Issue 90 / July 2018
July 2018 issue of Bido Lito! magazine. Featuring: MC NELSON, THE DSM IV, GRIME OF THE EARTH, EMEL MATHLOUTHI, REMY JUDE, LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL, CAR SEAT HEADREST, THE MYSTERINES, TATE @ 30 and much more.
July 2018 issue of Bido Lito! magazine. Featuring: MC NELSON, THE DSM IV, GRIME OF THE EARTH, EMEL MATHLOUTHI, REMY JUDE, LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL, CAR SEAT HEADREST, THE MYSTERINES, TATE @ 30 and much more.
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
ISSUE <strong>90</strong> / JULY <strong>2018</strong><br />
NEW MUSIC + CREATIVE CULTURE<br />
LIVERPOOL<br />
MC NELSON / GRIME OF THE EARTH<br />
THE DSM IV / EMEL MATHLOUTHI / REMY JUDE
Sat 30th Jun<br />
Little Steven<br />
& The Disciples of Soul (USA)<br />
Sat 30th Jun<br />
Deep Purple Family Tree<br />
Sat 7th Jul<br />
Myles Kennedy (USA)<br />
Thur 26th Jul<br />
Blink-183 (Tribute)<br />
Wed 29th Jul<br />
Jake Clemons (USA)<br />
Thu 30th Aug<br />
Protomartyr (USA) + Sauna Youth<br />
Fri 31st Aug<br />
WSTR<br />
Tue 11th Sep<br />
The Stairs + Silent-K + Peach Fuzz<br />
Sat 22nd Sep<br />
Spring King<br />
Sun 23rd Sep<br />
Fish<br />
Mon 25th Sep<br />
Pale Waves<br />
Fri 28th Sep • SOLD OUT<br />
Half Man Half Biscuit<br />
Fri 28th Sep<br />
SPINN<br />
Sat 29th Sep<br />
Red Rum Club<br />
+ The Jackobins + Life At The Arcade<br />
+ Columbia<br />
Wed 3rd Oct<br />
The Magic Gang + The Orielles<br />
Fri 5th Oct<br />
The Night Café<br />
Fri 5th Oct<br />
Jilted John + John Otway<br />
Sat 6th Oct<br />
Definitely Mightbe<br />
Wed 10th Oct<br />
Maribou State<br />
Fri 12th Oct • Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild of Students<br />
The Coral<br />
Fri 12th Oct<br />
Elvana: Elvis Fronted Nirvana<br />
Sat 13th Oct<br />
Reverend And The Makers<br />
+ RedFaces + Sophie & The Giants<br />
Sat 13th Oct<br />
The Men They Couldn’t Hang<br />
Fri 19th Oct<br />
The Sherlocks<br />
Fri 19th Oct<br />
The Vryll Society<br />
Sat 20th Oct<br />
Tom Grennan<br />
Sun 21st Oct<br />
Dermot Kennedy<br />
Wed 24th Oct • Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild of Students<br />
SOLD OUT<br />
First Aid Kit (SWE) + The Staves<br />
Thu 25th Oct<br />
Neil Hilborn (USA)<br />
Sat 27th Oct<br />
The Southmartins<br />
Beautiful South & Housemartins Tribute<br />
Fri 2nd Nov<br />
Bad Sounds<br />
Sat 3rd Nov<br />
Ladytron<br />
Sat 3rd Nov • SOLD OUT<br />
Old Dominion (USA)<br />
facebook.com/o2academyliverpool<br />
twitter.com/o2academylpool<br />
instagram.com/o2academyliverpool<br />
youtube.com/o2academytv<br />
Fri 9th Nov • Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild of Students<br />
SOLD OUT<br />
George Ezra<br />
Fri 9th Nov<br />
Less Than Jake & Reel Big Fish (USA)<br />
Fri 9th Nov<br />
Shaun Ryder’s Black Grape<br />
Sat 10th Nov<br />
The Carpet Crawlers<br />
Perform ‘Selling Foxtrot By The Pound’<br />
Sat 10th Nov<br />
Antarctic Monkeys<br />
Fri 16th Nov<br />
Absolute Bowie Presents<br />
50 Years of Bowie<br />
Sat 17th Nov<br />
UK Foo Fighters<br />
Sat 17th Nov • SOLD OUT<br />
Johnny Marr : Call The Comet Tour<br />
Fri 23rd Nov<br />
Stillmarillion<br />
Sat 24th Nov<br />
Pearl Jam UK<br />
Sat 24th Nov<br />
Heaven 17 + Propaganda (Germany)<br />
Thur 29th Nov<br />
Bars and Melody<br />
Thur 29th Nov<br />
The Damned<br />
Fri 30th Nov<br />
The Doors Alive<br />
Sat 1st Dec<br />
Alabama 3<br />
Fri 7th Dec<br />
The Lancashire Hotpots<br />
+ Stu Penders & Spladoosh<br />
Sat 8th Dec<br />
Slade<br />
- 45 Years since the release of Merry Christmas<br />
Everyone<br />
Sat 8th Dec<br />
CKY + Sumo Cyco + Bullets and Octane<br />
Tue 11th Dec<br />
Bjorn Again<br />
Fri 21st Dec<br />
Sex Pissed Dolls<br />
Sat 22nd Dec<br />
Ian Prowse & Amsterdam<br />
Sat 22nd Dec • Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild of Students<br />
Cast - The Greatest Hits Tour<br />
Sat 26th Jan 2019<br />
The ELO Show<br />
Tue 5th Feb 2019<br />
The Dead South<br />
Thur 7th Mar 2019<br />
Trixie Mattel<br />
Sat 25th May 2019<br />
The Icicle Works<br />
SAT 23RD JUN 7PM<br />
JOHN BRAMWELL<br />
+ DAVE FIDDLER<br />
SAT 7TH JUL 7PM<br />
ERIC PASLAY<br />
THU 12TH JUL 7PM<br />
DOYLE (MISFITS)<br />
SAT 14TH JUL 7PM<br />
IDLE FRETS<br />
MON 16TH JUL 7PM<br />
ROAM<br />
+ MILESTONES<br />
+ WOLD CULTURE<br />
THU 19TH JUL 7PM<br />
MILBURN<br />
+ PEACH FUZZ<br />
TUE 24TH JUL 7PM<br />
STRIKING MATCHES (USA)<br />
SAT 28TH JUL 7PM<br />
JOE SYMES AND THE<br />
LOVING KIND<br />
+ BIG BAMBORA<br />
WED 8TH AUG 7PM<br />
STEVEN PAGE<br />
SAT 11TH AUG 7PM<br />
MASSAOKE: GREASE VS<br />
DIRTY DANCING<br />
SAT 18TH AUG 9PM<br />
WEAREYOU<br />
FT. WILL ATKINSON, JASE<br />
THIRLWALL + MORE<br />
TUE 21ST AUG 7PM<br />
JAKE SHEARS (USA)<br />
WED 22ND AUG 7PM<br />
PUSSY RIOT:<br />
RIOT DAYS<br />
FRI 14TH SEP 7PM<br />
THE ANOMALY<br />
SUN 16TH SEP 7PM<br />
JARET REDDICK<br />
SAT 22ND SEP 6PM<br />
CATHERINE MCGRATH<br />
SAT 29TH SEP 6.30PM<br />
THE BLUETONES<br />
THU 4TH OCT 7PM<br />
WILD FRONT<br />
TICKETS FOR ALL SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE FROM<br />
TICKETMASTER.CO.UK<br />
<strong>90</strong><br />
SEEL STREET, LIVERPOOL, L1 4BH<br />
FRI 5TH OCT 6PM<br />
ODDITY ROAD<br />
FRI 5TH OCT 6PM<br />
THE DANIEL WAKEFORD<br />
EXPERIENCE<br />
SAT 6TH OCT 7PM<br />
A BAND CALLED<br />
MALICE<br />
THE DEFINITIVE TRIBUTE TO<br />
THE JAM<br />
WED 10TH OCT 7PM<br />
GLASVEGAS<br />
10TH ANNIVERSARY<br />
TOUR<br />
TUE 16TH OCT 7PM<br />
SUPERORGANISM<br />
WED 17TH OCT 7PM<br />
HER’S<br />
SAT 20TH OCT 7PM<br />
WE ARE SCIENTISTS<br />
MON 22ND OCT 7PM<br />
ADY SULEIMAN<br />
SAT 27TH OCT 7PM<br />
RHYTHM OF THE <strong>90</strong>’S<br />
SAT 3RD NOV 7PM<br />
TIDE LINES<br />
SUN 11TH NOV 7PM<br />
BRIX AND THE<br />
EXTRICATED<br />
SAT 17TH NOV 7PM<br />
GRUFF RHYS<br />
SAT 24TH NOV 6PM<br />
MORGAN JAMES - FROM<br />
WHITE TO BLUE TOUR<br />
FRI 30TH NOV 7PM<br />
CLEAN CUT KID<br />
SAT 1ST DEC 7PM<br />
THE WANDERING<br />
HEARTS<br />
SAT 8TH DEC 7PM<br />
SAINT PHNX<br />
SAT 15TH DEC 7PM<br />
THE WEDDING PRESENT<br />
“TOMMY” 30TH<br />
ANNIVERSARY TOUR<br />
ticketmaster.co.uk<br />
o2academyliverpool.co.uk<br />
11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool L3 5UF<br />
Doors 7pm unless stated<br />
Venue box office opening hours:<br />
Mon - Sat 10.30am - 5.30pm<br />
ticketmaster.co.uk • seetickets.com<br />
gigantic.com • ticketweb.co.uk
What’s On<br />
<strong>July</strong> – October<br />
Tuesday 10 <strong>July</strong> 7.30pm<br />
Acoustic Tour <strong>2018</strong><br />
Levellers<br />
Wednesday 11 <strong>July</strong> 8pm<br />
Music Room<br />
Heidi Talbot &<br />
John McCusker<br />
Thursday 11 October 7.30pm<br />
Richard Thompson<br />
Thursday 18 October 8.30pm<br />
Music Room<br />
Ye Vagabonds<br />
Saturday 21 <strong>July</strong> 7.45pm<br />
An Intimate Evening of Songs and Stories with<br />
Graham Nash<br />
Friday 27 <strong>July</strong> 8pm<br />
Music Room<br />
Summer Show<br />
Ian Prowse<br />
Box Office<br />
0151 709 3789<br />
liverpoolphil.com<br />
LiverpoolPhilharmonic<br />
liverpoolphil<br />
liverpool_philharmonic<br />
Principal Funders<br />
Principal Partners<br />
Media Partner<br />
Thanks to the City<br />
of Liverpool for its<br />
financial support<br />
Image Ian Prowse
CONSTELLATIONS PRESENTS<br />
SUMMER<br />
BBQS<br />
WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY<br />
BBQ MENU AVAILABLE<br />
DJS AT THE WEEKEND<br />
SUBJECT TO CLOSURE DUE TO PRIVATE<br />
HIRE OR TICKETED EVENTS<br />
Remy Jude’s<br />
Summer BBQ<br />
16/06/18<br />
Down Anti To Social Funk,<br />
The Medicine Jazz Club’s Men &<br />
Melodic Summer Distraction’s BBQ<br />
Summer BBQ<br />
07/07/18<br />
07/07/18<br />
Mouvement’s<br />
Summer BBQ<br />
04/08/18<br />
Sound Of Music<br />
An’ All That<br />
Summer BBQ<br />
18/08/18 18/08/18<br />
Four To The Floor<br />
& Rotation’s<br />
Summer BBQ<br />
25/08/18<br />
Summer BBQ<br />
Anti Social<br />
Jazz Club’s<br />
Summer BBQ<br />
01/09/18<br />
Melodic Distraction<br />
Radio<br />
Summer BBQ<br />
08/09/18<br />
BEATS<br />
& BBQ<br />
FRIDAY NIGHT DJ SESSIONS<br />
CONSTELLATIONS<br />
a_ Greenland St, Liverpool<br />
w_ constellations.co<br />
e_<br />
t_<br />
info@constellations.co<br />
0151 3456 302
CONTENTS<br />
New Music + Creative Culture<br />
Liverpool<br />
<strong>Issue</strong> <strong>90</strong> / <strong>July</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
bidolito.co.uk<br />
Second Floor<br />
The Merchant<br />
40-42 Slater Street<br />
Liverpool L1 4BX<br />
Editor<br />
Christopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Editor-In-Chief / Publisher<br />
Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Media Partnerships and Projects Manager<br />
Sam Turner - sam@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Reviews Editor<br />
Jonny Winship - live@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Design<br />
Mark McKellier - mark@andmark.co.uk<br />
Branding<br />
Thom Isom - hello@thomisom.com<br />
Student Society Co-Chairs<br />
Daisy Scott - daisy@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Sophie Shields - sophie@bidolito.co.uk<br />
Editorial Assistant<br />
Maya Jones<br />
Proofreader<br />
Nathaniel Cramp<br />
Cover Photography<br />
Keith Ainsworth<br />
Words<br />
Christopher Torpey, Jonny Winship, Iona Fazer, Sophie<br />
Shields, Julia Johnson, Maya Jones, Sam Turner, Richard<br />
Lewis, Frankie Muslin, Jake Penn, Bernie Connor, John<br />
McGovern, Debra Williams, Jennifer Rose, Max Baker,<br />
Patrick Kirk-Smith.<br />
Photography, Illustration and Layout<br />
Mark McKellier, Keith Ainsworth, Mdot Photography,<br />
Kevin Barrett, Taus Makhacheva, Julien Bourgeois,<br />
Stu Moulding, Dave Crane, Hannah Johns, Daniel de<br />
la Bastide, Jamie Sherwood, Kate Hodgson, Mark<br />
McNulty.<br />
Distributed by Middle Distance<br />
Print, distribution and events support across<br />
Merseyside and the North West.<br />
middledistance.org.uk<br />
9 / EDITORIAL<br />
Editor Christopher Torpey sees the city as the<br />
perfect canvas for great art and great artists to<br />
be showcased.<br />
10 / NEWS<br />
The latest announcements, releases and nonfake<br />
news from around the region.<br />
12 / MC NELSON<br />
The South Liverpool MC brings a thoughtful<br />
approach to the Scouse rap revolution,<br />
questioning what it means to be British in <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
14 / THE DSM IV<br />
“It’s good to confront people’s expectations.”<br />
Guy McKnight of THE DSM IV talks to Sam<br />
Turner about fame, mental health and mullets.<br />
16 / TATE 30<br />
Three decades ago the grand old art institution<br />
took root in Liverpool and helped bring about a<br />
sea change in the way we view art and culture<br />
in the city. Here’s to 30 more years.<br />
20 / GRIME OF THE EARTH<br />
From Toxteth Yutez to Grime Of The Earth,<br />
RUGZ DELETE talks to Iona Fazer about keeping<br />
alive the Scouse spirit of poetic wordsmithery.<br />
22 / ARTS CENTRAL<br />
Beautiful World, Where Are You? asks the 10th<br />
Biennial. In the latest in her ongoing series, Julia<br />
Johnson looks at how a sense of location and<br />
time are rooted in the work of an artist from<br />
Dagestan.<br />
24 / LIVERPOOL<br />
INTERNATIONAL MUSIC<br />
FESTIVAL <strong>2018</strong><br />
The year’s second Sefton Park spectacle brings<br />
a touch of class to your summer calendar.<br />
Find out the unmissable stuff – and which<br />
three emerging Merseyside artists are LIMF<br />
Academy’s Most Ready acts for <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
30 / SPOTLIGHT<br />
We take a closer look at some artists who’ve<br />
been impressing us of late: Remy Jude and Spilt.<br />
32 / EMEL MATHLOUTHI<br />
A rebel with a cause and a voice to inspire<br />
a nation. Emel Mathlouthi’s strident music is<br />
charged with emotion and political invective that<br />
resonates across the globe.<br />
33 / PREVIEWS<br />
Looking ahead to a busy <strong>July</strong> in Merseyside’s<br />
creative and cultural community.<br />
36 / REVIEWS<br />
Car Seat Headrest, The Mysterines, Phoebe<br />
Bridgers and Gerry Cinnamon reviewed by our<br />
team of intrepid reporters.<br />
46 / THE FINAL SAY<br />
Patrick Kirk-Smith, Director of Art In Liverpool<br />
and Independents Biennial <strong>2018</strong>, argues that it’s<br />
the boroughs of the city region where we should<br />
be enjoying art as much as the city centre.<br />
The views expressed in Bido Lito! are those of the<br />
respective contributors and do not necessarily<br />
reflect the opinions of the magazine, its staff or the<br />
publishers. All rights reserved.
