October 2019 issue of Bido Lito! magazine. Featuring: STRAWBERRY GUY, MARVIN POWELL, COMICS YOUTH, RICHARD HERRING, BRADLEY WIGGINS, ENNIO THE LITTLE BROTHER, EDWYN COLLINS, SKELETON COAST, WAND, FUTURE YARD and much more.
ISSUE 104 / OCTOBER 2019
NEW MUSIC + CREATIVE CULTURE
LIVERPOOL
STRAWBERRY GUY / RICHARD HERRING
MARVIN POWELL / EDWYN COLLINS
Sun 22nd Sep
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Sat 28th Sep
Guns 2 Roses
+ Dizzy Lizzy
Sat 28th Sep
Red Rum Club
+ The Mysterines
Mon 30th Sep
Gary Numan
+ Kanga
Fri 4th Oct • 10.30pm
Bring It All Back
High School Musical Party
Sat 5th Oct
Definitely Mightbe
(Oasis tribute)
Sat 5th Oct • 11pm
Disco Wonderland:
Liverpool
(The ABBA Tribute Club Night)
Tue 8th Oct
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Richard Hawley
Fri 11th Oct
Fleetwood Bac
Sat 12th Oct
The Marley Revival
+ UB40 Tribute Set
Sun 13th Oct
New Hope Club
Sun 13th Oct
Easy Life
Fri 18th Oct
Sea Girls
Sat 19th Oct • 10pm
Psychedelic Carnival
Thur 24th Oct
Jake Clemons
+ Ben McKelvey
Fri 25th Oct
Keywest
Fri 25th Oct • 7.30pm
Hang Massive
Wed 30th Oct
MoStack
Sat 2nd Nov
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Rival Sons
+ The Record Company
Sat 2nd Nov
The Cheap Thrills
Sat 2nd Nov • 9pm
Jo Whiley’s
90s Anthems
ticketmaster.co.uk
Sun 3rd Nov
Loyle Carner
Fri 8th Nov
MONKS
Fri 8th Nov
Bear’s Den
Sat 9th Nov
She Drew The Gun
Sat 9th Nov
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Greta Van Fleet
+ Yola
Sat 9th Nov
Antarctic Monkeys
+ The Alleys + The Patriots
Fri 15th Nov
Boston Manor
+ Modern Error
Sat 16th Nov
The Macc Lads
+ Dirt Box Disco
Sat 16th Nov
UK Foo Fighters
(Tribute)
Wed 20th Nov
Fontaines D.C.
Fri 22nd Nov
Airbourne
+ Tyler Bryant & The
Shakedown
Fri 22nd Nov
Absolute Bowie -
Legacy Tour
Sat 23rd Nov
Life At The Arcade
Sat 23rd Nov
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of Students
Sam Fender
Sat 23rd Nov
o2academyliverpool.co.uk
11-13 Hotham Street, Liverpool L3 5UF
Doors 7pm unless stated
facebook.com/o2academyliverpool
twitter.com/o2academylpool
instagram.com/o2academyliverpool
youtube.com/o2academytv
An Evening with
Sat 21st Dec
The Steve Hillage Band
Cast...
+ Gong
Magic Hour Album
Sun 24th Nov
Primal Scream
Fri 29th Nov
The Doors Alive
Sat 30th Nov • 6pm
The Wonder Stuff
performing ‘The
Eight Legged Groove
Machine’ & ‘HUP’
in full
+ Jim Bob from Carter USM
Sat 30th Nov
Pearl Jam UK
Thur 5th Dec
Shed Seven
+ The Twang
Fri Fri 6th Dec
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of of Students
Happy Mondays
Greatest Hits Tour
Fri Fri 6th Dec
SPINN
Sat 7th Dec
Prince Tribute - -
Endorphinmachine
Thur 12th Dec
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of of Students
Daniel Sloss: X
Fri Fri 13th Dec
Mountford Hall,
Liverpool Guild of of Students
Dermot Kennedy
Fri Fri 13th Dec
The Lancashire
Hotpots
Fri Fri 13th Dec
Scouting for Girls
Sat 14th Dec
The Smyths…
The Smiths 35
Sat 14th Dec
Ian Prowse
& Amsterdam
Wed 18th Dec
The Darkness
Thur 19th Dec
Cast...
All Change Album
Fri Fri 20th Dec
Cast...
Mother Nature Calls
Album
Sat 21st Dec
Limehouse Lizzy:
The Greatest Hits of of
Phil Lynott & Thin Lizzy
Wed 29th Jan Jan 2020
The Interrupters
+ Buster Shuffle
Tue 4th Feb 2020
Mabel
Mon 3rd Feb 2020
Kano
Sun 29th Mar 2020
Cigarettes After Sex
Venue box box office opening hours:
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• gigantic.com • ticketweb.co.uk
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RATS
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+ ALAN + TRIGGS
SAT SAT 14TH 14TH SEP SEP 7PM 7PM SOLD SOLD OUT OUT
THE THE SNUTS
WED WED 18TH 18TH SEP SEP 9PM 9PM
CARELESS
WITH CHAMPION
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AFRO POP POP
+ KWESI + RAMOS + SCARFACE
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GET GET LOUD LOUD SESSIONS PRESENTS
SIGALA
SAT SAT 5TH 5TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
A A BAND CALLED MALICE
THUR THUR 14TH 14TH NOV NOV 7PM 7PM
THE THE REGRETTES
SUN SUN 6TH 6TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
+ LAURAN + HIBBERD
CREEP SHOW
FRI FRI 11TH 11TH OCT OCT 6.30PM 6.30PM SOLD SOLD OUT OUT
MIC MIC LOWRY
FRI FRI 11TH 11TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
JUST MUSTARD
+ PILLOW + QUEENS
FRI FRI 18TH 18TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
NINE BELOW ZERO
FRI FRI 18TH 18TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
WE WE WERE
PROMISED JETPACKS
SAT SAT 19TH 19TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
SAINT AGNES
SAT SAT 19TH 19TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
THE THE MUSIC OF OF CREAM
50TH 50TH ANNIVERSARY
WORLD TOUR TOUR
SAT SAT 19TH 19TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
SAINT AGNES
+ SŒUR + + THE + THE HEAVY NORTH
THUR THUR 24TH 24TH OCT OCT
MICHAEL RAY RAY
FRI FRI 25TH 25TH OCT OCT 7PM 7PM
LITTLE COMETS
FRI FRI 25TH 25TH OCT OCT SOLD SOLD OUT OUT
INHALER
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TICKETS FOR FOR ALL ALL SHOWS ARE ARE AVAILABLE FROM FROM
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90 SUN SUN 27TH 27TH OCTS OCTS 7PM 7PM
STRIKING MATCHES
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REIGNWOLF
FRI FRI 1ST NOV 1ST NOV 7PM 7PM
DAUGHTERS
SAT SAT 2ND 2ND NOV NOV 7PM 7PM
STONE FOUNDATION
+ STEVE + STEVE PILGRIM
TUE TUE 12TH 12TH NOV NOV 7PM 7PM
HUGH CORNWELL
ELECTRIC
WED WED 13TH 13TH NOV NOV 7PM 7PM
BLACK LIPS LIPS
+ YAMMERER + + OHMNS + OHMNS
+ PISS + PISS KITTI KITTI + DJ + CARL DJ CARL COMBOVER
SAT SAT 16TH 16TH NOV NOV 7PM 7PM
LONDON CALLING PLAY PLAY
THE THE CLASH
FRI FRI 22ND 22ND NOV NOV 7PM 7PM
BLOOD RED RED SHOES
+ QUEEN + QUEEN KWONG
+ GEN + GEN & THE & THE DEGENERATES
FRI FRI 22ND 22ND NOV NOV 7PM 7PM
SLADE
SAT SAT 30TH 30TH NOV NOV 6.30PM 6.30PM
SKINNY LISTER
SAT SAT 30TH 30TH NOV NOV 7PM 7PM
HERMITAGE GREEN
WED WED 4TH 4TH DEC DEC 7PM 7PM
ALDOUS HARDING
THUR THUR 5TH 5TH DEC DEC 7PM 7PM
BEAK>
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IAN IAN MCNABB & &
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TUE TUE 10TH 10TH DEC DEC 7PM 7PM
THE THE PAPER KITES KITES
SUN SUN 23RD 23RD FEB FEB 2020 2020 7PM 7PM
JULIAN COPE COPE
SEEL STREET, LIVERPOOL, L1 4BH L1 4BH
plus plus support support QUEEN KWONG
FRIDAY 22 22 NOVEMBER 2019
ARTS CLUB THEATRE
SEEL STREET / LIVERPOOL / TICKETS £13 £13 ADV ADV PLUS PLUS BOOKING FEE FEE VIA SEETICKETS.COM VIA & TICKETMASTER.CO.UK
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What’s On
October –
December
Wednesday 2 October 6.30pm
Music Room
BlackFest 2019
Celebration Night
Saturday 19 October 8pm
Music Room
Rising Up: Peterloo 2019
Wednesday 23 October 8pm
Music Room
Liverpool Irish Festival:
Visible Women
Wednesday 30 October 8pm
Music Room
Baked A La Ska: Skalloween
Thursday 19 December 7.30pm
Kate Rusby at Christmas
Saturday 28 December 7.30pm
Sunday 29 December 7.30pm
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Ghostbusters: Film with
Live Orchestra (cert PG)
Box Office
0151 709 3789
liverpoolphil.com
LiverpoolPhilharmonic
liverpoolphil
liverpool_philharmonic
Image Kate Rusby
COMING SOON
ALL THE JINGLE LADIES / ANTI SOCIAL JAZZ CLUB / BERNIE CONNOR
BIDO LITO DJS / BUDDY KEENEN / CHE WILSON / CHILDISH GAMBINO PARTY
DRE OF THE DEAD / EVERYTHINGS NICE / FAT WHITE FAMILY / IDLES
JADE LI / JOE GODDARD (HOT CHIP) / JOSEPH KAYE & ELLIOT FERGUSON
KEITH HARING: A RETROSPECTIVE, THE MUSIC OF HIS ERA / LACES OUT PARTY
LOST ART SOUNDSYSTEM / LOYLE CARNER AFTER PARTY / MELODIC DISTRACTION
NIGHTCRAWLER PIZZA / NEW YEEZY EVE / NO FAKIN DJS
SPEAKERBOXXX / SUPERSTITION / WAVERTREE WORLDWIDE
40 SLATER STREET, LIVERPOOL. L1 4BX THEMERCHANTLIVERPOOL.CO.UK
GREY HAIRS
KAZIMIER STOCKROOM
26 OCTOBER
GHOST STORIES
GROSVENOR MUSEUM
30 OCTOBER
CATFISH & THE
BOTTLEMEN
M&S BANK ARENA LIVERPOOL
10 NOVEMBER
RICHARD DAWSON
STUDIO 2
23 NOVEMBER
JOHN COLPITTS’
MAN FOREVER
KAZIMIER STOCKROOM
8 DECEMBER
FLYING
LUTTENBACHERS
KAZIMIER STOCKROOM
20 DECEMBER
BEANS ON TOAST
PHASE ONE
20 DECEMBER
THE 1975
M&S BANK ARENA LIVERPOOL
26 FEBRUARY 2020
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New Music + Creative Culture
Liverpool
Issue 104 / October 2019
bidolito.co.uk
Second Floor
The Merchant
40-42 Slater Street
Liverpool L1 4BX
Publisher/Founder
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
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Branding
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Cover Artwork and Photography
Kate Davies
Words
Elliot Ryder, Christopher Torpey, Ed Haynes, Vahid
Davar, Matt Hogarth, Sam Turner, Ian R Abraham,
Mike Stanton, Frankie Muslin, Conal Cunningham,
Joel Durksen, David Weir, Jennie Macaulay, Georgia
Turnbull, Christopher Carr, Natalie McCool, Nina
Franklin, Beija Flo.
EDITORIAL
Further justification of this city’s blackout of The
Sun newspaper was found recently (as if any more
were even needed) with a report into its effect on
Euroscepticism rates in Merseyside. Two political
science academics – Florian Foos and Daniel Bischof – showed
that Liverpool people gradually, but definitively, swayed away
from a Eurosceptic outlook in the years since the Hillsborough
disaster, largely (but not solely) because of the boycott of
the publication and its anti-Europe
propaganda. Without it, Foos and
Bischof estimate that Merseyside would
have voted to Leave in the 2015 EU
referendum by a margin of 60 to 40
(Merseyside voted overall to Remain in
the referendum, by 51 to 49; Liverpool’s
Remain vote was at 58 per cent). There
were, naturally, many other factors at
play in this decades-long switching of
attitudes, such as The Sun being largely
replaced by the Europhile Mirror, and
European Union funding in the area that
helped rebuild it after a post-industrial
slump – a fact that culminated gloriously
in the 2008 European Capital of Culture year.
These findings help to prove what we’d already come to
understand instinctively: that quality matters. The quality of what
news you’re served, the quality of the discourse you’re involved
in. Just like we care about the provenance of the food we eat
and the goods we buy, this report shows that we should take
as much care with the news and information we ingest. As we
head inexorably towards another election cycle – one that looks
set to be at least as divisive as the 2016 referendum – we need
to be aware of these factors so that we can equip ourselves
FEATURES
“The power of what
can be achieved
when unity is
allowed to flourish is
abundantly clear”
accordingly. The power of what can be achieved when unity is
allowed to flourish, rather than divisions deepened, is abundantly
clear. When Liverpool boomed in the years of the last Labour
government, it did so on a wave of enthusiasm and positivity
that facilitated a ‘can do’ attitude. It’s hard to see how another
viewpoint can be easily reached.
Of course, all media has its own agenda – even ourselves.
I hope it’s obvious where Bido Lito!’s vested interests lie:
supporting and encouraging; selecting
what we write about based purely on
taste; giving a platform to stories that
we feel need to be heard. I sometimes
see Bido’s role as that of a looking
glass, reflecting back the best of our
collective community. But it’s not always
that; sometimes it takes on the role of a
megaphone, an amplifier or a soap-box.
When you see us out at gigs, hosting
our own events, doing our own releases,
championing local artists and spreading
the word about how amazing this place
is – we hope that it’s obvious where our
intentions lie.
As we continue on in this same vein, it’s a real shame that
we won’t be doing so with three massively valuable members of
the Bido family. We’re gutted that Sam, Niloo and Lucy will not
be with us as we move on to our next chapter. All three of them
leave Bido in a lot more interesting and healthy place than when
they joined, and for that we say a massive, heartfelt THANK
YOU!x
Christopher Torpey / @CATorp
Editor-in-Chief
Future Yard (Michael Driffill)
Photography, Illustration and Layout
Mark McKellier, Kate Davies, Vahid Davar, Anna
Benson, Ian Skelly, Ross Davidson, GCH Photography,
Michael Driffill, Keith Ainsworth, Michael Kirkham,
Tomas Adam, Brian Sayle, Darren Aston.
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like to find out more, please email chris@bidolito.co.uk.
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The views expressed in Bido Lito! are those of the
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reflect the opinions of the magazine, its staff or the
publishers. All rights reserved.
12 / STRAWBERRY GUY
This affecting songwriter’s bathtub melancholia has connected
with a swarm of online fans who’ve found solace in his lilting
dreamadelica.
16 / WRITING OUTSIDE OF THE
MARGINS
Comics Youth has been helping young people write their own
stories for the past four years, with the next chapter focusing on
the lives of the marginalised.
20 / NASSIM’S TESTAMENT
Iranian poet Vahid Davar considers the inherent sacrifice that
migration demands in an extract taken from his dissertation that
looks at language and belonging.
REGULARS
10 / NEWS
26 / SPOTLIGHT
31 / PREVIEWS
18 / MARVIN POWELL
Classic Americana storytelling baked into the soul of a Mersey
wanderer.
22 / INTERSECTION OF MUSIC
Matt Hogarth of Eggy Records reflects on a cultural exchange
that saw a bit of Liverpool transplanted to a creative community
on the banks of the Volga.
28 / RICHARD HERRING
The Podfather opens up about the art of subversiveness in
podcasting, and how far he might yet go with the medium he’s
helped to define.
30 / BRADLEY WIGGINS
Britain’s most decorated Olympian opens up about the roots of
his cycling obsession and how it has helped him find new roads
in the sport.
36 / REVIEWS
46 / ARTISTIC LICENCE
NEWS
Let Us Tell You A Story
Laura Duff
A week of Irish stories arrives in Liverpool as the
city’s LIVERPOOL IRISH FESTIVAL returns, running
between 17th and 27th October. The theme of the
festival this year is unique stories, creatively told,
and the 10-day arts and culture festival welcomes
musicians, artists, performers, writers, dancers,
historians and more to tell the tales. Folk singer and
guitarist CHRISTY MOORE gives a special festival
preview performance at the Philharmonic Hall to
get the festival started. IN:VISIBLE WOMEN is an
annual strand of the festival programme which gives a
platform to stories about Irish women from all different
circumstances. This will be accompanied by VISIBLE
WOMEN, a live show featuring three contemporary
Irish songwriters: LAURA DUFF, MAZ O’CONNOR
and headliner LISA O’NEILL. See full details at
liverpoolirishfestival.com.
Toxteth Day Of The Dead
Messrs Drummond and Cauty (AKA The Timelords, The
JAMS, The KLF) reprise the Toxteth Day Of The Dead
celebrations on 23rd November. Now that they are
undertakers observing the rites of MuMufication – where
you can choose to have 23g of your ashes fired into a
brick, which will be used to assemble the People’s Pyramid
(discounts apply to resident of L8) – they will be returning
to Toxteth for this annual Beating of the Bounds procession
and ceremonial laying of the new Bricks of Mu. Whether
you’re observing the ceremony or not, you may like to
indulge in the Hereafter Party, hosted by Liverpool Arts Lab
at District. Featuring live performances from PADDY STEER
and KERMIT LEVERIDGE (performing a Super Weird
Soundsystem), it will be a fitting end to a MuMentous day.
Toxteth Day Of The Dead (Tim Collins)
Resist! Resist!
