The Skinny Scotland March 2016

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CULT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

March 2016 Scotland Issue 126 Music Mugstar Cosmosis Festival Drive Like Jehu Protomartyr Bob Mould TRAAMS Clint Mansell Art RSA New Contemporaries Ettie Wyatt Gosebruch Ignite Dundee

Travel São Paulo Carnaval Theatre Go Dance / Y Dance Comedy Glasgow International Comedy Festival Richard Gadd Larry Dean The Last Laugh Lloyd Langford

Begbie’s Back Irvine Welsh reveals The Blade Artist

Film Pablo Larraín Glasgow Short Film Festival Brian M Ferguson Books Lara Williams

MUSIC | FILM | CLUBS | THEATRE | TECH | ART | BOOKS | COMEDY | FASHION | TRAVEL | FOOD | DEVIANCE | LISTINGS

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Lifestyle

THE SKINNY

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P.12 Mugstar

Credit: Lucy Ridges

P.32 Ettie Wyatt Gosebruch

P.18 Glasgow Comedy Festival: Richard Gadd

Credit: Tom Saffil

P.63 Clint Mansell

March 2016 I N DEPEN DENT

CULTU R AL

JOU R NALI S M

Issue 126, March 2016 Š 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.

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

Rosamund West Dave Kerr Will Fitzpatrick Adam Benmakhlouf Alan Bett Ronan Martin Ben Venables Kate Pasola Kate Pasola Alexandra Fiddes Jamie Dunn Peter Simpson Darren Carle John Donaghy Emma Ainley-Walker Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Lead Designer

Sarah Donley Sigrid Schmeisser

Sales Commercial Director Sales Executives printed on 100% recycled paper

General Manager Chief Operating Officer Publisher

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Contents

Nicola Taylor Claire Collins Nicky Carter George Sully Caroline Baird Kyla Hall Lara Moloney Sophie Kyle

THE SKINNY

Contents Chat & Opinion: Photos! Comics! Last06 minute news! A guide to all the extra, exclusive, exciting stuff you can find on our lovely website, theskinny.co.uk! And so much more.

Heads Up: Bounce like the lambs of spring 08 through your guide to the month’s best cultural events.

FEATURES

10 In our exclusive cover story, Irvine Welsh tells us about the return of everyone’s favourite psycho, Francis Begbie.

12 Liverpool stalwarts Mugstar are finally

getting their just rewards in the wake of the psych rock revival. Bassist Jason Stoll introduces their Rock Action debut Magnetic Seasons.

15 Anton Newcombe, centrifuge of the

Brian Jonestown Massacre, leads our writer on a merry dance, covertly live streaming their chat on the internet.

16 Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín

scratches at his nation's dark past with fifth feature The Club.

18 With Glasgow International Comedy Fest looming, we chat with Richard Gadd about high concept theatrics, political correctness and mental health. Funny stuff.

Elsewhere at GICF, hometown hero 19 Larry Dean‘s new stuff “all seems to be

about death and wanking”, while Larry Langford recalls writing smut for Lethal Bizzle. FILTH.

21 The annual RSA New Contemporaries show returns this month – our Art Editor casts his beady eye across the exhibited artists and previews his picks.

22 Lara Williams’ short story collection

Treats is one of the best literary debuts we’ve come across in a long time. We meet Manchester’s most exciting new writer.

23 Young dancers have more opportunities than ever thanks to the likes of Go Dance and YDance: we find out more from the Urbaniks Street School.

Casey of Detroit post-punkers 25 Joe Protomartyr takes us on a literary walking tour of their new, novelistic album, The Agent Intellect.

film schools should be blown up! No 26 All more boring films! Glasgow Short Film Festival director Matt Lloyd makes a compelling argument against the status quo.

28 Time to check in on Ignite Dundee, as

the cultural behemoth rolls into town again; plus a look at the many delights that Glasgow’s CCA has in store across March and April.

LIFESTYLE

29 Deviance: It's time to stop ignoring online abuse and start questioning the humans behind the trolls, our Deviance editor argues.

March 2016

30 Travel: Think Rio is Brazil’s party capi-

tal? ‘Carnaval’ is celebrated all over the country, and São Paulo’s celebration is catching up…

31 Fashion: We weigh up the personality of Edinburgh Fashion Week among a plethora of similar events.

32 Showcase: Leeds College of Art gra-

duate Ettie Wyatt Gosebruch plays with perspective and perception in her composite photography.

35 Food and Drink: We take a trip to the

beer factory to brew our own beer!

Phagomania has spent some time Googling the fast food joints of the world – here are the shocking results.

REVIEW

39 Music: Bob Mould sheds some light

on dark new opus Patch the Sky while TRAAMS are all about home, sweet home; plus our crack team of reviewers get to grips with new albums by Låpsley, Adam Stafford and Primal Scream.

47 Clubs: All Caps’ own Ryan Martin selects ten of his favourites; plus everything you need to know about clubbing in Scotland this month. That’s right. EVERYTHING.

48 DVD: We watched Audition, Comfort &

Joy and Pigsty. Here’s why you should too.

49 Art: Reviews of Wolfgang Tillmans and

the latest Mary Mary show, plus a look ahead at the March exhibitions highlights.

50 Film: This month we declare Richard

Gere to be both the old and the new Ryan Gosling. Plus, Scotland’s events calendar.

51 Books: The poetry column looks forward to StAnza. Plus our reviews team have scrutinised new releases ranging from Bukowski to Lara Williams.

52 Theatre: Our Agony Aunt returns with

some more advice for you lost thespian souls, while we look forward to the theatrical offerings of Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

53 Comedy: Like LOLs, will travel? Consider

checking out this month’s Melbourne Comedy Festival, as recommended by our Aussie correspondent.

54 Competitions: WIN! WIN! WIN!

FutureEverything tickets OR some lovely chocolate.

55 Listings: Looking for a gig, club, play,

comedy night or art exhibition to attend?

WE’VE GOT SIX PAGES OF THE THINGS.

San Diego post-hardcore 62 Reformed legends Drive Like Jehu curate ATP in

Prestatyn this spring: John ‘Speedo’ Reis gives us the lowdown on the line-up.

63 Under the Influence: From Pop Will Eat

Itself to prestigious soundtrack composer, Clint Mansell explains what he learned from Godspeed, Siouxsie and beyond.

Contents

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Editorial

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his month’s cover has seen many changes in its journey to reach you. While it may seem a bit disturbing and violent now, you should’ve seen how disturbing and violent it was earlier. When your requested amends for the illustrator include ‘Please remove the syringes and spoons. Also the cleaver. Could the knife be removed from the forehead?’ you know you’re doing… something.

‘Also please make the “LA” carved in the statue’s cheek a bit less… swastika-ey.’

This beautiful image is brought to you in celebration of the return of everyone’s favourite psychopath, Francis Begbie, and our exclusive interview with legendary scribe Irvine Welsh ahead of the release of The Blade Artist. In the new novel, Begbie is a successful artist living in LA who returns to Leith when his son is murdered. Welsh offers some insight into the character’s evolution and much else – turn to p10 to read on.

Books also interviews Lara Williams, whose short story collection Treats has led to her being dubbed Manchester’s most exciting new writer.

On our website you can also find words with Booker Prize-winner Yann Martel on his new book, The High Mountains of Portugal, that we weren’t able to fit into this here print edition. Head to theskinny.co.uk/books to see more.

In Music, our Northwest edition’s cover stars Mugstar drop by for a chat. The Liverpool fourpiece have been together for 14 years, but are only now stepping into the spotlight after signing to Rock Action, one of the more legit acts riding the wave of the psych rock revival. Notorious Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman Anton Newcombe consented to be interviewed ahead of his appearance at this month’s Cosmosis festival. Unfortunately he did not inform our writer that this interview was being live streamed online to an audience of his adoring public – find out how our man dealt with this uniquely challenging experience on p15.

We also speak to Detroit post-punkers Protomartyr’s Joe Casey, taking us on a guided tour of recent album The Agent Intellect before they come to Glasgow. Shouty Chichester three-piece TRAAMS fill our New Blood spot, dropping by to talk life on FatCat ahead of their west coast date this month.

Next, we offer up a series of exclusives with musical legends. Punk legend Bob Mould offers an

insight into the personal darkness that informed the forthcoming Patch The Sky, while John Reis is on hand to tell us about how tattoos nearly bankrupted Rocket from the Crypt in the 90s, and also shed some light on his curating stint at the forthcoming ATP Prestatyn. We close the magazine with an exclusive insight into the formative influences of Clint Mansell.

Comedy in March is mostly very very excited about the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

We lead with Richard Gadd, toast of last year’s Fringe, who shares how the uniquely weird experience of being fêted ahead of his one night only performance of Waiting for Gaddot this month. We also discuss death and wanking with Larry Dean, while Larry Langford tells us about his smutty experience writing for TV panel shows.

In Art it’s that time of year again, as RSA New Contemporaries pitches up on the Mound with a survey of the 2015 Scottish degree shows. Our Art editor’s trawled through the line-up to share a few of his favourites. He’s also had a look at the programme for the forthcoming Ignite Dundee, which brings together an array of creative industries and events to celebrate the cultural explosion on the Tay. Finally, last month our Deviance editor attracted the ire of some delightful trolls who presumably popped over from Return of Kings to call her such creative names as ‘whorish clown’ and ‘skeleton slut’, and discuss the ‘miles of cock’ running through her system. Please turn to p29 to read Kate’s considered response to the experience, and her suggestion that our ‘don’t feed the trolls’ mantra is actually a rather ineffective response to a big pile of inhuman bullshit. Maybe it’s time to challenge, rather than tacitly tolerate the online demands for female silence?

[Rosamund West] MARCH'S COVER ARTIST Mike Hughes spends his time trying to answer questions nobody is asking. What would a red squirrel hot dog look like? You can ask Mike if you can find him but it might be less awkward to go to www.m-hughes.com to find out. He insists what he’s doing is super important and clever, we’ll let you be the judge…

Restless Natives festival to debut in Glasgow Taking place in seven venues and studios around Glasgow's East End from 9-15 May, Restless Natives is a cross-platform, multi-venue festival which aims to shine a light on independent music, film, food and drink from Scotland and beyond.

Cardiff 's agit rock underdogs Future of the Left will be joined by Sheffield mathcore champions Rolo Tomassi and guests at the recently opened Saint Luke's on Saturday 14 May, while Canadian composer Tim Hecker and electronic maverick Blanck Mass will commandeer the venue the following evening.

We’re also teaming up with GFT to bring you a special screening of new psychological thriller Couple in a Hole, followed by a Q&A with the producers of the film’s score (Bristolian krautrock disciples BEAK>) on Friday 13 May. Tickets are available now, via restlessnativesfestival.org Full details of further showcases, film nights and talks programmed by the likes of Glasgow Film Theatre, Fuzzkill Records, Nice n' Sleazy, Song,

By Toad and Struggletown will be announced in the coming weeks – keep your eyes on theskinny. co.uk/news Dario Fo festival unveiled This October, Edinburgh will play host to a multiarts festival celebrating the work of influential playwright, actor, director, and all-round artistic polymath Dario Fo in his 90th year. With the working title of Vision and Laughter, the festival will explore the Italian virtuoso’s work through a mixture of theatre, performance, and discussion, alongside an exhibition of Fo’s paintings, sculpture and stage and costume designs.

Outskirts Festival announces 2016 line-up SAY Award-winner Kathryn Joseph teams up with The Twilight Sad frontman James Graham to perform newly written material at this year's Outskirts multi-arts festival at Platform in Glasgow. Also on the bill are Matthew Bourne, playing his new album Moogmemory, jazz duo Herschel 36 performing their new score for ground-breaking German silent film Wunder der Schöpfung, and aerial artist and theatre-maker Ellie Dubois’s performance piece Ringside.

Outskirts have also teamed up with the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts, hosting "nomadic installation" Bitter Rose, Mega Hammer from Jedrzej Cichosz and Turner Prize nominee Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, as well as Hap Up Easterhouse from Platform's artist in residence Mandy McIntosh. Outskirts festival is on 23 April; booking info at platform-online.co.uk Village Storytelling Festival Celebrating 15 years of Glasgow charity The Village Storytelling Centre, the festival blends a range of film screenings, performance pieces, symposia and exhibitions from storytellers from around the globe. The festival will also feature work produced by Glasgow community groups in collaboration with the charity over the past year. Village Storytelling Festival runs from 22-26 March; full details and ticket info can be found at villagestorytelling.org.uk Irvine Welsh & Robert Carlyle Q&A As you’ve no doubt noticed, Irvine Welsh is back with new Begbie novel The Blade Artist. To launch the book, Welsh will be in conversation with Trainspotting star Robert Carlyle to discuss the return of one of literature’s greatest psychos.

Part of Edinburgh International Book Festival's Booked! series, the event is at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on 10 April – tickets are on sale now.

SHIFT/ returns at Scottish Storytelling Centre A smash hit at last year’s Fringe, the SHIFT/ Collective were described as “a Wu-Tang of Scottish spoken word” by yours truly, and now four of their number are reprising their shows over two nights this month.

Harry Giles, Bram E Gieben and Rally & Broad duo Jenny Lindsay and Rachel McCrum present their solo shows (two a night) on Fri 11 & Sat 12 March.

Tickets £10 each or £15 for both nights; read our interview with the SHIFT/ collective at bit.ly/ shiftint

Spot the Difference TWO PRAWNS Feast your eyes, readers: two delicious-looking morsels of tempura prawn, deep-fried to perfection and seemingly identical in every conceivable way.

We’re starving just looking at it (when is our lunch break, anyway?).

But wait! There’s something fishy here. Our designer has shrimped on his duties and shellfishly edited one of these images. Clawful business, we know, but can you use your powers of deduction

to identify the oh-so subtle details that separate the two?

If you think you know the answer, head along to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and tell us your findings. The best or funniest answer will win a copy of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty, courtesy of the bodacious dudes at Canongate.

Competition closes at midnight on Sun 27 Mar. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

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Chat

THE SKINNY

Shot Of The Month

Crystal Baws

BAIO, King Tut's, 23 February by Ryan Johnston

With Mystic Mark

ARIES God made us in his own image, but also in his own flavour. Take a lick of your arm – it tastes just like God’s, but less hairy.

your kitchen with a blast furnace and it works! You simply don’t want to eat any of the food! Each pizza you put in comes out as a much healthier solid scalding black disc, sausages crumble into ash when touched and lasagnes come out piping hot and on fire.

TAURUS After you leave your bomb at the wrong train station you ring lost property to get it back and are shocked to find you are charged a £10 administration fee.

This only stiffens your resolve to bring down Western civilisation.

SCORPIO You keep telling yourself that sucking a virtual monster cock online isn’t cheating.

SAGITTARIUS You’re ruled by jobless, overweight Jupiter.

GEMINI Lifting weights this month you push your organs out of your bum like a squeezed spot.

CAPRICORN This month you convince the betting shop to take your bet that they will make a net profit from all the other suckers in the betting shop.

CANCER As the last bitter nights of winter draw to their ebb, you get cosy and have some relaxing nights in buttchugging fine whisky by a roaring fire with a smooth cigar.

AQUARIUS Gardening in the depths of winter you uncover an unusual new root vegetable.

Brown, hard and smelling faintly of cat poo, you bring the new discovery inside and boil it up for a taste test.

To your amazement a few days later you find some has grown in the litter tray.

You must have dropped some seeds when you brought the first batch in.

LEO Your flatmates can always tell you’re masturbating when they hear you shouting “enhance” at your computer through the wall.

VIRGO The government keeps mistakenly referring to you as a person and trying to make you pay taxes.

twitter.com/themysticmark facebook.com/themysticmark

jockmooney.co.uk

LIBRA You hear on Richard & Judy that burning calories is the only sure fire way to lose weight, so you replace the oven in

PISCES You need to learn to let shit go, otherwise you’ll burst.

Berlinale: Mia Hansen-Løve’s, Things to Come

Online Only

Next month we'll be very excited about the arrival of the biennial Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art with a series of previews and interviews with the exhibiting artists. We'll also have some words with comedian Katherine Ryan, while music talks to Future of the Left (ahead of their Restless Natives appearance in Glasgow), Emma Pollock and Lush. Remember Lush? Lush are back, and they're talking to us.

Emma Pollock

March 2016

Credit: Rita Azevedo

April Issue Out 29 Mar

theskinny.co.uk/comedy Stu Goldsmith of the Comedian’s Comedian podcast fills us in on his debut UK tour, handily coinciding with the impending birth of his first child – good luck, Stu – while we’ve put together a guide to some of our favourite comedy podcasts for your listening pleasure.

theskinny.co.uk/travel Following on from last month’s travel special, we’ve compiled even more guides to some of the world’s greatest cities, all written by people who actually live there and know where everything is.

Read our guides to New York, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Madrid & more at theskinny.co.uk/travel

theskinny.co.uk/books Fancy the joy of an in-depth book club discussion without the pesky reading schedule? Our rundown of the best literary YouTubers and podcasts is here to help fill that book-shaped hole in your life.

theskinny.co.uk/film Festival season is now in full swing – get the rundown on a politically-charged and action-packed Berlin Film Festival with our festival recap, and catch up all the happenings from last month’s Glasgow Film Festival over at theskinny.co.uk/ cineskinny.

Opinion

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Scotland’s International Poetry festival StAnza (it takes place in St Andrews, geddit?) continues after kicking off on 2 March. Check out poet-perfumer Rebecca Sharp’s exhibition in The Preservation Trust Museum, in which scent and language come together as a ‘holistic creative practice’. The Old Chemist’s, St Andrew’s, 1pm

Beta & Kappa

Itchy Feet

Wed 9 Mar

Woody Pines brings an eve of soulful rockabilly lilting and gorgeous crackly vox to The Trav’s Soundhouse residency.

As someone admits to singing with a mouthful of bread as a child to ‘try and sound like an old man’, you can guarantee this fella's dedicated to authenticity of the Southern timbre. The Traverse, Edinburgh, 8pm, £11

Celebrate International Women’s Day with the likes of Orla O’Loughlin (artistic director at the Traverse) and Alice Strang (exhibition curator at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) as they share their experiences as women in the arts; plus live music from Festival Theatre Vintage Chorus and The Megaphone Choir. Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 12pm, free

After last year’s airing of the critically acclaimed documentary Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise, CCA welcomes the band responsible for the soundtrack – none other than Mogwai – along with director Mark Cousins for a charity eve of live music and discussion ahead of Mogwai’s April release Atomic. CCA Glasgow, 7pm, £3

Woody Pines

Anne Finlay, 1920

Credit: Courtesy of Dr D. A. Sutherland and Lady J. E. Sutherland

Tue 8 Mar

Credit: Emily Wylde

Mon 7 Mar

Rebecca Sharp

Mogwai

Mon 14 Mar

Tue 15 Mar

After kicking off on the tenth, Glasgow International Comedy Festival continues with Richard Gadd’s ridiculous yet irresistibly funny Waiting for Gaddot. Almost unanimously a fave of the Fringe in our comedy section, catch it on the west coast while you can. The Stand, Glasgow, 5.30pm, £7-8

…And, before you’ve slept off the hilarity of Sunday, ride the comedy wave into Monday with Bridget Christie’s A Book for Her, a live performance follow up to her critically acclaimed book of the same name. Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 8pm, £13-15

One of The Skinny's picks of CCA's Jan / Feb programme Palestinian Embroidery: Empowering Women and Strengthening Communities. Designer Claire Anderson leads a series of workshops which focus on Palestine's rich heritage of domestic textile techniques. Glasgow Women’s Library, Tuesdays until 5 April, 11am-1pm, free

Bridget Christie

Waiting for Gaddot

Palestinian Embroidery: Empowering Women and Strengthening Communities

Mon 21 Mar

Adam Stafford

Credit: Iona Spence (flickr)

Sun 20 Mar Former Y’all Is Fantasy Island main man Adam Stafford gets set to launch his first album in three years, Taser Revelations, playing a set full’a alt-pop goodness, catchy melodies and the occasional ‘samurai-guitar attack’ to mark the occasion. Support from the likes of Robbie Lesiuk and Wolf. The Hug & Pint, 7.30pm, £8

Credit: Marcus Oakley

Sat 19 Mar Catch the latter portion of a double Reekie! whammy; On 18 March Neu! Reekie! pull down the projector screen to unveil their Anywhere But The Cities tour documentary with GSFF at The Art School, before sweetening up your Saturday with an Aye Write! showcase featuring the likes of Scottish hip-hopper Loki and dreamy weaver of words and chords RM Hubbert. Mitchell Library, 7.30pm, £12

Credit: Idil Sukan

Sun 13 Mar

Bloc’s very own Monday night community music project, an ‘orchestra of the people’ continues.

Throughout the month, Blochestra welcomes musicians to arrange and rehearse classic and contemporary pop covers, culminating in a monthly live set at the end of each month.

Catch this month’s roundup at Bloc+, 9pm, free Blochestra

Fri 25 Mar

Sat 26 Mar

Sun 27 Mar

Sure, Glasgow Restaurant Festival doesn’t kick off until 1 April, but you foodies needn't fret. The festival's Spiegeltent will be prematurely assembled, playing host to a week of 'secret dining' evenings with live entertainment and special guest chefs quite literally cooking up an absolute storm (if we know Glasgow’s climate).

Candleriggs Square, Glasgow, 12-10pm, £5

Filmmaking collective Digital Desperados screen the deliriously fierce and funny Tangerine, Sean Baker's critically acclaimed movie filmed entirely on an iPhone. Trans sex worker gets out of prison, finds out mid-doughnut that her boyfriend has been cheating with a cis woman, loses her absolute shit. Worth your time and all to raise dollar for charity LGBT Unity. CCA, 7pm, by donation

Easter Sunday or Such a Drag's first birthday?

If you're more interested in the latter, get glitterbombed at Electric Circus's celebration of a whole year's uninhibited mayhem. Sure, Jesus just rose from the dead, but also, drag queens. It's practically a no brainer – sorry 'bout it.

Electric Circus 10.30pm, free

Tangerine

Glasgwo Restaurant Festival

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Chat

Credit: Stephanie de Leng

As if Itchy Feet’s longawaited return to Edinburgh wasn’t heart-bendingly exciting enough, the retro rock’n’roll-ska-funk DJ collective have earmarked their March event as a thoroughly Elvis themed affair. Time to dig out those blue suede shoes (if you happen to own a pair of blue suede shoes). Studio 24, Edinburgh, 11pm, £7

Credit: Derek Robertson

Who says you can't rocket launch into March with a midweek night at Subbie? Not us. Catch Boogaloo going up against i AM residents Beta & Kappa and indulge in a bit of well deserved Tuesday techno revelry.

It'll be worth the humpday hangover. Promise.

Sub Club, Glasgow, 11pm, £5



Such A Drag

THE SKINNY

Credit: Ingrid Mur

With a grand total of eight(ish) festivals, Easter weekend, Mothering Sunday, International Women's Day and a whole lot more besides, Scotland's culture scene is well and truly your oyster this month. Go and gallivant, you fun-seeking pearl, you.

Thu 3 Mar

Credit: Anna Velikova

Compiled by: Kate Pasola

Wed 2 Mar

Credit: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Heads Up

Tue 1 Mar

Sun 6 Mar

Wee Dub Fest returns, stirring up a weekend full of squidgy reggae dub and soundsystem vibes on the Cowgate. Mash House and La Belle will fuse to become a mega-dub-hub, and on Friday they welcome the likes of jungle collective Chopstick Dubplate and the legendary Dubdadda.

La Belle Angèle & The Mash House, 7pm, Session 1 tickets £10, weekend pass £38

Edinburgh Fashion Week launch their 2016 return with all sorts of opening weekend excitement tonight. Get a little sartorial guidance from the best in the industry, peruse collections and get yourself along to their charity fashion show and auction.

The Mound, Edinburgh, 5-6 March, ticket prices vary.

Ever heard of the Scottish Snowdrop Festival?

Well, you have now. Take advantage of The Botanic Gardens’ Snowdrop and Early Spring tours and festoon your Mothering Sunday with some of Edinburgh’s finest floral offerings. And it’d be criminal not to stick around for a scone in the Gateway, too.

The Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, 11am, £5 Edinburgh Fashion Week

Mungo's Hi-Fi

Snowdrop Festival

Thu 10 Mar

Fri 11 Mar

Sat 12 Mar

Today's your first opportunity to get stuck into Glasgow's ten-day book festival Aye Write!. Our very own Books Editor reckons you should give homophonous participant and poet performer Luke Wright and his set What I Learned from Johnny Bevan a go – read more at theskinny.co.uk/books.

Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 6pm, £9

There's a reason chilledout retirees opt for bingo as a pastime – it's actually bloody great. Mock all you like, but you'll look ever so silly when the likes of Flying Duck's Bingo night go mainstream. Get your dabber ready, win some free stuff and remind yourself you're not an OAP by sticking around for their 90s party afterwards.

Flying Duck, Glasgow, 9pm, £3-5

Glasgow Alternative & Burlesque Fair returns – this time on steroids. Its 2016 return will expand to fill the O2 ABC, complete with around fifty stalls, live entertainment and aerial performance, a selection of bars and, of course, afternoon tea served up by Lil’s Parlour.

O2 ABC, 12-6pm, £5-8

Luke Wright

Bingo night

Thu 17 Mar

Fri 18 Mar

Glasgow Short Film Festival settles into the Glasgow's Marchtime festival mania by opening with a response to Dawn Cine Group’s unfinished 1956 documentary Lost Treasures. Wounded Knee, Hamish Brown and filmmaker Minttu Mäntynen hope to tie up a couple of frayed ends through audio-visuals and live performance.

GFT Cinema 1, 9pm, £10

Returning for another year of championing Scotland's budding artists, from 5-30 March RSA New Contemporaries will showcases 61 art graduates cherry picked from the 2015 degree shows. Those intrigued about the artists’ work and practices can find out more in RSA’s discussion event Creative Conversations.

RSA, 6.30pm, free but ticketed

Rally & Broad have yet another stunner planned, this time an eve of musical and poetic sessions orbiting the theme of newness.

First Editions will feature songwriter Amy Duncan, raconteur Hannah McGill, poet Ellen Renton, a performance from the award winning Ross Sutherland and music from ULTRAS. Catch an equally wicked line-up on Friday at Stereo, too. Bongo, Edinburgh, 7.30pm, £5-6

RSA New Contemporaries

Lost Treasures

Credit: Miriam Chefrad, Film Still from Fragments (2015)

Wed 16 Mar

Tue 22 Mar

Wed 23 Mar

Thu 24 Mar

Theatre with music needn’t be all tits and teeth. Exhibit A: I Am Thomas, a BrechtWeill-style brutal comedy about Thomas Aikenhead, an Edinburgh medic (and total smart-arse) who was the last man to be executed for blasphemy in Britain after mouthing off in the pub. The Lyceum, 23 Mar-9 Apr, times and prices vary.

Gird your geeky loins for the Science Festival (26 Mar-10 Apr); the next week is thriving with terrifically nerdy activities.

Recommendation #1: Science Festival Lates at the City Art Centre, an opening event in which the flagship family venue’s child orientated exhibits are open to the Peter Pans of the Scottish public. City Art Centre, 7.30pm, £9-11

Hannah Jones

I am Thomas

Science Festival Lates

Wed 30 Mar

Spend your Bank Holiday Easter Monday clogging up those arteries with the most sacred of foods: Easter Eggs! A delightful day out for excitable kiddywinks – go choc-hunting on an Alice in Wonderland Easter trail at Rabbie Burns' birthplace, just outside of Glasgow. Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway, 11am-4pm, admission plus £1 per trail

A rather palatable sounding event within Edinburgh International Science Festival’s programme: Adventures in Viticulture. Also known as ‘a night of hanging out with some rather esteemed sommeliers and trying to retain the fascinating wisdom they’re imparting despite being mildly winehammered’. Summerhall, Edinburgh, 8pm, £15

Zelda / GTA 5 / Assassin's Creed wearing a bit thin?

Ah, don't pursue other hobbies – just create your own video game instead!

The Science Fest slamdunks a hattrick with their Kodu Video Game Design workshop in which you can create your very own game using simple icon-based programming and an Xbox controller. Achievement unlocked. Summerhall, 10.30am, £15

March 2016

Adventures in Viticulture



Credit: Roberto Verzo (flickr)

Tue 29 Mar

Credit: Rebecca Sims (flickr)

Mon 28 Mar

Alice in Wonderland Easter trail

Alternative & Burlesque Fair

Rally & Broad

Join the good folk at GSA and Platform to take a look at Excuse Me Boys, Where Do You Think You're Going, an exhibition of work from final year Sculpture and Environmental Art students of 2016. The site specific artworks feature sculpture, sound, film and performance.

Until 29 March, Platform, Glasgow, times vary, free

Credit: *Psyche Delia*(flickr)

Sat 5 Mar

Kodu Video Game Design

Chat

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Credit: Chris Scott

Fri 4 Mar

S RE AT U FE

Psycho Killer, Qui Es-Tu? Begbie is back, with the April publication of The Blade Artist and Danny Boyle’s sequel to Trainspotting filming in May. Ahead of his promotional tour, we get an exclusive early insight from Irvine Welsh into the life of everybody’s favourite psycho Interview: Alan Bett Illustration: Mike Hughes

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ou ken me, I’m no the type of cunt that goes looking for fuckin’ bother, like, but at the end of the day Irvine Welsh is over ten minutes late for this interview and… ah, all’s well, here he comes now, swaggering into the bar ‘casual like’, ready to discuss his new Begbie book, The Blade Artist. It’s just gone past midday and almost Christmas. A beer would certainly not be frowned upon.

The Trainspotting author instantly rejects the idea though, opting only for the table water already laid out. He’s slightly fatigued you see, having been pulled happily back and forth between football, family dos and bevy sessions over the last week or so – something he explains is par for the course on these regular return visits to his native Scotland, from Chicago, the city he now calls home.

We share a handshake and small talk, yet introductions are unnecessary for the iconic Francis Begbie; his creation, his monster. This member of the Leith radge royalty has entered popular culture and common language, almost now an adjective. He has menaced the pages of Welsh’s work in novels Trainspotting (1993), Porno (2002) and Skagboys (2012); also cameoing in Glue (2001) and shorter pieces, including the Big Issue Christmas story in 2013 which sparked the original concept for The Blade Artist. He was of course made flesh so memorably in the screen adaptation; Robert Carlyle adopting a psychotic, Joe Pesci powder-keg style for ferocious and highly quotable scenes. Danny Boyle’s sequel finally begins filming this May and Welsh is making positive noises today in respect of scriptwriter John Hodge’s new screenplay.

When we catch up with Franco in the new novel, he’s living as a reformed ex-con in California.

A successful sculptor of brutalised celebrity busts, working under the close pseudonym Jim Francis.

It was a necessary transformation Welsh felt, when picking up his story. ‘For the Little Beggar Boy it’s death or life imprisonment’, muses Sick Boy in Porno, Trainspotting’s print follow-up. “… and there’s nothing really dramatic about those two things,” Welsh suggests today. “So he had to have some kind of major epiphany, a change in his behaviour which made him an interesting character again. That gave him a new lease of life.”

His rehabilitation is severely tested when dragged back to Edinburgh to deal with the murder (and, possibly the murderer) of his estranged son. And so, a brooding expectation of violence hangs over The Blade Artist. Will the old gunslinger pick up his iron? “Yeah.”

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Welsh agrees, laughing. “Gary Cooper, High Noon kinda thing, like?

“It’s like anything,” he continues. “When people get a reputation for something it’s very hard for them to be perceived in a different way. There’s also that pride element there. They think, this is what I am, I’ve worked hard for it, it’s become my self-identity. So it’s also hard for them to let go of that.” He talks of ex-nutters he knew around town, now duly reformed into family men. The inherent struggle within that transformation. “I think it takes a massive shift in ego to get there. “[Previous novel] A Decent Ride was all slapstick humour and laughter, so I wanted this one to be much more dramatic,” he explains, when conversation moves onto The Blade Artist’s fastpaced, whodunit format. But it’s a thriller in the mode of Tarantino making war films or westerns; hiding grand themes within genre.

“What I was wanting to do was not make him that stereotyped guy,” Welsh suggests when [real life reformed gangster] Jimmy Boyle’s name is brought up. “…the hard man who becomes an artist... I wanted to make him somebody who actually really still liked violence and had learned to play a game, to hide in plain sight.

“Now we’re understanding the psychotic nature of politicians who can send people to war and send people to die, and bomb villages and schools and pretend it’s for some kind of greater good… what constitutes sociopathic behaviour is changing, we’re realising it’s something that people can embrace or take on, or be kind of

corrupted by as well.” And in a similar vein, the new novel fills out the early environment that moulded the boy Begbie into the psychopath. The nurture side of the coin. “If he’d grown up in a rich wealthy family he might have got into politics and business and done it all that way.” Welsh argues. “But he didn’t have these choices and there was the whole physical aspect that was very, very apparent in his early socialisation.”

Perhaps this all explains why The Blade Artist is shorter than previous offerings.

“I thought I don’t want to be in his head for too long,” the author confesses, listing the tormented characters of Bruce Robertson (Filth) and Roy Strang (Maribou Stork Nightmares) as additions to this dark assembly. Begbie’s violently psychotic mind is one Welsh has inhabited, intermittently, since the 1993 publication of his breakthrough novel, and masterpiece. Trainspotting is a work which now exists in the wake of its own reputation. At times it rides that wave, occasionally it’s pulled under.

“I think what’s happened is that now the book has become something else,” Welsh says. “It’s become the film and the play and now the formal follow-up to [the screen adaptation].

I think Porno and Skagboys have become subsumed into the whole Trainspotting thing as well, people don’t think of them as separate books. It’s become something a lot bigger than I intended it to be.

“One of the enduring things about Trainspotting and its characters, the enduring thing about Fight Club, the enduring thing about American Psycho, in some ways I think these three were the real novels in the 90s that have stood the test of time, because they were really about the transition from one type of society to another.”

And this moves us to the crux of the novel, laying bare a general misunderstanding – that it’s simply a drug book. “To me, drugs are indicative of the transition to a non-working economy,”

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Welsh says. And this reveals some truth in the comments of the literary critic Sam Leith, that he is much more interested in teleology than sociology – cause and purpose. “If there’s nothing else, drugs will fill in the gap. They’re just a filler basically… but they do provide compelling drama for youth and for people who get through work in offices and factory life.”

“Now we’re understanding the psychotic nature of politicians who can send people to war and send people to die and bomb villages and schools” Irvine Welsh

The world has turned however since the social conditions Trainspotting chronicled, when Thatcherism drained working class self-worth, and some refilled the resulting emptiness with hard drugs. “As the next part of that transition you’re seeing the failure of the economy for middle class people,” Welsh suggests today. “In ten years’ time people are going to stop going to universities because there’s no jobs for them, and why should they pay the universities and the banks all this money?”

Cut back to August 2015. Alex Salmond is interviewing Paul Mason – author of PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future – on the Edinburgh International Book Festival stage. Welsh is spotted in the crowd and handpicked by the former First Minister to begin the audience Q&A. Those same topics discussed that day are feeding into much of our conversation today: of food banks for the erstwhile working classes, while the middle classes have all they’ve saved stripped away by kids on unpaid

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internships, unable to leave home until they’re 40. “People of my generation and the generation younger, they’re wedded into this idea that somehow there’s going to be a return to this postwar thing again, back to the status quo… we’ll have a strong but benign central state authority who’ll ration goods fairly; but it’s never going to happen.” Many of the titanic societal shifts Mason predicts are accepted by Welsh today with a wry smile and a shrug: an unravelling economy, parallel currencies, neoliberalism crumbling into the sea. “I see this as a very exciting time to be alive basically, because these transitions are deep and they’re systemic…

I’m quite optimistic.”

But some changes may be a step too far. It only takes a wander around his old stomping ground Leith to discover that gentrification is fast eradicating the old Trainspotting landscape, meaning many Welsh books now stand as period pieces. Even The Volley has perished, the bar where Begbie once played pool, ‘like Paul fuckin’ Newman by the way.’ “The Volunteer now, yeah…” Welsh laments. Begbie probably less so.

While in Porno, he rails at the introduction of Asian eateries; their confusing neckwear implications – ‘Fuckin’ tie café? What the fuck is this cunt on aboot?’ – as a nouveau cosmopolitan sculptor in The Blade Artist, he looks upon his former fiefdom in disdain. “I wanted him not to like where he’d came from… because he was always the Leith patriot,” Welsh says. “He’s always like, ‘If it’s no Leith, fuck it!’ And now he’s like, ‘Fuck Leith!’” The real-life Chicago writer in disagreement with the fictional Californian sculptor.

“He’s very down on Edinburgh, which is not what I feel. I feel very positive when I come back.”

A few days before our conversation, The Scotsman ruffle feathers with a politically motivated provocation piece: labelling Scotland’s independence supporting artists as useful idiots, naïvely complicit in Government cuts to creative funding. Welsh, a vocal YES supporter, is unaware of the feature as we speak, but answers more

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generally on the subject. “You have to speak the truth to power. That’s in some ways a job of the artist… You have to because nobody else is really.

Politicians now, and their apologists in the media, they’re all a cabal basically saying the same thing.

It’s funny that in some ways the artists… they’ve always had this mantle of opposition foisted on them.”

He deals with the messenger more directly in the text of the new novel – while Begbie battles his violent temptations, the author aims third person shots at a certain Edinburgh based broadsheet: ‘… the paper has decanted from its showcase, custom-built headquarters by the Scottish Parliament to a broom cupboard out at Orchard Brae. Sure enough, it has the shabby, beaten, depressive tone and content of a publication on its last legs.’ A mention of these words elicits the day’s heartiest gust of laughter. “Ha! It’s amazing that it’s still alive.” He chuckles. “I mean I know how it’s still alive, just because people buy the Evening News for Hibs/Hearts and they subsidise The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday… its politics have barely changed from the 1950s.” If, as Welsh feels, such mainstream media channels are increasingly irrele-vant in the modern political debate, the alternative is obvious. “Social media,” Welsh, the serial tweeter suggests. “It’s much more full of ideas. If your only idea is to say, ‘Awww, we’re better together, we’re part of this union, it’s good.’ If that’s all you can really say, then you’re not going to excite a whole new generation.”

The literary press has aimed their own attacks at the author, often pigeon-holing his work as statically and parochially Scottish working class.

The prescribed opinion is that he’s worked in ever decreasing circles since his debut – a partial truth perhaps, yet far from a constant or simplistic trend. If an artist’s only responsibility is to their masterpiece, it seems unfair to blame Welsh for hitting his own straight off the bat. He’s also keen to point out that any accusations of limited horizons lie contrary to his life experience. “I think it’s been to my advantage that I’ve lived all over.” He says. “I’ve lived most of my adult life in London, I lived in America for 7 years now, lived in Dublin for 5 years, lived in Holland for 2 years.”

Welsh left school at 16, then moved on from an electrical apprenticeship after being severely electrocuted while fixing a television. He followed the punk

dream of the late 70s, moving to London to play in bands: grotty bedsits, multiple menial jobs, eventual theft and scams. And of course the now well-documented drug addiction. His financial break could just have easily been a neck break: falling out the top deck of a bus during a traffic accident and receiving two grand compensation. He invested the money in a mortgage, turning over the flat and turning profit on it and then more throughout the 80s property boom – the smug face of the Thatcherite system he condemns in so much of his writing. Welsh returned to Edinburgh in the late 80s for a regular pay packet, put himself through an MBA, started writing, and for the sake of this potted history the rest can be recounted through the many books he’s now published to great acclaim and with sales figures many thousands of times over Trainspotting’s paltry original print run of 3000. It’s a backdrop more varied and complex than some credit him or his writing.

“Drugs are indicative of the transition to a non-working economy”

other, we left Edinburgh the very same year to go to London. We did a British Council gig in Guadalajara a couple of weeks ago and he’s always described as ‘British writer Philip Kerr’ and I’m described as ‘Scottish writer Irvine Welsh.’” Then, with a smile, he thrusts the knife. “Partly cause he’s a Jambo as well, likes.” We bring things to a close today by enquiring about the future for his Trainspotting brood. “We’ll see how they get on,” he says in conclusion. When they come back on screen as well… as much as I try not to be influenced by screen and stage stuff and live in the world I’m with, John’s [Hodge] done some very interesting things with the screenplay so it’s added to the whole thing and it’s teaching me a bit more about the characters as well.”

It’s fun to imagine their twilight years, raising merry hell in an old folk’s home perhaps. Sick Boy charming nurses, Spud gobbling down meds.

“I think there might be one more big story left in them, I’m not sure.” Welsh contemplates. “We live in such crazy times that people’s ego and narcissism won’t let them get old in a way that they used to, they basically go on until they drop.”

Irvine Welsh

“I’m much more cosmopolitan than some fucker who’s taken off to London for 6 months and thinks they’re mister swinging big dick because they’ve eaten in some ethnic restaurant or something like that,” he says today. “I’m a lot more cosmopolitan and internationalist than most of the people who in other ways try and criticise me for that.” These criticisms often originate from class issues he feels. The up market, West End cellar bar we now inhabit has slim street level windows, behind where the author sits. A catwalk of feet stride past; formal heels and brogues. Edinburgh is geographically small, so while we’re a stone’s throw from the housing scheme Welsh grew up in on the north side, it’s often perceived as a cultural leap. “It’s funny,” he says, “because [author] Philip Kerr; we were born basically at the same time, grew up around three miles away from each

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The Blade Artist is out 7 Apr in hardback Irvine Welsh is speaking at Glasgow Aye Write (5 Apr), St Andrews Town Hall (6 Apr) and Albert Halls in Stirling (6 Apr) For tickets and more information about the UK tour, visit: facebook.com/irvinewelshauthor

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For All Seasons One of Liverpool’s longest-serving bands are finally starting to get their just rewards: Mugstar’s Jason Stoll on how both the psych community and their own lack of expectations helped

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on’t be fooled by the fact that it’s the now arena-striding Tame Impala who appear to have emerged at the top of the pile in the wake of the much-debated psychedelic rock revival.

The ‘success’ of the movement – depending on how you want to define that – really came for the clutch of veteran UK acts who had long been bowing at the temple of hypnotic repetition in the shadows of the noughties. The critical reverence was given to acts like The Heads, Hey Colossus and Gnod – the latter named The Guardian’s New Band of the Day at the height of psych fever, some seven years into their existence.

It’s a phenomenon that bassist Jason Stoll – who makes up the similarly weathered Liverpool kosmiche explorers Mugstar, alongside guitarists Peter Smyth, Neil Murphy and drummer Steve Ashton – knowingly chuckles at when this is posited to him regarding his own group. They’ve been together 14 years, yet the forthcoming release of their new LP, Magnetic Seasons, on the Mogwairun Rock Action label makes it probably the highest profile of their records to date. Yet Stoll is quick to dispel any cynicism. “I think it’s been great!” he enthuses. “I’ve been into psychedelia since I was quite young, so for it to be in vogue for a few years now has really opened doors for us.

We’d played with a lot of indie bands, a lot of metal bands, but the past few years has seen us play with a lot more groups we feel more aligned with.”

That’s true enough; a thousand or so were in attendance for their show at the inaugural Liverpool Psych Fest in 2012 and from there they’ve gone on to appear at its Eindhoven counterpoint, Psych Lab, and Austin Psych Fest, the Black Angels-founded mecca for touring guitar bands seeking enrichment of the third eye. The opening up of this community has allowed the band to tour Europe, and for Stoll personally to connect with and release music by the likes of Acid Mothers Temple, Bardo Pond and Teeth of The Sea through his own God Unknown Records.

piece for crossover arts project Kubilai Khan Investigations, which was interpreted by contemporary dancers in Roubaix, France. “We went to northern France and rehearsed in this 150year-old warehouse for five days working with the dancers,” Stoll explains. “It was a totally different dynamic, a different kind of emotion. It really changed our perception on getting into a mindset for playing; seeing all the exercises the dancers would undergo to warm themselves up made us think more about working ourselves into what we were doing.”

It’s these more recent experiences, alongside touring with the likes of new labelmates Mogwai and subsequently taking their sound into larger concert halls, that have combined for Magnetic Seasons. In the space of seven intense days last spring, the album’s tracks were recorded often on second or even first takes and then mixed at Liverpool’s Whitewood Studios. The feeling of consideration that permeates the record then belies a process that existed very much in the moment. “It’s that thing of feeling the need to be in a mindset,” says Stoll. “I couldn’t record something and then come back six weeks later to look at it again. It’s about where you’re at there and then, but being able to set up and utilise the space and surroundings around that.”

As an album, Magnetic Seasons exists on a bedrock of tried and trusted formulas of granite guitars crashing down on the cerebrum – take first track Unearth’s formidable opening salvo, which bristles and flexes under a spiritually evocative vocal hum, while Time Machine’s riff-andrepeat space rock is effortlessly exhilarating in its acceleration. Yet from these totems come moments of real atmospheric expanse and intri-

gue, where space begins to dominate the clutter and breathing becomes easier. It’s simple to point to the album’s sprawling, near-18-minute final track as the clearest example of this, but it’s actually the smaller moments of clarity amidst the surrounding fury that are more effective: the sombreness that underpins the resurgent constancy of Remember the Breathing, or La Vallee’s brief dip into dusty cosmic blues.

“It’s a bit more freeform in a way,” Stoll agrees. “As a band there’s a definite subconsciousness to what we’re doing now too. Steve can just do something on the drums and the whole band will suddenly come down, or Pete’ll play something and it’ll suddenly become louder. It automatically happens without thinking about it.

I’m really happy about it! A lot of musicians obviously say they never listen to their records once they’ve done them but I keep finding new things to draw me in – it’s still exciting to me.”

That the record is coming out on Rock Action offers a modicum of stability too for a group whose early period was punctuated by a flurry of albums, split 7”s and limited CD-R releases.

Previous full-lengths have appeared on respected but far-flung labels like US indie Important and Agitated (Carlton Melton, Icarus Line). Even having something like a publicist isn’t something the group have particularly been used to. “They’ve been very supportive,” says Stoll of Rock Action.

“They want to encourage and nurture and make their records as significant as possible. It feels like that has taken it a step further for us, having pretty much been self-financed in the past.”

Up until this point, the four-piece had largely been slow burners of the most gradually blueing flame. Though always cherished by their native

Interview: Simon Jay Catling Photography: Lucy Ridges

Liverpool, the first eight years or so following their post-Millennium inception saw the thunder and fury of early riff crunchers like their Sea Records-released self-titled LP and its followup, Lime, very much a cult concern beyond Merseyside. John Peel fans with good memories remember them as the band who recorded the final Peel Session of the late DJ’s career, while followers of seminal American proto-grunge group Mudhoney might recall their visceral cover of Hawkwind’s Born to Go as part of a split 7” in 2008. To survive 14 years in the underground is no mean feat – to do so with their founding members still intact is even more impressive. “I was thinking about this the other day and the amount of bands we’ve played with who aren’t around anymore,” muses Stoll. “We’ve never really had a direct goal and that’s allowed us to continue.

With each record it still feels like the creative process is developing.”

Mugstar’s constant renewal is something Liverpool’s music community is primed for, following the recent demise of institutions like the Kazimier and MelloMello. A lack of suitable venues is the reason given for the group’s album launch taking place down the Ship Canal at Salford’s Islington Mill. Stoll, though is hopeful for the future. “Historically Liverpool’s always been a city that regenerates itself; sure, The Kazimier going is sad, but other things will happen. It’s a thriving, diverse community really.” No better place is that reflected, than the output of the city’s most evolutionary heads.

Magnetic Seasons is released on 4 Mar via Rock Action Playing Islington Mill, Salford on 3 Mar mugstar.com

“ Liverpool’s always been a city that regenerates itself” Jason Stoll

Yet if Mugstar’s frequent presence on the reinvigorated psych rock circuit suggests a sound still indebted to the shared love of Hawkwind that played a part in bringing them together, the reality is somewhat different. “For me a psych band isn’t necessarily just having jangly 60ssounding guitars; there’s a whole melting pot of different styles of music to be considered psychedelia. For me, it has made more extreme or challenging music a bit more palatable for a lot of people.”

