The Skinny Scotland May 2017 by The Skinny

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INDEPENDENT FREE

CULT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

May 2017 Scotland Issue 140

Music Perfume Genius Pond BMX Bandits L. Pierre Metronomy Pumarosa Electric Honey Colonel Mustard & the Dijon 5 Pronto Mama Film Michaël Dudok de Wit François Ozon Julian Barratt Books César Aira Mariana Enriquez Ever Dundas Art Beatrice Loft Schulz Unstable Creations Clubs Open Air FLY Sven Väth Mind Yer Self Supermax Comedy A History of Edinburgh Fringe Katy Brand Johnny & the Baptists Theatre The Workers Theatre

P.19 Mariana Enriquez

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

P.16 The Red Turtle

Illustration: Xenia Latii

P.12 Perfume Genius

P.57 Art Review

May 2017 I N DEPEN DENT

CULTU R AL

JOU R NALI S M

Issue 140, May 2017 ÂŠ Radge Media Ltd. Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: The Skinny, 1.9 1st Floor Tower, Techcube, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Pl, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business. Get in touch to find out more.

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Contents

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

Rosamund West Will Fitzpatrick Adam Benmakhlouf Alan Bett Claire Francis Ben Venables Kate Pasola Kate Pasola Jamie Dunn Peter Simpson Tallah Brash Amy Taylor Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Designer

Sarah Donley Kyle McPartlin

Sales Sales Manager Sales Executives

Sandy Park George Sully

Online Digital Editor Web Developer

Peter Simpson Stuart Spencer

General Manager Publisher

Kyla Hall Sophie Kyle

THE SKINNY

Contents Chat & Opinion: Crystal Baws’ unholy 06 doom predictions, Jock Mooney’s gastronomic cartoon column, Shot of the Month, Spot the Difference and a guide to our online highlights. Heads Up: Cultural calendar. 08 FEATURES

10 We meet four women whose experi-

ences chart three decades of the music industry. Sharleen Spiteri, Emma Pollock, Law Holt and Be Charlotte offer an occasionally bleak insight into the changing face of music.

12 Mike Hadreas aka Perfume Genius says

he can’t get too mad about talking about his sexuality – “If I didn't want to then I probably shouldn't have made three albums about it"

Eclectic Australian psych-rock outfit 15 Pond talk impending nuclear threat, colonialism, and producing seventh album The Weather with Kevin Parker.

16 Michaël Dudok de Wit tells us about

his animation The Red Turtle, the first collaboration between Japan's Studio Ghibli and a Western filmmaker.

18 Divisive Argentine author César Aira

discusses his unique approach to writing.

19 Mariana Enriquez introduces Things We

Lost in the Fire, a short story collection blending the sociopolitical horrors of dictatorship with supernatural terror.

21 The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt plays a pompous TV actor in the endearingly silly comedy Mindhorn, and confesses the character is really him after a few poor decisions.

22 Mercurial French filmmaker François Ozon is back with Frantz, a post-WW1 set melodrama that’s too gorgeous to watch on your mobile. 25 Artist Beatrice Loft Schulz discusses

the societal significance of home decor, the politics of possessions and the Wham Rap!

26 We speak to Pumarosa frontwoman

Isabel Munoz-Newsome about touring, history, spirituality, and the release of their debut album, The Witch.

28 Katy Brand discusses her past as a

teenage Christian and wannabe astronaut. Musical comedy duo Jonny & The Baptists on touring their show Eat the Poor to audiences with different perspectives.

34 DJ Billy Woods serves up five of the club night’s key tunes – plus all the highlights coming up at Glasgow’s CCA

36 Ever Dundas takes on the preset gender narratives society imposes on us, and we talk to the author about her new novel Goblin.

LIFESTYLE

37 Deviance: A generation of YouTubers are drawing attention to the link between alcohol and social anxiety. Plus, we hear from one Tinder-user about the pitfalls and threesome requests awaiting queer femmes on the dating app.

39 Travel: One writer describes the experience of a mystery destination holiday, where all decisions are left up to a somewhat trusted friend.

40 Showcase: We take a look at some pro-

jection mapping inspired by 2D graphic design with Unstable Creations’ Martin Sweeny.

43 Food & Drink: Our food editor attended global mega booze conference Tales of the Cocktail and brings back word from the front line of mixology. Plus events, news and new openings.

REVIEW

47 Music: We speak to Electric Honey re-

cords, Pronto Mama and Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5. Plus May’s album releases.

52 Clubs: We meet the brains behind

Open Air FLY ahead of their second outing (this time at Hopetoun House); Sven Vath answers 10 questions before his Riverside set; a new night aims to support improved mental health; plus monthly highlights.

56 Books: Reviews of Eli Goldstone’s pow-

erful debut Strange Heart Beating and John Darnielle’s masterful second effort Universal Harvester, plus May’s poetry news.

57 Art: Exhibition highlights and reviews of Ewan Murray and Steven Claydon.

58 Film & DVD: Deadpan Finnish genius Aki

Kaurismäki returns with The Other Side of Hope and Anne Hathaway is destroying Tokyo in leftfield comedy Colossal, plus horrors Split and Prevenge come to Blu-ray.

60 Theatre: Auntie Trash offers tips on dealing with disappointment, while we learn how The Workers Theatre is crowdfunding a programme to represent artists of colour in Scottish theatre.

61 Comedy: The Stand's director, Kenny

O'Brien, laments the loss of St Andrew Square as a Fringe venue.

hear from Duglas T Stewart on the 29 We return of Belshill indie-pop icons BMX Bandits, who are back with their tenth album.

62 Competitions: WIN STUFF.

30 Aidan Moffat discusses 1948 –, his fifth

63 Listings: What’s on guide to Edinburgh,

and final offering from solo project L. Pierre, and muses on vinyl's survival in the face of online streaming.

33 We interrupt Metronomy’s rehearsals

Glasgow and Dundee.

Our Comedy editor has delved deep into 71 the archives to bring you a three part history of the Edinburgh Fringe.

ahead of their upcoming tour to talk about Robyn, Mix Master Mike and their latest album Summer 08.

May 2017

Contents

Editorial

here are some themes which have emerged in the production of this here edition of The Skinny. 1) Swearing. The swearing this month is extravagant. We all know that’s hilarious though, so just enjoy it. 2) The omnipresence of Mac DeMarco. His influence is everywhere, get used to it. 3) The slow decay of the music industry. This comes up repeatedly, in our cover story through the insight of the surprisingly terrifying Sharleen Spiteri, and throughout in moments like Aidan Moffat’s thoughts on the predicted death of vinyl. That cover story has been long-gestating and brings together a host of inimitable musicians who reflect different perspectives on the last three decades of life in the music industry. The aforementioned Spiteri, Emma Pollock, Law Holt and Be Charlotte all started their careers in Scotland at different times with different audiences – we bring them together to offer a survey of how the industry has evolved, and gain an insight into a female experience in this often male-dominated field. Spiteri, one of the UK’s most consistently successful musicians since the 80s, puts it swearily: “If I were a male artist, what d’you think I’d be getting? I’d be the fucking dog’s bollocks. I’d be a national treasure. I would probably be on the front cover of every music magazine on the planet. Nine albums, 40 million [records] sold, thirty years in the industry, writing all my own songs? No one writes that story.” Hopefully this article will go some way to redressing that. Other musical icons we meet this month include Aidan Moffat, here to tell us about his final release as L. Pierre and muse darkly on the lost battle of streaming and downloads. Glasgow’s Electric Honey celebrate 25 years as a studentrun record label and look back on a few of their highlights from Belle & Sebastian to Biffy Clyro. Metronomy’s Joseph Mount offers us an exclusive insight into their rider, which includes both spare socks and scratchcards which they hope will one day lead to a huge win and a cancelled gig. BMX Bandits’ Duglas T Stewart introduces the Belshill band’s tenth album with a discussion of authentic recording processes and the pleasure of being an influence for a new generation of musicians. We also have words with Perfume Genius, Glasgow mentalists Colonel Mustard & the Dijon 5, Aussie psych band Pond and Pronto Mama.

Head to the website and you’ll find playlists compiled specially for you by two very different heroes – a weird insight into Teenage Dirtbags Wheatus’s party mix, and a bespoke set from electronic icons Leftfield. Books takes a trip to Argentina this month, meeting the extremely divisive César Aira (‘infuriating’ – New York Times; ‘Hail César!’ – Patti Smith) to discuss just two of his diverse and challenging works. Fellow Argentine author Mariana Enriquez presents Things We Lost in the Fire, her short story collection which mixes genre fiction and sociopolitical commentary in a manner dubbed black magical realism. Back in Scotland, Ever Dundas presents a treatise on the fluidity of gender and the difficulty of appropriate pronouns. Julian Barratt (aka Howard Moon, aka Dan Ashcroft) stars in new film Mindhorn, where a washed-up actor must reprise his role as an 80s detective to help catch a serial killer. He discusses the enduring precariousness of an actor’s career, and how they’re all just a couple of bad decisions away from the has-been life of his eponymous hero. We also meet François Ozon, here to promote post -WWI drama Frantz, and Michael Dudok de Wit, the first Western filmmaker to create a film with Japan’s Studio Ghibli. We conclude the magazine with the first in a special three part series celebrating 70 years of the Edinburgh Fringe. Our Comedy editor Benables has been rummaging around their archives to present this insight into the origins and evolution of the greatest comedy show on earth. Here he looks back to the rise of stand-up, and discovers that the ecologically unsound August proliferation of posters and flyers could all be Stewart Lee’s fault. Good to know. [Rosamund West] MAY COVER ARTIST Jacky Sheridan is a Belfast-based illustrator who specialises in hand drawn typography, editorial & branding work, and generally drawing the obscene. She is a walking Irish stereotype and her dream illustration job would be commissioned to design beer bottle labels. You can find more of her work at jackysheridan.com, or as JackySheridan on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Spot The Difference Purrealism Set your melting clocks and get off your high elephants, because this month's difference-spotting test is a real burning giraffe. We've unearthed two archived photos of moustachioed surrealist Salvador Dalì, famous for his mind-bending painting and eccentric lifestyle, but our art historians have identified some very subtle discrepancies between them. Like a swan floating on a lake,

sometimes the reflection isn't quite what you'd expect – like an elephant. To be in with a chance of winning There Are Little Kingdoms by Kevin Barry, courtesy of our pals at Canongate, simply navigate your device of choice to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and tell us which bread crucifix lobster telephone.

Competition closes midnight Sun 28 May. The winner will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

Online Only theskinny.co.uk/music Catch a pair of longreads – an extended cut of this month’s cover feature, and a career retrospective with Depeche Mode. Also, playlists from Wheatus, WHITE and Leftfield, plus the LP reviews we couldn’t squeeze into the mag, including the latest from At the Drive-In, Black Lips, Do Make Say Think, and a five-star beauty from Feist. theskinny.co.uk/film We look at the stop-motion animation revival to coincide with My Life as a Courgette making its way to cinemas. As Twin Peaks returns to TV screens, we ask the question: Does US cinema need David Lynch in 2017? You’ll never guess what the answer is... theskinny.co.uk/festivals Planning for festival season continues apace – find the latest line-up news from Electric Fields, Doune the Rabbit Hole and Skye Live on the website.

Jacky Sheridan

Chat

theskinny.co.uk/clubs Record stores are for life, not just for a big booze-up in the middle of April. Our brethren at The Skinny North look at the continuing importance and relevance of the 12-inch record.

Emma Cline

THE SKINNY

Photo: Megan Cline

theskinny.co.uk/books Emma Cline talks us through her smash hit debut novel The Girls as it nears its paperback release.

Shot of the Month Crystal Balls

LUCIA, The Berkley Suite, 9 April, by Cameron Brisbane

With Mystic Mark

ARIES In May when the new Tory Sleepworking Initiative comes into force, job-seekers will need to prove they were looking for work even during REM. For hated unemployed such as yourself you’ll need to start keeping a detailed dream diary of locations in your subconscious you dropped off a CV or asked for work, recording all the nightmares about job interviews you had. You should also note that any dream money made during sleep is deductible from your giro. TAURUS You can’t even comprehend the level of my arrogance. GEMINI Life is like a sausage in a microwave. Make the right holes in the right places and you will be fine. Don’t, and you will shower everything around you in molten sausage like a flesh firework. CANCER First it rains then out of the clouds the colossal, tearful countenance of God appears in the sky to tell you He doesn’t believe in Himself anymore, everything He does turns to shit. You try and reassure Him through prayer, to give Him a confidence boost by praising His name and reminding Him that He created the universe and is Lord of heaven for ever and ever. He sniffles and smiles, but then darkens as He remembers every horrible moment of the last 5000 years and blows his omnipotent brains across the Solar System.

EO L We are all in the gutter, but some of us have upgraded to Gutter Premium®. VIRGO I wish you were out of breath because it stinks. LIBRA This month you get rich quick writing a book called How to Get Rich Quick by Writing How to Get Rich Quick Books. SCORPIO This month while wiping your bum clean you catch a glimpse of the toilet paper and discover the perfect tint of ochre for your new kitchen renovation. Popping the tissue in a tupperware you nip down to B&Q to see if they can match the colour at their Dulux MixLab station. SAGITTARIUS Sagittarius’ ruling element is fire, which you harness through the medium of cigarettes. CAPRICORN After years of research, your team are finally ready to demonstrate Shark Cannon to the assembled Military Chiefs at BAE Systems. AQUARIUS God made man in His own image, and chimpanzees 98% in His own image. Bananas are 50% in His own image. PISCES Listen to your gut. It’s trying to tell you something: “Stop eating microwaveable burgers.”

By Jock Mooney May 2017

Opinion

Heads Up Compiled by: Kate Pasola

As you eagerly await taps aff season, get stuck into our cultural calendar featuring everything from fashion shows to foodbank fundraisers, boozey dos to brand new theatre...

Tue 2 May

Thu 4 May

Both Edinburgh and Glasgow-dwellers can kick things off scratch style this month with open mics in both cities. West coast, there's The Poetry Club's Only Skin featuring theatre, sound and poetry from the likes of Jamie Bolland, Max Chase and Sònia Gardés (7.30pm, £4). Edinburghwise, you've got Inky Fingers featuring Claire Askew, a poet who has performed at the likes of Edinburgh Book Festival, Aye Write, StAnza and more. Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, free

This month's set to be a merry one in Scotland, so buckle up and line your belly. First up, it's the Rhythm 'n' Booze Club at Assembly Roxy. Hosted by Forbes resident whisky blogger and founder of Whisky Business Felipe Schrieberg, you’ll be treated to tasty blues from trio Jed Potts and the Hillman Hunters, a tasting of five whiskies to match. Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £25

SURVIVE

Wed 3 May

Claire Askew

PAUSE YOUR NETFLIX. This is important. Geek Social, the scamps who brought you a GoT-inspired bar but a few months ago are back with another screen-to-IRL treat: SURVIVE. Inspired by The Walking Dead, the popup bar promises themed beers, spirits and cocktails in a menu created in conjunction with Six Degrees North and Drinkmonger. They're also promising "a selection of boilermakers inspired by key moments in the series". Crikey. Runs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 May at Six Degrees North

Mon 8 May

Tue 9 May

Wed 10 May

Tonight at Edinburgh's Sneaky Pete's, catch Japanese multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi (aka Kaoru Ishibashi) performing blissful trinkets from his third album Sonderlust, released back in 2016. Along with this solo project, Ishibashi has spent numerous years as part of Jupiter One and Of Montreal, making him more than qualified to tear up your Monday evening. Glasgow folk, see him at Broadcast the night before. Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, 7pm, £12

The edgy lil' number that is Mayfesto Festival returns this month, bringing a programme of new and engaging theatre to Tron Theatre between 9-31 May. Tonight we're backing the world preview and world premiere of Daphne Oram’s Wonderful World of Sound, a play live-scored by electronic sound artist Anneke Kampmancharting, which charts the innovations of one of the first composers to produce electronic music. Until 13 May, 7.45pm, £8 (usually £9)

Do your brain a favour tonight and snatch a ticket for Wrexham instrumentalists Gallops. The outfit disbanded back in 2013, but are back as a trio with a new LP, Bronze Mystic, that's akin to a cerebral deep tissue massage; relentless thumps, swerving synth and completely OTT percussion. Even in headphones it's fucking wicked, so we're buzzed to see what they bring to The Hug and Pint. 7.30pm, £9.50

Kishi Bashi

Daphne Oram’s Wonderful World of Sound

Sun 14 May

Mon 15 May

Tue 16 May

Feeling whimsical? Head to the Bohemia Magical Secret Garden Fair. Sure, it all sounds a bit Hans Christian Andersen, but bear with us. It's taking place in the luscious surrounds of Kibble Palace, and there'll be all sorts of arts and craft on offer. Plus if it turns out fairytale knick-knacks aren't your thing, you can sack it off and go for an ice cream in the gardens or something. Sweet. Kibble Palace, Glasgow, 11am, free

Just when you've sobered up from last week's boozebased gallivanting, Pint of Science steps in. Aiming to bring science communication to a wider aucience, the festival takes place in pubs across the UK, bringing mind-blowing research to informal settings. From atom chat at Daylight Robbery to technology lectures at The Safari Lounge, there's a whole loada learning and cheersing to do... 15-17 May, various venues 6pm, free

There's a banger of a lineup tonight at the O2, with beloved quirky quartet Metronomy playing a show in support of their fifth studio album, Summer 08, released back in 2016. If you're looking to warm up, skip ahead to page 33 to read an interview with the band. Oh, and we should probably mention R'n'B rapscallions Bossy Love are on the supports. It'll be a big one. O2 ABC, Glasgow, 7pm, £20

Bohemia Magical Secret Garden Fair

Gallops

Metronomy

Pint of Science

Sat 20 May

Sun 21 May

Mon 22 May

It's spring, so it's about time we braved some al fresco partying, right? Right? Well, today FLY throw caution to the wind (so to speak), hosting another Open Air affair. This time the line-up features Bicep, Midland, Artwork and more (Hopetoun House, Edinburgh, 12-10pm, £42-48) Today also sees the start of DJCAD's 2017 Degree Show – worth a trip from the central belt, it's a highlight of the Scottish art calendar. 20-28 May, DJCAD, Dundee, times vary, free

If you missed Katy Brand's super popular show I Was A Teenage Christian, here's your second chance to pack in the lols in a reprise at The Stand. Recounting her first service at the age of 13 and her subsequent devotion to the church, she unpacks what on earth was going on in her own head as a fundamentalist Christian. The Stand Comedy Club, Glasgow, 6pm, £12

Got a hankering for bento? Desperately seeking sushi? Bakery47 have you sorted tonight with a Japanese pop-up kitchen, where Koko's esteemed chefs will be using local ingredients to whip up a three course BYOB meal. In a bit of a rush or low on dollar? Worry not – there'll be takeaway bento boxes on offer between 6-6.30pm for the very reasonable sum of £6. Bakery47, Glasgow, 7pm, £20

Katy Brand

Midland

Sat 27 May

Sun 28 May

D'you know what's total bullshit about the fashion world? Well, a lot, actually, but mostly The Frow (or, er, the front row if you're a normal person). Luckily, the progressive champs at ECA agree, so this year they're transforming their Student Fashion Show by doing away with hierarchies and accommodating every attendee on the front row. Classy. The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, 8pm & 10pm, £12.50

Dairy-free diners, Glasgow Vegan Festival's on today, promising 50 stalls, eight world food caterers, talks and demos. They recommend turning up peckish, but we'd advise otherwise if you don't fancy bankrupting yourself on nut butters. (27-28 May, Trades Hall, Glasgow, 11am, £3.) After lining your belly, make the most of that Bank Hol and party it out at Electric Frog and Pressure's Riverside Festival, ft. Rødhåd, Nina Kraviz, Sven Väth and more? 2728 May, The Riverside Museum, Glasgow, £45-80

So, we haven't mentioned bevs forrr, what, two minutes? Let's crack on with more of that. The Whisky Stramash is back and ready to embrace you in its lovely liquor-y arms for another year. Expect hunners of samples from near and far, opportunities to buy your faves, and all the usual Stramashy mystery, comedy and merriment. 27 & 28 May, Surgeon's Hall, Edinburgh, 12-5pm, £29-41

Chat

Photo: Bethany Grace

Fri 26 May

ECA Student Fashion Show

Rhythm 'n' Booze Club

Nina Kraviz

Koko

The Whisky Stramash

THE SKINNY

Fri 5 May

Sat 6 May

Sun 7 May

Today's a diverse one; in Edinburgh's Festival theatre there's Breakin' Convention, a festival of hip-hop dance theatre, DJs, graffiti, workshops, freestyling and more. Over in Glasgow, catch a live show from homegrown group Babe, a genre-defying band who are fresh offa the release of new R'n'B/synth-laced record Kiss & Tell (which, incidentally we gave four stars last month). The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £7

Take a trip over to Tramway to catch Velvet Petal at Dance International Glasgow, a show inspired by the life cycle of monarch butterflies and underscored by music from LCD Soundsystem, James Holden and Four-tet (6 & 7 May, 8pm, £9-12). In Edinburgh, Studio 24 hosts a fundraiser for the UK Mental Health Foundation, entitled My Mental Life ft. DJ sets from Trendy Wendy, El Parks, Shona Hardie and more. Studio 24, Edinburgh, 11pm, £5

Round about now Glasgow should be approaching taps aff climes (although don't hold us to it), so it's only right we start appreciating some art al fresco style. Enter Yardworks Festival, a celebration of international graffiti, street art and design. Over 80 artists will be showcased, along with skateboarding and breakdancing, DJ sets, a pop-up paint and prints store, craft beer and street food. WOAH now. SWG3, Glasgow, 11am-8pm (also 6 May, 11am-10pm), £5

Mark Worst

Thu 11 May

Fri 12 May

Sat 13 May

'Member when we told you May was a boozalicious month? We weren't kidding. Next up, it's FestivALE, Summerhall's very own craft beer and spirits festival. There'll be all sorts of rare beers on offer, along with treats from Pickering's Gin, The Cocktail Kitchen, and the Bar of Unearthly Delights. Peckish attendees can chomp on some Street Food courtesy of The Pitt, and there'll even be live culinary science experiments. It's gonna be lit. 11-13 May, 6pm, £5-7

The Scottish Street Food Awards hit The Pitt between 12-14 May, giving punters the vote for their favourite shortlisted vendors, who'll ultimately go on to rep Scotland at nationals. The sprawling list of candidates includes Ròst, ShrimpWreck, The Crema Caravan and Chompsky, so you're sure to find something up your street (times vary, £3 entry). And at nighttime? A hefty dose of techno with Kapital as they bring in Zurich-based DJ duo Adriatique. Caves, Edinburgh, 11pm, £12.50

Glasgow's Southside is consistently heaving with cultural activity, but the West End and central areas of town just won't stop stealing the limelight. That's where the Southside Fringe steps in, programming a festival of art, workshops, spoken word, poetry, comedy, drama, cabaret, burlesque and music to showcase the mad skills of local artists (including Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5), promoters and venues. Put the dates in your diary (12-28 May) and keep an eye on southsidefringe.com for more.

FestivALE

Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5

Chompsky

Wed 17 May

Thu 18 May

Fri 19 May

It's back! Every big kid's fave, (Museums at Night, obvs) returns for another stint of museum and gallery lates this month. The full programme is yet to be announced, but keep an eye out on the websites of Scotland's haunts as they begin to announce their late night revelries. 17-20 May, museums, galleries and heritage sites nationwide.

Know that feeling when the world's going to absolute shit and there's nothing you can do about it? Well, turns out there are small deeds you can do that'll make a difference and stave off your existential crisis. Exhibit A, Soup Worx, a fundraiser organised by Drumchapel Food Bank and Optimo. The night features spoken word, comedy, music and a set from Twitch and Jonnie Wilkes themselves, making for a pretty attractive offer, really. Stereo, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £8-10

Know what the best type of wine tasting is? The untutored type. Because, really, who wants to have to retain information when there's a deluge of sweet grapey elixir on offer? That's why you need to get yourself over to the Great Grog's Spring Wine Fair at Merchant's Hall, featuring over 100 different wines. (Merchant's Hall, Edinburgh, 6pm, £17). Dundonians, get yourself to Yeezy All Night Long at Fat Sam's, ft. originals, reworks, samples and other tenuous Kanye-links. 10pm, £5-8

National Museum of Scotland

Optimo

Wed 24 May

Thu 25 May

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Nope that's not a rhetorical question, it's a recommendation. A command, even. If you're free tonight, go and see Rapture's production of this Edward Albee classic. A piece charting one tempestuous night in the living room of Martha and George, a middle-aged couple whose marriage is rotting, it's riveting, quietly riotous, and a must-see for tension junkies. 23-27 May, King's Theatre, Edinburgh, 7.30pm (matinees available), £17-31

If you're absolutely itching to find out the lucky musicians in the running for the Scottish Album of the Year Award (the very same award that catalysed the success of Anna Meredith, Kathryn Joseph and Young Fathers), get yourself over to the O2 ABC tonight for the longlist announcement party. There'll be performances from SAY alumni Admiral Fallow, Steve Mason and Mungo's Hi Fi ft. YT. O2 ABC, Glasgow, 7pm, £16.50

If you're up for a run out of the city, take to Knockengorroch World Ceilidh, the self-proclaimed 'hoedown in the hills' with a bangin' line-up featuring Pronto Mama, Indigo Velvet, The Twistettes and more. (25-28 May, Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway, £100-115.) Closer to home, get yourself tickets to the world premiere of Jo Clifford's previously banned political play War in America, performed at Former Royal High School. 24-27 May, £1020, times vary

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Admiral Fallow

Photo: Euan Robertson

Tue 23 May

Spring Wine Fair

Indigo Velvet

Tue 30 May

Wed 31 May

If you're in Edinburgh tonight, we implore you to go and catch sunny indie-rock band Pinegrove at Summerhall. With addictive guitar lines, the odd bit of banjo and Evan Stephens Hall's hearty yet agile, Americanaready vocals, it's a blessed sound this band create. You'll leave feeling like your soul's been ravaged and healed simultaneously. Probs. Summerhall, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £14

If you prefer your gigs to feature a little fuzz, it's high time you booked yourself in for a night with Michigan four-piece Heaters, a garage-tinged psych rock band comprising Nolan Krebs, Joshua Korf, Ryan Hagan and Ben Taber. All hooky. (Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, 7pm, £7.) West coast shredseekers, you'll get your turn too – catch them the following evening at Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow (7.30pm, £7).

Have yourself a boundary-traversing day, kicking things off at experimental sound artist Florian Hecker's Synopsis, a new commission for Tramway playing with sound synthesis to create a ‘hallucinatory’ experience (26 May-30 Jul, Tramway, Glasgow, 12-5pm, free). When you're suitably recovered from that, pop over to the Citz for Kneehigh's heady production of Celtic love story Tristian and Yseult. 30 May-3 Jun, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, times vary, £12.50-22.50

May 2017

Photo: Claire Maxwell

Mon 29 May

Pinegrove

Heaters

Photo: Lisa Stirling

Velvet Petal

Synopsis

Chat

Photo: Kat Gollock

Babe

What’s a Record Worth? The record deal is dead, success is still sexist and downloads don’t pay: Sharleen Spiteri, Emma Pollock, Law Holt and Be Charlotte speak with The Skinny about what makes it all worth it

he Skinny meets Sharleen Spiteri on the morning of Texas’ ninth album drop. Over a cuppa outside Facebook’s London headquarters, where the band is scheduled for a live Q&A to discuss Jump on Board later in the day, Spiteri’s a ball of energy. She shows off a temporary foot brace and accompanying footage from an overly competitive bouncy castle race filmed backstage at the One Show, and lets rip a barrage of enthusiastic expletives over a freshly announced Edinburgh gig performing for none other than Barack Obama. We’re here primarily to find out how record sales, sexism and songwriting have shifted over the 30 years that she’s fronted one of Glasgow’s favourite pop bands. For a full outline of how Scotland’s music scene has warped and shifted in an increasingly digital age, we also catch up with ex-Delgados, prolific solo artist and Chemikal Underground label boss Emma Pollock for an early morning phone call, and track down pop queen, Iklan collaborator and Young Fathers affiliate Law Holt in a pub off Holloway Road. Dundee’s Be Charlotte – aka Charlotte Brimner – contributes thoughts on her career via email, and between the four of them these musicians have racked up roughly 70 years of collective experience in an industry that has become unrecognisable since Texas released their debut album Southside in 1989. It’s no spoiler alert that times are tough for your favourite musicians. Measly Spotify revenues combine with a devastating drop in physical sales and the relentless drive for social media ‘exposure’. Brutal cuts to arts funding rub against dramatically reduced financial support for higher education, and are undermined further by the prevalence of insecure zero-hour contracts and an insufficient minimum wage. A crumbling mainstream press focuses on click-bait headlines, Ed Sheeran can afford to casually buy out TLC to secure the artistic integrity of his insufferable chart toppers, and it no longer makes economic sense for major labels to take a creative risk on an avant-garde artist. That’s before we count how many of Glastonbury 2017’s Pyramid Stage headliners are non-white or non-cis-male (psst – it’s zero). Some of these issues are gendered. Some, like the sweep of digitisation, are not. And some of these problems are as old as the industry itself.

As Spiteri says, “[Today] it’s just better hidden. I’ve said this a million times. Let’s be honest, if I were a male artist, what d’you think I’d be getting? I’d be the fucking dog’s bollocks. I’d be a national treasure. I would probably be on the front cover of every music magazine on the planet. Nine albums, 40 million [records] sold, 30 years in the industry, writing all my own songs? No one writes that story. No one ever talks [about] that story. Everyone always talks [about], ‘Oh, what’s it like to be a woman in the music industry?’ THAT’s what it’s really like. That’s the story.” As these four interviews demonstrate, there are as many different stories to be told as there are musicians determined to keep the industry alive. Spiteri, Pollock, Holt and Brimner have experienced thoroughly different paths, from major labels to DIY releases, and navigated the shifting tides of an industry that’s rapidly realising there’s little money left. Texas’s success story, as well as that of Spiteri’s solo career, is one of heavyweight labels, extensive world tours, high profile collaborations and supreme, justified, confidence. Spiteri laughs as she recalls sending a demo of early single Black Eyed Boy to management: “So they say ‘Naaah, ummm, oooh. There’s something missing?’ We said ‘OK, yeah, we’ll work on it a bit,’ then threw it in a corner for three weeks. Went back and gave them the exact same thing. They say ‘Oh. My. God. It’s a massive hit!’ You’re just like… (She mouths an elaborate ‘fuck off ’).” From Emma Pollock’s perspective, the landscape looks different. One year after The Delgados formed, the band started their own label. Twentythree years on, Chemikal Underground is one of Scotland’s most beloved and influential labels, releasing debut albums for Arab Strap and Mogwai along with many other seminal Scottish bands at the start of their own careers. “We wanted to be able to take things into our own hands, and have control over it, which was much more fun and satisfying,” Pollock explains. “[Otherwise] it felt like handing your music over to people you didn’t know, and you always had to change something, it was always a compromise – or at least it felt this way. But I’m not saying this is right! Plenty of bands have done really well out of that, but it doesn’t suit everybody.”

Emma Pollock

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Sharleen Spiteri

Photo: Jannica Honey

Perhaps as a consequence, she feels differently to Spiteri about gendered success and discrimination: “I can only talk about my own experience, and I probably have worked with more guys as that has been the demographic of the industry. But I’ve never really felt anything other than a very warm and equal environment with music, because music is a uniting world. Maybe ten years ago, twenty years ago even more so, it would have been assumed that ‘Oh, the bird must be the singer.’ But when you’re in a band you’re presented as a unit, and people just understand what that is.”

I don’t think people put out enough music generally. Or they haven’t got any ideas...” Her ability to curate and distribute her music online affords a certain level of freedom – even if it doesn’t generate anywhere near the return of a golden age record deal. “If I’m at the mercy of the industry, and music is free now, then I’ll decide if [my music] is on the internet or not. That’s the only power I have, and I will use it. And when I get desperate, in my old age?” She cackles. “Then I’ll put it all [online] and really hope you listen to it – hopefully they’ll save the figures, because I’ll need the numbers back!”

The Record Deal Is Dead However, Pollock, Spiteri and Law Holt are unanimous in their condemnation of the modern, major label record deal, and the financial impact of the digital shift. Holt simply shrugs, laughing: “I don’t know what a record deal is. The record deal’s finished. The record deal’s gone. Did you know [grime artist] Novelist just got dropped from XL [an offshoot of the Beggars Group and home to Adele]? He put out one EP and got dropped – so what chance has anyone else got?” She tells The Skinny about her day job in a care home, which provides improved financial stability in contrast to years of gigging in cover bands and playing for pints in Whistlebinkies. “I was in a zero-hour contract for years trying to make music work – it’s just not viable. It’s hard to put yourself in a marketplace with people who are lucky enough to do it full time. Your health will suffer. How are you going to be as good?” Holt’s own start came after a fortuitous meeting with Tim London, the producer behind Leith Walk’s Soulpunk Studio and regular collaborator with Young Fathers. She laughs again when we ask if they have any formal agreement, and instead describes their strategy: “If the songs are there, why not put it out? I’m not doing anything else! I’m not on some PR thing. Fuck it; just put it out!

“ This industry has not just had a bit of a bump; it’s fallen off the edge of a cliff”

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Emma Pollock

With Grammy Award winning Chance the Rapper proving that independence can be viable, Holt tells us: “This is why all the grime artists are doing it on their own now. The industry’s fucked; it’s not caught up quick enough. Everyone’s always known that the music industry’s shitty, but it’s even more ruthless now.” As manager of the Chem19 studio and an independent label chief determined to keep Chemikal Underground afloat, Pollock reflects, “I’ve got a detailed understanding of why the impact has been as severe as it’s been; it’s now well over ten years ago that the MP3 started coming through. When we started Chemikal

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Photo: Sarah Donley

Interviews: Katie Hawthorne

Compromises and Creativity An example of Spiteri’s faith in young, independently creative artists, Be Charlotte has carved a niche for her soulful, self-produced, innovative pop. Nineteen years old and still in the early stages of her career, Charlotte Brimner has already represented Scotland at major industry festival South by South West – without yet releasing a debut album. After leaving school at 16, she travelled to LA in search of songwriting guidance, and reflects: “that’s when I learned the difference between writing songs for publishing and writing songs for myself to perform.” She’s worked incredibly hard to develop her own digital production skills, and recognises that her writing talent is a separate career path from her band. She tells The Skinny that she hopes to write for other musicians when she’s not touring, and makes no bones about what she expects from the industry. “I think a lot of people have this idea of fame and fortune and how that determines success,” she writes. “[But] that has never been why I write music, to be honest. For me, I feel like making music that is true to myself and says something [which] is more important than anything else.” So what is a record worth, in 2017? Financially, that answer is becoming increasingly vague as digital developments simultaneously devalue and democratise the creative process. For Brimner, it clearly revolves around personal ambition and a prioritisation of creative achievement over commercial success. For Spiteri, it’s a combination of business savvy and emotional impact, describing a chart position as “literally a test of

May 2017

“ Let’s be honest, if I were a male artist, what d’you think I’d be getting? I’d be the fucking dog’s bollocks. I’d be a national treasure”

Be Charlotte

Photo: Ryan Johnston

‘Are you relevant? Are you good at what you do?’,” claiming “any musician that tells you it doesn’t matter is talking out their arse. I want to sell as many records as I possibly can.” She’s also sick of journalists asking her to explain a song’s meaning – not because she doesn’t want to reveal the source of her inspiration, but because she believes that a connection to a song should be personal: “Make it yours. What is it to you? That’s what’s amazing when you play live, and there are thousands of people standing in one space, and they all go ‘That’s my song!’ It would be the most extraordinary thing if you could look at their stories. It makes me quite emotional, in all honesty.” Pollock remains passionate about an industry – and Glasgow’s scene in particular – that’s kept afloat by self-funded determination. Pragmatically, she recognises that music fans are just as driven by budget and convenience as any other consumer and that there’s no time for rose-tinted Record Store Day romanticism. She explains, sadly, that if The Delgados were to start afresh in 2017, they would simply not have the budget to be the same band or make the same records, and that Chemikal Underground and Chem19 would never have existed.

Sharleen Spiteri

“When I was 24, I had no responsibilities, and I bought a flat because you could. Things were different. It was a perfect time to try something that had a bit of risk about it – but my god, [starting a band] wasn’t as risky as it is now. It felt like a proper choice, like you were still making a real choice that could result in an income.” For Pollock there’s a growing, political importance to preserving independent publishers and creatively independent voices – as she warns, gently but darkly, towards the end of our conversation, it’s always the experts and artists who are silenced by funding cuts. For Holt, it’s about principles. She tells us that she tried an industry party, just the once. “When Hustle came out, we got pick-up. Got taken for lunch by people in Hawaiian shirts and those fucking glasses! You get taken out by those people and they try and talk you in to things you don’t want to do. They tell you to go to parties and get your arse out. I went, once – I got one free drink and a fucking Red Bull. There was so much posturing and I felt so uncomfortable. I had a Sainsbury’s bag [in my hand] and all. I won’t do it. I won’t do it! There are compromises I’m just not willing to make.” Our chat wraps up with a hug, and Holt attempting to comfort us about such a sad state of affairs – “There is no solution, darling!” If there’s any take-away from this brief scene report, it’s this: Never be fooled into thinking that your support isn’t needed. Pressure festivals, labels and tastemakers into representing all demographics of music makers. When payday allows it, buy a record, see a show on a Thursday night, and help to keep the lights on in the studios, basements, garages and venues which support the music that you love. This is an extracted version of a longer piece. Read the full story at theskinny.co.uk/music

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Law Holt

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Photo: Kat Gollock

Underground, the industry still had life in it. Streaming isn’t piracy but it may as well be – it’s pretty much getting music for bugger all, from an artist who’s trying to make a living. At the end of the day, it’s very straightforward: if there’s no money going in at the ground, there’s no money coming out the top. “So I guess there isn’t such a thing as development in new artists now, because if there is I don’t know who’s coming up with the money,” Pollock continues, matter-of-fact. “That’s really the main question. We’re all struggling, and there are still important labels who are trying to find new artists. But whether they can invest in them and give them the same opportunities as ten years ago? I guess the answer is no. You can only invest when there’s a possibility of return, and these days with record sales ten percent of what they used to be – and I kid you not, it is as bad as that – we’re looking at such a depression in the market. A record that would have sold twenty to twenty-five thousand is now selling two thousand copies. This industry has not just had a bit of a bump; it’s fallen off the edge of a cliff. We’re talking about an industry that no longer exists in a recognisable form.” Spiteri agrees, and furiously explains her perspective on the mechanisms behind a major’s business strategy. “Nobody knows what the public wants, but there are some people who think they do. A [major] record company’s idea is to say, ‘Right, make me an Ed Sheeran cross Adele record.’ And it’s such a shame, because they have these really great young artists and the [major label] says ‘Yeah, wow, that’s fantastic. But we’re gonna get you in with some really good songwriters.’ Why don’t they just boot them in the balls? Why don’t you just fucking cut their genitals off? These young artists are the ones who are going to give us what’s new – because there are no new notes being written, there’s no new melody, there’s no new words being said. It’s got to be a personal thing. “That’s why young artists look at record labels and say, fuck you. We don’t need you,” Spiteri continues. “And it doesn’t cost a lot to make a record anymore – you can make a record in your bedroom. You don’t need to go in the studio to make records the way I did when I started out. You’ve got a computer and you’re ready to go.”

The Pursuit of Happiness Perfume Genius tells us about trying to feel happiness and rebelling against himself on new album No Shape

Interview: Nadia Younes

Photo: Inez and Vinoodh

so bad though. Hadreas worked with Dutch photography duo Inez and Vinoodh on the artwork for No Shape, which sees him facing away from the camera looking upon a picturesque landscape. “When we were doing all the pictures, I thought for certain we would use the one that was a more traditional portrait and I even had to fight my label after for this one,” he says. “I felt like it fit with the songs, having this warmer energy but then underneath there’s always some discomfort.” Interestingly, Too Bright is the only Perfume Genius album to use a portrait shot on the artwork, while both Learning and Put Your Back N 2 It used images where faces are masked or covered up in one way or another. “I think for [Too Bright] having that picture felt really rebellious. It felt more defiant to be on the cover of that one, the way that it was,” he says. Hadreas has never shied away from his sexuality and he openly deals with queer issues in his music. “I can’t get too mad about constantly talking about my sexuality, because if I didn’t want to then I probably shouldn’t have made three albums about it,” he says. But that’s not to say you must be queer to identify with his music. The emotions and feelings dealt with in Hadreas’ music are universal, but being labelled a queer artist can create unfair prejudices.

ike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius, is known to bare his soul in his music but once a tortured soul has expelled all their demons, can they ever achieve real happiness? ‘Let all them voices slip away,’ sings Hadreas on Slip Away, the lead single from new album No Shape. The track is indicative of Hadreas’ new writing style and, seemingly, his current state of mind. “I was writing more in the moment about how I feel or how I wanted to feel, as opposed to going over old stories of things that have already happened to me,” he says. Hadreas’ first two albums as Perfume Genius, Learning and Put Your Back N 2 It, introduced us to some of his deepest, darkest secrets: battling drug and alcohol addiction, teenage sexual abuse and struggling with his sexuality, to name a few. But 2014’s Too Bright really felt like Hadreas’ coming out; his departure from lo-fi piano-playing, singer-songwriter to fully fledged queer icon. Hadreas’ music is heart-wrenchingly honest and on each album, we’ve listened to him processing different issues in his life, with Too Bright feeling like the moment he finally unleashed all that lingering internal anger. Now that he’s shed that skin, on new album No Shape he has been able to explore more positive themes. “I never really get happy, but I’m really trying to,” he says. “There’s a lot of rebelling against my own self and my own brain in some of the songs.” Writing optimistic songs doesn’t come easy to Hadreas, who is more accustomed to

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drudging up dark moments from his past. “I find it really easy to write something really disturbing,” he says. “Even the happier moments have a dissonant thread underneath but there is something vulnerable about it because you’re just admitting that you have no idea what’s going on.” Despite his previous material dealing with darker issues thematically, there has always been an underlying sense of hope in Hadreas’ writing; a desire to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. With his life in a much less tumultuous state nowadays, he had to make a conscious effort to tackle new ground musically and emotionally for his latest effort and it appears he has finally come to terms with his own contentment. “I thought about it all together, not just the emotional content but how to push myself farther in the structure of the songs and the chords that I went to,” he says. “Happy chords for me felt fresh, just to try more major keys.” While Too Bright had its experimental moments, and toyed with the idea of a bigger sound, No Shape is much more boldly cinematic and epic. Hadreas enlisted Grammy-nominated producer Blake Mills to assist on the songs, taking his music to another level of grandeur. “I kind of let everybody go to town on the songs,” he says. “I knew I was writing these anthemic, stadium songs so I wanted it to have that kind of feeling and I knew working with Blake would take it there.” Much of Hadreas’ music is created at home. His debut album Learning was recorded in his

mum’s house outside of Seattle, following a stint in rehab, and the songs for every album since have been created in his own home. Taking his music from such a personal space into a big studio may have taken some getting used to at first but for No Shape, Hadreas knew he wanted a fuller sound right from the beginning. “I wrote this album knowing much more than before that that was going to happen,” he says. “I knew that the piano was a placeholder and I wrote the songs knowing that the sound was going to be completely created after the demo.” Hadreas’ boyfriend Alan Wyffels is the somewhat unsung hero of Perfume Genius. The pair first met during a period when Hadreas had relapsed and Wyffels helped him get sober again. They have now been together eight years and live a very normal, peaceful life together in Tacoma, Washington with their dog. But Wyffels is much more than just Hadreas’ muse, if you could even call him that in the first place. Wyffels, a classically trained musician, has seen Hadreas through every step of the making of his last three albums – every album apart from Learning – and has lent a helping hand on each one along the way. “I write the music but he’s played every single live show with me and he helps figure out how to translate the songs live,” Hadreas tells us. “It’s nice to be talking about him more because even though he’s been here the whole time, I’m always the one getting my picture taken.” Sometimes getting your picture taken isn’t

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“ I can’t get too mad about constantly talking about my sexuality, because if I didn’t want to then I probably shouldn’t have made three albums about it” Mike Hadreas

“People are allowed to steal ideas, or to play with the same things that queer people play with, but as long as they’re not actually queer then it’s seen as subversive and exciting and somehow people can be thrilled by it, but not feel like they need to be uncomfortable and that can be really frustrating,” he says. “Some people think listening to a queer artist means something about their sexuality, and sometimes it does and it can then be a really powerful thing, but you don’t have to qualify before you like my music.” You begin to get a sense that Hadreas really does struggle to allow himself to be happy, but it seems that, in many ways, he is also his own worst enemy. Although he makes steps towards a more positive, uplifting sound on No Shape, there are still plenty of cracks to be found underneath the surface and those demons appear to still be there, even if they aren’t as obvious as they once were. Whether Hadreas will ever be able to reach that light at the end of the tunnel is uncertain, but one thing’s for sure: he’ll never stop trying. No Shape is out on 5 May via Matador Perfume Genius play with The xx @ The Galvanizers Yard, Glasgow, 29 & 30 Aug perfumegenius.org

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May 2017

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What’s On in Summerhall in May

Let’s get ExperimentALE

EDINBURGH CEILIDH CLUB 2 May, 8pm-11pm, £6 Every Tuesday evening we have the best of Scottish ceilidh bands. This week's band is the John Carmichael ceilidh band.

EDINBURGH CEILIDH CLUB 9 May, 8pm-11pm, £6 Every Tuesday evening we have the best of Scottish ceilidh bands. This week's band is the John Carmichael ceilidh band.

EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: TOM MCCONVILLE 3 May, 7:30pm-10:30pm, £10 / £9 conc / £7 EFC Members Tom was born on Tyneside and brought up in a pub on the famous Scotswood Road with clientele drawn from the Irish and Scottish communities.

EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: FRED MORRISON 10 May, 7:30pm-10:30pm, £10 / £9 conc / £7 EFC Members Fred Morrison was born and raised near Glasgow, but it’s the celebrated Gaelic piping tradition of his father’s native South Uist, in the outer Hebrides, that forms the bedrock of his intensely expressive, uniquely adventurous style.

SOUNDHOUSE PRESENTS: FOURTH MOON 4 May, 8pm-10:30pm, £12 / £10 adv With a killer - albeit unorthodox - line up of musicians, Fourth Moon certainly raise the bar with concertina, fiddle, whistles, flute, pipes and guitar. Part of TradFest. SOUNDHOUSE PRESENTS: THE LOWEST PAIR 5 May, 8pm-10:30pm, £12 / £10 adv Rarely will you hear such beautiful American roots music so perfectly performed. Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee have found themselves in the premier league, gaining a reputation as one of the most original old-time-influenced duos on the circuit.

Photos: Pete Dibden

SOUNDHOUSE PRESENTS: RURA 6 May, 8pm-10:30pm, £12 / £10 adv Steven Blake, Jack Badcock of Dallahan, David Foley, Adam Holmes and Jack Smedley’s powerful instrumentals and haunting song craft have impressed at many leading folk festivals. Part of TradFest.

ive years old, the Summerhall Beer Festival returns this May. Thursday 11, Friday 12 and Saturday 13 May – from 6pm each evening. Making up FestivALE4 are beer, spirits, street food and new to 2017 – ExperimentALE (we know, we know, #pungoals). ExperimentALE is a series of live science experiments – playing with the senses, using beer. Are you bored of beer and food pairings? Are you pretty confident a burger or taco (or just chips) is all beer needs to be paired with? This beer fest we’re going to scientifically test which tunes increase the enjoyment of sessionable ale. Join us to work out which beer tastes best, with which music. Think Tchaikovsky goes best with IPA, Megadeth with Porter and Charlotte Church with Red Rye? Come test the theory. FestivALE4’s reason for being is to showcase limited edition, can’t-get-anywhere-else ales. Starting off with St Andrew’s Brewing Co rolling barrels down from fife, their small-batch naturally carbonated beer, (the kind that has a wee sediment in the bottom of the bottle) with a range of beers including wet-hopped beers, their

black IPA, a mocha porter and more. Williams Bros are most likely bringing The Scorpion & The Frog, their 8.9% Mid Atlantic Brown Ale and they may just get botanical (to the tune of let’s get physical) with some new experimentALE beers of their own. On-site brewer Barney’s Marshmallow Stout and Red Rye Sour both make a comeback and we also welcome the team from Brauhaus for the first time with both bottled and draft Belgian and German specials. Cocktail Kitchen are planning something that sounds like that time Phoebe in Friends was in charge of cups and ice, with a homemade ginger beer theme, and our very own Bar of Unearthly Delights will have ‘low and no’ alcohol cocktails which will taste amazing, alongside some lesser seen bottled beers.

FESTIVALE4! BEER, SPIRITS & STREET FOOD FESTIVAL 11-13 May, 6pm, £8 / £7 adv (with ExperimentALE) / £5 (without ExperimentALE) Our yearly beer, spirits and food festival returns this May, featuring a new addition - ExperimentALE, a series of live science experiments – an exploration of the senses… and, of course, beer! WORK IN PROGRESS 16 May, 7:30pm-9:30pm, £3 Daniel Sloss, Kai Humphries, Mark Nelson, Gareth Waugh plus occasional other special guests. A night of comedy with a difference – headline comedians trying out their brand new material – off notes & off adrenaline!! EDINBURGH CEILIDH CLUB 16 May, 8pm-11pm, £6 Every Tuesday evening we have the best of Scottish ceilidh bands. This week's band is the John Carmichael ceilidh band. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: SONGWRITING COMPETITION 17 May, 8pm-10:30pm, £12 / £10 adv A wee feast of brand new songs performed live – judged by a

EDINBURGH CEILIDH CLUB 23 May, 8pm-11pm, £6 Every Tuesday evening we have the best of Scottish ceilidh bands. This week's band is the John Carmichael ceilidh band. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: PETE MORTON 24 May, 7:30pm-10:30pm, £10 / £9 conc / £7 EFC Members Pete sings from the heart, delivering songs that tell compelling stories and speak of the human condition from a very unique perspective. BUDAPEST CAFÉ ORCHESTRA 27 May, 8pm-10pm, £15 / £14 conc The Budapest Café Orchestra play traditional folk and gypsy-flavoured music from across the world. PINEGROVE, SYNERGY CONCERTS 29 May, 7:30pm-11pm, £16 / £14 adv Pinegrove's captivating blend of indie rock, pop and country elements is more vivid, finetuned, and addictive than ever before. Vocalist/guitarist Evan Stephens Hall and drummer Zack Levine (drums) form a core that has been playing together since early childhood. EDINBURGH CEILIDH CLUB 30 May, 8pm-11pm, £6 Every Tuesday evening we have the best of Scottish ceilidh bands. This week's band is the John Carmichael ceilidh band. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: DAN MCKINNON 31 May, 7:30pm-10:30pm, £10 / £9 conc / £7 EFC Members From the coffeehouses, pubs, and bars of his early beginnings in Atlantic Canada, Dan, “blessed with a gorgeous baritone voice, and an exceptional command of phrasing, light and shade” continues to convey his “finely crafted songs” to audiences through his yearly tours.

For the full beer & food line-up – keep an eye on @summerhallery summerhall.co.uk

Pinegrove

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Photo: Claire Maxwell

SOUNDHOUSE PRESENTS: ANNA & ELIZABETH 7 May, 8pm-10:30pm, £12 / £10 adv Inspired by tradition, Anna & Elizabeth gather songs and stories to bring them to life with sparse, atmospheric arrangements accompanied with story “crankies” – intricate picture-scrolls that illustrate the old songs. Part of TradFest.

BRAW GIGS & NEHH PRESENT… DUCKTAILS + JAMES FERRARO + TYPHONIAN HIGHLIFE 10 May, 8pm-11pm, £12 Ducktails is the solo side project of Matthew Mondanile, a member of Ridgewood, New Jersey-based indie beach bums Real Estate.

jury for 1st, 2nd and 2rd prize. And the audience has a say, too – awarding a quaich to the most popular song.

