FREE
October 2026 Issue 249
THE SKINNY
The Skinny's songs about being back Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back) Christina Aguilera - Fighter S Club 7 - Bring It All Back Donna Summer - She Works Hard for the Money Wildchild - Renegade Master Tina Turner - The Bitch Is Back LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out Sian - Bha Mo Leannan Ann Eminem - Without Me Dolly Parton - Here You Come Again Elton John - The Bitch Is Back Stone Roses - I Am the Resurrection Wu-Tang Clan - Reunited Thin Lizzy - The Boys are Back in Town Take That - Back for Good Chumbawamba - Tubthumping Listen to this playlist on Spotify — search for
'The Skinny Office Playlist' or scan the below code
Issue 249, October 2026 © Radge Media C.I.C. October 2026 - Chat
Get in touch: E: hello@theskinny.co.uk 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 DC Thomson & Co. Ltd, Dundee
regularmusic.com
regularmusicuk printed on 100% recycled paper
— 4 —
Championing creativity in Scotland Meet the team This month we asked: What's your favourite resurrection and why? Senior Editorial
Rosamund West Editor-in-Chief "Turritopsis dohrnii, a jellyfish that can reprogramme its cells to return to a youthful polyp state. Although scientists have confirmed it is not fully immortal following euphemistically described 'lab observations.'"
Peter Simpson Deputy Editor, Food & Drink Editor "Robocop; he has risen, and now he's fighting a robot in a stairwell!"
Anahit Behrooz Events Editor, Books Editor "Me locking back into my life every two months for a week or so."
Jamie Dunn Film Editor, Online Journalist "I always lose it at the scene in ET where Elliott is crying over his wee pal's wrinkled corpse, which has turned the colour of a white dog turd, only for that adorable little alien to have a literal glow-up. Cinema!"
Tallah Brash Music Editor "In the spirit of predictability, I'm gonna say LCD Soundsystem... Their return rather poetically happened on Christmas Eve 2015, with their first live shows back being around Easter 2016..."
Myrtle Boot Clubs Editor "Watching too many Take That documentaries has unfortunately permeated my brain. That being said, Robbie Williams rejoining for The Flood in 2010... my goosebumps are yet to go down."
Eilidh Akilade Intersections Editor "The Vampire Diaries is top of mind obvs. Whenever a plot gets sticky, someone comes back from the dead. Love it. Gets me every time. Like wow."
Rachel Ashenden Art Editor "Believing that the world wasn't ready for her spiritual vision, Hilma af Klint painted abstract works in secret and instructed that they only see the light of day 20 years after her death."
Phoebe Crawford Comedy Editor "There's one person I know we're all thinking about... a real trendsetter in the history books... and that's Walford native Pat Butcher."
Mika Morava Theatre Editor "Oh god obviously Buffy Summers. She said resurrection is complicated my friends!! But in that grappling space is where deeply inspired art (season six) can burst forth!!!"
Business
Production
Laurie Presswood General Manager "Original and best – Big Guy literally redefined the genre and more importantly invented the Easter Egg while he was at it."
Dalila D'Amico Art Director, Acting Designer "Me opening my laptop after lunch. Against all medical expectations."
Phoebe Willison Designer "The snowdrops in January."
Ellie Robertson Editorial Assistant "The post-sesh fry-up is the only reason I go on nights out anymore."
Ema Smekalová Media Sales Executive "Tadpole shrimp are prehistoric Scottish animals that can go into diapause and survive for decades in dried up rock pools before coming back to life when the water returns. Slept on icons imo."
Emilie Roberts Media Sales Executive "When Cheryl Cole came back as CHERYL. Icon."
Commissioning Editors
Sales
Sandy Park Commercial Director "My dog's, when she is completely dead to the world until the faintest rustle of a wrapper in the other room suddenly brings her back to her chaotic, full of life self."
what will you see next? 27 - 31 Oct 2026
DAILY MAIL
THE OBSERVER
MAIL ON SUNDAY
MARTIN SHAW
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS 30 & 31 Oct 2026
13 & 14 Nov 2026
By
Directed by
ROBERT BOLT
JONATHAN CHURCH
24 - 28 Nov 2026
A dazzling Cinderella story
28 Nov 2026 - 17 Jan 2027
1 - 5 Dec 2026
11 - 24 Dec 2026
Cinders_EFT The Skinny ad item_85mm W x 64mm H V2.indd 1
r ages 3+
e show fo ect festiv The perf
��������
�� � � �� �� � �
17 - 31 Dec 2026
12 - 16 Jan 2027
26 - 30 Jan 2027
Dance Consortium present
São Paulo Dance Company
To learn more and join today, scan the QR code or call our box office on 0131 529 6000. *Subject to terms and conditions
9 - 13 Feb 2027
12 & 13 Feb 2027
07/
THE SKINNY
Editorial Words: Rosamund West
T
he headline for this on the pageplan is ‘wtf is happening editorial’. I am here to tell you wtf is happening. It’s been a wild few weeks here at The Skinny. As Jamie says in his reflective lead feature, reports of our demise were not in fact greatly exaggerated. At the beginning of September we were forced to announce our closure, following a significant drop in income that we, a small business entirely reliant on ad revenue and, crucially, not Creative Scotland funding, were unable to weather. The support we received from the public was incredible. At the point of announcement we were all frankly too devastated to consider what the reaction might be, and hearing from so many friends, peers, collaborators past and present helped all of us feel that even amongst the current heartbreak, what we have produced has been meaningful. This magazine is truly a labour of love for all involved, and it has been for now 21 years. Many generations of writers, editors, designers, photographers, illustrators have seen their work on these pages. Generations of staff members have worked tirelessly to produce a magazine each and every month. We are so deeply grateful for all the support. Many reached out to ask what they could offer materially, and that was again so appreciated. It was particularly impactful to see so many people talking about the importance of independent cultural journalism, of how that connects readers to the creative scenes around them, raises awareness, discourse, attendance. We believe in this, passionately, and hope to be able to continue delivering that for our readers here in Scotland long into the future. Which leads us on to the how are we here part – enter Outer Spaces, who stepped in shortly after our public announcement with the wholly unexpected offer of a takeover. Thanks to them we are able to return, continue, stabilise, and hopefully, in the long term, touch wood, thrive. We’re grateful and excited to be entering this next chapter with an organisation whose aims and values align so closely with our own, committed to supporting artists and the broader creative community right here in the place that we live. They’re celebrating their fifth birthday this month – the traditional fifth anniversary gift is wood, and what is The Skinny if not reformed pulped wood. Welcome to the (belated) October issue.
October Concerts Max Richter+ with David Brophy and Mari Samuelsen
22-23 Oct, 7.30pm
New Dimensions
Edinburgh | Glasgow
Barber’s Adagio & Violin Concerto with Ryan Bancroft and Clara-Jumi Kang
29-30 Oct, 7.30pm Edinburgh | Glasgow
Aoife Cawley is a printmaker and textiles artist from County Kildare, now working between Ireland and Scotland. Graduating in 2024 in Contemporary Art Practice from DJCAD, her work explores history, mythology, folklore, and the lives of saints, blending traditional medieval art forms with contemporary techniques. She recently undertook a residency with Outer Spaces and has this to say about the experience.
Explore our concerts sco.org.uk
“This residency has allowed me to treat my practice with the focus it deserves and establish a healthier work-life balance. Beyond giving me the room for ongoing work, it came at the perfect time to explore new ideas. I’ve been reflecting on my recent RSA trip to Florence, as well as how the late 19th-century Irish Arts and Crafts movement responded to industrialisation, which has me curious about what our societies' artistic response may be to the emergence of AI.”
Company Registration Number: SC075079. A charity registered in Scotland No. SC015039.
Photo of Mari Samuelsen ©Jonathan Vivaas Kise
— 7 —
October 2026 – Chat
£6 FOR STUDENTS
Poster Artist (p20-21)
THE SKINNY
Heads Up
Events! We missed them! Here’s a round up of the best gigs, festivals, exhibitions and performances happening in Scotland across the rest of the month. Compiled by Anahit Behrooz
Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, until 20 Dec It’s the first year of Collective’s new Time + Space programme dedicated to supporting early career artists. Following on from a remarkable solo exhibition by Richard Maguire, this second installment brings together work by Huss Al-Chokhdar, Hetal Chudasama, Gianni Esporas and Abi Lewis, with film, sculpture and site-specific printmaking spotlighting the cutting edge of contemporary Scottish art.
Huss Al-Chokhdar, The Ship That Left Without Us
Melrose Corn Exchange, Melrose, 30-31 Oct The Tweed River Festival began last year in Peebles and is now travelling downstream, with this year’s edition taking place in Melrose (followed by Berwick-uponTweed next year before, presumably, dissolving into the North Sea). Only two years in and it is already one of the most wholesome festivals out there, exploring the cultural impact of the river on local communities through the likes of costume making workshops, circus performances and screenings. Photo: Ian Georgeson
Harpy
Tweed River Festival 2025 Workshop
Harpy 5 Florence Street, Glasgow, 24 Oct, 7:30pm The mythical figure of the harpy – a half-woman, half-bird hybrid – becomes a cipher for ideas of transition, difference and healing in this one-off performance piece by artist Eden Dodd, curated by 16 Collective. A sculptural set inspired by Dodd’s industrial Welsh hometown becomes a space in which to reimagine the harpy, and what she can tell us about the conditions and power relations necessary for dehumanisation.
