Issue 47 / August 2014

FREE 

Issue 47 

August 2014 

Sunstack Jones by Aaron McManus 

Sunstack Jones 

Afternaut 

Mutant Vinyl 

St. Vincent

THE THE TH EDITION 

EDITION 

EDITION 

LIVERPOOL 

MUSIC WEEK 

 

STARTS 23RD OCTOBER - MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED 

TICKETS FOR ALL SHOWS AVAILABLE AT 

WWW.LIVERPOOLMUSICWEEK.COM 

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Bido Lito! August 2014 3 

Editorial 

The geographic roots of music have always been fascination of mine. Whenever I get my lugs 

around a new earworm I find myself wanting to dissect its heritage: what environment it was made 

in, and the conditions that shaped it. I’m not entirely sure why I’m drawn to this to be honest – it’s 

probably just because I’m a nosey get – but I find that developing a wider context around a piece of 

music can prolong enjoyment of it. 

For example, in Forest Swords’ Engravings you can hear the wind whistling over the hills of 

Thurstaston, and there’s a certain satisfaction in understanding how this setting helped to shape 

the record. When I interviewed Melody Prochet last year, I broached this subject with her, given that 

I found her debut Melody’s Echo Chamber album to be such a rich mix of inspirations: a classical 

upbringing in the south of France, with the songs written in a cramped flat in Paris, and recorded in 

the sun-baked expanse of Perth. I was only a little surprised, therefore, when Melody agreed with 

me about a sense of place being an important anchor within a sound: “I think the place where 

selecting influences like you might fill up a pick’n’mix bag in a particularly well-stocked sweet shop. 

The fact that music created at (virtually) any place and time in history can be readily accessed today 

makes for a lip-smacking buffet of opportunities, in turn meaning that the creators of 2014 are no 

longer limited by the circumstances of their birth and upbringing. If you add in to this the abundance 

of production techniques available today, you can see just how liberating the digital revolution has 

been and will continue to be in constantly moving the creation of music forwards – even if it does 

leave a small pang for those knee-jerk recordings that capture the character of a specific location, 

with all its imperfections left in. 

In order to prevent things from becoming stale, in any form of art or communication, movement 

is vital. The fluid transit of ideas and practices across cultural and geographical boundaries has 

been vastly important in making our society as rich as it is, and music has often been a key conduit 

in this cultural transfer. In our BETWEEN THE BORDERS feature in this issue, these themes are 

inspected in a little more depth. We hope that it makes you look at the idea of migration in a 

slightly different light. 

On a totally different topic, now that summer holidays are a thing of the past, I have to get my 

August kicks elsewhere. So it’s left to pre-season fever to get my juices going: again I’m not sure why, 

but the prospect of bone-dry football pitches and meaningless friendlies fills me with excitement. 

It’s also an excuse for me to gorge on my stores of optimism about what the season holds for 

Tranmere and The Diggers. However it turns out, I can’t wait to don my Germany shirt, slip on my 

Italian football boots, and fix my headband in place, in a bid to channel the spirit of Edinson Cavani. 

Now that’s a cultural revolution for you. 

Christopher Torpey / @BidoLito 

Editor 

you record is really influential. When I listen to 

Portishead, for example, I can feel the UK and 

the grey… ha! But I love it!” 

Obviously this is but one small part in the 

massively complex story behind the creation 

of music, but is it something that is slowly 

being consigned to the history books? Now, 

of course, anyone with an internet connection 

can access a database of two centuries’ worth 

Pick and mix your musical heritage 

of recorded music from all over the world, 

Features 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 

SUNSTACK JONES 

AFTERNAUT 

BE ONE PERCENT 

ST VINCENT 

BETWEEN THE BORDERS 

16 

MUTANT VINYL 

18 

ADRIAN HENRI 

20 

LIMF 2014 

Regulars 

4 NEWS 

22 

PREVIEWS/SHORTS 

24 

REVIEWS 

Bido Lito! 

Issue Forty Seven / August 2014 

bidolito.co.uk 

4th Floor, Mello Mello, 40-42 Slater St, 

Liverpool, L1 4BX 

Editor 

Christopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.uk 

Editor-In-Chief / Publisher 

Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk 

Reviews Editor 

Sam Turner - live@bidolito.co.uk 

Designer 

Luke Avery - info@luke-avery.com 

Proofreading 

Debra Williams - debra@wordsanddeeds.co.uk 

Words 

Christopher Torpey, Craig G Pennington, Phil Gwyn, 

Jack Graysmark, Jonny Davis, Richard Lewis, Ken 

Clarke, Grace Harrison, Theo Temple, Darren Roper, 

Dan Brown, Josh Ray, Alastair Dunn, Dave Tate, 

Mike Townsend, Laurie Cheeseman, Sam Turner, 

Alex Holbourn, Christopher Carr, Paul Riley. 

Photography, Illustration and Layout 

Luke Avery, Aaron McManus, Robin Clewley, 

Mook Loxley, Keith Ainsworth, Becki Currie, Chris 

Norman, Theo Temple, Nathalie Saleh, Gaz Jones, 

Ray Kilpatrick, Glyn Akroyd, Charlotte Patmore, 

Nathalie Candel. 

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views expressed in Bido Lito! are those of the 

respective contributors and do not necessarily reflect 

the opinions of the magazine, its staff or the publishers. 

All rights reserved.

News 

Out Of Psych, Out Of Mind 

The line-up for this year’s LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA is now complete following the latest slew 

of artist announcements. Dreamy LA psych surfers ALLAH-LAS (pictured) join GOAT as headliners, with Texans CHRISTIAN BLAND 

& THE REVELATORS and avant-garde UK experimentalists GRUMBLING FUR also added to the bill. Further explorations will take 

place this year in the form of a symposium and film programme titled Adventures At The Outer Reaches, and the festival will also 

mark the launch of Sonic Cathedral’s Psych For Sore Eyes 2 EP. Find more line-up and ticket details at liverpoolpsychfest.com 

Bido Lito! Dansette 

Our pick of this month's fresh 

wax cuts... 

Merseyside Arts Foundation Third Round 

The Merseyside Arts Foundation has announced that the third round of applications for its MUSIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME 2013/2014 

is now open. Local musicians are encouraged to apply for the programme, with twelve of the best being selected to develop their talents 

via a series of mentoring sessions and industry workshops, along with a recording session at Parr Street Studios and the opportunity 

to perform at a live showcase event. There is also a similar course specifically for 16-18-year-olds running alongside the Development 

Programme. The entry process opens on 4th August. For more info or an application form visit merseysideartsfoundation.org.uk 

On General Release 

It’s been a particularly productive time for the region’s musicians of late, meaning we’ve been spoilt by a wave of ace releases. 

Electronic duo DROHNE followed up their mini tour with Factory Floor by hitting us with their latest wares in the form of the Ø EP, 

which features a stunning collaboration with NADINE CARINA. ALPHA MALE TEA PARTY (pictured) got in on the act too by releasing 

their second full-length record of hyphenated-rock (Droids) on Superstar Destroyer Records. Not to be outdone, THE SPRINGTIME 

ANCHORAGE have announced that their debut album will come out on 18th August. Fill your boots. 

Liverpool Music Week Closing Party Returns 

After previously announcing a grand old opening party with CARIBOU and EVIAN CHRIST to herald their tenth edition, the organisers 

behind LIVERPOOL MUSIC WEEK have made a lot of people happy by declaring that this year’s festivities will once again be wrapped 

up by one of their famous closing parties. Spread across a multitude of venues in the Baltic Triangle, the 1st November mega party 

will feature CHVRCHES, BLACK LIPS (pictured), EMA, NGUZUNGUZU and SOPHIE – and that’s just for starters. Further additions will be 

announced in the coming weeks, but in the meantime you can get your earlybird tickets now at liverpoolmusicweek.com 

Back On The Beaten Track 

After a two-year hiatus ABOVE THE BEATEN TRACK festival returns on 30th August, now embraced as part of the sprawling Liverpool 

International Music Festival programme. The Bluecoat will once again be the setting for this free event, which sees a great swathe 

of musicians, DJs and artists come together for a celebration of emerging creativity. SUNSTACK JONES and ME AND DEBOE (pictured) 

will be among the festival’s musical headliners, and the soirée will also play host to THE WILD WRITERS, SCREENADELICA and a 

CAPSTAN’S BAZARR CRAFT FAYRE. Add in NIAMH JONES, PAUL STRAWS plus a host more and it all amounts to a rich selection. 

Eyes On The Prize 

COMPETITION! 

Fancy winning yourself twelve months of professional music industry management and mentoring, plus studio recording time and 

a year of free rail travel? Of course you do. Well it’s about time you entered the MERSEYRAIL SOUND STATION PRIZE 2014, which is 

offering this fantastic opportunity for emerging local talent to get an invaluable leg-up in the music industry. Details of how to enter 

at the next Central Station upload day on 9th August – as well as an exclusive live session with The Mono LPs – can be found on the 

latest instalment of the Sound Station Podcast, available at merseyrailsoundstation.com 

FESTEVOL returns to The Kazimier Garden on 9th August, once again sporting an impressive line-up of Merseyside’s 

biggest of big guns. The all-day event always offers a feast of live music on which to gorge, with the past two years’ 

offerings among the highlights of the gig calendar. 

STEALING SHEEP (pictured) have been hidden away producing their second album since the turn of the year, and they 

make a rare venture out from the studio to headline FestEvol, joined on stage by some friends and special guests. BY THE 

SEA, VEYU and THE TEA STREET BAND also share top billing on the event, which features a host of DJs and the cream of 

local musical talent. 

We’ve managed to scoop a pair of tickets to give away in this month’s competition, which may be yours if you successfully navigate this testing piece of trivia: 

What precious mineral features in the title of Stealing Sheep’s 2012 debut album? a) Corundum 

b) Diamond c) Talc 

To enter, just email your answer to competition@bidolito.co.uk by 7th August. All the correct answers will be placed in a big pink tombola, with the 

winner selected at random and notified by email. Good luck! 

Erkin Koray 

Elektronik Türküler 

DOĞAN PLAKCILIK 

Turkish rock wizard ERKIN KORAY was 

already a controversial figure in 1974 

when he turned in this seminal record. 

Elektronik Türküler’s fusion of traditional 

Turkish meanderings and Cream/Led Zepindebted 

blasts of blues psych was way 

ahead of its time. If the region of Anatolia 

were to have an anthem, this would be it: 

East meeting West in fluent harmony. 

Electric Würms 

Musik, Die Schwer Zu 

Twerk 

BELLA UNION 

Acid will fry your brains kids – don’t do 

it. Leave it up to trained psychopaths 

Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd to skirt 

the lunatic edges of the cortex instead, 

and listen with terror and amazement 

to the results. If this record makes you 

want to dig out your Yes records, you’re 

safe; if it makes you want to get a tattoo 

of Miley Cyrus’s dog, call a doctor. 

Dignan Porch 

Observatory 

FAUX DISCX 

The evolution of Joe Walsh continues, 

with his bedroom project now 

swelling to become a full band 

concern. There’s no compromise on 

the lo-fi feel though, with the band 

filling out the scratchy aesthetic with 

a bit more background fuzz. Wait & 

Wait & Wait is the closest Observatory 

gets to a proper song, and the closest 

you want it to get to one. 

The Proper Ornaments 

Wooden Head 

FORTUNA POP 

With one Chelsea-booted foot in the 

past and one Desert-booted foot in 

the present, THE PROPER ORNAMENTS 

straddle that boundary between fey 

retroists and hip, guitar-toting raconteurs 

with insouciant ease. Spindly, whimsical 

melodies carelessly tumble over each 

other on Wooden Head, as though the 

ghosts of The Velvets and The La’s have 

reunited for one final spin. 

bidolito.co.uk

facebook.com/o2academyliverpool 

twitter.com/o2academylpool 

instagram.com/o2academyliverpool 

youtube.com/o2academytv 

Fri 1st Aug • £13 adv 

The Blackout 

+ Pavilions + Buckle Tongue 

Sat 2nd Aug • £14.50 adv 

Reel Big Fish 

+ The JellyCats + Broken 3 Ways 

Sat 2nd Aug • £2 adv 

(Free entry with Reel Big Fish ticket) 

Over 18s only 

Space Invader 

Punk Clubnight 

Reel Big Fish aftershow 

Thurs 28th Aug • £16.50 adv 

St. Vincent 

Fri 29th Aug • £6 adv 

Resolutes + Electric Lips 

Sat 30th Aug • £7.50 adv 

Rescheduled show • original tickets valid 

The Connor Harris Launch 

Sat 30th Aug • £12.50 adv 

Mordred 

Sat 6th Sept • £10 adv 

Pearl Jem 

Thurs 11th Sept • £17 adv 

Jesus Jones 

Doubt Tour 

Fri 12th Sept • £10 adv 

Definitely Mightbe 

(Oasis Tribute) 20 Year Celebration, 

performing Definitely Maybe in full 

followed by greatest hits 


The Wall Of Floyd 

Recreating the iconic Pink Floyd 


The Urban 

Voodoo Machine 

Weds 1st Oct • £15 adv 

Wayne Hussey (The Mission) 

Sat 4th Oct • £18 adv 

Goodgreef Xtra Hard 

- 10 Year Celebration 

ft. Darren Styles + Re-Style + Alex Kidd 

+ Andy Whitby + Mark EG 

Sun 5th Oct • £15 adv 

Supersuckers 

Fri 10th Oct • £14 adv 

Kids In Glass Houses 


Knotslip 

Tues 14th Oct • £13 adv 

Alestorm 

Thurs 16th Oct • £15 adv 

Clean Bandit 

Fri 17th Oct • £16 adv 

Hawklords 


The Carpet Crawlers 

Performing ‘Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down 

On Broadway’ - 40th Anniversary 

Thurs 23rd Oct • £25 adv 

Boomtown Rats - Ratlife UK Tour 

Fri 24th Oct • £9.50 adv 

Lucius 


9pm - 3am • over 21s only 

Drome ft. Dream 

Frequency Live PA 

+ Trix vs X-Ray + MC Cyanide 

+ DJ Rob + MC Cutter + DJ Nibbs 


Little Comets 

Thurs 30th Oct • £16 adv 

Haken + Leprous + Maschine 

Thurs 30th Oct • £16.50 adv 

Wild Beasts 

Fri 31st Oct • £28.50 adv 

UB40 

Sat 1st Nov • £18.50 adv 

Gong 

Mon 3rd Nov • £14 adv 

SikTh + Heart Of A Coward + Idiom 

Tues 4th Nov • £16.50 adv 

The War On Drugs 

+ Steve Gunn 

Weds 5th Nov • £17.50 adv 

Band Of Skulls + Bo Ningen 

Fri 7th Nov • £15 adv 

The Crazy World 

Of Arthur Brown 

Sat 8th Nov • £10 adv 

UK Foo Fighters 

Fri 14th Nov • £10 adv 

Antarctic Monkeys 


8pm - 1am • over 18s only 

Quadrophenia Night 

+ Danny Mahon 

Sun 16th Nov • £20 adv 

Alabama 3 

Weds 19th Nov • £18 adv 

T’Pau 

Thurs 20th Nov • £18.50 adv 

6pm 

Pop Punks Not Dead 

ft. New Found Glory 

+ The Story So Far 

+ Candy Hearts + Only Rivals 

Fri 21st Nov • £14 adv 

Absolute Bowie 

Sat 22nd Nov • £11 adv 

The Smyths 

30th Anniversary of Hatful Of Hollow 

- the seminal album in its entirety 

Fri 28th Nov • £11.50 adv 

The Doors Alive 


The Hummingbirds 


Legend 

(Bob Marley Tribute) 

Mon 1st Dec • £18.50 adv 


Professor Green 

Weds 3rd Dec • £15 adv 

Graham Bonnet 

Catch The Rainbow Tour 

Thurs 4th Dec • £12 adv 

Electric Six 

+ The Usual Crowd 

Fri 5th Dec • £12 adv 

The Lancashire 

Hotpots 

+ The Bar-Steward Sons Of Val Doonican 

Sat 6th Dec • £15 adv 

Dreadzone 

Sun 7th Dec • £8 adv 

Raging Speedhorn 


Catfish And 

The Bottlemen 

Fri 19th Dec • £22.50 adv 


Fish 

A Moveable Feast Tour 2014 


Cast 

Sat 14th Mar 2015 • £14 adv 

Whole Lotta Led 

Mon 25th May 2015 • £20 adv 

Chas & Dave 

Thurs 28th Aug • £16.50 adv 

St. Vincent 


Little Comets 

Thurs 30th Oct • £16.50 adv 

Wild Beasts 

o2academyliverpool.co.uk 

11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool L3 5UF • Doors 7pm unless stated 

Venue box office opening hours: Mon - Sat 11.30am - 5.30pm • No booking fee on cash transactions 

ticketweb.co.uk • seetickets.com • gigantic.com • ticketmaster.co.uk

6 

Bido Lito! August 2014 

Words: Phil Gwyn / notmanyexperts.com 

Photography: Aaron McManus / ampix.co.uk 

As Bido Lito! reaches what feels like the twenty-bloodyfirst 

floor of one of Liverpool’s rehearsal spaces, the constant 

barrage from some of our city’s finest metal connoisseurs starts 

making us wonder whether we can be in the right place to find 

the spaced-out wanderings of SUNSTACK JONES. As the door to 

the final corridor of the final floor is pushed open, though, the 

lethargic euphoria of If I Could Only Find A Way drifts through, 

transforming a space that previously felt like one of Guantánamo 

Bay’s interrogation rooms into a stretch of the Mediterranean 

gazed upon by a disappearing sun. 