Let’s Talk About The Weather Pond guitarist Joe Ryan talks impending nuclear threat, colonialism, and producing with Kevin Parker ahead of the Aussie group’s seventh album The Weather

Interview: Claire Francis

here’s a huge squirrel right next to me,” Joe Ryan exclaims down the line from his hotel room in LA’s Silver Lake. “It’s the biggest squirrel I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s bloody huge, he must be getting fat from people dropping stuff from the food trucks everywhere.” The guitarist and founding member of the eclectic psych-rock outfit Pond landed in the city the day prior to this interview. “I haven’t had my morning cup of tea yet,” he warns, adding that the jet lag has “got me by the balls.” The Aussie quartet are at the beginning of a two-month-long international tour in support of their seventh album The Weather. As with their 2015 release Man, It Feels Like Space Again, the forthcoming record was produced by Tame Impala frontman and former Pond member, Kevin Parker. “We actually finished recording [The Weather] in January 2016,” he laughs, “but you may have heard of this little band called Tame Impala, who got bloody huge after their album Currents... So Kevin and Jay [Watson], who is in both bands, were off quite a bit, and we didn’t want to force old KP with deadlines. So we were pretty much just sitting on it for a while.” The album was recorded in Parker’s newly renovated studio in Perth, Western Australia – “I think we were the first of the bands to jump in there and actually use it to record” – and in Pond’s typically collaborative fashion, it features the input of band members both past and present. “We got our mate Richard Ingham, who plays in a number of Perth bands – the latest of which I can’t even pronounce, it’s some crazy, crazy mixture of letters – but he also played in our original band Mink Mussel Creek. So he was basically the engineer, and Kevin would sort of poke his head in every couple of days and be like, ‘You’re not breaking anything?’” he laughs. “It was a bit of a team effort, but it was cool. We were only in the studio for two weeks or so, and then over the course of a year until [Kevin] mixed it we just added a couple of overdubs, maybe changed a couple of lyrics here and there. But for the most part it was recorded and written as we did it over those two weeks.” The lead single Sweep Me Off My Feet is perhaps one of Pond’s most pop-leaning tracks to date, and though the album retains the psych-fuzz jams that have won them a cult following, elsewhere it explores a more electronic tone than on any of their previous releases. “It’s definitely got a few more synthesised sounds on it,” Ryan agrees. “We can’t keep making the same album again and again and again, otherwise it gets a bit monotonous for ourselves. And I’m sure people who listen to the albums want a bit of variety anyway, you know? I certainly do.” When The Skinny suggests that Parker’s influence can be heard in the similarities between their latest record and the synthesised, R’n’B elements of Tame Impala’s most recent album, Ryan pauses. “Oh yeah, I could see that… I guess you’re right,” he laughs after a moment of consideration. “I think [Parker] is more refined in his sound, like he’s spent hours and hours and days working on one particular sound to make it his own. [Whereas] we’d just be like, ‘Yeah that, that’ll do, that sounds pretty good!’” he admits. “It was kind of cool though; we didn’t actually have a working bass guitar so a lot of the sounds you’ll hear are [from] a really small synth, as small as can be, [with] a gnarly, gnarly low-end. So once we discovered that little beauty we were pretty much using that for every sub-bass part on the album.”

May 2017

Photo: Matt Sav

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As for Ryan’s favourite track from the forthcoming album, “I think I’m going to have to go with Edge of the World Pt. 1,” he responds without hesitation. “It’s just got that one bit in the middle where it goes up into this Beach Boys kind of French horn, staccato bit, and it’s like train tracks and cop cars whizzing around, and then it just enters space! “It [goes] from this really mellow, timpani bit into this luscious cacophony of harmonies,” he continues. “I think when we were doing that one I sort of looked up from the guitar desk and looked around at the boys and was just like…. ‘Fuck! This is going to be a sick album!’” he explains with a laugh. A semi-concept album of sorts, thematically The Weather traverses such grave topics as nuclear armageddon, the impact of colonialism, and white privilege. Of the band’s writing process, Ryan explains: “We though it would be good if Nick [Allbrook] wrote most of the lyrics, even for the songs that were [mine and Jay’s], just to make it seem like some continuity ran through the album. I guess that it’s kind of loosely about Perth, Western Australia, but more broadly about the world at this kind of boiling point. As for the creative benefits of being based in Perth – a city not traditionally regarded as a cultural hub – Ryan expands: “Back in the day, before anyone knew who the hell we were, it was like – and still is – a little piece of paradise out there. I mean, our winter’s like... at the most you get down to three degrees for half an hour at 3am; the summers are great, you’ve got beautiful beaches; and it’s very, very isolated as well.

“When we were kind of honing our skills and our tastes, it was the isolation of the whole city that really contributed a lot to it,” he continues. “It became like a little microcosm of the world. No one was really influenced by any particular kind of scene or ego that goes with different cities in different parts of the world. It’s just a beautiful, organic, lovely place with no consequences for being a bit bold or daring.”

“ It’s like train tracks and cop cars whizzing around, and then it just enters space!” Joe Ryan

Going back to the aforementioned ‘boiling point’ of the world at large, this tension is referenced throughout the album in the form of news broadcast snippets and references to figures such as the infamous mining mogul Gina Rinehart. Surely, we ask Ryan, this is the most openly political work that Pond have recorded? “I’d say so actually, now that you mention all those parts. It’s still not like…” He pauses. “It’s too early in the morning, I can’t even think of the most

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politically driven album I know,” he laughs, “but I’d say to date it’s our most overtly political. It doesn’t really feel like it until you read the liner notes and you’re like, holy shit, Nick’s talking about all this pensive stuff. “I actually read his lyrics when we were getting the artwork together for the vinyls, and I was like, ‘Holy shit! You’re a lyrical surgeon mate, I didn’t even know you were saying half this stuff.’” Another track released as a single, the cosmic album opener 30000 Megatons is the album’s most direct meditation on impending nuclear threat. Yet Ryan is still emphatically hopeful that the song is heard as a warning, and not a prophecy: “Let’s hope not, hey? That would be pretty fucking shit!” he exclaims. “But yeah, we did drop [the track] the night Trump was announced as the winner. Kevin was mixing the album and he was like, ‘Finish this song – now’s the time to drop it!’” The Weather certainly takes aim at the strange state of the world – a state that Ryan believes has gotten “even stranger” in the year-and-a-bit since the album was first recorded. Of life in 2017, he muses in typically laid-back Antipodean style: “I’ve just been putting it out of my mind and enjoying my cup of tea every morning. When you’re out on the road with your best mates it’s easy to just put it out of your mind and enjoy the moment, you know? When everything’s out of your hands, you’ve just got to push on through.” The Weather is released on 5 May via Marathon Artists Pond play The Art School, Glasgow, 19 Jun pondband.net

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Wordless Wonder Michaël Dudok de Wit’s extraordinary new film The Red Turtle marks the first collaboration between Japan’s Studio Ghibli and a Western filmmaker. The Dutch animator recalls working with the legendary anime house and the moment he realised his film should be wordless

ver a decade has passed since Michaël Dudok de Wit received a letter that changed the course of his life. It was an invitation from Studio Ghibli, the venerable Japanese animation studio, to make a film with them. It was a bolt from the blue for the Dutch animator, who had won an Oscar in 2001 for his short Father and Daughter but had no experience in feature filmmaking. “I had a very vague ambition but it looked like it was a mountain, not so much physically making the film but convincing producers that the film is worth investing in and convincing them that all my ideas are the best ideas,” he says when recalling that extraordinary summons. “What I’m saying is that I hear of colleagues who go to the States with proposals for a feature, and even if the feature is accepted it’s taken over by the producers. I say this without judgement. It may be a good decision or a bad decision, but that is not my idea. I’m very much into directors’ movies. So when Studio Ghibli wrote to me, I knew from their work that they would respect the artistic choices of the director.” The Red Turtle is certainly a film that would never have survived the process of approvals and test screenings involved in a typical studio production. It’s easy to imagine nervous financiers and producers asking Dudok de Wit to add a backstory for the main character, beef up the plot with a little more action, or allow us some insight into the protagonist’s thoughts with narration. Instead, The Red Turtle resists all conventional storytelling choices as it tells the tale of a castaway, washed up on a desert island, whose every attempt to return to civilisation is stymied by the mysterious creature of the title. It’s a gentle, patient piece of storytelling that has the timeless quality of a fable, and much of its strange power comes from the complete lack of dialogue, although this wasn’t always Dudok de Wit’s plan for the film. “There was some dialogue in the script, actually,” he tells us. “I really believed the film needed

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some sentences for two reasons: there are some moments when it clarifies things about people’s motivations, and the other thing is that I felt it would add an extra level of empathy to the characters.” Dudok de Wit’s earlier shorts are all sans dialogue, and his attempt to express himself in words here proved to be a major stumbling block. “In the script it worked and intellectually it worked, but it didn’t feel right. Even though there were very few words in total, thirty or forty, I imagined that it would be a question of finding the right words, almost like the right words for a poem.” Ultimately, it was the director’s Japanese producers who encouraged him to drop the dialogue completely, a decision that proved to be liberating. “Something switched in me and I realised I was wrong, we don’t need the dialogue, and then I was really excited because it’s a challenge, especially when some members of the audience see a non-dialogue film as too arty and it’s a challenge to communicate these basic things very clearly. The sensitive scenes received much more time from the animators, we spent a lot of time getting the body language right. Since we made the decision to drop the dialogue I never looked back. I’m really pleased we did that.” Although Dudok de Wit was determined to make a ‘director’s film’, it’s hard to ignore advice when it is coming from some of the greatest names in the history of animation. It was Isao Takahata, the director of Grave of the Fireflies and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, who first instigated contact with him having seen and loved Father and Daughter. (In fact, he loves it so much he now regularly teaches the film in his university courses.) Takahata has remained a close collaborator throughout this process, being credited as an artistic producer on The Red Turtle, so did Dudok de Wit gain any insight into his working practices? “He was very generous when talking about the different cultural things he has observed and

admired, so we talked a lot about these things that interest him, but I have no insight into how you can become such a big director when you don’t draw at all,” he says. “You need the mind of an animator to direct an animated film, and he has that, I saw that very clearly in our conversations. I think it grew in him, and [Hayao] Miyazaki is interestingly totally the opposite, he can’t stop drawing and his drawings ooze charisma, and they are translated in his films. Takahata has the freedom to change styles completely because he doesn’t create the style, he just finds the right collaborator to get a new style for his film.”

“I just love the slightly imperfect quality of handdrawn animation” Michaël Dudok de Wit

Dudok de Wit’s own style has evolved over the years through his short films and The Red Turtle, but he remains committed to traditional hand-drawn animation as his medium of choice. “I stay with hand-drawn because that is my joy, that is what I enjoy doing,” he says. “I admire computer-animated films a lot, especially ones that break new ground – I respect them a lot and there is a lot of talent in that. But I just love the slightly imperfect quality of hand-drawn animation. You can see the weaknesses of the artist, and in a way they are not called weaknesses anymore, they are the charming qualities.” The Red Turtle utilises some computer imagery – the turtle would have been impossible to animate

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Interview: Philip Concannon

otherwise, he explains – but in general it harkens back to a bygone age of animation and feels out of step with modern practices. In fact, one wonders what the future holds for traditional animation techniques when Studio Ghibli’s status remains uncertain and the Hollywood studios have almost completely given up on 2D animation, throwing in their lot with polished computer-generated fare. “We’ve seen the CG films, they work, we enjoy them, they make a massive profit, but it’s not the only way of making animated films. There is a thirst for other things, such as Aardman films or Studio Ghibli films,” he says before citing a recent visit to the Cartoon Movie convention in Bordeaux, where new projects were being pitched, as a reason to be hopeful. “A lot of them won’t be made but I looked at most of the projects being pitched, mostly European, and there were a lot of handdrawn films, and a lot of adult animated films with very serious subjects about refugees, war, etc. That’s a new trend that I find very interesting. I think there is a thirst for new directions in animation.” It remains to be seen where Michaël Dudok de Wit’s career will go next. He’s finally reaching the end of the road with The Red Turtle, after ten years in production and a full year of promotion, but can he imagine another feature-length commitment or will he return to short filmmaking? “I really wish I knew the answer, because I like both,” he says. “I know this is coming to an end and I need to sit down and think about another project, and a short film is something incredible because it is so individualistic and they can have so much character. I’m not sure what my next step will be but making a feature has given me a flavour. I’ve grown a lot, not just as an artist but as a collaborator, someone who has to delegate and work with other people. I learned a lot from that and I would enjoy that experience again.” The Red Turtle is released 26 May by StudioCanal

THE SKINNY

May 2017

Literary Toys for Adults Argentine author César Aira is like nothing you’ve read before. As a light is shone on a small corner of his work – translations of The Proof and The Little Buddhist Monk – he discusses why each of his stories are highly distinct from one another

t’s a tough gig interviewing César Aira, Argentina’s most impishly playful avant-garde man of letters. Firstly, his writing consists of more than 80 works, yet only a small percentage have been translated into English. Then, when combining these backcatalogue black holes with the hugely diverse nature of this translated writing (each work wildly different to the last), it is simply impossible to tie him down as a writer. So, you seek a second opinion from those in the know, but his critics polarise into the disparaging (‘Slippery’ – The Nation; ‘too smart’ – New York Sun; ‘infuriating’ – New York Times; ‘a writer of perplexing episodes’ – NYRB) and the adulatory (‘[the] most original, shocking, subversive Spanish language author of our day’ – Ignacio Echevarría; ‘one of the three or four best writers working in Spanish today’ – Roberto Bolaño). Patti Smith simply proclaims ‘Hail César!’ In order to understand the work of Aira, think of the alchemy of Borges, take a left towards Calvino and stride past the surrealist thought of Duchamp. It’s a complex literary map, but Aira is a perplexing writer. He can twist narrative structure inside out and turn a story on a sixpence. Even the end of a sentence can seem to forget where it originated from. He moves easily across plots and timelines and tense.

A literary chameleon, Aira cuts his stories from cloth of varying size and style, meaning that of the over 80 works he has written, many are around the 20-30 page mark (yet are published individually rather than as collections). Many others fit weighty themes into compact 100-page novellas – like The Proof (a tale beginning with the word ‘wannafuck’, as two punk girls, Mao and Lenin, allow their proposal of love to blossom into ultraviolence) and The Little Buddhist Monk (a seemingly absurdist interpretation of the Western gaze onto Eastern exoticism – I think). Both are translated into English for the first time by Nick Caistor and form the beginning of our conversation when Aira speaks to us from Buenos Aires. The Skinny: The two books now being published in the UK (The Proof and The Little Buddhist Monk) are new to English language readers, but are actually pulled from the annals of your back catalogue. What are your memories of writing both books and how do you feel about them now? César Aira: In hindsight, I see all my books as a kind of experimental test. All are different due to dissatisfaction. After writing one, I am so discontent that I want to try something completely different, in theme, in tone, in form. I do not

remember the exact circumstances of these two books, but I suppose that after writing a well-mannered book, and feeling that this was not my best style, I wanted to do something brutal and transgressive like The Proof. After writing a novel of psychological seriousness, and feeling that I had failed regrettably, I wrote a cartoon-like book like The Little Buddhist Monk. And in turn, both The Proof and The Little Buddhist Monk also felt like failures that drove me to different things. I think if I ever felt satisfied with something I wrote, it would end this fun odyssey of genres and aesthetics that has been my literary life. When, for example, you begin The Proof with the word ‘wannafuck?’ do you have any idea where the story might take you? There’s always an idea, I need it to get started. In this case, the idea was to bring to the world of contemporary adolescents – in addition to that, punks – the romantic, chivalric theme of the test of love. But I need the idea to be naked, just an idea, a support, that allows me to improvise the development on the run.

“ In my stories I allow myself all freedoms” César Aira

Is it liberating then, to face the page without any restrictions? Freedom is perhaps the reason why I write. And in my stories I allow myself all freedoms. Sometimes, rarely, I write an essay, in which I must take care of what I say, be intelligent, coherent, and I do it so as to better appreciate the freedom that gives the narrative, when I do not need to take care of anything, nor be coherent or intelligent. I might compare it to someone who spends a day locked in a basement just to better appreciate the air and sun the next day. But it’s not only tone and style which feel unrestricted, many of your stories run to just over the 100-page mark and others 20 to 30; both are unconventional and uncommercial lengths for literature. Do they simply run their natural course? In my youth, I wrote novels of a conventional length, because I wanted to be published. When I had enough prestige to impose my will, or my whim, I narrowed myself to the limits that seemed to me most suitable for the poetic and imaginative density of what I write. There is something else, which may seem a bit ridiculous. All my friends and influences during my youth were poets, and published these slender elegant books, beside which the thick volume of novels seemed clumsy and primitive. I was not, nor am, a poet, but over time I managed to make my books slim and elegant also. And despite the separation of your writing (both physically, as individual publications, and in continually developing thematically), is there a bigger picture to be built from your body of work? A fresco, painted through grand design or chance? I’m the last one to be able to see the big picture, because I am making it brushstroke by brush-

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BOOKS

Interview: Alan Bett

stroke, and I intend to continue doing this while I live. I observe in me an intuitive opposition to any kind of totality or totalisation. When I feel that there begins to form a recognisable figure, I immediately do something to deform it. When I hear, say, that I have some influence on young writers, I wonder how it is possible, if my work seems (or it seems to me) made by ten different writers. The only influence I can exert is that of my insistence on freedom. The current publisher, & Other Stories, seem to be gladly pushing the negative reviews as much as the glowing praise. Do you enjoy being such a provocative and divisive writer? I think the best compliment is the existence of that division. Good literature does not form a consensus. If it satisfies the whole world it is because it has condescended to one or another mediocrity. There is often humour and absurdity in amongst very serious themes in your work. Is this deliberate technique or just a natural process? It’s natural. I think there is a constant veil of irony, so that the reader has to think twice if I am saying things seriously or jokingly. Philosophy, History, Journalism, are bound to be serious, Literature is not. Is there something specific to Argentine literature that defines or influences your work? For many in the UK, Borges is the name that rings out, but who else should we be aware of? Borges was how I discovered literature, I mean the literariness of literature, when I was a teenager. And his work is very present among my influences up until today. I once said (exaggerating, but not so much) that everything I have written is a footnote to Borges’ work. Borges set a very high water mark for Argentine literature. I think the only ones that were up to the challenge were Osvaldo Lamborghini and Alberto Laiseca, both untranslated, I’m afraid. Remaining on the theme of nation, you’ve lived and written over changing social and political periods in Argentina, some turbulent. Does this seep into your work? I guess it’s inevitable, but in my case at an unconscious level. I was more affected by reading Lautréamont than by a dictatorship. But I warn those who question me in advance, that I never speak of politics or football, which makes me less Argentine than I should be, because these are the two great passions of my country. English language speakers can, at the moment, only access a small percentage of your work in translation. As your writing is so diverse in theme and style, it can be hard then to pin you down. How would you describe your work more broadly? I have a provocative (but sincere) definition for my books: ‘Dadaist fairy tales’. I recently found a much better one: ‘Literary Toys for Adults’. And I think I can justify it. ‘Toys’, because the intention is always playful; ‘literary’, because they operate with the mechanisms of literature, not with those of reality (we all grew up loathing metaliterature, but the sad truth is that literature is metaliterature); and ‘for adults’ because I endeavour to be read by readers who have gone all the way, from Jules Verne or Salgari to Kafka. The Proof and The Little Buddhist Monk are both published by & Other Stories, out now, RRP £7.99. Both are translated by Nick Caistor

THE SKINNY

Black Magical Realism Things We Lost in the Fire could be the most dark and thrilling short story collection you ever encounter, blending the sociopolitical horrors of dictatorship and domestic violence with supernatural terror. Mariana Enriquez explains her literary cocktail

“T

he poor men.” Mariana Enriquez’ words drip with glorious sarcasm, and I imagine her slowly shaking her head down the line from Buenos Aires. But, it must be said, the men get it tight in her modern gothic short story collection, Things We Lost in the Fire. While chatting with the Argentine author, I’m naïve enough to bring this point up. “The poor men,” she deadpans back. “But they’re not evil, I think?” No, I concede, impotent rather than evil. “It’s been pointed out to me a lot,” she replies. “I remember having a conversation with a friend and saying, ‘But you never complain when men are portrayed as corrupt politicians, violent cops, serial killers. Why is that a representation you’re comfortable with? But a representation of a husband that doesn’t make his wife happy – something that happens all the time – you’re so uncomfortable with.’ And he says to me, ‘I think it’s because we don’t own the narrative. The voices of the women are so powerful that we’re left on the side, and that’s kind of disturbing. Why can’t we be the protagonists here?’” Meet Mariana Enriquez, Argentine journalist and author, whose short stories are of decapitated street kids (heads skinned to the bone), ritual sacrifice and ghoulish children sporting sharpened teeth. Of murdered teens who return from beneath dark polluted waters. The setting – in the troubled wake of the Argentine dictatorship – makes their underlying influence seem obvious, but sometimes the origins of horror can surprise you. “I mean, one of the places where I had the most fear in my life was a Backstreet Boys concert,” Enriquez says, with no hint of mockery. “I was reporting as a journalist, and I hated them. But I saw these 30,000 girls screaming all the time. It was something biblical. It was like, what’s the power that these girls are conjuring?” We’re discussing her talent for forming fantastical horror from the twisted scar tissue of Argentina’s recent past: police torture, political persecution, the disappeared and the Dirty War – the latter a period of state terrorism where right-wing death squads tortured and killed leftwing guerrillas, and often anybody sympathetic to their cause. These stories blend the real-life horrors of domestic and state violence, homelessness and economic uncertainty with the supernatural; ghosts, demons and witchcraft. They inhabit the same plane, stalk the same prey; both are offered equality in terror. But, of course, her inspirations occasionally arise from those more innocuous sources: “The girls, that kind of stayed with me. Not the only one… but that I can assure you; that was weird. They never stopped screaming. Never. It was like the Furies. And for those boys? [But] it wasn’t about the boys, it was about them, feeding off each other, their energy, and trying to release something. I just wrote a review of the concert, but on another level, I always have antenna for this weirdness.” No matter how weighty her themes, Enriquez readily references genre fiction and popular culture in her work; films such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s dread-soaked internet ghost story Pulse and the new flesh of Cronenberg’s Videodrome. This unpretentiousness translates well to our surprisingly laid-back conversation, considering the subject matter – black magic, torture and death – being discussed at this early hour. “A very good Sunday morning talk,” suggests Enriquez, and sounds like she means it. I had opened by complimenting this cocktail of politics and cult horror in her work. “OK, nice,” is her reply. “So we share interests then?” It’s refreshing to encounter somebody so political and ‘literary’ who, instead of turning from genre, adopts it to save her work falling into

May 2017

preaching or pamphleteering. Horror is the drop of blood that flowers in the clear water of her social commentary. Fear, as an emotion, the ultimate puppeteer. “I don’t have a problem about being called a horror writer,” she answers directly when I ask. “My favourite writers have written horror; Robert Aickman, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King… I don’t have a problem because I think I’m in good company.” Considering her writing’s overlap between Borges and King, Ocampo and Jackson, an accurate term might be ‘black magical realism’, and it’s possible this strange genre brew is a result of Enriquez’ historical vantage point; born just prior to the coup but too young to be complicit, or even fully aware. “I was born December ‘73, so was two years old when the dictatorship came, so I really don’t remember it rationally, I remember it emotionally… I can’t remember anything more than a climate of fear in my house. Then, when I was a bit older, 8 or 9, this was the time when the crimes of the dictatorship came [to public knowledge]. It was everywhere, it was on TV, it was in magazines. My parents let me read everything, and it really read like horror, especially if you were a child that didn’t know the distinction between fiction and reality so clearly. There were terms that you didn’t understand, like political prisoner, or detention camps.” In one story, The Intoxicated Years, a trio of adolescent girls go feral during the vacuum, post dictatorship, when hyperinflation was accelerating and the country’s infrastructure failing. These rudderless, narcotically charged delinquents cast dark shadows in the nation’s flickering light: ‘I walked slowly over to him and tried to imitate the look of hatred in the eyes of the girl in Parque Pereyra. The electricity made my hair stand on end; I felt like it had turned into wires…’ “There’s something about the friendships of girls when they’re teenagers that to me is totally scary, is totally witchery, is totally mysterious,” Enriquez says. “Even for me and I’ve been there.

But there’s something powerful and secretive about them. And when they are left to themselves, because there’s a crisis that is quite over their heads and nobody’s paying attention to them, god knows what they can do alone.”

“ I don’t have a problem being called a horror writer… because I think I’m in good company” Mariana Enriquez

The collection’s most darkly thrilling story is Under the Black Water, a Lovecraftian tale of two boys tortured by the police and made to cross a polluted river. “For some reason that river to me always hid something very ancient, very evil,” suggests Enriquez, “a cosmic evil. The evil of that police officer wanting to make the boy try to swim in a polluted river when he knows that he’s going to die. What makes you do something like that? What got into you? From where?” The most disturbing element to this is its source material, like much of Enriquez’, drawn from news headlines. “Yeah, yeah. It was a crime that was pretty big. I distorted things of course, but mostly it was two boys, they lived around the slum near the river and they were caught by the police and tortured in the street – they simulated shooting them.” And then they were told to swim the river. This is a police force tainted by recent history, an aftershock of a violent past. “The police brutality, I think yeah, if you have to choose something as an

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Interview: Alan Bett Illustration: Xenia Latii

echo of that [dictatorship]. Because even if it’s a long time ago, even if they are trained as a democratic force, there’s still a sediment there of that brutality and impunity – the power that they used to have over the people that somehow is still there.” The collection’s translator, Megan McDowell, states so perfectly in an excellent afterword: ‘The horror comes not only from turning our gaze on desperate populations; it comes from realising the extent of our blindness.’ This feeds well into Enriquez’ reply to me when asked why she focusses on the darker side of her country. “I love the country, but I think that’s why I’m harsh with it… I’m harsh because I care about it and I want it to change.” I mention speaking with Argentine author César Aira just the week previous. He wouldn’t touch politics, or football. A fact that made him feel very un-Argentinian. “Yeah, I’m sure,” agrees Enriquez matter of factly, “because we’re all about politics and football.” The fact that Enriquez has no such qualms is in some ways thanks to Aira. “What he separated from Argentinian literature was the obligation to be solemn, to talk about politics… to put imagination aside because these things were too serious to be contaminated by genre, let it be horror, fantasy, humour, whatever… I can cross it (the socio-political situation) with genre and not be scared and think, ‘Ah, I’m going to talk about the disappeared in a horror story, this is totally disrespectful.’ And I think that’s an effect of César Aira’s literature.” Then, after some chit chat and pleasantries (a reference to Dawn of the Dead amongst them), she’s off to prepare for some sort of party later in the day, which it seems is being approached in the style of her writing: “It’s a BBQ basically, but brutal.” Things We Lost in the Fire is out now, published by Portobello Books, RRP £12.99

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THE SKINNY

The Mighty Barratt Beloved curmudgeonly comic Julian Barratt makes a jump to the big screen with the endearingly silly Mindhorn, in which he plays a washed-up actor caught up in a murder plot. He talks about the pomposity of actors and a possible return of The Mighty Boosh

ovie actors are a funny old lot. Essentially they’re big kids who’ve been paid handsomely to raid the dressing up box, but to hear them talk you’d think they were curing cancer. Comedian, musician, writer and actor Julian Barratt finds his fellow thespians’ self-importance endlessly hilarious. “It’s so hard to not sound like an arse when you talk about acting,” he says down the phone from London. “So it’s a very rich territory for comedy.” You can see this self-seriousness at work on shows like Inside the Actors Studio and those round table discussions The Hollywood Reporter do around the time of the Oscars. “Oh, those round tables are just great,” Barratt chuckles. “They’re full of people trying to make out they don’t care about acting and it’s just a job. ‘We’re just like plumbers, but working with different materials; the plumber works with pipes, I work with human emotions.’ Or when you talk about how privileged you are to work with whoever – even that comes across as annoying.” Barratt channels some of this pomposity into Richard Thorncroft, the protagonist of Mindhorn, his inspired new comedy, which he co-wrote with Simon Farnaby. At the start of the film we discover Thorncroft enjoyed some low-level fame in the 80s as the title star of Mindhorn, a cheesy detective show in which the titular sleuth uses his bionic eye to literally see the truth; his ocular gift helped him interrogate bad guys, but it also came in handy while seducing women. We see snippets of the show – which comes across like a mashup of Bergerac and The Six Million Dollar Man – throughout this feature-length comedy, but the majority of the action takes place in the modern day, where Thorncroft has become a grotesque has-been; overweight and toupeed, he reaches a career nadir when he loses his latest gig, a TV ad for orthopaedic socks, to John Nettles (of Bergerac fame). Thorncroft is a joke, but Barratt can certainly empathise. “He is very much a version of me after a couple of bad decisions,” laughs Barratt. He reckons all actors are a few poor choices away

May 2017

from Thorncroft’s predicament. “I don’t think it takes much: make the wrong career move here and there, and a couple of bad relationships, and suddenly you’re on your own and you’re grasping at straws.” Barratt is being modest, surely. The 48-yearold has been a key player in some of the 21st century’s most feverishly adored British comedies. With Noel Fielding he created the wildly surreal The Mighty Boosh, in which he played “jazz maverick” Howard Moon, a character even more pompous than Richard Thorncroft. Then there’s Dan Ashcroft, the self-loathing journalist who finds himself inside a maelstrom of idiocy in East London’s hipster scene as depicted in Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker’s prescient sitcom Nathan Barley. He also had a recurring role in spoof supernatural medical drama Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. And that’s not to mention Will Sharpe’s brilliant Channel 4 show Flowers, from last year, in which Barratt gave his darkest – and finest – performance yet as a suicidal children’s book author. Despite this success, Barratt insists a Richard Thorncroft-style fall from grace is a real worry. “Sure, I’ve made shows that have connected and that I’m very proud of, but you’re always trying to think of the next thing you’re going to do. You have to keep asking, ‘Do I still have it in me to do another thing that people want?’ I have friends who never got into show business at all, and they have proper jobs – they do their job and they’re not constantly thinking, ‘What can I do next?’ ‘How can I make it valid?’ ‘Is this going to work?’ ‘Are people going to be interested?’ They just do a job and then at the end of the week they turn off and go out. I sometimes envy them that sort of life.” We’re glad he’s stuck with comedy, as Mindhorn contains some of Barratt’s most gut-bustingly funny material. With his career in the toilet, Richard Thorncroft is given a reprieve. When a deranged serial killer on the Isle of Man tells the police he’ll negotiate, but only with Mindhorn, whom he believes to be a real detective, Thorncroft is given a cushy gig resurrecting his old character

to try and solve the murders. Files the film with ¡Three Amigos!, Galaxy Quest and Tropic Thunder, the other great comedies about actors being mistaken for their characters and pulled into real-life peril. The initial idea came from Barratt’s friend and co-star Simon Farnaby. “Really nerdy fans of The Mighty Boosh will know that Mindhorn is the name of a half-man, half-fish creature that appears in one of the Boosh’s songs,” Farnaby explains when we meet him in Glasgow ahead of the film’s Scottish premiere at Glasgow Film Festival. “He’s very obscure, he appears in one of the songs from the radio show, I think. Julian had given me the CD and I heard the name Mindhorn and I just wrote it down because it sounded like an 80s detective show, you know, these one word shows like Wycliffe or Spender.”

“ It’s so hard to not sound like an arse when you talk about acting” Julian Barratt

The pair clearly love this very particular genre; you have to love something to satirise it as well as Barratt and Farnaby do in Mindhorn. But the film isn’t simply a nostalgic piss-take in the mould of, say, MacGruber, Will Forte’s hilariously crude parody of MacGyver, the action-adventure American equivalent of the shows Mindhorn send up. Barratt came up with the twist that the films should be about the actor who used to be in Mindhorn, and Richard Thorncroft was born. This was over a decade ago. “Originally Julian thought he was too young to play Thorncroft,” says Farnaby. “Whoever played the character had to

FILM

Interview: Jamie Dunn

be old enough to be believable as an aging hasbeen. We thought: let’s get someone like Ben Kingsley to do it!” But so slow was the writing process that Barratt soon found he was approaching the perfect vintage to take on the role. “He likes to tell people he put on weight for the part,” chuckles Farnaby, “but he didn’t, he just carried on doing what he normally does.” Barratt is far more complimentary about his writing partner: “Simon is great because he’s very pragmatic. He’s great at just getting to the end of things. I’ll get really caught up with the problems and the details, agonise over them a lot, so we were a good team.” How does he feel about writing on his own? “I can’t stand it to be honest. I’ll do it. I mean, I like to write with someone and then go off and write a bit on my own and bring it back. But writing on your own is lonely, it’s bloody awful.” Talking of writing partnerships, Barratt is still best known for his wildly inventive stage show and BBC sitcom The Mighty Boosh, which he co-wrote and co-starred in with Noel Fielding. It was a classic chalk and cheese double act: Fielding’s Vince Noir was a glam rock dadaist with a childlike spirit of adventure while Barratt’s Howard Moon was a curmudgeonly jazz-enthusiast and the butt of almost every joke. Rumours of a revival, or even a feature-length project, have been floating around since the pair’s last official Boosh performance in 2009. Barratt sounds open to the idea. “I don’t want to start any rumours, but we never finished with the Boosh,” he says. “We parked it essentially. So it’s like a crazy old car that we drove around in, and it’s still there. We could get it out, we could look at it, try and get the engine going again, give it a new coat of paint. Sometimes you think it’s best just to leave something where it was and not try and recreate that magic, but who knows?” He gives a long pause and chuckles. “We’ll probably run out of money at some point and you’ll see us doing it.” Mindhorn is released 5 May by StudioCanal

Feature

Challenging Convention Prolific French auteur François Ozon is back with post-WWI period drama Frantz. He discusses the thrill of shooting in black-and-white and why he rarely repeats himself

he one consistent factor in François Ozon’s career has been his capacity to surprise. Frantz is the prolific director’s 16th feature in less than two decades, and while his genre-hopping oeuvre looks incredibly eclectic on the surface, encompassing an extraordinary range of styles and tones, there’s a common authorial voice and thematic thread uniting these films that ensures they all feel distinctively his. Ozon’s explorations of relationships have been alternately playful, romantic and haunted by the spectre of death, and he is capable of delivering a satisfying narrative while subverting genre expectations and commenting on the act of storytelling itself. In this light, Frantz feels like a natural fit for the director, even as it marks the biggest stylistic departure of his career to date. Set in Germany in the aftermath of the Great War, Frantz is the story of Anna (Paula Beer), a young woman who discovers the mysterious Adrien (Pierre Niney) laying flowers at the grave of Frantz, her late fiancé. She takes him into the family home when she learns of his deep friendship with Frantz, and the romance that blossoms between them is perhaps predictable but, typically for Ozon, the path that the narrative follows is not. “The challenge for me was to tell a story with a twist in the middle of the film,” Ozon explains when we catch up with him during the London Film Festival. “That was quite dangerous but exciting for me, because it’s unusual. The twist is usually at the end of the film. In the case of this story, I wanted the film to be in a mirror structure, between the two countries and the two languages, and yes it was a real challenge.”

Frantz is an adaptation of Maurice Rostand’s 1930 play L’Homme que j’ai tué but the director also credits Broken Lullaby, the 1931 screen version directed by Ernst Lubitsch. “A friend of mine told me about this play written in the 20s about the First World War, and I really enjoyed it. I loved the story about this French guy who goes to Germany to put some roses on the grave of a German soldier,” he says. “I began to work on it but I realised Lubitsch made an adaptation, so I was very disappointed and depressed. I watched Lubitsch’s film, and I really enjoyed the film, but I realised that this film was in the perspective of the French guy and my idea was to tell the story from the perspective of the German girl. So I realised my film would be quite different.” Ozon eventually appropriated a powerful scene invented by Lubitsch for his film, when Frantz’s grieving father chastises a group of crowing Germans and reminds them that the French’s pain over losing their sons is just as deep as their own. Beyond the central love story, Frantz is a film about prejudice and people learning to overcome their deep-rooted nationalism to see the humanity of others, and as a result it reflects very contemporary concerns. Did Ozon realise he was writing a piece that would chime with 21st-century Europe in such a striking way? “It was not my first idea, but as I worked on the historical context I realised that there are a lot of things that resonate with today so I developed that, especially when she goes to France and we realise that nationalists exist in France too,” he explains. “I wrote the script just after the terrorist attack in Charlie [Hebdo], and I had all that in mind. You know the

scene in the café when there is La Marseillaise? I wanted to give the opportunity to the French to hear this song in another way, with the violence of the lyrics and the context of the war, from the point of view of the German girl.”

“ I know that my film will maybe be seen on a telephone very soon, but it doesn’t stop us from trying to make the most beautiful film” François Ozon

Inevitably, any film that features the singing of La Marseillaise in a café instantly recalls Casablanca – in Ozon’s words, “It awakens your cinephile memories” – and Frantz is very much a film rooted in cinema history. Ozon, who so often fills the frame with colour, made the abrupt decision to shoot in black-and-white just before

Interview: Philip Concannon

production began, and the gamble paid off, with Pascal Marti’s 35mm cinematography giving Frantz the look of a classic from a bygone age. “It was very surprising for me because when I’m shooting I’m watching my actors in colour, and when I go to the monitor to see them it was in black-andwhite, and I think, ‘Oh my god! It is a film of Max Ophüls, or Dreyer, or Bergman!’” he says with evident delight. “Watching Paula in black-andwhite, it was like I had Gene Tierney in my film, and the father has a very beautiful, strong face and he looked like Max von Sydow in Bergman movies. It was perfect.” Nevertheless, Ozon couldn’t entirely let go of his complete visual palette, and at key points in Frantz the monochrome image is augmented with beautiful hints of colour. “It was difficult for me to forget colour because I love colour, and usually I use it as part of the mise-en-scène,” he says. “I decided to shoot in black-and-white to involve the audience more in the story, but I couldn’t get my head around the idea of not filming in colour. When we saw the location it was so beautiful I thought it was a pity not to show it in colour, so I decided to put in some colours in moments, like the blood coming back into the veins of the characters.” The result is a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen, although one wonders how many will have the opportunity in this age of limited release windows and streaming platforms. “I’m sad but what can I do? I can’t fight against everybody, you know,” Ozon says when this issue is raised. “I know that my film will maybe be seen on a telephone very soon, so we don’t have the choice, but it doesn’t stop us from trying to make the most beautiful film and always thinking of the big screen. In France I think there is still cinephilia and people still go to cinemas, and maybe less in the UK.” In fact, Frantz has already done good business in France, although Ozon admits he hasn’t always enjoyed an amicable relationship with audiences and critics. “I think I was lucky from the start to be hated and loved at the same time,” he says. “From the start some people enjoyed my films and some people said I was terrible, so I have always had that, I have never had a consensus. I am used to that and in a certain way it’s better than indifference.” Doesn’t the criticism hurt? “Of course, it is difficult for me when everybody says your film is shit!” he says with a laugh. “I say, ‘Maybe in time, you know...’” Ozon is not somebody who tends to waste time reflecting on the past, however. As soon as he’s finished one project he’s ready to push off into new territory. “After a strong experience – because to shoot and make a film is something very powerful, and takes a lot of energy and work – I don’t want to repeat the same thing. So yes, of course I want to take another direction, but it’s not a conscious choice. I think it comes very naturally. After a drama you want to go to comedy, you know. It’s quite natural and I follow my unconscious.” At the time of our meeting, he was already looking ahead to the cameras rolling again, although he wouldn’t drop more than a few hints about what he had planned. “I begin a new shooting in two weeks and it will be a thriller, in French,” he tells me as we walk to the door. “See you next year!” (Postscript: That film turned out to be L’Amant Double, which competes for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes. We can’t wait to see it.) Frantz is released 12 May by Curzon/Artificial Eye

Feature

FILM

THE SKINNY

May 2017

THE SKINNY

Chew and Spit Beatrice Loft Schulz discusses her recent exhibition Chew and Spit, and its take on the dismantling of the social state, gallery neutrality and the Wham Rap! Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

s tastes change, it’s possible for a style of decor to materially devalue a house. Until 14 May, the recipient of the first Tramway Open commission Beatrice Loft Schulz’s exhibition decorates the front space with a technique called ‘popcorn.’ It’s a rough looking wall covering that’s a sharper relative to woodchip, feeling gritty and potentially painful to skite against. This question of taste, refinement, and what might be “too much” is one that has wide-reaching implications from contemporary lifestyle trends, to judgments of what is necessary and its political consequences of what is calculated as the basic standard of life. Immediately from the referencing to interior decor through the large-scale changes to the wall and floors, there’s a sense of intimacy or familiarity, though tempered by a certain monumentality. There are glances towards Loft Shulz’s own upbringing in a council flat in East London. Loft Schulz thinks in particular of the kinds of changes that were made by the people living in social housing around her, “in really different ways.” In her house, she remembers one book of English country mansions that formed the basis for her mum’s decoration. However, the relevance of this is not straightforward for her: “It came from trying to respond to some personal feeling that material evoked to me and my parents’ house, where my mum still lives – this very particular space. But it’s also something that is nothing to do with me, it was this fashion that happened at a certain moment in time.” Covering the walls and floor was also a means of making a space different from the glaring white walls of the usual gallery space. The walls are treated, rather than drawn on, or the surface for hanging, presenting or fixing distinct work. “I feel like the supposed neutrality of the gallery space is actually a very intense space. That white with fluorescent lights is so much for your eyes. You wouldn’t want to spend that much time in a space

May 2017

like that. I always feel like I need to create housing for the work and myself: an environment in which I feel okay.” Thinking then of these changes of attitude more generally, Loft Schulz wonders “What is too much? At what point does decoration become clutter? At what point is it too much… and disgusting?” In particular, she thinks of the “rejection of decoration that’s come out of modernism [to an extent]”, and how this in turn becomes a jettisoning of “sentimental objects” and the comforts they bring. According to these kinds of philosophies, objects are “just things” and people that have too many things are judged to have indulged in consumerism and don’t know when to stop.

“I feel like the supposed neutrality of the gallery space is actually a very intense space” Beatrice Loft Schulz

She thinks in particular of a movement based mostly in the USA, “of these people that only have 100 possessions.” There’s an attendant protestant and utilitarian ethic, only to have “what is essential,” nothing more. While acknowledging that for some people this has been an important life change, Loft Schulz is nevertheless suspicious of some of the dominating versions of this process. She thinks in particular of two men who lead one specific strain of this trend, and she paraphrases some of their comments in a recent article. “We

gave up our six-figure salaries to live this minimal lifestyle.” In the same article, she describes the photographs of these still obviously rich people, who had a massive empty New York loft apartment with a single Eames chair. In response to this “patronising attitude of ‘I know how to choose quality life. I know what’s good,’” Loft Schulz describes being “committed to objects and possessions.” A huge context for this feeling for her comes from a series of insecure housing situations for the last few years. “Having to move all the time, [I have been feeling] this impetus to get rid of stuff… All I’m doing is carrying it around in boxes from place to place.” Considering the political implications, she thinks of the deterioration of the social state, and how people are expected to live with much less. “I see a relationship especially in this American 100 Possessions or Minimalism movement to individualism.” She thinks of a lineage that extends from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden; or, Life in the Woods, first published in 1854. “He goes to live in this little hut in the forest, and it’s this very programmatic description of life in this forest.” She sums up the prose: “All I need to eat is bread. All I need is flour and water, and a bit of salt. I don’t need anything on my bread.” But nevertheless, his mother was doing his laundry and he was from a very wealthy family. She contrasts Thoreau with the 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “who has this obsession with getting to the most simple point of his life. And for him it does feel like a genuine disgust with the aristocracy and the life he came from.” These ideas translate, for Loft Schulz, to

ART

neoliberal ideas of what an individual needs to live, or deserves. She remembers in particular a newspaper item that was based around the opinion “maybe if someone can’t afford something, they shouldn’t have it.” In response, she asks, “do they know what the logical conclusion of that is? If somebody can’t afford somewhere to live… if someone can’t afford food. It’s an absurd statement.” After discussing these kinds of headlines, letters to the editor and stories, Loft Schulz speaks happily of the Wham Rap! by Wham! Its video sees a young, gorgeous George Michael pick up his cute friend. In pre-I, Daniel Blake times, the lyrics include ‘A.1. style, from head to toe/ Cool cat flash, gonna let you know/ I’m a soul boy, I’m a dole boy/ Take pleasure in leisure, I believe in joy.’ In a different, though connected, line of thinking, Loft Schulz also speaks candidly about the difficulty of achieving her proposal in a formal institutional context. Though accepted on the basis of her plan to execute the ‘popcorn’ decor directly onto the walls of the gallery, the final outcome has been to have fabric sheeting (that is not perceptible on visiting) between the popcorn material and the wall. Specifically, she thinks about the ambivalence of (particularly art) institutions to host critical-thinking and challenging projects, but nevertheless protect themselves. This gave rise to the exhibition’s title Chew and Spit and how that “relates to the position of the artist within the institution. They want the show to be in critical dialogue with the space, but they don’t want the permanent mark. They want to be able to spit it out, while they’ve tasted it, but not swallow it.” Chew and Spit at Tramway, continues until 14 May

Feature

Flesh and Blood We speak to Pumarosa frontwoman Isabel Munoz-Newsome about touring, history, spirituality, and the release of their debut album, The Witch

sabel Munoz-Newsome is extremely peoplefocused. When we call the lead singer and guitarist of London-based ‘industrial-spiritual’ fivepiece Pumarosa, she is out and about in central London, having popped out for essentials after a day of song-writing at home. Friendly and thoughtful, she works hard to find a quiet place to chat with us ahead of the band’s upcoming UK and European tour and the release of their debut LP The Witch on 19 May via Fiction Records. Pumarosa have already made a strong start to 2017, having finished a whistle-stop tour of Australia and Japan in late February and early March. As it was the band’s first visit to Australia, they were made to do as much as possible in two days by their Australian imprint: shuttling around to meet industry figures, being interviewed by reputable alternative radio DJs. “It was like being in a proper band for a few days… [Or being] treated like one anyway,” MunozNewsome laughs in her light-hearted tone. While Munoz-Newsome heralds the wonders of Australia, which she found to be “saturated in colour” – the turquoise sky, the verdant splendour of high-rises next to parks and tropical trees – it sounds as though Pumarosa are still adjusting to the industry machine, still feeling as green as the plants they found down under. Does she feel comfortable being part of it yet? “I don’t know really… When we’re doing all that kind of stuff, I do. Sometimes I enjoy it and I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is great! They’re buying us things!’ and sometimes I really resent it and I’m like, ‘I don’t want to meet another person!’ Luckily, because we’re not hugely popular, we don’t have to do too much of that.” It’s just as well that Pumarosa are enjoying discovering the right people and publications, as with the release of The Witch, one can’t imagine that they will remain unknown for much longer. Since their first songs dropped in late 2015, the five-piece have met comparison with indie’s bighitters, their sound combining the ominous rock of PJ Harvey with the nocturnal grooves and electronics of Björk or Warpaint. It’s a comparison justified by The Witch’s hard-hitting lead single Dragonfly, on which we hear the band slowly casting off its moody synth skin to land a haunting chorus built around crashing guitar and MunozNewsome’s soaring vocals. Fascinated as she is by the logistical lull period between The Witch’s completion and its release, Munoz-Newsome admits being simultaneously nervous and excited about people hearing the LP for the first time. She is particularly interested in how fans will respond to The Witch’s title track, which she teases as a “lyrically intense” unusual song on the album. While stressing that the song doesn’t define the record ideologically or tonally, she says that the track does quietly inform The Witch with thoughts swirling her mind for the past few years concerning the control of history and womanhood. “We don’t know our history,” she explains. “It’s not taught to us really. If you want to know it you have to really dig, because what we’re taught in school is essentially the Second World War, the First World War, and maybe some stuff about the kings and queens from before then. “We take it as read that this is just the natural way things have evolved, whereas actually it’s this long history of quite violent repression. It’s only when you start really researching where you come from – not specifically [your] ancestors, but how Europe and America have been shaped – that

Feature

Interview: Chris Ogden

[you start] to work out a lot of these tensions and suddenly it’s like ‘Ah, but of course!’” However, Munoz-Newsome’s instinctive empathy with those separate from aristocracy, church and nobility, particularly women, is not based in anger. Instead, she stresses that she feels enlightened and grateful to have learned more about them, leading us to ask more about her newfound wisdom. “I don’t know if I’m someone who has wisdom,” she laughs. “Maybe call me back in 25 years! But awareness, I suppose. I’m not just singing about reaching the stars; I’m singing about people I know in general and people I haven’t met 200 years ago. It’s very much rooted in people: flesh and blood.” Continuing the theme of mystical women, in the run-up to the release of The Witch Pumarosa have released a remix of their first ever single Priestess, cutting it down from the meandering seven-minute form in which it appeared in 2015 into a more radio-friendly four minutes. While standing firm that the original is the “definitive version” of the track, Munoz-Newsome says that the remix stemmed from the band’s desire to rerelease the song in a more “edible” form.

“ I’m not just singing about reaching the stars; I’m singing about people I know in general and people I haven’t met 200 years ago” Isabel Munoz-Newsome

Pumarosa seem acutely aware of how they will be perceived right now, begging the question of whether this has been a change in their mindset since they formed. While Munoz-Newsome admits admiring the talent of being able to reach more people with a brilliantly succinct pop song, and has accidentally written something like one recently, we shouldn’t expect an all-out pop turn from Pumarosa just yet. “I think a song should be as long or short as it needs to be,” she says. “With the songs of ours that [came] from jams initially – something like Snake on the album, or Cecile, [or] Red – they’re really long because that’s how those sessions unfolded. Who knows? Maybe we will release an album with those golden digits but definitely not on this album.” With The Witch released this month, Pumarosa are now embarking on their UK and European tour, refining the order and flow of their live sets now they have twice as much time on stage, and the performance of them too. Munoz-Newsome relates how her sister, a choreographer, helped prepare her for the video for Dragonfly by making her do different exercises, making her more aware of the body’s connection to the mind. While acknowledging the difficulty she still has in being totally present and free, Munoz-Newsome emphasises the stabilising comfort of knowing every note completely inside out, with every concert constantly changing in mood and location.

“The last tour we did, some [gigs] were sold out; some were ill-attended but they were all brilliant and they were all completely different,” she says. “Actors say when you perform on stage they’ll do a run for however many nights but it’s different every time. It’s the same thing when you’re doing gigs… Every night’s really different. You kind of have to approach it [differently] each time.” Once the tour is over Pumarosa will spend this summer continually dipping into the festival bubble, with their destinations including Glastonbury, Green Man, and Reading and Leeds: “I just hope we don’t have cans of beer thrown at us!” she jokes. Although looking at the calendar makes Munoz-Newsome stressed and horrified right now, she’s confident that the band will adjust to the flow, helped by the relative comfort they will encounter at festivals in Europe. “One thing is that when you go abroad, the way you get looked after is on another level: you get a table with bottles of rosé and knives and forks made of what looks like silver. It’s quite pleasant,” she jokes. “[Here], they put you in a sort

Music

of shipping container with one packet of crisps!” All this discussion of playing in front of others leads us back to our previous discussion about The Witch and Pumarosa’s ‘spiritual’ tag. Is Pumarosa’s motivation in making music the act of trying to inspire that attachment: in the hour they spend jamming together in rehearsals, in the communal experience of concerts? At this point this becomes clear: the East London five-piece attempt to tap into the transcendental while remaining attentive to the real world at the same time. “I suppose that sense of communality or spirituality without a specific doctrine or church is something you can find in music,” Munoz-Newsome concludes. “That’s something that everyone’s a bit like ‘Ugh, embarrassing! Ugh, gross!’, but why bother existing if you’re just doing general dayto-day things all the time when you can find beauty and something mysterious in existence? That can only be good.” The Witch is released on 19 May via Fiction Records facebook.com/pumarosamusic

THE SKINNY

May 2017

Preaching to the Non-Converted I

f we start a conversation about wealth inequality here, on the pages of an arts magazine, it’s bound to set some eyes rolling. The same applies to comedians discussing it in well-furnished theatres where the beer costs as much as the bar staff’s hourly wage. For Jonny& the Baptists, this means that their new show, Eat the Poor, had to be more than a collection of songs to tickle angry lefties. “It’s very easy, especially in satire, to have a show that says, ‘Here’s a problem, what a shame,’” says Paddy Gervers. “We wanted to have something that at least tried to say, ‘Here’s one way of dealing with it.’” Eat the Poor is half collected satirical songs and half storytelling, eventually turning into “a kind of musical-theatre-comedy-horror apocalyptic dream sequence.” We see an hour-long story of a loving friendship torn apart by greed, chance and Andrew Lloyd Webber. In a dystopian view of the future, Jonny Donahue is wildly rich, while Paddy Gervers has become homeless and ignored by his former partner. “The second you become homeless, one of the first things that goes is communication and feeling like you’re connected with the world around you,” Gervers says, speaking from experience gleaned from running music groups at Oxford’s Crisis homeless centre. The pair are planning on running similar groups around the country both for research and to spend some time playing music. “No one is labelled as homeless or vulnerable, you’re just a group of people hanging out. From

what we’ve learned, that’s one of the things that is really missing.” As well as taking the time to understand the world they’re singing about, the pair have made a concerted effort to find audiences who don’t vote the same way as them. “We’ve been accused of preaching to the converted by both The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph, and I think that sentence shows a real misunderstanding of what it is they do. We previewed this show only in right-wing strongholds. It holds up as a show and people don’t come out feeling targeted. We want to start finding common ground and finding things that we can all share our opinion on in a forum that is comedy.” This forum is something that Donahue and Gervers create in their shows: “At the end, we say if anyone has anything they want to talk about, you’re welcome to, and that has been fascinating. It’s a great opportunity to have a discussion and to learn about each other. You get that little bit of local knowledge that helps you get a better picture of the rest of the country.” So what can we non-millionaires do about wealth inequality in the UK? Gervers and Donahue recommend personal action as a solid starting point: “We propose giving up your inheritance so we can all get back to a level playing field. The show confirms that that’s what Jonny and I are going to do.” These relatively small actions that build up can create a bottom-up solution rather than a top-down governmental one. “When every-

Jonny & the Baptists

one in power is looking the other way, you have to start with yourself.” Trying to stay positive while detailing the lives of the least fortunate in our society is a tricky job, but Jonny & the Baptists manage to do it. Their material moves from fact-checked headline statistics to down-to-earth analysis via good old-fashioned surrealism, and all with a fantastic soundtrack made up of songs which merit listening to outside of the show as well. “Because of Brexit and Trump and having a country that is hugely divided over what seems to be a sort of schoolboy argument that got out of hand, it’s incredibly tough to point out anything

Following a Star

“I

Interview: Cara McNamara

Katy Brand

Feature

Photo: Karla Gowlett

Katy Brand chats about religion and space travel as she tours her hit Fringe show, while also writing her next one

Interview: Jenni Ajderian

t was desperate – we were all scoring our shoes, hacking great chunks out them.” Performing the Single Ladies dance for Sport Relief 2010 is seared into Katy Brand’s memory. “The live show had an audience of eight million people, and I’m wearing a black leotard and not much else,” she continues. “However, the main thing was that we’d been given only one chance to rehearse, and the stage floor had been buffed up to such a high shine that we all kept falling over... and I don’t just mean me, once, I mean all of us, continuously. But that was our one and only slot, then... see ya later. Standing behind those sliding doors was the most intense feeling of stage fright I’ve ever had.” Brand doesn’t strike you as someone who gets cowed. In casual conversation she works through concepts, phrasing and rephrasing with thoughtful quality control. Her current show, I Was a Teenage Christian, is partly so funny due to her rampantly self-assured source material. “I liked feeling important, significant, that I had something that I needed to do,” she says, “and there’s something about religion that can make you feel invincible. Teenagers have sort of rigid thinking, but they’re starting to get a sense of subtlety, trying to hold onto something black and white, and the hard edges of feeling right – and certain – is appealing. “I’m not sure whether I ever wholly believed in God. God as some intelligence or force with a consciousness, yes. But did I believe in the virgin birth, heaven and hell? I’d be a bit more ambivalent. I definitely told people they wouldn’t go to heaven if they didn’t believe. I wasn’t always an exemplary Christian, I had doubts; my humour was quite irreverent and I wanted a purpose – and that’s still in me. But I look back and it’s so cringey. Preaching at people from school. It’s not raw, though. It’s sort of hilarious.”

