The Skinny Scotland August 2015 by The Skinny

.CO.UK

INDEPENDENT FREE

CULT U R A L

J O U R N A L I S M

August 2015 Scotland Issue 119

COMEDY Alex Edelman Best Newcomers Return Bridget Christie Fringe Dog Michael Che & Jena Friedman Stewart Lee Phil Ellis Kyle Kinane & Adrienne Truscott THEATRE Bryony Kimmings Fergus Linehan Stewart Laing BOOKS Poetry in Focus Yuri Herrera Hyeonseo Lee Janice Galloway Limmy FILM Andrew Haigh Alexander Skarsg책rd Crystal Moselle Ana Lily Amirpour CLUBS The Black Dog

ROLL UP, ROLL UP

TO THE GREATEST ARTS FESTIVAL ON EARTH

MUSIC FFS Ratking East India Youth The Revolution Will Be Live Chelsea Wolfe Outblinker Vessels TECH Make Works

ART Platform 2015 Charles Avery kennardphillipps Dennis and Debbie Club The Skinny Showcase at EAF

SUMMER NIGHTS THURSDAy 06 AUGUST

KING CREOSOTE

FRIDAy 07 AUGUST

performing 'From Scotland With Love' + Special Guests Withered Hand

THURSDAy 13 AUGUST

RODDY FRAME + Special Guests

Siobhan Wilson

SATURDAY 08 AUGUST

GLASVEGAS + VERY Special Guests

Carl Barat & The Jackals PLUS Atom Tree

FRIDAy 14 AUGUST

SATURDAY 15 AUGUST

JOAN ARMATRADING

BEN FOLDS WITH yMUSIC

ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN

Richard Navarro

The Jellyman’s Daughter

Dave McCabe (The Zutons)

+ Special Guests

P.58 Laura Porteous, The Skinny Showcase

P.20 Tomorrow, Vanishing Point Theatre

Credit: Vanishing Point Theatre

GLASGOW, THE BANDSTAND KELVINGROVE PARK

+ Special Guests

SUNDAY 9TH AUGUST

ELECTRIC HONEY SESSIONS

FEATURING WE WERE PROMISED JET PACKS, FATHERSON, WOODENBOX, YOUNG AVIATORS, FINN LEMARINEL, HARRY & THE HENDERSONS, MAYOR STUBBS. WITH SPECIAL GUEST COMPÈRE VIC GALLOWAY

EDINBURGH, THE ROSS BANDSTAND, PRINces Street Gardens + Special Guests

THURSDAY 27 AUGUST

FRIDAY 28 AUGUST

THE FLAMING LIPS THE WATERBOYS + Special Guests

LITTLE EYE

+ Special Guests

Dutch Uncles

Freddie Stevenson

0141 353 8000 | WWW.glasgowconcerthalls.com 0131 228 1155 | WWW.TICKETMASTER.CO.UK | 0844 844 0444 AND FROM ALL USUAL OUTLETS

GATES 6PM. VISIT THE MAGNERS VILLAGE, FANTASTIC FOOD & BARS

P.29 East India Youth

August 2015

Regular Music & National Theatre of Scotland present

JANIS JOPLIN:

FULL TILT The 2014 sell-out smash hit from Fringe First winning playwright Peter Arnott & multi-award winning director Cora Bissett.

‘I am the stone, you are the mother-****ing window!’

EDINBURGH Queens Hall

I N DEPEN DENT

CULTU R AL

JOU R NALI S M

Issue 119, August 2015 © Radge Media Ltd. Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk T: 0131 467 4630 P: Room 1.9, 1st Floor, Techcube, Summerhall 1 Summerhall Place, Edinburgh EH9 1PL The Skinny is Scotland's largest independent entertainment & listings magazine, and offers a wide range of advertising packages and affordable ways to promote your business. Get in touch to find out more.

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

Printed by Mortons Print Limited, Horncastle ABC verified Jan – Dec 2014: 32,191

MonDAY 24 - SunDAY 30 August

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

(not Thurs 27) I 9.30pm

MTN AWARD Winner - Fringe 2014 ★★★★★

BROADWAY BABY

★★★★★

‘OUTSTANDING’ BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE

★★★★★

★★★★

TICKETS: 0844 844 0444 WWW.TICKETMASTER.CO.UK

0844 844 0444

www.ticketmaster.co.uk

regularmusic.com 4

Contents

★★★★

‘Superb’ The Telegraph

IN PERSON : QUEENS HALL I FRINGE BOX OFFICES

In person from Ticket Scotland Glasgow/Edinburgh & Ripping Edinburgh and usual outlets

regularmusicltd

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 Anna Docherty Alexandra Fiddes Jamie Dunn Peter Simpson Darren Carle John Donaghy Emma Ainley-Walker Paul Mitchell

Production Production Manager Lead Designer

Eve Somerville Sigrid Schmeisser

Sales Commercial Director Sales Executives

The Scotsman

‘Electrifying’ The Times

P.79 Clubbing Highlights

printed on 100% recycled paper

General Manager Chief Operating Officer Publisher

Nicola Taylor Claire Collins Becca Strahan Nicky Carter Kyla Hall Lara Moloney Sophie Kyle

regularmusicuk THE SKINNY

Credit: Joren Joshua

JAMES

Credit: Lucy Ridges

WEDNESDAy 26 AUGUST

Contents 06 Chat & Opinion: Welcome to the maga-

zine! Stop the Presses, What Are You Having For Lunch?, Spot the Difference, Shot of the Month + Crystal Baws.

Heads Up: Your cultural highlights for the next five weeks.

Last year’s Fringe Best Newcomer nominees Alex Edelmen, Dane Baptiste, Gein's Family Giftshop and Lazy Susan on Sophomore Syndrome.

We talk politics behind the scenes of The Black Dog's latest album, Neither/Neither.

Chelsea Wolfe on her new fever dream of an album, Abyss.

50 Director Andrew Haigh changes tack with 45 Years.

Ratking founder Patrick 'Wiki' Morales lays out the extent of MC rap group's ambition.

We catch up with Crystal Moselle, director of the year’s most hotly-debated doc.

Alexander Skarsgård on vivid indie coming-of-ager The Diary of a Teenage Girl.

Comedian Phil Ellis reflects on the success and future of Funz and Gamez.

Make Works founder Fi Scott on facilitating local creativity in art and design.

Bridget Christie mines jokes from bigots. + Fringe Dog’s guide to choosing a 5* show.

Director Ana Lily Amirpour introduces her new Iranian vampire movie.

Stewart Lee on his mandate to do worse and more strange things. + American politicos Michael Che and Jena Friedman.

Our exhibition, The Skinny Showcase, brings four hand-picked Scottish graduates to EAF.

Founder Karen Koren on Gilded Balloon at 30 + American titans Kyle Kinane and Adrienne Truscott.

60 Showcase: ECA graduate Alice Chandler

Puddles Pity Party, Deanna Fleysher, Spencer Jones and John-Luke Roberts talk clowning + Those unsung heroes – comedy directors.

LIFESTYLE

introduces her sculptural practice.

Fashion: Glasgow Vintage Kilo Sale, Bernat Klein and Fabrizio Gianni.

20 An overview of the theatrical offerings of

Travel: We discover it’s chilly down in the deserts of Chile.

Celebrated theatre maker Bryony Kimmings discusses mental health stigma.

Deviance: Confessions of a sex shop clerk and the trials of the female traveller.

Our highlights of Fergus Linehan’s debut Edinburgh International Festival.

Food & Drink: Fringe food and deep fried tarantulas. The usual.

Stewart Laing discusses Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner, part of EIF.

REVIEW

Ahead of his Electric Fields set, East India Youth analyses Culture of Volume.

the Edinburgh Fringe.

Music: Gig highlights, a tribute to Gil Scott-Heron, new albums from Destroyer and Mac DeMarco, + Glasgow’s new psych heroes Outblinker

Clubs: Highlights for August nights across the country. Even Aberdeen.

30 Poetry is strong within Edinburgh this month – here are our highlights.

Novelist Janice Galloway talks to The Skinny about 'sex and love and parenthood’

Author Yuri Herrera on ‘the American problem that Mexico is suffering.’

Enter the bleak imagination of comedy auteur Brian Limond, aka Limmy.

North Korean defector Hyeonseo Lee discusses her sad and beautiful memoir.

Alex Kapranos and Russell Mael explain how a broken tooth resulted in FFS.

EAF’s emergent art programme, Platform, launches with four Scottish artists.

Collaborative duo kennardphillipps on protest, politics and participation.

40 Artist Charles Avery discusses The

Islanders, his epic imaginative work returning to EAF.

Dennis & Debbie Club introduce their reconstructions of infamy + A retrospective of artist and writer Hanne Darboven.

Leeds five piece Vessels on swapping guitars for synths as they hit Electric Fields.

August 2015

80 Tech: RIP AIBO, our robotic canine friend. 81

Art: This month’s highlights, + reviews of Edwin Burdis and Roman Signer.

Film: Aleksei German’s swan song Hard to be a God + moving doc 52 Tuesdays.

DVD / Books: 3 Women + Killing Zoe come to Blu-ray.

Theatre: Reviews of Bard in the Botanics, and anticipating SpectreTown.

Comedy: Spotlight – Foxdog Studios.

Competitions: WIN! Deliveroo credit or Flaming Lips tickets anyone?

Listings: What’s on this month in Music, Clubs and Art. + Top 5 EdFest picks.

Fred Fletch interviews John Robertson and Jo-Jo Bellini in a sex club.

Contents

elcome to our annual Edinburgh Festivals Bible. Our August issue has been growing in density and page number over the past few years, until we reach this point – 96 pages of excellent cultural journalism, weight-related complaints from our distribution company, and minor hallucinogenic breakdowns for me, the designer and the production manager. There are so many articles we are literally struggling to fit them all onto the contents page. Could I have a round of applause, please, for our network of supremely talented section editors and contributors for managing to create so much passionate, informed writing, pristine photography and beautiful illustration to fill these here pages. We open with Comedy, because nothing says Edinburgh Festivals like them LOLs, and we take our role as the facilitator of said LOLs extremely seriously. The Comedy editors from both our Scotland and Northwest editions have joined forces to become best friends in print and in reality, tag team interviewing an array of acts they reckon will be worth your time and laughter this festival. They quizzed last year's Best Newcomer winner and nominees to find out how they're planning on dealing with the dreaded Sophomore Syndrome, found out all about clowning, talked to that muchoverlooked entity, the comedy director, and interrogated some of American comedy's titans, rolling into town as if they own the joint. We have words with Bridget Christie, refusing to tell us what her show is about because she hasn't written it yet because she's inspired by topical events, y'ken? And her ball and chain, Stewart Lee, muses on the odd position of being both regarded as an outsider, yet famous enough that a photo of him eating an apple warrants a post on a Guardian journalist's website. After Comedy, we come to that other festival mainstay – Theatre. This year is a banner one in the Scottish cultural domain, as it marks the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival programme by new director Fergus Linehan. He tells us all about his vision for the EIF, from moving the dates in line with the Fringe, to bringing in some more contemporary music, simultaneously maintaining and expanding the audience of one of the world's greatest arts festivals. We also speak to Bryony Kimmings, whose hotly-anticipated new production Fake It til You Make It arrives in the Traverse this month, dealing with the stigma of mental health issues in a highly personal story. Strung between these two are the team's recommendations from across the Fringe and EIF programmes. In Books, section editor Alan continues his drive to be banned from all of the communist countries with some words with North Korean defector Hyeonseo Lee, who brings her touching and harrowing memoir of life in and escape from the hermit kingdom to the Edinburgh International Book Festival this month. Mexico's Yuri Herrera discusses his rational meditation on his nation's treatment at the hands of the USA's illogical and ineffective war on drugs. Poetry looming large across this

year's festival programme, both Book and Fringe, we introduce our new poetry correspondent to offer you a rundown of what not to miss this year. And then Limmy turns up, to tell us about his Daft Wee Stories, and how writing a book is dead easy compared to trying to get a show broadcast on primetime BBC. Fair enough. This year's Edinburgh Art Festival introduces a new strand dedicated to emergent artists, with the four exhibitors selected from an open call for application. One of them's our writer Jess Ramm, so we got her to interview the rest of them to find out what to expect. It includes a spherical climbing wall that may or may not work, and explorations of the topography of the Atacama desert, so you can reliably expect to be amazed. We also speak to Charles Avery, who seems to be pretty much everyone's most-anticipated show of the EAF, presenting an update on his surreal and minutely detailed alternative universe, The Island. We hear from collaborative duo kennardphillips about their intensive process and politically-inspired work, and discuss glamour and intrigue with another double act, Dennis and Debbie Club. Last but not least in Art, we have our now annual graduate Showcase, part of the EAF and this year moving in to town to pop up in Hill St Design House. After travelling the length and breadth of Scotland (well, to Aberdeen and Glasgow at the farthest reaches) a student from each of the four major colleges has been selected from the degree shows to represent the brightest and best of 2015’s artistic talent. They will display on Hill St from 31 Jul-23 Aug. Come along, it's free. In Music, we're gearing up for presenting our stage at Dumfries and Galloway's Electric Fields festival on 29 August. Our Music editor's done some sterling work in booking a diverse and eagerly awaited line-up, including former Scotland cover star Blanck Mass, and former NW cover star East India Youth, who discusses his precarious live show on p29. Also appearing will be Leeds five piece Vessels, who drop by to tell us about swapping guitars for synths, and new Glasgow psych heroes Outblinker, profiled as our New Blood in the Review section. Elsewhere, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and Sparks’ Russell Mael discuss the formation of FFS, an unlikely pairing of Glasgow art rockers and California new wavers forged outside Huey Lewis's dentist's surgery. This here summary can but scratch the surface of our August issue. It is vast and wide-ranging in tone and subject. I didn't even mention Fred Fletch conducting an interview in a sex club! Or Film, which covers subjects stretching from an Iranian vampire film, to True Blood star Alexander Skarsgård's role in coming of age movie The Diary of a Teenage Girl. Alongside various things that don't involve vampires... And there's even more online – theskinny.co.uk, recently refreshed, Real Housewives-style, with a lovely facelift. Check it daily for our diligent reviews team's up-to-theminute appraisals of all the fun of the festival fair. [Rosamund West]

AUGUST'S COVER ARTIST Mica Warren is an Irish illustrator, born and raised in County Wicklow, now living in Edinburgh with his big brother Ben. When asked for a quote he had this to say – “Hey Mum, I'm on the cover of the Skinny!” cargocollective.com/micawarren

Chat

Shot Of The Month

The Prodigy, T in the Park, Strathallan Castle, 12 Jul, by Amy Muir

Spot the Difference

Credit: Tom Lynall

Editorial

TWO IGUANAS Meet Lil Meepo, Hollywood's hottest Iguana star. In the Hollywood reptile A-list, only the T-Rex from Jurassic Park and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have more clout. Meepo began his acting career in an off-Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ Night of the Iguana opposite Stockard Channing before giving scene stealing performances in the likes of Aguirre, Wrath of God, Apocalypse Now and Predator. The two pictures above show Meepo on the set of his breakout film, The Three Caballeros, where he became BFF with Donald Duck. But the sharped-eyed of you out there might spot some slight discrepancies between both

pictures. If you can spot the difference, you could be in with the chance of winning a copy of The Incomplete Tim Key... by (er) Tim Key, courtesy of our pals over at Canongate. Head across to theskinny/co.uk/competitions to take part. Best in Show: TWO DONATELLAS One I would like to wander along the beach in Monte Carlo with, sharing a bottle of champagne before falling asleep in each other's arms on a bed covered in rose petals. The other is Donatella Versace. – PD Left - Donatella, Right - Dogatella – KM

Competition closes midnight Sunday 30 Aug. 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. The winner will receive the ticket by email. Our Ts&Cs can be found at theskinny.co.uk/about/terms-and-conditions

THE SKINNY

Crystal Baws With Mystic Mark

ARIES After years of the council ignoring your letters and online petitions, you decide to take matters into your own hands in August when you sneak out under the cover of darkness to drill holes into the city's public statues and install a Fleshlightâ&#x201E;˘ in each sculpture's bronze groin. TAURUS Waking up after the accident you find your entire body has been amputated from the neck down and replaced with a giant wheel. Standing at the bottom of your bed, the Police Chief announces that you have been recruited by a top secret division of the Police Force: Wheel Patrol.

GEMINI Your tapeworm is getting so long you can now wrap it around your waist to see how much weight you're losing. Also, when you're done it conveniently snaps back up your bum like a tape measure. CANCER Life is like a game of chess, you're shit at it and a computer can do it better than you now anyway. LEO You announce to your family that you will be getting married to your favourite porn scene as it plays on a loop over dinner, explaining that you wish to spend the rest of your life with that gurning, shivering bald man and riotous oiled up MILF whose breasts are like fists and who moans like an old colonel. At the ceremony, its director agrees to wheel it down the aisle on a veiled flatscreen as Bach's Air on the G String plays.

VIRGO As the Voyager spacecraft leaves the solar system, it smashes through the crudely painted backdrop of stars God thought would â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;do for nowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; before he went to sleep for a bit and died of a stroke. LIBRA The best thing about having a pet is being able to blame it for the turds you left behind the sofa.

BDY_PRTS

SCORPIO Find out what you like doing best and pay someone else to do that for you. SAGITTARIUS Since you bought that place in the sun, you've still not had a chance to get out there. So you lend your brother-in-law the keys and entreat him to send you a postcard as he jets off with the kids for a two-week journey into the heart of our nearest star. CAPRICORN Snake oil is now trading at less than $2 a barrel. AQUARIUS If only there was some way of predicting the future so you could make an informed decision on how to live your life. Then those predictions could be helpfully disseminated to the public via monthly updates from a regional listings magazine. PISCES At last you finish your screenplay for Shawshank Redemption II, a hilarious buddy movie in which Andy and Red take the newly fixed up boat out on the open ocean to search for sunken treasure!

twitter.com/themysticmark facebook.com/themysticmark

on your party hats and get ready for birthday cake: the Booking Dance Festival celebrates its 7th anniversary at the Fringe this summer, and accordingly they're bringing the impressive likes of contemporary dance luminary Jeanette Stoner and LA's Versa-Style Dance Company to the capital. There's also a guest international artist in the form of Trinidad and Tobago's Metamorphosis Dance Company, nestled among the plethora of tantalising performances and exhibitions. Edinburgh International Conference Centre (venue 150), 12-16 August, ÂŁ12 (concessions ÂŁ3-8). For more, visit bookingdance.com The Skinny Showcase exhibition returns to Edinburgh Art Festival for its second outing this month. Drawing together a graduate artist selected from each of Scotland's four main collegesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; degree shows, the exhibition represents a snapshot of the best of the class of 2015 in the nation's creative industries. Features sculpture, painting, photography and a crowning ceremony celebrating the achievements of which you are most proud. Hill St Design House, Edinburgh, 31 Jul-23 Aug, free. Preview Fri 31 Jul, 6-8pm

You may have heard a little about our Jura Unbound event already, but let's recap a little for anyone caught blissfully snoozing away at the back of the room: with our 10th birthday on the horizon, we're taking over the Spiegeltent with award-winning novelist Sean Michaels on board (he used to write for us, don'cha know). He's going to be reading from his marvellous debut tome Us Conductors, a rambunctious read concerning the inventor of the theremin, Lev Sergeyvich Termen, while the tremendously talented Lydia Kavina shows us how the instrument of your sci-fi dreams should be played. The show will be presented by Nicola Meighan, ace Glaswegian music scribe of no little repute, so do pop along for an evening of books, booze and bizarre noises. Spiegeltent, Charlotte Square Gardens, free. 23 Aug, 9pm.

jockmooney.co.uk

Contrary to prior news that our favourite autumnal indoor festival was to take a year off, The Pleasance Sessions will instead return for a weekender this October (9-11). The Skinny will be programming a wee evening featuring various figures who've been a steady presence in the magazine across our ten years. We can tell you now (before anybody else) that selfstyled flamenco punk RM Hubbert, psych riff-raff Outblinker and dream-pop duo BDY_PRTS are

August 2015

Credit: Amy Muir

playing our event on Saturday the 10th. We might even bring in a very special guest on the night (if you promise to keep it down, like). There'll be a record fair featuring a who's who of independent Scottish labels during the day. Your pal, oor pal, awbdy's pal, Vic Galloway has been charged with programming the previous night's entertainment (which the man himself will no doubt tell you all about on the wireless in due course) and principal organisers Edinburgh University Student Association take care of Sunday night's gathering. See dustymoose.co.uk for the full bill and tickets from 5 Aug. The Skinny's long-time sister magazine Fest â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the biggest and best free guide to the Edinburgh Fringe â&#x20AC;&#x201C; has now become a fully-fledged member of the Radge Media family. We've brought the whole operation in house and given the mag fresh new look; keep an eye out for its A5 Preview Guide which comes out on the very same day as The Skinny you're currently holding. Fest also spoils you with five additional biweekly editions during the Festival â&#x20AC;&#x201C; catch them on 11, 14, 18, 21, and 25 August. You can find them in all the major box offices and venues throughout the city centre. Fest also hosts an annual Launch Party on the Monday of the Festival's â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Week 1â&#x20AC;&#x2122;: this year it's 10 August at a secret city-centre location. It's invite only, but we've been reliably informed that if you tweet @festmag with your best one-liners before midnight on Sunday 2 August, you could be in with a chance of a guestie.

Online Only Festival? Where?!? Oh, that thing. Yeah, we're into it. It may not escape your notice, in fact, but this issue's maybe a teensy bit weighted towards the world's largest arts'n'culture gathering. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;But where can I read more about it?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; we hear you ask hungrily â&#x20AC;&#x201C; let us reassure you that our website will be lovingly adorned with hundreds of reports and reviews from Edinburgh International Festival, The Fringe, Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival, cominâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; atcha daily. For all our latest coverage, head to theskinny.co.uk. We recently met with legendary director Johnnie To â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the godfather of Hong Kong gangster cinema â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at Edinburgh International Film Festival, and jolly nice he was too. He tells us all about the aesthetics of violence and the changing nature of his chosen profession in a lengthy, immersive and fascinating interview over at theskinny.co.uk/film. Speaking of film, we've announced the shortlist for our Short Film Competition! We'll be posting one of the nominated entries on our website every day before announcing the winner at our Jura Unbound event on 23 Aug, with the triumphant filmmaker going on to make a second short film to be screened at next year's Glasgow Short Film Festival. The first few films should already be online by the time you read this, so keep an eye on theskinny.co.uk/film

Opinion

Bolton's Damon Michael Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, takes to the road to celebrate 15 years since his Mercury Award-winning debut LP, The Hour Of Bewilderbeast, first enchanted our earlugs with its sprawling 18-song playlist. He alights at Glasgow's Òran Mór for the only Scottish stop-off of the tour, playing said album live and in its entirety, plus a pick'n'mix selection of hits and favourites. Òran Mór, Glasgow, 7pm, £23

Scottish Youth Dance company YDance celebrates the tenth year of its Project Y training programme – kicking off the post-programme tour with an opening performance at Glasgow's Tramway, presenting a new series of four contemporary dance works choreographed by YDance artistic director Anna Kenrick and a selection of guest choreographers, performed by 20+ Scottish dancers aged 1621. Tramway, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £6 (£4)

The Edinburgh Art Festival opens official (psst, see details of our own exhibition to your right), with highlights including (as in, other than our exhibition) Charles Avery's Ingleby Gallery takeover, the Platform: new artist showcase at Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts Centre, ECA's ambitious Tent gallery installation of performance and sound works, and more. Did we mention we have our own exhibition? See listings for full EAF programme.

Badly Drawn Boy

Project Y

Tue 4 Aug

Wed 5 Aug

Thu 6 Aug

Fri 7 Aug

Because there's no wrong time for a bit of Bruce Willis /Die Hard action (right?), Glasgow Film Theatre dig out the third in the action hero franchise – Die Hard with a Vengeance – for a one-off airing on 35mm print, as part of their 'Summer Daze' programme of screenings, which also takes in sharktastic summer beach-time fave Jaws a week later, 11 Aug. Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow, 8pm, £8.50 (£7)

Gone, but not forgotten, Glasgow's The Arches gets a nod at this year's Fringe with the fruits of the venue's joint Autopsy Award initiative with Summerhall – Ringside – Glasgow-based aerial artist and theatremaker Ellie Dubois' awardwinning piece, which debuted at Arches Live 2014, performed on trapeze, with each audience member privy to an intimate one-on-one viewing. Summerhall, Edinburgh, 5-11 & 13-29 Aug, £4

Magners Summers Nights returns to the gargantuan Kelvingrove Bandstand for a series of summery gig sessions (with heavy cider placement), kicking off with a screening of director Virginia Heath's archive footage-compiled gem From Scotland With Love, with folkie Fifer King Creosote on hand to perform his transportive film score, plus special guests. Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, 6pm, £25

An all-new Scottish poetry collective take on the Fringe under the banner Shift/, made up of seven artists – Harry Giles, Rachel Amey, Sam Small, Jenny Lindsay, Bram E. Gieben, Rachel McCrum, and Ali Maloney – each manning their own solo night, Monday-Sunday, before drawing to a close with a collective event on 28 Aug, where every goddamn glorious one of 'em will bombard your senses. Summerhall, Edinburgh, 7-28 Aug, £6

Die Hard

Ringside

From Scotland With Love

Charles Avery, Untitled

Credit: Charles Avery

So, as per the August law, Edinburgh Festival fever takes over a little this month, with picks from across the gamut of art, books, comedy, theatre, and music. Ne'er fear, though – Glasgow still gets a decent look-in, as do a few out-of-town options for escaping the city in favour of some chilled music in a field...

Thu 30 Jul

Shift/

Wed 12 Aug

Thu 13 Aug

Fri 14 Aug

Transforming into an open air cinema for five nights, Edinburgh Uni's Old College quadrangle plays host to a programme of classic film screenings on the quad lawn (aka bring a liquid picnic), kicking off with Starship Troopers (6.30pm) and Blade Runner (9.15pm), before taking in the likes of This Is Spinal Tap, The Goonies, The Lost Boys, and Heathers. Old College Quad, Edinburgh, various times, 12-16 Aug, £6.50

Remember when Luisa Omielan rocked up at the 2012 Fringe without any fanfare, cheekily sporting a show with ‘Beyoncé’ in the title, and it turned out to be bloody amazing? Now a bit of a global phenomenon, she's back for 2015 with a mini run of last year's follow-up hit, Am I Right Ladies?, an empowering manifesto musing on sex, mental health, and body image. Assembly George Square, Edinburgh, 13-15 Aug, 8.45pm, £16.50

Made up of a reformed physicist, an ex-forensic scientist, and a one-time primary school teacher, The Colour Ham sketch trio take to the Fringe to mark their last show ever – One. Last. Time. (A Best Of) – hosting a night of silliness giving their finest skits a final airing. Let's hope that it includes their rewriting of Pinocchio through the medium of a military crotch, eh? Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh, 10.30pm, £15

Luisa Omielan

The Colour Ham

Thu 20 Aug

Fri 21 Aug

Approaching the subject of death with clarity and humour, Jon Spooner and Chris Thorpe take to the Trav for the Scottish premiere of Are We Dead Yet? – a mix of stories and song musing on what happens when we die, how we think about dying, and how some of us might be brought back, inspired by research into developments in resuscitation. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 19-30 Aug, £18 (£13/£8)

Edinburgh Art Festival continues its annual dusk fun and frolics, with round two of the Art Late programme kicking off at Talbot Rice, before touring en hoof to The Number Shop, National Portrait Gallery, and Dovecot Gallery, where it rounds off with a curator's tour, workshops, and a live performance from Miaoux Miaoux (aka Julian Corrie) in his full-band ensemble. Catch the first Art Late on 13 Aug. Various venues, Edinburgh, 6pm, £5

Providing a retreat from the crazy of the big city (we're mostly looking at you, Edinburgh), DIY boutique festival affair Doune The Rabbit Hole returns for its sixth annual outing – again awash with a stellar lineup of locals, including The Phantom Band, Stanley Odd, eagleowl, Happy Meals, and Paws, plus a smattering of guests from afar, bolstered by a programme of art, theatre, and spoken word. Cardross Estate, Stirlingshire. 21-23 Aug, £88 weekend

Kate Tempest

Are We Dead Yet?

Miaoux Miaoux

Thu 27 Aug

Following their sell-out first live outing in June at The Art School, Glasgow art rockers Franz Ferdinand and LA new wavers Sparks return their transatlantic new project, FFS, to Glasgow – this time giving their Skinny five-starred debut LP an airing at the sprawling Barrowlands. They also play Edinburgh International Festival, 24 Aug (but you'll have to beg, borrow or steal your way into that one). Barrowlands, Glasgow, 7pm, £25

While his earlier novel Under The Skin was being made into a Scarlett Johansson-starring cinematic masterpiece, Dutchborn author Michel Faber was already quietly working away on an arguably even greater literary creation – The Book of Strange New Things – which garnered a rare five stars in these here pages. He takes to the Book Fest to discuss said masterpiece. Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, 8.45pm, £10 (£8)

Chat

Edwyn Collins

FFS

Photo: David Edwards

Wed 26 Aug

In 2005, a stroke robbed Scottish musician Edwyn Collins of his memories and words, but one phrase that stuck was 'the possibilities are endless' – a maxim that gave its name to the directors Edward Lovelace and James Hall's moving documentary portrait of his recovery. He takes to the Book Fest to discuss the film, and his recent book, with his wife Grace Maxwell and longtime fan Ian Rankin. Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, 3.15pm, £10

Credit: Derek Mark Chapman

Tue 25 Aug

Credit: Gemma Burke

Wed 19 Aug

Credit: Bart Heemskerk

Tue 18 Aug English playwright, poet, Ninja Tune-signed rapper, and all-round literary starlet Kate Tempest returns to Scotland for a set at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival, out discussing her new poetry collection, Hold Your Own, with Scottish poet, and handily her poetry editor, Don Paterson. You can also catch her performing live at the festival the following day, 19 Aug. Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, 8.15pm, £10 (£8)

The Phantom Band

Michel Faber

THE SKINNY

Credit: Kat Gollock

Starship Troopers

Credit: Luke Brookes

Compiled by: Anna Docherty

Wed 29 Jul

Credit: Alan Dunlop

Heads Up

Tue 28 Jul

Sat 1 Aug

Sun 2 Aug

Mon 3 Aug

In celebration of our longrunning art showcase in print (and online), we take to the Art Fest for the sophomore The Skinny Showcase exhibition – presenting four emerging artists fresh from degree show: Mary Watson from DJCAD, John Farrell from GSA, Alice Chandler from ECA, and Laura Porteous from Gray's. Evening preview, 31 Jul, 6pm-8pm. The exhibition then runs until 23 Aug. Hill Street Design House, Edinburgh, 31 Jul-31 Aug, free

As part of the CCA's weekend-long retrospective of late artist and performer Ian Smith, longtime artistic director of Mischief La Bas, Saturday night finds 'em in Death Cabaret mode – with David Hoyle hosting a showcase of dark, reflective, and oft-humorous live art, music, and performance on the theme of death, featuring Mamoru Iriguchi, Donna Rutherford, Creative Martyrs, Roger Ely, and more. CCA, Glasgow, 7pm, £16 (£12.50)

The STREETrave folks bring some rave action to your Sunday afternoon, taking over SWG3 and the outdoor lane space for the STREETrave Street Party – featuring a sprawling programme of DJ talent harking back to yesteryear, including Todd Terry, Jon Mancini, Danny Rampling, Boney, and more, plus live music from 808 State, Shades of Rhythm, and Kym Sims. SWG3, Glasgow, 2pm, from £25

Glasgow gets in on a bit of Fringe preview action as that cantankerous bastard Frankie Boyle takes to The Stand to present a selection of work-in-progress snippets, ahead of appearing at Edinburgh's Fringe later in the month, limbering up for the September airing of his brand new stand-up show, Hurt Like You've Never Been Loved, a response to Compton hiphopper Kendrick Lamar's last album, as you do. The Stand, Glasgow, 8.30pm, £15 (£12)

Laura Porteous, painting

Death Cabaret

Todd Terry

Mon 10 Aug

Tue 11 Aug

Record label Lost Map take to the wilds of Penicuik Town Hall for the Howlin' Fringe one-off curated knees-up, featuring live music cherrypicked from the Lost Map roster and their pals – who be Seamus Fogarty, Kid Canaveral, Supermoon, The Pictish Trail, Slow Club, Tuff Love, Rozi Plain, and Randolph’s Leap – plus a programme of comedy, food stalls, promised 'cheap beer', and more. That do you? Penicuik Town Hall, Penicuik, 3pm, from £15

Taking a second dip into the Magners Summer Nights programme (see also 6 Aug), this time with an Electric Honey Music takeover featuring a seven-strong line-up of talent from the student-run label – We Were Promised Jetpacks, Fatherson, Young Aviators, Woodenbox, Finn Lemarinel, Harry and the Hendersons, and Mayor Stubbs – with familiar face Vic Galloway on compere duties. Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, 4pm, £14

Summerhall's Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series elbows its way into August, hosting a set from San Francisco folk-rock unit Sun Kil Moon, born of the ashes of the long defunct Red House Painters, with mainman Mark Kozelek's storybook-style lyrics and warped homespun wisdom making new LP Universal Themes one to seek out in a live setting. Support comes from Painbirds. Summerhall, Edinburgh, 8pm, £20

From the producers of Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience comes another improvised theatre-cumdinner trainwreck, The Wedding Reception, about a couple who eloped for an intimate wedding only to return home to the large family reception they never wanted, performed by a four-strong cast playing multiple roles, as well as serving up a three-course dinner. B'est Restaurant, Edinburgh, various times, 11-23 Aug, £39

Seamus Fogarty

Fatherson

Credit: Emily Wylde

Sun 9 Aug

Credit: Jassy Earl

Sat 8 Aug

Sun Kil Moon

Sun 16 Aug

Mon 17 Aug

Glasgow's Citizens Theatre presents a preview airing of David Greig's new adaptation of Alasdair Gray's seminal novel, Lanark, marking Gray's 80th year, before it tours to the Edinburgh Fringe (22-31 Aug), then returning again to Citizens come September (3-19 Sep). You can also catch Gray discussing the book at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 16 Aug. Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 14-16 Aug (previews), 7pm, £8.50

This year's Jura Unbound series of late night Book Fest happenings takes flight with a curated night of international short stories, with guests Danish author Dorthe Nors, Irish author Mary Costello, and American authors Molly Antopol and David Gates reading live. Also, all eyes on our own The Skinny Unbound event, (see 23 Aug), where you'll find us in pre-10th birthday celebratory mode. Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, 9pm, free

The creative forces of director Robert Softley Gale (of Birds of Paradise) and writer Johnny McKnight (of Random Accomplice) return Wendy Hoose to the stage after two sell-out 2014 tours – an unflinching laughathon telling the tale of twenty-something online daters Laura and Jake's disastrous attempt at dating, with the whole play unfolding in Laura's box of a bedroom. The Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, 17-30 Aug, 3.30pm, £15 (£13)

Lanark

Credit: Alasdair Gray, Self-Portrait

Sat 15 Aug

Dorthe Nors

For s'more in the way of escaping the city, the eccentric delight that is Insider Festival returns – this year funded via a smashed crowdfunder campaign, which sees them mix things up with a tour through the Scottish Highlands on chartered steam train, with musical interludes from the likes of Hector Bizerk, Spring Break, and more, plus stop-offs at lochs, farms, and even a gin distillery. Various, Scotland, tickets packages from £39

For the second of our festival takeovers (see also The Skinny Showcase exhibition, 31 Jul), we make merry for a special The Skinny @ Unbound late night session, celebrating our impending 10th birthday with awardwinning novelist (and former Skinny contributor) Sean Michaels, plus live readings, and only the bloody 'world's best' theremin player. Join us! Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, 9pm, free

Having made his first Fringe appearance eleven years ago, comedian Mark Watson can rightly be filed under 'Edinburgh veteran', taking to this year's Fringe for a mini two-night stint of last year's hit show, Flaws – which went on to have an 100-date UK/Australia tour including a run at the Melbourne Comedy Festival – returning to the place it first aired, bolstered by new material. The Pleasance, Edinburgh, 28 & 29 Aug, 11.15pm, £15.50 (£14)

August 2015

Mark Watson

Credit: Mark Watson

Fri 28 Aug

Offering summat a little different in a bid to draw bodies away from the Fringe and into their cosy cinema lair, the Cameo host a series of one-off 'Curated By...' screenings throughout August (4-24 Aug), for which a batch of well-kent folk will guest programme their fave films, drawing to a close in triumphant style with an Alan Bissett-curated screening of "the best film ever made", Jaws. Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh, 9pm, £10 (£9)

Sat 29 Aug

Sun 30 Aug

Mon 31 Aug

After the fun of last year, Electric Fields pops up for its sophomore outing in the idyllic surrounds of Drumlanrig Castle. And – excitement! – this year we're curating our own stage, featuring sets from Blanck Mass, Fuck Buttons' Benjamin John Power, East India Youth, Happy Meals, and more, while the main stage boasts the likes of King Creosote, The Phantom Band, and Miaoux Miaoux. Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries and Galloway, £30

In boozy addition to the Magners' Summer Nights gig series in Glasgow and Edinburgh (see listings), the Sailor Jerry's rum folk alight in Scotland for the last in a trio of UK touring Sailor Jerry Presents... live events, with this edition manned by Glaswegian punk locals Baby Strange, garage pop trio Paws, and Japanese psychedelic punk foursome Bo Ningen. Presumably there will also be a whole lorra rum, which is always nice. The Record Factory, Glasgow, 7pm, £5

Returning for a third round of shit-film-mockery, Joe Heenan and Billy Kirkwood host Watch Bad Movies with Great Comedians, this edition screening Joel Schumacher’s gloriously ropey Batman and Robin – featuring George Clooney in his first and (unsurprisingly) last role as a caped crusader – with the chaps providing laugh-along live commentary. And, no arguments, Arnold Schwarzenegger steals the show. CCA, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £returns only

The Skinny @ Unbound

East India Youth

Credit: John Graham

Hector Bizerk

Credit: Markus Oakley

Mon 24 Aug

Credit: John Graham

Sun 23 Aug

Credit: Euan Robertson

Sat 22 Aug

Baby Strange

Frankie Boyle

The Wedding Reception

Wendy Hoose

Jaws

Batman and Robin

Chat

Credit: Frankie Boyle

Fri 31 Jul

S RE AT U FE

Sophomore Syndrome

After conquering last year's Fringe, best newcomer winner Alex Edelmen and nominees Dane Baptiste, Gein's Family Giftshop and Lazy Susan talk to The Skinny's comedy editors about the best and worst sequels

“T

itanic 2 was shit... If they had called it TwoTanic that would be amazing,” says Alex Edelman on bad sequels. “I really hate Gremlins 2,” he adds, before showing his workings: “I don't like that they kill Leonard Maltin.” Still, the fate of famous film critic Maltin – killed by the creatures after giving the first movie a bad review – will surely be far from Edelman's mind as he prepares to bring the sequel to his own winning show Millennial to Pleasance Courtyard. Everything Handed To You is something of a Millennial 2, promising to pinpoint the concerns and difficulties of his generation as he did with such acclaim 12 months ago. But unlike in film – where success can bring about a “blatant cash grab” – the second show in comedy, Edelman suggests, can be a different kind of beast: “Second comedy albums for me are whereit'satbecauseyoucanchartgrowth,theprogression. People don't drop off with second albums in comedy. They get stronger. Your first album is everything you've ever done so it's a little scattered. And then your second album is like, bam! Patton Oswalt's second album is amazing.” If it's true for Oswalt, is it also true for Edelman? It turns out the latter isn't carried away by last year's win, and has a few gremlins of his own disallowing him to be reassured by his own logic: “I lie awake thinking about the show. But two years ago I would've killed to be doing a second show. I would've beaten someone to death with a hammer to have this opportunity to spend this much time worrying about my second hour of comedy.” There can be few places better than Edinburgh, however, for comedians to hone their art: “With the creative process it's different. I mean it's really difficult; I'm not gonna lie. These are all reps. Edinburgh's a gym. It's all about reps. It's all about being a strong comic after a while.” Meanwhile, sketch duo Lazy Susan seem to be taking the Edinburgh-as-gym metaphor literally. “I've been on the diet and gym regime of Sarah Connor,” says Freya Parker on getting their second show Double Act in to shape. The comparison with the Terminator series’s cyborg-punching protagonist is an apt one. After all, Terminator 2 is a sequel which improves on an original classic. “Freya has been lifting me,” confirms sketchpartner Celeste Dring. When asked for a suitable comparison to their 2014 debut, Extreme Humans, they opine: “Ummm, maybe the early work of Picasso,” before bursting into giggles. Dring and Parker bounce off each other to the point of being forced to deny they are Skyping from a convivial bar, before adding with too much (but genuine) modesty, “Anything that's a happy accident.” But amid the chat and laughter about overblown series such as “all that Shrek crap,” they discuss Fire Walk With Me, the prequel to Twin Peaks as an example of how one success does not necessarily guarantee another. They describe it as having, “All the right notes but in the wrong order.” “For the first show we'd sat on some of the material for years and it had grown organically. There has been less time to write the second show but the experience of the first has put us in better stead. Double Act is a little more naughty and aggressive than the first show. “We're hoping it'll be like Kill Bill Vol. 2 – a big sexy bloodbath.”The other sketch act to be nominated, and the two groups speak much for the vibrant health of the subgenre, were Gein's Family Giftshop.

Feature

“I hope we're not Dumb and Dumberer,” says writer and director of the quartet, Kiri PritchardMcLean. “I thought the trailer looked okay,” chips in Jim Meehan, “and then I watched it... The Farrelly Brothers have gone insane.” “Someone compared us to the Farrelly Brothers in a favourable review,” adds PritchardMcLean, chillingly. “I was fucking wounded. They were like, ‘think Farrelly Brothers!’ Yeah, think Farrelly Brothers and then run into a wall.”

“We're hoping it'll be Kill Bill Vol. 2: a big sexy bloodblood” Lazy Susan on new show Double Act

However, there are other sequels the mighty Gein's would like to follow: “I've never seen it but everyone says Sister Act 2 is better,” says Kath Hughes. Pritchard-McLean gives the Whoopi Goldberg vehicle a chorus of approval – a Lauryn Hill chorus from the soundtrack, to be exact: “It definitely delivers on everything.” But there is some apprehension about their ability to get ‘Back in the Habit’, like that film's subtitle, following last year's success.

Interview: John Stansfield and Ben Venables Illustration: Raj Dhunna

“I once watched The Mars Volta do a 45-minute set and they played three songs. It was basically just them polishing their tips in front of a tent full of people,” cautions Pritchard-McLean. “Hopefully we haven't done that in the second one. There's more blood and death than bumholes and jizz,” says Ed Easton, seemingly to reassure, before adding, “Against my better judgement.” “I think Nirvana's second album is worse than the first one,” says Jim Meehan. “Bleached is the best thing they did. And then they did Nevermind when they were famous, and then Kurt Cobain went insane and did loads of heroin, released a third album about how he hated everyone and killed himself. So I think that's what one of us is going to do. Maybe me.” “You are not the Kurt Cobain,” says PritchardMcLean. “No no, I mean in attitude. Not in ability. So essentially after this show I'm gonna start shooting up. I can't wait to be in the Foo Fighters.” While Gein's end on grunge, Dane Baptiste takes us to gangsta rap. He's titled his new show Reasonable Doubts very deliberately to mirror a debut rather than a ‘difficult second’ album: “Reasonable Doubt is the name of Jay Z's first album. Now people know Jay Z for being married to Beyoncé. On Reasonable Doubt he balances his street past with being a musician.” The album perhaps reminds Baptiste to stay grounded. “I'm very aware of the sophomore jinx,” he says, “and also the choice between critical and commerical artists face when they receive a certain level of recognition. This show is about me asking,

COMEDY

‘Am I now a bona-fide comedian?’ And about those doubts, insecurities and worries.” Still, fans shouldn't expect an hour of introspection. After all, in his first show Citizen Dane, Baptiste showed he could cartwheel as well as do comedy. His new show is set to look into more political areas of how the reality of a decent job and housing are now a pipe dream, precipitating the ‘quarter life’ crisis for many. Despite Edinburgh's flaws of “the rubbernecking and ego inflation”, he agrees the Fringe is a unique place to improve as a comedian and tap into the community of artists there: “It's like doing three to four months of comedy in one, and spending August with so many people I respect.” But back to bad sequels: perhaps there's a fate worse than the sophomore jinx that can strike at any time. “Am I Val Kilmer?” Baptiste asks with some trepidation, thinking of the actor's notorious turn in Batman Forever. Then, he realises, with a gasp, there is a fate worse than even Val Kilmer: “Then that franchise followed it with Batman and Robin. What if that happens to me?” Though there is always a solution: “I'll have to go into hiding for ten years and wait until I can start Christopher Nolan-ing my own career.” Dane Baptiste: Reasonable Doubts, Pleasance Courtyard, 5-16 & 18-30 Aug, 7.15pm, £7-13 Alex Edelman: Everything Handed To You, Pleasance Courtyard, 5-30 Aug, 8.30pm, £9-12 Gein's Family Giftshop: Volume 2, Pleasance Courtyard, 5-16 & 18-30 Aug, 10.45pm, £6-9.50 Lazy Susan: Double Act, Pleasance Dome, 5-18 & 20-31 Aug, 8.10pm, £8-10 edfringe.com

THE SKINNY

All the Funz of the Fair

His kids’ show that wasn't really for kids, Funz and Gamez, became the word-of-mouth success of last year's Fringe, winning the Panel Prize and leading to a sitcom pilot. Confrontational comedian Phil Ellis prepares for Funz and Gamez Tooz

itting in the vast auditorium of dock10 at MediaCityUK for the BBC Salford Sitcom Showcase, I spy a tall, gangly gentleman in a surprisingly well-fitted blazer. Gingerly he gives me the thumbs up, though he really doesn't seem convinced. He certainly doesn't seem sure that all these people are here to see him and the show he created with some friends about a failed comedian trying to make ends meet by putting on a kids’ show that isn't for kids. But here we all are, excitedly awaiting the premiere of the Funz and Gamez pilot; the word-of-mouth smash of the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe that won the Panel Prize and would surely have won more, were the awards not sponsored by a 'beer' company when the show was ostensibly for kids. Introduced finally by the director of BBC England, Peter Salmon, Phil Ellis enters in his usual awkwardly uncomfortable gait to present his work to the full room. Flashback two years or so to the back room of Sandbar in Manchester, where Phil Ellis was about to headline Red Redmond's new material night. Ellis is excitedly telling me about his new Edinburgh show idea, something he had come up with while at the Fringe in 2013 with his show Unplanned Orphan. It would be a kids’ show. Billed as a kids’ show. But it wouldn't really be for the kids. He didn't have much in place other than that he knew he wanted Mick Ferry to play a dodgy alcoholic uncle. It was a great idea, I thought. But it'll never come off. “When people said it wouldn't work I just got dead stubborn. Nobody tells me what to do!” he says, now sitting on the terrace above Knott Bar overlooking the busy interchange of Deansgate Locks. He's just finished editing the Funz and Gamez V pilot, so it seems the stubbornness has finally paid off. The idea for Funz and Gamez came from the notion – which a lot of performers have – that kids’ TV is a simpler route to stardom. “People think because of Horrible Histories, ‘I can get on telly easier.’ So ‘Phil’ would be doing a kids’ show to make money.” He refers to himself in the third person often, not in some arrogant sports star way but referring to the character he plays onstage.

August 2015

If you've ever seen Phil Ellis do stand-up then you'll be aware why he might need a stage name, though what with the manic shenanigans he's gotten up to you'd think he'd choose one that was further away from his actual given name. Playing a character one step removed from himself, he says, takes away “the pressure of people making you feel like you could be heckled.” He says, “Like, ‘You don't scare me, because I'm already broken.’” He plays the tragicomic figure well, and for great laughs, never dwelling on his own misery no matter how many times he mentions the girl that left him, Leanne. “She's a real person. Should've changed her name for the pilot really. But she also married a builder named Jamie. That's in there as well.”

“When people said Funz and Gamez wouldn't work I just got dead stubborn. Nobody tells me what to do!” Phil Ellis

“If the audience think you're a bit fragile they let you get away with more,” he continues. “If I get them on side then I just do what I want.” By ‘doing what he wants,’ he means the time he once drenched a woman with a bottle of beer for saying the show at Manchester's The Frog and Bucket was boring; the time he chased a man around the room with his inhaler trying to get him to have an asthma attack at Baby Blue, or the time he

washed a man's hair in Shoreditch and charged him £25 for the privilege (“He thought, ‘Yeah, I'm part of a ‘happening’”). At the last gig The Skinny saw, Ellis spied a dog in the crowd and just started walking it up and down, seemingly for his own amusement, then leaped behind an empty bar and served a man a pint. It's this fearlessness and spontaneity that have led to comparisons to Andy Kaufman, a comic who redefined what a comedian could do for laughs without ever actually telling jokes, and certainly led to Ellis's 2013 show Unplanned Orphan. Based on the conceit that Ellis had discovered he was adopted and that his birth parents had died, the show was a series of errors that culminated in a fire alarm going off in the building it was in, causing ‘Phil’ to lead everyone outside and confirm that there would be no refunds. It was daring and all too convincing. Reviews were even more confusing, with one mastering irony within its first line: ‘Paul Ellis’ show is strewn with errors.’ “That's my favourite review I've ever had, we put it on the poster, ‘two stars, reads like a four.’ We got momentum about two weeks in when people started to get what it was, but by then it was too late.” On the first day, at least, it looked like Funz and Gamez might suffer a similar fate. With no PR backing, and very little money, Ellis flyered the show himself with Will Duggan dressed as Bonzo the Dog, a character from the show. Having sold just four tickets on the first day to a family, Ellis heard one of the kids cry “I don't want to be here,” so he generously gave them a refund. The experience was made easier, he says, “because we had a great group of people doing it. Duggan and Jim [Meehan] were great. It was nice to have a team rather than be up there on your own crashing and burning.” Help also came on the second day when a few comedians turned up intrigued by the ludicrous and lurid posters, and the fact that Phil Ellis was doing what seemed like a genuine kids’ show. The second day was attended by stand-ups Caimh McDonnell, Michael Legge and Silky, plus one family that left halfway through. The comedians then made it their business to make sure

COMEDY

Interview: John Stansfield

everyone came to see the show. To ensure that there was a healthy balance of families and adult comedy fans, Ellis started to give free tickets to kids. This was the last time younger audience members were to get a free ride, though, with Ellis taking his unruly, heckler-baiting style to a whole new generation. “You're not talking down to them,” he comments. “You're being rude to them. They love that. They find it funny.” The comedians continued their patronage, and those with offspring brought them too. “For a comedian to bring their kids is good. Steve Pemberton from The League of Gentlemen said, ‘My kids still talk about [the show].’ I told him that's nice and that I used to watch his show when I was on my dinner from the airbags factory I was working in.” The second-generation name-dropping doesn't end there. “I've arm wrestled Sean Lock's son. There was another show where there was this one kid with long hair and I told him to stop showing off. ‘You won't have so much hair left when you've been through a divorce. I bet your dad doesn't have hair like that.’ I looked up and his dad was Julian Barratt from The Mighty Boosh.’” This level of respect from the comedy world helped turn Funz and Gamez into the TV show that is currently circulating on BBC iPlayer, with a host of other hopefuls. Ellis is keen not to rest on his laurels, however. “It's amazing how much four weeks can change your life. It can still turn back. That's why I'm not taking anything for granted. I went up to Edinburgh worrying about being just another Manchester comic, you know, part of the furniture – ‘We like Phil, but he's just there isn't he.’ So when it started going well I just thought, thank fuck for that, because I was going to have to start thinking of a backup plan. And I can't go back to the airbags factory.” Funz and Gamez Tooz is at Assembly George Square Gardens 6-24, 26-31 Aug at 3.20pm Funz and Gamez is currently on iPlayer: bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02rn15x/comedy-feeds-2015-3funz-gamez

Feature

How to find a 5-star show With over 1000 comedy shows listed in the official Edinburgh Fringe programme, choosing between them can be tricky. Luckily wise comedy guide Fringe Dog is here to help plan an itinerary

allo to you , skinny readers !! i am fringe dog, a profesional dog reviewer . dont be confuse !! i do not review dogs ,that would be weird . i review comedy shows at the edimbrugh fringe . i would like to share my big expertise and tell you how to choose briliant 5star shows !

this year the fringe program look really cool ! and it nice they give oportunity to young people to design the programme cover . but sometimes you also see small brochures full of comedy shows – o boy !! there are lots of diferent organisations that put on shows, and they all hate each other. It very sad . but dont worry !! how do you find a 5star show in the huge big and little books ?? first of all ,go to comedy section . then lick the page . whatever is a tasty one is a 5star show !! ( hint – all the shows are very tasty !!).

2. flyers that get given to you by people in the street at begining of festival , people that give you flyers are fun and bubbly ! take the flyers from the nice people ,talk to them about their show -then go to the show !! it will be exelent . near the end of the fringe ,the people givin out flyers look sad , like my old housemates at batersea dogs home . give them pat - and go to see the show !! it will be exelent .

“all the shows are very tasty” 3. walk into any building and go to the show in it

every building in edimbrugh is venue during the fringe ,apart from bedrooms . be careful !! if you walk into a bedroom instead of venue ,it’s 5 millions of pounds to stay there . (tip : sleep in a bin !) so ,when you go for walkies (o boy o boy o boy !!!), go to darkest smellist building you can find . there will be a show goin on ! i guarantee it will be amazin 5star experience ! i will be writing lots of things for the skinny throughout the fringe !! follow me on twitter @FringeDog, love from fringe dog

fringedog.tumblr.com edfringe.com

Feature

Credit: Idil Sukan

1. edimbrugh fringe main brochure and other brochures !!

The Absurdity of Ideas With her book available and a new show arriving at The Stand, Bridget Christie talks to The Skinny about S-bends, schadenfreude and the handiness of bigots when mining for topical material Interview: Cara McNamara

“I

laughed so much I nearly got sick,” says Bridget Christie. “My bathroom is getting done and I had to pick a toilet. I was looking through these catalogues of toilets, page after page after page of columns and rows of white toilets. We were there for so long... about three hours, and I just lost it – flush push, handle flush, close coupled, wall mounted, pipe at the back, all the different names, and there was always some reason why the one I picked wouldn't work in my bathroom. I couldn't stop laughing at how mind-bendingly boring it was. Then I had to do the same for taps.” On a morning caught between building-works and small children, panicking about the impending festival is low on Christie's list. “Oh, I don't have a show yet. This year is a bit different because I'm talking about my book, and I was planning on doing a book-slash-show type thing, but then I realised... I have to do stand-up. I'm a comedian, not an author – it'd be too weird. “We didn't used to worry about preparing too much in the olden days, anyway – we didn't used to do it a year ahead, we left it til the last minute. I need it to be topical, so I don't panic. “I knew for my 2013 show I wanted to talk about feminism, then in the July, Malala addressed the UN, and I knew I wanted to talk about that. With 24-hour news now though, everything moves so fast – one awful story replaces another, then that story is usurped by the next one. The Rachel Dolezal stuff in the US, for example, is fascinating, because it's brought up so many questions about identity – transexuality for example – but in such an unexpected way.” On mentioning to Christie that the Rachel Dolezal story recalls a character called D'orothea in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City – where a black model is discovered to be a white girl who's

taken a truckload of tanning tablets – she becomes intrigued and curious to know when it was published and more details. (It was a San Francisco Chronicle serial in the 1970s about a group of people living in the city, and their transsexual landlady, Mrs Madrigal).

“You try to tell yourself you're doing alright – but your bottom tells you otherwise” Bridget Christie

“Oh, you'll never believe this,” she says. “There's this guy on Fox news in America called Erick Erikson, who has managed – get this – to blame the Charleston shootings, which were clearly a race hate crime, on the fact the American left supported Caitlyn Jenner – and that because of this, the US is now unable to distinguish good and evil. How can you possibly even connect the two? It's insanity. “I'm thinking of using it, actually. Things like that are a gift for me. If you're trying to talk about difficult or controversial stuff, it's really handy to have so many bigots around. The absurdity of their ideas – it'll be interesting to see what terrible catastrophe same-sex marriage will lead to.”

COMEDY

Is that absurdity, then, that her humour particularly hinges on? “I don't know,” she says. “It's not like you wake up one day at three and decide, this is what I'm going to find funny... I was a massive Laurel and Hardy fan, Harold Lloyd, slapstick, things like that. Although to be honest, I think it was just growing up in the 70s. Things were just more surreal and creative then – like, at school it just was the norm to do expressive dance. I think things have got really square since then. I mean, I went to a conservative Catholic school, but we still... threw some shapes. “I find awkwardness really funny – awkward people and awkward situations. My favourite thing to watch is a comedian going out on a limb... and it not working. Especially if it's my best friend.” Then she gasps at the inadvertent hint of schadenfreude in what she's just said. “I would never go and laugh at a young comedian dying on stage. I've had some really bad years, especially when I first started, where no-one's come and I've got piles. It's stressful when you're new... you try to tell yourself you're doing alright – but your bottom tells you otherwise. “But now, amongst my friends – I love seeing them work it all out on stage, to go from disaster to creating a really great thing. We've all died loads of times... But you have to take risks. They might fail, but they might work, and you don't know unless you try.” Bridget Christie: A Book for Her plays The Stand Comedy Club, 8-16, 18-31 Aug, 11am, £9 Performances are followed by a book-signing: A Book for Her is available, hardback, Random House bridgetchristie.co.uk edfringe.com

THE SKINNY

August 2015

COMEDY

Feature

UnmiSSable Theatre made

in the North of England In a new home with our pals at Summerhall ZENDEH: Cinema DANIEL BYE: Going Viral THE LETTER ROOM: Five Feet In Front NORTHERN STAGE: Here Is The News From Over There CHRIS THORPE & HANNAH JANE WALKER: Human Resources THIRD ANGEL: The Paradise Project TAMASHA: My Name Is OPEN CLASP: Key Change

Venue No: 26

Fringe Box Office:

0131 226 0000 / northernstage.co.uk 14

THE SKINNY

“What if I just carried on?” Stewart Lee chats to The Skinny about being simultaneously a well- and unknown comedian and the importance of Edinburgh Interview: Tony Makos o you still enjoy coming to Edinburgh? Do you feel obliged to come every year? “I do. You need to be at the heart of the comedy community, you need to see the new things that are coming through. I also think it's good to get a clear run at something, working something out for three weeks every day in the same room.” Does it keep you relevant within the comedy community? “In terms of needing to think yourself part of an emergent scene then I think it keeps me relevant on some level. Other comics will tell you, ‘I don't need to do Edinburgh any more’ as if they're better than it. That's exactly the point at which they become worse.” “To be honest, if I hadn't got in with The Stand [Lee performs at related venue the Assembly Rooms], I don't think I would go anymore. I like the fact that if you perform for The Stand you're relatively uncontaminated by the nasty things about the Fringe. In a way that puts me in a false bubble... and I'm not held ransom by a management company. Also, it's easier for my generation to do things for the love of it because we have a degree of education and financial security that people 20/30 years younger than us will never have. It's going to be interesting seeing what kind of art is made by people in their teens and 20s now when they're labouring under the shadow of massive financial debt – with things costing so much more to do all the time, that inevitably makes them more conservative.” You're certainly relevant enough to sell out a big Fringe venue run in advance… “There's a weird thing at the moment where I seem to be perceived as two things

simultaneously: one being someone who always sells out and is huge, and then the other is some unknown loser that no one likes – which rather depends on who writes about me. It's quite good to be honest – it's not pleasant to be recognised, talked to by strangers, or photographed... Last night a Guardian journalist took a photo of me eating an apple in the street and put it on his website. Things like that are really disconcerting.”

“It's going to be interesting seeing what kind of art is made by people in their teens and 20s now when they're labouring under the shadow of massive financial debt” Stewart Lee

Do you ever rest on your laurels when you've got a sold out crowd that will likely laugh at anything you say? “There's definitely a degree of comfort in the fact that people have decided to come and see you and know who you are, but rather than

Credit: Steve Ullathorne

taking that for granted I think you have to use it as a mandate to do worse and more strange things. You have to make them active participants in the live experience rather than them just sitting back, and one of the ways you do that is to make them feel like you don't want them to be there, they're at fault in some way, and that rather than you being their servant they are there for your benefit. I want them to tap in to what they're being told, and have the fun of making all the connections themselves. It becomes an act in which the audience are half of it.” What do you now want to tackle in standup? What so-far-unfulfilled ambitions do you have? “Most of the ideas that I have about theatre, films, or books, I can do more economically, more

directly, and more interestingly in stand-up. “It's quite interesting to think, ‘Wait, what if I just carried on?’ Not many people have done that – lots of people used stand-up as a means to an end but what if I did it for another 26 years? It would also be interesting to become, just for a short period, so big that I could do 8,000 seaters every night and see if there was some way I could ruin the idea of stadium comedy – blow it apart from the inside out and still give people an exciting stadium comedy experience. “I might make a folk record next year. That's not me having a midlife crisis.” Stewart Lee: A Room with a Stew, 8-16 & 18-30 Aug, 2.15pm, £12.50 stewartlee.co.uk | edfringe.com

Taking a Stand American politicos Michael Che and Jena Friedman talk to The Skinny about the importance of taking risks in comedy Credit: Phil Provencio

Interview: John Stansfield and Ben Venables

Credit: Seth Olenick

Michael Che

Jena Friedman

August 2015

t may seem a curious thing, but despite landing two of the most prestigious satirical jobs on American television – as a Weekend Update anchor and Daily Show correspondent – Michael Che has confessed to have a lack of political knowledge: “Most people that watch comedy shows are laymen,” Che explains, “so as a layman I can kinda talk about a subject at its face value and people can kind of understand. I think people like to listen to people who don’t know what they’re talking about.” Not that this ever stops Che from broaching serious matters. When he’s spoken about racial tensions it has sometimes been met with a sharp intake of breath from the audience: “You’re not going to get raucous laughter out of them when you’re talking about police brutality,” he says. Having freedom on stage to talk about raw subjects is crucial: “People are afraid to take

risks and be held accountable for their choices, so creatively they do everything they think will make them successful.” But Che doesn’t worry about making such restrictive choices on-stage and lets the audience make up their own mind: “I don’t overthink it. If they don’t like it it’s ok.” Daily Show producer Jena Friedman also highlights the difficulties current news comedy brings: “It is hard to stay fresh with topical comedy,” she says. However, the headlines ready for satire and discussion “become more thematic,” building material from longstanding issues featured in the stories – such as, say, gender inequality. Friedman’s natural curiosity propelled her into comedy. While majoring in cultural anthropology she took classes in improv to understand the famous scene there – after all, Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey were all taught

COMEDY

improv at heralded comedy institution Second City. Soon her academic interest had ‘gone native’ as Friedman found herself inspired: “In Chicago people do it because they love it.” With space to “experiment and fail, to take risks” she was learning how to become an artist rather than an anthropologist. And as curious as it seems for a self-confessed layman and a cultural anthropologist major to be leading voices in American political comedy, it is perhaps their willingness to take risks – whatever the audience reaction – that yields their success in the field. Michael Che: Six Stars, The Stand Comedy Club III, 6-20 Aug, 7.40pm, £10-12. Jena Friedman: American C*nt, The Stand Comedy Club V, 18-30 Aug, 7.30pm, £7-8. edfringe.com

Feature

Fun is the Theme Kyle Kinane and Adrienne Truscott took very different paths into comedy and have different performance styles. Speaking to The Skinny, we found them both uncommonly happy to call themselves comedians Interview: John Stansfield and Ben Venables

yle Kinane's success in his home country means the American stand-up arrives for his Edinburgh debut with a level of star status many could only dream of at the Fringe. When Kinane says, “I still haven't wrapped my head round the idea that I'm allowed to do comedy,” it is tempting to think it false modesty. But Kinane's down-to-earth attitude seems deeply ingrained. Whether he's talking about how he started simply by “bullshitting in bars” or when expressing a certain wonder for the lifestyle comedy brings – “every new stamp on the passport is a privilege” – Kinane has a strong gratitude for being a comedian. As a straight, white, middle-class, bearded American Kinane believes it'd be “disingenuous” for his comedy shows to have a bleak outlook: “Comedy can also be positive”. Meanwhile, fellow American Adrienne Truscott returns to Edinburgh with a different type of renown, having already conquered Edinburgh with her panel prize win in 2013. Her comedic case history though stems more from a vaudeville tradition and dancing round her living-room as a girl than it does bullshitting in bars. In fact, it wasn't long ago that Truscott was more at home in a circus than she was alone on stage. Moreover, she is still part of the bawdy double act the Wau-Wau Sisters. But after a comedian once said to her, “I love what you do on the trapeze, I only use my mouth,” Truscott felt comedy might be for her and could push her as an artist. For Truscott, using just her mouth was more of a challenge than acrobatics or walking a tightrope. Or as Kinane puts it: “It's easy to get comfortable, and comfortable is usually the end of creativity.” This is one of the benefits of playing the Fringe:

“I don't think Edinburgh is going to be comfortable at all.” Kinane admits to being a little “bristly” and resistant to describing his work in a way to fit with any expectations of an ‘Edinburgh show’. “As for having a theme,” he adds, “I just want to say, ‘It's a comedy show, come and laugh at it.’