EDITORIAL<br />
MC Nelson by Keith Ainsworth<br />
“The city is the<br />
most richly detailed<br />
backdrop against<br />
which people<br />
document their lives in<br />
the most vivid ways”<br />
In the middle of our cover shoot with MC Nelson this month,<br />
I got a little tingle of recognition that told me we were on<br />
the right track. I was stood in the Sefton Park Grotto while<br />
photographer Keith was taking photos of Nelson in front of<br />
the arched entrance to the Grotto’s caverns, the noises of Africa<br />
Oyé cranking into life drifting over the fields to us. It was a sense<br />
that various strands of a story had come together and just felt<br />
right; that we were even adding something to the fabric of that<br />
small corner of the city.<br />
The brook that runs through Sefton Park is part of a system<br />
called the River Jordan, a tributary of the Mersey that flows in<br />
via an underwater system from an inlet at Otterspool. The Upper<br />
Jordan disappears underground just by the Grotto, the Mirror<br />
Pond being the last place it’s seen until it resurfaces in Greenbank<br />
Park. Its meandering course carries with it a tale of the changing<br />
nature of the conurbations around it: from the rock named David’s<br />
Throne at its mouth, near the original Jericho Farm; through<br />
various damming work to divert it into public parks, eventually<br />
forming Sefton Park’s boating lake; and even signs of its original<br />
course in the location of pubs named after it (The Willow Bank<br />
and The Brookhouse).<br />
The story of this brook has echoes, for me, with Nelson’s own<br />
story, not just in his own path as an artist but also in his own<br />
views of the Mersey; what it means to him as both home and a<br />
place away from home, and all the metal baggage that brings. In<br />
his music, he talks of a struggle between pride for the place you<br />
call home and knowledge of its knotty, unsavoury past. Nelson is<br />
a person who understands that the place around him is built on<br />
numerous historical threads that each mingle together to form the<br />
vibrant story of how he, and all of us, got here. Good artists have<br />
the ability to see this and interpret it for us all to see: they provide<br />
us with snapshots of the past viewed from the present, and give<br />
us a way of understanding those conflicting emotions we have<br />
about our sense of place in the world.<br />
There’s another story that chimes with me in a similar way. I<br />
convinced All We Are and another of our intrepid photographers<br />
(Robin this time) out on the ferry to get a feel for the bob and<br />
weave of the Mersey. It was a chance to take a step back and<br />
look back on the city that those three musicians have all come<br />
to call home, even though none of them were born or raised<br />
here. In doing this, I really got a sense of the idea that the river<br />
is an artery that constantly brings life and ideas to the city, a<br />
thoroughfare as much as any of the tree-lined boulevards that<br />
rake across Liverpool’s outer limits. The river is a life source, and<br />
it brings its own dark, uneasy history with it. And it’s through the<br />
interpretation of storytellers – musicians, painters, your cab driver<br />
and local historian – that these stories can be picked apart and<br />
understood.<br />
Over the past four years, I’ve had the pleasure of traversing<br />
the city to look for numerous locations like this to use as<br />
backdrops for photo shoots with artists, little pockets of<br />
resonance that can add to the artists’ own specific narrative.<br />
So many locations across the region have become frames or<br />
backdrops for photo shoots that I’ve come to view many of them<br />
as part of the magazine’s own story. A pub doorway; an arched<br />
walkway in the shadows; the grassed square in Chinatown where<br />
we asked Farhood to pose in front of the Anglican Cathedral; Bill<br />
Ryder-Jones in front of his old primary school; Silent Bill playing<br />
in the rubble of an abandoned street art gallery’s building site.<br />
Even the light at the bottom of the stairs in The Merchant makes<br />
me smile at the memory of Nata’s shoot with Forest Swords,<br />
him hunched over my laptop, face lit by the blue glow. I pass<br />
these places regularly, and I see them as carrying imprints of the<br />
messages we’ve left behind.<br />
Working with some brilliant – and very patient –<br />
photographers, we’ve been able to document the city around us<br />
in these pink pages as much as the artists, using our home and<br />
most potent stimulus as an extra layer to the stories we’re trying<br />
to tell. The city is a canvas, the most richly detailed backdrop<br />
against which people document their lives in the most vivid ways.<br />
Its features, craggy surfaces and buildings are full of so much<br />
colour and character. Whether it’s artists coming to the Biennial<br />
from across the globe to interpret what they find here, or our own<br />
homegrown musicians documenting their relationship with home,<br />
the city and its people are an endless source of inspiration.<br />
We’re all constantly adding to the already dense narrative,<br />
layering on top of the memories that are already there. Every one<br />
of our actions seeps in to our surroundings, becomes folklore,<br />
ready for the generations coming after us to discover, learn from,<br />
twist and fashion into inspiration for their own new memories.<br />
And the cycle never stops, it keeps getting denser – and that’s<br />
why it’s important for us to keep adding to the strata of stories in<br />
the bedrock, so that the work of today’s artists aren’t forgotten.<br />
Christopher Torpey / @CATorp<br />
Editor<br />
09
NEWS<br />
Sound Station On New Track<br />
MERSEYRAIL SOUND STATION, a unique music<br />
programme produced by Bido Lito! launches this year<br />
as an all-new, innovative artist development platform.<br />
Bringing together experts from the music industry<br />
within Merseyside and further afield, the project is<br />
inviting artists of all genres to apply to take part in<br />
the programme. Successful applicants will receive an<br />
artist masterclass with a high-profile musician, studio<br />
workshops with songwriting and production experts<br />
and an industry MOT mentoring session. At the end<br />
of the programme selected artists will be chosen<br />
to take exciting live opportunities at an industry<br />
showcase and high level support slot. To apply go<br />
to merseyrailsoundstation.com.<br />
High Input For Output<br />
The Kazimier’s latest exciting venture is OUTPUT, a gallery<br />
space and affordable café in the heart of the city. The<br />
gallery will offer an alternative to the big, international<br />
names that grace some of this city’s well-known art<br />
galleries and will hopefully put more Merseyside artists<br />
on the map. By hosting a number of INPUT days (we love<br />
the pun), the team behind Output will ensure that the<br />
gallery space is used in a resourceful way that benefits the<br />
wider community. Their free summer programme includes<br />
film screenings, DJ sets and exhibitions by local artists<br />
including KATE COOPER and HASSNAT SKIANDER. Keep<br />
an eye out for further programming and the chance to get<br />
involved @outputgallery.<br />
Output Gallery<br />
Win A Family Ticket To Deer Shed<br />
Deer Shed Festival<br />
Described as “the ultimate family festival”, DEER SHED returns to Baldersby Park in North<br />
Yorkshire for its ninth year, and we’ve got a full family weekend ticket (two adults and two<br />
children) to give away. This year’s theme is Making Waves, and the line-up is full of bands<br />
and artists who have been doing just that. Headliners include indie rockers DRENGE,<br />
electronic synth pop duo GOLDFRAPP and Deer Shed favourites FIELD MUSIC. Young<br />
festival-goers with plenty of energy to burn are well catered for with a range of science<br />
activities and children’s shows across the three days. To be in with a chance of winning, post<br />
a music video by the Deer Shed artist you’re most excited about to the Bido Lito! Facebook<br />
page with the hashtag #DeerShed9. The competition will be live from 26th – 29th June. Visit<br />
deershedfestival.com for more information about the festival.<br />
Pride In Pride<br />
COMPETITION: Llanfest<br />
On the last weekend of <strong>July</strong>, LIVERPOOL PRIDE festival will take<br />
over the city, filling the streets with a rainbow of colours. The<br />
volunteer-led charity was formed in 2010 in response to the murder<br />
of a young gay man, Michael Causer, and has achieved so much in<br />
the intervening eight years. The festival has three aims: to protest<br />
against homophobia and transphobia in the region, to embrace the<br />
entire LGBTQ+ community and to celebrate with each other. Over<br />
the weekend, there will be a peaceful protest, food market and three<br />
stages of music on Tithebarn Street. The first act to be announced<br />
is star of RuPaul’s Drag Race and winner of Celebrity Big Brother<br />
<strong>2018</strong>, COURTNEY ACT. liverpoolpride.co.uk has all the details.<br />
We’ve got a pair of tickets to give away to LLANFEST, a one-day<br />
festival set in the Welsh town of Llangollen. The event will be the<br />
culmination of the six-day Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod,<br />
which celebrates the town and its traditions through music and dance.<br />
KAISER CHIEFS will be headlining with their first performance in<br />
Wales in almost two years, alongside sets from THE HOOSIERS and<br />
TOPLOADER. Liverpool’s Cavern Club will also host their own stage,<br />
so expect music from local artists and plenty of Beatles classics.<br />
To enter the competition, comment on the post on the Bido Lito!<br />
Facebook page with who you’re most looking forward to seeing at the<br />
festival.<br />
Soccerama<br />
Neville Southall<br />
With football fever still running high around the World Cup in Russia, a chance to look at<br />
society’s issues through the lens of footballing drama presents itself. SOCCERAMA is a<br />
two-day symposium of discussions that takes place at Liverpool Central Library on the<br />
days prior to the great spectacle of the World Cup final. Featuring guests from across the<br />
world of football, media and academia, this series of conversations and debates will unpick<br />
football’s interwoven relationship with the key global debates of our times. Former Everton<br />
goalkeeper and outspoken voice on all things from gender equality to skeletons, NEVILLE<br />
SOUTHALL, joins the panel on Friday 13th <strong>July</strong> for From Outside The Box, a discussion on<br />
football’s relationship with race, sexuality and its power for social change. On the previous<br />
night, Tranmere Rovers chairman (and former FA Chief Executive) MARK PALIOS joins a<br />
panel for a debate around football’s uneasy relationship with capital, class, fan power and<br />
nation building. Both events are free, but you must sign up for a ticket at artoffootball.co.uk.<br />
10
DANSETTE<br />
SUB BLUE crafts smooth, sultry<br />
grooves from his own ‘suburban<br />
blues’ interpretation of modern RnB.<br />
Here, he gives us some insight into<br />
the sounds that influenced his brand<br />
new EP, Suburban View.<br />
The Weeknd<br />
The Hills<br />
Get Most Ready For LIMF And<br />
Win Tickets<br />
Big congratulations to LUNA, RAHEEM ALAMEEN and<br />
KYAMI who have been named as LIMF Academy’s three<br />
Most Ready artists for <strong>2018</strong>! They will go on to benefit<br />
from a bursary and a year of mentoring through Liverpool<br />
International Music Festival’s award-winning artist<br />
development programme. Read more about them, and this<br />
year’s new-look LIMF event in Sefton Park, on page 24<br />
now. We’ve also got five pairs of tickets to give away for<br />
this year’s festival, which takes place over the weekend of<br />
21st and 22nd <strong>July</strong>. To be in with a chance of winning one<br />
of these pairs of tickets, post a link to a video on the Bido<br />
Lito! Facebook page of the artist you are most looking<br />
forward to seeing at this year’s festival.<br />
Gazelle at LIMF 2017<br />
Liverpool Short Film<br />
Festival<br />
LSFF is a brand new festival curated by Sam Birch<br />
and Andy Flush of independent video production<br />
company Branchwork Media. The festival will<br />
have two categories, Best Short Film and Best<br />
Local Short, and a selection of the entries will be<br />
shown at Oh Me Oh My on 2nd August. Whether<br />
you’re a local filmmaker looking to network, or<br />
just a short film lover, the festival is the perfect<br />
opportunity to delve into Liverpool’s emerging film<br />
scene. The last deadline for entries is 16th <strong>July</strong>, so<br />
there’s plenty of time to throw your hat in the ring.<br />
To enter the competition, visit filmfreeway.com/<br />
LiverpoolShortFilmFestival.<br />
XO<br />
When I was writing Range<br />
Rover I was listening to a lot of<br />
The Weeknd. Beauty Behind<br />
The Madness was the soundtrack of how I was feeling at<br />
the time. The Hills gave me the idea to create the world of<br />
a gated residential community where people of privilege<br />
kind of feel invincible, like they can do as they please<br />
and not worry about the consequences. When I worked<br />
with XamVolo in the studio to bring the record to life, he<br />
definitely saw my vision within this.<br />
Bryson Tiller<br />
T R A P S O U L<br />
Music Division<br />
I remember having this whole<br />
album on repeat on a trip to<br />
New York in 2015. I hadn’t really written many songs in<br />
the last few months, but once I got home I wrote a record<br />
called Looks Can’t Fool Me, which was the first proper<br />
song I’d written. It was Exchange off that album that<br />
really connected with me; I remember really wanting that<br />
overly-tuned vocal on near enough all of my songs. I guess<br />
it really inspired my whole writing style and how I vocalled<br />
my records.<br />
SAE La Vie<br />
The ideal opportunity for people who want to know<br />
about how to get a sure footing in a career in creative<br />
media opens again this month. SAE campus, situated<br />
north of the city on Pall Mall, is welcoming guests to<br />
get a taste of their wide range of great courses. Those<br />
wanting to pursue a music-based path can look into<br />
their audio courses, which provide students with<br />
the opportunity to learn how to use the latest studio<br />
technology, while there’s also the option of a Music<br />
Business qualification. Also on offer are courses in<br />
animation, video games and more. The open evening<br />
takes place on 5th <strong>July</strong> – head to sae.edu to register.<br />
The Merchant<br />
What’s On @ The Merchant<br />
Hats off and a round of applause to our building-mates THE<br />
MERCHANT, who’ve just won Bar Of The Year at the Liverpool<br />
Tourism Awards. And they’ve got a whole host of events going<br />
on in <strong>July</strong> to celebrate. Check out their listings and you’ll find<br />
something for every music taste: groove to Motown, funk and soul<br />
at Superstition, or indulge in 80s classics at the Vice City: Fla$h FM<br />
Special. Regular Merchant favourites will be on the decks as usual:<br />
every Thursday Joe Keenan presents Dig The New Breed; and every<br />
Sunday, the bar welcomes Anti Social Jazz Club for a mellow tour<br />
through the latest vibes from the contemporary jazz scene. So get<br />
down early, grab a slice of Nightcrawler pizza and celebrate with<br />
The Merchant.<br />
Frank Ocean<br />
Nature Feels<br />
Self-released<br />
I’ve always connected with the<br />
stories Frank sings about. I used<br />
to listen to the whole Nostalgia,<br />
ULTRA mixtape on the way to<br />
the studio, but Nature Feels has been my favourite track at<br />
the moment. His wordplay throughout the record inspired<br />
me to really think about exactly what it was I wanted<br />
to say and how I wanted to say it. Not just going with a<br />
line because it sounds cool, but sometimes breaking that<br />
boundary and saying something that doesn’t necessarily fit<br />
the melody.<br />
Don’t Beer The Reaper<br />
The city’s premier beer extravaganza has moved venue<br />
with an even more ambitious celebration of barley and<br />
hops on this year’s agenda at Invisible Wind Factory.<br />
LIVERPOOL CRAFT BEER EXPO will feature over 300 beers<br />
representing breweries from around the country, including<br />
Magic Rock, Beavertown and Tiny Rebel. As it’s no fun to<br />
drink in silence, a host of DJs will be spinning vinyl-only sets<br />
including yours truly taking care of the Saturday evening<br />
session with the likes of UpItUp records, Anti Social Jazz<br />
Club and Radio Exotica also providing the party tunes. The<br />
event, which spans four days between 26th and 29th <strong>July</strong>,<br />
will also showcase speciality gins, ciders and a street food<br />
market meaning it’s not only for the beer drinking fraternity.<br />
For more details go to liverpoolcraftbeerexpo.com.<br />
Liverpool Craft Beer Expo<br />
Nav<br />
Mariah<br />
XO<br />
I was listening to a lot of Nav’s<br />
stuff while writing and I think a<br />
lot of the topics he touches on his in songs really connect<br />
with me. As soon as I heard Mariah I had it on repeat for<br />
a solid week or so. His melodies and wordplay are what<br />
inspired me to keep writing and try different things within<br />
my songs.<br />
Suburban View is released on 6th <strong>July</strong>.<br />
NEWS 11
12
MC NELSON<br />
The South Liverpool MC brings a thoughtful approach to the Scouse rap revolution. He talks to us about<br />
kicking down doors and questioning what it means to be British in <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Intent on encapsulating what is to be growing up as a black<br />
person in Liverpool, MC NELSON is a manifestation of the<br />
generation who came of age in the midst of the thwarted<br />
coalition government. Nelson Idama was burgeoning in<br />
a society that was in both parts evolving and cracking under<br />
the social, political and cultural changes that were to follow.<br />
His music became a way of him spreading his message and<br />
commentary of that time, portraying a true reflection of his own<br />
life, in his music. Gently simmering until earlier this year, which<br />
saw the release of his single and accompanying video By The<br />
River – which has amassed over 50,000 YouTube views – he is<br />
now mechanised with the motive of digging into the past and the<br />
present to educate and progress the future of his own music, the<br />
Merseyside rap scene, and of society as a whole.<br />
Growing up in the leafy suburbs of Aigburth, Nelson’s<br />
introduction to and relationship with music started at an early<br />
age. He recalls one of his first musical experiences: his mother<br />
playing early rap, RnB and gospel music laced with “really cheesy<br />
raps, praising god”. But it wasn’t until his brother brought home<br />
burned copies of Dizzee Rascal’s Boy In Da Corner and Slick<br />
Rick’s The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick that music started to<br />
take over. Nelson immediately took to exercising this newfound<br />
obsession and started, aged nine, to write his own music. “I<br />
had a keyboard in the house where’d I’d write disgraceful raps,<br />
about my nine-year-old self,” he confesses, as we meet after his<br />
performance at Baltic Weekender. He’s relaxed when describing<br />
his first real artistic and creative realisation as a musician, beyond<br />
those baby steps as a nine-year-old: “When I was about 14 me<br />
and a couple of mates formed a grime crew. I was primarily a<br />
grime MC, but that fizzled out as it didn’t match my life at the<br />
time, so I moved to jazzier and more contemplative, lyric-focused<br />
music.” This gradual transition away from grime – which was a<br />
major component of the UK scene at the time – was inspired by<br />
the growing accessibility of other genres and the evolution of the<br />
internet. There he was able to discover De La Soul’s 3 Feet High<br />
And Rising, Nas’ Illmatic and Madvillain’s Madvillainy, albums that<br />
he says truly made sense to him and his existence, and led him to<br />
take a more considered approach and bring lyrics to the forefront<br />
of his music.<br />
It comes naturally for him to talk about his life and the<br />
struggles and challenges that it brings. “Things that I write<br />
about write themselves,” he tells me. “This is my life, now how<br />
do I make it rhyme?” However, the simple nature of his writing<br />
process is not reflected in the depth and acute focus of the<br />
lyrics; the issues covered in his songs are complex and difficult<br />
to portray. “I write about race, the relations between ethnic<br />
minorities, the working class and the police, even international<br />
relations. [Things] that have always been at the forefront of<br />
the news growing up and things that I’ve seen in the world, as<br />
a response to the government.” 2010 saw the start of a new<br />
coalition government that would bring with it new changes and<br />
increased racial tensions within an age of austerity and social<br />
confusion. Nelson marks the riots the following year as a major<br />
turning point in his relationship with social issues, one which<br />
forced him to be more introspective and reflect upon society.<br />
Nelson’s first single, By The River, is an articulate<br />
deconstruction of Liverpool’s dark history with the slave trade,<br />
highlighting the tensions that surrounded the resulting racism<br />
and objectification of the black population. Nelson’s intention<br />
for the songs was to educate, unravel and bring to the surface<br />
forgotten and known unknowns, that are still so evident in<br />
Liverpool today; Penny Lane, a street named after a slave<br />
trader, and even his own school, The Bluecoat, was founded<br />
by and deeply ingrained in the economy of the slave trade. To<br />
Nelson, these things needed to be brought to the forefront of<br />
people’s minds, acknowledged and not swept under the carpet.<br />
He describes a conflicted relationship with the city he loves,<br />
and admits that he’s sensitive to potentially harming the city’s<br />
reputation, acknowledging the press’ tendency to castigate and<br />
harm the reputation of Liverpool. “I do love Liverpool, and have<br />
loved growing up here, and it’s a city that has caught a lot of<br />
flack from the media. I don’t want to compound that reputation,<br />
but it has a history that is so toxic and laced with so many things<br />
that need to be brought to light. But I want to do it in a way<br />
that represents Liverpool well, which is a hard dichotomy, like a<br />
tightrope I’m walking on.”<br />
“Tearing yourself<br />
apart and trying to find<br />
something insightful to<br />
say is exhausting – but<br />
when you get to share<br />
that with the world,<br />
it’s so gratifying”<br />
Shortly after the success of By The River, Nelson revealed<br />
the follow-up track, Step Mother, which delves into his family’s<br />
origins in Nigeria and the complex relationship between Britain<br />
and Africa. Sonically, the track is more uplifting, lighter and not<br />
as musically layered, creating a more relatable vehicle for the<br />
challenging themes and subjects in the lyrics. “By The River is<br />
almost a tough listen, it’s dark. With Step Mother I wanted to<br />
make a tune that tackles big issues, like colonialism and British<br />
history, but I wanted to do it in a way that you could play it in the<br />
summer when you’re chilling in Sefton Park. It’s upbeat, it’s easy<br />
