Issue 98 / April 2019

ISSUE 98 / APRIL 2019
NEW MUSIC + CREATIVE CULTURE
LIVERPOOL
XAMVOLO / YAMMERER
MC NELSON / THE ZUTONS

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FRI 5TH APR 6.30PM
PINEGROVE
TUE 7TH MAY 7PM SOLD OUT
LUCY SPRAGGAN
Thur 4th Apr
Holy Moly
and the Crackers
Sat 6th Apr
The Showhawk
Duo
+ Benji & Hibbz
Fri 12th Apr • SOLD OUT
Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild
of Students
DMA’s
Wed 17th Apr • SOLD OUT
Dave
Thur 18th Apr
The Good, The Bad
& The Queen
Sat 20th Apr
Nirvana UK (Tribute)
Sun 21st Apr
M Huncho
Sat 27th Apr • 6.30pm
Liverpool Rocks
Final
Sat 27th Apr
Newton Faulkner
Sat 27th Apr
Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild
of Students
Hollywood
Undead
Sat 27th Apr
Newton Faulkner
Tue 30th Apr
Arctic Monkeys:
Performed by a 10
Piece Brass Band
Fri 3rd May
The Bon Jovi
Experience
Thur 16th May
Little Steven &
The Disciples Of
Soul
Sun 19th May
Ross Edgley -
Worlds Fittest Live
Show
Thur 23rd May
Glenn Hughes
Performs Classic
Deep Purple live
+ Laurence Jones
Fri 24th May
KSI & Randolph -
New Age Tour
Sat 25th May
The Icicle Works
Sat 1st Jun
The Smyths
Mon 3rd Jun • SOLD OUT
Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild
of Students
Anne-Marie
Sun 4th Jun
Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild
of Students
Kaiser Chiefs
Sat 8th Jun
The Mighty Wah!
Presents The Pete
Wylie Show
Fri 21st Jun • SOLD OUT
Alesso
Sat 22nd Jun
Hipsway
Sat 5th Oct
Definitely
Mightbe
(Oasis tribute)
Fri 11th Oct
Fleetwood Bac
Sat 12th Oct
The Marley Revival
+ UB40 Tribute Set
Thur 24th Oct
Jake Clemons
+ Ben McKelvey
Sat 9th Nov
She Drew The Gun
Sat 9th Nov
Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild
of Students
Greta Van Fleet
+ Ida Mae
Sat 9th Nov
Antarctic Monkeys
+ The Alleys + The Patriots
Sat 16th Nov
The Macc Lads
Sat 16th Nov
UK Foo Fighters
(Tribute)
Wed 20th Nov
Fontaines D.C.
Fri 29th Nov
The Doors Alive
Sat 30th Nov
Pearl Jam UK
Thur 5th Dec
Shed Seven
+ The Twang
SAT 6TH APR 6PM
MAVERICK SABRE
+ JORDAN MAX
MON 8TH APR 7PM
YAK
+ BOBBY WEST + MUSH
WED 10TH APR 7PM
INDOOR PETS
FRI 12TH APR 7PM
MONKS
SAT 13TH APR 6PM
ANTEROS
+ REDFACES
FRI 19TH APR 7PM
WHENYOUNG
+ LUCIA + SHARDS
SAT 20TH APR 7PM
A TRIBUTE
TO EDDIE VEDDER
WED 24TH APR 7PM
CABBAGE
FRI 26TH APR 6.30PM
UNDER THE
APPLE TREE
– LIVE ON TOUR WITH
WILDWOOD KIN
+ ELEANOR NELLY
TUE 30TH APR 7PM
THE
COATHANGERS
FRI 3RD APR 7PM
KOJAQUE
SAT 4TH MAY 7PM
BLANCMANGE
FRI 17TH MAY 7PM
J MASCIS
FRI 17TH MAY 7 PM
ALEX LAHEY
SAT 18TH MAY 7PM SOLD OUT
ELECTRIC SIX
SAT 8TH JUN 7PM
JOHN POWER
SAT 8TH JUN 7PM
HANDS OFF
GRETEL
SUN 9TH JUN 7PM
MEGAN MCKENNA
TUE 11TH JUN 7PM
HONEYBLOOD
SAT 5TH OCT 7PM
A BAND CALLED
MALICE
FRI 18TH OCT 7PM
NINE BELOW ZERO
SAT 19TH JUN 7PM
SAINT AGNES
SAT 2ND NOV 7PM
STONE
FOUNDATION
SAT 16TH NOV 7PM
LONDON CALLING
PLAY THE CLASH
FRI 22ND NOV 7.PM
BLOOD RED SHOES
TUE 10TH DEC 7PM
THE PAPER KITES
TICKETS FOR ALL SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE FROM
TICKETMASTER.CO.UK
90
SEEL STREET, LIVERPOOL, L1 4BH
by arrangement with ITB presents
Sat 4th May
The Amy
Winehouse
Experience…
A.K.A Lioness
+ Lauren Hope
Sun 5th May • 11pm
Love 90’s R&B
Bank Holiday
Special
ticketmaster.co.uk
Fri 2nd Aug
The Fillers
(The Killers Official Tribute)
Sat 14th Sep
Ocean Colour
Scheme
(Ocean Colour Scene Tribute)
Sat 28th Sep
Red Rum Club
o2academyliverpool.co.uk
11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool L3 5UF
Doors 7pm unless stated
Fri 6th Dec
Mountford Hall, Liverpool Guild
of Students
Happy Mondays -
Greatest Hits Tour
Fri 6th Dec
SPINN
Sat 14th Dec
Ian Prowse
& Amsterdam
Venue box office opening hours:
Mon - Sat 10.30am - 5.30pm
ticketmaster.co.uk • seetickets.com
gigantic.com • ticketweb.co.uk
FEATURING ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAMER
STEVEN VAN ZANDT
OF THE E STREET BAND, THE SOPRANOS, LILYHAMMER,
AND LITTLE STEVEN’S UNDERGROUND GARAGE!
NEW
ALBUM
SUMMER
OF SORCERY
OUT MAY
THURSDAY 16th MAY 2019
O 2 ACADEMY LIVERPOOL
TICKETMASTER.CO.UK | LITTLESTEVEN.COM

Bank Holiday Sun 5th May
An evening with
Irvine Welsh

What’s On
April – June
Wednesday 3 April 8pm
Music Room
Band On The Wall Presents
Bill Laurance
Tuesday 9 April 7.30pm
King of Ghosts
Wednesday 22 May 7.30pm
Film
The Favourite (cert 15)
Saturday 25 May 8pm
Music Room
Elephant Sessions
Tuesday 30 April 8pm
Music Room
Carla Morrison
Friday 10 May 8pm
Thursday 23 May 8pm
Saturday 15 June 8pm
Friday 28 June 8pm
Music Room
Kaleidoscope –
Music Memes
Box Office
0151 709 3789
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Thanks to the City
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17 / 5 - 22 / 6 2019
What will Liverpool's
new music and creative
culture look like in
2028, in another 100
editions' time?
Full programme now announced
bidolito.co.uk/bido100

New Music + Creative Culture
Liverpool
Issue 98 / April 2019
bidolito.co.uk
Second Floor
The Merchant
40-42 Slater Street
Liverpool L1 4BX
Publisher
Craig G Pennington - info@bidolito.co.uk
Editor-in-Chief
Christopher Torpey - chris@bidolito.co.uk
Media Partnerships and Projects Manager
Sam Turner - sam@bidolito.co.uk
Features Editor
Niloo Sharifi - niloo@bidolito.co.uk
Live Editor
Elliot Ryder - elliot@bidolito.co.uk
Digital and Social Media Officer
Lucy Doyle – lucy@bidolito.co.uk
Community Membership Manager
Brit Williams – brit@bidolito.co.uk
Design
Mark McKellier - mark@andmark.co.uk
Branding
Thom Isom - hello@thomisom.com
Proofreader
Nathaniel Cramp
EDITORIAL
There’s an inherent danger in overlooking the intricacies
of society. To apply all-encompassing brackets of
existence to a population is to venture into unstable
waters. Yet it’s a destination we’re careering towards:
red, white and blue sails tearing apart in the headwinds. There
is no hauler and fishing net capable of dragging along the
diversities of the UK. Not one capable of half that, never mind
51.9 per cent. More than half will slip
through the net, happily.
When Theresa May took to
addressing the nation in late March,
she did so in the hope of outlining an
extension to Brexit was the fault of MPs
and MPs alone. “I’m on your side,” she
croaked. It was a remarkable power
move. It was an attempt to disregard
the rest of the chess board and sweep
the queen to an opposing side where it
would declare itself a new colour. Where
it would become one of the people; this
singular, homogenous species, free of
difference, free of contrasting cultures,
free of multi-ethnicity, free of its own individual will. The opposing
side, our side, the people’s, in a world where there can only be two
sides to any difference. Here, May looked beyond the intricacies
and idiosyncrasies of our cities. Those, like in Liverpool, that we
define ourselves upon. The brackets of subculture we joyously slip
between to find the like-minded and those perfectly different.
As you can imagine, it was foolhardy to box up the nation,
and a complete failure for a flagging Theresa May. No nation is
resistant to populism, and Britain bears its scars, from populism
of both left and right-wing strains. However, to opt for such a
brazen switch to anti-establishment tactics was clouded and
callous. Contrary to ever present soundbites, there is not a defined
‘people’. They don’t have a singular will, either. To use such a
FEATURES
“Existence is shared
experience, but it is
uniquely interpreted by
every mind subscribed
to its continuum”
phrase colours the speaker in one defined colour, and more so the
subjects they wish appeal to. Desperate. Desperate for control,
with the centre-right populist playbook under the thumb. The
yawning reaction to this calculated switch was one tiny glimmer
of hope in the otherwise D-rate drama, now given an extended
run beyond its original 1,000-day slog since June 2016.
Applying unnecessary brackets to the politicised population
isn’t the only sphere where intricacies are
often overlooked. This month’s cover star,
XamVolo, will attest to the boredom of
being bracketed and made to carry the
weight of genre tags on young shoulders.
Often outlined as a neo-soul singer,
he enlightens us to the nuances we all
too often look beyond, the limitations
of naming exercises that reduce the
expansive reaches of his craft into one,
singular bitesize form. In contrast, MC
Nelson outlines to Niloo Sharifi the
changing perceptions and societal tags
he’s confronted since moving from
Liverpool to London and now Rotterdam.
Entering into the world of City Of Liverpool FC, as Christopher
Torpey did, uncovers a co-existence between working-class
culture, community and ambition. An intricate make-up not solely
hinged on the 11 purple shirts that take to the pitch each week,
although their various team’s ascent is worthy of your attention.
Existence is shared experience, but it is uniquely interpreted
by every mind subscribed to its continuum. An appreciation for
the intricacies of being and culture is the best roadmap to an
understanding of the population. Just leave the bracketing to the
failing politicians.
Elliot Ryder / @elliot_ryder
Live Editor
Cover Photography
Robin Clewley
Words
Elliot Ryder, Niloo Sharifi, Brit Williams, Christopher
Torpey, Sophie Shields, Bernie Connor, Sam Turner,
Cath Holland, Richard Lewis, Glyn Akroyd, Paul
Fitzgerald, Jennie Macaulay, Sinéad Nunes, Joe Hale,
John McGovern, Ken Wynne, Mike Stanton, Christopher
Carr, Megan Walder, Ryan Murphy, Esme Davine.
Photography, Illustration and Layout
Mark McKellier, Robin Clewley, Niloo Sharifi, Michael
Driffill, Tabitha Jussa, Hannah Blackman-Kurz, Markus
Spiske, Sasha Kuzmina, Glyn Akroyd, Hannah Starkey,
Darren Aston, Tomas Adam, John Middleton, Amin
Musa, John Latham, Michael Kirkham, Mook Loxley.
Distributed by Middle Distance
Print, distribution and events support across
Merseyside and the North West.
middledistance.org.uk
16 / XAMVOLO
Exploring the structures of nuance with one of the most finelytuned
minds in British music today.
18 / NELSON...ON THE WATERFRONT
“This is the longest I’ve ever been out of the country in my life…
seeing more of the world made me more reflective because it was
a different perspective”
22 / CITY OF LIVERPOOL FC
Football, football, football – is it more important than life and
death? For The Purps, a community spirit that is an antidote to
modern football is at the heart of their manifesto.
24 / INNOVATEHER
Liverpool Girl Geeks’ mission to make coding accessible to
everyone is opening up new pathways to equip women with the
skills to conquer the tech industry.
20 / YAMMERER
Searching for Yammerer. Brit Williams follows the group down
the rabbit hole of fictional managers and fruit machines, in
pursuit of what it truly means to be authentic.
26 / CHARACTERS: ONION DELI
Bernie Connor nominates Kerry Thomas of Onion Deli as an
on-the-quiet hero who deserves more attention in our new
Characters feature.
32 / ROSE MCGOWAN
“I wonder what we could achieve if we didn’t have to fight the
other stuff.”
34 / THE ZUTONS
“When you grow up with a band you can’t really replace that, it
just feels right”
The views expressed in Bido Lito! are those of the
respective contributors and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the magazine, its staff or the
publishers. All rights reserved.
REGULARS
10 / NEWS
30 / SPOTLIGHT
33 / PREVIEWS
40 / REVIEWS
52 / ARTISTIC LICENCE
54 / THE FINAL SAY

NEWS
Future Yard
You’ve always known that Birkenhead is the
center of the musical universe right? Well, coming
this August bank holiday weekend (Friday 23rd
and Saturday 24th August) FUTURE YARD
FESTIVAL is the next step on Birkenhead’s
new music journey. The festival will present
innovative and internationally significant work
from exceptional national, international and local
artists, all showcased in a collection of Birkenhead’s
iconic spaces. Pulling from Wirral’s great musical
traditions, as well as Birkenhead’s position as the
Mersey’s shipbuilding powerhouse, this event is the
chance to develop a new, forward-thinking creative
culture for a town which has music in its DNA.
Watch for a full line-up announcement coming on
15th April at futureyard.org.
LIMF Myself And I
Bido Lito! has chosen lo-fi perfect pop composer BILL
NICKSON as our pick for LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL
MUSIC FESTIVAL this year. The Wirral singer-songwriter
will perform on the It’s Liverpool stage on the Saturday of
the festival alongside the great and the good. Elsewhere,
LIMF have announced a raft of extra special artists who
will be gracing Sefton Park. Chief among those names
are hip hop legends DE LA SOUL. The Long Island rhyme
purveyors precede SISTER SLEDGE on the Sunday of the
July weekender. Elsewhere, SIGMA helps celebrate local
label institution 3BEAT’s 30th anniversary and Soul II
Soul’s JAZZIE B will get people moving in the True School
Club House. Tickets for LIMF (20th-21st July) are available
through ticketquarter.co.uk.
De La Soul
Friday Night Lights
LightNight
Culture crawls don’t come more comprehensive than LIGHTNIGHT. The expansive programme is always a
vibrant reflection of Liverpool’s broad creative offer. As ever, the festival has announced commissions created
around a theme, which this year is Ritual. Seven one-off events are created especially for the event on 17th
May. As well as our special collaboration with Merseyrail which you can read about overleaf, there is a multiscreen
installation exploring diverse Brazilian ceremonies at Victoria Gallery and Museum, a collaboration
between dance organisation MOVEMA and Indian music institution MILAPFEST and artist RICHIE MOMENT
brings a series of light sculptures which explore modern day rituals. Also on the line-up PROJECTILE VOMIT
create Donna Summer Fever at Constellations, Japanese artist ANTI-COOL brings a video installation to the
Bluecoat and local musician RORY BALLANTYNE presents Ad Finitum: The Invisible Choir And Death Café at
the Anglican Cathedral. Full programme details can be found at lightnightliverpool.co.uk.
Pizza The Spring Action
Spring is officially here and so begins the hunt for the best
outdoor drinking areas in the city. A relatively new addition
to that list has to be the balcony terrace of Parr Street’s
Crazy Pedro’s. As always Pedro’s Post Work Party Playlist
(PPWPP) will be drawing a close to the working day from
5pm each weekday and to celebrate the outdoor drinkingfriendly
temperatures they’ve got a tasty giveaway. In
order to get your hands on one of four pizza and cocktails
deals for free, all you need to do is suggest the best spring
and summer tracks to add to the PPWPPL. From Monday
1st April we’ll be inviting recommendations on the Bido
Lito! Facebook page – get involved!
Best Before
A new venue which looks to support those new to
Liverpool’s live music scene has opened in the Baltic
Triangle. BEST BEFORE is a 150-capacity venue
which provides promoters the opportunity to put on
gigs showcasing new talent without the standard
financial risk. With a no flash photography or phones
policy, it’s also venue that wants to throw it back to
a time when being in the moment was an important
feature of the nightlife experience. Expect all-nightlong
sets, local artists topping the bill and an intimate
environment. A welcome addition to the city’s venue
offer, we say.
The Baltic Is Alive With The Sounds Of The City
Gwenno
With the festival on final manoeuvres for its outing on 3rd, 4th and 5th May, an extra
round of additions to the SOUND CITY programme are a welcome reminder of how much
there is to get stuck into. Iconic Pretenders singer CHRISSIE HYNDE is joining the fray
as the keynote speaker at the festival’s Sound City+ conference, which takes place at
the British Music Experience on 3rd May. A host of showcases have been added to the
main festival line-up, with Bella Union, DIY and Gigwise among those hosting stages and
late-night parties across the weekend. And Welsh musician GWENNO is taking part in
a five-day residency which will culminate in a brand new piece of work being performed
at the festival, as part of the Both Sides Now initiative from charity Brighter Sounds. The
project is looking for female musicians from across Merseyside to work with Gwenno on
this material, following on from Stealing Sheep’s memorable Suffragette Tribute at 2018’s
festival. Further details on all this can be found at soundcity.uk.com.
10

DANSETTE
Merseyside punks QUEEN ZEE have
been busy conquering the world, but they
stopped long enough to release their
self-titled debut LP in February, on their
own Sasstone Records label. Here, Zee
herself picks out a few choice records
that were important touchstones for her
when making the album.
M62 Cool For School
As is often the case, the line-up for MANCHESTER
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL is looking like a who’s
who of creators currently setting the global cultural
agenda. Recently announced additions to the
programme include a series of events curated by
cinema legend DAVID LYNCH and a mass-participatory
event by seminal artist YOKO ONO. Elsewhere on the
programme, grime star SKEPTA will be delivering a
futuristic meditation on the history of rave culture, plus
IDRIS ELBA and KWAME KWEI-ARMAH present Tree,
an exploration of the soul and spirit of contemporary
South Africa. MAXINE PEAKE also portrays the life of
Nico in a new production and JANELLE MONÁE plays
a one-off show at Castlefield Bowl on MIF’s opening
night. All the events taking place between 4th and 21st
July can be found at mif.co.uk.
Birthday Merchants
Streamers and party hats at the ready, THE MERCHANT is celebrating two whole
orbits around our sun. The Parr Street hub has enjoyed a buoyant brace of years,
welcoming disc spinning guests from David Rodigan to Stealing Sheep, taking in
the city’s finest creative organisations as tenants and serving up a fair amount of
pretty mean pizza slices. For their birthday weekend they’ll be doing what they do
best. Friday sees a celebration of all things Frank Ocean with CHANNEL ORANGE,
Saturday is Motown night with the likes of Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross being
celebrated with SUPERSTITION and everyone’s favourite super weird DJ GREG
WILSON rounds things off on Sunday when he celebrates 10 years of his lauded
BBC Essential Mix.
Love Is The Message,
The Message Is Death
OSHUN (Rhian Askins)
David Lynch
Arabian Nights
“I want to make black cinema with the power, beauty, and alienation of black
music. That’s my big goal.” This is the mantra of Mississippi-born filmmaker
and visual artist ARTHUR JAFA, whose groundbreaking work Love Is The
Message, The Message Is Death is coming to Tate Liverpool this spring
(running 29th March to 12th May). Presented in almost total darkness, the film
will feel like an immersive video installation, as depictions of African American
history flick by to the Gospel-like sounds of Kanye West’s Ultralight Beam.
Jafa’s seven-minute montage has been praised for its unflinching appraisal of
modern America that gives a visual vocabulary to black American experience.
Clips from hip hop videos and YouTube footage of protests are interspersed
with a recurring sun motif, which represents Jafa’s belief that these issues
should be viewed on a cosmological scale.
Each year, the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (LAAF) attracts
tens of thousands of people from Liverpool and beyond for
a thrilling showcase of the richness of Arab culture, with a
packed programme of visual art, music, dance, film, theatre,
literature and special events taking place in venues across
the city. This year the festival will take place between 5th and
14th July, with the ever-popular Family Day – where people of
all ages can indulge in traditional Arab dance, music, cuisine
and wider culture – serving as the finale in Sefton Park’s
Palm House. Bahraini poet QASSIM HADDAD’s powerful
The Chronicles of Majnun Layla (Sunday 7th July at the Unity
Theatre) is one of the festival’s flagship events, alongside the
appearance of visual artist and performer YARA BOUSTANY,
who performs two of her pieces at the Unity on 11th July.
Further announcements are due, so keep your eyes on
arabartsfestival.com for additions.
Oyé Additions
Afro-futurist hip hop duo OSHUN are the latest act to be added
to this year’s AFRICA OYÉ line-up (22nd and 23rd June). The USbased
artists fuse digital and acoustic sounds with heavy drums
and bass to create a unique sound with rich harmonic textures.
Joining OSHUN in a (everything crossed) sunny Sefton Park is
Haitian artist MOONLIGHT BENJAMIN. After a childhood raised
by a priest Benjamin followed her own path to create a sound
which encompasses 70s blues, a powerful voice and intoxicating
rhythms. Also announced by the busy festival team are this year’s
Oyé Introduces artists with local SATIN BEIGE and TABITHA
JADE getting the honour of playing the main stage at the event.
Arthur Jafa
Chrome Hoof
Chrome Hoof
Tritone
Chrome Hoof were always
more than a band; they
are a mythology, a show, a
performance. I wanted to
capture that element of Queen Zee with this record. It’s a
show, it’s meant to take you out of your boring life and let
you lose yourself for an hour. Inject some colour into the
grey British mundanity.
Pansy Division
Undressed
Lookout! Records
I love how rude this record is.
What’s the point of punk if it
doesn’t make you throw up
in your mouth a bit? Pansy
Division were singing songs about sucking guys’ dicks, in
a hardcore scene where guys were getting stabbed for
being gay, and women were mostly excluded. Punk has
such a bizarre and twisted relationship with the LGBTQ+
community; to me they’re one and their similarities much
outweigh their differences. But to a lot, they don’t see it like
that. I’d say this is the queercore album to dig into. A scene
that has given me a lot of strength in my own journey.
Smashing
Pumpkins
Gish
Hut
This was one of my first
records. Billy Corgan was
really trying to make off-kilter pop. I think all the bands in
that scene were in some way; Nirvana definitely were. I
loved Corgan’s voice, it was so weird. I think there’s a lot of
what Corgan was trying to create in my vision as well.
Parliament
Mothership
Connection
Casablanca
You all know I love a costume.
This record slaps. The vision
and the execution of that
vision is unparalleled. It’s an absolute classic. I’ve drawn
so much from Parliament as an influence and I continue
to. Why wear your jeans when you can dress like the love
child of Judas Priest and The Clangers? I hate all the crap
indie bands who live for the ‘I own one pair of jeans and
don’t have a comb’ look. It lacks ambition, imagination and
talent. Push the boundaries you collective of clichés.
@queenzeeuk
Queen Zee is out now via Sasstone Records.
NEWS 11