“My mother can talk for an hour but that doesn't mean it's comedy material” Kyle Kinane

“Comedy-wise it's going to be interesting. The thought of going up every night in the same place for an hour. I'm curious to see how it evolves or devolves by the end of the month.” Kinane is aware that thinking he has a solid hour of material could wrongfoot him: “There's sometimes an incorrect view on it. I mean, my mother can talk for an hour but it doesn't mean it's comedy material. There should always be an element of ‘I could have done this differently.’” It's a statement that implies the slightly more anarchic nature of comedy as opposed to more scripted forms. He continues: “It is more engaging when you see somebody with an hour that is more

Kyle Kinane

theatrical, and there is a theme and the throughline. I don't have that necessarily but there is an attitude. And I'm going to forever tinker with that hour.” There are no sacred cows in Kinane's material. What's more, this even includes his title: “Ghost Pizza Party comes from an anecdote I'm not even sure I'm going to use.” However, when Truscott debuted in Edinburgh two years ago, she arguably bypassed ‘theme’ altogether and went straight to full-frontal statement. Yet despite her pride in Asking For It: A One-Lady Rape About Comedy Starring Her Pussy and Little Else! and its continual success, she also bristles a little, remembering the constant description of her as a ‘feminist performance artist’ that year instead of as a comedian: “I thought, ‘hang on, I just stood up for an hour telling jokes. Doesn't that make me a comedian?’ “I am overstating a little bit because I am a feminist-performance artist,” she laughs, “and I was

well aware that I was taking a show that had a point to make. So I wasn't really surprised.” For Truscott, this year's One Trick Pony is a much more personal show, much of which revolves around her comedy hero Andy Kauffman (a performance artist who was always considered a comedian). She also wants to wrestle with her performance art tendencies. “In theory, I should put my pussy away once and for all and get on with the jokes,” she says, as only Truscott could. But her aim is more of the ‘come and laugh at it’ variety: “With this show I want people to have a really good fucking time,” she says. And this could have been said by either one of them. Adrienne Truscott is a One Trick Pony!: Gilded Balloon, 5-17 Aug, 8.15pm £7.50-14. (@Mrs_Truscott) Kyle Kinane: Ghost Pizza Party, Underbelly Cowgate, 6-17 & 19-30 Aug, 10.10pm, £9-12. (@kylekinane) edfringe.com

30 Years of the Gilded Balloon Going strong for 30 years, The Gilded Balloon’s founder and artistic director Karen Koren tells us what it takes to make a home for pioneering comedy

ransforming Edinburgh into the world’s biggest performing arts festival is not only a work of genius, but also a question of ‘how will all this fit in?’ Along with some actual theatres, the Fringe relies on a medley of impromtu venues. Amongst others, this includes our favourite pubs, the top of Arthur’s Seat and even a couple of double-decker buses. 30 years ago, the latest new space adopted by performers was the 369 gallery on Cowgate. It had a room upstairs that seated 150 people and hosted seven stand-up comedy shows a day. Taking its name from the defunct restaurant next door to the gallery, the Gilded Balloon was born. Karen Koren had worked at the Norwegian Consulate for close to 20 years and managed a couple of comedy spaces in her spare time. “I started the Gilded Balloon while I was still working there,” she recalls. Andrew Brown, the 369 gallery owner, approached Koren about the room upstairs and her extracurricular activity soon became a fulltime role: “All that time I was striving to find out, ‘What can I do?’ I asked the Norwegian Consulate,

Feature

‘Can I have a year off?’ They said no, and I left, and the rest is history.” The stand-up comedian was not new in the 1980s, but was a rare beast at the Fringe. When the Gilded Balloon first opened its doors, standup was a little more underground, its performers “a bit like the rock‘n’rollers”. However, “the sober comics came along: the ones who took it seriously. There’s quite a lot of them now,” says Koren. The young Gilded Balloon helped to raise a generation of quality stand-ups. Koren’s rowdy creation Late’n’Live, for example, became a gathering place for comedians both on stage and in the audience. “You hear the older comics talking about it, because Late’n’Live was the first and only late-night show... It was very much a comic’s venue, and that’s what grew from it.” The Balloon’s beginnings are a who’s who of comedy: from Brand to Bailey and French to Ferguson. If you can name a comedian who was around in the 80s, Koren can tell you when they first played a show and what their favourite drink is. Many are making their way back to Edinburgh for the Balloon’s 30th birthday celebrations

Interview: Jenni Ajderian

this year, among them Ed Byrne, Jo Brand and Barry Cryer. Despite being part of the ‘Big 4’ and therefore perceived as a more commercial venue, Koren is adament that she is not financially motivated: “I’m driven by the performers I book, and trying to help them. I remember thinking five years in, ‘My god, can I do this again next year?’ And you do… You have to have stamina and foresight – and, in some cases, mortgage your house to finance shows that you believe in, make sure your staff get paid even if the venue doesn’t turn a profit.” As the venue grew in popularity and in size, Koren and her team spread into Teviot Row House in 2001, and ran the two venues in tandem until a spark from a fuse in Cowgate meant disaster for the original site. The ensuing fire filled the city with smoke for days and destroyed the 16-year-old venue. The spot on the Cowgate where the Balloon was born was until recently scarred and wrecked, before turning into an outdoor bar for a couple of years. What was once owned by eleven separate parties, comprising a warren of University holdings, gallery spaces and a bar – the ‘Gilded Saloon’ –

COMEDY

is now smothered by a supermarket and a hotel like so many other pieces of prime real estate. A fundraiser and a year later, the Gilded Balloon opened up again with its new main home at Teviot. In the early days of the George Square venue, though, Koren tried her hand at opening spaces in the Caves, Cabaret Voltaire and on Calton Hill. “I was trying to be as big as the others, and I just couldn’t be.” Over 30 years, the Gilded Balloon has made its way from the back of an art gallery to the forefront of the Fringe, and has brought many of today’s comedy greats with it, Koren included. Koren still smiles when she describes the continuing stresses of such a huge endeavour: “It’s a big strain on everybody. When you get to the end of the festival and everyone gets ill, you just have to think about it in a different way – this is what feeds me all year, so going into the office the next day, after the last day of the festival, it’s just like every other day.” For a full look at Gilded Balloon’s Fringe programme and anniversary celebrations go to gildedballoon.co.uk edfringe.com

THE SKINNY

Credit: CleftClips

ADVERTISING FEATURE

This is your Pilot Speaking! A new initiative from Audible.co.uk gives listeners the chance to hear five prospective audio sitcoms, and vote on which one should be turned into a full series. We preview the nominees...

udible are showcasing five brand new audio sitcom pilots and inviting listeners to decide on which of these should progress to a full series. The initiative, This is your Pilot Speaking! marks the first time Audible have helped create original comedy in the UK. Already a leading supplier of audio entertainment, this enterprise is set to put Audible at the forefront of UK audio comedy. The pilots are written and performed by some of the best and most original comedic artists and writers today, including both familiar faces and the brightest up-and-coming UK performers. Much-loved stars of the small screen such as Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered), Kevin Eldon (Brass Eye, NightyNight) and Felicity Montagu (I'm Alan Partridge) are joined by radio favourite Mitch Benn (The Now Show), along with some of the most exciting acts currently performing on the comedy scene – new talents along the lines of Bobby Mair, Gráinne Maguire and Margaret Cabourn-Smith also feature prominently. What's more, the pilots are available for free in easy downloads and the voting process is simple and straightforward. Listeners are invited to rate and review each pilot, and at the end of the voting period Audible will commission a full series of the most popular. Comedy fans can register and download at the pilot pages found at audible.co.uk/pilotspeaking. Voting stays open until one minute before midnight on 31 Dec 2015. Steve Carsey, who heads Audible Originals in the UK said “From the moment we first read them, we were very excited by the concepts and quality of writing in each of these sitcoms. The writing just jumps off the page.” As a taster for what comedy fans can treat themselves to and vote for, here's an overview of the five pilots:

Catching Up

Written by Bronagh Fegan. Performed by Louise Ford, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Carrie Quinlan, Grainne Maguire and Andy Goddard University best friends Carol, Sarah, Samira and Mac once had the world as their oyster. Now, a decade later, they find themselves with all their big plans thwarted; instead they are simply thirtysomethings with dysfunctional careers, relationships and responsibilities. Meeting for a reunion and nostalgic night out, can they perhaps recapture their Halcyon days? And if that doesn't work, they can at least take comfort in the fact that their old friends’ lives are even stranger and worse than their own. Catching Up will doubtless appeal to a wide audience, and certainly anyone who has ever had the socially awkward encounter of a night out with old friends.

August 2015

Working for the Big Man

Written by Rob Sears and Tom Sears. Performed by Kevin Eldon, Felicity Montagu and Mitch Benn Ralph is an atheist, so it comes as a shock to him that, after dying on his honeymoon, he then finds himself in the afterlife. To make matters worse, not only has his rational frame of mind been proved wrong, but he also now finds himself working for Heaven PLC. God isn't happy either – His plan for the world has all gone terribly wrong and Ralph is tasked with the unenviable job of heading back down to Earth to fix things. The stakes are high, and it's only by fixing the world that he can be reunited with his beloved wife in the afterlife. Working for the Big Man is a witty satire on religion and the petty office politics of everyday life.

Slaving Away

Written by Miranda Kane. Performed by Hugh Dennis, Miranda Kane and Jon Holmes Miranda is a cheerful single woman who seems not to have a care in the world. She tries to get along with her neighbours and hopes to persuade flatmate Dan the two of them would be perfect together. Despite her sunny disposition, Miranda is also a dominatrix flogging religious clients at their requests and standing in her high-heels on the buttocks of an army brigadier. She works from home too, with an all-purpose dungeon in her flat. Like its main character, Slaving Away is a joyous romp celebrating sex and alternative lifestyles – indeed, writer Miranda Kane certainly has the background to create realistic details for her hilarious script, having formerly worked as a £2,000-per-night escort known as Melody. She'll be discussing these experiences in a much anticipated show at this year's Edinburgh Fringe: The Coin-Operated Girl – A Sex-Worker's Real-Life Revelations into the World's Oldest Profession.

The Hub

Written by Bruce Windwood. Performed by Susy Kane, Alex Kirk, Howard Gossington, Anjella Mackintosh and Joel Morris

Written by Dewi Lyywelyn. Performed by Richard Glover, Simon Kane, Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Bobby Mair and Sophie Henderson

Deep underground, within The Hub, there exists all the very latest counter-terrorist equipment and a team of Intelligence professionals. However, this team are perhaps not quite intelligent professionals. Gathering data for the war on terror, anarchy and foreigners in general, our protectors strive to screw everything up 24 hours a day. The very best idea from their bunker mentality might be dressing secret agents in luminous, high-visibility health and safety jackets. This is a pacey and side-splitting comedy that may say as much about our own plane of existence as it does about the world of The Hub.

Shipwrecked Isaac is washed ashore on an island paradise, only to discover tribes at war over a giant octopus called Simon. Also resident are walrus pirates, zombies and Albie – who is, of course, a talking goldfish. The Uncynical Cannibal is an absurd, high-energy trip into the world of a psychedelic Robinson Crusoe that draws on the traditions of music hall and variety as well as keeping things silly.

With these five exciting pilots, This is your Pilot speaking! have something for every comedy fan to enjoy, and more to look forward to and savour when the winning entry is made into a full series. Audible is the perfect home for these pilots too, with broadcast comedy's long history of debuting shows in radio format. Bearing in mind the success of Hancock's Half-Hour, Have I Got News For You and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,

The Uncynical Cannibal

COMEDY

it might be that you are voting on a future classic. Audible content already includes more than 150,000 audio programs from leading audio-book publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazines and newspapers. A main provider of audio products for Apple's iTunes store their commitment to commissioning new comedy through This is your Pilot Speaking! is another innovative development, establishing literate listening through thoughtful information and entertainment for listeners. As Carsey says: “We're delighted to be able to give some of the country's most exciting new comedy writers a platform to create new situation comedies. Watching them come to life in the studio was thrilling but seeing how the public votes on them will be the really exciting part.” Now with all the show details to hand, it's up to listeners to give each pilot a try and decide which they would like to hear more of. This is your Pilot Speaking! is open for voting until 31 Dec 2015 audible.co.uk/pilotspeaking

Feature

COMEDY

THE SKINNY

The Directors Jon Brittain and Dec Munro talk to The Skinny about the ‘secret’ role of the comedy director Interview: Ben Venables

J Puddles and Georgie

First Class Clowns Puddles Pity Party, Deanna Fleysher, Spencer Jones and John-Luke Roberts have different levels of clown education, but all bring shows of distinction Interview: Ben Venables

ollowing Dr Brown's and Red Bastard's success at the Fringe in recent years it comes as no surprise to find another clown in our midst. There is no doubt Puddles Pity Party looks the part. Dressed for the interview in full-clown regalia and bound by a vow of silence, he seems as commited to his art as we've come to expect from his clowning forebears. He pats his dog while writing down his answers in marker – within a few minutes, it seems an entirely normal way of conducting an interview. “When I was very little my mee-maw said I came into the world singing,” he writes. And it is singing by which he communicates, with covers of Taylor Swift and Lorde songs on the hit Postmodern Jukebox albums which propelled the 6’ 8” clown to become a YouTube sensation. By adding his muscular baritone he often changes the meaning or the feel of the lyrics: “I like to bring out the emotion in a song.” On-stage he also seems to pay great attention to his entrance, building up tension while getting himself ready and prowling the audience during the set, to their discomfort and pleasure. Surprisingly, Puddles never trained in clowning and refers to his education as “the school of hard-knocks” – something of a departure from the Browns and Bastards. Interestingly, Red Bastard's director Deanna Fleysher performs her first Edinburgh show this year as Butt Kapinski, who is something of a Raymond Chandler type noir detective. More interestingly still, before she worked with Red Bastard, his alter-ego Eric Davis directed an early incarnation of her character. Unlike Puddles, Fleysher has trained in clowning but admits to intially being “resistant to any kind of comedy training.” Starting with Phil Burgers’ workshop and spending a little time with the renowned Gaulier, she identifies herself more with the Lecoq tradition and is keen to point out her act is a very different kind of show to that of Red Bastard. Wearing – improbably – a street lamp, Butt Kapinski hosts a murder mystery starring him and the audience: “The show is entirely interactive,” Fleysher says, “but it's a very different vibe and risk:reward ratio to Red Bastard.” She describes a more child-like interaction with the audience: “I think of it like recess at school where we have to play this crazy game.” Spencer Jones is a different prospect. “Look at this,” he says, picking up a ukulele which he then

August 2015

starts to play with a handheld fan. “There's something funny there. I don't know how I can make it work in a show yet.” Indeed, it's Jones’ creative use of props and a lovely child-like silliness in his performance that makes his character distinctive. Returning to the Fringe after introducing The Herbert last year, Jones has also completed Burgers’ workshop and did a short Gaulier course: “He shouted at me across the room and said awful things about me. But he said nothing worse to me than my mother has said.” Overall, Jones felt he understood (as with Puddles) the importance of entrances better after both Gaulier's and Burgers’ sessions: “I became quite aware that there is a magic there from when somebody walks in and the audience think, ‘Oh, here is somebody who is in charge’ or not. It helped me get in the head of the audience.” “Phillipe is quite hard going,” says John-Luke Roberts about Gaulier, though it's something of a compliment. And Roberts should know, having spent the last year at the master clown's school in Etampes. Roberts’ background in sketch group Behemoth and as a founding member of the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society suggest he has some versatility as a comic already, but it's clear he feels he's benefitted from his year in France. Describing himself as a “one-liner comedian”, when discussing his early solo career Roberts considers the comfort in the structure of a joke. “It's like an equation,” he explains. Roberts therefore found it became easy to rationalise that the joke “worked” in terms of the logic of its set-up and punchline, even when it may have bombed with the audience. Roberts feels this year's show Stdad-Up wouldn't class as clown, but says it will be a much more physical show: “What clowning has done has made the performance the most important part – and made it all about the pleasure of the performance.”

initially found himself “hung up on the idea Sofie would have a script.” However, like Brittain, he soon adapted his approach to the indivudal artist. Despite this being Munro’s first foray into directing, he has a head start, having hosted the Test Tube comedy nights which helped to develop many stand-ups, including Hagen: “I think she is fantastically funny and I got on with her. I was very flattered to be asked.” Munro considers directing to be better than other forms of feedback: “Usually workshops with other comedians are well-meaning but can be a mismatch.” With directing Munro has been able to be a point of continuity. “I’ve seen everything in London so far. “I have absolutely loved it,” he says. And echoing Brittain’s respect for the artist: “I’m working with a phenomenally talented person – and a nice one.” Tom Allen: Both Worlds, The Stand Comedy Club VI, 5, 7-16 & 18-30 Aug, 5.20pm, £10. Bat-Fan, Pleasance Courtyard, 5-16 & 18-30 Aug, 3.30pm, £8-12 Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho, Assembly Geroge Square Gardens, 6-16 & 18-30 Aug, 9pm, £10-14. What Would Spock Do?, Gilded Balloon, 5-11, 13-18, 20-25, 27-31 Aug, 12.30pm, £6-12 Sofie Hagen, Bubblewrap, Liquid Room, 7-31 Aug, 7.10pm, Free edfringe.com

Puddles Pity Party, Assembly George Square Gardens, 6-17, 19-24, 26-31 Aug, 7.25pm, £12-14 Butt Kapinski, The Liquid Room, 8-10, 12-17, 19-24, 26-30 Aug, 2.10pm, Free John-Luke Roberts: Stdad-Up, The Voodoo Rooms, 8-30 Aug, 6.55pm, Free Spencer Jones Presents: The Herbert In Proper Job, The Hive, 5-17, 19-24, 26-31 Aug, 9pm, Free Sofie Hagan

COMEDY

Feature

Credit: KarlaHowlett

ohn Kearns might not be performing at this Fringe but the director of his two award-winning performances has never had a busier time. Despite this Jon Brittain, who has four shows on his 2015 roster, finds the role is often an invisible one: “A comedian went up to John at the awards and said, ‘You see, you don’t need a director.’” Far from feeling slighted, Brittain perhaps prefers the anonymity: “You have to take your own ego out of it and create a set of circumstances whereby the artist creates the right performance themselves.” Though Brittain has used a few formal techniques, such as written exercises, every artist he works with calls for a unique approach. For example, currently he works with a range of styles, from stand-up Tom Allen to James Taylor-Wilson’s show Bat-Fan – which is more theatrical in nature. Yet he stresses the role has little in common with a theatre director who’d find “the ad-lib and shambolic nature of comedy more difficult.” Moreover, Brittain wants to keep the role only semi-formal, and one that arises out of respect for the artists, “I work with people I admire. I wouldn’t want comedians to hire a director for the sake of it and for it to be another expense in Edinburgh.” New to directing is Dec Munro, who anticipated he’d find more in common with the role’s theatrical counterpart. Asked by Sofie Hagen to direct her full debut show Bubblewrap, Munro

Programmes Within the Programme Curated multi-venue programmes are changing the landscape of the Edinburgh Fringe. Here we explore the reasons why, taking in Aurora Nova and the Made in Scotland Showcase

he Edinburgh Fringe Festival is mushrooming. This August a record 3,300 productions will descend on the city, and as the Fringe becomes bigger and bigger, independently curated programmes that open out like Russian dolls to reveal mini-festivals are becoming not only inevitable, but also very valuable for performing companies and audiences alike. Programmes that specialise in certain themes or aspects of theatre, and encompass multiple venues across the Fringe have a basic practical function. For the casual theatre-goer or first time visitor, navigating the rich but exhausting Fringe experience can be a momentous task. By highlighting productions that stand out according to specific criteria, more nuanced than straightforward categorisation according to genre, these smaller, more manageable programmes allow audiences to map out the kind of shows they really want to see, while also giving them access to as broad a variety of venues as possible – the venue, of course, being an integral part of the experience. But they serve a deeper purpose. Independently curated programmes are helping the fundamental ethos and alternative values of the Fringe to stay alive, as it spirals further and further into the realm of the commercial. Free Festival, held across 19 venues that are free to hire for artists, was established in 2004 with the goal of countering the increasingly punishing process of staging productions at the Fringe. Its founders, Alex Petty and Kevin McCarron of Laughing Horse comedy, hoped to offer performers greater artistic freedom by reducing the substantial financial losses typically incurred by a three-week run of shows. Free Festival’s model of a financially viable programme for performers and audiences may seem more relevant to comedy and small scale gigs, which can be staged in bars and cafes, and are Free Festival’s main areas of expertise. However, independently curated programmes of bigger theatrical productions are embracing similar values to offer artists a helping hand in the harsh Fringe environment. Berlin-based theatre booking agency Aurora Nova is one such example. Principally concerned with circus, dance and physical theatre, its annual

Feature

programme of top international performances has been invaluable in allowing these genres to not only survive, but also to thrive at a festival which, until quite recently, didn’t have much time for them. Aurora Nova’s humble beginnings have a lot in common with Free Festival. Its founder Wolfgang Hoffman first experienced the Fringe as a performer in 1999, and after witnessing first-hand the financial and technical challenges facing artists there, he began to envisage an alternative model for the kind of productions he himself was involved in: a designated performance space that would be artist-led, with the goal of lowering the financial risk for companies and encouraging a spirit of mutual support amongst artists. He teamed up with the Brighton venue Komedia to develop the idea, and in 2001 Aurora Nova began its life at the Fringe with a programme of 16 shows from 13 different countries, all of which were staged at the relatively unknown venue St Stephen’s Church.

“Navigating the rich but exhausting Fringe experience can be a momentous task” Against the backdrop of a festival dominated by commercial theatre, Aurora Nova instantly stood out as something truly alternative thanks to the artistic solidarity it cultivated, and upon which it relied. Artists promoted each other, contributed to the running of the venue and pooled revenues. The swift popularity and early critical acclaim of Aurora Nova demonstrates the benefits of choosing the road less travelled. The venue was lauded by critics for the quality and adventurousness of its programmes, with the 2005 Edinburgh Guide describing it as “the vibrant heart of International Physical Theatre” at the Fringe.

Aurora Nova’s journey from alternative Fringe venue to curator of Fringe shows across a diverse range of locations goes hand-in-hand with the rise of physical theatre and circus as respected genres in their own right. The small venues and rapid turnovers typical of the Fringe previously meant that the presence of these categories was comparatively limited, but this has changed dramatically. 2015 promises to be a big year for circus in particular. Underbelly has made the bold decision to invest £600,000 into two big tops that will be erected on Edinburgh’s Meadows for the duration of the festival. These will host avant-garde circus performances from all over the world, the number and variety of which has never been seen at the Fringe before. Aurora Nova is right in the thick of it, with Czech company Cirk La Putya and The Palestinian Circus Company both offering highly anticipated productions at the new circus hub. However, far from getting too comfortable with the emerging status quo, Aurora Nova’s current programme has remained true to its vision of providing a platform for the radically new and different, including the genre-defying Animotion Show, a collaboration between Russian visual artist Maria Rud and Scottish virtuoso percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Herein lies another huge benefit of independently curated Fringe programmes: in the vast mire that is the official Edinburgh Fringe programme, they provide treasure trails that go off the beaten track and lead to the discovery of hidden gems that would otherwise be obscured within the thumbnail forest of 400 pages of listings. The Made in Scotland Showcase that runs annually at the Fringe is a prime example of how up-and-coming companies and artists can benefit from inclusion in a tailor-made programme with international recognition. Supported through the Scottish government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund, the showcase provides funding for a handpicked selection of the most exciting Scottish dance, theatre, and music of the moment, as well as giving artists an invaluable promotional opportunity. Being counted among the cream of the crop in the Scottish creative scene and having the sup-

THEATRE

Words: Cat Acheson

port of a well-resourced professional agency can make a huge difference to the prospects of any small production in the great Fringe free-for-all, and moreover it gives emerging theatre companies a boost by showcasing them side-by-side with those already well situated in the theatre scene. Among the companies making an appearance in this year’s programme are Vanishing Point, who will be bringing Tomorrow, their critically acclaimed exploration of dementia, to the Fringe. Currently based in Glasgow’s CCA, they describe their work as “intuitive, not intellectual”. The company’s website hints that they somewhat lost their way in the past due to a familiar evil that looms over almost every creative venture at the Fringe: commercial and financial pressure. ‘[When] we first received funding, we forgot how to make theatre. We thought we had to do things the way other people did them, that we had to meet certain standards,’ their bio confesses. Now, however, Vanishing Point assert that they have set out on a new path, and performances of Tomorrow have already garnered the acclaim to suggest they are finding their feet once more. Vanishing Point are joined in the Made in Scotland showcase by Stellar Quines, who have been making award winning theatre that explores and celebrates the experiences of women for over 20 years. This year they are returning with The Jennifer Tremblay Trilogy, bringing together three acclaimed plays by the Quebecois writer. The List and The Carousel are both Fringe First winners, with new and final addition The Deliverance this year looking for the same. There can be no doubting the significance of the rise of independently curated programmeswithin-the-programme. They are changing the way punters engage with the Fringe, and opening up new opportunities for artists. It’s likely that more and more of these will generate organically out of the already over-extended main programme, and perhaps the entire structure of the Fringe will evolve accordingly. For anyone asking what the Fringe will look like in 10 or 50 years’ time, this could be your answer. auroranova.org/edinburgh-2015edinburgh-2015 madeinscotlandshowcase.com

THE SKINNY

Credit: Marc Marnie

The Carousel

Faking It Bryony Kimmings talks about her Fringe show Fake It ’til You Make It, mental health stigmatisation and making theatre about real people's real stories

“I

don't write fake stories for fake people to perform in fake kitchens,” says performance maker Bryony Kimmings, calling The Skinny on her drive into London ahead of a preview run of her show Fake It ’til You Make It at the Southbank Centre. Kimmings is talking both of the honesty of her work and of the collaborative trend that runs through some of her most recent pieces. “I don't think it was a conscious choice to only work with people who weren't performers, but I think I was just much more fascinated in the real lives of real people.” Those real lives that she was drawn to were those that surrounded her: “Once I'd worked with Amy [Liptrot, Glasgow Journalist] for Seven Day Drunk and thought, ‘Wow, that was the best part of the project,’ the idea to work with Taylor [Kimming's niece for Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model] just came from hanging out with her so much and watching her at dance shows and thinking, ‘This kid is really fascinating.’” And once her work with Taylor was coming to an end, “it just so happened that in my life this thing was happening with Tim [Grayburn, Kimmings’ partner],” and so the pair began work on Fake It ’til You Make It.

Fake It… is “a love story, but not in a gross way.” Detailing the relationship between Kimmings and Grayburn, it's also “the story of his history of mental health issues. It's the story of how I found out about those issues and how that changed our relationship, and how we cope with it day to day.” It's a very personal piece. “Within that there's lots of mental health facts and figures, there's lots of dancing and laughing about,” says Kimmings, but there are also “lots of recordings of us having a very candid, honest conversation in our lounge a couple of years ago. It's like coming into our living room and us telling you the story of our relationship – but I guess in doing so we're not just telling the story of our relationship, but lots of people's relationships across the world.” For Kimmings, telling this story and exploring mental health on stage are essential, and the latter is something that the wider arts community is recognising. “I think there's kind of a surge of work around types of mental illness at the moment. It seems to be as funding gets cut to mental health services: as soon as something becomes politically charged in that way, lots of

Credit: RWD15 FITYMI Production 2015

Interview: Emma Ainley-Walker

artists start to make work about it from their own personal point of view. I think that proves that it must be relevant and important because there are people who are wanting to talk about it.” This political trend runs through Kimmings’ work, with Credible… responding to a lack of positive female images in the media previously. “Mainly it's what's making me angry at the time,” she says on how she chooses her next subject matter. “Generally I get angry about political things. I probably wouldn't select a subject that I had no personal attachment to, because I think that would just then be a lecture. I try to talk about subjects through a modicum of experience. I'd been thinking a lot about boys anyway because I'd been living through those female issues. I started to think about gender in a more sort of loose way, trying to think about the boys in my life.” As well as mental health issues, the play looks at masculinity and at stereotypes. “Tim is very sporty, he's very broad, very handsome. If you were going to draw a picture of someone that you thought looked like someone with mental health issues in that stigmatised, stereotyped way it would be the opposite of Tim. So I think it's been very powerful to see what you think of a strong, real man talking about the fact that some days he can't get out of bed because he's crying and crying and crying and can't stop.”

“Generally I get angry about political things” Bryony Kimmings

Credit: RWD15 FITYMI Production 2015

This destigmatisation is vital, “because if we don't talk about it then we're somehow assuming that there's some kind of shame attached to it, and that was the whole point of making this show.” If theatre can go any way to removing or alleviating that shame then it must, and this is one of the things Kimmings has found to connect most with audiences, following the show's previous tour in Australia. “Tim talks very, very openly having kept his mental health issues and his depression and his anxiety a secret for almost eight years from

August 2015

THEATRE

pretty much everybody he knew, being in denial about that and not allowing anyone to see that part of him. He's come full circle and he's now realised that if he doesn't talk about it, it makes it a really shameful and kind of damaging thing. I think one of the main points is like, if Tim kept it a secret for such a long time and no one ever guessed, who else do you know, no matter who they are, that might be labouring under the same illness of their own? Because it can affect and does affect all of us. I think it's been really helpful that it's his story in particular. He works in a high powered job, he coped for quite a long time keeping it a secret.” After the Australian run of the show, Kimmings and Grayburn came home with five-star reviews, and the Best Theatre Award from the Adelaide Fringe Festival, feeling confident that the work wasn't just important, or important to them, but that it was good. “You know, you make a piece of art and you hope that people will kind of connect to it, and it was very, very well received. I think what happened more for us was that we felt we had put our finger on the pulse of something that was important to a lot of people.” And the show stays with its audience members, who Kimmings says are reaching out for the first time to contact her and Grayburn after the show. “We stand at the door at the end of the show just to fundamentally make sure that people are okay, because the show is quite funny but it's also very moving and stirs up a lot in people; I think from their own past and their own present stories. So we just get a lot of cheerful hugs or lots of thank yous and handshakes, and lots of people share their stories with us and send us emails after the show. It's really created this sort of community,” she says, adding that many of these people share not only their own stories but advice and suggestions as well. One thing that Kimmings stresses is that despite its subject matter, the show is not all darkness, it has its light as well – humour and pathos. “It's light as well as dark, it's both, it's everything,” she says. Past audience experience and critical acclaim seems to agree with her. Fake It ‘til You Make It, Traverse Two, 6-30 Aug (excluding Mondays), times vary bryonyandtim.com

Feature

THE SKINNY

The Eclectic International Fergus Linehan is changing up the Edinburgh International Festival – we chat to him about why and survey the diversity of his programme

Credit: Jin Hai

his year, Fergus Linehan steps up to his first programme as artistic director of the Edinburgh International Festival. “So far it's been fine but we haven't done anything yet, so we'll see. Ask me in five or six weeks,” he jokes, before following up to clarify, “We're in really good shape and I'm just really looking forward to August.” Linehan's professional history spans from Dublin to Australia and now to Edinburgh. “Well, if you're going to end up working the festival world, this is the granddaddy of them all. It's the great festival city really, so it's sort of the logical place to end up,” he says, alluding to the capital's strong cultural history, particularly during the month of August. “I've always loved Edinburgh. I took almost a year off a few years ago and I lived here. I've always had a connection to the city, I guess because I just felt that there's work I could do with the International Festival that would be really interesting, and it's an interesting time so it just felt like a good move.” The interesting work that Linehan speaks of includes both small and drastic changes, some of which have already happened. Not least are the changed dates: “When you're looking at these kind of festivals from the outside coming in, you have certain assumptions you make and then you kind of have to get in and really talk to people. I still think in a way you also want to remember your experience as someone who used to come along

Antigone

and buy tickets, that's very valuable. One of the things that used to really annoy me was coming to the International Festival and all the other festivals had finished. The big thing for me about Edinburgh was always going along to great theatre companies or great concerts, but also having even things like the Tattoo, or the Book Festival, and having that sort of sense of this incredible excitement on the streets.” It wasn't an easy change to make and not one that Linehan took lightly, or took entirely upon himself, but the logic of it can't be argued with. There were other changes too. “Broadening the definition of our music programme was important, mostly because I think that people have got quite eclectic tastes,” Linehan continues. “They might like some Vivaldi but they might also like Leonard Cohen or whatever else.” The music tradition that already existed in Scotland helped, with Linehan citing “incredibly artful, adventurous” music from Postcard Records to Mogwai to Belle and Sebastian to the electronic scene. “There's always been in Scotland – it hasn't just been three chord rock and roll – there's always been a really interesting approach to popular music.” This is well represented in the programme with performances like FFS [Franz Ferdinand and Sparks, interviewed elsewhere in these pages], ‘two iconic bands joining together in a bold, new creative endeavour,’ according to the EIF Programme, and a screening of Virginia Heath's

TAO Dance Theatre

August 2015

documentary From Scotland with Love alongside a live score from King Creosote. This, alongside the Robert Glasper Trio, Anna Calvi and more are part of the Russian Standard Vodka Hum Sessions. The Robert Glasper Trio's intermixing of jazz with urban music might just capture exactly what Linehan is trying to do: presenting amazing, top-level classical music alongside the same in a wide range of popular music, treating the mediums with equal weight. “Rather than me saying, ‘I like this particular type of music so I'm going to make you all listen to it,’ it was more just trying to reflect the fact that people's musical taste has got incredibly diverse,” he explains, and he has definitely captured that diversity. His third change comes right at the start of the festival with The Harmonium Project, a free event kicking off the festival on 7 August. “I personally really like doing big, outdoor events. The fact that we now have our programming beginning at the beginning of the festival season, finding a way to mark that with a free, outdoor event that is still about what we do – music at a really high level – but where anyone could come along, and in a way that's quite spectacular and celebratory to mark the beginning of the festival with something that's for the city. “The thing that's unique about Edinburgh is, you know, you've got people doing things incredibly informally but you also have got the best actors or the best musicians.” Putting together his programme, Linehan talks about finding those who are the best at what they do and bringing them to Edinburgh. “I approached it from the point of view of ‘these are just artists that I really like,’” he says and his tastes are certainly ones that would be classed high above ‘good’. “In theatre, Robert Lepage, Simon McBurney, these are just the great directors of our time. Ivo van Hove, these are some of the giants. I just went into conversations with them about building that structure.” Robert Lepage brings the European premiere of 887 with Canadian theatre company Ex Machina. Lepage brings his personal memories as a Frenchspeaking child from the October Crisis of 1970 and mixes this story of political unrest with modern technology, questioning the role of past remembrance in an age that now stores everything digitally. Ivo van Hove directs the much-anticipated Antigone starring Juliette Binoche as the titular heroine (or traitor); a fine example of the greatest

THEATRE

The Last Hotel

actors, directors and theatre makers coming to Edinburgh. This contemporary production of one of the great classic theatre works speaks again to Linehan's desire to bring diversity to his programme. Antigone may not be a rarely-performed text, but van Hove's interpretation is sure to bring something new and unique to the play.

“If you're going to end up working the festivals world, this is the granddaddy of them all” Fergus Linehan

In opera, EIF presents the world premiere of The Last Hotel, as a new chamber opera joins together one of Ireland's great composers, Donnacha Dennehy, with one of their greatest and darkest playwrights, Enda Walsh, and conductor André de Ridder who has collaborated in the past with Bryce Dessner and Damon Albarn. This sits beside much more classical opera concerts such as The Marriage of Figaro and The Rake's Progress. Again, the programme reflects diversity. Dance sees the final world tour of ‘one of the greatest dancers of her generation’, Sylvie Guillem, programmed next to TAO Dance Theatre's ritualistic aesthetic next to Ballett Zürich in a double bill featuring their artistic director Christian Spuck and British choreographer Wayne McGregor, both internationally acclaimed. “It's always a mix of things you really, really like which has to be the starting point and then things that will work in the overall mix. I think really great theatre, really great dance, really great orchestral music is a very, very important part of the overall mix of the whole festival season.” Alongside the popular and the contemporary, Linehan's first programme as artistic director is set to be memorable and exciting. It's clear to see why he's looking forward to August. Edinburgh International Festival, 7-31 Aug eif.co.uk

Feature

Credit: Hugh O'Conner

Credit: Jan Versweyveld

Interview: Emma Ainley-Walker

Love Letter to Theatre Stewart Laing discusses Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner, reinvention and theatre about theatre at the EIF

“I

think it's a love letter actually,” says Stewart Laing, director of Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner, soon to be showing at the Edinburgh International Festival. “It's a love letter to the theatre about what great theatre is; the highs and lows of it. For me, that's what it is. It's theatre that's about what it is like to make theatre.” You may have seen Confessions before, back in 2013, or you may be surprised to see it again. Untitled Projects – the company that created the show, of which Laing is artistic director – are, in Laing's words, “dormant.” After their funding bid was rejected by Creative Scotland in the latter half of last year, the company sadly could not continue to make the work they wanted to in the way that they wanted to. Although they were encouraged to reapply for funding on a project to project basis, it wasn't sufficient to keep them afloat and making work. “We still have a bank account, which doesn't have any money in it, and we still have a board of directors, but apart from that the company is dormant at the moment,” says Laing. “The show this year is an Edinburgh Festival production; they are producing the show because we didn't have the facility to do it.” So what is the show? In some ways, it could be seen as an adaptation of an adaptation, looking at Paul Bright's series of radical performances between 1987 and 1989, based on James Hogg's 1824 novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. “It's quite complicated,” Laing tells us from his sunny back garden in London. “I mean, really it's us adapting James Hogg's book, but in the process we're inventing this other layer of reality.”

The concept came out of two base ideas, the first, bringing in Bright's previous shows, was a fascination with theatre archiving; “like what is left over of a piece of theatre after the show has finished – what are the lasting documents of it?” asks Laing. “We'd been talking for a long time about making a piece of theatre that was about archives, that was about fragments that remained and memories of a piece of theatre that has happened in the past. And also we were interested in doing an adaptation of Confessions of a Justified Sinner, so it was like the two ideas collided; they came together and that's what made the show happen.” Adaptation runs through all of Untitled Projects’ work in some way, it seems, and Laing agrees. “Adaptation is very much a part of what we do. We very rarely work from existing theatre texts.” Only once did they work from a play, “but we ended up really adapting that play. It was a Marivaux play called The Dispute and Pamela Carter rewrote it. I think, not necessarily just adaptation, but reinventing something for the stage.” This seems incredibly pertinent for the EIF programme, with a new adaptation of Alasdair Gray's Lanark standing alongside Confessions. “I think that's really interesting programming because it's another great classic of Scottish literature,” says Laing, extending his compliments to Fergus Linehan, artistic director of his first EIF programme. “I really, really love Lanark, I think it's amazing. In a lot of ways I'm quite jealous that it's Graham Eatough and David Greig who are doing that adaptation, because I think it is a difficult thing to do and I'm really interested to see what they do with it.” Aside from maybe wishing he had

Credit: Tommy Ga Ken Wan

Interview: Emma Ainley-Walker

adapted the mammoth novel himself, there is no worry, only excitement behind Laing's tone, who acknowledges or perhaps expects that press and theatregoers themselves will see a chance to compare and contrast the two pieces. “I think it's a real buzz being part of the Edinburgh Festival,” he says, going further into congratulating Linehan's work for commissioning new, large-scale Scottish work alongside also comissioning re-showings of existing Scottish work, with Vox Motus’ Dragon as well as Confessions. “Traditionally Scottish theatre companies have been invited to the Edinburgh Festival to make new work; there's been this sort of unwritten rule that if you're a Scottish theatre company you need to do something that's never been done before. For me what's really interesting is that Fergus Linehan has changed the policy on that.”

“Not necessarily just adaptation, but reinventing something for the stage”

Credit: Tommy Ga Ken Wan

Stewart Laing

Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Feature

To Linehan, it just felt logical to show previous Scottish work. “The festival audience is completely different to the year-round audience, and so when the eyes of the world are trained on Scotland you really want to show them your best stuff. The only way of doing that really is reviving productions that have been successful,” he told us. “In the festival there's an incredible hunger for Scottish work.” And Laing is thankful for the opportunity to be included. “It's very exciting that Scottish theatre makers get the same opportunity as other international theatre makers.” The show itself is not fundamentally changed from its 2013 iteration. “It's pretty much the same show but we tweak it depending on where it's

THEATRE

playing.” Last year it performed in both Ireland and Sweden, garnering some changes to suit new audiences. “It's very Scottish, it refers to a lot of things that I think you would expect a Scottish audience to know that maybe you wouldn't expect a Swedish audience to know.” For the International Festival audience that may not be such a problem, although performing at The Queen's Hall, “there's the potential for us to play to much larger audiences than we've ever played to before,” so some tweaks may be required after all. “I hope a lot more Scottish people get a chance to see it at Queen's Hall,” says Laing. Although the play has garnered quite a buzz and is talked about in theatre circles, on a grand scale, “not that many people saw it first time round at Tramway and Summerhall when we originally did it in 2013,” so Laing is excited to bring the show back to Scotland and in a larger space than before. Untitled Projects have been known to take past work and do it another way with Slope, which they performed in 2006 and then again in 2014 in collaboration with Kiltr, live streaming the show each night. However Laing couldn't imagine doing the same to Confessions. “I think that Confessions is just so specific to the production. Certainly at the moment I can't imagine any other way of reflecting those ideas than the way we do it in the show in its current form.” New to the Edinburgh production will be a publication alongside the play, “so I suppose that's sort of taking a certain set of ideas and trying to communicate them in a different form. We thought it would be good to have a publication that looked at the show in a bit of critical depth. That's been a very exciting process, a learning process.” It comes full circle, really, to show that even in a production that couldn't be envisioned in any other way, there is still some form of reinvention. And underneath the background, the layers of reality and the reinvention, it remains “at the centre of the show, a love story.” Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Queen's Hall, 19-22 Aug, 8pm (Saturday Matinee 4pm). eif.co.uk/2015/sinner

THE SKINNY

August 2015

ADVERTISING FEATURE

The Next Wave

Credit: Dan Swerdlow

The Pleasance's future is all about youth – Tim Norton, Anna Simpson and Andrew Whyment reveal what they're bringing to the venue this August

Dorian Gray

ast year was the Pleasance's 30th birthday, and instead of having a crisis about what to do with the rest of their lives, they decided to throw a huge celebration. Now they're looking forward, and with a new structure in place to support burgeoning theatrical talent called Pleasance Futures, it's young people and young companies that are at this theatre's heart. Tim Norton, who has worked with Young Pleasance for the last 20 years, describes Pleasance Futures as “a way of trying to bring together the various different strands that the venue has. It's always had a policy of encouraging young performers, both comedians and technicians, as well as writers, directors and actors.” That's evidenced in the Young Pleasance company's annual production and the Charlie Hartill Fund, used to bring a young company up to Edinburgh for the duration, in addition to the Comedy Reserve which does likewise for young comics. Furthermore, because the company takes on so many newcomers to the industry as technicians and venue managers, it has also become an important laboratory for young people wanting experience on the technical side. Pleasance Futures is then able to provide a way of support to people that actually want to set up their own theatre companies, either financially or through mentoring and advice. In this year's programme, Pleasance provides a great example of just how they help young companies to move forward with their careers. “We have the Incognito theatre company,” Norton says, “that came directly out of students from Young Pleasance being supported this year with a venue in Edinburgh. And there are numerous ways in which funding or advice or support is being given to new groups wanting to come up, or maybe former students who just need that extra support trying to set up in as professional a way as possible.” This description extends to Squint Theatre, the recipient of this year's Charlie Hartill Fund. “Last year, a show we really wanted to support was just too big to take to Edinburgh. They had about 15 people in the company, and so over the next 18 months Pleasance supported that company to do their first run of performances in London as opposed to going to Edinburgh.” This year, Squint Theatre secured the award with a new piece and so the Pleasance continues to support their endeavours with a venue slot in

Feature

Edinburgh and £7,500 worth of support. “It's a very exciting time for the Pleasance, and for Pleasance Futures in particular, because at last there is a much more formal structure, so it's going to be easier when people come with projects and we can say, ‘Actually this is the route that we can support you through.’ It's something that we're very keen to develop.” Norton tells us it has always been their philosophy to nurture and work with young talent, “but now there actually is that space and that structure, and that formal way of bringing that philosophy in through comedy and through technical theatre; directing, writing and acting. Pleasance is such a good name to have behind you and the Pleasance is very good at providing a lot of support for people.” Speaking of the Young Pleasance in particular, who this year will be bringing The Hampstead Murder Mystery! to the Fringe, Norton first tried to begin the endeavour in 1994, looking for a venue for a new play he was bringing to the festival. “I originally took it to Christopher Richardson and he said, ‘No to a venue, but I'll design the play for you.’ We actually won the Fringe First for that play, so the following year Christopher said, ‘You must bring your next production to Pleasance One,’ which was a big musical called Bus. Two years later that youth theatre became the Young Pleasance and since then we've done one, sometimes two productions every year either in Edinburgh or in London.” It's an incredibly long history of success for Norton, who says that one of the best things to come out of his longevity is seeing where the students move on to. “What's great now is when you go up to Edinburgh, so many former YP students are either performing their own work or working in different venues. That's a legacy that is very, very important to us.” This legacy begins within the Young Pleasance company itself, as some students return for one or two years, passing on their experience to the newbies as well as gaining upon their own experience. “It's a big step up for young people who might be very good, might be very gifted, might have quite a lot of opportunity in their schools or youth groups,” he continues. As well as learning from each other, the students learn from exposure: “What tends to happen is that the maximum number of performances that you'll ever get in a school year is about four, and the difference suddenly of doing 16 performances over two and a half weeks... You can really see the difference,

Interview: Emma Ainley-Walker

how they develop as a result of having that experience and actually learning and understanding what they're doing because of that process of repeated performance.” It's a little like immersion therapy, with a rehearsal period of only nine or ten days. “They don't have time to be distracted by their mobile phones or wanting to go off on holiday with their friends. Most people would think that's insane, to start from scratch, but it does mean that you work at immense speed with that adrenaline that keeps everyone going.” The Hampstead Murder Mystery! itself is an adaptation of a 1915 detective novel dramatised by Norton and co-director Jo Billington. “We want to make it quite a physical piece. It has 180 characters; we have about seven or eight of the cast that are just performing seven roles, but most of the rest of the cast are playing up to about 12 or 13 different roles.” In relation to the story, the cast of 26 seems small, but in relation to the much of the Fringe it is a sizeable group. “We're not really that interested in working with small groups for the simple reason that we're trying to involve as many people as possible. Young Pleasance is very much about the ensemble and making everybody feel that they have a hugely important role in the whole piece – and get an awful lot of exposure on the stage,” says Norton, recalling the aforementioned legacy. “I think there's 39 scenes so it's going to be very fast and a little bit tonguein-cheek. Essentially you've got a body in the library right at the start of the play, and practically all the other characters are suspects so the whole piece keeps twisting and turning, hopefully in a very interesting way.” The murder will be solved at Pleasance this August, so make sure to get along to find out just which promising young actor was portraying the perpetrator all along. Following their debut at last year's Fringe with Government Inspector, emerging young company Incognito Theatre are back at the Pleasance with their version of Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray. Director Anna Simpson took some time out of her busy show to discuss the highlights of their forthcoming Fringe programme. Incognito's relationship (“as friends as well as actors,” she explains) began at Young Pleasance. “Working together for five years in demanding ensemble shows meant when we struck out on our own we already had a trust, a shared humour, and a collective instinct for working together, which is at the heart of the work we create.” Simpson talks about the “rigorous workshop, callback and audition” process young performers go through to enter Young Pleasance, and how “once you are in the company you are treated as a young artist in your own right. Members of the Young Pleasance are lucky enough to work with amazing professionals – great writers, directors and so on, and consequently are given a strong grounding in physical and ensemble styles of performance, but you are also encouraged from day one to bring your own ideas to the rehearsal room.” It was this platform upon which Incognito found their own voice as a company, already “using our initiative and imagination to create and tell stories.” The company are ‘Powered by Pleasance’, so it's clear to see how the support that Young Pleasance gave to these artists is carrying through as they move into their own endeavours. “As well as all the valuable practical help, both financial and administrative (two major barriers to emerging theatre companies learning how to manage the business side of things, especially when hea-

THEATRE

ding to the biggest arts festival in the world) the Pleasance have given us something invaluable – their trust,” says Simpson. “Last year they took a chance on us as a company, trusting our raw talent, artistic vision and enthusiasm. It paid off and we proved ourselves worthy of that trust: our debut Government Inspector garnered four and five-star reviews across the board and sold out nearly every day – an incredible achievement for a young unknown company at the Edinburgh Fringe, and a feat that would have been nearly impossible without the Pleasance's help.”

“Once you are in the company you are treated as a young artist in your own right” Anna Simpson on Young Pleasance

And this success is a benefit to both Incognito and the Pleasance, who transferred the show for a short Christmas run in December 2014 at the Pleasance Islington, and have continued to support it at other arts festivals. This year Dorian Gray will be performed in the 10 Dome – a bigger venue than last year, expanding upon the support and the success shared by the company and venue. Speaking of Government Inspector, Simpson explains that “the satire of the piece [allowed] us to use our highly stylised physical techniques to comedic effect. We were able to embrace the silly and ridiculous in the story, bring our humour to the fore and revel in play and sheer fun.” With Dorian Gray the company will “flex our dramatic acting muscles alongside our comedy ones – we can't fall back on slapstick to get an audience reaction this time!” The lack of slapstick moments in Wilde's novel does not, however, remove the physical element from their performance. “We use no set or props but use the ensemble to create everything – characters, physical environments and atmospheres – working as a chorus to tell the story expressionistically rather than realistically. We take an idea and try to find the best and most interesting visual conduit for it, and Dorian Gray is full of interesting ideas and inspiring aesthetics.” The Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund recipients are similarly ensemble driven. Artistic director Andrew Whyment began Squint Theatre in 2009, initially exploring contemporary playwrights: “We shifted our focus and decided that we'd try and make our first piece of original work,” he explains. As well as prioritising on the ensemble, Whyment wanted the company to staying topical: “We aim to be as provocative as we can with stories that are as current as possible.” However, moving out of the student sphere hasn't been easy financially: “For about three years we've had the ambition to be up there with one of our new plays and haven't been able to raise the cash for it.” This is where the Charlie Hartill Fund comes in: Squint applied for the fund last year and were shortlisted. “We didn't win on that occasion

THE SKINNY

but we still brought our show to Pleasance in London to sort of build a relationship, and then on our return to entering the prize we were again shortlisted. So we shared our new piece and we won the prize. It really was about us building a relationship with Pleasance over the past year or so. They saw our previous show and then liked the idea for what we were going to do next.” It's not just the invaluable financial support the Pleasance gives, but space. “We work at scale. Our work is quite technical – there's always a multimedia element with sound design and video being a big part of it – and very ensemble-driven with lots of movement,” says Whyment. “There aren't many spaces in London that really offer an emerging company the opportunity to work in a large space. The Pleasance main space here in London is perfect in terms of being able to fulfil the ambition of our work.” Although Fringe venues are famously small, Pleasance have supported the scope of their work. “We made it clear that we'd really like to be able to work at scale in Edinburgh and so they've given us a midsize venue, which is brilliant because it means we can really allow our design elements and movement elements to be present in the show.” The show itself is written by Whyment along with Lee Anderson and Adam Foster, and explores sociopathy. “There's always that desperation, from the media and the audience, to dig for what makes that person who they are and to try and identify that moment in their childhood where they turned or whatever it might be. I suppose we were interested in trying to create a character who we were studying under that lens of ‘is it nature or is it nurture that causes them to be sociopathic?’” The resulting production Molly is indebted to Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E. Thomas. “In this book this woman knows that she is by diagnosis a sociopath. She herself is trying to trace what has made her that way, and to articulate how she has to live in the everyday world where her behaviour is unacceptable, and how it is that she quells those urges to do atrocious things at times. And so our character really stems from M.E. Thomas and the character of herself that she portrays in her book. It's become a play which is really about empathising or attempting to empathise with an individual who cannot empathise, and trying to look at what makes her the way she is and look at the way in which society might create a narrative for that person which isn't entirely true.” Three very different plays created by emerging artists await at Pleasance this August, but one thing that is certain is that young people are at the heart of something exciting. The Hampstead Murder Mystery!, King Dome, 7-22 Aug, 1:50pm, 8:45pm Dorian Gray, 6-31 Aug, 10 Dome, 4pm Molly, Pleasance Above, 5-30 Aug, 4:40pm

Credit: Dan Swerdlow

Box Office: 0131 556 6550

August 2015

The Hampstead Murder Mystery!

THEATRE

Feature

DESIGN BY BRIGHTEYE

THE SKINNY

No Fear of Pop East India Youth analyses Culture of Volume, his precarious live show, and how – sadly – we can't all be Caribou Interview: Katie Hawthorne Photography: Lucy Ridges

illiam Doyle – aka East India Youth – is sat outside King Tut's, keeping his sharp blue suit admirably clean whilst posing for The Skinny's photographs on a grey, drizzly evening. His sophomore album Culture of Volume dropped less than two months ago, and this stop off in Glasgow is toward the tail end of a lengthy traversing of American and European soils. The record is Doyle's first release with renowned buzz label XL, and it's an ambitious exercise in charting a spectrum of pop: colourful, meticulously crafted and brimming with confidence. Never one to shy from the p-word, Doyle wears his influences proudly, name-checking the likes of Eno and Bowie, as well as Soft Cell, Björk and the Pet Shop Boys – all to be found in a recent (excellent) playlist documenting the album's heritage. You'll have noticed we're not talking Robin Thicke-styled popsters here; we're definitely mapped in leftfield territory. Amongst that same mix you'll find contemporary electronic experimentalists like Jon Hopkins, Daniel Avery and Perc, too – an indicator of Doyle's love affair with dance music of all sorts and guises. He grins. “I think it's about… not being afraid. One of the only reviews I've read [of the album] was Alexis Petridis’ one for The Guardian. It was a five star one, why wouldn't you want to?! Anyway... he said that I seem like the sort of person who doesn't see their love of pop music as… you know… detrimental to my artistic vision. Some people who decide they're going to make slightly weirder music really do react badly to having their music labelled as pop. I've got absolutely no qualms about that at all. In fact, I was welcoming it.” His debut album, last year's Total Strife Forever, was a largely instrumental amalgamation of glossy, pop-infused highlights and textured, techno-inspired, after-dark reverberations. The record saw him catapulted into the critical limelight, championed by The Quietus’ John Doran, billed on almost every festival and nominated for a Mercury award. Sophomore success seemed written in the tea leaves, and after such an exuberantly diverse calling card, you'd be forgiven for expecting Doyle to have relaxed somewhat. Instead, his magpie-like tendencies have been amplified tenfold. Culture of Volume is titled aptly: suggesting a greed for more, Doyle's thrown down ten tracks of mountainous proportions. From the showbiz sass of Beaming White, to roaring techno-inspired introspection on Entirety, Culture of Volume's complexities reward a patient listener – but many of the record's treasures are held within slightly easier reach. “Yeah, I did what I set out to do this time,” Doyle confirms. “Which is to make pop music that on the surface hooks you in – there's something very immediate about it, and the casual listener can get that. Then, for the person who wants to dig a bit deeper, there's still a depth under the immediacy of it all.” There's a strong sense of curation, a careful landscaping: the architecture of Culture of Volume is precise and “totally conscious.” Yet, despite his encyclopaedia of influences and interests, his approach to curatorship is far more organic than it is rigorous. He recalls a conversation with his sound engineer, George: “I asked him, ‘When you get a musical idea, do you write it down?’ He says yeah, he likes documenting it. I don't. You put it down once, and then you forget about it, because you've got a record of it. But when you go back to it, you've only ever really

August 2015

thought about it the one time that it happened...? And usually it's just not very good. I think the ones that remain in my memory, they're the ones that are worth it. If they're still in there, still swimming about, they're the ones that are worth working on.” Kind of a Darwinistic approach to ideas, then? “Exactly. You let the ideas ferment. It's about cultivating those ideas; lyrics, melodies, beats, styles. And if you forget something…you'll always have a new idea.”

“The idea with this album was that, tongue-in-cheek I suppose, I'm going to be a popstar now” William Doyle

The album's certainly a journey, in the most genuine, least cheesy sense – this is no lazy journospeak. Doyle's emphatic about his love of the format, and it shows. Opening track The Juddering lays firm groundwork in entirely purposeful way, influenced by the “old Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound test.” For comparison purposes, try Doyle's mix of cinematic openers. And Carousel, the slow-burning, emotional crux of the album feels a sharp, measured intake of breath after its mammoth, dance-floor ready precursors. Doyle's enjoyment of the deliberate structuring is infectious as he describes how, instead of having been a long-ruminated concept, the track burst to life far more urgently. “You're just like, ‘oh shit, something's happening’” Doyle laughs, gesturing energetically. “It's like, this is happening RIGHT NOW. BATTLE STATIONS! Everybody get on board right the fuck now, we need to get this down!’ Sometimes it just… happens.” Laughing, he admits that his enthusiasm often gets the better of him: “You start imagining the whole album before you've even made that much of it. But when you've got so many disparate ideas and influences, it does help to have some idea...” In a monumental London show late last year, a culmination of the Total Strife Forever tour, Doyle experimented with how he would present his new material – with the performance of Carousel posing the biggest questions. “I knew I wanted a new live set up, like, ‘How am I going to redesign this?’ I couldn't work out to play [Carousel] live. And then I thought, why don't I just press play and sing on top of it?” This simplistic description is beyond misleading. The East India Youth live show circa 2015 is, if possible, even more complicated. Doyle's known for his frenzied and unbelievably complex single-handed performances; a perfectionist when it comes to sound quality, visuals and the mapping of a set. Earlier shows were anchored, visually and sonically, by a table supporting a plethora of wires, cables and buttons – behind which he'd throw himself about, looking in very real danger of taking out an eye. But even without the “shackles” of the desk, Doyle's still “not quite free to roam.” With his equipment now supported by stands, he laughs, “Yeah,

there's four things that could fall over. Which is exciting actually. It is more precarious now, definitely more precarious.” Happily, Doyle doesn't smash anything during the storming, sweaty set he plays to a rowdy, adoring audience later that night. He's “re-tooled” material from Total Strife Forever to fit his newly super-sized, voluminous sound, and the result is magnificent. The dichotomy between surging, pounding tracks like Turn Away and the moment of calm that Carousel provides is both moving and welcome, a chance to regain breath and appreciate the intricacies in the colossal sound that Doyle's weaving. Unmistakeably at home in the belly of a dark, cavernous club, he makes no attempt to hide his feelings about playing where he doesn't belong. “I did Unknown festival in Croatia the year before last. It was on the beach. At 4pm in the blazing fucking sunshine. How many people were watching my set, vs. how many people were sunbathing? My music doesn't fit that environment, I never imagined it to fit that environment. You know, I wish I could be Caribou. But I'm not. Caribou can do day and night, he's that versatile…” He's joking, but Doyle is extremely analytical and self-effacing of himself and his work. “It's funny now, in hindsight. I know I say ‘in hindsight’, and the album's only been out for what, seven weeks? But the idea with this album was that, tongue-in-cheek I suppose, I'm going to be a pop star now. I very quickly realised that, although I love pop music and I love making it, and I hope that people have enjoyed my stab at it… I don't think I'm cut

MUSIC

out to be the popstar that I thought I was going to be.” Really, it all boils down to your definition of pop, doesn't it? It's possible that East India Youth's precisely-engineered, peculiar avant-pop is too left of centre to fit mainstream measurements. Yet, the muscular, juicy choruses of tracks like Beaming White and Turn Away are as soaring and as polished as any pop-purist could hope for. Perhaps there's tension between the ‘popstar’ Doyle expected to be and the artist he's become, but when the result is a record like Culture of Volume, and a show like the one that left the King Tut's crowd ecstatic, it's clearly no bad thing. Most tellingly, when Doyle speaks of the artists – the popstars, even – that have inspired him, he never once suggests that he's trying to mimic them. When he writes a song, it's “an homage to a scene, but it could never be considered a part of that scene. It's filtered through my own experience. To try to do something that feels like dabbling just seems wrong to me.” Pausing, he continues, “That's all you can do as an artist, isn't it? Otherwise you're just making a pastiche of something. And it's a fine line. I don't even really know if I've worked out a) how to identify that fine line, and b) how to be on the right side of it either. I really don't know! Maybe that's the mystery that keeps me coming back to making it.” East India Youth plays The Skinny stage at Electric Fields, Dumfries on 29 Aug eastindiayouth.co.uk

Feature

Rhyme and Reasons Looking through the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival line-up – including a Skinny sponsored Kate Tempest event – 2015 StAnza Poet in Residence Claire Mulley ponders that elusive theoretical point on the arts spectrum between ‘poetry’ and what is now known as ‘spoken word’

oetry and spoken word. Both involve self-expression. Both involve word artistry. Some claim they are the same thing, and that spoken word is simply one of many slices of the poetry pie – one that you can choose to sample or not, as you fancy. Others are more defensive, and refer to spoken word as a separate, reactionary art form, somewhere between rap and ‘page poetry’. Never, ever call them poets. They are spoken word artists. In all honesty, I don't actually know where I stand in terms of labelling. Comparing page poetry to spoken word seems a bit like comparing a gigantic painting to a fireworks display – both have vivid colour and inspire emotion, even though one is about the effects hitting the senses in a moment, and the other is something you stand back from and digest more slowly. Either way, surely this is as much to do with an audience's preferred method of consumption as what a verse contains or does? You can't really prove that either way is superior, or that their overall functions as artworks are that far apart. I'm not sure the difference is enough to justify two completely separate entities, and am inclined to go for the pie slice metaphor. Or maybe that's just because I'm greedy. Anyway, regardless of the stance you might take, one thing is certain – as with painting and pyrotechnics, both are extremely hard to do well. The charm of Edinburgh International Book Festival is that, whatever differences these poetic factions might usually have, the focus on all things staged and experimental allows them to work side by side in a way that wouldn't always happen at your average poetic shindig. Naturally, for us, one of the most anticipated acts is the main young name in spoken word at the moment: Kate Tempest. Now there's an artist who really makes you think hard about boundaries and their relevance – is she a poet? Is she spoken word? Is she rap? Probably not quite any or all three. Moreover, she wouldn't thank you for trying to pigeonhole her. I had, as yet, only heard of Kate when I first saw her perform a couple of years ago, and by that time she already had the Ted Hughes Award under her belt, and was a favourite to win the Mercury Prize. The discovery happened at around 2am, during a post-party conversation with a friend. We had drifted into talking very earnestly and slightly soggily about our favourite poetry (as can only happen that late and in that woozled frame of mind). “Are you into Kate Tempest?” she asked. The name rang a bell, I mumbled. YouTube duly opened up, we settled down to watch one of her live performances. I have to say I reeled back at first. I am much more used to hearing poems or reading them as part of a more subdued whole, so the sheer force and speed of the voice I was confronted with was hard to absorb. It was a bit like being peppered with bits of lead shot wrapped in chilli flakes, and my poor, wrung-out brain protested. But the more I heard from her over that year, the harder it was to look away. Her clarity and

Feature

Credit: Bart Heemskerk

style have a raw beauty all of their own, and she has brought the classics to a whole new level with her interpretations – great news for the myriad of students having to trudge through dusty school syllabuses. Besides, there is something about her that is wonderfully hypnotic and unadorned. Even when plumbing the darkest depths, her face remains open, her eyes enquiring, beseeching, not staring down her audience. Rather than someone rapping on tough subjects for the sake of appearing tough – and sadly there are a lot of those around – you get the feeling that Kate is simply a force of nature contained within a very unassuming vessel.

