Issue 72 / November 2016

DIGGING A LITTLE DEEPER
with Liquidation
We’re always interested to hear what waxy gems are lurking in the depths of the record bags of
the city’s DJs, or the kind of music they’re indulging in away from the dancefloor. Liquidation’s
Jules Bennett (aka The Liquidator aka Motor Rik aka Blitzkrieg Bob aka one half of 2messyDJs)
talks us through the thinking behind some of the songs that regularly make it into his weekly DJ
sets at Liquidation, explaining how some of them have become bona fide Liquidation anthems.
“I’ve said in the past that Liquidation is defined by the songs it doesn’t play as much as by the
songs it does play - but some tracks do keep popping back up as they seem to resonate. We’ve
never tried to be like, ‘Eh, you’ve never heard this one before, mate’ either – it’s more like, ‘You’re
not expecting this’. I think you just embrace the fact that people might know more songs than you.”
HARRY J ALLSTARS
THE LIQUIDATOR
The record that the night is named after, as well as one of my DJ
pseudonyms. Maybe we wouldn’t still be here 23 years later if we were
named after the Tony Scott original, What Am I To Do? Still the first tune
out of my bag most weeks, and quite often the last one nine hours
later as well.
HOT CLUB DE PARIS
SHIPWRECK
There are quite a few tunes about that have lyrics regarding nights at
Liquidation, as there’s a rich and talented group of musical alumni out
there. HOT CLUB DE PARIS perfectly sum up that dancefloor euphoria of
hugging your new best friend as the strobes rattle your brain. “Grappled
by the epaulettes” is a lyric that you see in action most weekends. It’s
an honour seeing another generation of musicians passing through the doors of EBGBS at our
weekly pre-club free gigs too.
ARCADE FIRE
WAKE UP
I remember buying 10 copies of Funeral when it came out to give to
family and friends because I was in love with it and it was important for
people to have and hear. I’d done the same with The Strokes’ Modern Age
EP some years before. For the record, I also did it with a Doyle Bramhall
7”. Nobody’s perfect! A mass singalong to this with hundreds of people
on a Saturday night is a wondrous thing to be part of.
BLONDIE
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
My god. What a tough call for the fourth track. This could easily have
been something by The Clash/Ramones/Talking Heads/Cure/Smiths/
Bunnymen/Aretha/JB/Beach Boys/Daft Punk/LCD Soundsystem/Pixies/
Stooges, any one of numerous floor fillers and favourites, and that’s
before even thinking about room two where we are programming a
psychedelicious playlist we’re calling our Freaks, Geeks and Cliques mix (think Suicide/Sonic
Youth/Brian Jonestown Massacre/King Gizzard/Thee Oh Sees/NEU!). Can I come back and do it
again?
Liquidation takes place at EBGBS every Saturday night between 11pm and 4am, with a free entry
pre-club from 7pm featuring guest DJs and two live acts.
@LQDNatHeebies
THE FINAL SAY
Words: Evan Moynihan
Each month we hand over the responsibility of having the final say to a guest columnist. This issue,
Evan Moynihan muses on the quality of options he and his fellow Americans have to choose from
during this year’s Presidential election on 8th November.
GIMME SOME TRUTH
Whenever I leave New York and travel
abroad, I’m always interested to know people’s
perceptions of the United States. Many know
the romanticised version portrayed in American
films, while others have stereotypical notions
of Americans being rude or ignorant towards
other cultures. Regardless, it’s one of those
things that just about everyone seems to have
an opinion on.
Over the past year, non-stop coverage of the
US Presidential election has dominated the
news and provided a level of entertainment
on par with reality TV. This election feels unlike
any other; maybe it’s because of the 24-hour
news cycle, maybe it’s because the stakes
have ostensibly never been higher, or maybe
it’s because of the way social media has
tightened its grip on our lives. It’s probably a
toxic combination of all three.
It’s natural for us to want to feel like we are
part of something important, especially if that
something will ultimately impact our lives.
Social media has given us that ability to feel
part of the debate, but it has become a doubleedged
sword. It has given people a platform to
voice their opinion along with added pressure
to always have an opinion to voice. It reminds
me of a joke comedian Bill Burr tells about the
ways statistics are often used. He says, “You
already have your mind made up and then you
go to ‘I’mright.com’, and you start memorising
a bunch of shit, and then just throw it up at
people.” It’s funny because it’s true.
Campaigns are more willing than ever to
spread rumours, conspiracy theories, and flatout
lies about their opponents. News agencies
looking to break a story will hastily report
on this misinformation, which only makes it
appear more credible. With the way stories
snowball out of control, it feels impossible to
know what’s true and what isn’t. The end result
is a bunch of talking heads on a split screen
yelling at each other.
Due to the divisive nature of a two-party
system, everything becomes Democrats vs
Republicans, us vs them, Clinton vs Trump
– pick a side. And, despite the increasing
disillusionment with our politicians, people feel
obligated to because we live in a democracy
and it’s important to exercise our right to vote.
But what if we didn’t just have to settle for the
lesser of two evils? What if campaign finance
reform levelled the playing field for would-be
candidates who can’t afford a billion-dollar
megaphone?
Politics can reveal a side of people that
otherwise isn’t shown, and it almost feels like
this whole election has been boiled down to
‘revelations’. Watching Clinton and Trump’s
mudslinging speeches in the battle of ‘who
can appear more relatable’ is cringeworthy. The
truth is, they’ve each had too much money and
too much power for too long to be remotely
relatable to 99 percent of Americans. I wish I
could say I’m torn between them, but I’m not.
It’s discouraging to think that our electoral
process is structured in such a way that these
are our two remaining options.
I arrived in Liverpool on the heels of the
Brexit referendum. The lingering sense
of uncertainty in the UK was immediately
apparent, even to an outsider. That’s because
it feels a lot like the uncertainty in America
right now, which will likely remain long after
8th November. At the root of it all, people are
worried about the direction their country is
headed in. I assumed people over here would
have their own opinions about our election,
but I didn’t realise just how strongly they
would feel about it. Maybe that’s because of
what they’ve just witnessed. Something that
many people thought would never happen, just
happened.