Nightclubbing
Over the past 15 years, HOMOTOPIA has become a platform for LGBTQ+ art with a message. The
UK’s longest running LGBTQ+ arts festival was borne from a passion for social justice, and provides
artists with a place to explore ideas to challenge societal norms and champion inclusivity. Acclaimed
performer, writer and theatre maker TRAVIS ALABANZA returns to the festival for a talk on queer
identity, and another returning artist, RACHAEL YOUNG, brings her touring play Nightclubbing
(where Afrofuturism and Grace Jones meet) to the Unity Theatre. London’s night czar and LGTBQ+
campaigner, AMY LAMÉ, comes to Tate Liverpool for a conversation on LGBTQ+ activism and art from
the 1980s to today, celebrating the final week of the Keith Haring exhibition. Homotopia runs from 1st
to 10th November, with full listings details found at homotopia.net.
20/20 Vision For Sound City
Next summer might seem like a far off fantasy, but you can bet on
some things being there for you when the Mercury starts to rise
again. SOUND CITY will be in its usual slot, taking place over the
early May bank holiday (1st to 3rd) in its now familiar setting of
the Baltic Triangle. We’ll have to wait a while for a line-up to be
served up, but we can block out the days in the calendar already.
If you’re a musician and you fancy getting your name on the
Sound City bill alongside what will doubtless be another stellar
line-up, applications are open now via Gigmit. Weekend early
bird tickets are also selling rapidly now, so swoop now if you
want to guarantee your presence. soundcity.uk.com
SAE Hello To My Little Friend
If you’re an aspiring Erin Tonkon or Mark Ronson and fancy
starting the next decade learning the cutting edge tricks of the
production trade with state of the art technology SAE Institute
has the course for you. Ableton, Logic X and Pro Tools are
all on the agenda at the Pall Mall campus and you’ll have the
chance to follow in the footsteps of SAE’s illustrious alumni
the awards cabinet of whom includes Grammys, Oscars, and
BAFTAs. SAE courses take a project-based hands-on ethos so
students get real experience in both studio and live settings.
For more information go along to the next open day at the
campus on Thursday 17th October.
The Cassette Played Pop Tunes
Remix Wows
The smaller, scrappier younger sibling of Record Store Day, INTERNATIONAL
CASSETTE STORE DAY has gone from strength to strength since launching in
2013. Now running in the UK, China, USA, France, Australia and Japan, CSD is
more than just a celebration of a retro format – it’s a chance for artists to release
amazing music in innovative ways direct to their fans. On 12th October, we’ll be
joining the fun alongside STEALING SHEEP, as we team up with them to bring
the remix version of their recent LP Big Wows to crowds. Keep your eyes peeled
for clues to a rather nifty treasure hunt for special copies of the release, which will
be dotted around some special locations in the city. Liverpool’s PSYCHO COMEDY
and YAMMERER are also preparing releases for the day, and will both play at the
Shacklewell Arms in London on 12th October as part of the official celebrations.
cassettestoredayuk.com
10
DANSETTE
Future-pop auteur NATALIE MCCOOL
gives us a peek inside her record
bag to reveal some of the tracks and
sounds that inspired her new single,
Someone Nue.
Ayelle
Parts
Self-released
Alexis Teplin
Californian-born artist ALEXIS TEPLIN
presents her first major UK exhibition
at Bluecoat in October, a real coup
for the gallery’s winter programme
(running from 26th October to 23rd
February). Teplin works across painting,
performance and film, drawing parallels
between the processes of each of these
art forms. This new showing at Bluecoat
is a premiere of new material, which
ranges from abstract painted figures to a
collage of quotes and gestures in her film
and performance work, taking inspiration
as much from the Labour Manifesto as
the films of Federico Fellini.
Rock The Jazz Bar
Frederiks are continuing their mission to give Liverpool’s jazzing community the good
stuff with a run of gigs each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the month. Hope Street
Jazz present free gigs in the venue twice weekly with some of the region’s best jazz
outfits. October’s listings open with local young guns BALLROOM DAN who deal in
their own take on the genre classics as well as fresh originals. You’ll also find the hotly
tipped GREEN TANGERINES showcasing their uniquely funky blend of soul-infused
jazz on 3rd October. The excellently monikered HEAVY LEMO take a slot towards
the end of the month and there’s a jazzy Halloween special to help you forget about
impending Brexit doom or celebrate another sweet, sweet extension.
Sweet Release(s)
OMD
Big Blues Up
You can’t be expected to keep track of all the comings and goings
among our region’s prolific musicians, which is why we do it for
you, right here. PIXEY makes a welcome return with a fresh EP,
Colours, which features the kind of bracing sunshine guitar pop
that caught the attention first time around; TIËRNY embarks
on a soulful new chapter with the single Solid Ground, the first
hint of a full EP of brooding electronica to come later in 2019;
BONNACONS OF DOOM’s epic new opus Esus (included on an
EP that also features remixes of two tracks from their 2018 selftitled
album) is another reminder that the dark side of the force
isn’t without its plus points; and NUTRIBE signal their imminent
rise as their interplanetary hip hop is featured on the new Future
Bubblers release (alongside fellow Merseysider WILROY).
Painted Costumes (Alexis Teplin)
The Atkinson’s annual rhythm and blues riot
returns for a fifth year, with a host of blues
virtuosos lighting up the Southport venue’s stage
over the weekend of 11th and 12th October. The
BUSHMAN BROTHERS – born and raised in Cape
Town, but now residents of Brighton – head up
Friday night’s offering, with support from TREVOR
BABAJACK STEGER. The Bushman Brothers (Brian
and Steve Kellner) specialise in hard-edged rock
that veers slightly towards the indie side. Saturday
sees a full day of activity, starting at 12.30pm
with HIDING MAGPIES and finishing with Atlanta,
Georgia swamp blues outfit DELTA MOON as
headliners. For full details and tickets, head to
theatkinson.co.uk.
Souvenirs
Pitch yourself into the impressive legacy of ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE
DARK in the year of their 40th anniversary, with an exhibition that celebrates the
Wirral synth pop legends’ singular image. Running between 11th October and
5th January at the British Music Experience, the exhibition features artefacts and
items that have played a part in OMD’s journey from two-piece experimental band
with a borrowed tape recorder to a world-renowned act with 13 albums under
their belt. Items on display include clothing, prints and Andy McCluskey’s binders
full of ideas, photos and press cuttings, as well as some notable instruments that
have played their part in the OMD story: the Vox Jaguar Organ played by Paul
Humphreys on Electricity, Messages and Enola Gay, and the 1974 Fender Jazz
Bass played by McCluskey on Enola Gay, Souvenir, Joan Of Arc and Tesla Girls.
NuTribe
I’m in love with intimate
sounding vocals so this track
is perfect for me. This girl is
really something. The music’s
like a really soulful early
Grimes, and her voice is so emotive: it’s the same in all of
her material, but especially so in this track. The way the
beat drops in the chorus is so subtle but so very satisfying.
Lots of space, too, which I’m always conscious about
because it’s really important.
Big Thief
Not
4AD
This isn’t really an influence
on the production or recording
process, but I recently
discovered this band and
think they are amazing. I
watched one of their NPR Tiny Desk Concerts and the
chemistry between singer Adrianne Lenker and guitarist
Buck Meek was so strong, and they play with such feeling.
Lenker’s voice on this is something else: it tonally reminds
me a bit of Ezra Furman. Can’t wait to see them live.
David Bowie
Ashes To Ashes
RCA
I was hugely inspired by the
drums on this when we were
recording one of my new
tracks, Better. The start-stop
feel is really interesting and
I think makes this track. I always like to experiment with
drums and finding beats that aren’t conventional. For me,
it’s something that actually can drive the songwriting and
the rest when you’re building the song. So this was a big
reference point.
St. Vincent
Oh My God
4AD
I’m a sucker for her album,
Actor. This one’s on the
deluxe version of the album. I
love the orchestral flourishes
throughout the whole
album and I think she is such an interesting, wonderful
songwriter. This track for me is absolute heaven, though
– vocally it’s just epic. I’m big into operatic-sounding vocal
lines at the moment and so I’ve been hammering this.
Kinda feels like it should be in a David Lynch version of The
Wizard of Oz; I can just imagine it fading in where Dorothy
falls asleep in the field of poppies. Beautiful.
nataliemccool.co.uk
Someone Nue is out now via Modern Sky UK. Head to
bidolito.co.uk now for a full list of song choices on Natalie
McCool’s Dansette.
NEWS 11
This affecting songwriter’s bathtub melancholia has
connected with a swarm of online fans who’ve found
solace in his lilting dreamadelica.
“Strawberry Guy is close to
my personality, but it’s also
a form of escapism. When I
sit down to write, it can be
such a release for sadness”
We’re overlooking the city from one its highest points. We’re in luck today; there’s a
clear view as far as North Wales, maybe further. It’s bright, humid atop multiple
layers. But this feels like something of a seasonal encore given the drabness of this
September.
The park leaning over Everton Brow is the premier vantage point for taking in Liverpool’s
skyline. The array of parked cars meeting for a lunch hour escape tell you this much. It’s also a
space reserved for unregulated natural beauty. In between the walkways and treelines, roughly
sketched formations of wildflowers interrupt a backdrop of high-rise flats with flecks of red and
yellow. However, only their last reserves remain. Summer is no longer in session. Alex Stephens,
the face and feelings behind STRAWBERRY GUY, is resting his head among a wilting patch as
he has his photo taken. The rolls of film capturing the scene paint a picture of dreamlike stillness.
Landscape and subject are currently resting in unison. A symbiosis between two forlorn entities:
the draining colour in the summer landscape; an artist whose music bathes in the slow fade of
autumn.
In between each click of film, Alex is much more vibrant. He’s the brightest hue on the
hillside, both in character and appearance. The full force of the midday sun, intensified by the
photographer’s light reflector, is bringing this out in abundance. Though, as he protests, it’s coming
at a cost of his eyesight. And so the eyes remain shut, for the most part, matching the blissful aura
that permeates Strawberry Guy’s keyboard-led arrangements.
Back inside his flat, there’s an abundance of reference points that point to where Alex’s
penchant for luscious melody derives from. Records by The Beach Boys are strewn on the couch;
12
a strung-up picture of The Smiths is softly illuminated by a pair of searching Georgian windows.
Perhaps the most telling of all, though, is a photo of Mac DeMarco hunched at the waterside, an
image that accompanied his 2015 LP, Another One. These are a good entry point for the palette of
Strawberry Guy, but by no means a full reflection.
Beyond the impressive collection of strawberry-themed bric-a-brac dotted around his home
space, there’s a particular sincerity that’s present as we take shots in his bedroom turned studio.
Alex insists his keyboards are turned on as we take his picture. It’s a small detail, and one I suggest
won’t draw much attention. Yet, he ensures the power light is visible, and proceeds to play a run of
muted notes. The only sound present is of the keys clunking in their chord shapes. There’s no desire
for pretence, only a cautious honesty – one that’s offered in comforting spoonfuls across his new
EP, Taking My Time To Be.
While Strawberry Guy might still be a relatively fresh creative vessel (only playing his first
gig under the moniker at the turn of the year), Alex isn’t overly new to the scene. He’s had a stint
in Trudy And The Romance, but, most recently, you’ll have likely seen him tending to the keys on
behalf of The Orielles. However, there’s a distinct change in direction for Strawberry Guy, he insists,
one that’s clearly more of a personal endeavour and cathartic experiment.
“My work with Trudy and The Orielles has always been quite separate to what I was writing
myself,” he starts, when asked if the two projects served as a precursor to his own music. “The
Orielles make the most fun music. When we write together, because there are four of us in a room,
it leads us to write quite uplifting music. It’s quite the opposite for my own.” As noted during the
latter stages of today’s photoshoot, the bedroom set-up is made for one. A singular chair stands in
the middle of a wealth of keyboards, synths and a guitar. It’s a space programmed to pen dateless
diary entries and their dreamy soundtracks. “I write and record almost everything on my own in my
bedroom. Because I’m alone, it gives me the freedom to be a lot more emotional, or at least explore
a broader range,” he explains.
A self-proclaimed “chord geek”, Alex has poured his classical piano training into sepia-tinted
songs, rubberstamped with meandering vocals that match the expanse of his blanketing organ
use. It’s heavily romanticised but not hopeless. It’s music that circles the swirling halo of Beach
House, with the aforementioned melodic deftness of Mac DeMarco and The Beach Boys. Yet, he
plays down the formula in which the songs are produced. “A lot of them start off as mistakes,” he
confesses. “Sometimes I’ll play a chord wrong and it’ll sound interesting and I’ll take it from there.”
It’s a process that helps break with the formulaic nature of classical training; a similar pattern to the
poet, moulding and interchanging between patterns of metre and syllable structure.
In little more than a year, play counts of over two million have been amassed on YouTube. Fans
have even gone as far to edit their own videos for his music. One daintily pairs Without You with
scenes and edits of Kukolka, a 1988 Russian film about a gymnast. Another, pieces What Would I
Do? with clips from 1971 film Minnie And Moskowitz. Comments in each video include: “I want to
play this song next to someone I care about”, “these feels” and “this makes me miss a love I never
had”. “I’m crying” is a regular feature also. It’s clearly a shared space for outpourings, both in the
music and the reactions it generates – irrespective of the sterilised, internet domain in which it
exists.
I ask Alex what it’s like to see his music mushroom in the wider world before it’s been properly
unfurled in its local surroundings; whether this allows for a greater depth to explore. “The increased
popularity in the last year has been a little bit strange,” he admits. “The way all this started was just
through putting the songs on SoundCloud. Because I’d written and produced them, I thought they
should be somewhere if people wanted to listen. I wasn’t deliberately trying to make it a thing.”
By luck, the songs were picked up by the right listeners, including proactive fan video makers
specialising in bathtub melancholia. But there remains an obvious draw for compelling, personable
connection with the audience, another signifier of his romantic endeavour. Strawberry Guy isn’t a
blissed-out veneer. Each piano stab cuts close to the body playing the notes. “The online world can
be hard to resonate with. It’s weird to think that some guy who’s had his heart broken in Brazil is
listening to my songs as a means of making it through.”
“You know, why is it all sad people that listen to my music?” he jokes, ironically. But he’s not
blind to its emotive qualities, and his own similar experiences as a listener. “Some of the best songs
are uplifting but are able to incorporate a range of emotion, and I think that can be so healing.
If I listen back to The Beach Boys, you sense how emotional their songs are, but they’re no less
uplifting than an out and out happy song.”
We’ve been speaking for a couple of hours now. The rain has come and shifted our interview
FEATURE
13
“The EP is just
about learning to
be comfortable
with myself…
just summarising
those feelings and
changes in myself”
undercover. So far, Alex is pretty upfront about how he wants
his music to be perceived as an honest portrayal. He underlines
that experience and occasion are the biggest influence on his
subject matter – both happy and sad. Importantly, though,
always uplifting. As for the name choice, it’s not a derivative
of the blonde locks that frame his face. It was branded by his
friends in Her’s who noticed his taste for strawberry milkshake.
“It just really stuck,” he tells me, as we shift seats until the rain
passes overhead. “I like to think it’s fitting for my music, anyway.
Strawberries are quite sweet, and so is my music,” he adds.
There’s also a frankness that Strawberry Guy isn’t a new
entity, despite only being revealed to the world in the previous
two years. The heart-aching happiness is something that’s
been channelled from a young age, now transferred in to song
form. But, as with any expression, there’s a process of journey;
a change in state and feeling. “Strawberry Guy is close to my
personality, but it’s also a form of escapism. When I sit down to
write, it can be such a release for sadness.”
“When I was a kid I was always composing. I would just
come up with little melodies, never quite full songs. I was
really into film scores. The first one I got into was the Coraline
soundtrack. I heard that and thought that was the best thing; I
even bought the CD. I then wrote my first song at 14, but I would
keep it to myself.”
In Alex’s press shots to date, and accompanying illustrations,
there’s a recurring floral influence. In relation to his music, it
appears symbolic of his progression and product. An organism
that will flower, but in its own time, and only if tended to
correctly. “Well, I didn’t think taking the shots in an industrial
estate would be so romantic,” he adds with sarcasm. Taking My
Time To Be feeds into the narrative, alluding to the steps taken
to arrive at the record. Acceptance also of an environment, and
one’s position in it.
Since his teenage years, Alex has been crossdressing,
something which he says helps him release an alter-ego. It’s
something he now embraces, after initial worries and fears. It’s
another offshoot that ties into the unrushed feel of the record.
“Taking My Time To Be is just about learning to be comfortable
with myself. I was crossdressing for years and then I finally came
out to my mum about it when I was 18. The album title focuses
14
on worrying whether I’ll be loved, by anyone. I shouldn’t, it’s
2019, isn’t it? But that captures the feeling I had growing up,
unsure if people would understand why I was doing it. I’m a
hopeless romantic. There’s always a dominant feeling of wanting
to be loved. That’s what the EP is about really, just summarising
those feelings and changes in myself. Being comfortable being
myself. Generally not caring so much.”
The more we talk, the more the ease and lack of worry seeps
in. You can sense there’s been a full acceptance of self in terms
of former anxieties. Everything else on the exterior is dealt with
in his musical confession. He’s clear on not wanting to overtly
draw the crossdressing into his music. It bears no explicit relation
to feel or its sonic character. It’s merely another form of release;
a second layer of skin. And with every song he arguably sheds a
new layer of himself as Alex, and adorns another as Strawberry
Guy. As unadorned entities, the wig and clothes choices don’t
arrange the glistening synths and sticky drums that you hear. “A
lot of the music is centred on escape. Escape from feelings. I think
there are a lot of internal things that were going on when I was
growing up. You know, I’d be going into a shop to buy a dress.
It was terrifying,” he explains, touching on how crossdressing
is a medium for comfort, not an overarching theme for him as
an artist. “Being a heterosexual guy who enjoys crossdressing
brings a lot of questions. It’s something that I’ve wanted to write
about, but not something I’m actively looking to make a part of
anything. I’d never want to get on stage in a dress. When I dress
up, it’s a form of escapism. And because it isn’t me, I don’t really
want to take that personality too close to the music.”