MEMBERSHIP
THE ALL-NEW BIDO LITO!
COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP
Bido Lito! has always been about supporting and championing
Liverpool’s new music and creative culture. Through our team of community
writers, photographers, illustrators and creative minds we’ve charted our
city’s vibrant, do-it-together creative ethos since 2010. This community
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A new global movement towards community journalism has emerged
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Bido Lito! Community Members will still receive the latest edition of the
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and playlist content from Liverpool’s most exciting new artists. And,
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and passion of local
people, creating a
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media voice free from
advertorials and clickbait”
But - and most importantly - Bido Lito! Community Members will be
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We still believe strongly in the editorial integrity of the magazine, so Bido
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If you are passionate about supporting and championing Liverpool’s new
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TAKE PART IN THE FIRST BIDO LITO! MEMBERS FORUM

ido100!
Today, our city’s creative community faces a unique set of
challenges and as a magazine we’ve never shied away from this
fact. To mark the publication of our 100th issue we will be taking
the opportunity to look forwards rather than backwards, asking
the following question: what will be the key issues and challenges,
opportunities and changes we’ll be grappling with in 2028?
Through a series of projects, bido100! will explore our fast-paced
and unpredictable tech-laced future and look to learn what we can
do differently today to help shape a better, creative tomorrow.
Ritual 2.0
On LightNight (17th May), RITUAL 2.0 marks the launch of
bido100! and invites participants to consider a creative future
based on Artificial Intelligence. Are we at the vanguard of a new
chapter of ritualistic expression, a cross pollination between
human and AI creativity? Is this Ritual 2.0? A large-scale, public
realm light and sound installation developed by artist SAM
WIEHL with an accompanying soundtrack mix by FOREST
SWORDS, set within the subterranean tunnels of Moorfields
Station, will explore these pertinent creative questions. The
installation is one of LightNight 2019’s commissions and will take
the form of a walk-through, immersive experience, encouraging
the public to question AI’s ideal boundaries and parameters as
we plough head-on into a new technical age..
AI Audio Lab
Following on from Ritual 2.0, AI AUDIO LAB will be installation which places the Liverpool public within this
world of automated creativity. We live in an age of unparalleled technological advancement, where robots
are being taught to drive our cars, teach our children and administer our healthcare. And it seems that artistic
creativity is no longer a uniquely human condition either. We invite you to step into a virtual recording studio
and shape the creation of an Artificial Intelligence-composed piece of music, in a genre of your choice. The
process will be facilitated by a team of ‘technicians’ who will assist in the creation of brand new compositions
which will be publicly broadcast across Bido Lito!’s digital media channels. The project is intended to
encourage participants to critically engage with the idea of a music future based on AI rather than human
creativity, questioning the boundaries and parameters.
Pow Wow!
Held within the iconic surroundings of The Bluecoat on 6th and 7th June, POW
WOW! will be a unique discursive event where we will debate the key challenges
and opportunities we will be contending with in 2028. The event will feature the first
of what is set to be an annual Roger Eagle Memorial Lecture and will be conducted
by the inimitable BILL DRUMMOND. An opportunity to shine a focus on one of our
city’s most enduring musical forces, this annual lecture will invite an artist to explore
a topic they see as pressing today, but also in keeping with the spirit of Roger Eagle.
The evening will also host the Pow Wow! Discussion, featuring representatives from
the worlds of art, politics and journalism casting their minds forward to what the world
has in store for our creative future. And, the inaugural Bido Lito! Community Members’
Forum will see our members come together to shape the agenda the magazine will
pursue, as part of our continuing drive towards community-focused journalism.
Commissions
For bido100! we will be undertaking three projects which
commission new work in response to the central ideas of
the programme. We will be commissioning a film short to
coincide with the project in partnership with FACT. As well
as archiving the action across the project, this commission
provides a local filmmaker with the opportunity to creatively
explore the bido100! themes. Submissions are now open
via bidolito.co.uk/bido100/film-commission. Visual artists
have also been responding to a similar call-out, successful
submissions will be displayed at dot-art gallery from 17th
May. As well as these, read about MC Nelson’s music
commission with Metal on pages 22-23.
Inside Pages
Following the launch of this magazine back in the heady days of 2010, we
teamed up with a collective of our new-found friends and musical allies to
present INSIDE PAGES Festival. The concept for the festival was simple: create
a full-blown celebration of the artists and music community our magazine
was established to champion. To mark our 100th issue we will be hosting an
event in the same spirit and under the same name. This time at Constellations
on 22nd June, Inside Pages will be a festival which brings the pages of Bido
Lito! to life and closes bido100! with a volatile mix of artists of both local and
international significance. Our recent cover artists XAMVOLO, YANK SCALLY
and EYESORE & THE JINX will all perform live, alongside many more familiar
and unfamiliar names. MC NELSON will also present the first ever performance
of a new piece of work he has been developing as part of his residency with
Metal in Rotterdam (see page 22 for more details).
Tickets for all bido100! events are
available at ticketquater.co.uk.
Expect further programme
announcements over the coming
months at bidolito.co.uk/bido100.
NEWS
13

Storyhouse
Women
A weekend for everyone,
celebrating women and girls
26 – 28 April 2019
Rose McGowan: headline speaker
global topics: careers / trans stories / feminism / Islamophobia /
overcoming addiction / rape culture / domestic violence
panel discussions / debates / workshops / performances
join the conversation – book now storyhouse.com
weekend pass £20 / day pass £15
Storyhouse, Hunter Street, Chester

XAMVOLO
Exploring the structures of nuance with one of the
most finely-tuned minds in British music today.
16

Blue skies are reflecting from the blacked-out mirror façade jutting across Mann Island. It’s
a strangely warm day, especially for this time of year. Beside the undisturbed reflections
of this faux summer sky peer in neoclassical columns, baroque domes and concrete
foundations, held in place by aspiration and the nurturing hands of redevelopers. It’s an
active scene. The perfect setting for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ northern exhibition
space, today’s destination. The perfect place to meet architecture graduate turned musical virtuoso
XAMVOLO, real name Sam Folorunsho. You’d think, anyway.
“I don’t want to be an architect,” Sam declares earnestly, in his confident yet polite manner. “I’ve
met some great people through my studies, but I don’t intend to use that side of my education.”
He tells me this from our office on the fringes of a building site on Wolstenholme Square, where
we’ve rescheduled to meet, away from the complete and distinguished structures on Liverpool’s
waterfront. This says a lot about Sam; signature creations are at the forefront of his wildly active
mind. And if his studies taught him anything, he only has interest in the
intricate spaces where he can fulfil the potential of his own design. Not
those that reflect established marks of grandeur.
If an interest in architecture has faded since arriving in Liverpool
from London, one feature of Sam’s character has remained since first
appearing in these pages four years ago: the desire, if not purpose, to
produce music cut from his own individualistic nature. “I understand that
there is structure in life, but I don’t really agree with the paint-by-numbers
processes we allow to rule over decision making,” he coolly asserts,
responding to a suggestion that he’s taken an alternative path towards
success. The self-taught 24-year-old has forgone any classical training,
acquiring his talents via a solo venture through the musical frontier.
Before coming to Liverpool, he was quietly active from the controls
of his bedroom studio in London. A rush of EPs and singles followed
his relocation up north, assimilating influences from soul, hip hop, metal
and pop-punk. Now he’s taking calls from high-end producers and
collaborators queuing up to borrow his versatility.
He’s an artist, on the face of things, that’s adept at producing luscious,
high-end productions topped off with an enviable vocal range. Sonically,
it’s music that matches the size and feel of D’Angelo. It’s music that’s
not to be expected to emerge from Liverpool in a climate dominated
by bands; it arrives from an attention to the subtlest nuances of style,
those that mark his musical interpretations of life as a patchwork
blanket of cultures and experience. “When people want to do things,
they generally find a way to get it done. I liked a certain kind of music,
and it was very rare to hear. So, in the beginning, making music was
a vehicle to adhere to my own tastes. That’s what really pushed me
on.”
Sam’s voice is understated when in conversation, perhaps
more so today. Our interview is a little delayed as he’s under
the weather this afternoon. There’s little respite offered by the
premature summer conditions. His usual cool isn’t deterred,
though. He doesn’t even think to remove his coat throughout
the interview, despite today’s rare climate. “I woke up quite late
due to being ill, but I didn’t go to sleep until 4am.” As always, a
determined streak shines through. “I was up all night working
on some tracks. Being my own producer means I can work on
my music whenever, you know, to finish off an idea, to whittle
away at my own pace while the creative spark is still there.”
Sam constantly at the controls of his music, whether
that be through observation or creation. It’s this meticulous
streak that brought about his debut album, released in
January; a 15-track concept album for his first full swing.
It’s a bold move, but a clean hit. All The Sweetness On
The Surface is an amalgamation of everything Sam
has been alluding to in terms of his capabilities since
announcing himself as XamVolo five years ago. Swathes
of confidence spread across a diverse landscape, with
microscopic idiosyncrasies treated with the importance of a macro feature. It’s evidently been a
painstaking process. Yet, you see no signs of fatigue beyond the unregulated bedtime. “From a
creative standpoint, the album really pushed me,” he admits. “But for a good 12 months or so, I was
putting in 13, 14 hours a day in the studio; just me, on my own, with no windows.” Most would be
flushed out by the claustrophobia and constant blanket of unnatural light. “For me that was really
good. It allowed me to learn new things and get things done at a speed I was comfortable with. I
was able to devote my complete attention.”
Signing to a major sub-label, Decca, was just another piece in the
puzzle; the vehicle for manifesting the present world of his musical
imagination. “An album is not about telling yourself, ‘Right, I’m going to
write 30 songs this month’. It’s about letting the creative process dictate
the quantity of the finished product. I’m not about creating McMusic. The
studio for me isn’t a factory line way of thinking.”
While the creative energy was in abundance through the early
stages of the project, its overall delivery wasn’t seamless. The record
was finished by late 2017. A year of waiting followed, with an output
locked in gears easily able to stretch ahead of the static, complete body
of work.The year offered the room to enhance the visualisation of the
concept embedded within the music, drawing on the themes interwoven
into the writing process. “I finally got the opportunity to build the extra
mediums into the music, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.
Everything down to the visual campaign, the overall concept.” He pulls
out his phone and guides me through a palette of colour schemes for
the record, logos and graphic illustrations of a hive – all of which he’d
designed himself. It’s just another signal of Sam’s willingness to carve his own way with his own
capabilities, including a graphic design A-Level.
As a conceptual artwork, All The Sweetness On The Surface wanders through a world
hollowed by decadence. It’s a theme that’s explored through all 15 tracks, with added visual cues.
“The album taps into the outward vision of perfection,” Sam informs me. It’s a feeling that clearly
engages such a meticulous, prolific artist content on blazing their own trail. “It draws on the
subconscious battles with bitterness. All of this translates through to the artwork. You’ve got the
cosmetic gold, but closer up the deficiencies really shine through – the cracked gold paint, chipped
nails, broken glasses.” The running narrative of the record is founded upon a hive, depicted in the
earlier noted graphic designs. It’s the ruling metaphor of a perceived gold standard, the source of
an unattainable brand of honey which humankind strives for, unwittingly. “The album was split
into two halves: the first looks at the acquisition of the honey and its perceived benefit. The second
focuses on the psychedelic comedown, as a result of a life dedicated to its discovery.” However, the
record isn’t an entirely fictional experience, as the elaborate concept would allude to. While Sam
himself isn’t the lead character, the questions put forward over the 15 tracks roll the narrator into
the heart of the narrative. The inquisition brings about its own confession.
“Every song I write is honest. My songs are real, it’s just that I’m not always at the heart of the
“You can’t pay
for intricacies, so
you’ve got to create
them yourself”
“The sound I create
isn’t a genre, it’s
a reflection of my
musical experiences.
It’s no different to me”
narrative. I can take what I see and experience and translate [it] into music, so it becomes an honest
interpretation. I’m not an overly emotive person, so I don’t like to lead with feelings. I set my own
mechanical boundaries and bring the music to life. It draws in all of my failures, my experiences, as
though making music is like a scientific trial and error that continually evolves. I appreciate locating
the problem more so than the definitive answer.” This is a mark of the ever-evolving student.
There’s a definite appreciation for process in Sam’s work, even if his album arrived via an
off-piste musical education. From a young age, he was surrounded by gospel music played by his
parents. Music was an ever-present, but not a set path; he appreciates the intricacies of his route,
the potential to gather experiences from aspects of life that don’t glaringly inform one another, yet
always leave their mark. “If you’re in a band you make your name by playing lots of shows in the
early stages of your career. My own beginnings were sat in a bedroom. I only went to my first show
when I was 19. Before then I was making and recording from my bedroom, living in London. It
became my own stage. When I came to Liverpool I existed in a vacuum; I
had the liberty to exist in a bubble and put myself out there online.”
The feeling that music was to be his main outlet soon set in after
starting university. From here came a balancing act; architecture on one
hand, and learning to produce in his free time on the other. Though, he
admits, the latter overlapped into his paid study. “I see music as problem
solving, and the process of finding answers. For me, the internet was
somewhere I took a lot of my cues.” Like many burgeoning producers, the
open source space of the internet liberated his potential. Here there was
no set syllabus, tests, course work. “Of course, there is a lot of trial and
error. I’ve made the most of as many lectures on YouTube as I could, more
so than the ones I was actually paying for at Uni.” Working away on two
fronts, graduating and continuing his music is the clearest example of this
artist’s endeavour.
A passing listen to All The Sweetness On The Surface would suggest
it’s a genre-spanning LP, designed to cater to as many tastes as possible.
It draws in influences of rock, blues and neo-soul, but not simply as
a popularity exercise. Sam is vehemently opposed to this idea, citing the thin web that ties the
album’s parading feathers together, irrespective of the clashing colours. “For me, my music caters
to a single taste,” he attests. “I don’t really see it as being split on genres. The sound I create isn’t
a genre, it’s a reflection of my musical experiences. You know, I started producing trying to make a
grime track and now I’m here. It’s no different to me. When I was younger the first CD I was bought
was 50 Cent, and the first one I bought with my own money was Paramore. I had a whole pop-punk
phase following that. I’ve got an appreciation for metal, dubstep and EDM, the technical elements
of each.” It’s the congealed paints on the canvas that bear the reflection
of his art, not the individual elements that each contribute. Originality
is a mere repacking of shared understanding. Sam doesn’t find himself
bogged down in discussion of the latter.
“I’m really drawn to nuance. It’s a standard human reaction to try
to put everything in boxes or within certain barriers. It sort of follows
a simple equation: X+X = Y. That’s not my life experience. I lived long
enough to develop and portray a certain nuance in myself. You know,
you look at me straight up you’ll say first, ‘He’s a rapper, and if he’s not
a rapper he must be a singer, a soul singer, a neo-soul singer’.” The
preconceptions noted aren’t only limiting musically, but a signal of too
casual a reaction to understanding how Sam perceives himself as an
artist; which identities society deems him entitled to. “Now I like both
of these genres, but it’s not my entire thing. It’s just easier to underline
my music as neo-soul; it just makes it easier for people to understand
without having to look for any of the nuance I try to reflect.”
“You listen to someone like Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid has all
kind of genres. You’ve got country in the mix, a Spaghetti Western vibe,
Fela Kuti samples. That’s one version of a nuanced portrayal. That’s the world that I exist in. I’m not
out here trying to play a part in someone’s 8-bit narrative. There’s a lot more to explore, and the
gradient is there. You can’t pay for intricacies, so you’ve got to create them yourself.”
For someone who has relinquished an interest in architecture, XamVolo is an artist uniquely
driven by the potential of space. Modification, workability and an ear for fine details shine through
in his music. He’s calculated and meticulous; two attributes necessary if a self-taught dream is to
materialise into a reality. In a city of defined structures, he’s used every tool to hand to carve out a
space that bears his own design. All The Sweetness On The Surface is as intricate as it is subtle. It’s
finely measured, to the highest expanse. !
Words: Elliot Ryder / @elliot_ryder
Photography: Robin Clewley / robinclewley.co.uk (at Vessel Studios)
xamvolo.com
All The Sweetness On The Surface is out now via Decca. XamVolo plays at Inside Pages, part of our
bido100! programme, at Constellations on 22nd June. Tickets available now at ticketquarter.co.uk.
FEATURE
17