A diplomatically suggested exit and a pint later, and Sunstack 

Jones (minus bassist Dan) are in a very candid mood. As Chris 

(Vocals and Guitar), Lorcan 

(Guitar) and Richy 

(Drums) talk us 

through the 

making of 

their 

second record, Roam, a picture starts to emerge of Sunstack Jones 

as a brilliant barrel of contradictions. They’re at once cloaked in 

that psych-indie haze so linked to Liverpool and critical of some 

bands’ small-town mentalities; both openly praising their tunes 

for being “fucking good”, and self-deprecatingly observing that 

their slabs of vinyl will most likely still be gazing forlornly out 

from under their beds in ten years’ time; simultaneously outlining 

their ambition to equal their heroes (The War On Drugs and Sharon 

Van Etten are mentioned) whilst conceding that, if their talents 

go unrecognised, they’ll still be plugging away in ten years’ time 

simply for the selfish joy of it. 

“We’re not desperate, but there’s not a lack of ambition either. 

It’s working for us,” Richy says of the band’s balanced approach, 

as his older brother Chris adds that “There’s just no fuss really. 

Some people are like ‘we’re gonna be the next x or y.’ 

That’s just embarrassing... We’re just making good 

music and hoping that someone hears it and likes 

it.” Ambivalent it might be, but it’s a modest 

plan which has slowly been winning the 

band the plaudits that their welding 

together of billowing soundscapes and sharp melodies deserves. 

“When we sold the 250 copies of the first record [Surefire Ways To 

Sweeten The Mind] we were happy because it funded the second 

record, but at the same time you’re thinking, ‘well, 2,000 or 20,000 

people would like that record’, but we’re not good at promoting 

ourselves. We can’t even walk down the street properly...” 

“We’re not good at promoting ourselves.” It’s not a sentence 

that you’d have heard escape from many bands’ mouths before 

the turn of the millennium, but then, as the popular cliché goes, 

‘the internet changed everything’. Well, perhaps not everything, 

but, as the record labels’ business model was eroded by a torrent 

of free music, suddenly bands who would previously have found 

themselves on the receiving end of a record company’s hefty 

marketing budget found themselves locked in a perpetual online 

battle-of-the-bands, fighting it out with thousands of other 

hopefuls for the fleeting attention of ‘the internet’. As Chris puts it 

with a definite air of exasperation, “We’re going to put our album 

out on the 28th, and it feels real to us because we’ve finally got 

that physical copy of it, but on that same day millions of people 

will put up their latest shitty demo. There’s no sorting. That’s the 

bidolito.co.uk


best thing about the internet but, fucking hell, how are we going 

to get heard? The reality is that some people will buy it online, a 

few will be in a few independent shops, but there’s not going to 

be a deluge. Your mates will say, ‘What have you done this week,’ 

and you’ll say, ‘Our album came out on Monday’ and they’ll sort 

of go ‘Oh’.” 

There’s no denying that the current SoundCloud-off that 

dominates those initial stages of the music industry ladder is an 

imperfect democracy, and one that is still at the mercy of record 

company dollars and industry connections, so all you can do is 

make sure that you’re impossible to ignore. On those grounds, 

Roam stands as good a chance as anything. Its unique charm 

lies in the disconnect between its woozy psych pop and its 

morbid observations of illness, love, and loss. “Miserable, innit,” 

concludes Chris. “It was a weird year. A lot of people we knew, or 

ourselves, were ill or breaking up.” That said, there’s an optimism 

to the album thanks to the ethereal fog of hooks that soften the 

blow of the bleak subject matter. Chris nods in agreement: “I think 

it’s hopeful-sounding, isn’t it?” 

We then approach the elephant in the room: Surefire Ways 

To Sweeten The Mind was relentlessly compared to Americana, 

whilst Roam has a slightly spacier, gently psychedelic vibe. Was 

there a revelatory, narcotic-fuelled, out-of-body experience or a 

Sunstack Jones trip to a self-healing commune somewhere deep 

within the Himalayas’ foothills that inspired this shift? “What 

even is ‘Americana’?” asks Chris as a response. Satisfied that none 

of us can come up with an adequate description, Lorcan goes 

on to politely remind us that they were slightly surprised with 

the Americana tag that lazy writers (we assume that means us) 

slung around their necks. Instead, they’ve always had aspirations 

to craft immersive and transportative music: “It would be more 

psychedelic if I could play the guitar,” admits Chris, “it would sound 

like a giant marshmallow.” Lorcan explains that Roam’s wideeyed 

spaciousness came 

from the album being 

a democratic full-band 

effort, in contrast to Surefire Ways To Sweeten The Mind, which 

was largely based on Chris’ demos. Lorcan: “The songs on Roam 

were built up and up and up, which can have that effect. A lot of 

the songs on the first album were quite fully formed when they 

came out. But a track like Circular Sun has layers and layers and 

layers.” “Are you kidding?” blurts Chris. “There’s so much space 

in there!” Right on beat, Lorcan fires back: “Well that’s the gift, 

innit.” 

Although there’s no doubt that they’ve made a slight lean 

towards the mind-altering on Roam, there remains something 

indistinct but fundamentally Sunstack Jones about the record. 

At a loss to nail down this feeling into words, we ask the band 

themselves what this quality is that separates their music from 

that of those thousands of new bands clamouring for attention. 

To this Chris offers the speculative and partially tongue-in-cheek 

response that “It’s better than it...?” Richy steps in to prevent his 

older brother saying anything else incriminating: “I think that the 

melodies that he [Chris] puts to the music are what set us apart 

from other bands... they’re clever melodies.” 

That might seem a big claim on paper, but even a cursory listen 

to Roam suggests that there’s wisdom to his words; opener 

Library is a velodrome of melodies, with echo-laden vocals, 

chiming guitars and even the subtle lament of a cello snaking 

around each other for its three serene minutes. Lorcan, who has 

been absent from the conversation for the past half a minute, 

suddenly interjects with a stanza worthy of Wordsworth: “I’d say 

we’re a cool breeze on a hot, still summer’s day; the break in the 

clouds on a winter’s night.” It’s a fittingly ambitious description for 

an album that constantly evokes panoramic images of blinding 

sunrises, hazy sunsets, and all the introspective moments inbetween. 

The band seem ambitious in another sense, too: 

at various points in the interview Chris has 

casually dropped in references to having a 

box-set of the first ten Sunstack Jones 

records in ten years’ time. Given their remorseless self-deprecation, 

do they view the band in that long-term frame? “I do,” comes 

Chris’ instant response. “We don’t have to do it – there’s no record 

label, so we don’t even have to be here right now – but we love 

it. We love making music, that’s the only reason we do it.” So if 

nobody listened to their music and their tracks were simply being 

cast off into the black hole of the internet, would they still do it? 

“Absolutely, we’re compelled. I just can’t see a time where you’ll 

get a melody in your head and go, ‘Nah, I won’t bother writing 

that one down’.” 

By now it’s hardly surprising that, when probed on their postalbum 

release ambitions, they aren’t to be found outlining future 

plans to headline Glastonbury or swivel the heads of a label with 

a marketing budget the size of an emerging nation’s economy. 

Instead, the blunt answer that Chris delivers with the steeliest 

stare that we’ve seen from him all night is “We’ll make another 

album.” It’s as simple as that; as natural as breathing to them, and 

almost as inevitable given the lethargic intensity with which they 

go about making their music. Breezes will continue to relieve 

stifling days, clouds will continue to break on winter’s nights 

and, with just as much certainty, Sunstack Jones will be holed 

up someplace, laconically crafting dreamy gems. Their restless 

motivation is hard not to admire, but it’s worth just pausing and 

basking in Roam’s dark lyricism and sun-warped melodies before 

they return with number three (of at least ten). 

sunstackjones.com 

Roam is out on 28th July on Mammoth Bell Recording Co. 

Sunstack Jones play Above The Beaten Track Festival on 30th 

August at The Bluecoat. 

bidolito.co.uk

8 


AfternAut 

Words: Jonny Davis / restrelaxrecords.co.uk 

Photography: Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk 

Back in 2012, you would have been hard pushed to not be 

greeted with the tantalising prospect of an AFTERNAUT show as 

you scoured the monthly music listings. Having found his way 

onto any number of weird and wonderful bills, Adam Rowley 

became the go-to guy if your gig needed the aural essence of space 

travel in a delicious electronic package. Performing alongside the 

likes of Oneohtrix Point Never, Walls and BEAK> allowed him to 

develop his trademark blend of melancholy soundscapes and 

galactic beats, and reach a sympathetic audience in the process. 

Fast forward to the present and you’ll notice that an alarming 

amount of time has passed since the last Afternaut performance. 

However, far from slacking off, Rowley has been holed up in his 

bunker, toiling, experimenting and quickly developing a wideeyed 

obsession with his new baby – a modular synth. And you 

know what? He’s created a monster. 

Built from the ground up with his bare hands, this beautiful 

beast of knobs, switches and wires has been the subject of night 

after night of soldering and audio experimentation to create 

something with a life of its own. “At first I just had one oscillator,” 

begins Rowley giddily. “But that one oscillator made the most 

incredible sound, and I was hooked!” Through a mix of extended 

improvisation and delicate honing, this collaboration between 

man and machine has spat out a ferocious, fiery collection of 

tracks going by the name of Transmission. Rowley describes the 

release as a “collaborative project, the direction of which has 

been dictated by the modular”. It’s certainly a brave decision 

to cede a certain level of control to an unknown quantity, but 

it’s often these black hole explorations that produce the most 

interesting results. “It's a very different experience writing music 

on a modular. You have to be much more inquisitive. Generally, 

the typical sound modulars make is very chaotic and random.” 

Fortunately his experience as an artist has provided a base from 

which to build that recognisable Afternaut sound. “When you 

make music you are constantly choosing options. As long as you 

are making those decisions for yourself then the finished music 


will have your personality embedded within it.” 

The six songs on Transmission are no doubt a bold leap 

forward for Afternaut. Although his spacey atmospherics remain 

a continuing aspect of the sound, the wild parameters set by the 

untameable modular synth kick the music into uncharted waters. 

Rowley is still the pilot at the helm, but has turbo-charged his 

rocket. The result is a spectacular canvas of cacophony and 

crescendo that not only fills your headspace on a private 

headphone listen, but begs to be jet-propelled to a liquorloosened 

live audience. 

The mechanical chaos of the noise-machine has opened up 

new doors and Rowley’s inquisitive nature has allowed him 

to utilise to the maximum each and every squelch and clang 

that the modular churns out. “I've got recordings of hard drives 

and phones buzzing and popping which I used for a lot of the 

percussive elements. I've even got a dodgy patch cable [attached 

to the modular] that crackles and stutters.” 

A Sound Designer for Sony by day, his obsession with all things 

audio helps in developing a signature aesthetic. Whether he’s 

out in the field capturing sound effects for the next PS4 game 

or painstakingly piecing together the results in the office, the 

bleed between business and pleasure is abundantly clear. This 

all-encompassing passion for audio also enabled him to relate 

easily to the work of the early-20th Century intrepid inventor 

and engineer Nikola Tesla, who was a pioneer in radio wave 

communication, and was for a time obsessed with the science 

of transmitting messages over long distances. Tesla’s insatiable 

appetite for discovery is evidently a source of fascination for 

Rowley: “I noticed that when you crank the output signal of the 

modular you can start to hear all sorts of weird things going on. 

Presumably these are the same noises that Nikola Tesla mistook 

for Martian communications.” 

The idea of interplanetary communication is explored further 

with the retro-futurist visuals of the accompanying artwork, 

designed with the help of Kitsune Studio in Liverpool. “The plan 

was to use visual distortion to push the theme of ‘transmission’. 

I looked at tape and tube TV bleed effects as well as glitch art. I 

approached Kitsune because I knew they had a lot of experience 

with web and user interface design and they produce really 

beautiful work. I wanted something highly designed and crisp 

but also quite glitchy and other-worldly.” It’s testament to the 

overarching concept of Transmission that the words “highly 

designed”, “crisp”, “glitch” and “other-worldly” could very easily be 

attached to the music. 

Added weight is given to the project with the inclusion of remixes 

by Wired To Follow and Rosko John, giving the work a fresh angle 

whilst maintaining the philosophy of experimentation. “Wired To 

Follow write really conceptual and powerful music so I couldn’t 

wait to see what they did with their remix,” explains Rowley. “They 

actually surpassed my expectations. They used recordings taken 

from the astronomical clock in Prague, which really adds another 

layer to the concept. I did a remix of Rosko John’s track Tactical 

Light earlier this year and I had been looking forward to him 

remixing something of mine. He really did me proud!” 

With Transmission finally out into the world, Rowley is itching 

to give the new material an airing. “The new show is a lot more 

energetic than anything I’ve done before and it takes those epic 

sections of my new tracks and pushes them further. I’m actually 

really excited about it.” Back with a big bang, the future looks 

bright and beautiful in the world of Afternaut. The music is 

being received positively and, with the delicious prospect of live 

dates and a new show imminent, the buzz around the project 

is snowballing. It won’t be long until we begin to see a muchwelcomed 

return of that Afternaut-packed listings page. 

From that daring leap into the unknown world of modular 

synthesis to the high polish and exquisite execution of the 

finished product, Rowley has showcased his credentials as 

an artist and composer with that rare blend of courage and 

conviction. From concept to delivery, Transmission is a fascinating 

tale of discovery and an ode to the joys of experimentation and 

hard graft. A triumphant work that sends out a signal to the world 

and beyond. 

afternaut.com 

Transmission is out now – available to buy from afternaut. 

bandcamp.com.

10 


Words: Richard Lewis 

Illustration: Becki Currie / cargocollective.com/beckycurrie 

Photography: Chris Norman / flickr.com/chrisnormanphotography 

Although having been a presence on a plethora of albums by 

thought along the lines of doing another club gig in Liverpool, 

Merseyside musicians over the past decade – The Stands, Delta 

relatively low-key,” Steve says. In addition to the heightened 

Maid and Cast – and releasing a trio of impressive solo LPs, STEVE 

profile in Liverpool and nationally as a result of the gig, the event 

PILGRIM is best known for his exacting work behind the drumkit 

quickly translated into more members joining the foundation 

for Paul Weller. As sticksman for The Modfather for the past six 

and a windfall of £15,000 going straight into the coffers from 

years, almost all of the aforementioned projects, and a score of 

the ticket sales. 

other collaborations, have run concurrently with Steve’s time in 

Proof of Weller’s backing for the cause meanwhile was 

the group. Somehow finding time amidst this hectic schedule 

exemplified by him arranging the show himself, something Steve 

to pursue his own interests, Steve also co-founded fundraising 

wasn’t entirely aware of to begin with. Indeed, the drummer was 

organisation BE ONE PERCENT in March 2011. 

somewhat in the dark about the fixture until a few weeks before. 

Based on a simple principle, the foundation asks its members 

“The first thing I knew about it was ‘Liverpool Charity Show TBC’ in 

to commit to giving one percent of their income each month to 

the gig schedule that was sent out to me,” Steve recalls. “It didn’t 

the project, which in turn passes 

it on to charities with which 

they are partnered. Growing 

organically largely by word of 

mouth and social media over 

the past three years, Be One 

Percent recently received a 

THE INITIAL SEED GREW INTO 

A CONCEPT OF BUILDING 

A NETWORK OF GIVING 

say what it was for. Then maybe 

four weeks before the actual gig 

I got a text off Paul saying ‘Oh 

yeah, we’re doing that charity 

thing for Be One Percent, that 

should be a good one shouldn’t 

it?’ He didn’t even call me up 

massive boost to its profile via a sold-out Paul Weller gig at East 

about it, the first thing I knew about it was this text message!” 

Village Arts Club to raise funds and awareness for the project. 

Steve laughs. “It was really good of him to make it part of the 

“It started as an idea maybe four years ago and it began to 

schedule and include it as part of the tour, it was great. Paul and 

gain momentum fairly steadily,” Steve explains sipping tea in 

his wife Hannah have been massive supporters of what we’ve 

a quiet MelloMello one weekday morning. “We gave our first 

been doing.” 

pot of money three years ago and after about a year of doing it 

On the subject of stage work, the initial inspiration for Be One 

we had a certain number of members, and Paul asked ‘What’s Percent arrived during a set of live dates. “I was on tour away 

this thing you’re doing?’ Paul had done a few gigs in the run-up from home staying in a really nice hotel,” Steve remembers. 

to promoting the new album [More Modern Classics], so when “I was just very aware of the kind of Western guilt that goes 

it came to the possibility of doing a little charity gig for us he with knowing that I’m from a fortunate background, I’m lucky 

bidolito.co.uk


to have a job that pays well, and something was pricking at 

my conscience about that. I’d come across this bottled water 

company called One Water, an organisation that gives all of its 

profits towards providing clean water in Africa. They give it to a 

multitude of charities and they raise millions doing this, they’ve 

become a really big brand. I was thinking ‘This is a really good 

idea, how could it be transferred to other things?’ So I started 

to think about if it was a profit or a percentage thing from the 

sale of the bottled water, could you do that with anything?” 

“I brought that idea back to Liverpool about four years ago 

and got chatting to a friend of mine, Matt Johnson, who’s a local 

businessman [and Be One Percent co-founder]. It was really with 

his encouragement that we put a group of people around a table 

who we thought would be good to advise us. In the first meeting 

someone said, ‘Well, one percent from products is all very good, 

but couldn’t you do that with people, couldn’t they say ‘I’m going to 

give one percent of my income?’’ It was that initial seed that grew 

into the concept of building a community of givers,” Steve says. 