Where the inward comfort has in fact found a way into
the music is the efficiency. It seems easier than ever for Alex
to be able to write and compose. Freer in self-restriction and
confidence. “It’s something that I feel I have to do. It’s like a
compulsion, something I have to release from myself,” he says,
with his face lost in thought. “Sometimes I just have to run home
and start writing on the keyboard when I have an idea in my
head.” Even now, as he tells me this, there’s a twitchiness as
though the train of thought is dreaming up ideas to be worked on
in his bedroom studio.
It’s this very bedroom studio plays a huge part in his freedom,
his escape. The imaginary world abundant with an emotive
oxygen. As he says himself, “when you’re in a studio, time is
money,” and there’s undoubtedly added pressure when expected
to be creative on a restricted timescale. Why leave a realm
entirely of your own design? “In my room, I can record whenever
I want. I can just leave a song, come back to it in a month, maybe
two months, even a year.” The floral aspect of his music and its
iconography seeps in again; the timely flowering of the EP and
the growing impression of himself as something that should
now be celebrated internally. Time is of the essence, but not
in shortage. For Strawberry Guy, there’s no knowing when his
music is going to be. It’s growing, changing and feeling, chord by
chord, day by day. !
Words: Elliot Ryder / @elliot_ryder
Photography: Kate Davies / @k.dvi
soundcloud.com/strawberryguy
Strawberry Guy’s debut EP, Taking My Time To Be, is out on 27th
September via Melodic Records.
FEATURE
15
WRITING OUTSIDE
OF THE MARGINS
For the last four years, Comics Youth, a Liverpool City Region social enterprise, has been helping young
people write their own stories, with the next chapter focusing on the lives of the marginalised.
Our youth is defined by flux and change. They’re
dramatic. They shape the adults we become. There
is no end of stories about young people; it’s a time of
everyone’s life that has a lot of juice for storytelling.
But it’s rare that those stories are told by people currently in the
weeds of their youth. And it’s even rarer that stories about young
people come from places other than white, and straight, and
wealthy.
This rarity comes from the kind of people who are involved
in telling stories, both on the business and creative sides. The
British publishing industry, for example, is overwhelmingly white,
wealthy and southern. A comprehensive survey of the industry
from the start of this year revealed that a majority of the people
in publishing come from the South East, London or the East of
England, while just under five per cent come from the North
West. Similarly, the same survey showed that just 11.6 per cent
of the industry is BAME. Class is also a big divide: an analysis
of the 2014 Labour Force Survey showed that just 12 per cent
of people in the publishing industry come from working-class
backgrounds.
This creates a default type of person in stories – a default
that doesn’t reflect the reality of people’s lived experiences, a
default that leaves people out. Resisting that default is necessary
in the fight for liberating marginalised groups. It’s a default that
comes from who has access to resources, so fighting it means
giving resources to marginalised people to tell and mediate their
own stories.
This is where something like COMICS YOUTH comes in.
The four-year-old charity, founded in response to cuts to youth
services, works through a variety of programmes to give young
people from marginalised communities a safe space for creative
exploration and expression. Working across BAME, LGBT,
low income and disabled communities, they aim to create a
community of solidarity, openness and acceptance based around
creating and reading comics.
I went to their fourth floor space on Lord Street in the
heart of the city to chat about Comic Youth’s latest initiative,
MARGINAL, a publisher led by under 25s that pulls together
all elements of what they have been doing with, in their words,
the goal of changing “the landscape of UK culture”. Their space
is open and loving, with room for working on art, reading from
their gorgeous library of comics, zines and graphic novels, or
just playing on the Switch and hanging out. Through Marginal,
20 eight to 25 year olds will create and release their own
stories. “It’s about giving visibility to young people who don’t
have a platform,” Amy Roberts, Comics Youth’s marketing and
communications officer, tells me. “Helping young people to feel
recognised and a part of a community, when so often they’re
being pushed out and being told their opinions don’t matter, their
identities don’t matter, that whatever challenges they’ve been
through aren’t valid.”
Marginal is a very open programme, possibly taking Comics
Youth away from strictly dealing with sequential art. “We have
found that quite a few of our young people are interested in
exploring avenues of poetry or fiction or memoir that aren’t just
artwork based or word based,” Amy adds. “We’re just gonna
see where their ideas take them and support them in fulfilling
that.” The idea is that the young people involved know what their
stories are, and the best ways to tell them. Marginal, and Comics
Youth more broadly, sits just as a way to facilitate and resource
their goals.
The fluid, member-led direction of the project means that
these young people can find solidarity in shared experiences:
“They’re able to lead with those experiences, help out and give
advice,” confirms Amy. This is a key part of Comics Youth’s ethos,
across the wide eight to 25 age range. “It’s not just going to
somewhere and the people that run the space be involved with
you and support you, but also having peers that are a little bit
older and also able to take you under their wing, show you that it
gets better, and keep going.”
Teenage years can be quite
isolating, which is perhaps
exacerbated by the constant
presence of the internet in all of our
lives. We’re always being looked
at, scrutinised. Amy comments that
“everything’s become very insular,
but very global, and that can be so
overwhelming for young people,
especially if you do have mental
health issues like so many young
people do, like so many of us do.
Technology can be so overwhelming”.
But, through this communal act of
creation, young people can explore
their identities in a safe space, away
from the gaze and judgement of online spaces. In this, it becomes
vital that what they create is physical. “To take those narratives
away from digital spaces, by handing out a limited-run zine in a
community that you feel a part of, is massive,” says Amy. “That’s
the thing when you publish physical media, you don’t have to
look at comments, you don’t have to be following hashtags to see
backlash, or people having a go, it can just be enjoyed on its own
terms.”
This puts Comics Youth, and Marginal, in a punk tradition of
people on the edges doing it themselves, making their own art,
telling their own stories, outside of the mediation of institutions.
A tradition that birthed the kind of zines they still make at Comics
Youth, the kind of zines that led to these very pages.
Amy sees this as a natural socio-political cycle. “I think at the
moment we’ve gone back to a scene that you saw growing in the
late 70s and 80s, where, similar to right now, the economy and
the government was failing marginalised people and marginalised
voices. During that time, a lot of comics and zine culture started
coming into fruition, because people got sick of not being heard
and not having their stories told. We’re coming back around to
this idea.” But this is only meaningful if it remains accessible,
affordable and grassroots based. Things that may have started
as a part of a DIY culture have, over the years, shifted into more
corporate, branded entities. “It isn’t just zines, it’s [evident in] the
“We want to connect
communities and reach
out to people who
don’t see themselves
in a lot of stories”
whole DIY culture, like Thrasher. Maybe skateboarding wasn’t
the most inclusive of scenes, but it stood for something, and it
was a community where a lot of young men – who were maybe
disadvantaged – came together and created a network and
community to support one another, during a time where a lot of
men experienced mental health hardships. But then you see how
that’s become so corporate, it’s become a brand, and it’s what
girls on Instagram use to get more likes, or whatever.”
This dilution of DIY culture has meant that while the style
and signifiers of the scene have become mainstream, the actual
creation of new work has become more insular and gatekept,
mirroring the mainstream publishing culture that too often
excludes new voices. Commenting on the scene as it is in London
(“where it’s £10 for a booklet from Goldsmiths”), Amy points out
that “they’re beautiful but no one can
afford them”.
Liverpool isn’t London, though,
and our city has a history of standing
up for communities that have been
forgotten by the powerful. “I think
we have a real culture for making
our own shit, being punk rock and
rebellious,” asserts Amy. “I think it
does come from the music scenes
we have, and the arts scenes,
where everything is very DIY,
because people don’t have the same
resources; you have to make your
own scene.” It makes Liverpool a
perfect place to begin an injection
of new energy, new voices and
new authenticity into the DIY zine space. Amy adds that “the
scene definitely needs a fresh injection of voices, which is kind
of what we want Marginal to be: to encourage people to have
the confidence, as well as the skills, to feel like they deserve to
be writing, that their stories are interesting and their creativity is
wonderful”.
While Comics Youth currently gives space and resources for
young people’s expression, they’re ambitious and always on the
lookout for new directions to expand and collaborate. “We believe
that LGBT young people deserve a voice, and BAME young
people deserve a voice, that the young shouldn’t be marginalised
and should be given a platform. That’s why we’re just pushing for
bigger and better. We want to make it accessible, affordable, and
we want to connect communities and reach out to people who
haven’t been heard and don’t see themselves in a lot of stories.”
Their ambition doesn’t cloud their purpose; they are only driven
by the goal of facilitating accessible, radical expression by young
people with stories to tell but whose voices are left unheard. !
Words: Edward Haynes / @teddyhaynes
For more information on Comics Youth membership and further
involvement, visit comicsyouth.co.uk.
16
Image: Liv Free, Crow's Eye Productions
25 October 2019
to 1 March 2020
Members go free
Buy tickets online
liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
18
MARVIN
POWELL
Classic Americana songwriting is baked into the soul of this Mersey wanderer, which results in a satisfying
payoff for an album that’s been more than three years in the making.
Classic songwriting has this lingering, timeless quality to it, as though it’s always existed;
built on melodies that chime with something deep in your soul, and lyrics that feel so
disarmingly simple and direct that it’s a marvel that they haven’t been uttered before.
As a student of classic songwriting, MARVIN POWELL knows this well. A selftaught
guitarist and an impulsive, organic songwriter, he filters his flighty thoughts of nature, travel
and discovery through a classic strain of Americana that feels as natural as anything that’s gone
before.
Since emerging onto the scene in 2015 with the Nick Drake-like Buried, Powell has been
chasing that elusive unicorn that is the lot of all songwriters – the album. That it’s taken Powell and
his label, Skeleton Key Records, over three years to piece together a record that does justice to the
songs, tells you as much about the desire to get it right as it does about the nature of the tinkering
songwriter. What started out as a full band has since been pared back to a trio, with Powell on
acoustic guitar, Matt Gray on 12-string guitar and Fiona Skelly on djembe.
Dust Of The Day is the product of their tinkering, an LP that has a deft feel for the shifting of
the seasons that makes it ideally suited to this Indian summer that we’re having. As with any classic
songwriter, Powell knows how to take you on a journey, leading you through the spider’s web of
stories and ideas that are, somehow, all linked together.
Upon the long-awaited release of the album, we caught up with Marvin Powell to find out more
about the agonising journey from nervous open mic songwriter to Dust Of The Day. Here, he tells
us of the journey his own album has been on, and what he has learnt
from it.
“The album was made over a period of about a year, starting back
in 2016. It started off as a full band, with drums and bass; we were
throwing the kitchen sink at it trying to see what sound we could get.
Then James Skelly suggested we take all the extra stuff off and do it
acoustically, so that delayed everything a bit. Buried and Samsara still
have drums and additional bits on, but the other tunes haven’t. It was
just acoustic, 12-string and a bit of percussion. They’re really natural –
and it works, the music works.
“Because I’m always writing songs, the order started moving around
as we took songs out and added new ones in. And that all had to fit as
one whole, which took a little bit longer. It can be frustrating working like
that. It sounds dead clichéd, that you have the angst as an artist. But I
just wanted to put it out.
“I’ve gigged this material for years – I mean, Buried originally came
out in 2015. It got radio play straight away, then I did another tune – but
then things got a bit stagnant and flat. Some of the tunes on the record
I wrote back in 2009. Travelling On and Above The Portuguese Café are
from 2010; Wind Before The Train is from 2011; and Dust Of The Day is from 2009. They were the
songs I was gigging with when I started playing the open mic nights around town.
“Opulent Heart is one of the newer songs on there, only about two years old. Samsara is a
good one to play live, and Move Through Me. But Buried sets the tone for the whole album – it
opens with this drone that blends into the opening chords on the 12-string. That’s a Raagini Digital
Eelctronic Tanpura machine that we nicked off The Coral!
“The only thing that did my head in was that I was constantly writing tunes, so my style was
changing. I was getting better as a songwriter, so I wanted to play them rather than the older, more
well-known stuff. I’ve already written nine songs for the next album! That’s why I’m so glad this
album is finally out. I wouldn’t say I’m over this music – I still really like it, and I hope other people do
too – but you can’t help moving on as an artist, keeping things fresh. That’s just the flow.
“The songs always change; I play them differently every time. It depends on the gig atmosphere
and the band. At first I had double bass and drums and guitars… I think I prefer it now, stripped
back, compared to all that. It just fits more with the vibe that the tunes should have. One day I
wouldn’t mind having the drums and bass back again, but for now I’m happy doing it more sparse.
“I like songwriting, writing tunes – that’s the pure version of me. I do like gigging, but I get dead
nervous, and that can take over. When I know I’ve made 20 mistakes in a gig, I can beat myself up
about it. I’m alright in the studio until that red light comes on and I have to play to a click. When
I’m playing at home, just messing about writing tunes, it feels really fluid; but when you get to the
studio it feels like work, so I tense up with the pressure. The work aspect does take the shine off
things a bit. But you’ve got to do it if you want to make a record – that’s the compromise. It can’t
sound like you’ve done it in your bedroom, it has to sound professional. At least with my music,
anyway.
“I don’t write to anything in particular – I just write because I have to. I don’t know what it is
that drives me, but I know that my head is full of loads of mad shit, so it’s a good way of getting it
out of my system! I’ve got books full of lyrics and bits of notes, but I don’t sit down to write song
“I write because
I have to. I don’t
know what it is that
drives me… it just
kind of happens”
structures – it just kind of happens. It’s a bit organic, just capturing that magic when it comes. I can’t
imagine not doing that because that’s always been the way I’ve done things, it’s my natural release.
I don’t even know if my music means anything, to be honest, it just is what it is.
“My music is a lot about feelings. I don’t always set out to write a specific tune, a lot of the time
it just comes to me. Like Buried and Samsara – where did they come from? But Wind Before The
Train is really to the point: it’s about going on a day out, having a bit of trouble, going away to sort it
out then coming back and everything was OK. Sometimes it surprises me what comes out, because
of where it’s come from. You have to be in this… magic space. I do think it’s very me, though: only
I could write those tunes. Like, when you hear a Nick Drake or a Joni Mitchell record and you think
that only they could have produced those songs, it’s the same thing. Even though I don’t know
where half of it has come from!
“This album is just the start for me, though. I’ll always, always keep writing – it’s just what I
know. There were loads of tunes that didn’t make this album that ended up on EPs, which I think
makes for a strong album. There were songs written that I’d have liked to have been on there – like
Enigma Girl – but when we broke it down and made it acoustic, I think the songs that are on there
now fit quite well together.
“The idea is to keep building this world and mood around my music, from album to album. It’d
be nice to change and mix it up a little bit in the future – like maybe try a bit of electric guitar. It’s
something that I’ve always said I wouldn’t do, but it might be nice to try one day. Maybe even some
mad synth tunes!
“I wouldn’t even say that what I do is folk music, but other people
often describe it like that. Probably just down to the acoustic guitar.
It’s just music, isn’t it? It’s good to keep changing – that’s what I like in
other artists. It shows tenacity. Like Dylan when he went electric, or
Joni Mitchell when she made all those jazz albums. They’re just staying
true to themselves, which is all you can do. The stuff I’m working on
now, for what might be the second record, is very much in the same
acoustic vein. But if I’m lucky enough to keep making records, I’d like to
do something a bit different – a bit mad! – after that. You’re always on a
learning curve as a songwriter, so things have to develop.
“Because I know so many musicians, I love listening to all their stuff,
so I don’t tend to listen to loads and loads of new music. Maybe Aldous
Harding – The Barrel is a serious tune. I like a bit of Courtney Marie
Andrews, too. Obviously I love all the classic stuff: Neil Young, Dylan,
Joni Michell, James Taylor and Nick Drake. Those songwriters of that
era who set the bar for all of us now. Those five people are the root of
what’s going on now, and you still can’t really look past them.
“I love lyrics, that’s what I get from music. You can be the best
guitarists and musicians and have an amazing stage presence, but when
you open your mouth and nothing meaningful comes out… it’s such a waste.
“I started playing guitar when I was 15. I was lucky because I worked at Urban Coffee, on
Smithdown Road, and I got to watch all the acts who’d come in for the open mic night on a
Wednesday. I learned guitar by watching people play. Then I used to get up myself, and it all
started from there. They’re the kind of places where you get the bug – even though I was always
really nervous about playing! I still get nervous now about playing live. The more gigs you play, the
more comfortable you feel – but it doesn’t necessarily get easier.
“There have been loads of times where I’ve felt like I don’t wanna do it any more. It can be
frustrating. But I’ve always had loads of support. I got a message from someone on Instagram the
other day, saying, ‘Your music spurs me on’. That’s the reason why you keep doing it. If you can
make one person say, ‘Ah, your tunes really made me feel something,’ then it’s worthwhile. I was
buzzing when I read that, it’s such a nice thing for someone to say. That’s the plus side to it that
balances out against the nerves.
“Putting this album out is a bit of a release. I wouldn’t say it’s, like, one chapter closing and
another one opening. It’s out, it’s done, I can sleep now! I can move on to the next one now, and
focus on writing more tunes. That’s a nice thing to have as a cycle, I’m quite looking forward to that,
if I’m lucky enough to be able to keep on doing it. I’m always writing songs – and for as long as
people wanna hear what I’ve got, I’ll keep doing it.” !
Words: Christopher Torpey / @CATorp
Photography: Anna Benson and Ian Skelly
soundcloud.com/marvinpowellofficial
Dust Of The Day is out now via Skeleton Key Records. Marvin Powell plays Leaf on 27th
September.
FEATURE
19
My friend, Alireza Nassimi was a swan, a black swan.
He lived a hermitic life and died a death of absolute
loneliness. Alireza and I were in an unrequited love
for Shiraz, that behemoth Narcissus. Shiraz did
not like its admirers, its poets. It was a Jerusalem who stoned
its messengers. So, we pined away until all that remained of us
were our voices, our poems. Alireza went west, and I went to the
West. He went to Qalat,
a village near Shiraz,
and in a sleety night
overdosed, after he gave
his manuscripts to fire.