Tweed River Festival
Photo: Jock Thomson
Heads Up
Image: courtesy of Collective Gallery
Time + Space: 2026 Group Exhibition
Jali Film Weekender Various venues, Edinburgh, 28 Oct-1 Nov A five-day celebration of Black, African and diaspora cinema, Jali Film Weekender returns for its second edition, programmed this year around the theme of Rebellion. This is rebellion across all forms: rebellion against society and ways of living but also rebellion against prescribed narrative form, with incredible experimental works across fiction, documentary, animation, and virtual and expanded reality. Image: courtesy of Jali Film Weekender
Photo: Steve Tanner
Photo: Matt Wellham
Air Conditioner Romare
Tristan & Yseult
October 2026 — Chat
Free Time: Romare (DJ Set)
Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 20-24 Oct, various times Before Romeo and Juliet there were Tristan and Yseult, two star-crossed lovers doomed to fancy each other to death. This adaptation by Emma Rice blazed into the theatre scene in 2003, giving the medieval tragedy a comic cabaret edge complete with circus, physical theatre and – don’t worry – sad romance
Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, 18 Oct, 6pm Do you long to hit up da club but still be in bed ideally before 11pm? Then Sneaky’s Free Time series is for you: evening sets by some of the most exciting DJs around, playing at the most respectable time imaginable. This edition sees them welcome electronic producer Romare, whose music is characterised by eclectic sampling and diverse generic influences. Tristan + Yseult
Various venues, Scotland, 19 Oct-8 Nov
Scottish International Storytelling Festival
Photo: © Al Seed
Photo: Euan Campbell
Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival
Various venues, Scotland, 21-31 Oct Image: courtesy of SISF
Photo: Maasja Ooms
Thrice A New No, Duncan Campbell
My Word Against Mind
Duncan Campbell: A New No GoMA, Glasgow, until 4 Jan 2027 — 8 —
Thrice Bologna Fraternal Compagnia Masquerade Mask Capitani
Tramway, Glasgow, 16-17 Oct, 7:30pm
THE SKINNY Image: courtesy of SQIFF
Scottish Queer International Film Festival
When Prophecy Fails Dundee Rep, Dundee, 15 Oct, 7:30pm Set in the American midwest and inspired by the world’s first UFO doomsday cult and a seminal 1950s study into the concept of cognitive dissonance, this striking piece of physical theatre showed at the Edinburgh International Festival earlier this year and is returning to Scotland just in time for spooky season. Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic
Various venues, Glasgow, 19-24 Oct London Film Festival may be taking place right now over the border but here in Scotland, we have our own homegrown and, dare we say it, sexier film festivals this autumn. Leading the charge is the Scottish Queer International Film Festival, with a week-long extravaganza dedicated to all things queer storytelling to mark their 11th edition. There’s curated short film programmes, a screening of Brazilian feature I Am Going to Miss You, and even a craft fair.
Microsteria Halloween
PANG at SQIFF
When Prophecy Fails Photo: Sinead Ferguson
Photo: Hope Holmes
Photo: © StudioRoRo
Heads Up
People’s Leisure Club, Edinburgh, 31 Oct, 8pm Dressing up for Halloween is child’s play to maximalist legends Microsteria: they’ve been the home of the intersection between weird and wacky costuming, music and trippy visuals for years now. The club series returns for a spooky spectacular with a gorgeous lineup of live and DJ sets from the likes of Ascetic Practices, Heavenphetamine, Callum Easter and Isa Gordon.
Cowgate Block Party
Aladji x Chicago Footwork Scotland x Stereo: DJ Slugo & username Microsteria
Turandot
Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 22 Oct-7 Nov, various times A prince falls in love with a princess who promises to marry whichever of her suitors can answer her fiendishly difficult riddle. The twist? Anyone who fails gets put to death. Feeld could never. Romance has gotten decidedly more boring since Puccini’s epic opera first debuted exactly 100 years ago, but Scottish Opera are bringing the stakes back up in this staging by David McVicar.
DJ Slugo
The Pitt, Edinburgh, 31 Oct, 3pm
Various venues, Edinburgh, 24 Oct, 3pm The party does not stop with these guys: now on their fourth edition, the regular mini festival is back with a stellar programme of up and coming musicians across Sneaky Pete’s and The Mash House. Fifteen bands take the (three) stages, amongst them Paper Hats, Becca Hunter, Diet of Worms, and The Klittens.
PHANTASMAGASM Spooky Elvis Special! The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 31 Oct, 7pm Photo: Faye Strǎssle
Photo: Anni Cameron
Photo: Kurt Van der Elst
Photo: Laura Meek
Days Festival
Cowgate Block Party
Both Hands
Thanks for Being Here
Both Hands Album Launch Party Days Festival
Thanks for Being Here
Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, 25 Oct, 2pm
Maz and the Phantasms
— 9 —
Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 22-23 Oct, 7:30pm
October 2026 — Chat
Image: ourtesy of the artist
Scottish Opera: Turandot
Stereo, Glasgow, 23 Oct, 11pm Two huge names in the international clubbing scene are making their Scottish debuts this month: Chicago-based DJ Slugo brings his pioneering work in ghetto house to Stereo alongside Vancouver producer username. Expect all things footwork, ghetto house and Jersey club – what better way to shake the October cobwebs off.
INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM FOREVER Welcome back, The Skinny
Campaign Management, Digital Marketing, Creative Projects
THE SKINNY
Crossword 1
2
3
4
5
11
18
19
S
22 24
25
26
32
Feedback? Email crossword@theskinny.co.uk
20
21
27
28
29
A
33
34
C
35
36 38
K 40
39
41
44
45
48
Compiled by Ema Smekalová
16
B
37
43
10
O
30 31
9
14
E
17
8
12
R 15
42
7
E
13
23
6
46
49
47
50
51 52
53
54
55
56 61
63
57
58
59
60
62
64 67
65
66
68
69
70 71
Across 50. Enclosed area - the unit of life (4)
1. Lazarus is known for this, as well as Jesus, and The Skinny (7)
36. 20th century meat jelly (5)
7. To conclude, or what you might do with a gift (4, 2)
51. Additional - read all about it! (5) 52. Scotland (9)
2. Burglary, or what you need to do with your new Docs (5, 2)
39. Tiny Desk hosts (3)
56. Impermanent (9)
3. Shyly (7)
43. Laugh onomatopoeia (4)
61. ‘Are’ in ye olden days (3)
4. COMMon punctuation mark (5)
44. Go away (4)
63. Clamour (5)
5. WE’RE SO BACK!
64. Retract statement (5)
16. Hooray! An email/search engine (5)
66. Sound of annoyance/pain (5)
6. Tubular tentacled marine creature, eg. anemone or coral (5)
45. Cosmos (or saviours of The Skinny, minus one letter) (5, 5)
17. Cleared (leaves) (5)
67. Illuminated (3, 2)
8. Post break-up pick-me-up? (7)
18. Author of Greek fables (5)
68. Amazon’s talking assistant (5)
21. German underground (1-4)
69. Balanced (5)
9. Often used in the context of annual salary (3, 4)
22. Opposite of bottom (3)
70. Not a soul (5)
23. Post-wedding trip (9)
71. His nose elongates when he lies (9)
27. Loyal to a belief, determined (9)
72. Popular ephemera / tendencies (6)
30. Praxis (5)
73. Libra symbol, or (misspelled) name of a music shop in Edinburgh (6)
11. Sweet and good - moo wheels (anag) (9) 13. Sea fish - arm be (anag) (5) 14. The colour of mud (5) 15. Phrase or saying, usually specific to a particular language (5)
October 2026 — Chat
Down
1. Androids (6)
32. Portent (4) 34. Tax - sound a bell (4) 37. Like working both in the office and from home (6) 38. Lana Del Rey said is it by mistake or __ (6) 40. Donkey (3) 41. Doctor __? (3) 42. Gratitude (6) 46. Mariner (6) 48. Sword handle (4)
37. Sizzling (3)
46. Soulless digital content - unappetising food (4) 47. Walkie-talkie term (4) 49. Gossip - hot drink (3)
10. Pesto ingredient (4, 3)
50. Feline (3)
11. Strange person (6)
52. Happy - influencer produce (7)
12. Breathe out (6)
53. Rest and recreation (7)
19. Latin conjunction (2)
54. Ruminated - resided (7)
20. Shortened word for surgery (2)
55. Announcing the subsequent thing (4, 2)
24. Sole (4)
57. To a greater extent (4, 2)
25. Atmosphere / frame of mind (4)
58. Natural, free from pesticides and such (7)
26. Sister (3)
59. Cute lil salamander (7)
27. Ready to go (3)
60. City in NY state - Tyler, the Creator single (7)
28. __ Reekie (4) 29. Tune (4)
61. Article that comes before a vowelstarting noun (2)
31. Work hard - reduce coffee bean to dust (5)
62. Thanks (2)
33. Electronic communication method (5)
64. Overthrow, change up (5)
35. Layer of gas around the earth that absorbs radiation (5)
65. Below Deck setting (5)
— 12 —
THE SKINNY
GOT A QUESTION?
Three riddles. Two hearts. A life at risk. In this month’s advice column, one reader asks how to maintain hope in the face of collapse
How do I stay motivated and hopeful when every day it seems like one institution or another is closing or collapsing?
Turandot P U C C I N I
Glasgow & Edinburgh 22 October – 22 November Core funded by
Do you have a problem Anahit could help with? Get in touch by email on pettyshit@theskinny.co.uk, send us your quandaries with an almost-unhelpful level of anonymity via NGL, or look out for Ask Anahit callouts on our Instagram stories
Registered in Scotland Number SC037531 Scottish Charity Number SC019787
— 13 —
October 2026 — Chat
Yeah I mean, it’s extremely fucking hard! We exist in a world that is actively hostile to the things that we love and that make our lives better, and it is extremely difficult to be optimistic in the face of that kind of systemic neglect. I guess I would begin by reevaluating the emphasis we put on hope as part of our personal process. Don’t get me wrong – hope is an essential part of reimagining the world we live in, investing in the idea of change, and believing in the possibility of that change happening. But I think if we rest too much on the idea of hope, we can counterintuitively become trapped in the despair of our present situation, and how different it is from what we want. What would happen if we existed concretely in the present, and changed what we can? I don’t mean this in a liberal change-the-systemfrom-within way, like those people who join the police force so they can set up a DEI committee. I mean it more in a Braveheart, ‘they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom’ way. They can take everything from us but they can’t take away our desire to make things, and our desire to be connected to each other. And once that desire exists, it can endlessly reinvent new ways of existing in the world. What lies at the heart of the collapse of these institutions? Money and social atomisation. So what is the antidote? Art for art’s sake, and community. Gather your friends together and hold art evenings in each other’s flats. Get in touch with your local independent pubs and cafes and ask about curating mini exhibitions. Hang out at your community radio stations. Make a zine and host a zine swap. Literally do anything. It’s not enough, of course it’s not. In a just world we would have our spaces and our resources and our remuneration to do all this work. And I think that world is worth fighting for! But I think it is also worth saying that even if it never comes, the things we love can’t entirely be taken away from us. We have to cling on to that. That’s maybe where the hope lies.
