Westworld - Issue 7 - April 2011

April 2011

007

Exploring Arts, Culture, Music & Film within Bristol.

WESTWORLD

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INCLUDING

Kirstie Little Owl in Sun The Magic of Motown Oh Mary - Review Bristol live Kill it Kid Route Irish Ficton - Review Venue Revival FEATURED ARTIST

Catrin Louise Brierley

Front cover: Kirstie Little kirst_lil@hotmail.com D3* (Design: Process, Materials, Context) Kirstie’s work is centred around her fascination with line, repetition and the subtle visual phenomenon of the moiré effect. Using pattern and layering she has created work that shifts and distorts according to the position of the viewer.

By using reflective materials, reality and it’s re-presentation converge to confuse your perception of space and depth. Passing the work, it reconfigures and moves with you. Participant rather than spectator, each will encounter their own unique experience, as the work will be experienced differently according to subtleties in light speed and motion.

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Featured Artist - Catrin Louise Brierley

Catrin Louise Brierley Level 3 – Fashion Design I am a final year Fashion student currently working on my final collection.

This printed jumpsuit is from a previous project taken from my second year. The brief was just to draw and take it whichever way from there to express what it is we liked to do.

I love surface design and embellishing my garments with bold prints. This particular print was inspired by camera film. I looked at identity and wearing your identity on your person. catinthehat06@hotmail.co.uk www.catrinlouisebrierley.tumblr.com

Featured Artist deadline westworldinfo@gmail.com

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Creative Direction & Design James Somerfield hello@jamessomerfield.co.uk

Contributors Catrin Louise Brierley Kirstie Little Safia Yallaoui Alice Palmer Brown Jack Dowell Matthew Hale Cath Wilcox Hattie Barnes Matt Smalley Lucia Dobson-Smith

Alex Green alexinleeds@gmail.com

Rebecca Gibbs Design

Contact UWE Publications Frenchay Campus Coldharbour Lane Bristol, BS16 1QY www.westerneye.net

Typeset Grotesque MT Std Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk & Warnock Pro

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Owl in the Sun / Mowtown

An interview with

OWL IN THE SUN • Bath-based band Owl in the Sun, have found themselves a bit of luck recently with their song, Flags, due for airtime on BBC Radio 1. The group play festivals up and down the West Country; an ideal setting for their Folk styled, melody-driven tunes. The band comprises Colin Cain, Tim Crozier-Cole, Cathy Crozier-Cole, Damon Bridge, Kate Bridge and Guy Barrett. On behalf of Westworld, Matthew Hale caught up with Cathy Crozier-Cole to find out more.

How long have the band been together and how did you form?

We met at university, but Owl in the Sun only really came together in 2009 with the addition of Kate Bridge on fiddle. It was a slightly different sound to the music we’d been playing before: more harmonies, more acoustically based. So that was when the band was born.

Who are your favourite artists and what influence have they had on the band?

I suppose we’ve got quite a lot of influences going on in the band. But all of us grew up loving music like Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and that whole golden era of acoustic music, if you like. But I suppose for more contemporary bands: the Be Good Tanyas, the Old Crow Medicine Show, Fleetfoxs, Midlake, Mumford and Sons, groups from the English Folk scene, Gogol Bordello and Manu Chao. So there are a lot of influences on our music, from folk to Americano to gypsy jazz. We all really love bands where there is lots of singing, lots of harmonies and lots of acoustic instruments.

Flags is a really good song. What inspired Colin to write it?

Flags is a song about events surrounding the Iraq war and the conflicting emotions involved in going to war. The chorus words 'Happy to be here' were the words of a US soldier, captured on a documentary about the war, and they reflect the patriotic zeal that's necessary to do the job of a soldier, but they also seem shocking and a bit disturbing, when set against all that has happened in Iraq; the feelings of the loved ones left

at home, and ultimately the body bags with their 'Flags' that continue to come back.

So, what’s the bands approach to song-writing? Do you collaborate or come up with your own ideas?

Tim and Collin do most of the song-writing, they tend to come up with an idea and they play it for the band and we’ll all pitch in. So, the arrangements of the songs are very much a group effort.

Flags isn’t a usual song for Owl in the Sun, is it? How pleased are you to have Flags on Radio 1?