For seven years
after my friend’s death
in a ravine in Qalat, a
village near Shiraz, my
throat was occluded
with a morsel of grief,
but all my efforts to
make him a garland
with my words were
doomed to failure. My
overpowering grief was
intermingled with a
fear that what I would
produce might well be
prone to become, in Tennyson’s words, a “sad mechanic exercise
in measured language” (In Memoriam).
My migration to England took place some six years after
Alireza’s translation into the netherworld. Maybe I was like H.
D.’s Helen, who “need[ed] peace and
time to reconstruct the legend” (Helen in
Egypt). I finally found the peace, time, and
breath I needed, in Liverpool, where my
prenatal silence of travelling in the dark of
a shipping container ended, and I opened
my eyes to a different world.
In September 2018, a wooden wall
which separates a construction site from
a pavement at Great George Street in
Liverpool was covered with a long list of
34,361 documented deaths of asylum
seekers, refugees and migrants who had
lost their lives within or on the borders of
Europe since 1993 “due to the restrictive
policies of ‘Fortress Europe’” I found
myself several times standing in front of
that list of many fates, gawping at the
names, ages, regions of origin and causes
of deaths. The list was a frame containing
a myriad of stories; stories of us,
stowaways and steerage passengers of
the world. It was a memorial to poverty,
as opposed to “a memorial to money”
which is what Robert Hampson calls St
George’s Hall in Seaport.
It did not take someone more than
a week to come and daub ‘INVADERS
NOT REFUGEES!’ on the list. I
could not thank the unknown
hatemonger enough, for they
made me rethink a key concept in
an epiphanous moment. I loosely
translated the three English words
in my mind and came up with a
slogan in Persian: “MOHAJEM
NA MOHAJER!”. I told myself, “let
me see things through their eyes.
They are the ghost defenders of
the city. Their monolithicity is at
stake. What if I, a man of colour,
a writer of scripts that look like
scribbles in their eyes, am an
invader in effect?” that epiphany
broke a seal, and I could see my
work’s ethos in a new light.
The two main speakers of
Nassim’s Testament, Nassim and
Vahid, abandon their village and
the ruined poetry they once built
on its riverbank, in search of a
Kingdom. That Kingdom, we soon
find out, is the United Kingdom.
Unlike the heroes of the traditional
epic, who demonise the Others,
Nassim and Vahid are able to see themselves as demons through
the eyes of the Others. This is how their flesh is translated at the
very outset of their entrance by their hosts.
Vahid has a Persian poem named The Letters, about the
migration of Persian scripts. In that short poem, the calligraphed
scripts desert a manuscript, going to the blank banks of “the
rivers flowing from the left to the right”, and reside there on the
margins forever. Persian is written from the right to the left. Vahid
sees that poem as an autobiography of himself and Nassim. They
migrated to the UK clandestinely, in fear for their lives. They spent
days and nights in shipping containers to get to somewhere safe.
Once in the UK, they were sent to Liverpool, the city wherein
they had to wait for their turn on the day of judgment, to be
interviewed by UKBA (UK Border Agency).
It was in an evening when Nassim and Vahid arrived at
Liverpool. There was nothing sinister in the air. Year 2013 was
before the time when one needed to answer a sphinx’s riddle
correctly in order to be let into a city. They were unaware,
nonetheless, that modern cities also have their own sphinxes,
planted not necessarily at their entrances, but in every corner of
them – on the thresholds of every micro-territory. They realised
that only after they encountered the frowning Liver birds. What
did that emblem mean? It was a
scowling heron-like bird holding three leaves with its beak.
A ritual was needed to appease the bird’s wrath: a sacrifice,
or an offering was obliged to the Liver bird. Vahid and Nassim
were Iranian poets; before then, they had composed poetry only
from the right to the left, and not the other way around; they
were disarmed now, and empty-handed. They knew that only
through writing a tribute to the city, could they cajole the bird into
having them in its nest. A poem written and read aloud only in
Persian would probably infuriate the bird. Therefore, Vahid and
Nassim’s poem had to be forced out of its natal language in order
to be accepted as an offering.
On Alireza Nassimi’s burial day, ISNA, The Iranian Students
News Agency, published a lie that is the established account of
his death to the day. As long as I was in Shiraz after that – that is,
for six years – I conformed with the misleading narrative with my
smothering silence. But, eventually, there came a time to write a
palinode, a rebuttal.
The lie to I was going to respond to even quoted another one
of Nassimi’s friends to prove its own forged authenticity: “I will
say very clearly what the cause of Alireza Nassimi’s death was.
Nassimi, who spent his nights with the homeless to write a little
of their reality, was sad because of the coldness we had caused
him. He had gone to take refuge in nature’s arms. He went to
Qalat to visit his poet friend, Vahid Davar. It was on his way to
Davar’s house that he slipped on the snow, [fainted] and froze”.
That account, with its melodramatic transparency, banalised the
untranslatable opacity of my
friend’s death. He had phoned
“I finally found the peace,
time, and breath I needed,
in Liverpool, where
my prenatal silence of
travelling in the dark
of a shipping container
ended, and I opened my
eyes to a different world”
NASSIM’S
TESTAMENT
Iranian poet Vahid Davar considers the inherent
sacrifice that migration demands, after living
in Liverpool for a period after fleeing Qalat, a
town near Shiraz. The following extracts are
taken from his dissertation, which discusses
whether a new language can be a resurrection.
me from a pay phone a few hours
before he went to a ravine in
close vicinity of where I used to
live, unbeknownst to me. He had
told his siblings he was going
to my place. And it was a sleety
night.
Mehdi Hamidi’s allegorical
ghazal, the Beautiful Swan, in
its depiction of the death of the
swan, shows how the bird seeks
seclusion, sits on a wave and
goes to a distant corner to sing
until she dies among her own
songs. My ghazal-writer friend
sang his swan song when he was
in the 33rd year of his life. They
say when a scorpion is encircled
within a ring of fire, it stings itself. Beckoned by the eidolon of
his mother, I suppose, who was stabbed in her youth by Alireza’s
father, consumed by addiction and poverty, that “lost angel of a
ruined Paradise” stung himself, when self-murder seemed to be
his last resort.
I was a frail cygnet when I
stepped out of the dark with six other
heterogeneous litters of the same
womb, the same shipping container. I
was too frail to stand in dole queues; I
was too frail to endure the Liver bird’s
frowning stare; I was not strong enough
to see ‘NO REFUGEES’ daubed by the
night host on Jamaica Street’s walls. I
was in dire need of Nassim, because
“one swan and one cygnet / were
stronger than all the host / assembled
upon the slopes”.
Nassim and Vahid could have
been two more names on the list of the
documented deaths. There were names
on the list as unspecified as “N.N.” and
regions of origin as unsure as “Somalia,
Iran”. The descriptions were as sharp as
“stowaway, found frozen in landing gear
of airplane in Brussels” and “drowned
after boat capsized, found on beach
near Kenitra”. The list was an artwork by
Banu Cennetoğlu, presented as part of
Liverpool Biennial 2018. I do not know
if Cennetoğlu has ever faced ethical
questions concerning her cenotaph,
since in her craftless work, art
is reduced to naked concept.
It is not only modern
elegists who question elegising
ethically. Jahan Ramazani
highlights Hardy’s berating
“himself for fashioning
numerous poems out of
his wife’s death”, Owen’s
uneasiness “about profiting
artistically from carnage on the
battlefield”, and Hill’s worry
“that his elegiac poetry, like
other artistic, commercial, and
historical memorials, helps
to make their [the victims of
Nazi genocide’s] long death
documented and safe” – “the
transfiguration of the dead
into consolatory art”. Masud
Sa’d Salman, the medieval
Persian prisoner poet, after his
friend’s death briefly wrote:
“On Mohammad Alavi’s death
/ I wanted to breathe a couple
of poems out || Methinks,
however, that in the world
/ It is vulgar of one to write a poem henceforth” (my verbatim
translation).
Neither Masud Sa’d’s anti-elegy nor its Western counterparts
can make me feel ashamed for having composed an elegiac epic.
Had I not written Nassim’s Testament, all that would remain
about Alireza’s demise would probably be a number of watery
posts in the blogosphere, a lie on ISNA, and even worse, a
manipulative report on an anti-regime website which attributes
his mysterious death to agents of the regime. News headlines
mask bodies with scraps. They read: “Two cars badly damaged as
skip truck overturns near Walsall Academy” or “Russian warplane
shot down by rebels in Syria”. It is as if the press laments the
destruction of vehicles. Maybe this provides adequate grounds
for elegising. !
Words and Illustrations: Vahid Davar
20
Box office:
theatkinson.co.uk
01704 533 333
(Booking fees apply)
The Atkinson
Lord Street
Southport
PR8 1DB
Westwood
21 Sep 2019 – 28 Mar 2020
Free entry
—
Mon – Sat
10am – 4pm
A thought provoking exhibition about The Grand
Dame of fashion, Vivienne Westwood.
INTERSECTIO
Matt Hogarth of Eggy Records reflects on a cultural exchange
that saw a bit of Liverpool transplanted to Russia and a creative
community on the banks of the Volga.
If you told me last year that I would have accompanied three
bands for a state-sponsored trip to Russia, I would’ve said
that you were deluded. For almost two years I had been
trying to convince my previous girlfriend to go to Moscow
for a week of Communist history, ogling brutalist architecture
and visiting the resting place of Lenin, arguing how this was
time better spent than on a beach holiday. This was, somewhat
unsurprisingly, to no avail. So when I got a call out of the blue
from Kevin McManus (one of Liverpool’s soundest people and
mastermind of the Capital of Culture bid back in 2008) asking
if I wanted to pick some bands from my label, Eggy Records, to
go and play in Russia, I bit his hand off.
The thought of some of Eggy’s finest left unsupervised in
Russia was enough to fill my heart with dread – which is why
my presence as chaperone was justified. Having managed to
stow away with EYESORE & THE JINX, STORES (formed from
the ashes of Jo Mary and Hannah & The Wick Effect) and friend
of the eggs, ALI HORN, I’m soon lost in a swirl of forms and
passport details. The trip has been organised under the banner
of the UNESCO Creative Cities network. As a UNESCO City of
Music, Liverpool is committed to helping expand the reach of
the city’s musical identity around the world, showing that there’s
far more to it than The Beatles et al. While in Russia, the bands
will perform at two events in different cities – one of them in
Ulyanovsk, a UNESCO City of Literature – as representatives of
Liverpool’s current music scene.
The run up to the trip feels like a surreal fever dream. Russia
could perhaps be seen as one of the few enigmatic frontiers
in Europe. A vast landmass so large it’s home to almost 200
nationalities and races, both native and from bordering countries.
The Iron Curtain may have fallen over 30 years ago but its
shadow still hangs heavy, with a large number of westerners
not really knowing what Russia is actually like. From the
Novichok attacks, which were allegedly the work of Russian
secret services, to a regressive attitude towards LGBTQ+, British
perceptions of the country are still mixed.
The mood in the group is a little giddy. As our Aeroflot flight
touches down in Moscow, the hammer and sickle badges on the
stewards’ brilliant red blazers flicker golden in the light. We are
met at the airport by Alex, without whom we would probably
still be there today, lost among commemorative Vladimir Putin
plates and surviving on a diet harvested exclusively from vending
machines. “You all have such beautiful names,” Alex says once
we’ve introduced ourselves to him. “Samuel Paul Warren: it’s
perhaps the most beautiful name I’ve heard.”
Having educated Alex on how Liverpool is far better
22
than Manchester (using the analogy of Moscow versus Saint
Petersburg) we settle down for the night before we fly to our final
destination: Ulyanovsk. Most famously known as the birthplace
of Lenin, it’s another hour and a half away on a plane and not a
place that tourists visit too often. We arrive in the city, which sits
on the banks of the Volga river, and are met by the friendly face
of our host Svetlana (who will become known more affectionately
as Svetti for most of the trip).
The culture shock doesn’t immediately hit until we tuck in
to what we think is a trifle (it turns out to be a herring salad
with beetroot and creamed potatoes), but Svetlana brings us
firmly back to ground. A quick walk down the road and we’re
plunged straight into jam sessions with local musicians. Despite
our initial awkward British stiffness, barriers are quickly broken
down as songs twist wildly from Marilyn Manson’s version of
Sweet Dreams through to Sweet Jane. Later, after a bottle of gin
poured between five glasses of some red version of 7 Up has
firmly broken down any remaining
barriers, we’re sat in front of an
English-speaking class, smoking
apple and blackcurrant ciggies and
feeling slightly in the spotlight.
Most of the people here haven’t
heard someone with a British
accent in the flesh before, let alone
encountered the kind of North
Liverpool drawl that is Josh from
Eyesore’s stock in trade. It’s our
first real chance to chat properly
with groups of young Russians,
and conversation soon turns to
the semantic differences between
Russian and English swearing.
The rest of the night is a lilting haze of booze, conversation and
serenading cats. Even a rather tense 3am street fight can’t quell
the mood.
After a breakfast of spicy sausages and cheese, we head
out to see the city and visit a few museums. The 19th Century
home of famous novelist Goncharov is juxtaposed with the
brutalist architecture we find ourselves immersed in. We
wander from warm period rooms to wet squares where metal
sculptures of Lenin and Marx sprout from the ground. After
a stop-gap tour of the region’s natural history by one of the
most enthusiastic women I’ve ever met, it’s time for a press
scrum. We’re surrounded by cameras and lights and someone
translates our every word as I deliver a talk about Eggy Records.
It’s disorientating, wondrous and slightly surreal. Sitting outside
on a bench painted like a piano adorned with Nickelback lyrics,
my head explodes as I start to ponder that thriving music
communities exist worldwide from Birkenhead to Ulyanovsk.
“We’re surrounded by
cameras and lights and
someone translates
our every word… It’s
disorientating, wondrous
and slightly surreal”
Our email adorns the chalk wall in the Records Music Bar in
Ulyanovsk and one day we (Eggy) want to sign a band from
there – maybe from one of the people gathered in that room. One
question that also resonates strongly is “How many shows get
cancelled in the UK?”. Aside from illegal raves and isolated high
profile cases (Tyler, The Creator), this isn’t something we’re used
to, but is something that’s prevalent in Russia. It rings true that
the feeling of censorship isn’t one that is supported in this room,
with fans of music spread throughout citing love of everyone
from The Exploited to Brockhampton. This is highlighted when
Svetti takes us to the top of one of the highest buildings in the
city for a fancy dress rave that has us dancing wildly to hardcore
and gabber.
The following day finds us walking past the home of FC
Volga Ulyanovsk and murals depicting Putin and leaders from the
Russian Orthodox Church on our way to the city’s Intersection
Of Music festival. Today is Day Of Youth, a national holiday for
the young people of Russia, and
the city’s local residents (as well
as neighbouring Dimitrovgrad and
Cheboksary) are being introduced
to modern British music culture –
through us. The press events and
‘masterclass’ meetings are all part
of this initiative, with the aim of
promoting and developing the proto
music industry that exists locally.
A street has been closed off
for the festival, and a rather angry
old woman comes out shouting
as we soundcheck. Sam takes a
picture of a group of locals gathered
nearby, saying “cheerski” as he
does (a phrase not too dissimilar to ‘tits’), much to the group’s
amusement. The performances go down well throughout the
day, culminating with Eyesore’s performance which features a
punter continually hoisting his five-year-old son onstage, who
claps furiously as Josh attempts his hardest to not smack him in
the head with his bass. My paranoia leads me to panic the rest
of the group into thinking that we’re being followed by a spy, but
it’s a little more than a rather curious middle-aged man (to our
knowledge).
That night we end up in an iron forge at three in the morning
with a blacksmith making a bottle opener in flip flops. One of the
group samples the sound of the forge and starts to make it into a
dance tune. It’s a surreal experience which again shows just how
open and inviting our hosts are. Having wandered back to their
version of Ye Cracke, it’s time to call it a night.
Our last day in Russia sees us split into two groups, with
Stores, Ali Horn and myself heading to nearby town Cherdakly,
and Eyesore heading to Dimitrovgrad with their manager, Cath.
As we wave off our mates on a minibus to the ‘concrete city’, we
jump into another one. “We’re going to a beehive,” Svetti lets
us know. We bounce down the road to Cherdakly (population
11,000) and bond with Svetti over a love of dark British comedy,
like Peep Show and The Mighty Boosh.
We arrive, to an exceptionally warm welcome, at the house of
Gennadiy, a spacious place in the middle of nowhere. Gennadiy’s
passion breaks all language barriers as he tells us about the bees
he keeps, their politics and fighting wasps. We stand entranced in
our beekeeping mesh headwear, eating raw honey from the hive
as Gennadiy keeps us entertained. We sit and drink homemade
honey mead with him, downing shot after shot of the sweet, high
strength alcohol, Svetti’s face becoming more and more worried
at the amount we’re drinking at midday prior to the show.
“This one is alcohol free,” Gennadiy says. We down the shot.
“I lied, ha ha ha!”
Gennadiy seems to have life sorted, enjoying the simple
pleasures of homegrown food, the peace and quiet of nature and
a close family. It’s something I often look back on and envy. We
take a picture with Gennadiy and his wife in front of a Pushkin
quote, honey in hand, and receive the strongest hug ever received
as we part ways.
The show in Cherdakly is a slightly more rough and ready
affair with us arriving at what feels a bit like a glorified summer
fair. Stores – preceded by a prepubescent dance troupe – stand
on stage like some scene in a strange arthouse film, as Sam is
plagued by electric shocks and the soundman attempting to add
flanger to his guitar. Ali goes down better, being asked to play
more and more Springsteen covers.
It’s an odder situation for Eyesore, who perform inside a
behemoth of a brutalist building, with police stood either side
of the stage and a massive area in front of the stage roped off,
where only a handful of toddlers dance and cartwheel – in front
of a huge bust of Lenin.
With a four o’clock shuttle to the airport we decide to stay
up and enjoy the pleasures of late night Russian TV. As I watch
two scantily clad women wrestle in oil on the telly, I reflect on my
time here. It’s perhaps one of the maddest trips I’ve ever been on.