COMEDY

more ridiculous,” Gervers says. “We [as comedians] have had one of our powers taken away – the power to make things ridiculous through humour.” Can comedians and comedy fans do other things to challenge the status quo? “We have to find different ways of doing that. Perhaps one of those ways is engaging more with the community around you.” Jonny & the Baptists: Eat the Poor plays The Stand, Edinburgh (23 May); The Stand, Glasgow (24 May); Craigdarroch Arms, Moniaive (25 May); The Lowry, Salford (27 May) Paddy Gervers also co-hosts Podshambles jonnyandthebaptists.co.uk

In parallel to the Teenage Christian tour, Brand is also working on her next Fringe show. It too contrasts big questions with earthly limitations. “It’s about becoming an astronaut. I’m absolutely fascinated by space and astronomy, incredibly enthusiastic with virtually zero competence. So I’m thinking about one-way trips – if you could reinvent yourself, would there be multiple versions of you? About fate – what might have been, if I’d been better at maths. A friend said to me, ‘If your last show was I Was a Teenage Christian, and this one is I Could’ve Been an Astronaut, what will the next one be?’ I just haven’t figured out who I am yet.” Brand strikes a smart balance. She invites people to belly-laugh at her, but she’s already dissected her stories all ways before putting them back together. This care towards her experiences acts like a protective shield and prevents her becoming a caricature. It’s not an easy trick to pull off. “A friend once said something really useful to me: that comedy’s like a game of golf,” Brand says. “You don’t play the other players, you play the course. “I want to tell the truth, but I’d like to tell my own style of truth – examine and analyse and present the findings rather than relive it on stage. I mean, I’ve felt what I’m saying on stage, but to present emotions I’ve not worked through is not my style. I’ve seen it before in comedy and it’s been admirable, and artistically interesting, and it could be the start of something brilliant... but it can be exhausting, and you just want to put your arm round them and say, ‘I think you’re OK.’” Katy Brand: I Was a Teenage Christian: The Stand (Glasgow), 21 May, 6pm, £12 Katy Brand: I Could’ve Been an Astronaut, Pleasance Courtyard (Above), 2-26 Aug, 6:20pm, £7-13.50 mickperrin.com/tours/brand-teenage-christian

THE SKINNY

Photo: Anna Soderblom

As musical comedy act Jonny & the Baptists tour their hit show Eat the Poor, the satirical duo’s Paddy Gervers tells us about deliberately taking a political show to people and places with different views

BMX Bandits Forever Belshill indie-pop icons BMX Bandits are back with their tenth full-length – frontman Duglas T Stewart talks us through it

uglas T Stewart is one of indie-pop’s great survivors. Glasgow’s collection of bands and artists that fall under that description have always upset the odds, whether it was Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian fending off M.E. to produce two classic LPs in 1996 or The Pastels emerging from years of hibernation in 2013 to return with the glorious Slow Summits. Stewart is very much from that type of stock. The Bandits are the very definition of a cult band – their fans are feverish in their devotion, but outwith that base, they’re not especially well-known. Since starting out in 1986, they’ve encountered just about every peak and trough you might imagine a group of their ilk could, from being billed as Kurt Cobain’s favourite group to spending time on a major label, even though they always seemed as DIY as it’s possible to get. When I request a copy of their latest release ahead of this interview, Stewart emails it to me himself. The line-up of the Bandits, who were born out of the ashes of other bands that counted The Vaselines’ Frances McKee and Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake among its members, has waxed and waned over the years, with Stewart the mainstay and chief creative force. Next month, they’ll release their tenth full-length, BMX Bandits Forever, and first since 2012’s In Space. It’s every inch as bright and buoyant as the name suggests, but one that – beneath the gently-presented melodies – retains a deep, underlying vein of emotional exploration.

“That school was regarded as one of the roughest in Scotland,” he recalls, “and that sort of thing tended to make people want to keep their heads down, and try to fit in. For me, it was the opposite. I seemed to want to irritate people, so I’d do things like turn up at smoker’s corner with a Sherlock Holmes-style pipe. When that stopped annoying them, I swapped it for a pinch of snuff. There was a period where I kept telling people my name was Nancy. We’d play a show in a club in Belshill and I’d be up there on stage eating a banana.” That kind of behaviour was the making of both Stewart and the Bandits, though. “It sorted out the mice from the men, to a certain extent. If you were unafraid to be like that in Belshill, you could cope with doing it in Brighton or Glasgow or wherever. Bands like us, The Pastels and Orange Juice might not sound confrontational, but we really were, because not only would you annoy the guys with perms and sleeveless t-shirts wanting to kill you, it also wound up the harder punks, because they were a bit like, ‘it should be all-out destroy – why have you got a little satchel and an anorak? We don’t like this!’” Years later, the Bandits live on and are presently a six-piece, although much of BMX Bandits Forever is Stewart’s own work. He’s well-connected, though, and agrees that the sense of community

within Glasgow’s music scene has been handy for the group over the years. “I mean, the nature of the Bandits is that it’s a bit of an extended musical family,” he laughs. “I think it’s always felt like everybody’s on the same side. You’d pop up on each other’s records, and play your new songs for people in other bands before anybody else. When something really great would happen for somebody like Teenage Fanclub, or Belle and Sebastian, or Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat, there’d be a sense of everybody going, ‘great!’ instead of ‘you bastards!’ People like Bill, Norman, Stevie Jackson – these are all people who’ve been involved with the Bandits.” Plus, even if the album’s taken a while to wing its way into the world, the songs weren’t necessarily drawn out in terms of their recording – Stewart says that none of them took more than six hours to cut from him turning up to the studio to them being mixed. “I was thinking a lot about David Bowie after he died, and his working processes tended to be along the lines of, ‘let’s go in and do it, we won’t do another take – let’s try to capture something special.’ A lot of my favourite records do that – they end up feeling authentic. It’s nice to embrace happy accidents, like a door slamming in the background, or whatever. It’s a bit like you’re eavesdropping on something, and you know it’s not been overworked.”

Interview: Joe Goggins

The next chapter in the history of both this collection of songs and the band themselves will be for them to whir back into live action, with Stewart promising that there’ll be plenty more shows than there have been over the last couple of years, with setlists that’ll span their entire discography. As a new generation of fans are turned on to the band, Stewart’s noticed that the crowds are getting younger – something that clearly delights him. That’s not least because, as much of a nostalgist as he might seem, he’s a huge advocate for young bands making their way up in the world in Glasgow – he namechecks both Happy Meals and Spinning Coin, for instance. “After shows, I’ve had people in their late teens and early twenties come up to me and say that they really love the Bandits, which is nice,” he says. “Sometimes they’ll even name other bands that don’t exist any more but had friends of mine in, like Swell Maps. It seems like they’re looking at us not in a nostalgic way, but because they feel a connection with us because there’s something there that feels quite authentic. That’s all I can really ask for.” BMX Bandits Forever is released on 19 May via Elefant Records BMX Bandits play Saint Luke’s, Glasgow, 27 May bmxbandits.net

“ There was a period where I kept telling people my name was Nancy. We’d play a show in a club in Belshill and I’d be up there on stage eating a banana” Duglas T Stewart

It’s also the first Bandits LP since Stewart, now in his fifties, finally made the move to Glasgow from Belshill, the gritty industrial town 12 miles south-east of the city he’d called home all his life. “I think one of the reasons I was in Belshill for so long,” he relates over the phone, “is that my elderly, widowed mother was there. Also, I was a single father at one point, and had a child at school. So there was a family element to me staying there that wasn’t as strong once my mother died a couple of years ago. I didn’t need to check in on whether the bulb needed changing, or whatever. I did end up moving to Glasgow for love though, as well. It was a no-brainer, as they say.” Such circumstances explain the protracted gestation of BMX Bandits Forever, as well as the blend of contentment and melancholy that defines it. It’s clear, though, that Belshill helped to shape both Stewart’s outlook and the Bandits themselves, particularly in their early days; Stewart attended the same high school as Blake from Fanclub, and it informed his attitude which, for all the Bandits’ cuddliness, was pure punk.

May 2017

Music

Feature

Naked Ambitions Aidan Moffat bids farewell to L. Pierre with a carefully constructed final offering that picks apart our changing consumer habits and professes the death of vinyl

e meet up with Aidan Moffat at Glasgow’s Glad Cafe just hours after Theresa May’s surprise appearance as the corpse of Thatcher dug up from Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery. He’s remarkably upbeat; she didn’t announce a world war at least. Perhaps optimism is a symptom of the setting in of middle age that he refers to a lot lately – he’s attempting a new regime of early nights and less booze; we drink tea so he doesn’t stink of beer for the school run. Despite being a selfanointed grump, his chat is woven with hearty belly-laughs and impish chuckles. The old mischief remains and he can’t resist stirring, putting the proverbial two fingers up when he can, something he does beautifully on the fifth and final offering, 1948 –, from solo project L. Pierre. 1948 – is a carefully crafted comment on the state of the music industry and the changing habits of music consumption. Sampled from the very first 33 1/3rpm 12" LP pressed (recorded in, you guessed it, 1948) – a Nathan Milstein version of a popular Mendelssohn violin concerto that Moffat ripped from YouTube in its entirety – it jolts and unsettles in more than just its musical delivery. It’s presented entirely sleeveless, pushes the sounds to the end of the record’s locked groove and is available in a limited run (although he admits it’s already on a second pressing). The private SoundCloud stream being used for review purposes will completely disappear upon the record’s release (28 Apr).

“I was reading about the history of vinyl and about how LPs began and it struck me that the LP is kind of in the same position now as it was in the 50s,” he begins. “In 1948 the Mendelssohn concerto was the very first thing to be released as a 12" LP but it was always marketed at adults, it was a grown-up format. Then as rock and pop music came in, when the first 7" happened it was two different generations listening to these formats. The kids were buying seven inches because they were cheaper and they had music that appealed to young people, whereas albums were pretty much classical pieces or soundtracks to shows or Frank Sinatra or jazz. The 7" was the pop format and albums were the adult format. I think that’s where we’re at now, except instead of [the] 7" we’ve got streaming. It struck me that it’s pretty much come full circle, the LP, and I don’t think it’s got anywhere to go.” Moffat has been openly critical of the rising popularity of streaming services and their impact on artists’ ability to make a living. “I don’t want it to sound like a tirade against streaming because the battle is lost, the war is lost,” he states. “There’s no point fighting streaming because me, and people like me, were roundly defeated. But we’ve mainly been defeated because streaming, like any big business, is a sweatshop. It’s great for consumers, it’s great for the platform, the business, but the workers are getting fucking shagged. “It’s pretty much the age old story with music

contracts,” he continues. “There were so many pop stars who made, wrote and performed amazing records that never saw a fucking penny. It’s kind of going back to that attitude I think – even politically, everything seems to be returning back to this place where things are getting harder and harder, to be heard certainly. Voices are getting silenced and music is a part of that too.” He doesn’t buy as many records as he once did, but still cherishes his old vinyl. Now it’s about paying for digital albums and listening to MP3s on his phone; he doesn’t really need LPs in his life and is dismissive of people that buy and never play them. “Part of the reason physical formats aren’t as popular as they used to be is because the process of listening to music for most people now is an intimate act,” he suggests. “You’re almost plugging it in to your body, literally. That need for physical contact isn’t there as much and people of my generation, us middle-aged weirdos that like to touch music, are on the way out. In 40 years we’ll all be gone so I can’t imagine vinyl’s survival beyond that.” The survival of 1948 – in its physical sense is as pivotal to its concept as the way the music on it sounds. Presented ‘naked’, without artwork and with just a copy of the letter Moffat sent to Melodic Records introducing the idea, it’s designed to scuff and scar. “As much as I love vinyl I’ve never been one of these fucking snobs. I hate that ‘warm sound’ argument, who gives a fuck! What’s impor-

Interview: Susan Le May

tant is the music in a song, the sense of a song, the words, that’s what people connect with,” he says. “I could hear it through the shittiest fucking system… like all these brilliant old blues records you hear, they still sound amazing. Terrible recording but they sound brilliant, because of the bad recording a lot of the time as well. “It’s the same with the samples I’ve used… it has the idea that it’s survived. I really like the idea there is a mobility to that sound, something has been through a lot and managed to survive,” he explains. “It’s the same reason for doing it with no sleeve – it will survive through this process of you taking it home, it might have a few scars and scratches but it will still be there. We did talk about that too, that people who would normally buy LPs will be fucking furious! It isn’t really intended [to irritate them] but it is an amusing side effect of it certainly. I wanted it to get damaged. All the LP records started with that sort of dusty, scratched, surface noise sound and I thought ‘why don’t we make that part of the actual record itself?’ “I initially thought about doing a glass paper sleeve with the paper inside so every time you took it out it would get worse and worse. The problem with that is I’d have had to do it all by hand, it would have been an enormous job,” he tells us. “Secondly there was that old Durutti Column (The Return of the Durutti Column) album in the 80s that was made of a sandpaper sleeve, which was a different thing as [it] was on the outside and the idea was it destroyed everything it came in to contact with, which was brilliant and funny, but I felt [my idea] was a bit too close to that as well. Then I thought ‘fuck the sleeve, let’s just leave it to the elements, let it live and breathe in the world.’”

“ It’s great for consumers, it’s great for the platform, the business, but the workers are getting fucking shagged” Aidan Moffat

It feels like a neat end to the project, and Moffat likes neat endings. L. Pierre has always been his most leftfield stream of work, and his swansong is no exception. Moving, unsettling, and at times a little harrowing, 1948 – might spark differing opinions, but it again marks Moffat out as utterly unique among his peers. “It’s interesting what people say. I’ve seen a couple of people say that I haven’t really done anything, that I’ve just lifted this stuff and put it on a record, which I quite like, I quite like the mystery behind it because it kind of shows that people don’t really know the original piece. Which I don’t expect them to, I didn’t know it until I heard it, but I think it’s curious that they think this [new LP] is what Mendelssohn’s concerto sounded like. It wasn’t like that at all!” 1948 – is out now via Melodic Records

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Music

THE SKINNY

May 2017

THE SKINNY

Touring Not Touring We chat to Metronomy’s Joseph Mount about latest album Summer 08, working with Robyn and Mix Master Mike, and not touring as we interrupt rehearsals ahead of their, um, upcoming tour dates

riginally formed by Joseph Mount in 1999, it’s hard to believe Metronomy have been active for almost 20 years – at 18, the band itself is now old enough to drink. However, they didn’t release their debut album Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe Me) until 2006, and it wasn’t until the release of 2008’s Nights Out when they really came into their own. In the same year, they toured the album, playing an intimate 250-capacity show at Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire – Two Door Cinema Club were the tour support – and the whole night was bloody brilliant. Metronomy played as a threepiece, Mount accompanied by Oscar Cash, who still plays in the band now, and ex-bandmate Gabriel Stebbing. They wore all black, had Iron Man-esque IKEA touch lamps mounted to their chests, and did ridiculous dance moves. Postcards of the local area were on their rider. It was fun. There was no pressure. Since their 2006 debut, the path leading to 2014’s Love Letters (via Nights Out and 2011’s The English Riviera) felt like a very natural stream of consciousness, but 2016’s Summer 08 saw Mount almost take a step back to “the good old days.” As he puts it: “I suppose it was the first record that I’d done after having children and finding the time to make music had become a different type of thing. I wanted to basically just make a very thoughtless record. “It wasn’t exactly how I used to make music but [I was] definitely trying to have the same attitude I did when I was 22, consciously trying to put myself in the same position I was in then.” The result was an album reminiscent of the band’s 2008 breakthrough: “It’s quite a difficult thing to do, but I wanted to make something very relaxed, and I think that’s what the sound of Nights Out is – just me not really thinking much about it.” Summer 08 was the first Metronomy record since Pip Paine... to be recorded without any contribution from Mount’s bandmates. “Part of the reason why I did it in the way that I did,” he explains, “[is that] English Riviera and Love Letters; the processes of recording each one were quite thoughtful. So in a way Summer 08 was the first record that I did without wanting to learn anything, it was just very simple – ‘this is the song, this is how it should sound. Do it’. “It was done in a studio with Ash [Workman], the same engineer who’s done the last three albums now, but I guess it’s really subtle differences; subtle changes in approach that can end up making quite big differences. I did demos at home and then I just took what I liked. I didn’t redo them for the sake of it. It was a very self-proficient process. It’s those little things which just take away a level of self-analysis.” The fifth Metronomy record was also the first since Pip Paine… to feature a guest vocalist – so how did Robyn end up on Hang Me Out To Dry? “I’ve known her for three or four years and we’ve been writing together for her music, and then it got to the point of that song and I wanted to have a female vocal on it. “I was thinking about people I could ask, and although she was the most accessible for me, and probably the most famous, I just didn’t really think about it. Then in the end I was like ‘of course, I should just ask her’ and she was happy to do it. Once we’d done it I was like ‘Oh god! It should’ve always been her.’ I don’t know why I didn’t immediately think of her.” Mix Master Mike, aka the Beastie Boys’ DJ, also features on the album, popping up for scratch

May 2017

duty towards the end of lead single Old Skool. “When I was a teenager I was obsessed with the Beastie Boys, and obsessed with him, and I wanted there to be scratching on the song. I just thought ‘Ah, well fuck it let’s just see what he says’ so it was lucky really – I’ve still not met him, it was all done over the internet – the teenage me was very happy about it. For Summer 08, Metronomy chose not to follow the usual template for putting out a new record: release album, tour album. In this day and age, touring in a way is a band’s bread and butter so not touring Summer 08 was a risk, and Mount admits it “was kind of a self-indulgent thing.” He goes on to tell us “the main [reason] was that I wanted to release the record but I wanted to spend a decent amount of time with my family. I’ve got two quite young children so I didn’t want to just disappear, but I wanted to keep working.” The other reason, Mount emphatically tells us, is “the music world has changed insanely since I started being involved in it and there’s always this pressure to release records and tour records, and to do it in this tried and tested way, and I guess I just felt like ‘Do you have to tour a record with that intensity, is it something that you have to do?’ Or is it something that a record label has to get you to do for them to have success for the record?

genuinely going to be very excited and happy to be doing it again, so I think fans can expect to have a really good time,” he laughs, “and I’m hoping we’ll be able to play a few new songs as well so there’s that to look forward to.” What about the classics? Will you play Radio Ladio? “Oh yeah yeah, it’s going to be a greatest hits kind of set,” he says excitedly. Do you still request postcards on your rider? “Yeah, we’ve still got postcards on there,” he tells us, “but the interesting thing we try and get

is socks, because it’s quite nice to have some fresh socks. And then the best addition was scratch cards.” Have you won anything yet? “Yeah, I think the most is a tenner, but the dream is to win half a million then cancel the gig,” he laughs mischievously, “that’s the dream!” After a couple of years out of the live limelight, let’s hope they don’t win big this summer. Metronomy play O2 ABC, Glasgow, 16 May metronomy.co.uk

“I just thought ‘Ah, well fuck it let’s just see what he says’” Joseph Mount

“I was just thinking, ‘Well I wonder how important it is really’ and I guess now I’ve learned...” he pauses, concluding through laughter, “...how important it is. I guess what you learn is that while the music industry is still changing, the world of press still operates [but] they need a reason to write about you, and if you’re not touring, the press slows up much quicker because there’s not this continued presence, but in a way that’s what I wanted. “When you do release a record and you tour it, you feel saturated a bit, or you feel a bit too omnipresent. So now when we come back in May – and then we’re doing these festivals – I think we will be genuinely refreshing rather than tired and ubiquitous.” It’s been almost two years since the Metronomy bus has been on the road and beyond their very brief four-date UK tour this May, summer ’17 is looking good for the four-piece. But what can we expect from their upcoming live shows? Will the staging be as elaborate as when they toured Love Letters, which saw a more refined, retro look from the band, all members dressed from head-totoe in white? Or will it reflect the more laid-back processes of Summer 08? “It’s going to have an equally strong aesthetic [as Love Letters], but part of the aesthetic is that it’s supposed to look relaxed,” Mount explains. “It’s always, for us, as important as anything else – I think the way that you present yourself gives so many people a subconscious, or incredibly obvious, intention, and I think to set up the mood, or to help set up people’s expectations of how a show’s going to be [is] incredibly important. “It’s the first time that we’ll have played a show [together] for almost two years so we’re

MUSIC

Photo: Grégoire Alexandre

Interview: Tallah Brash

Feature

CCA Highlights D

on’t let them do it. You all know what I’m referring to. Use your voice or watch the future ground out from underneath you. Until then, to find your spirit, reconnect with what makes our vast co-operative of sapiens to species that went to space – stories over campfires, music tapped out on rocks, ash daubed on walls – and check out the wondrous roster of events at the CCA over the next few months before you line up to cast your vote. Julie Byrne has travelled the long roads of America in the spirit of the wandering poet. It is uncertain whether she models herself on Eva Cassidy, but she channels her here on her second album Not Even Happiness, her voice an inner monologue buoyed on the delicate thermals of guitars. She speaks of love in a gentle manner, inviting an

intimate saunter through her otherworldly reveries. Enjoy the aching elegance of her presence on 28 May. The joy of listening to Yoni Wolf is his voice. It’s a sharp and wandering whine delivering offbeat and bitingly self-aware lyrics in melodies entirely separate from the rest of the instruments, which carouse like fairies from arrangement to arrangement – often several times a song. Quirky and textured, WHY? are a band that will give you something thoughtful to go away with, your bones tingling slightly at the odd menagerie you just experienced, an enervation that will be essential on 8 June. If you want to dig deeper into the music we make on rocks then come to Sound Thought, a festival run by postgraduate students from the

Sound Thought

Julie Byrne

University of Glasgow. Explore the latest theories and hear the newest musicians at a series of concerts, screenings and performances and see not only art, but the process behind the art, and maybe find a little creativity in yourself. Researchers and artists are pouring in from all over the UK to entertain, inspire and educate you from 10-12 May. The Name of the Game is Kill. A title so good I didn’t need to put it in a larger sentence. Unearthed after 40 years, Joe Soloman directs a taut psychological thriller about the perils of hitchhiking, and not how you’d usually expect, as a man is held captive by his ride’s mother. Something Weird have given us something weird, a creepy relic of film history. Get jangled (and take the bus home) on 15 June. No longer human? The gilt edge of technology means you are your phone and your phone is you. It’s common to have friends whose faces you

have seen only in celluloid. Or faces you’ve seen only in your dreams. How you see through their lives more than you see through your own. How those you admire become your cameras on reality. Rob Churm daubs his ash on the wall and presents comics and drawings in Parasite Rex at the CCA in a new exhibition that runs from 26 May-9 July. Come explore the bounds of obsession as seen through his meticulous frames. Anthony Schrag divides his work into physical, institutional and social. The Scottish based artist sees participation as the key to art, and here he elucidates on the function and ethics of working with people, how social work and art can intertwine and how, as an artist, you can apprehend modern communities and not be a, in his own words, “social wanker”. He’s on at 6pm on 24 May and it’s free so come along and explore the intersection between art and life. cca-glasgow.com

Five years of Supermax This month, beloved Glasgow disco institution Supermax celebrates five years at The Berkeley Suite; disco leader DJ Billy Woods has dug out five key tracks to mark the occasion

Le Club Un Fait Divers et Rien de Plus (DJ Billy Woods Version Supermax) [unreleased] Originally titled the ‘Larry Levan mid 12 hour set extended toilet break mix’ due to it being 39 minutes long! This edit was actually made over ten years ago but it’s only in the last five or so that I’ve been playing digi stuff at the party. It’s a great starter, it gives me time to polish my disco balls, get the incense burning, and welcome peeps to the club. I like to play long sets, four hours or more ideally, but on one occasion I somehow ended up booked to play somewhere for just one hour, which is ridiculous really, so I played two copies of this with a few added sound effects and acapellas and it went down a storm! We’re looking to do a double vinyl gatefold art piece release at some point with the track spread across four sides for max audio fidelity and endless mixing possibilities. Or maybe a limited edition 24-inch double sider… just need to find the turntable that can handle it! Marti Caine – Love the Way You Love Me (DJ Billy Woods full orgasm edit) [unreleased] The original is a beautiful deep, super soulful piece of disco sleaze that also happens to be as rare as hens’ teeth! I extended it out into an endless edit in true Supermax style a couple of years back, and a few peeps got a little excited about it.

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I had an agreement to release it officially last year but the person who owns the rights changed their mind and decided to go with someone else, so it’s highly unlikely this one will ever see the light of day! To be honest it’s been well and truly rinsed at Supermax so it’s firmly on the back burner for the next generation anyway. Maybe one day we’ll hear it again but for the time being…. Bionic Boogie Jam (What’s that one again Billy? Mix) [unreleased] Big bad ass Soca disco that’s been tearing up Supermax over the past year or so. The original is short, like four minutes (I don’t tend to play records under 4 minutes unless it’s some novelty German porn jingle or the like), so it was crying out for a disco extension and I managed to get it up to 15 minutes. Peeps keep asking for the skinny on this one. The original is über rare though some heads got wind of my edit and pressed up a bootleg of the original which they’re trying to pass off for £100 a copy! My advice would be to wait until you get an official release of this version, it might be a while but it’ll definitely be worth that wait! Mandrill – Love Attack (DJ Billy Woods Supermax 12 inch Extension Mix) [unreleased] This is another 15 minute toilet break record! Until I get the Junior Vasquez style booth, complete

with urinal, these kind of records will always be important for me. I like to play ‘all night shlong’ as they say so getting to the toilet can sometimes be a problem. Pint glasses don’t always hold enough, and there’s always the possibility of accidentally drinking a ‘warm’ beer later in the night when you’re a little more oiled, if you get what I mean? Anyway back to the track, I originally heard DJ Harvey play an edit of this a few years back which really strung out the intro and built the track in a totally different way from the original, but it wasn’t available anywhere so I made my own version. I usually make it back from the loo just in time for the track to kick back in for the second time which is when the fun really begins and peeps start to lose their shit. The version Harv plays got a vinyl release recently, but it doesn’t actually break back into the full blown track, which is a real shame as it’s one of those ones that works really well in that format. My advice would be to buy two copies and double it up live! Moses – We Just (DJ Billy Woods Supermaxxed version) [unreleased] Another Billyboy exclusive and another 15 minutes of re-edit action that combines a couple of different versions and an extended three-minute breakdown to let the dancefloor cool off for a bit before bringing them back up. This is a great piece of up-tempo Italo disco, it’s big and it’s

ART / CLUBS

Interview: Claire Francis

ballsy and it really works the dancefloor. The original version is actually pretty good but has a few cringe moments that needed edited out and that breakdown is absolutely essential. Definitely a firm fave with the Supermax kids over the past few years!

“ I usually make it back from the loo just in time for the track to kick back in for the second time which is when the fun really begins and peeps start to lose their shit” Billy Woods

soundcloud.com/supermaxlovemachine Supermax is at The Berkeley Suite, Glasgow, 6 May

THE SKINNY

Photo: Jonathan Bouknight

Words: Sebastian Fisher

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Proxima b

Like many fields of science, the number of female astronomers is depressingly small. Their impact, however, has been considerable. Transmission Podcast regular Beth Biller tells us about her experience as an astronomer and her female astronomy heroes Interview: Jamie Dunn

hile today you’ll find women at every level of the astronomical community, they’re still wildly underrepresented. The numbers vary from country to country – Argentina, for instance, has a relatively healthy 40:60 split, but statistics from the International Astronomical Union estimates the world average of women astronomers to be just shy of 16%. (Depressingly, we fall short of this small average here in the UK – our percentage of female astronomers is around 13.) Beth Biller is one of the 16%, an observational astronomer at the University of Edinburgh and regular contributor to Transmission Podcast. She’s been a space-nut from an early age – “I was that odd six year old who would regale you in detail about Venus’s sulphuric acid clouds or about black holes,” Biller tells us – and while she’s never experienced any overt gender discrimination in her career, she does recognise that there does still seem to be an invisible barrier for some young women to pursue astronomy as a profession. “I did the very stereotypical thing of drifting away from those interests in my early teens,” she recalls. “It wasn’t that I actually had lost interest in the subject – it’s more that I was concerned that I wasn’t ‘good enough’ at maths or science to pursue a career in it, and that almost made me too scared to try. Now, after having been in the field for nearly 20 years and clearly successful at it, I really wonder where I got that idea from. I do think it was somewhat from my own (and others’) internalised stereotypes of who is and isn’t a scientist.” Perhaps these “internalised stereotypes” still exist because the female astronomers who have contributed greatly to our understanding of the cosmos haven’t been fully recognised and celebrated. Most agree Hypatia of Alexandria, who was born in Alexandria, Egypt, circa 350 AD, to be the world’s first female astronomer. Unfortunately, the most we know about this pioneer is her brutal death. She was murdered in 415 AD on her way home from delivering her daily lectures at the University of Alexandria by a Christian mob who believed her to be a witch. We ask Biller to name her own personal astronomy heroes and she points to the female “computers” who made some pretty impressive

May 2017

discoveries from behind the scenes. Long before laptop computers or the analogue computers the size of houses that were used in the space race, much of the vital groundwork and complex equations that allowed our first forays into space were worked out by hand by people known as “computers”. Most of them were women and many of them women of colour. One such computer was Katherine Johnson, who calculated trajectories for Project Mercury and Apollo 11 in the 1960s and was recently the subject of Oscar nominated drama Hidden Figures. Human computers go back much longer than the space race, it turns out. “50 years before that, many of the advances in our understanding of stars and in particular stellar classification were made by women working as computers at Harvard College Observatory (such as Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Antonia Maury, amongst others).” Biller also points to British-American astronomer Cecilia PayneGaposchkin as a personal hero: “She showed in her [1925] PhD thesis that stars were composed mainly of hydrogen and helium – what has later been described as “undoubtedly the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy.” The list could go on. Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), the German astronomer who discovered eight comets over eleven years. Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941), the American astronomer whose cataloguing work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921), who discovered the first accurate method for measuring great distances in space. And the great Sally Ride (1951-2012), a trained astrophysicist who, in 1983, became the first American woman in space. Maybe if these names were as familiar as Galileo, Copernicus and Hubble, the ratio of female:male astronomers worldwide would be closer to 50:50. Listen to Transmission, a podcast that speculates on what would happen if we suddenly knew we were no longer alone in the universe, at transmiss.io/n/podcast

transmission transmiss.io/n

Credit: ESO

A brief history of women in astronomy

The Problems with Gender and Language In her debut novel Goblin, Ever Dundas takes on the preset gender narratives society imposes on us. Here she discusses the problems language throws up when writing gender neutral characters

ylvia Plath said, “If I were not in this body, where would I be – perhaps I am destined to be classified and qualified. But, oh, I cry out against it.” One of the main ways society classifies and qualifies is through gender. “Is it a boy or a girl?” is often the first thing we ask when a baby is born. Why does it matter? And why the word ‘it’? Is the baby not human until it’s gendered? Goblin is a nine-year-old child, growing up in WWII London. Goblin wears their brother’s handme-downs, has shorn hair, and is often mistaken for a boy, but Goblin uses their identity as ‘goblin’ to eschew gender altogether; when people try to gender them they respond: “I’m not a boy/girl. I’m a goblin.” But why does their way out of gender constraints involve taking on the identity of a monstrous folktale creature? Because language fails us. When Plath cried out against being classified and qualified it wasn’t simply her body she found wanting, it was society’s imposed constraints. Those constraints are tightened through language – English limits and controls by not providing the words for the existence of people who don’t fit the male/female binary. So much about gender is limiting, wasted potential, and violence; those who don’t conform are seen as ‘other’, as ‘monstrous’, as ‘it’. Without an easy reading of gender, we find it easy to dehumanise. Influenced by Frankenstein, Goblin makes their very own monster. Again, Goblin suffers from language constraints: when someone describes Monsta as ‘it’, Goblin says, “Not an it, not a she, not a he. A Monsta.” As well as ‘it’, the universal ‘he’ is often used to describe someone of uncertain gender, which takes things further – not only does someone have to be gendered to be human, to be a man is to be fully human. It’s disturbing how pervasive the universal ‘he’ is; I often found myself referring to Monsta as ‘he’, despite knowing Monsta isn’t gendered – why did I do this?

Why did that feel more natural than ‘she’? We’re used to the universal ‘he’, but what happens when that’s turned on its head? In Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie uses ‘she’ as the default pronoun, and it’s a shock; it takes time to accommodate. A friend’s book group considered this to be a flaw because it brought them out of the narrative (particularly instances such as ‘she was male’). I would argue this jarring effect highlights beautifully how problematic it is that we still often use ‘he’ as the default, as if it’s somehow neutral. Leckie’s language play is also world building – very much a part of the story she has created. If something shocks, jars, confuses us, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a failure of the narrative. What happens when we can’t read gender at all? In John Scalzi’s Lock In I fell into the default ‘he’ trap again. The protagonist is a detective called Chris, who I immediately assumed was a man. It wasn’t until a conversation with a friend that I realised we’re not given any information in the entire book as to the protagonist’s gender. I found this fascinating and worrying: unless told otherwise, my default is ‘white male’. I had the audacity to think I was immune to such bias, but this sci-fi thriller made me realise that no matter how ‘aware’ we are, we’re still shaped by the norms of our society. These norms are toxic, so in turn we must shape society right back. If you don’t fit into the male/female binary, what language do you have to assert your existence? While we have words like non-binary, agender, genderqueer, trans, non-cis, there’s still the problem of pronouns and prefixes. While ‘Ms’ made the journey into accepted usage (and the gender-neutral honorific ‘Mx’ is following suit), and the internet has the power to get new words (such as ‘selfie’ and ‘squee’) in the dictionary, there’s hope for a gender neutral pronoun to enter everyday use. The question is, which one?

Does it have to be one? Or can we have several, each person choosing that which suits them? While there are other gender neutral pronouns out there (e.g. ‘Ne’, ‘Ve’, ‘Ze’, ‘Xe’) many trans and gender fluid people have embraced the singular ‘they’ (much to the chagrin of some grammar pedants) and it’s gradually gaining acceptance (it’s a Facebook option, and the American Dialect Society voted singular ‘they’ as their 2015 word of the year). The issue of gender-neutral pronouns goes beyond identity politics, as non-human animals or creatures like Monsta require genderneutral pronouns but can’t be subsumed into language such as ‘genderqueer’. There’s also instances where a person’s gender shouldn’t matter, but they don’t necessarily self-identify as genderqueer or non-binary.

Words: Ever Dundas

Novels, short stories, biographies, creative non-fiction, poetry, plays, screenplays – all writing is perfect for experimenting with gender neutral pronouns. Language isn’t static and politically neutral, and stories are powerful; they shape our lives, and they can shake up our lives when used creatively to show how problematic established ‘universal’ norms are. Writers should be free to try, play, experiment, and even fail. I’m going to enjoy the challenge to play and subvert, and I hope you’ll join me on the journey. Recommended reading: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, Lock In by John Scalzi, The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan, The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter. Goblin is published on 18 May, from Freight Books, RRP £9.99

Dark Fantasy Goblin, the debut novel from Ever Dundas, blurs the lines between fantasy and reality but also between genders, questioning the roles imposed upon us from birth. The author discusses her book here

ver Dundas makes a good first impression when meeting The Skinny to discuss her magical, dark and endearing debut novel, Goblin; a fantastical life story viewed through the blurred lens of memory. She arrives wearing a Re-Animator t-shirt – that sick and hilarious Stuart Gordon B-movie shocker. Relevantly enough, schlock body horror feeds into a conversation that weaves across our treatment of animals, gender constraints placed upon us by society and the terrifying mortality imposed by the human body. Diverse and weighty themes, all of which entwine in the tapestry of her central character who identifies as Goblin. The Skinny: The narrative of your book winds around the theme of the human/animal relationship and a horrific true incident I knew nothing of: the pet massacre. Why did you make this a starting point for your novel? Ever Dundas: I went to see the Steven Poliakoff film, Glorious 39, set just before WWII and focussed on the issue of appeasement, and the pet massacre featured in it. I’d read a lot about the War when I was younger and thought I knew a lot,

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so was shocked when it came up in the film. At first I thought, ‘This can’t be true, he’s using it as a fictional device, foreshadowing for the holocaust or something…’ So I researched it and realised it had actually happened and wanted to know more. There was a lot of fear on the eve of WWII, people actually talked about having poison and thinking that if there was a Nazi invasion of the UK they would poison both their children and themselves. So that put in context what happened to the pets, but it still didn’t seem like a great explanation. What I was really struggling with was that within a few days of WWII being declared, 400,000 pets were put down in London. There had been no bombing, it wasn’t a government directive. It didn’t seem like any kind of mass panic, more almost a practical decision; put up blackout blinds, build a shelter, kill the family pet. The body – both human and animal – is another theme central to Goblin and your short fiction, such as the Aeon award-shortlisted Wire. Where are the origins of this interest? My love of schlocky body horror films – that definitely feeds into Goblin. And my husband studied anatomy at university, so I think that’s influenced me as well.

It’s frightening subject matter. Our bodies eventually fail us all... Yes, I know that well. I think its maybe influenced by having a chronic illness, my relationship with the body… we are flesh and blood and meat and bone. And I don’t think we face that as much as we should. Having a chronic illness brings you face to face with that. I think we often try to disguise this and cover up our mortality. Goblin feels very fluid in terms of gender – she moves back and forth depending upon the situation and how she presents herself. But this only relates to how she wants others to define her, she refuses to box herself in by expectations… I think she is pretty comfortable in her own skin, although I think she has a problem in the way that gender is imposed upon her, but she is comfortable in her own body. It’s about what society expects and how she has to perform; she’s practical about it. I think complexity is very important, that’s what I want. We’re moving away from the black and white. I understand that people are afraid of that; they want simple [gender] narratives, but that’s not good enough. I want complex narratives and not to be afraid of that.

BOOKS

Interview: Alan Bett We meet Goblin at both ends of the age spectrum, as a child and elderly woman. Both can be viewed as unreliable narrators who find it easily to skip into fantasy. Were these specific vantage points intrinsic to weaving such a fantastical tale? (Laughs) She’s definitely an unreliable narrator, definitely. I refer a lot to Goblin being a storyteller, and hopefully that puts the reader a bit on edge, thinking, ‘Well, what is it that she’s telling me? What’s between the lines? Is this truth; can she really remember this?’ But these fantasies seem to act as a psychological sandpit, allowing her to shelter herself from the reality of a long and traumatic life… Yeah, not to make myself too much like Goblin because I’m definitely not, but while growing up, I basically lived in my own little fantasy world so definitely identify with goblin in that [sense]… the power of imagination and storytelling can help you cope with things you wouldn’t otherwise, because if Goblin hadn’t had her own fantasy world I don’t think she would have survived. I think it transmutes the poison [of trauma]. Storytelling is really important in helping us understand our lives. Goblin is published on 18 May, by Freight Books, RRP £9.99

THE SKINNY

May 2017

if you’re juggling social anxiety with other mental health problems. There is no more bountiful a place for discussion of this matter, and the mental health of young people generally, than YouTube. Because vlogging places a camera lens and editing software between the speaker and their audience, it makes for a pretty handy medium for anxious people who enjoy connecting with others, whether you’re the vlogger sharing your stories or the viewer learning that you’re not alone. The YouTuber’s trademark sign-off ‘let me know in the comments below!’ indicates a consistent dialogue between video-makers and their audiences. YouTubers are shown just how meaningful and relevant their input really is, and the cup of mental health vlogs now truly runneth over. Even the YouTube-uninitiated have usually heard of Zoella, a mega-famous internet celeb who’s become the subject of ridicule for slapping her name on mediocre candles and body butters. What’s been ignored, though, is her contribution to the destigmatisation of mental health; specifically anxiety. She broadcasts to a huge demographic spanning tiny preteens to the middle-aged and has provided earnest discussions about her own mental health, extensive Q&As and footage of her debilitating panic attacks. Because YouTube’s algorithms now have me down (quite accurately) as ‘millennial who’s low-key anxious and dabbles in hair tutorials and TED talks’, my suggested videos are saturated with mental health vlogs and discussions. Within the rainbow of thumbnails I’ve noticed there’s one topic YouTubers are absolutely smashing – alcohol. More specifically, how drinking habits intersect with mental health. British 22-year old Lucy Moon was one of the first vloggers to break the taboo in her video Hi, I’m Lucy, in which she discussed her disordered relationship with alcohol, and how alcoholism is easily normalised and often invisible: “I’d drink

entire bottles of vodka, but I wasn’t worried about it because everyone was doing it, and everyone was doing it to the same degree that I was… From the age of about 18 I’ve known I’ve had some sort of alcohol problem, but it’s always been talked out of me by friends.” The video circulated globally, and many other influential YouTubers followed suit. Shortly after, 22 year-old musician and vlogger Dodie Clark, who’s known for her earnest coverage of depersonalisation, anxiety and depression, posted a video entitled ‘alcohol’. The vlog shows footage of Dodie “shitfaced”, mid-vomit and hungover. It’s a pretty recognisable state of affairs, the sort of behaviour that tends to be praised, or at the very least joked about in British youth culture.

“ Alcohol – the greatest, tastiest and most unsustainable of social lubricants” That in mind, it feels like a bucket of cold water when when the vlog snaps back to a clean-cut, sober Dodie questioning whether her relationship with alcohol is a healthy one. “I noticed it was a problem. My drunk self just has no empathy for my sober self – it would lose all of its inhibitions, and it’s as if there was a voice in my head being like, ‘She’ll forgive you!’” But it was Savannah Brown who posted one of the first vlogs discussing alcohol within the context of anxiety. An awkwardly charismatic poet and vlogger from Ohio, Brown has covered everything from misconceptions about introverts to

DEVIANCE

chool discos were the highlight of my pre-teen years. I was an extrovert with a bedroom full of glittery platforms and a heart full of Avril Lavigne song lyrics; those Fridays spent necking Panda Pops and performing worryingly accurate Pussycat Dolls choreography were made for me. There was only one problem – without fail, every time my parents dropped me off I’d be momentarily paralysed by a fizzy dread in the pit of my belly. What if that girl in the year above rolled her eyes at something I was wearing again? What if I was asked out and dumped in the space of a Scooter song again? Those trivial flickers of nervous energy were the start of a mild anxiousness that stuck with me for over a decade, through high school house parties and Freshers’ ice breakers; graduation balls and professional networking events. A tiny little voice that grew over a decade into a distracting bellow: “But what if you make a tit of yourself?” It was only recently that I learned this feeling has a title: social anxiety. My anxiousness is comparatively mild, and when I’ve found a nice seat and a friendly pal it often dissipates – though it can be reactivated instantly by a side-eye or faux-pas. For those occasions there are remedies: escaping with the smokers into the night air, an unnecessary trip to the human-free environs of a toilet cubicle or deciding I urgently need to check my phone. But the best remedy i’ve found? Alcohol. The greatest, tastiest and most unsustainable of social lubricants. More on that later. The paradox of both dreading and relishing social interaction is a frustrating one, but surprisingly common. We’re a generation who grew up able to socialise remotely and passively; hours spent on MSN messenger turning into Facebook stalking and WhatsApping, Instagram posts and Snapchats. We’re nested in our own isolating havens, so the idea of actually meeting up with a friend or entering a room full of real life faces and voices can be pretty intimidating. It’s even worse

Using alcohol to relax in social situations is deemed normal in Britain, but as social anxiety plagues a generation of digital natives, drinking can quickly become a crutch. It’s time to talk about it

Shitfaced & Interesting

Words: Kate Pasola Illustration: Louise French

eating disorders. In February she released a video called alcohol & anxiety, charting her growing reliance on alcohol within social interactions since her first drink at the age of 16. “Drinking made me feel normal for the first time. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, is this how everyone feels in social situations?’... When I’m drunk it’s like, ‘talking to people is the most fun thing I could do right now’, which is so unlike me.” She goes on to explain a short period of time where she’d take a flask of alcohol when she had social plans, “because I was like, ‘I’m not gonna be able to talk to this person if I’m not a little bit tipsy,’ which is so messed up”. Hearing Brown’s familiar tale of tipsiness transforming an intimidating social situation, I wondered whether my own use of alcohol as a social crutch could mutate into a bigger problem, especially as I progress through life; taking on bigger responsibilities, attending more nerve racking events and parties, trying to impress hypothetical in-laws. I’ve never talked or written about this before because doing so feels self-indulgent, like i’m exaggerating a minor issue. But really, it’s a problem. We tend to view mental health and alcoholism as a binary; you suffer from mental health problems or you don’t, you’re an alcoholic or you’re not. While it’s important not to trivialise the struggles of those with severe mental health problems and substance dependencies, there’s an area between that we’re failing to discuss. This silence and absence of solutions is a problem for those with mild mental health challenges, for those developing unhealthy alcohol habits, and doubly so for those addressing their mental health problems with alcohol – perhaps without even realising. Though vloggers and like Savannah Brown, Lucy Moon and Zoella are leading a fine online discourse, the deadline for bringing this conversation from YouTube to IRL is well overdue. If you need help with dependency or addiction, visit mind.org.uk for support and guidance

Lifestyle

Swiping Rights From relentless fetishisation to unsolicited threesome requests, queer femmes have a tough time of it when it comes to using Tinder. Here’s how things need to change... Words: Megan Wallace Illustration: Sonny Ross

-I-N-D-E-R. Those six letters are sure to conjure up mixed feelings for many – as well as memories of a whole barrage of unwanted dick pics – but we have a lot to thank dating apps for. Certainly, it’s never been easier to experiment sexually or expand your dating roster. However, while apps are increasingly integral to our romantic lives they’ve only been A Thing for a few years, meaning they’ve still got a few glitches needing straightened out. Beyond poorly worded one-liners and the subsequent awkward bar dates, there’s an ongoing problem with how queer women experience these digital spaces, and it’s something which we need to address. Queer dating is tricky, particularly for femmes (i.e. someone who identifies with femininity or presents in a feminine way) as they don’t necessarily have the same dating culture as male-identifying members of the community. While apps like Grindr have in excess of five million active users, the leading female equivalents (Her, anyone?) have only a fifth of that… not to mention the fact that Tinder, in contrast, has fifty million users. To add insult to injury, femmes don’t have as strong a presence in alternative LGBTQI+ spaces, leaving them stranded to face the crashing waves of queer-erasure and heteronormativity. Due to the scarcity of spaces which are both LGBTQI+ and femme-friendly, we don’t really have much choice but to integrate into spaces which aren’t designed to cater for us. And this is precisely the reason why Tinder can be a bit problematic – it functions on a heterosexual bias, with all the gay stuff tagged on at the end. And while it might help us connect with other queer femmes, it doesn’t necessarily constitute a safe space. When an essentially heterosexual space tries to stretch to be more LGBTQI+ inclusive, without undergoing some radical changes, it’s always going to fall short. Admittedly, Tinder made a massive step forward by introducing more representative gender options last November. However, this doesn’t rewrite its pretty rocky history – namely, trans users having their accounts reported and deleted for being ‘fake’. And besides, the very fact that Tinder had to add more than two gender options just reinforces the fact that it was conceived with cis individuals in mind. Furthermore, the absence of instantaneous feedback and the emotional distance present in phone-to-phone dating can create an aggressively sexual atmosphere, leading to uncomfortable or inappropriate situations. While sex is a lot more available, it doesn’t yet come without judgement or – as is definitely the case with many queer femmes – fetishisation. When femmes try to use apps like Tinder to date more than one gender, they form the intersection between the heterosexual and queer virtual communities and, because there isn’t exactly a ‘not a homophobic asshole’ filter, they have to put up with a lot of inappropriate behaviour from the people who don’t necessarily ‘get’ their sexuality. However, contrary to what you might be expecting, it isn’t really straight guys who are the problem. Rather, it’s the couples – namely, the relentless unsolicited invitations to participate in threesomes. Most individuals who present in a feminine way will experience various forms of sexual harassment in every walk of life, but it’s

Lifestyle

only on Tinder that they will encounter a specific category of male and female duo with their winkface messages and pursuit of ‘fun with an adventurous lady’. This sort of request tends to end up objectifying queer women (yep, treating someone as an accessory to your sex life, to pick up and put down when it’s convenient for you is objectification). Now, this is not to say that sexual experimentation with your partner is a bad thing – on the contrary; it’s healthy and it’s great. I’m not about to go on some kind of poly-bashing rant. Furthermore, some queer women are genuinely interested in these propositions and that’s good for everyone involved. However, so many people fail to recognise that being into more than one gender does not automatically make you any more down for threesomes than straight people. So where does this perplexing misconception comes from? Most probably the hyper-sexualisation and fetishisation of bisexual women. Due to the way that bisexual women are represented in the media and in porn, queer femmes are associated with heightened sexuality created and performed for the male gaze. Also, just by differing from the hetero norm, femmes attracted to more than one gender are bracketed with the taboo, the forbidden, the provocative and accordingly looked down upon. And it doesn’t stop there. Even from within the queer community, polysexuality (i.e. being attracted to more than one gender) is associated with promiscuity, duplicity and an inability to commit. However, polysexuals don’t necessarily have more sex than anyone else and it’s pretty nonsensical that the idea of a healthy, non-monogamous sex life is met with hatred and disgust.

“ When an essentially heterosexual space tries to be more inclusive without undergoing radical changes, it’s always going to fall short” Couples on Tinder will often say that they’re looking for a ‘fun, open-minded girl’ which is shudder-worthy for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, why the focus on ‘girls’? This actively excludes the many non-binary individuals who make up the queer community online and IRL and betrays a pretty selective understanding of what it is to be LGBTQI+. It really isn’t all cisgender, sex-positive, bisexual women – despite what porn makes you want to believe. Furthermore, the way that these propositions are made implicitly suggests that if you don’t want to have a threesome, you’re automatically prudish, obstinate, backwards. Herein lies a big problem. You shouldn’t be made to feel bad or lesser for rejecting sexual advances, no matter who they come from. But sadly, a large proportion of society has been brainwashed to view queer and bisexual femmes not as

real people with their own feelings and sexual needs, but as sexual deviants there to satisfy the emotional and sexual needs of others. It’s worth pointing out that if you want someone to have sex with you and your partner and don’t want to employ a professional, there’s a lot to bear in mind. Similarly to sleeping with a person one-on-one, you need to make sure that they have a good time, you need to respect their boundaries and, above all, you need to remember that you are in no way entitled to their body. It’s also a good idea to be using the right apps – you wouldn’t

DEVIANCE

go on Grindr if you were a hetero woman look ing for a hook-up, would you? Check out Feeld (formerly 3nder), an increasingly popular dating app specifically aimed at enabling threesomes – that way you can find people who won’t instantly unmatch. Everyone is comfortable with different things. Each case is different; one day someone might want to join you in the bedroom, and another day they might not. However, no matter what their sexual orientation, or their sexual interests, they deserve your respect.