YAMMERER
Searching for Yammerer. Brit Williams follows the group down the rabbit hole of fictional managers and fruit
machines, in pursuit of what it truly means to be authentic.
My initial impression of the post-punk outfit
YAMMERER was presented through the
kaleidoscopic eye of the garrulous J George JC, the
band’s frontman and, in my representation of him,
quite the storyteller. Initially, I was scheduled to speak with only
JC, who cunningly attempted to manoeuvre me into concocting
a wacky concept for the interview. In his vision, the interview
would take place at John Lennon Airport, where I would be
introduced to a 4’4” Japanese man named Hiro purporting to be
the band’s manager; the peerlessly inventive saga would then
take in massage chairs, a casino, a missed flight, a Deal Or No
Deal fruit machine, a ladybird neck pillow and the ramblings of
the collective’s fictional manager, through whom they would
converse. Although obliged to leave J George JC’s creative efforts
to his lyricism, I manage to sneak in some questions to the rest of
the group while they aversely have their photos taken.
“We want to be mixed in with the crowd and walk along the
crossing so it’s not focused on the band. A bit like Where’s Wally,
but it’s all of us.” As I shiver in the wind outside the Albert Dock,
attempting to get the perfect non-band photo proves difficult
as people scurry from their day jobs and eagerly head home for
dinner. We head towards the Liver Birds while our photographer
Michael suggests it may be a more suitable backdrop given we’ve
run out of daylight. Guitarist GC witters “No big landmarks, none
of us are actually from Liverpool”. JC walks toward the water
with his oversized umbrella held firmly in his right hand as he
takes his shoes off and rolls up his trousers, stepping into the icy
marina unfazed. “Stay there JC,” I say. “Turn around and spin the
umbrella above on your head. Nobody smile, this isn’t supposed
to be fun.” I’m poking fun at the idea of serious musicians needing
serious photos. I step back and think about J George JC’s story of
Hiro. As intriguing as the concept was, I couldn’t help but wonder
why a band with little press, no Facebook page or SoundCloud
would prefer to mask themselves behind an elaborate story.
As we continue to take photos, I dig a little deeper and
find out what experiences led them to form as a ‘band’ in the
first place. Weaving psychedelic tendencies together with
characteristic repetitive percussion, the early development of
Yammerer’s sound came from a year of jamming without a singer
or a name. In fact, they found their missing piece in JC through an
ad they posted on Gumtree, which stated they were looking for a
“Can/The Fall-type singer”.
“We had about 10 responses. It’s like people didn’t even
listen to the kind of music we’d asked for. Mostly wannabe popstarlets,
it was ridiculous and I was getting sick of it,” exclaims
guitarist GC. “Then literally one
email came through and it was
JC going, ‘I can do that’. So, I
simply replied ‘Oh, can ya now?’
and, before I knew it, I had an
a cappella-type spoken word
recording through, wondering
then who this madman was.” JC,
who was in a transitional period,
felt that timing was everything
in the initial formation of the
band. “I was a bit at my wits’
end and going through a lot
of change. I wanted to make a
band because my old one, Spliff
Priest, had just dissipated so I
didn’t know what to do. I rang
round everyone I knew to see
if there were any bands going and there just wasn’t. I looked on
Gumtree, saw the ad and thought: wow, I can definitely do that
because it was what I had been doing anyway.”
From there, the rest of the band had made the conscious
decision to take him on. “By the end of the first weekend, a few
practices in we kind of convinced ourselves that if we’re not using
this guy, then what the hell were we waiting for?”
“You can either have
everything be perfect
in every set or you
can reach higher and
possibly fail… then we
can hopefully have some
kind of transcendence”
Some years later, Yammerer’s artistic efforts demonstrate
that they are still winding through life as a quasi-band,
discovering their own distinctive parameters. They’ve certainly
honed in on a sound that makes them uniquely Yammerer, using
a sort of improv-punk aesthetic on stage to keep the entirety of
the performance interesting. “Especially for the first few gigs we
made sure to throw in some random stuff that JC would have to
make up on the spot,” GC adds. “We would jump into songs that
weren’t invented until we just started playing them right there on
stage and see what happened.”
It’s true, there is an
unpredictable element to a live
Yammerer show. Fronted by
a distinctively rambunctious
singer who is known to thrash
around with the audience,
the core personnel behind
him compliment JC’s onstage
intensity. I noticed a shift,
however, last November when
I saw their show in Chester,
commenting on how I had seen
what seemed to be a softer
side of the group, sans crowd
flogging. I later found out it was
because JC had a concussion
and felt it was important to take
it easy that night. Concussion or
not, it worked and allowed the band to flourish on stage in a more
genteel way. They all agree that, although JC was playing it safe,
they pushed themselves to try something new. “The way I always
said it is, we want to have peaks and troughs because that way
you know that you’re actually trying to play on the edge of what
your abilities are,” affirms GC. “We always knew there was room
to harness the energy. You can either go straightforward and
18

have everything be perfect in every set, or you can reach higher
and possibly fail. So, we try that with each gig. But then we can
hopefully have some kind of transcendence. Although we’re not
the ones to say how well that’s working.”
The band’s mutual agreement that social media stifles
creativity is perhaps why they have remained off the internet
for so long. Although with the release of their first EP looming,
naturally they have been prodded to start one by their label
Restless Bear Records. Despite the subtle pressure, Yammerer
seem unphased by the need for social profiles, something they
believe increasingly smothers the music scene with pointless
content. As guitarist SD comments, “We just feel it will be a bit
shit to put something up that won’t be doing us any favours.” I
chime in and ask, ‘But what about journalists or fans, how can
they find out more from you? Is this not limiting your growth?’
JC, quick to respond, observes how “bands have been around
throughout history. Social media is such a relatively new thing
and people have just jumped on it”. He continues: “After time
people started to realise that maybe sitting in front of the TV all
day really wasn’t that fucking good for you. I don’t need to have
an extra thing that I don’t really want to be dealing with.”
With that, the EP Poisonous Reptilian Colleagues And
Co. showcases a manifestation of Yammerer’s world, one
that is blooming with ideas of escapism and has evidently
benefited from their two-day recording session at Elevator
Studios. On first listen, Yammerer drive more energy out
of their short, yet powerful four track EP than most bands
are able to gain from an entire album. GC mentions the
band’s approach to the recording process by highlighting
the importance of keeping the sound raw. “The final track
that we’ve called Seasons 13-30 was very under developed
on purpose,” he explains. “We come from different playing
backgrounds in how we listen to and absorb music,” JC adds,
picking up the thread. “We hope to delve deeper into that as
things move along – we kind of pushed the boat out in our
studio to mess around with things we haven’t unleashed on
anyone yet.”
Using this method as the backbone for Yammerer
has enabled the band to develop an intuitive approach
which complements JC’s unconventional attitude towards
the musical process. “A lot of our songs are first-takes,
literally making them up on the spot and then we keep that
blueprint for a lot of them,” he adds. “That’s what we took to
Seasons…, we wanted to bring that element of surprise to the
record. The other ones are well played by us and, with this
track, we felt we could show a little bit more of what we think
is a valuable energy that we bring.” Escapism is particularly
evident on the song Airport, with its dominant and catchy
riff, chiming well with JC’s monotonous delivery, a clear mirror
image of the energy found in their live shows.
There is, undoubtedly, an odd sense of discipline required to
go against the grain in popular music. To denounce social media
as a platform for people to hear them is bold, but Yammerer
seem confident things will unfold as they are meant to. While JC
himself is still developing as a lyricist, the band continue to jam
together the same way they always have, without any rules. As
reflected so clearly with the distraction of Hiro and the airport,
this entire notion of escapism fuels the power behind Yammerer,
fitting so well with their creative vision to care less about
portraying a bleak image of an average band to everyone. “Some
stuff you want to have a meaning, and for me, I want to make
people question the lens and how they see the world,” concludes
JC. “It’s like The Death Of The Author. Whatever you say isn’t
relevant because people will hear what they want anyway.” !
Words: Brit Williams / @therealbritjean
Photography: Michael Driffill / @Michael.Driffy
PRCACO is released on 22nd April via Restless Bear Records.
Yammerer play the Bido Lito! Social in association with Dig Vinyl
on 25th April at the Kazimier Stockroom.
FEATURE
19

“The mission now
for InnovateHer is
about getting girls
ready for the tech
industry and getting
the tech industry
ready for the girls”
Through their mission to make coding accessible to everyone, the team behind Liverpool Girl Geeks are
opening up new pathways to equip women with the skills to work in and conquer the tech industry.
As a female who has recently entered into the digital
and tech world in Liverpool, I can’t help but notice
how male-dominated the field is and how difficult
it can be to work your way upwards in the industry.
However, it’s not just myself who has noticed that this is a
problem for the city’s digital and creative culture: tech education
specialists INNOVATEHER have recognised this imbalance in the
industry and have been working across Liverpool and the North
West to help make the digital sector much more accessible for
girls and women.
To help combat the lack of education and awareness for
girls in tech, Chelsea Slater and Jo Morfee have spent the last
few years developing the InnovateHer brand. Their mission
is to prepare girls for a career in the digital sectors and help
existing businesses develop their workplace cultures to be more
accommodating for women. Digital and tech-based industries are
generally male-led, but by providing educational programmes for
girls aged between 12 and 16, meet ups for women interested
in tech and advice for tech companies on how to be more gender
inclusive, they have been able to start bridging the gender and
skills gap in the city. The beginning of 2019 has been very
significant for the team after merging the two strands of their
business – Liverpool Girl Geeks and InnovateHer – to start
encouraging more girls and women across the North West to
enter into the digital sector. I went to speak to Chelsea and Jo
about their journey and what they are doing to help keep all us
girl geeks going strong.
“I’ve been working in tech for about six to seven years,”
Chelsea explains as she recalls how the idea for Liverpool Girl
Geeks came about. “I went to university and got a tech job in
Liverpool when I left. I had various jobs and realised there was a
massive gender imbalance in the industry. I love technology and
how creative it is and I was disappointed to not see many people
like me in that role. I’ve always been quite an entrepreneur, so I
was like, ‘Right, I’m going to inspire more women to get into tech’.
So I started Liverpool Girl Geeks back in 2013.”
“It [Liverpool Girl Geeks] wasn’t really meant to be anything
other than an event and a blog about inspiring women in tech,
but it kind of rolled into what it is today,” Chelsea continues.
“Joanne came to a bloggers meet up and said, ‘I’m really
passionate about what you’re doing, can I write for you?’ She
ended up being our chief blogger and I asked her to join the
business as my partner, that’s how it all began.”
The snowballing nature of the business is obviously down
to the passion Chelsea and Jo both share for helping women get
into tech, which is allied to hands-on experience in the industry
and a knowledge of the barriers that need to be overcome.
“I’ve worked in digital and tech roles for over 10 years after
I graduated from John Moores University in Law and Business,”
Jo recalls. “I had to approach a lot of male clients and they would
always speak to me in jargon, like I never got it. That point stood
out in my career and I was like, ‘I need to know a bit more about
this because I need to be able to talk to these people and have
them not treat me like I’m dumb’. I made it my mission to learn
HTML and CSS and got a job at the University of Liverpool. I
became quite proficient in it, but there were still only two women
on the team who were doing technical jobs; similarly to Chelsea I
just thought, ‘Why is this?’”
Questioning the gender imbalance in the digital and tech
sectors in Liverpool was obviously a catalyst for something much
bigger. Liverpool Girl Geeks soon outgrew its primary role as a
blog and in hosting meet up events, developing into the full-time
social enterprise company it is today. “It was just a community
thing, a Twitter account and a shit website. I remember putting
that together and was well proud of it, but now, looking back, it’s
not,” Chelsea laughs with refreshing honesty as she recounts the
early days of the business. “Then it merged into training girls and
women up because they were coming to our events inspired and
wanted to learn the skills. There wasn’t anything offering to teach
them coding in Liverpool, so we thought we’d do it.”
From here Girl Geeks expanded its outlook, providing coding
and UX courses to young people between 12 and 16. The
expansion brought about other opportunities, which Chelsea
and Jo rolled together under the new banner of InnovateHer.
This recent merging of Girl Geeks and the new brand feels like
a very big step in the right direction for women and girls in the
tech industry in 2019. “Liverpool Girl Geeks has grown up, we
like to say, into InnovateHer,” Chelsea says. “The mission now for
InnovateHer is about getting girls ready for the tech industry and
getting the tech industry ready for the girls.”
Their new programme now consists of two elements: an
eight-week programme that teaches digital skills in after school
sessions led by industry mentors, and the company membership.
“The company membership allows us to work really closely with
companies on their diversity, recruitment and working policies,” Jo
explains. “There’s no point in telling these girls to go and get a job
in tech if the spaces aren’t inclusive for them.”
“We’re still running the coding courses for adults this year,
too, because it works really well with our company membership,”
Jo explains when I ask what they are doing to help adult women
in the industry. “We run a day-long Introduction To Coding course
and we’ve also just partnered with North Coders to provide a
financial aid package for women who want to come on our course
for the 12 weeks but can’t afford it. They don’t pay anything to
go on the boot camp until they get into employment afterwards –
97 per cent of them get jobs within 15 days, so it’s a really good
journey to go on. Working with 12-16 year olds is a long-term
strategy, so it’s also good to keep progress going with the adults.”
“We have our monthly meet ups, too, which are aimed at
adult women and men,” Chelsea explains. “We make sure we
have diverse panels and we have a lot of men coming to them
now. We want men to get on board with the mission because
they are the ones who normally own the company or are in a
senior position. There is no way we can tackle the issue without
including men, but we have to think carefully about how we do
that so we can still put forward our message and still have a
predominantly female community.”
I went along to their March meet up to see what goes on
and it really did feel like a community of people, regardless of
gender, all there to talk openly about tech. Sharing knowledge is
key, and is something Chelsea and Jo have put at the forefront of
their message. It’s all about empowerment and supporting girls
on their path to a digital career which is still unfortunately not
encouraged in a lot of schools.
“There are only 42 per cent of schools offering computer
science at GCSE in Liverpool. Only eight per cent of pupils take
it, and of that eight per cent the amount of girls is very low,” Jo
explains. “Computer science isn’t the answer to everything, but
it is a good path, which is why we focus on that on the 12-16
programme.”
These shocking statistics really show how underrepresented
tech and digital subjects are in schools and highlight just how
important InnovateHer’s work is. I ask if they have any success
stories that have come out of their programmes and they laugh,
not knowing where to start. Jo tells me how there was a 17-yearold
girl called Jess who applied for one of their web development
programmes with the intent of creating a blog about fashion,
and now wants to work in cyber security. “She wants to work for
MI5, is now studying computer science and enters national cyber
competitions with another girl she met through our network. The
experience just normalised it for her, that it was OK to be a geek!”
“It changes mentors’ lives, too,” Chelsea comments. “A lot of
our mentors say they get a lot out of our programme, it’s just so
empowering and rewarding. A girl, Sophie, came to us wanting
to be a mentor because she struggled with bullies in high school.
The memories of that were quite strong, but because of the fear
she wanted to face it by going back into school. She has excelled
in it: she is so much more confident and has come out wanting to
make more changes.”
InnovateHer has also managed to work with companies
in Liverpool to increase their recruitment of women, and they
are beginning to expand their mission to other cities including
Warrington, Wigan and Manchester, with London on the horizon.
“We just want to make as much of an impact as we can. Our
mission is to make sure there is no talk of gender, and over the
next few years we are going to work on getting our current
programmes to the highest quality possible.”
The ultimate goal for this equality approach is for gender to
not be an issue, for us not to be having this conversation in a few
years’ time because the industry will be gender balanced and
women and girls will have the same opportunity as everyone
else. “We don’t want a business eventually,” Jo laughs. “But
we can’t solve the issue on our own; it’s too big of a job for one
grassroots organisation, it’s a societal problem. I can’t see there
ever not being a need, but hopefully I’m wrong.”
“We can’t be what we are trying to be without people,”
continues Jo, “so the more people that get involved in any
capacity and help spread our message is how we work. Without
that then we would be nothing.” !
Words: Sophie Shields
Photography: Markus Spiske via Unsplash
innovateher.co.uk
20

PANELLISTS:
CITY OF LIVERPOOL FC
AND THE SOCIAL FABRIC
OF MERSEYSIDE FOOTBALL
GARY ASPDEN (ADIDAS)
SIMON HUGHES
(THE INDEPENDENT)
PAUL MANNING
(CITY OF LIVERPOOL FC)
STEPHANIE POWER
(BBC RADIO 4)
JOIN SEVENSTORE AND ADIDAS FOR AN EVENING CELEBRATING
THE LAUNCH OF THE BRAND NEW ADIDAS TRIMM TRAB
MERSEYSIDE COLLECTION - THE ICONIC TERRACE AND AWAY
DAY SHOE - FEATURING DISCUSSIONS ON THE SOCIAL IMPACT
OF GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL IN THE CITY.
FRIDAY 12TH APRIL
7PM-11PM
SMITHDOWN ROAD
SOCIAL CLUB
SIGN UP FOR TICKETS AT:
SEVENSTORE.COM/TRIMM
-TRAB-EVENT

NELSON...
AT THE
WATERFRONT
This could be Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or home… Niloo Sharifi spent a week in
the company of the Liverpool rapper during his residency in The Netherlands.
A
lot has changed this year for MC NELSON, and it’s
not even summer yet. He started it by quitting his
full-time job in London and moving to Rotterdam for
a residency with Liverpool arts organisation Metal
and art charity CBK Rotterdam. The three-month project, titled
Residency… At the Waterfront, was set up for two artists from
four European port cities: Liverpool, Marseille, Naples and
Rotterdam. The residency is based on the ideas of Gyz La Rivière
in his book titled New Neapolis, a meditation on these four cities
and their similarities. When we first arrived in Rotterdam, we find
him sitting at the table of a bar with Nelson.
“I have visited all of these cities and they all have the same
type of energy, the same sort of spirit,” he tells us. These ports
all have similar histories, shaped by the decline of their main
industry as business shifted away from the docks. Left to their
own devices, these once thriving cities have all undergone
periods of neglect in the recent decades. The individuals who
live in these cities also share a certain independence of spirit
which endures and fuels a constant effort to re-establish the life
and energy that was once abundant here. Gyz wanted to invite
artists from each of the cities to live and work in Rotterdam, with
enough resources and connections to focus their artistic practice,
because he believes in the strength of these cities and their
creative culture.
When Nelson’s application for the residency was successful,
he couldn’t say no. “I went to my job and was like, ‘Yo, I’ve got
this dope opportunity, is there any chance I could take a little bit
of a time off and maybe come back afterwards?’” They made it
clear this wasn’t possible. “I was just like, ‘Peace out’. It came at
the perfect time, when I wanted to do something new and just
dedicate all my time and energy to making tunes and rapping.
I’ve always been in full-time education or working. I’ve never
been able to just, fully prostrate myself to rap music.” During
this time, he’s performed in cities across Europe and finished his
first cohesive project, Anglosfear. Once the residency ends, he
is returning to live in Liverpool after years away and his work
with Metal will continue once he gets home – in conjunction with
Metal, Bido Lito! have commissioned MC Nelson to produce an
original piece to be debuted at the bido100! Inside Pages festival.
Staying with Nelson, and meeting the people who set up
this project, is enlightening. These independent programmes
investing in the growth of artists and turning disused spaces into
creative hubs are exactly the kind of thing we believe Liverpool
needs more of. Metal is one such organisation; operating out of
Edge Hill railway station, they set up cinemas and art spaces in
neglected buildings and forgotten parts of the city. Parts of our
stay in Rotterdam feel like a great model for what Liverpool’s
future could look like. The places we see and the people we meet
inspire our belief in how Liverpool could be transformed with a
little imagination.
The building itself is a bungalow named Paviljoen …aan het
Water (Pavilion… On The Waterfront), an abandoned cantina
which had long been out of use. Kamiel Verschuren, who owns
and maintains the building, has restored over 100 disused
buildings across the south of the city, where artists live for a small
membership fee. The structure stands a little apart from anything
else on a broad-set street in South Rotterdam. The charming
wooden seating area in front of it is populated with flower pots,
with a red LED light display above the house showing an art text
written by Kamiel. What had previously fallen into disrepair is now
a functional creative base with good acoustics for recording, welllit
and spacious with large windows overlooking the waterfront.
The current residents have filled the living room with dozens
of instruments and recording equipment, and having no close
neighbours means the music can go on all night. As I find on my
borrowed mattress at 4am, the only resident nearby has no moral
high ground when it comes to noise complaints; several roosters
announce the sunrise every morning, their call reverberating
through the walls.
While we’re staying here, we get chatting to Nelson’s
temporary housemate and fellow resident, Mak, who brought
most of the instruments. “It’s allowed me space and time to focus
on creative projects in a fantastic environment, in a different city,
being inspired by different things, and feed the flavour and vibes
of that into the art.” Nelson has similarly used the rare opportunity
to create at an unprecedented level. “There was a period of time
where I was, like, living inside of this mixtape that I’m making, and
there wasn’t really much else going on in the world,” he tells us. “It
was dominating all my thoughts and everything, and just general
maintenance of yourself and life, all the other things, just fell by the
wayside.” This is his first extended release, and it feels momentous
for the artist: “It feels so good to finally get it out my system. This
is me planting a flag in the ground to say, ‘This is what I am trying
to do’. Obviously, it’s not a perfect project, but I feel like this is a
good summation of my general philosophy, beyond trying to do
like, rappity-rap-rap or just rapping fast, or whatever.”
The project’s philosophy is a meditation on national and
cultural identity. “It’s not a linear story, but all the lyrics reinforce
each other to tell a story, and reflect on England and Englishness,
identity and immigration.” The ability to consider England from
a distance was useful for gathering his thoughts on a topic that
had consumed his life as well as his work. “This is the longest I’ve
ever been out of the country in my life. Even though so much of
Anglosfear is about bouncing about England and being English,
a lot of the project did change being out of England, and seeing
more of the world made me more reflective because it was a
different perspective on shit.”
Different contexts change the way identity is received and
experienced. “You get to be a different person that you’re not at
home – just the way you’re treated. In Liverpool, because we’re
all Scouse, I was a black guy. When I moved to London, then I’m
a Scouser, and then out here, I sound like an Englishman.” He
22