21–31 October 2026 sisf.org.uk Illustration by Marie-Alice Harel
@scotstoryfest #scotstoryfest
THE SKINNY
We're back!
You Can’t Keep a Diva Down With The Skinny almost closing last month, it got people in our community talking about the health and significance of local arts journalism. We speak to some of the organisations that had incisive things to say on the subject
October 2026 – Feature
W
ell isn’t this awkward. We’d love to say reports of our death were greatly exaggerated, but they were bang on the money. At the beginning of September, The Skinny braced for immediate and permanent closure. No more Heads Up. No more listings. No more crossword. No more reviews, features, columns, illustrations and photography from our talented team of contributors. But as one reader wrote on Instagram, “you can’t keep a diva down”. Outer Spaces came to the rescue, pulling us from the brink. The Edinburghbased arts charity is buying The Skinny’s publisher, Radge Media, in a deal that’ll stabilise us financially, meaning our team can get back to what we do best. Namely, shining a torch on arts and culture being made in Scotland and providing a platform for emerging arts writers, editors, photographers and illustrators to investigate these scenes. As you might expect, it’s been an emotional month for the people who make this magazine. Not only are we still reeling from our near extinction, but we’ve also been completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support we received from readers, artists and the wider arts community in Scotland. For this interim edition of the magazine, we decided to reach out to some of the organisations in the community who wrote particularly thoughtful words when it looked like we would close, to ask why they feel local arts journalism is so essential. One of the first organisations to make a statement of solidarity when it appeared we were done for was EHFM, the first-rate community radio station we’ve been fans of since they began broadcasting in 2018. “We owe The Skinny a great deal,” says EHFM’s station manager, Vicky Kavanagh. “You gave us our first piece of coverage and have always been a role model for us as a local arts media outlet.” While there are many differences between The Skinny and EHFM, Kavanagh sees plenty of overlap. “We’re ultimately both trying to do the same thing. We need to show solidarity with each other because we are keenly aware of the tightrope we’re walking. We couldn’t see the
closure of The Skinny and not express our gratitude and appreciation, as well as our despair at the state of the arts right now. Institutions like The Skinny should not be allowed to fail!” Like EHFM, Edinburgh arthouse cinema Filmhouse regularly features in the pages of The Skinny. “Your magazine plays a massive role in us getting the word out about our programmes,” says Filmhouse’s executive director Andrew Simpson, “as well as often being a major space where a lot of the wonderful films, filmmakers and festivals we host can get coverage. We know how important The Skinny is for the cultural ecosystem in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland, so you guys not being around anymore would have been a massive negative for us.” We were also deeply moved by words of support from fellow arts magazines. The List’s October issue led with an editorial on the “delicate ecosystem” in which arts magazines like us operate, while SNACK’s editor, Kenny Lavelle, wrote a barnstorming piece lamenting our demise and celebrating the importance of print journalism. “The closure of The Skinny would have been a great loss to the country,” says Lavelle when we ask about his article. That might sound like a lofty statement; national importance possibly oversells arts journalism’s relevance. But Lavelle makes a good case. “Local arts journalism gives context to the many disparate strands of a country’s arts landscape,” he says. “It provides a place of convergence, and a wider view to understand a country’s arts and artists – and ultimately its people.” While not working in the same field, literary magazine Extra Teeth is another bold Scottish print publication with whom we feel an indelible connection. Its fearless co-founder and managing editor, Heather Parry, agrees there’s a kinship. “We all understand how vital print media is to professionalising within this industry – especially if you are in any way marginalised,” she says. “The Skinny has started or supported the careers of many writers we’ve gone on to publish, so we feel very interconnected.” Jess Brough, the indefatigable founder and director of Fringe of Colour, is similarly ardent when it comes to the primacy of on-the-ground independent media. “We cannot and should never rely on media conglomerates as tastemakers or — 16 —
Words: Jamie Dunn
sources of solidarity for the arts,” Brough tells me, “because they are driven primarily by profit and therefore have neither taste nor the capacity for solidarity. Local arts journalism exists for the community; without it, the whole ecosystem falls apart.”
“Local arts journalism exists for the community; without it, the whole ecosystem falls apart” Jess Brough, Fringe of Colour If the shock at our almost-closure has had a silver lining, it’s that it’s got many people in our community thinking about print media, local journalism, and its importance in celebrating, critiquing and creating an archive of the arts in Scotland. “With review space diminishing to next to nothing, and professional critics and arts journalists being replaced with influencers across the board, it is essential that we protect the few spaces we have left that publish real, thoughtful, constructive
THE SKINNY
Can we still reliably access what we once wrote on Bebo or MySpace? Print arts magazines give a permanent record of who we are at a given moment in time in a way that is not possible otherwise.” The Scottish arts community’s concern that The Skinny might have been lost is not to say there’s a dearth of critical voices here. “In some ways, it seems there’s more local arts journalism than ever now,” notes Kavanagh. The democratisation of journalism does have its drawbacks, though. The issue with Substack and the like, says Kavanagh, is that “these are all siloed platforms, almost always presented from a single individual’s POV. The importance of outlets like The Skinny is that they are collective efforts with a much more ambitious scope, presenting a plurality of voices from across the country.” In other words, in our individualistic, atomised world, The Skinny (and magazines like us) represents a kind of collective endeavour that is both socially important and increasingly rare. If it isn’t already clear, arts journalism is urgent and indispensable. The question remains, though: how do we create robust economic systems where community-centred arts journalism can not just survive, but flourish? Everyone we spoke to for this article suggested convincing visions for the future of local arts criticism, and we hope to delve into their ideas at a later date. For now, all that’s left to say is a massive thank you to EHFM, Fringe of Colour, SNACK, Filmhouse, Extra Teeth and a whole litany of other arts institutions, journalists, artists, arts
workers, government organisations, MSPs, venues and readers who reached out with kind words in our darkest hour. Your solidarity meant the world to us, and only convinced us more of the importance of arts journalism in Scotland and our privileged role within it.
ehfm.live filmhouse.org.uk snackmag.co.uk extrateeth.co.uk fringeofcolour.co.uk
The Skinny’s editorial assistant and in-house Gen Z reflects on an encounter with an alien from another world – a print magazine from 2005 Words: Ellie Robertson
I
founders could have predicted how anachronistic it might one day seem. In the 21 years since its launch, austerity, Brexit and COVID have taken their toll on the arts. Things were bad in Blairite Britain, but a community-minded project like The Skinny could organically thrive. Now? The country is shrinkflating, the internet is undergoing enshittification. New art from new places is the only tonic for late-stage capitalism. Part of my job is proofreading almost everything that goes on theskinny.co.uk – years of our writers’ work, their visions of Scotland and dreams for its future. I grieved when I thought that I, and all of my colleagues, would be out of a job. It’s wonderful that we’ve been given another chance, but that grief wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling, more — 17 —
like something I’ve been raised to expect. Your twenties are hard; it’s crushing to learn and relearn what the world really is and who you really are, no matter which way you romanticise it. You always feel behind, and often feel hopeless. But this month more than ever I’ve remembered the lesson that those articles taught; there are a hundred albums that will change your life, and you probably haven’t heard half of them yet. The most important film you will ever see is years away from being made. There are people out there right now that will become your closest friends, and you don’t even know they exist. The Skinny won’t always be around – but while it’s here, there are lessons to be found in its pages that might stick with you for the rest of your life.
October 2026 – Feature
It Tolls For Z
’m not the only twenty-something who’s learned that the flats with the most maintenance problems are new builds, and the outfits that fall apart first are the ones fresh off the high street. Likewise, some tenements stand tall after a hundred years, and the longest lasting clothes in my wardrobe came from a charity shop with decades of wear and tear effortlessly brushed off. The past is a foreign country, one with a competitive marketplace, a high standard of craftsmanship, and something called ‘value for money’. Enter a certain free magazine. I wasn’t around at The Skinny’s launch – I was growing up in the suburbs, probably watching Doctor Who at that exact moment – but I imagine none of its
We're back!
engagement with the arts – from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and expertise,” argues Parry. She also makes the valid point that our “national” papers of record, while more robustly funded, can’t be relied upon to document scenes happening north of the border: “With Scottish artists continuing to be ignored by England-based media, Scottish arts publications like The Skinny are truly vital to ensure our writers, musicians, filmmakers and all other types of creatives get a fair shot in the wider British landscape.” Simpson reckons The Skinny (and other publications like it – The List and SNACK) help to make audiences’ worlds bigger. “[Art journalism] plays that key role in understanding what’s going on across the cultural landscape,” he says. “A lot of us pick up The Skinny from month to month simply to engage with what’s going on, for instance. Without local arts journalism, your cultural field of vision instantly becomes narrower.” For Lavelle, the importance of strong arts journalism in Scotland is to give context to and uplift the creative work of the nation. “Independent arts magazines join the dots between disparate voices and scenes and give a regular and cohesive snapshot of a country’s creative world,” he states. Lavelle also points out that print media provides a reliable archive that digital platforms have yet to deliver. “Who knows if these tech companies will still exist in their current form in 20 or 30 years?
‘A M U S T S E E A N D D O E X P E R I E N C E ’
1 hour g u id e d tour
For Halloween step down into
Edinburgh’s Da r k H i st o ry Lantern Led Tours
DA ILY TOU RS - 2 N D - 31 ST OC TO BE R
REALMARYKINGSCLOSE.COM
THE SKINNY
This Must Be the Space We celebrate five years of Outer Spaces – building creative networks and opportunities through free studio space across the country Words: Rosamund West
opportunity for international professional development in the visual arts. As an organisation committed to supporting artists and creative communities, and building networks for the Scottish cultural sector, this is just the start. To celebrate these first five years, we asked some of the artists from across Outer Spaces to share what the provision of free work space has meant to them.