As a fundraising organisation, Be One Percent assigns the 

money generated to existing charities representing causes that 

the trustees feel should be highlighted. “There are already a lot 

of organisations out there doing the work,” Steve states. “We 

thought if we fundraise we’ll make it our job to find the best 

organisations to give to. The way that we’ve modelled it is we all 

give one percent of our income together each month and then we 

use that money for a specific project: we get a charity to say we’ll 

use the money for this or this. It might be medical treatment, 

school meals or installing a new water point. Then we feed that 

back to our members and say ‘This is what your one percent has 

helped do this month’.” 

The first project undertaken by the foundation in March 2011 

saw eight members raise £166 for malaria treatments for over 

300 people. As the number of members grew – with the current 

total standing at 174 – the organisation has funded 35 projects 

in 11 different countries. The most recent is dedicated to raising 

funds to establish the production of cooking stoves in TA Kalembo 

ONE PERCENT FROM 

PRODUCTS IS ALL VERY GOOD, 

BUT COULDN'T PEOPLE PLE SAY 

'I'M GOING TO GIVE ONE 

PERCENT ENT OF MY INCOME'? 

in the Balaka district of Southern Malawi, where the money will 

provide materials for building kilns, plus tools and training for 

manufacturing the stoves. 

With a huge number of charities currently in operation in the 

UK and abroad, how does Be One Percent decide on which causes 

to back? “All of our partner organisations can’t be above a certain 

size, they have to have low running costs, low overheads, they 

can’t have big marketing budgets,” Steve explains. “They work 

internationally on big-scale things, but they’re not the mammoth 

Water Aids and Oxfams – those ones that get criticised for being 

too top heavy and having escalating marketing budgets and high 

senior staff budgets.” 

The running costs of the foundation are set aside from the 

funds that go to the charities, something that was particularly 

important to the founders Steve explains. “Personally, I know 

that when I give to a charity, I wanna feel that as much of my 

money is doing something positive as possible, so we were really 

conscious of that when we were looking for our partners initially,” 

Steve emphasises. “We get the money ring-fenced by the charities 

we work with specifically, so we can say to people ‘One hundred 

percent of the money you give is going to the projects, nothing is 

going to the running costs’.” 

With so many milestones already reached over the past three 

years, what’s next for the foundation? “We’re always looking for 

new organisations, to keep it fresh and be giving to a variety of 

different things,” Steve says of future plans. “The more diverse 

projects we have the more we’re spreading the wealth as much 

as possible.” 

If you’d like to join Be One Percent’s network of giving, or you’d 

like to see the impact of the money raised in a community in Malawi, 

go to the organisation’s website now at beonepercent.org 

Turn to page 28 now to read a review of Paul Weller’s live 

fundraiser show at East Village Arts Club. 

bidolito.co.uk

12 


Words: Dan Brown / @danbrownnn 

Illustration: Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com 

Before 

commencing 

her live show on Worthy Farm’s Park Stage this year, Annie Clark 

greeted her audience with a trademark dramatic flourish. “Hello freaks 

and others of Glastonbury… The reason we're here and you're here is 

because we never, ever gave up hope.” When Bido Lito! caught up with 

Clark, aka ST. VINCENT, on the phone the week following the show, 

one of the first things we asked her to elaborate on was this vaguely 

cryptic statement. “I think that my audience is a sort of community...” 

she purrs down the line, before tailing off. “Basically I think that what I 

wanted to say was we’re all here because we’re still alive. It was really 

great! I didn’t get to meet Yoko though [Yoko Ono performed on the 

Park Stage before Clark], but I’ve met her before at a birthday party, a 

few years ago.” 

Clark’s triumphant performance at Glastonbury this summer was a 

visual spectacle, like all her concerts, perfectly illustrating how her St. 

Vincent shows have a tendency to blur the lines between live music 

and performance art, thereby altering our preconceptions of what 

to expect from a concert and giving her shows an almost Dada-like 

feel. All of these elements seamlessly combined for that Glastonbury 

show, befitting Clark’s status as one of the most prolific and original 

songwriters in the world today. With a musical CV boasting her past 

membership of not only the Polyphonic Spree, but also a stint in genius 

songwriter Sufjan Stevens’ touring band, as well as recently fronting 

Nirvana and performing as a member of the 100 guitar orchestra 

arranged by one of the American underground and No-Wave’s cult 

figures, Glenn Branca, Annie Clark can rightly point to being a member 

of the modern rock aristocracy. All of that before you even begin to 

factor in her highly acclaimed work under the St. Vincent moniker, 

which has seen her produce five eclectic albums with ever-expanding 

sonic palettes, starting with 2007’s Marry Me through to her latest 

effort, 2014’s self-titled album. Clark has progressed and matured as 


an artist and the results saw 

her receive the best reviews 

of her career with this latest 

release, as exemplified by 

the record’s lead single: a 

shape-shifting 

curveball 

of a track, Digital Witness 

turns Clark’s ire on the 

overly-synthetic digitisation 

of modern trends, while 

simultaneously 

revelling 

in the swampy production 

values at her disposal. 

Her previous project, Love 

This Giant, was a collaboration album 

with David Byrne, which was a glorious result of 

both artists’ definable traits complementing each other in 

the best way possible. Furthermore, the reason why this 

release made so much sense to its admirers was in the way 

it highlighted how comparable the music of St. Vincent is to that 

of Talking Heads. As a songwriter Clark is an expert at playing with 

dynamics; she crafts twitchy but meticulous riffs which are rife 

with kinetic energy whilst still retaining punchy and hooky pop 

sensibilities, accompanied by lyrics that frequently refer to her 

observations of the human condition. This results in music that 

prides itself on confliction and is all the more interesting for it. 

It’s fair to say that everything about St. Vincent, to an extent, is an 

experience, including this interview. Whilst making this phone call 

I found myself thrown out of a taxi by a police officer and joined by 

an unlikely companion, Geisha, the sister of the mythical prog-rock 

figure Don Bradshaw-Leather. Coincidence? I’d like to think not. 

August’s show will be Clark’s first ever in Liverpool, and though 

she doesn’t set too much store by having a personal connection to 

the venue she’s playing in, she’s still enamoured by the prospect of 

forging new relationships with fans and places when she’s out on 

tour. “I don’t want to be too much like a Hallmark card about it, so 

I definitely wouldn’t say I have any connection at all... But yeah, I’m 

definitely excited about it, really! I mean, I quite like being in the 

UK. I think that this will be worth going overseas for!” 

When she’s on the road, Clark’s listening habits tend to remain 

with music that is driven by nervous tension, but with a much more 

ominous and brooding sound. “Recently, I’ve been listening to the 

latest Tim Hecker record, Virgins. I listen to a lot of ambient music 

when I’m on the road – somehow I don’t have the brainwaves for 

music with lyrics when I’m travelling so much. It takes a lot of psychic 

energy to be travelling all the time and I’m also listening to two hours 

of music a night that’s by myself. I think that [music with lyrics] doesn’t 

fit with being on airplanes and tour buses.” 

Touring made 2013 a busy year for Clark, where she played nearly 

fifty shows in support of Love This Giant, but this didn’t leave her feeling 

creatively exhausted; in fact, she almost immediately launched back 

into songwriting again after the tour was over. “It was literally two or 

three days before I started writing again. I think I planned to take a 

month off but that didn’t happen!” It’s evident that Clark’s time spent 

touring just feels like the norm to her, and she tells us that life on the 

road is pretty much the only life that she knows. “I’ve been on tour for, 

y’know, basically all of my adult life now. I haven’t had another job; 

I’ve just always been playing in bands.” Far from letting this bleed in 

to boring normality, Clark feels like she is well adjusted to her lifestyle. 

“I re-align my axis. I think that, on tour, there’s times when I think that 

often I don’t know [what] period of the year it is because everything 

just feels so constant. I think I do prefer my life being this way though; 

I read a really interesting quote recently about it all which I really 

loved… I just think that it’s a uniquely American thing to have the idea 

of the life that you ought to be living; this is probably it!” 

One of the most fascinating elements of St. Vincent is the persona 

that Clark has moulded herself into, which makes every aspect of the 

live show feel like a natural extension seeping out from the figure on 

stage. In regards to the version of herself that is performed on stage 

when compared to the everyday Annie Clark, she explains that the 

transition just feels natural. “Sometimes I don’t really think about it. 

I think that part of me thinks that, in a way, that’s more exciting than 

just the mundanity of everyday life and such, y’know?” 

Regardless of which avatar of Annie Clark is front and centre 

her performances remain exhilarating, which gives her upcoming 

show on 28th August that extra edge. Who wouldn’t want to be 

witness to that? 

ilovestvincent.com 

St. Vincent plays Liverpool O2 Academy on 28th August. St. Vincent 

is out now on Loma Vista.

++ 

++ + + 

LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAl FESTIVAL OF PSYCHEDELIA 

26 + 27 SEPTEMBER 2014 - Camp & Furnace / blade factory liverpool 

goat. WOODS. ALLAH-LAS. 

 

WHITE HILLS. SLEEPY SUN. ZOMBIE ZOMBIE. 

WOLF PEOPLE.CHRISTIAN BLAND & THE REVELATORS. 

AMEN DUNES. HILLS. GRUMBLING FUR. 

D 

THE EARLY YEARS. GNOD. HOLY WAVE.ISLET. THE JANITORS. 

 

MAZES. NUEVA COSTA. POW!. QUILT. ORVAL CARLOS SIBELIUS. 

SEPTEMBER GIRLS. TRAAMS. SUDDEN DEATH OF STARS. 

TEETH OF THE SEA. THOUGHT FORMS. Satelliti. 

THE VACANT LOTS. YOUNGHUSBAND. 

 

 

FORMES. GLASS MOTHS. HALF LOON. JIBOIA. HELLSHOVEL. IN ZAIRE. 

 

 

strange collective. TEMPLE SONGS. THEO VERNEY. 

 

TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE OUTER REALMS PRESENTED BY 

FT. NOTHING IS DJs (CherryStones, Cage & Aviary, Little Dirty, Chris Reeder) 

THE CHIMES OF BIG BEN : richard norris. 

Justin Robertson. Bernie Connor. Richard Hector-Jones. 

 

SONIC CATHEDRAL 'PSYCH FOR SORE EYES 2' LAUNCH HAPPENING. 

ADVENTURES AT THE OUTER REACHES: FILM PROGRAMME + 

SYMPOSIUM TRAVERSING GLOBAL PSYCHEDELIC OUTPOSTS. 

PICCADILLY RECORDS WORLD OF PSYCHEDELIC WAX WONDERS. 

 

Plus...a myriad of cosmic audio voyages, installations and visual sensations. 

Full details and tickets at LIVERPOOLPSYCHFEST.COM 

Tickets also available in person from Probe Records (Liverpool), 

Piccadilly Records (Manchester) & Jumbo Records (Leeds)

Collage: Theo Temple



16th June 2014 was the first day of Festival 31, a month-long 

celebration and exploration of the refugee experience in our city 

and wider society. Placing its focus on the creative richness of 

migration, its variety of events posited crucial points that often 

get overlooked by the political hysteria around discussions about 

immigration. In light of this, we asked the group behind the zine 

BETWEEN THE BORDERS to expand on some of these issues, and 

explain why partying is a serious business for them. 

Between The Borders is a collective concerned with issues 

surrounding asylum and migration. We are a group of people with 

and without citizenship in the UK who have come together with 

the intention to contribute to an informed debate on asylum and 

migration. Since 2012 we have been working together to imagine 

ways that we can work towards improving the experiences of 

asylum seekers and new migrants to Liverpool, to encourage 

cross-culture engagement and challenge preconceptions and 

misinformation. 

Migration is of course nothing new. In reality this world 

we call planet Earth has a long and rich history of 

migration where human evolution has occurred 

from an exchange of cultural practices. 

There are many reasons why people 

migrate: some leave their country 

of birth by choice for education 

and employment opportunities, 

and others are forced to leave their 

homelands due to economic and 

religious persecution, war or violence. 

Seeking asylum in another country is 

certainly not a frivolous decision. 

Liverpool is no stranger to immigration 

either; historically, it was the first city 

in Britain that Irish, Chinese and African 

settlers adopted as their home for these 

same reasons, and in turn each brought with 

them a multitude of cultural traditions and 

practices that have been integrated into the 

landscape over time and helped create the rich 

and diverse city we experience today. 

The diaspora of music from different areas of the world is also 

driven by cultural movement – or, to use another term, migration. 

This is not a recent phenomenon as a net result of globalisation 

(as perhaps the popular media would have us believe); people 

have been moving across the surface of the planet for centuries, 

and wherever people travel so too does music. In the context of 

transnational flows of migration, music provides a mechanism by 

which the ‘cultural baggage’ of ‘home’ can be transported through 

time and space and transplanted into a new environment, assisting 

in the maintenance of culture and identity, and at the same time 

helping to forge new methods of communication and connectivity. 

The politicians and mass media purposefully avoid raising 

wider questions that can help us think critically about the positive 

effects of immigration. Where, for example, would pop music be 

were it not for the result of human migration? Would the Beatles, 

Stones, Cream and Zeppelin have sounded as they did had it 

not been for the importation of early blues recordings from the 

Mississippi Delta, as performed by American musicians such as 

Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton, whose sound signatures 

originated in their ancestral musical traditions from central Africa? 

The logical conclusion to these questions suggests not. 

Music provides us with a kind of map of an ever-changing 

society and a continuous transnational exchange of ideas through 

melody, harmony and rhythm that spoken language alone is 

unable to offer. Music is particularly apt to migrate, to move, and 

thus to cross borders. It provides an ideal site for the creation of 

new dialogue through sounds, styles and musical subcultures, 

which, in turn, all serve particular functions in specific social, 

economic and political environments. 

Spaces where music can be shared and fostered are vital 

components to a city, acting as contact zones and locations of 

exchange. It is these important exchanges that the STAR (Student 

Action for Refugees) parties engender and cultivate, through 

a grassroots, inclusive DIY scene that supports an exchange of 

cultural differences and in turn opens up new dialogues through 

a communal engagement with music, food, film and the arts. 

In these times of so-called austerity, nefarious attempts have 

been made by multi-national corporations, politicians and the 

media to drive wedges between the different strata of society, 

focusing on arbitrary distinctions between groups of migrants 

based on differences such as legal 

status or 

national 

origin. The intended 

consequences of which are to divide society into a ‘them and us’ 

conflict, controlling public opinion that binds the ‘followers’ to 

the ‘leaders’ and assists the drive of neoliberal socio-economic 

policies in further persecuting the vulnerable minorities, whilst 

exploiting the masses. 

During the current global political climate of anti-immigration 

hysteria, we feel it is time to address these issues in a broader 

social context. 

Between The Borders was partly born out of meetings and 

conversations at the STAR fundraiser parties at the Bakery in 

Wavertree, and through the desire to produce a regular zine 

publication to address the complex issues on immigration and 

asylum. Through forming a writers' group at Asylum Link in 

Wavertree, the zine has facilitated a space where migrant voices 

can be heard, and their stories told. Opening up such spaces, 

where a diverse representation of experience, knowledge and 

understanding can be articulated – whether through writing, 

socialising or dancing to music – helps produce new ways to 

connect and share through creative and collective practices. 

Through producing events, STAR Liverpool funds local trips 

for asylum seekers in Liverpool, purchases resources for the 

weekly Conversation Class at Asylum Link, and supports the 

national STAR organisation. This summer we’ve kept a monthly 

party going while many students are away, renamed Class Action 

Week-Ends. It continues to be free entry for asylum seekers and 

refugees, but it’s no longer a charity fundraiser for STAR. Instead 

we are hoping to reimburse the labour of all those who have 

been involved over the year. 

Though some aspects of the organisation have changed, it is 

still a party, where music, food and cinema operate in one space, 

and a precious opportunity for cultural exchanges to take place 

in a DIY environment in Liverpool. Through the parties we are 

able to organise the venue and the event’s operation in a way 

that suggests alternative forms of social space. The practise has 

made us think about how we collectively spend our leisure time 

at clubs and other commercial spaces in the city, and how they 

are run. How, for example, clubs and bars are often too expensive 

for asylum seekers who receive just over £5 a day in financial 

support. The design of such spaces seems merely to facilitate the 

intensified consumption of weekenders under the management 

of surveillance and security. Clubs often function as exclusive 

zones for specific social groups, and are unsafe places for many 

others. Music and dancing (if there is enough room to do 

so) are confined to certain spaces at certain times for 

certain people. We feel such clubs serve to be boring 

extensions of our working lives. 

Class Action Week-Ends is our continued attempt to 

open up a space to a whole field of human sociality 

and situations of which we are otherwise deprived in 

our alienated leisure time. We want a party where 

people are able to dance or talk or watch films 

together while also taking responsibility for each 

other’s wellbeing. We want to be economically 

sustainable whilst including those without 

the disposable income which is all too often 

required to ‘socialise’ in other environments. We 

want to retain our autonomy as a party (and 

not as a club night) for friends and friends of 

friends. Importantly, we also want a space where 

our record selectors can make uninhibited choices 

about music for the pleasure of all-night dancing and where 

our technical amateurism is celebrated! 

In the process of setting up Class Action Week-Ends we have 

been greatly influenced by the lineage of dance music culture: 

from Harlem rent parties and the trans-Atlantic influence of West 

Indian sound systems, to the proto-disco of David Mancuso’s The 

Loft and Nicky Siano’s The Gallery. We are interested in this history 

of nightclubbing because we see it has an often-overlooked 

social and political significance with a potential bearing on our 

parties today. We believe that these events can be a location 

where culture and conflict is negotiated, and where projects of 

social change can begin. Between The Borders is an example of 

this beginning and the project continues to engage with music 

and space through their relationship to migration and seeking 

asylum. Parties have also proved to be key opportunities for 

Between The Borders to disseminate its work and open up the 

project to others. 

