.

THU 27 OCT THE FUNKY DOODLE DO

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Funk and soul classics plus a dose of 60s R’n’B, with DJ Red6 joined by the Players Association DJs.

Local acoustic acts followed by indie and alternative tunes from the Dream Sequence DJs.

Chart, indie and electro student favourite, with a bouncy castle an’ all.

Electronic music of all ages, for all ages.

CONTAGIOUS BEHAVIOUR

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£1)

MADCHESTER

MONSTAR MASH

Indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like.

MAGIC NOSTALGIC

RIDE

Hotch-potch of tracks chosen by a spinning wheel. Expect anything from 90s rave to power ballads, and a lot of one-hit wonders.

Dubstep, breaks and bassline house.

FRISKY

House specialists Stewart and Steven play, er, some special house.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

THE SUNDAY CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

NU FIRE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Moving from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.

MIXED UP

LUCKY 7

STACKS

Ska, 2-Tone and early reggae from the Go Go’s Tall Paul and Tony 2-Eyes.

STUDIO24 RAWKS

FRI 28 OCT

Rock, metal and alternative, plus a fair few surprises along the way in the form of live bands, burlesque acts, competitions and arts stalls.

CONFUSION IS SEX

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Halloween edition of the glam techno and electro night. Dressing up essential.

SUGARBEAT (A SKILLS, KRAFTY KUTS) CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £10

Livebandkaraokesession.Alsogetsyoufree entrytoretroafter-club,PlanetEarth.

I LOVE HIP HOP

JACKHAMMER (BILLY NASTY VS RADIOACTIVEMAN)

RETRO CATZ

New night with a cast of all-female DJs working their way through some sexy retro, complete with glitter balls, naturally.

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems.

STEPBACK (BENJAMIN DAMAGE)

THE EGG

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–04:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

Indie institution with DJs Chris and Paul.

SUN 30 OCT

Techno fare with DJs Wolfjazz, Keyte, Gavin Richardson and Dave Cymbol, alongside live sets from two very special guests.

SPLIT

PLANET EARTH

Local acoustic acts followed by indie and alternative tunes from the Dream Sequence DJs.

Long-running D’n’B night from a rotating collective of DJs and special guests.

Retro from 1970 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top.

Electronic music of all ages, for all ages.

SOUL JAM HOT

BANDIOKE

CONTAGIOUS BEHAVIOUR

Fresh mix of funk, soul and hippity-hop.

Livebandkaraokesession.Alsogetsyoufree entrytoretroafter-club,PlanetEarth.

Brand new student night, mixing house, electro and D’n’B.

BIG TIME

COALITION

New night playing all the best in old and new disco, funk, soul and rock ‘n’ roll, handpicked by dapper chaps Gav & Jack.

Dubstep, breaks and bassline house.

GO-GO

Two rooms of chart, cheese and all the indie-pop requests you can think of.

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, FREE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

ANTICS

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

WED 26 OCT

MISFITS

THE HIVE, 21:00–04:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Handpicked weekend mix of chart, dance and 80s classics.

Selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

BALKANARAMA (GYPSY HILL, BLACK CAT, DJ KOBAYASHI)

All singing, all dancing Balkan orgy, plus belly dancing and free brandy. As in, we’re sold.

BUBBLEGUM

UNDERGROUND SUNDAY

Alternative anthems, cherry-picked from genres of rock, indie and punk.

STUDIO 24, 21:00–03:00, £7 (£9 AFTER 10)

STUDIO 24, 23:00–04:00, FREE (£5 (£4) AFTER 11.30)

THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £10

Indie and electro from the Sick Note DJs.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3 (MEMBERS FREE)

STUDIO 24, 22:00–04:00, £2 (£5 (£4) AFTER 11)

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£3 AFTER 12)

Mighty mix of sou, funk, motown and good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.

TUE 25 OCT

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–04:00, £3 (MEMBERS FREE)

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Chart, dance and electro fare, plus punter requests.

BANDIOKE

THIS IS MUSIC

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–04:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)

PLAYDATE

Request-drivennightofhip-hop,chartandR’n’B.

Anything-goes indie and alternative anthems: think Sonic Youth and NWA.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–04:00, £6

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £2 (£3 AFTER 12)

New mash-up night of electronic fare with Johnny Junk-House at the helm, so expect fresh cuts and underground remixes a-plenty.

Sugarbeat host A Skills and Krafty Kuts’ album launch party, with support from hosts Utah Saints.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Indie and alternative with the resident Evol DJs.

HMV PICTURE HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £6 (£4)

Retro from 1970 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top.

EVOL

HMV PICTURE HOUSE, 23:00–04:00, £1 (£5 (£3) AFTER 12)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Anything goes trade night with Beefy and Wolfjazz (and their pals).

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £4 (£5 AFTER 12)

BEAT CONTROL

Ride girl’s Checkie and Lauren play hip-hop and dance, all night long.

DAMN HOT (THE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION)

CITRUS CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £4

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–04:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night.

COALITION

TRADE UNION

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–04:00, £5

TEASE AGE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

OCTOPUSSY

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

DARE

TheCab’sflagshipindieandelectrofavourite.

UNDERGROUND SUNDAY

KILLER KITSCH

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–04:00, £6 (£12 AFTER 12)

A handpicked selection of local talent serve up a selection of dancefloor tricks and treats, with prizes for the ten best costumes.

SICK NOTE

SUN 23 OCT THE SOUTHERN BAR, 19:30–01:00, FREE

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £5

Swinging soul spanning a whole century with DJs Tsatsu and Red-6, plus live dancers a-go-go.

Disco-tinged delights and eclectic electronica with yer man John Pleased Wimmin. In Speakeasy.

The notorious Magic Nostalgic ‘wheel’ takes on a new persona, picking a more alternative and underground selection with each spin.

MON 24 OCT

PLANET EARTH

Midweek student favourite of chart and cheese classics.

Indie institution with DJs Chris and Paul.

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3 (£5 AFTER 12)

Souloco make a long awaited return to Cab Vol’s main room joined by cutting edge and prolific electronic tinkerer, Subb-An

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £3

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £1 (£3 AFTER 11)

SPIN

Two rooms of chart, cheese and all the indie-pop requests you can think of.

CABARETVOLTAIRE,23:00–03:00,£6(£12AFTER12)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

THE EGG

SOULOCO (SUBB-AN)

Toe-tapping, soul shaking and blistering soul and disco beats: job done. In Speakeasy.

JUNGLEDUB

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Dub, dubstep and jungle, from DJs across the Scottish scene.

SLAP BANG

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Genre-spanning midweeker with the residents playing a musical mish-mash, alongside rotating guests. In Speakeasy.

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)

CITRUS CLUB, 19:30–22:30, £4

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 22:30–03:00, £4 (£5 AFTER 12)

HMV PICTURE HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £3

Brand new mix of anything you ears want to hear, from resident DJ Gentleman Jonny.

EVOL

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

THE SOUTHERN BAR, 19:30–01:00, FREE

KILLER KITSCH

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

THE SUNDAY CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

VEGAS!

VOODOO ROOMS, 20:30–01:00, £5

50-themed fun with live acts Frankie Sumatra, Bugsy Seagull, Dino Martini, Sam Jose and, of course, the Vegas showgirls.

Anything-goes indie and alternative anthems: think Sonic Youth and NWA.

MON 31 OCT

NUMBERS

SAMHUINN AFTER-PARTY

The regular Numbers crew takeover (i.e it’s a pretty safe bet this’ll be ace).

After-bash for the Beltane Fire Society’s annual Samhuinn Halloween celebration.