“This is the longest
I’ve ever been out of
the country in my life…
seeing more of the
world made me more
reflective because it was
a different perspective”
imagines what he is feeling is something like the experiences he
has read about in historical accounts of black ex-pats: “A lot of old
black writers from America, when they all used to fall in love with
Paris and move over there – because they just get to experience a
different perspective and a different life, you’re not just shackled.
I dunno, stuff that happens at home is just way more painful.”
Distance from the culture he is writing about allowed him a kind
of breathing space to work, and these questions of identity are
lucidly explored in Anglosfear. He takes us through from darker
tracks like England to the more utopian Immigration, making
the project a space for exploring a full spectrum of emotion and
analysis, all executed with Nelson’s characteristically crisp flow
and wordplay. Besides completing the project, Nelson has used
the residency as a base to perform across Europe. “I’ve done loads
of gigs this year, but I’ve not done one in the UK, which is mad,”
he laughs.
The country he will be returning to at the beginning of April
is one in political turmoil and uncertainty. There is a justified
worry that resources are about to become very scarce, with
consequences for the poorest. In these circumstances, funding
for the arts is often axed, considered a luxury. The south of
Rotterdam is a historically underfunded, densely multicultural
area which has been shut out of institutional representation and
allowed to decline. The work of people like Kamiel considers how
art might extend beyond the representational and enact real
change. They used a €100,000 grant to set up a ferry connecting
the south of Rotterdam to the north, a free service which allows
for connections to be made over the water; a channel for people
and exchange information on a frequent journey which also
connects them to the rest of the city.
The Paviljoen is a subsidised bar and eatery in the summer,
allowing local residents to participate in public life at a low cost.
Kamiel’s work with disused spaces is part of a movement to
redefine empty spaces in terms of potential for new ways of
living. He explains the underlying concept to us: “If you want
your art to be leading society, then you have to find tools that
allow you to be leading and not following the art world. It’s
about being in control of how things are happening and why
things are happening.” He uses a network of DIY experts to turn
squats into liveable workspaces and maintain them, creating a
self-sufficient network of artists living without high rent costs.
In the absence of infrastructural support for the arts, they
have turned infrastructure into an artistic project. They set the
projects running first, proved that they work, and then linked
their infrastructure with official governments. “It’s art but it’s also
real, there are people living in it,” Kamiel says, smiling. These
endeavours tamper with accepted ideas of what it means to be
an artist, bringing it down from a theoretical realm to earth.
The Scouse artists on this residency are on a similar wave;
Nelson has designed Black History workshops for schools; he
hopes to fully embody his role as a researcher and teacher, which
underlies his musical practise as an MC. Mak talks to us at length
about how combining art and education can “change the face
of the human planet”. Aside from music his lifelong passion is in
education; after teaching at LIPA for several years he continues
to offer workshops, which use the arts to teach. Like Kamiel,
for Mak it comes down to critical thinking: “An artistic way of
being is something that can be applied to anything, and should
be applied to everything.” He sees musicality as a metaphor for
the fundamental principle of harmony. “By teaching kids how to
think instead of how to tick boxes, you unlock a different way
of thinking which is based in seeing the similarities in things
as opposed to the difference in things.” He expounds upon
ancient classical education systems: the trivium; the quadrivium;
multidimensional thinking which transcends the constraints of
time and space. “It’s about finding harmonious processes for
different things to sit together, and we could do with a bit more
harmony in the world.”
The approach taken by organisations like Metal, CBK
Rotterdam and individuals like Mak and MC Nelson is ultimately
an optimistic one. They look at empty spaces and evidence of
societal failure and see opportunities for growing, building and
learning. Nelson will be returning to Liverpool with a wealth
of empowering experiences: “It’s honestly mad. And you think
about all the spaces in Liverpool that are disused, that nothing
is happening in, that could be a boss centre – like that cinema
on the bottom of Park Road – things like that, all these spaces
that could be transformed into something, but they’re just left as
eyesores that nothing happens with.” Liverpool is full of untapped
potential; if government is failing, art organisations can play a
role in imagining new forms of infrastructure which enable new
modes of existence. While governmental and European funding
dwindles, we must search for self-sustaining enterprises which
create the sort of freedom and productivity afforded by the
Rotterdam residency.
“There’s a nice energy in Liverpool at the minute,” Nelson
observes. “It feels fertile. There are loads of great acts, and if
we all just come together a little bit more, there’s enough talent
for an incredible scene.” Without a certain degree of funding
and investment in the arts, possibilities might be limited. But as
we witnessed in Rotterdam, artists working in the city have the
power to push for changes and be instrumental in enacting them,
expanding a city’s understanding of what is possible and creating
futures we want to live in. !
Words and Photography: Niloo Sharifi
@mcnels0n
MC Nelson performs a special music commission at Inside Pages
on 22nd June, as part of bido100!. Tickets available now at
ticketquarter.co.uk.
FEATURE
23

24

CITY OF
LIVERPOOL FC
Football, football, football – is it more important than life and death? For The Purps, a community spirit that is
an antidote to the riches of modern football is at the heart of their manifesto.
The Hallmark Security Football League Premier Division
(the North West Counties Premier to me and you)
is not one of English football’s more salubrious
operations. The ninth tier of the footballing pyramid
is as far removed from the glitz of the Premier League as you
can imagine, but it’s not the comfortable trappings of elite level
football that attracts 400-odd hardy souls to a HSFLPD fixture
on a bright, breezy March afternoon. It’s something that reaches
far beyond football.
CITY OF LIVEPOOL FC are the somewhat unlikely attraction
on this particular occasion, as they take on Hanley Town in what
looks like a formality on paper. CoL FC – more affectionately
known as the Purps for the colour of their kit – currently sit top
of the division, almost 50 points ahead of their opponents. The
real spice in this match lies in the title race they’re locked in with
city neighbours and closest rivals, Bootle FC. The Purps are two
points ahead with a game in hand, as the two teams battle it out
for the one guaranteed promotion place, which is a huge goal in
the bottleneck that is the non-league system. This rivalry is made
all the more intense by the fact that the two Liverpool clubs
share a ground, making for a healthily feisty landlord-and-lodger
relationship. New Bucks Park sits on a nondescript industrial
estate in Aintree, on the other side of the railway lines to the
racecourse: it is Bootle’s home, and they’ve been playing host
to City of Liverpool since the Purps formed in 2015 (Bootle FC,
by contrast, first formed in 1879, but this current iteration was
founded in 1953). The upstarts have been on fast-forward since
then, streaking past their hosts and assuming seniority. All very
interesting, you may be thinking, but why should we care about
the fortunes of two local football teams? Can we not just leave
them to it, on their godforsaken industrial estate in Sefton?
“It’s unquestionably about community. And politics as well.”
Paul Manning is more aware than most of how important teams
such as City of Liverpool are to people’s relationship with the
city. Manning is the club’s secretary and a founder member,
and he speaks to me on the phone prior to the match versus
Hanley. “I’ve seen football change, massively. Hillsborough was –
correctly – a turning point for professional football in this country,
and fair enough. But it then got exploited because of the free
market economy.”
Manning is also a volunteer, juggling his own job with the
administerial tasks of making sure matches take place and bills
get paid. He does so because he believes that a football club
should be about something more than just silverware and brand
marketability, and that, if run successfully, they can be vital to the
health of local communities. “Previously, owners of first division
football clubs were the local butcher, businessmen who’d worked
themselves up,” he continues. “The television money that came
in at the start of the Premier League kind of changed them.” The
Premier League era, buffeted by the winds of Rupert Murdoch’s
BSkyB, ushered in a new wave of rampant capitalism that saw
FCs become PLCs, and slowly saw the decoupling of clubs –
often with a hundred years of history behind them – from the
values of their supporter bases.
A former member of the Spirit Of Shankly supporters’ group,
Manning was part of the group who founded City of Liverpool,
partly in protest at the running of Liverpool FC, the club he’s
supported his whole life, under the auspices of their previous
American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The same
reasons that caused them to start a new club afresh are the very
things that still attract new fans to the club today.
“Disillusionment was the first thing,” he says, which is a
refrain often heard in Against Modern Football movements,
which eschew the uber-consumerist trappings of contemporary
British football. “It was a political thing almost,” continues
Manning, “but not in a party-political sense. It was just about
our brand of community politics and wanting to help people.
We wanted to help the homeless, we wanted to help the
hungry we continue to do so. Professional football is necessarily
individualistic and we’re not individualistic – we’re socialists.”
There’s a temptation to use this as a stick to beat the
corporate beasts that profit from the national institutions that
are pillars of the national game; but, given that the majority of
owners of Premier League clubs are
overseas investors, we can’t really
expect them to be out canvassing
on the doorstep every week. It’s
also bad for business to get into
politics when your primary role is
to make money. “That’s exactly
right,” Manning says in response
to the idea that the people holding
football’s purse strings are scared
of talking about the things that the
Purps are. “It’s not that they’re not
talking about it, they don’t think
about it. The business is to make
money and the individuals are there
to make as much money as they individually can make out of this
enterprise.”
“The manager now, and most of the players, understand
that the club sits in a community. In the first couple of years, the
players were on at us, ‘Give us a prize, give us a bonus!’ And we
just said, ‘No. There are people starving on the streets. You’ve
got a job and you’ve got your football money coming in, but you
want us to give you more money so you can get pissed while
there’s people sleeping in sleeping bags?’ Not happening.”
The crowd at New Bucks Park are in boisterous mood as
kick-off approaches, with occasional shouts of “PEEEEEEERRRR-
PUUUULLLLLL!” coming from The Shed, the seated area behind
one of the goals where the Purple ultras gather. There are no
flares (yet), but the atmosphere is definitely upbeat, expectant
even. The team have been on a great run of form, but Bootle are
hot on their heels. At the derby clash versus their neighbours
earlier in the season, a purple wheelie bin was temporarily hoisted
inside the ground, to the delight of the Purps and annoyance of
the landlords. Today, the assembled crowd witnesses something
altogether more picturesque, in the form of a steepling opening
goal by Purps’ centre midfielder Karl Clair, hit from inside his own
half. A replay of the goal makes the rounds of the football Twitter
accounts in the days following, as much for the Hanley keeper’s
flailing save attempt as for Clair’s sweet strike.
By the time he and the rest of the team make it into the bar
after a tense 3-2 victory, Clair has even had a song minted for
him by the Purps’ vocal brigade of singers. A knot of die-hards
belt it out, as well as many of their standard numbers, in a joyous,
occasionally raucous, post-match atmosphere inside the club
house. This is the heart of City of Liverpool FC’s community,
where the pilgrims gather every Saturday to roar their charges on.
The core of their fanbase is made up of slightly jaded Liverpool
and Everton fans, their numbers being swelled in recent weeks by
curious visitors who want to see what the bandwagon looks like.
Prior to forming the club, Manning did his market research to
find out what people wanted from a club of this stature. He also
maintains a focus group of about 30 regular fans who he polls
throughout the season, tweaking the offer accordingly. “A lot of
the joy and fun has gone out of football, in our opinion,” he tells
me, referencing the fan experience that left a bad taste in the
mouths of many LFC fans after what happened under Hicks And
Gillett. “We did just want to make people happy at the match
again, make it so that people could have a laugh and have a drink
with their mates.”
For fans who rarely get to see their ‘first’ club play on a
Saturday afternoon anymore, the Purps offer more than just a
viable alternative to alleviate weekend boredom. They offer an
identity, something to believe in, something to be part of. Sure,
you can be a Liverpool fan and feel part of the wider “family”
that the club’s marketeers like to harp on about, but there you are
one of millions and can just be another face in the crowd. At the
level that City of Liverpool are currently at, you can be a noise,
have your voice heard, be recognised by the players or treasure
your own intensely personal connection with a club. A club that
actively seeks to improve the lives of the community it serves.
“There was a definite political activism feeding into the
community aspect of the club, and the football was really just
“We don’t need
American hedge funds
or Russian oligarchs to
have a successful and
enjoyable football club
in our community”
a representation of it because a
lot of people can’t be arsed with
politics,” Manning continues. “But
if you do want to be part of the
club – a shareholder, part of the
community, and have an influence
in the club and the direction that we
take – then you are going to have
to match the aims and ambitions of
the club overall. And that’s about
socialism, to be brutally honest. Or,
we might call it commune-ism – not
communism, but commune-ism,
community-ism.”
Back in 2005, a group of
Manchester United fans broke away and formed the club
FC United of Manchester, largely in protest at another set of
Americans – the Glazer family – who had taken over their club.
With their reputation from stripping sporting franchises of
their assets and squeezing money out of it, these fans didn’t
like what they saw, so they started from scratch. Almost 15
years later, FC United sit in the National League North, English
football’s sixth tier, and have a 4,000-capacity stadium all of
their own.
The similarities between FC United and City of Liverpool
are evident, but there’s a big difference in their identities:
where FC United were seen as an alternative to fans of one
club in particular, City Of Liverpool wanted a much broader
remit. Manning admits that, at the outset, the Purps’ founding
committee received some relational support from FC United;
but, other than admiring the model employed, there was a
faultline in it that they as founders weren’t comfortable with.
“As brilliant as FC United had been to get to that point,
they’d basically cut the city in half. They’d replicated all the old
rivalries of their parent club, Man United. And Man City fans in
the city or in the area were excluded. We made a decision off
the back of that, saying that this [CoL FC] has got to be for the
whole city.”
With relative success on the horizon – fingers crossed –
Manning and his committee have to look to the future, and one of
the things they’ve taken from the FC United playbook is the goal
of having their own stadium. “We’re coming to the point very
shortly where there is no more revenue. We need that revenue
[from match-day sales] and we need food outlets and we need
to treat supporters in a better way in a match-based scenario.
We need stadium sponsorship rights, we need pitch-side
advertiser opportunities. That’s the glass ceiling. Not the football,
but the ground.”
“The market of the Liverpool City Region is there for us, the
desire is there for us. This club can be anything it wants to be,
there’s no question in my mind.”
Although the grey area of having a ‘second club’ is one that
I occasionally feel uncomfortable with – as a staunchly stubborn
Tranmere season ticket holder – I can definitely see the appeal
of getting swept up in the who romance around a football club
built on foundations and solid and noble as these. Paul Manning
agrees. “It means a lot of different things to different people,
but in a football sense I think it just means happiness and the
enjoyment of seeing a local, successful team on the pitch in
a successful club, giving us all pride, proving that we are the
community.”
“We don’t need American hedge funds or Russian oligarchs,
or whatever you want to mention, in order to have a successful
and enjoyable football club in our community.” !
Words: Christopher Torpey / @CATorp
Photography: Tabitha Jussa / FotoOcto
colfc.co.uk
Join us at Smithdown Social Club on 12t April for our event
Purple Sole: City Of Liverpool And The Social Fabric Of
Merseyside Football. Tickets at sevenstore.com/trim-trab.
FEATURE
25

CHARACTERS
Merseyside is brimming with authentic and genuine people who all of us could learn from, but we don’t
always get the chance to show the gratitude we have towards them. This new series will be a regular
celebration of extraordinary people, nominated by you, the other people. Is there someone in your life who
you think everyone should know about?
ONION DELI
Tears are not enough
Nominated by
Bernie Connor
I
don’t feel good doing things like this and I really don’t like
using this platform as a confessional. But something is on
my mind, and this is one of the best places to get it out there.
And, anyway, all the people involved will read it here.
A couple of years ago, with one thing and another, I went
through a massive personal upheaval. I found myself in a space
I would never have anticipated in a million years. It was dark,
long and unforgiving. If it had lasted for a couple of weeks, it
would have been 13 and a half days too
long. My only experience of feeling this
way – detached, unhappy, freaked out
– was in the days following my giving
up drinking and taking drugs, 13 years
ago. On the unpleasant scale, it was a
rocking 9.9; darkness and unhappiness
were everywhere I seemed to look.
Hand on my heart, I genuinely couldn’t
see how the situation would ever get
any better.
When the shit hits the fan in your
life, it’s good to know who your friends
are. Despite all evidence to the contrary,
I’m not a very outgoing person. In my
earlier years I used devices and props
– people, drink, drugs – to do all my outgoing for me. It was so
much easier. When I was a kid, I was horribly shy and always
pushed to the back. I countered this by inventing a whole new
character, one that was mouthy, opinionated, desperately trying
to be funny. It masked a whole raft of difficulty and anxiety in my
life. If I could just send it over there and not think about it for a bit,
that would be just fine. I was far too young to deal with difficult
things. That, in itself, was a truly difficult thing. Something that I
feel may have come back to haunt me. Over a long period of time,
“I found salvation
in a really unusual
place. I didn’t
see it coming,
and I wasn’t
looking for it”
the character I invented became me. I had to live with it. With
the benefit of hindsight – in which I could be wrong – I never
felt comfortable with it. But, to be fair, I never allowed myself
any reflective moments in which I could review my situation.
Everything was done for the minute, and if it wasn’t, fuck it.
So, the shit did hit the fan. All the atoms and particles of
life felt like they were all moving in different directions. I felt like
there was nowhere to go. It was the first crisis in my life that
I’d experienced without the safety
net of drink and drugs to soften the
fall. I didn’t know what to do. Based
on that, I became (more) grouchy,
more insecure, more unpleasant to
be around. I couldn’t stay at home for
any length of time, the four walls were
killing me. With nowhere to go and
nothing to do, I found a convenient
table in a local café, a place where I
felt safe and comfortable, and parked
meself. And I didn’t move. Indeed, I
haven’t moved. As it all unfolded, I
found salvation in a really unusual
place. I didn’t see it coming, and I
wasn’t looking for it.
For this, I have to say a million thank yous to Kerry Thomas
and the staff at Onion Deli. Onion is a sanctuary from the waiting
world. It has been my office, social meeting point and sounding
box for many years. At one time, I was a member of their staff.
Had they not been there, the difficult situation I found myself in
may have festered, grown and got lots worse. They have put up
with my horrid, challenging moods for longer than they would
care to admit. Every day they have had an open door policy to
me, inviting me in and trying to lessen my load. At moments of
extreme unhappiness and loneliness, I’ve felt that Miss Kerry
Thomas has been my only friend. She’s like Superwoman, no
matter what. She has never, ever said, ‘Aahhh, fuck off, Bernard’
– not even once. When I know for certain there have been times
when she’s wanted to. This commitment to my everyday wellbeing
cannot be underestimated. Kerry has helped me through a
horrid, unbearable chapter of my life and I can never, ever forget
that. And, more importantly, like the Lone Ranger, she asks for
nothing in return.
To step out and hold out a helping hand to somebody she
didn’t even know very well was a colossal gesture. Often, she has
immersed herself in my own personal misery, when I’ve known
before we started that she has shit going on in other areas she
could be dealing with. The sort of kindness that you wish you
could find in everybody you know. Some people are genuinely
incapable; some people are genuinely unwilling to do anything
to help. I can’t forget this. Ever. What Kerry has done puts her in
the top bracket of people I’ve ever met. I have no idea how you
go about repaying that enormous debt of gratitude. Even as I’m
writing, I’m not sure how she’ll feel about this. But I hope she
sees it as my saying an enormous thank you for all the help she
gave me at a time in my life that I needed it so much. She’ll stay in
my heart forever; everybody needs a friend like that.
Thanks, Kegs. I really mean this from the very pit of my soul.
You really are Superstar-Woman, and I’d never be here to write
this if it wasn’t for you. The best therapy available in the city.
Some of that magic can rub off on you. Just be there. !
Words: Bernie Connor
Illustration: Hannah Blackman-Kurz / @HBkurz
Onion Deli on Aigburth Road is open 8.30am to 4pm (closed on
Wednesdays).
26

#STILLHEREFORANOTHERYEAR
NEW SUMMER
GARDEN MENU
5TH BIRTHDAY
LIVE MUSIC
LOCAL DJS

ido lito social invites you to
confirmed guests
dj’s
Melodic Distraction
Grooveyard
Linster Sangster
Nightdubbing
Dig Vinyl DJ’s
in the garden - free
bands
Yammerer
Samurai Kip
Good Problems
Live music
in the Stockroom
£5 adv/£6 OTD
THURSDAY 25 APRIL
date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7PM TO LATE
time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
KAZ GARDENS & KAZ STOCKROOM
place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SPOTLIGHT
COW
Kyle Lee juggles his time between a couple of North Wales-via-Liverpool bands,
but finds the most catharsis in this grungy countrified outfit.
If you had to describe your style in a sentence, what would you
say?
Pissed off, noisy alt.rock country verging on a nervous
breakdown.
Have you always wanted to create music?
I haven’t necessarily always wanted to create music, but from
the age of about nine I felt a strong pull towards music, and
in particular the guitar. I was lucky enough to have a very
supportive mum who bought me my first guitars and an older
brother with taste in guitar bands, which, over time, shaped my
influences and record collection.
I joined my first band when I was 14/15 and, after figuring out
exactly what it is we wanted to do, I began to write my first
songs. To share an idea of a song with like-minded musicians and
see it take shape or follow a completely different path than you
originally imagined is highly addictive and probably my favourite
aspect of being in bands.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
Back when I was eight, Oasis were the reason for myself and a
whole generation of musicians picking up a guitar and beginning
the long, tortuous and joyous journey of becoming a musician.
Although their live gigs were regular features in my house –
taped on VHS from a mate who had Sky – I wouldn’t say this
has influenced the sound of any band I have been in. Oasis
were merely proof to me that some normal lads who had grown
up with nothing can start a band, they can make something
of themselves and they can do this with backing of the whole
country.
Nirvana, and In Utero especially, spoke to me on a very personal
level. Kurt’s guitar solos to me were something you couldn’t really
learn, and it opened up a whole new
world in guitar-playing for me and
forced me to focus on how to make
a guitar howl and cry with feedback
and distortion. It was OK to play
something different every time just as
long as I was feeling it and it proved
to be a very efficient way of letting
off steam and getting all that teenage
angst out of my system.
Do you have a favourite song or
piece of music to perform? What
does it say about you?
I’m lucky to be in more than one band, so I think it would be
hard to choose one particular song and unfair on the others. For
COW it’s usually Happy Birthday, our set closer. This song can
last between eight and 15 minutes depending on my mood (a
promoter’s worst nightmare). The final two thirds of the song
consist of me taking out whatever issues I may have on that
particular day on my guitar. I prefer to play noisy, discordant
and unplanned guitar solos. I’d say that says a lot about me as a
person and not necessarily positive things.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting?
It would depend from song-to-song, but I suppose my emotions
do get the better of me and this is displayed in my songwriting.
There’s a lot of heartache in my songs, so they are a bit of an
emotional vent. I find it really hard to write songs when I’m happy
and will sometimes have to pull on bad memories to finish song
lyrics. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at a piece of art and thought,
“Fuck, I need to write a song about that”.
“Music is a time
machine that can
take you back to any
period in your life”
If you could support any artist in the
future, who would it be?
Young Jesus would be high on my
list. I like their whole dismantling of
a song structure. They’re also not
shy on 20-minute songs and John
Rossiter (guitar/vocals) can fucking
wail and he does this when you least
expect it.
Why is music important to you?
If I’m having a shit day, I’ve got
some music to help process it. If I’m
in a good mood, I’ve got some music to enhance that feeling.
Don’t want to talk about my feelings? I’ll write a song. Music is
a time machine that can take you back to any period in your life,
whether that be good times or bad times. I can’t think of a single
film that I like where the soundtrack isn’t as important as the
cinematography.
I moved to this city purely to be around music and the bands that
it has produced. I make every effort I can to watch live music on a
weekly basis, which is very easy when you have the likes of Eggy
Records, Sound, Deep Cuts, Capeesh, Harvest Sun and a whole
host of labels, venues and promoters readily promoting the talent
that this city has to offer.
Photography: Sasha Kuzmina
COW perform at Focus Wales on 18th May as one of Bido Lito!’s
selected artists.
30