“Like being peppered with bits of lead shot wrapped in chilli flakes” Clare Mulley on Kate Tempest

When you see her being interviewed, this feeling is confirmed; she smiles widely, laughs often and answers the questions put to her without arrogance, false modesty or waffle. That chaos of passion for wordplay onstage is clearly what makes her, and far from contriving its existence, her task is to control its exit in the best way she can. She certainly seems to be doing a great job so far. Kate's Edinburgh International Book Festival interview

with Don Paterson, her publisher, should be a very worthwhile watch; I've heard Don read and lecture many times, and he is also a delight to hear – similarly unassuming, but more like still waters. An interesting mix of elements. The wider Festival will see many acts returning after previous successes; following her fivestar show in 2014, the ballsy Hannah Chutzpah is back with Asking Nicely, a lyrical lecture on politeness and consent. Bouncily conversational in style, and with plenty of laughs, you'll feel like you're sitting having a cuppa in a friend's kitchen. Then there's Ben Fagan, a rather charming Kiwi whose poem in response to Facebook's insipid ‘What's on your mind?’ never fails to get giggles; he has already done a TED talk, and his show Under the Table promises a down-to-earth, relaxed vibe. Another TED alumnus, Harry Baker, brings you The Sunshine Kid – the youngest ever World Poetry Slam Champion and with two previous five-star shows to his name, he has made charming geekwit an art form in itself, and is the only poet I ever have heard riff on maths. The Glummer Twins – who started out thirty years ago with the Circus of Poets performance group – are back too, and as hilarious as ever. For a slightly grittier feel, try the Stay-At-Home Dandy, a plain-spoken word artist whose poignant stories of urban life also earned him rave reviews last year, or Jemima Foxtrot, who fuses word and song to explore real-life issues. The irreverent Porky the Poet (alias comedian Phill Jupitus) will also be doing a slot, and children will adore Martin Kiszko, the UK's Green Poet, whose actions rival even his wacky verses. The mixed shows always pull in a good crowd, too, and there are loads to choose from. The Loud Poets are showcasing

BOOKS

Scotland's best slammers, and Spoken Word Sundays will see the Glasgow Women's Library and The Writing Mums coming together. For a rouser, be sure to check out the misleadingly-named Poetry Can F*ck Off (i.e. stir people up), a show based on the words of figures like Jim Morrison, William Blake and Martin Luther King. Alongside newer artists, many works we are used to reading on the page are also being brought to life with commentary, drama and music. Awhile with Seamus Heaney and Dylan's Daughter provide a fresh look at the works of the two greats through their own eyes and the eyes of those they knew, while Patti Smith's punk tribute to the works of Ginsberg, complete with visuals and accompaniment by Philip Glass, is certain to be popular with those of an edgier persuasion. Both our Makar and Poet Laureate are also making an appearance, and, interestingly, both are performing with live musical accompaniment to add an extra dimension to the page. Carol Ann Duffy will be adding more spice to famously sensuous works like The World's Wife and The Bees with 500 years’ worth of instrumental interlude by John Sampson (please tell me a sackbut is involved somewhere), while Liz Lochhead will be pairing her naturally warm tones with snatches of soul from saxophonist Steve Kettley, to create the musical and poetic equivalent of a wake-up stretch on a sunny morning lie-in. Gorgeous. All of these poetry events can be found on The Fringe and Edinburgh International Book Festival websites Kate Tempest with Don Paterson is at Edinburgh International Book Festival on 18 Aug at 8.15pm edbookfest.co.uk

THE SKINNY

No Definition Required Prior to her appearance at Edinburgh International Book Festival, award-winning writer Janice Galloway talks to The Skinny about ‘sex and love and parenthood’. All contained in Jellyfish, her dazzling new short story collection

anice Galloway decides to meet with The Skinny in the café of Glasgow's CCA, at the bar. She insists on buying the drinks while tasking us with finding a table. After introductions – “Where are you from? What do you do?” She later admits she likes to pin people down on first meeting them – Galloway shakes her head, suggests that we need to find somewhere quieter, and disappears for a moment, only to return with a member of staff, charmed into opening up the empty cinema. In here it is silent – utterly – and, as we pull seats up to the table at the front of the auditorium, it feels slightly surreal, as though this conversation is being played to an invisible audience. We are here to discuss Jellyfish, ‘a short book of short stories’ and Galloway's first book of fiction since 2009’s Collected Stories. The slim, vividly yellow volume, follows the more recent All Made Up, published as a memoir in 2012. From the outset, however, Galloway demonstrates a reluctance to accept categories: “Here we go, I'm afraid I'm going to split hairs right from the start.” She explains: “When I hand something in I call it a book. And they say, ‘Clearly it's...’ Clearly! It means don't argue, the word ‘clearly’, that's what it means. They decided to call it [All Made Up] memoir and I touted it at interviews as anti-memoir, because, classically, the definition of a memoir is ‘I remember this’, and I don't remember everything. It doesn't mean it's lies, it doesn't mean it's made up, it means it's where most of us keep our memory.

It's all stories, as far as I'm concerned and your job is to tell the story interestingly and not be dull.” Struck by a thought, Galloway leans forward. “Muriel Spark, whom I idolised; she wrote something called Curriculum Vitae – have you read it? She said, ‘I have resolved to write nothing in this book simply because I remember it.’ One of the chapters is called Bread… and the chapter after that is called Butter… and the chapter after that is called Jam… and they are literally about these things. It's terrible! I've never, since reading that book, wanted to call anything factual. When I got to the end I thought, ‘She's pissing you about, this is a game.’ I don't know if it was, but we do tend to think up excuses for our heroes and heroines, and possibly there isn't one.” Despite shrugging off attempts to classify her work, Galloway accepts with pragmatic good humour that “basically you are under the care of your publisher, who's been good enough to publish you.” Jellyfish is dedicated in part to ‘folk who publish, buy and write short stories’. It's Galloway's fourth collection and she explains her affection for the form: “Thank God I'm writing short stories. You get to the end of them quicker, and you feel a sense of achievement much quicker. And I love putting them together, and I love toying with ideas between stories and seeing how one story bounces off another – it's totally different to how chapters bounce. A completely different ball game. It's playing with the reader and saying ‘I know you're

out there’. I mean...” She chuckles. “...There's no point me writing this if you're not out there. It's a form of companionability, I think, writing short stories. In a short story there's more of an assurance that people will find all the things hidden under stones – because there are fewer stones.” Jellyfish reflects and responds to the observation by David Lodge, that “literature is mostly about having sex and not much about having children; life's the other way round,” and the collection of short stories vividly evokes the joys, the sorrows and the stark truths of sex and love and parenthood. Galloway strips away some of our comforting illusions, and confronts us with our weaknesses, our fears and our fallibility. But there is hope too in this Pandora's treasure trove. “You're just trying to get a state of mind across,” Galloway asserts. “That to me is the essence of what creativity is – and anything's allowed.” She recalls, aged 16, finding a Stevie Smith book in a school cupboard that nobody ever used. “And I thought, these are funny and weird and sad at the same time. How perfect is that? Because that's what we are… and when I found out she was a woman I managed to track down the complete works… which I still have, it's all covered in coffee and jam and fingerprints… and tears. She just blew me away because she can tell you the most awful thing, and then she'll tell you something trivial like, ‘Aren't cats fun?’ to make up for it… and that's basically life. I learned a lot from Stevie.”

Interview: Ceris Aston

Love – and especially parental love – in Jellyfish is often tinged with fear, loss and helplessness. “It wasn't until I became a mother that I realised that you could love anything that much,” Galloway recalls. “I was very much lost as a child… I'd always felt somehow subhuman, other. But I remember being in prenatal, I felt that I belonged, with all these other women looking like barrage balloons, and thinking, ‘We're all in something together.’” Aged 34, she gave birth to her son: “I thought I was going to explode with excitement. There isn't somebody there one minute, and then there's somebody there! It's better than Santa! It's just the most dramatic exciting thing.”

“I thought, these are funny and weird and sad at the same time. How perfect is that? Because that's what we are” Janice Galloway

In a quieter tone, she reflects that, “Nothing, nothing – nothing can prepare you. Nothing prepares you for the weirdness of being left alone with a total stranger and not having the faintest idea, really, how you look after them or what they want. It's difficult and it's heartbreaking because you love them so much. You know you're bluffing and guessing all the time. I think that's what makes it hard. But dear God, I mean, there's things that are hard for absolutely no good reason, so if it's going to be hard, that's a good kind of hard to have. I'm sounding like Stevie Smith now – token, here's a sweet! That will make it okay. And oddly enough, it does! A barley sugar makes everything better.” Galloway is intelligent, humorous and possessed of a warm generosity, answering questions thoughtfully and leading us along with her through fascinating tangents (“I ramble a lot, have you noticed that? You must hone me in if I start wandering too far”). In conversation she is playful and intimate in turn. “A readership is something you almost never get to meet! You run away with a book and you – do you read in bed? – yes – you see, people read in bed… they actually curl up – often naked, in my lurid imagination – and they're having an intimate experience with something you've written down, that you know nothing about. It's quite odd, that.” Then after a pause: “…So it's always a thrill when someone comes up and says, ‘You know what I thought that was?’ And I would never dream of correcting them! Never! Because I'm not the authority – these are words, I don't own them. You take them, you're meant to take them. I might think I've made a fairy castle, and you might think it's a spaceship, and if I've given you those Lego bricks you can build that – you're right. You paid the money, you're allowed to do what you like with it. And people make different constructions. Now isn't that more fun than telling somebody everything? Isn't it?” Jellyfish is out now, published by Freight Books, RRP £12.99 Janice is appearing at Edinburgh International Book Festival on 20 Aug

August 2015

BOOKS

Feature

The American Problem The literary voice of Mexican author Yuri Herrera transcends his native land and tongue, crosses the U.S. border – so significant in his writing – and forces the wider world to listen. We chat ahead of his date with Edinburgh International Book Festival

merica isn't a country that agrees on much, with itself or with anyone else. The state of Louisiana, nestled way down in the South between Texas and Mississippi, is a decent enough example. It's got two (out of a possible two) solidly conservative Republican Senators – it hasn't favoured a Democratic presidential candidate for nearly 20 years – and it's contributing pro-life, anti-samesex-marriage, pro-gun Governor Bobby Jindal to the 2016 presidential campaign (Jindal has steadfastly refused to expand federally-funded healthcare for his state's poorest residents; by one measure, around one in five of Louisiana's residents lives below the poverty line). Then there's New Orleans, the state's most populous city, nicknamed – with not a shade of understatement – ‘Big Easy’. As well as its food, music and peculiar blend of African, American and Western European cultures, New Orleans is perhaps best known for Mardi Gras, or Carnival, a time when cocktail swilling frat boys throw coloured plastic beads from balconies to (or, perhaps, at) women who duly expose their breasts. It's a city as permissive as the rest of the state is staid. It's from the Big Easy that The Skinny catches up with Yuri Herrera, the Mexican-born novelist who teaches in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the city's Tulane University. Headphoned, bespectacled, with a few days’ black beard showing – perhaps an off-semester indulgence – Herrera's face lurches across the screen as we talk. Behind him are stacks of weighty looking books and a pair of cheap tall lamps. Though he's published three novels to date, and the first way back in 2004, it's taken till this year for his work to reach the English language press. & Other Stories (his UK publisher) and translator Lisa Dillman have, mercifully, begun the process of

Feature

translating Herrera's works, starting with Señales que precederán al fin del mundo, or Signs Preceding the End of the World. The Skinny raved about it earlier in the year, and we weren't the only ones. Herrera's remaining works are slated for publication in the next two years.

“We are still following this old, impractical criminal view while the whole debate changes... We have to take some radical steps” Yuri Herrera discusses the war on drugs

August in Scotland's capital is, perhaps, our genteel answer to New Orleans's Mardi Gras. The Edinburgh International Book Festival, the quietest corner of our city-wide carnival, is welcoming a number of Mexican writers this year. Herrera is one of them. By way of introduction, the festival's programme describes the country as one of ‘fascinating contradictions. Notorious for the flow of drugs, arms and humans across its long, leaky border

with the USA, Mexico is also home to a vibrant and hugely successful cultural scene.’ Asked about this characterisation of his native land, Herrera is keen to debunk some myths. “There is a big problem with a lack of information,” he argues, “or lack of interest. And a misconception of where the problems originate and how to deal with the problems.” Herrera needn't be talking about US/Mexico border issues. America's major challenges are often met with misinformation, disagreement and impasse. Gun control is a particularly visible example, though the role of government is questioned across the board. On the right, they lament the fetters placed on market forces. Regulation's no good, they say. On the left, they lament the laxity that hardens inequality. More assertive regulation, they say. On the right, they rail against slack moral standards. Too easy to kill unborn children, to marry someone with the same bits as you've got, to use a toilet that's not meant for people with the bits you've got. On the left, they rail against strictures that dictate when you give birth, who you shack up with, where you piss and shit. But something extraordinary is starting to take shape in American politics. It looks faintly like an agreement – albeit one with fierce opponents – and it's appeared in a most unlikely area. In next year's presidential campaign there is every possibility that both candidates, Republican and Democrat, will line up against laws championed by Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, amongst others. We're refering to drug policy, which many of the candidates, left and right, have coalesced on. Specifically, the so-called ‘War on Drugs’, initiated by Nixon in the early 1970s and waged, with gusto, by Republican idol Reagan and Democratic darling Clinton in the proceeding decades. As an ostensibly domestic issue, drug policy

BOOKS

Interview: Angus Sutherland

in the United States has had enormous crossborder implications. Herrera has taken a professional interest in the fast mutating discourse surrounding the drug war, moving to Tulane to study just that. “It seems,” he says, “that it's pretty absurd to keep talking at this moment in time of a national problem when these huge issues that are transforming our countries are not issues that belong to just one single country. Just to give you a couple of examples, it's something like more than 250,000 weapons are sent from the United States to Mexico each year by the United States, according to a study by the University of San Diego. Most of the money that goes to the drug war comes from the United States. Most of the drugs that are sent from Mexico are consumed in the United States. So what people call the Mexico problem, as Don Winslow said, is the American problem that Mexico is suffering.” As America begins to tackle its side of the equation, though, Mexico seems bound to repeat the same mistakes. Herrera notes that, though the attitudes north of the border have shifted, “what have not changed are the policies that the United States made other countries adopt. So in Mexico, in Colombia, in Peru, in a lot of places, what we are following are still the same policies initiated by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and all the other people after. I think this is one of the big problems. This is our responsibility. I can't understand that the Mexican government, for instance, is not changing the whole approach, that they still have a militaristic approach, while in the United States you're having marijuana being decriminalised. And so we are still following this old, impractical criminal view while the whole debate changes. And I think we just can't wait any more. We have to take some radical steps, in decriminalising consumption and approaching this problem in different ways, and not just as a police issue.” In Signs Preceding the End of the World, Herrera works away at these dated legal institutions and the old-order nationalism that underpins them. Makina, the book's astonishing roaming protagonist, is confronted, alongside fellow migrants, by an American police officer. She holds a mirror to his prejudice, acknowledging that they are indeed ‘people who came to take your jobs, who dream of wiping your shit, who long to work all hours. We who fill your shiny clean streets with the smell of food, who brought you violence you'd never known, who deliver your dope, who deserve to be chained by neck and feet.’ Herrera characterises this sequence as “a sort of ironical lament. Because it was not about being patriotic but about confronting all the prejudices that might come with patriotism. So instead of explaining what should be self-evident, you confront that with a savage version of those prejudices.” Out of that savage resistance, Herrera forges new ways of describing old problems. His ideas are bold and his written voice is compelling. This August, as Edinburgh opens its doors to visitors from across the globe, in Yuri Herrera the city welcomes a writer of international importance. Yuri Herrera appears at Edinburgh International Book Festival on 19 Aug Signs Preceding the End of the World is out now, published by & Other Stories, RRP £8.99 edbookfest.co.uk

THE SKINNY

August 2015

Limmy's Daft Wee Interview The Skinny braves the dark mind of Glasgow comedy hero Limmy to learn a little more about his new book: the appropriately-titled Daft Wee Stories Interview: Jon Whiteley

“T

here's some terrible fucking things I can write. Terrible things that pop up in my mind, but I chose to keep that a bit light for the book.” We're inside the bleak imagination of Limmy: comedy auteur and Glesga's favourite son. With a swarm of Twitter followers and a heaving trophy cabinet from his television work, he's making the next big leap; he's written a book. “I know it's got violence and things like that, but I didnae go into anything too fucking dark.” Daft Wee Stories is its unambiguous title. It's a collection of short short stories, ranging from several pages to a single sentence. The stories are dark, scatological, slyly satirical and frequently violent, and relish all of these things greatly. Petty arguments escalate to murder, horrible secrets lurk behind unfashionably-tiled walls and shady cabals of masturbators poke their arseholes into a foaming frenzy. These aren't your traditional short stories. He mixes up tenses, breaks away at a tangent, slips into his native Glaswegian dialect and generally keeps it loose and informal. “Like, ‘I'm here, I'm telling you this story’. There were some stories that had a wee bit more of that. With me being in it. More like, ‘I'm in the story and I'm watching this,’ but me, as if I'm looking at you while I'm telling the story, you know? ‘You'll never believe this’ – that kind of thing. I like stuff like that. I like not taking it too seriously.” Following its launch at the end of July, he's taking the book on tour; covering a handful of dates in Aberdeen, Newcastle, Manchester, London and of course, Glasgow. “It begins with a few dates in Glesga and then it ends with a few dates in Glesga,” he says. “There's some folks asking for other places, but I don't know – if I go there, I don't know if they'd sell out or not.” His modesty is ill-justified: at the time of writing, almost all his live dates have sold out. Despite having something of a live background – he adapted his podcast Limmy's World of Glasgow for the Fringe and Glasgow Comedy Festival in 2007 and 2008 – this will be the first time he's performed live since before BBC Scotland's Limmy's Show broke. He seems unfazed: “I'm looking forward to it. At the beginning, because I haven't done any live stuff for ages, I were like ‘Oh, what's this gonna be like?’ And now, once you get round your heid that that's what you're gonna be doing, and you think a bit about what you're rehearsing and planning oot the right things that you want to do and everything; then you just get looking forward to it. Just wanna fucking do it right now rather than waiting for a month.” Fans eager to see him have had their appetites whetted over on Twitter the past few months, and interestingly it's his web presence that got the book made in the first place. “I had a habit of doing these wee stories on Twitter, or on my webcam, or on Facebook. Typing stuff up or just making it up on my webcam, or something. Just kind of improvising, just sort of making anything up and then I slung these wee stories on my website.” Evidently, this caught the eye of someone at Random House: “The publisher got in touch with my agent and said, ‘Would you be interested in

Feature

writing a whole book of them?’ So, that was it, and I decided to go call them Daft Wee Stories, because that's what they are.” One story typical of the book is Your Shite is My Shite, where a neurotic protagonist's discovery of a stranger's monstrous turd in the stall results in a full cognitive uncoupling. “It's sort of based on a true story, I was in Òran Mór – which is where I'm gonna be doing the readings in Glesga – and there was a shite so fucking bad that I almost did have to unhinge my fucking mind.” The disgraceful pan-splatter forces the narrator to imagine, what if that was his own shite? He wouldn't mind the smell at all. He might even enjoy it. “You have to get kind of fucking psychotic, you have to lose touch with reality. And that's how bad that shite was, and at Òran Mór I lost my fucking mind. I have to lose my mind in order to keep my mind.” It's not the first time he's played around with these ideas: “I did a sketch about this in Limmy's Show. If there's noisy neighbours and it's kind of pissing me off, I'd sort of pretend to myself that we're pals. Because if it was mates next door sort of making the noise, I'd be alright with it, I'd be able to get to sleep. But if it's across the road; fucking inconsiderate bastards.”

“You have to get fucking psychotic, you have to lose touch with reality” Limmy

Television's obviously given him a platform to explore these ideas before, albeit with less poo, but it comes with its frustrations. “I didnae come against a lot of opposition to stuff when I was doing Limmy's Show, I just sort of instinctively knew. Though there was a sketch when we did the first series where there was gonna be this wee guy tells this guy who's just came off the train to fucking walk the tracks,” he says. “You cannae really do that on the telly, you can't do it on BBC in something that's meant to be a comedy. If it was a drama, aye. But if it's a comedy you're saying this is funny, chucking somebody on a fucking train track.” Content restrictions aren't the biggest challenge he's faced, having stumbled trying to sell new sitcom ideas in the past few years. “Even if you did something really good, if they don't have a slot for that, if it's the wrong timing, if there's something else kind of similar out there, if it's a certain mood or something like that, or if they've already got something like that for that slot at nine o'clock on Saturday night, that's taken – naebody else can have that, that's taken.” More than this, he's happy to be let off television's leash. “I quite like just the freedom of it. I

like that I can write anything, pretty much, and that's it,” he says. “Books, you just print the fucking things, you just put them on shelves or Kindle or whatever. So I just like the idea that I've got maybe a chance at doing what I like, which is coming up with ideas and people can see them and enjoy them and laugh at all of it.” Is he interested in writing more books? “I'd like to do mehr short stories, but longer ones. You can sort of get your teeth into it, and just think of one idea and get right into it. I've got a few ideas for that, and I'd like to do maybe a novel or two or three,” he enthuses. “Writing stuff, I just… I really like it.” He's had the rare privilege of having complete creative control over his projects, making the leap from podcasts to live festival shows, to a television show that he wrote, directed and starred in. Even down to his latest project, Wee Video For The Lassies on iPlayer, he retains his trademark violent tone shifts and unapologetic Glesgaisms.

BOOKS

The move to books has allowed him to continue creating without ceding control: “They never said, ‘Why's that person getting hit by the side mirror of a bus? That's a bit violent.’ I just don't think you would get that with books, unless its a wean's book.” Given his predilection for the dark, he's not likely to be invited to write kids‘ books any time soon. “I would be into that. Have you seen them? I read them ‘cause I've got a son and I'm like, ‘That, that's fucking shite’.” But what would he write? “Something hopefully memorable, so they come up to you 20 years later and say, ‘Fuck, I remember that, was that you that did that?’” Never one to drop his patented style, he's more than happy to horrify a new generation with hilarious brutality. “I think a safe bet if you want to put a scary thing in a book is something like, ‘There's a monster under your bed and it's going to come and kill you,’” he laughs. “It'll fucking eat your guts!” Daft Wee Stories, Òran Mór, 10-13 Aug, £returns only

THE SKINNY

Defecting from Dear Leader Hyeonseo Lee – the girl with seven names – discusses her sad and beautiful memoir of disenfranchisement and defection from North Korea Interview: Alan Bett

ne evening in 1997, at 17 years of age, Hyeonseo Lee crossed the border from her country of birth, leaving behind her family and all she had ever known. There was no passport control or duty free. It was an act of absolute permanance, never to return. This was more than a simple geographical line she had crossed. It was the border between the hermit kingdom of North Korea and the rest of the world. She has journeyed since, from that youth lived under the extreme propaganda and oppression of the Kim regime, to her role as a human rights campaigner on the international stage, speaking in front of the United Nations Security Council and delivering a 2013 Ted talk which has amassed over 4 million views. She talks to us here about that past life of hardship, her perilous act of escape and ongoing struggle in comprehending a wider world which contradicts, in every way, the lies she was programmed with. The Skinny: While growing up in North Korea under the Kim regime, how did the cracks in your belief begin to grow? Hyeonseo: “I grew up brainwashed by the regime, like so many other North Koreans. We believed that our country was the best on the planet and that our leaders were sincerely protecting and serving us. But once I started noticing people starving and suffering around me, I began to doubt that our country was the best in the world. Since I lived near the border with China, I was very fortunate to see Chinese TV channels secretly on my TV. It was illegal and dangerous to watch them, but I watched secretly at night by covering my windows with thick blankets. Compared to our only staterun propaganda channel in North Korea, Chinese TV was fascinating and helped me understand that there was a bigger world beyond North Korea. Ultimately, that’s why I decided to leave and explore the outside world. But I could have never imagined that I would be separated from my family for over a decade and that I would undergo so many hardships on the journey to freedom.” How long did it take to plan your escape across the border and what finally forced your decision? “I didn’t think about leaving until I was 17 years old, which is when I left the country. Since my brother was a smuggler and constantly went back and forth between China and North Korea, I didn’t think it would be a big deal to leave and explore China for a little while. Since my family lived on the border we developed strong connections with the border guards, so my brother was able to conduct his smuggling business and I befriended many of the border guards as well. One of them agreed to allow me to cross the border, so I lied to my mom and told her that I was visiting a friend that night, but I actually crossed the border into China. I still regret that moment because my mother was so innocently waiting for me to return, but she could have never imagined that we would not see each other for more than a decade. It was a very painful time for both of us.” Can you describe at all the experience of your escape? “I will never forget the night that I escaped North Korea. My mom seemed to somehow know that I was leaving because she made a huge meal for me and my brother that evening. I had grown restless in North Korea and was so fascinated by the outside world, especially China, that I really wanted to leave for a short time. Crossing the

August 2015

border was totally surreal, since I knew it was illegal, but I was so young and naïve at the time. My family had relatives living in China so I went to stay with them for a short time, but because some people realised that I left North Korea, rumours started to swirl, and I couldn’t quickly return, so I was essentially exiled.” Is there any way to illustrate the feeling of finally experiencing the outside world, and also now witnessing North Korea from this new viewpoint? “It is so shocking for me and other North Koreans who escaped to learn about the outside world. Everything that we learned in school was basically false. We learned a fake history about our leaders, and we were forced to spend so much time memorising their fake feats. When I went to China and learned the truth about my country I was utterly shocked. There were literally no words to describe how I felt. Many older generations of North Koreans still cannot believe certain lies that they were told, including that South Korea started the Korean War. [But] we grew up with so much pride for our country and our leaders, so to learn that everything was false is extremely disheartening and shocking. It is hard for the average person to imagine how it feels to realise that everything you learned was a lie. That is why so many North Korean defectors are outraged and determined to raise awareness in the international community about the plight of North Koreans as well as to enlighten North Koreans who are deprived of information under the Kim regime.”

“It is hard to imagine how it feels to realise that everything you learned was a lie” Hyeonseo Lee

What do you hope to achieve with your memoir, The Girl with Seven Names, and what would you like your Edinburgh International Book Festival audience to take from this story? “Raising awareness is the most important first step in my campaign to improve human rights in North Korea and to support North Korean defectors. Even though North Korea has been abusing its people for many decades, the international community has only recently begun to awaken to this travesty. Many people around the world have contacted me to tell me that they were not fully aware of the situation in North Korea. As we raise more awareness about the situation, we also need to take concrete steps to help North Koreans. My main focus in this regard is to help North Korean defectors who have suffered so much to reach freedom. Many of them are [still] suffering and need to receive some help, as well as branch out to the international community, so my goal is to start an NGO to help promising defectors reach their full potential.” The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee is out now, published by William Collins (hardback £16.99, and ebook). Hyeonseo Lee appears at Edinburgh International Book Festival on 30 Aug

BOOKS

Feature

PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW IN ASSOCIATION WITH NEW WOLSEY THEATRE PRESENT

BIRTHS, DEATHS & MARRIAGES DIRECTED BY ROB SALMON

PLEASANCE COURTYARD VENUE 33  60 PLEASANCE, EH8 9TJ  PLEASANCE.CO.UK

 0131 556 6550

THE SKINNY

At Home, At Work, At Play Glasgow art-rockers Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles veterans Sparks may be cut from similar cloth creatively, but few expected them to band together as FFS. We speak with Alex Kapranos and Russell Mael about making transatlantic collaborations work

Interview: Chris McCall Photography: Derek Robertson

he unsmiling visage of Ron Mael is one of the most recognisible in popular music. Famed for playing his keyboard while apparently motionless, it was something of a departure for the 69year-old to take centre stage at the Glasgow School of Art and begin to throw his arms like a speed skater at a dance-off. Mael's breaking character to bust a move was just one of several pleasant surprises for those fortunate enough to attend the debut performance by FFS: a collaboration involving the four members of Franz Ferdinand – skilled practitioners of chart-friendly art-rock – and the Mael brothers, who have made Sparks a captivating musical presence for more than 40 years. “Ron doesn't require encouragement for standing centre stage and dancing, he was born with a centre stage personality,” notes Russell Mael, who shares vocal duties in FFS with Franz frontman Alex Kapranos. The Art School show was a triumph and reviews of the group's self-titled album have been almost universally positive. While Franz and Sparks seem a natural creative fit, it's easy to forget just how badly other high-profile collaborations have fared – from the genuinely grim Lou Reed/ Metallica Lulu album, to David Bowie's less than impressive Tin Machine supergroup. But FFS is a joy; working with the Mael brothers has pushed Franz to write some of their best songs in recent years. Fans of both bands can enjoy working out who contributed what line in which song, but crucially, the strength of tracks like Police Encounters means the album succeeds on its own merits, rendered more than a pet project by a group of friends for their own amusement. The warm welcome at their debut gig was satisfying for Kapranos. “Whenever musicians spout that ‘we play for ourselves and if other people like it, it's a bonus’ line, they're talking bollocks,” he tells The Skinny. “I have an ego the size of the Greek national debt, as do all musicians I've ever met. Some pretend they don't, but they're being mendacious. They are deluded into thinking that ego is an exclusively negative force when it is actually what drives you to create what you create in the first place. It takes a gargantuan ego to presume that your music should exist. I loved that show at the Art School, but I was intensely nervous beforehand. I think we all were. It was our first show, in a place that was so significant to us, to an audience that contained so many people we knew – friends, people we respected, family members. As soon as I'd sung the first line, though, I knew it was going to be a good gig. We'd been building up the Glasgow reputation for so long to Ron and Russell, I was so happy when they didn't let us down.” FFS have toured vigorously since their Art School outing and return to Scotland this month for shows at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre and the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow, as well as a soldout night at Manchester's Albert Hall. The Edinburgh gig is part of the International Festival – the serious elder brother to the Fringe – and is indicative of the respect both Franz and Sparks command. The story of how these two groups – one based in Glasgow and the other 6000 miles away in Los Angeles – came together to produce one of 2015’s most unlikely albums is an intriguing one. Like much of Franz's success, it can be traced back to the release of their 2004 single Take Me Out. With its dramatic mid-song tempo change and killer chorus, it elevated the group above their more leaden contemporaries. Among those impressed were the Maels – who know a thing or two about writing great pop songs that take unexpected turns. “So many groups have lost their sense of adventure and prefer to stick to the basic formulas and clichés of pop music,” Russell explains

August 2015

when asked why Sparks first initiated contact. “Take Me Out, as well as countless Sparks songs, haven't followed those conventions. There is a difference.” The message was received with glee by Franz; a group of committed Sparks fans who had attempted to cover 1975 single Achoo in one of their first rehearsals. “When someone who has made music you appreciate turns round and appreciates something that you've made... it makes your world collapse in a way,” offers Kapranos. “You have built all your reference points upon them being over there in that distant unreachable place where mythical characters create those records that are stacked against the wall of your flat on Gray Street – back when Finnieston was still a prehipster, forlorn, forgotten wasteland.”

“I wasn't about to take up the harpsichord or Russell dabble with the flute” Alex Kapranos

Sparks and Franz met for the first time in the foyer of the Roosevelt Hotel, described by Kapranos as “a Hollywood relic from that Gothic age of dark, flickering silver.” There was immediate talk of a collaboration of some kind, which would lead to Sparks offering Piss Off – now a cornerstone of the FFS live set – as a tentative starting point. But given the Glasgow band's intensive touring schedule, they never got round to sending one of their own tracks in return. It would take a broken

tooth and a chance encounter in 2013 before FFS would finally evolve into something more than an aspiration. Kapranos was wandering the streets of San Fransisco looking for a dentist when he bumped into Ron and Russell, as you do. “I'd broken a tooth in Uruguay. It was fucking painful,” Kapranos explains. “Our tour manager told me to hang on until we reached San Francisco as his pal knew a dentist there who'd sort me out. When we arrived he sent me off saying that it was Huey Lewis's dentist – and Huey's teeth seemed to look alright – so the dentist was probably pretty good. I got to the block I thought the dentist was on and couldn't find it. Then I heard a voice behind me say: ‘Alex, is that you?’ I turned round and it was Ron, standing beside Russell and his girlfriend Emmi. They'd been watching me walk up and down the block, trying to work out if this hapless specimen was actually me.” Following this chance meeting, a new commitment to work together was forged. “We wrote in LA, and FF wrote in Britain,” says Russell. “We never sat down and wrote together. I think each band prefers not to look the other in the eye while creating.” The stand-out album track Collaborations Don't Work is perhaps the best illustration of their process, with Mael and Kapranos exchanging lyrical barbs: “I don't like your navel gazing!” “I don't get your way of phrasing!” “It really came alive after we responded to each other's songs,” confirms Kapranos. “We wrote and sang parts over Collaborations Don't Work and they wrote and sang over Police Encounters. It went back and forth a little, but what felt exciting was that, listening to the music, it didn't sound like either band and both simultaneously. It felt like something new – yet with the recognisable personalities behind it all. We sent them the music for Man Without a Tan and Ron wrote the lyric – there were lots of different approaches,” Kapranos continues. “We tried to change it around to keep it fresh. All of the writing was done 6000 miles

MUSIC

apart. Us over here, them over there. Neither of us had worked like that before, but it seemed to work.” A collective decision was made to keep FFS secret until recording had been completed and a release date confirmed. Even Domino, Franz's longterm record label, was only informed of the project when the writing process was complete and the songs were ready to be recorded. Album in the can, the next decision was how to mesh the two bands together as a single live unit. With Ron occupying his customary position stage right behind his keyboard, and the rest of Franz fulfilling their usual roles of bass, drums and guitar, it was down to Kapranos and Russell to decide how best to share vocal duties. “We're both frontmen, so it seemed pretty obvious,” the former says. “I wasn't about to take up the harpsichord or Russell dabble with the flute. Thinking about it now, there aren't many instances of double frontmen. The Specials, sort of... ABBA... Happy Mondays? Is Bez as much of a frontman as Ryder... or was Bez the real front-man? I don't know. I do know that it seems to work from our end.” Both Franz and Sparks remain tight-lipped when asked if we can expect another FFS album or whether attention will revert back to their respective bands. Kapranos sheds no light on the subject. “When we started working on this, we had no idea where it would end up, whether it would be a couple of songs – never mind a full LP – or whether we would actually record them, and whether we would make an entirely new band. “I still have no idea what will be next...” he lingers. “But if I did, I wouldn't tell you.” FFS play the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, on 24 Aug, Albert Hall, Manchester, on 25 Aug and the Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, on 26 Aug ffsmusic.com

Feature

And In With The New Edinburgh's Art Festival is hosting its first emergent artists-dedicated show this year. We ask what the exhibitors are planning and what the festival means to them Interview: Jessica Ramm and Adam Benmakhlouf

dinburgh, for Platform: 2015 exhibitor Antonia Bañados, is “a pop-up book” built in different layers and histories. With the EAF this year occupying tucked-away closes and impermanent venues, there's a sense that they are breaking the spine of the city in order to push the Festival itself past easy limits. Continuing this opening-out and sense of novelty, EAF has commissioned a four-strong group show, Platform: 2015, in a brand new venue on Blair Street. Combined with The Skinny's own show of the best graduates of 2015, and the inclusion of the youthful Number Shop as a venue, the festival has put together its most diverse programme to date. With the help of Platform exhibitor Jessica Ramm, we catch up with the exhibitors as they make their first contact with one another in advance of installing the show. On the spectrum of potential forms of the group show, Platform 2015 is more of a set of exhibitions; curated together, but to some extent separate. Ramm herself is constructing a climbable sculpture originally inspired by Earthrise, a photo taken on Apollo 8’s mission to the moon. With the aid of affixed climbing grips – at the time of writing – she prepares to stage her performance, taking the object outside with the help of several rock climbers. She accepts it might fail, but hopes for it will “fail in the right way.” Perhaps the most obvious overlap is between Ramm and Bañados, the latter of whom is new to the city from Chile, and studying in the same MFA programme Ramm completed in 2014. For Platform: 2015, she's planning to make paintings and sculptural work that respond to the vast Atacama Desert, a testing site for NASA-funded exploration technology development. At first sight, she makes pain-

Ross Hamilton Frew, Untitled [detail]

Antonia Bañados, Nostalgia

tings and objects that demonstrate an interest in the formal qualities of negative space. She describes her interest as deriving from both the highly designed spaces found in packaging, as well as architectural forms we directly inhabit day to day. The work she will present extends her exploration of the emptiness and absence she has observed in Chilean landscapes.

“This is an experimental kind of curating”

Jessica Ramm, Hand Over Foot

Feature

There's a similar kind of tension between absence and presence in the work of Rhubabastudio holder Ben Callaghan, for whom Edinburgh Art Festival in the past “has meant employment for two years.” His presentation within the group comprises a “networked website accessed via mobile devices,” furniture he has made and a set of objects to be displayed. Moving between the virtual and the physical, Callaghan is planning to bypass symbolic and aesthetic associations of objects in favour of the utilitarian and functional. Whereas Callaghan deals with reconditioning objects on the symbolic or metaphorical level, Ross Hamilton Frew takes a more literal and physical approach by pulping works of literature he has gathered. From this raw material, he creates handmade recycled paper. Using the original works as reference, but with enough remove for the sources to become completely anonymised, he in

ART

Ben Callaghan, Moon Coin Scatter

turn creates haikus that pay homage to the pulped texts. On the paper itself, following a strict set of rules, naturally occurring speckles are joined and networked to create delicate drawings from this process. For each of the artists, the Edinburgh Art Festival and the Platform: 2015 opportunity means something different – even if they all separately choose Charles Avery as a highlight. For Callaghan, the EAF spotlights smaller galleries in Edinburgh who are doing excellent work. Ramm considers Platform specifically as a means of being able to share her work with peers who also live in Edinburgh. Ross Hamilton Frew, who is based on Uist, is particularly appreciative to “have a great space to show work in – with the potential for footfall – in the heart of the city,” and cites the chance to engage with the Scottish art scene as “a really big thing for me.” In spite of their different experiences of the city and observedly different practices, the curatorial strategy for the exhibition (as Ramm describes it) has not been pre-determined, but instead potentiates interesting new results and new artistic interrelations. In some senses this is an experimental kind of curating, with hypotheses and projections, but no fixed outcome. There's an urgency about it, too. Ramm's mostly joking on the day before her planned performance when she says, “With such a tight turn around time, this is bound to be a white knuckle ride.” Platform: 2015 runs until 30 Aug in 9-11 Blair Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QR Edinburgh Art Festival, 30 Jul-30 Aug

THE SKINNY

Protest as Practice kennardphillipps describe their beginnings rooted in political protest, the hours of work that goes into getting that incisive moment of montage, and their latest programme of public workshops as part of Edinburgh Art Festival

Credit: kennardphillipps

or decades, Peter Kennard had cultivated an angry photographic practice. He'd been politicised by the Vietnam war and subsequently was collaging old school with scissors and a pile of old newspapers, and whatever other material could be of relevance. Cut to 2002. Cat Phillipps is about to spend a month travelling around the peripheries of Iraq in advance of the war which has enraged millions, but at that point feels inevitable. “I really demanded from Peter,” she remembers, “that we make work there and then about Iraq.” Phillipps had herself experienced first hand the propaganda machine that brought the phrase “manufacturing consent” back into the collective consciousness. As part of Network, a collective of photojournalists, she was watching every hour as wires came through that were not publicised, and the masses of photos that were for political reasons essentially censored by the main media outlets through their refusal to publish the materials. “For me, Iraq was the first time I had witnessed mass propaganda,” Phillipps states. “And lies,” adds Kennard. Kennard describes the emergence of the collaboration as “organic.” For him, it was a natural by-product of the kind of activity that had been spurred in all sections of the community – no different in the visual arts. “Like millions of people around the world we were angry, and in that very high emotional state we went on marches. But that was it. There wasn't a groundswell of creative involvement.” As Kennard remembers, this was

August 2015

the moment when kennardphillipps began. Having made his name as a politicised and generally enraged photographer, Kennard was Phillipps' obvious choice for a collaborator. He had what she knew she was lacking: “Peter had already made a practice that had the ability to address and work through [them] in public,” she says, referencing the kinds of issues that she found unignorable. As a collaborative effort, kennardphillipps provided the most appropriate way to respond to political issues they were interested in. It allowed the artists to import directly into their everyday practice the kind of political dialogue and argument they wanted to happen on a grander scale. In this set-up, as Kennard describes it, “You're arguing things out politically, then you're arguing it out in the picture and having to justify yourselves to one another. It's got an educational quality, rather than just working alone.” Working in a partnership also makes different kinds of work possible. Phillipps describes wanting to make ambitious work, but not having the resources or time independently to complete more involved or complicated processes. “Ambition” is narrowed in her use of the word; she uses it “not in the sense of just making a name for yourself, and becoming something like [Damien] Hirst. If you're really ambitious as an artist, then you want to break new ground. When you can't afford assistants, collaboration widens your potential.” As Kennard describes it, the choice to collaborate and make work directly in response to

Photo Op

Study#1 Paper money

genuinely troubling world events was out of step with the art world and art community in general, and in a lot of ways, took kennardphillipps out there too. This distance is generative for the duo, and their decisions since have continued with a disregard for, and distance from the visual art scene. For one, they don't consider art as a means of earning a wage, or making money. Kennard teaches, and Phillipps prints for a living. They're by no means careerists. “I'm ancient,” says Kennard, “so I never had the idea of art as a career. It was something you had to do because you had to do it.” Phillipps chimes in: “Bizarrely, the art is a lot more important to me than printing. The reality is you have to earn some money to pay your rent.” For this reason, kennardphillipps don't see anything more appropriate than giving away their work for free online: “It's not really intended for an elite audience.” They cite as a converse example the kind of artist's video that is literally inaccessible, distributed via limited edition DVDs and only ever visible for limited periods sporadically in art galleries. “It's aimed at the general public, not the art community, so the more accessible it is the better. The internet's an amazing space for this. With it being available for free to pass around, that just means it's seen by a lot more people.” Working as a duo also can often make it difficult to take part in certain arts programmes, or opportunities that are set up more in line with the traditional individual artist in mind. “It's all set up to have one heroic figure whether it's a question of reviewing art as a critic, or selling it as a dealer. Even showing in a gallery, if you're a collective and a gallery want you to travel over to make a sitespecific work, it becomes much more difficult than doing it alone. A multitude of things are still up for the single, individual artist.” Perhaps it's this sought-after hero-status that's come in the way of artists putting themselves at the service of bigger issue campaigns, and a waning of the noteworthy protest visual. With regret, Kennard notices how “NGOs and the like used to be more concerned with getting the singular images across.” Specifically, “With the climate catastrophe, there haven't been really great impactful images, just polar bears.” Making these punchy images isn't an alchemy, more of a hard slog. “It's basically spending hours and hours looking at images. The most powerful montages always get suggested by the images themselves.” They gradually educate themselves

ART

on specific issues or subjects, and encounter masses of images in this research. “Your sense of something builds up, then the two pictures suggest themselves.” For them, this process is the opposite of the ad mogul, that comes up with a concept then puts it into visual terms. Asking kennardphillipps what's bothering them politically right now, they keep their response open. Referring me to the exhibition itself in Stills, it will act as an encounter with the images generated by the temporary space War on War in St James Shopping Centre. In these workshops, in which they work with a whole spectrum of different community and support groups, as kennardphillipps puts it, “We encourage people to use all the equipment we've got, to make their own ideas and visualise them through using imagery and bits of text and smash through the order of newspapers and magazines by putting themselves in it.”

“For me, Iraq was the first time I had witnessed mass propaganda” Cat Phillipps

The content of Stills gallery is set up loosely with wooden palettes and prints. It will act as a showcase of the workshop participants’ ideas and concerns. While kennardphillipps might be concerned right now by the fate of trade unions in the UK, they will under no circumstances prescribe the kind of work that will emerge from the workshops they are leading. In this way they distance themselves by leagues from the individual heroic artists. As they do throughout their practice, kennardphillipps facilitate a public-facing expression of the most important concerns of those who are the least enfranchised by current media, and social and political configurations. kennardphillipps’ Here Comes Everybody continues at Stills until 25 Oct

Credit: kennardphillipps

Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

Sail Away With Me Self-taught artist Charles Avery answers some questions about his work so far and his much-anticipated commissions for the Edinburgh Art Festival Interview: Adam Benmakhlouf

ome children have imaginary friends. Charles Avery has an entire island of personalities, topologies and even the occasional cameo by the philosopher Bertrand Russell and Dad's Army's own John Le Mesurier. Here the London-based Scottish artist answers our questions about The Islanders, his all-encompassing, potentially lifelong multimedia project. The Skinny: What did you do before this huge project? Charles Avery: “I was interested in a great variety of ideas, and multiple forms of expression. I was a showing artist with a career of sorts, and I loved drawing but needed to find a reason to carry on doing it. My shows before The Islanders were generally slightly confusing (for the viewer) presentations of my multiple practices, coherent to me, but lacking a unifying entity. That is why I brought The Island about, as a place to put all of these differing ideas and forms so that I might rationalise them.” How much freedom do you have, making work in this world you initially set up for yourself? There's a cross between the megalomania of world-making and then the limits of coherence within this fiction. “The project tends to follow a trajectory or many trajectories over which I feel I have limited control. Once I had established certain axioms, other conditions necessarily followed. “I much prefer the term ‘fiction’ to that of ‘world-making’ as it is more accurate. I am not making a world, I am making a fiction. Coherence is important, however when logical inconsistencies arise, I account for them within the fiction. For example, the surface of this hypothetical world is curved, the mountains – which are perfect tetrahedrons – have flat bottoms, therefore they cannot sit atop the plain, unless they are balanced on a single point, which is unrealistically precarious, so in the drawings I shroud the base of the mountains in a mist, so as to obscure the geometric contradiction. In the Epilogue text of the whole project (already written) the Hunter, who is the protagonist, starts to question various discrepancies of The Island, including wondering why he has never seen the bottom of a mountain.”

Related to the last question, is there any medium or kind of work you can imagine the project couldn't accommodate? “I had thought that I would never use film, but then I ended up making a 16mm projection. ‘No’ is the answer, although diversification is not on the agenda. The Islanders, creatively speaking, helps to delimit the endless possibilities, not to expand them. I would never make narrative animation or film. I would not, could not make site-specific work. The work in Waverley [commissioned as part of EAF's Improbable City theme] is not site-spe-ci-fic: it is an exotic foreign object, with its own ‘mathematical integrity’ that has been planted there.” Could you tell us more about what you have planned for EAF and how it coheres with the Islanders project? “The object which will be on display in Waverley, all being well, comes from the Jadindagadendar, which is the name of the Municipal park within the city limits of Onomatopoeia, being the main and only conurbation of The Island. The Jadindagadendar is seen by the Islanders as a refutation of nature. The specimens in the Jadindagadendar present the characteristics of living plants, such as seeds and roots, however they have no need of nutrition or reproduction as they are eternal. The shapes of these trees, if you can call them that, derive from simple mathematical paradigms, and take their form not from their environment but from these axioms. This thing is part tree, part public lighting and part temple, and I think a decent option for a dog in need of relief.” Do you find your skill in drawing created an audience that might not otherwise engage with conceptual or contemporary artwork – that is, if you even think of yourself in these terms? People take a certain enjoyment in well-made drawings that just doesn't exist in response to the current dominant media of video and installation. “Drawing is a very egalitarian medium and so it is accessible from that point of view. Also my subject matter is instantly recognisable and people identify with drawings of people. It's not about the media for me, it's about the easiest and most direct way of doing what I need to do. I don't think

Charles Avery, Untitled (Two Guys in Boat Approaching Quayside), 2015, 139 x 113 cm, Pencil, acrylic and ink on paper

it's the medium that makes it accessible – after all, video is extremely egalitarian – but the implied narrative and focus on humanity. Having said that, we all draw as children, today as much as ever despite the ongoing technological revolution. It's like singing, about as pure a form as you can have.”

“I am not making a world, I am making a fiction” Charles Avery

Photograph: John McKenzie, Courtesy of the artist and Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh

Do you think of the island as a space of metaphor or allusion to national/international politics – the outsider, the community, the “occluded” government? “Indeed. There are political and historical metaphors embedded within the project, however I have no agenda in this respect. There is an ongoing comparison between the colonial activities of history, the similar colonisation and ownership of the world of ideas. As issue for young artists (I mean the term extremely broadly) is how does one make a new path for oneself in this extremely well-charted territory?”

Charles Avery, Installation view of Untitled (Dihedra), 2010-12

Feature

In his accompanying essay The Islanders: An Introduction, Nicolas Bourriaud seems to describe the way you work, in the large project, as somehow being an outsider approach – more in keeping with older ways of working, likening The Islanders to the ‘Promethean projects’ like Roman Opalka's ascendingly-numbered canvasses. Is this how you perceive your work and process? “I think at the onset of the project I identified most of all with 60s conceptual artists such as

ART

Roman Opalka and Sol Le Witt, as they seemed to be directly engaged with philosophy, although obviously I have had a very different outcome. One thing these artists were concerned with was removing authorship from influencing the process of the work. The trajectory of Opalka's work was inevitable, and Le Witt's designs were results of formulae (though of course one has to choose the axioms which set their work in motion, and particularly in Opalka's case you would worry a few years in that it had all been a terrible mistake, but I guess he's on a higher plane). Also they were doing this in the name of art, which was predicated on an aesthetic ideal, whereas I am not doing The Islanders in the name of art, but of meaning.” You've said that The Islanders don't have moral values, but rather philosophical. Can you elaborate on that? “I have probably said lots of things about The Islanders which I would choose to revise! I am learning more and more about them as I continue with the project. A couple of things I have learnt above all is that there is no such thing as a true Islander, and that they disagree. The Islanders are in essence utterly rational, and may have ethical systems based on axioms such as ‘all men are created equal.” Would you ever be tempted to radically change the landscape of the island? Have you ever considered a deus ex machina? “I've been tempted to radically simplify it. Sometimes I wish I'd just set about describing a fictional apartment, rather than a whole bloody world. I could then have branched out!” Charles Avery's exhibition at Ingleby Gallery: The People and Things of Onomatopoeia runs 30 Jul – 3 Oct 2015. His new public sculpture in Waverley Station is cocommissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival and Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art and is part of Parasol Public/Parasolstice Winter Light 2015

THE SKINNY

Credit: Courtesy of the artist and Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh

Admission Free Open: October - March April - September August

Beatrice Gibson Crippled Symmetries 30.07.15 – 04.10.15 Funded by:

Tues – Sun 10am – 4pm 10am – 5pm Mon – Sun 10am – 6pm

Collective Gallery City Observatory & City Dome 38 Calton Hill, Edinburgh, EH7 5AA + 44 (0)131 556 1264 mail@collectivegallery.net www.collectivegallery.net

Part of:

Image credit: Beatrice Gibson, still from Crippled Symmetries, 2015, 16 mm and DV transferred to HD, sound (surround). Courtesy of the Laura Bartlett Gallery and LUX, London.

fugue states

Lauren Gault & Allison Gibbs 25 July - 6 September 2015

350 Sauchiehall Street, G2 3JD cca-glasgow.com

August 2015

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Edinburgh Art Festival

Our website has just relaunched with an exciting and responsive design. High impact ad slots including Billboards, Double MPU’s and Mobile Leaderboards are available now! If you want to cut through the noise online contact The Skinny Sales Team!

0131 467 4630 sales@theskinny. co.uk

theskinny.co.uk @theskinnymag /TheSkinnyMag

Illustration: Emer Tumilty

Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

Credit: Charles Avery

Get More Impact on the Web

We preview what Edinburgh's Own Art galleries are hosting during the Art Festival

Youth Smoking on Steps

ithin the Edinburgh Art Festival programme, there is not only the chance to experience the work of emergent practitioners and established artists; you can also take some work home with you, thanks to the Own Art scheme. The Ingleby Gallery hosts the work of Charles Avery, who exhibits an installation of his public sculpture in Waverley Station this month. With long-term project The Islanders, he has created a huge fictional island, describing related drawings and sculptures as "souvenirs". Whenever someone buys one, as he put it in 2009's The Islanders: An Introduction, they're funding his ongoing adventure into this imaginative landscape. Over at Edinburgh Printmakers, Derek Michael Besant's exhibition In Other Words... displays his combined photographic and textual works. In these blurred black and white portraits, overlaid with poetic text, he questions the separation of how we 'see' and what we 'read' – a departure from the Canadian's usual fare. Professor Nick Wade gives a free lecture on the work on 20 August. Things become more traditional at The Scottish Gallery, where James Morrison (now in his 80s) displays his most recent painted landscapes. One in particular is a rediscovered work made in the wake of Joan Eardley's death. Throughout all of his work he incorporates a kind of lyrical, poetic take on the landscape format, which Morrison still considers to be full of new potentials even now, in the later stages of his career. The Royal Scottish Academy will be launching a selection of Academy Artist works for sale during the festival, while also taking on a specific moment of the history of the Edinburgh Festival as the subject of its latest exhibition. Until 5 September, the RSA is showing The Water Hen, a recently discovered film of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz's play as envisioned by renowned Polish polymath Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990). Accompanying this presentation will be photographs from the performance. Also in the RSA until 15 February, the work of James Cumming, one of the most talented and original artists practising in Scotland in the 20th century is on display. His work turns on the personal abstract vocabulary he developed away from the influence of an art scene, on the remote Isle of Lewis. Following a recent generous gift by Cumming's family to the RSA, the exhibit showcases Cummings’ sketchbook, paintings, studio objects and archival materials. Edinburgh Art Festival takes place between 30 Jul-30 Aug edinburghartfestival.com ownart.org.uk

THE SKINNY

On Holiday in the Hyperreal The Dennis and Debbie Club is former Skinny Showcaser Dennis Reinmüller and Debbie Moody. Together they've made audiovisual reconstructions of various spots of glamour and infamy for the their EAF presentation Interview: Isabella Shields

Credit: Hermann Dornhege. Courtesy Hanne Darboven Stiftung, Hamburg/ VG-Bildkunst

hat prompted the move to audio-visual work from sculpture? “After we graduated and officially formed the Dennis and Debbie Club we decided to go digital for economic reasons. It's also fantasy fulfilment: spaces that we would never encounter, that we've never been to before and probably won't visit in the foreseeable future (unless we have a big money injection), are brought closer as a virtual vacation.” The reconstructions are themselves simulacra and a sculptural recreation in digital form. Could you tell me more about that and the influence of the hyperreal? “The early works tried to rebuild nonexistent things that we still have nostalgic feelings towards – the nostalgia a videogame has. Our memories flatten experiences of space. I think that's why we do sculptural videos flattened back to 2D, it's memory and fantasy. We're experimenting with virtual reality headsets like Google Cardboards. With that we're trying to create an immersive experience with the 3D objects we're building so they feel more like spaces we can drive narratives into.”

A Quirk in the System Talbot Rice Gallery curator Pat Fisher draws out the contradictions in the life and work of Hanne Darboven Interview: Rosie Priest

hyllida Barlow started the Edinburgh Art Festival celebration early this year in The Fruitmarket. Talbot Rice Gallery perhaps provides an informal companion, showcasing the work of Hanne Darboven (1941-2009). Like Barlow, Darboven's rich career was sidelined throughout the 20th century. “My approach to the exhibition was the Art, her studio and how she worked – and then the woman herself and who she worked with,” Talbot Rice Gallery curator Pat Fisher explains, speaking about their showcase of Darboven for the EAF. German artist Darboven recognised herself as a writer more than anything. She followed an internal and deeply personal logic and writing style to question the human construction and experience of time. There is something to be said about Darboven's own approach to her work, an eccentric artisan who gave herself a regime by which to produce art. This rigid schedule of practice can be seen reflected in the mathematically placed drawings, with bizarre markings, monastic in their monumental scale. In Life / Living, Talbot Rice Gallery displays 900 sheets of an apparent 3000. This sheer volume of production came from Darboven's idea of herself as a worker, a labourer, but also from a will to overwhelm and immerse the viewer in her practice: creating wall-like structures out of her own framed pieces. “By any standards Darboven is a very idiosyncratic artist,” continues Fisher. “She is linked, for art historical purposes, to conceptualism or minimalism… In her lifetime she said that she was not a minimal artist, but in fact a maximal artist, she actually liked huge amounts of stuff.” This makes for a certain maximal minimalist contradiction in terms. “This dichotomy within her work between an obsession with collecting ephemera and the

August 2015

austerity of the actual art works she displays, I think it is an intriguing mystery. There is something in me that quite likes that mystery.” Part way through my conversation with Pat it becomes clear we're delving into a complex system of communication. As an artist, Darboven worked towards recording her whole life (and by her whole life, The Skinny literally means every second of her life) through a system of writing without communicating, a life made sense of by unreadable mark making, obsessive collecting and compulsive working. “She used rigid systems in the things she did to formulate her life, but within that rigidity there are wonderful quirks.” This is what resonated with The Skinny from our conversation with Fisher: the artwork is challenging but also the response to a very personal challenge the artist had set herself. Hanne Darboven's meticulously rigid systems of recording, of writing, of making sense and archiving her day to day life through a subjective form of mark making, makes us think about our own need to parcel up our days and to make sense of them. The work leaves space for personal interpretation, while at first glance seeming very impersonal. Darboven may come across as a monastic and solitary worker. However, contradiction comes again with the exhibition of photographs taken celebrating her relationships with her friends and family, and fellow artisans she sourced materials and objects from during her yearly studio party. Darboven may have valued solitude, but she celebrated her friends. Just as she was a minimalist, but avid collector. Fisher interrupts any confusion: “This is an exhibition that can be quite resistant to interpretation.” Simply put: “Darboven was a contrary individual.”

“Whenever there's aspiration ... there's bound to be tragedy” Dennis and Debbie

Is your interest in celebrity part of your engagement with the narrative of hyperreality? “Of course, because it's a weird fiction we all share. The Strip is essentially about endpoints of aspiration, and celebrity is tragic, romantic and pure aspiration.” How did you visualise the space without a literal space to work from? “The Strip is a three-channel video and on one there is the recreation of the greenhouse Kurt Cobain shot himself in, which was torn down in

1996. Debbie used the crime scene photos and literature on Kurt Cobain's suicide with all these referential things that surround him to rebuild that space. That's one endpoint: being overly famous to the point where your vision of fame is so perverted in front of you that you kill yourself. “The second is Sunset Boulevard, with a lot of buildings from different times. We have Schwab's Pharmacy, which is in the film Sunset Boulevard, so that's more like the glamorous days of Hollywood. We also have the Garden of Allah, where all the actors and actresses of that time hung out. It's now a parking lot, but we have the Chateau Marmont which still exists. Debbie was in touch with somebody from Los Angeles who writes fan fiction about old actresses, who found a model of the Garden of Allah. We tried to stay true to what used to be there but isn't any more, and also how they ended up. “Lastly are the Mars 3D photographs of craters from the Land Rover, from which NASA has made 3D models. We've taken that and made an artist's impression of what Mars might look like in colour.” An artist's impression of a digital impression? “Absolutely! Celebrity is part of that – especially when you talk about Sunset Boulevard's inescapability. There's another celebrity aspect, the recreation of River Phoenix's death in front of The Viper Room in 1993.” There's layered tragedy in all this. “Whenever there's aspiration that might be false, there's bound to be tragedy. That's what we share: trying to be the best in something that might turn out to be tragic. That's what got Debbie and me working together. Together we're a lot better because we can be critical of each other. It's painful but it's good. The only pressure we have is the hope that we can keep doing this.” What advice would you give to prospective artists? “Don't do it! Learn coding and then give us good rates when we ask you to code something. Do that and then become a Dennis and Debbie Club collaborator. Or a patron.” The Strip by the Dennis and Debbie Club, CodeBase, Argyle House, 3 Lady Lawson Street, EH3 9DR, 1-30 Aug

Credit: Dennis Reinmüler, Debbie Moody

Hanne Darboven: accepting anything among everything continues until 3 Oct in Talbot Rice Gallery

ART

Feature

Altered Beasts As Vessels take latest album Dilate to the festival circuit, the Leeds five-piece swap guitars for synths. They tell The Skinny why their switch to electronica should come as no surprise

hange. Develop. Progress. The demands we make on artists and their art seem neverending. Don't you dare stand still, we hiss, as we prod them towards some sort of miraculous reinvention. Dylan and his pesky amps. Taylor and her DX7. You wonder how The Ramones, full-time boarders at the if-it-ain't-broke school of rock, kept themselves fed without daring to properly explore their zydeco side. And yet, if it works and if it's honest and it doesn't play like distracted dicking about, wiping the creative slate is a smart move favoured largely by the brave. You're a fool if you think 1989 has sold more copies than the actual number of people on earth through mere novelty alone. Whisper it: change is good. Leeds quintet Vessels need little convincing. Their emergence nearly a decade ago drew encouraging comparisons with the likes of Battles and Mogwai. Favouring lengthy, (largely) instrumental pieces, their first two albums (2008’s White Fields and Open Devices, and its 2011 follow-up Helioscope) were expansive and journeying reworkings of tried and trusted post-rock forms. The latter hinted at a shift towards beats and electronica but it felt like subtle underpinning rather than a rush for the dancefloor. But think again, because album number three, Dilate, gleefully trashes the template. Martin Teff and Lee Malcolm, joining The Skinny by Skype from their hometown of Leeds, agree that ditching the guitars in favour of beats and synths is a natural progression rather than a leap from the artistic cliff edge. “In the background, in the evolution of the music we've been doing, we've always listened to electronic music,” begins Teff. “It's always been the one common factor that we've had, musically. We're all into lots of different stuff and most of the time what we're all into really does cross-pollinate. Of course, there are things that some people like a lot more than others and obviously the music is the thing that ties us all together. So, with this album, we felt like the transition kind of had to happen. We really wanted to continue to make music together and we probably wouldn't have done that if we had stayed in the old format.”

Feature

The irony here is that Dilate, ostensibly less ‘human’ than their previous work, is a more involving and ultimately more relatable album. It doesn't feel like five guys playing together in a room, for sure, and yet it has a deeper musicality. “Well, it's interesting, isn't it, that you should feel that way, given that it's largely electronic sounds,” says Malcolm. “I think for us it's probably the same, given that there's a lot more space on this album. We take our time. It doesn't feel like we have to cram a lot of ideas in there; we can sit back to some degree and explore our own headspaces for a while. I think it's been quite an exploration for us to see how long we can actually do that for and how we can subtly change things and still keep the momentum going.”