Stoll is speaking to The Skinny off the back of revisiting Ad Marginem live at a show in Bristol.

Originally conceived with filmmaker Liam Yates, the film sought to embed the group right into the creative process of not just the music, but the story itself, as co-creators. First surfacing in 2010, the resultant music was a brooding, minimalist take on motorik, based around a film depicting abstract shadows of Liverpool’s past.

In 2014, they created a specially commissioned

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My Little Underground Beyond Anton’s antics, we cast our gaze over the coming instalment of Cosmosis Festival

Photo: Stuart Moulding

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Communication Breakdown Ahead of The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s appearance at Manchester’s Cosmosis festival later this month, we get to chat with the band’s hyperreal driving force. Well, we think we did…

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Cue further minutes of animated pontification on global affairs.

Anton Newcombe was born in 1967, growing up in the affluent Californian suburb of Newport Beach, and obsessed with music from an early age.

“My mom and my babysitter saw that I loved records so much that they went out and got me a record player.” He was two years old, by all accounts.

“Of course I had all the Beatles records, but it never occurred to me that I could play music until I discovered punk and post-punk. When you’re watching somebody like Bowie on TV, there’s nothing that he ever does that could lead you to believe that you could be David Bowie; at the time I was into everything, but the punk thing helped out.

“The America that I’m in love with doesn’t exist anymore.

It’s bullshit” Anton Newcombe

“I saw the Mary Chain play,” he adds, remembering that we’re supposed to be talking about the forthcoming Cosmosis festival (before rattling off a list of pretty much every important UK act from the late 70’s). It’s this Anglophilia that’s always flavoured Newcombe’s own particular brand of laconic psychedelia… but growing up in Orange County, did he understand the reference points behind British music of the time?

“I certainly did, because when my sister and I started getting into Crass we knew about the economy and Thatcher. CND and all that other stuff – they took being on the front line, whereas America was so aggressive, going ‘Russia, we’re ready. Look at us, we’re John Wayne,’ and people in the UK were like ‘We don’t want all your bases here because we’re targets – it’s pointless.’”

The above is delivered bam-bam-bam, no pause for

breath, and it’s this intensity that suggests he’s talking at you, not with. Which is when things start growing a little weird. Tangents, cross-purposes, buried context. A question is asked about Ringo Deathstarr – also playing Cosmosis – whose lysergic shoegaze and punned moniker both owe a debt to the Newcombe aesthetic; instead, he repeats an oft-told story he’s spun to more than one journalist in the past, claiming that “When I started the band we were called Blur. Later, I picked up a Melody Maker and there was a new band called Blur, so I said to myself that I’m going to make up a name that no-one has ever thought of.”

Which may or may not be true; the point being that you’re never quite sure if he’s being straightup. Even a cursory chat with the BJM’s only constant (as with The Fall, the roll call of past and present members would struggle to all fit on a bus – the main difference being that musicians tend to return to the fold in Anton’s world) indicates a fierce intelligence, and passion undimmed by middle age. And after flying almost too close to the sun during the last two decades, ridding himself of his distractions has seen the band’s reputation rebooted, the recent albums – 2014’s Revelation; Musique de Film Imaginé, and Mini Album Thingy Wingy, both from last year – representing fluid additions to the contemporary psych canon (while also echoing the rich, playful, and above all honest textures of the earlier material).

Yet wavelengths can be challenging constructs, the frequencies that Anton broadcasts on – internet platform aside – far from easy to tune into. We never learn why the phone line failed, or the party responsible (let’s just say we have our suspicions). But later, online, while speaking of his disbelief that we didn’t call back with twinkle very much in eye, he dedicates a song in our direction before heading back to domesticity; it’s a display of warmth betraying an unexpected affection – no wonder he attracts so many complex adjectives.

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Yet such a headlining triptych only scratches the surface of what the 40+ bands and DJs will be placing before the masses. Highly influential artrock veterans Wire will juxtapose the odd crowd pleaser with tracks from their just-announced new mini-album, while of Montreal will get to tease with their umpteenth new direction. The Raveonettes’ chic noise, NYC spacerock courtesy of White Hills, the cerebral post-metal of Deafheaven, the indie bounce of PINS… and we could go on; with thirteen hours of on-stage action there’ll be no rushed sets, and little pause for breath – just manifold opportunity to chance upon the refreshingly new amidst songs lived with and loved to.

The heads will be happy, old roasters will be happy, and so will the rest of us. [Duncan Harman]

Cosmosis Festival takes place on 12 Mar in Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse. cosmosisfestival.com thebrianjonestownmassacre.com

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Photo: Daniel Harris

here are a few tell-tale signs when an interview starts heading towards a brick wall.

Little things: the conspiracy theorising, the stream of consciousness responses, ignoring a question should it not fit the monologue…

Little things, such as casual admission that our intimate little chat is being broadcast. Live.

Over the internet. To hundreds of listeners who – judging from the real-time comment facility – might just be more interested in mischief than any Q&A. Or perhaps it’s as the interview nears its natural conclusion, when the line ‘mysteriously’ drops dead – nothing to do with us, guvnor – and you wonder if (and how quickly) you should phone back… except by this stage, you’ve already logged on to said internet channel – morbid fascination being a thing – and lo and behold, there’s the conversation, continuing without you.

Anton Newcombe is not necessarily an easy interview. Also: the world needs Anton Newcombe.

Even as he nears his 50s, he still travels at a thousand miles an hour; it’s a challenge even to think of keeping up. 26 years after the first BJM release, his has been a career trajectory that defies every law of longevity, yet he remains as resolute and idiosyncratic as ever (although plenty of other, less sympathetic adjectives have been flung in his direction over the years).

“I never wanted to be commercial,” he tells The Skinny from the Berlin studio complex he’s called base since 2010. “I’ve never changed.”

Not even a little? A natural evolution shaped by maturity and experience?

“I’ve never changed,” he reiterates, another line of enquiry firmly closed.

This isn’t strictly true, of course; cleaned up, happily married and a doting father, it’s a world away from the bitumen of self-destruction smeared liberally across the band’s convoluted history – the smack, the booze, the nuclear option mentality that has worked to cloud an acute and prolific songwriting talent. In sync with the German capital – “Berlin is brilliant,” he announces – and Europe in general, he’s also very much not missing the motherland. “The America that I’m in love with doesn’t exist anymore. I see all these people that have suddenly lost their minds, trying to run an economy on easy credit. It’s bullshit.”

Interview: Duncan Harman

of Montreal

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Photo: Sam Huddleston

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he jury may still be out on whether Sleaford Mods are the voice of genuine disenfranchisement or Emperor’s New Clothes, but Anton Newcombe is in little doubt. “Jason and I hit it off when I started to go and see them play.”

“Berlin would be a good example; a room full of sweaty Germans, all watching him pull it off with Andrew just standing there with a can of beer and a laptop.”

And having released the duo’s Fizzy 12 a few years ago on his A Records label, there’s plenty of synergy in having both BJM and the Mods playing this year’s Cosmosis – in spirit if not in style.

Not that the day’s festivities – this year taking place over five stages in the Victoria Warehouse in exotic Stretford – is likely to ever fall prey to predictability; not with the fraternal discourse that is The Jesus and Mary Chain occupying top billing (thus inviting a tasty contrast between the Reids’ instinctive American leanings and the BJM assimilation of UK flavours).

Sins of the Fathers Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín continues to scratch at his nation's dark past with fifth feature The Club, a chilling study of guilt and punishment following four defrocked priests exiled to a wind-swept coastal purgatory

Interview: Jamie Dunn Illustration: Elena Boils

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he Church thinks that it can only be judged by the eyes of God, not in a courtroom,” Pablo Larraín says in an even tone as he sips coffee in a London bar. The Chilean filmmaker makes the same point much more forcefully in his extraordinary new film The Club, a caustic and chilling indictment of the culture of concealment in the Catholic Church. The film’s set-up recalls Father Ted: four priests and their stickler housekeeper live out an oddball cohabitation in a canary yellow house in an overcast coastal village. But cosy clergy sitcom this is not.

The 39-year-old Larraín, best known for a loose trilogy of films (Tony Manero, Post Mortem and No) that picked at the scab of his country’s military dictatorship, won the Silver Bear award for The Club at last year’s Berlin Film Festival and he’s speaking to us on a warm October morning in Covent Garden ahead of the film’s screening at London Film Festival. It all began, he says, when he came across an incongruous photograph. “I don’t know if it was on the internet or in the newspaper, but it was a picture of a very beautiful house where a German congregation holds priests like these ones. One of the priests there was Chilean, called Cox, and he was accused of child abuse, but before he was grabbed by the justice he left to live in this house.” Dressed all in black with a neat beard, this is the one moment in the interview where Larraín is compelled to sit bolt upright from the armchair he’s lounging in. “It was incredible! It was all green fields and mountains. It looked like it was a Swiss chocolate commercial or something. I started wondering about this house…”

In The Club, Larraín’s protagonists have also been posted to a rural congregation and swept under the rug. But it takes a while for us to understand why these clergymen have ended up in their secluded purgatory. “Cinema is very good at mystery,” he says, “and I think it’s essential to deliver the information in a certain way, to build it so that you want to know what’s going on.”

Those unfamiliar with this filmmaker’s penchant for putting crimes of the Chilean state under a grim microscope might initially think they’ve stumbled into a geezer comedy as we see these strange little men take constitutionals on the beach and train their greyhound for local dog races.

What are these quaint old fogies doing at a “centre of prayer and penance”? This slow burn adds to Larraín’s themes. “It’s confusing, because you get the impression that these guys don’t even know

“The

Church has more fear for the media than they do for hell” Pablo Larraín

what they’ve done; they don’t understand why their behaviour was so harmful; they’re in denial.”

Their sins of the past come into sharp focus when a new priest joins the club, and brings with him some unwanted attention. One of his victims, a weather-beaten fisherman named Sandokan (Roberto Farias), pitches up outside the priests’ neat little home and declares at the top of his lungs and in pornographic detail the various sexual abu-

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ses meted out to him as a child by the new arrival.

It’s an extraordinary scene, part protest, part confessional.

If you felt that the similarly-themed Oscar hopeful Spotlight was too coy in its depiction of institutionalised child molestation, The Club is its antidote, and brings viewers uncomfortably close to these criminals and their crimes.

“What’s interesting is that when Sandokan describes what happened to him, the audience has to complete those images in their heads,” says Larraín, “and those images are often way more dangerous or violent than what I could shoot. I try to create a tone and and story that needs an active audience: they have to use their own biography and their own ethic and moral perceptions to represent the movie, and that’s interesting, but you’re creating these horrible images in your own mind and that’s fucking dangerous.”

In the last decade or so, the scandal of child abuse inside the Catholic church has flooded the press and lapped embarrassingly around the feet of the religion’s high command, who in the past have simply denied the charges and paid off the

victims. The recent watershed of exposure, says Larraín, has been because of a change in our attitude towards victims. “Back in the day, you wouldn’t speak because you didn’t want to be that guy – not just because of the experience but because of the way people would look at you,” he suggests.

“Today, there is respect for these people for speaking up and there’s more protection.” The key, however, has been the media’s response. “I think what happens here is that the Church has more fear for the media than they do for hell. It’s a new paradigm.”

The central section of The Club concerns an investigation by a Church emissary, Father García (Marcelo Alonso), into the goings-on in the house, and the residents’ resistance to any suggestion of wrongdoing for their crimes, which are revealed to be myriad, from pederasty to selling bastard children on the black market to Larraín’s favourite subject: complicity with Pinochet’s regime. If this all sounds too grim, what makes it palatable is Larraín’s deft marshalling of tone, creating an atmosphere that’s clammy, unnerving, quietly compassionate and darkly funny. The latter is

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a quality that runs through all of Larraín’s work; his signature touch. “There are some ideas that you can’t say with a straight face because you can sound preachy,” he suggests. “It’s as if you’re trying to make a statement instead of telling a story. Humour is the best tool to hide something that can be interesting and smart and it can maybe be even more sophisticated if you can put it in a joke.”

Humour is also another way in which Larraín wakes us from our complacency. “It can be threatening for the audience when they realise they are laughing about something that they shouldn’t be laughing at,” he says. “It’s a moral conflict inside any of us if we laugh at something that maybe we shouldn’t and when that happens, it’s amazing.”

For Larraín, this phenomenon is key to cinema’s future: “if you watch the movie alone, maybe you wouldn’t laugh that much, but in a cinema, it’s an electric thing. It’s why cinema will never be replaced.”

The Club is released across the UK on 25 Mar

by Network Films

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March 2016

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Gaddot Arrives Returning home for the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, the wait is finally over for punk prince of comedy Richard Gadd Interview: Stu Black Illustration: Tom Saffil

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civilised bakery in north London is the last place you’d expect iconoclastic comic Richard Gadd to suggest as a meeting point. The last time we saw him eat baked goods, he was stuffing an entire cake in his mouth before spraying crumbs over the front row as he wailed about a lost love in his breakout show Cheese and Crackwhores.

Yet here we are, and while we’re – ahem – waiting for gateau, we talk Waiting For Gaddot – the show that slayed Edinburgh last summer and is set to have a one night stand at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

A litter of critics named the show their pick of the Fringe, though few could describe it without giving away what does and doesn’t happen. Let’s just say it lives up to its title and somehow manages to find a fifth wall to break as it mashes together comedy, theatre, video and performance art.

“I’m not a comedian in the classic sense,” explains Gadd. “I look at a Raymond Mearns or a Paul Sneddon and can’t believe how well they can spin a yarn. I don’t think I can stand up and tell a story; I haven’t written an anecdote or a joke in my life.

What I do is high concept theatrics; big ideas; inyour-face, smash-mouth comedy.”

Avant-garde and extreme then, but Gadd never forgets to be funny with it. The Fife-born comedian is only 25 but has performed at the Fringe for

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seven years in a row, steadily building his understanding of what audiences will put up with and how disorienting and dark he can go.

And then he goes just beyond that. So expect gimp outfits, blood-spattered punch-ups, drugs, sexual depravity, Oedipal grumblings, puns, pain and anger. Catharsis is the aim – and if that means wrenching people out of their comfort zone, so be it.

Gadd confesses to a medicine cabinet’s worth of issues: insomnia, anxiety, depression. “I am very honest about my life on stage. It’s natural to be terrified of things but if you tackle these uncomfortable zones you become stronger as a person. I’m scared of things but I never let the fear govern me.

“I think mental health in this country is a big stigma and a lot of people are scared to admit that.

Mental health is a hard thing to judge because it’s not a physical impairment and a lot are scared of saying they have depression or anxiety so they suffer in silence. So if I can come out on stage and say I suffer from these or have idiosyncracies and neuroticism that affect me, and if someone sees the show and says, ‘Oh, I feel like that too,’ then I feel like I’ve done my job.”

And the insomnia? “I’m 25, but I look way older and I think that’s because of my problems sleeping. I’ve aged through sleep anxiety. I try every-

thing, but mainly just lie there waiting for it to pass.

This morning I woke up at four like a bull had barged into my room – the adrenaline came for me.”

During the Fringe it’s exacerbated, he says: “Some nights I don’t sleep at all. Gaddot was the worst: I lost a lot of weight because there was so much pressure on the show. There were reviewers and judges in every night because of the buzz it got.”

So the obvious question then is: why do it?

“I ask myself that question every day. I think when it goes well there’s no feeling in the world like it.

Gaddot has been such a whirlwind of fun and success that I think I’ll look back on it as one of the best experiences of my life.”

Despite the personal satisfaction this eventually brings, Gadd still has a lot to get off his chest.

“Sometimes comedy and the competitive nature of it gives way to a natural bitterness and pessimism and I try my hardest to not give in to that. But it’s hard when a sneezing panda is more famous than most comedians in this country…”

Gadd’s work is fizzing with fury and, leaving the sneezing panda to one side, his main target is the comedy world itself.

“I think comedy is in a crisis point right now.

The internet has taken over from television and the scene is suffering because now there are so many outlets. We’re so overpopulated with Vines and Tweets, all this instant gratification, that a lot of comedy has become quite wearisome. I like to think I always approach it in a way that brings back some of the anarchy that has existed over the years. I might not do it as well as the peers from yesteryear, but I try to keep hold of that idea.

“I look back at someone like Richard Pryor and some of the stuff he would talk about on stage: getting set on fire, trying to kill himself, being assaulted and abused. He wouldn’t be allowed on television these days and if he was born now we’d be starved of his comedy talent.”

He hits his stride here: “We’re in an age of political correctness, which is the right thing and I do agree with it, but it’s almost a religion now

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where everyone is so afraid of offending anyone.

But I think you need to test boundaries because when you test them you raise thoughts that make the audience think and therefore you can enact social change. We’re in an age now of box-ticking and not offending to the point of insanity.”

And he’s not done there: “As a culture, Britain is in dire straits right now: there’s mass paranoia, the rise of the internet, dislocation and postmodern depression, but I don’t feel like any of that is reflected in comedy. Controversy has become a bad word but in my opinion controversy just means having a polemical argument that makes people think and makes people talk. And I think comedy has, to some degree, lost that down the years.”

“ Comedy was rock'n'roll and now it’s pop" Richard Gadd

Gadd’s next mission is a full frontal assault on television. Not too many people know that the video clips in Waiting For Gaddot are actually excerpts from a sitcom pilot he’s hoping to make soon, the cast including Lesley Joseph, Ricky Grover, Catherine Drysdale and Leila Hoffman. It will retain the input of Gadd’s long term collaborator Gary Reich (the director-producer who also nurtured The Mighty Boosh, Sacha Baron Cohen and Kim Noble). And whatever kind of coup de telly they have in mind, it’ll surely be worth waiting for.

Richard Gadd: Waiting For Gaddot, The Stand, Woodlands Rd, Glasgow, Sun 13 Mar, 5pm, £8/£7 glasgowcomedyfestival.com

THE SKINNY

Vicarious pleasure

“ You write what you know”

Ahead of his visit to Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Lloyd Langford chats about how the blues can be joyous, wrestling with Greg Davies and what makes a true friendship

Larry Dean returns home to say goodbye to one show and hello to another

Words: Jay Richardson

Words: Craig Angus

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aturally shy, Lloyd Langford admits that he’s “not really any kind of alpha male,” which might make him seem an unlikely stand-up. But the 32-year-old Welshman conveys an endearing naïvety on stage; a strangely sage kind of foolishness, preferring “to play [at] knowing less than I do. That way you can surprise people.”

He’ll unquestionably catch some off-guard with his new show, Fun and Sustenance, developed at the Phoenix Fringe in London before arriving at this year’s Glasgow International Comedy Festival. Focusing on pleasure, it’s racier than his usual repertoire, with “more sex in it.”

“Anecdotal, not audience participation,” he clarifies. “When I started doing stand-up I avoided doing ruder stuff, as I didn’t think I had the skill. And also, who wants to hear an 18-yearold talk about sex? But now I’m a bit older, it feels like I can broach it. It’s very self-deprecating.

A true blues aficionado, Langford will admit to a melancholic streak. “But then most standups are probably a curious mixture of incredible confidence and crippling self-doubt,” he ventures. Besides, the blues “can also be very joyous and life-affirming … I find it hard to get upset about the concept of infidelity when it’s referred to as ‘doing the monkey’.”

With a sideline writing for other comics on television, Langford’s first regular pay cheque was contributing to Simon Amstell’s script on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. He couldn’t smuggle too many obscure blues references into the long-running panel show, but he succeeded with erotic fiction. “I never thought I’d get paid for writing smut for Lethal Bizzle,” he marvels.

Preferring to work closely with the comic he’s writing for, he recalls Frankie Boyle’s guest hosting of the music quiz fondly, “writing jokes that I thought went too far but then Frankie wanted them to be pushed even further.

“It was a vicarious pleasure. I could never get away with saying it but Frankie can. He doesn’t deliver his jokes so much as drop them on your fucking head and then just leave you to deal with the aftermath.”

Alongside QI and Russell Howard’s Good News, his highest profile television appearances to date have been as the regular fall guy on knockabout panel show Ask Rhod Gilbert, which

March 2016

helped him “develop a higher threshold for embarrassment.

“When your job that week involves being covered in waxing strips and then wrestling with Greg Davies on national television, you have to overcome your shyness.”

“ I’m not like Russell Brand, out in the audience with a cordless mic, foraging for vagina” Lloyd Langford

He and Gilbert might be reunited soon, and as brothers no less, if the latter’s long-gestating sitcom finally makes it to television. Langford played the amiable, not-so-bright Emrys to Gilbert’s gruff, combustible nutter in the latter’s 2008 Radio 2 pilot about returning to his backward hometown and family. Following years of procrastination, Gilbert and his co-writer wife Sian Harries are now developing Back To Llanbobl with Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow, responsible for such hits as Gavin & Stacey, Uncle and Alan Partridge’s Mid-Morning Matters.

“I’d love to do it again!” Langford enthuses.

“I think him and Sian wrote the character with me in mind. Which is good and bad if you’re familiar with him.”

At various times, Langford has been Gilbert’s tour support, tenant and flatmate. And they remain close. Returning from performing at the World Buskers Festival in New Zealand recently, Langford was “a bit jet-lagged wandering around a shop and I saw a pair of boots I thought he’d really like, so I bought them for him. “That’s how I’d describe our relationship. Close enough to impulse purchase shoes for!”

Lloyd Langford: Fun and Sustenance (work-in-progress), The Stand, Glasgow, 20 Mar, 5.30pm, £8/£7 glasgowcomedyfestival.com

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n his university days, Larry Dean used to drive hundreds of miles from his Southampton base to perform comedy. Not even special gigs, just ten minute slots where they were available. Times have changed somewhat. Dean’s 2015 Edinburgh show Out Now! saw him pack out the Pleasance night after night, bagging the Glaswegian a Fosters’ nomination for Best Newcomer, and marking him out as a talent with the potential for real crossover appeal.

Even through harder times – and there’s been no shortage – Dean never suffered for a lack of work ethic or passion, although he insists he’s just an attention seeker. “I’m incredibly needy,” he says, “so having people in front of me, laughing at my misfortune, will always make me happy – if I don’t have a gig I feel really bored.”

Out Now! showed Dean performing a timehonoured comedy balancing act – part audience swordplay, part honest portrayal of real vulnerability. His note-perfect delivery, witticisms and unique take on life as a gay man (casting a wry glance at the obvious stereotypes) all struck a chord with audiences and critics alike.

“When I was writing the show,” says Dean, “I tried to figure out the exact point where I could be really honest. Where I could talk about stuff that’s extremely personal – rather than the usual dick jokes.” There’s a pause before the silence is punctured abruptly by the sound of Dean cackling and adding: “Though you can never get enough of them, obviously”.

Now, at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Dean performs Out Now! for the last time. Unsurprisingly he wants to “give it a good send-off ” for a partisan home crowd, although he’s taking nothing for granted: “I’m trying not to get too excited. Pride comes before a fall.” With the closing of that chapter imminent, attention turns to the future – a glimpse of which he hopes emerges from a ‘work in progress’ show he’s also putting on at YesBar. “All my new stuff seems to be about death and wanking”, he says, to which The Skinny responds by suggesting Death and Wanking would make a rather fetching title for a solo hour. He doesn’t dismiss it out of hand, but politely hints it might fly in the face of the persona he’s worked

COMEDY

so hard to cultivate: “People will think it’s about a rock star suicide.”

While that might be an entertaining performance art piece, it’s not Larry Dean. In this world, ‘death and wanking’ is shorthand for “mortality and loneliness”, Dean’s own way of turning personal struggle into artistic expression. “You write what you know,” he offers, “and so far this year I’ve broken up with my boyfriend and been to two funerals.”

“ All my new stuff seems to be about death and wanking” Larry Dean

Another struggle is challenging the preconceptions audiences bring to his shows: “I always find whenever I do gigs in England I get compared to other Scottish acts. I met Craig Hill a couple a weeks ago, and since we’re both gay Scottish acts he’s been told, ‘Oh, you’re like Larry Dean,’ and I’ve been told, ‘Oh, you’re like Craig Hill,’ but we’re nothing like each other at all! As soon as people hear an accent they think, ‘Oh, they must be the same.’”

With that, our time is up. Dean’s away to see Billy Connolly – the default point of comparison for Scottish comics since long before banana boots were given pride of place as museum exhibits. “He was the first proper stand-up,” he says, admiration all over his west coast tones. It’s an exciting time, and he’s making a name for himself – not as ‘the Scottish comedian’, or ‘the gay comedian’, but as Larry Dean.

Larry Dean: Work in progress, YesBar, Mon 14 Mar, 9.15pm, £5 Out Now!, YesBar, Fri 18 Mar, 7.15pm, £10/£8 glasgowcomedyfestival.com

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THE SKINNY

Annual Check-Up A mainstay of the Scottish contemporary art calendar, RSA New Contemporaries will be filled with the most exciting graduates of 2015. Almost a year on from degree show, it’s time to see what they’ve been up to

Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

Amy Bertram, 1964 (with magnifying glass), 2015, ink on paper, 38cm x 29cm

David Evan Mackay, Standing Reserve, 2015, pine wood, sisal rope, paraffin wax, 400cm x 400cm x 400cm

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lmost a year on from their degree show, it’s time to see what’s become of the Royal Scottish Academy’s pick of the best and brightest of Scotland’s art school grads. Even for the keen degree show visitors, with plenty of new works being made for the show, there’s loads of new material to see.

Over 60 artists will be sharing the RSA exhibition space – that’s to say, there’s not much space to spare in this showcase of the most recent emerging artists from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen and the Highlands art schools.

The future is multidisciplinary, at least for Edinburgh graduate Scott Baxter, whose practice also includes film, sculpture, performance, zines and digital images. Representing his experimental filmmaking in the RSA presentation, he brings together non-conventional script sources and formation with puppetry and social engagement.

Baxter is generous with his video work on his website. For example, you can see Sade_Gimp_69, where he performs a monologue as a character who gives an inventory of his wardrobe, and describes his look as “a mix of agoraphobic gimp with a sprinkling of desperate housewife.” There’s also JockyOiOi2014, starring Baxter alongside a puppet that voices concern about the dominance of dating apps, and the supplanting of bars where a pint or two can lower inhibitions and standards.

Representing the painters from Edinburgh College of Art is Emma Price. Of her most recent work, the theme of Home and Work is carefully rendered in small scale. Set in pairs, domestic interiors are paired with work spaces: a conventional, elegant sitting room is juxtaposed with a clean boardroom in Catriona I and II. Then there’s a small bedroom (complete with TV on the floor), set against the open rear end of a white transit van.

In Mike I and II, what appear to be paintings of the two ends of a living room communicate selfemployment. Previous projects include Sinks and Seats, with Price again taking a defined theme

March 2016

which is repeated across oil painting on board.

From the same department, and making sure to complicate any easy reading of what’s going on in painting, is former Skinny Showcaser Laura Porteous. In grids and patterned work, she considers space, as well as suggesting time in visible signs of decay. Though working primarily on canvas, Porteous allows for elements to be peeling from the surface, or stuck on and dropping out into the floorspace.

While parts of the work are experimental, colour is strictly the primaries, black and white.

Allowing colour to be preselected in this way shifts Porteous’ focus to thinking dimensionally, whether spatially or temporally. At the same time, there’s recognition of her great influence Mondrian.

There’s more painting in the work of Allan Trashmouth Records, who gained some tabloid coverage following his name change by deed poll, with The Daily Mirror calling him the “skint student” that “sold his surname for £200.” Also, just to be clear, ‘paintings’ in this context is to refer to portraits printed onto toilet seats and hung on the wall.

Since that brief spot of tabloid notoriety, he’s graduated from sculpture and continued his search for funding by setting up donation boxes within different presentations: ‘I GOT A FIRST’ is all that was printed over one of these boxes in Glasgow’s Plinth. While there’s an overt reference to the dearth of arts funding, it’s also important that they’re not surrounded by any sort of barrier, and direct interaction with the art object is encouraged. Trashmouth Records might extend this accessibility/irreverence (of sorts) to the entire Royal Academy, with a special pizza order on the opening night.

Trashmouth Records is also featured on the blog of fellow RSA exhibitor and former ECA Sculpture classmate Lydia McGinley. In her practice, McGinley teaches traditional pottery throwing techniques. As well as the works they make

Bobby Sinclair, Blackfriars Two, 2015, screenprint and enamel on aluminium, 125cm x 250cm

together, McGinley thinks of these works as ‘conversations in clay’, and includes the exchanges she has with her students during the process.

For the RSA presentation, McGinley furthers the work in her degree show. She plans to present the outcomes of the lessons she has given since graduating. Her place as maker is mediated by her role as teacher, and subsequently as curator and collector of these objects produced under her supervision.

Also bringing to bear ideas of applied arts in her practice, Euphrosyne Andrews works in printmaking, giving consideration to the place of the decorative within fine art. Andrews’ work might appear exceptional at first, with its interest in exquisite production and technique; however, any kind of relationship with the beautiful art object is intended as a critical one. It’s not a critique on more slapdash-looking work, but on the history of ornament within art, as well as domestic space.

“ There’s a common strategy of reaching complicated concept via the personal” Sharp print work continues with Alyson Jane Fraser, a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone.

Having won the DCA’s Dundee Print Collective award for printmaking, she has enjoyed the use of a print studio in the DCA for a year, as well as a materials prize.

For RSA, Fraser presents an alphabet she has made from the handwriting of her 21-year-old autistic brother, then rearranged into quotations from Adolf Hitler. While these associations provide

ART

one reading, she intends the text to come across as written by a child. Similarly, when abstracted, the content can be read without strict reference to its origin.

There’s a common strategy of reaching complicated concepts via the personal, as Amy Bertram’s work illustrates. It begins with reference to her grandfather’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s – experiencing the impact of the illness on her family, Bertram became aware of the importance of written and spoken communications, and used this specific context as a way of considering language as “the primary source for human connection.”

Also working with penmanship, Bertram converted her grandfather’s handwriting into a series of laser cut stamps, from which she makes textbased works. These are combined with images of domestic interiors, displayed in small scale with their own magnifying glasses.

Another Skinny-featured artist, Alice Chandler also quotes from the domestic via recognisable household materials. A humble J-cloth might be scaled up, or in other cases Chandler might edit the colour or material of otherwise too-familiar objects.

Coming from her study of material culture theory, there’s an attempt to reveal the potential hidden lives of inanimate objects, changing the background environment that helps to shape and define who we are as people. All with good humour. It’s a giant J-cloth, after all.

This is only a little fraction of what’s on show in the Royal Academy this month from 5-30 March.

From looking at the exhibitors’ list alone, there’s a good spread of drawing, painting, sculpture and photographic practices, combined with works that aren’t so easily categorised. As always the RSA is well worth a visit, even if only to be able to say (in the decades to come), casually but knowledgeably, "Remember seeing [artist] years ago. Good stuff, aye?"

RSA New Contempories 2016, 5-30 Mar, admission £4 (£2)

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Tales from the Aftermath In her debut short story collection, Treats, Lara Williams finds beauty and poetry among the debris of relationships. The Skinny’s literary discovery of 2016 so far, it may well remain so by year’s end. Williams discusses her conversion to the short form Interview: Gary Kaill

“I

’d always thought that I wanted to write but perhaps hadn’t decided what I wanted to write. So I started to do little bits of journalism – you know, all very self-righteous and feminist, but the biggest leap, really, was doing the creative writing MA at MMU, which I did parttime around work.” Lara Williams reflects on her first tentative steps into fiction as we meet up over coffee on a predictably icy Manchester morning. A hugely accomplished debut, her short story collection Treats is slim at just over 200 pages, but its scope and ambition are vast.

She had the natural attraction of the long form to swerve first, however.

“I was writing this absolutely truly dreadful novel,” Williams recalls, “and I was persevering with it and thought I would finish that off while I was doing the MA, and suddenly I just went back to reading short fiction. I was in my final year a couple of years ago, which coincided with a break-up, leaving PINS [Williams drummed with the band through their initial releases and early, electrifying live shows], switching jobs, moving out of a flat with some friends to moving in on my own. It was a strange upheaval and at the same time I was reading all this short fiction: Lorrie Moore, Amy Hempel, Grace Paley. So I was discovering these female short fiction writers and suddenly I felt like I understood the form. I realised then that that’s what I wanted to write.

I wrote most of it in about 12 months.”

Williams references the best but, even by those standards, Treats is remarkable. A raw dissection of the maddening complexities of human relationships (romantic, parental, professional), it unpicks its subject via a series of trim, understated narratives. Written in the first person, the third and, in It Begins (among others), an alarmingly vivid second person (‘At some point it occurs to you: you will divorce’), its characters navigate a bewildering and merciless world. In This Small Written Thing, the breathless flush of romance withers and dies (‘She hadn’t yet realised that in a relationship, honesty was just one of many options’) in horrifying fast-forward.

A Single Lady’s Manual for Parent/Teacher Evening is a hallucinatory and chilling picture of a mother-son relationship. In Sundaes at the Tipping Yard, the narrator manages the dual

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disappointments of a self-proclaimed film buff live-in landlord whose favourite film is Finding Nemo, and being dumped by her dimwit boyfriend. But, as throughout, it’s the muted aftermath that resonates: ‘You sit and notice the air.’ Williams conjures elegant poetics with a sure-footed command of language. She makes

“I feel like that is something female writers get asked more: whether something is based on real life” Lara Williams

sentences spark and flare; at times, her word play is breathtaking.

Allied to that advanced technique is a deep gift for character creation. The characters who inhabit Treats are painstakingly realised and violently alive. (Their various small-scale agonies become, at times, almost too difficult to share, but note: their stories resonate always with a deep-seated humanism. Treats will – be warned – find you out, and if it starts to feel too close to home, alongside that recognition, you’ll find consolation.) It’s tempting to look for them in later stories, catch them tip-toeing across the borders of their own small, defined worlds. “Well, actually, I did initially think about doing that whole inter-textuality thing,” says Williams, “that Bret Easton Ellis thing of pulling characters in from different places. No, they do all exist in the same world. I feel like they all could live in the same town and even though I didn’t expressly set it in Manchester, and I don’t particularly refer to it, that’s where the book takes place.”

Treats, refreshingly, dares to confront the often discomfiting physicality of human relationships, depicting those interactions as a

distinctly animal act. It is also very, very funny.

In A Selfie as Big as the Ritz, Samuel’s flailing attempts to re-awaken his girlfriend’s ardour with a trip to Paris crumble mid-air: ‘On the flight she listened to country music – a clear indication of melancholy.’ Kitty, the friend of the nameless narrator of One of Those Life Things, provides no-nonsense support at an abortion clinic: ‘She’s here for her rhinoplasty,’ she tells the receptionist. Dotted throughout the book are a multitude of wry observations that demand highlighting, quoting even. “Yeah, it was intentional to have the humour, that sort of humour,” says Williams, “because I often found myself wanting to take the characters down a miserabilist path.” But Treats is never mean. There’s a grounding compassion for the characters. “Well, yes, I do like to show compassion. I like compassionate fiction. I certainly like fiction that has a warmth towards its characters.

Sometimes I find myself writing a character who I don’t really like at the beginning but the more I flesh them out, the more I like them.”

We touch upon where the stories have come from. The Getting of the Cat first appeared online a couple of years ago. The response on Twitter – that it seemed very autobiographical – had frustrated Williams. “I feel like that is something that female writers get asked about more: whether something is based on real life,” she says. “I don’t know. Take confessional journalism – female confessional journalism. I don’t think it’s a particularly female thing but I feel like maybe it gets commissioned more than confessional male journalism. I think maybe there’s a presumption that women are writing from a place of direct experience rather than fictionalising events.

I think you can write an event that is based entirely on your life but it can still be fictional.”

Alongside the clear-sighted de-romanticising of boy-meets-girl – such as in the hilarious and absurd Penguins, where an initial encounter (‘She lifts his head and turns it round like the prop skull from Hamlet, kissing him with a straightforward matter-of-factness while he pushes his hand up her skirt’) provides no clue as to the unique preferences of the protagonist’s new lover – there’s a distinct pattern of characters having life happen to them. Rather than dictate events, they often draw around them the

BOOKS

various inconveniences and horrors they find themselves saddled with. Williams nods: “Have you read any Mary Gaitskill? One of the things she writes about is submissive relationships and this feeling of letting things happen to you. ‘I’m going to let you do this to me, you piece of shit, because that’s what your love means to me – it means shit to me.’ I feel like there is this sort of passive-aggression and it’s very extreme. I wanted to write about the idea of letting things happen to you.”

On that theme, in the longest story in the collection, Here’s to You, dancer Aahna returns home, post-breakup, to live with her mother, and almost immediately sleepwalks into an unplanned evening at an unremarkable old school-friend’s house (‘…she realised, with a sort of unbiased anthropological curiosity, that the evening was a date’). “That story had quite a few iterations. Originally, I wasn’t going to put it in the collection – it just wasn’t working. But then I re-wrote it, mostly from scratch, over two days and I just liked it. It’s probably the longest story in the collection. It felt like I’d sort of evolved – a lot of my early stories were quite abstract.

They were written about quite abstract feelings with no real narrative or plot.” You can’t help but wonder how it pans out, though. Surely she doesn’t just end up with him? “Yeah, I don’t know how I feel about that. I don’t know if they do.

With that story, I wanted to write something that had a bit more kindness and, perhaps, sincerity.

I think that was just her life, this sad acceptance.

I wanted to write about the conflict within this person who wants to live this artistic, creative type of life, but has to deal with the negotiations that life demands.”

In Tributaries, the book’s final story, Melody chooses to swim rather than sink. The closing passage, where she alights from a tram in the Manchester snow, is a stirring and life-affirming coda. It’s a sharp reversal of much of what has come before. “Yes, I think so, too,” says Williams.

“I did want to end the book on a more positive note. I didn’t want to leave it with an unhappy ending. That story just felt like the last full stop.

I felt like it had summarised a lot of what I had wanted to do. It’s a good place to end.”

Treats is out 3 Mar, published by Freight Books

THE SKINNY

Scottish Youth Dance Takes Over This March both YDance and Go Dance are bringing together youth groups from across Scotland to dance. The Skinny looks at the importance of these events and chats to the Urbaniks Street School Words: Emma Ainley-Walker

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ance is an art form that inherently lends itself to youth – not least because of the pressures it can put the body and the required flexibility and technique that is much, much harder to pick up in your middle ages, or even in your 20s. So much of the dance that hits our theatres, however, comes courtesy of seasoned professionals at the peak of their careers, so when not one but two organisations are giving these stages to youth groups, exposing them to new audiences and providing them with the chance to work and perform as if in one of these more established companies, it’s time for the dance world to sit up and pay attention.

YDance, or Scottish Youth Dance, bring their Destinations project to the Tramway stage for the first time in five years, after a previous residence at the MacRobert in Stirling. Meanwhile at the Theatre Royal, Go Dance return, bringing youth groups from all over Scotland to perform as part of a small festival. Each of these organisations offers these young dancers the chance to network, to perform and gives them a goal to aim for. Always supporting up and coming talent, The Skinny took the chance to talk to those involved in both events, and to find out more about the expansive youth dance scene in Scotland.

Destinations is but one strand of YDance’s year and is part of the Routes programme, which aims to bring youth groups from all over Scotland together to share their work, collaborate and make new connections. For the Destinations day itself, 13 different youth groups will come together, spending the entire day rehearsing before performing in the evening for a live audience. “It’s a long day, but it goes really fast,” says Katrina Moohan, one of the members of the YDance team.

It must be exhilarating and a little intimidating for the kids to perform as they may in a professional tour, with less than one full day to rehearse and prepare in the space.

“It gives them the opportunity to meet other youth dance groups and to learn about what’s going on in Scotland in terms of youth dance; what’s going on in different areas,” says Moohan.

“You never know what opportunities are going to come up. In 2014 we had the Commonwealth dance festival which set up lots of exchange programmes for dancers to go abroad as well.”

This exposure to something new or different is key to continuing to improve, especially for those who go on to pursue dance as a career.

This year’s YDance features many different styles, from the street dance of New Era to the Scottish Ballet Youth Exchange to the classical fusion of Ihayami Fusion’s Shakthi exploring the female energy.

The same variety and energy can be found over at Go Dance at the Theatre Royal, spanning five nights. We spoke to Pauline Joseph of the Urbaniks dance school about their involvement in Go Dance and what the youth dance scene in Scotland looks like, outwith these festivals and performance opportunities.

“They love it. For us, Go Dance is a pinnacle point in our year,” she says of the young dancers coming to Go Dance. “It’s really a highlight of their year because a lot of our dancers are used to the competitive circuit and trying to achieve championship level. Go Dance is not to be judged, it’s to be viewed and watched and enjoyed and that’s what dance should be. It’s lovely to get back to

March 2016

THEATRE

dancing because you’ve created something for an audience, not just because you want to win.”

Beyond that, the opportunity to perform in professional theatre comes in a close second.

“They’ll rarely in their lives got to perform in a theatre as brilliant as the Theatre Royal, to be part of something with many difference dance styles,” Joseph continues. “It’s culturally very developmental for our pupils to do something like that.” As with YDance, it is once again about networking and affording the opportunity, and the exposure that these dancers may not find elsewhere: “We don’t often get the opportunity to go to a big theatre and sit and watch dance, and they always learn something from it. It’s lovely to hear them come away and say, ‘I really loved that ballet and I didn’t expect to,’ and ‘that college piece – that’s the college I want to go to.’

You have to ask: would you have been exposed to that if it wasn’t for Go Dance? And the answer is probably no.”

Despite extolling the joys of a break from the competitive circuit, the company increasingly excel – particularly at the UDO World Street Dance Championships, with their group The Honeys reigning as British champions and second in the world, while The U Crew are fourth in the world.

Joseph puts it down to their ethos that, while you might have to tick boxes for judges, it’s better to take risks. “Why do we have to do what the format says, that means everything will be the same forever?” She adds, in the words of her husband and the school’s artistic director Paul Joseph: “Know your foundations, know where the dance styles that you’re working on came from, know your techniques, but then artistically you have to go with your soul. I think it’s that combination, that we’re not just copying what everyone does.

Artistically we break the mould a little bit. It was really nice for us to change the scene back in the early 90s so why not continue to do that?”

The leader of The Honeys is 16-year-old Honey Joseph, who is a key part of the family business. “She’s had a creative advantage: she was born into a dance family where mum and dad were dance teachers and choreographers, and we made our own music and we make our own productions. She’s seen that, she’s developed into it and therefore she’s been able to start her own creative path much earlier than others would,” Pauline says, though it’s clear that it is not just luck but also drive that has led to her success.

“Honey first asked when she was just turning 13 – she said, ‘I would like to create a team dance, work with a group, I think I can do that.’ The first competition we ever did, there were 22 other dance teams in her age category alone and she came first. At 13 her choreography, her creation, her music choice beat them all. From then on she’s never looked back.”

Honey, and this ethos itself, is a shining example of what this youth scene in Scottish Dance can create. From schools like Urbaniks to YDance, Destinations and Go Dance, Scotland is giving its young performers incredible opportunities, and it’s raising a generation of talented and driven young performers. “Basically it’s just sharing the love of dance,” concludes Joseph. “Getting all these different walks of life together to share their love of dance – that’s the beauty of it.”

Destinations, YDance, Tramway, 5 Mar, 7:30pm.

Go Dance, Theatre Royal, 1-5 Mar, times vary.

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THE SKINNY

Clandestine Time Protomartyr’s Joe Casey walks us through the literary interests and supernatural curiosities which informed the Detroit band’s third album, The Agent Intellect Interview: Katie Hawthorne

P

rotomartyr make music out of curiosity: to ask questions, find connections. The Detroit band took a turn for the literary on their recently released third album, The Agent Intellect, and The Skinny calls frontman Joe Casey to investigate how their bone-rattling post-punk hits some really raw nerves. Using their characteristically bruising, metallic sound to query the relationship between mind and body, and the strange, cyclical nature of human existence, Protomartyr will scratch your deepest anxieties and leave you feeling all the better for it.

Some ten years senior to the rest of the band, Casey met guitarist Greg Ahee and drummer Alex Leonard when they were playing local gigs as a two piece titled Butt Babies, and found drummer Scott Davidson by chance, after attending a house show held in his basement. That same basement later became Protomartyr’s rehearsal space and dubbed, not without irony, the No Bummer Zone.

The band’s first two full-length records, No Passion All Technique (2012) and Under Color of Official Right (2014) established a formula of sorts; cloudy, gut-punching post-punk spiked with Casey’s slurred, incisive baritone poetry. But it’s in Protomartyr’s most recent release – 2015’s late arrival The Agent Intellect – that the four-piece tentatively start to trust their muscles with the full weight of their imagination.

Casey describes the group’s evolution with dry self-deprecation, taking pains to emphasise a lack of professionalism. “It is all a lot of dumb luck,” he states, matter-of-factly. “You gotta be thankful for it, but don’t think that you’re gunna keep on shitting gold. I still don’t have confidence in it. But it doesn’t bother me that I don’t have confidence, because I’ve never had it… and it’s been going pretty good so far.”

He talks, jokingly, of a “quote unquote… artistic routine” which has developed out of necessity. Protomartyr spend a lot of time on the road, so when the band get down to writing and recording, they move fast. “I’m getting better at throwing out ideas. I don’t know if what I pick is good, but I do know that what I discarded was definitely bad,” Casey explains. The ideas he “picked” this time circle around his current curiosities; The Agent Intellect feels like a novel, as scenes and characters float in and out of a nightmarish, familiar landscape. Quick to stress that “you don’t want it to be a concept album, because that would be terrible,” he admits “but I do look for connections. The songs are about not knowing things, not knowing the answer.”

The investigative tone of the record starts with the title: it’s an obtuse Aristotelian concept that Casey discovered in a book called The Classical Tradition. “It’s just a good bathroom read,” he laughs. “And the Agent Intellect was in there. Now, what I like about it is that I don’t know what it is.

Aristotle probably did explain it but it got lost in time, or burnt up… and now it’s become the thing that different philosophers throughout history have applied different meanings to. The fact that there’s no set meaning? I love that in reference to the mind. It seems the mind is pretty unknowable.

And it was a spark that got me reading more, just trying to figure out what the hell it is.” So – with an album title based on a concept they don’t understand, Protomartyr embarked on making a

March 2016

record that asks more questions than it answers, exploring faith and frustration through eerie anecdotes and natural phenomena.

For the next stop on our literary tour, Casey explains the spoken word intro/outro to midrecord track The Hermit. “It’s from a book called Of Monsters and Marvels, and he’s a medical doctor, but back in the 1500s. He gives these ‘scientific’ reasons for ‘monsters’, which I guess just means deformities, and they’re, uh… they’re kind of funny. You know, a monster might be born because God is great, and a monster might be born because God hates you. That’s his scientific reason.”

“When you read the Bible it’s like, ‘Boy, sure was a lot of miracles back in the Bible times, how come there’s not so many nowadays?’ and if you read this book from the 1500s, it’s like, ‘Oh, there sure were a lot of people walking around with heads in their stomachs.’ You know, it’s just the way they perceived reality at the time.”

The Skinny confesses to not having personally seen many miracles, and Casey laughs. “Yeah, but I don’t know how the internet works, you know?

If you explained it to me, it would sound almost as ridiculous as that ‘monster’ did to that author.

That’s the thing: we’re just as confused. We think that we’re living in the future and we know what’s going on, but we really don’t.”

Another track, Boyce or Boice, tackles headon this idea of a modern, more technical kind of blind faith. The song’s title refers to a strain of Christianity which believes in a duo of technologically proficient demons capable of corrupting your hardware. Casey suggests exploring a very serious website called Demon Busters, which should be examined with caution: expect sinister music on autoplay and all-caps, end-of-days rhetoric.