B-SIDES

TRADE UNION

Genre-defying party night with its emphasis placed firmly on awesome beats.

Anything goes trade night with Beefy and Wolfjazz (and their pals).

TheonlyScottishdateforsuperstarSouth AfricanDJsGoldfish,freshfromtheirPacha IbizaresidencysupportingDavidGuetta.

AWRY

NU FIRE

Swirly mix of psych, dance and trance.

INDIGO

MISFITS

Moving from hip-hop to dubstep with a plethora of live MCs.

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£6 AFTER 11)

Indie, pop and alternative favourites, with the ever-present threat of the Ting Tings.

Chart, electro, indie-pop and alternative anthems.

BEAT CONTROL

FOREIGN BEGGERS

FRAME

Indie and alternative with the resident Evol DJs.

London-basedrapandgrimetroupeconsistingofMCsOrificeVulgatronandMetropolis, producerDagNabbitandDJNonames.

A trio of DJs give their take on the very best alternative indie around, moving from The Pixies right through to Frightened Rabbit and Withered Hand.

WEE RED BAR, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Mixed bag of electronic bass, from Baltimore to dubstep.

SAT 22 OCT BIG ‘N’ BASHY

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

A mighty mix of reggae, grime, dubstep and jungle.

SOUNDS OF SOUL (MARIE JOLY, ROMAIN GOVE)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Funk, disco and soul selection from the Ladies on Rotation DJs and their pals.

TEASE AGE

Long-running indie, rock and soul night.

HMV PICTURE HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £1 (£5 (£3) AFTER 12)

60 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

ELECTROSEX

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Fine electro mix from the resident masked DJs Phantom and TonyKeo, plus weekly performers and giveaways.

GOLDFISH LIVE (GOLDFISH, KOBI ONYAME, IAN BILLETT, JACK STANLEY, SLAYERSLAN, MICHAEL MARRA) THE CAVES, 22:00–03:00, £8 ADV. (£10 DOOR)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £3 (£1)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £12

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

STUDIO 24, 22:30–03:00, £3

STUDIO 24, 22:00–03:00, £TBC

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

WEE RED BAR, 22:30–03:00, £4 (£3)

BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Request-drivennightofhip-hop,chartandR’n’B.

COMEDY

DUNDEE MUSIC Tue 27 Sep Jake Morley (Craig Kerr, Sean Robertson)

Thu 13 Oct The Ocean Between Us (The Weight Of Atlas)

Mon 24 Oct The Hazy Janes

Duke’s Corner, 21:00–23:00, £4

GLASGOW Tue 27 Sep Red Raw

Acoustic loveliness from the London singer/songwriter.

London-based post-hardcoremeets-metal quintet.

Shiny Dundee four-piece trading in relentlessly upbeat rhythms and sweet boy/girl harmonies.

Fri 30 Sep

Fri 14 Oct

Thu 27 Oct

The Twang

Led Astray

Foreign Beggers

Thu 29 Sep

London-basedrapandgrimetroupeconsistingofMCsOrificeVulgatronandMetropolis, producerDagNabbitandDJNonames.

The Thursday Show (Shane Browne, Keir McAllister, Dave Fulton)

Fri 28 Oct

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase. Hosted

by Susan Morrison.

Dexter’s Bar, 19:30–22:00, £tbc

Beat Generator Live!, 20:00–22:30, £12.50

Beat Generator Live!, 20:00–22:30, £tbc

Dexter’s Bar, 20:00–23:00, £5

Attitude-heavy five-piece with their balls-to-the-wall brand of rock ‘n’ roll.

Led Zeppelin tribute act.

Sat 01 Oct

Blues and funk ensemble, with added horns.

Dressed To Kill

Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £10

The Mike Kearney Ka-Tet

Duke’s Corner, 21:00–23:00, Free

Sat 15 Oct

The Kiss tribute band celebrate their 21st anniversary.

The Bevvy Sisters

The New Madrids

All-female Edinburgh trio uniting the richly seasoned voices of Heather Macleod, Kaela Rowan and Roberta Pia.

Duke’s Corner, 21:00–23:00, Free

Country rock ensemble who worship at the Skynyrd altar.

Sun 02 Oct The Ele-Mental Gathering Doghouse, 13:00–01:00, £5

Massive(like,12-hourmassive)hip-hop party,with40artistsplayingoverthecourse oftheday,including14battlerappersand nineliveacts.InaidofCashForKids.

Fri 07 Oct Endor

Duke’s Corner, 21:00–23:00, Free

Hook-laden indie-pop melodies from the Glasgow four-piece.

Sat 08 Oct

Duke’s Corner, 21:00–23:00, Free

PunktoberFest (Middle Finger Salute, Cash From Chaos, Patrol, The Eddies, The Cundeez) Beat Generator Live!, 13:00–23:00, £7

A mini punk festival, in October (yes, that’d be PunktoberFest).

Thu 20 Oct The Dykeenies

Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £9

Art-pop scamps hailing from the fiery furnace of Cumbernauld.

Sons and Daughters Fat Sam’s, 20:00–22:30, £10

Brooding electro-folk driven by Adele Bethel and Scott Paterson’s urgent boy/girl vocal interplay.

The Beat

Sat 22 Oct

Popular ska and 2-tone revivial band, founded way back in 1978.

Sound Of Guns

Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £12 adv. (£15 door)

Stretch Dawrson and The Mending Hearts

Duke’s Corner, 21:00–23:00, Free

Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £6

Liverpudlian alternative rock scamps, fresh from touring with The View.

Scottish swing band, consisting of country, jazz and roots session musicians.

Sun 23 Oct

Sun 09 Oct

Toploader (Endeavour, The Mars Patrol)

Dub Pistols

Reading Rooms, 20:00–22:30, £8

London-based dub ensemble chewing up hip-hop, dub, techno and ska-punk and spitting it out in a renegade futuristic skank.

Reading Rooms, 22:00–02:30, £10

Trick Or Tease

Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £6 adv. (£9 door)

Variety, tease and burlesque night, with the obligatory Halloween theme. Dress scary, y’hear?

The Meatmen

Duke’s Corner, 21:00–23:00, Free

Mixed up batch of rock ‘n’ roll, country and skiffle covers and originals.

Release The Kraken (Kill All Celebrities, Empty Eyes) Beat Generator Live!, 20:00–22:30, £8

Leeds-based deathcore noisemakers, formed in the basement of a student flat in their hometown.

Sat 29 Oct The Monster Ceilidh Band Duke’s Corner, 21:00–23:00, Free

Newcastle-based four-piece who combine elegant traditional playing and raucous electronic rhythms.

Sun 30 Oct Core (Black Wild, Absent Manifesto)

Dexter’s Bar, 19:30–23:00, £tbc

The Dundonian metallic rockers launch their second album by playing it in its entirety (plus a few faves from the first album).

Doghouse, 20:00–23:00, £12 adv. (£14 door)

Alternativeselectionofrock,metalandpunk.

Fat Sam’s, 21:00–02:30, £15.50

Fri 14 Oct

Glasgow’s burlesque star teasers in a special Halloween edition of their raunchy cabaret club.

Opto The Hideout, 20:00–02:30, £5 (£3.50)

Opto Records night, with guest DJs and live bands.

Sat 01 Oct Prince Fatty Soundsystem (Hollie Cook, Horseman MC) Reading Rooms, 22:00–02:30, £6 (£8 after 11.30)

Mungo’s Hi-Fi Soundsystem (Marina P)

Asylum

Reading Rooms, 22:30–02:30, £5 (£7 after 11.30)

Alternativeselectionofrock,metalandpunk.

Heavyweight selections from Mungo’s Soundsystem, helped along by Parisian guest Marina P. Oh-la-la, etc.