“Trying to find melodies with synths is quite hard” Lee Malcolm

Teff agrees and is keen to not overstate the transition: “I think also you can perhaps say it's like this big change and that takes some courage, but on the other hand, there's the fact that we've never really wanted to do the same thing too much, so to some degree there's always been this element of not wanting to repeat ourselves and try to ensure we're still making our own particular kind of music. That's ultimately really important; you have to love the music you're making if you've any real expectation of other people liking it. So, in that respect, this change did feel like a natural evolution, something that we really felt like we needed to do.” “Plus, you have that thing,” continues Malcolm, “where bands playing electronic music has definitely shifted somewhat, with people like Caribou

and acts like that. I mean, it's hardly like we were pioneers or anything but there's definitely been a movement towards electronic music crossing over into other genres. The kind of things that people are listening to these days, there's been a real blurring of the DJ and electro camp, with more ‘band’ stuff and now there's this situation where you go to a lot of festivals and there's a real overlap.” He holds the thought. “That said, I guess you've had that for a long time. So, maybe it's just that it's more prominent now than it ever was before.” If electronic music has always been an influence for Vessels, has it not just been a case of waiting for it to seep through, to push aside those early post-rock preferences? “Yeah, I think, to some degree,” says Teff. “It's always taken some time for the influence of the music we're listening to to filter into what we're actually playing. We started off – this is before we were even Vessels – playing all that post-hardcore, emo stuff, and then we started listening to Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky: a lot of post-rock. It took quite a few years until you could start to see that particular shift in our actual sound. Similarly now with electronic music, we've been listening to it for a while but it did take a while for its effect to start to filter into our sound. So I guess you find yourself trying something new based on something you've caught onto recently and it just sort of gains momentum that way: slowly.” Dilate is such a convincing shift, you can't imagine there'd be any turning back. There's a compelling narrative beneath the sheen and the beats. The abrasive, staccato Vertical has shades of Laurel Halo (“Yeah, we've listened to her a little bit” – Teff), while the epic Attica builds to a lyrical and melodic centrepiece that recalls John Carpenter in his spine-chilling prime. “Trying to find melodies with synths is quite hard,” says Malcolm. “I think that particular line you're referring to on Attica is done on an old 70s Korg MS-20 and it's an instrument that's generally been a workhorse for a lot of stuff. To pull out those kinds of lead lines, it is quite hard to do without sounding – well, look, it can very easily cross the line and start to sound quite cheesy. We're all conscious of that, all the

MUSIC

Interview: Gary Kaill Photography: John Graham

time. But, yeah, it's nice that you say Carpenter. It's a nice compliment, that. He's a big influence.” Teff agrees that the album has to work as an integrated piece: “Well of course these days we're all so into the Spotify and YouTube thing, everyone's attention span when it comes to pretty much anything is so much shorter. So it's nice to have a work that goes together in a certain order, is a complete and ordered work and not just a thrown together series of tracks: something that can take you on a particular journey.” With Dilate received as their most acclaimed release to date, and a string of club shows to support it already under their belt, the band are preparing to take it to the tents outdoors. Their immediate touring schedule is a summer of festivals. From Benicassim to Latitude to The Skinny's stage at Electric Fields in Dumfries at the end of August, Vessels are relishing the prospect of a return to live performance. “It definitely kicks off a lot more these days,” says Malcolm. “In the right setting – not too huge and not too intimate – it can become quite intense; it can feel like we're properly together with the audience. It's not just about us performing and the crowd watching; it's more like we're, for want of a better expression, facilitating a good time.” Facilitators of a good time: that's probably worth copyrighting for the t-shirts alone. “It makes us sound like a Coke advert!” laughs Teff. “Or an iPad advert. To be frank, this is the first time out of our twelve or so years together that we've actually had a festival schedule at all! And they're fascinating things, festivals. They're like these little rollercoaster weekends where you never quite know how things are going to work out. There's a huge amount of stuff to work around and it's a challenge to get it all right for that hour or so onstage, you're just working hard to be the best that you can possibly be. It usually works out, though, and when it does, it's a pretty amazing experience for everyone concerned, no doubt about it.” Vessels play The Skinny stage at Electric Fields, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries on 29 Aug. Dilate is out now via Bias vesselsband.com

THE SKINNY

August 2015

THE SKINNY

People Power Martin and Richard Dust discuss the themes and working process behind The Black Dog's latest album, Neither/Neither

Interview: Ronan Martin

e were talking about the fact that there's no difference between Labour and the Tories anymore, and the fact that you have three generations of people that have been taking empathy-inducing drugs, and now that just seems to turn into YouTube comments of spite and hate.” The problem of how to address issues of political ambiguity, and a culture of negativity and internet-fuelled paranoia, through the medium of electronic music is a tricky one. Yet being a project so intrinsically linked to the 90s rave scene, helping to soundtrack an era when partygoers defiantly eschewed the reactionary tendencies enshrined in the Conservative Criminal Justice Act, The Black Dog are perhaps fitting candidates to draw comparisons between the climate then and now. Despite both eras being clearly defined by a gloomy political landscape, the group's new album reflects a peculiar uncertainty that seems particular to contemporary society. “I'd be hard pushed to tell you what Labour or the Tories stand for anymore,” says the trio's Martin Dust, “whereas 25 years ago, that would have been clearly defined. They're taking advantage of that and that's the standpoint we came from with the album.” It is from a context of bewildering world events and the proliferation of ever more spurious wisdom that Martin, alongside his brother Richard and founding member Ken Downie, unleash Neither/ Neither on the world. Speaking from their hometown of Sheffield, Martin elaborates further on the record's themes, while Richard tends to his home brew at the other end of their studio-cummicrobrewery. “The more you go into it – political systems, propaganda and social media and how these things work – the more ridiculous it is.” The Black Dog's latest release is partly a result of their interest in the work of documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis, whose accounts of disinformation and media manipulation attempt to explain the apparent stasis in modern society, where no one seems able to act with any real certainty. Having begun dabbling in these themes, the group then developed a fascination with the ramblings of some of the more fringe conspiratorial figures vying for space online. “It's kind of like there's a new religion where fear is faith,” Martin continues. That air of paranoia among devotees of “snake oil salesmen” such as Alex Jones and the befuddled world view of those “truthers” who pray at the altar of David Icke are themes reflected in both the titles of these new tracks and in the dark ambience which courses through the album. “I wouldn't say it was darker [than our last album], I'd say it was more intense,” argues Martin. This intensity is achieved in part by the use of beatless ambient interludes, at times containing garbled voice recordings which serve to buttress the notion that we are wading in a mire of conflicting ideas. A short sample from Adam Curtis himself – speaking about political control – can only just be picked out in one such break, though much of what is heard has been warped beyond recognition. The trio's interest in the ideas of William S. Burroughs partly informed this approach to audio manipulation. But outwith these short and rather encrypted clues, the album's commitment to its theme is reflected more in the emotional resonance apparent throughout – reflective and sobering musical arrangements at the outset give way to pounding techno in the latter part of the record. Of course, electronic music – particularly techno – has always had a quality to it which seems to suit a marriage with political ideas and countercultural movements. You need only look at the likes of Underground Resistance in Detroit

August 2015

Credit: Shaun Bloodworth

“W

to find this at its most overt. “There's two qualities to it,” says Martin. “One, for me, is still that idea of the ‘angry young man’.” Techno has always had that association for some and this has perhaps lent a certain revolutionary angst to much of the music. On top of that, you have the influence of Northern Soul – “the emotion of strings and basslines and everything else – some of it is escapism,” he adds. “I guess a classic example from Sheffield would be ABC. They started off as Vice Versa – an angry punk band – and then went completely to the opposite end of the spectrum with ABC. To us here in Sheffield, that made perfect sense. It wasn't an opposite; it was exactly the same thing on a different scale. You would go to punk gigs and you would go to Northern Soul gigs because that's what people did.” Their South Yorkshire hometown has always been a key reference point for The Black Dog – the explosion of punk and the later emergence of acts like Cabaret Voltaire, Human League, Heaven 17 and Clock DVA brought an electronic edge to the city's scene. “The amazing thing was that you went to the same nightclub as them – because there only was one nightclub,” Martin recalls. “So you could be in there and Cab Voltaire would walk in with Kraftwerk. It was fucking amazing. “The other big thing for me was that you could go up, buy them a drink, and talk to somebody that had made a record. I guess that's not such a big thing these days. But getting in a studio and making a record was a massive thing for me. I guess Sheffield people are really grounded – kind of like Glasgow. There's no airs and graces about it. It's a working class night; it's a party and people get it on different levels.” Neither/Neither is an album which should certainly appeal to different sensibilities, as the trio deliberately opted to keep its form varied and fluid throughout. “There are two definite strands going on,” explains Richard, having now finished the washing up to join Martin on the line. “There was a much slower, more musical side – definitely not club rhythms. Then we were also doing the club sound. There was a bit of tension as to whether we should mix everything to go club – or should we remix everything away from it? We did the Sound of Sheffield series of singles last year which were all very much aimed at the club, so we didn't really want to set any rules.

“What we ultimately ended up doing was just following what the tracks seemed to demand from us. We tried to be faithful to the track itself, rather than trying to force it into a style that wasn't going to work, or was going to deviate from what we were trying to achieve.” This reluctance to try and mould their music beyond their personal preference at any given time has been a constant of The Black Dog's approach, resulting in a back catalogue of remarkable variety and depth. This commitment must be particularly difficult given the enduring praise heaped on Downie's earliest work with the project – both Bytes and Spanners were released through Warp in the mid 90s before Richard and Martin came on board. “It's really hard in that, every time you get written about, people will reference Warp and they will reference Plaid,” admits Martin, referring to the duo formed by Downie's co-founders Ed Handley and Andy Turner. “You think, ‘Fucking hell, [Plaid] left 20 years ago.’ My kids have grown up and are at university and people are still referencing this stuff. How long do I have to be in this fucking band? “As open-minded as electronic music fans like to pretend they are... fucking hell, they don't like change. They're just as bad, if not worse, than rock fans. ‘That's not Black Sabbath, it's not got the original drummer!’ We played around with the rockisms by sending different people to gigs and saying, ‘You don't need to look at us.’ We're not playing any old music. We will never, ever do a greatest hits album or a tour – that kind of thing. For us, that's not what electronic music is about. It's supposed to be forward-thinking and challenging.” Such a desire to remain focussed on their own path, avoiding the trap of releasing substandard music for commercial gain, is a quality which keeps The Black Dog's output as refreshing as ever. For Martin, there's certainly no value in trying to shape up to match the kind of dance music which tops the lists of online sales. “Sometimes we occasionally go off and have a listen to Beatport's chart and just wonder, ‘Who the fuck is buying that music?’ We wonder who is playing it, because we never hear it in any of the clubs that we're visiting. It's kind of like a weird little universe. A lot of artists worry about the wrong things, about getting the right kind of coverage, and I guess that's never appealed to us.”

CLUBS

Another resilient aspect of their approach – alluded to in past interviews with Downie – is the importance they place on the album format and the effort they put in to ensure that there is coherence to their releases. Many electronic albums appear to be loosely assembled collections of individual tracks, whereas Neither/Neither is best engaged with from start to finish. For one, the trio spent countless hours arranging the track order to create a unified work. In a sense, this could be considered a musical response to the problems of an increasingly non-linear and disjointed world. “We're not against jarring the listener,” says Martin, “but it's really got to work.” On this occasion The Black Dog have certainly succeeded in delivering an album which operates in its own distinct realm. Whether delivering delicate mood music, or penetrating club tracks, the record is underpinned by an atmosphere which is uniformly sombre throughout. In this way they have tackled those themes of repression and control, fear and anger, as skilfully as can be possible without recourse to the kind of unequivocal lyrical diatribes found in other forms. But what prospect is there for hope amid the gloom? Martin is quick to point out that, for all their reservations about the world at large, they very much take the view that “the glass is half full.” Just as techno, even in its most uncompromising forms, has those shards of light which peak through to guide a path to enlightenment, there is also room for progress and an escape from the world of Neither/Neither. For Martin and the group, coming from a traditional socialist standpoint, the answer lies with people. He talks of a need for decisions to be made at a local level and for power to be taken back by communities. Speaking within a week of hearing Scottish politician Mhairi Black's opening speech to Parliament, his suggestion that things aren't quite set in stone seems to hold true. “It just speaks of English politics where they're not prepared to rock the boat,” he complains. “Then you have that young politician at 20 speaking out and you're just thinking ‘fucking hell’... You just need lots more people like that to engage.” Neither/Neither is released via Dust Science Recordings on 17 Aug theblackdogma.com

Feature

THE SKINNY

Credit: Shanie Hedlund

Surviving the Abyss Californian singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe is a byword for doom-laden gothic rock. Her new album, Abyss, takes inspiration from such cheery topics as sleep paralysis, extreme drought and exploring the depths of the mind. The Skinny peers behind the veil

helsea Wolfe appears to exist in an enigmatic, liminal space between the aloof and the uncanny; visually, she sporadically performs beneath a veil but musically, her ghoulish, propulsive gothic rock is more blatant: utterly American, structurally rooted in the geographies of her Los Angeles locale but also haunted by the pains and pangs of classic Americana country. While third album Pain Is Beauty was perhaps best described as a concept album in denial, Abyss, her staggeringly intense follow up, is a rich submersion in sonic intensity, verging on the industrial. “While I was growing up, I heard my dad's country band practicing harmonies and I fell in love with layers,” she reflects. “I started making my own music soon after and was always adding layers and layers of harmonies and sounds. I'm also a total water person – I love swimming, being in the water… Maybe those things are reflected? For Abyss, I wasn't thinking about being submerged per se, I was thinking about the mind as an abyss to be explored, contrasted with the universe as a wild and unknown abyss itself. “ Throughout the recording of Abyss, Wolfe admitted to suffering from bouts of sleep paralysis, an affliction in which a person, either while falling asleep or awakening, temporarily experiences an inability to move, speak, or react. The notion that such a state can create mind-altering experiences is borne out by Abyss; the album is unquestionably Wolfe's bleakest to date, her sonic trajectory reaching some hitherto unexplored tenebrous and arcane territories. Lead single Carrion Flowers is a suitably-titled exercise in gloomy perversion, all skeletal, repetitive percussion and Wolfe's initially concussed vocals supplanted by multitracked harmonies; in fact, the track plays like an evil twin to Portishead's Machine Gun from their third album and, as the opening track on Abyss, is a punishing announcement of what lies ahead. Anyone coming to Abyss and expecting the

August 2015

more comparatively plaintive laments of Chelsea Wolfe's previous album will be somewhat surprised by the upsurge in, well, pretty much everything. Nevertheless, the contrast is deliberate, according to Wolfe. “Abyss is actually pretty raw in comparison with Pain Is Beauty,” she confirms. “That album came from an experimentation with my bandmate Ben Chisholm – we intended to start a side project of electronic music but realised over time that this project doesn't need any rules. So

“It's really intimate to have someone's voice in your head, telling you stories” Chelsea Wolfe

we started playing some of those songs on Chelsea Wolfe tours.” And does sleep paralysis continue to rupture her nocturnal reveries? “It does still,” she confides, “though it's more off and on these days – it used to be really bad when I was living in Los Angeles. I lived in a big old house near downtown with a bunch of people, but last year relocated to a house in the mountains to write Abyss and ended up staying. My mind is much more calm there. I don't ever want to live in a city again. I don't write in that state of sleep paralysis, no, it's not something I can control and it's not something I enjoy. When I have sleep paralysis I see shadow figures in my room and there have been times I thought they were real in that confused state. It's more just that the experience of it creeps into my day,

and affects my moods and perspective.” Indeed, the influence and impact of her immediate surroundings also forces a distinct sonic imprint on Abyss. The album was written while her immediate Los Angeles neighbourhood was immersed in scorching heat: the forests ablaze from fires and the lakes entirely arid. Accordingly, the imagery on the album is often parched and torrid, teeming with washed out roads, abandoned canyons and the limits of existence on the very edge of modern day America. “Abyss has a lot more real life samples we've taken on the road,” she confirms. “Thunder, electricity in the ground, atmospheres – the beginning of the song The Abyss is a sound sample taken while walking through Prague. And almost everything that did come from an electronic place was re-amped or run through guitar pedals. And yes, where I lived while writing Abyss was very reflective of the drought in California. We put most of that inspiration into the music video for Carrion Flowers, but I'm sure the feeling of the area made its way into the music as well. I am inspired by location and different spaces.” Of course, one of the issues with carefully crafting such an opaque and Delphic persona is that people are going to become even more focused upon breaking the spell and decoding the public guise. Chelsea Wolfe has oft stated her interest in truth and honesty through music but does this shed any light on her actual life? The lyrics on Abyss are abstract, if rather standard issue for goth-tinged singers: Grey Days, Color Of Blood, Simple Death and the epic After the Fall (sadly not a rumination on the lives of musicians post Mark E. Smith) all dwell upon the darker side of existence – is this a true reflection of Chelsea Wolfe's state of mind? “I get asked about this a lot,” she admits. “At this point I suppose my music is quite personal, but I still avoid writing directly about my own life. There is plenty of inspiration coming from world news, books I read, and so on.

MUSIC

Interview: Colm McAuliffe

My perspective on these things will always be in my own way of course, and I think of music as something really intimate. I listen to music on headphones mostly, and it is really intimate to have someone's voice in your head, telling you stories. But this persona is not something I'm crafting – I'm just a private person and prefer to keep much of my personal life away from my musical life.” All of this seems tailor-made to make, at the very least, a sizeable dent in the more mainstream alt-music landscape. But is Chelsea Wolfe prepared for an anointment as a totemic figure of gothrock? Her response is typically coy. “We are a slow-growing band,” she says, “so any increase in audience or listeners has been really gradual and feels natural. I imagine it will keep going in that direction.” Certainly their more recent live shows have increased the band's visibility; this perhaps contrasts with Wolfe's affirmation that she is not so keen on the live element of her music and far more comfortable amid the more controlled setting of the recording studio. “I'm forced to embrace the element of playing live,” she admits, “and I do truly embrace it – I'm giving my all out there, but some nights I'm better at it than other nights.” Listening to Abyss is akin to being immersed in a fever dream. The stream of images conjure a bricolage of unbridled ruin but Wolfe's own voice is so closely miked and intimate, it serves to provide some re-assurance, some respite from the grimness elsewhere. Perhaps this dichotomy is key to Chelsea Wolfe: the closeness of her voice versus the distance of her true self and the relentless intensity of her music counterbalanced by her stacked harmonies, averting our gaze from the drop into the abyss. Abyss is released via Sargent House on 7 Aug chelseawolfe.net

Feature

The Past is Another Country Andrew Haigh, director of fine-grained romance Weekend, delivers another devastating relationship drama with 45 Years. We speak to him about the film's powerhouse leads, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, and keeping his audience at arm's length Interview: Jamie Dunn

ndrew Haigh, director of Weekend and creator of HBO series Looking, is discussing Charlotte Rampling, the leading lady in his latest film, 45 Years. “I was terrified when I first met her,” he confesses. “You know, she's Charlotte Rampling. You feel like she's going to be incredibly intimidating, because in so many of her performances there is this fierce strength.” After the filmmaker began working with Rampling, however, he realised this steely quality is really a kind of truthfulness. “That's what's so interesting about her as a person, and what I love about the way she performs, is that she invites you in to see what's happening, but then she pushes you away. It's like she's saying, ‘You can know me, but I'm only going to let you know a little bit about me. I'm going to keep some things hidden.’ And that felt really interesting as a performer.” This slightly standoffish quality chimes with Haigh's approach to filmmaking. He specialises in relationship dramas that refuse to be cloying, with a style that's laid back and uningratiating. And, like Rampling, Haigh doesn't let the audience in on everything his characters are feeling; we realise they are going through some emotional turmoil, but we don't necessarily understand why. “What's left unsaid is so important to me,” he explains. “I feel like cinema has the power to work on an incredibly emotional level with an audience, but you have to help the audience get to that level. That often means not giving them too much, and giving them a little bit of work to do within the film can have a greater emotional effect later on.” It's a technique that pays dividend in 45 Years. Based on David Constantine's short story In Another Country, the film centres on a comfortably well-off couple, Kate (Rampling) and Geoff (Tom Courtenay), who are about to celebrate 45 years of marriage. It opens with the arrival of a letter delivering a bombshell (in both senses of the word):

Feature

Geoff 's first girlfriend, Katya, who disappeared while walking in the Alps 50 years ago, has been discovered. The kicker is that her body has been perfectly preserved in the ice – “like something in the freezer,” notes Geoff, whose memory of Katya has stayed similarly fresh. Soon he's scrambling around in the loft in the middle of the night pawing over old photos of his lost love, leaving Kate feeling like it's her turn to slip into a crevasse. What gives the film its power is Haigh's instinct to resist melodrama. Kate clearly resents the hold this long-dead woman has over her husband, but Haigh chooses to show the foundations of the relationship cracking through the subtlest of means. “What I want the film to do is for you to watch it, then I want you to think about it the next day; I want it to linger,” he says. “I want [the audience] to be like, ‘OK, how would I cope in that situation, or what in my life has come up from watching that film?’” This approach gets the seal of approval from David Constantine, whose short story Haigh adapted. “While watching Andrew's film, I was interested very much in the way that fiction and film operate very differently,” explains the author. “The couple in my story are of a different social class to those in the film, and they're actually older too, so they're less able to say what's happening to them, so the narrative voice is doing all that. Whereas in the film you have an awful lot of silence, but the actors have these extraordinarily expressive faces. That's one of the chief differences [between the mediums]: the characters don't need to articulate what's happening to them, it's all there in the faces, in the body language.” When the film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Darren Aronofsky's awards jury concurred with Constantine's assessment of the leads, handing Silver Bear acting prizes to both Courtenay and Rampling. The reason Haigh was drawn to casting the

pair was twofold. Firstly, despite each having careers spanning over 50 years, they both bring an enigmatic quality to the screen. “What I liked about both Tom and Charlotte is they're known, and they've both done a lot of really interesting work, but they're not everywhere,” he explains. “You don't see them on TV all the time or in lots and lots of films, so there's a lot of mystery about both of them as actors. And I think that of Charlotte especially – most of her work has not been in England.” At the same time, however, the relatively small bodies of work they do have are so iconic that it feels like we have a shorthand to their characters’ history. “There's a scene in the film when they're talking about dancing when they were in the 60s and when they first met,” recalls Haigh, “and in my head I can just picture Tom in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, and I can picture Charlotte in some of her films – it's like their real life past in a way feeds into the film. They were, in a way, products of the late 50s and 60s, and that kind of energy and excitement of youth, and I think that helps the film a lot.” Haigh shouldn't be short-changed when it comes to praise, though. He deftly marshals the tension of this crumbling relationship through sound and image. Like in Weekend, there is no score. Music in the film comes instead from the characters’ environment, their radios and records. “I want the music to come out of a character, I suppose,” notes the director. And what these characters are listening to (Happy Together, Why Don't You Tell Me, Tell It Like It Is, Go Now) provides a wry running commentary on the state of their marriage. But, more importantly, by eschewing score Haigh avoids spoon-feeding the audience. “I want the music to be embedded into the world rather than to be put on top of it all to elicit or force an emotion in the audience.” His use of framing and image is similarly objective: “I don't like to cut that much,” he explains. “A lot of shots are left wider than would perhaps be normal and I don't resort to going into close-ups to create the emotion. I want it to be clear what the point of view of the film is, but at the same time I want to make you kind of lean in a little bit more.” The Norfolk setting, a change from the source material, which is set in North Wales, also gives the story subtle resonances. Through Geoff 's eyes, its landscape becomes a metaphor for his marriage. “I love the idea that his past with Katya was set in the mountains of Switzerland,” says Haigh, “and with Kate he's settled in the flattest part of the UK.” When Constantine heard about the change in setting he had his doubts, but they vanished

FILM

when he saw the movie. “I wondered how it would work, but it worked terribly well, I think,” says the author. “All the busyness of Norwich, with him and her wandering around in it rather lost, and also the Norfolk Broads, they looked absolutely desolating – they were flat, misty and obviously cold. It was a wonderful transposition.” The Broads’ beautiful bleakness were also part of the appeal for Haigh. “There's something about the horizons out there,” he says. “I lived there for a couple of years up in Norwich, and they're quite isolating, those landscapes, because you just see forever, and I think that's quite a scary prospect sometimes. It just made sense to me emotionally.”

“What I liked about both Tom and Charlotte is there's a lot of mystery about them as actors” Andrew Haigh

45 Years has not been universally celebrated. Up until this point, Haigh's films and TV work have concerned the lives and loves of young homosexual men. This story about a middle-aged heterosexual couple has left some of his gay fans a bit miffed. “There are some people who are like, ‘I can't believe you've turned your back on the gay community.’ But then, of course, you have people who are furious with me for Looking for representing the gay community in the wrong way. So you sometimes can't win.” On the surface, Weekend may seem a completely different prospect to 45 Years, but Haigh doesn't see it that way. “I still feel like both films are about how our relationships define us and how we use them to define us. And what they can mean in our lives and how we struggle within them to keep our identity, to work out who we are, and how we have to compromise within certain relationships. So they seem oddly similar to me.” 45 Years is released 28 Aug by Curzon Film World David Constantine's short story collection 45 Years: Selected Stories is released 27 Aug by Comma Press, along with his first novel, The Life-Writer

THE SKINNY

August 2015

Fear of a Wack Planet As Ratking circle back for another assault on Glasgow, founding MC Patrick ‘Wiki’ Morales lays out the scale of the burgeoning Harlem rap crew's ambition

Photo: Ari Marcopoulos

Interview: Simon Butcher

ew York is steeped in hip-hop history; from the block party turntablism of the early 70s to the multitudinous figures, groups and movements that since broke out of the city's parameters to become iconic around the world. But its future belongs to Ratking – two precocious and hungry MCs by the name of Patrick ‘Wiki’ Morales and Hakeem ‘Hak’ Lewis in their early 20s, flanked by restless beat-maker Eric ‘Sporting Life’ Adiele, a decade their senior. Formed in Harlem in 2011, the trio draw disparate elements of the city's heritage into a collage of irregular beats, oblique samples and abstract lyrics. Reaching across the Atlantic, the chaos of the resurgent UK grime scene is present, along with futuristic post-dubstep touches, and above all an abundance of uncompromising youthful creativity. It's not quite rap, but it's not quite like anything else either. Ratking aren't trying to build on the past or posthumous reputation of its demigods – they're attempting to reach beyond the mundanity of the present. “We all grew up on hip-hop but we were over it… Over the bullshit of it,” explains Wiki, currently back in the city after two months of touring Europe. “So the ideology with me and Sporting Life from the beginning was to do something different by creating a mix of everything that was going on in the same era. Let's mix the uptown rap scene with downtown punk and No Wave and

Feature

then give a modern perspective of how it is at street level now.” They're more likely to namecheck jazz punk fusionist James Chance – an idol of Wiki's since his thirteenth birthday – than Public Enemy as a source of inspiration. It's not just the no-holdsbarred experimentation of such No Wave progenitors they admire, but also the movement's rejection of commercial popularity. You won't find any bling-based bravado in Ratking's message. “It's not that we don't want to make any money, but that's not our main concern. It's the art and craft of it,” says Wiki. There's more an unruly desire to break the rules and strike crowds with visceral punk fury at their live shows. “You can't dress in some crazy fashionista shit when you're on the road carrying all your gear anyway,” he laughs. “We're gonna go about this shit like we're a band and do it head on.” And that's where they sit, more Suicide than The Furious Five. Every gig is a feral slice of youthful deterministic angst, which they're currently tightening up for a UK return this August. In 2012, while Wiki and Hak were still teenagers, the reputation of their performances was such that the group bagged a tour support with fellow anarchic anti-establishment peers, Death Grips, who Wiki admits had a “massive influence” on the way they do things live. “It's mad inspirational to see the intensity of their shows. The level they do everything on is unreal.”

Onstage, Sporting brings the ‘band’ element, playing with midi hardware, a drum machine and other electronic gizmos to brashly flesh out a futuristic punk-inspired cacophony that stretches from psychedelic Shabazz Palaces-style haziness to the syncopated abrasiveness of 2014 single Canal. “That's Sporting's influence from No Wave,”

“We want to create our own culture” Wiki

says Wiki. “He gets a kick from buying new gear and figuring new ways to configure it to create a completely new sound. We want to challenge our audiences, tell them to keep an open mind, then push just how open they can be,” he expands on their rationale as a touring force. Like the most vociferous punk and grime acts, Ratking want to connect the underground and effect social change on their own terms by making thought-provoking and uncompromising music – striding into the path of most resistance. Lyrically, there's grit and idiosyncratic references to the city they grew up in – an aural assault,

MUSIC

again similar to UK grime's aggressive Bow council estate references, or the way punk and hip-hop initially gave voice to working class frustration. Despite his Upper West Side origins, the lens Wiki places on New York presents a dystopian highrise claustrophobia, where an underclass dwells amid drug addiction, depression and police brutality. Remove Ya, from last year's full-length debut So It Goes (inspired by a recurring line pertaining to death in the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse-Five), is the most stark example of the latter – a stop and frisk commentary as striking as the Mitchell Brothers’ Routine Check before it. Beginning with a sample of a secretlyrecorded search conducted on a Harlem teenager, in which the police tell the accused that he's being frisked because he's a ‘fucking mutt’. “I've had police stop me in the street and go through my pockets without asking, not as much as my friends because I look pretty white, but it really affected me when I heard about that. It was like, ‘Oh shit! This is happening in New York,’ and it related to us because we're all some mutt shit too,” says Wiki (mutt being slang for a young civilian of mixed race). “In the UK it's different because you've got the cameras on smash, y'know? You know you're getting watched but it's more subtle. With young black and Latino teenagers, it's a real struggle on a daily basis.” Nevertheless, the source message translates around the globe. The group's recent collaboration with King Krule, on So Sick Stories, saw New York contrasted with London as Krule sings the hook: ‘Now do you see this, the way the grey controls only the souls that go to sleep to sink and dissolve / Are set adrift in between the concrete and the mist / Just another inner city river bliss.’ Wiki chimes in on the group's far-reaching empathy: “I've noticed in a lot of places we've visited on the road there's deprivation and hard times. There's a lot of people out there who feel like they need a voice and whether we can be that or not, it's nice that they can relate to us.” What legacy do Ratking want to leave? “We'll be around for a long time and we'll build the opposite to mainstream culture. There used to be a defined line between the mainstream and the underground but that's becoming more blurred. Maybe we can unite the underground into a mass movement,” he ponders with unblinkered optimism. Though signed to XL, an under-the-radar ethos was typified with the release of their 700-Fill mixtape as a free download through BitTorrent this past March. The project was written and finished in six days but shows the abundance of spontaneous ideas at Ratking's disposal. “We were just having fun and seeing what was good; we wanted to put it out for free and BitTorrent fucked with us in the past, so it made sense. It's still some dope shit, y'know what I mean?” Like another major influence, Wu-Tang Clan, Wiki is looking to create a multi-functional cooperative that stands alone in the capitalist world. “Sport's putting out a solo record pretty soon and I'm working on a solo project. Hak is doing some stuff, and whatever we do we'll make it remain strong in the roots of Ratking – the way Wu-Tang was. No matter what they did, they all went back to the Wu. There was a strong ideology that fortified what they did, and that's where we want to sit with Ratking. We want to create our own culture and be defined only by our own music.” Ratking play Glasgow Broadcast on 27 Aug twitter.com/ratking

THE SKINNY

Home Movies Seven bright kids spent a childhood locked up in their apartment, with movies as their only friends. We talk to documentary filmmaker Crystal Moselle about her time with The Wolfpack

he ‘forbidden experiment’ is a concept familiar to sociolinguists: what would happen if you deprived a child of all social interaction from birth? What would that do to their language, their psyche? Could we solve the unsolvable nature vs. nurture debate? The experiment is, of course, forbidden for a reason: it is prohibitively unethical. The Wolfpack might not be as extreme as this hypothetical study, but it certainly skirts the same questionable ethics. In this debut documentary feature from Californian Crystal Moselle, there is a sense of having stumbled upon something truly unique. The Angulo family consists of six teenage brothers – Mukunda, Narayana, Govinda, Bhagavan, Krsna, and Jagadisa – and their sister, Visnu, sequestered in a Manhattan high-rise. Growing up, they are permitted egress exceptionally rarely. The father, Oscar, has the only key. The mother, Susanne, earns a bursary by homeschooling. For entertainment, Oscar allows a diet of movies on VHS and DVD, and the children – so enrapt – painstakingly recreate their favourites. Without the internet, they hand-type screenplays and fashion props from cereal boxes and yoga mats. It's a remarkable real-world tale of resilience and escapism. We speak to the director before the film's screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival. She's a little jet-lagged but otherwise chirpy, her West Coast drawl peppered with liberal ‘like's and ‘totally's. Born in California, Moselle moved to New York to attend the School of Visual Arts, where an autonomous approach to filmmaking was encouraged. “I'm just more independent and I like to do my own thing,” she recalls. “They would give us cameras, and we could just go do our films on our own.” This fostered an opportunism which stayed with her long after graduating. Moselle recounts the fluke of encountering the Angulo children: “I was walking down First Avenue, New York City, and they ran past me. They had this long black hair, and sunglasses, and I think they were all dressed in black. Just something about it was very intriguing, and I instinctually ran after them.” She met them at a crossing, and was met with a portentous icebreaker. “Govinda asked me, ‘What is it that you do for a living?’ And I told them that I was a filmmaker. He said, ‘Oh, we're interested in getting into the business of filmmaking.’ I didn't know their backstory at all. They were interesting people; I liked hanging out with them. They were very articulate, and had an openness that you

August 2015

don't see every day in New York.” With some 455 hours of footage filmed over several years, “the biggest obstacle was probably whittling the story down,” Moselle tells us. “We didn't even realise what it was until we got in the edit room. “I think the biggest change was when I had this talk with Mukunda,” she explains. “He basically said that they grew up on fear, and that was getting in their way. And he saw that, which was amazing, ‘cause that's so self-reflective, to be able to see that.”

“I feel like the boys are doing really great on their own... I don't feel like they're helpless at all” Crystal Moselle

He feared the corrupting influences of the materialistic outside world. When questioned in the film, his response is tragically ironic: “We are victims of the circumstances of life.” “I think there was a lot of great things that came out of it,” suggests Moselle. “These kids are articulate and creative and intellectual. But they didn't wanna be cooped up like that. That's the biggest thing: what would they want? Every day they wanted to go play outside. There's footage of them looking down at the playgrounds and filming it through the window. It's so sad.” The images speak volumes. “I think the window is a character in this film,” she posits. “Sometimes they said it was almost like a television... They were pretty far up so they could see a lot. Like they were caged in the sky or something.” The trailer, and most synopses, frame the brothers’ meticulous reenactments as a panacea for their imprisonment. We are invited to gawk at this peculiar brood and their cute obsession with cinema. When asked if there were any clips she wanted to include but couldn't, Moselle replies: “Tarantino's birthday. They celebrate all their favourite directors’ and actors’ birthdays.” But no humane metric would levy video reels as adequate compensation for a childhood starved of sunshine, friends, and parks, and very little conversation surrounding this film seems to tackle the enormity of this isolation. The boys say that Moselle is their first guest. That's almost two decades without external contact. It's an immutable facet of their upbringing, and as viewers we can only watch, helpless. Moselle maintains that movies are a positive force for them. “It's like this language that we can all speak together,” she says. “That was one of the things that the boys discovered when they first started going out... ‘What's your favourite movie?’ That's always their first question.” But even the movies they adore are cause for concern: the sweary hyperviolence of Tarantino and Nolan. “I think that earlier on, maybe it wasn't the best influence,” Moselle concedes. “But also they're able to take on these characters that had a lot of power, and I think that maybe it helped them exercise that.” It could be argued that such ready acceptance of fictional personae belies a thirst for selfdefinition. Desperate for identity, the silver screen offered them rich, though false stimuli. And as warm and personable as these brothers are, it is clear that theirs is a learned sociability,

Interview: George Sully

incubated within a stifling family unit. Their language is declarative, stagey: in one light, like characters in a movie; in another, borderline autistic. When pushed on the ethics, Moselle is evasive. We ask about any legal or psychiatric followup, and she explains that “they realised... it's not illegal to keep your kids in your house.” She relates an episode referenced in the film (where “the authorities had come in and child services did come in”), but ultimately resists committing to a detailed assessment. And quite rightly: on the one hand, she is the chronicler, not the spokesperson for this family. But at the same time, she has taken a more active role than most documentarians, and has been instrumental in presenting the Angulos to the world. Does she feel this responsibility? “Yeah, sometimes I do,” she admits. “But I feel like they're doing really great on their own... I don't feel like they're helpless at all.” She adds: “I feel like this film is like the first part of this journey that I'm taking with them.” The Wolfpack won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at Sundance this year, and the director has been on the press rodeo ever since. While far from insensitive to the broader issues at play, her tone is somewhat detached and she is reluctant to answer some questions in depth. When asked about their mother, however, she lights up. “She became my friend,” Moselle beams. “I think that she probably had the biggest transformation of them all.” In many ways Susanne Angulo is the unsung hero of The Wolfpack: wrestling with the misguided philosophy of her husband, as the mother to his children, but also as the carefree hippy who fell in love with him all those years ago. By the present day, she is bubbly and forthright. “She really calls the shots at this point,” Moselle attests. In fact, the biggest lump-in-throat moment involves Susanne near the end, in the briefest of surreptitiously captured exchanges. The Skinny won't spoil it for you here, but when we ask the director about it, Moselle gushes with a levity at odds with the film's 90 minutes: “When my editor saw that, she was like, ‘That's some fuckin’ realism!’” It may otherwise smudge the line between cinema and reality, but The Wolfpack's human element is triumphantly real. The Wolfpack is released in cinemas 7 Aug by Kaleidoscope Entertainment

Much of the film's tension stems from the father, Oscar Angulo. A shadowy, paranoid deity-figure, the boys speak of him in fearful tones; there are implications of domestic abuse and alcoholism. However, when he eventually speaks, almost an hour into the film, his presence is feebly mortal. “The first part of the film is [the boys], telling the story about their family through their eyes,” Moselle elaborates. “I think that if we brought the father in earlier to tell that story with them, it wouldn't make sense... I feel like their dad, at this point, had been defeated.” The film may look back on their childhood (there are reams of home video footage), but it's as hopeful and forward-looking as it is retrospective. Moselle had arrived at a juncture in their lives where they were beginning to seize independence out of their father's loosening grip. Why had Oscar restricted his family so severely? “I think there was just a lot of control and, I think, fear,” she suggests. “He was saying that he didn't want society to affect them, he wanted them to make their own choices.” His vision was of a self-sufficient familytribe, inspired by his Hare Krishna background.

FILM

Feature

THE SKINNY

Skar's Trek Into Darkness With female coming-of-age tale The Diary of a Teenage Girl, True Blood star Alexander Skarsgård goes from vampire to cradle robber. The Skinny talks to the Swedish hunk about teenage sexuality, Hollywood's prudishness, Zoolander, and a moustachioed Tarzan

reaking through into public consciousness with the one-two HBO series punch of Generation Kill and True Blood, Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård's star has been on the rise ever since. Alternating between independent fare (The East), wannabe blockbusters (Battleship), arthouse darling projects (Lars von Trier's Melancholia), and, of course, Lady Gaga music videos, the 38-year-old is now very much a cinematic force to be reckoned with, far removed from the shadow of his father, beloved character actor Stellan Skarsgård, or the days of his first English-language role in Ben Stiller's Zoolander (he played one of male model Derek Zoolander's idiot friends who dies in “a freak gasoline fight accident”). Next year sees him lead a summer tentpole release with a new live-action Tarzan from director David Yates (director of the last four Harry Potter films), but his most interesting film role to date arrives this year on a much smaller scale. Adapted by debut writer-director Marielle Heller from a heavily autobiographical graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner, The Diary of a Teenage Girl follows a 15-year-old aspiring cartoonist, Minnie (rising British star Bel Powley), in 1970s San Francisco, whose sexual awakening involves an affair with the boyfriend (Skarsgård) of her partying mother (Kristen Wiig). All three actors give finegrained performances, and the film, which ventures into dark territory, is often uncomfortable but free of exploitation, and funny without resorting to cheap mockery – think of it as a blending of Terry Zwigoff or Noah Baumbach with Catherine Breillat for an idea of tone. Most importantly, it's a much-needed shot in the arm for a perspective grossly overlooked in American cinema: that of a teenage female's coming of age. “Of course they are as confused as guys are, just as frustrated sexually going from a kid to a woman,” says Skarsgård, speaking to The Skinny at the Edinburgh International Film Festival where the film had its UK premiere. “I thought it was so unique, so different, so brave, and I felt like similar stories have been told many times through a young boy's point-of-view, through his eyes – coming of age, dealing with your sexuality. But when

August 2015

it comes to girls, it's usually, you know, they're in their tower waiting for Prince Charming to come and save them... talking to Mari and talking to Bel, they felt like that doesn't represent what [they were] like as a teenager. And I felt that it was written in such an unapologetic and direct way, such a brave story, without being didactic or provo-

“I think it's ridiculous that people are more upset if they see a nipple than someone bash a head in” Alexander Skarsgård

cative for the sake of being provocative. And I thought it was an interesting challenge to play a guy like Monroe, to make him real and three-dimensional and human, so it's not too predatory.” During the film festival, one prominent critic tweeted that the usual dictum about male movie stars being shorter and generally less impressive in the flesh did not apply at all to Skarsgård. Any initial intimidation regarding the handsome hulk, however, is immediately vanquished by his overwhelming friendliness and enthusiasm to wax lyrical about the joys of working with actor-turneddirector Heller, which he does while reclined and sipping coffee in a private bar booth in one of the Scottish capital's fancier hotels. “It was one of the best on-set experiences of my life,” he says. “And I'm not exaggerating. I would say everything about it... the details of shooting

a 70s movie in San Francisco, with those costumes, those sets – what a dream, you know? And it was also, obviously, a very small indie film, so it kind of felt like the movies I started out with in Sweden at the beginning of my career, where you lug stuff around together and it's, like, a crew of 20. We all knew each other and everyone's in it for the love of the project. And it's a very eclectic, interesting group of people – our first assistant director was a legendary drag queen from San Francisco. Mari is from that area herself, so a lot of her friends were helping out on the movie, so every single person was there because they loved Mari.” It's clear Skarsgård was similarly smitten. “In terms of directing, she was incredibly inviting,” he says of Heller. “She wrote this script, she played this character off Broadway. This has been in her head for ten years, so she could have easily been quite possessive. But that was never the case. When we came on board, she wanted us to come up with ideas and make these characters our own. If something wasn't quite working, Mari would be the first one to throw out the scene and go, ‘Alright, let's start from scratch. Let's see what works.’ If ever something didn't feel true, there was never any ego there. She would be like, ‘OK, let's change it. Whatever works.’ And it was so gratifying to see the excitement in Mari's eyes if we tried something on the day that was completely new, a choice to see where that was going, and genuinely how thrilled she was when something was happening.” As previously alluded to, trying to depict Skarsgård's character as a fully-rounded, non-despicable human was a particular challenge, considering the fact he sleeps with the teenage daughter of his partner. “It was very tricky!” he says. “We spent a lot of time thinking about it, talking about it, playing around with it. If that doesn't work then the movie doesn't work. You have to sustain it for an hour and 40 minutes, it has to be interesting. If it's just a 35-year-old man preying on her and sleeping with her, I think emotionally and psychologically that would only be interesting for so long. And what really got me creatively excited was trying to figure out a way to play him, find

FILM

Interview: Josh Slater-Williams

moments where he was weak, where he was more confused than she was, where, in many ways, he was a teenage boy and not the responsible one.” Also commendable about Heller's film is its frankness regarding sex and nudity, with a degree of explicitness but, again, no exploitation. “The way we approached the sex scenes was about making it real and making it never gratuitous, never to shock people. There's a point when she's in her bedroom, looking at her own body... it was never supposed to be, like, sexy and hot or provocative. And I think that's what's so beautiful about it. It's just a teenage girl looking at herself, you know. This is what it is. And the same thing with the sex scenes. It was never uncomfortable for Bel and I, because it always made sense. We knew exactly why we were doing it and why there was nudity when there was nudity.” Expanding on this, Skarsgård is quite critical of some of Hollywood (and America)’s more questionable moral standards. “I think it's ridiculous that people are so prudish and are more upset if they see a nipple than someone bash a head in. To me that's so hypocritical, and isn't that more damaging to kids? Even in a sex scene, you can't show a butt or a nipple. To me, I don't understand that. I think it's really stupid. But when you do that in a movie, when you show that, it's always important that you do it for the right reasons, ‘cause I don't think it's interesting if you just do it to shock.” Our chat's conclusion sees some praise thrown the way of the film's 1970s aesthetic: “Just to rock a moustache and the sideburns for a month… it was a real moustache so that was quite interesting on weekends. You know, going to restaurants and stuff looking like that.” The Skinny inquires as to whether his Tarzan will be a unique moustachioed interpretation, a question that gets a laugh and then a sad “no”. To the response of additional laughter but then tight lips, we also ask if he's been offered a cameo as a ghost in the upcoming Zoolander 2. “I can't say. That's a good idea, though. Hamlet-style.” The Diary of a Teenage Girl is in cinemas 7 Aug via Vertigo Releasing

An Innovative Scottish Tech Start-up Scottish start-up Make Works facilitate artists and designers in sourcing materials from local factories. We met up with founder Fi Scott to discuss her experiences of getting the start-up off the ground

Interview: John Donaghy

ake Works is a unique Scottish start-up; their website facilitates users (typically artists, designers, engineers) in sourcing materials from local factories, enabling them to make just about anything. The website's users benefit from a wealth of information (videos, images, guides, maps), making the experience of sourcing materials for their creative purposes an accessible one, whilst listed factories (currently over 130) receive free marketing and the opportunity to connect with a new customer base – ultimately generating new revenue streams. Founder Fi Scott conceived of the idea while in her final year of studies at Glasgow School of Art: “It was out of my own frustrations really, I am a product designer by training, and I'm also interested in making things by hand. I spent some time in the US gaining experience in this area, working for a bespoke furniture workshop in New York. They've a really good network in place over there; from knowing where to get good machinery, or just knowing someone else that can help with a part of the process. “On returning to Scotland, I remember sketching, ‘Where's industry in Scotland?’ The association I had with manufacturing was really old school, and it felt quite intimidating. I realised that a lot of these companies simply don't exist on the internet; they don't have websites, and if they do, they're often terrible. Essentially, because I couldn't find any of these people online, I just started going out to the industrial estates around Glasgow. Once I'd been out to visit a few factories, I soon realised that everyone else wanted this information.” Through this hands-on research, Fi had inadvertently become something of a maven among her arts community. Most importantly, she'd identified a need and started to think of a potential solution. Such considerations became the focus of her dissertation and degree show, and formed her initial business plan. Upon graduating, she was kindly offered a free desk space at the MAKLab workshops in Glasgow, and it was here that the transition from idea to start-up venture began to take shape: “Everyone there was really creative and into making stuff, that's where things really started to happen. I spent six months applying for just about every single fund in Scotland; I applied to Creative Scotland, Prince's Trust, Scottish Enterprise, SIE, NESTA, Starter for Six, Business Gateway, along with all the small art grants I could find. Unfortunately this proved a bit of a fail as I received a huge stack of rejection letters.” Whereas these initial rejections might've deterred many, Fi was keen to understand what seemed to be hindering their progress: “Our problem was that we were partly art-based, and as such we didn't fit into any one box or associated criteria. Eventually I got so frustrated that, rather than pitching it as a business, I phrased it as a ‘project’, and that's where we came up with the idea for the Make Works Tour.” In changing tack, the idea for the Make Works Tour began to gather momentum. After borrowing a VW camper van and enlisting the help of a couple of friends, they hit the road and set about documenting a significant number of factories throughout Scotland. Fi talks fondly of this tipping point: “We got to go on this incredible trip. We soon had a lot of substance for the site, received a big following, and then shortly after, we were suc-

Feature

Credit: Ross Fraser McLean

cessful in receiving funding from Creative Scotland to build the first version [of the website], along with further funding from the Jerwood Foundation.” The video shone a light on Scottish factories, but predominantly it helped people understand they were going to build a marketplace, and the creative possibilities this presented. Following the launch of the site in 2014, Fi then applied for an accelerator programme in London called Seedcamp. Initially she didn't think she'd even get onto the programme, let alone end up winning it. Success with these initial grants allowed her to take things to the next stage; not only could she afford to proceed with the website as intended, but she could pay two full-time staff. Make Works is a non-profit start-up, and Fi is keen to point out the reasoning: “I'm really passionate about making sure that the information remains free, and also that listing for factories remains free. A lot of these companies see the value in doing it, but things like having a film – they wouldn't normally pay for that sort of thing. It's really important to continue the service being free, and then developing our other revenue streams around it. In that sense it's not a typical startup model.” Since the launch of the website last year, Make Works have been focused on getting out to visit factories, developing relationships, and documenting new listings. Although clearly the website has the potential to become a comprehensive marketplace within the UK, early on it was decided that they'd concentrate on compiling a definitive marketplace for Scotland first, focussing on quality rather than quantity, before then expanding. Through her hands-on experiences and documenting how things are made, Fi has learned the processes specific to those listed factories, along with the technical language or jargon that often

applies. This knowledge has been fed back to assist the site's users, many of whom might've otherwise felt confused or intimidated. How have new people been discovering the site? Fi mentions: “The site's content is incredibly important in this process, along with effective use of SEO.” Ensuring that their website is visible in search engine results generates a steady stream of new users; currently there are around 8000 people a week using the site.

“When you see the bit at the end, when you see that someone has been able to get something made, I find that so satisfying” Fi Scott

As a GSA graduate herself, she's been able to tap into Scotland's various art colleges to encourage new users to the site: “I get to go and give lectures, so that's really helpful in generating awareness. We also just did a guide for graduates, to all the facilities you can access on the site. We can also see what everyone's searching for, and just before degree show time, there's a rise in certain things, like business cards.” While discussing some of the profiled artists

TECH

and designers who are using the site, she enthusiastically mentions: “We are running a residency programme with an arts organisation called Hospitalfield. They're an arts space up in Arbroath; and they've just worked on the Venice Biennale stuff. They got in touch and said ‘we want some of our artists to work with fabricators near Arbroath, can you help us out’? We then got a set of textile designers from Bespoke Atelier involved; they are now making stuff with composite factories, it's an industrial process with a very artistic side. That's the stuff I love, it's really great seeing artists get excited about a new process”. For all the effort, trials and tribulations that have gone into establishing Make Works, it seems clear that one of the most rewarding aspects of her work is seeing when others have benefited from the service: “When you see the bit at the end, when you see that someone has been able to get something made, I find that so satisfying. The other part is when the factories we have listed tell me they've generated new work through the site.” What lies ahead for Make Works? Well, for starters they've just released a new version of the website. You can expect plenty of new listings for Scottish factories, which are set to double within the next year. They've just secured another grant to turn Make Works into a sustainable non-profit within 9 months. There are plans to do more Maker Speed Dater events (an event they tested out last year) which brings together makers with manufacturers. Finally, keep an eye out for the debut Make Works publication, a magazine containing related articles and stories which they're planning to release every six months. Follow Make Works on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ thisismakeworks makeworks.co.uk

THE SKINNY

Dracula: Dead and Loving A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Ana Lily Amirpour's tale of a righteous, chador-clad vampire who's cleaning up her one horse-town, is the year's most beguiling movie. She tells us about the film's influences ahead of its UK DVD release

ngland-born, US-raised Iranian filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour has a tip for any immigrant alighting upon the shores of her adopted homeland: “You come to America, then you watch Coming to America, and then you kind of figure out what the American dream is, and you fall in love with those things.” We're talking to Amirpour, who moved to the US as a nipper after growing up in Margate (“I remember the hedgehogs, I remember there was like a seaside area, and I remember the salt and vinegar chips”) down the phone from LA, where she's in the middle of picking up her morning caffeine hit. It's easy to understand why her love for American movies is so ardent. They helped this young girl with Iranian parents and an English accent assimilate; they helped her understand her strange new home. “American movies, they have a very specific power of magic and adventure that you don't find anywhere else, and when I came here I fell in love with them. Take Back to the Future. That's, like, next level. It's about this kid who has the power to change his future. That's everything that's good about America – this idea that anyone can be anything if they really want it. Free will.” This infatuation runs through Amirpour's debut feature, but she blends the Americana with an eclectic bag of more exotic ingredients to create a heady cinematic salad. It's a dreamy fairytale that borrows iconography from Western and horror films. It's both a vampire movie and a hipster romantic comedy, but it's a million miles away from Twilight. It's shot in high-contrast black and white in a run-down Californian oil town. Oh, and everyone speaks exclusively in Persian. The film is called A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and if you haven't already guessed, it's one of the year's most beguiling movies.

ning up her nowheresville hometown one lowlife at a time. The chador, Amirpour explains, was her chief inspiration for the story. “I had one on the set of another short film that I was making, it was a prop, and from the moment I put it on I just thought of the character,” she recalls. “It was so obvious: of course, this is an Iranian vampire.” The garment had a funny effect on her: “The way it moves and catches the air makes me want to jump on a skateboard and ride down the street like a sailboat or a stingray or something. So I did that, and it feels so good when you're cruising down the street. That was the moment I created the character and I just created the world around it.” And what a world! “I wanted to make an Iranian vampire film, but I couldn't shoot it in Iran – obviously.” Instead, she created her own comicstrip universe: a town called Bad City. “I wanted this stylised, archetypal place, like a Sergio Leone Western or something.” She found the perfect setting in Taff, a threadbare town not far from Bakersfield, California, where she spent her highschool years. “Taff has the highest density of oil in California. It's got thousands of oil derricks, so it kind of had this flavour of a Middle Eastern desert town. But it was also really economically depressed – there were very few businesses operating, and so there were very few signs on the street.” In other words: she had a blank canvas on which to put her stamp. “It's a real joy to do that too because there are no rules when you make your own world. It's like The Neverending Story or a graphic novel, you get to create a universe. That's something I'm quite into and I did it again on my second film [a post-apocalyptic cannibal story with

a cast that includes Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey], which I'm on post production on now.” It's a world that's at once very familiar and wholly original. Amirpour's not coy when it comes to discussing A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night's influences. She explains that three movies feed directly into its DNA: Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola), Wild at Heart (David Lynch) and Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone). “I had my DP, my actors, everyone watch those movies. From them we developed a cinematic language to bring us to some kind of common ground.” Filtered through her own personal vision, this language becomes its own wild, beautiful thing. “It becomes limitless, especially when you're doing a full-on, surreal, stylised fairytale. That's what's great about how many movies there are: there's so much to look at and take inspiration from and get excited about.” She doesn't have much time for filmmakers who claim to be immune from the influence of cinema's past. “It's so absurd when people say that. I mean, everyone has seen thousands of movies in their lifetime, it's absurd to think they aren't embedded in your brain and in your ideas about who you are and what you think.” The film is ripe with possible allegorical readings, but Amirpour has been reluctant in interviews to discuss its righteous gender politics or its dissing of Shariah norms. As expected, when we suggest some possible subtextual themes the director remains tight-lipped. “There are no rules. You're free to extract as much subtext as possible, that's your joyous right with a movie or a song or anything. But my job isn't to sit here

Interview: Jamie Dunn

and tell you,” she says forcefully. For her, discussing the film's themes reduces them somehow. “Words can make a big thing small,” she says. “I think it's like how you dance: a song is on and you dance a certain way, and then someone says, ‘Explain how you're dancing?’ How can you explain it? It's something that you feel, you know what I mean?” While its playful approach to genre, its juicy sociocritical readings and its overflowing abundance of style are more than enough to recommend it, Girl… succeeds most as a tender love story. The girl of the title is clumsily wooed by a good-hearted lad (Arash Marandi) with a James Dean fetish. Their introduction is the ultimate in rom-com meet cute. It's Halloween, and boy meets girl while walking home drunk from a fancy dress party while dressed as Dracula, complete with plastic fangs and all. Sparks fly. Few films so evocatively capture the butterflies in stomach-feeling of sexual attraction. Amapour is clearly a dyed-in-the-wool romantic. “It's the best,” she says of capturing these emotions on screen. “It's so cool when you undeniably feel this feeling of magic about finding a connection. Sometimes it feels like it's impossible, you know? For me, if I like somebody, and then it ends, I really literally think, OK, I'm never going to like somebody again. It's too impossible; it's magic.” She's right, it is, but we defy you not to fall for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. She'll have you at salaam. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is release on DVD and Bluray 27 Jul by Elevation Sales

“Everyone has seen thousands of movies in their lifetime, it’s absurd to think they aren’t embedded in your brain and in your ideas about who you are and what you think” Ana Lily Amirpour

That title is quite misleading: the eponymous girl with no name (Sheila Vand) is in no danger during her evening perambulations. Quite the contrary: she's a blood-sucking avenger. Prowling the streets on her skateboard, her chador (the headcovering cloak worn by many Muslim women in Iran) flapping behind her as she glides, she's clea-

August 2015

FILM

Feature

The Skinny Showcase For the second year, this August sees our graduate Showcase selection go live as part of Edinburgh Art Festival, this time in Hill St Design House in the centre of town Words: Rosamund West

Credit: Laura Porteous

ast year our annual graduate Showcase came alive in Leith, as we brought together a select four graduates from Scotland's foremost art schools in a super-early-career exhibition in Creative Exchange. This year we return for a second outing, again as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival and now functioning as the even younger sibling of their Platform programme, which focusses on emergent artists. We've once again travelled the length and breadth of the land, to degree shows in Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, to bring you our pick of each of the colleges’ shows – an artist from each DJCAD, Gray's, GSA and ECA. They are Mary Watson, Laura Porteous, John Farrell and Alice Chandler, respectively. The exhibition is moving into the town centre, to Hill St Design House between Queen St and George St, a fittingly creative space filled with designer and creative agency studio holders. We've again been kindly supported by each of the art schools – their financial contributions have been essential in allowing us to see this project through for a second year.

Laura Porteous

Credit: Laura Porteous

Laura Porteous is a painter who graduated from Gray's School of Art. Her degree show has been selected for the 2016 RSA New Contemporaries. “Spatial understanding and representation is the main concept behind my practice, and it is the research of this subject that determines the outcome of my works. A system-based approach is used where rules and guidelines play a key role throughout the entire process of making. “Mondrian is a great influence within my work and my interest in the subject of spatialism. His limited use of colour in its purest form is clean and bold, only using primary colours (blue, red and yellow) as well as black and white. This is something I have adopted this year as it allows me to focus on other aspects of my work such as the effects of different materials and the process used to apply and manipulate them. Origami techniques applied to the paintings are mainly what create the effects displayed. “Comprehending space and the fourth dimension, if it in fact exists, are regulative principles in my practice, encouraging viewers to consider the physical mass materials consume. Deterioration has become a significant aspect as it could be considered a visual representation of the fourth dimension, which many theorists believe to be time. Producing a work that can demonstrate age, or perhaps become a time based piece that transforms with duration is something I am keen to create.” spatialrepresentation.blogspot.co.uk

Feature

SHOWCASE

THE SKINNY

Mary Watson Mary Watson graduated from Fine Art at DJCAD in 2015. Also becoming Lady Mary of Glencoe in February 2015, she then went on to found the ‘Lady Mary of Glencoe Awards Association,’ an organisation which acknowledges and gives merit to all talents that walk through life under-appreciated. “My work explores the competitive nature of human beings. I am particularly interested in how we invent activities to express our obsessions and how we use objects to embody or to encapsulate our competiveness. The ‘Prize’ represents the driving force behind our behaviour; it is the end goal and represents success. On a deeper level it is also a symbol of our self-conscious desire for validation and acceptance. “Focused primarily on the more absurd competitions that capture people's interest, my work highlights the arbitrary nature of these activities and the almost melancholy plight of the contestant. I am continually fascinated by how we distinguish what competitions are seen as culturally impressive and others that are seen as strange, almost pointless, highlighting the peculiar aspects of contestants’ personalities.”

Credit: Mary Watson

marywatson.co.uk

John Farrell John Farrell is from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, and graduated from Fine Art Photography at Glasgow School of Art this year. He has been selected to show at the 2016 RSA New Contemporaries. “I use traditional photographic materials, text, found objects, music and sound in my practice in order to explore a range of themes and interests that deal with memory, history and heritage. Much of my work explores these ideas by analysing the collective cultural experiences of language and music as a starting point for my work, beginning with works in direct relation to my hometown of Bellshill, Lanarkshire and Scotland in general. By exploring trace elements of these real or imagined histories and working in a vernacular way in terms of language and materials, I hope to expand upon and address some of these concerns, seeking out points of cultural conflict and forgotten or imagined histories. By working both physically and conceptually within this landscape and in my studio I am beginning to unravel these possibilities.”

Credit: John Farrell

Turn the page to see our fourth artist, ECA's Alice Chandler, in this month's Showcase. The Skinny Showcase, Hill St Design House, 3 Hill St, Edinburgh 31 Jul-23 Aug, 10am-6pm daily, free

August 2015

SHOWCASE

Feature

Alice Chandler A

lice Chandler was born in Leeds in 1993. She completed her foundation degree at Leeds College of Art in 2012 and graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with a BA Sculpture in 2015. She has just been part of a group show at Hotel Elephant, in Southwark, London and her degree show has also been selected for the RSA New Contemporaries 2016 show. She is one of four graduate artists showing in The Skinny Showcase exhibition in Hill St Design House, part of Edinburgh Art Festival. “My work focuses on the way in which many, predominantly domestic, objects are instantly recognisable. By changing features such as colour, scale and material, I subvert these familiar characteristics and allow them to become full of implied innuendo, and loaded with uncanny connotations. “Through research into material culture theory, I have developed an understanding of the way domestic objects are often taken for granted, only functioning in creating an exterior environment for us to inhabit. It is this background environment that helps to shape and define who we are as people, as it quietly comments on the nature of the society and culture that it comes from. When an object becomes removed from this background context, it begins to transform, becoming animated and fixed with personal meaning and associations. “My work uses this as a way to reveal the potential hidden lives of inanimate objects, and contests the conventional layout or placement of the domestic setting. Through displacing the objects from their conventional context, I create things that are at once both functional and sculptural, with a hint of the absurd. Through careful selections of colour, material and placement, I also explore the flirtatious, seductive way that these seemingly banal products are often sold. The tactility, texture and colour of my materials, coupled with the use of a bold linearity, gives the work a drawn quality, and I consider my work to be a form of three dimensional drawing. “In all, the work is accessible and fun in its nature, and I’m interested in creating undertones of humour. By using traditional sculptural mechanisms of placement and materiality, I elevate humble everyday objects and materials and tap into our natural object associations. This allows the audience to reconsider their own possessions, whilst subtly commenting on the quotidian rituals of domestic culture.”

The Skinny Showcase, Hill St Design House, 31 Jul-23 Aug alicechandler.com

August 2015

SHOWCASE

LE Y ST FE LI A new exhibition at Edinburgh’s Dovecot Gallery celebrates the work of renowned artist and textile designer Bernat Klein, as part of EAF Words: Leonie Wolters

hen artist and textile designer Bernat Klein moved to Scotland in 1948, his impression of the native garb was not all that positive. He appreciated the brighter tartans – he surely wouldn’t have been taken with any of the toneddown grey or ‘weathered’ designs – but thought that all the tweeds people wore were insufferably drab, tinted as they were in sludge greens and mud browns. For a man who grew up surrounded by the warm hues of what is now called Serbia, attended art school in Jerusalem, worked for the British intelligence service during World War II, studied textile design in Leeds, and whose daughter described his life as having been “long and colourful” when it ended in 2014, it was clear something needed to happen. What happened next is going to be displayed as a retrospective at Dovecot Gallery in Edinburgh, between 31 July and 26 September. The exhibition, called A Life in Colour, is part of the Edinburgh Art Festival and will be comprised of Klein’s myriad media that use colours and textures in unusual yet highly successful ways. Most famous are the intricate tweeds using ribbon and mohair that

Lifestyle

the brand’s long-standing fondness for all things tweedy, but also committing to an increase in the use of Scottish-spun wools. In addition to the retrospective, Dovecot Gallery will be hosting a panel discussion on the work of Bernat Klein which is open to the public. On 4 August, from 6pm til 7pm, Lisa Mason from the National Museum of Scotland and Alison Harley from Heriot-Watt University will offer more insight into Klein’s influence and legacy. Both institutions will have their own privileged perspective on his work, since the National Museum acquired Klein’s archives in 2011, and in 2003, textile design powerhouse Heriot-Watt decided to award him with an honorary degree. These credentials should surely convince you to celebrate the end of normcore with a retrospective celebrating a mind that created glitzy opulence in an unlikely place. Ditch the mum jeans and the black crop top, and go absorb some colour – in the metaphoric sense, since dyes used in Klein’s textiles are of a quality that means they will probably not rub off on you.