RACHAEL
JEAN
HARRIS
Crafting highly-charged songs
from the frantic emotions of life’s
ups and downs is a characteristic
of this jazz-inflected songwriter.
“Words are the
linchpins in my
songs, where
everything
flows from”
Have you always wanted to create music?
No. I didn’t think of myself as a particularly creative person in
any artistic sense during my school years. I was very focused on
sport. We didn’t have any big record collections at home… most
of the music I remember hearing was a heady mix of church
hymns, my dad’s Status Quo tapes in the car and The Chart
Show on Saturday mornings! I do remember buying my first tape,
Madonna’s Immaculate Collection, when I was about 12. Maybe
that’s when I started to develop an affection for great songs.
During my teens I got an allowance every month and would head
into town and relinquish about half of it for a carefully chosen
album. Suzanne Vega, Joni Mitchell, Sleater-Kinney, Radiohead,
REM, all sorts really. I got a guitar when I was 17, the result of
an instinctive desire to emulate some of the beauty and rawness
in the music that I’d come across. I got three chords down for
Blowin’ In The Wind and was away. I was pretty rubbish for a
long time but kept plodding on, convinced it was a worthwhile
pursuit.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
Too difficult I reckon – but going to gigs when I was in sixth form
and seeing local bands, particularly with women players, was
very encouraging. There was a band called Boba Fett who had a
girl playing bass – it sticks in my memory ‘cos it was a rare thing
to see. A small thing, but a seed, and it helped me imagine myself
doing something similar. Maybe I’d also put Suzanne Vega’s song
Luka in there. So subtle and poetic and powerful.
If you had to describe your music/style in a sentence, what
would you say?
Emotive, real life stories fusing the personal and the political, wrapped
in songwritery sounds with a bit of jazz and 90s indie influence.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
What does it say
about you?
A song that has affected me deeply in the last few years is
the jazz standard Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
(Fran Landesman/Tommy Wolf). It just has the most perfect
melody and trajectory and is such a pleasure to sing – it’s
also quite difficult to do it well, so it’s challenging. I do enjoy
listening to sophisticated melody/harmony, and one of the
aims in my own work is to write things that are accessible but
not predictable.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting: other art, emotions, current affairs – or a
mixture of all of these?
Certainly a mixture of things. My own life experience, my
thoughts and interests and feelings, the subjects I come
across that I think are important or unusual – which is
currently the realities of imprisonment and long term
confinement, based on my friendship with a guy called Tamir
who’s on death row in the US. Words are the linchpins in my
songs, where everything flows from, so poetry and novels are
big inspirations, I spend a lot of time researching themes. And
yes, visual arts, the natural world, my subconscious, they all
feature, they all do their work.
Why is music important to you?
It’s my small way of trying to make the world a more beautiful
and interesting place.
rachaeljeanharris.com
Rachael Jean Harris’ latest EP Leaving Light is out now.
GOOD
PROBLEMS
Canadian grunge and British
indie collide in the swirl of noise
created by this Liverpool-based
four-piece.
“Making music
is easier than
making friends…”
If you had to describe your music in a sentence, what would
you say?
Liam: A very welcome, dark but gentle slap in the face.
George: Good music for when you’re angry, sad and slaughtered.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
Nat: Gotta be the Gallagher brothers.
Jen: To be honest, I’m wracking my brain here. I have no idea
when it happened, I’ve been singing and writing for ages. I think I
was into poetry first… I think?
George: Seeing Joe Bonamassa blew my mind and to this day still
makes me feel inferior about my musical abilities.
How did you get into music?
Jen: Making music is easier than making friends…
Nat: One fine Sunday afternoon I had a hangover and felt the
need to make the world feel as miserable as I did.
Liam: When I was in school, some lad played the drums in front
of our whole class and all the girls loved it. I was jealous, I knew
there and then that I needed a drumkit.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
What does it say about you?
Liam: A song called Rejektor. It’s a stomper, I like anything that
makes you want to nod your head aggressively.
Jen: I’m the opposite. Cadaver is my absolute fave to perform. It’s
slow and sad and sweet but still perrrty intense.
George: Flamingo has a groove that gets to me each time, it’s
infectious.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting?
Nat: A mean riff and gritty lyrics.
Liam: An underlying dark humour, with a groove.
Jen: Relatable catastrophe with a side of hope.
If you could support any artist in the future, who would it be?
Jen: I’m gonna keep it local when I say I wanna do another gig
with Hannah’s Little Sister. They’re our buddies too, so it’s always
a sick time when you combine forces.
Nat: Get me up with Trampolene
George: I’d love to support Sleaford Mods, they’re the best.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in? If so, what
makes it special?
Liam: We played in the back of a pub in Rhyl once. It was great,
not many of the clientele had any teeth, I loved it.
Jen: My favourite was last year at the Kazimier Garden; it was
cold, packed and sounded great. I love the way music carries
outside, too.
soundcloud.com/goodproblemo
Good Problems play the Bido Lito! Social at the Kazimier
Stockroom on 25th April.
SPOTLIGHT 31

PREVIEWS
“How we’re treated behind
the scenes in Hollywood, how
we’re treated on screen, is
how we’re treated in the world.
It is the world’s number one
propaganda machine”
CONVERSATION
ROSE McGOWAN
26/04 – Storyhouse
“I wonder what we could achieve if we didn’t have
to fight the other stuff.” The actor and activist
speaks candidly about the #MeToo movement and
the continuing impact the patriarchy is having on
women’s lives.
Interviewing ROSE MCGOWAN is a prospect that one can’t help but approach with some
trepidation. She is a highly accomplished woman, triumphing as an actor, starring in films
such as Scream and the phenomenally successful TV series Charmed. She’s got a fierce
reputation as a feminist campaigner, #MeToo activist and Harvey Weinstein whistleblower,
talking publicly and leaving out no details whatsoever about an alleged sexual assault two
decades ago by the now shamed producer.
We’re speaking on a weekday morning, during that period of freak sunshine belonging to
another season. She’s in London staying with a friend. It’s a city she visits a lot because she’s trying
to decide where she wants to exist. She hasn’t hit it yet. “I’m a bit of a rolling stone.” You’re on a
journey, I respond. “Yeh, definitely. The reality is I probably need to sit in a rest home and heal from a
lot of trauma for a while, but I can’t afford to. I need to keep plugging away.”
She’s achieved so much despite a difficult childhood being brought up in a cult and living as a
teenage runaway. Her memoir, Brave, was published a year ago, adding author to McGowan’s list
of credits which also include actress, singer, activist, model – plus screen writer and film director. It’s
her 2014 short film Dawn we talk about first.
Dawn may be only 15 minutes long, but it makes for unsettling and apt viewing in these post
#MeToo times, because, even though times have changed, “it still hasn’t changed that much”. It is
set in 1961, slap bang in the middle of the no man’s land between a chastened Elvis Presley’s return
home from the army and the arrival of The Beatles to America’s shores, mixing everything up again.
Those few years were a curious time, the world trying and failing to put teenagers in their box, eerie,
doom-laden pop songs and death ballads capturing imaginations instead.
In the film, strictly brought up teenager Dawn is intoxicated by the charms of a bad boy. She’s a
good girl and does what she’s told, and during her encounters with him the pressure to say nothing,
go along with everything and submit, is huge. She doesn’t feel able to say she feels uncomfortable.
Because of that, bad things happen.
McGowan wrote the script, she says, to hold a mirror up to the female experience past and
present. “It tells the story of what happened to me in Hollywood, and what happens to all of us in
the world, especially girls,” she explains. “We’re sent out to be polite and this is what happens when
your hands are tied behind your back by politeness... it’s the tragic consequence of not letting girls
and women understand that it’s OK to have their own instincts.”
Rose worked in Hollywood from her own teenage years onwards, and in her book the litany of
incidents of abuse and misogyny by men both within the star system and outside it is depressingly
long. Ultimately, she agrees getting her story out there in print was cathartic. “When I was writing
it, it was hard – really, really hard. It stretched my brain.” Brave is an angry book. The reader can feel
the heat of the author’s fury. But it’s also got some very clear, precise recollections.
She recalls a sexual assault in a gay club. A man put his hand up her skirt and digitally
penetrated her before shrugging away her objections with the comment, “I just wanted to see what
it was like”. That very line is also the final one in the film: Dawn’s tormentor using it to justify his
behaviour. I suggest those words sum up what might go on in the minds of men who abuse women.
They want to see what the reaction is and do it simply because they can, to see how far they can
push it. “I think there’s something to your theory,” Rose replies, “we’re talking about abuse of power
and the people that cross that line just to see what it’s like. Some are actually super-predators. With
the lower level ones, it’s still a form of abuse of power,” she says.
It’s the notion of bad behaviour having zero consequences because, until recent times, it didn’t.
“Correct. ‘That’s just the way things are’. I heartily disagree with that.”
In the wider world, #MeToo means women are starting to be believed when previously stories
were dismissed. Reading Brave, it is apparent that, in McGowan’s world, women’s stories were
believed all along. The issue was, no one cared enough to do anything about it.
“My book is not about, as you know reading it, #MeToo. It is not about the last year and a half.
It’s about considerably more, and what I wanted to say in the book was to get across what happens
in Hollywood and a closed, cult-like world. It leaks out into the world and it happens to all of us
in different ways. Like, if you’re in a small town and the star rugby player rapes somebody and
everyone protects the star rugby player, it’s really quite similar.”
You call Harvey Weinstein ‘The Monster’ in both the book and in interviews, because…?
“Because I don’t like his name, it’s ugly,” she says sharply, before elaborating further. “It’s relatable
to everybody, everybody’s got a monster,” before adding, “or multiple ones.”
After watching Dawn, I was talking to female friends about it, how the main character finds it
impossible to extract herself from an uncomfortable situation, and the conversation unexpectedly
spread wider, to the first time a man or boy made us feel uncomfortable. Our ages were scarily
young. “It shrank probably before 10,” agrees Rose. “That’s what I mean with Dawn… kids girls –
and boys too – their discomfort counts… they can have a voice.”
After the incident with Weinstein, the response from a fellow actor – who McGowan has
previously named as Ben Affleck – was, “I told him to stop doing that.” As if Weinstein, this
powerful mogul, was a naughty toddler reprimanded for picking its nose or stealing a 10p sweet.
The response was “chilling”, she replies simply. “It’s corrosive, it’s dangerous and it’s deadly. It’s the
kind of stuff that kills souls. It takes a really long time to heal, it’s not fair.”
The issue of men telling women’s stories, putting words in their mouths – because most
Hollywood scriptwriters and decision makers are men – is an issue also discussed in the book.
Charmed was a female-fronted show, aimed at and loved by a female audience, yet every word the
Halliwell sisters and Rose’s character Paige Matthews uttered was written and signed off by men.
“We’re, generally speaking, historically portrayed by men, written by men, broadcast by men, edited
by men so there’s… not one male gaze – there’s a hundred on the set, behind the scenes. How we’re
treated behind the scenes in Hollywood, how we’re treated on screen, is how we’re treated in the
world. It is the world’s number one propaganda machine. If you have this kind of narrow view about
what women are and what women can be, and what men are and what men can be, it’s damaging.”
#MeToo may have changed things for the better but there’s still room for improvement around
how survivors are treated. In one confrontational television interview Rose was subjected to, it was
suggested that it is difficult for the public to view conventionally beautiful Hollywood stars, sex
symbols, as victims.
“The conventionally beautiful tend to be targets from a very young age. Targeted harder than
others. The person at every party makes the beeline for them, the predator goes for them. And
I’m not saying that the unconventionally beautiful don’t get hurt, too, because that would be an
absurd thing to say, but there’s an element of ‘if you wear a short skirt you deserved it’. That’s really
disgusting,” she says. It was all the more disappointing that the interviewer taking such a stance
in this case was a woman. “It’s discrimination. It’s definitely not just men who think that way, and
by women thinking that way, being that vindictive and nasty towards other women, it sets up an
atmosphere where women get more hurt.”
With women, it’s because we’re trained to follow such thought processes. It’s a difficult thing
to unpick and unlearn. “I think it’s a cultural thing, it’s a societal thing. It’s brainwashing. And it’s an
ugly stain on the human heart.”
Being a woman can be exhausting at times, I put to her. “I wonder what we could achieve if we
didn’t have to fight the other stuff,” she muses.
In Brave, Rose writes about her unease at the sex symbol tag. While I get the resentment at
being judged by one’s looks – we can all identify with that – being a sex symbol must have its perks,
surely. She pauses. “No. There wasn’t actually anything I enjoyed about it. I felt targeted. It was very
much at odds with who I was on the inside. It always led to great discomfort – discomfort in my
own skin, discomfort in my appearance, discomfort across the board. It’s not a real fun way to live.”
You’re comfortable now?
“Yeh, I think my outsides match my insides more. Reclaiming what I want to look like. And
for myself, not have hair length dictated by other people, hair colour by other people, having a
committee about what you’re supposed to look like. It’s not right. We should all be able to choose
how we want to represent ourselves and do it based on how we feel inside and not societal
dictates.”
You feel free. “I do feel free,” she agrees with some relief, then corrects herself. “Freer.” !
Words: Cath Holland / @cathbore
Rose McGowan: Brave takes place at Storyhouse, Chester on Friday 26th April as part of
Storyhouse Women festival.
32

Rae Yan Song
EXHIBITION
Survey
The Bluecoat – 13/04-23/06
The Bluecoat is opening its main gallery spaces this April to a
range of emerging artists supported by Jerwood Visual Arts,
a leading independent funder dedicated to supporting artists,
curators and producers.
SURVEY will display the work of 15 artists at the early beginnings of
their careers, all of which have been selected to exhibit their work via a
non-institutional process. 35 mid-career artists – including Ryan Gander,
Andy Holden and Rachel Maclean – were given the chance to put forward
the work of burgeoning talents, 15 pieces of which will fill the backdrop
of The Bluecoat for its spring to summer exhibition. Altogether, 50 artists
put forward the works of their contemporaries to be considered for the
display, which features a range of sculptures, paintings, compositions, film,
performances, ceramics and installationa.
The final selection was made by Sarah Williams, head of
programme at Jerwood Visual Arts, with the criteria for the display
aimed at highlighting the most dynamic and creative artists in the
first five years of their practice. Artists with featured works include
Chris Alton, Simeon Barclay, Hazel Brill, Flo Brooks, Emma Cousin, Joe
Fletcher Orr, Tom Goddard, Ashley Holmes, Lindsey Mendick, Nicole
Morris, Milly Peck, Anna Raczynski, Will Sheridan Jr, Rae-Yen Song and
Frank Wasser.
The opening night of Survey will feature a performance by
exhibited artist Ashley Holmes, titled Good To Us. The live performance
has been developed from a written adaptation of Dope, a poem by
African American writer and music critic Amiri Baraka.
MEMBERS
PICK
Record Store Day
81 Renshaw, Probe Records,
Phase One – 13/04
For those who love the smell of vinyl in the morning (as well as
bacon butties), 81 Renshaw is the place to be for this year’s
RECORD STORE DAY. The cafe-venue-vinyl vendor is once
again putting together a programme of activity which begins at
the crack of dawn (well, 7.30am) and celebrates the heritage and future
of music committed to wax.
This year, they’ll have a pop-up Liverpool Music Museum to consider
while clutching that rare 12” and wiping the sleep from your eyes. The
temporary exhibition, put together in partnership with Liverpool John
Moores University, features the first public showing of Yoko Ono’s John
Lennon time capsule as well as a variety of other items themed around
20th century popular culture. In the afternoon, Eggy Records crooner
BEIJA FLO will be performing live in the venue and all the while over
400 special RSD releases will be up for grabs on a first come first served
basis.
To continue the tour, over on Seel Street, Phase One will also be
celebrating with live performances from the fantastic ZUZU along with
up-and-comers MUNKEY JUNKEY and BANG BANG ROMEO. As is
customary the Jacaranda Records crew will also be providing prize
giveaways throughout the day and stocking a wide assortment of special
releases. For the traditionalists, stalwarts Probe Records over on School
Lane will be adorning their racks with the best in limited edition releases.
And providing the best place for the first spin of your new vinyl (or for an
old favourite, Bold Street Coffee are hosting a special open decks event
in the shop. Make a plan, set your alarm, beat the queues and save us a
copy of that Mad Max 2 soundtrack.
EVENT DISCOVERY PARTNER
ticketquarter.co.uk
PREVIEWS 33

PREVIEWS
MEMBERS
PICK
GIG
THE ZUTONS
Eventim Olympia – 05/04 and 06/04
Zuton Fever is back, as the zany Scouse rockers
celebrate 15 years since the release of their debut
album with two sold-out headline shows at the Olympia.
Following a one-off tribute gig dedicated to their friend, former Tramp Attack frontman
Kristian Ealey in September 2016, it looked as though THE ZUTONS might have ceased
trading for good. Thankfully, that gig at Mountford Hall, billed as “probably The Zutons’
last ever show”, wasn’t the end. The group announced on
social media last November, that they are setting out to celebrate
the 15th anniversary of their debut LP Who Killed…… The Zutons?. A
decade and a half later, its combination of angular Captain Beefheart
riffs, skewed psychedelia, off-beat character studies, B-movie theatrics
and Dr John voodoo sound as refreshingly strange as they did on
release.
Backed by a seemingly endless series of gigs, including a
memorable, audience-converting set at Glastonbury 2004 where they
appeared in the mid-afternoon sun decked out in yellow hazmat suits,
the road miles turned the quintet into a formidable live draw. For their
first tour in a decade, the outfit are set to play a score of dates that
will see the album played in full, calling at the magnificent Olympia
in early April. To get the lowdown on what we can expect, Richard
Lewis chatted with lead singer Dave McCabe on the phone between
rehearsals at Elevator Studios.
A really obvious question to begin with: what was the inspiration for getting back together?
I’ve just missed playing, really. I’ve got a load of new songs that are Zutons songs. When you grow
up with a band you can’t really replace that, in terms of playing together and singing together, it just
feels right. That’s the inspiration for me. The reason we haven’t done it in so long is ‘cos we all fell out
with each other – when you all hate each other you can only hate each other for so long, before you
start liking each other again! [laughs] It’s nice to just ease back in to it. I’m not doing this for money,
I’m doing this ‘cos I wanna do it. I’ve missed playing; they’re like family this band. I’ve imagined playing
with them. You can’t just sit down and write with everyone when you’re young. You’re scared to
express yourself in case someone doesn’t like it and you fall out with them, so you kinda go home and
write words on your own. It’s still like that now to a certain extent. When people turn up and write
songs together that’s really professional; it’s not like that in most bands, I don’t think it is anyway. It’s
not straightforward.
How will the gig format work, are you going to play the LP front to back in order?
No, we’re gonna do it front to back, but not in order. As a live thing, The Zutons were always better,
if I’m totally honest, than they were on the records. We tried that and it didn’t really work doing it as
a record, you’ve got to build it up and build it down more live. There are a lot of slow-paced songs
in the middle of the record. We’re gonna do it how we did it touring the first record, looking [back]
at all the sets. A lot of the songs are stretched out live: Zuton Fever, Pressure Point, You Will You
Won’t. It makes the difference doesn’t it, instead of playing the album start to finish note by note, it’s
never what we did live anyway. If anything, actually, it’s gonna be more like the record ‘cos we’ve got
someone playing strings and the keyboard parts and percussion, we’ve got more people singing. It’ll
sound warmer, especially on the slower numbers. Not A Lot To Do [underrated Bacharach-esque
track] sounds really good and it’s easy to sing. Some of them haven’t been easy ‘cos it’s 15 years and,
“When you grow up
with a band you can’t
really replace that,
it just feels right”
with smoking weed and drinking, I’m learning how to do the album again, which makes me sound old!
I’m not as young as I used to be.
Are you gonna throw any deep cuts in such as the early non-album singles and B-sides?
Yeh, I think so, I’m not too sure. We still want to do other album stuff and new songs. We’re definitely
gonna do one B-side, I just don’t wanna say which one at the moment.
With Russ currently playing bass on tour for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, who will be filling
his shoes for these dates?
Jay Lewis [The La’s, Cast, John Power cohort of many years]. I’ve know Jay since I was 17, it was
a no brainer, he can sing too. We’re all quite big personalities within the band and it can get a bit
heated, he’s just right. And there’s a guy called Neil Bradley, he’s playing keys and doing singing and
percussion as well.
How is it returning to the role of lead singer, is it fair to say you’re more of a sideman for Silent K
instead of frontman?
I’m not the full-on frontman for them, no. I wrote a lot of it with Chris [Taylor, lead singer], we’ve been
friends for years, so we naturally just had fun. Playing in Silent K’s good, but it’s a different thing, it’s a
lot more aggressive. Especially with an evolving line-up as it has been.
What are your memories of Who Killed…… The Zutons? coming out? You
seemed to be on tour the entire time around then.
All that’s a blur, I don’t remember really having a bad gig with The Zutons
over the years. I can remember them with other things I’ve done, ha! This
just seems right; this is my band, this is what I do, this is my vehicle for my
songwriting, really. Things like the hazmat suits at Glastonbury, they make
you stand out. We were on top form as band, the confidence was high, we
were all getting on well, we were all into touring, we all had energy.
Without Alan Wills [legendary Deltasonic Records founder] I don’t think
we would’ve done anything really, because he put a lot of time and money
in and got us loads of good support slots. So, it was word of mouth when
we did one gig and went back to that town and then played there again
they’d bring their mates and it had a snowball effect. I feel sorry for bands
now, young bands, there’s none of that. I think you’ve got to be really good
looking – not to say that Abi [Harding, saxophone] isn’t good looking – but I
was never the natural frontman, we had to build it up from nothing, really. We were constantly getting
these Coral shouts thrown at us so we had to break out of that. I just don’t think it’d work for a new
band, you’d have to have someone who really believes in you. That’s me giving Willsy from Deltasonic
a shout out.
Revisiting the chorus lyric in Dirty Dancehall: “This is just a night in the City of Culture/But
everyone’s whacked and looks like vultures”. That was written four years before Liverpool was
named European Capital of Culture in 2008. How does it feel singing those lines 11 years later?
I remember at the time everyone going on about it and going up for this thing. Do I think it’s made
a difference? I think it has. If you like glass buildings, it has made a difference. I kinda miss the old
Liverpool, slightly.
With the band fully reactivated, will there be new material included in the shows?
We’ll be playing new stuff on the tour, but we’re gonna do two sets, I think. The first one will just be
first album and the second one will be a mixture and a ‘best of the rest’ thing. I’ve got loads of songs
I’ve had for years and loads of new ones, too. With me doing some new stuff we’ve just got to get it
right, really. Maybe the end of the summer we’re gonna do a single or something like that. There’s
no point in rushing anything out, it’s been this long so we wanna get it right. But we’re definitely
gonna do some new stuff. We’re always gonna be playing songs off the first record, though, we’re
always gonna be playing Valerie too. It’s depressing not to do that. !
Words: Richard Lewis
The Zutons play two shows at the Eventim Olympia, on Friday 5th and Saturday 6th April.
34