British media is often quick to display Russia as overly serious
and restrictive, but the people we have met here are among the
kindest and funniest people I’ve ever met. From the eccentric Max
Rock ’n’ Roll to our host Svetti, and the class dreampop group
Love Fade, the people have welcomed us – a bunch of heavydrinking
wools and Scousers – into their world and shown us, at
full throttle, how boss their country is. We’ll be back for sure, and
hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later. !
Words: Matt Hogarth
N OF MUSIC
FEATURE
23
SPOTLIGHT
“Music is
a pleasant
distraction from
life: a form of
escapism”
ENNIO THE LITTLE BROTHER
This North Wales artist has caught the ear of Merseyside label
Mai 68 with his idiosyncratic, soulful dream hop.
Have you always wanted to create music?
Yes… then no… then yes again. I had a brief stint of wanting to
be a priest, so I spent many days at the living room table offering
my family the body of Christ in the form of Discos crisps. When
I was about nine or 10, though, I performed Everlong by the Foo
Fighters at a school assembly on an out of tune Yamaha EG112
guitar and haven’t looked back since. Classic.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of music that initially
inspired you?
John Frusciante performing Usually Just a T-Shirt #3 on the Red
Hot Chili Peppers’ Off The Map DVD. That performance hit me
like a frying pan to the face. I was floored that the guitarist in
one of the biggest bands on the planet had this other side (no
pun intended) to him that was so vulnerable, raw, honest and
beautiful.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
Not particularly, I enjoy the flow of an overall set, like how the
slower pieces contrast the big thumpy joints, and vice-versa. It’s
ace when your energy on that given day affects the tone of a
song and evokes different feelings than you initially intended with
the words. Having said that, Dungarees is fun to play ’cos there’s
a dead fast rappy bit at the end.
If you had to describe your style in a sentence, what would you
say?
I would say my music encapsulates sitting on the couch in comfy
PJ bottoms eating homemade apple crumble and custard while
wondering why you threw that baggy Fila hoodie away three
years ago. But that never pops up as an option on the drop down
menu when you’re applying for festivals.
What do you think is the overriding influence on your
songwriting: other art, emotions,
current affairs – or a mixture of all of these?
Food.
If you could support any artist in the future, who would it be?
Loyle Carner.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve performed in? If so, what
makes it special?
St. Mary’s Creative Space in Chester was a special experience.
Performing to a seated audience in an atmosphere where you
could hear a pin drop was incredibly haunting and beautiful. Hold
on, what am I talking about? I played a gig on a boat once. That
was rad.
Why is music important to you?
Sometimes I feel like music is a pleasant distraction from life and
stuff: a form of escapism. But I think it might actually be the other
way around. What does that even mean? I don’t know… damn
you, Bido Lito!, for sneaking in a serious question and making my
brain do the equivalent of 25 push-ups.
Image: Ross Davidson
@enniothelittlebrother
Ennio The Little Brother features on a split EP with Campfire
Social, out now via Mai 68 Records.
26
KINGFAST
Caught in a loop with the inventive
songwriter and guitarist who has
roots in Belfast and Kingston.
If you had to describe your music in a sentence, what would
you say?
You guys once described my music as “soulful pop numbers”,
which I felt was extremely accurate and I don’t think I could
describe it better myself.
Do you have a favourite song or piece of music to perform?
I love performing my own music and my upcoming single One
Day is actually my favourite to perform. It has a catchy hook to it
and people always seem to engage with it the most of all of my
songs, lyrically and sonically.
How did you get into music?
I’ve definitely always wanted to perform.
Writing never used to be something
I was passionate about when I was
young, but different inspirations made
me want to write things myself and
put my own ideas on paper. Once
you’ve started and you get the bug it is
impossible to stop. So many silly things
have made me want to write songs,
such as watching 8 Mile and School
Of Rock, as well as more traditional
ways, like seeing live performances by
virtuosos.
Can you pinpoint a live gig or a piece of
music that initially inspired you?
Every big gig that I’ve been to I feel has changed me as a
performer and made me want to become more and more
dynamic on stage. The first artist I went to see was The
Darkness, I must have been 11 years old, and that just really just
made me want to get on the stage.
“Once you’ve started
making music and
you get the bug, it is
impossible to stop”
What do you think is the overriding
influence on your songwriting: other
art, emotions, current affairs – or a
mixture of all of these?
Inspiration always comes from a
multitude of avenues for me, so
definitely a mixture. Usually I write
about current affairs, but also through a
personal lens so that I can emotionally
connect to my music too.
Do you have a favourite venue you’ve
performed in? If so, what makes it
special?
Liverpool has some incredible spaces:
the Zanzibar has a thumping sound
system and I have had a couple of great gigs there. Same with
24 Kitchen Street. However, my favourite is probably District.
One great thing about it is the height of the stage so you can get
a good view of the crowd and vice-versa. Again, the sound is
incredible.
Can you recommend an artist, band or album that Bido Lito!
readers might not have heard?
AYA has just started releasing some singles and I couldn’t
recommend an artist with soul more. His last release was called
Craving You and it has a very earworm nature, but has depth too.
It’s no coincidence that I selected him to support me for my single
launch [20th September in EBGBs].
Why is music important to you?
In this day and age, everybody is really connected to music
because of the vastness of availability and the wide variety of
genres. For me, personally, there are certain songs that genuinely
just make me feel emotions, whether that is the timbre of
someone’s voice, the lyrics or sometimes a combination of the
two. Music has become a part of everyday life and being able to
create it is brilliant as I can completely immerse myself in writing
and making something from scratch.
Photography: GCH Photography
@kingfast_music
KingFast’s first single, One Day, is out from 20th September.
Alexis Teplin
At Bluecoat, Liverpool
Sat 26 Oct 2019 – Sun 23 Feb 2020
Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BX
thebluecoat.org.uk
@thebluecoat @the_bluecoat @thebluecoat
Funded by:
Supported by:
Arch (The Politics of Fragmentation), 2016, performance, Sydney Biennale
PREVIEWS
can put it out’, and it was just for fun, really. People were saying,
‘You’re doing stuff and you’re not being paid, why are you doing
it?’ But it’s worth more to me to get the ideas out there.
Something like the snooker or the stone clearing, it was just, ‘Oh,
I wonder what would happen if I try and do this for, you know,
the rest of my life’ – ha! See if it turns out to be a fruitful idea,
see if it turns out to be boring and, if so, that’s funny, see where
it goes.
Some people are making hundreds of millions of dollars being
podcasters, so, you know, I’d like to say I was a genius and I saw
that coming but that wasn’t my motivation. My motivation was
to get ideas out there and on my own terms. Some of the really
big ones – No Such Thing As A Fish, My Dad Wrote A Porno and
The Guilty Feminist – they’re playing the Albert Hall and doing
massive worldwide tours. My Dad Wrote A Porno has been
going three or four years and none of them were particularly
famous before it. So to go from nothing to a world tour where
you’re selling thousands of tickets everywhere you go… a
stand up would look at that and go, ‘What the fuck, how’s that
happened?’
But I think my things have always been a little bit more niche and
when I was on TV it wasn’t mainstream stuff, and obviously a lot
of things I’m doing online are deliberately kind of almost trying
to get rid of listeners! Not so much RHLSTP, but it’s still not
kowtowing to the mainstream ideal.
COMEDY
RICHARD HERRING
Everyman Theatre – 23/10
The Podfather opens up about the art of subversiveness,
and how far his podcasting fame might take him.
Comedian and podcast stalwart RICHARD HERRING
brings his live interview show RHLSTP to the
Everyman in October. From his Hertfordshire home,
he talks to Sam Turner about the reasons for the
show’s success, the allure of podcasting and his other more
esoteric projects – podcasting snooker matches against
himself and clearing stones from a field while walking his
dog.
It’s interesting that there have been quite a few big personal
revelations on RHLSTP considering it’s a live performance
podcast.
I think people have got their reasons. There’s something
about the format, the weird
[emergency] questions, which
“People were saying,
‘You’re doing stuff and
you’re not being paid,
why are you doing
it?’ But it’s worth
more to me to get the
ideas out there”
I started doing in case I ran
out of things to say. It has a
knock-on effect: people have to
talk about something they’ve
never talked about before, it
opens the door and they feel
like they can talk about other
stuff. It’s not like a traditional
interview when you’re asking
the same questions and you
have your standard responses.
I’m not trying to find stuff
out and I think therefore it
relaxes people, and if they
want to reveal something
they reveal something. It’s just
conversations and if people trust you then hopefully they’ll give
you some good stuff.
And I suppose you never know what to expect. It could be a
light-hearted discussion, or deep, or political. I suppose that
keeps it interesting for you?
Yeh, I never really know and I’m quite good at adapting to who
the guest is and working out what they want to do. I guess it’s
just having that empathy to listen and understand when you’re
pushing things too far. Certainly over an hour you can’t just keep
the laughs going all that time. Maybe with Greg Davies and Bob
Mortimer you can, but with most people there’ll come a point
when it’s time to talk about something a little bit more seriously.
There’s the occasional one where it’s harder to get stuff out of
people or where it’s a bit more awkward, but people tend to like
those ones more! What I like about it is we put nearly everything
out. People can see how much stuff is good, how much stuff is
not that interesting, or where something doesn’t work. It proves
that the rest of the stuff is genuine. You
don’t get that on TV shows. Chat shows,
panel shows are all edited down, all the
eggy bits are taken out and all the leadup
bits are taken out.
Do you think what you do now is
a reaction against that over-edited
version of a lot of media? You’ve got
RHLSTP, but there’s also Me1 vs Me2
Snooker podcast and the Stone Clearing
podcast. Those are probably unlikely to
get commissioned as TV series…
Well, you never know! There was a series
for Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse
so there might be for Stone Clearing, give
me another 10 years! What attracted
me in the first place was the autonomy.
When I started with Andrew Collins, just after the Russell
Brand and Jonathan Ross thing, there was a crackdown on
offensiveness and swearing and upsetting people. And also,
you’re waiting months and years sometimes to get a project
green lit on the radio or the TV. So, I thought, ‘This is great, we
Do you get new podcasters asking you for advice in the same
way you’ll get comedians asking you for tips?
Yeh, a little bit but the advice for everyone is just, ‘Get on with it’.
I think asking for advice on any of this stuff is just a delay tactic,
really. If you want to be a stand-up get out and go and do some
shows. And with podcasting it’s the same. You don’t need to
hang around, you have this outlet and if you have an idea just
crack on with it – and if it’s terrible you can delete it. You’ve got
to build up an audience. I’ve been podcasting for what I think is
12 years now, and that’s what people don’t want to hear, it takes
a long time.
But there is a sort of meritocracy to it. People can say TV doesn’t
let certain people do this stuff and that’s true, it’s hard to get
involved in that world, but with a podcast, if you’re good there’s
no reason why you can’t go from nothing to the Albert Hall in
three years.
And some people might want to do it just as a way of
expressing themselves, they may not want to play the Albert
Hall…
Absolutely. With the snooker, the express idea was to have no
listeners. I think it started with about 30,000 in the first week
and it went quite quickly down to 5,000 but I can’t shake those
5,000 off. With Stone Clearing it’s… both of those are slightly like
art projects with tongue in cheek. The idea of doing something
relentlessly for a long, long time that has no end; they’re both
sort of similar themes. The snooker is kind of a battle against
yourself and the Stone Clearing is a sort of battle against your
mortality and the environment and the kind of uselessness and
the pointlessness of existing. They’re both sort of about that, but
then just the stupidity of someone doing it I hope is entertaining,
which I think it is. I genuinely think the Stone Clearing thing is
one of the best things I’ve done.
Even though the podcast is about me creating this wall [from
cleared stones] I was doing it before the podcast. I was genuinely
quite obsessed with it before I started doing the podcast, it’s a
heightened version of that obsession and me being paranoid. But
it’s weird, it gets into this transcendental thing where I’m being
paranoid that I’m being observed, which I am. I kind of don’t
want people in my village to know, but obviously they probably
do because it’s a podcast, but you sort of are hallucinating out
there and I’m seeing stuff and weird stuff is happening so it’s
quite an interesting look at the human mind! But it’s mainly sort
of how long can a man talk about one subject.
Yes, and people will use it for different reasons – the
meditative aspect being one…
I think people generally use it to go to sleep. People find it boring
enough that it sends them to sleep and then they’re annoyed
because there’s some quite jarring music at the end, ha! But
I quite like that. But when you create something you have no
power over how it’s going to be interpreted or what people are
going to do with it. Once you’ve put it out there it belongs to
whoever is ingesting it. I don’t think Salinger thought, ‘I’ll write
Catcher In The Rye and that’ll get John Lennon assassinated’.
It’s not Salinger’s fault directly, but that’s what happened. So, if
anyone gets assassinated because of Stone Clearing it’s not my
fault is what I’m trying to get at here. I just want to get that in. !
Words: Sam Turner
richardherring.com
RHLSTP With Richard Herring comes to the Everyman Theatre
on Wednesday 23rd October.
28
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PREVIEWS
CONVERSATION
BRADLEY WIGGINS
M&S Bank Arena – 03/10
Britain’s most decorated Olympian opens up about
the roots of his cycling obsession and how it has
helped him find new roads in the sport.
In a summer of rare national unity, it was British cycling
that reached the highest summit of all at the home
Olympics of 2012. There was one photo in particular
which encapsulated the moment cycling never had it so
good. There was BRADLEY WIGGINS, clad in Team GB Lycra,
sat cross-legged on a baroque throne in the centre of London,
shortly after finishing a race.
An undisturbed mod haircut had been released from his
helmet. More sideburn than perspiration is streaming down
his face. With forearms casually raised, apparel unzipped to
the sternum, he satisfyingly provides a two-fingered salute of
victory. It was every inch a statement of his own ability and the
cultural currency cycling was ready to cash in on.
The former Kilburn council estate Olympian had just taken
gold in the men’s road time trial – his fourth gold since 2004.
A week earlier he’d been the first Brit to wear the maillot jaune
as the Tour de France crossed the finish line on the Champs
Elysées. Irrespective of covering a distance of 44km in 50
minutes and 39 seconds on his way to glory that day in London,
Wiggins carried the composure of someone who’d drifted in from
a Brighton seafront parade, proceeding to dominate the course
on a Vespa wearing a freshly pressed Ben Sherman suit.
Cycling had reached a new paramount point of visibility
thanks to Wiggins. No longer was it to be a niche indulgence or
reluctant spectacle for channel hoppers discovering Eurosport
in the early hours. Wiggins was cool. Cycling was cool. Lycra
was sort of cool. (At least it is now unashamedly adorned on
inner city commutes.) A new, self-propelled mod had supplanted
Quadrophenia. It’s a journey and endeavour Wiggins is now
opening up about, from the perspective of the fan rather than
the athlete. Much of which is detailed in his book, Icons, and
adjoining speaking tour, something that he owes to a platform
built from what he did in the sport, which, he suggests, grants an
appeal to “an audience that maybe won’t always be into cycling”.
In a summer of national disunity, however, British cycling
and Wiggins are in separate worlds. The sideburns are now
gone, the mod haircut trimmed. On stage appearances with Paul
Weller are now few and far between. All these moments remain
in a time capsule of 2012. Wiggins paved the way for two more
British winners of the Tour de France (five wins between them
since 2013), but that summer was to carry him into the ease of
descent. There was no higher to
climb in the sport, only blockages in
the road. The 2016 parliamentary
inquiry into whether he and
Team Sky breached anti-doping
regulations arrived at the end of his
involvement in the sport. He and
Sky still deny wrongdoing. However,
there’s now a sepia bleed on those
images from 2012; a nostalgia
delivered earlier than expected. If
anything, it’s brought distance and,
in time, reopened the door to a
spectator’s intrigue. It’s a place that’s
reignited his interest and love for the
sport, without having to squeeze
into Lycra or suffer the ascent of the Col du Tourmalet.
“A lot of sportspeople don’t always know about the culture
surrounding the sport that they do, or its history. For me, that
was my first passion,” he notes, touching on how cycling started
as cultural obsession from within his bedroom (where he’d
hang on the words of Cycling Weekly, surrounded by posters of
previous Tour winners), rather than a quest for Olympic glory.
“Even if I hadn’t done what I’d done in the sport, I’d still have
that knowledge of the Tours, that passion for cycling and its
characters.”
Icons follows a more refined take on the aura of cycling;
the personalities behind the time gaps, the fashion beyond the
polka dot jerseys; essentially, the essence of the sport that isn’t
so overtly attached to the bike frame. It’s an account that would
discourteously be bound up in hipster nerdiness, if placed in
parallel to cycling iconography in hip London cafés. But it’s one
that focuses on the sport as more than a sport. In the same way
“A lot of sportspeople
don’t always know
about the culture or
history surrounding
their sport. That was
my first passion”
Sócrates was so much more than a towering midfielder draped
in the iconic yellow, blue and white of Brazil.
“I’ve been fascinated how all these old jerseys became
iconic and brands like Rapha have built the image from this sort
of heritage influence,” he starts, alluding to how a schoolboy
bookishness towards cycling ingrained his connection to the
encompassing culture. Icons serves as the shop window in
which Wiggins peered into the sport, detailing his relationship
with savoured memorabilia from a former era of cycling; a time
frame that carries a similarly golden shimmer as that very image
of him sat on the Olympic throne in 2012. “The [classic era] is
coming back into popularity,” he tells me over the phone from
somewhere in the middle of the Balearic sea. “I live in the North,
not far from Liverpool. Transalpino on Bold Street fully captures
the cultural moment of fashion and football.” The shop displays
how sport can emit a magnetic force that weaves together
football, footwear, fashion, music and exploration into a cohesive
movement, or, for many, a day-to-day obsession. “Cycling is the
same for me, really. I’ve always been massively into the culture
that surrounds the sport, the aesthetics, everything down to the
Adidas tracksuits that Eddy Merckx used to wear.”