Glasgow Vintage Kilo Sale Returns!

wear like a vintage trader for the day, by simply paying for your items by weight. Timeout, Stylist and London’s Evening Standard have championed this new type of shopping experience as the most revolutionary way to shop – so fashion fans of Glasgow, it’s time to test it (and agree)! Early bird entry is from 11am until 12pm and costs £3. However, don’t worry if you can only make it to the general entry from 12pm (£1.50) as the stock will constantly be replenished so that nobody misses out! For more information, the full address and parking details, please visit us on Facebook by searching The Glasgow Vintage Kilo Sale. [Helen Schwittay]

On 8 August 2015 the Judy Vintage Kilo Sale returns to Glasgow and it’s set to be a big one! Five tonnes of vintage and retro clothing from the 1960s to the 1990s will be laid out, ready for you to browse and buy from 11am until 4pm in the Wasp Studios at 141 Bridgegate in Townhead. The concept of the Kilo Sale is simple: browse the rails of vintage clothing laid out and made ready for you by the people who brought you Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair. Try it on, love it, weigh it and ONLY pay £15 per kilo. That’s probably around four to five items a go, so really what’s not to love?! Partnering with the biggest wholesale vintage retailer in Europe, the Vintage Kilo Sale lets you shop for menswear and ladies-

A Life in Colour W

his career, but soon many other designers wanted to get their hands on his textured textiles too, and in 1968 his tweeds graced the Chanel runway in Paris. Without Klein, our fashion-shorthand for ‘wealthy, stylish lady’ may have been very different. More generally, he managed to take his adoptive home’s traditional, somewhat stiff textiles, and make them into something that epitomises luxury and has a huge world-wide appeal. When the majority of fashion houses relocated their production to lower-income countries in the 1980s, Klein had already branched out and set up his own cottage industry employing hand knitters, continuing to produce textiles as well as his own clothing line. He also reinvented himself as a design and colour consultant, which seems like an apt title for a man who once told an interviewer that “my passion for colour has grown almost into an obsession… I think that colours are as important in our lives as words are.” The continuation of local production and the transfer of knowledge Klein achieved now enable the slow comeback Scottish textiles are making in the production lines of European fashion houses. In 2012, Chanel held a Métiers d’Art show in Linlithgow, celebrating

Klein designed for fashion houses such as Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, and Yves Saint Laurent, but as well as those there will be his pointillist-inspired oil paintings, velvets, jerseys and printed materials, and the monumental tapestries he created with the Dovecot Tapestry Studio in 1971. From a suite of 10 tapestries made, three including Highland Pool are part of the National Museums of Scotland Bernat Klein collection, and Sea and Sky was sold at a Christie’s auction in 1994 in Glasgow. Five of the remaining tapestry works will be made available for sale during the A Life in Colour exhibition. The exhibition emphasises the huge role Klein played in the story of the Scottish textile industry. The company he set up in Galashiels in 1952, Colourcraft, employed 600 people at the height of its sway over continental catwalks. It was there that the threads were woven which sparked the love affair between Chanel’s two-pieces and Klein’s wonderfully outrageous textiles. When he opened a copy of Elle magazine in 1962, he was shocked to see a Chanel suit made out of one of his tweeds in its glossy pages. At the time, he didn’t quite realise the huge consequences this would have for

Fabrizio Gianni Park Gallery

Until 30 August 2015, the Park Gallery in Falkirk’s Callender House hosts the Fabrizio Gianni exhibition Fantasia. Described as a true photography legend, Gianni has photographed many celebrities from Charlize Theron to Andie McDowell and Keanu Reeves. The exhibition looks at some of the work he has done for fashion magazines such as the Italian edition of Elle, the Italian and French editions of Vogue, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar and Figaro to name but a few. Before becoming a fashion photography icon, Fabrizio Gianni’s career began in film. As the assistant director of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Gianni’s cinematic past can still be seen in all his photography to date. The pictures he takes all hint at hidden stories going on behind the scenes, and his portfolio of work features an array of beautiful people dressed in only the best that

FASHION

Bernat Klein: A Life In Colour, Dovecot Gallery, 31 Jul-26 Sep with a panel discussion on 4 Aug, 6–7 pm, £8-10 dovecot.org

facebook.com/events/1453803044914811 judysvintagefair.co.uk/events/the-vintage-kilo-saleglasgow

fashion can offer. It goes without saying that Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren make frequent appearances in the props and wardrobe used in his portfolio. Gianni sourced many of his props by himself, creating romantic storylines around the clothes and shoes that were being photographed against some of the most exotic backgrounds in the world. This exhibition highlights how Fabrizio Gianni created the stories portrayed in his photographs and what major influences added to his work. Retired and living in Falkirk with his Scottish wife Gail Inglis (a former model, now working as an advocate), there is no better way than to celebrate the work of Fabrizio Gianni than with Fantasia, exhibited in Falkirk, the place he now calls home. [Helen Schwittay] facebook.com/theparkgalleryfalkirk falkirkcommunitytrust.org

THE SKINNY

August 2015

MUSIC

Feature

Chilly in Chile Our writer travels to the Atacama to test the hypothesis – do deserts get really cold at night? tl;dr = Yes!

hills. As my shadow appears, ten metres long, the bright sunlight highlights the yellow tufts of grass around us, turning them into a field of brilliant gold. Still unconvinced of the worth of the trip, we briskly walk through a short winding valley, and are rewarded with the most glorious sight. Laguna Miniques is an otherworldly vision, a postcard-perfect view at this time of day, when the low sun throws shadows across the 6000m Cerro Miniques, the perfectly still lake reflecting it all beautifully. On the far side, a valley shape, and the yellow grass subtly adding a golden touch. Vale la pena, finally: it's worth the pain. Diego lays out a huge breakfast on the shoreline, including grilled sandwiches and treasured coffee and coca tea, and we sit, mostly in silence, in awe of the view. It's a breakfast none will forget, and not for the sandwiches. It's 4.45am when my alarm rings again. Am I really paying for this privilege? I put on a longsleeved t-shirt, a t-shirt, a shirt, a jumper, another jumper, and my jacket; jeans over my pyjama trousers; two pairs of socks; gloves, a scarf, and a woolly hat; and I step outside. It's not enough. I get in the van and it's not enough, and when we arrive, almost three hours later, and the driver slides the door open – my god it's not enough! We're at 4320m altitude before sunrise, and in the dark, over an area covering several football pitches, it looks like I can see dozens of frozen white trees. “They're frozen!” others in the van exclaim. “They're ice!” I can imagine anything turning to ice here. The geysers at El Tatio, close to the border with Bolivia, are a little underwhelming in the full light of day. They are geysers in a technical sense, but they do not project or explode water, as the word usually suggests. They are pools of boiling water: when the superheated 180 degree water underground meets the very low atmospheric pressure outside, it instantly boils, and pillars of steam build up to 30m high above them. The landscape, a huge dusty field with up to 80 steam pillars, is

somewhat interesting: ghostly, ethereal; but upclose, these ‘geysers’ aren't much more than bubbling puddles. A nearby thermal pool invites tourists to bathe, but the gas rising from it is not steam, and the brave-or-stupid tourists who take the plunge are clearly shivering in the tepid water. “It gets to minus 25, minus 30 here in July and August,” says Jorge, today's guide. “And people still get in the pool.”

“At least three tourists have died in the geysers here, presumably lost in the fantasy that they are in fact natural Jacuzzis” These people, who can't identify steam, have a vote in general elections too. But here they're overcome by wishful thinking. At least three tourists have died in the geysers here, presumably lost in the fantasy that they are in fact natural Jacuzzis. Nowhere needs a Jacuzzi more than here. Later we spend 20 minutes looking at the shadow of a mountain rabbit from 50 metres away, before commencing the long drive home, in many ways the highlight of this trip – and not just because every minute of it took me closer to the heavenly warmth of my dorm bed. The Atacama is a region of extremes: extreme aridity, extreme heat in the summer, extreme cold in the winter, dozens of the tallest volcanoes in the world. As

we wind our way through dramatic desert valleys, past snowless peaks above and ducks skating across frozen lakes below, it is the scenery of the area, not the gimmickry of the geysers, that most impress.

What travellers need to know: → San Pedro is a tiny town that now revolves entirely around the backpacker industry. As such it's more expensive than other parts of Chile, and certainly of nearby Bolivia. It's also in the middle of the driest desert in the world, so in this area of extreme conditions, don't expect high quality accommodation or reliable showers. Sometimes the ATMs run out of money, so bring more than you expect to need. → Meals can be found in the restaurants in the touristic centre of the village for between £4-8, but if you go to the football pitch (look for the floodlights) just a block or two from the plaza, you'll find several restaurants offering fantastic two-course lunch menus for £3.50. Ally's lunches there were among the best he had in a month in Chile. → The weather can be extremely hot in summer and extremely cold in winter. Try to go in spring or autumn. Summer is also high-season, so accommodation should be booked in advance, and tours will cost more too. → There is almost nothing to do in the town itself, so it's worth visiting only for tours, or en route to Bolivia. In low-season, tours cost between £10-25 for half-day or full-day respectively. There are dozens of tour agencies offering essentially the same itineraries. Ally would recommend Grado 10, and would not recommend Turismo Kaulles.

Credit: Ally Brown

ll I can hear is the sound of my teeth chattering. It's pitch black. It's 6.08am. Then I see a light, six feet up, dancing in the dark: it's a headlamp, worn by my guide Diego. “Alistar?” he says. Alistar is a verb in Spanish, meaning ‘to get ready’; it's also my name, more or less. Yes, I am. “Vamos.” Two hours later I awake with the light of the dawn, no longer chattering, and look around me. By both sides of the road are great big circular grey rocks dotted with cracks and collapses, like giant meringues pressed by a firm thumb. Behind them a wide open expanse, and behind that, snow-topped volcanoes. Actually, as I look around, there are volcanoes everywhere. “Good morning chicos,” Diego says. We're about 4000m above sea level, he tells us, just a few miles from the Chilean border with Argentina. Chile is very easy to draw: it's the western slopes of the Andes, to the sea, from where Peru's Pacific jut comes back in, all the way to the bottom of South America. On the other side of the mountains – which are forever giving you directions – is Argentina. From the capital Santiago – roughly halfway down – it's either two hours into the mountains or two hours away from them to the sea. In the south, winter brings heavy rains and freezing temperatures. In the north, where Chile meets the tropics, it almost never rains, and the desert can be stiflingly hot. But not where I am. I'm based in San Pedro de Atacama, a popular stop-off for backpackers heading north to Peru or Bolivia, or south to the rest of Chile, that is both desert and mountain. Its height above sea level means the air of the night can't hold the heat of the day, and neither are there clouds to do likewise, so it gets very, very cold after dark. The arrival of the sun brings with it alleviation, but four kilometres above sea level, it takes a while to reach us. So, shivering, we are led to admire a lagoon backed by four volcanoes, each nearly 6000m high, that from here look merely

Words: Ally Brown

Lifestyle

TRAVEL

THE SKINNY

Another Day, Another Dildo

Words: John Thorp Illustration: Kim Thompson

Our former Northwest clubs editor spins us a yarn or two about his time spent working in an adult shop

have recounted the story of my time working in an adult shop so many times over the years, I'm beginning to wonder whether the truth of it has in fact escaped me, and I simply experienced a particularly sleazy but dull fever dream. Often, at dinners, in the smoking areas of clubs, and in the taxis en route home, I feel the anecdote emerge on auto-socialise, and struggle not to roll my own eyes back in my own head before my closest friends get the chance. But there it was, nearly half a decade ago now, a shorter period than I often misremember, but longer than you might have hoped for any ambitious 21-year-old. Life was a joke at the time. Figuratively and literally. Still skirting the relatively bleak fringes of stand-up comedy, I'd pretty much do anything for the brief rush of identity it was possible to conjure from a decent story, often at the expense of my dignity. And I needed the money. Not that there was much of it in the post-recession wilderness of 2010, but with three managerial stints at three different stores across the Northwest under my belt within mere months, I quickly learned that the best way to get ahead in an industry was to get directly involved in one that nobody else wanted to touch. If you're wondering what sort of person wastes their precious calories visiting a sex shop with so much dead eyed digital porn flying around, I can reveal some standout examples: the elderly Jamaican customer who would wander in, pretend she had walked into the wrong shop, apologise, then blow a decent chunk of her weekly pension on increasingly complex tools of genital stimulation; and hey, why not? The wideboy purchasing a ‘shaggable’ inflatable sheep for an upcoming stag do. The electrician anxiously seeking advice or a device to satisfy his kind Thai bride. The military veteran explaining his inability to maintain an erection without injecting a measure of saline into his own scrotum. But the core customer base was perhaps even more of an increasingly rare breed. These

were men – occasionally women, but almost always men – who truly valued whatever role pornography played in their lives. They hankered for the physical format, the artefact. Some were friendly, most were discreet, some were unusual or socially dysfunctional beyond cliché. Whoever they were, they had managed to take that moment of lonely clarity post-orgasm, and dedicate a portion of their furniture to it. I once spent a memorable and humbling afternoon chatting with the kindly caretaker of a rural school, visiting family during half term. A lifelong closeted homosexual owing to both his profession and the ever decreasing circles he was established within, the hardcore pornography I sold was perhaps his only window into a world of abandon that would otherwise be unconjurable fantasy. It stands out as a moment of true pride and connection, albeit from a period during which my biggest working achievement otherwise was untangling a large bundle of bulk-bought leather wrist straps. When a fellow jobbing comic offered me the job, I was initially worried that perhaps I'd never want to have sex again, or worse, it'd turn me into a relentless deviant unable to forge basic emotional connections. But, it transpires that work is just work. At one particularly bleak branch, the counter faced a monitor displaying a recent highlights reel of releases. Forced to watch the same HD cum shots repeatedly, while listening to Steve Wright in the afternoon, I felt my consciousness begin to bottom out. A week later, I was advised by upper management to use a hammer to attack a local gangster insinuating he would beat me senseless with a used and deficient dildo, crudely wrapped in a Tesco bag. Whatever I had envisioned my life to be like after dropping out of university, this was not it. I soon handed in my notice, and I did not look back. Sometimes you can have enough stories.

Couchsurfin’ USA One traveller takes stock of the perks and pains that the patriarchy holds for women backpacking across North America

his summer, I realised my birthright as a middle-class Briton by going backpacking. Over the course of three weeks, I travelled by trains, buses and planes from Los Angeles to New York with my stalwart companion, Abby. When I first presented the idea of travelling after my year abroad to my parents, the response was immediate and vehement: “You'd better not be planning on going alone!” I wasn't planning on going alone, yet I was still incensed at the idea that I wasn't capable of doing so. Retrospectively, they were absolutely right. Many parts of my journey would have been very difficult as a lone woman, and others certainly less pleasant. My first taster of the difficulties of travelling alone as a girl came on the greyhound from LA to San Francisco; no matter how aggressively you pretend to text or sleep, or how long it has been since you showered, you will always be the top candidate to sit next to. My first overnight bus was spent next to a woman who

August 2015

attempted to embrace me every time I fell asleep. I could not go on like this. As a result, our #squad was born; two plucky and polite young ladies couch-surfing and charming their way across North America. On a superficial level, women receive perks such as expedited and free entry into nearly all clubs, but at the cost of liberal harassment; in Toronto we found that we were expected to pay for supposedly free shots with kisses. One of our hosts captured the essence of our problem: a staunch feminist blogger, she worked as a ‘paid to party’ girl, essentially being paid to look beautiful at clubs and flatter men into buying fantastical amounts of alcohol. I asked her how she managed to reconcile this with her feminist beliefs, and she responded that it was the difference between benefitting monetarily from a patriarchal system, and becoming a victim to it.

The benefits to being a female traveller cannot be discounted. We found that strangers were willing to host us on short notice, something they admitted they would have been less likely to do were we men. It is undeniable that we were largely treated with far more care and consideration than had we been men, by men and women alike. There was a whole lot of chivalry going on, with people insisting on giving us lifts, helping us with our bags, and seeing us safely inside our hostels. As we wended our way across the states, we Tindered. I couldn't help but notice our propensity at every location to find safety in numbers, often finding at least one male friend to accompany us in each city. I wonder if this happened organically, or if it came from an unspoken desire for protection in a strange new place? In Detroit, Abby matched with a kind, erudite boy named August who did charming things like take us to museums and bookstores, somehow ending up in an apart-

DEVIANCE

Words: Rianna Walcott

ment balcony on a warm night, drinking and laughing over erotic Chinese poetry. The convenience we found in aspects of travelling, regarding the implicit assumption of our harmlessness and general chivalric tendency to ensure our safety, was offset by guilt. By taking advantage of these tendencies, were we perpetuating a view of the ‘weak woman’? There is a duality to our perceived lack of threat: part and parcel of being assumed harmless is being assumed vulnerable. Yes, as a female traveller you are approachable, probably polite and easily helped, but you are also approachable, probably trusting and easily hurt. I had a fantastic time travelling with Abby. We made some life-long friends, or at least friends that I'll be hitting up next time I'm in their state and need a sofa. But when I return to see the states I missed, I'll probably still go travelling in a pack.

Lifestyle

The Skinny Showcase 31 Jul–23 Aug at Hill St Design House Selected from Scotland’s 2015 degree shows. Part of Edinburgh Art Festival Alice Chandler John Farrell Laura Porteous Mary Watson Free Entry Mon–Sun, 10am–6pm

THE SKINNY

Nibbling At The Fringes We dive deep into the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme, and emerge holding an expertly-carved piece of fruit, gallons of alcohol and a radioactive teapot

dinburgh in August is a little bit like a real-life Advent calendar – open a door, any door, and there's bound to be some kind of crazy festive scene kicking off behind it. With so much to see and do, we felt it was only right to try and guide you through the morass of the festivals, past the belligerent street teams and folk dressed as Predator, and towards the stuff that's to do with food and drink. So let's go in at the deep end, with a show promising ‘absurdity, gourmandise and cannibalism.’ In FEAST, physical theatre company Clout plan to show off the nature of man's humanity and our collective evolution through the prism of breakfast, lunch and dinner – having long believed that you can tell a lot about a person by what/ how/where they eat, we are on board with these clowns. There's a sentence you don't get to write eleven months of the year. Zoo, 140 The Pleasance (Venue 124), 7-20 & 22-31 Aug, 3.55pm, £10 (£8). Next, a man who judges other people by what he eats – Jay Rayner, Observer food critic and sometime-berater of Masterchef contestants, who will be discussing our enduring love of the negative restaurant review. He'll also fill us all in on some of his least favourite meals, while also sharing some of the bad reviews he's received over the years so as to take the edge off proceedings somewhat. Assembly Rooms, George St (Venue 20), 24 Aug, 12.45pm, £12. But say you're the kind of person who doesn't take joy from picking apart other people's work – you feel it's ‘unbecoming’. Well, we've got you covered with a pair of foodie events that are more constructive than destructive. First, there's Wild, Scottish And Free, looking at the wild food movement that's been responsible for the conti-

August 2015

nued use of the word ‘micro-herb’ in food television for the past few years. This one-off will challenge chefs, nutritionists and botanists to devise a Scottish cuisine based on indigenous wild plants and animals – if you ever wanted definitive guidance on which of the items in your garden are edible, this is the show for you. Stand in The Square, St Andrew Sq Gardens (Venue 372), 20 Aug, 3pm, £8 (£7). For a more exotic but equally productive afternoon, head to Krua Thai Cookery School's masterclass in Thai Cookery and Fruit Carving. You'll learn some trade secrets from a top-class Thai chef, try some dishes, and find out how to carve a melon to make it look like a bunch of flowers – always a good skill to have in your back pocket. Krua Thai Cookery School, 19 Liberton Brae (Venue 376), 3-31 Aug (except 6, 13, 20, 27), various times, £25 (£20). Of course, the world of food isn't all exquisite fruit carving and shouting at people for getting your dinner wrong – it has a dark side, which is explored in a pair of events at this month's Edinburgh International Book Festival. In Dark Secrets of the Food Industry, investigative journalist Joanna Blythman looks at the world of food processing and unveils some of the tweaks and tricks used to make our food look suspiciously perfect. Earlier on the same day, genetic epidemiology professor Tim Spector takes on dieting and obesity in a discussion on his new book The Diet Myth. Spector will set out research that suggests that it's the bacteria in our own guts that may hold the key to fighting the flab. Damn microbes – we always knew it was you! Charlotte Sq Gardens, Fri 21 Aug, 2.15pm and 12.15pm, £10 (£8)

While we've got those microbes bang to rights, when it comes to Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko – famously iced with a radioactive cup of tea in a London cafe – we have neither the information, nor the desire to get a friendly visit from the FSB, to hazard a guess as to the culprits. For the investigators amongst you, 2Magpies’ production of The Litvinenko Project at the Summerhall cafe will offer a dramatic reconstruction of the Russian's fateful trip to the Millennium Hotel, complete with real (non-radioactive) tea. Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Pl (Venue 26), 15-30 Aug (except 20 & 27), 8pm, £10 (£8). And if tales of nuclear tea attack have put you off hotel food, comedian George Egg has some advice for you. In Anarchist Cook, Egg shows just what you can make with the equipment left lying in your average hotel room, from pancakes cooked on the back of an iron to scrambled eggs made in the hotel kettle. Your ingenuity will soon know no bounds – just try not to get bits of fish everywhere. Gilded Balloon, Bristo Sq (Venue 14), 5-31 Aug (except 17 & 24), 2.45pm, £9.50/8.50 (£8/7). While those food folk get all esoteric and political, the drink-based contingent at the Fringe tend to be more straightforward. Take, for example, Drink! The Musical. It's a musical about the issues raised and problems faced when people drink too much. No chance of getting confused there, which in the chaos of August is a good thing indeed. Sweet Grassmarket, 61 The Grassmarket (Venue 18), 13-16 Aug, 12.50pm, £8 (£6). Then there's Shit-Faced Shakespeare, a show in which – yep, you guessed it – a performer gets very very drunk then takes on the Bard. Not literally, as he's long dead, but given the circumstances it wouldn't be an enormous surprise if

FOOD AND DRINK

Words: Peter Simpson Illustration: Andy Carter

things were to ‘kick off ’. Not content with taking on Shakespeare, the team behind S-FS are also having an alcohol-inspired bash at showtunes this year in Shit-Faced Showtime, which promises an “all singing, all drinking, musical”. Not sure that's exactly what will come of that, but it couldn't hurt to find out. Well, couldn't hurt the audience, anyway. Underbelly George Sq & Med Quad, 5-31 Aug (except 17), 9.35pm and 6.45pm, £14.50 (£13.50) / £12 (£10). Shit-facedness aside, there are a pair of drinkrelated shows from which you might actually learn something. First up is comedian Susan Morrison's Scotland in Six Swallies, detailing the six drinks which have influenced the history and culture of this here country. With a directorial role at history festival Previously… and a past show on her love of the Titanic, Morrison has the historical chops to back up the laughs, while at the same time promising “alcohol is involved… this will not be entirely serious.” That, friends, is promotional blurb which we can get on board with. Stand in The Square, 11 Aug, 3pm, £8 (£7). And finally, a show that promises booze, hilarity and an insight into the life of a 1980s wrestling phenomenon. The Thinking Drinkers’ Guide to the Legends of Liquor talks us through the drinking habits of Teddy Roosevelt, Dorothy Parker, Andre the Giant and Jesus Christ over the course of one hour and five free drinks. Yes, the Edinburgh Fringe may be a busy and treacherous place, but any event that offers booze, comedy AND Andre the Giant banter in one room is alright by us. Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance (Venue 33), 5-31 Aug (except 17), 6.40pm, £11.50 (£10.50). theskinny.co.uk/food

Lifestyle

Food News Food News flees Edinburgh this month (after a stop-off at the pub), taking in beer festivals, wine battles, and edible buildings. Words: Peter Simpson

North Hop Festival

ith Edinburgh overrun this month by every Tom, Dick and Harry with a ‘show’ to ‘put on’, much of this column will be spent away from the confines of the capital. However, we do have to give a quick shout out to Cloisters Bar, continuing their 20th birthday celebrations with their annual beer festival running throughout the month. Expect a host of collabs and special edition beers from brewers from across Scotland for the fest, offering an escape from all that art and theatre outside. 26 Brougham St, Edinburgh. Over in Glasgow, Ubiquitous Chip are trying the classic route to gain attention – a big boozy fight. Not a literal fight, they're far too nice for that, but a wine fight. The annual Fight Club! night from the Chip's Wine Club will see the club's chiefs battle against one another to see who can best match a wine to the grub coming out of the kitchen. It's the kind of evening on which everyone will be a winner, but there will also be a loser with gripes to air, plus lots of wine – a win-winwin situation. 27 Aug, 7pm; Ubiquitous Chip, 12 Ashton Ln; £20, ubiquitouschip.co.uk If that doesn't pique your interest, perhaps we can interest you in some Edible Architecture? As part of Merchant City Festival, the Glasgow Institute of Architects have invited their members to knock together their favourite Glasgow landmark in the form of a cake, then give a brief explanation of their bake. There probably won't be a better opportunity to see architects discuss the load-bearing capacity of buttercream icing, so if that's your bag then this is the event for you. 28 Jul, 5pm; City Halls, Candleriggs; free, tickets from eventbrite.co.uk Finally this month, North Hop festival breezes into Inverness with a whole host of beers from across the country and beyond. Expect brews from Drygate, Brewdog, Barney's, and Weihenstephan – the world's oldest brewery – as well as a raft of food pop-ups and music from Neon Waltz, Schnarff Schnarff and others. All that, plus you definitely won't have flyers for an amateur production of The Iliad thrust in your face. You're welcome. 21-22 Aug; Eden Court, Inverness; £15, northhop.co.uk theskinny.co.uk/food

Lifestyle

I'd Fry That For A Dollar

We take a deep fried look at fried food from around the world to prove that while it isn't just the Scots that do it, they perhaps do it best...

he Edinburgh festivals are synonymous with deep fried food – mix late nights, alcohol and Scotland together and how could it possibly be otherwise? Most of us know our love of fried things is the recipe for a self-prescribed exit from our fair planet, but we also know how bloody delicious deep-fried things are. This month we look at some of the oddest and most excessive fried treats from around the globe, and we start in the cultural home of the fryer. Scotland has many battered wonders to offer but none more infamous than the deepfried Mars bar. Two decades on from its humble beginnings in a Stonehaven chippy, the popularity of the fried chocolate bar has spread across the country and overseas. Often the victim of snobbery, the experience of the savoury outer crunch with the gooey sweet centre is an essential experience to tick off the bucket list – just don't acquire the taste, or that list won't get much else ticked off it. The Scottish chippy has many other creations to offer but the one that riles and perplexes

the most is the deep-fried pizza. Simply take the cheapest frozen pizza you can find and toss it in the fryer. And if you really want to up the ante, batter it first and it will affectionately be known by the locals as a pizza crunch. Why? Because it tastes the business, that's why. The most absurd fried inventions hail from the USA with arguably the most mindblowing being fried ice cream, which is up there with a perfectly executed soufflé in our book. Frozen scoops are coated with cereal, cookie crumbs or batter and fried, creating a hot crispy shell around cool ice cream. This is also big in Japan, as is Curry Bread (kar pan) – dough filled with Japanese curry rolled in breadcrumbs and deep-fried, like a pasty but better. A similar item to the Curry Bread, but closer to home, is the Lihapiirakka, or Finnish Meat Doughnut. Traditionally a solid doughnut filled with minced meat and rice, a recent take moves things up a notch by housing a frankfurter, burger or… wait for it… kebab meat. We doughnut know what to make of that! Doughnut, get it? Eh?

FOOD AND DRINK

Words: Lewis MacDonald Illustration: George Morton

Fried breads enjoy popularity around the world, and we reckon the best example could be the Belizean Fry Jack. Once tried there's no going back – it has been described as a Yorkshire pudding, but better. Traditionally a breakfast item, hot oil gives the dough a delightful puff. Another interesting twist on tradition is German fried mash potato. It sounds bizarre until you remember croquettes, which these essentially are. One recipe incorporates pieces of fried bacon, which definitely deserves a mention; when combined with apple sauce, Germans refer to it as Himmel und Erde, or heaven and earth. Clearly much-loved then. Finally, the completely bizarre and horrible element that no Phagomania article could ever be without – the delectable Cambodian deep fried tarantula. We managed to track down somebody who has eaten one of these delicacies. The legs are very crunchy with the only meat in the abdomen, which was “a bit gooey”. Overall it tasted mostly of “charred”. So there are your options – go off and fry, just don't send us your medical bills.

THE SKINNY

August 2015

THE SKINNY

Gig Highlights

V IE W

Rare opportunities arise to see Oneohtrix Point Never score Manga, Sufjan Stevens and a bounty of awsome at Electric Fields

s The Great Pseudo-Summer of 2015 continues, take solace in the fact that rain, hail or (unlikely) shine, August's gig offerings kindly accommodate all weather spectrums. Whether you fancy a festival frolic or a panoply in the park, there's plenty of outdoor action in store should the sun choose to emerge – plus there's an exciting spread of local and international, and old and new, across Scotland's reassuringly cosy pub and bar venues, in the event that Mother Nature continues her current turn as a rather moody ol’ witch. What better way to conjure up a summer soundtrack than with some sun-soaked, woozy pop? The little-known but critically revered Luna have got Halcyon sounds down pat. Reunited after a decade-long hiatus, don't miss this rare occasion to experience the 90s dream pop outfit's Velvet Underground tinged-tunes at the CCA on 2 Aug. While we're going down the retro route, another blast from the past comes in the form of eclectic San Fran rockers The Tubes. From US Top Ten hits to support slots for David Bowie on his 1983 Serious Moonlight tour, The Tubes know how to put on a show – in their heyday they wheeled out acrobats, tap dancers, and choreographed stage productions for your viewing pleasure. Weegies can hop along to their 9 Aug Sunday session at the Art School, whilst Edinburghers can catch them at The Liquid Room on 12 Aug. The Summer Nights series returns to the alfresco masses in Glasgow and Edinburgh this August; Kenny Anderson dons his crown as King Creosote and christens the Kelvingrove Bandstand with his lyrical, patriotic folk soundscapes on 6 Aug. Be sure to tear yourself away from the cider garden and lend your ears to piano-pop maestro Ben Folds (14 Aug). With album So There set for release in September, this is a prime chance to hear Folds’ new tracks, illuminated by chamber rock orchestra yMusic. Save some energy for the next day though; you'll not want to miss inimitable iconoclasts Echo & The Bunnymen (15 Aug). The influential Scouse rockers released new material last year but it's the oldies the crowds will be hankering for – we predict the singalong ‘Say we can / Say we will / Not just another drop in the oooocean’ will be ringing out over the West End rooftops.

If Summer Nights seems a little skewed in Glasgow's favour, don't despair if you've an east coast lair, for there's plenty on offer courtesy of The Hub Sessions, as part of this year's Edinburgh International Festival. The delightfully diverse line-up provides a solid injection of cultural edification, including an encore of the aforementioned King Creosote's From Scotland With Love score (14-15 Aug); plus Oneohtrix Point Never, the alias of American contemporary composer Daniel Lopatin, who will be showcasing a new live soundtrack for Manga classic Magnetic Rose on 22 Aug; and the dynamic pairing of The National's Bryce Dessner and Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry, accompanied by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (28 Aug). For those who prefer their summer with a little more screamo, Touché Amoré ramp up the volume will their post-hardcore stylings on 11 Aug. The Californian quintet impressed Glasgow audiences with their anthemic turn at Stereo in late 2013; this time, it's Edinburgh's turn to get dark and down at Studio 24. Slightly more sedate but nonetheless spectacular are local folk rock darlings Trembling Bells. After mesmerising Sneaky Pete's last month, they're back to shine the light on their five-star record The Sovereign Self on 14 Aug at Glasgow's Glad Café. There's plenty more homegrown talent to be had this month too, when our recent cover stars Idlewild and electro folk up-and-comer C Duncan team up at the Assembly Rooms on 17 Aug. Fresh from a supporting slot at Mogwai's recent Barrowlands anniversary show are local indie-pop veterans The Vaselines. Founding members Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee were once described by Kurt Cobain as his “favorite songwriters in the whole world” – expect more winsome folk than gloomy grunge though when the Glasgow stalwarts take to Edinburgh's Summerhall stage on 21 Aug. Those who are more inclined to make a weekend of it could do a lot worse than the excellently assembled Doune The Rabbit Hole Festival (2123 Aug). The verdant Cardross Estate in Stirlingshire plays intimate, laid-back host to a distinctly indie line-up and astutely eschews ubiquitous mainstream headliners. Deerhoof's schizophrenic

Touché Amoré

babble of sound takes pole position, though with the likes of Dutch punk-jazz mixologists The Ex and Glasgow-based aural astronauts Cosmic Dead also on the bill, there'll be no shortage of weird and wonderful sounds to accompany the festival bacchanalia. Horoscope predictions suggest a conundrum is in store for 27 Aug – who to choose, RATKING at Broadcast, or The Flaming Lips at Edinburgh's Ross Bandstand? If hip-hop's on your radar, better plump for the former, as the trio of rappers barely out of their teens bust out left-field beats equally inspired by punk rock as by Wu-Tang Clan and

Eminem. If you're a fan of the flamboyant, go with the luxurious psychedelic rock of the latter – it ain't a party without Wayne Coyne crowd-walking inside a giant plastic ball. With such a diversified array of gig goodness on offer this month, who better to draw August to a close than Sufjan Stevens, the multifarious master himself. The singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist, who earlier this year added the autobiographical, starkly beautiful Carrie & Lowell to his sonically and thematically variegated back catalogue, will weave this summer's swansong at Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre (30 Aug).

Do Not Miss

Credit: Lucy Ridges

Electric Fields, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries, 29 August

East India youth

August 2015

Before you hang up your mud-encrusted wellies for another summer, consider this: what if there was a festival where you could enjoy the sylvan surrounds of rural Scotland, yet save yourself the hassle of tents, sleeping bags and 5am dashes to the port-a-loo; where the fun and frivolity takes place over a Bank Holiday weekend, giving you a whole extra day to indulge that hangover; and where a ticket costs a mere fraction (one sixth to one seventh, if we're really going to get into it) of the price of the UK's more mainstream festivals? Friends, behold the wonder that is Electric Fields. The minds behind the event (oh, and yer favourite neighbourhood Skinny, ‘cos we have a stage there

MUSIC

too) have mustered a fairly unique bill, bringing together the best from the north and south. This one day delight gathers together the moody synth-rock fusion of double drum-outfitted Vessels, the ominous, layered soundscapes of Fuck Buttons offshoot Blanck Mass, and London-based East India Youth's Eno-inspired electronica. Add to that a raft of Scottish up-and-comers including Catholic Action, Monogram, Man Of Moon, plus familiar faces like The Phantom Band, King Creosote, Fat Goth and United Fruit, and in Electric Fields you've got the true connoisseur's festival, the kind of event ripe with those ‘I-saw-thembefore-they-were-massive’ moments. Och bugger it, you can camp too if you like. [Claire Francis]

Preview

Credit: Jayjay Robertson

Words: Claire Francis

Express.’ Taking inspiration from Scott-Heron's early work and that of Harlem-raised hip-hop founders The Last Poets, Malik has chosen to write a series of songs using his multilayered poetry, backed by the starkest of accompaniments. “Some of it is true to the original Gil Scott-Heron, Last Poets style: straight poetry, straight drums. Some of it is making songs out of human voice, and drum and percussion. There's different rhythms on the album from marching bands, to go-go, to reggae to rocksteady, to African rhythms,” he explains. Malik will be joined by another politically minded performer and LIMF academy alumni, Sophia Ben-Yousef, whose work has already had an unbelievable global impact. “She wrote a song about the Libyan revolution under the tyranny of Gaddafi, and the song went viral, they played it on national TV over there.”

“The fact that Gil's from America and I'm from Liverpool is immaterial; he came here and touched my soul” Malik Al Nasir

No Re-Run, Brother Three years in, Liverpool International Music Festival continues to grow in scope and ambition. We speak to programmer Yaw Owusu and poet Malik Al Nasir about their involvement in its launch event, The Revolution Will Be Live

eyond its historical role as an exporter of globally influential pop music, Liverpool's importance as a melting pot for global styles and its subsequent impact on the nation's cultural landscape cannot be overstated. While events such as Africa Oyé festival have regularly provided a wonderful introduction to African and Caribbean culture, this year's LIMF takes the theme further, exploring the idea of ‘music migrations’ through four special commissions. ‘Routes Jukebox’ and ‘Liverpool, Next Stop New York’ will both explore the city's relationship with American music, emphasising soul, R'n'B and hip-hop (watch out for performances from LIMF Academy protégé Jalen Ngonda and sets from local legends Greg Wilson and No Fakin), while the ‘Global Roots Mixtape’ challenges a range of DJs hailing from South Africa to Lisbon to create the ultimate mix. Occurring alongside the headline-grabbing free Summer Jam concerts in Sefton Park, which will host everyone from Echo and the Bunnymen to up-and-comers Hooton Tennis Club, these commissions will illuminate lesser known aspects of the city's musical lineage while neatly avoiding the Merseybeat tub-thumping that has occasionally characterised similar events in the past. The opening event to kick off proceedings on 27 August is an enticing prospect in its own right: The Revolution Will Be Live – a celebration of Gil Scott-Heron's music, lyrics and political activism put together by dependable Merseyside booker Rich McGinnis and Malik Al Nasir, protégé of the revolutionary wordsmith. Now that tribute shows are second only to musicals as a means of milking an artist's legacy, it's easy to be cynical about such concerts. Yet as Yaw Owusu, longterm curator of LIMF, tells The

Feature

Skinny, there couldn't be a more fitting event to begin the festival. “This year's theme is migration: how music travels all over the world, whether it's through traditional routes like the sea or the air, or the internet. So it fits with the theme, yeah. Gil Scott-Heron is definitely one of the most influential music artists of the last 100 years. But it's not just ‘Liverpool doing Gil Scott-Heron,’ this has a really tight link to the man through Malik.” The purpose behind The Revolution Will Be Live is entirely bound with the fascinating life story of one of its chief organisers, which went viral in a Guardian article after the passing of the poet and musician in 2011. After being blown away by one of Scott-Heron's incendiary performances with the Amnesia Express at the city's Royal Court Theatre in 1984, Malik met with him backstage and the pair immediately struck up a friendship. Having suffered the worst of the 1970s residential care system, this encounter proved to be a lifeline for the illiterate and traumatised Malik, who under Scott-Heron's compassionate mentoring and tutelage would eventually strike out on an impressive career path of his own. Now a published poet, producer and musician with a dazzling debut album about to be released, he has decided to give something back: “I wanted to demonstrate to Gil that I got the message and I'm carrying on the work. The fact that he's from America and I'm from Liverpool is immaterial. He came here and touched my soul, guided me to be the guy that I am today. It's time to put this all into practice and this event is the way that I intend to do that.” The idea for the festival first occurred to Malik while attending Scott-Heron's funeral in 2011. Teething difficulties have meant it has taken

Interview: Tom Short Photography: Markus Thorsen a while to organise, having gone through several iterations and lineup changes. After being repackaged for LIMF, the show is finally being borne out in impressive shape, with Talib Kweli, reggae titans Aswad, Liverpool heroes The Christians and Craig Charles all testifying to the heavy impact that the towering Chicagoan's music and character had across various disciplines. It's an intriguing line-up, comprised of artists either directly influenced by or involved with ScottHeron, “with a Liverpool flavour,” as Malik describes it. It's also hoped that the spirit of the evening will challenge at least one of the preconceptions to have dogged the artist's career. Scott-Heron is most commonly associated with hip-hop, with many citing him as ‘the godfather of rap,’ yet Malik is keen for the event to reflect his mentor's refusal to be categorised. “I wanted to showcase the many different facets of Gil. He was a poet, he was a singer, he was a pianist. He also had an infusion of reggae in his repertoire on songs like Johannesburg.” It's also remarkable to see an event where spoken word is being given such a grand platform, as an art form often shunted into the basements of open mic nights or at best, an afternoon slot in a festival's comedy tent. “The thing I like about spoken word is that it's where hip-hop was before it got commercialised,” adds Owusu. “It has been great to see the resurgence in recent years of spoken word artists nationally. The movement has gone from underground, small venues to festival stages very quickly.” Malik himself will be performing in this genre on the night, debuting his new album, Rhythms of the Diaspora, with his band the OGs, ‘a combination of jazz warriors from London and the Amnesia

It's tempting to quiz Malik further on his personal relationship with Scott-Heron, and the considerable emotional investment that this kind of project must entail, but the loquacious poet is keen to stay on message, emphasising the political significance of the night: “It's happening at the epicenter of the slave trade and colonialism,” he suggests. “St George's Hall represents this, the wealth of Liverpool. So we're linking in with the Slavery Remembrance Day celebrations that happen at the Slavery Museum. Slavery, apartheid – Gil Scott-Heron spent most of his musical life fighting against these things. Both of those elements emanated from here in Liverpool. The music was incidental when Scott-Heron started out. His whole emphasis was about going down to the southern states and encouraging black people to vote so that they could change the political agenda and the Jim Crow laws. He had experienced that first hand, having gone to a whites-only school. His fight was for civil rights, and his music was a vehicle for that.” As Malik sees it, what unites the concert's diverse lineup is that “they have a drive in their music towards civil rights, some sort of drive in their music against racism.” Besides the performances, the event will also feature Scott-Heron's son Rumal Rackley and Nelson Mandela's grandson Ndaba as guests of honour, underlining Scott-Heron's rallying for the American civil rights and South African antiapartheid movements respectively. During a year in which unrest in Ferguson and political disenfranchisement at large have shown the obvious relevance of his work to the situation on both sides of the Atlantic, there is undoubtedly a timely political impetus behind The Revolution Will Be Live. Doesn't it seem a shame that it will only be a one-off event? “The hope is, that if it's successful this year, then it's something we can make an annual event,” Malik considers aloud. “Or something that we could potentially take to other areas. We've had interest from people in New York, and also Paris. Where it goes from here, is anybody's guess!” Liverpool International Music Festival takes place at various venues around the city between 27-31 Aug. The Revolution Will Be Live is at St George's Hall, Liverpool on 27 Aug limfestival.com

THE SKINNY

Pieces of a Man

Three in the Dark

Crunching four decades and 13 albums down into a greatest hits? We’d never dare. These are just a few stepping stones along Gil Scott-Heron’s path

Undeterred by the logistical dramas of T in the Park's first year at Strathallan castle, our Music team report back from the trenches on a few of the sets you were a bloody idiot for missing…

Words: Dave Kerr THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED from Small Talk at 125th AND Lenox, [1970] ‘You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out’ How can we not start here? Largely overlooked upon its release, time has regarded the first track from Gil’s debut – a live album recorded in a Harlem nightclub – as one of the most enduring and commonly referenced in hip-hop. The transient political and pop cultural players who populate this stream-of-conscious proto-rap have faded in the rear-view (which was kind of the point), but his fist in the air narrative remains ever-prescient.

LET ME SEE YOUR I.D from SUN CITY, [1985] ‘The first time I heard there was trouble in the Middle East, I thought they were talking about Pittsburgh’ Back in 1984, offers were pouring in for western artists to play Bophuthatswana casino resort Sun City, and the E Street Band’s Steve Van Zandt was having none of that shit, deeming it complicit to South Africa’s apartheid rule of the time and encouraging others to boycott en masse. Enter: Artists United Against Apartheid. Recorded at hip-hop’s apex, this track was a cross-genre fusion of trumpet solos and rugged verses (ranging from Miles Davis to Kurtis Blow) built for Gil to astutely muse over an ugly international hegemony that the mainstream press rarely dared to.

Credit: Amy Muir

Friday, 10 Jul

St. Vincent

King Tut's Wah Wah Tent, Saturday, 11 Jul

And So I Watch You From Afar

MESSAGE TO THE MESSENGERS from SPIRITS, [1994] ‘Remember; keep the nerve, keep the nerve, you talkin’ ’bout peace’ Unimpressed by the prevalence of gangsta rap but encouraged by the soapbox a new black generation had finally been afforded, Gil pointed out the absurdity of dog eat dog hate and sexism in a medium that was built for neither, then promptly dropped the mic and left them to it. Future visionaries like Black Star, Common and Flying Lotus, to name only a few, received the message loud and clear.

August 2015

The enchantingly melody-resistant St. Vincent robot shuffles and shreds her way through a set delightfully weird and weirdly delightful. There is a bit of a gulf between St. Vincent and her audience – plenty of mega-fans are scattered about but others are only loitering in King Tut's, wondering about the hyped art-pop star's odd behaviour, what looks like an assembly line ballet with her guitarist/keyboardist. She's not the most accessible – her songs have rhythm but often lack momentum, and the choreography seems sometimes to grow out of the music, sometimes a gimmick to distract us while the songs go nowhere. But her esoteric solos are a treat (approaching Bitches Brew at one peak) especially as contemporary rock acts have moved away from the once-staple, and she leaves those who follow her in an attentive trance, the faithful satisfied and the newcomers very, very curious. [Aidan Ryan]

And So I Watch You From Afar King Tut's Wah Wah Tent, Sunday, 12 Jul

By Sunday, the ground at Strathallan is ‘spongy’ at best. An overnight deluge has added to the weekend's sogginess and a few early revellers cowp into the mud to varying degrees of hilarity. Final day T in the Parkers are notoriously slow risers, but Belfast's And So I Watch You From Afar could probably have expected a bit more of a crowd than the smattering of bodies inside the cavernous King Tut's tent when they kick off with a thunderous 1-2 of Run Home and These Secret Kings I Know from stunning recent album Heirs. “ We thought the King Tut's tent was going to be like King Tut's,” declares guitarist Niall Kennedy. “But thank you for coming down, you smelly people.” Thankfully by the time they power through a half hour of intricate, intense math metal, the crowd could fill five Wah Wah Huts, undoubtedly drawn in by sheer volume. Smelly, yes, but rewarded for not sleeping in. [Stuart Lewis] Credit: Derek Robertson

ME AND THE DEVIL from I’M NEW HERE, [2010] ‘And I say: hello Satan, I believe it’s time to go’ Steered by XL recordings honcho Richard Russell, Scott-Heron’s first studio release in 16 years arrived seemingly by stealth with this chilling post-industrial expansion on Robert Johnson’s 1937 blues standard. Returning to an environment where true protest music was somehow back to its most marginalised, what transpired to be Gil’s last record with his full participation felt like unfinished business; a dark-humoured exorcism of personal demons shot through with the redemptive optimism of a new day.

Picking a standout track from last year's Lost In The Dream is an almost futile endeavour, given the sheer quality of the album, and to single out a highlight from The War On Drugs’ stunning Friday evening performance is an equally impossible task. In a set heavily slanted towards this latest release, the group play against the misting rain and grey skies with an unassuming sense of purpose. Adam Granduciel is a quiet yet wry frontman – in one of his few direct addresses to the crowd he urges us to take care of one another, reminiscing that “I only did psychedelics one time, and I ended up under a car,” before breaking off with a dry grin. Yet the atmosphere they create is remarkable, a tight interplay of moody bass, striking drumming and mournful guitar notes. Luminescent keys light up Under The Pressure, but it's perhaps An Ocean In Between The Waves, a brilliant, atmospheric sonic moment in time, that best encapsu-lates the awe-inspiring, emotive power of The War On Drugs. [Claire Francis]

St. Vincent

Credit: Amy Muir

THE BOTTLE from WINTER IN AMERICA, [1974] ‘A dollar nine or a bottle of wine’ Borne from his observation that alcoholism is classless – as he watched folk of all professions line up outside his local liquor store with their empty bottles to get a discount on the next purchase – The Bottle was an unapologetic foreshadowing of Gil’s own run-in with addiction and the prison system. Despite the heavy nature of its lyricism, the track’s driving Caribbean funk still kept the crowd moving every night that he dusted it down until his untimely passing in 2011.

The War on Drugs

The War On Drugs

MUSIC

Read our full coverage of T in the Park 2015 online at theskinny.co.uk/music

Review

Album of the Month Destroyer

nature is more nuanced and idiosyncratic, taking cues from a spectrum of influences from chamber pop to nocturnal jazz. The album’s wide stylistic sampling is foregrounded by the rerrrrr current Times Square, which studs the tracklisting three times in How do you follow a masterpiece? You go ahead and make another varied guises, as if Bejar couldn’t bear to narrow down the infinite one. That’s been Dan Bejar’s tactic anyway, with his latest Destroyer compositional possibilities to a single arrangement. The brass stabs release reflecting and extending the high-gloss beauty of 2011’s and wailing guitars of Midnight Meets the Rain, meanwhile, tread career peak Kaputt, and taking several more strides down an insimilar sidewalks to Isaac Hayes’ Theme from Shaft, albeit accomcreasingly peerless musical path. panied by an air of melancholy more akin to fellow night/rain Back in May, the stirring E-Street rock of lead single Dream enthusiasts The Blue Nile. Somehow, Bejar ensures all these pieces Lover suggested Bejar had liberated his inner Springsteen, setting fit together seamlessly, and the picture that emerges feels damn aside the previous album’s rich sophisti-pop for something more close to perfect. [Chris Buckle] openly heart on sleeve. But, true to form, Poison Season’s true mergerecords.com/destroyer Poison Season [Dead Oceans, 18 Aug]

The Telescopes

HEALTH

Mac DeMarco

rrrrr

Hidden Fields [Tapete Records, 7 Aug] Behold thy glorious racket. In their various guises, psych veterans The Telescopes have constantly forged routes between melodic shoegaze and abrasive, full-on dissonance; almost as if Stephen Lawrie can’t quite fathom where allegiance should lay. Which is no bad thing, as eighth album Hidden Fields suggests. Slow burning rather than outright incendiary, yet each of the five tracks pulse in sly patterns; the dense, fuzzy contours are a riptide, licking its lips at unwary swimmers. Opener You Don’t Know The Way swarms across its portentous bass line, Lawrie’s vocals weary and porous, whilst Absence wraps itself up in a fugue eerily reminiscent of early Spiritualized. Strands of melody underpin much of this, but the undoubted highlight is the 15 minute closing track The Living Things, which eschews bright lights for a relentless, strung-out groove that could be twice its length and still not outstay its welcome. This is a complex, bruising burr of a record; a fine addition to canon. [Duncan Harman]

Death Magic [Loma Vista, 7 Aug] If brooding, primal opener Victim is anything to go by, you’d be forgiven for thinking HEALTH are going back to their confrontational roots with their first proper record in six years, but it’s not long before they begin to push their pop sensibilities to the forefront, as they did with their two DISCO LPs. Lead single Stonefist boasts the LA quartet’s otherworldly style of aggressive, sexy electronica, whereas the ethereal Life soundtracks heartache on the dancefloor. There are fewer sonic detours here than before – the aim is consistency, and thus it’s a much less daring outing than their previous output. Still, they continue to flirt with the sweet spot between electronic noise and dance music, a zone many never even knew existed before these boys showed up on the scene. Some will miss the disjointed playfulness and unpredictability of their initial output, but there’s something to be said for Death Magic in that this is the most human HEALTH have ever sounded. [Ross Watson] Playing Glasgow Stereo on 26 Oct | facebook.com/healthnoise

Playing Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms on 19 Sep | facebook.com/thetelescopesuk

Another One [Captured Tracks, 7 Aug] It’s not just summery vibes with a hint of melancholia in the Mac DeMarco camp; should you be looking for the playful intuitions that underpin his sound, then look no further than the epilogue of latest release Another One, when the Canadian singer-songwriter – now based out of Far Rockaway, NYC – drawls what’s presumably his beachfront address, then invites us round for a cup of coffee. Such feints provide an extra edge to the woozy, Nilsson-esque pop on offer. And while – as with predecessor Salad Days – it can take time to delve beyond vocal affectations reminiscent of John Lennon on a fairground ride (or Julian Lennon, if you’re being cruel), once you do, this is a mini-album loaded with emotional integrity, tracks such as The Way You’d Love Her, Just To Put Me Down, or the stand-out Without Me etched in wistful, lovesick posture, neither cloying nor disposable. Just eight tracks, it’s over far too soon; if you do pop round his for more, let us know if his brews match up to the records. [Duncan Harman] Playing Glasgow O2 ABC on 7 Sep | twitter.com/msldemarco

Radkey

Kagoule

Beach House

rrrrr

Dark Black Makeup [Little Man, 21 Aug]

Urth [Earache Records, 21 Aug]

Depression Cherry [Bella Union, 28 Aug]

When Radkey emerged from their bedrooms circa 2010, the three teenage brothers from Missouri were hailed by many as punk rock prodigies. But are they the next big thing, or merely a punk Hanson? Dark Black Makeup, their first LP, is a collection of garage punk blasts that cement what the hype already told us – that Radkey do very competent, energetic retro rock. There’s an inevitable paint-by-numbers feel though, as though the brothers are instinctively mimicking the punk rock greats of old with little consideration for innovation. Ironically for a group whose trademark is their frenetic tempo, Dark Black Makeup’s promise rests in its slower moments. Feed My Brain takes a more focused approach to melody, albeit with a clunky chorus, and Dee Radke’s lovely subterranean voice is put to much better use alongside Hunger Pain’s smooth, funky bass and sharp riff. We know Radkey can do loud, but they’re more interesting when they try a little quiet. [Claire Francis]

There’s so much craft and character in evidence on this invigorating debut from the Nottingham trio. Picking the bones out of the early 90s US alt scene is easy meat, of course, but shaping it beyond low stakes tribute into something with identity of its own is a challenge shirked by the herd. Kagoule could pass, at first glance, for one of the many lost underground acts from, say, Boston or Washington state’s glory years. But riding on the back of a growing live reputation, they turn their noses up at the originals’ leftovers. Hence, the clamour and scrape of Adjust The Way recalls prime Sebadoh, and their fondness for quiet-loud dynamics draws a line back to the usual big name suspects. But Cai Burns’ and Lucy Hatter’s dead on boy-girl harmonies, a tight-as group dynamic and the quality of their songwriting throughout, make for a whole that feels absolutely fresh rather than re-heated. Seriously impressive. Get your coats, Kagoule – you’ve pulled. [Gary Kaill]

You have to admire a band that sees dreaming as a matter of principle. Beach House’s fifth album shows the Baltimore duo turning back the clock with a minimalist collection of songs that meditate on transience and loss. Opener Levitation is accurately named, reintroducing the instantly recognisable sound of Alex Scally’s circular guitar arpeggios and Victoria Legrand’s dusky voice over a ticking drum machine. ‘You will grow too quick, then you will get over it,’ Legrand comments over icy keyboards. This isn’t to say that they’re at a creative standstill, however: Sparks takes a sleepy vocal from Legrand and suspends it throughout the whole song, the pair running over it with an unexpectedly blazing guitar line and wheezy organ. It’s easy to fall into the effortless lull of these songs, from Space Song’s psychedelic carousel of futuristic bleeps and 10:37’s moody harmonies to Scally’s slide guitar solo in the waltzy PPP. A glorious hit of nostalgia. [Chris Ogden]

Playing Glasgow King Tut’s on 2 Nov | radkey.net

kagoule.bandcamp.com

Playing Glasgow O2 ABC | beachhousebaltimore.com

Heathered Pearls

Laura Cannell

rrrrr

Body Complex [Ghostly International, 7 Aug]

Beneath Swooping Talons [Front & Follow, 28 Aug]

Hills

Frid [Rocket Recordings, 28 Aug]

rrrrr

You don’t have to listen to Jakub Alexander’s music for long before your mind wanders. It’s not that it’s boring. Rather, his hazy, ethereal soundscapes are like lubricant for the imagination, impressionistic mental architectures that prompt thoughts to drift quietly into the abstract. Abandoned Mall Utopia (ft. Shigeto) is ideal daydream material, a cushiony draught of subdued beats and warm blips. But there’s darkness in these tracks too. The shadowy synth swells on Holographic Lodge bring to mind Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks soundtrack, giving rise to a mysterious, otherworldly atmosphere. Similarly ominous is the sudden syncopated bass on Warm Air Estate (ft. Outerbridge), which enters like an apparition. Interior Architecture Software is the most concerted effort at something catchy but its hook falls flat. Body Complex works best as alluring background music – the sort you tune out to rather than tune out. [Andrew Gordon]

Laura Cannell’s (bloody) chamber music is the kind of artistry that pays back the courageous listener in spades. Her album notes speak of “pure music without human interception,” and insomuch as Beneath Swooping Talons is entirely without artifice, seeming to emerge fully-formed from the earth itself, it’s a fitting description of her second solo album. But that, of course, would discredit her own achievement here. Performed solo on just fiddle and recorder, these ten pieces present as a daring reworking of ‘early music’ and while Cannell’s avowed love for medieval forms is evident, she’s playful with tradition rather than deferential. It’s a fragmentary work, reliant for its (considerable) impact on tone and structure rather than pinpoint narrative or immediate melody but, in how it seems to communicate a vivid rural idyll (All The Land Ablaze; Born From The Soil), it connects on a deeply spiritual level. [Gary Kaill]

These Gothenburg psych-rockers trudge, sleepyeyed out of the mist with their third album, before locking down and wailing in a manner both grimly portentous and sonorously cathartic. The blissed-out Anukthal Is Here is a highlight – beginning with the solemn air of a funeral procession, it suddenly bursts into undulating guitar explorations and flute passages dripping with folk-flavoured mysticism. Marvellous. Eastern tones and hypnotic drones abound – all par for the course in Hills’ chosen genre – but when they bust out ten-minute jam Och Solen Sänkte Sig Röd, everything comes together in spectacular fashion. Guitars weave in and out of a pulsating bass groove; stabbing, fluttering and flailing; while solemn vocal intonations punctuate a growing sense of wide-eyed wonder with curiously absorbing detachment. Ultimately you’ll get as much out of Frid as you’re willing to put in – may as well throw your whole consciousness into its moody, murky magnificence. [Will Fitzpatrick]

heatheredpearls.bandcamp.com

twitter.com/laurarecorder

hillsgbg.blogspot.com

Review

RECORDS

THE SKINNY

The Black Dog

Advance Base

Neither/Neither [Dust Science Recordings, 17 Aug]

Kelpe

Nephew In The Wild [Tomlab, 21 Aug]

The Curved Line [Drut Recordings, 24 Aug]

rrrrr

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’s Owen Ashworth Sheffield’s The Black Dog are as politically “fuckreturns to his Advance Base moniker for a second ing furious” as ever, the track titles on their 12th album doubling as album, following 2012’s A Shut-In’s Prayer. The futurist sheen of a hit list of the pitiless fear mongers and pedlars of disinformation CFTPA still lingers, but for all the schmancy electronics on display, country is the order of the day, all slow-burning chord progressions they accuse of perpetuating chronic societal uncertainty. with a heavyheart underpinning his second-person narratives. Their instrument techno music functions not to explicate This proves key to Nephew In The Wild's understated magic: their views on modern day psychological oppression but to measAshworth’s cracked California burr give the air of a barfly raconteur ure its emotional toll – and the results are compellingly bleak. From murky, brooding arrangements half to infectious, sledgeham- reading yellowed journal entries to strangers. Uncles who buy Danzig records for errant nephews (the elegant title track); Ouija board dalmer beats, Neither/Neither is a journey through confusion, paranoia and restlessness that concludes in ferocious stimulation. liances (Summon Satan)… the avalanche of moribund detail becomes The primal thrill of later tracks is as unsettling as it is eccompelling, indirectly illustrating a gnawing sense of isolation. Nephew certainly isn’t devoid of forgettable moments, but with the static, but resistance proves futile. Besides the occasional strain of dodgy synth strings, this is a stirring exercise in a different kind lights dim enough and the booze strong enough, you may just find yourself bewitched. [Will Fitzpatrick] of Orwellian boot stamping. [Andrew Gordon]

Such are the dynamics behind erudite, freeflowing electronica that with every addition we become even less certain of what year we’re in. Not that Kel McKeown’s fifth LP is deliberately retro, but the slippery crenellations of The Curved Line certainly imply 90s beats in a contemporary setting. This is no bad thing – especially when the soft, squishy bleeps interact with veiled chords and loose, shake-down detail. Opener Doubles Of Everything slinks across shards of haunting piano before descending into its gloopy pay-off. Drums For Special Effects wears a rictus grin, while live percussion adds extra zing and texture. McKeown toys with focus throughout this (while keeping abreast with the demands of bpm); the result is a mesh of understated but also unsettling timbres in which each dimension is pleasurably and irrevocably blurred. [Duncan Harman]

theblackdogma.com

kelpe.co.uk

advancebasemusic.com

Lorna

London’s Leaving Me [Words on Music, 7 Aug]

rrrrr

London’s Leaving Me is Nottingham band Lorna’s fifth record, and it’s really lovely. Gentle, warming and sun-lit, there’s an endearing kind of sparseness to the nine tracks which is surprising, given that the band’s made up of six members. Violas, violins, bells, trumpets, flutes and the occasional electronics float in and out, with all the urgency of a lazy summer Sunday. Unabashedly twee song titles like You, Me and the Holy Ghost and breathy, twinned vocals from songwriters Mark Rolfe and Sharon Cohen-Rolfe (they’re married – adorable) add the sparkle of Belle and Sebastian at their most serene. The album’s namesake track is heartfelt indie-folk straight from the songbook, rising and falling, softly triumphant. There’s even a cover of Smothered in Hugs, transforming Guided By Voices’ trademark fuzz into something dreamier. The whole record feels effortless, soothing… but bordering on the passive. A few risks would have gone a long way, and could have sharpened something pretty into a truly wonderful album. [Katie Hawthorne]

The Mynabirds

Chelsea Wolfe

rrrrr

Lovers Know [Saddle Creek, 7 Aug] After finishing her role as keyboardist on The Postal Service’s reunion tour, Laura Burhenn travelled the world to find herself again. Recorded over the course of a year in Los Angeles, Joshua Tree and Auckland, The Mynabirds’ third album shows Burhenn taking the itinerant life to heart, offering up a shimmering, open-hearted indie pop record for those wandering in the name of love. Her music is as spirited as ever, this time combining her familiar piano, chiming guitars and choral harmonies with cascading synths and R'n'B inflected electronic percussion in wounded tracks like Believer. Burhenn’s travels have clearly influenced her lyrical conceits, as she mines natural elements such as wildfires, storms and panning for gold; Semantics’ fluid relationship is compared with Siberian ice and London fog before the song ends triumphantly in Mariah Carey territory. Although her analogies don’t always convince, Burhenn’s soulful voice and emotional honesty can’t help but win out. [Chris Ogden] themynabirds.com

lornatheband.com

Abyss [Sargent House, 7 Aug] Density, weight and punishing intensity threaten to entirely submerge Chelsea Wolfe’s fourth album in a cloak of gothic camouflage. But peer behind the veneer and Abyss portrays a skilled songwriter at the peak of her game, capable of wonderfully harmonious, country-tinged laments – albeit drowning them in outlandish studio trickery and effects. Accordingly, Abyss works best when the dressing is toned down, particularly in the glorious Crazy Love, where Wolfe’s descending vocals are contrapuntal to a cascading howl of sighing feedback. The effect is staggering and casts rare light on an album otherwise shrouded in mist and echoes of Wolfe’s sleep paralysis. Elsewhere, Abyss veers from industrial stompers (lead single Carrion Flowers) to glitchy, skipping electronica (Color of Blood) through wayward violins and elegant, skeletal piano (The Abyss). This all teeters dangerously on the margins of self-parody as Wolfe manages to tackle all the traditional doom-laden goth touchstones over the course of the album. But when she emerges from the hue, the effect is often quite startling. [Colm McAuliffe] chelseawolfe.net

Titus Andronicus

\\GT//

rrrrr

The Most Lamentable Tragedy [Merge, 7 Aug]

Ultimate Painting

Beats Misplaced [Communicating Vessels, 14 Aug]

Green Lanes [Trouble In Mind, 7 Aug]

rrrrr

In 2009, Titus Andronicus released The Monitor, a record which used the American Civil War as an allegory for modern life as an underdog. TMLT repurposes that same ambition as a blistering rock opera dealing with alienation, manic depression, body doubles and transformative soul-searching. What could have easily been an exercise in pretension is instead filtered through the appealing mediums of heartland rock and Jersey basement punk. At 29 tracks, this triple LP leaves more than enough room to toy around with the styles they’ve explored over the years. The raw, hook-driven Dimed Out captures the nervous aggression of their Airing of Grievances era, whereas More Perfect Union switches gears to a multi-sectioned slow-burn. Even on a tracklisting with room for Pogues and Daniel Johnston covers, this is an album at its best when head honcho Patrick Stickles spits his own brand of dark lyrical wit. [Ross Watson]

Messiness in rock music can be a powerful emotive tool. Raw, loose playing can feel transgressive and exciting; an unadulterated transmission of energy. Alabama’s \\GT// nail the ‘don’t give a fuck’ posturing of messy rock but are missing a crucial sense of urgency. Scotty Lee owns his groggy monotone but never seems committed to his subject matter. Lines like “life is not always alright”, delivered in a limp deadpan, are knowingly facetious but they come off disinterested rather than droll. On the title track, he blows a raspberry after cutting short a guitar solo as if to say ‘so what?’, dismissing a chance to get adventurous. An unhinged guitar passage on Something’s Wrong With My Mind builds a tension that in the hands of, say, Cloud Nothings might erupt into angsty catharsis; here, it peters out, the chorus comes back and the song ends. Agreeably rough around the edges but lacking the vigour to back that up. [Andrew Gordon]

You won’t need any prior knowledge of smart tunesmiths Jack Cooper (Mazes) and James Hoare (Veronica Falls) to recognise the blueprint for their collaboration – essentially ‘dudes with Rickenbackers and a perfect pop complex’. Happily, they’re smart enough to live up to the latter: there’s a pleasant scent of The Velvet Underground to Cooper’s contributions, as Kodiak replaces the lo-fi Krautpop of his primary outfit with ebullient twangs and spacious melodies. More meditative moments come courtesy of Hoare, whose gorgeous efforts Sweet Chris and Paying The Price evoke the gentle breeze of Gerard Love’s later work with Teenage Fanclub. There’s nothing new or challenging here, so it’s understandable if even the theory behind Green Lanes leaves you cold. A shame though, because Ultimate Painting’s second full-length radiates a very comforting warmth, either despite or because of its familiarity. Wistful jangling at its best. [Will Fitzpatrick]

titusandronicus.net

facebook.com/GetTryin

ultimatepainting.tumblr.com

Albert Hammond, Jr. Momentary Masters [Infectious Music, 31 Jul]

rrrrr

Paul Smith and the Intimations

Contradictions [Billingham Records, 21 Aug]

rrrrr

Stars splintering from a band for solo outings don’t just risk unfavorable comparisons with the better-known body of their group’s work – they will, at some point, fail to measure up to fans’ desires. So Losing Touch, off Hammond’s third LP, would sound better as a Strokes song. Strokesian reminders are everywhere – littering or decorating the record, to your taste. But often enough Hammond wins on his own ground: lyrically, with Power Hungry’s collage of inversions; with Touche’s instrumental outro; with his vulnerable vocals (like an AC hum in his comfort zone, then surprising us with clear falsetto); he’s at his best covering Dylan’s beautiful Don’t Think Twice, though this promise sags. Drunched in Crumbs actually does the Strokes better than Casablancas & Co. Curious, yearning, direct, playful: Hammond’s best solo release yet, Momentary Masters is rooted in his past, but it grows toward other lights. [Aidan Ryan]

When vogue moves on, it’s not uncommon for guitar bands to spend years scratching around for their next sound. And should Maxïmo Park fit that description, then Contradictions – the latest side project from lead singer Paul Smith – serves as a valiant attempt to move that search forward, but without necessarily reaching any conclusions. Smith shifts between toe-tapping melody and neat, lyrical introspection, wearing a number of musical themes as the mood flits from Teesside to Coney Island and back. The problem being that the more deft touches here – Wendy Smith of Prefab Sprout on backing vocals; the hint of Cocteau Twins drift behind I Should Never Know – underscore a reticence to fully reveal the record’s identity; it’s like a novel picked up, put down, picked up again. Those who grew up with Maxïmo Park will no doubt appreciate the adult clothes Smith wears on this, but for the rest of us, any contradiction remains unfortunately untempered. [Duncan Harman]

facebook.com/AHJofficial

Playing Glasgow Òran Mór on 2 Sep | paulsmith.tmstor.es

August 2015

RECORDS

The Top Five 1

Destroyer

Mac DeMarco

Chelsea Wolfe

4 5

Poison Season Another One Abyss

The Telescopes

Hidden Fields

Laura Cannell

Beneath Swooping Talons

Review

Running With Knives Glasgow's new psych heroes Outblinker on the intricacies of sound, music business malaise, and working with Ben Power on their forthcoming album Interview: Duncan Harman Photography: Gordon Ballantyne

n industrial estate on the edge of the city. Up a rust-flaked staircase, the room large and dank, dubious stains on one wall, kitchen knives embedded in another – who said the music business is glamorous? Then again, we're not here for glamour. And while there is a film crew present – The Skinny having been invited to document proceedings for posterity – there's no chancer from daytime TV gormlessly appraising the décor to camera. For this is Outblinker territory. Less a physical space than something fluid, and a sound constantly toying with different states of being – sometimes solid, sometimes liquid, sometimes gas. “It's pretty much psychedelic music played with lots of synthesisers,” deadpans keyboard player Luigi Pasquini; well, yes – and the sun is a big, hot thing in the sky. For despite such playful understatement, here reside sonic textures rich in form and magnetic in application. “We're not really an electronica act. We're an electric band, with amplifiers,” Luigi grins. The Skinny gathers he's rather a fan of underselling. Formed at the beginning of the year, the Glasgow five-piece nonetheless own a collective CV that reads like pages from a Scottish noise pop directory. Brothers Jason (guitar) and Graham Costello (drums) comprise Young Philadelphia. Pasquini is half of art-rock duo Kabobo, and beside him, amidst the banks of Korgs, soundboards and effects pedals, Chris Cusack and David Warner's pasts include tours of duty in agent provocateur outfits Hey Enemy and Foreign Tongue. But don't let their hardware suggest disenfranchised synth-pop posturing or Kraftwerk-style musical statues; the Outblinker aesthetic is loud, edgy and dynamic. It's how to fuse a primal, Krautrock urgency with subtle five-way interplay and a predisposition to drag each riff outside for a kicking. Also: attitude. In droves. “Something had to be done about the waves of soulless, corporate electro-shit masquerading as art, clogging up our creative veins,” begins the band's press release; even allowing for hyperbole, it's readily apparent how artistic principals don't exist to be compromised. “We all come from a DIY background,” Chris explains. “We work independently of chain venues, chain promoters, that kind of system.” And as Chris also manages one of Glasgow's independent venues, you get the feeling he knows his onions. “I think that a lot of bands aren't necessarily bands in the historical sense; they're business ventures, focus-grouped, conclusions that have been arrived at via boardroom meetings between people who have nothing to do with those who are actually on stage. It's frustrating for people like us because it's skewing a lot of things about the industry, and making it very hard for ourselves and young musicians in general to actually break through and make something of their art.” It's a rebel attitude that's exemplified in various ways. Firstly, everything is played live. No laptops, no box of tricks full of pre-recorded chutz-

Feature

pah to supplant the sound. “If we had a constitution that would be one of the main things; no laptops,” Chris continues. “I think there's been an element of performance lost in a lot of live music. Music is always a risk. Half the time you're watching a band, especially if it's something intricate, there is a danger. This could all go wrong. This is all being made right now, and if somebody drops dead, this song's goosed. And you kind of get the feeling with a lot of bands that if somebody dropped dead on stage, nothing would change with the music itself – at least for a few minutes.”