“We think that we’re living in the future and we know what’s going on, but we really don’t” Joe Casey

“And what’s really great about it,” he enthuses, “is that it’s kind of old for the internet – it’s kind of like an old text, an early website. And it’s interesting that you could believe in demons that are out to corrupt you. If you had a computer and the printer wasn’t working, you could say, ‘Oh, there’s a demon in my computer. Get out, demon.’

People go through life thinking that, and it’s just as valid as ‘Why does my computer not work? Oh I have no idea. I have to take it to the Genius store and have a Genius fix it.’” Through a Protomartyr lens, modern day mysteries start to feel really unnerving. How does the internet work? No, really?

Casey, although “not particularly religious,” spent his childhood working as an altar boy in

a monastery next door to his home and finds a certain weight, a specific type of poetry, in quasireligious language. “When you’re talking about unknown things, if you talk about faith and the fact that we go through life not really knowing a lot, then you kind of have to bring up religion,” he says. Although the band’s moniker refers to the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, and the 26 December – the Feast of St Stephen – holds a special sway for the band, it’s mainly because “everyone’s home for the holidays, so it’s a big bar night in Detroit,” Casey laughs. More significant is the placement of the apocalyptic Feast of Stephen as the album’s closing track. “We wrote that song very very fast, and I made the lyrics up on the spot. We knew it had to be the last song.”

“You know, I think the real reason [the record] seems novelistic is more to do with the music [than the lyrics],” he continues. “The music came first. Greg, the guitar player, really wanted the songs to all bleed into each other. I don’t know much about music, but Greg, he’s explained it to me that the… I guess it’s a ‘note’? One of those things. It returns to the beginning of [album opener] The Devil in His Youth at the end of Feast of Stephen. It rises back... The beginning is kind of the end.”

That blow-out first/final note of The Agent Intellect echoes like a wheezing organ, a fateful, inevitable acknowledgement of the circle of life.

Feast of Stephen prods at a Herod-like distrust of incoming generations, essentially blaming newborns for rendering the elderly irrelevant. “Nobody wants to hear an old guy complain about young people. So if you go back further and say, ‘Oh these stupid babies, let’s get rid of them,’ then that’s still the idea. It’s the fear you’re being pushed out, but accepting it.”

MUSIC

The Devil in His Youth flips these anxieties of aging, painting Satan himself as a gawky suburban teen driven to evil by the ‘mundane frustration’ that life hasn’t provided everything he feels he deserves. Swapping between bedroom introspection and broad, scenic sketches of modern day Detroit, Protomartyr capture the anxieties of disaffected ‘youths’ in all stages of life – from birth to death, via everything in between. Referencing pizza kings and DUI lawyers, dive bars and Pope visits, Protomartyr thumb through snapshot narratives to prove that fear of the unknown is a universally shared emotion.

Punk bands are so easily stereotyped as angry, or inflammatory. Protomartyr aren’t either of those things. In confronting life’s ugliness, from inequality to Alzheimers, with a record that lifts you up as much as it pricks at your skin, Protomartyr prove that there’s comfort in admitting that you just don’t know why things happen, or how the world works. Being honest doesn’t have to bum you out.

The band are currently back on the road, due to hold these conversations on hundreds of stages over the next few months.

Restarting the cyclical process of touring, writing, recording and releasing will see Protomartyr return to Detroit in the summer, ready to shake up their old processes. “We’ll need to find another practice space. Trying something new would be a good thing to do,” Casey affirms.

So you’re leaving behind the No Bummer Zone?

“Yeah, we’re gunna have to throw ourselves into new stuff… Besides, there are a lot of new bands in Detroit full of babies that we gotta destroy.”

Well, that’s the spirit!

Playing Broadcast, Glasgow on 2 Apr protomartyrband.com

Feature

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Down With Boring Films Glasgow Short Film Festival is back, and it’s proposing all film schools be blown up and all boring films never made again. Director Matt Lloyd tells us more Words: Jamie Dunn

“A

ll boring films never be made again.” That’s the gambit adorning the brochure of this year’s Glasgow Short Film Festival (16-20 Mar). As a call to arms, it’s hard to argue with. The slogan’s origin is Nick Zedd’s manifesto for the Cinema of Transgression, a mid-80s film scene that grew out of No Wave cinema and music. As a movement, it was less about boundary pushing, more boundary smashing.

When we catch up with GSFF director Matt Lloyd, he’s in similarly pugnacious form. “I seem to be permanently angry about something or other these days,” he says when we ask about GSFF’s combative brochure cover. “Maybe that’s just the onset of early middle-age, but since the high of the incredible summer of 2014, we appear to be undergoing a period of increasing entrenchment and antagonism at home and abroad.”

The ethos behind the Cinema of Transgression appealed to Lloyd in this context. “They were a loose collection of angry filmmakers arising from a not entirely dissimilar political situation, setting out to shock their audiences out of complacency or apathy, but crucially not taking themselves too seriously either,” he says. “We need our preconceptions challenged, but we need a laugh as well.”

Short film seems uniquely suited to this provocative yet playful war cry. Bryan M Ferguson is a filmmaker whose cinema perfectly fits these demands. Caustic Gulp, a brutal and hilarious story of cultdom in Florida, won this year’s Skinny Short Film competition, and his equally inventive Flamingo, a Ballardian tale of alienation and selfmutilation has its world premiere at GSFF. Ferguson suggests the short form is intrinsically rebellious and anarchic. “I suppose it harkens back to when Jean-Luc Godard theorised that short form is ‘anti-cinema’. What could be more fun than rebelling to prove Godard, a pioneer of experimental cinema with an appetite for mischief himself, wrong?”

Ferguson also notes that shorts, by their very nature, allow their makers to be creative without trying their audience’s patience. “You can experiment with storytelling and imagery in a way that I feel could grow tiresome or tedious for an audience if utilised in a longer piece of work,” he suggests.

While short films aren’t under the same narrative constraints of feature length cinema, there’s still the problem – albeit to a lesser extent – of financing them, but Lloyd reckons this might even be a virtue. “Budget is the only real limitation I can think of, and in some respects a large budget can be a crippling limitation, as it brings funders breathing down your neck. Freedom from commercial considerations is freedom to innovate. Obviously you can’t do justice to a complex narrative in a short time span, but I’d argue there are short films more profound and complex than 99% of new features.”

When thinking about the films to programme in GSFF, Lloyd doesn’t necessarily look for slickness. “Technique fascinates me, what I value less is technical proficiency.” In other words, Lloyd is

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more interested in what filmmakers do and how they do it, than how well they do it. “Heroic failures are what I look out for: filmmakers who push themselves to do something different. This term ‘short film’ is so meaningless really. I’m just looking for moving image works under 50 minutes which explore the potential of the medium, whether through sound, visuals, spatially or temporally.”

One event in the festival specifically dedicated to this type of low budget, creative filmmaking is the showcase of Scottish indie shorts curated by Blueprint, a group who provide, in collaboration with Glasgow Film, a platform for the “truly independent weekend warriors of cinema”.

Blueprint’s curator, Hans Lucas, lays out the challenges for such filmmakers: “Access to the film-making apparatus has never been more available. But recognition of and access to the ‘industry’ remains as guarded as ever.” This doesn’t stop tenacious filmmakers making worthwhile films, however. “There are some remarkable productions below the radar, which rely on people’s volition and camaraderie to get made.”

“ Heroic failures are what I look out for” Matt Lloyd

Blueprint’s aim, says Lucas, is to shine a light on such humble products. “It is time DIY, noninstitutional film, was recognised as a legitimate part of film culture. We can’t all afford expensive educations in film school or have the right cultural capital to access prestigious seats of learning.

But Blueprint can exist and demand, at the very least, films made without industry support have access to first class cinemas – which is where those films belong. The films Blueprint programmes are not the afterbirth of cinema. They are the nucleus of an industry.”

Another great asset of short films is the relative speed at which they can be made. “Short film can respond to reality with far greater immediacy and directness than a feature,” notes Lloyd.

This is evident in GSFF’s Focus on Syria, which presents work produced within Syria and by Syrian exiles, not in the last few years, but in the last few months! Lloyd points out there is a flipside to this: short film can be more disposable in the long term. But he isn’t sweating this either. “Longevity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” he says. “Oh dear, I’m back onto my middle-age crisis again, aren’t I?” Glasgow Short Film Festival runs 16-20 Mar The Skinny Short Film Awards, 17 Mar, CCA Blueprint: Scottish Independent Shorts, 18 Mar, CCA Brutal Measure: Lydia Lunch and the Cinema of Transgression, 19 Mar, The Glue Factory Focus on Syria, 20 Mar, CCA

Flamingo

Strange Fascinations Chlorine cults and masochistic online dating: welcome to the strange and compelling world of Skinny Short Film Award winner Bryan M Ferguson Words: Jamie Dunn

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ryan M Ferguson has wanted to make movies since the age of four. “I was the only kid in my primary class that wanted to be a filmmaker and not a footballer,” he recalls, “which always took people by surprise and made me a little uncomfortable.” He’s certainly gained self-possession since then. Now 29, he’s one of the most distinct and confident voices on the Scottish short film scene. Matt Lloyd, director of Glasgow Short Film Festival, is a fan. During the judging of this year’s Skinny Short Film Competition, which Ferguson won, Lloyd declared the Glasgow-based writerdirector “a true maverick.”

His winning film, Caustic Gulp, certainly stood out from the crowd. It tells the story of a small cult dedicated to the consumption of chlorinated water. The story began to form in Ferguson’s mind when he discovered that that element, used as a disinfectant throughout the world, was previously employed as a chemical weapon in World War I. ”I just found that really darkly comedic,” says Ferguson. “The idea that there are families on holiday swimming around in large vats of water filled with a chemical once used for mass atrocities and genocide.”

The first things you notice about Ferguson’s films are their striking mise en scène and vivid colour. He explains that this all comes down to an eye for uncanny settings. “I try to find the environments and spaces that the characters will occupy first,” he explains. “The locations of my films mean a great deal to me and are really integral to the world in which I want to surround the characters.”

It may look like shots are framed fastidiously with compass and set-square, but Ferguson’s method

is much more loose: “I find the locations, I write the script and then I’ll let the scenes take shape visually on the day of the shoot. I find working instinctively on set keeps it fresh and exciting, for me at least.”

Ferguson has followed up Caustic Gulp with Ballardian body-horror Flamingo, which makes its world premier at The Skinny’s upcoming Short Film Award Showcase at Glasgow Short Film Festival. Both films share a curious interest in self-harming cultists. “I’ve always been drawn to exploring and researching bizarre subcultures,” says Ferguson. “There’s just something thrilling and a little dangerous about these things existing underneath the skin of society.”

That isn’t the only connective tissue between the two films: they also have in common an absurdist sensibility, uninhibited performances, and both spill over into visceral violence. “I’m sure there is some deep-seated and subconsciously sordid reason as to why I find the concept of pleasure and pain and the damage to the human body a huge fascination,” muses Ferguson. We wouldn’t like to play pop psychologist – all we can say is that his askance view on our modern world and awkward interpersonal relationships is both unique and thrilling. Ferguson clearly gets a kick out of making them too. “It’s just a lot of fun to subject a squirming audience to whatever weird shit I’ve unearthed.”

Flamingo has its world premiere at The Skinny’s Short Film Award showcase at Glasgow Short Film Festival, CCA, 17 Mar, 9pm, Free Please join The Skinny for a reception toasting Ferguson before the screening – drinks provided by Saramago

THE SKINNY

11 MARCH-23 APRIL Preview & Artists’ Talk: 10 March, 4.30 - 7.30pm Forum: 13 April, 6.00 - 8.30pm ‘Here Was Elsewhere: A Memorandum of a Summer in Shanghai’ Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, 13 Perth Road, Dundee, DD1 4HT 01382 385330 exhibitions.dundee.ac.uk

ExhibitionDJCAD

Cooper Gallery Cooper Gallery DJCAD Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 11am-5pm

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I N D E P E N D E N T

March 2016

C U LT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

/TheSkinnyMag

Illustration: Yvette Earl

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CCA Highlights With Glasgow International, Glasgow Short Film Festival, Declaration and Counterflows all stopping off at the CCA this spring – not to mention Shonen Knife on tour – there's almost officially too much going on (except not really). Here's what we've chosen Words: George Sully

S

pring is here! No, really, it is! The frost is thawing, the Easter Bunny is preparing her list of good girls and boys so they can receive their annual chocolate Jesus eggs, and everyone’s talking about the summer as if it’ll come quicker if we just wish really hard. Spring! And now that you’re actually prepared to leave the house, might we advise a wee visit to the beloved CCA? There’s plenty going on over the next two months, but we’ve whittled it down to these highlights.

Though there have been many major advances in conversation and legislation regarding human rights in recent years, there’s still some way to go in raising awareness (both internationally and right here at home). In that vein, multiple health awareness groups (including NHS Health Scotland and the Mental Health Foundation) have worked together to create Declaration (Thu 3-Sun 6 Mar), a brand-new festival dedicated to human rights and the right to health in Scotland and further afield. Named after the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed at the then-new UN, the festival – “a mix of conversations, provocations, performances, and film screenings” – features an impressive 30 events across four days, with one event per article from the bill (e.g. the Right to Equality, Freedom from Discrimination, the Right to Presumption of Innocence, and so on).

Hopefully you’ll have spotted our official Glasgow Film Festival guide The CineSkinny last month, featuring exclusive interviews and reviews during all that cinema fun. Those mourning the end of another brilliant GFF might find succour at its younger, more compact sibling: the Glasgow Short Film Festival (Wed 16-Sun 20 Mar), some preview content for which sits on the preceding page of this very issue. Be sure to check out our own Short Film Competition 2015 winner Caustic Gulp by Brian M Ferguson – among the shortlisted runners-up – at our showcase screening on Thursday 17 March.

Looking ahead to April, cross-cultural idea exchange and 'festival for the curious' Counter-

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flows returns to Glasgow for its fifth edition.

While we recommend checking out its entire programme (Thu 7-Sun 10 Apr, counterflows. com), above all we point your noses towards the Counterflows Residency (Sat 2-Sat 9 Apr), an always-important facet of the festival’s annual offering. This year, again in partnership with the Goethe Institut, the residents are an international pairing: decorated Berlin accordionist Franka Herwig in collaboration with Glasgowbased artist and musical improviser Liene Rozite.

On a more visually artistic bent, Finnish fantasist and troublemaker Pilvi Takala (Fri 8 AprSun 15 May, not Mon 2 & 9 May) brings her first Scottish solo exhibition to the CCA, casting an eye back on the past decade’s playful work. Some of her best-known pieces involve infiltrating institutions and challenging social conventions, and this exhibition – also coinciding with Glasgow International – will focus on revisiting a particularly local work from 2004, Event on Garnethill.

Takala, an exchange student at the GSA at the time, tested Catholic school St. Aloysius’ College’s literal and social boundaries by simply purchasing and wearing their uniform around school grounds.

For more Scandinavian creativity, Danish dreamscapers Efterklang have teamed up with Finland’s most resourceful percussionist Tatu Rönkkö (Google ‘I Play Your Kitchen’) to form Liima (Thu 14 Apr). Their debut album ii is out 18 March on 4AD and you can check out ambient lead single Amerika on efterklang.net using a careful combination of the internet and your ears.

Meanwhile, the 'Osaka Ramones' Shonen Knife (Fri 29 Apr) slip in at the end of April, as part of a tour celebrating a mighty 35 years in the game and the release of their 20th album Adventure (out 1 April on Damnably). And who better to support an internationally cult all-female poppunk outfit than The Girl Effect hosts and Glaswegian pop-gals TeenCanteen; as if it wasn’t already a winning Friday night.

Creative Sparks This May, Dundee’s cultural highlights are brought together in the form of Ignite Dundee, who have also arranged a programme of specific public art and performance events Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

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his month sees the release of the full programme for the biggest ever Ignite Dundee: a festival of creativity. Taking place throughout May, the festival is a showcase of the events and exhibition spaces that take place in the city.

Throughout the month, Ignite brings together the annual degree shows, exhibitions, talks, theatre, workshops and film showings. In doing this, it gives due credit to the year-round hard graft and interesting activities of Dundee-based organisations like the McManus Gallery, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee Rep Theatre, and recent addition V & A Dundee.

There’s an important diversity to the events that the festival brings together, with organisers trying to bring together local audiences and visitors, and appeal to all ages across different parts of the programme.

Among the events that kick off the festival, your attention may be drawn to one particular show at The McManus. Draw the Line: Old Masters to The Beano (3-31 of May) is a major exhibition of drawings, making unusual connections between a variety of historic and contemporary artists through this common medium.

DCA play host to a new exhibition too: for their Spring show, Duncan Marquiss presents his largest exhibition to date (14 May-3 July). Having last month screened his 2015 Margaret Tait award film, Copy Errors, Marquiss will present a selection of paintings, drawings and video works.

Then, from 6-15 May, there’s the Abertay Digital Graduate Show. Snapping at the heels of the traditional fine art degree shows, Abertay is internationally renowned for its art, design and games degrees. There’s new media a-plenty, with an emphasis on interaction.

Abertay ties in well with the techy theme of Ignite Sparks, a new element of the festival for 2016. For its first outing, it’s looking specifically to the artistic and cultural application of innovative techniques and technology. As part of the strand, on 24 May, live coding is combined with electroacoustic music and live dancing for

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motion capture. It’s experimental, and with a bit of pressure considering the various participants have not met before, with the result being a oneoff and on-the-spot performance.

Around the same time, there’s the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Degree Show from 20-29 May, and Dundee and Angus College’s end-of-year Art and Design Show from 21-27 May. Both shows will feature the final presentations of students from across all the departments and disciplines.

Taking place alongside the DJCAD and the Dundee and Angus Colleges’ shows from 21 May26 June, there’s They Had Four Years in Generator Projects. For this, the gallery committee invite a small selection of the previous year’s graduates from across Scotland to exhibit in the space.

Keep an eye out too for the full details (still TBC) of Hyperborea, described as ‘a contemporary music performance with Augmented DrumKit – a bespoke electro-acoustic instrument.’

Details will also be soon released about Inflatable Architecture: presented by the North East of North (NEoN) Digital Arts Festival, they promise ‘a playful look at architecture in the context of Dundee’s changing landscape.’

Coming to the end of the month, there’s Remembering Witch’s Blood on 27 May in West Ward. As the title suggests, the event looks back to 1987’s citywide production based on William Blain’s book Witch’s Blood. Adding a slight twist, it will be a soundscape made from singing voices, spoken words and narrative fragments. In turn, these will be combined with a live performance by the daughter of singer/songwriter Michael Marra, who performed in the ‘87 production.

The next day, rounding off a busy and varied schedule, there’s a public art project in Slessor Gardens, where hundreds of people will recreate Dundee’s Royal Arch from cardboard boxes.

Non-Dundonians, this is plenty of notice, so take a look at the full programme and book your train early!

3-30 May ignitednd.co.uk

THE SKINNY

Don’t feed the trolls, challenge them Words: Kate Pasola Illustration: Jacky Sheridan

The tired metaphor of the hungry troll has excused abhorrent online abuse for too long. It’s time to stop starving trolls and start questioning humans

Why were these men so angry? Was their furious, unsolicited advice an earnest design to point me in the direction of romantic success?

Were these men devout flautists who felt wronged because I’d joked about their hobby? Well, on the whole, no. The trolls reacted so viscerally because they identified with the men who’d fallen for my maternal madonna. Behind my character’s halo they’d found a regular royal whore. Of course they were angry – there’s a lot at stake for men banking on the domestic and financial benefits of their future mummy-wives. Anyone calling out that romanticism is a threat to a pretty cushy set-up.

“Whorish clown” Their slurs might have hurt my feelings if I wasn’t quite so familiar with the dialect of misogynist trolls. Following the work of writers and activists like Roxane Gay, Anita Sarkeesian and Lindy West and reading their abuse in solidarity means I’m vicariously desensitised to this kind of bollocks. However, when I shared my disgust about the episode with people I knew, a couple of devil’s advocates reared their horns. “Welcome to the internet!” one or two of them told me. “That’s the way it is. Write about anything controversial, the trolls will come regardless of your gender.” I was reminded that being branded a slag is all part and parcel of striking up a debate – the confusing shame of imagining my mother read comments about her ‘slut’ of a daughter the price I pay for talking about feminism. Don’t read the comments!

Don’t feed the trolls!

“Skeleton”

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he first time I was ever trolled it was at the age of 14, and by people I knew. It was my punishment for singing a solo in assembly. Internet trolling was in its infancy, and the worst that came of it was a smattering of tossers discussing me on Twitter.

Occasionally they’d also tag each other in photographs of me on Facebook (a cleverly constructed method of demonstrating their disapproval in a way cyberbully whip-crackers wouldn’t understand). I never interacted with these subtle digijibes, mostly because 14-year-old me was wary of their nasty wit. This particular congregation of dickheads tended to be boisterous and cruel; they wouldn’t think twice about tearing me apart like laddish lions if I told them to stop. Out of fear, really, I learned not to feed the trolls.

But peckish trolls are shrewd. They are opportunists. They find a place to graze. After two years, the same malnourished trolls found their watering hole in my real life. One lunchtime when they were throwing pencils across the room at a nervous, eccentric and intelligent guy in my year, I asked them why they were behaving in the way they were. In what felt like a trollish banquet after two years of fasting, they gorged. I’d been too confidently vocal and they were game for a feast. They yelled my name at me like a football chant until I gave up and moved to sit elsewhere. Then they pulled my chair away from under me. By the sound of their roaring laughter, it was hilarious. It didn’t

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feel hilarious. Successfully silenced, I walked out of school and never again spent lunchtime in that part of the building.

“A vindictive bitch” On another occasion when pretty much my entire year group made a post-GCSEs pilgrimage to T in the Park, the same group of guys inexplicably threw a pie at my tent. Pissed off but slightly amused, I left the soggy mince to fester for a day while I watched Florence and the Machine wail from the main stage. I returned that evening in a rainstorm to find my tent trampled to the ground, belongings strewn across a cider-soaked patch of grass and the same sweaty culprits laughing their eccie-riddled brains out.

Lesson one learned before my sixteenth birthday: ignoring trolls might reduce the incentive but it doesn’t combat the motive.

And that lesson still stands today. Last month, as part of an experiment for Deviance, I overhauled my Tinder profile and documented the results.

Aiming for the idyll of a woman, I curated an identity in which the new Kate was a virtual madonna.

A patriarchal wet dream, primed to bake for, play the flute for and adore my winning suitor into a state of maternal romantic bliss. Flooded with matches and somewhat surprised that I’d been

taken seriously, I wrote an article about the experience and thought no more of it.

Shortly after, while sitting in the pub after work with a friend, I noticed a stranger had tweeted me. They wanted to know what sort of ‘sociopathic bitch’ could conduct such an experiment, throwing in an anti-Semitic slur for the ride. After briefly lamenting the condition of a scummy human race, my friend and I grinned gleefully at one another. Ironically, this nugget of hatred also meant good news. For a woman, internet abuse is almost a rite of passage when trying to have your work widely read. A gloriously exciting and deeply depressing realisation in equal parts.

“A butch lesbian” But then it continued. My article had been posted in an area of Reddit called Tumblr in Action, a place where users lift ‘SJW’ (Social Justice Warrior) content from the rest of the internet and, in their words, ‘poke fun’ at it. They swarmed like weepy little locusts onto the comment section of my article, wounded by my words and wanting to fight.

Fully grown, adult human men who felt it necessary to call me an ‘attention whoring cunt’ and a ‘vindictive bitch’. A ‘deceitful, raging whore’ with ‘miles of cock through my system’. Butch lesbian.

Whorish clown. Skeleton. Slut.

DEVIANCE

But to quote the aforementioned Lindy West, an incredible journalist who suffers horrific, almost hourly abuse: “When I speak my mind and receive a howling hurricane of abuse in return, it doesn’t feel like a plea for my attention – it feels like a demand for my silence.” Ignoring gendered online abuse is as effective as sluicing camomile lotion over a recurring rash. It doesn’t solve the problem and the sting will always return. I don’t see myself refraining from writing about womanhood, feminism and sexuality any time soon, which means I worry about that sting becoming a regular component of my professional life.

Yes, perhaps uncomfortable opinions plus anonymity will always result in trolls. Maybe it’s just a crappy part of human nature gone haywire – thriving thanks to the unnatural quirks that technology affords. But if those trolls twig that you’re anything but male, but white, but straight, but cis, but able, but young, but middle class, the hate becomes personal. It’s difficult to remember that trolls are people. They aren’t wind-up merchant automatons but fearful, hateful humans who think they have a point to make. Internet trolling is the cowardly inner core of all types of discrimination. Facilitated by anonymity, it gives oppressors a last-ditch effort to lead half-hidden hate parades. When we try not to feed the trolls, we become complicit in creating echo chambers filled with the sort of hatred that’s taboo in the real world.

And those clusters of trolls – devoid of debate in their lonely little comment sections – might just convince one another that their written words are welcome aloud, too.

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The Birth of Carnaval in São Paulo Words: Ally Brown

Carnaval used to be uncool in São Paulo, but now that’s changing

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his is an historic moment for São Paulo,” Cleopatra tells me, six-foot high, his beard looming over my head, hairy chest in my face. When not dressed as a sexy drag queen of ancient Egypt, this man is a professional, working for Globo, Brazil’s biggest TV channel. “São Paulo is a city for work and for business. But now we know we can have fun too. We don’t have to go to Rio to have fun, we can do it ourselves.”

This is carnaval, but not quite as we know it.

To the rest of the world, Brazil’s carnaval is strongly associated with Rio de Janeiro, and especially the Sambadrome parades that involve giant elaborate floats and squadrons of dancing girls in sequinned leotards, nipple tassels and multicoloured feathery headdresses. Rio owes much of its reputation as an exotic party destination to the TV footage of its carnaval. It’s easy to understand why those outrageous images of extravagant sexuality in tropical heat have been so powerful when beamed into TV sets in drab living rooms in the midst of northern hemisphere winters. It’s a bit more exciting than the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

But carnaval is celebrated all over Brazil, not just in Rio: in Recife and neighbouring Olinda, in Salvador, also in the equatorial north-east, in the historic old town of Ouro Preto, and in hundreds of smaller towns too. But up until very recently, very strangely, it was hardly celebrated at all in Brazil’s biggest city, São Paolo.

naval classics as they walk behind a slow-rolling bus or van with a sound system. The people, from just a few hundred to several thousand – walk, shuffle, dance and sing behind them, through the normally quiet residential streets of each neighbourhood, for hours: all morning, all day, and all evening, through all types of weather, and wearing all kinds of crazy outfits.

“Too conservative!” I’m scolded by the wagging finger in the crowd. She draws a line across her knee to show that my skirt – in red tartan, like a kilt – is too long. Clearly I should’ve worn a minikilt or a hot-kilt. There are other men around here in thongs, hotpants, sequinned swimwear; there’s a man carrying a shower on his head, complete with shower rail and curtain, like a cloak; a cowboy, lots of ‘Indians’. Cleopatra is a relatively common choice for big, butch men; the idea, I think, is to wear something feminine, or something bizarre, ideally as little as possible. The girls wear the same, though not quite so extreme; at least they’re decorated further with glitter, flowers and elaborate face paint. It is 36 degrees Celsius, the street thermometer says. Nobody is overdressed.

36 degrees! So while the music doesn’t stop, and the dancing can’t stop, there’s plenty in need of refreshment too: at one bloco, a thoughtful local mechanic gets a hosepipe out to spray the whole crowd passing by his workshop; at another, equally hot, an elderly lady on an upper floor kindly waters us with her watering can, our hands and faces

reaching up to her like flowers to the sun.

“Carnaval is the best and happiest time of the year,” Mariana tells me. “During carnaval you can be and wear whatever you want and nobody will judge you. It’s a party for everybody – old people, young people, kids. It’s just a time to have fun.”

At the crowded front of every bloco is the band, their friends and partners, and the biggest partiers; towards the back are mothers pushing babies in prams, fathers hand-in-hand with toddlers, grandparents out with the grandkids. One dad I see is wearing a gimp mask, bouncing his little boy up and down on his shoulders in time to the music. Another toddler is helped along on her feet by colourful clown mum and sexy surgeon dad.

There’s plenty of alcohol around, but this celebration is open to everyone.

Thankfully, it’s not yet been discovered by everyone. “Smaller is definitely better!” Thomaz the trumpter says with a laugh. He and his friends have rejected media requests for interviews ahead of their bloco because they want it to remain a manageable size. “If it’s too big, then you can’t see the band, you can’t hear the music, everybody is crushed, you can’t dance, people are too drunk, it’s chaos,” he says, and I’m sure he’s right. If you’ve ever been to the main stage at a music festival, you’ll know exactly what he means: tens of thousands of people partying together can very easily become too much. Some blocos in Rio attract

hundreds of thousands.

Rio’s carnaval is so popular that you need to book accommodation months in advance, and the price is often several times the normal highseason rate, because lots of tourists have the same idea.

But on carnaval weekend in São Paulo, hostel and hotel accommodation was widely available even at the last minute, at low season prices.

Because if it’s ultra-high season in Rio, it’s low season in São Paulo.

“The music here is not quite as good as in Rio,” a local musician tells me. “But who cares, really?

Look at this! Everybody is here and having so much fun!”.

Mariana looks at it differently. “There is more variety here in São Paulo,” she says. “We have blocos playing different kinds of music – the traditional ones playing old carnaval music, some playing axé [a popular music from the north-eastern region around Salvador], and also some playing reggae, pop, electronic, jazz, funk, afro. So, even if you don’t like the music, you can go to another bloco and hear what you like.”

But really, it’s silly to compare carnavals. Rio’s carnaval is a wonder of the world. but why compare two fantastic things, when to do so means being negative about one? The spirit of carnaval is priceless, wherever it can be found. And increasingly, São Paulo is finding its own carnaval rhythm.

“ One dad I see is wearing a gimp mask, bouncing his little boy up and down on his shoulders in time to the music”

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Lifestyle

Credit: Thais Haliski

“Four or five years ago, the carnaval here was a bit dead,” says marketing analyst Mariana. “A few years ago our former mayor prohibited the blocos [street parties] on the streets,” says Raoni, a photographer. São Paulo didn’t share the carnaval tradition of other parts of Brazil because – to simplify hugely – its culture was built by its European and Asian immigrants, not by African slaves and their descendents as elsewhere in the country. “When I was a kid, I remember it was actually cool to hate carnaval because of its non-productive and cathartic image,” Raoni says.

Now, everything has changed. São Paulo has loosened up. Over carnaval weekend in 2016 there seemed to be a street parade or party in every barrio. As workers cleared up the mess and we slept off our hangovers, officials announced that the city had hosted 355 blocos which were attended by an estimated total of two million people.

While the parades are the most famous aspect of Brazilian carnaval to foreigners, for the locals, the blocos are the main attraction. They’re typically organised by large groups of 10-30 musicians – a large team of drummers, the bateria and a horn section are essential, often accompanied by a few guitarists and singers. They gather on a street corner, sometimes as early as 9am, to play an endless stream of samba, funk and Brazilian car-

TRAVEL

THE SKINNY

Style Capital As Edinburgh Fashion Week returns, with the Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show in tow, we consider the event’s individual flair and take a look at what’s in store

Words: Leonie Wolters

denim that shows skin in places it didn’t know it had any? Anything could happen. Another important aspect of Edinburgh’s fashion character is that it has a big heart: not one, but two charities will be supported in two distinct shows. On 5 March, breast cancer charity Walk the Walk will host a Moonwalk fashion show and auction. The event is set to be a major happening, including contributions from fashion blogger Satisfashion and the good looks of Scot Street Style, as well as the attendance of Scottish designers and celebrities.

“ What is Edinburgh’s fashion persona?

Is it tarted up in tartan, sensible in tweed, or a dazzlingly new range of spanking new style tricks?”

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hen hearing the words ‘fashion’ and ‘week’ in the same sentence, a mere empty space between them, many fashion lovers’ eyes will glaze over. During these weeks, sightings of impractical footwear soar, wearing sunglasses inside is acceptable and combining purple mohair with acid green leather seems entirely appropriate. Every global fashion week has its own persona, and different street style wildlife swarming around it: Milan is colourful and adventurous like Anna dello Russo, London obsessively irreverent, but with superb nonchalant coat-wearing skills, and New York more down to earth – one would almost say practical, but this would probably hurt the feelings of the already injured toes and heels of stiletto-sporting NY visitors during the event.

And then Paris – ah, to have seen the perfect mastery of over- and understatement, more complex than quantum physics, that Paris street style provides. Doesn’t that just mean one can die happy?

March 2016

Now that Edinburgh Fashion Week is about to see its second edition, it’s high time to ask: what is Edinburgh’s fashion persona? Is it mostly tarted up in tartan, sensible in tweed or a Barbour jacket, or will it develop a dazzlingly new range of spanking new style tricks? This year’s Edinburgh Fashion Week is set to take place over the week of 5-13 March, and will provide ample food for fashionrelated thoughts. The absence of large design houses presenting their new collections could be a slight challenge to the development of a city’s inner fashion god(dess). Instead, Edinburgh Fashion Week is an initiative of Essential Edinburgh, a so-called business improvement district, or an area where businesses vote to invest collectively in local improvements, encouraging shoppers to spend more in the area. Of course, getting people to buy things is an essential component of every fashionable endeavour, and during the launch weekend, different events held on the Mound will do exactly that, but also much more.

Spring/summer shows from John Lewis, Jenners/House of Fraser, the West End, Princes Street, Thistle Street and George Street may not be expected to be at the cutting edge of fashion, but the styles presented might be a lot more wearable than, say, Hussein Chalayan’s melting lab coats or Rick Owen’s human backpacks – though the latter seem spectacularly affordable. Perhaps a first characteristic of Edinburgh’s fashion persona, then, is an element of pragmatism, for these shows could place fashion squarely in a Scottish summer and spring, with a lesson or two in lavish layering. For more experimental work, hold your breath until the closing event of the launch weekend, when some of the Edinburgh College of Art’s postgraduate designers present a creative collective.

Certainly, they will add some unexpected elements to the mix. Will they put Edinburgh’s fashion week persona in skin-tight latex, give it some fetish heels, or dress it in artfully distressed

FASHION

Then, on 11 and 12 March, it’s time for the Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show. This year’s edition will be held in support of The Rock Trust, a charity that prevents and alleviates homelessness for young people in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Organisers are convinced that the event, which is to take place in The Biscuit Factory, will be both ‘thought-provoking’ and ‘unforgettable’, although there’s an air of mystery surrounding exactly what this will entail. Instead of a traditional catwalk show, ECFS promises to showcase independent designers and boutiques in a way that has never before been seen in Scotland – that this is likely to be a positive direction is evidenced by The Rock Trust’s delight at being this year’s recipient charity. Their mission seems to have been an inspiration for the themes of this year’s show, for it focuses on Edinburgh’s urban environment, and ideas of creativity that have currency ‘on the street’, rather than only on a glossy catwalk.

Indeed, in the words of ECFS Chairwoman Amber Coleman: “The core values of The Rock Trust really resonated with our creative vision for ECFS this year. We want to engage with our urban environment more and alter people’s preconceptions of what we represent, be that fashion or homelessness. This year’s shows are about stripping away the unneeded, and exposing the core of fashion and society. We want our audiences to leave the factory with a fresh view of Edinburgh and homelessness.” It looks as though ECFS provides the connection between Edinburgh’s fashionable character and its underlying soul. We can’t wait!

Sat 5-Sun 13 Mar #EdFashionWeek #EdinEvents edinevents.com/edinburgh-fashion-week/edinburghfashion-week-programme/

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Ettie Wyatt Gosebruch E

ttie Wyatt Gosebruch is a photographer originally from London, currently living and working in Leeds. Her work looks at the role of ambiguity and illusion within photography of the mundane and everyday. Contrast and opposition is often the subject of her work, exploring difference, similarity and compatibility between two or more components of an image.

The photographic series Alloy has developed from research around the link between imaging and its perception by the viewer.

An alloy is the result of a fusion between two materials, here one of photographic elements.

Photographic images can be technically manipulated and distorted, leading to the widely held distrust in their authenticity. And still – photography as truthful depiction of reality is a persuasive concept, and these images play with it.

By joining two entirely individual elements a composite is created. The balancing of these previously created components becomes the making of an image. Juxtapositions can create false relationships

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between the elements, or a quietly different version of reality. New associations, connections and meanings are hinted at. A sudden appearance of perspective (or a yellow plastic bucket) within an apparently flat composite plays with the perception of truth.

Certain images within the series are not composites, however through similar appearances and compositions these images can be falsely read as composites, further broadening the gap between reality and illusion.

The images are taken in today’s urban environment without hint at a specific location. The process of production involves an aspect of trial and error, gradually selecting from large random bodies of images. Decisions are not purely based on aesthetics but upon the active relationship between components. The sequenced components often match in scale and ratio, and so by disguising the seam begin to create an entirely constructed version of reality. ettiewyattgosebruch.format.com

Showcase

THE SKINNY

March 2016

Showcase

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THE SKINNY

Brew-It-Yourself The incredible true story of The Skinny’s journey to make our very own beer, from the mezcalinfused ‘before’ to the citrus-packed ‘after’ Words: Peter Simpson Illustration: Sarah Bissell

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ike all the best stories, we begin our tale in a dark and sweaty basement, leaning forward on a bench and trying not to accidentally kick strangers in the shins. Around three yards away from The Skinny in the underground of Edinburgh’s Spit/Fire bar stands Garrett Oliver, long-serving brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, and a man so magnetic he sends trails of cutlery flying through the air wherever he goes.

Equal parts charisma, beer knowledge, rock’n’roll backstory and delightful hat, Oliver is in town to share some ‘ghost bottles’ from the brewery’s collection – beers that are too unpredictable, expensive or bizarre to be mass-produced, but still worth dipping into from time to time. These bottles range from a ten-year-old black chocolate stout, which tastes like being shot in the face with a bag of cocoa beans, to a mezcal-aged beer that was delightfully crisp and refreshing but probably knocked a good few hundred words off this article.

These beers are about more than just the liquid in the glass, though. Each bottle has a unique origin story, and the tales behind the beers do so much to round out the characters on display.

Knowing that Oliver went to an eight-year-old’s birthday party in Mexico on a charm offensive to acquire mezcal barrels makes that beer taste better; the fact that the brewery went to the trouble of buying back its own chocolate stout (after realising they’d accidentally sold it all) gives a sense of occasion to the drink that your conscious mind can’t help but pass on to the rest of your face. In contrast, what’s the best origin story you can offer for the average massproduced lager? “Oh, I remember it like it was yesterday. This beer was made to a recipe, by people... Cheers.”

Beer is a story-telling drink; a big glass of brown liquid that starts conversations and makes (and occasionally erases) memories. The story – the origin, the style, the ingredients – is key; as Oliver says: “When you confuse [styles] completely, all that you’re left with is liquid… well, that and the money.” If ever you’re in need of beerbased inspiration, Garrett is the man to hook you up – he’s like a beery Yoda, except he’s a fair bit taller than old green face, and he once went bowling with the Ramones.

Sadly, this story does not continue with us crushing pins with Joey and co, or even messing with sentence structure to make ourselves seem deep and spiritual. Instead, we’ve got the unmistakable smell of manure, the sight of a huge factory producing baked goods for a well-known purveyor of all things baked, and two city slickers pathetically using Google Maps to navigate from one end of a suburban street to another. We’re at Stewart Brewing in Loanhead just outside Edinburgh, with inspiration in our minds and nature burning our nostrils, to make our beery dreams come to life.

Sam, our brewer for the afternoon, talks us through the details of the brewing process and explains how it’s all going to go down, and when we say details we mean details. An alumnus of Heriot-Watt’s venerable Brewing and Distilling MSc course, Sam knows beer inside out and back to front. We get information about water profiles, and the way in which the minerals that are pre-

March 2016

sent can affect the beer’s ingredients; we learn about the ways in which the compounds in hops break down and the specific conditions required to get your beer going in the right direction; we do a lot of nodding and ‘mmm-hmming’, and feel glad to have an experienced prescence on hand.

Any mug can blab on about beer being “a brown liquid that starts conversations”, but if they don’t know anything about how that liquid works, they’re up shit creek.

Luckily, there’s a job that’s perfect for our childlike mix of enthusiasm and uselessness – when brainstorming the beer in the office, we mentioned that a citrus element to the beer would be nice. So, once we’ve picked out our hops, checked out the equipment and stood helpless as one of the other starter beers foams up like a beach at high tide, we’re put to work zesting and juicing a pile of grapefruits and lemons. There’s one zester between two, and we have to use a teaspoon to cut the fruit in half because there are no knives lying around, but it is kind of ‘our level’ so it’s all fine.

“ Beer starts conversations and makes (and occasionally erases) memories” We throw our hops and fruit into the vat of liquid, discuss the finer points of Viking brewing – they thought their yeast-infected spoons were magically causing their beer to ferment, but did they ever think to chuck some fruit in there? Take that, the Vikings – and finally pour the beer into what look an awful lot like empty missiles. We add the yeast (after almost forgetting to add half of it to the mix), and our work is done. And because we added the yeast to the liquid at the end, we technically ‘brewed’ the whole lot ourselves.

So that’s the story of how the beer came to be, now to tell you a bit about what it’s like. To be honest, it’s a bit like the magazine – left-field but approachable, packed with ingredients from all over the place, but a great combination once you put all the pieces together. A dry-hopped citrus pale, it features a blend of Ella, Southern Cross and Summit hops from Australia, New Zealand and the UK, as well as grapefruit and lemon, lovingly juiced and zested by yours truly. At time of writing, it’s still fermenting away, so we’re going to look mighty silly if it turns out that we’ve managed to somehow balls it up, especially after that needless brag in the previous paragraph. Oh, and it’s got a cracking name. The Skinny’s beer is called Hop Off The Press, and it was made to a recipe, by people. Cheers.

Hop Off The Press will be available at Stewart Brewing’s Edinburgh Beer Festival on 16 Apr; tickets £15, via stewartbrewing.co.uk

FOOD AND DRINK

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Food News

Performance, philosophy and festivals a-plenty all feature in this month’s food events round-up.

Words: Peter Simpson

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irst up this month, loveable craft beer scamps Brewdog knock together a turbo-charged beer and cheese pairing evening at their Edinburgh bottle shop. This event features six beers and six accompanying fromages (three from the UK and three from across Europe) over the space of two hours, so you may want to skip dinner. Or just bring along a load of crackers. 3 Mar, 7pm; Bottledog, 25a Dundas St; tickets £20, contact bottledogedinburgh@brewdog.com to book Sticking with beer, Stewart Brewing host a Celebration of Women in Brewing for International Women’s Day, featuring some key female players from across the beer industry. Brewers from Lerwick and Stewart, speakers from Beer52 and the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, and the editor of specialist beer magazine Ferment will all be on hand on the night. 8 Mar, 7pm; Stewart Brewing, 26A Dryden Road, Loanhead; free, book via eventbrite.co.uk Over in Glasgow, the Declaration Festival uses the issue of ‘Big Sugar’ as a jumping-off point for a discussion on freedom of expression. A panel will discuss the role of free speech in our conversations on health and diet, and the impact that information from both sides of the debate can have on the way we eat. 4 Mar, 12pm; CCA, 350 Sauchiehall St; free, book via eventbrite.co.uk

March also sees the latest in the CCA’s Cooking Pot series of food events. Howling Spoon is a ‘performance kitchen’, with diners served up vegan grub created from local grocers’ surplus, while a mixture of song, live art, theatre, and poetry kicks off around them. If you like your food with a hefty side of intrigue and a mild sense of dread, pull up a chair. 1 Apr, 7pm; Kinning Park Complex, 40 Cornwall St; free.

March also sees a spate of food and drink festivals, which is good news for us, as well as for the vital bar token and folding table industries.

First up is the Edinburgh leg of the North Hop beer festival (5 Mar; Assembly Rooms, 54 George St; £17.50, northhop.co.uk), while at the other end of the M8, the Great Scottish Beer Celebration returns for 2016 with three days of beery goodness (10-12 Mar; BAaD, 54 Calton Entry; £8.50, greatscottishbeercelebration.co.uk) Staying on a boozy tip, NIP Festival hits Inverness at the end of the month, celebrating the dual pleasures of Scottish whisky and gin. The main event is at Bogbain Farm (home of boutique music festival Brew at the Bog), with distillers from across the country presenting their wares to a no-doubt receptive crowd. 2 Apr; Bogbain Farm nr Inverness; £30, nipscotland.com

Back in the central belt, two major fests get underway at the end of March. In Edinburgh, the annual Edinburgh Science Festival judders into life on 26 March, with Casks, Coats and Chemistry (26 Mar) and The Futurist Meal (31 Mar) among the highlights to come this side of April. Casks… takes a scientific look at the world of whisky, while The Futurist Meal is promoted with the promise of “confrontational canapes and disturbing dishes”, so that’s us sold. Details at sciencefestival.co.uk

Over in the west, there are seven nights of quote-unquote ‘secret dining’ ahead of the official kick-off for the Glasgow Restaurant Festival on 1 April. The festival’s Merchant City spiegeltent will be manned by a pop-up team for the nights leading up to the festival; we don’t know who’s doing the cooking (on account of it being a secret), but given that the main fest features the likes of Martin Wishart and Porter & Rye, we expect it’ll be worth trying to find out. 25-31 Mar, Info at facebook.com/GlasgowRestaurantFestival

Phagomania: Fast Food Fails The big boys of the fast food industry offer their take on the culinary imagination and creativity so beloved by Phagomania. It doesn’t end well...

Words: Lewis MacDonald

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his column has always had one constant theme – creative individuals. The mavericks, the Renaissance men and women, not afraid of any corner of the kitchen cupboard or deep frier.

From talented photographers to home cooks and bloggers, if you want to see a burger sculpture or a pizza portrait, there is a free spirit out there willing to try it.

But what happens on the other side of the coin, when the global conglomerates attempt to push the culinary boundaries? They’ve used the powers of mass production to bring us the fast food we all know so well; now let’s see whether the big boys’ attempts at creativity end up as a fast food #win or a corporate #fail.

First up, Pizza Hut, whose long-standing obsession with crust rivals any geologist. Why can’t they just leave the poor edges alone? It started with stuffing them with cheese, which was a dangerous gateway to later experiments with hotdog-stuffing. Their latest is the horrifying yet intriguing Hash Brown Stuffed Crust pizza, a carb attack that redefines which meal of the day a pizza could be considered for.

Burger King are also guilty of dubious regional experiments on their menus. A sweet and savoury car crash awaited unsuspecting US customers

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in the form of a Bacon Sundae. A typical BK ice cream is sprinkled with bacon bits and served complete with a thick-cut, hardwood smoked bacon garnish. It’s like your grandad trying to be cool.

Meanwhile in Japan, Burger King have undoubtedly produced the stuff of freakish burger nightmares. Coloured burgers seems to be a bit of a thing in the Asian market (with rival McDonalds producing a silver burger in China) but Kuro Burger is a certain game changer, complete with black bun, sauce and cheese. It looks like what Death would eat if he rode a skateboard instead of a horse. This was followed up last year by an irradiant red burger, complete with ‘angry sauce.’

Not to be outdone, fast food heavyweight McDonalds stepped into the ring this year with our personal favourite: McChoco Potatoes. Yes, that’s fries with milk and white chocolate sauce drizzled all over them. McMadness. Perhaps sensibly, the chosen test market for these is, you guessed it, Japan. So the deranged and the curious among you will have to wait. Or you could just do what some folk have been doing for years, sticking their fries into their McFlurry. We own that one – and they can’t take that from us! theskinny.co.uk/food

THE SKINNY

March 2016

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Wolf Alice

Gig Highlights Wave goodbye to dark days and let in the light. Well, if you equate the likes of Pelican, Clint Mansell and Grimes with springtime cheer

ime to shake off the winter blubber and drag our diminished immune systems back out into the world; fortunately, there’s plenty on offer to cure what ails you this March.