Photo: Sally Jubb
The network supports artists at all stages of their careers: Turner nominees alongside recent graduates, those preparing for their first-ever exhibition near someone collating a career retrospective for the National Galleries. That mix is crucial for building a thriving creative community. Olivia Priya Foster was one of the emerging artists who took part in the EAF X Outer Spaces HOST residency at the EAF’s Pavilion space on Leith Street last year. She says: “As an emerging artist, being part of the Outer Spaces network has given me the opportunity to nurture ideas, be more ambitious and realise projects that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible at this stage in my career.” Renowned Artist Olivia Priya Foster in their HOST residency studio, Outer Spaces x EAF25 Glasgow-based multidisciplinary Early career artist Rosie Priest has been in the artist Alberta Whittle has been part of the network network for just over a year, arriving shortly after for two years. She says: “Without access to this leaving Leith School of Art. They say: “Before joining remarkable studio network, the scope of my Outer Spaces, I simply didn’t have the physical practice would undoubtedly change and focus on space to make the kind of work I was excited about. much less ambitious making. Here I have more My practice often involves large-scale sculpture and room to experiment with my ideas, giving me more installation, and having a studio has given me the confidence and room to make and dream.” freedom to experiment with scale in a way that I Filmmaker and musician Luke Fowler redon’t think many artists get ceived production support for new film A the opportunity to do so early Sensation Never Yet Known, first shown at this in their careers. I’m hugely year’s Glasgow International. He says: “In a grateful for that freedom to cultural landscape where risk-taking is increasexperiment and develop ingly rare, Outer Spaces’ commitment to artist my practice. support offers not just production resources and “Just as importantly, physical space but the time and genuine permisOuter Spaces has given me a sion to experiment without fixed outcomes.” community of other artists to You can see the film on 28 November as part work alongside. I’ve developed of Deep Time, Fruitmarket’s annual festival of a group of studio friends who experimental music. offer the kind of critical What’s next? Outer Spaces have some feedback and friendship that projects in the pipeline, not least helping keep this can be difficult to maintain magazine afloat. Like us, they remain committed to after leaving art school. It supporting the cultural ecosystem, nurturing means I can continue having talent and building systems that allow artists to thoughtful, challenging thrive right here in Scotland. conversations about the work Alberta Whittle in Outer Spaces Studio City Park Glasgow outerspaces.org I’m making.”
Art
T
Photo: Outer Spaces
— 19 —
October 2026 – Feature
he Skinny’s new parent company, Outer Spaces, does more than rescue Scottish independent cultural media companies. This month they’re celebrating their fifth birthday as a nationwide provider of free studio space to artists at all stages of their careers. Started in October 2021, the charity operates by occupying vacant commercial properties, filling the spaces formerly used by bankers or insurance companies with creative practitioners. For free. They started with 16 artists, and now serve 1279 in locations across the nation, from Greenock to Inverness. The freedom afforded to these artists allows space for experimentation and development at scale. It offers a space to take risks without worrying about paying rent. It’s a singularly impactful contribution to the Scottish creative ecology. Our office has been in an Outer Spaces building for the last year. The space is enormous, and presents a wealth of possibilities. We’re in among a creative community, something that’s really important to us as an organisation and individually. Our room used to be an estate agent’s; the rooms upstairs were formerly home to an asset manager; the surrounding buildings are all normal offices. It’s an interesting juxtaposition between two worlds that don’t commonly meet. There’s an inherent precarity to the arrangement – buildings can return to commercial use with only a few weeks’ notice. We first arrived at Outer Spaces after being unceremoniously evicted from a paid-for space, so there isn’t necessarily more stability elsewhere. Beyond the studios, Outer Spaces have created opportunities in the form of residencies, exhibitions, commissions, and the First Steps programme, which offers spaces to new graduates. Network artists have been supported to work at the Venice Biennale this year, an unparalleled
April 2026 – Feature
Art
THE SKINNY
— 20 —
Aoife Cawley, Wild Things, 2026
Art
April 2026 – Feature
— 21 — Screen print, 25 x 50cm, edition of 15
THE SKINNY
THE SKINNY
A Constant Community T
imes have certainly changed since the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) first celebrated the intersection of creativity and mental health. In 2007, discussions around mental health centred largely around awareness; now, for anyone with a working phone, it’s hard to escape a constant ‘awareness’ of mental health – our own or others’. The veil between the unaware and the aware has slipped – and in its place, a wider breadth of experience emerges for feeling, relating and expressing. Within this monumental shift, SMHAF, run by the Mental Health Foundation, adapts with ease. Celebrating its 20th festival across Scotland with the theme Reflections, SMHAF’s focus is as relevant as ever: enabling anyone with experience of mental health issues to express themselves through the arts. Andrew Eaton-Lewis, arts programme officer at SMHAF for ten years, tells us that his work at the Festival in recent years is more focused on keeping those who share their creative work safe. “People who were making shows about anxiety, depression or eating disorders a decade ago – they were kind of doing it by trial and error,” he says. “They weren’t necessarily able to look after themselves while making that kind of work… the support wasn’t really there.” Autobiographical work about mental health
– or really any topic that involves societal pain or harm – until recent times has been regarded positively for the assumed fact that it reduces stigma. Now, Eaton-Lewis says, the risks of being creatively vulnerable are clear. There is a demand and need for more support and wellbeing measures around self-expression – but this shift comes at a precarious time for the creative sector. “We’re at a kind of crisis point in the arts where there’s often not enough money to provide that kind of support,” he says. “A lot of our focus at SMHAF now is trying to make sure artists and audiences are well supported, and providing the best environment possible to make this work, while also wrestling with the fact that these are very precarious times to be living in – and it’s harder and harder to be an artist of any kind, let alone somebody who is making work about trauma.” Eaton-Lewis, also a long-time arts journalist, says he noticed an “explosion” of work about mental health at the Edinburgh Festivals around 2015. More people than ever are making art about the impossible terrain of traumatic experience and mental unwellness, and there is a critical dearth in funding to support wellbeing in tandem. But there are some solutions to be found in the model of SMHAF itself. Eaton-Lewis says that the programme is designed collaboratively and democratically, with himself, Gail Aldam and Rob Dickie at the Mental Photo: Ingrid Mur
October 2026 – Feature
Art
We speak to Andrew Eaton-Lewis at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival about 20 years of platforming lived experience-led art
Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2025
— 22 —
Words: Mika Morava
Health Foundation coordinating and promoting the Festival, while the vast majority of programming decisions lie with communities and partners all over Scotland.
“It’s harder and harder to be an artist of any kind, let alone somebody who is making work about trauma” Andrew Eaton-Lewis It’s not just in planning that SMHAF ensures community voice and agency. Eaton-Lewis says the team decides on artist commissions by the strength of the proposed idea, not by status as an artist. There are headliners, but these well-known names are treated with the same weight and prominence as, say, a community open mic. It is this community – interacting with the Festival’s offerings from their own lived experiences – that makes SMHAF enduring and unique. “There’s a shared understanding between the artist and its audience that this is a kind of document of what it’s like to be struggling with some kind of mental health issue,” Eaton-Lewis says. “This is what a life lived with that looks like. The thing about presenting something like that at a festival that is about mental health is there’s a feeling that you are in an audience of your peers… It’s a very different experience from showing it somewhere else.” SMHAF has risen to changing narratives about mental health by keeping its community at the centre, and as a result, ensuring a sense of care that moves horizontally. This shared care is resilient to a lack of top-down resources, or shifting public attitudes towards mental health. And yet, another ten years – even another ten months – seems to promise jarring reconceptions of what it is to be human. Eaton-Lewis’s hopes for the Festival at 30 years ring simply in the polycrisis: “I hope that if [the Festival] still exists in ten years, it will be a place of comfort and connection.” And, he promises in a final bid, “a mental health festival can also be a good night out.” The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, 180 events at various venues across Scotland, Mon 19 Oct-Sun 8 Nov
VARIOUS DATES
BONGO’S BINGO VARIOUS DATES
BELFAST BRUNCH CO VARIOUS DATES
FEAST TO FLING TUESDAY 13 OCTOBER
THE MARY WALLOPERS FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER
HEAVEN 17
SATURDAY 17 OCTOBER
THE REYTONS
SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER
THE BIG SWALLY
FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER
NIGHTVISION HALLOWEEN: NATTE VISSTICK, VENDEX, KIRSTY, GALLO SUNDAY 1 NOVEMBER
PRTY-HALLOWEEN FRIDAY 6 NOVEMBER
SKERRYVORE SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER
ELVANA: ELVIS FRONTED NIRVANA
SATURDAY 21 NOVEMBER
THE SNUTS
FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER
BBC RADIO 2 DANCE SOUNDS OF THE 90S WITH VERNON KAY SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER
AVATAR
WEDNESDAY 9 DECEMBER
SEX PISTOLS FEATURING FRANK CARTER THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER
A NIGHT AT THE DARTS
ARTEMAS: GETTING UP TO NO GOOD
MONDAY 9 NOVEMBER
SUNDAY 13 DECEMBER
SUNDAY 8 NOVEMBER
SKYE NEWMAN
LUKE COMBS UK
FRIDAY 13 NOVEMBER
PICTURE THIS
SATURDAY 19 DECEMBER
TTF: THE ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS PARTY SUNDAY 20 DECEMBER
GIRLYPOP LIVE’S XMAS ERA SUNDAY 17 JANUARY
CATSEYE: THE ULTIMATE KATSEYE TRIBUTE EXPERIENCE SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY
BLACK STONE CHERRY: THE CELEBRATE TOUR MONDAY 8 FEBRUARY
THE LOVE TOUR: AN ALL-NEW COUNTESS CABARET STARRING LUANN DE LESSEPS
EDINBURGHCORNEXCHANGE.CO.UK
Wednesday 14 October
Angine de Poitrine Friday 16 October
PRTY X HSSH Prsent HRDR:
Saturday 24 October
The Vintage Explosion
Sunday 25 October
Fat Freddy’s Drop Presents Celebration of the 21st anniversary of Based on a True Story
Monday 2 November
Dizzee Rascal
Saturday 7 November
Monday 19 October Tuesday 20 October
Tuesday 27 October
Friday 13 November
MUNA
Wednesday 18 November
- Gary The Torch Tour
Thursday 29 October
Thurs 22 October
Fools and Worthless Liars 15th Anniversary Tour Tuesday 24 November
Thursday 26 November
TOXIC MACHINERY (ALL NIGHT LONG)
Sunday 18 October
TYLA
- THE A* POP WORLD TOUR
Stephen Wilson Jr Soul II Soul
Friday 23 October
Brandon Flowers
Keo
Skerryvore
The Fray
Deaf Havana:
Paris Paloma
Razorlight
October 2026
THE SKINNY
— 24 —
THE SKINNY
From the Archive:
Donnie Darko at 25 Donnie Darko, that tale of teen depression and time travel, is back in UK cinemas for its 25th anniversary. Ten years ago, we spoke to its writer-director Richard Kelly on the occasion of the film’s 15th anniversary. Here’s what he had to say back then Words: Jamie Dunn Film
I
engine was attached to is never identified. As well as Donnie’s psychological angst, the film is also concerned with fate, faith, time-travel, politics and Smurf genitalia. It’s no wonder critics were bewildered. Kelly says the film, which he wrote in his final year of film school, “was really just the culmination of 23 years of life experience and the movies I’d watched.” Made in 2000, before every aspiring filmmaker had a movie camera in their pocket, Kelly had to seek substantial financing to get his vision on screen, and that proved difficult. “There were a lot of people who just thought it was a writing sample,” says Kelly, “they thought it was unproducible, they thought it was impossible to realise.”