CLUB
Actress
24 Kitchen Street – 11/04
Actress
SEVENSTORE and 24 Kitchen Street present a brand-new, one night
experience this April. ACTRESS will perform an exclusive DJ set alongside
a bespoke, live audio visual test bed produced on the night by visual artist
SAM WIEHL (whose previous work includes visual commissions for Forest
Swords and Liverpool Psych Fest). Support will be provided by Liverpool
producer and DJ ASOK. Actress is an artist capable of music and mind
duality, sharing his cerebral existence between an arresting electronic
output that congeals influences from IDM, techno, hip hop and industrial.
The Wolverhampton-born producer meticulously entrenches himself into
the world of his productions to generate a product both haunted and
breathing, subtly melancholic and spectrally mechanic.
GIG
YAK
Arts Club – 08/04
It’s been a rollercoaster two years for London outfit YAK, since they signed
off their debut album (Alas Salvation) with a raucous sold-out show at
The Scala. Since then, the band have lost a member, endured a failed
recording stint at Kevin Parker from Tame Impala’s studio in Perth, struck
up a friendship with Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce and signed a new deal with
Virgin EMI – all of which left frontman and songwriter Oli Burslem broke
and in increasing desperation. The resulting album, Pursuit Of Momentary
Happiness – which features Pierce on the cinematic closer This House Has
No Living Room – retains the scuzz and restless energy that marked the trio
out from pack first time round, and adds a layer of eccentric bombast that
matches their new ambition.
YAK
THEATRE
Sweeney Todd
Everyman Theatre – 12/04-18/05
The classic Sondheim and Wheeler play SWEENEY TODD gets the
Everyman treatment this year. Through a lens of the social conditions
of the time period, director Nick Bagnall’s reimagining of the production
looks to uncover the rotten core of 19th Century Britain with all its
wealth disparity and degradation. Embodying the discontent is the
ghastly eponymous barber who plots his dastardly vengeance from
his London salon. Alongside an innovative live soundtrack and with a
smattering of the blackest humour, the tale of Sweeney Todd seems
like a timely show for our desperate times.
OPERA
Andrew Poppy – Hoarse Songs
Capstone Theatre – 12/04
Post minimalist composer ANDREW POPPY is bringing his new album,
Hoarse Songs, to the Capstone Theatre with its piano, electronica,
orchestral textures in full multimedia glory. Fusing elements of
recording, live concert and AV, the show promises to be a vibrant
representation of Poppy, an artist who thrives on exploring unusual
themes via innovative means. This work sees the London-based
creative look at contemporary topics of the veiled intimacy of couples,
introspection of place and the fluidity of gender. Tickets for this are
available through TicketQuarter.
PERFORMANCE
Art 360
After Dark @ Tate Liverpool – 12/04
Art 360
Tate opens its doors later for a one-off chance to see its Op Art In Focus exhibition in an immersive setting.
The sensory experience will begin at the door, as visitors will be given headphones which will enable them
to tune in to three separate audio channels. Live music will be performed in the gallery by BREAKWAVE
and ANNEXE THE MOON – and ATM’s studio member PHIL CHANNELL will be working with NANNA
KOEKOEK on a bespoke soundscape with accompany 360-degree visuals. Visitors will be able to use sound
to tailor their trip around the gallery, thus transforming the viewing experience. A range of Mexican street
food, beer from Love Lane Brewery and 3D projection complete the night of ‘total art’.
GIG
The Good, The Bad And The Queen
O2 Academy – 18/04
Rarely have discussions around Britishness been so pertinent and charged with
the nation grappling with its place in the world. It was in to this maelstrom that
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE QUEEN returned late in 2018, 11 years after
their only other album, with Merrie Land. The quartet of Damon Albarn, Paul
Simonon, Tony Allen and Simon Tong filter their own experiences of Britishness
through a quirky, end-of-the-pier whimsy that reads like a farewell to nostalgia.
It packs a lot in – from Afrobeat to dub, via music hall – pulling from each of the
four members’ own experiences. If you don’t get to see the legendary quartet at
the BBC Radio 6 Music festival in March, this is your second chance – and not
one that should be sniffed at.
The Good, The Bad And The Queen
PREVIEWS 35

PREVIEWS
GIG
Tirzah
24 Kitchen Street – 17/04
Tirzah
Essex-born performer TIRZAH has been at the centre
of the vital post-grime and UK garage sound of London
for the better half of a decade, releasing a lauded run
of releases on Greco Roman. But it’s only now that her
work has come to full fruition, delivering what feels like a
landmark debut LP on Domino. Devotion shines a brilliant
new light on Tirzah’s unique experimental pop, exquisitely
soulful voice and potent lyricism. Childhood friend and
long-time and collaborator Mica Levi helped out on writing
and production, bringing out Tirzah’s rawness of emotion
and talent.
GIG
Swimming Tapes
Sound Basement – 06/04
Harvest Sun Promotions aren’t treading water as we enter April.
Diving in headfirst into the basement of Sound on Duke Street
is the celestial noise of London’s dreamy five-piece SWIMMING
TAPES. The show will be the perfect spring board for the band’s
debut album, Morningside, which drops in May and is already
garnering anticipation throughout London and beyond. Early cuts
from the record, such as Pyrenees, have made quite the splash
thanks to the band’s penchant for melodic riffs drenched in
vitamin D. Just one cue that Swimming Tapes may just be behind
an indie summer anthem or two this year.
Swimming Tapes
THEATRE
User Not Found
Leaf – 22/04-23/04
GIG
Pinegrove
Arts Club – 05/04
MEMBERS
PICK
It’s the moment of your death. There’s a magic button. Do you delete
your entire online legacy? Or do you keep it? USER NOT FOUND
is about our digital identities after we die. For the show performed
at Leaf, audience members receive a smartphone and a pair of
headphones and are immersed in one man’s story as he’s faced
with keeping or deleting his partner’s online existence. A story of
contemporary grief unfolds through this intimate, funny performance
that gently interrogates our need for connection, which Time Out
described as “a raw and magnetic performance... a gorgeous show
about grief in the era of hyper connectivity”.
Pinegrove are a band in constant motion. Since the release
of their 2016 break-out album Cardinal, the Montclair, New
Jersey group have toured relentlessly, selling out shows
across the world and appearing at a number of high-profile
festivals. Cardinal won widespread acclaim for its wiggly,
open-hearted indie rock stylings, and their 2018 follow-up,
Skylight, carried on in the same vein, albeit after a stuttering
start. Their folk-ish math rock has always had something of
the Wilco about it – but you can make your own mind up by
catching them in the flesh.
GIG
Steam Down
Alexander’s Live – 18/04
Steam Down
Deptford-based community-led vibe collective STEAM DOWN bring their
collectivist grooves to Alexander’s Live this month. Led by multi-instrumentalist,
composer and producer Ahnanse, the group’s unique shows are earning them a
special reputation for fun, interactive shows which channel a multitude of genres
from jazz and Afrobeat to soul and hip hop. Community and collaboration is central
to Steam Down’s infectious output and this show in the intimate confines of
Alexander’s should be very special indeed.
GIG
Terry Riley and Gyan Riley
24 Kitchen Street – 10/04
Kitchen Street continue to diversify their music programme with
a foray into the world of classical music, presenting one of the
key innovators within the minimalist movement, TERRY RILEY,
performed by the composer himself and his son, GYAN RILEY. Riley’s
music is intricate, utilising improvisational structures and melding
elements of minimalism, jazz, ragtime and North Indian raga. The
legendary American composer will be performing an intimate
aural exploration on piano, with his son accompanying on acoustic
guitar, and support coming from Liverpool-based composer and
saxophonist DANIEL THORNE.
Terry Riley and Gyan Riley
36

CLUB
Keep it Cryptic
Secret location – 19/04
The collective behind KEEP IT CRYPTIC have discretely
being building a following and reputation for their
transcendent party nights which blur genre boundaries and
put an emphasis on good people having a great time. Their
fourth party takes place in a location which will be unveiled
on the day of the event. The clandestine crew are bringing
together the likes KŸOGEN, the project of PINS keyboardist
Kyoko Swan, local indie jazzers SAMURAI KIP, former Black
Grape man KERMIT LEVERIDGE and a further roll call of
more than 20 other artists for what appears be an evening
of entertainment which is as expansive as it is secretive.
GIG
Johnny Dowd
81 Renshaw – 18/04
A cult Americana hero, gothic story teller and alt
country stalwart, JOHNNY DOWD is a respected
name in the Venn diagram of worlds he operates.
From Ithaca, New York the singer songwriter has
a long and distinguished career which is brought
right up to date with his newest album Family
Picnic released in March this year. The dark subject
matter and off-kilter sensibilities afford comparisons
to the likes of Cave, Waits and Beefheart which has
always enamoured him to Liverpool’s passionate
Americana community. The veteran comes to
Renshaw Street with RAE CLARK in support.
GIG
Roosevelt Collier
Phase One – 14/04
Brought up in the House Of God Church in Perrine, Florida,
pedal and lap steel guitar ace ROOSEVELT COLLIER has
become a sought-after talent both on record and on stage.
So proficient he’s affectionately known as ‘The Dr’, Collier
is a regular ‘artist at large’, performing alongside musical
luminaries in the fields of rock, blues and pop, including the
Allman Brothers and Los Lobos. His solo debut, Exit 16, is
a potent mix of blues, gospel, rock and, in his words, “dirty
funk swampy grime”. Roosevelt built his sacred steel guitar
prowess alongside his uncles and cousins in The Lee Boys,
known for their spirited, soul-shaking live performances.
CLUB
Kate Miller
North Shore Troubadour – 12/04
Berlin is undoubtedly the capital of techno, and Liverpool is fast
becoming a North West outpost for the scene. North Shore
Troubadour is the latest venue to get in on the action, hosting
one of Berlin’s current hottest talents. KATE MILLER’s explosive,
electro-focused sound has earned her regular slots at the infamous
Berghain, and her own brand Oscillate has been making serious
waves in the city. She has smashed slots at prestigious festivals the
world over, from Gottwood here in the UK to Sugar Mountain in her
native Australia (for Boiler Room), and is rapidly becoming one of
Europe’s rising stars. Escape your planetary mindset as Miller pilots a
journey into the unknown.
Kate Miller
GIG
The Midnight Hour – Ali Shaheed Muhammad
and Adrian Younge
24 Kitchen Street – 26/04
MEMBERS
PICK
Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge
Two of hip hop’s most accomplished producers bring their new live project to town, featuring a
nine-piece brass and string section. ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD (founding member of A Tribe
Called Quest) and ADRIAN YOUNGE (Black Dynamite, Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, etc.) began their work
together in 2013 on the critically acclaimed There Is Only Now by Souls Of Mischief, and Kendrick
Lamar’s untitled unmastered albums. THE MIDNIGHT HOUR is their ode to the cultural sophistication
of the Harlem Renaissance that occurred in New York in the 1920s, pairing two of hip hop’s greatest
producers with a tight rhythm section and a full orchestra.
GIG
Girli
The Zanzibar – 18/04
Brazen London pop star GIRLI is gearing up for the announcement of her debut album
Odd One Out, due on 5th April via PMR/Virgin EMI. The highly-anticipated record
was co-written by Girli with various collaborators, such as Fast Friends and MNDR/
Peter Wade (Charli XCX, Brooke Candy), and follows on from 2017’s Hot Mess EP,
the record that launched Girli’s chaotic mix of pop, electronica and punk. The eighttrack
album marks her new mature alt.pop sound, drawing inspiration from real life
experiences and exploring identity and the difficulties of adolescence.
Girli
GIG
Bido Lito! Social: Dig Vinyl’s 5th Birthday
Kazimier Stockroom – 25/04
Yammerer
It’s party time! Bold Street’s vinyl enthusiasts Dig Vinyl are celebrating their fifth birthday in
April, and we’re made up to be teaming up with them for the occasion. We’re throwing an
old-school birthday party, with cake and balloons and lots of friends, plus loads of good music.
We’re squeezing ourselves into the Kazimier Garden’s new Stockroom venue, along with
YAMMERER, SAMURAI KIP and GOOD PROBLEMS, which is nailed on to be all kinds of raucous.
And out in the Garden, a host of fine selectors will be on the turntables all night, which you’ll be
able to enjoy for free. GROOVEYARD, LINSTER SANGSTER, NIGHTDUBBING and MELODIC
DISTRACTION are gearing up for the heavy hits party, as well as Dig’s own superstar DJs. As
usual, Bido Lito! Members get free entry – tickets are available now from ticketquarter.co.uk.
PREVIEWS 37

THE JONI MITCHELL
SONGBOOK
CAPSTONE THEATRE
26 APRIL
SOUND CITY
BALTIC TRIANGLE
3-5 MAY ...AND MANY MORE!
FAME! UK REUNION
M&S BANK ARENA LIVERPOOL
5-6 MAY
CREAM CLASSICAL
SEFTON PARK
19 JULY
LIMF
SEFTON PARK
20-21 JULY
SIGMA / ELLA EYRE / YXNG BANE
DISCO CLASSICAL WITH
SISTER SLEDGE ft KATHY SLEDGE
DE LA SOUL / JAZZIE B
REMINISCE
SHERDLEY PARK, ST. HELENS
7 SEPTEMBER
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REVIEWS
Vein (Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd)
“It’s engaging,
romantic and dosed
in the curious. Just
the sort of brilliance
of programming we’ve
come to expect from
this most unique and
innovative festival”
Liverpool International Jazz
Festival 2019
+ Vein ft. Andy Sheppard
+ Ancient Affinity Orchestra
+ Deep Cabaret
+ After The Flood
Capstone Theatre – 03/03
The Sunday afternoon of LIVERPOOL INTERNATIONAL JAZZ
FESTIVAL really shows the festival for what it does best: breaking
new ground with music that asks questions and influences
ideas that provoke thought and discussion. This particular triple
bill spans all genres, all influences, and although each occupies
its own definitive space, they share a sense of uniqueness,
innovation and invention.
When we reach dystopia, with the seas poisoned, choking
and churning with the detritus of uncaring humans; when war
and greed have finally ravaged the earth until there’s nothing
left to ravage; when civilisation, such as we call it, has finally
crumbled, we’ll need to rebuild, to regroup and start again,
constructing a new society with no boundaries, no borders. To
find a future out of the ruins. The last remaining humans will
gather together as one, AFTER THE FLOOD. Such is the concept
behind Neil Campbell’s band and album of the same name. Built
around a post-dystopian vision of the music which will need
to carry the new society forward, it imagines music as one. A
seamless, single entity, pan-global confluence, a celebration
of the universal language, and a bedrock for the future. No
boundaries, no borders.
After The Flood is, then, a journey of discovery through
continents and the ages, traditions and structures, bringing
together the varied elements of European folk music, prog,
Afrobeat and the Middle East. Though built around the peerless
fretwork of Campbell, each instrument takes its place as an
integral part of the whole, weaving together, segueing the
styles into a single and really quite glorious celebration. To Asia
is a wonderful piece built around a deftly picked chiming guitar
pattern, twisting and turning in its imagined colour, dancing
almost. Similarly, From Africa brings the heat of that great
continent, beginning with a mbira-sounding intro, before lifting us
through more percussive celebration, both uplifting and soulful.
After The Flood is a fascinating and enjoyable concept, an album
well worth extensive further investigation, and a band of some of
the finest musicians in the city.
In DEEP CABARET, we find multi-layered imaginings drawn
from jazz, from Africa and melodic pop, from journalism and the
landscape around Morecambe, from poetry, drones and Siberian
throat singing; a conversation of bass clarinet and hurdy-gurdy,
cello and guitar. It is a fascinating and compelling confluence
Vein (Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd)
of ideas – rich, pensive and, yes, deep. Bandleader Steve Lewis
digs into his readings, selecting standout paragraphs and
building a wonderfully leftfield musical backdrop around them
through improvisation and free expression. The Blue, its central
lyric taken from Wassily Kandinsky’s writings, is a compact and
tender piece, with an edgy beauty. The forgotten tale of Sambo,
its narrative hewn from a newspaper cutting from 1822, tells
the tragic story of a former slave, buried without ceremony in
Morecambe following a hunger strike. A slow looping guitar
pattern, it is a haunting Arabian-flavoured death knell bound
together by long droned notes and a skittish shuffling jazz
drum pattern. Deep Cabaret’s music asks questions and makes
suggestions. It’s engaging, romantic and dosed in the curious.
Just the sort of brilliance of programming we’ve come to expect
from this most unique and innovative festival.
The afternoon ends with the shimmering, cosmic wanderings
of ANCIENT INFINITY ORCHESTRA. The Leeds-based collective,
favoured by Gilles Peterson, find their genre-fluid roots held in
the light of Sun Ra or Pharoah Sanders. Theirs is a worldly sound,
heavy on evocation and imagery, peppered throughout with
lustrous, celestial percussion. Psychedelia, jazz and the music of
the world all take their place in these portraits, these sketches
of nature and the universe. Space is given over between the
grooves, broad cinematic freeform strokes of melody, undulating
and twisting from free improv to the more structured moments
with ease. There is an enormous sense of freedom to this band,
and it’s not forced nor over studied. It just feels deeply expressive
and natural. An immersive journey, cinematic and wide at one
minute, hushed and devotional the next.
Closing another deliciously varied and very well supported
Jazz Festival are Swiss trio VEIN, accompanied by British
saxophone legend ANDY SHEPPARD. Vein are comprised
of twins Michael and Florian Arbenz, on piano and drums
respectively, and bassist Thomas Lahns. All are classically
trained, meeting at Basel’s Academy of Music, and their mixture
of European classical music and jazz improvisation has won
many plaudits. They have a long history of collaborative work
with notable soloists such as Greg Osby and Dave Liebman
(saxophone) and Glenn Ferris (trombone). The Arbenz brothers
compose most of their original material but they are also noted
for their re-interpretations of jazz and classical standards, 2017’s
Vein Plays Ravel being the latest example.
Sheppard has long been heralded as a cornerstone of British
jazz and is an equally serial collaborator, having worked over the
last three decades with an enviable list of musicians including Gil
Evans, Carla Bley and Seb Rochford.
A double bass bowed in orchestral fashion is our
introduction. Michael Arbenz counts it in and the band hit a
smooth groove over a crisp, spare drum pattern. The piano
beautifully discordant at times, a counterpoint to Sheppard’s
lyrical, flowing saxophone on Michael’s Under Construction,
from 2019 album Symphonic Bop (a title that neatly captures
their oeuvre). The rubbery bounce of Lahns’ bass getting heads
nodding. It’s an early indication that we are in the presence of
some very fine musicians this evening.
They include several pieces from the Ravel album in tonight’s
performance, the first being the delightful Mouvement De Minuet.
Florian’s gently pattering drums underscore Michael’s delicate
piano. They’re both played with absolute clarity, despite its pace.
Sheppard bides his time, saxophone slung across his body, head
nodding as he listens with intent. Michael’s solo drops quietly
away as Lahns’ bass picks up the rhythm before Sheppard brings
his thoughtful silence to an end with a delightfully light, airy solo.
It meanders and spirals into the night air.
A 2017 Guardian review opined that “they can be too
flawlessly polished for their own jazz good” (before labelling
them “one of Europe’s most exciting ensembles”). And flawless
the playing certainly is tonight – not once at the expense of
expression or a calmly delivered passion.
Florian’s Fast Lane ups the tempo and swings at a merry
pace. It is, frankly, funky as hell, the bass jumping, Michael’s
fingers flying across the keys, Florian’s drumming loose in a tight
groove. It’s a wicked solo drawing sustained applause.
Sheppard’s playing is wonderfully melodic, Lahns’ subtle,
vibrant bass holds it all together. The twins seem as though they
could riff off each other all night.
A cover of Duke Ellington’s Reflections In D really flies, the
soloing hot, cool, exquisite, before Ravel’s Five O’Clock Foxtrot
wraps it up, swinging us joyfully out into the sharp night air, the
only hint of regret being that we wanted more. As a mightily
impressed festival director Neil Campbell says, “Some people
take it to another level.”
Paul Fitzgerald / @NothingvilleM
Glyn Akroyd / @glynakroyd
40