to digest, even if the lyrics are quite heavy.”<br />
Inspiration for the song came from when Nelson visited<br />
Nigeria last year. It provoked deeper thoughts of origin,<br />
the importance of history and the transitioning narrative of<br />
immigration from the time of British colonialism to the current day<br />
in the wake of the Windrush scandal and Brexit. Nigeria also has a<br />
rich musical vein that has run throughout the years of the nation’s<br />
past and has served as a big inspiration for Nelson’s music.<br />
“[There was] a lot of Nigerian music, a lot of Fela Kuti played<br />
growing up, and the lineage of black music, even hip hop, the<br />
really early remnants of it, can be heard in West African music.”<br />
Storytelling is the biggest factor in Nelson’s music, as he<br />
develops ideas that are too complex to nod to in just one bar<br />
of verse. He admits to previously showing little regard for the<br />
live and visual aspect of his music. However, this year, calling<br />
upon childhood friends Leech Video, he has effectively curated<br />
visual journeys with his videos, to amplify the messages hidden<br />
within the words. Using Childish Gambino’s This Is America as<br />
an example of how visuals can be a method of projecting and<br />
amplifying an artist’s message with more power and focus,<br />
Nelson elaborates on the sheer power of deeply layered videos<br />
as a tool. “If you listen to [This Is America] by itself it’s not even<br />
half the experience without the video,” he says. “Similarly, with<br />
the video, if you take the song by itself you only get a slither of<br />
what he’s trying to say. You get a completely different experience<br />
with both mediums. If you have a song that is message-focused,<br />
there is so much you can do visually that underlines the song.”<br />
Nelson says he never intended to play live shows, but has<br />
already supported the likes of Ghostface Killah, The Pharcyde<br />
and Loyle Carner. Performing has helped him develop the way<br />
he projects his music, and his live show is now a major focus<br />
going forward, evidenced by his powerful set on Africa Oyé’s<br />
main stage this year as one of their Oyé Introduces artists. He<br />
speaks glowingly of the gratification of people being receptive<br />
to his music in a live environment. “Tearing yourself apart and<br />
trying to find something insightful to say is exhausting – but<br />
when you get to share that with the world, and people actually<br />
enjoy it, it’s so gratifying.”<br />
Despite a recent move to London, Liverpool will always<br />
remain a major influence on his way of thinking and producing<br />
music. “Even if I don’t write a song about Liverpool, it’s always<br />
going to be Scouse hip hop at the end of the day, it’s always<br />
about Liverpool and a representation of Liverpool in some way.”<br />
Although his move to London wasn’t entirely musically focused,<br />
the advantages of stretching out and interacting with different<br />
cities is one that is unfortunately necessary for a young hip hop<br />
artist from Liverpool.<br />
Although the Liverpool scene is in what he describes as a<br />
healthy position, he believes there is still room for improvement.<br />
“We have Tremz and Aystar, who are definitely doing their<br />
thing in Liverpool, but there’s no reason that Liverpool shouldn’t<br />
have acts that are a national success.” He suggests homegrown<br />
artists moving away can help turn heads elsewhere in<br />
recognising Liverpool’s talent, by spreading the message and<br />
breaking down preconceived barriers around Liverpool, as a<br />
result of the city’s guitar-focused music history and a national<br />
stigma towards the region’s urban scene. There hasn’t been a<br />
rap artist that has come close to the success of Merseyside’s<br />
bands of the past, so nobody looks to Liverpool as an authority<br />
in the rap genre.<br />
Similar prejudices that previously faced UK grime in America,<br />
are still relevant to Scouse rap from those south of the M62. The<br />
Scouse twang is something that needs a bit more exposure in<br />
rap music for people to become for familiar to it, as the dialect,<br />
the hard consonants, the slit t’s and rising vowels are foreign<br />
and unfamiliar, but can offer a distinctiveness, character and a<br />
uniqueness that differs from the now familiar sound of London<br />
grime. Part of Nelson’s vison is to break down these barriers,<br />
and not just for his own success, but for the people around him<br />
and the ones yet to come. “I’d like to kick down some doors, not<br />
just for myself, but there’ll be a kid in school that doesn’t know it<br />
yet – by the time they come of age and start making music it’ll be<br />
even easier for them.”<br />
Energised by the positive reaction that he has been<br />
amassing across the country, Nelson’s not ready to rest on<br />
his recent success. He’s working on his first comprehensive<br />
body of work and, while he remains coy on the format of that<br />
release, he intends to tie a conceptual thread throughout all<br />
the songs, promising to continue pushing boundaries through<br />
his inquisitive tone of voice. Whatever the form his project may<br />
take, he insists it will all be threaded together by some common<br />
themes: immigration, colonialism, Liverpool, growing up black in<br />
the North and, ultimately, asking what it means to be British in<br />
<strong>2018</strong>. !<br />
Words: Jonny Winship / @jmwinship<br />
Photography: Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk<br />
soundcloud.com/mcnels0n<br />
FEATURE<br />
13
THE DSM IV<br />
“It’s good to confront people’s expectations.” Guy McKnight of THE DSM IV<br />
talks to Sam Turner about fame, mental health and mullets.<br />
When Guy McKnight suggests we meet for this<br />
interview at The Garden café in FACT at 10am<br />
on a Tuesday morning, I’m surprised. It’s a sober<br />
time and place to interview any rock star, let<br />
alone the man who led The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, a<br />
notoriously riotous group responsible for debaucherous anthems<br />
Celebrate Your Mother and Mister Mental. A dingy practice room<br />
or basement bar would surely be more appropriate? However, the<br />
more we speak, the more the time and setting make sense.<br />
We’re here to talk about his new project, THE DSM IV.<br />
Attracting big crowds and landing support slots with Drenge<br />
and British Sea Power, the electro rock trio are establishing<br />
themselves with McKnight’s communal sense of performance and<br />
explosive set meaning they are already transcending the Mersey<br />
locale. A quite different proposition to McKnight’s former charges,<br />
The DSM IV’s sound is driven by synths and drum machine rather<br />
than a punishing psychobilly clatter, albeit with the singer’s<br />
familiar Nick Cave-esque dark howl as prominent as ever.<br />
Aesthetically there is also much disparity, 80s-style tracksuits<br />
and mullets (trailblazers in this respect, McKnight insists – more<br />
of this later) replacing the gothic garb. I’m intrigued to find out<br />
what else has changed for McKnight.<br />
This morning, over a couple of black coffees, there is a<br />
focused, considered approach to McKnight. Each sentence is<br />
constructed with the utmost care, the tempo of speech creeping<br />
up almost imperceptibly when he excitedly talks of his new<br />
band and the worldview they are keen to put across to a new<br />
generation of music fans.<br />
“The last band did insanely dark… [a moment’s pause to<br />
“If your dreams and<br />
aspirations are connected<br />
to altruistic aspiration,<br />
you can be free and<br />
live as you please and<br />
not be egocentric”<br />
recalibrate]. It was really about the pain of being a young person.<br />
There was a lot of pain there and we didn’t try and mask that.<br />
[There was] a lot of emotion driving it and that’s what made it<br />
so exciting,” McKnight explains of Eighties Matchbox. “But with<br />
this band it’s multi-dimensional, more colourful, and I think this is<br />
perhaps more observational about… [long pause] life on Earth in<br />
the 21st Century.”<br />
The singer speaks fondly of the band with which he achieved<br />
so much, proposing that on their day they were a match for any<br />
group. Many would agree. Darlings of the NME (vanguards of<br />
one of many 00s scenes which the paper hastily flung together<br />
if more than two bands shared a similar cut of trouser), with a<br />
track finding its way onto a Nike advert for Euro 2012 and a<br />
multi-national fervent fanbase, Eighties Matchbox were a force.<br />
However, the glint in his eye suggests McKnight is just as excited<br />
about his current gang: “The DSM IV is based on a wish to<br />
remove suffering with joy and try and inspire people to be free.<br />
I’m confident that that determination runs throughout the music<br />
and is translated into everything we write together and record.”<br />
Such determination is represented by the band’s schedule. I<br />
meet McKnight on the eve of The DSM IV playing a run of shows<br />
in Brighton, Manchester and Sheffield. They are also in the midst<br />
of recording at The Echo Chamber in Wallasey with McKnight<br />
wanting to share some recorded material with people soon so<br />
they can “get a taste of what it’s all about”. In <strong>July</strong> they headline<br />
the Bido Lito! Social at DROP The Dumbulls.<br />
McKnight is impressed by how quickly crowds have warmed<br />
to his unusual performance style – the singer regularly taking<br />
leave of the stage to join the crowd is a hallmark of a DSM IV<br />
show. “It’s good to confront people’s expectations, but I think that<br />
goes back to the stage being a unique platform where people will<br />
accept things that they wouldn’t normally accept. As a performer<br />
you have an opportunity, a right, to cross those boundaries and<br />
engage face to face with people, whereas otherwise it would be<br />
considered inappropriate or rude, invading people’s space.”<br />
McKnight seems to be settling into life up north having<br />
moved up to Liverpool with partner and now-bandmate JJ three<br />
years ago, where they formed The DSM IV while working in<br />
a vintage clothes shop. However, there is one sartorial issue<br />
which he wants to get off his chest. “I’d not seen anybody at all<br />
sporting a mullet when I got mine. I figured I would start a kinda<br />
14
enaissance! There’s a kid in another Liverpool band who’s since<br />
got theirs chopped. I’m not surprised I’ve influenced them, just<br />
shocked at how shamelessly they’re trying to stake their claim<br />
that it’s ‘their thing’ by mentioning it ad nauseum on socials.<br />
Stop plagiarising my mullet! They’ll probably ditch live drums<br />
and invest in drum machines and synths soon, to find ‘their<br />
sound’!” His tongue is in his cheek, but McKnight is keen to get<br />
this bugbear into print, insisting it’s a matter of principle: “It ain’t<br />
cool for people to behave so unscrupulously.”<br />
In the Bold Street vintage shop, McKnight was determined he<br />
would meet the member who would complete the band’s line-up.<br />
He was right. “I was impressed by how skinny his legs were.”<br />
McKnight says of discovering DSM IV drummer Pav. “I asked if<br />
he’d be up for coming for a jam with me and JJ and he was just<br />
brilliant and one of the best drummers I’ve ever worked with.”<br />
With the administrative necessity of the ‘how we met’<br />
part of the story out of the way, McKnight looks to get onto<br />
weightier topics. Fastidiously clean and sober for eight years,<br />
there is a drive and determination about the singer that is<br />
inspiring. McKnight has a lot to say about society, issues of<br />
mental health and the relationship between the two. The band<br />
takes its name from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of<br />
Mental Disorders Volume Four, the publication used by medical<br />
health professionals in the States to classify and treat psychiatric<br />
conditions. Through researching his own mental health, McKnight<br />
has seen the manual come up repeatedly and is interested in<br />
the intersection between mental health, pharmaceuticals and<br />
commerce. “I am sure it has helped some people,” McKnight<br />
says of the book, again choosing his words with the excessive<br />
care. “[But] it’s a way to pigeonhole people and dehumanise and<br />
tell everyone there’s something wrong with them and therefore<br />
prescribing drugs and making money. Therefore it’s a kind of<br />
ironic name.”<br />
It’s a subject the singer is keen to talk about. As with<br />
everyone, mental health issues have had a huge effect on his life<br />
and those of the people around him. “Suicide in young men is on<br />
the rise and music has definitely saved my life too many times<br />
for me to remember,” McKnight tells me, the morning Americano<br />
kicking in. “We live in a confused, sick society that values money,<br />
success and a narcissistic, materialistic status driven culture,<br />
celebrity worship culture [it all] makes people really unhappy and<br />
ill.”<br />
For someone who has already achieved a level of success<br />
and fame, it is interesting to hear McKnight’s thoughts on how<br />
people with a platform can go about affecting change without<br />
being subsumed into a culture he sees as so poisonous. “It<br />
can feel confusing, counter-intuitive to want to be in a band.<br />
Sometimes there’s a misunderstanding between wanting to<br />
create music and wanting fame for fame’s sake. I think social<br />
media, Instagram culture, is making people ill but what do you<br />
do? Turn your back on society, or do you just throw stones at<br />
the wall, demand that it change? Or do you change yourself? I<br />
think that maintaining your integrity in life and still exist[ing] as<br />
a musician in this shallow animalistic music industry… you can<br />
affect positive change by standing up for what you believe in<br />
and, if your dreams and aspirations are connected to altruistic<br />
aspiration, you can be free and live as you please and not be<br />
egocentric.”<br />
He turns to me and smiles, satisfied that he has got to the<br />
crux of a core belief. While McKnight is obviously troubled by<br />
the subjects discussed, there is a contentment about him. We<br />
turn to the subject of inspirations and influences on his current<br />
project. Rather than namechecking the usual pantheon of rock<br />
and electro greats, McKnight cites Russian absurdist writer<br />
Daniil Kharms, a fascinating author who wrote the briefest of<br />
what now may be called flash fiction about old ladies smashing<br />
to pieces upon falling from windows and bizarre conversations<br />
between off-the-wall characters. Arrested on charges of<br />
spreading “libellous and defeatist mood” having feigned insanity<br />
in 1930s Russia, the now-celebrated writer wound up starving<br />
to death in a Soviet gulag. “He didn’t share the same ideologies<br />
as the state,” explains McKnight. “I’ve always been encouraged,<br />
fascinated by the surrealists.” This is another theme the singer is<br />
clearly passionate about, the intersection of official outlooks and<br />
outsiders’ perceptions of life, “I like the idea [of] transcending<br />
what’s expected. I think that transcendence is just liberating<br />
oneself from one’s own lesser self. It’s refreshing and I think that’s<br />
what art and music is for; it’s for reminding us that all is not as it<br />
seems and that there’s always hope.” !<br />
Words: Sam Turner / @Samturner1984<br />
Photography: Kevin Barrett / @kev_barrett<br />
The DSM IV play the Bido Lito! Social on 19th <strong>July</strong> at DROP The<br />
Dumbulls.<br />
FEATURE<br />
15
16<br />
Three decades ago the grand<br />
old art institution took root in<br />
Liverpool and helped bring about<br />
a sea change in the way we view<br />
art and culture in the city. Here’s<br />
to 30 more years.
It’s fair to say that, artistically, Liverpool has been riding the<br />
Capital Of Culture train since 2008. And why shouldn’t it?<br />
It’s been a hell of a ride over the last decade: 2008 marked a<br />
revolutionary change for Liverpool’s arts and culture scenes,<br />
with independent creative businesses from the Ropewalks to<br />
the Baltic Triangle blossoming alongside big-hitters like FACT,<br />
The Bluecoat and The Walker Art Gallery, gaining international<br />
recognition along the way. No other city knows how to show off<br />
its creative talents quite like we do.<br />
However, the journey started a long time before 2008, and<br />
its first stop was in 1988 with the regeneration of the newly<br />
named Royal Albert Dock. It started its new life by welcoming<br />
TATE LIVERPOOL to the colonnades, bringing modern and<br />
contemporary art to Merseyside. Dubbed the ‘Tate of the North’,<br />
it was the first time Tate had moved out of London, making<br />
Liverpool the official home to the national collection of modern<br />
art in the North of England. Tate’s presence in Liverpool no<br />
doubt caught the attention of the rest of the country and played<br />
a vital role in the formation of art organisations such as FACT<br />
by supporting Video Positive Festival in 1988. However, it does<br />
leave me to question if the booming creative landscape that we<br />
inhabit today would be so successful if it wasn’t for Tate’s move<br />
into city; would our creative quarters still be so fertile?<br />
“I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how many other<br />
venues would have developed and how Liverpool would look<br />
now in such a vibrant ecology of other institutions,” Jemima Pyne,<br />
Tate Liverpool’s Head Of Media And Audiences muses on the<br />
early days of Tate Liverpool. “There just wasn’t the same cultural<br />
economy then.” Tate Liverpool started off showcasing work from<br />
the Tate’s collection, which developed into curating international<br />
exhibitions and finally putting Liverpool on the artistic map.<br />
However, it wasn’t all plain sailing as Pyne recalls: “It was hard<br />
to have ambition, I guess, because there weren’t the resources or<br />
the ecology to make it happen.”<br />
30 years is definitely something worth celebrating and the<br />
two exhibitions Tate Liverpool have planned for this summer are<br />
clever nods to the history of the building and the journey it has<br />
been on. “I think we place expectations on ourselves,” Pyne says<br />
as she discusses the 30th birthday celebrations. “I guess one of<br />
the things about being 30 as an institution is it allows you to look<br />
back at your history, what you have done previously and how you<br />
can reflect on that.”<br />
This idea of looking to the past and the future of Tate<br />
Liverpool and the city was the main driving force behind this<br />
summer’s exhibitions. Life In Motion: Egon Schiele / Francesca<br />
Woodman is a celebration of exactly what it says on the tin,<br />
of a life in motion, of changing times, of two artists, very<br />
different in style but very relevant to the eras in which they<br />
were producing art. Tamar Hemmes, curator at Tate Liverpool,<br />
discusses the thought process behind creating the show: “We<br />
started with Egon Schiele and the thinking behind that was,<br />
10 years ago Liverpool was awarded the Capital Of Culture<br />
which was an incredibly important time for the city. At the time<br />
we had an exhibition of Gustav Klimt and Schiele was Klimt’s<br />
pupil – we wanted a connection to 10 years ago to celebrate<br />
that anniversary, but also to look forward because it is our 30th<br />
birthday. So that is why we wanted to look at the relevance of<br />
Schiele’s work today and we had some Francesca Woodman<br />
work in the Tate collection already. We thought that their<br />
approach to the human body had some similarities and we felt<br />
it would create an interesting dialogue between the two artists.”<br />
Not only is the exhibition a nod to an exciting time in Liverpool’s<br />
past, it also alludes to the very relevant topic of gender within the<br />
art world, across music and in Hollywood. “What we do is always<br />
related or relevant to the time we are in now. The expectation is<br />
to make sure that is what we are doing,” Pyne adds. “We want<br />
to welcome as many people as possible and not just people who<br />
love art. We believe that modern and contemporary art is really<br />
helpful for people to navigate the modern world; it is made by<br />
artists living and working now [and is] about their lives now. It’s<br />
about us opening our doors.”<br />
Opening up to the public is what the recent exhibition Ken’s<br />
Show: Exploring The Unseen has done with great success. The<br />
show saw a collection of art work handpicked by Tate Liverpool’s<br />
art handler, Ken Simons, who has worked in the building since its<br />
opening. The pieces reflect Simons’ favourite moments from over<br />
the decades, with works from Turner and Rothko stealing the<br />
show. Each piece is accompanied by a personal account of why<br />
Simons picked the work of art for his exhibition and is a moving<br />
addition to the show. Ken’s Show has allowed viewing artwork at<br />
Tate Liverpool to become more accessible; rather than having the<br />
gallery’s voice, you are spoken to by someone who has worked<br />
with the pieces in ways very few people ever get to do. “Ken’s<br />
take on the collection and how he has worked on it for so long<br />
brought a different kind of learning and insight [to the gallery],”<br />
Pyne explains. “We are interested in learning and academic<br />
learning about art history, we are proud we have that but there<br />
are other ways you can learn about art.”<br />
Teaching people about art and bringing people into the<br />
gallery is something Tate Liverpool puts at the forefront of their<br />
exhibitions and something Simons, who is now retired, thinks<br />
should be done more often: “We want to open it up to noncurators<br />
to do things in the gallery, to work with the learning<br />
staff to do small displays. I’d like to see our other staff be given<br />
the opportunity I have been given – you get a different voice then<br />
rather than just a museum voice. I think it’s something museums<br />
and galleries have got to do now, open up [to] the community<br />
more. That is a benefit to us because we are getting more people<br />
in through the doors.”<br />
To help get more people through the doors, Tate has<br />
recently introduced Tate Collective, an initiative which allows<br />
“Tate has an important<br />
role to play in showing<br />
that London is not<br />
the only significant<br />
place when it comes<br />
to culture in the UK”<br />
young people between the ages 16 to 24 to buy tickets to any<br />
special exhibition, in any Tate building, for £5. On top of that,<br />
students and staff at all of the Liverpool universities get into<br />
Tate Liverpool shows for free, which as Pyne suggests is “one<br />
of the benefits of being a young person in Liverpool”. Making<br />
art accessible for young people from an early age is vital for<br />
driving people to all types of art galleries and towards creating<br />
art. To help with this, a Tate Exchange open experiment has<br />
begun at Tate Liverpool. It is a space developed by artists and<br />
practitioners from Tate and beyond to encourage members<br />
of the public to collaborate on new ideas and discover new<br />
perspectives on life through the use of art. Tate Liverpool have<br />
worked with local arts organisations on the project to create a<br />
space open to everyone to enjoy pop-up art, live performances,<br />
workshops or just to meet like-minded people. It’s a brilliant setup<br />