It can, however, be difficult to unearth the riches of cycling’s
cultural pedigree. It is arguably one that is more at home on the
European continent. So much of contemporary British cycling
can be bound up as mid-life, expendable income pastime. Its
roots are not visibly wedded to culture and social enterprise,
as football is (or at least was). They exist, but perhaps as a
French, Italian, Dutch or Belgian export, rather than a culture
that propagates in the heart of the UK. Through spirited intruige,
Wiggins was able to self-teach the rich layers of style the sport
produces, the fantasy of cycling escapism, and the bravery it
would entail to reign as King of the Mountains. Yet, even when
Wiggins was taking gold in 2012, it was his association to mod
culture that caught the most limelight – not the journey from
cycling across central London to leading the peloton over the
Pyrenees.
Cycling may have reached new heights, but it’s still out
of reach as an all-inclusive interest. The nation is still decades
behind our European counterparts for cycling accessibility and
proficiency and, even with a former council estate Olympic
champion, cycling has remained an escape predominantly
restricted to the middle classes. “It’s still quite an elitist
environment. It comes with a certain kind of snobbery,” Wiggins
admits, when asked if his account is aiming to bridge cycling
to people from every social background. “I still don’t think it’s
massively appealing to the working classes. Ultimately, you still
need to have money to be a part of the elite side of it. It becomes
a competition of who’s got the latest £300 jersey. I don’t think
it’s very grounded or very inclusive. I think it’s quite an exclusive
world, based on finance and who can afford it. It’s become the
new golf.”
The characteristics of elite cycling may prove limiting
compared to other socially integrating sports. Yet, a £1,000
bike and matching apparel isn’t required to unlock its benefits.
“It was definitely a way of escaping where I grew up; the sense
of freedom that it gave me. I could go out on the bike, and in
five or six miles I could be in a different area. It still does that
for me. That was always the attraction and beauty of cycling.”
The escapist sentiment of the riders he adored was eventually
delivered through a pairing of
music and bike – a similar cultural
symbiosis to that of football, Adidas
trainers and post-punk. Ultimately, it
was the arrival of northern Britpop
that set the wheels rolling with
intent. “Listening to someone like
Liam Gallagher,” Wiggins begins,
“he was someone you could look
up to. It was like having someone
similar to yourself singing your
anthem. ‘I live my life in the city,
there’s no easy way out’. I took that
into my sport, all without having
to be physically strong, or carry a
knife.”
Wiggins’ own observations clearly underline that more
needs to be done to bridge cycling to the wider audience it
deserves. But five Olympic gold medals and a Tour de France
victory can only paint the picture for others. The escapist
sentimentality of cycling has to be experienced to be realised. If
his experiences tell you anything, two working wheels, the right
soundtrack and confidence is all that is needed to find your feet. !
Words: Elliot Ryder / @elliot_ryder
Bradley Wiggins: An Evening With takes place at The
Auditorium at M&S Bank Arena on Thursday 3rd October.
Bido Lito! CC in partnership with Ryde is a bi-weekly bike ride
open to all ages and abilities. The next meet is starts at Ryde in
the Baltic Triangle on Wednesday 2nd October, 6.30pm.
30
LEAP
FESTIVAL
LEAP
Various Venues
03/10-12/10
Now into its 26th year, LEAP can justifiably claim to be a
pillar of Liverpool’s cultural offering. Once again the festival,
programmed by Merseyside Dance Initiative, brings a wideranging
bill of dance performance to venues across the city,
in a landmark change to how dance is programmed in the North West.
Launching on Thursday 3rd October, LEAP brings global touring
production company MOTIONHOUSE to the Baltic Triangle’s Hinterlands.
Known for their stunning, large-scale performances – including the
opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games – Motionhouse
are the perfect foot for LEAP to start on in 2019, as part of their mission
to provide a platform for aspiring local dance artists and internationally
renowned performers in cross-artform storytelling.
Integrating dynamic choreography, acrobatic movement and handto-hand
partnering, the newly premiered WILD (Brighton Festival, May
2019), will be staged atop an urban forest of industrial scaffolding in
Constellations’ outdoor space, in a breathtaking show for audiences both
inside and outside the traditional dance world.
Over the following 10 days, there will be a range of further
dance performances to take in, including Seke Chimutengwende and
Alexandrina Hemsley’s BLACK HOLES, Rosie Kay Dance Company’s
FANTASIA and Neon Dance’s PUZZLE CREATURE.
“Liverpool has long been a city associated with music; from
Merseybeat to today’s variety of festivals for every genre imaginable,”
says Martina Murphy, MDI’s Director. “Dance isn’t possible without music,
and I want LEAP to make that connection this year – bringing dance to the
venues where music never stops, to a city that so clearly wants to dance!”
Head to mdi.org.uk/leap-2019 for the full programme of activity.
The Warehouse Project @ Mayfield Depot
CLUB
The Warehouse Project
winter season
Mayfield Depot and Victoria
Warehouse
20/09/19-01/01/20
Since 2006, The Warehouse Project has been taking over
some of Manchester’s biggest spaces with a contingent
of the world’s biggest electronic artists, MCs and bands.
Having made its sleepless bed in the cavernous Store
Street for the past few years, the September to January series will
be breaking in new ground for what promises to be one of its most
ambitious years to date.
Setting up at Mayfield Depot, a stone’s throw from WHP’s former lair
below Manchester Piccadilly, the series will run for 12 weeks, culminating
with the famous New Year’s Day Closing Party.
The series begins on 20th September with the small matter of
welcoming Cornish IDM legend APHEX TWIN for an evening entirely
of his own design. Richard D James will welcome along a challenging
ensemble for the curtain raiser featuring NINA KRAVIZ and LEE GAMBLE
among others, with a secondary opening party the following night
featuring the sounds of DISCLOSURE, ANNIE MAC and MARIBOU
STATE to name just a few.
Across the full series, usual collaborators and partners will return
for their own specialist nights within the Depot, including techno titans
Drumcode, local party starters Kaluki and Metropolis, Balearic pace
setters Paradise, and BICEP’s club focused arm Feel My Bicep. Elsewhere
across the series events will be curated by SKEPTA, FOUR TET, MURA
MASA, FAC 51 HACIENDA and FATBOY SLIM.
Live events within the series also include legendary duo
UNDERWORLD taking over the Depot on 5th December, with Australian
producer FLUME arriving in the city with a collection of special guests on
13th November. The full events series will include over 20 shows in all,
with Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse hosting both WHIZKID on 18th
October and SONNY FODERA on 15th November.
With arguably one of the most enviable line-ups of any of any WHP
to date, the series looks set to comfortably welcome Mayfield Depot
into the fold for 2019. And it’s no wonder with JOSEPH CAPRIATI,
BLACK MIDI, JEFF MILLS, OCTAVIAN, JOY ORBISON and PATRICK
TOPPING making up just a small handful of the talent set to descend on
Manchester over the course of 12 weeks. Dancing shoes at the ready.
EVENT DISCOVERY PARTNER
ticketquarter.co.uk
PREVIEWS 31
PREVIEWS
CLUB
ENRG: Art’s House
Invisible Wind Factory – 11/10
Art’s House
ARTWORK will not only be arriving in Liverpool with his
esteemed collection of house and wonky acid tracks, but he’ll
be packed for comfort with slippers in tow. Growing from a
rave in a front room to one of the biggest touring parties on
the UK circuit, the set up sees the one-time Magnetic Man
member draw the drapes on his party parlour and get into
the thick of his responsibilities as soundtrack navigator for
the evening. As with any successful house party, there’s a
strong cast of mates ready to pick up the AUX when needed,
with Leeds’ hot-handed duo PBR STREET GANG also in the
mix, along with GIDEON and ROSS ROBERTSON.
GIG
Theon Cross
Storyhouse Live – 06/10
One of the standout stars of the UK’s resurgent jazz scene, London
based tuba player THEON CROSS arrives in Chester on musical
duties for Stepping Tiger in what promises to be a night of exuberant
and inventive basslines and rhythms leads. Perhaps one of the most
distinctive and critically lauded albums of 2018, Sons Of Kemet’s
Your Queen Is A Reptile is a life-filled example of Theon’s inimitable
musicianship and feel for otherworldly arrangements. Pitching
up with his own ensemble of musicians, Theon’s show provides a
contemporary snapshot of the capital’s thriving jazz scene, exploring
its signature collection of sounds in his own distinctive and rhythm
inducing way.
Theon Cross
MUSICAL
Amélie The Musical
Playhouse – 14/10-19/10
Nominated for five Academy Awards upon its initial
cinematic release in 2001, global box office hit AMÉLIE
comes to Liverpool as an all-singing, all-dancing in a
musical. Focusing on the life of a young waitress living in
Paris, Amélie takes in the full spectrum of sights and sounds
emitting from the elevated artistic district of Montmartre,
following her journey to spread joy and happiness to all that
she meets. The production features Audrey Brisson as the
introverted, but socially conscious Amélie.
GIG
Michael Chapman
St Bride’s Church – 05/10
St Bride’s has become a regular backdrop for promoters Nothingville’s
lyrical sermons, and the latest meeting of the parish will be treated to
the sounds of wandering wordsmith MICHAEL CHAPMAN. A fixture
of the folk scene since as far back at the 1960s, Chapman has drawn
a resounding reputation from his knack for warming tales sketched out
on the open roads between Cornwall and London. His prosaic tones
will be in good stead alongside Liverpool’s own lyrical diarist NICK
ELLIS, with both performers well equipped to steal the hearts and
minds of an audience with a sole guitar slung over their shoulder.
CLUB
Gerd Janson
24 Kitchen Street – 05/10
Gerd Janson
Running Back label boss GERD JANSON has been generously spreading the soulful
grooves of deep house on his travels since the turn of the millennium. A regular fixture
at Frankfurt’s infamous Robert Johnson and likely your favourite DJ’s favourite DJ,
the German native has curated one of the most revered record bags over the years,
and is a trusted navigator of everything from the tuneful to the hard hitting. He, his
wondrous beard and selections will be front and centre at Kitchen Street for three
savoured hours, with SISBIS’ GIOVANNA set to play back to back with HILLAS. Don’t
be surprised to go home from this one with serious Discogs envy.
GIG
Pom Poko
Phase One – 14/10
Norwegian art rockers POM POKO are one of the more colourful
outfits to arrive in Liverpool in the coming month. Purveyors of
imaginary sonic confetti, their sporadic blend of jittery riffs and
full-hearted choruses are all tied together with a jovial charm
and abundant sincerity. Since the release of their debut album,
Birthday, on Bella Union, the four-piece have made a distinctive
footprint in the UK scene thanks to pulsating new single Leg Day.
Their performance at Phase One comes with support from fellow
colour spinners and Brighton natives ORCHARDS.
Pom Poko
32
GIG
Smithdown Road Festival
All-Dayer
Various Venues – 12/10
Smithdown Road Festival is back for an all-day edition
with some of the city’s finest emerging talents in
some of the area’s finest bars and eateries. Taking
place across its usual haunts including Kelly’s, Craft,
Frank’s and Handyman Supermarket, the 12-hour
shindig features previous Bido cover artists EYESORE
AND THE JINX and BILL NICKSON, with fellow Eggy
Records label mates BEIJA FLO and STORES. Over
at Handyman COW will be using the occasion to
celebrate the launch of their EP. Elsewhere at Kelly’s,
new garage rock ensemble FUMAR MATA are set to
appear along with the likes of THE SHIPBUILDERS
and KANGAROOS. And best of all, you can go and see
all 80 bands and DJs for free. Get out there and show
Smithdown some love.
THEATRE
The Strange Case of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Storyhouse – 05/10-19/10
Robert Louis Stephenson’s bloody tale of Victorian
dualism is to feature in a new production at
Chester’s Storyhouse theatre. The novel, written in
1886, follows the life of Dr Jekyll and his struggles
to control violent alter ego Mr Edward Hyde,
leading him to commit murder on the streets of
London. The story provides a chilling glimpse into
Victorian society, its class system and the battles
between public and private, with many of its key
themes still prevalent in the contemporary era
regarding psychological control. With the story
still a regular feature on the school curriculum, the
Storyhouse Originals production will also feature
daytime viewings for schools.
ADD TO
PLAYLIST
ADD TO PLAYLIST is the new monthly
column brought to you by MELODIC
DISTRACTION RADIO, delving into the
fold of the newest releases on the dance
music spectrum. If you’re into 808s,
sample pads, DJ tools and everything in
between, then you’re in good company.
Carla dal Forno
Took A Long Time
Kallista
Studio Electrophonique
GIG
Studio Electrophonique
Scandinavian Church – 25/10
James Leesley, aka Sheffield native STUDIO
ELECTROPHONIQUE, has acquired a reputation for producing
hushed attentive music since arriving on the scene earlier in
the year, drawing the attention and plaudits of fellow Steel
City emotive crooner Richard Hawley along the way. With
a debut “elp”, Buxton Palace Hotel, just released on Violette
Records, the multi-talented instrumentalist and songwriter will
take centre stage at the Baltic Triangle’s Scandinavian Church
in what will provide a fitting backdrop for his atmospheric,
luscious arrangements.
CLUB
Jeff Mills and Andrew Weatherall
Invisible Wind Factory – 05/10
GIG
Musicians Against Homelessness
Various Venues – 27/10-29/10
Musicians across the city region are set to come together in
support of homelessness charity Crisis for three days of live
music. Spread across multiple venues, some of which include
The Zanzibar, Sound, Outpost and Studio2, the shows have been
programmed to help raise awareness and funds to help tackle
homelessness in the region, with a UK-wide collection of 100
artists, poets and comedians confirmed to play over the three days.
All proceeds from the festival will be donated to Crisis to ensure
the charity can continue and expand its life changing work across
the country.
Sparse, depresso post-punk
mistress CARLA DAL FORNO
is in business on her very
own label, Kallista. Either a
stoney-faced breakup album or a love letter to London
– we just can’t decide – the Australian is now hitting a
sense of profound confidence in her angsty songcraft.
Carla’s gentle-yet-swallowed vocals and dubby percussion
tempers against some knife-twisting lyrics make this an
elusive, ambiguous and wholly intimate release.
DJ Firmeza
Intenso
Príncipe
Lisbon’s DJ FIRMEZA is back
in snakestyle with a raw blend
of bouncing kuduro, crazed
batida, grimey police sirens,
mutant drum loops and drifting ‘animação’ stream-ofconsciousness
MCing. This latest EP follows Príncipe’s
infallible run of standout releases and cements Lisbon’s
output as the most distinctive musical scene today. No
doubt about it, this one is for the club, but could nestle
between afro-beat and gqom as happily as it could techno
and breaks, as it could bashment and dancehall. Hips
definitely in motion.
It will be a night of full-blown four-to-the-floor as techno powerhouse JEFF
MILLS takes the reins to the Invisible Wind Factory on behalf of 303. The Detroit
native is one of the most dominant producers and DJs to emerge from the city’s
illustrious dance music scene, and has been exporting his wizardry across the
planet for the best part of four decades, putting crowds through their paces with
an intoxicating live show and turntable mastery. Down in the substation, further
musical royalty will be on display as revered selector ANDREW WEATHERALL
digs deep into his record bag from start until finish. Rounding off one thumping
line-up is local producer ASOK and JEMMA FURBANK.
Jeff Mills
Djrum
Hard To Say /
Tournesol
R&S
Matisse: Drawing With Scissors
EXHIBITION
Matisse: Drawing With Scissors
Lady Lever Art Gallery – 25/10
Having produced works that cemented his position as one of the most celebrated artists of
his generation alongside contemporaries such as Pablo Picasso, HENRI MATISSE was to
leave one final gift to the art world despite being bed ridden in his final years. The French
artist’s series of cut-outs are perhaps some of the most famous works the painter and
sculptor produced throughout his career, a medium he adopted and mastered once illness
had limited his manoeuvrability. Drawing With Scissors features 35 posthumous prints,
including the iconic Blue Nudes series and The Snail. The display will feature alongside the
Port Sunlight gallery’s regular collection, with the Matisse cut-outs on display until March.
In a curveball that no one saw
coming, 2019 was the year
that really fast music became cool again. With a whole
range of very severe fringes and Berlin-goth aesthetics,
think of Gabber Eleganza and Gabber Modus Operandi
flag-waving for the neo-gabber revival, or VTSS and SPFDJ
et al encouraging hyper-speed techno. After the standout
emotive-breakbeat Portrait With Firewood last year,
DJRUM joins Team Go Faster offering up “ambient-gabber”
(yes, really) with a palette of sounds drawn from Shangaan
electro and IDM.