“The photographs are a
beautiful art form. They
not only showcase the
diversity of the subjects,
but the lens draws out
their character, focusing
on the understated
side of each MP”
Cat Smith MP by Tabitha Jussa
Tabitha Jussa / tabithajussa.com
209 Women
Open Eye Gallery – until 14/04
“To represent and be presented for what we are – as women,
by women – is a very special thing. This is what 209 Women is all
about.” Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of Emmeline
Pankhurst, sums up the new 209 WOMEN exhibition at Open
Eye Gallery perfectly.
To mark 100 years since women achieved the right to vote in
the UK, photography exhibition 209 Women has been launched
to commemorate this significant step towards women’s equality.
Not just in politics, but throughout society. Launched in the
Houses of Parliament on 14th December 2018 – 100 years to
the day since the first women voted – the exhibition showcases
photographs, taken solely by people who identify as a woman,
of all 209 female MPs currently in Parliament. This is also the
first time all 209 photographs have been exhibited together, as
it includes the Sinn Féin MPs who abstained from having their
portrait shown in Parliament.
As part of RISE, Culture Liverpool’s season of events
celebrating female artists, thinkers and leaders, the exhibition
provides an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come
towards gender equality. From the passing of the Representation
of the People Act which allowed certain British women to
vote in UK Parliamentary Elections in 1918, to the Parliament
Qualification of Women Act which allowed women to be elected
into UK Parliament in the same year, 1918 was a huge year for
women’s political rights, which is why it is important we still
recognise it today. The exhibition not only highlights how far
women have come in politics, but also in terms of the workplace
and reproductive rights; again, areas which we are still working
towards equality in.
However, the exhibition also illustrates how much more we
need to do. The opening statement to the show claims: “Women
form 51 per cent of the population, but only 32 per cent of our
MPs are women. Why is this?”. This stays fresh in your mind as
you take in the photography. It does make you really focus on the
why. Suddenly, the 209 doesn’t feel like such a large number at all.
The photographs, however, are incredibly powerful. They
represent each woman not necessarily as an MP, but as an
empowering woman who has her own life alongside her position
in politics. Some women’s portraits are of a serious nature,
some in black and white, some in colour, some in back gardens,
on the beach, in parliamentary chambers. Some women are
smiling, while others look more forlorn; there’s one MP stood
with a goat, another is draped in a European flag. There are
also photographs of women in surgical scrubs and a firefighter
uniform, highlighting their other roles within society alongside
their positions in parliament. It is unclear if the subjects chose
their setting themselves, but their situations allow for the
humanisation of women whose lives are so strongly bound into
politics.
The photographs are a beautiful art form. They not only
showcase the diversity of the subjects, but the lens draws out
their character, focusing on the understated side of each MP.
It often becomes too easy project that the 209 are a singular
entity of female MPs. It becomes a restrictive bracket wrapped
around its widely diverse group, with more room to grow. In
addition, each female photographer has also been given the
chance to showcase their work through the exhibition. What’s
more empowering than women supporting other women?
Their names, constituencies and the female identifying
photographer’s name are given alongside the portraits, but their
political party is not addressed. This allows for the exhibition
to focus on the women in the photographs rather than their
politics. It is a refreshing way of bringing everyone together for
an important issue. Political opinions, for once, are put to one
side.
Our achievements within gender equality so far are only
the start of the milestones of what we can and will hit over the
next 100 years. Hopefully, we will not have to wait that long
to see significant changes. Notwithstanding the changes to be
made, in 2019 we can’t ignore that we have come a long way
from where we were in 1918. The exhibition carries this theme
of forward-looking celebration, highlighting how there are only
209 elected female MPs in Parliament – out of the 650 MPs.
There is no doubt this is a cause for celebration, in a century
that began without the right for women to vote. From 1918 to
having a female Prime Minister in 2019, it’s progress, but 209
out of 650 is still in the minority.
Sophie Shields
REVIEWS 41

REVIEWS
Sleaford Mods
O2 Academy – 02/03
Watching SLEAFORD MODS is always going to be good:
Saturday night, pint in hand, surrounded by the young and
middle aged bouncing along, in the hands of a duo whose lyrics
Sleaford Mods (Michael Kirkham / michaelkirkhamphotography.co.uk)
comment on the lives of many in Brexit Britain.
Jason Williamson belts out Into The Payzone with fervour,
while Andrew Fearn stands nonchalantly behind nodding his
head along in approval, kitted out in shorts, cap and Run-DMC
T-shirt, sipping occasionally from a bottle of lager. With their
division of labour and set up on stage, they could be the 21st
Century, more excitable, more mobile, more politically peeved Pet
Shop Boys with an attitude that aggravates as well as entertains.
And it’s there that any whimsical similarities end. This is a group
the treads its own path and tells the tales of those often ignored.
The gig’s packed out and full of energy and, by the third
song Subtraction, those less possessive of their pints start
jumping about; the ubiquitous mosh pit emerges. The crowd love
it: those at the sides guffaw at the well-observed lyrics, while
others shout them back to the worldly frontman. The setlist is
predominantly comprised of songs from their new album Eton
Alive, along with a selection of older favourites, such as TCR and
Just Like We Do.
Accompanied on stage by just a microphone stand and
laptop, the duo still manage to command the room. If the
baseline throbbing through the floor doesn’t grab your attention,
Williamson’s skill at delivering the lyrics does. His performance
style is impressive, moving from snarky drawl to mania as he
inhabits different characters.
His recall of the lyrics is equally impressive, and his
monologues take the form of theatre, especially as he physically
changes. His posture and facial expressions create an idea of the
imagined characters. When he’s not busy doing that, his various
dance moves are a delight to behold: walking around with an
imagined hat and cane, a cheeky crotch grab and even giving us a
glimpse of the start of a nutty boy walk.
The lyrics are brilliant. They create vivid, pertinent and often
hilarious snapshots of life in contemporary Britain with its foibles
and failures. They resonate with the feelings of many about
where the country is politically and socially at the moment. The
lyrics swing from pointed ire with clear targets in songs like BHS,
where “the able-bodied vultures monitor and pick at us” and in
OBCT where the narrator “passed Oliver Bonas in the Chelsea
tractor”, to funny observations on the mundane: “I got two brown
bins, should I only have one? But what the council don’t know
won’t hurt them” on Policy Cream.
Williamson works himself in to a frenzy. By the end of the
night his T-shirt could be rung out and fill up a few of the pint
glasses flung around the mosh pit. Fearn meanwhile looks as cool
and collected as he did when he came on stage. It’s over far too
soon and after an encore, which includes the dynamic Tied Up In
Nottz and Discourse, Williamson’s off with a nod, but without a
backwards glance, leaving his bandmate to pack up the laptop
with a lack of fanfare. It’s all just part of the night’s work.
Sleaford Mods are here to point out the dire times we’re in, in
an entertaining, needle-sharp way. Live, they take it all up a notch
or two. What’s not to like?
Jennie Macaulay / @jenmagmcmac
Omar Souleyman
24 Kitchen Street – 23/02
Postponing a gig can prove disastrous for attendance levels,
but nobody is deterred by tonight’s show being rearranged for
three weeks after the original date. Kitchen Street is rammed and
bouncing well before OMAR SOULEYMAN takes to the stage.
A party atmosphere grips the crowd from the off as Jacques
Malchance smashes out a pounding dabke beat.
Dabke can be translated as ‘stamping the feet’, a line or circle
dance traditionally performed at weddings. A Levantine hoedown
of sorts, a celebration. “Their weddings sound like more fun than
ours,” says a smiling punter before weaving his way into the
jumping mass of bodies.
On his more recent albums, Souleyman has replaced the
traditional accompanying instruments of oud, mijwiz and tablah
with electronic keyboards and contemporary, crunching basslines
and percussion played at breakneck speed. That’s not to say
he’s thrown the baby out with the bathwater. The vocal stylings
utilising both Arabic and Kurdish are centuries old and much of
the keyboard accompaniments are based on traditional Arabic
patterns; the stuff of the wedding songs for which he originally
became famous in his homeland.
In truth, if there wasn’t a slight pause in proceedings I
wouldn’t have known that Souleyman had begun his set, such is
the (to my uneducated ears, perhaps) indistinguishable transition
from DJ set to live set. Souleyman’s keyboard player takes to
the stage and sets the scene before the man himself appears,
dressed in his trademark keffiyeh and sunglasses.
Souleyman, constantly on the move, pacing the stage, hands
outstretched towards his adoring audience, is a somewhat
puzzling phenomenon. As Gabriel Szatan states in Crack
Magazine, he is “greatly respected by some and not taken entirely
seriously by others”, and there is something in the crowd’s
reaction that supports this. There is a slightly amused/bemused
vibe among some of the revellers; a couple jovially video his
shoes, glimpsed occasionally beneath the swirl of his kaftan,
while at the same time wildly excited admirers are being told to
get down from the stage barricade. The crowd are dancing all
the way to the back of the room, grinning from ear to ear, feet
stamping, hands clapping.
Souleyman’s latest album, To Syria, With Love, tackles the
current political situation in that country through a series of
personal, heartfelt odes expressing his hopes and fears for his
homeland. However, there is little sense of soul searching among
this audience, who seem all too ready to embrace the positive,
vibrant link to their own homeland that Souleyman’s musical
conduit provides.
The intensity of the beats is unwavering, the keys adding
swirling Euro-disco synth effects to the patterns riffing
on traditional themes, the handclaps riding over the mix.
Souleyman’s chanted, staccato delivery entices a series of
call and answer responses from the crowd, and those hands
not holding aloft mobile phones are stretched over the barrier
towards him in adoration.
At the back of the room dancers gather in a circle, hands
linked, swirling around a series of individuals who take turns to
Omar Souleyman (Amin Musa / aminmusa.co.uk)
show off their flashy steps. The evening really does have the
feeling of an extended family celebration.
It’s a unique take on a primordial traditional, and it’s earned
Omar Souleyman international acclaim. Here, through him, we are
surrounded everywhere by smiles and joyous laughter.
Glyn Akroyd / @glynakroyd
42

Winds & Skins
SisBis @ 24 Kitchen Street – 23/02
SisBis stands tall as a night for the people of Liverpool. It’s
for all music lovers, there isn’t a certain group of people that you
will find at the event. It’s also non-profit, with all the money taken
on the door going to help Refugee Women Connect, a charity
that supports refugee and asylum-seeking women, especially
mothers, who have settled in the city of Liverpool. Free donations
of nappies, period products and baby clothes are also welcomed
and any pledges are given to the charity. Now partnering with
Resident Advisor, 50p of the booking fee will also go towards
good causes.
The music is highly variable at SisBis. It keeps you on your
toes. There’s no other way to explain it, perhaps only in the way
the curators explained it themselves: unrestricted cuts, jazzfunk,
celestial grooves and soulful beats from across the globe.
Tonight DONNA LEAKE, the first DJ to play at a SisBis gig, is
back with her crew of DEBORA IPEKEL and ECE DUZGIT, aka
WINDS & SKINS.
GIOVANNA, a member of SisBis, steps up to play through
the start of the night. The songs vary from old-school dancehall
with New Yorker by Johnny Ringo along with the experimental
and out of this world Secondo Coro Delle Lavandaie by Roberto
De Simone. By the end of the set, the crowd is present, ready
for Winds & Skins to hit the stage.
Similar to Giovanna, the girls make sure that the selection
keeps one ski slightly off-piste. The smooth and funky
Lipstick (Shout) by JM Black feels like something from a
GTA soundtrack. Further in, the hypnotic sounds of the tabla
come through with Rapanagatun by Zakir Hussain, only to be
followed by the sounds of the late, great Jim Capaldi with I’m
Gonna Do It.
It feels like the night that Liverpool has been missing:
flamboyant, free and fearless. That goes for both the music and
crowd. Everyone is accepted here. It’s great to see a group of
DJs looking like they’re really enjoying themselves on the decks,
there’s smiles all round. Not too serious or stiff. The lights come
Winds & Skins (Michael Driffill / @Michael.Driffy)
down while the last song plays and the crowd makes for the
exit, reluctantly. There remains a big group of dancers even until
the end. The seal of approval for a good night.
It’s only a matter before this is the event that everyone wants
to go to in the city.
Joe Hale / @Joehale94
Snapped Ankles
Kazimier Stockroom – 08/03
Launching Kazimier’s newest micro-venue are London-based
post-punk outfit SNAPPED ANKLES. Known for their signature
electronica-meets-krautrock noise, echoey vocals and throbbing
basslines, the group are equipped to make a serious mark on
Liverpool’s hotly anticipated new space.
A who’s who of emerging and established DJ talent opens
the show, with Melodic Distraction’s own LUPINI (Nina Franklin)
starting things off alongside UpItUp / cartier4everyone favourite
ISOCORE, and IWFM’s SHEA TWINS. Due to the restricted
nature of the space, the DJ sets aren’t a priority for much of
the audience, with a healthy overspill into the Garden – the
quintessential Kazimier Friday night party scene.
Snapped Ankles were originally billed to play at the Invisible
Wind Factory, but alas, there’s a last-minute venue change.
The almost immediately sold-out status leaves gig goers, firstly,
pondering where on earth Stockroom is and, secondly, how
they’d never heard of it before. Clever PR, or a genuine case of
last-minute logistics? Either way, the band fill the space with a
buzz reminiscent of the much missed Kazimier.
Perhaps it is their formative years playing at warehouse
parties and run-down social clubs that make them so perfect
for this cosy new space, accented by an impressively ‘local’-
esque bar, crowned with a sniper post sound tech booth-cumtreehouse.
The clever architecture of the space promises a larger
room than the cave-like contours actually offer, but it works so
well.
Those fatigued by the psychedelic overkill of recent
years, fear not; songs like Rechargeable, I Want My Minutes
Back, Hanging With The Moon, and a few accents of pure
instrumentation and improv between songs keep the pogoers in
the room hopping throughout. It’s a playful atmosphere unlike
your standard guitar band gig. Aided by the yeti-like stooges in
the crowd (in costume as additional members of the haystackclad
group), the band bring with them a hype crew who mingle
into the audience, introducing would-be friends and dance
partners as they roam around.
A perfect launch with one of the most interesting and
experimental bands currently touring. Stockroom might just be
the intimate (and undoubtedly rowdy) venue that Liverpool has
been missing.
Sinéad Nunes / @sineadawrites
Snapped Ankles (Michael Driffill / @Michael.Driffy)
Snapped Ankles (Michael Driffill / @Michael.Driffy)
REVIEWS 43

REVIEWS
Our Girl (John Middleton / johnmiddletonphoto.co.uk)
Our Girl
+ Jelly Boy
I Love Live Events @ Phase One – 04/03
A sunny morning that gave way to rain, wind and then
hailstones. This should probably have been an indicator of the
set that would unfold from OUR GIRL. Purveyors of indie that
flits between grungy and psych, gentle and gripping, the band
emerge onto the stage in a thick film of red light. That fades, goes
blue and later, nearly dims to complete darkness. Before that
though, we’ve barely shook our hair dry when in a slightly too
sharp, brilliant light, support act JELLY BOY bounces onstage.
They quickly settle into a low, AOR style opener. Essentially
the creation of Benji Compston of Happyness, Jelly Boy perform
here as a four-piece of Benji on lead vocals and guitar, with an
extra guitarist, drummer and a keyboard player doubling on
bass. Most of the set goes along in a similar vein to its opener,
with ploddy, sophisticated pop taking bits of American indie,
but there are some exceptions. Jelly Boy’s second tune has an
uptempo and interesting Green-era REM feel, one that ventures
into Weezer grunge-lite. Their fourth sees Benji take centrestage
at the keyboard, playing two verses before admitting he’s
forgotten the song, remembering it and carrying on where he left
off. The penultimate song of the set features a decent guitar line
and some nice glissandos on the keyboard but belies an absolute
blinder of a closer, which starts with a wail of guitars before
settling into a 90s power-pop kick. It saves the bloody set.
Headliners Our Girl have had something of a strange
gestation, particularly for lead-singer guitarist, Soph, also the
lead guitarist in The Big Moon, whose rapid ascent lead to a
Mercury Prize nomination in 2017. The two bands’ fortunes have
dovetailed quite neatly with Our Girl’s debut, the Bill Ryder-
Jones produced Stranger Today, released last year. And where
The Big Moon deal in Britpop-indie with a tinge of Sleeper, Our
Girl tend towards something more explosive – simpler in some
respects and more complex in others. Opener I Really Like It
is a case-in-point, with its sweet toned lyrics sung in Soph’s
Faithfull-esque drawl, but underscored by a heavy reverb on her
guitar, particularly during a middle 8 that’s just a little bit thrash.
Being Around is another sparkler, benefitting from the light and
shade, only this time with more guitar squeals and vocal yowls.
The band’s rhythm section are totally on board, in garage terms
– with drummer Lauren’s stomp-snap pattern and bassist Josh
fret-walking these songs into life, particularly on the Elastica-ish
Josephine.
After a tiring journey, Lauren tells us that the band “are all
out of chat”. “It’s OK, because we’ve got songs,” says Soph. What
follows are the group’s most intricate arrangements of the night
– album track Sub Rosa (a neat bit of indie balladeering) and
the stripped-back Heat which features Josh switching to guitar
so he and Soph can produce some Buckley-style spectral guitar
lines. They finish up the intimate portion of the set with two more
slow tunes, the latter of which, Careful, is so sweet and soft, it’s
almost folky. Level sees a return to the garage, with In My Head
crawling towards an echoey psych, before dramatically changing
tempo at its close. “This is our last song, no bullshit,” says Lauren,
but closer Boring still manages to draw out the finale, changing
speed and volume before morphing into the kind of syncopated
psych jam that the set has threatened all evening. And true to
their word, afterwards, the band speed off-stage.
John McGovern / @etinsuburbiaego
Psycho Comedy:
A New York Minute
Purple Noise @ Shipping Forecast
23/02
Down in the belly of the Shipping Forecast tonight, there
takes place a performance of art-rock so precise, so intentional,
even Andy Warhol would be proud. This is the space where
the collective ideas of frontman Shaun Powell sit atop a mental
pedestal as he waits to invite us into his wild world. For those
unfamiliar with the artistic mastery of PSYCHO COMEDY, it is a
spectacle worth viewing. Hovering through the local music scene
for some years now, the band have fascinated audiences with
the same strategic concept they began with: melding punk and
poetry in unison, breathing art back into music.
Tonight is an exhibition of Powell’s own craft and the
celebration of a goal he set out to accomplish. The very essence
of Psycho Comedy bleeds New York City; from the band’s Patti
Smith and Velvet Underground influences, it is no surprise why
this group from Liverpool find it so important to make their
mark on the Big Apple. Without this vision, the spirit of Psycho
Comedy would fold.
Twisting the audience through their performance like a
mad puppeteer, Powell holds the crowd’s attention through
one of the band’s first and favourable tracks, I’m Numb. Highly
literate and full of raw power, Psycho Comedy blaze through
the evening, shaking the foundations of the venue with the
infectious Michigan State and the thematically relevant Uncle
Sam. The low, seedy bass playing of Connor Duff paired with the
ever-cool poise of the band’s own poet Matthew Thomas Smith
works wonders through Sleep Walking, as he projects his words
through two microphones out to the crowd.
As an animated Powell claims this to be their best of the
night, drummer Jack Williams begins Performance Space Number
One. It’s a song that oozes cool, proving how mature the band
have become since their inception.
Introducing the last song of the evening, the energy rises
as the garrulous singer stands with a sinister grin and exclaims:
“The thing about now is everybody’s always down, the theatre
came crashing down, I am the silver screen.” A roar from the
crowd brings the anthemic I Am The Silver Screen to life. The
venue is full of family and friends, all witnessing something great,
a band whose sonic vision will no doubt take them to great
Psycho Comedy (John Latham / @MRJOHNLATHAM)
heights. It is this sense of passion in honing their craft that is so
admirable and one that will be remembered among a plethora of
bands in Liverpool’s music city.
Brit Williams / @therealbritjean
44