“No offence to Londoners, but the standard of band in Glasgow is much higher” Chris Cusack

Which leads on to another important element: improvisation. “We wanted to have something that was dangerous. That could go wrong live. That could be different every time, had an unpredictable element, and was back to being visceral and created in the moment. “This is the first band I've played in with a strong electronic component,” guitarist Jason adds. “Getting this gear and playing about with it, trying to find new sounds that previous bands we've played with weren't quite as centred around. Everyone's coming to it with different contributions and cues. For me personally, there was a big element of minimalism that I really enjoy. I think it's a melting pot of different ideas.”

The traits of this egalitarian melting pot dynamic are more than evident on the band's recent Pink/Blue EP; twin slabs of Teutonic grind, each ten-plus minutes in duration – detailed, playful and resolute. Yet watching them play live is to truly understand the bevelled dimensions they operate under; the intricate phraseology, the interplay between guitar and synth, synth and drums, drums and guitar. It's as if the instruments are feeling each other out, ascertaining parameters before committing to the synergistic sweet spot. In particular, Graham's jazz-infused percussion stands out, eschewing the smooth lines of 4/4 Motorik regimentation for a vivacity that belies a simple kit. It's rhythm as equal component, the detail behind each snare drum or high hat manoeuvre intoxicating (Graham studies jazz at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; it shows). His beats represent the soul behind their material. Or as Chris suggests: “We're all from bands where there's quite a lot of maths in the timings – you're counting to five, then you're counting to seven, and you're waiting to see how long it will take for the drummer to pick up his next stick – and with Outblinker, it was like wanting something that people can dance to. I don't mean that as in, ‘let's turn into Fatboy Slim.’ Rather, doing something that is expansive and open to interpretation each time we play, so that every show is different and people can really get into this, regardless of their background or knowledge of music.” Next up; an album of similarly colour-coded psych grooves, and with Ben Power of Fuck Buttons/ Blanck Mass signed up for production duties, their full-length debut already has more than a few aficionados licking their lips, even before it's recorded. “In August we're travelling into the countryside, trying to get away from other distractions,” Chris confirms. “We're going to do seven days working on these tracks, going to make a record that captures the focused level of being in an intensive situation, allowing for lots of

MUSIC

experimentation and ideas to evolve very quickly rather than over a number of months. It's opportunities like that and touring – spending time with the rest of the band – that's a pleasure. The band doesn't force me to hang out with these guys; the band's an excuse to hang out with these guys. Going away for this little adventure, and seeing what comes out of our collective consciousness, with Ben included, will be really fascinating.” So how important has Glasgow been to their sound and foundation. Isn't the scene a little incestuous? “In some senses the idea of it being incestuous is an element of how we all met each other,” offers Jason. “It was all different bands that liked each other who thought of creating a new project.” “Incestuous is an interesting phrase,” adds Chris, running with the theme. “There's an irony in the sense that, the more incestuous a scene, the more it makes the quality of the bands better. People are all getting these other projects out the way, they're working and learning with different musicians. No offence to Londoners, but the standard of band in Glasgow is much higher, and that goes for Leeds, Brighton, Bristol. Incest usually results in weaker genetic material, yet with music, it's inverse in that respect.” There's still much to discuss – how Luigi's work as a producer influences the mechanics of the band's sound; how each mid-track exchange of glances channels momentum – but the film crew need more shots; time's up. What have we learned? That Outblinker probably aren't top of any list, should interior design be your bag. And as for as acerbic sonic texture delivered with intuition, you may discover that they're well up your straße. Outblinker play Glasgow's Hug and Pint on 8 Aug and The Skinny stage at Electric Fields (alongside the likes of Blanck Mass, Vessels, East India Youth, and many more) on 29 Aug outblinker.net

THE SKINNY

Chem19 Recording Studio launches the 2015 round of its course for young engineers and producers, starting in October 2015. For more information on the course and how to apply please visit www.chem19.co.uk Applications close 31st August 2015

August 2015

The Art School Vic Bar & Café TLK 2 STDNTS

ers bee

burg

f ph

Target 30,000 students across the Central Belt of Scotland

The Skinny Student Handbook, published Sep 2015

k ekan i p a z saa

ane

an um p

yum

bun

To secure your advertising space or for more information call The Skinny sales team on 0131 467 4630 or email sales@theskinny.co.uk

theskinny.co.uk @theskinnymag /TheSkinnyMag

deals burger + pint

£6

2 x pizzas

£8

Illustration: Verbal Picks

4 x street food £12

e-m sou

u croq

ich

wh sand

stea

fala

fel

kore

Do you love craft beer?

ick n ch

+ lo

ts m

Do you want to try all the beers? Join The Skinny Craft Beer Club to discover a range of new beers every month!

ore

To find out more visit theskinny.co.uk/food

@TheSkinnyNW

theartschool.co.uk/food

I N D E P E N D E N T

C U LT U R A L

/TheSkinnyMag

J O U R N A L I S M

Illustration: David McMillan

THE SKINNY

Clubbing Highlights This month we look forward to clubbing at the Fringe, with a few shouts for Glasgow and Dundee too

ugust means Fringe, which means all the parties that count are happening in the capital (sorry Glasgow). Coming through for Tweak's festival opener is none other than Jackmaster's BFF Seth Troxler. The pre-eminent house and techno selector arrives in Edinburgh a night before his much-hyped Acid Future night in London, an ‘antiEDM’ celebration of all things acid house. Will he be breaking out the 303 classics in preparation? Not that we're suggesting the man needs practice – wherever he takes us, it's going to be very special. So special in fact that Tweak will be temporarily vacating their usual spot at The Mash House for a secret location, to be announced closer to the time. Support comes from Edinburgh boy Theo Kottis, whose talent behind the decks has earned him high praise from the likes of Skream and Solomun. This past year has also seen him lift the veil on his production skills – 2014’s Waiting Game EP on Moda Black gave us a pair of deep, bittersweet cuts, whilst this year saw him drop the vocaldriven Human Chemistry. The perfect warm up for Troxler's otherworldly travels (7 Aug, secret location, £20). That same night will see Scuba deliver a set in Aberdeen's The Tunnels. Following the release of his well-received Claustrophobia LP, the Hotflush boss and diverse producer has been touring nonstop of late. These last few years have seen a number of forays into different genres, but recent ouput has spelled a return to the darker side of techno. Support comes from Aberdeen locals Daniel Black and Matt Shuttleton (7 Aug, The Tunnels, from £16 + bf). Meanwhile, over in Glasgow, the Norwegianborn London-based Fine Grains label will be celebrating three years on our mortal plane with a party at The Art School. Stepping up for a headline slot is the city's resident Skweee-lord Joe Howe. Expect 100% positive vibes from the former Ben Butler man's sin-wave funk, all performed live. If you haven't had the pleasure yet, check out his awesome set for Teki Latex's Overdrive Infinity show. Joining him is Highlander and Fine Grains mainstay CAIN, label-head Uraki Riddim, and rising star T_A_M. The Aberdonian's hard-edged, many-textured grime instrumentals have gotten airplay from rinse royalty like Plastician, Mumdance and more this year, whilst his Damned If I Do EP on Aberdeen's Tuff Wax showed off how innovative a producer he's on his way to becoming. Catch him now before he blows up (8 Aug, The Art School, £5). A quick shout out to We Should Hang Out More, who celebrate their first birthday at La Cheetah the same night. If you enjoyed yourself there last month, then why not head back for some more unhinged disco-funk? Nothing complicated this time round; residents only, surprises guaranteed. Don't hold back on the feel-good (8 Aug, La Cheetah, £5/£7). Witness will host Brighton's Donkey Pitch label at Sneaky Pete's on 12 Aug, with Slugabed to headline. The Ninja Tune signing's heat-treated beats, crystalline hip-hop and oddball selections thrive on the kind of demented energy that keeps dancefloors interesting. Emerging from the oftforgotten wonk of the late 00s with a slew of punishing singles and remixes, the producer has since refined his sound and become a distinct voice in electronic music. Joining him is Tuff Wax boss Lockah, whose recent LP It Gets More Cloudy…, is a joyous, hyper-emotional synth-funk romp from start to finish (Barcelona Drums’ rave pianos are a particular highlight). Expect Miami bass, electro breaks and edits you may never hear again. If that's not enough, Astral Black's Dressin’ Red is also getting involved, bringing along all

August 2015

Words: Xavier Boucherat Illustration: Joren Joshua

the influences he threw behind this year's excellent Head / Body release. It'd be tough not to enjoy this one, and it's seriously cheap too! (12 Aug, Sneaky Pete's, £3). If you like your club music raw and real, get to 69 Below for Wax Factory where Neil Landstrumm will be performing his jaw-dropping live hardware show. His mastery of the analogue arts has seen the man travel the globe, delighting audiences worldwide with the many gruesome incarnations of unfiltered club music he's seen in his time. Support comes from Nomad and Kenny Campbell (15 Aug, 69 Below, £7). There's an all-dayer coming up near Dundee, courtesy of Tantric. Berlin-based techno veteran and head of the Affin label Joachim Spieth brings his heavyweight sound to the gorgeous 16th century surroundings of Mains Castle. Having been associated with the genre for over 15 years, Spieth's hard-hitting productions have landed in the recordbags of techno's finest, with spins from Juan Atkins and Derrik May. Don't miss out on this chance to witness a behind-the-scenes tastemaker in a very special environment. Other guests include Deepbass, Sqyre, Correlate and Jamie Daw. If you're travelling from outside Dundee, see Facebook for details on bus transport from Perth. Don't be the nugget who tries to walk it. It's not as strong a look as you think (15 Aug, Mains Castle Dundee, £20 / £30 with bus). Elsewhere that night, Abyss will be celebrating their second birthday at SWG3 with a headline set from Monika Kruse. The Berghain resident's Terminal M label celebrates its 15th birthday this year with a re-release of Monika Kruse @ Voodoomt's Passengers LP. Support comes from Fraser Stuart and the excellent Glasgow duo Lindsay & Kendal, as well as the Abyss residents. (15 Aug, SWG3, £10.00) Airhead will also be making the trip to Edinburgh this month. Here's an idea of how well the R&S / 1-800 Dinosaur affiliate can hold a room's attention – earlier this year he had the dubious honour of inclusion on perhaps the most talked about club night in Bristol, where James Blake and Trim had all but promised an appearance from Frank Ocean. The night was characterised by a group of unimpressed youngsters standing down front waiting for a man who, surprise surprise, never showed – unimpressed, that is, except during Airhead's set. His phenomenal taste in spaced-out garage and breaks got everyone moving. Frank who? Much recommended. Support from Dan Juice and Kami (20 Aug, Sneaky Pete's, £5). Northern Irish party unit Bicep will throw down at La Belle Angele for Musika's annual Fringe outing. If you haven't experienced one of their Feel My Bicep parties yet, trust us when we say there'll be no better time than mid-Fringe, when the city's already half-cut and ready to party. The duo's gift for unearthing the best in rare disco classics makes for summer vibes you can't mess with. This will surely be a Fringe party highlight (21 Aug, La Belle Angele, £12.50 / £15). Bicep will be joined by Panorama Bar regular and crate-digger extraordinaire Gerd Janson. Apparently it's his first time in the capital, so make sure he gets a good welcome. He'll also be playing an all-nighter at Subculture in Glasgow on 31 Aug. 2015’s been a hectic year for the Running Back boss, with a schedule that's seen the release of bonus beats compilation Rhythmn Tranix, Kink's bigroom-ready Cloud Generator, and a record of the year contender from Maurice Fulton's BOOF moniker, The Hydrangeas Whisper. There's no-one else on the bill, so don't miss this chance to see the man dig deep (31 Aug, Subclub, £10 / £12).

CLUBS

Preview

Who Killed AIBO? AIBO the robotic dog was hailed as a bold new plateau in robot-based entertainment on its release in 1999. Yet the device was a commercial failure. As owners and AI enthusiasts mourn its loss, it’s time to ask who or what exactly screwed the pooch Words: Michael Shea

n 1999 Sony unveiled AIBO the robotic dog. Hailed as creating a new market in robot-based entertainment, it attracted global media attention and won plaudits for its innovative design. Yet AIBO was a commercial failure. Production had ceased by 2006 and as of 2014 year Sony no longer provides software updates or product support of any kind. As AIBO owners and enthusiasts mourn its demise, even hosting funerals for the devices as they cease to function, it is reasonable to ask who or what exactly killed AIBO. AIBO, an acronym of Advanced Intelligence Robot (aibo 相棒 also means ‘friend’ or ‘partner’ in Japanese), operates autonomously and is fitted with sensory equipment: LCD camera, touch sensors, range finder, LED lamps, stereo mic, speakers, acceleration sensors and an angular velocity sensor. It is able to move independently, navigate and even learn behaviours it was not designed to perform. AIBO can learn up to one hundred different voice commands and is equipped with adaptive learning and growth capabilities that allow each unit to develop a unique personality with behaviour shaped by its owner. In a press statement at the time of its release, AIBO was described as being able to exhibit emotions such as “happiness and anger” as well as “the need for companionship.” AIBO became something of a cultural phenomenon, appearing in various TV programmes including Frasier, South Park and Futurama as well as a music video for Janet Jackson. It was even satirized in The New Yorker, where it is depicted urinating nuts and bolts onto a fire hydrant. Yet in spite of such media attention and strong early sales figures – the initial batch of 3000 sold out in twenty minutes – AIBO never became commercially viable. Just six years after its launch, production was halted amid an effort to cut costs at Sony, led by Howard Stringer when he became CEO in 2005. Following this announcement, a mock funeral was staged by Toshitada Doi, AIBO’s creator, and was attended by around 100 Sony employees. There was dismay among AIBO owners when it was announced in 2014 that product support would cease entirely. However, there are online forums where AIBO owners continue to share trivia and software updates. AIBO owners even place classified ads for ‘organ donations,’ whereby the parts of ‘dead’ AIBOs are used to repair broken devices, as spare parts are no longer being manufactured. One possible reason AIBO failed to become a commercial success was its cost. Priced at JPY250,000 (over £1000) the product was never intended for mass market consumption. While £1000 may be significantly cheaper than the cost of keeping a live cat or dog, for a consumer entertainment product it was simply too expensive. Beyond this it is also worth questioning whether, at any price, most consumers were ready to accept the notion of a robotic pet. In a study at Purdue University in Indiana, AIBO was placed in residential care homes to see if it would improve senior citizens’ quality of life. The principal investigator in the study, Alan Beck, describes the hostility with which many viewed

Feature

Credit: Toshifumi Kitamura (AFP)

the idea of replacing their pet with a robot: “I bordered on almost getting hate mail when I first started this study [from people] thinking that the study was to replace pets in people’s lives […] The truth of the matter is that people, given the choice, would prefer having the real dog.”

“The failure of AIBO raises various questions about what people really want from a robotic pet” In another study researchers analysed AIBO online discussion forums to see how members conceptualize their robotic pet. They found that the majority viewed AIBO as having mental states and being able to form social relationships, yet very few (less than 5%) thought AIBO deserved care, rights or respect: “the relationships members had with their AIBO were remarkably one-sided. They could lavish affection on AIBO, feel companionship, and potentially garner some of the other psychological benefits of being in the company of a pet. But since the owners knew that AIBO was a technological artefact, they could ignore it whenever it was convenient or desirable to do so.” Attempts to create robotic pets are nothing new. Sparko the Robot Dog was an exhibit at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The animatronic dog wowed audiences with its ability to respond to light and heat. However, one night a door was left open and Sparko, attracted by the headlights of a passing car, ran out and was crushed. It would be

decades before technology advanced to such an extent that mechanical pets became a reality. Japanese media art expert, Machiko Kusahara, argues that AIBO and subsequent efforts to create robot pets should be viewed as the materialisation or “incarnation” of virtual pets rather than as robotic versions of animals. The development of AIBO was arguably spurred on by the commercial success of virtual pets in the 1990s. Tamagotchi (for anyone born after 1995) are virtual pets, usually attached to key chains that became a surprise global trend. The brand name is derived from the Japanese for ‘egg’ (tamago) and the Japanese approximation of the English ‘watch’ (uochi). The original concept was a pet that would exist inside a person’s watch and would therefore be more convenient and portable than a living animal. The product, consisting of a small egg-shaped computer with a small screen and buttons, allows the user to hatch and raise a virtual animal by attending to its frequent needs: feeding, playing etc. Anthropologist Anne Allison analysed the success of the Tamagotchi in her book on Japanese toys, where she compares Tamagotchi to the invention of the Walkman and Karaoke, as devices that sought to make an activity more portable and accessible. She argues that the virtual pet has at least one important difference to these previous innovations, in that it generates a sense of presence in the user: “Whereas music is an experience or performance, a pet, at least as it is conventionally conceived, is a living organism – usually an animal. One of the most noted characteristics of the tamagotchi, however, and one that contributes to its popular and global appeal, is the uncanny sense of presence it generates in players.” Why did Tamagotchi succeed where AIBO failed? One answer is that virtual pets have no physical body, and therefore are unlikely to be mistaken for a live animal. The user is pleasantly surprised when they develop a feeling of presence

TECH

in the device. On the other hand, AIBO, which at first glance has the appearance of a dog, is doomed to be compared with the real thing and found wanting. AIBO is like a living pet, only less intelligent, less cuddly, less responsive. Empathy towards nonhuman entities, robotic or otherwise, is more complex than simply degrees of intelligence or life-likeness. It is quite possible to become attached to pixels on a screen and yet to be underwhelmed by AIBO, despite its genuine claim to a degree of intelligence. The failure of AIBO raises various questions about what people really want from a robotic pet. While AIBO may have been and gone, efforts to create robots for social and entertainment purposes still continue. Last year the Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank announced its new companion robot Pepper. Equipped with face and voice recognition capabilities that allow it to respond to the user's emotional state, as demonstrated in a frankly quite terrifying promotional video, Pepper is being promoted as an emotional robot, rather than one that can provide any practical domestic assistance. “Pepper will help people grow, enhance their life, facilitate relationships, he will have fun with them, give some services and connect them with the outside world.” Pepper went on sale in Japan at the end of June. With a price tag almost as dear as AIBO it remains to be seen whether Pepper will share its fate or if it will represent a step forward in robotic entertainment. The future of robotic pets, at least in the short term, may depend on creating devices that are not substitutes for living creatures but instead are their own distinct entities. This may be the only way to sidestep the uncanny valley and create robotic companions that people are willing to embrace. sony-aibo.co.uk

THE SKINNY

Credit: Courtesy of Dundee Contemporary Arts

Roman Signer

Dundee Contemporary Arts

rrrrr

Roman Signer's particular vocabulary of objects is immediately recognisable: his ubiquitous red canoe, black rubber wellingtons and red tent all evoke less predictable landscapes beyond the gallery walls. Groups of objects act upon one another, articulating processes of energy containment and release. Their alignment alludes to events just past, or yet to occur. Following Signer's artistic strategy of presumed correlations, perusing the chain of causeand-effect gradually reveals the work-as-action. A frayed rope leads to a red canoe, nose to the wall, two rubber coils lying limp in their sockets. A small impact hole and fleck of red paint provide evidence of a collision that attests to the continuing endurance of the white gallery wall. A second canoe full of brown peaty whisky lies opposite, washed up and stranded; its buoyancy undermined by the element that is supposed to carry it. A moribund fly circles above, perhaps

Installations

contemplating this study of causality. An air of tragedy surrounds the body-shaped negative space full of liquid, an air that permeates the rest of the exhibition, carried by the scent of stale whisky. The glossy red canoes, the unsullied tent and wellies as yet un-scuffed suggest journeys not taken and landscapes un-traversed. These shiny massproduced objects are obstinately perfect. Though the frailty of the human body is implicit in their perfect physical forms, their resistance is ambiguous. In the next room an army of fungicide-treated wooden fence posts, standing balanced on end, present themselves as a stripped-back plantation forest that has done away with the disorder implicated in having branches. At one corner of this installation the hand of the artist is visible; his slightest touch has left a felled corridor of posts toppled like dominoes. Information assistants patrol the installation's perimeter, alert to the unwitting visitor who may cause further storm damage. [Jessica Ramm] Installations by Roman Signer continues until 20 September at Dundee Contemporary Arts

Alexa Hare, untitled from the series waiting paintings, 2015

Ambiguity, ESP, and the EAF August is all but dominated by the Edinburgh Art Festival, but there are still noteworthy openings and events in Glasgow and Dundee Words: Adam Benmakhlouf

Credit: Photo Ruth Clark, Courtesy Jupiter Artland

The Thickening, 2015

Edwin Burdis Jupiter Artland

rrrrr

Entering the long narrow room of Burdis’s The Thickening is to be confronted immediately with a series of vividly coloured, large paintings. Subject matter is ambiguous as shapes and colours coalesce into bizarre natural forms; ventricular tubes and amorphous red blobs sitting alongside sickly green colour fields. From the other side of the room, an ominous low bass note emanates from strangely shaped motifs cut into the wall. Their forms echo the paintings and they're covered by what appears to be red jersey material. It's almost pulsing with the noise, the thin skein of cloth evidently another bodily analogue. A series of strange voice-like bleeps and boops follow shortly after, like the metronomic ticking of a till checkout, or a life support machine perhaps. In front of these cut-outs sits a strange

August 2015

object, about the size of a family car. On one side it is painted in a nauseous stramash of colours – strange spermlike wriggles dancing across its surface. And on top, there's a large phallic protrusion. Behind, facing the red jersey membranes, is a large hollow receding into the sculpture. With walls lined with a thick, black fur and strange twinkling lights, could this be a counterpoint to the phallus prodding out the top? More spermy squiggles circle the surrounding surface, chancing the edge of the void within. When understood that this work is a response by Burdis to his mother's cancer-related death, the sickly contrast of colours and bodily comparisons take a new sense. They become testament to the painful discomfort and visceral realities of the experience of becoming a patient. Without dirge or gratuitous gore, the difficult realities of the patient experience are addressed with plenty space for humour and play. [Kieran Milne] The Thickening by Edwin Burdis in Jupiter Artland, ended 18 July. See our Monthly Events Column for details of the new programme beginning this month

ugust brings an incredibly exciting and packed month of exhibitions and events around Scotland. Mention has already been made of the Integrity Painting Prize at the Glue Factory in Glasgow (until 9 Aug). Our picks of the Edinburgh Art Festival features this month were no coincidence, so if you can make it, please head to shows by kennardphillips in Stills Gallery, the Dennis and Debbie Club at CodeBase, Platform 2015 at an as-yet-unnamed venue (11 Blair Street, EH1 1QR) and France-Lise McGurn at Collective Gallery. Rhubaba Gallery in Edinburgh will also be taking part in the festivities with eeee o ee e i a a e a, until 30 Aug. This group show brings together new and existing works from four artists. One makes work while pregnant (as the press release mentions, without including their name) and has been making collages of multi-limbed unhappy faces. Another's an artist/drummer making films of elderly women protagonists. There's two more, but broadly speaking it's a fun show – did you see that title?! With its usual impressive quantity, Summerhall in Edinburgh opens 10 exhibitions on 5 Aug, with all but one running until 5 Oct. There's a huge mix of names both old and new, with figures like major 20th century German gore-o-phile Hermann Nitsch. Also exhibiting are Ortonandon: an artistic collaboration between three sisters who are planning an audience-interactive set of props with two video installations, titled How to Die and Family Patterning. Broadly they're exploring the desire to ‘join in’. Head to festival15.summerhall.co.uk/visual-art for information on all ten shows. Collective Gallery are not only showing work by France-Lise McGurn throughout August for EAF. Beatrice Gibson will also be screening a new film in the City Dome space. In its influences, Gibson has drawn on 20th century American literature, as well as radical child-centred pedagogy of the post-war. Coming from a narrative

ART

about an 11-year-old empire inadvertently creating the greatest financial empire, Gibson oriented the score around an experimental workshop for children. Generator in Dundee between 5-15 August will be hosting Continuance, an exhibition of 11 artists based in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. There's a broad remit of the exhibition, looking towards ‘overlooked materials’, ‘ephemeral objects’ and a challenge to ‘the idea of finite timelines’ in dialogue with the audience. The opening takes place on 5 Aug from 6-9pm. In Glasgow, in the Hunterian and the Common Guild, there are interesting events planned for August regarding the continuing shows in these spaces. As part of the GSA curatorial students’ experimental exhibition on postwar American Abstraction, Glasgow dance collective G.O.D.S. will present their second workshop as part of the show on Sunday 16 Aug – a free workshop, open to all. In the Common Guild, on Thursday 6 August at 6pm, Dr Stephen Burn – a reader in English Literature at the University of Glasgow – will contextualise current exhibitor Anne Hardy's work in relation to his research on Contemporary American and British Fiction and an interest in neuroscience. Then, on Thursday 13 Aug from 6pm, writer Sally O'Reilly will also give her take on the show, informed by her multidisciplinary research into ambiguity. In Glasgow, at the CCA Lauren Gault and Alison Gibbs exhibit together for the first time in Fugue States. There's a broad connection between the two artists; an interest in the possibility of a kind of extra-sensory perception. Gibb takes her cue from American medium Jane Roberts (19291984), while Gault thinks more materially about the ‘resonant quality of materials’, how objects can spur sense memories and an awareness of place. From these subtly different positions, the artists investigate how time and future can be re-expressed and understood.

Review

Film Event Highlights Film highlights include an indie star at GFT, Fringe regulars presenting their favourite movies at Cameo and a comedic takedown of one of the worst movies of all time Words: Jamie Dunn

he's the star of the New York film scene, she was the toast of Berlin Film Festival last year, and now Josephine Decker comes to Glasgow Film Theatre to introduce her first two features, Thou Wast Mild and Lovely (8 Aug; Decker will be in attendance for a Q&A after the film) and Butter on the Latch (9 Aug). Described as “the unholy marriage of Ingmar Bergman and David Lynch” by Indiewire, this is a great opportunity to pick the brains of one of the most original voices in indie filmmaking right now. You might all have noticed that a little arts festival kicks off in Edinburgh this month. The Cameo have cannily taken the opportunity to invite some of the festival's regulars to leave the madness of the Fringe for an evening and introduce some movies as part of its regular Curated By... season. The line-up includes Dan ‘Withered Hand’ Willson giving his thoughts on Harmony Korine's audacious debut, Gummo (screening from VHS, 4 Aug), funnyman Phill Jupitus bringing Hitchcock's man-on-the-run thriller The 39 Steps (5 Aug), comic actor Gavin Mitchell offering up The Fisher King (7 Aug) and author Alan Bissett presenting Jaws (24 Aug). For the full line-up, head to picturehouses.com/cinema/Cameo_Picturehouse. Future Shorts is back at CCA with its summer season (14 Aug). This programme will include films from Croatia, Iran, Finland and Lithuania, and, as always, there'll be music from Future Shorts’ resident DJ throughout the evening. Also included is Directed by Tweedie, the latest film from Future Shorts regular Duncan Cowles, who'll be around on the night for a Q&A following the screenings. Also at CCA, hipsters get the chance to mock an old movie in a controlled environment with Comedians Present: Batman & Robin (31 Aug). Joe Heenan and Billy Kirkwood with be leading the charge with a withering live commentary over Joel Schumacher's breathtakingly awful film, which was responsible for killing off the series Tim Burton began in the late 80s. (A gentle reminder to Marvel execs: Schumacher is available to helm the next Avengers movie). The last two shows sold out, so get your tickets sharpish.

Theeb

45 Years

rrrrr

Director: Naji Abu Nowar Starring: Jacir Eid, Hussein Salameh, Jack Fox, Marji Audeh Released: 14 Aug Certificate: 12A

From the ridiculous to the sublime: GFT have a season celebrating Studio Ghibli. It may be a while before we see another film from the Japanese animation house (it went into hiatus last year following the retirement of its figurehead Hayao Miyazaki), so savour the chance to catch some of its most imaginative efforts on the big screen, including Kiki's Delivery Service (9-10 Aug), My Neighbour Totoro (16-17 Aug) and the film that kicked it all off, Laputa: Castle in the Sky (23-24 Aug).

Review

Director: Andrew Haigh Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James Released: 28 Aug Certificate: 15

Revenge, loss of innocence and the conflict between old and new permeate Naji Abu Nowar’s terrific debut, Theeb. Set in the desolate if beautiful landscape of Hijaz during the First World War, Nowar’s picture focuses on the titular Bedouin scamp (impressive newcomer Eid): first he and his brother Hussein (Salameh) act as guides to a British officer (Fox) and his companion (Audeh), then must adapt when things don’t quite go to plan. Complementing those aforementioned and familiar thematic concerns, the director makes other nods to classic westerns in his audio and visual cues, some more playful than others: “Say your prayers, Pilgrims,” threatens a bandit during a shootout, rather wonderfully. And it’s brilliantly put together: one key scene scored by an onrushing steam train is particularly elegant, effortlessly correlating a burgeoning modernism and inevitable moral decay. That’s not to say this is pompous or too heavy at all – Theeb is a self-contained coming-of-age adventure at its core. A tense and really quite beautiful one to boot. [Chris Fyvie]

There’s a ghost in the attic in Andrew Haigh’s haunting relationship drama 45 Years, but not the kind that can be vanquished with a séance. A week before Kate (Rampling) and Geoff (Courtenay) are due to celebrate their 45th anniversary, Geoff gets news that his first love, who disappeared while walking in the Alps 50 years ago, has been discovered, perfectly preserved. Cue late night trips to the loft to paw over dog-eared photographs of his former lover. Kate is left down below feeling a cold draft. Haigh quietly ratchets the tension as the foundations of their relationship begin to crack. Much praise should go to the two yin and yang leads. Courtenay plays Geoff as a man coming apart at the seams, physically and emotionally. Even better is Rampling, whose Kate is icy and composed even when her eyes are screaming in anguish. “I’d like to tell you everything I’m thinking, but I can’t,” she says, but these unsaid resentments echo loudly. The film’s final image, of Kate’s face, will leave you floored. [Jamie Dunn]

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

The Wolfpack

rrrrr

Director: Marielle Heller Starring: Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, Kristen Wiig Released: 7 Aug Certificate: 18

Director: Crystal Moselle Starring: Mukunda Angulo, Bhagavan Angulo, Govinda Angulo Released: 21 Aug Certificate: 15

Marielle Heller makes an impressive debut with this frank comic-drama, based on cartoonist Phoebe Gloeckner’s semi-autobiographical novel. Set in boho 70s San Francisco, precocious Gloeckner avatar Minnie (brilliantly played by Brit actor Powley) begins an affair with her flakey, free-spirit mother’s (Wiig) hot if lug-headed boyfriend (Skarsgård). Heller deftly captures this transition from newly sexually active teen to full-blown adulthood, and all the experimentation/fuck-ups that entails. The approach is disarming. It’s difficult to recall another example in the coming-of-age genre so steadfast in its lack of judgement, especially one featuring a female protagonist. It’s gorgeous, too: Brandon Trost’s hazy cinematography complements detailed mise-en-scène to evoke the distinctive period, with Millie’s drawings – heavily influenced by Aline KominskyCrumb – occasionally coming to life in the frame to add a fantastical, dreamy element. Skarsgård and the astonishing Powley present complex characters, with the power dynamics of their relationship ever-evolving. The former oscillates between pathetic and alluring where others might have gone for creepy and dangerous, and the latter evocatively captures the naïvety and burgeoning self-confidence of late adolescence. [Chris Fyvie]

The Wolfpack profiles six homeschooled brothers who’ve lived their entire lives as shut-ins in a Manhattan housing project, a DVD collection their only connection to the outside world beyond occasional supervised local trips maybe once a year. Raised in social isolation by a hippie mother and alcoholic, controlling father, the Angulo brothers, who remake their favourite movies for fun, prove interesting subjects and not all that different from many geeky teenagers, extraordinary living circumstances notwithstanding. One wishes, however, that debut documentarian Crystal Moselle made any attempts towards exploring this scenario beyond the boys’ affability. Larger socio-economic concerns and, particularly, real questions of abuse are skirted over or seemingly unasked, especially baffling given that the father doesn’t object to appearing on camera. Having been invited into this family’s private space over several years, Moselle, based on the shapeless final cut being released, seems to have been as evasive as some of the boys she filmed. The subject matter means The Wolfpack ’s inherently compelling for a while, but as a documentary it’s an increasingly frustrating shambles. [Josh Slater-Williams]

52 Tuesdays

Hard to be a God

rrrrr

Director: Sophie Hyde Starring: Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Del Herbert-Jane Released: 7 Aug Certificate: 15

My Neighbour Totoro

Hard to be a God

52 Tuesdays chronicles the relationship of 16-year-old Billie (Tilda CobhamHarvey) and her transgender mother, James (Del Herbert-Jane), who makes the difficult decision to transition from female to male – and, as a result, away from her daughter. Initially accepting, Billie agrees to live with her father and only see James for six hours every Tuesday. The film represents queer characters as fully human – selfish, virtuous, mundane; suffering the micro-aggressions of heteronormativity. Made on a minuscule budget with amateur actors, director Sophie Hyde employs an intriguing filming modus operandi. Shooting each Tuesday, actors would learn only their current scene, no reshoots. This production method lends the film a temporal, existential veracity; its narrative ebbs and flows, reflecting the queer identities on screen, always in flux. James and Billie both filmically document their personal transitions, from female to male and child to sexual maturity respectively, in an attempt to make sense of themselves. Frustrated at the ever elusive end point of “becoming” an authentic self, Billie fumes, “It never ends!” James confirms, “No, it doesn’t.” [Rachel Bowles]

FILM

Director: Aleksei German Starring: Gali Abaydulov, Yuriy Ashikhmin, Remigijus Bilinskas Released: 7 Aug Certificate: 18 Aleksei German spent 15 years directing this adaptation of the classic Russian sci-fi novel only to die before its release. Few filmmakers could imagine creating a more detailed, distinctive and expansive swan song; it can fittingly be called the work of a lifetime. Taking place on the planet Arkanar, a fetid Medieval hellscape vision of what our own planet would be like if there had been no Renaissance, it follows a scientist from Earth who has installed himself as a ruling lord with the intention of leading and guiding, but in practice is simply struggling to stay afloat in the squalid swamp. Touching on themes including primal wretchedness, anti-intellectualism, corruption and brutality, the film is a three-hour wasteland of violence, faeces, vomit, spit, non-sequitur and fourth wall-breaking. It’s bewildering, darkly hilarious, something of an endurance test, and made with such epic scale and precision that it’s also breathtaking. [Ian Mantgani]

THE SKINNY

Zero Zero Zero

The Whispering Swarm

By Roberto Saviano

rrrrr

Roberto Saviano dedicates this book to his armed Carabinieri bodyguards and the 51,000 hours they’ve spent together since previous work Gomorrah sent him into hiding from the Neapolitan Mafia. He expands his pool of enemies exponentially here by sketching an intricate map of the international cocaine trade. The power of the white powder fuels an economy of unimaginable scale, which – like gas, oil and steel – regulates global markets and impacts financially on even the most sober everyday lives. Unlike loosely comparable works – some excellent, like Simon Strong’s Whitewash and Robert Sabbag’s Snowblind – Saviano looks beyond single regions of the world or functions of the supply chain to zoom out over a complete industry; one headed by men who weigh their money rather than count it. He writes beautifully at times, a natural storyteller showboating with technique. It seems that novels await – if García Márquez can move from magic realism to reporting the News of a Kidnapping, surely Saviano can reverse the switch. His creativity occasionally proves his undoing however – in some instances inappropriate in relating to the stark reality of his subject. A slight flaw, placing this excellent, elegant and brave piece of journalism just below the ‘zero zero zero’ rating of the purest grade cocaine it investigates. [Alan Bett]

rrrrr

Out now, published by Gollancz, RRP £16.99

Out now, published by Allen Lane, RRP £20

Us Conductors

rrrrr

By Ivan Vladislavic

By Michael Moorcock

Set in London in the 1950s, Michael Moorcock’s The Whispering Swarm blends autobiography and fantasy – aiming, he says, for a sort of book he hasn’t seen before. It’s an odd, unsettling mix that carries him from the post-war city of austerity to a world of monks, magic and beautiful maidens. Moorcock is both narrator and central character – a budding editor stumbling upon his sci-fi heroes in pubs around Fleet Street. Then he meets a Carmelite Monk, follows him through a locked gate and into another world. There is plenty of detail to keep regular fans of Moorcock’s work busy. The two worlds he describes are kaleidoscopic, and there are all the fancy movements of time and space that you might expect. He adopts a grandfatherly fireside tone for recounting his childhood stories of the 1950s, of working the arcades and making it as a fantasy writer. It is homely and digressive, but it lands a little heavily on the side of telling rather than showing. This is fine for the 1950s, but feels a little too slow when we slip into the fantasy world. The trick is to forget about the direction of the story, and let this master of the genre tell you about monks and cosmolabes and vast theories of the multiverse. [Galen O’Hanlon]

101 Detectives

By Sean Michaels

‘How toxic are you?’ is the formidable question raised by South African author Ivan Vladislavic in his latest short story collection. Vladislavic commentates on his country’s historic hardships by tapping into different visions and perspectives, providing insights into the suffering of a group of people who just happened to have black skin. In one story, a South African in San Diego is confronted with another character thinks South Africa is like. The author makes the point that this view of a non-native is a common one. Another story focuses on a woman hired as a corporate storyteller for a multinational. She feels she can never quite live up to the standards of the corporate poet who often appears out of the blue, delivering faultless speeches, always elegant. As the storyteller is left to think up the most fitting narrative she wonders if people realise she still exists. Will the big bosses ever even use her content? In 101 Detectives, Joseph Blumenfeld tells us things are tough in his competitive line of work, that what he really needs are more dead bodies to supply the demand. Vladislavic’s enjoyably imaginative writing style is tempered by the fact his characters remain largely underdeveloped, meaning that by the end, reading develops from a pleasure into a chore. [Tina Koenig]

We must declare a conflict of interests here. Author Sean Michaels was, once upon a time, a writer for The Skinny, so a sense of solidarity has us willing a good write-up for his Giller Prize winning (Canada’s Booker) début novel Us Conductors even upon cracking the cover. The problem evaporates as the pages that follow prove to contain an enticing, cross-continental escapade buzzing with the electric energy of the Jazz Age. So all’s well. Us Conductors is a version of the story of Lev Termen, inventor of the instrument that put the chill into countless sci-fi movie soundtracks, the theremin. It takes the real account of a life that was in no way short of excitement and inserts a few pulpier flourishes – a little kung-fu here, a murder or two there – to ramp it up into a really good time. It’s a romantic tale set in a highly romanticisable period and while the plot is a flurry of noise and motion under the big city lights, it also has a quiet, reflective side: though its story stands right in the middle of world history in one of its most tumultuous periods, the novel never loses track of the man at the centre of the madness. It’s the heartfelt humanity of Lev and the lens through which the novel views him that makes it so compelling. [Ross McIndoe] Out now, published by Bloomsbury, RRP £16.99

Out now, published by & Other Stories, RRP £10

State of Grace

Cemetery Without Crosses

rrrrr

Director: Phil Joanou Starring: Sean Penn, Gary Oldman Released: 24 Aug Certificate: 18 Phil Joanou’s Sean Penn-starring mob movie State of Grace was originally released around the same time as Goodfellas, so first time round it might as well have been staring up at Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci from the trunk of a car for all the chance it had of survival. A Blu-ray re-release gives it a second chance and it’s definitely worth catching in its revitalised form. Penn plays Terry, the prodigal son returning home to his old New York neighbourhood and falling back in with his old crew: Jackie (Gary Oldman) his wild-eyed best pal, Jackie’s older brother Frankie (Ed Harris) who now runs the local Irish mob, and their sister Kathleen (Robin Wright). Joanou is no Scorsese but he successfully builds a satisfying crime flick around Oldman’s electrifying performance, rounded out by a great and varied supporting cast and topped off with a soundtrack courtesy of Ennio Morricone. [Ross McIndoe]

Director: Robert Hossein Starring: Michèle Mercier, Robert Hossein Released: Out now Certificate: 15 Revenge plots have an appealing simplicity – they clarify everyone’s motivation and streamline the story towards its inevitable conclusion. Their sparseness matches the Western’s penchant for broad strokes. A small cast of characters can be quickly setup with battle-lines drawn between them and a few visual idiosyncrasies to highlight the main players – Eastwood had his poncho and cigarillo, here Hossein’s Manuel has a leather glove and sits his gun backwards in its holster so that he can draw Southpaw-style. Like its hero, the movie does its talking through action. Manuel barely opens his mouth for the duration of the movie but his silence speaks a lifetime’s worth of hard lessons. When he is forced wearily into action, he dispatches of his foes with deadly grace. Just like him, Cemetery of Crosses spares few words and relies instead on stylish action sequences and elegant, atmospheric cinematography to achieve its ends. [Ross McIndoe]

Killing Zoe

Director: Roger Avary Starring: Eric Stoltz, Jean-Hugues Anglade Released: 3 Aug Certificate: 18

rrrrr

It’s easy to guess why audiences are turned off by Roger Avary. He won an Oscar co-scripting Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, but if his two directorial efforts (this breakneck crime flick and 2002’s Bret Easton Ellis adaptation The Rules of Attraction) are anything to go by, it’s likely that film’s crypto-heroics came courtesy of its director. There’s none of Tarantino’s soft edges in Killing Zoe. We follow Zed (Stolz), a social and morally easy-going safecracker, as he’s dragged to Paris by his terrifyingly decadent childhood friend, Eric (Anglade), to help in a Bastille Day bank heist. Preparation for the job involves “living life”, which in Eric’s debauched world means losing your mind to hard drugs at an underground Dixieland joint. Avary’s filmmaking feels as out of control as its protagonist. It sweeps you up in Eric’s Dionysian revelry and, like Zed, you’ll be clambering for a shower afterwards. [Jamie Dunn]

Stalag 17

Colors

3 Women

rrrrr

Director: Billy Wilder Starring: William Holden, Don Taylor Released: Out now Certificate: PG Greater than The Great Escape, American prisoner of war tale Stalag 17 is a darkly comic theatre adaptation from director Billy Wilder. Simultaneously fiery and farcical, it’s a fitting final third for Wilder’s 1950s hat trick that also includes Sunset Blvd and Ace in the Hole, each in their own way a cutting, cynical look at American nature. William Holden may never have been better than he is here as a cocky black marketeer concerned only with himself – and thus prime suspect when it seems someone in his barracks is feeding information to their German captors. Wilder’s fellow director Otto Preminger makes for a compelling villain free of comic-book Nazi stereotype, while gravelly-voiced Robert Strauss is a riot as a lustful fool with Hollywood pin-ups on the brain. What lingers most is the film’s incisive study of American mob mentality, particularly potent considering its release at the tail end of the Hollywood Communism witch hunts. [Josh Slater-Williams]

August 2015

Director: Dennis Hopper Starring: Robert Duvall, Sean Penn Released: 24 Aug Certificate: 18 Three years before Boyz n the Hood portrayed social problems in inner-city Los Angeles, Dennis Hopper’s Colors took a look at actual East LA gangs and the LAPD ‘CRASH’ unit trying to quell the violence. Robert Duvall is on fine form as an experienced cop with a more nuanced understanding of how to approach ghetto residents than his rookie partner, Sean Penn’s reckless and rather racist hothead. A young Don Cheadle, meanwhile, plays the gang leader they’re trying to stop. Simultaneously light on plot and over-plotted, Colors, featuring a title song by Ice-T, is an interesting time capsule regarding American gang culture (Hopper actually included some real-life gang members), but it’s too meandering as a whole for its moments of fiery rage to ever really sear, nor does the screenplay make much attempt to explore the root causes of the mob violence beyond a stray surface-level comment in one isolated scene early on. [Josh Slater-Williams]

BOOKS / DVD

Director: Robert Altman Starring: Sissy Spacek, Shelley Duvall Released: Out now Certificate: PG Reportedly inspired by a dream, 3 Women represents Robert Altman at his most experimental – the film’s eerie underwater shots (or, more technically, through-water) complement a moody, murky story in which characters try on new personae as often as they borrow each others’ swim suits. Altman’s signature telephoto framing, omnipresent murals depicting demon-like creatures, and an atonal score add a creeping menace to uncanny California desert settings. Those settings are populated by two of the most indelible cinematic characters of the past century: Millie (Duvall, a career-best performance), a ridiculously un-self-aware social striver, and Pinky (Spacek, deliciously erratic), a wide-eyed bumpkin who worships Millie and buys her delusions of sophistication. Speaking of persona, it’s undeniable that this is a riff on Bergman’s legendary film. But with 3 Women – part bizarre cringe comedy, part haunting psychodrama – the American auteur takes that riff and composes a sublime symphony all his own. [Michelle Devereaux]

Review

Elspeth Turner's SpectreTown Elspeth Turner talks identity, Scottish ancestry and homespun Scottish theatre

Credit: Andy McGregor

Words: Alice Lannon

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Bard in the Botanics

rrrrr

Review

great to have their support and go to the Fringe as a team. It's been a really fruitful union.” You can tell it's more about the experience than the prestige as she gleefully says, “Do you know, I'm just really excited to get in the theatre and see the magic of the play come to life.”

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bard in the Botanics, run ended

"I'm just really excited to get in the theatre and see the magic of the play come to life” Elspeth Turner

The language of SpectreTown is very rich, very poetical – and written in Doric. While non-Doric speakers could be made wary by this, Turner affirms that they'll still absolutely be able to understand the play. She wants it to be authentic, but they've been testing it out on non-Doric speakers to make sure it's accessible too and she assures that it won't be long at all before your ears attune: “The strong, guttural accent gives extra depth to the characters, highlighting their needs and wants.” Although the performers will be speaking in a 19th century version of the dialect, it is very much a contemporary play complete with strong language. Turner passionately decries the way that regional dialects are not often portrayed by the media, and is pleased to be bringing them into the spotlight. With its exploration of identity encircling past, present and future, SpectreTown looks set to be a beautiful and eye-opening experience for audiences from Scotland and beyond. [Alice Lannon] SpectreTown, Assembly Hall, 6-31 Aug (not 12, 17, 24), 1.30pm tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on

Credit: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

play about “cultural inheritance and how it shapes our lives”, Elspeth Turner's SpectreTown has been a long time in the making. Over the last few years Turner has been busy writing and researching, inspired by the folklore of her native North East coast of Scotland. Continually returning there to write, she became enthralled by the Bothy Ballad – an ancient folksong born of a turbulent political landscape. These songs were sung by men – “even if,” Turner exclaims, “they were from a woman's perspective! So, as a woman, exploring these songs gives a very interesting context.” She was also intrigued by the city of Aberdeen and what life there has been like throughout history. What emerged from this was a play about the way our ancestors lived, worked and died, and how that shapes our personalities today. Turner returns again and again to the theme of identity, “the umbilical cord running through the play.” Although it may be set in the North East of Scotland, she is keen to stress that the themes it explores are universal. This is interesting, as she has lived and worked in both New York and London for several years. What made her so keen to return to Scotland? While living elsewhere, she began questioning the concepts of Scottishness and belonging, and that sparked her desire to return. Starting out as an actor, she turned to writing as a creative channel for her questions. When her first play, The Idiot at the Wall, was toured around village halls in the Highlands and Islands, she found it such a different and rich experience – so rewarding for the company and local audiences alike – that she wanted to stay and do more work in her native country. Audiences are “still hungry for homespun Scottish theatre,” Turner says, and so is she. That's not to say she has ruled out travelling to more far-flung places in the future, but at present the show's upcoming run at the Fringe is the most exhilarating and pressing thing to think about. A succession of shows at the prestigious Assembly Hall is a dream come true, but what she's most looking forward to this summer is sharing it with her collaborators. “This year we are in partnership with Cumbernauld Theatre so it'll be

It's the most commonly performed script to feature in Bard in the Botanics’ 2015 season, but Emily Reutlinger's 20th century take on A Midsummer Night's Dream is far from common. Aiming to bring the play's harsh treatment of women... into sharp relief, the character of Hermia (Meghan Tyler) is centralised as she flees the Athenian court (repressive; authoritarian; fond of grey longcoats) into a nearby forest, the denizens of which are more Woodstock than Burnham Wood. Contrasting the two societies reveals the fraught position of women in each: while more hopeful than an arranged marriage, free love can have its price. In dual roles as Hermia and Nick Bottom, Tyler shines. Put-upon but resilient, the former

part is the play's empathetic centre while the latter is its comic zenith. Such double duty is necessary when you shrink a play with 20 speaking roles to suit five actors and a small chorus, and while this can be confusing it keeps the show nimble – as does the absence of a stage beyond a quiet grove in a corner of the Botanical Gardens. It's hard to think of a more suitable space, and the company exploit it well. As characters vanish behind trees and appear over ridges, the bewitched forest feels manifest not only on stage but around the audience as a place where normal rules don't apply. By giving its source material only the respect it deserves, Reutlinger's refreshing adaptation brings out the best in one of Shakespeare's trickier plays to get right. [Neil Weaving]

Love's Labour's Lost Bard in the Botanics

rrrrr

Year in, year out, Bard in the Botanics has to contend with the Glaswegian weather, and the cast of this year's Love's Labour's Lost must be congratulated on their ability not only to act through the pouring rain, but to grip and keep an audience with them. A promenade performance, Love's Labour's Lost has truly been designed for the Botanical Gardens, and Gordon Barr's direction displays masterful use of the gardens to capture some of Shakespeare's most-loved tropes; as the four men foresworn of female company each secretly confess their true loves, while their companions lurk in the bushes, it is a pivotal, hilarious and heartwarming scene. For a play all about mockery, the

THEATRE

audience are given the upper hand as they are invited into each location, and into each character's inner thoughts. James Ronan as Berowne and Nicole Cooper's Rosaline bring the wit, charm and bite that the poetry requires, while Robert Elkin shines as Moth, brought perfectly into modern times. But it is the cast as an ensemble that brings the poetry to life, and no more so than in their assumed adlibbing and jibes at the pouring rain throughout. They bring an energy that invigorates the language. At the play's dark turn, though perhaps not surprising given the threat of loss that hangs over the action, it is hard not to feel disheartened, and the cast act this feeling with just as much grit as they mock. [Emma Ainley-Walker] Love's Labour's Lost, Bard in the Botanics, run ended bardinthebotanics.co.uk

THE SKINNY

Spotlight: Foxdog Studios Self-proclaimed IT rock'n'roll consultants Peter and Lloyd combine ‘the two greatest arts of all time: music and computer programming’. And LOLs, of course Interview: John Stansfield Illustration: Callum Scott-Dyson

uch is the excess of Foxdog Studios’ setup that the chances to see them gig are few and far between. They've even started gigging in their own home/office as it already has a great soundsystem and knows all their specifications. Genuine IT consultants, they moonlight as rock'n'rollers with a knack for computers, though that description does them a great disservice as they both have firsts in Computer Science. They know a lot about what makes digital things happen basically. After getting caught up in the quagmire of ‘Cowgatehead-gate’ (don't ask), they now have an after-midnight show at the Fringe that will showcase their love of algorithms and power chords. Influences: “Comedy: The Muppets, Spongebob Squarepants, Vic and Bob. Games: Cosmo Wright, Double Fine. Music: Cyndi Lauper, Manowar, Mel Samba, Tenacious D. Software engineering: Andrew Ng, Doug Schmidt, m0xie.” First gig: “10 August 2013 at Fuel cafe's open mic. We played Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Goofy Goober Rock. A promoter saw and booked us ten minutes into our career (we received no further bookings for a year).”

August 2015

Best gig: “Edinburgh Fringe 2014. An act in our venue was so popular that people would watch the show before to get seats for the next. When the preceding act had a day off we seized the candlestick of opportunity like a 19th century landlord inspecting his property. We filled their slot with a show that no one asked for, expected, and in some cases liked. After the gig, the success was quantifiable: two new Twitter followers.” Worst gig: “June 2014, Fuel cafe open mic: The Bluetooth Incident aka The World's Largest Theremin. In theory, we change pitch of a synthesizer by moving the audiences’ Bluetooth devices towards and away from each other. No matter where we moved, only a single, long, annoying note droned out of the speakers. It went so badly it became an art installation.” Circuit favourites in the Northwest: “The open mic legends: Big Star Trek man (name unknown). Krazy Horse with his itchy, bare feet. Quiet keyboard guy with hat, scarf and invisible keyboard (name unknown). Synthesizer fish bloke (name unknown): for his song about how fish are changing gender due to hormone pollution.”

Favourite venue: “Fuel cafe in Withington. You can rearrange the furniture in the performance space (upstairs), and there are plenty of wall sockets.” (Lloyd) “Also they have a Yamaha MG16 mixing desk, which is a personal favourite.” (Peter) Best heckle: “Compere: If you could have any job what would it be? Audience member: Cure meats. Voice in the back: *long groan* Cheshire Smokehouse.” What would you be doing if you weren't doing stand-up? “Air crash investigator with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).” (Peter) “Pub quiz champion.” (Llloyd) If you could be haunted by anyone, who would it be and why? “The ghost of an accountant whose primary method of haunting is to order our receipts chronologically.” If you were on death row, what would your last meal be? And why are you on death row? “Repeated failure to submit our realtime PAYE filings by the 5th of the month. Our last meals

would require, but be missing, sage (that's one for the accountancy fans).” What's the largest animal you think you could beat in a fight? No weapons. “Empirically, blue whale is the best answer. If the fight occurs in the animal's habitat, victory would be impossible. However in a standard arena, you could dispatch a beached blue whale by waiting for it dry out. But this would be a PR nightmare: there'd be mean tweets about us. Instead, we'd have to batter something that people could get behind, like a wasp.” Question from past Spotlighter Kiri Pritchard-Mclean: If you could change an aspect of the comedy circuit, what would it be? “The comedy circuit is like an electrical circuit with a ground loop. The path to earth has a non-zero resistance and acts a voltage divider between two otherwise independent subcircuits. A currency follows between the two, creating noise. I'd remove the resistance to ground so that both subcircuits can operate without affecting each other.” Foxdog Studios are at the Edinburgh Fringe, Cowgatehead UpTwoM, 8-27 Aug, 12.15am foxdogstudios.com

COMEDY

Feature

Win tickets to see The Flaming Lips

Win £25 Deliveroo credit!

Photo: George Sailbury

vergreen psychedelicists The Flaming Lips bring their peerless live show to Edinburgh on Thursday 27 August, as Magners' Summer Nights comes to the capital for the first time. The series of outdoor concerts brings a raft of much-loved artists to the city’s famous Ross Bandstand – also including James and The Waterboys, while over in Glasgow, Kelvingrove Bandstand hosts the likes of Joan Armatrading, Glasvegas and King Creosote. View the full line-up at magnerssummernights.com. Magners – who require little introduction thanks to their delicious apple cider – have teamed up with The Skinny to offer two readers the chance to win a pair of tickets each to watch The Flaming Lips play against the stunning backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. If you’re not one of the lucky winners, don’t worry. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster, Tickets Scotland and SEE Tickets. For the chance to win a pair of tickets to see The Flaming Lips, simply fill in the form below, answering the following question:

aturday night takeaways just got a whole lot classier thanks to Deliveroo, now delivering restaurant quality food straight to your door/office/boat*. So, if soggy pizza takeaways just aren’t cutting it and you fancy dialling your at-home dining experience up to 11, hop over to the Deliveroo website and peruse their menus. Working with a wide range of top Edinburgh restaurants, delis and bakeries to suit all tastes, dishes can be delivered in just half an hour for a small flat fee of £2.50 per delivery. From Japanese sashimi, North African chicken domada and Lebanese stuffed peppers, to French charcuterie platters and traditional Scottish cheeseboards, (don’t worry, there are also burgers and chips), Deliveroo are just a click away from satisfying your cravings for top quality eats. For your

chance to sample some of their wares, simply head along to theskinny.co.uk/competitions and answer this deceptively complex question: What is love? a) Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me no more b) A battlefield c) All you need d) Pizza Competition closes midnight Sunday 30 August. 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/terms-and-conditions *Deliveroo cannot deliver offshore.

What date is The Flaming Lips gig? a) Saturday 8 August b) Thursday 27 August c) Friday 4 September Competition closes midnight Friday 21 August. 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-and-conditions. Tickets subject to availability, may not be resold and no cash alternative is available. There is no performance on 18 August. Travel not included. Tickets cannot be returned or exchanged.

COMPETITIONS

THE SKINNY

Top Edinburgh Festival Picks

Glasgow Music

Our section editors narrow their Edinburgh Festival picks down to a tick-'em-off-as-you-go top 5...

Tue 28 Jul THE DIRTY BLONDE

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Music 1. Oneohtrix Point Never

Brooklyn prodigy Daniel Lopatin performs his new score to Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo's 1995 animation, Magnetic Rose. An unclassifiable force in modern electronica, Lopatin's ambient passageways into other worlds share more in common with the likes of Death Grips and Brian Reitzell than the current EDM invasion. This is going to get dark. 22 Aug, The Hub, 9.30pm, £25

2. FFS

Franz Ferdinand and Sparks? Together? A transatlantic union of art rock daddies made possible, of course, by an accidental meeting outside Huey Lewis's dentist. Their live debut in Glasgow earlier this summer has quickly become the stuff of legend. Fingers crossed for a blazing rendition of Dick Around. 24 Aug, Festival Theatre, 8pm, from £20

3. Wave Movements

Another meeting of minds, this time between two of the more intriguing song arrangers from contemporary guitar rock, Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry and The National's Bryce Dessner, presenting their Wave Movements composition. 28 Aug, The Hub, 9.15pm, £25

4. Sun Kil Moon

A real coup for Summerhall's Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series, former Red House Painter and allround cantankerous egomaniac Mark Kozelek brings the right kind of laconic stream-of-conscious yarn-telling to the Fringe. Just don't ask him for an interview. 10 Aug, Summerhall, 8pm, £20

5. From Scotland With Love

An unexpected encore of King Creosote's sublime live soundtrack to Virginia Heath's 2014 documentary, which dutifully repurposes archive footage of old Scotland to present a moving snapshot of our ancestors’ working (and recreational) life in the early 20th century. 14 & 15 Aug, The Hub, 10.30pm/9.30pm, £25

Theatre 1. Fable

Yorkshire theatre company Flanagan Collective, and now associate company with York Theatre Royal, return to the Fringe with a tale of the importance of planting trees based on the real life village of Ardfern on the North West Coast of Scotland. Various dates 5-30 Aug, Summerhall, 6.30pm, from £7

2. Yama

Full-length production of Damien Jalet’s work with Scottish Dance Theatre, staged in shorter form in 2014, exploring the shamanistic mythology of the sacred Japanese Tohoku mountains. Jalet’s background includes Olivier award-winning Babel and the No Light, No Light Florence and the Machine music video. Various dates 22-29 Aug, Zoo Southside, 7.50pm, £14 (£12)

3. A Game of You For those looking for something a bit more experimental, ONTROEREND GOED want to get to know you better in a show that’s all about people watching, presenting the third part of the Personal trilogy including The Smile Off Your Face, which blindfolded audience members. Various dates 25-30 Aug, Traverse Theatre, every 30 minutes between 2-5pm and 7-10pm, £18 (£13/£8)

4.The Jennifer Tremblay Trilogy After winning Fringe Firsts for The List and The Carousel, Stellar Quines are back with The Deliverance, the third part of a trilogy by Quebecois writer Jennifer Tremblay. All three plays are performed by Maureen Beattie, and you can even see them all back-to-back on 17 Aug. Various dates 6-31 Aug, Assembly Roxy, various times, from £10

5. Echoes by Henry Naylor

Last year’s Fringe First winner Henry Naylor is back with another drama, having previously worked as a comedian. Echoes tells the interlocking stories of a school girl jihadi from London and a Victorian member of the Fishing Fleet. Various dates 5-31 Aug, Gilded Balloon, 5.30pm, from £5

Comedy 1. Comedians' Theatre Company 10th Anniversary

In the official Fringe programme's theatre section the casts for the productions celebrating Comedians Theatre Company's first decade are sublime super-groups of comedians, but we'd suggest you seek out their Free Fringe productions: Jo Romero's Scenes from a Sensual Nature (8-29 Aug, Cowgatehead, 12pm, free) and The Double Life of Malcolm Drinkwater (various dates 6-30 Aug, The Counting House, 1.30pm, free)

2. Katia Kvinge:

Two years ago Kvinge impressed us at the Edinburgh University Revue championship. Since graduating she's trained at famous US improv institution Second City and honed her characters with work-inprogress runs. This is her full debut show. Various dates 6-29 Aug, The Caves, 7.45pm, free

3. Summerhall's Comedy Hat Trick Cheekily fitting three picks into one as we delve into Summerhall's batch of comedy – first with a duo of politically-minded comics: Mark Thomas's work-in-progress, Trespass (various dates, 6-30 Aug, 5pm, from £10), and Jonny and the Baptists: The End is Nigh (various dates 7-30 Aug, 7.50pm, from £9). Then there's also a certain Daniel Kitson with his theatre/comedy show Polyphony (various dates 7-30 Aug, 12.15pm, £12). Go collect 'em all.