Words: Nina Franklin
melodicdistraction.com
PREVIEWS 33
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SOUNDS FAMILIAR
MUSIC QUIZ
SAT 28TH SEPTEMBER / MCR ACADEMY
DURAND JONES
& THE INDICATIONS
FRI 18TH OCTOBER / ACADEMY 3
THE HEAVY
WEDNESDAY 6TH NOVEMBER
ACADEMY 2
THE DARKNESS
FRIDAY 13TH DECEMBER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
CELESTIAL
SATURDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
REVEREND
AND THE MAKERS
SAT 19TH OCTOBER / MCR ACADEMY
METRONOMY
SATURDAY 9TH NOVEMBER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
THE WEDDING PRESENT
FRIDAY 13TH DECEMBER
ACADEMY 2
TOUCHE AMORE
& DEAFHEAVEN
WED 2ND OCTOBER / ACADEMY 2
DAVID J
THURSDAY 24TH OCTOBER
CLUB ACADEMY
MYSTERY JETS
THURSDAY 14TH NOVEMBER
ACADEMY 2
STEREO MC'S
FRIDAY 13TH DECEMBER
CLUB ACADEMY
ALMA
THURSDAY 3RD OCTOBER
ACADEMY 2
NICK MURPHY FKA
CHET FAKER
THU 24TH OCTOBER / ACADEMY 2
THE AMAZONS
FRIDAY 15TH NOVEMBER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
THE VIRGINMARYS
SATURDAY 14TH DECEMBER
ACADEMY 2
HOT CHIP
FRIDAY 25TH OCTOBER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
HAPPY MONDAYS
THURSDAY 21ST NOVEMBER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
BELINDA CARLISLE
SATURDAY 5TH OCTOBER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
SCOTTY MCCREERY
SUNDAY 27TH OCTOBER
ACADEMY 2
YONAKA
THURSDAY 21ST NOVEMBER
ACADEMY 2
ASLAN
SATURDAY 21ST DECEMBER
ACADEMY 2
BAD MANNERS
THURSDAY 10TH OCTOBER
CLUB ACADEMY
WEYES BLOOD
TUESDAY 29TH OCTOBER
CLUB ACADEMY
PUMAROSA
THURSDAY 21ST NOVEMBER
ACADEMY 3
JAH WOBBLE & THE
INVADERS OF THE HEART
FRI 17TH JANUARY / CLUB ACADEMY
GIRL BAND
SATURDAY 2ND NOVEMBER
ACADEMY 2
THE SPRINGSTEEN
SESSIONS
SAT 25TH JANUARY / ACADEMY 3
JORDAN RAKEI
FRIDAY 11TH OCTOBER
ACADEMY 2
W.H. LUNG
TUESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER
ACADEMY 3
THE DEAD SOUTH
SUNDAY 23RD FEBRUARY
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
VISTAS
WEDNESDAY 16TH OCTOBER
ACADEMY 3
HANG MASSIVE
SUNDAY 3RD NOVEMBER
ACADEMY 3
BJORN AGAIN
SATURDAY 7TH DECEMBER
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
ANOMALIE
FRIDAY 18TH OCTOBER
CLUB ACADEMY
OKILLY DOKILLY
TUESDAY 5TH NOVEMBER
ACADEMY 3
BISHOP BRIGGS
SUNDAY 8TH DECEMBER
CLUB ACADEMY
SLEATER-KINNEY
THURSDAY 27TH FEBRUARY
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
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REVIEWS
Anna Calvi (Michael Kirkham / @Kirks09)
“Birkenhead is a
place that hasn’t had
the confidence to
celebrate itself and
hasn’t even bothered
trying – until now”
Future Yard
Birkenhead – 23/08-24/08
As you stand at the ferry terminal at Woodside and gaze
across the water, Liverpool is mesmerising. Its iconography is
laid bare; the outlines of the buildings will forever be etched on
the minds of those who stare at them. It’s been the subject of a
thousand memoirs, the subject of a million photographs and a
billion conversations. Rightly so. The image is one of this planet’s
urban glories. But there’s more to it. More in the sense of the spot
in which you stand to view it, the place that allows this view to
be real. This place below your feet, behind your back: Birkenhead,
the downtrodden younger brother of the city. It’s a place that
hasn’t had the confidence to celebrate itself and hasn’t even
bothered trying – until now.
So, let’s begin and start the celebrations – here, at the
inaugural FUTURE YARD. Let’s provide an excuse to get
down here and do something other than revere the blindingly
beautiful architecture across the water. Let’s create a festival that
celebrates the area, the talent and the beauty that on the surface
seems to be gazing across the water and shrugging. Birkenhead
has already started the slow process of hauling itself upwards
with the recent run of gigs at Fresh Goods Studios, taking place
among the post-industrial buildings to the north of the vague
centre-point of the festival, around Hamilton Square.
Yes, this weekend is very much about the bands and artists,
but there is more to this fledgling gathering than meets the eye.
There’s yoga to help with the first night hangover as well as
screenings, talks, walks and installations. Well, one installation
that is stunning, relaxing and mindful. It’s called PYLON, a
collaboration between Forest Swords and The Kazimier, and
focuses on the transfer of energy between place and object. It
takes place in the Birkenhead Priory refectory, a stone’s throw
from the Priory Green and Chapel stages, yet worlds apart in aura
and atmosphere. As the sun sets, its true colours begin to show
as the lighting design contorts around the building’s fixtures. The
healing patterns chiming from the pylon-like structure complete
the momentary sanctuary found just yards from the industrial
centre of Cammell Laird, the once mighty shipyard.
But, it’s the acts that take centre stage. Friday sees Wirral’s
very own BILL RYDER-JONES perform an impromptu piano-only
set in the crushed confines of the Priory Chapel. With a capacity
of hardly anyone (and the desire of almost everyone to see it), the
tech crew are beavering hard to ensure the folk outside can hear
Bill do his thing, which is moan here and there and play his softly
melancholic piano vignettes to a rapt throng. Bill swigs his beer,
smiles, shakes his fist at God and bowls the tightly packed chapel
over with his fragile talent.
BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD are a wonderful, shambolic
mess. Too many members are bumping into each other on the
packed Priory Stage, but the crowd are won over by erratic
saxophony and Black Midi-style free jazz. Props also go to the
wonderful JOHANNA SAMUELS, whose beautiful Americana
singer-songwriter lilt brightens up the handful of curious folk
padding out the Chapel.
The new Bloom Building is now packed as the anticipation
and vibes of curiosity are reaching fever pitch. SQUID set up their
instruments and then just start. Currently the darlings of most
London A&R departments, Squid play for about 10 minutes. It’s
more, obviously, but they cram so much in so quickly that it feels
like they were hardly here. Perhaps they shouldn’t have changed
the bonkers screaming of Houseplants to a more weary yelp, but
The Cleaner is such a splendid bout of indie-pop nuttiness that
no-one seems to mind. There’s a mosh pit, too, and a piece of
Birkenhead bay driftwood surfing the crowd. It’s all rather nice to
witness.
Passing to see the end of the brilliant DIALECT in the chapel,
all drones and glitch peace, the highlight is an extended play
from our very own Bill Ryder-Jones in full band mode, in the
Town Hall. Welcomed onto the stage like a returning war hero,
this is a slightly nervous but commanding return home. Bill
swigs his beer, smiles, shakes his fist at his mates and bowls the
tightly packed Town Hall over with his massive talent. Opening
with Mither and And Then There’s You from Yawn and ending,
obviously, with Two To Birkenhead, this wonderful listed building
has the roof taken off by the power and love for West Kirby’s
finest. Simply a joy, and not just the performance, the whole day
gets the nod of approval.
At 20 past the witching hour at the aforementioned Bloom
Building, the best new band in Britain amble on. SCALPING are
from Bristol and they have never heard of Birkenhead until this
booking, but they are quite simply incredible. Their fusion of postrock
grooves, techno bass and industrial dance darkness may not
be ‘nu’, but a 40-minute set of eye-bleeding visuals and machine
guitar abuse is more than enough to sate the hunger after Ryder-
Jones’ introspection. Scalping end on the anthemic Chamber and
this writer cries a really tiny bit. What a way to end the most
wonderful day.
If one wakes up on the weird side, one must learn the
Lo Five (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk)
36
Bill Ryder-Jones (Michael Driffill / @driffyspics)
ways of the weird side. Luckily, for the unaccustomed, there’s
a wholesome and accessible exploration of the pockets of
Birkenhead surrounding the festival. WALK ON THE WEIRD
SIDE – a tongue-in-cheek walking tour taken in the company of
local historian Gavin Chappell – drinks in the history of the Priory,
the docks, its merchants and the town’s journey from prosperity
to near neglect, sweeping from the Bloom Building down to the
River Mersey, via Hamilton Square, through Woodside Ferry
Village and along the promenade. It’s a welcome break that
resets the eyes and minds shaken up by Scalping.
Saturday sees another collage of creativity, with the
intimate Priory Chapel being taken over by the electronic music
collective Emotion Wave. Their showcase of four acts is a neat
representation of what they do best. First up is Emotion Wave
main-man LO FIVE, performing tracks from his new album
Geography Of The Abyss. Lo Five creates a calming atmosphere
of lulling ambience, unfurling huge swathes of melodic resonance
that perfectly suits the monastic surroundings. BYE LOUIS
previews his debut album, The Same Boy, during his set, telling
stories and rendering the mundane sweetly poetic with songs of
everyday tribulations. Armed only with a guitar and keyboard, he
holds the audience spellbound with lo-fi pop of the most delicate
and intricate nature.
FOXEN CYN then follows with a set of darkening electro-pop
and glam theatrics. Dressed in a black lace basque, sheer black
tights, make-up and false eyelashes, Foxen Cyn is avant-garde
and experimental with a knack for composing witty electronic
pop. Dramatic and probably supernatural, he is a proper one-off,
a glitch in the matrix, who conjures tunes from the seemingly
possessed realm. POLYPORES is the final act on the Emotion
Wave showcase and his form of transcendental radiophonics is
hypnotic and meditative. There’s something about the setting and
the sonorous refrain of humming synthesizers that transports us
into the welcoming void. Polypores’ sound is one of warped tape
saturation and machine hum, chiming with ambient echoes of
transformer coils and the static charge of a post-storm downpour.
The Bloom Building reprises its role on Saturday as the home
of those acts bringing renewed mystery and excitement to guitar
rock. Canadian-British troupe POTTERY show us why the fuss
around their angular debut LP No. 1 is so justified, while new
Heavenly Recordings signings WORKING MEN’S CLUB bring the
spirit of post-punk clubbing to their ferocious set. But it’s DRY
CLEANING who are the most affecting of this band of resurgent
beatniks, Florence Shaw’s deadpan delivery of tales about sordid
hotel encounters and showbiz royalty the perfect front to the
quartet’s anxiety-ridden rocking.
BEIJA FLO offers a thrilling glimpse into the glam cabaret
she is building around her highly affecting masterclass of pop
theatrics. The planners of Birkenhead Town Hall’s Assembly
Rooms would not have foreseen it playing host to entertainment
quite like this when they designed it, but they weren’t to know
that Beija Flo was to be one of the more astute technicians of
the room’s ornate surroundings. There’s still enough time to dart
over to Birkenhead Priory to catch the hugely affecting pop-rock
star NILÜFER YANYA as the light fades. The crowd drink it all in
from their seats on the grass, with Yanya and the tower of the
Priory looming in front of them. It’s a moment of relatively relaxed
enjoyment after the hectic day that’s gone before, giving time for
pause before Saturday’s headliner takes us on yet another journey.
ANNA CALVI is an awe-inspiring presence on stage at
the Town Hall. She stands before us silhouetted against the
blood red, pulsing bank of lights and, right from the off, we are
pummelled with intense noise. Calvi’s voice sweeps throughout
the space during her headline set and her guitar roars its approval,
beckoning the now bouncing audience. It’s a two-way thing here:
her guitar is seemingly weaponised, being pushed beyond its
intended purpose. She channels Robert Plant and Janis Joplin
with supernatural ability. It’s pure shock and awe as I’ll Be Your
Man tears through the coalescing air and the audience cheer their
approval, like a group hallucination or the witnessing of an alien
encounter.
Anna Calvi is a juggernaut, jack-knifing its way down the
highway, screeching tires and shearing metal; each song is
propulsive, cacophonous, crackling the air around us, seemingly
punching holes in space and creating mini-wormholes. It seems
something bordering on alchemy to wring so much sound from so
few components.
The enormity of Future Yard and its participants hangs heavy
as there’s a stagger back to the Bloom Building to groove to Elliot
Hutchinson of Dig Vinyl’s 7” set. He is the complete DJ and his
soulful overview paints a glorious picture of The One Eyed City in
the dark.
The early hours have set in and Birkenhead is peaceful,
beautiful and fucked up. The stillness stops that being a problem,
for now. And it awaits Future Yard 2020. Coupled with the
success of the Wirral Food & Drink Festival in Birkenhead Park,
Skeleton Coast and the Fresh Goods events, we may just have
a town that is relevant and alive – regardless of what Marks &
Spencer think. !
Ian R. Abraham / @scrash
Mike Stanton / @DepartmentEss
Frankie Muslin
Dry Cleaning (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk)
Stella Donnelly (Michael Driffill / @driffyspics)
REVIEWS 37
REVIEWS
Skeleton Coast
Leasowe Castle – 31/08
Over the past few years, boutique festival SKELETON COAST
has become somewhat of an exclusive retreat for festival fanatics
across Merseyside, and even further afield. Taking place in the
last weekend of August, the Wirral day event has secured a
comfortable spot on the gig schedule; bringing an increasingly
hectic festival season to a close, not to mention, in recent years,
providing a timely escape from the increasingly hectic political
landscape.
The achingly grand Leasowe Castle – usually reserved
for weddings and other such luxury events – provides the
perfect setting for the day as its haunting beauty and seclusion
immediately throws you into an aura of exclusivity. The
location, however, is certainly not the festival’s main draw.
Cherry picked by Skeleton Key Records, the day’s line-up is
seriously impressive; a testament to today’s emerging talent and
antithetical to perceptions that guitar music is somehow dead.
The Getintothis stage – in Leasowe Castle’s Keep, where
wedding vows are usually exchanged – is populated by Skeleton
Coast’s more unplugged performances. Nonetheless, the stage
manages to maintain its sentimental ambience as it plays hosts
to the day’s most tender tunes. With a gentle vocal delivery and
lolling guitar sound, LUCY GAFFNEY draws comparisons to Bill
Ryder-Jones. The small but appreciative crowd are treated to her
blend of soft rock, including a delightful cover of The Cranberries’
Linger. MARVIN POWELL, a Skeleton Key stalwart, similarly
impresses with his collection of wistful songs. Throughout the
day the stage serves as a pleasant interlude between the rock ’n’
roll stages.
Over at the EVOL stage, THE SNUTS stamp their mark on the
festival. Frontman Jack Cochrane’s cheeky confidence is backed
up by his impressive vocals and energised tunes. All Your Friends
is an instant crowd pleaser, with a thumping bassline running
right through the spirited track. The young Scots seem a band
likely to continue cropping up in the indie scene after a summer
touring a throng of European festivals. Squeezing in unreleased
songs along with hits Fire, Somebody and Hey Heartbreaker,
DREAM WIFE continue the vigorous atmosphere on the stage.
The all-female trio have made waves over the past few years
with their likeable mix of rhythmic punk. They are undoubtedly
passionate and even manage to instigate an artist-crowd conga
(yes, really). The penultimate act on the EVOL stage, RED RUM
CLUB, prove why they are one of the hottest acts on Merseyside.
Frontman Fran Doran’s voice powerfully amalgamates with cool
guitar licks and intermittent trumpets to create a sound that is
emphatically sonorous.
A personal highlight of the festival comes at the Shit Indie
Disco stage with BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD. Freakishly
Mick Jagger-esque, Tom Rees embodies all the characteristics a
frontman needs to propel his band into stardom: cool, charismatic
and unabashedly confident. Remarkably, his voice never falters
as the band blast through singles Love Forever, Late Night City
and Double Denim Hop, permeated with just the right amount
of glam rock. Tense anticipation awaits THE MYSTERINES as
they headline this stage; they amply deliver, quickly turning the
small room into a sweat-box of energy. Their commanding set
is stocked full of songs almost recklessly formidable, with Lia
Metcalfe’s voice booming amid the bands swaggering riffs.
MILES KANE brings the festival to a close in exhilarating
fashion. Ensuring the energy of the day is sustained, he
explodes out of the blocks with Silverscreen and fan-favourite
Inhaler – encouraging the already lively crowd into pits and on
to shoulders. Looking genuinely buzzing for his headline slot
and first (yes, first ever) show in his native Wirral, Kane rattles
through his discography; from Rearrange to Cry On My Guitar,
to Don’t Forget Who You Are, knowing the crowd will lap it
up. His newer songs LA Five Four (309), Can You See Me Now
and Blame It On The Summertime show that Kane is not only
writing songs at a terrific pace, but also evolving as a songwriter,
experimenting with his lyrical delivery and beefing up a recurrent
riff. Kane and his band’s blistering set, which peaks with the
lovely Colour Of The Trap, rubberstamps his status as an astute
and assured festival acquisition. As Kane’s songs are chanted
around the room, his ecstasy is visible and infectious; and with a
feeling like that, who’s going to stop you. !
Conal Cunningham
The Mysterines (Brian Sayle / urbansubrosa.co.uk)
“The Mysterines
amply deliver, quickly
turning the small
room into a sweatbox
of energy”
Red Rum Club (Brian Sayle / urbansubrosa.co.uk)
38
Franz Ferdinand (Tomas Adam)
Kings Of Leon
Fusion Presents @ Sefton Park – 30/08
An extra day of rock music has been tacked on to the
beginning of FUSION FESTIVAL this year, following its move
from Otterspool Promenade to Sefton Park. The line-up leaves
you with more questions than answers; questions like: who
decided it would be a good idea to put these bands on the same
stage? Did JAKE BUGG do something recently? Are FRANZ
FERDINAND still together? Sure, it’s a strange mix, but that
doesn’t mean that we can’t have a good time.
The sun is beaming down as SAM FENDER starts the day
off right. Already the recipient of the Critics’ Choice award at
this year’s BRITs, he is gearing up to release his debut album
Hypersonic Missiles. The North Shields-born singer proudly
wears his influences on his sleeve, encapsulating the youthful
euphoria and nostalgia of 1980s stadium rock. His rhythm
guitarist mercilessly punches a sampler during Will We Talk?
blasting out triumphant bells and strings. However, with the
chills-inducing Dead Boys, Fender shows us that he is not a onetrick
pony. Although taking clear nods from Bruce Springsteen,
Fender still puts a modern spin on the style, in the same vein as
The War On Drugs. It’s early in the day, but the crowd feeds on
the adrenaline of Hypersonic Missiles, and a few people jump on
each other’s shoulders during the saxophone solo. Despite the
unnecessary Oasis cover of Morning Glory to close, the young
singer is infinitely exciting, and is definitely worth a second watch
at his upcoming Liverpool show in November.
There are scattered showers and, for whatever reason, all of
the bars are no longer taking cards. Yet, Liverpool darlings CIRCA
WAVES give a performance fit for a festival, as they march
through songs from their latest record What’s It Like Over There?.
The anthemic Movies and piano-smashing Times Won’t Change
Me are well received by the adoring crowd, whose spirits are not
dampened by the lack of booze. Circa Waves unleash a frankly
shocking amount of energy during their performance of Goodbye,
which should see all comparisons to The Vaccines thrown out
of the window; their calls for a mosh pit are answered during
the Queens of the Stone Age-esque barn burner, which is an
impressive feat so early in the day.
Despite Sam Fender covering
Morning Glory earlier on in the day,
Jake Bugg tries even harder to do
an impersonation of Noel Gallagher,
although it may not have been his
intention. The crowd isn’t as tightly
packed and sweating as they were for
Circa Waves, so something is definitely
amiss. Is this one Lightning Bolt? It is
Seen It All. Is this one Lightning Bolt? It
is Two Fingers. This is his last song. It
must be Lightning Bolt? It is.