We hope to keep the events going throughout summer and 

beyond, and at some point move into our own space in Liverpool. 

As with all DIY events, however, they are extremely demanding 

and also precarious in that they explore possibilities beyond 

commercial interests, and challenge the conditions of our leisure 

time. Our partying is therefore a serious matter. 

Want to get involved with Between The Borders? Find out more 

about the collective and upcoming events by following them on 

facebook.com/betweentheboarders. 

Between The Borders are throwing a Summer Party on 16th August 

at 24 Kitchen St., to celebrate the diversity of migrant arts and culture 

across Liverpool. Entry is free, but donations are welcome. 




bidolito 

16th June 2014 was the first day of Festival 31, a month-long 

celebration and exploration of the refugee experience in our city 

and wider society. Placing its focus on the creative richness of 

migration, its variety of events posited crucial points that often 

get overlooked by the political hysteria around discussions about 

immigration. In light of this, we asked the group behind the zine 

BETWEEN THE BORDERS to expand on some of these issues, and 

explain why partying is a serious business for them. 

Between The Borders is a collective concerned with issues 

surrounding asylum and migration. We are a group of people with 

and without citizenship in the UK who have come together with 

the intention to contribute to an informed debate on asylum and 

migration. Since 2012 we have been working together to imagine 




misinformation. 





There are many reasons why people 








certainly not a frivolous decision. 









and diverse city we experience today. 


driven by cultural movement – or, to use another term, migration. 

This is not a recent phenomenon as a net result of globalisation 

(as perhaps the popular media would have us believe); people 

have been moving across the surface of the planet for centuries, 

and wherever people travel so too does music. In the context of 

transnational flows of migration, music provides a mechanism by 

which the ‘cultural baggage’ of ‘home’ can be transported through 

time and space and transplanted into a new environment, assisting 

in the maintenance of culture and identity, and at the same time 

helping to forge new methods of communication and connectivity. 

The politicians and mass media purposefully avoid raising 

wider questions that can help us think critically about the positive 

effects of immigration. Where, for example, would pop music be 

were it not for the result of human migration? Would the Beatles, 

Stones, Cream and Zeppelin have sounded as they did had it 

not been for the importation of early blues recordings from the 

Mississippi Delta, as performed by American musicians such as 

Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton, whose sound signatures 

originated in their ancestral musical traditions from central Africa? 

The logical conclusion to these questions suggests not. 

Music provides us with a kind of map of an ever-changing 

society and a continuous transnational exchange of ideas through 

melody, harmony and rhythm that spoken language alone is 

unable to offer. Music is particularly apt to migrate, to move, and 

thus to cross borders. It provides an ideal site for the creation of 

new dialogue through sounds, styles and musical subcultures, 

which, in turn, all serve particular functions in specific social, 

economic and political environments. 

Spaces where music can be shared and fostered are vital 

components to a city, acting as contact zones and locations of 

exchange. It is these important exchanges that the STAR (Student 

Action for Refugees) parties engender and cultivate, through 

a grassroots, inclusive DIY scene that supports an exchange of 

cultural differences and in turn opens up new dialogues through 

a communal engagement with music, food, film and the arts. 

In these times of so-called austerity, nefarious attempts have 




based on differences such as legal 

status or 

national 

origin. The intended 

consequences of which are to divide society into a ‘them and us’ 

conflict, controlling public opinion that binds the ‘followers’ to 

the ‘leaders’ and assists the drive of neoliberal socio-economic 

policies in further persecuting the vulnerable minorities, whilst 

exploiting the masses. 

During the current global political climate of anti-immigration 

hysteria, we feel it is time to address these issues in a broader 

social context. 

Between The Borders was partly born out of meetings and 

conversations at the STAR fundraiser parties at the Bakery in 

Wavertree, and through the desire to produce a regular zine 

publication to address the complex issues on immigration and 

asylum. Through forming a writers' group at Asylum Link in 

Wavertree, the zine has facilitated a space where migrant voices 

can be heard, and their stories told. Opening up such spaces, 

where a diverse representation of experience, knowledge and 

understanding can be articulated – whether through writing, 

socialising or dancing to music – helps produce new ways to 

connect and share through creative and collective practices. 

Through producing events, STAR Liverpool funds local trips 

for asylum seekers in Liverpool, purchases resources for the 

weekly Conversation Class at Asylum Link, and supports the 

national STAR organisation. This summer we’ve kept a monthly 

party going while many students are away, renamed Class Action 

Week-Ends. It continues to be free entry for asylum seekers and 

refugees, but it’s no longer a charity fundraiser for STAR. Instead 

we are hoping to reimburse the labour of all those who have 

been involved over the year. 

Though some aspects of the organisation have changed, it is 

still a party, where music, food and cinema operate in one space, 

and a precious opportunity for cultural exchanges to take place 

in a DIY environment in Liverpool. Through the parties we are 

able to organise the venue and the event’s operation in a way 

that suggests alternative forms of social space. The practise has 

made us think about how we collectively spend our leisure time 

at clubs and other commercial spaces in the city, and how they 

are run. How, for example, clubs and bars are often too expensive 

for asylum seekers who receive just over £5 a day in financial 

support. The design of such spaces seems merely to facilitate the 

intensified consumption of weekenders under the management 

of surveillance and security. Clubs often function as exclusive 


others. Music and dancing (if there is enough room to do 




Class Action Week-Ends is our continued attempt to 

open up a space to a whole field of human sociality 

and situations of which we are otherwise deprived in 


people are able to dance or talk or watch films 











our technical amateurism is celebrated! 

In the process of setting up Class Action Week-Ends we have 

been greatly influenced by the lineage of dance music culture: 

from Harlem rent parties and the trans-Atlantic influence of West 

Indian sound systems, to the proto-disco of David Mancuso’s The 

Loft and Nicky Siano’s The Gallery. We are interested in this history 

of nightclubbing because we see it has an often-overlooked 

social and political significance with a potential bearing on our 

parties today. We believe that these events can be a location 

where culture and conflict is negotiated, and where projects of 

social change can begin. Between The Borders is an example of 

this beginning and the project continues to engage with music 

and space through their relationship to migration and seeking 

asylum. Parties have also proved to be key opportunities for 

Between The Borders to disseminate its work and open up the 

project to others. 

We hope to keep the events going throughout summer and 

beyond, and at some point move into our own space in Liverpool. 

As with all DIY events, however, they are extremely demanding 

and also precarious in that they explore possibilities beyond 

commercial interests, and challenge the conditions of our leisure 

time. Our partying is therefore a serious matter. 

Want to get involved with Between The Borders? Find out more 

about the collective and upcoming events by following them on 

facebook.com/betweentheboarders. 

Between The Borders are throwing a Summer Party on 16th August 

at 24 Kitchen St., to celebrate the diversity of migrant arts and culture 

across Liverpool. Entry is free, but donations are welcome. 
























































based on differences such 















































































status or 











































as 

legal 

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status or 



as 

legal 


as 

legal 

as 

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as 

legal 





as 

legal 

as 

legal 

as 

legal 


as 

legal 

as 

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as 

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status or 


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The diaspora of music from different areas of the world is also

Words: Jack Graysmark / @ZeppelinG1993 

Photography: Robin Clewley / robinclewley.co.uk 

A handful of Seel Street revellers might have thought they 

were seeing things on the night of Saturday 3rd May this 

year, when they glimpsed a saxophone player belting out 

the high notes from the back of a Hackney cab. Thankfully, 

these weren’t merely the hallucinations of an alcohol-soaked 

indulgence, but the latest bout of over-exuberance from Edwin 

Pope, otherwise known as MUTANT VINYL. On stage at Brooklyn 

Mixer and coming to the end of his woozy, sway-inducing 

track Acid Honey, Pope made his way out of the venue and 

into a waiting taxi, all the while delivering a sizzling solo 

and blissfully unaware of his surroundings. Acts of unrivalled 

spontaneity are just one of the many thrills of the Mutant Vinyl 

live experience, giving revellers a moment to remember and 

outsiders an unforgettable taster. It’s certainly a memorable 

way of attracting new fans to his genre-splicing venture of 

dub, trip-hop and funk, to name a few. 

“My band just continued on without me while this was 

happening,” Pope later laughs. “They said afterwards that they 

were scared; they had no idea where I’d gone!” We’re back at 

Brooklyn Mixer, but it’s early evening. Only a handful of punters 

lounge about, a far cry from the full-capacity room he played to 

that night. Pope has just completed his final day at LIPA, and he’s 

giddy with excitement; whether on stage or relaxing over a pint 

off it, he is a striking figure to behold, with a relentless level of 

enthusiasm that feeds off the possibilities that lie before him. “My 

friends showed me a photo of me in the taxi the next day and I 

couldn’t remember a thing,” he admits. “When I play, I get lost in 

the music and completely forget my surroundings.” 

This isn’t the first time Pope’s performance style has led 

to some intriguing antics: at February’s Fiesta Bombarda in 

the Sefton Park Palm House, he looped the venue during his 

set-closer, belting out notes all the way. What’s even more 

impressive is that all the while Pope was balancing vocal and 

sax duties, a mammoth assault on his lungs without the extra 

capers thrown in. It’s a wonder how he maintains his energy 

during a set, but even Pope doesn’t have an answer. “It is 

exhausting. If you try to talk to me after a gig, I will be slumped 

over, trying to recover.” If it sounds preposterous on paper, it is 

only because words can only do so much justice; exactly why 

many have been spurred-on to see Pope in the flesh, as his 

reputation for joyously animated live shows continues to grow. 


The method lies in the importance Pope places on performing, 

a trait which stems from seeing the tenacious jazz maestro 

Courtney Pine in Winchester when he was a teenager. 

“It was in the Theatre Royal, a sleepy little place,” Pope recalls. 

“My dad’s a big jazz fan so he took me along, but I didn’t expect it 

to be so intense. He had this energy that came from his virtuosic 

style, particularly the saxophone solos he did. I think solos are 

a dying art form, but when someone can pull it off, for me that’s 

them at the top of their game.” Pope was also struck by Pine’s 

illustrious career, which has left no musical style untouched. “He 

did a classical tour focusing on a bass clarinet, and then he’s also 

integrated drum and bass into his style,” he enthuses. Among 

his inspirations, from Prince to Damon Albarn, you begin to see 

a pattern forming; a refusal to let their sound go stale, be it on 

record or in the live setting. The way Pine struck Pope on that 

night in Winchester – that was what he wanted to achieve with 

every performance. 

Inspired, Pope surrounded himself with Pine’s material and 

has remained an avid follower, having seen him four times since, 

most recently at the Liverpool Jazz Festival. He found himself 

drawn to the album Back In The Day, which is laden with guest 

vocalists co-existing alongside the saxophone. It was this that 

sparked the pivotal dynamic that makes Mutant Vinyl a unique 

venture. “Listening to that record, I decided I wanted a project 

with both vocals and the saxophone at the front. I’d been playing 

in a lot of rock bands growing up where it hadn’t been suitable to 

bring the sax in, but I always toyed with the idea. After sixth form, 

I wanted to do something that was just me.” 

This is where much of the charm of Mutant Vinyl stems from, 

for though he has recruited a flawless backing band during his 

time at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Pope’s bold, 

enigmatic presence sweeps all focus towards him during a set. 

His spirit rises from the faith he has in each musician, bounding 

off the captivating chemistry between each player. If this wasn’t 

enough, his slick black saxophone is a remarkable idiosyncrasy, 

respected as both a trophy and an accomplice. Each riff anchors 

the track, a foundation that offers a different angle in how the 

vocals and saxophone interact. Though he tells me not to look 

too much into the name Mutant Vinyl, it aptly reflects the alluring 

fusion of genres that collide in Pope’s music, exploding into bold 

and colourful melodies. 

Though he performs everything on record, curating the perfect 

backing band was essential in the live setting, and in this way 

Pope is continually grateful for the creative hub that LIPA has 

provided. But the institution wasn’t the only thing that drew the 

Boscombe born-and-bred lad to Liverpool. Just like he wanted his 

own project where he could call the shots, he needed a change 

of scenery to influence him. “I wanted to go somewhere that was 

far away from home, because you have to restart everything from 

scratch. I think that’s really important for university, because it 

helps you decide whether you’re doing the right thing. Liverpool 

was so different to what I knew, and when you walk from your 

house into town and back, you see so many things that trigger 

ideas, because it’s such an amazingly vibrant city.” 

Lavender is one such track that was born from Pope’s keen 

observational eye, albeit an inebriated one in this circumstance. 

“I was on a night out and I saw this woman with this beautiful 

blue dress. She really stuck out amongst the urban city scenery. 

But blue was a hard word to sing, and on the next day I was 

visiting a friend and I walked past this lavender bush. I caught 

the amazing smell, and suddenly those two vivid things came 

together.” It’s only a slight influence on the final piece, a nifty 

number with a delightfully gooey thump sprinkled among the 

vocal and sax interplay, cemented together with some deliciously 

crisp production. 

Pope leaves more than enough space in his material to play 

about with it in the live setting, but with hushed talk of how he’s 

written his biggest tune to date, it seems he has all avenues 

covered. Always the perfectionist, he scrapped half a dozen recent 

demos he wasn’t happy with, so to have a finished product he is 

satisfied with is an accomplishment in itself. And where would he 

be without this attitude? 

At the time of going to press, Pope was due to graduate from 

LIPA and cap off a memorable three years by headlining the thirdyear 

graduation show at The Kazimier. With his sets in such good 

standing, it would be foolish to miss his last farewells in Liverpool 

before he moves to pastures new. Pope has a heck of a journey 

ahead of him, and it won’t always lead to the back of a taxi on 

Seel Street; wherever his particular journey takes him, it’ll make 

for an exhilarating experience. 

mutantvinyl.co.uk

18 


Gold lamé underpants are not the sort of thing you expect to poetry itself was being questioned.” This diversity, and acceptance 

be greeted by when you enter a contemporary art exhibition, but of pop culture as a uniting force, is one of the reasons why the 

then this year’s eighth edition of the Liverpool Biennial is hardly exhibition is called Total Art (as well as it being the title of one of 

conventional. When taken in context alongside some of the 2014 Henri’s books). “Adrian said ‘apart from limitations of time I see no 

Biennial’s other featured works – concrete sheep, a branch growing reason why one shouldn’t be a painter, a poet and work in all the 

out of the wall and doors that are wired up to hack a computer different media’.” 

game – perhaps the oversized pants aren’t quite as anachronistic When the pop music boom died down in the late 60s, Liverpool 

as they seem. 

took up Pop Art, and smashed the conventional boundaries 

Tucked away in LJMU’s Exhibition Research Centre on Duckinfield between performance art, music and poetry. The Bohemian enclave 

Street, the ADRIAN HENRI: TOTAL ART retrospective features a of Liverpool 8 – from Upper Parliament Street down to Hope Hall 

collection of memorabilia and works curated by art historian at the end of Hope Street (subsequently to become the Everyman) 

Catherine Marcangeli, from whom I was lucky enough to get – was the breeding ground for this, with Adrian Henri as one of 

a guided tour on the exhibition’s opening day. As Adrian Henri’s its agent provocateurs. There was a sexy, disreputable atmosphere 

partner of fifteen years, Marcangeli is well 

across the country playing venues like The Albert Hall, before they that attracted the burgeoning new crowd of socialist intelligentsia 

were invited to tour the USA with Led Zeppelin. Were it not for the which sprang up around the university campus that butted on to 

gig posters and newspaper clippings on show in the exhibition L8. “It was a very effervescent time,” Marcangeli explains, “where a 

you’d be inclined to think that The Liverpool Scene’s history was lot of poets, painters and musicians collaborated.” This glamorous 

a pretty tall story. But such was the pull of Henri’s alternative non-conformity with a radical edge made heroes of Henri and his 

celebrity standing that he could go from pub poet to Isle Of Wight contemporaries, not just to the people for whom they performed 

festival star in one seamless leap. And this is precisely how Total but also to the wider artistic world. Henri and Patten hosted 

Art’s curator wanted to open her telling of the story. 

counter-cultural icon Allen Ginsberg when he visited Liverpool in 

“This first part of the collection is The Liverpool Scene, and 1965 (when he famously declared that “Liverpool is, at the present 

also poetry and performance, because that was a very important moment, the centre of consciousness of the human universe”). 

thing in the 60s,” continues Marcangeli, “the notion that poetry Henri also exchanged regular correspondence with William 

was something you perform, but also something that you perform Burroughs and Allan Kaprow, and found an admirer in future Poet 

to an audience. Adrian always used to say it was interesting that Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who applied to the University of Liverpool 

the front row of an audience at one of his poetry readings was to study Philosophy just to be near him. He was the Pop Art rock 

the same as the front row of an audience at The Cavern for a gig. star of his day, Liverpool’s madcap, roly-poly Andy Warhol. 

They performed it to a ‘pop’ audience: remember this was the first 

generation of working-class people who went to university en 

masse. So it was really a moment of transition, where the notion of 


The main exhibition of this year’s Biennial – titled A Needle Walks 

Into A Haystack and curated by Mai Abu ElDahab and Anthony 

Huberman – is housed in a building on the corner of Hardman Street 

and Hope Street. The Old Blind School has an illustrious history all of 

its own, having famously been The Trades Union Centre and The Flying 

Picket. Walking round the old building, with its character still present 

on the crumbling, naked walls, I can’t help but think that the story of 

Adrian Henri would hold more resonance in this space, on the very 

road where he was once a prince among men. By the same token, 

Total Art’s location at the ERC gives it a distance from the Biennial’s 

overarching clunky, abstract theme, and the freedom to explore its 

own ideas with impunity and a certain amount of humour. 