that is encouraging people to explore art galleries in a nontraditional<br />
way and raise awareness for all the talented artists<br />
and creative people that reside in the city. “I think Tate Liverpool<br />
has an important role to play in showing that London is not the<br />
only significant place when it comes to culture in the UK. There is<br />
Egon Schiele, Self portrait 1914<br />
so much going on in Liverpool,” Hemmes explains. To really bring<br />
that to the forefront of people’s minds with programmes like Tate<br />
Exchange is an exciting step to raising awareness of Liverpool’s<br />
vibrant art scene.<br />
Tate Liverpool does have that kind of big brother feeling about<br />
it, but it would be wrong to say that it dominates art in the city.<br />
If anything, it creates reassurance that Liverpool is a city worth<br />
investing in, in terms of time, people, money and the opportunities<br />
to bring more art to everyone who wants to explore the world<br />
through their creativity. So here is to another 30 years of Tate<br />
Liverpool and to another 30 years of Liverpool as a whole leading<br />
the charge on making arts and culture accessible to everyone. !<br />
Words: Sophie Shields<br />
All images © Tate Liverpool<br />
Egon Schiele, Seated Girl 1910<br />
tate.org.uk/liverpool<br />
Life In Motion: Egon Schiele / Francesca Woodman is showing at<br />
Tate Liverpool until 23rd September.<br />
FEATURE<br />
17
BAR OF THE YEAR <strong>2018</strong><br />
LIVERPOOL TOURISM AWARDS<br />
40 SLATER STREET LIVERPOOL L1 4BX<br />
THEMERCHANTLIVERPOOL.CO.UK
GRIME OF<br />
From Toxteth Yutez to Grime Of The Earth, RUGZ DELETE talks to Iona<br />
Fazer about keeping alive the Scouse spirit of poetic wordsmithery.<br />
“That’s when I enjoy<br />
music, because you’re not<br />
trying to please everyone.<br />
If you’re just doing it to<br />
please yourself, it means<br />
you’re having fun”<br />
Once the home of poets and painters, Toxteth L8 is<br />
now the habitat of Scouse rap collective GRIME OF<br />
THE EARTH (GOTE), attempting to carry a proletarian<br />
sense of Liverpool’s working-class pride through a<br />
continuation of the oral tradition. Street ballads now take the<br />
form of grime tracks, a new style of poetry which, arguably, can<br />
provide a creative perspective on real life in one of Liverpool’s<br />
most notorious communities. Straight from the inner city to<br />
represent is CEO of Grime Of The Earth network, RUGZ DELETE.<br />
We sit down with Rugz to recount the waves made over 10 years<br />
ago by the original collective he played a part in, Toxteth Yutez.<br />
Rugz started music from a young age, alongside artists like<br />
Whispa B, Ragz and Reckless, who were then between the<br />
ages of 11 and 15. “Toxteth Yutez was made up of two original<br />
collectives called YGF and Grime Fam,” says Rugz, as he recalls<br />
fond memories of his origins. “We were all just kids, meeting up<br />
in our local youth club. It was here we were introduced to our first<br />
studio recording,” at the Liverpool South Methodist Circuit centre<br />
just off Princes Road, in the heart of Granby’s community.<br />
“Coming from London originally myself, I grew up with grime,<br />
it was everywhere,” Rugz continues, reflecting on a time when<br />
he knew little of Liverpool’s growing grime scene. “When I came<br />
to Liverpool I remember thinking I was going to be the only one<br />
who’d heard of it. How wrong I was.” Along with the impact of<br />
popular London collectives (Boy Better Know, Roll Deep and<br />
Nasty Crew) Rugz recalls how, as young developing artists, they<br />
had to look no further than their own communities for influence.<br />
“The music we connected to was being made by collectives like<br />
MOB and YOC. They had the real impact because they were who<br />
everyone wanted to be, but also who we could relate to because<br />
they were from round here.”<br />
Life in Liverpool and involvement in the whole community<br />
has given Rugz insight into the parallels between London and<br />
Liverpool’s grime scenes. “There’s always been a scene. In 2003,<br />
grime was at its height – I was in London when it started but it<br />
had crews popping here, too. Thing is, back then it was all about<br />
CDs and tapes, but now music has exploded through the internet<br />
and there’s potential for coverage and documentary. That’s why<br />
I do music, because they might look back in 100 years at your<br />
lyrics. Imagine, it might be your lyrics that they read in schools.”<br />
The release of their most memorable track Boy Better Know<br />
Bout Toxteth Yutez generated a wild response in the school<br />
playgrounds across Liverpool. Thinking back, Rugz describes<br />
the innocence of creativity in the creation of their local success.<br />
We didn’t think nothing of it, to us it was just a quick tune.<br />
No thought processes. Chaos – who’s now the Boxer Marcel<br />
Braithwaite – came with the hook. Next minute, everyone in<br />
school had Bluetoothed it on to their phones.”<br />
Before they knew it, this school yard fandom was turning<br />
into bigger activity for Toxteth Yutez. Soon, they were merking<br />
live sets in the city (“It started with Grime Fam and YGF, they’d<br />
perform one or two tracks then just put beats on”); Rugz speaks<br />
openly and with passion as he paints the picture of some of his<br />
best memories. “That’s when I enjoy music, because you’re not<br />
20
THE EARTH<br />
trying to please everyone. If you’re just doing it to please yourself,<br />
it means you’re having fun.”<br />
“We felt like superstars…” – Rugz is suddenly interrupted<br />
by the phone ringing. In the middle of recalling his most<br />
memorable moment he answers it to hear the voice of ILLICIT;<br />
the loudspeaker button opens the interview up to another one<br />
of GOTE’s active members. “Hold tight, Kofi… [Rugz says into<br />
the phone] The most memorable moment must be performing<br />
at the Philharmonic, it was the feeling I got on the bus. We felt<br />
like superstars!” Rugz explains how they got to the semi-finals<br />
of a competition organised by cousins Yaw and Kofi Owusu, and<br />
landed them live in Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall. “It was people<br />
sat all round like an opera. The energy was live.”<br />
Kofi Owusu, more widely known by his stage name Kof, is<br />
now the founder of Liverpool’s GoPlay Studio which offers the<br />
services and platforms to create and self-distribute urban music.<br />
Illicit recalls how “once Kofi got a studio and we got a bit of<br />
direction, that’s when it was on. From then it was all milestones.<br />
I think it’s because we’ve never forced anything, it’s kind of like<br />
how the best nights out are the ones that aren’t planned”.<br />
“It was all about the moment we realised we could turn a<br />
hobby into something real,” Illicit explains. “We just represent<br />
us and [aim] to show a new side to the North West. People<br />
look down on it until something happens and we just need<br />
conversations with the right people, like, we need the key to the<br />
door. We wanna meet the pacemakers and rub shoulders with<br />
people who share our unique, organic energy.”<br />
From Yutez to Youngers: in 2013, the self-evolving G-Fam<br />
morphed in GOTE, a collaboration with other artists to create a<br />
network which is locally known today as Grime Of The Earth,<br />
consisting of members GULLYMAN DREAD, RONNIE BIGGZ,<br />
WAVEY JOE, BIG-O and JEPORDY, alongside Rugz and Illicit. Rugz<br />
describes how the relationships formed naturally, some with roots<br />
in childhood friendship. “When we met we all had similar interests,<br />
we were likeminded and some of us grew up together, so in a way<br />
we’ve always known each other. So, we just said, ‘Let’s do this<br />
music’. It just happened.”<br />
Five years is a long time in this world, so much so that GOTE<br />
are now seen as veterans of the scene. Rugz looks back on the<br />
collective’s history, and how far they’ve come, with a sense of pride<br />
– but he knows that their work is far from finished. “Our first show<br />
was in The Zanzibar and it was hosted by Innuendo. Since then<br />
we’ve done loads of events, headlining a Hushushmedia event<br />
[MerseyGrime 2, at North Shore Troubadour], LIMF and we’ve put<br />
on our own events at Kitchen Street. We’re actually playing at LIMF<br />
again this year!”<br />
As with all other artists in this world, live shows as a<br />
whole crew are rare. Though it is of the streets and forged in<br />
communities, grime music is the preserve of the internet – and<br />
GOTE are no different. Their music exists as net videos on<br />
YouTube, both on their own channel and on those of LabTV<br />
and online UK urban network P110 (see Boxes by Rugz and<br />
Ronnie Biggz). GOTE are just about to embark on an expansion<br />
of their online network, too, with the release of further tracks on<br />
SoundCloud and the launch of their own website as a home for<br />
all the collective’s work. There’s also a buzz for the new range of<br />
the crew’s signature T-shirts, which have even become popular<br />
outside of the grime community.<br />
With one eye on the future, Rugz notes that the next<br />
generation are coming through quick and fast, keeping them on<br />
their toes. “[They’re] uploading their music: bang, bang, bang! Look<br />
out for the youngers, artists like C-Two, Shaff and Wavey Joe. For<br />
them now, it’s all about momentum and steady pace, it’s like my<br />
bar: ‘You got talent but where you gonna take it’. You need people<br />
to help you out, media like Bido Lito!, but more need to help out.”<br />
When asked who he would like to collaborate with, he replies,<br />
“With Liverpool artists. I don’t do enough with Liverpool artists and<br />
I think we should start at home and build from there, but there’s so<br />
many out there right now that I’d struggle to pick one out.”<br />
Having been in this game for a decade, he feels as though he’s<br />
still got plenty more to give, even with the next batch of Toxteth<br />
youths hot on his heels. For Rugz, giving up grime isn’t an option.<br />
“For me it’s about therapy. I mean, there have been times in my<br />
life when I’ve done it to please people, but ideally, I try to stay to<br />
pleasing myself. Even though sometimes grime is bad, I’d rather be<br />
rapping about it than doing it. It keeps me focused.” !<br />
Words: Iona Fazer / @ionafazer97<br />
Photography: Mdot Photography / flickr.com/mdotmaestro<br />
@grimeoftheearth<br />
FEATURE<br />
21
“I prefer works that<br />
make you travel,<br />
that tell a story,<br />
that force you to<br />
dream and take you<br />
elsewhere”<br />
ARTS CENTRAL<br />
Beautiful world, where are you? asks the 10th Biennial. In the latest in her Arts Central<br />
series, Julia Johnson looks at how a sense of location and time are rooted in the work of<br />
an artist from Dagestan, which can help us reflect on our own place in the world.<br />
One of the best things about LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL,<br />
which returns in <strong>July</strong> for its 10th edition, is<br />
the opportunities it provides for experiencing<br />
contemporary art from across the globe. Beautiful<br />
World, Where Are You? (as this year’s edition is titled) is not a<br />
showcase of art about Liverpool, but that does not mean the city<br />
does not become part of the work. “It’s the city which creates the<br />
frame for everything we present,” explains Liverpool Biennial’s<br />
director, Sally Tallant. “Either literally, because it’s inside the<br />
buildings or in the streets, or that by being here, the kind of<br />
narratives that emerge and the histories that define this place<br />
and our city become the starting point for thinking. I always talk<br />
about Liverpool as being a brain that the artists plug into; it has<br />
lots of different kinds of knowledge.”<br />
Out of everything that will take over the city for the summer,<br />
however, TAUS MAKHACHEVA’s project is perhaps one of<br />
this Biennial’s most ambitious in terms of considering what the<br />
audience experience of art actually is. This isn’t the first time<br />
Makhacheva’s work will have appeared at a Liverpool Biennial: she<br />
came as the representative for the Dagestan city of Makhachkala<br />
in 2012’s City States. She’s an artist gaining an increasingly high<br />
international profile, and a person about whom Tallant is very<br />
excited: “I think she’s really fantastic artist, very dynamic. It’s a<br />
great moment in her career and for Liverpool Biennial to be hosting<br />
her.”<br />
Alongside a screening of her stunning 2015 film Tightrope at<br />
St George’s Hall, Makhacheva is designing a new multi-disciplinary<br />
installation for Blackburne House: a spa, where visitors can (should<br />
they so wish) be treated to a full facial. This is a new way of<br />
quite literally absorbing art: the treatment will include a specially<br />
formulated moisturising cream named Painting In A Tube after its<br />
art-based ingredients. “Basically, if you put a painting in a blender<br />
and tried to make a cream out of it, it’s what would come out,”<br />
Makhacheva laughs, over a cup of tea and a break from the final<br />
preparations for the installation’s sculptural elements at Edge Hill’s<br />
Metal space.<br />
“I’ll start with a story,” she begins. “It’s only this year that I<br />
think I understood abstract painting, that I really sort of felt that<br />
it makes you present in front of it and that’s what it’s about, it’s<br />
about the nowness. But I personally prefer works that make<br />
you travel, that tell a story, that force you to dream and take you<br />
elsewhere.” The idea of the spa is to take people on this journey, to<br />
spend some time completely transported by sensual stimulation.<br />
Much of Makhacheva’s previous work has been set in the<br />
nature of her native Dagestan. In Tightrope, the land’s incredible<br />
rock formations and big skies offer important context. The spa<br />
seems, on first glance, to be born from an entirely different<br />
concept, based on the small and intimate rather than the grand<br />
panorama. In fact, Tightrope and the spa are two sides of the<br />
same coin.<br />
The undercurrents of meaning in the spa that we discuss<br />
flow deep, but two in particular repeatedly rise to the surface.<br />
One is the concept of “making time, about today’s relationship<br />
with time and just accepting your own time and letting people<br />
know that’s your time”. It was a very deliberate decision to create<br />
an environment that takes half an hour to fully experience. With<br />
time an increasingly precious commodity in our busy lives, and<br />
with the temptation for Biennial installations to simply be ticked<br />
off a list as ‘seen’, the spa demands you slow down and make<br />
time for a different, empathetic kind of contemplation.<br />
Time spent here, then, is to be time well spent. To ensure<br />
this, Makhacheva has included multi-disciplinary features to<br />
provide a sensory idyll of some kind or other for all visitors.<br />
She is fascinated by the phenomenon of ASMR videos, widely<br />
available online and specifically designed to stimulate the<br />
sense in particular ways. “ASMR, for me, is this very peculiar<br />
phenomenon about how to create this intimacy through screens<br />
with complete strangers. There’s this comfort and presence...<br />
that you somehow warm to.” Meanwhile, more direct experiential<br />
contact can be made with the beauticians themselves, who will<br />
double as storytellers recalling Biennial’s past and the history of<br />
artworks which have come to be taken for granted as part of the<br />
city’s landscape.<br />
Another recurring theme of our discussion is that of<br />
destruction. It’s a concept inherent in the theme of Beautiful<br />
World, Where Are You?, which was a title chosen to reflect the<br />
sense of instability of recent global conditions. “With these<br />
changes which are happening, it’s destabilising for everyone<br />
to think about what this new world might look like,” explains<br />
Tallant, while also explaining why Liverpool is the perfect place<br />
for artistic contemplation of the subject. “It’s a port city, an<br />
international city and we are all global citizens.” The perfect<br />
city, then, in which to explore what this uncertainty means via<br />
perspectives from an international art community.<br />
This concept of destruction will be physically represented<br />
through furniture made in collaboration with sculptor Alexander<br />
Kutuvoi, resulting from their experiments in physical destruction.<br />
“We bought one sort of classical bust – which feeds into beauty,<br />
perfection – from ancient Greece,” says Makhacheva. “We made<br />
moulds and we started breaking them. We made copies of the<br />
one that we bought and we broke about 20 heads to find perfect<br />
shards, and the shards got enlarged.” Those enlargements will<br />
form the very furniture that guests lie back and relax on.<br />
Hand-in-hand with destruction goes rebuilding – an apt<br />
enough theme in a city which has experienced its fair share<br />
of each. Makhacheva has been very inspired by studying and<br />
working with conservators: “The idea of a conservator is so<br />
similar to the beautician. This notion that the person lying on<br />
the beautician’s table... you are also a sculpture being repaired,<br />
remodelled.” She also talks about taking inspiration from<br />
Blackburne House itself. “It’s a very interesting space, the way<br />
they rebuild and give new skills to women who are sometimes in<br />
complicated situations.”<br />
And another, more positive destruction is also on<br />
Makhacheva’s mind – the destruction of barriers which hold<br />
people back from being able to access art. If one form of<br />
destruction is that of arts from school curricula, she hopes the<br />
spa might encourage engagement from people who may not<br />
typically want to access art: “It’s much more personal, trying to<br />
break down a screen for any audience member that might come.”<br />
This is one reason why it was important to place the stories<br />
which are told in the mouths of the beauticians, with scripts<br />
written by local writer David McDermott. “Usually it’s someone<br />
you might not consider intellectual, so we’re twisting that. You<br />
should never underestimate anyone.”<br />
Multi-disciplinary, contemporary ideas, yet highly accessible.<br />
The Biennial is all about bringing new and exciting work into the<br />
architecture of the city, and Makhacheva’s ideas are a perfect<br />
manifestation of what this might look like. !<br />
Words: Julia Johnson / messylines.com<br />
Photography: Tightrope (film still), 2015. Image courtesy the<br />
artist<br />
biennial.com<br />
Liverpool Biennial runs between 14th <strong>July</strong> and 28th October.<br />
Taus Makhacheva’s installation for this year’s Biennial will take<br />
place at Blackburne House.<br />
22
LIVERPOOL<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
MUSIC FESTIVAL<br />
<strong>2018</strong><br />
Stefflon Don, Wiley, Jax Jones, Young Fathers and more are<br />
heading to the magnificent surroundings of Sefton Park.<br />
With summer thus far actually being deserving<br />
of the term and Africa Oyé just passed, the<br />
next major event in the calendar, LIVERPOOL<br />
INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL, takes place<br />
on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd <strong>July</strong>. Set to return to the<br />
magnificent surroundings of Sefton Park, the sixth edition of LIMF<br />
falls a decade after Liverpool was crowned European Capital of<br />
Culture. Known as the Summer Jam in previous years, the shindig<br />
is now under the LIMF banner over two stages and two tents,<br />
meaning the entire affair can now be sampled in one easy dose.<br />
Topping out at 120,000 attendees for the past few years,<br />
the music runs from noon until 9pm on both days and features<br />
an eclectic mixture of genres across a line-up of 70 artists. Here<br />
we take a quick run-down of the big hitters and rising stars at<br />
this year’s event and find out exactly what will be happening<br />
in that park at the far end of Lark Lane (other access routes are<br />
available).<br />
Focusing on the showpiece Central Stage, Saturday sees one<br />
of the UK’s biggest breakout stars of the past 12 months, grime/<br />
dancehall artist STEFFLON DON making her highly anticipated<br />
debut appearance in Liverpool. With last year’s Top 10 charting<br />
collaboration with French Montana Hurtin’ Me to her name, the<br />
Hackney-based artist is beginning to make big waves across<br />
the Atlantic. The first UK artist to ever feature in US hip hop<br />
publication XXL’s annual Freshman Class poll, Stefflon Don<br />
currently stands as UK hip hop’s biggest international export.<br />
With freshly released single Senseless logging in excess of a<br />
million YouTube views in only a few days, further new material<br />
looks set to be aired at LIMF.<br />
JAX JONES – who collaborated on last year’s hit Instruction<br />
with Stefflon Don alongside US pop star Demi Lovato – has<br />
been a regular presence in the upper reaches of the UK singles<br />
chart over the past three years. I Got U with fellow UK producer<br />
Duke Dumont hit number one in 2014, while Breathe (featuring<br />
Norwegian singer Ina Wroldsen) saw him return to the Top 10 at<br />
home and across Europe late last year.<br />
Returning to Merseyside following an incendiary show in<br />
March, grime doyen WILEY will be a huge draw prior to the<br />
headliners. With his 12th album Godfather II landing in April,<br />
the ultra-prolific East London MC shows no slowing a decade on<br />
from his crossover smash Wearing My Rolex. Skilfully keeping<br />
a foot in both the mainstream and underground camps, anyone<br />
who missed the Godfather Of Grime’s sold-out show at 24<br />
Kitchen Street earlier this year is rewarded with his main stage<br />
appearance.<br />
Moving from Bow over to the district of Hammersmith,<br />
Young Fathers<br />
platinum-selling London rapper EXAMPLE & DJ WIRE supply<br />
the headline performance on Saturday. Almost a decade since<br />
his arrival in the mainstream, Example’s first album in four years,<br />
Bangers & Ballads, is due out in <strong>July</strong>. With a score of tracks that<br />
reached the upper end of the charts, expect the sure fire crowd<br />
pleasers and a score of new cuts from the Londoner’s five album<br />
deep catalogue.<br />
Moving on to Sunday’s menu of merriment: HAÇIENDA<br />
CLASSICAL pays homage to the era synonymous with the<br />
groundbreaking Mancunian club with a headline set on the<br />
Central Stage. Recreating tracks from the Madchester era with<br />
a full orchestra and some yet-to-be-announced guest vocalists,<br />
the venture is the brainchild of original club DJs Graeme Park<br />
and Mike Pickering. Starting initially as a clutch of standalone<br />
performances, the event has blossomed into a successful festival<br />
fixture over the past two years.<br />
A name that leaps straight out of the listings, for our eyes<br />
anyway, is YOUNG FATHERS. The genre-spanning trio are set for<br />
a late afternoon performance on Central Stage. Winners of the<br />
Mercury Prize for their 2014 debut album, Dead, the Edinburghbased<br />
outfit made themselves known in Liverpool the previous<br />
year with an outstanding performance at the legendary Kazimier.<br />
Proving that their first album was no fluke, the experimental<br />
hip hop outfit’s second offering White Men Are Black Men Too<br />
appeared in April 2015 to similar acclaim. Following that with<br />