It would be remiss to march into this month’s offerings without giving a nod to the smooth electronic beat mastery of Bob Moses. Mr Moses is in fact the alter-ego of duo New Yorkers Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance, and their righteous blend is best exemplified by last year’s exceptional debut Days Gone By. This one is set to get March off to a thumping start (Broadcast, 1 Mar). Meanwhile, east coast dwellers are in for a bracing start to the season when sharply dressed newcomers Sundara Karma rile up Sneaky Pete’s with their creative indie rock (1 Mar). For those who like it heavy and instrumental, Pelican are always a sound shout – the post-metal outfit from Illinois crank that bastard to 11 at Audio on 2 Mar. And while we’re at it, resurrected Swedish hardcore gods Refused bring their frenetic mix to our shores for the first time in too long. From 1998’s classic The Shape of Punk to Come to last year’s comeback record Freedom, it’s a chance to see art punk history in the flesh.

As ever, there’s plenty on offer from the local contingent too. Glaswegian rock wonder kids Catholic Action are back on the scene after a brilliant 2015 that saw them play T in the Park plus a host of other top class venues. Don’t miss them in, er, action at the suitably scruffy Nice n Sleazy (31 Mar). Acrylic are another Scottish group doing great things in the retro rock department; led by the leonine Andreas Christodoulidis, the quintet’s moody Doors-esque vibe will permeate Sneaky Pete’s on 12 Mar. Those on the hunt for a killer slice of atmospheric post rock crunch, meanwhile, are sure to be satisfied when Errors lay their proggy electronic fugue on La Belle Angele (5 Mar). A mainstay of Mogwai’s Rock Action Records, expect gems from last year’s Lease of Life.

Wolf Alice are a band who continue to go from strength to lupine strength and their Barrowlands top billing merely confirms what we already know – that the North London alt rockers are firm favourites around these parts, not least due to their grungy hooks and lead singer Ellie Rowsell’s ferocious charm (16 Mar). Another name getting the indie kids all in a lather is Grimes

March 2016

– the chameleon-like Canadian with her kaleidoscopic pop anthems is likely to fill the capacious O2 ABC fit to bursting (13 Mar). And speaking of beloved, you can’t get any more adored than our very own Trembling Bells. The current five piece lineup, fronted by the bewitching Lavinia Blackwall play Mono‘s intimate surrounds on 10 Mar – the group scored a rare 5 stars in these pages for last year’s The Sovereign Self, so be prepared for a sonically spellbinding show.

Elsewhere there’s a solid list of dynamic and diverse acts guaranteed to put a spring in your step. The Spook School are prime contenders for ushering in sunnier skies with their effervescent art school pop (Hug & Pint, 8 Mar), while Dundonian youngsters Model Aeroplanes take their catchy guitar melodies for a jaunt at The Caves on 3 Mar, and a hometown show at Fat Sam’s on 5 Mar. There’s also a psychedelic storm

a-brewin’, when American space rockers White Hills play Sleazy’s subterranean den with support from trippy local lads The Cosmic Dead (11 Mar).

With over 40 separate releases to their name over the course of a ten year career, they’re nothing if not prolific.

Emma Pollock is perhaps best known as a founding member of Chemikal Underground stalwarts The Delgados, but the talented singer, songwriter and guitarist is no slouch on the solo front either. Her third record In Search of Harperfield is an expansive foray through nostalgia and halcyon rural days – hear it in its elegant, surging glory at Voodoo Rooms (3 Mar). Prodigious Mancunian Kiran Leonard is another solo act to keep your eye on – the burgeoning young maestro has been compared to guitar great Frank Zappa in some circles, and what more compelling endorsement is there? (Electric Circus, 28 Mar).

March’s staggeringly salubrious rota of talent has most likely given eager punters a multitude of reasons to kick up their heels and celebrate la primavera, but conserve your energy, for there’s one more treat in store – Edinburgh’s Summerhall continues to play host to a collection of stellar gigs, gathered together under the rather self deprecating moniker Nothing Ever Happens Here. Highlights include Falkirk native, former Y’all Is Fantasy Island frontman and awardwinning documentary maker Adam Stafford (11 Mar), who returns after a three year hiatus with an exciting new recording; and the dreamlike, multilayered synth beats of German musician, producer and electronic shoegaze champion Ulrich Schnauss (13 Mar). Nothing ever happens here? This spring, we beg to differ...

Do Not Miss Uneasy Listening: An Evening with Clint Mansell, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 29 Mar

Credit: Ivan Bideac

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Words: Claire Francis

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If you’re too young to remember Clint Mansell from his Pop Will Eat Itself days, don’t despair – the Coventry musician and former industrial rock frontman is perhaps better known for his sublime film scores. It was Darren Aronofsky who gave Mansell his break scoring uneasy cult suburban terror flick Requiem for a Dream alongside the formid-able Kronos Quartet.

Since then, Mansell has gone on to compose for a variety of flicks ranging from Duncan Jones’ sci-fi thriller Moon to one of Mickey Rourke’s finest moments in The Wrestler – a résumé fit to make any discerning fan of modern classical music weep (and a rather marked departure from his PWEI days). In a rare appearance on our shores (and hot on the heels of scoring Ben Wheatley’s imminent dystopian adaptation, High-Rise), the man brings his breathtakingly unique compositions to the grand environs of Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall; sure to be uneasy listening at its very brilliant best.

Preview

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always underpinned his impressive arsenal of hooks. There’s scant regard for the original melodies, but it all feels right somehow; a furious howl rrrrr that fits in perfectly with the powerful squall, lent “Am I the oldest one in here?” asks Bob Mould, feig- additional muscle by the more-than-capable duo ning exasperation as he stares out across the of Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster. room. The sea of grey hairs and bespectacled bald Whether pulling nuggets from Sugar’s magnum heads dotted across Liquid Room’s tightly-packed opus Copper Blue (A Good Idea; If I Can’t Change hall should provide an answer to that one, but it’s Your Mind) or recent favourites from unexpectedly telling that they’re pressed up close against the spectacular recent albums (The Descent; Kid With rather more luxuriant mops of younger punks: Crooked Face), they’re all turned in with aplomb. those who simply weren’t around to catch the 55- Main set closer Chartered Trips plummets into a year-old former Hüsker Dü and Sugar frontman in psych-tinged workout that builds the tension, before any of his previous incarnations. And in any case, a cathartic encore delivers three cuts from the all that matters is the here and now. Which, by the Hüskers’ mighty Flip Your Wig, all played at ripway, is VERY LOUD. roaring pace to ecstatic punters. While his peers Pulling tracks from across his career in what give into the temptation to reform their old acts, amounts to a greatest hits set (of sorts), Bob gives Bob just keeps on doing what he’s always done: us blistering power pop brilliance at eardrumcranking out the classics on his own terms – and lacerating volume, patrolling the stage menacingly don’t the kids just love it. [Will Fitzpatrick] and playing with the same manic energy that’s

Photo: Jon Ellenor

Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 8 Feb

bobmould.com

Savages / Bo Ningen The Art School, 21 Feb

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Foals / Everything Everything The SSE Hydro, 12 Feb

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Everything Everything are on expert form tonight, a worthy support act blowing the lid off an almosttoo-good-to-be-true bill for fans of complex artrock. The Wheel (Is Turning Now) becomes a bassy, bulging behemoth that not only showcases Higg’s trademark vocal dexterity but also seems to strain it, rasping as he lurches from that hummingbird falsetto down to gravelly, baritonal depths. Regret and No Reptiles bear hidden teeth, too, and as they close with the dancey Distant Past, the diehards at the front are a storm of arms, thirsty for more.

But where EE seem dwarfed by the arena setting, Foals are unfased. Latest LP What Went Down is a resonant, stadium record, channelling classic rock anthemics: just the ticket for The SSE Hydro.

If Yannis Philippakis’s aluminium-bodied Travis Bean guitar (favoured by Shellac) isn’t enough

of a clue to the band’s commitment to high-grade, authentic rock, then the opening gnarly chords to Snake Oil should be. “Fuck yeah Glasgow, wassup!” he yowls. “Here’s an old one,” he adds, introducing Olympic Airways. And the switch from an epic WWD track to an Antidotes classic – with that addictive “Dis-a-ppear! Dis-a-ppear!” refrain – doesn’t jar, ably recontextualised to this new environment.

The set is well paced: grand, scuzzy peaks (Mountain At My Gates, What Went Down) and pensive troughs (Give It All, a staple Spanish Sahara), all mesmerically accompanied by dynamic, shifting LED panels. A kinetic Providence is satanically lit in crimson; Inhaler is green and smoky, a scaly reptilia to match its lizard-like riffs. But by the time we’re churning in the Two Steps, Twice dénouement, all senses have bled together with sweat and spilled cider. [George Sully] foals.co.uk

Photo: Rita Azevedo

Savages’ sound check starts, and a heavy, heavy kickdrum reverberates through everyone’s stomachs.

“Ooft,” gasps a very bearded man, “I think I just pished my pants.” Nothing could sum up this evening better.

Regular collaborators/tour companions Bo Ningen set a high, heavy bar. The Japan via London psych-noise four-piece have mesmerisingly shiny locks that are almost as lengthy as their sonic-shifting solos, and they bruise their bodies, their instruments and our ear-drums during a 30-minute set that falls just the right side of brutal endurance.

When Jehnny Beth, Ayse Hassan, Fay Milton and Gemma Thomas finally stride out on stage, they cut eerie, powerful silhouettes against some seriously dramatic lighting. Jumping straight into Sad Person, from January’s album Adore Life, the lyrics feel entirely appropriate. “I’m not gunna hurt you,” Beth croons, “so what else?” The audience need the reminder; Savages’ icy control and

organ-shaking volume could feel intimidating, but this band want you to step up – not back.

From first-album gut busters like Shut Up and Husbands, through to the more clinical rage of new tracks like The Answer and I Need Something New, Savages hold their audience with a vice-like grip. A sweaty, friendly circle pit cracks open just as everyone sheds their coats, heating up under the intensity of the band’s request to “leave the lights on – we want to see.” Kicking off her shoes, Beth then takes a trusting step off the stage, onto raised, clenched, supportive fists.

Held up by togetherness and community, it’s a fitting, moving symbol for Adore Life’s manifesto of positivity.

So tight and so earnest, Savages have a way of pummelling you into a state of catharsis that’s totally unique and madly special. Hassan’s bass work turns recent single and war-cry for love T.I.W.Y.G. into a frenzy of feel-good hip-shaking that sweatily embodies the track’s vigorous, confrontational message. Drawing to an abrupt halt, there’s a collective gasp for air and Beth smirks, “It feels good, doesn’t it?” It feels fucking brilliant.

[Katie Hawthorne]

!!! / Stereolad @ Glasgow CCA, 14 Feb

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Photo: Ryan Johnston

“‘Allo Glasgow! Ve are Stereolad and ve are very ‘appy to support the legends !!! (Chkchkchk) on their tour!”Don’t rub your eyes, you read that right. !!! booked a cover band of the French-tongued, experimental legends Stereolab to warm up the waiting Valentine’s Day crowd at the CCA. Except, because !!! do whatever they want, they are the cover band. As Stereolad, irrepressible front-man Nic Offer bounces out on stage in his favourite blue gingham dress, conducting the rest of the far more sombrely dressed band through a rapidfire, wildly energetic “Best of Stereolab” medley.

The crowd, rightly so, lose their minds. Why don’t more bands do this? After an implausibly short break the gang return as !!!, appearing completely unaffected by the 100mph 30-minute set they’ve just played. “HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY GLASGOOOOOW,” Offer bellows, now in just a

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t-shirt and pants, “and a big thank you to the stunning Stereolad!” The evening started strangely, but once this band get down to their own material their capacity for the absurd knows no bounds. Rocketing through the highest-energy cuts from recent record, As If, !!! throw out all the stops with ridiculous, gleeful joy. From Freedom!

‘15 via Every Little Bit Counts, the room’s exploded into a sweaty, grinning jumble of shimmys and air-punching in a vain attempt to keep up with the band’s inimitable ring-leading. A choice highlight: Offer slaps his own face, turns it into a heel spin, shoves a mic in his gob to emulate the backing vocals and bursts free from the stage to join the bodies on the floor. It’s a stinking, sticky, wonderful mess.Haterz have said that !!!’s weird disco is no longer punk. !!! don’t give a fuck.

They’re too busy hollering “I feel so freeeee” on top of an amp, drenched in booze and spit and sweat, wearing only their boxers. [Katie Hawthorne] chkchkchk.net

THE SKINNY

These Important Years Having triumphantly ridden the comeback trail in recent years, Bob Mould’s personal life suddenly cracked open in 2014. He tells us how a traumatic year informed new album Patch The Sky, and why those pesky Hüsker Dü reunion rumours won’t go away Interview: Will Fitzpatrick Photography: Mark Prime

t’s safe to say Bob Mould has had better days.

The punk veteran has just arrived at his hotel when we call via a flaky Skype connection, following several days of press commitments in Berlin and London, and he’s been struggling to sleep.

It’s a relief, then, to discover that he’s feeling somewhat chipper in the face of such trying circumstances. “I haven’t had anything to eat in ten hours so I’m heading to the restaurant as soon as we say goodbye,” he laughs, easing into the interview with the comforting air of a natural conversationalist.

In any case, hunger seems an apposite place to start: recent years have shown Mould to be an artist with a renewed appetite. Following several coolly-received albums between 2005 and 2009, he re-emerged in 2012 with Silver Age, a solid collection recalling the potent noise and melodic magic of his short-lived former outfit Sugar and their mighty Copper Blue opus. Upon its release in 1992, that record signalled something of a second act to an already-impressive career, following the dissolution of his seminal college rock outfit Hüsker Dü four years previously. Several years on, a time-out period saw him find refuge in pro-wrestling scriptwriting, the gay club scene and a healthy interest in electronic music – as explored spectacularly with the success of Blowoff, the Washington DC dance night he DJ’d at with Richard Morel. Further solo records in the rock idiom followed, but by this point it’s fair to say no-one expected a third act.

“Silver Age was just a quick blur of an album that sort of fell out of me,” he says, reflecting on his ongoing purple patch with a reinvigorated Bob Mould Band. “It made for a really nice transition into this stretch of new work. The crowds have been great, the momentum was there… it just kept building on itself, all the way through until November 2014, when I had a pretty lousy personal year and took the first half of 2015 to get away. Now I think we’re back on track and I personally feel really great about where things are at this moment in my life.”

The year in question certainly was tough: having lost his father during the lead-up to 2014’s Beauty & Ruin, his mother then passed away too.

As if that wasn’t enough, the relative stability of his love life crumbled, and a newly-single Mould fell into a darkly pensive period. The specifics of this experience are off the agenda today, as we’re advised in advance; instead, he’s keen to talk about the record they inspired – his 12th solo effort Patch The Sky. “I think it’s a little bit deeper than the last two records,” he explains. “The stories get rather dark and the melodies get rather bright, and the contrast between the two is turned up pretty high this time. I think there’s maybe an emotional simplicity to this record; I really resisted the urge to get super-wordy. It seems really primal… hopefully people will identify with it at some point.”

That darkness becomes apparent on tracks like Voices In My Head (“…that multiply and amplify the fear”) and Pray For Rain, both of which are rather more forthright about this period of depression.

“Yeah, that’s the simplicity I was talking about,” he says. “I’m not trying to put lipstick on it, it’s pretty much what it is.”

March 2016

At times it sounds like the songs are in dialogue with themselves, we suggest, rather than simply following ideas to linear conclusions.

“Middle of the second verse is usually the good spot to do that,” he says, deftly sidestepping our attempts to open up the subject matter a little. “Then you clear it out with a big-ass guitar solo, and then come back, and you’ve got your resolve, right? That’s how the story goes.”

In that case, how would Mould summarise the story behind Patch The Sky? “The basic idea to me is: when people leave earth, they tear through the sky, and sometimes they rip a hole in it. People get left to try to fix that – you’re gonna have to try to approach that hole, you can’t do it from the ground. Better to fix the hole and stay on this side than to travel through,” he says. “If that makes any sense.”

Just about.

It’s the third record in what Bob Mould Band drummer Jon Wurster refers to as a “triptych” of recent offerings; a return to form that followed the release of Mould’s autobiography in 2011.

See A Little Light: The Trail Of Rage And Melody was an extraordinarily frank piece from an artist who’s always seemed somewhat reluctant to discuss the past. Was the book an attempt to close the door on certain aspects of his career, we ask, in order to focus on looking forward?

“Better

to fix the hole and stay on this side than to travel through”

Credit: Mark Prime

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“Well you know, in reference to my memories of Hüsker Dü, I never really talked about it until the book,” he replies. “So I don’t know if ‘closing the door’ is what I would say. I guess if I think about it, I wrote the book to tell my story and, through doing that, to get a little bit of clarity – not only for myself, but for the people who read it.

“The book was a very long, measured look at everything: my childhood, my teen years, Hüsker Dü, Sugar, solo records, relationships, Blowoff…

After doing that, I think it unknowingly created this opportunity for me. Believe me, in the three years I was putting those stories together, I wasn’t thinking about where I was gonna go next. I’ll take it as a very large accidental victory.”

The book was written with the editorial guidance of Michael Azerrad, the American music scribe whose tome Our Band Could Be Your Life documented the evolution of indie rock from its hardcore punk origins through to the rise of Nirvana. There’s also a strong argument that it provided a springboard for the indie rock revivalism that’s made heroes of guitar-toting noiseniks from METZ to Parquet Courts to Joanna Gruesome in recent years, as well as paving the way for Mould’s contemporaries such as Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses), Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) and Jon Fine (Bitch Magnet) to put pen to paper and compose their own memoirs. As the last

significant development in guitar-based music before the proliferation of the internet, indie rock may well be the last truly mythologised movement in the story of rock music as a whole.

“Absolutely,” agrees Mould. “How many memoirs do you think we’re gonna have from hereon out? I fear that so many people are burning up their currency on a daily basis through social media. That’s the part that I worry about; when your life is public, there’s not a lot of private stuff to dig into. I guess it’s a new frontier and I’m just guessing as to what might happen.

“Our Band... was a great book. And bear in mind that Michael was the first person that I spoke with at any length about my career in the 80s – he went to great lengths to illuminate the 80s American music scene, and he did a really great job, I think his band choices were good, and he’s a very good storyteller. I’m grateful for my relationship with Michael.”

With appreciation for the Hüskers output reaching new heights, fans were caught off guard when an official website for the band was launched last year. Rumours picked up pace: had longrunning tensions between Mould and drummer/ fellow songwriter Grant Hart finally eased off?

Would a reunion be on the cards? The answer remains an emphatic no, but that never stops the same old questions from being asked. Luckily

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he doesn’t seem to mind.

“People keep holding out on hope,” he says, managing to sound both humble and considered.

“That band was very important to a lot of people, and posthumously maybe even more so; the legacy of the band just seems to keep growing.

I’m not one to step on that, but nor am I one to encourage any false hope. I guess I have to be the bearer of bad news to say, ‘It’s not happening.’ I’m not the only one in the band that feels that way, so don’t pin it all on me, people!”

He laughs, before affirming how happy he is to be playing with Wurster and long-time bass lieutenant Jason Narducy in what amounts to a blistering power trio: “Jason and Jon are very fluent in all of the different languages that I speak, whether it’s hardcore punk, or singer-songwriter, or power pop, or whatever. It stuns me that it’s so easy.”

In that respect it certainly seems that Bob Mould’s sky has been patched for the time being.

He’s a survivor, as grateful for a new lease on life and his career as he’s happy to continue ploughing his own furrow. So how does he feel about where he’s at right now?

“I’m just happy to be here. Trust me.”

Patch the Sky is released on 25 Mar via Merge bobmould.com

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Album of the Month Baauer

Aa [LuckyMe, 18 Mar]

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Since signing to LuckyMe in 2012, prodigal New York producer Baauer has enjoyed criticial acclaim, notably for his Dum Dum and ß EPs, but also for various exciting collaborations and one particularly viral meme. But, where the Harlem Shake fad was global but anonymising, his debut record Aa – a tight half-hour showcase of his considerable production talents – should put Harry Bauer Rodrigues’ name firmly on the map of contemporary electronic music.

Whether it’s tribal percussion (Church, the M.I.A.-featuring Temple), hip-hop in the form of UK grime (MC Novelist on the brassy Day Ones) and US rap (Pusha T and Future on Kung Fu),

Eastern cyberfunk à la Daft Punk (Pinku), or Brazilian-pop-sampling (Sow), Aa persists as an agile, flexible beast, and Baauer’s commitment to found sounds and unique samples keeps it bristlingly organic.

But perhaps most exciting – and characteristic – is the titular epilogue, Aa. In 75 seconds, it hops distractedly from screamo samples, to Jersey Club, to lurid acid garage, to ambient bird sounds. And that’s it. That’s Aa. It’s confidently compressed, and where this kind of urban dance music can serve as a vehicle for ego, Rodrigues’ deft arrangements and choice guests speak for him – and speak volumes. [George Sully] baauer.com

Matthew Bourne

The Thermals

Moogmemory [The Leaf Label, 4 Mar]

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We Disappear [Saddle Creek, 25 Mar]

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The improvisational pianist, composer and winner of 2001’s Perrier Jazz Award takes a step aside from his multiple collaborative projects to immerse himself in Moogmemory. It’s the first album to be recorded entirely on the 1982 classic Moog Memorymoog, the infamously unruly polyphonic synth. Hardcore electro nuts will enthuse at the enterprise and logistics but there is much for the broader audience here.

From the unsettling, twitching Sam to the calming, meditative Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Bourne sculpts a multitude of textures and moods. It’s challenging insomuch as it demands substantial listener input. Brushing in fragments of narrative, finding the album’s emotional centre, defining its understated beauty: all of these things form part of the journey through this curious record’s minimal, analogue artistry and its initially inscrutable soundscapes. That work pays back with interest: Moogmemory is a brave and rewarding left field adventure. [Gary Kaill]

Following the action-packed amorality of 2013’s Desperate Ground, The Thermals’ latest effort finds Hutch Harris aiming the camera squarely at the mirror. We Disappear is ultimately a break-up album – yes, the sap factor is high, but it’s framed by the recurring theme of technology, and the way it allows us to commit to semblances of real-life experience while cutting ourselves off from the real thing – and, indeed, from each other.

Weighty subject matter, then, but Harris’ John Darnielle-esque delivery rams the message home amidst their strongest set of tunes since 2006’s The Body, The Blood, The Machine, with Kathy Foster’s on-point harmonies (Thinking Of You) and propulsive bass (Always Never Be) adding purpose to their power-punk arsenal. The album’s rare tempo drops are the real winners, however, with mini-epic The Great Dying questioning the point and the permanence of leaving our mark in a digital era. Intelligent and invigorating. [Will Fitzpatrick]

matthewbourne.com

thethermals.com

III Part II [Sound Svart Records, 11 Mar]

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Formed from the darkest matter, the Finnish trio’s latest completes a cycle that began with last year’s III (Part One). Stark, ominous, unrelenting, it’s a vision of the other side as viewed from the shadows. On a starless night. While wearing shades. The Fast Show’s Johnnny Nice Painter (“Black!”) would invert his world view in an instant were he ever to be confronted by its unremitting bleakness.

Hearing the band describe its genesis – Part II was recorded on an island near Helsinki reached only by boat across chill, murky waters – makes the journey across the Styx sound like punting on the Cam. And K-X-P enter their own underworld with nary a nod to the ferry man. There’s a point during Transuranic Heavy Elements where the bludgeoning beats pause and something (Guitars? You? The earth?) begins to howl, and you think: This is probably not for everyone. [Gary Kaill] k-x-p.com

Låpsley

Primal Scream

Prince Rama

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Long Way Home [XL Recordings, 4 Mar] Despite making her name, initially, with spectral, minimalist bedroom productions, Liverpudlian artist Låpsley explores new territory on her debut Long Way Home.

The tracks that earned the attention of her home city’s GIT (Get Into This) Award – Station, Painter – are present and correct, nestled in among aspiring pop ballads (Hurt Me, Love Is Blind) and ambient piano soul (Falling Short, Silverlake), all linked by her strong diva vocal and well crafted lyrics.

It’s the surprise 60s soul hit, Operator (He Doesn’t Call Me), that stands out as a real graduation of her sound. Though she’s surely too young to have ever needed an operator to connect her calls, there’s a compelling authenticity to the track, and not just vocally. Meanwhile, Cliff knocks politely on deep house’s door, and recalls the pared-down beats of her early Soundcloud offerings. Though she’s on the edge of slipping into Adele-esque poperatics, this is a bold and confident first LP from a producer – and singer – with great potential. [George Sully]

Chaosmosis [First International, 18 Mar] With its ersatz zeitgeisty commentary, the mishmash title is, of course, a nightmare. Judge this one not by its cover but by electric lead single Where the Light Gets In: a barrage of neon club pop lit up by the astute addition of Sky Ferreira. At least half of Chaosmosis matches its vitality; the only real stinker is opener Trippin’ On Your Love, a happyclappy rave generation anthem even The Shamen might have passed on. But the highlights here are as good as anything Bobby Gillespie and co-writer Andrew Innes have fashioned since 2000’s touchstone XTRMNTR. The trim beats of (Feeling Like A) Demon Again; 100% Or Nothing with its monster, Motown-aping hook; the whispered devotional I Can Change: all favour songcraft over attitude as the Scream head towards their golden years with their dignity ever intact. Should the live set ever, um, struggle for a couple of roofraising biggies, there are options here. [Gary Kaill] Playing Glasgow O2 ABC on 30 Mar | primalscream.net

musiclapsley.com

Xtreme Now [Carpark, 4 Mar] How could you not judge this record by its cover?

Mona Lisa’s smug little grin is re-formed by disembodied legs dressed in Byzantine-themed leggings, and framed by neon sports-gloved hands, each gently cupping a butt cheek.

You’ll be happy to hear that Xtreme Now, the Brooklyn duo Princa Rama’s latest record, is just as joyously naff as any judgey pre-judger could expect. Previously signed to Animal Collective’s label Paw Tracks, at first it feels easy to trace the unabashedly experimental electronic gang’s influences in sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson. But then you realise that Xtreme Now is bizarrely sincere.

It’s honestly hard to tell how much of their creepy, rousing glam-pop is tongue in cheek – particularly after browsing their website dedicted to the genre they’ve termed ‘NOW AGE’. Prince Rama’s manifesto handles everything from time travel to energy drink, and claims that modern music is eating itself. A luminous vomit of caffeine, hair-spray and catchy, catchy synth. Best enjoyed now. [Katie Hawthorne] princerama.com

Nada Surf

Lust For Youth

Richard J Birkin

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You Know Who You Are [City Slang, 4 Mar]

Compassion [Sacred Bones, 18 Mar]

Vigils [Reveal Records, 11 Mar]

Clean-cut veterans Nada Surf really should’ve scaled the same commercial heights as Death Cab For Cutie. The melodies behind Matthew Caws’ quasi-philosophical musings certainly draw from a similar R.E.M./Posies nexus (see album highlights Friend Hospital and Victory’s Yours) but as enjoyably winsome as they remain, it’s difficult not to ponder whether this feels a little passé in 2016. To do so, however, is to miss the point.

Never alarming, never challenging but always effortlessly attuned to the dusty hum of who they are, Nada Surf are a faded favourite t-shirt; an overnight stay in your childhood bed; a comforting glimpse at your past that throbs with nostalgia while burning brightly with the knowledge of how much you’ve changed and how far you’ve come.

That may read like a dismissal of You Know Who You Are, but hey – in the right dosage, a little reminiscence is a mighty powerful tonic for the soul. [Will Fitzpatrick]

Better Looking Brother, Compassion’s marathon lead single and standout moment, represents both the quintessential Lust For Youth track and a first step into new territory. It’s the triumphant realisation of the shadowy, downbeat synthpop Hannes Norrvide has been working towards since his lo-fi bedroom recordings, weaving his trademark one-finger riffs and propulsive drum machine hits into a nuanced and atmospheric number that sounds chilly enough to make your teeth rattle.

It’s also something more: stretching beyond the seven-minute mark and punctuated with dramatic breaks and siren noises, it’s a concerted move towards the dance floor. Compassion’s best moments share this kineticism: the chirpy cowbell entry in Sudden Ambition; Tokyo’s driving bass. When the pace slows however, the group’s very affected 80s-evoking style becomes a bit overbearing, so committed to its trendy celestial shtick that it runs the risk of rebounding past retro-chic back into tacky territory again. Careful with that synth. [Andrew Gordon]

Inspired by river mist and Murakami, and carrying echoes of Nils Frahm and Max Richter’s Sleep, sound artist/composer Birkin’s new work is beholden to a naturalism rich in tone and delicate in application; the sparse instrumentation – piano, acoustic guitar, the strings courtesy of the Iskra String Quartet (who’ve added lift and glide to material from the likes of Sufjan Stevens and Vampire Weekend) – representing études in grace and equilibrium.

Contemplative, yes, but also reaffirming; ascendant strings will do that to a record, yet the intelligence in Vigils is how it slips away from both classical conventions and expectations, from the drifting arpeggios of Accretions, and A History of Good Ghosts (with its lost beauty amidst intricate guitar), to mid-point Moonbathing – the only piece with a vocal – signifying both natural break and caressing folk lament (“Now I remember why ghosts like the dark and you don’t”). Compositions with a timeless quality – and they improve with every listen. [Duncan Harman]

nadasurf.com

facebook.com/LustForYouth.Official

rjbirkin.co.uk

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RECORDS

THE SKINNY

Bob Mould

Patch the Sky [Merge, 25 Mar]

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Having experienced a late career revival in recent years, Bob Mould returns in more reflective mood.

No need to panic, Hüsker Dü fans: he’s not forsaken the pace or volume that made his latest efforts feel so unexpectedly glorious (The End Of Things and Pray For Rain retain the buzzsaw brightness of his very finest moments), nor their magnificently contagious sense of purpose. Instead, solo album #11 digs deep into the darkness, exploring loss of life and love through uncharacteristically frank depictions of depression.

Thanks to Mould’s natural gift for songcraft, it all proves much more tenderly palatable than it looks on paper. His sunny melodies and muscular delivery provide a neat contrast to the bleakness, suggesting there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, especially in Hold On’s simple plea for a connection. Direct, honest and powerful, Patch The Sky can only win you over, slowly but surely. [Will Fitzpatrick]

Kiran Leonard

Grapefruit [Moshi Moshi, 25 Mar]

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Kiran Leonard’s clattering songscapes describe a jumbled, dreamy, scatterbrained lack of concentration. But this unfocused direction, for all its confusion, feels exciting in the same way that mis-reading a map can walk you into the unknown. It’s the debut record from the Mancunian and Leonard sounds eager to show off the full scope of his inspirations.

Lead ‘single’ Pink Fruit is a whopping 16 minutes long and is more a patchwork of flickering images and half-thunk thoughts than any typically cohesive radio-ready album teaser – but the twists and turns it takes are well worth the view. In contrast, HalfRuined Already is concise but still outlandish; it doesn’t have time to stray too far from the path and benefits from the brevity. Caiphas in Fetters is wildy, enjoyably overdramatic, and shows that Leonard’s best when he cuts straight to the bone. However, a yell of ‘I am not boring’ mid-record feels an accidental insight into his efforts to show all of his working, all of the time. Grapefruit is both excruciating and luxurious in its patchiness. [Katie Hawthorne] kiranleonard.bandcamp.com

Wintersleep

The Great Detachment [Dine Alone, 4 Mar]

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Now a decade and a half into their career, the typically dependable Canadian rockers return with their first LP since 2012’s Hello Hum. Produced by Tony Doogan (who has worked with two of Scotland’s grandest exports, in Belle & Sebastian and Mogwai), the 11-track record takes a sweeping survey of the five-piece’s usual style of Americana, from the bold, rumbling rock of lead single Amerika and the warbling guitars of Sante Fe, through to the dirge-like Shadowless.

It’s a sturdy enough half hour of expansive and often emotive alt-rock, but despite the group’s clear staying power (and figuring in a cameo from Rush legend Geddy Lee on Territory), the overall mood is more perfunctory than profound. There’s nothing essentially off here – if you’re after a solid diet of meat and potatoes indie rock. What may leave other listeners aggrieved is Wintersleep’s reluctance, especially by album number six, to venture beyond their own established boundaries a little more. [Claire Francis] wintersleep.com

Damien Jurado

Visions of Us on the Land [Secretly Canadian, 18 Mar]

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The third entry in his informal Maraqopa trilogy – a string of rustic, lightly psychedelic records themed around an imaginary hippie commune – finds the Americana-peddling Seattleite treading familiar ground and checking in with friendly faces. Loyal fans will catch a clever nod or two – the hook from 2014’s Silver Timothy reappears here – but all listeners should benefit from the alluring sense of history that undergirds Jurado’s well-worn characters.

Jurado's existential cowboy persona is an easy favourite, a groovy lost soul who wanders ‘long road[s] to unwind’ amid adventurous productions that bring to mind quirky 60s icon Lee Hazlewood.

Other moments are less distinctive: it’s true Jurado’s been around much longer, but these ears can’t help but hear echoes of more contemporary folksy troubadours Fleet Foxes. On the Land Blues is especially reminiscent of the latter, but lacks the pathos and grandeur.

Otherwise, there’s plenty to feast on. [Andrew Gordon] Playing Manchester St. Philips Church on 16 Apr | damienjurado.com

March 2016

Poliça

White Denim

United Crushers [Memphis Industries, 4 Mar]

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Nervy percussion, spare arrangements, Channy Leaneagh’s distinctive vocals: Poliça are as easily identifiable as ever, despite not being, three albums in, particularly distinguished.

United Crushers drifts as often as it sparks. Wedding is tremendous: a jittery, skipping remove from the chilled template. Melting Block frees itself similarly: when Poliça loosen, flex, abandon the template, they’re a thrilling proposition.

When they coast – as on Lime Habit and Berlin – and set trigger beats and snap pulses whirring as Leaneagh sings around the melody, you will them to produce a killer hook, a bruising crescendo, a dramatic peak. CHVRCHES devotees will yearn for a little more bite but fans of London Grammar may find this a serviceable stop-gap. It’s beautifully crafted, but this is not the Poliça album to cement their appeal at a level outside of the devoted hardcore. [Gary Kaill]

Stiff [Downtown / Sony Red, 25 Mar]

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On Stiff, White Demin really put their backs in to it – infinite solos, myriad breakdowns, hooks on hooks on power chords and huge, brash intros... but for all that sweat, you’re left cold and a bit clammy.

The band are approaching their ten-year anniversary, and recently rearranged their line-up. So perhaps it’s a slight touch of overcompensation that sees White Denim put the pedal to the floor so vigorously, but their thrill-a-second tactics leave nothing to the imagination. The clichéd rhyming couplets arrive thick and fast: “Riddled with desii-yah... my love is pure fiyah,” we hear on ‘Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)’.

The record’s less bombastic tracks have the squeaky syrup of early noughties RnB – which may or may not be pleasing. Stiff is better when it’s slower, but it still feels like riding a rollercoaster that’s all climb and no twist. [Katie Hawthorne]

Mugstar

Underworld

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Magnetic Seasons [Rock Action Records, 4 Mar]

Barbara Barbara we face a shining future [Caroline International / Hyde Smith, 18 Mar]

Heavyweight psychedelic Liverpudlians Mugstar return with a record that takes tripped-out space rock to its disorienting maximum. Exclusively instrumental (aside from a brilliantly chosen spoken word intro to the album’s final track), Magnetic Seasons pushes on and on, manhandling you into a spin-cycle of rattling acid wash. The four-piece are hardened pros at dictating pace. Opening track Unearth carries a weighty, bluesy body and builds to a hefty, meaty pinnacle, offset by the sci-fi exploration exquisitely provided by Flemish Weave and Time Machine.

There are moments of truly glamorous rock’n’roll thrown in, too; La Vallee and Regency Blues are slow-burns with confident, heavy footprints. Better still is Sky West & Crooked – a thumbed, twinkling breath of repetitive, comforting respite. Remember that childhood game where you’d cross hands with a pal and spin until someone falls over and smacks their head on the pavement?

Magnetic Seasons feels like that; guaranteed to leave you crosseyed. [Katie Hawthorne]

Underworld’s first album in six years starts with what could arguably be described as their biggest banger since Beaucoup Fish’s Kittens from 1999. I Exhale distils all that’s good and deliciously nasty about the veteran duo in an eight-minute slice. Followed by the distinctly downbeat If Rah and marginally more propulsive Low Burn, by the time you hit Santiago Cuatro (Underworld in Jose Feliciano country; you expect it to take an acoustic guitar and explode. It doesn’t), you think: Barbara… is less massive comeback than slight return.

And then they smash it; Motorhome might verge on a ballad but it’s a pretty racket with an ecstatic Polyphonic Spree-like break at its core. Ova Nova also uses its simplicity to startling effect; Hyde’s vocals lower in the mix but more messed up than before. They keep the best till last: Nylon Strung might well be their finest moment since ‘93 classic Rez. Some three decades after they first started scheming, this is far from a tired cash-in from a pair of past-theirbest geezers; [Peter Wild]

Playing Islington Mill, Salford on 3 Mar

underworldlive.com

Aidan Moffat

James

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Where You’re Meant to Be [Kiss My Beard, 25 Mar] Recorded onstage in the musical hotbed that is Drumnadrochit, the companion piece to Paul Fegan’s new film sees Aidan and band on entertaining form, full of traditional Scottish ballads given a contemporaneous (and typically Moffat-esque) slant.

There’s certainly enough sauce in these 12 tracks – some acapella, others accompanied – to keep titter organs occupied (particularly the X-rated reimagining of The Ball of Kirriemuir).

Yet this is much more than rude lyrics sung to traditional melodies; songs such as Big Kilmarnock Bunnet or (the untampered-with) MacPherson’s Farewell display Moffat’s sharp ear not only for folk’s cultural significance, but the roles that bursting hypocrisy (on Ode to O’Brien Et Al) or documenting broken evenings on Sauchiehall Street (the title track) play in upholding that tradition.

[Duncan Harman] Playing at Dundee DCA on 27 Mar and Edinburgh Filmhouse on 9 Apr aidanmoffat.co.uk

Adam Stafford

Taser Revelations [Song, By Toad, 11 Mar]

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Taser Revelations promises shock and awe in its title, and delivers on the latter. After 2013’s subtly transformational Imaginary Walls Collapse, Adam Stafford’s third LP of experimental pop embraces the ‘pop’ end of the scale more tightly than ever – though not so tight as to squeeze out the maverick ingenuity at the core of his best work.

The opening trio of tracks demonstrates Stafford’s versatility as both songwriter and performer. There are echoes of mid-90s R.E.M. in the distorted guitars and downbeat croon of Let A Little Love Inside; steel drums bring calypso sparkle to Phantom Billions; and Atheist Money pitches falsetto over syncopated beats – each one distinct, each perfectly realised.

Yet it’s delicately sad closer The Penumbra that’s most likely to haunt when the disc stops spinning; one last affirmation that there’s more to Stafford’s talents than loop pedal wizardry. [Chris Buckle]

Girl at the End of the World [BMG, 18 Mar] James enter their fourth decade with at least a sliver of their original, dissident character intact. Girl at the End of the World is, on one level, more of the same: bulging arrangements; hefty half-hooks; Tim Booth’s screwy commentary connecting somewhere to the left of immediately comprehensible. But it’s also intelligent, accomplished and likeable. Bitch (fear not – it’s smarter than that) is chugging space-rock with a distinct whiff of Hawkwind.

The synthpop diversions of Attention and Dear John are more than mere tinkering. If at times you wish Booth would reel it in a bit with the arch delivery, and that the tunes would more readily find the melodic sweet spot rather than rely so heavily on dynamics and feel, it’s only fair to note that this is album number 14 and that James still pull sizeable crowds and attract an uncommon level of affection from their stout following. Credit for that and credit for, you know, having a go. [Gary Kaill] Playing Glasgow SSE Hydro on 19 May | wearejames.com

The Top Five 1

Baauer

3

Bob Mould Patch the Sky

Aa

2 Mugstar

Magnetic Seasons

4

Matthew Bourne

Moogmemory

5

Adam Stafford Taser Revelations

Playing Summerhall, Edinburgh on 11 Mar and Hug & Pint, Glasgow on 21 Mar adam-stafford.tumblr.com

RECORDS

Review

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Photos: Andy Hughes

Right on Track Shouty punk three-piece TRAAMS tell The Skinny about harnessing the power of feedback, and being happy at home

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ands that come from sleepy towns, especially bands as noisy as TRAAMS, are often painted as frustrated, cooped-up, fighting against limited music scenes or conservative noise policies. Not TRAAMS. Or they shouldn’t be. Although Chichester – a quiet, pretty cathedral city in the south of England – is far from a hotbed of up-and-coming music makers, Stu Hopkins, Leigh Padley and Adam Stock feel very much at home.

Writing an introductory piece on the band feels awkwardly overdue; the three-piece recently released their second album, Modern Dancing and, as with their debut and the EPs before it, it’s a thrill-a-minute, slacker-indie delight. Tight when it matters but unafraid to play loose with structure, their sophomore record – released in 2015 – is crammed with frustrated, hook-filled party songs that are really, really loud.

Before the band squeeze back into the van for their March tour, we caught up with guitarist and vocalist Hopkins to receive a full briefing on TRAAMS’ history of “bumping along,” the places and faces behind their newest record, and how, actually, they’re not at all keen on escaping their hometown.

“People keep writing that we’re trying to escape Chichester, and that we hate it. But we really like it here! More so since we started the band, even, because we travel loads… you do get to see quite a lot of the world. And it really makes you appreciate what you’ve got when you get back. Somewhere really quiet, where all my friends are, it’s nice.”

A potted history of TRAAMS follows; the three met via a club night that Hopkins started, “because as much as we like it here, it is all pretty boring. I used to put on a club night because there was nothing to do. There’s still nothing to do but there was even less then.” Padley and Stock were then in “this really cool post-punk band” called Dascha, and Hopkins booked them to play his night. “It was one of those places where, very quickly, everybody knew everybody – so I got to know them, but we weren’t really, like, good mates.”

After a few years of colliding in the mud at music festivals, Hopkins met Stock “properly” at a friend’s birthday party. “We just got really drunk and started listening to some really good records, getting all excited like, ‘We should do some stuff… We should really do some stuff.’ But then we left, and I didn’t think anything of it.

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Review

Interview: Katie Hawthorne

It was like meeting a girl, and not expecting her to call… and then he called me!”

Padley had been living in Leeds – “or was it Huddersfield?” Hopkins half-remembers. “But he kept getting robbed… so he came back [to Chichester] and he phoned Adam. Then we all met up, and a month later we had a record deal.”

Aside from picturesque cobbles and myriad options for a nice coffee, the good thing about Chichester is that it’s far from poorly connected.

With Brighton barely an hour away, TRAAMS cut their teeth gigging around the city-by-the-sea’s buoyant selection of DIY venues. It was one such night – playing the Green Door Store for a friend of a friend’s birthday party – that set up their ridiculously speedy transition from brand-new band to signing with beloved Brighton label FatCat (also home to Honeyblood, C Duncan and The Twilight Sad). One birthday party led to another; “Some-body there asked, ‘Can you come play my mate’s birthday too?’ We were like, another birthday? It was a surprise thing, and the guy whose birthday it was, he worked for FatCat! So all of FatCat were there. We met Sam, one of the A&Rs, and she asked us if we’d done any recording… we said yeah, loads.”

“Loads” of recordings turned out to be almost enough for a whole album. So, on FatCat’s request, TRAAMS quickly took down the free demos they’d posted to Bandcamp and set to making their debut record, Grin. “It was all done in a weird order, lots of back and forth and roundabouts,” Hopkins laughs.

Working with two brilliant producers, Rory Attwell and MJ, the band recorded Grin over multiple sessions – ending up with such an abundance of tracks that they released an EP called Ladders, too. For greater context, Attwell was a founding member of noughties band Test Icicles, and has since been responsible for producing the likes of Palma Violets, Male Bonding and Mazes. MJ runs “DIY-minded” Suburban Home Studios in Leeds.

He’s a member of weirdo pysch-rock band Hookworms, and his production credits include Joanna Gruesome, Trust Fund and The Spook School, as well as tons of your other favourites.

TRAAMS were eager to make the most of their producers’ infinite wisdom. “We’ve been really lucky, it’s such a nice DIY scene in the UK,” Hopkins enthuses. “Basically, all of these DIY bands in London were working with Rory, and all of the bands up north were working with MJ. And,

well, as soon as we knew Rory, by association you start meeting other people. Then we went to Leeds and met Matt, and obviously you meet Menace Beach, you meet Hookworms, you meet Eagulls. Everyone knows everyone, from bumming it around the UK.” While Grin reflected their nomadic approach to recording sessions – “We just mashed it all up together, we had loads of stuff but it wasn’t very well thought out” – when it came to recording their second album, Modern Dancing, the band’s attack was much more considered. Choosing to return to MJ’s studio for a solid two weeks of recording, Hopkins says that “we just knew the flow of the record: what tracks we wanted on it, and how they’d work together, the different movements throughout.

This record “ was about capturing the noise! It’s hard, without just turning the record up...”

Stu Hopkins

“We’d been gigging the songs for a while, and we wanted to see if [MJ] wanted to kick them into shape a bit. Let him produce a bit more, relearn some bits… It was more of a project.” Once the two weeks were up, FatCat offered the band an extra seven days in the studio – “just to see if there was anything else in the pot… and we very quickly wrote three or four more songs. They weren’t meant to be on the album, but then Modern Dancing turned into being the album title… and probably my favourite track, too.”

TRAAMS quickly realised that their strategy, second time around, was in trying to sound louder – using sprawling, piercing feedback to dictate the pace and tone of the record. “This record was about capturing the noise. It’s hard, without just

MUSIC

turning the record up… it’s hard to capture that real live dynamic. So if you start playing around with it sonically… The idea with the feedback was really intentional. And really fun, as well. Matt would have me with all these crazy distortion peddles, moving around the room to make my guitar squeal, making me pull my strings. It was about getting those textures there.”

The result is a record that feels like a postcard from the sweaty front row of a live show.

Built on fun-filled, iron-clad tension, the band distort any typical verse/chorus structure – throwing it all out there, only to pull back when you expect it the least. From recent single Neckbrace to extroverted thrasher Gimme Gimme Gimme (Love), or the slam-dunk aggression of Succulent Thunder Anthem, TRAAMS have honed the art of a precisely placed breakdown. There’s a pause in Gimme… that exists purely to tease; “Leigh wanted it shorter, but we were like, ‘No, no, no, no. It needs to be much longer. Way longer!’ We do it live, keep it going waaay too long. People are like, is this ever going to end?”

But as much as TRAAMS enjoy pissing about on stage, they have a selective approach to touring.

Hopkins describes their current, ultra-cosy van situation with a mixed tone of anticipation and dread: “The band supporting us are our friends, called Seize the Chair. They’re very enterprising and own their own tour bus company… well, like, two vans. They’ve offered to split with us, so there’ll be nine of us in a nine-seater… We’re going to go mad. Flu, dysentery…”

When The Skinny points out that the tour only lasts a couple of weeks, Hopkins bursts out laughing: “Yeah! Can you tell that we don’t actually tour very often? We’re not the heartiest of tourers.

Gradually, we’ve sort of… not reined it in, but we only do stuff that we really, really want to do.” So, take assurance that when TRAAMS set their satnav to Glasgow, it’s because they’re dead set on bringing the house down. Leaving behind their current rehearsal space in an old pig-pen in rural Sussex – isolated so that the band “can turn everything up” – TRAAMS are proud of their ability to challenge your eardrums. “We are pretty noisy,” Hopkins says, excitedly. “Have you seen us play?”