Where the first part of the Total Art exhibition lays out the scale 

of Henri’s celebrity status in the 1960s, the second part goes on to 

describe how this was just the beginning. The collection of artwork 

gathered under the titles ‘City’, ‘Love’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘America!’ shows 

how diverse Henri’s talents were, in both 

placed to lay out the story of one of Liverpool’s 

painting and Pop Art collage. As a painter he 

most influential, if perhaps overlooked, artists. 

Adrian Henri: Total Art 

wasn’t merely a slapdash creator, but a well- 

Birkenhead born and Liverpool raised, Adrian 

versed student of the form’s history – what 

Henri was something of an artistic polymath. 

perhaps marked him out from others was the 

Having trained as a painter at King’s College, 

fact that he could at once be taking inspiration 

Newcastle under Richard Hamilton in the 50s, 

from the past, but rooting everything he did 

Henri returned home to a city bubbling with 

in cultural references of the modern day. He 

possibilities, and with a desire to make his 

once declared that “the pop artist stands with 

mark on a place that was fast-becoming what 

one foot in the gallery and one foot in the 

George Melly called “the crater of the volcano… 

supermarket”. Scouse populism and quotidian 

Liverpool 8 had a seedy but decided style; its 

observances dominated not only his lyrical 

own pubs and meeting places; it was small 

themes but also the reference points in a lot 

enough to provide an enclosed stage for the 

of his visual work. Henri understood that to 

cultivation of its own legend.” Here Marcangeli 

connect with people, everything, from his 

takes up the tale: “In the early 60s when Adrian 

artwork to his poetry, had to have a surface 

was teaching painting in Liverpool, he initiated a 

meaning. Working across different forms too 

poetry scene in Liverpool with Roger McGough, 

helped to take the message of questioning 

Brian Patten and Pete Brown.” The Mersey 

your own comfortable notion of reality into 

Sound, a poetry book published by Penguin in 

a bigger, more accessible sphere. “Adrian 

1967 featuring works by Henri, McGough and 

wanted to be popular, he never apologised 

Patten, would go on to become one of the bestselling 

poetry anthologies of all time. But Henri 

his paintings there are a lot of references – 

didn’t see himself as just a poet or just a painter, 

some symbolist Belgian artist here, some 

but more as a performer. So when he saw the 

playwright there – but it never gets in the way 

ease with which his fellow Liverpudlian mates 

of communication. He once said, ‘I’d rather 

had conquered the world with rock music he 

the poetry suffered than the communication.’ 

decided to give it a go himself. Henri patched 

He just felt that you had to give people 

together a band, The Liverpool Scene, from a 

something that they could listen to without 

collection of mates who were members of the 

switching off.” 

groups The Scaffold, The Clayton Squares and 

In 1967 The Daily Telegraph produced 

for it,” Marcangeli explains. “If you look at 

The Roadrunners; their first record, The Amazing 

Words: Christopher Torpey / @CATorp 

Adventures Of…, was produced by John Peel and 

Illustration: Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com 

released on RCA Victor; their first tour took them 

a weekend special feature on “the New 

Culture of Beat City”, which documented this 

burgeoning pool of creativity that was a huge 

influence on the post-Summer Of Love generation. This magnetism 

is what brought Yoko Ono to The Bluecoat in the same year to 

host her own ‘happening’, with Henri and Patten among those 

in attendance. Henri had staged his own happening in 1962, the 

first such an event to take place in Britain. It was an arty, protopsychedelic 

affair with no set structure, and the fad soon caught 

on, particularly among the UFO Club crowd in London. Marcangeli 

explains that Henri’s motivation was borne out of something far 

more innocent. “Adrian was interested in trying to get the audience 

to have an experience, that wasn’t just swallowing reality, but 

constantly creating a new relationship with reality. This notion that 

you need to shake people was pretty central to Adrian – and have 

fun while you’re doing it!” 

adrianhenri.com 

biennial.com 

Adrian Henri: Total Art runs until 26th October at the Exhibition 

Research Centre, as part of Liverpool Biennial 2014.


19 

bidolito.co.uk

20 


LIMF 2014 

BIdo LIto!’s HIgHLIgHts 

RutHeRFoRd CHang’s We 

Buy WHIte aLBuMs 

@ FaCt, 

15tH august – 16tH septeMBeR 

Released on 22nd November 1968, The Beatles’ self-titled 

ninth album originally divided opinion between music critics 

and staunch fans. Above the clutch of classic hits contained 

in its sprawling thirty song tracklist, there was something far 

more striking about the record that would seal its fate as a cult 

favourite and make it one of the most sought-after albums of alltime. 

Richard Hamilton was credited with its ‘design’, and this 

minimal approach would prove to be an act of genius: the band’s 

name embossed on a white background, with all original copies 

stamped and numbered. And so the White Album was born, an 

icon of not just the 1960s but of rock music history. 

RUTHERFORD CHANG owns 969 first-pressings of the White 

Album. This may mark the American artist out to be an overly 

obsessive superfan, but his hoarding is all part of an ongoing 

project he’s been working on for a number of years. Chang’s 

collection forms the exhibition WE BUY WHITE ALBUMS, which will 

take place at FACT between 15th August and 16th September as 

part of the Liverpool International Music Festival calendar. 

The feature of this exhibition is in the minute differences between 

hundreds of near-identical copies: each cover in Chang’s collection 

is unique, thanks to its original owner’s scribbles, and the dogeared 

corners and dirt accumulated over almost fifty years. Chang’s 

installation showcases the joy of vinyl viewed across several 

generations, and highlights the subtle way we turn the massproduced 

into the intensely personal. Using a canvas as recognisable 

as the White Album serves to make each nick and doodle that bit more 

noticeable, and invokes individual memories related to the product. 

Ahead of this exhibition, we asked local vinyl junkies WORTH 

THE WAXXX to put some questions to Rutherford Chang and find 

out a few more specifics about the exhibition. 

Worth The Waxxx: You must have developed a personal 

connection to the music on the record by now, so what would 

you say is your favourite song from it? 

Rutherford Chang: Everyone always asks me this, but I actually 

don’t have a favourite song. At this point I see the album more as 

a cultural phenomenon. I listened to all kinds of music growing 

up and was obviously familiar with The Beatles, but I didn’t really 

listen to the White Album until I started collecting them. 

WTW: At what point did you realise that a collection of these 

records in these states would work? Did you start out with an 

aim to achieve anything by it? 

RC: When I bought my second copy, I saw the minute ways it 

differed from the first, and realised that every copy has become 

unique. I wasn’t sure exactly how far I would go with the collection, 

but I knew that it would be interesting to have as many copies 

as possible. In the digital era, physicality is what makes collecting 

vinyl appealing, which is especially apparent in this collection of 

identical yet unique multiples. 


WTW: Are you drawn to the White Album's cover by its 

minimalism, the owner's reaction against it, or the sheer inability 

to retain that blank slate over the course of time? 

RC: The “blankness” of the cover, I think: it allows each copy to 

age uniquely, creating artefacts that collectively tell a story of the 

past half-century. 

WTW: As each of the decaying copies serves as a memento 

mori for mass-produced objects (yet also captures the life or 

personality of its owner in many instances), do you ever feel like 

you're sat in a graveyard? 

RC: I think the physicality and inevitable aging of vinyl records 

– which gives each copy a distinct personality – is particularly 

what makes them interesting to collect, especially the White 

Album obviously. I am quite interested in how objects in my 

personal life have aged, too: though perhaps the White Albums 

are more interesting because they have been collectively aged by 

generations from around the world. 

WTW: 

One night last year, we realised that we own eleven 

copies of Born In The USA and laughed about doing an exhibition 

called Yawn In The USA. What would you genuinely like to follow 

on from your work? And what do you hope to tackle next? 

RC: Well, there are still a lot more White Albums out there. 

It would be great if there could be a way for the collection to 

continue growing, even without my participation, so that it could 

really take on a life of its own. 

WTW: OK, here are some quick-fire ones about the collection… 

What is the lowest number White Album you have in the collection? 

RC: 0013539. 

WTW: 

What is the most expensive 

White Album you have 

bought for the collection, bearing in mind it is often the most 

sought-after Beatles album? 

RC: $20. 

WTW: What was the last record you bought that wasn't the 

White Album? 

RC: I recently picked up a Japanese Tight Connection to My 

Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love) 7” while shopping for White 

Albums in Tokyo. 

WTW: Of all the creative graffiti on the covers, is there one that 

you value or remember the most? 

RC: I like “Bob’s copy”. 

WTW: Where are you looking forward to exploring whilst 

you’re in Liverpool? 

RC: People’s record collections for more copies of the White 

Album. 

rutherfordchang.com 

limfestival.com 

Liverpool International Music Festival 2014 runs between 13th 

and 31st August 2014 across a variety of city-centre venues.


Bido Lito! and getIntotHIs stage 

@ LIMF suMMeR JaMs, seFton paRk, 24tH august 

We’re delighted to say that we’ll be back hosting a stage as part of LIMF’s Summer Jams in Sefton 

Park this year, alongside our comrades from Getintothis. Last year was a blast so we thought we’d 

do it all over again, and we’ve put together a bill of some of our favourite artists from the area on 

the It’s Liverpool stage, which will run from 12 noon to 6pm. 

We’re holding out hope that we’ll get a taster of some new electrokraut strains from BALTIC FLEET 

ahead of their upcoming second album. We’re also pretty intent on hearing how the new Bunnymenmeets-Depeche 

Mode sound of BY THE SEA (pictured) manifests itself live. Soul-star-in-waiting 

TAYLOR FOWLIS, strident vocalist/pianist SOPHIA BEN-YOUSEF, and übersmooth RnB dude SUB BLUE 

represent the strength of the next wave of Merseyside musicians, who’ll go on to headline bigger 

stages than this in years to come. 

And it doesn’t stop there. MIND MOUNTAIN’s tremulous blasts of proggy, trippy noise will be sure to 

stop you from nodding off in the afternoon sun, while VEYU’s soothing waves of dreamy indietronica 

will have your mind’s eye wandering through gorgeous, sun-kissed cityscapes. SOHO RIOTS are the 

Flake in the Mr Whippy ice cream, on hand to provide us with oodles of hooky, bracing guitar pop gems. 

Once again the whole spectacle will be compèred by our very own musical oracle BERNIE CONNOR. 

MInoR CHaRaCteRs 

@ tHe kazIMIeR, 29tH august 

The overlooked MINOR CHARACTERS who grind the wheels of literature, film and theatre are to 

be celebrated in this special commission for LIMF 2014, interpreted by some of the most inventive 

musical operators in the field of ambient electronica. They include: self-styled “sound gardener” 

EAST INDIA YOUTH; the skewed, disconcerting sound collages of THE LONE TAXIDERMIST; ENGLISH 

HERETIC, an artist who guides the listener on a subversive trip through the occult; the vaguely 

sinister projections of TEN MOUTH ELECTRON; and our very own sonic spectre FOREST SWORDS. 

These audio interpreters will bring to life some hitherto untold stories of the bit parts, the small 

cogs in the machine which are nonetheless essential to its working. Each unique piece of work will 

also be released digitally through The Quietus record label. 

The project’s centrepiece will focus on an event at The Kazimier on 29th August, featuring 

a live analogue synth performance by LUKE ABBOTT (pictured), and his musical rendering of the 

minor character of Organ Morgan from Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. Part of the increasingly 

impressive Border Community stable, Luke Abbot’s richly pastoral and challenging music is worthy 

of comparison with one of the greats of electronic music, Brian Eno. Every inconsequential player 

has within them an entire life-story waiting to be heard. 

sevenstReets’ you aRe HeRe 

@ seFton paRk paLM House, 23Rd august 

Marking a century since the outbreak of the Great War, SevenStreets present a musical 

collaboration that is designed to question our notion of ‘home’ in the 21st century. The First World 

War was the most brutal conflict the world has ever seen, accounting for the loss of nine million 

lives and scarring the landscape irreparably. YOU ARE HERE will bring together musicians from the 

Triple Entente– the United Kingdom, France and Russia – to explore what we mean by home in a 

world that is better connected than ever before, where trenches are filled with fibre optic cables, yet, 

stubbornly, the battles remain. 

Our own musical wunderkind BILL RYDER-JONES will appear as one of the featured collaborators 

at the event, which takes place in the gorgeous surrounds of Sefton Park’s Palm House. Joining 

Ryder-Jones are a trio of continental whizzkids: inventive Gallic pop collective MOONGAI (pictured), 

hailing from Nantes, specialise in a collision of the sensitive and the brutal, the orchestral and 

the tribal; Moscow’s NOONWRAITH invokes “the sound of the war drums” in her breathtakingly 

menacing concoction of beats and ghostly vocals, and will appear alongside long-time production 

collaborator ARCNGL. Liverpool’s soulful and heartfelt storytellers KOF and JOSIE JENKINS complete 

this stirring line-up. 

steve LevIne’s asseMBLy poInt sessIons 

@ st. geoRge’s HaLL, 

21st august 

Central to LIMF’s theme of ‘World Firsts By Collaboration’, we have the ASSEMBLY POINT SESSIONS, 

which will be artistically directed by Grammy-winning producer STEVE LEVINE (pictured). The project will 

see a number of top British artists collaborate for an exclusive performance at St. George’s Hall. Levine 

is famed for his work producing Culture Club’s early albums, and this commission sees him reuniting 

with Culture Club’s bandleader BOY GEORGE, which will be followed by a full live set. Charlatan TIM 

BURGESS and former Suede guitarist BERNARD BUTLER will also be among those high-profile musicians 

taking part in the project, including two artists representing Liverpool’s past and present: PETE WYLIE 

and NATALIE McCOOL. The event will also feature input from singer-songwriter MARY EPWORTH, Level 

42 singer and bassist MARK KING, and “tropical pop” artist HOLLIE COOK (who is the daughter of Sex 

Pistols drummer Paul Cook and Culture Club backing singer Jeni Cook). 

The intimate audience for this one-off event will be able to witness the live recording and production 

of part of the performance, with an emphasis on utilising a mix of traditional and cutting-edge 

technology during the process. The Assembly Point Sessions will also serve as the first UK live showcase 

of WholeWorldBand – a new piece of technology created by musician and video director Kevin Godley 

which will allow artists in different countries to join in with the artists on stage at St. George’s Hall. 

bidolito.co.uk

22 


Previews/Shorts 

Edited by Richard Lewis 

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE 

The ever-evolving collective 

that is ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE 

began eighteen years ago as a soul 

outfit, and who but founder Makoto 

Kawabata would have envisaged 

them morphing into one of the world’s freakiest, freeform acid prog beasts? This Japanese 

outfit always receive a warm welcome in Liverpool – this time they’ll be joined by MIND 

MOUNTAIN and BARBEROS. 

The Kazimier / 24th August 

PULLED APART BY HORSES 

Having seemingly taken 

inspiration from Paul Thomas 

Anderson’s film The Master, PULLED 

APART BY HORSES return to the fray 

with a new cinematic hue to their 

muscly rock posturing. A new album – Blood – is due out in September, from which their 

searing new single Hot Squash has been taken, and if it’s anything to go by the new record 

will be another full-throttle assault from the Leeds quartet. 

East Village Arts Club / 20th August 

LA-based artist XANDER SMITH 

continues his career about-turn 

XANDER SMITH 

with the release of his second 

solo album Outside. Having fronted 

shoegazing rockers Run Run Run for 

over a decade, Smith decided to cast off the yoke and channel his inner Elliot Smith. The 

resulting debut record Hey San Pedro showcased his gentler, pensive side, and his newer 

material features collabs with Bernard Sumner, Jack Johnson and Johnny Marr. 

District / 1st August 

Glasswerk Summer Sessions 

There’s something intoxicating about embracing the thrill of the great outdoors when you’re slap bang in 

the middle of the metropolis, as though you’re somehow cheating the urban sprawl by flaking out on the 

grass and forgetting about your shopping list. Glasswerk obviously agree with this as they’re planning their 

SUMMER SESSIONS at The Bombed Out Church right in the middle of the summer holidays, and they have 

plenty lined up to keep us occupied over the weekend of 16th and 17th August. 

The first day is headed up by guitar virtuoso JON GOMM (pictured), whose stunning shows are a sight to 

behold. Gomm’s mastery of his instrument sees his compositions littered with glittering melodies, basslines 

and percussion, all summoned from his guitar. Don’t believe us? Go see for yourself. Gomm’s contemporary 

NICK HARPER also appears on the opening day of the Summer Sessions, offering a Dylan-esque acoustic 

salvo before the main course. Harper is the son of legendary guitarist Roy Harper, and has had a stint in 

Squeeze as well as performing at Glastonbury half a dozen times. The opening day of the Summer Sessions 

also sees KESTON COBBLERS CLUB offer some uplifting sea shanties by way of support. 

LOVEABLE ROGUES were the only act scheduled in for Sunday's offering when Bido Lito! went to press, 

but expect a fully packed day, complete with art and craft stalls, busking and a barbeque. 

St. Luke’s Bombed Out Church / 16th and 17th August 

BEAR TRADE 

A no-nonsense approach to 

writing punk songs, having parties 

and guzzling beer has become the 

trademark of BEAR TRADE, the north 

east’s gut punch to today’s musical 

establishment. Sharing an affinity with Long Island’s Iron Chic, Bear Trade offer wry and 

to-the-point social commentary that is a reflection of the lives of everyday folk they see 

unfolding before them. 