Transmission Kage, 23:00–03:00, £4

Indie, pop and hardcore with Wolfie and The Girl.

Opto The Hideout, 20:00–02:30, £5 (£3.50)

Opto Records night, with guest DJs and live bands.

Sat 15 Oct

Dub beats delivered in an analog haze of vintage spring reverbs, tape echoes and custom hi-grade mixing console.

Asylum

Asylum

Alternativeselectionofrock,metalandpunk.

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £5

Alternativeselectionofrock,metalandpunk.

Fri 07 Oct Optimo Reading Rooms, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£6 after 12)

The Glasgow duo of JD Twitch and JG Wilkes bring the joy to Dundee.

Beartrap Kage, 23:00–03:00, £4

Eclectic mix of art-rock, indie and punk.

Opto The Hideout, 20:00–02:30, £5 (£3.50)

Opto Records night, with guest DJs and live bands.

Sat 08 Oct Mixed Bizness (Parker) Reading Rooms, 22:30–02:30, £6 (35)

Rockin’ monthly Glasgow export with DJ royalty of a guest, Parker.

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £5

Sat 01 Oct The Saturday Show (Shane Browne, Keir McAllister, Dave Fulton) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £15

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thu 27 Oct Foreign Beggers Reading Rooms, 22:00–02:30, £10

London-basedrapandgrimetroupeconsistingofMCsOrificeVulgatronandMetropolis, producerDagNabbitandDJNonames.

Fri 28 Oct Halloween Glam (The Shy Brother, Scott Lawrence, Scott Williams, Bryn Williamson) Fat Sam’s, 22:00–03:00, £10

Massive five-room Halloween bash, with over 20 DJs playing over the course of the evening. Fancy dress essential.

Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 15:00–16:00, £4

Jokes suitable for little ears (i.e. no sweary words).

Mon 03 Oct

Monthly comedy club with an ever-changing line-up. Held in The Haunt Bar.

Wed 05 Oct Wicked Wenches (Janey Godley, Ria Lina, Kiri Pritchard) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£3 members)

All-female stand-up, with a suitably varied mix of headliners and newcomers.

Thu 06 Oct The Thursday Show (Rudi Lickwood, Steven Dick, Chris Brooker) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4 members)

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase. Hosted

by Vladimir McTavish.

Opto

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5 members)

Opto The Hideout, 20:00–02:30, £5 (£3.50)

Opto Records night, with guest DJs and live bands.

Sat 22 Oct Locarno Reading Rooms, 22:30–02:30, £5 (£7 after 12)

Rockabilly, doo-wop, soul and all things golden age and danceable with the Locarno residents.

Sat 29 Oct Autodisco’s Halloween (Rahann) Reading Rooms, 22:30–03:30, £10

Electro, funk and disco Halloween fare with a very special guest coming over from Chicago (DJ Rahann, y’all).

Asylum Kage, 23:00–04:00, £5

Alternativeselectionofrock,metalandpunk.

Electric Tales (Sian Bevan, Susan Morrison)

Thu 29 Sep

Comedy meets storytelling, with the promise of robot badges. We’re sold.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £15

Primestand-uphostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

Wed 12 Oct

Sun 23 Oct

Fun Junkies

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase.

Chilled comedy showcase with resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 members)

Fri 30 Sep

Margaret Cho: Cho Dependent

The Friday Show (Elaine Malcolmson, Johnny Candon, John Gordillo)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£2.50 members)

Diverse and obscure offerings from the comedy spectrum. There will be magicians.

Thu 13 Oct The Thursday Show (Carl Donnelly, Stephen Carlin, Chris Henry) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4 members)

Lee Evans The fidgity, sweaty funnyman tours his new show, Roadrunner.

Fri 14 Oct The Friday Show (Carl Donnelly, Stephen Carlin, Chris Henry)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £12

American diva known for her crass in-your face style and taboo-busting jokes.

Mon 24 Oct Margaret Cho: Cho Dependent The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £12

American diva known for her crass in-your face style and taboo-busting jokes.

Tue 25 Oct Red Raw

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5 members)

Wed 26 Oct

Lee Evans

Best Of Irish Comedy (Michael Redmond, Aidan Bishop, Ruaidhri Ward)

Primestand-uphostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

SECC, 20:00–22:30, £30

The fidgity, sweaty funnyman tours his new show, Roadrunner.

Sat 15 Oct

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £15

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

Jimmy Carr SECC, 20:00–22:30, £25

Carr tours his ninth solo show, a homage to the witty one-liner and his own admitted ‘sick’ sense of humour.

Sun 16 Oct Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 members)

Chilled comedy showcase with resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond.

Jimmy Carr SECC, 20:00–22:30, £25

Carr tours his ninth solo show, a homage to the witty one-liner and his own admitted ‘sick’ sense of humour.

Mon 17 Oct Craig Campbell The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £12

Campbell returns post-Edinburgh Festival with yet more of his yarnspinning, full of whimsical personal tales and a unique ability to find humour in, well, anything.

Alan Carr

Tue 18 Oct

SECC, 20:00–22:30, £30

Red Raw

The chat show comic tours his new show, his first major outing in four years.

Sat 08 Oct The Saturday Show (Rudi Lickwood, Steven Dick, Chris Brooker) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £15

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£3)

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £7 (£6/£3 members)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2

Prime stand-up hosted by Bruce Morton.

Jason Manford Edinburgh Playhouse, 19:30–22:00, £21

The Manchester television comic, stand-up and all-round cheeky chappie.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4/£2.50 members)

Comedy sketches picked by the audience and performed by a troupe of actors and musicians.

Beatnik Comedy The Tron, 20:00–22:30, £3 (£2)

Weekly showcase of up-and-coming comedy talent, plus a selected headline act and a weekly art contest (with prize!).

Thu 13 Oct

Sat 01 Oct

The Thursday Show (Seymour Mace, Dominic Woodward, Antony Murray)

The Saturday Show (Elaine Malcolmson, Johnny Candon, Tom Stade)

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase. Hosted

by Vladimir McTavish.

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

Jason Manford Edinburgh Playhouse, 19:30–22:00, £21

The Manchester television comic, stand-up and all-round cheeky chappie.

Sun 02 Oct The Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 members)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4 members)

Stephen Merchant: Hello Ladies Edinburgh Playhouse, 19:30–22:00, £26

The co-creator of The Office goes back to his roots of stand-up comedy.

Fri 14 Oct The Friday Show (Seymour Mace, Dominic Woodward, Antony Murray) The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5 members)

Primestand-uphostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

Improvised comedy favourite with cheeky chappies Stu & Garry.

The Saturday Show (Seymour Mace, Dominic Woodward, Antony Murray)

Mon 03 Oct

Packedbillofstand-upheadlinersandresident comperes.HostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4 members)

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase. Hosted

by Vladimir McTavish.

Fri 28 Oct The Friday Show (Pierre Hollins, Gary Little, Aidan Bishop) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5 members)

Primestand-uphostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

Paddy McGuiness SECC, 20:00–22:30, £25

Peter Kay’s partner in crime goes it alone, as part of his Saturday Night Live tour.

The Stand, 13:30–15:30, Free

Red Raw The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2

Sat 15 Oct

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £15

Sun 16 Oct

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

The Sunday Night Laugh-In

Tue 04 Oct

ChilledcomedyshowcaseforSundayevening.

Wicked Wenches (Janey Godley, Ria Lina, Kiri Pritchard) The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£3 members)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 members)

Whose Lunch Is It Anyway The Stand, 13:30–15:30, Free

Improvised comedy favourite with cheeky chappies Stu & Garry.