a Massive Attack collaboration and a support tour with the<br />
Bristolian trip hop icons, the three-piece released their third LP<br />
Cocoa Sugar to across the board praise in April.<br />
Recently returning to the fray with acclaimed second album<br />
Someone Out There, Blackpool born singer songwriter RAE<br />
MORRIS unveils material from the new disc. Balearic beatmakers<br />
BASEMENT JAXX on DJing duties rounds off the acts towards the<br />
top of the bill. A number one seller in her native Norway, singer/<br />
producer AURORA unveiled Queendom – the first single from her<br />
imminent second album – to a sizeable buzz back in May and a<br />
move further into the spotlight in the UK looks highly likely.<br />
A quick journey across the park to the ItsLiverpool Next<br />
Gen Stage is next on the cards, as current and emerging local<br />
talent from this parish steps up to entertain the crowds in L8.<br />
Southport’s finest and Merseyrail Sound Station winner 2016,<br />
singer-songwriter ASTLES and recent Bido Lito! cover star, indie<br />
pop specialist ZUZU, are set to appear. Staying with that theme<br />
another cover star outfit, skiffle/alt.rock/near uncategorisible<br />
melodicists TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE also feature. With<br />
a buzz surrounding them for the past few years now, swirling<br />
psych rock outfit THE VRYLL SOCIETY are due to release their<br />
eagerly awaited debut LP Course Of The Satellite. Due for release<br />
through Deltasonic in August, the quintet round off the Next Gen<br />
proceedings on Saturday for the day with a headline set.<br />
Recently featured on the tastemaking BBC Introducing,<br />
where he recorded at London’s legendary Maida Vale studios,<br />
Washington, DC-born, Liverpool-based soul singer JALEN<br />
N’GONDA headlines the stage on Sunday. Prior to that, one<br />
of the city’s most incendiary live acts, alt.rockers QUEEN ZEE,<br />
continue their ascent, with performances from blues-inflected<br />
RnB vocalist SUB BLUE and rising psych rock quartet PALE<br />
RIDER among the other action.<br />
Moving from the stages over to the tents, the line-up for<br />
TRUE SCHOOL CLUB HOUSE on Saturday sees RnB doyen<br />
TREVOR NELSON heads up the bill which also features Soul<br />
II Soul mainman JAZZIE B and Balearic rave pioneer DANNY<br />
RAMPLING. On Sunday old school hip hop is on the menu as DJ<br />
JAZZY JEFF is topliner, with BBC Radio 6Music stalwart GILLES<br />
PETERSON is bringing his globe-spanning records to the decks.<br />
Let’s hope the sun is shining on this made-for-festival set.<br />
Following a highly successful debut appearance last year,<br />
THE SHUBZ DJ TENT makes its return for <strong>2018</strong>. Saturday sees<br />
producer and BBC Radio One DJ TODDLA T at the top of the bill,<br />
while Sunday is rounded off with a set from UK hip hop legend<br />
TIM WESTWOOD.<br />
All these plus a plethora of acts besides, with just under a<br />
month to go, you’ve got ample time to plan out who’ll you’ll be<br />
seeing in the Review Field at Sefton Park come late <strong>July</strong>.<br />
Words: Richard Lewis<br />
Photography: Mark McNulty / markmcnulty.co.uk<br />
24
LIMF ACADEMY:<br />
CLASS OF <strong>2018</strong><br />
While the main focus of this year’s LIMF will undoubtedly be on the two show-stopping days<br />
of music in Sefton Park, there’s a further strand to this sprawling festival that has Liverpool’s<br />
great tradition as a music hub at its heart. LIMF ACADEMY is an award-winning artist<br />
development programme that has been a key part of the festival since it debuted in 2013. Its<br />
emphasis is on ensuring a legacy of inspiring new musicians that will outlast all the fireworks and live antics<br />
in Sefton Park.<br />
The Academy process is open to all Merseyside musicians between the ages of 16 and 25, and offers<br />
a springboard to the best emerging talent in the region for developing a career in the music industry. Along<br />
with funding from PRS Foundation, LIMF Academy has established an Elite Talent Development Programme<br />
for three artists, selected from hundreds of entrants, deemed to be ‘most ready’ for a year-long period of<br />
mentoring and support. This year’s three Most Ready acts – electro-noir vocalist LUNA, soulful RnB singersongwriter<br />
RAHEEM ALAMEEN and prodigiously talented producer-vocalist KYAMI – will embark on a course<br />
of focused development from industry professionals, aimed at pushing them in areas like songwriting, live<br />
performance and general industry knowhow. Each artist will receive a bursary of £2,500, 12 months of<br />
mentoring from LIMF curator Yaw Owusu, professional press and promo assets, access to industry-specific<br />
masterclasses and a studio session with producer Steve Levine. Artists will also be invited to play on the<br />
ItsLiverpool Next Gen Stage at LIMF over the weekend of 21st and 22nd <strong>July</strong>, as well as further showcase<br />
performances across the UK.<br />
A further three acts – CAVEPARTY, NEW<br />
JNR and DELIAH – will also get the chance to<br />
perform at this summer’s LIMF and other satellite<br />
events across the country, and will have access<br />
to all the industry workshops as well as financial<br />
support and rehearsal time. A highlight of the<br />
previous two years’ Academy activity has been<br />
a collaboration between the Most Ready artists<br />
and Liverpool Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra,<br />
the kind of experience that just wouldn’t be<br />
possible without the help of a platform such as<br />
this.<br />
With traditional routes into the music<br />
industry on the decline, initiatives like LIMF<br />
Academy are becoming ever-more important to<br />
“The Academy continues<br />
to be a key indicator<br />
of potential elite talent<br />
and the actualisation<br />
of that potential”<br />
the development of young musicians. Since launching in 2013, the Academy has provided opportunities for<br />
almost 6,000 young artists to access the kind of industry insights that would normally only be available to<br />
artists on major label development deals.<br />
“The Academy continues to be a key indicator of potential elite talent and the actualisation of that<br />
potential,” says Owusu, who has been a driving force behind the Academy from the outset. “[It] continually<br />
focuses on the pathways for new emerging music artists from Merseyside. I think our ability to source,<br />
support and move forward a diverse set of new talent has been our strength.”<br />
The last five years have seen LIMF Academy showcase elite talent such as XamVolo, MiC Lowry, Eleanor<br />
Nelly, Jalen N’Gonda and Pizzagirl, with many picked up by major labels and leading management as well<br />
as achieving national and international radio support. And these artists have all noticed the upturn in their<br />
careers having been a part of the programme.<br />
“Aside from the confidence boost and the real world motivation to create, the tangible support the<br />
Academy offers you helps you think about everything in a different way,” says XamVolo. “I can only think of<br />
good things that have resulted in being a part of it.”<br />
“LIMF Academy has a been a really big help to me over the last few years,” agrees Pizzagirl. “The<br />
equipment I use to record and perform with was funded by the money given to me by PRS and the Academy.<br />
The help from all the guys at the Academy, personally and musically, really made me understand the industry<br />
a lot more clearly and feel more comfortable with managing other areas of music besides recording and<br />
performing.”<br />
In previous years there have been close to 20 artists selected to go through the whole process, and<br />
Owusu believes that paring it back to just six acts this year will enable them to dedicate more tailored advice<br />
to each of the musicians. “We are focusing on a smaller intake so that we can go a little deeper with the offer<br />
and activities, and play a really significant role in really helping these artists move to the next stage of their<br />
careers.”<br />
This year’s intake are also well aware of the opportunity they’ve been given and are prepared to grasp<br />
the chance with both hands. “I’m absolutely ecstatic to have been chosen as one of LIMF Academy’s Most<br />
Ready!” says Luna, who has been adding more strings to her bow of colourful electro production for the past<br />
couple of years. “It’s such an amazing opportunity for artists needing that push to the next level – through<br />
them I will be given opportunities that I would not be able to obtain myself.”<br />
It’s a sentiment that is echoed by singer-songwriter-prodcuer Kyami, originally from upstate New York.<br />
“The opportunities we have are something that a lot of self-starting artists really need. I think there are a lot<br />
of artists out there that are ready to take their careers seriously and take it to the next level and the support<br />
that LIMF Academy gives is really advantageous.”<br />
Having been involved in the process before, Raheem Alameen is well aware of the advantages of being<br />
part of the Academy’s tailored support, and the profile that comes with it. “I’ve worked with LIMF over<br />
the last two years, each year has got bigger and bigger. If you’re an artist who wants to take your career<br />
to the next level, LIMF Academy is definitely the place to start.” Splitting his time between his own soulinflected<br />
grooves and writing with MiC Lowry, Alameen is ready to take the plunge on his own now that this<br />
great opportunity has presented itself. “They give you support, guidance, contacts and a huge platform to<br />
showcase your talent on. It’s a perfect starting point for someone who’s serious about their career.”<br />
This is the third year that I’ve been a judge on the LIMF Academy selection process, and the opportunity<br />
given to these artists keeps getting better. The chance to really hone your craft and learn from experienced<br />
music industry bods is such a big thing for lots of these emerging artists, and it’s genuinely exciting to see<br />
how it will help them make the next step upwards in their careers. Unfortunately, opportunities to learn and<br />
develop on this kind of level don’t come up very often in the music industry, which makes LIMF Academy<br />
all the more important: it shows that they are committed to ensuring that the future of music in the city is<br />
invested in – both with time and money. That’s vital for continuing to develop a musical legacy that doesn’t<br />
just rely on things that have happened in the past, but which strengthens what will happen in the future. !<br />
Kymai<br />
Raheem Alameen<br />
Words: Christopher Torpey / @CATorp<br />
limfestival.com<br />
LIMF takes place in Sefton Park on the weekend of 21st and 22nd <strong>July</strong>. Keep up to date with all the activity<br />
around LIMF Academy at limfestival.tumblr.com. And watch out for our live sessions with the three Most<br />
Ready artists coming soon to bidolito.co.uk.<br />
Luna<br />
FEATURE<br />
25
UPCOMING EVENTS<br />
Become a Bido Lito! member to receive every copy of the magazine direct to their door. As well as this you will receive monthly free gifts, a<br />
digital bundle of great new Merseyside music and free admission to all Bido Lito! events.<br />
Go to bidolito.co.uk to find out more and sign up.<br />
Bido Lito! Special Event<br />
DISCO SÓCRATES<br />
+Wayne Snow<br />
+Oko Ebombo<br />
+ lots more<br />
Constellations - 30/06<br />
In honour of the ultimate antifootballer,<br />
socio-political<br />
activist and godfather<br />
of football cool, DISCO<br />
SÓCRATES is a one-day<br />
festival exploring music<br />
culture and its social and<br />
political impact around the<br />
globe.<br />
Bido Lito! Social<br />
THE DSM IV<br />
+Dead Houses<br />
+Wife<br />
DROP The Dumbulls - 19/07<br />
The new project of former<br />
Eighties Matchbox B-Line<br />
Disaster man Guy McKnight<br />
heads up a night in association<br />
with Society Of Losers with<br />
two of their finest roster artists<br />
in support.<br />
Bido Lito! Social<br />
SEATBELTS<br />
+The Aleph<br />
+Annexe The Moon<br />
81 Renshaw - 23/08<br />
Hooton Tennis Club off-shoot<br />
top a bill of fantastic, literate,<br />
indie pop at one of our favourite<br />
venues. Support act Annexe<br />
The Moon have enjoyed 6Music<br />
airplay this year while The<br />
Aleph are the much-loved side<br />
project of members of Ex-<br />
Easter Island Head.<br />
26
E V E N T H I G H L I G H T S<br />
JOIN THE CONVERSATION<br />
@ECHOARENA<br />
Star Wars: A New Hope Live in Concert<br />
28 November<br />
Cirque du Soleil: Ovo<br />
16-19 August<br />
The Magic of Motown<br />
1 December <strong>2018</strong><br />
16 September<br />
5 December<br />
3 October<br />
15 December<br />
Jack White<br />
20 October<br />
Liverpool International Horse Show<br />
28-31 December<br />
Paul Smith<br />
16 November<br />
Professor<br />
Brian Cox Live<br />
21 February 2019<br />
Bowie: Starman<br />
24 November<br />
40 Years of Disco 2<br />
23 March 2019<br />
GET YOUR TICKETS AT ECHOARENA.COM | 0344 8000 400
Degree<br />
places<br />
available<br />
for<br />
September<br />
IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO START<br />
YOUR AUDIO JOURNEY<br />
BA/BSc Audio Production Degree<br />
2-year fast track degree<br />
Electronic Music Production<br />
12 week course<br />
Visit our campus:<br />
5 <strong>July</strong> <strong>2018</strong>, 6-8pm<br />
www.sae.edu/gbr/events<br />
SAE Liverpool<br />
38 Pall Mall<br />
Liverpool<br />
L3 6AL<br />
0151 255 1313<br />
enquiries@sae.edu<br />
www.sae.edu/gbr/audio<br />
@SAEUK<br />
@SAEInstituteUK<br />
@sae_institute_uk<br />
#proudtobecreative
25 Parr St, Ropewalks, Liverpool, L1 4JN<br />
OPEN 12pm - 3am<br />
5pm til 9pm - SUNDAY TO FRIDAY<br />
£2 Slices<br />
£10 Pizzas<br />
2-4-1 cocktails<br />
cheap plonk<br />
12pm ‘til 3pm Mon to Fri<br />
Choose 2 Slices
SPOTLIGHT<br />
REMY JUDE<br />
A social commentator who brings a dash of nu soul goodness to<br />
Liverpool hip hop, along with an unflinching lyrical honesty.<br />
“I want people<br />
to sing and enjoy<br />
my music as<br />
much as I do”<br />
“My musical style is like if someone totally unqualified stepped<br />
into a room full of professionals, dressed in dungarees, toting a<br />
blag CV.” REMY JUDE delivers his answers with the right amount<br />
of self-depreciating humour, but don’t let him fool you; his CV<br />
is impressive enough. The Liverpool-based soulful rapper first<br />
jumped onto our radar when he performed his debut headline<br />
show as part of Constellations’ Live Music Thursdays. Since then,<br />
he’s immersed himself in Liverpool’s music scene, performing with<br />
local favourites including fellow rapper and friend MC Nelson;<br />
he has a Melodic Distraction radio show, Yes Music, with music<br />
blogger Aiden Brady, in which they dissect and contextualise<br />
the history behind their favourite tunes; and, perhaps most<br />
impressively, he has held his own supporting jazz and hip hop<br />
rising star Alfa Mist and electronic music innovators Mount Kimbie.<br />
Dungarees or not, Remy Jude is serious about music.<br />
Performing before Mount Kimbie at Invisible Wind Factory<br />
was clearly a defining moment – “It made me think about what<br />
the future could hold” – and with the recent release of Church<br />
Parish Society, a 10-track, self-released mini-album, that future<br />
certainly looks bright. The album’s strength lies in Remy Jude’s<br />
poetic and carefully considered use of words: see “Imma picky<br />
writer/With a handful of rhymes/Manipulate the city/’Til it’s<br />
takeover time” in (Where U From?). This lyrical rapping, which<br />
sometimes blends into the confessional, takes centre stage over<br />
smooth, hip hop beats and simple melodies. His lyrics describe<br />
his lived experience, which feels relatable and honest. “The world<br />
I live in and interact with is what informs my songwriting. I try<br />
and stay active and keep my ears to the ground.”<br />
Remy Jude joins a number of male hip hop artists using<br />
the genre as an almost cathartic exploration of the self: “I think<br />
making music is how I express myself best. I can wean myself off<br />
any negative train of thought by applying myself to music.”<br />
When it comes to playing shows with his heroes, he isn’t shy<br />
of nailing his colours to that mast. “King Krule [is] my absolute<br />
idol; I’d move heaven and earth to play before the King.” Jude’s<br />
album – especially on the title track and The Energy – would<br />
also appeal to any readers who fell in love with Loyle Carner’s<br />
stripped-back, easy listening brand of hip hop. He’s another<br />
artist that Remy Jude would love to support: “I think Loyle Carner<br />
would be a great fit for me. In 2015, I saw a very raw Loyle and<br />
Rebel Kleff set at The Kazimier. A year later, I saw them steal<br />
the limelight at Kitchen Street from a fairly high profile bill that<br />
included Rejjie Snow.”<br />
Ultimately, Remy Jude’s love of words, of music and of what<br />
he does seeps into Church Parish Society and charms the listener.<br />
He tells me that Band Bak 2Geva is his favourite track to perform<br />
because the crowd often sing it back: “What does that say about<br />
me? I suppose it says that I want people to sing and enjoy my<br />
music as much as I do.”<br />
Words: Maya Jones<br />
Photography: Hannah Metcalfe / hannahmetcalfe.co.uk<br />
remyjude.bandcamp.com<br />
Church Parish Society is out now via Third School Records.<br />
30
SPILT<br />
Runcorn’s latest rock rabble rousers are on the<br />
kind of march that makes them difficult to ignore. In<br />
their case, ignorance is definitely not bliss.<br />
“Sometimes it’s<br />
good to write<br />
things that just<br />
don’t make sense<br />
but sound good”<br />
If you had to describe your music in a sentence, what would<br />
you say?<br />
Ron (Bass, Vocals): An infusion of grunge and psychedelia – not<br />
psychedelic, but psychedelia with a hint of DIY… and punk.<br />
Josh (Drums): Nah, it’s all grunge-core-taxi-pop, isn’t it?<br />
Have you always wanted to create music?<br />
Mo (Guitar, Vocals): I’ve never really been into any other celebrityism<br />
apart from musicians.<br />
Josh: I just like to make noise. The idea of being in a band seemed<br />
like the best thing for me to do. With drums I can express myself<br />
without actually having to express myself, it’s just the sound of<br />
wood hitting skin.<br />
Mo: It’s like a biography… if you know what I mean…?<br />
Ron: Yeh, like a stamp. ‘I was here,’ kinda thing.<br />
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially<br />
inspired you?<br />
Ron: The first gig I ever went to blew my mind. I can’t even<br />
remember what it was, but I felt everyone moving at the same<br />
time, like a wave, and it was just crazy to me.<br />
Mo: When I was really young – like five or so – my dad used<br />
to blast Pink Floyd, probably way too loud. He used to analyse<br />
everything as well, and I think that’s probably why I analyse a lot<br />
of things now and try to express that in my music. He used to say<br />
that you can’t just listen to a song you have to listen to the whole<br />
album. It’s a good concept, it proves that it’s a very well thoughtout<br />
piece of art and not just a catchy tune. It’s more emotive, like<br />
when actors do that thing where they pretend to be a certain<br />
person for ages, what’s it called…?<br />
Josh: Method acting.<br />
Mo: Yeh, yeh. You feel like you’re put [inside] their piece of art. Not<br />
any particular song, just Pink Floyd in general.<br />
What do you think is the overriding influence on your<br />
songwriting: other art, emotions, current affairs – or a mixture<br />
of all of these?<br />
Mo: A mixture of it all, really. But I usually write a full song that I<br />
give to the band.<br />
Josh: When you do that my job is to just play what I’m feeling<br />
based on the vibes you’re giving off.<br />
Mo: Sometimes I write quite politically, but I don’t really know<br />
much about politics. I just write about what I feel is going on<br />
myself. But it’s also from our own personal lives – interests,<br />
habits, analysing my friends’ habits and the people around me<br />
generally. And sometimes it’s good to write things that just don’t<br />
make sense but sound good.<br />
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in? If so, what<br />
makes it special?<br />
Ron: Maybe Sound Basement.<br />
Josh: It has to be Studio2, it’s where it all started… well, where it<br />
started in Liverpool. And I feel it’s where the crowd has been the<br />
best. Everyone in the crowd had the same feeling we did, maybe<br />
because Mo was so close to them and was shouting at them to<br />
move more.<br />
Mo: Yeh, it’s sentimental as well. When we first played there<br />
we were like, ‘Waaa!’ This is where the scene is, rather than in<br />
Runcorn or Warrington where it’s all emo bands playing in pubs.<br />
Liverpool isn’t really our home ground because we’re all bad<br />
wools, but all our mates we’ve met through music are here and<br />
we spend most of our time here now. Plus, we’ve all got really<br />
Scouse families.<br />
Why is music important to you?<br />
Josh: I like being able to just exclude myself from everything and<br />
just put my headphones on.<br />
Ron: It’s a way to get across one way of thinking.<br />
Mo: I always wanted to be a painter, but I’m better at writing<br />
songs.<br />
Josh: You can put your opinions across without people just<br />
shouting at you. I dunno, like… you can say something and you<br />
won’t get shit for it, unlike if you just said it straight up, if that<br />
makes sense.<br />
Words: Frankie Muslin<br />
Photography: Dave Crane<br />
soundcloud.com/spilt-band<br />
Spilt’s single Lalka b/w Saliva is out now via Anvil Records.<br />
SPOTLIGHT<br />
31
PREVIEWS<br />
“Be completely<br />
open and ready to<br />
be transported into<br />
an adventure of the<br />
soul and heart”<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
EMEL MATHLOUTHI<br />
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival @ Invisible Wind Factory – 07/07<br />
A rebel with a cause and a voice to inspire a nation.<br />
Emel Mathlouthi’s strident music is charged with<br />
emotion and political invective that resonates<br />
across the globe.<br />
From forming a goth-metal band at university to being dubbed the “voice of the Tunisian<br />
revolution,” EMEL MATHLOUTHI has had quite the journey. In 2010, after being banned<br />
from official Tunisian airwaves due to her outspoken, unflinching lyrics, Mathlouthi<br />
was filmed singing Kelmti Horra (My Word Is Free) during a street protest in Tunis. The<br />
video quickly went viral and the song became something of an anthem for the Arab Spring. An<br />
album of the same name followed in 2012, and received critical acclaim for its unique blend<br />
of electronic beats and traditional Tunisian rhythms. Hints of trip-hop, rock and folk are held<br />
together by Mathlouthi’s hauntingly beautiful Arabic vocals, and the result is an astonishing<br />
debut that sits alongside the great protest music of our time. In 2015, Mathlouthi was asked to<br />
perform Kelmti Horra at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo: a near-perfect conclusion to<br />
this musical chapter of her life.<br />
If there’s one defining characteristic from her work, it is that Emel Mathlouthi refuses to be<br />
defined by anyone. With her second album Ensen (2017), Mathlouthi built on the electronic beats of<br />
her debut and sought to move away from the label protest musician. Despite now residing in New<br />
York, and having a growing international fan base, Mathlouthi ensures that her music is still rooted<br />