Playing King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow on 11 Mar. Modern Dancing is out now via FatCat Buy tickets: bit.ly/traams-glasgow traams.bandcamp.com

THE SKINNY

March 2016

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THE SKINNY

DJ Chart: Ryan Martin Fresh from last month's Boiler Room party in Glasgow, All Caps selector Ryan Martin shares 10 tracks you need to hear Interview: Ronan Martin

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his month’s guest DJ co-helms one of the most engaging labels Glasgow has spawned in recent years; a venture defined more by a commitment to unearthing distinctive gems than dishing out universally hyped safe bets and disposable club hits. That’s not to say Ryan Martin and his All Caps cohorts haven’t supplied their fair share of dancefloor weapons over the past five years – an impressive early offering from Helix confidently bridged the gap between pulsing techno and grime, before Kowton’s thumping TFB definitively announced the label’s presence for many who had missed the boat early on.

More recent releases have maintained that high standard, while edging slightly away from the dancefloor, towards hazier, more ethereal spaces. This month’s release of Neuroshima’s Rave Archive EP – a rich synthesis of dusty soundscapes and decayed jungle beats – continues the label’s move away from strictly club-focussed material. Yet while this new signing, along with the likes of Bluntman Deejay and Ekranoplan (a meeting of minds between Kowton and Julio Bashmore) have all played their part in diversifying the label’s remit, it’s clear the venture benefits ultimately from the varied tastes of Martin and fellow All Caps selector Bake.

While Bake became the first of the crew to make an impact outwith Glasgow’s highly revered small pond, Martin is increasingly recognised as a fine DJ in his own right. Now beginning to make an impact further afield, and recently featuring as part of the label’s showcase for the Boiler Room in Glasgow, Ryan Martin is likely to be a name you’ll hear much more of before too long.

In his 10-track selection for us, he displays a penchant for warm 60s soul, classic Chicago house vibes, abstract Japanese techno and much more in between. In short, it’s little surprise All Caps has earned such distinction as a label when they draw from such a pleasingly broad range of influences. Discogs tab at the ready...

Barbara Mason – You Better Stop It "Recently reissued on Athens of the North.

Much emotion in the vocal. From way back in 1968!"

Kerri Chandler – Hallelujah (Kaoz Club Mix) "Kerri Chandler has so much material but this remix gets me going every time – hallelujah!"

Willow – Feel Me "Part of a mini-compilation Workshop did recently – simple yet effective."

Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy – Darrajae "Just out on Trilogy Tapes – it’s pretty much been on repeat since I first heard it."

March 2016

NHK’Koyxen – 766 "Japanese techno. NHK released three albums on PAN but this one is a standout for me. All killa, no filla, etc."

Skatebård – June Nights South of Siena "Skatebård’s DJ set at Offbeat had people singing everything back to him. He has many anthems but this is the one I play."

Urban Tribe – Low Berth "It’s not all about Urban Tribe as the supergroup: this slower tempo one took my appreciation of DJ Stingray up another notch, if that was even possible."

E.R. – Woyene "Arguably my most recent find that sparked a ‘WTF, who is this?!’ moment. This is just one track from three or four EPs he has done recently – all madness."

Candi Staton – Do Your Duty (Erectus Rework) "Slept on by me, until Honest Jon’s repressed it recently. This is Pepe Bradock’s remix version.

Killer!"

Robert Hood – Chase "Techno – this is the tune when it clicked for me and I was converted."

Neuroshima’s Rave Archive EP is released via All Caps on 8 Mar soundcloud.com/allcaps_glasgow

Clubbing Highlights March delivers the goods in the form of Logan Sama, Jeremy Underground and Loefah Words: Max Meres Illustration: Stewart Armstrong

EDINBURGH

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irst and foremost, March signals the return of grime supremo Logan Sama to the intimate, riotous venue that is Sneaky Pete’s. The night will mark Logan’s first weekend date at the club, as part of his Keepin’ It Grimy tour. Anyone who was at Sama’s last visit to the 100-capacity venue in March last year will know what’s coming, but for those who don’t – expect a barrage of grime anthems old and new, amongst an assortment of dubplates from the deep. Rinse FM MC Jamzz will be taking to the stage alongside the Brentwoodborn DJ to help bring the sounds of London’s expirate radio underground to the capital.

(Fri 4 Mar, £12/15).

For those after something a little more immersive, Nightvision present the Edinburgh debut of Italian duo Tale Of Us. Releasing on a whole host of labels such as R&S and Job Jobse’s Life and Death imprint, the duo firmly established their sound in the Summer of 2013, with their highly acclaimed remix of Mano Le Tough’s Primative People. With the venue having been announced as the new basement room of The Liquid Room, the capital now waits in great anticipation for the emotive, captivating sounds that have become so closely associated with the Italian pairing (Fri 11 Mar, £20/22.50).

GLASGOW Venturing West, we have the fusion of one of Glasgow’s foremost purveyors of dance, Numbers, with Swedish imprint Studio Barnhus. The men behind the latter – Axel Boman, Kornél Kovács and Petter Nordkvist – have all made names for themselves individually, owing to their abilities as both producers and DJs: they’re known for their fusion of house, funk, and dusty disco. Numbers’ own Jackmaster and Spencer will take to the Sub Club booth alongside the Swedes, for what should be yet another rowdy affair on Jamaica Street.

(Fri 4 Mar, £13).

Later in the month, La Cheetah Club and local promoters EZUP bring the man behind the

CLUBS

highly acclaimed My Love Is Underground label – Parisian-born Jeremy Underground – to the sweat-stained realms of their basement. For anyone unfamiliar with Mr Underground, his last Boiler Room appearance should more than get you acquainted. Famous for his love of the vinyl format, Jeremy Underground is one of house music’s most well-respected tastemakers, and anyone lucky enough to be in attendance will get to experience a three-hour set showcasing his considerable talents (Fri 25 Mar, £12).

DUNDEE 25 March sees the return of Andrew ‘The Guvnor’ Weatherall to The Reading Rooms for the local promoters’ A Night With... event. Weatherall has been one of house music’s pioneering figures since the acid house raves of the late 1980s, originally cementing his place in the scene with his involvement in Boys Own Recordings, alongside house greats such as Pete Heller and Terry Farley. His skills as a producer are also held in incredibly high regard, with names such as Primal Scream and Scott Fraser sitting amongst his towering discography. With previous guests including Greg Wilson, Chris Duckenfield and Tyree Cooper, Weatherall is the next in a string of impressive bookings for the Dundonian promoters (Fri 25 Mar, £10).

ABERDEEN Local promoters Hush Hush and Dark Room are joining forces to bring about the Aberdonian debut of Swamp 81’s head honcho, Peter Livingston, or Loefah as he’s known to most. One of dubstep’s founding fathers, Loefah’s firm association with the DMZ label and club-night has earned the Londoner a reputation as one of the scenes’ most formidable selectors. Establishing his Swamp 81 label in 2009 and premiering UK giants such as Paleman, Livingston started not just a label, but a movement. In short, Aberdeen’s Underdog venue will play host to one of the UK’s all time greats this month – bit of a no-brainer, really (Fri 25 Mar, £8).

Review

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Comfort and Joy Director: Bill Forsyth

Starring: Bill Paterson, Claire Grogan, Eleanor David, Alex Norton, Patrick Malahide Released: Out Now Certificate: PG

Audition

Director: Takashi Miike Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina Released: Out Now Certificate: 18

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Bill Forsyth’s Comfort and Joy underwhelmed at the box-office on its release in 1984 and has subsequently been out of circulation for many years, which partly explains why it has never achieved the acclaim and cult status enjoyed by his early ‘80s crowdpleaser Gregory’s Girl. Another reason, however, might be because this comedy-drama doesn’t feel as fully formed, and it suffers from an underpowered narrative engine. Much of the charm and lightness of touch that defines Forsyth’s work is still evident, though.

One of Comfort and Joy’s best features is the opportunity it gives Bill Paterson to shine in an all-too-rare leading role. He plays popular radio DJ Alan ‘Dicky’ Bird, who suffers a crisis when his kleptomaniac wife abruptly leaves him just before Christmas. As he searches for some sense of meaning in life and yearns to take his career in a more challenging and serious direction, Alan stumbles into a turf war between two Italian-run ice cream vendors.

Both the pathos of Alan’s crumbling relationship and the goofy comedy of the battle between Mr. Bunny and McCool are right up Forsyth’s street, and even if they never quite click satisfyingly, there are cherishable moments throughout. Paterson nails the persona of the genial but frustrated radio host whose celebrity status seems largely confined to children, the elderly and ice cream salesmen.

Forsyth’s ear for dialogue, meanwhile, is as finely tuned as ever, and his elegant direction gives the film a real cinematic sheen, with the scenes shot at night being particularly striking.

DVD Extras: Three engaging 15-20 minute interviews with Forsyth, Paterson and Claire Grogan, with Forsyth and Paterson offering an honest appraisal of the film’s virtues and flaws, and insightful recollections of the Glasgow production. As Paterson notes, the film may now be as much of an evocative time capsule for Glasgow residents as The Long Good Friday is for Londoners. [Philip Concannon]

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Review

Hawks & Sparrows / Pigsty

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini Starring: Ninetto Davoli, Totò, Femi Benussi / Franco Citti, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Pierre Clémenti Released: Out Now Certificate: 15

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Audition’s rise to infamy in 1999 was swift, meteoric and, like any game-changing horror film worth its salt, shrouded in tales of hysterical receptions at film festivals worldwide. In Rotterdam, audiences walked out in record numbers; viewers in Switzerland fainted, requiring paramedics, and director Takashi Miike was verbally attacked at showings. “You’re evil!” they screamed.

Both a commercial and critical success, Miike hit a cultural nerve with his ingenious deadly twist on Japanese femininity and self-aware Orientalism bound within a typically Japanese aesthetic, a theatre of cruelty and stillness. Released a year after Hideo Nakata’s Ring, Audition hailed an unprecedented era of J-horror dominance. Its success made unlikely allies of horror/gore fans and avant-garde cineastes, both finding something appealing in its visceral resistance to mainstream Hollywood cinema.

To give away the plot to those lucky enough to experience Audition for the first time would be criminal (akin to revealing the twist in The Sixth Sense). In short: widower Aoyama holds bogus film auditions looking for the perfect replacement wife. Miike cleverly builds the film slowly and quietly, with the first two thirds playing like a prestige indie drama – only the odd schism of horror is briefly visible. With escalating unease Audition culminates into its infamously disturbing dénouement.

DVD Extras: Arrow’s new Blu-ray/DVD may be worth it alone for the newly-commissioned, suitably creepy artwork by Matthew Griffin, though oddly the iconic image of Asami with needle has been flipped. As attached as fans may be to the now defunct Tartan Asia Extreme Blu-ray, Arrow’s 2k restoration is desperately needed, as Tartan did little to improve the original VHS release. Multiple extras abound: new interviews and commentary with the main cast, Miike and Japanese cinephile Tony Rayns. [Rachel Bowles]

DVD

One is a surreal, picaresque comedy co-starring a talking Marxist raven (Hawks and Sparrows), while the other concerns itself with cannibalism and postwar Nazi ideology (Pigsty). The features’ difference in tone is marked, but by packaging both together for this limited edition release, Masters of Cinema ingeniously demonstrate Pier Paolo Pasolini’s flair for invention. Of the two films, Hawks and Sparrows stands out for its accessibility. A light mood is maintained throughout, from the wonderfully post-modern title music to the slapstick cruelty of the film’s conclusion. It’s as much the work of a nihilist as the notorious Salo, though is wholly lacking in the harrowing bitterness of his later work.

Made just three years later, Pigsty is a different matter entirely.

Like Hawks and Sparrows, it mocks 1960s youth culture. However, while the earlier work does this by sardonically embracing the era’s aesthetics, here Pasolini employs wordy, cryptic dialogues within the austere setting of a country mansion. These scenes, involving the son of a prominent German politician and his radicalised girlfriend, are intercut with a seperate narrative showing cannibals atop a volcanic landscape. Both stories tie together nicely, but demand high levels of patience from the viewer.

These films could only have been made by the one visionary, yet viewing them back-to-back suggests he was at his best when creating subversive, rather than enigmatic, art.

DVD Extras: This single Blu-ray disc presents the movies in high definition transfers, and is accompanied by a booklet featuring discussion of the works from both film scholars and Pasolini himself. The set is limited to 1500 copies. [Lewis Porteous]

For more DVD reviews, go to theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews

THE SKINNY

Art News March brings many screenings, openings, talks and workshop events. Here’s the rundown of what to look forward to in Scottish Art throughout the month

Sara Barker, What’s the medium? A medium for their mediums CHANGE-THE-SETTING, 2015 Stainless steel rod, folded aluminium sheet, glass, perspex

Geographies of Dust and Air

Mary Mary

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Surprisingly hard to miss, a handcrafted mirror, mounted on wood that bears signs of its sculpting is set next to Mary Mary’s office door. It’s part of group show Geographies of Dust and Air, a collection of works that trade on succinctness – somehow exceeding the sum of their parts.

In Germaine Kruip’s Dot Kannadi (the little mirror mentioned before), its small scale isn’t effacing. In effect, it’s more like a mole on the otherwise even complexion of the wall – scratched and marked, texturally it draws attention.

Dot Kannedi faces Bojan Sarcevic's steel and copper frame. The metal sculpture is comparable with clothing shop rails, or a bracket left over from a flat screen TV. Its thick poles become an effective counter to the mellifluous orange-yellow staining of the painting hanging off it.

Credit: Ruth Clark

Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

More metalwork, but skinnier, in Sara Barker’s works. Bored into the wall, its thin scaffolding becomes oddly upheaved, suspended and clinging to the wall. Bringing to mind the ambivalent meaning of the word ‘skeletal,’ it’s emaciated, but reduced to important parts, and referring in form to a supporting framework.

While Barker’s work references the sketchy outline of linear drawing, Manuela Leinhoß’s painting work is intersected by straight grey lines on its yellowing white background. All looking bleached out by overexposure, stuck to the surface there are papier mache burst football-looking forms making for an odd pictorial plane.

It’s a repeated formula of whole exceeding the sum, and an appropriately concise rationale for the exhibition. Whether from Manuela Leinhoß’s scored board and blobs, the mirror on wood or thin metal frames, each work constructs its own discrete mathematics. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Geographies of Dust and Air continues in Mary Mary until 19 Mar Poster Club, Wheat, Mud, Machine, 2015. Part of CURRENT at Shanghai Himalayas Museum.

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Wolfgang Tillmans GoMA

Wolfgang Tillmans last featured with a four-star review of his 2012 Glasgow International show in The Common Guild. There’s a little overlap in Pictures from New World, a pallid presentation of GoMA’s recent acquisitions.

Tillmans himself has been exhibiting internationally for over two decades. He first came to prominence in the late 80s, making a name for his photography of his immediate social circle and documenting Euro club nightlife of the time.

Making a virtue out of genre crossing, his portraiture, still life and landscapes range across subject matter and location. Beyond that, for Pictures from New World, there’s no more of a prescriptive reading or concept to be applied.

So there are images of old pipes, starry skies and car lights. Next to the flowers, abstract horizon, piles of garbage and other pictures of things, there’s an odd orientalism to the inclusion of what can only be described as non-specific ‘foreign people.’

It’s a predictable and unforgivable consequence of the constructed naïvety of the show’s ‘anything goes’ eclecticism. A trashyard, next to a clean, new-looking headlight, the hanging might be going for a conceptual reference to throwaway culture.

Set all in a line, and with the larger paper works fenced off, it’s a standard hang. This is a failure to represent Tillmans’ practice, frequently celebrated for its strikingly unconventional and site-sensitive installations – as we complimented in the 2012 review.

Altogether, Pictures from New World comes across as the clean edit of a practice that caused

March 2016

Wolfgang Tillmans, Tag-Nacht, 2009

The Mirror to exclaim in an enraged and misleading headline, ‘Gay Porn Photographer Snaps up Turner Prize.’ Scrubbed up and out, the show make Tillmans’ practice into a bland photojournal, whose trite and vague moralising blunders into offensive exoticising. [Adam Benmakhlouf] Wolfgang Tillmans, Pictures from New World, continues until 7 Aug

Credit: Courtesy Maureen Paley, London

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his March sees the British Art Show 8 continue across Edinburgh, with events throughout the month, as well as a new exhibition from Sara Barker, and the Scottish presentation of Graham Fagen’s Venice Biennale work.

Let’s start with the newest Scottish contemporary art, at the Royal Scottish Academy’s New Contemporaries 2016. Opening on 5 March, the RSA assembles their pick of the degree shows from five of the Scottish art schools. It’s a nice opportunity to check in with some of the recent graduates almost a year since finishing, and to see how they’ve got on with the visual arts’ equivalent of Second Album Syndrome. This is open until 30 March – you can see our own picks on page 21 of this very issue.

Also on 5 March is the first of this month’s British Art Show 8 events. Between 2pm and 3.30pm in Inverleith House, writer Mara Fusco and poet Sam Riviere discuss Charlotte Prodger’s work Northern Dancer. In this work, Prodger combines four monitors which display a sequence of racing dogs’ names, with a cycled eight-minute voiceover about the difficulty of reading Gertrude Stein’s manuscripts.

The following Thursday (10 March), from 6.30-8.30pm in Inverleith House again, there is a screening by exhibiting artist James Richards and Director of Lux Scotland Isla Leaver-Yap. Together, they present a series of artists’ films, then present a discussion on Richards’ influences and work. There are then further talks and events through the month and into April – check britishartshow8.com for full details.

In the first of this month’s re-presentations, the Poster Club will be exhibiting in Dundee’s Cooper Gallery from 10 March. Made from mainly Glasgow-based artists (with one in Newcastleupon-Tyne, and another working in Brussels), Poster Club combines several artists who have

ART

strong and separate practices. Designing and making posters together, they engage in the complexity of collective practice, and make works that question ‘political, social and economic discourses’. There’s an artists’ talk on 10 March from 4.30pm, with a preview taking place from 5.30pm.

Titled NEW Wheat, NEW Mud, NEW Machine, it continues until 23 April.

On Friday 11 March from 6-8pm, Glasgowbased artist Sara Barker previews her new exhibition in the Fruitmarket Gallery. Barker’s work is also featured in our review of Mary Mary’s group show, which runs until 19 March. Frequently combining painting and sculptural elements, and working across a range of scales, Barker allows the paintings to invite the form and dimensions of the sculptural elements which are often protruding from the two-dimensional works.

A week later, on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 March, there is an open weekend at Hospitalfield to mark the beginning of Graham Fagen’s exhibition there. He will be re-presenting the sculptural, drawing and video works fresh from the 2015 Venice Biennale. There will be a talk on the Saturday between Fagen and curator Dan Kidner about the work from 3-4.30pm. On Sunday, Laura Aldridge presents a workshop on eco-dyeing from 11am.

Both available to book online, with the workshop costing £5 per person.

Finally, you can also book now for BAS8exhibited artist Linder’s ballet in Dovecot. Titled Children of the Mantic Stain, this will be its only showing in Scotland. Coming from a collaboration between the tapestry studio and the artist, the work begins with a rug exhibited now in the National Gallery of Modern Art, and is based on collaged imagery. On the night, the rug will migrate to Dovecot for one evening to be part of the experimental choreography. 30 Mar; Tickets £8-20.

Review

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Film Event Highlights Classic and contemporary cinema from Italy and Hong Kong, two of the great minds of film history (Hitchcock/Truffaut) have a chinwag, and a chance to hear from one of the world’s greatest documentarians (Patricio Guzmán) Words: Jamie Dunn

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ction fans rejoice! There’s a great programme of Hong Kong crime cinema happening across Glasgow and Edinburgh this month with a pleasing mix of familiar and lesser-spotted efforts. If you’re looking for the latter, GFT are showing Wong Kar-wai’s rarely screened debut As Tears Go By (27 Mar) while Filmhouse have John Woo’s early feature The Pilferers’ Progress (23 Mar).

If it’s modern classics you’re after, both screen Johnnie To’s Election (Filmhouse, 27 Mar; GFT, 6 Apr) and Infernal Affairs (GFT, 3 Apr; Filmhouse, 7 Apr). There are also mint fresh flicks on show: Ringo Lam’s Wild City (GFT, 29 Mar) and Dante Lam’s That Demon Within (Filmhouse, 9 Mar).

As Tears Go By

The Italian Film Festival returns for its 23rd edition with a lively selection of contemporary and classic Italian movies. Don’t miss crime drama Don’t Be Bad (Filmhouse, 4 Mar; GFT, 11 Mar), the swan song of veteran filmmaker Claudio Caligari. Also unmissable on the big screen is a film that heavily influenced Scorsese: Luchino Visconti’s towering Rocco and His Brothers (GFT & Filmhouse, 13 Mar).

To celebrate the UK release of Hitchcock/ Truffaut, Kent Jones’ doc about the famous weeklong sit-down between François Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock, GFT are screening films by the eponymous directors: Hitch’s seminal horror Psycho (6 Mar) and the Frenchman’s sly love letter to the filmmaking process, Day for Night (5 Mar).

To mark International Women’s Day, Filmhouse are showing two films by Kim Longinotto (6 Mar), the UK’s finest documentarian and one of the most compassionate and compelling voices for women’s rights around the world. The doublebill is of two of Longinotto’s best: Sisters in Law, following Vera Ngassa and Judge Beatrice Ntuba, two kickass lawyers in Cameroon who are standing up to the nation’s patriarchy, and Gaea Girls, a tough but compelling look at the culture of female wrestling in Japan.

Silent movie-nuts will be keen to make it along to the Hippodrome in Bo’ness for the sixth HippFest (16-20 Mar). It all kicks off with Alexander Dovzhenko’s epic Earth, paired with newly commissioned music by Jane Gardner and Hazel Morrison. We’d also urge you to make it to Mania: The History of a Cigarette Factory Worker (17 Mar), a rediscovered gem that’s getting a live ‘ethno pop-rock’ score from Polish band Czerwie, who’ll be making their live UK debut. Or just stick a pin in the programme and head to that, because any film-watching experience in the spectacular Hippodrome is going to be memorable.

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Review

Time Out of Mind

Time Out of Mind

Director: Oren Moverman Starring: Richard Gere, Ben Vereen, Jena Malone, Kyra Sedgwick, Jeremy Strong, Yul Vazquez, Michael K. Williams Released: 4 Mar Certificate:

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Anomalisa

Anomalisa

Director: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson Starring: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan Released: 11 Mar Certificate: 15

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Homeless on the streets of Manhattan, George (Richard Gere) lives in the same city as everyone else but in an entirely different world from them.

Like another dimension overlaying the one occupied by those who walk the sidewalks on their way to homes and jobs and coffee shops, George wanders the same physical space while remaining separated from the crowd.

Conversations happen all around him but always pushed off to the edge of the frame, the speakers half-obscured or altogether invisible. He’s there but no-one sees him because no-one wants to; even when they are forced to interact with him the disconnect remains. Without a home or a job, he doesn’t fit into the city’s machinery and spends most of the movie looking for quiet, in-between places where he can rest undisturbed.

The film captures this alienated state so completely that by the end the average citizens strolling by seem foreign – Moverman draws the viewer into George’s world so effectively that the one they really live in becomes uncanny. [Ross McIndoe]

Over the course of Charlie Kaufman’s cinematic career, he’s been fascinated with the complexities of the human mind and the vehicles – whether they be flesh or not – that carry them around. His new film (co-directed

by Duke Johnson) is a typically existential, but deeply affecting, foray into a world populated by stop-motion puppets who all share the same eerie expression and Tom Noonan’s monotone voice. That is save for the protagonist Michael (Thewlis) who struggles through this homogenised world until he hears another voice standing out from the drone (Jason Leigh as the eponymous Lisa).

Brimming with wit, Kaufman and Duke craft a tender and moving account of a man struggling with depression and crying out for any kind of connection. The animated puppets are wonderfully lifelike (reminiscent of Being John Malkovich’s stringed lovers) and conjure an uncanny sense of isolation and the joy of a bright spark in the darkness. Perhaps not as mind-bending as it might have been, Anomalisa is possibly more accessible for it – and certainly all the more profound. [Ben Nicholson]

High-Rise

The Witch

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Director: Ben Wheatley Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Luke Evans, Sienna Miller, Elisabeth Moss, Keeley Hawes, James Purefoy Released: 18 Mar Certificate: 15

Director: Robert Eggers Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Lucas Dawson, Ellie Grainger, Bathsheba Garnett Released: 11 Mar Certificate: 15

It’s the near future, though it (deliberately) seems to be the near future as imagined in the 1970s. Dr Robert Laing (Hiddleston) has set up home in a lavish high-rise designed by a grand architect (Irons). Presiding on the 25th floor, he develops trysts with the higher classes and friendships with those relegated below, including a documentarian (Evans) keen to provoke the dangerous social situation between levels. Violence and disarray are but a ticking time bomb away.

A go-for-broke adaptation of JG Ballard’s beloved novel, Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise is a vigorous and ferocious blast through a dark, dystopic labyrinth that only lets up in a third act that starts to lag – mainly because its pummelling nature can’t help but eventually exhaust. The novel’s slower, icy detachment and alienation are reimagined by Wheatley and writer Amy Jump as a hedonistic whirlwind; imagine a lone location Mad Max film with less motors and more upper-class twits, as filtered through a cocktail of the creative sensibilities of Kubrick, Fritz Lang, Joseph Losey and Ken Russell. [Josh Slater-Williams]

The Witch has the onscreen subtitle A New England Folktale, and its end credits posit that it’s inspired by folklore, fairytales and journals from the time of its 1630s setting. First-time feature director Robert Eggers and his crew take a practically fetishistic route to evoking that time, incorporating period-accurate language, detail-perfect sets, hand-stitched costumes, and striking compositions heavily dependent on natural light.

It’s ostensibly the scary tale of a banished, isolated family torn apart by the forces of darkness, but running concurrently at all times with the black magic and shady goats is an affecting moral drama regarding the devastating consequences that result from seeds of distrust. Visible witchcraft could plausibly have been left out of the film and you’d still have a portrait of mass psychological breakdown that disturbs in its own right. That The Witch’s events are set just a couple of decades before the Salem witch trials lends a delicious subtext to proceedings, making it as akin to the cinematic territory of The White Ribbon as it is The Shining. [Josh Slater-Williams]

Goodnight Mommy

Hail, Caesar!

Director: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala Starring: Elias Schwarz, Lukas Schwarz, Susanne Wuest Released: 4 Mar Certificate: 15

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Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson Released: 4 Mar Certificate: 12A

In a chic lakeside Waldviertel mansion, identical twins Lukas and Elias play with pet cockroaches and amble among their mother’s modernist furniture and creepy, blurry portraits of herself. She returns from hospital, bandaged à la Eyes Without a Face, and cruelly snaps that she needs quiet rest. Where has good old mummy gone? Gradually the boys suspect she’s not who she says she is – so naturally they have to restrain and torture her until they get some answers.

The feature directorial debut of Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, Goodnight Mommy makes skilful use of mystery, shifting points of identification and slow pacing to create creepy tension. It’s an elegantly mounted film, ‘Shot on Glorious 35mm’ as an end credit boasts, with extraordinary bursts of violence. But while its Austrian morbidity and Shyamalan narrative-twist-among-the-cornfields grasp at deep thoughts about grief and perversion, the film feels a specious ruse to show extreme cruelty. If Problem Child filtered gorily through The White Ribbon sounds good to you, maybe this is your thing. [Ian Mantgani]

A film about the artifice of filmmaking, Hail, Caesar! is deeply and refreshingly self-referential. The protagonists of the Coen brothers’ films are often tormented by bad choices, and desperately trying to avoid the inevitability of their downfall. By contrast, our main man here is Eddie Mannix (Brolin), a studio ‘fixer’ whose job it is to make these types of problems disappear. So when the star of the studio’s major prestige picture (Clooney) is kidnapped by a group of communist screenwriters, it falls to Eddie to keep the film from going under.

The rest of the movie consists of a tapestry of interlocking vignettes littered with big-name cameos, each a loving parody of popular 50s cinema styles. The tone is light and breezy (this is the Coens’ funniest film in over a decade), but there remains a sinister undercurrent behind the glamorous artifice. In the end, this rip-roaring comedy with a moral conscience may fail to expose the veiled intentions of the major studios, but it does a damn good job of showing Hollywood’s potential for high-minded entertainment.

[Patrick Gamble]

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THE SKINNY

Bard is a Four-Letter Word This month brings one of the most anticipated events in the Scottish literary calendar – now a growing fixture on the UK and global poetry scene. It could only be StAnza Festival

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eld in the ‘auld grey toon’ of St Andrews, just at the turn between winter and spring, StAnza is a joyful celebration of all things poetic.

Since she inherited responsibility in 2005, festival director Eleanor Livingstone has tirelessly spent the last decade cultivating it as the unique hybrid of small-town intimate and wide-reaching curious that it is today.

At StAnza, readings, discussions, book sales and performances come side by side with innovative digital installations and exhibitions, and many of the featured artists and displays combine the art of words with dance, film and music to add an extra dimension to each year’s particular tagline. This year, the festival has not one but two major themes: City Lines (presumably in answer to last year’s Islands theme), a foray into urban verse, architecture and the connecting power of poetry between different cities; and Body of Poetry, an exploration of how poetry deals with human and other bodies, both literally and metaphorically, in terms of appetites, strengths and weaknesses.

As if that weren’t enough to be chewing over, there’s also a new ‘translated language’ theme being introduced this year – a nod to StAnza’s international presence – with a series of events showcasing German poetry. It’s a strong sign of the festival’s standing worldwide that, as well

as UK poets, names from Australia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Georgia, Ireland and the USA will all come together to make up the programme.

Headline poets for the week include visitors Lemn Sissay, Pascale Petit, Jane Yolen, Jo Shapcott and Matthew Sweeney, as well as local bards Don Paterson and John Burnside. Award-winning poet and activist Jo Bell will be sharing some of the techniques that made global workshop Group 52 such a driving force, and, with the focus on bodies, it’s no surprise that Costa shortlister Andrew McMillan is also present, following the recent success of his collection Physical.

On the spoken word side, the likes of Scott Tyrrell, Kirsten Luckins, Kevin McLean, Katie Ailes and Jemima Foxtrot are performing, and the StAnza slam is sure to be as wacky a word rollercoaster as anyone could wish. A first-time event is the London Laureates showcase, courtesy of writers’ charity Spread the Word, which features this year’s current Young Poet Laureate for London, Selina Nwulu, along with fellow shortlisters Zia Ahmed and Harriet Creelman.

Among the highlights not to be missed are Saturday’s collective poetry reading about refugees, which anyone can participate in, and the ever-popular poetry breakfast discussions.

The breakfasts, along with certain other events, will be broadcast live on the internet for those who can’t get tickets.

Words: Clare Mulley

In other news, later this month will see Rally & Broad putting on yet another two spoken word extravaganzas, First Editions, on 18 and 20 March at the Bongo Club (Edinburgh) and Stereo (Glasgow) respectively. Artists featured include Janice Galloway and Ross Sutherland, as well as two of the best poets from the ground-breaking Words First project from BBC 1Xtra/ The Roundhouse in 2015, Ellen Renton and Liam McCormick.

“A joyful celebration of all things poetic” Finally, I was very excited to read This Changes Things, Claire Askew’s first book-length collection, which was recently published by Bloodaxe. As ever, it’s a challenge to sum up just what threads any collection of poems together thematically without killing several trees. The closest I can come for now is that it’s a series of voice-drawn portraits, mainly depicting the real and imagined life experiences of women. Many of them are selfportraits, featuring aspects of the poet’s life and youth.

There’s an emphasis on the various angles of economic and social frustration that come with any ‘ordinary’, small-town upbringing. Witch, Frank and Picker introduce us to marginalised characters we often see or are aware of on the edges of our vision, and The picture in your mind when you speak of whores addresses the area of privileged assumption, while Hometown and The Lucky Little Girls dig into the ins and outs of growing up, and what the word ‘fortunate’ really means.

Family crops up with all its irreverent, roughshod warmth, in the delightful I’m sorry I’m still in love with my grandmother and Catalogue of my grandmother’s sayings, plus a chilling new angle on everyday life and death is provided through Poltergeistrix, the story of a phantom who becomes disillusioned with her lover after haunting his apartment. However, predictably, it was the poem High School, with its portrayal of girl cliques and bullying, which most resonated in my scarred brain, and which I think would make most women shudder in recognition, either of something they once suffered or contributed to at some point: ‘What you learned best/ was the fact of your disgustingness./ How vile you were. Your every flaw... It’s women who first learn the throw that hurts…’

StAnza runs from 2-6 Mar in St Andrews This Changes Things is out now, published by Bloodaxe Books, RRP £9.95 stanzapoetry.org

Treats

Martin John

rrrrr

rrrrr

By Lara Williams

side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggres aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depres depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, black blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concen concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggres aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, blackouts, drowsiness, mood swings, palpitations, aggression, seizures, weight gain, loss of concentration, memory loss, sweating, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, fatigue, bloating, cramps, side effects may include nausea, vomiting, black-

‘A DARK, FASCINATING EXPLORATION OF MAN’S NATURE’ – THE LANCET

THE HORMONE FACTORY

By Anakana Schofield

A NOVEL OF GREED, LUST AND THE BATTLE FOR WOMEN’S BODIES

The Hormone Factory

By Saskia Goldschmidt

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On Love

By Charles Bukowski

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SASKIA GOLDSCHMIDT

‘They go back to hers. She has an HDMI cable and Netflix and two thirds of a bottle of wine.’ It’s 2016 and love is still a battlefield, but its ordnance is strictly standard issue. In her remarkable debut collection, Lara Williams unpicks the grave – and ludicrous – complexities of relationships as her characters navigate the romance-free frontline of the workaday routine. The backdrop: unrequited lust, the debris of depression, the conveyor efficiency of abortion.

The blackest comedy salves the overarching bleakness. The protagonist of Penguins soon discovers her HDMI cable is not quite distraction enough for a lover with an unexpected fetish. ‘Do you want me to be the male penguin or the female one?’ she asks. In Here’s To You, a dancing cat with an inappropriate name accompanies a hellish dinner date.

Treats takes place in disquieting close-up: in bedrooms, offices, hospital wards. Williams’ eye for the dramatic undertow energises these deftly drawn scenes, and the pages crackle. The treachery of the human body is a recurring theme and she finds poetry amid the flesh and bone. ‘Her body felt… defiant in its rigidity. He suddenly saw its capacity for secrets,’ muses Samuel in A Selfie As Big As The Ritz.

Treats is a dark and bitter joy, and how Williams documents ‘the performance of love and the fire of it’ confirms her as an authoritative and essential new voice. [Gary Kaill]

‘Caitlin might calll him MJ if they were ever on speaking terms. He doesn’t think much of her harping on about her boyfriend trouble and her wine glasses and her dining-room table. But he has a file on her.’ Martin John regards the broadsheet lifestyle columnists with a sharp disdain.

It is unlikely Martin John would ever speak to a female journalist though, or any woman; Martin John prefers human contact of the more criminal kind. He is, as is gradually revealed in Schofield’s deeply unsettling – and unspeakably comic – second novel, the worst kind of sexual predator.

Sent to London by his ‘Mam’ (a presence of Norman Bates grotesquerie), Martin John spends his routine-driven days adapting to the city and plodding through his miserable job. He outwits the Meddlers, navigates the troublesome Baldy Conscience (his shadowy flatmate) and plots strategies for disguising his very public molestation endeavours. As his paranoia increases and Schofield reveals the true horrors of his depravity, our innate repulsion for her protagonist slowly turns a mirror on us all. While the authorities continue to allow Martin John to slip his leash, his eventual downfall is less a celebration and more an inarguable indicator of the deeper malaise. Narrated from an ingeniously skewed point of view – a blurry, abstract third person – that disorients and disturbs, Martin John is a work as easy to devour as it is difficult to stomach. [Gary Kaill]

This novel, newly translated from its German original, weaves a narrative of sibling rivalry, discovery and power. The Hormone Factory tells the story of two brothers, Motke and Aron, and a scientist who sets up a pharmaceutical factory in the years leading up to the start of World War II. Aptly narrated from his death bed, the main character Motke – a former conman and womaniser – reflects on the rise of his pharmaceutical empire.

From sexual exploitation to sexual emancipation, The Hormone Factory examines the problem of human participation in machine society.

Posing an insight into man’s nature through the scientific exploration of the female contraceptive pill and treatment, this book provides a harrowing insight into the man/woman/machine phenomenon that drove the twentieth century. With the body viewed as a machine to be moulded, bent and fixed to suit, what happens when money and power blur the lines between pain and gain?

Although a fictitious account, this book is populated by truths and secrets that haunt and astound. Exposing the intense dynamic that lies beneath sex, power and money, The Hormone Factory details the transformation of something so human into something inhumane, through ruthless capitalistic pursuit. The candid tongue of Motke’s narration fires up this fast-paced novel, making him a character who won’t soon be forgotten. [Rosie Barron]

Out 3 Mar, published by Freight Books, RRP £8.99

Out now, published by & Other Stories, RRP £10.00

Out 24 Mar, published by Saraband, RRP £8.99

March 2016

BOOKS

Just in time to miss Valentine’s Day, as the supermarket flowers begin to droop and only the terrible chocolates remain, arrives a new collection all about love. America’s premier bar-room poet sets the record straight.

Bukowski writes his love for the many women who came into his life, those who left and those who stayed. He writes his love for friends he had and poets he respected; his love for the race track and beat-up old cars. He’s most sweet when writing about his love for his daughter and how his mind is blown by the fact that she requites it. But always he writes with an unembellished, inglorious but unbroken honesty.

It’s poetry that goes down like a quiet beer at the end of a long day – the world is still raging outside and life is still mad, but for a moment, everything is almost understandable and pretty much OK. On Love reaffirms in concrete Bukowski’s status as the master poet of the American gutter, a counter-cultural icon for anyone sceptical of the modern uniform picture of the successful and their madness for money and materialism. He looked in darker, danker places and found something much more beautiful.

There are bigger and possibly better Bukowski collections but On Love is an excellent selection of a master’s work. It is both a worthy addition to the bookshelf of any fan and an ideal starting point for any newcomer. [Ross McIndoe] Out now, published by Canongate, RRP £11.99

Review

51

The Last Laugh and Phoney Feminism Satirical play The Last Laugh makes a welcome return at Glasgow International Comedy Festival in March – here the creators and cast tell us whether being funny is more important to a comedian than being happy Words: Ben Venables Illustration: Louise French

I

Life Advice from a Cynical Theatre Critic Auntie Trash is back and she wants to help you really ‘get into’ the theatre any which way you can. Spoiler alert: See the shows and help pay the starving artists’ bills. You’ll love it Words: Amy Taylor Illustration: Andrea Campomanes

Dear Auntie Trash, How do I get into theatre?

Yours, Inexperienced Innie.

H

ey there, Innie, Your letter isn’t very clear about what it is that you want exactly, but I can work with it, and so this answer is going to be in two parts. You ready? Hold on tight, baby.

Firstly, I’m assuming that you are asking me, as so many people do, ‘Theatre, what’s it all about, then, eh?’ To which I usually reply, ‘How long have you got? Buy me a drink, darling, yeah?’

The thing about theatre is that it’s theatre; it’s an ancient art form that can be traced back thousands of years. It makes an appearance in just about every ancient culture that we know about.

Theatre is storytelling with bells on: it’s big, it’s fabulous, and it’s got a hell of a lot of stigma attached to it.

Because of this stigma, it can be a little daunting to physically stray into the theatrical world, but once you dip the first toe into the pool of drama, you’ll be balls deep in no time. So, my young adventurer, I urge you: if you want to start ‘getting’ theatre, if you want to get an understanding of what theatre is, exactly, then you need to go to your local theatre.

Once you’re there, make a note of what’s on, what productions are going to tour to local venues, read some reviews and then buy a couple of tickets. You never know, you might just enjoy the experience.

Secondly – because your letter was brief (yay!) but unclear (boo!) it wasn’t immediately obvious what you wanted. What the hell is it that you want, Innie?

52

Review

If you want to work in the theatre – as an actor, designer, technician, director, playwright, producer, dramaturg, or whatever – then the first thing you need to do is be involved somehow.

Anyhow.

Go to see the latest productions, book a ticket to see a show in a different city, go see something that you would never, ever see in a million years (I once went to see Hot Flush: The Menopause Musical, so there’s no reason why you can’t suffer too!) and try to get a job as an usher or behind the bar in a theatre (discounted tickets, baby). Do whatever you need to do to immerse yourself in the murky, filthy, utterly debauched but totally wonderful world of performance.

I’m telling you this, because in order to work in the theatre, you have to know what’s going on, who’s who and who is doing who. When you make the time to get off your arse, get out of your house and actually see shows, it will be worth your while.

You will see little pieces of history unfold before your eyes, you will see productions that will never leave you, you will see work that will inspire or irritate you. And if it irritates you, brilliant! Find out why it didn’t work for you and then make something better.

The point I’m making is that you can’t create theatre, or play an active part in the theatre community, if you don’t go to the theatre, or read plays, or at least know what’s happening within the theatre world.

So, if you wanna be experienced, then reach out, get your hands dirty, go to the theatre and see if they have a drama group or run auditions to join their company. As theatre’s beloved Dr. Frank-N-Furter once sang, “Don’t dream it. Be it.”

Good luck!

f you’ve never heard of comedian Eddie Butler, you’ve probably rolled your eyes at those like him. For Butler is the kind of comedian who adopts a horrible faux-feminism, cynically playing the media with a nice soundbite on gender just for the publicity. “It’s tempting for an Eddie Butler to exploit a topic and hope for their tweets and comments to be picked-up in the latest BuzzFeed article,” says Keir McAllister.

We’re sitting with McAllister, Larah Bross and Jay Lafferty in The Mash Tun on Easter Road, and the three are on good form. Their play The Last Laugh, in which character Eddie is the protagonist, is about to stage a four-date run in March.

Although the play was written by McAllister, it’s clear it’s a collaborative effort. It was co-directed and produced by Lafferty, and it was her experiences as a comedian – dealing with Eddie types – which helped shape much of the material.

“Eddie introduces [Bross’s character] Grace on stage,” she explains, “and it reflects the way I’ve been announced: ‘The next act is a female comic.

Never mind.’ Intentionally or ironically, it gets a laugh because people recognise straight away that all females are introduced in a patronising manner.”

Furthermore, Grace – a fellow stand-up who throws Eddie’s confident, masculine ego into doubt – was written with Bross specifically in mind.

“Larah isn’t quite as acerbic as Grace, but she can offend people and get away with it,” says McAllister, fondly recalling her performances at The Stand’s Broken Windows Policy sketch and cabaret nights.

“I’m not sure I can get away with it,” says Bross, although with the flash of a smile which may acknowledge otherwise.

Bross certainly helped the play achieve a realism which sometimes blurred the lines. “There’s

THEATRE / COMEDY

a moment where some audiences weren’t aware if I was acting,” says Bross, “although from an acting point of view the awkwardness of this response could be very exciting.”

The triumvirate are to become a quartet for the March shows, with Shauna Macdonald joining as director. Bross assures us the Filth star will fit in well having also worked with plenty of real Eddies – and “not only comedians” (Since Macdonald’s voice features in the successful reboot of a certain kids’ series, let us hope Danger Mouse is not implicated).

Does Eddie Butler reflect real attitudes in stand-up? It suggests a bleak outlook for comedy if a feminist point of view is only accommodated by male acts as part of their media machinations.

We chat about Daniel Sloss’s 20 minute routine on the tampon tax as a counter-example, and a positive indication of how far things have come. Lafferty agrees, but points out that a female comedian may have met a different response: “’Woman talks about her period’,” she says succinctly, imagining the dispiriting headline.

But it’s the bandwagon-jumping, issue-chasing comedian that is the play’s target, and it’s why The Last Laugh is a satire more than it is a parody of the comedy world: a parody can go soft by offering comedians such as Eddie “an opportunity to explain their way out of things.”

McAllister wants the tricky question the play raises (‘Is it more important to be funny than happy?’) to expose a comedian’s discomfort. “I didn’t want it to be the tears of clown,” he says, speaking like a true satirist. “Eddie doesn’t know he’s losing. It’s about catching comics out.”

Watch This Space Productions: The Last Laugh plays Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock (10 Mar), Cumbernauld Theatre, Cumernauld (18 Mar), Cottiers Theatre, Glasgow (24 Mar) and Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh (31 Mar) glasgowcomedyfestival.com

THE SKINNY

Comedy Down Under

Celia Pacquola

O

ne look at our last Prime Minister is evidence enough that we Aussies love a bloody good laugh.

Maybe the isolation did it to us. After all, when you live in a part of the world where 90% of the wildlife wants to murder you, there’s little choice but to develop perspective.

Our sense of humour is best demonstrated in Melbourne, which has a long and special relationship with comedy and this year its festival celebrates 30 years.

Like Glasgow Comedy Festival, with which it overlaps on the calendar this year, Melbourne is one of the few festivals dedicated solely to comedy.

Furthermore, it is now one of the most prestigious, and also the third largest, comedy gathering in the world. Described as the festival ‘where the comedians come out to play’ it is more laid back than its rivals in Montreal and Edinburgh. In fact, Melbourne is something like the Bogan Brother to the Fringe, driving along in the ute and not even bothering to check to see if the dunny is filled with redbacks.

This carefree atmosphere goes back to its origins. The first festival opened with a media conference co-hosted by the somewhat ‘tired and emotional’ Peter Cook and the legendary Barry Humphries, who in character as Sir Les Pattinson dropped his trousers. With this image in mind, it’s fitting that the prestigious main comedy awards in Melbourne are named after him.

The awards generally are also a bit more lighthearted. In Melbourne there’s even a Piece of Wood Award, which is the comedians’ vote for someone who is “doing good stuff n that.” By the way, not only is this wood award an official gong, “doing good stuff ” is the official criteria and description.

Needless to say the award is also, quite literally, a piece of wood. These awards sure smile more than some we might mention sponsored by a certain, ahem, Australian lager.

March 2016

Credit: Unavoidable PR

Despite Glasgow and the Fringe, Scotland doesn’t have a monopoly on comedy festivals. Edinburgh based Aussie Shannon Dymond introduces us to her hometown and one of the best comedy festivals in the world, as it celebrates a special birthday

Following what’s happening in Melbourne in March and April is also a good way to get ahead of the curve for Edinburgh in August.

Did you know about 100 acts at last year’s Fringe were Aussies? Anyone following or visiting Melbourne last year would have known Sam Simmons, Corey White and Sarah Kendall had guaranteed hit shows. Indeed, Simmons scooped the Barry award ahead of his Foster’s win in August.

In Edinburgh, the Gilded Balloon in particular has a reputation for being so welcoming to Aussies that Karen Koren may as well light-up the BBQ and put on the snags herself. Frenchy and Neel Kolhatkar are just two of the new generation of Australian comedians who hopped from Melbourne to the Balloon last year.

The Melboune finale leads up to one almighty gala, broadcast on our illustrious Channel 10, and this year presented by another Fringe regular Celia Pacquola. It’s a major fundraiser for Oxfam, and it’s reassuring we can help the less fortunate people in the world before our Government has a chance to drown or imprison them.

Overall the gala is two and half hours of the best acts just talking shit. That’s what Aussies do best, we just talk shit. Adam Hills once explained this was a major difference between Australian comedy and the rest of the world. It’s talkin’ shit and platypuses that have made Aussies famous around the globe.

Harmony is a near impossible thing to reach, but Aussies come bloody close to it by not taking ourselves seriously. How could we when our national dish is Vegemite?

Melbourne Comedy Festival runs from 23 Mar-17 Apr comedyfestival.com.au

COMEDY

Review

53

Win artisan chocolate from Coco!

T

here are many things that divide us in this world. War. Politics. The post-90s output of the Wu-Tang Clan. But chocolate! That’s something we can all get behind, right? So it’s always a bonus to encounter those who do it right: Coco is an Artisan Chocolatier based in Edinburgh that specialises in ethically-traded, organic and most importantly delicious chocolate.