All-female stand-up, with a suitably varied mix of headliners and newcomers.

Jimmy Carr: Laughter Therapy

Wed 05 Oct

Carr tours his ninth solo show, a homage to the witty one-liner and his own admitted ‘sick’ sense of humour.

Edinburgh Playhouse, 20:00–22:15, £26

Sat 29 Oct

Beatnik Comedy

The Saturday Show (Pierre Hollins, Gary Little, Aidan Bishop)

Weekly showcase of up-and-coming comedy talent, plus a selected headline act and a weekly art contest (with prize!).

Red Raw

Thu 06 Oct

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £15

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

Sun 30 Oct Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 members)

Chilled comedy showcase with resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond.

Micky Flanagan

The King’s Theatre, 19:30–22:00, £21.25

The Tron, 20:00–22:30, £3 (£2)

The Thursday Show (Gordon Southern, Ria Lina) The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4 members)

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase. Hosted

by Vladimir McTavish.

Fri 07 Oct The Friday Show (Gordon Southern, Ria Lina) The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5 members)

Flanagan ruthlessly deconstructs the Cockney myth, one piece of alphabetti spaghetti at a time.

Primestand-uphostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

Mon 31 Oct

The Saturday Show (Gordon Southern, Ria Lina)

Thu 20 Oct

Experimental comedy night featuring international and Scottish comedians, poets and musicians.

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase. Hosted

by Vladimir McTavish.

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5)

Wed 12 Oct The Melting Pot

Whose Lunch Is It Anyway

The Impenetrable Click

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4 members)

The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4)

Chilled comedy showcase for Sunday evening.

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

The Thursday Show (Kevin Gildea, Dave Ward, Mikey Adams)

The Thursday Show (Elaine Malcolmson, Johnny Candon, John Gordillo)

Tue 11 Oct

Top comics from the contemporary Irish circuit. Hosted by Jeff O’Boyle.

The Saturday Show (Carl Donnelly, Stephen Carlin, Chris Henry)

Fri 07 Oct

Opto Records night, with guest DJs and live bands.

Top comics from the contemporary Scottish circuit.

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

The Saturday Show (Kevin Gildea, Dave Ward, Mikey Adams)

Tue 04 Oct

Paisley Arts Centre, 20:30–22:00, £7 (£5)

Wed 28 Sep

Mon 10 Oct Red Raw

Best of Scottish Comedy

Red Raw

The Friday Show (Rudi Lickwood, Steven Dick, Chris Brooker)

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £4

Tue 11 Oct Red Raw

Tron Theatre, 20:00–21:00, £15 (£11)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £5 (£4)

The Stand, 13:30–15:30, Free

The cheeky chappie brings his new show to Glasgow. Part of Glasgay! 2011.

The Thursday Show (Pierre Hollins, Gary Little, Aidan Bishop)

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £4

Indie dancing tunes, from retro-pop to eclectic rock.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £4 (£2)

Improvised comedy games and sketches, with an anything-goes attitude.

SECC, 20:00–22:30, £30

Celebrating the sounds of the futures of yesterday (aka forgotten retro classics and decadent Euro-pop).

The Hideout, 20:00–02:30, £5 (£3.50)

Sat 22 Oct Craig Hill: Blown By A Fan

The fidgity, sweaty funnyman tours his new show, Roadrunner.

The Electric

Felt

Mon 10 Oct

Lee Evans

Comedy Club

Improvised comedy favourite with cheeky chappies Stu & Garry.

Improv Wars

Thu 27 Oct

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2

Tue 27 Sep Localcomediansexperimentwiththe mediumofstand-up,throughsketches, charactercomedyandvariousfun‘n’games.

Primestand-uphostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

Movie quiz and knowledge test with comedic film geek Joe Heenan.

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

Whose Lunch Is It Anyway

Jo Caulfield’s Comedy Collective

SECC, 20:00–22:30, £30

Chilled comedy showcase with resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond.

EDIN B U R G H

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5 members)

Chilled comedy showcase with resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond.

Sun 02 Oct

Fri 21 Oct DJ Vadim’s brainchild of a thing, gathering together the talents of Chicago’s freshest up-and-coming MC talent.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 members)

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase. Hosted

by Vladimir McTavish.

Zazou

Reading Rooms, 22:00–02:30, £8

Fri 21 Oct The Friday Show (Kevin Gildea, Dave Ward, Mikey Adams)

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £4

Asylum

Electromusingswithadanceablebeat,with Clouds,AdoandKenSwiftsharingdeckduty.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£9/£5)

Prime stand-up hosted by Susan Morrison.

Joe Heenan’s Move Madness

The British rockers (of Dancing In The Moonlight fame) re-form after a five year break.

Club Noir: Halloween

Reading Rooms, 22:30–02:30, £5 (£7 after 12)

The Friday Show (Shane Browne, Keir McAllister, Dave Fulton)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 members)

Kage, 23:00–03:00, £5

Fri 30 Sep

Fri 30 Sep

Manchester foursome with some rather nifty pop tunes.

Asylum

Ctrl.Alt.Defeat

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£7/£4)

Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service

Beat Generator Live!, 20:00–22:30, £8

Thu 29 Sep Alternativeselectionofrock,metalandpunk.

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

Airship (Havoc, Violent Whispers)

DUNDEE CLUBS Kage, 23:00–03:00, £5

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2

Sun 09 Oct Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service

Sat 08 Oct The Stand, 21:00–23:00, £15

Mon 17 Oct The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £2

Tue 18 Oct Craig Campbell The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £12

Campbell returns post-Edinburgh Festival with yet more of his yarn-spinning, full of whimsical personal tales and a unique ability to find humour in, well, anything.

Reginald D Hunter Edinburgh Playhouse, 20:00–22:00, £21

The boom-voiced comic continues with his uniquely non-secular approach to comedy.

Wed 19 Oct Beatnik Comedy The Tron, 20:00–22:30, £3 (£2)

13th Note, 20:00–23:00, £tbc

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

Weekly showcase of up-and-coming comedy talent, plus a selected headline act and a weekly art contest (with prize!).

Improv Wars: Halloween Special

Sun 09 Oct

Russel Kane: Manscaping

Improvised comedy games and sketches, with a special Halloween bent (i.e. your host’ll be dressed like Dracula).

The Sunday Night Laugh-In

The multi-Edinburgh Comedy Award winner mercilessly explores the ridiculous state of masculinity in the modern world.

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £4 (£2)

The Stand, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 members)

ChilledcomedyshowcaseforSundayevening.

Brunton Theatre, 19:30–21:30, £17.50

October 2011

THE SKINNY 61

COMEDY

T H E AT R E

ART

GLASGOW

THEATRE ROYAL

THE THURSDAY SHOW (LUCY PORTER, TOM CRAINE, TEDDY)

CITIZENS THEATRE

SCOTTISH BALLET DOUBLE BILL

THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4 MEMBERS)

MEN SHOULD WEEP

THU 20 OCT Handpickedselectionofheadlineactsoveratwohourshowcase.HostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

FRI 21 OCT THE FRIDAY SHOW (LUCY PORTER, TOM CRAINE, TEDDY, FREDERIK ANDERSON) THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5 MEMBERS)

Primestand-uphostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

SAT 22 OCT THE SATURDAY SHOW (LUCY PORTER, TOM CRAINE, TEDDY, FREDERIK ANDERSON) THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

SUN 23 OCT THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 MEMBERS)

ChilledcomedyshowcaseforSundayevening.

WHOSE LUNCH IS IT ANYWAY THE STAND, 13:30–15:30, FREE

Improvised comedy favourite with cheeky chappies Stu & Garry.