in the Arab world: Ensen means ‘human’ in Arabic, and the lyrics cover global issues and conflicts.<br />
She worked with French/Tunisian producer Amine Metani and Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson<br />
(Björk, Sigur Rós), recording the album across seven different countries. Barely a year later, she<br />
released a reworking of the album, Ensenity (<strong>2018</strong>).<br />
Maya Jones caught up with Mathlouthi ahead of her performance at this year’s Liverpool Arab<br />
Arts Festival (LAAF) to discuss the power of protest music and her seemingly endless creativity.<br />
Her performance on the opening weekend at Invisible Wind Factory looks set to be anything but<br />
predictable.<br />
How would you describe your musical style, for our readers?<br />
This is hard. I would say cinematic, experimental pop.<br />
Can you talk a little about the link between music and protest?<br />
I think everything is connected. As human beings, we process things all together. Things cannot be<br />
separated because it’s all about what we feel. Music connects us to a sort of depth in ourselves and<br />
it can heal everything we feel frustrated about. We need art to process all the things that are going<br />
wrong around us. So, I think when art is about topics that are important to us, it helps to deal with<br />
the issues.<br />
Has being known as “the voice of the Tunisian revolution” ever felt limiting?<br />
Yeh, it is limiting, especially when I’m in a position where I am trying to find a place in the world, and<br />
I don’t necessarily want to be defined only from one angle. I feel it is very limiting when it gives the<br />
western media an excuse to define me, keep me boxed and draw invisible lines between me and<br />
where I want to go. I’m trying to be 100 per cent myself and still be convinced of my values and my<br />
deepest convictions about the world. But, at the same time, I need to be considered as a musician,<br />
as a music producer and as a voice. So, it’s complicated at times, but I think I’ll get there.<br />
How has moving to New York influenced your music?<br />
It’s definitely helped because it’s given me more of an international platform; I have a completely<br />
different view of the world. I feel like I want to go as far as my music can and I’m not limiting myself<br />
to one territory any more. At the same time, it’s given me more means to support my creativity and<br />
push it as far as possible. Like, I’m not even trying to stop myself or restrain myself. I feel like there is<br />
a very liberating feeling that I’ve been experiencing here. It keeps me going.<br />
Do you think you are singing to a different audience now?<br />
My audience has definitely grown and I intend to make it grow more. I want to access all the clubs<br />
and gigs that have not been offered to me before.<br />
Can you explain the premise behind Ensen and why you chose to record it in seven different<br />
countries?<br />
It wasn’t exactly a choice; I was just looking for the best environment and the best collaborator.<br />
Eventually, I ended up working with a few different people. I always like that approach because I like<br />
to search as far as possible in order to give the songs more soul, more depth and creativity. [Each]<br />
person brings a different feel and a different perspective. I’ve always needed that. I think that every<br />
country just brings a different piece of the puzzle; it brings it more light.<br />
You’ve just released a remix album, Ensenity. How was the process of making this different to<br />
your other work?<br />
I’m always looking for new, fresher approaches to my music and I’ve always been eager to discover<br />
more producers and creative people. This time I decided to give them carte blanche, you know,<br />
and let them play around with some of the songs from Ensen. I didn’t want to call it a remix album<br />
because it’s not; it’s a rework album. It’s actually a dream for a singer or an artist to see their songs<br />
dressed differently. And I’m very fascinated by how you can never stop working on a canvas; you<br />
can always discover new paths. It also helps artists to connect with each other, which we don’t<br />
necessarily do very often. We’re all trapped in our little universes, so this was a good opportunity for<br />
me to connect with other creative people and see how my music can live differently.<br />
And finally, what can we expect from your upcoming performance at Liverpool Arab Arts<br />
Festival?<br />
Well, I’m very excited because this will be my first time in Liverpool. I think people should come to<br />
the show with not much expectation, because it will be different anyway. Everyone should come<br />
and be completely open and ready to be transported into a different adventure: an adventure of the<br />
soul and heart. !<br />
Words: Maya Jones / @mmayajones<br />
Photography: Julien Bourgeois<br />
emelmathlouthi.com<br />
Ensenity is out now via Partisan Records. Emel Mathlouthi appears in Liverpool as part of Liverpool<br />
Arab Arts Festival – head to page 35 to read about what else you can see at this year’s festival<br />
32
Minton Floor, St. George’s Hall<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
Liverpool Biennial<br />
Various Venues – 14/07-28/10<br />
The Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art returns for its<br />
10th edition, marking 20 years of showcasing international<br />
art in this city. As the art world turns to Liverpool, the<br />
city is also reflecting on the 10 years since it was named<br />
European Capital of Culture. This year’s title could seem at odds with<br />
these achievements; Beautiful world, where are you? does not invite<br />
celebration, but is a stark reminder of how art cannot be separated from<br />
the social, political and economical turmoil of our present world. With<br />
an explosive, boundary-pushing programme, the Biennial will reflect on<br />
this uncertainty and, hopefully, paint a picture of the beautiful world we<br />
know is possible.<br />
A sure highlight of this year’s Biennial will be French filmmaker<br />
AGNÈS VARDA, whose first film, La Pointe Courte (1954), is widely<br />
considered to mark the beginning of French New Wave filmmaking. At<br />
89, Varda became the oldest Oscar nominee in history, and celebrated<br />
by sending several life-size replicas of herself to the Oscar nominees’<br />
lunch. She’ll be taking over FACT for the duration of the Biennial with<br />
a show that should make headlines for a different reason. Varda will<br />
present a new three-channel video installation, which is the first work<br />
she has created in the UK, alongside her seminal film, Ulysse (1982).<br />
The UK’s HOLLY HENDRY will be exhibiting her work at Exchange<br />
Flags. Her commission will fill the space with pre-cast concrete and<br />
fibreglass sculptures as a nod to the tunnels and links that reflect<br />
Liverpool’s architectural history. Another public area that looks set to be<br />
an unexpected highlight of the Biennial is the floor of St. George’s Hall<br />
– 30,000 Minton tiles make this one of the most spectacular surviving<br />
examples of Victorian flooring.<br />
And because we couldn’t resist a nod to the musical elements of<br />
the Biennial, our final recommendation is USA-born/Berlin resident,<br />
ARI BENJAMIN MEYERS. He will conduct a series of video portraits<br />
with local musicians and construct a film-based work that explores the<br />
concept of living a life defined by music. After all, the Biennial wouldn’t<br />
be complete without a nod to Liverpool’s rich musical history.<br />
Martin Parr<br />
EXHIBITION<br />
New Brighton Revisited<br />
The Sailing School, Marine<br />
Point, New Brighton<br />
14/07-25/08<br />
The seaside town that time nearly forgot is the subject of<br />
this stunning set of photography from three internationally<br />
renowned British photographers. This group show brings<br />
together the New Brighton pictures of MARTIN PARR, KEN<br />
GRANT and TOM WOOD, the first time that work from all three<br />
photography greats have been exhibited together.<br />
Showing in a sailing club in the town from which the pictures<br />
stemmed, this innovative exhibition records three decades of life<br />
and activity around New Brighton through the eyes of the three<br />
photographers as they lived and worked in the town. Parr, Grant and<br />
Wood found themselves basing their early lives and careers within the<br />
New Brighton area and all three discovered a fascination and beauty in<br />
the town; within its streets, its seafront, its visitors and its residents. Each<br />
photographer captured, in their own individual styles, moments of the<br />
town’s life from the late 1970s to the end of the 19<strong>90</strong>s.<br />
Martin Parr’s The Last Resort series between 1983 and 1986<br />
cemented him as one of the world’s most iconic photographers, for his<br />
ability to capture the essence of Britishness. The series captures a period<br />
in New Brighton history and is a time capsule of the working-class family.<br />
Tom Wood exhibited alongside Parr in the original showing of The Last<br />
Resort in 1985, and their pictures look at working class reality over three<br />
consecutive summers, capturing not only the chip shop wrappers and<br />
cigarettes, but also the warmth and real honesty of the area.<br />
Ken Grant spent time working as a carpenter and lived in the<br />
New Brighton area during the 1980s and 19<strong>90</strong>s. As such, he brings<br />
a touch of empathy to his documentation of the humdrum realities of<br />
his contemporaries, and his photographs depict the everyday lives and<br />
habits of the people who called New Brighton home.<br />
The show will also revisit Tom Wood’s most famous collection,<br />
Looking For Love. Now regarded as a classic of the time, this series<br />
depicts the drinking, dancing, revelling crowds at the Chelsea Reach, a<br />
now-defunct nightspot in the town.<br />
PREVIEWS 33
PREVIEWS<br />
GIG<br />
Dauwd<br />
The Reeds – 07/07<br />
From the world famous clubs of Berlin to the acclaimed African Acid Is The<br />
Future radio show on Worldwide FM, DAUWD has been making a mark on the<br />
electronic music scene. Taking a slight detour from his usual busy club nights,<br />
the producer and techno don comes to Liverpool for an exclusive, intimate<br />
party at The Reeds. The rescheduled show has only 100 tickets and promises<br />
plenty of room to dance (a rare feat with Liverpool’s busy club nights). The<br />
quieter, laid-back house music of Dauwd’s latest release and debut album,<br />
Theory Of Colours, will no doubt complement this relaxed set-up. Hurry up<br />
and grab one of the few remaining tickets; as a well-known fixture of the Berlin<br />
club scene, Dauwd may not play many more small UK gigs.<br />
Dauwd<br />
EXHIBITION<br />
John Moores Painting Prize<br />
Walker Art Gallery – from 14/07<br />
The UK’s best-known painting competition, which brings this country’s<br />
finest contemporary paintings to Liverpool, is imminent. From mid-<strong>July</strong>,<br />
the John Moores Painting Prize exhibition will showcase work from the<br />
winner and finalists, forming a major part of the Liverpool Biennial. <strong>2018</strong><br />
will mark the prize’s 60th anniversary, and this year’s judges include<br />
MARVIN GAYE CHETWYND and the 2017 Turner Prize winner LUBAINA<br />
HIMID, whose exhibition Meticulous Observations and Naming The<br />
Money was a huge success at the Walker earlier this year. Works by<br />
previous winners are also on show at the Walker, giving art lovers the<br />
chance to look at the history and legacy of this internationally renowned<br />
competition.<br />
John Moores judges<br />
GIG<br />
Bido Lito! Social w/ The DSM IV<br />
DROP The Dumbulls Gallery – 19/07<br />
To celebrate <strong>Issue</strong> 91 of our pretty pink pages, we’ve teamed<br />
up with Society Of Losers Records to put on a night of<br />
brilliantly noisy and loserrific music. Energetic and attentiongrabbing<br />
THE DSM IV will be headlining, with support from<br />
Society of Losers’ DEAD HOUSES and WIFE. Entry is free<br />
for members, and it’s the perfect chance to socialise with<br />
fellow music-obsessives while getting that first glimpse of<br />
our beautiful magazine. So get down to DROP The Dumbulls,<br />
embrace the loudness and release your inner loser.<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
Brazilica<br />
Pier Head Village – 14/07<br />
Every year, artists from across the globe join Liverpool’s residents for a huge, unique celebration<br />
of Brazilian music and culture. Saturday’s line-up will see performances by French/Brazilian singer<br />
AGATHE IRACEMA, percussion-driven electronic quartet PENYA, and Brazilian funk/Latin ska<br />
group THE FONTANAS. Rio de Janeiro singer-songwriter ALEH FERREIRA will also bring his<br />
blend of reggae and samba rock to the main stage. The festival ends with the UK’s only Brazilian<br />
Samba Carnival, in which samba bands from across the country take part. Expect a glittering and<br />
extravagant parade of dancers, floats and Brazilian music quite unlike anything else Liverpool has<br />
to offer. Afterwards, the carnival atmosphere continues at Camp and Furnace with the official<br />
Brazilica after party.<br />
GIG<br />
Bill Nickson<br />
The Jacaranda – 06/07<br />
Bill Nickson<br />
Wirral-based BILL NICKSON has mastered the art of lo-fi bedroom pop, and charmed Liverpool’s music scene along<br />
the way. A regular on the circuit, his upcoming gig at The Jacaranda, complete with a full band, looks set to be another<br />
crowd-pleaser. Nickson’s most recent single, What To Say, was his first release via The Label Recordings and was<br />
compared to both Car Seat Headrest and Pavement when it premiered on Clash. It’s a silky smooth track full of charm<br />
and hooks that will sound great live. Support on the night comes from garage rock trio HEY BULLDOG, indie Britpop<br />
four-piece OCTUPUS and local singer-songwriter HARRY MILLER, who will be performing an acoustic set.<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
Bluedot<br />
Jodrell Bank – 19/07 – 22/07<br />
For anyone with a love of science and music, the award-winning, family-friendly,<br />
intergalactic festival BLUEDOT is an out-of-this-world experience. Set against the<br />
backdrop of the iconic Lovell Telescope, Bluedot combines a brilliant line-up with<br />
live science experiments, talks and interactive artworks. This year’s headliners are<br />
electronic music visionaries THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS, magical psychedelic rock<br />
band THE FLAMING LIPS and synth pop kings FUTURE ISLANDS. But the real<br />
highlight looks set to be Thursday night’s BLUE PLANET IN CONCERT with the Hallé<br />
Orchestra, which will feature footage from the original Blue Planet series. You can<br />
buy tickets for this event separately, but we recommend the whole festival for a truly<br />
experimental weekend.<br />
Bluedot<br />
34
GIG<br />
Psycho Comedy: Welcome To<br />
Smashville<br />
The Royal Standard – 07/07<br />
PSYCHO COMEDY’s music and concept are somewhat hard to define. So,<br />
in comes Welcome To Smashville, which promises an introduction into<br />
the group’s weird and surreal world. The five-piece band blend classic<br />
rock with psych, but it’s their multidisciplinary approach to performance<br />
that sets them apart. You can expect live music, performance art, spoken<br />
word and visual art from the evening at The Royal Standard. They<br />
will also be showcasing the first screening of Caitlin Mongan’s Psycho<br />
Comedy documentary. If you’re still a little confused about what to<br />
expect, just turn up: Psycho Comedy thrive off being different, and the<br />
best way to appreciate their music and group persona is to give it a go.<br />
GIG<br />
The Grabøwskis<br />
Maguire’s Pizza Bar – 20/07<br />
Does punk and pizza sound like your cup of tea? Head to<br />
Maguire’s Pizza Bar early, grab a Veg-endary pizza and<br />
settle in for an evening of hardcore punk from Antipop<br />
Records and Dead Sound. Heading the bill is THE<br />
GRABØWSKIS, a German punk rock group who are on<br />
their first UK tour. They released their last album, Sicher<br />
In Die Zukunft (Safe In The Future), just over a year ago.<br />
Support on the night comes from Liverpool’s CROCODILE<br />
GOD, Birmingham’s INCISIONS and Manchester’s<br />
SKIMMER – three bands that prove there’s a thriving punk<br />
scene outside London. Expect a noisy, fun-filled gig that is<br />
sure to attract this city’s punk fans.<br />
GIG<br />
Late Nite Tuff Guy<br />
24 Kitchen Street – 27/07<br />
Cam Bianchetti, the DJ/producer behind LATE NITE TUFF<br />
GUY, has had quite the journey. After his stunt as DJ HMC<br />
in the early 19<strong>90</strong>s saw him crowned the Godfather of<br />
Australian Techno, Bianchetti took a long hiatus and reemerged,<br />
unexpectedly, as Late Nite Tuff Guy, a master of<br />
the re-edit. He’s currently busy in the capital, curating a<br />
Summer Day And Night Series, which showcases some of<br />
the finest names in disco. So we’re very thankful that he’s<br />
taking a break from the big city and bringing his repertoire<br />
of funk, soul and disco up North. Fair dinkum to the<br />
team behind The Wonder Pot on this booking, they have<br />
organised some of the best parties so far this year.<br />
EXHIBITION<br />
Op Art In Focus<br />
Tate Liverpool – from 17/07<br />
Take a wander around most modern art galleries and you’re bound to<br />
come across a number of pieces that seem like trippy, optical illusions. This<br />
is optical art, which emerged in the 1960s and has continued to delight<br />
gallery-goers for decades since. Op art was designed to fool the eye, and<br />
leading figures included BRIDGET RILEY, JESUS RAFAEL SOTO and VICTOR<br />
VASARELY. They used geometric shapes to create these optical effects<br />
and the illusion of movement. The exhibition is part of Tate Liverpool’s In<br />
Focus series, and will also showcase works by more contemporary artists. A<br />
highlight is sure to be JIM LAMBIE’s Zobop, which will cover the entire gallery<br />
floor with psychedelic patterns.<br />
Walter Leblanc, Mobile-Static M 0 27<br />
FESTIVAL<br />
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival<br />
Various Venues – 06/07 – 15/07<br />
TootArd<br />
To celebrate 20 years since Liverpool Arabic Centre and The Bluecoat first<br />
envisaged the event, LIVERPOOL ARAB ARTS FESTIVAL returns with its most<br />
adventurous programme yet. The opening weekend will see performances by<br />
innovative, trailblazing musicians from the Arab world: Friday welcomes a coheadline<br />
set between hip hop, Shamstep creators 47SOUL and bluesy, reggae rock<br />
band TOOTARD; Saturday will see EMEL MATHLOUTHI, the “voice of the Tunisian<br />
revolution” turned modern electronica New Yorker perform in Liverpool for the first<br />
time. The festival will close with a free Family Day at Sefton Park Palm House, so the<br />
whole family can join in this celebration of multiculturalism and the Arab world.<br />
GIG<br />
Bodega<br />
Birkenhead Library – 08/07<br />
Get It Loud In Libraries bring indie rock bands to the quiet, peaceful libraries of our towns to show<br />
the public that these spaces are versatile and fun. The project is returning to Merseyside, where New<br />
York five-piece BODEGA will take over Birkenhead Library. The self-described art rock punk outfit<br />
are set to release their debut album, Endless Scroll, at the beginning of <strong>July</strong>. A short preview in The<br />
New Yorker teased readers with some of the lyrical themes: failed revolutions, the deadening blur<br />
of the internet and Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Titanic. Pair this with one of New York’s most<br />
exciting post-punk bands and you’ve caught our attention.<br />
Bodega<br />
GIG<br />
Peanut Butter Wolf<br />
24 Kitchen Street – 21/07<br />
Los Angeles-based DJ and founder of Stones Throw Records PEANUT<br />
BUTTER WOLF returns to Liverpool after a 2014 sold-out show that became<br />
the stuff of legends. His esteemed record label helped to launch the careers<br />
of two of the world’s most influential hip-hop artists, Madlib and J Dilla.<br />
Meanwhile, his extensive record collection makes his DJ sets unpredictable<br />
and brilliantly unique. For a taster of this curfew-busting party, check out the<br />
documentary film Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton, which looks at the evolution of<br />
Stones Throw Records and its influence today.<br />
Peanut Butter Wolf<br />
PREVIEWS 35
REVIEWS<br />
Phoebe Bridgers (Stu Moulding / @oohshootstu)<br />
“Her songs are a<br />
confession of guilty<br />
obsessions and<br />
troubling thoughts,<br />
tied together with<br />
delicate charm”<br />
Phoebe Bridgers<br />
Harvest Sun @ Leaf – 22/05<br />
PHOEBE BRIDGERS’ Stranger In The Alps, released<br />
back September 2017, was a beautiful, pained and delicate<br />
representation of love and loss. It landed in many people’s<br />
albums of the year lists and Bridgers was tipped by many as<br />
the next singer-songwriter giant to come out of the States,<br />
admired by critics and musicians alike. As a result there is a<br />
sense of anticipation about this opportunity to see an artist at the<br />
beginning of their ascent.<br />
The gentle glow from the loosely draped fairy lights around<br />
Leaf’s stage offer a contrast to Bridgers’ and her band’s black<br />
attire. Aided by a violinist and her regular touring companions,<br />
Marshall Vore on drums and Harrison Whitford on guitar,<br />
Bridgers appears muted and refrained as she softly plucks the<br />
first notes of the airy, captivatingly sombre Smoke Signals on her<br />
acoustic guitar. A deathly silence falls over the crowd, something<br />
I’ve not heard for a while at a Liverpool show; all ears are drawn<br />
in by her light, enchanting vocals and eyes are transfixed on<br />
the stage. The solemn air continues with Bridgers’ next track,<br />
Funeral, of which the first line painfully cuts in with “I’m singing<br />
at funeral tomorrow/For a kid a year older than me”. The song<br />
swells with a deep intensity, in parts inflated by a delicate violin<br />
and strained distorted guitar notes as her lyrics build to challenge<br />
different perspectives on loneliness and self-pity.<br />
Bridgers then breaks the silence, easing the atmosphere<br />
considerably, as she describes an unfortunate encounter with<br />
an overzealous tap in the venue’s bathroom. “During that whole<br />
song I couldn’t stop thinking about how wet my face was.”<br />
From here on in, she appears bright and couldn’t be any further<br />
removed from the character that she portrays in her songs; she’s<br />
able to convey the bitterness of loneliness while evoking an aura<br />
that is far removed from isolation and solitude. Her songs are<br />
a confession of guilty obsessions and troubling thoughts, but<br />
she ties them together with a delicate charm and an endearing<br />
humour.<br />
Motion Sickness, the most popular single from the album,<br />
brings with it the most poignant moment of the night. Bridgers<br />
prefaces the song by telling us that it’s about a past idol that she<br />
now “hates”. It is perhaps the best example of her vocal strength,<br />
too; she regularly displays a breathy falsetto, demonstrating a<br />
Phoebe Bridgers (Stu Moulding / @oohshootstu)<br />
gentle range with seamless control, but on Motion Sickness it<br />
takes on another quality. The end of the song rises to a breaking<br />
crescendo, as her voice and the band ascend to an explosive<br />
release of energy and emotion.<br />
Her demanding touring schedule over the last 18 months<br />