“None of my films have been successful straight away” Richard Kelly This attitude, however, just made the young filmmaker more determined. “I wanted to prove them wrong. I had a vision, and I knew it could be realised. I just needed the resources and I needed the support.” Drew Barrymore, who adored the script, helped in this regard: “Once Drew signed on, we got the money.” A cool $4.5m. After the tepid Sundance response, Donnie Darko was eventually released in the US in October 2001, and the timing couldn’t have been worse. In the aftermath of the Twin Towers attacks, nobody in — 25 —
Donnie Darko is rereleased on 4K from 30 Oct by Arrow Films, with screenings at Glasgow Film Theatre (31 Oct) and Filmhouse in Edinburgh (30 Oct-5 Nov)
October 2026 – Feature
n the autumn of 2002, just before Halloween, a curious little indie film named Donnie Darko arrived in UK cinemas. There was no fanfare to meet its release, no massive ad campaign; its name wasn’t emblazoned on city centre buses. And its star wattage was low: Drew Barrymore had a small role, as did Patrick Swayze and ER and The Pitt’s Noah Wyle, but in the title role and carrying the film was a promising 19-year-old with a difficult-to-pronounce surname. It was hardly the ingredients for box-office gold, but something strange happened: people came in droves to see it. After a few weeks, the film expanded from a handful of London cinemas to the whole of the UK, and by the end of its run, British takings far exceeded its US box office. Although admittedly, that wasn’t too difficult. “A lot of people don’t remember, but Donnie Darko was a failure,” says the film’s writer-director, Richard Kelly, down the phone from LA. “It was horribly received at Sundance. It took six months to get a distribution deal. It flopped in the US. So Donnie Darko was not a success out of the gate. I always want to remind people of that.” It’s easy to understand why audiences and critics were initially baffled. The film begins with a young man waking up in the middle of a mountain road in his pyjamas before he blissfully cycles back down to his home in a white picket-fence suburb, and it only gets stranger from there. Our hero is Donnie, a somnambulistic teen with serious authority issues, charmingly played by a glassy-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal. On Donnie’s next nighttime wander, he meets a 6ft rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days, and that same night a plane engine crashes through his bedroom – the plane the
America felt like seeing an existential teen movie about the coming apocalypse. Twelve months later, when Donnie Darko was released in the UK, it was a different story. Can Kelly account for the ardour British audiences had for his strange little movie? “The UK has always been a place where artistic breakthroughs happen, especially in music,” says Kelly. “But it has always been curious to me that Donnie Darko really resonates in the United Kingdom, because it’s such an American story.” Watching Donnie Darko back today, it’s still a beguiling experience, rich with ideas and mysteries still to uncover. What’s depressing, however, is how few films made today push the envelope in this way. Kelly suggests that the digital revolution, which has put filmmaking tools at practically everybody’s disposal, might be the reason for the dearth of innovation in indie cinema. “Digital filmmaking has made things much more accessible,” he says, “but I don’t know if that’s made filmmakers more complacent in a way, where they don’t feel the need to take as many risks because they’ve all these tools at their disposal.” Kelly did get other chances to make feature films: five years later there was Southland Tales and in 2009 he made The Box. The former, another audacious and hilarious take on a coming apocalypse, starring The Rock and Sarah Michelle Gellar, was booed out of Cannes and only made back a fraction of its 17 million budget; the latter, a curious little morality tale-come-paranoid thriller, didn’t do much better. “None of my films have been successful straight away,” admits Kelly, “so that’s maybe why it takes me a long time to get movies made. But I’m just grateful that after many years people continue to discover them, they somehow gain an appreciation over the years. For some reason, my films tend to take time; they take many years to marinate.” After marinating for a quarter of a century, Donnie Darko is now undoubtedly a full-blown modern classic. Experience it again on the big screen from 30 October.
THE SKINNY
Festival+ S
QIFF is much more than a celebration of queer cinema. The annual film festival is a hub for Scotland’s queer community and an incubator for filmmaking talent, with networking, training and funding provided to emerging queer filmmakers across the year. This dedication to Scotland’s film scene is reflected in the programming, with local talent showcased in a pair of Scottish Shorts programmes. Two such filmmakers are Diego Migliorini and Lara Delmage, whose latest shorts screen in Scottish Shorts 1, which opens this year’s event. When I speak to both ahead of SQIFF, they reveal they recently became fast friends after meeting at Glasgow Film Festival back in March. “It was a networking event, so you’re always being introduced to new people, but Lara and I instantly clicked,” says Migliorini. “For me, it was kind of like love at first sight.” He puts their connection down to several factors: “I guess because we’re both queer, we’re both Virgos, we’re both beautiful… oh, and we’re both filmmakers, so we started talking about our projects.” One of those projects likely discussed is PANG, Delmage’s bruising examination of the friendship between two teen girls in the final year of secondary school whose relationship has reached an erotic intensity that neither of them knows how to cope with. “The idea came from this big friendship breakup I had when I was the same age,” explains Delmage. “I wanted to write
something about it: this feeling of longing and loss for this really intimate grey area friendship that was so formative.” It’s a deeply personal story, but when Delmage began sharing her idea for PANG with people, she found these types of fervent teen friendships were pretty universal. “I spoke to a lot of my queer female friends, and our stories were almost carbon copies of each other. What we all had in common were friendships where each person would idealise each other to the point of complete impotence, so there was nowhere for the relationship to go once it reached its peak. I thought that was so interesting, and it’s something I really tried to grapple with in the short.” Her film is set over one afternoon while the girls laze by a communal pool alongside two boys from school. The setting was key. “It’s a space so suffused with sex and desire,” Delmage says of swimming pools. “Like, everyone’s basically naked, and everyone’s pretending that they’re not. And when you’re that age, you’re so performative with each other, and there’s something so naturally performative about being at the pool.” PANG was made within the Sean Connery Talent Lab, a new filmmaking initiative run by the National Film and Television School and the Sean Connery Foundation. There she connected with a producer, cinematographer and editor also taking part in the year-long course. Migliorini’s film at SQIFF, They Bend Stars, is similarly collaborative.