THE SKINNY

My Mystery Holiday Experience Is pitching up at the airport with no idea where you’re flying to really a salve for travel-related anxiety? Premise A few months ago, two friends and I decided we wanted to go on holiday. These were my friends Caroline and Jake, and all three of us are admittedly quite stubborn and indecisive, which made choosing a destination rather difficult. Caroline suddenly alighted upon the idea of a “mystery holiday”. We would entrust her with all our money and documents – and she would book everything without our knowledge, our destination being revealed when we turned up at the airport. We had no idea where we were going, what sights we might be seeing, and how much our Brexit-weakened pounds were worth in currency X. All we knew was roughly how long we’d be away, and that it was winter so it would probably be cold. I packed shorts just in case. The Days Before Departure Now, Caroline is perhaps one of my more… juvenile friends. I say that with complete love of course. However she does have high standards of ‘prettiness’ and is generally unlikely to stay in accommodation which doesn’t meet her exacting standards; so I believed I could trust her. Her outgoing personality and love of tormenting Jake and I did have me concerned that we might end up doing something ridiculous such as parachuting into the Gaza Strip “for a laugh”. I have long struggled with anxiety, and assumed that relinquishing all my holiday-planning responsibilities might alleviate the stress which often attends ‘big occasions’. I could not have been more wrong. The days leading up to my departure were horrifying. A cognitive battle between sheer terror and nervous excitement began to rage in my head – knowing you’ll be flying thousands of miles in simply a direction is terrifying for an anxiety sufferer. Caroline’s parents were the only other people who knew where we were headed: “Don’t worry Joe, you’ll love it! We’ve been and it’s great!” Somehow all this hype made me even more worried. I slept very little the nights before departure, envisioning myself running out of currency in a far-away land, or being tied to a stake whilst locals performed Voodoo rituals. Perhaps I’ve watched too much Come Fly With Me. Arriving at the Airport The trip to the airport was the most fraught taxi ride of my life. Walking into the terminal, Jake and I paused for a quick cigarette, savouring the moment/fearing for our immediate futures. By this point in time I had heavily, heavily convinced myself that we were going to Euro Disney. It was within our budget and appealed to Caroline’s (and our) childish side. Inside, Caroline gave us an envelope that contained our destination. I now know how those people hosting the Oscars feel – all the pomp and ceremony is rather nerve-wracking. Jake and I opened the envelope to find a letter from Caroline. It read like this: “Dear Joe and Jake. Thank you for trusting me with hundreds of your well-earned pounds. Lift the flap below to reveal your destination.” We lifted the flap: “Afghanistan” it read as our two openly-gay mouths dropped in horror. We then saw an additional flap under it, which we lifted once more: “ROME!” Thank Christ. I was relieved and excited, yet in this weird state of denial. I knew Rome would be beautiful, yet I had somehow convinced myself I was going to Disneyland. Even after seeing the plane tickets from Manchester to Rome, I was sort of expecting them to be forged and for the REAL tickets to be concealed elsewhere. I suppose the brain doesn’t

May 2017

Words: Joseph Hallas Illustration: Alberto Alonso

know what to do when it spends weeks convincing itself of something before being suddenly forced to do a 180 in a couple of hours. I was secretly looking forward to seeing Mickey and the gang. The Flight All of us hate to be seen as ignorant British tourists; so Jake and I spent much of our time in the airport searching for Wi-Fi so we could research Rome and learn some basic Italian phrases. I was also busy practising my best Don Corleone impressions (complete with Italian hand gestures) which everyone found amusing initially, and irritating eventually. Such is life! We ate breakfast in the god-awful cesspool that is Manchester Terminal 3 (it doesn’t even have a Burger King!) at a restaurant with incredibly slow table service. Our flight was leaving soon and our disinterested waiter didn’t come to take our card payments, despite us gesturing from afar that we were ready to pay three times. I’m not saying that we were forced to dine and dash in order to catch our flight. I’m not saying that I spent the extra money on sweets. I am not saying that I teased a paranoid Jake that the waiter would be waiting angrily on the runway in Rome. I am definitely not saying that I once had to do the same thing in Schiphol Airport. That would be rather illegal. So eventually it was time to catch the flight. Chain-smoker Jake was busy trying to Googletranslate ‘20 menthols, please’ and I was busy trying to pronounce the Italian for ‘vegetarian’ because I’m one of those awkward people you don’t want to take to a restaurant. We were flying in the super-cheap Ryanair Sardine Can Express which for a 6’3” person such as myself is a nightmare. My friends slept like babies the entire journey while I sang “No Sleep Till Rome!” and tried not to develop Deep Vein Thrombosis. I told my parents and significant other where I was headed, to their overwhelming jealousy. I would’ve gloated more – but a part of me still hadn’t processed that it was all real until the plane left the tarmac.

“ I have long struggled with anxiety, and assumed that relinquishing all my holiday-planning responsibilities would ease this anxiety” “Oh Christ, I’m actually going to Rome.” I was speaking to Christ directly of course. I was raised Catholic and head-honcho the Pope lives in Rome (kind of) so I was treating this as a pilgrimage with more pizza and Prosecco. Caroline and I had already planned to dress Jake as a nun and throw him into the Vatican. We expected we’d all burn on the way in, though. The Arrival As the plane touched down the reality of what was happening materialised. I never in a million years expected Rome to be an option, and as ungrateful as it sounds I was almost annoyed at

what was happening. Perhaps my inner control freak was irritated at being incorrect. Either way, the waiter we definitely didn’t steal from was not waiting for us on the tarmac, which was nice. I cleared Italian customs with a smile and a sloppily-pronounced “Buongirono!” reminiscent of Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds. This was happening mere weeks after the Brexit referendum – I was slightly concerned that European passport officials would just spit on British passports and shoo us away. I didn’t know how to say ‘I voted to remain!’ in Italian. One of the benefits of flying with Ryanair is that you arrive at an airport a mere seven light years away from your hotel. Luckily Caroline had pre-booked a shuttle service, and I finally understood what it’s like to be one of those people who have a chauffeur holding their name on a sign at arrivals. After 15 cigarettes (two hours is a long time for a chain-smoker like Jake) we hopped in the taxi and made our way towards the city. As we travelled up the motorway we passed a small shopping mall with a domed roof to which Jake exclaimed, “Look! It’s the Vatican!” I began to feel like the more well-read out of the two of us.

TRAVEL

I’m pretty sure the Holy Micro-state that is Vatican City doesn’t pass the Roman equivalent of the M6. Jake was already working out where he could buy cigarettes (shops called “Tabacchis”) by pooling his knowledge of French and my knowledge of Spanish together to create a sort of pseudo-Italian that enabled us to understand street signs. These romance languages are all basically the same. The taxi route itself could not have been better really. On our journey we passed the lush countryside, the Roman Forum and the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II. The views were immersive, yet I was in disbelief. I was expecting to be prancing around Cinderella’s castle right now, yet I was passing the Colosseum. The Experience Despite my initial scepticism, we had a brilliant time and I would highly recommend this mystery holiday experience. Not just with friends – perhaps with family or a loved one. Just make sure you trust the organiser, because being in the dark is exciting, terrifying or both, depending on your mindset. theskinny.co.uk/travel

Lifestyle

Unstable Creations U

nstable Creations is the alias for designer and digital artist Martin Sweeny. Over the last few years, Martin has been developing his take on projection mapping, an emerging technology which takes moving images and projects them onto complex three-dimensional surfaces. Martin initially started using projection mapping as a technique to make his club night Paradigm more visual. Paradigm started out in September 2014 and quickly developed into a full-scale monthly event taking over the floors at Edinburgh’s Mash House featuring electronic music artists, DJs, visual artists, interior decorators and interactive designers. At the same time as running Paradigm, Martin was in his final years of his degree in Design and Digital Art at Napier University. This gave him an opportunity

to shape new ideas, concepts and theories through creating prototypes and live testing them at the events. Post-graduation he was offered further opportunities for live events and started to build his unique brand of projection mapping: a playful use of colourful tones, flat geometric shapes and patterns more in step with contemporary graphic design than 3D video mapping. Rather than try to emulate what the big production companies are doing with complex visual effects and 3D rendering, he decided to go in the opposite direction and explore what can be done with flat design on three-dimensional objects. He doesn’t use any animation – all the movement in the visual content is created through video synthesis which is affected by incoming

audio. These installations have now been to many events, including club nights and festivals all over Scotland, Creative Edinburgh events, Edinburgh’s Charity Fashion Show and Edinburgh’s International Science Festival, to name but a few. In September last year, Unstable Creations collaborated with Werewolf, an Edinburgh-based animation studio, to enter the International Projection Mapping Competition Circle of Light in Moscow. They decided to keep to their style, projecting flat design using sound-reactive visual content and tightly synchronised animations onto the All-Russian Exhibition Center (ВДНХ ) in the VDNKh. This was an unorthodox (and stressful) choice as all of their competitors would be using hi-definition 3D rendering and spectacular visual effect tricks to wow the judges. The team’s initial

doubts quickly faded when they were announced as the winners. Patrick Woodroffe, lighting designer for London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, awarded them with the words “For their technical ability and the sheer joy they brought to the event.” You can view Unstable Creations’ entry on their site. In the future, Martin Sweeny and Unstable Creations have ambitions to create large-scale architectural projection experiences for brands, exhibitions and festivals. They also have their sights set on creating immersive experiences for music festivals and hope to work with their favourite electronic music artists to create installations for live shows and events. unstablecreations.com

Creative Edinburgh Awards 2017

Photo: Ross Fraser McLean

Creative Edinburgh Party

Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show

Creative Edinburgh Awards 2017

SHOWCASE

THE SKINNY

Credit: Ellie Morag

Werewolf Collaboration

May 2017

SHOWCASE

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Aloo Aloo Electric fields takeover May 6th Scottish Streetfood Awards 12 May, Heat 1, 4-10pm 13 May, Heat 2, 12 - 10pm 14 May, Finals, 12 - 6pm World Whisky Day 20 May 12-10pm Two-day Bank Holiday Pitt 27 May 12-10pm 28 May 12-10pm June & July Every Saturday 12-10pm & Sunday 12-8pm

The Pitt will be on tour @ Festivale, Summerhall 11-13 May Minival, Kincardine Castle, Aberdeenshire 20 May FLY Open Air, Hopetoun House 20 May Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival, Biscuit Factory 26-28 May Juniper Gin Festival, Summerhall 2&3 June Juniper Gin Festival, SWG3, Glasgow 9&10 June Check out our sister market

The Food and Flea Seven days a week Sibbald Walk, Edinburgh

egetarianism can be a tough gig at times. It’s not just the endless checking that some meat hasn’t snuck into an otherwise innocuous bag of crisps; it’s the fact that so many cuisines are centred around big chunks of animal. Indian street food though, that’s a haven for veggies. Delicious dishes packed with flavour and spice but based around plants are abundant, and Tuk Tuk’s recipe for Aloo Praz Paratha follows in this long and tasty tradition. Tuk Tuk have shared their recipe for this delicious filled bread for you to make at home; if you’re in Glasgow and don’t fancy cooking, you can get their tasty Indian Street Food via Deliveroo, or head to their Sauchiehall Street branch for 20% student discount on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Aloo Praz Paratha For curry: 500g potatoes 4 green chillies, finely chopped 20g grated ginger 20g chopped coriander leaves 2 tablespoons salt 1/2 to 1 tablespoon chilli powder 1/2 tablespoon cumin powder 1/2 tablespoon coriander powder 1 tablespoon chaat masala 1 small red onion, finely chopped For paratha dough: 450g whole wheat Chapati flour (plus 50g for rolling) 2 tablespoons ghee or oil 1-2 teaspoons salt (to taste) 200ml water Method: For the filling, wash and peel the potatoes, and chop into evenly-sized cubes. Place in a pan with enough water to cover, and boil until soft. Drain and leave to cool. For the paratha dough, place flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, and mix well. Add water gradually, and knead into a soft, smooth dough. Add the oil or ghee, and knead for a further four minutes (the longer you knead, the smoother and silkier the dough). Divide the dough into eight evenly-sized pieces, roll into balls, cover with clingfilm and leave to rest. Add the dry spices to the cooled potatoes. Mash, removing any lumps which could burst the paratha. Add ginger, chilli, coriander and onion and mix again. Check seasoning, divide into eight portions, and place to the side. Flatten a dough ball by hand until roughly four inches in diameter. Place a portion of stuffing in the centre, and pinch and fold the edges of the paratha to close; repeat for all eight. Flatten, dust with flour, and roll out with a rolling pin (the finished paratha should be six to eight inches across). Fry in a non-stick pan with ghee or oil for one minute on each side; garnish with butter, chillies, mixed pickle and raita.

Tuk Tuk Indian Street Food, 1 Leven St, Edinburgh; 426 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow tuktukonline.com

THE SKINNY

Food News Things get festive in this month’s Food News, with beer events a-plenty signalling the start of summer Words: Peter Simpson

e launch this month’s column with a pair of Edinburgh events featuring Danish experimentalists Rocket Brewery. Get it, ’cos rockets... launch... Anyway, Rocket’s Kim Agersten heads to Salt Horse on 3 May for an evening explaining their unique brewery set-up. All of Rocket’s beers are created using ‘brett’, a yeast found in fruit skins that’s growing in popularity as an ingredient to add some funky complexity to beers. Kim will discuss the brewery’s philosophy and range over delicious beer and cheeses (the best way to discuss things). 3 May, 6.30pm, £20, tickets via Eventbrite The following day, Rocket join the crew at Twelve Triangles’ new Kitchen Table outpost in Leith for an evening of kebabs, seasonal sour beers and questions. And if you’re going to ask questions, best to do it armed with delicious kebabs and highly interesting beer. 4 May, 7pm, £43 (includes dinner and beers), tickets via Eventbrite Over in Glasgow, the Glasgow Coffee Festival returns for two days of highly-caffeinated fun at the Briggait. The Scottish leg of the UK Barista Championship and the UK Brewers Cup both feature for those of you who fancy watching some competitive cupping, while roasteries and cafes from all over will be in attendance to ply you with flat whites and entice you with lovely, pricey coffee-making equipment. 6 & 7 May, 10am-6pm, £15 per day, facebook.com/TheGlasgowCoffeeFestival Also returning this month is Stewart Brewing’s Edinburgh Beer Festival. Past events have seen Stewart join forces with fellow craft breweries for some pretty exciting collab beers, so expect more of the same this time round. 13 May, noon-8pm, £15, stewartbrewing.co.uk On the same weekend, Summerhall’s FestivALE is back for its fourth year, with a number of fresh additions to its hoppy line-up. There’s ExperimentALE – a series of live, boozy science experiments – and a street food line-up courtesy of The Pitt. There will also be a host of delicious one-off beers by brewers from across the country, and cocktails for those of you who aren’t massively into beer. We will still insist on pronouncing it ‘festi-vah-lay’ rather than playing along with the pun, but that’s just us. 11-13 May, various times, £7, summerhall.co.uk Speaking of The Pitt, they’re hosting the team from World Whisky Day on 20 May for what promises to be an extra smoky edition of everyone’s favourite street food market. And that’s saying something, what with the open fires and barbecued meats usually doing the rounds. 20 May, from midday, line-up at facebook.com/pittstmarket We finish May where we started, at Salt Horse for their Sour Fest celebrating that most tart of all brewing styles. You’ll find beers from across the UK, Europe and beyond, with some exclusives, collabs, and truly esoteric beers that really will need to be tasted to be believed. An ideal chance to delve into an oft-neglected side of beer, convince someone who’s sworn off IPAs that not all beers need to be brown and very hoppy, or find out just how delicious a yuzu fruit beer can be. We’re going to guess ‘quite’. From 25 May, 57 Blackfriars St, salthorse.beer theskinny.co.uk/food

May 2017

Innis and Gunn Beer Kitchen

New Venues Our latest round-up of new venues in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with Walking Deadinspired cocktails, high-brow takes on childhood classics, and delicious pizza for all New in Edinburgh Maki and Ramen Omakase M&R have been spreading their wings across the Southside in recent years, and now they’ve opened their biggest venue to date in Tollcross at the former site of fellow Newington favourites Kampung Ali Malaysia Delight. Inside, the new spot is a lovingly decorated and sleek dining space complete with a centrepiece sushi bar; on the menu, expect many of the same favourites that have been such a hit in their other locations. Try the Master Chef Shoyu burnt garlic ramen; you will not be disappointed. 97 Fountainbridge. SURVIVE Following on from the monumental success of the Game of Thrones-inspired Blood & Wine, The Pop Up Geeks are back with another New Town takeover. SURVIVE features drinks inspired by The Walking Dead comics and TV show, located in the cellar space of the already-excellent Belgian beer bar Six Degrees North. Seems like a good choice if you ask us – when the zombies do come we’ll all be looking for basements to hide in, so one that’s already fitted out with delicious booze seems like a good place to start. Tue-Thu, 3 May - 30 Jun, 24 Howe St. Civerinos Slice We don’t want to shock you, but here at The Skinny, we like pizza. That’s why we’re so excited

about Civerinos Slice, the second outpost of one of our favourite Edinburgh ’zza-slingers. More pizza bar than trad restaurant, this’ll be a spot to grab one of the dozens of New York-style slices on offer – standard sourdough, or their new ‘nonna’-style square pizza – have a beer, try another slice, have another beer, then realise you’ve been having a great time eating and drinking for hours. Loads of fun, basically. 49 Forrest Rd. The Bierhoose In the former home of the Boundary Bar on Leith Walk stands a German-style beer house packed with exciting beers from across Europe. With an eighty-strong bottle list to choose from you won’t be short of options, but draught-wise we can heartily recommend the Schofferhofer radler. Half German weissbeer, half grapefruit, it’s essentially a summer’s afternoon in a glass; should the summer ever arrive, it’s the ideal complement. 379 Leith Walk. New in Glasgow Innis and Gunn Beer Kitchen The oak-aged brewers hit Ashton Lane with their latest bar, a three-floor space with a hefty beer line-up, its own microbrewery, and room for nearly 400 people. The bar opens with a trio of specially-created brews from said microbrewery – including an intriguing Marshmallow Milk Stout

FOOD AND DRINK

Words: Peter Simpson

– and if the Edinburgh Beer Kitchen is anything to go by, expect a regular rotation of I&G beers and brews from the best of their craft brethren. 46 Ashton Ln. Paesano West End Remember earlier, when we said we liked pizza? Well, one of our absolute favourite pizzas in Scotland comes courtesy of Paesano in Glasgow; we love it, and it was one of the winners in this year’s Food and Drink Survey, so evidently you love it too. Well now they’re opening a second branch in the West End, so you’ll be able to get your light, charred, fluffy and delicious Neapolitan pizza without heading into town. We’ll see you in the queue. 471 Great Western Rd. Six by Nico “A new restaurant every six weeks,” pledge Six by Nico. Chef Nico Simeone presents a radical new six-course tasting menu concept every monthand-a-half, having just closed the book on a chip shop-inspired experience. Next up is a menu inspired by childhood, promising elegant takes on egg and toast soldiers and fish fingers. Now for the full childhood experience, we just need to find someone to nag into letting us head along... 1132 Argyle St. For the latest on Edinburgh & Glasgow’s food and drink scene, go to theskinny.co.uk/food

Lifestyle

Tall ’Tails We head to the European debut of Tales of the Cocktail to get the inside track on what’s new in the world of highly refined boozing

t starts on a Sunday afternoon, soaring over rolling hillsides at the kind of height that doesn’t quite constitute flying, more like ‘extended jumping’. A soundtrack plays in our headphones, extolling the virtues of said hills, and of delicious Jura whisky. We are trying to sip on the afternoon’s third cocktail while wearing a bulky virtual reality headset, while also trying not to accidentally elbow the people around us. We are investigating what the future might hold for our favourite cocktail bars – frankly, we hadn’t expected to take flight quite so early. Tales of the Cocktail is an annual drinks industry meet-up in New Orleans, where bar staff, booze brands and other movers and shakers meet up to swap ideas, size up the competition, and have themselves a merry old party. The Edinburgh edition this April was the first iteration of Tales in Europe; in many ways Edinburgh is the ideal city for this kind of thing, being easy to navigate and get around while also stuffed to the gunnels with great cocktail-makers and drinkmongers. Those local producers are out in force at Tales’ opening event, showcasing the best of Scotland’s booze brands. We catch up with the lovely lads from the equally lovely Porter’s Gin in Aberdeen, head into the fourth dimension at the aforementioned Jura stand, and discuss the finer points of light-based marketing with the excellent Leithbased gin distillers Electric Spirits Co. Turns out that an enormous neon sign is great branding, even at a daytime event in an enormous well-lit room. So to day two, and a chance to take the customary look back before plodding forward. We’re discussing the origins of some of the original and best New Orleans cocktails, with Phillp Greene (a relation of Antoine Peychaud, who invented the Sazerac cocktail back in the 1800s) and bartenders Chris Hannah and Chris McMillian. There is whisky on the table at 10.30 on a Monday morning, and as we’re here for some first-hand insight into the classics, it would have been rude not to partake. NO’s bar scene is a thriving melange of influences and styles, much like the city itself, with the cocktail biz tracing its roots back to a host of rival pharmacists in 1830s New Orleans. The Sazerac – cognac or rye with bitters, in an absinthe-rinsed glass – was the first shot in a half-medicinal, halfrecreational war that created some cocktails that could be due for a comeback. There’s the Hurricane; described by the panel as “not particularly good”, it’s an iconic New Orleans serve that came about when a prohibition-era speakeasy needed to find a way to get rid of loads of rum and opted to just chuck it all in a glass with some passion fruit and lemon. There’s the Roffignac; Hannah’s version features cognac, orange bitters, raspberry and apple cider vinegar, and is named after the 10th mayor of New Orleans. That mayor, by the way, introduced the city’s street lights and fire brigade, before dying at home in France after ‘apparently’ suffering a stroke while simultaneously examining a loaded gun. Seems legit. There’s also the Vieux Carré – signature cocktail of the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, it has rye, cognac and vermouth in it – and the Ramos Gin Fizz. The Fizz’s main defining characteristic is that it needs to have the absolute piss shaken out of it; back in the glory days, teams of shakers would be on the books in New Orleans bars just to get the thing emulsified. The thing that all these cocktails have in common is their comparative simplicity – lots of alcohol, and one or two ingredients to make the spirits pop, is a much more appealing concept than a load of dry ice dickery. And that’s a philosophy that carried over into Tales’ panel on creating new signature drinks

Lifestyle

to join the established canon. Tom Walker from New York cocktail bar Fresh Kills introduced his award-winning Maid in Cuba cocktail – a sort of combination of a mojito and a daquiri, featuring rum, lime, absinthe and cucumber – by stating the importance of a straightforward name when coming up with a cocktail. If you’ve ever been to a bar, looked at an esoteric drinks list and confused it for a train station departure board, you will feel his pain. The panel then ran through what amounted to a manifesto for cocktail-makers that, as an interloper on behalf of you lot, gives plenty of hope for our future nights out. Drink names that make sense; simple drinks that don’t rely on gimmick ingredients or ludicrous preparation (we’re looking at you, Oslo bar that serves a cocktail in a miniature bathtub); proven formulae that everyone knows, but with one or two elements changed. The kind of thing that you could conceivably ask for in a different bar and not be laughed at.

from New York bar maestro Naren Young, showed off all of the above perfectly. It’s made with whisky, vermouth and lemon bitters, with a secret weapon in the form of St-Germain elderflower liqueur. It’s simple, it looks good, it doesn’t require a lot of faff, and it’s bloody delicious. Elsewhere over the course of Tales, the programme of oneoff bar takeovers offered plenty of glimpses into the future – a Lucky Liquor takeover highlighting zero-waste bartending, focusing on creating great drinks without throwing too much away, while the Kyrö distillery in Finland presented a one-off collaboration with the Bon Vivant that was a mash-up of Finnish and Scottish flavours. So taking a step back from the Cash Rules Everything Around Me vibe of some of the presentation, the future of the cocktail scene becomes a bit clearer. After the nitrogen-fuelled excesses of

Words: Peter Simpson

the 2000s, smart bartenders are steering the ship back towards the classics of the past, but it’s a fully laden ship full of modern ingredients and techniques. We received some real-life corroboration for our mad theory at our Eclectica Experiment event with Black Bottle last month; with five bespoke whisky cocktails, it was the ideal opportunity to a) get back on the cocktail horse and b) work out whether we had been talking rubbish the entire time. These were fantastical creations, and they were each brilliant in their own way, but you know which one was the best? The cocktail that was basically a smoked tea whisky and cola. Simple, straightforward, but with an unexpected twist. The future will not be televised, and it won’t be in virtual reality either. It will be bloody delicious, though. talesofthecocktail.com

“ Smart bartenders are steering the ship back towards the classics of the past, but it’s a fully laden ship full of modern ingredients and techniques” Of course it’s 2017, so the social #numbers your drink can pull in are important too – as the panel said, if you make a good-looking drink that gets out on Instagram, it’ll probably catch on. But the closer to the panel, the Point Blank cocktail

FOOD AND DRINK

THE SKINNY

May 2017

THE SKINNY

RE V IE W

25 Years of Hit Records Electric Honey is the Glasgow-based independent record label that first signed the likes of Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol and Biffy Clyro. Not bad for a company that’s run as a project by a class of music management students. How do they do it?

very truly great music city should be able to boast of having at least one great record label. Mention Detroit, Memphis or New York and a collector will immediately think of Motown, Stax and Columbia. But what label defines Glasgow and its proud history of nurturing artists of all varieties? Standing out in any list of contenders is Electric Honey, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. It can hold its own against any other independent label by pointing to the several heavyweight artists it’s nurtured during its twoand-a-half decades. Yet as any fan of Glasgow’s music scene will tell you, Electric Honey is very different to its rivals in one important regard. The label is not run by some cigar-chomping impresario, but by a class of music management students based in Maryhill. Overseeing them is Ken McCluskey, some-time singer in pop rockers The Bluebells and full-time inspiration to those seeking a job in the music industry. His own career took him from the Glasgow punk scene of the late 70s to singing FM radio classic Young At Heart on Top of the Pops. He began lecturing at the old Stow College in 2003 and now heads up the music management course at the merged Glasgow Kelvin College. “We’re strictly a label, not a publishing company,” he tells The Skinny one Thursday morning before the Easter break. “Our remit is: we’re looking for a band who need developed. There’s lots of good music about – but some bands need a wee lift. That’s where we come in.” Electric Honey was set up in 1992 by Alan Rankine, one half of the creative partnership behind 1980s favourites The Associates, as the in-house label of Stow College. It was designed to give students practical experience of spotting talent, drawing up contracts, booking recording sessions and marketing a finished product. Since its inception, the label has signed at least one fledgling artist per year. Its famous alumni include Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol and Biffy Clyro, while in recent years it has offered a helping hand to the likes of How to Swim and Be Charlotte. Such a strike rate led Uncut magazine to declare Electric Honey as “possibly the most successful student-run label in the world”.

May 2017

So how does a band get signed? “We try to do it as democratically as possible,” explains McCluskey. “One of the students might recommend a band and we’ll take a vote. But sometimes I need to be the big bad man who asks, ‘is that going to get played on the radio?’ Because I’m a commercial guy. I’m a pop guy. I started off as a punk rocker, moved to pop and ended up in a folky band. I know what sells and doesn’t sell. I know what will get played on the radio.

“ Having that first record in the can gave us so much bargaining power when other labels came chasing us” Richard Colburn, Belle and Sebastian

“Part of my remit is I don’t take on extreme death metal – I don’t like it and I don’t know how to sell it. The same goes for extreme Dutch techno. But everything else – it could be folk, jazz, indie, whatever – is fine. In the last couple of years we’ve done an album with a guy from Mali, Yacouba Sissoko. He was introduced to us by someone from Glasgow. He had a record, but didn’t know anything about the digital side of things, so we helped him there. Last year we released a single by Be Charlotte, who was a student in the class. She played me a demo and I said it was great. It’s all different.” Electric Honey was based at the landmark Stow College building at Garnethill, close to the M8 motorway, until 2016. Thanks to a series of mergers in the Scottish higher education system, the label is now part of Glasgow Kelvin College and has a new base at the former Garrioch school

in Hotspur Street, a short stroll north from Byres Road. “I first became aware of the label when I worked at CaVa studios in the 90s and the label was always in,” added McCluskey. “I’d be working in studio one and they’d be in studio two. I knew of the college as I lived in Garnethill – everyone’s dad went there when they were an apprentice joiner, or tailor, or whatever trade they had. It was a huge part of the city.” Richard Colburn, best known as the drummer in Belle and Sebastian, is among the Stow graduates who went on to full-time careers in the industry. When he moved to Glasgow in the mid-90s to take the music management course, it directly led to both the formation of one of Scotland’s best-loved bands and the recording of an album still treasured around the world. “I ended up living in Glasgow with Stuart David, the band’s original bassist,” he tells The Skinny. “He and Stuart Murdoch had already been writing songs together for a while by that point. Because I was about they asked me to sit in on drums and it all kind of went from there, with more people joining.” Thanks to Colburn’s in with the label, the young band were asked to record an album for Electric Honey. The result was Tigermilk, released in 1996, which many fans still consider to be their finest work. “I think only one of us had been in a proper studio before,” he adds. “We did the album in five days, but the first was pretty shambolic. But having that first record in the can gave us so much bargaining power when other labels came chasing us.” Among the college’s other famous alumni in the 90s were the Johnston twins – better known as the rhythm section in Biffy Clyro. “Thinking back to our time with Electric Honey brings back some great memories,” bassist James Johnston recalls. “It was such an exciting time for the band to be chosen to work with a label with such great pedigree. The students were very enthusiastic and took a hands-on approach to working with the band, so much so that a decade later I find myself married to one of them!” Electric Honey’s annual label showcase takes place at Òran Mór, Glasgow, 9 Jun as part of the West End festival facebook.com/electrichoneymusic

Music

Interview: Chris McCall

Five Key Electric Honey Releases Belle and Sebastian – Tigermilk (LP, 1996) The debut album from Stuart Murdoch and co was recorded at Glasgow’s CaVa studios in just five days in March 1996. Drummer Richard Colburn was a music management student at Stow College, as was the group’s first manager, Neil Robertson. The original pressing of the album ran to just 1000 copies – and has since become a prized collector’s item. Polarbear – Starfighter Pilot (EP, 1997) A band of mostly Northern Irish students who met at the University of Dundee, Polarbear would later rename themselves Snow Patrol and go on to achieve worldwide success. Lacking a drummer during their Electric Honey sessions, Richard Colburn of Belle and Sebastian was asked to step in. The title track would later be rerecorded for Snow Patrol’s debut LP. Biffy Clyro – Thekidswhopoptoday... (EP, 2000) Twin brothers Ben and James Johnston arrived at Stow in the late 90s to study electronics with music and audio engineering, respectively. Their band, Biffy Clyro, soon came to the attention of the music management students at the college and an Electric Honey deal was soon agreed. Be Charlotte – Discover (Single, 2016) Charlotte Brimner, a singer-songwriter and producer from Dundee, arrived at the newlynamed Glasgow Kelvin College and soon impressed her classmates and lecturers alike with her unique pop sound. This 2016 single remains her calling card and hints at a performer with a very special talent. Pronto Mama – Any Joy (LP, 2017) Electric Honey’s latest signings release their debut album on 5 May and the label will celebrate its launch with a special show at Glasgow Art School on 26 May. The Glaswegian six-piece are definitely ones to watch.

Review

Nae Joy At the start of April we gave Pronto Mama’s Ciaran McEneny and Marc Rooney a call for a natter about the release of their debut album, Any Joy

f you’re looking for something a bit different, Pronto Mama is the band for you. Their lyricdriven, offbeat sound is the perfect antidote to the humdrum of the everyday and to repetitive chart music. The six-piece are, as they put it “very, very Glaswegian” and like many serious musicians, started making music in their teenage bedrooms. Now their part-time passion has developed into a serious professional pursuit. When we talk to Pronto Mama’s chief songwriters Ciaran McEneny and Marc Rooney, they cite Bombay Bicycle Club (who McEneny says are the “bees knees”), Talking Heads and, jokingly, Oasis as their favourite musicians. The influence of the first two is evident in the experimental nature of much of what Pronto Mama does, but it isn’t too much of a stretch to see a little bit of Oasis in there too, especially with the edge that Glaswegian-accented vocals give their sound. Unlike Oasis, they don’t exactly have what you’d term as standard instrumentation and most of the members work across various instruments encompassing guitar, keyboards, trumpet, trombone and percussion. However, they also affirm that their sound “isn’t as mad as you might first think” and draw attention to the notes of jazz coursing through their work, which gives a handy frame of reference to those unfamiliar with their material. Whatever you think of their sound, you can’t deny that they’ve had a busy few years. Since 2014 they’ve released two EPs (Niche Market and Lickety Split) and performed a slew of live dates and festivals including the likes of T in the Park, Belladrum and Celtic Connections’ Òran Mór show, with the pair claiming the latter as one of their favourite performances to date. All these live slots will surely be good preparation for next month’s UK tour and, while we’re on the subject of tour stories, the guys tell us about their 2015 dates in Poland. McEneny explains that due to the longer set times they had to “whip out a lot of older tunes, things that we hadn’t really thought we’d play live and I think that shaped the stuff that made the [Any Joy] album,” and Rooney agrees, adding:

Interview: Megan Wallace

“We were more in tune with one another after. Because we were thrown in at the deep end, we kind of riffed off each other… I think that was a definite turning point, the sound became more powerful.” McEneny continues: “We had an a cappella tune which Marc had written and which we arranged for four voices for a gig. We kind of forgot about it but when we were in Poland we brought it back because we had to fill the time.” We’re glad they did: the harmonies in Sentiment are one of the highlights of the new album. Focussing on the initial song-writing process McEneny tells us: “When you sit down to write the song, you’re not thinking of anything but the song and what it means – it’s not mechanical or anything. It’s something that you write by yourself and then you take it to the band and it becomes something else.”

“When you sit down to write the song, you’re not thinking of anything but the song and what it means” Ciaran McEneny

It seems that this organic music-making process, with an emphasis on collaboration and co-operation, is characteristic of the band’s overall approach. “There’s six folk in the band and they listen to about a million things each and that gives them about a million different ideas each,” McEneny explains. “When me and Marc write a song, they bring these [ideas] to the group and it kind of grows arms and legs and becomes a mon-

Do Not Miss Withered Hand & A Singer of Songs

Withered Hand & A Singer of Songs, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 4 May. East Neuk Hotel, Crail, 5 May. Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 7 May In September of last year, Barcelona label Son Canciones arranged for Edinburgh-based singer songwriter Dan Willson, aka Withered Hand, and Barcelona-based Lieven Scheerlinck, aka A Singer of Songs, to get better acquainted on an organic farm in the middle of nowhere. During their time, they planted some garlic, but also wrote six songs resulting in an EP entitled Among Horses, set for release on 5 May. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll head along to one of these shows.

Preview

DJ Format & Abdominal

DJ Format & Abdominal, Stereo, Glasgow, 4 May. Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, 5 May For 14 years DJ Format and quick-witted rapper Abdominal have been entertaining crowds all over the world. The uplifting hip-hop duo are back on the road and celebrating the release of their first joint album, Still Hungry, released on 28 Apr via AAF Records. Get yourself along to one of their central belt shows this month for a hefty slice of old school hip-hop that will lift your spirits, leaving you with a natural high.

ster sometimes.” Rooney adds: “You’ll write a song and then everybody wants to have their own bit in it because, obviously, they’ve all got their own tastes.” Always willing to accommodate what other band members want to do, they add that they’re never ones to say “that’s not how it’s supposed to sound” and describe the process as “democracy in action,” jokingly telling Donald Trump to take note. Pronto Mama’s debut album, Any Joy, is set for release on 5 May via the student-run Electric Honey label, which in the past was responsible for releases by Belle and Sebastian and Biffy Clyro. The more we talk with McEneny and Rooney, the harder it becomes to distinguish between the

Ducktails / James Ferraro Summerhall, Edinburgh, 10 May Edinburgh promoters Braw Gigs and Nothing Ever Happens Here have teamed up again and are treating us to an excellent hump-day line-up this month. Featuring Ducktails, the moniker of Matthew Mondanile, previously of Real Estate fame, and electronic producer James Ferraro, support comes from experimental noise-maker Spencer Clark, aka Typhonian Highlife. Can’t make Edinburgh? Catch them at Glasgow’s Broadcast the night before.

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Ducktails

two down the line – they go on to describe Any Joy as “a collection of the best songs we’ve written” and half-jokingly add “it’s brilliant as well!” You might expect them to lose some of their humility in the face of all the exciting things that are happening for them. However, the success certainly doesn’t seem to have gone to their heads. Indeed, on the subject of their growing success, they say: “It’s still us, it’s just now we’ve got some money behind us,” and laughingly conclude: “We get to talk to The Skinny now!” Any Joy is released on 5 May via Electric Honey Pronto Mama play Clarks on Lindsay Street, Dundee, 11 May Mash House, Edinburgh, 12 May, The Art School, Glasgow, 26 May facebook.com/prontomama

Lush Purr

Lush Purr Leith Depot, Edinburgh, 18 May You may recognise members of this Glasgowbased outfit from former bands such as The Yawns, Mirror Parties and Copy Haho. Drawn from places near and far to Glasgow for its vibrant music scene, the four-piece recently signed to Song, by Toad and have re-released their Cuckoo Waltz album on vinyl this month. Read our four star review over on page 51. And, if you can’t make the Edinburgh show, they play Glasgow’s Old Hairdressers, 9 May.

THE SKINNY

Yellow Is the New Black We chat to The Colonel about dance-offs in South Korea, the Yellow Movement and Crossing the Road – i.e. the usual Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 stuff...

olonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 are far from a conventional band. With their bright, yellow garb, disco-ball helmets and wacky stage antics, they certainly know how to grab the limelight. They had a stellar 2016 that included festival performances all over the UK (and South Korea) and a sell-out headline show at their “spiritual home”, Glasgow’s legendary Barrowland Ballroom. They kicked off 2017 with a double A-side Record Store Day release (each track being accompanied by a music video) and their biggest headline show to date at the O2 Academy in Glasgow is happening on 13 May. “We’re having meetings at the moment to nail down the details... we’ve been talking about a Popemobile that we can drive around the stage... but we’ll see.” John McAlinden, aka The Colonel, brought the band together a few years ago as a way to bring joy and entertainment to the masses. “We’re primarily a live band,” he clarifies (for anyone who hasn’t seen them in the flesh), “but that isn’t my first thought when writing [songs]. I usually write some lyrics or music and show it to the band, then they might add a melody or lyric, then we’ll jam with it and see what happens... it’s a very organic process.” The Yellow Movement, as explained in their manifesto is, amongst other things, “an evolution revolution, a symbiosis of (un)conscious and conscience,” which beautifully encapsulates the ethos of the band, especially the idea of the unconscious. “Our song Cross the Road is just something I sang to my kids when we crossed the road,” McAlinden explains, and with regards to the band’s live performances he goes on to tell us: “Some things are planned, but I like to be spontaneous, and if something works, we’ll try to incorporate it into the next show.” The performative aspect is not something taken lightly by The Colonel, and operating under pseudonyms is one of the band’s greatest strengths: “I can push things further than I normally would, the mask gives me freedom – it doesn’t matter how I’m feeling before a show; when I’m The Colonel I can do anything.” The band’s aesthetic originally involved Bowie-esque facepaint, but now is all about bright yellow suits, kilts, disco-ball helmets and any-

Running Up That Hill: A Celebration of Kate Bush, O2 ABC, Glasgow, 20 May A night celebrating the music of Kate Bush you say? Kate Bush is frickin’ amazing, so count us in! Curated by and featuring Emma Pollock, she’ll be joined on the night by Peter Brewis (Field Music), James Graham (The Twilight Sad), Roddy Hart, Sarah Hayes, Kathryn Joseph, Karine Polwart, Rachel Sermanni and Kathryn Williams, and all will be accompanied by a band and string quartet. Until then, hopefully you won’t have bad dreams in the night, and if you do, dream of sheep.

May 2017

thing else that might attract the eye. “We used to have a theme for every gig, but obviously being Colonel Mustard, yellow stuck. It’s basically the magpie effect,” McAlinden says, wearing his bright yellow suit for the video he’s currently filming. “It’s something a bit different – you’d think a herd of buffalo was running through town given some of the looks I’ve gotten today. We don’t want to be told how to look by the fashion houses of Paris, Milan, London... we do our own thing and I think people respond to that.”

“We’ve been talking about a Popemobile that we can drive around the stage” John McAlinden

Homeshake CCA, Glasgow, 20 May Homeshake is the solo project of Montreal-based singer songwriter and musician Peter Sagar, probably best known as the former guitarist for Mac DeMarco’s live band. Sagar has been busy touring his third studio album Fresh Air in the States, since its release earlier this year, and finally makes his way to Glasgow today where you can expect to be blissed out by his funk-fuelled, electronic take on soulful R’n’B. It really is as lovely as it sounds.

Homeshake

awesomeness out here to Korea and making everyone smile with your music and attitude to life. You are a breath of fresh air.” The YouTube videos from the festival back up his sentiments. The other aspect of the manifesto is ‘conscience’, which is also very important to the band. The ‘Peace Love Mustard’ slogan might come across as a humourous skewering of hippy-ish ideals, but The Colonel is not afraid to let his beliefs be known. “That’s just part of being a human,” he explains. “If it’s a genuine belief I don’t see why it would be a problem. It’s not for every band, but those ideas are a part of me and inevitably they come through in my music.” The band is strongly anti-war, pro-LGBT and ultimately pro-people. “We don’t want to ram it down people’s throats, but it might be

Bossy Love

Hidden Door Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, 26 May Today marks the first of a week’s worth of Hidden Door events, which this year are taking place at Edinburgh’s Leith Theatre, a truly amazing space tucked neatly behind Leith Library at the bottom of Edinburgh’s Ferry Road. Tonight’s HD opening party is full to the brim with some of Glasgow’s most exceptional musical talents, featuring a killer line-up of SAY Award Winner Anna Meredith; Bossy Love, who’ll make you want to dance like no one’s watching, Marnie (Ladytron) and BDY_PRTS. Ooft.

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there in a lyric. We want to help people.” While the unpretentious, self-aware humour of the band is undoubtedly Glaswegian, they have a sound that would be difficult to classify as anything but ‘international’. “Lyrically, we’re a product of Glasgow, but we’re not all from here and our influences are from all over the place.” This sense of experimentation and a desire to explore new things is something that looks likely to define the band in the future. “We want to play in unconventional places – one of our members is from Trinidad and Tobago, so there’s an idea... maybe we’ll branch out into Europe, who knows?” Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 play O2 Academy, Glasgow, 13 May facebook.com/colonelmustardandthedijon5

Photo: Emily Wylde

The band have a wide appeal and a familyfriendly edge that doesn’t often go hand in hand with a rambunctious live show. “At our Yellowland show [March 2016, at the Barras], there were all sorts...” he pauses to tell his nephew to stop climbing all over the set, continuing: “....of people because of the variety on offer (five unsigned acts supported the band at that show) and even the punks, who don’t normally listen to our sort of music, were getting into it.” At this point, the band’s reputation precedes them in Scotland, and people normally know what sort of show they’re in for, but last year when they played the Zandari festival in South Korea, they weren’t sure how the crowd would react. “Sometimes it takes people a little while to lose their inhibitions, but when I’m on stage I’m relentless [in getting people going], and by the end even the Koreans were ‘crossing the road’ [a sort of dance that accompanies the aforementioned song] – I don’t even know how they knew!” That performance was later heralded as one of the highlights of the festival by its organiser, Patrick Connor, who said: “Thank you for bringing your

Photo: Jannica Honey

Emma Pollock

Interview: Lewis Wade

Julie Byrne CCA, Glasgow, 28 Apr American wanderer Julie Byrne released sophomore album Not Even Happiness at the start of the year to critical acclaim (read our four star review online). Fresh from a string of US dates with Whitney, and ahead of summer dates with Kurt Vile, Byrne hits UK shores for an eight-day stint and plays her only Scottish date tonight. Treat yourself to an outing at the CCA featuring a voice that will make you want to melt into yourself. Your ears will thank you.

Julie Byrne

Preview

Album of the Month Perfume Genius No Shape [Matador, 5 May]

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Only Perfume Genius could conjure a fairy tale from these troubling times. No Shape documents deep lows and the most glittering of highs; harsh and lush in equal brush strokes, Mike Hadreas’ fourth album celebrates the raw strength it can take to break free and find a new normality. The Seattle musician is beloved for his radical, intimate documentation of depression, drug abuse and enduring homophobia, and his three previous albums grew from spectral vulnerability into powerful, confrontational frustration. Three years later, No Shape steps out as Hadreas’ brightest and most lavish record to date but, as in all the best fairy tales, it’s haunted by as many ghosts as it is populated by princes. Darkness lurks on the fringes and seeps through the cracks between Hadreas’ intricate melodies. Slip Away, the album’s first single, is a thrilling, urgent anthem that unfurls like a sunrise: ‘Don’t look back / I wanna break free,’ Hadreas urges, ‘…if we only get a moment, give it to me

Pumarosa

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Mac DeMarco’s reputation precedes him; these days he’s known more for his quirky banter than his off-colour jangle pop. The tunes here are wistful and sobering, but the more acoustic and strippedback approach taken on This Old Dog suggests time may be catching up with the 27-year-old. Those who wanted evolution from DeMarco have it in tone, if not necessarily in his songwriting. Lead single My Old Man is simple to a fault, with a three-chord progression that repeats throughout the entire track, but it also boasts some of his most pensive lyricism. His past albums were sombre and introspective at times, but not in the lethargic way This Old Dog is. On The Level is the drowsy younger brother of Salad Days standout Chamber of Reflection, sharing its earthy synths and reverbdrenched vocals, but like most sequels it’s not as effective. Amid this listlessness, flashes of levity shine bright. The juvenile charm of Baby You’re Out is infectious, and DeMarco searches for silver linings on One Another, a refreshingly chipper take on a break-up. Still, there’s no escaping that This Old Dog finds DeMarco at his most despondent – his subdued delivery on album closer Watching Him Fade Away wilts into silence, suggesting it’s perhaps time to grow up. [Alexander Smail]

Listen to: Baby You’re Out, One Another, My Old Man

Review

now.’ Just Like Love waltzes through raindrops as the lyrics illustrate a towering, toxic love that ‘smothered them with velvet,’ and Go Ahead draws on the sparsity found on Hadreas’ older records, using a simple, driving drum beat to reinforce crisp vocals which tell of triumph and vengeance. ‘If you need, you can even say a little prayer for me,’ he offers over innocently tinkling bells. Unabashedly romantic, No Shape documents (mis)adventure and vulnerability, charting self-growth as it searches for comfort – Die 4 You is a naked, woozy, trip-pop ballad, while Sides invites Weyes Blood to contribute elegant, morbid harmonies: ‘Baby, cut the cord and set me free.’ The centrepiece of the record, Wreath, is a semi-title track dedicated to fluidity. ‘I wanna hover with no shape,’ he muses. ‘I’m gonna call out every name until the one I’m meant to take / sends a dove.’ A whirling, spinning, breathless testimony to Hadreas’ unique vision and aesthetic, Wreath sparkles with power, beauty and

Mac DeMarco

This Old Dog [Captured Tracks, 5 May]

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Perfume Genius

truth. Perfume Genius’ magic lies in transforming struggle into folklore, mythologising a daily endurance against patriarchal bullshit. These are vital hymns to unite and strengthen, and his press release states in no uncertain terms that Hadreas intends to change your life. It feels an almost outdated artistic intention in pop’s current

PWR BTTM

The Witch [Fiction, 19 May]

Pageant [Big Scary Monsters / Polyvinyl, 12 May]

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Pumarosa have a flair for the dramatic. They paint intense, vivid soundscapes, tapping into visceral feelings of alienation, still managing to breathe a certain warmth into a genre that is famed for its cold aloofness. Their on-stage prowess has been lauded, and transferring that to the studio isn’t always easy, but with the help of quirky London-indie producer Dan Carey, the bombastic, theatrical dynamic of the band remains largely intact on The Witch. It’s clear from ethereal opener Dragonfly that this is an album to bask in. Almost every track is longer than it needs to be – allowing for extended intros, bridges, codas. This brings a sense of spaciousness to the music with each tangent followed down its respective rabbithole; whether it’s the intermittent electronics of My Gruesome Loving Friend or the sprawling, Caribou-esque indulgences of the title track. Sometimes this can get a little meandering (Red being the worst offender), but it meshes perfectly with the ‘industrial-spiritual’ ethos of the band. Frontwoman Isabel Munoz-Newsome steals the show with her haunted-chanteuse vocals, generally floating and ephemeral, but always powerful. The arrangements complement her tales of love, sex and identity, and while some elements are almost entirely designed for the live experience, The Witch still serves as a fine introduction for one of the most exciting, new bands. [Lewis Wade] Listen to: The Witch, Priestess

Any PWR BTTM fans hoping for more of the same fun, upbeat pop-punk anthems as heard on their debut Ugly Cherries will be surprised by what they hear on Pageant, but in a good way. All the album’s tracks remain under three minutes in true PWR BTTM style, sticking to their punk-rock roots, but there’s more of a sense of self-reflection on Pageant. There are still the thrashing guitar riffs, like on the epic glam-rock opener Silly, and the classically humorous lyrics: ‘I sweat out seven pounds

Slowdive

Slowdive [Dead Oceans, 5 May]

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It pays to be wary when bands of yore come reforming, the suspicion all-too-often one of bank balance replenishment posing as creative renaissance. This is not a concern applicable to Slowdive; their first album since 1995’s Pygmalion is deep, textured, relevant and necessary. While the sonic palette is familiar from first time round, any (lazy) accusation of shoegaze revivalism is nimbly side-stepped by the contemporary context underpinning each of the eight compositions found on Slowdive. Opener Slomo is pinioned to its subtle loops, subjugating the floated guitar and all that

RECORDS

economic climate, but this revolution isn’t necessarily one of grand gestures. Alan – the album’s closing lullaby – comforts, soars and then slips away, asking, ‘Did you notice, we slept through the night?’ [Katie Hawthorne] Listen to: Slip Away, Wreath, Alan

in water weight / Just asking for your number,’ found on Answer My Text; but there are more moments of melancholy on Pageant. Tracks like LOL and Now, Now show a more self-deprecating side to the band, telling tales of identity struggles and battling your inner demons, while Oh, Boy and Wash reminisce about past loves. On the other hand, Sissy and Big Beautiful Day are modern-day queer anthems and two massive fingers up to the haters. If Ugly Cherries was PWR BTTM’s fun-loving, footloose and fancy-free effort then Pageant is their moment to be recognised as serious musicians, who have much more to talk about than just wanting a boy to keep the bed warm during numerous different situations. [Nadia Younes] Listen to: LOL, Sissy fragmented tenderness, while lead track Star Roving is uncharacteristically pacey, with Rachel Goswell’s breathy vocal acting as the counterpoint to Halstead’s channelled understatement. When it comes to the quintet’s sound, contrast has always been a focal point; deep-seated and frequently subtle, unfurling with delicate grace. The final two tracks pull this contrast to the centre-stage: Go Get It positions its shimmering verse against a cinder-block bassline and the bruising urgency of the chorus, while Falling Ashes is a stark, ghostly, bittersweet ballad constructed around a piano motif. So; a successful comeback? Well, yeah… but it’s also something more than that. Slowdive represents an awareness of legacy, and the importance of not pissing all over it; to that extent, it’s an essential addition to canon. [Duncan Harman] Listen to: Sugar for the Pill, Falling Ashes

THE SKINNY

Pronto Mama

Any Joy [Electric Honey, 5 May]

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On their first full-length album, Any Joy, Pronto Mama deliver a potent blend of eclectic instrumentation and soulful lyrics. The unusual time signatures on tracks like Rubber and One Trick Pony call to mind left-of-centre indie bands like Bombay Bicycle Club but the album is anything but derivative, delivering the distinctive Pronto Mama sound as showcased on earlier EPs Lickety Split and Niche Market. There’s a lot going on, what with six band members and a plethora of instrumental sounds including full-bodied brass, intricate drumming and subtle synths. Despite what one might expect, these different elements work well together. Each track is tight and well-honed and the group show that they can deliver something more pared-back with the a cappella harmonies of Sentiment. Sentiment is certainly a bit different from most of the tracks on the album, but the material is diverse throughout and ranges from the upbeat Arabesque to the more introspective

Bottom Feeder. However, the strong vocals from principle singers Marc Rooney and Ciaran McEneny are a consistent feature running throughout the album, creating a sense of cohesion between tracks. Another highlight (besides the supple, Glaswegian-accented vocals) are the lyrics. Thoughtful and humorous in equal measure, verses draw on spoken-word to offer the listener a new way of viewing the world around them. Songwriters Rooney and McEneny have a talent for painting character within a short space and the line ‘Weeping ballerina, starved herself just to fill her shoes’ from Arabesque is testament to this ability. Choruses are pop-infused, designed to get you dancing and you can imagine they’ll be particularly rousing played live. Any Joy is a brilliant debut and one that should be listened to on repeat. [Megan Wallace] Listen to: Arabesque, Sentiment and All Your Insides

Pronto Mama

Lush Purr

Cuckoo Waltz [Song, by Toad, 5 May]

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If you like your noise pop lo-fi, off-kilter and a bit rough around the edges, Lush Purr have got your back. Their debut album Cuckoo Waltz is testament to this, combining a dreamy atmosphere with clanging guitars and obscure lyrics to create an experimental sound clearly indebted to shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine, where softly mumbled lyrics float over a loud cloud of sound.