is fully reflected in the strength of her live performance. It’s not<br />
uncommon to witness breakthrough acts offer a disappointing<br />
live display on their first headline tour, but everything Bridgers<br />
brings tonight adds to the growing consensus that she has all the<br />
components to sit comfortably in the ranks of the great American<br />
singer-songwriters. !<br />
Jonny Winship / @jmwinship<br />
36
Car Seat Headrest (Kevin Barrett / @Kev_Barrett)<br />
Car Seat Headrest<br />
Harvest Sun @ Invisible Wind Factory –<br />
19/05<br />
Amid the confusing, gratuitous joviality that comes with a Royal<br />
wedding and the blinding optimism that breeds with the transition<br />
that into warmer seasons, there’s always room for self-deprecation<br />
and anxious cuts of heartache, desire and mental see-sawing.<br />
The vehicle for this, tonight, is Will Toledo’s band CAR SEAT<br />
HEADREST, as they arrive at the Invisible Wind Factory for the<br />
Liverpool leg of their European tour. The tour follows a re-recording<br />
of Twin Fantasy, an album originally released seven years ago, in<br />
what looked like a confusing creative choice after the critical triumph<br />
of 2016’s Teens Of Denial. This time round, Twin Fantasy boasts a<br />
well-rounded, refined production in contrast to the lo-fi bedroom<br />
recording of the original. However, it still carries the authenticity and<br />
rawness that’s evoked in the joys and pains of teenage angst.<br />
The room is packed tonight with new and old fans of Toledo’s<br />
music and the front is a centrifuge of energy, as the band deliver<br />
the sharp, decisive sound of one of the most up-beat tracks from<br />
Twin Fantasy, Body’s, which has Toldeo, arched and running<br />
on the spot, creating an infectious aura of self-release. (Joe<br />
Gets Kicked Out Of School For Using) Drugs With Friends (But<br />
Gerry Cinnamon<br />
+ Dylan John Thomas<br />
Harvest Sun @ O2 Academy – 19/05<br />
The streets of Liverpool ring with chants from shirtless fans<br />
to the tune of KC and the Sunshine Band’s Give it Up ahead of<br />
tonight’s main attraction, GERRY CINNAMON. With Saltires<br />
raised from a loyal contingent and, with spirits high, it is clear<br />
that tonight we are in for a rowdy one. Off the back of his<br />
album Erratic Cinematic, released in September last year, the<br />
Glaswegian-born artist has had a short but very direct route to<br />
becoming one of Britain’s most exciting prospects. Supporting<br />
the likes of John Power and Ocean Colour Scene, as well as<br />
booking a return to this year’s TRNSMT festival, Cinnamon has<br />
seen his efforts recognised by wider audiences and a huge<br />
growth in popularity.<br />
Through the doors and into the blue-lit sanctum of the<br />
Academy, support act DYLAN JOHN THOMAS warms up<br />
the crowd with a confident rendition of The Stone Roses’<br />
classic Waterfall and sets the scene for a nostalgic singalong<br />
accompanied by a luscious head of afro hair and a smart Fred<br />
Perry tracksuit. After thanking the crowd, Thomas moves off the<br />
stage and the wait begins. Not a single moment passes where<br />
the air is not filled with football ground chants for the fans’ main<br />
man as the anticipation builds to a point of near explosion. On<br />
walks Gerry Cinnamon with flat cap in hand, with every ounce<br />
of humble and appreciative feeling towards the support this<br />
assembly have given him.<br />
Moving through the set, Belter receives the most raucous of<br />
Says This Isn’t A Problem) gifts the crowd with their first taste<br />
of anthemic catharsis; the song is also an excellent showcase<br />
of Toldeo’s songwriting ability, incorporating an earnest<br />
accessibility with an off-hand, wry sense of humour.<br />
The set takes a slight inhale as the band embark on a cover of<br />
Frank Ocean’s White Ferrari, it makes for a pleasant transition in<br />
to the melancholic Twin Fantasy (Those Boys), which builds to a<br />
soothing crescendo, although its somewhat ignored and muffled by<br />
the crowd’s mumbled chatter.<br />
The performance is punctuated by Toldeo and the band’s<br />
sharp wit and freedom on stage; they’re able to carry the emotion<br />
of the songs in a way that encourages a togetherness and a<br />
carefree emancipation around the room. The encore features<br />
the haunting, yet melodic and touching Sober To Death, which<br />
again touches on the themes of mental health, loneliness and<br />
relationships, giving the crowd the last opportunity for an<br />
impassioned singalong. The set concludes with the 13-minutelong<br />
Beach Life-In-Death, which could be deemed self-indulgent,<br />
but at this point I have to admit my surprise at their ability to lift<br />
a crowd and keep them there with songs laden with such dark<br />
subjects. But this is to underestimate the cleverness of Toldeo’s<br />
song writing and the ability of the band to crash through the<br />
songs, with vigour and angst, while being able to produce a<br />
refined sound; a fine example of what a lot of modern-day rock<br />
bands are missing.<br />
Jonny Winship / @jmwinship<br />
responses as Cinnamon tells the Liverpool crowd that this one<br />
is about “ma wee missus”. With soul-bearing lyrics such as “She<br />
dances in my dreams, reminds me that the world is not as evil as<br />
it seems”, an insight into a bigger picture of the current state of<br />
things outside the venue shared by all involved. Halfway through<br />
this energetic and politically charged performance, Cinnamon<br />
stops to thank the fans for their continued support and dedicates<br />
all of his efforts to any young and aspiring musicians. In his broad<br />
Glaswegian accent he says; “Don’t let anyone get you down, if<br />
you can do it with a heartbeat and no band, you can do whatever<br />
the fuck you want!” With this powerful and inspiring message<br />
resonating around the room, everyone is fuelled and the mood<br />
turns electric. The walls cannot contain this one-man assault on<br />
modern times and its conventions as Cinnamon works through<br />
other huge favourites Sometimes and Diamonds In The Mud,<br />
which give us an intimate look into his modest roots and how he<br />
holds them accountable even as fame presents itself.<br />
After closing on a stripped-down version of I Wanna Be Adored,<br />
the masses snap out of their trancelike state to roar their relentless<br />
support for their Scottish ringleader and the buzz that remains<br />
courses through each individual as they exit. There does not seem<br />
to be a limit to the potential here as Cinnamon seems genuinely<br />
grounded and thankful for the position he finds himself in. He<br />
provides an example of why financial backing isn’t always necessary<br />
for success in a commercialised music industry and that, even<br />
without a label, the very highest quality in delivery and songwriting<br />
still exists. With an instantly identifiable appearance and an honest<br />
perception on social commentary it is hard to resist the charm and,<br />
based on this admirable and unapologetic performance, I’m sure we<br />
will be hearing more from this potent lyricist.<br />
Jake Penn / @p3nno<br />
Benjamin Zephaniah<br />
WoWFest18 @ Philharmonic Hall – 20/05<br />
Rastafarian wordsmith BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH is in<br />
Liverpool tonight in support of his memoir, The Life And<br />
Rhymes Of Benjamin Zephaniah, but the event isn’t a simple<br />
history and a few readings. Zephaniah is a performer, so he<br />
performs, taking us on a journey through excerpts from his<br />
life interspersed with poems, with WowFest18’s theme of<br />
Crossing Borders at its core.<br />
He begins with his mother, who saw a poster encouraging<br />
West Indians to come to Britain to live and work (I Love Me<br />
Mudder). He returns to the theme of the Windrush generation<br />
often, focusing on national events both past and present, and<br />
includes racist incidents from his own life, starting with being<br />
picked as cricket team captain at primary school when he<br />
hadn’t ever played the game and doesn’t like it (“really slow<br />
and reminds me of colonialism” – a witty observation that really<br />
hits home: no Lara, Lloyd, Sobers et al without colonialism?),<br />
and the racism to which he is now, after the 2016 referendum,<br />
being subjected for the first time since the 70s.<br />
More challenging of the orthodoxy comes as he observes<br />
that secondary school taught him that Christopher Columbus<br />
“discovered” black people. He mentions that he was expelled<br />
from a few schools, with one teacher telling him he’d end<br />
up dead or serving a life sentence – words which eventually<br />
propelled him out of his bed and Birmingham hometown.<br />
He skates over the life he was leading – but it’s detailed in<br />
the book – merely stating that he left one ‘gang’ for another<br />
(London’s artistic community).<br />
After Us An Dem, and some shocking statistics on child<br />
poverty, illiteracy, women’s status and more, he returns to his<br />
mother’s decision to come to Britain and the repercussions<br />
this decision is having for the many who made it – and their<br />
descendants. Even people born here feel unsafe: “We don’t<br />
know what our final solution is going to be yet.” He’s been<br />
on planes carrying people who are being extradited, so he<br />
knows about what he speaks, and in The Death Of Joy Gardner<br />
observes: “She’s illegal, so deport her/Said the Empire that<br />
brought her”, words which, sadly, have a chilling pertinence<br />
today.<br />
After a mood-lightening foray into veganism, travel<br />
broadening the mind, India’s sadhus and more, the<br />
performance part of the evening ends and it’s time for the<br />
Q&A.<br />
Asked about Rastafarianism and weed, he explains that<br />
marijuana is a holy herb for Rastafarians, not a drug, but that<br />
he has liberated himself from both religion and weed via<br />
meditation: “I’ve learned to get high from breathing” – good<br />
advice for us all.<br />
After Talking Turkeys, the night is over, but lines from Rong<br />
Radio Station linger during the walk home: “I was beginning<br />
not to trust me, in fact, I wanted to arrest me/I’ve been listening<br />
to the wrong radio station”, with their implication that we can<br />
re-tune that radio station to a more positive one. Turn on, tune<br />
in… activate.<br />
Debra Williams / @wordsanddeeds1<br />
REVIEWS 37
REVIEWS<br />
The Mysterines (Hannah Johns / hannahjohnsphotogr.wixsite.com)<br />
The Mysterines<br />
+ Monks<br />
+ Shards<br />
+ Jack Haworth<br />
EVOL @ Arts Club – 08/06<br />
Posters promoting this show have been dotted around town,<br />
asking the question ‘Who are THE MYSTERINES?’ And, tonight,<br />
right until the three-piece take to the stage, the question is still<br />
hanging in the air. Having caught the band in some of their<br />
various support slots for The Big Moon and Goat Girl, they’ve<br />
always had an air of mystery surrounding them, with their sets<br />
following a ‘get on, say nothing, smash the set, get off’ kind of<br />
pattern. If tonight’s first headlining gig pulls the curtain down a<br />
little, then it was only to leave another question – how far could<br />
they go?<br />
There’s a not inconsiderable number of people down early<br />
doors for the poetry stylings of JACK HAWORTH. In a shimmery<br />
blue suit and with lightning-speed delivery, Haworth rattles off<br />
verse after verse, covering aspects of life ranging from “wanting a<br />
Toffee Crisp at a bus stop and all you get is a Double Decker” and<br />
the mindset of a priest in love. It’s something of a verbal assault,<br />
but with plenty of knowing jokes that keep the crowd chuckling<br />
amid the rattle of speech and hum of the backing tracks. Second<br />
support SHARDS, meanwhile, seem destined to have ‘one of<br />
those sets’ when guitar problems after just a single song see<br />
them requesting a lend from the audience. There are nods to a<br />
range of the North West’s indie back-catalogue in their tunes:<br />
The Stone Roses, James, The La’s and Joy Division, with a twist<br />
of Libertines scuzz on top. All told, though, the set simmers nicely<br />
and the group find their feet with some Verve-y heft towards its<br />
close.<br />
Also belying their age are the dreamy alt.pop five-piece<br />
MONKS. They’re so dreamy, in fact, that their lead guitarist has<br />
the word ‘dreamboat’ stencilled on the back of his mint green<br />
boiler-suit. With a lead singer who also plays a 12-string rhythm<br />
guitar, a bassist, a frantic drummer and a multi-instrumentalist<br />
alternating between synth and trumpet, Monks emit a wall of<br />
sound when they’re in their pomp. They’ve got the summery<br />
feels, with a blue-eyed soul meets early Primal Scream sound,<br />
infused with synth crescendos. The trumpet interludes,<br />
meanwhile, lend a nuanced layer of pop maturity and, coupled<br />
with the temperature of the room, make this feel more <strong>90</strong>s<br />
Balearic than millennial North West England. It’s so hot, in fact,<br />
that the drummer spends the gap between songs downing<br />
bottles of water and putting damp towels over his face. At the<br />
same time, disembodied voice samples are played, which, when<br />
coupled with the band’s willingness to switch time-signatures<br />
mid-song, act like a gateway to something more expansive;<br />
threatening, late in the set, to teeter into jazz or psych. Monks<br />
seem ready to break out of their cells.<br />
Tonight’s headliners come out like heavyweight boxers – their<br />
entry music booming out electric blues in front of a sell-out crowd<br />
(an unusual feat in itself in the Arts Club Loft). And, straight as an<br />
arrow, the three-piece tear into their own blend of garage rock.<br />
It’s Stooges-style no-nonsense with Lia Metcalfe’s razor-sharp<br />
voice from the Wanda Jackson/Lemmy/Joan Jett old-school and<br />
riffs in the vein of Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith and Ron Asheton. Maybe<br />
it’s an effect of the heat, but parts of the set edge back slightly<br />
from the raw power and into a Southern-fried rock of a sort that<br />
made the joie de jeune of early Kings Of Leon feel so crucial. The<br />
band give very little introduction to their songs and there’s even<br />
less in the way of stage-patter: not through nerves, but through<br />
a commitment to speaking through their music, without the usual<br />
cloying obeisant bullshit. Mysterines’ set is as fierce as the heat<br />
in the room, the drilling of George Favager’s bass and Chrissy<br />
Moore’s drums pushing forward the wailing vocals and crying<br />
guitar. And it’s rewarded by an audience who start their own<br />
handclaps and mosh-pit.<br />
By the end, there’s one guy on someone else’s shoulders,<br />
and Metcalfe’s nearly-always deadpan face even breaks into a<br />
smile. They sort of do the encore thing, scarcely attempting to get<br />
off-stage before the crowd demand “ONE MORE SONG, ONE<br />
MORE SONG”. So, they strap on, set up and rip-roar again for<br />
a thunderous reprise; before the lights come up, there’s a brief<br />
stunned silence before the crowd starts to move.<br />
After the gig, a lot of the crowd move to the merch stand – as if<br />
word-of-mouth of the set’s bravura force wasn’t enough, the band<br />
will now have dozens of fans walking around wearing their name.<br />
It’s the first indication that a group of people drawn to the band by<br />
the mystery have bought into the facts. If tonight’s gig started with<br />
the question ‘Who are The Mysterines?’, the answer comes with<br />
the band’s ferocious set. If the next question is ‘How far could they<br />
go?’, then the acolytes wearing band T-shirts and clutching gig<br />
posters suggest that The Mysterines could go all the way.<br />
John McGovern / @etinsuburbiaego<br />
38
June / juLy<br />
21ST jUNE<br />
22ND juNE<br />
23RD jUNE<br />
24th June<br />
28th June<br />
29th June<br />
1st july<br />
3rd <strong>July</strong><br />
5th jULY<br />
6Th jULY<br />
7TH jULY<br />
8TH july<br />
12th juLY<br />
14TH jULY<br />
15th july<br />
17th july<br />
19TH july<br />
21ST/22ND<br />
underground arts society<br />
lIVERPOOL cALLING<br />
jAMIE cLague + Guests<br />
Ground Floor Open Mic<br />
underground arts society<br />
Crikey Its The Cromptons<br />
ground floor open mic<br />
YeaH bUDDY pRESENTS<br />
underground arts society<br />
bILL NICKSON & hEY bULLDOG<br />
tHE hEAD hUNTERS<br />
ground floor open mic<br />
underground arts society<br />
nOVACROW + GUESTS<br />
ground floor open mic<br />
rAISED bY wOLVES + gUESTS<br />
uNDERGROUND aRTS sOCIETY<br />
cACTUS pARADOX wEEKENDER<br />
Monday / Thursday / friday / saturday / sunday
REVIEWS<br />
Charles Howl (Kevin Barrett / @Kev_Barrett)<br />
Charles Howl (Kevin Barrett / @Kev_Barrett)<br />
The generous helping of tracks last year’s long player means<br />
there’s little room in the set for debut Sir Vices, save for the<br />
delicate stomper Lunacy. This track adds to a performance which<br />
touches upon a huge gamut of genres. Flashes of garage rock,<br />
orchestral pop and glam are all expertly balanced so as not to<br />
make it parody nor regressive.<br />
While they may have done more to enamour themselves to<br />
a thin but devoted audience on stage tonight, perhaps it’s the<br />
attention Charles Howl is giving to his songwriting and recording<br />
craft which has brought his success, even if it’s to the detriment<br />
of social niceties.<br />
Sam Turner / @Samturner1984<br />
Charles Howl<br />
+ Beija Flo<br />
Harvest Sun @ The Shipping Forecast –<br />
31/05<br />
It’s a crowded stage at The Shipping Forecast tonight. Even<br />
with only BEIJA FLO’s solitary presence there’s a variety of<br />
amps and keyboards on stage, around which are dotted various<br />
mannequins and Flo’s deconstructed bouquet of lilies. The artist<br />
herself is looking resplendent in red sequinned leotard and<br />
trademark smudged make-up. A performer of paradoxes, Beija<br />
Flo is at once vulnerable and an exhibitionist. On occasion it feels<br />
like her bold and honest ballads, backed by chamber pop tracks<br />
from a laptop, deserve a more expansive sound; but at the same<br />
time that vulnerability, along with her rhetorical dialogue with the<br />
MacBook, adds to a spellbinding performance.<br />
The drama and theatrics of the support act is followed by<br />
an all-together more workmanlike performance from CHARLES<br />
HOWL. A project which came<br />
to full fruition last year with<br />
the release of the excellent<br />
solo LP My Idol Family, the<br />
group has developed from<br />
a collaboration between<br />
Londoners Let’s Wrestle<br />
(frontman Danny Nellis’<br />
Korg sports LW leader<br />
Wesley Gonzalez’s name<br />
this evening) and Proper<br />
Ornaments. That album<br />
is replicated in all its<br />
glory tonight and sounds<br />
wonderful.<br />
Keeping to his enigmatic<br />
reputation, there’s little in<br />
the way of pleasantries<br />
from Nellis. Two incidents<br />
characterise tonight’s<br />
performance, one being a<br />
passive aggressive exchange<br />
with the sound tech who is<br />
quick to point out that he<br />
can’t understand instructions<br />
delivered through a reverbheavy<br />
mic; the other is the<br />
hastiest, most unceremonious<br />
stage exit I’ve witnessed.<br />
The languid tempo and<br />
wry observation of social<br />
interaction in The Dinner<br />
Party is a fitting soundtrack<br />
to the vague tensions that<br />
linger through the night.<br />
That being said, there is<br />
little to fault about the actual<br />
music; at the top of set, the<br />
chamber psych of Death Of<br />
Print announces the band<br />
with panache. As well as<br />
honourable sentiment, the<br />
track is a brilliant distillation<br />
of Charles Howl’s charms,<br />
with a driving drum beat<br />
propelling a darkly beautiful<br />
mod cut, akin to somewhere<br />
between The Velvet<br />
Underground and The Pretty<br />
Things.<br />
Cocaine Piss<br />
+ Strange Collective<br />
+ Salt The Snail<br />
+ Eyesore And The Jinx<br />
EVOL @ EBGBs – 26/05<br />
First on at EBGBs, EYESORE AND THE JINX play to a decent<br />
early doors crowd, their live chops improving in tandem with<br />
their rising profile. Anchored by the sonorous basslines of singer<br />
Josh Miller, the trio’s thunderous alloy of rockabilly and punk<br />
traces a line back to LA legends The Gun Club. Counterbalancing<br />
the thrum of the harder hitting moments with a slew of slow<br />
arpeggio-led interludes, the three-piece wield a sound bigger<br />
than the sum of their parts. The best moment comes with<br />
recent Trump/May/Putin-baiting single Gated Community which<br />
translates into a seething rendition.<br />
SALT THE SNAIL open their set with vocalist Krystian<br />
stepping onstage in a mask singing the theme to Jurassic Park a<br />
cappella, before moving back to the floor to spend the remainder<br />
of the set singing directly to the front row. An intriguing collision<br />
of punked-up metal and alt. rock topped with sung-spoken<br />
vocals, the outfit’s instrumental skill is immediately apparent.<br />
Comprising an octopus-armed Keith Moon-style drummer and a<br />
bassist who weaves his way around the fretboard impressively,<br />
the pulverising guitar riffs at times sound akin to Seattle sludgegrunge<br />
doyens the Melvins.<br />
The imminent arrival of gig circuit stalwarts STRANGE<br />
COLLECTIVE sees the crowd peak as the quartet assemble<br />
for the main support slot. Playing with the easy confidence<br />
of headliners, the outfit’s psych inflected garage rock is in<br />
redoubtable health, peaking with Super Touchy and After Eight.<br />
“We play short songs and short sets for people who don’t<br />
have a lot of spare time,” Tommy Ramone stated back in the<br />
mid-1970s, and as the band who (arguably, can of worms alert)<br />
laid punk’s foundations it’s the one principal that has remained<br />
true. If the Bruddas played songs for people who didn’t have<br />
much spare time, COCAINE PISS play them for people who<br />
get bored between breaths. Armed with a name that ensures<br />
daytime radio play on any planet is unlikely and raised eyebrows<br />
from customs official on every frontier, lead singer Aurélie, replete<br />
with skateboader’s kneepads, bounds onstage last, her energetic<br />
presence piloting the quartet’s near-nonstop live onslaught.<br />
They hurl themselves into proceedings, playing as though<br />
their lives depend on it. Trading in <strong>90</strong>-second blasts that sound<br />
like John Peel faves Melt Banana doing battle with hardcore<br />
heroes Minor Threat, the Belgian punks’ commitment can’t be<br />
faulted. The feeling that this is going over ground well trodden by<br />
the aforementioned pioneers and scores of lesser lights remains,<br />
however. As blink and you miss it cuts Ugly Face On and Sex<br />
Weirdos careen past, an injection of light and shade, or maybe<br />
something that didn’t have an escape velocity-paced bpm would<br />
be welcome. That said, proceedings hurtle to a close so quickly<br />
the onset of boredom is avoided. A diverting blast, but it’s the<br />
troika of support bands that linger far longer in the memory.<br />
Richard Lewis<br />
40
Asian Dub Foundation: La Haine live Soundtrack<br />
Bam!Bam!Bam! @ Invisible Wind Factory – 25/05<br />
Here are the young men with weights on their shoulders. How a film crams 20 terror-filled hours<br />
into a more easily digestible 98 minutes; how a film depicts the urban terror of young lives blighted<br />
by police brutality and the mistrust of immigrants. And so it goes…<br />