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REVIEWS
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes
+ Black Futures
Arts Club – 19/02
“We all come from an explosion in the sky/One day there
was nothing and the next there was life/And all the rivers and the
mountains and the sun and the moon/And then all of a sudden
there’s a cloud of doom,” FRANK CARTER bellows, as THE
RATTLESNAKES plough into their latest single and first song of
the set, Crowbar. The Arts Club crowd explodes in a frenzy of
bodies, making it near impossible not to bang your head.
By Tyrant Lizard King, Frank is in the audience doing a
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes (Tomas Adam)
fucking handstand! Not on the floor, but on top of a feverish
crowd who just can’t seem to get enough of the band’s mix
of hardcore punk and alternative rock. Frank Carter & The
Rattlesnakes have transcended their punk rock roots. They
embrace an arena rock aesthetic, losing none of their razor-sharp
edge.
Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself... Before Frank Carter &
The Rattlesnakes even take to the stage, BLACK FUTURES’ blend
of punk rock and industrial noise already has sweat dripping
from the walls. The dystopian/utopian, boiler-suited duo take no
prisoners during their opening set. Everyone is a casualty of their
aural and visual assault on the senses. Anonymous dancers stand
on either side of the stage waving white flags, before jumping
into the crowd and dancing in what little space is available.
It’s a chaotic awakening for someone that wasn’t even
aware of the band’s existence until one hour prior. Together, the
audience and Black Futures are pop anarchy. This live set is their
soundtrack.
Emerging from the gallows, so to speak, comes Frank Carter,
along with Dean Richardson, Tom Barclay, Gareth Grover and
Thomas Mitchener. This is a band that could sell out much bigger
venues across the United Kingdom, but the intensity of playing
in smaller venues, like the Arts Club, is an opportunity to revel in
chaos. What is more punk than that?
Playing songs from albums Blossom, Modern Ruin and the
upcoming End of Suffering, Frank consistently dives into the
crowd; walking and surfing atop a sea of fanatics united by music
– stopping only to share his sincerest thanks. “I have the best
view in the house!” he relays to his sweaty, euphoric audience,
still in the midst of crowd surfing their own brethren to the front
of the stage.
Frank dedicates the next song in the set, Heartbreaker, to his
female audience. “If you have ever wanted to crowd surf, now is
your chance to do it in a safe environment.” Smiles adorn every
face in the venue, including that of the security who can be seen
bracing for another blitz of bodies. “There is no anonymity,” Frank
warns as Deano begins to pound into lead guitar. Many women
take The Rattlesnakes up on this opportunity and surf their way
towards the stage. My wife signals over to me so she can speak
into my ear. “What a fucking gentleman!”
Another highlight is Anxiety – a grunge-infused guitar ballad
that directly relates to Frank’s personal mental health struggles.
Frank suffers from anxiety, but friendships and family have
helped him through darker days. In introducing the song, Frank
implores the crowd to do the same as he has done in the past: if
you find yourself struggling with anxiety, talk to someone.
Frank Carter has come a long way from the frontman he was
in Gallows. At times Frank could be obnoxious, and in his own
words, “a bit of a cunt”, but in Liverpool, Frank comes across with
nothing but sincerity and gratitude. Gratitude towards the fans,
towards the band, towards the road crew, towards the support
provided by Black Futures, and towards the venue staff. And it’s
not long before Frank has ventured back out into the crowd.
Climbing up onto the Arts Club bar, Frank points towards
Deano with a sly grin, signalling him to riff into Crowbar once
again. “I can do what the fuck I want,” Frank laughs before
launching himself into a crowd who greet him with open arms;
surfing him back to the stage. The feeling here is mutual, and by
the time The Rattlesnakes play the last song on their setlist – the
closing track on Blossom, I Hate You – the energy in the room
is so intense it’s perceptible by touch. Respect yourself, respect
others, respect the music and don’t let anyone bring you down.
Ken Wynne @Ken_Wynne
International Teachers Of Pop
+ Los Bitchos
+ Beija Flo
Harvest Sun @ District – 23/02
District in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle is another one of those
repurposed industrial spaces that oozes urban cool and boasts a
brilliant sound system and punchy acoustics. It’s a fitting venue
for Sheffield’s INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS OF POP to close out
their successful tour.
Liverpool’s BEIJA FLO opens proceedings with half an hour
of bittersweet, darkly comic musings layered with plenty of
self-deprecating humour and offbeat tales. Flo’s presence on
stage is wildly contradictory, all at once inhabiting a vulnerable
yet defiant persona, holding the audience with a steady gaze and
wry observations. Her music is pop electronica and her touch
is deft with melodies and avant-garde flourishes encircling her
remarkable voice. Think the squeak and pop of Lene Lovich, the
poise of Siouxsie Sioux cloaked in an Essex drawl and you have
some kind of magical chimera. Her Bolan-esque glam makeup is
effortlessly cool and she owns the room.
LOS BITCHOS follow and are a force of nature. Consisting of
bass, two guitars, a keytar and drums they groove and move in
unison as if The Shadows, a Mariachi band and Stealing Sheep
had been gene-spliced to create hypnotic Cumbian rhythms.
Everyone is into this, the band jam, swaying in synch, riffing
off each other, smiling broadly as the audience party. They are
ineffably cool, hitting us with wave after wave of dubby bass
and hypnotic drones. They all hug each other at the end, which is
really nice.
International Teachers Of Pop are a kind of a throwback,
echoing a time when electronic music was all about having fun.
They obviously enjoy performing and this comes across in their
exuberant performance. The Moonlandingz’ founders Adrian
Flanagan and Dean Honer have hit upon a formula that works.
Their sound could be described as radiophonic disco, chock full of
blurry analogue lines and spacey synth pads.
Leonore Wheatley and Katie Mason provide the drive and
vocals, close harmonising to lend a West Coast 60s psychedelic
vibe to the churning electronics of the guys either side of them.
They pull shapes and groove like the cool girls at a disco, pulling
the audience along on their sleigh-ride of electronic pyrotechnics.
Heady renditions of Age Of The Train, The Ballad Of Remedy
Nilsson, She Walks and Praxis Makes Prefect take us through
the Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, Human League and Ladytron
badlands. There’s fun to be had here. A krautrock version of
Another Brick In The Wall is a highlight, being a truly original
interpretation of a song so ingrained in the psyche that it’s at first
jarring as we attempt to process all the angular lines and Teutonic
posturing.
Blasting through their repertoire, International Teachers Of
Pop barely give the audience a chance to breath between songs.
The stillness of Flanagan and Honer behind their keyboards is
International Teachers Of Pop (Darren Aston)
offset by Wheatley and Mason’s dancing as they beam and twirl
with impish glee.
Things wind down and they exit stage left. Everybody gets
fidgety as the house lights remain dimmed, they then re-emerge
to much cheering and close the gig with After Dark, a tune so
giddy it could have been written on helium.
This is a night of music for music’s sake, for those who
wanted to enjoy the communal spirit of seeing artists enjoying
their craft, to dance, to bounce and to leave with warm ears
ringing.
Mike Stanton / @DepartmentEss
46

DAM
+ DJ Sotusura
MARSM and Liverpool Arab Arts Festival @
Constellations – 27/02
As the great B Dolan once rapped, hip hop is folk music
grown from the struggle. The struggle for, or against, what?
Well, the era we’re currently roller coastering through provides
answers to that question on a daily basis. Social and economic
inequality, sexual inequality, racial inequality, poverty, corruption
and untold amounts of other global issues are caught in many
rappers’ and artists’ perpetual crosshairs. As a movement, hip
hop epitomises the struggle of those underfoot trying to strive for
two things: justice and freedom.
At its inception, its individual components – turntablism,
rapping, breakdancing and graffiti art – served to pull together
the victims of institutional and overt racism in America and
offered a haven for those swept under the proverbial rug of
Robert Moses’ New York. As folk music does, it empowered the
powerless, gave a voice to the voiceless and sparked a fire that
generations of people would gather around. This was late 70s,
early 80s New York. Who knew that this same musical style
would rouse the strength of a people who’re victims of colonial
war and religious/political persecution? This is the value of music,
the meaning of hip hop, and it’s being demonstrated tonight in
our fair city’s Constellations, where we await the Palestinian trio
DAM.
Tonight’s show is a powerful and important statement, which
showcases the diversity and ingenuity that is possible within the
genre. As the doors open and people begin to funnel through to
stage area, it’s unfortunate to see that the room doesn’t become
as full as it deserves to be. No matter, though. The heads in this
room form a small but dedicated nucleus. They’re heads ready to
bop.
The support, DJ SOTUSURA, provides some enchanting
and refreshing cuts which mix Arabic samples with old school
hip hop beats. Following the release of his first solo album, the
crowdfunding success Salah El Alhan, Sotusura delivers a lush
and brim-full set that displays his unique style and approach to
the turntables.
Before long it’s time for the anticipated headliner, DAM.
This Palestinian hip hop trio has garnered legendary status, a
renowned talent present throughout the course of their 20-year
career. As new-ish member, MC and singer Maisa Daw, joins her
partners Mahmoud Jreri and Tamer Naffar on stage, they make an
energised dive into what proves to be an insightful and passionfilled
set.
In equal measures a show of artistry and musicianship and
a celebration of poetry, these are three incredibly gifted writers
and rhymers. Tamer Naffar, sometimes hailed the Godfather of
Palestinian rap, oozes charisma and syllables by the bucketload.
The new single, Emta Njawzak Yamma, is a clear standout and
one of the most memorable performances of the night.
DAM (Glyn Akroyd / @GlynAkroyd)
During the set the poetic strengths of each member has its
own time in the spotlight, with Maisa Daw taking a stand for her
Arab femininity in the moving Jasadik-Hom (Your Body Of Theirs)
and Mahmoud Jreri’s complex rhyming ability showing consistent
strength throughout. #Who_You_R is another highlight; one of
many. This is hip hop as raw and sincere as it’s supposed to be.
As the set closes with a return to the refrains of their new
single, it’s clear that DAM are the best hip hop group you’ve
never heard of (until now). Liverpool, open your ears.
Christopher Carr
Fatherson
+ Vistas
I Love Live Events @ Phase One – 03/04
FATHERSON first came on the scene in 2012, and yet
whenever I mention them to fellow music lovers, I can almost
guarantee that I will get the response: “Who?” Frontman Ross
Leighton acknowledges the band’s small presence within the
music scene, crediting fans for Fatherson’s desire to continue
touring their music. He looks around the sold-out room, inhales
deeply and tells us, “We carry on because of this, because of you
guys”.
The Scottish music scene has a tight bond, and the amount
of Scottish accents in the crowd tonight only supports this claim.
Slowly but surely this band seem to be advancing into the English
scene and beyond. Their recent single Making Waves allows Ross
to bring his vocals to the forefront while being punctuated by a
killer rock guitar and drum combo. Tonight, it is this song that
brings the audience together, hardcore fans and new followers
alike. Everyone is singing. “Somebody called it a longshot” is the
lyric that resonates. This band’s success, no matter how covert,
would have once been a longshot. This song isn’t just about
human love, but the importance of music and the love story it
weaves throughout all of our lives.
As a band that know all about the struggle of Scottish artists,
I credit Fatherson for their choice in VISTAS as support act. Their
upbeat indie-rock guitar and a vocalist that does not shy away
from his Scottish accent but takes hold of its authenticity and
runs with it, is a perfect choice to open tonight. Combine 2014
Circa Waves (whom the band are also supporting this year) with
Sundara Karma’s debut and you have the closest thing to Vistas.
A double clap from frontman Prentice Robertson and we’re
beamed into Retrospect, by far the band’s best song. With his
knees swaying side to side and the crowd following, I overhear
“these are so good man” from my left. If that isn’t a compliment
worth pinning on your fridge, I don’t know what is.
Their new single Eighteen just shows how much this band
have developed; the potential they hold. With a less repetitive
lyric than the aforementioned, the band still harness their positive
and uplifting sound to create music that feels important to both
a past and present you. “Can we go back to eighteen/Do you
remember everything?/I made you cry, I made you sing”. We all
need to remember these times, these life-altering moments of
emotion, good and bad, and use our past to fuel our future.
Tonight showcases what the Scottish indie music scene
has to offer, with its guitars, double claps and irrefutably strong
accents. Has Gerry Cinnamon opened the floodgates for Scottish
music in England? I can only hope.
Megan Walder / @m_l_wald
John Cooper Clarke
Philharmonic Hall – 22/02
John Cooper Clarke (Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com)
John Cooper Clarke (Mook Loxley / mookloxley.tumblr.com)
REVIEWS
47

EIGHTY
NE.
RENSHAW
Record Store Day is Saturday 13th April!!!
RSD sees the release of hundreds of limited
edition vinyl releases, why not come and celebrate
at 81 Renshaw? All releases are sold on a first-come,
first-served basis and each release is limited to one per customer.
★ Front Bar open from 7.30am
★ Pop Up Record Store in the Venue opens at 8.00am
★ Over 400 RSD titles in stock
★ Bacon butties and Veggie sausage sarnies £1.50 All Day
★ Tea and Coffee 50p All Day
★ 81 Renshaw record vouchers for the first 50 customers*
★ Free bottle of beer in the afternoon for first 100 customers
★ Beija Flo Live Concert at 2pm – free admission
★ Pop-Up Liverpool Music Museum (including the 1st public
showing of The John Lennon Time Capsule – conceived by Yoko Ono)
COMING SOON...
LIVE AT 81 !
Johnny Dowd
Thur 18th April
7:30pm
£12 Adv.
Black humour, doom and
gloom, alternative country
with big, noisy breaks.
For fans of Beck, Tom Waits,
Nick Cave and Captain Beefheart
81 RENSHAW STREET L1 2SJ • 0151 707 1805 • www.81renshaw.co.uk
E: info@81renshaw.co.uk Fb: /81renshaw Tw: @81renshaw
*Not valid on 2019 RSD stock Johnny Dowd image: Kat Dalton
INDIAN STREET FOOD • CRAFT BEER
OPENING THIS APRIL IN LIVERPOOL
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ARTISTIC
LICENCE
As part of our continuing series focusing on the region’s wordsmiths,
we present a short story submitted to us by Ryan Murphy. If you’d
like to be featured in this section, please send your submissions and
ideas to niloo@bidolito.co.uk.
Ryan Murphy
Sixes And Sevens
The lion jumped onto the bench and woke me from my dream with a kick. I sat up straight, startled in the morning sun, squinting at
the knifelight. From somewhere close by, I heard something like the sound of the fast unfastening of a long Velcro strap.
I frowned.
“Where am I?”
I rubbed my face.
Bright, late-spring grasses. The lion. A damp park bench. No? No, not a park. A large garden. Is this somebody’s garden? Oh no...
What have I done? My head was aching – my whole body was aching in the cold-blue-daybreak.
“You’re still in Milan,” yawned the lion.
I blinked, “Right... right, I know.” I rubbed my eyes. “What time is it?”
“Time?” the lion snarled, shifting his half-mounted perch. “The time is time to get up and take your life into your own hands.” His
scruffy tail swished and swooshed in lackadaisical rhythms. Dotty flies hung around him in the still air. I frowned once more at the
lifting mist and then took a proper look at my preaching companion.
“My life is in my own hands.”
“Oh! Is it now?” The lion retorted, bringing his face closer to mine and forestalling my naïve confidence with a throat-clearing growl.
The dew on his whiskers glistened, his hot breath condensing into takeaway-coffee-plumes. His mane was golden and gracious,
drifting lighter than air.
I wanted to poke his rubbery nose.
“And I suppose this is what you call being in control, hey? Sitting here, in this stranger’s garden, on this stranger’s bench at five
in the morning, somewhere in Milan,” he twisted his face into a question mark. “Rather looks to me like you’re lost and in a very
vulnerable position.”
I considered this statement for a second. The silence around us imagined empty Italian streets. Was it a Sunday? Where were
Marcus and the others?
“Well?” The lion crept.
“Well,” I offered, but I was unsure of how to continue.
The lion loomed, wide-eyed.
“Well... aren’t we all just lost?” I passed the buck. The lion pressed closer, “I mean, aren’t we all just lost and in as much of a
vulnerable position as the next? As each other?”
A wry smile from the lion, his whiskers twitching. “Go on…”
I thought for a moment, caught a glimpse of my warped reflection in the lion’s glassy eyes. “I mean, we’re all searching around in
the great unknown... and in the end all of the clues we’ve gathered up will flash before our eyes and we’ll be none the wiser...” I was
fidgety as I talked-with-my-hands, “it’s like, we’re always guessing at something… I don’t know.”
The lion sat back, crossed his legs like a hairdresser on a cigarette break and pondered my ramblings. From behind an ivy-mapped
white stone wall came the Velcro sound again, only this time, I realised it was water being thrown from a bucket.
The lion raised a heavy paw, “I’d like to see my life flash before my eyes,” his claws sprung as he snatched nothing-at-all out of the
air, “it’d never slip past me!” With a low roar he jumped up to his feet, striking a predatory pose and ruffling his mane in adamance.
For a short time there was not a sound.
We must have looked like a feature in the National Geographic Society’s magazine.
A fly buzzed by.
The slow sun worked away at the morning mist. I sat there looking at the unlikely lion. A puzzled look had passed over his face and
mine. I never knew what we were thinking.
“Right,” I started, placing my hands on my knees, “I have to leave now. I’m supposed to be somewhere,” and I began to stand up, but
the lion turned and stopped me with the weight of one colossal paw, nailing me to the bench in sleep-paralysis.
“I know you’re trying to set the world on six and seven boy,” the lion cautioned, “believe me, I admire your courage, but listen: don’t
make assumptions. You can’t just skip to the end. You have to endure.” The lion’s eyes burned. With this final warning – and not so
much more as a blink – he backed down and disappeared into the bushes behind the bench like the Cheshire cat of Cheshire cats.
He was right about something, and it was probably overdue.
I gawked at the now wet grass. It was getting on.
I climbed a nearby fence, wandered out onto a street and found a taxi. It cost me 25 euros to get back to my hostel.
That was the last day I ever felt the opposite of independent.
52

5pm til 9pm - SUNDAY TO FRIDAY
£2 Slices
£10 Pizzas
2 cocktails £10
cheap plonk
25 Parr Street, Liverpool L1 4JN.
0151 559 2599

SAY
THE FINAL
Esme Davine confronts the damage to female musicians that comes
about from tokenism, and questions what real diversity looks and
sounds like.
“We don’t want to
be a subculture,
we want equal
exposure and
representation”
2019, the year of the Woke Olympics. It feels like every
designer, magazine, event line-up and most other art
and media outlets are in some kind of wacky race to
see who can appear the most diverse without actually
having to deliver these ethics that they so desperately want to
ram down our throats.
What these companies are too egomaniacal to realise is
that their half-assed cherry-picking of minority voices does not
count for diversity. It is tokenism that stems from the incorrect
assumption that every person of colour has had the same
experiences, that every queer person has shamefully cowered in
the closet, that all women endure the same level of misogyny.
These platforms need to evaluate why they are centering the
voices of privileged, white cisgendered men in the first place. By
trying to ‘include’ PoC, queer, disabled, working-class voices acts
as a diversity band-aid is just ignoring the root of the problem.
The problem is not just diversity, it’s that the systems deny
access to the people that are not deemed marketable. These guys
have a business to run and wealth to hoard, and if you’re not a
skinny white cash cow, you’re invisible. This then creates the
dynamic that everybody is at the mercy of the rich white dudes
who run shit, and if you don’t have power then you’re at the
mercy of those who do.
I’d always found a way to smile through gritted teeth at music
industry heads when they clearly just saw Piss Kitti as a novelty
and a commodity with there being a spectrum of genders within
our band. Until February when we were booked for a gig at the
Punk At Picton exhibition at Liverpool library to play a support slot
for The Gentle Scars. The bassist of this band approached us and
expressed his disappointment that we weren’t an “all-girl band”;
he then went on to encourage us to bring back an ex-member for
the Punk And Picton event so we would appear more of a “girl
band” to the man from Liverpool Council, who was funding the
event, as he had agreed to put us on the line-up because they
needed “females” involved to avoid complaints.
Following the realisation we had only been booked as a
diversity token and not for the quality of our music, I attempted
to contact the head organiser of the event explaining why we
were pulling out of the gig. I received no reply so we went ahead
with posting a statement on social media about the incident,
encouraging promoters to book gender-diverse gigs and centre
voices equally, without resorting to blatant tokenism. We awaited
response to no avail, yet the words “Piss Kitti” miraculously
changed to a replacement band on the poster, but the other
support bands saw our statement and event and pulled out of
the show in solidarity. The event was soon cancelled; in more
ways than one. This is a daily occurrence for womxn and queer
bands, more often than not it remains a lose-lose situation; do we
grin and bare it and play the show anyway? Or do we reject the
offer and silence ourselves while clinging onto our principles and
integrity? We shouldn’t have to make this decision and still hinder
the success of our band either way. How is that fair?
If you don’t have money, you have to succumb to the rich
in order to be let in and have your voice heard. To overlook
this structural power imbalance that lazily uses individuals as
diversity tokens is insulting and derogatory at best, and racism
and misogyny at worst.
This inherently tokenistic constitution trickles down to smaller
social constructs in the form of underrepresentation in local music
scenes. It’s hard to exist – let alone thrive – in a community where
you see no relatable material or reflections of yourself. There have
been moments where I wanted to tear down what I saw as my
opposition, and slander the gentlemen’s club that is the smalltime
local music industry, but I’ve since realised that everybody
needs to decode and confront systematic misogyny together.
How can a cocktail of different styles and experiences be
a bad thing? To have a genuine sense of diversity can only
benefit everyone, giving us all room to grow and bring more
opportunities.
However, I feel like we still have a very long way to go. The
amount of times I have heard “next up we have female-fronted
punk band Piss Kitti!” when referring to my band is absolutely
soul-destroying; would you refer to a band as male-fronted? No.
Didn’t think so.
If I had a pound for every time a music reviewer referred to
us as “Riot Grrrl”, I wouldn’t have to work full time on a minimum
wage job just to scrape by. To brand us as Riot Grrrl is, in itself,
unabashed sexism – that or just downright lack of musical
knowledge and/or creativity.
Riot Grrrl was a subcultural movement in the 1980s
consisting of feminism, activism and politics, mainly expressed
through musical mediums. It really illustrates the lack of
opportunity and visibility of womxn musicians if this is the only
thing that springs to mind when you see us perform.
We don’t want to be a subculture, we want equal exposure
and representation. So, we have learnt from experience that
dividing gender and having resentment for more privileged
musicians can be detrimental to us personally and is never going
to make a change on a bigger scale. We are visible. We don’t
need you temporarily offering your space to us for your own gain,
we aren’t victims. We aren’t a novelty. And if one more person
compares us to Bikini Kill I’ll chop your brain up and eat it.
Words: Esme Davine
54

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info@liverpoolbandvans.co.uk +44 78 544 94764
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