In their own words, Coco’s chocolate is “organic, hand-crafted, precisely decorated & beautifully wrapped”, with flavours ranging from vegan-friendly Haggis Spice to Gin & Tonic via the likes of Rose & Black Pepper and Hazelnut & Isle of Skye Sea Salt.

Constantly experimenting with what they rightly refer to as the “food of the Gods”, Coco have teamed up with your dear ol’ pal The Skinny to offer eight hand-crafted bars of their finest chocolate to one lucky winner. To enter, simply

head to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer the following question: Chocolate magnate Milton Hershey narrowly missed out on which famous disaster due to a last minute change of plans? a) The Titanic sinking b) Godzilla attacking Tokyo c) The cinema release of Waterworld

Competition closes at midnight on Sun 27 Mar. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 48 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms

Win a pair of tickets to Gazelle Twin at FutureEverything!

M

aking its debut this March at FutureEverything Festival 2016, British artist Gazelle Twin presents Kingdom Come, a new audio visual performance in collaboration with Chris Turner and Tash Tung, premiering at Manchester Art Gallery.

We have a pair of tickets to give away to this exclusive event which is a new commission by FutureEverything.

With the piece set on treadmills against a manic, illusory landscape, Kingdom Come places heightening physical demands on the performers, resulting in an exhausting, otherworldly climax.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply head to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and correctly answer this question: The title of the piece, Kingdom Come, takes inspiration from a novel of the same name. Who is the author? a) Anthony Burgess b) Aldous Huxley c) JG Ballard Competition closes midnight Sun 27 Mar. Winners will be notified via email within two working days of closing and will be required to respond within 24 hours or the prize will be offered to another entrant. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/terms futureeverything.org/events/gazelle-twin-kingdom-come/

54

COMPETITIONS

THE SKINNY

Glasgow Music Tue 01 Mar ALL THEM WITCHES

EXCHANGE MUSIC FESTIVAL PLATFORM, TIMES TBC, FREE

RY X

Hosted by Vic Galloway and your prime opportunity for a bit of networking with music industry professionals and a gorgeous spread of live music.

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:00, £13

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £17.50

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Thundering psychedelica from Nashville with an underbelly of bluesy soul and Southern rock.

Australian crooner Ry X plays CCA as part of a small tour in which he’s beginning to share some new material from an upcoming solo release.

JENNIE VEE (THE VAN TS)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £7

NYC based and Canadian born singer-songwriter Jennie Vee stops by the H&P and treats Glasgow to her melancholic dream-pop, with support from The Vana Ts. DEEP AS GRASS (OUR LUCID REALITY + SUMMIT )

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, TIMES AND PRICES TBC

Four part indie band formed on the central belt Deep As Grass play a show with support from Our Lucid Reality and Summit.

BOB MOSES

BROADCAST, 19:00, £9

Part band, part electro project, Bob Moses is the moniker under which Tom Howie and Jimmy Valance produce ‘post-club’ house music.

Wed 02 Mar SLEEPING WITH SIRENS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 18:00, £21

The Florida post-hardcore fiends bring their latest studio album, Madness, to a live setting.

10 PENCE MIX

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

Another inspiring pair of promising new DIY artists pop into Bloc+ for a set.

MATT CORBY

O2 ABC, 19:00, £15.75

Australian singer-songwriter plays the O2 ahead of the release of his debut album Telluric.

FINDLAY NAPIER

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, £7 - £9

A man with handsome folk-vox and clever wee ditties to boot.

LADY LESHURR

BROADCAST, 19:00, £11

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

Thu 03 Mar THE RIFLES

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £17.50

THE RIFLES

Four piece indie rock band all the way from Chingford.

Fri 04 Mar JAMES MORRISON

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £28.50

Solo singer-songwriter who started his days as a busker in Cornwall, before being propelled into the spotlight with his twomillion selling debut LP. MODEL AEROPLANES

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £9

A four man unit hailing from Dundee who’ve been pals and bandmates since the age of thirteen. So, sort of like a non lame One Direction?

ADY SULEIMAN

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £7

The solo Scouse songwriter heads out on his first solo tour of the UK, taking with him a gorgeous stack of lyrical tracks.

GIORGOS TSALIKIS (ANNA IRAKLEOUS)

SWG3 GLASGOW, 21:30–02:00, £15

Athens born Giogos Tsalikis brings his Greek pop-folk to The Warehouse SWG3.

THE DREAMING SPIRES

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £12

Beauteous country burners and jingle-jangle strumming from UK Americana Award nominated The Dreaming Spires.

DIRTY SIRENS

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

Zero tolerance full-throttle hip-hop.

THE CULT

BARROWLANDS, 19:00, £29.50 - £33.19

The 1984 revivers of metal slam into Barrowlands for a night of the heavy stuff.

Scottish post-hardcore sextet who enjoy screaming, ear-splitting riffs and guitar arpeggios. Don’t we all.

GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY (N.P.C + KEVIN CASEY)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, TBC

Pop punk five piece from local turf play a set at The Hug and Pint.

RICHARD WILSON (COL SOLO)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, FREE

Designer of the Casio Trackformer XW-PD1 music machine and producer at Love Love Records Richard Wilson swings by with support from Glasgow’s dance music busker Col Solo.

STRUGGLE

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

Monthly punk and post hardcore selection of bands from DIY collective Struggletown.

DAISUKE TANABE (JAY ROLEX)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, £7 - £9

Masterful tapestries of spaceshipgameboy breakbeats and techno tripouts.

THE NINTH WAVE + ELECTRIC TIFFANY + NOAH

BROADCAST, 19:00, £5

UWS showcase the fruits of their international exchange with the likes of the ever synthy Ninth Wave, Electric Tiffany and Noah.

March 2016

JAMIE WOON

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

The singer, songwriter and producer returns with much-anticipated new material, four years on from the success of his debut album, Mirrorwriting.

ANTON AND ERIN

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, FROM 15:00, £39.50 - £44.50

A night of spangle, forced smiles and ballroom dancing from the well-known duo.

WAKEY! WAKEY!

STEREO, FROM 19:30, £13.50

EXCHANGE MUSIC FESTIVAL

PLATFORM, TIMES TBC, FREE

Hosted by Vic Galloway and your prime opportunity for a bit of networking with music industry professionals and a gorgeous spread of live music.

PETER ANDRE

The one-hit-wonder hits the road with his 2016 Come Swing with Me tour. We would say we hope it’s in reference to the music style, but we don’t want that either.

THE STRANGLERS

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £26

The long-standing punk-rockers take to the road once more, marking some 40+ years and still standing.

THE CORAL

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £17.50

The Wirral five-piece make a comeback, now on their eighth album, The Distance Inbetween, which was recorded at Parr Street Studio in Liverpool.

DUST

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 20:00, £15 - £20

The Enid present Dust, an audiovisual production directed by TV illusionist Simon Drake.

POOR THINGS: THE END (SECRET MOTORBIKES + HALFRICAN)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £7

Poor Things wave goodbye to Glasgow in a farewell show, with Secret Motorbikes and Halfrican in tow to blot your tears.

SINGLE BY SUNDAY (SILVER COAST + THE DOUBLE STANDARDS + ANGEL GOLD) CLASSIC GRAND, 19:00, £6 - £7

Pop from a ‘Wegian four piece with support acts from Inverness and Larkhall.

F&THS swing by Broadcast following the 2015 release of LP Decency.

THE FEELING

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £18.50

Aw, remember those skinny-jeaned lovelies who spent 2006 telling us we fill their little worlds right up (right up)? They’re back! Rejoice!

Thu 10 Mar FOXES

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £16

One-woman-band riding along on Louisa Rose Allen’s resplendent synths, industrial percussion and by-turns-searing-and-soaring vocals.

OH WONDER

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £10

London-based pop duo, consisting of Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West.

THE FRANKLYS (FAIIDES + REALITY T.V)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5 - £7

Four piece all girl garage rock ‘n’ roll force hailing from Sweden: “like The Hives but with better hair and make-up”.

GOOD GRIEF’S GOOP SHOP

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

Occasional One Tree Hill cameo musician Michael Grubbs brings his alternative indie-rock band over from the States.

An engaging entanglement of pop and noise with Taupe and guests.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £8

Spiralling southern guitar sounds, twinkling ivory and rough’n’ready ballad vocals from Missing Focus, with support from Lorna Masson.

MICHAEL CASSIDY (THE GREAT ALBATROSS + I AM DAVID LAING)

Hailing from Paisley, Michael Cassidy pops into the H&P for an eve of contemporary pop-folk following the release of his debut record My Electric Heart.

SCOTT BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00, £24.75

Vintage reworks of contemporary pop hits courtesy of pianist and arranger Scott Bradlee.

Mon 07 Mar MICH HARGAN

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £8

Nice ‘n’ nasty, sincere and passionate, Hargan takes inspiration from the likes of Springsteen, Cash, Pearl Jam and Bob Dylan – resulting in a set which is charismatic indeed.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £7.50

CLYDE AUDITORIUM, FROM 18:30, £31.20 - £90.80

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £11

Sun 06 Mar

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £6

Southern comforts from punkcountry project Flat Stanley.

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £17.50

YASHIN

Joan Shelley headlines at the Glad with her simmering tranquility and old-timey timbre.

Tue 08 Mar

Sat 05 Mar

The Italian-English solo acoustic singer plays a set accompanied by his trusty guitar.

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, £8

FLAT STANLEY (CELLADOA + THE VIGNETTES)

Four piece indie rock band all the way from Chingford.

JACK SAVORETTI

JOAN SHELLEY WITH NATHAN SALSBURG (JOAN SHELLEY + DAVID MORRIS + RED RIVER DIALECT + NATHAN SALSBURG’S ALAN LOMAX ARCHIVE PRESENTATION)

FRANKIE & THE HEARTSTINGS BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £8

THE SPOOK SCHOOL

Before zipping off to Austin, Texas for SXSW, The Spook School head to The Hug and Pint for another round of DIY queer punk in front of a Glasgow audience.

FLY JACKSON (GHOST WRITER + GRIM MORRISON)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

City radio curates a night of live music at Nice ‘N’ Sleazy, featuring Fly Jackson, Ghost Writer and Grim Morrison.

FIGHTING CARAVANS

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

An invigoratingly fresh Leeds based alt band who deliver spooky, off-kilter shades of rock.

BILL RYDER JONES

STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £11.50

A viciously talented multi-instrumentalist, filmscore composer and minimalist musician. His latest record, West Kirby County Primary is a total treat. Well worth a gander IRL.

Wed 09 Mar RECKLESS LOVE

CATHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £12

Merry metal outfit hailing from Finland, touring with their latest album, Spirit.

BEN ABRAHAM

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £7

A man who found his voice eight years ago while working in a hospital before going on to write songs with Sarah Barreilles and tour with Emmylou Harris brings the fruits of his latest record, Sirens, to G-town.

FLYING BY MIRRORS (THE SNUTS + THE CAIRDS )

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

Scottish rock band Flying By Mirrors swing by Sleazy with support from The Snuts and four piece power pop band The Cairds.

TARIBOWEST

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

The much loved ambassadors for the world of post-rock, new wave and math perform fer the ‘Wegians.

MISSING FOCUS (LORNA MASSON)

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £6.50

TREMBLING BELLS (DICK 50 + CHUMP)

MONO, 19:30, £8

Trembling Bells celebrate the forthcoming release of new EP Wide Majestic Aire, joined by minimal psych-improv from Dick 50 and the immersive ‘dream-songs’ of Chump.

ICHI

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, £8 - £10

Japanese pop one-man band from Bristol.

Fri 11 Mar TRAAMS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £7

Krautrock trio hailing from Chichester, currently signed to Fat Cat Records.

WHITE HILLS (THE COSMIC DEAD + GIRL SWEAT)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–22:00, £8 - £10

American rock band White Hills are joined by metal heads Cosmic Dead and Leeds based lo-fi garage kraut act Girl Sweat.

SCOOTER

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00, £24.18 - £56.25

Scooter want you to know that you can’t stop the hardcore. So that’s what they named their tour. It’ll be mad, albeit a little tragic, p’raps.

FROM SORROW TO SERENITY

CLASSIC GRAND, 18:30, £6

Technical metal and threads of groove from Glasgow.

TRICOT (AXES +CANAL CAPITALE)

BROADCAST, 20:00–22:00, £7 - £9

Experimental rock band formed in 2010, fronted by three talented female musicians.

Sat 12 Mar WET WET WET

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 19:30, £42.50 - £48

Scotland’s soft-rock favourites, famous for their connections with Hugh Grant’s particularly floppyhaired era, take to the road with The Big Picture Tour.

AN EVENING WITH MACHINE HEAD

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £26

Hairy heavy metal group from the States, known as trailblazers of the scene after forming in the early 90s.

THE INTERNET

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £15

Trip-hop duo, made up of DJ, singer and producer Syd tha Kyd and producer Matt Martians (of OFWGKTA).

THE BATHERS

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:00, £10

After a fifteen year of absence The Bathers return in 2016. The band, led by songwriter Chris Thomson, have reunited to play some shows ahead of a new record and the reissue of their back catalogue.

RAVIOLI ME AWAY (SHAM GATE + BREAKFAST MUFF + IDEAL MEXICO) THE FLYING DUCK, 20:00–03:00, £6

Integral players in the DIY scene and creators of blisteringly fun, all-genre-encompassing sets, RMA aren’t to be missed this month.

Especially when they’re followed

by DJ sets from the likes of Breakfast Muff.

OCEAN (ECHO MOON + FLYING BY MIRRORS + THE USUAL)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:45–22:00, £6 - £7

What’s the Noise brings another dose of up and coming talent to Sleazy’s.

THE MERMAIDS (MATTHEW TANNER)

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £7

A female duo who take the whole siren theme very seriously, from harmonies to hair and make-up.

Majestic vocals and intelligent, emotive composition.

SONIC JESUS (HELICON) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:15–22:00, £8 - £10

‘One of psych’s best kept secrets’, Sonic Jesus will stir up some trouble in Sleazy’s mid-March with support from face-melters Helicon.

FRANKIE BALLARD

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £13.50

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

WILD IMAGE (POOR FRISCO + LIFE MODEL)

Wild Image launch their debut EP and bring Poor Frisco and Life Model along for the ride.

Following up his widely praised Imaginary Walls Collapse in 2013, Adam Stafford delivers another helping of cleverly eclectic tracks from Taser Revelations.

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £8

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, £12 - £14

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

SCHNARFF SCHNARFF (PSEUDO SATELLITES + ANIMALS TO CREATORS + APE MEN ALIEN)

The Inverness chappies do their inimitable line in staccatto grunge pop.

Buy your tickets here: bit.ly/chvrches-hydro

Tue 22 Mar STRAIGHT NO CHASER

Chvrches

Glasgow Hydro, 2 Apr, £25

Sun 13 Mar GRIMES

SHIELDS (DON’T SHOOT)

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £7

Shields’ musical output is a reflection of truly diverse influences.

Their debut album How Can We Fix This? was met with genuinely broad appeal.

SKINNY LIVING

BROADCAST, 19:00, £5

Soulful vox and four part harmonies which defy the coat hanger of any genre in particular.

Mon 14 Mar

PAUL HEATON & JACQUI ABBOTT

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £25

HAYDEN JAMES (LOCKAH + HQFU) BROADCAST, 19:00, £8.50

After amassing 30 million plays across various platforms, internet BNOC Hayden James swings by Broadcast.

Wed 16 Mar WOLF ALICE

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £17.50

London four-piece fronted by Ellie Rowsell, making un-pigeonholeable folky rock with a distinctly poppy vibe.

ROBYN SHERWELL

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £7

After the release of My Hand on 11 March, produced by David Kosten (Everything Everything / Bat for Lashes), Robyn Sherwell brings her soulful vocals set amidst pounding drums to Glasgow.

THE BROKEN OAK DUET

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

Instrumental post-punk – one for fans of Adebisi Shanks and Refused.

GEORGIE

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, £9.50

Nottingham singer-songwriter pops into the Glad for an inevitably rousing set of country-esque tunes.

AMERICAN YOUNG (SASHA MCVEIGH + LOVELESS EFFECT) ORAN MOR, 19:00, £12

Three acts who’ve helped contribute to the ever evolving musical genre that is country stop by Glasgow on their tour of Europe.

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £8.50

70s punk-pop foursome par excellence, on the go now for a ridiculous amount of years.

Gabriel Kahane’s debut The Ambassador was hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the year’s very best albums”. He brings his musical musings on life in L.A to The Hug and Pint this March.

Tue 15 Mar BOYCE AVENUE

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £27.50

Floridian acoustic pop-meets-rock band of brothers Alejandro, Fabian and Daniel Manzano.

MARIAH CAREY

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £45 - £75

The inimitable pop shriekster heads across the pond with her Sweet Sweet Fantasy tour. Expect high notes to be hit.

EMMY THE GREAT

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £14

More kitchen sink-style melodic storytelling from the Londonbased singer/songwriter, out celebrating the release of her new EP.

SLOWCOACHES (SMACK WIZARDS + CHUMP) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £6

After a rather gratefully received set at the H&P in 2015, Slowcoaches return with support from Smack Wizards and Chump.

Grown-up a cappella from SNC, a group who aim to redefine a genre that has been somewhat bastardised by Britain’s Got Talent.

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £20

The collaborative duo return with the follow-up to 2014’s What Have We Become - the first record they’d made together since The Beautiful South - as they tour in support of new album, Wisdom Laughter and Lines.

GABRIEL KAHANE

ORAN MOR, FROM 19:00, £20

REFUSED

O2 ABC, FROM 19:00, £17

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £7.50

CAVALCADES (ORPHAN WORKS + BOXKITE + FVNERALS)

Following the January release of new LP Don’t You, Wet stop by Broadcast for a live set.

A fresh, raw and energetic three piece indie-pop band from Fife.

The Altered hours bring everything from lush psychedelia to stark darkness, testing what they find to be a fine line between tranquillity and chaos.

New wave hardcore from German shores.

WET

BROKEN BOY (DED RABBIT)

THE ALTERED HOURS

CLASSIC GRAND, 18:30, £8

BROADCAST, 19:00, £8.50

BROADCAST, 19:00, £5

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00, £10

Mon 21 Mar

Four man unit from Aberdeen who reside firmly in the screamy post-punk field.

JOSH TAYLOR

Original and undiluted, North-East siblings Field Music are back and arrive on their first UK tour since 2012 promoting new release Commontime, with a full five piece live band.

Banjos and fiddles and harpstrings galore from The Furrow Collective.

MONO, 20:00, £5

CLASSIC GRAND, FROM 15:00, £15

FIELD MUSIC

THE FURROW COLLECTIVE (JEMIMA THEWES)

BURNING DOWN ALASKA

A frequent gigger at festivals, radio shows, concerts and events across the UK, Josh Taylor’s one to catch while he travels through the central belt this March.

Canadian musician Claire Boucher does her much-lauded electro-pop thing, deftly balancing dance beats and a supersaturation of vocal hooks against imperious bass synthesis.

ADAM STAFFORD THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £8

Thu 17 Mar STIFF LITTLE FINGERS

BARROWLANDS, FROM 19:00, £18.50

REPEATER

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

Lenin Death Mask deliver their raucous, energetic and technical math-rock presence.

THE 1975

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £27

Local indie rockers done “good”, depending on what you measure that by.

VETO (MERCY)

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £7

Veto bring their driving drum beats, polyrhythmic rock and hearty vocal lines to Tut’s.

MONTICULE

THE HOWLIN' WOLF, GLASGOW. 22:00, TBC

Monticule bring the roots of soul and blues together with some jazz influence & refreshing simplicity.

Fri 18 Mar

STEVEN JAMES ADAMS

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £9

Catchy as fuck with incredible lyricism, Steven James Adams brings new LP Old Magick before a H&P crowd.

FEROCIOUS DOG (LOSING GROUND) STEREO, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Have a jig to the punky folk and ska beats of Ferocious Dog, with the Brand-New-meets-Biffy sounds of Losing Ground.

ANYWHERE BUT THE CITIES (NEU! REEKIE! )

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00, £8

Neu! Reekie! pull down the projector screen to unveil their Anywhere But The Cities tour documentary as part of GSFF, with lashings of live tunes from River of Slime, Eyes of Others and Eugene Kelly.

WOLFE TONES

BARROWLANDS, TIMES TBC, £20

Named after one of the leaders of the 1978 Irish Rebellion, Wolfe Tones bring their unabashedly political ditties to Barrowlands this March. Late Paddy’s day party, perhaps?

VASA (POLY-MATH + GREATER THE DIVIDE)

Sweden’s hardcore punk band return with new album, Freedom, following their long-awaited reunion in 2012.

ACRYLIC (MARC ROONEY + NOTHING UNIVERSE)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £5

An alternative indie-rock quintet originally from the capital, now residing in Glasgow's west-end.

Atmospheric, intricate, explosive, psychedelic.

PAINTED WAVES (HIDERS)

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

Ruminative lyricism and lavish guitar make Painted Waves poignant and joyous in equal measures.

They’re joined this March in Bloc+ by lo-fi pop creatures Hiders.

JD MCPHERSON (JAKE LA BOTZ)

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £14.50

Rock’n’roll rooted tunes from American songwriter and guitarist JD McPherson, think proper USA style rockabilly blues.

BROADCAST, 20:00, £5

Wed 23 Mar

Sat 19 Mar

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £7

Thrilling riffs and clever rhythms from a terrific instrumental band.

LITTLE MIX

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 12:30, £25 - £35

X-Factor 2011 winners, known for having the lowest-selling winner’s single since 2004.

HALF MOON RUN

JACK AND THE’ (ANGUS MUNRO + A NEW INTERNATIONAL)

Infectious melodies which go the full circle between pop, chamber and jazz ahead of the launch of their second album Melody Cycle.

DIÄT (ANXIETY + NEW VALUES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5 - £6

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, FROM 19:00, £13.50

Ozzie exports DIÄT make music inspired by post-punk frustration and alienation. Catch their wit and mid-tempo dissaffection live this March.

ARABROT (CASUAL NUN + SKELETON GONG)

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

Talented young trio from Ottawa, Ontario and Comox, British Columbia, working their magic across elements of indie, pop and folk.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £6 - £9

With a seventh album under their belts, the Norwegian rock talent Arabot meets the Glasgwegian crowd for a set in the Sleaz’. You’ll also catch Casual Nun and Skeleton Gang.

THE FILTHY TONGUES

O2 ABC, 19:00, £146

Alt rock veterens The Filthy Tongues stop by for set at the O2.

IN THE GUTTER (NEE! REEKIE!)

THE MITCHELL LIBRARY, 19:30, £12

ELEVANT (GULTCH)

Influenced by a whole melange of genres, Elevant will appease fans of anything from shoegaze to post punk, art rock to krautrock.

PROSE

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £6.50

Manchester based trio who defy genres but sound a little like the auditory lovechild of the Chillis and Oasis, punctuated with standout rap.

Thu 24 Mar SUNSET SONS

QUEEN MARGARET UNION, FROM 19:00, £12

Aye Write! showcase featuring the likes of Scottish hip-hopper Loki and dreamy weaver of words and chords RM Hubbert.

Aussie shaggy-haired indie outfit based in French surf hotspot, Hossegor.

Sun 20 Mar

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £10

THE 1975

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, FROM 19:00, £24

Local indie rockers done “good”, depending on what you measure that by.

WALKING ON CARS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £8

Young pop-meets-rock scamps hailing from the delightfully named Dingle, in Ireland.

KARMA TO BURN

West Virginia stoner rock trio made up of guitarist William Mecum, bassist Rich Mullins and drummer Rob Oswald.

MAUK (FUNKASAURUS + JENNIFER LEITCH)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £5

UWS International Music Exchange gives students of commercial music to gain tour-organising skills before culminating in a shared festival which pools company, talent and culture.

Listings

55

THE WONDER STUFF (THE WEDDING PRESENT + THE LOTTERY WINNERS) O2 ABC, 19:00, £22.50

A 30th anniversary party-gig for The Wonderstuff, with support from The Wedding Present and The Lottery Winners.

LAETITIA SADIER (NICHOLAS KRGOVICH)

BROADCAST, 19:00, £8

BIG UPS BROADCAST, 19:00, £7

Brooklyn boys Big Ups bring some fat bass and punk beats to Broadcast.

Tue 29 Mar SHANE FILAN

CLYDE AUDITORIUM, FROM 19:00, £32.50 - £50

Enchanting French lyrics and plucky guitar from the frontwoman of band Stereolab.

Him from Westlife. You’re busy that night.

Fri 25 Mar

Rising pop/rock outfit from Hertfordshire for fans of the Busted and McFly era.

BIS

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:30, £8

Infrequent visitors on the live circuit, (a very pregnant) Manda Rin and her Bis cohorts revive their finest hyper-pop moments for an intimate hometown outing at Mono, playing what will be their third and final gig of this year.

TOSELAND

STEREO, FROM 19:00, £8

The ex-superbike champion continues to go it solo after parting with his band, Crash.

ADELE

ROOM 94

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £10

TELLISON (MUNCIE GIRLS)

BLOC+, 21:30–23:00, FREE

DIIV

Sat 26 Mar ADELE

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £35 - £95

Multiple Grammy-winning cockney gal, returning with another album of tear-jerkers and empowering ballads. Don’t hold your breath for tickets though.

BILL LOCKETT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–22:00, £7

After a year’s hibernation and music writing in his cellar, indie-popper Billy Lockett brings a full band before a Nice ‘N’ Sleazy crowd.

CHARLOTTE MARSHALL AND THE 45S O2 ABC, 19:00, £95

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

THE TREND (FEET OF CLAY + IBG + THE LAPELLES)

KING TUT’S, 20:30, £7

Lo-fi punk, smokey riffs and raspy, raspy vocals.

SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL

CATHOUSE, 22:30–04:00, TBC

VIDA LEE

THE HOWLIN’ WOLF, GLASGOW, 22:0023:00, TBC

Energetic blues with a rocky edge at The Howlin' Wolf.

Edinburgh Music Tue 01 Mar

SUNDARA KARMA (BEACH BABY + BLAENAVON)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

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

Wed 02 Mar BLACK HONEY

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

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

BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO NO 4 (SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA) THE QUEEN’S HALL, TIMES TBC, £11 £31.50

Llyr Williams plays one of Mozart’s most lyrical keyboard concertos, with direction and violin by Alexander Janiczek.

Thu 03 Mar

THE JOKERS & THE NUMBER 9S

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £11

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

WATCHFIRES (TALLAHASSEE FALLS)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–22:00, £3

A band of rogues from Aberdeenshire who share a preference for loud rock with lucid melodies and a pop core. Watchfires treat Sleazy’s to a wee gig in anticipation of their 2016 release.

JEDWARD

O2 ABC, 19:00, £28.12

Yes, you read that correctly. Try to contain your excitement.

STEVE MCCRORIE

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £12

Firefighter-turned-singer who did Scotland proud by winning BBC’s The Voice in 2015.

Mon 28 Mar A-HA

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £29.50 - £145

One of Norway’s most well-known musical exports, known for riding the synth-pop of the 80s with aplomb.

CROSSFAITH

KING TUT’S, FROM 20:00, £12

Electronicore from Osaka, Japan.

FAIRCHILD (APACHE DARLING)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30, £6

Indie rockers from Gold Coast, Australia, now based in the considerably less golden climate of Manchester.

56

Listings

RSNO HOLLYWOOD HEROES AND SUPERHEROES

Robert Kaufman salutes the superheroes of our time, live in full symphonic sound.

Sat 05 Mar ANTON AND ERIN

USHER HALL, FROM 19:30, £39.50 - £43.50

Sun 27 Mar EDDIE ARGOS

CITRUS CLUB, 19:30–22:00, £5

USHER HALL, 19:30, £15 - £35

Northwest England exports The Jokers drum up a night of rocky madness with the Number 9s.

THE HUG AND PINT, 22:00, £9

SKANK FUCK IT’S FRIDAY (BIG FAT PANDA)

Thu 31 Mar

With Panic!, New Found Glory and Of Mice and Men on the bill, your teenage self is dying with excitement at this lineup.

For the very first time, Eddie Argos steps into the spotlight to spin yarns from the times when Art Brut was still becoming the world beating pop behemoth they are today.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10

After three European tours alongside an endless list of festival appearances, it’s been a big year for FVK. Make sure to catch them in the flesh at Electric Circus.

Live ska from the Pandas to get your weekend off to a rollicking start.

SWG3 GLASGOW, 19:00, £11.50

Beachy pop project of Brooklyn’s Zachary Cole Smith, also a member of the like-minded Beach Fossils.

FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (VULOVI + MISS VINCENT + HAVANA)

An infamous indie four piece are joined by one of 2016’s musical tip-offs to play a set in Bloc+ for your eyes only.

THE SSE HYDRO, FROM 18:30, £35 - £95

Multiple Grammy-winning cockney gal, returning with another album of tear-jerkers and empowering ballads. Don’t hold your breath for tickets though.

Edinburgh Music

RYAN HAMILTON (DANNY GRUFF)

People On Vacation's Ryan Hamilton embarks on first, full-band solo tour with special guest Danny Gruff.

MODEL AEROPLANES

THE CAVES, 19:00–22:00, £11

A four man unit hailing from Dundee who’ve been pals and bandmates since the age of thirteen. So, sort of like a non lame One Direction?

BLOSSOMS

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £10

Psyche-pop riffs, vocal melodies, a film noir meets 60s aesthetic, a range of audible references from Arctic Monkeys via Abba to The Doors EMMA POLLOCK

THE VOODOO ROOMS, EDINBURGH, 19:00, £14

A mere five and a half years after the angular splendidness of her solo debut, Emma has finally delivered her follow-up. A mustsee live.

Fri 04 Mar SALTFISHFORTY

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Saltfishforty, a fresh and dynamic duo hailing from the Orkney Islands venture south, bringing a treat to the ‘wegians.

BROKEN BOY

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

A fresh, raw and energetic three piece indie-pop band from Fife.

A night of spangle, forced smiles and ballroom dancing from the well-known duo.

THE CROOKS (SOLEMN SUN + OMAHA + NORTHERN) THE MASH HOUSE, 18:30–22:00, £7

The Crooks provide a film score soundtrack to the afternoon.

Mon 07 Mar

SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE (WOODY PINES)

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

The Soundhouse continues its residency at the Trav, drafting tip top musicians into its noble mission to restore Edinburgh's gigging scene and bring about fair payment for artists.

EDINBURGH'S MUSIC BATTLE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £4

Edinburgh’s local talent battle it out to raise money for Drake Music Scotland.

Tue 08 Mar VLADIMIR

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £4

One of Scotland’s most exciting and menacing indie rock acts, already a looming figure in the Dundee scene return to Sneaky’s.

WILL BLACK

BANNERMANS, 19:00, TBC

Canadian neo-classic rock singersongwriter makes a welcome return to Bannermans.

ONE UNDER

BANNERMANS, TIMES TBC, £5

Loud durge metal from Scunthorpe make Bannermans debut.

MEDICINE MEN SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

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

DOOM OVER EDINBURGH

BANNERMANS, 19:00–23:45, £9 - £16

Sort of what it says on its metal tin: a dark, heavy rock fest in the capital.

JOSH TAYLOR

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £15

A frequent gigger at festivals, radio shows, concerts and events across the UK, Josh Taylor’s one to catch while he travels through the central belt this March.

TURIN BRAKES (TOM SPEIGHT)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £20

Punk legends 999 return to the capital.

Buy your tickets here: bit.ly/steve-mason-liquid-room

ERRORS (HAPPY MEALS + BOSSY LOVE)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £14

Glaswegian trio Errors released their fourth full-length, Lease Of Life, on the 23 March. Built around a choir loop, its title track is a chirping, swirling, synth-based pop song with a lot of layers. Catch it in the flesh at La Belle.

ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS (CITY VEGETABLES + STONES)

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:30–22:00, £7

Known fondly to fans as Ash-Nav, Phil Todd and Mel Delaney make a long awaited return to Henry’s, bringing with them a sprawling arsenal of psychedelia rock’n’roll.

Sun 06 Mar

SUNDAY CLASSICS: FLANDERS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

USHER HALL, 15:00, £12 - £32

An easy listening afternoon brought to your eardrums courtesy of a brilliant Belgian orchestra, joined by Chloë Hanslip on the violin for the much-loved Bruch.

Sun 13 Mar ULRICH SCHNAUSS

SUMMERHALL, 20:00, £12

ICHI (DOMINIC WAXING LYRICAL + SINGING MOONDOGS)

Japanese pop one-man band from Bristol.

Back by popular demand, Joey Devries pops into Edinburgh for one of only four intimate UK live shows.

Mon 14 Mar

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

HOLY WAVE (MONTICULE)

Steve Mason Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Tue 26 Apr, 7pm, £20

BANNERMANS, 20:00, £6 - £8

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £9

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30, £12 - £15

A celebration of everything Celtic and folk-focused, brought to The Queen’s Hall by Edinburgh’s Festival of Ireland.

The Soundhouse continues its residency at the Trav, drafting tip top musicians into its noble mission to restore Edinburgh's gigging scene and bring about fair payment for artists.

A fine blend of glam-punk and rock ‘n’ roll

Josef Salvat first broke into our consciousness last year after garnering over 2.5 million Soundcloud plays for his debut EP In Your Prime. He returned to push the boundaries with Hustler, and now Josef brings us Till I Found You, set to impact in June.

CELTIC CROSSOVER

SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE (JONNY PHILIPS AND GIORGIO SERCI)

WEE RED BAR, 19:00, £6

JOSEF SALVAT

Sergeant frontman comes along to Woodlands to play new material and a couple of Sergeant classics.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 13:00–16:00, £12

THE LAST BATTLE

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:30–01:00, £4 - £8

WOODLAND CREATURES, 19:00, £6

JOEY DEVERIES (DIVING STATION + FINE CREATURE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

The best bits of Kate Bush and Debbie Harrie all rolled up in a rising star who’ll visit the Voodoo Rooms this March. Support from Limbo fave Candythief and Grampa.

NICK MERCER (AARON WRIGHT)

WEE RED BAR, 19:00, £5

A growing name in Scotland’s DIY scene, The Draynes are are a garage-punk duo borne of raw rock ‘n’ roll.

KIRSTEN ADAMSON (CANDYTHIEF + GRAMPA)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £11

The Dear Hunter is a progressive rock band originating in Providence, Rhode Island. It began as a side project of Casey Crescenzo, formerly of The Receiving End of Sirens.

CITRUS CLUB, 19:30–22:00, £7 - £9.99

999

THE DRAYNES (THE ANIMAL MOTHERS + TONGUE TRAP)

THE DERELLAS (BUZZBOMB + CRITIKILL + BABYLON DUB PUNKS)

THE DEAR HUNTER (GRUMBLE BEE)

German born tunemaker Ulrich Schnauss fills Summerhall’s Dissection room with erethral electronica in anticipation of his 2016 release Tangerine Dream.

ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS

Two albums down and gigs with the likes of First Aid Kit and King Creosote, The Last Battle wave g’bye with a gig at their favourite venue and second home.

Sort of what it says on its metal tin: a dark, heavy rock fest in the capital.

Yes, though many of your fondly remembered millennium musicians are somewhat frozen in time, Turin Breaks continue to pave their path, over a decade under their belts.

See ‘em live this month.

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 19:30–22:00, £7

Known fondly to fans as Ash-Nav, Phil Todd and Mel Delaney make a long awaited return to Henry’s, bringing with them a sprawling arsenal of psychedelia rock’n’roll.

DOOM OVER EDINBURGH BANNERMANS, 19:00–23:45, £9 - £19

Wed 09 Mar THE FRANKLYS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

11 March

THE SUNSHINE UNDERGROUND

THE VOODOO ROOMS, EDINBURGH, 19:15, £10

Four piece all girl garage rock ‘n’ roll force hailing from Sweden: “like The Hives but with better hair and make-up”.

A fine mix of indie and dance music infused with electronic beats and bleeps, funky bass lines and epic, rousing choruses.

BANNERMANS, TIMES TBC, £7

Sat 12 Mar

THE STANDARD LAMPS

Having toured with The Who and Paul Weller, this indie-folk, bluesy trio are one to catch.

Thu 10 Mar ASTROID BOYS

THE MASH HOUSE, 18:30–21:30, £8

Hip hop, metal, dubstep collective from Cardiff, mashing up their combined influences with MCs Benji and Traxx leading the way.

SHIELDS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

Shields’ musical output is a reflection of truly diverse influences.

Their debut album ‘How Can We Fix This'’ was met with genuinely broad appeal. Catch it live.

SCO BRAHMS SYMPHONY NO 4

USHER HALL, 19:30, £11 - £31.50

Robin Ticciati conducts Brahms Symphony no 4 for the enjoyment of an Usher Hall auditorium.

Fri 11 Mar THE DEAD STATIONS

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30, £8 - £16

A story told through the delightfully complementary forms of live music, spoken word and animation.

Go and be wooed by Mike Vass’ score, performed by the man himself alongside Mairi Campbell and Yoann Mylonakis.

ADAM STAFFORD

SUMMERHALL, 20:00–21:30, £10

Following up his widely praised Imaginary Walls Collapse in 2013, Adam Stafford delivers another helping of cleverly eclectic tracks from Taser Revelations.

BOYCE AVENUE

THE LIQUID ROOM, FROM 19:00, £25

Floridian acoustic pop-meets-rock band of brothers Alejandro, Fabian and Daniel Manzano.

THE DEAR HUNTER

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, FROM 19:00, £11

The Dear Hunter is a progressive rock band originating in Providence, Rhode Island. It began as a side project of Casey Crescenzo, formerly of The Receiving End of Sirens.

BY THE DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT (TAYLOR WILSON + KATE OPENSHAW + MORLEY WHITEHEAD + SOPHIE ASKEW) OLD SAINT PAUL’S CHURCH, 19:30, £7 - £9

A celebration of 20th century American choral music featuring glorious works by Aaron Copland, Morten Lauridsen and Leonard Bernstein.

DAN DEACON

SUMMERHALL, 20:00, £14

Baltimore based pop-electronica artist and composer Dan Deacon once had his shows described as being similar to induction into a friendly cult. If that’s not reason enough to go along, we don’t know what is.

ACRYLIC

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

An alternative indie-rock quintet originally from the capital, now residing in Glasgow's west-end.

Atmospheric, intricate, explosive, psychedelic.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8.50

Stand out sonic textures piercing through the kind of smoke-filled haze that engulfs most psych bands.

Tue 15 Mar

JACK AND THE’ (MIYAGI + ANGUS MUNRO)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

Infectious melodies which go the full circle between pop, chamber and jazz brought to Sneaky’s ahead of the launch of their second album Melody Cycle.

Wed 16 Mar

RIOT JAZZ BAND (RIOT JAZZ BAND)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–23:00, £11

New Orleans style Brass Band deliver original peace-lovin’ aggrojazz, hip-hop samples, funked-up favourites and re-interpreted dubstep. Expect drum’n’bass and dancefloor bangers that never fail to send limbs flying.

Thu 17 Mar

BELLOW BELOW (WE CAME FROM THE NORTH)

Fri 18 Mar

THREE DAYS FROM RETIREMENT ( OUR SMALLEST ADVENTURES + GIGANTIC LEAVES)

70s bass riffs and galvanising Hendrix solos mixed up with a modern indie pop vibe. Bound to get the sweatbox jumping.

BANNERMANS, 20:00, £7

BANNERMANS, 20:00, £5

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

SACRILEGE

NWOBHM (that’s ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ for those who don’t speak metal-tongues) at its finest.

WILLE & THE BANDITS

The internationally acclaimed blues rock three piece swing by Bannermans while on tour promoting their latest release.

SCO BRAHMS REQUIEM

USHER HALL, 19:30, £11 - £31.50

The SCO Chorus perform the exultant Brahms Requiem, featuring soprano Kate Royal and conducted

by Robin Ticciati.

Fri 25 Mar

STRIKING MATCHES (STRIKING MATCHES)

Glaswegian quartet who rather self-deprecatingly term their sound as ‘failpop’.

Classic Seventies band Sham 69, back by popular demand.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £15

With their T Bone Burnett produced debut album, guitar-wielding duo Striking Matches creates an unexpected and unique sound that defies easy categorization.

RSNO OUNDJIAN AND BENEDETTI

USHER HALL, 19:30, £12 - £21

Hector Berlioz’s astonishing Symphonie Fantastique is brought to Edinburgh by conductor Peter Oundjian and violinist Nicola Benedetti.

Sat 19 Mar

VISTAS (O.J. TURBITT AND THE BLACK SHADOW + CHRIS GREIG)

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £6

Indie-rockers Vistas (formerly known as Friend of a Friend) play on home soil in Edinburgh.

KAPAULDIES GARAGE (OCEANS + MAD GERALD + RICHY NEIL & THE REINFORCEMENTS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

Conjuring great moments throughout indie-rock with another quality lineup from WTNP. THE MANTELLS (LOST IN VANCOUVER + ROSS ARTHUR)

WEE RED BAR, 19:00, £7

A debut for The Mantells featuring local talent in support slots.

TOM HINGLEY (WOLVES)

WOODLAND CREATURES, 19:00, £7

Inspiral Carpets frontman Tom Hingley comes along to the ol’ Woodlands with a mix of Inspiral anthems and a bit of new material for good measure.

MATTHEW PASSION (DUNEDIN CONSORT: MATTHEW PASSION)

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:00, £8 - £25

Bach’s glorious Matthew Passion, performed by Dunedin Consort and Players.

JACK ROWBERRY

THE VOODOO ROOMS, EDINBURGH, 20:00, £6

Winner of the Scottish Alternative Music Award 2014 Jack Rowberry stops by Voodoo Rooms for a wee set.

Sun 20 Mar 80S INVASION TOUR

THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE, FROM 19:00, £29.50 - £34.50

Four of the 1980s’ most memorable acts come together for an evening of classic sounds.

ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF

THE MASH HOUSE, 19:00–22:00, £6

CAMPBELLS WILD

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

Campbells Wild return following the release of their sophomore single and supporting tour.

PUNK FOR PAM

BANNERMANS, 16:00, TBC

A pile of punk bands assemble for a charity gig in Bannermans.

DIIV

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £11.50

Beachy pop project of Brooklyn’s Zachary Cole Smith, also a member of the like-minded Beach Fossils.

PUDDLE OF MUDD (UNZUCHT)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £18

The staggeringly popular Kansas City rockers treat LBA to a set with support coming from Unzucht.

Sat 26 Mar

PUNKS FOR PAM (G.B.H, XSLF, ENGLISH DOGS)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £20 - £23

A punk festival with a heart; all proceeds go to charity.

KEEP IT STEEL: METALMANIA 3

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £5

A brawl for it all featuring a head to head between two of Edinburgh’s finest metal bands, wrestling themed competitions, thrash, doom and lashings of bucky.

AYAKARA

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 19:00–22:00, £6

Alternative Edinburgh bunch mixing myriad different styles into their own energetic sound.

THE ELECTRIC SESSIONS (GAVIN FERRIS + DAVID BROWN MURRAY )

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £3

The Electric Sessions is a new showcase of of talent from across the UK. The ever stellar Gavin Ferris and String theory award winner David Brown Murray head up this bloody great line up.

Mon 28 Mar

SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE (CERA IMPALA)

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

The Soundhouse continues its residency at the Trav, drafting tip top musicians into its noble mission to restore Edinburgh's gigging scene and bring about fair payment for artists.

OCTOBER DRIFT

BANNERMANS, 20:00, £5 - £7

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10

Riding the wave of a frequently sold out string of gigs, these dark indie alt-rockers are onto great things.

Mon 21 Mar

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £8

Von Hausswolff is a Swedish singer, pianist, songwriter and organist.

Her music is a bold vision, impossibly intense and a genuine one off.

BENNI HEMM HEMM (SECONDHAND MARCHING BAND)

BANNERMANS, 19:45, £10

A Bannermans debut from indie rockers The Backbeats.

SO MANY ANIMAL CALLS (A SUDDEN BURST OF COLOUR + EXIT THE THEATRE + ACADEMY STRANGERS)

The Soundhouse continues its residency at the Trav, drafting tip top musicians into its noble mission to restore Edinburgh's gigging scene and bring about fair payment for artists.

Careful, artful indie from Reykjavik band Benni Hemm Hemm with support from Secondhand Marching Band.

THE BACKBEATS

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £20.35

SHAM 69

SOUNDHOUSE @ TRAVERSE THEATRE (THE FURROW COLLECTIVE)

WEE RED BAR, 19:00, £5

DANCING ON TABLES

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £5

90s shoegaze and noughties post-rock.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

Lovely melodies, dream-wave guitars and post punk stylings with truly memorable vocals. For fans of Foals, DIIV and Wild Nothing et al.

Wed 23 Mar

TRAVERSE THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £11

BONAFIDE (TANTRUM + MASON HILL)

BANNERMANS, 19:30, £9 - £11

A one-off headline show from Swedish rock band Bonafide.

Tue 22 Mar

ELEVANT (FRANTIC CHANT + BRITNEY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6

Influenced by a whole melange of genres, Elevant will appease fans of anything from shoegaze to post punk, art rock to krautrock.

DEAD PREZ

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, TBC

Dead Prez swing by La Belle with support from Nasty P & P-Stylz.

KIRAN LEONARD (IRMA VEP)

A mercurially talented nineteen year old musician from Oldham, Greater Manchester who’s won widespread acclaim over the last year or so. Support from Irma Vep.

Tue 29 Mar

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS (CIRCUIT BREAKER) SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £7

Consumer Electronics are a punk / electro / noise duo comprising married couple Philip Best (exWhitehouse) and American artist Sarah Froelich.

THIS IS THE KIT (SINK)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £10

Kate Stables’ project This Is The Kit released its third album Bashed Out earlier this year. Produced

by The National’s Aaron Dessner, it was widely regarded as a breakthrough record. See it live at the ‘Leccy-C. UNEASY LISTENING: AN EVENING WITH CLINT MANSELL

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, £22.50-27.50

An evening of film music from the acclaimed British film composer.

THE SKINNY

Dundee Music

Glasgow Clubs

Tue 08 Mar

Sat 05 Mar

BENJAMIN GROSVENOR (HYEYOON PARK)

CAIRD HALL, 19:30, £1 - £14

2004’s BBC Young Musician of the year is now 23. How on earth did that happen? Catch his internationally acclaimed solo work, and duets with brilliant young violinist Hyeyoon Park.

Fri 11 Mar BROKEN BOY

BUSKERS, 19:30, TBC

A fresh, raw and energetic three piece indie-pop band from Fife.

Sat 12 Mar BLAZIN’ FIDDLES

CAIRD HALL, 19:30, £15 - £17.50

Contemporary fiddle players from the Highlands and Islands share a stage with piano and guitar, making for a rousing night of lovely folk.

BLACK TENT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Acid dance and pop anthems at Glasgow’s Sleazy’s.

SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

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.

LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

A LOVE FROM OUTER SPACE

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £9

Fri 25 Mar

Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston’s rather ace London night takes a trip north.

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–22:00, £5

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

THE SESH

Hard rock five piece The Sesh launch their EP with the help of Steph Arthur and The Bad Kind.

DEATHKILL 4000

An eclectic clubnight which carousels through the genres of industrial, rap and electro.

DENSE & PIKA

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £10 - £14

Glasgow Clubs

Dense & Pika UK house & techno producer Chris Spero (also known as Glimpse) with British DJ, producer & Hypecolour co-founder Alex Jones swing by the Art School for an eve of techno.

EDIT SELECT

STEREO, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Tue 01 Mar

I AM (BETA & KAPPA + BOOGALOO)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Field Artists and Sub Club resident double whammy.

Wed 02 Mar

SUB ROSA (SPITTAL & NOWICKI)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

After the odd appearance at Pressure and Return to Mono at Sub Club, Edit Select pays a visit to Stereo, delivering driving bass and jumping beats for the benefit of Glaswegian party people.