DAVE GORMAN’S POWERPOINT PRESENTATION EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 20:00–22:00, £21.50

Dave Gorman returns with his brand new show, a double-act of sorts with a projector screen.

MON 24 OCT RED RAW THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

WED 26 OCT BEATNIK COMEDY THE TRON, 20:00–22:30, £3 (£2)

Weekly showcase of up-and-coming comedy talent, plus a selected headline act and a weekly art contest (with prize!).

THU 27 OCT THE THURSDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH, JONATHAN MAYOR, RICK MOLLAND, RUAIDHRI WARD) THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £8 (£7/£4 MEMBERS)

Handpicked selection of headline acts over a two-hour showcase. Hosted

by Vladimir McTavish.

FRI 28 OCT THE FRIDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH, JONATHAN MAYOR, RICK MOLLAND, RUAIDHRI WARD)

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 16 SEP AND 8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FROM £10.50

The National Theatre of Scotland present their moving new production, an unflinching tale of hand-tomouth poverty in 1930s Glasgow.

ORAN MOR A BOTTLE OF WINE AND PATSY CLINE 13-16, 20-23, 27-30 OCT, 7:45PM – 10:00PM, £18

Musical about the life and songs of Patsy Cline.

THE ARCHES

27–28 SEP, 7:00PM – 7:30PM, £7 (£5)

Cross art-form solo performance mixing music, dance, voice-over, projection and dialogue. Part of Arches Live 2011.

SQUISH 27–28 SEP, 7:45PM – 8:45PM, £7 (£5)

Performance piece musing on competitiveness, taking place within a mock squash court. Part of Arches Live 2011.

PARALLEL 27–28 SEP, 7:45PM – 8:45PM, £7 (£5)

Julia Scott’s bold mixed media performance with drummer and performer Laurie Pitt. Part of Arches Live 2011.

TERRA INCOGNITA 27–28 SEP, 8:40PM – 9:40PM, £7 (£5)

Dance duo Laura Bradshaw and Murray Wason present the third installment of their Terra Incognita series. Part of Arches Live 2011.

LADIES IN LAV 27–28 SEP, 6:30PM – 7:30PM, FREE

Installation performance piece evocative of toilet attendants of yesteryear, set in the Arches toilets.

Part of Arches Live 2011.

ENDEAVOUR (III) 27–28 SEP, 6:45PM – 7:45PM, FREE

A one-on-one piece exploring ideas around touch and negotiating barriers, with the audience member sat touching knees and hands with the performer. Part of Arches Live 2011.

ALL AROUND YOU 28 SEP, 7:20PM – 7:35PM, FREE

SAT 29 OCT THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes. Hosted by Vladimir McTavish.

MICKY FLANAGAN EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 19:30–22:00, £19

Flanagan ruthlessly deconstructs the Cockney myth, one piece of alphabetti spaghetti at a time.

SUN 30 OCT

30 SEP – 1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £7 (£5)

30 SEP – 1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £7 (£5)

Thomas Hobbins’ new solo performance exploring the deeper, sinister human desire for power. Part of Arches Live 2011.

THE MEDIUM 30 SEP – 1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £7 (£5)

THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5/£1 MEMBERS)

WHOSE LUNCH IS IT ANYWAY

THE RATCATCHER DISTRACTED FROM PAYING HIS TAXES

ChilledcomedyshowcaseforSundayevening.

THE STAND, 13:30–15:30, FREE

Improvised comedy favourite with cheeky chappies Stu & Garry.

MON 31 OCT

ALAN REID: BOUDOIR CONCRETE

Andrew O’Hagan presents a unique adaptation of his own book, complimented by a video installation by contemporary artist Graham Fagen (exhibited in the gallery space).

18 SEP, 23 OCT, 4:00PM – 6:00PM, £15

Musical theatre singalong favourites, plus booze and nibbles.

ELEGIES FOR ANGELS, PUNKS AND RAGING QUEENS 27 SEP – 1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £10

Intended as a mini celebration of lives lost to AIDS, told in free-verse monologues with a blues, jazz and rock score.

VARIOUS VENUES KES 29 SEP, 30 SEP, 1 OCT, 7 OCT, 8 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Re-telling of the heart-warming tale of one wee boy and his best pal, Kes the kestrel.

EDINBURGH EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE ESSENCE OF IRELAND 27 SEP, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £25.50

Traditional and modern songs set to choreographed dance routines, Emerald Isle-style.

FESTIVAL THEATRE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HEAVEN 27 SEP – 1 OCT, TIMES VARY, FROM £17.50

Live celebration of the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll, with a non-stop parade of classic hits from the likes of Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley.

VARIOUS VENUES MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS GOT HER HEAD CHOPPED OFF

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

CAFE COSSACHOK

30 SEP – 1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £7 (£5)

Ali Maloney’s black pantomime/ splatter opera. Go see! Part of Arches Live 2011.

RED RAW THE STAND, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands roadtesting new material.

AN EVENING WITH ROB BRYDON TRAVERSE, 19:30–21:30, £15

Brydondelvesintohispastandsharesstories ofhisrisetostardom,tocelebratetherelease ofhismemoirSmallManinABook.

62 THE SKINNY OCTOBER 2011

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

CLUB 520 SECRET WARS: QUARTER FINALS 16 SEP, 30 SEP, 11:00PM – 3:00AM, £TBC

Live art-cum-club event, with Smug going head-to-head with Vues in the doodling stakes, as part of the 2011 Championships which pits 16 Scottish representing artists against each other.

COLLINS GALLERY STROKES, COLOUR AND FORM , TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Bringing together work by four members of the the late Margaret Mellis’ family, encompassing paintings, ceramics, and wood and metal constructions.

DAVID DALE GALLERY AND STUDIOS SOREN HUTTEL: THE ECLECTIC IS NOW

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

VARIOUS VENUES 29 SEP, 30 SEP, 1 OCT, 7 OCT, 8 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Re-telling of the heart-warming tale of one wee boy and his best pal, Kes the kestrel.

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS GOT HER HEAD CHOPPED OFF VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 22 SEP AND 5 NOV, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

New production of Liz Lochhead’s acclaimed interpretation of the lives, loves and rivalry of two famed queens.

MY ROMANTIC HISTORY VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 22 SEP AND 6 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Postmodern tale of a new couple who get together at work, but are soon affected by the ghost of relationships past.

RECOAT GALLERY BREUCKELEN

TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Solo show from French female street artist Ema, consisting of intricate ink drawings and murals in homage to her time in New York.

STREET LEVEL PHOTOWORKS (SOME) NEW PHOTOGRAPHY FROM SCOTLAND

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 30 AUG AND 9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Third in a series of exhibitions from Futureproof, profiling up-andcoming photographic image-makers from Scottish photography courses.

GAYLE CHONG KWAN: THE OBSIDIAN ISLE , TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

An installation of ten large-format photographic prints of views which connect up to form a panoramic vista of a fictional island. Oddly magical.

THE ARCHES

FLAT 0/1 SECRET WARS: SEMI FINAL

28–29 OCT, 10:00PM – 3:00AM, £5

As live grafitti event Secret Wars enters into the semi finals stage they do as all good nights should: host a fancy dress party. Alfie Dexterous and Rogue one will be the ones doing live battle with the black paint.

GALLERY OF MODERN ART New work from Glasgow-based artist Kate Davis, using Glasgow Museums’ collection as inspiration and taking key museum objects to exhibit alongside her own work.

KES

Solo show from the New York-based artist, featuring a new body of caran d’ache works on canvas, alongside redesigned versions of Ulmer Hocker furniture.

A mass of oddly shaped sculptures take over the arches foyer, where you can watch them grow and interact at will. Part of Arches Live 2011.