For a complete change of pace,
next on is essential post-punk band
and pride of Liverpool, ECHO & THE
BUNNYMEN. How do they fit into this
line-up? The inclusion of this seminal band seems like a tone-deaf
ploy to draw in an older audience. Even classics like The Cutter
and The Killing Moon lose their magic in this setting, and ache to
be soaked in at a more dedicated show.
Franz Ferdinand are still together. In fact, they put out a
new album last year called Always Ascending. Seeing Franz
Ferdinand this high on a bill is a strange sight to see, like stepping
into a bizarre time machine that could take you back to the years
2004-2007. Sure, they are not exactly a one-hit-wonder per
se, but it is clear the audience is here for Take Me Out. Still, the
supressed coil, build and release section of the song continues
to be exciting and even refreshing despite the fact you know full
well it is coming.
KINGS OF LEON are aware of their controversy. Hardcore
“It’s hard not to feel
a part of something
greater, beyond
the bickering
and missteps of
Kings Of Leon”
fans love to talk about their early material and its ranking; Slow
Night, So Long, first – and how they stopped listening after Only
By The Night – Crawl second. The British resentment of their
later material is a paradox: the English embraced the sound of the
dirty Deep South when their own country wouldn’t, only to shout
“we were there first” across the water
as the Americans followed suit.
Anyone who likes their later
stuff; Waste A Moment, third; must
be an American, or closet American.
Albums like Come Around Sundown
(Radioactive, fourth) aren’t even given
a second thought. But, why? Because
it was right around the time we’d
grown sick of hearing those dreaded
two songs on the radio? Sure, we can
all agree that Because Of The Times
was the perfect goldilocks moment
between the two halves of their
career. Molly’s Chambers from the
first half and Supersoaker, from the
second, both retain raw energy, while
embracing the stadium-rock sound that propelled them into
stardom.
Their catalogue is deep and they play to their audience.
They know that their band means more to us than it does to
Americans. We’ve been there through the good times – Fans, My
Party, Mary – and the bad times – Sex On Fire, Use Somebody.
We want to hear it all: the songs that makes us dance (Closer)
or makes us cry (Milk), or both (Pyro). As the heavens open they
play Cold Desert, and it is hard not to feel a part of something
greater, beyond the bickering and missteps. !
Joel Durksen / @Joeldurksen
Peter Broderick and Friends Play
Arthur Russell
+ Claire Welles
+ Nick Branton & David Kelly
24 Kitchen Street – 22/08
Misunderstood by many during his own lifetime, cellist
Arthur Russell tragically passed away in 1992 unaware of
the cult status his music would one day achieve. Now, as his
reputation continues to grow, artists like multi-instrumentalist
PETER BRODERICK are discovering the mystique of his music.
Fans, too, who never had the chance to hear these outstanding
compositions live, are now reaping the benefits.
Russell served a brief tenure in the 70s as musical director
of The Kitchen, an NYC arts space that hosted emerging
experimental acts. Tonight’s proceedings at 24 Kitchen Street
appear to share something of that avant-garde spirit. NICK
BRANTON & DAVID KELLY’s three-song, entirely improvised, set
on saxophone and drum kit setting a fitful, atonal pace.
Outlier artist CLAIRE WELLES is truly absorbing despite
being on the verge of losing her voice. Opening with the
contagious (hopefully not) Viral Infection, Welles appears to be
Liverpool’s answer to John Maus. “Life’s a piece of piss, especially
when you’ve got no kids” she taunts on Shit For Brains, before
the Krautrock careen of Knowsley. Both are taken from Welles’
new album Transpose; “It’s my Nevermind,” she deadpans.
“You’re not meant to laugh.”
If anyone is fit to handle Russell’s sprawling back catalogue
it’s Peter Broderick, a prolific recording artist with an obscene
collaborative track record. The one-time Efterklang man isn’t one
to rest on his laurels. We get a glimpse of his virtuosic talent early
on during the deconstructed intensity of Lucky Cloud, which falls
always to the measured delicacy of Close My Eyes. Undeterred by
a false start, Losing My Taste For The Night Life is another fragile,
delay-drenched high. Eli, scaled down from cello to fiddle, shows
off the uncanny vocal resemblance between the two artists, as
Broderick nimbly slides between notes in Russell’s signature
touching style.
Broderick is later joined onstage by a backing band
comprising of some of Glasgow’s finest guns for hire. Their
alt-country and new wave leanings are swapped for a reggae
backbeat on A Little Lost, which closes with the ecstatic
repetition of “I’m so busy thinking about kissing you”. Next
Broderick asks for a volunteer in lieu of Allen Ginsberg on Ballad
Of The Lights. None of the fear-stricken faces around me seem
game, as if his suggestion seems to insight the same state of
anxiety surrounding a day of team building exercises. Claire
Welles, luckily, takes the stage before the all-out mutant disco of
Go Bang, Russell’s Dinosaur L dancefloor hit.
Broderick’s suggestion of getting the disco ball going is
shot down (“The death star has not yet been completed,” he
remarks) before some unnamed hero steps in repositioning the
lights. Broderick then clambers into the crowd, exuberant and
uninhibited, wailing the hook. Bathed in sepia rays, for his encore
he closes with the contrasting tender balladry of You Are My
Love, an unreleased Arthur Russell cut and one final testament to
the iconoclast’s phenomenal legacy. A wild combination, indeed.
David Weir / @betweenseeds
REVIEWS 39
REVIEWS
Wand (Tomas Adam)
Wand
+ Gang
Harvest Sun @ Shipping Forecast
21/08
Entering The Shipping Forecast on this late August evening, you
wouldn’t expect to meet the initial reception that defies all previously
held expectations. WAND – a kaleidoscopic ensemble playing
psychedelic-infused garage rock – are promised to us. An evening
walk home accompanied by joyous tinnitus and lasting colour is,
generally, the symptom of this forthcoming prescription. And yet, on
arrival, the venue is silent, almost intimidating. It’s unbearably quiet.
The anticipation borders on nervousness.
You also wouldn’t expect this sort of atmosphere for a band like
Wand. The Californian outfit have gained attention and interest of
music lovers all over the world with five albums in five years, from
Ganglion Reef in 2014) to this year’s Laughing Matter. To break the
deafening silence, Margate band GANG take to the stage.
“Sorry if this is self-indulgent,” they say before playing a fullforce,
40-minute medley of songs without any breaks. It’s quite
remarkable to watch, though as an audience you’re left a bit dazed
and confused by which song is which; when is the end and when is
the beginning? It all blends into one, like an entire novel printed on
an endless scroll, no page breaks for thought or introspection. It’s
a full capture of the senses. There are even a few quick notes from
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, for anyone who has keen metalhead ears
in the audience. The crowd, filling up throughout this 40-minute
thrashing, are loving it.
Initial fear dissipates. The basement is full for Wand. There’s
a collective feeling restored and every sonic limb has been well
stretched. Gang have set the foundations with their heavy
psychedelia and Wand build on them with finesse. Their more
melodic approach is instantly palpable.
Their setlist borrows mainly from Laughing Matter. Even though,
judging by the response, some of the audience members may be
here for older songs like Melted Rope, they still put on a captivating
show.
Wand create a wall of noise, but with an approachable, almost
pop-like sensibility. It’s more a structure that builds around your
contours, rather than juggernauts right on through. While in recent
years the hype for Wand might have died down, they prove in their
live show that they’re wonderful masters of their craft. Perhaps more
ought to celebrate their humble mastery.
Georgia Turnbull / @georgiaRTbull
Stephen Fry: Mythos – A Trilogy:
Gods, Heroes, Men
Philharmonic Hall – 04/09-06/09
There is a sea of people pouring through the doors of the
Philharmonic on this dreary Wednesday evening. People whose
lives have all featured trials, struggles, celebrations and defeats,
all of which have been woven into the fabric of their personal
narratives and have made them all the more human. With the
world being as strange as it currently is, there is much that can
distract us and detach us from each other and the wider world.
At this time the ancient art of storytelling has never been more
significant. It is a tool that, for aeons, has persisted in bringing
humanity together to help us restore our collective focus, our
faith. So, who better to offer that service to the people of
Liverpool this week than the inimitable STEPHEN FRY, with his
three-day Greek trilogy MYTHOS. Our journey starts tonight, in a
full to the brim auditorium, with GODS.
Ever the humble and unassuming gentleman, Fry walks
briskly out on stage to huge applause. He play-acts bashfulness,
quieting the crowd with open palms and cries of “Oh, stop it.
Stop it.” He then walks us through our role as his audience
throughout the oncoming stories: to sit as though we’re gathered
around a fire and revel in the narratives. The backdrop of the
stage is adorned with columns of projection screens by which the
stories will be illustrated and the room transformed with fitting
ambience. It currently displays a panorama of stars and nebulae
as a beautiful blank canvas for the cosmic stories of creation.
Aside from the projection screens there are only two things on
the stage; a dark leather, high-backed chair and Fry himself. And
so, after brief introductions and a pleasant anecdote about his
meeting with Paul McCartney and his induction into LIPA some
weeks past, we’re off.
It all starts with Chaos. The word refers to, according to the
Greeks, the origin of everything at the beginning of time; a chasm
from which everything in existence was born. And from there,
Fry’s rich, sage voice carries us through the annals of history,
from the birth of the first Titan, Kronos, born of Uranus (the
sky) and Gaia (the Earth), all the way to the birth of the Gods.
Following the war between Gods and Titans we witness the 12
Gods take their place on Olympus and meet many very telling
characters, such as Persephone, the Titan Prometheus – who
gave Man fire – and Pandora, who disobediently opened her jar
and let out many evils but unknowingly shut it before letting out
the one remaining being: Elpis, the Greek personification of the
spirit of Hope.
We leave Gods after Zeus’ whimsical creation of Man, as he
punishes Prometheus for introducing Man to fire by shackling
him at the top of a mountain and leaving him to be gored by
an eagle for all eternity. Fire being the epitome of illumination
and enlightenment, Man now had power. Spellbinding and
enthralling, night one of three conquers us all.
On night two, HEROES brings faces familiar and unfamiliar
back into the world of Greek myth for another two hours of rapt
storytelling. As Stephen settles into his chair once again, we hear
now the stories of the famous Heracles, Perseus, Medusa and
the Gorgons all the way through to Theseus of Athens. Along
the way, Stephen offers fascinating factoids that emphasise just
how much our current culture and language owes to the Greeks.
Under his charm another audience enjoys a mesmerising canon
of tales.
As a bookend to the working week and the series of shows,
Friday night arrives and show three begins. Tonight’s tales tell the
earliest adventures of MAN; of Odysseus, Troy and Helen, with
Polyphemus the Cyclops, Achilles and a host of other characters.
We travel to the underworld to the river Styx and follow in the
wake of Odysseus’ ship as he quests for his home of Ithaca.
Throughout the stories Fry humorously voices each character
with different regional accents. This doesn’t detract from the
narrative, but does add some sweet brevity to the proceedings.
Favourites have included the Brummie Heracles, the Alan
Bennett-esque Perseus and the two or three characters lent a
voice by Michael Caine. It is, again, a warm, intimate, beguiling
evening.
As Odysseus arrives back at Ithaca and reunites with his
family, so the final show draws to a close. And with Odysseus’
homecoming, symbolically, as Fry puts it “Mankind came home”.
At the shows end, now standing, he leaves with a touching
epilogue on humanity’s greater attributes. Our capacity for love,
our strength and character, community, understanding and
bravery. The ending of these tales depicts humanity’s grasp
of independence from the Gods. Yet all of the Gods and their
characteristics, be they noble or vicious, live on in us all.
Fry bows out each night to a much-deserved standing
ovation. These stories captured the hearts and minds of everyone
in attendance and introduced some much-needed focus to the
insanity and pace of the outside world. Stephen Fry is, whether
he likes it or not, one of our greatest national treasures.
Christopher Carr
40
Edwyn Collins
Harvest Sun @ Arts Club – 07/09
Of the many reasons there are to love EDWYN COLLINS,
one that is clear tonight is his genial nature and sense of humour.
Referring to us in a deadpan tone as “the audience”, throughout
the night he gently directs proceedings, telling us when to be
quiet and introducing his songs with an engaging warmth; his
laugh is a guffaw and he has a sense of mischief. And that’s
before we’ve even got to the music, or that voice.
The audience is mixed, but the majority are comprised of
Edwyn Collins aficionados, those of a certain vintage whose
cheers are as buoyant as their quiffs. Shouts of “Go on Edwyn,
lad” punctuate the night, creating a really nice atmosphere at this
packed, sweaty gig.
He spans the decades with a comprehensive playlist that
showcases his talent. From the start of his career with the postpunk
1980s Orange Juice songs, including What Presence?! and
Blue Boy, to the pop perfection of 1994’s ubiquitous solo hit
A Girl Like You, with the reflective songs from his most recent
album Badbea dropped in through the course of the night.
His accompanying band are brilliant and capture the uptempo
essence of his back catalogue, as well as the more mellow
yet still perfectly pitched recent songs. The upbeat, radio-friendly
Outside rocks the room. As he says, it’s got an “Iggy Pop voice
and Buzzcocks sound”. The playing is relaxed and fills the room
without ever overpowering the vocals or rhythm section.
The biggest cheers come after Collins performs In Your Eyes,
from 2010’s Losing Sleep, as a duet with his son, William. And
while a saccharine emotion is not always welcome at a gig, it’s a
sincere reaction. What’s even sweeter is that William can be seen
pogoing away to his dad’s hits from behind the merchandise stall
later. Good songs just don’t date.
The guitar riffs move with ease from soul to post-punk to
pop, throbbing through the venue. There’s some swaying from
the audience, but, William aside, it’s a rather static gig – possibly
as a result of the overwhelming heat and lack of air inside, or
because it’s a relatively gentle affair.
The production on the album versions gives the tracks an
energy and grit that is missing a little from their live counterparts,
while a change in pace would help to lift the second part. Saying
this, Edwyn’s voice is beautiful with a rich tone that you would be
happy listening to for a good while.
The more commercial material comes in a glut towards the
end, with Rip It Up one of the last songs before the encore. He
states towards the end of the set that he’s “exhausted”, but that
doesn’t stop an encore that includes a harmonica solo, which
we’re warned we must “shh” for.
Edwyn’s whimsical sense of humour and mellow nature
entertains as much as his sonorous voice. Using his walking cane,
he directs the audience, indicating which half should sing and
cheer at which point – and we adhere to his commands, possibly
because he does it with a massive grin (there’s also a “behave
Edwyn Collins (Darren Aston)
yourselves”, accompanied by an arch smile).
Plainly, it’s a really nice evening with a really nice man who
so happens to have perfected the craft of catchy pop songs and
poignant love songs, all slung together with an originality and a
voice that should have made him millions. He’s affable, talented
and unorthodox and all the better for it.
Jennie Macaulay
REVIEWS 41
Boo Hewerdine
Sunday 6th October
Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
Kathryn Williams
WEDNESDAY 16th October
Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
Richard Dawson
SATURDAY 23rd November
Studio 2, Liverpool
Beans on Toast
FRIDAY 20th December
Phase One, Liverpool
@Ceremonyconcert / facebook.com/ceremonyconcerts
ceremonyconcerts@gmail.com / seetickets.com
October -
Tuesdays -
01 / 10 - BALLROOM DAN
08 / 10 - JAM SCONES
15 / 10 - WEAVER COLLECTIVE
22 / 10 - HARAMBE MAONI
29 / 10 - HEAVY LEMO
Thursdays -
03 / 10 - GREEN TANGERINES
10 / 10 - SIMON DALE
17 / 10 - FRANK GRIFFITH TRIO
24 / 10 - TBC
31 / 10 -HALOWEEN SPECIAL!
32 Hope Street , Liverpool L1 9BX
T: 0151 708 9574
E: events@frederikshopestreet.com
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This month’s featured writer is multifaceted artist BEIJA FLO, who is hosting an exhibition of her art, poetry
and musical work at Output Gallery in January.
Do You Remember Before?
My darling, do you remember before?
I remember before.
When you could not find the daytime,
Scared of the light,
Scared to open eyes.
My darling, do you remember before?
I remember before.
How I’d wake,
A whole two cycles before being asked,
Just for you.
My darling, do you remember before?
I remember before.
How the anxiety was too heavy to carry,
So I volunteered,
For the morning shift.
My darling, do you remember before?
I remember before.
As well as I remember now.
How I asked for help,
To covered ears.
My darling, do you remember before?
I remember before.
The present tastes different.
A distant flavour,
I only know how to crave.
The Pirates And The Cobwebs
I remember the pirates.
Those who so aggressively pushed me off the side of their boats without as
much as a bottle cork to float on, throwing sharp objects at me as I try and
swim away.
I respect these pirates far more than the spiders who made the cobwebs on
shore. Webs which look so pretty from a distance, like wedding decorations.
These webs do not glisten up close.
Webs made of razor wire, holding captive all that once lived here. Leaving
very little room and safety on the shore.
Trying to push me back into the sea.
Unlike the pirates, determined to see me die, these cobwebs do not have the
guts to cut me – they are only brave enough to watch me drown.
How noble.
To silently drift away.
To still glisten and wave when you catch my eye.
Only when the pirates are far out to sea. Fearful they may return and cut
these webs as they cut me.
What a strange collection of loyalty.
I didn’t abandon the ship.
I was pushed.
There was no room on land.
So you can’t be angry I own the ocean.
I had to go somewhere.
My darling, do you remember before?
I remember before.
I
I’m unhappy
I do stupid things
I drink
Like the wine
Is crying to be drunk
I eat
Rarely
I cry
Often
I
Accidentally
On purpose
Risked
My own
Life
On an
Important
Day
For
My parents
I’m sorry mam
Beija Flo’s new single Nudes is out now via Eggy Records. Inside The Walls is a free exhibition of “nudes, anxieties and other content”
which takes place at Output Gallery, Seel Street, between 17th January and 2nd February 2020.
46
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