October 2026 – Feature
Film
Two filmmakers whose work is screening at this year’s Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) tell us why the event is so vital to Scotland’s vibrant queer filmmaking community
Words: Jamie Dunn
It’s his graduate film from the Kino Eyes European Film Masters, an Erasmus programme in which Migliorini, who’s from Brazil, was teamed with a producer, cinematographer, editor, sound designer and screenwriter. “That made it a challenge because this was the first of my shorts I didn’t write,” he says. They Bend Stars is an expressionistic, dialogue-free science fiction film centred on an alien (played by trans actor Beau Minis) who’s being held captive in an underground facility and experimented on by a mysterious scientist (played by the great radical playwright Jo Clifford). Migliorini was the only out LGBTQ+ person in his cohort. Despite being outnumbered, he pushed for the film to be a queer allegory. “We had to find an idea that would talk to all of us involved,” he explains. “So I pitched this story and said, ‘OK, we’re in Kino Eyes. We’re international; everyone is from somewhere else. So let’s talk about immigration, let’s talk about colonialism, and I’ll handle how to make it queer.’” The Matrix proved instructive inspiration. “Because the Wachowskis’ film was so big, everyone knew it. It was not a niche film, so it was a good point of contact between all of us. For me, The Matrix is completely queer-coded, but if you ask a cis straight guy, they might not see its trans narrative. So that inspired the idea that you can have layers of interpretation. And for me, that’s the beauty of having it premiering at SQIFF: its audience will understand all those layers.” SQIFF is clearly a special place for Migliorini. He calls it “the most accessible festival I’ve ever seen in my life” and cites it as a chief reason why he moved from Edinburgh to Glasgow. “I love that SQIFF’s priority is to be as accessible as possible. They understand that accessibility, disability, neurodivergence, queerness – these things are not separate. To have a festival that’s worried about all of those aspects, and queerness is at the core, like an umbrella, is so special, especially being an immigrant. It’s like, OK, this place is safe.” “SQIFF has been amazing for me as well,” adds Delmage. “Especially in my professional development. I didn’t go to film school; I’m completely self-taught, and I started going to SQIFF’s queer filmmakers group a couple of years ago, where I picked up some skills and met lots of people who’re also making films. So they’re not only creating a space for people to come together and celebrate queer cinema; SQIFF also help get people’s careers off the ground. What they do is genuinely trailblazing.” SQIFF runs 19-24 Oct at venues across Glasgow Delmage and Migliorini’s films screen in Scottish Shorts 1, Glasgow Film Theatre, 19 Oct, 8.30pm
Lara Delmage's PANG
— 26 —
www.sqiff.org
THE SKINNY
FAIR SATURDAY 2026 Saturday 28th November 2026
Edinburgh & Scotland A Day. Culture. Change Fair Saturday is a global cultural movement creating a social and empathetic response to Black Friday. All kinds of cultural events, each supporting a social project, charity or the community. Music, dance, storytelling, fine art, photography, printmaking, craft, workshops, wellbeing, family activities, and community events. Will you join us? ind
s pp rted
For more information or to register your event, visit standrews.fairsaturday.org
Media partners
ISAAC JULIEN
FREDERICK DOUGLASS 9 OCTOBER 2026 - 11 APRIL 2027
— 27 —
October 2026
LESSONS OF THE HOUR
KHAKIKID // BLOOD RED SHOES // CANCER BATS // STARJUNK95 // TOPLOADER
SCHUR // LUCID // GIRL IN THE YEAR ABOVE // BABY DAVE // PLUS LOADS MORE TICKETS AVAILABLE AT KINGTUTS.CO.UK
THE SKINNY
Tales Never Fails Books
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival returns this month – we pick out five highlights, from workshops to exhibitions, the Medieval to the modern day Words: Anahit Behrooz and Peter Simpson
Image: The Scottish International Storytelling
Warrior/Poet Scottish Storytelling Centre, 23 Oct, 6.30pm; GalGael, Glasgow, 20 Nov, 2.30pm; Elphinstone Institute, Aberdeen, 24 Nov, 6.30pm David Hughes’ new show intertwines the stories of two figures from Scottish and Irish folklore. Mad Sweeney was the king of the Dál nAraide people who left Scotland and settled in northeast Ireland in Medieval times; in folklore, Sweeney was cursed to grow feathers like a bird and live out his days in the woods. When the M77 was being driven through Pollok Park in the 1990s, Colin Macleod spent nine days up a tree in protest. That protest grew into the Pollok Free State, a protest camp and community that blockaded roads, inspired school strikes and even included a
Oh Those Inspiring Cows! Scottish Storytelling Centre, 25 Oct, 10.30am Not to say we are excited about this event purely on the basis of its title, but we are extremely excited about this event somewhat on the basis of its title. The cows? Inspiring. Us? Locked in. Finnish storyteller Riikka Palonen explores stories and folklore from the cowsheds and fields of Finland, intermingled with her experience of bone craft and the lore behind folk traditions. And for the real cowheads out there (we know you exist), there’s also a workshop element where you can practise the Nordic art of cow calling, kulning, with Satu Lankinen. The Conference of The Birds: A Story For Us Scottish Storytelling Centre, 25 Oct, 6.30pm; Rockfield Centre, Oban, 28 Nov, 7.30pm The Conference of the Birds is a classic of Persian literature: written in the 12th century by Farid al-Din Attar, it is an allegorical poem about a bunch of birds (technical term) who go in search of the mythical bird the Simurgh. In this event, Muslim storyteller Jumana Moon and storytellermusician Dawud Duncan breathe fresh life into this tale, blending the original with Scottish traditional music and lyrical storytelling to examine the titular conference as a cipher for movement, transition, and the ability of creatures to traverse borders. An Introduction to Commedia dell’Arte Scottish Storytelling Centre, 30 Oct, 10.30am Originating in Padua in the 16th century, Commedia dell’Arte is a classic form of storytelling and theatre that uses stock characters, masks and physical movement to create a relationship between performer and audience. This masterful workshop by Bologna’s famous Fraternal Compagnia APS explores the traditions of the artform, drawing on characters such as Harlequin and Pulcinella to examine how fixed modes of storytelling can actually lead to theatrical and narrative innovation. Bring your own mask if you like, and get ready to get expressive. — 29 —
Folkloria!
Folkloria! Scottish Storytelling Centre, daily until 31 Oct, 10am-6pm For a drop-in hit of folkloric wonder, be sure to visit Morvern Graham’s exhibition at the Storytelling Centre. Graham’s work is inspired by the folk tales and rugged landscapes of communities from Scotland to Scandinavia, and this exhibition draws on artwork from her new book, Seasonal Folktales. Expect mythical beasts, sea creatures and magical moments in Graham’s prints and illustrations. Scottish International Storytelling Festival takes place at Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, 21-31 Oct, with Go Local events at venues across Scotland throughout Oct and Nov sisf.org.uk
October 2026 – Feature
Satu Lankinen
‘Carhenge’ sculpture that is exactly what it sounds like. Hughes places the two figures in conversation, exploring place, belonging and masculinity.
Image: Morvern Graham
G
athering by the fire, dictating into your voice notes app, or boring the socks off your friends in the pub – there are so many ways to tell a story, and the Scottish International Storytelling Festival bring together a whole bunch of them in this year’s edition. Across the programme you’ll find one-person shows, explorations of story from cultures around the world, chances to work on your own storycraft, and a whole lot more. We’ve picked out a few highlights to get you started, so prepare yourself for stories! For tales! For fables, allegories, and other things of this nature!
THE SKINNY
MOANA_5
Contemporary art from Oceania
LOW TICKETS
October 2026
Until 24 October | scottlawrie.com
www.synergyconcerts.com — 30 —
THE SKINNY
Scottish New Music Round-up: October 2026 Welcome to October’s new music column, with new releases from walt disco, Tanzana, Joe Hearty, KILIMANJARO, merrowfolk, Matt Carmichael and loads more
B
owing out for a month at probably the busiest time in the annual calendar for releases and live shows was, as Maz and the Phantasms so eloquently pointed out to me via an Instagram DM, ‘almost criminal’. A lot of time is spent planning the monthly new music column and with not as much time to write this and more
Music
Words: Tallah Brash music than ever to celebrate in October, this mini issue’s admittedly much bigger column looks slightly different than usual as we try to highlight some (not all) of the albums and EPs coming out this month. Hopefully it’s at least informative and you find something new to fall in love with this autumn. Happy listening x
Photo: Celia Croft
Photo: Rebecca Hawley
Photo: Antonio Ross
Photo: Donald Milne
walt disco walt disco [EMI North, 2 Oct] At the start of the month, Glasgow alt-rock outfit walt disco released their third album. Having almost abandoned their name entirely, they instead came full circle, opting to self-title the album; a powerful move, it symbolises the band’s growth and evolution, both on a personal and togetherness level.
Garefowl Things That Vanish [AD 93, 2 Oct] Influenced by the traditional folk music of St Kilda and the threatened seabirds that reside on the archipelago, experimental trad outfit Garefowl released Things That Vanish, with strings and electronics, samples, field recordings and hydrophone recordings collected on the island making up its nine tracks.
Puppy Teeth Teething [self-release, 2 Oct] Recorded at Pocket Sounds in Granton, Edinburgh ‘bubblegrunge’ five-piece Puppy Teeth also released their debut EP at the top of the month. Drawing from influences like Men I Trust, Jeff Buckley, Mary In the Junkyard and Sorry, Teething shows great promise from a band at the start of their journey.
Teenage Fanclub Do Not Dare to Dream [Merge Records, 9 Oct] Recorded at Black Bay on the Isle of Lewis, Do Not Dare to Dream is the thirteenth studio album from Teenage Fanclub. Inspired by the remote location and studio offerings, across its ten tracks you’ll hear a Domus church organ and synths adding to their warm, melodic oeuvre of Scottish pop.
Photo: Fraser Simpson
Photo: Rhianonne Stone
Photo: Nonda Coutsicos
Andrew Wasylyk & Tommy Perman House With a Curse [Clay Pipe Music, 16 Oct] Commissioned last year by horror fest Dundead to write a new score for Rupert Julian’s 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera, this month sees Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman release said score, with House With a Curse reimagining the traits of the traditional horror soundtrack.
merrowfolk Understory [Iffy Folk Records, 15 Oct] Following their debut single in July, this month merrowfolk release their debut album. Combining indie, folk, rock, gothic noir and theatricality, songwriter Clare McBrien says: “It’s a love letter to those who feel misunderstood, left out, forgotten in an increasingly competitive, capitalistic world.”
Joe Hearty Down [Slow Learner, 16 Oct] Formerly of Stonehaven outfit Copy Haho, this month sees Joe Hearty release his melody-driven debut solo record. Written between Stonehaven, London and Athens, Down was largely composed on the move, its emotional lyrics informed by grief, joy, memory and queer adulthood.
— 31 —
October 2026 – Feature
Photo: Victoria Sykes
Tanzana Etched In [SO Recordings/Hideous Mink, 9 Oct] Glasgow outfit Tanzana have been on a rapid rise this past year, joining Madra Salach on tour and playing shows with Bleech 9:3 and Lucia & The Best Boys. This month, the five-piece, fronted by Freya Talbot, release their debut EP, Etched In, chock full of drama and theatricality.
THE SKINNY
Music
Katherine Aly 222.2 [self-released, 22 Oct] With every song on Katherine Aly’s latest EP 222.2 clocking in at two minutes and 22 seconds, across its four tracks, the Greek artist who splits her time between Edinburgh and London explores “themes of power, desire, and the quiet violence of modern love” through an electronic pop and hyperpop lens.
Moni Jitchell Aware [self-released, 23 Oct] If noisy post-hardcore is what you’re after, seek out Moni Jitchell’s Aware. Leaning more confidently into the live iteration of the band – vocal mic, 12-string guitar, backing tracks and electronics, lyrically it draws influence from psychologist Jean Piaget as the pair explore the human condition.