We don’t normally do protest songs or political songs. It’s not necessarily what we’re about, but our songs are influenced by all kinds of things. Obviously, we’re over the moon that BBC Radio 1 has picked up on it. We’d been uploading tracks onto BBC Introducing over the past year, since our album came out.

How does BBC Introducing work?

It’s a website for unsigned or up and coming bands, if you like. And the website is nice and easy. You can create a profile, upload up to three tracks every month and if they like the songs they’ll put it on your region’s show. It took us quite a few attempts to get played on BBC Radio Bristol, but we kept persevering and Flags was selected eventually.

With summer on its way has Owl in the Sun got any plans for this year’s festival season?

We’re hard at work organizing festival gigs at the moment, so hopefully in a month we should have that list together. So, watch this space. Last year we did lots of festivals. We’ve done the Bristol Acoustic Music Festival, the Bristol Harbourside, the Keynsham festival, the Newforest Festival and the Larmer Tree Festival. This year we’re hoping to do Glastonbury festival, as well as other West Country festivals.

Where can people find out more about the band?

We’re on MySpace and we’ve got a website where you can purchase the album, Outside the City Way of Things. Also we’re on ITunes now and Spotify. We’re hoping to start recording again this year.

THE MAGIC OF MOTOWN Reviewed by Safia Yallaoui

Imagine it is the 1960’s and you are watching The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Marvin Gaye and many other stars perform on the Motown stage in California. You are in awe of these huge stars and their incredible talents as singers and entertainers and you cannot stop yourself from standing up from your seat to dance and sing at the top of your lungs. This is what it was like to be in the audience at the Magic of Motown show in Bristol.a The Bristol Hippodrome was the perfect place for this tribute to the ‘good old days’as it is a cosy and intimate space but big enough to project the faultless voices of the show’s many stars. This left me no choice but to at least tap my feet to the catchy rhythms of classic hits such as Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Stop in the Name of Love, All Night Long and I Heard it Through the Grapevine, amongst many others.

The Magic of Motown, produced by Michael Taylor, features passionate performers who aim to capture the name of the show. All the people involved, especially the lead male and female, have been involved with music from a young age and have experienced singing to huge crowds.

Of course this show gains its inspiration from the stars that were taken on by Berry Gordy when he founded the Motown label in 1959. It is fair to say that this show took the audience back in time to 1960’s California, helped in part by the fact that most of the cast are from the USA. The cast of seven performers includes three women, who make up The Supremes and transform into backup singers for other performances, and four men who sang the majority of songs including those of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and The Four Tops. They include the lead male of the show, André Lejaune.

André Lejaune gave the show a comical edge, by introducing it with excitement and an eccentric voice. He encouraged the audience to stand up and clap their hands while he sang. The leading lady, Natasha Burnett plays many roles including Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Martha Reeves and Michael Jackson.

With her falsetto vocals she is able to capture all of these stars’ famous pitches and tones with ease.

The versatility of this cast is unbelievable and seeing as there are only seven of them, they have learned how to capture the characteristics, as well as the voices, of a variety of great artists without having to try too hard. On the contrary, they make it look easy.

To call these performers ‘tribute acts’ or ‘impersonators’ would be to severely underestimate their abilities. Their energy, character, voices and dance moves were flawless.

After the stunning performance of the Jackson 5’s I’ll Be There, the cast received a standing ovation from the crowd and then came back on to perform another couple of hits.

On the performers’ final departure it became apparent that far from being enjoyed by a particular type of person, the Magic of Motown show can be thoroughly enjoyed by all ages.

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Oh Mary - Tobacco Factory Review

OH MARY

"We gain a real insight into Mary’s hopes and dreams, defeats and triumphs" –

AT THE TOBACCO FACTORY Reviewed by Cath Willcox

THE STORY BEHIND Bec Applebee’s onewoman show certainly has all the ingredients of a compelling narrative: the publicity for the show describes Mary Bryant as a ‘Cornish highway woman, convict, mother and maritime adventurer’ – so far, so intrigued.

Having (violently) stolen a bonnet, Mary expects to hang but instead is put on one of the convict transport ships bound for the penal colonies in Australia.

Applebee engages her audience’s sense of hearing with an authentic seafaring soundtrack (provided by Dalla and Radjel) and our sense of smell with vivid descriptions of the smells of fresh air and fish at ports, contrasting with the foul odours below deck.