Maguire’s Pizza Bar / 16th August 

OXYGEN THIEVES 

A rearranged launch night 

for the Wirral rockers’ new EP 

We Found The Thieves presents a 

chance to get down and dirty with 

some fresh new talent. OXYGEN 

THIEVES’ own wiry, gnarly post-punk snarl has taken a deliciously dark twist on this new 

release, and will be augmented on the night by support acts DÉJA VEGA and DEAD SEA 

SCROLLS. 

Sound Food And Drink / 15th August 

This show is without doubt the 

most mouth-watering bill of the 

THE GROWLERS 

year so far, boasting three knockout 

performers. Californian beach punks 

THE GROWLERS take the top spot in 

sun-baked vibes, alongside the laconic boisterousness of Cockney hellraisers FAT WHITE 

FAMILY. THE WYTCHES complete this raucous cacophony and are sure to open up the night 

with some sinister, fuzz-heavy growls. 

The Kazimier / 18th August 

FestEvol Gardens 

FESTEVOL has become something of an annual half-year appraisal of the good and the gooder of 

Liverpool’s music community, offering a chance to take a breather and feast on the fruits of a hardworking 

year so far. Opting for just the one date this year, promoters Evol have snared some of the city’s 

current big-hitters on headlining duties – STEALING SHEEP, BIRD, THE TEA STREET BAND and BY THE SEA 

– and it’s nice to see VEYU and NATALIE McCOOL making the step up to the top line this year. But what of 

the newer noisemakers on the undercard? Allow us to explain… 

Chester’s CHEMISTRY LANE might be a new name to most but you can’t see them staying hidden in the 

shadows for long. Their brooding electronic swells will be sure to capture the dancefloor-friendly mood 

of the FestEvol crowd. Now operating under the name SUB BLUE, Tyler Mensah (pictured) continues his 

evolution towards the slicker end of the RnB spectrum, and his icy gaze will be fixed on the prize here. 

CAVALRY know a thing or two about a winsome alt. folk lament, and they’re not shy of pouring every 

ounce of their being into each bruised melody. 

As ever the party is stretched out all day across both The Kaz’s club and garden stages, giving you 

ample time to savour everything on offer, including the usual quality roster of disc-spinners set to blow 

apart Rat Alley. Seen it all before? No you ain’t. 

The Kazimier and Garden / 9th August 

bidolito.co.uk

24 


Reviews 

Finley Quaye (Nathalie Saleh) 

AFRICA OYÉ 

Sefton Park 

Of all Africa Oyé’s uniqueness, perhaps 

its most triumphant quality is its dedication 

to home; more than most, this is a Liverpool 

festival for Liverpudlians. Not that you’d think 

as much upon first glance across the festival’s 

globe-trotting bill. Yet, for one weekend at 

least, Oyé distils Liverpool’s ‘arms-wide-open’ 

view of the world, and it is testament to this 

spirit that the people of our city devour 2014’s 

installment with healthy gusto. Perhaps this 

is what gives the festival such a convivial 

vibe, although it must be said the good 

weather certainly is playing its part. The 

blistering sun provides the perfect backdrop 

for the broad spectrum of music on show 

today. Roots, dub and a miscellany of pan- 

African music is complimenting the laid-back 

atmosphere amongst the crowd. In particular, 

HAJAMADAGASCAR AND THE GROOVY PEOPLE 

prove to be perfect in soundtracking the carnival 

feel. The infectious rhythms filter out into a 

crowd who are all more than intent on enjoying 

this rare weather, as too is the Malagasy bandleader 

Haja. His energetic enthusiasm gives 

the performance an infectious vitality. 

MOSE FAN FAN provides the perfect way to 

round off a brilliant first day at Africa Oyé. The 

Kinshasa maestro is the first of two Congolese 

acts featuring this year; Mose is steeped in the 

country’s popular music tradition, having been 

at the forefront in the 1960s and 70s, working 

with OK Jazz before moving to Europe, where 

he quickly established himself in London’s 

world music scene. 

His infectious soukous sound – a blend of 

Cuban rumba and traditional African music – is 

carried perfectly by the idiosyncratic backing 

band, with each member trying to one-up the 

other with over-the-top outfits. The music is as 

quirky and elaborate as the fashion, keeping 

the crowd captivated until the sun finally goes 

down on day one. 

Into the second day and the record-breaking 

Oyé crowd seem eager for a little reggae. 

Luckily, Britain’s finest roots reggae outfit are 

readying themselves but this isn’t going to be 

some easy swaying. MISTY IN ROOTS are about 

as in your face as reggae gets and they haven’t 

lost their edge over time. 

Even in their twilight years the band still 

come across as fierce operators as they play 

through heavy hits like Bail Out and Earth. As 

Poko sings righteously of the racism, corruption 

and moral decline in the world, foreboding 

horn blasts rise above the chugging cogs of 

the complex rhythm, accentuated by a squeaky, 

shuffling organ and visceral ska upstrokes that 

cause a trance-like sway to spread across the 

field. By interspersing their remorseless roots 

sound with the quirky lover’s rock of their later 

work, the Southall reggae veterans manage 

to engage with the majority of the diverse 

crowd. 

With the good weather still not relenting, 

ABDUL TEE JAY’S ROKOTO emerge to a large 

and enthusiastic crowd of festival-goers. The 

seven-piece put on a joyous display of Sierra 

Leone street music, with typically inviting and 

catchy African guitar-work over a bed of rich yet 

satisfyingly disparate percussion parts. Perhaps 

the most notable aspect of the performances 

today has been the sheer pleasure with which 

all the acts have engaged the audience, and 

Rokoto are no exception: there is not a single 

face without a smile, and everyone dances and 

sways their way through a greatly enjoyable 

set. Both performers and punters have come 

for one reason, to have a good time, and there 

can be no complaints on this front. 

Enjoyment aside, music also has the ability 

to prompt thought and reflection, a fact that 

Sunday’s headliner FINLEY QUAYE has clearly 

considered deeply. His blend of world music 

and Western pop provides the foundations 

for his philosophical meanderings about love 

and heartbreak. Combined with his impressive 

and unique vocal delivery, the carefully crafted 

songs provide a means for both dancing and 

consideration, as the lyrics are undoubtedly 

as important and well put together as the 

musical backdrop. As one of only two UK acts 

on the bill he does the home crowd proud, and 

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AIGBURTH, LIVERPOOL 

L17 8XJ 

020 7232 0008 

Liverpool ad 142 x 207 B_Layout 1 25/04/2013 10:50 Page 3 

You are a musician. 

Not an accountant or solicitor. 

That’s why you need the MU. 

– £10 million public liability cover 

– Legal advice and assistance 

– Free instrument insurance 

– Rights protection 

– Teacher services 

– Career and business advice 

– Free contract and partnership advice 

Plus, full-time students join for just £20 a year. 

Over 30,000 members in the UK already benefit. 

theMU.org 

@WeAreTheMU

Parquet Courts (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk) 

more than holds his own against a truly stellar 

line-up. 

The Oyé organisers can once again be proud 

of their job cementing this jewel in Liverpool’s 

festival crown. The summer wouldn’t be the 

same without it. 

Alastair Dunn, Josh Ray and Dave Tate 

PARQUET COURTS 

Bad Breeding – Ultimate Painting 

Evol and Harvest Sun @ The Kazimier 

Maybe this is digging too deep, but when 

guitarist/vocalist Andrew Savage asserts “You’ve 

been ducking and dodging but you can’t come 

home no more” on the brooding opening track 

Ducking & Dodging, it lands as a call to arms. 

Embrace the Brooklyn punk fuzz, for if not now, 

then when? Sure, you expect PARQUET COURTS 

to attack with enough bravado to power half 

the city, but the enormous thwack on your 

consciousness still leaves you reeling. Such is 

the result of following a formula that urges you 

to deviate as much as possible. 

A new venture from the frontmen of Mazes 

and Veronica Falls, openers ULTIMATE PAINTING 

borrow the latter’s love affair for breezy 

dual-vocals and strip it down to lavish guitar 

jamming. Though frontmen Jack Cooper and 

James Hoare are slightly rigid on stage, this 

does little to detract from the genteel ease 

of the band’s music. Tracks like Rolling In 

The Deep End, complete with conversational 

rambling lyrics, are packed with nonchalant 

charm, and couldn’t be further from the 

headliners’ style, more timid in the corner than 

brash in the open. 

Suddenly, an audio archive announces 

the next band’s hometown, Stevenage, with 

crackling bursts of optimism foreshadowing 

a sense of doom. A bleak industrial punk 

onslaught, BAD BREEDING could well be the 

male answer to Savages. With a worrying habit 

of wrapping the microphone cord around his 

neck, the vocalist claws on to punters like 

a desperate madman, his shrieks piercing 

through the guttural guitar riffs. Dangerous to 

the last, Bad Breeding are the haggard product 

of an empty future gone very, very wrong, and 

for that we are grateful. 

Yet while Bad Breeding refrain from interaction, 

Parquet Courts welcome the chance to incite 

the crowd, from curtly proclaiming the second 

track Bodies is their last to mocking the city’s 

musical heritage. Rolling Stones? Check. The 

Beatles? Nah uh. The result: merciless roars and 

a moshing maelstrom during the accelerated 

motion of Borrowed Time. It might seem daft, 

but their sneering whimsical remarks encourage 

a ferocity that fits the band’s music. 

Each member is coolly unperturbed by the 

frenzy that forms before them – not so much 

apathetically, rather dedicating themselves to 

remaining the masters of their craft. Savage, his 

shirt drenched, often stares ahead with a sense 

of deep concentration, the lyrics generating 

an intense focus. Nearly every song on new 

release Sunbathing Animal gets an airing, and 

with this comes the chance for Parquet Courts 

to demonstrate their idle side on Raw Milk 

and 

Instant Disassembly, seven minutes of gentle 

rolling that allow exhaustion the chance to 

catch up. Suddenly the crowd can inhale, a 

welcome lull before the storm resumes. 

Yet the chaos that reigns during flat-out final 

track Sunbathing Animal is a co-operative one, 

with the numerous crowd-surfers having full 

support of the room. Four minutes of savage 

delirium is almost too much to handle, yet 

you don’t want it to relent, so when it keeps 

on coming, you keep on giving. It’s a unique 

relationship that runs free and untamed, and 

as long as they continue not giving a damn, 

Parquet Courts remain a dastardly success. 

Jack Graysmark / @ZeppelinG1993 

THE CRIBS 

Menace Beach 

HD Concerts @ East Village Arts Club 

THE CRIBS have had a solid career. Celebrity 

girlfriends have come and gone, rock royalty 

joined and left their ranks, and all the while 

the brothers Jarman have continued to knock 

out quality indie pop. Ten years since their 

eponymous debut album, the Wakefield 

quartet (including former Nine Black Alps 

axeman David Jones picking up where Johnny 

Marr left off) return to Liverpool and reveal that 

not a whole lot has changed. 

Fellow West Yorkshiremen MENACE BEACH 

open tonight’s gig in the EVAC theatre. They 

appear as a five-piece this evening, with core 

members Ryan Needham and Liza Violet joined 

by members of Hookworms, Pulled Apart by 

Horses and Sky Larkin. The college rockers

Reviews 


– as they may have been called if they came 

out of Massachusetts in the 90s – sound like 

the sum of their parts. Violet’s off-kilter cooing 

charms as guitarist MJ belligerently draws 

squeals from his monitor. Tennis Court woos 

the expanding crowd, even despite drummer 

Nestor Matthews eyeballing everyone who 

strays across his eyeline. The aforementioned 

decade is not only celebrated in the band’s 

name (an NES console game) but through 

a congealment of lumberjack shirts, grunge 

textures and Needham’s infectious whine. 

Infections are something The Cribs have 

always looked like they haven’t been short 

of. Eschewing fashion, gimmicks and decent 

haircuts, the grubby 00s luminaries have 

always been a band who have kept faithfully 

to their original vision: making quality rock 

loaded with hooks and informed by punk 

notaries of American history. 

Following a football chant rendition of 

the riff from Another Number by tonight’s 

boisterous crowd, the leather-jacketed 

lovers enter the stage to You’re The Best 

from the Karate Kid soundtrack; tonight 

nothing is gonna keep Ryan, Gary and Ross 

down. From the first number, the audience 

are with them – every garage rock song is 

turned into an anthem. Security guards 

tonight will be a good night – the kind of 

bundle surfers over the barriers at a rate 

pact that can only be made between fans 

of five bodies Youth a Music song. Arts03 There’s - an Bido unspoken 

Ad.pdf 1 and 16/07/2013 band with 22:27 a shared greatest hits history 

agreement between band and punter that 

and committed touring record. 

It’s a set jammed with familiar favourites 

with Come On, Be A No-One delivered with the 

passion of a band still trying to win over new 

devotees. The Cribs, however, have always been 

The Cribs (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto) 

devoted to the cause of rock ‘n’ roll, so tonight’s 

performance comes as no real surprise. Even 

the chorus of Be Safe, the largely spoken-word 

song performed via projector by Sonic Youth’s 

C 

M 

Y 

CM 

MY 

CY 

CMY 

K

28 


Reviews 

subside, festival-goers are treated to a tranquil 

evening of silent film, with live soundtracks 

from several acts. PADDY STEER is always a 

firm favourite at any show, and tonight is no 

different. His intense and inventive performance 

utilises homemade analogue synthesizers and 

fanatical drumming. If Aardvark were Satan's 

computer, then Paddy Steer is God's synth, and 

his barely-held-together instrumentation is a 

perfect way to end this festival. 

These hugely enjoyable three days have 

provided a timely reminder of the importance 

of places such as MelloMello to the artistic 

community in Liverpool. Though in a few 

months the doors will close on the Parr Street 

premises, a new incarnation in a new space 

awaits, and it is not so much the building as 

the spirit of Mello that is worth preserving. For 

a good underground music scene to flourish 

in the city, these are the kind of independent 

businesses that need the community's 

support, and so it is really pleasing to see the 

big turnout for Mellostock II. Cheers Mello, it’s 

been a blast. 

Alastair Dunn 

PAUL WELLER 

East Village Arts Club 

Lee Ranaldo, is bellowed back to the stage. 

If there is a difference between this band 

and the one that supported the likes of The 

Others many NME fads ago, it is perhaps in the 

assured posturing of guitarist Gary Jarman. He 

perhaps lets down the persona by excitedly 

declaring his hair is at “the longest it’s ever 

been” but such uncool admissions are fine 

amongst relationships as strong as this. 

Sam Turner / @samturner1984 

MELLOSTOCK II 

MelloMello 

Liverpool is nothing if not a creative city, 

and for many years now MelloMello has been 

one of the best independent institutions 

supporting that creativity. Putting on bands 

and displays of art has come as naturally as 

the superlative vegetarian food they serve, and 

so MELLOSTOCK II is in some ways a sad affair 

in that it is a farewell to one of the city's most 

appreciated venues. However, Mello will not 

be disappearing completely, as they plan to 

move to a new building next year, and rather 

than scurry away into the shadows they have 

decided to put on a show to say goodbye to 

their current abode. 

With a stage for bands upstairs and a DJ 

dungeon in the basement, the three-day 

festival promises to be a diverse display, and 

it certainly is. There is a host of great bands 

during the first day, the highlight of which has 

to be SEAWITCHES, who use this opportunity 

to debut their new line-up. Now a four-piece, 

they saunter through a set of hooky vocals 

and persistent basslines, all inflected with a 

Warpaint-esque tone. 

Saturday night continues the theme of 

playing host to regular Mello residents and 

collaborators when LONG FINGER BANDITS 

take to the stage. With at least eight members, 

it is reassuring to notice several familiar faces 

from other local bands coming together, and 

the performance is both organic and tight. The 

songs concern shopping, feminism and being 

horny – all commendable topics when mixed 

with a solid horn section and frenetic energy. 

It is a very entertaining way to spend half an 

hour, and seems in keeping with the Mello 

vibe. 

Upstairs is not the only place to be, however, 

and in the basement there are two rooms 

which are equally deserving of attention. 

Down the stairs, next to the toilets, is a small 

alcove that for tonight's purposes has become 

AARDVARK'S COAL DROP RAVE CAVE, which is as 

ridiculous and brilliant as it sounds. With four 

electronic musicians improvising alongside 

each other for several hours at a time, a 

trip inside the rave cave sounds a bit like 

wandering around the circuit boards of Satan’s 

own terrifying, malfunctioning computer. This 

is definitely a good thing, and if you can't 

handle it for long then a trip next door to the 

studio for the DEEP HEDONIA/UPITUP RECORDS 

mash-up should set you straight. 

Paul Weller (Ray Kilpatrick) 

Back upstairs ARKALEPSY are in full flow, 

demonstrating their unique and impressive 

take on funk music. They sound almost like a 

cross between James Brown and Joy Division, a 

combination I think we should all get on board 

with. Their blaring horns and descending vocal 

lines offer a bit of aural refreshment after the 

chaos in the basement, and is a nice reminder 

of the often-dichotomous musical community 

that Liverpool, and indeed MelloMello, fosters. 

The third and final day of Mellostock II begins 

with some free vegetarian tapas and cocktails. 

As the now pretty ingrained hangover begins to 

Held to raise the profile of drummer Steve 

Pilgrim’s co-founded charity Be One Percent, 

the gig tonight in East Village Arts Club is, 

by PAUL WELLER's standards, roughly a tenth 

of the size of venues he usually plays. After 

a recent show at legendary punk mecca 

Dingwalls, his first at the venue since the days 

of The Jam, spaces where the back of the room 

is visible from the stage seem to be on the 

singer’s mind of late. 