Now rightly seen as a masterpiece of its genre, Matthieu Kassovitz’s film La Haine (Hatred) is a<br />
complex, monochrome feast which details the lives of three friends (Saïd, an Arab, Hubert, an African<br />
and Vinz, a Jewish skinhead) over the course of one day following a riot in the banlieue, a huge,<br />
sprawling estate where they all live. The film is steeped in endemic racism from end to end.<br />
Their friend Abdel has been beaten by the police and lies in a coma in hospital. The estate is in<br />
tatters and the CRS (riot police) are patrolling the area for miscreants. During the course of the film<br />
the three attempt to go about their day-to-day business as best as they can, thwarted at every twist<br />
and turn by the forces of oppression.<br />
What it shows best is the utter mundanity of life for young men with very few options in their<br />
life. Their shallow lives consist of very little other than rolling joints and avoiding the police and their<br />
harsh method of dealing with the local youth. From Paris to Port Said, in all the world’s conurbations,<br />
for young men divested of a future and with no real footing in the present, the song remains the<br />
same. This could be anywhere where young people congregate and call their home. I grew up on a<br />
council estate that, while predominantly white, offered young men the exact same option: absolutely<br />
fuck all. These young men have nothing but each other.<br />
The day gets worse at every available opportunity and, although the narrative constantly talks<br />
of better times and a misplaced idea of what the future will be, a dark, dystopian pall hangs over<br />
everything. These young ‘uns have nothing, not even an immediate future and the desperation of it all –<br />
twinned with a gallows humour that things will get better – underpins almost every moment of dialogue.<br />
The tension and the danger are expressed via Pierre Aim’s supreme cinematography. Utilising<br />
that most French of techniques, cinema vérité, the camera never stops moving. Whether it be<br />
Hubert’s smouldering gym, torched in the riot, or the very real anger that occupies Vinz’ furious<br />
face, it’s all captured in a dark, grainy, ever flowing monochrome. No colour, just dark and shade<br />
illuminating the screen, it appears to accentuate everything and gives it a realness that Technicolor<br />
may have overlooked. This is the element that has separated it from all other films of its genre in<br />
the last two decades. Whereas a lot of its contemporaries were stylised and of the moment, La<br />
Haine has kept that element of unease, an authenticity in both language and image that puts it on a<br />
different plane.<br />
One of its greatest successes on the film’s release in 1995 was its soundtrack, which along with<br />
a smattering of American RnB and Bob Marley, contained a selection of French hip hop that, for most<br />
people in the English speaking world, was a revelation. The bombastic nature of the beats and words<br />
only added to the tension in the film. Tonight, at the Invisible Wind Factory, those fine purveyors of<br />
ethno-psychedelia, ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION, are providing their own live soundtrack. The live<br />
soundtrack has become a phenomenon in recent years: all manner of films from Star Wars to Tron<br />
to DW Griffiths’ Birth Of A Nation have been given the treatment with varying degrees of success.<br />
Some are played by a <strong>90</strong>-piece orchestra, some by your local dead cool band, hoping to create a<br />
new environment. Here, where the soundtrack is absolutely essential to the overall experience of<br />
the film, the ante is raised considerably. ADF rise to the occasion. The opening sequence works<br />
incredibly well, the new soundtrack adding to the tension and unease and complementing the action<br />
in gritty detail. It gives certain parts of the film a whole new dimension and offers a new view of the<br />
experience. I find myself, right from the off, becoming totally engrossed in the imagery above the<br />
band. At times – and I’m not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing – the band seem to disappear<br />
completely and hold back imposing their trip on the images. It’s a fantastic experience, marred only<br />
by a few moments when the live track imposes its trip on the movie and creates a sound clash where<br />
the dialogue becomes muddied.<br />
On the whole, though, I like it a lot. If only for reminding me what a truly wondrous spectacle La<br />
Haine really is; the thrill of watching the film for the first time comes flooding back to me immediately.<br />
It’s one of those niche films that will still be getting talked about in another 20 years’ time, as it<br />
contains a realism that few of its contemporaries have and that will always spark with youth of all<br />
generations and denominations. Giving already established, popular films new soundtracks will grow<br />
and grow, to varying degrees of success. But in the right hands, the right film can be re-introduced<br />
to you by your friendly neighbourhood leftfield pop band and make an enormous splash. It’s only a<br />
matter of time before the ‘game-changer’ in the genre comes along.<br />
Bernard Connor / @bernieworld<br />
ROUND UP<br />
A selection of the best of the rest from another<br />
busy month of live action on Merseyside.<br />
Blossoms (Jamie Sherwood)<br />
At Invisible Wind Factory, Jennifer Rose is on hand to see Stockport-based indie rock<br />
behemoths BLOSSOMS storm on stage like veterans, despite only being five years and<br />
two albums into their career. Frontman Tom Ogden cajoles the crowd throughout, from the<br />
five-piece’s opening number There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls) – the<br />
opening track from their second album, Cool Like You – right through to the night’s sweaty<br />
denouement.<br />
Blossoms’ newest songs, such as Unfaithful and Between The Eyes, stand up well<br />
alongside their more well known material, and show why their latest synth pop-inflected<br />
album should be on everyone’s summer playlist. The rendition of Love Talk is one of many<br />
microphone-in-crowd moments, and there are points of intimacy scattered throughout the<br />
high-octane moments, in particular when Ogden takes centre stage on his own for the<br />
acoustic My Favourite Room.<br />
There’s minimal chat from Ogden throughout, preferring to let the positive vibes flow on<br />
a night that he later assures us is “one of the best”. This is even despite a few rowdy sorts<br />
trying to spoil the atmosphere. It’s difficult to be disappointed at a Blossoms show, however,<br />
as it’s always a showcase of infectious energy when they’re on form. And they’re on form<br />
tonight.<br />
Max Baker recalls some post-midnight revelations from another successful BALTIC<br />
WEEKENDER, as revellers bask in the sun and clamour to see some of the biggest names in<br />
house and techno. The Baltic Triangle has become a pocket of activity for the clubbing scene<br />
in recent years, and the popularity shows in the length of the queues outside main venues<br />
Constellations and 24 Kitchen Street.<br />
As Saturday night turns into Sunday morning, the Constellations crowd ends up in the<br />
loved-up embrace of KRYSTAL KLEAR. As someone with a soft spot for any hint of retro<br />
synth action, this was always going to be the highlight of the weekend, even with all the<br />
heavy hitters on show. Klear’s nod to late 80s house comes across well in the club’s interior,<br />
keeping energy levels high – even for those who’ve been going since mid-afternoon. Everyone<br />
from the Discogs trawlers to the end-of-exam merrymakers keep their engines going and<br />
show a collective appreciation late into the night. A true godfather of house and one half of<br />
Masters At Work, KENNY DOPE justifies his status at the top of the bill with a track selection<br />
that remains true to his <strong>90</strong>s New York roots, while delivering a crisp, contemporary feel.<br />
This is only Baltic Weekender’s second year, but through a combination of great bookings<br />
in great locations, the festival is already establishing itself as a flagship event in the North<br />
West’s bustling dance scene.<br />
Full reviews of all these shows can be found now at bidolito.co.uk.<br />
La Haine<br />
Baltic Weekender (Daniel de la Bastide / @dannydelabastide)<br />
REVIEWS 41
BOOK NOW: 0161 832 1111<br />
MANchesteracademy.net<br />
ODDISEE & MOONCHILD<br />
MONDAY 2ND JULY<br />
CLUB ACADEMY<br />
THE SONICS<br />
FRIDAY 5TH OCTOBER<br />
ACADEMY 3<br />
FICKLE FRIENDS<br />
SATURDAY 27TH OCTOBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
HUDSON TAYLOR<br />
FRIDAY 23RD NOVEMBER<br />
CLUB ACADEMY<br />
GEORGE CLINTON &<br />
PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC<br />
SATURDAY 7TH JULY / MCR ACADEMY<br />
AURORA<br />
WEDNESDAY 10TH OCTOBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
FAT FREDDY'S DROP<br />
SUNDAY 4TH NOVEMBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
HONNE<br />
FRIDAY 23RD NOVEMBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
LUCKY CHOPS<br />
TUESDAY 10TH JULY<br />
CLUB ACADEMY<br />
HOLLIE COOK<br />
THURSDAY 11TH OCTOBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
PARCELS<br />
MONDAY 5TH NOVEMBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
SUNFLOWER BEAN<br />
TUESDAY 27TH NOVEMBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
BEYOND FEST: BASEMENT,<br />
ARCANE ROOTS & MORE TBA<br />
SUNDAY 15TH JULY / MCR ACADEMY<br />
TOM GRENNAN<br />
FRIDAY 12TH OCTOBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
OLD DOMINION<br />
TUESDAY 6TH NOVEMBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
THE INTERRUPTERS<br />
SATURDAY 1ST DECEMBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
GARBAGE<br />
SUNDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
THE REZILLOS<br />
SATURDAY 13TH OCTOBER<br />
CLUB ACADEMY<br />
SHAKEY GRAVES<br />
MONDAY 12TH NOVEMBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
JANELLE MONAE<br />
MONDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
THE BLINDERS<br />
MONDAY 15TH OCTOBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
TRIBUTE TO MANCHESTER <strong>2018</strong>:<br />
THE CLONE ROSES, OASISH<br />
& MORE<br />
FRIDAY 14TH DEC / MCR ACADEMY<br />
STRANGE WAVES IV: BRIAN<br />
JONESTOWN MASSACRE & MORE<br />
SATURDAY 20TH OCT / MCR ACADEMY<br />
LEON BRIDGES<br />
WEDNESDAY 14TH NOVEMBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
CHAMELEONS VOX<br />
SATURDAY 15TH DECEMBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
NINES<br />
SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
ABSOLUTE BOWIE<br />
SATURDAY 17TH NOVEMBER<br />
CLUB ACADEMY<br />
TOM CLARKE (THE<br />
ENEMY ACOUSTIC SET)<br />
SUNDAY 30TH SEP / CLUB ACADEMY<br />
BLACK HONEY<br />
SUNDAY 21ST OCTOBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
ANNE-MARIE<br />
TUESDAY 20TH NOVEMBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
CLUTCH<br />
THURSDAY 20TH DECEMBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
THE RIFLES<br />
FRIDAY 5TH OCTOBER<br />
CLUB ACADEMY<br />
ADY SULEIMAN<br />
WEDNESDAY 24TH OCTOBER<br />
ACADEMY 2<br />
PITCHSHIFTER<br />
TUESDAY 20TH NOVEMBER<br />
ACADEMY 3<br />
808 STATE : 30<br />
FRIDAY 21ST DECEMBER<br />
MANCHESTER ACADEMY<br />
facebook.com/manchesteracademy @mancacademy FOR UP TO DATE LISTINGS VISIT MANChesteracademy.net
Box office:<br />
theatkinson.co.uk<br />
01704 533 333<br />
(Booking fees apply)<br />
–<br />
: TheAtkinson<br />
: @AtkinsonThe<br />
: @TheAtkinsonSouthport<br />
The Atkinson<br />
Lord Street<br />
Southport<br />
PR8 1DB<br />
Music<br />
Grateful Fred’s<br />
Hillfolk Noir<br />
Wed 4 <strong>July</strong>, 7.30pm<br />
FILM<br />
The Chris Bevington<br />
Organisation<br />
Fri 6 <strong>July</strong>, 8pm<br />
Theatre<br />
BPA Live<br />
Arkansas Dave<br />
Thu 12 <strong>July</strong>, 8pm<br />
Southport Film Guild<br />
The Salesman (12)<br />
Wed 4 <strong>July</strong>, 7.30pm<br />
COMEDY<br />
Who, Me.<br />
Sat 30 June, 8pm<br />
EXHIBITION<br />
Last chance<br />
to see<br />
Gyles Brandreth:<br />
Break a Leg!<br />
Sat 7 <strong>July</strong>, 7.30pm<br />
Laugh Out Loud<br />
Comedy Club<br />
Sat 7 <strong>July</strong>, 8pm<br />
Line up subject to change<br />
31 March – 7 <strong>July</strong>
Proud supporters<br />
of Merseyrail<br />
Sound Station
Festival of<br />
Contemporary Art<br />
14 <strong>July</strong> – 28 October<br />
Free<br />
Liverpool Biennial is funded by<br />
biennial.com<br />
Founding Supporter<br />
James Moores<br />
Liverpool Arab<br />
Arts Festival<br />
5–15 <strong>July</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
A thrilling 11 day showcase<br />
of the richness of Arab culture<br />
<strong>2018</strong><br />
15–5<br />
Including<br />
47SOUL & TootArd<br />
Friday 6 <strong>July</strong><br />
Constellations<br />
Emel Mathlouthi<br />
with support from U-Cef (DJ Set)<br />
Saturday 7 <strong>July</strong><br />
Invisible Wind Factory<br />
LAAF Family Day <strong>2018</strong><br />
with Simona Abdallah, Simo Lagnawi &<br />
Gnawa London and The London Syrian Ensemble<br />
Sunday 15 <strong>July</strong><br />
Sefton Park Palm House<br />
See the full programme and book tickets at:<br />
arabartsfestival.com<br />
LAAF_Bido_Lito_Half_Page_Ad_June_AW.indd 1 18/06/<strong>2018</strong> 10:12
SAY<br />
THE FINAL<br />
“The energy coming<br />
out of the boroughs<br />
of Merseyside is<br />
unbelievable… this year<br />
will be the start of a long<br />
journey in discovering<br />
what culture is to the<br />
Liverpool city region”<br />
With the city<br />
region expanding<br />
the boundaries of<br />
Merseyside’s artistic<br />
canvas, the idea of<br />
focusing the attention<br />
of the art world on a<br />
central hub becomes<br />
less intuitive. Patrick<br />
Kirk-Smith, Director<br />
of Art In Liverpool and<br />
Independents Biennial<br />
<strong>2018</strong>, argues that it’s<br />
the boroughs of the<br />
city region where we<br />
should be enjoying art<br />
as much as the city<br />
centre.<br />
In 2004, Art In Liverpool set out to do one thing and one thing only:<br />
to share the incredible visual culture the city of Liverpool had to<br />
show. It did pretty well for itself out of that, and still does. But it<br />
creates a challenge around what we do and who we are, not just as a<br />
publication, but as a city.<br />
In <strong>2018</strong>, we’re now a city region. It’s more important to the magazine<br />
and more important to the work we do than we could have imagined<br />
because it suddenly reflects the flaws of the arts back at us. Fine art,<br />
visual art, contemporary art; whatever title you give it, it has that stigma<br />
attached of being a privileged pursuit. The privilege doesn’t apply so much<br />
in this region these days, but what does is the pursuit. Why should we, as<br />
a region whose culture inspires so many creative realisations, have to get<br />
on a bus to see art in the city centre, 10 miles from our homes?<br />
Well, yeh. It’s hard to justify, really. So we brought back the<br />
Independents Biennial, and in the busy months that followed our phones<br />
didn’t stop ringing, our inboxes overflowed and we found ourselves at the<br />
helm of a festival that works with every borough of the city region.<br />
Writing this, with four weeks to go until the biggest Independents<br />
Biennial since 2008, and after four years away, every second of the work<br />
is worth it. Because we’ve been able to work with artists born in Liverpool<br />
who have come back from around the world, artists from around the world<br />
who have moved to Liverpool, and artists who have spent their lives in the<br />
region. Such a range of people have got on board, producing some of the<br />
most engaging, loving exhibitions and events we’ve seen brought together<br />
for a long time.<br />
We’re the back-seat driver helping it along. The artists who are about<br />
to show a 3.5km arts trail in Rimrose Valley, or work with communities<br />
and empty space in L7, or take over St John’s Market for four months –<br />
they’re who you need to come and see. Because for the first time in a long<br />
time, St Helens, Knowsley, Sefton and Wirral are just as much at the heart<br />
of this as Liverpool.<br />
As I write, I’m still being sent images from ever more passionate<br />
artists to accompany their exhibitions, with one from an artist working<br />
with Rimrose Valley Friends that cries out to save her sanctuary space.<br />
The country park, bordered by railway and canal, is under threat of being<br />
tarmacked, making it one of a few sanctuary spaces in the region to be<br />
rediscovered through the festival alongside Hilbre Island, Tunstall Street,<br />
Hoylake Parade and Fulwood Community Garden.<br />
And while each of them will be filled with artists in one way or another,<br />
it’s probably Kiara Mohamed’s Humanscape project that will tell the truest<br />
tale of Liverpool, and the spaces it pulls together. A set of aerial photography<br />
documenting her sanctuary city – a city the artist migrated to after being<br />
disowned by her family for refusing to marry a stranger – it captures spaces<br />
we’re familiar with, but uses them to tell a story of safety, and of choice.<br />
Liverpool, while far from perfect, is a space that fosters freedom.<br />
Working with local artists in the region’s most significant galleries puts<br />
the festival in a unique position, with projects like Kiara Mohamed’s getting<br />
to the heart of local issues, alongside some of the world’s most important<br />
artists, visiting the city for Liverpool Biennial. In 1999, the Liverpool<br />
Biennial hit the streets and, after a slight bump (perhaps the millennium<br />
didn’t count?), it came back three years later in 2002.<br />
Now on its 10th edition, the Biennial’s fringe activity has found itself<br />
playing a more crucial role than ever before. Known as Tracey in 1999,<br />
Independents Liverpool Biennial between 2002 and 2014, and Biennial<br />
Fringe in 2016, it’s perhaps been a little less reliable than its sister. Now,<br />
Independents Biennial (minus Liverpool) is here, with its own agenda.<br />
This year has seen major galleries sign up to work with early career<br />
artists, and some of the region’s most significant organisations have<br />
created opportunities for local artists to show alongside one of the world’s<br />
most significant arts festivals. In St Helens, Knowsley and Wirral, three<br />
artists have been commissioned to create new work for the festival,<br />
working with Heart Of Glass, the Williamson and Kirkby Gallery in the first<br />
commissions of their kind for the Independents.<br />
Brigitte Jurack will be the first artist installed at Williamson Art<br />
Gallery’s new Green Gallery, with a project that tackles the indefinable<br />
nature of Oxton Road – one of Merseyside’s most culturally diverse<br />
spaces. Rather than dropping in and going away again, Brigitte has had<br />
a relationship with Oxton Road for years, as one of the co-founders of<br />
Alternator Studios, whose Translating The Street project in 2016 worked<br />
with shops and hairdressers on the street. Her latest sculptural work is a<br />
response to that kaleidoscope of independent local industry.<br />
In Knowsley, local illustrator Cath Garvey takes a look at the flaws of the<br />
global comic industry by delivering workshops that can only work in Kirkby.<br />
Putting girls at the heart of her stories, and inviting everyone and anyone to<br />
produce their own comics, we’ll be producing a massive collection of new<br />
comics through the festival, which put the focus on local women.<br />
Kate Hodgson is planning a series of public print workshops<br />
responding to the industrial past of St Helens, in the year the town turns<br />
150, and I’ve just got home from a meeting with Yellow Door Artists,<br />
having learned all about their plans working with St Helens’ twin town of<br />
Stuttgart. And in Sefton, Threshold Festival – usually confined to the Baltic<br />
Triangle – have been commissioned to host a one-day only Threshold in<br />
Princess Diana Gardens. Performance, live art, workshops, music and a lot<br />
of energy will greet visitors to the Sefton Open, where artists from around<br />
the region are shown on the walls of the borough’s largest gallery and<br />
museum.<br />
The energy coming out of the boroughs of Merseyside is unbelievable<br />
and this year’s Independents Biennial will be the start of a long journey in<br />
discovering what culture is to the Liverpool city region.<br />
Alongside the commissions are artists from around the North West<br />
pushing their own boundaries, including five artists form LJMU and<br />
Liverpool Hope who will be taking on their biggest gallery yet as part of<br />
the new Independents Biennial Graduate Exhibition Award, in the former<br />
George Henry Lee building.<br />
And in St John’s Market, the most human retail space in the city,<br />
we’ll be working with over 80 artists over four months, alongside active<br />
shops and cafés, to tell a unique story of art in the Liverpool city region<br />
in a space that will change each and every day, showing new work, new<br />
conversations and forgotten histories.<br />
Independents Biennial <strong>2018</strong> set out to give the artists of the Liverpool<br />
city region a significant voice. From 14th <strong>July</strong>, it’s your chance to listen.<br />
Words: Patrick Kirk-Smith<br />
Photography: Kate Hodgson<br />
Head to artinliverpool.com/independentsbiennial<strong>2018</strong> to find out more<br />
about this year’s fringe programme, which runs between 14th <strong>July</strong> and<br />
28th October.<br />
46
Wirral New Music Collective is proud to present a summer<br />
programme of innovative live shows in interesting new<br />
spaces across Wirral, showcasing some of the region’s finest<br />
emerging talent.<br />
SKELETON COAST<br />
ANCIENT DREAMS OF YOUTH<br />
THE MYSTERINES<br />
THE FERNWEH<br />
TANER KEMIRTLEK<br />
JORDAN GARBUTT<br />
MARVIN POWELL<br />
NIAMH ROWE<br />
ELIZA CAREW<br />
HELEN DOWNEY<br />
ALEX SCOTT<br />
LEASOWE CASTLE - 1ST SEPTEMBER<br />
Wirral New Music Collective presents a stellar<br />
collection of Merseyside artists at Wirral’s largest<br />
festival of psychedelia, blues and rock.<br />
WILLIAMSON ART GALLERY - 16TH AUGUST<br />
A night of contemporary classical music surrounded<br />
by fine art, featuring a specially commissioned composition<br />
for piano trio.<br />
FRESH GOODS BATCH ONE<br />
A DAY IN THE SUN<br />
EYESORE AND THE JINX<br />
BEIJA FLO<br />
TVAM<br />
REEDALE RISE<br />
S>>D<br />
BILL NICKSON<br />
SPQR<br />
BREAKWAVE<br />
LO FIVE<br />
MELODIEN<br />
FRESH GOODS STUDIOS, MADDOCK STREET<br />
4TH AUGUST<br />
A studio party with Wirral’s finest in an industrial<br />
warehouse in the heart of Birkenhead, with all sets<br />
bootlegged live for future release.<br />
TREASURY ANNEXE, CLEVELAND STREET<br />
25TH AUGUST<br />
A full day of experimental electronica in an intimate<br />
new setting, breaking down the boundaries<br />
between performer and observer.<br />
GET IT LOUD IN LIBRARIES<br />
BODEGA<br />
BIRKENHEAD CENTRAL LIBRARY<br />
8TH JULY<br />
The latest stop of the GILIL series brings New York<br />
art-punks Bodega to Birkenhead’s iconic library for<br />
a matinée performance, with support coming from<br />
Wirral-based noiseniks Jo Mary.<br />
ST. JUDE THE OBSCURE<br />
BIRKENHEAD PRIORY<br />
18TH AUGUST<br />
One of Birkenhead’s hidden gems is the backdrop<br />
for an intimate show headed up by electronic<br />
art-pop duo St. Jude The Obscure.<br />
Each show is ticketed separately. Head to wirralnmc.co.uk for further details.
THEWAREHOUSEPROJECT.COM