My stomach actually turned as Mary vomited in the dark, and then endured the pain and joy of childbirth – all the while chained to her fellow convicts. Through this Mary finds some kind of redemption from her convict status, and as an audience we were easily included in her experience.

Applebee’s use of props is imaginative, expressive and, most importantly, highly effective. For me, what stood out was the romance and tragedy elicited from a mop – if you have never seen a woman getting seduced by a mop (I don’t know why you would have...) then you should go see this for that reason alone. Mary’s mop-husband was brought to life by her interaction with it, as he romanced her and then later became sick and died in her arms. Herein lies the strength of Applebee’s isolation on stage – as the only human performing, we are focused on her story, her feelings and her struggles without getting distracted by considering the motivations of other characters.

This tight and emotional focus on weighty issues like justice and rape could make for an exhausting dry moral tale, but Applebee sprinkles humour throughout, endearing Mary to us all the more as though she’s the 18th Century’s cheeky girl next door. We gain a real insight into Mary’s hopes and dreams, defeats and triumphs and I for one left with the lasting impression that there was little she could do to avoid the twists and turns that life throws at her.

From the outset Mary comes across as a tough, at times violent, woman and yet warm and likeable, straight-talking and resourceful.

While Mary grasps her life with both hands and clearly sees herself as the master of her own destiny, she is still a victim of the patriarchal system of her time.

I couldn’t help but think that if Mary had been around today then her story would have fitted a similar arc to Jade Goody – an endearing

and loveable character but ultimately unable to control the circumstances that surrounded her. Swap patriarchy for the modern media; I now feel slightly ashamed for having mentioned reality TV in the same article as such a stand-out piece of theatrical art, but I think the grittiness of such a human story is something that withstands the passing of time. When you think everything is going to go so well for Mary, she is let down by the drunken indiscretion of her bragging husband and battles the conflict of emotions this causes in such a way that you can see how human stories don’t ever change.

Oh Mary does not shy away from the brutal realities of the life Mary Bryant endured. Ultimately we see her back in England, without the family who she travelled halfway around the world with. While she loses everything, she gains her freedom and it is this angle of emancipation that makes a

petty criminal from the 1700’s a thoroughly modern woman.

The play has now finished its run at Tobacco Factory’s Brewery Theatre, but if you get a chance to see it elsewhere, and you enjoy a swash-buckling story with a complete rollercoaster of emotions, then you should grab that opportunity with both hands.

March at the Tobacco Factory Theatre 1st–9th Richard II 1st–12th If Destroyed Still True 15th–19th Oh Mary 22th–2nd Apr Yalla Yalla 24th–30th Apr Comedy of Errors

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Bristol Live / Kill it Kid

BRISTOL LIVE REVIEWED

KILL IT KID

By Hattie Barnes

By Alice Palmer Brown

FRIDAY THE 11TH OF MARCH marked the first in a series of U.W.E. Creative Music Technology student organised events. It was a great success showcasing lesser-known quality Bristol bands.

First up were The Kinsey Scale, a six piece collaboration, formed exclusively for the evening. Lead singer Heather Wulff successfully enthused the audience with her chitchat and enchanting vocals. The band (comprised of vocals, bass and lead guitar, a trumpet, a saxophone and drums played by a particularly hot drummer) worked together brilliantly to cover the classics of Fat Freddy’s Drop, Bill Withers and Toots and the Maytals.

Next up were Clumsy, again the audience were excitable and in something of a skanking frenzy. At one point the lead singer, Joel, announced they were to cover a well-known classic by a music legend. Naturally, my hopes rose at the prospect of a Nirvana cover, however, we were instead treated to a fantastic transformation of Michael Jackson’s Beat It. I wasn’t disappointed; they produced a perfect cover, blending reggae, ska and soul with the genius lyrics of MJ. Headlining the night were the fantastic First Degree Burns, back with a vengeance.

This was the first gig for a while for this skip-hop Bristol band and they smashed it, playing or the first time without their usual brass section. They were joined instead by B’Tol, a Bristol mc. They describe themselves as a ‘band whose influences stem from the concrete roots of Bristol, via France, Jamaica and much in between.’ They channel ‘a plethora of musical styles and influences, be it Dub, Skank driven Ska, Roots Reggae, Two Tone, Rock or Metal, through the all inclusive umbrella of Hip Hop. They’ve created a fusion which they proclaim is “Skip Hop” – up tempo, conscious, danceable, invitingly innovative, musically accomplished, eclectic… and most importantly, not taking itself too seriously!’