With no support act, The Modfather’s 

appearance onstage at 8pm sharp wrong-foots 

many of the audience as the club swells to 

sardines capacity within minutes of the doors 

opening. After much milling around in the 

corridor and wandering back and forth to the 

club’s main bar, the balcony is pressed into 

service. Despite being capacious enough, the 

heat in the low-ceilinged space is comparable 

to attending an evening’s soirée in the jungles 

of Borneo where the dress code requires a boiler 

suit. One beneficial side effect, however, is that 

it becomes near impossible to do anything 

other than simply watch the man onstage. 

With More Modern Classics, the second dustoff 

of Weller’s solo career recently issued, the 

set understandably focuses on Weller’s postmillennium 

purple patch. Putting theories 

about musicians’ entry into middle age leading 

to inevitable artistic decline to the sword, 

recent album troika 22 Dreams, Wake Up The 

Nation and Sonik Kicks has received the best 

critical notices of Weller’s career thus far. 

Setting the pace with energised renditions 

of Wake Up The Nation, From The Floorboards 

bidolito.co.uk

The UK Biennial of Contemporary Art 

5 July –26 October 

www.biennial.com 

#biennial2014 

liverpoolbiennial 

@biennial 

ART 

FILM 

TALKS 

MUSIC 

TOURS 

DEBATE 

EVENTS 

DRINKS 

PARTIES 

LECTURES 

PAINTING 

SYMPHONY 

WORKSHOPS 

EXHIBITIONS 

DISCUSSIONS 

PUBLICSPACES 

ARCHITECTURE 

PERFORMANCES 

Up and Fast Car, Weller and long-standing 

lieutenant Steve Cradock sparking off each 

other’s performances, the material exudes 

the same febrile energy as The Jam’s early 

landmarks. The mellow sway of Broken Stones 

from the scarcely believable two-decades-old 

Stanley Road eases the tempo, whilst a soulpowered 

version of The Style Council’s My Ever 

Changing Moods provokes one of the biggest 

receptions (tracks from the post-Jam art pop 

project are a live rarity). 

7&3 Is The Striker’s Name, the wholly 

successful if surprising collaboration with My 

Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, showcases the 

inventive spirit of Weller’s recent work, leading 

into a one-two punch of Peacock Suit and Jam 

nugget Start! to wrap up the main set. 

The plangent arpeggio of The Changing 

Man kick-starts the encore, while Pilgrim takes 

the spotlight to deftly pilot the band for a 

sidewinding take on Picking Up Sticks. Now the 

standard set closer, the opening notes of the 

bassline to Town Called Malice generates huge 

cheers, concluding proceedings in a venuewide 

chorus. 

Despite calls for an encore ringing out for 

what seems like five minutes after the lights 

have gone up, the roadies appearing onstage 

to dismantle the gear clearly signals the end. 

Eleven solo albums in and Weller miraculously 

seems to be barely halfway into his third 

incarnation; and on this blistering form another 

dozen or so long players would be more than 

welcome. 

Richard Lewis 

GHOSTFACE KILLAH 

Sheek Louch – Beyond Average 

Bam!Bam!Bam! @ The Kazimier 

Every so often when the heavens align just 

so, Shaolin’s slate grey skies rain down on 

Liverpool; it doesn’t happen often, but when 

it does strange things happen. And when arch 

verse-spitter GHOSTFACE KILLAH is in town it 

brings out all the eccentrics, like the bloke in 

tonight’s crowd performing magic tricks for no 

one’s amusement but his own. 

New kids on the block BEYOND AVERAGE 

refer heavily back to rap’s early-90s halcyon 

era: all Sweet Mary Jane and getting hassle 

off the po-po – you know the score. Done well, 

as Beyond Average manage, these tired, tried 

and tested tropes sound a bit more vivid, and 

in their Scouse accents the rhymes take on a 

more humorous twinge. However, their skill as 

rappers is not matched by their beats, which 

cleave far too closely to standard NYC boombap; 

to really come into their own they need 

to put a more uniquely British spin on things. 

Mercifully, they hit their stride by their last song 

(a riff on Big L’s classic Ebonics) extolling the 

virtues of Scouse life. It also gets the biggest 

response. 

But then there is the wait. Half an hour and 

no SHEEK LOUCH. Half an hour later again, still 

no Sheek Louch or Ghostface. By 10 the crowd is 

getting itchy – it’s not like they haven’t got work 

the next day or anything, and people haven’t 

paid fifteen quid just to see No Fakin’ DJs (who, 

as ever, put in a stellar Biggie-heavy set). 

Then, out of the wings comes Technician The 

DJ, and placates the audience with a flash history 

of hip hop. However, still no Sheek. It turns 

out that Sheek has graduated from support to 

hype-man and (semi) co-headliner for the big 

man himself, Tony Stark the Ironman. Much like 

his comic-book namesake, he doesn’t do what’s 

expected or turn up on time. But when he does 

appear, he blows away the competition. Long 

regarded as Wu-Tang’s best lyricist and writer 

of some of the greatest rap tracks of all time, 

classics like Ice Cream and Assassination Day 

take on a whole new energy in a sold-out 

Kazimier. In a flurry of Wu hands, chant backs 

and unashamed showmanship, both men 

prowl the stage in complete command of the 

room, attempting to one-up each other until 

it feels as close an approximation as we can 

imagine of what Wu’s early shows in Shaolin 

must have been like. So yeah, you could say all 

is forgiven for their tardiness. 

Laurie Cheesman / @lauriecheeseman 

SLOW CLUB 

Moats 

Evol @ The Kazimier 

Timing is important for a touring band. Got 

an established back catalogue and army of fans 

behind you? You can probably play whenever 

the fuck you want. Only got a handful of demos 

to your name? Go ahead and book dates at your 

leisure because, let’s be honest, no-one gives 

a shit anyway. Days away from the release of 

your third album? You’re in no-man’s land, as 

you attempt to establish the identity of your 

latest musical direction without alienating the 

fans that you’ve picked up along the way. This 

is especially true for a band like SLOW CLUB, 

whose sound and general aesthetic has evolved 

significantly over the course of three albums. 

Their debut effort Yeah, So? trod tenuously 

around the notion of twee, with lyrics such as 

“Will you hold my hand when I go?” delivered 

just sharply enough to uncover some human 

complexity behind their structural simplicity. 

The follow-up, the excellent Paradise, expanded 

both in concept and in timbre, thrusting them 

into the echelons of the country’s best indie pop 

songwriters and shaking off any perception that 

they are just a boy-girl duo singing about love 

and cupcakes and all the rest. With Complete 

Surrender and Suffering You, Suffering Me, 

Slow Club have implied a sense of nostalgia 

with album number three, exploring the forms 

and melodies of 50s pop songs in a way that’s 

more forward facing than anything we’ve seen


previously from the band. 

MOATS are one of the best new bands in 

Liverpool right now, propping up the bill with 

some snarling guitar rousers reminiscent 

of early Liars. Guitar bands need frontmen 

though, and Moats are blessed with a great 

one, balancing between the notions that he’s 

either a bit of a dickhead or he’s just fucking 

with us in a way that all the best rock stars do. 

Having just played Austin City Limits off the 

back of support from the NME, it’s impressive 

to see the band continue to express what 

they’re about on stage with such conviction. 

A poor sound technician kicks over a 

customised synth during sound check, rendering 

it much like his resulting employability: all but 

useless. We are very much being ‘road tested’ 

tonight, and it shows. The headliners’ setlist is 

almost being made up on the spot, as Rebecca 

Lucy Taylor offers apologies for the ramshackle 

nature of the evening and of the performances 

around her. Vocally though, Taylor is typically 

brilliant, turning at times arbitrary lyrics like 

“The greatest book you ever read came from 

my favourites list” (Beginners), or “I think that 

next summer if we’re still alive/we should try” 

(If We’re Still Alive) into rousing statements, as 

these songs that can be delicate at heart are 

quietly turned into anthems. 

The glaring omission of any material from 

their first album is a head-scratcher. Their 

sound and confidence both as songwriters and 

performers has visibly grown in the years since 

its release, so it is understandable that they 

might want to distance themselves from it. 

This complete detachment though, especially 

in favour of so many new, previously unheard 

tunes, disconnects them from the audience 

in a way that turns the gig from a communal 

celebration into a show and tell, forcing the 

Slow Club (Nathalie Candel / @NathaliePup) 

audience to try and make sense of these new 

tunes on the spot. There is little doubt that the 

new album will be a belter, which will continue 

to propel Slow Club’s stratospheric rise. Yet, 

I DESIGN 

BIDO LITO! 

// LUKE-AVERY.COM 

// INFO@LUKE-AVERY.COM 

// 07729 308307

32 


Reviews 

Blood Orange (Charlotte Patmore) 

despite the special moments, like the heartwrenching 

crack in Charles Watson’s voice 

during a solo performance of Horses Jumping, 

or the gorgeous harmonies during Never Look 

Back, tonight feels strikingly unplanned and 

underprepared. 

Mike Townsend / @townsendyesmate 

FIELD DAY FESTIVAL 

Victoria Park, London 

With the worst hailstorms in “over 

seventy years” predicted, the entrance to 

FIELD DAY 2014 resembles a mass charity 

hike up Snowdon. Everyone does their best 

to shoehorn on-point fashion trends into 

an outfit that might prevent death from 

pneumonia, with vintage Berghaus macs 

and patterned ponchos given a respectful 

showing. By midday, though, backpacks start 

to bulge where coats have been stuffed 

awkwardly, as the sunlight pierces defiantly 

through the clouds. 

Kicking things off is Radio 1’s MOXIE on 

the Red Bull stage, whose residency on their 

In New DJs We Trust programme has set her 

trajectory well and truly upwards this year. 

Keeping the beat steady with some house 

grooves, she dips in and out of disco with 

one eye clearly on the blazing sunlight in 

front. It’s a comfortable start that sits nicely 

alongside the first £15 pint of cider as the feet 

begin to loosen up. A quick dash between 

Ferris wheels and the one thousand different 

variations of pulled pork food stalls and its 

over to the enigmatic SKY FERREIRA on the 

flagship Eat Your Own Ears stage. Having spent 

five years being tossed around the major 

label dustbin, the young LA singer, model and 

actress finally, against all the odds, emerged 

with a ‘best-of-the-year’ worthy debut album 

Night Time, My Time earlier this year. Braving 

the Sahara-style humidity in an oversized 

Parka, she stands confidently on a stage that 

quickly appears too small for her, maintaining 

this idea of a rock star that is becoming lost in 

an age of faux modesty and humility. I mean, 

fuck that idiot from Bastille saying “thank you” 

four times after every song at Radio 1’s Big 

Weekend, give me a mysterious, rude, silent 

front man/woman with attitude any day. 

OMAR SOULEYMAN is kicking up a storm 

in the Resident Advisor tent, where tunes 

like Wenu Wenu and Ya Yumma sound 

surprisingly big as they capitalise on the 

excellent production of collaborator Four 

Tet. Then there’s Numbers producer SOPHIE, 

who has remained suspiciously out of the 

spotlight despite the mind-blowing 2013 

single Bipp. And it’s fitting that the resulting 

forty-five minute assault on the senses is 

equally peerless, as it is unusual. Bubblegum 

textures and frantically chopped chipmunk 

vocals scatter their way across a heavy, 

warped collection of beats like spiders 

running across rocks. It ranks as one of the 

most enthralling DJ sets I’ve ever seen, as 

he plays with tempo and cadence, ensuring 

that the pace and energy remain firmly in 

his hands. ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER offers a 

welcome chance to rehydrate, and the sound 

of Chrome Country and Zebra being chewed 

up in front of some entrancing, projected 

visuals is certainly interesting. This is music 

to listen to alone in a dark room though, not 

a festival tent in the middle of the afternoon, 

and despite the technical mastery on display 

it inevitably feels like a bit of a comedown. 

BLOOD ORANGE is easily one of the biggest 

draws of the festival; his excellent 2013 

album Cupid Deluxe has deservedly raised 

him to the echelons of UK alternative music. 

Accompanied by his girlfriend and former 

Friends singer Samantha Urbani, Dev Hynes 

grooves his way around the EYOE stage like 

a man who has been having sex fifteen 

times a day and wants to show everyone 

how happy it’s making him. Chamakay and 

You’re Not Good Enough essentially rewrite 

the blueprint for the perfect, sunny-evening 

festival song, capturing that woozy, dreamy 

feeling that comes with being drunk before 

6pm. 

The time for TODD TERJE eventually arrives, 

causing swarms of people to pelt towards the 

RA tent, fired up with anticipation. Delorean 

Dynamite and Strandbar, two highlights from 

the excellent It’s Album Time, are so forward 

facing it’s almost stupid, as the rest of the set 

tears through disco classics and his brand 

of fruity, cartoonish electronica like a steam 

train whose brakes have stopped working. 

And, just as it feels things might be slowing 

down, that faint but instantly familiar plod of 

synths noodles its way out of the speakers 

to introduce Inspector Norse. Terje spends 

what feels like the next twenty minutes 

teasing that verse, holding back the reins 

like a master puppeteer before that explosive 

finale erupts into a tent that is literally 

bouncing as if it’s a Sum 41 gig and we’re all 

fourteen again. The monosyllabic chants of 

Inspector Norse would linger long into the 

evening, and I can still hear the echo of them 

in my ears as I slope away from the scene, 

as if a religious miracle has just unfolded. 

Headliners METRONOMY eventually close the 

day, making light of their first-ever headline 

slot with the sizeable crowd greeting songs 

The Bay and I’m Aquarius like old classics. 

Earlier, during an ill-advised diversion to one 

of those 360-degree catapult rides, I found 

time between recognising my own mortality 

to catch a bird’s eye view of the festival 

site. It really is an impressive set-up, with a 

huge, pastel explosion of colour contrasting 

spectacularly with the surrounding grey, 

urban setting of East London. This idea 

of a countryside festival mentality with a 

metropolitan festival logistics is surely what 

has driven Field Day’s popularity. Rolling 

around in the mud for six days at Glastonbury 

is for idiots, and by bringing the best of 

both worlds into a manageable, £45-shaped 

package, Field Day remains accessible and 

bidolito.co.uk

Thurs 18 September 

Thurs 30 October 

Paul Sinha - Edinburgh Comedy 

Chris Ramsey - The most dangerous 

Award Nominee. www.paulsinha.com 

man on Saturday morning TV! 

www.chrisramseycomedy.com 

Thurs 25 September 

Oysterband - Winners of five BBC 

Friday 31 October 

Folk Awards. www.oytsterband.com 

Moulettes. 

www.moulettes.co.uk 

Sat 27 September 

The Christians plus support from The 

Mon 3 November 

Hummingbirds www.thechristianslive 

Gary Delaney – Purist 

www.garydelaney.com 

Friday 10 October 

Ian McNabb – Promoting his new 

Wed 19 November 

album Eclectic Warrior. 

Jasper Carrott Stand Up & Rock! – 

www.ianmcnabb.com 

Japer’s new stand up routine and 

musical compatriots 

Tues 14 October 

Andy Fairweather Low & The Low 

Thurs 27 November 

Riders. www.andyfairweatherlow.com 

Merry Hell - Blistering folk-rock 

semi-acoustic show. 

Tues 21 October 

www.merryhell.co.uk 

As We Like It Theatre present 

Rozencrantz and Guildenstern 

Friday 28 November 

Are Dead 

Yuletide Paradise - The Suitcase 

Ensemble’s raucous alternative 

Thurs 23 October 

Christmas performance 

Tarras Minor, 

www.adastra-music.co.uk/artists/tarras 

Thurs 26 February 

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown 

Sun 26 October 

– The God of Hellfire himself. 

Henning When - The German 

Comedy Ambassador to Britain. 

www.henningwehn.de 

25 mins from Liverpool & Chester, 35 mins from Manchester 

The Brindley, High Street, Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 1BG 

Book Office: 0151 907 8360 Website: www.thebrindley.org.uk 

@TheBrindley /brindleyartscentre 

in correlation with a youth culture that has 

grown up disenchanted with the mainstream 

festival circuit. 

Mike Townsend / @townsendyesmate 

TOM HICKOX 

Harvest Sun @ Leaf 

There’s more than something of a buzz 

about TOM HICKOX at the moment. Having 

played main support to Canadian country 

songtress Lindi Ortega on her UK tour 

earlier this year, he has recently built on his 

burgeoning popularity with a number of soldout 

London shows and an appearance on 

Jools Holland. With this, his first headline tour 

in support of debut album War, Peace, And 

Diplomacy, he attempts to cement his place 

on Britain’s musical landscape and, judging by 

the size of the crowd in Leaf tonight, he is well 

on his way. 

Hickox certainly wears his influences on his 

sleeve – both musically and thematically, his 

songs quite overtly channel the melancholy of 

Scott Walker, the bitterness of Nick Cave, and 

the humanity of Leonard Cohen. His grand, 

deliberate vocal style is distinctive, although 

not entirely unfamiliar, with a sizeable nod to 

Richard Hawley and Anthony Hegarty. While 

his influences are clear, he certainly can’t be 

accused of aping any of them, and his skill as 

a songwriter – and moreover a storyteller – is 

unquestionable. 

Album opener Angel Of The North 

sounds stunning tonight, and the sparse 

instrumentation gives even more gravitas to 

his commanding vocals and superlative lyrics. 

Above all, the one thing that seems to define 

Hickox as a performer is his sincerity. Whether 

he’s recounting a sailor’s nary-unbelievable tale 

of survival (The Lisbon Maru), or reeling off his 

own rueful musical autobiography (A Normal 

Boy), he sings the words with conviction, as 

if it were his final performance. Under closer 

scrutiny, some lyrics could be seen as clichéd 

(“Let me paint your portrait when your looks 

have long passed by/Let me be the one to shut 

your eyelids when you die”), but Hickox takes 

the tweeness out of it and makes it all feel 

profoundly honest. 

As a gig-going experience, tonight’s show 

is intimate in the truest sense of the word. 