Pond

Last Days

Twelfth Day

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The Weather [Marathon Artists, 5 May] Psychedelic princelings Pond are back with their most conventionally named album yet – but don’t let that fool you. Cosmic and colourful, The Weather is an evocative testament to not giving a shit. With production handled by musical compatriot and Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker, Pond draw on everything at their disposal with exciting – even chaotic – results. Screeching fuzz guitars jostle with kitschy pop falsettos and gurgling sawtooth synths on an album that, despite getting messy, is always focused in a sort of deliberate confusion. Imagine what the Stranger Things soundtrack would have sounded like if the kids stopped playing Dungeons & Dragons and dropped acid instead. [Alastair Atcheson] Listen to: Sweep Me Off My Feet, Paint Me Silver, A/B

May 2017

Seafaring [n5MD, 19 May] The ocean continues to be a chief source of inspiration for the Edinburgh-based composer Graham Richardson, whose 2006 debut was entitled Sea. Halfway through his latest record, Seafaring, we hear the sound of waves rumbling in the distance, collapsing against the shore to the sound of quivering strings and organ drones with a weighty majesty. Richardson's sentimental, evocative instrumentals performed by piano and strings leave plenty room for interpretation, and his gentle, expansive arrangements paint vivid mental landscapes often tinged with a sense of melancholy and decay. For those with the patience to go with his flow, Seafaring is an immersive, moving listen. [Andrew Gordon] Listen to: Endurance

While tracks like Bananadine and Bear at Midnight mix unexpected synth textures and suddenly shifting dynamics, I, Bore and Mr Maybe are smoother and more sedate, proving that the band is capable of producing variety even from within a very specific musical genre. Furthermore, an irreverent sense of humour – immediately evident from song titles like Horses on Morphine – gives tracks a distinctive edge and stops the album from being too serious. However, Cuckoo Waltz is something of an acquired taste. Transitions between songs often feel a bit too sudden, even jarring, particularly where the fade-out at the end of (I Admit It) I’m a Gardener meets the droning synth of Bear at Midnight. Often lyrics are barely discernible over

Listen to: Banandine, Mr Maybe, I, Bore

L. Pierre

Fat Goth

Girlpool

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Cracks in the Room [Orange Feather Records, 5 May]

1948 – [Melodic Records, 28 Apr]

For a decade now, fiddler Catriona Price and harpist Esther Swift have been making challenging, virtuosic music that is far more than the sum of its parts. Somewhere between traditional folk and gypsy jazz, Cracks in the Room underscores their abilities both as musicians and songwriters. On lead track Cracks, Swift uses her harp almost in the way a jazz guitarist might, and they can do the pastoral folk thing too with Keep Seeking acting as a great example of this. On first listen you feel like you want more, but repeat listens of Cracks in the Room lets you begin to appreciate it for what it is – a snapshot, or a stolen view, something to enjoy in a flash. [Harry Harris]

Nathan Milstein’s version of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor was the first 12" LP ever pressed; here the usually lyrical Aidan Moffat lifts the recording in its entirety, reimagining the piece through a warped manipulation of short samples. 1948 – opens with a scary near-silence, before a darting climb of repetitive, startled strings give a sense of panic. What’s striking is the record’s flit from paranoia to foreboding, which lingers to the album’s final locked groove. This vinyl-only album is sleeveless, with no artwork; it’s designed to be damaged, for each copy to bear its own scars. 1948 – may be Moffat’s last foray into the world of L. Pierre, but his final act is one of intelligent and bittersweet beauty. [Susan Le May]

Listen to: Blackford Hill, Great Green

the loud backing track and while this is natural for this style of music, it’s not so good if you like having words you can sing along to. Cuckoo Waltz hits some bum notes – Stuck in a Bog springs to mind – but it’s an album you can listen to again and again, one whose shimmering distortions offer up moments of sublime sonic beauty for those willing to listen for them. Cuckoo Waltz can only be enjoyed if you appreciate each song individually. Indeed, it’s tempting to think that opening track Wave is an instruction to let each song wash over you — to submerge yourself in the album, rather than half-heartedly put it on in the background. [Megan Wallace]

Listen to: Part 1, Part 2

RECORDS

Enorme! [Hefty Dafty Records , 5 May] If you’ve never dabbled with Fat Goth – maybe the name put you off? – know that they’re a Dundee-based band whose noise is not a million miles away from Mclusky (although frontman Fraser Stewart is not as lyrically dextrous as Andy Falkous, still the closest hardcore has got to Nigel Blackwell). If you have dabbled with Fat Goth before on any of their four previous albums, know that they’ve changed things up (somewhat) for Enorme! – this is not a band to use an exclamation point lightly. Basically they’ve taken a look at the sorry state of the world and it’s made them mad. Their rage is incendiary. Long may it burn. [Pete Wild] Listen to: Guestbook, Thoroughbred, Verisimilitude

Powerplant [ANTI-, 19 May] Girlpool’s sophomore record and ANTI- debut, Powerplant blisters with the heat of Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker’s stripped-back emotions; a burn made all the more torrid as they are wedded with the sentiments their latest album coaxes from its listeners. While the L.A. duo haven’t drifted from their characteristic vocal layering and bittersweet harmonising, Powerplant sees Tucker and Tividad give fresh adiposity to their sparse sonic stylings with a full band sound and fuzzy guitars. Ardently absorb all that there is to feel in this LP, and expect its lullaby-like melodies to draw from you that which is so deeply buried you don’t even know it exists. [Rosie Ramsden] Listen to: It Gets More Blue, Static Somewhere

Review

Hopetoun Dance Party FLY Open Air Festival returns this month, with a new location and an impressive line-up of talent including Bicep, Artwork, Denis Sulta, Hunee, Midland and more

fter a hugely successful inaugural event back in September that featured Booka Shade, Detroit Swindle, Motor City Drum Ensemble and Theo Kottis, FLY Open Air is back this month with another banging line-up. We spoke to event organiser Tom Ketley to find out exactly what to expect from the second edition of the festival, which will take place on Saturday 20 May at Hopetoun House, an 18th-century country manor located about an hour outside of Edinburgh.

The Skinny: How did you come up with the concept for FLY Open Air? TK: It was actually my pal Paddy Gearns – we met at Edinburgh Uni and were as thick as thieves running student nights in various clubs across town. Paddy orchestrated a few meetings with the parks folk and we came very close to doing an outdoor garden party for the students as an end of term thing. It’s really sad but Paddy actually passed away during the Christmas period of 2012 after being hit by a car in New York. If you look above the stage at FLY Open Air there is a photo of Paddy. The event adds something different to Edinburgh’s clubbing calendar. I want to bring good music for good people in great locations. Hopetoun House and Edinburgh Castle are certainly two of the best venue spots going. There is something special about being outdoors and listening to uplifting disco and house records with your friends – drinking good quality drinks, bespoke cocktails and eating some of the best street food in Scotland. It all adds to the experience of seeing some of the world’s best electronic acts. In clubs it can be a busy sweaty environment, one which takes ages to get served drinks, go to the toilet, etc. Lots of folk who don’t even smoke go outside just to take a break. FLY Open Air is the opposite of this and we try to ensure everyone’s experience is upheld to a standard we’d want for a day or night out.

What was your favourite moment from the first FLY Open Air event last September? I’d have to say seeing my pal and local laddie Theo Kottis playing in front of 2,500 people. Lots of folk say he stole the show which is great as Theo and I started off with Paddy back when we were [around] nineteen or twenty. How did you go about curating the upcoming event and selecting the line-up? In truth, we just pick acts that we like. Acts that fit our sound and impress us musically. FLY resident La La used to always blast Hunee’s Dekmantel Boiler Room set, so she has to take credit for that one.

celling at one point but luckily we met Hopetoun and we’ve never worked with a venue so helpful and committed as them – they’re great. Where do you see the future of clubbing in Edinburgh heading? I don’t see many cities of our size having as many events as we do on a weekly basis, so currently I

Interview: Claire Francis

think the scene in Edinburgh is great. I actually think more happens here now than it does in Glasgow. I’m Glaswegian and of course there are the Glaswegian naysayers who feel their scene is bigger and better, but for a smaller city we’ve got a great deal on nowadays. FLY Open Air, Sat 20 May, 12-10pm, Hopetoun House, £42.50-£48.50

Is there a particular act you think people should watch out for? Sulta is god, but I think Hunee will be really special in the sunshine. The afterparty of Artwork b2b [with] Midland could be the winner. Hard to pick one as headliners Bicep will be special too... so basically, go all day! What can you tell us about the new venue, and the decision to change venues after the first FLY Open Air event in September? We’ll be back at Princes Street Gardens on 23 September this year and will announce that lineup at FLY Open Air Hopetoun [this month]. The decision to move to Hopetoun in May is one we’re relishing. It’s Scotland’s finest stately home and an absolutely stunning location so we’re honoured to have FLY Open Air there. At Hopetoun it can grow arms and legs with lots of room for expansion to have other stages for different sounds. The reason why we’re moving to Hopetoun this May is a long story and one that caused many sleepless nights. We had actually booked into the gardens, but a double booking caused us to have to find a new venue. We were even close to can-

Giving A Funk About Mental Health Think clubbing can’t be synonymous with mental well-being? Three Glasgow students are challenging that misconception with their new club night, Mind Yer Self

eginning on 21 May, Ruaridh Gill, Matty Lech and Cammy Macphail will be hosting bi-monthly nights at The Berkeley Suite, bringing some exciting up-and-coming DJs and producers to the city in the process. More importantly, the Mind Yer Self events aim to raise awareness about mental health issues among young people. All profits from the club nights are donated to Penumbra, one of Scotland’s largest mental health charities. As the trio explain, Mind Yer Self is a concept that seeks not only to raise funds and awareness, but also to encourage a conversation about real experiences with mental health issues and break down barriers in the process. “After seeing close friends struggle with mental illness and feel unable and uncomfortable to talk about the problems they were facing,” they explain via email, “we felt like we could set up an event that could encourage these conversations and help normalise the issue of mental illness, while having a great night by having the best DJs and producers come play for us. MYS fills a gap in the scene by combining interesting bookings with awareness [of] an important problem, and raising money for our chosen charity Penumbra.” With a point of difference to other fundraising events, at the Mind Yer Self club nights

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partygoers are encouraged to vocalise their experiences via ‘truth walls’, where they can write down their experiences with mental illness. Anonymous stories are also shared on the event’s Facebook page, with the aim of destigmatising mental illness and building a supportive and understanding clubbing community. “The response has been amazing,” they confirm. “We were really surprised by how willing people were to share experiences they have been through. We believe this indicates the need for more opportunities for people to talk openly.” In addition, they explain, “we have also started anonymous awareness posts on our Facebook page, where people can share extended stories regarding their experience with mental health. The response to this has been so positive that we have had to increase their frequency. So check them out on our Facebook page.” Mind Yer Self was launched at The Poetry Club in late March, and the warm reception to the inaugural event indicates a demand for these kind of local, awareness-focussed events. “We raised over £200 for Penumbra, an amazing charity who work with many young people across Scotland, and had a blast in the process,” the trio reflect. “Great atmosphere start to finish,

with a classy set played by the Loose Joints guys and a great crowd to boot.” Going forward, Mind Yer Self will take up a new home at The Berkeley Suite, a venue that the organisers say “continually hosts diverse nights that we feel have a unique atmosphere and a music policy akin to our own.” Clubbing and its accompanying excesses frequently come under fire for its perceived dangers and is even blamed, in some cases, for contributing to psychiatric illness amongst young people. When asked whether they think clubbing and its accompanying nightlife helps or hinders mental health, the trio are frank in their response. “We believe that it has the capability to do both,” they respond. “When done in excess, we do agree it can be damaging to individuals’ mental health. However, we also feel it can be beneficial. Meeting like-minded people and discovering new music can have a really positive effect on your mental well-being.” With many internationally renowned artists, such as The Black Madonna and Ben Pearce, speaking up about their issues with mental health, the Mind Yer Self crew agree- “we feel proud to be a part of what is a progressive openness about mental health and its frequency in society.” “Regularly seeing artists we admire speaking

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Interview: Claire Francis about their experiences and the effects of touring has prompted us to try and merge the idea of enjoying a night out while being able to discuss issues they may currently be facing,” they explain. Exciting new music is central to their ethos, and the Mind Yer Self crew are excited to welcome O’Flynn to The Berkeley Suite on 21 May. “[He’s] a relative newcomer from London,” they explain, “who got inspired to make a song after hearing a group of women jamming on percussion (at around 120 bpm) while on holiday in Morocco. “That song is Tyrion, which along with Desmond’s Empire, was one of 2015’s highlights and continues to deliver every time. He’s been on our radar for a while and every one of his releases and mixes has been special, so it was an easy choice.” Finally, reflecting on their dream Mind Yer Self line-up, the three explain that “this has caused some debate between the three of us!” “There are too many to choose a single artist,” they concur, “so we’ve narrowed it down to these three: Hunee b2b [with] Antal, Move D, and Matthew Herbert.” Let’s hope more and more artists continue to get behind this forward-thin-king new venture. Mind Yer Self, Sun 21 May, The Berkeley Suite, £5

THE SKINNY

May 2017

THE SKINNY

Ten Questions Ahead of his headline show at Glasgow’s Electric Frog & Pressure Riverside Festival, the great ‘Papa’ Sven Väth answers ten questions about his long and remarkable career Every crowd, every location is different. My record bag’s far too big. 3. You’ve said that it was in Ibiza that you first realised you wanted to be a DJ. What it is about the island that holds such an appeal for you? It’s a kind of magic. The island’s nature, the people, the vibe, you have to come and feel it. [I’m] still there every Monday night of the season – or I wouldn’t be doing my job.

ven Väth’s career in electronic music spans over 35 years, and his contribution to the evolution of techno remains immeasurable. Originally hailing from Frankfurt, the iconic German DJ and producer founded Cocoon Recordings in 2000, an imprint that has since launched the careers of many notable house and techno artists. Väth’s long-running Monday night parties at Amnesia in Ibiza, which began in 1999 and continue to this day, have also become the stuff of legend, and have helped shape the now instantly recognisable Ibiza sound. With ‘Papa’ Sven (as he is affectionately known by his fans) set to return to Scotland this month for Glasgow’s Riverside Festival, we asked him ten questions about touring, the changing shape of the industry, and where he sources his inspiration.

1. This will be the third time you’ve headlined Riverside Festival – what is it about the event that keeps you coming back? The atmosphere. The last two years were so much fun, such good energy. This year is going to be even better. I had a short rest this winter. I am ready for the Riverside crowd. Music lovers, interested in dancing, party animals! What more do you need to start a party? 2. You’re playing a huge number of dates as part of the Sven Väth World Tour 2017 this year; can you tell us about where you’ll be playing and what the inspiration is behind this tour? I have been touring the world for a few years now and this year the list is too long to relate, but I cross a few time zones for sure. It inspires me.

4. How has the clubbing scene in Ibiza changed over the years? [It’s] ever more competitive. It is a cake and many want a piece, so with all the options it becomes a fight to survive for some. At Cocoon we just keep our foot on the pedal and do what we do. 5. Can you tell us about any major production projects or events you have planned for this year? The 18th year of Cocoon Ibiza is going to be massive, I will play 14 shows and the rest of the line-up is amazing this season. I really look forward to it. Another Cocoon In The Park Festival in Leeds will happen in July 2017, it’s really a unique concept and vibe and worth visiting. 6. What are the most noticeable changes to the electronic music industry that you’ve observed over the course of your career? This would be a long conversation. Let’s say the major change is that our scene has become more

Interview: Claire Francis and more global and professional, in a good way and also in a bad way (looking at manager egos and the ‘I want it all and want it now’ [mentality]. And artists that only look for the shorter success not giving back anything to our scene!) But I am more than happy in general, since our scene is still very alive and growing and interesting. 7. You have a strong interest in contemporary art; can you tell us a bit about that? Yes I have, with friends like Andreas Gursky and Tobias Rehberger you cannot help it and I hope to collaborate with them and others in the future. 8. Where do you look for inspiration, in order to keep your sets fresh and exciting? Into my beautiful fat bags of vinyl, which thank god I normally do not have to carry alone these days. I am always listening and watching. 9. This is your 36th year of DJing – do you have any career goals you’d still like to achieve? The goal was always to make fun and have fun with people. It’s a work in progress. 10. Can you describe what a ‘normal day’ is like for you? Happily, I cannot. Every day is a new adventure, especially with my little son Tiga. I love to discover new horizons every day. Sven Väth will appear at Glasgow’s Electric Frog & Pressure Riverside Festival on Sat 27 May

Clubbing Highlights Glasgow’s Riverside Festival and Edinburgh’s Open Air FLY kick off festival season, but there are also plenty of other danceathons to be found around Scotland’s clubs this month

Headway 13th Birthday with Ben Sims @ The Reading Rooms, Dundee, 5 May With over two decades of experience under his belt, Ben Sims’ sets are powerful, memorable, and unique, and have cemented him as one of the most in-demand techno artists around. His show at Headway a couple of years ago was a Reading Rooms highlight, so he makes a fitting guest to head up this Friday night birthday bash. My Mental Life presents A Fundraiser for UK Mental Health Foundation @ Studio 24, Edinburgh, 6 May Brought to you by My Mental Life, ‘an ongoing project which examines the best ways to manage mental health conditions,’ this fundraiser for the UK Mental Health Foundation offers a night of entertainment from some of Edinburgh’s much loved DJs and artists. Featuring Floating Boy, Lou Thomas,

May 2017

Ming Mong, Parksy, Shona Hardie and Trendy Wendy, the event aims to smash the myths surrounding mental health by bringing everyone together on the dancefloor and raising money for a very worthy cause. Entry is £5 and all donations go to the UK Mental Health Foundation, with art produced on the night also being raffled off for charity. Sub Club XXX – Subculture – The Black Madonna @ Sub Club, Glasgow, 6 May Sub Club’s 30th birthday celebrations continue into May, with this particular instalment headed up by an act who needs little introduction. The Black Madonna dropped the 10-minute-long disco pearl He Is The Voice I Hear in January – her first production since 2013 – fingers crossed it will make an appearance in her latest Subbie set. Tickets have predictably been snapped up online, but there will be 100 tickets available on the door on the night. FLY presents Chaos In The CBD @ Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, 12 May Making their debut in the capital this month is Chaos In The CBD, the London-based outfit comprised of brothers Ben and Louis HellikerHales. The siblings (who originally hail from New Zealand) dropped the dynamite house EP Accidental Meetings in February, the first release on their own In Dust We Trust imprint with fellow London-based New Zealander Jon Sable. Think soul grooves, jazzy percussive swirls, and soothing vocals combined to create a late night lounge vibe with added kick.

Credit: Lucy Jones

Missing Persons Club presents: Dr. Rubinstein @ La Cheetah Club, Glasgow, 5 May After making her Scottish debut in Edinburgh last month, the enigmatic Dr. Rubinstein returns to these parts for a headlining show at La Cheetah. The Israeli-born, Berlin-based DJ has been turning heads on the techno scene thanks to impressive sets at Berghain, Oval Space and SÓnar Festival. With no productions or label affiliations to her name, she’s proved her talent through good old word-of-mouth buzz – don’t miss your chance to catch her in La Cheetah’s intimate surrounds.

Words: Claire Francis

Healthy with Helena Hauff & The Modern Institute @ The Berkeley Suite, Glasgow, 12 May Industrial-acid-techno queen Helena Hauff returns to Glasgow this month for Healthy’s 2nd birthday, playing an extended three hour long set (with a 4am event licence pending). The Modern Institute will also be on hand to provide a conceptual live performance featuring members of Golden Teacher. Expect eardrum shattering beats and a visual lighting extravaganza. Sam Gellaitry @ The Art School, Glasgow, 17 May We’re spoiled this month with two Sammy G shows (three if you count Stirling on 13 May), so if you can’t make this Glasgow date he’s also hitting up Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh the week before (10 May). His distinctive blend of sparkly synths and steel-toed bass is certainly worth seeing twice. The young producer comes in fresh from the USA after shows at Coachella and support

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slots for DJ Shadow’s California dates, riding high on the back of his new EP Escapism III. Crème Fresh with Flørist @ The Mash House, Edinburgh, 20 May There must be something in the water in Canada, if the country’s output of quality house tunes is anything to go by – think Project Pablo, Jack Jutson and here, Flørist aka Logan Sturrock. If you don’t believe us, pop Sturrock’s recent EP release Dvote on your record player – we’ll be seeing you down the front, no doubt. Lionoil: Soichi Terada, JG Wilkes (Optimo) & David Barbarossa @ The Bongo Club, Edinburgh, 26 May It’s a line-up that speaks for itself, really. Take 90s Japanese house pioneer Soichi Terada, Optimo’s JG Wilkes and Glaswegian disco king David Barbarossa, and what do you have? One hell of a Friday night party, that’s what. theskinny.co.uk/clubs

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Bard is a Four-Letter Word Our columnist updates you on all things poetry for May, including a chat with Ted Hughes Prize winner Hollie McNish and the best words being offered on page and stage around Scotland

recently had the pleasure of catching up with Ted Hughes Award winner Hollie McNish, who confessed that she was still getting used to the idea of her new title. “When I read at Laugharne weekend 2017, it was the first time I’d been introduced as that… it felt odd. I think that more people may come to my gigs now because that’s how they have heard of me, whereas before people tended to come if they knew my stuff.” Thankfully, though, she is not swayed by others’ expectations of how to write: “I don’t really understand writer’s block in my situation, with no-one pressuring for set work like a novel… if there’s nothing there, don’t try to write it.” When asked if she prefers to read or memorise, she says, “I used to think I should memorise, but it’s too much – I realised I’d end up doing the same eight poems over and over. If every time you gig from memory you feel like vomiting, it’s better to have a book in your hand! I’d rather be a good reader than a shit reciter.” Last month also saw the launch of The Scottish Poetry Library’s free to view, annual online anthology, Best Scottish Poems. Published each spring, the anthology features 20 poems published in the previous year written by a Scot or someone resident in Scotland, chosen by a guest editor. This year, it was Catherine Lockerbie, former Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, who was given the task of searching for every poem that qualified, finally making her selection from a personal shortlist of one hundred. “This was a vast undertaking, and an enthralling

Compass

By Mathias Enard, translated by Charlotte Mandell

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On a single sleepless night in Vienna, musicologist Franz Ritter revisits moments from a life spent studying and exploring the Middle East, winding through memories and half-dreams of Aleppo, Damascus, and Tehran, always circling back to his love of Sarah, a French scholar who is even more intelligent than our narrator, and rarely pausing for anything so pedestrian as a full stop. In 2015 this novel won France’s top literary award, the Prix Goncourt, and has just been shortlisted for the Man Booker International prize: it is a loose outing in the stream of consciousness tradition, following in the footsteps of Proust and Joyce and so on. Our narrator is an insomniac, but these are not your average night thoughts. Dr Ritter’s stream of consciousness is untroubled by the tributaries that deal with shopping lists, bills and whether the cat’s been fed. Instead, we delve deep into Orientalism, the relationship between East and West, the interlinking and interdependence of cultures, the idea that there is otherness in us all. We come across academics, musicians, artists and authors, and we run through many pages that would be better suited to a lengthy essay. There are moments of humour and selfdeprecation, which come as a relief. Charlotte Mandell’s translation is impeccable. But dispensing with plot and dialogue turns the novel down to a slow burn of showy intelligence, at risk of sending its readers into the deep, blissful sleep of which Dr Ritter is so deprived. [Galen O’Hanlon]

one: so much superb poetry pouring out in the course of just one year. I hope this list stands as a sample of the exhilarating vibrancy of contemporary poetry in Scotland – and encourages people to make their own poetic discoveries.” The final collection is a real hotchpotch of established and newer talent, including Claire Askew, Tom Pow, Liz Lochhead, Kate Tough and Hugh McMillan.

“ The poems show an unflinching and unsentimental consideration of what makes the national psyche right now” Jenni Fagan on SPL’s Best Scottish Poems 2016

Jenni Fagan, whose poem The Narcissist and The Light Stasher was one of those chosen, commented on the impressive scope of the collection as a whole. “Thematically there is travel, death

and return. Archived words and sayings, Gaelic and Scots, straight English, science, nature, grief and Scotland’s place in the history of slavery are all touched upon. I think the poems show an unflinching and unsentimental consideration of what makes the national psyche right now. They are looking out, toward the world, or universe, whilst also holding the personal microcosm up to an uncompromising light. I am really happy to be part of Scotland’s best poems in 2016. It’s a great honour, as our writing scene is as vibrant and talented as one might hope.” A quality that also shines through is the continuing dedication so many continue to show to the arts, for no other reason than that they feel the need to practise and hone them. When asked her thoughts on how her poem stood as part of the whole, Fagan displayed, in a nutshell, what the craft is truly about. “I never think about how my poems fit into anything. I turn to poetry because, often, nothing else will do. It’s always been that way for me.” In events news, Flint & Pitch have two great Friday night shows coming up – Flint & Pitch Presents (12 May, 7.30-10pm) at The Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, followed by The Flint & Pitch Revue (19 May, 7.30-10pm) at The Bongo Club, Edinburgh. Shore Poets’ current programme of readings at Leith’s Shore Gallery is still running on the last Sunday of each month, so be sure to put 28 May in your diaries. Headline poets will be Niall O’Gallaher and Peter Manson,

Strange Heart Beating

Universal Harvester

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By Eli Goldstone

By John Darnielle

Recently bereaved English academic Seb is struggling with the loss of his wife Leda, so visits her native country to learn more about her and divert his encroaching pit of grief. By uprooting from his safe haven of intellectualism in London to the visceral rawness of rural Latvia, Seb finds Leda had an identity and past entirely discrete from the one he thought he knew. At the same time, Goldstone lets us into the head of Seb’s dearly beloved through excerpts from her adolescent diary. The facility with which she flits between the two very different points of view shows a chameleon-like technical ability, while her beautifully simple phrasing often reveals far more than the words themselves. Whether delivered from the lips of the teenage Leda or the grieving Seb, Goldstone’s prose is laden with meaning, dark wit and a rich undercurrent of melancholy. Leda was killed by a swan – a death that’s implausible, slightly ridiculous and utterly tragic all at once. In fact, these epithets are fair descriptions of the book as a whole; by turns the reader might find themselves scoffing in mock disbelief, smiling wryly and fighting back true emotion. With this compact, compelling and very powerful debut, Goldstone has signposted herself as a talented chronicler of human emotions and of the terrifying void that awaits us at the end of life’s journey – both for the dead and for those left behind. [Jonny Sweet]

Jeremy works in a video rental store in the small Iowan town he’s lived in all his life when one day his routine is interrupted by the discovery of something spliced into several of the tapes – something which disturbs him so much that he’s compelled against his cautious nature to follow the trail of grainy clips back to their source. This mystery makes up one half of the novel – the half which propels it forward and forms its central plot – but it’s the other, quieter half where Darnielle’s rapidly growing powers as a novelist really take effect. Mostly, Universal Harvester is a picture of life in the kind of small town where nothing happens fast. There’s rarely real news, locals talk less to exchange information than just to meet eyes and spend a moment recognising each other. It’s not a story about the need to get out of a boring, workaday town before it grinds you down or a romantic tale of the simple life found outside the big cities. It’s just a picture of a certain way of living. Progress between Darnielle’s first and second novel forms a narrative of its own which stretches tantalisingly into the years to come – the sense of someone rapidly feeling their way towards something masterful. [Ross McIndoe] Out now, published by Scribe, RRP £8.99

Out 4 May, published by Granta Books, RRP £12.99

Words: Clare Mulley along-side in-house poets Angela McSeveney and Tracey S. Rosenberg. Lastly, the Edinburgh-based Inky Fingers collective are putting on their show at Hidden Door, showcasing both series writers and performers, at the Old Leith Theatre on 30 May at 7pm. In Print This month’s focus is on Mark Pajak, winner of the Bridport Prize 2016. His first collection, Spitting Distance (Smith Doorstop), is one of the Laureate’s Choice series, and it’s easy to see why. While it is not unusual to have to read some poems several times to get a toehold, Pajak is a wonderfully clear, sharp-edged narrator. Wherever he goes he takes the reader with him, whether it’s across mudflats, through backstreets and woods, dangling from a bridge or through the eyes of an arsonist. Many readers will find traces of a world they recognise, but at the same time some concepts come as a refreshing surprise, such as mistaking sounds of a neighbour’s sex for snow falling (Dear Neighbour in the Flat Above), playing with inverted images of heat and cold, and the title poem, which walks the line between shooting at and being shot. A highly recommended read. Mark Pajak’s Spitting Distance is out now, published by Smith Doorstop, RRP £7.50 flintandpitch.com shorepoets.org.uk inkyfingersedinburgh.wordpress.com

The Things I Would Tell You

Edited by Sabrina Mahfouz

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‘Woman like no one is ever going to read you. Woman like you have everything to say.’ In The Things I Would Tell You, edited by Sabrina Mahfouz, British Muslim women write. It is a vibrant collection on everything from Islamic Tinder to friendship, from desire to religion, from war to representation; ‘an alternative to the current homogenous narrative of British Muslim identity’. Each piece chips away at this monolith, which shatters into a thousand shimmering shards. Muslim women’s bodies are a battleground of competing definitions but in these pages women write their own. Ahdaf Soueif’s Mezzaterra lances skewed perceptions and exposes political motivations behind the Western misrepresentation of Muslims. In Imtiaz Dharker’s The Right Word, outside is a ‘terrorist’, ‘freedom fighter’, ‘a child who looks like mine’ – she asks, ‘Are words no more than waving, wavering flags?’. In Uomini Cadranno, Seema Begum questions: ‘Tell me if in this endless cold, endless storm, endless torture, endless war, endless genocide, a sweet beauty will blossom from the seeds of this’. It is time to listen – truth be told, it is long past time. Hibaq Osman writes, ‘you are lucky / to be able to detach yourself from stories like this, to enter and exit conversations as you wish’. At times sensual, humorous, piercing and heartbreaking, The Things I Would Tell You is an absorbing read. It is also important, and never more relevant than now. [Ceris Aston] Out now, published by Saqi Books, RRP £12.99

Out now, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, RRP £14.99

Review

BOOKS

THE SKINNY

This Month in Scottish Art May brings the first of the degree shows, the reopening of Jupiter Artland, Chinese independent film in Dundee’s Cooper Gallery, as well as solo shows in both Transmission and Embassy galleries Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

I Steven Claydon

The Common Guild

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The orange of The Common Guild’s front door is new. It’s not until someone walks through it that it focuses into the curtain that it is, and once nearer its citronella scent is strong. Going through its fringes, the weight of the PVC slides heavily overhead. Its zone-making feels like the segments of a factory or the scene-making (and radiation screening) curtains at the mouth and end of airport security machines. Into Gallery 1, canisters in the corner have had parts of their surface painted grey. Through an eye for the refined palette of contemporary interior decor, carved wooden masks of unknown origin, looking like the kinds of ritual statues that would be found in museum stores. Every part of the work and environment is activated, as totemic items are housed in ambivalently elegant and overbearing techy aluminium coloured holders (think what’s meant to be the

objectively neutral aluminium of a Macbook). Often set on gym mats, that they sink deeply into the foam visualises their heft. Elements are wefted into one another upstairs, like collage of a foreign textile and Pink Panther animation cells, or the carvings of crocodiles lain on top of tree trunks. The ends that protrude outwards at stomach level visibly and clearly demonstrate the resin material they’re made of. Set in steel sands that are polkadotted with a grid of circle cut-outs, painted brown, the expected natural-industrial binary becomes something that has shifting skins and punched-out parts. Through his editing of the gallery space itself, as well as each of the works, Claydon begins with associative forms and materials – tree trunk, tribal mask, steel. Then, these are denatured, and familiar narratives of objects are put through a process of commixtio, becoming something distinct but strange. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Steven Claydon's The Archipelago of Contented Peoples: Endurance Groups, The Common Guild, Glasgow until 9 Jul

f the adjoining review of Steven Claydon’s exhibition in The Common Guild has piqued your interest, book a place for some of the events this month. On Thursday 4 May at 6pm, Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow Matthew Fox will give an exhibition talk on the relationship between mythology and materiality. The following Thursday 11 May brings the author Tiffany Jenkins to share her experience of extensively writing about museum artefacts, and discuss the different lives of objects. Jupiter Artland opens again on 6 May, and brings new permanent and temporary artworks to its huge outdoor sculpture park and gallery spaces. Artist Liz Magic Laser responds to Brexit and Trump with a video and room dedicated to the primal scream technique, encouraging audiences to let out their frustrations. On 6 May at 2pm, there is a Meet the Artist event with one of the exhibitors Michael Sailstorfer, who transforms known material and mechanical systems into objects that thoughtfully transcend their original purpose. Nicholas Party will also transform the new cafe with surreal faces and fruits. More events will come to Jupiter from 28 July. 15 May brings the work of award winning Chinese independent filmmaker Zhao Dayong to Dundee’s Cooper Gallery Centrespace. Dayong is described in the accompanying literature as ‘one of the most distinctive voices in Chinese independent film today. Much of [his] work has explored these of existential anxiety and spiritual bankruptcy in the face of a China that is rapidly transforming – in which history, culture, meaning, and even love and family, are often destroyed in the pursuit of mirages of prosperity.’ This exhibition features three of his internationally celebrated works as part of the citywide cultural festival, Ignite Dundee 2017. From 17-19 May in Glasgow's Market Gallery, they host a free symposium titled Free Market. For three days, the gallery will host numerous arts organisers, journalists, writers, economists

and activists from across Scotland and the UK. In particular, they’ll be considering the most pressing issues affecting “the increasingly fragile ecology of the arts, culture and media in Britain today” including what determines the distribution of resources, privatisation of the arts, and how to transform approaches to art, work and culture. It’s May, and while it might not be the official start of summer, the degree show season begins in earnest in Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. From 6-9pm on the 19 May, this year’s final year students present the culmination of their sweat, great efforts and many tears. The show is then open daily from 10am, 20-28 May. Earlier this year we interviewed artist Travis Alabanza about their upcoming show, opening on 20 May. The Other’d Artist/s promises to be an exploration and documentation of how the Black body feels within space, in the gallery, out of the gallery. Through creative collaboration with more than 20 Black artists, Alabanza aims to turn the gallery into a living room. From a place we stand in quiet solitude, to a place where we can move, shout and lotion. … this is set to be a Black artists’ takeover of the gallery – aiming to change the function of the space in its presence and future. The opening will begin at 7pm, with performance and music until late. The exhibition runs until 17 June. May also brings presentations from London-based artist Evan Ifekoya who works across radioplays, pop music forms, archival research and performance, and whose recent project A Score, A Groove, A Phantom investigates archives of blackness, sociality and inheritance as they diffract through queer nightlife and trauma in the present moment. Keep an eye on our weekly column for the opening date for this and Embassy’s presentation of art criticism website and research The White Pube’s tour of artist moving image by 19 artists who don’t have a fine art degree. theskinny.co.uk/art

Install View

Ewan Murray Telfer Gallery

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It’s probably because of the same economic compression that recurs throughout Ewan Murray’s Landscape, People, Buildings that it’s hard to keep in mind that there are only eight paintings that make up this high content, but small, show. Each painting would fit well in any small to medium living space, but nevertheless they manage to contain many rich moments of diverse material experimentation, suspense and lyrical moments. See Party, which fits 10 figures into 38x54cm. In it, there’s an example of a recurring strategy by Murray of muting colours, mostly mixing in order to allow for a small instance of pure tube colour. In Party it’s the yellow of dress in the light. Though this is repeated in different ways across works, in each instance it resonates somewhat differently. In Party, it’s the unexpected stare at a seemingly off-centre figure. Then in Every

May 2017

Day, a bright triangle slices bands of landscape (blue on the bottom, then an earthy dark, topped with green and the sun in the sky – flecked with a little brown) seeming like the reflection of a window. The title Every Day could refer to the common suburban experience of groggily looking out onto reams of countryside into and back from the city. As well as controlled colour, exposure of the substrate is another important formal means of making Murray’s familiar imagery surprising. In Opening, a thin permeated layer of brown is contrasted with an ark that is half brightest white, then darkest black. Soft transparency is punctuated by these two conjoined lines, within there’s a rapid rendering of foliage. These different speeds and textures balance a cool filling-in with scored lines and frenzied foliage. Loose brushwork and simplification is throughout matched with formal ingenuity and careful observation, making for a combined sensitivity and sensuousness. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Travis Alabanza

ART

Review

In Cinemas The Red Turtle

Frantz

Director: Michaël Dudok de Wit Released: 26 May Certificate: PG

Director: François Ozon Starring: Paula Beer, Pierre Niney, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber Released: 12 May Certificate: 12A

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The Red Turtle is a Studio Ghibli film, but not as we know it. For the Japanese studio’s first international co-production they have enlisted Michaël Dudok de Wit, an Oscar-winning animator here making his feature debut, and he has brought a vision that makes this film feel both a perfect fit for Ghibli’s philosophy and something wholly unique. The film begins with a strikingly convincing portrait of a man surviving a shipwreck in a raging storm and washing up on a deserted island, before following the arduous process of his attempts to build a raft and escape his lonely fate. Being alone, naturally, he doesn’t say a word, but one of the many astounding things about The Red Turtle is that no words are spoken throughout the film’s entire 80 minutes. The Red Turtle is a masterclass in visual storytelling. Dudok de Wit and his team establish a leisurely pace that allows us to spend time with this character and get to know the island as he does, so the magical events that take place later feel entirely consistent with the internal logic of the world that has been created for us. That the world is rendered so beautifully certainly helps; Dudok de Wit’s commitment to traditional hand-drawn animation techniques gives

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The Red Turtle

both the characters and the island a texture and sense of life that is wondrous to behold. To describe the bare bones of The Red Turtle’s story might make it sound slight, but the film’s cumulative power sneaks up on the viewer. Like Dudok de Wit’s shorts, the film is essentially about the cycle of life, the choices we make, and

the way we approach the end. As such, it has a transcendent quality that feels timeless, and coming at a time when the iconic figures behind Studio Ghibli are hanging up their paintbrushes, the film might indicate a still-bright future for that great company. [Philip Concannon] Released by StudioCanal

Detour

The Other Side of Hope

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Director: Christopher Smith Starring: Tye Sheridan, Emory Cohen, Bel Powley Released: 26 May Certificate: 15 In Christopher Smith’s sun-baked twist on Strangers on a Train, law student Harper (Sheridan) shares a beer with a charismatic hardman (Cohen) in a seedy bar, and before the clean-cut rich-kid knows it, plans are afoot to murder his sleazy stepfather, whom he believes put his mother in a coma. The third part of this triangle is another noir cliché: the stripper with the heart of gold (Powley). If the setup is over-familiar, then the execution is pleasingly novel, with Smith splintering the narrative off in two directions while literally splitting the screen to tell both strands. The central trio of archetypes also prove as unpredictable as the twisting plot. As with Smith’s previous efforts like Triangle and Black Death, his characters are not as morally straightforward as they first appear. As Detour speeds towards its unknown destination, Smith plays a narrative trick that feels more like a slap than a twist. But we can handle a few bumps in the road when the film is this gorgeously crafted. [Jamie Dunn] Released by Bulldog Film Distribution

Director: Aki Kaurismäki Starring: Sherwan Haji, Sakari Kuosmanen Released: 26 May Certificate:

The Other Side of Hope begins with Khaled (Sherwan Haji), his face and body completely camouflaged in sparkling soot, emerging like a divine, alien entity in a harbour. A Syrian refugee, Khaled has come to Finland to both seek asylum and find his sister, one of his few surviving family members. The friendless Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen), a gambling man, decides to buy a restaurant; upon seeing homeless Khaled sleeping rough in the alley, he offers the refugee a job, a fake ID and an underground storage unit to live in. Kaurismäki’s cinema in Hope bares all his trademark fingerprints: a vintage colour palette; a strangely retro, technophobic 21st-century setting; deadpan humour; still, single-shot scenes. The director has apologised for making an “issues” film in Hope, trying to frame the current refugee crisis as a depoliticised humanist issue, with Helsinki offering a somewhat drab utopia for both Khaled and Wikström. Unfortunately, apolitical is still political, and Hope’s happy ending runs on the oppression inherent in that of class and racial politics. [Rachel Bowles]

If prolific French filmmaker François Ozon hasn’t already thrown off his enfant terrible reputation with wonderfully rich and nuanced works like Under the Sand, Time to Leave and In the House, then new film Frantz, an anti-war melodrama set just after the end of the First World War, surely buries it for good. Based on little-seen Ernst Lubitsch joint Broken Lullaby, Frantz offers plenty of surprises. First, the film is in black and white. Second, it often slips into vibrant colour whenever the mood lightens – which isn’t too often, as it takes place in a rural German town in 1919, where a defeated country is licking its wounds and mourning its dead. One of the fallen is the eponymous casualty of war, Frantz, who’s mourned by his beautiful young fiancée Anna (Beer) and his kindly parents. At the opening of the film, Anna discovers Frantz has another mourner: Adrien (Niney), a mysterious beanpole Frenchman with a handsome face and a neat little moustache, who’s been leaving flowers at Frantz’s grave. The first half is concerned with the enigmatic Adrien, and how his life intersects with Frantz’s, while the second half shifts to Anna. A passive almost-widow in the first half, she begins to resemble a private detective as she heads to Paris. It’s a city she’s already witnessed secondhand through Frantz’s letters and conversations with Adrien, but seeing through your own eyes is altogether different. Slowly it becomes clear this is a film about the stories we tell ourselves, both big and small, just to get through the day. Ozon’s genius as a filmmaker is the way he can turn thematically complex material into highly entertaining movies, and Frantz is one of his most impressive balancing acts. As well as stirring up big questions, Ozon’s film will also have you swooning at its romance, and leaning forward to try and unknot its characters’ mysteries. [Jamie Dunn] Released by Curzon Artificial Eye

Released by Curzon Artificial Eye

Colossal

Mindhorn

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Director: Nacho Vigalondo Starring: Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson Released: 19 May Certificate: 15

Director: Sean Foley Starring: Julian Barratt, Essie Davis, Simon Farnaby, Russell Tovey, Steve Coogan Released: 5 May Certificate: 12

Spanish writer-director Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes) makes a bid for the American mainstream with Colossal, a high-concept indie that’s part character study, part blockbuster audition. Gloria (Hathaway) is a down on her luck writer, who retreats back to her quiet hometown from New York City after her boyfriend (Stevens) evicts her. Half-heartedly trying to get her life together, she accepts work at the bar owned by childhood friend Oscar (Sudeikis). Following a late night bender, world-changing news comes from across the globe: a giant monster (of the kaiju mould of Godzilla or Pacific Rim) has attacked Seoul. Gloria’s horrified enough by the far-flung catastrophe, but things get even worse when repeat attacks suggest that she, through very specific circumstances, may be controlling the creature. While never less than engaging, and often fairly witty, Colossal is certainly muddled, veering awkwardly between darkness and goofiness. Vigalondo also never quite decides whether the film’s allegorical thrust is more concerned with alcoholism or toxic, closeted misogyny, with mixed metaphors rendering the finale’s attempt at catharsis somewhat lacking. [Josh Slater-Williams]

From To Be or Not to Be to Tropic Thunder, the idea of actors being inadvertently pulled into real-life jeopardy has served as a durable comic premise for years, and Mindhorn is a particularly English spin on that concept. Richard Thorncroft (Julian Barratt) is a washed-up actor whose one big hit, the 80s detective series Mindhorn, is now long forgotten, but he’s given an opportunity to revive his career when a delusional killer on the Isle of Man tells the police that he will only negotiate with the legendary Mindhorn himself. He believes Mindhorn actually exists, and Barratt and his co-screenwriter Simon Farnaby (who also appears as Thorncroft’s skimpily dressed love rival) make every effort to make him feel real, showing a valuable attention to detail in their portrait of naff 80s television conventions and merchandising. While the thin plot starts to feel overextended in the final third, the absurd gags come fast enough to ensure the film is always entertaining and occasionally hilarious, and Barratt’s excellent central performance is almost Partridge-esque in its clueless pomposity. [Philip Concannon]

Released by Entertainment Film Distributors

Released by StudioCanal

Review

FILM

Frantz

THE SKINNY

Split

Director: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula Released: 5 Jun Certificate: 15

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Dissociative identity disorder is a fascinating condition, in which a person develops one or more additional identities, often compartmentalised and entirely distinctive. It’s proven fertile territory for screenwriters; Psycho, Fight Club and Secret Window are all indebted to DID for their signature twists. Strange, then, that it’s central to a film without a twist from notorious plot-scrambler M Night Shyamalan. In Split, teenagers Casey (Taylor-Joy), Claire (Richardson) and Marcia (Sula) are kidnapped by Kevin Wendell Crumb (McAvoy) and spirited away to his underground lair. Soon, Crumb is serving up a 23-course personality buffet to his terrified captives, flipping between OCD janitor Dennis, prim English governess Patricia and lisping nine-yearold Hedwig. Casey determines that the key to their escape will be in engaging Crumb, learning his personalities and using them to defeat him. But any initial feelings of tension swiftly dissipate when we encounter Crumb’s analyst Karen Fletcher (Buckley), who conclusively excises any suspense from proceedings in her many explanatory appearances. From here on in, a fascinating concept is rendered facet-less and Split fails to deliver on the lashings of foreboding in its opening scenes. True, McAvoy rises to the challenge with chameleonic eagerness. It’s a dream role: the opportunity to be villain, hero and victim. But the personalities feel unexplained and often unwarranted. Split shifts identities as many times as its main character. It’s not scary enough to be a horror; nor coherent enough for a thriller. It lacks the empathy of a sincere character study, and fails to find a convincing protagonist to anchor its flurry of perspectives. By the final frame, when the film’s true personality is revealed, we’re just too disoriented to care. Extras Thin on the ground. It would have been fascinating to know how McAvoy researched the parts or why this particular roll call of personas was developed. Instead, there’s a spattering of deleted scenes and a couple of brief interviews in which cast and crew commend each other for their contribution. [Kirsty Leckie-Palmer]

Prevenge

Director: Alice Lowe Starring: Alice Lowe, Jo Hartley, Gemma Whelan, Kayvan Novak, Kate Dickie Released: 5 Jun Certificate: 15

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Writer-director Alice Lowe (Sightseers) makes her directorial debut with this highly discomfiting, darkly satirical slasher film. Lowe, who was heavily pregnant herself during the film’s shoot, stars as Ruth, a recently widowed Londoner urged by her unborn baby to kill what initially appears to be a collection of random people. Heard sporadically in voiceover (and voiced by Lowe, sounding like a Machiavellian Moaning Myrtle), Ruth’s foetus orders her mother to be “ruthless” when claiming victims, and the mother-to-be generally complies. At first blush, Prevenge seems like a borderline simplistic female revenge-horror fantasy; Ruth’s first two male victims are self-aggrandising creeps who lay on ridiculous sexual innuendo or treat her purely as a means for their own pleasure. But by the time she violently confronts a female lawyer (Kate Dickie), the narrative waters become as muddied as they do bloody. The film also becomes increasingly more compelling, and Lowe’s early visual style of tight, shaky close-ups is exchanged for stylised sequences that complement the eerie, syncopated pitter-pats of the film’s electronic score, by Brighton-based duo Toydrum. Ultimately, Prevenge emerges as a pitch-black send-up of the ‘miracle’ of pregnancy and childbirth. Here, the stereotypically glowing earth mother-goddess becomes the possessed avenging angel, ostensibly guided by the alien being residing in her stomach. This loss of autonomy is the true heart of the film’s horror, but ironically it serves as an excuse for Ruth to indulge her wildest fantasies of retribution. “You have absolutely no control of your mind or your body anymore,” Ruth’s midwife cheerfully announces before telling her it’s simply nature’s way. “I think nature’s a bit of a cunt though, isn’t it,” she replies. Despite bon mots like that, Prevenge isn’t as funny as you might expect it to be, but it is a sly and provocative example of an exciting new wave of female-led body horror. Extras Details not available at time of writing [Michelle Devereaux] Released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kaleidoscope Entertainment

Released by on DVD and Blu-ray by Universal

Hard Times

Director: Walter Hill Starring: Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland, Strother Martin Released: 24 Apr Certificate: 15

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A commercial success with which Walter Hill launched his directorial career, Hard Times is perhaps best remembered for playing to the strengths of its leading man. Here we find Charles Bronson on form as a typically inscrutable, almost messianic figure prone to dignified silences and explosive bursts of violence. He was seen sleepwalking through the previous year’s Death Wish in a similar fashion, the result being an ugly, preposterous ode to vigilante justice. In Hill’s hands, unsophisticated tools are put to far nobler use, helping craft a humane study of honour among Depression-era lowlifes. There’s a purity to the movie’s simple premise and the sense of inevitability with which its narrative unfolds. Bronson’s catatonic charisma lends itself the character of a resilient but damaged freight-hopping drifter, while James

May 2017

Coburn shines as his motor-mouthed manager on the bare-knuckle boxing circuit, also an inveterate gambler. The characters aren’t believable because Hill romanticises both to such a wild extent, but his broad brush strokes manage to capture something of the human spirit. The director steers clear of mawkish sentiment by populating his world – a gaudy, dilapidated New Orleans – with its share of memorable grotesques. A disgraced, opium-addicted doctor creepily tends to our hero’s wounds, while Bronson’s main boxing rival grins from ear to ear even as he takes a pummelling. Such details mean that while Hard Times isn’t an important film, or even necessarily a good one, it will certainly stay with viewers long after a solitary viewing. Extras For this DVD, Masters of Cinema provide us with a faultless print and audio that does justice to Barry De Vorzon’s terrific score, alongside more extra content than anyone could realistically desire. [Lewis Porteous] Released on DVD and Blu-ray by Eureka Entertainment

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Librarians v Comics

verybody knows you’d be hard pushed to find a librarian who couldn’t tell their Austen from their Elbow, but we wanted to find out how well these masters of literature stack up when faced with more alternative classics. So, inspired by Kelvingrove's Frank Quitely: The Art of Comics exhibition we’ve tasked four Glasgow librarians to turn their attention to the graphic novel and tell us which ones they think are worth picking up. It turns out, not only are these librarians bona fide comic-geeks but the crafty quartet also manage to nab their copies for free. So sit back, marvel at their comic-genius and find out how to get your hands on thousands of free comics too (hint: all you need is a library card).

Ian, Librarian for North West Glasgow, gets his teeth into 30 Days of Night – Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith “If you live in Barrow, Alaska where the sun doesn’t rise for 30 days, you really should expect vampires, although a 30 day feeding frenzy is maybe a little harsh on the townspeople. Sheriff Eben Olemaun and wife, deputy sheriff Stella Olemaun, try to save Barrow amid the bloodbath. This gory tale is elevated by the love it or hate it (I love it) art of Templesmith. His unique scratchy looking art perfectly depicts the horror of vampires rampaging through Barrow and the desperation of the locals trying to stay alive.” School Librarian, Cat opens up Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft #1 – Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez “From acclaimed horror writer and New York Times best-selling author Joe Hill (Horns) and artist Gabriel Rodriguez (Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland) comes the six issue Eisner Award winning series, Locke & Key. “Forced to move into the family's ancestral home with their mother and uncle after a shocking family tragedy, the Locke children start to experience strange goings on. The New England gothic mansion hides many secrets including a set of special keys that change whoever finds them – from shrinking to changing gender and unlocking your own head. The house also harbours a malevolent spirit that will stop at nothing to get its hands on all keys in order to open the worst door of all.