4. Stand Rising

The future stars of comedy from the Scotland scene take over The Stand, including the mighty talented quartet of Gareth Waugh, Gareth Mutch, Robin Grainger, and Liam Withnail as the regular hosts with new guests each night. Trigger warning: Waugh may talk about his telescope. 7-30 Aug, The Stand Comedy Club III, 10.30pm, £8

5. Sajeela Kershi

Sajeela Kershi and her fellow comedian guests discuss their personal immigration stories to contrast with the heavy and political framing the topic often receives. Various dates 6-30 Aug, The Assembly Rooms, 10pm, from £9 (£8)

Art 1. Platform 2015

Platform 2015 is the first Edinburgh Art Festival headliner show dedicated to emergent artists. It takes place in the new information centre for the EAF (another first for the festival), making it a good first point of contact with the many exhibitions taking place across the city. 30 Jul-30 Aug, 9-11 Blair Street, free

2. kennardphillips kennardphillips' whole approach is entirely political, and they have a complete lack of interest with the more usual art community audiences and the idea of making a career out of the art world. They are perhaps also best know for the 'Tony Blair Selfie' (a quick Google will reveal all). 31 July-25 October, Stills (and St James Centre), free

3. Remote Centres: Performances from Outlandia

An intriguing-sounding exhibition promising a ‘re-configuring of the Outlandia field-station,’ with performances and sound works originally created at Outlandia by 20 different artists, poets, writers, musicians and members of the Nevis community. 30 Jul-30 Aug, Tent Gallery, free

4. Marvin Gaye Chetwynd

Chetwynd's performances have themselves become noteworthy events in these kinds of city-wide festivals. Usually choreographed entirely by Chetwynd (not trained in dance), with all the costumes fabricated by the artist too (again, with no formal background in textiles). 30 Jul-30 Aug, New Parliament House, free

5. The Number Shop

The Number Shop is a new venue and studio complex, so it’s nice to see EAF including it within their main programme.Here, the venue is showcasing new work from their ten studio residents, plus a whole series of 'come and meet us'-type events, including Pecha Kucha talks, Q&As, and workshops. 1-30 Aug, The Number Shop, free

Books 1. Helle Helle

It’s good advice to each year try to discover something new at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, as self improvement and also to allow smug advice to those less informed. Helle Helle’s novels have been decorated with all sorts of awards and acclaim in her native Denmark and are now finally translated into English. Be among the first to get on board. 17 Aug, Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre, 7pm, £7 (£5)

2. Kirsty Logan and Jón Kalman Stefánsson

The trajectory of Scotland’s very own Kirsty Logan has soared since she followed her short story collection with five star debut novel The Gracekeepers. Here she discusses literary landscapes alongside award-winning Icelandic author Jón Kalman Stefánsson. 18 Aug, The Spiegeltent, 10.15am, £10 (£8)

3. Salena Godden and William McLellan

Poet Salena Godden departs from her raw and bawdy rhymes to show us her softer side in Springfield Road, her nostalgic look back at 70s life. She is joined by fellow memoirist William McLellan as they share their inspirational stories. 21 Aug, Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre, 2pm, £7 (£5)

4. Sean Michaels and Anna Smail

Michaels started his creative life right here at The Skinny and with such substantial grounding it’s unsurprising he’s gone far. His Giller Prize-winning debut Us Conductors treads its very own literary path, telling the story of the theremin (see also The Skinny's 10th Birthday night at Jura Unbound, 23 Aug). 22 Aug, Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre, 7pm, £7 (£5)

5. William McIlvanney

Each year that he attends EIBF we will strongly suggest you do the same: do whatever it takes to see this rarest of Scottish cultural treasures. A man who fills a stage with words and character. His true greatness has been gradually realised over recent years – come play your part. 27 Aug, Baillie Gifford Main Theatre, 6.45pm, £10 (£8)

The Glasgow-based noise quartet play an intimate show as part of their string of summer dates. BADLY DRAWN BOY

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £23

Bolton’s Damon Michael Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, takes to the road to celebrate 15 years since his Mercury Award-winning debut LP The Hour Of Bewilderbeast.

KING TUT’S SUMMER NIGHTS: AVANTE (KUDOS + BLOOD LINES + RIPLEY) KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7

King Tut’s Summer Nights schedule continues with a headline set from local foursome Avante, led by brothers Ryan and Jordan Osborne.

BUNNYGRUNT (EUREKA CALIFORNIA + BREAKFAST MUFF) THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £6

The Missouri pop ensemble tour the UK, with label mates Eureka California on support.

Wed 29 Jul NICHOLAS MCDONALD

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £18

The X Factor runner-up of 2013, still clutching at that singing ‘career’.

KING TUT’S SUMMER NIGHTS: SUBKONSIOUS + A-MACC (TOMMY DOCKERZ + CIARAN MAC + KIDROBOTIK)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7

King Tut’s Summer Nights schedule continues with a headline set from hip-hop duo SubKonsious and A-Macc. DELLA MAE

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £13

Grammy nominated all-female Boston bluegrass ensemble.

ROB DUNCAN AND THE SIDE EFFECTS (RANK BERRY + SOUTHPAW) BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Glasgow and Stirling-straddling metallers taking their cue from the mid 90s. JOYA + SECONDS (VITAL IDLES)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , 20:00–01:00, £4

Split LP launch from London slacker popsters JOYA and Glasgow noisemakers Seconds, with late night karaoke to boot.

HOLY SMOKIN’ SWAMP BOOGIE (HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS + FILTH SPECTOR + FLORE DE HOOG DJ + JOYBOX DJ) STEREO, 22:00–03:00, £4

Special night of live music, records and visual delights to keep you swaying into the night.

Sun 02 Aug LUNA (FLOWERS)

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:00–22:00, £20

Back from hiatus, the American dream pop outfit alight in Glasgow for the first time in over a decade. SAMANTHA CRAIN

KING TUT’S SUMMER NIGHTS: KELVIN (CAMMY BLACK + EVIL EDISON + GLASS MUSEUMS)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £7

King Tut’s Summer Nights schedule continues with a headline set from Glasgow anthemic indie lot Kelvin. THE FRANKLYS (THE BRUTES + FAIIDES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £5

Multi-national garage rockers hailing from exotic places like New York, Lidköping and, uhh, Milton Keynes. IAIN MATTHEWS + EGBERT DERIX

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £15

Ex-Fairport Convention and Matthews Southern Comfort guitarist and singer Iain Matthews plays a set with his new collaborator, pianist Egbert Derix.

Fri 31 Jul JACK GARRATT

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8

London-based singer/songwriter starting to rise up the ladder towards a meagre amount of fame. MAN OF MOON

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:00–22:00, £6

Sat 01 Aug

RANDOM HAND (THE HOSTILES + SHATTERHAND + MAXWELL’S DEAD)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £7

The Keighley-based punk metal champs descend. HOLLYWOOD ENDING

O2 ABC, 18:00–22:00, £12.50

Young pop-rock scamps out for their final tour. KATHRYN JOSEPH

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £8

The Scottish singer/songwriter and pianist does her lyrically compelling thing, out launching her new single following her SAY award win.

THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL (FILTH SPECTOR + HONEY & THE HERBS + THE PHARISEES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £5

Chicago-based psychedelic rock’n’rollers, imbuing their sound with plenty poppish elements as they go. MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: RODDY FRAME

KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 18:00–21:00, £28.50

The Magners Summer Nights programme at Kelvingrove Bandstand continues with a set from Aztec Camera founder and songsmith Roddy Frame. MINI MILK (SHARPTOOTH + LUSH PURR)

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:00–23:00, £4

THE FLYING DUCK, 20:00–22:30, £5

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £20

The former Bad Seed and current PJ Harvey collaborator takes to the road for a solo tour. ON THE ROPES (NOTHING PERSONAL)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £5 ADV. (£7 DOOR)

York-hailing pop-punk lot.

Tue 04 Aug

THE POLAR DREAM (FAUNO + INUIT)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

The Mexico-based instrumental post-rockers make their way to the UK, telling their stories through sounds and textures.

Thu 30 Jul American garage rock trio on the go since 1986.

Fri 07 Aug

MICK HARVEY

Edinburgh musician/producer Leo Bargery in his atmospheric rock guise.

THE GORIES

A fivesome of young traditional musicians perform lively reels, jigs and beautifully crafted Gaelic songs as part of their touring summer project.

Favourited gig-in-a-club night Milk heads west to The Hug and Pint for a downsized outing.

MT. DOUBT (DEADLY RIDES + DEC ‘91)

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £15

FEIS ROIS CEILIDH TRAIL THE GLAD CAFE, 19:00–22:00, £7

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £7

The Oklahoma-residing singer/ songwriter navigates her American roots through song.

The alternative country blues lot do their self-described ‘depressing alt-country shit’.

Fledgling Edinburgh duo made up of Chris Bainbridge and Mikey Reid.

August 2015

CENTRILIA (BLACKWORK + NOT THE MESSIAH) KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £5

Wed 05 Aug BARS AND MELODY

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £20

Youngsters Leondre Devries and Charlie Lenehan (offa Britain’s Got Talent). WE ARE CARNIVORES (KILL THE IDEAL + START STATIC)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

English post hardcore foursome who got themselves into the final of Red Bull’s download competition. BIG NOTHING (WEAK KNEES)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £6 ADV. (£8 DOOR)

90s-inspired fuzzed up Liverpudlians. TIBET

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

Cardiff indie-rock foursome with a penchant for fuzzy guitars.

Thu 06 Aug STRUGGLE

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Monthly punk and post hardcore selection of bands from DIY collective Struggletown. RAY HARRIS (CALUM FRAME)

STEREO, 19:45–22:00, £8

Record Kicks jazz supremo, fusing a smooth blend of dancefloor jazz, funk and soul. FREELANCE LIARS (TRIBAL HIGH + WRONGNOTE + ARTIE ZIFF)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

Fledgling Glasgow indie unit still riding the wave of their debut EP. MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: FROM SCOTLAND WITH LOVE

KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 18:00–21:00, £25

NOT SORRY + HOLYSIX + HAUSFRAU

The Flying Duck play host to the Glasgow debuts of Not Sorry and Holysix, with local queen of the night Hausfrau on support. GIANT SQUIDZ (JULIA AND THE DOOGANS + ROSE PARADE)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5

The misfit collective of highlanders and lowlanders return from hiatus to play some new material. THE DIRTY BEGGARS: FAREWELL PARTY (HÒ-RÒ + WIRE AND WOOL )

STEREO, 19:00–03:00, £9

The Scottish Americana fivesome play their final show before taking an extended hiatus, discoing down until 3am.

Sat 08 Aug NICK HARPER

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £10

The English singer/songwriter and guitarist does his acoustic folk-rock thing, complete with trademark acerbic lyrics. BILLY HILL + RAMON GOOSE

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:30–22:00, £8 (£6)

Sixteen year old folk fiddler Billy Hill plays a special set alongside guitarist Ramon Goose. ADORE DELANO

O2 ABC, 19:00–22:00, £30

The RuPaul’s Drag Race and American Idol contestant plays a full band set. THE AVENGERS

O2 ABC, 18:30–22:00, £11

Seminal San Francisco punk unit led by Penelope Houston. MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: GLASVEGAS

KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 18:00–21:00, £25

The Magners Summer Nights programme at Kelvingrove Bandstand continues with a set of Glasvegas’ trademark glacial guitars and heavyweight singalong choruses. BLOOD OR WHISKEY (EARTHS + THE BALLACHULISH HELLHOUNDS)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £8

Irish Celtic punk troupe who returned to the live circuit in 2012. OUTBLINKER

THE HUG AND PINT, 20:00–22:00, £5

Members of Young Philadelphia, Hey Enemy, Dead or American and Kabobo unite for forays into electro kraut-rock. BLACK RISING (SEAN REID)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:45–23:00, £6

The alternative-styled bunch play their final show.

The Magners Summer Nights programme at Kelvingrove Bandstand opens with a screening of Virginia Heath’s archive footage-compiled gem From Scotland With Love, with King Creosote on hand to perform his transportive film score.

Listings

Sun 09 Aug

MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: ELECTRIC HONEY SESSIONS (WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS + FATHERSON + YOUNG AVIATORS + WOODENBOX + FINN LEMARINEL + HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS + MAYOR STUBBS) KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 16:00–21:00, £14

The Magners Summer Nights programme at Kelvingrove Bandstand continues with an Electric Honey label takeover, taking in a sevenstrong line-up of talent. Compered by Vic Galloway. THE TUBES

THE ART SCHOOL, 19:00–22:00, £23

Legendary San Francisco rockers well-known for their 1975 smash White Punks on Dope and their theatrical live performances. THE SPOOK SCHOOL + THE MIDDLE ONES + T-SHIRT WEATHER

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £6.50

Pop!South Records summer fun day, with The Spook School back from America to play a set of their indie-style pop goodness.

CONNOR AND CAMERON PRESENTS... (ACCOLADES + BITTERSWEET BLASPHEMY + ROUGH NEVADA + PENINSULA + JASON CAMPBELL + THOMAS MCGUINNESS) RECORD FACTORY, 19:30–00:00, £5

New gig night giving small, unsigned and new start up bands a stint on the stage.

Tue 11 Aug CEREMONY

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £10

Virginia-based quintet serving up love songs with an aggressive shoegaze-esque twang.

ELEGIES (THE RECOVERY + VOLKA)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Sheffield melodic hardcore rock six-piece in possession of a new EP.

Wed 12 Aug

THE FNORDS (BLOOD BLOOD + TIM THE CHIN)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £5

Edinburgh and Glasgow-born female-fronted trio, doing lovely things with the genres of garage and punk. TARIBOWEST (SEA MONKEY SEE + FUTURE HORIZONS)

BLOC+, 21:00–23:00, FREE

A selection of super-heavy live band sounds curated by Vasa’s J Niblock and Detour’s Ally McCrae.

Thu 13 Aug

MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: JOAN ARMATRADING

KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 18:00–21:00, £27.50

The Magners Summer Nights programme at Kelvingrove Bandstand continues with a set from longstanding British singer/ songwriter Joan Armatrading. THE DEAD SETTLERS (THE BLOOD AND GOLD)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6

Fledgling Glasgow indie-rockers stacked full of guitars. MARTHA FFION (THE POOCHES + REVERIEME)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £5

Fuzz pop Irish singer/songwriter signed to Lost Map Records.

4+4+4+4 THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , 19:30–22:00, FREE

Adventurous evening of musical improv from the Glasgow music scene, including members from the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, Eight Thumbs, The One Ensemble, Sound of Yell, FUA and Death Shanties. FALLOPÉ AND THE TUBES (BOB FLAMBE + BAD PUSSY LIGHTNING)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £3

Glasgow-based female anti-pop synth punk quintet embellishing their live sound with visuals, costumes, sculpture and visual props.

Fri 14 Aug

TREMBLING BELLS (ALASDAIR ROBERTS + THE HORSE LOOM)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £12 ADV. (£14 DOOR)

The kings and queens of modern folk do their rabble-rousing live thing, touring latest LP The Sovereign Self.

SLOMATICS (BOYCOTT THE BAPTIST + HEADLESS KROSS + DROVES) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, £6

The Belfast daddies of doom take to the road. MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: BEN FOLDS

KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 18:00–21:00, £32.50

The Magners Summer Nights programme at Kelvingrove Bandstand continues with a set from multi-platinum American singer/ songwriter Ben Folds, backed by sextet ensemble yMusic. ALAN BISSETT + ADAM STAFFORD

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £7

Falkirk playwright, author and actor Alan Bissett teams up with sometime collaborator, musician and filmmaker Adam Stafford for a one-off set of spoken word and music.

ARTISTIC VICE TWO WHITE CRANES + SQUEAKEASY + BLOOD OF THE BULL + B00KSHELF + CHRISSY BARANCLE + JEALOUS GIRLFRIEND THE FLYING DUCK, 20:00–22:30, £5

New gig night for The Flying Duck, hosting a mix of old and new stuff. BODYHEAT

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , 20:00–00:00, £5

The Glasgow-based indie-popsters launch their debut LP.

JOE BONE AND THE DARK VIBES (THE MEDIA WHORES) STEREO, 19:15–22:00, £8

The alternative Glasgow ensemble play a selection of original material.

Sat 15 Aug AARON WRIGHT

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5

The Glasgow troubadour plays a set of his indie, folk and countryreferencing tunes, with new LP Flying Machine featuring input from members of Teenage Fanclub and Belle and Sebastian. THIS FEELING (MEDICINE MEN + MOONLIGHT ZOO + STORMS)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–01:00, £5

The London rock’n’roll night takes a trip north with a selection of live bands taking to the stage. LEMONHAZE

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £8

Indie pop four-piece hailing from Paisley, crafting sounds of the neo-psych variety.

MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN KELVINGROVE BANDSTAND, 18:00–21:00, £27.50

The Magners Summer Nights programme at Kelvingrove Bandstand continues with a set from longstanding Liverpudlian rockers Echo and The Bunnymen.

TYCI (MARTHA FFION + ROSE RUANE + EMMA POLLOCK + KATIE HARKIN) THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , 20:30–02:00, £5

The all-female collective, blog and fanzine hosts a one-off special at The Old Hairdressers, with live performances from Martha Ffion, Rose Ruane and Emma Pollock, plus Sky Larkin/Sleater-Kinney’s Katie Harkin on the decks.

Sun 16 Aug BAILEY MCCONNELL

O2 ABC, 18:00–22:00, £15

Teen songwriter with more than 12 million Youtube hits and 600,000 followers which is, quite frankly, more than we ever had at his age.

THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS (HELLO FORTUNE) KING TUT’S, 20:00–23:00, £10

Florida-formed punk-rock ensemble who started life as two brothers (Ronnie and Randy) and two acoustic guitars, now a fullyfledged quintet.

IN THE ROUND (GARY QUINN + LUKE & MEL + BRIAN HUGHES) BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £10 EARLYBIRD (£12.50 THEREAFTER)

BCMA Winner’s Gary Quinn and Luke & Mel host a night of country song and stories.

Tue 18 Aug

BAD LUCK (ROBOT DOCTORS + AUGUST 18TH)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

The indie-punk unit play Bloc’s diminutive lair.

Wed 19 Aug

ALL SUNS BLAZING (MANIFOLD + HAYLEE G – DEVILS IN SKIRTS + LONG DAY LIVING) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–23:00, £6

Glasgow rock’n’rollers led by lead songwriter/guitarist Henry Reilly. PEGA MONSTRO (SACRED PAWS + SECONDS + BREAKFAST MUFF)

THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS , 20:00–01:00, £7 (£6)

Lisbon-born dream pop sister duo made up of Maria and Julia Reis.

THE GLAD CAFE: 3RD BIRTHDAY (MC ALMOND MILK + JAY ROLEX)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, FREE

The Glad Cafe celebrates turning the grand old age of 3, featuring sets from Govan rapper MC Almond Milk and Jay Rolex from the Save As Collective, plus more to be announced. And all for gratis!

Sat 22 Aug

POOR THINGS (THE VAN T’S + WENDELL BORTON)

THE HUG AND PINT, 19:30–22:00, £5

Three-piece sunny indie-pop mob in exile from their Perth homeland. REVOLVING DOORS

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £6

Alternative indie Glasgow scamps, formerly playing under the name No Fxd Abode. HELICON (DEAD ELECTRIC + GREAT COP)

BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £5

East Kilbride/Glasgow-straddling psych-rock doom-mongerers.

NEIL MCLAREN (CHERYL RISK + ANDY WILLIAMSON + CHLOE MARIE)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

Dundee-based singer/songwriter of the pop persuasion. THE BEARPIT BROTHERS (RYAN MORECAMBE + STEPHEN WATT)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5

The locals lads return the The Glad Cafe to launch their new EP. DARTH ELVIS AND THE IMPERIALS (MISS THE OCCUPIER) NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 20:00–23:00, £6

BFEST SHOWCASE (YOUNG AVIATORS + REWIRED + SOPHIE ROGERS + TOM VEVERS)

Star Wars-themed Elvis tribute from Viva Mos Eisley, cos – YES – that is a thing.

STEREO, 19:30–22:00, £10

Wed 26 Aug

Following on from B Festival in June, Bobath Scotland present a selection of four local Glasgow bands raising funds for Scotland’s only dedicated cerebral palsy charity. Hosted by Jim Gellatly.

Thu 20 Aug

TETRA (BETWEEN MOCKINGBIRDS + THE 21ST STATE + OUR LUCID REALITY) KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

Indie-meets-rock Glaswegians, with psych, prog and math tendencies.

DEATH SHANTIES (HEATHER LEIGH + DOUGLAS MACGREGOR)

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5

Fledgling mixed media balls-tothe-wall free jazz group featuring Alex Neilson, Sybren Renema and Lucy Stein.

Fri 21 Aug THE FRATELLIS

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £20

Glasgow indie-rockers led by lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli, who’s also forged a solo career for himself of late.

FFS

BARROWLANDS, 19:00–23:00, £25

Glasgow art rockers Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles new wavers Sparks play tracks from their transatlantic new collaborative project. MINI MANSIONS

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £10

LA-based band of rockers featuring Queens of the Stone Age bassist Michael Shuman. MANUSCRIPTS (THE BIN MEN)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Glasgow-based punk/indie/rock duo composed of guitarist/vocalist Neil Bannatyne and drummer Iain Gillon.

Thu 27 Aug INTO THE ARK

RATKING BROADCAST, 19:00–22:00, £8

Chaotic NYC hip-hop trio made up of rappers Wiki and Hak and producer/rapper Sporting Life. BIGG TAJ (SPEE SIX NINE)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:30–23:00, FREE

Glasgow-based songwriter and producer of the beat boxing, rapid fire rap variety.

Fri 28 Aug LOLA IN SLACKS

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:30–22:00, £8

Collaboration between singer/ songwriter Lou Reid and music composer Brian McFie.

PATERSANI (TAKE TODAY + AUGUSTA FIREBALL + THE BELAFONTE)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

Glasgow indie-rock unit led by vocalist and guitarist Craig Paterson. CARL COX + JOHN DIGWEED

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 19:00–22:00, FROM £20

August bank holiday special, with dance music legends Carl Cox and John Digweed locking horns. HALFRICAN (HORACE + SHARPTOOTH)

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 19:45–23:00, £5

The Glasgow-based garage punk trio play a hometown set.

Sat 29 Aug

DUMB INSTRUMENT (JESSE RAE + BRASS AYE? + NICK FERRARA)

THE ART SCHOOL, 20:00–03:00, £10

The Ayrshire alternative bunch make merry in celebration of their new LP, joined by a live video show from Jesse Rae, plus Brass Aye? and after-bash DJ beats from Elements of Soul’s Nick Ferrara. PALE FIRE (JACK JAMES)

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

Alternative Coatbridge fivesome out touring their debut LP, recorded and produced at Chem 19 studios by Olympic Swimmers’ Jamie Savage. AID FOR PALESTINE FUNDRAISER

THE GLAD CAFE, 19:30–22:00, £5

Local house band The Bucks head up The Glad Cafe’s Palestine fundraiser, with surprise guest turns expected.

Sun 30 Aug THE DEAR HUNTER

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £9

Prog rock lot hailing from Rhode Island, US, formed in 2005 as a side project by Casey Crescenzo, ex-The Receiving End of Sirens member. SAILOR JERRY PRESENTS... (BABY STRANGE + PAWS + BO NINGEN)

RECORD FACTORY, 19:00–22:00, £5

The rum lot host the last of a trio of touring live events, this edition manned by Glaswegian punk locals Baby Strange, garage pop trio Paws and Japanese psychedelic punk foursome Bo Ningen.

KING TUT’S, 20:30–23:00, £6.50

The South Wales duo unveil a selection of new material. THE LAST INTERNATIONALE

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £12.50

American rock troupe featuring Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk.

Edinburgh Wed 29 Jul THE FRANKLYS

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6

Multi-national garage rockers hailing from exotic places like New York, Lidköping and, uhh, Milton Keynes.

Thu 30 Jul ARMSTRONG

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

The Glasgow indie-rockers make the trip up the M8.

SUMMERHALL, 19:00–03:00, FROM £7

Raising funds for Edinburgh’s three food banks, Summerhall plays host to live sets from Glasgow synthpop duo Happy Meals, experimental Edinburgh folkie Wounded Knee, Lanarkshire rockers De Rosa, and more, plus DJ sets into the night.

Sat 01 Aug

DED RABBIT (DED RABBIT, UNIVERSAL THEE AND LYNDSEY CRAIG)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £6 ADV. (£8 DOOR)

Band of brothers playing an eclectic mix of indie and sax funk.

TOMMY CONCRETE AND THE WEREWOLVES (BLACKENED RITUAL + GODHOLE + LUCIFERS CORPUS) BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

Old school Edinburgh extreme metalers led by Tommy Concrete.

Mon 03 Aug

MORDRED (SEETHING AKIRA + KICKFIST)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £15 (£12.50)

San Francisco-based thrash metal with added turntable action and the promise of funky basslines.

Tue 04 Aug TIBET

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6.50

Cardiff indie-rock foursome with a penchant for fuzzy guitars.

Wed 05 Aug

LAURENCE MURRAY PROJECT

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

The local blues rockers make their Bannermans debut.

Thu 06 Aug

THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL (FRANTIC CHANT + HELICON + FILTH SPECTOR)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6

Chicago-based psychedelic rock’n’rollers, imbuing their sound with plenty poppish elements as they go. DIZRAELI (TOO MUCH FUN CLUB)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £15 (£12.50)

Bristol, Brighton and Londonstraddling hip-hop ensemble fusing harmony singing, turntablism, heavy beats and delicate instrumentation in one fresh whole.

Fri 07 Aug

THE POLAR DREAM + FAUNO (THE OMEGA CORRIDOR + OUR SMALLEST ADVENTURES)

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

Mexico-based instrumental postrockers The Polar Dream play a joint headline set with psychedelic rock unit Fauno. CROSSFIRE (LUNES)

BANNERMANS, 22:00–23:00, £5

Powerhouse rock six-piece based in the north-east of Scotland.

Sat 08 Aug WOODENBOX

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £8

Ali Downer’s Americana-styled folk ensemble play under their clipped back Woodenbox moniker, still imbued with the same propensity for full-on barn-raising anthems. CHILLY GONZALES + KAISER QUARTETT

THE HUB, 21:30–23:20, £25

Fledgling Edinburgh duo made up of Chris Bainbridge and Mikey Reid.

Fri 31 Jul

Sun 09 Aug

BROKEN RECORDS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

CHILLY GONZALES + KAISER QUARTETT

The 2006-formed Edinburgh mainstays play a special intimate show, with their usual wide variety of instrumentation complimenting their eclectic sound.

Piano virtuoso Chilly Gonzales teams up with the Kaiser Quartett to present his new project, Chambers.

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

Mon 10 Aug

SACRE NOIR

The Edinburgh garage rock’n’rollers launch their new single. KAT HEALY (PAUL GILBODY + MORGAN WOODS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 19:00–22:00, £8

Edinburgh-based acoustic popstress who also leads up The Kat Healy Music Club.

Listings

SUMMERHALL FOOD BANK NIGHT (HAPPY MEALS + DE ROSA + WOUNDED KNEE, FUDGE FINGAS + HOUSE OF TRAPS + KRIS WASABI)

Piano virtuoso Chilly Gonzales teams up with the Kaiser Quartett to present his new project, Chambers.

MAN OF MOON

THE VOODOO ROOMS, 19:00–23:00, £6

Edinburgh Music

THE HUB, 21:30–23:20, £25

SUN KIL MOON (PAINBIRDS)

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £20

The San Franciscan folk rockers man the next instalment in Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series, born of the ashes of the long defunct Red House Painters.

ELEGIES BANNERMANS, 20:00–22:00, £5

Sheffield melodic hardcore rock six-piece in possession of a new EP. ROBERT GLASPER TRIO

THE HUB, 22:30–00:30, £25

The pianist, band-leader, composer, producer and all-round talented bugger plays in his acoustic piano trio format. SNJO: ALBA – SONGS OF SCOTLAND

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 19:30–21:45, £20

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, celebrating their 20th anniversary, are joined by Eddi Reader to richly re-imagine Scotland through evocative music and song.

Tue 18 Aug

ANNA CALVI + HERITAGE ORCHESTRA

THE HUB, 22:30–00:10, £25

The operatic songstress plays a special concert with the innovative and eclectic Heritage Orchestra.

Wed 19 Aug

DONNIE VIE (BAZ FRANCIS)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £13 (£11)

The Enuff Z Nuff singer performs a set of hits, unplugged and on piano, followed by a selection of rock stories. ANNA CALVI + HERITAGE ORCHESTRA

THE HUB, 22:30–00:10, £25

Wed 12 Aug

The operatic songstress plays a special concert with the innovative and eclectic Heritage Orchestra.

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £16

Thu 20 Aug

BILL WELLS AND AIDAN MOFFAT (KATHRYN JOSEPH)

The esteemed musical chums man the next instalment in Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series, with stellar support from SAY Award-winner 2015 Kathryn Joseph. HOMELESS BILLIONAIRES

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

London-based grunge rock drummer and guitarist unit made up of Jimmie Makk and Agustin Patrick Byrnes. BRUJERIA (CANCEROUS WOMB + TOWER OF FLIES)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £17

Grindcore-meets-death metal unit featuring some of the genre's best players.

Thu 13 Aug

STANLEY ODD (SPRING BREAK)

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £12

Inventive hip-hop musings are the order of the day for the next instalment in Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series, as the Odd Squad move from chopped electrofunk to crunchy 8-bit. BORN AND BRED (FOREIGNFOX + REDOLENT)

KASABIAN

CORN EXCHANGE, 19:00–22:00, £39.50

Expect more in the way of ballsy northern anthems from the Leicester boys. SUN RA ARKESTRA (RICHARD YOUNGS)

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £20

The revered Arkestra man the next instalment in Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series, more than 50 years after they founded and flung styles the world over together in glorious free-form. ANNA CALVI + HERITAGE ORCHESTRA

THE HUB, 22:30–00:10, £25

The operatic songstress plays a special concert with the innovative and eclectic Heritage Orchestra. SEED OF SORROW (WARHEAD)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

Inverness brutal death metal unit with a distinctly technical approach.

Fri 21 Aug

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6

TORN FACE (CENSORED + RUNEMASTER + EDGEVILLE HELLRIDE)

WAR ON WOMEN (MIAOUMIX + ELK GANG)

All-out metal racket, featuring members of Dog Tired, Firebrand Super Rock and Lucifer’s Corpus.

Curated showcase night featuring a selection of local acts. WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £7

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £7 (£5)

THE VASELINES

Incendiary feminist hardcore punk unit formed in 2010 by several veterans of the Baltimore rock scene, including members of AVEC and Liars Academy.

The Scottish indie rock progenitors man the next instalment in Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series.

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

Sat 22 Aug

IN CROWDED SKIES

Catchy rock with a progressive edge.

Fri 14 Aug

HECTOR BIZERK (CARBS)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6

Much-lauded Glasgow-based alternative hip-hop duo made up of Louie and Audrey, MC and drummer respectively.

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £15

THE EX (WOUNDED KNEE)

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £12

The adventurous and inspiring Dutch punk/noise/jazz quartet who have defied categorisation for over 33 years. MAGNETIC ROSE (SCORED BY ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER)

THE HUB, 21:30–23:10, £25

The Mr. Big singer/songwriter plays an unplugged and up-close set.

Experimental American composer Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) performs a new live soundtrack to accompany a screening of the Katsuhiro Otomo film Magnetic Rose.

THE HUB, 22:30–23:55, £25

WEE RED BAR, 19:00–22:00, £5

ERIC MARTIN (SIMON KAVIANI + JOHN MCNAMARA + TERGAZZI)

BANNERMANS, 22:00–23:00, £12

FROM SCOTLAND WITH LOVE (SCORED BY KING CREOSOTE)

The archive footage-compiled From Scotland With Love enjoys a bells’n’whistles airing, with King Creosote on hand to perform his transportive score.

Sat 15 Aug

SLOMATICS (HEADLESS KROSS)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £TBC

The Belfast daddies of doom take to the road.

FROM SCOTLAND WITH LOVE (SCORED BY KING CREOSOTE) THE HUB, 21:30–22:55, £25

The archive footage-compiled From Scotland With Love enjoys a bells’n’whistles airing, with King Creosote on hand to perform his transportive score.

Mon 17 Aug HUMBLE HOOLIGANS

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £6

GALGO AND KIKI (SNIDE RHYTHMS + MAY HE GO)

Young Argentine musicians armed with their vibrant rhythms and folklore acoustic melodies. CHRIS GLEN (SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND,MSG) (FULL TILT JANIS + THE IRESITABLE URGES)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, (£15 (£12)

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band chappie plays a special set. JAMIE & SHOONY

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6

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

Sun 23 Aug HAZY RECOLLECTIONS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Reliably lovely afternoon sesh of handpicked acts from the flourishing Scottish indie, folk and roots scene.

Long Beach troupe mixing Irish rock/folk/punk ala the Dropkick Murphys.

THE SKINNY

Mon 24 Aug SEETHER

THE LIQUID ROOM, 19:00–22:00, £16.50

Sat 29 Aug INTO THE ARK

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £6.50

South African alternative metal outfit formed in 1999, who went under the name Saron Gas until ditching it in 2002.

The South Wales duo unveil a selection of new material.

FESTIVAL THEATRE, 20:00–22:15, £20

Songwriter Sufjan Stevens adds his expressive voice and exuberant orchestrations to a new film project, with slow motion footage by sibling filmmakers Aaron and Alex Craig, while piano and percussion quartet Yarn/Wire perform the live score.

FFS (FRANZ FERDINAND & SPARKS)

Glasgow art rockers Franz Ferdinand and Los Angeles new wavers Sparks play tracks from their transatlantic new collaborative project. GOLD PHOENIX (VENUS ENVY)

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

The blues rock lot take to the road for their debut UK tour.

Tue 25 Aug

ALL TIME LOW (NECK DEEP)

CORN EXCHANGE, 19:00–22:00, £23.50

Chirpy American punk-popsters, all fast-paced and fizzy with hooks.

ROUND-UP (SCORED BY YARN/ WIRE)

THE HUB, 22:00–23:20, £25

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £14

More rolling drums, big guitars and massive effing finales from the WWPJ gang, manning the latest instalment of Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series. NEIL MCLAREN

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

Dundee-based singer/songwriter of the pop persuasion. MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: JAMES

ROSS BANDSTAND, 18:00–22:30, £40

The Magners Summer Nights programme in Princes Street Gardens kicks off with a set from classic indie troupe James.

Thu 27 Aug ALEXI MURDOCH

THE HUB, 21:30–23:30, £25

The enigmatic Scottish multiinstrumentalist, singer and songwriter plays a special set.

THE DOUGIE MACLEAN PROJECT

THE QUEEN’S HALL, 20:00–22:30, £25

The renowned Scot (aka he who penned Caledonia) returns to the Queen’s Hall to premiere his latest seven-piece project. MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: THE FLAMING LIPS

ROSS BANDSTAND, 18:00–22:30, £32.50

The Magners’ Summer Nights programme in Princes Street Gardens continues with famously O.T.T. live merrymakers The Flaming Lips, with mainman Wayne Coyne providing the soothingly familiar vocal backdrop to a crescendo of crazy. SUPERMOON (ROB ST JOHN)

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £10

Meursault’s Neil Pennycook brings his new live band project, Supermoon, to Summerhall for the latest instalment of the venue’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series.

Fri 28 Aug WASHINGTON IRVING

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 19:00–22:00, £8

The indie-folk locals (whose story began in a basement flat back in February 2008, fact fans) take to the stage. OWEN PALLETT (RORY SUTHERLAND)

SUMMERHALL, 20:30–01:00, £14

The Canadian baroque pop multiinstrumentalist and composer mans the next instalment in Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here gig series. COMMON GROUND

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £5

Raw young quintet rising from Kilwinning’s post industrial landscape. RICHARD REED PARRY + BRYCE DESSNER: WAVE MOVEMENTS

THE HUB, 21:15–22:55, £25

Composers Richard Reed Parry and Bryce Dessner, also members of rock bands Arcade Fire and The National respectively, take as inspiration the different wave cycles of the world’s oceans in a work for string orchestra and film. Go marvel. MAGNERS SUMMER NIGHTS: THE WATERBOYS

ROSS BANDSTAND, 18:00–22:30, £35

The Magners’ Summer Nights programme in Princes Street Gardens continues with a set from longstanding Mike Stott-led Celtic rockers, The Waterboys.

August 2015

I AM (MIA DORA) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, this edition joined by local heroes Mia Dora.

Wed 29 Jul SUB ROSA

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

BLACK TENT NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Mon 03 Aug

SUBCULTURE

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic manning the decks.

BANNERMANS, 20:00–23:00, £7

Thu 30 Jul

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms.

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

The Holland metal unit bring the noise.

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Dundee Music Sat 01 Aug

THE BUS STATION LOONIES (RANDOM SCANDAL + HUSBANDS N KNIVES + THE EDDIES)

BEAT GENERATOR LIVE!, 20:00–22:00, £5

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. STRETCHED

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

Jazz-influenced sound sauna, moving through mathcore to postrock, with a few live acts thrown in for good measure.

VICIOUS CREATURES’ SUMMER DISCO (LATE NIGHT TUFF GUY) SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 EARLYBIRD (£8 THEREAFTER)

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

THE ROCK SHOP

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. SINGLES NIGHT

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Andy Divine and Chris Geddes’ gem of a night dedicated to 7-inch singles from every genre imaginable. DEATHKILL 4000

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Punk-styled lot formed from various bands, including Oi Polloi and Bikini Atoll, on the road with their usual live buffoonery to celebrate 20 years of being.

Glasgow party night intent on breaking free from the chains of normality, this edition welcoming a guest set from Aussie disco enthusiast Late Night Tuff Guy.

Industro-rock noise party with live players and bespoke visuals to boot.

Thu 06 Aug

Fri 31 Jul

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £6 ADV. (£8 DOOR)

BUSKERS, 19:30–22:00, £4

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

AARON WRIGHT

The Glasgow troubadour plays a set of his indie, folk and countryreferencing tunes, with new LP Flying Machine featuring input from members of Teenage Fanclub and Belle and Sebastian.

Sun 09 Aug ELEGIES

BUSKERS, 19:30–23:00, £4

Sheffield melodic hardcore rock six-piece in possession of a new EP.

Thu 13 Aug

DARE PROTOPLAY: CONCERT AND DANCE PARTY

CAIRD HALL, 19:30–22:00, £8 (£5)

In celebration of computer games festival Dare ProtoPlay, live orchestral ensemble Mantra Collective perform arrangements of indie game music, followed by dance musician Chipzel who uses Game Boys to create melodic dance.

Fri 14 Aug

MIRACLE GLASS COMPANY (DORÆN + NEIL MCLAREN) BUSKERS, 19:30–23:00, £4

The fledgling power rock trio play a polished set of psychedelic grooves, built on their tight vocal harmonies and ingenious song structures.

Sat 15 Aug

NO EGOS (THE RAIN EXPERIMENT + ED SINGS)

BUSKERS, 19:00–22:00, £TBC

Dundee-based indie/country/ blues/rock unit, out launching their new LP.

Sat 22 Aug

FAT GOTH (ROBOT DOCTORS + WOJTEK)

BUSKERS, 19:30–22:00, £4

The fledgling power rock trio play a polished set of psychedelic grooves, built on their tight vocal harmonies and ingenious song structures.

OLD SKOOL

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

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

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

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Monthly evening of hip shakers and neck breakers, combining everything from Buddy Holly to Motorhead. SENSU BOAT PARTY (DJ TENNIS)

GLASGOW SCIENCE CENTRE, 19:00–23:00, £TBC

Sensu set sail for a voyage down the Clyde, with New Jersey resident DJ Tennis (aka Manfredi Romano) on board. Boat leaves from Glasgow Science Centre (6.30pm), with after-party action at Sub Club (11pm-3am). 90S HIP HOP

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5

TTue 28 Jul KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’

Record label and occasional club night, with electronic guest Johnny Kaos. BIRDCAGE

BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, FREE

The Birdcage residents reunite for four hours of eclectic tunes, plus visual art by Rachel Sharpe. SURGE FESTIVAL CLUB

The EzUp lot take to their now regular La Cheetah lair for a residents and guests special. CLASSIC FRIDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6

Two floors of punk, industrial, metal, rock, indie and more. FANCY

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

New weekly Thursday party playing pop and r’n’b tunes. TRAVEL AGENCY

New club venture with resident L’Homme Tranquille at the controls, playing selections of house, techno and disco.

Sat 01 Aug NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 04 Aug KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’ I AM (BIG MIZ)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, this edition joined by Big Miz.

Wed 05 Aug BEAST WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

The midweek residents serve up their usual rammy of pop-punk and hardcore, whilst the bar doles out alcoholic slushies. Slurp.

Thu 06 Aug HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. UPRAWR

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

CLASSIC SATURDAYS

FLAWLESS

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more.

New weekly Thursday party playing pop and r’n’b tunes.

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 21:00–03:00, £15.50

The Show crew welcome a double dose of guest talent in the form of Patrick Topping and Theo Kottis.

CLUB NOIR: SUMMER IN THE 60S

Glasgow’s burlesque star teasers in a summer edition special, joined by Edinburgh-based garage outfit Les Bof. LET’S GO BACK… WAY BACK (KEV STEVENS)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£5)

Residents Bosco and Rob Mason bring acid-house, techno and rave back to the dancefloor, joined for a guest set by local disco don Kev Stevens.

EZUP

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH TRADE WAGE SLIP)

Cabaret fun and DJ tuneage for all you post-Surge Festival revellers.

Official after-bash for the sneaker sale pop-up, with live sets from the likes of Beardyman, Pro Vinylist Karim, Bunty Beats and more.

Official after-bash for Sensu’s boat party down’t the Clyde, with guest DJ Tennis joining them on land for s’more deck action.

BURN

Weekly Thursday takeover with guest DJs, prize giveaways and themed drinks.

BLACKFRIARS BASEMENT, 22:30–03:00, £5

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

SENSU BOAT PARTY: AFTER-PARTY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £TBC

Glasgow

TRIBAL PULSE (JOHNNY KAOS + BOOM MERCHANT)

SOLE BLOC: AFTER PARTY (BEARDYMAN + PRO VINYLIST KARIM + BUNTY BEATS + HANDPICKED DJS + CRAIG MOOG + KEV STEVENS)

Summer-themed night of the best in 90s hip-hop.

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

The Freaky Freaky party starters join forces with the equally party hard Stay Fresh lot for a special showcase.

Mon 31 Aug

MARTYR (HELLION RISING)

FREAKY FREAKY VS STAY FRESH

Indie, dance and anything inbetween with Pauly (My Latest Novel) and Simin and Steev (Errors).

Subbie’s regular student night with residents Spittal and Nowicki at the helm.

Wed 26 Aug

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS (LITTLE KICKS)

Glasgow Clubs

SWG3 GLASGOW, 21:00–02:00, £10

Sun 02 Aug LUNA (FLOWERS)

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:00–22:00, £20

Back from hiatus, the American dream pop outfit head to the UK for the first time in over a decade. CLIFFHANGER

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

DJ Kelmosh plays a mix of rock, dance and indie.

STREETRAVE STREET PARTY (TODD TERRY + DANNY RAMPLING + CJ MACKINTOSH + UNIQUE 3 + HOLLIGAN X + BIB JEFFRIES + JON MANCINI + BONEY + 808 STATE + SHADES OF RHYTHYM + KYM SIMS) SWG3 GLASGOW, 14:00–23:00, £25

STREETrave bring some rave to your Sunday with a sprawling programme of DJs harking back to yesteryear, including Todd Terry, Jon Mancini, Danny Rampling, and more, plus music from 808 State, Shades of Rhythm and Kym Sims.

SHOW (PATRICK TOPPING + THEO KOTTIS)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FROM £6

Fri 07 Aug PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Residents fun night of rock, metal, punk and emo spread over three rooms. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

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

Sat 08 Aug NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. MADCHESTER

RECORD FACTORY, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

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

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Messy Saturday night uberdisco armed with Erasure and Papa Roach discographies. OPTIMO

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

The Optimo champs curate their occasional fun night, a guest or two oft in tow. SUBCITY

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

The Subcity radio crew bring the party – 20 years old and still going strong – playing host to a selection of station favourites. CLASSIC SATURDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more.

FINE GRAINS RECORDS SHOWCASE (CAIN + JOE HOWE + T_A_M + URAKI RIDDIM) THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5

London-based label Fine Grains Records hit Glasgow in celebration of the release of the forthcoming BLÅIS EP by Beatbully and Fitzroy North. WE SHOULD HANG OUT MORE: 1ST BIRTHDAY (EL HORNO + SHAHAA TOPS)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)

The WSHOM crew celebrate their first birthday, with the residents supplying the disco vibes from start to finish. THE FLYING DUCK: 8TH BIRTHDAY

THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, £5

The Flying Duck hosts its usual fun birthday bash, turning 8 on the 8th day of the 8th month, with Buckfast on a promise. Slurp. PRETTY UGLY (MARNIE)

THE ADMIRAL, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 12)

Favourited indie night headed up by a trio of female DJs, this month with a guest set from synthpop goddess Marnie (of Ladytron). SUBCULTURE (SILICONE SOUL)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £8

Long-running house night with residents Harri & Domenic joined by Glasgow house duo Silicone Soul.

Sun 09 Aug

Wed 12 Aug BEAST WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

The midweek residents serve up their usual rammy of pop-punk and hardcore, whilst the bar doles out alcoholic slushies. Slurp. GONZO

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative club fun night for all your, er, alternative clubbing needs.

Thu 13 Aug HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer. UPRAWR

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Weekly Thursday takeover with guest DJs, prize giveaways and themed drinks.

HIGH RISE (BROKEN ENGLISH CLUB)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Highrise continue their run of stellar bookings with a guest set from Oliver Ho’s post punk/industrial project Broken English Club. FLAWLESS

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

New weekly Thursday party playing pop and r’n’b tunes. GOOD GRIEF’S GOOP SHOP (DAMN TEETH)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

The DIY label and zine collective present their monthly clubmeets-gig outing and fresh zine launch combined, this edition with Damn Teeth in tow launching their new LP.

Fri 14 Aug PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Residents fun night of rock, metal, punk and emo spread over three rooms. COMMON PEOPLE

THE FLYING DUCK, 21:00–03:00, £5

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

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Grass roots club where promoters raise funds for the charity of their choice, with various live guests taking to the decks. KUNST

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 12)

Team Kunst return to their La Cheetah lair, with guests being kept under wraps for now. RETURN TO MONO (SLAM)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £6 EARLYBIRD (£8 THEREAFTER)

Mon 10 Aug BURN

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

MISSING PERSONS CLUB

Residents-manned evening of the finest techno and house offerings from the MPC crew. GLITTERBANG

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

Sweatcore disco hits played out by James T and Ramo, with a Gina G tune or two on a promise. CLASSIC FRIDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6

Two floors of punk, industrial, metal, rock, indie and more. PARTY FEARS

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Three-way girl-team playing edgy electro and indie selections. MONDO (SGUTTED)

BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, FREE

The Mondo residents welcome guests Sgutted for double the fun.

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

ENJOYABLE MOMENT

The Cosmic Dead chaps trip out with an evening of rollin’ Krautrock DJing for your general aural pleasure. CLASSIC FRIDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6

Tue 11 Aug

Two floors of punk, industrial, metal, rock, indie and more.

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Sat 15 Aug

KILLER KITSCH

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’ I AM: SWAMP 81

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£7 AFTER 12)

The i AM chaps bring Swamp 81 back to Glasgow, this time with Mickey Pearce and Chunky ready to put Sub Club through its paces.

GIMME SHELTER

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £5

Varied night moving from the 50s to present day, via selections of rock’n’roll, soul, garage, psych and r’n’b. MONSTER HOSPITAL

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Energetic club outing from DJ duo Beyvnce Nailz and C4lvin Malice. CLASSIC SATURDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more. ABYSS: 2ND BIRTHDAY (MONIKA KRUSE + LINDSAY & KENDAL + FRASER STUART)

SWG3 GLASGOW, 21:00–02:00, £10

The Abyss crew celebrate turning the grand old age of two by welcoming techno legend and Berghain resident Monika Kruse to the warehouse. ANIMAL FARM

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £5

Dancefloor-filling techno nuts Animal Farm take the reins.

SUBCULTURE (HORSE MEAT DISCO)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

Residents Harri & Domenic are joined by legendary London duo Horse Meat Disco. NO MORE FUCKING ABBA

THE ADMIRAL, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£5 AFTER 12)

New alternative indie dance party for the queer at heart, with Abba tunes firmly banned.

Sun 16 Aug CLIFFHANGER

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

DJ Kelmosh plays a mix of rock, dance and indie.

Mon 17 Aug BURN

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)

Tue 18 Aug

JAMMING FRIDAYS

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Party night from floral-shirted Wild Combination man David Barbarossa, specializing in leftfield disco, post-punk and far-out pop.

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Full-on mix of nu-metal and hard rockin’ tunes over two floors.

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

STRANGE PARADISE

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Hip-hop and gangsta rap brought to you by the Notorious B.A.G and pals.

SLIDE IT IN

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests.

Celebration of all things 90s, with hits a-plenty and a pre-club bingo session.

Monthly night from Soma Records, with producer/DJ duo Slam (aka Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle) sharing deck duty over a four-hour set of underground techno.

HARSH TUG

LOVE MUSIC O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’ I AM

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (FREE VIA IAMCLUB.CO.UK)

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, oft joined by a guest or two.

Wed 19 Aug SUB ROSA

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Subbie’s regular student night with residents Spittal and Nowicki at the helm. BEAST WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

The midweek residents serve up their usual rammy of pop-punk and hardcore, whilst the bar doles out alcoholic slushies. Slurp. MUSIC TALKS

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

New monthly live indie-rock clubber’s delight.

Thu 20 Aug HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop. JELLY BABY

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk.

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

REPEATER

Post-hardcore DIY gig/club effort, with a selection of live acts dropping by.

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney.

Listings

STEREOTONE (SQUISH KIBOSH VS WHEELMAN + CARRINGTON STREET ELITE) LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £3

Thursday night party with resident Wheelman inviting a host of local Glasgow talent down to La Cheetah’s basement. UPRAWR

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Weekly Thursday takeover with guest DJs, prize giveaways and themed drinks. FLAWLESS

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

New weekly Thursday party playing pop and r’n’b tunes.

Fri 21 Aug PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie. CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Residents fun night of rock, metal, punk and emo spread over three rooms. JAMMING FRIDAYS

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Indie rock’n’roll from the 60s to 00s with resident tune-picker DJ Jopez. THUNDER DISCO CLUB (BICEP)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

The Thunder Disco Club residents welcome Belfast-based old school house duo, Bicep, for a special guest slot. INTERGALACTIC

THE FLYING DUCK, 21:00–01:00, £3

Space and sci-fi themed night with Sci_Fi Steven and Gav Dunbar playing the best in star-crunching party tunes, or summat. CLASSIC FRIDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6

Two floors of punk, industrial, metal, rock, indie and more. NITRIC ACID

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

Primitive rave noise, via selections of old school acid, new beat and ket gabber. DEORRO (DIRTY AUDIO + ZOOFUNKTION + IEZ)

O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW, 21:00–03:00, £19

The Ultra Records DJ (aka Erick Orrosquieta) mans the decks, bringing his Panda Funk crew with him as Dirty Audio, Zoofunktion and Iez join him on the bill. SUPERLUMINAL

THE POETRY CLUB, 21:00–02:00, £7 (£5)

Night of ‘100% pure techno filth’, with live guests Petrol Bastard, Sausage Squad and Petrol Hoers, plus a spoken word set from comic writer Grant Morrison. ALL CAPS

THE ART SCHOOL, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

New Glasgow collective All Caps descend for an Art School takeover. OFFBEAT PRESENTS... MONOX

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Offbeat invite Dan ‘Monox’ Lurinsky and The Wasp down to celebrate the memory of Glasgow techno institution, Monox. HUNTLEYS AND PALMERS VS WRONG ISLAND

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £TBC

H+P’s Andrew and pals play tunes across the board, joined for a one-off live versus set by Wrong Island’s Teamy and Dirty Larry. HANDPICKED

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Hip-hop and huge beats from the Subcity Cassette cats.

Sat 22 Aug NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. SUBCULTURE (GERD JANSON)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

Subculture residents Harri & Domenic host a special outing from German artist and boss of Running Black, Gerd Janson.

Listings

EZUP

CATHOUSE FRIDAYS

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

The EzUp lot take to their now regular La Cheetah lair for a residents and guests special.

Residents fun night of rock, metal, punk and emo spread over three rooms.

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

CLASSIC SATURDAYS

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more.

BIRDCAGE: ALTERNATIVE PRIDE PARTY (MENERGY + PEARL NECKLACE + FLOYD + POISONOUS RELATIONSHIP + MIA VS CAITY COOPER)

STEREO, 21:00–03:00, £5 EARLYBIRD (£7£10 THEREAFTER)

Guillotina Munter (of Menergy) hosts the third annual alternative Pride party, taking in six hours of DJs, performance artists, visual art and more. TAPS AFF: PRIDE AFTER-PARTY

THE FLYING DUCK, 22:00–03:00, £6

The Flying Duck host a cheeky Pride after-bash, playing the best in house, Italo and club classics. DARK PARTIALS PROJECT

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

Mixed bag of house and techno obscurities. DIRTY SIRENS

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Crossover vintage rap, pop and hip-hop from the up-and-coming DJ fatale.

Sun 23 Aug SLIDE IT IN

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Full-on mix of nu-metal and hard rockin’ tunes over two floors.

Mon 24 Aug BURN

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Tue 25 Aug KILLER KITSCH

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Eclectic midweeker playing the best in house, techno and electronic – or, in their words ‘casually ignoring shite requests since 2005.’ I AM

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (FREE VIA IAMCLUB.CO.UK)

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa play the usual fine mix of electronica and bass, oft joined by a guest or two.

Wed 26 Aug SUB ROSA

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5

Subbie’s regular student night with residents Spittal and Nowicki at the helm. BEAST WEDNESDAYS

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (£2)

JAMMING FRIDAYS

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

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Monthly evening of hip shakers and neck breakers, combining everything from Buddy Holly to Motorhead. CLASSIC FRIDAYS

CLASSIC GRAND, 23:00–03:00, £6

Two floors of punk, industrial, metal, rock, indie and more. POLYESTER

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

Mixed up fun night of queer performance, music and DJ vibes.

LA CHEETAH CLUB AND SUBSTANCE PRESENT… MOTOR CITY ELECTRONICS (DJ BONE)

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–04:00, £10

La Cheetah Club team up with Edinburgh promoters Substance for the next in their Detroit-focused series, this time welcoming techno legend DJ Bone. PRESSURE (DAVE CLARKE + SLAM + TRANSMISSIONS GLASGOW)

SWG3 GLASGOW, 22:30–03:00, £15 EARLYBIRD (£17 THEREAFTER)

Pressure return with a two-part monster of a party, with Dave Clarke and Slam in the upstairs space, while and Transmissions:Glasgow hole up downstairs in The Poetry Club with Animal Farm, Edit Select and Deepbass.

Sat 29 Aug NU SKOOL

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £7 (£6)

Nick Peacock spins a Saturdayready selection of vintage disco, soul and funk. CATHOUSE SATURDAYS

CATHOUSE, 22:30–03:00, £6 (£4)

Punk, rock and metallic selection of beats spread across three rooms. THE ROCK SHOP

MAGGIE MAY’S, 22:00–03:00, FREE (£5/£3 STUDENT AFTER 12)

Rock, indie and golden indie classics with resident DJ Heather McCartney. LOVE MUSIC

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Saturday night disco manned by your man Gerry Lyons and guests. A LOVE FROM OUTER SPACE

SWG3 GLASGOW, 22:30–03:00, £9

Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston’s rather ace London night takes a trip north. NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR

NICE ‘N’ SLEAZY, 23:30–03:00, £3

The midweek residents serve up their usual rammy of pop-punk and hardcore, whilst the bar doles out alcoholic slushies. Slurp.

The NOTJ collective play a set of all things musically unusual, as is their merry way.

Thu 27 Aug

The legendary Glaswegian club institution lives again, back and in its indie stride.

HIP HOP THURSDAYS

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Euan Neilson plays the best in classic r’n’b and hip-hop.

OLUM

BLOC+, 23:00–03:00, FREE

NOCEUR

LA CHEETAH CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Thursday nighter of chart, disco and party tunes. Can’t say fairer.

The Noceur party crew take to their regular La Cheetah lair, with guest details being kept under wraps for now.

BLOC+, 21:00–01:00, FREE

CLASSIC GRAND, 22:30–03:00, £6

JELLY BABY

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £4

STRETCHED

Jazz-influenced sound sauna, moving through mathcore to postrock, with a few live acts thrown in for good measure. UPRAWR

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £5

Weekly Thursday takeover with guest DJs, prize giveaways and themed drinks. FLAWLESS

THE FLYING DUCK, 23:00–03:00, £3

New weekly Thursday party playing pop and r’n’b tunes. MODAL

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Ministry of Sound tour resident Rebecca Vasmant hosts a special edition of her Modal night.

Fri 28 Aug PROPAGANDA

O2 ABC, 23:00–03:00, £5

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie.

CLASSIC SATURDAYS

Alternative blowout of metal, industrial, pop-punk, rock, emo and more.

GEEK PIT (BONG RA + GORE TECH + BABYSHAKER + AL TWISTED + BRUTALONE) BROADCAST, 23:00–03:00, £7 ADV. (£8 DOOR)

Geek Pit present a sprawling and brutal line-up of ear-shattering breakcore, noise, gabber and hardcore. SUBCULTURE (KINK)

SUB CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £10

Residents Harri & Domenic are joined by innovative Bulgarian producer Kink.

Sun 30 Aug SLIDE IT IN

CATHOUSE, 23:00–03:00, £2 (£1)

Full-on mix of nu-metal and hard rockin’ tunes over two floors.

Mon 31 Aug BURN

BUFF CLUB, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3/FREE WITH WAGE SLIP)

Long-running trade night with Normski and Mash spinning the disco beats.

Edinburgh Clubs THE TOO MUCH FUN CLUB: SUMMER SPECIAL STUDIO 24, 23:00–03:00, £TBC

Edinburgh Clubs Tue 28 Jul SOUL JAM HOT

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Fresh mix of funk, soul and boogie from The Players Association team. TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats. I LOVE HIP HOP SUMMER SERIES

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)

The I Love Hip Hop funsters continue their new weekly Tuesday session at the newly-reinstated La Belle Angele.

Wed 29 Jul COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

The Edinburgh art collective present a special summer’s night of hip-hop and live drawing, as is their merry way. HEY QT!

WEE RED BAR, 22:30–03:00, £3

Sweaty dance disco for queer folk and their pals. NOTSOSILENT (JON RUST)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, £5

Belch and crew bring the best in underground house, this edition joined by Oneman’s Standard Place crew member Jon Rust. ASYLUM TAKEOVER (JACQUES DA SOUL)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–03:00, FREE

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space.

Thu 30 Jul I AM EDINBURGH

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £4 (FREE VIA IAMCLUB.CO.UK)

Resident young guns Beta & Kappa make their regular trip east, playing the usual fine mix of electronica and bass. JUICE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami making weird waves through house and techno. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–03:00, FREE

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room. VOLTAGE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–03:00, FREE

New night focused on classic and contemporary house, techno and electronica, with Alex Davidson at the reins.

Fri 31 Jul FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–03:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms. PLANET EARTH

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–03:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Distinctly retro selections from 1960 to 1999, moving from Abba to ZZ Top. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£3)

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–03:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. REVOLVER

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£4)

Friday fun night manned by a rotating pool of residents, including Animal Hospital, Nightvision, Pulse, Notsosilent, Musika and Body.

SUMMERHALL, 23:00–03:00, £10

Wed 05 Aug

Summerhall celebrates festival time with a special opening bash manned by house specialist Prosumer (aka Achim Brandenburg), with Firecracker Records head honcho House of Traps on support.

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Sat 08 Aug

One-off special with Soulsville’s DJ Tsatsu and Cam Mason joining Soul Jam’s Belcher and McLaren for the night. COOKIE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS

TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Sat 01 Aug

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £5

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson.

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure.

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–05:00, FREE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–05:00, £5 (£6 AFTER MIDNIGHT)

TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. SPEAKER BITE ME

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£6 AFTER MIDNIGHT)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £7 (£5)

THE GETTUP

SUMMERHALL FESTIVAL OPENING PARTY (PROSUMER + HOUSE OF TRAPS)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–03:00, £5 (£4)

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson.

SOUL JAM VS SOULSVILLE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

KINKY INDIE CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 1)

Weekly dabblings in indie and alternative tuneage.

House, garage and bass adventures with DJs Blackwax and Faultlines.

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £8 (£5)

House, garage and bass adventures with DJs Blackwax and Faultlines. TRIBE

The I Love Hip Hop funsters continue their new weekly Tuesday session at the newly-reinstated La Belle Angele.

The Asylum crew provide a best of selection of techno, minimal and bass to get your weekend movin’.

The Evol DJs worship at the alter of all kinds of indie-pop, with their only rule being that it’s gotta have bite.

WITNESS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–03:00, FREE

I LOVE HIP HOP SUMMER SESSIONS LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £3

CHEAP PICASSO

All night long set from the Gasoline Dance Machine and One Night Stand promoters.

WEE DUB PRESENTS... KING YOOF (CAPITOL)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £6 (£4.50)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

TRIBE

THE GETTUP

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space. VOLTAGE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, FREE

New night focused on classic and contemporary house, techno and electronica, with Alex Davidson at the reins. RUBATO

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £5 (£3)

Diverse mix of dancefloor-friendly sounds from around the world.

Thu 06 Aug JUICE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami making weird waves through house and techno. CHAMPION SOUND

The Wee Dub Festival crew keep the party going with a one-off club outing, capably manned by bass music specialist King Yoof.

Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae, dancehall and everything inbetween.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:00–05:00, FROM £12

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

KARNIVAL (NICOLE MOUDABER)

Karnival welcome Drumcode stalwart and Circoloco and Carl Cox Revolutions resident Nicole Moudaber for her Edinburgh debut.

TEESH: BOLLYWOOD DISCO SPECIAL (DAVID BARBAROSSA) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5

After the fun of last year’s Bollywood Disco party, Teesh host round two.

Sun 02 Aug THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle. CREATURES OF HABIT

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:00–05:00, £5

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £3

HI-SOCIETY

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room. PRESCRIBED

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £6 (£4)

Bass and house fun night with a regular schedule of guests. JIVE & DUTY

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £3

Danceable – nae, jiveable – tunes with DJ Cheers and Coconut Smoke. TRÜANT: LAUNCH NIGHT

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 12)

Fledgling club night playing anything and everything good, launching with a six-hour festival special.

House, tech-house and techno from resident DJs Peter Annand and Jack Swift.

Fri 07 Aug

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

PROPAGANDA

COALITION: UK NIGHT (SKANKY B + ERA)

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and pals, this time hosting a UK special edition with guests Skanky B and Era.

Mon 03 Aug MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room. NU FIRE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

DJ Fusion and Beef servin’ up the hip-hop and bass classics since 2008.

Tue 04 Aug TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £4

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats.

FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms. THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–22:00, £5

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. REVOLVER

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £7 (£5)

Friday fun night manned by a rotating pool of residents, including Animal Hospital, Nightvision, Pulse, Notsosilent, Musika and Body. IN DEEP (DIXON AVENUE BASEMENT JAMS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

The In Deep troops make merry with Glasgow techno residents DABJ. SLVR

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

Techno enthusiasts SLVR return to a club setting for their monthly slot.

BUBBLEGUM

BEEP BEEP, YEAH!