They are the perfect band to see live and everyone (even the Creative Music Tech lecturers, who were there for their students), was going mental for the upbeat music, dancing and skanking the night away.

The gargantuan conga line that skipped through the venue, picking up stragglers and eventually encompassing almost all in attendance, was most definitely the highlight of everyone’s evening. In the words of First Degree Burns ‘The Skip-Hop Revolution has arrived. Lock up your gran!’

And lastly, the venue! Fiddlers, a hidden treasure, was a fantastic location and perfect for the evening’s shenanigans. It boasts a large stage with excellent sound (an added bonus for the bands), a dance floor and reasonably priced drinks.

All in all the night was a great success and I look forward to the next!

For more information on the bands check out: www.myspace.com/clumsyspace www.myspace.com/firstdegreeburnsuk

"As far as Kill it Kid are concerned it’s a case of watching this space, big things are rapidly coming their way."

Photograher - Tom Barnes

WALKING AWAY from a gig knowing that you have just witnessed something very special is a rare experience. I’m not one to be speechless, in fact a lot of people wonder when I’ll ever stop talking, but I was literally struck dumb by the awesome performance of Kill it Kid recently at The Fleece. In fact, they were so good that I dragged my housemates along to their next local show; when they played their homecoming show at Komedia, Bath. I’m no stranger to their music; I’ve been a not-so-closet fan for a good long while and have seen them live before, just before I came to university. Since then, almost three years ago, Kill it Kid have gone from strength to strength, and this year is set to be their busiest and most exciting yet.

The foursome started off as a fivesome, who met while studying at Bath Spa University. Shortly after producing their first E.P. in 2008, they were signed to the Indie label One Little Indian. This led to them flying to Seattle to record their first record with Ryan Hadlock (who previously produced The Strokes, and Foo Fighters.) This self-titled debut album was released in 2009, and was received with rave reviews; the BBC described it as ‘one of the year’s most appealing and enduring debut albums’. It was for this album

that they received an XFM award nomination for New Music in 2010. At the end of 2010 the fiddle player, Richard, left the band, and their sound had progressed from a more country style, to a heavier sound. Successfully avoiding a Sugarbabes situation, the band is now made up of the other founding members, Chris Turpin (vocals, guitar), Marc Jones ( drums), Stephanie Ward (piano and vocals), and Adam Timmins (bass).

Whilst they describe themselves as grunge/blues, this is perhaps a little misleading, yet it is very difficult to categorise them and their completely unique style. Clash magazine described their first album as ‘an outstanding British record’ and Americana executed in a modern British way, with a heavy dash of rock, is a good way to consider their music. The voice of Chris Turpinhas been likened to Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. It is hauntingly beautiful and really has to be seen to be believed. Listening to it on record you immediately picture a bourbon swigging, cigar smoking blues singer from the deep-south, but behind it is, quite literally, the antithesis of this. Despite his strong and distinctive voice, Stephanie Ward,the sole girl of the group, manages to

more than hold her own vocally, with a voice that is at once strong and delicate.

They have recently been shortlisted for the ‘Performance’ category in the International Songwriting Competition, with a song written

by Chris Turpin.The song Taste the Rain will be judged by a large panel of celebrated judges from the world of music such as Tom Waits, Kings of Leon, Regina Spektor, and Adele.

The International Song writing Competition (ISC) is a global competition that has over 15,000 entrants. The prize is also judged by heavyweights in the music industry, so to be shortlisted is a great accolade.

They have just finished their second album, due to be released this summer, and the first single Pray on Me is released on 21st March. The video for this single is fantastic and already online, you can find it on Youtube, or on the band’s various social networking pages. As far as Kill it Kid are concerned it’s a case of watching this space, big things are rapidly coming their way. www.myspace.com/killitkid www.facebook.com/killitkidofficial

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Prior to the release of Ken Loach’s latest picture Route Irish, Westworld’s very own Jack Dowell was fortunate enough to not only get a sneak preview of the film, but he also had a natter with Mr Loach and his leading man, Mark Womack.

Route Irish

Route Irish

By Jack Dowell

KEN LOACH IS THE INDISPUTABLE KING of British social realism. His films delve into British politics and bring gritty realisations of the working-classes to the silver screen; boasting themes such as impoverished adolescent Yorkshire bird-keepers in Kes, Irish Republicans during the 1923 Irish Civil War in The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Glaswegian alcoholics in My Name is Joe, among his repertoire.