DVD

“Hill's writing and Rodriguez’ art come together to make Locke & Key an addictive story of suspense that will make you want to read all six in one sitting.” Maryhill Library Assistant, Lorraine takes a trip to Concrete Park - Tony Puryear and Erika Alexander “There’s a lot going on in Concrete Park, and I mean that in the best possible way. In the not-so-distant future, criminals are sentenced to hard labour in a penal colony on another planet. Violence is rife, and gang warfare the norm. The immersive story centres on Isaac, a new arrival from Earth, and Luca, the leader of an all-woman gang, but they are supported by a wide range of characters that allow the series to explore issues of race, sexuality and identity. So, if you’re looking for a diverse, violent, sci-fi epic this is the read for you!” School Librarian, Alison joins the Hardcore Lady-Types in Lumberjanes - Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooke A. Allen, Noelle Stevenson “Lumberjanes is a story of friendship, adventure and mystery set in a summer camp for girls (or, as their sign says, Hardcore Lady-Types). The impromptu escapades and cute artwork are reminiscent of Adventure Time, with an added supernatural twist. The cast of characters is diverse and distinctive, with more than the usual token strong female character. I can’t get enough of the Lumberjane girls, and if you have enjoyed the coming-of- age exploits of Stranger Things or The Goonies then you’ll be hooked.” If these reviews have sparked your interest, dust off your library card (or sign up for one) and download all these comics, plus thousands more, for free from the comfort of your own home. Simply head to Glasgow Libraries online and search for Comics Plus - they've Gotham all. Visit glasgowlife.org.uk/libraries to find out more

Review

“ ...Scottish theatre; still very white, middle class” The Skinny talks to co-founder of The Workers Theatre, Sara Shaarawi, about the company’s phenomenally successful Kickstarter campaign for artists of colour in Scotland Interview: Amy Taylor

hen we speak to Sara Shaarawi, in what turns out to be her first ever interview, her Kickstarter campaign, Megaphone, a new residency for artists of colour has not just hit its £11,000 target, but exceeded it. At the time of writing, the donations were still coming in, with the campaign exceeding £12,000 by the time it closed. “I’m still half-shocked, half-super excited, half-terrified...” begins Shaarawi, when asked how she feels about the reaction to the crowdfunding campaign, which she describes as “overwhelming.” The campaign will fund residencies for three artists of colour, which will run from April-June 2017 and include mentoring sessions, plus a £2,500 bursary. Originally Shaarawi’s idea, Megaphone is the first project from The Workers Theatre, “a new theatre cooperative that supports radical performances and theatre” which was founded by Shaarawi, poets Katherine McMahon and Harry Giles, writers Dr Poppy Kohner and Henry Bell, and was fully funded within weeks. Created to amplify the work and voices of writers and theatre makers of colour in Scotland (hence the name Megaphone), the project aims to better reflect Scotland’s changing cultural makeup on the national stage. Or as Shaarawi puts it, the cooperative sat down and went, “OK, Scottish theatre; still very white, middle class, what can we do to change that and what kind of performances do we want to see?” The decision to turn to Kickstarter over other arts funding options, such as Creative Scotland, was because of one important thing: time. As Shaarawi puts it, “the thing about institutions, is that they just talk. All they do is talk. They get really interested, they get really excited, and they’re lovely individuals, they’re like, “Yeah, let’s do this!” It could go on for years, they could go on talking for years and it just amounts to nothing. “I felt this was really urgent, especially now, with everything that’s happening in the world, and everything happening in Scotland. Particularly in the arts with The Arches gone, and there are all these gaps and resources are becoming really, really limited, and every time I chat to someone, it’s “We’d really love to do this, but we don’t quite have the resources to do it.” Megaphone is a response to not only the time an average funding application takes to be

approved, or declined, but also the number of resources in Scotland at the moment. According to The Workers Theatre, immigrant communities in Scotland have doubled in the last ten years, but the Scottish theatre industry remains a mostly white platform, with the voices and experiences of artists of colour not being represented. The premise of Megaphone is simple: if we give more artists of colour both the opportunity and the resources to share their stories on stage, it will make the theatre more accessible to other underrepresented people. “I don’t know many artists of colour, I know they’re here, I just don’t know where they are,” explains Shaarawi. “And this is one thing that really worked well, where people are just sending a text and going, ‘I’ve got this friend, and they’re struggling to find work. When’s this call coming out?’ I’ve got different people that I’ve never heard of approaching me, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, you’re so cool, I never knew you existed!’” Originally from Cairo, Shaarawi came to Scotland in 2011 to study a Masters degree in European Theatre at the University of Edinburgh. It was a chance meeting at A Play, A Pie and A Pint that put her right at the heart of the Scottish theatre community, when, during a conversation with the playwright Jo Clifford, Shaarawi learned about Òran Mór’s upcoming Arab Theatre season, which led, in turn, to a chance meeting with the playwright, David Greig. “He thought I was an English student,” laughs Shaarawi, “...and I said, no, I’m a theatre student, and I could just see, like, immediately, he was like, what, they didn’t tell me you could do theatre! But he knew of people who’d done the same programme as me in Egypt and he said, this changes everything, I need you! I need you! He ended up casting me and that changed my life, it changed everything.” Now a well-established artist in the industry, Shaarawi is keen to give a helping hand to unknown artists of colour, and weeks later, she is still blown away by the positive response to the crowdfunding campaign. “It’s been great, it’s really really, really been overwhelming to see the amount of support we got, it’s fantastic.” The results of Megaphone will be presented at The Workers Theatre Weekender in the Glasgow Glad Cafe from 9-11 June. workerstheatre.co.uk

Sara Shaarawi

Review

Ask Auntie Trash:

I R Disappoint Ever been disappointed in life? Trash is a theatre critic, she knows all about it Illustration: Stephanie Hoffmann

Hi Trash, I’ve had a couple of setbacks recently. Some have been bigger than others, but they’ve all hurt in their own way. As someone who, for want of a better description, regularly destroys other people’s dreams with her reviews, how do you deal with disappointments? Thanks, I’m not bitter, honest!

ey my bitter friend, Awwwww, it sounds like you’re having a bit of a bad time at the moment. I mean, why else would you contact a perfect stranger and mention my habit of utterly decimating the dreams, lives and hopes of others? I don’t know if a review of mine has ever made someone reconsider their career path, because as much as I hope for hate mail, it never comes (where is it? Oh, hate mail, how I long to receive and frame you on The Skinny’s wall). In all honesty, I hope I never have, but if I have ever written something that made you quit, I am very, very sorry. Anyway, disappointments are like an arsehole; everyone has one. Disappointment is a universal thing; you didn’t get that job you wanted, the play you’d really been looking forward to turns out to be a heap of crap, the person you like reveals their true colours, it happens to us all. What matters is how you decide to deal with the disappointment, because you cannot let it define you. Rejection is horrible, it hurts like hell, but it is not an excuse to hide yourself or your work from the world. Whenever I face bone-crushing, soul-destroying disappointment – and believe me, it happens more than you would think – I do this wonderful thing: I allow myself to feel how I’m feeling. That’s a groundbreaking bit of advice, I know, but some

THEATRE

of the worst advice I ever got was when I was going through a break-up, and someone close to me insisted that it was best if I didn’t give my ex the “satisfaction of knowing that I was hurt.” This is a terrible thing to say, because what they were really saying was that I shouldn’t feel the way I was feeling because it was an inconvenience to someone who wasn’t even there! Your feelings are never an inconvenience. Never believe that by expressing how you feel in a healthy way that you are making life hard for other people. You will only make yourself feel worse, you will suffer for longer and it leads you to believe that your feelings are worth less to everyone around you. This is not true. Whenever I suffer a setback, I go with the flow. If I feel like crying I’ll have a proper howl into my pillow, or even better, my friend Ann, who has let me cry on her numerous times and has never complained. If I’m angry, I’ll go somewhere and scream, or break something inconsequential; buy lots of plates, you can always buy more. Sometimes just getting up and moving around, like going for a walk, or dancing (hurling myself around the room with no real majesty or purpose) to the angriest, angstiest music that I can find, does the job. I’m not saying all the bad feelings go away overnight, but it gives them less power. One last thing, some days you will feel bad, some days you will feel good. On another day, you may feel like how you did at the beginning, but never fear, this is only temporary. This too shall pass, the sun will rise again, tomorrow is a new day. I will find you and destroy you. Much love, Trash the Redeemer Got a problem? Email trash@theskinny.co.uk

THE SKINNY

Corporate Culture G

iven recent events, I was somewhat surprised to find this quote still displayed on Standard Life’s website: ‘Every August a tidal wave of artistry, creativity and full blown entertainment sweeps across the city... Transforming its streets, courtyards, parks, theatres, pubs and cafes into one giant performance venue... Here at Standard Life, we’re always full of excitement and anticipation whenever August comes around.’ I find this strangely at odds with their decision to cancel our agreement to run a Fringe venue in St Andrew Square. Edinburgh is defined by its festivals. Almost everybody wants lots of vibrant cultural activities, whether for pleasure, leisure or business, but there’s a nimbyist reluctance to put up with the disturbance that comes with them, or to make allowances so that more can happen. While refurbished by the council and managed by Essential Edinburgh, St Andrew Square is owned by the property owners – now mostly Standard Life. Despite our events’ popularity and success, despite months of wrangling with intermediaries, the owners won’t condescend to a conversation. Not only can we not use the Square, we can’t find any council-controlled space nearby to relocate to. As well as disrupting our Fringe programming, and disappointing many acts who have enjoyed performing in the Square over the past two years,

May 2017

this decision also has an effect on the many staff members and traders who also made it their Fringe base. But apparently trying to save all these jobs (proper paid jobs, not ‘volunteers’) would be too disruptive for some of the concerns nearby, this year. And this year ought to be a bumper year with various anniversaries to celebrate. Our programme will be strong as always: as a venue that comedians know and trust, we punch above our weight, but there are acts who don’t trade on their name who need a population of Fringe-goers nearby to tempt in. This doesn’t only create problems for The Stand. Venues concentrate around the vacant spaces of the university in recess. This is now to such an extent that anyone could be forgiven for thinking that’s the whole Fringe. It gets harder to coax punters to the other side of Princes Street. As one asked me in York Place a few years back :”Why do we have to walk all the way over here from the Fringe?” To truly describe Edinburgh as a festival city, surely the festivals should be reasonably equally represented across the city centre and further afield? Corralling into what space is available will be inevitable if there are fewer spaces, but those focal hubs have a duty to ensure that peripheral venues get a look-in. Edinburghers enjoy the programming and local businesses get an uplift in trade: resentment will grow if money is just being hoovered up for a one-way trip to London. The city centre isn’t too big; it’s mostly walk-

Credit: Trudy Stade & Rouge One Graffiti

The Stand’s St Andrew Square events made the area a Festival hub, but are now thwarted by the Square’s corporate owners. For our comedy and ethics column, The Stand’s director Kenny O’Brien considers the implications this has for the Fringe

able and the Fringe ought not to seem to end at The Mound. We built in the Square to counterbalance the focal density of the southside, so the benefit of the Fringe could be felt more broadly across town. The council and city management were happy with it; punters, acts and promoters all loved it. A business which praises it killed it. As a major sponsor of the International Festival, it’s possible they don’t consider Fringe arts to be worthwhile. I mean, surely if it was good art it would already have public funding and not

COMEDY

need to sell tickets, food and beer to make ends meet? Or maybe they don’t think it classy enough for their plans to über-gentrify the neighbourhood? Will we soon be treated to a Standard Life commercial masquerading as EIF sponsorship in St Andrew Square? Maybe. It’s their garden and they decide what happens there. Neither you, me, local venues, bars, businesses, the Fringe Society nor the elected council have much of a say in it. thestand.co.uk

Review

Win tickets to the SAY Award: Live at the Longlist! O

n Wednesday 24 May, the Scottish Album of the Year Award (SAY Award) 2017 longlist will be announced in front of a live audience at a new event taking place at Glasgow’s O2 ABC Home to the SAY Award ceremony back in 2015, the Sauchiehall Street venue welcomes the award once again for this new ticketed event. SAY Award alumni Admiral Fallow, Steve Mason (acoustic) and Mungo’s Hi Fi will be performing live, and 20 Scottish albums will be announced as the SAY Award 2017 Longlist. Each of these 20 albums will be in the running for the £20,000 grand prize, as well as the coveted title of Scottish Album of the Year. We've teamed up with the SAY Award to offer a pair of tickets to this new event celebrating the strength and diversity of Scotland's music

scene. To be in with a chance of winning, simply head along to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and answer the following question: Who won the SAY Award 2015 with Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I've Spilled? a) Karine Polwart a) Kathryn Joseph a) Amy Macdonald Competition closes midnight Thursday 18 May. Entrants must be aged 18 or over. The winner will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms sayaward.com

Win tickets to TRNSMT!

rom the people behind the much-loved T in the Park comes TRNSMT, bringing a hefty lineup to Glasgow Green over the weekend of 7-9 July. Headliners Radiohead, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro will be supported by a line-up including The 1975, Belle and Sebastian, Catfish and the Bottlemen, London Grammar, Stormzy, Blossoms and more. TRNSMT offers music, culture, food and drink in a metropolitan setting, plus flexible weekend and day ticket packages allow you to choose between a one, two or three-day ticket. We've teamed up with TRNSMT organisers DF Concerts to give away a pair of three-day tickets to allow you to experience the full TRNSMT line-up. To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the following question:

COMPETITIONS

Which TRNSMT headliner will release new album For Crying Out Loud in 2017? a) Radiohead b) Kasabian c) Biff y Clyro Competition closes midnight Sunday 28 May. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult over 21. The winner will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms Stay up-to-date with TRNSMT news, or buy tickets now, at trnsmtfest.com

THE SKINNY

Glasgow Music Tue 02 May

SNARKY PUPPY (HOUSE OF WATERS )

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £25.35

With a rotating schedule of some 25 players, the US-of A collective share their unique musical enthusiasm for jazz-funk and world music. DAVE MCPHERSON

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:30, £9

The ex-InMe rock frontman takes to the road solo. SAYWECANFLY

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £10

Canadian singer-songwriter Braden Barrie brings a guitar case full of teenage whimsy and emotive ditties while on his UK tour. WILL JOSEPH COOK

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £9

Fresh-faced Tunbridge Wells singer-songwriter, out touring his new EP. HOOPS

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Bloomington, Indiana based fourpiece signed to Fat Possum. PLASTIC MERMAIDS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Isle of Wight five-piece purveying dreamy, Bowie-inspired tunes. 90S SILENT DISCO

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6

Turn up in 90s apparel and boogie the night away to a throwback soundtrack.

Wed 03 May CATTLE & CANE

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Life-affirming indie-folk from the Teeside five-piece, made up of members of the prodigious Hamill family (plus Paul Wilson). WALTER TROUT

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £25

The former lead guitarist with Canned Heat et al returns to the touring circuit. BLACK SPIDERS

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £15

Rock lot from Sheffield, usually found rockin’ and/or rollin’, or in this case, touring with their latest album, This Savage Land. ACADEMY STRANGERS (BELTUR + SECOND WAYS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

Explosive four-piece alt rock band based in Edinburgh who bring an energetic live performance full of powerful riffs and catchy lyrics. SABRINA CARPENTER

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £12.50

The Disney star turned singersongwriter plays an O2 set. OTOBOKE BEAVER

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:00, £8.50

Punk-rock-garage quartet from Kyoto, Japan playing a Scottish debut. THE NIGHT WITH... THE AUREA QUARTET

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

The foursome premiere a new work for string quartet, along with Fratres by Arvo Pärt, Satellites by Garth Knox and Hunting-Gathering by Kevin Volans. BRINA & THE TRIBAL GLOBAL COLLECTIVE: JAMAICA SINGS ROBERT BURNS

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £12

Jamaican roots-reggae artist Brina, performs with members of her high-energy Tribal Global Collective to create a dynamic dialogue between her homeland’s signature music and its African kindred styles, together with funk, gospel, rock and Latin elements.

Thu 04 May THE VIEW

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £18.50

The Dundee indie-pop scamps do their thing. Sold out. FUZZYSTAR (GHOSTWRITER)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:00, £5 - £6

The Edinburgh indie-popsters launch their debut album Telegraphing with support from Book Group and Broken Records frontman Jamie Sutherland.

May 2017

DJ FORMAT AND ABDOMINAL

RUSSELL WATSON & HIS ORCHESTRA

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £12.50

SEC, FROM 18:30, £51 - £62

For 14 years, DJ Format and rapper Abdominal have been entertaining crowds from Toronto to the UK. Now the hip-hop stars are back at it in 2017 with their new album Still Hungry. BLACK NEVADA (THE RIOT PROJECT + TAPED LIVE) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £4

The alternative rockers play a set at Sleazy’s. UNDEROATH

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £20

Christian hardcore, if that’s your thang. MAIA

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7.50

Vandal-signed Leeds band specialising in sci-fi folk and psychedelic pop. CONTROL SOCIAL CLUB (THE BLINDERS) (SHREDD + HEADY RAPIDS)

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, FREE

Late night show with the alt trio hailing originally from Doncaster, now based in sunny ol’ Manchester. ROCK IT! MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU (DR. VZX MOIST + AUDIODRIVER + CHOKA + PLECTRUM) BOX, FROM 20:00, FREE

Look out sci-fi fans, this month’s Rock It! has a space twist. Grab your kara kesh, lightsaber or bat’leth and come join the space nerd action.

Fri 05 May

THE NIGHTINGALES (THE BLUE ORCHIDS + THE REVERSE COWGIRLS + THE FNORDS) STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

Post-punk outfit originally formed by former members of The Prefects. KING KING

O2 ABC, FROM 18:30, £20

British bluesbreakers and multiaward winners at the British Blues Awards. JON GOMM

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £15

The acoustic singer-songwriter hits the road again after a break from gigging to do “life stuff.” Expect new material as well as golden oldies. JOHN POWER (DOGTOOTH)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £14

The Cast and The La’s frontman takes his rock’n’roll solo project out on the road.

CIVIL ELEGIES (REPO MAN + DAMN TEETH)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5

Newly arisen punk-rock supergroup of sorts, sprouting from the ashes of the likes of Thin Privilege and As In Bear.

JOAN SHELLEY (NATHAN SALSBURG)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £10 - £12

Kentucky singer/songwriter using modest observations as the basis for big and bold arrangements. SEAFRET

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £10

Hailing from the small town of Bridlington, Jack Sedman and Harry Draper serve up acoustic soul-food that’s easy on the ears. ULTRAS (DAVID MACGREGOR)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Ultras is a word European young’uns use to describe pride and solidarity in their place of origin. It’s also the name of a promising indie/kraut-rock band from Glasgae. SECONDS APART (THE CIAZARN AFFAIR + FINDING ARGYLE + SCRIBBLE VICTORY)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

Alt rock duo from Sheffield who formed back in 2012. PAUL RODGERS

SEC, FROM 19:30, £62.45 - £96.50

Singer-songwriter Paul Rodgers brings his Free Spirit UK Tour to the SEC Armadillo. BABE

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS, 19:30, £1

Genre-defying home-grown group fresh off the release of new record Kiss & Tell.

The quadruple Brit Classical Awards winning musician embarks on his first tour since the release of new record True Stories.

Sat 06 May JAMIE LENMAN

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £15

The former singer, guitarist and songwriter for underground heroes Reuben brings his colossal double album, Muscle Memory, to a live setting – twiddly moustache all well and in place. INDIGO VELVET

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £7

Young Tropical-pop quartet from Edinburgh who’re riding the wave of a breakthrough year. SAM BROOKES

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:00, £8

Seasoned folk singer/songwriter who’s been slowly evolving since his days as a young chorister. ULI JON ROTH

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £15

Inimitable German guitarist of 70s hard rock group the Scorpions. THE SKIDS

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £27.50

A 40th Anniversary Tour show from the Fife punk rock and new wave band. PUNK NIGHT

THE FLYING DUCK, FROM 19:00, £4

The Delinquents, The Minority Rule, Death to Noodle and Goodbye Blue Monday club together for a banger of a punk night at The Flying Duck. MUSIC IS THE ANSWER (STEVE PARRY)

STEREO, FROM 23:00, £10 - £12

A new monthly prog house and techno night, hosted by The Meddling Trio and sampling a selection stellar DJs from the UK and beyond. THE TALES (IN STATIONS + BLIND DAZE + BLACK KING COBRA)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6

Electronic, riffy, groove-central trio originating from Ayr. ATLAS RUN (PARALLEL LIGHTS + AIDAN SMITH + ROSS MITCHELL)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £8

Fresh, tightly honest, uplifting alt rock.

TECTONICS FESTIVAL GLASGOW (TRIANGULUM) GLASGOW CITY HALLS & THE OLD FRUITMARKET, FROM 15:30

A festival exploring the boundaries between new and experimental music, blurring the lines between composition, rock, orchestral, improvised, jazz, noise, and electronic music. Headed up by Julia Holter, Catherine Lamb & Laura Steenberge as Triangulum. See tectonicsfestival.com/glasgow for the full line-up.

Sun 07 May DEFTONES

SEC, FROM 19:00, £34

Having tapped another rich creative vein with seventh album Koi No Yokan, Chino Moreno et al make an all too rare Scottish soujourn (i.e. you may well have to beg, borrow or steal your way in). KISHI BASHI (TALL TALL TREES)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £12

The singer, violinist and composer continues his solo orchestral project – known for playing around with a dazzling array of vocal and violin loops. BIG HOGG (ORION’S BELT + MIKE HASTINGS)

TECTONICS FESTIVAL GLASGOW

ROSS COUPER + TOM OAKES

KATATONIA

GLASGOW CITY HALLS & THE OLD FRUITMARKET, FROM 15:00

THE ADMIRAL, FROM 20:00, £10

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £20

A festival exploring the boundaries between new and experimental music, blurring the lines between composition, rock, orchestral, improvised, jazz, noise, and electronic music. Headed up by a closing concert ft. Shiori Usui, Lawrence Dunn, BBC SSO and more. See tectonicsfestival.com/glasgow for the full line-up.

Mon 08 May WHEATUS

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £17.50

The teenage dirtbags hit us up with their well-known riffs and smartaleck lyrics. THE PHYSICS HOUSE BAND

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

Brighton-based math-rock trio with a hardcore following of loyal fans. JAMES LEG (THE BONNEVILLES)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

The frontman of Black Diamond Heavies brings his guttural vocals and bittersweet growly blues to Broadcast. THE ONE HUNDRED

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:30, £8

London-hailing four-piece band playing music laced with guitar and electronica.

Tue 09 May MAXÏMO PARK

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £20

The North Eastern indie lot celebrate the 10th anniversary of A Certain Trigger, while also showing off their sixth album, Risk to Exist. DANIEL BACHMAN (JAKE FUSSELL)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £6

Daniel Bachman is a six-string and lap steel guitar player from Virginia currently living in North Carolina. DUCKTAILS (JAMES FERRARO + TYPHONIAN HIGHLIFE)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

Solo side project of Real Estate’s Matt Mondanile, making shimmery guitar pop sounds. WHILE SHE SLEEPS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £14

The Sheffield metalcore troops bring their usual racket. JOSHUA BURNSIDE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

Joshua Burnside launches his debut album Ephrata at Sleazy’s. HOWIE PAYNE

STEREO, FROM 19:30, £10

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

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, £12

Nashville in the Round will comprise three Nashville residents and wonderful female voices performing together and individually whilst supporting each other. SOUND THOUGHT - LABORA[R] TIO: COLLABORATE, ARTICULATE, INTEGRATE

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

An annual festival of music and sound research, composition, and performance run by postgraduate students from the University of Glasgow. DAKOTA SLINGSHOT (PETAL + CHRISSY BARNACLE)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £7

Duo of keyboard and drums hailing from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. LUSH PURR (LUSH PURR + YOUS)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , FROM 19:00, £6

A night of wonderful dream pop.

Wed 10 May GALLOPS

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, TBC

The Glasgow-dwelling psychmeets-jazz ensemble play Sleazy’s.

North Wales quartet building their epic noise on a series of mechanically pivoting and glitchy instrumental post-rock sounds.

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £16.50

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £12

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

PROTOJE & THE INDIGGNATION (SEVANA)

The reggae revivalist and his band do their thing. BOB DYLAN AND HIS BAND

SEC, FROM 18:30, £51 - £85

The legendary American singersongwriter returns to the UK for what could be the last time. RONNIE AND OLIVIA

ORAN MOR, FROM 17:00, FREE

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

HE IS LEGEND

Rock’n’rollers who like so many before them bring to mind Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins. GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £26.50

The Godafther of funk – er, that’d be George Clinton – takes to Glasgow with ParliamentFunkadelic (aka P-Funk).

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

Ross and Tom launch new album Fiddle & Guitar. Expect their trademark unrivalled energy and virtuosity, interspersed with moments of spine tingling beauty. SOUND THOUGHT - LABORA[R] TIO: COLLABORATE, ARTICULATE, INTEGRATE

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 11:00–18:00, FREE

An annual festival of music and sound research, composition, and performance run by postgraduate students from the University of Glasgow. NAPALM DEATH

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:00, £20.50

The grindcore band embark on their Campaign For Musical Destruction tour. DRAB MAJESTY (HAUSFRAU + SOFT RIOT)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £12

Deb DeMure’s self-labelled tragic wave / gothic project.

Thu 11 May THEME PARK

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £9

Unique brand of electronic indiepop from London-way, formed by twin brothers Miles and Marcus Haughton. THE CRIBS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, TBC

The Wakefield indie-rockers do their guitar-heavy and frantic thing. WILLIWAW

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, TBC

Nope, not the Cerys Matthewsfronted Welsh types, but the progressive metal lot from Stockholm. Bit of a difference.

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 11:00–18:00, FREE

Mon 15 May

An annual festival of music and sound research, composition, and performance run by postgraduate students from the University of Glasgow. ALICAI HARLEY (K4CIE + SYCOPHANTASY)

STEREO, FROM 19:00, TBC

Tomboy hosts an all-girls grime and rap night, taking in live acts and DJs of a gnarly persuasion. HEY COLOSSUS (CUTTYS GYM + YELT)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6 - £8

The “London-based tinnitus machine” Hey Colossus stop by for a Sleazy’s set. MASKED: SUSPENSE

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £16

A rivetting combo of beverages and curiosities; expect death-defying leaps of faith and other oddities.

Sat 13 May THE DYKEENIES

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £14

Art-pop scamps hailing from the fiery furnace of Cumbernauld. MADISON VIOLET

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 20:00, £14

STEREO, FROM 18:30, £10

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

TAKE THAT

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £55 - £95

Mark, Gary and Howard continue to pretend that Take That still exists without Jason and Robbie, the frauds.

THE ALARM (DAVE SHARP)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £22.50

THE DYNAGLIDES

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £7 - £10

The nine-piece Glaswegian band take to an Oran Mor stage. GLASS CAVES (THE CAIRDS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £7

SOUND THOUGHT - LABORA[R] TIO: COLLABORATE, ARTICULATE, INTEGRATE

A blend of alternative rock and indie rock.

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 11:00–18:00, FREE

O2 ABC, FROM 19:30, £10

An annual festival of music and sound research, composition, and performance run by postgraduate students from the University of Glasgow.

DESERT MOUNTAIN TRIBE (THE NEW FABIAN SOCIETY + VFLAMBDA)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6

Rock’n’roll trio from London whose new EP is titled If you don’t know Can you don’t know Köln. Hah. HUNTING GREY (HOWSON + LAWRENCE O’BRIEN BAND)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £15

Four-piece alt rock band headed up by Adam MacDonald.

Fri 12 May THE DYKEENIES

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £14

Art-pop scamps hailing from the fiery furnace of Cumbernauld. DAN CROLL

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £10

Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts graduate and winner of the Musicians Benevolent Fund’s National Songwriter of the Year Award continues his ascent. THE GREAT ALBATROSS (ALBUM LAUNCH)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, TBC

Local guitar heroes The Great Albatross launch their debut album out on LP Records. TAKE THAT

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £55 - £95

HUNTER & THE BEAR

They supported Eric Clapton once – perhaps the most remarkable thing about this industrious folk-rock four-piece. TAKE THAT

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £55 - £95

Mark, Gary and Howard continue to pretend that Take That still exists without Jason and Robbie, the frauds.

PLEASURE HOUSE

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

Birmingham-based four man outfit fresh off the back of supporting Sundara Karma, Swim Deep, High Tyde, Black Honey, Fickle Friends, Inheaven and more.

Tue 16 May METRONOMY

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £19.50

The Joseph Mount-led electro-pop pleasurists return, this time trailing last year’s fifth studio album, Summer 08. LUKE SITAL-SINGH

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £12

Promising young London singersongwriter with an innate ability to capture the raw emotion of a moment in song. TOM WALKER

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

An evening of acoustic music with Tom Walker and friends. IRON MAIDEN

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £46 - £57.50

Heavy metal legends Iron Maiden head out on a European arena tour. J HUS

SAINT LUKE’S, FROM 20:00, £15

East London rapper known for going viral with 2015’s single Dem Boy Paigon. ANDY LUCAS

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, TBC

Pianist and singer from UK whose first album Weekend Millionaire, is full of wit-laden songs, selfdepreciating humour and melancholic charm. His lyrics rummage around through the turmoil of love, loss, despair, elation, achievement, revenge and what-ifs. SOFT KILL (ROXY AGOGO + KASPAR HAUSER )

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

Control Social Club bring in Portland Oregon’s Soft Kill, a band inspired by the Chameleons, Wire and The Sound.

Wed 17 May GAVIN DEGRAW

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £23

COLONEL MUSTARD & THE DIJON 5

An alternative evening of music, poetry, comedy and drag.

THE NAKED FEEDBACK

Glasgow natives touting fast’n’hard riffs and lashings of swag.

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15

QUEER THEORY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

THE RIFLES

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

Four piece indie rock band all the way from Chingford, playing a special acoustic set.

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , FROM 05:00, £10

STORM THE PALACE (THE COLOUR OF WHISKY + DUOTONE)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £16

SNUFFBOX (PEACH/SKEOCH + RUFUS HUGGAN + LUC MCNALLY + CHARLIE STEWART)

Edinburgh and London based five-piece combining elements of baroque-pop and traditional folk with menacing melodies.

Up-and-coming folk wizards Snuffbox launch their debut album.

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £17.50

NYC-based post-punk lot, built on Michael Gira’s affecting baritone, unprecedented levels of volume and oodles of sheer visceral bloody energy.

LUKE HAINES

A night of prose readings and live music from the ‘raconteur and lyrically-dextrous anti-hero’. LOWLY (PAVO PAVO + THE ALBATROSS)

Thu 18 May SWANS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £25

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

MEGA RAN (RICHIE BRANSON + DMCIX)

Sun 14 May

The teacher-turned-rapper/ producer Random (aka Mega Ran) returns to Glasgow.

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £12.50

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £14

THE DYKEENIES

The American country singer crosses over to the UK.

Art-pop scamps hailing from the fiery furnace of Cumbernauld.

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5 - £6

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , FROM 18:00, FREE

Vida hail from the OC and, lead by Josh Cisneros, play a type of music which they claim is influenced by OneRepublic and The 1975. So, erm, yes.

Folk-Rock band hailing from the shires of Devon and Cornwall.

13TH NOTE, FROM 19:00, TBC

The Aarhus noise-poppers swing by Broadcast.

VIDA (SHAMBOLICS)

HAUNT THE WOODS (PELTS + FAIRWEATHER & THE ELEMENTS)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

New York-based singer-songwriter of the blue-eyed, charming and soulful variety.

Mark, Gary and Howard continue to pretend that Take That still exists without Jason and Robbie, the frauds. SARABETH (GLEN MITCHELL)

THE MOLOCHS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

The band of singer-songwriter Lucas Fitzsimmons.

Award-winning Canadian roots duo Madison Violet are set to release their latest album – and it will feature when they make a welcome return to CCA in May.

Hard rock trio from Brighton.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8

Industrial outfit from Houston, Texas.

SOUND THOUGHT - LABORA[R] TIO: COLLABORATE, ARTICULATE, INTEGRATE

Williwaw’s monthly residency at the Old Hairdressers reaches its golden anniversary. Expect only the finest in amp’d uke histrionics, silent reels to tantalise the optic nerves, and even some snacks. GNARWOLVES

SPIT MASK (PULL RANK + HOOR PAAR KRAAT)

WILLIWAW

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £6

SNAKECHARMER (REBECCA DOWNES)

O2 ABC, FROM 18:30, £18

Blues rock six piece, made up of members of various rock band heavyweights, including Whitesnake, Thunder and Heartland. WHISKEY MYERS

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

Southern American rockers from Texas.

WAYNE DEVRO SET (FINN LEMARINEL) THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 20:00, £5

Scottish composer Brian Docherty’s new project, rooted in the electro-folk realms. SOUP WORX (OPTIMO + )

STEREO, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

Optimo and Drumchapel Food Bank team up to throw a cross-platform fundraiser party ft. spoken word, live music and Optimo on DJ duties. MATANA ROBERTS: COIN COIN CHAPTER III

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £10

The an internationally renowned composer, band leader, saxophonist, sound experimentalist and mixed-media practitioner brings her “panoramic sound quilting” project to The Glad. MARAVEYAS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £15 - £20

Maraveyas Ilegál is the work of the Greek singer-songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist Kostis Maraveyas. Maraveyas sings in Greek, English, Spanish and Italian.

Fri 19 May THE VIEW

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £18.50

The Dundee indie-pop scamps do their thing. Sold out. THE RAINBAND

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

The Mancunian four-piece piece, founded in 2009 by lead singer Martin Finnigan and guitarist Phil Rainey, tour their latest release, Satellite Sunrise. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEY RAMONE

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

A night celebrating the great music of the NY punk scene featuring Ramoaners, Tenement & Temple, The Rockaway Bitches Shock and Awe and more. All proceeds to cystic fibrosis. QUJAKU (THE CONTACT HIGH)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5 - £7

Psych, shoegazey band based in Shizuoka, Japan. Their latest album, released in April 2016 was entitled Keiren.

JOHN ALEXANDER (ROSEANNE REID)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £8

Native Glaswegian and Southside songwriter and guitarist John Alexander will brings his dustbowl blues to The Glad Cafe with the launch of new album Of These Lands.

Sat 20 May DAMO SUZUKI

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £9

The ex-Can vocalist plays a oneoff jam with a band comprising members of Happy Meals, Gummy Stumps, Breakfast Muff, Sean Armstrong Trio, The Cosmic Dead, First Temple of the Atom, In Posterface and more. Jeezo. HOMESHAKE

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:00, £8

Pseudonym of Edmonton-born, Montreal-based musician Peter Sagar.

DECEMBER (CHRISTY PASSMORE)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £8

December, a band influenced by the likes of Springsteen and The Jesus and Mary Chain play Glad Cafe. STONE BROKEN

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £10

The UK rockers return after an (almost) sell-out earlier this year. THE GOON SAX

MONO, FROM 19:30, £10

Pop trio made up of 17-18 yearolds who’re frighteningly talented for their age.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE IN CONCERT

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 14:30, £25 - £65

A full live orchestra score the film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s muchloved first Potter adventure. RUNNING UP THAT HILL

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £22.50

A Celebration of Kate Bush curated by and featuring Emma Pollock with Peter Brewis (Field Music), James Graham (The Twilight Sad), Roddy Hart, Sarah Hayes, (Admiral Fallow), Kathryn Joseph, Karine Polwart, Rachel Sermani and Kathryn Williams. THE DUNTS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Four-part punk rock band from Glasgae.

Listings

GABRIELLA COHEN

COLIN HUNTER

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £6.50

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5

Velvet Underground-inspired singer from Melbourne.

Sun 21 May DECLAN MCKENNA

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £11

The fresh-faced winner of Glasto’s 2015 Emerging Talent Competition. JENN GRANT (HANNAH GEORGAS)

Singer-songwriter Colin Hunter launches EP Being in Love as part of the Southside Fringe with Flew The Arrow, Cara Rose and Rebecca Herd. THE SAY AWARD 2017: LIVE AT THE LONGLIST (ADMIRAL FALLOW + STEVE MASON + MUNGO’S HI FI)

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

Folk, R'n'B, and rock ballads from the award nominated singer.

A brand new event exclusively announcing the Scottish Album of the Year 2017 longlist.

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 15:00, £10

Thu 25 May

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £10

RYAN LAWRIE

Up-and-coming X Factor finalist taking to the road before knuckling down for a stint of album recording. JEFF ROSENSTOCK (DOE)

STEREO, FROM 18:30, £10

The LA ska dude plays Glasgow as part of a sprawling international tour. HIGHLORD

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5 - £6

Catch a slice of Italian power metal from Highlord, an outfit with over 20 years of experience on the scene. BIG CHILL WITH KINOKO

THE GLAD CAFE, 16:00–22:30, £3

Relax and enjoy a multi-sensory experience in our a chillout zone featuring colourful lights, smoky lasers, floaty bubbles, neon face painting and magical faeries.

Mon 22 May

BARB WIRE DOLLS (REACTION)

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £10

LA-based street rock unit, originally formed at The Ikarus artist commune on the island of Crete. PRIESTS (CURRENT AFFAIRS + KASPAR HAUSER )

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £8

The American punk group tour their first full-length LP released on Sister Polygon Records. HAILU MERGIA

PLATFORM, FROM 19:00, £7.50 - £10

Ethio-Jazz maestro Hailu Mergia plays his first and only Scottish show. Truly one of the great Ethiopian musicians from the golden age of the 1970s.

Tue 23 May NATIVES

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £8.50

Hampshire-hailing pop-rockers formerly known as Not Advised. MIYA FOLICK

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

Rising alt-rock artist from LA who’s on the rise after a recent tour with Sleigh Bells. RCS: BMUS TRADITIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 11:00–18:00, FREE

A diverse programme of new work by students of the BMus Traditional Music course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland showcasing the culmination of years of study by these emerging professionals. SAD13

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £10

Taking a break from her work in Massachusetts guitar manglers Speedy Ortiz, Sadie Dupuis tours solo style with a banging pop album intent on refocussing pop’s malecentric narrative.

Wed 24 May

THE BESNARD LAKES (OLIVER WILDE )

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £15

The Montreal indie outift unleash new EP, The Besnard Lakes Are the Divine Wind. PICTURE THIS

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £9

Lumineers-esque makers of “hey! ho!”-peppered indie-folk. RCS: BMUS TRADITIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 11:00–18:00, FREE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

The Edinburgh singer-songwriter brings her alt pop vibes to Sleazy’s.

ENTER SHIKARI

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £25

More in the way of new-wave, post-hardcore politicking from the St Albans quartet. WHITE HILLS (GIRL SWEAT + KASPAR HAUSER)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

American rock band White Hills are joined by Leeds based lo-fi garage kraut act Girl Sweat and Kaspar Hauser. SLYDIGS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £7.50

Pure unadulterated rock’n’roll from the Warrington quartet, as per. ANDREW MCMAHON IN THE WILDERNESS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £16.50

Better known as the piano-pounding frontman from Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin, now doing his solo synth-pop thing. LISA MITCHELL

MONO, FROM 19:00, £10

Aussie singer/songwriter out touring Europe. ALDOUS HARDING

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £7

The New Zealander heads to Broadcast for an evening of gothic folk. THE NIGHT CAFE

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £6.50

Liverpudlian quartet out on their UK tour. PAREKH & SINGH

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:30, £9.50

Neo-psychedelic duo comprising Nischay Parekh and Jivraj Singh. RCS: BMUS TRADITIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 11:00–18:00, FREE

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5

A show from Congolese-Canadian polyglot and postmodern pop artist Pierre Kwenders, plus the bubbling synths, heavy reverb and distorted noises of Mozart’s Sister aka Caila Thompson-Hannant.

Fri 26 May

THE WEDDING PRESENT

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £18.50

A 30th anniversary concert celebrating the release of album George Best, way back when. CARL BARAT AND THE JACKALS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £12

The former Libertines chap takes to the road with his all-new band, The Jackals. THE BEACH BOYS

SEC, FROM 19:30, £45 - £52

The Beach Boys! Sort of...Mike Love and Bruce Johnston do their best without Brian Wilson et al. RCS: BMUS TRADITIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 11:00–18:00, FREE

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, TBC

Glasgow indie-rock / pop fivepiece headed up by Summer Skye. SAVAGE MANSION (MUSH + LUSH PURR)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 20:00, £5

Lost Map slacker pop at the Hug and Pint. TROPHY EYES

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:30, £9

Punk band of five from Newcastle.

10000 RUSSO’S (ST DELUXE + THEE RAG N BONE MAN) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £8

Fuzz Club-signed trio from Portugal, comprising Pedro Pestana, André Couto and João Pimenta.

IN THE ROUND (MICK HARGAN) (PANIC ANCHOR + KATEE KROSS)

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:00, £10 - £12

Following the succeeds of their sold-out In The Round show at Christmas, Mick Hargan and Katee Kross do it again for the Southside Fringe. CHARLOTTE MARSHALL & THE 45S

TRON THEATRE, 8:30PM, £8

Retro, roots, mississippi blues and jazzy soul from an eight-piece groove band.

Sat 27 May ERASURE

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, TBC

Tue 30 May MARIKA HACKMAN

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £11

Sweet-voiced young folk singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist.

GRAND COLLAPSE (SICK OF TALK + KINGPIN + YELT)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £5

Welsh thrash punk foursome of the reliably noisy variety. ANASTACIA

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, FROM 19:00, £32.50 - £37.50

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £20

Austin-based singer-songwriter who recently released debut album, Please Be Mine, via Captured Tracks.

THE AFGHAN WHIGS

From their rough-hewn beginnings with their Big Top Halloween LP, to the enduring elegance of 1965, Greg Dulli et al show y’all how it’s done. MEDICINE MEN (FLY JACKSON)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £7.50

A sound with roots in the early 90s with added psychedelic stomp aimed at the dancefloor. Sure to appeal to the Parka wearing crowd and beyond. CRASH CLUB

BROADCAST, FROM 23:00, £5

Electro rockers Crash Club headline Broadcast. KISS

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £45 - £55

Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer swing by on their European tour. GARRY TALLENT (KEVIN MONTGOMERY)

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £20

Garry Tallent of The E Street Band plays a Glasgow show with Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin.

Sun 28 May

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART

STEREO, FROM 19:30, £14

Reassuringly textbook indie-pop from NYC, of late brighter, bolder and evidencing sharpened songwriting skills. JULIE BYRNE

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, FROM 19:00, £9

The Seattle vocalist and guitarist plays a set of her hushed and mysterious tunes. FLYTE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £7.50

Melodic London foursome led by Will Taylor, known for their exuberant live performances. BRONSTON (HERSHEL’S HEAD + CLENCH)

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 20:00, £6

Groovy four-piece hailing from Edinburghian turf bringing alt rock treats to a Glasgow crowd. BRENT COBB

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Country singer-songwriter from Georgia, out trailing new album Shine On Rainy Day.

REALM OF TORMENT (DRAWN IN + FULL CONTACT + CHAMBER + XSERVITUDEX) BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £8

The Southhampton metalcore unit play a Broadcast gig. GEORGIA SMITH

TRON THEATRE, 2:00PM, £10

Georgia shares her effortlessly indulgent vocals at a showcase of of new and old music.

Mon 29 May

ELEPHANT STONE (HELICON)

MONO, FROM 19:30, £5 - £7

American singer-songwriter with a mighty pair of lungs on ‘er. MOLLY BURCH

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £8

CUTE IS WHAT WE AIM FOR

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 18:30, £14

An exclusive post-Slam Dunk show. INDIE NIGHT

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £5

A student-organised eve of music featuring performers from Motherwell.

Wed 31 May RON SEXSMITH

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £27.50

The prolific Canadian singersongwriter performs songs from his much-admired back catalogue of elegant melancholic pop songs. SILVER APPLES

STEREO, FROM 19:30, £15.50

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

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £14

The Chicagoan alternative rockers take to the road for one last blast, playing what will be their final UK tour. THE COURTNEYS

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £9

Fricken cool fuzz-pop trio. NARGAROTH

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 18:30, £17

Black metal from Germany, playing a gig for a Garage crowd. THE HEATERS (SHREDD)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, FROM 19:30, £7

Combining an output of ‘reverb coated, fuzz studded, hard driven garage psych’ with a kaleidoscopic, hip-shaking live set, Heaters are quickly forging something new and exciting. KIMONA

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5

A new and intriguing group based in Glasgow. Beautiful, mellow, relaxed vibes that may appeal to fans of This Is The Kit.

Edinburgh Music Tue 02 May DANIEL O’DONNELL

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £41 - £46

The most successful easylistening-country star tours his back catalogue of hits. SIMON JOYNER (LACH + HAMISH HAWK)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6.50

The acclaimed lo-fi singersongwriter tours his thirteenth ‘proper album’, Grass Branch, and Bone, as well as his new lyric book, Only Love Can Bring You Peace: Selected Lyrics 1990-2014. SEAN MCGOWAN (ERIN VIVERS FERGUSON + LOU MCLEAN)

SKETCHY BEATS CAFE, FROM 19:00, £6

24 year old Southampton-born musician raised on a diet of The Clash, The Jam, Specials, Billy Bragg and other such politicallycharged, punk-ignited British pop.

Wed 03 May

STANLEY BRINKS (FRESCHARD)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 20:00, £8

An evening of solo and collaborative sets from the charming and prolific French antifolkers from Berlin. THE PARROTS (YOWL + WOMPS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

Spain’s premiere garage rock band tour their debut album, joined by excellent London rockers Yowl, and Glasgow team Womps, who are just back from SXSW. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: TOM MCCONVILLE

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £10

Tom was born on Tyneside and brought up in a pub on the famous Scotswood Road with clientele drawn from the Irish and Scottish communities.

Thu 04 May

PARADISE RADIO (JACUZZI GENERAL)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Weekly radio show presented by Palms resident and purveyor of passion and sensual positivity Jacuzzi General. Exploring music from around the world. BRINA AND THE TRIBAL GLOBAL COLLECTIVE: JAMAICA SINGS ROBERT BURNS

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–01:00, £12

Jamaican roots-reggae artist Brina, along with members of Tribal Global Collective, performs reggae versions of Burns songs from the album Jamaica Sings Robert Burns. BREAKING WAVES

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

Rock duo who dabble in pop and dance. FOURTH MOON

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–22:30, £10 - £12

With a killer – albeit unorthodox – line up of musicians, Fourth Moon raise the bar with concertina, fiddle, whistles, flute, pipes and guitar. SCO: SCHUBERT SYMPHONY TRAGIC

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £11 - £32.50

BROADCAST, FROM 19:00, £6

Liverpudlian trio channelling what they describe as ‘50s mutant pop’. TRIPTIDES

THE LOWEST PAIR

Solidarity gig organised by Girls Rock School and These Hysterical Women, contributing to Tatu project and Kazi na Sala women’s group in Tanzania.

Global Roots returns to Paradise Palms for a night of Afrobeat, world music and a large helping of disco and funk. SUMMERHALL, 20:00–22:30, £10 - £12

The Lowest Pair’s rugged yet refined blend of fiddle, Highland pipes, whistle, flute, bodhran, guitar and voice has proven a resounding hit, placing them in pretty high demand. SKIPINNISH

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £15 - £17

Scottish Trad Award-winning band embarking on their Seventh Wave album tour.

A new kind of whisky tasting, hosted by Forbes whisky blogger Felipe Schrieberg, featuring local bands. WITHERED HAND (SINGER OF SONGS)

SNEAKY PETE'S

Fri 05 May

THE VOODOO ROOMS, FROM 19:00, £12.50

For 14 years, DJ Format and rapper Abdominal have been entertaining crowds from Toronto to the UK. Now the hip-hop stars are back at it in 2017 with their new album Still Hungry. BLACK NEVADA

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

The alternative rockers play a set at Sleazy’s.

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 22:30, £5

ADAM ANT ANTHEMS

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, FROM 19:30, £37.65 - £45.15

The frontman of new wave popsters Adam and the Ants takes to the road. BREWBAND

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £8.50 - £16.50

James Feddeck leads RSNO in a performance of Beethoven’s ‘Free but Happy’ Piano Concerto No3 with pianist Alice Sara Ott.

Scottish rock artists Graeme Smillie, Jill O’Sullivan and Peter Kelly are paired with dancer/musicians Martyn Garside, Marta Masiero and Alice Sheppard for a production blurring the boundaries between sound and physicality.

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:00, £7

Sun 07 May

RSNO BRAHMS THREE

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £39

DMS (ECHO ARCADIA)

Self-proclaimed super cool basement party from indie project DMS. NUMBERS ARE FUTILE (EXTERIOR + ME & THE DEVIL)

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 14:00, TBC

A farewell show for the synthheavy locals Numbers Are Futile.

Sat 06 May

BLACKJACK BLUES BAND

STRAMASH, 18:30–20:30, FREE

Retro Blackjacks fun times with Hugh Frizell back on guitar duties. FUZZYSTAR (BOOK GROUP + JAMIE FROM BROKEN RECORDS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, FROM 19:00, £5 - £6

The Edinburgh indie-popsters launch their debut album Telegraphing with support from Book Group and Broken Records frontman Jamie Sutherland. RURA

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–22:30, £10 - £12

ANNA & ELIZABETH

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–22:30, £10 - £12

Inspired by tradition, Anna & Elizabeth gather songs and stories to bring them to life with sparse, atmospheric arrangements accompanied with story “crankies” – intricate picture-scrolls that illustrate the old songs. PARADISE VINYL (PERCY MAIN)

PARADISE PALMS, 17:00–22:00, FREE

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00, £14

Nashville songwriter Andrew Combs returns to the UK for an intimate tour. MARIANAS TRENCH

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £12

KISHI BASHI (TALL TALL TREES)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £12 - £13

SOUNDHOUSE (WESTERN CENTURIES)

Soundhouse fans will recognise this band by its former moniker: Cahalen Morrison and Country Hammer. They’re roots music mavericks, and they sit at the crossroads of country, early rhythm and blues and rock.

Tue 09 May

AMY DUNCAN (RACHEL AMEY)

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £10

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:30, £5 - £7

Amy’s signature pure, honest vocals make powerful connections through her recordings and live performances. This event is the album launch for Amy’s adventurous new release Antidote.

PROCOL HARUM

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £16.50 - £18.50

Award-winning Canadian rockers named after the deepest part of the world’s oceans. THE BRIGHT BLACK (FAR + THE BAR KEYS)

Glam funk and soul-inspired pop foursome. THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £39.50 - £60

DOMINICIDE (CENTILLA + BLACKWORK + SOMAETHESIA)

Glasgow-based thrash/groove metal band. JACUZZI GENERAL (WERKHA)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

The General returns after a tropical trip overseas, topping up his tan and promoting his latest jacuzzi model. This month JG is joined by Werkha, Glasgow-based producer of music. EDINBURGH BLUES CLUB (DEVON ALLMAN BAND) (SAFEHOUSE)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £16.50 - £18.50

LBA welcomes Devon for a night of blues on the Cowgate. GOOD FOXY

STRAMASH, 21:30–23:30, FREE

Funk-studded rock’n’roll taking in bluesy, psychedelic and acoustic sounds.

PARADISE RADIO (JACUZZI GENERAL)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Weekly radio show presented by Palms resident and purveyor of passion and sensual positivity Jacuzzi General. Exploring music from around the world. SIEBEN

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 20:00–01:00, £5

Sieben is the vehicle for Matt Howden’s violin and voice looping whirlwind of awe inspiring sound. Expect soaring voices from man and instrument over driving rhythms created by interaction with the body and strings of the violin. SHENANYGENS

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

A laid back acoustic performance at Bannermans.

SCO: BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO 7

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £11 - £32.50

Conductor Robin Ticciati leads the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Beethoven’s Seventh, known to many as the backdrop to Colin Firth’s address in The King’s Speech.

Fri 12 May PRONTO MAMA

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £7

Upbeat tunes from the Glasgow polyrhythmic indie-rockers/super cool dudes. CARA DILLON

A blend of alternative rock and indie rock.

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

ANDREW COMBS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Fuzzkill upstarts Sweaty Palms head up an all star-bill.

Mon 08 May

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Edinburgh-born ensemble who mix various rhythms from Brazil with primarily punk, reggae, R'n'B, rock and garage.

SWEATY PALMS (KASPAR HAUSER + WYLDE)

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

The singer, violinist and composer continues his solo orchestral project – known for playing around with a dazzling array of vocal and violin loops.

BLOCO VOMIT

Thu 11 May

Purveyor of the most choice cuts committed to wax, Percy Main present a monthly showcase of their fave sounds from the Paradise Vinyl collection. Expect records from near and far, past and present, all of them fresh and some of them just a lil’ bit dirty.

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

ASSEMBLY ROXY, FROM 19:30, £25

DJ FORMAT AND ABDOMINAL

TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE (AYKARA)

DADA DADA (LOUD SOUTH LADIES + THEE GIRL FRIDAYS + NUF + DJ BAMBI TAS)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, TBC

THE RHYTHM ‘N’ BOOZE WHISKY CLUB (JED POTTS AND THE HILLMAN HUNTERS)

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £12

CLEAN CUT KID (VISTAS)

GLOBAL ROOTS

SCO Principal Clarinet Maximiliano Martín leads an evening of Stravinsky, Cresswell and Schubert at The Queen’s Hall.

DIY folk fairytales from boy done good Dan Willson

New Liverpool fuzz-pop band out on their UK headline tour.

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

The prog-rockers head out on a 1967-2017 tour, celebrating 50 years since the release of A Whiter Shade Of Pale, which continues to be one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Montreal-based four-piece Hindirock/psych pop outfit, formed in 2009 by sitarist/bassist Rishi Dhir.

THE HUG AND PINT, FROM 19:00, £8

Listings

Royal Trux began calling themselves “the World’s Greatest Royal Trux Boogie Band” in the 90s after signing to Virgin records. From world music, punk rock, new age, jazz, metal, electronic, southern rock, and the rest; Royal Trux found a way to include it.

Legendary 80s electropop duo made up of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, out and touring their 17th – yep, 17th! – LP release, World Be Gone.

LA psych group bringing a slice of Cali cheer to a Glasgow crowd.

ROYAL TRUX THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–22:00, £23

MY VITRIOL

London-based alternative rock lot. LUSH PURR (LUSH PURR + PLASTIC ANIMALS + THE DOOZER)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:00, £5

A night of wonderful dream pop.

Wed 10 May

DUCKTAILS (JAMES FERRARO + TYPHONIAN HIGHLIFE)

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–23:00, £12

Solo side project of Real Estate’s Matt Mondanile, making shimmery guitar pop sounds. THE JAPANESE HOUSE

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £10

Dark and dreamy synth-heavy soundscapes from the young solo artist less cryptically known as Amber Bain. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: FRED MORRISON

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–22:30, £9 - £10

Fred Morrison was born and raised near Glasgow, but it’s the celebrated Gaelic piping tradition of his father’s native South Uist, in the outer Hebrides, that forms the bedrock of his intensely expressive, uniquely adventurous style.

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £20 - £45

GLASS CAVES (BELLAROSE + INDIGO SIXTEEN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

SUPA & DA KRYPTONITES

STRAMASH, 23:59–03:00, FREE

Nine-piece funk, ska, reggae, soul, hip-hop, swing and grime band. TAKERS & USERS (TEAR UP + MURDABALL + HALF CHARGE + PANIC ATTAK)

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:00, £3 - £4

See in the weekend with a bit of punk.

COCO’S (TED DANCIN’ + NIKNAK NIK)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Palms resident NikNak Nik and newcomer Ted Dancin’ join forces to create an almighty, musical energy ball that will blast you through the weekend on a wave of deep felt joy.

Sat 13 May

BRUNCHEON! (S I N K + SARAH & LARA + KEY TO MUSIC)

OUT OF THE BLUE DRILL HALL, FROM 11:30, FREE

This month’s event will run in conjunction with the Drill Hall Arts Café’s 10th birthday celebrations. Expect top-notch live music, an extra special birthday menu, bubbly, cake and the usual fishy (and other) delicacies.

NEST OF VIPERS (RAIN MAY FALL + A RITUAL SPIRIT + TURBYNE)

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

Heavy metal at its best from killer up-and-coming bands. TRUE SOUL

WEE RED BAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Seven hours of quality soul. THE GIFT

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–01:00, £12

There’s a progressive Renaissance happening at the mo, and The Gift are said to be at its vanguard. OTHER THUMPERS #4 (HYSTERIC + DONALD DUST)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Other Thumpers welcomes Melbourne DJ, producer and Mothball Record owner Hysteric to Paradise Palms for a night of rare italo selections, early 80s house music experiments and high energy cuts. DESERT MOUNTAIN TRIBE (THE DURTY WURKS + VFLAMBDA)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

Rock’n’roll trio from London whose new EP is titled If you don’t know Can you don’t know Köln. Hah.