Retro pop stylings from the 50s to the 70s, via a disco tune or ten. TUSK

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:59–05:00, £5

House, African, disco and Latin selections, awash with soundscapes and samples. ASCENSION

RETROCITY FESTIVAL SPECIAL: PART 1 (HERR FLIK) LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £5

Herr Flik and Retrocity return to La Belle Angele for the first instalment of a festival special, discoing down until 5am. NU FIRE (DELIGHTED PEOPLES)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

DJ Fusion and Beef servin’ up the hip-hop and bass classics since 2008, this edition joined for a live set by Delighted Peoples.

Tue 11 Aug TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £4

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats.

I LOVE HIP HOP SUMMER SESSIONS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £3

The I Love Hip Hop funsters continue their new weekly Tuesday session at the newly-reinstated La Belle Angele.

Wed 12 Aug COOKIE

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £5

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–05:00, FREE

WEE RED BAR, 23:00–03:00, £5 (£3)

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space.

A TWISTED CIRCUS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

Alternative ‘burgh night playing the best in industrial, EBM, noisegoth, darkwave and alternative 80s.

ALTITUDE

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

Selections of house and disco artists from across the UK.

KAPITAL: 8TH BIRTHDAY (PAUL RITCH)

New night focused on classic and contemporary house, techno and electronica, with Alex Davidson at the reins.

Carnival-styled Edinburgh music night showcasing a selection of musicians from across the UK. LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £145 (£10)

The Kapital crew mark their 8th birthday on the 8th day of the 8th month (see what they did there?), celebrating with a guest set from Parisian techno nut Paul Ritch.

JACKHAMMER (BEN SIMS + ALTERN8 + RADIOACTIVE MAN) THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £8 EARYBIRD (£15 THEREAFTER)

The Jackhammer crew up our dose of all things techno with a bumper bill of joy, with three-deck techno wizard Ben Sims playing alongside Altern8 and Radioactive Man. TEESH (DJ DREAMCATCHER)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5.00

DJ Cheers hosts his bi-monthly fun night, this edition joined by one half of Slow Blow, Dreamcatcher.

Sun 09 Aug COALITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and pals. THE CLUB

VOLTAGE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, FREE

FACTION

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–05:00, FREE

New night playing an eclectic mix of underground tunes. RUBATO

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £5 (£3)

Diverse mix of dancefloor-friendly sounds from around the world. WITNESS: DONKEY PITCH FESTIVAL TAKEOVER (SLUGAVED + LOCKAH + DRESSIN RED)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £3

More house, garage and bass adventures with Blackwax and Faultlines, celebrating the festival with a Donkey Pitch takeover.

Thu 13 Aug CHAMPION SOUND

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £3

Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae, dancehall and everything inbetween. DISORDER

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Pumped night of house and minimal soundscapes with the Disorder residents.

SUCH A DRAG

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle. ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–05:00, FREE

New monthly drag club night with emphasis on all things risqué, with live burlesque and the like.

THE MASH HOUSE: 2ND BIRTHDAY (WE ARE TALL ORDER + HUMAN RESOURCE) THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

The Mash House turns the grand old age of two with an in-house party, with special guests We Are Tall Order and Human Resource. LARTY MCPARTY’S ULTIMATE INDIE DISCO

WEE RED BAR, 22:30–03:00, £5

DJ Adam Larter plays a one-nightonly selection of the ultimate in indie disco. THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (LOGAN’S CLOSE)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £8 (£6)

Monthly ration of up-tempo funk and soul, with live acts to boot.

Mon 10 Aug MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room.

HI-SOCIETY

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room. SURE SHOT

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £3

Fledgling night spanning 80s-00s hip-hop and r’n’b, manned by The Skinny’s own Peter Simpson and one half of Edinburgh’s Kitchen Disco, Malcolm Storey. TRÜANT (MIA DORA)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7 (£10 AFTER 1)

Fledgling club night playing anything and everything good, joined for their second outing by local heroes Mia Dora, with P-Stylz in the back room. JUICE (HI & SABERHÄGEN + HAMMER)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami making weird waves through house and techno, this edition joined by a duo of special Glasgow guests: Hi & Saberhagen and Hammer.

THE SKINNY

Fri 14 Aug FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £5

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie. STACKS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:59–05:00, £5

Festival re-launch of the rare funk, soul and r’n’b night. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. REVOLVER

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £10 (£8)

Friday fun night manned by a rotating pool of residents, including Animal Hospital, Nightvision, Pulse, Notsosilent, Musika and Body. IN DEEP (DEEP SHIT)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

The In Deep champs host a set from bi-monthly residents Foals’ Edwin Congreave and Friendly Fires’ Jack Savidge, in their party-ready DJ duo guise, Deep Shit. KINKY INDIE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 1)

Weekly dabblings in indie and alternative tuneage.

LEZURE PRESENTS... MR TOPHAT AND ART ALFIE

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £7 (£5)

Another club outing from popular house promoters Lezure, this time joined by Mr Tophat and Art Alfie.

Sat 15 Aug TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

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 AFTER 12)

Art School institution with DJs Chris and Jake playing the finest in indie, garage, soul and punk – now taking up a monthly Saturday slot, in what is their 20-somethingth year. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. POP ROCKS

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–05:00, £5 (£6 AFTER MIDNIGHT)

THE CLUB

THE SOLAR BOOGALOO

LOVERSROCK

FACTION

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, £3

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:59–05:00, £5

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle. THE RISEN PROHIBITION (NUNO ENDO + SWANK’N’JAMZ + LORD HOLYRUDE)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £6 (£4)

1920s-styled evening filled with electro swing, live gramaphone DJs and a dress-up theme. LUCKYME: FRINGE FESTIVAL PARTY (MACHINEDRUM) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

The globetrotting music, art and all-round party crew host their annual festival bash, joined for a guest set by Travis Stewart’s most visceral live incarnation yet, Machinedrum.

Mon 17 Aug MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room. AMPED (PLEASE MR POSTMAN + HERR FLIK)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £5/7

Fledgling gig-meets-club fun night bringing together a fresh line-up of live acts and DJs each month. NU FIRE (MONOSAPIENS)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

DJ Fusion and Beef servin’ up the hip-hop and bass classics since 2008, this edition joined for a live set by Monosapians.

Tue 18 Aug TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £4

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats.

I LOVE HIP HOP SUMMER SESSIONS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £3

The I Love Hip Hop funsters continue their new weekly Tuesday session at the newly-reinstated La Belle Angele. SOUL JAM VS ‘SOULJAM’ NEWCASTLE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

For summat a little different/ confusing, the Soul Jam boys invite up their Geordie namesake for an all-night session.

Wed 19 Aug COOKIE

Pop and rock gems, taking in motown, 80s classics and plenty danceable fare (well, the Beep Beep, Yeah! crew are on decks after all).

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £5

House, garage and bass adventures with DJs Blackwax and Faultlines.

REWIND

Journey back through the ages, with the residents digging out anthemic gems from the last 40 years. WASABI DISCO

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Yer man Kris ‘Wasabi’ Walker plays selections of wonky disco and sleazy throbbers. SUCH A DRAG

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, FREE

New monthly drag club night with emphasis on all things risqué, with live burlesque and the like. THE FESTIVAL ARCADE

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

Dusk-to-dawn gaming install, with live music to boot. HECTORS HOUSE VS ULTRAGROOVE

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £7 (£5)

The Hector’s House and Ultragroove residents join forces for double the fun. GASONLINE DANCE MACHINE (DJ TENNIS)

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, FROM £5

Cab Vol regulars Gasoline Dance Machine host a special outing with New Jersey resident DJ Tennis (aka Manfredi Romano).

Sun 16 Aug CONFUSION IS SEX

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £6

Glam techno and electro night, mixing tunes, installation and performance.

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

WITNESS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £5

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–05:00, FREE

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space. A TWISTED CIRCUS

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

Carnival-styled Edinburgh music night showcasing a selection of musicians from across the UK. VOLTAGE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, FREE

New night focused on classic and contemporary house, techno and electronica, with Alex Davidson at the reins. FACTION

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–05:00, FREE

New night playing an eclectic mix of underground tunes. RUBATO

Reggae vibes, all night long.

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £8 EARLYBIRD (£10 THEREAFTER_

Heavy jungle and bass-styled beats from the inimitable Xplicit crew, with guests The Upbeats and The Prototypes.

Diverse mix of dancefloor-friendly sounds from around the world.

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £10

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami making weird waves through house and techno.

TRÜANT (BODDIKA)

Fledgling club night playing anything and everything good, this edition joined by Nonplus+ label head Boddika, with support from local talent Lezure. PERIOD SEX (BAT-BIKE + HEELS OF BOLIVIA)

WEE RED BAR, 20:00–03:00, £2 ADV. (£3 DOOR)

After-bash shenanigans for the Masters Degree Show late view, with art school bands, DJs and a period-themed dress up vibe. THE CRAIG CHARLES FUNK AND SOUL SHOW

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £19 (£16)

DJ and actor Craig Charles mans the decks until 5am, playing his picks of funk and soul, with an array of guest spinners and live acts joining him. JUICE (AIRHEAD)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Pumped Thursday nighter with DJs Dan and Kami making weird waves through house and techno, this edition joined by South London producer Airhead.

Fri 21 Aug FUCK YEAH

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms. PROPAGANDA

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £5

Student-orientated night playing the best in new and classic indie. FLY CLUB

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. IN DEEP (HIGHLIFE)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

The In Deep champs welcome bi-monthly residents Auntie Flo and Esa (aka the Highlife tagteam) for a set of their divine house and Afro grooves. NICE PEOPLE DANCING TO GOOD MUSIC

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

New monthly night manned by local DJs, occasional guests and live acts on rotation, with residents Astrojazz and NikNak at the helm. KINKY INDIE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 1)

Weekly dabblings in indie and alternative tuneage.

FEEL MY BICEP ON THE FRINGE (BICEP + GERD JANSON)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, FROM £12.50

PRESCRIBED

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:59–05:00, £3

The Jackhammer crew up our dose of all things techno with a second bumper August outing, with guests Octave One, Regis and Hans Bouffmyhre.

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. DEFINITION

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Mark Balneaves and Martin Lightbody play some of the finest underground techno around. HEADSET

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

BODY

Fledgling house and techno night manned by residents Jack Stanley and Adam Searle. SUCH A DRAG

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, FREE

New monthly drag club night with emphasis on all things risqué, with live burlesque and the like.

Thu 27 Aug JUICE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

CHAMPION SOUND

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £3

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £6

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

CONFUSION IS SEX

Glam techno and electro night, mixing tunes, installation and performance. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

BIGFOOT’S TEA PARTY

Nomadic techno and tech-house crew Bigfoot’s Tea Party makes the trip Edinburgh-way. HI-SOCIETY

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle.

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £5

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £5 (£7-£10 AFTER 12)

RETROCITY FESTIVAL SPECIAL: PART 2 (HERR FLIK)

Herr Flik and Retrocity return to La Belle Angele for the second instalment of a festival special, discoing down until 5am. COALITION: CITIZENS DISCO TAKEOVER (GAV MILLER + CHARLIE CRAIG + JEZZ SIMPSON)

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and pals, this edition with a Citizens Disco Takeover (aka expect an added disco beat or ten).

Mon 24 Aug MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room. NU FIRE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

DJ Fusion and Beef servin’ up the hip-hop and bass classics since 2008. SHAKA LOVES YOU: FESTIVAL SESSIONS VOL. 1 (MC PROFIT)

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £5

The Glasgow funk and breaks outfit host a special audio assault.

Tue 25 Aug TRASH

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Alternative anthems cherrypicked from genres of rock, indie, punk, retro and more. HECTOR’S HOUSE

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £4

The HH crew serve up their usual fine mix of electronic basslines cooked up with house beats.

I LOVE HIP HOP SUMMER SESSIONS

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £3

Wed 26 Aug

BUBBLEGUM

RUBATO

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £5 (£3)

Sun 23 Aug

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern.

New night playing an eclectic mix of underground tunes.

Midweek celebration of all things dub, jungle, reggae, dancehall and everything inbetween.

Bill Brewster joins Soul Jam for a special Northern Soul all-nighter.

TEASE AGE

HENRY’S CELLAR BAR, 23:00–05:00, £3

Student-friendly chart anthems, bolstered by hip-hop, r’n’b and urban in the back room.

JACKHAMMER (OCTAVE ONE + REGIS + HANS BOUFFMYHRE)

Sat 22 Aug

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

HI-SOCIETY

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £15 (£10)

SOUL JAM: NORTHERN SOUL SPECIAL (BILL BREWSTER)

Thu 20 Aug

Diverse mix of dancefloor-friendly sounds from around the world.

XPLICIT: FRINGE SPECIAL (THE UPBEATS + THE PROTOTYPES)

The Musika troops welcome one of Northern Ireland’s finest purveyors of forgotten disco, Chicago house and Detroit techno – Bicep – to come host one of their notoriously good Feel My Bicep party’s in the capital.

Fledgling night of garage, techno and hip-hop mixed up by a selection of Edinburgh DJs, including the chaps behind the Witness, Coalition and Big ‘n’ Bashy nights.

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £5 (£3)

Bass and house fun night with a regular schedule of guests.

August 2015

DJ Yves leads a disco-fuelled freestyle funk boogie freakout, of course!

The I Love Hip Hop funsters continue their new weekly Tuesday session at the newly-reinstated La Belle Angele. SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

TRÜANT (KRYSKO + GREG LORD)

LIONOIL (TELFORT + PERCY MAIN + DJ YVES + HI & SABERHÄGEN + PHILIP BUDNY) SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, £5 (MEMBERS FREE)

Mixed bag of boogie, house, disco and weirdo music from the past and present, served up by Hi & Saberhägen, Telfort, Percy Main, Budny and DJ Yves.

Sat 29 Aug TEASE AGE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, FREE (£5 AFTER 11)

Long-running indie, rock and soul night, traversing the spectrum of classic and modern. BUBBLEGUM

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

Saturday mix of chart and dance, with retro 80s classics thrown in for good measure. MAGIC NOSTALGIC

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–05:00, £7 (£8 AFTER 12)

A hodgepodge of tracks chosen by JP’s spinning wheel – expect 90s, power ballads and a whole lotta one-hit wonders. RIDE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Fledgling club night playing anything and everything good, with guests Krysko and Greg Lord from The Warehouse Project.

The Ride girls play 90s hip-hop and 00s r’n’b all night long – now in their new party-ready Saturday night slot.

Fri 28 Aug

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–22:00, £6

MADCHESTER

THE HIVE, 21:00–05:00, FREE (£4 AFTER 10)

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

FLY CLUB

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £TBC

FUCK YEAH

Chart, indie and rock anthems spread over two rooms. CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7

Edinburgh and Glasgow-straddling night, with a powerhouse of local residents joined by a selection of guest talent. REVOLVER

LA BELLE ANGELE, 23:00–05:00, £7 (£5)

KAPITAL

After their 8th birthday special, Kapital return for a second August outing, with guests being kept tightly under wraps for now, the teases. SUCH A DRAG

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, FREE

Friday fun night manned by a rotating pool of residents, including Animal Hospital, Nightvision, Pulse, Notsosilent, Musika and Body.

New monthly drag club night with emphasis on all things risqué, with live burlesque and the like.

WEE RED BAR, 22:30–03:00, £3

The Pulse troops supply all your techno needs, with guests Slam on deck duties.

HEY QT!

Sweaty dance disco for queer folk and their pals. KINKY INDIE

CITRUS CLUB, 22:30–05:00, £5 (£6 AFTER 1)

Weekly dabblings in indie and alternative tuneage. TWEAK (DAN GHENACIA)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £10

Minimal monthly takeover, this edition with Dan Ghenacia on guest duties. RUMBLE (RUMBLE DJS + HALFRICAN)

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 23:00–05:00, FREE (£3 AFTER 12)

50s rock’n’roll, disco, dirty blues and more, plus a live midnight set from Glasgow’s Halfrican. COLOURS (CARL COX + JOHN DIGWEED)

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £29.50

Colours present a night of legendary DJ status, with acid house and techno veteran Carl Cox locking horns with global dance music royalty John Digweed.

PULSE (SLAM)

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £9

NIGHTFILM: 2ND BIRTHDAY

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 23:00–05:00, £7 (£5)

Mon 31 Aug MIXED UP

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Monday-brightening mix of hiphop, r’n’b and chart classics, with requests in the back room. NU FIRE

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

DJ Fusion and Beef servin’ up the hip-hop and bass classics since 2008.

Dundee Clubs Thu 30 Jul ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Fri 31 Jul 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 01 Aug SCRATCH PERVERTS

BUSKERS, 19:30–22:00, £12 ADV. (£14 DOOR)

The legendary Fabric residents fawn over their vinyl selections.

ROOTS: 7TH BIRTHDAY ALL-DAYER

READING ROOMS, 16:00–03:00, £10

The Roots crew dig deep into their record boxes for a birthday alldayer, playing an eclectic selection out in the garden from 4pm-8pm (plus BBQ!), before decamping indoors. ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Thu 06 Aug ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

The musical hub and record label brainchild of Mighty Mouse and Matt Van Schie celebrates its 2nd birthday – manned by a plethora of hot talent, amongst ‘em Mighty Mouse himself and Le Visiteur.

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Sun 30 Aug

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

SOUNDS OF SOUL

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £5

Soul sounds takeover, as you might expect. THE CLUB

THE HIVE, 22:00–05:00, FREE

Two rooms of all the chart, cheese and indie-pop you can think of/ handle. COALITION: CLOSING PARTY

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

Weekly bass institution hosted by DJ Believe and pals, hosting Sneaky’s official festival closing bash.

Fri 07 Aug CONTOUR

More fresh beats and flashy visuals from the Contour crew. 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 08 Aug

JUMPUNGLE: ASBO RECORDS VS NATTY DUB RECORDS SHOWCASE

READING ROOMS, 19:00–03:00, £8

The Asbo Records crew and Natty Dub Records descend, featuring Cabin Fever, Diomand Geezer and Rassterlin, plus BBQ action and hefty Jumpungle residents support.

ASYLUM KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Thu 13 Aug ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Fri 14 Aug KLIK

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

The Klik troops return, with guests being kept under wraps for now. 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 15 Aug

AUTODISCO VS SANCHO PANZA

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

Autodisco welcome Sancho Panza’s Jimmy K-Tel for a guest set. ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Thu 20 Aug ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Fri 21 Aug 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 22 Aug LOCARNO

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

Rockabilly, doo-wop, soul and all things golden age and danceable with the Locarno regulars. ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Thu 27 Aug ROOMS THURSDAYS

READING ROOMS, 22:30–02:30, £4 (£5 AFTER 11.30)

Thursday nighter (as the name would suggest), with Dunc4an, Typewriter and guests playing anything and everything ‘good’.

Fri 28 Aug

ANUSHKA (MISS DLOVE)

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

Brighton-based duo Anushka – aka Max Wheeler (producer) and Victoria Port (singer/songwriter) – play a set of their jazz-inflected dancefloor beats.

Resident midweek student rammy of chart, club and electro hits. WITNESS

SNEAKY PETE’S, 23:00–05:00, FREE

House, garage and bass adventures with DJs Blackwax and Faultlines. TRIBE

THE LIQUID ROOM, 22:30–05:00, £5

Weekly selection of dance bangers played by residents Khalid Count Clockwork and Craig Wilson. THE GETTUP

CABARET VOLTAIRE, 21:00–05:00, FREE

Midweek party with DJs Thom and Pagowsky playing disco and deep house into the wee hours. In the cafe space. VOLTAGE

ELECTRIC CIRCUS, 00:30–05:00, FREE

New night focused on classic and contemporary house, techno and electronica, with Alex Davidson at the reins. MASH PIT

THE MASH HOUSE, 23:30–05:00, £3

Alternative clubber’s delight with live acts to boot.

Listings

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 29 Aug

EUPHORIC NIGHTS PRESENTS... IAN STANDERWICK AND WILL ATKINSON (JASE THIRLWALL + COCO ROSS + BARRY MILLER) BUSKERS, 19:30–02:30, £10 EARLYBIRD (£15 THEREAFTER)

After the success of their first event, Euphoric Nights return with a duo of trance heavyweights: Ian Standerwick and Will Atkinson. BOOK CLUB

READING ROOMS, 22:30–03:00, £TBC

The Good Stuff DJs spin all genres of disco house and techno, alongside anything else they damn well fancy. ASYLUM

KAGE, 23:00–03:00, £4

Best of selection of rock, metal and alternative tunes to get your Saturday night movin’.

Glasgow

Theatre DREAMBOATS AND MINISKIRTS VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 11 AUG AND 29 AUG, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY

60s-set musical singalong which finds two young musicians competing for the love of a certain lady. Matinee performances also available. LOVE ME TENDER

THEBANS

28 JUL – 1 AUG, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£6)

Liz Lochhead’s inspired piece re-telling in a single play the ancient stories of the Kingdom of Thebes. Matinee performances also available.

Candleriggs Square CAR MEN

31 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

A bunch of genuine mechanics indulge their operatic side by performing Carmen in all its greasy glory. Part of Surge Festival.

Citizens Theatre LANARK

14–17 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, 7:00PM – 10:30PM, £8.50

Preview showing of David Greig’s new adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s seminal novel, celebrating Gray’s 80th year, before it tours to Edinburgh Fringe.

Oran Mor

Feel-good musical featuring Elvis Presley’s greatest hits, from the producers of Hairspray, Midnight Tango, West Side Story and The Rocky Horror Show. Matinee performances also available.

Theatre Royal EAST IS EAST

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 10 AND 15 AUG, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £10

Modern comedy classic dealing with the issues surrounding growing up in multiracial England. Matinee performances also available. BURNISTOUN LIVE AND FOR REAL

BBC Scotland sketch show Burnistoun in live stage format, with Iain Connell and Robert Florence at the helm.

Tramway PROJECT Y

29 JUL, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £6

New series of four contemporary dance works choreographed by YDance artistic director Anna Kenrick and a selection of guest choreographers, performed by 20+ fledgling young Scottish dancers fresh from the YDance four-week training programme.

The King’s Theatre

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 19 AND 22 AUG, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £12 (£9)

Colourful revival of the singalong tale of a New York street populated by an unholy comedic alliance of humans and puppets. Matinee performances also available.

Dundee Rep

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary rock classic returns to the stage. ABSENT FRIENDS

26–29 AUG, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £TBC

Alan Ayckbourn-penned tale of an unfulfilled housewife who arranges a gathering of old friends to cheer up bereaved Colin, whose fiancée drowned two months earlier. Matinee performances also available.

THE SATURDAY SHOW (HAILEY BOYLE + GARETH RICHARDS + DAISY EARL + MC RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 21:00–23:00, £15

Packed Saturday evening bill of stand-up headliners and resident comperes to jolly along your weekend. YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Tue 04 Aug RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.

Wed 05 Aug

BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.

The Scottish comic and creator of daily podcast Limmy’s World of Glasgow takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe.

Wed 29 Jul

Sun 02 Aug

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering, yes, all new material.

Tue 28 Jul RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

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, yes, all new material. THE TONY LAW SHOW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £8 (£6)

The multi award-winning Canadian nonsense-maker pitches up with his particularly addictive brand of silliness.

Thu 30 Jul

THE THURSDAY SHOW (HAILEY BOYLE + GARETH RICHARDS + DAISY EARL + MC RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £10 (£7 STUDENTS/£5 MEMBERS)

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

Dundee

AVENUE Q

Glasgow

A GAMBLER’S GUIDE TO DYING

Preview of Glasgow theatremaker Gary McNair’s story of a boy’s granddad who won a fortune betting on the 1966 World Cup and, when diagnosed with cancer, gambled it all on living to see the year 2000.

Sat 01 Aug

LAUGHTER EIGHT

31 JUL – 1 AUG, 8:00PM – 10:00PM, £10 (£7.50)

Tron Theatre

Hard hitting play based on the experiences of young people in Glasgow of discrimination and prejudice – set against the backdrop of the first Old Firm clash of the season.

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 20 JUL AND 29 AUG, TIMES VARY, FROM £15

Dundee Schools Music Theatre take on the music theatre favourite of gamblers and dancers, missionaries and sinners.

Weekend-welcoming selection of handpicked headline acts and newcomers over a two-hour showcase.

SCARFED FOR LIFE

20 AUG, TIMES VARY, PRICES VARY

GUYS AND DOLLS

26–29 AUG, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, £12 (£9)

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 20 JUL AND 15 AUG, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, PRICES VARY

27–29 AUG, 7:30PM – 10:00PM, FROM £15

Brian Cox Studio

The Gardyne Theatre

Comedy

YESPBAR VIRGINS

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit. LIMMY: DAFT WEE STORIES

MICHAEL REDMOND’S SUNDAY SERVICE (ALEX KEALY + JAY LAFFERTY + FERN BRADY + HAILEY BOYLE)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £6 (£5 STUDENTS/£1 MEMBERS)

Chilled Sunday comedy showcase manned by resident Irish funnyman Michael Redmond and his guests. GLASGOW KIDS COMEDY CLUB

THE STAND GLASGOW, 14:30–15:30, £4

Comedy session suitable for little ears (i.e. no sweary words), for children aged 8-12 years-old.

YESPBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, 19:30–21:30, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Vespbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’. EDINBURGH FRINGE COMEDY PREVIEWS (KEIRON NICHOLSON + ED PATRICK + JULIA SUTHERLAND + DAVEY CONNOR)

YESBAR, 16:00–18:00, £DONATIONS

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

Thu 06 Aug

BRUCE MORTON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. YESPBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 07 Aug

BRUCE MORTON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

A selection of Fringe troops preview their material in a chilled afternoon showcase across in the Weege.

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15

Mon 03 Aug

Sat 08 Aug

LIMMY: DAFT WEE STORIES

The Scottish comic and creator of daily podcast Limmy’s World of Glasgow takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Fri 31 Jul

THE FRIDAY SHOW (HAILEY BOYLE + GARETH RICHARDS + DAISY EARL + MC RAYMOND MEARNS)

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10 STUDENTS/£6 MEMBERS)

Prime stand-up from the Scottish and international circuit, hosted by a rotating selection of Stand stalwarts. 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. LIMMY: DAFT WEE STORIES

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15

The Scottish comic and creator of daily podcast Limmy’s World of Glasgow takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

FRANKIE BOYLE: WORK IN PROGRESS

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £15 (£12)

Cantankerous bastard Mr. Boyle takes to a live setting to limber up for the September airing of his new show, Hurt Like You’ve Never Been Loved, a response to Compton hip-hopster Kendrick Lamar’s last album. FERN BRADY: PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS (FRINGE PREVIEW) YESBAR, 19:30–20:30, £3

The Scottish stand-up comedian and writer previews her debut show, ahead of a run at Edinburgh Fringe. LARRY DEAN: OUT NOW (FRINGE PREVIEW)

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £2

The Scottish Comedian Of The Year Award 2013 winner gets set for his return to the Fringe with his debut tour, giving his set a first glance at Glasgow’s Yesbar.

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

BRUCE MORTON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. JIMMY CARR: FUNNY BUSINESS

SECC, 20:00–22:00, £25

The hardworking comic tours his new solo show, packed with oneliners, stories and incisive musings on the human condition. 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.

Sun 09 Aug

MICHAEL REDMOND’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe.

YESPBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, 19:30–21:30, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Vespbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Mon 10 Aug

FRANKIE BOYLE: WORK IN PROGRESS

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £15 (£12)

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15

The Scottish comic and creator of daily podcast Limmy’s World of Glasgow takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Listings

Tue 11 Aug RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material. LIMMY: DAFT WEE STORIES

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15

The Scottish comic and creator of daily podcast Limmy’s World of Glasgow takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Wed 12 Aug

BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. 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, yes, all new material. LIMMY: DAFT WEE STORIES

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15

The Scottish comic and creator of daily podcast Limmy’s World of Glasgow takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Thu 13 Aug

JOE HEENAN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. YESPBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland. LIMMY: DAFT WEE STORIES

ORAN MOR, 19:00–22:00, £15

The Scottish comic and creator of daily podcast Limmy’s World of Glasgow takes to the live stage for s’more of his dark, surreal and absurd antics.

Fri 14 Aug

JOE HEENAN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. 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.

Sat 15 Aug

JOE HEENAN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

Wed 19 Aug

BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

Thu 27 Aug

SUSAN MORRISON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe.

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering, yes, all new material.

Thu 20 Aug

BRUCE DEVLIN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. YESPBAR VIRGINS

YESBAR, 21:00–22:30, £3

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 21 Aug

BRUCE DEVLIN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. 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.

Sat 22 Aug

BRUCE DEVLIN’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. LAUGHTER EIGHT

YESPBAR VIRGINS

Graham Barrie introduces a selection of fledgling comedy talent handpicked fae Scotland.

Fri 28 Aug

SUSAN MORRISON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. 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.

Sat 29 Aug

SUSAN MORRISON’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. 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.

Sun 30 Aug

MICHAEL REDMOND’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe.

YESPBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, 19:30–21:30, £3

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

YESBAR, 20:00–21:30, £8

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Vespbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Sun 23 Aug

Mon 31 Aug

MICHAEL REDMOND’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe.

YESPBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

YESBAR, 19:30–21:30, £3

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Vespbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Mon 24 Aug

FRANKIE BOYLE: WORK IN PROGRESS

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £15 (£12)

WATCH BAD MOVIES WITH GREAT COMEDIANS PRESENTS: BATMAN AND ROBIN

CCA: CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, 19:30–21:30, £5

Returning for s’more shit-filmmockery, comics Joe Heenan and Billy Kirkwood screen Batman and Robin – featuring George Clooney in his (unsurprisingly) only role as a caped crusader – with the chaps providing laugh-a-long live commentary.

Dundee

Fri 14 Aug

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe.

Tue 25 Aug

Sun 30 Aug

YESBAR, 19:30–21:30, £3

Wed 26 Aug

Regular comedy slot kicking off at, aye, 8pm – manned by a selection of hot talent from the local circuit.

Sun 16 Aug

MICHAEL REDMOND’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

YESPBAR VIRGINS: COMEDY SUNDAY SCHOOL

A selection of five fledgling comedians do their best to win over the audience and graduate Vespbar’s ‘Comedy Sunday School’.

Tue 18 Aug RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material.

RED RAW

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £2

Open-mic style beginners showcase, plus some old hands dropping by to roadtest new material. BILLY KIRKWOOD’S PICK OF THE FRINGE

THE STAND GLASGOW, 20:30–22:30, £12 (£10)

E’er keen to muscle in on the Edinburgh Fringe action, Glasgow’s The Stand invite a selection of comic MCs to present their picks of the Fringe. NEW MATERIAL NIGHT

JUST LAUGH (SILKY + JENNY COLLIER + MC BILLY KIRKWOOD )

DUNDEE REP, 20:00–22:00, £12

Monthly comedy showcase bringing a selection of UK stand-ups to Dundee. KEVIN BRIDGES: A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY

CAIRD HALL, 20:00–22:00, £25

The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.

Mon 31 Aug

KEVIN BRIDGES: A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY

CAIRD HALL, 20:00–22:00, £25

The Glaswegian funnyman returns to the road with his new show, following the release of his first autobiography.

YESBAR, 20:00–22:00, £3

Resident host Julia Sutherland introduces a variety of stand-up comedians from the Scottish circuit delivering, yes, all new material.

THE SKINNY

Art Glasgow CCA: Centre for Contemporary Art IAN SMITH: MISCHIEF LA-BAS

31 JUL – 2 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Celebratory retrospective of the work of maverick performer and ‘Art Gangster’ Ian Smith, featuring a magpie mix of his art, performance, film, music and ‘pulptures’ (that’s a painting-sculpture cross, FYI). PATRICK COLE: A COWBOY’S RITE OF PASSAGE

14–29 AUG, NOT 17, 24, TIMES VARY, FREE

Performance-cum-exhibition seeking to create a humorous catharsis for the viewer, referencing elements of collective experience intertwined with cowboy culture.

Compass Gallery THE NEW GENERATION SHOW

9 JUL – 1 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcases of work from a handpicked selection of new graduates from the four Scottish Art Schools, with an emphasis on painting, drawing and printmaking.

Cyril Gerber Fine Art

THE SUMMER EXHIBITION 2015

1–31 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Mixed annual summer exhibition, taking in a selection of 19th-21st century British paintings, drawings and Sculpture from the esteemed likes of Elizabeth Blackadder, Colquhoun & MacBryde and the Scottish Colourists.

Glasgow Print Studio

COMIC ART: MILLARWORLD AND BEYOND

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 3 JUL AND 30 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase exhibition of work by some of the most important and influential comic book talent in the industry, as part GPS’s participation in this year’s Glasgow Comic Con. KATIE WARD

3 JUL – 2 AUG, NOT 6 JUL, 13 JUL, 20 JUL, 27 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase of work from the printmaker/painter Katie Ward, currently investigating perceptions around being and becoming, laced with both abstract and figurative tensions.

Glasgow School of Art PHOENIX EXHIBITION

24 JUL – 2 AUG, NOT 27 JUL, 28 JUL, 29 JUL, 30 JUL, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Special group exhibition of new work by 100 artists who benefited from the Phoenix Bursary programme, set up to help artists whose work was affected by the fire in the Mackintosh Building in 2014.

Glasgow Sculpture Studios MARYSIA GACEK

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 11 JUL AND 5 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Showcase exhibition from Marysia Gacek, the recipient of Glasgow Sculpture Studio’s 2014 MFA Graduate Fellowship, who creates structures and narratives using personal symbolism and different modes of representation.

GoMA

THE BALLET OF THE PALETTE

20 FEB – 24 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase exhibition of 20th century paintings selected from Glasgow Museums’ collection, chosen by a selection of contemporary artists who exhibited work in the 2013 exhibition, A Picture Show.

August 2015

RIPPLES ON THE POND 27 MAR – 28 FEB, TIMES VARY, FREE

Glasgow Museums’ collection exhibition designed as a conversation between works by women on paper and moving image, taking as its starting point recent acquisitions from the Glasgow Women’s Library 21 Revolutions series. DOUGLAS MORLAND: THE DEATH OF LADY MONDEGREEN

19 JUN – 20 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Solo show of sculptural and image-based works by Glasgowbased artist and musician Douglas Morland, taking its title from a 1954 essay in Harper’s magazine in which the term ‘mondegreen’ was coined by the author’s mishearing of a line in a Scots ballad. PHIL COLLINS: TOMORROW IS ALWAYS TOO LONG

10 JUL – 16 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Looped screening of Turner Prize-nominated artist Phil Collins’ modern-day city symphony and musical love letter to Glasgow, conjuring up a distinctive vision through musical numbers, animation and a uniquely Glaswegian cable TV station.

House For An Art Lover

FRASER TAYLOR: BODIES OF WORK

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 18 JUL AND 30 AUG, 11:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Returning to Glasgow after 15 years teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Fraser Taylor exhibits a new collection of colourful, large-scale paintings produced between 1990 and 2001 in his studio in London.

Hunterian Art Gallery

THE ONLY WAY TO DO IT IS TO DO IT

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 27 MAR AND 4 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition revisiting the experimental practices and legacy of progressive liberal art college Black Mountain College (1933-57), taking in Post-War American prints from The Hunterian’s permanent collection alongside new work by contemporary practitioners. DUNCAN SHANKS: THE POETRY OF PLACE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 14 MAR AND 16 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition showcase of Duncan Shanks’s gift to the University of Glasgow of his entire output of sketchbooks from the past 55 years, with over 30 sketchbooks on view – never previously exhibited.

Mary Mary ALIZA NISENBAUM

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 13 JUN AND 1 AUG, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Solo showcase of paintings from the Brooklyn-based Mexican artist, known for her portraits of undocumented immigrant families from Mexico and Central America, painted over long visits with her subjects.

Platform

MARTIN HUNTER + ALLAN BOVILL + LISA BOYD 9 JUL – 30 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Triple-header show capturing different approaches to documentary, including Lisa Boyd’s ‘Glasgow Mods’ portraits, Martin Hunter’s ‘Forth & Clyde’ landscape series and Allan Bovill’s 80s wash-house collection ‘Steamies’.

SWG3 Glasgow

scotlandart.com

15–29 AUG, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

26 JUN – 14 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Street Level Photoworks

4–31 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

ON FUN AND FRICTION

Group exhibition celebrating 25 years since Steven Campbell’s seminal exhibition at the Third Eye Centre ‘On Form and Friction’ recently re-hung for Generation in 2014, bringing together new painted works set against an audio and sculptural background.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 3 JUL AND 27 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition document of the largely untold story of British manufacturing and industry, told through the lens of nine Magnum photographers. QUEENS PARK CAMERA CLUB: GLASGOW 1955 + 55

2 JUL – 2 AUG, NOT 6 JUL, 13 JUL, 20 JUL, 27 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

The fruits of a project undertaken by the Queens Park Camera Club in 2010, recording as many aspects as possible depicting Glasgow, presented alongside archive images taken in 1955 by several Glasgow camera clubs, of which QPCC is the only surviving.

The Common Guild ANNE HARDY: TWIN FIELDS

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 6 JUN AND 15 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Solo showcase marking Anne Hardy’s first exhibition in Scotland, spanning photography, sculptural installation and audio, as she constructs environments that hover between depiction and abstraction.

The Lighthouse MACMAG 40

9 JUN – 10 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Special exhibition showcase of the 40 Mackintosh School of Architecture MacMag’s published since the magazine’s beginning in 1974, timed in celebration of the release of the 40th edition. JAVIER VIDAL AGUILERA: PARAMUS

31 JUL – 30 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase of work by the Glasgowliving Spanish architect, encompassing graphic documentation for two hypothetical architectural proposals: one set in the moorlands of Lewis and Harris (2014), and the other set in the Dunes of Corrubedo, Galicia (2015). ISLAND

24 JUL – 4 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of new designs by architects Angela Deuber, Pascal Flammer, Christ & Gantenbein, Neil Gillespie, Johannes Norlander, Raumbureau and Raphael Zuber, imagining a house for real clients living or moving to the Isle of Harris.

The Modern Institute URS FISCHER

6 JUN – 29 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Solo showcase of new sculptures from the Swiss-born, New York-living contemporary artist, known for his diverse oeuvre across installations, sculpture and gestural paintings.

Project Ability

The Modern Institute @ Airds Lane

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 25 JUL AND 29 AUG, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 11 JUL AND 29 AUG, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

FAST IS FINE BUT ACCURACY IS FINAL

TONY SWAIN: THE SHORTER ALPHABET

SCHEMENTALITY

The Irish-born, GSA graduating artist – best known for his paintings depicting complex private worlds painted over newspaper pages – presents a new body of work.

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 25 JUL AND 29 AUG, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Voidoid Archive

Double-header exhibition of paintings by Glasgow-based artist Charlie Hammond showing alongside new works by Project Ability Aspire artist Tommy Mason.

Former Connect artist Scott Lang, who recently graduated from Glasgow Kelvin College, showcases a recent selection of works to mark his first solo exhibition.

PARADISE

31 JUL – 2 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

A collective of visual artists and designers hold their first independently organised exhibition, with each artist offering their own perspective of paradise.

SUMMER CITYSCAPES

Exhibition of artworks celebrating architectural cityscapes, showcasing original paintings capturing the beauty and ingenuity inherent in some of the most famous vistas not only in Scotland, but from around the world. TOMMY FITCHET

ScotlandArt this month put the spotlight on Scottish painter Tommy Fitchet, as part of the gallery’s monthly Artist’s Spotlight exhibition series showcasing a selection of latest work from their favourite artists.

Edinburgh Bonhams

THE MACMILLAN ART SHOW 2015

27–30 AUG, 10:00AM – 4:00PM, FREE

Annual fundraiser exhibition now in its 13th year – showcasing a wide variety of new work by recognised and emerging artists and jewellers, on show and available to buy. Raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

City Art Centre SCOTTISH ART: PEOPLE, PLACES, IDEAS

23 MAY – 27 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Special exhibition based on a thematic framework exploring four key areas – people, landscape, still life and abstraction – drawing from art in Scotland over the last 250 years, returning following its inaugural 2011 showcase.

CodeBase

DENNIS AND DEBBIE CLUB: THE STRIP

1–30 AUG, 9:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

New audio-visual installation by the artist duo Dennis and Debbie Club, featuring looping CGI animations displayed over multiple screens.

Collective Gallery FRANCE-LISE MCGURN

11 JUL – 31 AUG, NOT 13 JUL, 20 JUL, 27 JUL, TIMES VARY, FREE

For the third exhibition of Satellites Programme 2015, artist France-Lise McGurn showcases a selection of her works exploring the potential connotations of gender and sexuality in the written word, letter or drawn line. BEATRICE GIBSON

30 JUL – 4 OCT, NOT 7 SEP, 14 SEP, 21 SEP, 28 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Looped screening of artist Beatrice Gibson’s new film, Crippled Symmetries, taking American author William Gaddis’ modernist masterpiece, JR, as the departure point for a biting social satire that turns the American dream on its head.

Dovecot Studios DAZZLE: JEWELLERY

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 AUG AND 31 AUG, 10:30AM – 5:30PM, FREE

The jewellery exhibition returns for its fourth annual Dovecot showing, comprising major names and exciting younger talent, with an international representation, across the jewellery-making spectrum. BERNAT KLEIN: A LIFE IN COLOUR

31 JUL – 26 SEP, NOT 6 SEP, 13 SEP, 20 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Retrospective exhibition featuring tapestries by Bernat Klein woven by Dovecot Studios, showing alongside other works by the designer whose signature vibrant mohair and tweed textiles were produced in the Scottish Borders for fashion houses in Europe. KWANG YOUNG CHUN: AGGREGATIONS

31 JUL – 26 SEP, NOT 6 SEP, 13 SEP, 20 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

First solo exhibition in Scotland of internationally renowned Korean artist Kwang Young Chun, uniting the traditions of making and Eastern philosophy with the artist’s painterly interest in American Abstract Expressionism.

Listings

Rhubaba

E E E E O EE E I A A E E A

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 31 JUL AND 30 AUG, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Group show of existing and new work from Anne-Marie Copestake, Alexa Hare, Sophie Mackfall and John Robertson, taking in drawing, collage and other exploratory material based investigations intended to highlight visual, tactile and sensual experience.

Royal Scottish Academy (RSA)

THE WATER HEN: KANTOR, DEMARCO AND THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

25 JUL – 5 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Marking the centenary of his birth, the RSA show a newly digitised version of Polish theatre director Tadeusz Kantor’s The Water Hen – a production which was a sensation at the 1972 Edinburgh Festival – alongside a selection of performance photographs.

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. THE OLYMPIAN GODS: EUROPEAN PRINTS OF THE RENAISSANCE

20 JUN – 18 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of Renaissance engravings, etchings and woodcuts depicting the pagan Gods, at a time when graphic print media was the vehicle for the diffusion of images representing secular subject matter. JEAN-ETIENNE LIOTARD

4 JUL – 13 SEP, TIMES VARY, £9 (£7)

Edinburgh College of Art

Garage Edinburgh

15–23 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Conceived specifically for the Edinburgh Art Festival, with exhibitions since 2006, the artist-run Garage space showcases a selection of new work from various artists and collaborators, plus a series of live art events and shows.

ECA MASTERS FESTIVAL 2015

ECA’s MA and MSc students from across the schools of Art, Design, Architecture and Landscape Architecture exhibit their final year artwork, with all works available for purchase.

Edinburgh Printmakers

DEREK MICHAEL BESANT: IN OTHER WORDS

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 30 JUL AND 5 SEP, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Solo show by multi-media Canadian artist Derek Michael Besant, featuring new work created specifically for Edinburgh Printmakers, for which he photographed and surveyed members of the Edinburgh Printmakers community to create a series of intimate images.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop CONCRETE ANTENNA

11 MAR – 1 SEP, 9:30AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Sound installation in the new ESW tower created by Tommy Perman, Simon Kirby and Rob St. John, sonically exploring the past, present and (potential) future of the workshop’s site via sound gathered from audio archives and specially made field recordings. THRESHOLDS

31 JUL – 29 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Collaborative project between artist Toby Paterson, curator Judith Winter and Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, focusing on the process of making through direct experiences with people and places, echoing the sensibility of the Maggie’s Centres themselves.

Listings

GARAGE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 AUG AND 30 AUG, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Ingleby Gallery

CHARLES AVERY: THE PEOPLE AND THINGS OF ONOMATOPOEIA

30 JUL – 26 SEP, NOT 6 SEP, 13 SEP, 20 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Scottish artist Charles Avery continues his lifelong project ‘The Islanders’, begun in 2004, a painstakingly detailed description of a fictional world that functions in parallel to our own universe, realised in drawing, painting, sculpture and text.

Inverleith House JOHN CHAMBERLAIN

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 25 JUL AND 4 OCT, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

First solo exhibition in a UK public gallery by late American artist, known for his vibrantly coloured, dynamic metal sculptures made from salvaged materials and car parts, taking in early and midcareer works, as well as an outdoor display.

Jupiter Artland TARA DONOVAN

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 AUG AND 27 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8.50 (£4.50)

The Brooklyn-based artist showcases a series of large scale works resembling elements from nature under a microscope, featuring thousands of identical items stacked, glued, cut and assembled into installations and sculptures.

SAMARA SCOTT: STILL LIFE VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 AUG AND 27 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8.50 (£4.50)

First ever Scottish exhibition for London-based artist Samara Scott, a material alchemist known for using edible substances such as avocado skins and toothpaste to create her floor and wall based installations and sculptures. LAUREN GAULT: LIPSTICK – NASA

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 AUG AND 27 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8.50 (£4.50)

Artist Lauren Gault unveils an ambitious new outdoor sculptural installation, incorporating sound as well as live elements. SARA BARKER

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 1 AUG AND 27 SEP, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £8.50 (£4.50)

Having showcased her first temporary commission at Jupiter Artland as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival in 2013, artist Sara Barker returns to unveil a permanent large scale sculpture comprised of layered wood and steel.

National Museum of Scotland PHOTOGRAPHY: A VICTORIAN SENSATION

19 JUN – 22 NOV, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, £10 (£8 STUDENT/£6.50 CHILD)

Illuminating showcase of over 1,500 photographs charting the changing techniques used by photographers and studios during the 19th century, exploring the stories of the people both in front of and behind the camera.

MASTERS OF JAPANESE PORCELAIN

6 MAR – 30 AUG, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Showcase exhibition made possible due to the generous donation of a large group of Japanese and Chinese ceramics by David and Anne Hyatt King, formed over half a century.

Old Royal High School

MARVIN GAYE CHETWYND: THE KING MUST DIE

30 JUL – 30 AUG, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

New performative installation from artist Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, drawing inspiration from the rich world of Mary Renault’s historical novels and their fan groups.

Rare exhibition of celebrated hyper-realist eighteenth century artist Jean-Etienne Liotard (170289), marking the first time his work will have been comprehensively shown in Britain. BAILEY’S STARDUST

18 JUL – 18 OCT, TIMES VARY, £11 (£9)

The Stardust exhibition by the renowned photographer makes it was up to Scotland, following a run at the National Portrait Gallery in London, featuring over 300 portraits spanning half a century.

Scottish National Gallery Open Eye Gallery of Modern Art JOHN BELLANY: THE CAPERCAILLIE’S SONG

3 AUG – 2 SEP, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Special exhibition curated by John Bellany’s lifelong muse and inspiration, Helen Bellany, encompassing a vast span of Bellany’s life’s work from the family collection. JOANNE THOMPSON: WEAVE

3 AUG – 2 SEP, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

To commemorate her 20th anniversary as a maker, Joanne Thompson showcases a selection of new and ambitious jewellery work constructed specifically for Open Eye Gallery, including the introduction of gold and precious materials into the work.

Out of the Blue Drill Hall SEVEN OF THE 7TH

23 MAY – 13 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Working in this same building 100 years later, a group of community researchers, collaborative artist Jan Bee Brown and Citizen Curator curate an exhibition telling the story of the 1915 Quintinshill train disaster through seven soldiers involved.

Patriothall Gallery DIMMI (TELL ME)

1–16 AUG, NOT 3, 10, 12:00PM – 6:00PM, FREE

Group exhibition by recipients of the Royal Scottish Academy John Kinross Scholarship 2014, showing work made during or in response to their time in Florence.

ROY LICHTENSTEIN

14 MAR – 10 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

A special three-room ‘Artist Rooms’ display dedicated to works by celebrated American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, bringing together a newly assembled group of works care of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. THE AMAZING WORLD OF M.C. ESCHER

27 JUN – 27 SEP, TIMES VARY, £9 (£7)

Retrospective exhibition of Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, including nearly 100 prints and drawings stretching across his whole career, drawn entirely from the collection of the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. REFLECTIONS

14 MAR – 10 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Changing series of displays showcasing the work of a diverse range of internationally-renowned contemporary artists, including newly commissioned work by contemporary artists Michael Fullerton and Julie Favreau.

Scottish National Portrait Gallery COLLECTING NOW

9 MAY – 20 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase exhibition of a number of the recent acquisitions that have entered the Portrait Gallery collection since 2010, including a double portrait by Cecile Walton from around 1911 and a group of silver gelatin prints by David Peat from the late 60s.

LEE MILLER AND PICASSO 23 MAY – 6 SEP, TIMES VARY, £9 (£7)

Revealing exhibition featuring approximately 100 photographs focusing on the relationship between Lee Miller, Roland Penrose and Pablo Picasso, featuring photographs by Miller and a painting and drawing by Picasso. HEAD TO HEAD: PORTRAIT SCULPTURE – ANCIENT TO MODERN

6 JUN – 31 JAN, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition of portrait sculpture from across the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection, moving from ancient to modern and executed in a range of media, illustrating how sculptors continue to reference the illustrious tradition of the portrait bust.

South Gallery EVA ISLEIFSDOTTIR: BELIEVE

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 30 JUL AND 29 AUG, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Solo exhibition from Reykjavikborn artist Eva Isleifsdottir, who completed her MFA in Sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art in 2010.

St Margaret’s House

A POTTER, A PAINTER AND A POET

30 JUL – 30 AUG, 10:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Having worked collaboratively for a number of years, potter Paul Tebble, artist Anne Gilchrist and poet Elizabeth Burns explore their shared creative processes, including creative projections and sounds of the woodland that has inspired much of the work.

Stills

HERE COMES EVERYBODY

31 JUL – 25 OCT, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

New showcase of work by kennardphillipps, the collaborative practice of London-based artists Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps, formed in 2003 in response to the invasion of Iraq.

Talbot Rice Gallery

HANNE DARBOVEN: ACCEPTING ANYTHING AMONG EVERYTHING

31 JUL – 3 OCT, NOT 6 SEP, 13 SEP, 20 SEP, 27 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

First exhibition in Scotland from late artist Hanne Darboven, centred upon the work Life/ Living (1997-1998), a monumental installation of hundreds of framed works that form a systematic representation of the years 1900-1999.

Tent Gallery

REMOTE CENTRES: PERFORMANCES FROM OUTLANDIA

30 JUL – 28 AUG, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Architectural re-configuring of the Outlandia field-station, featuring performance and sound created at Outlandia by 20 artists, poets, writers, musicians and members of the Nevis community, contained within a sculptural environment inside Tent Gallery.

The Fruitmarket Gallery PHYLLIDA BARLOW

27 JUN – 18 OCT, TIMES VARY, FREE

Major solo showcase of work by Newcastle artist Phyllida Barlow, known for her monumental and immersive sculptures made from simple materials such as plywood, cardboard, fabric, plaster, paint and plastic.

The Number Shop WORK OUT

1–30 AUG, 12:00PM – 5:00PM, FREE

Showcase of work from ten The Number Shop studio residents, all recent graduates from Scottish art schools and working in a range of media, including photography, sculpture, printmaking, painting, drawing, ceramics, costume design, installation and film.

The Queen’s Gallery

SCOTTISH ARTISTS 1750-1900: FROM CALEDONIA TO THE CONTINENT

6 AUG – 7 FEB, 9:30AM – 6:00PM, £6.60 (£6 STUDENT/£3 UNDER 17S)

First ever exhibition devoted to Scottish art in the Royal Collection, bringing together paintings, drawings and miniatures collected by monarchs from George III to Queen Victoria.

The Royal Bank of Scotland RECIPROCITI

30 JUL – 29 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Thought-provoking exhibition in which designer Patrick StevensonKeating tests whether the most mundane of financial transactions be used as a force for good, via his very own imaginary bank with its own notes, debit card and cash dispenser.

The Scottish Gallery ANNE REDPATH: FIFTY

3 JUL – 1 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Marking 50 years since the death of Scottish painter Anne Redpath, The Scottish Gallery present a major exhibition of works spanning her entire career. DAVID CASS

3 JUL – 1 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Scottish painter David Cass returns to The Scottish Gallery with a body of new work from an 18 month research trip in Italy, France and Spain, taking as inspiration the floods which swept Florence in 1966, Paris in 1910 and Bilbao in 1983. VICKY SHAW: PRINTED ABSTRACT

3 JUL – 1 AUG, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Internationally acclaimed ceramicist Vicky Shaw showcases a series of new compositions, including wall pieces and bowls.

JAMES MORRISON: THE NORTH WIND

6 AUG – 5 SEP, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase exhibition of the Glasgow-born and GSA-graduating artist, the culmination of three years work, bringing new subjects and some adaption of his studio practice, including work made directly in front of the landscape. FINE LINES

6 AUG – 5 SEP, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Collective exhibition taking in Miriam Hanid’s silver work, Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley’s collaborative furniture and woodwork, and Kirsten Coelho’s fired porcelain pieces. JOAN EARDLEY: IN CONTEXT

6 AUG – 5 SEP, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Having first begun their association back in 1955, The Scottish Gallery showcase a selection of works by Joan Eardley 60 years on, including several previously unpublished photographs taken by Audrey Walker, the artist’s lover and muse.

The Scottish Parliament

MICHAEL PETO: POLITICS IN FOCUS

22 JUL – 22 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition of portraits and photographs by photojournalist Michael Peto, together forming a powerful portrait of social, cultural and political life during the 50s and 60s.

Hill Street Design House THE SKINNY SHOWCASE

31 JUL-31 AUG, 10AM-6PM, FREE

In celebration of our long-running art showcase, we take to the art fest for our sophomore exhibition – previewing four artists fresh from degree show: Mary Watson from DJCAD, John Farrell from GSA, Alice Chandler from ECA and Laura Porteous from Gray's.

9-11 Blair Street PLATFORM: 2015

30 JUL-30 AUG, 10AM-6PM, FREE

New EAF initiative dedicated to providing greater opportunities for artists at the beginning of their careers, taking in work by four artists from across Scotland selected by open call: Antonia Bañados, Ben Callaghan, Ross Hamilton Frew and Jessica Ramm.

Dundee Art DCA: Dundee Contemporary Arts

ROMAN SIGNER: INSTALLATIONS

4 JUL – 20 SEP, 11:00AM – 6:00PM, FREE

Internationally renowned for his sculptural installations and video works, Swiss artist Roman Signer presents new work made specially for DCA – including a radical re-purposing of kayaks, a longstanding symbol and form in his work.

Hannah Maclure Centre DUNDEE PRINT COLLECTIVE: EDITION TWO

29 JUN – 21 AUG, WEEKDAYS ONLY, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Showcase exhibition by the Dundee Print Collective, formed in 2014 by a core group of Dundee-based artists who wanted to promote printmaking as a creative, educational and sociable medium.

Nomas* Projects QUODLIBET

8 JUL – 30 AUG, 9:00AM – 9:00PM, FREE

Showcase exhibition from the current artist-in-residence for Departure Arts Centre in East London, whose recent work references a tradition of illusionistic painting that proliferated in Northern Europe from about 1600 – known as ‘quodlibet’.

The McManus

CLASSICAL ART: THE LEGACY OF THE ANCIENTS

24 JAN – 21 SEP, TIMES VARY, FREE

Showcase of works with a taste of the antique, illustrating the enduring influence of ancient Greek and Roman culture through paintings, sculpture and ceramics from Dundee’s nationally significant collection of fine art.

University of Dundee

TRANSMISSIONS: EXPLORING THE MICROBIAL WORLD

VARIOUS DATES BETWEEN 13 JUN AND 5 SEP, 11:00AM – 5:00PM, FREE

Showcase of work by artists exploring the microbial world and the implications of human coexistence with microbial life, made during residency at the Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh. In the Lifespace Gallery. JIM PETRIE: MINNIE THE MINX AND MORE

3 JUN – 19 SEP, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Exhibition celebrating the art of DC Thomson cartoonist (and DJCAD graduate) Jim Petrie (who died last year), best known as the artist who drew the Beano’s Minnie the Minx for 40 years. In the Lamb Gallery. A PASSION FOR PRINT

27 JUN – 26 SEP, NOT SUNDAYS, TIMES VARY, FREE

Selection of prints from the University of Dundee’s own collection of works by renowned artist and printmaker Jim Pattison. In the Tower Foyer Gallery.

WASPS Studios THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

31 JUL – 2 AUG, TIMES VARY, FREE

Group exhibition bringing together three DJCAD graduate painters living and working in Dundee for whom colour and the materiality of paint play a central role in their practice.

THE SKINNY

Food and Redecorating in a Sex Club Tasked with interviewing comedians Jo-Jo Bellini and John Robertson ahead of their Fringe shows, Fred Fletch used the opportunity to take them on a double-date to a sex club. Obviously. WARNING: Contains scenes most will find distressing Interview: Fred Fletch Illustration: Paul Law

t was around 8pm when John Robertson called to ask, “Have you ever taken a shit in a corset?” I'd already drunk three shots of vodka while my attorney, Dickie, desperately tried to tear eyeholes into the adhesive bandages he'd wrapped around his head. “No,” I replied, “but we'll be with you in 20 minutes.” Dickie handed me the bottle of Zubrowka and then the kitchen knife: “Just cut me a fucking nose hole before I pass out.” “Make that an hour,” I told Robertson. This weekend was planned as a quiet, romantic weekend for Mrs Fletch and I on a double-date with comedians John Robertson and Jo-Jo Bellini to an impossible sex club. But in a total confuckulence of events my mother-in-law had wired herself from her own timeline to the exact coordinates of my living room. My mother-in-law doesn't much like sex clubs and hence why I had my attorney present. Once, long before my mother-in-law and I met in person (and on hearing of her daughter's engagement), she'd conducted a basic background check on me. There is no easy way to explain her search results and what she found there. But, in brief... while the internet is a great place to see a cat play the theremin, it's a terrible place to see me. The reference to Thundercatting her daughter's sex pants had rather turned my future mother-in-law against our engagement. Yet, the whole thing resulted in a situation like Catherine Brelet's mother telling her not to marry Max Von Sydow because she once saw him trying to explode Flash Gordon. Having failed to prevent our nuptials, she put her everythings into a space-block of our basic right to go fetish clubbing. By incommoding me the evening was now in jeopardy, with Bellini and Robertson left in a ticketless purgatory. Now, we always knew Dickie gave unorthodox advice. But tonight it backfired completely. It turned out that the spectacle of a mummified lawman bursting into the living-room wielding a knife didn't bring about the absolute collapse of my motherin-law's mind we had hoped for. Instead she looked past his bandages and hardly registered the disappointed eight-inches of my barely concealed dong silhouetted in the doorframe. Five minutes later, it was with Dickie rather than Mrs Fletch that I headed out to meet Bellini and Robertson. Tonight, I dressed as Sean Connery from Zardoz complete with galactic space-diaper. Bandaged Dickie, of course, continued to play both The Invisible Man and my wing-man. Although our taxi driver said nothing there was an unspoken understanding that he'd have to boil the cab's upholstery and mark the invoice to bypass the Comedy section and go straight to the Editor. As Bellini and Robertson emerged from their hotel the eighth shot of vodka kicked in. It was a good thing too, for Robertson was dressed like he'd been kicked out of Thunderdome for Thunderdomeing too hard, with tight corset and boots designed specifically to start some shit on the moon. Bellini, hair streaked red and clutching a rolling pin, was adorned in a low-cut latex dress that revealed NASA's underwear scientists must have finally worked out how to weaponise a bra beyond the usual Ninja stars and Mexican fireworks.

August 2015

The pair of them had officially just replaced human genitals at the top of the food chain. On arrival, the four of us found the venue awash with latex, rubber, fur and military uniforms. Clearly 90% of the club was wild enough to spend a weekend cutting fuckholes into a fox-costume but domesticated enough to know exactly which biological soap powder gets semen out of a 1920s air marshall's hat. Yet, the whole event was terribly civilised with people passing charming pleasantries to each other like, “Your slave is so well behaved” and “I love what you've done with your nipples.” Robertson could not have been more at home. Frenzied, sharp-witted and almost supernaturally sexual, it is no surprise he became the centre of many attentions that evening. The only thing keeping my mouth off every part of his body was the three King James Bibles that I'd juiced and drunk before all the sorry business with Dickie and my mother-in-law. But Robertson is still the kind of pal you can inform, “My nappy has ridden up so tight my dick looks like a balloon animal,” without meeting his disapproval. Of course, you'll appreciate the one thing I was meant to do this evening was interview Bellini and Robertson about their Fringe shows. When I was meant to ask them both where they got their ideas from and who their comedy heroes were and what was their favourite heckle and which of their mates’ shows they would like to plug, I was actually surrounded by five-star slave boys tied to a mermaid, a sexy Hitler and a latex Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Unfortunately we simply found all the fetishes on offer too distracting for in-depth feature interviews. I've since done some investigating though and it turns out both shows are boner-level awesome: Robertson's show Let's Redecorate brings S&M, death and God together for an event horizon of beautiful comedy, yet reflects on the passing of a dear friend. It is ultimately a salute to life and love. He will also reprise The Dark Room, his signature show. Then there's Bellini's This and That – A Late Night Tasty Delight. While most debut shows end with an apology, Bellini will end hers with a delicious bowl of soup. And though it didn't constitute an interview, whenever Bellini spoke about food on the sex club night, it was as sexy as regional hygiene laws allow. Her salacious decriptions came so close to porn I'd seriously consider fucking the marmalade I have in the fridge – though it's probable my attorney got there first.

“The pair of them had officially just replaced human genitals at the top of the food chain” Meanwhile, back at the sex club, that very attorney was possessing an ever-diminishing percentage of normal human vision as his medi-

cal bandages were slowly tightening due to the sweltering atmosphere. It would be a continuing problem but, for now, one he managed by simply demanding a straw for his beer and vanishing deeper into the club. The subsequent crashes and screams assured me he'd successfully found the dungeon. It was then that Robertson started playing whack-a-mole with the glow-sticks he'd unceremoniously rammed into my crotch, until the sexy Hitler winked at us as she was drawn past our table and onto a dance floor playing Wild Wild West by Will Smith, and broke the mood. I pulled a glowstick from my urethra with about as much dignity as I could muster and joined Bellini for a cigarette. We were soon tasked with keeping a close eye on the woman in a basque who politely asked us if we'd “piss on her twat”, an opportunity we passed on for not having a urologist on speed-dial. We were late back to the table and Robertson smacked me hard across the nipple as he'd ended up looking after the increasingly constricted Dickie. We headed to the bar again and, then, the evening becomes a blur. I recall dancing with latex ninjas and Bellini rescuing Robertson from a slap fight in the women's bathroom. I remember a room with a woman strapped to a table being paddled on the butthole by a Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. I remember Dickie advising me to take a drink of whatever he produced from his coat pocket... then nothing until the music stopped and we headed from the cloakroom into the cool night air. We were all forced to step carefully over a girl on all fours fellating the end-of-level boss from Double Dragon. Although I'm a firm believer of spontaneous, last minute passion, she clearly

knew a lot more about putting her entire mouth over a penis than she did about trip-hazards near a fire exit. As we staggered into the night, Dickie reappeared in a state of panic. It turns out that while adhesive bandaging makes an impressive and alluring invisible-man costume, after five hours of dancing under disco lights, the shit had turned into a material as tough as kevlar. Exposed to the cold night air, Dickie began to choke and tear at his face like he was metamorphosing into a warewolf with space-eczema. And so it was that Bellini, Robertson and I ripped and pulled the accursed mask from him in chunks while he loudly screamed, “Just give me a fucking knife” on the damp road surface of one of Edinburgh's main thoroughfares. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law was doubtless sat on the knife he needed. If anyone had told me at the start of the night that our adventure in fetish and fantasy would end standing in the rain, tearing the face off a howling Invisible Man I'd have said, “Well, obviously, Timecop.” The last we saw of Dickie was as he ran along Cowgate, sodden bandages flailing and arms akimbo, a receding figure disappearing from our vision into the night. Jo-Jo Bellini: This and That – A Late Night Tasty Delight plays at The Stand III; 5, 7-16 Aug, 10.40pm, £8 John Robertson: Let's Redecorate! plays at The Stand VI; 5, 7-16, 18-30 Aug, 2.50pm, £10 John Robertson: The Dark Room plays at Underbelly, Cowgate; 6-30 Aug, 8.40pm, £10.50 edfringe.com

Out Back