Sun 06 Mar

MONO BABY DISCO (DJ SCI-FI STEVEN)

MONO, 12:30–14:30, FREE / £1

Missing Persons Club teams up with Subbie’s residents Spittal & Nowicki at Subbie’s student night.

A disco designed especially for the wee ones.

Thu 03 Mar

I AM (BETA & KAPPA + ALL CAPS)

JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

PVC (FEMME FESH + WTCHS FNGRSS)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance.

ENSOUL

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Embrace the funk. Getcha groove on. Basically, go to Ensoul. It’s great.

UNHOLY (DJ FROST)

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

Fri 04 Mar PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

An audio-visual mix of the best current and classic indie alternative music with special guests and Propaganda resident DJs. HARSH TUG

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Hip-hop and gangsta rap brought to you by the Notorious B.A.G and pals.

GK MACHINE

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00, £3

Another edition of Flying Duck’s ‘A Night With’ series, designed to fill the first Friday of your month with top notch players from Glasgae’s underground DJ scene.

NUMBERS X STUDIO BARNHUS (JACKMASTER + AXEL BOMAN + KORNEL KOVACS + SPENCER + PEDRODOLLAR) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

To quote Sub Club themselves, “this could be their greatest party of 2016 or the late night equivalent of arguing with your partner in Ikea.” Hopefully the former.

DREAMCAST (HALF MOON BAY + SUNSHOWER)

BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Exotic, blissful & bizarre pop sounds from around the world.

March 2016

Tue 08 Mar SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Field Artists and Sub Club resident double whammy.

Wed 09 Mar

SUB ROSA (SPITTAL & NOWICKI+ DAVID BARBAROSSA)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Missing Persons Club teams up with Subbie’s residents Spittal & Nowicki at Subbie’s student night.

BASSMENT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Techno house anthems at Sleazy’s for free-sies.

Thu 10 Mar JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

DARK PARTIALS PROJECT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Mixed bag of house and techno obscurities.

PVC (DJ KEOMA + SWEENEY + FELIX WELCH)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance.

HAVEN

JELLY ROLL SOUL LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

After 6 years of trying, JRS finally land a night with Scott Grooves.

Expect soulful jazz infused compositions and downright jacking techno tracks.

COMMON PEOPLE

THE FLYING DUCK, 21:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Coupl’a hours of bingo followed by a 90s disco. What’s not to like?

RETURN TO MONO (DVS1 + SLAM)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Monthly night from Soma Records, this time playing host to a guest set from DVS1.

ENJOYABLE MOMENT

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

The Cosmic Dead chaps trip out with an evening of rollin’ Krautrock DJing for your general aural pleasure.

WHAT HANNAH WANTS

SWG3 GLASGOW, FROM 22:00, £20

The female house producer takes to Albert Hall, following a spate of sell-out tours and events.

SHEIKH (SHARK )

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

After a nice long break over winter, Sheikh is back. This time MLW is joined by no other than Shark (aka Matt Shakarji). Making waves for himself across Glasgow, he’s one to keep an eye out for.

BRUT: DICK 50

STEREO, GLASGOW, 11 MAR, 23:00-03:00, £5-6

Brut welcomes members of Golden Teacher and Optimo Music Dick 50 to Stereo. The night will be anchored by Brut resident Shane and special guest Dirty Mac who will be playing a selection of party records and the usual Brut sleaze.

Sat 12 Mar

SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC + MARCUS WORGULL)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

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.

LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR (LEATHERETTE)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £4

Night of the Jaguar bring a slice of weird, enthralling music which lies on the dark side of the disco ball, while Leatherette serve up support in the form of brutal cold wave and techno.

WE SHOULD HANG OUT MORE

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Jazz-fusionista Rebecca Vasmant provides a fresh new twist to dance music.

MONSTER HOSPITAL

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Energetic club outing from DJ duo Beyvnce Nailz and C4lvin Malice.

LOOSEN UP (DAVID BARBAROSSA + FERGUS CLARK + CHARLIE THE BOSS ) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Drunken disco, afro melters and heavyweight tropical treats.

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

THE ASSEMBLY FARM (ANTHONY PARASOLE + ABDULLA RASHIM)

SHOW X MODA BLACK SHOWCASE (BEN PEARCE + JAYMO + ANDY GEORGE + THEO KOTTIS)

GSA sees two debuts as they welcome welcome NYC selector Anthony Parasole + Swedish enigma Abdulla Rashim.

La Cheetah residents taking the reigns all night short.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Back to back Show and Moda Black madness all night long.

UNHOLY (DJ FROST)

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

Fri 11 Mar PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

An audio-visual mix of the best current and classic indie alternative music with special guests and Propaganda resident DJs.

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £8

1994 (ULTRA-SONIC + SUNSCREEM + ACTIVE FORCE + TREVOR REILLY + DAVIE FORBES + JOE DEACON + CRAIG WILSON + MC CYCLONE) SWG3 GLASGOW, 20:00–03:00, £20

Six hours of uninterrupted rave anthems courtesy of 1994.

TOO MUCH HYPE

BROADCAST, 23:00–03;00, £5

Too Much Hype brings a night called Treat Yourself to Broadcast, featuring the likes of Burrito Shanks and Lorenzo BITW. Well, don’t mind if we do...

NOC 1 (ELARA CALUNA)

ISLE

BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, £5

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

The first and last club night of its kind’, with live sets from Elara Caluna and z o e e and DJ sets from Boothroyd and Sultan.

Sun 13 Mar

Sat 19 Mar

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

GORGON CITY (ILLYUS)

Subculture hosts damn fine deutschland DJ talent Marcus Worgull with support from Illyus.

Tue 15 Mar

CTRL (THE ANCIENT ONE + EYES WIDE SHIT)

BROADCAST, 23:59–02:00, FREE

Ado celebrates the launch of new vowel-less label TCHNCLR with the help of Ken Swift and Fyda.

I AM: HAMMER'S BIRTHDAY BASH (BETA & KAPPA ) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

A special birthday edition of i AM, spinning out tunes in honour of Hammer.

Wed 16 Mar

NOT MOVING (LAURIE PITT)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

South African house, grime, jungle, r’n’b and hauntology – a tropical mix, ayes – from yer wumman Laurie Pitt.

BIGFOOT'S TEA PARTY (SPITTAL & NOWICKI+)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Spittal & Nowickihost Bigfoot’s Tea Party at Subbie.

Thu 17 Mar 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.

JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

IN THE BASEMENT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Thursday session of the finest in northern soul and rock’n’roll.

STEREOTONE (OSCAR + SPITTAL)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC)

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

FANTASTIC MAN

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Sizzlin hot disco trashtathlon.

Flares optional. No, actually, flares discouraged.

BONOBO (GEORGE FITZGERALD + BETA + SPITTAL & NOWICKI)

SWG3 GLASGOW, 21:00–02:00, £15 - £20

Brighton’s Bonobo (aka Simon Green) tours his fifth LP, The North Borders, an atmospheric and patiently honed gem of a thing drawing on elements of jazz, garage and shimmering dubstep.

CODE

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £10

Code celebrate six years of techno events with a night featuring Modularz boss and accomplished techno DJ Developer.

ELECTRIKAL SOUND SYSTEM (KODE 9 + NOVELIST) THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Electrikal Sound System return for their second ever show, complete with Glasgow native Kode 9 (Hyperdub) and Lewisham’s finest, Novelist (XL Recordings) in tow.

GIMME SHELTER

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–04:00, £5

The Gimme shelter crew move to a new midmonth slot, powering through rock ‘n’ roll from Bo Diddley to Brian Jonestown.

Sun 20 Mar

GFF OFFICIAL AFTERPARTY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Once again, Nice ‘N’ Sleazy proves its reputation as the club version of that pal who’s sound enough to nominate themselves to host the afterparty. It’ll be a corker.

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

UNHOLY (DJ FROST)

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

Fri 18 Mar PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

An audio-visual mix of the best current and classic indie alternative music with special guests and Propaganda resident DJs. FROGBEATS

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5

A hip-hop & Jungle Art School Takeover.

SUGO

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Wed 23 Mar SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Missing Persons Club teams up with Subbie’s residents Spittal & Nowicki at Subbie’s student night.

SO WEIT SO GUT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

SWSG returns for March, filling you up for the month ahead with a bunch of grime and synthwave.

Thu 24 Mar JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

LANCE VANCE DANCE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, FREE

Red-hued adventure travelling through 70s funk, motown and 80s r’n’b, highlighted with glorious rays of disco sunshine. Or summat.

The Italian trashy disco returns for another night of supremely danceable carnage.

PVC (LETITIA PLEIADES + SYCOPHANTASY + SOPHIE KINDREICH)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £9

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance.

KUNST X OFFBEAT

Kunst and Offbeat pair up to bring the electronic music legend that is Shackleton to La Cheetah for a 90 min live set showcasing his experimental vision.

ANDY HART

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

It’s Stay Fresh’s first go in Sub Club this year, so to mark the occasion they’re bringing Ozzie party-man Andy Hart.

NITRIC 11: GIVE TRANCE A CHANCE

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5

Perhaps you’ve acclimatised to Nitric’s acid, jungle, techno and gabber already. Time to re-open that mind and give trance a chance.

REDLINE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Some of the UK’s most exciting grime, garage and jungle, showcased in old Sleazy’s this March.

A night dedicated (almost) entirely to Belle & Sebastian. Expect to hear other indie favourites too. But mostly Belle & Sebastian.

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

UNHOLY (DJ FROST)

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

Cathouse’s Thursday night rock, metal and punk mashup.

Fri 25 Mar PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

An audio-visual mix of the best current and classic indie alternative music with special guests and Propaganda resident DJs. SHAKE APPEAL

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Hip-shakers and neck-breakers in all night long rock’n’roll hullaballoo.

SENSU (TUSKEGEE)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Sensu do the usual, bringing cutting edgle electro to Sub Club, this time with help from Tuskegee.

theskinny.co.uk/whats-on

HELLRAISER: SPRING BREAKERS

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, TBC

The Art School rounds of end of term with a line-up of home grown terrors and some gorgeous guests; Claudia Nova Karaoke, Pussy Mothers and Dressin' Red to name but a few.

ARMIN VAN BUUREN

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 21:00–03:00, £45

Grammy nominated, Netherlands born DJ Armin Van Buuren delivers up a set ‘til 3am at the O2.

Sat 26 Mar

SUBCULTURE (HARRI & DOMENIC)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

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.

LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

OLUM

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

The legendary Glaswegian club institution lives again, back and in its indie stride with special live guests.

PARADOX (KAL + DTP)

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

Dance icon Marc Kinchen brings good vibes, eclectic smaples and infectious beats to Glasgow.

SUB ROSA (SPITTAL & NOWICKI+ MISSING PERSONS CLUB)

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £4

FANS ONLY

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Freaky Freaky and Sub Club resident double whammy.

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance.

LA CHEETAH CLUB X EZUP

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £12

Installment three of Flying Duck’s thriving techno heist.

I AM (BETA & KAPPA + FREAKY FREAKY)

Find full listings & buy tickets on our site

La Cheetah Club team up with EzUp to bring My Love is Underground label boss Jeremy Underground to Glasgae.

Tue 22 Mar

The Burrell Connection takes a break from killing it on the production scene and descends into the La Cheetah basement for the night.

Support from the Sub Rosa boys Oscar and Spittal.

PVC (TAVERN)

A bitta techno-house madness to get your weekend off to a belting start.

MK (MARC KINCHEN)

SWG3 GLASGOW, 21:00, £19.50 - £24.50

PARTIAL (FLORIAN KUPFER + REZZETT)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

Partial kick off a run of events in La Cheetah by inviting German producer Florian Kupfer to bring his lo-fi, distorted take on techno.

Trilogy Tapes jewel Rezzet will also make a live appearance.

SHAKA LOVES YOU

TheSkinnyMag GASOLINE DANCE MACHINE (CHEAP PICASSO + ROB RALSTON)

Edinburgh Clubs Tue 01 Mar I LOVE HIP HOP

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

Wed 02 Mar COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

ITCHY FEET

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £7

Retro ska and rock ‘n’ roll collective Itchy Feet bring an Elvis themed night of vintage hedonism to Studio 24.

TRIBE

PVC (CLEOSLAPTRA + UNICORN DAUGHTER)

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, FREE

All-new Thursday nighter playing r’n’b, pop, hip-hop and more, plus live dance and performance.

PRESSURE: EASTER SUNDAY (LEN FAKI + KARENN + MATTHEW DEAR + SLAM & KAROTTE)

SWG3 GLASGOW, 21:00–03:00, £24

It’s Easter Sunday, and turns out God isn’t a DJ. But Len Faki, Karenn, Matthew Dear and Slam & Karotte are. So that’s lucky.

Jackhammer’s back, continuing a series of dates at The Caves with one of Detroit’s finest DJs Stacey Pullen.

FLY CLUB (HORSE MEAT DISCO)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 - £10

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

KEEPIN IT GRIMY (LOGAN SAMA + JAMMZ)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £10 - £15

A firm friend of the club, Logan Sama is back and is finally playing a long awaited weekend at Sneaky’s.

Look forward to Rinse FM frequent flyer Jammz on the mic.

Wee Dubbie returns for its sixth year, with La Belle hosting Session number 1.

Midweek fun night playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

Thu 03 Mar

JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Sun 27 Mar

Easter Sunday couldn’t be better spent than dancing your face off at Sub’s guest night featuring Leftfield and Sub Rosa regulars Spittal & Nowocki.

JACKHAMMER (STACEY PULLEN)

THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £8

LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:30–03:00, TBC

LEFTFIELD (SPITTAL & NOWICKI)

COSMIC

STUDIO 24, 21:00–03:00, £4 - £7

Cosmic’s back on the decks, featuring resident DJ Zalien and special guests. Get set for a night of delicious live psych and high energy vibes.

WEE DUB FESTIVAL: SESSION 1 (CHOPSTICK DUBPLATE + CHESHIRE CAT + FLECK + ESCAPE ROOTS + PAPA SHANTI)

A student focused mid week club, complete with fully heated beer garden and some of the city’s top DJ talent.

Dan & Kami make weird waves through house and techno.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

An unrivalled music policy, a steady stream of italo and contemporary house disco, and a hands-in-theair approach to clubbing that last year left Cheap Picasso billed over 3k for ceiling damage. Guaranteed a good’un.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £0 - £3

Hip-hop and live percussion flanked by wicked visuals.

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 00:00–03:00, £5 - £7

CHAMPION SOUND

Dub and bass-orientated night playing the best in reggae, dub, jungle and D’n’B. HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £3

LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:00–03:00, £10 - £38

DIMENSION DOORS

WOODLAND CREATURES, 21:00–01:00, FREE

A tasty blend of soul and funk, served up in the glorious vessel that is Woodland Creatures.

Sat 05 Mar 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

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin.

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £6

HI-SOCIETY

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room.

BIG ‘N’ BASHY

Mighty mix of reggae, grime, dubstep and jungle played by inimitable residents Brother Most Righteous, Skillis, Era and Deburgh.

Fri 04 Mar

DISORDER (DIMEBAG + ELHOI VG + DARIO J)

Friday-ready chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms.

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Pumped night of house and minimal soundscapes with the Disorder residents.

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:00–03:00, £20 - £25

FUCK YEAH

FOUR CORNERS

Soulful dancing fodder, moving from deep funk to reggae.

PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £3 - £5

An audio-visual mix of the best current and classic indie alternative music with special guests and Propaganda resident DJs.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

NIGHTVISION (DJ EZ)

Electro music club curators Nightvision bring Green Velvet and Alan Fitzpatrick to the Liquid Room.

GET TA STEPPIN’

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–03:00, £5

50s and 60s R’n’B and soul tunes played out on original 45s.

HECTOR’S ULTRAGROOVE FT. OOFT! (OOFT! + GARETH SOMMERVILLE) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £7

Ali Herron (A.K.A OOFT!) runs the much sought after L.E.S.S. Productions label with The Revenge. He also releases material on the now infamous Instruments of Rapture as well as influential labels Delusions of Grandeur and Wolf Music.

Listings

57

Edinburgh Clubs WEE DUB FESTIVAL: SESSION 2 THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £10

Fri 11 Mar FUCK YEAH

Mon 14 Mar MIXED UP

Scotland’s only reggae and dub weekender featuring some of the biggest dub and soundsystem acts on the circuit including Chainska Brassika and DJ Scottie Somerville.

Friday-ready chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms.

STUDIO 24, 22:00–04:00, £12 - £38

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top.

Hip-hop and bass since 2008.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £3 - £5

I LOVE HIP HOP

WEE DUB FESTIVAL: SESSION 3

Wee Dubbie returns for its sixth year, with Studio 24 hosting Session 3. Look out for the likes of Mungo’s Hi-Fi, Solo Banton and Dreadsquad.

Sun 06 Mar

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 and friends.

THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of or handle on a Sunday.

WEE DUB FESTIVAL: SESSION 4 (ABBA SHANTI-I + NICK MANASSEH + BROTHER CULTURE + MESSENGER SOUND SYSTEM + BIG TOES HI-FI) THE BONGO CLUB, 21:00–03:00, £10 - £13

Wee Dubbie winds up with a mouth-watering bill of roots, reggae and dub acts.

Mon 07 Mar 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.

NU FIRE (DJ FUSION + DJ BEEF)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Hip-hop and bass since 2008.

Tue 08 Mar I LOVE HIP HOP

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

Wed 09 Mar COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

A student focused mid week club, complete with fully heated beer garden and some of the city’s top DJ talent.

LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

Midweek fun night playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

Thu 10 Mar

JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £2

Dan & Kami make weird waves through house and techno.

CHAMPION SOUND

LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:30–03:00, TBC

Dub and bass-orientated night playing the best in reggae, dub, jungle and D’n’B. HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £3

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin.

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.

NO QUARTER (THE JACK HINKS BAND + GRAMPA + OUR SMALLEST ADVENTURES)

STUDIO 24, 19:00–22:30, £5 - £6

Female fronted No Quarter launch their latest track at a charity gig.

Look forward to a dose of heavy riffs and their rock solid horn section.

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

PROPAGANDA

An audio-visual mix of the best current and classic indie alternative music with special guests and Propaganda resident DJs. FLY CLUB (LA LA + ELISHA)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

IVAN SMAGGHE

THE MASH HOUSE, 22:00–03:00, £10

The French composer and producer plays a headline set with support from Steve Cass and Justin Wilson.

NIGHTVISION (TALE OF US)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:00–03:00, £20

Electro music club curators Nightvision bring Green Velvet and Alan Fitzpatrick to the Liquid Room.

ANYTHING GOES DURING PROHIBITION

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £5

Anything Goes throw a prohibition themed shindig, with a free drink for the first 100 partiers and lashings of electro blues and balkan beats.

PULSE & SLVR: SLVR 2ND BIRTHDAY (Ø[PHASE] + SEAN LAIRD + DARREL HARDING + CUBA.) LA BELLE ANGELE, 22:30–03:00, £8

SLVR celebrates their second birthday alongside Pulse, with support from Sean Laird, Darrel Harding & Cuba.

DIMENSION DOORS

WOODLAND CREATURES, 21:00–01:00, FREE

A tasty blend of soul and funk, served up in the glorious vessel that is Woodland Creatures.

Sat 12 Mar TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern.

THE GO-GO

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running retro night with veteran DJs Tall Paul and Big Gus. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

HANNAH WANTS

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:00–03:00, £20

British DJ and producer hailing from Birmingham who’s recently dabbled in hitting the UK Top 20 with latest track Rhymes.

A TWISTED CIRCUS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Carnival-styled Edinburgh music night showcasing a selection of musicians from across the UK. TEESH NO.32 (PROJECT PABLO + DJ CHEERS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

With an album of the year in 2015 on the hot Vancouver label 1080p alongside Resident Advisor and Boiler Room specials, 2016 looks to be a landmark year for Project Pablo.

THINK TWICE RE-LAUNCH (THE REVENGE & CRAIG SMITH)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

After a 6 month hiatus Think Twice! is back with a bang, bringing a monthly party to its new home, La Belle. First up they’ve got DJ Mag album of the year winner The Revenge.

Sun 13 Mar

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 and friends.

THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of or handle on a Sunday.

58

Listings

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

MEGADOG SOUNDSYSTEM STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, TBC

Megadog Sound System return to their monthly slot, bringing DJs Dave Angel, Foxtrot and Ege Bamyasi.

L.A.W + HAMMER (AROISE + WOLFJAZZ)

THE BISCUIT FACTORY, 21:00–03:00, £10

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

Celebrate St. Paddy’s at The Biscuit Factory with help from Northern Ireland’s finest purveyors of House and Techno.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Sat 19 Mar

NU FIRE (DJ FUSION + DJ BEEF)

Tue 15 Mar THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

Wed 16 Mar COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

A student focused mid week club, complete with fully heated beer garden and some of the city’s top DJ talent.

LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

Midweek fun night playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

Thu 17 Mar

TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern.

THE EGG

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

A salad of genres: sixties garage and soul, plus 70s punk and new wave, peppered with psych and indie for good measure.

BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

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.

Fri 18 Mar FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Friday-ready chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms.

PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £3 - £5

An audio-visual mix of the best current and classic indie alternative music with special guests and Propaganda resident DJs. STEPBACK

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £5

House, techno, bass and ghetto in ECA’s Wee Reddie.

FLY CLUB (MAIN INGREDIENT)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £10

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

SUBSTANCE

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, TBC

An Edinburghian outpost of bass, house and techno based in beautiful Bongo.

RETROCITY (HERR FLIK)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, FREE

From the golden age of Salt N Pepa, C&C Music Factory and Young MC to the millenial classics of Fatboy Slim and Groove Armada, it’s the tunes of the afterparty while you’re still on the dancefloor.

HEADSET X ELECTRIKAL

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £6

Headset team up with Electrikal Sound System for a one-off garage and grime special.

SLAM ALL NIGHT! (STUART MCMILLAN & ORDE MEIKLE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

Dynamic Glaswegian duo Slam (A.K.A Stuart McMillan & Orde Meikle) bring their musical innovation for a much anticipated debut at Sneaky Pete’s

WITNESS (ROSS BLACKWAX + FAULT LINES + SKILLIS + SQUELCHY)

REWIND

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £5

Classics from the past four decades From Abba to Gaga mixed by The Liquid Room’s best selectors.

DECADE

STUDIO 24, 22:30–03:00, £2 - £5

Fresh playlists spanning metal, pop-punk and alternative soundscapes.

WASABI DISCO (KRIS WASABI)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

MESSENGER SOUND SYSTEM

Conscious roots and dub reggae rockin’ from the usual beefy Messenger soundsystem.

RHYTHM MACHINE

SUMMERHALL, 23:00–03;00, £5

Soulsville and NEHH join forces to present Summerhall’s first monthly club night. It’s inspired by Andy Warhol’s Factory openings, stitching together live art and installations with gorgeous music.

And all for a fiver, too.

ELEMENT (JULIET FOX + ROSS JACKSON + LEWIS M + KRIS BREEZY + CRAIG STRACHAN + DARREN SEIVEWRIGHT + JACOB WILCOX ) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £10 - £12

Underground house and techno night Element launches with the help of Juliet Fox, resident DJs and a stack of special guests.

KAPITAL (MICHAEL MAYER)

THE CAVES, 23:00–03:00, £14

Kapital’s second event of the year marks both the club’s return to its spiritual home and also the long awaited return of Michael Mayer, a man who epitomises all that’s great about German electronic music.

Sun 20 Mar

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 and friends.

THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of or handle on a Sunday.

Mon 21 Mar 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.

NU FIRE (DJ FUSION + DJ BEEF)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Hip-hop and bass since 2008.

Tue 22 Mar I LOVE HIP HOP

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

MUMBO JUMBO THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 - £7

Funk, soul, beats and mash-ups from the Mumbo Jumbo regulars and pals.

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

House, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

TRIBE

A student focused mid week club, complete with fully heated beer garden and some of the city’s top DJ talent.

LOCO KAMANCHI

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £4 - £5

Midweek fun night playing soul, funk, jazz, ska, disco and more.

Thu 24 Mar

JUICE (KA MI + DAN JUICE + DECLAN)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £0 - £2

Dan & Kami make weird waves through house and techno.

HULLABALOO

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £3

HI-SOCIETY

Early weekend-welcoming (y’know, for students) chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room.

TIMEWARP

THE ANNEXE, 22:30–03:00, £4 - £5

Dance your way through the decades at the Annexe’s carousel of through musical eras.

Fri 25 Mar FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, £0 - £4

Friday-ready chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms.

PLANET EARTH

RIDE (LADY DUNKS + ZX CHECTRUM)

Live fast die young, Ride gals do it well. Lady Dunks & ZX Chectrum play 00s R&B and 90s hip-hop and put their lighters up.

BETAMAX (CHRIS FAST + BIG GUS)

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £5

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Swedish indie pop club at the Wee Red. FLY CLUB (DENIS SULTA)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7 - £10

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent.

NOTSOSILENT (BELCH)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Consistently amazing curators of wicked guests, notsosilent are keeping their cards close to their chests on this one. We’re expecting big things.

ELECTRIKAL

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8 - £10

Soundsystem party-starters, part of a music and art collective specialising in all things bass.

DILF

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £8

Scotland’s newest club night aimed at gay men, brought to the Edinburghian public by Hudgie and Studio 24 resident DJ Eddy Murf.

ETC32: TRIBES

THE MASH HOUSE, 22:00–03:00, £10 - £12

Edinburgh Tekno Cartel go all out to celebrate their fourth year of throwing underground fancy dress parties across the city. Catch ETC resident DJs along with appearances from Anything Goes and Fourbyfour. The main attraction?

Global tekno legends SP23.

Sat 26 Mar TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, £0 - £5

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern.

RITON (VAN D + TEDDY HANNAH + CALLUM + ADDY)

READING ROOMS, 22:00–02:30, £8 - £10

Stalwart of the scene swings by Dundee for a set supported by the likes of Van D and Teddy Hannah.

WARPED

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings now in a weekly Friday slot, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead as it goes.

Fri 25 Mar

ANDREW WEATHERALL

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £10

Sat 05 Mar

Sat 26 Mar

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £3

COOKIN’ SESSIONS (JONO FYDA + NICK WILSON + KEN SWIFT + CORRELATE + BEAT CLUB. )

MUSICPOLICY (DJ CLEGSTER + JACK KNIGHT + SCHOOL BOY ERROR + JME)

MusicPolicy are back with residents DJ Clegster, Jack Knight, School Boy Error and JME, bringing with them some top notch disco, house, acid and techno.

D.A.V.E THE DRUMMER

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £7

READING ROOMS, 22:00–02:30, TBC

A fresh delivery of house and techno from some tip top selectors.

BOOK CLUB

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, TBC

Ruthless invities the talents of Hydraulix Records boss D.A.V.E The Drummer to kick off their debut event at Mash House.

The Good Stuff DJs spin all genres of disco house and techno, alongside anything else they damn well fancy.

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £3 - £5

Sun 06 Mar

MADCHESTER: LAST SHADOWPUPPETS AFTER PARTY

Your more than necessary hip-hop fix o’ the week.

ROBIN’S REGGAE (JOHN MCCLEAN)

Reggae, dub and rocksteady from John McClean.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 - £6

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and friends.

MJÖLK

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Pop star producer and bastion of the underground Andrew Weatherall has a go in the Reading Rooms’ booth.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £3 - £5

Balkanarama welcomes Gothenburg Gadjos (stars of the rich Scandinavian Balkan scene) to the caves along with polyphinic choir Moondog.

WARPED

ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £3.50 - £5

Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings now in a weekly Friday slot, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead as it goes.

COALITION (BELIEVE + GAV MILLER + STU + JORDAN COCHRANE + GED & SKANKY B)

THE CAVES, 22:00–03:00, £9 - £10

HEADWAY (DANIEL AVERY)

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £12

Thu 24 Mar

Harvey McKay has created a distinctive style with a name that is synonymous with driving, soulful techno. See him live at LBA this March.

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

BALKANARAMA (GOTHENBURG GADJOS + MOONDOG)

Fri 04 Mar

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

KARNIVAL (HARVEY MCKAY)

Sun 27 Mar

An audio-visual mix of the best current and classic indie alternative music with special guests and Propaganda resident DJs.

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £3.50 - £5

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing ‘anything and everything good’.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £8

STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £5

PROPAGANDA

ROOMS THURSDAYS

The Headway crew host a threehour set from Daniel Avery and his unique brand of hypno techno.

Est. 1994, Stevie and Poppy Amber Rose’s Madchester takes place on the last Saturday of the month at the Liquid Room.

ASYLUM

Thu 03 Mar

New wave, synth, electro and the best of the 80s in the Studio 24 overpass.

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top.

CITRUS CLUB, 23:30–03:00, £5

Dundee Clubs

BUBBLEGUM

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Surf, blues and rockabilly from the 50s and early 60s, plus free cake.

Job done.

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 - £7

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin.

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

STUDIO 24, 22:30–03:00, £2 - £5

THE GREEN DOOR

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £2 - £3

HULLABALOO

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Mash-up of beats, breaks and hip-hop from Trendy Wendy and Steve Austin.

Dan & Kami make weird waves through house and techno.

JUICE (KA MI, DAN JUICE, DECLAN)

COOKIE

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

Edinburgh's sleazy disco, house and techno overlord has many years of playing classic sets under his belt. Long may he continue. All hail Wasabi.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £0 - £2

Wed 23 Mar

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PING PONG

THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–23:00, FREE

Bongo’s Sunday night social ft. ping pong games, delightful beers and an amateur tournament. Oh, and not forgetting the Rock ‘n’ Roll, of course...

THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of or handle on a Sunday.

NIGHTVISION (GREEN VELVET + ALAN FITZPATRICK)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:00–03:00, £15 - £20

Electro music club curators Nightvision bring Green Velvet and Alan Fitzpatrick to the Liquid Room.

ALEX SMOKE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

Alex Smoke tours his latest release ‘Love Over Will’ on R&S Records, bringing a live AV show to Sneaky Pete’s.

Mon 28 Mar MIXED UP

HYPHY (CENSU + KOJO)

READING ROOMS, 22:00–02:30, £3.50 - £5

Thu 10 Mar ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £3.50 - £5

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing ‘anything and everything good’.

Fri 11 Mar WARPED

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings now in a weekly Friday slot, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead as it goes.

Sat 12 Mar ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Sun 13 Mar HYPHY (CENSU + KOJO)

READING ROOMS, 22:00–02:30, £3.50 - £5

Your more than necessary hip-hop fix o’ the week.

Thu 17 Mar ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £3.50 - £5

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Fri 18 Mar

CTRL (ADO + KEN SWIFT + FYDA)

READING ROOMS, 22:00–03:00, £5 - £8

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Ado celebrates the launch of new vowel-less label TCHNCLR with the help of Ken Swift and Fyda.

NU FIRE (DJ FUSION + DJ BEEF)

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Hip-hop and bass since 2008.

Tue 29 Mar I LOVE HIP HOP

THE BONGO CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

Weekly selection of hip-hop classics and brand-new classics to be.

TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative Tuesday anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more.

WARPED

Ska, screamo and pop-punk offerings now in a weekly Friday slot, moving from Alkaline Trio to Zebrahead as it goes.

Sat 19 Mar LOCARNO

READING ROOMS, 21:00–03:00, £5 - £7

60s ska and a whole bunch of rarities.

ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Sun 27 Mar HYPHY (CENSU + KOJO)

READING ROOMS, 22:00–02:30, £3.50 - £5

Your more than necessary hip-hop fix o’ the week.

Glasgow Comedy Thu 04 Feb

DAVID O’DOHERTY: WE ARE ALL IN THE GUTTER, BUT SOME OF US ARE LOOKING AT DAVID O’DOHERTY

ORAN MOR, 20:00–22:00, £16

The Irish comedian presents an evening of talking and songs played on a stupid keyboard from 1986. Obv.

Tue 01 Mar

RED RAW (DAMIEN CROW)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 02 Mar NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

Thu 03 Mar

THE THURSDAY SHOW (MARK NELSON + JOE HEENAN + CHRIS CONROY + DANIEL BEBSTER + SUSIE MCCABE)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 04 Mar

THE FRIDAY SHOW (GAVIN WEBSTER + JOE HEENAN + CHRIS CONROY + DANIEL BEBSTER + SUSIE MCCABE) THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

Sat 05 Mar

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

THE SATURDAY SHOW (GAVIN WEBSTER + CHRIS MARTIN + CHRIS CONROY + DANIEL BEBSTER + SUSIE MCCABE)

Sun 20 Mar

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

ASYLUM

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

HYPHY (CENSU + KOJO)

READING ROOMS, 22:00–02:30, £3.50 - £5

Your more than necessary hip-hop fix o’ the week.

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

THE SKINNY

Comedy Sun 06 Mar

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Chilled Sunday comedy showcase manned by resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond and his handpicked guests.

GLASGOW KIDS COMEDY CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 14:30–15:00, £4

Comedy session suitable for little ears (i.e. no swearies), for children aged 8-12 years-old.

LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Tue 08 Mar RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Wed 09 Mar NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

MARK NELSON (MICKY BARTLETT) THE STAND GLASGOW, 19:40, £10 - £12

Respectively stars of BBC shows 'Don't Drop the Baton' and ‘Monumental’, Mark Nelson and Micky Bartlett bring a double bill of comedy before a comedy fest crowd.

LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

DISGUSTING SONGS FOR REVOLTING CHILDREN (JAY FOREMAN)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 14:30, £4

Fresh from a complete sell-out set at Edinburgh Fringe, Jay Foreman brings a little bit of charming grossness to Glasgow Comedy fest.

Nice for kids and grown ups alike.

GEEKING AWESOME

BROADCAST, 16:00, £5 - £7

Straight out of Comic Con and straight into the H&P, Geeking Awesome nerd it up for Glasgae as part of Glasgow Comedy Festival.

THE PHIL DIFFER DIARIES

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £12.50

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

One again, Phil Differ delves into his past in order to explain what the present holds for the future.

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £4 - £6

DAVID KAY

COMEDIAN RAP BATTLES

Some of the country’s finest comedians go head to head in a battle of hip-hoppy wit.

Thu 10 Mar THE FESTIVAL CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:00, £10 - £12

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

SEAN HUGHES: MUMBO JUMBO

TRON THEATRE, FROM 20:00, £12 - £14

Sun 13 Mar THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30, £9 - £10

Yet to be uncovered diamond of the Scottish comedy circuit, David Kay delivers his set full of leftfield rambles and senior citizen-esque chatter to a Glasgow crowd.

LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

DYLAN MORAN: OFF THE HOOK

The Anglo-Irish comic muses on the mumbo jumbo that is his life, including being serenaded at the break of dawn by Robert Smith and trekking mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

The ‘Oscar Wilde of comedy’ returns with his first stand up in five whole years. Prepare your ribs for a hearty ticklin’.

THE GRIFFIN, 20:00–20:45, FREE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 15:00, £4

YOU ONLY HURT THE ONES YOU LOVE

THE KING’S THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £25

DISGUSTING SONGS FOR REVOLTING CHILDREN (JAY FOREMAN)

Donate upwards of a penny on the door and enter a competition to make resident comedian Nev laugh.

First person to make him cackle within their minute-long slot wins the lot.

Fresh from a complete sell-out set at Edinburgh Fringe, Jay Foreman brings a little bit of charming grossness to Glasgow Comedy fest.

Nice for kids and grown ups alike.

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:30, £5

THE STAND GLASGOW, 17:30, £7 - £8

UPSTARTS

RICHARD GADD: WAITING FOR GODDOT

Christopher KC Sit (So You Think You’re Funny 2015 Semi-Finalist), Stuart McPherson (Chortle Student Comedy Award 2015 Finalist) and Chris Rutter (Yesbar Virgins Best New Act 2015 Winner) provide an hour of ‘pre-fame’ entertainment.

After proving a total slam-dunk at 2015’s Edinburgh Fringe, Gadd brings his completely ridiculous convention bashing comedy show to Glasgow.

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30, £8 - £10

YESBAR VIRGINS

Mon 14 Mar BRENDON BURNS

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Smart, taboo-chasing comedian in Glasgow for one night only.

Fri 11 Mar

PAUL FOOT

THE FESTIVAL CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:30, £12 - £15

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

HARDEEP SINGH KOHLI

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £12

The comedian, broadcaster, journalist and chef(!) returns to GIFC with his decent chat and quick-witted patter.

DOUG SEGAL: I CAN MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD

TRON THEATRE, 21:30, £10 - £12

Segal takes a break from teaching audiences to read minds and making them mentalists (his own words), and devotes this year’s show to simply making us feel good. Sounds nice, no?

Sat 12 Mar THE FESTIVAL CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:30, £12 - £15

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

Tue 15 Mar CITIZENS THEATRE, 20:00–21:45, £12 - £14

Join the cult following of the everquirky Paul Foot at the Citizen’s as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

ROB DELANEY: MEAT

THE KING’S THEATRE, FROM 19:30, £21.25

The deliriously charming Rob Delaney (star of Channel 4’s Catastrophe) brings his lucid and hilarious jokemanship to the King’s Theatre. Watch him crack corkers and swoon.

ISY SUTTIE: THE ACTUAL ONE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 18:30, £9 - £10

This one’ll strike a chord with twenty-somethings freaking out about their suddenly grown up pals. A brill show made up of readings and songs from her book of the same name.

THE BEST OF RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:30, £5

Open mic night in collaboration with BBC Comedy, aiming to bring top notch comedy festival talent into the foreground.

Wed 16 Mar

JERRY SADOWITZ: IT’S ALL BOLLOCKS

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

THE KING’S THEATRE, 21:45, £23.65 £26.65

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

THE INCREDIBLY SPECTACULAR CHUNKSIVAL HOUR LONG & SKETCH SHOW SHOWCASE

THE GRIFFIN, 20:00–21:00, FREE

We had to remove the word ‘spectacular’ from this event’s title numerous times in order to fit the rest of the month’s listings in the magazine. However, that’s not to say this celebration of upcoming festival comedy isn’t set to be exactly that...

UNCLES

THE KING’S THEATRE, 19:30, £21.65 £23.65

Sit down with funny men Iain Connell and Robert Florence as they proffer advice and guidance via the medium of comedy.

DARREN CONNEL: TROLLEYWOOD

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:30, £7 - £8

After a ridiculously successful debut at the Fringe last year, Darren Connel (you might know him as Bobby from BBC’s Scot Squad) returns to the venue where his comedy career began.

Thu 17 Mar THE FESTIVAL CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:00, £10 - £12

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

ST PATRICK’S DAY IRISH COMEDY SPECIAL

THE STAND GLASGOW, 19:00, £11 - £12

Laugh your way to the perfect Paddy’s day with The Stand’s specially curated line up of Irish talent.

PURE RIDDY

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, TBC

Mortification and mirth human adult people embarrass the fresh hell outta themselves by reading diary excerpts from their teenage years.

RICHARD HERRING: HAPPY NOW?

CITIZENS THEATRE, 20:00, £15

Richard Herring ponders the important questions he faces in his new life as a father for an audience in his twelfth solo stand up show.

GRADO LIVE: ITS MASEL

THE KING’S THEATRE, 19:30, £22.15 £25.15

Wrestler, comedian, actor – is there anything this man can’t do? Spend an eve with the star of Scot Squad, River City and Insane Fight Club.

CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:30, £5

A solo debut from the up-andcoming and multi award-nominated Christopher Macarthur-Boyd as part of GICF. YESBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

RORY MCGRATH: REMEMBERS (OR IS IT FORGETS?)

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £14

Television presenter and seasoned comedy writer Rory McGrath embarks on his debut stand-up tour. Go giggle.

Fri 18 Mar THE FESTIVAL CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:30, £12 - £15

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

ZOE LYONS

THE STAND GLASGOW, 19:40, £10 - £12

Lyons makes a return to Glasgow Comedy Fest with her high energy routines and delightfully high spirits.

JENNY ECLAIR: HOW TO BE A MIDDLE AGED WOMAN WITHOUT GOING INSANE

CITIZENS THEATRE, 20:00, £17.50

The Citz welcomes grumpy old woman extraordinaire Jenny Eclair for a set. Part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

GRADO LIVE: ITS MASEL

THE KING’S THEATRE, 19:15, £22.15 £25.15

Wrestler, comedian, actor – is there anything this man can’t do? Spend an eve with the star of Scot Squad, River City and Insane Fight Club.

March 2016

Not for the faint of heart, Jerry Sadowitz doles out his somewhat offensive chat, which in his own words ‘defies audience appeal’. See for yourselves.

DARREN CONNEL: TROLLEYWOOD

THE STAND GLASGOW, 17:30, £7 - £8

After a ridiculously successful debut at the Fringe last year, Darren Connel (you might know him as Bobby from BBC’s Scot Squad) returns to the venue where his comedy career began.

LIVE LAUGHS AT THE GLAD

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, £5 - £8

Some of the very best of the comedy fest, introduced by Bruce Devlin.

CRAIGH HILL: PLAYING WITH MY SELFIE

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £15.50

Kilted bringer of hashtag-lols is live and unleashed at Òran Mór.

Sat 19 Mar

GLASGOW KIDS COMEDY CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 14:30, £4

Comedy session suitable for little ears (i.e. no swearies), for children aged 8-12 years-old.

THE FESTIVAL CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:30, £12 - £15

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

GREG PROOPS

CITIZENS THEATRE, 20:00, £13 - £15

Master of improv Greg Proops of Whose Line Is It Anyway has an inevitably rib-tickling rant about sexism, politics and his own male privilege as part of GICF. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

OMID DJALILI

THE KING’S THEATRE, FROM 19:00, £23 - £29.70

Following his 2012 stand-up Tour of Duty and the 2015 release of his autobiography entitled Hopeful, Omid Djalili returns with a brand new set.

TOM STADE: YOU’RE WELCOME

THE KING’S THEATRE, 21:30, £17.90 £19.90

Candid Canadian comic Tom Stade continues on his successful carousel of the international comedy scene.

POSTCARDS FROM THE Z-LIST (PAUL SINHA)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 19:30, £10 - £12

Highly acclaimed lefty comedy from Paul Sinha, who claims to have found himself as a ‘travelling single gaysian’.

GEEKING AWESOME

BROADCAST, 16:00, £5 - £7

Straight out of Comic Con and straight into the H&P, Geeking Awesome nerd it up for Glasgae as part of Glasgow Comedy Festival.

GEEKING AWESOME (TONY SLOAN + KIRSTY MORRISON + MICHAEL HOLLINGWORTH) THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00, £7

Straight out of Comic Con and straight into the H&P, Geeking Awesome nerd it up for Glasgae as part of Glasgow Comedy Festival.

CHRIS FORBES

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:30, £7 - £10

FUN AND SUSTENANCE (LLOYD LANGFORD) THE STAND GLASGOW, 17:30, £7 - £8

A a brand new work in progress set from a funnyman who you may recognise from Q.I. RACHEL JACKSON: MEMOIRS OF A BUNNY BOILER

BROADCAST, 19:00, £5

Spotlight Prize nominee and evergreen singleton Rachel Jackson swings by as part of the comedy fest.

PABLO SERSKI: ET TU, BRUTAL

BROADCAST, 20:00, £6 - £8

Have your feelings truly hurt by one of the very best in his game.

Mon 21 Mar FRANKIE BOYLE

CLYDE AUDITORIUM, FROM 20:00, £25

Old grumps is back with another round of sometimes-brilliant, sometimes-controversial black comedy, with his new show, Hurt Like You’ve Never Been Loved.

BILLY KIRKWOOD

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30, £7 - £8

Frantically funny, silly nonsense from an award winning solo comedian.

Tue 22 Mar FRANKIE BOYLE

CLYDE AUDITORIUM, FROM 20:00, £25

Old grumps is back with another round of sometimes-brilliant, sometimes-controversial black comedy, with his new show, Hurt Like You’ve Never Been Loved.

MICHELLA MCMANUS: POP GOES THE IDOL

CITIZENS THEATRE, 20:00, £13 - £15

‘Member Michelle McManus off of Pop Idol – Did you know she does comedy now? Check out the debut of her brand new show, featuring Tommy Chambers on piano.

Splendid.

CHIEF COMMISSIONER CAMERON MIEKELSON: TOMORROWS FORCE TODAY

THE KING’S THEATRE, 19:30, £26.15

Jack Docherty returns as Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson to deliver a keynote speech on the past, present and future of policing.

THE BEST OF RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:30, £5

Open mic night in collaboration with BBC Comedy, aiming to bring top notch comedy festival talent into the foreground.

WRITE IT!

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, TBC

A wry look at Scotland’s position in the world. Quite fitting, really, in that it’s being performed as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

IN CONVERSATION WITH STANDARD ISSUE

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £12

Women’s mag Standard Issue brings Sarah Millican, Susan Calman and Jo Caulfield to Òran Mórfor a night of sharp wit and feminist chatter.

Wed 23 Mar NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering all new material.

FRANKIE BOYLE

CLYDE AUDITORIUM, FROM 20:00, £25

Described by friends and family as ‘tall, needy and mutant’, Chris Forbes ponders the meaning of his existence as part of GCF.

Old grumps is back with another round of sometimes-brilliant, sometimes-controversial black comedy, with his new show, Hurt Like You’ve Never Been Loved.

ORAN MOR, 19:00, £15.50

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30, £10 - £12

CRAIGH HILL: PLAYING WITH MY SELFIE

PATRICK MONAHAN: THE DISCO YEARS

Sun 20 Mar

A family friendly stand-up set charged by Patrick Monahan’s memories of growing up an ‘immigrant’ in Great Britain.

STEREO, 15:00–17:30, £5 - £6

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, TBC

Kilted bringer of hashtag-lols is live and unleashed at Òran Mór.

RALLY & BROAD: FIRST EDITIONS

Rally & Broad have yet another stunner planned, this time an eve of musical and poetic sessions orbiting the theme of newness.

LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

RAYMOND MEARNS

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30, £9 - £10

Known to Billy Connolly as ‘a man who knows how to swear properly’, Mearns knows how to keep a set fresh and striking for a festival crowd who know his face well.

WRITE IT!

A wry look at Scotland’s position in the world. Quite fitting, really, in that it’s being performed as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

Thu 24 Mar REGINALD D HUNTER

THE KING’S THEATRE, 19:30, £22.65

The ever provocative Reginald D Hunter gets set to deliver a set as part of Glasgow Comedy Festival, inevitably full to the brim with nuggets of necessary social commentary, punchlines about politics and wit from within the topics of race and sexuality.

THE FESTIVAL CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:00, £10 - £12

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

PURE RIDDY

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, TBC

Mortification and mirthas human adult people embarrass the fresh hell outta themselves by reading diary excerpts from their teenage years.

CHRIS RAMSEY

THE GARAGE GLASGOW, FROM 20:00, £17.50

The stand-up comedian, Celebrity Juice regular and the man who once got pizza delivered to a moving train returns with a new solo show.

BUZZ

THE GRIFFIN, 21:00–22:30, £3

Nev turns his righteous lefty anger at those responsible for killing the honeybee in a show that’s at least 75% about bees.

MARK WATSON: I’M NOT HERE

CITIZENS THEATRE, 20:00, £17

The star of Live At The Apollo, Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You returns with a follow-up show to successful and celebrated predecessor Flaws.

AMERICA STANDS UP 2016 (MARLENA RODRIGUEZ + SEAN PATTON + DAVE HILL) THE STAND GLASGOW, 19:30, £10 - £12

Scott Capurro hosts an evening of hilarious talent from across the pond.

CARINA MACLEOD

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00, £8

Hebridean born comedian Carina MacLeod is back after her 2015 almost-nearly sell out run. Part of GICF.

JANE GODLEY: AN ACT OF GODLEY

ORAN MOR, 18:30, £13

Glasgow’s godmother of comedy Janey Godley bring her solo show to Oran Mor.