Photo: Jess and Kieran Logan
Photo: Sam McGill
Image: courtesy of Jewel Scheme
Photo: YesZebra
Gurry Wurry Glue [self-released, 30 Oct] Edinburgh-based Gurry Wurry has been drip-feeding us his third album for the past year, even releasing the album physically back in the spring. At the end of this month, this album of sticky, wonky pop, produced by Frightened Rabbit’s Andy Monaghan, will be available wherever you stream your music.
The Snuts Joy In Short Moments [Happy Artist Records, 23 Oct] Excitement for West Lothian outfit The Snuts’ fourth studio album started with the release of Summer Rain back in January. Following a handful of releases throughout the year, the wait is almost over, with a string of UK tour dates and in-stores kicking off at the end of the month and into November.
Jewel Scheme Write > Protect > Release [self-released, 30 Oct] This month also sees the return of electronic outfit Jewel Scheme as they release sophomore album Write > Protect > Release. Their first to be enjoyed as in a gapless playback form, across its 11 tracks and 31minute runtime, the focus here is on repetition as tracks evolve and blend into one another.
Emma Dunlop Somebody Call The Alliance [Last Night From Glasgow, 30 Oct] North Lanarkshire alt-electronic artist Emma Dunlop also releases her second album this month, with Somebody Call The Alliance arriving via Last Night From Glasgow on the 30th. With the album looking back to move forward, some of its pop-indebted songs were first written over 20 years ago.
Photo: Roxanne Ward
Image: courtesy of IPSA Collective
Photo: Jeff Simpson
October 2026 – Feature
Image: courtesy of Moni Jitchell
KILIMANJARO THE ASCENSION (INKAWAMI) [Capitol/Polydor, 16 Oct] On his latest EP, London-based, Zambian/Scottish DJ and producer KILIMANJARO explores themes around identity, purpose and selfreclamation. With collaboration at the heart of the record, its nine tracks are packed with guest turns from the likes of Tiggs Da Author, Kojey Radical, Aluna and Tony Ann.
Photo: Charli Morachnick
Photo: Giles Cook
Photo: Camille Lemoine
Matt Carmichael Held In the Dark [Porthole Music, 16 Oct] Written during a period spent supporting a loved one, award-winning Matt Carmichael releases his most personal record date. Joined by regular collaborators including Fergus McCreadie and Ali Watson, guitar from Chris Amer and James Mackay adds a whole new dynamic to his work.
Isik Kural Motorcycles and Cherry Wind [RVNG Intl., 30 Oct] Glasgow-based composer Isik Kural’s latest album arrives this month too. Due via iconic indie label RVNG Intl., alongside nine other musicians, including Loris S. Sarid, Motorcycles and Cherry Wind acts as a “sonic travelogue” delicately stitching together different geographies and cultures.
IPSA Collective Germinal [TNW Music, 30 Oct] Featuring soprano Stephanie Lamprea, violinist Feargus Heatherington, flautist Richard Craig, percussionist Darren Gallacher and dance and multidisciplinary artist Anne Kjaer, if experimental chamber works pique your interest, seek out Glasgow-based IPSA Collective.
Auld Reekie Nocturne The Stone Tape Confessions [Shadowrunner Recordings, 31 Oct] Finally, soundtrack the spookiest day of the year with Natasha Kitty Katt’s Auld Reekie Nocturne as she explores Edinburgh’s darker side – witch trials, plague-stricken closes, the murders of Burke and Hare etc etc – all set to a backdrop of gothic techno and darkwave electronica.
As well as all that, ICYMI, on Friday 9 October we did a mega update of our Music Now: New Scottish Music playlist on Spotify and YouTube. Updating it every Friday with ten new tracks, following our sudden closure, it has lain dormant for weeks with the incredible Sin Clair on the cover. In a bid to get back on track, we’ve wiped the whole thing and refreshed it with 30 brand new tracks from *takes deep breath* redolent, Katie GregsonMacleod, Isik Kural, The Yummy Fur, Hector Shaw, merrowfolk, Bikini Body, Possibly Jamie, La La, Starsky Rae, Hound, walt disco, CHVRCHES, The Micro Band, Count Florida, Cowboy Hunters, Sally Stenning, Mogwai (ft. Iggy Pop), Kozyeli, Garefowl, CUZINO & Nwanneka, Peter Cat, Hamish Hawk, Joesef, Anna Meredith, Admiral Fallow, Speeding, waverley., Tanzana and SOAPBOX. Scan the QR code to follow and like our Music Now: New Scottish Music playlist on Spotify, updated on Fridays
— 32 —
THE SKINNY
19th-24th October Glasgow sqiff.org
Scottish Queer International Film Festival 2026
October 2026
— 33 —
THE SKINNY
SCOTTISH ALBUM OF THE YEAR AWARD
TWENTY OUTSTANDING SCOTTISH ALBUMS EXPLORE THE LONGLIST AT SAYAWARD.COM
THE CEREMONY 2026 . THURSDAY 5 NOVEMBER CAIRD HALL, DUNDEE . TICKETS: SAYAWARD.COM
A spooktacular season of classic horror only at GFT. Screening from 23 October to 5 November.
October 2026
The Others - 25th Anniversary - 4K (12) | Possession (18) | The Devils - 4K (18) | Donnie Darko - 25th Anniversary - 4K (15) Hocus Pocus (PG) | Pan’s Labyrinth - 20th Anniversary - 4K (15) | All Day Horror Madness (18)
TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT GLASGOWFILM.ORG
— 34 —
THE SKINNY
Digger Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Starring: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller
rrrrr
Digger
Extra Geography Director: Molly Manners
rrrrr
“Did you just long?” Flic (Marni Duggan) asks her best friend, Minna (Galaxie Clear), after she dramatically sighs in Molly Manners’ Extra Geography. These two straight-A students at a Yorkshire boarding school may be experts in curricular subjects, but they lag behind in more ‘worldly’ affairs. To catch up, the teens take on an unusual summer project: they agree to fall in love with the first person they see. Much like Titania with Bottom, Flic and Minna cast their eyes upon an inappropriate object of affection – their geography teacher (Alice Englert) – ending up competing for her attention in a one-upping romantic race. Meanwhile, their school is thrown into turmoil when the girls join the boys from a nearby academy to put on, you guessed it, A
Director: Dominik Moll
Starring: Léa Drucker, Jonathan Turnbull, Solàn Machado-Graner
rrrrr
Released 2 Oct by Warner Bros; certificate 15
Even someone with a cursory interest in the news will know that police have a history of brutality when it comes to marshalling our right to protest. If you followed the statesanctioned violence during the yellow vest demonstrations in France, for example, it’s difficult not to nod in agreement when you see an ACAB tag. Dominik Moll’s riveting clear-eyed police procedural Case 137 is set in 2018, in the early days of those explosive protests, and asks the salient question: do the Cs know they’re Bs? The film locks into the perspective of Léa Drucker’s Stéphanie. She’s a former narc, a job she loved, who reluctantly transferred to the IGPN, the French unit that “polices the police” (as a single mother, she needed more family-friendly work
Extra Geography
Case 137
Midsummer Night’s Dream. Based on a short story by Rose Tremain, Extra Geography is a compelling addition to the cinematic syllabus of girlhood. As Flic and Minna’s friendship is marred by envy and confusion, Extra Geography avoids the antagonism of Helena and Hermia to present a more nuanced, queer-tinged rivalry. Extra Geography earns top grades for its compassionate portrayal of a friendship breakup, though it flunks an in-depth examination of the patriarchal roots and class divides that corrode female alliances. Manners’ film romanticises the minimal-tech era of the 1990s and early 2000s, while delivering some universal, hard-to-swallow truths – rejection stings, jealousy is human, and growing up sometimes means growing apart. [Stefania Sarrubba]
Released 2 Oct via Vertigo Releasing; certificate 15
Bad Day at the Office Director: Chee Keong Cheung
Starring: John Hannah, Lana Parrilla, Radha Mitchell
rrrrr
It’s clear from the off that Chee Keong Cheung’s first-person action movie takes its cues from videogames, right down to the health meters and boss fights. What is slightly surprising is that it seems to be drawing specifically on the videogames of the early 2000s – not just in the film’s Mirror’s Edge-esque parkour sequences but its hyperirreverent humour, gleefully blending brutal violence with goofy slapstick. Karl (Hannah) wakes up in a trashed hotel room with no memory, a dead body in his bathtub and some very angry coppers at the door. He teams up with Molly (Mitchell), who works as a maid at the hotel, and they head off on a quest for answers that will take them through violent nightclubs, deadly subway carriages, and spas full of katana-wielding yakuza.