The audience hang in silence on every word, 

and you’d be hard-pushed to find anyone who 

wasn’t somewhat emotionally drained by the 

whole experience. Yes, it’s all very, well, nice, 

and at times it does get overwhelmingly 

earnest, but you have to assume that the crowd 

here tonight knew what they were in for – a 

man pouring his heart into beautiful songs at 

his own leisure. And that’s exactly what we’ve 

had. If you want to scream along and pump 

your sweaty fists in the air, try Andrew WK. 

Alex Holbourn 

DROPKICK MURPHYS 

The Bots - Blood Or Whiskey 

O2 Academy 

Bellow from the topsails, for tonight you 

can buy a DROPKICK MURPHYS flag, festooned 

with the typical skull and crossbones. Music 

fit for pirates? Perhaps, but the devoted 

hordes are this band’s treasure. Liverpool’s 

proximity to Ireland may explain why tonight’s 

performance is sold out, but regardless of 

location Dropkick Murphys are the people’s 

band that deliver with an unruly vitality and 

expect to receive it back. It isn’t just about the 

scallywags on stage, it’s about belonging to a 

clan that comes together to toast the triumphs 

of the downtrodden everyman. 

Similarly, shout a Kop-friendly slogan tonight 

and you are sure to gain many fans here. But 

why be so cynical? The BLOOD OR WHISKEY 

frontman, proudly proclaiming himself a Red, 

carries a genuine eagerness that bursts out 

in petite guitar jumps. Banjos and flutes are 

strewn across a relentless barrage of threechord 

structures about lost loves and how 

‘they’re’ “fucking up our pubs.” It can be bland 

at times, but the band’s vigorous enthusiasm 

sets a good pace and provides an appropriate 

taster of things to come. 

Two-pieces seem to be the current lineup 

of choice, but while THE BOTS’ raunchy 

garage rock might spark The White Stripes 

comparisons, there is also an experimental 

edge in the variety of samples present. On 

Water, a slinky guitar loop forms the backbone, 

swerving from the usual aggressive formula 

to more delicate notes undercut by spindly 

beats. Adorned with a keffiyeh and a billowing 

white cloak, frontman Mikaiah Lei makes an 

intriguing human pogo stick. It’s been done a 

hundred times over, but at least The Bots are 

trying to deviate from the formula. 

As Sinead O’Connor’s rousing rendition of 

Irish ballad The Foggy Dew blares out of the 

speakers to herald our headliners’ appearance, 

it’s clear that Dropkick Murphys aren’t short 

of any sense of identity. Because of this, 

it’s a shame some of the more specialist 

instruments that give the genre its name are 

drowned out by the almighty volley of the 

trademark guitars, bass and drum combo. It’s 

preposterous to imagine bagpipes fighting to 

be heard, but that’s the case on The Boys Are 

Back. 

This hardly matters though, when the 

sozzled crowd have a bloodthirsty craving for 

the music. With seven members, someone is 

always free to direct them, but this usually 

falls to vocalist Al Barr. The only one free of an 

instrument, he prowls the stage throughout, 

assertive as a proud prizefighter. The assault 

becomes sluggish in the middle, but this is 

dispersed by a bombastic interpretation of 

Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya. Heavier covers like

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36 


Reviews 

makes for an incredibly full sound. 

The set itself mixes old classics like Who? with 

songs from the new record, such as What You 

Isn't. The effect is a glorious reminder of why 

this group have been a mainstay of underground 

music for so many years, and an affirmation of 

Newcombe's greatness as a songwriter. A lot 

of bands mythologised in the way The Brian 

Jonestown Massacre have been would probably 

be happy to rest on their laurels and wait for the 

next pay cheque to roll in; however, BJM have 

been consistent in their ability to move forwards 

and make creative headway with each new album. 

Tonight's performance has been another step in 

that direction, and one that will live long in the 

memory of those that attended. Here's to another 

26 years. 

Alastair Dunn 

VICTOR WOOTEN 

Neil Campbell 

Bam!Bam!Bam! @ The Kazimier 

AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds Done Cheap also get a 

rowdy response, but it’s I’m Shipping Up To 

Boston that sees the whole Academy united in 

a tribal fervour. 

A four-song encore acts out like a final 

charge refusing to end. With scores of fans 

scrambling on stage, Kiss Me I’m Shitfaced 

couldn’t be more appropriate as the band are 

lost in their devoted army, but it’s something 

they only encourage more and more. Though 

it may be soaked in alcohol, it is hard to deny 

the intensity and sense of pride in the Dropkick 

Murphys live experience. Uniform it may be, 

but when it’s straight from the heart you have 

to admire its spirit. 

Jack Graysmark / @ZeppelinG1993 

professional as it is brilliant. 

The capacity crowd must wait, however, as 

before BJM can grace the stage support act 

BIRDSTRIKING will do their thing. The Beijing 

three-piece do much to set the mood, and their 

delightful, proggy sounds are well appreciated. 

With long, ascending riffs and persistent rhythm 

they clearly bear a resemblance to the headline 

act, and their interpretation of 60s soundscape 

rock ‘n’ roll is as nuanced and well delivered as 

Anton Newcombe's outfit. As their set draws 

to a close, the anticipation in the room has 

reached fever pitch, and the chants that greet the 

The Brian Jonestown Massacre (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto) 

headliners resemble that of a football match. 

As the band are perpetually in flux – Anton 

Newcombe being the only constant member – it is 

a bonus to see the three original members onstage 

together. Anton, Joel Gion and Matt Hollywood 

have a noticeably symbiotic relationship and, 

though their erratic leader is clearly in charge, the 

chemistry produced by the sometime warring band 

of brothers is palpable. Essentially a one-man band 

in the studio, for tonight – and assumedly this tour 

– The Brian Jonestown Massacre are an eight-piece. 

The fact that they have four, and occasionally five, 

guitarists is both ludicrous and amazing, and it 

Thanks to promoters Bam!Bam!Bam!, 

the thought of VICTOR WOOTEN – hailed as 

one of the most technical, innovative and 

virtuosic bass players in the world – playing 

at The Kazimier is now not a figment of the 

imagination. A queue stretching out of sight 

round the block suggests that every bass player 

in Liverpool has downed tools and scampered 

down here to witness a master at work. 

Opening tonight’s bill, NEIL CAMPBELL 

performs a polished set of highly technical, 

effects-laden classical guitar pieces to the 

largely appreciative audience. While his use of 

effects more usually linked to electric guitar 

may seem a little jarring to some ears, there 

is no denying his ability as a musician, and it 

is heartening to see that Liverpool does have 

acts capable of sharing a stage with the likes of 

THE BRIAN JONESTOWN 

MASSACRE 

Birdstriking 

Evol @ East Village Arts Club 

With a career spanning fourteen albums 

and 26 years it is not surprising that THE BRIAN 

JONESTOWN MASSACRE have amassed a huge and 

devoted following. Their prolific and prodigious 

output has made them critical darlings, but not 

at the cost of general popularity, and the fact 

that they have managed to sell-out East Village 

Arts Club tonight is testament to that fact. 

Anyone who has seen the film Dig! might arrive 

at tonight's show with expectations of a raucous 

and somewhat violent affair, but the band have 

moved on since then, and their performance is as 

Victor Wooten (Glyn Akroyd) 

bidolito.co.uk

Reviews 


bidolito.co.uk

38 


Reviews 

DIGGING A LITTLE DEEPER 

with Dig Vinyl 

Bold Street’s latest wax junkies DIG VINYL know a thing or two about the weird and wonderful 

depths of people’s record collections, and each month they’ll be rifling through their racks and 

picking out four of their favourite in-stock records. Keep digging… 


SUICIDE 

SUICIDE 

This remarkable debut album, released some seven years after 

the group had formed, was still way ahead of its time back in 

1978. Tough guy Vega croons like an evil Elvis bred on garage rock 

and performance art; the stoic Rev lays churning, repetitive, and 

oddly melodic lines down on his beat-up Farfisa, propelling the 

music towards a ratty, Blade Runner future. 

Dream Baby Dream, Che, Ghost Rider: these eerie, sturdy, steam-punk anthems rank among 

the most visionary, melodic experiments the rock realm has yet produced. 

THE LITTER 

DISTORTIONS 

This is, for an album mostly made up of covers, above and 

beyond all else: one of the most energetic, tuneful, aggressive, 

sloppy, and wonderful albums ever made. 

In fact, this album is worth it just for Action Woman – from its 

2000-volt intro to its crashing chorus, it's fantastic and an all-time 

garage classic – followed by twelve great tracks of Voxx wahwah'd 

guitars and garage grunge blues. 

Remember kids… “It’s the Now Sound... it's what's happening!” 

THE DEAD BOYS 

WE HAVE COME FOR YOUR CHILDREN 

Attempting to channel all their nihilism and violence under 

producer Felix Pappalardi's over-slick production, this album is 

still loud, fast and chaotic. 

The DBs always stressed a muscular guitar sound: here, the 

guitars are pared back to hollow squeals. The bass is pushed 

way up in the mix. The drums sound like mechanical clicks. Stiv's 

voice sounds oh so brittle, and there's a strange reverb spread over everything. 

This results in giving We Have Come For Your Children a more power pop tone than is found 

on the snarling debut album Young Loud & Snotty. However, rather than sabotage the DBs, the 

songs come off sounding ironically more modern and timeless. 

THE SOUND OF FEELING 

SPLEEN 

This whole record is a strange mix of psychedelic 60s dreamy 

pop vocals, sung and spoken, along with elements of free jazz 

and modal grooves. 

The group is fronted by the vocal trio of Gary David and sisters 

Alyce and Rhae Andrece, who all together handle the vocal 

arrangements on the album. The backing instrumentation is a 

cool mix of drums, harp, flute, soprano and alto saxophone, moog and cello. 

The songs on this set are a weird blend of dreamy numbers with tunes that push the boundaries. 

Head to bidolito.co.uk now to stream the latest Dig Vinyl Podcast, featuring a mixture of new, 

old and half-forgotten classics. 

Wooten and not making a fool of themselves. 

Campbell proves himself more than capable 

of the task, and what a task it is: performing 

on over thirty albums, solo and otherwise, 

Victor Wooten has been awarded no less than 

five Grammy awards. Bass Player magazine 

has nominated him Player of the Year three 

times and Rolling Stone count him as one of 

the top ten bassists of all time. 

It is difficult to know what to expect when 

the chance comes along to see an artist as 

highly lauded as this. With the capacity to 

play absolutely anything, the virtuoso can 

sometimes be a disappointment, playing 

such abstract and technical material as to 

feel emotionless and impenetrable to us 

mere mortals. Thankfully, Victor and his 

band seamlessly bridge the gap between 

mind-boggling technique and entertaining, 

compelling groove. There are plenty of solos 

and astonishing feats of musicianship from 

every member of the band, but the performance 

never strays too far away from a respect and 

awareness of the audience. 

Having said that, within the first five minutes 

Wooten plays things that draw involuntary 

noises from the packed-out crowd of music 

geeks, aficionados and low-end fetishists. Take 

away the music, and some of those noises may 

be more at home in a red light district. 

However, songs such as Brooklyn, a 

heartfelt yet optimistic observation on the 

senselessness of racism, and Ari’s Eyes, a 

song that has its origins in the birth of his 

daughter, are beautiful and compelling in 

equal measure, while the more simplistic My 

Life displays tight, simple grooves. Wooten’s 

band seem capable of switching the feel of a 

tune instantly, whatever the style. Incredible 

performances are the order of the night as the 

band throw snatches of Zeppelin, James Brown 

and even a solo performance of Amazing Grace 

into the mix. 

Wooten smiles and jokes throughout, 

playing up to the crowd with a succession of 

stage tricks. He comes across as humble and 

appreciative of the audience, despite the praise 

that has been heaped on him and his almost 

supernatural talent. All in all, this is a show 

that reaches the apex of musicianship. You can 

only hope that it hasn’t made the bassists in 

the audience want to give up and get a job in 

the nearest supermarket. 

Paul Riley 

MYRON & E 

The Soul Rays - Motofocus 

Kazimier Funk And Soul Club 

The Kazimier sounds more like a Brooklyn 

block party than an English music venue 

as people file in to the sound of Fat City 

DJs’ monumental barrage of funk and soul 

anthems tonight. Pulled straight from crates 

of 45s are some tasty slices of liquorice pizza: 

sounds from a golden era, a time prior to the 

convergence of the two styles into what would 

become hip hop. The Fat City DJs are priming 

the crowd for what is to come. 

The first support act of the night are 

MOTOFOCUS. A loud, fierce proposition that, 

after a quiet shuffle onto the stage, burst 

into life from their first track with hints of 

Funkentelechy-era Parliament, The Police 

and early Red Hot Chili Peppers thrown 

into the mixer. At times their performance 

can come across as slightly novelty and the 

local outfit prove themselves to be a little 

too familiar with the funk and soul formula; 

a bit more spontaneity throughout the set 

could add to the dynamic of the group and 

their performance. However, Motofocus offer 

a solid start to proceedings and they leave 

having made an indelible imprint on all 

those present. 

THE SOUL RAYS come complete with two 

strong female vocalists and a horn section. 

They sound a little louder and more unyielding 

than Motofocus but still tight and composed. 

As a visual spectacle they all look completely 

engaged within their music as they channel 

a heady mix of James Brown, Aretha Franklin 

and, bringing their sound into the 21st century, 

Alicia Keys. Standout performances are from 

Fabia and Nina, whose powerful voices 

outweigh their sometimes shy personas. On 

top of that, Harry plays guitar with heart and 

soul, adding to the energy as it continues to 

build throughout the set. 

Soul vocal duos may not be as abundant 

today as they were in the days of Maurice 

and Mac or The Patterson Twins, and popular 

music has unfortunately forgotten that soul, 

funk and RnB were once cherished genres of 

music in their own right and not just shallow 

extensions of commercial pop music, but at 

least we now have MYRON & E, the duo that 

are bringing soul back as an art form that's 

worthy of its own shelf in any proud music 

collector's library. 

Their show starts with an intense 

momentum that doesn't relent for at least 

three-quarters of the set. They roll through a 

gamut of material, from the laid back If I Gave 

You My Love, to the upbeat Do It Do It Disco 

and the gentle I Can't Let You Get Away. The 

aforementioned soul duo greats, as well as 

Sims Twins, shape the Myron & E sound. The 

singing capabilities of both are astounding: 

Myron with a lush, melodic alto range, and E 

bringing the smooth, rich tenor textures. 

The crowd are frenzied as the set comes 

to a close, their thirst for more coaxing Myron 

& E back out shortly after making their exit to 

give a two-song encore. The duo are drenched 

in perspiration, having poured every ounce of 

energy into this performance, but it’s worth it as 

they leave the stage as conquering soul heroes. 

Christopher Carr

We 

Buy 

White Albums 

FACT and Liverpool International Music Festival Present: Rutherford Chang’s We Buy White Albums 

15 August - 15 September 

FACT Loading Bay / 12pm - 5pm 

New York based artist Rutherford Chang, travels the world buying first edition copies 

of The Beatles White Album. His entire collection will be on show in our Loading Bay. 

fact.co.uk/whitealbum

sat 02 aug 10pm 18+ £10 adv 

pride - 

 

thurs 14 aug 10pm 18+ £5 early / £7 adv 

club mtv 

fri 15 aug 7pm 14+ £tbc 

 

 

7pm 14+ £7 adv 

 

fri 29 aug 7pm 14+ £10 adv 

get cape. 

 

 

thurs 11 sept 7pm 14+ £15 adv 

the magic numbers 

fri 12 sept 7pm 14+ £6 adv 

23 fake street 

tues 23 sept 7pm 14+ £8 adv 

darlia 

fri 26 sept 7pm 14+ £8 adv 

 

sat 27 sept 7pm 14+ £6 adv 

arcane addiction 

thurs 02 oct 7pm 14+ £5 adv 

etches 

sat 04 oct 7pm 14+ £8 adv 

eliza and the bear 

mon 06 oct 7pm 14+ £8 adv 

blitz kids 

7pm 14+ £14 adv 

 

thurs 09 oct 9pm 18+ £13.50 adv 

 

tues 14 oct 7pm 14+ £12 adv 

 

fri 17 oct 7pm 14+ £9 adv 

 

7pm 14+ £9 adv 

 

fri 24 oct 7pm 14+ £6 adv 

the struts 

fri 24 oct 6.30pm 14+ £22.50 adv 

the tour of 

 

ft. heaven 17 & blancmange 

sat 25 oct 7pm 14+ £10 adv 

 

7pm 14+ £8 adv 

dexters 

thurs 06 nov 7pm 14+ £8 adv 

marina hackman 

fri 07 nov 6.30pm 14+ £10 adv 

 

 

sat 15 nov 7pm 14+ £10 adv 

coldplace 

 

7pm 14+ £12.50 adv 

 

and the savages 

fri 21 nov 7pm 14+ £12 adv 

the smiths indeed 

sat 22 nov 7pm 14+ £8 adv 

man overboard 

fri 16 jan 2015 7pm 14+ £18 adv / £55 meet & greet 

aaron carter 

sat 21 feb 2015 12pm 14+ £15 adv 

lashout fest 

ft. acrania, nexilva, sentenced uk, 

fed to the ocean, renounced, 

realm of torment, revelations, 

 

 

in depths, BBR, escape arcadia 

follow us @artsclubhq and at 

facebook.com/mamaco.evartsclub 

90 seel street, liverpool l1 4bh 

tickets available from ticketmaster.co.uk or 0844 847 2472 (24hr) 

mamacolive.com/ 

eastvillageartsclub

Issue 47 / August 2014

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