Sun 27 Mar LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

MS. CHUNKSIVERSE 2016

THE GRIFFIN, 21:30–22:20, FREE

CHUNKS takes stock of its greatest variety acts, sketches, monologues, animations (and much much more) in its search for Miss CHUNKSiverse. Let’s hope the crown makes it onto the rightful head.

AWAY GALLIVANTING (MARTIN MOR)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 19:00, £9 - £10

Raconteur Martin Mor spins some yarns about his time spent on the road in 2015.

ANDREW LEARMONTH

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:30, £4 - £5

THE IMPROVERTS BEDLAM THEATRE, FROM 22:00, £5 - £6

Long-standing improv comedy troupe made up of an everchanging line-up of local students, whose rather fine show is built entirely on (oft daft) audience suggestions.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY FRIDAY SHOW

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:45, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sat 05 Mar

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY SATURDAY SHOW

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:45, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sun 06 Mar

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (STEPHEN CARLIN + RUTH COCKBURN + CHRIS DINWOODIE + STUART MCPHERSON + ASHLEY STORRIE) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Chilled comedy showcase to cure your Sunday evening back-towork blues.

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 13:30–15:30, FREE

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:30, £6 - £8

Found yourself utterly pal-less, middle aged and needing some empathy? So has Andrew Learmonth.

Catch his ‘bleakly funny’ set at the H&P. No discounts for group bookings, obviously.

ELEANOR MORTON + JOZ NORRIS

Mon 07 Mar

YESBAR VIRGINS

BROADCAST, 17:00, £3 - £4

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £2

STU WHO?

Jests, songs and ‘scurrilous tales of sex, drugs and rotten rolls’ as part of the comedy festival.

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

A double bill from comedians Eleanor Morton and Joz Norris, presenting their hit 2015 Edinburgh shows.

Fri 25 Mar

Mon 28 Mar

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:30, £12 - £15

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

THE FESTIVAL CLUB

LAUGHTER EIGHT

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

THE KING’S THEATRE, 19:30, £25.90

Tue 29 Mar

JULIAN CLARY: THE JOY OF MINCING

Julian Clary’s celebrating thirty years as a wonderfully camp comedian. Apparently, he plans to proudly wear his M.B.E (Mincer of the British Empire), so keep an eye out for that.

RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

JO NEARY DOES ANIMALS AND MEN

THE STAND GLASGOW, 17:30, £7 - £8

Neary brings twenty characters to The Stand as part of a set designed to voice a range of social commentaries.

FRED MCAULAY

THE WEE MAN

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:30, £5 - £7

Neil Bratchpiece (the neddy chap from that video you used to lol at) shares his thoughts on being an O.M (original meme). And yes, the show will include ‘that song’.

A GLASGOW KISS

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30, FREE

Storytelling event tenx9 teams up with the comedy fest to encourage the sharing of chucklesome tales tethered to the theme of ‘A Glasgow Kiss’.

JANE GODLEY: AN ACT OF GODLEY

ORAN MOR, 18:30, £13

Glasgow’s godmother of comedy Janey Godley bring her solo show to Oran Mor.

Sat 26 Mar THE FESTIVAL CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 22:30, £12 - £15

Catch The Stand’s pick of international comedy acts who’ve flocked to Glasgow comedy Festival.

DES CLARKE: CITIZEN DES

CITIZENS THEATRE, 20:00, £15

‘Wegian local funny man Des Clarke gets the giggles going on home turf as part of the comedy festival.

GARY DUNN’S FAMILY FEAST

THE STAND GLASGOW, 14:30, £4

Sixty minutes of family fun and magic from one of Scotland’s face comedy magicians (and his trusty side-chick).

RED RAW

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Tue 08 Mar WORK IN PROGRESS

SUMMERHALL, 19:30–21:30, £3

Headline comedians treat Summerhall to brand spanking new material. Not for the cupboardlover comedy fan, this night showcases material which is most definitely a work in progress.

RICHARD MELVIN PRESENTS: MORE RADIO RECORDINGS!

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:00–22:00, FREE

Richard Melvin brings another night of radio recordings to Edinburgh’s comedy haunt The Stand.

GRASSROOTS

THE PLEASANCE, 19:30–23:00, £1

Edinburgh Comedy

Showcase night featuring the best in fresh, local talent – bringing together first-time and upand-coming comics in a series of quickfire 10-minute slots.

Tue 01 Mar

Wed 09 Mar

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £12

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £4 - £5

THE STAND GLASGOW, 19:40, £12

Topical, satirical and rib-tickling stand-up from comedian slash philosopher Fred McAulay.

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.

TIFF STEVENSON: MAD MAN

A delightful balance between socially engaged and sidesplitting, Tiff Stevenson tours her latest stand-up, Mad Man. GRASSROOTS

THE PLEASANCE, 19:30–23:00, £1

Showcase night featuring the best in fresh, local talent – bringing together first-time and upand-coming comics in a series of quickfire 10-minute slots.

Thu 03 Mar

THE THURSDAY SHOW ( SEYMOUR MACE + STEPHEN CARLIN + KATIE MULGREW.)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 04 Mar

THE FRIDAY SHOW (SEYMOUR MACE + STEPHEN CARLIN + KATIE MULGREW)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

VIVA LA SHAMBLES

The Stand facilitates its monthly evening of total joke-pandemonium as Edinburgh’s top comics join forces.

Thu 10 Mar

THE THURSDAY SHOW (IAN COPPINGER + DAMIAN CLARK + RICHARD GADD)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 11 Mar

THE FRIDAY SHOW (IAN COPPINGER + DAMIAN CLARK + RICHARD GADD + LEE KYLE) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

THE IMPROVERTS

BEDLAM THEATRE, FROM 22:00, £5 - £6

Long-standing improv comedy troupe made up of an everchanging line-up of local students, whose rather fine show is built entirely on (oft daft) audience suggestions.

Listings

59

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY FRIDAY SHOW BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:45, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sat 12 Mar

THE SATURDAY SHOW (IAN COPPINGER + DAMIAN CLARK + RICHARD GADD + LEE KYLE)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY SATURDAY SHOW

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:45, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sun 13 Mar

THE SUNDAY NIGHT LAUGH-IN (DAMIAN CLARK + MICKY BARTLETT + THOMAS BLACK + LEONA IRVINE) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £1 - £6

Chilled comedy showcase to cure your Sunday evening back-towork blues.

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 13:30–15:30, FREE

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.

Mon 14 Mar RED RAW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Tue 15 Mar GRASSROOTS

THE PLEASANCE, 19:30–23:00, £1

Showcase night featuring the best in fresh, local talent – bringing together first-time and upand-coming comics in a series of quickfire 10-minute slots.

RALLY & BROAD: FIRST EDITIONS (AMY DUNCANN +HANNAH MCGILL + ELLEN RENTON + ROSS SUTHERLAND + ULTRAS) THE BONGO CLUB, 19:00–22:00, £5 - £6

Rally & Broad have yet another stunner planned, this time an eve of musical and poetic sessions orbiting the theme of newness.

THE IMPROVERTS

BEDLAM THEATRE, FROM 22:30, £5

THE THURSDAY SHOW (PETER PHILLIPSON + KIRSTY MORRISON) THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 25 Mar

THE FRIDAY SHOW (JO CAULFIELD + GARY LITTLE + SEAN PERCIVAL + FERN BRADY)

Long-standing improv comedy troupe made up of an everchanging line-up of local students, whose rather fine show is built entirely on (oft daft) audience suggestions.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:45, £10

THE IMPROVERTS

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY FRIDAY SHOW

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sat 19 Mar

THE SATURDAY SHOW (KEITH FARNAN + DIANE SPENCER + KEVIN SHEPHERD)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY SATURDAY SHOW

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:45, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sun 20 Mar

STU & GARRY’S FREE IMPROV SHOW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 13:30–15:30, FREE

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

BEDLAM THEATRE, FROM 22:00, £5 - £6

Long-standing improv comedy troupe made up of an everchanging line-up of local students, whose rather fine show is built entirely on (oft daft) audience suggestions.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY FRIDAY SHOW

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:45, £10

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

Sat 26 Mar

THE SATURDAY SHOW (JO CAULFIELD + GARY LITTLE + SEAN PERCIVAL + FERN BRADY)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend.

MONKEY BARREL COMEDY SATURDAY SHOW

BEEHIVE INN, 20:30–22:45, £10

Mon 21 Mar

Regular weekend comedy showcase featuring a selection of up-and-coming acts from Scotland and beyond, topped with a guest headliner. See Facebook on the day for line-ups.

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £2

Sun 27 Mar

Long-running improvised comedy show with resident duo Stu & Garry weaving comedy magic from offthe-cuff audience suggestions.

RED RAW

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Buy your tickets here: bit.ly/sarah-millican

BANK HOLIDAY SPECIAL (GARY LITTLE + SEAN PERCIVAL + FERN BRADY + JO CAULFIELD)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £9 - £10

Bank Holiday? More like Bank Jolly – okay, sorry, we’ll leave it to the pros.

Mon 28 Mar RED RAW

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open mic-style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to road test new material.

Tue 29 Mar

ALISTAIR BARRIE: NO MORE STAGE THREE

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £8 - £10

Sarah Millican

Edinburgh Festival Theatre 9-10 Jul, £29.50

In January 2015, Alistair Barrie’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. Get your tickets to his set all about the year after the diagnosis, and to quote his wife watch another comedian make it all about himself.

GRASSROOTS

THE PLEASANCE, 19:30–23:00, £1

Wed 16 Mar

RICHARD HERRING: HAPPY NOW?

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £15

Richard Herring ponders the important questions he faces in his new life as a father for an audience in his twelfth solo stand up show.

Thu 17 Mar

THE THURSDAY SHOW (BRENDON BURNS + DIANE SPENCER + KEVIN SHEPHERD)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

Fri 18 Mar

THE FRIDAY SHOW (KEITH FARNAN + DIANE SPENCER + KEVIN SHEPHERD)

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £6 - £12

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts.

60

Listings

Tue 22 Mar GRASSROOTS

THE PLEASANCE, 19:30–23:00, £1

Showcase night featuring the best in fresh, local talent – bringing together first-time and upand-coming comics in a series of quickfire 10-minute slots.

Wed 23 Mar SO... THAT WAS MARCH?

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 20:30–22:30, £5 - £7

Messrs McTavish, Nelson and McAllister return with another show offering stand-up, and answeing nation’s big Q’s

Showcase night featuring the best in fresh, local talent – bringing together first-time and upand-coming comics in a series of quickfire 10-minute slots.

Thu 31 Mar THE LAST LAUGH

SCOTTISH STORYTELLING THEATRE, 8PM, £10

A mixture of stand-up, theatre and storytelling in a tale about two people discovering whether being funny is as important as being happy.

Thu 24 Mar

Dundee Comedy

THE STAND EDINBURGH, 21:00–23:00, £5 - £10

Fri 04 Mar

THE THURSDAY SHOW (JO CAULFIELD+ GARY LITTLE + SEAN PERCIVAL + RUTH COCKBURN)

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

MARK THOMAS: TRESPASS

DUNDEE REP, FROM 19:30, £13 - £15

Trespass carries on from where Mark’s previous show 100 Acts of Minor Dissent left off. His usual odd mix of theatre, stand up, activism, a dash of journalism and dollop of mayhem.

Art Glasgow CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art MERLIN JAMES: LONG GAME

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 13 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of new works from painter and art critic Merlin James, presented alongside a selection of other works from across his career.

EMMIE MCLUSKEY + MARY WINTOUR: I THOUGHT YOU KNEW

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 5 MAR, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Joint showcase exhibition of painting and sculpture by Emmie McLuskey and Mary Wintour, working together to create an installation specifically for Intermedia.

Glasgow Print Studio FRESH STARTS

25 FEB – 23 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Mary Mary

GEOGRAPHIES OF DUST AND AIR

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 19 MAR, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Group exhibition focusing on sculptural pieces which offer a slightness, an abstraction or a reworking of material, taking in work

by Leonor Antunes, Sara Barker, Germaine Kruip, Manuela Leinhoß and Bojan Šarčevi.

Mono

MARIE ANINE MØLLER

3–30 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

In an exhibition which runs throughout March, Marie Anine Møller explores the notion of contradictions and creating a new ‘space’ from her photographic and textual works.

Project Ability

TANYA RAABE-WEBBER: #SUMMITPORTRAYED

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 5 MAR, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Portrait artist Tanya RaabeWebber displays the fruits of her work completed during residence with Project Ability.

Street Level Photoworks

LIZA DRACUP: RE: COLLECTIONS

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 27 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Sarah Wright’s work explores a rhythmic and subjective language of pictures that function as visual poems, or a sort of graphic stream of consciousness. For Fresh Starts, Wright employs photo-etching, photocopy and digital print methods.

English photographer Liza Dracup displays a photographic study of British wildlife vertebrate specimens, using The Natural Sciences Collections held by Bradford Museums & Galleries as reference.

4 MAR – 5 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Series of images of natural history museums and zoos in cities such as Oslo, Dublin, Berlin, London, Paris and Tallinn – a study of spaces where nature has been artificially constructed for people to experience.

ROBERT SHAW

Catch Stills’ featured artist – Robert Shaw, a painter and printmaker based in Kirkwall, Orkney and Edinburgh – throughout March and early April.

Glasgow School of Art RACHEL LOWTHER

UNTIL 20 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

ULLA SCHILDT: A RARE VISITOR

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 27 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Glad Cafe ART EXHIBITION LAUNCH

9 MAR, 7:00PM, FREE

Following being commissioned to spend time researching The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections’ World War I holdings in 2015, Rachel Lowther unveils a new body of work, including sculpture and films.

GSA’s Environmental Art graduate Hazal Guy is joined by University of East London Fine Art graduate Marsha Burke as they launch a new exhibition in the Glad Cafe.

Glasgow Sculpture Studios

UNTIL 20 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

THE TRANSPARENT TORTOISESHELL AND THE UN-RIPE UMBRELLA

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 5 MAR, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Group exhibition exploring how artists uses every-day objects to create abstract pictorial assemlages, including work by Eva Berendes, Stephanie Mann, Rallou Panagiotou, Vanessa Safavi and Samara Scott. Also a contender for best exhibition title ever.

Hillhead Library A LIFE WORTH LIVING

UNTIL 3 APR, 12:00AM, FREE

The Lighthouse HELLO MY NAME IS PAUL SMITH

Popular touring exhibition offering an insight into designer Paul Smith’s creative process past and present via a replica of his office, a recreation of his design studio, archive garments and shop designs.

COLOUR STRATEGIES IN ARCHITECTURE

UNTIL 3 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE

A showcase of exemplary architectural strategies from Berlin, Edinburgh and Zurich which demonstrate the role colour can play as a transformative and instrumental tool in architectural design.

The Modern Institute JACK MCCONVILLE

Nick Hedges’ collection of photos documenting poverty and abject living conditions in Newcastle, London, Belfast, Manchester, Birmingham, Burnley, Sheffield and Glamorgam. Commissioned by homelessness charity Shelter in 1968.

The Edinburgh-born artist showcases a new body of work, coinciding with the release of his book, ‘Jack’, comprising 106 drawings printed in colour risograph in a limited edition of 150 books.

Intermedia Gallery

12:00-17:00, UNTIL 26 MAR

LOGIC MAY INDEED BE UNSHAKEABLE

11 MAR – 1 APR, NOT 14 MAR, 21 MAR, 28 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Using an installation which integrates loom mechanisms, data punchcards and an app, Elizabeth Hudson asks just how complicit are we in the amassing of data and rapidly expanding automation.

UNTIL 26 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

THE SCRAMBLED EGGS SALUTE THE TRIFLE

An exhibition of new paintings by an artist of oft' eclectic and diverse works, Pádraig Timoney.

The Old Hairdressers RULE OF THIRDS

8–9 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

A collaborative exhibition by BA Contemporary art practice students from City of Glasgow College.

Tramway

RICHARD SLEE: WORK AND PLAY

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 20 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of work by well-known British ceramicist Richard Slee, encompassing his most radical work to date produced over the last 10 years.

Transmission Gallery

BUT WHAT WAS MOST AWFUL WAS A GIRL WHO WAS SINGING

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 26 MAR, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The first solo exhibition by Jamie Crewe, and Transmission’s Scottish Solo Show for 2016. Transfemininity, revolt, conflicted eroticism and student radicalisation are brought into discussion using video, anecdotal text, a sculpture and spatial elements.

Telfer Art Gallery BACK OR AGAIN

UNTIL 13 MARCH, THU/FRI 13.00-17.00 AND SAT/SUN 11.00-17.00, FREE

The Telfer Art Gallery the doors of its brand new premises in The Barras with an exhibition from Abigale Neate-Wilson. A psycheographical analysis of the city, the showcase of prints examines the layers of texture and surface sedimented in the city's history.

Interview Room 11 ROBERT DAVIES: DEVELOPMENT

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 11 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Focused on the landscape around us – its architecture, structures both permanent and temporary – artist Robert Davies displays a body of work exploring how ideas and experience of time change over time.

Inverleith House

BRITISH ART SHOW 8 @ INVERLEITH HOUSE

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 8 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Touring show spread across a trio of Edinburgh galleries – Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Inverleith House and Talbot Rice – offering an overview of 42 artists deemed to have made a significant contribution to UK art in the past five years.

Royal Scottish Academy RSA RSA NEW CONTEMPORARIES

5–30 MAR, TIMES VARY, £2-4

Edinburgh Art City Art Centre THE ARTIST AND THE SEA

UNTIL 8 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Themed exhibition by a range of different artists capturing the character of the sea, taking in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography and sculpture, and including works by John Bellany, William McTaggart, Joan Eardley and Elizabeth Ogilvie.

Collective Gallery

KATIE SCHWAB: TOGETHER IN A ROOM

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 24 APR, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Artist Katie Schwab presents a collection of works drawing on her research into histories of domestic design, showroom display and craft education, exploring ideas of function and decoration in their composition and arrangement.

Dovecot Studios DAVID POSTON: NECKLACE FOR AN ELEPHANT AND OTHER STORIES

UNTIL 26 MAR, NOT SUNDAYS, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

In what is his second exchange with Dovecot, jeweller, designermaker, interdisciplinary problem solver and 3D technologist David Poston displays a series of pieces documenting his extensive exploration into materials, ideas and collaboration.

Edinburgh Printmakers

RACHEL DUCKHOUSE: RHYTHM IN RESEARCH

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 26 MAR, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Glasgow-based artist Rachel Duckhouse presents a selection of screenprints, etchings, lithographs and drawings created in response to several artist residencies and self-directed research projects undertaken in Scotland and Canada.

Ingleby Gallery JONNY LYONS: DREAM EASY

UNTIL 26 MAR, NOT SUNDAYS, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Solo exhibition from the Glasgow-based artists whose practice explores the fragility of friendship and adventure through performances documented by photography and film.

ANDREW CRANSTON: PAINTINGS FROM A ROOM

UNTIL 26 MAR, NOT SUNDAYS, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

The Glasgow-based artist displays a body of work drawing on a variety of sources, in particular his own personal history.

Returning for a third year of championing Scotland’s budding artists, RSA New Contemporaries will showcase 61 art graduates cherry picked from the 2015 degree shows. Features everything from printmaking to sculpture, film to photography.

CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS

17 MAR, 6:30PM – 7:45PM, FREE

Catch a selection of RSA New Contemporaries artists discussing their work and practices. Hosted by artist Jenny Smith.

Scottish National Gallery ROCKS AND RIVERS: THE LUNDE COLLECTION

3–30 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Long-term loan from one of the finest private collections of 19thCentury Norwegian and Swiss landscape paintings, American collector Asbjörn Lunde, taking in 13 works by artists including Johan Christian Dahl, Alexandre Calame and Thomas Fearnley.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

MODERN SCOTTISH WOMEN: PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS 1885-1965

UNTIL 26 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £9 (£7)

Showcase exhibition of work by Scottish women artists, concentrating on painters and sculptors, covering the period from 1885 to 1965.

BRITISH ART SHOW 8 @ SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART

UNTIL 8 MAY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Touring show spread across a trio of Edinburgh galleries – Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Inverleith House and Talbot Rice – offering an overview of 42 artists deemed to have made a significant contribution to UK art in the past five years.

BY THE BOOK: SCOTTISH WOMEN ILLUSTRATORS

UNTIL 26 JUN, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Celebrating the treasure trove of books illustrated and designed

by Scottish women in the early twentieth century, this exhibition shines a spotlight on Jessie M. King and Agnes Miller Parker – along with slightly lesser known names, too.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery DOCUMENT SCOTLAND: THE TIES THAT BIND

THE UNTITLED 30 JAN – 8 MAY, TIMES VARY, FREE

Throughout 2015, the National Galleries’ Outreach Team invited ‘the next generation’ to make the kind of art they would want to see, inspired by the work of contemporary artists – here young people from Alloa, Irvine and Edinburgh showcase the fruits.

RISE & FALL

UNTIL 27 MAR, TIMES VARY, FREE

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery marks the 300-year anniversary of the 1715 Jacobite rising with a collection of paintings, prints, drawings and miniatures.

The exhibition pays particular attention to John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar.

St Margaret’s House ANIMA

5–20 MAR, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A double-headed show featuring work by two artists who find common places in their individual practices INTERIM SHOW

5–20 MAR, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A showcase of the breadth and depth of third year painters from a somewhat acclaimed department at Gray’s.

Stills

JOSEPH MCKENZIE: WOMEN OF DUNDEE / PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE MARGARET MORRIS COLLECTION

UNTIL 9 APR, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Two-part exhibition presenting a body of work by Joseph McKenzie, dating from the 60s, alongside photographic material from the Margaret Morris collection, dating from the 1910s-30s, all on display in Edinburgh for the first time.

DAN HOLDSWORTH

17 MAR, 6:00PM – 7:00PM, FREE

British photographer Dan Holdsworth will be in conversation with Ben Harman, Director of Stills, to talk about recent projects and aspects of an established career.

LURE OF THE LOST

23 MAR, 6:00PM – 7:30PM, FREE

Anthony Shrag presents a short talk about the experience of his 2500 km ‘pilgrimage’ from Aberdeenshire to the Venice Biennale, followed by a screening of Stuart Armitt’s documentary about the journey.

Summerhall

WHITNEY MCVEIGH: LANGUAGE OF MEMORY

UNTIL 9 MAR, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Solo exhibition by Whitney McVeigh, centering on her short film ‘Birth’ Origins at the end of Life, recording six women’s experience of birth and existence, in the setting of St Christopher’s Hospice in London.

RICCARDO BUSCARINI + RICHARD TAYLOR: IN PARTING GLASS

UNTIL 9 MAR, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Choreographer Riccardo Buscarini and visual artist Richard Taylor work together for the first time, transforming the glass cabinets in Summerhall’s Laboratory Gallery into living archives to explore memory, intimacy and exposure.

AS DOCUMENT

1–6 MAR, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

A Summerhall based group show in which the processes and techniques involved in photography – both analogue and digital – are explored. Follow the live instagram feed via the hashtag #asdocument.

WHEN YOUR SHIP COMES IN

12 MAR, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Trace John Sumpter’s art career between the ages of sixty and seventy; his early dabblings in painting, his re-engagement with conceptual photography, and a selection of his lo-fi imagery.

UNTIL 24 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Photographic collective comprising of Colin McPherson, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, Sophie Gerrard and Stephen McLaren – four Scotsborn photographers, each exponents of documentary photography – featuring 50-75 photographs of, and about, Scotland.

THE SKINNY

Talbot Rice Gallery

BRITISH ART SHOW 8 @ TALBOT RICE

UNTIL 7 MAY, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Touring show spread across a trio of Edinburgh galleries – Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Inverleith House and Talbot Rice – offering an overview of 42 artists deemed to have made a significant contribution to UK art in the past five years.

The Fruitmarket Gallery CHANGE-THE-SETTING

12 MAR – 5 JUN, TIMES VARY, FREE

In an exhibition tailored to the Fruitmarket Gallery's own exhibition spaces, Sara Barker combines painting, drawing and sculpture in order to engage with the notion of space and the ways in which it can be imagined.

Dundee Art Cooper Gallery NEW WHEAT, NEW MUD, NEW MACHINE

10 MAR – 23 APR, NOT SUNDAYS, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Designing and making posters together, Poster Club engage in the complexity of collective practice, and make works that question 'political, social and economic discourses'. Their latest exhibition will take place throughout March and April.

DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts GREY GARDENS

UNTIL 1 MAY, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Exhibition of art and architecture inspired by modernity and nature, including Modernist houses by Morris and Steedman, Peter Womersley’s Studio for Bernat Klein and the town art of Glenrothes and Cumbernauld. Part of the Festival of Architecture.

Generator Projects

GENERATOR MEMBERS’ SHOW 2016

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 6 MAR, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

The return of Generator Project’s annual members’ show, featuring work by an array of artists that make up the gallery’s varied collective.

Hannah Maclure Centre THE MOTHER LOAD

UNTIL 15 APR, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

The Mother Load is a global network of women tethered together by their status as both mothers and artists. Through a series of workshops, performance, screenings and exhibitions this project seeks to more closely understand the nuances of networks.

The McManus TAKING A LINE FOR A WALK

UNTIL 17 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase of pencil and paper works taking its title from a Paul Klee quote, featuring both playful and outsize works by artists including James Gunn, June Carey, Franziska Furter, Tim Knowles and Massimo Bartolini.

DRAW THE LINE: OLD MASTERS TO THE BEANO

UNTIL 30 APR, TIMES VARY, FREE

A celebration of ‘one of the most basic and enduring of human activities’, The McManus showcases a selection of figure studies and portraiture, illustration, preparatory sketches, landscape and topography by historic and contemporary artists.

March 2016

Theatre Glasgow Theatre CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art BOOK ARROW HEART AND COMPULSORY TROUSERS AND IT’S 1985

11–13 MAR, 7:30PM, £8 - £10

Two new one act plays set in 1985 from Karen Barclay and Tom Brogan.

Citizens Theatre BLACKBIRD

UNTIL 5 MAR, TIMES VARY, £9.50 - £20.50

David Harrower’s Olivier awardwinning play about a meeting between a middle-aged man and a young woman, who rake over a relationship which ended when he was 40 and she was only twelve years old. Matinee performances also available.

GET CARTER

8–12 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

A brand new take on the classic Newcastle-noir thriller about Jack Carter and his deadly game of cat and mouse.

ALAN BISSETT: THE MOIRA MONOLOGUES 11–12 MAR, 7:30PM, £9 - £12

Alan Bissett reprises his ‘one woman show’ for the first time in five years as part of Glasgow Comedy Festival.

Edinburgh Theatre Festival Theatre INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

8 MAR, 12:00PM – 6:30PM, FREE

Pay your respects this IWD and fill an afternoon with performances and talks about women in history, the arts, business and politics.

CIRQUE BERSERK

10–12 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

An circus show designed for the theatre which is, apparently, quite beserk indeed.

PHOENIX DANCE THEATRE

5 MAR, 7:30PM – 9:40PM, £16

Two world premieres and a company classic feature on this triple bill.

UNTIL 5 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

REBELLION

10–15 MAR, 7:30PM – 9:30PM, £10

A two-act play by Glasgow Irish playwright Phil Mac Giolla Bháin.

Part of the Glasgow St Patrick's Festival 2016.

Theatre Royal GOODNIGHT MISTER TOM

8–12 MAR, TIMES VARY, £14.40 - £31.40

A goosebump inducing tale of the mutual comfort found between an anxious WW2 evacuee and an elderly, isolated host. Now a BAFTA winning TV Film and a bloody gorgeous stage production, too.

CANNED LAUGHTER

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 2 APR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

A brand new comedy written and directed by Ed Curtis. Follow a band of three of comedians as they hit the big time and get their own television show in the 1970s, dissolve as a trio and reunite decades later.

The Edinburgh Playhouse Anthony Besch’s treasured production of Tosca, which transports Puccini’s drama to Fascist Italy in the early 1940s.

CARMEN

12 MAR, 13 MAR, 19 MAR, 23 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

3–4 MAR, 7:00PM, £3.50

Shed

A comedy that’s seeping with black humour and songs, flitting between 17th-century Edinburgh and the present day to tell the tale of a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Matinee and earlier performances available.

11 MAR, 22 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

King’s Theatre Edinburgh

An evening of performance art, physical theatre, film and performance art from Filament and Station+Platform.

THE AIR THAT CARRIES THE WEIGHT 24–26 MAR, TIMES VARY, £8.50 - £16.50

TOSCA

Platform HUMMING

I AM THOMAS VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 9 APR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

THE PERFECT MURDER

Best-selling author Peter James returns to the King’s Theatre with his first critically acclaimed stage hit, starring Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace offa Eastenders.

Matinee performances also available.

CANNED LAUGHTER

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 15 MAR AND 2 APR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

A brand new comedy written and directed by Ed Curtis. Follow a band of three of comedians as they hit the big time and get their own television show in the 1970s, dissolve as a trio and reunite decades later.

LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL

16–19 MAR, TIMES VARY, £16 - £20

The Bohemians bring candyfloss coloured musical Legally Blonde to the King’s, complete with real life chihuahua and a talented cast to boot.

An Ellen Kent production of one of the most famous operas of all time, channeling Spain’s Andalucian heat through its seductive storyline.

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 2 APR, TIMES VARY, £16.90 - £71.90

The latest incarnation of the favourited rock’n’roll musical arrives in the Northwest. Matinees also available.

JERSEY BOYS

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 5 MAR, TIMES VARY, £26.65 - £84.65

True life story of multiplebucketload selling group The Four Seasons, from their beginnings to their extended run along the hit parade. Matinee performances also available.

Traverse Theatre PURPOSELESS MOVEMENTS

UNTIL 4 MAR, 1 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Written and directed by Robert Softley Gale, this brand new piece of dance theatre engages with the stories of five men with Cerebal Palsy and explores the ways in which it affects their lives.

THE DESTROYED ROOM

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 12 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Matthew Lenton directs a piece inspired by Jeff Wall’s famous photograph of a ransacked room. Rather ominously, the play explores ‘what it is we leave behind – and what’s ahead’.

IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT

3–5 MAR, 8:00PM, £8.50 - £16.50

Written by Gary Owen and directed

by Rachel O’Riordan, this powerful new adaptation of the Greek myth drives home the high price people pay for society’s shortcomings.

Buy your tickets here: bit.ly/cirque-berserk

Tramway

MUS RO FACLAN ANN (BEFORE WORDS)

A new play by Rebecca Sharp which tangles reality with fantasy to tell the tale of a woman discovering her the unexpected past of a late childhood friend. Features original music by Pippa Murphy.

Bedlam Theatre ENDGAME

22-26 MAR, 19:30, £5-6

Finlay McAfee brings Samuel Beckett's Endgame, a story of beginnings, ends and torturous existence, to Bedlam theatre.

Dundee Theatre Caird Hall CARMEN

12 MAR, 13 MAR, 19 MAR, 23 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VAWRY

An Ellen Kent production of one of the most famous operas of all time, channeling Spain’s Andalucian heat through its seductive storyline.

The Gardyne Theatre JACKIE THE MUSICAL

10–12 MAR, TIMES VARY, £25 - £31

After success at the Gardyne in 2013, all singing, all dancing seventies nostalgia fest Jackie The Musical is embarking on a UK tour – but not before they’ve treated the home crowd to a string of bon voyage performances.

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Get your very own copy of each monthly magazine delivered straight to your door

18–19 MAR, 7:30PM, £5

One of Tramway’s three works-in progress, Mus Ro Faclan Ann (or ‘Before Words’) is a dance performance influenced by the landscape, language and culture of the Outer Hebrides.

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Cirque Berserk

Tron Theatre

Edinburgh Festival Theatre 10-12 Mar, £28.05-£32.45

THE DESTROYED ROOM

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 25 FEB AND 12 MAR, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

Matthew Lenton directs a piece inspired by Jeff Wall’s famous photograph of a ransacked room. Rather ominously, the play explores ‘what it is we leave behind – and what’s ahead’.

30:60:80

2 MAR, 3 MAR, 4 MAR, 5 MAR, 8:00PM, £7.50 - £10

Amy Conway’s verbatim theatre providing a lovely antidote to that certain mid-life crisis that occurs when you realise you’re thirty and have achieved...well...not a lot, compared to your mother and grandmother.

SHRAPNEL

12–13 MAR, 8:00PM, £7.50 - £10

Adapted from Tormod a’ Bhocsair’s seminal Gaelic novel, Shrapnel employs animation, live music, subtitles and wit to tell the tale of a man on the run for a crime he didn’t commit.

STOWAWAY

Royal Lyceum Theatre THE CRUCIBLE

VARIOUS DATES UNTIL 19 MAR, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £10 - £29.50

Arthur Miller’s famous Tony Award-winning re-telling of the 1692 Salem witch trial hysteria, a powerful modern tragedy of one man’s search for self. Matinee performances also available.

18–19 MAR, 7:30PM, £8.50 - £16.50

A tale about a man who falls from the belly of a Boeing 777 into the car park of a B&Q, Stowaway tells the story of a man from India who has left everything he knows in pursuit of an unattainable future.

FOR NOW, I AM...

16–17 MAR, 7:30PM, £8.50 - £16.50

Marc Brew returns to the world of performance after almost a decade hiatus following a car accident.

He brings a personal piece of solo physical theatre to the Trav, complete with visual projections and a specially commissioned score.

@theskinnymag /TheSkinnyMag

Illustration: Rachel Davey

Listings

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Holly Golightly Long-term heroine of the UK underground, and former collaborator with Jack White “Holly is a great friend; I love her music so much.

Rocket toured with her, we recorded with her!

She was one of our first good friends in another band [in the UK] – we were spending so much time over there, and we met a lot of great people, but we were already massive fans of hers, just through Long Gone John of Sympathy For The Record Industry putting out her records with Thee Headcoatees, so when we finally met her, we were a bit awestruck. We’re just so happy she’ll be there.”

Bullet Train to Pontins As Drive Like Jehu return to curate All Tomorrow’s Parties in Prestatyn this April, we catch up with John ‘Speedo’ Reis to get the lowdown on the line-up Interview: Will Fitzpatrick

t got to the point that we couldn’t get paid,” says John Reis, “because no-one was paying to get in. With so many people in the band we didn’t really earn much anyways, but it became difficult to tour, because… well, we need money for gas.”

He’s explaining the curious circumstance of his band Rocket From The Crypt’s sudden success in the mid-90s, where an offhand promise made to a fanzine (that fans with a tattoo of the band’s logo would get into their shows for free) suddenly got out of hand. “It was good to have people saying, ‘I love your band so much that I’m gonna get a Rocket tattoo’,” continues Reis, “but there was a point where it seemed like, ‘do you even fucking know any of our songs?’ One time this guy pulled up his pants to reveal a tattoo of a carrot. I was like, ‘You know, that isn’t really the deal?’ He was dumbfounded; he didn’t comprehend why the carrot wasn’t good enough.”

Quite simply, Rocket stole punk rock’s heart in the post-Nirvana era with their brand of brass-laden, high energy psychosis. Such was their underground popularity, it was inevitable that they’d sign to a major label – but curiously enough, it was largely down to Intercope’s fascination with another Reis project that it happened at all. Back in 1990, he and his buddy Rick Froberg had formed a much wilder and more complex outfit called Drive Like Jehu: a squalling explosion of sound that threw angular riffs and math-centric rhythms on top of each other to spectacular effect.

Beloved of post-hardcore cognoscenti, and completed by bassist Mike Kennedy and drummer Mark Trombino, they created two magical albums (1991’s self-titled debut and 1994’s essential Yank Crime) before fizzling out. Reis and Froberg later joined forces again to form Hot Snakes, but despite their cult success, and as successful as Rocket became, they never left the same mark as Drive Like Jehu. Now, however, all three bands are back – reformed for shits and giggles, with DLJ curating the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in its new Prestatyn home.

“Oddly enough, we’re still getting better, so it’s getting more fun,” says Reis. “Drive Like Jehu would rarely play a song the same way twice, all of our music was a work in progress. Now, every

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time we play the songs a bit better, so for me it seems just as good if not better than it ever was.”

North Wales being somewhat different to San Diego, he’s looking forward to checking out the festival location: “We’re all in this camper park, and we’re there to fend for ourselves. It’s kind of like Survivor, except we have food and electricity and clothes. And beer.” So what should people expect? “A good time. We’ve organized non-musical things, with art and games and installations and whatnot. We have a lot of ideas, I just hope we can execute them all.”

And, of course, the obvious question: will we get in free with a Rocket tattoo? The man they call Speedo laughs. “Probably not. But you can always try!”

King Khan Berlin-dwelling psych loon, performing with both BBQ and The Shrines “Every time I’ve seen King Khan & The Shrines play, it was the best show that I saw that year.

Khan is such a great frontman, and it’s just so fun. It’s everything I like about seeing live music.

It’s loose, but it’s massive; it feels bigger than yourself, it’s something that you should make yourself do. You don’t watch from the sides, you just dive in and become a part of it. And then they really put on such a great show too – I’m so fuckin’ jealous.”

Soulside Reformed denizens of Washington’s harDCore scene “When [Reis and Froberg’s 80s punk band] Pitchfork started, we were so blown away by Soulside’s record Hot Bodi-Gram. I bought it a day or two before we went in to record, and that completely changed the trajectory. It was way ahead of its time. It seemed spontaneous, made up on the fly – this piece of musical information that completely changed the record that we made, for the better. We were such massive fans. And friends as well, Rick especially because he played in Obits with the drummer [Alexis Fleisig].”

Mission Of Burma Boston post-punk masters, reformed and reenergised since 2002 “If you were gonna nail down Drive Like Jehu – bands that literally inspired us, where we took their music and made it our own – Mission Of Burma would be on that list for sure. They had broken up when I was quite young – I think they stopped playing in 1980 or 81. When they reformed the first time to play a show in Boston, I bought a ticket ‘cause I didn’t know if they were gonna come back west. They’re still a great band.”

The Spits Raw Seattle punks, stripping the form back to basics in some style “I always refer to them as the last punk band.

They’re just bad-ass – their sound is thick as a brick, it defines the word buzzsaw. People find it so hard to believe that it’s the same set of influences for Rocket as for Drive Like Jehu. It’s just the way they manifest and the people that I’m playing with, and the objective of what we’re trying to do. This is definitely a Drive Like Jehucurated ATP ‘cause these are the bands that we like now, and that’s all there is to it.”

The Monkeywrench Garage rock supergroup featuring members of Mudhoney and The Big Boys “We really love Mark [Arm], and we love Mudhoney.

Rocket has toured with them, and we’ve become good friends with them, being on Sub Pop and whatnot. We really wanted Tim Kerr to be represented as well cos we’re both massive Big Boys fans – they were and continue to be an inspiration to the way I play guitar. So we just needed to have a way of getting all those guys together. The Monkeywrench is a killer band and I think people are in for quite a treat.”

ATP 2.0 Curated by Drive Like Jehu takes place on 22-24 Apr at Pontins Prestatyn, North Wales atpfestival.com/events/

Who to see: Speedo’s guide to the ATP line-up The Flamin’ Groovies 1970s powerpoppers, reunited with original member Roy Loney “ Flamin’ Groovies Now and Teenage Head are two of my favourite records of all time. [Hit single] Shake Some Action was an amazing song; it seems like the later Groovies were more popular – the powerpop version of the band without Roy Loney. As much as I’m cool with that, on those early records they were really channeling a lot of 1950s rock’n’roll… it wasn’t revisionist, it was something new. So having Roy play with the band, for me, is massive. That was the number one band on my list, to tell the truth.”

The Gories Detroit garage legends featuring Mick Collins of The Dirtbombs “The Gories were a massive influence on Rocket From The Crypt, Drive Like Jehu… they were a massive influence on me. Their minimalism, and how kick-ass they were, was a revelation. Not only were their songs so great, but they also had exquisite taste and exposed me to so many great bands – their version of Ghost Rider [by Suicide] was the first version that I heard. Mick sang on a Rocket record too, on Scream Dracula Scream, on Born In ’69. The ‘Woo! Yeah!’ – that’s Mick Collins.”

Credit: Pete Dunlop

“I

The Blind Shake Abrasive surf-punks, fresh from a collaboration LP with Speedo himself “I happened to be in Minneapolis when they were playing, and they were supporting my favourite guitar player of all time, Michael Yonkers, acting as his back-up band. It was just so powerful, their sound is insane. It sounds like a metal trashcan, or maybe even a dumpster falling down a massive staircase. It just sounds like metal banging on the walls, and ultimately just collides with real force in the cement. It was a no-brainer – they had to be there.”

Martin Re Minimalist synth genius and one half of Suicide “I keep using the phrase ‘one of my favourite bands of all time’, but I have so many favourite bands and they’re very important to me. It’s like, ‘Don’t talk shit about my favourite bands! Those are fighting words!’ Suicide was such a big influence on Hot Snakes, it was probably the main influence – that and the Wipers – so I really wanted to have them represented in some way. That was very important.”

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Under the Influence: Clint Mansell From Coventry to California, Clint Mansell has steadily emerged from the ashes of Pop Will Eat Itself to become one of the most widely acclaimed film composers of his generation. Here, he offers an insight into 10 of the most pivotal records in his stack

1. D avid Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars [1972] It all began with Ziggy Stardust.

It was 1972 and I was up at my nan’s house on a Thursday night. Bowie did Starman on TOTP and it just blew my mind. I don’t even recall if it was actually in colour, but looking back it seems like the day where the world turned dayglo. From Ian McCulloch to Pete Wylie to Julian Cope, all the musicians of my generation say the exact same thing about that Top of the Pops moment. We all witnessed it and it’s very difficult to put just what it meant into context for people now.

The following Saturday I had to go shopping with my mum and – after throwing a tantrum – I ended up forcing her to buy me the Starman single. The album is full of things a nine-year-old isn’t going to understand, but I was just mesmerized by it.

We met when I was working on The Fountain with Darren Aronofsky as we wanted him to do some of the music with me. It didn’t work out in the end, but he was brilliant. Playing my demos to David Bowie is one of the most extreme experiences I’ll ever have. To be in the company of this guy, who was responsible for me doing what I wanted to do was just incredible. The first time I met him I remember he was just so jovial and lighthearted, but also supremely intelligent and well-read too. I was thinking, ‘Hey, i’m talking to David Bowie here as an equal and keeping it together,’ but after the meeting I basically collapsed as it was such an intense experience for me. We had a few meetings after that and every time he was so nice, inquisitive and always open to new ideas.

2. Ennio Morricone – Once Upon a Time in the West [1968] You’re spoiled for choice with Morricone. I could easily have gone for any of the Dollars trilogy, The Mission or the score he did for Carpenter on The Thing. I also like what he did for the Hateful Eight more recently; it really reminded me of a Hammer horror score. When you hear Morricone’s work in spaghetti westerns it creates a whole different vibe. It’s very accessible music that is unlike other films. The whistling is almost like pop.

It opens you up to a new way of thinking and you can go a little further with what else is out there and start developing an understanding of the language. It just becomes part of what excites you.

March 2016

3. The Ramones – Leave Home [1977] The first punk album for me.

I missed the first album in ‘76, but then heard Sheena is a Punk Rocker on Radio Luxembourg as it would play stuff that was a little more leftfield than Radio 1. I just thought, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing, what is it?!’ The last record I bought before Sheena is a Punk Rocker was The Killing of Georgie by Rod Stewart – a great track and one I still love – but in comparison it was just so MOR and pleasant. Looking back you can say it’s not too far removed from bubblegum pop, but for me it had such drive and attitude. Mick Ronson was an amazing guitarist, but Johnny Ramone’s sound was something I’d never heard before. It was the album which led me on to magazines like Sounds, the NME and Melody Maker. I still to this day think it’s a great record – it’s just one tune after the other.

4. Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Scream [1978] My first foray with post-punk would have been through Siouxsie and the Banshees. I know they came along with punk but by the time their first album came out and they’d done their John Peel sessions, the scene was moving off from punk culture and going into a sort of bluesy, glam direction. The Banshees leaned more toward the avantgarde. The Scream was a huge record for me.

I recently got asked if I’d be interested in working with Siouxsie, which would be a fucking dream come true.

5. J ohn Carpenter – Assault on Precinct 13 [1976] Back in those days there wasn’t a great deal to do apart from watch movies. Stuff like The Parallax View, All the President’s Men and Walkabout stick out. The music in The Parallax View and Klute is great – both by Michael Small. It’s that sound of edginess with the jarring, discordant piano.

I also remember the scoring of Picnic at Hanging Rock with the pan pipes, a completely uncool instrument, but they worked so well in creating a dreamlike experience. At the time, I wasn’t even aware I was responding to it and it was only much later I realised it got to me.

The first one I really did get would have been Assault on Precinct 13. I hadn’t heard that synthesizer approach before. It wasn’t a film that

belonged to your dad or grandad and instead felt very much like it was of the moment. It came out in ‘76 but I probably wouldn’t have seen it until 1979, 1980. The feeling he creates with his scores is amazing, as is the way he fuses melody with doom.

6. J oy Division – Unknown Pleasures [1979] This was another record that was bringing in things for me that I’d been hitherto unexposed to.

I knew albums like [Bowie’s] Low, but hadn’t yet heard stuff like [Iggy Pop’s] The Idiot.

My main takeaway from Unknown Pleasures was Martin Hannett’s production skills which, to my uninitiated ear, were revolutionary. He was way ahead of his time in his use of dub recording techniques, extreme panning and strange gadgets.

“ Playing my demos to David Bowie is one of the most extreme experiences I’ll ever have” Clint Mansell

7. P ublic Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back [1988] Both License to Ill and Raising Hell were really pivotal. We [Pop Will Eat Itself] saw the Beastie Boys with Run D.M.C. together at Birmingham Odeon in 1987 and it was just fantastic. The record that really sticks out, however, was A Nation of Millions. It was almost like a punk record with the Bomb Squad and the dawn of the sampler.

Their use of it is just fantastic. The Beasties’ first record was a brilliant party record with frat boys and all that sort of stuff, but Public Enemy brought something else. It was dangerous and had a point.

I’d never heard anything like Rebel Without a Pause with its squealing sax and lyrical delivery. It really influenced the first album we did for RCA.

8. G odspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven [2000] This was the first Godspeed album I heard and it’s the one I always go back to.

Hearing Storm for the first time was some experience. The way it built was so emotional but also captivating and hard-hitting. To a degree it’s classical music, but it didn’t feel like your music teacher’s type of classical. There was a real honesty and grit to it that spoke to me. It was such a huge influence on my work and the other things I went on to listen to. They were just so uncompromising; their ethos and outlook is not at all dissimilar to Public Enemy and the Banshees’.

9. S oap&Skin – Lovetune for Vacuum [2009] Back in the Myspace days somebody sent me a link of Anja performing live. She was doing a cover version off Requiem for a Dream, not the Lux Aeterna part, but the crazy stuff that comes in at the end. She was playing along to it on piano with all these crazy electronics coming out of a laptop and I was just like, ‘Oh man, this is incredible, I’ve never heard anyone cover my music before.’ I then checked out her record which was so strong, deep and emotional.

She has this Nico-ish vibe going on, but it’s totally her own thing.

10. Mogwai – Rave Tapes [2014] I think the most impressive thing about Mogwai is the way they’ve moved in and out of the genre without getting stale. The increasing use of electronics in their latter work is just fantastic and makes them every bit as vital as their earlier records. I saw them play out in LA a couple of years ago and to me it was mindbending. I was so lucky to get to see them up close with the Kronos Quartet while working on The Fountain. The recent work they did for Mark Cousins on his documentary about the Atomic Bomb was perfect.

Uneasy Listening: An Evening with Clint Mansell plays at Gateshead Sage on 26 Mar and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on 29 Mar. His latest score High-Rise, is available on 18 Mar via Silva Screen clintmansell.com

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