— 35 —
hours). When the titular case of a teenager who’s been shot in the head with a riot gun crosses her desk, she initially tackles it with her usual detached diligence before becoming increasingly dogged in her search for a sliver of justice. Genre-expert Moll has a knack for turning prosaic investigation admin (submitting access requests, writing up witness statements) into nail-biting scenes using smart cross-cutting, flinty dialogue and a variety of media to tell his story, including real footage from protests and convincing recreations, some of which are captured from the perspectives of characters’ mobile phones. Don’t brace yourself for a fist-pumping moment of righteousness, though. What makes Moll’s film so believable (and so heartbreaking) is that one good apple ain’t gonna sweeten an institution that’s rotten to the core. [Jamie Dunn] Released 16 Oct by CONIC; certificate 15
Bad Day at the Office
While Hannah’s charm occasionally manages to shine through, Karl is exactly the sort of blank slate protagonist that once dominated gaming, while Mitchell’s performance is ineffectively hammy. Our protagonists often make up for the fact that we can’t see them by narrating their own actions, and by moving their arms in a way that keeps them clearly on screen but which would look utterly bizarre to anyone else in the room. While the first-person view gives the fight scenes an enjoyably frantic quality, it also makes it very difficult to hide the more obvious stage punches. Plus, it turns out that a simple shot/reverse shot conversation is a sin against cinema when it’s carried out in POV. [Ross McIndoe]
Released 30 Oct by Action Xtreme; certificate 15
October 2026 – Review
Starring: Marni Duggan, Galaxie Clear, Alice Englert
Case 137
Film
The focus of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s bonkers satire is Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise), an aged but spry oil tycoon whose plundering of Greenland’s natural resources has caused a massive glacier to snap off and drift towards Europe, where it’ll cause untold damage. When Digger breaks the news to the US’s geriatric President Compson (John Goodman), one of his generals suggests nuking the pesky iceberg. Iñárritu’s comedy is similarly unsubtle. Digger dotes on a decrepit, incontinent cat that’s obviously portrayed by a raggedy puppet. President Compson has “ass cancer”, which he shouts about loudly and often. When Digger is called to speak at the European Union, everyone looks pale enough to star in a Roy Andersson film. And for some reason
Michael Stuhlbarg's Vice President seems to be channelling one of the shriller Muppets. It takes a while before Iñárritu reveals why his film is so bombastic and so distractingly theatrical. It turns out Digger is not the emptyheaded Dr. Strangelove knockoff it initially presents as, but the smarter, more knotty film that emerges never develops a funny bone. Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that men as self-serious as Cruise and Iñárritu can’t do comedy, but the film’s cinematic sleight of hand isn’t sharp enough to compensate for the dearth of decent gags. The ending, meanwhile, seems to render the whole project moot, suggesting art can only act as a balm to humanity’s woes; it offers no solutions. Perhaps that is true of bad art, a category to which Digger unfortunately belongs. [Jamie Dunn]
THE SKINNY
What We’ve Been Watching Film
The Cineskinny is The Skinny’s award-nominated film podcast; the team convene in a Google Doc to discuss the films of the past few weeks…
Resident Evil
Coyote vs. Acme
Sense and Sensibility
Jamie Dunn: The most fun I’ve had at the cinema since we all last spoke was Resident Evil. I really enjoy the 2000s films – the dialogue and the acting are terrible, but Paul W.S. Anderson is such an inventive filmmaker. But this new version’s swap of badass action hero Milla Jovovich for Austin Abrams’ schlubby delivery driver was inspired.
PS: Speaking of people getting swallowed up whole and spat out, did some of you go and see Coyote vs. Acme? The film that The Big Studios tried to put In A Cupboard?
PS: I haven’t watched any new releases but I did watch The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, as well as Deep Impact (RIP a large part of the Earth) and Human Traffic (RIP the 90s rave scene). This has been an interesting month, and that’s reflected in my viewing choices…
October 2026 – Review
Ellie Robertson: It’s got everything; it’s funny, frightening, gory and gross. Each monster is its own setpiece that builds incredibly well. You just see a little tentacle and are like, ‘Oh fuck where are we going with this?’ JD: I agree. Zach Cregger, the director, has such skill at pacing and building a sense of escalation. Abrams’ character’s worries start small. He’s one zombie to fight off, and then an infected dog, and then he has all sorts of gooey mutants to contend with. I was a fan of the human tumbleweed thing [basically a dozen people stitched together] and the adorable little girl with the terrifying tentacle foot. ER: Abrams’ character is great – the main character is a sort of blank slate in which we’re supposed to see ourselves. He can’t shoot, but he can say “what the fuck?” in a million different intonations. JD: He’s so good that I’m excited to see Whalefall, a film about a scuba diver who gets swallowed by a sperm whale. Peter Simpson: Swallowed by a whale?
AB: I can’t believe we’re moving right past my timely Biblical references but OK. I went to see Coyote vs. Acme and it FUCKED. Very David and Goliath story on both a narrative and meta level. I cannot believe Warner Bros tried to shut down a film all about a tyrannical corporation taking advantage of the little guy. ER: There isn’t a film genre that can’t be improved by painting the Looney Tunes all over it. Sports epic? Boring. Space Jam? Masterpiece. AB: Roger Rabbit and the film noir! People keep saying “what new Muppet adaptation should we do?” but I think it’s time we started thinking about the power of a Looney Tunes twist. ER: This is a legal thriller where Wile E. Coyote is taking the Acme corporation to court, with the help of a pathetic little lawyer played by Will Forte, the closest we can get to a human version of Wile E. Coyote. The relationship between Wile E. and Road Runner makes for one of the most beautiful, and most homoerotic, on-screen dynamics since Camp Miasma. PS: What should we Looney Tunes next? ER: Next time Sam Mendes does a war film he should put Porky Pig in the trenches.
Anahit Behrooz: Wait, like Jonah? JD: A Looney Tunes erotic thriller? JD: I’m rubbish on the Bible. Think Geppetto, Pinocchio’s dad, but played by a shrieking Austin Abrams in a wetsuit...
AB: What would the plot be? JD: Daffy and an in-drag Bugs Bunny bone; turns out Bugs is killing toons with an ice pick…
and an attempted discussion of Claude Chabrol
ER: When I heard The Skinny was in trouble I randomly started rewatching Chernobyl. It’s always nice to remember things could be worse. AB: I watched the new Sense and Sensibility in much the same ‘needing to be grounded’ kind of way. I do think an adaptation needs to either capture or subvert the spirit of the book and this one just seemed like it misunderstood a lot of the emotional complexities of the original. There was one scene where Willoughby turns around and I was reminded so viscerally of my ex, so who is the emotional idiot here really? ER: For a higher quality adaptation of Sense and Sensibility we might need to get the Resident Evil guy on the horn. PS: “Hi Jane! It’s your cousin Marvin… Marvin Austen!” then just four or five minutes of screaming. JD: The one silver lining of all this is going to movies in the middle of the day, and it turns out lots of people have free afternoons. I tried to see a Friday matinee of Claude Chabrol’s Le Boucher at GFT and there were like three seats left. Does everyone bunk off work on a Friday to watch movies? AB: Jamie trying to bring this into highbrow mode, God bless. I did not go watch Claude Chabrol on a Friday but I did also watch The Love Hypothesis and Pollyanna. PS: You know me, I would love to discuss the finer points of the French New Wave with you, Jamie, but we are unfortunately out of time… Listen to The Cineskinny wherever you get your podcasts
— 36 —
THE SKINNY
Winter Craft Market aatt O OTB D riilllll H allll OOTB Drill Hall
5 & 6 DECEMBER 10AM - 4PM
The Sounds of Modern Scotland
FREE ENTRY
TICKETS ON SKIDDLE!
36 DALMENY ST, EDINBURGH EH6 8RG
Wed 11th Nov | 8pm
October 2026
Jaz Riley
Khalid Al Khajah
Tayoh thequeenshall.net 0131 668 2019
— 37 —
THE SKINNY
The Skinny On... walt disco The Skinny On...
Following the release of their self-titled third album, walt disco’s Jocelyn Si takes on this month’s Q&A
What’s your favourite place to visit? I think it has to be New York; it just kind of is as magical as they say it is. Favourite food? The most comforting dish to me is Chinese noodle soup. Whenever I’m on tour and feel sick or sad or need grounding it’s always the meal that will soothe me. Favourite colour? I’m always so drawn to blue because it’s so rare in nature, therefore it feels both incredibly human and alien at the same time. Favourite plant? Probably aloe vera. My mum always kept one in the kitchen in case you burned yourself but also I just really love the smell. Who was your hero growing up? Many of Heath Ledger’s films played a really important role in my life from childhood to adulthood; A Knight’s Tale will always be my favourite film, 10 Things I Hate About You was just perfect for my teenage lover-girl brain, and Brokeback Mountain speaks for itself. He’s the perfect actor and a big butch icon to me.
Whose work inspires you now? Perfume Genius in the sense that he is always prioritising creativity and pure feeling in his music but also the way he moves and is in touch with his body is very inspiring. What three people would you invite to your dinner party and what are you cooking? Jane Schoenbrun, Hannah Einbinder, and Gillian Anderson. Fried chicken with dipping sauce. What’s your all-time favourite album? It’s quite hard to not say Hats by The Blue Nile. It just makes you feel so special and turns your life into a movie, especially when travelling at night. What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen? I watched Death on the Nile with my parents and it’s just a completely unforgivable time. What book would you take to a desert island? My favourite book, The Queens of Sarmiento Park by Camila Sosa Villada.
People who talk at gigs. People who judge how others eat. Fascists and hateful people etc of course, but those above really really grind my gears. When did you last cry? Crying quite a lot at the moment so it’s hard to keep track. I think I was listening to Harbour (Song For Elizabeth) by Beverly Glenn-Copeland at my desk a week or so ago. What are you most scared of? Huel. When did you last vomit? Luckily I’m not a big vomiter, so I’m struggling to remember. Maybe a year ago with a really bad hangover. Tell us a secret? walt disco are gonna win the Mercury Prize 2027, you heard it here first. Which celebrity could you take in a fight? Charlie Kirk.
Who’s the worst? I’ll write a list: Flakey people, just don’t miss your friend’s birthday.
October 2026 – Feature
Photo: Celia Croft
If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would it be? It’s quite hard to not romanticise being a wild horse, just so cinematic. The third walt disco album came out at the start of the month – what was the reason for self-titling it? Because we’re so sure and proud of this work and we know it’s the record we were always supposed to make; this was the clearest way to communicate that. What can people expect from the record and this next chapter of walt disco? Existentialism, care and honesty. The five of us are in our best form and bringing our true personality to the sound. In honour of our 21st birthday, we’d love to know how you celebrated your 21st? This is gonna sound quite sad but I have no memory of my 21st birthday. A trauma response maybe? What do you think the world will look like in 21 years? I have maybe a fool’s hope it won’t all be burnt and that AI art is a relic of the 2020s.
walt disco
— 38 —
walt disco was released on 2 Oct via EMI North; walt disco play King Tut’s, Glasgow, 4 Feb
THE GUARDIAN ON ERLAND COOPER
TRIBUTES TO THE NATURAL WORLD ERLAND COOPER DAWN CHORUS & SULA BASSANA
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS THE LARK ASCENDING
(WORLD PREMIERES)
FREYA GOLDMARK PERFORMS A NEW VIOLIN CONCERTO, INSPIRED BY SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S 100TH BIRTHDAY. PLUS MUSIC BY DEBUSSY AND JASMINE MEADEN
THURSDAY 26.11.2O26 8.OOPM
bbc.co.uk/bbcsso
GLASGOW CITY HALLS