Loach’s latest offering, Route Irish, is no different as he explores the real reasons behind Britain’s military involvement in Iraq and lays the blame at the feet of the corporations that have privatised modern warfare, thus transforming war into a lucrative capitalist enterprise where shareholders are more responsible than governments and private contractors, or mercenaries, are used rather than soldiers.

The film documents the journey of an ex-private contractor Fergus (Mark Womack) and his attempts to solve the mystery of his friend Frankie’s (John Bishop) death. The film takes its title from the nickname given to the road that runs from Baghdad International Airport to the centre of the city and is widely reported to be the most dangerous stretch of road in the world. After being told that Frankie died during an operation on Route Irish, Fergus believes he is being lied to by the corporation that hired Frankie. When a mobile phone containing a video of an operation that goes wrong and results in the death of an innocent Iraqi family is given to Fergus, he attempts to avenge Frankie’s death through the memories of his military contacts and an Iraqi musician.

Mark Womack’s performance is fantastic. The way he adapts to the character of Fergus, who is traumatised by the terrors of war witnessed during his time as a contractor, is seamless.

The emotions conveyed by both Womack and Trevor Williams during the torture sequence are flawless; the reality of the situation provides the films most powerful scene.

If you enjoy films about war that are full of fist-pumping national pride and sentiment then this won’t be your cup of tea, but it’ll definitely give you plenty to digest. The innocent death of a civilian family is described as “another day in Iraq”

by Nelson (Trevor Williams), a former colleague of Fergus’ who was part of the failed operation and subsequent illegal murder. His statement is painfully accurate; there have been over one million civilian deaths in Iraq during this war with the deaths of soldiers equating to just ten per cent of the death toll.

––– I was incredibly fortunate to be able to meet Ken Loach and Mark Womack and be able to discuss the reasons behind making this film and the preparation that allowed Womack to transform into the frighteningly brilliant Fergus. As an aspiring film-maker with a back-catalogue that totals 16 minutes, meeting Ken Loach was an incredible, yet daunting experience.

It appears that the people who are responsible for privatising the war are the only ones that benefit from war itself. What did you make of David Cameron’s recent trip to the Middle East to support British arms dealers and the involvement of Lockheed Martin, one of the U.S’s biggest arms dealers being paid to conduct the 2011 census?

Ken Loach: Plainly, Britain and the U.S are interested in maintaining relations with governments that they can do business with. Democracy isn’t important to them. What is important to them is a government that can control their country and is welcoming to the west, so they want to deal with someone with power that will open the door for western businesses that will sell what they need to sell, including arms obviously. It’s so naked and at the same time so hypocritical.

Democratic Arab states would be less likely to leave the Palestinians unguarded and unsupported. To think that we can’t count ourselves without an arms company making money from it is disgusting, it’s a joke.

When it was announced that Britain would join the U.S in the war against Iraq, 2 million people protested in London and yet eight years later the British public appear to have forgotten about Britain’s involvement in Iraq. By making Route Irish, did you want to re-ignite their anger?

KL: People are presented the war on the news and they are shown the surface, but (the news) doesn’t deal with any of the big questions. We wanted to dig into the reasons why the war happened in the first place, which is through the big corporations wanting to sort out economies in their favour for which they needed political power. That happened and they got in control of the oil, then the armies moved out and the private contractors moved in and the private companies are making a fortune because they’re not only the beneficiaries of the settlement but they also make money from the fighting.

The war has been privatised and that’s where we wanted to get in. So Paul (Laverty) wrote the two characters Fergus and Frankie then Rachel the girlfriend and Frankie’s death. Fergus then knows they’re not given the truth and the film is the discovery of what happened, which takes Fergus a long time.

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Route Irish

As war is such a traumatic event for both soldiers and civilians, how do you prepare to play a character that is as psychologically damaged as Fergus?

MW: He fought and fought against it when I was trying to lead him onto discussing it in the scene. He’s incredibly positive and optimistic considering everything he’s been through.

Mark Womack: I was lucky because I got to go to a place called Combat Stress and I met a few ex-service men and women that were suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. They were very helpful and talked a lot about the things they felt and the things that happened to them, as well as the difficulties of integrating back into society and you also learn about how long this disorder takes to manifest itself, sometimes it can take up to 14 years. It gave me a better picture of the type of things they were going through. We also met ex-contractors and soldiers. We were lucky to have an ex-SAS soldier as one of our advisors and he told me about his experiences in lots of different conflicts, his input was incredibly helpful.