THE SKINNY

ALSTAR (JOSH TAYLOR + HARRI OAKLAND + BRONNIE + ROBYN REGAN + CAL TURNER + DANNY BOYLE) LA BELLE ANGELE, 14:00–18:00, £15 - £30

Alstar bring a pop collective to La Belle for an early afternoon Saturday show. TINKY DISCO & IRIE YOYO

STRAMASH, 23:59–03:00, FREE

A springtime shindig for Tinks and Tinkettes of the world.

KEVOCK CHOIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £6 - £14

Graham Lovett conducts a celebratory concert featuring Cantique de Jean Racine (Fauré), Ave Verum (Mozart), and choral arrangements of Battle Hymn of the Republic, Shenandoah, music from Schindlers List, songs from Les Misérables and Bohemian Rhapsody. AC RID

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 23:00, £4 - £6

Edinburgh punk-rock band with support from post-pronk unit Unstoppable Sweeties Show and rock’n’roll/punk blues duo Run Into The Night.

Sun 14 May C DUNCAN

STACY KENT

PUSHER

BARB WIRE DOLLS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £17.50 - £25

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 23:00, £3

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £10 - £12

The Grammy-laden vocalist returns with a new concert showcasing music from her latest album Tenderly.

Thu 18 May THE VIEW

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £18.50

The Dundee indie-pop scamps do their thing. Sold out.

HIGH RISE (CALLOUS CALIGULA + AT DAWN WE ATTACK)

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

Hardcore / metal to blow your mind. THE FUREYS

WEE RED BAR, FROM 19:00, £5 - £7

Edinburgh and London based five-piece combining elements of baroque-pop and traditional folk with menacing melodies.

Mon 15 May TOM CHAPLIN

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:00, £18.50 - £35

Keane’s frontman strides out with his solo debut, The Wave, a selfpenned album “revealing the real man behind the songs.” Deep. SOUNDHOUSE: HAT FITZ & CARA

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

Grizzly Australian guitar hero Hat Fitz and Irish-born Cara have toured the world together and gathered together a cupboard full of awards and trophies. See them live at Soundhouse.

Tue 16 May FOY VANCE

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £15

Bangor-based musician influenced by the southern states of America, touring with his latest album, The Wild Swan. NICOLA BENEDETTI

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £20 - £40

The acclaimed violinist returns to Scotland for an intimate show playing a new programme of classical works for violin and piano, alongside her duo partner, Alexei Grynyuk.

HER’S (ULTRAS + ANDREW R BURNS + THE TROPICANAS) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Weekly radio show presented by Palms resident and purveyor of passion and sensual positivity Jacuzzi General. Exploring music from around the world. ECHOIC (NASARI + GLASS SHIPS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

MORE THAN A BOOK LAUNCH

An evening of entertainment to celebrate the launch of Andrew C Ferguson’s crime thriller, The Wrong Box.

Fri 19 May KT TUNSTALL

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:00, £17.50 - £35

More singalong pop with substance, via Tunstall’s trademark earthy melodies and folky guitar, mixed to great pop effect with disco stomp and clever keyboards. STONE FOUNDATION

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £14

Soul, jazz and funk outfit from The Midlands led by Neil Sheasby and Neil Jones. SAMEDIA SHEBEEN

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Edinburgh tropical fun machine Samedia Shebeen continue their monthly residency at Paradise Palms.

STRAMASH, 19:00–03:00, FREE

DIY happy folk and makers-ofchange Yellow Movement Club stop by Stramash. RSNO AMADEUS LIVE

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £17 - £35

The RSNO chorus perform the Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award-winning period drama, ft. Tom Hulce as Mozart and F.Murral Abraham as the scathing Salieri.

Sat 20 May

FRANTIC CHANT ( PAL + MAD GERALD + DISSCHORD)

LEITH DEPOT, FROM 19:00, £5

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £18.50

The Dundee indie-pop scamps do their thing. Sold out. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: SONGWRITING COMPETITION

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–22:30, £12

A wee feast of brand new songs performed live – judged by a jury for first, second and third prize. The audience has a say, too, awarding a quaich to the most popular song.

May 2017

RAISING JUPITER

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £5

PERCY MAIN SOCIAL CLUB (DJ CHEERS) (PERCY MAIN)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

A monthly social with Percy Main and pals spinning shakin disco, balearic boogie, garish gospel and hermetic haus. NATHASSIA DEVINE (SAAL + ORIGINAL PRIMATE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Audaciously crafted live electronica with a seriously unique vocal style and stage show. JOEY RAMONE'S BIRTHDAY

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:00, £7

Joey Ramone’s Birthday Bash returns.

LA-based street rock unit, originally formed at The Ikarus artist commune on the island of Crete. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB: PETE MORTON

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £10

Pete sings from the heart, delivering songs that tell compelling stories and speak of the human condition from a very unique perspective.

Thu 25 May

PARADISE RADIO (JACUZZI GENERAL)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–23:00, FREE

Weekly radio show presented by Palms resident and purveyor of passion and sensual positivity Jacuzzi General. Exploring music from around the world.

Fri 26 May THE APPLEBEGGARS

THE CAVES, 20:00–01:00, £13

Collaborative songwriting project between Kenny Herbert and Rab Howat.

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

WAX AND LYRICAL (IONA LEE + NIKNAK NIK)

An evening of spoken word and music with your host Iona Lee and DJ NikNak Nik. BELAKO (BARSTOW BATS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

Belako are a group from the town of Munguía in Spain, where punk and post-punk’s relevance has never faded. All four members are barely over 21 but have made waves at home already, playing major festivals like Primavera and Low.

SUNDAY CEILIDH SESSION (NORMAN MCKAYS CEILIDH EXPERIENCE)

STRAMASH, 20:00–03:00, FREE

World famous Ceilidh band renowned for their rock style and high energy performances. BBC SSO: DAUGAARD CONDUCTS MAHLER 7

USHER HALL, FROM 15:00, £13 - £29

Thomas Dausgaard conducts the BBC SSO in an evening of sweeping symphonies and emotional journeys. SOUNDHOUSE: ADAM HOLMES

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

Mon 22 May

A return to edinburgh for this Irish rock outfit.

THE VIEW

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £11

YELLOW MOVEMENT

The Dutch metal titans bring a debut tour to Bannermans.

Wed 17 May Veteran punks rockers who recently opened for The Damned play a headline show.

DAMO SUZUKI

Adam Holmes crafts lyrics that resonate like old folk songs, set to melodies rooted in haunting slow airs.

HIEDEVOLK (OLD CORPSE ROAD + SELLSWORD)

Leith-based Label Errant Media’s bi-monthly gig night featuring acts from the capital and beyond.

THE MEDIA WHORES

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 20:00, £14 - £18

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:00, £12

Dream-pop outfit Her’s create 80s indie influenced songs with nods to Orange Juice and the capriciousness of Ariel Pink-ish pop.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Sun 21 May

PARADISE RADIO (JACUZZI GENERAL)

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:30, £5

STORM THE PALACE (DUOTONE + FAITH ELLIOT)

FLY throw caution to the wind (so to speak), hosting another Open Air affair.

Solo artist, collaborator and member of folk group Lau plays Queen’s Hall with a band featuring Louis Abbott and Euan Barton.

The longstanding folk-based outfit play a selection of classics spanning their 35+ year career.

PARADISE PALMS, 20:00–22:00, £5

Gender neutral speed dating where each date lasts the length of a song, spun by PP DJs. Ice breakers, lovegames and free cocktails with each ticket.

HOPETOUN HOUSE, FROM 12:00, £42.50 - £48.50

KRIS DREVER (LOUIS ABBOTT + EUAN BURTON)

Glasgow-based muso, composing e’er beautiful choral harmonies and acoustic instrumentation in his bedroom-studio set-up. HOT SINGLES 45 RPM SPEED DATING

FLY OPEN AIR FESTIVAL (BICEP+ MIDLAND + DENIS SULTA + HUNNEE + ARTWORK +LA LA)

THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £21

Quartet from Reading who bonded over their love for indie and altrock music with soulful pop, and create a new sound infused with electronic elements.

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

Promising “sub-bass excursions, shimmering techno, scuzzed out disco, icy grime instrumentals and everything in-between”, there’s legit no excuse for missing this night at Henry’s.

MATT ANDERSEN

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £10

101% PANTERA

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

As close to the Texans as you will ever see.

MT. DOUBT (LIFE MODEL + POSABLE ACTION FIGURES)

Mt. Doubt brings his dark, pop sound to Sleazy’s. JUNIORE

TEVIOT UNDERGROUND, FROM 19:00, £5

Paris-hailing band who fuse a classic Ye-Ye sound to a more contemporary French indie-pop style. NIKNAK (TRIASSIC TUSK)

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Nik and Nak return for their lastfridayofeverymonth take over. This month the ladies are joined by two of the finest vinyl collectors in the land, Triassic Tusk, one of Scotland’s freshest Record Labels. RSNO SIBELIUS FIVE

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £12.50 - £39

Thomas Søndergård leads mezzosoprano Jennifer Johnston and the RSNO in a performance of Sibelius, Mahler and Beethoven. JACKY SAND & THE SOUL

THE OUTHOUSE, FROM 19:30, £10

Shetland born singer songwriter Jack Sandison launches his debut EP The Dark Horse, accompanied by backing band The Soul. Line-up includes Matthew Bartlett, Owen Nicholson, Billy Kay, James Grant and acclaimed songwriter Daniel McGeever.

HIDDEN DOOR OPENING PARTY (ANNA MEREDITH) (BOSSY LOVE + BDY_PRTS + MARNIE)

OLD LEITH THEATRE, FROM 18:00, £14 - £16

He’s mad popular on YouTube, winner of a 2013 European Blues Award and Best Solo Performer at the Memphis Blues Challenge. Maybe worth seeing him do his thing IRL?

Hidden Door flings open its, er, doors for 2017.

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £7 - £9

QUIET AS A MOUSE (STAR ROVER + THE MINK STOLES)

SOUNDHOUSE: LAURA CORTESE & THE DANCE CARDS

Edinburgh based band Quiet as a Mouse formed in 2012, and their live reputation has quickly grown, having supported Hinds, The Orwells, Palma Violets, Coasts and The Crookes.

OF VIRTUE (GRIEVER)

Debut tour from USA metal/ hardcore outfit.

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

Continuing its weekly gig residency at Trav, Soundhouse welcomes Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards.

Tue 23 May IMELDA MAY

Sat 27 May DAMIEN DEMPSEY

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £18 - £20

Irish contemporary folk at La Belle. HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 19:00, £5

DIRT BOX DISCO (IN EVIL HOUR + BUZZBOMB + 13 + THE DREGGS)

BANNERMANS, FROM 20:00, £10

USHER HALL, FROM 19:00, £28.50 - £35

DBD are back to headline Bannermans after a huge tour with The Wildhearts.

MYSTIC BRAVES

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–22:00, £14 - £15

The sultry songstress and her rockabilly blues band play tracks from new LP, Life Love Flesh Blood. SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £9

A mirage of shimmering guitars, stadium-sized castanets and herculean drumming, Mystic Braves’ desert psychedelia is descending on Sneaky Pete’s.

Wed 24 May

EDINBURGH BLUES CLUB (ERIC GALES)

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £13

Edinburgh Blues Club is a Social Enterprise established to harness popular support for a regular blues events in Edinburgh to ensure that the city, bringing in a roster of quality touring blues acts.

BUDAPEST CAFE ORCHESTRA

The Budapest Café Orchestra play traditional folk and gypsyflavoured music from across the world. FINITRIBE

PARADISE PALMS, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Finitribe return for their montly residency with a secret special guest. UNION CANAL

WEE RED BAR, FROM 19:00, £5

Union Canal play Wee Reed following last month’s launch of EP Archipelago. SPEECH DEBELLE

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £12

In 2019, Speech Debelle kicked in the UK music industry’s backdoor waving her debut album Speech Therapy, which went on to win the Mercury.

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

EDINBURGH GILBERT & SULLIVAN SOCIETY THE QUEEN’S HALL, FROM 19:30, £9 - £14

Usher in the summer with the help of the principals, chorus and orchestra of the renowned EDGAS, conducted by its musical director, David Lyle.

SPRINGFEST (SISTER SLEDGE) (DJ SAMMY + REVEREND AND THE MAKERS + SHEREEN CUTKELVIN + JANET DEVLIN)

CORN EXCHANGE, 14:00–23:00, £49 - £185

Brand new music festival based at The Corn Exchange.

Dundee Music CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:30, £12

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £18

WRECKLESS ERIC

English rock’n’roll singer-songwriter, out and touring without his usual partner in crime, Amy Rigby.

THE SAFARI LOUNGE, FROM 20:00, £4 - £5

The master of organ improv treats a Dundee audience to a stint on the Caird Hall Harrison organ.

OLD LEITH THEATRE, FROM 18:00, £16 - £19

Second night at Hidden Door ft. Idlewild, Hamish Hawk, Manuela and more.

Sun 28 May JORDAN MACKAMPA

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Kinshasa-born, London-bred singer-songwriter. SUNDAY CLASSICS: MOSCOW PHILHARMONIC

USHER HALL, FROM 15:00, £12 - £32

Usher Hall’s trio of Russian ensembles is completed by the legendary Moscow Philharmonic and MD Yuri Simonov.

SPRINGFEST (ALL SAINTS) (PHIL RUDD + WHEATUS + PHOEBE D’ABO + LIA ROX) CORN EXCHANGE, 14:00–23:00, £49 - £185

Brand new music festival based at The Corn Exchange.

Mon 29 May COASTS

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £12

ORGAN CONCERT: RICHARD MICHAEL

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:00, £0 - £5

BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £16.75 - £18.75

International vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Andante re-imagine a big heap of hits for a Dundee audience.

Fri 05 May BREWBAND

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £10.75 - £16.75

CONROY’S BASEMENT, FROM 19:00, £7

Anti-folk lo-fi sounds from Argentina.

Sat 06 May

THE NIGHTINGALES (BLUE ORCHIDS + STOOR) BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, FROM 20:00, £10

The Bristolian-four piece play Bongo.

Post-punk outfit originally formed by former members of The Prefects.

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–23:00, £14 - £16

Thu 11 May

PINEGROVE

Pinegrove’s captivating blend of indie rock, pop and country elements is more vivid, fine-tuned, and addictive than ever before.

Tue 30 May HEATERS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

Combining a seemingly constant output of “reverb-coated, fuzz-studded, hard-driven garage psych” with a kaleidoscopic, hip-shaking live set, Heaters are quickly forging something new and exciting from 60s-inspired sounds.

Wed 31 May MO KENNEY

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 19:00, £8

The Canadian singer-songwriter plays a set of hits. ANASTACIA

GLASS CAVES (KASHMIR CROWS + ASTRAL SUNS)

BAR 15, FROM 19:30, £7

A blend of alternative rock and indie rock.

PRONTO MAMA (BE CHARLOTTE)

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 20:00, £6

Upbeat tunes from the Glasgow polyrhythmic indie-rockers/ super cool dudes. Support from Be Charlotte in an acoustic set.

Fri 12 May

JAMIE & SHOONY (COLOUR TRAP + YESTERDAYS)

Edinburgh indie-rock trio imbued with catchy riffs and an unstoppable live energy. BREEDING INDIUM

THE FIREFLY, FROM 20:00, FREE

A night of rock, metal and general sonic aggression.

TIM RIPPER OWENS

Sat 13 May

BANNERMANS, FROM 19:30, £12 - £15

The ex-Judas Priest front-man plays a selection of Priest and other classics. EDINBURGH FOLK CLUB (DAN MCKINNON)

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–22:30, £7 - £10

From the coffeehouses, pubs, and bars of his early beginnings in Atlantic Canada, Dan continues to convey his finely crafted songs to audiences through his yearly tours.

ALY & PHIL

Now embarking on their 31st year of working together, musical duo Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham bring their trad talents to Dundee. JAMES GRANT

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:30, £12

The prolific Scottish songwriter brings his lush musical craft to Clarks.

Fri 19 May EMERALD SUNDAY

BAR 15, FROM 19:00, TBC

Alternative rock, indie and pop. THE FUREYS

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £18.50 - £20

The longstanding folk-based outfit play a selection of classics spanning their 35+ year career.

Sat 20 May

THE IMAGINEERS (ELENA + THE RANKINES + THE BEATING STONES)

BAR 15, FROM 19:00, £7

Glasgow four-piece offering an intriguing blend of 50s rock’n’roll, Scottish twang and cinematic flair. STRATHSPEY AND REEL RALLY

THE GARDYNE THEATRE, FROM 19:00, £12.50

Night of trad and dance for you.

TINS FOR TUNES (BASEMENT PUNKS + AIRSTREAM FUTURES + FOREVER UNCLEAN + TERRAFRAID + ELK GANG + GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY + BIRD LAW + JOHN WHEELS + THE GROUND WE TREAD.) CONROY’S BASEMENT, FROM 16:00, £8

A foodbank fundraiser featuring a roster of bands spanning indie punk, power-pop, hardcore and more.

Sun 14 May DEREK RYAN

WHITEHALL THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £21

Country singer Derek Ryan warbles through old favourites, classic country and his own original material. SUNDAY SONG CLUB

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:30, FREE

A Tap o’ the Hill showcase gig full of foot-stompers, jigs, three-part harmonies and Celtic merriment.

UNHOLY CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

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

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

Another night of disco, love and magic. HIDE. (CITIZENN) (JUNIOR G + BLACKHILL)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £6 - £8

Hide enlist breakthrough DJ Citizenn (AKA Laurence Blake) for a night in the booth. WALK N SKANK: MC ISHU

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

Weekly club night focused on reggae, dancehall and bass music.

Fri 05 May OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

BAR 15, FROM 19:00, TBC

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style.

Thu 25 May

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez.

THE LUKA STATE

Four piece hailing from that notorious hotbed of rock’n’roll – Winsford. THE TOMMY BENTZ

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:30, £8

Western Wisconsin-based power trio who’ve been on the scene for over 15 years.

Wed 31 May

EASTERN EUROPE EXPRESS

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:30, £5 - £12

Polish-born Bartosz Woroch takes a Dundee crowd on a musical expedition across Eastern Europe. CHARLIE DORE

CLARKS ON LINDSAY STREET, FROM 19:30, £12

The award-winning Charlie Dore teams up with multi-instrumentalist Julian Littman of Steeleye Span for a night of eclectic, contemporary folk.

Glasgow Clubs

BAR 15, FROM 19:30, TBC

USHER HALL, FROM 18:30, £27.50 - £37.50

American singer-songwriter with a mighty pair of lungs on ‘er.

CAIRD HALL, FROM 19:00, £36 - £71

The Jim Kerr-led classic rock outfit take to the stage for an acclaimed acoustic show spanning all the hits.

Thu 18 May

Wed 03 May

HIDDEN DOOR (IDLEWILD) (HAMISH HAWK + DRAMA SCOUT))

SIMPLE MINDS

Tue 02 May

ARCADE TAPE MACHINE 001 (GUNGED + ALL I SEE IS AN EMPTY CIRCLE + CUTTINGS)

Sludge rock, cosmic noise, stoner post-rock.

Wed 17 May

Tue 02 May KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Indoor hot tubs, inflatables as far as the eye can see and a Twitter feed dedicated to validating your drunk-eyed existence. I AM (LOOSE JOINTS + BETA & KAPPA)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

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

Wed 03 May LIGHTSOUT

JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

GREEN VELVET

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £21

House and techno legend Green Velvet (aka Cajmere) takes to SWG3. MISSING PERSONS CLUB (DR. RUBINSTEIN + MPC RESIDENTS)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Missing Persons Club kick off their third night of 2017, bringing in up-and-comer Dr. Rubinstein, a DJ strictly on the radar and causing a musical ruckus all over the globe. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore. COLD SWEAT

STEREO, FROM 23:00, TBC

An interstellar expedition in pursuit of punk. LUNACY (ANTONI MAIOVVI + MONOLITH)

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Lunacy and Something Wicked team up to bring in two pretty rad guests into TBS. DRUGSTORE GLAMOUR: GLITTERBANG!

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

A Glitterbang takeover. Where the glittery diva anthems will be unleashed.

SENSU (GIEGLING) (KONSTANTIN + DJ DUSTIN)

SUB CLUB, FROM 23:00, £10 - £12

Giegling show Subbie a night of blazing, refreshing electronic music.

Sat 06 May NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Thu 04 May

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs.

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

House techno brilliance and disco funk. HIP HOP THURSDAYS

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R'n'B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Ross McMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey.

THE ROCK SHOP

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. SUPERMAX (DJ BILLY WOODS )

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £8

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

Listings

Glasgow Clubs HARSH TUG

KEEP FIT (ROMEO TAYLOR)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Hip-hop and rap brought to you by Notorious B.A.G and pals. LEZURE

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Lezure hand over the booth to their residents for the first time. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Garage by name, but not by musical nature. DJ Darren Donnelly carousels through chart, dance and classics, the Desperados bar is filled with funk, G2 keeps things urban and the Attic gets all indie on you. SUBCULTURE (THE BLACK MADONNA)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £12 - £15

Long-running house night with regulars Harri & Domenic, this time welcoming DJ/producer The Black Madonna for a set. Advance tix sold out, 100 on the door. 10 YEARS OF HUNTLEYS + PALMERS (ACTRESS + ROXYMORE + NOT WAVING + KONAKOV + DOLLKRAUT + VLADIMIR IVKOVIC + RIBEKA + ANDREW THOMSON) THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £12

Esteemed label Huntleys & Palmers present their series of birthday line-ups featuring their favourite live acts and Djs.

Sun 07 May SUNDAY SCIENCE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

As scientific as a club filled with tipsy Sunday night partiers can get, really. LED lights, glow in the dark wands, ‘Science’ cocktails and cannons. Unlikely to instigate any eureka moments, but it’ll do.

Mon 08 May BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

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

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Romeo Taylor gets on the ones at Sleazy’s for a midweek disco. WALK N SKANK: MUNGO’S FULL MOON PARTY

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

Weekly club night focused on reggae, dancehall and bass music.

Fri 12 May

RETURN TO MONO (SLAM)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

Monthly night from Soma Records taking in popular techno offerings of all hues, this month welcoming Slam for a set. LA CHEETAH CLUB (CALL SUPER + OBJEKT)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £10 - £12

Call Super and Objekt join La Cheetah for an all night b2b session. FORMAL INVOCATION

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Goth, post-punk, EBM, synth, coldwave, house, noise and disco. Aaaand breathe.

J-BONE (GENERAL LEVY + DJ CARTIER + SHOGUN + GALLUS ONE & BUSHIDO) THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £15

J-Bone continue their assault on 2017 with a true legend of the UK music scene, General Levy, who came to prominence in the mid 1990’s and remains one of the most in-demand MCs of his generation. MILK POP PUNK KARAOKE PARTY

O2 ABC, FROM 23:00, £4 - £5

Emo-punk rockers Wolves at Heart host pop punk karaoke at ABC2 with a set list that’ll send your nostalgia off the scale. HELENA HAUFF

THE BERKELEY SUITE 23:00 - 04:00, £6

The Golden Pudel resident does her badass thing.

Sat 13 May NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

LETS GO BACK...TO ACID HOUSE LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Residents Bosco and Rob Mason bring acid-house back to the dancefloor at La Cheets.

PRETTY UGLY VS. WE LOVE POP: MEL BLATT DJ SET

THE ADMIRAL, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

The Pretty Ugly DJs are team up with sister club We Love Pop for a one-off versus night. Girl band royalty Mel Blatt from All Saints will join them on the decks.

Sun 14 May SUNDAY SCIENCE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Mon 15 May BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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

Wed 10 May BREEZY AT SLEAZY'S

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Non-stop party house and techno stompers!

Thu 11 May HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R'n'B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

BASSMENT (BREEZY + GRAEME + REBECCA VASMANT + PETER FARLEY)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Breezy and Graeme B2B with Rebecca Vasmant and Peter Farley tearing up as special guests. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Ross McMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey. UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

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

Listings

DR NO’S SKA CLUB

KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £8

Wed 17 May

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Golden Teacher and Dick 50 DJs spinning outer-national sounds.

LOVE MUSIC

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. SINGLES NIGHT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Pop, disco and rock action at Sleazy’s Singles Night. WE SHOULD HANG OUT MORE

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £5

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

Manchester’s Kaluki Musik take a trip to Glasgow. I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

ULTIMATE BELTERS (DJ TEACHERZ)

JAX JONES

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

PRÍNCIPE POWER TRIO (DJ MARFOX + DJ NIGGA FOX + DJ-FIRMEZA) THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £6

The most unholy configuration of DJ greats – get your mind ready for a huge night.

Mon 22 May BARE MONDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

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

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 23 May KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

I AM (DANIEL AVERY)

Life and Death label founder DJ Tennis makes an overdue return to the arms of Sensu with support from German producer Moomin.

Phantasy’s Daniel Avery plays Subbie.

Sat 20 May

Come together and celebrate the end of the university calendar with feel-good tunes all night long.

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

SUNDAY SCIENCE

Sun 21 May

Duke Dumont collaborator Jax Jones arrives in SWG3, spinning the best of deep house.

NU SKOOL

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure. Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like.

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’.

SENSU (DJ TENNIS) (MOOMIN)

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

HAVEN

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

#TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £4

Hypnotic dance music with Polymer.

Wed 24 May

ELECTRIC SALSA (BAMBONOU + BISSET)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £7

Electric Salsa party with the man who kicked it all of for them, Bambonou making his long-awaited return to Glasgow.

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. LEFTFIELD

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £30

Dance your face off with a dose of prog house, electronica, and trip-hop at Barrowlands. WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue. FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore. HOT HOUSE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Cat Reilly spins the best in joyous party magic. COOKING (PALMS TRAX) (ANTAL)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £13

Palms Trax continues his residency in La Cheetah, this time inviting Rush Hour boss Antal. BIG FUN (IDAMOS + ILLYUS & BARRIENTOS )

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Clue’s in the name. Headed up by Idamos and Glasgow electronic music pair Illyus & Barrientos.

I AM (DJ DEEON) (BETA & KAPPA)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs. THE ROCK SHOP

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

ELEMENT

Ross McMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey. UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

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

FLORENTINO (DEEP BRANDY ALBUM CUTS)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £6

El mas romantico de los romanticos, Florentino makes his Glasgow debut at the Art School with support from Deep Brandy Album Cuts (Truants). WALK N SKANK: LEGAL SHOT (FR)

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

Weekly club night focused on reggae, dancehall and bass music.

Fri 19 May OLD SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Connoisseur’s mix of old-school jazz, funk and soul for your jivin’ pleasure.

CODE bring innovative DJ and producer Killawatt of the 47 label to La Cheetah for his Scottish debut. THE LANCE VANCE DANCE

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R'n'B and hip-hop.

I LOVE GARAGE

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Sultry disco dance anthems set to the beat of a new generation. THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

CLASSIC GRAND, 19:00–03:00, TBC

Rave dedicated to the sounds of 1994, mixed by legendary names from the era. HORSE MEAT DISCO + OOFT!

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £10

The Horse Meat Disco crew bring their usual mischief and disco mayhem, with support from OOFT!. FESTIVAL OF THE DEAD

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £23.50

Skull processions, DJs, live music and face paint all feature in this mini festival at the O2.

JELLY BABY

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. ELEMENT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Ross McMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey. UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

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

BREAKFAST CLUB (GERRY LYONS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Gerry Lyons delivers 80s and 90s pop and rock hits. SDC X BALTRA ( SILVER DOLLAR COLLECTIVE + CRAIGIE CARTEL)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Transatlantic lo-fi vibes courtesy of the New York producer and DJ. WALK N SKANK: EGOLESS (SCRUB A DUB)

THE BERKELEY SUITE, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

I LOVE GARAGE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, TBC

The esteemed dance producer stops by The Berkeley Suite.

Sun 28 May

ELECTRIC FROG & PRESSURE: RIVERSIDE FESTIVAL (ART DEPARTMENT + BECKY X NATALIE +DERRICK CARTER + DETROIT SWINDLE AND MORE) RIVERSIDE MUSEUM, FROM 15:00, £45 - £80

The Electric Frog and Pressure join forces to make merry on the banks of the River Clyde with an electronic all-dayer. SUNDAY SCIENCE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £4

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

Thu 25 May

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £10

Glasgow based Industrial and cold-wave cassette label Domestic Exile hosts an Art School-based residency based around label live acts and their personal circle of DJ peers.

Mon 29 May

NU SKOOL

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

DOMESTIC EXILE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

CODE (KILLAWATT + NICK MORROW)

STEREOTONE (LANGSIDE AVE & WHEELMAN)

Straight-up indie-rock from the Glasgow-based jangle-merchants.

UNHOLY

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

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

Sat 27 May

Maxed out messy vibes; trashy, tacky, glamorous and ridiculous. Oh, and fun, too. Very fun.

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

Ross McMillan plays chart, house and anthems with giveaways, bouncy castles and, most importantly, air hockey.

Bring in the Bank Hol cheer with three hours of “revolutionary, hip-thrusting, moving, grooving and grinding tunes”.

DRUGSTORE GLAMOUR’S 1ST BIRTHDAY

ONE GOOD REASON

ELEMENT THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

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

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 19:00, TBC

JELLY BABY

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, TBC

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 21:00, £19.50 - £24.50

YELLOW DOOR

THE BERKELEY SUITE, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

OLD SKOOL

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £6

KALUKI ( EATS EVERYTHING + RICHY AHMED + PIRATE COPY + PETE ZORBA + JAMIE ROY + VILMOS & RAESIDE)

Dance, chart and remixes in the main hall with Craig Guild, while DJ Nicola Walker keeps things nostalgic in G2 with flashback bangers galore.

THE ART SCHOOL, FROM 23:00, £7

Walk n Skank present an epic Art School take over; expect plenty of reggae and dancehall as well as big party beats and lots of glitter.

Fri 26 May

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R'n'B and hip-hop.

The WSHOM crew chuck another stomper with residents supplying the disco vibes from start to finish.

A night of of dance music and live art at which DJ Yves & Mahalia play drum fantasies across genres from Belgian new beat to Detroit techno, post punk to ballroom.

FRESH BEAT

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

WALK N SKANK: TRIBAL BASS (MUNGOS HI FI + EVA LAZARUS + SAMSON SOUNDS + MESSENGER SOUND SYSTEM + AFRIKAN SIMBA)

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

Langside Ave. aka Wheelman, Archie Lamont and Fergus Brown play b2b2b at La Cheetah, all night long for the very first time.

RHYTHM MACHINE (DJ YVES + MAHALIA )

The Partial residents tear it up all night long.

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £13 - £19

Thu 18 May

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

PARTIAL

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £6

Tue 16 May

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, FROM 23:00, £5 - £6

Baz and Dave spin out some belters under a strictly vinyl-only policy.

WTF FRIDAYS

SHED, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £6

Student-friendly Friday night party, playing (as one might expect) cheesy classics of every hue.

No bullshit, no compromise – Suzie Rodden melts the ego and burns the flag of inhibitions.

NOT MOVING: OUTER LIMITS MIND EXPANSION

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

BURN MONDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

KILLER KITSCH

JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Tue 09 May BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Screamy, shouty, post-hardcore madness to help you shake off a week of stress in true punk style.

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

THE ROCK SHOP

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

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

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

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Clubber’s favourite of indie classics and baggy greats, from Primal Scream and the like.

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

Or Caturdays, if you will. Two levels of the loudest, maddest music the DJs can muster; metal, rock and alt on floor one, and punky screamo upstairs.

BURN MONDAYS

PROPAGANDA O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic R'n'B and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

ELECTRIC FROG & PRESSURE: RIVERSIDE FESTIVAL (SVEN VÄTH + NINA KRAVIZ + RØDHÅD + ALAN FITZPATRICK B2B SLAM + SURGEON AND MORE) RIVERSIDE MUSEUM, FROM 15:00, £45 - £80

The Electric Frog and Pressure join forces to make merry on the banks of the River Clyde with an electronic all-dayer. EZUP (ATHENS OF THE NORTH)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £6

The immense reissue label AOTN will be joins the Ezup crew in the La Cheetah basement. Expect ridiculously rare disco, painfully funky soul and a healthy dose of Ezup’s usual supply. LEFTFIELD

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £30

Dance your face off with a dose of prog house, electronica, and trip-hop at Barrowlands.

BARE MONDAYS

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

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 30 May KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005’. #TAG TUESDAYS

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

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

Wed 31 May HUNTLEYS + PALMERS

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

H+P’s Andrew and pals play tunes across the board at Sleazy’s. PALA (ALEX SMOKE)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Forward-thinking underground house and techno club night.

Edinburgh Clubs Tue 02 May TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £6

Since May 2012 Hector’s House, known affectionately to many simply as Hector’s, has become Edinburgh’s one of Edinburgh’s fave midweek shindigs. House, disco, techno, garage, hip-hop, soul, funk across three rooms.

Wed 03 May COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + GUISED)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, 2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

Thu 04 May

JUICE (KA MI + DAN + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R'n'B and urban in the back room. PLAYROOM (MARTIN VALENTINE)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Slow jams, edits, Afro, disco, house played by the one and only Martin Valentine. ASAZI SPACE FUNK EXPLOSION

WHISTLEBINKIES EDINBURGH, 23:59–03:00, FREE

Rabble-rousing vocals, traditional percussion spliced with dubbed out keys and skanking guitar FX.

Fri 05 May

DOMINO CLUB (P-STYLZ)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, FREE

Weekly institution Domino Club is back, with DJ P-Stylz at the helm of the mighty ship every Friday evening. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. HEADSET

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £7

Fledgling night mixed up by a selection of Edinburgh DJs, including the chaps behind the Witness, Coalition and Big ‘n’ Bashy nights. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

WICKED DISCOURSE (DJ IVAN KUTZ)

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £5 - £7

A techno and house party at The Wee Reddie. I AM: BETA, KAPPA & GREENMAN

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Forward thinking electronic music for the masses.

Sat 06 May TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. SOULSVILLE

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Raw, high energy R'n'B at Bongo.

THE BOROUGH COLLECTIVE: FIND YOUR RHYTHM (CRAIG SMITH & THE REVENGE)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

A monthly takeover from house specialists Craig Smith and The Revenge.

ELBOW: THE COWGATE CARNIVAL (GARETH SOMMERVILLE) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £10

Carnival fancy dress party from the Hector’s House team.

Weekly club night focused on reggae, dancehall and bass music.

THE SKINNY

Edinburgh Clubs JACKHAMMER (DJ FUNK + GARY BECK)

ONLOOP: MOXIE (ALEXANDER NUT + NICK STEWART)

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + GUISED)

THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £8

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Jackhammer brings DJ Funk and Gary Beck to Edinburgh for a belter. MICHAEL JACKSON DISCO

LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £7

The Late Nite Fever crew take over La Belle to spin classics from the King of Pop all night long.

MY MENTAL LIFE (FLOATING BOY + LOU THOMAS + MING MONG + PARKSY + SHONA HARDIE + TRENDY WENDY) STUDIO 24, FROM 23:00, £5

A fundraiser for the UK Mental Health Foundation featuring a night of entertainment from much-loved Edinburgh DJs and artists.

Sun 07 May

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe & Friends THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday.

Mon 08 May MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R'n'B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly house grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Tue 09 May TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £6

Wed 10 May COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

NTS Radio star Moxie is joined by Eglo Records boss Alexander Nut and Sneaky Pete’s boss Nick Stewart.

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £12.50

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

KAPITAL (ADRIATIQUE)

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R'n'B and urban in the back room.

Sat 13 May

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £5

TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. MESSENGER

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Conscious roots and dub reggae rockin’ from the usual beefy Messenger Sound System. ELECTRO CYCLE (HI TECH JOHN + FOXXY DJ)

THE VILLAGE, 20:00–01:00, FREE

Chicago, deep and funky house music old and new with resident DJs Foxxy DJ and Hi Tech John. TEESH: ALL YOU CAN EAT MIND BUFFET (DJ CHEERS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Afro, cosmic disco, soul, funk, boogie, classics, house, hip-hop, techno, arps, clicks, warm weirdness, subtle highs and occasional strandbar.

THE BOROUGH COLLECTIVE: TOUCHE (HUGGY & MARCO CAPOZZELLA) CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R'n'B and urban in the back room. PLAYROOM (MARTIN VALENTINE)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Slow jams, edits, Afro, disco, house played by the one and only Martin Valentine.

Fri 12 May

DOMINO CLUB (P-STYLZ)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, FREE

Weekly institution Domino Club is back, with DJ P-Stylz at the helm of the mighty ship every Friday evening. FLY CLUB (CHAOS IN THE CBD)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. SUBSTANCE

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

House, techno and electro club taking on awesome guest selectors every once in a while. XOXO

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

The fledgling queer night returns to the Wee Red.

May 2017

PLAYROOM (MARTIN VALENTINE)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Slow jams, edits, Afro, disco, house played by the one and only Martin Valentine. JUICE: SAMO (KA MI + DAN + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Responsible for multiple standout L.I.E.S. releases, Samo’s tweaked out edits and remixes have also been issued by Public Possession, Macadam Mambo and Klasse Wrecks.

Fri 19 May

DOMINO CLUB (P-STYLZ)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, FREE

Weekly institution Domino Club is back, with DJ P-Stylz at the helm of the mighty ship every Friday evening. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

THE CAVES, 22:00–03:00, £10

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £8

XXL (MOTO BLANCO)

The Mark Ames-founded London gay night makes a return trip Glasgow-way.

BASS HOPPER (DJ RECYPHER + FLY T + BFDB + BLIND DIGITAL & CONSCIOUS ROUTE + STEG G + ZESH + G MO) STUDIO 24, FROM 22:00, £5

Bring your bass face, it’s gonna be a heavy night of hip-hop, grime, bassline and more.

Sun 14 May

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe & Friends

JUICE (KA MI + DAN + DECLAN)

Deep, soulful house and disco at Bongo’s midweeker Ritual.

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thu 11 May

RITUAL

Monthly celebration of house and disco by some of Edinburgh’s finest and most experienced Djs.

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B)

XL Recordings artist Sam hails from Stirling and is fast becoming the new Hud Mo.

HI-SOCIETY

Kapital enlist Zurich-based duo Adrian Shala and Adrian Schweizer for a night of Detroit techno and house.

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS (SAM GELLAITRY) (FAULT LINES + SKILLIS)

Thu 18 May

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday.

Mon 15 May MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R'n'B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly house grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Tue 16 May

ELECTRIKAL: WALL OF BASS

Wall Of Bass return to Electrikal, moving the DJ booth to the dancefloor to create a hot-bed of beats and bass. Expect house, bassline, grime and jungle. THE BOROUGH COLLECTIVE PRESENTS: (REBEL WALTZ)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Buy-on-sight discogs-ruining reissues label Athens of the North goes real world, revealing their top picks from their extensive vinyl collections. Deep soulful funk and disco, rare Brazilian, 80s boogie, with a sprinkle of house.

ECA SUMMER REVEL (BUGATTI GALGO + BABA + MACHINE DJS + GLASSMASTERER + DJ FEMME FRESH + SYCOPHANTASY APHID + TWIN PLEASUREDOME DJS) WEE RED BAR, FROM 22:00, £10 - £15

The infamous Annual Summer Revel returns to the Wee Red – this time, the theme is HAIR. That’s right. SHAPEWORK (TESSELA)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £5 - £10

Techno beats and polyrhythmic grooves are order of the night at Shapework tonight. TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

THE EGG

A salad of genres: 60s garage and soul plus 70s punk and new wave, peppered with psych and indie for good measure.

Wed 17 May

Funk, soul, beats and bumps from the Mumbo Jumbo regulars and pals.

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

Fractal Club and Texture team up to bring one of yet another techno talent to The Mash House. CRÈME FRESH (FLØRIST)

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £4 - £7

Another Edinburgh debut at The Mash House, this time All Caps talent Flørist.

Sun 21 May

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe & Friends THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday.

Mon 22 May MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R'n'B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. MINDSET (GARETH SOMMERVILLE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £3

Strictly house grooves from Edinburgh house DJ don Gareth Sommerville.

Tue 23 May TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £6

Wed 24 May COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

HECTOR’S HOUSE

THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £8 - £12

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

ATHENS OF THE NORTH DISCO CLUB (FRYER + GARETH SOMMERVILLE + LEL PALFREY)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern.

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £6

FRACTAL X TEXTURE (COSMIN TRG + STEPHEN BROWN)

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

Sat 20 May

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £7

Fresh from his releases on Sweden’s legendary Börft and his own Sex Tags Mania label, Norwegian DJ Sotofett is the founder of the Sex Tags Mania & Amfibia imprints alongside his brother, and previous Wasabi Disco guest DJ Fett Burger.

Monthly celebration of house and disco by some of Edinburgh’s finest and most experienced Djs.

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

TRASH

WASABI DISCO (DJ SOTOFETT) (KRIS WASABI)

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £3 - £5

MUMBO JUMBO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £7

BUBBLEGUM

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + GUISED)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Thu 25 May

JUICE (KA MI + DAN + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Dan, Declan and Kami make weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R'n'B and urban in the back room. PLAYROOM (MARTIN VALENTINE)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Slow jams, edits, Afro, disco, house played by the one and only Martin Valentine.

Fri 26 May

DOMINO CLUB (P-STYLZ)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, FREE

Weekly institution Domino Club is back, with DJ P-Stylz at the helm of the mighty ship every Friday evening. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. HEY QT!

WEE RED BAR, FROM 22:30, £3 - £5

Sweaty dance disco for queer folk and their pals. FLIP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, £0 - £3

Yer all-new Friday at Hive. Cheap entry, inevitably danceable, and novelty-stuffed. Perrrfect.

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

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

LATMUN LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

Head to LBA for the Evince launch party, welcoming house/techhouse act Latmun to the capital for his Scottish debut.

Sat 27 May TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. RIDE (LAUREL HALLO + CHECKITA BANANA)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Nineties and noughties hip-hop and R'n'B, right up to current jams. You should go, shorty, if it’s your birthday. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, R'n'B and urban in the back room.

THE BOROUGH COLLECTIVE: CRASH GOES LOVE (GARETH SOMMERVILLE & CUNNIE) CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

The sexy, soulful, and disco-fuelled side of The Borough Collective. BIG ‘N’ BASHY (FLIRTA D + D.O.K)

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Mighty mix of reggae, grime, dubstep and jungle played by inimitable residents Brother Most Righteous, Skillis, Era and Deburgh. BASSLINE FOR BEARS

WEE RED BAR, FROM 23:00, £6

Charity fundraiser for Animals Asia with DJs Gash, Swedger, Wit?! and Metragnome.

Sun 28 May

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe & Friends THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle on a Sunday.

PULSE X JACKHAMMER (DJ BONE) (DARRELL HARDING + WOLFJAZZ + KEYTE + ELLIOT DEMPSTER + CUBA + ALEX HARRIS + CAMMY MACPHAIL) THE MASH HOUSE, FROM 23:00, £10

Techno guru DJ Bone smashes into The Mash House on a heaving bill of talent.

Mon 29 May MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, R'n'B and chart classics, with requests in the back room. GEORGE FITZGERALD

SNEAKY PETE’S, 22:00–03:00, £10 - £12

Deep house maestro George steps steps off the big-stage bandwagon to play this very intimate show. 30 tickets reserved for the door. LIONOIL (SOICHI TERADA) (J. G. WILKES (OPTIMO) + DAVID BARBAROSSA)

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

90s Japanese royalty Soichi Terada makes an Edinburgh debut at Lionoil.

Tue 30 May TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

Wed 31 May

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

Dundee Clubs

Theatre

Fri 05 May

Citizens Theatre

HEADWAY 13TH BIRTHDAY (BEN SIMS) (ANDY BARTON + GRAEME BINNIE + NEIL CLARK)

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £12 - £15

The Headway crew welcome Techno stalwart Ben Sims for a birthday bash.

Sat 06 May ALL GOOD

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:00, £5 - £7

All Good get stuck into a residents’ night with a little help from Italian Stallion Rondevu. THE NEXT CHAPTER OF KAGE

CONROY’S BASEMENT, FROM 23:30, £5

Departed club Kage is resurrected at Conroy’s Basement.

SCHERZO FOR PIANO AND STICK

26-27 MAY, 7:30PM, £10.50 - £15

Mia Theil Have and composer Nikola Kodjabashia perform a duologue created as an homage to Italian cartoonist Osvaldo Cavandoli’s celebrated 1970’s cartoon series, La Linea. TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT

3-20 MAY, 7:30PM, £12.50 - £22.50

Giles Havergal’s celebrated stage adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel about life on the road with dahlia enthusiast Henry Pulling and Aunt Augusta.

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £5 - £7

Hilltown Disco’s Ansata rips it up at JCJ.

Fri 19 May

Kneehigh Theatre’s furiously acclaimed interpretation of the traditional Celtic romantic fairytale, reimagined and performed everywhere from Cornish castles to NYC warehouses. PLEASURE AND PAIN

31 MAY-3 JUN, 7:30PM, £5 - £13.50

An evening with French writer Guy de Maupassant, charting his tragic journey from aspiring writer into the darkness of drug addiction and madness.

MUNGO’S HI FI: DEGREE SHOW SPECIAL (EVA LAZARUS)

Platform

READING ROOMS, FROM 21:30, £7

12-17 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Heavyweight selections from Mungo’s Soundsystem in honour of official degree show party night, helped along by Eva Lazarus.

Sun 21 May

RECKLESS KETTLE: THE DEGREE SHOW MELTDOWN

READING ROOMS, 16:00–02:30, £0 - £5

Party-throwers Reckless Kettle sort Dundee’s frazzled art student populus with a degree show afterparty.

Glasgow Theatre CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art ST MUNGO’S MIRRORBALL POETRY SHOWCASE

4 MAY, 7:00PM, £5

An evening of poetry showcasing new books from Polly Atkin, Alan Riach and Magi Gibson, and a posthumous collection from Elizabeth Burns. RAFT/UWS PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE

17 MAY, 7:30PM, £3 - £5

New and classic plays, devised performance and physical theatre in a selection of vibrant new work from performers, directors and writers at the start of their career. RAFT/UWS CONTEMPORARY SCREEN ACTING SHOWCASE

17 MAY, 4:00PM, £3 - £5

A series of captivating contemporary screen performances, showcasing new work from screen actors, editors, directors and writers. THAT HAPPY BREED: BREXIT OPERA

18 MAY, 8:00PM, £7 - £9

The Hidden Noise presents a science-fiction vision of Britain: an island in the moon, written by DW Robertson and based on the fortunes of a new Britain, cut adrift from the rest of the world. STORYTELLING FOR MENTAL WELLBEING

29 MAY, 7:15PM, £5 - £6

Join Real Talk for a powerful evening of storytelling about experiences of mental ill health. Real people share real stories while we hold space to speak, listen, connect and be authentic.

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

30 MAY-3 JUN, 7:30PM, £17 - £42.90

Tramway

30 MAY-3 JUN, 7:30PM, £12.50 - £22.50

JUTE CITY JAM (ANSATA) (MAX GALLOWAY + CALVIN CRICHTON + RONAN BAXTER)

Stuart Stratford conducts soloists Neal Cooper, Stephen Gadd and Karen Slack in a performance of Puccini’s first stage work, Le Villi.

TRISTIAN & YSEULT

TABLE

READING ROOMS, FROM 22:30, £5

Sat 13 May

THE SUNDAY SERIES: OPERA IN CONCERT - LE VILLI

23 MAY, 3:00PM, £14 - £28

20-24 MAY, 7:30PM, £5 - £13.50

RCS perform Tanya Ronder’s tale of identity, belonging and one very special piece of furniture.

A fundraiser for Tafi Cultural Institute, Ghana ft. the talents of General Ludd and duo Richard McMaster and Tom Marshallsay.

Director Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe set Puccini’s La bohème within the context of Paris’s fleamarkets.

Adaptation of the classic story of two couples on the cusp of a long-working relationship, who at the end of a night of pleasantries descend into a devilish cat and mouse game of wits.

Thu 11 May

RECKLESS KETTLE X AUTONOMOUS AFRICA (GENERAL LUDD)

SCOTTISH OPERA: LA BOHÈME 9 MAY-10 JUN, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

NIGHT LIGHT

A poignant and poetic show for the very young about a night-time journey into a magical universe.

SWG3 Glasgow

LUCY SUGGATE AND JAMES HOLDEN - LISTEN DEEP AND DANCE FREE 2 MAY, 7:30PM, £7 - £12

Double bill of experimental music and dance as part of DIG Festival.

Shed

FOLLOW THROUGH

18-20 MAY, 7:30PM, £10 - £12

Theatre at Shed forming part of Southside Fringe Festival.

SSE Hydro

PROFESSOR BRIAN COX LIVE

OUT OF THIS WORLD

19-24 MAY, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Acclaimed writer and director Mark Murphy tells the tale of one woman’s descent into a medically induced coma through aerial choreography, text and explosive SFX. MARGRÉT SARA GUÐJÓNSDÓTTIR: SPOTTED

3-4 MAY, 6:30PM, £7 - £9

Part of DIG Festival.

MEG STUART & TIM ETCHELLS: SHOWN AND TOLD

3-4 MAY, 6:30PM, £7 - £9

Choreographer and dancer Meg Stuart and writer and performance maker Tim Etchells explore the relationship between movement, image and performing bodies. SCOTTISH DANCE THEATRE: VELVET PETAL

6-7 MAY, 8:00PM, £9 - £12

A performance inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe, set to a dance-punk score including LCD Soundsystem, James Holden and Fourtet. Part of DIG Festival. ULTIMATE DANCER AND ROBBIE THOMSON: YAYAYA AYAYAY

6-7 MAY, 6:45PM, £7 - £9

A ‘neo-ancient display’ of natural high-inducing lights, sounds and trippy ritual dances. Part of DIG Festival. FRAUKE REQUARDT: MOTHERS/ ELEANOR SIKORSKI

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £30 - £40

9-10 MAY, 8:00PM, £9 - £12

A journey through time and space, delving into ‘high science’ with good old Brian Cox.

Double bill featuring the World Premiere of Requardt’s Mothers. Part of DIG Festival.

The Admiral

9-10 MAY, 7:00PM, £6 - £8

ENTERTEASEMENT: COMEDY! MAGIC! BURLESQUE!

13 MAY, 7:20PM, £14

Live stand-up, magic and burlesque dancing combined in one heady whole.

The King’s Theatre GREASE

9-20 MAY, 8:30PM, £17 - £54

Frothy musical favourite featuring leather clad limbs and hopelessly devoted highschoolers. MOTOWN’S GREATEST HITS: HOW SWEET IT IS

25 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Live show taking you through all of the favourite Motown hits, including tunes from Lionel Richie, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson Five and more. SHIRLEY VALENTINE

2 MAY-3 JUN, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Jodie Prenger stars in Willy Russell’s heart-warming tale of a Liverpudlian housewife in a rut and her life-changing trip to Greece.

Theatre Royal FANTASTIC MR FOX

15-27 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Mr Fox is smart, clever and rather fantastic, but he doesn’t realise how determined the farmers are to get revenge. Can he hatch a plan to save his family and friends? BOWIE EXPERIENCE

30 MAR-28 MAY, TIMES VARY, £27.50

SKYE REYNOLDS & JO FONG: PITCH

A new solo work performed by dance artist, performance-maker and educator Skye Reynolds. Part of DIG Festival. SAFFY SETOHY WITH JAN HENDRICKSE: HIDDEN ARCHITECTURES

9-10 MAY, 7:30PM, £9 - £12

An immersive performance installation and sensory experience featuring an original live score composed for dancers, prepared electric guitars, and electronics. CHARLOTTE SPENCER PROJECTS: IS THIS A WASTE LAND?

12-14 MAY, TIMES VARY, £7 - £9

A performance through headphones for a disused urban space. Part of DIG Festival; takes place at Larkfield bus depot. JOAN CLEVILLÉ DANCE: THE NORTH

12-13 MAY, 8:00PM, £9 - £12

A bleak but whimsical story about a young man searching for meaning. Part of DIG Festival. SIMONE KENYON: INTO THE MOUNTAIN

12-13 MAY, 6:30PM, £7 - £9

A solo performance uncovering the subtle shifts and developing perceptions of a place. Investigating what elements of the mountain the walker brings back upon her return. Part of DIG Festival. OCEANALLOVER IN ASSOCIATION WITH FERAL: SEA HAMES

12-13 MAY, 6:00PM, FREE

Street performance project Oceanallover bring their visceral physical theatre work to Neilston Wind Farm. Part of DIG Festival.

Celebrating the music of the world’s greatest icon.

Listings

Tron Theatre

DAPHNE ORAM’S WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOUND

9-24 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Live-scored by electronic sound artist Anneke Kampman, Daphne Oram’s Wonderful World of Sound is a journey through the amazing life of one of the great, unsung composers of the twentieth century. MUSIC IS TORTURE

18-27 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Jake owns a recording studio. He’s been recording the same album with the same band for the past fifteen years. Everyone else gets the breaks. But Jake still has a ticket in the music industry lottery. He might just have to make a few... compromises. OFF KILTER

10-13 MAY, 8:00PM, £7.50 - £10

REMEMBERING FRED

THE DOLLS ABROAD

MOBILE

21-23 MAY, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

14 MAY, 6:00PM, £25

22-24 MAY, 7:30PM, £8 - £10

Strictly pair Aljaz and Janette pay tribute to Fred Astaire with a night of song and dance. SCOTTISH OPERA: LA BOHÈME

9 MAY-10 JUN, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Director Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe set Puccini’s La bohème within the context of Paris’s fleamarkets.