New production of Liz Lochhead’s acclaimed interpretation of the lives, loves and rivalry of two famed queens.

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 22 SEP AND 6 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 2 SEP AND 22 OCT, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

HUMOURS (INFECTION)

PEACE AT LAST!

MY ROMANTIC HISTORY

MARY MARY

More brightly-coloured and eclectic sculptural installations from the visual Danish artist.

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 22 SEP AND 5 NOV, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

DUNDEE

Ross MacKay’s work in progress about a young medium plunging the depths of his own conscience. Part of Arches Live 2011.

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN

Double-header exhibition between Anna Barnham and Bea McMahon, who both employ video and drawing in their practice.

GIDEON AND THE WOODENTOPPERS

LAST STAND

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

WARP AND WOOF

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 15 SEP AND 1 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Postmodern tale of a new couple who get together at work, but are soon affected by the ghost of relationships past.

An anti-musical comedy from the award winning Kielty Brothers. Part of Arches Live 2011.

MOBILE SOLUTIONS

THE MISSING

Katy Baird presents her unique fruit lecture demonstration, about why bananas are never lonely and the like.

No, really. Part of Arches Live 2011.

30 SEP – 1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £7 (£5)

The newest crop of GSA Fashion and Textile Masters students showcase their collections with a promenade show.

TRAMWAY

Exhibition by Ukrainian, Armenian, Russian and Scottish artists exploring the fantasy world of dreams.

CONFAB: I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT

29 SEP, TIMES VARY, £10

Bringing together a selection of mobile structures made by designers, architects and artists that are intended to journey out around communities and diverse contexts, from rural locations to urban environments.

A SONG, A SIP AND A SANDWICH

Our very own Performance editor dons his Mr Critilicious persona. Part of Arches Live 2011.

PROMENADE OF MASTERS’ FASHION COLLECTION 2011

After a month-long residency at Cove Park, Mackall presents a new body of paintings that work spacially by employing assembled objects, paint, chalk and frottage.

20–28 SEP, 6:45PM – 9:00PM, £3 (£2)

MICKY FLANAGAN

THE SATURDAY SHOW (ADDY VAN DER BORGH, JONATHAN MAYOR, RICK MOLLAND)

17–30 SEP, NOT 18, 19, 25, 26, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

CRITICAL CONFESSIONS

I DON’T REMEMBER EXACTLY WHEN IT HAPPENED

EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, 19:30–22:00, £19

SOPHIE MACKFALL

TRON THEATRE

THE STAND, 21:00–23:00, £10 (£9/£5 MEMBERS)

Flanagan ruthlessly deconstructs the Cockney myth, one piece of alphabetti spaghetti at a time.

The ever-enchanting Scottish ballet return with longstanding favourite Pennies From Heaven, presented in a double bill with a brand new work from Finnish-born choreographer Jorma Elo.

CCA CAFÉ

ENCHANTED DREAMS

Live dance performance from Tom Pritchard, set at that very moment in time. Part of Arches Live 2011.

Primestand-uphostedbyVladimirMcTavish.

29 SEP – 1 OCT, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £8.50

GLASGOW

29 AUG – 16 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

GLASGOW PRINT STUDIO NORTHLAND

7 SEP – 2 OCT, NOT 12 SEP, 19 SEP, 26 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

The in-house artists at Glasgow Print Studio present an exhibition of bespoke print works inspired by the Scottish landscape.

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY MASTERS , TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Showcase selection of original prints by a range of celebrated international artists including Josef and Anni Albers, Catherine Yass and Ian Davenport.

GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART LIVE YOUR QUESTIONS NOW

29 AUG – 1 OCT, NOT 4 SEP, 11 SEP, 18 SEP, 25 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A survey exhibition of Scottish, UK and international contemporary artists over 60 years old, including work from Alasdair Gray and Sam Ainsley.

In the Mackintosh Museum.

27 SEP, 6:30PM – 9:00PM, FREE

ROSANA CADE AND LAURIE BROWN: CONFESSIONAL

PECHA KUCHA

FRUITMARKET

THE SCOTTISH COLOURIST SERIES

Pecha Kucha returns with another fastpaced and eclectic image-led discussion, where a collection of creative speakers are allowed a quota of 20 slides to show for just 20 seconds each (i.e. each event is entirely unique and gloriously hotch-potch).

INGRID CALAME

The National Galleries of Scotland present the first of their Scottish Colourists Series with a retrospective of the work of F C B Cadell.

TRANSMISSION

BILL BOLLINGER

RUNAWAY, SUCCESS

LAZARUS PROTOCOL: VICTOR MAN

Reviewing the radical practice of the American artist, known for his use of technical and industrial materials.

The exhibition brings together major sculptures, documentary material, photographs and sketchbooks.

A selection of new photographs, videos and drawings from Stephen Sutcliffe, plus a selection of films by Gary Conklin (specially handpicked by Sutcliffe). Part of EAF.

TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

First Scottish solo exhibition from Victor Man, showcasing his mysterious image and found-object heavy paintings and sculptural installations.

CHRISTIAN NEWBY: PARLOUR APES TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

New work by the Glasgow-based artist, consisting of a 16mm film shot in the artist’s blacked-out studio, alongside large-scale marbled-ink drawings and screen-printed light-fixtures.

EDINBURGH AXOLOTL GALLERY DAVID

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 10 SEP AND 27 SEP, 11:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Susan Richards photographic project, undertaken in memory of her father, featuring various male portraits.

CITY ART CENTRE DAVID MACH: PRECIOUS LIGHT

29 AUG – 16 OCT, TIMES VARY, £5 (£3.50)

Large-scale collage and sculpture works, over three years in the making and ambitious in their theme of exploring the narratives of the King James Bible in the year of its 400th anniversary. Part of EAF.

COLLECTIVE GALLERY HANS SCHABUS: REMAINS OF THE DAY

30 AUG – 2 OCT, NOT 5 SEP, 12 SEP, 19 SEP, 26 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Installation commission from the Vienna-based artist, consisting of the collected rubbish accumulated by the artist and his family during one calendar year. Part of EAF.

27–28 SEP, 6:45PM – 9:00PM, FREE

NEW WORK SCOTLAND PROGRAMME 2011

THE COMMON GUILD

Group offering from Rhianna Turnbull, Gordon Schmidt, Amelia Bywater and Christian Newby as part of the New Work Scotland Programme, giving Scottishbased graduates their first significant visual art project or commission.

Installation documenting two artists’ real-life confessions of same-sex desires in various churches across Glasgow. Part of Arches Live 2011.

THEA DJORDJADZE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 24 SEP AND 26 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

DOVECOT STUDIOS

29 AUG – 9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

First Scottish solo exhibition for the American artist, showcasing a collection of her beautifully coloured and intricately composed abstract works. Part of EAF. TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

INGLEBY GALLERY MYSTICS OR RATIONALISTS?

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 29 AUG AND 29 OCT, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Collective exhibition focusing on the artistic divide between mysticism and rationality. Part of EAF.

INVERLEITH HOUSE ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG: BOTANICAL VAUDEVILLE

29 AUG – 2 OCT, NOT 5 SEP, 12 SEP, 19 SEP, 26 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:30PM, FREE

Selected works from the American artist, taken mostly from the period between 1980 and 1990 when he began exploring the reflective, textural and sculptural effects of various materials.

THOMAS HOUSEAGO: THE BEAT OF THE SHOW , TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

The first major outdoor exhibition of sculptures by British artist Thomas Houseago, comprising of new and recent large-scale works, mostly in bronze. Sculpture map available from Inverleith House reception.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND DÜRER’S FAME

29 AUG – 11 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

A selection of prints, drawings and paintings from the gallery’s collection of Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer’s work.