In the torture scene, you use a technique known as waterboarding, where water is poured through a cloth tied over the victims face and down the nasal passage into the victim’s lungs. Condaleeza Rice, Colin Powell and Dick Cheney sanctioned the practice of it under the term “enhanced interrogation”. How difficult was it to perform that scene?

There are two characters in Route Irish who help add to the realism, Craig, a British soldier who was blinded in the war and Harim, an Iraqi Kurd who sought asylum in Britain in 2000. How important is it to have people like them playing roles in a film like this?

KL: Well they are a touchstone of accuracy and they are who they are, we told them not to do anything they didn’t feel comfortable with. Craig particularly, he would be incapable of doing something false and that’s the last thing we want so you knew that if he was there then it was ok. However there was one scene he wasn’t comfortable with and we didn’t do it in the end. Paul had written it and it was of Craig reflecting on his life if he hadn’t been blinded in the war and he couldn’t do it.

He wouldn’t and couldn’t imagine what his life would be like if he hadn’t been blinded and I think that route is far too dark to go down.

MW: We tried to fake it but it was interfering with the emotional flow of the scene and it was very difficult, so we tried it for real. We cared about Trevor’s safety, he obviously wasn’t tied down and he had breaks between shots but what you see is pretty real in a way. I spoke to Trevor about it and he said it was horrific and it affected him for quite some time afterwards. To say that it’s a legitimate form of interrogation is nonsense, its torture.

As a film-maker, do you see a responsibility to reflect the truth?

KL: Well you don’t want to misrepresent it do you? You just try to find stories that are significant, more significant than just the stories of the narrative, stories that reveal things about the way people are, or the world outside, or the town or society you live in. You try and find stories that shed light on the way we are. There’s got to be a human truth within it that you recognise, you have a sense that wants to open a window that was closed before.

Route irish will have a multi-platform release, opening in cinemas, on sky movies box office and on curzon demand, march 18th.

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Fiction play at Start the Bus

By Matt Smalley

Fiction / Venue Magazine

Venue Revival A brief chat with Venue magazine’s editor Joe Spurgeon TEN DAYS AFTER THE CLOSURE of Venue magazine was announced, that decision was overturned. Bristol and Bath’s only what’s on magazine was saved, according to its website, by ‘The hundreds upon hundreds of supporters who’ve spoken up, the advertisers who have thrown their cash into the ring, the restless Twitter campaign, the Facebook crusade, the I Saw Yous, the posters, the photos, the fundraisers, the support across the media, the hard work of Venue’s staff and freelancers and – most vitally – the waves of people willing to commit to a new Venue subscription’. In light of all this, Lucia Dobson-Smith caught up with Editor-inchief Joe Spurgeon, to discuss the past, present and future of the publication.

Venue has been through a dramatic few weeks, was the threat of closure a complete surprise, or did you see it coming?

We knew we were facing – and will continue to face – difficulties in what has become an increasingly turbulent, difficult industry. But closure? Yes, that was a surprise.

TRYING TO FIND SOME interesting new music can prove a tedious task at times. When I came across this four-piece band from London however, the search was finally rewarded.

Described in a number of ways, they have been referred to as purveyors of ‘eccentric, awkward pop music’ and as a newwave/post-punk indie band. Quite a mixture, but they’re ultimately a breath of fresh air.

Their single Big Things is a good place to start and after listening to them online, I found good reason to wait patiently for them to announce a gig in Bristol. The band consists of Mike Barrett (vocals, keyboards and drums), James Howard (vocals, guitars and drums), Daniel Djan (vocals, bass) and Nick Barrett (guitar). Having first started gigging in 2009 and producing live sessions for Radio 1, they seem to be impressing more and more and I’m pretty sure they will start climbing the ladder of success in the next few years.

Start the Bus seems like it was made for bands like these and on arrival it was a good sign that Big Jeff made an appearance, as that usually means good things are about to happen. The gig was energetic from start to finish and the band managed to keep punters enthralled, as several limbs were moving in a style that resembled dancing. As a fan, I was certainly left wanting more, but not to the extent where I was disappointed or likely to complain.