King’s Theatre Edinburgh

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

23-27 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Adaptation of the classic story of two couples on the cusp of a long-working relationship, who at the end of a night of pleasantries descend into a devilish cat and mouse game of wits. THE MIKADO

The visual artist behind international sell-out Butterfly, Ramesh Meyyappan, returns with a new darkly comedic physical theatre production, incorporating illusions and storytelling.

9-13 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

14 MAY, 2:00PM, £7.50

Jodie Prenger stars in Willy Russell’s heart-warming tale of a Liverpudlian housewife in a rut and her life-changing trip to Greece.

FOUR GENERATIONS POETRY SLAM

Live poetry competition between teams of four different age groups.

GLASGOW GLAM ROCK DIALOGUES: 5-1966 17 MAY, 7:30PM, £5

In their fifth Glam Rock dialogue David Archibald and Carl Lavery channel the spirits of Marc Bolan and Suzi Quatro to approach pressing aesthetic and political concerns. CADAVER POLICE IN THE ELECTROCUTION AFTERLIFE

24 MAY, 8:30PM, £5

A fictional band is confined to a taxi after their tour bus breaks down. Their tour continues regardless (along with the odd dose of recreational electrocution). COME TO WHERE I’M FROM: GLASGOW

25 MAY, 7:30PM, £5

One of several plays penned and performed by playwrights who have returned to their home towns to create plays about the places that shaped them. HORSE IN CAREFUL

26-27 MAY, 7:45PM, £12 - £16

Horse McDonald takes us on a journey from wearing two-tone velvet loons to being one of Scotland’s most celebrated singers, and through those times when she had to be careful. MAYFESTO SONG PARTY

31 MAY, 8:00PM, £5

A choral night covering everything from Chaka Khan to Camera Obscura.

One of the most famous and celebrated Gilbert and Sullivan operattas, re-imagined with an all male cast. SHIRLEY VALENTINE

2 MAY-3 JUN, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

FANTASTIC MR FOX

15-27 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Mr Fox is smart, clever and rather fantastic, but he doesn’t realise how determined the farmers are to get revenge. Can he hatch a plan to save his family and friends? RUNNING WILD

2-6 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Michael Morpurgo’s novel is brought to the stage, telling the tale of young Lilly, who flees a tsunami in Indonesia and finds herself on the back of an elephant, en route to the depths of the jungle. WAR IN AMERICA

24-27 MAY, 7:30PM, £10 - £20

Jo Clifford’s contemporary play, intended to be the second piece in the Dashshara series but shunned twenty years ago when it was deemed too offensive to be performed. Note the show takes place at found venue Former Royal High School, Regent Road.

Potterrow HEROINE

1-2 MAY, TIMES VARY, £15

Heroine is a human story of Danna Davis (her nom de guerre), a living survivor of military sexual trauma. Her story is both light and dark, and dives in to what healing and forgiveness really mean.

Royal Lyceum Theatre

A new comedy starring Two Doors Down’s Louise McCarthy and River City’s Gayle Telfer Stevens as ‘The Dolls’, who’re embarking on the trip of a lifetime... to Greece.

Traverse Theatre

MY COUNTRY: A WORK IN PROGRESS

11-13 MAY, 7:30PM, £8.50 - £16.50

Following the EU Ref, National Theatre interviewed people around the country. Using exact words taken from the interviews, My Country puts those conversations centre stage. A collaboration between Rufus Norris, Director of the NT and Carol Ann Duffy. IMAGINATE: EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL

30 MAY-4 JUN, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY

Imaginate fest hits The Trav, bringing a nine day extravaganza of performance, live music and drop-in activities designed for 0-12 year olds. PPP: SAFE PLACE

2-6 MAY, TIMES VARY, £12.50

In the middle of the night a young woman arrives at Martine’s door looking for shelter. Martine, a lifelong feminist and writer, invites the woman into her comfortable spacious home. What follows challenges all Martine’s beliefs. SCORCH

11-13 MAY, 8:00PM, £8.50 - £16.50

A story of first love through the eyes of a gender-curious teen, Scorch examines how the human story often gets lost amidst the headlines. PASS OUT 2017

17-18 MAY, 7:30PM, £8.50 - £12.50

Edinburgh College’s Performing Arts Studio Scotland returns to the Traverse with their unique take on showcase performances for graduate actors. DAPHNE ORAM’S WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOUND

9-24 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

18-27 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

CHARLIE SONATA

Edinburgh Theatre

1-13 MAY, TIMES VARY, £10 - £30.50

Tender and funny play by Douglas Maxwell, taking in reconciliation, redemption and a quest to save a young girl in a coma. GLORY ON EARTH

20 MAY-10 JUN, 7:30PM, £15.50 - £30.50

Assembly Roxy THE LADYKILLERS

10-13 MAY, 7:30PM, TBC

When criminal mastermind Professor Marcus and a motley crew of misfits pose as amateur musicians to rent rooms from the eccentric Mrs. Wilberforce, the police have no idea that they’re planning a bank robbery. Mrs. Wilberforce is not so easily deceived.

Festival Theatre BREAKIN’ CONVENTION

5-6 MAY, 7:30PM, £16.50

Live hip-hop convention of B-Boys, live DJs, workshops and graffiti artists, spilling out into the theatre’s foyer. OUT OF THIS WORLD

19-24 MAY, 7:30PM, PRICES VARY

Acclaimed writer and director Mark Murphy tells the tale of one woman’s descent into a medically induced coma through aerial choreography, text and explosive SFX. THE RED SHOES

9-13 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

The world premiere of Matthew Bourne’s magical new adaptation of the iconic Powell and Pressburger film, where life imitates art with fateful consequences. Matinees available.

Listings

Multi-award winning Scottish playwright Linda McLean’s tale of the fight for power between Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and protestant reformer John Knox.

The Bongo Club FLINT & PITCH #6

19 MAY, 7:00PM – 10:00PM, £6

Flint & Pitch rustle up another beauteous eve of poetry and music for your delectation. Hosted by Jenny Lindsay and Cameron Foster.

The Edinburgh Playhouse PROFESSOR BRIAN COX LIVE

7 MAY, FROM 20:00, £31.25 - £41.25

A journey through time and space, delving into ‘high science’ with good old Brian Cox. DREAMBOATS AND PETTICOATS

8-13 MAY, 7:30PM, £17.90 - £41.40

Dundee Theatre Caird Hall SIZZLIN’ SOUL

27 MAY, 8:00PM, £12.50 - £16

The Got Soul choir are joined by special guest singer, MC and producer Kevin Mark Trail for a show in Dundee.

Dundee Rep CARTOONOPOLIS

16 MAY-21 JUN, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Based on a true story, this theatrical fantasy is a tale of living with severe autism, as a family and an individual. NIGHT LIGHT

12-17 MAY, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

A poignant and poetic show for the very young about a night-time journey into a magical universe.

NATIONAL DANCE COMPANY WALES: PROFUNDIS/THE GREEN HOUSE

13 MAY, 8:00PM, £9 - £18

65s-set musical singalong which finds two young musicians competing for the love of a certain lady. Matinee performances also available.

A double bill of work from National Dance Company Wales, featuring playful work Profundis and Caroline Finn’s nostalgic journey The Green House.

26 MAY, 7:30PM, £19.90 - £23.30

15-20 MAY, 7:30PM, £9 - £23

ABBA MANIA

Internationally touring celebration of Sweden’s most famous export.

THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY

A feel-good West End show featuring two hours of Buddy Holly bangers, charting his rise to fame and legendary final performance in Clear Lake, Iowa.

A show about social mobility and climbing ladders – The Paper Birds’ second show in a trilogy about class in modern Britain.

Marryat Hall THE 306: DAY

25 MAY, 7:30PM, £12 - £14

Inspired by real events and first-hand accounts, The 306: Day follows the lives of three ordinary women fighting to be heard above the clamour of the First World War.

The Gardyne Theatre

ALL THAT GLITTERS...IS GOLD!

6-7 MAY, 7:00PM, £10

Dancilicious Dance Company (yes, that is their real name) whip up an evening of gilded choreography. SERIOUSLY DEAD

11-12 MAY, 7:30PM, £23

Comedy CROSSMYLAFF COMEDY (GARY LITTLE + ROSCO MCLELLAND) THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £8 - £10

A packed Saturday night bill of current Scottish comedy. Professional acts plus prime picks of up-and-coming local stand-up talent.

Sun 07 May

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (MICHAEL REDMOND + STUART MITCHELL + DANA ALEXANDER + BRYAN GHOSH’) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out.

GLASGOW KIDS COMEDY CLUB (ASHLEY STORRIE + MR FIBBERS + DANA ALEXANDER) THE STAND GLASGOW, 15:00–16:30, £4

A comedy play ft. Crissy Rock offa Benidorm and I’m A Celeb and Frazer Hines from Emmerdale / Doctor Who.

Comedy session suitable for little ears (i.e. no swearies), for children aged 8-12 years-old.

28 MAY, 2:30PM, £7 - £78.50

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING

Modern, street, tap and more in this Gardyne Theatre showcase.

YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

LIMMY: THAT’S YOUR LOT

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £13 - £16

Glasgow Comedy

The Scottish comic takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Mon 08 May LIMMY: THAT’S YOUR LOT

Tue 02 May

RED RAW (CHRIS FORBES + BRUCE FUMEY)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £13 - £16

The Scottish comic takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

BENEFIT IN AID OF GLASGOW STRAIGHT TALK (CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR BOYD + KIRSTY MORRISON + JOSEPH GOSS + SUSIE MCCABE’)

BLACKFRIARS BASEMENT, 20:00–22:00, FREE

A charity show dedicated to raising funds for Glasgow Straight Talk.

GLASGOW HAROLD NIGHT (IMPROV GLASGOW)

One hilarious show, completely improvised by two teams, based off an audience suggestion.

Wed 03 May

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. COMEDIAN RAP BATTLES (THE WEE MAN)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £4 - £6

Ro Cambell and The Wee Man’s comedian rap battle-off, where a select batch of comics compete to see who’s got the most swagger when it comes to hippity-hop wit.

Thu 04 May

THE THURSDAY SHOW (JOSH HOWIE + DANA ALEXANDER + ROBIN GRAINGER + BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 05 May

THE FRIDAY SHOW (JOSH HOWIE + DANA ALEXANDER + ROBIN GRAINGER + BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Yesbar laughs at - aye- 8pm THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 21:45, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar.

Sat 06 May

THE SATURDAY SHOW (JOSH HOWIE + DANA ALEXANDER + ROBIN GRAINGER + BILLY KIRKWOOD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. LAUGHTER EIGHT

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:15, £5 - £7

Tue 09 May

RED RAW (ASHLEY STORRIE)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material. LIGHT BULB SHOW

BLACKFRIARS BASEMENT, 20:00–22:00, FREE

An alternative comedy showcase and brand new night of stand-up comedy. LIMMY: THAT’S YOUR LOT

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £13 - £16

The Scottish comic takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Wed 10 May

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. ROB AUTON: THE SLEEP SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £10

A show is about sleep. It is suitable for those who have slept.

Thu 11 May

THE THURSDAY SHOW (MIKE WILMOT + RO CAMPBELL + JODIE MITCHELL + JONATHAN MAYOR)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 12 May

THE FRIDAY SHOW (MIKE WILMOT + RO CAMPBELL + JODIE MITCHELL + JONATHAN MAYOR)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Yesbar laughs at - aye- 8pm THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 21:45, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar.

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

LIMMY: THAT’S YOUR LOT

THE LATE SHOW

The Scottish comic takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Yesbar laughs at - aye- 8pm YESBAR, FROM 21:45, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar.

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £13 - £16

Sat 13 May

THE SATURDAY SHOW (MIKE WILMOT + RO CAMPBELL + JODIE MITCHELL + JONATHAN MAYOR)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Yesbar laughs at - aye- 8pm THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 21:45, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar.

Sun 14 May

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (MICHAEL REDMOND + RAY BRADSHAW + STEPHEN HALKETT + ROSS LESLIE)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Chilled Sunday night laughs to see the weekend out. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Mon 15 May

ANDY ZALTZMAN: PLAN Z (ANDY ZALTZMAN)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £12

Zaltzman returns to plot his planet’s path to and/or from preservation and/or perdition, in a show encompassing national identity, hope, fear and live action democracy.

Tue 16 May

RED RAW (STUART MITCHELL)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material. GLASGOW IMPROV JAM (IMPROV GLASGOW)

BLACKFRIARS BASEMENT, 20:00–22:00, FREE

A monthly long-form improv comedy jam. Open to all, no experience necessary. Just turn up and perform (or watch).

Wed 17 May

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

BENEFIT IN AID OF COSGROVE CARE (RAY BRADSHAW + STUART MITCHELL + MARC JENNINGS + ROSS LESLIE + JULIA SUTHERLAND)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £8

Comedy charity benefit

Thu 18 May

THE THURSDAY SHOW (BRENDON BURNS + DIANE SPENCER + KEVIN SHEPHERD + MARC JENNINGS + RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 19 May

THE LATE SHOW YESBAR, FROM 21:45, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar.

Sun 21 May CARL HUTCHINSON

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £10

Hutchinson performs his one-man show, Learning the Ropes. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Tue 23 May RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material. CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD: THE BOYD WITH A THORN IN HIS SIDE

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5

The King of Sad Style returns. LIMMY: THAT’S YOUR LOT

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £13 - £16

The Scottish comic takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics. CHRISTOPHER MCARTHUR-BOYD

THE GLAD CAFE, FROM 19:30, £5

The King of Sad Style returns with a stand-up show dealing with the two biggest problems in the world: the seemingly irreversible slide of the Western world into far-right fascism, and his girlfriend leaving him.

Wed 24 May

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material. THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:00, £8 - £10

Riotously funny musical comedy about inequality, revolution, friendship and betrayal.

Thu 25 May

THE THURSDAY SHOW (JOHN MOLONEY + RIA LINA + BRUCE FUMMEY + GARETH MUTCH + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH’)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Yesbar laughs at - aye- 8pm

A new show from Micky following his record-breaking Back in The Game tour of 2013.

Mon 29 May

SCRAM! (MARC JENNINGS + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + ALLY HOUSTON + STEPHEN BUCHANAN + ROSS MCLELLAND + RACHEL GRAHAM) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £4 - £5

A team of the country’s most exciting young talent take over the Stand for a night of sketches, stand-up and improv

Tue 30 May RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 31 May

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT (JULIA SUTHERLAND )

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

Edinburgh Comedy Tue 02 May BRIGHT CLUB

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £5

Wed 03 May

THE FRIDAY SHOW (JOHN MOLONEY + RIA LINA + BRUCE FUMMEY + GARETH MUTCH + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH) THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Yesbar laughs at - aye- 8pm THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 21:45, £10

MICKY FLANAGAN - AN’ ANOTHER FING

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 20:00, £30 - £35

LIMMY: THAT’S YOUR LOT

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £13 - £16

Sat 27 May

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 20:00, £27.50 - £32.50

Fri 26 May

THE LATE SHOW

THE SATURDAY SHOW (BRENDON BURNS + DIANE SPENCER + KEVIN SHEPHERD + MARC JENNINGS + RAYMOND MEARNS)

MICKY FLANAGAN - AN’ ANOTHER FING

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £13 - £16

The Scottish comic takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Sat 20 May

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

The Scottish comic takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Late night lols at Yesbar.

YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, FROM 20:30, £3

LIMMY: THAT’S YOUR LOT

A new show from Micky following his record-breaking Back in The Game tour of 2013.

YESBAR, FROM 21:45, £10

Celebrate the Bank Holiday in style with a night of top comedy!

A selection of comedic academics do a stint of stand-up for your entertainment and enlightenment. Laughs and learning in one neat package = tick.

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Yesbar laughs at - aye- 8pm

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £9 - £10

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Late night lols at Yesbar.

LAUGHTER EIGHT

BANK HOLIDAY SPECIAL (JOHN MOLONEY + RIA LINA + BRUCE FUMMEY + GARETH MUTCH)

JONNY & THE BAPTISTS: EAT THE POOR

THE FRIDAY SHOW (BRENDON BURNS + DIANE SPENCER + KEVIN SHEPHERD + MARC JENNINGS + RAYMOND MEARNS)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

Sun 28 May

THE SATURDAY SHOW (JOHN MOLONEY + RIA LINA + BRUCE FUMMEY + GARETH MUTCH + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH’)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. LAUGHTER EIGHT

PROJECT X

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X. VIVA LA SHAMBLES

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £4 - £5

The Stand hosts a monthly evening of total joke-pandemonium as Edinburgh’s top comics join forces. TOP BANANA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £2

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

Thu 04 May

THE THURSDAY SHOW (IAN COPPINGER + RO CAMPBELL + SARAH KEYWORTH + LIAM WITHNAIL) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 05 May

THE FRIDAY SHOW (IAN COPPINGER + RO CAMPBELL + SARAH KEYWORTH + LIAM WITHNAIL) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

YESBAR, FROM 20:00, £10

Yesbar laughs at - aye- 8pm THE LATE SHOW

YESBAR, FROM 21:45, £10

Late night lols at Yesbar.

THE SKINNY

Sat 06 May

THE SATURDAY SHOW (IAN COPPINGER + RO CAMPBELL + SARAH KEYWORTH + LIAM WITHNAIL) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sat 13 May

THE SATURDAY SHOW (BEN NORRIS + GRAINNE MAGUIRE + JAMIE MACDONALD + STEPHEN BUCHANAN + JOE HEENAN) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sun 07 May

Sun 14 May

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW (STUART MURPHY + GARRY DOBSON)

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 20:30, £5

PROGRESS!

Monkey Barrel’s rising comedy star showcase; swing by and catch the stars of tomorrow.

Mon 08 May

RED RAW (THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS JELLYBEAN)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Tue 09 May BONA FIDE

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:15, £5 - £6

PROGRESS!

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £2

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

STAND SPOTLIGHT: FAMILY (IAIN CAMPBELL + BIG MENTAL ROSS + PHIL O’SHEA + JODIE MITCHELL + KEVIN CARR + ROSS BAILLIE + DAVID CALLAN)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:15, £5

The Stand shines its comedy limelight on the topic of family.

Thu 11 May

THE THURSDAY SHOW (BEN NORRIS + GRAINNE MAGUIRE + JAMIE MACDONALD + STEPHEN BUCHANAN + JOE HEENAN) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

RED RAW (STUART MITCHELL)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £3

Tue 16 May

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–21:30, £3

Headline comedians treat us to brand spanking new material. Not for the cupboard-lover comedy fan, this night showcases material which is most definitely a work in progress.

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X. BENEFIT IN AID OF VOLUNTARY SERVICE OVERSEAS (JOJO SUTHERLAND + GUS LYMBURN + ROBIN GRAINGER + WIS JANTARASORN + JELLYBEAN MARTINEZ)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £7 - £8

A charity show dedicated to raising funds for Voluntary Service Overseas. CARL HUTCHINSON

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £10

TOP BANANA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £2

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

THE BIG SHOW

Whimsical comedy game show inspired by 90s telly with a fantabulous host, glamorous assistants, a non-sensical scoring system, random prizes, and special mystery guests.

KATHERINE MCMAHON: FAT KID RUNNING

SCOTTISH STORYTELLING CENTRE, FROM 19:30, £10

The third in Flint & Pitch’s Presents series, featuring all new work. Support comes from Closed Doors by Audrey Tait, Lauren Gilmour and Belle Jones, and Rock, Star, North by Calum Rodger.

FUNGASM GAMESHOW

PARADISE PALMS, 19:30–22:00, £5

Thu 18 May

THE THURSDAY SHOW (KEIR MCALLISTER + ‘STEVEN DICK + GUS LYMBURN + NATALIE SWEENEY + MARTIN MOR)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase. SPONTANEOUS SHERLOCK’S MYSTERY

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £5

A completely improvised Sherlock Holmes mystery

May 2017

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. THE BIG SHOW

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW (STUART MURPHY + GARRY DOBSON) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions. PROGRESS!

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 20:30, £5

Monkey Barrel’s rising comedy star showcase; swing by and catch the stars of tomorrow. MARCEL LUCONT: WHINE LIST

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £12 - £14

The finest flâneur brings a new interactive show to the baying masses. A kind of self-help group where everyone potentially leaves more depressed. Expect louche musings, deadpan wit and Gallic superiority.

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £3

Hutchinson performs his one-man show, Learning the Ropes.

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Mon 22 May

Fri 12 May

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

THE SATURDAY SHOW (KEIR MCALLISTER + STEVEN DICK + GUS LYMBURN + NATALIE SWEENEY + MARTIN MOR)

PROJECT X

Wed 17 May

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

Sat 20 May

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

THE FRIDAY SHOW (BEN NORRIS + GRAINNE MAGUIRE + JAMIE MACDONALD + STEPHEN BUCHANAN + JOE HEENAN)

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sun 21 May

WORK IN PROGRESS (DANIEL SLOSS + KAI HUMPHRIES + MARK NELSON + GARETH WAUGH)

TOP BANANA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £12

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

Wed 10 May

THE BIG SHOW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £17.50

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Mon 15 May

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sat 27 May

ANDY ZALTZMAN: PLAN Z

Zaltzman returns to plot his planet’s path to and/or from preservation and/or perdition, in a show encompassing national identity, hope, fear and live action democracy.

THE BIG SHOW MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X.

THE FRIDAY SHOW (KEIR MCALLISTER + STEVEN DICK + GUS LYMBURN + NATALIE SWEENEY + MARTIN MOR)

Monkey Barrel’s rising comedy star showcase; swing by and catch the stars of tomorrow.

Brand new material especially written for the theme of the night delivered by some of Scotlands favourite comics. PROJECT X

Fri 19 May

RED RAW

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

THE SATURDAY SHOW (RUDI LICKWOOD + JOHNNY CANDON + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + JO CAULFIELD)

CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, FROM 20:00, £37.65 - £42.65

2-14 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

MICKY FLANAGAN

The tousle-haired English comic draws on his East End background to ruthlessly deconstruct the Cockney myth with his usual razor sharp observational wit. THE BIG SHOW

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £12

A great night of premier stand-up right in the heart of the city

Sun 28 May

BANK HOLIDAY SPECIAL (RUDI LICKWOOD + JOHNNY CANDON + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + JO CAULFIELD)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:30, £9 - £10

Celebrate the Bank Holiday in style with a night of top comedy!

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW (STUART MURPHY + GARRY DOBSON) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 13:30–15:00, FREE

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions. PROGRESS!

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, FROM 20:30, £5

Monkey Barrel’s rising comedy star showcase; swing by and catch the stars of tomorrow.

Mon 29 May RED RAW

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:45, £3

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Tue 30 May PROJECT X

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £3

Wed 31 May

All-new student night themed around the film of the same name, Project X. JONNY & THE BAPTISTS: EAT THE POOR

Glasgow Art

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

Tue 23 May PROJECT X

Art

TOP BANANA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £2

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:00, £8 - £10

Riotously funny musical comedy about inequality, revolution, friendship and betrayal.

Wed 24 May

TOPICAL STORM (MARK NELSON + KEIR MCALLISTER + STUART MURPHY + VLADIMIR MCTAVISH) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:15, £5 - £7

Radical satire from Keir McAllister, Vladimir McTavish, Stu Murphy and Mark Nelson. TOP BANANA

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY CLUB, 20:30–22:50, £0 - £2

Monkey Barrel’s comedy competition for new folk on the scene.

Thu 25 May

THE THURSDAY SHOW (RUDI LICKWOOD + JOHNNY CANDON + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + JO CAULFIELD)

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 26 May

THE FRIDAY SHOW (RUDI LICKWOOD + JOHNNY CANDON + CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD + JO CAULFIELD) THE STAND COMEDY CLUB, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

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

THE SKY IS FALLING

An exhibition/event programme that presents disparate visual imaginaries, looking at how we organise in the most challenging cities in our world. Features work by Black Audio Film Collective, Laura Oldfield Ford, Clara Ianni, Dora Mejía and Carol Rhodes. ROB CHURM: PARASITE REX

2 MAY-9 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

Glasgow-based artist Rob Churm presents a solo exhibition of drawings, prints, comic strips and digital elements that explore new ways of seeing and describing the world. Churm’s practice takes in a variety of references from science and weird-fiction, new-material, post-human thought, and cult film, layering them to construct stories that echo the life he is living. ARIEH FROSH & JAY DELVES: ON WATER, SCULLED, QUIET

2 MAY-18 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE

A coming together of two projects that take bodies of water as their starting points, from synchronised swimming to spiritual cleansing the regulatory, the performative, the geography of both.

City of Glasgow College CONTEMPORARY ART PRACTICE DEGREE SHOW 2017

25 MAY-1 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Contemporary art practice graduates at the City of Glasgow College host their degree show, highlighting a collection of the students’ best work from throughout their fourth year.

Cyril Gerber Fine Art

TOM H. SHANKS RSW RGI PAI

4-27 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

A new exhibition of paintings and drawings by artist Tom H. Shanks RSW RGI PAI featuring selected works from 1945-2017.

Glasgow Print Studio THE LAW OF MATERIALS

2-14 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Taking its theme from the essay ‘Material As Metaphor’ by Anni Albers, this exhibition focuses on supporting early career artists while exploring what it means to make art, who it speaks to and how materials guide ideas. Artists working predominantly in print but also ceramics, sculpture and textiles will show alongside each other in a celebration of ‘including others in that life that is invisible and intangible’. Exhibiting artists include Euphrosyne Andrews, Rushka Gray, Elle Elks Herrmannsen, Gabriele Jogelaite, Hannah Moitt, Lilian Ptacek and Grace Woodcock.

Glasgow School of Art MFA INTERIM SHOW 2017

6-12 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Annual exhibition of new work by 26 students in the first year of the Master of Fine Art programme at Glasgow School of Art. Expect painting, drawing, sculpture, video, performance and installation.

GoMA

PLEASE TURN US ON

1 MAY-31 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

A group exhibition placing Glasgow at the core of a dialogue between early video art and international counterculture. Features What’s It To You?, a seminal work from Elsa Stansfield and Madelon Hooykaas, among other videographic works.

MAX BRAND AND JOANNE ROBERTSON: POPPIES

THE ARCHIPELAGO OF CONTENTED PEOPLES: ENDURANCE GROUPS

1 MAY-11 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE

2 MAY-8 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

A debut collaboration between Max Brand and Joanne Robertson, featuring new painting and sculpture along with a musical work co-produced in the lead-up to the exhibition’s opening. POLYGRAPHS

1 MAY-17 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

A group exhibition with a central point of Hito Steyerl’s film Abstract, which explores truth, fiction and evidence in a complicated world. Features Jane Evelyn Atwood, Muirhead Bone, Boyle Family, Gerard Byrne, Graham Fagen, Ian Hamilton Finlay and more.

Hunterian Art Gallery

ART OF POWER: MASTERPIECES FROM THE BUTE COLLECTION

2 MAY-14 JAN 18, TIMES VARY, FREE

Take the oportunity to see major paintings from the Bute Collection at Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute. Exhibition split across two venues, The Hunterian and Mount Stuart – ticket price covers admission to both. NEIL CLEMENTS: ELECTRIC EYE

2 MAY-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Hunterian showcases new paintings and sculptures by Glasgow-based artist Neil Clements, whose work concerns tends to take the form of monochromatic paintings, shaped canvases and geometric sculptures.

London-based Steven Claydon’s first solo show in Scotland, in which he’ll present a group of new works spanning sculpture, installation and sound addressing the ideas of jeopardy and pressure – whether in their environmental, cultural or epistemological senses.

The Lighthouse COLLECT SCOTLAND: SAMPLE

1 MAY-18 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcasing the work of 15 contemporary Scottish textile designers, Collect Scotland’s SAMPLE aims to shine a spotlight on usually anonymous innovators with one of the largest exhibitions of printed textiles in recent years. Filling the whole of Gallery 1 at The Lighthouse, Scotland’s centre for design and architecture, with printed textiles and sculptural displays of large-scale fabrics in a huge, interactive exhibition featuring specially commissioned work around five key ‘trends’, SAMPLE shows off the versatility, vibrancy and too-often overlooked talent pool of Scottish textile design. ORIGINS, NARRATIVES AND ARCHITECTURE

1-6 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Mary Mary

Lighthouse exhibits a selection of visuals and models illustrating a wide range of projects covered by Graeme Nicholls Architects, a studio formed by acclaimed educator, critic and architect of the same name.

17 MAY-8 JUL, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

9-31 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

WEED BEACH

Mary Mary hosts its first solo exhibition from LA-based sculptor Erika Vogt. Many of the works in this exhibition simultaneously function as sculpture, costume, prop and practical object; some even forming functioning vases or work tables further emphasizing their role as a plane for activity.

New Glasgow Society PLAYTIME_

13-16 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Playtime_ pulls imagery and methods from more seductive playgrounds such as early first person shooter games and stage designs. The works acknowledge that it is delusive to attempt to compete with the immersive quality of modern technology or grand arenas. ALFONSO RAMUNDO: DERELICT DECADENCE

15-18 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Alfonso Ramundo is an Italian photographer who has lived in Glasgow for almost two decades. Throughout his career, he has focused on different areas of photography but there has always been a constant theme in his work - decadent structures of any kind.

SWG3 Glasgow YARDWORKS

6-7 MAY, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, £0 - £5

An international celebration of graffiti, street art and design showcasing 25 of the top graffiti and street artists from across Europe, plus 50 top Scottish artists.

Street Level Photoworks AMBIT

1 MAY-9 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

Stills and Street Level Photoworks link arms in an exhibition of Scottish photography. SLP will showcase the work of Tine Bek, Sylwia Kowalczyk, Donnie MacLean, Blazej Marczak and Margaret Mitchell.

The Common Guild

MARIA FUSCO: RADICAL DIALECT

2 MAY-30 DEC, TIMES VARY, FREE

An ongoing project conceived by writer Maria Fusco, including a cycle of events, a series of commissioned publications and a major new performance, all taking shape across 2017 and 2018. See thecommonguild.org.uk for info.

GLASGOW INTERIORS

An exhibition showcasing Glasgow Style and Art Nouveau by pairing examples of Glasgow interiors with iconic Mackintosh chairs.

Transmission Gallery TAINTED VERBAL

2-6 MAY, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A solo exhibition by Cape Verdeborn, Lisbon-raised multi-media artist Irineu Destourelles who explores the reproduction of colonial patterns of thinking in contemporary society, with a particular interest in processes of ‘othering’. In Tainted Verbal, Irineu reflects on sharp social divisions he noticed when living in London and Edinburgh. THE OTHER’D ARTIST/S

20 MAY-17 JUN, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Curated by Travis Alabanza, this exhibition is an exploration and documentation of how the Black body feels within space, in the gallery, out of the gallery. Through creative collaboration with more than 20 Black artists, Alabanza aims to turn the gallery into a living room. From a place we stand in quiet solitude, to a place where we can move, shout and lotion.

iota @ Unlimited Studios KATE CHARLESWORTH: BLAMM

4-27 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

This first major retrospective spans the career of the acclaimed cartoonist, with comic strips for Dykes Delight, work for the New Scientist, the Guardian and more.

Edinburgh Art City Art Centre

SCOTTISH CIVIC TRUST MY PLACE

PAPER TRAIL: DRAWINGS, WATERCOLOURS, PRINTS

1-3 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

1-21 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of work from the winners of the Scottish Civic Trust My Place Awards and My Place Photography Competition, an opportunity for young people to express their experience of the heritage, buildings and archaeology.

The Modern Institute @ Airds Lane WILLIAM E. JONES

4-25 MAY, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

The first major solo exhibition from LA-based filmmaker, photographer and writer William E. Jones, who presents a film installation incorporating three are obliquely autobiographical sequences of digital files which call upon moments of political and cultural upheaval in America during Jones’ childhood and highlight the role of the momentary spectator.

The Old Hairdressers

TÊTE-À-TÊTE TÊTE-À-TÊTE

31 MAY, 6:00PM, FREE

For one night only join artists Jennifer Clews, Hannah Patching, Rosie Sillitoe and Tess Vaughan as they show new work created for the Old Hairdressers, taking the form of drawings, paintings, video and sculptural installation.

Tramway

ANNA KRZYSTEK: UNTITLED #0.5 – WHO, WHAT AND WHERE IS ANNA

5-21 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Part of DIG, this exhibition features a film installation for three screens, exploring notions of fact, fiction, truth, the self, the body and the object. FLORIAN HECKER: SYNOPSIS

26 MAY-30 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

A new commission by sonic experimental artist Florian Hecker in which he creates an immersive ‘hallucinatory’ space at Tramway.

An exhibition exploring some of the many ways artists create works from the starting point of a fresh sheet of paper, including work by celebrated figures like Anne Redpath, Joan Eardley, Eduardo Paolozzi and Paul Sandby. EDINBURGH ALPHABET

19 MAY-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An A-Z of Edinburgh’s collections, Edinburgh Alphabet takes place across four gallery floors and features over 300 objects from paintings to tapestries, ceramics to silver. Each letter of the alphabet has been given a theme around which objects have been grouped.

Collective Gallery

ALEX IMPEY: ←TERM.←LAM.←

2-14 MAY, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

A showcase of sculpture and writing borne of Alex Impey’s research into animal motifs, composite materials, divination, and art history.

Dovecot Studios THE WEAVER’S APPRENTICE

1 MAY-1 JUL, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

An exhibition featuring objects from the Dovecot’s archive, as well as historic and current works – all intending to tell the story of the Dovecot apprenticeship. BUILT IN TAPESTRY: DOVECOT TAPESTRIES AND ARCHITECTURE

18 MAY-22 DEC, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

A balcony-based exhibition at Dovecot highlighting projects from the studio’s history, featuring innovative and bold projects from commissions new and past.

Edinburgh College of Art GERMAN REFUGEE PROJECT

1-26 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of photography, installations, animation and design which showcase the experiences of a group of University of Edinburgh students who, in 2016, travelled to Zotzenheim in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate to take part in an initiative aiming to help refugees integrate into their new home. Please note, the exhibition takes place at 50 George Square, not on ECA premises.

Listings

ECA PERFORMANCE COSTUME SHOW 2017

ROBBIE BUSHE: INVASIONS AND EXCAVATIONS

18-18 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

1-6 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Catch a catwalk of performance costumes created by ECA students for theatre, film, opera and dance.

Edinburgh Printmakers

MY CAT KNOWS WHAT I’M THINKING

2 MAY-15 JUL, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

An exhibition consisting of nineteen handmade ceramic plates plus four stone lithographic editions. Surprising, humorous and insightful, Great-Rex’s exhibition draws on folk, outsider art and domestic commemorative wares and samplers. IT WORKS! – EP AT 50

2 MAY-15 JUL, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

An exhibition raising questions about the nature and purpose of archives, featuring publications and portfolios from Edinburgh Printmakers’ archive.

Robbie Bushe’s first exhibition at the Open Eye Gallery, comprising of a series of compact oil paintings portraying the artist’s visual meanderings with civic structures, institutional barriers and personal loss, with the occasional reference to his childhood obsessions of sci-fi and adventure comics.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA 1-7 MAY, TIMES VARY, £3 - £5

1 MAY-5 MAR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

RSA ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2017

Now in its 191st year, the RSA Annual Exhibition returns to RSA between April and May, showcasing artworks from Acamedicians Scotland-wide. IAN HOWARD RSA: THE DEATH OF MAGIC

1-7 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

6-20 MAY, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

1-7 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Gordon Munro and Ewan Robertson collaborate wth Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop for a a symposium, film, exhibition and series of workshops which form the culmination of six years’ research. The event will showcase the pivotal role iron plays in the lives of human beings.

THE TWEEDDALES: POWER, POLITICS AND PORTRAITS

1-28 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Artwork featuring and commissioned by the Tweeddale family, a highly influential dynasty at the heart of Scottish society in the latter half of the seventeenth century who were known best for contributions to politics and the military.

RSA showcases a selection of recent works by Aberdonian honorary RSA member Ian Howard, demonstrating his mixed media style which references medieval and Renaissance iconography.

IRON: ORIGINS AND DESTINATIONS

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

RSA ARCHITECTURE OPEN 2017

SCOTS IN ITALY

A showcase of the Scottish experience of Italy in the eighteenth century, a time when artistic, entrepreneurial and aristocratic fascination with the country was reaching boiling point. THE MODERN PORTRAIT

1 MAY-27 OCT 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A display collating paintings, sculptures and works from the Portrait Gallery’s twentiethcentury collection, ft. a variety of well-known faces, from Ramsay Macdonald to Alan Cumming, Tilda Swinton to Danny McGrain. REFORMATION TO REVOLUTION

RSA’s Architecture Open returns for a 2017 edition, taking in a variety of submissions which illustrate the most interesting architectural practices from Scotland and beyond.

1 MAY-1 APR 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

27 MAY-1 OCT, TIMES VARY, £9 - £10

Jupiter Artland

Scottish National Gallery

4 MAY-1 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

1 MAY-25 MAR 18, TIMES VARY, FREE

LIZ MAGIC LAER: PRIMAL SPEECH

Artist Liz Magic Laser responds to Brexit and Trump with a video and room dedicated to the primal scream technique, encouraging audiences to let out their frustrations.

National Museum of Scotland

SCOTTISH POTTERY: ART & INNOVATION EXHIBITION

1 MAY-25 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A lesser known part of Scotland’s pottery history will showcased at the National Museum of Scotland. Select pieces from Wemyss Ware, one of Scotland’s most well-known potteries, will be showcased including original heart plaques commissioned by the Wemyss family who resided nearby at Wemyss Castle and painted by Karel Nekola. FRONT ROW ECA FASHION SHOW

26 MAY, TIMES VARY, £12.50

ECA’s traditional fashion show gets a whole new look, seating every audience member on the ‘front row’ in order to shake up the idea of hierarchies in fashion.

Old Leith Theatre

HIDDEN DOOR FESTIVAL 2017

26 MAY-4 JUN, 12:00PM – 11:45PM, PRICES VARY

The renovators and curators at Hidden Door return for another ma-hoosive programme of crossplatform entertainment. Check out facebook.com/hiddendoor for full, in-depth daytime and evening line-ups.

Open Eye Gallery

ADRIAN WISZNIEWSKI RSA: THE NIGHT GARDENER

1-8 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Night Gardener centres on paintings populated with contemplative figures set in vividly coloured Arcadian landscapes. Exotic flora and fauna are incorporated into the paintings, and subject to the same stylisation as the figures. Often working on a heroic scale with energy and fluidity, Wiszniewski’s paintings offer instant sensual gratification but employ a wide visual language. DONALD PROVAN: FISH TALES

1-8 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

This exhibition of new paintings by Donald Provan looks to the shadowy world beneath the waves, rendering the textures and colours of marine life with skilled draftsmanship.

Listings

A MEETING OF TWO MASTERPIECES

Six-footer British masterpiece Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) by John Constable, displayed alongside another celebrated landscape painting, William McTaggart’s The Storm (1890).

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 20TH CENTURY: MASTERPIECES OF SCOTTISH AND EUROPEAN ART

1 MAY-18 FEB 18, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of works offering a historical overview of some of the most significant artistic contributions made during the last century. The exhibition also aims to place Scottish modern art within an international context. JOAN EARDLEY: A SENSE OF PLACE

1-21 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £7 - £9

A collection of works from the short career of Joan Eardley, who died at just 42. This showcase will focus on two contrasting themes in her works; candid paintings of children in Townhead and paintings of paintings of the fishing village of Catterline. NOW

1 MAY-24 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A programme of contemporary art exhibitions celebrating the diversity of contemporary artistic practice, and the unique role of artists in society. Features Nathan Coley, Mona Hatoum, Louise Hopkins, Pete Horobin, Tessa Lynch, Jock McFadyen, Rivane Neuenschwander, Tony Swain and more. PLACES REAL AND IMAGINED

An exhibition examining the cultural consequences of the national religion becoming Protestantism in sixteenth century Scotland. A PERFECT CHEMISTRY

A showcase of photographs by two Scots, Octavius Hill (1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (1821-1848) who mastered the medium four short years after its invention. The images featured have been said to be among the first examples of social documentary in the history of photography. THE SLAVE’S LAMENT

20 MAY-29 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Graham Fagen presents a ‘soundclash’ in which Robert Burns’ The Slave’s Lament is performed by the Scottish Ensemble and Reggae singer Ghetto Priest, and produced by legendary On-U-Sound founder Adrian Sherwood. COMING CLEAN

1 MAY-5 NOV, TIMES VARY, FREE

Since recovering from years of his life as a heroin addict, Graham MacIndie uses this body of selfportraits as a means of opening up conversations about dependency and recovery. HEROES AND HEROINES

13 MAY-31 MAY 19, TIMES VARY, FREE

A re-examination of major Scottish figures which questions our habit of framing history around individuals and idols.

Stills AMBIT

1 MAY-9 JUL, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Stills and Street Level Photoworks link arms in an exhibition of Scottish photography. Stills will showcase the work of Eden Hawkins, Lorna Macintyre, Norman McBeath, Kristian Smith and Karen L Vaughan.

Summerhall

LILY HIBERD: DATA HORIZONS

1-10 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Focusing on artworks by Dalí, Ernst, Magritte and many other Surrealist artists, this exhibtion uncovers the unconscious, the irrational, the absurd and the marvellous within surrealism. There are also African and Oceanic sculptures on display alongside a cabinet of curiosities.

Data Horizons is the result of a collaboration between the Extreme Light group at Heriot-Watt University and Lily Hibberd, Leverhulme Trust artist-in-residence at Heriot-Watt throughout 2016. Led by Prof Daniele Faccio, the Extreme Light group develops experiments in laser physics and quantum optics, inspired by general relativity and the physics of curved spacetimes. These artworks produce encounters with otherwise invisible or inaccessible information emerging from cutting edge research to bridge the gap between every-day and extraordinary behaviour of light.

1 MAY-29 APR 18, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

1-10 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

1 MAY-9 JUL, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

A display of works centred around the theme of place and which engage directly with environments. Features work by Richard Long and Hamish Fulton, Charles Avery and Oskar Kokoschka.

SURREALISM AND THE MARVELLOUS

1-31 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

MUSIC FROM THE BALCONIES – ED RUSCHA AND LOS ANGELES

A display highlighting the ways in which Ed Ruscha (b.1937, Nebraska, USA) draws upon urban landscape and architecture, cinema, brands, car culture and language that refer and relate to LA and Hollywood to create works about the American Dream.

SEBASTIAN VEREA: SOUNDS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE 1-10 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A collaboration between Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina and C-EENRG at Cambridge University, this exhibition is a multimedia experience played by Earth´s rotation in real time, that shows the new geological epoch that we call Anthropocene fleshing out the unprecedented humankind footprint on our planet. LOUISE MACKENZIE: THE GENOPHONE

1-10 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Artist Louise Mackenzie researches the metaphysical aspects of making with life in the context of biotechnology, specifically focusing on the insertion of our thoughts into living cells through the creation of transgenic bacteria that house a question posed by the artist within their DNA. BRILLIANT GEOMETRY: THE ART OF MATHEMATICAL PROJECTION THROUGH THE MAGIC OF 3D PRINTING

12 MAY-4 JUN, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Bringing the creativity and precision of mathematics to the general public with computer aided design, recent innovations in 3D printing, and very, very bright lights. SANDI ANDERSON, THORN BARA, MARY WALTERS: LIGHT LAND LATITUDE

13 MAY-4 JUN, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Two Scots and an Icelander exhibit together, inspired by the wilderness landscapes of the North.

Talbot Rice Gallery

THE TORRIE COLLECTION

1-6 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Torrie Collection represents the University’s founding art collection and features Dutch landscape paintings of the ‘Golden Age’ and Italian Renaissance bronze sculptures in the tradition of Michelangelo. It was given to the Talbot Rice in 1836. BETWEEN POLES AND TIDES

1-6 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

For five years, Edinburgh University has been strategically garnering works of contemporary art which it considers reflective of its teachings as an institution and community. See an exhibition of their acquisitions at the Talbot Rice. MICHAEL BARR: TRG3

1-6 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

The story goes that once upon a time, a puma roamed Talbot Rice’s Georgian Gallery in 1827. Glasgow-based artist Michael Barr undertook his own ‘residency’ in the Old College Quad, mirroring and the duration of the puma’s stay and documenting the process. His costume will be displayed alongside a new etching of Barr in the Quad, historic images of the puma, a sculptural monument and a new video installation centred on the notion of ‘hospitality’.

The Fruitmarket Gallery MARK WALLINGER MARK

1 MAY-4 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE

A two-part exhibition in DCA and Fruitmarket, focussing on Wallinger’s id Paintings of 2015-16 (a series of Rorschach-esque images) and a selection of his films, sculpture and wall-based work.

Dundee Art Centrespace

SHADOW DAYS: INDEPENDENT FILM FROM CHINA

16-27 MAY, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

An exhibition of three films by award winning Chinese independent filmmaker Zhao Dayong at Centrespace. The exhibition, curated by Cooper Gallery, is Zhao Dayong’s UK debut and will feature his internationally celebrated works; The High Life (2010), Shadow Days (2013) and Street Life (2006) and is part of the city wide cultural festival, Ignite Dundee 2017.

Cooper Gallery

DJCAD ART, DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE DEGREE SHOW 2017

20-27 MAY, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The University of Dundee’s Art, Design & Architecture Degree show celebrates the success of our graduating students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and the department of Architecture.

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DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts MARK WALLINGER MARK

1 MAY-4 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE

A two-part exhibition in DCA and Fruitmarket, focussing on Wallinger’s id Paintings of 2015-16 (a series of Rorschach-esque images) and a selection of his films, sculpture and wall-based work.

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design

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Illustration: Michael Arnold

DEGREE SHOW 2017

20-28 MAY, FREE

This year's graduate presentation, showcasing students from art, design and architecture.

Generator Projects A HIDDEN RECORD

5-7 MAY, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Invited to respond to Generatorprojects’ archive, that documents Twenty Years of artist led activity, Peter Amoore, Alex Millar and Viki Mladenovski present three projects of new work focusing on themes of language, abstraction and anonymity found in the documents of past exhibitions and events.

The McManus OUT OF THE FRAME: SCOTTISH ABSTRACTION

1-28 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

A collection of works celebrating the artistic freedom afforded by abstraction, including art by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Calum Innes, plus a major new acquisition by Victoria Morton. A SENSE OF PLACE: TWENTIETH CENTURY SCOTTISH PAINTING

1 MAY-1 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

An exhibition of primarily landscape paintings, including work from the Glasgow Boys, the Scottish Colourists, James McIntosh Patrick and Joan Eardley. FIRE AND STONE

1 MAY-8 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

An continuation of the NMS and British Museum’s Reflections on Celts spotlight tour, featuring a replica of the Monifieth II Pictish stone which has been commissioned from stone carver David McGovern.

STEPHEN HURREL BENEATH AND BEYOND - SEISMIC SOUNDS

An immersive live feed audiovideo installation produced by the constant movements and tectonic shifts beneath the Earth’s surface and installed in the basement of Summerhall.

THE SKINNY

How Comedy Captured the Edinburgh Fringe: Part 1 In the first of a series of articles to celebrate the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s 70th anniversary, we look back at the remarkable rise of stand-up comedy and how it came to dominate the once theatre-heavy programme

hen it comes to the Edinburgh Fringe, stand-up comedy is the poor relation of uninvited guests. At least, that’s what its detractors suggest, and yet how it came to dominate the world’s largest arts festival is the story of the Fringe’s 70 year history. This story happens only in the second half of that time. It couldn’t be otherwise. After all, in its modern form, UK stand-up didn’t get started until the late-1970s. It is a remarkable coup, and one for comedy fans to celebrate – though it seems not everyone is so joyous. Michael Dale was Edinburgh Fringe Administrator from 1981-86. He’s not one to beat around the bush: “Stand-up comics tend to be aggressive and obsessed with working-class values, or if not, are blatantly anti-middle class... Unfortunately, very little of it is funny. The performers are not very skilled, and the writing is usually pathetic.” Then there is legendary impresario Richard Demarco. He’s co-founder of the Traverse Theatre and he’s attended every single Edinburgh Fringe. In 2014, he hit the headlines – but only for the kind of comment he’s been making for over quarter of a century: “There is an infestation of stand-up comics. It’s an epidemic for which there is no cure.” For Demarco, the festivals which began in 1947 to unify a world recovering from war are now about, “the kind of entertainment which degrades it.” We find it difficult to comprehend anyone who doesn’t see stand-up as an art, as this implies. But, Demarco’s concerns about commercialisation are not far from some expressed within comedy. Tony Allen was a pioneer of the new generation of stand-ups that shaped the modern style. He was also the first stand-up to perform

May 2017

in Edinburgh, with Alexei Sayle, at Herriot-Watt Theatre in 1980. And it wasn’t long until, as he puts it: “Edinburgh Fringe quickly became a sort of stand-up comedy trade fair.” After Allen and Sayle, Stewart Lee was part of a new batch of comedians to descend on Edinburgh, a time for which he now feels remorse: “The bright new dawn of 90s comedy was rising, and we drove around Edinburgh under cover of darkness in a panel van, flyposting illegally with pots of paint and brushes, like the A-Team with jokes... all of us pasting over Jeremy Hardy’s face again and again and again and again, like pathetic and ungrateful schoolboys vandalising a photo of the headmaster. Nobody on the Fringe had ever seen anything like it. Advertising! ... It was the beginning of the end, and I was an accessory.” But, anxieties about the Fringe came long before stand-up’s tentacles bore into August. The argument that seems to wrestle for the Fringe’s soul is an old quarrel, and starts almost as soon as the first few theatre groups arrived, without invitation, and set up around the International Festival’s edges, or ‘fringe’. And, in the end, the joke might be on stand-up. The Fringe, with its highfalutin traditions, may push stand-up towards more theatrical shows. There is a view that it was the Fringe that actually conquered stand-up, rather than vice-versa. None of this is easy to look into or establish with any certainty. Even reading every programme from the 1980s onwards and rummaging through news archives is of limited help in some respects. There’s always something peculiar in how quick the packing away starts in Edinburgh after the August bank holiday. The Fringe is about the here and now – it’s an experience, not a public record. While this makes for a great end of every

summer, it is a disaster for research purposes. The ascent of stand-up at the Fringe takes place roughly between 1981-2008. Comedy fans will recognise that first year for it features the inaugural Perrier Awards, but it’s also the year of the ‘super venue’, which did far more to bring about the Fringe’s current shape. The latter year is when the genre of comedy became the Fringe programme’s bumper section. Over four features, charting comedy’s growth at the Fringe, there are landmarks for us to visit. All provoke debate. Was the ‘super venue’ a simple response to the Fringe becoming the largest arts festival? Or was it to the Fringe what Pandora’s Box was to the world? The 1990s capture a golden age of now household names, but that decade is also significant for the seeds of a backlash; one that took comedians away from big venues and into pubs and bars – a move still unfolding in more recent years. But this is to get ahead of ourselves. Reasonable people might be suspicious. How was it that comedy only accelerated after 1980? Stand-up is not some recent invention. It isn’t as if comedians only burst into existence after Alexei Sayle, who claims: “The Fringe then was entirely University revues and plays; there was not a single piece of stand-up comedy until me and Tony arrived.” Those revues do have a special place of their own in comedy history. Before the Cambridge Footlights and the Oxford Theatre Company held sway, these shows trace back in Edinburgh as early as the 1950s. Audiences had an appetite for humour, especially in the late evening. An early forerunner of this subgenre was literally titled After the Show. The International Festival staged Beyond the

COMEDY

Words: Ben Venables Illustration: Tom Saffill Fringe in 1960, which heralded the ‘satire boom’. Its title says everything about how the Fringe was now a rival festival. And, that the International Festival recognised the demand for comedy in Edinburgh. Away from revues, there’s also Billy Connolly and Jasper Carrott, from the folk scene. Both performed in Edinburgh in the early 1970s. With UK stand-up, it’d take books – like Oliver Double’s – to untangled the roots of its family tree. But in short, the emphasis moved from sketches, characters and gags, to a style more like that of American stand-ups, such as Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor. It is, or seems, less of an ‘act’ and moves towards comedians using their own voice and expressing a point of view. If the Fringe offers a place for those who have something to say, it is little wonder new standups like Allen and Sayle gravitated to Edinburgh. Then again, this history is still not clean cut. And funny bones turn up where they weren’t meant to. Take John Dowie: “If you’re thinking of becoming a stand-up comedian (and who isn’t?) then here’s some advice: don’t start doing it in 1972. I did, and it was a mistake. In 1972 there were no comedy clubs, no comedy agents and no comedy future. There was, however, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.” As this opening extract shows, Dowie’s forthcoming memoir is a must for comedy fans. He was so far ahead of his time, he is on a different track. It is really Sayle and Allen who started the new era, but what Dowie does confirm is how alone stand-up comedy looked in 1972. Within a few years, all this would change. Sources: Tony Allen: Attitude, John Connor: Comics, Michael Dale: Sore Throats and Overdrafts, Oliver Double: Getting the Joke, John Dowie: The Freewheeling John Dowie, Stewart Lee: How I Escaped My Certain Fate, Alistair Moffat: The Edinburgh Fringe, Alexei Sayle: Thatcher Stole My Trousers

The Last Word