ELIZABETH BLACKADDER

29 AUG – 2 JAN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8 (£6)

Retrospective of the beloved Scottish artist, who turns 80 this year, with a vast collection of paintings, watercolours and drawings. And you can play count the cats.

QUEEN’S GALLERY THE NORTHERN RENAISSANCE: DÜRER TO HOLBEIN

29 AUG – 15 JAN, 9:30AM – 6:00PM, £6 (£5.50)

Bringing together over 100 works by the greatest Northern European artists of the period.

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

STILLS 29 AUG – 30 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

SUCH AND SUCH ROSS FRASER MCLEAN: PATRIA O MUERTE TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

A photographic exhibition of Cuba from talented photographer Ross Fraser McLean.

EVERY FACE I SAW WAS THE SAME FACE , TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Selection of recent collages from Sheffield-based artist Graham Hutchinson.

TALBOT RICE GALLERY ANTON HENNING

29 AUG – 22 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

German artist Anton Henning creates a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) within Talbot Rice, where bright painted walls house a mix of furniture, lighting, sculpture, window painting and drawing.

RAGAMALA

29 AUG – 22 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A rare opportunity to see the University’s unique collection of Indian miniature paintings.

DUNDEE COOPER GALLERY A CUT, A SCRATCH, A SCORE

21 OCT – 5 NOV, NOT 23 OCT, 30 OCT, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Comic opera featuring Mezzo-soprano Lore Lixenberg and dancer/performance artist Adeline Bourret. Created to accompany the exhibition of the same name, currently showing at Cooper Gallery.

DCA BRANK & HECKLE: RUTH EWAN

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 30 AUG AND 9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

New and recent solo works by Ruth Ewan, exploring notions of enforced silence and vocal protest.

DUNCAN OF JORDANSTONE RESIDENCY SHOWCASE

Solo exhibition from the Berlinbased artist, in which she’ll create new works for the grand domestic spaces at Common Guild using her wide-ranging sculptural forms.

CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH FURNITURE DESIGN 2011 A large selection of Scotland’s leading furniture designers showcase examples of their work.

MUSE

Summer residency exhibition, showcasing the fruits of the resident artists’ labour.

THE DUCHY

EDINBURGH MACMILLAN ART SHOW 2011

CollectionofRSAworksconcernedwith portrayingthefemalecharacterandfigure.

FROM ART TO SCIENCE AND BACK AGAIN

RESIDENT: 11

Exploratory exhibition fusing art and science, bringing together the work of five DJCAD practitioners and researchers, and their collaborators.

MASTER SLICE

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Three person exhibition from Neil Clements, Sam Derounian and George Ziffo, exploring the linguistics within three very different painting practices.

THE MODERN INSTITUTE VICTORIA MORTON: HER GUITARS VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 10 SEP AND 15 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

New body of work from the Glasgow artist, whose thought-provoking and experimental work has been selflabelled as ‘explicit abstract realism’.

TRAMWAY GRAHAM FAGEN: MISSING

13 SEP – 2 OCT, NOT 19 SEP, 26 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

New video installation by contemporary artist Graham Fagen, created to compliment the live adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s The Missing.

For full listings go to www.theskinny.co.uk/listings or scan left

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Showcasing around 300 works of art from both professional and amateur artists across Scotland, for sale and for show. Raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART ANISH KAPOOR: FLASHBACK

29 AUG – 9 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Sculptural works from the Turner Prize-winning artist, including a monumental blood-red wax bell standing some five metres tall in the ECA’s Sculpture Court. Part of EAF.

EDINBURGH PRINTMAKERS THE WRITING ON YOUR WALL , TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Group exhibition looking back to a history of polemical, iconoclastic and satirical printmaking, featuring contemporary commissions and historical examples from the likes of Alasdair Gray, Ruth Ewan and Jeremy Deller.

RSA 29 AUG – 9 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Collaborative exhibition highlighting the results of opportunities taken with residency centres and centres of excellence across Scotland.

SCOTLAND-RUSSIA INSTITUTE POYEKHALI!: YURI GAGARIN AND THE DAWN OF SPACE EXPLORATION

16 SEP – 8 OCT, NOT 18 SEP, 25 SEP, 2 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

GALLERY Q SHADOWLINES

17 SEP – 15 OCT, NOT 18 SEP, 25 SEP, 2 OCT, 9 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

, TIMES VARY, FREE – FREE

Mini showcase from Glaswegian contemporary figure painter Frank To, featuring 11 paintings inspired by fairytales and folklore.

SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART

CECIL BEATON: QUEEN ELIZABETH II

TONY CRAGG

Selection of Cecil Beaton’s portraits of The Queen, depicting her role as princess, monarch and mother.

Rare and iconic Yuri Gagarin photographs, telling the story of the astronauts life behind the scenes.

29 AUG – 6 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £7 (£5)

Retrospective of Liverpool-born sculptor Tony Cragg, known for his found-object and freestanding sculptural style.

THE MCMANUS 30 SEP – 8 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

MUSIC

NEW BLOOD

OTHERPEOPLE

CRYSTAL BAWS WITH MYSTIC MARK

Exploring the darker side of pop on their own terms, Glasgow’s OTHERPEOPLE aren’t scared of a good chorus INTERVIEW: AUSTIN TASSELTINE PHOTO: NICK MILLIGAN

A Girl Like You is probably my idea of the perfect pop song... I mean, the bass only plays about two notes!

ANDREW MANSON ARIES 21 MAR – 20 APR In October you finally fall on that spike all your friends bought you for your birthday back in April.

MEMORY GAG IS RELEASED ON 17 OCT

THE SKINNY 51 AUGUST 2010

See www.edinburghpeoplesfestival.org for further details and tickets

www.theelectriccircus.biz

TAURUS 21 APR – 21 MAY This month you suffer a suspiciously realistic dream about having sex with a jackal as robed, mantra-chanting Satanists splash bloody sigils on your torso using chicken feet.

A week of projectile morning sickness and a pregnancy test later you discover you are with child. Alas, due to your pro-life beliefs, a termination is out of the question.

GEMINI 22 MAY – 21 JUN Shifting the colour of your aura by wearing stupid hippy clothes you now attract Caucasian Capricorns with flea-ridden dreadlocks who are viciously intolerant of cleaning products and won’t stop going on about 9/11.

CANCER 22 JUN – 23 JUL You have your head so far up your boss’s arse your eye sockets are his nostrils.

LEO 24 JUL – 23 AUG Since Mars had an argument with Venus over the gravity bill the violent sexual relationship you share with your hand will continue right through until November. Also, due to spasms in Neptune’s orbit in your 3rd Onanism Quadrant your hand repeatedly punches you in the face and balls after every ejaculation.

VIRGO 24 AUG – 23 SEP You grow tired of being told you need to get a job by humourless 40-somethings who have jobs yet have grey, tearstained complexions, glassy, lifeless eyes and unknowingly air-click the button of a mouse with their index finger whilst they sit lecturing you in the pub.

LIBRA 24 SEP – 23 OCT This month you at long last meet ‘The One’. Sadly yours

SCORPIO 24 OCT – 22 NOV October sees you commence art school determined to kick-start the revolution with that scathing A3 poster damning American foreign policy. You slot right in amongst the ranks of amateur shit-doodling hooligans, plaid-clad daubers and selfsatisfied fashion fascists.

SAGITTARIUS 23 NOV – 21 DEC

Greedily seeking longer dreams you augment your already top spec willow dreamcatcher using super-conducting magnets.