The band’s sound uses some simply sumptuous bass riffs that made me feel euphoric, most notably during To Stick To. They mix them with some keyboard action that supplies a summer-time essence, best demonstrated by Big Things. The two vocalists/drummers showed evidence of some heartfelt drumming, and well harmonised vocals, most brilliantly executed during the punching introduction to the song Phyllis.

I would describe the Fiction experience as a pick ‘n’ mix bag of carefully chosen sweets; a lot of fun with a little bit of something for everyone. This opinion is up for debate, and I’m sure their debut album is highly anticipated. If you are looking for a gem of a band that does something slightly different, try dipping into the world of fiction. It’s unreal.

Was there a particular moment when you thought “this is it, the end”, and how did you feel at the possibility of losing the publication?

At 11.12am on Tuesday 22 February, we were told, as a group of Venue staff and freelancers, that Venue would cease publication in two weeks’ time. Everyone who was then a Venue employee would be made redundant. I guess at that point, we all thought Venue’s 29-year run had come to an end.

The thought of losing Venue was, and is, unthinkable to me. I think it’s so important for cities like Bristol and Bath to foster and enjoy quality, intelligent, thoughtful and uncompromised journalism. Along with many others, I believed there was a way we could make it work. We rallied. So did our readers. And so did the advertisers that fund the magazine.

How did you manage to turn the situation around, and how do you feel now the magazine seems to be back on track?

Very simply, we came up with a business plan that made financial sense. The commitment of readers willing to subscribe was a big help, as were many of our advertisers willing to throw their cash into the ring to keep the magazine afloat. Being monthly also saves on certain print/production costs but overall, the huge surge of support and public goodwill convinced everyone that Venue had a demand and should survive. It had to. I’m glad it did, though the news is of course tainted by the fact that many people – my friends – will be losing their jobs.

How did the public respond to the prospect of closure?

It was utterly overwhelming. Regular readers, non-readers, Venue naysayers, competitors, advertisers and friends all spoke up in extraordinary numbers. We felt close to tears on an almost hourly basis. We had a 3,000-strong Facebook group emerge in a week, posters were popping up all over the place, our I Saw You pages were bombarded, we had phone calls, letters, donations, fundraising gigs, emails, Tweets, gifts, visits… it was incredibly encouraging and hugely motivating.

I’ll never forget it.

Will there be any changes to funding, style, format, staffing or frequency of the magazine?

Yes, there will still be redundancies and Venue itself will change. There has to be a compromise. The magazine cannot carry on as it was. So, after issue 967 (in shops Wed 20 April), Venue magazine will become a much larger monthly title. It will be free. It will use and expand upon the distribution channels of one of our other titles, Folio magazine (foliomagazine.co.uk). Both magazines will combine and will be printed together as twin titles, each retaining their own identity. Our website (venue.co.uk) will remain and will also

expand to include local event listings. The one thing that will not change is Venue’s content, style and breadth of local coverage. If you want to know what’s going on and read world class journalism in a regional publication, then we’ll gladly plug that gap.

How important do you think the magazine to the Bristol arts and entertainment scene?

Hugely. There’s nothing else like it. When I moved here from Sheffield, I fell in love with it. I pored over the festival guides, the food guides and laughed my eyes out at the film reviews, music reviews and the opinions Venue’s writers were allowed to exercise. I had never seen anything like it apart from Time Out in London and the excellent List in Scotland. Bristol and Bath have a huge, thriving arts/cultural scene; Venue is part of that, providing people with access to all the limitless wonderfulness around them. And it’s very funny.

Does the printed magazine still have a role in a world of online reviews, entertainment guides and advertisement?

It’s a difficult time for inky journalism, no question. But print media has a prominent role to play and will never die completely; it’s just hard to imagine that anything not supported by a modern, viable digital presence will succeed.

The internet – a shining beacon of democracy, in many ways – floods people’s lives with free content. Murdoch is taking a huge risk with his paywalls, Arianna Huffington is the touchstone for advocates of ‘citizen journalism’, but there will always be a place for good writing and I believe it’s such a scarce skill that people will always, at some link in the chain, be prepared to pay for it. There’s a strong argument for the ritualistic, Sunday morning paper-style consumption of journalism too, which I agree with, but in terms of online content and how to make that pay, then the quest, across the industry, continues.

Is Venue now secure for the foreseeable future?

Yes!