The consequences prove dire. Passing out, time dilates and you spend the next 100 trillion years enduring the deep subconscious fears of every man, manatee, dog and hamster currently alive on Mother Gaia.

8 Earth hours later your friends should brace themselves for a personality shift.

CAPRICORN 22 DEC – 20 JAN

If you see a ghost, say hello to it. Don’t be a dick.

AQUARIUS 21 JAN – 19 FEB On the 15th strange lights hover in the night sky above your farm. You discover mutilated cattle, their lips and gums harvested by lasers, their arseholes cored out. Camouflaged in a hedge the next night you witness the UFOs appearing again. Before the discs zip off into the zenith, you steady your rifle sight on one only to see a sign that reads simply: ‘FARMFOODS. Great Food At Amazing Prices’.

PISCES 20 FEB – 20 MAR My crystal ball has hard-drive issues and sadly there’ll be no Pisces predictions this month. Hopefully those fucking mouth-breathing nerds at Apple’s ‘Genius Bar’ will sort it out by November.

OCTOBER 2011 RGE BOOKING FEES

• Drama from SpartaKi Theatre Company

• Why the finest comics in Edinburgh end up in Gorgie

Supported by King Tuts Wah Wah Hut and the Electric Circus

N ROAD EDINBURGH 31 228 2688 .filmhousecinema.com

• Aid for Afghanistan - a concert

• 3rd Annual Hamish Henderson memorial lecture

• Photographic exhibition 'The Bad and the Beautiful'

• Investigating Rebus's Edinburgh

PLAYING CAPTAIN’S REST, GLASGOW ON 16 OCT; MADHATTERS, INVERNESS ON 12 OCT AND THE NEW MARKET BAR, THURSO ON 22 OCT

nd DVDs!

alty Card

• Tour Edinburgh's dramatic radical past

August 7th-14th don Lesbian & Gay Festival On Tour ug to 2 Sep

Easy Pieces ug to 19 Aug

work from an era that’s now idered the last Golden Age of rican cinema, Bob Rafelson’s lished Jack Nicholson as the One of the few honest American d alienation. Don’t miss this

this month...

Secret in Their Eyes ug to 9 Sep

ted by Juan JosÊ Campanella howcasing two of Argentina’s st stars, this is a riveting thriller oignant romance. Receiving also the surprise winner of this anguage Film, beating off stiff bon and A Prophet.

URGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

ut

Clockwise from top left: Pablo; Callum; Michael; Sam

www.theelectriccircus.biz

• Film premiere of 'Morticia' by Nabil Shaban

bands including Pavement and Superchunk.

The arrangements are unfussy and the songs are allowed room to breathe, especially when there’s a massive chorus lurking round the corner – which there usually is. Meanwhile the lyrics are wryly observational, cracking jokes and specialising in the kind of good-natured post-modern prose Morrissey might manage if he were a bit more likeable.

Despite the members’ youth, they are not without pedigree. Rintoul was a founding member of acclaimed (and now sadly defunct) Glaswegian emotional hardcore outfit Arca Felix, whilst Laing was a member of equally promising power trio Action.

Reekie is also a current serving member of Song of Return, something of a super-group incorporating faces from Union of Knives and Admiral Fallow amongst others.

It’s arguably this eclectic array of experience that makes Otherpeople so special.

Whilst Manson guides the song-writing process, the music is filtered through the collective, where it really develops a personality of its own. Richie points out “Our music isn’t really representative of our listening habits and we don’t own many of the same CDs.� “Yeah but there are a few Scottish bands that have had a real influence on a few of us,� chimes in Reekie. “Richie and myself spent many a night off our faces and doing air-band to Idlewild records. Especially the B-sides from The Remote Part. We’re both really into groups like Laeto too. There are loads of good Scottish bands going about and the four of us agree on a lot of them.�

It was one of those aforementioned drinking sessions that also led Otherpeople to contact a Mr Paul Tipler (of Eighties Matchbox, Reuben and Idlewild production fame) about the possibility of a recording session in London last year. As Reekie describes “Yeah, one night we had more than a few beers and then dropped him a message

lights from this year’s hugely ssful two-week festival, h took place in March at BFI bank. The season includes F Closing Night Gala Children d, a fascinating and politically study of sexuality in the mas; lesbian comedy And Came Lola; erotically charged thriller The Fish Child; imed Argentinian drama Plan d two programmes of shorts, or the girls and one for the !

“I’D SAY it’s a lot easier to alienate people than it is to write great pop music,� says a bleary Andrew Manson from across a table of ludicrously large coffee mugs. “That’s probably why there is so much shit pop in the world.�

It’s early doors on a grey Sunday morning in Glasgow city centre and the four heavyeyed members of Glaswegian alternative pop newcomers Otherpeople, propped up by heroic doses of caffeine, are explaining the genesis of their band with the kind of frankness that hangovers tend to facilitate.

The quartet, comprised of Manson as well as Bruce Rintoul, Richie Laing and Dave Reekie, has already generated a massive buzz on the Glasgow indie scene thanks to their unashamed love of a tune. With only one warmly received release to their name thus far – last October’s furiously infectious single Hello – they are currently preparing for their next foray. Six track EP Memory Gag will make an appearance this October in limited edition format ahead of a wider release around the turn of the year, current label discussions permitting. The EP will also be supported by a video for fetching flagship song (I Hate The Sound of) Acoustic Guitars.

Predictably, for anyone familiar with Otherpeople, it’s a beautifully concise collection, blending indie guitars, rock percussion and flamboyant, catchy pop refrains. “To be honest, Edwyn Collins’ A Girl Like You is probably my idea of the perfect pop song,� continues Manson. “I mean, the bass only plays about two notes!� This comment invites a a snigger from bassist Dave Reekie who remarks: “That sounds like just about the right number to me.�

In fact the most obvious reference points for Otherpeople’s streamlined, hook-filled indie are the likes of left-field pop masters Blur and Talking Heads, though there are huge MUSICflavours of classic American alternative

on Myspace, if you remember what that is.

We didn’t really expect anything to come of it but then a phone number just appeared in our inbox. It was all pretty mysterious.�

The collaboration produced mixed results however and galvanised the band’s insistence on maintaining control of their recording process. Manson explains: “It was a fun experience but we came back knowing we needed to keep as much control in the studio as possible. Bruce [Rintoul] is a great engineer and we realised we can produce good results given enough time in the studio to get things right. To be honest we’re probably not experienced enough as a band to work to a tight studio schedule but we know what we want and get there eventually.�

Rintoul’s work as Otherpeople’s engineer on his home turf of LoFi studios, slap-bang in the heart of the city, has certainly produced a strong, identifiable sound. In fact he had already recorded the band before their previous drummer departed and it was his positive experiences with them in the studio that led him to volunteer for kit duties. “So now we don’t really let anyone in the studio with us,� explains Rintoul. “We don’t need distractions and we don’t really want anyone diluting our idea of how it should sound.� Or, as Dave Reekie puts it, “Aye. Nae burds allowed.�

This is not just a recording project however.

Far from it. Otherpeople have some memorable performances under their belt, including closing the Friday night T-Break Stage at T in the Park as well as much-talked-about support slots to capacity crowds with Wavves, Japandroids and contemporaries/friends The Xcerts. They also have a series of upcoming shows scheduled to support the release of Memory Gag, starting at Captain’s Rest in Glasgow with The Male Pattern Band before advancing north to Inverness and Thurso. If you’re lucky enough to be in the vicinity, then get yourself along to these shows because, if there’s any justice in the world, tickets to see these fellas are surely going to become a much sought-after commodity.

is a sadist and unfortunately you’re not a masochist. I don’t make the rules.

THE SKINNY 63